Tang Dynasty

The transition from Sui to Tang (613-628) refers to the period between the end of the Sui dynasty and the start of the Tang dynasty. The Sui dynasty's territories were carved into a handful of short-lived states by its officials, generals, and agrarian rebel leaders. A process of elimination and annexation followed that ultimately culminated in the consolidation of the Tang dynasty by the former Sui general Li Yuan. Near the end of the Sui, Li Yuan installed the puppet child emperor Yang You. Li later executed Yang and proclaimed himself emperor of the new Tang dynasty.

After the Sui dynasty collapses, the country falls into chaos. Li Yuan, a vassal in the Sui court, raises an army and proclaims himself Emperor Gaozu in 618. He changes the state title to Tang, thus establishing the Tang dynasty, while maintaining Chang'an as the capital city. Gaozu works to reform taxation and coinage.

The Xuanwu Gate Incident was a palace coup for the throne of the Tang dynasty on 2 July 626, when Prince Li Shimin (Prince of Qin) and his followers assassinated Crown Prince Li Jiancheng and Prince Li Yuanji (Prince of Qi). Li Shimin, the second son of Emperor Gaozu, was in an intense rivalry with his elder brother Li Jiancheng and younger brother Li Yuanji. He took control and set up an ambush at Xuanwu Gate, the northern gate leading to the Palace City of the imperial capital Chang'an. There, Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji were murdered by Li Shimin and his men. Within three days after the coup, Li Shimin was installed as the crown prince. Emperor Gaozu abdicated another sixty days later and passed the throne to Li Shimin, who would become known as Emperor Taizong.

Emperor Gaozu yields the throne to Li Shimin, who names himself Emperor Taizong, second emperor of the Tang dynasty.

Emperor Taizong of Tang (r. 626-649), the second emperor of Chinese Tang Dynasty, faced a major threat from Tang's northern neighbor, the Eastern Turkic Khaganate. Early in Emperor Taizong's reign, he placated the Eastern Turkic Khaganate's Illig Qaghan (also called Jieli Khan and Ashina Duobi), while preparing for several years for a major offensive against the Eastern Turkic (including forming an alliance with the Eastern Turkic Khaganate's restless vassal Xueyantuo, which was ready to throw off the Eastern Turkic yoke). He launched the offensive in winter 629, with the major general Li Jing in command, and in 630, after Li Jing captured Ashina Duobi, the Eastern Turkic Khaganate was destroyed. Subsequently, control of the territory north of Tang (check mate ak.w.m) largely fell to Xueyantuo, and Emperor Taizong initially tried to settle many the Eastern Turkic people within Tang borders. Eventually, after an incident where he was nearly assassinated by a member of the Eastern Turkic royal house, Ashina Jiesheshuai, he tried to resettle the Eastern Turkic people north of the Great Wall and south of the Gobi Desert, to serve as a buffer between Tang and Xueyantuo, creating a loyal Eastern Turkic Khaganate's prince Ashina Simo as the Qilibi Khan, but Ashina Simo's reign collapsed around new Year 645 due to dissent within and pressure from Xueyantuo without, and Tang would not attempt to recreate the Eastern Turkic Khaganate any further (although remnant tribes rose later, and during the reign of Emperor Taizong's son Emperor Gaozong, Eastern Turkic was reestablished under Ashina Gudulu, as a hostile power against Tang).

Sa'adibnWaqqas, a maternal uncle of Muhammad, leads a delegation to China and invites Emperor Gaozong to embrace Islam. To show his admiration for the religion, the Emperor orders China's first mosque to be built in Canton.

Woodblock printing was developed in the early Tang era with examples of its development dating to around 650 CE More common use is found during the ninth century, with calendars, children’s books, test guides, charm manuals, dictionaries and almanacs. Commercial books began to be printed around 762 BCE In 835 BCE there was a ban on private printing brought on because of the distribution of unsanctioned calendars. The oldest surviving printed document from the Tang era is the Diamond Sutra from 868 CE, a 16-foot scroll featuring calligraphy and illustrations.

The Battle of Irtysh River or Battle of Yexi River was a battle in 657 between Tang Dynasty general Su Dingfang and the Western Turkic Khaganate qaghan Ashina Helu during the Tang campaign against the Western Turks. It was fought along the Irtysh River near the Altai Mountains. Helu's forces, consisting of 100,000 cavalry, were ambushed by Su as Helu chased decoy Tang troops that Su had deployed. Helu was defeated during Su's surprise attack, and lost most of his soldiers. Turkic tribes loyal to Helu surrendered, and the retreating Helu was captured the next day. Helu's defeat ended the Western Turkic Khaganate, strengthened Tang control of Xinjiang, and led to Tang suzerainty over the western Turks

In East Asia, Tang Chinese military campaigns were less successful elsewhere than in previous imperial Chinese dynasties. Like the emperors of the Sui dynasty before him, Taizong established a military campaign in 644 against the Korean kingdom of Goguryeo in the Goguryeo–Tang War; however, this led to its withdrawal in the first campaign because they failed to overcome the successful defense led by General Yeon Gaesomun. Allying with the Korean Silla Kingdom, the Chinese fought against Baekje and their Yamato Japanese allies in the Battle of Baekgang in August 663, a decisive Tang–Silla victory. The Tang dynasty navy had several different ship types at its disposal to engage in naval warfare, these ships described by Li Quan in his Taipai Yinjing (Canon of the White and Gloomy Planet of War) of 759. The Battle of Baekgang was actually a restoration movement by remnant forces of Baekje, since their kingdom was toppled in 660 by a joint Tang–Silla invasion, led by Chinese general Su Dingfang and Korean general Kim Yushin (595–673). In another joint invasion with Silla, the Tang army severely weakened the Goguryeo Kingdom in the north by taking out its outer forts in the Year 645. With joint attacks by Silla and Tang armies under commander Li Shiji (594–669), the Kingdom of Goguryeo was destroyed by 668.

Wu Zhao, commonly known as Wu Zetian (17 February 624-16 December 705), alternatively Wu Hou, and during the later Tang dynasty as Tian Hou, was the de facto ruler of China, first through her husband the Emperor Gaozong and then through her sons the Emperors Zhongzong and Ruizong, from 665 to 690. She subsequently became empress regnant of the Zhou dynasty (周) of China, ruling from 690 to 705.She is notable for being the only female monarch in the history of China.

Wang Wei was a Chinese poet, musician, painter, and politician during the Tang dynasty. He was one of the most famous men of arts and letters of his time. Many of his poems are preserved, and twenty-nine were included in the highly influential 18th-century anthology Three Hundred Tang Poems.

Li Bai was a Chinese poet acclaimed from his own day to the present as a genius and a romantic figure who took traditional poetic forms to new heights. He and his friend Du Fu (712–770) were the two most prominent figures in the flourishing of Chinese poetry in the Tang dynasty, which is often called the "Golden Age of Chinese Poetry". The expression "Three Wonders" denote Li Bai's poetry, Pei Min's swordplay, and Zhang Xu's calligraphy.

Emperor Xuanzong, was the fourth Emperor of the Tang dynasty of China, ruling briefly in 684 and again from 705 to 710. During the first period, he did not rule, and the entire government was in the hands of his mother, Empress Wu Zetian and was effectively overthrown by her imperial power after opposing his mother.

In the second reign period, most of the government was in the hands of his beloved wife Empress Wei. He is renowned for the cultural heights reached during his rule from 712 to 756 CE. He welcomed Buddhist and Taoist clerics to his court, including teachers of Tantric Buddhism, a recent form of the religion. Xuanzong had a passion for music and horses. To this end he owned a troupe of dancing horses and invited renowned horse painter Han Gan into his court. He also created the Imperial Music Academy, taking advantage of the new international influence on Chinese music. The fall of Xuanzong became an enduring love story in China. Xuanzong fell so much in love with concubine Yang Guifei that he began to ignore his royal duties and also promote her family members to high government positions.

The Battle of Talas was a military encounter and engagement between the Islamic civilization and the Chinese civilization in the 8th century, specifically between Abbasid Caliphate along with its ally, the Tibetan Empire, against the Chinese Tang dynasty. In July 751 CE, Tang and Abbasid forces met in the valley of the Talas River to vie for control over the Syr Darya region of central Asia. According to Chinese sources, after several days of stalemate, the Karluk Turks, originally allied to the Tang Dynasty, defected to the Abbasid army and tipped the balance of power, resulting in a Tang rout. The defeat marked the end of the Tang westward expansion and resulted in Muslims control of Transoxiana for the next 400 years. Control of the region was economically beneficial for the Abbasids because it was on the Silk Road. Chinese prisoners captured in the aftermath of the battle are said to have brought paper-making technology to West Asia.

The An Lushan Rebellion was a rebellion against the Tang dynasty of China (618 to 907) towards the mid-point of the dynasty, attempting to replace it with a dynasty named Yan. This rebellion was originally lead by An Lushan, a general officer of the Tang military system. This event involves actual military activity and direct deaths from battle; but, also, involves major associated significant population loss from famine, population dislocations, and so on.

Yangzhou, at the junction of the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal, was a center of commerce, finance and industry, and one of the wealthiest cities in Tang China, with a large population of foreign merchants. In 760 CE, the Jiedu envoy of Huainan, Liu Zhan, started a mutiny with his brother Liu Yin. Their army initially defeated the army of the governor, Deng Jingshan, at Xucheng County (modern Sihong, Jiangsu), before crossing the Yangtze River and defeating Li Yao, who fled to Xuancheng. On the advice of famed general Guo Ziyi, Deng recruited a general from Pinglu, Tian Shengong, to suppress the revolt. Tian and his army landed at Jinshan on Hangzhou Bay, and despite initial losses he defeated Liu's army of 8000 elite soldiers at Guangling. Liu Zhan himself was shot through the eye with an arrow and beheaded.

Since Tian had previously fought for the An Shi Rebellion, he was interested in reingratiating himself with the Tang Emperor. He chose Yangzhou as the ideal target from which to loot gifts for the Emperor. When Tian's forces arrived, they robbed the inhabitants, killing thousands of Arab and Persian merchants. Tian then travelled to the Tang capital, Chang'an, and presented looted gold and silver to the emperor. In the Yangzhou massacre, Chinese forces under Tian Shengong killed thousands of foreign merchants in Yangzhou in 760 CE during the Tang dynasty.

Although these natural calamities and rebellions stained the reputation and hampered the effectiveness of the central government, the early 9th century is nonetheless viewed as a period of recovery for the Tang dynasty. The government's withdrawal from its role in managing the economy had the unintended effect of stimulating trade, as more markets with fewer bureaucratic restrictions were opened up. By 780, the old grain tax and labor service of the 7th century was replaced by a semiannual tax paid in cash, signifying the shift to a money economy boosted by the merchant class. Cities in the Jiangnan region to the south, such as Yangzhou, Suzhou, and Hangzhou prospered the most economically during the late Tang period. The government monopoly on the production of salt, weakened after the An Lushan Rebellion, was placed under the Salt Commission, which became one of the most powerful state agencies, run by capable ministers chosen as specialists. The commission began the practice of selling merchants the rights to buy monopoly salt, which they would then transport and sell in local markets. In 799 salt accounted for over half of the government's revenues.

The last great ambitious ruler of the Tang dynasty was Emperor Xianzong (r. 805–820), whose reign was aided by the fiscal reforms of the 780s, including a government monopoly on the salt industry. He also had an effective and well-trained imperial army stationed at the capital led by his court eunuchs; this was the Army of Divine Strategy, numbering 240,000 in strength as recorded in 798. Between the years 806 and 819, Emperor Xianzong conducted seven major military campaigns to quell the rebellious provinces that had claimed autonomy from central authority, managing to subdue all but two of them. Under his reign there was a brief end to the hereditary jiedushi, as Xianzong appointed his own military officers and staffed the regional bureaucracies once again with civil officials.

However, Xianzong's successors proved less capable and more interested in the leisure of hunting, feasting, and playing outdoor sports, allowing eunuchs to amass more power as drafted scholar-officials caused strife in the bureaucracy with factional parties. The eunuchs' power became unchallenged after Emperor Wenzong's (r. 826–840) failed plot to have them overthrown; instead the allies of Emperor Wenzong were publicly executed in the West Market of Chang'an, by the eunuchs' command.

However, the Tang did manage to restore at least indirect control over former Tang territories as far west as the Hexi Corridor and Dunhuang in Gansu. In 848 the ethnic Han Chinese general Zhang Yichao (799–872) managed to wrestle control of the region from the Tibetan Empire during its civil war. Shortly afterwards Emperor Xuānzong of Tang (r. 846–859) acknowledged Zhang as the protector (防禦使, Fangyushi) of Sha Prefecture and jiedushi military governor of the new Guiyi Circuit.

The Tang dynasty recovered its power decades after the An Lushan rebellion and was still able to launch offensive conquests and campaigns like its destruction of the Uyghur Khaganate in Mongolia in 840–847.

A great flood along the Grand Canal and on the North China Plain kills tens of thousands of people. The government's inability to respond to the flood contributes to growing resentment among the peasants and lays the groundwork for rebellion.

Huang Chao leads a powerful rebellion against the Tang beginning in 875, and captures the capital at Chang'an in 881. Although he is ultimately defeated in 883, his revolt severely weakens the government's control over the country, and the dynasty quickly crumbles.

Huang Chao's rebellion leads to a struggle for power in China, and military leader Zhu Wen emerges victorious. In 907 he forces the emperor to abdicate and proclaims himself the first emperor of the Hou Liang dynasty, thus ending the Tang dynasty.

In addition to natural calamities and jiedushi amassing autonomous control, the Huang Chao Rebellion (874–884) resulted in the sacking of both Chang'an and Luoyang, and took an entire decade to suppress. The Tang never recovered from this rebellion, weakening it for future military powers to replace it. Large groups of bandits in the size of small armies ravaged the countryside in the last years of the Tang.;

During the last two decades of the Tang dynasty, the gradual collapse of central authority led to the rise of two prominent rival military figures over northern China: Li Keyong and Zhu Wen. Southern China would remain splintered into various small kingdoms until most of China was reunified under the Song dynasty (960–1279). Control over parts of northeast China and Manchuria by the Liao dynasty of the Khitan people also stemmed from this period.;