Chinanews, Beijing, January 12 – An article written by German geologists and published on Nature on January 4, 2007 says that the Tang Dynasty was overturned by the peasant uprising caused by a severe drought that had lasted 150 years. However, Chinese historians don't think so.

 

“The climate in the middle period of the Tang Dynasty did become cold as the article says, and we noticed that about 20 years ago after studying historical documents. We are glad that it is reconfirmed by German geologists,” said Zhang De'er, a researcher from China Meteorological Administration.

 

Zhang also claims that there is no record of such great drought in the historical documents of the Tang Dynasty. According to their research, the climate change in the Tang Dynasty could be divided into three stages, the first was a rainy stage from 711 AD to 771 AD, the second a relatively dry period from 771 AD to 819 AD, and the last also a rainy stage, in which the reign of the Tang Dynasty came to an end.