Northern Han in the context of "Later Han (Five Dynasties)"

The Han-Zhao (simplified Chinese: 汉赵; traditional Chinese: 漢趙; pinyin: Hàn Zhào; 304–329 AD), or Former Zhao (simplified Chinese: 前赵; traditional Chinese: 前趙; pinyin: Qián Zhào), was a dynastic state of China ruled by the Liu (Luandi) clan of Chuge-Xiongnu ethnicity during the Sixteen Kingdoms period of Chinese history. In Chinese historiography, it was given two conditional state titles, the Northern Han (北漢; Běi Hàn) for the state proclaimed in 304 by Liu Yuan, and the Former Zhao (前趙; Qián Zhào) for the state proclaimed in 319 by Liu Yao. The reference to them as separate states can be misleading, given that when Liu Yao changed the name of the state from "Han" to "Zhao" in 319, he treated the state as having been continuous from when Liu Yuan founded it in 304; instead, he de-established his imperial lineage from the Han dynasty and claimed ancestry directly from Modu Chanyu.

The reason it is also referred to as "Former Zhao" in historiography is to distinguish it from the Later Zhao founded by Shi Le in 319, which was also known officially as "Zhao". Since both the Former Zhao and Northern Han were ruled by the same family, Chinese scholars often conditionally combined them into a single Han-Zhao regime. Numerous Western texts refer to the two states separately; others referred to the Han state as the "Northern Han" (not to be confused with Northern Han of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period).

Chai Rong (Chinese: 柴榮) (27 October 921 – 27 July 959), later known as Guo Rong (郭榮), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou, was the second emperor of the Later Zhou dynasty of China, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. He reigned from 954 until his death in 959. He succeeded his uncle-in-law Guo Wei (Emperor Taizu), whose surname he had adopted.

Emperor Shizong is considered a highly successful emperor of the Five Dynasties period. He centralized military power by his reforms, and proved his military prowess by a series of victories against Northern Han, Later Shu, Southern Tang, and the Liao dynasty. Although his accomplishments were limited due to his premature death, they paved the way for the eventual unification of large parts of China proper by the Northern Song, founded by his trusted generals Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Guangyi.

The Shatuo, or the Shatuo Turks (Chinese: 沙陀突厥; pinyin: Shātuó Tūjué; also transcribed as Sha-t'o, Sanskrit Sart) were a Turkic tribe that heavily influenced northern Chinese politics from the late ninth century through the tenth century. They are noted for founding three, Later Tang, Later Jin, and Later Han, of the five dynasties and one, Northern Han, of the ten kingdoms during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. The Northern Han would later be conquered by the Song dynasty. Sometime before the 12th century, the Shatuo disappeared as a distinct ethnic group, many of them having become acculturated and assimilating into the general population around them.