Copywriter|Aquatic smoker
Editor|Aquatic Smoker
preface
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the city became a melting pot of many ethnic groups, as well as a place where foreigners lived.
The Tang Dynasty was the most open period in Chinese history, and with the exchanges and exchanges between the two worlds, the commercial activities on the "overland Silk Road" became increasingly prosperous.
Merchants from the Western Regions entered Eurasia through the "overland Silk Road" and converged on Chang'an and Luoyang, forming a brand new picture.
The germination of the "Maritime Silk Road" stemmed from the increasingly close trade in goods and social exchanges between Japan, Silla, Southeast Asia and Persia and the Sui and Tang dynasties, which was the basis for its development.
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, many ethnic minority merchants, such as Turkic, Hui, and Zhaowu surnames, as well as Persian, Dashi, Silla, etc., jointly promoted the pattern of open trade and multi-ethnic population in the Sui and Tang Dynasties.
1. National integration
The Sui and Tang dynasties were the most glorious era in the history of Chinese feudal society and the most glorious era in the history of Chinese cities.
This development and prosperity continued during the "Anshi Rebellion" period in the middle and late Tang Dynasty.
During this period, the people of all ethnic groups integrated into the metropolis blended with each other, providing new vitality and rich material and cultural connotations for the development of the metropolis.
The unification of the country promoted the development of the city, and Tang Chang'an had four or five hundred thousand permanent residents, but there were also many foreign merchants, who were the most active people in the city.
It is this group of immigrants that makes the population and composition of the metropolis constantly changing.
According to Song Suyi's investigation, there are a large number of Hu people living in the streets and alleys of Anxi City, and since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, many students from Japan, North Korea and Bohai Sea have come to settle in Chang'an.
In the early years of Zhenguan, the Turkic people were pacified, the Turkic tribes were moved to Shuofang, and more than 10,000 families were exiled to Chang'an.
By the time of Tianbao, Jing Zhaoyin's family was only 300,000 left, which gave Chang'an a little more taste of the Western Regions and foreign lands.
This is a passage from the Old Book of Tang Zhang Jianfeng:
"There are tens of millions of degenerate workers in Beijing, and there is no indigenous livelihood."
They are all used to describe the wanderers in the Jingshi Division, and in other large and medium-sized cities, both merchants and migrant workers occupy a large proportion.
During the Five Dynasties period, merchants and merchants came and went, and in addition to the royal capital, there were also a large number of foreign races in other places.
Yangzhou is the largest economic and trade town after the Middle Tang Dynasty, attracting many Hu people to come here for business and profit.
According to the Zizhi Tongjian, in the sixth year of the Great Calendar, a merchant applied to the Tang court to build a Dayun Guangming Temple in Jingzhou, Yuezhou, Yangzhou, and Hongzhou for Manichaeans to believe.
The Manichaeans mainly came from the Sogdians of the Western Regions, and it is clear that during the Tang Dynasty, although Yangzhou was not as large as Chang'an, it still had a large population.
After studying the Taiping Guangji, Su Baohua also believed that the Hu people of Middle Earth, in addition to the usual envoys or hostages living in Chang'an and the eastern capital Luoyang, many Hu people with different identities, such as Hu Shang, Hu Nu, Hu Monk, Hu Xia, and Hu Geng, had left traces in Yangzhou and had a certain influence.
Ethnic integration promoted the development of urban economy, and the Sui and Tang Dynasties were a vast land, a rich country, a stable society, and an era of the most developed water and land transportation.
2. Economic and trade exchanges
The Tang Dynasty implemented a policy of opening up, and in November of the first year of Zhenguan, Emperor Taizong of Tang made a decree:
"to make public, private, public, thief, and treasure bought and sold in foreign countries."
In the fourth year of Zhenguan, Emperor Taizong of Tang accepted Wei Zheng's proposal to the Western Regions countries to "trade with them and trade with the people of the frontiers."
Emperor Wenzong of Tang inherited this enlightened policy, and in the eighth year of Taihe, he decreed:
"Fancha passengers in Fujian, Yangzhou, and other places should appoint envoys to supervise the festival, in case of emergency, except for the foot of the ship, the outside market, and the tribute, and the goods shall prevail, and they shall be bought and sold by themselves, without any customs duties."
The Qing court set up a mutual market department, specializing in Chinese and foreign commerce and trade, and the mutual market department, each of which was in charge of the merchants.
In the second year of Emperor Xuanzong's first century, the Tang Dynasty established the "City Boss" in Guangzhou, and the generous policies and good social environment made many foreign investors come to the Tang Dynasty.
A Tang Dynasty poet once described foreign merchants in the history books, saying:
"Tang Henan Prefecture Lide Fang, as well as Nanshi and Xifang, there are Hufu Temples, every year Hu Shang sacrifices, boiling pigs, slaughtering sheep, pipa,, singing, dancing, wine after three tours, Mo Yihu as the master."
The prosperity of Luoyang's exotic religions represented by the Yuan Sect is also an important reason for the large number of Hu merchants in Luoyang.
In Tang poetry, there are many depictions of foreign merchants, such as "Hu Da has blue eyes and conspires to buy in".
There is a story of "Hu people fighting treasures" in "Taiping Guangji", Hu people travel long distances, it is not convenient to buy and sell daily goods, so it is mainly jewelry.
In addition to doing valuable jewelry and spices, foreign businessmen also do some food business, such as Changxingli in Chang'an, there is a zinc gong shop, and at the back door of Taipingfang, there is a place where Hu people sell pastries.
In addition to merchants, there are also many accounts of foreign merchants in Tang poems, for example, the word "Hu Ji" appears 23 times in the Quan Tang Poems.
This shows that during this period, quite a few ethnic minorities in the city were engaged in the service industry, and the word "Hu people" appeared 32 times in the Quan Tang Poem.
Ethnic integration has enriched the lives of urban people, and the palace buildings of Tang and Chang'an are unique in the world.
At that time, literati and scholars from all over the country yearned for Chang'an, and even Songtsen Gampo sent several groups of students to Chang'an to study in Tibet.
3. Cultural exchanges
Chang'an is also a center for cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, where scholars from Japan and Western countries have visited Chang'an, forming a deep friendship with Chinese scholars.
During the reign of Emperor Taejong, the heads of Goryeo and other countries sent their children to receive education, and the number of educated people exceeded 8,000, and the prosperity of education was unprecedented in history.
It can be seen how large the number of overseas students was during the Tang Dynasty.
Although their purpose was to study in the Tang Dynasty, the integration of Han culture and Tang Dynasty culture brought by them injected a new vitality into the prosperity of Chang'an and other metropolitan cultures, so that the urban culture seen by Chang'an City people included court culture, aristocratic culture, commoner culture, exotic culture and bottom people's culture.
For example, Chang'an Temple is located in four places in the west of the city: Buzheng, Kuquan, Puning and Chonghua.
Due to the unification of the country, social stability, and frequent foreign exchanges, the Tang Dynasty brought a large influx of "Hu merchants", which not only brought exotic customs to the Tang Dynasty, but also brought a large number of goods to the Tang Dynasty.
The Hu people shops in Chang'an are all located in the west of the city, mostly orchid liquor shops, jewelry stores and so on.
On the bank of the Qujiang River east of Chang'an City, there is a restaurant where Hu Ji accompanies wine, where Li Bai and others once tasted Jin Zun wine, and Hu Ji's smile made them even more intoxicated.
The appearance of Hu Shang opened the door for the rise of Hu Feng, the capital of the Sui and Tang dynasties.
During the Tianbao period of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, the world was peaceful, and Emperor Xuanzong used the flower heaven and wine to encircle all the kings, so that the people of the Bo people prospered, there were many foreigners, and the Huhua custom of Chang'an was extremely prosperous.
This kind of Huhua is to a large extent a Western Regions custom, with clothing, food, official residences, music, dance, painting, everything, and all aspects of society.
Ordinary ladies and ladies like to wear bearded clothes and food tents.
Hongsang Temple and Hongsang Inn are where they come and go and live, and Hudian is mostly in the West Market, surrounded by exotic styles.
Merchants from foreign lands brought foreign costumes, treasures, Hu musical instruments and handicrafts here, and traded extensively here.
Butterbread, tana, biluo, wine, sugar, vegetables, and fruits are all from the Western Regions.
At the beginning of spring, in addition to the highest-ranking officials and royal family members, the court also loved this pastry very much.
Gaochang's red wine, Persian red wine, are very popular in Chang'an City.
With the continuous collision of Chinese and Western cultures, a large number of new styles of clothing were produced in the Tang Dynasty, of which Hufu is a good example.
Hufu features short shirts, narrow sleeves, and long boots, and was the most popular Han costume during the Xuanzong period.
To ride a horse or to facilitate movement, women wear a narrow-sleeved robe with a fish-scale belt around the waist and trousers and boots.
Women's makeup was also a feature of Tang dynasty clothing, women could wear beard clothes, hats, and men could also dress up beautifully.
Women have begun to use cosmetics, and the Sui Dynasty once imported an eyebrow pencil called "Luozi Dai" from Persia to paint the eyebrows of palace maidens.
During the Tang Dynasty, there was a pigment called "Qingdai", which was also imported from Persia.
During the Tang Dynasty, Western Regions music and Hu dance were popular in the Chang'an area, and Hu dance was known as "Hu Teng", "Hu Xuan" and "Tuozhi Dance".
There is also a sport, called "Polo", which is a polo from Persia that spread to China during the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang.
The Old Book of Tang says:
"At the end of the first century, Tai Chang Le Shang Huqu, the emperor ordered, the emperor gave vegetables to Hu people to eat, and the women in the palace wore Hu people's clothes."
epilogue
On this basis, it played an important role in promoting the development of urban socio-economic culture during the Sui and Tang dynasties.
The policy of ethnic minorities during this period, the strength of the Central Plains, the conquests, plunders, and conquests of the imperial court, as well as the prosperity of inland towns and cities, and the breadth and depth of Han culture, all accelerated the speed of migration of surrounding ethnic minorities to the interior.
The Turks, Khitans, and Dangxiang were all their vassals and lived with the Han.
With the entry of surrounding ethnic groups and foreign nationalities, it not only brought the growth of urban population during the Sui and Tang dynasties, but also brought quite advanced production technology, unique customs and culture, and colorful exotic customs.
The influx of craftsmen and merchants provided capital and technical support for the development of the city, and also provided conditions for people's diversified material life.
The arrival of monks and envoys to the Tang Dynasty greatly enriched the spiritual and cultural life of urban people.
The introduction of food and clothing makes the life of the city colorful and full of exotic style.
Dynamic ethnic migration, constantly breaking through ethnic boundaries and ethnic isolation, cities are important places for in-depth exchanges between people of all ethnic groups, material and spiritual exchanges and integration.
In this tide of foreign immigration, the cities of the Sui and Tang dynasties completed the transformation from traditional labor-intensive rural agriculture to capital- and technology-intensive urban handicrafts and commerce, thus accelerating the rapid development of capital cities and local cities.