The dynasty Tang (唐朝, You ang in transcription EFEO and Lagging-Gilles, Ten sometimes) is the thirteenth Chinese dynasty . It succeeds the dynasty Sui (581-618). Tang reigned of 618 with 907, with an interruption between 690 and 705, when Wu Zetian seized the power.

Under the Tang dynasty, the Empire reaches an extension which he had never known before and his capital, Chang' year, was the most populated city world. The total population of the Empire, on the other hand, does not seem much higher than that of the preceding times. It is undoubtedly higher than 50 million inhabitants.

The Tang time, marked by a certain cosmopolitanism, is particularly brilliant on the cultural level. She is regarded as the golden age of Chinese traditional poetry.

In IXe century, the political power of Tang weakens. In 907, a general deposits the emperor, giving rise to the dynasty of the posterior Liang.

Origin

Towards 550, the order of Han, the disorder of local kingdoms had replaced. After one dubious period the situation is stabilized between China of barbarians semi-sinicized with North and the Han Empire in the South (succession of the five dynasties). In 577, a powerful minister (楊廣 Yáng Guǎng) allows the reunification of North in only one Kingdom. He creates the Sui dynasty, then, destroying the Cheng forces of the South, he reconstitutes the Chinese Empire: it is the period Sui (589-618). Cet Emperor 煬帝 sober and pragmatic Yángdì, built prosperity while being defended on the files of its empire, engages of Great Work, reforms the institutions.

Son whimsical son succeeds to him into 605. He engages the systematic restoration of the great wall, launches three campaigns of war on Korea, which fail.
Le exhausted people revolts, of the local leaders emergent, the armies are organized while the desperate Emperor ignores the businesses of the Empire.
C' is in this context of disorder that the adventure of 李世民 Lĭ Shìmín - 太宗 TàiZōng (599-626-649) is held. -->

The two large builders of the New Empire, Wendi of the Sui and Li Shimin, of Tang, were both originating in the North, dominated a long time by the Barbarians. The wandering populations had been finally comparable; however, they had transmitted to the Chinese a big part of their civilization, to start with the uses of the daily life, the music, the entertainments. Hunting, the use of the horse and the fencing supplemented from now on the life of the well-read man, which had partially forgotten his prejudices against the military caste and the merchants. Tang however wanted to be Chinese, since the government, copied from that of the Han, until the culture, with the reaction classicist in literature. They were aware to be the second great empire. Winner of the Sui, Li Shimin entrusted the capacity to his father Gaozu (618 - 626). The new Masters of China took again the work of Sui Wendi while proceeding to an agrarian vast reform, whose basic principle was that no ground could be given in tenant farming. However, the cases of exemption (civils servant, monasteries) were so numerous that the law could not prevent the “disappearance of the peasants without ground”.

Emergence of Tang: first emperors

李淵 Lĭ Yuan is governor of the Shanxi, his/her son pushes it to revolt. The Emperor of Sui is assassinated, it makes of his father the leader of an order confucéen similar to Sui, the lieutenant of the Empire. By the weapons, they restore a grandson of the Sui Emperor, then 李淵 Lĭ Yuan is established Empereur 唐高祖 GāoZǔ (566-618-635): The dynasty 唐 Tang is founded (618).

In 626, Lĭ Shìmín, victorious of a fratricidal conflict, pushes his/her father Gaozu to be abdicated and went up on the throne under the name of 太宗 TàiZōng. Then, its first concern was to sit the Chinese power in Asia, as well by the weapons as by the diplomacy. It obtained in particular the alliance of Turkish tribes .
There, it reinforces its policy against the Eastern Turks, whom it subjects in 630.
In 641, the sovereign Tibetan recognizes his sovereignty. In 642, it subjects the Western Turks. From 640 to 648, it subjects the recalcitrant oases of the Bassin of Tarim: the Silk route is durably restored. In 645, he does not manage to subject the kingdoms Korea NS. In 648, the Chinese domination was again effective with the Xinjiang.
He dies into 649, having imposed then consolidated a new dynasty, having imposed, and respected, organized powerful China (and feared) of the close barbarians. He also imposes China like referee of Eastern Asia [[Central Asia|power station]], with the vassalage of many kingdoms and Khanat S bordering.

Gaozu 618-626

In 618, Gaozu, (name of orgine Li Yuan) thus seized the power and a new era of prosperity started. The Bouddhisme, which had slowly been introduced in China at the first century, became the prevalent religion and was largely adopted by the royal family. It is estimated that Chang' year (current the Xi' year), the capital of the time, was then more the big city of the world.

On the administrative level, an important novation consisted in entrusting the provinces to military governors (it will be, in the long term, the loss of the dynasty). The central government, copied from that of the Han, was improved by the creation of technical sections entrusted to experts rather than with well-read men. The good performance of the system allowed an increase without precedent of the budget of the State: the population reached the figure of fifty million inhabitants (including two million for the capital)

Taizong 626-649

A conflict had opposed Li Shimin, with his/her two brothers, that Li Shimin ends up killing. Indeed, it étatit him which helped his/her father to raise the army of the tang, and he was the strategist at the origin of the victories which placed Tang at the head of the empire. However Li Yuan preferred to make of his/her oldest son, Li JianCheng its dolphin. This last fearing the military power of his/her younger brother, Li Shimin, entered in open conflict with this last. During a battle known under the name of 玄武们之变, (the coup d'etat of the door Xuan Wu), Li shimin eliminated the dolphin like his/her little brother. In 626, Li Shimin pushed his/her father to be abdicated and went up on the throne under the name of Taizong. Its first concern was to sit the Chinese power in Asia, as well by the weapons as by the diplomacy. It obtained in particular the alliance of the Turks Ouïgours. In 648, the Chinese domination was again effective with the Xinjiang.

Gaozong 650 -683

Gaozong devoted its reign to consolidate the work of his/her father. Thanks to its well protected borders, with its administration, its roads, its channels, the Empire knew a general prosperity then. Many foreigners converged by ground and sea, bringing with them the products of the whole world, while the Chinese Langue became universal means of communication in all the cultivated mediums of Eastern Asia. As of the last years of the reign appeared however a decline that nothing any more can slow down, marked by the usurpation of the capacity by the empress Wu Zetian with whom Gaozong had gradually given up her capacity of political decision.

Zhou interlude of Wu Zetian 683-705

Empress dowager starting from 683, it deposited her son and proclaimed “emperor” of the short dynasty Zhou (690 - 705) in 690. She followed the policy of the Chinese gentilhommery, its allied, dissatisfied with the policy turcophile of the court and pledged to the Buddhist clergy. Economically the Almighty, this last transformed the monasteries into deposit banks and distorted the monetary play by melting the money of the offerings for the thésauriser in the form of statues. The policy of Wu Zetian was continued by the Wei empress. In 705 Wu Zetian abdicates in favor of one of its sons, Zhongzong, which his/her brother Ruizong succeeded.

Xuanzong 712 - 756

To recover a certain balance, the reaction carried it on the throne. It was a large guard of arts, but a weak sovereign, handled soon by an entourage without scruple, whose heart was the beautiful concubine Yang Guifei.

Civil wars

• One of the members of the entourage of Xuanzong, the general Year Lushan, had known to exaggerate the risks of a barbarian invasion to be made entrust a considerable army, with which it went on the capital.
• In escape, the emperor abdicated in the profit of his son Suzong (756 - 762), which demolished the usurper with the assistance of the cavalry ouïgoure, but China was not to recover from this civil war which cost the life a third of the population. As for the allies Turkish, conscious of being essential, they acted as Masters in the capital, where they required their horses an exorbitant price. In the provinces, the governors ceased conveying the tax and transmitted their load to their sons. To save the situation, the government decided into 845 to prohibit the foreign religions. It was not a question of taking a antireligieuse measure, but to recover the money from abroad, placed in the Buddhist monasteries , the temples mazdéens, the Mosquée S, etc This daring operation intervened besides only after the crushing of dangerous allied the Ouïgours by the Turks Chat' O.
• Daizong, wire of the emperor Suzong, reigned of 762 with 779. Under his reign, the King of the Tibet, Trisong Detsen (740 - 797), invades the capital of China Chang' year and set up a new emperor.

End of the dynasty

The dynasty lived its last days: the 9th century was marked out country revolts repressed in blood; during most important, which lasted six years (874 - 880), had place the catch of Canton, with the massacre from one hundred twenty thousand abroad. The capital was saved in extremis thanks to the assistance of the Turks, but the dynasty of Tang was nevertheless to sink in 907 in the general disorder. China was going to then know a new parcelling out (period of the Five Dynasties) until the arrival of the Song.

Art and culture

The Tang dynasty devoted the golden age of art and the Chinese literature.

Cultural radiation

Following the example prosperous economy of Tang, the Tang culture was one of most brilliant of its time, and maintained many relations with other countries. Many students coming from Korea and of the Japan came to China during this period, or the Chinese thought was strongly anchored in these countries considered thereafter “of culture confucéenne”. Being given the good relationships maintained with the Arab world, the Jade, the Pepper and the Islam penetrated in China. About half of the frescos and sculptures of Dunhuang were realized under the Tang dynasty.

Being given the relative tolerance of the emperor Taizong, the Buddhism and the Taoïsme made under Tang great great strides. A company of translation of traditional Buddhist of great scale started then, and popularized or deepens the many Buddhist schools coming from India, of which the school chan, more known under the name of school Zen which was transmitted to Japan during this period. The Islam and the Christianisme nestorien penetrated in China at that time.

The old one of gold of the Chinese literature

The most attractive part of the Tang literature is in its poetry: at the dawn of Tang, Li Bai, Of Bo, Of Fu, Wang Wei, then Li Jia, Han Yu, Bai Juyi in the middle of the dynasty, and finally Li Shangwen and Of Driven towards the end are some of the most known poets. With the rich and varied styles, Tang poetry drew from the vast repertory of Chinese legends, while keeping a direction of the details of the daily life. The respect of metric and the references to ancient poetry give to Tang poetry a scale ever equalized by the Song, the Ming or the Qing which made them continuation.

Tang continued and enriched the tradition by the fantastic novel inherited the Six Dynasties, while giving to the novel a narrative integrity and an anchoring in social realities of the life. These works gave thereafter their bases to the tale under the Song and to the novel under the Qing.

Painting

The Peinture of landscapes (山水 shanshui, “Chinese mountain and water”) started under Tang and constituted the major topic of painting, where the Buddhist thought affère obviously. Wu Daozi (Wu CAT-Tzu, 680 - 740), is known for the legend which sees it entering and disappearing in its own painting. Derived from the techniques of Chinese Penmanship, the painting of landscapes Chinese, support of rich person reminiscences philosophical and cosmological, is one of the Chinese pictorial achievements most original.

Music

The first richly documented Chinese corpus musicologic relates to the Qin Tang dynasty, though its use also goes up far the Han.

Excavations of the end of the 20th century revealed, in a tomb intact, a great number of instrument of Musique (of which a spectacular whole of Cloche S in concert), but also of the shelves with instructions of play and the partitions for orchestras. -

Opera

The appearance of the Chinese opera is generally allotted to the emperor Xuanzong (712 - 755), who founded the “garden of Pears” (梨园 Li yuan), the first troop of opera known in China.

Emperors of the Tang dynasty

The Tang dynasty counted 20 emperors, of which the succession briefly stops into 690 to make place with Wu Zetian of the Zhou dynasty, the only woman of the Chinese history to be itself proclaimed “emperor” instead of being satisfied with the title of empress dowager.

Emperors of the first Tang period

1. Gaozu (Li Yuan) (618-626)
2. Taizong (Li Shimin) (626-649)
3. Gaozong (Li Zhi) (649-683)

Empress of the Zhou Dynasty

1. Wu Zetian (Shengshen) (690-705)

Emperors of the second Tang period

4. Zhongzong (Li Xian) (684-684) and (705-710)
5. Ruizong (Li daN) (684-690) and (710-712)
6. Xuanzong (Li Longji) (712-756)
7. Suzong (Li Heng) (756-762)
8. Daizong (Li Yu) (762-779)
9. Dezong (Li Kuo) (779-805)
10. Shunzong (Li Song) (805-805)
11. Xianzong (Li Chun) (805-820)
12. Muzong (Li Heng) (820-824)
13. Jingzong (Li Zhan) (824-826)
14. Wenzong (Li Ang) (826-840)
15. Wuzong (Li Yan) (840-846)
16. Xuanzong (Li Zhen) (846-859)
17. Yizong (Li Cui) (859-873)
18. Xizong (Li Yan) (873-888)
19. Zhaozong (Li Ye) (888-904)
20. Aizong (Li Zhu) (904-907), abdique

Works having for framework the Tang dynasty

Books

• the investigations of the Judge Ti, of the Dutchman Robert van Gulik (1910 - 1967), revive the glorious time of Tang at the time of police intrigues whose hero, the judge Ti (630 - 700), really existed and finished its career as Minister for the empress Wu. The type of the Chinese detective novel was taken again by Frederic Lenormand, which published several “new investigations of the judge Ti” very documented into the Chinese company of Tang.

• Empress , of Shan Its

• the empress of Silk , Jose Frèches

Films

• the prohibited City

Simple: Tang Dynasty Zh-classical: 唐

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