The Tang Dynasty did not discriminate against ethnic groups. All were treated the same, and people from minority groups held positions of great importance.
In fact, minorities became prime ministers, generals and members of the imperial garrison.
The mother’s of several Tang emperors were not from the Han majority.
Tang Emperor Taizong handled relationships with ethnic minorities skillfully.
One motto of his was, “In the past, Chinese emperors emphasized the Han people at the expense of minority groups, but I believe they are all from one family so they support me.”
The ethnic minorities in northwest China revered Emperor Taizong and called him Tian Kehan.
Kehan means “emperor” and Tian Kehan means “the son of Heaven“.
In 755 AD, people in the Tang capital sang and danced to celebrate the 70th birthday of Emperor Taizong.
In October 1970, archeologists discovered more than a thousand Tang artifacts. One was a silver kettle featuring dancing horses with cups in their mouths, which matched the historical record for Emperor Taizong’s seventieth birthday.
Poetry flourished. Although the Tang Dynasty lasted less than 300 years, more than 50,000 poems had been produced— all of them published today in one collection of Tang poems.
Return to The Tang Dynasty (618 – 906 AD) – Part 3 or start with Part 1
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.
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