Tang dynasty

The Tang dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Historians generally regard the Tang as a high point of Chinese civilisation, and a golden age of cosmopolitan culture. Tang territory, acquired through the military campaigns of its early rulers, surpassed that of the Han dynasty. The Li family founded the dynasty after taking advantage of a period of Sui decline and precipitating their final collapse, in turn inaugurating a period of progress and stability in the first half of the dynasty's rule. The dynasty was formally interrupted from 690 to 705 when Empress Wu Zetian seized the throne, proclaiming the Wu Zhou dynasty and becoming the only legitimate Chinese female emperor. The An Lushan rebellion (755–763) led to devastation and the decline of central authority during the latter half of the dynasty. The Tang maintained a civil-service system by recruiting scholar-officials through standardised examinations and recommendations to office. The rise of regional military governors known as jiedushi during the 9th century undermined this civil order.¶

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Tang dynasty”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence.¶

Tang dynasty is empire in the China proper between 618 and 907 AD, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition.¹¶

The source record links this tradition to 30 external registers, which can be verified through the citation.¹¶