Yang Ti, the last ruler of the Sui Dynasty, was killed in 618 AD by his generals, who blamed him for the disastrous defeat of the Chinese army in Korea. One of the generals, Li Shih-min, took over ruling the empire, putting his father, Li Yuan, on the throne as emperor. By 626, Li Shih-min made his father abdicate (retire) and took over being emperor himself, taking the new name T'ai Tsung. He made his capital at Chang'an. It became one of the biggest cities in the world at this time.
T'ai Tsung had a long reign and was a strong emperor. He continued the Han Dynasty way of choosing governors and judges on the basis of the great examinations, to see who was the smartest and the best educated. And he also continued the Sui Dynasty way of giving each man a grant of land and collecting taxes equally from everyone. T'ai Tsung also took a census every three years to make sure that everyone paid the right amount of taxes. Under his rule, trade and cities began to become more important to China.Wu Chao was one of T'ai Tsung's girlfriends. After he died, she became his son's girlfriend too! His name was Gaozong. She used Gaozong's love for her to get rid of all his other girlfriends (some she had killed) and eventually he married her, so she became the empress. As empress, Wu Chao (woo-CHOW) was very active in politics. When Gaozong had a stroke in 660 AD and was too sick to rule, Wu Chao took over the government of China. In 684 AD, Gaozong died, and Wu Chao became the regent for her young son. In 690, when she was 64 years old, Wu Chao forced her son out altogether and made herself Empress of China, ruling on her own. Wu Chao was a devout Buddhist, but also promoted Taois. She was a great ruler, and China was very successful both militarily and economically under her rule. But in 705 AD, Wu Chao (now 79 years old!) was forced out of power. Nobody could agree about who would come after her, and so there was a long civil war.In 712 AD, Hsuan Tsung became the ninth T'ang emperor of China. Hsuan Tsung was a great emperor who ruled a long time, and he managed to greatly expand the borders of China, so that by 750 he ruled all the way to Tibet and Central Asia in the west, and north to Mongolia and Manchuria, and south to Vietnam, and even controlled Korea as the Sui emperors had wanted. In 751, the Chinese army fought the Arabs in a great battle at Talas (Samarkand) in Uzbekistan. They lost the battle, but they succeeded in stopping the Arabs from invading China.
But in the last years of his life, Hsuan Tsung turned to art and philosophy, and lost interest in running his empire. Some people say that he was more interested in his girlfriend, Yang Kuei-fei. His generals took over instead. One of these generals, An Lu-shan, controlled the troops of north-west China. In 755 AD, An Lu-shan led a rebellion against Hsuan Tsung. Hsuan Tsung ran away to Szechwan with a small part of his army. Soon his army rebelled too, and made Hsuan Tsung abdicate (quit) and let his son be emperor.The son raised a new army, and by 757 AD he was able to get An Lu-shan assassinated. Still there was more civil war until 763. These wars wrecked China and killed millions of people. He never did really get command of China again. The generals of the armies in each province had more real power than the emperor did. There were also several revolts of the poor people in the countryside. In 881 AD a revolt under Huang Ch'ao ruined much of central China and destroyed the capital at Chang'an. The T'ang emperors had to move their capital east to Luoyang. They never became strong again.
T'ai Tsung had a long reign and was a strong emperor. He continued the Han Dynasty way of choosing governors and judges on the basis of the great examinations, to see who was the smartest and the best educated. And he also continued the Sui Dynasty way of giving each man a grant of land and collecting taxes equally from everyone. T'ai Tsung also took a census every three years to make sure that everyone paid the right amount of taxes. Under his rule, trade and cities began to become more important to China.Wu Chao was one of T'ai Tsung's girlfriends. After he died, she became his son's girlfriend too! His name was Gaozong. She used Gaozong's love for her to get rid of all his other girlfriends (some she had killed) and eventually he married her, so she became the empress. As empress, Wu Chao (woo-CHOW) was very active in politics. When Gaozong had a stroke in 660 AD and was too sick to rule, Wu Chao took over the government of China. In 684 AD, Gaozong died, and Wu Chao became the regent for her young son. In 690, when she was 64 years old, Wu Chao forced her son out altogether and made herself Empress of China, ruling on her own. Wu Chao was a devout Buddhist, but also promoted Taois. She was a great ruler, and China was very successful both militarily and economically under her rule. But in 705 AD, Wu Chao (now 79 years old!) was forced out of power. Nobody could agree about who would come after her, and so there was a long civil war.In 712 AD, Hsuan Tsung became the ninth T'ang emperor of China. Hsuan Tsung was a great emperor who ruled a long time, and he managed to greatly expand the borders of China, so that by 750 he ruled all the way to Tibet and Central Asia in the west, and north to Mongolia and Manchuria, and south to Vietnam, and even controlled Korea as the Sui emperors had wanted. In 751, the Chinese army fought the Arabs in a great battle at Talas (Samarkand) in Uzbekistan. They lost the battle, but they succeeded in stopping the Arabs from invading China.
But in the last years of his life, Hsuan Tsung turned to art and philosophy, and lost interest in running his empire. Some people say that he was more interested in his girlfriend, Yang Kuei-fei. His generals took over instead. One of these generals, An Lu-shan, controlled the troops of north-west China. In 755 AD, An Lu-shan led a rebellion against Hsuan Tsung. Hsuan Tsung ran away to Szechwan with a small part of his army. Soon his army rebelled too, and made Hsuan Tsung abdicate (quit) and let his son be emperor.The son raised a new army, and by 757 AD he was able to get An Lu-shan assassinated. Still there was more civil war until 763. These wars wrecked China and killed millions of people. He never did really get command of China again. The generals of the armies in each province had more real power than the emperor did. There were also several revolts of the poor people in the countryside. In 881 AD a revolt under Huang Ch'ao ruined much of central China and destroyed the capital at Chang'an. The T'ang emperors had to move their capital east to Luoyang. They never became strong again.
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