The whitewashed ceiling displays a painted map of the ... Because Southern Tang had declined by the time Li Jing died, and he had declared himself a vassal of the Later Zhou Dynasty, his mausoleum ...

reflecting Tang Dynasty architecture; others are "Painting of Polo Game" and ''Paintings of Envoy and Guests," depicting cultural exchanges and the friendly relationships between China and the world.

This story appears in the June 2009 issue of National Geographic magazine. The world economy in the ninth century had two powerful engines. One was Tang dynasty China, an empire stretching from ...