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Shi Jingtang 石敬瑭 (892-942) was the founder of the Later Jin Dynasty (936-946), the third of the Five Dynasties that controlled much of northern China from 907 to 960. The Later Jin Dynasty was the second of three successive Shatuo Turk dynasties that made up the middle three of the Five Dynasties.

Contents

Overthrow of the Later Tang Dynasty

Rule

References

Overthrow of the Later Tang Dynasty

Shi Jingtang was the son-in-law of Later Tang Dynasty emperor Li Siyuan and was a general of the dynasty. Relations between the Khitans, who were formally allies of the Shatuo Turks, and the Li family, which dates back to 905 when Abaoji made a brotherhood pact with Li Keyong, father of the founder of the Later Tang Dynasty. By the time his son, Li Cunxu, died, relations between the two had fallen out.
Shi Jingtang was the military commissioner of present-day Shanxi before colluding with the Khitan to the north in his rebellion against the Later Tang Dynasty. With the Khitan assistance of Emperor Taizu of Liao's forces, Shi was able to declare himself the founding emperor of the Later Jin Dynasty.

Rule

Shi Jingtang moved the capital to Bian, now known as Kaifeng. During his reign, the Later Jin ceded the strategic Sixteen Prefectures to the expanding Liao empire. Due to this, and Khitan support for his dynasty, the Later Jin Dynasty is often derided as being a puppet of the Khitans.
Shi would continue to rule the Later Jin until his death in 942.

References

★ 5 Dynasties and 10 States

★ Imperial China, F.W. Mote, , , Harvard University Press, ,

★ Later Jin