The Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties

The Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties: A History of China, PART TWO, pulls you into a world of ambition, love, and betrayal - into the heart of one of China's most dazzling ages. I wrote this book to bring the Tang Dynasty alive, not as a distant legend but as a living saga of people who rose, ruled, and fell. From Empress Wu Zetian - the woman who climbed from palace concubine to empress regnant, even interrupting the Tang to found the short-lived Zhou dynasty - to Emperor Xuanzong, whose golden era gave way to heartbreak, each chapter shows how personal ambitions and public power reshaped a civilization.

You will meet the men and women who defined this age. Wu Zetian's ascent - from a lowly palace lady to the throne itself - rewrote the rules of imperial legitimacy. Emperor Xuanzong's reign ushered in peace, poetry, and wealth to Chang'an - a capital so radiant it seemed to light the known world. Yet glory is fragile. The beauty and influence of Yang Guifei (Yang Yuhuan), and the political clout of her kin, helped set in motion a chain of events - culminating in the An Lushan Rebellion - that shook the empire's foundations.

As the empire stretched across deserts and mountains, it collided with rivals on every frontier - from brutal campaigns against the Tibetan (Tubo) Empire to the famous clash at the Battle of Talas in 751, where Tang forces met armies of the Abbasid Caliphate and their steppe allies along the Silk Road. Generals such as Li Guangbi and Guo Ziyi stood as the dynasty's bulwarks, and figures like Pugu Huai'en loomed large too - though his loyalties and later career would grow complicated as new powers rose in their shadows. For a time the Tang seemed unstoppable - until pride, politics, and passion began to tear it apart from within.

Then came the storm: An Lushan's rebellion, a wildfire that would consume the court and reshape the age. An Lushan himself proclaimed a rival regime, and the turmoil was continued by the likes of Shi Siming and his son Shi Chaoyi, while courageous loyalists - men such as the calligrapher-official Yan Zhenqing - answered the call with equal doses of bravery and sacrifice. You'll witness Emperor Xuanzong's desperate flight from Chang'an in the face of revolt, the brutal campaigns to wrest control of the Two Capitals (Chang'an and Luoyang) back from the rebels, and the slow, bitter collapse of trust between rulers and generals. It's one of the most dramatic turning points in world history - and every name in it burned its mark on time.

In the final chapters, Emperor Suzong, Empress Zhang, and the formidable eunuch Li Fuguo draw the narrative back to where it began - a reminder of how supreme power often slips behind the palace curtains. The Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties: A History of China escorts you across centuries of triumph and tragedy, following the arc from the meteoric rise of Empress Wu (Wu Zetian) to the eventual collapse of Tang authority.