one
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the political forces headed by Guanzhong unified China, repeating the process of the rise and fall of various political forces. The old clan in Shandong province, which attached importance to marriage, was gradually replaced by the military aristocrats who attached importance to rank in Guanzhong, followed by changes in the system of selecting officials. The imperial examination expanded the career of ordinary landlord class intellectuals, broke through the power monopoly of gentry in the real order, and strengthened the intellectuals' desire to be an official and participate in politics. They make contributions with unremitting enthusiasm and realize their life ideals. Literature is the most sensitive and direct emotional expression reflecting reality, and poetry is sound. Looking through Tang poetry is an optimistic feeling about real life and a persistent passion full of youth. Seeing nature with this emotion is a strong emotional experience of empathy and praise for nature. There is less realistic content, more aesthetic feeling to express inner joy and full of healthy life interest, which are the main artistic characteristics and aesthetic style of poems in the prosperous Tang Dynasty [1]. This is to freely transform the inner strength and beautiful natural scenery into beautiful art forms to show the vigorous spirit of the times. This is the embodiment of the traditional cultural spirit of harmony between man and nature since the pre-Qin period. This is the ingenious use of metaphor since the Book of Songs, the extreme development of the rhythm form of poetry in the Southern Dynasties, the externalization and objectification of the vitality shown by the extremely prosperous spirit of the times, and the best expression of social psychology when the nation is strong.
The popularity of cursive script, music and dance is exactly the same as the voice of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, reflecting the features of the same era. Calligraphy, as an artistic means of "expressing one's feelings, expressing one's sadness and happiness", has reached an artistic position parallel to poetry and as beautiful as nature with the popularity of cursive script, especially crazy grass. The cursive scripts of Zhang Xu, He, Huai Su and others. , lightning speed, shocking, the joys and sorrows of life into the pen and ink, became the era style of calligraphy at that time [2]. In the Tang Dynasty, the great ethnic integration and cultural exchange between China and foreign countries reached an unprecedented scale, and Chang 'an became an international metropolis [3]. Music, dance, painting, sculpture and costumes from different regions poured in and performed at the Center Stage in Chang 'an. "People have the confidence not to be foreign slaves, or they never thought that when they take foreign things, they are as free as taking them, and they never care" [4]. In such an atmosphere of the times, the Tang people widely absorbed the essence of ancient and modern Chinese and foreign cultures, and copied and created them. In Xuanzong period, music and dance were particularly developed due to the accumulation of the previous generation and Xuanzong's own kindness. Widely absorb the music and musical instruments of various ethnic groups, set up left and right teaching workshops and pear gardens, and take charge of music and dance. At that time, there were 10027 musicians and more than a thousand leisure musicians [5]. From the changes of the three major dances, namely, Qide Dance, Jiugong Dance and Shangyuan Dance, we can see the changes of the enjoyment and singing and dancing in the Tang Dynasty from starting a business to consolidating political power. The prevalence of diversified dances and group dances expresses a cheerful mood, but there is little sadness, sadness, loss and indignation.
As for the art of painting in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, "it has also changed into the fashion of Chen, Sui and early Tang Dynasty, so as to become the vigorous and upright style of the prosperous Tang Dynasty and see an unprecedented grand view" [6]. Xuanzong himself is good at painting bamboo with ink, which is also a temporary victory. Painting in the prosperous Tang Dynasty has two characteristics: first, Buddhist painting, getting rid of foreign influences, gradually has a national style, with the "Five Dynasties Style" as the representative, emphasizing realism and developing into genre painting; Second, the landscape painting method gradually became independent, divided into Wang Wei and Li Sixun. Wang Weinan's school melted Zen and gradually developed into later literati paintings. It is worth noting that there are many themes about horses in Tang poetry paintings, such as Cao Ba, Han Gan, Chen Hong and Wei Yan. They are all experts in drawing horses. The poet Du Fu is very close to several painters. Every time the painter has a new work, he will be invited to appreciate the poems and leave many poems about horses. This is mainly due to the need of the opening-up war in the border areas of the Tang Dynasty, which attached great importance to raising horses. In the early years of Kaiyuan, 240,000 horses were raised in the royal stables, which increased to 430,000 in the 13th year of Kaiyuan. It is precisely this realistic need to expand the territory and build a frontier fortress that the theme of poetry and painting reflects the content of this era in large quantities.
In the prosperous Tang Dynasty, due to the needs of the times, all kinds of art forms developed to the extreme, and most of them reflected roughly the same content of the times: this is to eulogize nature, vividly describe life, lament the joys, sorrows and longings of the world, express inner feelings and realistic experiences through various art forms, and form a magnificent artistic picture scroll and a magnificent artistic conception.
Due to the prosperity of economy, the strength of national strength and the strong social atmosphere brought by the prevalence of the imperial examination system, the psychological state, mental outlook and values of the Tang people have undergone profound changes. In the contact with the objective outside world, there are the needs of the subject and a new positive judgment on the value of the object, which shows that most people in the prosperous Tang Dynasty regarded the fate of the empire and their own future as isomorphic bodies and generally attached to secular life. The example [7] of Li's unwillingness to give up his wealth and enjoyment to study in Tai Ping Guang Ji and the scholar's unwillingness to give up his pursuit of being an official for more than 20 years are all proofs. "Being an official" and "getting married" became the two major life pursuits of intellectuals in the Tang Dynasty. "Tai Ping Guang Ji" and various note novels in the Tang Dynasty show us various scenes and long scripts of the secular life of literati and ordinary people in the Tang Dynasty. Such as drinking and having fun, singing with prostitutes, going out for an outing, playing chess with bows, divining faces, enjoying tea and flowers, fighting cocks and riding horses, juggling and so on. Associated with this attachment to real life is the code of conduct of the Tang people, who attach importance to credit and loyalty and have little regret for the impermanence of life and the changeable world in Wei and Jin Dynasties. This is due to the satisfaction of reality, which leads to the attention and affirmation of personnel communication. This is in line with the general psychology of the Han people when they were strong. People in the Tang Dynasty always like to compare themselves with the Han people [9], and compare or compare their similar life experiences and behaviors with the sages and famous ministers of the Han Dynasty. There is a profound social background here. The Tang Dynasty was a political power established by Guanlong nobles, and a unified dynasty was established from west to east and from north to south. Since the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the south has always been regarded as the orthodoxy of Chinese culture. After Tang became a country, it was urgent to flaunt his orthodoxy. Therefore, on the one hand, Laozi is a distant ancestor, and at the same time, it is also a cultural inheritance from the South. In the early Tang Dynasty, all the imperial texts were written in four or six languages, which made people admit that they were the orthodox heirs of Chinese culture. This is a deep psychological belonging and a manifestation of national self-esteem. The ancient prose movement opposed religious superstition, went beyond luxury and saw purity, borrowed the language of the Western Han Dynasty and even the pre-Qin Dynasty, reformed Confucianism, and opposed Buddhism with orthodoxy; From four or six essays to ancient prose, from form to content, it reflects the deepening of Tang people's understanding of national self-esteem This mentality of changing the object to identify with the self is precisely the values gradually determined by the Tang people.
In the early Tang Dynasty, the concept of marriage also changed, unlike in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, divorce and remarriage occurred frequently [10]. Especially in the princess's marriage. In the Tang Dynasty, there were 2 1 1 princesses, and there were 99 princesses before Daizong, including 4 who were married three times and 23 who remarried, accounting for more than a quarter. There are countless civil remarriages and divorces, and there are not a few women who file for divorce. It shows that the royal family in the Tang Dynasty, as a deep aristocrat in northwest Hu Hua, was not completely sinicized for some time after the unification of the Central Plains. They suppressed Shandong gentry and influenced the concept of marriage etiquette. At the same time, the frequent integration between ethnic groups makes it difficult to have uniform and strict regulations, which leads to more openness and less constraints in the early marriage relationship.
two
Eight years of "An Shi Rebellion" destroyed productivity and social life. At the same time, a series of social, political and economic changes in the Tang Dynasty also affected the development of culture. An Shi Rebellion is like a detergent, which makes many changes clear and shows different cultural contents from the previous period.
If we say that the spirit of the times expressed by literature and art in the early Tang Dynasty is an optimistic prospect for unprecedented prosperity of society, then after this great turmoil, it has developed into a more profound content to expose and attack reality. It broke the poet's optimistic expectations and ideals and turned into a re-examination of reality and life. In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, it experienced the yearning for revival, the intensification of social contradictions and the sadness of political decline. Under the sentimental aesthetic taste, the directness and philosophy of poetry developed in depth, and the poetry of Song Dynasty was more profound and philosophical. Ten gifted scholars in the middle Tang Dynasty did not pay attention to the expression of overall feelings, but paid attention to the description of delicate mentality. Landscape poetry does not win by grand adventure, but is good at being far away from the cold, emphasizing neat and refined artistic skills and forms. Du Fu, who reflects the social reality most profoundly, is a "history of poetry". His artistic form of poetry is standardized and the laws of poetry are relatively strict. With the emphasis on norms and order, Yan Zi and Du Fu's poems and Korean have become the representatives of literature and art required by this era. Han Yu, Bai Juyi, Yuan Zhen, Li Shangyin, Du Mu, Pi Rixiu, Lu Guimeng, etc. They all praised Du Fu and suppressed Li. Yuan Zhen evaluated Du Li's advantages and disadvantages, that is, Du Fu learned from the past and the present, and embraced all kinds of pregnant bodies, which no one could surpass; However, Li Bai is extremely derogatory. "From then on, those who belong to the literature will take the theory of ten thousand words as positive" [1 1]. This can represent the aesthetics of ordinary literati after the middle Tang Dynasty. If the theory of poetic sentiment prevailed in the early Tang Dynasty, at this time, the theory of expressing ambition rose again, attaching importance to the social function of poetry and ignoring the exploration of aesthetic laws and characteristics. In the Song Dynasty, the functional poetics of combining beauty and goodness was developed, and the traditional Confucian poetry teaching regained its dominant position in literary theory.
Painting in the middle Tang Dynasty, the landscape painting of Nanzong, which was mainly based on pen and ink, developed, and painters such as Wei Yan, Wang Zai and Zhang o @ ① appeared. The theme has developed from the religion in the prosperous Tang Dynasty to the beauty of women, cattle and horses, and the landscape flowers and birds have gradually matured. Secular figure painting also broke through the simple propaganda of feudal ethics, and Zhang Xuan, Zhou F÷ng(2) and other paintings reflecting the daily activities of ordinary ladies appeared. Another example is Han Hu dang @ ③. Most of the 36 works recorded in Xuan He Hua Pu describe rural production and life, which is a step further than the overall intuitive feeling in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. After the Anshi Rebellion, court musicians were exiled to various places, and the scale of large-scale music and dance was difficult to recover. There are only a few small-scale solo dances and duets in the court, and the music and dance in its heyday are no longer revived with the decline of the empire.
After the "An Shi Rebellion" was put down, the Su Zong and Dai Zong dynasties gradually strengthened the adjustment of social relations and the control of social culture. Confucianism has been reaffirmed as a favorable ruling ideology. Pi Rixiu, a scholar of Xian Tong, wrote a letter demanding the establishment of Mencius, which showed this trend and a movement to revive Confucian classics appeared. From the early Tang Dynasty (such as Liu Zhiji)' s doubts about Confucius and Classics to the re-determination of the dominant position of Confucius and Mencius' ideology and culture in the later period, this change is based on the social content that the rulers demanded to adjust production and social relations and strengthen control after social unrest. Contrary to the official ideological control, but as a supplement, after the economic turmoil, scholars are looking for fillers to fill their inner gaps, retreating to an independent philosophy of life, and their enthusiasm and desire to be an official give way to their belief in religious gods. At the same time, the development of Buddhism itself has gone through the same course as Confucianism and completed the evolution of China. The early Tiantai Sect, Sanlun Sect and Zhizong Sect died out in the middle Tang Dynasty because they were too rigid in the form of Indian religion, while the later Huayan Sect, especially Zen Sect, made rapid progress because of its mutation into China religion. Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties absorbed the Zen spirit and Taoist thought with traditional Confucianism as the main body, and became the mainstream of late feudal thought.
In the later period of political power, the composition of Shandong gentry and other officials increased, and at the same time, a large number of new bureaucrats appeared, demanding the establishment of a new order to ensure the stability of their status, and the concept of etiquette and law was re-embodied in the whole society. The emperor began to advocate moral integrity, and Xuanzong stipulated: "When the couple have children, the princess has a son and is widowed, so she can't remarry." [12] Princess, society goes without saying. Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties paid more attention to chastity and opposed remarriage. It can be said that the late Tang Dynasty was a prelude to the revival of Confucian ethics in Song and Ming Dynasties, and religious loyalty and chastity were the main code of conduct and value principles followed by scholars in the later period.
These profound social changes are also reflected in the highest relationship between people, that is, legal relationship. By virtue of its dominant position, the ruling class punishes those who endanger its interests by coercive means. The later legal system is transitional. The Tang government gave up the principle of unifying the laws of the whole empire, and there was no longer an absolutely authoritative administrative law like that implemented in the early Tang dynasty [13]. According to Mr. Liu's research, of the 16 legislative activities in the early Tang Dynasty, except one, the other 15 were mainly about amending laws, decrees, forms and forms, and frequently adjusting them to meet the needs of governance; In the next seven major legislative activities, the main purpose was to compile flexible legal forms, such as post-song language and criminal law, to cope with the turbulent situation. At the same time, the later laws became more and more conservative, so it was difficult to discuss the law of publishing and reforming ancestors [14]. From the changes and changes of the contents of legal provisions, we can observe the later contents, such as the separatist regime in the buffer region, the eunuch's authoritarian power, the practice of multiple laws, political chaos and so on.
three
The prosperous Tang Dynasty is the most prosperous period when all kinds of knowledge and beliefs in history are integrated, summarized, summarized, sorted out and exported. Therefore, in the cultural sense, it has the characteristics of transition period. In the world history from the seventh century to the tenth century, it constituted one of the main bodies of human culture.
1. The development of culture in the prosperous Tang Dynasty vibrated at the same frequency as the changes of feudal politics and economy in the middle Tang Dynasty, completing the transition from the early feudal period to the late feudal period. In the early Tang Dynasty, the politics was enlightened, the economy was prosperous, and the culture was relatively open. It widely absorbed excellent cultural achievements at home and abroad and inherited more metaphysical thoughts since the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The influence of Buddhism is getting stronger and stronger, and the broad masses of people have chosen their own values, thus creating a colorful peak culture in the feudal era. In the later period, due to the turmoil of the times and the adjustment of economic and social relations by the ruling class, the vitality of traditional Confucianism reappeared and gradually rose to an overwhelming and dominant value orientation. It also made a transition to Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties, which supplemented the traditional propositions and categories of Confucian philosophy, kept pace with the high development of feudal autocratic centralization system in China in the later period, formed a double-carriage, and strengthened feudal rule.
2. The prosperous Tang Dynasty was a period of cultural integration between North and South, which was completed. In the pre-Qin period, a hundred schools of thought contended, and the southern Chu culture represented by Lao Zi, Zhuangzi and Qu Yuan mainly confronted the northern Qilu culture represented by Confucius and Mencius. During the Qin and Han dynasties, the whole country was unified, and the north and south cultures also accelerated the pace of confluence. China culture shows more characteristics of Southern Chu culture [15]. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, especially in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the development of northern culture was represented by Cao Wei literature. During the war at the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, scholars moved south one after another, and the north was mostly ruled by backward ethnic minorities. Southern culture has developed rapidly, generally surpassing the North. At that time, both the north and the south believed that the southern culture was China's orthodoxy. Yang Di unified the north and the south, and still highly praised the southern literature. All public and private documents in the early Tang Dynasty were written in four or six languages. Later, the ancient prose movement gradually rose, and the northern style gained an advantage. At the same time, more than nine-tenths of the prime ministers in the early Tang Dynasty were northerners [16], which also interfered with cultural changes. The compilation of Justice of the Five Classics shows the unity of the North and the South in Confucian classics, and it is generous and generous to use more people in the Southern Dynasties. The impact of foreign Buddhist culture has also accelerated the confluence of local and local cultures.
3. The prosperous Tang Dynasty was also a period when the status of cultural creators and disseminators in traditional culture changed and the phenomenon of cultural stratification was obvious. The monopoly of official culture has been constantly broken, and folk culture has developed greatly (especially in the later period). In the Han Dynasty, scholars were selected by Confucian classics, which made cultural creation and dissemination more in the hands of aristocratic families and doctors. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, aristocratic families were also the orthodox inheritors and monopolists of culture, and the social status of literati and scholars depended only on their family background and official titles, not on learning itself. Therefore, their observation and influence on later researchers is that the differences of the times are greater than the differences of personality. It reflects the thoughts, concepts and behaviors of people with roughly the same social class and status, so it inevitably reflects less cultural level. In the Tang Dynasty, scholars were promoted by subjects, so that all scholars and intellectuals in cold areas could gain political and social status by virtue of their literary talent and knowledge, thus changing the political structure. A large number of cultures representing the intellectual class have emerged, as evidenced by the emergence of schools and talent groups. At the same time, civic culture has also developed. This kind of culture, which is different from the official culture, embodies the contents of different levels in the middle of the culture and has obvious characteristics, which makes the literary and artistic schools colorful and prosperous.
4. The prosperous Tang Dynasty is also an extreme manifestation period of unbalanced development of traditional academic culture and a transition period of scientific culture. China's traditional cultural characteristics of attaching importance to humanities, literature and art and neglecting science were fully demonstrated in the Tang Dynasty. Literature, art and history are highly developed, while natural science is relatively backward. Needham believed that the Tang Dynasty was humanistic, while the Song Dynasty paid more attention to science and technology. In the Song Dynasty, "profound prose replaced lyric poetry, philosophical discussion and scientific description replaced religious belief, and technically, the Song Dynasty turned many things envisioned in the Tang Dynasty into reality" [17]. Take mathematics as an example. There were only three or four kinds of mathematical works in the Tang Dynasty and more than fifty kinds in the Song Dynasty. The transition from geometry before Tang Dynasty to mathematics in Song and Yuan Dynasties is a turning point. The one-sided deepening of humanities in the Tang Dynasty lacked the corresponding proportional development of philosophy and science and technology. Therefore, from the overall level of cultural development, the culture in the prosperous Tang Dynasty seems to be inferior to that in the Song Dynasty. Senior scholars Chen Yinque and Deng Guangming talked about it in detail.
5. As the creative subject, the culture of the prosperous Tang Dynasty not only inherited, explained and understood the traditional culture of the previous generation, but also creatively transformed it according to the needs of the times and the requirements of governing the country, making it have obvious personality characteristics. In addition, it also integrated and digested various foreign cultures and promoted them for its own use, making them a part of China culture, which is another important feature of the cultural development in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. The early Tang Dynasty was an era of the most frequent traffic and the closest communication between China and foreign countries. And every communication is related to culture. Take religion as an example. Besides Buddhism, there are many religious introductions. In the ninth year of Zhenguan, Aroben, a senior Nestorian monk, came to China from Persia and set up Daqin Temple in Yining Square. At the beginning of Nestorianism's introduction, it was Nestorianism that wrote the Preface of Nestorianism Popular in Daqin Historic Sites in China in the second year of Dezong Jianzhong (78 1). In the second year of Yonghui (65 1), the Tang Dynasty formally established diplomatic relations with Dashi, and Islam was introduced with merchants. In the 14th year of Zhenyuan (798), Dashi sent envoys to Tang University 37 times [18]. Zoroastrianism was first introduced into Yutian, Yanqi, Shule and Gaochang in Xinjiang today. In Wude, Hu 'ao Temple was built in the southwest corner of Chang 'an Buzheng Square. In Zhenguan, Mao Temple was set up in Chonghua, Liquan, Puning and other places. In 694, in the first year of Wu Houyan, the Persian Fuduo came to Korea with the Second Classics, and was the first person to introduce Manichaeism into Chang 'an. In 768, in the third year of Dali, Uighurs were allowed to build Manichaean temples in Chang 'an. Together with Buddhism, these religions were banned in the "Huichang Fa Nan".
Judging from the cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries in the Tang Dynasty, all cultural subjects are based on the needs of noumenon, and it is very practical to selectively absorb foreign cultures according to the cultural structure of noumenon. At the same time as the Tang Dynasty, there were several large civilized areas. The surrounding small countries are subordinate to this big cultural system. Their cognition, values, norms and aesthetic systems are different, which makes them have different characteristics. By studying their respective cultural contents and mutual influence, we can grasp and understand the world civilization in the Middle Ages as a whole, so as to understand Tang Wenhua's position more clearly.
Indian cultural circle in South Asia. The central content of culture is Buddhism and Brahmanism, and all specialized disciplines are developed from theology. Sanskrit literature has developed, and there are more than ten kinds of Sanskrit dramas. Mathematics is closely related to astronomy, and algebra has a high development. Ayabada, a famous astronomer and mathematician, put forward the viewpoint that the earth rotates around its axis, which has an approximate scientific explanation for the solar eclipse. At that time, the absorption of Indian culture in the Tang Dynasty focused on Buddhism, astronomy, mathematics and medical knowledge.
With its superior geographical position, the Arab region absorbed the cultural heritage of China, Indian and Greek, created a highly developed scientific culture from the 7th century to13rd century, and occupied an important position in the history of world science. Its main achievements were in astronomy, medicine, mathematics, chemistry, physics, geography and so on, which was the peak of world scientific development at that time. In addition, philosophy, literature and history also developed accordingly, and a large number of Arab businessmen brought drugs and prescriptions such as frankincense and radix aucklandiae into the Tang Dynasty. However, it is a pity that some people in the Tang Dynasty seldom absorbed its developed science and culture.
The political division in Western Europe in the Middle Ages made Christianity centered on the Pope and achieved supreme status. Secular academic philosophy, science and literature have all become vassals of theology. "Knowledge about nature is valuable only if it is an inspiring tool and can prove the teaching of the church and Bible chapters." [19] Education is purely for the church, but the seven courses of grammar, rhetoric, logic (three elementary courses), arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music (four advanced courses) are conducive to the continuation and popularization of culture. When a large number of secular schools were established, there was a revival of knowledge. There was not much contact with the Tang dynasty, and a Christian Nestorianism was introduced into the Tang dynasty, but it had little influence.
At that time, the Tang Dynasty, as the oriental cultural center juxtaposed with these three civilized regions, profoundly influenced the political system and cultural development of neighboring countries. At that time, the school education in Japan and South Korea was the same as that in the Tang Dynasty in terms of curriculum, examination content and teaching materials. Jing Shangjing, a contemporary Japanese historian, wrote quite to the point in his book Japanese Culture: "The culture of the Tang Dynasty was a world culture that communicated with Indian, Arabian and even Western European cultures, so learning the Tang Dynasty indirectly learned the world culture." Because of its continental characteristics, China culture is spontaneous and original, so its closeness is obvious. In ancient China, only the Tang Dynasty suffered the greatest impact from foreign cultures, had the most contact with the outside world, and was also the most open in a sense. In the twenties of this century, when Mr. Lu Xun conceived Yang Guifei's play, he had the following thoughts: "The cultural concept of the Tang Dynasty can be used as a reference for our modern times. At that time, our ancestors had a very strong grasp of their own culture and would never shake their confidence easily; At the same time, for other cultures, they have a very broad mind and very strict choices, and they will never worship or spit on them easily. This is exactly the attitude we urgently need at present "[20]. This view of Lu Xun still has its practical significance.
In short, observing the development track of the prosperous Tang culture, we can see that the early Tang Dynasty was relatively open, but it gradually converged in the later period and experienced a time process from release to harvest. The later period is more like the transition period and trough period between Tang Wenhua and Song Wenhua, so it is the early Tang culture that really has the characteristics and personality of the social era of the Tang Dynasty. No matter from the cultural level or cultural category, there are unique contents that are different from other dynasties.