Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty followed Sui Dynasty and preceded the Five Dynasties and the Ten Kingdoms Period in China.From its establishment in 618 to its downfall in 907, the Tang Dynasty is the most prosperous dynasty in Chinese history.
Establishment
At the end of Sui Dynasty (581 – 618), the whole country fell into chaos due to the tyranny of Emperor Yang; rebellions roused by peasants were everywhere. The Li family belonged to the northwest military aristocracy prevalent during the reign of the Sui emperors. The mothers of both Emperor Yang of Sui and the founding emperor of Tang were sisters, making these two emperors of different dynasties first cousins. Resenting Emperor Yang´s ruling, the chief officer of Taiyuan – Li Yuan, who was also known as Tangguo Gong (a vassal in Sui Court) raised an army in Taiyuan from May 617. In November of the same year, Li Yuan´s army captured the capital city Chang´an (currently Xian) and put a new monarch, Yang You, on the throne as Emperor Gong. Meanwhile, Li Yuan proclaimed himself Da Chengxiang (prime minister) and Tang Wang (King of Tang). In 618 after Emperor Yang was killed by his chancellor, Yuwen Huaji, Li Yuan seized the chance to proclaim himself emperor and changed the state title into Tang, still with Chang´an as the capital city.
The Glorious Period
The first glorious period was from 627 to 649 when the Tang Dynasty was just set up and its national strength was recovering from the previous weak condition. Under Emperor Taizong Li Shimin´s wise governing, the national strength and social development of the Tang Dynasty reached an unparalleled prosperity – economy and commerce flourished, the social order was stable, corruption never existed in the court and the national boundaries were even open to foreign countries.
After Li Shimin died, the throne passed to his ninth son Li Zhi who was later crowned as Emperor Gaozong and married Li Shimin´s imperial concubine Wu Meiniang. Wu Meiniang was officially named Wu Zetian and afterwards became the empress. Actually it was Wu Zetian who had the real power during Emperor Gaozong´s reign since the emperor suffered from bad health. After Li Zhi died, Wu successively enthroned and dethroned her two sons – Li Xian and Li Dan. In 690, disregarding the objections and criticisms of all chancellors, Wu Zetian proclaimed herself Emperor Shengshen and established a new dynasty – Zhou, which lasted for 15 years. During her reign, the state economy continued to develop rapidly.
In 705, a coup broke out which brought one of the former emperors, Li Xian, to the throne as Emperor Zhongzong. However, Emperor Zhongzong´s ruling was manipulated by his wife, Empress Wei. In 710, plotting to be the second woman emperor, Empress Wei along with Princess Anle poisoned Zhongzong. At that time, Li Longji (son of Li Dan) launched a coup with the assistance of his parental aunt Princess Taiping, killing Empress Wei and Princess Anle. After that, Li Dan was crowned as Emperor Ruizong.
The second glorious period was during Emperor Xuanzong´s reign. In 712, Emperor Ruizong abdicated and Li Longji was enthroned as Emperor Xuanzong. Under his ruling, the national economy, politics and culture all developed rapidly and the social development entered a new heyday. In that period, Chang´an City was the largest and the most prosperous metropolis in the world. Since the title of Xuanzong´s reign was Kaiyuan, that period was called the Heyday of Kaiyuan, in which the Tang Dynasty reached its summit of prosperity.
Decline and Ruin
The late-Tang period fell into a political turmoil, with strife between the Niu Faction and Li Faction and eunuch monopoly. Continuous peasant uprisings culminated in Huang Chao´s uprising where Commander Zhu Wen turned his back on Huang and joined the Tang side. Later, Zhu deposed the Tang emperor and proclaimed himself emperor of the later Liang Dynasty, which ushered in the period of the Five Dynasties and Ten States.