Southern Tang (Chinese: 南唐; pinyin: Nán Táng) was a dynastic state of China that existed during Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.

At its territorial peak in 951,[1] the Southern Tang controlled the whole of modern Jiangxi, and portions of Anhui, Fujian, Hubei, Hunan, and Jiangsu provinces.

[2] His reign according to Robert Krompart represented the initial rebuilding "of the social, economic, administrative, and religious forces that produce stability in China.

Interstate trading of specialized crafts like colored silks and salt reclaimed from the Huai River likewise was promoted by the Southern Tang.

Meanwhile, in nearby piedmont areas agriculturalists became specialized in growing tea or textile plants like hemp (麻) or ramie (苧).

[41] According to Sima Guang these were successful, as "the lands of Huai were fully planted, sericulture was widespread, and the [Southern Tang] state grew rich and strong.

[27] During the reign of Li Jing he authorized several military ventures that according to He Jainming incurred heavy financial burdens that inhibited further economic development of the Southern Tang realm.

These coins for domestic circulation (despite having minimal value intrinsically) and to prevent the export of precious bronze coinage to neighboring states.

Song scholars developed a new calligraphic style of writing frame-less characters (無骨字) which required more flexible brushes than those made by the Zhuge family.

[73][74] Dragon tail inkstones were prized possessions and offered as gifts among the Southern Tang literati,[75] a tradition that continued into the Song dynasty.

[78] In the 13th century Yao Mian (姚勉) wrote a poem about a dragon tail inkstone once opened by Su Shi: Its shape is round as the moon, And its tripod feet are like a toad's.

[85] After the Song defeated the Southern Tang a multitude of imitation Pure Heart Hall papers appeared as the process for creating genuine articles had become lost.

[86] Song literati began to value Pure Heart Hall paper after a gathering of notable scholars that included Liu Ban (劉攽), Mei Yaochen, Ouyang Xiu, Su Shi, noted its quality in poetic works.

Yunying chao was made from ground melon and a medley of flower bulbs and corms: lilies (百合), lotus (蓮), arrowhead (慈姑), fox nuts (雞頭), taro (芋), and two kinds of water chestnuts, 荸薺 and 菱.

The perceived need for Li Bian to prove his legitimacy through military conquest likewise motivated many Southern Tang officials.

Li Bian refused to engage in a conflict at that time as he felt it was inopportune: "As a child I grew up in the army and saw the profound damage soldiers did to the people.

"[1][99] Xuan Xu recorded in the Jiangnan Lu that certain officials sent requests to the Imperial Court for the Southern Tang "to secure the four quarters" (經營四方) through military conquest.

[106] In the summer of 938 Song Qiqiu proposed for the assassination of a Khitan dignitary that was visiting the Southern Tang court when they returned north through Later Jin territory.

Li Bian broke his policy of maintaining peaceable relations with neighboring states in a campaign that ultimately ended in Southern Tang failure.

Based in modern Yuncheng, Shanxi, the Later Han military governor of Huguo Circuit (護國]), Li Shouzhen, revolted in the summer of 948.

As in previous attempts of expanding north the Southern Tang army suffered a defeat from Later Han forces and retreated to the Huai River.

[115] Simultaneously Southern Tang defensive procedures were reduced along the seasonally shallow Huai River in winter 955, leaving their border easy to cross.

[116] Later Zhou forces advanced south and constructed a floating bridge to cross the Huai River at Zhengyang and began the invasion of Huainan in early 956.

Throughout the conflict incompetent military officers made critical errors that ended in a string of costly defeats for the Southern Tang.

[148] The Southern Tang court financed a piece called "Two Qidan Bringing Tribute" by an unnamed artist in honor of these proceedings.

The realm became territorially truncated and lost the economic and political relevance it enjoyed when Li Jing assumed the throne 15 years earlier.

[184] The Jiangbiao Zhi by Zheng Wenbao and the Jiangnan Bielu by Chen Pengnian both in a partisan manner to fix these supposed errors.

[197] This designation was later employed by Song historians to describe xiaoren 小人 officials that made a faction to illicitly gain power in the Southern Tang government.

The existence of this supposed faction has been critiqued by Johannes Kurz as a product of the personal biases of Song historians and their deliberate rearrangement of historical materials.

[201] In the Wudau Shiji Wei Cen replaces Song Qiqiu as a member of the Five Demons, although the latter reportedly controlled the group through Chen Jue.