Another Research On "Fortified Walls" During The Period Of 4～(th)-5～(th) Century In Yellow River Valley

The academic circle, especially contemporary scholars, have attached certain importance to the research on"fortified walls"(FW) of Wei & Jin Dynasties and Northern & Southern Dynasties (N.Wei:386—534 A.D.;W.& E.Jin:265—420 A.D.) and they have achieved great success in this research. Some research results and methods which can serve as examples for the present study have laid foundations for research on"fortified wall"in Yellow River Valley of 4th or 5th century. However, most of the researches are not only confined to"fortified walls"of 4th-5th centuries in Yellow River Valley, but also focus on Northern& Southern Dynasties(3rd -6th century) in China and many a research overlooked the proper functions of FW in the society. Therefore, unavoidable flaws will appear in this thesis such as curtness, one-sidedness in research methods and limitation in historical documents. Given the above, based on the historical records relevant to FW, this thesis tries to carry out another research on the proper functions of FW during the period of 4th -5th century in Yellow River Valley.As early as Eastern & Western Han Dynasties, lords were compelled to establish regional forces and make use of FW, which had been used in national defense to withstand peasants'attacks and safeguard their privilege. When peasants'uprisings were beaten down, FW would find their doom in disassemblyWhen it came to the end of Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms Period, chaos caused by continual changes in politics badly destroyed the social order in Yellow River Valley. Those lords who failed to move to South of Yellow River constituted themselves kings within their respective regions. They built their castles against favorable terrains and repaired the ramparts and walls, by doing which they greatly contributed to the development of FW. Following...