Tang Dynasty 618 907 C E Tang Dynasty

Tang Dynasty 618 -907 C. E

Tang Dynasty Summary: Second Classical Chinese Age Very similar to the Han Dynasty Confucianism again dominates govt leaders Confucian Civil Service Exams used to hire administrators for the Chinese government locally, regionally and nationally Extended its influence throughout East Asia (Japan and Korea) Re-built the new capital at Xi’an

Tang Expansion • Powerful military state • extended the boundaries of China through Siberia • Korea in the east • Vietnam in the South. • extended a corridor of control along the Silk Road well into modern-day Afghanistan

Empress Wu 625 -705 AD • Only female ruler of China • Cruel but effective ruler • Had to fight the Confucian social belief that women should serve men • Encouraged women to be more vocal and demand better treatment from their family

Tang Economy Reestablished the safety of the Silk Road trade with Middle East and Constantinople New Inventions: Printing press using moveable print Porcelain used for dishes and decoratives Gunpowder originally for fireworks but eventually for weapons Mechanical clocks

Tang Religion/Philosophy Liberal attitude towards all religions at first. 1 st big spread of Buddhism in China Later during the Tang, Confucianism becomes more aggressive in fighting Buddhist influence in China

Tang Social Life Trade brings people from all over the world to China; especially in cities Cities have a great social life with live music and drama Tang people loved poetry and landscape painting Confucian social hierarchy dominates

Tea • • Tea comes into China from Southeast Asia Tea and Horse Trade Route to Tibet increases tea availability in China

Foot-Binding in Tang China (from Susan Pojer's presentation) • Broken toes by 3 years of age. • Size 5 ½ shoe on the right

The Results of Foot-Binding

Tang Xuanzong (The Profound Emperor) and Consort Yang

Mistress Yang and the An Lushan Rebellion 755 -763 • Emperor fell in love with a young concubine named Yang Guifei, • The Emperor wasted money and time on Yang and neglected his duties making others jealous and harming China • Yang told the Emperor to hire her friends to rule which made situation worse • One of these was a general named An Lushan, who quickly accumulated power. • An Lushan eventually decided that he would make a pretty good emperor, and launched a rebellion. • The emperor was forced to flee the capital, and on the way, the palace guard strangled Tang and threw her corpse in a ditch. • the rebellion pretty much shattered centralized Tang control, and for the remaining 150 years of the dynasty, the country slowly disintegrated

An original Limerick The Emperor Xuanzong fell in love with a concubine named Yang But she had a man on the side To take over the empire – he tried Which led to the next dynasty named Song

Tang Poetry • The Tang dynasty is often referred to as China's golden age. • And Tang poets are perhaps the best known and most revered of all Chinese literary figures. Wang Wei 699 - 761 Li Bo 701 - 762 Du Fu 721 - 770

Tang Poetry Combines 3 Strands of Chinese thought • Buddhism emphasized the impermanence of life, • Daoism emphasized abandonment to the Way found in nature. • Confucianism stressed moral responsibility and service to the state. • "Three Teachings" informed the thought and behavior of emperors and Chinese Confucian scholars

• Almost all Chinese poems are written in couplets. • Every two lines form a separate statement. • Tang poetry was usually done in 4 couplet poems • Poetry is often done in calligraphy and on landscape paintings

"On the River" by Du Fu • On the river, every day these heavy rains-bleak, autumn in Ching-ch'u • High winds strip the leaves from the trees; through the long night I hug my fur robe. • I recall my official record, keep looking in the mirror, recall my comings and goings, leaning alone in an upper room. • In these perilous times I long to serve my sovereign-old and feeble as I am, I can't stop thinking of it!

"I Stand Alone" by Du Fu • A single bird of prey beyond the sky. a pair of white gulls between riverbanks. Hovering wind tossed, ready to strike; the pair, at their ease, roaming to and fro. And the dew is also full on the grasses, spiders' filaments still not drawn in. Instigations in nature approach men's affairs-I stand alone in thousands of sources of worry

Transition Period between Tang and Song • 907 - 960 saw the fragmentation of China into five northern dynasties and ten southern kingdoms until Song unified all of China again