Abstract:
A social atmosphere of adopting children was prevailing in the period of the Five Dynasties, in even the imperial and noble families were no exception. This atmosphere rose under the influence of the popular practice of eunuchs in the Tang Dynasty crazily adopting children to develop a closer relation than that between emperor and subjects and between superior and inferior. It also helped strengthen internal cohesion to form a closelyrelated political and military group for seizure or consolidation of the political power or for preservation of obtained political interests. The shaping and overdoing of this atmosphere had much to do with the absence of Confucian ethnics.
