The Tang Empire (618–907 AD) was the second largest and longest-enduring empire in the region after the Han Empire. The Tang Empire resembled the Western Han Empire (206 BC – 9 AD) in some ways such as the prominent role of trade with western countries and the way the empire began and ended.
Similarities With the Western Han Empire
The Tang Empire was like the Han Empire in foreign trade, land area, population, capital cities, and the beginning and end of the empires.
The land area of the Western Han Empire and the Tang Empire was about the same. However, the Tang Empire didn't include the southern regions aroundYunnan. This area was the territory of the Nanzhou Empire that had a capital near Dali. The Tang empire expanded westward into Central Asia.
Like the Western Han Empire, when the Tang Empire was at its height,Chang'an （today's Xi'an) was its capital city. In both eras, Chang'an was one of the largest cities in the world. Interestingly, the imperial courts of both empires sought refuge in Luoyang when Chang'an was attacked.
At its height, the Tang Empire had about the same size of population as the Western Han Empire did at its height, about 50 or 60 million people.
Like the Western Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty benefited from trade along the Silk Road trade routes and was influenced by contact with the West. They benefited from this trade and conquests in Central Asia in the early years, and the Tang Empire grew larger and more prosperous, and a new direction was set for religion and culture.
In both empires, the first emperor emerged by defeating rivals during a general rebellion against a tyrannical emperor of a large but very short-lived empire.
Both first emperors emerged during an era of natural disasters reminiscent of the course of the Mandate of Heaven. Both empires ended by fragmentation into warring kingdoms.
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