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| | Imperial Era: II |
 | | The Tang period was the golden age of literature and art. |
 | | From Tang times until the closing days of the Qing empire in 1911, scholar-officials functioned often as intermediaries between the grass-roots level and the government. |
 | | Included in these refinements were not only the Tang ideal of the universal man, who combined the qualities of scholar, poet, painter, and statesman, but also historical writings, painting, calligraphy, and hard-glazed porcelain. |
| www-chaos.umd.edu /history/imperial2.html (909 words) |
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