Victor Fong

At its largest extent, the territory of the early Tang empire (618-755) spanned from the Korean peninsula to present-day Afghanistan. It governed a large multi-ethnic population, and it attracted into its borders many foreign merchants, Buddhist monks, and immigrants. Even its royal house was of ethnically mixed descent. Under such complex circumstances, whom did the state consider as insiders and outsiders of its empire? What was the imperial court’s conception of subjecthood and how did it assert its control over those that it identified as its subjects? This seminar discusses conception and administration of subjecthood in the early Tang. Victor Fong is a PhD candidate in History at the Australian National University (ANU) on the national scholarship, Australian Postgraduate Awards.