A lineage beyond the river

Wang Danhu, a woman from the same generation as Wang Xizhi's family, died at 58. Her epitaph makes no mention of a husband, suggesting she may never have married. Yet her burial beside her father indicates that she held high status within the clan, according to studies of burial customs. Gilt gold jewelry and elixirs found in her tomb, now on display, may also hint at a life of considerable privilege.

"We cannot excessively romanticize that dynasty as if it consisted only of nobles living poetic lives," Zhang says.

"Politics was often brutal, and many ordinary migrants endured great hardship.

"However, thanks to the northern immigrants, production methods in the South were greatly improved," Zhang adds. "China's economic center also began shifting southward. That trend continued for centuries and laid the foundation for the strong economic power of Jiangnan today."

As the late historian Tian Yuqing wrote in the concluding chapter of his landmark book, The Politics of the Powerful Families During the Eastern Jin: "Winners of historical movements are by no means any powerful families. When the movement ended, they all disappeared into history.

"The truly valuable legacies were the development of Jiangnan and its refined culture ... These were the achievements of the people."

After the Eastern Jin ended, four successive dynasties, collectively known as the Southern Dynasty (420-589), continued to establish their capitals in Nanjing.

The standoff between North and South continued until the Sui Dynasty (581-618) finally crossed the Yangtze River and reunified China. This paved the way for the Tang Dynasty (618-907), one of the high points of ancient China's national strength and culture.

"During those years of division, people here united in the face of crisis and spared no effort to build Nanjing and Jiangnan," Zhang says. "That actually created an important foundation for national unity."

The professor adds: "Here, the culture of the Central Plains was preserved, developed, and transformed. Once China was reunified, the social systems of Jiangnan fed back into the Central Plains and contributed to national governance in many ways. Chinese civilization thus reached an even higher level."