Integration in the Tang & Abbasid Empires

The Tang and Abbasid Empires used very different methods of integration in their respective empires: The Tang used a secular method of integration through education whilst the Abbasid empire used the Islamic religion as an integration method. Due to many factors, the Abbasid method of integration may be considered more effective, as the religion of Islam is still thriving today. However, the Tang use of Confucianism and Daoism has still lived on, as both philosophies are still used in much of China today.

The Tang empire used “the world’s first fully written civil service examinations” (Worlds Together Worlds Apart, 336) in order to allow people to enter the government. The civil service examinations required long preparation, from the age of 3, and “even impoverished families sought for the best classical education they could afford for their sons.” Therefore, the civil service examinations allowed people to get into government, which gave them a way out of poverty and gave them respect as “the system underscored education as the primary avenue for success.” However, the examinations were kept secular: although there were followers of the Buddhist religion in China, this was not included in the tests. This allowed for everyone, even though they had different religions, to be united through a similar education of Confucian and Daoist classics, “social conduct, eloquence, skill in calligraphy and mathematics and legal knowledge.” As everyone prepared for the same test, everyone had a very similar outlook toward the world. Even though religion didn’t unite Tang China, the education did. However, competition was also established. Every boy would have to compete against all of the others in China, and only the best were selected. Therefore, it was in the best interest of each person to be selfish and not think of others, which was the exact opposite of the philosophy embraced by Daoism and Confucianism. Although in theory the system presented equality, the wealthy aristocrats hired private tutors and could pay for higher levels of education for their sons than impoverished families. Also, it was in the best interest of the current government officials to limit people from getting into the government, and to especially select for their own traits. For example, they wanted to keep the government limited to women, as otherwise it would present competition against one of the populations which had one of their traits: men.

The Abbasid Empire used a method of religious integration to unify their empire. Before the Abbasid revolution, the Muslim Arabs were treated much better than Muslim non-Arabs. Eventually, the Abbasid dynasty took over control. They made all Muslims equal, as Islam was a “universal religion” meaning that anyone who practiced it, no matter their ethnicity or where they lived, was equal. Even though the leader of the Abbasid empire was an Arab, Arabs and non-Arabs had equal influence as “ethnic and geographical diversity replaced what had been ethnic purity” (Worlds Together Worlds Apart, 322) in the political centres of the empire. While in the precursor dynasty to the Abbasids, the Umayyad dynasty, the armies were all Arab, during the Abbasid caliphate, the rulers “recruited from Turkish-speaking communities in central Asia and from the non-Arab, Berber-speaking people of North and West Africa.” These actions helped establish Islam as a universal religion. Although Muslims weren’t equal to non-Muslims in this empire, becoming a Muslim and following the Muslim practices like every Muslim guaranteed equal rights. Becoming a Muslim was something which was really open to anyone, and the only thing which differentiated people was their piety.

Although both the Tang and Abbasid empires carefully integrated and united their empire, the Abbasid empire made it easier to be equal to everyone else (just by conversion to a religion and following the religion) whereas the Tang empire used civil service examinations which required lengthy procedures and were difficult to prepare for, meaning that some impoverished families could not pay for education. Also, they excluded the sons of merchants from being allowed to serve in the government. These differences in how universal each system was influenced how long the respective dynasties were in place, but, more importantly, how long their respective systems lasted before change was required in the methods of unification.

Bibliography:

"Worlds Together Worlds Apart." Norton, p322 – p340. Accessed 7 Feb. 2021.