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Timeline of Chinese history

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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.


Table of contents
1 Ancient China
2 Imperial China
3 Modern China
4 See also
5 Mnemonics
6 External links

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    
-771   End of Western Zhou  
-770   Beginning of Eastern Zhou  
-722   Spring and Autumn Period  
-551   Lao Zi
-551   Confucius
-481  
-479    
-403   Warring States Period  
-260   Battle of Changping
-256    

Imperial China
Date Ruling entity Emperor Events Other people/events
-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      
222 Cao Pi (Wei)
Liu Bei (Shu)
Sun Quan (Wu)		 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  

Modern China
Date Ruling entity Head of State 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
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 　
2004 ROC Presidential Election 2004 　
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 Communiqué 　
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

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