Tang dynasty

Legacy

The Tang is remembered as a golden age of Chinese culture whose laws, city planning, poetry and Buddhism shaped Japan, Korea and Vietnam.

Timeline of Tang dynasty

1. 626
   Xuanwu Gate Incident: Li Shimin seizes power as Emperor Taizong

   The Tang dynasty was founded in 618 by Emperor Gaozu. His eldest son, Li Jiancheng, was crown prince, but the second son, Li Shimin, had won most of the battles that brought the family to power, and their rivalry turned deadly. On 2 July 626 Li Shimin and his men ambushed Li Jiancheng and another brother, Li Yuanji, at the Xuanwu Gate of the palace in Chang'an and killed them both. About two months later Gaozu abdicated, and Li Shimin became Emperor Taizong. Under his rule the Tang began its great expansion beyond China's borders.

2. 630
   Tang armies destroy the Eastern Turkic Khaganate

   Early in Taizong's reign the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, a nomad power on the Mongolian steppe, threatened the Tang frontier. Its ruler, Illig Qaghan, faced revolts by subject tribes and the defection of his own nephew. In the winter of 629 the Tang general Li Jing launched a surprise attack and destroyed the khan's camp, and in 630 Illig was captured and handed over. The Eastern Turks were resettled along the Yellow River as a buffer, and Taizong took the title of 'Heavenly Khagan'. Tang power now reached across the steppe of Inner Mongolia.

3. 640
   Conquest of Gaochang (Turfan); Anxi Protectorate set up

   Gaochang (Karakhoja), near Turfan in today's Xinjiang, was an oasis kingdom on the Silk Road that had sided with the Western Turks against the Tang. In 640 Taizong sent the general Hou Junji, who defeated the kingdom, and it was annexed as a Chinese prefecture. That same year the Tang set up the Protectorate General to Pacify the West (Anxi), first at Turfan. Its army later took Karashahr and Kucha, and the Four Garrisons of Anxi were set up from 648 onwards. The Tang now controlled the Silk Road into the Tarim Basin.

4. 657
   Western Turks defeated at Issyk Kul; protectorates reach Herat

   The Western Turkic Khaganate ruled the steppes and oases between the Tarim Basin and Persia. In 657 the Tang general Su Dingfang crushed the army of its khagan, Ashina Helu, and captured him (one source places the victory at Issyk Kul, another on the Irtysh river). The Tang set up protectorates over the Western Turks' lands, extending Chinese influence as far as Herat in Afghanistan. By the end of 657 the Tang had reached its largest extent.

5. 668
   Goguryeo destroyed by Tang and Silla

   The Korean kingdom of Goguryeo had beaten back Tang invasions in 645–648. The Tang then allied with Silla, a rival Korean kingdom, and after conquering Baekje together in 660 they attacked Goguryeo from north and south. Weakened by years of war and by quarrels among the sons of its late dictator, Goguryeo finally fell in late 668, when its capital Pyongyang was taken. The Tang set up a protectorate in its lands, pushing the map into northern Korea. Silla soon fought the Tang over the spoils, and within a decade it had driven the Chinese out of most of the peninsula.

6. 670
   Tibet seizes the Tarim Basin garrisons (held until 692)

   The Tibetan Empire was expanding north from the high plateau and competing with the Tang for the Silk Road oases. In 670 the Tibetans defeated a large Chinese army at the Dafei river, near Koko Nur, and with Khotanese help attacked the Tang's garrisons in the western Tarim Basin. The Chinese abandoned the region, and Tibet took control of all Four Garrisons of Anxi, ending two decades of Chinese rule. The Tang only won them back in 692. On the map, the Tang's long western arm into Central Asia is cut off for over twenty years.

7. 690
   Wu Zetian proclaims her own Zhou dynasty (690–705)

   Wu Zhao rose from a junior concubine to become empress of Emperor Gaozong, and after his death in 683 she ruled through her sons as empress dowager. In 690 she pushed her son aside, proclaimed her own Zhou dynasty in place of the Tang and took the title of emperor. She is the only woman in Chinese history to do so. She ruled largely from Luoyang, which she raised to co-capital, until the Shenlong Coup of 705 forced her from power and restored the Tang. The empire's borders stayed largely the same, so on the map the change is in name only.

8. 712
   Xuanzong begins a 44-year reign, the height of the Tang

   Xuanzong (Li Longji) became emperor in 712, after helping to remove rivals at court. His reign of 44 years was the longest of the dynasty. Its first decades, the Kaiyuan era (713–741), are seen as a golden age of stability, prosperity and culture, the age of poets such as Li Bai and Du Fu. To defend the long frontiers, Xuanzong created powerful military governors (jiedushi) who commanded large armies. That system kept the empire at its height on the map, but it also gave generals like An Lushan the power to rebel later.

9. 751
   Abbasid army defeats Gao Xianzhi at Talas

   Tang armies under the general Gao Xianzhi had pushed deep into Central Asia, as far as the Pamirs and the Tashkent area. At the same time the new Abbasid Caliphate was taking control of Khurasan and Transoxiana. In 751, near the Talas river on the border of today's Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, the Abbasid army under Ziyad ibn Salih, joined by Karluk Turks, defeated Gao. The battle marked the western limit of Tang expansion. Chinese rule in Central Asia ended soon after, though mainly because of the An Lushan rebellion that began four years later.

10. 755
    An Lushan rebels; the court flees Chang'an

    An Lushan, a general of Sogdian and Turkic descent, commanded three frontier armies in the north and was a favourite at Xuanzong's court. On 16 December 755 he rebelled, marching out of Fanyang, near modern Beijing, and taking Luoyang the next month. He declared his own Yan dynasty, and in 756 his forces broke through the mountain passes, and Xuanzong fled Chang'an for Sichuan. On the way his guards forced the death of his beloved consort Yang Guifei, and Xuanzong soon abdicated. The Tang had lost both its capitals, and its armies were pulled back from the frontiers.

11. 763
    Rebellion ends; Tibetans briefly occupy Chang'an; the west is lost

    After An Lushan was murdered in 757, his ally Shi Siming and then Shi's son carried on the war. It finally ended in early 763, when the last rebel leader was defeated, with help from Uyghur allies. But the Tang had stripped its western garrisons to fight, and the Tibetans moved in, seizing the Hexi Corridor and the lands of Gansu and Qinghai. Late in 763 they even captured Chang'an for 15 days, and the Tang survived, but much weaker. On the map it loses its Central Asian lands for good, and its provinces fall into the hands of semi-independent military governors.

12. 874
    Huang Chao rebellion begins (874–884), sacking Chang'an and Luoyang

    By the 870s the Tang faced famine, heavy taxes and widespread banditry. Huang Chao, a salt smuggler who had failed the state examinations, joined a rebellion led by Wang Xianzhi in the mid-870s and soon led his own army. He marched across China, sacking Guangzhou in the south in 878–879, then took Luoyang in 880 and Chang'an at the start of 881, where he declared himself emperor. Driven out in 883 by Tang forces led by the Shatuo Turk Li Keyong, he died in 884. The rebellion wrecked what was left of Tang authority, and warlords now held real power.

13. 907
    Zhu Wen deposes Emperor Ai and founds the Later Liang

    Zhu Wen was a former lieutenant of Huang Chao who changed sides in 882 and became a powerful military governor based at Kaifeng. By 903 he controlled the court, and he moved the emperor to Luoyang in 904, then had Emperor Zhaozong murdered and put the boy Emperor Ai on the throne. In 907 he forced Ai to give up the throne and declared himself emperor of a new Later Liang dynasty, and later had Ai killed. The Tang dynasty was over. China split into the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and the Tang disappears from the map.

Periods and reigns

• Gaozu (r. 618–626) 623–626
• Taizong 626–649
• Gaozong 649–683
• Wu Zetian (Zhou dynasty) 690–705
• Xuanzong 712–756
• Xianzong 805–820
• Wenzong 826–840
• Zhaozong 888–904
• Ai 904–907

Rulers

• Emperor Gaozu (Li Yuan) 618 – 626

  Founder

• Emperor Taizong 626 – 649

  Model ruler who expanded into Central Asia

• Emperor Gaozong 649 – 683

  Conquered the Western Turks and Goguryeo

• Wu Zetian 690 – 705

  Only woman to rule China as emperor in her own name

• Emperor Xuanzong 712 – 756

  Cultural golden age ended by the An Lushan rebellion

• Emperor Ai 904 – 907

  Last emperor, deposed by Zhu Wen

Realms on the map

• Tang Dynasty 623–907

Chapters

• The world in 700: The Caliphate Expands
• The world in 800: Charlemagne Crowned
• The world in 900: Empires Breaking Apart