The Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties: A History of China

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.