General Overview of Post Classical Eastern Asia
The revival of centralized imperial rule in China had profound implications for all of east Asia and indeed for most of the eastern hemisphere. When the Sui and Tang dynasties imposed their authority throughout China, they established a powerful state that guided political affairs throughout east Asia. Tang armies extended Chinese influence to Korea, Vietnam, and central Asia.They did not invade Japan, but the impressive political organization of China prompted the islands' rulers to imitate Tang example.Chinese silk, porcelain, and lacquer ware were prized commodities among trading peoples form southeast Asia to east Africa. Chinese inventions such as paper, printing, gunpowder, and the magnetic compass found a place in societies throughout the eastern hemisphere as they diffused across the silk roads and sea-lanes. Nestorian Christians, Zoroastrians, Manicheans, and Muslims all maintained communities in Tang China, and Buddhism became the most popular religious faith in all east Asia.