HsÐ"јAn Tsung: The Apex And Demise Of The Tang Dynasty

The reign of HsÐ"јan Tsung is considered to be the period during which the Tang Dynasty achieved its greatest prosperity and power. After HsÐ"јan Tsung's fall due to a rebellion by An Lu-Shan, however, the Tang Dynasty started on its inextricable path to destruction. Many changes were brought unto China's government and culture during HsÐ"јan Tsung's reign. HsÐ"јan Tsung maintained a balance of power between different factions of government and also made his capital, Chang-An, a meeting place of many cultures and religions. Because HsÐ"јan Tsung enjoyed the arts, he also set up numerous musical institutions in China which gave citizens the chance to indulge in their musical interests. Many aspects of culture from various places around the world would not have spread as fast as they did without the existence of HsÐ"јan Tsung in the Tang Dynasty.

HsÐ"јan Tsung was the third son of Jui Tsung who was himself a son of Empress Wu, the first empress of China. When HsÐ"јan Tsung was born, actual power was in the hands of Empress Wu even though his father Jui Tsung was nominal emperor. After the death of Empress Wu in 705, Jui Tsung was restored to the throne. Finally, in 713 after a power struggle with his sister, HsÐ"јan Tsung assumed full authority as emperor while his father retired into seclusion.

Ever since then, China entered a period of prosperity which is recorded as the Prosperity of the Kai Yuan Period. The Kai Yuan Period was the title of the first twenty years of HsÐ"јan Tsung's reign. During Kai Yuan, the social economy of China met its peak, and HsÐ"јan Tsung's capital Chang'an became the richest and most populous city in the world. Because of its massive trade with other cultures, Chang'an also became a meeting place of many cultures and religions. HsÐ"јan Tsung expanded the musical government department, the Jiaofang, which employed and trained thousands of musicians, acrobats, dancers, writers, and actors. HsÐ"јan Tsung also founded the first musical academy in China, the Liyuan, which was instituted for performance and training of professional young musicians. As for government, HsÐ"јan Tsung managed to maintain a balance of power and influence between competing parties of the ministers, members of the Imperial clan, palace officials, and members of the families of the imperial consorts. Military power was also expanded greatly in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang always succeeded in pushing back foreign powers like the Mongols, Turks, and Tibetans. The Tang Dynasty basked in its period of cultural flowering, government reform, and military expansion; however, decline of the Tang began soon after HsÐ"јan Tsung was pushed away by other government officials and forced into seclusion because of a rebellion led by An Lu Shan.

In 720, a period of wide-ranging reforms in administration began, and the whole structure of central government was changed in a way that concentrated the authority of chief ministers. Chief Ministers formally acquired more and more unprecedented power and prestige as the heads of government, and the Emperor's actual control of affairs began to decline. Reforms tended to destroy the balance of political power that HsÐ"јan Tsung had maintained before. By the late 740s some generals had grown so immeasurably powerful that they began to intervene in court politics. Also, military-wise, the Tang forged alliances with other foreigners and built up defensive works, but none of these strategies really worked, and eventually the Empire's borders slowly contracted back to the original