biography
| name: |
Taizong
|
| |
also spelled T'ai-tsung
|
pronunciation:
[tiytsung]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (600–49)
|
| biography:
| Second emperor of the Tang dynasty in China. As Li Shimin (Li Shih-min) he encouraged his father Li Yuan (566–635) to overthrow the Sui dynasty (618). He seized the crown in 618 after assassinating two brothers and their families, and forcing his father's abdication. His reign saw the zenith of Tang power. The government was restructured and Confucian ministers given prominence, the law was reformed, and new palaces, granaries, canals, and schools were built. Buddhism and Taoism was tolerated, and Xuanzang honoured. He suppressed frontier tribes, intervened in Nepal, invaded Korea (unsuccessfully), extended suzerainty over the Sassanids (Persia), defeated the E Turks (630), established protectorates over Annam, Manchuria, Mongolia, and the Tarim (Xinjiang), and united the royal houses of China and Tibet (649). Reputedly a great archer and horseman, he suffered from nightmares. |
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