The Northern and Southern dynasties was a period in the history of China that lasted from 420 to 589. It is sometimes considered as the latter part of a longer period known as the Six Dynasties (220 to 589). Though an age of civil war and political chaos, it was also a time of flourishing arts and culture, advancement in technology, and the spread of Mahayana Buddhism and Daoism. The period saw large-scale migration of Han Chinese to the lands south of the Yangtze.