Next, the High Tang period of section 2. The autocratic rule of Empress Wu
Zetian shifted the governing base from the Guanlong group to bureaucracies chosen by imperial examination, and as the empire matured, its culture became all the more vibrant.
Sancai is the representative art form of this period. Today sancai ware is so
widely known and collected that it is often the first type of ceramics conjured when the Tang dynasty is mentioned in the context of Chinese ceramics. White porcelains continued to be produced, but the brilliance of sancai began to overshadow their presence.
In the final section 3, the time from the An Lushan Rebellion and Huang
Chao Great Rebellion to Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period was a turbulent time marking the change from the Tang to the Song. This period was relatively long, more than a century and a half. It was a time when the great Tang dynasty gradually weakened, and while the impression that it was a culturally stagnant period remains, it is clear that this time marked the breakthrough to the pre-modern era. For example, we can sense a pre-modern self and viewpoint in the poetry of Bai Juyi, one of the shining lights of the Mid Tang. Similarly in Buddhism, there was a shift during this period from esoteric Buddhism to Zen. Confucianism enjoyed a renewed authority, and thus strengthened the basis for the scholar-official class of the Song dynasty.
In ceramics, this period saw the production of functional and highly abstract
works, and in the Late Tang, there began to appear ceramics that were quite refined and can be considered prototypes of Song dynasty porcelain.
The so-called “mysterious color celadons� from Yue ware in late Tang (such as
those excavated at Famensi temple) and the Ru ware that appeared at the end of the Northern Song can be considered the two pillars of celadon in Chinese ceramics.
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