The Tang Dynasty
Discover the Tang Dynasty — China's golden age of poetry, trade, and cosmopolitan culture that made Chang'an the world's largest and most diverse city.
The Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE) is widely regarded as the pinnacle of Chinese civilization — a golden age of poetry, art, technological innovation, and cosmopolitan culture. Its capital, Chang'an (modern Xi'an), was the world's largest city with perhaps a million inhabitants and the eastern terminus of the Silk Road, hosting communities of Persians, Arabs, Turks, Koreans, Japanese, and Indians.
Tang military power expanded Chinese influence deep into Central Asia, Korea, and Vietnam, creating a vast tributary network. But the dynasty's real legacy was cultural. Tang poetry — the works of Li Bai, Du Fu, and Wang Wei — is still considered the highest achievement of Chinese literature. The civil service examination system, though not invented by the Tang, was expanded and refined into a meritocratic model that would endure for over a thousand years.
The Tang were remarkably open to foreign influences. Buddhism reached its peak in China during this period, Zoroastrian and Nestorian Christian communities thrived in Chang'an, and artistic styles freely blended Chinese, Central Asian, and Indian motifs. This cosmopolitanism made Tang culture enormously influential across East Asia — Japan, Korea, and Vietnam all modeled their states on Tang institutions.