The dynasty continued to flourish under Empress Wu Zetian, the only empress regnant in Chinese history, and reached its zenith during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, who oversaw an empire that stretched from the Pacific to the Aral Sea with at least 50 million people.

Statue of Yang Guifei ( 719-756 ), the favoured concubine of Emperor Tang Xuanzong of China.

* 1215 – Zhongdu ( now Beijing ), then under the control of the Jurchen ruler Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, is captured by the Mongols under Genghis Khan, ending the Battle of Zhongdu.

* Li Linfu, Chancellor of Tang China during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong ( 712 – 756 ) in the latter years, was exhumed and executed for crimes of high treason by his rival Yang Guozhong for his implication in the An Lushan Rebellion.

During the Tang dynasty, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang promoted large-scale tug of war games, using ropes of up to 167 meters with shorter ropes attached and more than 500 people on each end of the rope.

Chinese Emperor Xuanzong brings the Tang Dynasty to its pinnacle.

* 712-756: Emperor Xuanzong reigned, the time was considered one of China's high points.

* Xuanzong, Emperor of China at height of Tang cultural influence from 712 to 756

* Emperor Xuanzong of Tang forbids all commercial vendors and shops in the Chinese capital city of Chang ' an to copy and sell Buddhist sutras, so that the emperor can give the clergy of the Buddhist monasteries the sole right to distribute written sutras to the laity.

* Emperor Xuanzong of Tang begins to favor Taoism over Buddhism, adopting the new reign title Tianbao (' Heavenly Treasures ') to indicate his divine mandate.

* Emperor Xuanzong of Tang China abolishes the death penalty.

* Emperor Suzong of Tang China ascends to the throne, after his father Emperor Xuanzong abdicates while fleeing to Sichuan during the An Lushan rebellion.

* Yang Guifei, consort of Emperor Xuanzong ( executed )

* Emperor Xuanzong is placed under house arrest by Li Fuguo with the support of Emperor Suzong.

* Emperor Xuanzong of Tang China ( b. 685 )

* In Ancient China, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang discards the policy of conscripting men into the army to be replaced every three years, replacing them with long-service soldiers who are more battle-hardened and efficient.

* Emperor Xuanzong of Tang

* Emperor Xuanzong of Tang China succeeds Emperor Ruizong of Tang China as emperor of China.

* Emperor Xuanzong of Tang starts to rule in Ancient China.

Although the monastery is generous in donations, Emperor Xuanzong issues a decree abolishing their treasury on the grounds that their banking practices were fraudulent, collects their riches, and distributes the wealth to various other Buddhist monasteries, Daoist abbeys, and to repair statues, halls, and bridges in the city.

* Chinese Emperor Xuanzong of Tang allots the money of 20 million copper coins and assigns about 1, 000 craftsmen to construct a hall at a Buddhist monastery with tons of painted portraits of himself, and of deities, ghosts, etc.

** Emperor Ai of Tang ( 892 – 908 )

Tang Dynasty was founded by Emperor Gaozu on June 18, 618.

Mail was introduced to China when its allies in Central Asia paid tribute to the Tang Emperor in 718 by giving him a coat of " link armour " assumed to be mail.

Tibetans also had a tradition of cavalry warfare, in several military engagements early on with the Chinese Tang Dynasty ( 618 – 907 AD ), including Emperor Taizong's campaign against Tufan in 638.

A bas-relief of a soldier and horse with saddle and stirrup s, from the tomb of Chinese Emperor Taizong of Tang ( r. 626-649 ), c. 650

As early as the 7th century the word 天皇 ( which can be read either as sumera no mikoto, divine order, or as tennō, Heavenly Emperor, the latter being derived from a Tang Chinese term referring to the Pole star around which all other stars revolve ) began to be used.

Image: Sun Quan Tang. jpg | Emperor Sun Quan in the Thirteen Emperors Scroll and Northern Qi Scholars Collating Classic Texts, by Yan Liben ( c. 600-673 AD ), Chinese

* 631 – Emperor Taizong of Tang, the Emperor of China, sends envoys to the Xueyantuo bearing gold and silk in order to seek the release of enslaved Chinese prisoners captured during the transition from Sui to Tang from the northern frontier ; this embassy succeeded in freeing 80, 000 Chinese men and women who were then returned to China.

* 618 – Li Yuan becomes Emperor Gaozu of Tang, initiating three centuries of Tang Dynasty rule over China.

* 626 – Li Shimin, the future Emperor Taizong of Tang, Emperor of China, ambushes and kills his rival brothers Li Yuanji and Li Jiancheng in the Xuanwu Gate Incident.

* 706 – In China, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang inters the bodies of relatives in the Qianling Mausoleum, located on Mount Liang outside Chang ' an.

* 862 – Emperor Xizong of Tang ( d. 888 )

* In China, Guanshiyin was changed to Guanyin due to the unacceptability of the original under the naming taboo of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, whose personal name was Li Shimin ( contains the Chinese character shi 世 ).

The first reference to card games in world history dates from the 9th century, when the Collection of Miscellanea at Duyang, written by Tang Dynasty writer Su E, described Princess Tongchang, daughter of Emperor Yizong of Tang, playing the " leaf game " in 868 with members of the Wei clan, the family of the princess ' husband.

In three arduous campaigns, the first two of which were conducted by the emperor himself while the third was directed by Manuel Comnenos ( great-uncle of Emperor Manuel Comnenos ), the Turks were defeated in detail in 1070 and driven across the Euphrates.

* 1896 – In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games is celebrated, 1, 500 years after the original games are banned by Roman Emperor Theodosius I.

Schweitzer concludes that the 1st century theology, originating in the lifetimes of those who first followed Jesus, is both incompatible with, and far removed from, those beliefs later made official by the Roman Emperor Constantine in 325 CE.

The Terracotta Army commissioned by the first Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi is a collection of about 8000 life-sized ceramic soldiers and horses buried with the emperor.

He acquired much favor with the Emperor Hadrian, who adopted him as his son and successor on 25 February 138, after the death of his first adopted son Lucius Aelius, on the condition that Antoninus would in turn adopt Marcus Annius Verus, the son of his wife's brother, and Lucius, son of Aelius Verus, who afterwards became the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus.

One of his first acts as Emperor was to persuade the Senate to grant divine honours to Hadrian, which they had at first refused ; his efforts to persuade the Senate to grant these honours is the most likely reason given for his title of Pius ( dutiful in affection ; compare pietas ).

Augustus (, September 23, 63 BC – August 19, 14 AD ) was the founder of the Roman Empire and its first Emperor, ruling from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.

| SHORT DESCRIPTION = first Roman Emperor

* 1521 – Martin Luther's first appearance before the Diet of Worms to be examined by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and the other estates of the empire.

Germanicus ’ father, Drusus the Elder, was the second son of the Empress Livia Drusilla by her first marriage to praetor Tiberius Nero, and was the Emperor Tiberius ’ s younger brother and Augustus ’ s stepson.

He was the only child of Agrippina the Younger through her first marriage to Domitius, and through her, he was great-great grandson of the Emperor Augustus, great-grandnephew and adoptive great-grandson of the Emperor Tiberius, nephew of the Emperor Caligula, as well as great-nephew and stepson of the Emperor Claudius.

After a performance of the ballet ' Tsar Kandavl ' at the Mariinsky Theatre, I first caught sight of the Emperor.

Their party was defeated ( 2 May 1182 ), but Andronikos Komnenos, a first cousin of Emperor Manuel, took advantage of these disorders to aim at the crown, entered Constantinople, where he was received with almost divine honours, and overthrew the government.

* 357 – Emperor Constantius II enters Rome for the first time to celebrate his victory over Magnus Magnentius.

Andrew's first mission to the East was when he was asked by the French king Louis IX to go and fetch the Crown of Thorns which had been sold to him by the Latin Emperor of Constantinople Baldwin II in 1238, who was anxious to obtain support for his tottering empire.

He was the eldest son of Theodosius I and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla, and brother of the Western Emperor Honorius.

* 1804 – Francis II assumes the title of first Emperor of Austria.

Among their children, four lived to maturity: Henry, born in 952 ; Bruno, born 953 ; Matilda, the first Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg, born about 954 ; and Otto II, later Holy Roman Emperor, born 955.

* 2007 – Boris Yeltsin's funeral – the first to be sanctioned by the Russian Orthodox Church for a head of state since the funeral of Emperor Alexander III in 1894.

Other rewards were bestowed by foreign states, particularly the Ottoman Emperor Selim III, who made Nelson the first Knight Commander of the newly created Order of the Crescent, presented him with a chelengk, a diamond studded Rose, a sable fur and numerous other valuable presents.

The Fetha Negest remained the supreme law in Ethiopia until 1931, when a modern-style Constitution was first granted by Emperor Haile Selassie I.