Changes In Han China After The Decline Of The Tang Dynasty

After the fall of the Han Dynasty in the early second century, China had fallen into an era of civil unrest that would last for nearly four centuries. It was not until the Sui Dynasty that China would be restored to a unified state that could be productive and expansive once again. Although the Sui, Tang, and Song dynasty would all follow similar footsteps of the successful Han Dynasty, they each made small innovations to the political systems, religious foundations, and social lives that allowed them to prosper and rebound from civil unrest. With these changes from the Han Dynasty, they were able to prove that any empire can rebound with proper policies in place. As civil unrest began to create tension at the end of the Han Dynasty, multiple
civil wars broke out all over the Chinese Empire. The relentless attacks on major cities not only destroyed the economy of China, but it also hurt the government’s ability to remain in control over the Western and Northern parts of the state.
As the Chinese government slowly lost control, Nomadic people from the Silk Road began to move in and take over a significant amount of the Chinese empire. Despite the loss of north and west, the government was still able to maintain minimal control over the rice-rich southern territories. Although production was hindered by constant civil war, it was enough to keep the government alive in China. The government had decided to abandon the ways of Confucianism in an attempt to re-unite the people of China. They implemented a new religion, Philosophical Daoism. Most people believed Philosophical Daoism was just a response to the corruption in the Chinese government, which lead to even more
conflict and reversed the effects of the government’s plan in reuniting China. Eventually through the Silk Road, Buddhism was brought to China. Buddhism was a much different outlook than the philosophical ways of Daoism and Confucianism. Buddhism changed the ways of thinking of life to the ways of thinking of an afterlife. It was very popular amongst the people of China, but it went against the new systems of Philosophical Daoism implemented by the government. The conflicting ways of religion continued to worsen the effects of civil war. After many years, Buddhism eventually overpowered the ways of Philosophical Daoism, and the government’s influence was at an all-time low. Yang Jian, a respected aristocrat from Northern China, finally had enough with the civil unrest and formed his own dynasty in an attempt to reunite China. He idolized Liu Bang, emperor of the Han Dynasty, and adopted many similar principles in his plan to bring China back to prominence. He decided to allow the people of China to study both Daoism and Buddhism in an effort to defuse the tension between the two religions. This lead to a period of peace, and Buddhism began to take over as the main religion of China. Buddhism became so popular amongst the people and the government that respected Buddhist monks began to take positons in the government. As well as restoring peace and establishing an official religion, Yang Jian’s policies had finally re-established an official government that could focus on political issues rather than worrying about fending off rebels to the north and west. Yang Jian’s main plan to restore the economy was to utilize the southern territories farming. He built canals connecting the Yellow and Yangtze River. This allowed for China to establish an irrigation system for the rice farms and trade routes that lead to the North. As the economy grew, China was finally becoming a prominent force in the world again. Sui Yangdi, Yang Jian’s son, continued the expansion of these trade routes as well as growing an army that could prevent rebellions. His army utilized the canals and rivers to dispatch soldiers to areas of unrest quickly so they were unable to gain momentum and overtake important cities. After years of rebuilding, China was finally stable and functioning at a level not seen since the Han Dynasty. Unfortunately, Sui Yangdi passed away and his predecessors failed to continue the successful ways of the Sui dynasty. The new emperor abused his military powers which caused an outbreak of civil unrest destroying everything built during the Sui Dynasty. The new emperor focused on expanding the boundaries of China instead of keeping the peace internally which lead to his murder. A high ranking general known as Li Yuan took over in his place and began the Tang dynasty. Li Yuan’s son, Tang Taizong, implemented a new system known as internal renewal and external expansion.
This policy is regarded as one of the most important because it allowed the Tang Dynasty to become arguably one of the most successful dynasties in the history of China. With the focus on internal renewal, the Northwest Territories were brought to a state of peace never before seen in Northwest China. This stability lead to the territory being renamed Xinjiang, or new region. As for the external expansion aspect of Tang Taizong’s policy, he shifted his military focus from the internal conflict to expanding the boundaries of the Chinese empire. Since Tibet had historically been the main threat of invasion for centuries, Tang Taizong invaded the Himalaya’s and decimated the opposing forces. Taizong had also added to the canal systems and brought back trade between the northern and southern regions. As a result, resources were being exchanged between the north and south at such a rapid rate that China’s economy had become by far the most dominant during the time period. As for religion, the Tang dynasty had decided to implement only one national religion,
Buddhism.
Buddhism played an enormous role in everyday life during the Tang dynasty impacting everything including art, literature, philosophy, religion, and politics. Monasteries began sprouting all over Southeast Asia, and Buddhism took hold of the political system. Many Buddhist cities such as Chang’an became both economic and political hubs. Chang’an was regarded as the great city due to its massive size of over two million people and constant trading. Eventually much like the Han, civil unrest began to spread due to religious conflict. People began to believe that a Buddhist majority in the government was leading to corruption. On top of the unrest spreading throughout China, a drought had hit Southern China impacting their ability to produce resources. Soon rebellions began to rise, and the government was not fully prepared. The rebels conquered the city of Chang’an revealing the weaknesses of the government. Although Chang’an was eventually taken back by the Tang Dynasty, they never fully recovered from the initial attack. As the rebellion grew, the Tang lost control of their central government and they were bombarded by the nomads from the north. While the rebels were attacking from the south, nomadic tribes were spilling in from the Silk Road and Tibet. The two fronted war proved to be too much for the Tang Dynasty and China was divided once again. China’s turmoil was at an all-time high with each territory in absolute chaos. Not shortly after the demise of the Tang Dynasty, a man named Song Taizu, took over relatively fast. He attempted to regain control over the land but much like the Han dynasty, struggled against foreign invaders and nomads. The Song dynasty struggled to regain boundaries to the north, so they focused primarily on restoring the economy of the south. Establishing a capital city along the Yellow River, the Song dynasty was able to rebuild a central government. Unfortunately the nomadic people from the north continued to overpower and conquer more of the Song’s land. The Song Dynasty was only able to rule a small portion of Southern China as they faced the same fate of the Han Dynasty at the hands of the nomads. The Sui, Tang, and Song dynasty all helped China rebound from a time of foreign invasions and civil unrest that began after the fall of the Han Dynasty. They all followed similar formats to each other to help build a better dynasty but unfortunately they all still fell due to civil unrest or nomadic invasions. Although each dynasty faced much turmoil, they proved that anyone can rebuild a government if proper political systems, religious foundations, and strong economic plans are put into place.