During the 4th and the 5th century Ho-hsi or theregions west of the Yellow River were occupied bythe five liangs (五涼), and when in these lands theChinese scholars from Chungchou(中洲), after the fallof Loyang to the barbarous Huns in 311, took refuge,the spreading of both Confucianism and Buddhism inthese regions was at the zenith. In order to findout the reasons why such activities should haveflourished in these frontier lands, we must look intothe agricultural and educational development in thefrontier-cities which had already started since theearly Han and was further encouraged during theperiod of the Ts'ao-wei.
Scholars of the past days used to emphasize thefact that the activities of the Confucianist scholarsin Ho-hsi helped greatly in the establishment of boththe Sui and T'ang governing powers. However, theauthor of this arrticle thinks that there was somerelationship between the economic background and theConfucianist, Buddhist activities, hence heelaborates his points with substantial materialsin this article.
