CHINA — A CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS
B.C.
Circa 2200 Supposed founding of Hsai dynasty.
Circa 1700 Probable beginning of Shang dynasty.
1054 Wu Wang and army officers topple Shang dynasty and execute last Shang king. Chou dynasty begins.
Circa 1000 Silk weaving, ploughing, astronomy and map drawing begin.
Circa 770 China becomes known as "Chung Kuo", meaning 'Middle Kingdom" or "Centre Country".
551-479 Life of Confucius.
278 Soldiers of Ch'in seize the Chou capital.
255 Ch'in soldiers gain control of China.
221 Shih Huang Ti ("First Emperor") completes the Ch'in conquest of China.
206 First Peasant Rising led by Lui Pang (minor official of peasant stock) overthrows Ch'in organization. Lui Pang becomes first Han emperor.
206-195 Kao Isu centralizes government under a class of mandarins, or provincial governors.
Circa 200 Paper and ink invented.
Circa 200 Great Wall of China replaces ancient walls.
141 Programme of canal-building begins.
124 Imperial University founded for the study of Confucian classics.
111 Vietnam conquered by China.
A.D.
800-900 Newspapers produced, printed books appeared, the first encyclopaedia.
75-100 Buddhism spreads in north China.
220-581 Period of many civil wars and national disunity.
265-316 Western Jin Dynasty
317-420 Eastern Jin Dynasty
386-581 Northern Dynasties
420-589 Southern Dynasties
581-618 Sui Dynasty
618-907 Tang Dynasty
641 A Chinese princess introduces Buddhism to Tibet.
618-907 Tang Dynasty
Circa 700 Printing invented.
907-923 Later Liang Dynasty
923-936 Later Tang Dynasty
936-946 Later Jin Dynasty
947-951 Later Han Dynasty
951-960 Later Zhou Dynasty
960-1127 Northern Song Dynasty
1127-1279 Southern Song Dynasty
916-1125 Liao Dynasty
1115-1234 Jin Dynasty
1215 Capture of Peking by Genghis Khan.
1271 Marco Polo's first visit to China.
1279-1368 Mongol or Yuan Dynasty. Expeditions sent to discover the source of Yellow River. Observatory founded. New calendar based on 365-day year introduced.
1368-1644 Chu-Yuan chang, a former Buddhist novice of peasant origins organizes a rebellion against the Mongols and expels them. Start of Ming Dynasty
1405 Cheng Ho's first naval expedition to Malaya, India and Africa.
1642 Flood — North area — 900,000 deaths
1644-1911 Manchus conquer Peking and establish the Qing or Manchu dynasty.
1683 Manchus conquer Taiwan.
1670-1750 Manchus conquer Turkestan and Tibet.
1786 Opening of first U.S. Consulate in China, in Canton.
1839 British traders ignore Manchu regulations; China declares war, the Opium War.
1842-1843 Treaty of Nanking ends Opium War. Britain gains Hong Kong and access to Chinese ports.
1844 April 16 — British Post Office opens in Shanghai
1850 Taiping rebellion breaks out - a religious, communist type revolution of peasants and intellectuals against the Manchus.
1852 Flood — Henan area — 100,000 deaths
1853 Taipings capture Nanking.
1856 "Arrow War", the second war with Western trading countries, breaks out.
1857 British and French troops occupy Canton.
1858 China defeated. Treaties with Britain, France. Russia and the U.S.A. allow them special trade privileges.
1860 Manchus withdraw these privileges; British and French occupy Peking.
1862 Prince Kuang attempts to reform the weakened and demoralized Manchus: he is ousted by his aunt, the Empress Dowager Tz'u Hsi.
1864 Taipings defeated in Nanking and the rebellion ends.
1865 February 17 — President Lincoln signs bill authorizing establishment of mail service to China
1867 June 10 — Opening of U.S. Consular Postal Service at Shanghai.
1867 November 19 — Arrival date of cover bearing first recorded use of “China & Japan Steam Service” oval handstamp
1870 Massacre of foreigners in Tientsin.
1871 Russian troops invade Sinkiang.
1884 War with France. French take Annam.
1887 Portugal takes Amoy.
1887 Flood — Henan area — 900,000 deaths
1892 Sun Yat-sen founds the China Resurrection Society.
1894 War with Japan.
1895 China crushingly defeated by Japan. Japanese take Taiwan, Liaotung and gain concessions in China.
1896 Foreigners build railways in China, introduce their own gunboats and police.
1897 Dairen occupied by Russians.
1898 Boxers ("Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists") became skilled in ancient arts of self-defence, and march under the slogan "Overthrow the Ch'ing and expel the barbarians".
1899 Boxer rebellion spreads rapidly.
1900 Boxers beseige eleven foreign legations in Peking. China forced to pay £265m. compensation.
1905 Sun Yat-sen organises the anti-Manchu movement from Japan.
1911 Revolution breaks out in Wuhan. Manchu dynasty overthrown.
1911 Sun Yat-sen declares the Chinese republic. The Manchus flee.
1911 Flood — Yangtze-Kiang area — 100,000 deaths
1913 Yuan Shih-k'ai becomes president.
1915 Japan presents "Twenty One Demands" to China.
1916 Yuan dies. Provincial governors declare their independence. Period of disunity and warlordism begins.
1919 Violent outbreaks against Japanese power in China. First general strike.
1920 Strike of Manchurian railway workers.'Ch'en Tu-hsiu (the "Father of Chinese Communism") founds the Chinese Socialist Youth League.
1920 December 16 — Earthquake — Gansu, China — 200,000 deaths
1921 Chinese Communist Party founded.
1923 Russians aid Koumintang.
1925 Sun Yat-sen dies of cancer.
1926 Peasant communism spreads.'Chiang Kal-shek and his Kuomintang government quarrel with the communists.
1927 May 22 — Earthquake — Tsinghai, China — 200,000 deaths
1927 Chiang massacres communists in Shanghai, then sends soldiers against communists in the country. Mao Tse-tung leads a peasant uprising in Hunan. Creation of Fourth Red Army.
1928 Mao Tse-tung and Chu Teh gain control of Kiangsi. They reform farming and educate the peasants.
1930 Chiang Kai-shek launches his first "bandit extermination" campaign against the communist groups.
1931 Flood — July-August — Yangtze-Kiang area — 1,400,000 deaths
1931 Manchuria occupied by Japan.
1932 December 25 — Earthquake — Gansu, China — 70,000 deaths
1933 Fifth "bandit extermination" campaign. 60,000 Red Army soldiers and about one million peasants die.
1934 Chiang completes all-out attack on the Red Army. Communists retreat. Long March begins.
1935 Mao gains control of the Communist Party Red Army reaches northern Shensi with 20,000 survivors.
1937 Chiang and communists agree to work together against Japanese invaders.
1938 Japanese occupy large areas of China.
1938 July — Flood — Hwangho area — 500,000 deaths
1939 July-August — Flood — Tianjin area — 20,000 deaths
1939 Second World War breaks out. Japanese circulate worthless paper money, starting a spiral of inflation.
1943 Early 'communes" formed in communist-controlled areas of China.
1945 Civil war between communists and Chiang's Kuomintang government breaks out again. Russia occupies Manchuria.
1946 Full scale civil war. Terrible inflation; millions become destitute and die of starvation.
1947 Kuomintang gains Yenan; communists increase control.
1948 U.S.A. backs Kuomintang. Chiang's capital, Nanking, falls to the communists.
1949 Many Kuomintang soldiers go over to the communists. Communists take Peking and most of mainland China. Chiang Kai-shek and the last of his army are ferried to the island of Formosa. Mao Tse-tung declares the People's Republic of China.
1950 Chinese "volunteers" fight U.N. troops in Korean war.
1951 August — Flood — Heilongjiang area — 5,000 deaths
1954 August — Flood — Dongting Lake region — 40,000 deaths
1956-7 "Hundred flowers" campaign. Criticism of régime encouraged and then repressed.
1958 "Great Leap Forward". Great efforts to increase industrial production. Communes formed.
1962 Border skirmishes with India.
1963 Split with Russia becomes open opposition.
1966 Cultural Revolution begins. Struggle for leadership of China. Liu Shao-chi discredited by Red Guards.
1967 First atomic bomb exploded.
1971 Lin Pao killed in air crash after alleged coup against Mao.
1972 President Nixon visits China.
1976 Chairman Mao Zedong dies.
1976 July 27 — Earthquake — Tangshan, China — 255,000 deaths
1986 Start of China's "Open-door policy" — opens the country to foreign investment.
1986 June-August — Flood — Heilongjiang,Yunnan,Liaoning areas — 260 deaths
1988 January-June — Flood — South area — 450 deaths
1988 August-Sepember — Flood — Guangxi, Hubei areas — 250 deaths
1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre
1989
 Jiang Zemin takes over as Chinese Communist Party general secretary from Zhao Ziyang
1989 June-Sepember — Flood — Entire country — 3,000 deaths
1989 July — Flood — Sichuan area — 800 deaths
1991 July — Flood — Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei areas — 3,074 deaths
1992 Russia and China sign declaration restoring friendly ties.
1992 Russia and China sign declaration restoring friendly ties.
1993
 Jiang Zemin officially replaces Yang Shangkun as president.
1993 May — Flood — Guangdong, Jiangxi, Zhejiang areas — 282 deaths
1993 June-Sepember — Flood — 10 provinces affected — 3,300 deaths
1993 Preliminary construction work on the Three Gorges dam begins.
1994 China abolishes the official renminbi (RMB) currency exchange rate and fixes its first floating rate.
1994 May-June — Flood — Guangdong, Jiangxi, Hunan areas — 1,410 deaths
1995 China tests missiles and holds military exercises in the Taiwan Strait
1995 May-July — Flood — Hunan, Jiangxi areas — 1,391 deaths
1995 August — Flood — Heilongjiang area — 100 deaths
1996 China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan - dubbed the Shanghai Five - meet in Shanghai and agree to cooperate to combat ethnic and religious tensions in each others' countries.
1996 June-August — Flood — Yangtze-Kiang area — 3,048 deaths
1997 Deng Xiaoping dies, aged 92. Rioting erupts in Yining, Xinjiang and on day of Deng's funeral Xinjiang separatists plant three bombs on buses in Urumqi, Xinjiang, killing nine and injuring 74.
1997 July — Flood — Guangdong, Fujia areas — 284 deaths
1997 Hong Kong reverts to Chinese control.
1998 Zhu Rongji succeeds Li Peng as premier, announces reforms in the wake of the Asian financial crisis.
1998 Large-scale flooding of the Yangtse, Songhua and Nenjiang rivers.
1999 NATO bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, souring Sino-US relations.
1999 Falun Gong, a quasi-religious sect, outlawed as a threat to stability.
1999 October 1 — 50th anniversary of People's Republic of China
1999 Macao reverts to Chinese rule.
2000 Crackdown on official corruption intensifies, with the execution for bribe taking of a former deputy chairman of the National People's Congress.
2000 Bomb explosion kills up to 60 in Urumqi, Xinjiang.
2001 China urges US not to supply Taiwan with advanced anti-missile equipment. US says it will go ahead with sales, but won't supply everything on Taiwan's wish list.
2001 April — Diplomatic stand-off over the detention of an American spy plane and crew after a mid-air collision with a Chinese fighter jet.
2001 June — Leaders of China, Russia and four Central Asian states launch the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and sign an agreement to fight ethnic and religious militancy while promoting trade and investment.
2001 June — China carries out military exercises simulating an invasion of Taiwan, at the same time as the island's armed forces test their capability to defend Taiwan against a missile attack from China.
2001 November — China is officially admitted as member of the World Trade Organisation.
2002 February — US President George W Bush visits, on the 30th anniversary of President Nixon's visit to China - the first by a US president
2002 July —The US says China is modernising its military to make possible a forcible reunification with Taiwan. Beijing says its policy remains defensive.
2002 November — Vice-President Hu Jintao is named head of the ruling Communist Party, replacing Jiang Zemin, the outgoing president. Jiang is re-elected head of the influential Central Military Commission, which oversees the armed forces.
2003 March-April — China and Hong Kong are hit by the pneumonia-like Sars virus, thought to have originated in Guangdong province in November 2002. Strict quarantine measures are enforced to stop the disease spreading.
2003 June — Sluice gates on Three Gorges dam closed to allow reservoir to fill up. Construction of $25 billion project displaced almost one million people to make way for world's largest hydroelectric scheme.
2003 June — Hong Kong is declared free of Sars. Days later the World Health Organization lifts its Sars-related travel warning for Beijing.
2003 June — China, India reach de facto agreement over status of Tibet and Sikkim in landmark cross-border trade agreement.
2003 July/August — Some 500,000 people march in Hong Kong against Article 23, a controversial anti-subversion bill. Two key Hong Kong government officials resign. The government shelves the bill.
2003 October — Launch of China's first manned spacecraft: Astronaut Yang Liwei is sent into space by a Long March 2F rocket.
2003 December — Gas well blast near Chongqing kills more than 230, injures thousands.
2004 April — Legislators rule out direct elections for Hong Kong leader in 2007.
2004 September— Former president Jiang Zemin stands down as army chief, three years ahead of schedule.