through the special social conditions created by the "Later Liang"
dynasty: the Liang, who had come from the lower classes of the
population, had driven the gentry into the arms of the Sha-t'o Turks. As
soon as the upstarts, in so far as they had not fallen again or been
exterminated, had more or less assimilated themselves to the old gentry,
and on the other hand the leaders of the Sha-t'o had become numerically
too weak, there was a possibility of resuming the old form of rule.

There had been certain changes in this period. The north-west of China,
the region of the old capital Ch'ang-an, had been so ruined by the
fighting that had gone on mainly there and farther north, that it was
eliminated as a centre of power for a hundred years to come; it had been
largely depopulated. The north was under the rule of the Kitan: its
trade, which in the past had been with the Huang-ho basin, was now
perforce diverted to Peking, which soon became the main centre of the
power of the Kitan. The south, particularly the lower Yangtze region and
the province of Szechwan, had made economic progress, at least in
comparison with the north; consequently it had gained in political
importance.

One other event of this time has to be mentioned: the great persecution
of Buddhism in 955, but not only because 30,336 temples and monasteries
were secularized and only some 2,700 with 61,200 monks were left.
Although the immediate reason for this action seems to have been that
too many men entered the monasteries in order to avoid being taken as
soldiers, the effect of the law of 955 was that from now on the
Buddhists were put under regulations which clarified once and for ever
their position within the framework of a society which had as its aim to
define clearly the status of each individual within each social class.
Private persons were no more allowed to erect temples and monasteries.