Category:Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (五代十国时期, 907–979 CE) was a time of political fragmentation following the fall of the Tang dynasty and preceding the consolidation of the Song. The northern territories experienced a rapid succession of short-lived dynasties, while multiple independent regimes emerged across the south. Despite political instability, the period saw the continued growth of regional economies, commercial networks, and craft-specialization systems.

In the north, court-centered workshop production was intermittent and often reorganized according to shifting ruling houses. Nevertheless, continuity in metalwork, lacquer, and ceramic production persisted through local artisan communities and regional administrative centers. In the south, particularly in the lower Yangtze and coastal areas, stable regional courts supported the expansion of commercial production and interregional exchange. Maritime trade networks remained active, linking southern ports to Southeast Asia and beyond.

Ceramic production during this period reflects regional differentiation and the continuation of technological developments from the late Tang. High-fired stoneware traditions matured in several areas, and celadon-glazed wares in the south reached increasingly refined levels of glaze control and vessel form. In the north and northwest, high-fired gray wares and proto-porcelain forms continued in both domestic and funerary contexts.

While this period is situated between two major centralized dynastic states, its significance lies in the regional consolidation of workshop identities, the development of kiln systems that would later form the technical basis for Song-period ceramics, and the persistence of artisanal knowledge during political transition. The period thus serves as a structural link between Tang imperial craft organization and the regional ceramic traditions that would become fully articulated under the Song dynasty.