301 Northern China is swept up by barbarian invasions; there begins the Sixteen Kingdoms era. 303 Armenia converts to Christianity under king Tiridates V by the work of St. Gregory the Illuminator. 303-306 Last heavy round of persecution against Christians in the Roman Empire under Diocletian and the Tetrarchs. 304 Liu Yuan-Hai, Lord of the southern Xiongnu/Huns, founds in the Shanxi region th Hunnic Han/Zhou imperial dynasty; eastern Turkestan rejects his authority and the local Indoeuropean Tocharian kingdoms (partly Zoroastrian, partly Buddhist) regain complete independence.