See also: Officials of the Tang Empire, Highest government bodies of the Tang Empire, Neiguan of the Tang Empire, Court of the Empress (Tang Empire) and Court of the Heir to the Throne (Tang Empire) Censorship of the Tang Empire or Yushitai (Chinese: 御史臺, pinyin: yùshǐtái, ... ... Wikipedia
See also: Officials of the Tang Empire, Highest government bodies of the Tang Empire, Neiguan of the Tang Empire and the Court of the Empress (Tang Empire) Court of the Heir to the Throne or Internal Officials of the Heir to the Throne (Chinese: 太子內官, pinyin: tàizǐ nèiguān ... Wikipedia
The article contains errors and/or typos. It is necessary to check the content of the article for compliance with the grammatical norms of the Russian language... Wikipedia
Tang Empire 唐朝 empire ← ... Wikipedia
Tang (Tang), dynasty in Ancient China (618 – 907). It arose during the civil unrest that led to the fall of the Sui dynasty in 616 (see SUY (dynasty)). Founded by Li Yuan (see LI YUAN), a commander from Shanxi, in 618. Considered the time of economic,... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
Birth name: whale.
唐寅 Date of birth: 1470 (1470) Place of birth: Suzhou ... Wikipedia Tang, Chinese imperial dynasty (618,907), founded by Li Yuan. During the reign of his son Li Shi Min, the country was unified (628) after the final suppression peasant uprisings and separatist feudal forces, the central... ...
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Great Ming Empire 大明 empire ← ... Wikipedia
Tang Jingsong China. trad.
唐景崧, ex.
- 唐景嵩, pinyin: Táng Jǐngsōng ... Wikipedia
- Wikipedia has articles about other people with this surname, see Tan. Mor tan weng. Than Mór ... Wikipedia
Books Ancient China, Maurizio Scarpari. The age of the civilization of Ancient China, which had a huge influence on neighboring countries and in general throughout East and Southeast Asia, is estimated at several millennia. The most interesting... Steel Rose, Gorelik Elena. What to do if your uncle is a murderer and is going to deal with you according to the principle “the war will write off everything”? That’s right: defend yourself. Protect yourself in any way. And - to run when revenge...
The fundamental difference between the imperial tombs of the Tang era and the burials of past dynasties is the refusal to build the notorious Chinese pyramids. The Tang rulers, although they had the enormous potential of their empire, still did not tempt fate and build huge bulk pyramids-mounds, which required large costs and capital investments. For burials, they began to use natural mountains, in which all the rooms of the tombs were cut.
Photo from the bus window. Two watchtowers of the Qianling funerary complex. 
Construction began to take less time, for example, the main structures of Gaozong's mausoleum were erected in just one year. Yes, and the natural mountains looked more impressive than any creation of human hands - the height of the mountain in which the Qianling Mausoleum is located is 1069 m above sea level.
Mount Liangshan inside which is the tomb of Gaozong. It has the shape of a pyramid, so it is ideal for an imperial mausoleum. 
Peak of Liangshan Mountain 
View of one of the slopes. Various ufologists like to demonstrate this slope as proof of the man-made nature of Mount Liangshan :) 
In addition to the emperor, his wife, Empress Wu-zetian (624-705), is buried in the mausoleum. This woman managed to make history by becoming the first Chinese Emperor female, in 690 Wu-zetian proclaimed herself the daughter of Buddha and officially accepted the title of ruler of China. In fact, it was she who erected most of the buildings in the Qianling Mausoleum, since Madame Wu built this tomb for herself too.
"Alley of Spirits" (shen lu) in Qianling. 
Figures of foreign ambassadors. Back in ancient times, for some reason, they all had their heads broken off. On the left are the reconstructed gate towers of the Qianling complex. 
Empress Wu became famous for the numerous murders of her relatives. Many of her victims, in particular, her granddaughter, Princess Yun-tai, were buried next to the mausoleum of her bloodthirsty grandmother (a story about the Yun-tai mausoleum below)
Like most imperial tombs in China, the Qianling Mausoleum has not been opened or examined by scientists. There was only one attempt to get inside, in 1958. Then they discovered a descending corridor leading deep into the mountain, but no further exploration followed.
In China, it is customary to honor the peace of ancient emperors, so Chinese scientists are very reluctant to study imperial tombs. Another thing is the tombs of people with lower social status- the burial places of concubines, officials and others are opened regularly. It is from these tombs that the bulk of artifacts come to Chinese museums.
Below, a general view of the Qianling Mausoleum. Alley of Spirits and two watchtowers. Previously, the complex consisted of many buildings and was surrounded by a fortress wall. 
Reconstruction of the Qianling funerary complex. 
View from Liangshan Mountain down to the plain. Gray steles are the tombs of relatives and courtiers of the emperor. Many wanted to rest next to the imperial mausoleum.
Below is a photo of the Qianling Mausoleum, taken at the beginning of the 20th century by members of the French archaeological expedition. I must say that before the complex looked more neglected, but also more romantic; the Chinese are great masters at turning their monuments into Disneyland :)
Winged horse on the avenue of spirits in Qianling. 
Excavations of the Alley of Spirits of the Qianling Mausoleum in 1909-1918. 
The Qianling complex includes many associated burials. Three tombs that belonged to members of the imperial family have been opened and are now available for inspection.
Unfortunately, due to lack of time, I visited only one of the three tombs. This is the mausoleum of the granddaughter of Emperor Gao-tsung, Princess Yong-tai (684-701).
Yun-tai, at the age of 17, was famous for her beauty, but this did not stop her grandmother, Empress Wu-jitian, from poisoning her.
It can be seen that the Yun-tai mausoleum is a classical Chinese pyramid-mound of only a small size. 
The ventilation booths in the photo are of modern origin. The tomb was opened in 1961 and is available for inspection. Sometimes the mausoleum is visited by large crowds of tourists, so there is a need for additional ventilation.
Descending corridor of the Yun-tai tomb. 
The walls of the corridors of the tomb are covered with frescoes. Apparently, these are copies; the Chinese cut out the originals and sent them to the Xi'an Museum.
Most Chinese tombs have a very simple layout, a long corridor leading down to two chambers underground. The first chamber served for some ritual purposes, and the second was the tomb itself with a huge sarcophagus. On the sides there may still be small rooms where numerous ceramic figurines of people and animals were stored, intended to accompany the deceased into the world of shadows.
Deeper and deeper... 
Small side room for ritual items. 
The first hall in the tomb of Princess Yun-tai. All the cameras here have domed ceilings that don't fit well into the lens. 
The frescoes of the Yong-tai tomb are considered masterpieces of Tang era painting. 
Entrance to the burial chamber. For some reason, the Chinese liked to make very low ceilings in the passages of tombs. Apparently, they wanted to force uninvited guests to bend down and bow before entering the tomb. 
Most of the chamber is occupied by a huge sarcophagus. Unlike ancient Egyptian sarcophagi, Chinese ones do not look monolithic. Perhaps they were lowered into the chamber in parts, although it may be that, as in Egypt, the sarcophagus was “laid down” during the construction of the tomb, then only a small passage was left into the chamber.
The steel bars erected here by the current Chinese are supposed to protect the ancient sarcophagus. But it’s not clear why, because you can easily stick your hand in and scratch something on a stone, for example. Such a grill protects against the pressure of a large mass of people, but did the Chinese really think of holding mass demonstrations here :))
The sarcophagus seems devoid of any decorations or paintings, but this is not so. It is covered with the finest designs engraved on the stone. The burial chamber had poor lighting, so below I have given examples of engraving on a similar Tang era sarcophagus from the Yangling Mausoleum.
A Chinese sarcophagus is often a copy of a real residential building, so it has the same “tiled” roof as most Chinese buildings.
The sarcophagus takes up almost all the free space in the burial chamber. 
Way up.. 
Tang era sarcophagus found on the territory of the Yangling Mausoleum,
The fall of the Han Empire at the turn of the 2nd-3rd centuries. brought about profound changes. The imperial order was collapsing - a type of state and social structure that had been established over the previous four centuries, which was identified with the concept of civilization as such.
In the political sphere, the milestones of the disintegration process were: the loss by the emperor in the last years of the 2nd century. real power, establishing control of local leaders and generals over certain regions of the country, constant civil strife. Contemporaries perceived this as the onset of chaos, a “troubled age,” the beginning of “general hatred and enmity.” With the fall of the House of Han, nominal unity was also lost. In the expanses of the former empire, three states opposed to each other were formed: Wei (otherwise - Cao Wei, 220-265), covering most of Northern China from Dunhuang in the west to Liaodong in the east and the interfluve of Huaihe and Yangtze in the south; Shu (otherwise - Shu-Han, 221-263), covering Sichuan, the southern regions of Gansu and Shaanxi, most of Yunnan and Guizhou, as well as western Guangxi; U (222-280) in the southeastern regions of the former empire. The founders of these states tried to organize governance according to imperial models: to maintain the idea of the sacredness of the ruler, to preserve the names of imperial government institutions, the corresponding ritual, etc. But their power was closer to a military dictatorship than to the previous standards. The regime of strict personal power relied primarily on armies. Moreover, armies subordinate directly to the rulers. The appearance of this kind of “personal” armies is a characteristic phenomenon of the described era of change.
By the time of the Three Kingdoms (220-280), profound structural changes had occurred at the level of local government. Long internal wars led to the fact that instead of the imperial bureaucratic administration, military and political leaders from the provincial elite seized the predominant position on the ground. The heads of regions and districts who retained their positions also acquired “their own troops” and often appropriated all taxes collected from the population. The central government in Wei (and later in other kingdoms) tried to change this situation with the help of a new system of selecting officials for public service- assignment of “village categories”. The commissioners would evaluate the merits of local candidates according to special “categories,” which would replace the previous practice of recommendations. However, this system was not effective and quickly degenerated into a pure formality used by the local elite to nominate their representatives to official positions.
Reliance on the army, on a group of people connected with the ruler by personal ties, coupled with the growth of regionalism on the ground, gave rise to the fragility of the regimes characteristic of all three kingdoms. The internal instability of the three kingdoms was aggravated by constant wars between them.
This “flooding” of the country by foreigners cannot be considered an accident. It was associated with the described decomposition and fall of the imperial order here. By 316, the Jin troops were defeated by the Shanyu (leader) of the Xiongnu Liu Yuan, the capital fell, and the emperor was captured by the Xiongnu. Jin power in the north of the country ceased to exist. It survived only in the central and southeastern regions, where one of the scions of the ruling house was proclaimed emperor, in fact, new empire- Eastern Jin (317). From this moment on, the political history of the country for two and a half centuries proceeds under the conditions of the division of the country into northern and southern parts. This isolation becomes one of the pivotal moments in the history of China in the 4th-6th centuries. It continued to affect the entire subsequent development of the country.
In political terms, the marked division manifested itself most clearly. North of the country, i.e. space from Dunhuang to Shandong, turns into an arena of hostility between quickly successive kingdoms and mini-empires, founded, as a rule, by non-Chinese tribes and peoples. At the beginning of the 4th century. there were seven of them. The apogee of fragmentation comes in 384 - 409, when 12 different states arose here. The founders of these kingdoms more or less copied the Chinese state apparatus in their domains and relied on Chinese advisers to organize governance. But at the same time, these rulers tried to maintain a special position for their tribe or the nomadic people subordinate to them, regulated by the transforming tribal tradition. This often resulted in two-layer control. These rulers, in fact, remained, despite all the Chinese accessories they adopted (from titles to clothing, palace utensils and everyday life), military leaders or tribal leaders. A state close to political chaos persisted in the north until the 30s of the 5th century. The situation in the south of the country in the 4th - early 5th centuries. It wasn't that dramatic. But it should be taken into account that Eastern Jin initially covered a third of the territory of the former Jin, and precisely the outlying regions. The struggle between the northern aristocrats, who fled to the south due to constant wars, and representatives of local Chinese influential clans permeates the entire history of the Eastern Jin. This discord weakened the court and the state, again leading to the militarization of the country and to a strengthening of the role of the army in domestic political life. Influential clans had their own armed units. Strife and civil strife, uprisings and changes in court cliques occurred almost continuously
Tang Dynasty( 618-907 AD). With his rise to power in 618 AD. The Tang Dynasty began one of the most glorious periods in Chinese history. The active and humane nature of the reign of the founders of the dynasty, Gaozu and his son Taizong, made it possible to restore the empire. The so-called Western regions were annexed to the possessions of China, to imperial court Persia, Arabia and other West Asian states sent their embassies. In addition, the borders in the northeast of the country were expanded; Korea was annexed to the imperial possessions. In the south, Chinese rule over Annam was restored. Relations were maintained with other countries in Southeast Asia. Thus, the territory of the country in size became almost equal to the territory of China during the heyday of the Han Dynasty.
In those days, China was considered not only the most powerful, but also the most hospitable power in the world. Religious figures and philosophers forced to leave their homeland found refuge in China and patronage from the emperor. Not only the religions widespread in Persia, but also one of the Christian sects, namely the Nestorian Church, acquired many followers in China. Buddhists from Korea and Japan regularly made pilgrimages to holy sites in China.
The Tang era witnessed the flowering of Chinese art and literature. Most Tang emperors actively patronized poetry, theatrical art and music, and many themselves showed creative abilities.
The economic and administrative innovations of the Sui dynasty were adopted and consolidated in the Tang era. Was put into effect new order long-term land ownership, according to which the formation of large land holdings was limited, and peasants were able to maintain a stable standard of living. The most significant achievement was the legal system created during the Tang era, which ultimately broke with the nihilism of the Qin period. A mandatory set of social traditions and rules of conduct imbued with the spirit of Confucianism was formulated.
At the same time, the first Tang emperors failed to establish complete control over the army. Strong emperors still enjoyed the loyalty of military leaders, but the weakening of the throne allowed border satraps to extend military power to the local civil administration. In 755 AD one of the commanders, a Sogdian by origin, almost destroyed the imperial dynasty. It was An Lushan that ended the reign of Emperor Xuanzong and caused serious damage to the prestige of imperial power. A long civil war began in the country, and in order to restore the dynasty, the emperors had to rely on military commanders, as well as mercenary troops, consisting of foreigners mainly of Turkic origin.
The change in the political climate coincided with changes in the administrative system, which are often considered an important era in Chinese history. Cities that had previously been administrative centers became the scene of activity for a growing bourgeois class, which gained economic positions as a result of the expansion of production and trade. Attempts by the court to maintain control over at least foreign trade by creating inspection offices manned by eunuchs in the main trading ports failed. Private traders quickly learned to bypass or even take over these institutions.
The court's position weakened, and the power of local military leaders continued to grow. The result of this process was uprisings and rebellions, which ultimately led to the collapse of the Tang dynasty. One of them, which covered a vast territory and received the greatest fame, was the uprising led by Huang Chao, who in the second half of the 9th century. proclaimed himself emperor and plundered the trading city of Canton, destroying more than 100 thousand Arabs who settled there. One of the local military leaders killed the Tang emperor (this event is usually attributed to 906 AD), forced the heir to abdicate the throne and founded a new dynasty - the Liang. The latter, like several subsequent dynasties, ruled the country for a short time, during the so-called. the period of the “Five Dynasties”, when the number of military factions laying claim to the throne reached 20.
Contact with the West during the Tang DynastyUntil the modern era, there was no period in Chinese history when the country was as open to foreign influence as during the Tang dynasty. After the Mongol conquest, many foreigners came to China - both settlers and mercenaries, but in the eyes of the Chinese they were all invaders who were both feared and despised. Their influence turned out to be short-lived and transitory, for it was resisted by most of the nation. The Tang court welcomed foreigners, was interested in foreign religions and customs, and opened its doors to missionaries and travelers from the West. Therefore, both the art and thought of the Tang era were influenced by those peoples with whom China maintained relations. This era was free from the burden of "Chinese exceptionalism."
The Tang emperors, confident in their strong position and in their ability to repel aggression, did not consider foreign infiltration a threat to the state. The spirit of curiosity and tolerance that reigned at that time determined a favorable attitude towards religious and artistic movements coming from abroad. Up to last days The dynasty court maintained diplomatic relations with the major powers of Western Asia. Traders and clergy from these countries easily penetrated into all corners of the Tang empire.
Under the Tang, the world became much better known to the Chinese and more accessible. What was known only by hearsay or thanks to isolated dangerous expeditions under the Han has now become well known. On the streets of Chang'an one could meet a variety of people - from the inhabitants of Siberia to the inhabitants of the South Indian jungle, as well as Greeks, Arabs, Persians and Japanese. Japan, barely known in Han times, remained little known, although it began sending embassies to China and enthusiastically borrowing the culture and political institutions of the Tang empire. The southern lands: Indochina, the islands of the East Indies, Ceylon and India itself, which were rarely reached in Han times, became common routes for Chinese traders and Buddhist pilgrims looking for shrines and Sanskrit texts. India was perhaps better known to the Chinese at that time than in all subsequent and traditional history. Chang'an maintained diplomatic contacts with many states in northern India and intervened in Indian affairs more than once. While the Tang dynasty was gaining strength in China itself, great events changed the map of Western Asia. The Battle of Nehavend in 642 decided the fate of Persia, which fell under the Muslim onslaught. The Chinese have known Persia for a very long time. The Sasanian Empire and the Northern Chinese Wei Dynasty maintained close relations. The great empire, the only one that successfully rivaled Rome, was destined to give way to the Umayyad Caliphate, which brought the Muslim faith to the heart of Central Asia. These events directly affected China, since the Tang empire in the west reached the borders of the Persian state.
In the west, the world ended for the Chinese with the “kingdom of Fulin” - the Byzantine Empire. The Chinese knew this country very well, at least better than the Greeks knew themselves. Tang historians recorded four Byzantine embassies between 643 and 719, when Byzantium was first attacked by the armies of the Arab caliphs. There can be no doubt that these embassies were intended to incite the Chinese to go to war with the Muslims. How interested the court was in this remains unclear. The Tang armies did not go against the Arabs, but it is possible that the Greeks adopted some technical knowledge from the Chinese, because China at that time was ahead of the Western world in its development. In 643, when Taizong ruled China, an embassy from “Bodeli, King of Fulin” came to Chang'an and offered red glass and gold dust. At that time, Constantius II, still a child, was the Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire. "Bodeli" is clearly not his name. It is assumed that the transcription conveys the word "patriarch". In this case, the mission had to be spiritual. But Chinese historians unequivocally claim that the embassy was sent by the king. The threads of control of the Byzantine Empire were then in the hands of military leaders who bore the title "patricians". Therefore, it is more likely that it was one of these commanders who sent the mission to China, and “bodeli” is a transcription of “patrician”. Chinese name Byzantine Empire"Fulin" comes from "Byzantium", because in the 7th century pronunciation "Fulin" sounded like "Butzan".
In the Tang histories there is a section devoted to Fulin, which, although it includes a partially Han description of Daqin (Roman Empire), but supplements it with new information received from these embassies or from other travelers. There is no evidence in history that any Chinese embassy reached Constantinople. Excerpts from such descriptions are more reminiscent of observations of the street life of the city than the ambassador’s report: “Fulin is ancient Daqin. It is located on the shores of the Western Sea. In the southeast it borders with Persia, in the northeast - with the lands of the Western Turks. There are many cities in the state and people. The walls surrounding the capital are made of smooth stones, and the city is home to more than 100 thousand families. The 200-foot-high gate is completely covered in bronze. The imperial palace has a golden figure that rings a bell every hour. The houses are decorated with glass and crystal. , gold, bone and valuable wood. The roofs are flat and made of lime. In the summer heat, water flows from above in front of the windows, like rain. Twelve ministers help the king when he leaves the palace, a man follows him. with a bag where everyone can put a petition. Men cut their hair and wear colored clothes, leaving their right hand open. Women braid their hair in the shape of a crown. The Fulin people value wealth and love wine and food. Every seventh day no work can be done.
This description, clearly compiled from eyewitness observations, is, unfortunately, the only account of European peoples in the Tang records. It is curious that nothing is said about the religion of the Greeks, although at that time the Chinese knew a lot about Christianity. A traveler who visited Constantinople hardly knew the reason why the inhabitants “do not work every seventh day.”
The first information about Islam was brought to China by the embassy of Yazdegerd III, the last Sasanian king of Persia, who came to Chang'an in 638. The Persian ruler, desperately defending the last corner of his empire - Merv, turned to China with a request for help in the fight against the Arabs. Taizong did not respond to the request, believing that his own state, only recently awakening from civil wars and raids by the Turks, was too in need of peace, and Persia was too far away to send an army there. Nevertheless, the Persians who did not receive military assistance were ready to be accepted as refugees. Firuz, son of Yazdegerd, whom the Chinese continued to call king, arrived in Chang'an in 674, when the Arabs completely captured his homeland. He was favored at court and made a general of the imperial guard. Some time later he died in Chang'an. His son Ni Ni-shi (only his Chinese name is known) also lived in Chang'an and is mentioned in the stories. Persian refugees were allowed to build temples and practice the Zoroastrian faith, which flourished among the diaspora for many years. From these refugees and perhaps from Chinese travelers, the court learned about Islam and the Arabs who professed it. Arabia was called "Dashi", from the Persian "Tazi".
“Dashi,” it is said in “Xin Tang Shu,” “was previously part of Persia. The people there have large noses and black beards. They wear silver swords on a silver belt. They do not drink wine or listen to music. Their women are white and hide their face when leaving the house. Large worship halls accommodate several hundred people. Five times a day they pray to the deity of Heaven. Every seventh day, their ruler, sitting on a dais, addresses his subjects: “Those killed in battle will be reborn in paradise. Those who fight bravely will find happiness." Therefore, they are very brave warriors. The land is poor, and you cannot grow crops on it. They hunt, eat meat and collect honey among the rocks. Their homes are like the tops of carts. The grapes there sometimes grow as big as a chicken egg. In During the reign of the Sui dynasty (605-616), a man from the Western people (Hu), a Persian subject, was tending sheep in the mountains near Medina and the Lion Man said to him: “West of this mountain, in a cave, there is a sword. and a black stone (Kaba black stone) with white writing. Whoever possesses these two rules the world." The man went there and found what was prophesied. The letters on the stone said: "Lift up." He took the stone and proclaimed himself king. His fellow tribesmen tried to resist, but he defeated them all. Then Dashi became powerful. It destroyed Persia, defeated the king of Fulin, and invaded. Northern India and attacked Samarkand and Tashkent. Their empire extends from the southwest sea to our western borders."
Soon this information was supplemented by direct contact with the new power. Between 707 and 713, Qutaiba, the commander of Caliph Walid, began the conquest of Central Asia and Afghanistan, which, as Xuanzang's journey proves, were Buddhist. The Samarkand and Bukhara kingdoms, as well as the Western Turks, turned to China for help. The Central Asian states recognized the suzerainty of Chang'an or rushed to do so in the face of an imminent Muslim invasion. The Tang court had just experienced the unrest that followed Wu-hou's death, so the new Emperor Xuanzong was more inclined to accept the Arab ambassador's offer of peace than to listen to his neighbors. In 713, the caliph's envoys arrived at the court and were kindly received, despite the fact that the proud strangers refused to perform the ritual of "keu tou", "prostration", which was required according to Chinese etiquette for everyone in the presence of the emperor. Muslims declared that they prostrate themselves only before God, and in the presence of the king they only bow. Wisely deciding that “court ceremonies are different in all countries,” the emperor nevertheless accepted them. More than a millennium later, the Manchu court refused the same favor to the English ambassador, Lord Amherst, which ended his mission. The Arabs did not want China to help the Central Asian states, and whether the Chinese were too afraid to confront the Muslims, as Arab historians say, or the court considered the distance too great to interfere, but they achieved their goal - the Chinese emperors at that time nothing did not do anything to check the Arab advance. However, in 751, the Chinese Empire did face the new Abbasid Caliphate. The Abbasids had black flags, so the Chinese called them "Black Arabs". A Korean officer, who was in Chinese service and commanded troops in Turkestan, was sent by the court to resolve differences between two small states on the upper Indus. The Chinese army, following the order, way back entered the Tashkent kingdom, which was not sanctioned by the court. The commander apparently believed that at such a distance from the capital he could do whatever he wanted. In Tashkent, he committed treason by capturing the ruler of the kingdom after concluding a treaty of friendship.
This act outraged all Central Asian states, tired of China's suzerainty, which did nothing to protect them from Muslims. Small states formed an alliance and called on the Arabs for help. The combined forces completely destroyed the Chinese in the Ili Valley, and this event, coupled with the subsequent rebellion of An Lu-shan, put an end to Chinese influence in Turkestan. The western kingdoms were swept away by Muslim invasions, and the eastern ones fell into the hands of the Tibetans. In this war, where the Arab army was commanded by commander Ziyad, loyal to Caliph Abu'l-Abbas, the Chinese and Arabs met on the battlefield for the only time in history.
Friendly relations with the caliph were soon restored, for the warriors sent in 756 by Abu Ali Jafar al-Mansur helped the Tang emperor defeat An Lu-shan and drive him out of the capital. Subsequently, these missionaries were destined to play an even more important role in the history of China, for it was they who founded the Chinese Muslim community.
After the end of the war, the Arab troops did not return to their homeland, either because the soldiers married Chinese women and did not want to, or, according to Arab sources, they were afraid that their compatriots would despise them for having lived for a long time in a country where they eat pork. Be that as it may, they remained in China, mixed with the Chinese, but kept the faith. Unfortunately, there is no exact data on their original numbers. By different information it varies from four to one hundred thousand. It is surprising that the appearance of Nestorianism and Manichaeism is recorded in Chinese history, although they soon disappeared, and the emergence of Islam, which is still widespread in China, is not mentioned anywhere. This topic is one of the darkest in late Chinese history. Nowadays there are a lot of Muslims in Gansu, where they form the majority, as well as in Shaanxi and Yunnan. There is a Muslim diaspora in all provinces, although in the southern ones (except Yunnan) they are few in number. However, very little is known about the origins and spread of this diaspora.
The Muslim stele in the main mosque of Chang'an is marked with a Tang date, but unfortunately it is just a fake of the original Nestorian stele, made in the Ming era (1368-1644). The Muslim tradition cannot be trusted because it believes that Islam came to China during the Sui Dynasty. Today Muslims dress and speak Chinese. And although they are completely naturalized, with the exception of religion, their foreign origin is still visible. The Muslims of Yunnan are not like the Chinese, and the Islamic community in Chang'an is predominantly of the Armenian type. Thick beards and aquiline noses sharply distinguish them from the smooth-faced Chinese.
The number of Muslims increased significantly under the Mongols, because at that time many peoples followed them to China. Then they often bought Chinese children and raised them in their faith. This custom has diluted the blood of the community, and now a Muslim cannot always be recognized by his appearance. Only a few adult Chinese accepted the new faith, and even then not in the first centuries of its existence. An Arab traveler who visited China at the end of the Tang reports that he did not hear of a single Chinese who converted to Islam, although he found Muslim communities prosperous.
Islam escaped the religious persecution of the late Tang, which dealt a mortal blow to other foreign faiths. It is unclear why such leniency was shown, since he is not mentioned in the records of that era. Perhaps because the caliph was too powerful a neighbor who would not allow such free treatment of his co-religionists, or perhaps the Muslims were simply left alone because they were foreigners. However, the number of converts grew slowly over the following centuries, and despite the bloody suppression of Muslim rebellions in Yunnan and Gansu in the 19th century, Islam today flourishes in China and is in much closer contact with the Muslim centers of Western Asia than in previous years. century.
The rebellion of An Lu-shan, the Tibetan conquest of East Turkestan and the unrest in Central Asia after the Arab conquest all led to the fact that the Great Silk Road was abandoned, and preference was given to the new sea route leading to Canton (Guangzhou). This factor also influenced the rise of the southern provinces and the simultaneous decline of Shaanxi and the northwest. During Han times, the Chinese made little use of the sea route, although the Egyptian Greeks reached it as far as Tonkin (part of Vietnam). During the period of fragmentation, the importance of the sea route increased, because chaos reigned in the northwest. Fa-hsien and other Buddhist pilgrims traveled to India and Ceylon by sea. Under Tang, Canton became major center maritime trade, which was mainly in the hands of the Arabs. There were Arab and many other communities in the city. Muslims themselves chose qadis and submitted to the Sharia court, which was administered by them. This is perhaps the earliest precedent for extraterritoriality. Abu Said, an Arab traveler who visited China at the end of the Tang, testifies that when Huang Chao's army captured the city in 879, 120 thousand foreigners - Muslims, Jews, Zoroastrians and Christians - were killed along with the Chinese population.
Abu Said may have exaggerated the number of victims, but this still indicates the existence of a significant foreign diaspora in Canton at that time. The mention of the Jews is interesting. Tang history says nothing about Jews, and if Abu Said is right, then his information is the first about Jews in China. The sack of Canton and the massacre carried out by Huang Chao's troops put an end to the era of mutual contacts between China and the West. For many years, maritime trade could not recover from this blow, and when order was restored under the Song dynasty, the port of Hangzhou came into first place. During the Tang dynasty, close relations were maintained not only with the Muslim states, which represented the closest and most significant political force. Refugees from Persia brought their religion - Zoroastrianism, which, although no special obstacles were put in its way, was never able to win the hearts of people. Zoroastrian temples were built in Chang'an and perhaps in Canton, for Abu Said mentions "fire worshipers." Another Persian creed, Manichaeism, which lasted for several centuries, turned out to be more influential and widespread.
The founder of the religion, which borrowed elements from both Christianity and Zoroastrianism, was the Persian Mani, who was executed in 274. After his death, it spread west to France, where it was practiced by the Albigensian heretics, and east to China, where it was first mentioned in 694. In 732, Buddhists tried to initiate persecution of the Manichaeans, but their actions did not receive the support of the government, which was eager to ingratiate itself with the Central Asian "Hu", its followers. Since Buddhists saw a rival in the new religion, it means that it had a certain influence. The court's decision was due to the fact that the new, dominant Turkic people - the Uyghurs - were almost entirely Manichaeans. During the war with An Lu-shan, they greatly helped the emperor by giving him cavalry. In gratitude for this, their co-religionists, the inhabitants of the empire, were given concessions.
Archaeological finds in Central Asia show that Manichaeism was quite firmly entrenched in Turfan and other places and was not limited to the circle of foreigners living in China. In 768 and 771, special decrees were issued allowing the construction of Manichaean temples, and the second even lists the cities of Jingzhou in Hubei, Yangzhou, Nanjing and Shaoxing. All of these cities are located in the Yangtze basin, not where many foreigners or Uyghur nomads lived. There were many Chinese among the community members. Manichaeism remained in force as long as its Uighur defenders were powerful. When support stopped, he was quickly dealt with.
A little earlier than Manichaeism, another Western religion received a warm welcome in Chang'an. The Nestorian stela tells about the history of the emergence and subsequent fate of this trend of Christianity in China, and the information is mainly confirmed by Chinese documents. In 635, a Nestorian monk named Oloben (in Chinese transcription) - Fr. Viger believes that his name was Ruben - he arrived at the court of Taizong. The Emperor received him and ordered his books to be translated into Chinese. Some time later, the monk was granted an audience, at which he outlined to the emperor the essence of his faith. The favorable impression made by Christianity prompted Taizong to issue the following edict in the same year: “Tao has more than one name. There is more than one perfect sage in the world. The teachings in different lands differ from each other, their benefits extend to all people. Oloben, a man of great virtue from Daqin, brought his images and books from afar to show them in our capital. Having studied them, we found this teaching to be deep and peaceful. Having learned about its principles, we found them good and significant. It brings good to everyone. people. Let it be freely practiced in our empire."
However, one should not think that the emperor became a Christian. Taizong also accepted and honored the Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang, supported Taoism, favored the Confucians, and permitted Zoroastrianism. In this respect, Taizong remained a man of his era.
Nevertheless, Nestorianism found many followers in China, and especially, unlike other foreign religions, among ordinary people. The inscription on the stele states that under Gao-tsung, Taizong's son and successor, churches were built in every region. This means that in the 7th century Christianity became more widespread than it is now. In 698, during the reign of Empress Wu-hou, a devout Buddhist, Nestorianism fell out of favor thanks to Buddhists, who felt it was a strong competitor. However, after Xuanzong's accession to the throne, the persecution ceased, and the emperor even instructed his brothers to oversee the restoration of the altar in the main church of Chang'an. Subsequent emperors followed Taizong and attended Nestorian church services more than once. By 781 - the time of the creation of the stele - the Nestorian church was flourishing, and among its benefactors and defenders was the famous Kuo Tzu-yi, commander-in-chief of the army and first minister of the empire, to whom the Tang emperors were indebted for the restoration of the throne. Guo Tzu-yi is one of the most zealous champions of loyalty and devotion in Chinese history. If, as the stele suggests, this great person was indeed a Nestorian, then Christians were lucky enough to find as their patron the most powerful and honest man in China. It is believed that he donated large sums for the restoration and reconstruction of churches, gave alms to monks and priests, and participated in disputes with the Nestorian hierarchs. If Guo Tzu-yi was not baptized, then, in any case, he was close to the Christian faith.
It seems strange that, having such patrons - the first persons of the court (for Guo Tzu-yi's daughter was an empress, and his son was married to a princess), Christianity completely disappeared within a century after this. Catholic theologians explain this by the “heresy” of Nestorianism, but such an argument, which in any case would hardly satisfy the apologists of Protestantism, ignores the fact that Buddhism, although not even a Christian heresy, successfully survived the persecution to which it was subjected along with Nestorianism and other alien religions and which turned out to be fatal for them. The great persecution that ended Tang religious tolerance began in 843 with Manichaeism. It existed only thanks to the powerful Uighurs. But after the Uyghurs were defeated by the Kirghiz in 840, Emperor Wuzong, a zealous Taoist, immediately suppressed the Manichaean faith. In Chang'an, 70 nuns were executed, churches were destroyed, lands were confiscated in favor of the state, and clergy were forced to change their robes to the clothes of the laity. Manichaeism could not withstand such a blow. Although occasional mentions of it date back to the Mongol period, and isolated isolated communities in the mountains continued to perform rituals several centuries later, Manichaeism quickly faded and completely disappeared in the Far East.
Two years later, in 845, the emperor began to embrace other foreign religions, including Buddhism, the most widespread of them, which was allowed to be practiced, but under strict restrictions: there should be no more than one monastery in the city, and the number of monks could not exceed thirty. All other clergy were returned to the world, and churches and monasteries were destroyed. Christian and Zoroastrian churches were swept away without exception, priests were forbidden to preach doctrines, and monks were forcibly converted to laity. In total, 4,600 temples of three religions were destroyed, 265 thousand ministers and monks were returned to secular life. Of this number, 200 are Christian churches, 1000 are Zoroastrian, and the rest are Buddhist. The percentage of monks among Buddhist believers was much higher than Christian priests in relation to their flock, so it is difficult to accurately determine the number of Christians.
However, the persecution, although severe, was short-lived. The following year, Wu-tsung died, and his successor changed his policy towards the Buddhists he revered. Buddhism instantly regained its lost positions. But Christianity and Zoroastrianism are not. In 987, a hundred years later, the Arab writer Abu Faraj wrote that not long before he met in Baghdad a Nestorian monk who had returned from China, sent there by the patriarch to find out about the state of the doctrine under the newly established Song dynasty. The monk found the churches destroyed and deserted, the Christian community extinct. Since there were simply no fellow believers whom he could help, he returned to Baghdad.
Still, Christianity left some kind of memory of itself at the Chinese court, evidence of which is the good knowledge of foreign religions shown by Emperor I-tsung, when in 872, thirty years after the persecution, he received the Arab traveler Ibn Wahab from Basra, who spoke about this upon his return to Iraq to Abu Said: “When I had an audience with the emperor,” said Ibn Wahab, “he asked the interpreter to ask me if I could recognize my Teacher if I saw him. I replied: “How can I see him, because he is in heaven with almighty Allah." “I am talking about his image,” said the emperor. “Then I would know,” I answered. Then the emperor asked to bring a box with scrolls, placed it in front of him and handed the scrolls to the translator: “Let him see his Teacher.” I recognized the portraits of the prophets and said a prayer. “Why are you moving your lips?” “Because I praise the prophets,” he asked. their signs, this is, for example, Noah with his ark, in which he and his family were saved when God sent the Flood to the earth." Then the emperor laughed and said: “Of course, you recognized Noah. But we do not believe in the Flood. The waters did not cover the whole world. They did not reach either China or India.” “This is Moses with his people,” I said. “Yes, but he was not great, and he had few people.” “Here,” I said, “Jesus is on a donkey surrounded by the apostles.” “Yes,” said the emperor. “He did not live long, because he preached for only thirty months.” Finally I saw the Prophet and his companions on camels. Touched, I shed tears. "Why are you crying?" - asked the emperor. "Because I see the Prophet, my ancestor." “Yes, it is he,” said the emperor. “He and his people founded great empire. He was not destined to see the work completed, but his successors succeeded." Above each painting there was an inscription, which, I think, describes the story. I saw other paintings, but did not know who was depicted in them. The translator said that they were the prophets of China and India." There was a library at court with extensive materials on Western religions, but what is even more interesting is that the emperor himself was well acquainted with the main events and actors these religions. The audience took place just a few years before Huang Chao's rebellion threw the empire into chaos and fragmentation. International contacts declined significantly during this time and were only restored centuries later when order was restored by the Song Dynasty.
In the second half of the 6th century. cultural, economic and political differences between the North and South of the country have softened significantly. The barbarians of the North gradually assimilated with the local population, and the combat-ready Tobi cavalry - the support of the steppe inhabitants - ceased to exist. The nomads of Central Asia, having created a powerful union - the Turkic Kaganate - threatened with another invasion. The danger of submission to the new conquerors has become real. It is not surprising that in these conditions the initiative to revive the unity of the country belonged to the northerners
In one of the many northern states - Zhou - a military group of the Chinese-barbarian nobility of Northwestern China came to power, becoming the center of consolidation of forces. In confrontation with the separatist aspirations of powerful houses, she achieved the reunification of the country under Chinese rule, and in 581, the military leader of the North, Yang Jian (Wen-di), was proclaimed emperor of a new dynasty, called Sui.
The relatively rapid reunification of the huge country was explained by the following reasons. China's cultural, economic and political interests demanded an end to internal wars and the unification of the unstable kingdoms into a single empire. Small and weak kingdoms could not protect the huge land border of the agricultural regions of China from the raids of their nomadic neighbors. Prolonged and grueling civil strife undermined agriculture, crafts, and trade, and made it difficult to use the huge irrigation system, and the farming culture that had developed in ancient times was unthinkable without artificial irrigation. The need to eliminate the consequences of disastrous river floods and devastating droughts required the unity of funds and workers and was beyond the power of individual rulers.
The dismemberment of China, the absence of a strong and durable common state apparatus made it difficult to improve life in the country. At the same time, its unification was facilitated by intensive cultural contacts that had long existed between the South and the North. The further settlement of northerners in the south of the country stimulated the attraction of the inhabitants of these areas to each other.
The formation of a new dynasty dramatically changed the course of Chinese history. The four-century era of division and confrontation has been replaced by a time of unity and centralization. The cessation of civil strife caused a powerful economic and cultural upsurge in the country. The area under crops expanded and the population grew.
During internal wars and invasions of nomads in the IV-V centuries. Almost all the cities of China were plundered or burned. The ancient capitals of Chang'an and Luoyang were reduced to ruins. In southern China, the life of the surviving cities was not much different from the village life. However, already in the 6th century. urban planning was revived. Both in the south and in the north, new cities began to appear - as border fortified cities, trade and craft centers on large rivers and in places where raw materials were extracted, or as seaports. The capitals, which amazed the imagination of contemporaries, were rebuilt - centers of culture and craft, the visible focus of the functions of government.
Craftsmen of the same specialty settled on the same street or in the same block, and in the markets the shops of traders, clung to each other, formed rows. In the VI century. On their basis, trade and craft associations emerged, called tuan and khan. These terms denoted shopping arcades, artisans of the same profession, and craft corporations themselves. The activities of the workshops were regulated by customary law.
Emperor Yang Jian put forward, in accordance with Confucian doctrine, a course towards streamlining relations in the country, stability and prosperity. The new authorities reduced taxes, abolished the treasury's salt and wine monopolies, and issued a new coin. Being an adherent of Confucianism, Wen-di began to invite scientists to serve, laid the foundations for the institution of examinations, the successful completion of which opened up the prospect of obtaining an official position for every resident of the Celestial Empire.
The Sui court borrowed the bureaucratic system of the Han model, it was streamlined Administrative division, the number of civil servants has been significantly reduced.
Yang Jian persistently sought to strengthen the power of the center and mercilessly dealt with the local nobility. But in 604 he was killed by his son Yang Guang, who ascended the throne. The basis of Yang Guang's (Yang-di) policy was measures aimed at enriching the treasury and economic and political centralization.
Yang Guang established an examination for the degree of jinshi (“advanced husband”), which later became one of the main channels for promotion to service, thereby emphasizing the priority of the humanitarian, civil principle in the country. As for the military, they were transferred to the category of tax-paying people, subordinate to the provincial civil authorities.
The new emperor moved the capital to Luoyang, moving up to 10 thousand rich families there. The magnificent palace ensemble, the huge park with rare plants, strange animals, ponds and canals amazed contemporaries with their fabulous luxury.
To strengthen the connection between the center and the periphery, a waterway was built to connect the valleys of the Yellow and Yangtze rivers. The Grand Canal, created on the basis of old and new canals, rivers and lakes, had many locks. The inland waterway, which ran from South to North, contributed to the development of trade, strengthening contacts between the capital and the provinces, and regular transportation of products from the South, the country’s rice granary. In addition, it provided greater maneuverability in case of need to transfer troops.
Another major event of that time was the strengthening and reconstruction of the Great Wall (607-608). The construction of government buildings and the increasing expenses of the nobility and the court required more and more funds. And the authorities carried out a re-registration of the population, increased taxation and terms of service. Labor in labor, especially in the construction of government facilities, was akin to slavery. Ship builders, grain carriers, and forced labor lived in the most difficult conditions.
Grandiose construction that amazed contemporaries with its splendor, exorbitant expenses that ensured the luxury of the imperial court - all this became possible thanks to the use by the authorities of a traditional means - the allotment system, which allows, as has happened more than once in Chinese history, young rising dynasties, reviving the “indigenous” , the main occupation is agriculture, and establish all other branches of the tree of statehood.
Long wars and civil strife of the beginning of the 7th century. led to the devastation of many areas, the desolation of fields and mass death of people. Already during the wars unleashed by Yang Jian, many lands that previously belonged to the nobility and officials became state-owned, and the allotment system spread throughout the empire. The cessation of strife contributed to the cultivation of abandoned and virgin lands and the restoration of the irrigation system on a large scale. The establishment of a unified government in the country made it possible to streamline population registration. Under Yang Jiang, the authorities identified more than 1.5 million peasants who had not previously been included in the tax lists, officially reduced the size of the allotment, and the tax on more than two tributes of grain increased to three tributes per couple, and labor service reached 30 days a year. For the first time, slaves were given the same allotment as was given to a free farmer. At the same time, a concession was made to the owners of the slaves: the tax from their allotment was half as much. Most of the tax collected from peasants went to the treasury, and a smaller part went to local warehouses.
During Yang Guang's reign, labor obligations increased even more. Sources indicate that 2 million people were involved in the construction of Luoyang, and 1 million for the construction of the Grand Canal and the Great Wall.
In the Sui Empire, within the framework of the allotment system, the so-called “official lands (guan-tian)” were restored, the income from which went to feed the officials. In addition, from the state fund, members of the imperial family who bore the title of wang were allocated possessions of up to 10 thousand mu of land. Yang Guang, by reducing the ranks of the titled nobility from nine to three, thereby sought to limit these domains.
Using the example of the Sui dynasty, the classic dynamics of the ascending and descending lines of development of the dynasty and the state as a whole are clearly visible: first, the strengthening of imperial power, cultural takeoff, concessions to the main producers, and then the strengthening of an aggressive foreign policy, the growth of ruinous taxes and large land ownership, and finally the collapse countries.
The Sui rulers fought protracted but unsuccessful wars throughout the borders of the empire. Stabilization of the external situation was seen as a means of strengthening their positions within the country. Flexible diplomacy also served the same goals: pitting one tribe against another, inciting intra-tribal discord, appeasing with titles and gifts, dynastic marriages, inviting members of the ruling clans as honorary hostages to the court of the emperors. These methods were most clearly manifested in relations with the Turkic Khaganate, which soon split into Eastern and Western. In the struggle for the unification of the country at the end of the 6th century. Sui authorities sometimes recognized their dependence on the Turks.
The actions of the Chinese in the northeast were aimed at capturing Liaoning and the sea routes in the Yellow Sea. Thus, the states of Koguryo and Baekje (in the northern and southwestern parts) became the object of the Sui Empire’s aggressive policy Korean Peninsula). Silla (in the southeast of the peninsula) was an ally of the Sui Empire. In a fierce war of 612-614. the Chinese committed three times unsuccessful trips to Korea. The hardships of military campaigns and especially the failure of the Korean Wars served as one of the impetuses for a widespread popular uprising against the ruling dynasty. The uprisings were especially persistent and widespread in Shandong and Henan, where Yang Guang went on military campaigns and fugitive warriors and carriers accumulated. It was there that in 610 the rebels formed an independent kingdom, proclaiming its head Dou Jiande, a former village headman and warrior.
At the same time, discord began in the ruling camp. In the turmoil that arose, Yang Guang's female relative Li Yuan turned out to be the strongest. In 617, he rebelled in Taiyuan and soon, with an army reinforced by the cavalry of the allied Turkic tribes, captured Chang'an. After the failure of the Korean campaign, Yang Guang fled to the south to escape the rebels. In 618, in Jiangdu, he was killed by the palace guards, and Li Yuan proclaimed the founding of the Tang Dynasty.
2. Rise of the Tang Dynasty (618-907)
The Tang period was the heyday of medieval China. The unification of the country under the rule of the Tang house was largely facilitated by the policies of Li Yuan, who managed to achieve the support of various groups of the population. He abolished tax arrears for previous years and limited the terms of state corvee, freeing peasants sold into slavery. The new authorities announced assistance to the hungry and fought the consequences of the floods. Political opponents were promised pardon if they submitted. The state patronized merchants and trade.
Although Li Yuan promised amnesty to the rebels, he destroyed the rebel centers and sentenced the leader of the uprising, Dou Jiande, to execution. The armed struggle for the unification of the country and the flexible policy of the Tang house ensured their complete victory by 628. An important stage on the way to it was the return of Li Yuan to the traditional allotment system in 624. For the first time in history, this agrarian system can be judged not only by state legislation, but also on the basis of data from household registers (discovered during expeditions in 1907-1914 .
Long wars and civil strife at the beginning of the 7th century. led to the devastation of the country - desolation of fields, mass death of the population. Fighting powerful rivals, the Tang court again turned to the allotment system. According to the edict of 624, every adult able-bodied man received the right to a garden plot and an arable field of 80 mu, subject to annual redistribution taking into account changes in the age and family composition of farms.
At first, everyone who had reached the age of 18 was considered able to work (with a shortage of labor), and later, when all the wastelands were plowed, - 21 years. The size of the plots depended on the quality of the soil and the degree of population of the area. Mulberry and other trees should have been planted in the garden plot. Subject to certain restrictions, this family's ancestral property could be bought, sold and mortgaged. It was not allowed to dispose of arable land in a similar way, except in exceptional cases. However, these reservations are further evidence that purchase and sale and mortgages of all types of land were practiced. New under the Tang was the deprivation of women (except widows) of the right to allotment. Unlike private slaves, state slaves received a full or half allotment, which actually turned them into ordinary peasants.
And so that none of the taxable persons could escape taxation, control over them was strengthened. Population registration by age was carried out in five categories: from birth to 4 years, from 4 to 16, from 16 to 21 years, from 21 to 60 and, finally, after 60. Labor service was reduced from 30 to 20 days a year. In places where textiles were not produced, silver was levied, and sheep were levied from herders. If a peasant worked more than the allotted time, he was exempt from part of the payment in grain and textiles. Those who raised virgin soil and moved to sparsely populated areas were temporarily exempt from taxes. During the Tang period, merchants and artisans could also receive half the allotment. Under the conditions of the allotment system, direct producers, together with the allotments, became a single object of state property, subject to rent-tax.
The detailed accounting of the population, fixation of duties, and uninterrupted receipt of taxes to the treasury, necessary for the implementation of the allotment system, were ensured by the principle of mutual responsibility. The lowest administrative unit was the communal village, whose traditional bodies of self-government increasingly became links in the fiscal apparatus of the state. At the same time, an analysis of the registers shows that the treasury often compromised and the community continued to play a certain role in regulating the land use of peasants on the basis of customary law.
The allotment system laid the foundation for the country's prosperity. After several years of persistent struggle with rivals, the Tang house was able to stabilize the situation. However, Li Yuan's reign itself was short-lived. His son Li Shimin (Tai-tsung) dealt with his brothers in cold blood, and then, forcing his father to abdicate the throne, took his place. He reigned for 23 years (626-649).
The prosperity of Tang China was not least associated with the statesmanship of its rulers. The first Tang emperors, consciously following the course of their Sui predecessors, also took into account their sad experience of missed opportunities. Taizong was especially successful in this - a powerful and intelligent ruler who had an enviable political sense and tact. It is no coincidence that in his activities it was he who embodied the doctrine of “the harmonization of the world (state) for the benefit of the people” (jing ji), aimed at achieving social harmony (as a continuation of cosmic harmony) and suppressing rebellion and chaos. The author of this teaching, which proposed a real path to the embodiment of the ideals of our ancestors in modern conditions, was Wang Tong (584-617), who created, in imitation of “Lunyu”, “Exposition on the Middle” (Zhong Shuo). His socio-political project of achieving the “Great Balance”, presented back in Sui times, was then rejected by the emperor, but Wang Tong’s teachings were brought to life by his followers - major Tang dignitaries. Li Shimin, revered by tradition as a “model ruler,” skillfully interpreted the precepts of the ancients for the sake of the pressing tasks of modernity, and consistently shared the Sui version of the Confucian canons.
The doctrine of harmonic management presupposed the need to transfer the principle of natural harmony with the help of a space weaver in the person of a modern ruler to society and the state. This was seen as inherent in Chinese culture, the idea of politics (as well as any creation-creativity in general) as the art of action in accordance with nature, which provided for compliance in everything with the principle of the golden mean (i.e. rhythm and measure) taking into account the balance of power in the country in order to balance on the edge of possibilities.
Acting in this spirit, Li Shimin (who did a lot to strengthen control over the bureaucracy in order to stabilize the power of the ruler) at the same time sought more equal and expedient representation of the most important regions at the court, and consistently encouraged the influx of fresh forces into the administration. It is significant that it was in this environment that scholar-dignitaries appeared, “talents who (understood) jing ji.” They had the ability to harmonize the world for the benefit of the people and considered themselves, along with the ruler, responsible for the state of affairs in the country. One of them was Wei Zheng, nicknamed by his contemporaries the Mirror Man, whose duties included impartially pointing out the son of Heaven’s mistakes and instructing him in politics. It is not for nothing that the dignitary himself, who claims to be the “mirror of humanity,” was considered a relay of wisdom drawn from ancient canons.
The fruitful dialogue between the ruler and the subject, harmoniously interacting like a big bell and a small pipe, largely contributed to the creation of the political course of the court, ensuring the cultural and political rise of the Tang Empire.
3. Socio-political structure of the Tang Empire
In the conditions of medieval China state organization was formed according to ancient models, and the whole society was perceived as a complex hierarchical system. The basis of this system was the thesis of Confucianism, which stated that a noble man should be exalted, and a low, unworthy one should be diminished. It was assumed that the division of society into upper and lower classes is fair if the criterion of perfection is met. The hierarchy was based on a moral principle: the social pyramid was crowned by the son of Heaven, who became it for his virtues, then came the noble ones (gui), and the majority of subjects were called “good people” and “low people.”
Of course, already in ancient times, and even more so in the Middle Ages, this principle was violated, and sometimes even “inverted”: those who were at the top were considered noble for this reason alone (often without being so). But while this principle was still “working” at the ideal level, it provided the potential for the further evolution of society.
All inhabitants of the Celestial Empire were considered subjects of the state, personified in the person of the emperor. At the same time, each layer of society adhered to certain rules of behavior and etiquette, had its own economic security, its own type of clothing, jewelry and housing.
The highest stratum of society was the privileged hereditary aristocracy. She was distinguished by titles and ranks and received land holdings corresponding in size. Some officials and dignitaries from among the “especially honored” were ranked among the hereditary nobility. In China there was no primogeniture, and large families in noble houses led to the fragmentation of large landholdings and struggle among the titled nobility.
The most numerous part of the ruling stratum of society were officials who served as the support of centralized power. They occupied various levels on the hierarchical ladder of ranks and were divided into nine ranks. The ranks and ranks corresponded to payment in the form of land ownership or salary. Neither title, nor rank, nor the right to official land ownership were inherited. New generations of bureaucrats were replenished with the help of young talents: only those who passed the exam and received an academic degree could become a candidate for a position in the state apparatus.
Most of the population (not counting the nobility and officials) were classified as the so-called “good people.” Their responsibilities included cultivating the land and performing all types of duties in a timely manner. The vast majority of the “good people” were peasants. Some of them, having purchased land, used the labor of tenants, “aliens” and slaves. Farming was considered honorable. The “good people” included both artisans and merchants, who were subject to taxes and duties in the same way as peasants. At the very bottom of the social ladder were the “mean people,” which included those who did not pay taxes (actors, beggars, prostitutes), as well as the personally dependent, servants and slaves.
The social structure of Chinese society, despite fragmentation into separate social groups, did not erect impassable partitions between them and thus did not exclude the movement of everyone along the hierarchical ladder. A person from ordinary taxpayers could find himself among the upper echelons of society. The opposite also happened: a dignitary could be demoted for a crime or, moreover, demoted to commoners.
System government system and the bureaucratic apparatus were formed on the basis of experience accumulated in antiquity. Supreme power was concentrated in the person of the emperor, the son of Heaven and at the same time the father of his subjects. And he, having unlimited rights, had to govern the country on the basis of traditions and laws, relying on an extensive bureaucratic apparatus. According to tradition, the sovereign was considered a representative of the highest heavenly powers and a conductor of their will. A son in communication with Heaven, he simultaneously acted as a caring father for his beloved older sons - officials - and foolish younger children - the rest of his subjects. Thus, the natural family structure extended to the entire society.
The emperor was required to come into contact with the great ancestors and take care of the people. The closest assistants to the son of Heaven were two advisers - the Zaixians. Their positions were held by members of the imperial house or influential dignitaries. The country was governed through three chambers: the Cabinet of Ministers, the Council of the Court, and the State Chancellery. This tripartite system of central organs, having gone through a long evolution, took on a fairly complete form in Tang times. The Cabinet of Ministers was mainly in charge of the executive authorities, while the other two chambers prepared and published the decrees of the emperor.
According to tradition, the state apparatus as a means of control in its structure was considered a likened continuation of the personality of the monarch. Thus, the personal functions of the son of Heaven - his bodily visibility (external appearance), speech, hearing, vision and thinking - were dispersed in social space through the state apparatus, embodying communication ability ruler to establish harmonious communication with Heaven and his subjects. Therefore, it is clear that the functions of the chambers constituted a single organism and were not highly specialized, but seemed to complement each other. The emperor had only to regulate the communication of the three chambers (sometimes successfully opposing them to each other) in order to control and keep the entire system in balance. In this, in particular, statesmanship was manifested, conditioned by the nature of the entire Chinese culture - it was possible to achieve success in governance only if harmony was maintained between the goal and the means. The procedure for the functioning of the state apparatus, aimed at developing appropriate policies, went through several stages, providing for consideration of any problem from “three sides” (i.e. in three chambers).
So, for example, the ruler’s decrees were drawn up on the basis of information received in reports from the field, and the reports were sent for initial consideration to the Cabinet of Ministers, which performed an advisory function. Further, the information contained in the reports was checked by the Court Council and only then, after a lengthy discussion, the State Chancellery imposed its final resolution. If the opinions of the Council of the Court and the State Chancellery differed, the emperor himself personally intervened in the matter. The cycle of developing the decree and polishing it through joint efforts closed at the Cabinet of Ministers, where it was again submitted for execution in its final version.
In turn, this executive function of the Cabinet of Ministers was implemented through six traditional departments. The main one was the Department of ritual, which permeated all aspects of the life of medieval society. This department monitored the observance of rituals, the morality of subjects, their education, and religious organizations. In addition, his functions included organizing the reception of foreign ambassadors and sending embassies, as well as supervision over the other five departments. The responsibilities of the Department of Officials included control over the appointment of officials and their dismissal, timely promotion and rewarding. Financial - kept records of taxes and allotments, streamlined taxation. The military department dealt with military ranks, troops, border protection, and was in charge of military settlements on the outskirts of the empire. Courts, prisons, and legal proceedings were subordinated to the department of punishment. Department public works determined the nature of labor duties, carried out construction work, road construction, transportation, and ensured the functioning of the irrigation system.
At the court there were special departments for servicing the person of the emperor, the imperial chambers, the harem, and the protection of treasury property.
An exclusive role belonged to the chamber of inspectors and the censorate, which served as the eyes and ears of the ruler. Together with the three chambers, these control bodies contributed to the implementation of the power of the son of Heaven, ensuring the continuity of the flow of information in all levels of the state apparatus, from bottom to top to the ruler and vice versa. But first of all, they controlled the bureaucratic apparatus both in the capital and in the provinces, and had the right to submit reports directly to the son of Heaven, bypassing intermediate authorities. The very existence of such a control body was supposed to serve the unity of power and prevent any undesirable trends in the country. The entire empire was divided into provinces, districts and districts, which differed in categories depending on the number of taxes and the mass of tax collections.
An important function of the state apparatus was the organization of examinations of three degrees. The tests were carried out by the heads of the administration, and the capital exams for the highest degree of jinshi were held at the imperial court. The examination system ensured a high level of Confucian education of candidates for officials and high quality imperial administration. Higher academic degree gave the right to fill key administrative posts. In addition, the examination system served as a method of testing the reliability of candidates for officials, influencing the direction of the minds of the educated part of society and updating the bureaucratic apparatus of power, regularly supplying it with new personnel up to the district level.
Below the district centers there were village organizations headed by elders. In the village, the lowest unit was the association of four or five households, which in turn were part of larger communal-administrative village organizations. Headmen and community self-government bodies kept records of the population, supervised the cultivation of fields and sericulture, timely payment of taxes, fulfillment of labor duties, ensuring mutual responsibility, were responsible for order and tranquility in the village, and the performance of religious ceremonies. They had to make sure that there were no fugitive robbers and smugglers in the area.
During the Tang era, traditional legal norms were codified. After long and painstaking work, the comprehensive code “Tang Lü Shui” was published in 737, which influenced not only the legal thought of China for several centuries, but also became a model for the legislation of countries neighboring China. Far East. Its ideological basis was Confucianism, which vested full legal competence only in the emperor. The main principle of government was the detailed regulation of all aspects of life, strict social hierarchy and administrative subordination. The slightest violations of order at court and offenses against the son of Heaven were severely punished.
In the spirit of legal norms defined in ancient times, the code identified ethical norms in the state with family ethics. Confucian morality was reflected in the recognition of parricide as a grave crime. The code of criminal laws determined primarily the relations between relatives, masters and slaves. Most of the articles of the code were devoted to the privileges and responsibilities of the “favorite sons” of the son of Heaven and at the same time the “shepherds of the people” - officials. The provisions relating to this layer have reached complete completeness and refinement in the code.
Officials with ranks enjoyed privileges: personal rank determined the position and real legal status of the official. They could avoid physical punishment by reducing their rank, position or title. True, this meant an undesirable “loss of face” for Confucians, which was an unbearable humiliation for the offender. Kinship with a high-ranking official became a source of privileges. At the same time, all actions of officials were under constant control. Moreover, even minor offenses committed by them, for example, violations of the regulatory deadlines for processing the ruler’s documents, were punished very severely.
The Code as a whole protected the interests of the state. The degree of punishment was usually situational in nature, i.e. depended on the status of the perpetrator and the victim. Thus, the owner for the murder of an offending slave was punished with one hundred blows of a large stick, and the unintentional murder of a master by a slave or servants was punishable death penalty.
The Tang Empire had significant military forces. The army was recruited from recruits who were called up for military service and received training. In each province and district, warriors allocated by rural organizations were deployed. The army ensured the success of the empire's extensive campaigns of conquest. Army units served both in the capital and in the provinces. The imperial palace and the capital were guarded by guards. On the borders, military settlers were engaged in arable farming and carried out military service. If necessary, the authorities resorted to the services of the nomadic cavalry. Military officials, as in the Sui era, were considered lower in status than civilians.
4. Foreign policy of the Tang Empire
Unlike their predecessors, the rulers of the Tang dynasty revised their policy towards the Turkic Khaganate. If the founder of the dynasty even paid them tribute, then already in 628-630. under Li Shimin, a grandiose campaign against the Turks was carried out. He was followed by a whole series of aggressive campaigns along the Great Silk Road. In 640, Tang troops destroyed the state of Gaochang, located in the Turfan Lowland. They then waged a multi-year war against the Uyghurs. In 657, with their help, and in 679, in alliance with the Eastern Kaganate, the Tang authorities dealt the final blow to the Western Kaganate.
Chinese garrisons were stationed along the entire ancient Silk Road all the way to Urumqi. Along with the caravans from the states of Central Asia to China and from the Tang capital to the west, ambassadors, travelers, and pilgrims went. In 648, an ambassadorial mission from the Kyrgyz arrived in China. The advance of the Chinese to the west was facilitated by the collapse of the Sassanid Empire. As you know, the last Sasanian king Yazdegerd III even asked for intercession from China.
Under Li Shimin, the conquest of Korea continued. In 645, Tang troops approached Pyongyang, but due to resistance from the townspeople they were forced to retreat. In 660, a 130,000-strong Chinese army landed in the south of the Korean Peninsula and defeated Baekje. Its final fall occurred in 663, when China, in alliance with the state of Silla, defeated the Japanese fleet that came to the aid of Baekje. At the same time, Chinese armies invaded Korea from the north. In 668 they captured Pyongyang. The territories of Goguryeo and Baekje were turned into military governorates and annexed to China. The struggle of Koreans against their enslavers led to the unification of Korea led by the Silla state. The Chinese had to retreat. The Chinese authorities pursued the same traditional policy of inciting hostility between tribes in relation to the Khitan and Mohe. When the new state of Bohai was proclaimed in 698, diplomats of the Middle Empire tried in vain to use it against the Koreans. In 705 and 713 Trade relations began between Bohai and the Tang Empire.
From the beginning of the 7th century. China established the first official ties with Japan, from where ambassadors arrived for negotiations in 607. The powerful Chinese fleet made an expedition to the Taiwan and Ryukyu islands. Later, ambassadorial relations were maintained with the islanders.
At the beginning of the 7th century. Chinese troops defeated the Togong tribe, related to the Xianbeans (in the Qinghai Province), incorporating their lands into the Tang Empire. In 634, ambassadors from Tibet arrived in Chang'an. A few years later, in 647, peace was concluded between China and Tibet, sealed by the marriage of Srozangambo with the Chinese princess Wen Cheng. Chinese officials, military men, and merchants settled in Lhasa.
The beginning of official relations between China and India also dates back to the 7th century. In 641, ambassadors from the state in northern India - Harsha - arrived in Chang'an, but with the collapse of this power, the ambassadorial exchange was interrupted. When the Chinese ambassadors Wang Xuanze and Jiang Shiren headed to India from Lhasa in 645, they were attacked. Wang Xuanze managed to escape to Tibet, from where he carried out a victorious campaign to the Ganges Valley. In the VII-VIII centuries. embassies to China came from Kashmir, Magadha, Gandhara, from the principalities of South India and Ceylon.
Frequent military clashes took place in the southwest with the Nanzhao state formed in Yunnan. These wars, as a rule, ended in the defeat of China. The aggressive policy of Tang China also extended to the south. In 602-603 Chinese troops invaded the northern part of modern Vietnam, and then headed towards the state of Champa, from where they were soon driven out. In North Vietnam in 679, the Tang rulers established the governorship of Annan (Pacified South). China maintained ambassadorial relations with Cambodia, the island empire of Srivijaya and Chitu (in the south of Malacca).
The Chinese government tried to use the exchange of embassies to maintain its authority both internationally and domestically. The foundations of diplomacy, developed in ancient times, in the 7th-9th centuries. began to form into a coherent system. Its essence was the recognition of China as the dominant state in the world, to which all foreign countries, in the person of the emperor, must obey. Those arriving in China were obliged to show humility, and the gifts they brought were considered as tribute. There was a special ceremony for the reception of ambassadors, designed to symbolize the suzerainty of China. The rulers of the countries who sent embassies were declared vassals of the emperor. As a sign of special favor, they were given ritual regalia of power, gifts, and Chinese clothes.
Such purely nominal suzerainty was recognized only by the Chinese. Other states generally viewed their relations with the empire as equal. However, in some cases, real vassalage took place as a certain form of dependence, due to pressure and military threat from China. Thus, the dependence of the leaders of some Turkic and other tribes on China after the defeat of the Kaganate, the temporary vassalage of the states of Silla and Nanzhao at the time of their weakening, was quite real.
The growth of China's foreign relations in the 7th-8th centuries. expanded foreign trade and cultural ties with foreign countries. Embassies of the Byzantine emperor came to China, and envoys of the Arab caliphs also arrived several times. Lively trade relations were maintained with the Middle East not only through the Great Silk Road, but also by sea. One of these routes stretches from Guangzhou to Baghdad. Together with the Arab merchants, Islam also penetrated into China, and Christian preachers of the Nestorian persuasion also appeared. Such a significant expansion of connections with the outside world was explained by the rise in culture and economy not only of China, but also of many Eastern countries.
5. Cities, craft, trade
Urban life in Tang China was marked by the increasing importance of the city as a cultural, economic and political center. At the same time, continuity with the ancient tradition became obvious. The city, like a living organism, harmoniously fit into the natural landscape. Like any structure built according to the laws of traditional Chinese geomancy (fengshui xue), it was oriented according to the parts of the world and, as a rule, clearly planned in the form of a rectangle. The space inside cities, surrounded by earthen ramparts and walls, was divided into closed squares.
It is no coincidence that the composition of Chang'an repeated the traditional layout of the manor house of Northern China, and the capital itself was built according to the canons of cities built on flat terrain. Located opposite the main gate, the imperial palace with a park behind occupied the site of the main building, behind which there was usually a garden or vegetable garden. Like Chang'an, other cities, certainly with gardens and vegetable gardens, naturally connected with the countryside. Moreover, in the city itself the art of laying out parks, created in the likeness of pristine nature, the admiration of which was an aesthetic need of the Chinese, was widely cultivated. As in the village, in closed quarters (under the Northern Wei dynasty - Li, and later Fang), the townspeople, organized into five- and ten-yards, were bound by mutual responsibility, including to the treasury. Quarterly development ensured the functioning of the city on the principle of a rural community, which had proven itself to be a sustainable system.
The unity of the rhythm of space and time in the living organism of the city was manifested, in particular, in the developed time service, aimed at regulating the time cycles of the lives of citizens. Such regulation was the only effective means of organizing city life without allowing unwanted chaos in it. Thus, the gates in the city walls were locked at night, and special mounted detachments patrolled the streets to keep order. Everyone except high-ranking officials was forbidden to go out at night. The law punished with seventy blows of the cane anyone who dared to cross the city rampart or internal barriers at the wrong time.
Clear regulation spatial structure The city and the temporary routine of its inhabitants largely ensured the viability of the urban organism, which absorbed a large population.
The glory and splendor of the Tang Empire were given to its three capitals Chang'an, Luoyang and Taiyuan. They amazed their contemporaries with the luxury and fabulous beauty of the imperial palaces, temples and pagodas, parks, ponds and flower beds at the houses of the nobility. Against this background, Chang'an stood out, serving as a model for the construction of the Japanese city of Nara.
In the eastern part of Chang'an there were imperial palaces, houses of the nobility and the rich. Administrative institutions, courts, prisons, monasteries and shrines functioned in the cities. Influential dignitaries, officials and military leaders, merchants and monks lived here. Foreigners from the Near and Middle East also settled in the capital. Later, at the beginning of the 8th century, in addition to Taoist and Buddhist monasteries and temples, Manichaean, Nestorian, Zoroastrian sanctuaries, Mazdak altars and other temples appeared. Craftsmen and ordinary people huddled in the cramped and narrow alleys.
The construction of the Grand Canal, administrative reform and measures to unify monetary circulation contributed to the revival of the city's economy. At the beginning of the 7th century. Hangzhou arose not far from the sea coast on the Grand Canal. On the routes from north to south, Kaifeng grew, and on the Grand Canal - Yangzhou. Chengdu, Changzhou, and Suzhou became major trade and craft centers. The ancient port cities of Quanzhou, Guangzhou, and Wuchang expanded significantly.
Urban crafts developed widely. Mining and smelting industries emerged. A center for the production of ceramic and porcelain products developed in Jiangxi, and Yangzhou was famous for its ships. Silk fabrics from Chengdu penetrated to the West along the Great Silk Road. They mined salt, processed metals and stone, and boiled sugar cane syrup on a large scale. The art of stonemasons, wood and stone carvers, and sculptors decorated palaces, temples, and living quarters of wealthy citizens.
The Tang period was marked by the further strengthening of guild organizations (khan or tuan). Some workshops included up to 400 families. The khans regulated the entire way of life, admission of students, determined the work schedule, and strictly guarded shop secrets. But prices in local markets were under the control of the treasury. The treasury charged a fee for land occupied by shops and workshops. The craftsman worked to order and only the remaining goods were sold on the market. Some artisans worked at monasteries. Large weaving workshops often belonged to officials.
In the VII-VIII centuries. The government craft developed significantly. Products of many state-owned mines and smelters, weapons and weaving workshops, mints, workshops for the production of seals, the manufacture of carriages, etc. I usually didn’t go to the market. In crafts where high qualifications were required, the father's occupation was, as a rule, inherited by the son.
Trade also experienced an upsurge. Trade routes stretched along the Yangtze and the Grand Canal, along rivers, land roads and trails, and along the sea coast. The capital Chang'an became the largest market, and Yangzhou became the most important transshipment point. When the sun set, trade stopped. The markets housed money changers, warehouses, inns, distillers' cellars, taverns, brothels, and theatrical performances were held in places where townspeople gathered. Trade with distant areas was stimulated by periodic fairs. Temple, city and village fairs were timed to coincide with national and religious holidays. Trade with neighboring peoples took place at border fairs.
The growth of the urban economy and the rise of domestic and foreign trade were ensured by an increase in agricultural production, an expansion of metal mining, and an increase in coin circulation. The government exercised strict control over trade. Extortions, gratuitous seizures, taxes in favor of the army, and extortion of officials infringed on merchants.
The treasury had a monopoly on the casting of copper coins. From the 7th century established a single state monetary unit, Qian, in the form of a circle (symbol of Heaven) with a square-shaped hole (symbol of Earth) inside. Counting was usually done with bundles of coins strung on a silk cord. Tang money circulated not only throughout the empire, but also beyond its borders: in Sogdiana, Japan, and Korea.
The authorities increasingly expanded the range of goods subject to duty. In the 8th century The treasury introduced a special tax on tea, and tea smuggling was punishable by death.
The non-isolation of a crowded medieval city from society, its organic inclusion in common system public relations were determined by the fact that the legal thought and practice of China did not distinguish between the status of city dwellers and rural residents, and there were no special legal norms for cities and their residents. The Chinese city, like in Europe, had no liberties, no self-government, no communal freedoms. Even the top of urban society - the aristocracy and the serving nobility - did not consider themselves citizens.
6. Tang Empire in the VIII-IX centuries.
The peak of glory and prosperity of the largest Asian power, the Tang Empire, occurred during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong (713-755). This time remained in the memory of descendants as a period of the highest rise of Chinese culture, which was prepared by the previous period.
In the 7th century The country's economy has achieved significant success. The development of small-scale agricultural production was stimulated by allotment land use. The area of cultivated fields expanded, the varieties of crops grown and the yields multiplied. In the south they began to grow more sugar cane.
The construction of new canals and water-lifting structures made it possible to cultivate fields in areas that were previously inaccessible for cultivation. One of the most important achievements was the improvement of the water-lifting wheel (usually bamboo with clay jugs), driven by draft cattle or the efforts of the peasants themselves. To avoid depleting the soil, landowners rotated crops, leaving part of the land fallow. Often, two crops were sown alternately in the same field, ripening at different times.
The natural dominant determined the general principle of farming and dictated the optimal option for a harmonious combination of technical achievements and the capabilities of the land. Distinctive feature Tang agriculture began to distinguish two main regions.
In the North, with its long-standing anthropogenic landscape in a monsoon arid climate, farming technology corresponded to long-established traditional techniques, reduced to the high art of communication between peasants and the land and the skills of using agricultural implements. The farmer was “connected” to seasonal cycles, felt, for example, the “ripeness of the soil”, the maximum readiness for sowing, the timing of harvest, etc.
Purposeful activities of the state to maintain what was previously achieved high level labor productivity and maximum use of land (while maintaining traditional agricultural tools) bore fruit. A significant increase in grain production was achieved, and virgin lands were plowed (mostly redeveloped) on a large scale.
As for the South, the influence of anthropogenic activity on the surrounding landscape was felt less than in the North. In mountainous areas with shallow shallow valleys, the main direction in agriculture was terracing mountain slopes, expanding the network of the local irrigation system, and increasing the use of livestock draft power. The economic development of the South proceeded under the sign of nature-conforming, highly productive technology of flooded rice growing. This provided less vulnerability from the variability of natural elements. The fields created by man were leveled, and the water supplied to them as needed was flowing and contained silt. Thus, the cultural layer of chernozem was gradually layered. The man-made rice bed culture in the South fit harmoniously into natural processes and rhythms. Development followed an intensive path and had a closed natural character. Taking into account originality natural conditions contributed greatly to the general rise of agriculture.
During the 7th century. The country's population increased. Along with the expansion of the rural periphery, the number of cities and townspeople increased. The growth of the social division of labor stimulated the development of handicraft production and the general well-being of the country.
Thus, through the implementation of allotment land use (through which the state realized its supreme power over the land and the right to dispose of taxes on it, illuminated by tradition), it was possible to guarantee the continuity of financial revenues.
But with what happened in the 7th-8th centuries. Due to significant changes in agrarian relations, the control system was unable to prevent the unbridled growth of large landholdings. Influential private houses, officials, merchants, resorting to tricks and even open violence, seized new lands by all available means. For example, by building dams, constructing canals and reservoirs, they diverted water and deprived peasant fields of moisture, thereby ruining farmers. Forced to abandon their plots, they became tenants and became dependent on the owners of the land.
The allotment system with its corresponding form of land use was gradually replaced by a system of land holdings cultivated by privately dependent tenants. This process proceeded spontaneously. In addition, the imperial house itself often contributed to this, granting relatives and other influential persons state-owned lands (guan-tien) with peasants, part of these lands were rented out to tenants.
The decrease in the number of state taxes led to a reduction in tax revenues and a depletion of the treasury. The endlessly issued imperial decrees prohibited “occupying fields without restrictions and hiding tax-paying people,” and punished the “absorption” of fields and tax-paying souls. They tried to extend the prohibitions on purchase and sale to privately owned lands. Special commissions of the court tried to reveal the true state of affairs, checked the lists of tax payers, and punished those who erected structures that deprived peasant fields of water. The Edict of 736 encouraged the fugitives to return to their plots, promised to return their land and provide tax breaks. To increase the number of taxpayers, the imperial court tried to turn even demobilized soldiers into farmers. But all measures turned out to be in vain. The “absorption” of land and the ruin of peasants was becoming increasingly widespread, and it became increasingly difficult to stop this process. Tax registers no longer reflected the real state of affairs: bankrupt peasants who left their villages were still listed as taxpayers, but did not pay taxes. The treasury did not have the means to carry out a re-registration of lands and, even more so, could not maintain the previous agrarian order.
As by the 8th century. changes occurred in agrarian relations, and alarming symptoms of a dynastic crisis began to appear more and more clearly. First of all, treasury income from agriculture has decreased catastrophically. The empire increasingly lost previously conquered and vassal territories. Having been defeated in the battle with the Arabs at Talas in 751, China lost its previous positions in the Great silk road. Even earlier, Korea was freed from Tang rule. In the northeast, agricultural China was threatened by Khitan tribes.
In the southwest (in Yunnan), the state of Nanzhao became more active. The raids of the Tibetans and Uyghurs did not stop. The Chinese empire had to wage costly defensive wars on the outskirts, which separated peasants from farming and depleted the treasury. The situation at the imperial court became more and more alarming, where the struggle between political factions intensified. One of the pain points of Tang society was increasingly becoming a threat to the unity of the country.
Back in 711, in order to protect the northern borders from nomadic tribes and ensure the safety of trade routes leading to the countries Western region, the Tang authorities created the institution of the General Government (jiedushi). In the middle of the 8th century. Among the governors, An Lushan stood out in particular. And if previously the jiedushi who held the post were vested with only military powers, then An Lushan (who had large military forces that guarded the borders) managed to concentrate civil and financial functions in his hands. Relying on selected troops from neighboring tribes, in 755 he moved to Chang'an and, entering into a conspiracy with the capital's officials, rebelled against the Tang house. The emperor fled from the capital. And although the rebellion was eventually suppressed, the country did not immediately come to its senses: the encroachment on the sacred person of the son of Heaven by the recently powerful empire was perceived by the authorities as a “loss of face.”
The war between Zedushi and the imperial house and civil strife in the camp of the governor-general themselves destabilized the situation in the north of the country. Taxes for the benefit of the treasury were received only from places located south of the Yellow River and Yangtze. The number of taxpayers was reduced by three quarters, and the tax burden on the rest of the population was increasing. Under these conditions, it became inappropriate to maintain the previous agrarian order associated with the allotment system. With the “erosion” of the layer of peasant land users, the pointlessness of preserving the dying structure became obvious, and in 780, at the proposal of the first minister Yang Yan, a law was introduced that abolished the “triad of duties” performed by allotment peasants. The state apparatus, having abandoned the redistribution of fields, ceased to oppose the “absorption” of land. In accordance with the changed conditions, a new tax system was developed that corresponded to the real situation. From now on, the tax began to be levied based on one criterion - depending on the quantity and quality of land. The age and working capacity of taxable persons were not taken into account. The entire population (yards) was divided into nine categories according to land holdings.
The reform included persons previously exempt from taxation as taxpayers. The circle of tax-payers also expanded to include city residents - merchants and artisans, who were now required to pay income tax.
A law was adopted on the two-time collection of taxes, providing for two periods: summer and autumn. Thus, the treasury increased revenues by taxing the second crop grown in many provinces of China. The tax could be levied in kind or in cash.
Yang Yan's reform legalized the free purchase and sale of land, thereby officially recognizing the complete decline of the allotment system. So the treasury (once again!), traditionally applying itself to changing circumstances, in accordance with the moment, changing only the external form of communication with its subjects, defended its supreme right to land and the right to receive taxes from it. The increase in taxes worsened the situation of peasant landowners. They increasingly lost their land and fell under the power of large landowners, turning from “owners” into dependent tenants.
Yang Yan's reforms generally had a positive effect on stabilizing economic relations. The Tang Dynasty managed to survive for over a century, but the crisis in the country was not stopped, the process of land concentration continued, and the treasury increasingly lost taxes.
Needing funds, the government in the middle of the 9th century. carried out the confiscation of the treasury of Buddhist monasteries, and increasingly began to resort to damaging coins. The issuance of money that did not correspond to its weight and denomination destabilized finances and, undermining trade and craft, placed a heavy burden on the population. To increase treasury revenue from the monopoly on salt and tea, the authorities imposed the death penalty for smuggling, but these measures were increasingly less effective.
The political power of the Tang dynasty, which had been shaken after the rebellion of An Lushan, became increasingly weaker. The independence of military governors increased, their positions became hereditary, and they became independent masters in the territories under their control. In the 9th century. The power of the dynasty weakened even more. At court, intense rivalry between factions and cliques arose for positions and income. Emperors turned into puppets of eunuchs and temporary workers. Those who achieved influence in the government tried to use examination institutions to appoint their proteges to official posts. Nepotism and bribes increasingly influenced the outcome of the trials.
The situation in the country gave rise to acute discontent among officials, the educated elite and ordinary citizens. The peasants were also dissatisfied. The country found itself on the verge of a dynastic crisis.
7. Peasant war of the 9th century. and the collapse of the Tang Dynasty
Clear evidence of the developing dynastic crisis was the increasing frequency of protests by the lower classes of society, which began during the An Lushan rebellion in 762 in the province. Zhejiang. Scattered uprisings of ruined peasants and military riots periodically broke out in the country. All this was a response to the inability of state authorities to ensure social order in the country and limit the arbitrariness of officials who levied taxes above the norm sanctified by tradition.
During the period of aggravation of the dynastic crisis, the number of those who, in difficult times, fell outside the framework of the social structure built over centuries and were deprived of basic means of subsistence, grew. So, in the uprising of 859 in the province. Zhejiang, which became the threshold of impending chaos in the country, the bulk of the rebels were runaway peasants. The challenge to the supreme power, which violated the principle of collecting taxes and thereby destroyed the cohesion of various social forces in society (and hence its stability), was the creation by the rebels of their own state. In it they hoped to find not only a means of protection from arbitrariness, but, above all, the only way available to them in the current conditions to preserve and maintain their own lives.
Rejecting the immoral policies of the top, which contradicted the doctrine of Confucianism, the rebels, to the best of their ability, resolutely implemented their understanding of the principle of justice. They seized state and monastery storerooms, and divided the stolen grain and looted valuables among themselves.
This tendency to put universal egalitarianism into practice during a period of political disorganization was especially clearly manifested in the peasant war, when in 874 outbreaks of protest throughout the country grew into a mass movement.
First, in the uprisings that broke out in Gansu, Shaanxi, Henan, Anhui and Shandong, Wang Xianzhi became the most influential of the rebel leaders. In 875, he was joined by Huang Chao, who came from a family that had become rich in the smuggling trade of salt. Unlike ordinary peasants, he knew how to read and write, was excellent with a sword, and shot with a bow while galloping. In 876, the troops of Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao already controlled five provinces between the Yellow and Yangtze rivers. Appeals from the leaders of the movement, accumulating the sentiments of the rebels, exposed the cruelty and corruption of covetous officials, violation of laws, and excess of tax rates. All this contributed to the creation of a “mechanism” of long-term emotional arousal in the country. Extreme measures, unthinkable during the period of stability, were now perceived not only as permissible, but also as fair. The robbery of rich landowners began. First of all, the protest of the rebels was directed against representatives of the official authorities. The rebels burned state registers and debt records, evaded paying taxes and serving duties. Seizing state property, they “fairly,” as they understood it, distributed it among those in need.
In 878, Wang Xianzhi made a campaign against Luoyang. The approaches to the capital were guarded by government troops and hired cavalry of nomads. In the battle for Luoyang, 50 thousand rebels died, and Wang Xianzhi was captured and executed. The apogee of the uprising was the moment when Huang Chao, having led the rebel camp, took the title of “The Great Commander Who Stormed Heaven.” He called his army a fair means of retaliation against the ruling circles who neglected their duty in relations with their subjects. From that moment on, the uprising developed into a peasant war: it was then that a real threat of destruction of the ruling dynasty arose. At the end of 878, Huang Chao's army, having strengthened its power in the south of the country, crossed the Yangtze, and moved through the lands of Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong. In 879, Guangzhou was taken, where rebels clashed with residents of a foreign settlement, in particular with Persian and Jewish merchants.
From Guangdong the rebels left for the North. However, in Hubei, near Sanyang, their army, having suffered defeat, again headed south. On the right bank of the Yangtze, under the cover of the powerful flows of the river, the rebel leaders gathered new forces and in the summer of 880 they again set out to the North, moving along the Grand Canal. At the end of the same year, Luoyang was occupied without a fight. The split in society grew so strong that many of the townspeople, including military leaders and civilian officials, joined the rebels.
To protect its other capital, Chang'an, the government sent guards units to Tongguan, a natural fortress at the bend of the Yellow River. But the fate of Chang'an was decided - the advantage was on the side of the rebels. The emperor fled with his entourage, and the rebels entered the capital at the beginning of 881.
As medieval chroniclers reported, “the robbers walked with their hair down and in brocade clothes.” Huang Chao, as the head of the peasant hierarchy, “rode in a chariot of gold,” and his guards were in embroidered clothes and colorful rich hats.
Information about the policy of the rebels after the capture of the capital is extremely contradictory and incomplete. But it is obvious that they began by persecuting those who, in their opinion, were to blame for the country's troubles. According to sources, Huang Chao ordered the killing of members of the imperial family and the expulsion of officials of the three highest ranks from service. Eyewitnesses reported other punitive measures taken by Huang Chao: “The rich were taken off their shoes and driven barefoot. Detained officials were killed, houses were set on fire if they could not find anything there, and all princes and noble people were destroyed.” At the same time, it was also noted that the “robbers” shared their loot with the poor, “distributing to them valuables and silks.”
Having destroyed the bearers of imperial power and occupied the Tang palace, the rebels proclaimed Huang Chao emperor. Now he was faced with the task of establishing a state. Creating its structure for the sake of survival and the establishment of new power, Huang Chao, in accordance with Confucian ideas, was primarily concerned with the creation of an administrative apparatus. Huang Chao's comrades and military leaders, who were appointed to the posts of advisers and members of various boards, became his privileged part. Having initially persecuted the Tang ruling elite, the leaders of the uprising gradually changed their policy towards officials, returning them to their previous places. Measures were taken to restore order. Warriors were forbidden to kill and rob the population. All Confucian rituals were observed in Chang'an. In the spirit of tradition, it was argued that by the command of Heaven, the mandate to rule the Celestial Empire was granted to a new, just emperor. In May 883, Huang Chao was forced to leave the capital. In 884, in Shandong, his army found itself in a hopeless situation, and then, as legend has it, Huang Chao committed suicide.
The peasant war, which raged in the country for several years, had no precedent in the history of China in terms of intensity and scope, was defeated. In 907, the ruling dynasty was overthrown, and the previously powerful state apparatus, the main bond of the empire, collapsed. The country split into small states, and their rulers, competing with each other, laid claim to the throne of the son of Heaven. Time between 906 and 960 Traditional historiography called it “The Age of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.” The “age” of dynasties that fell into decline did not exceed 13-16 years, and successive dwarf state entities were short-lived.
In the South during peasant war There was a weakening of local power and fragmentation of large landholdings. Small landownership, partly based on the labor of tenants, began to predominate here. Landowners often provided benefits to holders who cultivated their fields. The interest of the new owners in improving irrigation and cultivating virgin lands led to a slight increase in agriculture and the revival of urban crafts. Trade exchanges increased, river and sea navigation expanded. Areas in and south of the Yangtze Valley were becoming economically developed areas.
The situation was different in the North, where the struggle for power dragged on for a long time: in brutal wars, new dynasties constantly replaced each other. Many cities were plundered. At the beginning of the 10th century. one of the richest capitals in the world - Chang'an - was razed to the ground, and in the internecine struggle of the 30s, a significant part of Luoyang with its magnificent palaces and libraries was destroyed. Warlords at odds with each other imposed taxes on the population at their own discretion. The desolation of villages, the decline of the irrigation system, and the dilapidation of dams caused frequent floods of the Yellow River. Homeless farmers fled to the south. The population declined sharply. Border military settlements were also deserted. All military forces were involved in internal strife.
The Khitans took advantage of the situation in China. Their long-term trade and political ties with the empire contributed to the transition from a nomadic lifestyle to a sedentary one, and introduction to agriculture. But the Khitan political system retained the imprint of the old order for a long time. Eight large clan organizations (aimags) enjoyed self-government and were headed by elders. Only in 916, one of the influential leaders of Apoka (Ambigan) from the Yelu clan, violating the elective principle, proclaimed himself emperor. In 937, the new state became known as Liao. Its head widely involved Han officials who were captured in the construction of the state apparatus. The Khitan writing system was also created according to the Chinese model. Cities were built, market exchange was encouraged, and the extraction of ore and salt was established.
The Khitan rulers interfered in the political life of China. In turn, the Chinese authorities sought help from the Khitan cavalry and therefore paid tribute to the Khitans in silk and ceded the northern regions of the country to them. 16 agricultural districts located on the territory of the modern provinces of Hebei and Shanxi came under Liao rule.
The need to stabilize the internal situation forced the Kaifeng rulers to reorganize the army and create a guard from selected warriors to confront the Liao state. Campaigns to the north were difficult and expensive. The danger of invasion from the Khitans stimulated the cessation of internecine wars and the unification of the country. Therefore, when in 960 the troops that went on a campaign against the Khitan proclaimed the military leader Zhao Kuangyin emperor of the Song Dynasty, he received widespread support not only from the army, but also from the townspeople of Kaifeng, thirsting for peace.
8. Culture of the Tang era
With the unification of the country, new opportunities opened up for the fruitful development of various fields of science, art, and literature; knowledge about the secrets of nature has expanded. Alchemists, in search of the elixir of immortality, studied the properties of metals and minerals. Doctors learned the healing properties of plants and improved traditional medicine. Medieval engineers and mathematicians became famous for their knowledge in the construction of cities, canals and fortress walls. Thus, the achievements of construction technology at the beginning of the 7th century. steel 37-meter stone arch bridges in Hebei and Shandong with a length of more than 1 km. Observations of the changing seasons and celestial bodies expanded astronomical knowledge. Astrologers compiled horoscopes. The Buddhist monk Yi Han (8th century) made a significant contribution to astronomy.
Confucianism, which again took the position of official ideology during the Sui and Tang periods, dictated the basic standards of life in the country, stood guard over moral principles and determined the nature of the administration and the education system. From the experience of the ancients, detailed principles of relationships in the family and society, between the ruler and his subjects were drawn. The veneration of ancestors and reverence for the past, the doctrine of humanity and filial piety, rituals and rules of etiquette are firmly entrenched in the genetic memory of the population of the empire. The Tang laws were based on the orders developed by generations of Confucians, and partly also by legalists. Confucianism held a leading position primarily in the field of political structure of society, education, diplomacy, the theory of military art and other areas of knowledge related to governing the country.
The influence of Confucianism is quite clearly manifested in historical writing. Under Emperor Li Shimin, this activity, as a matter of national importance, was turned into an official service, and historians found themselves in the position of high government officials. They were engaged in the preparation of dynastic histories of previous eras, shaping them according to the model of Sima Qian’s “Historical Records”. At that time, based on the chronicles of previous authors, eight so-called “normative” dynastic histories were created, covering the period of the 1st-7th centuries. AD In special institutions, historians-archivists processed information about current events and individual figures. The material included imperial decrees, departmental reports, field reports and other documents. The collections they compiled were usually kept until the end of the dynasty. Under the new government, the final revision and publication of the history of the country during the reign of their predecessors was carried out.
Historical works included information about the economy, government, culture, calendar, etiquette, wars, popular uprisings, natural disasters, cosmic phenomena, about the peoples who lived near China and in more distant countries. At the same time, critics of historical works also appeared; the first of them is considered to be Liu Zhiji, who created “Penetration into History” (Shitong) in 710.
The Sui and Tang emperors collected ancient works and paid in silk for scrolls or fragments of works delivered to the imperial library. Scholars restored many of the texts on silk and bamboo slats and transcribed them onto paper.
To prepare students for exams, collections of canons “Four Books” (Si Shu) and “Pentateuch” (Wu Jing) were compiled from ancient Confucian works. For some time, up to 60 thousand people studied in special schools in the Tang capitals and in the provinces. Among them were the sons of Turkic kagans and princes from Turfan and Tibet. In addition, at the court of Emperor Li Longji in the 8th century. A supreme assembly of Confucian scholars was created, called the Hanlin Academy. The publication of decrees and orders gradually resulted in a kind of newspaper - the government bulletin. The scientist Du Yu (755-812) compiled the first collection of encyclopedic nature “Tongdian”.
The most important feature The medieval ideology of China was syncretism, born on the basis of the coexistence of the so-called “three teachings”: Confucianism, religious Taoism and Chinese Buddhism. By synthesizing ideas and concepts drawn from the teachings of Buddhism with traditional Chinese thought and Confucian pragmatism, Chan Buddhism (from Sanskrit dhyana “meditation”) arose, founded, according to legend, by an Indian preacher of the 6th century. Bodhidharma, who rejected the study of canonical sutras, rituals and worship of Buddha in principle and proclaimed meditation as the main means of knowledge and enlightenment. Along with cultivating long-term meditation, the Chan patriarchs also developed a method of comprehending the truth through sudden insight, believing that intellectual analysis of only the external side of a phenomenon does not contribute to clarifying its essence, that is, knowledge of the truth. The sobriety and rationalism of the Chinese, manifested in the teachings of Chan, turned out to be layered on the deepest mysticism of Indo-Buddhism.
The Chan school, with its message of spontaneity and spiritual freedom, had a great influence on Chinese art and poetry.
During the Tang era, the teachings of Buddhism developed fruitfully, and several original schools were formed. The school of philosophical synthesis, founded in the 6th century, was the Tiantai sect (named after the mountain in Zhejiang Province, where the main monastery of this school was founded). Claiming that Buddha is in every grain of sand and in every person, the Tiantai sect developed a view of the world as a single whole, expressed the idea of the interpenetration of the manifest and the essential, and asserted the possibility of salvation in this life for all living beings. The founder of the Tiantai teachings developed a hierarchy of main branches of Buddhism corresponding to levels of enlightenment, and sought to integrate the traditions of Buddhism from the North and South. The rulers patronized the Tiantai school in every possible way, seeing in it a means of political consolidation of the empire.
The Huayan teaching, whose founder is traditionally considered to be Fa-shun (557-640), developed the provisions of the Tiantai school and argued that all dharmas arose simultaneously and have two aspects: static (associated with the name) and dynamic (associated with the phenomenon). Everything in the world gravitates towards a single center - in religion - to Buddha, in empire - to the ruler. Huayan's teachings influenced medieval Chinese philosophy; one of his concepts - li (law, principle, ideal) - was borrowed by the Neo-Confucians.
Buddhism was perceived by the broad masses as a variety of Chinese Taoism. They accepted in the new teaching everything that was associated with the alleviation of suffering in this life and with the hope of eternal bliss in the future. Buddhism was also attractive because the monks healed the suffering, absolved sins, performed funeral rites, and offered prayers for the laity. Temple holidays, prayer services and other ceremonies performed in monasteries often resulted in noisy folk festivals and took place in an atmosphere of religious exaltation. The attractiveness of Buddhism was also enhanced by the charity of the monasteries: the monks provided assistance to the population during epidemics, dug wells, built bridges, soup kitchens, public baths, collected garbage, etc.
The development of Buddhism in medieval China was combined with the strengthening of Buddhist monasteries as a social institution. The monasteries captured large lands; they had many farmers, dependents and slaves at their disposal. They owned craft workshops, were engaged in trade, usury, ran hotels, and had their own armed guards. Their farms were economic organizations that concentrated great wealth. The state sought to place the followers of Buddha within a certain framework and exercise its control over the monasteries.
The Buddhist Church, while helping the secular government to strengthen its position, did not always submit to it itself, often coming into conflict with the emperor. An expression of this was the persecution of monks in the 6th century, and Yang Jian’s attempts to exalt Confucianism and venerate the tomb of Confucius. Li Yuan (founder of the Tang state) in an edict of 624 accused Buddhists of evading state duties and reproached the monks for self-interest. From the second half VII V. Some of the monasteries were taken without government support. The government established rules and quotas for admission to the sangha, and special bureaucratic bodies were in charge of the internal life of the monasteries. Often the court resorted to the confiscation of monastery property and the return of Buddhist adherents to the world.
Li Yuan's son Li Shimin no longer entered into conflict with the monks and donated funds for the casting of a Buddha statue. Empress Wu Zetian, who came to power with the help of Buddhist ministers, provided great benefits to the monasteries, including the use of land. Later, Buddhists no longer risked fighting the imperial apparatus. As the influence of Buddhism grew, the desire of the ideologists of Confucianism to restore the prestige of their teaching grew. The heralds of this movement, which later resulted in the creation of Neo-Confucianism, were Wang Tong (late 6th - early 7th centuries), then Han Yu (768-824) and Li Ao (8th-9th centuries). The most prominent Confucian scholar and writer Han Yu condemned the worship of “rotten bones,” referring to the relics of Buddha brought to Chang'an. He put forward an anti-Buddhist program, demanding the removal of all monks and the destruction of all monasteries.
When the dynastic crisis in Tang China began to make itself felt again, the government again decided to take radical measures. By decree of 845, the property of the monasteries and the monks who lived in them was confiscated. Those monks who wanted to keep their considerable property were forced to leave the monasteries and lead a secular lifestyle, paying taxes to the state. The secularization of 845 greatly undermined not only the economic position, but also the influence of Chinese Buddhism as a whole. However, it did not cease to exist. The charm of Buddhism with its colorful holidays, generous charity, recitation of funeral sutras and the promise of salvation and heavenly life did not allow it to disappear. Anti-Buddhist political sentiments could not stop the cultural synthesis of Chinese traditions with the heritage of the Buddha.
In this system, there was also a niche for the original Chinese teaching of Taoism, which was increasingly turning into a folk religion based on a rethinking of the tenets of the ancients.
The Taoist religion adopted ancient animist beliefs, the cult of Heaven and the cult of holy sages. Having emerged from the depths of folk beliefs, Taoism of the Middle Ages inherited their amorphous nature, becoming inextricably linked with all aspects of the life and spiritual culture of the Chinese. The image of the other world of the Taoists disintegrated into the kingdom of demons, where the souls of sinners were tormented, and the heaven inhabited by deities, prepared for the righteous. Hell and heaven were presented in the form of a colossal heavenly office with a strict hierarchy.
Taoism attracted all levels of society primarily due to its doctrine of eternal life. The system for gaining immortality included the so-called “feeding of the spirit.” The human body was considered by Taoists as a microcosm, an accumulation of Divine forces, the abode of numerous spirits, and the system of bodily spirits corresponded to the Heavenly hierarchy. Spirits in Heaven kept count of good and bad deeds and determined the life span of a person. Believers were to keep the commandments and lead a virtuous lifestyle. The essence of the second condition for achieving immortality - “nourishing the body” - was following a strict diet and a system of breathing exercises that attracted life-giving ether into the body. The Taoists believed in the power of spells, talismans, physical exercises, and amulets.
Two streams could be traced in Taoism - the common people and the aristocratic. Taoism, cultivated, associated with magic and physiognomy, attracted the broad masses and was often the object of attacks from the authorities, who saw in them a danger to the foundations of the state, bearers of rebellious-egalitarian traditions. These ideas of Taoism fed the teachings of the Taoist and Buddhist-Taoist sects and various secret societies. Having developed the doctrine of the Western Paradise - the abode of the goddess Sivanmu, the unborn mother and ancestor of all people - the Taoists derived the idea of universal equality. Ideas of social justice with egalitarian tendencies were especially popular, since Taoists often acted as healers, fortune-tellers and predictors.
The educated elite were more attracted to the philosophical problems of Taoism, in particular its ancient cult of simplicity and naturalness. In merging with nature, freedom of self-expression and going beyond official norms was gained, and new opportunities for creativity opened up. In search of immortality, adherents of the doctrine resorted to alchemy, breathing exercises, and meditation.
The teachings of the Taoists influenced the development of alchemy and medicine. The works, the meaning of which was closed to the uninitiated, preserved recipes for medicines, as well as descriptions of the properties of metals and minerals.
The Pantheon of Taoism became a clear expression of syncretism. The Taoists included in the host of deities legendary rulers, mythical heroes and sages, among them primarily Huang Di and Lao Tzu. The pantheon of gods had its own hierarchy. They had personal human qualities and were close to the people according to ancient legends. The founders of Confucianism entered the pantheon of Taoism on equal terms with the goddess of Western Paradise. Various historical figures were also ranked among the numerous Taoist deities. But the most popular were the champions of justice and just cause - the eight immortal sages, endowed with the traits of people and wizards at the same time.
Followers of religious Taoism claimed to transform their teaching into a state religion. The Taoists developed their commandments in the likeness of the Buddhist model and compiled a list of merits and misdeeds of respectable subjects. The most severe punishments were imposed for high treason and rebellion. It is not surprising that at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, emperors from the Li clan, being namesakes of the great Lao Tzu, traced their origins to the legendary founder of Taoism, whom they officially deified.
Buddhism and the Indian and Central Asian influences that penetrated with it brought new breath to the culture of China. Thus, the flat reliefs of Han sculpture were finally replaced by voluminous stone sculptures of Buddhas and bodysattvas, ordinary pilgrims in cave temples of the 5th-6th centuries. in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Gansu, synthesizing alien motifs with local tradition. The Dunhuang cave temples in northwestern China with rich frescoes reflecting, along with religious subjects, the living fabric of life in China at that time became monuments of Buddhist sculpture and painting.
The deep penetration of Buddhism into all spheres of Chinese life was marked by innovations in architectural creativity of a different kind. The monotony of the landscape of the northern plain of China was enlivened by the verticals of multi-story stone and brick Buddhist pagodas - a symbol of the idea of spiritual ascent into infinity. "Small Pagoda" wild geese"(523) in Henan and the "Great Goose Pagoda" in Shaanxi (652) not only recorded memorable milestones in the spread of the Buddhist faith in China, but also became a center of cultural attraction.
As in the previous era, there was an intense pilgrimage to the birthplace of the Buddha. In 629-645. Buddhist monk Xuanzang traveled through the territory of modern Xinjiang to Central Asia and through the Hindu Kush to Northern India. In “Notes on the Western Countries of the Great Tang Dynasty,” he spoke about 128 states. This work still remains a valuable source for studying the history of the peoples of Central Asia and India. Long journeys were fraught with great risk and were only possible for purposeful and strong people.
The growth of various contacts due to the spread of Buddhism expanded the Chinese view of the world. The art of Central Asia met with an enthusiastic reception in China: melodies, songs and musical instruments, exuberant, temperamental dances. Artists of the Western Region gained fame by depicting Western landscapes, deities, plants, and animals that were semi-fantastic for the Chinese. The Iranian technique of polychrome painting became widespread in China, producing such a striking three-dimensional effect that, according to eyewitnesses, the figures in the frescoes “seemed to come off the wall.” From the 7th century Novels began to spread widely, telling about miraculous gifts and talismans presented to the court by foreign embassies from distant countries.
The flourishing of Tang poetry was also a manifestation of the general cultural upsurge in the country. In the galaxy of brilliant poets, Li Po (699-762) occupies a special place, nicknamed “the immortal alien from Heaven” for his talent. Li Bo wrote in a living language, close to the spirit of the Yuefu folk songs. He listened carefully to the beating native speech, admired the originality of the culture and history of the motherland, and was inspired by its nature. His lyrics were characterized by naturalness, laconicism and sincerity. Feeling like one of the “ten thousand creations of nature,” he could understand her voice:
On the southern lake there is peace and quiet and the lotus wants to tell me something sad so that my soul will be full of sadness.
Du Fu (712-770) made a huge contribution to Chinese poetry. The poet’s work so profoundly expressed the era that his poems began to be called “poetic history.” Perhaps it was Du Fu who, more than other poets, followed Confucius’s commandment to “express, but not create,” when he seemed to read heavenly writings, turning them into poetic lines.
Among the cultural figures of the Tang time, the poet and artist, master of landscape Wang Wei (701-761) stood out with his poetry, full of picturesqueness, and paintings, full of poetry. His work gave a strong impetus to the development of painting on silk and paper, and on scrolls the artist’s brush created not only a landscape, but also poetry in tune with it.
From the standpoint of Confucian justice, which involves following the “golden mean” in everything, the outstanding poet Bo Juyi (778-846) denounced tax collectors - these “jackals and wolves” tormenting the ruined peasants (“tearing off the last flap”, “tearing out the last flap”, when “the ears of grain have not yet had time to fill with grain”).
Secular art was encouraged at the imperial court. In poetry and paint, the masters glorified the joy of earthly life and fun. The famous concubine of the Tang Emperor Xuanzong, Yang Guifei, whose beauty was praised, was considered the ideal of female beauty. the best poets China.
Tang Dynasty (June 18, 618 – June 4, 907 AD) – Chinese imperial dynasty founded by Li Yuan . His son, Emperor Li Shimin, after the final suppression of peasant uprisings and separatist feudal forces, began to pursue progressive policies. The era of the Tang Dynasty is traditionally considered in China to be the period of the highest power of the country; China during this period was ahead of the rest of the modern countries of the world in its development.
Upon coming to power in 618 AD. The Tang Dynasty began one of the best periods in Chinese history. The active and humane nature of the reign of the founders of the dynasty, Gao-Tzu and his son Tai-Tsung, made it possible to restore the empire.
The western regions were annexed to China's dominions. Persia, Arabia and other West Asian states sent their embassies to the imperial court. In addition, the borders in the North-East of the country were expanded; Korea was annexed to the imperial possessions. In the south, Chinese rule over Annam was restored.
Relations were maintained with other countries in Southeast Asia. Thus, the territory of the country in size became almost equal to the territory of China during the heyday of the Han Dynasty.
If you trace Chinese history from the most ancient dynasties, you will see that it constantly repeats itself, as if obeying the majestic rhythm of time. From ruins and chaos emerges a talented ruler who establishes a new dynasty , reviving the empire.
The state reaches unprecedented heights in development, then decline begins , the empire disintegrates, once again plunging into chaos. This was the case with the Tang Dynasty, founded by Li Yuan in 618.
The Chinese Tang Dynasty was founded by Li Yuan , a large landowner originally from the northern borders of China, inhabited by the Tabgach people - sinicized descendants of the Toba steppe inhabitants. Li Yuan, together with his son Li Shi-min, prevailed in the civil war, the reason for which was the harsh and reckless policy of the last emperor of the Sui dynasty, Yang-di, and soon after his death in 618 ascended the throne in Chang'an under the dynastic named after Gaozu.
Subsequently, Gao-Tzu was removed from power by Li Shimin, but the Tang dynasty founded by him survived and was in power until 907 with a short break in 690-705 (the reign of Empress Wu Zetian, separated into a special Zhou dynasty).
Li Yuan went down in history under the posthumous name Gao-Zong, and ruled under the name Wu-di. He was a talented feudal lord and commander , who loved hunting, magnificent performances and horse riding. It is said that he won his beautiful wife by competing in archery and hitting the target - both eyes of a painted peacock.
Under Emperor Gaozu, the capital was moved to Daxing , renamed Chang'an in honor of the nearby ancient capital of the Celestial Empire. The emperor spent about 10 years achieving peace with neighboring states and within the country. Gradually, thanks to reasonable diplomatic measures, he was able to win over the rebels and defeated enemy troops.
Continued restoration of monetary circulation and examination system; trade became tightly controlled by the central government. One of the main achievements of Emperor Gao-Tzu was the creation of a new code of laws, numbering 502 articles. These laws which were based on the yin-yang philosophy, the theory of the five primary elements and Confucian principles , existed until the 14th century and became a model for the legal systems of Japan, Vietnam and Korea.
Gao-Tzu had three sons , the eldest of them was declared heir, however, the son Li Shimin, who took an active part in actions aimed at suppressing rebellions within the country, was aiming for the throne.
Having learned that his brothers were trying to turn his father against him, he took decisive action and announced their illicit relationship with concubines from the imperial harem . The brothers went to the palace to justify themselves to Gao-Tzu, but Li Shimin and his supporters were waiting for them at the gate.
Li Shimin pierced the heir with an arrow, and the second brother was killed by his men. The emperor, having learned about what had happened, gave up his throne to his son and left to live out his life in the rural wilderness. Li Shimin ordered the execution of ten of his brothers' children to get rid of possible opponents.
In 626, the most powerful emperor of the Tang dynasty subsequently ascended the throne, receiving the throne name Taizong. This great leader is still considered an example of the Confucian ideal of a ruler who championed the interests of the peasants, merchants, intelligentsia and landowners.
The Emperor managed to surround himself with wise and loyal officials , alien to corruption. Officials slept in shifts to be at the emperor's disposal at any time of the day. If history is to be believed, the emperor worked tirelessly , hanging countless reports from his subjects on his bedroom walls and studying them at night.
Thrift, military and local government reforms, an improved transportation system, and developed agriculture brought prosperity to the entire country. The Tang Empire became a confident and stable state, significantly ahead of other countries of this period in development. Chang'an has become a real cosmopolitan city , which received numerous embassies.
The offspring of aristocrats from nearby countries flocked here for education. , national communities were formed. The most enthusiastic people who enjoyed China's hospitality were the Japanese, who, after several years of studying and working abroad, returned to their homeland, where they formed a government structure following the example of their neighbors. Exactly During this period, China had a huge influence on the development of Japanese culture.
Development of culture and folk crafts
The economic and administrative innovations of the Sui dynasty were adopted and consolidated in the Tang era. During the Tang Dynasty, a new system of long-term land ownership was introduced in China. , according to which the formation of large land holdings was limited, and peasants were able to maintain a stable standard of living.
Most a significant achievement was the legal system created during the Tang Dynasty , which ultimately broke with the nihilism of the Qin period. A mandatory set of social traditions and rules of conduct imbued with the spirit of Confucianism was formulated.
