392 Talas River, Battle of service He also proscribed eunuchs’ gaining political influence He earned popular gratitude by freeing millions of Chinese enslaved by Mongols, confiscating large estates belonging to Mongols and their collaborators, and granting land to the landless The people were also given free tools and seeds and tax remission to rebuild a neglected rural economy, especially in devastated northern China Taizu was also suspicious and insecure, and after Empress Ma’s death in 1382, increasingly paranoid and cruel He ruthlessly persecuted and purged many officials who had helped him gain power Taizu was predeceased by his eldest son and crown prince, and according to Chinese practice, passed the throne to a youth, the son of the crown prince This action would trigger a war of succession See also Yongle (Yung-lo) Further reading: Chan, Albert The Glory and Fall of the Ming Dynasty Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1982; Mote, Frederick W., and Denis Twitchett, eds The Cambridge History of China Vol VII, The Ming Dynasty 1368–1644, Part Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988 Jiu-Hwa Lo Upshur Talas River, Battle of In 751 a Tang (T’ang) dynasty army commanded by Gao Xianzhi (Kao Hsien-chih), military governor of Anxi (An-hsi) in the Western Regions, met an Arab army in battle at Talas River near Samarkand The Chinese were defeated Although this was not a major military confrontation, it had great consequences Tang power and prestige stood at their zenith up to 750 Tang military forces had scored major successes and secured the frontiers from Tibet to Central Asia; the northern steppes were under a friendly semisedentary people called Uighurs, while the Khitans in the northeast and the Xixia (Hsi Hsia) in the southwest were contained International trade flourished by land along the Silk Road, and by sea routes However soon all would change The aging Emperor Xuanzong (Hsuan-tsung), infatuated with a young concubine, the Lady Yang (Yang Guifei), had been neglecting his duties while her corrupt family and favorites dominated the government The military system that had made the empire strong during the previous 100 years was deteriorating Many of the frontier garrisons were manned by nomadic mercenaries and commanded by non-Chinese generals Meanwhile Muslim Arab power had been expanding eastward The conflict began as one between two local states, Ferghana, a Chinese client state, and Tashkent It led to battle between Ziyad bin Salih, governor of Samarkand under the Ummayyad Caliphate, assisting Tashkent, and General Gao Xianzhi and his Chinese forces Gao was badly defeated when his ally the Western Turks defected to the Arabs and retreated across the Pamir Mountains The battle was not significant in the short term, because the Arabs did not press eastward to threaten China, but because of what followed in the long term In the same year, nearer to home, the aborigines in Yunnan in southwestern China revolted and declared independence, creating a state called Nanzhao (Nan-chao) Finally in 755 the Turkic general and once imperial favorite An Lushan (An Lu-Shan) began a rebellion that captured both Tang capital cities and threatened the throne The immediate result of events in 755 was the recall of Chinese forces from Central Asia, creating a political vacuum That left the Arabs in a strong position Likewise the power vacuum enabled the Tibetans and the Xixia people to expand their power at China’s expense Even as an ally the Uighurs expanded their power at the Tang’s expense Without Chinese military protection the Buddhist states in Central Asia would fall to the rising power of Islam Chinese power would not return to the region for another 600 years See also Uighur Empire Further reading: Beckwith, Christopher I The Tibetan Empire of Central Asia: A History of the Struggle for Great Power among Tibetans, Turks, Arabs, and Chinese during the Early Middle Ages Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987; Grousset, René The Empire of the Steppes, a History of Central Asia Trans by Naomi Walford New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1994 Jiu-Hwa Lo Upshur Tamil culture Tamil is a Dravidian language group that originated in southern India and is not linked to the northern Aryan language group Tamil speakers are found in Tamilnadu, the region surrounded by Kerela, Karnataka, and Pradesh and parts of present-day Sri Lanka Historically, the two largest and most influential Tamil cities were Madras and Madura Intense trade and military expansion resulted in Tamil cultural expansion from