Asia

Encarta Historical Essays reflect the knowledge and insight of leading historians. This collection of essays is assembled to support the National Standards for World History. In this essay, Craig Lockard of the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay examines the influence throughout Asia of China under the great Tang Dynasty. Tang China, he demonstrates, maintained a superpower status that only a few nations have equaled.

Tang Civilization and the Chinese Centuries By Craig Lockard

In every era, one or two countries have existed that can be called superpowers because

of their influence in world military, economic, political, and cultural affairs.

Superpowers even developed in ancient times, as the ancient Persian Empire and the

conquests of Alexander the Great set the stage for Rome, Maurya India, and Han China

to dominate the western, southern, and eastern regions, respectively, of Eurasia. Over

the centuries that followed, the Arabs, Mongols, Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch,

successively, achieved powerful positions in a widening world, followed by the British

in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the 20th century, the dominant nation has been the

United States. Indeed, the decades since 1945 have sometimes been called “the

American Century” because U.S. power and influence have been so great around the

world. Transregional dominance is difficult to maintain, however, as other civilizations

eventually catch up and forge ahead. The influence of the United States will have to

prove enduring to match the longevity of China’s status as a superpower, which began in

the middle of the first millennium AD.

The period from 300 to 1000 was a time of intensive exchange and interaction across

Eurasia. Several civilizations stand out as major influences. Gupta India, Byzantium,

and the Islamic caliphates of the Middle East were remarkable powerhouses. Some

world historians view the years from about 600 to 1500 as the Chinese Millennium, with

China as the largest, strongest, and most populous civilization in Eurasia. China's

success beginning under the great Tang dynasty (618-907) would prove to be the longest

lasting period of success in world history. Indeed, the Tang dynasty is regarded by many

historians as the most glorious period of China's long history.

The years during which the Tang empire experienced its greatest power established a

pattern for China that would continue throughout the Song and Ming dynasties into early

modern times. Tang rule set a standard mark on many facets of Chinese life, including

literature and the arts. For this reason, Tang China was admired and copied by many

other peoples. During Tang rule, China had its greatest influence on eastern Asia and, at

the same time, carried out active trade with peoples across Eurasia. For more than 100

years, the Tang empire stretched deep into Central Asia, and various aspects of Chinese

culture spread to Korea and Japan. Buddhism flourished, linking China to a widespread

religious community. Tang China was an open forum for people and ideas from many

cultures.

Tang Imperial Power in Asia

During the 8th and 9th centuries, a series of empires large and small stretched from the

Atlantic to the Pacific. Tang China was the greatest of them all; the only comparable

civilization in the world at that time was ruled by the Arabs. The Tang dynasty

established imperial control over peoples far from China proper, building an empire

comparable in size to that of the great Han dynasty half a millennium earlier. Korea and

Japan acknowledged Chinese leadership of the region and cultivated the good will of

Tang China. Ambitious military campaigns brought Central Asia, Mongolia, Manchuria,

Tibet, and parts of Siberia under Chinese domination.

Meanwhile, satellite kingdoms that recognized Chinese leadership existed as far across

Asia as Persia and Afghanistan. This widespread recognition generated intense

commercial relations between Islamic and Chinese civilizations. The great Islamic

caliph Harun ar-Rashid, for instance, forged a treaty with the Tang empire. This treaty

served as an example of China's diplomatic clout in Western Asia. Hence, the Tang

dynasty exercised considerable power over the countries of East, Southeast, and Central

Asia, and many other peoples admired the Tang system of rule.

In much the same way as the prosperous 20th-century United States fueled the global

economy, the wealth and power of Tang China was so great that it stimulated commerce

throughout much of Eurasia. During the rule of the Tang dynasty, China was open to the

world. Tang military garrisons protected the Silk Road trade routes of Central Asia,

encouraging the flow of goods, ideas, and people between China and Western Asia.

Through this vast network, Chinese products, such as silk and porcelain, reached

Europe. Tang porcelain, which has been found in Egypt and Turkey, was especially

prized in the Middle East. A dynamic sea trade linked China with India, Persia, and

various Southeast Asian countries. During Tang rule, merchants from all over Asia

formed temporary or permanent communities in several Chinese cities. For example, of

the 200,000 inhabitants of the great southern port of Canton (present-day Guangzhou)

during Tang rule, perhaps two-thirds were immigrants, including many Arabs and

Persians.

This multicultural exchange also benefited the Chinese. Among the new products to

appear was Southeast Asian tea, which soon became a hugely popular drink. Gift-

bearing ambassadors from diverse regions, such as Burma (now Myanmar), Java (in

Indonesia), and Nepal were regularly sent to the Tang court. In addition, renewed

contacts with peoples in India and the Middle East generated a flowering of creativity.

Of all the native Chinese dynasties throughout history, the Tang was the most

cosmopolitan.

The Tang Golden Age: The Hallmarks of Superpower Status

Like the United States did during the 20th century, the Tang dynasty achieved

superpower status in its day through a combination of factors. These factors include a

dynamic metropolitan base, efficient and credible centralized government, strong

economic growth, religious tolerance, and technological leadership. China's huge

population fostered a sophisticated urban civilization, which attracted talent from all

over Eurasia. The imperial government was structured for effective administration of its

vast territories and staffed by able officials. China’s productive economy supplied a

substantial revenue base. A diversity of religions stimulated intellectual and cultural life,

while Tang science and technology, including weapons, were the most advanced in the

world.

Modern superpowers are metropolitan, with dynamic and culturally rich cities. Tang

China was the most urbanized civilization of its day, with many cities larger than any in

Europe or India at the time. The Tang capital was the glorious city of Chang’an

(present-day Xi’an), which was home to two million people. Cosmopolitan Chang’an,

then the largest city in the world, governed a population of perhaps 60 million. This was

as many people as lived in European and Islamic civilizations combined and more than a

quarter of the world’s total population. A masterpiece of urban planning, Chang’an

featured streets carefully laid out in a grid. Its broad thoroughfares were crowded with

visitors who included Arabs, Persians, Jews, Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Turks,

Indians, and Tibetans. Many foreign craftsworkers and artists worked in Chang’an, as

well as entertainers from as far away as India and Afghanistan. Foreigners came as

merchants or to join the Tang army. This influx of culture brought about many

challenges: Some traditionalists complained that so much foreign influence threatened

Chinese culture.

One key to the superpower status of the United States has been its efficient and credible

government; under Tang rule, centralized governmental structure reached maturity. The

Chinese perceived their empire, with some justification, as the Middle Kingdom, the

central civilization of the world. An imperial family who claimed universal authority

ruled this kingdom. Under the emperor’s rule were many government agencies. A

competent bureaucracy was necessary for administering this large, diverse empire. To

staff it, the Tang dynasty recruited officials from aristocratic clans. Additional talented

and educated individuals were chosen based on their performance on the competitive

civil service examinations. The civil service exam system, which was based on classical

Confucian learning and literary composition, was one of Tang China's finest

achievements. This system insured that government officials had a shared Confucian

ideology that emphasized ethics and loyalty. The Tang empire’s unified administration

gave a coherence and sophistication to Chinese society that was the envy of other

civilizations.

As the United States has shown, superpowers are generally centers of economic growth.

This was the case with Tang China. To adequately feed a growing population, the Tang

Chinese had to achieve higher agricultural yields. In the course of doing so, the Chinese

became one of the world's most efficient farming peoples. Increased food supplies and

better transportation led to more trade and population growth, especially in the cities.

Crafts and merchant guilds appeared in Tang China, as did the world’s first paper

money. In addition, Chinese traders regularly acquired luxury goods from Southeast

Asia.

Religious tolerance has been another hallmark of superpower status. Just as the United

States tolerated the importation of such non-Christian religions as Islam and Buddhism

during its past century of global power, Tang China welcomed new faiths. In ancient

times, the Chinese had developed several unique philosophies, including Confucianism

and Daoism. Later, Mahayana Buddhism filtered in, bringing with it closer ties to other

Buddhists in Central and southern Asia. Some Chinese Buddhist pilgrims journeyed to

India, and Chinese support also helped Mahayana Buddhism achieve dominance in

Central Asia, displacing earlier versions of Buddhism. During Tang rule, these three

very different beliefs—Confucianism, Daoism, and Mahayana Buddhism—coexisted

and even merged together to some degree, creating the mixed Chinese way of thought

that characterized later centuries. Buddhism lost some of its vigor but remained part of

popular art, literature, and religion.

The Silk Road brought other new religions into China. These included Nestorian

Christianity, a sect persecuted in the West as heretical; Judaism, brought by Jewish

merchants who settled in several cities; Zoroastrianism, an ancient Persian faith;

Manichaeism, a mix of Christianity and Zoroastrianism; and Islam, which became

influential in northwest China. Many Tang emperors, who held an ecumenical view,

tolerated these religions.

Another characteristic of a modern superpower is a lively cultural scene that extends

across its borders. For example, the 20th century has seen the spread of elite and popular

U.S. culture throughout much of the world. Tang culture, most notably its literature and

art, influenced regions far beyond China. The Tang era was the greatest age of Chinese

poetry; such poets as Li Bo and Du Fu are still widely read in East Asia even today. In

addition, many of China's greatest artists, including painters, calligraphers, and

sculptors, lived during the Tang empire. The dynasty also became famous for its

splendid lacquerware, luxurious brocades, decorated furniture, and musical instruments.

Just as the United States was the most creative technological civilization of the 20th

century, Tang China led its world in the fields of science and technology. Many

significant scientific and technological achievements, especially in astronomy and

mathematics, characterized the era. Tang astronomers studied sunspots and accurately

measured the solar year (365 days). Centuries before Europeans accepted the view,

some Tang scientists suggested a round Earth that revolved around the Sun. The Chinese

pioneered the analysis, recording, and prediction of solar eclipses. Chinese technical

experts perfected gunpowder, an elaboration of the firecracker. Furthermore, Tang

military forces had primitive cannons and even flaming rockets.

Superpowers also export technology. Many Chinese inventions, such as printing,

reached Western Eurasia by land or by sea. Although paper had first been invented in

China centuries earlier, the Tang developed woodblock printing. This breakthrough

allowed the mass production of Buddhist writings and texts for the civil service exams.

Scholars compiled great encyclopedias to record the accumulated knowledge,

classifying the wisdom of the past for the benefit of future generations. Printing fostered

a writing-based culture in the cities. By 900, Islamic Spain and Baghdâd had established

silk and papermaking trades based on Chinese principles. Printing practices developed

in China later helped transform European civilization.

The Tang Model in Korea and Japan

Long before and after the Tang dynasty, China was the cultural heartland of East Asia

and strongly influenced its neighbors, especially Vietnam, Korea, and Japan. Both

Vietnam and Korea derived much of their higher civilization from China, including

writing systems, philosophies, and political institutions. Chinese influences were

adapted to surviving local customs, and both Vietnamese and Koreans retained separate

cultural identities. Japan produced an even more distinctive version of East Asian

civilization, although Japan accepted many Chinese influences. China's cultural

influence on Korea and Japan reached its height during the Tang dynasty.

The Tang empire made the Korean state Silla a vassal, and it became an eager importer

of Chinese culture and institutions. Buddhism triumphed, and many Korean monks

traveled to China. The Tang system became the governmental model, and Confucianism

was adopted as a political ideology. The Tang influence on Korea was important in other

ways. Koreans adapted Chinese writing to their own language. The origins of such

martial arts as karate and tae kwon do are based on Chinese teachings, some of which

later found their way to Japan. After the 10th century, Chinese influence continued.

Koreans even set up an examination system and Confucian schools. Koreans retained or

developed many of their own social institutions, however. The Koreans were never mere

imitators of the Chinese.

The Chinese ideas and methods that Japan adopted helped transform it into a dynamic,

sophisticated civilization. During the Tang Dynasty, the Japanese carried out three

centuries of deliberate cultural borrowing from China, enabling Japan to enter the

mainstream of world history. Using the Chinese writing system, the Japanese began

conducting their daily activities and recording their history. The adoption of Buddhism

also brought a rich heritage of art and architecture to Japan. Change in Japan accelerated

when Prince Naka no Ôe launched the Taika (Great Change) Reform of 645. This

reform was an attempt to transform Japan into a centralized bureaucratic empire like

Tang China.

Japan’s conscious borrowing from China reached its height from 710 to 794. This period

is known as the Nara period, named after Japan's first capital city, which was built on

the model of Chang’an. Land was nationalized and, using Tang models, reallocated to

the peasants. In practice, the policies that were so successful in Tang China never quite

worked in Japan. The Japanese emperor could not become a powerful Chinese-style

ruler, because influential aristocrats dominated emperors, controlled the bureaucracy,

and held large landholdings.

Nara leaders actively promoted Chinese culture. People in Japan were encouraged to

build Chinese-style buildings and wear Chinese clothing. The imperial court's rituals and

ceremonies, such as the orchestral music and stately dances still practiced in modern

times, were mostly based on Tang models. The Chinese written language gained

prestige and was adapted to Japan's spoken language. Such Tang literary forms as poetry

and calligraphy, as well as landscape painting, became popular in Japan. Chinese

philosophical and religious ideas also spread to Japan. The Japanese borrowed

Confucianism but modified its political and ethical message to suit their own social

structure. The Japanese also accepted and adapted Mahayana Buddhism. Furthermore,

the Japanese retained their practice of Shinto, a kind of nature worship.

Japan’s direct cultural borrowing from China began to fade in 794, when the capital

moved from Nara to Heian-kyo (present-day Kyôto). Over several decades, Japan

gradually returned to a period of relative isolation. In the 9th century, the Japanese again

began consciously absorbing and adapting Chinese patterns, attempting to make them

genuinely Japanese under the theme "Chinese learning, Japanese spirit." This era saw a

flowering of Japanese culture with a strong Buddhist influence. Even during Japan's

long feudal period, finding Tang influences in religion, literature, and the arts was not

difficult.

The Tang Decline and Heritage

During the Tang Dynasty, China truly was the Middle Kingdom. Measured by any

standard, Tang China surpassed the rest of Eurasia. Empires are expensive to maintain,

however, and superpowers do not endure forever. The reign of Emperor Xuanzong

(Hsüan-tsung) from 712 to 756 is usually considered the zenith of Tang greatness as a

world power. The Tang began to decline after a military defeat by Arabs at the Talas

River near Samarqand (in present-day Uzbekistan) in 751. This defeat halted Chinese

expansion and compelled a gradual retreat and a governor’s rebellion, which removed

the emperor, in 755. Islam filled some of the vacuum created by the declining Tang

empire, becoming the dominant religion in Central Asia. The gradual loss of the Central

Asian empire led to eventual Tang collapse. Rebel bands sacked Chang’an, and China

broke apart for several decades. The Tang dynasty was followed by the Song dynasty,

which had many achievements but much less world and regional power than the Tang

empire. Together, these two dynasties are considered the height of China's Golden Age.

The Ming dynasty, which began in 1368 and lasted until 1644, reasserted regional power

in the Tang tradition.

The period from 618 to 907 can indeed be called the Chinese centuries since the Tang

Dynasty established a firm foundation for greatness during this time. During these

centuries, China launched an era of unparalleled political, social and cultural stability, as

well as economic prosperity. From the 7th through the 15th centuries, China forged

ahead, becoming the richest, best-organized, and most populous civilization in the

world. China remained a superpower until the Industrial Revolution in Europe

established the basis for the West to move into unchallenged global leadership.

About the author: Craig Lockard is the Ben and Joyce Rosenberg Professor of History

in the Department of Social Change and Development at the University of Wisconsin,

Green Bay. He is the author of “Dance of Life”: Popular Music and Politics in Modern

Southeast Asia.1

1"Tang Civilization and the Chinese Centuries," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2000. © 1993-1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.