Period in Chinese history betweeen the fall of the Tang dynasty (907) and the founding of the Song dynasty (960), when five would-be dynasties (the Hou Liang, the Hou Tang, the Hou Jin, the Hou Han, and the Hou Zhou) followed one another in quick succession in northern China.
The period is also called the Ten Kingdoms because of the 10 regimes that dominated separate regions of southern China in the same period. Though unstable politically, culturally it was a period of great accomplishment. Printing with wooden blocks was fully developed; the first complete printing of the Confucian Classics was completed in 953. The form of lyric poetry called ci ( tz'u ) flourished, and flower painting, previously distinctively Buddhist, became a branch of nonreligious painting.