Timeline of Modern Chinese Political History

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

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