Battle of the Fei River: Fu Jian fails to reunify China

Category
War
Place
China
Date
383
Reference
Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"The battle is considered to be one of the most significant battles in the history of China. The aftermath of the battle includes the Former Qin empire falling into massive civil war and its eventual destruction, ensuring the survival of Eastern Jin and other Chinese regimes south of the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang)." Wikipedia] "In the latter half of the fourth century, the most ambitious of the northern “barbarians” was Fu Jian, chief of the Qianqin. Fu Jian had aspirations to be truly Chinese. He had founded Confucian academies in his state and had reformed the government of his kingdom so that it was run along Chinese lines; his capital city was the ancient Chinese capital of Chang’an; his chief minister, the ruthless Wang Meng, was Chinese. As soon as he inherited the rule of the Qianqin, in 357, Fu Jian began to launch attack after attack on the nearby Sixteen Kingdoms. After twenty years of fighting, he had absorbed most of them, almost uniting the north of China under a single crown; and he intended to absorb the Jin as well. . . . To the shock of both kings, the smaller Jin force triumphed. With that defeat, Fu Jian’s bid to reunify China was over." [Bauer: Medieval World, p. 18]

This event is linked to the following periods

PeriodMiner
Begin
End
Category
Period of North-South Disunion
220
589
Chinese