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)
1961
January – The Chinese Communist Party officially adopts a new economic policy stressing the importance of agriculture.
April – The Beijing government turns down an offer of grain subsidy from the Soviet Union.
April to May – Liu Shaoqi visits his home area in Hunan and sees first-hand the terrible effects of the Great Leap Forward.
May – Liu Shaoqi publicly blames the Communist Party for the famine in China.
June – Facing food shortages in urban areas, the Beijing government decides to send 20 million people from the cities to the countryside over two years.
August – Food requisitions from the peasants are lowered.
August - The Berlin wall is erected.
September – Food rationing in mainland China is limited to less than 1500 calories per person per day.
October - Outer Mongolia (Mongolia) is admitted to the United Nations.
1962
January to February – The Conference of Seven Thousand. At a work conference of the Central Committee in Beijing, Liu Shaoqi criticizes the Great Leap Forward. Liu indicates that the calamities during the Great Leap Forward are mainly man-made, and the central leadership should be responsible. However, Lin Bao continues to hail the Great Leap Forward as a significant success. Zhou Enlai attempts to absolve Mao Zedong and tries to take the blame himself. In the end, Mao assumes responsibility for the Great Leap. Significant policy changes are made after the conference.
May – Over 5,000 people a day cross over into the British colony of Hong Kong to escape food shortages in mainland China. Only those with relatives in Hong Kong are allowed to stay. The Beijing government would close the border by June.
June – John F. Kennedy announced that the United States would oppose the use of force in the Taiwan Strait, thus discouraging an invasion of the mainland by the Nationalists Taiwan.
September - Mao Zedong and Liu Shaoqi clash over the need for class struggle. Mao insisted on the continuation of class struggle and opposed the restoration of capitalism.
October to November – Border war between India and the People's Republic of China.
October – Cuban missile crisis between the United States and the Soviet Union.
1963
January - The Four Modernizations are introduced at a conference in Shanghai. China will modernize agriculture, industry, defence and science.
March - Troop buildups on both sides of the Sino-Soviet border.
June – Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sends a public letter to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) entitled “The CCP’s Proposal Concerning the General Line of the International Communist Movement”.
July – The CPSU replies to the CCP titled “Open Letter of the CPSU to Its Members”.
July – The last direct formal confrontation between the Chinese Communist Party and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union occurred at a Moscow meeting.
July - The Soviet Union signed a nuclear test ban treaty with the United States and Great Britain.
November - In the United States, John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
1964
January – In Taiwan, the Commander of the First Armored Division attempts to stage a coup but fails.
January - France recognizes the People’s Republic of China.
February – Editorial in the People’s Daily titled “Learn from the People’s Liberation Army”, signifying an expansion of the role played by the PLA in political affairs.
July – Mao Zedong presents “On Khrushchev’s Phony Communism and Historical Lessons for the World”.
August – Tonkin Gulf incident. The North Vietnamese allegedly attack two American destroyers.
September – Peng Mingmin and his students issue a “Self-Rescue Declaration of Taiwan". The declaration asks native Taiwanese and mainlanders to work together to establish a democratic country independent of China. Peng was arrested and sentenced to eight years in prison but received amnesty in November 1964.
October – Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union falls from power. Leonid Brezhnev replaces Khruschev.
October – The People's Republic of China explodes its first atomic bomb.
1965
January - Mao Zedong decides to remove Liu Shaoqi.
January – The Political Bureau in Beijing decides to draw up a proper program to revolutionize art and literature.
February - The first U.S. combat troops arrive in South Vietnam.
February – The United States started the systematic bombing of North Vietnam.
February – Jiang Qing, wife of Mao Zedong, travels to Shanghai in preparation for the Cultural Revolution.
February - Mao Zedong embarks on a long and slow trip across China, eventually arriving at symbolic Jinggang Mountain in May.
August – Ethnic Chinese and communist members supported by the People's Republic of China stage a failed uprising in Thailand.
September – Communists supported by the Chinese Communist Party stage a failed coup in Indonesia. Suharto replaces Sukarno as the president.
November – The Shanghai newspaper Wenhubao publishes an article criticizing Wu Han’s play, “Hai Rui Dismissed from Office”. Hai Rui is the character that represents Peng Dehuai, who was dismissed after criticizing Mao Zedong.
1966
May – The Cultural Revolution Group is set up.
May – May Seventh Cadre Schools. Mao Zedong calls for the re-education of the intellectuals by the workers, peasants and soldiers.
May - The May 16 Circular is issued by the Communist Party Central Committee. The official beginning of the Cultural Revolution. The Cultural Revolution would last ten years, affecting millions of people and leading to thousands of deaths.
May - The first Red Guard units are established in Beijing.
June – All classes are suspended so students can devote themselves to the Cultural Revolution.
July - Mao Zedong swims in the Yangtze River. The well-publicized event signifies Mao's return to power.
July - Professors and teachers in Beijing publicly humiliated by Red Guards.
August – Cultural Revolution Group becomes the supreme ruling body of the Chinese Communist Party, supplanting the Political Bureau.
August - 16-point directive calls for overthrowing those in authority and taking the capitalist road.
August – Lin Biao becomes the sole vice chairman of the Central Committee. Mao Zedong announces his support of the Red Guards. Liu Shaoqi was relegated to eighth place in the Committee.
August – A million students and teachers attend the first mass rally in Tiananmen Square. Mao personally greets the students. Lin Biao makes the speech to destroy the four olds: old ideas, old culture, old customs, and old habits of the exploiting classes.
August - Cultural icons are publicly humiliated. The famous writer Lao She commits suicide.
October - Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping were forced to make self-criticisms.
November – Students and teachers destroy thousands of cultural artefacts at the Confucius Temple in Qufu, Shandong province.
December - The first export processing zone in Taiwan is established in Kaohsiung.
December – First large-scale demonstration in Beijing in which Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping are publicly denounced.
December – “Kangping Road incident” in Shanghai. Beginning of nationwide violence.
1967
January – Mao Zedong calls for an attack on Communist Party leaders. Liu Shaoqi is denounced. Liu is labelled "China's Khruschev".
January - The Soviet embassy comes under siege for 18 days.
February - February Revolt. Senior military commanders voice dissent against the Cultural Revolution.
February - After the military's political cleansing, Lin Biao effectively controls the People's Liberation Army.
April - Wang Guangmei, the wife of Liu Shaoqi, is publicly humiliated in front of a massive crowd at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
May – Communist agents instigate riots in Hong Kong, a British colony.
June - The People's Republic of China tests the first hydrogen bomb.
June to July – Wuhan incident. Armed conflicts in the triple city of Wuhan. Mao Zedong has to leave Wuhan due to a potential coup.
July - Large-scale armed conflicts among different factions occur in major cities all over mainland China.
August - Large-scale factional fighting involving thousands of people takes place in Shanghai.
August - In Taiwan, Chiang Kai-shek signed the order to extend free public education to nine years.
August – Mob attacks the British mission in Beijing. Other foreign embassies in Beijing are also attacked.
October – Communist Party orders students to return to class.
December – People's Liberation Army takes control of public security units.
1968
January - Communist forces launch the Tet Offensive in South Vietnam.
February - Liu Shaoqi is silenced after publishing criticism of Mao Zedong.
May - Negotiations begin between North Vietnam and the United States.
May - Movement to cleanse the class ranks.
July - Mao Zedong meets with Red Guard leaders to terminate their movement. This marks an end to the first half of the Cultural Revolution. The second half, emphasising social reform, followed and lasted until 1976.
August - Prague Spring. Warsaw Pact troops suppressed the popular revolt against the communist government in Czechoslovakia.
September - Free public education in Taiwan is extended from six to nine years.
October – Liu Shaoqi is condemned as a traitor by the Central Committee and expelled from the Communist Party. Deng Xiaoping was dismissed from all posts but not removed from the Party.
October - The Red Guards are ordered to disband and go to the countryside.
November - Richard Nixon was elected President of the United States.
1969
March –The Ussuri River incident. Chinese and Soviet troops clash on Zhenbao Island.
April – New party constitution passed at the Ninth Congress of the Communist Party. Lin Biao was named the party’s vice chairman and future successor. Jiang Qing made a member of the Politburo. Marxism-Leninism Mao Zedong Thought is laid down as the theoretical basis of party ideology.
June - Chiang Ching-Kuo becomes vice premier of the Republic of China.
July - U.S. troops begin their withdrawal from South Vietnam.
August – The People's Republic of China clashes with the Soviet Union in Xinjiang province.
October - Top Communist leaders evacuate Beijing to avoid a potential attack from the Soviet Union. The military receives emergency orders.
October - Deng Xiaoping is banished to Jiangxi province.
November – Liu Shaoqi dies in captivity in Keifeng. Liu's body is cremated under a pseudonym. His family is not notified until years later.
December - In Taiwan, members of the opposition were elected to the Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China.
December - The United States communicates to Beijing an interest in establishing diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China.
1970
March – Prince Sihanouk of Cambodia is deposed and goes into exile in the People's Republic of China.
April - Chiang Ching-Kuo visits the United States. The attempted assassination of Chiang in New York.
April - People's Republic of China launches its first satellite into space.
May - U.S. troops invade Cambodia.
August - Decision made at the Central Committee of the Communist Party to improve relations with the United States. The Soviet Union is declared China's main enemy.
August - Disagreements develop between Lin Biao and Mao Zedong.
October – Richard Nixon contacts Beijing through Pakistani president Yahya Khan, expressing an interest in sending a high-level emissary to China.
December – Zhou Enlai indicates that the People's Republic of China would welcome a delegation from the United States. Mao Zedong invites Richard Nixon to visit China.
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