T'ang Dynasty Architecture
Longmen Caves (493-900 AD)
By the time of the T'ang Dynasty, in the 600s AD, people were bringing together the Buddhist and Taoist traditions in China to create a new unified Chinese artistic style. At the Longmen Caves, sculptors carved many Buddhas and bodhisatvas in this new style. The T'ang emperors also built themselves a beautiful new capital city at Chang'an.
Kunming East Pagoda (ca. 850 AD)
At the same time, people in the T'ang Dynasty continued to build Buddhist pagodas. For about a hundred years beginning in 751 AD, the Nanzhao Kingdom conquered past of south-western China. These rulers built the Kunming East and West Pagodas in Kunming.
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T'ang Dynasty Art
T'ang Dynasty History
Sung Dynasty Architecture
Main Chinese Architecture page
Main China page
To find out more about ancient Chinese architecture, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:
The British Museum Book of Chinese Art, by Jessica Rawson and others (1996). Rawson is a curator at the British Museum, and she uses the collection of the British Museum to illustrate this book. Library Journal calls it "easily the best introductory overview of Chinese art to appear in years".
Art in China (Oxford History of Art Series), by Craig Clunas (1997). Not specifically for kids, but a good introduction to the spirit of Chinese art. Warning: this one is not arranged in chronological order. Instead, it has chapters on sculpture, calligraphy, and so on.
