21.6 The far east: a.d. 601 to 700

The far east

Back to The Far East: A.D. 501 to 600

China and manchuria (sui to 618, then t'ang dynasty)

The Sui Dynasty consolidated China in part through state patronage of a style of Buddhism which was acceptable by both north and south and by construction of a canal system linking the Yangzte with the Yellow River in the Peking region. They did not do well in foreign affairs, however, as they had lost the Tarim Basin, Manchuria and Korea and several early wars to reclaim these lands had failed. Some historians have even considered the first Sui emperor of this century, Yang-ti, a complete madman who had supposedly poisoned his father to get the throne. (Ref. 101 ) Civil war soon developed and victorious was the family of Li, who established the T'ang Dynasty. In A.D. 610 we find the earliest description of bubonic plague, which soon became common in Canton on the sea. Perhaps this plague was a factor in the demise of the Sui Dynasty. (Ref. 8 , 211 )

For a short while the warlike Turkish nomads of the steppes became allies of the new T'ang Dynasty and the Chinese even adopted Turkish fashions, developed Turkish Chinese dictionaries and wore Turkish clothes. The T'ang, like the Sui before them, came from a mixed Turkish-Mongolian-Chinese aristocracy. Their second ruler, T'ai Tsung (AD. 627-650) was one of the greatest of Chinese emperors. All the aristocrats of this period were of the mixed blood and characteristically hard-drinking, hard-riding, fighting men who hunted with falcons and whose women played polo. We have noted that in the preceding centuries work had been started in the clearing and draining of the luxuriant jungles of the Yangtze Valley so that by the beginning of this century this valley not only supported a large population but was capable of producing large surpluses of food. To widen the canal between the Yangtze and Huany Ho Valley, about 5,500,000 workers, including all commoners between 15 and 50 years of age in some areas, were concentrated under the control of some 50,000 police. They were forced laborers but not slaves, in the true sense. As a result of all this the T'angs had a double base, the Yellow and the Yangtze rivers, and by 611 the Grand Canal joining the two had been completed so that shipments of large quantities of rice and other goods was possible from the south to the northern capitals. The imperial bureaucracy managed the collection, transport and distribution of such goods, while the Great Wall in the north was re-constructed for defense. These factors of a biological mix, a thriving economy and the spiritual stimulation of Buddhism, with a genius ruler, started China on its greatest age. T'ai Tsung, after reunifying much of China by war, returned to his capital, Ch'ang-an, and gave himself to the ways of peace, spreading the philosophy of Confucius, revising penal laws and beautifying the city. He welcomed all religions and exempted all temples from taxation. After his death, one of his harem women, Wu, pulled out of a nunnery by T'ai Tsung's oldest son, Lao-tsung, poisoned her way to power, made herself empress and proclaimed the Chou Dynasty. Actually a subsidiary of the T'ang this dynasty ushered in another creative age, with the profits of exported rice, wheat, silk and spices spent for unparalleled luxury. Furs, precious jewels, statues, paintings, poems and money were everywhere in abundance. (Ref. 211 , 101 , 213 , 139 )