A Concise History of China-Pangu to Puyi - Part 8

Laszlo Montgomery (0:00)

Welcome back, all CHP listeners all over the universe. Laszlo Montgomery here with another installment of this remake of the first series I ever attempted. A lot of history podcast columnists from several major newspapers are even going so far as to call it a tour de force. And we haven't even gotten to the best part yet, or have we? Well, you can be the judge of that. We finished off the last time with a quick sidebar looking at the life of the Buddhist monk, Shenzhang. And we ended in the milestone year of 630, four years into Taizong's reign. After the defeat to the Eastern Turks and subsequent conquest of Inner Asia, things were shaping up to be a golden age for China. Chang'an was considered so beautiful and breathtaking that even in the 7th and 8th centuries, you would get tourists who would come from India, Japan and as far away as the fringes of Europe. Zoroastrians and Nestorian Christians flocked to Chang'an and were welcomed and protected by Taizong who was, like, Akbar the Great almost a thousand years later, acted like a patron of the arts and threw China's doors open to any and all influences these foreign ideas gave. China began to export grain, rice, corn, silk and spices. There was so much surplus. The mandate of heaven just couldn't have been more secure. The Grand Canal and all of China's great and near-great waterways were alive with commerce. From Tang China harbors sailed vessels that traded at ports in Persia and India. Silk was selling for its weight in gold in Europe, yet on the streets of Chang'an and other aristocratic centers in the north and south, silk was a common fabric. Fur coats were more plentiful in 8th century Chang'an than in 20th century New York City. Never before had China been so wealthy and commanded so much attention, awe, and admiration from all the worlds they came in contact with. A census in 609 showed there were 9 million households, which roughly translated to 50 million people living in Tang Dynasty China. And during this time, when China was preeminent in the world, Europe was mired in darkness, Muslim armies were on the rampage in North Africa and the Western world. Only in 732 was Charles Martel able to stop their advance at Tur. And when Charles the Hammer was holding back the Umayyad conquerors at Tur, and being the last line of defense of Christendom and Western civilization, in China it was the peak years of the peak reign of the peak dynasty. The Tang dynasty was also contemporary with the establishment of the Carolingian dynasty, and Charlemagne reigned as the king of the Franks. Contemporary with the Tang, you also had the age of the Vikings and all the stress they gave to the people of Northern Europe. While Europe was still sorting itself out 300 years after the abdication of Romulus Augustilus in 476, China was thriving and advancing on all fronts. After the Eastern Turks had been subdued, Taizong set up a governing body called the Protectorate General to pacify the North, the Anbei Duhufu. And looking back, this policy was a stroke of brilliance on the emperor's part. It presented a new way to rule the steppe without the high cost and dubious outcomes of occupying it. It was a hybrid institution comprising a military command and bureaucratic overlordship. They were based in northern Shanxi near the Ordos region. It was a very enlightened kind of rule. The many tribes maintained their own leaders who were smothered in titles and honors bestowed upon them by the good folks in Chang'an. And these tribal leaders played along with it because there were clear benefits to signing up. What the Taizong Emperor got was peace on his northern frontier and all the fringe benefits of having a first-rate cavalry fighting force on his side. And the Imperial Court, being so familiar with all the nuances of Turkic politics, kept that pot simmering by showing favor to various competing leaders and keeping a gimlet eye open for any budding boomin kagan starting to emerge. For the time being, the only kagan that the Eastern Turks needed to be concerned about was the heavenly kagan, Tang Taizong himself. I wanted to mention Taizong's pugnacious Turkic vassal called the Xöyentuo. This Xöyentuo alliance had played an important role in allowing Tang forces to launch an offensive against the Eastern Turkic kaganate and ultimately defeat them in 630 The Xöyentuo were based in northern Mongolia on the Russian border south of Lake Baikal.

In subduing the Eastern Turks, not only did Tang China benefit, the Xöyentuo turned out to be the big winners, filling the vacuum of the lands lost by the Eastern Turks. Sooner or later the Tang military was going to have to deal with them too. And by 646, the Xöyentuo were put away by the Tang with a little help from their new friends, another group of Turks called the Uyghurs. The Xöyentuo, it's believed, not by everyone, that the Xhātó Turks may have splintered off from them. We'll meet the Xhātó Turks later on when we get to the mid to late Tang.