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Monasteries had gained power under Empress Wu, though Xuanzong tried to temper that. Woodblock printing is credited for helping make Buddhism a regular part of ordinary Chinese life by giving Buddhist monks the opportunity to mass-produce texts. The Tang Dynasty is well remembered for the era’s contributions to poetry, partly the result of Xuanzong’s creation of an academy for poets, which helped preserve over 48,900 poems written by well over 2,000 poets of the era. The An Lushan Rebellion severely weakened the Tang Dynasty and eventually cost it much of its western territory. Lushan himself was later killed, and Xuanzong abdicated the throne to his son. Xuanzong eventually complied, and ordered her strangled. Xuanzong complied, but the soldiers demanded Yang Guifei’s death as well. The royal army refused to defend Xuanzong unless Yang Guifei’s family was executed. Sensing the emperor’s weakness, northern province warlord An Lushan mounted a rebellion and occupied the capital in 755 A.D., forcing Xuanzong to flee. Xuanzong fell so much in love with concubine Yang Guifei that he began to ignore his royal duties and also promote her family members to high government positions. The fall of Xuanzong became an enduring love story in China. He also created the Imperial Music Academy, taking advantage of the new international influence on Chinese music. To this end he owned a troupe of dancing horses and invited renowned horse painter Han Gan into his court. Xuanzong had a passion for music and horses. He welcomed Buddhist and Taoist clerics to his court, including teachers of Tantric Buddhism, a recent form of the religion. Emperor XuanzongĮmpress Wu’s grandson, Emperor Xuanzong, is renowned for the cultural heights reached during his rule from 712 to 756 A.D. Wu ruled until 705 A.D., which also marked the end of the brief Zhou Dynasty. and announced a new dynasty, the Zhou.Īt the same time, she released the Great Cloud Sutra, which claimed the Buddha Maitreya was reincarnated as a female ruler, giving herself divine Buddhist legitimacy. Wu proclaimed herself Empress in 690 A.D. Wu maintained control through her two sons. Gaozong became incapacitated because of a stroke and Wu took on most of his duties. Wu won his favor over his wife, who was dismissed against the wishes of Gaozong’s advisors. Wu was one of Taizong’s concubines, sent away to a convent after his death, but Gaozong-long in love with her-initiated her return to the court. Taizong’s son, Gaozong, became emperor in 650 A.D., but spent most of his rule under the control of Empress Wu. He created Confucian state schools along with a sanctioned state version of The Five Classics, which also allowed talented scholars with no family connections to work their way up in the government. Taizong also set up more aggressive systems to identify Confucian scholars and put them in civil service placements.