The Jin Dynasty
2 min readAt the end of the Three Kingdoms Period，Sima family became prominent in the Wei（220-265）.In 265，Sima Yan（236-290），a descendant of the great historian Sima Qian，usurped the power and founded a new dynasty Jin.They also conquered the Wu（222一280），thus ending the period of the Three Kingdoms.Jin（265-420）was historically divided into two periods:the Western Jin（265-316）with Luoyang as its capital city and Eastern Jin（317-420）with Jiankang（present-day Nanjing）as the capital city.
After the death of Sima Yan，there was never again a strong leader.The leaders and princes were often assassinated in the struggles for power.During this time，the Chinese people surrounding the capital suffered due to the fighting and began a migration out from the center ofthe empire to the more peaceful frontier regions.Although providing a brief period of unity after conquering the Wu，the Jin could not contain the invasion and uprising of nomadic peoples after the devastating War of the Eight Princes（291-306）.
The Jin was eventually defeated by the Huns，who claimed they were descendents of the Han Dynasty because of the Han princesses given to them in marriage.However，they never succeeded in forming a true dynasty and uniting China.Rather，the disunity continued with the Southern and Northern Dynasties（420-589）.The defeated Jin fled and ruled in Nanjing as the Eastern Jin.The Eastern Jin was the first of a few dynasties that developed a culture different from that of northern China.As an economic center of the whole China，the south would be of great importance for the whole of China until today.
