istoryworld
Events relating to china
A high official of the Sui empire seizes power and establishes one of China's greatest dynasties, the T'ang
At Dunhuang, an oasis on the Silk Road, as many as 500 caves are decorated with Buddhist murals
The discovery of the technique of porcelain, the most delicate of all forms of pottery, is made in China
Three of China's most famous poets - Wang Wei, Li Po and Tu Fu - are contemporaries during the T'ang dynasty
Japanese tradition gives this as the year in which the game of I-go, known in the west as go, is introduced from China
T'ang potters make vigorous and brightly coloured figures, of horses, camels or human attendants, to accompany the dead in the grave
Nestorian beliefs become the orthodoxy of the Christian community in Persia, spreading from there to India and China
Chia Tan produces an ambitious map for the emperor, some 30 by 33 feet in size, showing the entire T'ang empire
On the orders of the T'ang emperor, 4000 Buddhist monasteries are destroyed in China and 250,000 monks and nuns are forced into secular life
The world's first known printed book, a Diamond Sutra, is commissioned by a Buddhist monk in honour of his parents
The Diamand Sutra has as a frontispiece a printed woodcut depicting an enthroned Buddha
Playing cards are in use in T'ang dynasty China.
The leader of a peasant uprising captures and kills the Chinese emperor, bringing to an end the T'ang dynasty
Paper money is developed in China, becoming later one of the aspects of Chinese life which most impresses Marco Polo
A Chinese engineer, Chiao Wei-yo, is credited with devising the principle of the two-level pound lock for canals
A warlord, Zhao Kuangyin, establishes a new Chinese dynasty - the Song
The Khitan, a tribe from eastern Mongolia, fortify Beijing and make it their capital city
A Chinese manual on warfare includes the earliest known description of gunpowder
The concept of movable type for printing is pioneered in China, using fired clay, but it proves impractical
The earliest surviving reference to the principle of the compass occurs in a Chinese manuscript
Astronomers in China and Japan observe the explosion of the supernova which is still visible as the Crab Nebula
Su Sung, a Buddhist monk, develops in China the principle of the escapement in his tower clock worked by a water wheel
Chinese potters in the Song dynasty develop the wares known as celadons, with thick transparent green glazes
Zen Buddhism reaches Japan from China and appeals greatly to the new samurai class
The Chinese develop a feature of great significance in the history of seafaring - a sternpost rudder which is an integral part of the ship
