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The Tang Code (Chinese: 唐律; pinyin: Táng lǜ; Wade–Giles: T'ang2 lü4) was a penal code that was established and used during the Tang dynasty in China. Supplemented by civil statutes and regulations, it became the basis for later dynastic codes not only in China but elsewhere in East Asia. The Code synthesized Legalist and Confucian interpretations of law. Created in AD 624 and modified in AD 627 and 637, it was promulgated in AD 652 with 502 articles in 12 sections and enhanced with a commentary (the Tánglǜ shūyì 唐律疏議) in 653.[1] Considered one of the greatest achievements of traditional Chinese law, the Tang Code is also the earliest Chinese code to have been transmitted to the present in its complete form.[2]