Tang Dynasty (618–907): China's Golden Age of Empire and Culture

The Tang dynasty ruled China from 618 to 907 and is widely regarded as one of the high points of Chinese civilisation. Founded by Li Yuan after the collapse of the Sui dynasty, it built a large empire reaching into Central Asia, refined institutions that shaped East Asia for centuries, and made its capital Chang’an a meeting place of peoples, religions and goods from across Eurasia. Its poetry, art and law remained models long after the dynasty itself fell.

Background and founding

China had been reunified in 589 by the short-lived Sui dynasty, which ended nearly three centuries of division. The Sui built the Grand Canal and rebuilt central government, but its second emperor, Yang, exhausted the country with huge building projects and three failed campaigns against the Korean kingdom of Goguryeo between 612 and 614. Rebellions broke out across the empire.

Li Yuan, Duke of Tang and a powerful aristocrat with family ties to the Sui ruling house, commanded the garrison at Taiyuan in the north. In 617 he rebelled, marched on Chang’an and installed a child of the Sui house as a puppet emperor. After Emperor Yang was murdered by his own officers at Jiangdu (modern Yangzhou) in the spring of 618, Li Yuan took the throne on 18 June 618 as Emperor Gaozu, naming his dynasty after his ducal title.

Proclaiming a dynasty did not mean controlling China. Rival rebel leaders still held much of the country, and the war of reunification lasted until about 624. Gaozu’s second son, Li Shimin, led many of the decisive campaigns, including the double victory of 621 in which he defeated Dou Jiande at Hulao Pass and forced Wang Shichong to surrender Luoyang.

Rivalry between Li Shimin and the crown prince Li Jiancheng ended violently in the Xuanwu Gate Incident of 626, when Li Shimin killed two of his brothers. His father soon abdicated, and Li Shimin reigned as Emperor Taizong from 626 to 649. His Zhenguan era (627–649) was later held up as a model of good government, partly because Taizong was praised for listening to blunt advisers such as Wei Zheng.

Taizong’s armies defeated the Eastern Turks in 630, and steppe leaders acknowledged him as “Heavenly Khagan”. Under his son Gaozong (reigned 649–683) the Tang defeated the Western Turks in 657 and, allied with the Korean kingdom of Silla, destroyed Baekje in 660 and Goguryeo in 668. Around 660 Tang power, at least nominally, stretched from Korea to the edge of Persia.

How the Tang state worked

The Tang inherited much from the Sui and developed it further. Central government was organised into three departments: the Secretariat drafted edicts, the Chancellery reviewed them, and the Department of State Affairs carried them out through six ministries covering personnel, revenue, rites, war, justice and works. This “three departments and six ministries” structure lasted in modified form until 1911.

Law was set down in the Tang Code, first issued in 624 and later revised, with an official commentary completed in 653. In the countryside the “equal-field” system allotted land to registered households in return for taxes in grain and cloth and labour service. Many soldiers came from part-time militia units, the so-called fubing system, whose men farmed when not on duty.

The civil service examinations begun under the Sui grew in importance, especially the demanding jinshi degree, which tested literary skill. Most high officials still came from great aristocratic families, but the examinations created a path for talented men from lesser backgrounds and gradually raised the prestige of learning in government.

Wu Zetian and the High Tang

After Gaozong suffered a stroke, his empress Wu Zetian became the real power at court. In 690 she proclaimed her own Zhou dynasty and became the only woman in Chinese history to rule as emperor in her own name. She promoted officials through examinations, patronised Buddhism and governed until she was forced to step down in 705, when the Tang name was restored.

The reign of Emperor Xuanzong (712–756) is often called the High Tang. During his Kaiyuan era (713–741) the empire was prosperous and stable. A census of 754 recorded about 52.9 million registered people, though the true population was probably higher. Xuanzong’s court was a centre of music, dance and painting.

A cosmopolitan culture

Chang’an, rebuilt by the Sui and greatly enlarged under the Tang, covered roughly 84 square kilometres inside its walls and may have held around one million people, although estimates vary. Its markets attracted Sogdian, Persian, Turkic, Korean and Japanese merchants, envoys and students. Foreign music, fashions, foods and horses became popular among the elite.

Religion was unusually diverse. Buddhism reached the height of its influence, helped by pilgrims such as Xuanzang, who returned from India in 645 with hundreds of texts. Daoism enjoyed imperial favour because the ruling Li family claimed descent from Laozi. Church of the East (Nestorian) Christians, Manichaeans and Zoroastrians also had places of worship in the capital.

Tang poetry is the dynasty’s best-known legacy. The Qing-era anthology Complete Tang Poems, compiled in 1705, contains about 48,900 poems by some 2,200 poets. Li Bai, Du Fu, Wang Wei and later Bai Juyi remain among the most read poets in Chinese. Tang painting, calligraphy, gold and silver work and colourful three-glazed (sancai) tomb pottery are prized in museums worldwide.

The Tang also spread its institutions abroad. Japan sent official missions that brought back Tang law, Buddhism and city planning, and Silla, Bohai and later Vietnam adapted Tang models.

Rebellion and decline

Xuanzong’s later reign weakened the dynasty. Large frontier armies were placed under military governors (jiedushi), who gained control of troops, taxes and civil government in their regions. In 751 a Tang army was defeated by Abbasid forces near the Talas River in Central Asia, and other frontier wars also went badly.

In 755 An Lushan, a military governor commanding about 150,000 to 200,000 troops in the northeast, rebelled. He captured Luoyang and Chang’an, and Xuanzong fled to Sichuan; on the way his troops forced the execution of his favourite consort, Yang Guifei. The rebellion lasted until 763 and was ended only with the help of Uyghur allies. Registered population fell to about 17 million in the 760s, a figure that reflects the collapse of record-keeping as well as deaths and displacement.

The Tang survived for nearly 150 more years. A two-tax system introduced in 780 put finances on a new footing, and the early ninth century saw a partial revival. But many military governors acted almost independently, palace eunuchs gained control over the imperial guard and even emperors’ successions, and in 845 Emperor Wuzong ordered a sweeping persecution of Buddhism and other foreign religions.

The Huang Chao rebellion of 875–884 ravaged much of China and captured Chang’an in 881. Afterwards real power lay with warlords. In 907 Zhu Wen deposed the last Tang emperor and founded the Later Liang dynasty, opening the period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.

Key people

Emperor Gaozu (Li Yuan, 566–635) founded the dynasty and reigned from 618 until his abdication in 626. Emperor Taizong (Li Shimin, 598–649) completed the conquest of China, expanded the empire into Central Asia and became the model of a wise ruler in later Chinese political writing.

Wu Zetian (624–705) dominated the court for half a century, first as empress and then as emperor. Emperor Xuanzong (685–762) presided over the dynasty’s cultural peak and its greatest disaster. An Lushan (c. 703–757), a general of Sogdian and Turkic background, launched the rebellion that broke Tang central power; he was murdered by his own son in 757. Zhu Wen (852–912), a former follower of Huang Chao, ended the dynasty in 907.

By the numbers

Timeline

• 617: Li Yuan rebels at Taiyuan and captures Chang’an.
• 618, 18 June: Li Yuan proclaims the Tang dynasty as Emperor Gaozu.
• 626, July: Xuanwu Gate Incident; Li Shimin becomes Emperor Taizong later that year.
• 630: Tang forces defeat the Eastern Turks.
• 668: Tang and Silla destroy the Korean kingdom of Goguryeo.
• 690–705: Wu Zetian rules as emperor of her own Zhou dynasty.
• 712: Emperor Xuanzong begins his long reign.
• 755–763: An Lushan Rebellion.
• 875–884: Huang Chao rebellion; Chang’an falls in 881.
• 907: Zhu Wen deposes the last Tang emperor, ending the dynasty.

Myths and facts

A common assumption is that the Tang was peaceful throughout. In reality it was born in civil war, fought almost constantly on its frontiers and spent its last century and a half struggling with rebellion and regional warlords. Its “golden age” reputation rests mainly on the seventh and early eighth centuries and on its cultural achievements.

Another idea is that the examination system made the Tang a meritocracy. Examinations mattered, but only a few dozen candidates usually passed the jinshi each year, and family background remained decisive for most careers until the Song dynasty.

Why it matters

The Tang set patterns of government, law and culture that were copied across East Asia and remembered in China as a standard of greatness. Chinese communities abroad still sometimes call themselves “people of Tang”. Its open, international capital and its poetry remain among the most admired achievements of the medieval world.