Emperor Gaozong of Tang

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Emperor Gaozong of Tang (唐高宗)
Birth and death:	July 21, 628–Dec. 27, 683
Family name:	Li (李)
Birth name (小名):	Zhinu (雉奴)
Given name (大名):	Zhi (治)
Courtesy name (字):	Weishan (為善)
Dates of reign:	July 15, 649–Dec. 27, 683¹
Dynasty:	Tang (唐)
Temple name:	Gaozong (高宗)
Posthumous name: (short)	Great Emperor Tianhuang² 天皇大帝
Posthumous name: (full)	Emperor Tianhuang Dasheng Dahong Xiao³ 天皇大聖大弘孝皇帝
General note: Dates given here are in the Julian calendar. They are not in the proleptic Gregorian calendar.
———
1. Suffering from strokes since 660, with his empress consort Wu Zetian largely administering the state after January 665.
2. Given in 684.
3. Final version of his posthumous name as given in 754.

Emperor Gaozong (Chinese: 高宗; pinyin: Gāozōng) (July 21, 628 – December 27, 683), personal name Li Zhi (李治), was the third emperor of the Tang Dynasty in China, ruling from 649 to 683 (although after January 665 he was no more than a puppet emperor in the hands of his empress consort Wu Zetian). Emperor Gaozong was the son of Emperor Taizong (9th) and the Empress Wende (3rd). Both his older brothers had been Crown Prince before him.

Gaozong has been described as a weak ruler, inattentive to the business of the state. Towards the end of his reign, the Tang Dynasty lost control of many of its vassals to the west and north.

In the beginning of Gaozong's reign, in 649, a chieftain of a Bai Mengshe tribe, Xinuluo, established a kingdom called Nanzhao near modern Yunnan under the nominal suzerainty of the Tang Empire.

Between 657 and 659 the recently conquered Western Turkic Khanate rose in a rebellion which was suppressed by the Tang armies.

From about 660 to about 668, Tang generals completed the conquest of the ancient Korean kingdoms of Goguryeo and Baekje with the help of Silla, another Korean kingdom. They would establish a protectorate over the Unified Sillia in 668; however, that would fail as Sillia broke apart in 671. Despite the fact that the Tang wasn't able to make Korea a vassal, Korea still remained as a strong ally and relations were still good.

Starting in about 670, first Tibet, then Nanzhao, Goguryeo, Baekje, and both the Western and Eastern Turkic Khanates successfully rebelled against the rule of the Chinese.

Known by Islamic sources as Yung Wei (Chinese 永徽 Yǒnghuī), which was in fact the name of the first era in his reign (Yonghui era from February 650 to February 656; see era name), he is credited with building the first mosque in China, a mosque that still stands in Canton. Islam was introduced to China and Gaozong by the visit of Sa`ad ibn Abi Waqqas , a companion of Muhammad in the year 650. Gaozong is said to have respected the teachings of Islam greatly, feeling the teachings were compatible with Confucianism, and offered the building of the mosque as a sign of admiration. The emperor himself did not convert as he felt Islam was too restrictive for his own preferences. This did not stop him from allowing Sa`ad ibn Abi Waqqas and his company to spread the teachings throughout the region.

He was aided in his rule by his empress consort Wu Zetian during the later years of his reign after a series of strokes left him incapacitated. Gaozong delegated all matters of state to his wife and after he died in 683, power fell virtually into the hands of Wu Zetian, who subsequently became the first and only reigning Empress of China.