Southern Tang

Tang 唐
937–976
The Southern Tang territorial peak in 951[1]
Capital	Jinling, Guangling[2] (briefly Nanchang)[3]
Common languages	Middle Chinese
Government	Monarchy
Emperor/King
• 937–943	Li Bian
• 943–961	Li Jing
• 961–976	Li Yu
Historical era	Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period
• Overthrow of the Yang Wu dynasty	937
• Assumption of the name "Tang"	939
• Conquest of Min	945
• Conquest of Ma Chu	951
• Forced to cede Huainan and become a vassal of Later Zhou	958
• Annexed by the Northern Song dynasty	976
Currency	Chinese coin Chinese cash
Preceded by Succeeded by Yang Wu Min Ma Chu Northern Song
Today part of	China

Southern Tang (Chinese: 南唐; pinyin: Nán Táng) was a dynastic state of China that existed during Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Located in southern China, the Southern Tang proclaimed itself to be the successor of the Tang dynasty. The capital was located at Nanjing in present-day Jiangsu Province. At its territorial peak in 951,^[1] the Southern Tang controlled the whole of modern Jiangxi, and portions of Anhui, Fujian, Hubei, Hunan, and Jiangsu provinces.^[4]

The Southern Tang was founded by Li Bian in 937, when he overthrew emperor Yang Pu of Wu. He largely maintained peaceable relations with neighboring states. His son Li Jing did not follow this foreign policy, conquering the Min and Ma Chu dynasties in 945 and 951 respectively.

The Later Zhou dynasty invaded the Southern Tang domain in 956 and defeated them by 958. Li Jing was forced to become a vassal of the Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou, cede all territory north of the Yangtze River, and relinquish his title of emperor. In 960, the Southern Tang became a vassal of the newly established Northern Song dynasty. After the Emperor Taizu of Song had defeated the Later Shu and the Southern Han, he ordered the conquest of the Southern Tang, which was completed in 975.