Tang dynasty, or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705.
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Li family founded the Tang dynasty, seizing power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire and inaugurating a period of progress and stability in the first half of the Tang dynasty's rule.
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Tang dynasty scholars compiled a rich variety of historical literature, as well as encyclopedias and geographical works.
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The Tang dynasty Emperors had part-Xianbei maternal ancestry, from Emperor Gaozu of Tang dynasty's part-Xianbei mother, Duchess Dugu.
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Tang dynasty had prestige and military experience, and was a first cousin of Emperor Yang of Sui.
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Li Yuan, known as Emperor Gaozu of Tang dynasty, ruled until 626, when he was forcefully deposed by his son Li Shimin, the Prince of Qin.
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Tang dynasty is conventionally known by his temple name Taizong.
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Around that time, the Tang dynasty court enjoyed the visit of numerous dignitaries from foreign lands.
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Tang dynasty was then banished and later obliged to commit suicide.
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Tang dynasty was succeeded by Emperor Zhongzong, his eldest surviving son by Wu.
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Tang dynasty was forced to give up his father's surname Li in favor of the Empress Wu.
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Tang dynasty's even introduced numerous revised written characters to the written language, which reverted to the originals after her death.
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Tang dynasty Empire was at its height of power up until the middle of the 8th century, when the An Lushan Rebellion destroyed the prosperity of the empire.
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The Tibetans took hold of the opportunity and raided many areas under Chinese control, and even after the Tibetan Empire had fallen apart in 842 the Tang dynasty were in no position to reconquer Central Asia after 763.
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One of the legacies that the Tang dynasty government left since 710 was the gradual rise of regional military governors, the jiedushi, who slowly came to challenge the power of the central government.
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The Tang dynasty government relied on these governors and their armies for protection and to suppress locals that would take up arms against the government.
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The Chinese belief in the Mandate of Heaven granted to the ailing Tang dynasty was challenged when natural calamities occurred, forcing many to believe that the Tang dynasty had lost their right to rule.
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Tang dynasty 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.
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The Tang dynasty never recovered from this rebellion, weakening it for future military powers to replace it.
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Tang dynasty forces had defeated Huang Chao's rebellion with the crucial aid of allied Shatuo Turkic peoples of what is Shanxi led by Li Keyong.
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Tang dynasty was made a jiedushi governor and later Prince of Jin, bestowed with the imperial surname Li by the Tang court.
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In 907 the Tang dynasty was ended when Zhu deposed Ai and took the throne for himself.
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Tang dynasty established the Later Liang, which inaugurated the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.
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In 905 their leader Abaoji formed a military alliance with Li Keyong against Zhu Wen but the Khitans eventually turned against the Later Tang dynasty, helping another Shatuo leader Shi Jingtang of Later Jin to overthrow Later Tang dynasty in 936.
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Tang dynasty had three departments, which were obliged to draft, review, and implement policies respectively.
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Center of the political power of the Tang dynasty was the capital city of Chang'an, where the emperor maintained his large palace quarters and entertained political emissaries with music, sports, acrobatic stunts, poetry, paintings, and dramatic theater performances.
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Examination system, used only on a small scale in Sui and Tang dynasty times, played a central role in the fashioning of this new elite.
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Tang dynasty government attempted to create an accurate census of the empire's population, mostly for effective taxation and military conscription.
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The early Tang dynasty government established modest grain and cloth taxes on each household, persuading households to register and provide the government with accurate demographic information.
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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 of 759.
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Sui and Tang dynasty carried out successful military campaigns against the steppe nomads.
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Tang dynasty defeated Alutar and the Arab occupation force at Namangan and reinstalled Ikhshid on the throne.
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The Old and New Book of Tang provide a description of the Byzantine capital Constantinople, including how it was besieged by the Da shi forces of Muawiyah I, who forced them to pay tribute to the Arabs.
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From Europe, the Middle East, Central and South Asia, the Tang dynasty were able to acquire new ideas in fashion, new types of ceramics, and improved silver-smithing techniques.
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Tang dynasty wrote that "many large ships came from Borneo, Persia, Qunglun.
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The Tang dynasty government reacted by shutting the port of Canton down for roughly five decades; thus, foreign vessels docked at Hanoi instead.
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Tang dynasty provided a description of Guangzhou's landmarks, granaries, local government administration, some of its written records, treatment of travelers, along with the use of ceramics, rice, wine, and tea.
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The Tang dynasty Chinese enjoyed feasting, drinking, holidays, sports, and all sorts of entertainment, while Chinese literature blossomed and was more widely accessible with new printing methods.
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Tang dynasty capital was the largest city in the world at its time, the population of the city wards and its suburban countryside reaching two million inhabitants.
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In 779 the Tang dynasty issued an edict which forced Uighurs in the capital, Chang'an, to wear their ethnic dress, stopped them from marrying Chinese females, and banned them from passing off as Chinese.
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In 845 Emperor Wuzong of Tang dynasty finally shut down 4, 600 Buddhist monasteries along with 40, 000 temples and shrines, forcing 260, 000 Buddhist monks and nuns to return to secular life; this episode would later be dubbed one of the Four Buddhist Persecutions in China.
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The Uighurs built the first Manichean monastery in China in 768, yet in 843 the Tang dynasty government ordered that the property of all Manichean monasteries be confiscated in response to the outbreak of war with the Uighurs.
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Much more than earlier periods, the Tang dynasty era was renowned for the time reserved for leisure activity, especially for those in the upper classes.
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Many outdoor sports and activities were enjoyed during the Tang dynasty, including archery, hunting, horse polo, cuju, cockfighting, and even tug of war.
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The Ming Tang dynasty encyclopedist Song Yingxing noted that rice was not counted amongst the five grains from the time of the legendary and deified Chinese sage Shennong (the existence of whom Yingxing wrote was "an uncertain matter") into the 2nd millenniums BC, because the properly wet and humid climate in southern China for growing rice was not yet fully settled or cultivated by the Chinese.
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The first use of the playing card during the Tang dynasty was an auxiliary invention of the new age of printing.
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Chinese of the Tang dynasty era were very interested in the benefits of officially classifying all of the medicines used in pharmacology.
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Chinese scientists of the Tang dynasty period employed complex chemical formulas for an array of different purposes, often found through experiments of alchemy.
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In 747, Emperor Xuanzong had a "Cool Hall" built in the imperial palace, which the Tang dynasty Yulin describes as having water-powered fan wheels for air conditioning as well as rising jet streams of water from fountains.
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One of the surviving sources of the Old Book of Tang dynasty, primarily covering up to 756, is the Tongdian, which Du You presented to the emperor in 801.
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The Tang period was again placed into the enormous universal history text of the Zizhi Tongjian, edited, compiled, and completed in 1084 by a team of scholars under the Song dynasty Chancellor Sima Guang.
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