reflecting Tang Dynasty architecture; others are "Painting of Polo Game" and ''Paintings of Envoy and Guests," depicting cultural exchanges and the friendly relationships between China and the world.

This story appears in the June 2009 issue of National Geographic magazine. The world economy in the ninth century had two powerful engines. One was Tang dynasty China, an empire stretching from ...

Liu Tingxun was a loyal servant of the Dynasty, and his tomb figures, both human and animal, sum up many aspects of Tang China at its zenith. They show the close link between the military and the ...