The most obvious feature of the Tang Dynasty is imperial expansion. Through a series of great battles, its territory even surpassed that of the Han Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty established China's suzerainty in Central Asia and established permanent officials in Pyongyang, North Korea and Hanoi, Vietnam. In the world at that time, only the empire of Muslim Arabs in the Middle East could match it. Among them, Li Shimin of Emperor Taizong was recognized as a good emperor in China. He made great efforts to govern, accepted good advice and appointed talents. Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong, was honored as "Tiankhan" by the northern tribes. China people sincerely praised him, not only because of the Tang Dynasty he established, but also because of his virtue. His words and deeds are recorded in Zhenguan dignitaries, which is a model for later emperors.

Through the constant political system reform, the Tang Dynasty formed a complete and strict official system from the central government to the local government. The highest authority in the central government is still a system of three provinces and six departments. It is the three provinces of Zhongshu, Xiamen and Shangshu. "Official, household, soldier, punishment, ceremony, work". The most important thing is that Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty set up ten running envoys around to command heavy troops, which laid the groundwork for the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion.

The imperial examination and education system in Tang Dynasty influenced China 1300 years. In addition to state and county universities, the capital Chang 'an has three highest institutions of learning, namely "imperial academy" in Shangshu Province, "Hong Wen Pavilion" in Menxia Province and "Chongwen Pavilion" by the Crown Prince. In the early Tang Dynasty, there were more than 3,000 students in imperial academy, and Emperor Taizong Li Shimin often visited imperial academy. Students come from "Koguryo Kingdom, Silla Kingdom, Baekje Kingdom, Bohai Kingdom and Japanese Empire in the East; Gaochang Kingdom in the west, later Tubo Kingdom and Nanzhao Kingdom in the south have become the most impressive institutions of higher learning in the world.

The development of school education promoted the development of imperial examination system. In the Tang Dynasty, talents were selected from ordinary people through the examination system. All intellectuals who passed the examination were appointed as official posts regardless of their grades, making it a system called "imperial examination". Imperial examination has become the highest goal pursued by Confucian intellectuals in China. It is the highest peak of life to take the first place in the exam, and the third place in the exam. When Li Shimin the Great saw the candidates filing in and eager to try, he said excitedly, "I have put all the heroes in the world in my pocket." In 702, Wu Zetian launched a military exercise and served as an election military attache. Before that, the door of the ruler was closed, and only through the narrow door of the imperial examination could talented people enter the government. On the part of rulers, they can recruit talents and restrict people's thoughts, which is conducive to social stability. The imperial examination system provided effective and stable management for China and won the admiration of Europeans. On the other hand, it is this system that stifles creativity and cultivates obedience. As long as China is isolated in East Asia, it will continue to provide stability and continuity. However, with the vigorous western invasion, China people were prevented from making effective adjustments and responses until 1905 was finally abolished completely.

In the early Tang Dynasty, the influence of Buddhism reached its peak in China. Due to the expansion of the imperial territory and the opening of the sea-land trade line, foreign religions, especially Buddhism, can flood into China in large numbers, but here Buddhism is completely China-like, and various sects are gradually formed. Among them, the famous "Zen" is the only Sect that continues to maintain profound rationality after the Tang Dynasty.

In terms of literature, the Tang Dynasty had an amazing development, and the golden age of Tang poetry reached its peak at this time. Famous ones are Li Bai and Du Fu.

Tang culture

During the Tang Dynasty, calligraphers came forth in large numbers. Ou Yangxun and Yu Shinan were both famous calligraphers in the early Tang Dynasty. Ou Yangxun's regular script is neat, and his masterpiece is "The Ritual Spring Inscription of Jiucheng Palace". The font of regular script in the south of the city is soft and round. Yan Zhenqing and Liu Gongquan were famous calligraphers in the middle and late Tang Dynasty. Yan Zhenqing's regular script pen is vigorous, full of bones and muscles, vigorous and free and easy, and his representative works include Duobaota Monument and Yanshi Family Temple Monument. Liu Gongquan's calligraphy is vigorous and powerful, and his masterpiece is Mysterious Pagoda. The world calls Yan Liu's calligraphy "Yan Liu Jin Gu". Zhang Xu and Huai Su are masters of cursive writing.

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The important influence of Tang culture

The developed economic and cultural prosperity and convenient transportation and management system in the Tang Dynasty provided convenience for international exchanges. The land extends in all directions. There are many sea routes, and there are three ways to Japan. It has opened up maritime transportation from Guangzhou and Vietnam Sea to Southeast Asia, West Asia, Egypt and East Africa. Therefore, Tang enjoyed a high international reputation at that time and was the center of economic and cultural exchanges among countries in the world.

At this time, China's culture and foreign culture merged rapidly, and foreigners and foreigners influenced Tang society, as well as food, clothing, makeup and fashion. The social atmosphere in the early Tang Dynasty was still conservative. When women travel, they wear electric fences that are knee-length and cover the whole body. Later, he followed the example of the Hu people and wore Hu clothes with lapels and lapels. Until the prosperous Tang Dynasty, he still wore a half-sleeved skirt, which appeared topless and bare-backed, without any cover. Ladies dress up in pursuit of fashion, such as imitating ethnic minorities in hair styles, such as Uman bun and vertebral bun; There are Tibetan makeup, Uygur makeup and so on. As for the food on the table, it is also changing. During the Kaiyuan period, the imperial court "provided all the food for Hu".

During the Kaiyuan and Tianbao periods, a large number of foreigners and surrounding ethnic minorities flooded into Chang 'an, where they lived together with the Han nationality for a long time and learned from each other. At one time, the social atmosphere even showed signs of "Hu Hua", which attracted the attention of the world. However, instead of banning it, the Tang Dynasty actively absorbed the essence of foreign cultures, constantly enriched its own nutrition, and integrated Hu customs into Chinese civilization, creating a more colorful and prosperous Tang Wenhua.

Korean peninsula

Silla was deeply influenced by Tang Wenhua, with as many as 100 students studying in China, and some even became officials in the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, Silla followed the political system of the Tang Dynasty and established administrative organizations from the central government to the local government. In the imperial examination, China's ancient books Zuo Zhuan and Li Ji were the main subjects, which showed that they were influenced by Tang Wenhua. The poems of Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi are more popular in Silla. There are no figures in Korea. In the Tang Dynasty, Chinese characters were used as notes to create Korean vocabulary, and Silla characters were actually transformed from China sounds. In addition, the Silla calendar and laws are modeled after the Tang Dynasty. Buddhism sects prevailing in the Tang Dynasty, such as Tiantai Sect, Faxiang Sect and Zen Sect, are also very popular in North Korea. Silla also used China medical books such as Materia Medica and Su Wen as teaching materials to introduce China medicine into North Korea.

Japan

Through the continuous communication between China and Japan, Japan is deeply influenced by China in politics, economy, military affairs, culture, production technology and even lifestyle. Among them, the most influential was Japan's "innovation" in 646. This reform imitated the system of Sui and Tang Dynasties, reformed the system of officials from the central government to the local government, and also imitated the imperial examination system of Sui and Tang Dynasties, and selected officials by passing the examination. Referring to the laws of Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Dabao Law was formulated.

At the beginning of the 8th century, Japan moved its capital to Pingchengjing (now Nara). The building scale of the capital city completely imitates Chang 'an, and even the width and arrangement of streets are almost the same. There are also names such as Suzaku Street, East City and West City. In the late 8th century, Japan moved its capital to Ping 'an (now Kyoto), still imitating Chang 'an as its capital.

Before the 8th century, the Japanese used Chinese characters as a narrative tool. Kibi No Asomi Makibi, an overseas student, and Konghai, a monk, created Japanese kana letters-Katakana and Hiragana-on the basis of Japanese phonetic notation of Chinese characters in China, which greatly promoted the development of Japanese culture. At the same time, Japanese vocabulary and grammar are also influenced by Chinese.

Japanese living habits and holiday customs were also influenced by the Tang Dynasty.

Viet Nam

The cultural and educational system and talent selection policy pursued by Sui and Tang Dynasties in Annan were the same as those in the mainland. The Law of the Tang Dynasty is the representative of the Chinese legal system, one of the five legal systems in the world, which has a great influence on the legal history of Vietnam. The influence of Confucianism, as the representative of China culture, is a main line of cultural exchange between China and Vietnam, but the influence of China Buddhism on Vietnam is also considerable. At the beginning of the 9th century, China's monk Zen master crossed Jiaozhou to establish the "Wu Chan School", which played an important role in the development of Vietnamese Zen Buddhism. In the tenth century, after Vietnam's independence, most of the laws and regulations of the dynasties borrowed from the Tang Dynasty, and the imperial examination system was mainly based on poetry. Vietnamese Jiang Gongfu was an examiner in the Tang Dynasty, and the official advised the doctor. He was one of the famous figures in the Tang Dynasty. Jiang Gongfu's China culture is very profound, and his poems "Baiyun Zhao Chunhai Fu" and "Advice to Truth" are included in the whole Tang poetry. After the Tang Dynasty, China culture continued to exert an influence on Viet Nam. From 13 to 14 at the turn of the century, the Vietnamese people created the Vietnamese national character "Zi Nan" by means of pictophonetic characters, cognitive characters and borrowed characters. But Chinese characters have always played an important role in Vietnamese culture. Until modern times, many Vietnamese were familiar with Chinese. /kloc-In the 7th century, Latin replaced Nan as the common language of Vietnam, but the influence of China culture on Vietnam has not stopped.

western part of the country

Persian and Arab merchants also entered the Tang Dynasty by land or sea during this period. They are famous for their jewelry business and can make huge profits every time. Through them, spinach, candied dates, Hu cakes, Sanle pulp and other foods and acrobatics such as swallowing knives and spitting fire entered the Tang society; Handicraft techniques such as papermaking and brocade have also spread to the western world, bringing great changes to the society there.

With the arrival of the conference semifinals in the western regions, Zoroastrianism, Nestorianism and Manichaeism they believed in also spread in the mainland of the Tang Dynasty. These foreign religions, especially Indian Buddhism, which had already spread in China, penetrated into all aspects of society in the Tang Dynasty and had a great influence on philosophy, literature, linguistics, architecture and art.

The spread of silk products to the west: in the Tang Dynasty, silk was the main export, and the trade between China and the West was prosperous. China's silk weaving technology, such as pedal spinning wheel, printing and dyeing technology, was introduced to the west and India through western countries, and craftsmen of the Tang Dynasty also taught textile technology in Central Asia and West Asia, so the silk industry in Europe developed.

Papermaking spread to the west: In the tenth year of Tianbao, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the war between Tang and Dashi broke out, and Tang Jun was defeated by Dashi, and a large number of soldiers were captured, including many papermaking craftsmen. Papermaking was introduced into history and then spread to Europe, which played a great role in the spread of European and world culture.

Spreading academic knowledge to the West: China characters and classics were introduced to Gaochang in the Tang Dynasty, and Gaochang's criminal law and marriage customs were mostly imitated in the Tang Dynasty. Some countries in the western regions, such as Shule and Yanqi, have also studied China's writing and customs and put on China's clothes. Archaeologists also found fragments of bamboo slips in Historical Records and The Analects of Confucius along the Silk Road, indicating that China's book culture had spread to the Tang Dynasty, and all the western countries, Tubo and Nanzhao sent governors to study in Chang 'an, making Chang 'an a study center in the western regions at that time.

Technology spread to the West: China's painting and textile methods spread to the West and prevailed in Arabia. Indians followed China's example of cast iron and sinking. Silk, tea, paper and medicinal materials of the Tang Dynasty were also exported to the western regions, Tianzhu, Persia,  and other countries, and were resold to western countries through Persia.

Establishment of foreign trade institutions: With the rapid development of foreign trade, the Tang government set up a "Trade Department" in Guangzhou, an important port, and set up "Trade Supervisors" in land areas such as Wuwei and Zhangye to manage foreign trade respectively. Chang 'an has also attracted many disciples from the western regions to study in China, making Chang 'an the center of economic and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.

religion

The religious policy in the early Tang Dynasty was relatively tolerant, and Taoism and Buddhism, two traditional religions in China, both developed greatly. In the Tang Dynasty, Taoism was the state religion, and princes and nobles were all proud of Taoist priests, taking Laozi, Zhuangzi, Wen Zi, Liezi and other Taoist classics as themes. In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, Xuanzang absorbed a large number of Taoist terms in order to conform to the national conditions of the Tang Dynasty at that time. A large number of Buddhist classics were translated and introduced, and China monks' own ideological system gradually matured, which made China Buddhism develop steadily during this period, and most major sects of China Buddhism were formed or matured during this period. Other religions Nestorianism and Zoroastrianism were also introduced into China with international exchanges. When Tang Wuzong adopted a high-handed policy towards Buddhism, it was known in history that Huichang destroyed Buddhism, which made other Buddhist sects, except a few sects such as Zen, never recover.

literature

China's first No.1 scholar, Sanyuanji, was born in the Tang Dynasty, that is, No.622 scholar Sun (65 1 year Yan Kangcheng) and No.781year scholar Sanyuanji.

The most remarkable literary achievement of the Tang Dynasty is the Tang poetry. Since Chen Ziang and the "four outstanding poets in the early Tang Dynasty", many famous poets have appeared in the Tang Dynasty. Li Bai, Du Fu, Cen Can and Wang Wei in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, Li He, Han Yu and Bai Juyi in the middle Tang Dynasty, and Li Shangyin and Du Mu in the late Tang Dynasty are several representatives. Their poems have different styles, including rich imagination of the mythical world and detailed description of real life, including passionate frontier poems, gloomy and heavy "poetic history" and fresh and refined pastoral poems. These poems are isomorphic and become outstanding representatives of China's literary achievements. Although there were still outstanding poets in the Song, Ming and Qing Dynasties, the overall level of regular poetry and classical poetry was not as good as that of the Tang Dynasty, which made Tang poetry an insurmountable peak of classical poetry in China. Chang 'an, Luoyang and Jinling are the big cities with the largest number of "complete Tang poems".

Almost all the cultural, institutional and social features of the Tang Dynasty were inherited from the Sui Dynasty. Li in the Tang Dynasty had a closer relationship with Yang in the Sui Dynasty. To a certain extent, the Tang Dynasty was an extension of the Sui Dynasty, so historians in previous dynasties often merged it with the Sui Dynasty to form the Sui Dynasty.

art

Zhang Xuan's "The Picture of the Lady of the State of Guo You Chun" absorbed the characteristics of the western regions and religious colors, so the art of the Tang Dynasty was very different from that of the previous generation. In the early Tang Dynasty, Yan and Yan Lide were good at figure painting. Wu Daozi is known as "the sage in the painting". He is good at figures and scenery, and absorbs the techniques of western painting school. His pictures are full of three-dimensional sense, and there is a saying that "Wu takes the lead". Natalie mainly painted ladies-in-waiting, and his famous works include The Picture of Tao Ren, The Picture of Lady You Chun of the State of Guo, The Picture of Flowers and Ladies, etc. The poet Wang Wei is good at ink and wash landscape painting, and Su Shi called him "painting with poetry".

The cause of mural painting in Tang Dynasty was particularly developed. The murals in Mogao Grottoes and Mausoleums have been handed down from generation to generation. The carving art in the Tang Dynasty was equally outstanding. Dunhuang, Longmen, Maijishan and Bingling Temple Grottoes all reached their peak in the Tang Dynasty. The Lushena Buddha in Longmen Grottoes and the Leshan Buddha in Sichuan are both amazing. The three-color six-horse figurines and tombs in Zhaoling are very beautiful. Among them, the sculptor Yang Huizhi is called Plastic Saint.

calligraphy

science and technology

Astronomer Monk and his party measured the length of meridian for the first time in the world. Sun Simiao's Qian Jin Fang is a rare medical work. In 868 AD, the printing of Diamond Sutra in China was the earliest block printing known in the world. China's papermaking, textile and other technologies spread to West Asia and Europe through the Arab region.

Tang dynasty economy

money

After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, it quickly introduced its own coinage policy. In the fourth year of Wude (62 1), in July, "Five baht money was wasted, and Kaiyuan Baotong money was used, with a diameter of eight points and a weight of two baht and four points. Ten articles weigh one or two, and a thousand articles weigh six pounds and four ounces. " Established the legal tender status of the National Mint Bureau. At the same time, it inherited the tradition of taking silk as currency in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and implemented the monetary system of "money and silk go hand in hand"-money is copper coins, and silk is the general name of silk products, including brocade, embroidery, silk, silk, crepe, silk, silk and silk. In fact, it is a diversified monetary system combining physical currency and metal currency.

The Tang government issued a decree to crack down on private casting and prohibit the use of bad money. However, due to the serious shortage of copper coins, the currency value has risen steadily, and private casting is profitable, so the effect is not ideal. A long-standing contradiction in social development after the implementation of the two tax laws is highlighted by the increasingly serious problem of "money shortage"

In the big cities of the Tang Dynasty, cabinets and flying money appeared. The counter handles the payment of money and goods, and customers who deposit at the counter can send and pay money with book stickers (similar to checks). All these indicate the prosperity of commerce in the middle Tang Dynasty. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, because of the Huang Chao Rebellion and the war of the buffer region, the number of households dropped sharply, and the social and economic scale never reached the level of the prosperous era of Kaiyuan.

agriculture

Agricultural production tools in the Tang Dynasty had a new development. Qu Yuan's Fu appeared in Tang Dynasty. There are also new irrigation tools, such as water trucks and flat-bottomed boats. In the early Tang Dynasty, there were only 160 important water conservancy projects recorded. Among them, the famous ones are Yuliangqu, Jiangyan Lake and Jinghu Lake. During the Tianbao period, the cultivated land area of the Tang Dynasty reached 8.5 million hectares. Grain output has also increased. In the eighth year of Tianbao, the official warehouse stored 96 million stones of grain. When the rice price in Luoyang and Chang 'an was the lowest, there were only thirteen articles and one bucket, and Qingzhou and qi zhou had only five articles and one bucket. In the late Tang Dynasty, due to the migration of population to the south, land reclamation and water conservancy construction, the grain output in the south increased greatly.

manufacture

Handicraft industry in Tang dynasty was divided into government-run and private-run industries. The Ministry of Industry is the most important department in charge of the official handicraft industry, and the institutions directly managed are Shaofu supervisor, director and military equipment supervisor. Shaofu supervisor is in charge of exquisite handicrafts; Will be responsible for the construction of civil engineering; The military equipment supervisor is responsible for the construction of weapons. There are departments under supervision and workshops under supervision. In addition, there are money casting supervisors and metallurgical supervisors. The products of government-run handicrafts are generally not sold to the outside world, but only for the royal family and yamen to consume. Workers are divided into craftsmen, criminals, government servants, government households, miscellaneous households and so on. Private handicrafts are not as developed as those run by the government. In the early Tang Dynasty, the main handicrafts were textiles, ceramics and mining. In the late Tang Dynasty, handicrafts in the south developed greatly, especially silk weaving, shipbuilding, paper making and tea making.

The handicraft industry in the Tang Dynasty developed greatly, and the commerce was more developed than the previous generation. The progress of handicraft industry plays a beneficial role in the development of social productive forces. The development of commerce has stimulated the progress of industry and strengthened the economic ties between regions.

taxation

In the middle of the Tang Dynasty, two tax laws were implemented in 780 AD. The tax in that year was/kloc-0.89 million yuan, and the valley was 2 15.7 million yuan. 82 1-824 Average annual tax revenue 35 15. 1228. In the late Tang Dynasty, in 853, the tax revenue dropped to more than 9.25 million yuan, including 2.78 million yuan from Yanlida. With the intensification of the oppression of salt merchants in the Tang Dynasty, the Huang Chao Uprising was directly triggered.