The New International Encyclopædia/T’ang

T&rsquo;ANG, täng. One of the seven most celebrated dynasties of China. It lasted from 618 to 907 and was founded by Li Yuan, a soldier and a descendant of one of the princely houses, who, after a reign of eight years, during which many reforms were introduced, abdicated in favor of his second son, Li Shih-min, the real unifier of the Empire and the most illustrious of the T&rsquo;ang rulers (627-649). With the twelfth Emperor decay began to set in and in 907 the line came to an end. In 923 a descendant of one of the T&rsquo;ang emperors established the Posterior T&rsquo;ang, which came to an end in 936 under its fourth Emperor.

The T&rsquo;ang is undoubtedly one of the most brilliant periods of Chinese history. The Empire was extended to the Caspian Sea and China itself was divided into fifteen provinces. In 628 a maternal uncle of Mohammed visited China and built the mosque at Canton, and a century and a half later 4000 Mohammedan soldiers, whose descendants now form an important element of the population, settled in the country. Learning and literature were fostered, the ../Hanlin Yuan/ (q.v.) had its beginning, and Buddhism, Taoism, and even Nestorian Christianity flourished under Imperial patronage. Paper money was then first used and the Peking Gazette was founded.