Tang Cosmopolitan Culture

Character of Tang

Traditional bases of power

Agriculture

Bureaucracy of Confucian scholars

Elite Han vs. Tang women in North China

Status higher in Han, Northern Dynasties or Tang?

"The Han dynasty stands out as probably the longest period of intense female influence over the top reaches of government in the long history of China," (Hinsch, p. 171)

[As a result of Tabgach influence in] "the north of the Yellow River it is usually the wife who runs the household...The traditional niceties between husband and wife are seldom observed, and from time to time he even has to put up with her insults," (Yan Zhitui (531-ca. 591), quoted in Hansen, p. 165)

Southern women?

“Tang China was perfectly suited for the ascent of a historical anomaly like Wu Zhao,” (Rothschild, p. 11)

Openness to outside world

Trade Imports

Spices

Glassware

Byzantine bottle found in Famen (Dharma Gate) Monastery, Shaanxi (Also see Hansen, pp. 215-16, 219-20)

Precious metals

Silver and gold coins and bullion

Wares

Gilded silver ewer from Bactria

Buried ca. 569 in Gansu, China

What is the origin of the imagery on the ewer?

Spread of artistic styles

Ewers

Mirrors

Tang Foreign Policy

First Turk Empire, 552-630

Pastoral Nomads

Turk Challenge

61 Turk Raids, 621-626

Taizong's truce with Xieli Qaghan at Bian Bridge

Taizong's Military Expansion

E. Turks defeated, 630

Heavy snows

Internal dissent, 627-30

Taxes

Lack of booty?

W. Turk Campaigns, 640

Turfan, 640

Kucha, 648

Failed invasions of Koguryō, 645 and 647

Miltiary organization

Regular Fubing troops

Cavalry and infantry

Turk and other nomad auxiliaries

Cavalry

Which of the two sages ran foreign policy?

Gaozong (r. 650-83)

Strokes 660, 675

Evidence that he hunted, 660-75

Wu Zhao (r. 690-705)

Gaozong's Foreign Policy Successes

W. Turks defeated, 657

Expansion to Sogdiana

Conquest of Koguryō, 668

Only 3 major raids 650-678

Second Turk Empire, 682-742

Turk revolts 679-82

Intense Turk raiding

53 major attacks 679-711

Tang/Zhou dynasties on defensive

Wu Zhao

Zhou Dynasty (690-705)

Deposed in 705

Qianling

Blank stele (Rothschild, p. 212)

“Foreign Ambassadors”

Li-Wu Family Tree

*Xuanzong (r. 712-56)

Li Longji

Palace coups, 710, 712

Careful early rule

Controls kin

Emperor's and Empress’ families excluded from office

Minghuang "Brilliant Emperor"

Example of Tang Northern Defenses

Wu Zhao & sons in power (ca. 680-705)

Turk and other steppe nomad raids

35 major raids, 684-711 (1.29/yr)

Xuanzong (r. 712-56)

Garrison system expands by 740

7 Military commands

490,000 troops

Turk and other steppe nomad raids

9 major raids, 712-755 (0.209/year)

Tang Garrison System Map

Estimated Tang Demand for Horses under Xuanzong

Regular service

Several hundred thousand

80,000 frontier military in 742

60,000 est. postal relay system

1300 stations/10 mi. apart

39 horses/station (median)

???? transportation system, palace, government offices

Replacements annually

Tens of thousands

24,000 est. frontier military horses

Military campaigns in Inner Asia

60,000 to 90,000 estimated

Example of Fluctuations in Tang Breeding Ranch Herd Size

Tang Breeding Ranch Map

Wang Maozohong, Chief Ministers of the Court of Imperial Stud, 719-31

Koguryo

Slave-bodyguard

Xuanzong's Later carelessness

Li Linfu, Chief Minister, 736-52

Yang Guifei, "Precious Consort Yang," 740s

Yang Guozhong, Chief Minister, 752-55

*An Lushan Rebellion, 755-63

Background

Sogdian and Turkic
Lushan=Rokshan “Light”

3 of 7 frontier military commands

Conflicts with Yang Guozhong from 753

Revolt in 755

Middle to Late Tang

Diminished Centralized control

Territory restricted

Tax proceeds diminished

Culture flourishes

Golden Age of Poetry

Li Bai (701-62), Du Fu (712-70), Bai Juyi (772-846), Yuan Zhen (779-831)