Nanzhao

• Established: 738
• Fell: 902

Nanzhao was a state based in southwest China, in or around modern-day Yunnan province. Formed in 738, it successfully resisted attacks by the Tang Dynasty several times in the 740s-750s, and allied with the Tibetans against the Tang.

In the 9th century, however, Nanzhao began to experience defeats. It lost battles in Sichuan province in 829 and 874, and in the Red River Valley of Vietnam in 863, and eventually collapsed in 902. The area was soon incorporated into the Tibeto-Burmese Dali Kingdom, which then ruled for more than three hundred years, from 937 until 1253.

References

• Conrad Schirokauer, et al, A Brief History of Chinese and Japanese Civilizations, Fourth Edition, Cengage Learning (2012), 108, 117, 125.