Tang Dynasty

This is an excellent secondary source for this project. In fact, it may be too good. 

The good news: Susan Whitfield has researched all kinds of historical details about the lives of various people who had different roles in various places along the Silk Roads and presents them in the style of a historical narative. 

The bad news: Susan Whitfield presents these facts in the style of a historical narrative, which means you'll need to be very careful to use facts from this resources, but not plagiarize her narratives, sequences, characters, storylines, etc. 

One way to do this is to take brief notes (like, pencil on paper) and do not copy and paste; this can limit both the (1) temptation to copy and the (2) lazy move of using too much from here and not finding other corroborating sources. 

Here is the link, and sections that may be of interest:

• page 14 -- The Merchant's Tale. He is Songdian (a Central Asian horseback-riding culture we are not focusing on in the sandbox), but this story does include a lot of information about the land-based Silk Roads. 

  • • • p27-34 -- the routes, camel travel

      • p34-36 -- the Tang Dynasty city of Chang'an

• page 55 -- Brief Chinese primary sources about warfare; not sure if Tang 

• page 57 -- The Horseman's Tale is from a Uyghur POV and not Chinese, but if you're interested in the importance of horses along the land-based Silk Roads this might work. 

• page 73 -- The Princess's Tale. "In the autumn of 821, Taihe, an imperial princess, sister of the current emperor of Tang China... [was] chosen as “tribute”: she was on her way to wed the Uygur khagan to cement their countries’ friendship."

• page 104 -- The Pilgrim's Tale is not directly related to our sandbox empires, but indirectly contains information about how religions spread along the Silk Roads. 

• page 126 -- The Writer's Tale includes some information about the Abbasid Caliphate early on, but is set slightly later, when the fall of the Abbasids have left sections of the Silk Road up for grabs and more dangerous. 

• page 138 -- The Official's Tale is set in the very late Tang Dynasty and includes information about the examination young men needed to pass to become government officials, Buddhism and Confucianism, calendars, the mandate of heaven, printing technology, almanacs, and more. 

• Page 158 -- The Nun's Tale will only be useful if you're studying Buddhism deeply, but does include brief information about the sack of Chang'an on page 155. 

• page 169 -- The Widow's Tale starts with some information about rural daily life along the western Chinese Silk Roads (Dunhuang) and some information about marriage. 

The rest of the book refers to dates later than the dynasties we're focusing on.

Source: Whitfield, Susan. Life along the Silk Road: Second Edition. 2015. p126.

This information on the maritime Silk Road route, from west to east, is compiled from two primary sources -- an anonymous traveler writing in 851, An Account of China and India, and the slightly later Book of Routes and Realms (Kitab al-Masalik wa-l-mamalik) of Ibn Khurradadbih (d. 885). 

From the Persian Gulf to Khanfu (Guangzhou): 

From the primary western-most port of maritime trade, Siraf (where goods from Baghdad and Basra were transferred) came the sometimes-dangerous journey (owing to pirates and reefs) through the Persian Gulf. 

Then ships cut across the ocean to the port of Kollam Malay on the southwestern coast of India, where large China-bound ships were assessed a toll of 1000 dirhams. 

From there, the China-bound ship skirted the southern coast of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), made for the Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal to replenish food and water, stopped at Kalah Bar in Malaya, passed through the Malacca Straits, made additional stops at the island of Tiyumah, Sanf in Champa and the nearby island of Sanf Fulau, and finally headed to Khanfu. The south China coast had dangerous reefs and storms. 

A general timetable for the whole trip: roughly a lunar month (29–30 days) for each of the four legs of the trip, marked by Kollam Malay, Kalah Bar, Sanf and Khanfu. With stops, the whole trip would take around six months.

The most striking feature of this account is how unremarkable it is. The route it describes was lengthy and complex but also well known and frequently traveled.

Khanfu was not the end of the road for many of the Arab and Persian merchants who made their way to China. Merchants stopped first at Luqin (Annan or Hanoi), then at Khanfu, then Khanju (Quanzhou), and then Qantu (Yangzhou) at the beginning of the Grand Canal. Yangzhou was a major emporium for inter-Asian trade, with substantial populations of Arabs and Persians. There is evidence, moreover, that Persian merchants were active not only in the ports but in many Tang cities, unlike the later Song period, when foreign merchants were restricted to designated port cities.

Source: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/muslim-merchants-of-premodern-china/merchants-of-an-imperial-trade/2736CF75BA700D965FAA934381F261EC 

Ibn Battuta was a famous Muslim Moroccan traveler, who reached China in 1345 CE

"The people of China do not do business for (gold) dinars and (silver) dirhams. They buy and sell with pieces of paper the size of the palm of the hand, which are stamped with the sultan's stamp. Twenty-five such pieces are the same as [one] dinar among us. If these pieces of paper become tattered from handling, they take them to a house which is like our mint and receive new ones instead. If anyone goes to the bazaar with a silver dirham or a dinar intending to buy something with it, it is not accepted and he is disregarded." 

Source: Ibn Battuta, Mackintosh-Smith, Tim (trans). The Travels of Ibn Battutah. Picador, 2002. 

Han Yu (768-824) was orphaned at a young age, but educated himself through diligent study. He passed the Imperial examinations and worked for four Tang emperors as a government official, writer, Confucian scholar, and poet. He believed in Confucianism – a Chinese belief system of principles meant to keep harmony in the family and in society as a whole – strong central authority in politics, and orthodoxy [sticking with tradition] in cultural matters. 

Tang Emperors sometimes supported Confucianism and other times Buddhism, leading to a period of tension and struggle between the two philosophies. Han Yu was exiled when he submitted this petition of protest to his ruler, the Xianzong emperor, in 819.

Your servant begs leave to say that Buddhism is no more than a cult of the barbarian peoples, which spread to China…. It did not exist here in ancient times… 

Your Majesty – wise in the arts of peace and war, unparalleled in divine glory from countless ages past – considered… prohibiting men and women from taking Buddhist orders and forbidding them from building temples and monasteries. 

 Yet now your servant hears that Your Majesty has ordered monks to go to Fengxiang to greet the bone of Buddha, that Your Majesty will watch from a tower as it is brought into the palace, and that the various temples have been commanded to welcome and worship it in turn. Though your servant is abundantly ignorant, he understands that Your Majesty is not seeking some blessing or reward from Buddhism; this has been a year of plenty and the people are joyful, and Your Majesty will provide them with some curious show and toy for their amusement…

But the common people are ignorant and dull, easily misled and hard to enlighten. If they see this, they might say that Your Majesty is serving Buddhism with a true heart. Then our old ways will be corrupted, our customs violated, and the tale will spread to make us the mockery of the world. This is no trifling matter! 

Buddha was a man of the barbarians who did not speak the language of China and wore clothes of a different fashion. He did not understand the duties that bind an Emperor and his people, or a father and son. How, then, could his rotten bones, the foul and unlucky remains of his body, be rightly admitted to the palace? Confucius said, “Respect spiritual beings, while keeping at a distance from them.” Yet now, without reason, Your Majesty has caused this loathsome thing to be brought in and would personally go to view it. 

• This isn't a period SUPER well known for advances in medicine and science. If that's really your jam, check out the Abbasid Caliphate: they were bigger movers and shakers in these areas. 

• Philosophy was a huge deal in the Tang, because it's arguable that Confucianism and Taoism are primarily philosophical and not religious, but I put them in the religion section with Buddhism anyway, so scroll up. 

• A famous discovery of the Tang Dynasty (and one of the "Four Great Inventions" of all of Chinese history) was gunpowder -- head down to the military section for more. 

• If you must have a source before leaving, fine, here's a link about Tang Dynasty science and technology, but don't complain that woodblock printing should be up in the art section and all that's really left is air conditioning. I know. 

Abū Zayd al-Sīrāfī was an Abbasid seafarer who wrote the second half of the book Accounts of China and India.

"They have a stone tablet set up, ten cubits tall, on which is written in engraved characters a list of remedies and diseases, each particular disease paired with its appropriate remedy. And if a sick person is poor, he is given the cost of his medicine from the public treasury."

Source: Abū Zayd al-Sīrāfī, Tim Mackintosh-Smith (trans). "Accounts of China and India." Two Arabic Travel Books. New York University Press, 2014. 

Li Shimin reigned as Taizong, second emperor of the Tang dynasty, from 626 until his death in 649. An energetic ruler, Tang Taizong had played a major part in the military campaigns that brought his father (Li Yuan, Tang Gaozu, r. 618-626) to the throne as the first emperor of the Tang dynasty. Having eliminated his two competitors for the throne (his brothers Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji) in an ambush at the capital city’s Xuanwu Gate in 624, Li Shimin forced his father into retirement in 626 to take the throne for himself. As the second emperor of the Tang dynasty, Li Shimin gave shape to the administrative structure of the empire. The text below was written in 648, near the end of his reign, and was meant to serve as advice to his heirs.

How
a
Ruler
Should
Act
 
 
 

A
country
cannot
be
a
country
without
people
and
a
ruler
cannot
be
a
ruler
without
a
 country.
When
the
ruler
looks
as
lofty
and
firm
as
a
mountain
peak
and
as
pure,
bright,
and
 illuminating
as
the
sun
and
the
moon,
the
people
will
admire
and
respect
him.
He
must
broaden
his
will
so
as
to
be
able
to
embrace
both
Heaven
and
earth
and
must
regulate
his
heart
 so
as
to
be
able
to
make
just
decisions.
He
cannot
expand
his
territory
without
majesty
and
 virtue;
he
cannot
soothe
and
protect
his
people
without
compassion
and
kindness.
He
comforts
his
relations
with
benevolence,
treats
his
officials
with
courtesy,
honors
his
ancestors
with
filial
respect,
and
receives
his
subordinates
with
thoughtfulness.
Having
disciplined
himself,
he
practices
virtue
and
righteousness
diligently.
This
is
how
a
ruler
should
act.



Establishing
Relatives
 
 
 

The
country
is
huge
and
the
responsibility
for
it
is
heavy.
A
huge
country
cannot
be
 evenly
governed
by
the
emperor
alone;
the
responsibility
is
too
great
for
one
man.

Thus,
the emperor
should
appoint
relatives
to
guard
the
outlying
prefectures.

Whether
the
country
is
at peace
or
in
danger,
they
cooperate;
whether
the
country
is
thriving
or
declining,
they
work
together
with
one
heart.
Both
distant
and
close
relations
are
supported
and
employed;
encroachment
and
rebellion
are
prevented.
 

Welcoming
Advice
 
 
 

The
emperor,
living
in
the
palace,
is
blocked
from
direct
access
to
information.

For
fear
 that
faults
might
be
left
untold
or
defects
unattended,
he
must
set
up
various
devices
to
elicit loyal
suggestions
and
listen
attentively
to
sincere
advice…
 
 

A
foolish
emperor,
by
comparison,
rebuffs
remonstrations
and
punishes
the
critics.

As
a result,
high
officials
do
not
give
advice
lest
they
lose
their
salary
and
low
officials
do
not
make
 any
comment
lest
they
lose
their
lives.


[Translated
by
Chiu‑yueh
Lai]


From Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook, edited by Patricia Buckley Ebrey, 2nd ed. (New York: The Free Press, 1993), 112-115. © 1993 The Free Press. Reproduced with the permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.  http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/main_pop/ps/ps_china.htm  

Abū Zayd al-Sīrāfī was a seafarer who moved from the Persian port-city of Siraf to Basra in 915-916. He wrote the second half of Accounts of China and India. 

"If the price of grain rises too high, the ruler releases stocks from his granaries and sells it at less than the market price, causing the inflation to end.

"The income of the public treasury comes from the poll tax. I believe that the daily income of the public treasury in Khānfū (Guangzhou) is as much as fifty thousand dinars, even though it is not the greatest of their cities.

"Among the country’s minerals, the ruler has exclusive rights to salt. He also has the rights to a plant that they drink with hot water and that is sold in every city for large sums of money, called sākh. It is leafier than alfalfa and a little more aromatic, with a bitterness to it. To prepare it, water is boiled, then the leaves are sprinkled on it, and it serves them as an antidote to all ailments. 

"The entire income of the public treasury consists of the poll tax and the receipts from salt and this plant."

Source: Abū Zayd al-Sīrāfī, Tim Mackintosh-Smith (trans). "Accounts of China and India." Two Arabic Travel Books. New York University Press, 2014. 

Confucius / Kong Fuzi / 孔夫子 (551-479 BCE), a revered Chinese philosopher, emphasized ethics, moral principles, and social harmony. During the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE), his teachings gained renewed significance as rulers sought stable governance. Confucian ideals guided societal structure, education, and bureaucracy, contributing to the dynasty's prosperous and culturally rich era. 

Selection
from
the
Confucian
Analects:
 "On
Women
and
Servants" 
 

17:25
 
 Women
and
servants
are
most
difficult
to
nurture.
If
one
is
close
to
them,
they
 lose
their
reserve,
while
if
one
is
distant,
they
feel
resentful.


Selection
from
the
Confucian
Analects:
 "On
Filial
Piety"
 
 

1:11

 
 The
Master
said,
“When
a
person’s
father
is
alive,
observe
his
intentions.
After
 his
father
is
no
more,
observe
his
actions.
If
for
three
years
he
does
not
change
his
father’s
ways,
 he
is
worthy
to
be
called
filial.”



From Sources of Chinese Tradition, compiled by Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom, 2nd ed., vol. 1 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), 62. © 1999 Columbia University Press. Reproduced with the permission of the publisher. All rights reserved. http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/main_pop/ps/ps_china.htm 

The Tang Dynasty engaged in a number of wars of aggressive territorial expansion, particularly into Central Asia and on the Korean peninsula. These wars enabled the Tang to greatly expand the territory of the Tang Empire. They also involved extensive mobilization of men and resources.  

War also touched the Tang heartland directly in the form of the An Lushan Rebellion, which lasted from 755 to 763 and brought devastation to the central areas of the empire, including the capital cities of Chang’an and Luoyang.  

Tang poets — who were generally also high-ranking officials — had many opportunities to observe war (often as participants and eyewitnesses) and to reflect on it in poetry. 

Li Bo (701-762) and his younger contemporary Du Fu (712-770) are the two most famous poets of the Tang dynasty. Li Bo did not serve as an official, though he did spend two years as a scholar at the Hanlin Academy (a kind of “think tank” for the emperors).

His family background may have had something to do with his failure to become an official: Li Bo’s birthplace is unknown, but he was certainly not from an elite aristocratic family. With no hope for an official career, Li Bo spent much of his life traveling around the empire. The poem below may have been written in 751, when Li Bo would have been aware of two major defeats inflicted on the Tang armies: a disastrous campaign against the independent kingdom of Dali in present-day Yunnan (in southwestern China) and a defeat at the hands of the Abbasid Caliphate at the Talas River in modern Kyrgyzstan.

Fighting
South
of
the
Rampart
By
Li
Bo
 


Last
year
we
were
fighting
at
the
source
of
the
Sanggan; 1
 

This
year
we
are
fighting
on
the
Onion
River
road. 2
 

We
have
washed
our
swords
in
the
surf
of
Parthian
seas;

 

We
have
pastured
our
horses
among
the
snows
of
the
Tian
Shan. 3

 

The
King’s
armies
have
grown
gray
and
old

 

Fighting
ten
thousand
leagues
away
from
home.

 





















































The
Huns
have
no
trade
but
battle
and
carnage;

 

They
have
no
fields
or
ploughlands,

 

But
only
wastes
where
white
bones
lie
among
yellow
sands.

 

Where
the
House
of
Qin
built
the
great
wall
that
was
to
keep
away
the
Tartars,
 4

There,
in
its
turn,
the
House
of
Han
lit
beacons
of
war.

5 

The
beacons
are
always
alight,
fighting
and
marching
never
stop.

 

Men
die
in
the
field,
slashing
sword
to
sword;

 

The
horses
of
the
conquered
neigh
piteously
to
Heaven.

 

Crows
and
hawks
peck
for
human
guts,
 

Carry
them
in
their
beaks
and
hang
them
on
the
branches
of
withered
trees.

 

Captains
and
soldiers
are
smeared
on
the
bushes
and
grass;

 

The
General
schemed
in
vain.

 

Know
therefore
that
the
sword
is
a
cursed
thing



Which
the
wise
man
uses
only
if
he
must. 

1
The
river
that
runs
west
to
east
through
northern
Shanxi,
north
of
the
Great
Wall.
 

2
The
Kashgar‑darya
in
Turkestan.
 

3
The
“Heavenly
Mountains”
in
China’s
northwest.


4 The Qin were two dynasties before to the Tang, started building the Great Wall

5 The Han were the previous dynasty

From Sources of Chinese Tradition, compiled by Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom, 2nd ed., vol. 1 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), 565-566. © 1999 Columbia University Press. http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/ps/cup/libo_fighting.pdf

Posted 2 years ago by u/BeneficialTwist749 

The battle of Talas took place near Taraz on the modern border between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in 751 AD. The exact location is yet to be confirmed but the accounts of the events place it on the banks of the Talas River. It took place after a series of smaller engagements between the Umayyad (soon to be Abbasid) empire and the Tang empire, as the two major powers intervened in the local conflicts to gain or maintain control over the Silk Roads. 

One story of what caused this battle stated that two local kings of Tashkent and Ferghana (Silk Road towns) fought and the latter won with the support of a general serving the Tang dynasty and his troops. The Tang general supposedly had the king beheaded for refusing to pay the tribute he owed the Chinese empire, which in turn caused the son of the king to call for the help of the Abbasids. There is another version where an Abbasid general named Ziyad ibn Salih who was already present to help the Tashkent king in his war escaped the city when the besieging army broke in and went to Samarkand to gather an army and confront the Tang army. Meanwhile Gao Xianzhi recruited Karluk Turks in Ferghana to bolster the ranks of his army.

The sources are fuzzy to say the least and it only gets worse when it comes to the actual battle itself, but whichever story we choose to follow we end up with two armies facing each other near the Talas River.

When it comes to the numbers involved you end up with radically different versions ranging from 40 000 Arab soldiers supported by 20 000 Turks and contingents from the allied Tibetan empire according to the Arab records, to 200 000 soldiers in total forming the ranks of the Abbasid army according to some Chinese estimates. As for the Tang army, once again we are faced with wildly diverging numbers from 10 000 Tang soldiers flanked by 20 000 Karluk mercenaries for the Chinese sources, to a 100 000 to 150 000 soldiers strong Tang army according to the Arab sources.

The Chinese records also insist on the fact that the Tang forces marched a long distance to reach Tashkent and were exhausted when the two armies came to face each other. 

As you might suspect, the battle itself is subject to very different accounts. 

One version speaks of three days of battle during which the Chinese had the upper hand on their foe but not significantly enough to rout or crush them. On the fourth day, the Karluks flanking the Tang forces turned on them and engaged the army in a close quarter fight while the Caliphate army charged them on the front. 

The second version differs in the chain of event yet present a similar ending: the two armies faced each other but feared to engage the fight for four days. On the fifth, a small force of Karluks that had positioned itself on the other bank of the Talas River and seemed neutral up to this point charged the Tang flank prompting the Abbasid to attack the front of the Chinese lines. 

In both cases we end up with a crushing defeat for the Chinese although the first version seems a bit more likely to have happened given that sources tend to tell us that despite the very heavy losses on the Tang side (according to Chinese sources that estimate the number of Tang soldiers to 10 000, Gao Xianzhi only retreats with 2 000 of his men), the Chinese also inflicted significant damage on the Abbasid forces. 

Whichever version we read, we end up with the same situation. The Chinese are heavily defeated due to the defection of the Karluk mercenaries in favour of the Abbasid. Whether their shift in allegiance comes from some form of transaction or from the fact that they were convinced by the Abbasid and their Turkish allies that they were closer in culture and religion and therefore in interest to them than the Chinese is hard to determine but the end result remains the same. The Abbasid routed their enemies and the Chinese are in such disarray that they leave behind their camp and all their civilian followers, which the Arabs take prisoners.

And here we touch the most important part of this story -- because among these civilians were engineers and artisans who supported the army in all its needs – be it administrative, with paper, or of a more strategic nature, with black powder. 

From this point onward, the Abbasid Empire had access to the secret of paper making. The first papermaking workshop was created in Samarkand only a few years later. And in the following half century, paper would spread across the entire empire, starting in the imperial capital of Bagdad with the creation of its first paper mill in 794-795. This technology underpinned an Islamic golden age of intellectual creation. 

Arabic sources tend to support this version of the story, in which the prisoners of war are the mean of this technological transfer between China and the Middle East -- but no "official" Chinese source confirms this. But we do have a record from one of those prisoners of war, Du Huan, who writes on his time in the Abbasid Empire once he returns to China. In his story, he describes how some of his fellow prisoners make use of their crafts such as silk weaving while living in the Abbasid territory. 

Therefore, despite the absence of other "official" Chinese sources confirming that the technological transfer happened through these prisoners, this firsthand record plus the timing on the creation of those paper mills first in the neighbouring town of Samarkand, and then in the capital of Bagdad, doesn’t leave much room for simple coincidence. It seems almost certain that the Battle of Talas is indeed the sole reason for this sudden breach in the so far well-kept crafting secrets of those Chinese high-end export goods that were paper and silk.

Now, you may ask: “why is it such a big deal to know how to make paper?” At first glance, the Abbasid Empire had papyrus produced in Egypt that was good enough to last throughout Egypt during the Antiquity, the Roman Empire and the Greeks. And parchment from Kufa and Edessa were famous for the quality of their production. 

So what could make the acquisition of paper such a revolution? 

• Paper is easier to use because the fibers aren’t as pronounced as they can be in a papyrus and therefore leave much more liberty to trace your letters, especially when your calligraphy tends to include complex shapes such as those in Arabic. 

• Paper is quite easy and cheap to produce once the craft is mastered and the technique becomes widespread; in comparison, producing enough parchment for one hefty book could take a full year and would cost an enormous amount. 

• Paper is way more flexible and yet sturdy; papyrus is much more demanding in its handling; parchment is the most sturdy, but decomposes the most over time. 

• Paper is also relatively light (much lighter than parchment and a bit lighter than papyrus) and you can also dye it, which gives you much more freedom to embellish your writings. 

Paper wins on all fronts, and its widespread availability allowed for the intensification of written production and its long distance exchange. With paper: 

• Scientists, philosophers and thinkers could write, exchange and receive new ideas from far away at a reasonable cost and in a timely and easy manner. 

• Paper created a private market for books that allowed more people (and not just royals, churches, and governments) to buy and own books and access knowledge more readily. 

• It allowed for the creation and growth of public libraries. 

It is within this new reality that the Abbasids experience a brilliant era of intellectual dynamism, with knowledge flowing more rapidly, to more distant lands, reaching many more readers.

This battle has many more consequences, among which are the Islamisation of the Turks, the rupture of communication between Chinese and Indian Buddhists, leading to the development of a separate Chinese Buddhist canon. But this text is already rather lengthy. 

Thank you for reading all this if you reached this point and once again, please excuse any errors or misspellings and please feel free to correct me on anything, as it would help me a great deal.

Source. 

Abū Zayd al-Sīrāfī was a seafarer who moved from the Persian port-city of Siraf to Basra in 915-916. He wrote the second half of Accounts of China and India. This passage is written by the translator of al-Sīrāfī's work, Tim Mackintosh-Smith. 

And then, in the last quarter of [the ninth] century, disaster struck. As Abū Zayd puts it, “the trading voyages to China were abandoned and the country itself was ruined, leaving all traces of its greatness gone.” 

From 874 on, China was convulsed by one of those rebellions that seem to well up there every few centuries; the emperor’s fears of instability came home to roost, in the heart of his palace in the Tang capital, Chang’an, captured by the rebel leader Huang Chao in 880. As for bad publicity, it could hardly have been worse than news of the wholesale massacre of foreign merchants in Khānfū/Guangzhou. 

The Gulf ʼs direct seaborne trade with China withered away. 

“China,” Abū Zayd goes on, “has remained in chaos down to our own times.” 

The lesser Indian trade remained, and Gulf merchants still struck deals over Chinese goods, but only at the halfway point of Kalah Bār (a trading port -- still not identified with certainty -- on the west coast of the Malaysian peninsula). 

Source: Abū Zayd al-Sīrāfī, Tim Mackintosh-Smith (trans). "Accounts of China and India." Two Arabic Travel Books. New York University Press, 2014. 

Confucius had very little to say about the roles and expectations of women in the family or in society. Confucian scholars needed to apply the principles of Confucius and Mencius to come up with expectations and norms for women in a Confucian family and society. They also wrote about why girls and women should be educated and how. 

Two of the most influential scholars in this area were women of the Tang dynasty:
Song Ruohua and her sister, Song Ruozhao. 

Both were daughters of a high-ranking Tang official, Song Fen. Ruohua wrote the text below, while her sister, Ruozhao, publicized it. Ruozhao did not marry, but dedicated her life to the instruction of women, being invited to the court of the Tang Dezong Emperor in the late  eighth century to serve as instructor of the royal princesses. 

The “Analects for Women” was one of the most popular texts for women’s education in
pre-modern China.    

Excerpts
from
"Analects
for
Women"
 

By
Song
Ruozhao
 
 

When
walking,
don’t
turn
your
head;
when
talking,
don’t
open
your
mouth
wide;
when
sitting,
don’t
move
your
knees;
when
standing,
don’t
rustle
your
skirts;
when
happy,

don’t
exult
with loud
laughter;
when
angry,
don’t
raise
your
voice.


The
inner
and
outer
quarters
are
distinct;
the sexes
should
be
segregated.

Don’t
peer
over
the
outer
wall
or
go
beyond
the
outer
courtyard.
If
 you
have
to
go
outside,
cover
your
face;
if
you
peep
outside,
conceal
yourself
as
much
as
 possible.


Do
not
be
on
familiar
terms
with
men
outside
the
family;
have
nothing
to
do
with
 women
of
bad
character.
Establish
your
proper
self
so
as
to
become
a
[true]
human
being.
 
 

…
 


Your
father‑in‑law
and
mother‑in‑law
are
the
heads
of
your
husband’s
family…
You
must
care for
them
as
your
own
mother
and
father.
Respectfully
serve
your
father‑in‑law.
Do
not
look
at him
directly
[when
he
speaks
to
you],
do
not
follow
him
around,
and
do
not
engage
him
in
conversation.
If
he
has
an
order
for
you,
listen
and
obey.
 
 

…


Listen
carefully
to
and
obey
whatever
your
husband
tells
you. If
he
[your
husband]
does
something
wrong,
gently
correct
him.
Don’t
be
like
those
women
who
not
only
do
not
correct
their
husbands,
but
actually
lead
them
into
indecent
ways…
Don’t imitate
those
shrewish
wives
who
love
to
clash
head
with
their
husbands
all
the
time.
 


…
 
 

A
woman
who
manages
the
household
should
be
thrifty
and
diligent.
If
she
is
diligent,
the
 household
thrives;
if
lazy,
it
declines.
If
she
is
thrifty,
the
household
becomes
enriched;
if extravagant,
it
becomes
impoverished…
If
your
husband
has
money
and
rice,
store
and
 conserve
them.
If
he
has
wine
or
foodstuffs,
save
and
keep
them
for
use
of
guests
when
they
come;
do
not
take
any
to
indulge
your
own
desires.


Sources of Chinese Tradition, compiled by Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom, 2nd ed., vol. 1
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), 827-831. © 1999 Columbia University Press. http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/ps/cup/song_ruozhao_analects.pdf

Tang China was not a slave society in the sense of having an economy that relied on chattel slavery along the lines of the economies of the Roman Empire or the ante-bellum American south. However, slavery did exist. Poor men and women might sell themselves into slavery, and poor families might sell children into slavery. During the Tang dynasty, slavery was hereditary, and slaves could be bought and sold. This document records the sale of a female slave.    

Excerpts
from
Deed
of
Sale
of
a
Slave
 
 

A
contract
executed
on
the
12th
day
of
the
eleventh
month
of
991.

 
 
 

On
this
day
the
functionary,
Han
Yuanding,
having
expenses
to
meet
and
lacking
 sufficient
stores
of
silk,
sells
his
household
slave
Jiansheng,
aged
about
twenty‑eight.


The
slave
is
being
sold
to
the
monastery
dependent,
Zhu
Yuansong,
then
to
Zhu’s
wife
and
sons,
etc.


The
price
of
the
slave
has
been
fixed
at
a
total
of
five
bolts
of
silk,
consisting
of
both
finished
and unfinished
goods. On this
day,
the
buyer
has
remitted
three
bolts
of
unfinished
silk.
The
fifth
month
of
next
year
has
been
established
as
the
deadline
for
the
delivery
of
the
remaining
two
bolts
of
finished
silk.

 
 
 

After
the
woman
and
the
goods
have
been
exchanged
and
the
sale
completed,
it
is
 agreed
that
the
sons
and
daughters
of
the
Zhu
family
shall
be
masters
of
this
slave
forever
and ever,
from
generation
to
generation.
If
in
future
a
relative
of
the
seller
should
reclaim
this
slave,
it
is
ordered
that
the seller Han
Yuanding
and
his
wife,

Seventh
Daughter,
will seek
out
an
adequate
slave
as
a
replacement.
If
an
imperial
amnesty
of slavery should
be
declared
subsequent
to
the
sale,
it
may
not
be
used
to
reopen
discussions
among
the
negotiants.
 
 
 

The
two
parties
to
the
contract
have
met
face
to
face
and
have
reached
their
agreement
 after
joint
discussions.
If
one
of
the
parties
should
default,
he
shall
be
fined
one
bolt
of
 decorated
silk
and
two
large
rams
—
all
to
be
turned
over
to
the
non‑defaulting
party.


The
following
persons
have witnessed
this contract
and
will
serve
as
its
guarantors:
 
 

The
woman
whose
person
is
being
sold,
Jiansheng
 
 
 

The
seller
of
the
woman,
her
mistress,
Seventh
Daughter
 

The
Seller
of
the
woman,
her
master,
Han
Yuanding
 

A
relative
by
marriage,
who
has
participated
in
the
discussion,
Fuzhen
 
 

A
witness,
Monk
Chouda
of
Baoen
Monastery
 

A
witness,
Monk
Luo
Xian
of
Longxing
Monastery
                                            

 [Translated
by
Patricia
Ebrey
and
Clara
Yu]


From Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook, edited by Patricia Buckley Ebrey, 2nd ed. (New York: The Free Press, 1993), 126-127. © 1993 The Free Press. http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/ps/china/slave_deed.pdf

Abū Zayd al-Sīrāfī was a Abbasid seafarer who moved from the Persian port-city of Siraf to Basra in 915-916. He wrote the second half of Accounts of China and India, supplementing an earlier section written by an unknown mariner and merchant fifty years earlier.

The Chinese, whether young or old, wear silk in both winter and summer. Their ruling classes wear the finest silk; other classes wear whatever quality they can afford. In winter, the men wear two pairs of trousers, or three, four, five, or even more pairs, according to what they can afford. This they do in order to keep the lower parts of their bodies warm, on account of the prevalence of damp and their fear of its ill effects. In summer they wear a single gown of silk, or something of that sort. They do not wear turbans.

Their staple food is rice. They often cook a sauce to go with it, which they pour on the rice before eating it. Their ruling classes, however, eat wheat bread and the flesh of all sorts of animals, including pigs and other such creatures. They have various kinds of fruit—apples, peaches, citrons, pomegranates, quinces, pears, bananas, sugarcane, watermelons, figs, grapes, serpent melons, cucumbers, jujubes, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pistachioes, plums, apricots, serviceberries, and coconuts. Not many date palms are to be found in China, except for the occasional specimen in the garden of a private house. Their drink is a wine made from rice. Grape wine is not to be found in their land, and it is never imported—indeed, they do not know of it and do not drink it. From rice they manufacture vinegar, wine, jellied sweetmeats, and other such products.

The Chinese are unhygienic, and they do not wash their backsides with water after defecating but merely wipe themselves with Chinese paper. They eat carrion and other similar things... Their womenfolk leave their heads uncovered but put combs in their hair, a single woman often wearing twenty combs of ivory and other such materials. Their menfolk, however, cover their heads with something like a cap. In dealing with thieves, their practice is to put them to death if they are caught.

Source: Abū Zayd al-Sīrāfī, Tim Mackintosh-Smith (trans). "Accounts of China and India." Two Arabic Travel Books. New York University Press, 2014. 

"Clothing form and design and associated fashions, for both men and women, constituted a significant part of the cultural exchanged facilitated by the Silk Roads. 

"This was particularly true between the steppe and other cultures, where a number of different garment types and design motifs came together to form popular fashions that combined design motifs and symbolism from many different societies. 

"These exchanges, which could be mercantile or involve the diplomatic gifting of clothing, often fused design motifs, and introduced new materials into regions to create hybrid objects which could be wholly practical or imbued with meaning and reflect social status...

"As the name suggests, the trade of luxury silk textiles formed a significant part of the exchange of clothing taking place along the Silk Roads. However, many different items were exchanged and in multiple directions. Archaeological finds of clothing from along these routes help establish a better understanding of cultural links and contacts as well as reveal much about social structures, resource availability, and economic history of the regions on these routes. The popularity of silk textiles is by no means the only example, with exchange in clothing norms and fashions flowing in multiple directions -- not just from the East westwards, but with goods and ideas also running West-East, North-South, and South-North in a complex web of relations. 

"In particular, the dry climate of western China has preserved many items of clothing from along the Silk Roads including trousers, skirts, and caftans, as well as boots and leather coats and belts, often revealed during archaeological excavations. Influences from merchants and travellers from the Greco-Roman Empire, Parthia, Sogdia, and the Saka city states of the Kushan Empire at the southern side of the Tarim Basin have been identified in the numerous styles, designs, materials and clothing types uncovered. 

"One such example of mercantile exchange flowing in a West-East direction is the process of the popularisation of trousers. 

"During the Han Dynasty (221–206 BCE), Mongolian nomads were the primary trade suppliers of horses to neighbouring regions including China. The introduction of Mongolian horses, and with it the practice of horse riding, had a deep impact on Chinese culture, particularly within clothing styles, leading to the widespread adoption of trousers amongst men. 

"Trousers, often paired with a caftan, another item of clothing illustrative of complex cultural interactions, were very popular among the lengths of the Silk Roads as they aided mobility and made horse riding over long distances more comfortable and practical.  An interesting example of an early trouser find comes from a grave at Sampula in the Tarim Basin dating from the 1st century BCE. The trousers are made from wool and feature a design of a man holding a spear with a representation of a centaur above him. However, they are unique in that the scale of the design suggests they were in fact fashioned from a repurposed section of a large woollen wall-hanging from the 3rd – 2nd centuries BCE, possibly made in Bactria. 

"Woven belts were another important item of clothing, considered prestigious possessions in a vast number of societies stretching from the Black Sea to the Mongolian steppe..."
[Click on the source below if you want more info on belts...] 

"Dress is an essential facet of social life. In addition to the practical applications of protecting the wearer from the elements etc., clothing and other adornments, such as belts and jewellery, are cultural expressions of huge influence throughout the ancient and contemporary world. Clothing and fashion intersect with the arts, politics, and science, exerting considerable influence over wider culture. 

"Through a complex network of mercantile exchange, a hybrid language of material culture was established whereby clothing, and transmitted and repurposed design motifs, served as a medium for discourse both between different societies along the Silk Roads and between the individual and society."

Source: https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/content/did-you-know-popularisation-trousers-china-and-other-cross-cultural-influences-reflected

A Privilege of Nobles

"Given the importance of horses, people in Tang Dynasty saw them as crucial instruments serving diploma and military. Corresponding to this, riding horse was regarded as a privilege for the noble. Thereby, the Tang government tried to carry out a decree to forbid craftsmen and businessmen to ride horses." Source. 

The Role that Horses Played in the Development of Technology in China

"Horses were so important that some emperors were buried with their horses. As empires increased in size, horses became a rulers' main way of keeping in contact with his land. Also, the power of an army was measured by the number of war chariots, pulled by horses, that a region had. During the Han Dynasty, the Chinese spend extreme amount of money on importing horses from the west. Then, in the Tang Dynasty, horses began to be bred from  imported Arab and Turkish breeds.

"Since China was always under the threat of dangerous nomadic neighbours, they needed to abandon the war chariot and turn to cavalry. It was a much more effective method to protect themselves and, because of this, was used for a long time.

"The Tang had different uses for different horses depending on what they were going to be used for in the military or for leisure. Horses used for war were various sizes. Large ones were used for pulling, small for speed, and the rest depended on how much they needed to carry.

"Horses used for military were trained to have a rider that did not rely on the reins. The horse only responded to pressure applied by feet. They were also trained to ignore loud noises when in battle and be comfortable with the armour used during warfare. Some horses were trained to work together in order to pull a chariot. Some horses that would be used on the front lines were taught and even encouraged to fight, kick, and bite in order to protect themselves and their rider. Some horses that were used for raids were taught to remain absolutely silent which is quite impressive for a large animal such as a horse. 

"The Chinese also invented the stirrup to hold the rider's foot, giving the rider control of the horse's movements and a stable place to stand and shoot while still on the horse. The horse collar was also invented, making it easier for the horse to carry heavy loads long distances." 

Source

Tang Dynasty Use of Horses

"In Tang times, only government officials or traders who were rich enough to maintain their own stables used horses. For the everyday local distribution of large essential commodities, transport relied, if not on water, then on the mule or the oxcart. 

"Since the horse had greater prestige than the donkey, all officials were required to ride on horseback. In the Tang dynasty, artisans, merchants, peasants, and Buddhist and Daoist monks could not ride on horseback. However, some officials still preferred to ride donkeys to their offices. Regarding this as undignified, Ming Emperor Taizu decreed that the government should provide officials with horses so that the difference between the officials and the commoners could be identified."  Source.