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Events
By Place
Byzantine Empire
Asia
- Construction begins on the Leshan Giant Buddha near Leshan, Sichuan province, China. Upon its completion in 803, it will become the largest stone carved Buddha in the world.
- Emperor Xuanzong of Tang starts to rule in Ancient China. He liquidates the highly lucrative Inexhaustible Treasury, which is run by a prominent Buddhist monastery in Chang'an. This monastery collects vast amounts of money, silk, and treasures through multitudes of rich people's repentances, left on the premises anonymously. 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.
- In the Chinese capital of Chang'an, for the annual Lantern Festival of this year, recently abdicated Emperor Ruizong of Tang erects an enormous lantern wheel at a city gate, with a recorded height of 200 ft. The frame is draped in brocades and silk gauze, adorned with gold and jade jewelry, and when its total of some 50,000 oil cups is lit the radiance of it can be seen for miles.
- The Islamic community at Multan is founded.
Europe
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