China's Tang dynasty (618–907 CE), which was founded by Liu Yuan (also known by his temple name Gaozu, reigned 618–626), marked one of the most glorious periods in the history of China. After the short-lived Sui dynasty (581–618 CE), the Tang ruled China for nearly three centuries, governing one of the most successful empires of the time in the world. Its government institutions, legal establishments, economic developments, cultural achievements, and territorial expansions all exerted significant impact on later Chinese dynasties and defined the identity of Chinese civilization.
Political Changes
Li Yuan, who inherited the title of the dynastic duke of Tang during the Sui dynasty, was a member of a northern aristocratic family who had intermarried with the ethnic minority Xianbei tribal aristocracy. When the Sui collapsed in 617, he seized the Sui capital Chang'an, and ascended the throne in 618, thus founding the Tang dynasty.
During Gaozu's reign, the Tang undertook the enterprises of expanding and consolidating the empire and establishing various institutions. The Gauzu's armies defeated several major rivals and completed the pacification of the country in 624. Gaozu basically continued the administrative institutions of the previous Sui dynasty. In the central government, three agencies reporting to the emperor (the Secretariat, the Chancellery, and the Department of State Affairs, which were collectively known as the Three Departments) served as the administrative core. Local administration consisted of two tiers: the inferior district and the superior prefecture. The military system of garrison militia (fubing) combined agricultural and military duties. Gaozu revived the civil-service examination system to recruit government officials on the basis of merit, although aristocrats continued to be influential in dynastic politics.
Like the Sui, the Tang legal system consisted of four major components: the Code, Statutes, Regulations, and Ordinances, which not
only laid the foundation for later dynasties of imperial China, but also influenced the legal systems of Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.
Gaozu's second son Li Shimin (temple name Taizong, reigned 626–649) took the throne in a military coup. Taizong's reign, traditionally known as the "era of good government," was one of close personal interaction between the ruler and his Confucian advisers. Generally, Taizong developed and refined the policies of his father's reign, including revision of the law codes and expansion of the civil-service examination system. He made particular efforts to balance the political influence of the regional aristocratic groups and uphold the pr-eminent position of his own clan, the Li. In foreign affairs, Taizong subdued the eastern Turk.....
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