建國

唐朝末年，劉謙在嶺南的封州（今廣東封開）任刺史，擁兵過萬，戰艦百餘。劉謙死後，其長子劉隱繼承父職。唐天祐二年（905年），劉隱任清海軍（嶺南東道）節度使。907年，劉隱受後梁封為彭郡王，909年改封為南平王，次年又改封為南海王。劉隱死後，其弟劉龑（又名劉岩）襲封南海王。劉龑憑藉父兄在嶺南的基業，于後梁貞明三年（917年）在番禺（今廣州，號興王府）稱帝，國號「大越」。次年，劉龑以漢朝劉氏後裔的身份改國號為「漢」，史稱南漢，以別于北漢。

政治

劉龑迷信，他非常喜歡《周易》，年號的改變，以及名字的變動，原因都是算卦所致。南漢、南唐曾經是友好鄰邦，潘佑《為李後主與南漢後主書》稱兩國「情若弟兄，義同交契」。南漢末年政治黑暗，「作燒煮剝剔、刀山劍樹之刑，或令罪人鬥虎抵象。又賦斂煩重，人不聊生。」，邕州「民入城者，人輸一錢」，「置媚川都，定其課，令入海五百尺採珠。所居宮殿以珠、玳瑁飾之。陳延壽作諸淫巧，日費數萬金。」

大有十年（937年），南漢的交州發生兵變，屬將矯公羨殺死了主管官員，割據一方，另一屬將吳權領兵攻打矯公羨，矯公羨便求救于劉龑，劉龑封兒子劉弘操為交王，然後領兵進攻吳權，結果被吳權打敗，劉弘操陣亡。吳權從此占有了交州，吳權建立的王朝即越南吳朝，越南由此正式從中國獨立出去。

乾和十四年，周世宗遣使通好，南漢不把中原王朝放在眼裡，「館接者遺茉莉，文其名曰小南強」。大寶十三年，宋太祖授意南唐後主遣使遊說南漢歸宋，後主派陳省躬出使南漢，遊說南漢向宋稱臣，劉鋹不從。不久，宋以潭州防禦使潘美為賀州道行營兵馬都總管，朗州團練使尹崇珂為副，發兵攻南漢。十四年二月，南漢亡。

經濟

南漢是一個商業氣息濃鬱的國家，「嶺北行商至國都，必召示之誇其富」，「每見北人，盛誇嶺海之強」。馬端臨謂：「宋興，而吳、蜀、江南、荊湖、南粵，皆號富強」。錢多為主，錢少為奴視為一般的準則。

文化

劉鋹時，日與波斯女等大宮中游宴，「無名之費，日有千萬」，其官制則有特殊的規定，科舉被錄取者，若要做官必須先淨身，也就是閹割。在劉鋹看來，百官們有家有室，有妻兒老小，肯定不能對皇上盡忠。

君主

君主列表

君主世系圖

皇陵：

• 昭陵： 一九五四年出土，位於今天廣州市蘿崗區，發掘完成後，已埋封

• 德陵

• 康陵

（ 德陵及康陵於二零零四年發掘，如今已建成博物館，並對外開放 ）

相關條目

• 靜海軍節度使（交趾政權）

• 南漢二陵、南漢昭陵

外部鏈接

Founding of the Southern Han

Liu Yin was named regional governor and military officer by the Tang court in 905. Though the Tang fell two years later, Liu did not declare himself the founder of a new kingdom as other southern leaders had done. He merely inherited the title of Prince of Nanping in 909.

It was not until Liu Yin's death in 917 that his brother, Liu Yan, declared the founding of a new kingdom, which he initially called "Yue" (越); he changed the name to Han (漢) in 918. This was because his surname Liu (劉) was the imperial surname of the Han dynasty and he claimed to be a descendant of that famous dynasty. The kingdom is often referred to as the Southern Han Dynasty throughout China's history. It attempted but failed to annex the independent polity of Jinghai which was controlled by the Vietnamese.

Territorial extent

With its capital at present-day Guangzhou, the domains of the kingdom spread along the coastal regions of present-day Guangdong, Guangxi and the island of Hainan. It had borders with the kingdoms of Min, Chu and the Southern Tang as well as the non-Chinese kingdoms of Dali. The Southern Tang occupied all of the northern boundary of the Southern Han after Min and Chu were conquered by the Southern Tang in 945 and 951 respectively.

War with Jinghai

During the late 9th century as the Tang dynasty weakened, local Vietnamese chieftains began taking control of Jinghai (northern Vietnam from the Chinese rulers. Southern Han had campaigned twice against the Vietnamese in 931 and 938 in attempt to add the Vietnamese territories to their realm, but failed both.

Fall of the Southern Han

The Five Dynasties ended in 960 when the Song Dynasty was founded to replace the Later Zhou. From that point, the new Song rulers set themselves about to continue the reunification process set in motion by the Later Zhou. Through the 960s and 970s, the Song increased its influence in the south until finally it was able to force the Southern Han dynasty to submit to its rule in 971.

Rulers

Rulers family tree