Useful Notes / Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty (唐朝, Táng Cháo, 618–907) was built on the foundations laid by the short-lived Sui Dynasty. For many students of this period, this dynasty is often considered the pinnacle of Chinese dynasties and second to none.

The Tang Dynasty is truly an era of superlatives. It possessed an array of incredibly talented politicians, generals, academics, inventors and other gifted individuals, as well as boasting some of the greatest military achievements in Chinese history. The Tang would expand so far west it managed to come into contact with the Abbasid Caliphate. During this time, the capital city of Chang'an was the largest city in the world, and to many of Tang's tributaries, a model for urban planning. Chang'an hosted embassies from across the globe, including from as far as the Eastern Roman Empire. Chinese civilization significantly influenced those of its neighbors, including Vietnam^note at the time a Chinese province , Korea^note got their first unified state during this time and Japan^note tried to reform their government after the Tang model with mixed success, and built their capital Heian-kyo as a mini Chang'an. Literature and fashion also found their mark in Japan, which were repackaged to accommodate Japanese standards. The Tang era is also notable for one of the most foremost achievements in Chinese literature: unrivalled poetry (Tang shī) by the likes of Li Bai, Du Fu, Wang Wei, and many, many others.

Tang represented an exceptionally cosmopolitan period of Chinese civilization. Merchants, missionaries, and other visitors came from all over the known world and resided in its capital Chang'an (now called Xi'an), at the time the largest city in the world. The Imperial family was itself part-foreign; the second Tang Emperor, Taizong (and thus all subsequent Tang rulers) was of partial Turkic ancestry on his mother's side.^note Taizong's mother Lady Dou was a granddaughter of Yuwen Tai, a largely-Sinicized Xianbei and the de facto founder of Northern Zhou. Taizong was also part-foreign in the male line as well; his paternal grandmother Lady Dugu being the daughter of Dugu Xin, another largely-Sinicized Xianbei.^note Both Yuwen Tai and Dugu Xin are part of the 8 "Pillars" of the Western Wei, the predecessor of Northern Zhou. In any case, Taizong added more non-Han blood to the Li clan, his Empress Lady Zhangsun (yet another largely-Sinicized Xianbei) being the mother of his eventual heir Li Zhi (Tang Gaozong). At any rate, the steppe peoples of the northwest—by then led by Turkic tribes—proclaimed Taizong their Tengri Kaghan (Heavenly Emperor/Chieftain).

The first Christians in China came during this period, ironically, in the form of Monophysites fleeing persecution from the Christian Roman Empire who deemed them heretical, as were the first Jews, Muslims, and Zoroastrians in China. The last crown prince of Sassanid Persia, Peroz III, also took refuge in China after his country was overrun by the Rashidun Caliphate. The famed Shaolin Temple was also established during this period, by a (presumed) Greco-Indian monk called Buddhabadra. With so many people from faraway places settling down in China, this was an era where blond Chinese may not have been an uncommon sight. Unfortunately for all the Chinese cosmopolitans, there was a huge backlash towards all things foreign after the An Lushan Rebellion (755-763; more details below). Towards the end of the dynasty, so-called "anti-Buddhist" campaign was launched by Emperor Wuzong in mid-9th century, culminating in an edict in 845 banning all "foreign religions" at the pain of death, targeting not only Buddhism, which has already been part of Chinese fabric for many centuries, but also relative newcomers like Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Islam. In 986, a Christian monk reported, "Christianity is extinct in China; the native Christians have perished in one way or another; the church has been destroyed and there is only one Christian left in the land."

The Tang was briefly interrupted by the Zhou Dynasty of Wu Zetian, China's only female Emperor, from 690-705. Even after her reign, the Tang had no shortage of intriguing women who held massive influence on the empire, most infamous after Wu herself being Yang Guifei, one of the Four Beauties of Ancient China and held to be one of the causes of the An Lushan Rebellion that nearly brought the dynasty to its knees.^note Of course, the more important person in the whole affair was Tang Xuanzong, Li Longji. By the time of the An-Shi Rebellion ("Shi" referring to An's partner-in-crime Shi Siming), Xuanzong had already reigned for over 40 years and presided over a period of prosperity known as "the Glorious Age of Kaiyuan" (his era name when the prosperity took place). By the late Kaiyuan era, Xuanzong had already grown tired of the proper administration of the empire. More damning was his misallocation of troops, placing most of them in the outer regions of the empire while leaving almost none for the capitals of Chang'an and Luoyang; when An rebelled, he had 40% of the entire realm's soldiers under him, and most were veterans of many campaigns against the non-Han enemies of the empire. On her part, Yang Guifei never actively interfered in state politics, although her cousin Yang Guozhong did manage to secure his first audience with Xuanzong because of her.

The An Lushan Rebellion arguably changed world history as it halted Chinese interaction with foreign lands until the Song Dynasty. Also, subsequent Chinese empires would never be as cosmopolitan as the Tang, with the Song being a close second.

Interestingly, several Roman (or 'Byzantine', as we call them in retrospect) Emperors humoured the Tang Empire's pretensions to dominion over the world by sending them largely-nominal tribute, which in one case constituted a 'startlingly invigorating' medicinal tincture formulated by Constantinople's finest alchemists. This was the first recorded use of opium in China.

While the An-Shi Rebellion dealt a severe blow to the Tang, the truly mortal strike to the empire was dealt by the Huang Chao Rebellion. By the time the rebellion was put down in 884 CE, imperial authority was thoroughly lost.

Of the "24 Histories", two were dedicated to this era: the "Old Book of Tang" (舊唐書/旧唐书, Jiù Tángshū) and the "New Book of Tang" (新唐書/新唐书, Xīn Tángshū).

Notable monarchs

• Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of Tang (598/9-649): The second emperor and yet considered one of the greatest emperors of all Ancient China. He brought the Tang Dynasty to its golden age, internally working tirelessly to make the empire easier to govern and repair the damage caused by the Tang founding wars, and externally dealing with threats with either conquest or diplomacy, and became the measuring stick of how crown princes should act until they come to age to become an Emperor. However, he did become obsessed with conquering Goguryeo in his later years, a feat which was later achieved by his heir and successor...
• Li Zhi, Emperor Gaozong (628-683): One of the "Two Sages" rulers. At first, he was an independent and potent ruler, launching campaigns against the Western Turks and Goguryeo, and continuing his father's wise rule (however he did kill his father's trusted chancellors Zhangsun Wuji (also his maternal uncle) and Chu Suiliang). Gaozong eventually fell sick and found himself being dominated by his empress that he's mostly overshadowed by, being...
• Empress Wu Zetian (624-705): Originally a low-rank concubine of Taizong, after he died she began a romance with Gaozong, becoming Empress Consort until eventually with her own savviness usurped the throne and becoming the sole Empress of China, replacing the Tang Dynasty with her own Zhou Dynasty. Has a penchant of torturing whoever slighted her, and promoted many out-of-the-box policies in comparison with other Chinese rulers, like women emancipation or meritocracy, expanding the imperial examination system. See her article for more details.
• Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong (685-762): Wu Zetian's grandson. Could qualify as either the best or worst emperor in Chinese history. In his early reign he was a brilliant ruler who ruled at the peak of the Tang dynasty. But he gradually grew less interested in governing and more interested in his concubines, particularly Yang Guifei, and established the disastrous jiedushi system. Perhaps known for being the Emperor when the bloody An Lushan Rebellion occurred. His decisions were more or less criticized as to why the Tang Dynasty would fall later and be replaced with the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Era, even if the Dynasty somewhat recovered a bit after the rebellion.
• Li Chen, Emperor Xuanzong (810-859): The last competent Tang Emperor. Something of an Unexpected Successor, he became Crown Prince after his brother Emperor Wuzong fell ill and was rendered mute by his illness. Having had a reputation as a simpleton and Shrinking Violet to this point, the palace eunuchs chose him as successor to the emperor on the theory he'd be easier to control. No dice: the simplemindedness and shyness had all been an act, and he turned out to be supremely competent. He banished his predecessor's overbearing Chancellor and took the reins of government in his own hands, familiarizing himself intimately with the Empire's state apparatus and burying himself in royal paperwork. (In a way, he did a lot of what Louis XIV did in France 800 years later.) His competent management helped arrest and even reverse the Tang state's decline for a time. Alas, it was not to last; like so many Chinese emperors before and after him, he had an obsession with achieving immortality, which led him to start taking "immortality pills" that inevitably contained mercury compounds. These made the Emperor—already noted for being bullheaded and forceful—increasingly irritable, erratic, and irrational, and eventually killed him. Note: While his regnal name appears to be the same in Latin letters as that of his 7th-century ancestor Li Longji—to the point that some Western sources refer to him as Xuanzong II—the names actually have different tones (the 7th-century monarch is Xuánzōng, the 9th-century one is Xuānzōng) and are written with different characters.

Notable non-monarch people

• General Cheng Yaojin (589-665): Long serving general from the last days of the Sui Dynasty to the formation of the Tang Dynasty and three more generations, his other name is "Cheng Zhijie". Participated in many battles with legendary ferocity, but made a fatal mistake during Gaozong's reign, massacring a town while letting his enemies get away. He accepted punishment of being stripped from his military ranks, and refused to be appointed as a prefect, he'd rather retire after that one mistake. Immortalized later as some sort of folklore Leeroy Jenkins of Ancient China.
• General Xue Rengui (614-683): Born of humble background, the future general Xue Rengui was urged to join the army by his wife, and went to become one of the most successful generals during the height of the Tang era renowned for conquering much of modern-day Korea and placed it under Tang rule. General Xue fought other enemies of Tang during his lifetime, including Turks & Tibetans. He lived a long life (by 7th century standards) and would be deified as a gate guardian after his death.
• Chancellor/Judge/Detective Di Renjie (630-700): Renowned judge and loyal chancellor of Wu Zetian. Generally thought to be an upstanding man, with his own sharp mind to outwit corrupt people, in spite of his liege's more murky and sadistic attitude. His popularity allowed him to be immortalized as the basis of the protagonist of Judge Dee, where he became one of the premiere judge/detective fiction protagonists.
• Secretary/Consort Shangguan Wan'er (664-710): Wu Zetian's secretary and an example of Riches to Rags To Riches Again and Wu Zetian's meritocracy at work. She's the granddaughter of an official that got unjustly executed by Gaozong to appease Wu Zetian, along with her whole family, except herself and her mother, and brought in to the palace as a servant/slave (at the age of 4). Wu Zetian noticed that Wan'er was actually competent and studious, so she promoted her into the royal secretary to make various edicts and despite Wu being heavily involved with Wan'er's grandpa's death, she always avoided executing her. After Wu retired, Wan'er became zhao rong (a high ranking consort) to Emperor Zhongzong and continued to do her edict-making, until her abrupt death of being executed in a succession coup of Emperor Zhongzhong's successor.
• Consort Yang Guifei (719-756): The last of the Four Beauties of Ancient China. The beloved concubine of Emperor Xuanzong, so much that he pampered her too much and gave too much influence in his own decision making just to appease her, and one of them pretty much caused a certain someone to cause a bloody rebellion that marked the downfall of the Tang Dynasty. The people accused Yang Guifei as the culprit of everything that happened, and reluctantly, Xuanzong ordered her death by strangulation.
• General An Lushan (703-757): Foreign general from Turk that rose to power and eventually had enough power and influence to initiate one of the bloodiest rebellion in human history named after him (An Lushan Rebellion), and eventually started the decline of the Tang Dynasty. He got to power by somehow requesting to be an adopted son of Yang Guifei, which contributed on why she's accused as one of the instigators/enablers of the rebellion and put to death.
• Poet Li Bai (701-762): One of the great poets of China and the reason why Tang Dynasty was considered a golden age. The guy made so much famed poetries and ushered The Golden Age of Chinese Poetry along with his best friend Du Fu.
• Monk Xuanzang (602-664): A monk that gave great contributions in Chinese Buddhism, by traveling all the way from home to India and faced many hardships and enduring all of them, eventually succeeding in bringing the scriptures back to his home. He's probably better known as the basis of Tang Sanzang from the epic novel Journey to the West which is based on his travels, although he is far from the naive Distressed Dude that his character was in the novel, Xuanzang was resourceful (without any demon 'disciples' to help him) and in a way, kind of bad ass on his own.

Depictions in fiction

• The Assassin
• Bridge of Birds
• Detective Dee
• The second half of the Sui-Tang campaign in Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom covers only flashpoints of the Tang rule.
• The Empress of China
• Honor of Kings, loosely anyway since in that game's lore, the culture of the land peaked at a setting similar to the Tang Dynasty, and then it goes off the rail with more modern, magical, fantastical elements put in. It also featured several figures from the dynasty as playable heroes.^note Wu Zetian, Di Renjie, Shangguan Wan'er, Yang Yuhuan/Guifei, Cheng Yaojin, Li Bai. And to an extent Jin Chan because he's based on Xuanzang.
• House of Flying Daggers
• Journey to the West and adaptations thereof
• Judge Dee
• The Longest Day in Chang'an
• Guy Gavriel Kay's Under Heaven is set in a fictionalized version of Tang China during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong.
• White Snake (2019)
• Young Sherlock