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Timeline of Chinese history

The following is a timeline of the history of China:

For a summary table of the dynasties in Chinese history and their dates, check here.


Contents

Ancient China

Date Ruling entity King 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 King Wu of Zhou    
-781 You    
-771 End of Western Zhou  
-770 Ping Beginning of Eastern Zhou  
-722 Spring and Autumn Period  
-720  
-619 Xiang  
-632 Battle of Chengpu
-651  
-551   Lao Zi
-551   Confucius
-481  
-479    
-403   Warring States Period  
-314 Nan  
-260 Battle of Changping
-256  

Imperial China

Date Ruling entity Emperor Events Other people/events
-255 Qin Dynasty   Warring States Period  
-246 Qin Shi Huang Di  
-221 Start of construction of the Great Wall
Unification of China  
-210 Burial of the Terracotta Army  
-209 Ying Huhai    
-207    
Ziying    
-206     Chu-Han contention  
-205     Battle of Jingxing
-202      
Han Dynasty
(Western Han)
Han Gao Zu    
-195    
6 Ruzi    
9    
Xin Dynasty Wang Mang    
23    
Han Dynasty
(Eastern Han)
Gengshi    
25      
88 He    
105 Cai Lun invents paper  
106    
Shang    
168 Ling    
184 Yellow Turban Rebellion  
189    
King of Hongnong    
Xian    
191 Battle of Jieqiao  
200 Battle of Guandu  
208 Battle of Changban Battle of Red Cliffs
220    
Three Kingdoms      
222 Cao Pi (Wei)
Liu Bei (Shu)
Sun Quan (Wu)
Battle of Yiling  
225 Zhuge Liang's Southern Campaign  
230  
234 Battle of Wuzhang Plain  
250 Introduction of Buddhism in China  
252    
265      
Jin Dynasty Wu    
274    
290 Hui    
291 War of the Eight Princes  
306  
307    
372 Xiaowu    
383 Battle of Fei River  
396    
419 Gong    
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    
712 Xuanzong    
751 Battle of Talas  
756 An Lushan Rebellion  
763    
845   Mass persecution of Buddhism  
907      
Five Dynasties
and Ten Kingdoms
     
960      
Song Dynasty      
1127   End of Northern Song / Beginning of Southern Song  
1214   Battle of Beijing  
1255     Voyages of 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  
1295    
1368      
Ming Dynasty Hongwu    
1398    
1399 Jianwen    
1402    
1403 Yongle    
1405   Voyages of Zheng He
1406 Construction of the Forbidden City begins
1424  
Hongxi  
1425  
1426 Xuande  
1433  
1435    
1449   Battle of Tumu Fortress  
1506 Zhengde    
1516 First Portuguese settlement in Macau  
1521    
1522 Jiajing    
1556 Earthquake in Shaanxi and Gansu. 850,000 casualties  
1566    
1573 Wanli    
1582 Jesuits begin mission work in China  
1616 Nurhaci founds the Qing Dynasty in Manchuria  
1619 Battle of Sarhu  
1620    
Taichang    
Tianqi    
1627 First Manchu expedition to Korea  
Chongzhen  
1637 Second Manchu expedition to Korea  
1644    
Qing Dynasty Shunzhi    
1661    
1662 Kangxi    
1674 Revolt of the Three Feudatories  
1680 First Portuguese governor in Macau
1683  
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  
1901 Treaty of 1901  
1908    
Pu-yi    
1911 Xinhai Revolution Wuchang Uprising

Modern China

Date Ruling entity Head of State Events Other people/events
1912 Republic of China Sun Yat Sen Xinhai Revolution  
1913    
Yuan Shikai    
1915 Japan's Twenty-One Demands  
1919   May Fourth Movement  
1921   Foundation of the Communist Party of China  
1926   Northern Expedition  
1927   Kuomintang-Communist split
  Nanchang Uprising
1928 Chiang Kai-Shek Jinan Incident
1931 Chinese Soviet Republic Mukden Incident
Lin Sen  
1932 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 Pingxingguan
Battle of Nanjing
1938 Battle of Tai'erzhuang
1939 Battle of Changsha (1939)
1940 Hundred Regiments Offensive
1941 Battle of Changsha (1941)
1942 Battle of Changsha (1942)
1943  
Chiang Kai-Shek  
1944 Battle of Changsha (1944)
1945 The nationalist government is one of the founding members of the UN
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 Third Taiwan Strait Crisis ROC Presidential Election 1996
2000 ROC Presidential Election 2000  
Chen Shui-bian Chen Shui-bian's Four Noes and One Without  
2001 Accession to World Trade Organization  
2003 SARS outbreak  
2004 ROC Presidential Election 2004  
Date Ruling entity Head of State 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 line of the Beijing Subway: 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 Henry Kissinger secretly visits Beijing
1972 Richard Nixon visits China. Shanghai Communiqué  
1974 Discovery of the Terracotta Army  
1976 Four Modernizations Tiananmen incident following the 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 Deng Xiaoping's Four cardinal principles
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 Third Taiwan Strait Crisis  
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
2004   Jiang Zemin retires from his post as Chairman of the Central Military Commission

See also

Mnemonics

三皇五帝夏商周 sān huáng wǔ dì xià shāng zhōu
春秋戰國秦漢流 chūn qiū zhàn guó qín hàn liú
三國魏晉南北隋 sān guó wèi jìn nán běi suí
唐宋元明清民收 táng sòng yuán míng qīng mín shōu

(Compare with British monarchs mnemonics)

External links


Last updated: 10-24-2004 05:10:45