<正> After the downfall of Tang dynasty, there fol-lowed a period of powerful regional rulers with nostable and strong centralized government, whichlasted for some fifty years and was called in historyas the period of "Five Reigns and Ten Kingdoms".In the year 960 A.D., Zhao Kuangyin, an officer inthe service of the reign of Later Zhou, succeeded inbringing the country into unity once again and