Tang dynasty

TheTang dynasty(/tɑːŋ/,[tʰǎŋ];Chinese:唐朝), or theTang Empire, was animperial dynasty of Chinathat ruled from 618 to 907, with aninterregnumbetween 690 and 705. It was preceded by theSui dynastyand followed by theFive Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Historians generally regard the Tang as a high point in Chinese civilisation, and agolden ageof cosmopolitan culture.Tang territory, acquired through the military campaigns of its early rulers, rivalled that of theHan dynasty.
TheLi familyfounded the dynasty after taking advantage of a period of Sui decline and precipitating their final collapse, in turn inaugurating a period of progress and stability in the first half of the dynasty's rule. The dynasty was formally interrupted during 690–705 when EmpressWu Zetianseized the throne, proclaiming theWu Zhoudynasty and becoming the only legitimate Chineseempress regnant. TheAn Lushan rebellion(755–763) led to devastation and the decline of central authority during the latter half of the dynasty. Like the previousSui dynasty, the Tang maintained a civil-service system by recruitingscholar-officialsthroughstandardised examinationsand recommendations to office. The rise of regional military governors known asjiedushiduring the 9th century undermined this civil order. The dynasty and central government went into decline by the latter half of the 9th century; agrarian rebellions resulted in mass population loss and displacement, widespread poverty, and further government dysfunction that ultimately ended the dynasty in 907.
The Tang capital atChang'an(present-dayXi'an) was the world's most populous city for much of the dynasty's existence. Two censuses of the 7th and 8th centuries estimated the empire's population at about 50 million people,which grew to an estimated 80 million by the dynasty's end.From its numerous subjects, the dynasty raised professional and conscripted armies of hundreds of thousands of troops to contend with nomadic powers forcontrolofInner Asiaand the lucrative trade-routes along theSilk Road.Far-flung kingdoms and states paid tributeto the Tang court, while the Tang also indirectly controlled several regions through aprotectoratesystem. In addition to its politicalhegemony, the Tang exerted a powerful cultural influence over neighbouringEast Asiannations such asJapanandKorea.
Chinese cultureflourished and further matured during the Tang era. It is traditionally considered the greatest age forChinese poetry.Two of China's most famous poets,Li BaiandDu Fu, belonged to this age, contributing with poets such asWang Weito the monumentalThree Hundred Tang Poems. Many famous painters such asHan Gan,Zhang Xuan, andZhou Fangwere active, while Chinese court music flourished with instruments such as the popularpipa. Tang scholars compiled a rich variety ofhistorical literature, as well as encyclopaedias and geographical works. Notable innovations included the development ofwoodblock printing.Buddhismbecame a major influence in Chinese culture, withnative Chinese sectsgaining prominence. However, in the 840s,Emperor Wuzongenacted policies tosuppress Buddhism, which subsequently declined in influence.
TheHouse of Lihad ethnicHanorigins, and it belonged to the northwest military aristocracy prevalent during theSui dynasty.According to official Tang records, they werepaternally descendedfromLaozi, the traditional founder ofTaoism(whose personal name was Li Dan or Li Er), theHan dynastygeneralLi Guang, andLi Gao, the founder of the Han-ruledWestern Liangkingdom.This family was known as theLongxiLi lineage, which also included the prominent Tang poetLi Bai. The Tang emperors were partially ofXianbeiancestry, asEmperor Gaozu of Tang's motherDuchess Duguwas part-Xianbei.Apart from the traditional historiography, some modern historians have suggested the Tang imperial family might have modified its genealogy to conceal their Xianbei heritage.
Emperor Gaozu (born Li Yuan) was the founder of the Tang. He was previously Duke of Tang and governor ofTaiyuan, the capital of modernShanxi, during the collapse of theSui dynasty(581–618).Li had prestige and military experience, and was a first cousin ofEmperor Yang of Sui(their mothers were both one of theDugu sisters).Li Yuan rose in rebellion in 617, along with his son and his equally militant daughterPrincess Pingyang(d.623), who raised and commanded her own troops. In winter 617, Li Yuan occupiedChang'an, relegated Emperor Yang to the position ofTaishang Huang('retired emperor'), and acted asregentto the puppet child-emperorYang You.On the news of Emperor Yang's murder by GeneralYuwen Huajion June 18, 618, Li Yuan declared himself emperor of the newly founded Tang dynasty.
Emperor Gaozu ruled until 626, when he was forcefully deposed by his sonLi Shimin, the Prince of Qin. Li Shimin had commanded troops since the age of 18, had prowess with bow and arrow, sword andlanceand was known for his effective cavalry charges.Fighting a numerically superior army, he defeatedDou Jiande(573–621) atLuoyangin theBattle of Hulaoon May 28, 621.Due to fear of assassination, Li Shimin ambushed and killed two of his brothers,Li Yuanji(b.603) and crown princeLi Jiancheng(b.589), in theXuanwu Gate Incidenton July 2, 626.Shortly thereafter, his father abdicated in his favour, and Li Shimin ascended the throne. He is conventionally known by histemple nameTaizong.
Although killing two brothers and deposing his father contradicted theConfucianvalue offilial piety,Taizong showed himself to be a capable leader who listened to the advice of the wisest members of his council.In 628, Emperor Taizong held a Buddhist memorial service for the casualties of war; in 629, he had Buddhist monasteries erected at the sites of major battles so that monks could pray for the fallen on both sides of the fight.
During theTang campaign against the Eastern Turks, theEastern Turkic Khaganatewas destroyed after the capture of its ruler,Illig Qaghanby the famed Tang military officerLi Jing(571–649), who later became aChancellor of the Tang dynasty. With this victory, the Turks accepted Taizong as theirkhagan, a title rendered asTian Kehanin addition to his rule asemperor of Chinaunder the traditional title "Son of Heaven".Taizong was succeeded by his son Li Zhi (asEmperor Gaozong) in 649.
The Tang engaged inmilitary campaigns against the Western Turks, exploiting the rivalry betweenWesternandEastern Turksin order to weaken both. UnderEmperor Taizong, campaigns were dispatched in the Western Regions againstGaochangin 640,Karasahrin 644 and 648, andKuchain 648. The wars against the Western Turks continued underEmperor Gaozong, and theWestern Turkic Khaganatewas finally annexed after GeneralSu Dingfang's defeat of KhaganAshina Heluin 657. Around this time, the Tang court enjoyed visits by numerous dignitaries from foreign lands. These were depicted in thePortraits of Periodical Offering, probably painted byYan Liben(601–673).
Having entered Emperor Gaozong's court as a lowly consort,Wu Zetianultimately acceded to the highest position of power in 690, establishing the short-lived Wu Zhou. Emperor Gaozong suffered a stroke in 655, and Wu began to make many of his court decisions for him, discussing affairs of state with his councillors, who took orders from her while she sat behind a screen.When Empress Wu's eldest son, the crown prince, began to assert his authority and advocate policies opposed by Empress Wu, he suddenly died in 675. Many suspected he was poisoned by Empress Wu. Although the next heir apparent kept a lower profile, Wu accused him of plotting a rebellion in 680; he was banished and later obliged to commit suicide.
In 683, Emperor Gaozong died and was succeeded byEmperor Zhongzong, his eldest surviving son by Wu. Zhongzong tried to appoint his wife's father as chancellor: after only six weeks on the throne, he was deposed by Empress Wu in favour of his younger brother,Emperor Ruizong.This provoked a group of Tang princes to rebel in 684. Wu's armies suppressed them within two months.She proclaimed the Tianshoueraof Wu Zhou on October 16, 690,and three days later demoted Emperor Ruizong tocrown prince. He was also forced to give up his father's surname Li in favour of the Empress Wu.She then ruled as China's onlyempress regnant.
A palace coup on February 20, 705, forced Empress Wu to yield her position on February 22. The next day, her son Zhongzong was restored to power; the Tang was formally restored on March 3. She died soon after.To legitimise her rule, she circulated a document known as theGreat Cloud Sutra, which predicted that a reincarnation of theMaitreyaBuddha would be a female monarch who would dispel illness, worry, and disaster from the world.She even introduced numerous revisedwritten charactersfor the language, though they reverted to the original forms after her death.Arguably the most important part of her legacy was diminishing the hegemony of the Northwestern aristocracy, allowing people from other clans and regions of China to become more represented in Chinese politics and government.
There were many prominent women at court during and after Wu's reign, includingShangguan Wan'er(664–710), a poet, writer, and trusted official in charge of Wu's private office.In 706, the wife of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang,Empress Wei(d.710), persuaded her husband to staff government offices with his sister and her daughters, and in 709 requested that he grant women the right to bequeath hereditary privileges to their sons (which before was a male right only).Empress Wei eventually poisoned Zhongzong, whereupon she placed his fifteen-year-old son upon the throne in 710. Two weeks later,Li Longji(the later Emperor Xuanzong) entered the palace with a few followers and slew Empress Wei and her faction. He then installed his fatherEmperor Ruizong(r.710–712) on the throne.Just as Emperor Zhongzong was dominated by Empress Wei, so too was Ruizong dominated byPrincess Taiping.This ended when Princess Taiping's coup failed in 712, and Emperor Ruizong abdicated toEmperor Xuanzong.
The Tang reached its height during Emperor Xuanzong's 44-year reign, which has been characterized as a golden age of economic prosperity and pleasant lifestyles within the imperial court.Xuanzong was seen as a progressive and benevolent ruler, having abolished the death penalty in 747. Previously, all executions had to be approved by the emperor; in 730, there were only 24 executions.Xuanzong bowed to the consensus of his ministers on policy decisions and made efforts to staff government ministries fairly with different political factions.His staunch Confucian chancellorZhang Jiuling(673–740) worked to reducedeflationand increase the money supply by upholding the use of private coinage, while his aristocratic andtechnocraticsuccessorLi Linfu(d.753) favoured government monopoly over the issuance of coinage.After 737, most of Xuanzong's confidence rested in Li Linfu, his long-standing chancellor, who championed a more aggressive foreign policy employing non-Chinese generals. This policy ultimately created the conditions for a massive rebellion against Xuanzong.
Previously at the height of their power, theAn Lushan rebellion(755–763) ultimately destroyed the prosperity of the Tang.An Lushanwas a half-Sogdian, half-TurkicTang commander since 744, who had experience fighting theKhitansofManchuriawith a victory in 744, yet most of his campaigns against the Khitans were unsuccessful.He was given great responsibility inHebei, which allowed him to rebel with an army of more than 100,000 troops. After capturing Luoyang, he named himself emperor of a new, but short-lived,Yan state. Despite early victories scored by the Tang generalGuo Ziyi(697–781), the newly recruited troops of the army at the capital were no match for An Lushan's frontier veterans; the court fled Chang'an. While the heir apparent raised troops inShanxiand Xuanzong fled toSichuan, they called upon the help of theUyghur Khaganatein 756. TheUyghurkhanMoyanchurwas greatly excited at this prospect, and married his own daughter to the Chinese diplomatic envoy once he arrived, receiving in turn a Chinese princess as his bride.The Uyghurshelped recapture the Tang capital from the rebels, but they refused to leave until the Tang paid them an enormous sum of tribute in silk. EvenAbbasid Arabsassisted the Tang in putting down the rebellion.A massacre of foreign Arab and Persian Muslim merchants by Tian Shengong happened during the An Lushan rebellion in the 760Yangzhou massacre.TheTibetanstook hold of the opportunity and raided many areas under Chinese control, and even after theTibetan Empirehad fallen apart in 842, followed soon after by the UyghurKingdom of Qocho, the Tang were in no position toreconquer Central Asiaafter 763.So significant was this loss that half a century laterjinshiexamination candidates were required to write an essay on the causes of the Tang's decline.Although An Lushan was killed by one of his eunuchs in 757, this time of troubles and widespread insurrection continued until rebelShi Simingwas killed by his own son in 763.
After 710, regional military governors calledjiedushigradually came to challenge the power of the central government.After the An Lushan rebellion, the autonomous power and authority accumulated bythejiedushiin Hebeiwent beyond the central government's control. After a series of rebellions between 781 and 784 in present-day Hebei,Henan,Shandong, and Hubei, the government had to officially acknowledge thejiedushi's hereditary rule without accreditation. The Tang government relied on these governors and their armies for protection and to suppress local revolts. 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 to heirs.As time passed, these military governors slowly phased out the prominence of civil officials drafted by exams, and became more autonomous from central authority. The rule of these powerful military governors lasted until 960, when a new civil order under theSong dynastywas established. The abandonment of the equal-field system also meant that people could buy and sell land freely; many poor fell into debt because of this and were forced to sell their land to the wealthy, which led to the exponential growth of large estates.With the breakdown of the land allocation system after 755, the central Chinese state barely interfered in agricultural management and acted merely as tax collector for roughly a millennium, save a few instances such as the Song's failed land nationalisation during the 13th-century war with theMongols.
With the central government collapsing in authority over the various regions of the empire, it was recorded in 845 that bandits and river pirates in parties of 100 or more began plundering settlements along the Yangtze River with little resistance. In 858, massive floods along theGrand Canalinundated vast tracts of land and terrain of theNorth China Plain, which drowned tens of thousands of people in the process. The Chinese belief in theMandate of Heavengranted to the ailing Tang was also challenged when natural disasters led many to believe that the Tang had lost their right to rule. In 873, a disastrous harvest shook the foundations of the empire; in some areas only half of all agricultural produce was gathered, and tens of thousands faced famine and starvation. In the earlier period of the Tang, the central government was able to meet crises in the harvest—from 714 to 719, records show that the Tang government responded effectively to natural disasters by extending the price-regulationgranarysystem throughout the country. The central government was able then to build a large surplus stock of foods to ward off the rising danger of famine and increased agricultural productivity throughland reclamation.
Although these natural calamities and rebellions stained the reputation and hampered the effectiveness of the central government, the early 9th century is nonetheless viewed as a period of recovery for the Tang.The government's withdrawal from its role in managing the economy had the unintended effect of stimulating trade, as more markets with fewer bureaucratic restrictions were opened up.By 780, the old grain tax and labour service of the 7th century was replaced by a semi-annual tax paid in cash, signifying the shift to a money economy boosted by the merchant class.Cities in the southernJiangnanregion such asYangzhou,Suzhou, andHangzhouprospered the most economically during the late Tang period.Thegovernment monopoly on salt production, weakened after the An Lushan rebellion, was placed under theSalt Commission, which became one of the most powerful state agencies, run by capable ministers chosen as specialists. The commission began the practice of selling merchants the rights to buy monopoly salt, which they transported and sold in local markets. In 799, salt accounted for over half of the government's revenues.S. A. M. Adshead writes that this salt tax represents "the first time that an indirect tax, rather than tribute, levies on land or people, or profit from state enterprises such as mines, had been the primary resource of a major state".Even after the power of the central government was in decline after the mid-8th century, it was still able to function and give out imperial orders on a massive scale. TheOld Book of Tang(945) recorded that a government decree issued in 828 standardised the use of square-palletchain pumpsfor irrigation throughout the country.
The last ambitious ruler of the Tang wasEmperor Xianzong(r.805–820), whose reign was aided by the fiscal reforms of the 780s, including a government monopoly on the salt industry. He also had an effective and well-trained imperial army stationed at the capital led by his court eunuchs; this was the Army of Divine Strategy, numbering 240,000 in strength as recorded in 798. Between 806 and 819, Emperor Xianzong conducted seven major military campaigns to quell the rebellious provinces that had claimed autonomy from central authority, managing to subdue all but two of them. Under his reign, there was a brief end to the hereditaryjiedushi, as Xianzong appointed his own military officers and staffed the regional bureaucracies once again with civil officials.However, Xianzong's successors proved less capable and more interested in the leisure of hunting, feasting, and playing outdoor sports, allowing eunuchs to amass more power as drafted scholar-officials caused strife in the bureaucracy with factional parties.The eunuchs' power was not challenged following theGanlu Incident, whereEmperor Wenzong(r.826–840) failed in his plot to have them overthrown; instead, Wenzong's allies were publicly executed in Chang'an'sWest Marketon the eunuchs' command.
Decades after the An Lushan rebellion, the Tang was able to muster enough power to launch offensive military campaigns, including itsdestruction of the Uyghur Khaganatein Mongolia from 840 to 847.The Tang managed to restore indirect control over former territories as far west as theHexi CorridorandDunhuanginGansu; in 848, the generalZhang Yichao(799–872) managed to wrestle control of the region from the Tibetan Empire duringits civil war.Shortly afterwards,Emperor Xuanzong of Tang(r.846–859) acknowledged Zhang as the protector (防禦使;fángyùshǐ) of Sha Prefecture, and military governor of the newGuiyi Circuit.
In addition to factors like natural calamity andjiedushiclaiming autonomy, a rebellion byHuang Chao(874–884) devastated both northern and southern China, took an entire decade to suppress, resulted in the sacking of both Chang'an and Luoyang.In 878–879, Huang's army committeda massacrein the southern port ofGuangzhouagainst foreign Arab and Persian Muslim, Zoroastrian, Jewish and Christian merchants.A medieval Chinese source claimed that Huang Chao killed 8 million people.The Tang never recovered from Huang's rebellion, which paved the way for the later overthrow of the Tang. Large groups of bandits in the size of small armies ravaged the countryside in the last years of the Tang. They smuggled illicit salt, ambushed merchants and convoys, and even besieged several walled cities.Amid the sacking of cities and murderous factional strife among eunuchs and officials, the top tier of aristocratic families, which had amassed a large fraction of the landed wealth and official positions, was largely destroyed or marginalised.
During the last two decades of the Tang dynasty, the gradual collapse of central authority led to the rise of the rival military figuresLi KeyongandZhu Wenin northern China.Tang forces had defeated Huang's rebellion with the aid of alliedShatuo, aTurkic peopleof what is nowShanxi, led by Li Keyong. He was made ajiedushi, and laterPrince of Jin, bestowed with the imperial surname Li by the Tang court.Zhu Wen, originally a salt smuggler who served as a lieutenant under the rebel Huang Chao, surrendered to Tang forces. By helping to defeat Huang, he was renamedZhu Quanzhong("Zhu of Perfect Loyalty") and granted a rapid series of promotions to military governor of Xuanwu Circuit.
In 901, from his power base ofKaifeng, Zhu Wen seized control of the Tang capital Chang'an and with it the imperial family.By 903, he forcedEmperor Zhaozong of Tangto move the capital to Luoyang, preparing to take the throne for himself. In 904, Zhu assassinated Emperor Zhaozong to replace him with the emperor's young sonEmperor Ai of Tang. In 905, Zhu executed the brothers of Emperor Ai as well as many officials andEmpress Dowager He. In 907, the Tang dynasty was ended when Zhu deposed Ai and took the throne for himself (known posthumously as Emperor Taizu of Later Liang). He established theLater Liang, which inaugurated theFive Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. A year later, Zhu had the deposed Emperor Ai poisoned to death.
Zhu Wen's enemy Li Keyong died in 908, having never claimed thetitle of emperorout of loyalty to the Tang. His sonLi Cunxu(Emperor Zhuangzong) inherited his title Prince of Jin along with his father's rivalry against Zhu. In 923, Li Cunxu declared a "restored" Tang dynasty, theLater Tang, before toppling the Later Liang dynasty the same year. However, southern China remained splintered into various small kingdoms until most of China was reunified under theSong dynasty(960–1279). Control over parts ofnortheast ChinaandManchuriaby theLiao dynastyof theKhitan peoplealso stemmed from this period. In 905, their leaderAbaojiformed a military alliance with Li Keyong against Zhu Wen but the Khitans eventually turned against the Later Tang, helping another Shatuo leaderShi JingtangofLater Jinto overthrow Later Tang in 936.
Taizong set out to solve internal problems within the government which had constantly plagued past dynasties. Building upon the Sui legal code, he issueda new legal codethat subsequent Chinese dynasties would model theirs upon, as well as neighbouring polities inVietnam,Korea, andJapan.The earliest law code to survive was established in 653; it was divided into 500 articles specifying different crimes and penalties ranging from ten blows with a light stick, one hundred blows with a heavy rod, exile, penal servitude, or execution. The legal code distinguished different levels of severity in meted punishments when different members of the social and political hierarchy committed the same crime. For example, the severity of punishment was different when a servant or nephew killed a master or an uncle than when a master or uncle killed a servant or nephew.
The Tang Code was largely retained by later codes such as the earlyMing dynasty(1368–1644) code of 1397,yet there were several revisions in later times, such asimproved property rights for womenduring theSong dynasty(960–1279).
The Tang had three departments (省;shěng), which were obliged to draft, review, and implement policies respectively. There were also six ministries (部;bù) under the administrations that implemented policy, each of which was assigned different tasks. TheseThree Departments and Six Ministriesincluded the personnel administration, finance, rites, military, justice, and public works—an administrative model which lasted until the fall of theQing dynasty(1644–1912).
Although the founders of the Tang related to the glory of the earlierHan dynasty(202 BC – 220 AD), the basis for much of their administrative organisation was very similar to the previousNorthern and Southern dynasties. TheNorthern Zhou(6th century)fubingsystemof divisional militia was continued by the Tang, along with farmer-soldiers serving in rotation from the capital or frontier in order to receive appropriated farmland. Theequal-field systemof theNorthern Wei(4th–6th centuries) was also kept, although there were a few modifications.
Although the central and local governments kept an enormous number of records about land property in order to assess taxes, it became common practice in the Tang for literate and affluent people to create their own private documents and signed contracts. These had their own signature and that of a witness and scribe in order to prove in court (if necessary) that their claim to property was legitimate. The prototype of this actually existed since the ancient Han dynasty, while contractual language became even more common and embedded into Chinese literary culture in later dynasties.
The centre of the political power of the Tang was the capital city ofChang'an(modernXi'an), where the emperor maintained his large palace quarters and entertained political emissaries with music, sports, acrobats, poetry, paintings, anddramatic theatre performances. The capital was also filled with incredible amounts of riches and resources to spare. When the Chineseprefecturalgovernment officials travelled to the capital in 643 to give the annual report of the affairs in their districts, Emperor Taizong discovered that many had no proper quarters to rest in and were renting rooms with merchants. Therefore, Emperor Taizong ordered the government agencies in charge of municipal construction to build every visiting official his own private mansion in the capital.
Students ofConfucianstudies were candidates for theimperial examinations, which qualified their graduates for appointment to the local, provincial, and central government bureaucracies. Two types of exams were given,mingjing(明經; 'illuminating the classics') andjinshi(進士; 'presented scholar'). Themingjingwas based upon theConfucian classicsand tested the student's knowledge of a broad variety of texts. Thejinshitested a student's literary abilities in writing essays in response to questions on governance and politics, as well as in composingpoetry.Candidates were also judged on proper deportment, appearance, speech, andcalligraphy, all subjective criteria that favoured the wealthy over those of more modest means who were unable to pay tutors ofrhetoricand writing. Although a disproportionate number of civil officials came from aristocratic families, wealth and noble status were not prerequisites, and the exams were open to all male subjects whose fathers were not of theartisan or merchant classes.To promote widespread Confucian education, the Tang government established state-run schools and issued standard versions of theFive Classicswith commentaries.
Open competition was designed to draw the best talent into government. But perhaps an even greater consideration for the Tang rulers was to avoid imperial dependence on powerful aristocratic families andwarlordsby recruiting a body of career officials having no family or local power base. The Tang law code ensured equal division of inherited property among legitimate heirs, encouragingsocial mobilityby preventing powerful families from becominglanded nobilitythroughprimogeniture.The competition system proved successful, asscholar-officialsacquired status in their local communities while developing an esprit de corps that connected them to the imperial court. From Tang times until the end of the Qing dynasty in 1912, scholar-officials served as intermediaries between the people and the government. The potential of a widespread examination system was not fully realised until the succeeding Song dynasty, when the merit-driven scholar official largely shed his aristocratic habits and defined his social status through the examination system.
From the outset, religion played a role in Tang politics. In his bid for power, Li Yuan had attracted a following by claiming descent from the Taoist sageLaozi(fl.6th century BC).People bidding for office would request the prayers of Buddhist monks, with successful aspirants making donations in return. Before the persecution of Buddhism in the 9th century, Buddhism and Taoism were both accepted. Religion was central in the reign ofEmperor Xuanzong(r.712–756). The Emperor invited Taoist and Buddhist monks and clerics to his court, exalted Laozi with grand titles, wrote commentary on Taoist scriptures, and set up a school to prepare candidates for Taoist examinations. In 726, he called upon the Indian monkVajrabodhi(671–741) to performtantricrites to avert a drought. In 742, he personally held the incense burner while patriarch of theShingon schoolAmoghavajra(705–774) recited "mystical incantations to secure the victory of Tang forces".
Emperor Xuanzong closely regulated religious finances. Near the beginning of his reign in 713, he liquidated theInexhaustible Treasuryof a prominent Buddhist monastery in Chang'an which had collected vast riches as multitudes of anonymous repentants left money, silk, and treasure at its doors. Although the monastery used its funds generously, the Emperor condemned it for fraudulentbanking practices, and distributed its wealth to other Buddhist and Taoist monasteries, and to repair local statues, halls, and bridges.In 714, he forbade Chang'an shops from selling copied Buddhist sutras, giving a monopoly of this trade to the Buddhist clergy.
The Tang government attempted to create an accurate census of the empire's population, mostly for effective taxation and military conscription. The early Tang government established modest grain and cloth taxes on each household, persuading households to register and provide the government with accurate demographic information.In the official census of 609, the population was tallied at 9 million households, about 50 million people,and this number did not increase in the census of 742.Patricia Ebreywrites that nonwithstanding census undercounting, China's population had not grown significantly sincethe earlier Han dynasty, which recorded 58 million people in 2 AD.Adshead disagrees, estimating about 75 million people by 750.
In the Tang census of 754, there were 1,859 cities, 321prefectures, and 1,538countiesthroughout the empire.Although there were many large and prominent cities, the rural and agrarian areas comprised 80–90% of the population.There was also a dramatic migration fromnorthern to southern China, as the North held 75% of the overall population at the dynasty's inception, which by its end was reduced to 50%.The Chinese population would not dramatically increase until the Song dynasty, when it doubled to 100 million because of extensive rice cultivation in central and southern China, coupled with higher yields of grain sold in a growing market.
The 7th and first half of the 8th century are generally considered to be the era in which the Tang reached the zenith of its power. In this period, Tang control extended further west than any previous dynasty, stretching from north Vietnam in the south, to a point north ofKashmirbordering Persia in the west, to northern Korea in the north-east.
Some of the kingdoms paying tribute to the Tang dynasty includedKashmir, Nepal,Khotan,Kucha,Kashgar,Silla,Champa, and kingdoms located inAmu DaryaandSyr Daryavalley.Turkic nomads addressed the Tang emperor asTian Kehan.After the widespread Göktürk revolt ofShabolüe Khan(d.658) was put down atIssyk Kulin 657 bySu Dingfang(591–667), Emperor Gaozong established several protectorates governed by a Protectorate General or Grand Protectorate General, which extended the Chinesesphere of influenceas far asHeratin Western Afghanistan.Protectorate Generals were given a great deal of autonomy to handle local crises without waiting for central admission. After Xuanzong's reign,jiedushiwere given enormous power, including the ability to maintain their own armies, collect taxes, and pass their titles on hereditarily. This is commonly recognised as the beginning of the fall of Tang's central government.
By 737, Emperor Xuanzong discarded the policy of conscripting soldiers that were replaced every three years, replacing them with long-service soldiers who were more battle-hardened and efficient. It was more economically feasible as well, since training new recruits and sending them out to the frontier every three years drained the treasury.By the late 7th century, thefubingtroops began abandoning military service and the homes provided to them in the equal-field system. The supposed standard of 100muof land allotted to each family was in fact decreasing in size in places where population expanded and the wealthy bought up most of the land. Hard-pressed peasants and vagrants were then induced into military service with benefits of exemption from both taxation and corvée labour service, as well as provisions for farmland and dwellings for dependents who accompanied soldiers on the frontier.By 742, the total number of enlisted troops in the Tang armies had risen to about 500,000 men.
In East Asia, Tang military campaigns were less successful elsewhere than in previous imperial Chinese dynasties.Like the emperors of the Sui dynasty before him, Taizong established a military campaign in 644 against the Korean kingdom ofGoguryeoin theGoguryeo–Tang War; however, this led to its withdrawal in thefirst campaignbecause they failed to overcome the successful defence led by GeneralYeon Gaesomun. The Tang entered into theSilla–Tang alliance, the Chinese fought againstBaekjeand theirYamato Japaneseallies in theBattle of Baekgangin August 663, a decisive Tang–Silla victory. The Tang dynasty navy hadseveral different ship typesat its disposal to engage innaval warfare, these ships described by Li Quan in hisTaipai Yinjing(Canon of the White and Gloomy Planet of War) of 759.The Battle of Baekgang was actually a restoration movement by remnant forces of Baekje, since their kingdom was toppled in 660 by a Tang–Silla invasion, led by Chinese general Su Dingfang and Korean generalKim Yushin(595–673). In another joint invasion with Silla, the Tang army severely weakened the Goguryeo Kingdom in the north by taking out its outer forts in 645. With joint attacks by Silla and Tang armies under commanderLi Shiji(594–669), the Kingdom of Goguryeo was destroyed by 668.
Although they were formerly enemies, the Tang accepted officials and generals of Goguryeo into their administration and military, such as the brothersYeon Namsaeng(634–679) andYeon Namsan(639–701). From 668 to 676, the Tang Empire controlled northern Korea. However, Silla broke the alliance in 671, and began theSilla–Tang Warto expel the Tang forces. At the same time the Tang faced threats on its western border when a large Chinese army was defeated by the Tibetans on the Dafei River in 670. By 676, the Tang army was expelled out of Korea bya unified Silla.Following a revolt of the Eastern Turks in 679, the Tang abandoned its Korean campaigns.
Although the Tang had fought the Japanese, they still held cordial relations with Japan. There were numerousImperial embassies to Chinafrom Japan, diplomatic missions that were not halted until 894 byEmperor Uda(r.887–897), upon persuasion bySugawara no Michizane(845–903).The JapaneseEmperor Tenmu(r.672–686) even established his conscripted army on that of the Chinese model, based his state ceremonies on the Chinese model, and constructed his palace atFujiwaraon theChinese model of architecture.
Many Chinese Buddhist monks came to Japan to help further the spread of Buddhism as well. Two 7th-century monks, Zhi Yu and Zhi You, visited the court ofEmperor Tenji(r.661–672), whereupon they presented a gift of asouth-pointing chariotthat they had crafted.This vehicle employing adifferential gearwas reproduced in several models for Tenji in 666, as recorded in theNihon Shoki(720).Japanese monks also visited China; such was the case withEnnin(794–864), who wrote of his travel experiences including travels along theGrand Canal.The Japanese monkEnchin(814–891) stayed in China from 839 to 847, and again from 853 to 858, landing nearFuzhou, Fujian and setting sail for Japan fromTaizhou, Zhejiangduring his second trip to China.
The Sui and Tang carried out successful military campaigns against the steppe nomads. Chinese foreign policy to the north and west now had to deal withTurkicnomads, who were becoming the most dominant ethnic group in Central Asia.To handle and avoid any threats posed by the Turks, the Sui government repaired fortifications and received their trade and tribute missions.They sent four royal princesses to formheqinmarriage alliances with Turkic clan leaders, in 597, 599, 614, and 617. The Sui stirred trouble and conflict among ethnic groups against the Turks.As early as the Sui dynasty, the Turks had becomea major militarised force employed by the Chinese. When theKhitansbegan raiding northeast China in 605, a Chinese general led 20,000 Turks against them, distributing Khitan livestock and women to the Turks as a reward.On two occasions between 635 and 636, Tang royal princesses were married to Turk mercenaries or generals in Chinese service.Throughout the Tang dynasty until the end of 755, there were approximately ten Turkic generals serving under the Tang.While most of the Tang army was made offubingChinese conscripts, the majority of the troops led by Turkic generals were of non-Chinese origin, campaigning largely in the western frontier where the presence offubingtroops was low.Some "Turkic" troops were tribalised Han Chinese, adesinicisedpeople.
Civil war in China was almost totally diminished by 626, along with the 628 defeat of the Ordos warlordLiang Shidu; after these internal conflicts, the Tang began an offensive against the Turks.In 630, Tang armies captured areas of the Ordos Desert, modern-dayInner Mongoliaprovince, and southernMongoliafrom the Turks.After this military victory, On June 11, 631, Emperor Taizong also sent envoys to theXueyantuobearing gold and silk in order to persuade the release of enslaved Chinese prisoners who were captured during thetransition from Sui to Tangfrom the northern frontier; this embassy succeeded in freeing 80,000 Chinese men and women who were then returned to China.
While the Turks were settled in the Ordos region (former territory of theXiongnu), the Tang government took on the military policy of dominating the central steppe. As during the earlier Han dynasty, the Tang and their Turkic allies conquered and subdued Central Asia during the 640s and 650s.During Emperor Taizong's reign alone, large campaigns were launched against not only theGöktürks, but also separate campaigns against theTuyuhun, theoasis states, and theXueyantuo. Under Emperor Gaozong, a campaign led by the generalSu Dingfangwaslaunched against the Western Turksruled by Ashina Helu.
The Tang Empire competed with theTibetan Empirefor control of areas in Inner and Central Asia, which was at times settled with marriage alliances such as the marrying ofPrincess Wencheng(d.680) toSongtsän Gampo(d.649).A Tibetan tradition mentions that Chinese troops captured Lhasa after Songtsän Gampo's death,but no such invasion is mentioned in either Chinese annals or the Tibetan manuscripts ofDunhuang.
There was a string of conflicts with Tibet over territories in theTarim Basinbetween 670 and 692; in 763, the Tibetans captured Chang'an for fifteen days during the An Lushan rebellion.In fact, it was during this rebellion that the Tang withdrew its western garrisons stationed in what is nowGansuandQinghai, which the Tibetans then occupied along with the territory of what is nowXinjiang.Hostilities between the Tang and Tibet continued until they signed theChangqing Treatyin 821.The terms of this treaty, including the fixed borders between the two countries, are recorded in a bilingual inscription ona stone pillaroutside theJokhangtemple in Lhasa.
During theIslamic conquest of Persia(633–656), the son of the last ruler of theSasanian Empire,Prince Perozand his court moved to Tang China.According to theOld Book of Tang, Peroz was made the head of a Governorate of Persia in present-dayZaranj, Afghanistan. During this conquest of Persia, theRashidunCaliphUthman(r.644–656) sent an embassy to the Tang court at Chang'an.Arab sources claim Umayyad commanderQutayba ibn Muslimbriefly tookKashgarfrom China and withdrew after an agreement,but modern historians entirely dismiss this claim.The ArabUmayyad Caliphatein 715 deposedIkhshid, the king theFergana Valley, and installed a new king Alutar on the throne. The deposed king fled toKucha(seat ofAnxi Protectorate), and sought Chinese intervention. The Chinese sent 10,000 troops under Zhang Xiaosong toFerghana. He defeated Alutar and the Arab occupation force atNamanganand reinstalled Ikhshid on the throne.The Tang defeated the ArabUmayyadinvaders at theBattle of Aksu (717). The Arab Umayyad commander Al-Yashkuri and his army fled to Tashkent after they were defeated.The Turgesh thencrushed the Arab Umayyadsand drove them out. By the 740s, theArabsunder theAbbasid CaliphateinKhorasanhad reestablished a presence in theFerghanabasin and inSogdiana. At theBattle of Talasin 751,Karlukmercenaries under the Chinese defected, helping the Arab armies of the Caliphate to defeat the Tang force under commanderGao Xianzhi. Although the battle itself was not of the greatest significance militarily, this was a pivotal moment in history, as it marks the spread of Chinesepapermakinginto regions west of China as captured Chinese soldiers shared the technique of papermaking to the Arabs. These techniques ultimately reached Europe by the 12th century throughArab-controlled Spain.Although they had fought at Talas, on June 11, 758, anAbbasidembassy arrived at Chang'an simultaneously with the Uyghurs bearing gifts for the Tang emperor.In 788–789 the Chinese concluded a military alliance with theUyghurTurks who twice defeated the Tibetans, in 789 near the town ofGaochanginDzungaria, and in 791 nearNingxiaon the Yellow River.
Joseph Needhamwrites that atributary embassy came to the court of Emperor Taizong in 643from thePatriarch of Antioch.However,Friedrich Hirthand othersinologistssuch as S. A. M. Adshead have identifiedfulin(拂菻) in theOldandNew Book of Tangas theByzantine Empire, which those histories directly associated withDaqin(i.e. theRoman Empire).The embassy sent in 643 by Boduoli (波多力) was identified as Byzantine rulerConstans IIPogonatos, andfurther embassieswere recorded as being sent into the 8th century.Adshead offers a different transliteration stemming from "patriarch" or "patrician", possibly a reference to one of the actingregentsfor the young Byzantine monarch.TheOldandNew Book of Tangalso provide a description of the Byzantine capitalConstantinople,includinghow it was besiegedby the Da Shi (大食, i.e. theUmayyad Caliphate) forces ofMu'awiya I, who forced them to pay tribute to the Arabs.
Through use of the land trade along theSilk Roadand maritime trade by sail at sea, the Tang were able to acquire and gain many new technologies, cultural practices, rare luxury, and contemporary items. From Europe, the Middle East, Central and South Asia, the Tang dynasty were able to acquire new ideas in fashion, new types of ceramics, and improved silver-smithing techniques. The Tang also gradually adopted the foreign concept of stools and chairs as seating, whereas the Chinese beforehand always sat on mats placed on the floor.People of the Middle East coveted and purchased Chinese goods in bulk, including silks, porcelain, andlacquerwares.Songs, dances, and musical instruments from foreign regions became popular in China during the Tang dynasty.These musical instruments includedoboes,flutes, and small lacquered drums fromKuchain theTarim Basin, and percussion instruments from India such ascymbals.At the court there were nine musical ensembles (expanded from seven in the Sui dynasty) that played ecletic Asian music.
There was great interaction with India, a hub for Buddhist knowledge, with famous travellers such asXuanzang(d.664) visiting the South Asian state. After a 17-year trip, Xuanzang managed to bring back valuableSanskrittexts to be translated into Chinese. There was also aTurkic–Chinese dictionary available for serious scholars and students, while Turkic folk songs gave inspiration to some Chinese poetry.In the interior of China, trade was facilitated by theGrand Canaland the Tang government's rationalisation of the greater canal system that reduced costs of transporting grain and other commodities.The state also managed roughly 32,100 km (19,900 mi) ofpostal serviceroutes by horse or boat.
Although theSilk Roadfrom China to Europe and the Western world was initially formulated during the reign ofEmperor Wu(141–87 BC) during the Han, it was reopened by the Tang in 639, whenHou Junji(d.643) conquered the West, and remained open for almost four decades. It was closed after the Tibetans captured it in 678, but in 699, the Silk Road reopened when the Tang reconquered theFour Garrisons of Anxioriginally installed in 640,once again connecting China directly to the West for land-based trade.
The Tang captured the vital route through theGilgitvalley from Tibet in 722, lost it to the Tibetans in 737, and regained it under the command of the Goguryeo-Korean General Gao Xianzhi.When the An Lushan rebellion ended in 763, the Tang Empire withdrew its troops from its western lands, allowing the Tibetan Empire to largely cut off China's direct access to the Silk Road. An internal rebellion in 848 ousted the Tibetan rulers, and the Tang regained the northwestern prefectures from Tibet in 851. These lands contained crucial grazing areas and pastures for raising horses that the Tang dynasty desperately needed.
Despite the many expatriate European travellers coming into China to live and trade, many travellers, mainly religious monks and missionaries, recorded China's stringent immigrant laws. As the monk Xuanzang and many other monk travellers attested to, there were many government checkpoints along the Silk Road that examined travel permits into the Tang Empire. Furthermore, banditry was a problem along the checkpoints and oasis towns, as Xuanzang also recorded that his group of travellers were assaulted by bandits on multiple occasions.
The Silk Road also affected the art from the period. Horses became a significant symbol of prosperity and power as well as an instrument of military and diplomatic policy. Horses were also revered as a relative of the dragon.
Chinese envoys had been sailing through the Indian Ocean to states of India as early as the 2nd century BC,yet it was during the Tang dynasty that a strong Chinese maritime presence could be found in thePersian GulfandRed Sea, intoPersia,Mesopotamia(sailing up theEuphratesRiver in modern-dayIraq),Arabia, Egypt,Aksum(Ethiopia), andSomaliain theHorn of Africa.
During the Tang dynasty, thousands of foreign expatriate merchants came and lived in numerous Chinese cities to do business with China, includingPersians,Arabs,HinduIndians,Malays,Bengalis,Sinhalese,Khmers,Chams,JewsandNestorian Christiansof theNear East.In 748, the Buddhist monk Jian Zhen describedGuangzhouas a bustling mercantile business center where many large and impressive foreign ships came to dock. He wrote that "many large ships came fromBorneo, Persia, Qunglun (Java) ... with ... spices, pearls, and jade piled up mountain high",as written in theYue Jue Shu(Lost Records of the State of Yue). Relations with the Arabs were often strained: When the imperial government was attempting to quell the An Lushan rebellion, Arab and Persian pirates burned and looted Canton on October 30, 758.The Tang government reacted by shutting the port of Canton down for roughly five decades; thus, foreign vessels docked atHanoiinstead.However, when the port reopened, it continued to thrive. In 851, the Arab merchantSulaiman al-Tajirobserved the manufacturing of porcelain in Guangzhou and admired its transparent quality.He also provided a description of Guangzhou's landmarks, granaries, local government administration, some of its written records, treatment of travellers, along with the use of ceramics, rice, wine, and tea.Their presence ended in the vengefulGuangzhou massacreby the rebel Huang Chao in 878, who purportedly slaughtered thousands regardless of ethnicity.Huang's rebellion was eventually suppressed in 884.
Vessels from other East Asian states such asSilla,Bohaiand theHizen Provinceof Japan were all involved in theYellow Seatrade, which Silla of Korea dominated. After Silla and Japan reopened renewed hostilities in the late 7th century, most Japanese maritime merchants chose to set sail fromNagasakitowards the mouth of theHuai River, the Yangtze River, and even as far south as theHangzhou Bayin order to avoid Korean ships in the Yellow Sea.In order to sail back to Japan in 838, the Japanese embassy to China procured nine ships and sixty Korean sailors from the Korean wards of Chuzhou and Lianshui cities along the Huai River.It is also known that Chinese trade ships travelling to Japan set sail from the various ports along the coasts ofZhejiangandFujianprovinces.
The Chinese engaged in large-scale production for overseas export by at least the time of the Tang. This was proven by the discovery of theBelitung shipwreck, a silt-preserved shipwrecked Arabiandhowin theGaspar StraitnearBelitung, which had 63,000 pieces of Tang ceramics, silver, and gold (including aChangshabowl inscribed with a date corresponding to 826, roughly confirmed byradiocarbon datingofstar aniseat the wreck).Beginning in 785, the Chinese began to call regularly atSufalaon the East African coast in order to cut out Arab middlemen,with various contemporary Chinese sources giving detailed descriptions of trade in Africa. The official and geographerJia Dan(730–805) wrote of two common sea trade routes in his day: one from the coast of theBohai Seatowards Korea and another from Guangzhou throughMalaccatowards theNicobar Islands, Sri Lanka and India, the eastern and northern shores of the Arabian Sea to the Euphrates River.In 863, the Chinese authorDuan Chengshi(d.863) provided a detailed description of theslave trade,ivory trade, andambergristrade in a country calledBobali, which historians suggest wasBerberain Somalia.InFustat, Egypt, the fame of Chinese ceramics there led to an enormous demand for Chinese goods; hence Chinese often travelled there.From this time period, the Arab merchant Shulama once wrote of his admiration for Chinese seafaringjunks, but noted that their draft was too deep for them to enter the Euphrates River, which forced them to ferry passengers and cargo in small boats. Shulama also noted that Chinese ships were often very large, with capacities up to 700 passengers.
Both the Sui and Tang dynasties had turned away from the morefeudalculture of the preceding Northern Dynasties, in favour of staunch civilConfucianism.The governmental system was supported by a large class of Confucian intellectuals selected through either civil service examinations or recommendations. In the Tang period,TaoismandBuddhismwere commonly practised ideologies that played a large role in people's daily lives. The Tang Chinese enjoyed feasting, drinking, holidays, sports, and all sorts of entertainment, whileChinese literatureblossomed and was more widely accessible with newprintingmethods. Rich commoners and nobles who worshipped spirits wanted them to know "how important and how admirable they were", so they "wrote or commissioned their own obituaries" and buried figures along with their bodies to ward off evil spirits.
Although Chang'an had serves as the capital during the earlier Han and Jin dynasties, after subsequent destruction in warfare, it was the Sui dynasty model that comprised the Tang-era capital. The roughly square dimensions of the city had 10 km (6.2 mi) of outer walls running east to west, and more than 8 km (5.0 mi) of outer walls running north to south.The royal palace, the Taiji Palace, stood north of the city's central axis.From the large Mingde Gates mid-center on the main southern wall, a wide city avenue stretched all the way north to the central administrative city, behind which was the Chentian Gate of the royal palace, or Imperial City. Intersecting this were fourteen main streets running east to west, while eleven main streets ran north to south. These main intersecting roads formed 108 rectangular wards with walls and four gates each, each filled with multiple city blocks. The city was made famous for this checkerboard pattern of main roads with walled and gated districts, its layout even mentioned in one of Du Fu's poems.During theHeian period, cities likeHeian-kyō(present-dayKyoto) were arranged in the checkerboard street in accordance with traditional geomancy, following the Chang'an model. Of Chang'an's 108 wards, two were designated as government-supervised markets, and other space reserved for temples, gardens, ponds, etc.Throughout the entire city, there were 111 Buddhist monasteries, 41 Taoist abbeys, 38 family shrines, 2 official temples, 7 churches of foreign religions, 10 city wards with provincial transmission offices, 12 major inns, and 6 graveyards. Some city wards were literally filled with open public playing fields or the backyards of lavish mansions for playing horse polo andcuju(Chinese soccer).In 662,Emperor Gaozongmoved the imperial court to theDaming Palace, which became the political center of the empire and served as the royal residence of the Tang emperors for more than 220 years.
The Tang capital was the largest city in the world at its time, with the population of its wards and suburban countryside reaching two million inhabitants.The Tang capital was very cosmopolitan, with ethnicities ofPersia, Central Asia, Japan, Korea,Vietnam, Tibet, India, and many other places living within. Naturally, with this plethora of different ethnicities living in Chang'an, there were also many different practised religions, such asBuddhism,Nestorian Christianity, andZoroastrianism, among others.With the open access to China that theSilk Roadto the west facilitated, many foreign settlers were able to move east to China, while the city of Chang'an itself had about 25,000 foreigners living within.Exotic green-eyed, blond-hairedTocharianladies serving wine inagateandambercups, singing, and dancing at taverns attracted customers. If a foreigner in China pursued a Chinese woman for marriage, he was required to stay in China and was unable to take his bride back to his homeland, as stated in a law passed in 628 to protect women from temporary marriages with foreign envoys. Several laws enforcing segregation of foreigners from Chinese were passed during the Tang. In 779, the Tang issued an edict which forcedUyghursin the capital, Chang'an, to wear their ethnic dress, stopped them from marrying Chinese females, and banned them from passing off as Chinese.
Chang'an was the center of the central government, the home of the imperial family, and was filled with splendor and wealth. However, incidentally it was not the economic hub during the Tang dynasty. The city ofYangzhoualong theGrand Canaland close to theYangtzewas the greatest economic center during the Tang.
Yangzhou was the headquarters for the Tang government's salt monopoly, and was the greatest industrial center of China. It acted as a midpoint in shipping of foreign goods to be distributed to the major cities of the north.Much like the seaport ofGuangzhouin the south, Yangzhou had thousands of foreign traders from across Asia.
There was also the secondary capital city ofLuoyang, which was the favoured capital of the two byEmpress Wu. In 691, she had more than 100,000 families from the region around Chang'an move to Luoyang. With a population of about a million, Luoyang became the second largest city in the empire, and with its closeness to the Luo River it benefited from southern agricultural fertility and trade traffic of the Grand Canal. However, the Tang court eventually demoted its capital status and did not visit Luoyang after 743, when Chang'an's problem of acquiring adequate supplies and stores for the year was solved.As early as 736, granaries were built at critical points along the route from Yangzhou to Chang'an, which eliminated shipment delays, spoilage, and pilfering. An artificial lake used as a transshipment pool was dredged east of Chang'an in 743, where curious northerners could finally see the array of boats found in southern China, delivering tax and tribute items to the imperial court.
The Tang dynasty was agolden ageof Chinese literature and art. Over 48,900 poems penned during the Tang, representing over 2,200 authors, have survived to the present day.Skill in the composition of poetry became a required study for those wishing to pass imperial examinations,while poetry was also heavily competitive; poetry contests among guests at banquets and courtiers were common.Poetry styles that were popular in the Tang includedgushiandjintishi, with the poetLi Bai(701–762) famous for the former style, and poets likeWang Wei(701–761) andCui Hao(704–754) famous for their use of the latter.Jintishipoetry, or regulated verse, is in the form of eight-line stanzas or sevencharactersper line with a fixed pattern of tones that required the second and third couplets to be antithetical (although theantithesisis often lost in translation to other languages).Tang poems remained popular and great emulation of Tang era poetry began in the Song dynasty; in that period, Yan Yu (嚴羽;fl.1194–1245) was the first to confer the poetry of the High Tang (c.713– 766) with "canonical status within the classical poetic tradition". Yan Yu reserved the position of highest esteem among all Tang poets forDu Fu(712–770), who was not viewed as such in his own era, and was branded by his peers as an anti-traditional rebel.
TheClassical Prose Movementwas spurred in large part by the writings of Tang authorsLiu Zongyuan(773–819) andHan Yu(768–824). This new prose style broke away from the poetry tradition ofpiantiwen(駢體文; 'parallel prose') style begun in the Han dynasty. Although writers of the Classical Prose Movement imitatedpiantiwen, they criticised it for its often vague content and lack of colloquial language, focusing more on clarity and precision to make their writing more direct.Thisguwen(archaic prose) style can be traced back to Han Yu, and would become largely associated with orthodoxNeo-Confucianism.
Short story fiction and tales were also popular during the Tang, one of the more famous ones beingYingying's BiographybyYuan Zhen(779–831), which was widely circulated in his own time and by theYuan dynasty(1279–1368) became the basis forChinese opera.Timothy C. Wong places this story within the wider context of Tang love tales, which often share the plot designs of quick passion, inescapable societal pressure leading to the abandonment of romance, followed by a period of melancholy.Wong states that this scheme lacks the undying vows and total self-commitment to love found in Western romances such asRomeo and Juliet, but that underlying traditional Chinese values of indivisibility of self from one's environment, including from society) served to create the necessary fictional device of romantic tension.
Large encyclopaedias were published during the Tang: theYiwen Leijuwas compiled in 624 under chief editorOuyang Xun(557–641),Linghu Defen(582–666) andChen Shuda(d.635). By 729, the team led by scholarGautama Siddha(fl.8th century), an ethnic Indian born in Chang'an, had finished compiling theTreatise on Astrology of the Kaiyuan Era, an astrological encyclopaedia.
Chinese geographers, such asJia Dan, wrote accurate descriptions of places far beyond Tang territory. In his work written between 785 and 805, Jia described the sea route going into the mouth of thePersian Gulf, and that the medievalIranianshad erected 'ornamental pillars' in the sea that acted as lighthouse beacons for ships that might go astray.Arabic authors writing a century after Jia, such asal-Masudiandal-Maqdisi, also mentioned these structures in their accounts, confirming Jia's reports. The Tang diplomatWang Xuancetravelled toMagadha, in present-day northeast India, during the 7th century.Afterwards, he wrote theZhang Tianzhu Guotu(Illustrated Accounts of Central India), a book which contained a large body of geographical information.
Many histories of previous dynasties were compiled between 636 and 659 by court officials during and shortly after the reign ofEmperor Taizong of Tang. These included theBook of Liang,Book of Chen,Book of Northern Qi,Book of Zhou,Book of Sui,Book of Jin,History of Northern Dynastiesand theHistory of Southern Dynasties. Although not included in the officialTwenty-Four Histories, theTongdianandTang Huiyaowere nonetheless valuable written historical works of the Tang period. TheShitongwritten byLiu Zhijiin 710, was a meta-history that surveyed the tradition ofChinese historiographyto date. TheGreat Tang Records on the Western Regions, compiled byBianji, recounted the journey ofXuanzang, the Tang era's most renownedBuddhist monk.
Other important literature includedDuan Chengshi's (d.863)Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang, an entertaining collection of foreign legends and hearsay, reports on natural phenomena, short anecdotes, mythical and mundane tales, as well as notes on various subjects. The exact literary category or classification that Duan's large informal narrative would fit into is still debated among scholars and historians.
Since ancient times, some Chinese had believed infolk religionandTaoismthat incorporated many deities. Practitioners believed theTaoand the afterlife was a reality parallel to the living world, complete with its own bureaucracy and afterlife currency needed by dead ancestors. Funerary practices included providing the deceased with everything they might need in the afterlife, including animals, servants, entertainers, hunters, homes, and officials. This ideal is reflected in Tang art.This is also reflected in many short stories written in the Tang about people accidentally winding up in the realm of the dead, only to come back and report their experiences.
Buddhism, originating in India around the time ofConfucius, continued its influence during the Tang period and was accepted by some members of imperial family, becoming thoroughly sinicised and a permanent part of Chinese traditional culture. In an age beforeNeo-Confucianismand figures such asZhu Xi(1130–1200), Buddhism had begun to flourish in China during theNorthern and Southern dynasties, and became the dominant ideology during the prosperous Tang. Buddhist monasteries played an integral role in Chinese society, offering lodging for travellers in remote areas, schools for children throughout the country, and a place for urban literati to stage social events and gatherings such as going-away parties. Buddhist monasteries were also engaged in the economy, since their land property and serfs gave them enough revenues to set up mills, oil presses, and other enterprises.Although the monasteries retained 'serfs', these monastery dependents could actually own property and employ others to help them in their work, including their own slaves.
The prominent status of Buddhism in Chinese culture began to decline as the dynasty and central government declined as well during the late 8th century to 9th century. Buddhist convents andtemplesthat were exempt from state taxes beforehand were targeted by the state for taxation. In 845, Emperor Wuzong finally shut down 4,600 Buddhist monasteries along with 40,000 temples and shrines, forcing 260,000 Buddhist monks and nuns to return to secular] life;this episode would later be dubbed one of theFour Buddhist Persecutions in China. Although the ban was lifted just a few years after, Buddhism never regained its once dominant status in Chinese culture.This situation also came about through a revival of interest in native Chinese philosophies such as Confucianism and Taoism.Han Yu(786–824)—whoArthur F. Wrightstated was a "brilliantpolemicistand ardentxenophobe"—was one of the first men of the Tang to denounce Buddhism.Although his contemporaries found him crude and obnoxious, he foreshadowed the later persecution of Buddhism in the Tang, as well as the revival of Confucian theory with the rise of Neo-Confucianism of the Song dynasty.Nonetheless,Chán Buddhismgained popularity among the educated elite.There were also many famous Chan monks from the Tang era, such asMazu Daoyi,Baizhang, andHuangbo Xiyun. The sect ofPure Land Buddhisminitiated by the Chinese monkHuiyuan(334–416) was also just as popular as Chan Buddhism during the Tang.
Rivaling Buddhism was Taoism, a native Chinese philosophical and religious belief system that found its roots in theTao Te Chingand theZhuangzi. The ruling Li family of the Tang dynasty actually claimed descent from Laozi, traditionally credited as the author of theTao Te Ching.On numerous occasions where Tang princes would become crown prince or Tang princesses taking vows as Taoist priestesses, their lavish former mansions would be converted into Taoistabbeysand places of worship.Many Taoists were associated withalchemyin their pursuits to find anelixir of immortalityand a means to create gold from concocted mixtures of many other elements. Although they never achieved their goals in either of these futile pursuits, they did contribute to the discovery of new metal alloys, porcelain products, and new dyes. The historian Joseph Needham labelled the work of the Taoist alchemists as "protoscience rather than pseudoscience".However, the close connection between Taoism and alchemy, which somesinologistshave asserted, is refuted byNathan Sivin, who states that alchemy was just as prominent (if not more so) in the secular sphere and practised more often by laymen.
The Tang dynasty also officially recognised various foreign religions. TheAssyrian Church of the East, otherwise known as theNestorian Churchor theChurch of the East in China, was given recognition by the Tang court. In 781, theNestorian Stelewas created in order to honour the achievements of their community in China. A Christian monastery was established in Shaanxi province where theDaqin Pagodastill stands, and inside the pagoda there is Christian-themed artwork. Although the religion largely died out after the Tang, it was revived in China following theMongol invasionsof the 13th century.
Although theSogdianshad been responsible for transmitting Buddhism to China from India during the 2nd–4th centuries, soon afterwards they largely converted toZoroastrianismdue to their links toSasanianPersia. Sogdian merchants and their families living in cities such as Chang'an, Luoyang, and Xiangyang usually built a Zoroastrian temple once their local communities grew larger than 100 households.Sogdians were also responsible for spreadingManicheismin China and theUyghur Khaganate. The Uyghurs built the first Manichean monastery in China in 768; in 843, the Tang government ordered that the property of all Manichean monasteries be confiscated in response to the outbreak of war with the Uyghurs. With the blanket ban on foreign religions two years later, Manicheism was driven underground and never flourished in China again.
More than earlier periods, the Tang era was renowned for the time reserved for leisure activities, especially among the upper classes. Many outdoor sports and activities were enjoyed during the Tang, includingarchery,hunting,horsepolo,cuju(soccer),cockfighting,and eventug of war.Government officials were granted vacations during their tenure in office. Officials were granted 30 days off every three years to visit their parents if they lived 1,000 mi (1,600 km) away, or 15 days off if the parents lived more than 167 mi (269 km) away (travel time not included). Officials were granted nine days of vacation time for weddings of a son or daughter, and either five, three, or one days/day off for thenuptialsof close relatives (travel time not included). Officials also received a total of three days off for their son's capping initiation rite into manhood, and one day off for the ceremony of initiation rite of a close relative's son.
Traditional Chinese holidayssuch asChinese New Year,Lantern Festival,Cold Food Festival, and others were universal holidays. In Chang'an, there was always lively celebration, especially for theLantern Festivalsince the city's nighttime curfew was lifted by the government for three days straight. Between 628 and 758, the imperial throne bestowed a total of sixty-nine grand carnivals nationwide, granted by the emperor in the case of special circumstances such as important military victories, abundant harvests after a long drought or famine, the granting of amnesties, or the instalment of a new crown prince.For special celebration in the Tang era, lavish and gargantuan-sized feasts were sometimes prepared, as the imperial court had staffed agencies to prepare the meals. This included a prepared feast for 1,100 elders of Chang'an in 664, a feast held for 3,500 officers of the Divine Strategy Army in 768, and one in 826 for 1,200 members of the imperial family and women of the palace.Alcohol consumption was a prominent facet of Chinese culture; people during the Tang drank for nearly every social event. An 8th-century court official allegedly had a serpent-shaped structure called the 'ale grotto'  built on the ground floor using a total of 50,000 bricks, which featured bowls from which each of his friends could drink.
In general, garments were made from silk, wool, or linen depending on your social status and what you could afford. Furthermore, there were laws that specified what kinds of clothing could be worn by whom. The color of the clothing also indicated rank. During this period, China's power, culture, economy, and influence were thriving. As a result, women could afford to wear loose-fitting, wide-sleeved garments. Even lower-class women's robes had sleeves four to five feet wide.
Concepts of women's social rights and social status during the Tang era were notably liberal-minded for the period. However, this was largely reserved for urban women of elite status, as men and women in the rural countryside laboured hard in their different set of tasks; with wives and daughters responsible for more domestic tasks of weaving textiles and rearing ofsilk worms, while men tended to farming in the fields.There were many women in the Tang era who gained access to religious authority by taking vows as Taoist priestesses.
In Chang'an, ordinary courtesans inhabited theNorth Hamlet.They were generally knowledgeable in the rules of drinking games, and received particular training in table manners.While renowned for their politeness, courtesans were reputed to dominate conversations among elite men, and as being unafraid to openly criticise the rudeness of prominent male guests, including for talking too much, too loudly, or for boasting of their accomplishments.Courtesans were sometimes beaten by theirprocuring madames.
Gējìs, or professional singing courtesans, were culturally prominent, and joined talent agencies calledjiaofang. The emperor selected particularly talented women from the outerjiaofangto form the spring court, who were supplemented by courtesans from other troupes.During the Tang, singing courtesans who were also talented in the poetry.In addition to singing, some courtesans composed their own songs, and even popularised a new form of lyrical verse that incorporated quotations of famous historical figures.
It was fashionable for women to have full figures; men enjoyed the presence of assertive, active women. The foreign horse-riding sport ofpolofrom Persia became a wildly popular trend among the Chinese elite, and women often played the sport (as glazedearthenwarefigurines from the time period portray).The preferred hairstyle for women was to bunch their hair up like "an elaborate edifice above the forehead",while affluent ladies wore extravagant head ornaments, combs, pearl necklaces, face powders, and perfumes.A 671 law attempted to force women to wear hats with veils again in order to promote decency, but these laws were ignored as some women started wearing caps and even no hats at all, as well as men's riding clothes and boots, and tight-sleeved bodices.
There were some prominent court women after the era ofEmpress Wu, such asYang Guifei(719–756), who had Emperor Xuanzong appoint many of her relatives and cronies to important ministerial and martial positions.
During the earlierNorthern and Southern dynasties(420–589), and perhaps even earlier, the drinking of tea (Camellia sinensis) became popular in southern China. Tea was viewed then as a beverage of tasteful pleasure and with pharmacological purpose as well.During the Tang dynasty, tea became synonymous with everything sophisticated in society. The poetLu Tong(790–835) devoted most of his poetry to his love of tea. The 8th-century authorLu Yu, known as the Sage of Tea, wrote a treatise on the art of drinking tea calledThe Classic of Tea.Although wrapping paper had been used in China since the 2nd century BC, during the Tang it was used as folded and sewn square bags to hold and preserve the flavor of tea leaves. This followed many other uses for paper such as the first recorded use of toilet paper in 589 by the scholar-officialYan Zhitui(531–591), confirmed in 851 by an Arab traveller who remarked that the Tang lacked cleanliness because they relied on toilet paper instead of washing themselves with water.
In ancient times, the Chinese had outlined the five most basic foodstuffs known as the five grains:sesamum,legumes, wheat,panicledmillet, andglutinousmillet. TheMing dynastyencyclopedistSong Yingxingnoted that rice was not counted among the five grains from the time of the legendary and deified Chinese sageShennong(the existence of whom Yingxing wrote was "an uncertain matter") into the 2nd millennium BC, because the properly wet and humid climate in southern China for growing rice was not yet fully settled or cultivated by the Chinese.Song Yingxing also noted that in the Ming dynasty, seven tenths of civilians' food was rice. During the Tang dynasty rice was not only the most important staple in southern China, but had also become popular in the north where central authority resided.
During the Tang dynasty, wheat replaced the position of millet and became the main staple crop. As a consequence, wheat cake shared a considerable amount in the staple of Tang.There were four main kinds of cake: steamed cake, boiled cake, pancake, and Hu cake. Steamed cake was consumed commonly by both civilians and aristocrats. Likerougamoin modern Chinese cuisine, steamed cake was usually stuffed with meat and vegetables. Shops and packmen regularly sold inexpensive steamed cake on the streets of Chang’an.Boiled cake was the staple of the Northern Dynasties, and it kept its popularity in the Tang dynasty. It included a wide variety of dishes similar to modernwonton, noodles, and many other kinds of food that soak wheat in water. While aristocrats favoured wonton, civilians usually consumed noodles and noodle slice soup that were easier to produce.Pancakes was rare in China before the Tang, when it gained popularity.Food shops in Tang cities such as Chang'an commonly sold both pancakes anddumplings.Hu cake was extremely popular during the Tang.Hu cake was toasted in the oven, covered withsesame seeds, and served at taverns, inns and shops. Japanese Buddhist monk Ennin observed that Hu cake was popular among all of China's civilians.
During the Tang, the many common foodstuffs and cooking ingredients in addition to those already listed were barley, garlic, salt, turnips, soybeans, pears, apricots, peaches, apples, pomegranates, jujubes, rhubarb, hazelnuts, pine nuts, chestnuts, walnuts, yams, taro, etc. The various meats that were consumed included pork, chicken,lamb(especially preferred in the north),sea otter, bear (which was hard to catch, but there were recipes for steamed, boiled, and marinated bear), and evenBactrian camels.In the south along the coast meat from seafood was by default the most common, as the Chinese enjoyed eating cookedjellyfishwithcinnamon,Sichuan pepper,cardamom, andginger, as well asoysterswith wine, friedsquidwith ginger and vinegar,horseshoe crabsandred swimming crabs,shrimpandpufferfish, which the Chinese called "river piglet".
From the trade overseas and over land, the Chinese acquired peaches fromSamarkand, date palms, pistachios, and figs from Persia,pine nutsandginsengroots from Korea andmangoesfrom Southeast Asia.In China, there was a great demand for sugar; during the reign ofHarshaover northern India (r.606–647), Indian envoys to the Tang brought two makers of sugar who successfully taught the Chinese how to cultivatesugarcane.Cotton also came from India as a finished product fromBengal, although it was during the Tang that the Chinese began to grow and process cotton, and by theYuan dynastyit became the prime textile fabric in China.
Some foods wereoff-limits, as the Tang court encouraged peoplenot to eat beef. This was due to the role of the bull as a valuableworking animal. From 831 to 833, Emperor Wenzong even banned the slaughter of cattle on the grounds of his religious convictions to Buddhism.
Methods of food preservation were important, and practised throughout China. The common people used simple methods of preservation, such as digging deep ditches and trenches,brining, and salting their foods.The emperor had large ice pits located in the parks in and around Chang'an for preserving food, while the wealthy and elite had their own smaller ice pits. Each year the emperor had labourers carve 1000 blocks of ice from frozen creeks in mountain valleys, each block with dimensions 0.9 m × 0.9 m × 1.1 m (2 ft 11 in × 2 ft 11 in × 3 ft 7 in) . Frozen delicacies such as chilled melon were enjoyed during the summer.
Technology during the Tang period was built also upon the precedents of the past. Previous advancements in clockworks and timekeeping included the mechanical gear systems ofZhang Heng(78–139) andMa Jun(fl.3rd century), which gave the Tang mathematician, mechanical engineer, astronomer, and monkYi Xing(683–727) inspiration when he invented the world's first clockworkescapementmechanism in 725.This was used alongside awater clockandwaterwheelto power a rotatingarmillary spherein representation of astronomical observation. Yi Xing's device also had a mechanically timed bell that was struck automatically every hour, and a drum that was struck automatically every quarter-hour; essentially, astriking clock. Yi Xing'sastronomical clockand water-powered armillary sphere became well known throughout the country, since students attempting to pass the imperial examinations by 730 had to write an essay on the device as an exam requirement.However, the most common type of public and palace timekeeping device was the inflow clepsydra. Its design was improvedc.610by the Sui dynasty engineers Geng Xun and Yuwen Kai. They provided asteelyard balancethat allowed seasonal adjustment in thepressure headof the compensating tank and could then control the rate of flow for different lengths of day and night.
There were many other mechanical inventions during the Tang era. These included a 0.9 m (2 ft 11 in) tall mechanical wine server created during the early 8th century in the shape of an artificial mountain, carved out of iron and rested on alacquered-wooden tortoise frame. This intricate device used a hydraulic pump that siphoned wine out of metaldragon-headed faucets, as well as tilting bowls that were timed to dip wine down, by force of gravity when filled, into an artificial lake that had intricate iron leaves popping up as trays for placing party treats.Furthermore, as the historian Charles Benn describes it:
Yet the use of a teasing mechanical puppet in this wine-serving device wasn't exactly a novel invention of the Tang, since the use of mechanical puppets in China date to theQin dynasty(221–206 BC). In the 3rd centuryMa Junhad an entire mechanical puppet theatre operated by the rotation of a waterwheel.There are many stories ofautomatonsused in the Tang, including general Yang Wulian's wooden statue of a monk who stretched his hands out to collect contributions; when the number of coins reached a certain weight, the mechanical figure moved his arms to deposit them in a satchel.This weight-and-lever mechanism was exactly like Heron's pennyslot machine.Other devices included one by Wang Ju, whose "wooden otter" could allegedly catch fish; Needham suspects a spring trap of some kind was employed here.
In the realm of structural engineering and technicalChinese architecture, there were also government standard building codes, outlined in the early Tang building codeYingshan Ling. Fragments of this book have survived in theTang Lü(Tang Code), while the Song dynasty architectural manual of theYingzao FashibyLi Jie(1065–1101) in 1103 is the oldest existing technical treatise on Chinese architecture that has survived in full. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong (712–756), there were 34,850 registered craftsmen serving the state, managed by an agency for palace buildings.
Woodblock printingmade the written word available to vastly greater audiences. One of the world's oldest surviving printed documents is a miniature Buddhistdharanisutra unearthed at Xi'an in 1974, and dated roughly from 650 to 670.TheDiamond Sutrais the first full-length book printed at regular size, complete with illustrations embedded with the text and precisely dated to 868.Among the earliest documents to be printed were Buddhist texts as well as calendars, the latter essential for calculating and marking which days were auspicious and which days were not.With so many books coming into circulation for the general public, literacy rates could improve, along with the lower classes being able to obtain cheaper sources of study. Therefore, there were more lower-class people seen entering the Imperial Examinations and passing them by the later Song dynasty.Although the laterBi Sheng'smovable typeprinting in the 11th century was innovative for his period, woodblock printing that became widespread in the Tang remained the dominantmethod of printing in Chinauntil the more advancedprinting pressfrom Europe became widely accepted and used in East Asia.The first use of theplaying cardduring the Tang dynasty was an auxiliary invention of the new age of printing.
Incartography, the Tang made further advances beyond the standards of the Han. When the Tang chancellorPei Ju(547–627) was working for the Sui dynasty as a Commercial Commissioner in 605, he created a well-known gridded map with agraduated scalein the tradition ofPei Xiu(224–271).The Tang chancellorXu Jingzong(592–672) was also known for his map of China drawn in 658. In 785, theEmperor Dezonghad the geographer and cartographerJia Dan(730–805) complete a map of China and her former colonies in Central Asia. Upon its completion in 801, the map was 9.1 m (30 ft) in length and 10 m (33 ft) in height, mapped out on a grid scale of one inch equalling one hundredli.A Chinese map of 1137 is similar in complexity to the one made by Jia Dan, carved on a stone stele with a grid scale of 100li.The only Tang-era maps that have survived arestar charts, despite the earliestextant terrain maps of Chinafrom the earlierstate of Qin.
The Chinese of the Tang era were interested in the benefits of officially classifying themedicinesused inpharmacology. In 657,Emperor Gaozong of Tang(r.649–683) commissioned an officialmateria medica, complete with text and illustrated drawings for 833 different medicinal substances.In addition to compiling pharmacopeias, the Tang fostered learning in medicine by upholding imperial medical colleges, state examinations for doctors, and publishing forensic manuals for physicians.Authors of medicine in the Tang include Zhen Chuan (d.643) andSun Simiao(581–682); the former was the first to identify in writing that patients with diabetes had an excess of sugar in their urine, and the latter was the first to recognise that diabetic patients should avoid consuming alcohol and starchy foods. As written by Zhen Chuan and others in the Tang, thethyroidglands of sheep and pigs were successfully used to treatgoitres; thyroid extracts were not used to treat patients with goitre in the West until 1890.The use of thedental amalgam, manufactured from tin and silver, was first introduced in the medical textXinxiu bencaowritten by Su Gong in 659.
Chinese scientists of the Tang period employed complex chemical formulas for an array of different purposes, often found through experiments of alchemy. These included a waterproof and dust-repelling cream orvarnishfor clothes and weapons, fireproof cement for glass and porcelain wares, a waterproof cream applied to silk clothes of underwater divers, a cream designated for polishing bronze mirrors, and many other useful formulas.Porcelain was invented in China during the Tang, although many types of glazed ceramics preceded it.
Since the time of the Han, the Chinese had drilled deepboreholesto transport natural gas frombamboo pipelinesto stoves wherecast ironevaporation pans boiled brine to extract salt.During the Tang dynasty, agazetteerof Sichuan province stated that at one of these 182 m (597 ft) 'fire wells', men collected natural gas into portable bamboo tubes which could be carried around for dozens of kilometres and still produce a flame.These were essentially the firstgas cylinders; Robert Temple assumessome sort of tapwas used for this device.
The inventorDing Huan(fl.180) of the Han dynasty invented a rotary fan for air conditioning.In 747,Emperor Xuanzonghad a "Cool Hall" built in the imperial palace, whichTang Yulindescribed as having water-powered fan wheels for air conditioning as well as rising jet streams of water from fountains.During the subsequent Song dynasty, written sources mentioned the rotary fan as even more widely used.
The first classic work about the Tang is theOld Book of Tangby Liu Xu et al. of theLater Jin. This was edited into another history (labeled theNew Book of Tang) by the Song historiansOuyang Xiu, Song Qi, et al. Both were based on earlier annals, now lost.Both of them also rank among theTwenty-Four Historiesof China. One of the surviving sources of theOld Book of Tang, primarily covering up to 756, is theTongdian, whichDu Youpresented to the emperor in 801. The Tang period was placed into the enormous 294-volumeuniversal historytext of theZizhi Tongjian, edited, compiled, and completed in 1084 by a team of scholars under the Song dynasty ChancellorSima Guang. This historical text covered the history of China from the beginning of theWarring Statesin 403 BC until the beginning of the Song dynasty in 960.