Tang dynasty

The Tang dynasty () (June 18, 618 – June 4, 907) was an imperial dynasty of China.

History
The Tang Dynasty came after the Sui Dynasty (隋) and was followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (Traditional Chinese: 五代十國). It was founded by the Li (李) family, who came to power during the fall of the Sui Dynasty. The dynasty was interrupted briefly by the Wu Zhou (Traditional Chinese: 武周) usurper regime, which should be clearly distinguished from the Zhou Dynasty (Traditional Chinese: 周朝), which lasted from c. 1046 BC to 256 BC for 789 years during the classical antiquity. (October 16, 690 – March 3, 705) founded by Empress Wu Zetian (Traditional Chinese: 武則天) who managed to claim the throne, becoming the first and only Chinese Empress.

The Tang Dynasty, with its capital at Chang'an (Traditional Chinese: 長安) in present-day Xi'an (Traditional Chinese: 西安), was the biggest city in the world at the time. It is considered by historians as a high point in Chinese civilization – maybe even greater than the earlier Han Dynasty (Traditional Chinese: 漢朝) – as well as a golden age of cosmopolitan culture. Empress Wu, the first woman to ever rule in China, was also included in the Tang Dynasty. Her ruling methods were sometimes vicious, but she was very talented and intelligent.

Related pages
 Taoism
 East Asia
 Silk Road
 Buddhism
 Central Asia
 History of Asia
 History of China

Other websites
 The Tang Dynasty at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
 Home of 300 Tang Poems, University of Virginia
 The Tang Dynasty  at AsianSpiritGallery
References

Category:China
Category:East Asia
Category:Imperialism
Category:Central Asia
Category:Former empires
Category:History of Asia
Category:History of China
Category:Chinese dynasties
Category:618 establishments
Category:900s disestablishments
Category:7th-century establishments in Asia
Category:10th-century disestablishments in Asia