| Date |
Ruling entity |
Ruler |
Events |
Other people/events |
| 2500 BC |
Sanhuangwudi |
|
This period is part of the Chinese mythology |
| 2205 BC[?] |
|
|
|
| Xia Dynasty |
|
|
|
|
| 1806 BC |
|
|
|
|
| 1523 BC |
Shang Dynasty |
|
First records Chinese characters |
|
| 1027 BC |
|
|
|
|
| 1122 BC |
Zhou Dynasty |
|
|
|
| 722 BC |
|
Spring and Autumn Period |
|
|
| 551 BC |
|
Confucius |
| 481 BC |
|
|
|
|
| 479 BC |
|
|
|
|
| 403 BC |
|
Warring States Period |
|
|
| 256 BC |
|
|
|
|
| 255 BC |
Qin Dynasty |
|
|
|
| 246 BC |
Qin Shi Huang Di |
|
|
|
| 221 BC |
Start of construction of the Great Wall |
|
|
|
| 210 BC |
Burial of the Terracotta Army |
|
| 207 BC |
|
|
|
|
| 202 BC |
Han Dynasty |
Han Gao Zu |
|
|
| 195 BC |
|
|
|
|
| 105 |
|
|
Cai Lun, inventor of paper |
|
| 106 |
Han Shangdi |
|
|
| 184 |
|
Yellow Turban Rebellion |
|
|
| 208 |
|
Battle of Red Cliff |
|
|
| 220 |
|
|
|
|
| Three Kingdoms |
|
|
| 222 |
Sun Quan |
|
|
| 250 |
Introduction of Buddhism in China |
|
|
| 252 |
|
|
|
|
| 265 |
|
|
|
|
| Jin Dynasty |
|
|
|
| 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 Da Qin temple. |
|
|
| 649 |
|
|
|
|
| 684 |
Wu Ze Tian |
|
|
|
| 705 |
|
|
|
|
| 845 |
|
Mass persecution of Buddhism |
|
|
| 907 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period |
|
|
| 960 |
|
|
|
|
| Song Dynasty |
| |
|
|
| 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 |
| |
|
|
| 1371 |
|
|
Zheng He |
| 1403 |
Yongle |
|
| 1406 |
Construction of the Forbidden City begins |
|
|
| 1424 |
|
|
|
| 1435 |
|
|
|
|
| 1449 |
|
Battle of Tumu Fortress |
|
|
| 1516 |
|
First Portuguese settlement in Macau |
|
| 1582 |
|
Jesuits begin mission work in China |
|
| 1644 |
|
|
|
|
| Qing Dynasty |
| |
|
|
| 1662 |
Kangxi |
|
|
| 1680 |
First Portuguese governor in Macau |
|
| 1722 |
|
|
|
| 1814 |
|
First recorded Chinese convert to Christianism |
|
| 1839 |
|
First Opium War |
|
| 1842 |
|
Treaty of Nanjing |
|
| 1851 |
|
Taiping Rebellion |
|
| 1854 |
|
|
|
|
| 1856 |
|
Second Opium War |
|
| 1858 |
|
Treaties of Tianjin[?] |
|
| 1860 |
|
Beijing Convention |
|
| 1884 |
|
Franco-Chinese War |
|
| 1885 |
|
|
|
| 1894 |
|
First Sino-Japanese War |
|
|
| 1895 |
|
Treaty of Shimonoseki |
|
|
| 1900 |
|
Boxer Rebellion |
|
|
| 1908 |
Pu-yi |
|
|
|
| 1911 |
|
|
|
|
| Republic of China |
Sun Yat Sen |
Wuchang Uprising |
|
| Yuan Shikai |
|
|
| 1914 |
|
|
| 1919 |
|
May Fourth Movement |
|
|
| 1921 |
|
Foundation Communist Party of China |
|
|
| 1926 |
|
Northern Expedition |
|
|
| 1927 |
|
Kuomintang-Communist split |
|
|
| 1928 |
|
|
|
|
| 1934 |
|
Long March |
|
|
| 1935 |
|
|
|
|
| 1936 |
|
Xian incident |
|
|
| 1937 |
|
Second Sino-Japanese War |
Marco Polo Bridge Incident |
|
|
Battle of Nanjing |
|
|
|
| 1938 |
|
Battle of Tai er zhuang |
|
| 1940 |
|
Battle of Hundred Regiments |
|
| 1945 |
|
The nationalist government is one of the founding members of the UN |
|
| 1949 |
|
|
|
|
| Mainland China |
|
|
|
|
| 1949 |
People's Republic of China |
Mao Zedong |
|
|
| 1950 |
Battle of Chosin Reservoir |
Korean War |
| 1951 |
Occupation of Tibet |
|
| 1953 |
|
|
|
| 1956 |
Hundred Flowers campaign |
|
| 1957 |
|
|
| 1958 |
Great Leap Forward |
|
| 1960 |
|
|
| Sino-Soviet split[?] |
|
| 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 |
|
| 1974 |
Discovery of the Terracotta Army |
|
| 1976 |
Tiananmen incident |
Death of Zhou Enlai |
| Hua Guofeng |
|
|
|
|
| 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 |
|
|
|
|
| 1984 |
Margaret Thatcher in China, signs Sino-British Joint Declaration, to handover of Hong Kong to the PRC in 1997 |
|
|
|
| 1987 |
|
|
|
|
| Zhao Ziyang |
|
|
|
|
| 1989 |
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 |
|
|
|
| Jiang Zemin |
|
|
|
|
| 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 |
|
|
| present |
Hu Jintao |
SARS outbreak |
|
|
| Taiwan |
|
|
|
|
| 1945 |
Republic of China
(Continued) |
|
|
|
| 1947 |
Chiang Kai-Shek |
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 |
|
|
|
| 1988 |
|
|
|
|
| Lee Teng-hui |
|
|
|
| 1996 |
Large PRC military maneuvers in Taiwan Strait |
|
|
|
| 2000 |
|
|
|
|
| Chen Shui-bian |
|
|
|
| 2001 |
Accession to World Trade Organization |
|
|
|
| present |
SARS outbreak |
|
|
|
