The Dunhuang Star map – the world's oldest complete preserved star map – is created
The map provides a graphical verification of the star observations, and are part of a series of pictures on one of the Dunhuang manuscripts.
China
Wu Zetian becomes first female emperor of China
She reigned during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE) and was one of the most effective and controversial monarchs in China’s history.
The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda of modern-day Xian, China is completed
Giant Wild Goose Pagoda or Big Wild Goose Pagoda is a Buddhist pagoda located in southern Xi’an, Shaanxi province, China. It was built in 652 during the Tang dynasty and originally had five stories.
The Chinese of the Tang Dynasty invent the banknote
Merchants would issue what are today called promissory notes in the form of receipts of deposit to wholesalers to avoid using the heavy bulk of copper coinage in large commercial transactions.
Bianji compiles Great Tang Records on the Western Regions
The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions is a narrative of Xuanzang’s nineteen-year journey from Chang’an in central China to the Western Regions of Chinese historiography.
Initial construction of Grand Canal in China is completed
The Grand Canal is a vast waterway system in the north-eastern and central-eastern plains of China, running from Beijing in the north to Zhejiang province in the south. It was conceived as a unified means of communication for the Empire for the first time in the 7th century C.E. (Sui dynasty).
The Qieyun, a historic Chinese rime dictionary, is written and published by Lu Fayan
The Qieyun and later redactions, notably the Guangyun, are important documentary sources used in the reconstruction of historical Chinese phonology.
The Sui Dynasty begins in China
The Sui Dynasty (581-618 CE) was a brief one with only two reigning emperors but it managed to unify China following the split of the Northern and Southern Dynasties period.
The ancient Chinese invent sulfur matches
A note in the text Cho Keng Lu, written in 1366, describes a sulfur match, small sticks of pinewood impregnated with sulfur, used in China by “impoverished court ladies” in C.E. 577 during the conquest of Northern Qi.
The medieval Chinese of the Song dynasty invent toilet paper
The first documented use of toilet paper in human history dates back to the 6th century C.E., in early medieval China.