This story appears in the June 2009 issue of National Geographic magazine. The world economy in the ninth century had two powerful engines. One was Tang dynasty China, an empire stretching from ...

Did you know? The Tang dynasty (618-906AD) represents a golden age of achievement in Chinese history. Under the Tang rule, China became the richest and most powerful empire in the world.

He cut through to the strongly built tomb, went through the passage and was surprised that the palace in the middle of the mountain was "no less splendid than the outer world" and "the coffin was ...