7. Qin, Han, and Jin｜Three Character Classic

号（hào）三（sān）国（guó），（）迄（qì）两（liǎng）晋（jìn），（）宋（sòng）齐（qí）继（jì），（）梁（liáng）陈（chén）承（chéng）。（）

These were called the Three Kingdoms and were followed by the Western and Eastern Jin. Then came Song and Qi, followed by Liang and Chen.

The line is primarily a mnemonic for dynastic order: Three Kingdoms, Jin, and the southern dynasties.

为（wéi）南（nán）朝（cháo），（）都（dū）金（jīn）陵（líng），（）北（běi）元（yuán）魏（wèi），（）分（fēn）东（dōng）西（xī）。（）

These formed the Southern Dynasties, with their capital at Jinling. In the north, the Yuan Wei later split into Eastern and Western Wei.

The Northern and Southern Dynasties were an age of division; Jinling, today’s Nanjing, was the southern center.

宇（yǔ）文（wén）周（zhōu），（）与（yǔ）高（gāo）齐（qí），（）迨（dài）至（zhì）隋（suí），（）一（yī）土（tǔ）宇（yǔ）。（）

In the north came Northern Zhou of the Yuwen house and Northern Qi of the Gao house. By Sui, the realm was unified again.

After Northern Zhou and Northern Qi, Sui ended the long north-south division.

不（bù）再（zài）传（chuán），（）失（shī）统（tǒng）绪（xù），（）唐（táng）高（gāo）祖（zǔ），（）起（qǐ）义（yì）师（shī）。（）

Sui did not continue for long and lost the line of rule. Gaozu of Tang raised a righteous army.

Sui fell after a short rule, and Tang rose from the disorders at its end.

除（chú）隋（suí）乱（luàn），（）创（chuàng）国（guó）基（jī），（）二（èr）十（shí）传（chuán），（）三（sān）百（bǎi）载（zài）。（）

Tang removed the disorder left by Sui and laid its foundations. It passed through twenty rulers over about three hundred years.

The line records the dynasty through founding, succession, and duration.

梁（liáng）灭（miè）之（zhī），（）国（guó）乃（nǎi）改（gǎi），（）梁（liáng）唐（táng）晋（jìn），（）及（jí）汉（hàn）周（zhōu）。（）

Later Liang ended Tang, and the dynastic name changed. Then came Liang, Tang, Jin, Han, and Zhou.

This is the Five Dynasties period; the names repeat earlier dynasties but refer to later northern regimes.

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