Later Tang Dynasty
Empress Wu
(continued from page one)
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 Taoism. 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.
Emperor Hsuan Tsung
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.
Why did people want to punch Socrates?
Where did Egyptians bury your liver?
How old are the Rocky Mountains?
What does a half-timbered house look like?
How do you spin wool?
(a project)
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. In the end, Hsuan Tsung's generals took over ruling in his place. One of these generals, a Sogdian named 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. The army killed Yang Kuei-fei and made Hsuan Tsung abdicate (quit) and let his son be emperor.
More about the T'ang Dynasty (page three)
To find out more about the T'ang Dynasty, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:
Eyewitness: Ancient China, by Arthur Cotterell, Alan Hills, and Geoff Brightling (2000). For kids.
China (History of Nations), by Greenhaven Press (2002). For middle schoolers. The negative review on Amazon is actually for a different book - don't be alarmed!
Daily Life in Traditional China: The Tang Dynasty, by Charles Benn (2001). A general introduction for adults.
Women of the Tang Dynasty, by May Holdsworth (1999). A short introduction, with many pictures of T'ang period figurines.
The Court of the Lion: A Novel of the T'ang Dynasty, by Eleanor Cooney and Daniel Altieri (1990). Historical fiction, for grownups.
Tang Dynasty Art
Tang Dynasty Pottery
Sung Dynasty (960-1279 AD)
Main Chinese History page
Main China page
