A Study Of Tourism In The Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty is well-known not only for its political stability, economic boom and cultural prosperity, but for the popularity of its tourism. It is an age of originality, during which tourism flourishes to the utmost. At that time tourism is not the product of political and economic activities, so and individual can decide on his own travel to meet his needs and desire. In a broad sense, tourism then is characterized by the popular traverllers, the exploration of new tour resources and the great achievement of tourist culture as a result of the perfect objective conditions and the awakening of humanistic consciousness. There are various types of tourism activities in Tang Dynasty. The active participation of the people at all levels makes Tang Dynasty's tourism have unique characters: pluralism in tourism guideline, independence and popularity of tourism activities, richness in tourism culture and openness for tourism activities. Scholars and officials are the backbone of tourism activities in Tang Dynasty, so it is of specified significance to make a study on this group of people. In the micro sense, it will enlighten as greatly to recognize all respects of Tang Dynasty's social problems by examining the tourism philosophy and values of these scholars and officials from the perspective of social psychology. Viewing from their tourism philosophy, the ultimate purposes of people in Tang Dynasty are reflected in following aspects: utility complex, religion complex and enjoyment complex. And all these personal complexes further lead to the values of people in Tang Dynasty: appreciation of beauty, relaxation and entertainment, building of social relations, purposing of success in society, seeking of knowledge and rules and making appropriate use of talents. From the perspective of the history of social culture, the present thesis explores the interaction between tourism and cultural propaganda, tourism and social customs, tourism and spiritual products and the social effects of Tang's tourism on later ages.Tourism in the Tang Dynasty, though more active, has its distinctive limits, one of which is mainly shown in the unequality of the tourist life.