February 10, 2013
Compiled by Erin Biel
1898: Emperor Kuang-hsu (1871-1908) of
the Qing Dynasty initiates Hundred Days Reform program as reformist movements
spread amid foreign interference in China; Empress Dowager Tzu-hsi (1835-1908)
has Kuang-hsu arrested and rules until her death.
1900: Anti-foreigner uprising (“Boxer
Rebellion”) sweeps China, prompting reprisals and expedition by the
Eight-Nation Alliance (Japan, Russia, Britain, France, United States, Germany,
Austria-Hungary and Italy) to protect foreign interests; Sun Yat-sen
(1866-1925) becomes leader of the Revive China Society and, in 1905, of the
United League.
1911: Uprisings with support of
military rebels begin in Wuchang and spread widely, culminating in the 1911
Revolution.
1912: Last Qing Emperor of China, Pu Yi
(1906-67), abdicates, ending over two thousand years of imperial rule; nationalists
proclaim Republic of China in Nanjing; Sun Yat-sen becomes president, and
establishes the Kuomintang nationalist party; Sun is pushed out and replaced by
military leader Yuan Shikai (1859-1916) as president in Beijing.
1915: Japan imposes Twenty-One Demands
on Yuan Shikai.
1916: Revolt of the Generals halts Yuan
Shikai’s attempt to re-establish imperial rule.
1917: China declares war on Germany,
entering World War I; Sun Yat-sen establishes rival government in Guangzhou,
Guangdong; Bolshevik Revolution occurs in Russia, inspires Chinese
revolutionaries.
1919: May Fourth Movement student
protests occur in protest of the Versailles Peace Conference decision to grant
German concessions in Shandong to Japan rather than restoring Chinese sovereignty.
1921: Chinese Communist Party is formed
in Shanghai as an outgrowth of May Fourth Movement; Mao Zedong (1893-1976)
becomes secretary of Communist Party branch in native Hunan.
1924: Kuomintang first national
congress seeks cooperation with Communists and Soviet Union for unification of
China.
1925: China experiences outbreaks of
anti-foreign strikes and political unrest; Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975), chief
of staff of National Revolutionary Army, succeeds Sun Yat-sen as Kuomintang
leader.
1926: Chiang Kai-shek launches Northern
Expedition against warlords and unifies wide parts of China.
1927: Chiang Kai-shek crushes
Communists and consolidates control; Communists form Red Army (later called the
People’s Liberation Army).
1928: Chiang Kai-shek establishes
Nationalist government in Nanjing.
1929-30: Famine in northern China
kills 5-10 million.
1930: Nationalists launch Extermination
Campaigns against Communists.
1931: Mao Zedong establishes Chinese
Soviet Republic in Ruijin.
1934: Fifth Extermination Campaign
drives Communists from southern China; Communist army undertakes the Long March
to Yenan with Mao Zedong emerging as Communist leader.
1937: Japan invades China, capturing
Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing; Nationalists and Communists form temporary united front; Mao Zedong’s party leadership confirmed; Soviet Union aids
Chinese resistance.
1941-1945: China joins World War II alliance
with United States and Britain against Japan; Chiang Kai-shek attends Cairo
Conference with U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill; war leaves Nationalists beleaguered while Communists make
significant gains in membership and influence.
1945: Mao Zedong elected chairman of
the Communist Party and its Politburo; China signs United Nations Charter.
1946: Nationalists and Communists fail
to agree on coalition rule and civil war resumes; Communists declare “war of
liberation.”
1949: Communists defeat Nationalists
and Mao Zedong proclaims the establishment of the People’s Republic of China on
October 1 in Beijing; Mao declares intention of creating socialist society and
promoting world communism; Chiang Kai-shek and Nationalists flee to island of
Taiwan declaring continuity of Republic of China; United States supports Taiwan
government and pledges to work towards Mao Zedong’s downfall.
1950: China enters Korean War,
supporting Communist invasion of south; a U.S.-led United Nations force
repulses invaders; Chinese troops occupy Tibet; China signs Treaty of
Friendship with Soviet Union.
1953: China launches first Five-Year
Plan, intended to spur economic growth using the Soviet model of centralized
planning, state ownership and collective farms.
1954: United States signs Mutual
Defense Treaty with Taiwan.
1956: Mao Zedong launches Hundred
Flowers Campaign to encourage criticism of Communist policies.
1958: China begins Great Leap Forward
program aimed at rapid industrialization; economic disruption triggers
widespread famine, killing as many as 30 million.
1959: Chinese forces crush uprising in
Tibet; the Dalai Lama flees to India.
1960: Ideological and strategic
tensions escalate between China and Soviet Union.
1962: Clashes over disputed Himalayan
border occur between China and India; China increases military aid to North
Vietnam.
1964: China detonates a nuclear device,
signaling China’s rise as a global power.
1966: Mao Zedong launches Great
Proletarian Cultural Revolution aimed at reviving revolutionary spirit and
cleansing party of ideological enemies; Deng Xiaoping (1904-97), a pragmatic
economic reformer, is stripped of party leadership positions.
1966: United States increases military
forces in Vietnam to 400,000 after U.S. President Lyndon Johnson cites need to
stop Chinese Communist aggression in Asia.
1967: China experiences widespread
violence and economic disruption amid the Cultural Revolution.
1968: China detonates a hydrogen device.
1969: Chinese and Soviet forces engage
in border clashes.
1970: China withdraws war support
personnel from North Vietnam after Hanoi refuses to cut relations with the
Soviet Union.
1971: United Nations recognizes
People’s Republic of China, which becomes one of the five permanent members of
the Security Council; Taiwan is expelled from the UN.
1972: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon
makes historic eight-day visit to China, paving the way for official U.S.
recognition of the People’s Republic of China.
1974: Ailing longtime Premier Zhou
Enlai (1898-1976) designates Deng Xiaoping as successor; Deng returns to
politics as first vice premier.
1976: Zhou Enlai dies; Gang of Four, a
militant party faction that includes Mao Zedong’s wife Jiang Qing, targets Deng
Xiaoping as counterrevolutionary; Mao Zedong dies; Hua Guofeng (1921-2008)
takes over as chairman (position renamed general secretary in 1982).
1978: Deng Xiaopeng (1904-97) becomes
de facto leader; launches Open Door Policy and market reforms.
1979: United States and People’s
Republic of China establish diplomatic relations; United States commits to
military and other support for Taiwan; China launches punitive invasion of
Vietnam following Vietnam’s incursion into Cambodia.
1980: Hu Yaobang (1915-89) becomes
general secretary; China establishes special economic zones to attract foreign
direct investment as part of free market reforms; People's Republic of China becomes a member of the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
1981: Members of Gang of Four are tried
and given long sentences for usurping power and persecuting thousands;
Communist Party denounces Cultural Revolution.
1984: China designates fourteen coastal
cities open for foreign direct investment and trade.
1987: Zhao Ziyang (1919-2005) becomes
general secretary.
1988 Regulations are enacted for
establishment of private businesses and corporations.
1989: Government violently suppresses
democracy movement in Tiananmen Square in Beijing; Zhao Ziyang is dismissed and
replaced as general secretary by Jiang Zemin (1926-); the Dalai Lama is awarded
the Nobel Peace Prize for "for his consistent resistance to the use of
violence in his people's struggle to regain their liberty.”
1990: Shanghai and Shenzhen stock
markets open.
1992: Deng Xiaoping calls for more
rapid economic growth and reform during visit to southern China; Communist
Party endorses “socialist market economy,” calling market economy compatible
with socialism; China accedes to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
1994: All regions of China are opened
for foreign direct investment.
1996: China mounts war games in Taiwan
Strait on eve of presidential elections in Taiwan; United States sends two
carrier battle groups into the Strait.
1997: Britain returns Hong Kong to
Chinese rule.
1999: U.S. forces bomb Chinese embassy
in Belgrade during NATO raid on Serbia during Balkans conflict, triggering
diplomatic tensions and anti-American protests in China; Portugal returns Macao
to Chinese sovereignty.
2001: China enters World Trade
Organization.
2002: Hu Jintao (1942-) becomes general
secretary.
2003: China launches its first manned
space flight, Shenzhou 5.
2006 Three Gorges Dam, the world’s
largest hydropower project, is completed.
2007: China carries out a missile test
in space.
2008: Beijing hosts Summer Olympic
Games.
2009: Leaders of China and Taiwan
exchange messages for the first time in six decades.
2010: China and the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) create a free trade area; China surpasses Japan
as the world’s second largest economy after the United States; Chinese literary
critic and human rights activist Liu Xiaobo is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
for his “long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights.”
2012: Xi Jinping (1953-) becomes
general secretary; China opens world’s longest high-speed rail route linking
Beijing and Guangzhou; influential Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai is expelled
from party amid murder and corruption scandal; China experiences increased
diplomatic tensions with the Philippines and Vietnam over rights in the South
China Sea.
2013: Diplomatic tensions escalate
between China and Japan over disputed islands in the East China Sea.