960–1279Song Dynasty (ethnicity of rulers: Han Chinese)
1271–1368Yuan Dynasty (ethnicity of rulers: Mongolian)
1368–1644The Ming Dynasty (ethnicity of rulers: Han Chinese)
1644–1911The Qing Dynasty (ethnicity of rulers: Manchus)
1654–1722Kangxi Emperor (reigned 1661–1722)
1711–1799Qianlong Emperor (reigned 1735–1796)
1793Macartncy Mission
1794–1804White Lotus Rebellion (Buddhist millenarian)
1839–42The Opium War (Opponent of Qing: The British Empire)
1850–64Taiping Uprising (Quasi-Christian Millenarian)
1856–60Second Opium War/Arrow War (Opponents: Britain and France)
1868Meiji Restoration in Japan
1894–95War with Japan; China defeated; Treaty of Shimonoseki signed
1898100 Days Reform; ends with conservatives taking control
1900Boxer Uprising (anti-Christian)
1900–01Invasion and occupation of North China by International Force
1905Examination system ends
1911Republican Revolution (Xinhai Revolution)
1912–49Republican Era
1912Sun Yat-sen serves (briefly) as China’s president
1912–1916Presidency of Yuan Shikai
1915–22New Culture Movement
1916–27Warlord Era
1919May Fourth Movement
1921Chinese Communist Party (CCP) founded
1924–27First United Front: Communist/Guomindang Alliance
1925May Thirtieth Movement
1927Guomindang purge of Communists
1927–37Guomindang in charge of country; capital at Nanjing
1931Japan invades Manchuria
1934–35The Long March
1936Xi’an Incident
1937Japan invades North China
1937–1945Second United Front: Communist–Guomindang alliance
1942–1944CCP Rectification Campaign
1945Japan surrenders
1945–49The Civil War between the Guomindang and the CCP
1947–52Land reform
1949Guomindang retreats to Taiwan
1949People’s Republic of China (PRC) founded; Beijing serves as capital
1949–76Mao Era
1950New Marriage Law
1950–53Korean War
1956100 Flowers Campaign
1957Anti-Rightist Campaign
1958Great Leap Forward and People’s Communes
1959–61Great Leap Famine
1962Retreat from communal to collective production
1966–69Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
1966–76The “Cultural Revolution Decade”
1969–78Urban youth sent down to the countryside
1972Nixon visits Beijing and Shanghai
1976Mao Zedong dies, Hua Guofeng succeeds him
1978Official reform policy announced; Deng Xiaoping rises to power
1979Reform Era begins; stringent birth control policy initiated
1979–82Dismantling of collective agricultural production
1986–88Small-scale student movements
1989Massive student-led movement, ends with massacres in June
1993China’s Olympic bid fails
1997–2003Jiang Zemin leads the country as head of CCP and President
1997Hong Kong becomes part of PRC
1999Falungong crackdown; anti-NATO protests; Macao becomes part of PRC
2001China’s Olympic bid succeeds
2002–12Hu Jintao leads the country as head of CCP and President
2008Tibetan uprisings; Sichuan earthquake; Beijing Olympics
2009Uyghur uprisings; 60th anniversary of PRC’s Founding Celebrated
2010Shanghai Expo held (China’s first World Fair)
2012Xi Jinping installed as head of CCP
2013Xi Jinping selected to be President of PRC
2014Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong
2017repression in Xinjiang increases via the creation of an extensive network of camps
2018constitution changed to remove term limits for the office of president
2019first reports from Wuhan of a novel Coronavirus
2020National Security Law imposed on Hong Kong