It created the prosperity of Zhenguan and the great unity of the Chinese nation. In the book Zhenguan dignitaries, which recorded his political dialogue with ministers, he said: China has been valued since ancient times, and I love it as always. This idea of love as a whole has undoubtedly become the coagulant of national integration. In addition, the implementation of the policy of detaining the state government by Emperor Taizong further promoted the unity and consolidation of a multi-ethnic unified country.
The great national integration in the prosperous Tang Dynasty first solved this problem theoretically.
The General History of Canon System written by Du You, the prime minister of the imperial court and the ambassador of Huainan, widely and vividly reflects the great changes in the concept of the state in the past and then, and truly records the institutional continuity between the state power and the Han power. Du You made a comparison between ancient China and modern yi land, and proposed that Myanmar is only ancient China, and there are many kinds of modern yi land. Some people live in nests, some bury trees, some eat with their hands, some sacrifice their bodies, and some talk about Chen Yier. We can't cite them again. On this basis, he came to the conclusion that the ancients were simple, and China and Yidi were the same. When Du You explained the different development of China and Yidi, he pointed out that the geographical position was biased and positive, and the difference of gas led to this situation: China was in the ground, but the gas was positive, human nature was harmonious, talents were abundant, sages came forth in large numbers, and the atmosphere gradually changed. Today, the four countries are narrow in land and narrow in people, but there are still many. This shows that the initial development of different nationalities is the same or the same, and China is not more advanced than foreign countries, and further draws the conclusion that' China' and' Yidi' belonged to the same family in ancient times.
Du You Tongdian put forward that China and Yidi are the same, which shows that China and Yidi can be transformed into each other. Since there is no difference between ancient China and foreign countries, the degree of cultural development is different only because of different material conditions. Therefore, as long as material conditions permit, Yidi can also be virtuous and change the old style. This theory comes from the practice of national integration of Emperor Taizong. Emperor Taizong was famous for reusing ministers and generals, and even used them in the imperial army. Since then, among the 369 people of 98 nationalities in the Tang Dynasty, 23 people's surnames 1 1 were ethnic minorities in the western regions. At that time, people have written books in recent days, all of which are barbarians.
In the Zhenguan era of Emperor Taizong, the theoretical problems of national integration were solved, and then the heyday of Tang and Han culture, minority culture and western culture integration appeared. The so-called prosperous Tang culture originated from Zhenguan, with Xuanzong as the main culture, traced back to the martial arts and down to the virtuous, and its spatial distribution covered nearly two centuries and fifteen years from Zhenguan to Yuan Dynasty. Xuanzong Kaiyuan Tianbao Room was praised as a prosperous cultural time by historians of past dynasties, which not only showed that the economic development surpassed that of the previous generation and the political rule was more enlightened, but also showed many unprecedented peaks at all levels of culture. For example, poetry, such as the magnificent and passionate voice of the prosperous Tang Dynasty represented by Gao Shi and Cen Can, the frontier poems with lofty aspirations to serve the country, and the pastoral landscape poems integrated with nature, played the strongest sound in the Tang Dynasty, and have been lasting forever since then, becoming the spiritual food of the people of all ethnic groups in China. At that time, the bright light of culture centered on Xi 'an and Luoyang not only had the characteristics of the times when Chinese and foreign cultures merged and changed, but also had the national characteristics of inheriting ancient traditions and seeking innovation and change. The development of historical geography, the diversification of artistic forms, the legend representing folk culture, the variation of essays and the development of science and technology with the function of inheritance and transformation are all indispensable notes. The Tang Dynasty is an important era for the gradual integration and China of Buddhist culture, and it is also a period for the Tang people to summarize and refine all kinds of knowledge at all times and in all countries. The appearance of a large number of comprehensive works reflects that the overall intelligence of the Tang people has reached an unprecedented level.
The great ethnic integration and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries in the Tang Dynasty also reached an unprecedented scale. Chang 'an has become an international metropolis, with music, dance, painting, sculpture and costumes from different regions pouring in and performing on the Center Stage in Chang 'an. Persian songs and dances, Hu people's musical instruments, people have confidence that they will not become slaves of other nationalities, or they don't think that whenever they take foreign things, they will use them as if they were prisoners, and they will never care. In such an atmosphere of the times, the Tang people absorbed the cultural essence of ancient and modern China and foreign countries extensively, and copied and created it. During Xuanzong period, music and dance were particularly developed due to the accumulation of the previous generation and Xuanzong's own hobbies. Widely absorb the music and musical instruments of various ethnic groups, set up left and right teaching workshops and pear gardens, and take charge of music and dance. At that time, there were more than 10,000 musicians and more folk artists. From the contents of the dances of Qide Dance, Jiugong Dance and Shangyuan Dance, we can see the stable and peaceful atmosphere in the prosperous Tang Dynasty and the scene of a group of singing and dancing.
As for the art of calligraphy and painting in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, it also changed the elegant and popular style of Chen, Sui and early Tang Dynasty, and became a vigorous and bright style in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, thus gaining an unprecedented landscape. Xuanzong himself is good at painting ink bamboo, which is also a temporary victory. In the prosperous Tang Dynasty, Buddhist painting got rid of foreign influences and gradually became nationalized, with Wu Dai as the representative, emphasizing realism and developing into genre painting. Wu Daozi and Yan's figure paintings were praised as painting saints at that time, reaching a superb level. The calligraphy of great calligraphers Yan Zhenqing, Chu Suiliang and Zhang Xu has a direct influence on today.
Due to the prosperity of economy and national strength, and the prevalence of imperial examination system, intellectuals have a strong desire to pursue official career, and the psychological state, mental outlook and values of the Tang people have undergone profound changes. This is manifested in the fact that intellectuals in the prosperous Tang Dynasty viewed the fate of the empire as a whole with their own future and generally attached to secular life. Li didn't want to give up his wealth to study, but as a scholar, he still didn't want to give up his career pursuit after more than 20 years of failure in the imperial examination, which is a vivid portrayal of tang style. Taiping Guangji and various note novels in the Tang Dynasty show us all kinds of secular life scenes of literati and ordinary people in the Tang Dynasty, such as drinking and having fun, singing with prostitutes, outing, playing chess with cuju, fortune telling, enjoying tea and flowers, fighting cocks and riding horses, juggling and so on.
In the heyday of feudal society, it was famous for its unique open atmosphere. In that long historical period of peace and prosperity, the society was relatively rich, and people generally pursued the enjoyment and happiness of life. The great ethnic integration in the Tang Dynasty also infiltrated the cultural customs such as the higher status of minority women and the freedom of sexual life into all fields of social life, which strongly impacted the ethical concepts of the Han nationality in the Central Plains. From the court to the folk, people have few sexual taboos, and their sexual life is quite free, which is mainly manifested in the common thing of free love and free combination. There are more premarital sex and extramarital sex, and divorce and remarriage are more common. Especially in the marriage of princesses in the Tang Dynasty, the number of princesses in the Tang Dynasty was 2 1 1, while the number of princesses in the previous generation was 99, of which 4 were married three times and 23 were remarried, accounting for more than 1/4.
The development of culture in the prosperous Tang Dynasty fluctuated with the changes of feudal politics and economy in the middle Tang Dynasty, creating a colorful cultural peak in the feudal era. As the center of oriental culture, the Tang Dynasty profoundly influenced the political system and cultural development of neighboring countries. For example, the school education in Japan and South Korea at that time was the same as that in the Tang Dynasty in terms of curriculum, examination content and teaching materials. Jing Shangjing, a contemporary Japanese historian, wrote quite to the point in his book Japanese Culture: the culture of the Tang Dynasty was a world culture that communicated with Indian, Arabian and even Western European cultures through this medium, so learning the Tang Dynasty indirectly learned the world culture.
The flourishing Tang culture brought about by this national integration with world cultural significance greatly enriched and developed the Confucian culture formed and gradually matured in the Han Dynasty. The mature Confucian culture has undoubtedly contributed to the consolidation of China's reunification for generations.