The so-called prosperous Tang culture is mainly based on the Xuanzong Dynasty, dating back to the Gaowu Dynasty and going down to the Dexian Dynasty. Its spatial distribution covers the 15th Kaiyuan Dynasty, with Xi'an and Luoyang as the centers and radiating outwards. . Xuanzong's Kaiyuan Tianbao period (713-755) was praised by historians as a "prosperous age". This was not only reflected in the economic development exceeding the previous period and the implementation of more enlightened political rule, but also in various aspects of culture. . It has the characteristics of the times of the integration of Chinese and foreign cultures and changes in physical conditions, and it also has the national characteristics of inheriting ancient traditions and seeking new ideas through change. Symbolized by poetry, the magnificent and passionate sounds of the prosperous Tang Dynasty represented by Li Bai and Du Fu, the frontier poems of Gao Shi and Cen Shen with great ambitions to serve the country, and the pastoral landscape poems of Wang Wei and others that are integrated with nature, played the strongest voice of the times. The development of history and geography, the diversification of art forms, the legends representing folk culture, the transformation of folk culture into folklore, and the development of science and technology with the function of succession and transformation are all indispensable notes. The Tang Dynasty was an important period when Buddhist culture gradually integrated and became Chinese. It was also a period when the Tang people summarized and refined various ancient and modern Chinese and foreign learnings. The emergence of a large number of comprehensive writings reflected the overall intellectual level of the Tang people. On the other hand, the more than 40-year rule of the Xuanzong Dynasty was not smooth sailing. The "Anshi Rebellion" in the fourteenth year of Tianbao (755) was like a landmark, marking the division and turning point of the era. The mutation characteristics brought about by this turning point , due to the acceleration of development, it becomes more obvious with later generations. However, close to or at the same time as this event, there were already signs of this change in the development of culture. This article attempts to explore the many variation characteristics of the cultural phenomenon of the flourishing Tang Dynasty, and then it can be regarded as a counterattack against the research phenomenon that talks about the culture of the flourishing Tang Dynasty in general and ignores the differences of its era.
1
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the political forces headed by the Guanzhong clan unified China, repeating the process of the growth and decline of various political forces. The old Shandong people who valued marriage and family status were gradually replaced by the Guanzhong military aristocrats who valued official rank and rank. What followed was a change in the official selection system. The imperial examination expanded the career paths of ordinary landlord class intellectuals, broke the power monopoly of the elite gentry in the real order, and strengthened the desire of the majority of intellectuals to enter officialdom and participate in politics. They use unremitting enthusiasm to make achievements and realize their ideals in life. Literature is the most sensitive and direct way of expressing emotions that reflects reality, and poetry takes the lead. An overview of poetry in the prosperous Tang Dynasty is an optimistic feeling about real life and a persistence full of youthful enthusiasm. Contemplating nature with this kind of emotion is at the same time a strong emotional experience of empathizing with nature and praising nature. It has less of a heavy realistic content and more of an aesthetic that expresses inner joy and is full of healthy life interest. Feeling is the main artistic feature and aesthetic style of poetry in the prosperous Tang Dynasty [1]. This is an art form that freely transforms inner essential power and beautiful natural scenes into beautiful art to express the vigorous spirit of the times. This is the embodiment of the traditional cultural spirit of the unity of nature and man, and the integration of man and nature since the pre-Qin Dynasty. This is the sophisticated use of bixing techniques since the Book of Songs. It is the ultimate development of the rhythmic form of poetry in the Southern Dynasties. It is the externalization and objectification of the vitality shown by the spirit of the times. It is the best expression of social psychology when the nation is strong. .
In the same atmosphere as the sound of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, and reflecting the style of the same era, is the popularity of cursive script, music, and dance. Calligraphy, as an artistic means to "express emotions and express sorrow and joy", has reached an artistic state that is parallel to poetry and as beautiful as nature with the help of the popularity of cursive script, especially cursive script. The cursive scripts of Zhang Xu, He Zhizhang, Huai Su and others were flowing with flying grace and frightening speed, pouring the joys, sorrows and joys of life into the pen and ink, which became the style of calligraphy at that time [2]. The great ethnic integration and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries in the Tang Dynasty reached an unprecedented scale, and Chang'an has become an international metropolis [3]. Music, dance, painting, sculpture, costume, etc. from different regions came one after another to perform on the central stage of Chang'an. "The people have the self-confidence not to become slaves of foreigners, or they may not have thought that whenever they take foreign things, they are as if they were captives, and they can use them freely without any hesitation" [4]. In such an atmosphere of the times, the Tang people extensively absorbed the essence of ancient and modern Chinese and foreign cultures, reproduced and created them. During the Xuanzong Dynasty, due to the accumulation of previous generations and Xuanzong's own fashion, music and dance were particularly developed. It widely absorbs music and musical instruments from all ethnic groups, and sets up left and right workshops and troupes to take charge of music and dance. At that time, there were 10,027 musicians (musicians) and more than a thousand loose music artists [5]. From the changes in the content of the three major dances, "Seven Virtues Dance", "Nine Gong Dance" and "Shangyuan Dance", we can see the changes in the Tang Dynasty from entrepreneurship to the consolidation of political power and the enjoyment, singing and dancing after stability. The diverse dance postures and the prevalence of group dances express joyful moods, with little sadness, sorrow, loss, and sadness.
As for the painting art of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, "it also changed from the delicate and smooth style of the Chen, Sui and early Tang Dynasties to the vigorous and upright style of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, and saw unprecedented grandeur" [6]. Xuanzong himself was good at painting bamboo with ink, which was also a temporary success. There are two characteristics of painting in the prosperous Tang Dynasty: First, Buddhist painting sheds foreign influence and gradually adopts a national style, represented by "Wu Dai Dang Style", which emphasizes realism and develops towards genre painting; second, landscape painting becomes increasingly independent and is divided into north and south. The two schools are represented by Wang Wei and Li Sixun's father and son respectively. Wang Wei's southern school integrated Zen and gradually developed into the literati paintings of later generations.
It is worth noting that there are many themes about horses in Tang Dynasty poetry and paintings. Cao Ba, Han Gan, Chen Hong, Wei Yan, etc. are all good at painting horses. The poet Du Fu was very close to several painters, and the painters often painted horses. When there are new works, he must be invited to appreciate and write poems, and he has left many poems praising horses. This was mainly due to the need of the Tang Dynasty to open up frontier lands and fight foreign wars, which attached great importance to the breeding of horses. In the early years of Kaiyuan, the number of horses in the imperial stables increased to 240,000, which increased to 430,000 in the 13th year of Kaiyuan. It is precisely this practical need to expand territory and perform meritorious service on the frontier that led to the phenomenon that poetry and painting themes largely reflect the content of this era.
During the prosperous Tang Dynasty, various art forms developed to the extreme due to the needs of the times, and most of them reflected roughly the same content of the times: this was to eulogize nature and describe life. , lamenting the joy, sadness and longing in the world, expressing inner emotions and realistic experiences through various art forms, forming a rich and majestic artistic picture and a magnificent artistic conception.
Due to the economic prosperity and national strength, as well as the social atmosphere in which intellectuals had a strong desire to become officials due to the prevalence of the imperial examination system, the psychological state, spiritual outlook and values ??of the Tang people have undergone profound changes. change. When in contact with the objective outside world, a need for the subject itself and a new positive affirmative judgment on the value of the object arose. This is reflected in the fact that most people in the prosperous Tang Dynasty regarded the fate of the empire and their own future as an isomorphism. To look at it and be generally attached to secular life. The examples in "Taiping Guangji" about Li Linfu's unwillingness to give up the enjoyment of wealth and honor to learn immortality[7], and the scholar Li Jun's unwillingness to give up his pursuit of officialdom even after failing to pass the exam for more than 20 years[8] are clear evidence of this. "Official service" and "marriage" became the two main life pursuits of intellectuals in the Tang Dynasty. "Taiping Guangji" and various notebook novels of the Tang Dynasty show us various scenes and multi-act dramas of the secular life of the literati and ordinary people in the Tang Dynasty. Such as drinking too much, taking prostitutes to sing, going on outings, playing chess, divination, fortune-telling, drinking tea and admiring flowers, fighting cocks and horses, performing various tricks, and so on. Related to this attachment to real life is the code of conduct of the Tang people that emphasizes trust and loyalty. There is less of the lamentation of the impermanence of life and the changeable world of things in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. This is due to the satisfaction with reality that leads to a lack of understanding of human interactions. Attention and affirmation. This is quite consistent with the general psychology of the people of the Han Dynasty during its prosperity. People in the Tang Dynasty also always liked to compare themselves to the Han people[9], using the sages and famous ministers of the Han Dynasty to compare with the current dynasty or to compare with recent life experiences and behaviors. There is a profound social background here. The Tang Dynasty was a political power established by the Guanlong nobles, who established a unified dynasty from west to east and from north to south. The South has been regarded as the orthodox Chinese and Han culture since the Eastern Jin Dynasty. After the Tang Dynasty unified the country, it was urgent to show off its orthodoxy. Therefore, on the one hand, it was inferred that Laozi was the distant ancestor, and at the same time, it was culturally inherited from the south. In the early Tang Dynasty, all imperial edicts were written in four or six prose, allowing people to recognize themselves as the orthodox heirs of Han culture. This is a deep-seated psychology of belonging, and it is also an expression of national self-esteem. The ancient prose movement opposed religious superstition, deprived the world of luxury and found truth, promoted the Western Han Dynasty and even the pre-Qin literati, reformed Confucianism, and used Taoism to fight against Buddhism. The transformation from the Forty-Six Classics to ancient prose, and from form to content, reflected the Tang people's deepening understanding of national self-esteem. This mentality of changing objects to identify themselves is the value concept gradually established by the people of the Tang Dynasty.
The concept of marriage in the early Tang Dynasty also changed. Unlike the Southern and Northern Dynasties, where family status was important, divorce and remarriage frequently occurred [10]. This is especially reflected in the marriage of the princess. There were 211 direct princesses in the Tang Dynasty, and there were 99 princesses before Daizong. Among them, 4 were married for the third time and 23 were remarried, accounting for more than a quarter. There are countless stories of remarriage and divorce among the people, and there are also not a few cases where the woman files for divorce. This shows that the Tang royal family, as the nobles with a strong Hu culture in the northwest, did not fully Hanize it after unifying the Central Plains. They suppressed the Shandong gentry and had an impact on the concept of marriage etiquette. At the same time, the integration of various ethnic groups is frequent, and it is difficult to have unified and strict regulations. Therefore, in the early stage, marriage relationships were relatively open and there were few restrictions.
2
The eight-year "Anshi Rebellion" destroyed productivity and social life. At the same time, a series of social, political and economic changes in the Tang Dynasty also affected the development of culture. The "Anshi Rebellion" was like a cleaning agent, which made many changes clear and showed different cultural contents from the previous period.
If the spirit of the times expressed in the literature and art of the early Tang Dynasty was an optimistic outlook on unprecedented social prosperity, then after this great turmoil, it developed into a relatively profound content that exposed and criticized reality. It breaks the poets' optimistic expectations and ideals, and turns into a re-examination of reality and life. The middle and late Tang Dynasty experienced a transition from enthusiasm for resurgence to sadness over the intensification of social conflicts and the decline of political power. With a sad aesthetic taste, the directness and philosophy of poetry developed in depth. By the Song Dynasty, poetry was even more profound and philosophical. The Ten Talents of the Dali Dynasty in the Mid-Tang Dynasty no longer focused on the expression of overall feelings like the people in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, but focused on the delicate description of mentality; landscape poems did not often focus on majesty and adventure, but were famous for their indifferent and distant realms, focusing on neatness and neatness. Refined artistic technique and form. The one who reflects the social reality most profoundly is the "History of Poetry" Du Fu. His poetry art form is more standardized and he has stricter requirements on poetry rhythm. With an emphasis on norms and order, Yan Zi, Du Shi, and Han Wen became representatives of the literary and artistic requirements of this era.
Han Yu, Bai Juyi, Yuan Zhen, Li Shangyin, Du Mu, Pi Rixiu, Lu Guimeng, etc. all admired Du and suppressed Li. Yuan Zhen commented on the advantages and disadvantages of Li and Du, that is, he believed that Du Fu learned from ancient and modern times and incorporated all kinds of things, and no one could surpass him; Li Bai was extremely disparaging, saying, "Those who belong to literature since then have regarded Zhen theory as the correct one" [11]. This can represent the aesthetics of ordinary literati after the mid-Tang Dynasty. If the theory of poetry's fate and emotions prevailed in the early Tang Dynasty, at this time, the theory of speech and ambition resurfaced, focusing on the social function of poetry, while ignoring the exploration of aesthetic rules and characteristics. In the Song Dynasty, functional poetry criticism that combined both beauty and goodness was developed. , traditional Confucian poetry regained its dominant position in literary theory.
In the paintings of the Mid-Tang Dynasty, Nanzong's landscape painting, which mainly focused on the spiritual interest of pen and ink, developed, and painters such as Wei Yan, Wang Zai, Zhang zǎo＠①, and Wang Qia appeared. The themes have evolved from hundreds of religious pictures in the prosperous Tang Dynasty to ladies, cows and horses, and landscapes, flowers and birds have gradually matured. Secular figure paintings also broke through the mere propaganda of feudal ethics, and there were paintings by Zhang Xuan and Zhou Fǎng② that reflected the ordinary daily activities of ladies. Another example is Han huàng＠③. Most of the 36 works recorded in "Xuanhe Painting Book" describe rural production and living conditions, which is a step further than the overall intuitive experience of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. After the Anshi Rebellion, the palace musicians were exiled to various places, and it was difficult to restore the scale of large-scale music and dance. Only some small-scale single and double dances still existed in the palace. The music and dance that was once flourishing no longer flourished with the decline of the empire.
After putting down the "An-Shi Rebellion", Suzong and Daizong gradually strengthened the adjustment of social relations and the control of social culture. Confucianism was reaffirmed as a beneficial ruling ideology. Pi Rixiu, a Jinshi in Xiantongzhong, wrote a letter asking for the establishment of Mencius, indicating this trend, and a movement to update Confucian classics emerged. From the suspicion of Confucius and the classics in the early Tang Dynasty (such as Liu Zhiji, etc.) to the reaffirmation of the ideological and cultural dominance of Confucius and Mencius in the later period of the Tang Dynasty, this change was due to the rulers' request to adjust production and social relations and strengthen control after social unrest. Social content as background. Contrary to official ideological control and complementary to it, after the turmoil in the Central Economic Dynasty, scholar-officials were looking for fillers to fill the void in their souls. They retreated to a solitary philosophy of life. Their enthusiasm for economics and their desire to advance in officialdom gave way to their belief in religious gods. . At the same time, the development of Buddhism itself has also gone through the same process as Confucianism, completing the evolution process of Sinicization. The early Tiantai sect, Sanlun sect, and Shishi-wei sect disappeared one after another in the mid-Tang Dynasty because they were too rigid in the form of Indian religions. The Huayan sect, especially the Zen sect, which succeeded them, mutated into Chinese-style religions and thus achieved great success. During the Song and Ming dynasties, Neo-Confucianism took traditional Confucianism as the main body and absorbed the spirit of Zen and Taoism, becoming the mainstream of late feudal thought.
In the later period of the regime, the number of officials such as Shandong gentry increased, and a large number of new bureaucrats appeared, requiring a new order to ensure the stability of their status, and the concept of etiquette and law was re-reflected into the entire society. The emperor began to promote moral integrity, and Xuanzong stipulated: "The highest level of education for couples, if the princess has a son but is a widow, she is not allowed to remarry." [12] It goes without saying that the society is like this for princesses. Neo-Confucians of the Song and Ming Dynasties placed more emphasis on chastity and opposed remarriage. It can be said that the late Tang Dynasty was the prelude to the revival of Neo-Confucian ethics in the Song and Ming Dynasties. Loyalty to religion and justice were the main behavioral norms and value principles followed by scholars in the later period.
These profound social changes are also reflected in the highest human relationship, that is, legal relationships. The ruling class relies on its dominant position to punish those who endanger its interests by coercive means. The later legal system has a transitional nature. The Tang government gave up the principle of unified laws for the entire empire, and there was no longer an administrative law with absolute authority like the one implemented in the early Tang Dynasty [13]. According to Mr. Liu Junwen's research, except for one of the sixteen legislative activities in the early Tang Dynasty, the other fifteen were all focused on amending laws, orders, patterns, and styles, with frequent adjustments to meet the needs of governance; while seven major legislative activities in the later period were Legislative activities mainly include the compilation of legal forms such as imperial edicts and criminal laws that have greater flexibility to cope with turbulent and changing situations. At the same time, the laws in the later period also became increasingly conservative, and it was difficult to discuss and revise the ancestral laws [14]. From the many changes and additions in the content of legal provisions and edicts, we can examine the content of the later period such as the segregation of vassal towns, the exclusive power of eunuchs, the multi-disciplinary law, and the political chaos.
3
The prosperous Tang Dynasty was the most prosperous period in history for the integration, summarization, induction, organization, and output of various cultural knowledge and beliefs from ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad. Therefore, from a cultural sense, it is more characterized by a period of transition. In world history from the seventh to the tenth centuries, it constituted one of the main bodies of human culture.
1. The development of culture in the prosperous Tang Dynasty coincided with the changes in feudal political economy in the middle of the Tang Dynasty, completing the transition from the early feudal period to the later period. In the early Tang Dynasty, the politics were enlightened, the economy was prosperous, and the culture was relatively open. It widely absorbed excellent cultural achievements from China and abroad, and inherited more metaphysical trends since the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The influence of Buddhism became more and more intense, and the general public made more independent value choices, thus creating a rich and colorful peak culture in the feudal era. . In the later period, due to the turmoil of the times and the adjustment of economic and social relations by the ruling class, a demand for order, the vitality of traditional Confucianism reappeared, gradually rising to overwhelm other ideological forces and becoming the dominant value orientation, and transitioned to Neo-Confucianism in the Song and Ming Dynasties. , supplemented the traditional propositions and categories of Confucian philosophy, kept pace with the high development of China's feudal autocratic centralized system in the later period, formed a double carriage, and strengthened feudal rule.
2. The prosperous Tang Dynasty was a period of integration of northern and southern cultures, and the integration of northern and southern cultures was completed. During the pre-Qin period, a hundred schools of thought contended, and the Chu culture in the south, represented by Lao Zhuang and Qu Yuan, was mainly in confrontation with the Qilu culture in the north, represented by Confucius and Mencius. With the unification of the country during the Qin and Han Dynasties, the northern and southern cultures also accelerated the pace of integration, and the Han culture showed more characteristics of the Chu culture in the south [15]. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, especially the Wei and Jin Dynasties, northern culture developed, represented by the literature of the Cao and Wei Dynasties. During the wars at the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, literati migrated south one after another. The north was mostly ruled by backward ethnic minorities. The culture of the south developed rapidly and generally surpassed that of the north. As a result, both the north and the south at that time considered southern culture to be the orthodox Chinese culture. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty unified the south from the north and still highly praised southern literature. In the early Tang Dynasty, all public and private documents were written in four or six styles. Later, the ancient prose movement gradually gained momentum, and the northern style of writing gained dominance. At the same time, more than nine-tenths of the prime ministers in the early Tang Dynasty were from the north [16], which also interfered with the growth and decline of culture. The compilation of the "Five Classics of Justice" shows the unification of northern and southern classics, and most of them use the righteousness of the Southern Dynasties. The impact of foreign Buddhist culture also accelerated the integration process of local local culture.
3. The prosperous Tang Dynasty was also a period when the status of cultural creators and disseminators in traditional culture changed and stratified culture became apparent. The official cultural monopoly was constantly broken, and folk culture developed greatly (especially in the later period). The selection of scholars in Confucian classics in the Han Dynasty made cultural creation and dissemination more controlled by family scholars and doctors. In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the high-ranking families were also the orthodox inheritors and monopolies of culture. The social status of literati scholars was determined only by their family background. Rank and rank, not knowledge itself. Therefore, their impact on subsequent researchers' observations is that there are more differences in era than in personality. It reflects the thoughts, concepts and behaviors of people of roughly the same social class and status, so it necessarily reflects less cultural aspects. In the Tang Dynasty, imperial examinations were used to select scholars, so that all intellectuals with poor literary talents could obtain political and social status on an almost equal basis based on their literary talents and knowledge, thus changing the political structure. A large number of cultures representing the intellectual class have emerged, as evidenced by the emergence of schools of thought and the emergence of talent groups. At the same time, citizen culture has developed. This culture, which is different from official culture, reflects different levels of content in culture and has distinctive characteristics, making literature and art schools diverse and prosperous.
4. The prosperous Tang Dynasty was also a period of extreme expression of the uneven development of traditional academic culture and a transitional period of scientific culture. China's traditional cultural characteristics of emphasizing humanities, literature and art, and neglecting science were fully reflected in the Tang Dynasty. Literature, art, and history are highly developed, while natural sciences are relatively backward. Joseph Needham believed that the Tang Dynasty was humanistic, while the Song Dynasty focused more on science and technology. By the Song Dynasty, "esoteric prose replaced lyric poetry, philosophical discussions and scientific descriptions replaced religious beliefs. Technically, the Song Dynasty turned many things envisioned in the Tang Dynasty into reality" [17]. Take mathematics as an example. There were only three or four kinds of mathematical works in the Tang Dynasty, but there were more than fifty in the Song Dynasty. The transition from geometry as the central content before the Tang Dynasty to mathematics in the Song and Yuan Dynasties was a turning point in the Tang Dynasty. The one-sided deepening of humanities in the Tang Dynasty lacked the corresponding proportional development of philosophy and science and technology. Therefore, in terms of the overall level of cultural development, the culture of the prosperous Tang Dynasty seems to be inferior to that of the Song Dynasty. Senior scholars Chen Yinke and Deng Guangming discussed it in detail.
5. As the creative subject, the culture of the prosperous Tang Dynasty not only inherited, interpreted, and understood the traditional culture of the previous generation, but also carried out creative transformation according to the needs of the times and the requirements of governance, so that it had obvious individual characteristics. In addition, it also integrated and digested various foreign cultures and promoted them for its own use, making them a part of Chinese culture. This was another important feature of the cultural development of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. The early Tang Dynasty was the era of the most frequent and close exchanges between China and foreign countries. And every exchange is somewhat related to culture. Take religion as an example. In addition to Buddhism, there are many other religions introduced. In the ninth year of Zhenguan, the Nestorian monk Aluoben came to China from Persia and established the Daqin Temple in Yiningfang. This was the beginning of the introduction of Nestorianism. In the second year of Jianzhong of Dezong (781), Jingjing wrote "Daqin Nestorianism". Popular Chinese Stele Award and Preface". In the second year of Yonghui (651), the Tang Dynasty officially communicated with Dashi as envoys. Islam was introduced along with merchants. By the 14th year of Zhenyuan (798), Dashi had sent envoys to Tang Dynasty 37 times[18]. Huaojiao was first introduced to Yutian, Yanqi, Shule, and Gaochang in present-day Xinjiang. During the Wude period, the Huyuao Temple was built in the southwest corner of Buzhengfang in Chang'an. During the Zhenguan period, it was established in Chonghua, Liquan, Puning, and Jinggong. Coat Temple. In the first year of Empress Wu Yanzai's reign (694), the Persian Fuduo came to the court with the "Er-Zong Sutra" and was the first person to introduce Manichaeism to Chang'an. In the third year of the Dali calendar (768), the Uighurs were allowed to establish Manichaeism in Chang'an. temple. These several religions, along with Buddhism, were banned and destroyed in the "Huichang Dharma Disaster".
Judging from the cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries in the Tang Dynasty, each cultural subject was mostly based on the needs of the ontology and selectively absorbed foreign culture according to the cultural structure of the ontology, which had strong practicality. At the same time as the Tang Dynasty, there were several larger civilization areas. The surrounding small subordinate countries are subordinate to this large cultural system. They have different cognitions, values, norms and aesthetic systems, giving them different characteristics. The study of their respective cultural contents and mutual influence can complete the overall grasp and understanding of the civilization of the medieval world, thus enabling a clearer understanding of the status of Tang Dynasty culture.
The Indian cultural circle in South Asia.
The centerpiece of the culture was Buddhism and Brahmanism, and all specialized scholarship was developed from theology. Sanskrit literature has developed, and there are more than ten kinds of Sanskrit dramas. Mathematics and astronomy are closely related, and algebra is highly developed. The famous astronomer and mathematician Ayabhada proposed the idea that the earth rotates around its axis and had a nearly scientific explanation for the phenomenon of solar and lunar eclipses. At that time, the Tang Dynasty's absorption of Indian culture focused on Buddhism, astronomy, mathematics, medical knowledge and other contents.
With its superior geographical location, the Arab region absorbed the cultural heritage of China, India, and Greece, created a highly developed scientific culture from the seventh to the thirteenth century, and played a leading role in the history of world science. Its main achievements are in astronomy, medicine, mathematics, chemistry, physics and geography, which was the peak of scientific development in the world at that time. In addition, philosophy, literature, and history also developed accordingly. A large number of Arab merchants brought frankincense, woody incense and other medicines and prescriptions into the Tang Dynasty. However, the Tang generation rarely absorbed its developed scientific culture, which is a pity.
The political divisions in Western Europe in the Middle Ages allowed Christianity to achieve supremacy with the Pope as the center. Secular academic philosophy, science, literature, etc. have become appendages of theology. "Natural knowledge is valued only when it is a tool of enlightenment that can prove the church's teachings and chapters of the Bible." [19] Education purely serves the church, but it teaches grammar, rhetoric, logic (elementary The 7 courses (three subjects), arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music (four higher subjects) are conducive to the continuation and popularization of culture. When secular schools were established in large numbers, there was an intellectual renaissance. There were few contacts with the Tang Dynasty. Nestorianism, a branch of Christianity, was introduced in the Tang Dynasty, but its influence was very small.
At that time, the Tang Dynasty, as the oriental cultural center parallel to these three major civilization areas, deeply affected the political systems and cultural development of surrounding countries. For example, school education in Japan and Korea at that time was the same as that in the Tang Dynasty, from curriculum to examination content and teaching materials. The contemporary Japanese historian Yasushi Inoue wrote quite pertinently in his book "Japanese Culture": "The culture of the Tang Dynasty was a cosmopolitan culture that communicated with India, Arabia, and even Western European culture through this medium. Therefore, Learning from the Tang Dynasty means indirectly learning from world culture. "Due to its continental characteristics, Chinese culture is more spontaneous and original, and therefore more closed-minded. In ancient China, only the Tang Dynasty suffered the greatest impact from foreign cultures, had the most contact with the outside world, and was also the most open in a sense. In the 1920s, when Mr. Lu Xun was conceiving the script of "Yang Guifei", he had the following thoughts: "The cultural concepts of the Tang Dynasty can be used as a reference for our modern times. At that time, our ancestors had very different ideas about their own culture." They have a very strong grasp and will never easily shake their self-confidence; at the same time, they have a very broad mind and very rigorous choices for other cultures, and will never easily worship or despise them. This is what we are. attitude that is urgently needed now” [20]. Mr. Lu Xun’s view still has practical significance today.
In short, observing the development trajectory of the culture of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, it can be seen that the early Tang Dynasty was relatively open, and the later Tang Dynasty gradually converged, experiencing a time course from liberalization to contraction. The later period is more like the transition period and trough between Tang culture and Song culture. Therefore, it is the prosperous Tang culture in the early period that truly has the characteristics and individual characteristics of the Tang Dynasty society. No matter from the cultural level or the cultural category, it has unique content that distinguishes it from other dynasties.