Imperial China, The Tang Dynasty (618-907)

The Tang dynasty was one of the high periods of traditional Chinese civilization. During the period of Tang rule, but especially during the dynasty’s first hundred years, China was the cultural center of East Asia. Merchants, pilgrims, missionaries, and students traveled to Chang’an, the Tang capital, in numbers never seen before or after in imperial China. Under the Tang, China enjoyed a more cosmopolitan culture than in any other period before the 20th century.