Three Kingdoms
YingZheng
existed side by side, lasted approximately from 189 to 265.
Around 220 at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Yellow Turban
Uprising shook the regime to its foundations. Warlords around the
country seized this opportunity to expand their own forces and
influence, breaking away from central control. After a tangled warfare
among various local feudal lords, the regimes were divided and ruled by
the Wei, Shu and Wu.
The three kingdoms strived to develop under each regime. After
overthrowing the Han and setting up the Wei Kingdom, Cao Pi adopted a
system of nine ranks of officials selected by appointed governmental
officials, which became the tool of the gentry's monopoly and was
replaced by the imperial examination system in the Sui Dynasty
(581-618).
In the Shu Kingdom, Emperor Liu Bei and Prime Minister Zhu Geliang
actively promoted the development of the local economy, such as the
mass production of the Shu brocade. Zhu ordered several northern
expeditions, all of which failed. He died on his sickbed in the
cantonment during the last expedition. The Wu Kingdom also paid
attention to economic development with its high-level shipbuilding
technology.
After the Western Jin Dynasty (265-316) overthrew the Wei Kingdom, the
country gradually became unified. Later, the Western Jin defeated the
Wu and unified the China that had remained divided since the end of the
Eastern Han Dynasty.