Literature

• centered mainly on poetry
• classical poettry reached its pinnacle during Tang
• about 50 000 poems written by about 2000 poets survived from Tang
• during early Tang, famous poets include Chen Ziang, who was the founder of the improvement of Tang poetry
• during mid-Tang, massive number of fine poets emerged. Among them, Li Bai and Dufu were the most famous.
• Li Bai's Looking at the Waterfall of Mount Lu and Du fu's 3 Farewells were all masterworks
• mid-Tang poems often reflected life. Bai Juyi's 500 sarcastic yet exemplary peoms were fine examples of this period.

  Right --> Portrait of Bai Juyi

Sui-Tang Period
• During the Sui Dynasty, Sui Yangdi liked to go out to travel. Accompanying officers, because of emphasis on comfort level, liked to wear a type of clothing called Rong Zhuang. Under such influence, everybody wore such clothes.
• During the Tang Dynayst, because many non-han ethnic groups came from the borders to inland, their cultures mixed with Han's, so inlanders started to wear their boots and their clothing. But in formal occasions, they still wore shoes.
• Women sometimes wore men's clothes, within and outside the palace walls. Female clothes were fashioned to have low-neck that showed half of breasts, and narrow sleeves.