This volume is the first of two devoted to the Sui and T'ang dynasties (581–907). It is designed to provide the reader with a narrative account of this complex period, during which China underwent far-reaching changes in political institutions, in her relations with the neighbouring countries, in social organization, in the economy and in every sphere of intellectual, religious and artistic life. The broader issues in institutions, social and economic change and in intellectual developments are dealt with in detail in Volume 4 which also contains a bibliography for both volumes.

A glance at this bibliography will show that a wealth of modern scholarship has been devoted to the T'ang. Chinese scholars have been attracted to the period as one of the high points of Chinese political power and influence, and as one of extraordinary achievements in every field of culture and the arts. Japanese scholars have been drawn to the Sui and T'ang not simply because of the intrinsic interest of the period, but also because it was during these dynasties that Japan was most deeply influenced by Chinese institutions. Consequently Japanese scholars have had a deep and instinctive understanding of Sui and T'ang China which provided so much of the fabric of their own state structure, laws and institutions, art, literature and even of their written language. Western scholars too have long been fascinated by the period – the first full scale political history of the T'ang in a European language was completed by Father Antoine Gaubil SJ in 1753 – and in recent decades have begun to make their own distinctive contribution to the understanding of T'ang China.