This article attempts to present a concise picture of significant developments.
Events are grouped chronologically into major directories, with individual years listed in sub-directories.
Events outside of China and those involving foreign countries are listed in blue.
It is important to note that the information presented here does not necessarily match official or academic versions of history, which often suffer from distortion, taboo, official censorship, self-censorship, diplomatic constraints, etc.
We will continue to check and update accordingly.
The modern history of China can roughly be divided into several periods:
End of the Qing Dynasty (1911)
Civil wars and the Republican period (1912 - 1936)
War with Japan (1937 - 1945)
People’s Republic of China vs Republic of China (1949 - )
Modernization and democracy movements (1976 - )
Major Events
British victory at the Battle of Waterloo. (1815)
First Opium War. (1840)
Second Opium War. (1858)
Meiji Restoration in Japan. (1868)
First Sino-Japanese War. (1894)
Hundred Days' Reform. (1898)
Founding of the Republic of China. (1911)
Yuan Shikai attempts to become emperor.(1912-1916)
First World War. (1814-1818)
May Fourth movement for science and democracy. (1919)
Civil war among warlords. (1920-1923)
Northern Expedition and establishment of Nationalist China. (1924-1928)
Civil wars. (1929-1936)
Second Sino-Japanese War. (1937-1945)
Second World War. (1939-1945)
Civil war between Nationalists and Communists. (1945-1949)
Land reform in Taiwan. (1949)
Founding of the People’s Republic of China. (1949)
Korean War. (1950-1953)
Great Leap Forward. (1958-1961)
Cultural Revolution. (1966-1976)
Economic reform and the Four Modernizations. (1978)
Democratic elections in Taiwan. (1986)
Democracy movement in Beijing. (1989)
1951
January - Communist troops capture Seoul, the capital of South Korea.
January - Counter-offensive by United Nations forces in Korea.
February – The campaign to suppress counter-revolutionaries in mainland China begins.
March - United Nations forces capture Seoul.
April - Douglas MacArthur was dismissed by Harry Truman as commander of United Nations forces in Korea. MacArthur wants to expand the Korean war into China.
April - Communists launch a significant offensive in Korea.
April - Beijing government begins to take over foreign companies in mainland China.
May - The U.S. Military Assistance and Advisory Group are established in Taipei. Non-military aid to the Republic of China would last until 1964.
May – Tibetan delegation signs a seventeen-point agreement with Beijing: Beijing promises not to change the political or religious systems in Tibet, and the Tibetans agree to accept Beijing’s sovereignty.
May - Communist offensive in Korea ends with heavy losses.
May - The United Nations imposes an embargo on strategic imports to the People's Republic of China.
June - Ceasefire in Korea.
June - The second stage of the three-stage land reform in Taiwan is selling public land to tenant farmers.
July – Panmunjom peace negotiations begin in Korea. Negotiations would last two years while fighting continued.
July - The household registration system begins in mainland China.
September – Conference on a peace treaty with Japan held in San Francisco. Japan renounces its rights to Taiwan. However, Taiwan is not returned to China as specified at the Yalta and Cairo conferences. The treaty is signed by neither the Beijing nor the Taipei governments.
December - In mainland China, the Three-Anti campaign is launched against corruption, waste, and bureaucracy.
December - The first election was held for the Taiwan Provincial Assembly in Taiwan.
1952
January – In mainland China, the Five-anti campaign is launched against bribery, tax evasion, fraud, theft of government property and stealing state economic secrets.
February - United Nations passed a resolution condemning the Soviet Union for violating the Sino-Soviet treaty of 1945. The Republic of China accuses the Soviet Union of violating the treaty by aiding the Communists in the civil war.
April - Republic of China signs a peace treaty with Japan, restoring formal diplomatic relations. The Republic of China would not seek war redemption from Japan.
June - Mao Zedong announces it is time to take on the bourgeoisie.
August - Peasants in mainland China are restricted from migrating into cities.
October – Armistice in Korea cannot be reached due to issues concerning prisoners of war. Some captured Communist troops served as Nationalist soldiers during the civil war and refused to be sent back to mainland China. They would like to go to Taiwan instead.
November – Dwight D. Eisenhower won the presidential election in the United States.
1953
January – Dwight D. Eisenhower was inaugurated as President of the United States.
January – Third stage of the three-stage land reform in Taiwan. Nationalist government announces the Land-to-the-Tiller program. Absentee landlords receive stocks in government corporations in exchange for their confiscated land. Land ownership is turned into industrial investments.
February - the Republic of China voids the Sino-Soviet treaty signed in 1945. Taipei would no longer recognize Outer-Mongolia (Mongolian People's Republic) as an independent country. It would be considered part of China.
March - Joseph Stalin dies in the Soviet Union.
May - The Three-Anti and Five-Anti campaigns in mainland China are ending.
July - A landing of Nationalist troops on Communist-held Dongshan island fails.
July – Truce signed to suspend the Korean War. The truce is not signed by Syngman Rhee, President of South Korea. About 14,000 of the 21,000 captured Chinese soldiers are sent to Taiwan instead of the mainland based on their preferences.
September – Principles of the First Five-Year Plan are published in mainland China, covering 1953 to 1957.
September - Chiang Ching-Kuo, son of Chiang Kai-shek, tours the United States and meets Dwight D. Eisenhower.
November - U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon visits Taipei and indicates that there would be no support for a Nationalist invasion of mainland China.
1954
April – Sino-Indian Agreement on Tibet.
May - In Vietnam, communist forces defeat the French at Dien Bien Phu.
July - Vietnam is divided into North Vietnam and South Vietnam at the Geneva Conference.
July - Hu Feng and his followers challenge the rigidity of the Communist Party’s policies in the field of the arts and literature, demanding more freedom for individual artists. Hu and his followers would later be arrested as anti-revolutionaries.
September – Communists start shelling offshore islands occupied by Nationalist forces.
September - Manila Conference to set up the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).
September – National People’s Congress adopts a new constitution for the People's Republic of China.
December – Mutual defence treaty. Treaty of alliance signed between the United States and the Republic of China.
1955
January - Communist forces capture Yichang island from the Nationalists.
February - Nationalists withdraw from Tachen island.
April - The Soviet Union agrees to supply critical components to the People's Republic of China to build an atomic bomb.
April – At the conference of nonaligned nations in Indonesia, Zhou Enlai proposes negotiations with the United States on the demilitarization of the Taiwan Strait and negotiations with the Nationalists on the possibility of a peaceful takeover of Taiwan.
May–Hu Feng, a proponent of liberal reform, is accused of heading a counter-revolutionary clique with the aim of overthrowing the People's Republic of China and restoring Nationalist rule. Hu was arrested and would remain in jail until 1979.
May - In Taiwan, former commander of the Nationalist army Sun Liren is put under house arrest on charges of sedition. Sun would be confined for 33 years until his death.
July – Mao Zedong makes a speech which advocates speeding up the process of collectivization immediately.
August - First bilateral talks between the United States and the People's Republic of China are held in Geneva. The talks would go on for sixteen years.
October – The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party passes a resolution to achieve complete agricultural collectivization by April 1958.
1956
Early 1956 - The nationalization of industry and commerce in the People's Republic of China is completed.
February – Joseph Stalin is denounced in the Soviet Union. Khrushchev criticizes the personal cult and crimes of Joseph Stalin. Significant divergences between the Soviet and Chinese communist parties.
Spring - Nearly all peasant households in mainland China are now living on collective farms.
April - The Chinese Communist Party publishes a response to Khrushchev's criticism of Joseph Stalin.
May –Hundred Flowers movement. To encourage criticism of the Communist Party, Mao Zedong makes a speech to let a hundred flowers bloom, and a hundred schools contend.
September – Eighth Party Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. Reference to Mao Zedong Thoughts is deleted. Emphasis on economic progress. Considered the culmination of the initial ‘golden years of the People's Republic of China. Many post-1978 policies of the Party are a direct continuation of those advocated in 1956.
November – Soviet troops invade Hungary to prevent the country from leaving the Warsaw Pact.
1957
February - Mao Zedong gives the speech ‘On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People, inviting criticism of the Communist Party.
May – The first ‘big character’ poster appears on a college campus in Beijing. Some posters criticize the government and advocate democracy and freedom. Intellectuals speak out with volume and intensity.
June – The Hundred Flowers campaign is terminated. The Anti-Rightist campaign is launched. Deng Xiaoping is put in charge of suppression. Challenging the Communist Party is prohibited. Many students and intellectuals are sent to do hard labour. Thousands would not be released until 1978.
September - At the Third Plenum of the Central Committee, initial decisions are made to launch the Great Leap Forward of economic and industrial developments.
October – The Greater, Faster, Better and More Economical campaign. Millions of peasants are mobilized to participate in a gigantic water conservation program and other public works.
October - Soviet Union launches the satellite, Sputnik.
October - Secret agreement for the Soviet Union to help the People's Republic of China develop their atomic bomb.
November - While attending celebrations of the Bolshevik Revolution in Moscow, Mao Zedong announces his support of the Soviet Union as leader of the communist camp.
1958
January – Nanning conference. Inauguration of the Great Leap Forward.
February - Beginning of starvation in some villages.
March - Shortage of labour for the spring planting while millions are working on major irrigation projects.
April - Widespread hunger and starvation throughout mainland China.
May – Eighth Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. The Great Leap Forward receives it official blessing. Cooperative farm organizations are merged into communes. Initially designed to allow China to quickly catch up with Western industrial countries, the four-year campaign will result in the premature death of at least 30 million people due to starvation, overwork, torture or suicide.
Summer – People's Communes. Formation of larger units of communes. The Communist Party would control every aspect of a commune member's life.
July - People are encouraged to build backyard furnaces to help increase steel production.
July - Khrushchev meets an incredible reception on his visit to Beijing. Mao Zedong offers to provide food to the Soviet Union in exchange for military technology.
August – Beijing government receives reports of an excellent harvest.
August - The United States affirms its relationship with the Republic of China. Would not recognize the People's Republic of China.
August to October – Communist forces conduct heavy shelling of the Nationalist-held island of Jinmen (Quemoy) off the coast of mainland China. The United States stepped up the military support of the Republic of China.
October – Mao Zedong and Peng Dehuai make separate inspection tours to check on possible inflation of food production reports.
November - Beijing government receives reports of deaths due to hunger and disease.
November to December – Sixth Plenum of the Central Committee in Wuhan. False food production statistics are accepted as accurate.
1959
January – Beijing government receives numerous reports of record harvests while millions of people suffer from famine oedema, and tens of thousands starve to death.
February – Food supply runs low in the cities. Villagers who migrate into urban areas are sent back to the countryside.
February – Agreement between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union to increase economic and scientific cooperation. Imports of Soviet industrial products and services will be partially paid for with food exports to the Soviet Union.
March –Rebellion in Tibet. The rebellion is suppressed, and Dalai Lama flees to India. Pachen Lama becomes the most senior figure in Tibet.
April - Reports of severe starvation in large parts of mainland Chain.
April - Disagreements between Peng Dehuai and Mao Zedong.
April - Liu Shaoqi was elected Chairman of the People's Republic of China, replacing Mao Zedong. However, Mao remains Chairman of the Party Central Committee.
April to June – Peng Dehuai visits the Soviet Union and several Eastern European countries. Peng meets Khrushchev in Albania.
June – Soviet authorities announced they would not honour the October 1957 agreement to provide sample atomic weapons or the technology necessary for their production.
July – Meeting of top officials in Lushan. Even though there were problems with the Great Leap Forward, the Communist leadership expressed optimism about the situation. Pen Dehuai submits a Letter of Opinion to Mao Zedong criticizing the Great Leap Forward.
August - Peng Dehuai and other opponents of Mao Zedong are found guilty of conspiring against the Chinese Communist Party, the state and the people. Liu Shaoqi expresses strong support for Mao.
August - Border clash with India. The Soviet Union supports India.
September - Peng Dehuai is dismissed from his post as minister of defence and the Central Committee. Lin Biao replaces Peng.
September – Khrushchev visits the United States. The Soviet Union agrees to significant troop reductions.
October – Emergency measures to reduce domestic consumption so exports to foreign countries can be sustained.
1960
January – The Foreign Economic Liaison Bureau is formed to aid foreign countries.
January – Lin Biao orders the Communist armed forces to memorize quotations from Mao Zedong. These quotations are later collected in “the Little Red Book.”
March - In Taipei, the National Assembly passes temporary amendments abolishing term limits for the presidency during Communist suppression.
March - Chiang Kai-shek was re-elected president by the National Assembly for the third time.
April – On Lenin’s birthday, Mao Zedong severely criticizes Soviet revisionism.
June 1960 – The Sino-Soviet split. At the World Federation of Trade Unions in Beijing, representatives from the Soviet Camp are treated with hostilities by the Chinese.
June 1960 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower visits Taipei.
July –1,400 Soviet technicians and specialists in China are ordered back home by Moscow. Technology transfer from the Soviet Union stops.
September – Lei Zhen, the Free China Review publisher, is arrested in Taiwan.
September - Taipei government enacts the Statute for the Encouragement of Investment as part of economic reform.
October - Reports of massive famine and deaths by starvation continue in mainland China.
November – An emergency directive allows villagers in mainland China to keep private plots, engage in side occupations and restore local markets. Rural communes are reorganized into smaller units.
December - Food shipments to the Soviet Union are stopped. However, food shipments to other countries continue.
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