The imperial examination system was born in the Sui Dynasty, and it was formally born in the Imperial Examination Department established by Emperor Yang Di of the Sui Dynasty. The figures who perfected the imperial examination system in Tang Dynasty were Emperor Taizong, Wu Zetian and Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty. There were many permanent examination subjects in the imperial examination system in the Tang Dynasty, among which Jinshi and Mingjing were the most important.

Poetry is the most developed literary achievement in the Tang Dynasty. The Complete Poems of Tang Dynasty compiled by Qing Dynasty contains more than 48,900 poems by more than 2,200 poets, which is not all. The poets in the early Tang Dynasty are most famous for their "four outstanding poets in the early Tang Dynasty" (Yang Jiong, Lu, Luo). Poets in the prosperous Tang Dynasty can be divided into pastoral schools represented by Wang Wei and Meng Haoran and frontier schools represented by Cen Can and Wang Changling.

Among them, Li Bai, a poet, and Du Fu, a poet saint, are the most famous. Bai Juyi is the most outstanding poet in the middle Tang Dynasty, and his poems are easy to understand. In addition, there are Yuan Zhen, Han Yu, Liu Zongyuan, Liu Yuxi and Li He.

Li Shangyin and Du Mu are the most outstanding poets in the late Tang Dynasty, and they are called "Little Du Li". Although there were still outstanding poets in the later Song, Ming and Qing Dynasties, their overall level was not as good as that of the Tang Dynasty, and Tang poetry became the insurmountable peak of China's ancient poetry.