Rise and Fall of Medieval Chinese Empire: Tang Dynasty - Essay Example

Rise and Fall of Medieval Chinese Empire: Tang Dynasty Introduction Throughout the passage of time, the rise and the fall of the medieval Chinese Empire were associated with each other in such a way that the rise of one empire was embedded in the fall of its preceding one and at the same time, the empire collapsed due to its failure to manipulate the variables that contributed its rise. Like most other empire builders in the world, culture and religion including other variables played an important and crucial role in the making of the Chinese Empire. Though other factors such climate, environment, natural disaster, demography, economic system, society and the class structure have always influenced the upheaval of an empire, the role of the military systems has always been considered as the most significant factor that in the first place instigates the rise of an empire. Yet the military power with the superior technology, strategy, tactics, logistics etc has never been counted as the one and only the components of an empire. In an article, “Empire Builders, Culture Makers, and Culture Imprinters” Charles Issawi refers to the proper role of the military power in the making of an empire in the following rhetorical question, “Was this achievement because they were more successful as empire builders, that is, they showed greater political and military skill? These factors were certainly important, but they do not exhaust the question.”1 History of the world shows that successful culture builders are also the successful makers of a culture that is committed to the ideal of a unified and single empire. In most cases, it happens that the empire builders have had to depend on a religion as the potential basis of the culture that will ensure commitment of the common people to the unity of the Empire. Religion has always played the role of an effective tool that can intimidate the common people internally with the least possible resentment. Indeed religion has served two-fold purpose: First, it assists the Empire builders to unify the people with one thread and then it helps to create a more stable society based on the fellow feeling, morality, and humanity. But in the imperial history of the world it is evident that religion and religion-based culture have often been manipulated by the rulers in order to tame the subject to a tyrannical end, because “It [religion] acted upon,” as Viscount Bryce notes, “the whole mass of a people, and more powerfully upon the lower than upon the more educated class. It touched those whom ordinary political discontents or aspirations might scarcely affect”.2 Nature of Rise and Fall throughout the Chinese Imperial Era One of the most common factors that contributed to the rise and the fall of the medieval Chinese empire is that the empire, in the first place, was able to unify the population of a vast area either with the consent of the people or by subjugating them with the power, culture, and religion. Both the rise and the fall of an empire was necessarily assisted by their correlations with the climate and environment of the area, the demography, population movements, economic conditions, resilience, flexibility and survival institutions and administration etc that played a crucial role in the political unification and fragmentation. It is remarkable that though the rise of every dynasty manipulated the ruthless methods to subjugate and to rule the subjects, their effective non-military interventions assisted to the longevity of the Empire. With the new reign the common people were at ease –though the ruling powers employed muscle power to the rebellious one- further delaying the upheaval of a new one. Therefore, though the muscle power played an important role to the rise of a new dynasty to power, it was the newly instituted administration, cultures and religion that prolonged the longevity of the empire at the peak of power. Subsequently the fall of an empire was hugely contributed to by the resentment and anarchy among the population that paved the rise of the rivals and opponents to the power. In most cases, these popular resentment and anarchy were instigated by either the shortsighted and intentional tyrannical steps and failure of the institutions and administration of the Empires or their failure to cope with the natural disaster and internal and external invasions. The Beginning of the Medieval Chinese Empire The seeds of the Mediaeval Chinese Empire were planted before the birth of Christ in around 300 BC. The Chinese Imperial era started with the Qin Dynasty. A close inspection of the reign of the Qin Dynasty is bound to reveal that the rise of the Empire mainly pivoted on the success of the dynasty to unify the warring states of china by force and tying them on the philosophy of legalism. Though Shi Huang employed a iron hand to rule his kingdom, some of his age-worthy measures to replace feudalism with a centralized bureaucratic government. The Qin dynasty was followed by a number of dynasties until the Sui-Tang Restoration. Indeed the Medieval Chinese Empire began with the reunification of the Chinese warring with the upheaval of the Sui and Tang dynasty. The upheaval, duration, and downfall of the Sui-Tang upheaval can be explored in terms of two sets of variables: 1. a. Geographical factors, such as Environment, climate, natural resources, disaster etc, b. demography and its influence on the unification and fragmentation, c. military superiority, d. economic institution, e. role of religions, 2. a. survival of the various economic, cultural, religious, and administrative institutions from Han times, b. social class structure and the state official-local elite relationship, c. cultural commitments. Due to the convoluted relationship among these factors, no exclusive judgment can be performed only from any of the two sets of variables. The Rise of the Sui-Tang Empire The Medieval Chinese Empire began its journey with the rise of the Sui Dynasty to the power of a unified Chinese state. Though the Sui Dynasty brought the bloody rivalry between the Northern China and the Southern China, it was short-lived because of its failure to preserve the popular interest, and ultimately the rise of the Tang Dynasty represented the upheaval of the medieval Chinese empire. Military power of the Sui Dynasty played an important role to the unification of the people, but its downfall was mainly associated with the warfare that led the dynasty to bankruptcy. It can be considered that the Sui dynasty contributed a lot to the reunification of the people of various races and ethnicities with its rejection of anti-Han policies, spread of Buddhism, and a more stable society –based on the ‘Equal-field’ with less gap between the rich and the poor. In addition, the “Three Departments and Six Ministries” system of the Sui rulers contributed to a strong centralized government that had its firm hold on both the North and South China because of the Grand Canal. The Sui Dynasty was prudent enough to manipulate all the geographical, social, economic, and religious factors for the unification of the highly fragmented population of China. However, what brought the dynasty to an end was its failure to maintain an effective relationship between the state officials and the local elites. As the successive ruler Tang Daizong says, During the Sui Dynasty, all officials in the central as well as the local governments, adopted an attitude of conformity to the general trend in order to be amiable and agreeable with one another…..[But] most of them did not understand the importance of dissent and confronted themselves….3 The dynasty’s ruthlessness in charging heavy taxes and forcing the people to labour gradually got them alienated from the common people. Finally, the involvement of the government with the expensive warfare gave birth to continuous rebellions, popular disloyalty, as Tang Daizong pointed to the tyranny of the emperor Sui Wenti, a ruler of the Sui Dynasty in the following sentence, “Knowing the kind of man he was, all his ministers, including the prime minister did not speak as candidly as they should have and unanimously uttered “Yes, sir’ when they should have registered strong dissent.”4 Triumph of the Tang Dynasty In the face of an insurgent Chinese population who were highly resented because of the tyranny of the Sui Dynasty the rise of the Tang dynasty was accepted by the people as the remedy to the oppression of the previous dynasty. Military power played a less important role to the rise of this dynasty. Rather Tang dynasty effectively handled the military power that it got as a legacy of the Sui dynasty. Indeed Tang dynasty resurrected the progress and development of China as an Empire that was started and subsequently suspended due to the tyranny of the Sui. The Tang effectively manipulated the military power in a way that ensured the unity of the Empire allowing it to concentrate its attention to the development of other sectors. Not any single factor or a set of handful factors did not play behind the successful evolution of the Chinese Empire during the Tang dynasty. Rather all of the previously discussed factors played their roles to the rise of the Empire. Though the Tang inherited a more or less effective administrative system, the Tang Emperors initiated many reforms that were intended to cope with the demands of the age. In the first place, the Tang Dynasty put it attention to solve the problems that it inherited as a legacy of the Sui. The attempts such as the ‘new legal code’ based on the ‘Sui legalism’, the ‘modification of the Equal-field system’ and the ‘Three Departments and Six Ministries’ etc assisted the Tang to build the Empire on a stable society that was financially at ease. Also Tang Empire’s success in the making the Empire lies in its maintenance of in a flexible relationship between the state officials and the local elites. During the first half of the Tang dynasty, the stability and solidarity was the prime target of every amendment, modification, and reform. The Tang rulers were well aware of the diverse nature of the Chinese population. So a culture that was committed to the longevity of the Empire were based on the Tang policy of a diverse but unified nation, as the founder of the Tang Dynasty says, “Different people are bound to have different opinions; the important thing is that differences in opinion should not degenerate into personal antagonism.”5 Therefore, this policy of the Tang Dynasty was able to create both the administrative and the social cultures that ultimately taught its people to preserve the nation’s interest first above the personal interest. However, the culture created a belief among the people that the state is only for their welfare, as it is said in the “Art of Government”, I want all of you to place public welfare above the private interest and hold steadfastly the principle of righteousness, so that all problems, whatever they are will be resolved in such a way as to bring about a most beneficial result.6 One of the striking aspects of the Tang Rule in China is that it did not manipulate any particular religion to the composition of the imperial culture. The relationship between religion and the politics of the ruler was such that so far as the religious diversity did not do any harm to the unity and solidarity of the Empire, all religion may go side by side. But during the later half of the Tang rule the royal family members started to accept Buddhism. Indeed the main thread of the progress and prosperity of the Tang dynasty lies in its policies for solidarity and stability of the empire that ultimately resulted into the booming of the economy, culture, and unparallel military power. The Downfall of the Tang Empire The decline of the Tang Empire started with the An Shi Rebellion (755-763) that seriously challenged the authority of the centralized Tang government. The effect of An Shi Rebellion was severe on the Tang dynasty. But the rebellion bore a greater significance in term of the stability of the Empire. The spirit and the zeal with which the Tang dynasty started its progress during Daizong period was gradually wearing out, though during Xuangzong period once again the empire was revived with new spirit. The credit of prosperity of the empire goes to only a few number of emperor. It is the spirit of the Tang Daizong’s period that took the empire to the peak of its prosperity. The culture among the royal family members that assigned the public welfare above the personal interests vanished long ago before the collapse of the Tang Empire. However, the culture including religious commitment of loyalty to the guardians of the empire deterred any rebellion and resentment among the common people until the An Shi Rebellion. The royal families received popular support to cope with the natural disasters before the rebellion of 755. However, those disasters that occurred after the rebellion rather added to the resentment of the common Chinese due to the obliviousness and callousness of the guardians of the empire. Such obliviousness of the Emperors rather inspired the opportunity mongers to rebel against the state to make it weak further. It is remarkable that Tang dynasty did not collapse because of any external forces, but due to the internal turmoil, chaos and attacks. The imperial families were too busy with their internal conflicts to take a notice to the wounded stability and solidarity of the empire. Consequently, they failed to take any effective steps to protect it preventing further rebellion. Finally, it is evident that the mainline of the collapse of the empire lies in the deviation of its ruler from the duty that Tang Daizong on the state rulers, Governing a country is taking care of a patient. The better the patients feels, the more he should be looked after, lest in a moment of complacency and neglect one irrevocably reverse the recovery process and send him to death.7 How the Collapse of the Empire might be checked The nature of the decline of the Tang Empire tells a lot of the ‘to do’s that would have been able to check its downfall. It is remarkable that the empire simply fell apart into “Five Dynasties and Six kingdoms”. Within few intervals, all of the dynasties emerged as independent kingdoms. It can be assumed that if the seeds of these kingdoms were not planted in the era prior to the fall of the Tang Dynasty, it would not have been possible to emerge in such a short interval. The seeds of these fragmentations within the Empire were planted during the end of the Xuangzong period when the emperors indulged themselves in sheer negligence, indifferences and irresponsibility. Even though several rebellions including the An Shi Rebellion in 1753 signaled the decline of the empire the emperors failed to perceive the consequences of these rebellion and eventually they failed to take any effective measures to promote the solidarity of the states. One of the great mistakes on the part of the Emperors was that they allowed the Jiiedushi, the regional armies to rise with greater power. Indeed the Tang dynasty collapsed due to the internal conflicts. Therefore if the internal conflicts and the rise of the regional army commanders were checked by any means, very possibly the Empire might have been prolonged. In this regard choosing the most eligible and qualified person as the emperor through election would be a better measure to check the internal conflicts than the hereditary system. Then the presence of a strong central Army comprised with the people from various ethnicity would have been able to check the rise of the Jiiedushi, a potential factor in the fall of the empire. Conclusion Indeed the flourish of the Tang dynasty has revolved around the stability and solidarity of the Chinese. The base of the unity and the solidarity of the Tang Empire was first embedded during the reign of Tang Daizong but the base of solidarity began to wear out during the later half of the Tang period. This decline of the Empire can be alleged to the incompetence of the emperors who ruled the Empire after the An Shi Rebellion. Finally, the Empire collapsed with the poisoning of the last Tang emperor Tang Aidi and the prediction of Tang Daizong came true: Likewise, when a country has only recently recovered from chaos and war, those responsible for running the country should be extremely diligent, for false pride and self-indulgence will inevitably return the country to where it used to be and perhaps make it worse.8 References Bryce, Viscount. 1915, “Religion as a Factor in the History of Empires”, The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 5: 1 Daizong, Tang. “The Art of Government”, Imperial China and the Diffusion of East Asian Civilization, Documents in World History, (1975): 220 Issawi, Charles. 1989, “Empire Builders, Culture Makers, and Culture Imprinters”, Journal of Interdisciplinary History, xx: 2: I78. Read More