China,+the+T'ang+dynasty.

=**China, the T’ang dynasty**=

**Introduction**
My investigation will mostly be focused on how the T’ang dynasty improved their status and how it comes that they were able to develop so successfully. One thing that I won’t try to concentrate on all too much is all the names of emperors, their sons, daughters, grandfathers and so on, because in every text you find about the dynasty has at least like 15 different names in it. But to make it easier to put a finger on which things certain persons did, I’ll of course mention some of them. I’ve chosen to find out these things because I think that’s the things you need to know about the dynasty in major, and also get a picture of how a dynasty works.

Dynasty is the word for when specific rulers from the same family or line are in control of a state. They act politically and often maintain power through several generations. Throughout Chinese history there have been countless numbers of dynasties in control. Out of scientific facts we believe that the first dynasty was founded already ca 2100 years B.C. After that different rulers have controlled china until 1911 present day where the last dynasty ended.

**The T’ang’s establishment**
As I mentioned above I’m going to take a closer look at the T’ang dynasty; it took its start in 618 A.D. and lasted until 907 A.D. It was the second great dynasty of Chinese history. The establishment of T’ang was caused from chaos near the ending of the earlier Sui dynasty. A vassal in the Sui court, Li Yuan, then took action and proclaimed himself as the emperor and changed the title of the state into T’ang, and that’s where it all started. During T’angs reign the rulers accomplished many things that rose their position and the development of china. They were able to unify a vast territory, spread culture and even absorb culture from surrounding states.

Map over the T'ang empire.

**Emperor Taizong**
After proclaiming himself as Emperor Li Yuan he sent a man called Li Shimin on a quest to destroy as good as all the independent forces around China. After Li Shimin’s great contributions in the unification Li Yuan was forced to resign and leave the throne to Li Shimin, who now became emperor Taizong.

Taizong had a goal make the state prosperous. In military action he conquered the Mongolians under the Turkic group. Taizong also improved the politics by letting wise competent men, no matter their family background, to aid him. The men where all given important positions in his new political system, which was an older system that he improved. He also did an important thing for the economy by establishing an equally dividing land system for the male population so that they could afford to both live and provide the state. In return of land they taxed which made the economy steady. The state was steady and the economy prosperous and because of that his ruling period is historically called the Prosperity of Zhenguan. Yet today he is known for being the greatest emperor ever seen in Chinese history for all he accomplished.

**Trading**
Most of T’angs power was made possible through water canal that the Sui dynasty had built. The canal is all hand made and it stretches for over 1000 miles and links the Yellow and Yang-tze river systems. It integrated the north and the south and formed a steady ground for unified Chinese national economy. The Sui had also built granaries alongside the canal, which made it even easier to transport cargo such as food from the south up to the north. So thanks to the canal they could develop a very large net of trading. One of the greatest benefits of the canal system was that it reduced the cost of shipping taxed grain through the land. The capital of the T’ang dynasty Chang’an is said to have been the most flourishing city in china, but it wasn’t really though. The most important city at the time was Yangzhou, it was located right by the canal. During the T’ang reign it was by far the center of economy. It was the geographical midpoint and so became the major center for southern goods shipped north.

But Chang’an was also important for trading on land. Because the T’angs are also well known due to their trading with countries westwards such as India. They took advantage from an old trading route called the silk-road that they reopened after the Han dynasty. China welcomed foreign cultures and therefore improving the state into the most cosmopolitan area in the world. Out of that China could for an example get a hold of lots of different kinds of plants, herbs, medicine, food etc.

**Religion**
By the time of T’ang they lived upon the belief of Confucius (Confucianism), it emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity. The T’ang government were very open to foreign culture and ideas of living. A sign of that was that they officially tolerated Buddhism. It resulted in great success. Both rich and poor of the Chinese population became monks or nuns. Some of the Buddhists travelled to India and other parts of Asia. By the time they came back to China they returned with new knowledge of history, geography and the science. Trading and travelling introduced China to many new things. For an example the Chinese population learned about new foods such as pepper and dates. Also from the contact with foreigners, they could learn new methods for how to take care of a farm.

**Inventions**
Chinese inventions during the T’ang had far-reaching effects. In the 700s they invented printing, which was an evolved state from having the knowledge to make paper and stamp documents. It’s said that the Buddhist monks were the ones to develop block printing to make copies of sacred texts and prayers, by carving characters onto pieces of wood that they later on inked and pressed on paper. It’s also said that gunpowder was invented in China, they used for different things, for an example they used it when they invaded the Mongol empire. They also used it for ceremonies by using it as a fuel for rockets. Another invention is the porcelain. They also made other practical advances. They used waterwheels to power forges and blast furnaces. The mapmakers of T’ang drew the most advanced maps at their time.

T'ang porcelain.

**Summary**
The Tang dynasty far surpassed every other in many fields. Some examples are culture, economy, agriculture and transportation. They had a new way of thinking and living and were interested to improve their society. They mixed new ways with re-using old systems that they kind of evolved into more modern systems to improve their state.

From my text I hope you’ll remember and learn some things, like what the T’ang did to become such a successful dynasty. Also that they invented things that we can take part of today, like the printing technique. One more thing that I think you should know is that they used old systems and improved them into the better, which I think was very smart, because they used their ancestor’s heritage, which based on pretty much the same thoughts.

I’ve used a several different sources to compare the facts I found, which makes it all more reliable if they all say the same things. I’ve also used a history book that I thought was very good. Wikipedia is said to be unreliable since anyone can write, but i think it's a very good site if you're gonna get started with a project and doesn't have so many facts.

If you want to know more about this subject i think this is a perfect site if you want a good over all look, --> http://library.thinkquest.org/12255/library/dynasty/tang.html

And if you want a more detailed version i would say this is a good site, --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_dynasty#Science.2C_technology.2C_and_medicine

**Sources**
http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Tang/tang-tech.html http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Tang_Dynasty#Woodblock_printing http://www.warriortours.com/intro/history/tang/ http://library.thinkquest.org/12255/library/dynasty/tang.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_dynasty#Science.2C_technology.2C_and_medicine http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china/tag-taizong-tang-dynasty-ancient-china-6146.html Book: World history Patterns of civilizations, pages 268, 269, 270, 271, 320, 321

**Pictures**

 * Map of T'ang empire:** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tang_Dynasty_circa_700_CE.png


 * Emperor Taizong:** http://images.google.se/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/TangTaizong.jpg&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TangTaizong.jpg&usg=___mKSyyt4gKPEdGRM5boRbxPZm-U=&h=800&w=454&sz=79&hl=sv&start=12&tbnid=JrduD2Eg68rDQM:&tbnh=143&tbnw=81&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtaizong%26as_st%3Dy%26as_rights%3D(cc_publicdomain%257Ccc_attribute%257Ccc_sharealike%257Ccc_noncommercial%257Ccc_nonderived)%26hl%3Dsv%26sa%3DG


 * T'ang porcelain:** http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?ei=UTF-8&p=tang+dynasty+porcelain&h=500&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2Funforth%2F3371073081%2F&imgurl=static.flickr.com%2F3553%2F3371073081_04709e4241.jpg&back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fcc%3DCC1%26cc%3DCC2%26custom%3D600x400%26_adv_prop%3Dimages%26ei%3Dutf-8%26va%3Dtang%2Bdynasty%2Bporcelain%26vm%3Dr&oid=a75ef52b3122effe&w=375&size=110k&name=Jar+with+Two+Han...&no=5&tt=19&sigr=11gh0dj5o&sigi=11gt58jpb&sigb=1427606av&fusr=unforth&lic=5&adv=1


 * The other porcelain figure:** http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fcc%3DCC1%26cc%3DCC2%26custom%3D600x400%26_adv_prop%3Dimages%26ei%3Dutf-8%26va%3Dtang%2Bdynasty%2Bporcelain%26vm%3Dr&w=500&h=346&imgurl=static.flickr.com%2F3462%2F3405743765_4b35bfa023.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2Frosemania%2F3405743765%2F&size=127k&name=china+ceramics+s...&p=tang+dynasty+porcelain&oid=b146733893d49b82&fr2=&fusr=rosemanios&lic=4&no=2&tt=19&adv=1&sigr=11iv91h1j&sigi=11g25jr64&sigb=1427606av