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History of Imperial China #3
China's Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty
The Tang dynasty is often called China's "golden age," a period of commercial, religious, and cultural connections from Korea and Japan to the Persian Gulf, and a time of unsurpassed literary creativity. Mark Lewis captures a dynamic era in which the empire reached its greatest geographical extent under Chinese rule, painting and ceramic arts flourished, women played a major role both as rulers and in the economy, and China produced its finest lyric poets in Wang Wei, Li Bo, and Du Fu.
The Chinese engaged in extensive trade on sea and land. Merchants from Inner Asia settled in the capital, while Chinese entrepreneurs set off for the wider world, the beginning of a global diaspora. The emergence of an economically and culturally dominant south that was controlled from a northern capital set a pattern for the rest of Chinese imperial history. Poems celebrated the glories of the capital, meditated on individual loneliness in its midst, and described heroic young men and beautiful women who filled city streets and bars.
Despite the romantic aura attached to the Tang, it was not a time of unending peace. In 756, General An Lushan led a revolt that shook the country to its core, weakening the government to such a degree that by the early tenth century, regional warlordism gripped many areas, heralding the decline of the Great Tang.
The Chinese engaged in extensive trade on sea and land. Merchants from Inner Asia settled in the capital, while Chinese entrepreneurs set off for the wider world, the beginning of a global diaspora. The emergence of an economically and culturally dominant south that was controlled from a northern capital set a pattern for the rest of Chinese imperial history. Poems celebrated the glories of the capital, meditated on individual loneliness in its midst, and described heroic young men and beautiful women who filled city streets and bars.
Despite the romantic aura attached to the Tang, it was not a time of unending peace. In 756, General An Lushan led a revolt that shook the country to its core, weakening the government to such a degree that by the early tenth century, regional warlordism gripped many areas, heralding the decline of the Great Tang.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2009
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June 13, 2023
The emergence of the Tang Dynasty in 618 followed the Yellow River in northern China from present day Xian across Shaanxi's plateau to the east, and westward through Gansu's mountain corridor to the deserts of Xinjiang. It was a tremendous expansion that rivaled and surpassed the Han Dynasty. At its greatest extent it reached parts of Vietnam and influenced Korea and Japan's development.
The rise was abruptly curtailed in 756 by the An Lushan rebellion in the west, which led to civil unrest and border wars until the Tang's collapse in 907. During the later period, China's center of gravity would shift permanently south to the Yangtze river valley. In later phases of the empire frequent fighting with Tibetans, Uighurs and Arabs reversed Tang preeminence among bordering kingdoms.
This volume of Harvard's recent six part history of Imperial China is authored by Mark Edward Lewis, who also wrote the two earlier volumes on the Qin-Han and Southern-Northern dynasties. Lewis is a professor of Chinese history at Stanford University in California. The high standard of his writing in the series is maintained here. His first book on the Han won a prize from the Belles-Lettres Academy of France.
As with the other volumes this is a hybrid of chronological and thematic history. After a narrative of the dynastic foundation rebellions and dissolution are retold. Chapters on cities, countryside, family, religion and literature follow. There is an extended look at Tang relations with the outer world. Commerce and religion on silk road routes brought conflict with Turks to the west and nomads in the north.
Although written in a scholarly manner this book may be enjoyable for a general reader. It contains enough cultural information beyond dates, places, and events to maintain interest. Compressing three centuries of civilization into three hundred pages becomes too abbreviated. I wish there were more histories of the Tang dynasty beyond basic textbooks. This is the best I've found and it's very good.
The rise was abruptly curtailed in 756 by the An Lushan rebellion in the west, which led to civil unrest and border wars until the Tang's collapse in 907. During the later period, China's center of gravity would shift permanently south to the Yangtze river valley. In later phases of the empire frequent fighting with Tibetans, Uighurs and Arabs reversed Tang preeminence among bordering kingdoms.
This volume of Harvard's recent six part history of Imperial China is authored by Mark Edward Lewis, who also wrote the two earlier volumes on the Qin-Han and Southern-Northern dynasties. Lewis is a professor of Chinese history at Stanford University in California. The high standard of his writing in the series is maintained here. His first book on the Han won a prize from the Belles-Lettres Academy of France.
As with the other volumes this is a hybrid of chronological and thematic history. After a narrative of the dynastic foundation rebellions and dissolution are retold. Chapters on cities, countryside, family, religion and literature follow. There is an extended look at Tang relations with the outer world. Commerce and religion on silk road routes brought conflict with Turks to the west and nomads in the north.
Although written in a scholarly manner this book may be enjoyable for a general reader. It contains enough cultural information beyond dates, places, and events to maintain interest. Compressing three centuries of civilization into three hundred pages becomes too abbreviated. I wish there were more histories of the Tang dynasty beyond basic textbooks. This is the best I've found and it's very good.
May 30, 2018
Halas another one of those decent, informative yet uninspiring academic history books.
It's not the book, it's me I have read so many of these standard safe approaches to history books that they start to bore no matter the amount of work, details and scholarship. This particular book, as the title suggests is about the Tang dynasty, the cosmopolite empire. We get the classic division in thematic chapters, politics (rise and decline and military), urban life, rural life, kinship, literature, religion and the outerworld. These chapters are not at all connected beyond the occasional little remark and reference and one could easily have chopped op the book in articles and published those one at the time. Sorry to say but in the end I could still only vaguely recall the first political part of the book, proving my point that one should integrate as much as one can and try to tell a full story or at the very least; first give us the social and cultural context and therafter a detailed overview of the political and military events and how this affected the former. As it was now, it meant I could not really grasp the societal havoc that was caused by the An Lushan rebellion and the later events of political and societal disintegration that led to the period of five dynasties and thereafter the first southern focused dynasty, the Sung.
What I was looking for, what I missed was a discussion on what is cosmopolitan in the context of 8th century China; what does that mean? Never does Edward Lewis open the debate on what he means with the concept cosmopolitan, what it meant to those he discussed (besides the occasional side remark here and there). this book needed a theory approach, Lewis should have chosen a theory/defenition on cosmopolitan society/state and tried to apply it to the Tang empire and see if it holds up. That way this book would have connected all the way and not use the word cosmopolitan here and there as a sort of memo to the author what the title of his book was.
I am very harsh on this book I know, but I also know that very little to nothing will stick by me. That is the thing do you write a safe book that only tries to carefully discuss some aspects (such as the controversial figure of empress Wu) or do you try a more bold approach by juggling a few theories, older material and commonly accepted "truths" to make something new and exiting but possibly controversial? I will admit that both have their place and have their flaws but still Lewis was very conservative in his style and layout that just ends up boring an audience who has seen this style and layout too many times to be impressed. in the end this book falls under the old curse of "history is one damned thing after another and most of all emphasizes the need for innovation and a minimum of experimentation with style and layout.
But for those who have not been reading to many academic history books and are looking for a general background, this book should be fine. I really can't discredit the scholarship and the subjects discussed are in itself interesting (even if they fail to shine due to the limited interconnection analysis). Most interesting subjects, the role of women in urban areas (but limited to elite and upper classes), the Chinese hereditary aristocracy and the path that led to their downfall and disappearance, the religious diversity (also the chapter where Lewis comes closest to explaining what cosmopolitan meant in this time and place) and for those with this interest; his analysis of various literary products is extensive.
At some point I will try to read the tale of Li Wa and perhaps that tale will give me (combined with this book's content) give me a better understanding on what being a inhabitant of Tang China meant.
It's not the book, it's me I have read so many of these standard safe approaches to history books that they start to bore no matter the amount of work, details and scholarship. This particular book, as the title suggests is about the Tang dynasty, the cosmopolite empire. We get the classic division in thematic chapters, politics (rise and decline and military), urban life, rural life, kinship, literature, religion and the outerworld. These chapters are not at all connected beyond the occasional little remark and reference and one could easily have chopped op the book in articles and published those one at the time. Sorry to say but in the end I could still only vaguely recall the first political part of the book, proving my point that one should integrate as much as one can and try to tell a full story or at the very least; first give us the social and cultural context and therafter a detailed overview of the political and military events and how this affected the former. As it was now, it meant I could not really grasp the societal havoc that was caused by the An Lushan rebellion and the later events of political and societal disintegration that led to the period of five dynasties and thereafter the first southern focused dynasty, the Sung.
What I was looking for, what I missed was a discussion on what is cosmopolitan in the context of 8th century China; what does that mean? Never does Edward Lewis open the debate on what he means with the concept cosmopolitan, what it meant to those he discussed (besides the occasional side remark here and there). this book needed a theory approach, Lewis should have chosen a theory/defenition on cosmopolitan society/state and tried to apply it to the Tang empire and see if it holds up. That way this book would have connected all the way and not use the word cosmopolitan here and there as a sort of memo to the author what the title of his book was.
I am very harsh on this book I know, but I also know that very little to nothing will stick by me. That is the thing do you write a safe book that only tries to carefully discuss some aspects (such as the controversial figure of empress Wu) or do you try a more bold approach by juggling a few theories, older material and commonly accepted "truths" to make something new and exiting but possibly controversial? I will admit that both have their place and have their flaws but still Lewis was very conservative in his style and layout that just ends up boring an audience who has seen this style and layout too many times to be impressed. in the end this book falls under the old curse of "history is one damned thing after another and most of all emphasizes the need for innovation and a minimum of experimentation with style and layout.
But for those who have not been reading to many academic history books and are looking for a general background, this book should be fine. I really can't discredit the scholarship and the subjects discussed are in itself interesting (even if they fail to shine due to the limited interconnection analysis). Most interesting subjects, the role of women in urban areas (but limited to elite and upper classes), the Chinese hereditary aristocracy and the path that led to their downfall and disappearance, the religious diversity (also the chapter where Lewis comes closest to explaining what cosmopolitan meant in this time and place) and for those with this interest; his analysis of various literary products is extensive.
At some point I will try to read the tale of Li Wa and perhaps that tale will give me (combined with this book's content) give me a better understanding on what being a inhabitant of Tang China meant.
October 27, 2021
China’s Cosmopolitan Empire is a fascinating book. After reading both the first and second volumes prior to this third volume, I have no doubt that this study of Imperial China’s golden age is Mark Edward Lewis’ best works so far. Tang Dynasty has always been my most favourite subject to study due to its openness with their neighbouring states that led to its sophistication and cultural amalgamation. Additionally, some of the interesting historical personalities also lived during the Tang Dynasty period and part of the agents of change that either brought prosperity or disaster to Tang China such as Emperor Taizong, Empress Wu Zetian, Princess Taiping, Emperor Xuanzong, and Yang Guifei. While this book still doesn’t cut it as a complete history of the Tang Dynasty, I think Mark Edward Lewis did a pretty good job to introduce its general history.
One of the causes of the Tang Dynasty’s prosperity was the Grand Canal. An artificial engineering water-based project, built during the Sui Dynasty yet utilised to its full advantage by the Tang’s emperors, that connected China geographically from the Yangzi River to the Yellow River and their immediate region. The result was an expanded sea-based trading route that benefited both the government and the common people. The Grand Canal created many job opportunities for sea-based merchants, boat-makers, and warehouse managers that were in charge of reserving the shipping supplies before being transported via cargo fleets to their intended destination. It also catapulted the Tang into making new allies through international trading routes to Japan, Taiwan, and South East Asia, thus enhancing their cosmopolitanism looks.
There is so much cultural information in this book regarding life in the Tang including the environmental impacts to these urban and agricultural activities that almost threaten the ecology of China. Deforestation and erosion undermined their project of building temples, palaces, and residences, causing them to ever expand south or wherever they could. It’s quite intriguing that the golden age of China was also the age of environmental disasters.
The role of women was also described thoroughly in this book from their celebrated status as cultured courtesans who helped young scholars to pass the jinshi examination test, their new role as Daoist nuns and Buddhist abbesses to also participate actively in the political realm by high-ranking women such as Empress Wu, Princess Taiping, and Yang Guifei. This book is absolutely fascinating and highly recommended!
One of the causes of the Tang Dynasty’s prosperity was the Grand Canal. An artificial engineering water-based project, built during the Sui Dynasty yet utilised to its full advantage by the Tang’s emperors, that connected China geographically from the Yangzi River to the Yellow River and their immediate region. The result was an expanded sea-based trading route that benefited both the government and the common people. The Grand Canal created many job opportunities for sea-based merchants, boat-makers, and warehouse managers that were in charge of reserving the shipping supplies before being transported via cargo fleets to their intended destination. It also catapulted the Tang into making new allies through international trading routes to Japan, Taiwan, and South East Asia, thus enhancing their cosmopolitanism looks.
“But it was large-scale, water-based commercial shipping that truly transformed China in the Tang and subsequent dynasties. Huge fleets, often numbering more than three thousand vessels, moved along the Grand Canal and provisioned not only the capitals but the northwestern frontier. At the end of the seventh century, one observer claimed that commercial boats could be found on every navigable stream from one end of the empire to the other.” ~Chapter 5: Rural Society, page 138.
There is so much cultural information in this book regarding life in the Tang including the environmental impacts to these urban and agricultural activities that almost threaten the ecology of China. Deforestation and erosion undermined their project of building temples, palaces, and residences, causing them to ever expand south or wherever they could. It’s quite intriguing that the golden age of China was also the age of environmental disasters.
“But the difficulties of provisioning a court “inside the passes” continued to mount, as the interlinked problems of deforestation, erosion, gullies, water shortages, and silting of waterways took their toll. The forests of north China had been disappearing for centuries, due to their overexploitation for building materials and heating. The requirements of wood for palaces, temples, government buildings, and residences for a capital were particularly onerous. The elevated population due to the capital’s presence also resulted in increased burning of wood. A canal built by the government to ship firewood to the capital further hastened the decline of forest cover. Finally, the government’s attempt to raise horses in the northwest, to replace grasslands lost to Tibet, led to the destruction of marginal grasslands and the erosion of slopes as herdsmen cut down trees for shelter and heat.” ~Chapter 1: The Geography of Empire, page 10-11.
Fresco of female musicians and performers from the early Tang dynasty tomb of Li Shou (李壽).
The role of women was also described thoroughly in this book from their celebrated status as cultured courtesans who helped young scholars to pass the jinshi examination test, their new role as Daoist nuns and Buddhist abbesses to also participate actively in the political realm by high-ranking women such as Empress Wu, Princess Taiping, and Yang Guifei. This book is absolutely fascinating and highly recommended!
March 16, 2023
Comprehensive, informative and terribly boring
July 8, 2019
Best read, I think, after one has some knowledge of Chinese history as it covers themes and ideas that become much more engaging if one can fit them into the larger picture.
Two points: The organization into chapters by themes makes it an easy book to pick up when researching an aspect of Tang culture, making it a good general reference volume one wants to keep on one's shelves. And the Bibliography is very good but would have been more helpful if it had been organized into the same topics as the chapters (the work-around is obviously to go from the chapter notes to the references quoted if you're looking for further reading).
It's an academic book and thus somewhat dry, but it made me reflect on some areas of Tang life I hadn't previously paid much attention to (the decline of the old Chinese elite families, for example).
Postscript - I'm a docent in an asian museum and the benefit of such works for me are the odd little embedded stories one finds that are perfect to liven up a tour or talk. One gleaned from this volume was the linking of the Qingming Festival with graveside offerings to the late 7th/early 8th century--a story I hadn't seen in my many decades of previous China reading.Previously, ancestor worship had been a family affair when "Children made offerings at the graves of parents or grandparents, but the common descendants of more distant ancestors did not gather for the kind of collective ancestor worship that would establish them as a meaningful social group." (p. 189) All that changed late 7C (the earliest reference known is a text dating to the 660s).
Two points: The organization into chapters by themes makes it an easy book to pick up when researching an aspect of Tang culture, making it a good general reference volume one wants to keep on one's shelves. And the Bibliography is very good but would have been more helpful if it had been organized into the same topics as the chapters (the work-around is obviously to go from the chapter notes to the references quoted if you're looking for further reading).
It's an academic book and thus somewhat dry, but it made me reflect on some areas of Tang life I hadn't previously paid much attention to (the decline of the old Chinese elite families, for example).
Postscript - I'm a docent in an asian museum and the benefit of such works for me are the odd little embedded stories one finds that are perfect to liven up a tour or talk. One gleaned from this volume was the linking of the Qingming Festival with graveside offerings to the late 7th/early 8th century--a story I hadn't seen in my many decades of previous China reading.Previously, ancestor worship had been a family affair when "Children made offerings at the graves of parents or grandparents, but the common descendants of more distant ancestors did not gather for the kind of collective ancestor worship that would establish them as a meaningful social group." (p. 189) All that changed late 7C (the earliest reference known is a text dating to the 660s).
September 9, 2017
From the geographical shifts of population and importance, the succession of emperors, the revisions of the legal code, the urban life, with its main roads forbidden to most by night, the beginning of the examination system (which might win you a prestigious marriage instead of a post), the importance of tribute bearers in their native costume to show how far its power reached, how Buddhism was still treated as foreign, the Buddha being denounced as mere ghost or ancestor, to honor only his own family, and accusations against foreign monks going so far to claim they were animals in disguise (one, it was declared, was revealed to be a camel), women who became Daoist or Buddhist nuns to escape marriage and more.
Arranged by theme.
Arranged by theme.
August 8, 2025
If I was able to use half stars, I would becaus ei think this book deserves more of a 3.5 than a 3.
It is good as a general reference book, and although it goes into detail on a lot of things but I would have enjoyed this book more had it gone more in depth on a lot of things.
Wouldn't necessarily recommend this to a casual reader as much of the writing in this is very academic. That and have a hey I kinda remember hearing about that in the past knowledge will help you get the most value out of this book.
It is good as a general reference book, and although it goes into detail on a lot of things but I would have enjoyed this book more had it gone more in depth on a lot of things.
Wouldn't necessarily recommend this to a casual reader as much of the writing in this is very academic. That and have a hey I kinda remember hearing about that in the past knowledge will help you get the most value out of this book.
March 26, 2022
This is the third and final book by Mark Edward Lewis and it falls somewhere between his first two in quality. The Tang dynasty is probably my favorite, so this was a pretty easy sell for me. Yet I also felt that the format is becoming rote and somewhat repetitive. It could use a new approach rather than just slotting each dynasty into the same rigid formula.
By this point in the series we’ve already been introduced to Chinese history and culture. I think that’s why the first book was the best – it provided all new information and introduced everything from scratch. As Lewis wrote that book too, he’s very aware of what he already covered and instead is just updating the existing coverage. In a general overview of all Chinese history this would be an advantage. If you’ve already introduced concepts at the beginning you can save time by the time you get to later dynasties. But since each book has to stand alone he’s not able to refer back to what he said at the beginning. As a result the coverage starts to feel incomplete. And not a little repetitive. While I really loved the first book, I think I’m about ready to see another scholar pick up the reigns and give us their interpretation.
That said, the book does a fine job introducing us to the Tang. One of the most exciting elements of the Tang for me is just how open they were to outside influences, something which Lewis provides a lot of focus on. The mix of narrative and thematic content is better too. While he tries to give as little narrative as possible, the need to explain why the later Tang dynasty was so different from the earlier one means that we get a good account of the An Lushan Rebellion and warlordism along the northern frontier. That’s probably the most significant change in this period and is important to know. Another area where the book manages to find a good balance is when it deals with topics that are crucial for future dynasties but not so big for the Tang. The civil service examination being the most obvious example. Under the Song, the civil service examination became a uniquely Chinese way of selecting the best educated men from all ranks to serve as officials. But in the Tang it was a minor element subsumed under their more dominant aristocracy. So we get just enough summary of the exam ideals and process, with a strong focus on what it isn’t and the rest will be left for the next book.
If you are interested in the Tang dynasty in particular this will be a good book for you. If you are looking for a reference book on all Chinese history this is a good series to go through... but I’d obviously start at the beginning. If there were other books on the Tang I’d probably recommend you start there. This is a bit too self-consciously part of a larger series. But it still manages to get the job done.
By this point in the series we’ve already been introduced to Chinese history and culture. I think that’s why the first book was the best – it provided all new information and introduced everything from scratch. As Lewis wrote that book too, he’s very aware of what he already covered and instead is just updating the existing coverage. In a general overview of all Chinese history this would be an advantage. If you’ve already introduced concepts at the beginning you can save time by the time you get to later dynasties. But since each book has to stand alone he’s not able to refer back to what he said at the beginning. As a result the coverage starts to feel incomplete. And not a little repetitive. While I really loved the first book, I think I’m about ready to see another scholar pick up the reigns and give us their interpretation.
That said, the book does a fine job introducing us to the Tang. One of the most exciting elements of the Tang for me is just how open they were to outside influences, something which Lewis provides a lot of focus on. The mix of narrative and thematic content is better too. While he tries to give as little narrative as possible, the need to explain why the later Tang dynasty was so different from the earlier one means that we get a good account of the An Lushan Rebellion and warlordism along the northern frontier. That’s probably the most significant change in this period and is important to know. Another area where the book manages to find a good balance is when it deals with topics that are crucial for future dynasties but not so big for the Tang. The civil service examination being the most obvious example. Under the Song, the civil service examination became a uniquely Chinese way of selecting the best educated men from all ranks to serve as officials. But in the Tang it was a minor element subsumed under their more dominant aristocracy. So we get just enough summary of the exam ideals and process, with a strong focus on what it isn’t and the rest will be left for the next book.
If you are interested in the Tang dynasty in particular this will be a good book for you. If you are looking for a reference book on all Chinese history this is a good series to go through... but I’d obviously start at the beginning. If there were other books on the Tang I’d probably recommend you start there. This is a bit too self-consciously part of a larger series. But it still manages to get the job done.
February 9, 2020
The poet Wei Zhuang wrote in his poem Lament of the Lady of Qin
In house after house blood flows like boiling fountains,
In place after place victims scream: their screams shake the earth.
Dancers and singing girls have all disappeared,
Babies and young girls are abandoned alive...
My neighbor in the west had a daughter, lovely as a goddess;
Her lustrous eyes flashed from side to side cutting the autumn waters like an inch of sword blade.
Her toilet completed, all she did was gaze at the reflection of spring in the mirror,
So young she did not know what happened outside her doors.
Some thug leaps up her golden staircase,
Rips the dress to bare half her shoulder, about to shame her,
But dragged by the clothes she refuses to go through the vermilion gate,
So with rouge powder and perfumed cream on her face she's stabbed down until she's dead.
Thus ended the Tang dynasty during the sack of Chang'an in 881. The Tang was certainly a Golden Age in China. It saw the transformation of Buddhism from a foreign religion to a "Chinese" religion, the rise and fall of the Eunuchs, the rise and destruction of the great families,the use of examination for public service, and the first females running the country as Empress. It saw an emperor running off with a concubine and leaving the administration of the country to a chief minister. Barbarian tribe overrunning the west (Turks and Tibetans), and the rise of song and literature. Again we have another solid volume in this series. This one was 278 pages and covered a lot of interesting ground, Urban and Rural life, literature, religion, the examinations, and much more. I thought it the best of the first three by far. I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone wanting a good survey of the Tang Dynasty.
In house after house blood flows like boiling fountains,
In place after place victims scream: their screams shake the earth.
Dancers and singing girls have all disappeared,
Babies and young girls are abandoned alive...
My neighbor in the west had a daughter, lovely as a goddess;
Her lustrous eyes flashed from side to side cutting the autumn waters like an inch of sword blade.
Her toilet completed, all she did was gaze at the reflection of spring in the mirror,
So young she did not know what happened outside her doors.
Some thug leaps up her golden staircase,
Rips the dress to bare half her shoulder, about to shame her,
But dragged by the clothes she refuses to go through the vermilion gate,
So with rouge powder and perfumed cream on her face she's stabbed down until she's dead.
Thus ended the Tang dynasty during the sack of Chang'an in 881. The Tang was certainly a Golden Age in China. It saw the transformation of Buddhism from a foreign religion to a "Chinese" religion, the rise and fall of the Eunuchs, the rise and destruction of the great families,the use of examination for public service, and the first females running the country as Empress. It saw an emperor running off with a concubine and leaving the administration of the country to a chief minister. Barbarian tribe overrunning the west (Turks and Tibetans), and the rise of song and literature. Again we have another solid volume in this series. This one was 278 pages and covered a lot of interesting ground, Urban and Rural life, literature, religion, the examinations, and much more. I thought it the best of the first three by far. I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone wanting a good survey of the Tang Dynasty.
May 8, 2016
Well, it took me almost a year to read this book start to finish, and although I learned a great deal from it, I feel that this book held too much information and did not explain it very well. Often times it was boring and dull, which made the words swim and the mind grow weary. Although I enjoy reading about this era, I found it difficult to really grasp the information being presented to me. It was definitely cut into appropriate sections, they still seemed disjointed. Also this book primarily focuses on the imperial and elite lives, and often overlooks the common man, or lumps that social class into one large group, when it was extremely diverse. Again, this could be just from the amount of textual evidence left, but it was frustrating that this group of people seemed to be left behind in this book.
November 23, 2012
I didn't know anything about the Tang Dynasty, so this book served as an introduction to me. All the names frankly went over my head, but I like that I now have a sense of what life was like during the Tang Dynasty.
September 9, 2020
It is not easy for Westerners to get a good sense of Chinese history, and this book does a good job at pointing out how it is that a dynasty with part-Turkish origins in the North managed to help lead in ways that would further the development of China's South, which would have massive consequences for future Chinese dynasties as the shift in population dynamics would hinder Chinese military strength in the northern areas where barbarians would become increasingly important in the military security of China. Likewise, in many ways the Tang dynasty marks a shift in Chinese religious thought, serving as the peak of institutional Daoism and Buddhism, as a time when Chinese belle lettres were in a high state of development, and where Chinese aristocracy shifted from the dominance of families whose power had lasted for centuries to a slightly better distributed elite that was not nearly so focused on court power as was the case during the Tang. There is a sense of sadness here too given the massive destruction that came upon China's urban culture during both the An Lushan rebellion as well as the catastrophic fall of the Tang in the late 9th century when resentful local warlords took out their frustrations on court elites in the powerless late Tang.
This book is almost 300 pages long and it is divided into 9 chapters that look at the Tang dynasty and its achievements in thematic fashion. The book begins with an introduction and then a discussion of the geography of the Tang Empire from its core regions in the longtime cultural capitals of Chang'an and Louyang, neither of which would again be the center of future Chinese realms to its peripheries in Central Asia, northern Vietnam, and Korea (1). After that the author discusses the early Tang period from its founding in the revolutionary end of the previous Sui dynasty to the An Lushan rebellion that shook the empire to the core (2), which is then followed by a discussion of the fate of late Tang society with its struggle against the power of warlords and the increasing power of Southern economic monopolists (3). The author then spends some time talking about urban life (4), especially in its two most important cities, where political power was long centered, and rural life that was dominated by landlords and by the decreasing presence of free peasantry on the tax rolls (5). This leads to a discussion of Tang diplomacy and relations with the outer world, including India (6), as well as the increasing importance of kinship ties and ancestor worship (7). There are also chapters on the institutionalization of Chinese religion (8) and the spread of a powerful and popular writing culture that blended conservative elite tastes and more austere rural elements (9), after which the book ends with a conclusion, a discussion of dates and dynasties, notes, a bibliography, acknowledgements, and an index.
What was it that made the Tang so cosmopolitan? In part, it is the happy and not always very common combination of military and cultural strength that China projected during these times, as well as the way in which key Chinese developments like the examination system and homegrown Buddhist traditions began to have a large influence on the life of Chinese people. Chinese military power in Central Asia, even if it was threatened by the rise of Islam and even the rise of Tibetan power, managed to present an image of a strong China during those periods where internal disorder was not overwhelming. Chinese cultural prestige increased to a great degree as well, and the weakness of China under the Song would encourage later Chinese to think of the Tang as a golden age even if some of the seeds of that weakness started to be present during the Tang as well, particularly the worrisome dependence of the Tang for the security of their Northern borders on barbarian leaders whose connections and loyalty to the central ruling house was limited if that ruler could not command their respect as the founders of the Tang did through their own military prowess. And that does not even consider the question of the role of women in the elites of the Tang either. To be cosmopolitan is to be in danger of decadence and weakness, and if the Tang eventually succumbed to that weakness, they did at least have a lot to show for themselves in terms of their power and their culture for a period of more than two hundred years, and that is not nothing.
This book is almost 300 pages long and it is divided into 9 chapters that look at the Tang dynasty and its achievements in thematic fashion. The book begins with an introduction and then a discussion of the geography of the Tang Empire from its core regions in the longtime cultural capitals of Chang'an and Louyang, neither of which would again be the center of future Chinese realms to its peripheries in Central Asia, northern Vietnam, and Korea (1). After that the author discusses the early Tang period from its founding in the revolutionary end of the previous Sui dynasty to the An Lushan rebellion that shook the empire to the core (2), which is then followed by a discussion of the fate of late Tang society with its struggle against the power of warlords and the increasing power of Southern economic monopolists (3). The author then spends some time talking about urban life (4), especially in its two most important cities, where political power was long centered, and rural life that was dominated by landlords and by the decreasing presence of free peasantry on the tax rolls (5). This leads to a discussion of Tang diplomacy and relations with the outer world, including India (6), as well as the increasing importance of kinship ties and ancestor worship (7). There are also chapters on the institutionalization of Chinese religion (8) and the spread of a powerful and popular writing culture that blended conservative elite tastes and more austere rural elements (9), after which the book ends with a conclusion, a discussion of dates and dynasties, notes, a bibliography, acknowledgements, and an index.
What was it that made the Tang so cosmopolitan? In part, it is the happy and not always very common combination of military and cultural strength that China projected during these times, as well as the way in which key Chinese developments like the examination system and homegrown Buddhist traditions began to have a large influence on the life of Chinese people. Chinese military power in Central Asia, even if it was threatened by the rise of Islam and even the rise of Tibetan power, managed to present an image of a strong China during those periods where internal disorder was not overwhelming. Chinese cultural prestige increased to a great degree as well, and the weakness of China under the Song would encourage later Chinese to think of the Tang as a golden age even if some of the seeds of that weakness started to be present during the Tang as well, particularly the worrisome dependence of the Tang for the security of their Northern borders on barbarian leaders whose connections and loyalty to the central ruling house was limited if that ruler could not command their respect as the founders of the Tang did through their own military prowess. And that does not even consider the question of the role of women in the elites of the Tang either. To be cosmopolitan is to be in danger of decadence and weakness, and if the Tang eventually succumbed to that weakness, they did at least have a lot to show for themselves in terms of their power and their culture for a period of more than two hundred years, and that is not nothing.
November 1, 2023
Although I was bothered by the lack of ebook features, even less features than a physical book, the content was still interesting. Except, as a culture reference it would have been nice to actually have the "figures" as part of the ebook I purchased, rather than being referred to a book I did not purchase.
So, the history part was sort of interesting, but the culture part was my reason for reading. On religion, I was a little disappointed that Daoism was institutionalized by this period, actually much like a religion, even worship as a religious act. Hardly any mention of "Dark Studies" where the more original Daoism might still exist. Buddhism was unexpected, kind of moving from India to China, but completely moving, leaving India behind with hardly a trace. Of course, Buddhists changed as well, more of an institution. Here's a couple of examples:
"Elements of these rituals had appeared in texts from the Northern and Southern Dynasties, which established the idea that the purgatorial rituals should be performed at seven-day intervals, up to forty-nine days, to coincide with the deceased's passage through the courts."
"Sometimes peasants, often children, experienced a form of spirit possession in which they chanted new sutras or wrote texts in strange scripts that were later recognized as Sanskrit or some Central Asian alphabet."
And, religions became mixed with each other:
"Up to roughly the year 400, Chinese philosophers attempted to explain Buddhism in terms of their own intellectual traditions, above all the Dark Studies (Xuan xue) in which the Master Zhuang (Zhuangzi), the Master Lao (Laozi), and the Canon of Change (Yi jing) were reinterpreted to provide a new metaphysical grounding for moral and political authority."
Of course, people are people:
"In the same way that imperial edicts reveal what people actually did by attempting to ban those activities, these descriptions of conduct that women should eschew-scolding in-laws, sewing sloppily, laughing loudly, gossiping, nibbling on food intended for dinner, and getting drunk at banquets-indicated how many women in the Tang actually behaved."
I was getting a little bored in the chapter on writing, because it was focusing on poetry, which surprisingly was popular in many ancient cultures. It crossed my mind earlier when lists of families were produced by rank, but then the lists were revised into an order by "rhyme". Kind of weird when a list can't be put in alphabetic order because there is no alphabet. Also, since many languages share the same script yet are mutually unintelligible when spoken, do those words still rhyme?
Well, suddenly the text went from poetry to fiction prose. Fiction was a new thing among the literati, basically, even stories of ghosts, demons and gods were assumed to be true up to that point. Well, I suppose I like fiction, and the section on this new phenomena in Chinese literature was most interesting. This also helped the rating somewhat. I was more positive and near the end, so that is my take at this time.
So, the history part was sort of interesting, but the culture part was my reason for reading. On religion, I was a little disappointed that Daoism was institutionalized by this period, actually much like a religion, even worship as a religious act. Hardly any mention of "Dark Studies" where the more original Daoism might still exist. Buddhism was unexpected, kind of moving from India to China, but completely moving, leaving India behind with hardly a trace. Of course, Buddhists changed as well, more of an institution. Here's a couple of examples:
"Elements of these rituals had appeared in texts from the Northern and Southern Dynasties, which established the idea that the purgatorial rituals should be performed at seven-day intervals, up to forty-nine days, to coincide with the deceased's passage through the courts."
"Sometimes peasants, often children, experienced a form of spirit possession in which they chanted new sutras or wrote texts in strange scripts that were later recognized as Sanskrit or some Central Asian alphabet."
And, religions became mixed with each other:
"Up to roughly the year 400, Chinese philosophers attempted to explain Buddhism in terms of their own intellectual traditions, above all the Dark Studies (Xuan xue) in which the Master Zhuang (Zhuangzi), the Master Lao (Laozi), and the Canon of Change (Yi jing) were reinterpreted to provide a new metaphysical grounding for moral and political authority."
Of course, people are people:
"In the same way that imperial edicts reveal what people actually did by attempting to ban those activities, these descriptions of conduct that women should eschew-scolding in-laws, sewing sloppily, laughing loudly, gossiping, nibbling on food intended for dinner, and getting drunk at banquets-indicated how many women in the Tang actually behaved."
I was getting a little bored in the chapter on writing, because it was focusing on poetry, which surprisingly was popular in many ancient cultures. It crossed my mind earlier when lists of families were produced by rank, but then the lists were revised into an order by "rhyme". Kind of weird when a list can't be put in alphabetic order because there is no alphabet. Also, since many languages share the same script yet are mutually unintelligible when spoken, do those words still rhyme?
Well, suddenly the text went from poetry to fiction prose. Fiction was a new thing among the literati, basically, even stories of ghosts, demons and gods were assumed to be true up to that point. Well, I suppose I like fiction, and the section on this new phenomena in Chinese literature was most interesting. This also helped the rating somewhat. I was more positive and near the end, so that is my take at this time.
March 23, 2025
Another installment of the "History of Imperial China" series, "China's Cosmopolitan Empire" covers what is often seen as the highpoint of imperial China, and the most cosmopolitan period of Chinese history. The Tang dynasty seems in many ways reminiscent of the Han dynasty in its interactions with the outside world, including with the Turks, and with the Emperor Taizong declaring himself both Heavenly Qaghan and Heavenly Emperor. At the same time, the dynasty was less successful than the Han in Central Asia, losing its presence in Central Asia due to a combination of factors, including the Tibetans, the Arabs, and internal troubles from An Lushan and onwards. All the same, the Tang dynasty seems to have enjoyed a greater amount of movement of peoples than did the Han, with many foreigners settling within the dynasty's borders as a result of trade patterns. The Tang dynasty was itself founded by someone of mixed ethnic origin from the northwest (Emperor Gaozu/Li Yuan).
Perhaps part of the openness of the Tang era was a result of the lack of centralized control of the empire - as the imperial court and the military governors often acted as rivals, with military governors often acting as more or less de facto independent rulers of their provinces. This situation was exacerbated after the An Lushan revolt. For most of the last century of the dynasty, for example, three northeastern provinces were only ceremonially attached to the empire. While the Tang dynasty was more or less a unified empire compared to the Northern and Southern dynasties period, or to the subsequent Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, as a whole the impetus of the dynasty can arguably be seen as one moving towards division rather than unification - yet again demonstrating the tendency of Chinese history to move through cycles of disunion at least as much as of imperial unity.
Perhaps part of the openness of the Tang era was a result of the lack of centralized control of the empire - as the imperial court and the military governors often acted as rivals, with military governors often acting as more or less de facto independent rulers of their provinces. This situation was exacerbated after the An Lushan revolt. For most of the last century of the dynasty, for example, three northeastern provinces were only ceremonially attached to the empire. While the Tang dynasty was more or less a unified empire compared to the Northern and Southern dynasties period, or to the subsequent Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, as a whole the impetus of the dynasty can arguably be seen as one moving towards division rather than unification - yet again demonstrating the tendency of Chinese history to move through cycles of disunion at least as much as of imperial unity.
June 10, 2021
An excellent, reasonably well written overall introduction to the period. There is an adequate but deliberately limited coverage of the main events of the period but also of every aspect of culture and life. There are plenty of other lengthier works which offer greater detail but this is a first class beginning.
June 17, 2025
Maybe not the most erudite book out there on the subject but its very readable, impressively researched, and covers a surprisingly wide range of topics from the Tang era. The general reader will be well-served with this work.
4 stars
4 stars
January 26, 2018
A well written introduction to the Tang Dynasty. I really enjoyed Lewis’ overview of the period and how transformative it really was. I will certainly read the rest of the series.
November 25, 2023
本書確實延續了對於中國斷代史豐富而詳盡的展開。能夠看到作者們嘗試向讀者展示唐朝的方方面面。然後也許就是這種紛繁的描述，使得整本書顯得有些散亂。也許作為工具類歷史書是非常好的入門選擇。然而對於對曆史還沒有強烈興趣的初學者，可能會反而打消了本有的熱情。
February 3, 2024
Interesting to read about the Tang dynasty. Writer has a very boring style of writing.
July 7, 2024
This was a pretty good book. My only two complaints are: 1. The writing is a tad bit too dense. 2. The study is divided up into topic chapters rather than a linear historical narration.
March 9, 2025
never let regional warlords into your inner circle
November 11, 2020
The Tang Dynasty is often touted as the high point in terms of Chinese culture. In fact, though ethnically, Chinese are Han the term ‘Tang people’ is often used to describe people of Chinese origin (and example of which would be the Chinese derivation for Chinatown, which is termed ‘Tang People Street’).
While this again was interesting, the kindle version of this is set out poorly and I again felt that it was rushed with little explanation of everything.
While this again was interesting, the kindle version of this is set out poorly and I again felt that it was rushed with little explanation of everything.
September 16, 2020
Exhaustive and stunningly well researched, Lewis' book is great both for neophytes and those well-trained in the China studies field. Lewis is an excellent writer, and he does a good job of explicating what the Tang was all about while also providing plenty of interesting stories. I did think that the different chapters, with their focus on different topics, did not cohere well and Lewis could have done a better job of connecting different parts of the book. Still, this is a great book for learning about the Tang.
September 18, 2021
618-907 CE was the span of the Tang dynasty, and this era is considered by many Chinese as a sort of golden age, not least in the quality of its poetry and other literary accomplishments, but also in the geographic expansion of China to its greatest extent for almost a millennium. The Tang was also an era of expanding urbanization, of the growth and expansion of the Chinese empire south of the Yangtze, and of increased trade and cultural contacts between China and the outer world. In this the third volume of the series on the history of Imperial China, Professor Lewis delves into the various aspects of daily life, culture and the economics of this dynamic period in Chinese history. And in a very readable fashion. Certainly worth reading by anyone with an interest in "medieval' China.
April 20, 2012
A good, solid historical overview of the Tang Dynasty, which at the time was the most populous and power empire on earth. Particularly impressive is Lewis's first chapter, which incorporates much recent research on environmental history. The chapter on writing relies too heavily on Stephen Owen's four volumes on Tang literary history, but in doing so, Lewis is merely reflecting the trends of English-language scholarship. Recommended for anyone interested in world history.
May 26, 2014
I jumped right into Chinese history and this book was a bit dry for such an endeavour. The book is excellent at detailing many different facets and essential developments through the course of history with whole chapters devoted to religion, writing, rural and urban society. One fact I found most fun: in 765 a buddhist Tibetan army ransacked Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Empire, facilitating its downfall.
April 17, 2013
I am very much in love with the series of books on various Chinese Dynasties (I've only read this and Qin/Han so far, but plan to get to the rest).
I found it entertaining, encompassing, and accessible to a non-specialist without being written 'down' to its audience (disclaimer - I was a history major in college but do not work in the field).
Very worth a read.
I found it entertaining, encompassing, and accessible to a non-specialist without being written 'down' to its audience (disclaimer - I was a history major in college but do not work in the field).
Very worth a read.
Read
October 4, 2015Divided between sections on history, geography, the economy, society, and culture, this book is comprehensive without being overloaded--whether your interests are agriculture, the status of women, or the nature of the poet in society you will find information here. It also does well at torpedoing national mythology.
Read
March 31, 2018Read this for the graduate seminar I taught, we had a good discussion about what would be a good history book (or use of this book) for teaching grads and undergrads. Quick read, but we settled on the idea of assigning single chapters would be the best way to use this as teaching material.
April 17, 2017
A good overview of the Tang dynasty, but can be a little dry at times when it comes to writing style. Also, I was hoping he would elaborate more on some of the stories that have emerged from the dynasty like the An Lushan rebellion etc.
1 chapter is devoted to a very brief history, the rest are overviews of different aspects of Tang Culture. I wanted to learn more about the various personalities like Yang Guifei, Bai Juyi, and Yu XuanJi. he does mention them in passing, but I feel their stories are the most compelling parts of the overall story.
None the less I enjoyed learning about the various aspects of Tang Culture.
1 chapter is devoted to a very brief history, the rest are overviews of different aspects of Tang Culture. I wanted to learn more about the various personalities like Yang Guifei, Bai Juyi, and Yu XuanJi. he does mention them in passing, but I feel their stories are the most compelling parts of the overall story.
None the less I enjoyed learning about the various aspects of Tang Culture.
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