Who were the rulers of the tang dynasty?
The first T’ang emperor, Li Yüan, known by his temple name Kao-tsu, began as a contender for the rule of the Sui dynasty, of which he had been an official. He overcame various rivals and rebels, and by 621 he controlled China’s eastern plain; in 624 he added the North and South, although some rebels remained in the North throughout the dynasty. He directed many complex military operations in his tenure and established the basic institutions of the T’ang state. He emulated the first Sui emperor in establishing a highly competent bureaucracy, and he adopted the same pattern of local administration. Because the state was bankrupt, the administration was kept small, simple, and cheap. The land-distribution system of the Sui was adopted to give every taxable male a plot and to minimize the number of large estates, and Li Yüan also took on the Sui system of taxation. He created mints and established a copper coinage that lasted throughout the dynasty. He recodified the laws with stated penal
