On the Relationship between Exile Penalty, Policy and the Social Stratum of the Tang Dynasty

With the country reunited and the frontiers expended, it was necessary to move people and troops into the newly developed areas. Exile penalty, which is a sort of enforced migration, answers the call and becomes the tool of the government. In the Tang Dynasty, the assigned place of exile is decided by the status of the very person: those who exiled to the northwest military towns mostly belonged to lower class, and those who exiled to the south are mainly in official hierarchy. This policy had significant influence on the subsequent political structure. In the three hundred years down from the early Tang, the south-flow of intellectuals had greatly contributed to the cultural accumulation of the south.