In 304, the dynasty experienced a wave of rebellions by non-Han ethnicities termed the Five Barbarians, who went on to establish several short-lived dynastic states in northern China.

This inaugurated the chaotic and bloody Sixteen Kingdoms era of Chinese history, in which states in the north rose and fell in rapid succession, constantly fighting both one another and the Jin.

The Eastern Jin dynasty remained in near-constant conflict with its northern neighbors for most of its existence, and it launched several invasions of the north with the aim of recovering its lost territories.

In 383, the Eastern Jin inflicted a devastating defeat on the Former Qin, a Di-ruled state that had briefly unified northern China.

In the aftermath of that battle, the Former Qin state splintered, and Jin armies recaptured the lands south of the Yellow River.

Emperor Wu permitted Cao Huan to live with honour as the Prince of Chenliu, and buried him with imperial ceremony.

The period of unity was relatively short-lived, as the Jin state was soon weakened by corruption, political turmoil, and internal conflicts.

These refugees had a large impact on the lands they moved to—for example, they gave Quanzhou's Jin River its name upon their settlement there.

Most notably, in 383, a heavily outnumbered Eastern Jin force inflicted a devastating defeat on the state of Former Qin at the Battle of Fei River.

After this battle, the Former Qin—which had recently unified northern China—began to collapse, and the Jin dynasty recovered the lands south of the Yellow River.

For example, lack of support by the Jin court was a major cause of Huan Wen's failure to recover the north in his expeditions.

Additionally, internal military crises—including the rebellions of generals Wang Dun and Su Jun, but also lesser fangzhen (方鎮 'military command') revolts—plagued the Eastern Jin throughout its 104-year existence.

Special "commanderies of immigrants" and "white registers" were created for the massive amounts of northern Han Chinese who moved south during the Eastern Jin.

Huan Xuan was soon toppled by Liu Yu, who reinstated Jin rule by installing Sima Dezong on the throne, posthumously known as Emperor An.

Meanwhile, the civilian administration suffered, as there were further revolts led by Sun En and Lu Xun, and Western Shu became an independent kingdom under Qiao Zong.

[clarification needed] The Eastern Jin court established three levels of administrative divisions which served as strongholds for the qiaoren: the qiaozhou (僑州, 'province'), qiaojun (僑郡, 'commandery'), and qiaoxian (僑縣, the lodged county), these lodged administrative divisions were merely nominal without possessing actual domain, or rather, they were local government in exile; what could scarcely be denied was their significance in Jin's legitimacy for the northern territory as somewhat an announcement.

)[15]The lodged Pei, Qinghe, Xiapi, Dongguang, Pingchang, Jiyin, Puyang, Guangping, Taishan, Jiyang, and Lu commanderies were established when Emperor Ming ruled.

The rebellions and invasions occurring in Jianghuai area led to more refugees switching to settle in the south of the Yangtze River, where the lodged Huainan Commandery was established afterwards.

The Jin emperors repressed Taoists harshly, but also tried to exploit it, given the way it had been used near the end of the Han era in the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

Amidst the political turmoil of the era, many successful merchants, small landowners, and other moderately comfortable people found great solace in Taoist teachings and a number of major clans and military officers also took up the faith.

[citation needed] Disunity, disintegration, and chaos also made Buddhism more popular, in part due to the focus on addressing suffering.

[citation needed] The Jin dynasty is well known for the quality of its greenish celadon porcelain wares, which immediately followed the development of proto-celadon.