The Impact of Foreign Influence on Tang China: Essay
The Tang Dynasty succeeded the Sui Dynasty and maintained its control over China from 618 AD to 906 AD. When the Sui Dynasty began crumbling, Li Yuan, a military general, rebelled against the Sui, after his ambitious sixteen year old son, Li Shih-min, convinced him to do so. Li Shimin crushed his father’s rivals and established the Tang Dynasty. Years later, he forced his father to step down from the throne and became emperor himself. Under the Tang, the Chinese Empire had control over many areas in Southeast and Central Asia.[1] The Tang Dynasty is known as the Golden Age of China because the influence of foreign cultures made it very advanced. Many countries from Central Asia, Southeastern Asia, and Africa communicated with the Chinese and exchanged goods and ideas through envoys, merchants, and clerics.[2] Under the Tang Dynasty, China became a very diverse empire, because foreign arts and religions thrived within the society. |
Through trading, the Chinese were able to obtain new musical instruments. For example, the Chinese got two musical instruments, the suona and the dulcimer, from Iran.[5] Chinese music was, furthermore, strongly influenced by musicians from Kucha.[6] This is another example of how foreign cultures gave more ideas to Chinese artists. The arts give the people a way of expression. They allow the people to practice their culture. The arts are an important aspect of any society. The influence of foreign cultures provided the Chinese with a reservoir of ideas for their art and new tools of art, which made Chinese art more diverse.
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Under the Tang dynasty, the influence of foreign countries allowed the Chinese to obtain new artistic techniques and tools, which would have enabled them to create works of art more efficiently and would have given them more artistic ideas. First of all, under the Tang dynasty, one of the forms of art that the Chinese were able to perfect was silver-smithing. The objects sculptured out of silver showed traces of Persian techniques and designs.[3] In other words, by merging some of Persian silver-smithing techniques with their own, the Chinese were able to perfect the art. The influence of Persia enabled silver-smithing in China to become more efficient. However, Persia was not the only country that affected the silver-smithing of China. This is shown in one of the artifacts from the Tang Dynasty, the Wine Cup. It is a silver cup, which shows Hellenistic, Bactrian, and Sasanian designs. The Wine Cup demonstrates the foreign influence on metal work in China. It is also a representation of the cultural exchanges between Persia, China, and Sogdiana.[4] The Wine Cup shows that the influence of foreign countries inspired the Chinese with more artistic ideas.
Under the Tang Dynasty, many foreign religions and philosophies were present in China, which allowed the Chinese to have many different religious perspectives. Under the reign of the Tang dynasty, Ch'ang-an and Loyang, the capital cities, were home to many foreign cultures and beliefs such as Zoroastrianism, Islam, and Buddhism. Buddhism originated in India and was introduced to China at around the 1st century CE. However, it reached the height of its popularity under the Tang Dynasty.[7] According to Emperor Wuzong, “[Buddhism] has spread to the hills and plains of all
the nine provinces and through
the walls and towers of our two capitals. Each
day finds its monks and followers growing more numerous and its temples more lofty.”[8] Emperor Wuzong doesn’t agree with Buddhism, and in his writing he criticizes it. However, he also describes the popularity of Buddhism. Since many people were converted to Buddhism, it allowed the Chinese to have a taste of a foreign religion. Furthermore,Chinese pilgrims traveled to India to study Buddhism.[9] This shows that India and China had strong bonds, since India permitted foreigners, the Chinese, to study their own religion. Through the influence of foreign cultures, China achieved religious diversity.
The Chinese empire under the Tang Dynasty was diverse because of the influence of foreign countries and their cultures. The two important aspects of Chinese culture that were most strongly affected by foreign countries were religion and the arts. Foreign religions thrived in the Chinese communities and provided the Chinese with fresh new perspectives. Foreign art techniques enabled the Chinese to improve on their own art techniques. Cultural diversity allows people to obtain new ideas and see different perspectives. It is never good for a country to be isolated, and the Chinese realized that. The influence of foreign countries made China, under the Tang Dynasty, the glorious empire that it was. |
Footnotes Picture Sources
1. Elisabeth Gaynor Ellis and Anthony Esler, World History (Boston, Massachusetts, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, USA: Pearson, n.d.), 368. 2. "The Exoticism in Tang (618-907)," Silkroad Foundation, accessed November 15, 2014, http://www.silk-road.com/artl/tang.shtml. 3. Patricia Buckley Ebrey, "'A Cosmopolitan Empire:The Tang Dynasty (581-907)," History of China, accessed November 6, 2014, http://www.china-history.net/tang.htm. 4. Wine Cup, 8th-9th Century, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY. 5. "Sino-Foreign Cultural Exchanges in Tang Dynasty," ChinaCulture, last modified October 1, 2003, http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_exchange/2003-09/24/content_29739.htm. 6. "The Exoticism in Tang," Silkroad Foundation. 7. "Tang Dynasty — The Golden Age," UShistory.org, last modified July 4, 1995, http://www.ushistory.org/civ/9d.asp. 8. Emperor Wuzong, "Selection from Emperor Wuzong's Edict on the Suppression of Buddhism: The Edict of the Eight Month," in Sources of Chinese Tradition, by Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom, 2nd ed. (New York, USA: Columbia University Press, 1999), 1:585. 9. "The Exoticism in Tang," Silkroad Foundation. |
*"Map of the Silk Trade Routes." Map. Cultural China. Accessed November 20, 2014.
http://history.cultural-china.com/en/56History13909.html. **Wine Cup. Photograph. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accessed November 20, 2014. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1991.159. ***Suona. Photograph. Solitary Dog Sculptor I. Accessed November 20, 2014. http://byricardomarcenaroi.blogspot.com/. ****Folkcraft Custom Series 4-String Hourglass Dulcimer - Butternut Soundboard. Photograph. Cascio. Accessed November 20, 2014. http://www.interstatemusic.com/ 20670-Folkcraft-Custom-Series-4-String-Hourglass-Dulcimer-Butternut-Soundboard-23 13923KA.aspx. *****Buddha Vairocana (Dari). Photograph. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accessed November 20, 2014. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/43.24.3. ******Buddha, probably Amitabha (Amituo). Photograph. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accessed November 20, 2014. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/ 19.186. *******Buddhist Stele. Photograph. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accessed November 20, 2014. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/30.122. |