Timeline of Chinese history (original) (raw)

Ancient China

Date

Ruling entity

Emperor

Events

Other people/events

2500 BC

Sanhuangwudi

This period is part of the Chinese mythology

-2205

Xia Dynasty

-1806

-1523

Shang Dynasty

First records of Chinese characters

-1027

-1122

Zhou Dynasty

-771

End of Western Zhou

-770

Beginning of Eastern Zhou

-722

Spring and Autumn Period

-551

Confucius

-481

-479

-403

Warring States Period

-260

Battle of Changping

-256

-255

Qin Dynasty

-246

Qin Shi Huang Di

-221

Start of construction of the Great Wall

-210

Burial of the Terracotta Army

-207

-202

Han Dynasty
(Western Han)

Han Gao Zu

-195

9

Xin Dynasty

Wang Mang

24

25

Han Dynasty
(Eastern Han)

105

Cai Lun, inventor of paper

106

Han Shangdi

184

Yellow Turban Rebellion

200

Battle of Guandu

208

Battle of Red Cliff

220

Three Kingdoms
(Wei, Shu, Wu)

222

Sun Quan

Battle of Yi Ling

234

Battle of Wuzhang Plain

250

Introduction of Buddhism in China

252

265

Jin Dynasty

291

War of the Eight Princes

306

383

Battle of Feishui

420

Southern and Northern Dynasties

475

Bodhidharma arrives in China

589

581

Sui Dynasty

618

Tang Dynasty

627

Li Shi Min

635

First Christian missionaries arrive in China: Nestorian monks from Asia Minor and Persia, building Daqin Pagoda.

649

684

Wu Ze Tian

705

756

An Lushan Rebellion

763

845

Mass persecution of Buddhism

907

Five Dynasties
and Ten Kingdoms

960

Song Dynasty

1214

Battle of Beijing

1254

Marco Polo

1260

Kublai Khan

1271

Yuan Dynasty

1273

Battle of Xiangyang

1279

Battle of Yamen

1289

Franciscan friars begin mission work in China

1294

1323

1368

Ming Dynasty

Hongwu

1371

Zheng He

1398

1399

Jianwen

1402

1403

Yongle

1406

Construction of the Forbidden City begins

1424

1435

1449

Battle of Tumu Fortress

1516

First Portuguese settlement in Macau

1556

Earthquake in Shaanxi and Gansu. 850,000 casualties

1582

Jesuits begin mission work in China

1616

Nurhaci founds the Qing Dynasty in Manchuria

1619

Battle of Sarhu

1627

First Manchu expedition to Korea

1637

Second Manchu expedition to Korea

1644

Qing Dynasty

Shunzhi

1661

1662

Kangxi

1680

First Portuguese governor in Macau

1711

The British East India Company establishes a trading post in Guangzhou

1722

1723

Yongzheng

1735

Qianlong

1793

Lord Macartney, first British envoy to Beijing

1796

Jiaqing

1814

First recorded Chinese convert to Christianism

1820

1821

Daoguang

1839

First Opium War

1842

Treaty of Nanjing

1850

1851

Xianfeng

Taiping Rebellion

1854

1856

Second Opium War

1858

Treaties of Tianjin

1860

Beijing Convention

1861

1862

Tongzhi

1874

1875

Guangxu

1876

Chefoo Convention

1884

Franco-Chinese War

1885

Battle of Foochow

1894

First Sino-Japanese War

Battle of Yalu River

1895

Treaty of Shimonoseki

1898

Hundred Days' Reform

Coup by Empress Dowager Cixi

1900

Boxer Rebellion

1908

Pu-yi

1911

Wuchang Uprising

Republic of China

Date

Ruling entity

President

Events

Other people/events

1912

Republic of China

Sun Yat Sen

1913

Yuan Shikai

1915

1919

May Fourth Movement

1921

Foundation Communist Party of China

1926

Northern Expedition

1927

Kuomintang-Communist split

Nanchang Uprising

1928

1931

Chinese Soviet Republic

Mukden Incident

1932

Lin Sen

Japan declares Manchukuo in Manchuria, independent from China

1934

Long March

1935

1936

Xian incident

Japan establishes the Mengjiang

1937

Second Sino-Japanese War

Marco Polo Bridge Incident

Battle of Nanjing

1938

Battle of Tai er zhuang

1940

Battle of Hundred Regiments

1943

Chiang Kai-Shek

1945

The nationalist government is one of the founding members of the UN

1949

Mainland China

Date

Ruling entity

Chairman/President

Events

Other people/events

1949

People's Republic of China

Mao Zedong

Founding of the People's Republic of China

1950

Battle of Chosin Reservoir

Korean War

1951

Occupation of Tibet

1953

1956

Hundred Flowers campaign

1957

1958

Great Leap Forward

1959

Three Years of Natural Disasters

1960

Sino-Soviet split

1961

1962

Sino-Indian War

1964

State Council decrees it is acceptable to abbreviate most characters listed in the Plan for Character Simplification

The PRC detonates its first atomic bomb

1966

Cultural Revolution

The Little Red Book

1969

Opening of the first subway line in Beijing: 17 stations

1970

First satellite launch, using Long March rocket

1971

The PRC replaces the ROC as a permanent member of the UN Security Council

1972

Richard Nixon visits China. Shanghai Communiqu�

1974

Discovery of the Terracotta Army

1976

Tiananmen incident

Death of Zhou Enlai

Hua Guofeng of Deng Xiaoping Period

1977

Beijing Spring

1978

Start of Chinese economic reforms

Democracy Wall Movement

1979

One child policy

USA and PRC establish full diplomatic relations

Visit of Deng Xiaoping to Washington, D.C

Border-war with Vietnam

1980

First Special Economic Zones

Trial of the Gang of Four

1981

Hu Yaobang of Deng Xiaoping Period

1984

Margaret Thatcher in China, signs Sino-British Joint Declaration, to handover of Hong Kong to the PRC in 1997

1987

Zhao Ziyang of Deng Xiaoping Period

1989

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989

Jiang Zemin of Deng Xiaoping Period

1991

First McDonald's restaurant in Beijing

1996

Large PRC military maneuvers in Taiwan Strait

1997

Hong Kong handover, becomes a Special administrative region

Death of Deng Xiaoping

1999

Macau handover

2000

The PRC passes Japan as the country with which the USA has the largest trade deficit

2001

Accession to World Trade Organization

Beijing elected to hold the 2008 Summer Olympics

2002

16th Party Congress

2003

Hu Jintao

SARS outbreak

Shenzhou 5, PRC's first manned space mission

ROC in Taiwan

Date

Ruling entity

President

Events

Other people/events

1945

Republic of China
(Continued)

Chiang Kai-Shek

1947

February 28 Incident

1949

Kuomintang retreats to Taiwan

1971

The PRC replaces the ROC as a permanent member of the UN Security Council

1975

Yen Chia-jin

1978

Chiang Ching-Kuo

1979

Taiwan Relations Act passed by the United States Congress

1988

Lee Teng-hui

1996

Large PRC military maneuvers in Taiwan Strait

ROC Presidential Election 1996

2000

ROC Presidential Election 2000

Chen Shui-bian

2001

Accession to World Trade Organization

2003

SARS outbreak