Who is tang dynasty

See on MetPublications. Whitfield, Susan. Life along the Silk Road. Visiting The Met? Seated Musician. Buddha, Probably Amitabha.

Standing court lady. Horse and female rider. Standing attendant. Belt buckle and decorative plaques. Night-Shining White Han Gan. Standing Female Attendant. Set of decorative belt plaques.

The Tang era is considered a golden age of sorts in the annals of Chinese history, marked as a period of unprecedented military and political dominance of the Asian continent.

It is also notable for its great material prosperity, high artistic and cultural achievement, and a level of interest and tolerance regarding foreign cultures and religions that made Chang-an , the Tang capital, the most cosmopolitan city in the world. Thousands of foreigner merchants and artisans lived in Chang-an and other large cities of the empire, while followers of Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, Islam and Nestorianism worshipped according to their own customs in temples, mosques or churches, some of which were built with finances donated by the Tang court.

Another breed of diplomatic envoy were the Buddhist clerics who traveled to China from India, Central Asia, Korea and Japan to both study and teach at famed temples.

These clerics were often greeted at court, and in the same manner, Chinese Buddhist priests journeyed to the centers of religious learning such as Dunhuang that had developed in the Tarim Basin, where they interacted with clerics of many faiths. After a seventeen-year-long trip, Xuanzang managed to bring back valuable Sanskrit texts to be translated into Chinese. There was also a Turkic—Chinese dictionary available for serious scholars and students, and Turkic folksongs gave inspiration to some Chinese poetry.

The state also managed roughly 32, km 19, mi of postal service routes by horse and boat. The Silk Road was the most important pre-modern Eurasian trade route. The Tang dynasty established a second Pax Sinica and the Silk Road reached its golden age, whereby Persian and Sogdian merchants benefited from the commerce between East and West. At the same time, the Chinese empire welcomed foreign cultures, making it very cosmopolitan in its urban centers.

The Tang captured the vital route through the Gilgit Valley from Tibet in , lost it to the Tibetans in , and regained it under the command of the Goguryeo-Korean General Gao Xianzhi. An internal rebellion in ousted the Tibetan rulers, and Tang China regained its northwestern prefectures from Tibet in These lands contained crucial grazing areas and pastures for raising horses that the Tang dynasty desperately needed.

Despite the many western travelers coming into China to live and trade, many travelers, mainly religious monks, recorded the strict border laws that the Chinese enforced. As the monk Xuanzang and many other monk travelers attested to, there were many Chinese government checkpoints along the Silk Road where travel permits into the Tang Empire were examined.

Furthermore, banditry was a problem along the checkpoints and oasis towns, as Xuanzang also recorded that his group of travelers was assaulted by bandits on multiple occasions. The Silk Road also affected Tang dynasty art. 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.

In , the Buddhist monk Jian Zhen described Guangzhou as a bustling mercantile center where many large and impressive foreign ships came to dock. During the An Lushan Rebellion Arab and Persian pirates burned and looted Guangzhou in , and foreigners were massacred at Yangzhou in The Tang government reacted by shutting the port of Canton down for roughly five decades, and foreign vessels docked at Hanoi instead.

However, when the port reopened it thrived. In the Arab merchant Sulaiman al-Tajir observed the manufacturing of Chinese porcelain in Guangzhou and admired its transparent quality. However, in another bloody episode at Guangzhou in , the Chinese rebel Huang Chao sacked the city and purportedly slaughtered thousands of native Chinese, along with foreign Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, and Muslims in the process. 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 the Belitung shipwreck, a silt-preserved shipwrecked Arabian dhow in the Gaspar Strait near Belitung, which contained 63, pieces of Tang ceramics, silver, and gold.

Beginning in , the Chinese began to call regularly at Sufala on the East African coast in order to cut out Arab middlemen, with various contemporary Chinese sources giving detailed descriptions of trade in Africa.

In the Chinese author Duan Chengshi d. In Fustat old Cairo , Egypt, the fame of Chinese ceramics there led to an enormous demand for Chinese goods; hence Chinese often traveled there. During this time period, the Arab merchant Shulama wrote of his admiration for Chinese seafaring junks, 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 of up to — passengers. Foreign merchant: Figurine of a Sogdian merchant of the Tang dynasty, 7th-century. Religion Under the Tang Dynasty Religion in the Tang dynasty was diverse, and emperors sought support and legitimation from some local religious leaders, but persecuted others. Analyze why the emperors of the Tang dynasty were interested in the promotion of certain religions. Taoism was the official religion of the Tang.

It is a native Chinese religious and philosophical tradition with an emphasis on living in harmony and accordance with the natural flow or cosmic structural order of the universe commonly referred to as the Tao. The ruling Li family of the Tang dynasty actually claimed descent from the ancient Laozi. Taoism has had a profound influence on Chinese culture, and clerics of institutionalized Taoism usually take care to note distinctions between their ritual tradition and the customs and practices found in Chinese folk religion, as these distinctions sometimes appear blurred.

Chinese alchemy, Chinese astrology, Chan Buddhism, several martial arts, traditional Chinese medicine, feng shui, and many styles of qigong have been intertwined with Taoism throughout history. During the Tang dynasty, the Chinese continued to combine their ancient folk religion with Taoism and incorporated many deities into religious practice. The Chinese believed the Tao and the afterlife were a reality parallel to the living world, complete with a bureaucracy and an 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 is reflected in Tang dynasty art and 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 of Confucius, continued its influence during the Tang period and was accepted by some members of the imperial family, becoming thoroughly sinicized and a permanent part of Chinese traditional culture.

In an age before Neo- Confucianism and figures such as Zhu Xi — , Buddhism began to flourish in China during the Northern and Southern dynasties, and became the dominant ideology during the prosperous Tang. Buddhist monasteries played an integral role in Chinese society, offering lodging for travelers 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 and serfs gave them enough revenue to set up mills, oil presses, and other enterprises. Tang period Bodhisattva: A Tang dynasty sculpture of a Bodhisattva, a being who, motivated by great compassion, has generated bodhicitta, a spontaneous wish to attain buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. The prominent status of Buddhism in Chinese culture began to decline as the dynasty and central government declined during the late 8th century and 9th century.

Buddhist convents and temples that had been exempt from state taxes were targeted for taxation. In Emperor Wuzong of Tang finally shut down 4, Buddhist monasteries and 40, temples and shrines, forcing , Buddhist monks and nuns to return to secular life.

The Tang Dynasty after A. By A. Huang Chao, who had failed his civil service exams, led his army on the capital and took control. In contrast to the golden age of poetry in the Tang Dynasty, Huang Chao ordered the deaths of 3, poets after an insulting poem had been written about his regime.

The Dynasties of China. Bamber Gascoigne. Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Patricia Buckley Ebrey. China Condensed: Years of History and Culture.

Ong Siew Chey. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. The Ming Dynasty ruled China from to A. Known for its trade expansion to the outside world that established cultural ties with the West, the Ming Dynasty is also remembered for its drama, literature and world-renowned The Han Dynasty ruled China from B.

Though tainted by deadly dramas within the royal court, it is also known for its promotion of Confucianism as the state religion and opening the Silk Road trade route to Europe, The Shang Dynasty is the earliest ruling dynasty of China to be established in recorded history, though other dynasties predated it. The Shang ruled from to B. They were known for their advances in math, astronomy, artwork and The Qin Dynasty established the first empire in China, starting with efforts in B.

The empire existed only briefly from to B.