Tang Taizong, who ruled from AD626 to AD649, held his foreign policy success in high regard. He attributed it to his attitude of regarding Chinese and non-Chinese as equal, in contrast to the previous tradition that honored only the Chinese and regarded everyone else as
`[G 03 / barbarian].'
This changed late in the seventh century when the Tang lost control over the Turks and were forced to build fortresses on the northwest frontier. These were not, however, walls. Today, it remains unclear what the Tang would have defined as walls.
