A sketch of China's political and economic history from Tang to Yuan

Ptak, Roderich

The present note is a short introduction to circa seven hundred and fifty years of Chinese history, starting with the Tang Period, which began in 618, and ending with the collapse of the Yuan Empire in 1368. The idea is to present a structured panorama of major features and key events during this period and to establish a picture from the bird’s-eye view, mainly of political, economic and some social developments. In several cases, long-term mechanisms conventionally perceived as having contributed to the emergence of certain “things”, or events, are addressed as well. But my object is not to produce a new model for a future “macro-study”, to investigate what may be called the “backstage” of history, or to discuss the possible moving forces behind a set of visible screens. Rather, these jottings are designed to inform curious students and readers with a general interest in Oriental Studies about an important segment of China’s past – in a very simple way, without ambitions, and without making use of a distinct theoretical frame.