Northern Han

The Northern Han was one of the Ten Kingdoms of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, a small dynastic state in Shanxi in northern China. It was founded in 951 by Liu Min, who claimed to continue the Later Han dynasty after that dynasty fell to a military coup. The Northern Han held only a compact territory around its capital, Taiyuan, but its position between the Liao dynasty to the north and the Later Zhou and Northern Song to the south gave it strategic importance out of proportion to its size. It placed itself under Liao protection and repeatedly relied on Khitan aid against its southern neighbours. The Later Zhou and Northern Song repeatedly attacked the state. In 979 Emperor Taizong of Song led a campaign against Taiyuan, defeated a Liao relief force and besieged the capital for two months. The last Northern Han ruler surrendered, ending the kingdom and completing the Song conquest of the remaining Ten Kingdoms in the north. The state is also called the Eastern Han in some sources, and its rulers' origins, whether Shatuo or Han Chinese, remain disputed.