Taizong versus Al Mawardi in Politics and Religion Essay

The Tang Dynasty is an important aspect of Chinese history.  Lasting from 618 AD to 907 AD, it received the nickname “The Golden Age of Ancient China” because it was a very prosperous time.  This powerful empire came into control when the reign of the Sui Dynasty before it ended.

Empress Wu, the only female to ever rule China, was a devout Daoist. Also, as the Tang Empire expanded eastward, contact with India increased and Buddhist influence reached its height. Many people traveled to India. Monks like Xuanzang went to India, brought back many sutras, literary compositions based on the teachings of Buddha, and translated them into Chinese. Seeing the rise of Daoism and Buddhism and the fading of Confucianism, Tang scholars set out to defend Confucianism. Han Yu, an essayist, vehemently argued against Buddhism and asked the Chinese to go back to their roots by studying and interpreting the Confucian Classics. His main argument against Buddhism was that the foreign religion preached equality among all and didn’t place proper importance between the five relationships (ruler vs. the ruled, father vs. son, husband vs. wife, older brother vs. younger brother, and older friend vs. younger friend) necessary for social tranquility. He urged that this was destroying social order. Nonetheless Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism all coexisted as the "three teachings" under the Tang.

Buddhism was seen as practiced by the “barbarians” (document 4). Han Yu ridicules Buddhism by emphasizing that Confucianism is the truth while Buddhism contains only lies.. It is not surprising that Han Yu is opposed to Buddhism because of his position in the Imperial court. He was of a higher class and many people in the higher class tended to reject Buddhism, partly because of the religion’s teaching of equality. He could greatly influence the Emperor; however, many peasants may have disagreed because of their differences of class. Furthermore, in document 6, Wu, the Tang Emperor, denounces Buddhism by blaming it for social injustices such as people leaving their religion, “injuring humankind” and destroying the law. It is expected that the emperor of the Tang dynasty would give such an edict because many of Buddhism’s teachings such as the equality of classes and genders go against a great deal of what the empire is built on. The Tang dynasty also had a great deal of inner conflict when it came to accepting or rejecting Buddhism. This edict was given in 854 CE after the imperial structure of the government was

Many aspects of the political reign throughout the Tang and Song Dynasty are fairly similar, yet there are some key differences. During the Tang Dynasty, emperors established a new system of land reform. This meant that land was taken from the rich and evenly distributed to peasants. The peasants owning land could now

During the 1300’s each empire during this time had a religion that was significant to their state and impacted them, this includes the Ottomans and the Ming. During the time period of the Ming dynasty, they based their states’ religion of Neo-Confucianism or “new-Confucianism”. Neo-Confucianism incorporates aspects of Buddhism and Taoism into tradition Confucian beliefs. Their religion had a significant impact on their State. After the Mongols conquered and ruled China, as a result China disunited. One of the main reasons the Ming Dynasty lasted long as an empire, was for the reason the restored and recenter China after the destruction of the Mongols. And their religion benefited them, for it helped unite china. Having one common religion upon an empire, would eventually cause the areas within the empire to unite. In addition the religion of the Ottoman Empire had a similar impact on its society. The ottomans were a Muslim based empire, but unlike other empires they didn’t force people within their empire to convert

While China culturally remained the same from the 600s to the late 1400s, the country hardly changed politically either. A monarchy completely dominated China’s government during these years. Under the Tang dynasty, the rulers constantly changed and new policies were thought of, but the overall government did not change. The Tang Code, the criminal or penal code, was established in 624. It synthesised Legalist and Confucian of law, and it has constantly been considered one of the greatest achievemnts of traditional Chinese law. This code became the basis of later codes in both China and other parts of Asia. During the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhanged began the draft of a new Confucian law code, the Daming Lu, which repeated various clauses that were found in the Tang Code years ago. Specific aspects in the Tang dynasty were revived during the Ming dynasty, resulting in a very slight amount of change for the lives of Chinese citizens for almost 800 years. Women’s status remained lower than that of

After the rise and fall of the earliest civilizations, some of the very first ancient empires started to emerge over many centuries before the birth of Christ. Although there are many things that characterize these empires uniquely from each other, there are still resemblances between them. Despite the fact that both Persia and China were great empires in two different regions, their governing methods coincide in the systems of organization and basic infrastructures; but they differed greatly in the beliefs of both the government and people.

From 618-907, the unprecedented leniency and tolerance of the Tang dynasty created a large hyper power, with alliances and trading and such. This empire left a lasting impression on the Chinese. “These and other factors converged to produce a dynasty more tolerant of foreign cultures, religions, and influences than any other in Chinese history.” Taizong was the first emperor of the tang dynasty and set the precedent for his successors. His main goal was to establish equality throughout the regions. He achieved this and became “the first Chinese ruler to establish dominion over the steppes.” As the Tang rule grew larger and larger, it engulfed areas like Manchuria, Vietnam, and parts of Iran. The way they chose to handle the commerce and diplomacy

In Document 1, Persians boast about their military Powers’s and their superiority above all. In Document 2, the Greeks boast about their just democracy and their strong military. Next, in Document 4, King Ashoka highlights his system for medical aid and boasts that he has worked very hard for his people. Finally, in Document 6, the Romans boast about their extensive trading system and their free citizenship. In contrast, the Legalists and Confucians of China assert their political prowess by advising their rulers on how to effectively govern their people. The Legalists believe that a good ruler should rule with an iron fist and hand out strict punishments and rewards. The Confucians, however, believed that a good ruler should act as a compassionate example for his people. Nevertheless, both Confucians and Legalists used their advice for their rulers as a method to exert political power. Clearly, there were some differences in the way these civilizations exerted their political power, and this can be seen in the

The Tang was a very aristocratic society that is known for being the “Golden Age” in Chinese history, with some of the greatest developments in the society occurring, (CD Benn, 2002). The dynasty made the unheard-of move of allowing women to sit for the Imperial examination and serve as government officials, with women enjoying the unprecedented power in politics (CD Benn, 2002). Charles Benn’s book, “China’s Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang dynasty”, is a secondary source in the form of a book, published in 2002. He is a professor studying Chinese history, in particular, the Tang dynasty, and in his publication, details the lives of Chinese people in this dynasty. Women had much more freedom than seen in any dynasty before it and it gave women a voice and saw women with almost as equal rights in society, with women finally being able to enjoy the privilege of education and marriage

The Qin Dynasty used their power to enforce legalism which was accepted by the people and to summarize what it is, is when a ruler treats his people equally and gives everything equally. In document 3 it states that when a ruler gives out rewards everyone got a part of it, but when punishment was given everyone also received it. The strict law were to prevent dishonorable people from living there. An example is people who were disobedient or people who were selfish. The way that the Mauryan Empire used their political power was that an a leader called Emperor Ashoka discontinued the killing of animals and said they may only be killed for good purposed, but one was not found. In document 4 it states that the ruler saw the animals on the same level as people and even gave them medical treatment as they would give to humans. The way that these empires differed from each other is that the Qin Dynasty used legalistic philosophy to keep their empire in check whereas the Mauryan Dynasty used their power to stop the killing animals entirely and treated them like

Both of these civilizations had authority over their countries with assistance or not. In the Han Dynasty, there would be an emperor ruling over his people as he pleases.The ruler would serve to his people by ruling according to the Mandate of Heaven, where a ruler would have to rule his people with good morals and benevolence. This ruler would rule his people independently, without assistance unlike the Mauryan Empire, where the ruler would have a bureaucracy and government of a variety of ministries and spies to regulate his people and keep his people informed. In this empire, the ruler kept his country protected, having a large military force of several thousands at his hands. Both of these civilizations had similar forms of authority, however the Han Dynasty had authority of one person, the emperor, and the Mauryan Empire where they had authority of multiple people, like a

The first reason why the Tang dynasty is the most impactful is that many cultural advancements occurred which affected the future culture of China. For example, a form of novel was created called Chuan Qi. This type of novel had a complex storyline and often reflected real life. These novels later became the basis for future stories (“Tang Dynasty”). In other words, the novels created in the Tang dynasty influenced the structure of future stories. Another example of the Tang dynasty’s cultural impact is through poems and

In all of Chinese history both the Tang and the Qin dynasty were very small aspects of their total history. Both dynasties were very important for the history of China but, through what appears to be the repeated resurgence of the Mandate of Heaven they ended because once they were weak and lost heavens favor they were replaced by another dynasty. The Qin dynasty specifically was very short, who knows how they would have developed if they managed to survive centuries instead of just two decades, The Qin even in its short period of existence had a specific goal of Uniting China, not just in geography but culturally, and tried to destroy what made the people different and focused on what made them the same by uniformity The Tang was different,

Both of these authors have good ideas on how to rule properly and have the greatest influence on their people. While neither one of the ideas is wrong nor right they are both good proposals for any one not just a prince or a master, but anyone who finds