Middle Ages
An Lushan Rebellion (755-763): The Revolt That Broke the Tang
The Tang dynasty survived with Uyghur help, but lost central control over its provinces and frontiers and never regained its former power.
Region
Asia
Middle Ages
Kailasa Temple at Ellora: India's Rock-Cut Masterpiece
The Rashtrakutas created the largest monolithic rock-cut temple in the world, dedicated to Shiva as lord of Mount Kailasa.
Middle Ages
Borobudur: Building Java's Great Buddhist Monument
The Sailendra kings created the largest Buddhist monument in the world, a stepped stone mandala covered with more than 2,600 relief panels.
Middle Ages
Nestorian Stele (781): Early Christianity in Tang China
The stele preserved the main record of Christianity in Tang China and, after its rediscovery in the 1620s, became famous worldwide.
Middle Ages
Heian-kyo: The Founding of Kyoto as Japan's Capital (794)
Heian-kyo became Japan's imperial capital for more than a thousand years, until 1869, and gave its name to the Heian period (794–1185).
Middle Ages
Founding of the Khmer Empire: Jayavarman II in 802
Jayavarman II proclaimed himself universal monarch independent of Java, founding the Angkorian Khmer state that lasted until the fifteenth century.
Middle Ages
Samanid Empire (819–999): Persian Revival in Bukhara
The Samanids made Bukhara a centre of Persian culture and Sunni learning before their state fell to the Qarakhanids and Ghaznavids around 999.
Middle Ages
Tang-Tibet Treaty of 821-822 and the Lhasa Treaty Pillar
Tang China and Tibet agreed a lasting peace and border, which held until the Tibetan Empire broke up in the 840s.
Middle Ages
Jang Bogo and Cheonghaejin (828): Silla's Maritime Trader
Jang Bogo suppressed slave-raiding pirates and dominated East Asian sea trade for over a decade, until his murder and the abolition of Cheonghaejin in 851.
Middle Ages
Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution (845): Emperor Wuzong's Purge
Buddhist monasteries were closed and their wealth seized; foreign religions were banned; the policy was largely reversed after Wuzong died in 846.
Middle Ages
Invention of Gunpowder in China: From Elixir to Weapon
Gunpowder became a standard Chinese military material by the 11th century and, via the Mongol era, spread to the Islamic world and Europe.
Middle Ages
Prambanan: Java's Great Hindu Temple Compound
The Mataram kingdom built the largest Hindu temple compound in Indonesia, a complex of 240 shrines centred on a 47-metre temple to Shiva.