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

Housing

• Aristocrats and rich people lived in huge houses occupying many acres of land
• There were hallways connecting the central courtyard to backyard
• Backyard has man-made mountains, trees, pool, etc
• In one of the famous backyards, there was a kiosk modelled after the kingdom of Qin's "automatic rain kiosk" that was meant to bring the temperature of the scorching summer down to that of the autumn
• there were various ball courts
• civilians lived in the famous Sihe Yuan that was a yard with many connected rooms encircling it. these rooms contained many families
• modern beds, chairs, tables were derived from those made at the end of Tang