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)
1971
January - Agreement reached for Richard Nixon's visit to China.
March – Outline of Project 571. A detailed plan of a coup to overthrow Mao Zedong was drawn up by Lin Biao's son Lin Liguo.
April – Ping Pong Diplomacy. Beijing indicates the American table tennis team would be allowed to play friendly matches in China.
June – Last public appearance of Lin Biao.
July - Henry Kissinger secretly visits Beijing.
July – Announcement of Richard Nixon’s plan to visit China in February 1972.
September – Lin Biao was killed in a coup. Lin's aircraft crashes in the Mongolian People’s Republic on its way to the Soviet Union.
October – People’s Republic of China replaces the Republic of China as the sole representative of China at the United Nations.
November - Deng Xiaoping writes a letter of support to Mao Zedong.
1972
February – U.S. President Richard Nixon visits the People’s Republic of China.
February - First communiqué (the Shanghai Communiqué) between the People’s Republic of China and the United States: the United States does not challenge the position that there is but one China and that Taiwan is part of China.
March - In Taiwan, Chiang Kai-shek was re-elected President of the Republic of China for the sixth time.
May - Chiang Ching-Kuo, son of Chiang Kai-shek, becomes Premier of the Republic of China.
July - Chiang Kai-shek suffers a heart attack and remains in a coma for six months.
September – Japan establishes formal relations with the People's Republic of China. Cuts diplomatic relations with the Republic of China.
October - Double-Ten celebrations in Taipei. Chiang Kai-shek does not attend festivities celebrating the founding of the Republic of China.
1973
February - Deng Xiaoping is allowed to go back to Beijing.
March – Deng Xiaoping takes over the day-to-day work of the Central Committee from Mao Zedong.
May – Mao Zedong indicates that Confucius has to be criticized. Beginning of a campaign to criticize Confucius and Lin Biao.
August – The Gang of Four. At the Chinese Communist Party’s Tenth National Congress, Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, and Wang Hongwen joined an informal group called the Gang of Four. Lin Biao is officially denounced. The Party constitution is revised to remove Lin Biao as Mao's successor.
December - Taipei government announces a five-year plan to complete ten significant projects to improve infrastructure in Taiwan.
December - Deng Xiaoping joins the Politburo.
1974
January – The Gang of Four launches an attack on Confucius.
April – Deng Xiaoping visits the United Nations. Deng reiterates the split between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union.
June - Zhou Enlai has surgery to remove cancer.
June – Doctors inform the Politburo that Mao Zedong has just over two years to live.
August – Richard Nixon resigned as President of the United States.
October - Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Qing clash at a Politburo meeting.
November - Peng Dehuai dies in captivity. Peng had been imprisoned since December 1966. His body is cremated under a pseudonym.
1975
January - Fourth National People's Congress. Zhou Enlai reaffirms the Four Modernization program to modernize agriculture, industry, defence and science. Deng Xiaoping becomes vice premier and vice chairman of the Military Affairs Commission. Mao Zedong does not attend.
February - Zhou Enlai becomes seriously ill. Deng Xiaoping takes over many of Zhou's responsibilities.
April - Chiang Kai-shek dies in Taiwan.
April - Communist forces capture Saigon, the capital city of South Vietnam.
May – Last Politburo meeting chaired by Mao Zedong. The Gang of Four is denounced.
June – Zhou Enlai’s last public appearance.
June - Jiang Qing submits a written self-criticism to the Politburo and admits to the existence of a “Gang of Four.”
1976
January – Zhou Enlai dies of cancer. Mao Zedong does not attend the funeral due to illness. Deng Xiaoping delivers the eulogy. State media largely ignores the event.
April – Qingming Festival. Birth of modern-day democracy movement in Communist China. Thousands of tributes and wreaths are laid in Tiananmen Square by average citizens in memory of Zhou Enlai.
April – Tributes and wreaths in Tiananmen Square are removed. Angry crowds enter Tiananmen Square. Large-scale public demonstrations are suppressed.
April – Hua Guofeng was appointed chairman of the Party’s Central Committee and premier of the state council. Deng Xiaoping is removed from all government and party posts.
May - Prime minister of Pakistan is the last head of state to meet Mao Zedong.
July – Earthquakes in Tangshan registering 7.8 on the Richter scale. Over 200,000 people are killed.
September - Mao Zedong dies.
October – Hua Guofeng becomes chairman of the Chinese Communist Party.
October - End of the Cultural Revolution. The Gang of Four is arrested. About one million people celebrate in Tiananmen Square. Official accounts estimate that the ten-year-long Cultural Revolution might have caused at least 3 million violent deaths. Millions more suffered in the process.
1977
July – Deng Xiaoping returns to power. Deng is once again a member of the Politburo. He is also vice chairman of the Central Committee, vice chairman of the Military Commission, vice premier, and chief of army staff. The Gang of Four is expelled from the Communist Party.
August – Eleventh Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. Cultural Revolution is officially ended. Zhao Ziyang becomes an alternate member of the Politburo and begins his rise to the top. Hua Guofeng is confirmed as Chairman of the Party for the time being.
September – Inauguration of the Mao Zedong Memorial Hall in Beijing.
November - Riots in Taiwan protesting illegal practices at a local election.
December – Hu Yaobang becomes Director of the Organization Department, with the power to make Party personnel decisions.
1978
February to March – Fifth National People’s Congress. The Constitution of the People's Republic of China has been revised to produce the third constitution since 1949. The new constitution guarantees freedom of speech and other liberties.
March - In Taiwan, Chiang Ching-Kuo is elected President by the National Assembly of the Republic of China.
April – Central Committee calls for removing the rightist ‘label’ from those persecuted twenty years earlier in the anti-rightist campaign. Over 100,000 people would benefit; many had been in jail for years.
May - Practice is the only criterion for truth. An article in the Guangming Daily signifies Deng Xiaoping's course of reform and his deviation from Mao's doctrines.
November - The popular movement in Tiananmen Square, suppressed in April 1976, is reclassified as revolutionary and acceptable.
November - End of communes. Peasants in a village in Anhui province make a secret agreement to divide communal land without official authorization. This eventually resulted in an end to all communes in China.
December – The reform era is officially launched. The people's Republic of China would concentrate on economic reform and the Four Modernizations: agriculture, industry, defence and science.
December - The Fifth Modernization. Using big-character posters in Beijing, Wei Jingsheng asks for the Fifth Modernization - democracy - in addition to the four modernizations. Wei would be arrested in March 1979.
December - An announcement was made to formalize relations between the People's Republic of China and the United States on January 1979. The U.S. would sever diplomatic ties with the Republic of China.
December - In Taiwan, the Republic of China postpones democratic elections.
1979
January – Second communiqué between the PRC and the U.S. The United States established diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China. The U.S. recognizes that there is only one China. Taiwan is part of China. The U.S. would end diplomatic relations with the Republic of China.
January – Deng Xiaoping visits the United States. The United States extends the most-favoured-nation status in trade to the People's Republic of China.
February – The People's Republic of China invades Vietnam. Chinese troops would withdraw in just one month.
February - The United States closed its embassy in the Republic of China in Taiwan.
March - In mainland China, Wei Jingsheng is arrested for proposing democracy.
March - Deng Xiaoping introduces the Four Principles: keep to the socialist road, uphold the dictatorship of the proletariat, uphold the leadership of the Communist Party, and uphold Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought.
April - United States adopts the Taiwan Relations Act, providing support for the Republic of China.
July - Beijing government passes new laws to attract foreign investments.
October - Wei Jingshen is sentenced to 15 years in prison. Wei would be released in 1993 and expelled to the United States in 1997.
December - Democracy Wall in Beijing is closed down.
December - Formosa Magazine incident. In Kaohsiung, opposition leaders are arrested for commemorating Human Rights Day. Years later, many arrested would become influential political figures in Taiwan.
1980
February –Hu Yaobang becomes general secretary of the Communist Party.
February - According to a Communist Party resolution, the Cultural Revolution caused severe damage to the country. Mao Zedong was determined to bear the primary responsibilities. However, Mao’s overall merits are considered to outweigh his mistakes. There is no mention of the Great Leap Forward and the massive famine that caused the deaths of tens of millions.
May - Shenzhen is declared the first Special Economic Zone.
May - Memorial service for Liu Shaoqi in Beijing.
September – In mainland China, the constitution is amended to restrict freedom of speech. Space to hang up wall posters, conduct debates, hold demonstrations, and abolish the right to strike.
September – Zhao Ziyang replaces Hua Guofeng as premier of the People’s Republic of China.
November to December – The Gang of Four is put on trial.
December - Hua Guofeng asks to resign as Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party. His resignation was officially announced in June 1981.
December - Democracy in Taiwan. First competitive elections in the Republic of China for the National Assembly and the Legislative Yuan.
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