Guilin - Central - Tang Dynasty carving (detail) -
"Elephant Trunk Hill" Lijiang river - (Tang Dynasty - June 18 618 AD -
June 4 907 AD) regarded by many scholars as the highlight of the
early Chinese civilizations - this period China established contact
with India and the Middle East. The "Tang" rulers also set up the
Confucian system of Examination and "Scholarly study" practiced
until the last days of Chinese Feudal rule in the early twentieth
century (1911)
photo: mhobbs