From the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty

The end of the Later Han dynasty (220 AD) marks the start of the turbulent period preceding the ascension of the Tang dynasty (618-907). The study of this period requires a narrow specialization, as someone familiar only with classical texts may be helpless in the face of Buddhist documents, which are impossible to interpret without a solid grounding in rather esoteric Indian thought in general and Buddhist thought in particular. It necessitates a capacity to combine various domains of research, interdisciplinary studies. The research of the Buddhist documents is in fact a challenge to any linguist and Sinologist. Some characteristic features of vocabulary are obviously visible at first glance, in particular those found in Buddhist texts. The variants of the spoken language of the pre-Tang period, clearly distinct from classical written language, may be studied on the basis of Buddhist texts, which were written or translated in a manner comprehensible to ordinary people and not for the cultivated elite.