Aristocratic families in the Jianghuai region during the Tang-Song Interregnum

Abstract

With an emphasis on the Jianghuai region, this article aims to study the activities of aristocratic families during the Tang-Song Interregnum. Some aristocratic families managed to survive but were no longer in a position to carry out the cultural functions they had performed during the Tang dynasty. Based on the discussions undertaken by the article, aristocratic families played no evident role in political and cultural domains during the reign of Yang Wu and the Southern Tang. As such, total disappearance of the political and cultural capabilities of this privileged class in the Jianghuai region may have already taken place prior to the founding of the Southern Tang.