Emperor Wen of Sui (581-604), personal name Yang Jian, was the founder and first emperor of China's Sui Dynasty. He was a hard-working administrator and a micromanager. As a Buddhist, he encouraged the spread of Buddhism through the state;...

Emperor Gaozu of Tang China, born Li Yuan, was the founder of the Tang Dynasty of China, and the first emperor of this dynasty from 618 to 626. Under the shortlived Sui dynasty, Li Yuan was the governor in the area of modern-day Shanxi prov...

Emperor Taizong of Tang, previously Prince of Qin, personal name Li Shimin, was the second emperor of the Tang dynasty of China, ruling from 626 to 649. He is traditionally regarded as a co-founder of the dynasty for his role in encouraging...

Wu Zetian or Empress Wu, was a Chinese sovereign, who ruled officially under the name of her self-proclaimed "Zhou dynasty", from 690 to 705. She was the only female emperor of China in more than 4,000 years. She had previous imperial posit...

Li Bai or Li Po was a Chinese poet who lived during the Tang Dynasty. Called the Poet Immortal, Li Bai is often regarded, along with Du Fu, as one of the two greatest poets in China's literary history. Approximately 1,100 of his poems remai...

Du Fu or Tu Fu was a prominent Chinese poet during the Tang Dynasty. Along with Li Po (Li Bai), he is frequently called the greatest of the Chinese poets. His own greatest ambition was to help his country by becoming a successful civil serv...

Bai Juyi or Po Chü-i was a Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty. He wrote over 2,800 poems, which he had copied and distributed to ensure their survival. He is most notable for the accessibility of his work. It is said that he rewrote any part...

Liu Zongyuan was a Chinese writer and poet who lived in Chang'an in the Tang dynasty. Along with Han Yu, he was a founder of the Classical Prose Movement. He was traditionally classed as one of the Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and...

Emperor Taizu of Song was the founder and first emperor of the Song dynasty in China. He reigned from 960 until his death in 976. Formerly a distinguished military general of the Later Zhou dynasty, Emperor Taizu came to power after staging...

Emperor Zhenzong was the third emperor of the Song Dynasty of China. His personal name was Zhao Heng. He reigned from 997 to 1022. Zhenzong was the son of Emperor Taizong. His temple name means "True Ancestor". Zhenzong's reign was noted...

Emperor Gaozong, born Zhao Gou, was the tenth emperor of the Song Dynasty of China, and the first emperor of the Southern Song. He reigned from 1127 to 1162. He fled south after the Jurchens overran Kaifeng hence the beginning of the Southe...

Genghis Khan was the founder and Great Khan (emperor) of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his demise. He came to power by uniting many of the nomadic tribes of northeast Asia. After founding...

Ögedei Khan, also Ogotai or Oktay, was the third son of Genghis Khan and second Great Khan of the Mongol Empire by succeeding his father. He continued the expansion of the empire that his father had begun, and was the Great Khan when the Mo...

Kublai Khan was the fifth Khagan (Great Khan) of the Ikh Mongol Uls (Mongol Empire), reigning from 1260 to 1294, and the founder of the Yuan Dynasty, a division of the Mongol Empire. Kublai was the fourth son of Tolui and a grandson of G...

Marco Polo was a Christian merchant from the Venetian Republic whose travels are recorded in Il Milione, a book which did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccolò a...