The Tang Dynasty demonstrated respect for all foreign religions, and it was during this time, Christianity was introduced to China.
The first Imperial family of the Tang Dynasty was a military family in Northwest China for generations and they made Taoism the national religion.
After the first Tang emperor, Taoism was removed as the national religion and all religions were treated equal, and this benefitted Buddhism.
In 1987, archeologists discovered an underground temple/palace below the Famen Temple that had been built and sealed during the Tang Dynasty and found a solid-gold pagoda and inside was a finger bone of the founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni.
The seventeen-hundred year-old Famen Temple was built during the Eastern Han Dynasty. To date, this is the largest underground Buddhist temple found in China.
Although China is known as the home of tea, it wasn’t until the Tang Dynasty that drinking tea became part of the culture when the Chinese also invented noodles.
A popular past time for both men and women during the Tang Dynasty was playing polo, which had been introduced from Persia.
Art, music and dance flourished in the Tang capital. The political flexibility of the Tang Dynasty promoted social tolerance leading to stability.
Continued in Part 3 on March 23, 2018, or return/start with Part 1
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of My Splendid Concubine, Crazy is Normal, Running with the Enemy, and The Redemption of Don Juan Casanova.
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