Tang Empire
The Tang dynasty ruled China from AD 618 to 907. Its capital at Chang’an drew merchants, diplomats and religious travellers from across Asia, while imperial armies and frontier governments connected northern China with Central Asian routes. Buddhist monasteries translated scriptures, housed relics and commissioned sculpture, alongside a court culture celebrated for poetry and painting. Surviving timber halls, pagodas, cave sanctuaries and imperial tombs give these developments a physical setting, showing both the scale of royal patronage and the work of builders, sculptors and religious communities.
Explore Tang sites
Tang religious buildings connect timber construction, relic worship and monumental sculpture with the patronage of the imperial court.
Daily life
Daily Life in Tang China: Households, Work and Belief
Tang households farmed, made goods and met public obligations. Markets, schools, religious communities, healers and travel networks connected daily activities.
- Everyday Religion and Festivals in Tang China: Household Practice and the Ghost Festival
- Food, Dress and Markets in Tang China: Everyday Consumption and Social Distinctions
- Illness, Healers and Everyday Care in Tang China
- Tang Households: Marriage, Status and Domestic Life in China
- Travel and Transport in Tang China: Roads, Canals, and Journeys
- Work, Festivals and Entertainment in Tang Communities: Everyday Life, 618–907
History and society
Tang China: History, Government and Society
Tang courts, farms and cities sustained a wide empire. Expansion, religious patronage, changing taxes and regional armies reshaped its institutions and society.
- Buddhism, Daoism and Religious Communities in Tang China: Institutions and Imperial Policy
- Chang’an and Other Tang Cities: Wards, Markets and Communities
- Farming, Taxation and Trade in Tang China
- Tang Armies, Garrisons and Frontier Diplomacy: Military Organization and Imperial Relations
- Tang Government, Examinations and Law: How the Empire Was Administered
- Tang Poetry, Art and Material Production in the Tang Empire