Tang dynasty

For the band, see Tang Dynasty (band).

The Tang Dynasty (Chinese: 唐朝; pinyin: Tángcháo) (18 June 618 – 4 June 907), lasting about three centuries, preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Song Dynasty and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period in China. The dynasty was interrupted by the Second Zhou Dynasty (16 October 690 – 3 March 705) when Empress Wu Zetian seized the throne. The dynasty was founded by the Li (李) family.

The Tang Dynasty, with its capital at Chang'an (present-day Xi'an), the most populous city in the world at the time, is regarded by historians as a high point in Chinese civilization — equal to or surpassing that of the Han Dynasty - as well as a golden age of cosmopolitan culture. Its territory, acquired through the military campaigns of its early rulers, was greater than that of the Han period, and rivaled that of the later Yuan Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. The dynasty featured two of Chinese history's major prosperity periods, the Zhen'guan Prosperity (Tang Taizong) and Kaiyuan Prosperity (Tang Xuanzong's early rule). During its height, the Tang Dynasty was one of the greatest powers of the time.

Establishment

Li Yuan was a former governor in the military under the Sui Dynasty. He later rose in rebellion at the urging of his second son (later Tang Taizong). Li Yuan installed a puppet child emperor of the Sui dynasty in 617 but he eventually removed the child emperor and established the Tang dynasty in 618. Li Yuan ruled until 626 before being deposed by his son, Li Shimin, known as "Tang Taizong" in history. Taizong then set out to solve internal problems within the government, problems which had constantly plagued past dynasties. The Emperor had three administrations (省, shěng), which were obliged to draft, review, and implement policies respectively. There were also six divisions (部, bù) under the administration that implemented policy, each of which was assigned different tasks.

China under the Tang dynasty (yellow) and its neighbouring states in 660 CE.

It was during the Tang dynasty that the only recognized female ruler of China Empress Wu Zetian, made her mark. Her rule was one of only a handful of examples in which women seized power and ruled China, and was the only example of a woman to rule in her own name and right.

The 7th to the 8th century was generally considered the zenith point of the Tang dynasty. Emperor Tang Xuan Zong brought the Middle Kingdom to its golden age. Indochina in the south and central and western Asia in the west. China was the protector of Kashmir and master of the Pamirs.

Some of the major kingdoms paying tribute to the Tang Dynasty included Kashmir, Neparo (Nepal), Vietnam, Japan, Korea, over nine kingdoms located in Amu Darya and Syr Darya valley in south of mid-Asia. Nomadic kingdoms addressed the Emperor of Tang respectfully as Tian Kehan (Celestial Kaghan) (天可汗). Due to its prosperity, the Tang dynasty was also an era of development of a highly educated society. The Tang dynasty became synonymous to the birth of famous poems and literatures created by individuals such as Li Bai, Du Fu, Meng Haoran and many others. They wrote some of the most famous poems of their time which are still recited to this day.

Culture

The Tang period was the golden age of Chinese literature and art (see Tang Dynasty art). Tang poems in particular are still read today. A government system supported by a large class of Confucian literati selected through civil service examinations was perfected under Tang rule. This competitive procedure was designed to draw the best talents into government. But perhaps an even greater consideration for the Tang rulers, aware that imperial dependence on powerful aristocratic families and warlords would have destabilizing consequences, was to create a body of career officials having no autonomous territorial or functional power base. As it turned out, these scholar-officials acquired status in their local communities, family ties, and shared values that connected them to the imperial court. From Tang times until the closing days of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, scholar officials functioned often as intermediaries between the grassroots level and the government. Yulan magnolia flowers were regarded as a symbol of purity in the Tang Dynasty and were planted in the grounds of the Emperor's palace.

Stimulated by contact with India and the Middle East, the Empire saw a flowering of creativity in many fields. Buddhism, originating in India around the time of Confucius, continued to flourish during the Tang period and was adopted by the imperial family, becoming thoroughly sinicized and a permanent part of Chinese traditional culture. However, the emperor feared the power of the Buddhist monasteries and began enforcing measures against them during the 10th century. Buddhism never returned to its former height in China. Block printing made the written word available to vastly greater audiences.

Trade and the spread of culture

Through use of the Silk Road, Maritime Trade, and other methods of international trade, the Tang were able to gain many new technologies, cultural practices, rare luxury, and contemporary items. From the Middle East the Tang were able to acquire a new taste in fashion, favoring pants over robes, new improvements on ceramics, and rare ingenious paintings.

The Silk Road

Under this period of the Pax Sinica, the Silk Road, the most important pre-modern trade route, reached its golden age, whereby Persian and Sogdian merchants benefited from the commerce between East and West. At the same time, the Chinese empire welcomed foreign cultures, making the Tang capital the most cosmopolitan area in the world. Thousands of foreigners lived in the city, including Turks, Iranians, Indians and others from along the Silk Road, as well as Japanese, Koreans and Malay. This road was first opened by the Tang in Zhengguan Year 13 (639 AD) when Huo Jun Ji conquered the West, and remained open for about 60 years. It was closed after the majority of vassals rebelled, blocking the road. About 20 years later, during Xuanzong's period, the Silk Road reopened when the Tang empire took over the Western Turk lands, once again reconnecting West and East for trade. After the An Shi Rebellion, the Tang Empire lost control over many of its outer western lands, once again closing the Silk Road.

Decline

The ultimate cause of the Tang dynasty's fall is as yet unknown, but a series of rebellions and military defeats in the eighth century CE highlighted the decline of the power available to its central government.

By the 740s CE, the Arabs of Khurasan - by then under Abbasid control - had established a presence in the Ferghana basin and in Sogdiana. At the Battle of Talas in 751 CE, mercenaries under the Chinese defected, which forced Tang commander Gao Xianzhi to retreat.

Soon afterward, the An Shi Rebellion 756-761 CE destroyed the prosperity that took years to be established. It left the dynasty weakened, and during its remaining years the Tang never regained its glory days of the 7th and 8th century. The Tang were eventually driven out of Central Asia, and imperial China did not regain ground in that region until the Mongol led regime during the Yuan Dynasty.

Another legacy of the An Shi rebellion were the gradual rise of regional military governors (jiedushi) which slowly came to challenge the power of the central government. The Tang government relied on these governors and their armies for protection and to suppress locals that would take up arms against the government. In return, the central government would acknowledge the rights of these governors to maintain their army, collect taxes and even to pass on their title.

Fall of the Tang dynasty

Near the end of the Tang Dynasty, regional military governors took advantage of their increasing power and began to function more like independent regimes on their own right. At the same time, natural causes such as droughts and famine due to internal corruptions and incompetent emperors contributed to the rise of a series of rebellions. The Huang Chao rebellion of the 9th century, which resulted in the sacking of both Chang'an and Luoyang was the most destructive and took over 10 years to suppress. Although the rebellion was defeated by the Tang, it never really recovered from that crucial blow, weakening it for the future military powers to take over. In 907, after almost 300 years in power, the dynasty was ended when one of the military governors, Zhu Wen, deposed the last emperor and took the throne for himself which thereby inaugurated the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period.

Historiography about the Tang

The first classic work about the Tang is the Jiu Tang Shu (Old Book of Tang). Liu Xu (887-946 CE) of the Later Jin dynasty redacted it during the last years of his life. This was edited into another history, (labelled Xin Tang shu, the New Book of Tang) to distinguish it, by Ouyang Xiu (1007-1072) and Song Qi (998-1061) of the Song dynasty (1044-1060). Both were based upon earlier annals, now lost. (c.f. Template:PDFlink). They are both among the Twenty-Four Histories.

One of the surviving sources of the Jiu Tang shu, primarily covering up to 756 CE, is the Tongdian, which Du You presented to the emperor in 801 CE.

Other notes

• During the reign of the Tang the world population grew from about 190 million to approximately 240 million, a difference of 50 million.

References

• Benn, Charles. 2002. China's Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-517665-0.
• Schafer, Edward H. 1963. The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A study of T’ang Exotics. University of California Press. Berkeley and Los Angeles. 1st paperback edition: 1985. ISBN 0-520-05462-8.
• Schafer, Edward H. 1967. The Vermilion Bird: T’ang Images of the South. University of California Press. Berkeley and Los Angeles.
• de la Vaissière, E, Sogdian Traders. A History, Leiden : Brill, 2005. ISBN 90-04-14252-5
• The “New T’ang History” (Hsin T’ang-shu) on the History of the Uighurs. Translated and annotated by Colin Mackerras

See also

• Chinese sovereign
• Emperor of China
• History of China
• List of tributaries of Imperial China

External links

• Template:PDFlink, Chang Hsing-lang, Catholic Univ. of Peking, Bull. No. 7, Dec. 1930, pp 37-59.