The Chinese are proud to always be the sons of the Han. Yet the golden age of Chinese civilization is not the Han period but rather that of the Tang, which lasted three centuries later (618-907). Thanks to the abundance of documentation and the discovery of minqi figurines, ritual objects placed in the tombs of the elites of the time, we know that the Tang period was a time during which significant progress was made in sciences and technology (gunpowder, woodblock printing, mechanical engineering, medicine, cartography, etc.). It was a dynasty open to the world, showing unprecedented tolerance towards foreign cultures and religions (the Nestorian Church, Zoroastrianism, a polytheistic religion from Persia, Buddhism in full expansion, etc.).
It was also under the reign of the founding emperor Tang Tai Zong (Đường Thái Tôn or Lý Thế Dân) that the Buddhist monk Xuan Zang (Huyền Trang) began in the year 629 the sacred pilgrimage known as the « Journey to the West (Tây Du Ký) » by leaving alone from the capital Chang An for 17 years, at the emperor’s request to bring back the sacred scriptures from India. It was also a period when the flourishing of arts and letters was at its peak with poets Du Fu (Đỗ Phủ), Li Bai (Lý Bạch), Bai Juji (Bạch Cư Dị), the painter Wang Wei (Vương Duy), etc., and a time of relative freedom for women. They could excel in the arts, particularly in music and poetry. Sometimes they could have a higher status in society. This was the case with Empress Wu Zetian (Võ Tắc Thiên). Women could wear less restrictive clothing with the loose Hanfu robe (Hán phục).
It was also under this dynasty that the Silk Road experienced significant growth for various economic, political, and religious purposes through the establishment of strategic marriage policies, military conquests, and silk to consolidate alliances, bribe and divide the nomads, and expand its empire westward. Thanks to this setup, the dynasty succeeded in establishing trade and cultural links along the Silk Road. It was along this route that two Nestorian monks brought silk worm eggs from China to Byzantium, hiding them in their bamboo canes. Finally, it was also the period when Vietnam was under the control of the Tang after being annexed earlier by the Sui with General Liu Fang (Lưu Phương).
Under the Tang dynasty, Chang-An was the largest cosmopolitan city in the world at that time. It was nicknamed the « city of a million inhabitants » in Chinese records. Known as « Eternal Peace, » it was the most densely populated city in the world, ahead of Baghdad and Byzantium. But according to the census record in the year 742 in the New Book of Tang (Tân Đường Thư), Chang-An and its surroundings had 362,921 families totaling 1,960,188 people, while it is estimated that more than 50 million inhabitants lived in China at that time across a territory stretching from the East China Sea to Central Asia, from the Gobi Desert in the north to beyond the Nanglin (Lĩnh Nam) mountains in the south where Annam is located. Covering an inland area of almost 87 km², the cosmopolitan capital Chang-An was not only a center of political and economic power but also a haven of peace with wide avenues, magnificent palaces, Buddhist temples, private gardens, and vast markets. Its broad avenues and streets were arranged in a rectangular grid of 114 blocks of houses, each individually walled and all protected by the same outer wall.
Musée des arts asiatiques Guimet
Every morning, as soon as the announcement of the opening of its main gate was made by the first beats of the drums, people coming from all corners of the empire as well as numerous foreign merchants attracted by the significant trade of the capital began to enter and go about their business. At night, one could only move from one street to another with a pass. All kinds of goods could be found there, from furniture to spices (Persian saffron, Indian pepper, etc.) in the two large markets of the city, one in the east and the other in the west. The imperial court regulated the control of prices and product quality on a weekly basis. The discovery of a number of Sogdian tombs in the capital has helped to better understand how elements of foreign culture infiltrated the Chinese society of Chang’an and vice versa. There was even a foreign quarter.
The Tang army included many important contingents of Turkish soldiers called Tujue (proto-Turkic). Thanks to this recruitment policy and the steppe experience that the Turkish officers had, it allowed the Tang dynasty to expand its empire westward. This was the conquest of the oasis kingdoms of Karakhoja by the Tang with the Sogdian general Ashina She’er (A Sử Na Xã Nhĩ) in 648 in what is now Xinjiang province. He was appointed general of the right guard by Emperor Tang Gaozong (Đường Cao Tông). He died in 655 and was buried alongside Emperor Taizong (Đường Thái Tông). He was posthumously renamed Yuan (元).
Chang An played a key role in commercial exchange on the Silk Road with regions as far away as India, the Middle East, and Europe. Its urban layout and religious architecture (the Great Wild Goose Pagoda housing the sacred texts brought back by the monk Xuan Zang) and palatial architecture (the Palace of Great Clarity (Daming Gong), or the residence of the emperors) testify to technical expertise in respecting harmony and the environment and later brought significant influence in the planning of the capitals of Silla in Korea and Heian in Japan. Chang An remains an important part of China’s historical and cultural heritage.
Under the reign of Emperor Tai Zong, merchants and traders could move freely throughout the empire without fear of bandits. Prisons were empty, and people did not feel the need to lock the doors of their homes. Harvests were abundant: one only needed 3 or 4 qian to buy 10 liters of rice. This was not only a period of prosperity that China experienced until the reign of Emperor Xuan Zong before the revolt of the Sogdian general An Lu Shan in 755, but also a good model of governance often referenced in the history of China.
Pagode de l’Oie (Tháp Đại Nhạn)