Tang dynasty

The Tang dynasty ruled China from 618 to 907, with a break between 690 and 705. It came after the Sui dynasty and was followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Most historians see the Tang as a peak of Chinese civilization and a cosmopolitan golden age. Through early military campaigns, its territory grew larger than that of the Han dynasty.

The Li family started the dynasty by exploiting Sui decline and triggering its final collapse, which brought progress and stability during the first half of Tang rule. Empress Wu Zetian interrupted the dynasty from 690 to 705 by taking the throne and founding the Wu Zhou dynasty, making her the only legitimate female emperor in Chinese history. The An Lushan rebellion (755–763) caused widespread devastation and weakened central authority in the later half of the dynasty. The Tang kept a civil-service system that recruited scholar-officials through standardized exams and recommendations. During the 9th century, regional military governors called *jiedushi* rose in power and eroded this civil order. The dynasty and central government declined in the latter half of the 9th century; agrarian rebellions led to massive population loss, displacement, widespread poverty, and worsening government dysfunction, which finally ended the dynasty in 907.

The Tang capital at Chang'an (modern Xi'an) was the world’s most populous city for much of the dynasty. Two censuses from the 7th and 8th centuries recorded about 50 million people in the empire, which grew to an estimated 80 million by the dynasty’s end. The Tang raised professional and conscripted armies of hundreds of thousands to fight nomadic powers for control of Inner Asia and the profitable Silk Road trade routes. Distant kingdoms and states paid tribute to the Tang court, and the dynasty indirectly controlled several regions through a protectorate system. Beyond its political dominance, the Tang had a strong cultural influence on neighboring East Asian countries like Japan and Korea.

Chinese culture thrived and matured during the Tang era, traditionally seen as the greatest age for Chinese poetry. Two of China’s most famous poets, Li Bai and Du Fu, lived in this period, along with poets like Wang Wei, contributing to the monumental *Three Hundred Tang Poems*. Many renowned painters—such as Han Gan, Zhang Xuan, and Zhou Fang—were active, and Chinese court music flourished with instruments like the popular pipa. Tang scholars compiled rich historical literature, encyclopedias, and geographical works. Notable innovations included the development of woodblock printing. Buddhism became a major influence in Chinese culture, with native Chinese sects gaining prominence. However, in the 840s, Emperor Wuzong enacted policies to suppress Buddhism, which then declined in influence.

**History**

**Establishment**

Emperor Gaozu (born Li Yuan) founded the Tang dynasty. He had been the Duke of Tang and governor of Taiyuan, the capital of modern Shanxi, during the Sui dynasty’s collapse (581–618). The House of Li had ethnic Han origins and belonged to the northwest military aristocracy common under the Sui. According to official Tang records, they were paternally descended from Laozi (the traditional founder of Taoism, whose personal name was Li Dan or Li Er), the Han dynasty general Li Guang, and Li Gao, founder of the Han-ruled Western Liang kingdom. This family was known as the Longxi Li lineage, which also included the famous Tang poet Li Bai. The Tang emperors were partly of Xianbei ancestry, since Emperor Gaozu’s mother, Duchess Dugu, was part-Xianbei.

Some historians argue that the Tang imperial family’s ties to the distinguished Longxi Li clan of Han descent may be fabricated. Howard J. Wechsler notes that it has been suggested the Tang House of Li descended from a minor offshoot of the eastern Li clan of Zhaojun in Hebei, which had intermarried substantially with non-Han tribal aristocracy. Chen Sanping argues that the House of Li had a patrilineal Xianbei lineage that the royal family concealed by modifying their genealogy. This argument is partly based on a comparison with Li Xian, a Northern Zhou general whose epitaph states he was descended from both the Han dynasty general Li Ling and Yidigui, a 10th-generation ancestor from the steppes. However, a genetic study of the daughter of the Duke of Longxi (Li Hu), the Tang founder’s paternal grandfather, and her nuclear family shows they were primarily related to agricultural farming communities in northern China (95.8%–97.3%) with minor admixture from Eurasian Steppe pastoralists (2.7%–4.2%). The family’s haplogroups are common in Han and East Asian populations and atypical in Xianbei individuals. Despite having Xianbei names (Bulugu and Daye), the findings suggest they did not have true Xianbei ancestry, reflecting the historical policy of granting Xianbei names to Han aristocrats in Western Wei.

Li Yuan had prestige and military experience, and was a first cousin of Emperor Yang of Sui (their mothers were both among the Dugu sisters). Li Yuan rebelled in 617, along with his son and his equally militant daughter Princess Pingyang (d. 623), who raised and commanded her own troops. In winter 617, Li Yuan occupied Chang'an, relegated Emperor Yang to the position of Taishang Huang ('retired emperor'), and acted as regent for the puppet child-emperor Yang You. Upon hearing of Emperor Yang’s murder by General Yuwen Huaji on June 18, 618, Li Yuan declared himself emperor of the newly founded Tang dynasty. Emperor Gaozu ruled until 626, when he wa...