world of civil elites. This divide was ethnic as well, with a Chinese civil elite
ruling at court and employing a non-Chinese military elite to run the army.
While it is an oversimplification to say that the army was run by non-
Chinese elites before the An Lushan Rebellion, there were great numbers of
non-Chinese in the upper ranks of the Tang army, and a large number of
the strongest military units, particularly on the border or in the cavalry,
were predominantly non-Chinese.^23 The connections between the civil
elite at court and the military leadership on the border broke down with
the An Lushan Rebellion.
The Tang empire was less unified even after An Lushan had been put
down, and imperial authority reached less far than before outside the capital.
Once again, regional armies and local forces built themselves up to maintain
local order and to struggle for power with others. Martial arts had dimin-
ished in importance among the Chinese population before the An Lushan
Rebellion, particularly as thefubingsystem collapsed and was replaced by
full-time military professionals. The necessity for self-protection and for
regional strongmen to recruit large armies brought the martial arts back to
the Chinese population. At the same time, steppe forces were quite active in
north China, once again offering their services for pay or sometimes carving
out their own areas of control. The need for self-defense was further exac-
erbated by the Huang Chao Rebellion, which diminished central authority
even more. When the dynasty was officially ended in 907 , the Chinese
ecumene was once again split north and south.
112 The Sui and Tang Dynasties