China, San-kuo (Three Kingdoms; AD 220 - 280)

By the end of the 2nd century AD the Han Empire had virtually ceased to exist. The repression of the Taoist rebellions of the Yellow Turbans and related sects marked the beginning of a period of unbridled warlordism and political chaos, from which three independent centres of political power emerged. In the north all authority had passed into the hands of the generalissimo