page_title: Economic history of China before 1912
section_title: Tang dynasty (618–907)
hierarchical_section_title: Economic history of China before 1912 / Early imperial era / Tang dynasty (618–907)
caption_attribution_description: English: Palace Museum, Beijing. Sancai camel with Sogdian merchant Tang Dynasty, 618–907 A.D.
context_page_description: The economic history of China covers thousands of years and the region has undergone alternating cycles of prosperity and decline. China, for last two millennia, was one of the world's largest and most advanced economies. Economic historians usually divide China's history into three periods: the pre-imperial era before the rise of Qin; the early imperial era from Qin to the rise of the Song; and the late imperial era, from Song to the fall of the Qing.
  Neolithic agriculture had developed in China by roughly 8,000 BCE. Stratified Bronze Age cultures, such as Erlitou, emerged by the third millennium BCE. Under the Shang and Western Zhou, a dependent labor force worked in large-scale foundries and workshops to produce bronzes and silk for the elite. The agricultural surpluses produced by the manorial economy supported these early handicraft industries as well as urban centers and considerable armies. This system began to disintegrate after the collapse of the Western Zhou in 771 BCE, leaving China fragmented during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States eras.
  As the feudal system collapsed, most legislative power transferred from the nobility to local kings.
context_section_description: The Tang dynasty was another golden age, beginning in the ruins of the Sui. By 630, the Tang had conquered the powerful Gokturk Khagnate, preventing threats to China's borders for more than a century. A series of strong and efficient rulers, beginning with the founder and including a woman, expanded the Tang Empire to the point that it rivalled the later Yuan, Ming and Qing. The Tang was a period of rapid economic growth and prosperity, seeing the beginnings of woodblock printing. Tang rulers issued large amounts of currency to facilitate trade and distributed land under the equal-field system. The population recovered to and then surpassed Han levels, reaching an estimated 80 million. Although the state weakened after the disastrous An Shi Rebellion, and withdrew from managing the economy in the 9th century, this withdrawal encouraged economic growth and helped China's economy to develop into the mercantile economy of the Song and Ming Dynasties.
caption: A Tang-era Chinese sancai-glazed Bactrian Camel ridden by a bearded merchant from Persia; camels were the key pack animals used in the Silk Road trade.
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