Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/660

a woman in a country where women were regarded as little else than slaves. On the accession of Kaou-tsung (650) his wife, Woo How, gained supreme influence in the management of affairs, and on the death of her husband in 683 she set aside his lawful successor, Chung-tsung, and took possession of the throne. Nor was she unequal to the office she had usurped. She governed the empire with discretion, and her armies defeated the Tibetans, who had latterly gained possession of Kuché, Khoten, and Kashgar. Thus she re-established the imperial government in the west, and her generals proved themselves victorious over the Khitan in the north-east. On her death, in 705, Chung-tsung partially left the obscurity in which he had lived during his mother's reign. But his wife, desiring to play a similar rôle to that enjoyed by her mother-in-law, poisoned him and set his son, Juy-tsung (710), on the throne. This monarch, who was weak and vicious, reigned but three years, and was succeeded by Yuen-tsung (713), who was in some respects an enlightened and able prince. He busied himself with introducing reform into the administration of the empire, and encouraged literature and learning with wisdom and discretion. During his reign the king of Khokand applied to him for aid against the Tibetans and Arabs, who were advancing to attack him. Yuen-tsung promptly sent an army to his succour, and the aggressors were completely defeated. In a war with the Khitans in the north-east he was not so successful; and in the disorder which arose in consequence of the invasion of the northern provinces by these formidable neighbours, General Gan Luh-shan, an officer of Turkish descent, placed himself at the head of a revolt, and having secured Tung-kwan on the Yellow River, advanced on Chang-gan. In this emergency the emperor fled, and placed his son, Suh-tsung, on the throne (756). This sovereign summoned to his aid the forces of the kings of Khoten and Khokand, of the state of Bokhara, of the Ouigours, and of the Arabs, and with these allies he completely defeated Gan Luh-shan and suppressed the rebellion. The promise held out by this energetic beginning of his reign was not fulfilled by his later career. He fell under the influence of the women and eunuchs of his harem, and died unregretted in 762. During the following reigns the Tibetans made constant incursions into the western provinces of the empire, and Tai-tsung (763–780), was compelled to purchase the assistance of the Ouigours against those intruders by giving a Chinese princess as wife to the Khan. At this epoch the eunuchs of the palace succeeded in gaining an unwonted degree of power, and several of the subsequent emperors fell victims to their plots.

The history of this and the following century is for the most part a monotonous record of feeble Governments, low and vicious intrigues, oppressions, and rebellions. Almost the only relief in the constant rounds of these scenes towards the close of the Tang dynasty was the iconoclastic policy of Woo-tsung (841–847). Viewing the increase of monasteries and ecclesiastical establishments as an evil, he abolished all temples, closed the monasteries and nunneries, and sent the inmates back to their families. Foreign priests were subjected to the same repressive legislation, and Christians, Buddhists, and Magi were bidden to turn their faces westward in the direction of the places from whence they came. With his death terminated also this policy. Buddhism again revived during the reign of the Emperor E-tsung (860–874), who, having had the honour to discover a bone of Buddha, brought it to the capital in great state. By constant internal dissensions and outbreaks the empire became so weakened that the prince of Leang found no difficulty in gaining possession of the throne, and in 907 he assumed the imperial yellow with the title of Tai-tsoo, the first emperor of the later Leang dynasty. Thus ended the Tang dynasty, which is regarded as being the Golden Age of literature.

Five dynasties, viz., the Later Leang, the Later Tang, the Later Tsin, the Later Han, and the Later Chow followed each other in quick succession between the years 907 and 960. But though the monarchs of these lines nominally held sway over the empire, their real power was confined to very narrow limits. The disorders which were rife during the time when the Tang dynasty was tottering to its fall fostered the development of independent states, and so arose Leang in Ho-nan and Shan-tung, Ke in Shen-se, Hwai-nan in Keang-nan, Chow in Sze-chuen and parts of Shen-se and Hoo-kwang, Woo-yuĕ in Chĕ-keang, Tsoo and King-nan in Hoo-kwang, Ling-nan in Kwang-tung, and the Ouigours in Tangout.

A partial end was made to this recognized disorganization when, in 960, General Chaou Kwang-yin was proclaimed by acclamation of the army emperor in succession to the youthful Kung-te, who was compelled to vacate the throne to make way for his quondam lieutenant. The circumstances of the time justified the exchange. It required a strong hand to weld together again the different parts into which the empire had been divided, and to resist the attacks of the Khitan Tatars, whose rule at this period extended over the whole of Manchuria and Leaou-tung. Against these aggressive neighbours Tai-tsoo né Chaou Kwang-yin directed his best efforts with varying success, and he died in 976, while the war was still being waged. His son Tai-tsung (976–997) entered on the campaign with energy, but in the end was compelled to conclude a peace with the Khitans. His successor, Chin-tsung (997–1022), descended a step lower in his dealings with them, and agreed to pay them a tribute to induce them to abstain from their incursions. Probably this tribute was not sent regularly; at all events, under Jin-tsuug (1023–1064), the Khitans again threatened to invade the empire, and were only persuaded to forego their intention by the emperor promising to pay them an annual tribute of 200,000 taels of silver, besides a great quantity of silken piece goods. Neither was this arrangement long binding, and so formidable were the advances made by the Tatars in the next and following reign, that Hwuy-tsung (1101–1126) invited the Neu-che Tatars to expel the Khitans from Leaou-tung, The call was readily responded to; the service was effectually performed, but having once possessed themselves of the country they declined to yield it to the Chinese, and the result was that a still more aggressive neighbour was established on the north eastern frontier of China. Without delay the Neu-che or Kins, as they now styled themselves, overran the provinces of Chih-li, Shen-se, Shan-se, and Ho-nan, and during the reign of Kaou-tsung (1127–1163) they advanced their conquests to the line of the Yang-tsze Keang.

It was during this period that the Mongols began to acquire power in Eastern Asia, and about the beginning of the 12th century they invaded the north-western frontier of China and the principality of Hea, which at that time consisted of the modern provinces of Shen-se and Kan-suh. To purchase the good-will of these subjects of Jenghiz Khan the king of Hea agreed to pay them a tribute, and gave a princess in marriage to their ruler. Hitherto the Mongols had been vassals of the Kin Tatars, but the rapid growth of their power indisposed them to remain tributaries of any monarch, and in consequence of a dispute with the Emperor Wei-chaou Wang, Jenghiz Khan determined to invade the Kin province of Leaou-tung. In this expedition he was aided by the followers of the Khitan leader Yay-lu Tsoo-tsai, and in alliance with this general he captured Leaou-yang the capital city. After an unsuc-