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| Picture shows an ox cart unearthed fuom a tomb of the Northem Wei Dynasty at Datong, Shanxi Province. |
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| A tri-color pottery horse of the Tang Dynasty. | From the third century AD to the sixth, China was first divided, then reunified and then divided again. The country was first divided into three kingdoms that kept fighting one another, until the Wei overturned the other two and made itself the Wei Dynasty. But, before long, the Wei was replaced by a new dynasty called Jin. After the Jin collapsed, there emerged four dynasties that took control of the areas south of the Yangtze River in succession and five, also in succession, of the areas north of the river, which are collectively known as the "'Southern-Northern Dynasties ".
Huge changes took place during this period in production techniques and artistic style of pottery figures. Funerary pottery figures unearthed from tombs of the West Jin Dynasty (265-317) fall into four categories. A tomb of this period invariably has, in front of its gate, a bull-like animal with upright horns and warriors in armor suits supposedly to ward off invasion by evil spirits. Inside the tomb there are ox carts and horses meant for use by the tomb owner in the nether world, along with male and female attendants, as well as kitchen utensils, water wells, grinding mills and domestic animals and poultry.
Wars were fought one after another between warlords during the period of the Southern-Northern Dynasties (420-589). To protect themselves and the areas under their influence, members of the land gentry often had their plantations rebuilt into castles and set up private armies. That may explain why archeologists have found, in tombs of that period, pottery guards and cavalrymen in neat columns. |
