The most remarkable literary achievement of the Tang Dynasty is the Tang poetry. Since Chen Ziang and the "four outstanding poets in the early Tang Dynasty", famous poets in the Tang Dynasty have emerged one after another, among which Li Bai, Du Fu, Cen Can and Wang Wei in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, Li He, Han Yu and Bai Juyi in the middle Tang Dynasty, Li Shangyin and Du Mu in the late Tang Dynasty are several representatives. Their poems have different styles, including rich imagination of the mythical world and detailed description of real life, including passionate frontier poems, gloomy and heavy "poetic history" and fresh and refined pastoral poems. These poems are isomorphic and become outstanding representatives of China's literary achievements. Although there were still outstanding poets in the Song, Ming and Qing Dynasties, the overall level of regular poetry and classical poetry was not as good as that of the Tang Dynasty, which made Tang poetry an insurmountable peak of classical poetry in China.
art
Zhang Xuan's "The Picture of the Lady of the State of Guo You Chun" absorbed the characteristics of the western regions and religious colors, so the art of the Tang Dynasty was very different from that of the previous generation. In the early Tang Dynasty, Yan and Yan Lide were good at figure painting. Wu Daozi is known as "the sage in the painting". He is good at figures and scenery, and absorbs the techniques of western painting school. His pictures are full of three-dimensional sense, and there is a saying that "Wu takes the lead". Natalie mainly painted ladies-in-waiting, and his famous works include The Picture of Tao Ren, The Picture of Lady You Chun of the State of Guo, The Picture of Flowers and Ladies, etc. The poet Wang Wei is good at ink and wash landscape painting, and Su Shi called him "painting with poetry". The cause of mural painting in Tang Dynasty was particularly developed. The murals in Mogao Grottoes and Mausoleums have been handed down from generation to generation. The carving art in the Tang Dynasty was equally outstanding. Dunhuang, Longmen, Maijishan and Bingling Temple Grottoes all reached their peak in the Tang Dynasty. The Lushena Buddha in Longmen Grottoes and the Leshan Buddha in Sichuan are both amazing. The three-color six-horse figurines and tombs in Zhaoling are very beautiful. Among them, the sculptor Yang Huizhi is called Plastic Saint. During the Tang Dynasty, calligraphers came forth in large numbers. Ou Yangxun and Yu Shinan were both famous calligraphers in the early Tang Dynasty. Ou Yangxun's regular script is neat, and his masterpiece is "The Ritual Spring Inscription of Jiucheng Palace". The font of regular script in the south of the city is soft and round. Yan Zhenqing and Liu Gongquan were famous calligraphers in the middle and late Tang Dynasty. Yan Zhenqing's regular script is vigorous, full of bones and muscles, vigorous and free and easy, and his masterpiece is "Duobaota Monument"; Liu Gongquan's calligraphy is vigorous and powerful, and his masterpiece is Mysterious Pagoda. The world calls Yan Liu's calligraphy "Yan Liu Jin Gu". Zhang Xu and Huai Su are masters of cursive writing.
religion
The religious policy in the early Tang Dynasty was relatively tolerant, and the two traditional religions in China, Buddhism and Taoism, both developed greatly. In the Tang Dynasty, Taoism was the state religion, and princes and nobles were all proud of Taoist priests, taking Laozi, Zhuangzi, Wen Zi, Liezi and other Taoist classics as themes. In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, monk Xuanzang went to Tianzhu (now India) to study 657 Buddhist scriptures, so the Tang Dynasty built the Wild Goose Pagoda to preserve these Buddhist scriptures. Xuanzang absorbed a lot of Taoist terms in order to conform to the national conditions of the Tang Dynasty at that time. A large number of Buddhist classics were translated and introduced, and China monks' own ideological system gradually matured, which made China Buddhism develop steadily during this period, and most major sects of China Buddhism were formed or matured during this period. Other religions, such as Islam, Nestorianism (Christian nestorius) and Zoroastrianism, were also introduced into China with international exchanges. When Tang Wuzong adopted a high-handed policy towards Buddhism, it was known in history that Huichang destroyed Buddhism, which made other Buddhist sects, except a few sects such as Zen, never recover.
science and technology
Astronomer Monk and his party measured the length of meridian for the first time in the world. Sun Simiao's Qian Jin Fang is a rare medical work. In 868, the printing of Diamond Sutra in China was the earliest block printing known in the world. China's papermaking, textile and other technologies spread to West Asia and Europe through the Arab region. Chang 'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, and Luoyang, the eastern capital, were well planned. During the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the population of Chang 'an reached 6.5438+0 million. It was not only one of the first-class metropolises in the world at that time, but also left a model of urban planning for later generations. At that time, the capitals of neighboring countries, such as Pinganjing in Nara, Japan, Kyoto, Silla Jincheng, Koguryo Pyongyang, and Longquan House in Bohai Sea and Beijing, were all modeled after Chang 'an. The wooden structures in the Tang Dynasty were large in scale and magnificent in spirit. The form of the stupa also combines the shapes of China and India, which is ever-changing and changeable.
economy
After the establishment of the currency Tang Dynasty, it soon introduced its own coinage policy. In the fourth year of Wude (62 1), in July, "waste five baht, change money into treasure, the diameter is eight points, and it weighs two baht and four liang (lěi), ten products weigh one or two, and thousands of products weigh six catties and four liang". Established the legal tender status of the National Mint Bureau. At the same time, it inherited the tradition of taking silk as currency in Wei, juàn, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and implemented the monetary system of "money and silk go hand in hand"-money is copper coins, and silk is the general name of silk products, including brocade, embroidery, silk, silk (shē), silk (qǐ) and silk. (ch not u not u), etc. In fact, it is a diversified monetary system combining physical currency and metal currency. The Tang government issued a decree to crack down on private casting and prohibit the use of bad money. However, due to the serious shortage of copper coins, the currency value has risen steadily, and private casting is profitable, so the effect is not ideal. A long-standing contradiction in social development after the implementation of the two tax laws is highlighted by the increasingly serious problem of "money shortage" The GDP of the Tang Dynasty was $34.8 billion in the world at that time, accounting for 58% of the world GDP.
Household registration certificate
In 650, there were 3.8 million statistical households in the Tang Dynasty. In 705, it reached 610.5 million households and 3710.4 million people. In 740, in the golden age of Kaiyuan, the number of households was 84 1.27 1 000, and the population was 48 1.43609 million. In 754, the year before the Anshi Rebellion, the number of households reached 9,069,254, with a population of 52,884,880. In the 760 years of the Anshi Rebellion, there were 1 936,5438+07400 households, of which1.654,38+0.745920 households, 1.699086 households, of which 1.466 households. In the late Tang dynasty, the statistics and management of household registration were chaotic, and the data were chaotic.
taxation
In the middle of the Tang Dynasty, two tax laws were implemented in 780. The tax in that year was10890800 yuan, and the valley was 2 15700 yuan. In 82 1-824, the average annual tax revenue was 35 1.5 1.228 million yuan (consistent =1million yuan), and in 853, the tax revenue dropped to 9.25 million yuan, including 2.78 million yuan of salt. With the intensification of the oppression of salt merchants in the Tang Dynasty, the Huang Chao Uprising was directly triggered.
agriculture
Agricultural production tools in the Tang Dynasty had a new development. Qu Yuan's Fu appeared in Tang Dynasty. There are also new irrigation tools, such as water trucks and flat-bottomed boats. In the early Tang Dynasty, there were only 160 important water conservancy projects recorded. Among them, the famous ones are Yuliangqu, Jiangyan Lake and Jinghu Lake. During the Tianbao period, the cultivated land area of the Tang Dynasty reached 8.5 million hectares. Grain output has also increased. In the eighth year of Tianbao, the official warehouse stored 96 million stones of grain. When the rice price in Luoyang and Chang 'an was the lowest, there were only thirteen articles and one bucket, and Qingzhou and qi zhou had only five articles and one bucket. In the late Tang Dynasty, due to the migration of population to the south, land reclamation and water conservancy construction, the grain output in the south increased greatly.
manufacture
Handicraft industry in Tang dynasty was divided into government-run and private-run industries. The Ministry of Industry is the most important department in charge of the official handicraft industry, and the institutions directly managed are Shaofu supervisor, director and military equipment supervisor. Shaofu supervisor is in charge of exquisite handicrafts; Will be responsible for the construction of civil engineering; The military equipment supervisor is responsible for the construction of weapons. There are departments under supervision and workshops under supervision. In addition, there are money casting supervisors and metallurgical supervisors. The products of government-run handicrafts are generally not sold to the outside world, but only for the royal family and yamen to consume. Workers are divided into craftsmen, criminals, government servants, government households, miscellaneous households and so on. Private handicrafts are not as developed as those run by the government. In the early Tang Dynasty, the main handicrafts were textiles, ceramics and mining. In the late Tang Dynasty, handicrafts in the south developed greatly, especially silk weaving, shipbuilding, paper making and tea making.