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Question: China's conquering Tang Emperor (Li Shimin)?

He started out as a soldier fighting the Turks and Mongols at a young age. Later he unified China and set up the Tang Dynasty. He later went on to conquer lands that are now Mongolia, Kazakstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Vietnam, part of Pakistan. His last place he wanted to conquer was Korea. That was his Achilles heel. After couple major expeditions, he still couldn't bring the 3 Korean kingdoms to submission. Millions of soldiers and money was lost in the wars with Korea. Only his son was later able to conquer Korea (albeit for a short time-35 years). Li Shimin was said to be as able as some of the world's great conquerors (ie Genghis Khan, Alexander, Julius Caesar). Had he not focused on Korea and instead turned towards Persia and Europe, he might have attained more success.

Answer: Li Shih-min, known as T'ai-tsung, succeeded to the throne in 626 by murdering two brothers and forcing the abdication of his father, but he became one of the greatest emperors China has known. He adjusted the balance of the court aristocracy to equalize regional influences and expanded both the Sui use of examinations in literature and culture for hiring civil servants and the Sui system of high-quality schools at the capital. He further enshrined the classics and published a standard edition. He defeated his eastern Turkish enemies and spread disunity among those in the west, expanding Li Shih-min, known as T'ai-tsung, succeeded to the throne in 626 by murdering two brothers and forcing the abdication of his father, but he became one of the greatest emperors China has known. He adjusted the balance of the court aristocracy to equalize regional influences and expanded both the Sui use of examinations in literature and culture for hiring civil servants and the Sui system of high-quality schools at the capital. He further enshrined the classics and published a standard edition. He defeated his eastern Turkish enemies and spread disunity among those in the west, expanding China farther westward than ever before.

Changing cultures?

I was scanning some news stories and came across the TimeMagazine article about the Afghani girl whose ears and nose werecut off by her husband. The cover picture of this pretty,18-year-old girl's horribly disfigured face accompanied thearticle. It was sickening and horrifying. It also aroused anger andindignation. It was also appalling that no one, neither family norany Afghani people, came to ...

The Unconquerable Afghanistan

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