Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Six Dynasties is a collective noun for six Chinese dynasties during the periods of the Three Kingdoms (220 280 AD), Jin Dynasty (265 420), and Southern and Northern Dynasties (420 589). This period immediately followed the fall of the Han Dynasty in 220 AD, and was a period of disunity, instability and warfare. The period ended when Emperor Wen of Sui reunified Southern and Northern China and the Sui Dynasty began. This listing is based on the states that were founded south of the Yangtze River , with national capitals all located at Jiankang. Xu Song in Tang Dynasty wrote a book, Jiankang Shilu , that provides a historical account of Jiankang, which gave rise to this scheme of naming.