Tang Dynasty China

This course introduces students to the historiography of China during the Tang dynasty (618-907). The themes covered include politics, state institutions, elite culture, gender relations, civil examination, the development of cities, economic changes, the environment, and the place of the Tang in the medieval world. To consider these issues means that we will occasionally reach back and forward in time beyond the Tang dynasty itself. But the focus is squarely on the Tang. In this process, we will also reflect on the historiographical implications of truncating the history of China into the units of "dynasties."