The Tang in Dynasty China – Teaching Guide

Vocabulary of Note

• Senescence – process of becoming old after reaching maturity
• Inauspicious – not promising
• Manichaeism – a major world religion in history, founded in Persia; philosophy of dual between light and dark; still practiced today in parts of China particularly near southern trading ports that were active in the maritime Silk Road of the Tang
• Zoroastrianism – ancient monotheist religion founded in Persia in the 6th century BCE; still practiced today in India (where adherents are called “Parsis”; and in other small communities around the world by immigrants from India, including in the United States)
• Dharani – Buddhist chant (written in Sanskrit)

Names – People and Places of Note

• Tang dynasty (618–906)
• Chang’an (today known as Xian) – capital of early Chinese dynasties; eastern end/beginning of the Silk Road
• Abbasid Caliphate Empire (750–1258/1261–1517) with capital in Baghdad (located in present day Iraq); (Baghdad and Chang’an largest cities in the world at this time); Persian influence strong
• Song dynasty (the next major Chinese dynasty after the Tang) (960-1269)
• An Lushan – a general who leads a revolt against the Tang
• Gansu and Xinjiang – two areas to the west of the Tang territory (today, both are provinces of China)
• Outer barbarians – peoples living beyond the borders of China proper
• Li Wa (Lee Waa) – a prostitute in the story of Li Wa
• Lu Yuxi (Loo Sue-see)– writer who provides a description of a Tang market in Langzhou, Hunan, in 807 CE
• Hanoi – capital of Vietnam today, located in northern Vietnam which was historically influenced by China
• Wu Zetien (Woo Zi-teean) – female emperor from 690–705
• Xuanzang (Swan- Zaang) – monk who traveled to India and brought back Buddhist scriptures to China (the story of his journey is the basis of “Journey to the West”/The Story of Monkey)
• Emperor Xuanzong (Swan-Zong, rhymes with “song”)– an Emperor in the Tang Dynasty, reigned 712–756 CE
• Yang Guifei (Yaang Guei-fay) – favorite consort of Emperor Xuanzong

Outline of Presentation – with [Timecode]

Introduction

• People think of the Tang as the “apogee” of Chinese civilization; partly because of the amount of territory it occupied (several good maps shown)
• Population at time – roughly 1/3 of world’s population
  • Population primarily in the north; wheat and millet based diet (not rice)
• Tang-Song transition – theory suggests that China was constantly changing, not static
• Abbasid Caliphate empire in Iraq (capital in Bagdad) – comparable empire at the time

Structure of Presentation

• Large, imperially planned cities, such as the capital at Chang’an [04:00]
• Government regulated markets
• Life in the Cities and Tang Society [17:00]
• Religious Life in the Tang [28:00]
• The Origins of Woodblock Printing [32:00]
• Development of the Civil Service Examinations [35:00]
• The An Lushan Rebellion and its Consequences [38:00]

Large, planned cities

• Huge avenues
• Well laid out

Markets considered as “polluted places” in Tang

• Slaves sold in markets (Description of a market town in supplementary readings)

Story of Li Wa

Provides a picture of Tang society (story included in supplementary reading) [17:00]

• SPAM = acronym for official hierarchy [25:00]
  • Scholars
  • Peasants
  • Artisans
  • Merchants
• SMAP = seems like a more accurate reality, because merchants have more money
  • Scholars
  • Merchants
  • Artisans
  • Peasants

Wu Zetien

Female emperor rules for 15 years (690–705) [26:00]

Religious Life in the Tang

Multiple religions existing side-by-side [28:00]

• Three primary traditions in Tang: Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism
• Estimate that 1 in 30 people was a monk or a nun (Taoist of Buddhist) at this time
• Far less religious strife in China than in other world areas; none of these religions demand exclusivity from believers
• Three new religions enter on the Silk Road (Buddhism has already entered; only foreign religion that endures and spreads widely in China:
  • Manichaeism
  • Zoroastrianism
  • Christianity – from Syria (called “Nestorian Christians”)
• Dharani – Buddhist chant (written in Sanskrit)

Wood block printing flourishes [32:00]

• Diamond Sutra (of Buddhism) is the first book-length printed work 868
• Picture of wood block with characters printed backward on it, then inked – how printing was done [34:15]

Civil Service exams expanded [35:00]

• 5% of bureaucracy selected by exam; top levels all degree holders
• Content of exams included passages from the classics, policy questions, poetry
• Question: was this government by bureaucracy or by aristocracy during the Tang?

Geographic size of Tang dynasty; controlled what is today “Xinjiang” [37:00]

An Lushan Rebellion (755–763) and the weakening of the Tang dynasty [38:00]

• Emperor Xuanzong
• Yang Guifei – favored consort and one of the “four great beauties of China”
• Rebellion is a huge turning point in the Tang and in Chinese history; [40:48]
  • before and after chart
  • prior to rebellion is when there is the greatest central control in Chinese history: census every 3 years of households, changes after rebellion weaken this

Summary

Important points and the changes that have begun to take place [42:00]