Chinese Traveled To Japan In Tang Dynesty Recorded In Japanese History Book-'续日本纪'

Since 710 years, when the capital was transferred from Fujiwara Kyoto to Heijokyo, Japan entered into the Nara Age, and began, based in the framework of the legal system established in the Asuka Age, to enforce regulations and laws at home to consolidate the centralization of the state, and at the same time to get contacts with the outside world, aiming at the foundation of the " small empire of east Asia". Envoys were dispatched to China (then in Tang Dynasty) to absorb its advanced culture avidly, in the hope of being labeled as one of the civilized countries. At the same time, the riotous political condition of the Tang Dynasty, with the termination of the authoritarian reign of Queen Zetian and the enthronement of Emperor Xuanzong (玄宗) in 712 years, came to a close. China revived, and with the frequent international exchanges became the bridge and center of politics and economy among nations in Asia and Africa. The prosperity of the Tang dynasty loomed large in the world. In the 2^nd half of the 8^th century, the outbreak of the Insurgence of An Lushan and Shi Luming caused the rearrangement of power in different cliques. New trend took shape in the international communication. On this background the Tang travelers to Japan appeared in the Nara Age.《续日本纪》, a biographical history book recording the development of the whole Nara Age, is compiled in accordance with the imperial edicts and orders, succinct, rich in materials, and with high credibility. In great details are the records on the communication between The Nara Imperial Court and Tang, Silla, and Bohai, some of which can make up for the blanks in the domestic study on Tang dynasty, and are indispensable materials for the study on the history of international communication in Tang dynasty. This thesis, centered on 《续日本纪》, combs and tidies up the materials about the Tang travelers to Japan in The Nara Age, and tries to present an outline of the event. Also, this thesis makes a case study, in which the Tang travelers' individual features are traced, in order to reconstruct their true selves.In part one, the analysis is given to the guidelines of the compilation of this book and the recorded biographies of the Tang travelers. Then the thesis examines the origins and features of these stories and some errors in the current versions of them. The study made on the differences between "萨"and "薛", and between "行官" and " 判官" took a few drops of my heart-blood. Second, the thesis, centered on the Japan's six national biographical history books, analyses the complexity, extensiveness, the social blood relationship, and uniqueness in time and locality of the usage of "Tang people", and thus gives a definition of Tang people.In part two, first the thesis combs the historic materials wherever they can be found about the Tang travelers to Japan, and examines the credibility of these materials and the exact time when these Tang people traveled Japan. I hope I didn't make errors here. Based on this examination, I make a research on the formation of this phenomenon, the factors that help or hinder the travel, the activities after they arrived Japan, the treatment they received, and the historic contributions they made in spreading the Tang culture. I find that most travelers take the envoy's ships of the Tang dynasty, and that the drive is the Japanese starvation for the advanced culture of the Tang dynasty. The thinking of "respect for the superior"in Japan is reflected not only in the ceremony of meeting the Tang envoys, but also in granting new surnames to the Tang people in Japan. True, they get some preference, but only those with...