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An imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty (581 A.D.-618 A.D.) and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (907 A.D.-960 A.D.).
Seizing the opportunity presented by the falling apart of the Sui Dynasty during the peasant uprising, the Tai Shou (prefecture chief, prefect) of Taiyuan (in today's Shanxi Province) Li Yuan (566 A.D.-635 A.D.) dispatched his troops and captured the capital of the Sui Dynasty鈥擟hang'an (today's Xi'an, Shanxi Province) in 617 A.D.
When the Sui Dynasty was destroyed in 618 A.D, Li Yuan declared himself emperor and changed the name of the dynasty to Tang and made Chang'an (today's Xi'an) its capital.
In the first phase of the Tang Dynasty, its national power was very strong. Its territory was same as that of the Sui Dynasty.
Thereafter there were many changes. Up to the Rebellion of An and Shi (755 A.D.-763 A.D.), more than half of the dominion had already been lost.
Towards the end of Tang Dynasty, its land was highly centralized into few people's hands, its polity was corrupt, taxes were high and corvee was common, also, military governors (usually in control of outlying prefectures) set up their own separatist regimes by force of arms so that there was constant warfare.
All of these led new, large scale peasant uprisings in 874 A.D. and the Tang Dynasty became extinct in 907 A.D. There were 20 emperors in the Tang Dynasty and it lasted for 290 years.
The Tang Dynasty was one of the strongest dynasties in Chinese history, its science, technology, culture and arts were further matured and wondrously bloomed in Chinese history.
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