Tang Gaozu (r. 618-624); personal name, Li Yuan; Sui general of mixed Chinese & Turkic ancestry; first cousin of the second Sui emperor; rebelled in 618 and established the Tang dynasty; later known as Tang Gaozu.

Tang Taizong (r. 626-649); personal name, Li Shimin; killed his own brothers and forced father to abdicate in his favor. Later considered one of the greatest of Tang emperors.

Tang Gaozong (r. 650-683)

Empress Wu (r. 690-705; de facto ruler from 660); personal name, Wu Zetian; started as the concubine of Taizong; later brought into the harem of Gaozong; only woman to rule as emperor of a Chinese dynasty in her own name; strengthened the dynasty's reliance on the examination system as a means of placing officials in high positions at court; envisioned herself to be the reincarnation of the Maitreya Buddha; under her reign the name of the dynasty was changed to Zhou; abdicates in her eighties in favor of her son.

Tang Xuanzong (r. 712-756); ushered in second high point in Tang dynasty; in old age became infatuated with his young consort, Yang Guifei. Flees the capital in 755 at the start of the An Lushan rebellion; abdicates in favor of his son.
Yang Guifei, the favored concubine of Tang Xuanzong; adopted An Lushan as her son; she is blamed for the rebellion in 755; strangled by the emperor's soldiers on the flight from Chang’an to Sichuan; known as one of the most famous femme fatales of Chinese history; noted also for her plump figure, which at the time was considered the height of female beauty.

An Lushan; regional military commander of the area near modern-day Beijing; rebels in 755; of Turkic and Sogdian descent; favoritism by Yang Guifei helps him retain power; killed by his own son two years after the start of the rebellion.

Northern aristocracy - from the region of Guanzhong in the northwest. Highly influential in court politics, especially in the early years of the Tang.

Li Bo (Li Po; also sometimes pronounced Li Bai) (699-762); considered one of the two greatest Tang poets.

Du Fu (Tu Fu) (712-770); considered one of the two greatest Tang poets.

Bai Juyi (Po Chü-i) (772-846); famous Tang dynasty poet; known for (among other poems) his "Song of Unending Sorrow" (changhen ge) which describes the fateful love affair between Emperor Xuanzong and Yang Guifei.

Huang Chao (d. 884); failed examination candidate; rebels in 880; his forces take the city of Chang’an in 881.

Zhu Wen; regional military commander in the late 9th century; kills the remaining members of the Tang imperial household; establishes himself as the emperor of the short-lived (Later) Liang dynasty in 907 (907-23); begins the era of disunity known as the Five Dynasties period.

Huang Chao (d. 884): leader of rebellion aganst the Tang in 880s. His troops lay waste to the city of Chang’an.
Zhu Wen; regional military commander in the late 9th century; kills the remaining members of the Tang imperial household; establishes himself as the emperor of the shortlived (Later) Liang dynasty in 907 (907-23); begins the era of disunity known as the Five Dynasties period.

Zhao Kuangyin (r. 960-976); founder of the Song dynasty; originally a general in service to the Later Zhou; known as Emperor Taizu of the Song (Song Taizu).

Fan Zhongyan (989-1052); Northern Song statesman; first person to establish rules for lineage organization.

Wang Anshi (1021-86); Northern Song statesman; advocate of the controversial "New Laws (Xinfa)" policies of the 1070s & 1080s; embroiled in court factionalism; his New Laws were considered too interventionist and "Legalist" to other Confucian statesmen of the time.

Sima Guang (1019-86); Northern Song statesman; opponent of Wang Anshi; advocates reform rather than radical change; advocates reform through the study of the past; writes one of the most comprehensive histories of China entitled, A Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government (Zizhi tongjian); covers the period from AD 403 – 959; (modeled on Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian).

Emperor Huizong (r. 1100-26); last emperor of the Northern Song; captured by Jin troops; lived out the remainder of his life in captivity in the north; China's most accomplished imperial painter and calligraphy.

Zhu Xi (1130-1200); probably the most influential neo-Confucian philosopher.

Cheng Hao (1031-1085) and Cheng Yi (1032-1107); two of the most influential neo-Confucian thinkers of the Northern Song.

Lu Xiangshan (1139-1191); another influential Confucian revivalist; debated with Zhu Xi over the nature of human feelings; while Zhu Xi sought to suppress human desire; Lu favored letting self-cultivation come from within the heart and mind of the individual; Lu's school of neo-Confucianism was known as the "School of the Mind" (Xinxue).

Yongle (Yung-lo) Emperor (reigned 1402-1424) (3rd emperor)

Wanli (Wan-li) Emperor (r. 1573-1620) (13th emperor)

Wang Yangming (1472-1529); one of the most influential Confucian thinkers of the Ming dynasty; highly influenced by Lu Xiangshan's "School of the Mind"; Wang Yangming's interpretation of the Confucian tradition became especially important in Japan where it was known as Oyomei Confucianism.

Zhang Zeduan (fl. mid-l2th c.); artist of the handscroll "Spring Festival on the River" (Qingming shanghe tu), which depicts daily life in the Northern Song capital of Kaifeng.
Chinggis Khan (ca. 1162 or 1167-1227); actual name - Temujin, launched the founding of the Mongol Empire; in 1206 names himself "universal ruler" or Chinggis Khan (alternatively written as Genghis Khan or Genghiz Khan).
Ogodei (r. 1229-41); Chinggis's third son; becomes the ruler of the Great Khanate covering the territory of Mongolia and northern China; launches a second wave of Mongol expansion campaigns; Jin Dynasty defeated by Ogodei in 1234.
Yelu Chucai (1190-1244); a descendent of the Liao royal household; accommodated to Chinese styles of rule; becomes a key advisor to Ogodei.

Khubilai Khan (1215-94), grandson of Chinggis Khan; becomes the Khan of the Great Khanate in 1260; establishes the Yuan Dynasty in China; this reunifies the north and the south; considered more Sinified and not as ruthless as his grandfather.

Red Turbans (1351-66); rebellious branch of White Lotus believers; they rise up against the Yuan in 1351; led first by Guo Zixing and then by Zhu Yuanzhang.
Guo Zixing (d. 1355); leader of the Red Turbans from 1351-55; foments rebellion in north China

Zhu Yuanzhang (reigned 1368-98); founder of the Ming dynasty; peasant origin; adopts the title of the Hongwu (great military) Emperor.

Empress Ma; wife of Zhu Yuanzhang; foster daughter of Guo Zixing; noted for having had a civilizing effect on the ruthless tendencies of the emperor.

Jianwen Emperor (reigned 1399-1402); eldest son of Zhu Yuanzhang's eldest son; throne usurped by his uncle, the Prince of Yan, in 1402.

Yongle Emperor (reigned 1402-1424); moves the capital to Beijing after usurping the throne.

"Brocade Uniform Guard," a special palace guard unit comprised of eunuchs. They serve as a secret police apparatus for the Ming imperial household; responsible for administering the Eastern and Western Depots - capital jails that become notorious as torture chambers.

Zheng He (1371-1433), a Muslim eunuch. Serves under the Jianwen and Yongle emperors; leads seven maritime expeditions between 1405 and 1433, some of which travel as far as to the east coast of Africa.

Zhang Juzheng (Chang Chü-cheng) (1525-82), Grand-Secretary under the Wanli Emperor; criticized in his day for being too activist or Legalist in his approach to statecraft.
Wang Yangming (Wang Yang-ming) (1472-1529); one of the most influential neo-Confucian thinkers of the Ming dynasty; highly influenced by Lu Xiangshan's "School of the Mind"; Wang Yangming's interpretation of the Confucian tradition became especially important in Japan where it was known as Oyomei Confucianism.

Wang Gen (Wang Ken) (1483-1541); a follower of Wang Yangming; founder of the Taizhou (T'ai-chou) School; formerly a self-educated salt merchant; believed that commoners had as much potential to be sages as the educated; put emphasis on spontaneity and rejection of social constraints.

Li Zhi (Li Chih) (1527-1602); one of the most radical thinkers of the Taizhou School; shaves his head to become a "Buddhist" monk; iconoclastic in thought and action; criticizes the hypocrisy and falseness of orthodox Neo-Confucianism; advocates the child-like heart; believed that desire or natural human feeling was the root of authentic behavior; influential in the development of late Ming vernacular literature.

Donglin (Tung-lin) Society; founded in 1611; comprised of scholars and officials united by their opposition to Taizhou radicalism, bureaucratic corruption, and eunuch power at court; victimized by the powerful eunuch Wei Zhongxian (Wei Zhongxian) in the l620s.

Restoration Society (Fu She); a second generation of Donglin scholars and political activists; gain influence in bureaucratic circles in the 1630s & 1640s; are not able to stem the tide of corruption and factionalism at court; internal fighting helps to doom their cause of restoration of the Ming Dynasty in the 1650s & 1660s.

Wei Zhongxian (Wei Chung-hsien) (1568-1627); a powerful eunuch; who dominated the court between 1620 & 1627; gained influence over the emperor via association with the emperor's former wet-nurse; terrorized and persecuted his political enemies, especially the Donglin scholars.

Zhang Xianzhong (Chang Hsien-chung) (1605-1647); leads a destructive rebellion in the region of Sichuan in the 1640s; conducts class warfare against the gentry; greatly depopulates the province of Sichuan; finally defeated by Qing troops.

Li Zicheng (Li Tzu-ch'eng) (1606-1645); a laid-off post-station groom who launches a peasant rebellion against the Ming from his power base in Shaanxi in 1639; succeeds in taking the capital in Beijing unopposed in 1644; establishes the short-lived Shun Dynasty; eventually defeated by the former Ming general Wu Sangui and Manchu troops.

Wu Sangui (Wu San-kuei); general under the Ming; first sides with Li Zicheng's rebels; then allies with the Manchu troops, paving the way for their entry into the city of Beijing and establishment of the Qing Dynasty; in 1673 Wu launches a rebellion against the Qing, which is suppressed by 1681.