Editing Timeline of Chinese history (section)

== 20th century ==
{| class="wikitable" width="100%"
! style="width:6%" | Year || style="width:10%" | Date || Event
|-
| 1901 || 7 September || ''Boxer Rebellion'': The [[Qing dynasty]] and [[Eight-Nation Alliance]] signed the [[Boxer Protocol]], under which the Alliance was granted war reparations and the right to station troops in the capital Beijing.
|-
| rowspan="2" valign="top" | 1908 || 14 November || The [[Guangxu Emperor]] died of arsenic poisoning.
|-
| 2 December || The [[Guangxu Emperor]]'s young nephew [[Puyi]] became [[emperor of China|emperor]] of the [[Qing dynasty]].
|-
| rowspan="3" valign="top" | 1911 || 27 April || ''[[Second Guangzhou Uprising]]''
|-
| 10 October || ''[[Wuchang Uprising]]'': [[New Army]] soldiers staged a mutiny in [[Wuchang District]] and occupied the residence of the [[Viceroy of Huguang]].
|-
| 29 December || ''[[1911 Chinese provisional presidential election]]'': [[Sun Yat-sen]] was elected [[President of the Republic of China|president]] of the [[Provisional Government of the Republic of China (1912)|Provisional Government of the Republic of China]], with a majority of sixteen of the seventeen [[Provinces of China|provincial]] representatives of the [[Tongmenghui]] in [[Nanjing]].
|-
| rowspan="5" valign="top" | 1912 || 1 January || ''[[Xinhai Revolution]]'': [[Sun Yat-sen]] was inaugurated [[President of the Republic of China|president]] of the [[Provisional Government of the Republic of China (1912)|Provisional Government of the Republic of China]].
|-
| 12 February || ''Xinhai Revolution'': [[Puyi]]'s regent, the [[empress dowager]] [[Empress Dowager Longyu]], signed an edict under which Puyi would retain his imperial title but all power would pass to the [[Provisional Government of the Republic of China (1912)|Provisional Government of the Republic of China]].
|-
| 10 March || [[Sun Yat-sen]] resigned in favor of [[Yuan Shikai]].
|-
| 25 August || The [[Tongmenghui]] and several smaller revolutionary parties merged to form the [[Kuomintang|Kuomintang (KMT)]].
|-
| December|| ''[[1912 Chinese National Assembly election]]'': An election to the [[National Assembly (Beiyang government)|National Assembly]] under the [[Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China]] began which would produce pluralities for the [[Kuomintang|KMT]] in the House and Senate.
|-
| rowspan="2" valign="top" | 1913 || 20 March || ''[[Song Jiaoren#Assassination|Assassination of Song Jiaoren]]'': [[Song Jiaoren]], founder of the [[KMT]] was assassinated, most likely by then-president [[Yuan Shikai]].
|-
| 12 July || A failed [[Second Revolution (Republic of China)|Second Revolution]] started in Southern China in response to [[Yuan Shikai]]'s dictatorial policies and the   [[Song Jiaoren#Assassination|assassination of Song Jiaoren]]
|-
| rowspan="5" valign="top" | 1915 || 8 January || [[Empire of Japan|Japan]] issued the [[Twenty-One Demands]] to the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]], including demands for territory in [[Shandong]], [[Manchuria]] and [[Inner Mongolia]], rights of [[extraterritoriality]] for its citizens in China, and influence in China's internal affairs.
|-
| 15 September || [[Chen Duxiu]] founded the magazine ''[[New Youth]]''.<ref name="UN">{{Cite journal |last=Ash |first=Alec |date=6 September 2009 |title=China's New New Youth |url=https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/chinabeatarchive/626/ |url-status=live |journal=The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200612103436/https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/chinabeatarchive/626/ |archive-date=12 June 2020 |access-date=17 July 2020}}</ref>
|-
| 12 December || [[Yuan Shikai|Yuan]] declared himself the Hongxian Emperor of the [[Empire of China (1915–1916)|Empire of China]].
|-
| || The [[progressivism|progressive]], anti-[[Confucianism|Confucian]] [[New Culture Movement]] was founded.
|-
| 25 December || ''[[National Protection War]]'': The [[republicanism|republican]] [[general officer|generals]] [[Cai E]] and [[Tang Jiyao]] declared the independence of [[Yunnan]] from the [[Empire of China (1915–1916)|Empire of China]].
|-
| 1916 || 16 June || [[Yuan Shikai|Yuan]] died.<ref name="Zhengyuan">Zhengyuan Fu. (1994) ''Autocratic Tradition and Chinese Politics'', [[Cambridge University]] Press. pp. 153–154. {{ISBN|0-521-44228-1}}.</ref>
|-
| 1917 || 7 November || ''[[History of the Chinese Communist Party]]'': [[Bolsheviks]] led by Marxist leader [[Vladimir Lenin]] seized power in Russia in the [[October Revolution]].
|-
| rowspan="2" valign="top" | 1919 || 4 May || ''[[May Fourth Movement]]'': A student protest against the [[Treaty of Versailles]] took place at [[Tiananmen]].
|-
| 28 June || The [[Treaty of Versailles]], among whose provisions was the transfer of [[German Empire|German]] territories in [[Shandong]] to [[Empire of Japan|Japan]], was signed.
|-
|1920
|14 - 23 July
|[[Zhili–Anhui War]], a conflict between the [[Zhili clique|Zhili]] and [[Anhui clique|Anhui cliques]] for control of the [[Beiyang government]].
|-
| rowspan="2" valign="top" | 1921 || 23 July || The [[Chinese Communist Party|Chinese Communist Party (CCP)]] was founded.<ref>{{Cite news |last=楊立傑 |date=30 April 2013 |title=共产主义小组的建立与中国共产党的成立 |url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/ziliao/2004-10/25/content_2136770.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130430055514/http://news.xinhuanet.com/ziliao/2004-10/25/content_2136770.htm |archive-date=30 April 2013 |access-date=3 December 2021 |work=Xinhua |language=zh-Hans-CN}}</ref>
|-
| 4 December || The first installment of [[Lu Xun]]'s novel ''[[The True Story of Ah Q]]'', the first work written in [[written vernacular Chinese]], was published.
|-
| rowspan="2" valign="top" | 1923 || January || The [[Radio Corporation of China]] was founded.<ref name="Miller">[[Toby Miller|Miller, Toby]] (2003). ''Television: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies''.  [[Routledge Publishing]].  {{ISBN|0-415-25502-3}}</ref>
|-
| 6 January|| The [[Kuomintang|KMT]] and [[Chinese Communist Party|CCP]] agreed to the [[First United Front]], under which Communists would join the KMT as individuals to help combat warlordism.
|-
| 1924 || 5 November || The last [[Emperor of China]], [[Puyi]], is evicted from the [[Forbidden City]], severing the last imperial connection to the palace.
|-
| 1925 || 12 March || [[Sun Yat-sen]], China's [[Father of the Nation]], dies from cancer.
|-
| 1926 || 9 July || ''[[Northern Expedition]]'': The [[Kuomintang|KMT]] general [[Chiang Kai-shek]] launched an expedition of some hundred thousand [[National Revolutionary Army|National Revolutionary Army (NRA)]] soldiers from [[Guangdong]] against the warlords [[Zhang Zuolin]], [[Wu Peifu]] and [[Sun Chuanfang]].
|-
| rowspan="2" |1927
|12 April
|''[[Shanghai massacre]]'': [[Kuomintang|KMT]] forces led by [[Chiang Kai-shek|Chiang]] attack [[Chinese Communist Party|Communist]] allies in [[Shanghai]], initiating a full-scale purge of [[Chinese Communist Party|Communists]] in regions under KMT control.
|-
| 1 August || ''[[Nanchang uprising]]'': [[Chinese Communist Party|Communist]] forces launched an uprising against the [[Kuomintang|KMT]] in [[Nanchang]].
|-
| rowspan="3" valign="top" | 1928 || 7 May || ''[[Jinan incident]]'': The [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] general [[Hikosuke Fukuda]] tortured and killed seventeen of [[Chiang Kai-shek|Chiang's]] representatives in [[Jinan]].
|-
| 4 June || ''[[Huanggutun incident]]'': [[Zhang Zuolin]]'s train was blown up by the [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] [[Kwantung Army]], killing him.
|-
| 10 October || [[Chiang Kai-shek|Chiang]] became chairman of the [[Nationalist government]] of the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]].
|-
| rowspan="6" valign="top" | 1931 || July || ''[[Encirclement campaign against the Northeastern Jiangxi Soviet]]'': The [[National Revolutionary Army|NRA]] encircled and invaded the [[Northeastern Jiangxi Soviet]].
|-
| July - November || ''[[1931 China floods]]'': Flooding began in the valleys of the [[Yellow River|Yellow]], [[Yangtze]] and [[Huai River]]s, which would claim as many as four million lives. As of 2024, it was the [[List of natural disasters by death toll#Ten deadliest natural disasters by highest estimated death toll excluding epidemics and famines|deadliest natural disaster ever recorded]].
|-
| rowspan="2" valign="top" | 18 September || ''[[Mukden incident]]'': In a [[false flag]] operation against the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]], [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] agents set off a dynamite explosion near a [[South Manchuria Railway]] line.
|-
| ''[[Japanese invasion of Manchuria]]'': The [[Kwantung Army]] invaded all [[Manchuria]]n territory along the [[South Manchuria Railway]].
|-
| 7 November || The [[Chinese Soviet Republic]] was established in [[Ruijin]].
|-
| 15 December || [[Chiang Kai-shek|Chiang]] resigned under pressure from the [[Kuomintang|KMT]]. [[Lin Sen]] became acting chairman of the [[Nationalist government]].
|-
| rowspan="5" valign="top" | 1932 || 1 January || [[Lin Sen]] became chairman of the [[Nationalist government]].
|-
| 28 January || ''[[January 28 incident]]'': [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] aircraft carriers began bombing Shanghai in a series of raids which would kill some four thousand soldiers of the [[19th Route Army]] and as many as twenty thousand Chinese civilians.
|-
| 4 February || ''[[Defense of Harbin]]'': [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] bombs and artillery forced the [[Jilin Self-Defence Army]] to retreat from [[Harbin]].
|-
| 18 February || The independent state of [[Manchukuo]] was established on the territory of [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]]-occupied [[Manchuria]].
|-
| 9 March || ''[[Pacification of Manchukuo]]'': The [[Big Swords Society]] rebelled ''en masse'' against the government of [[Manchukuo]].
|-
| rowspan="2" valign="top" | 1934 || February || [[Chiang Kai-shek|Chiang]] and his wife [[Soong Mei-ling]] established the quasi-fascist [[New Life Movement]].
|-
| 16 October || ''[[Long March]]'': The [[Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army]] broke through the [[Kuomintang|KMT]] lines attempting to encircle them at [[Ganzhou]].
|-
| rowspan="2" |1935
| 5 February || ''[[First Encirclement Campaign against Hubei–Henan–Shaanxi Soviet]]'': [[Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army|Red Army]] forces forced the retreat of a [[Kuomintang|KMT]] army attempting to encircle the ''[[soviet (council)|soviet]]'' of [[Hubei]], Henan and [[Shaanxi]].
|-
| 9 December || ''[[December 9th Movement]]'': A student protest took place in Beijing demanding internal liberalization and stronger anti-[[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] resistance.
|-
| rowspan="2" |1936
|
|Japan opened a biological warfare operation called [[Unit 731]] in Manchukuo.
|-
| 12 December || ''[[Xi'an Incident]]'': [[Zhang Xueliang]] arrested [[Chiang Kai-shek|Chiang]] in [[Xi'an]] due to concerns he was insufficiently committed to anti-[[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] resistance.
|-
| rowspan="6" valign="top" | 1937 || 7 March || ''[[Marco Polo Bridge incident]]'': Roughly one hundred [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Chinese]] soldiers were killed defending the [[Marco Polo Bridge]] in Beijing from a [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] attack.
|-
| 22 September || The [[Kuomintang|KMT]] and [[Chinese Communist Party|CCP]] joined to establish the [[Second United Front]], which led to the Communists recognizing at least for the moment [[Chiang Kai-shek]] as China's leader and the official dissolution of the [[Chinese Soviet Republic]]. The [[Chinese Red Army|Red Army]] was reorganized into the [[Eighth Route Army|Eighth Route]] and [[New Fourth Army|New Fourth Armies]], which were nominally part of the [[National Revolutionary Army|NRA]] chain of command. 
|-
| 25 September || ''[[Battle of Pingxingguan]]'': The [[Eighth Route Army]] wiped out a [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] force of a few hundred attempting to bring supplies through [[Pingxing Pass]].
|-
| 26 October || ''[[Battle of Shanghai]]'': The [[National Revolutionary Army|NRA]] began withdrawing from downtown Shanghai in the face of a [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] onslaught.
|-
| 10 December || ''[[Battle of Nanking]]'': The [[Japanese Central China Area Army]] launched a full-scale assault on [[Nanjing]].
|-
| 13 December || ''[[Nanjing Massacre]]'': [[Nanjing]] fell to the [[Japanese Central China Area Army]]. A six-week massacre began in which tens of thousands of women were raped and as many as three hundred thousand civilians were killed.
|-
| rowspan="3" valign="top" | 1938 || 18 February || ''[[Bombing of Chongqing]]'': The [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] army and naval air services began a bombing campaign against civilian targets in [[Chongqing]] which would kill some ten thousand people.
|-
| 7 April || ''[[Battle of Taierzhuang]]'': The [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] army was forced to withdraw after suffering heavy losses in an attempted conquest of [[Tai'erzhuang District]].
|-
| 5 June || ''[[1938 Yellow River flood]]'': [[KMT]] forces destroyed a major dyke in an effort to create a flood to slow down Japanese forces. Nearly a million citizens died.
|-
| rowspan="2" valign="top" | 1939 || 1 September || The nominally independent [[Mengjiang]] was established on the [[Mongols|Mongol]] territories of the [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]]-occupied [[Chahar Province|Chahar]] and [[Suiyuan]] provinces.
|-
| 17 September || ''[[Battle of Changsha (1939)|Battle of Changsha]]'': The [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] army attacked [[Changsha]].
|-
| 1940 || 20 August || ''[[Hundred Regiments Offensive]]'': [[Chinese Communist Party|Communist]] [[National Revolutionary Army|NRA]] soldiers under [[Peng Dehuai]] began a campaign of terrorism and sabotage against [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] targets in North China.
|-
| rowspan="2" valign="top" | 1941 || 1 February || The [[Chinese Communist Party|Communist]] official [[Mao Zedong]] gave a speech in [[Yan'an]] entitled "Reform in Learning, the Party and Literature," establishing the [[Yan'an Rectification Movement]] and beginning an ideological purge which would claim some ten thousand lives.
|-
| 30 September || ''[[Battle of Changsha (1941)|Battle of Changsha]]'': A [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] army began a general retreat after failing to take [[Changsha]].
|-
| 1942 || 15 January || ''[[Battle of Changsha (1942)|Battle of Changsha]]'': A [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] army crossed the Xinqiang River after suffering heavy losses in a failed attempt to conquer [[Changsha]].
|-
| rowspan="2" valign="top" | 1943 || 1 August || [[Lin Sen]] died.  [[Chiang Kai-shek|Chiang]] became acting chairman of the [[Nationalist government]].
|-
| 27 November || ''[[Cairo Conference]]'': [[Chiang Kai-shek|Chiang]], United States president [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], and British prime minister [[Winston Churchill]] issued the [[1943 Cairo Declaration|Cairo Declaration]], under which the three powers expressed their desire for the independence of [[Korea under Japanese rule|Korea]] and the return of [[Republic of China (1912–49)|Chinese]] territories.
|-
| 1944 || 27 May || ''[[Battle of Changsha (1944)|Battle of Changsha]]'': The [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] army launched a general offensive against [[Changsha]].
|-
| rowspan="5" valign="top" | 1945 || 26 June || The [[United Nations Charter]] establishing the [[United Nations|United Nations (UN)]] was signed at the [[San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center]] by fifty nations including [[Republic of China (1912–49)|China]].
|-
| 6 August || ''[[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]]'': As many as eighty thousand [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]], largely civilians, were killed in the atomic bombing of [[Hiroshima]] by a United States aircraft.
|-
| 9 September || ''[[Surrender of Japan]]'': [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] forces in [[Republic of China (1912–49)|China]] formally surrendered to [[Chiang Kai-shek]].
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| 25 October || ''[[Surrender of Japan]]'': [[Republic of China (1912–49)|China]] [[Retrocession of Taiwan|regains control]] of [[Taiwan under Japanese rule|Taiwan]] from [[Empire of Japan|Japan]] and was proclaimed as [[Retrocession Day]]. [[Chen Yi (Kuomintang)|Chen Yi]] of the [[Kuomintang]] was appointed Chief Executive.
|-
| November || ''[[Campaign to Suppress Bandits in Northeast China]]'': The [[Chinese Communist Party|Communist]] [[People's Liberation Army|People's Liberation Army (PLA)]] launched a campaign against bandits and [[Kuomintang|KMT]] guerillas in northeast China.
|-
| 1946 || 20 July || ''[[Chinese Civil War]]'': The [[National Revolutionary Army|NRA]] invaded [[People's Liberation Army|PLA]]-held territory ''en masse''.
|-
| rowspan="2" valign="top" | 1947 || 28 February || ''[[February 28 Incident]]'': [[Nationalist government|Nationalist]] forces violently suppressed an anti-government protest in [[Taiwan Province]].
|-
| 25 December || The [[Constitution of the Republic of China]] came into force, dissolving the [[Nationalist government]] and renaming the [[National Revolutionary Army|NRA]] the [[Republic of China Armed Forces|Republic of China (ROC) Armed Forces]].
|-
| rowspan="2" valign="top" | 1948 || 2 November || ''[[Liaoshen Campaign]]'': The last [[Republic of China (1912–49)|ROC]] garrison in [[Manchuria]], in [[Yingkou]], retreated in the face of a [[People's Liberation Army|PLA]] advance.
|-
| 15 December || ''[[Huaihai Campaign]]'': The [[People's Liberation Army|PLA]] encircled an [[Republic of China (1912–49)|ROC]] army in [[Xuzhou]].
|-
| rowspan="6" valign="top" | 1949 || 21 January || [[Chiang Kai-shek|Chiang]] resigned the [[President of the Republic of China|presidency]] of the [[Republic of China (1912–49)|Republic of China]] due to military failures and under pressure from his vice president [[Li Zongren]], who succeeded him as acting president.
|-
| 31 January || ''[[Pingjin Campaign]]'': The [[People's Liberation Army|PLA]] took Beijing.
|-
| 23 April || ''Chinese Civil War'': The [[People's Liberation Army|PLA]] conquered the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|ROC]] capital [[Nanjing]]. The ROC moved its capital to [[Guangzhou]].
|-
| 19 May || The ROC government imposes the 38-year [[martial law in Taiwan]]
|-
| 1 October || [[Mao Zedong|Mao]] declared the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC).
|-
| 10 December || The [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|ROC]] moved its capital from [[Chengdu]] to [[Taipei]].
|-
| rowspan="4" valign="top" | 1950 || 5 March || ''[[Landing Operation on Hainan Island]]'': Chinese forces landed on [[Taiwan|ROC]]-controlled [[Hainan]].
|-
| 25 June || ''[[Korean War]]'': The North Korean army launched a 135,000-man surprise assault across the [[38th parallel north|38th parallel]] into [[South Korea]].
|-
| 25 November || ''[[Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River]]'': The Chinese [[38th Group Army]] broke the UN line between the [[7th Infantry Division (South Korea)|7th Infantry Division]] and [[8th Infantry Division (South Korea)|8th Infantry Division]] in the valley of the [[Chongchon River]].
|-
| || Mass executions of political prisoners took place in the [[Canidrome (Shanghai)|Canidrome]].
|-
| 1951 || 23 May || Representatives of the ''[[Dalai Lama]]'' of [[Tibet (1912–51)|Tibet]] the [[14th Dalai Lama]] and of the [[Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China (1949–54)|Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China]] signed the [[Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet]], which guaranteed Tibetan autonomy within China and called for the integration of the [[Tibetan Army]] into the [[People's Liberation Army|PLA]].
|-
| 1952 || January || The five-anti campaign, which encouraged accusations against the ''[[bourgeoisie]]'' of crimes such as bribery and tax evasion, was founded. ''see'' [[Three-anti and Five-anti Campaigns]]
|-
| 1953 || || The first of the [[five-year plans of China]], which called for construction of heavy industry, began to be carried out.
|-
| 1955 || 20 January || ''[[Battle of Yijiangshan Islands]]'': [[People's Liberation Army]] captures the [[Yijiangshan Islands]] near [[Zhejiang]] from the ROC forces.
|-
| 1956 || || An outbreak of the [[Influenza A virus subtype H2N2]] occurred in China.
|-
| rowspan="2" valign="top" | 1957 || 27 February || [[Mao Zedong|Mao]] published a speech entitled "On the Correct Handling of the Contradictions Among the People," marking the founding of the [[Hundred Flowers Campaign]] which encouraged criticism of the government and the [[Chinese Communist Party|Communist Party]].
|-
| July || [[Mao Zedong|Mao]] instigated the [[Anti-Rightist Movement]] during which hundreds of thousands of alleged rightists, including many who had criticized the government during the [[Hundred Flowers Campaign]], were purged from the [[Chinese Communist Party|CCP]] or sentenced to labor or death.
|-
| rowspan="3" valign="top" | 1958 || || ''[[Great Leap Forward]]'': The [[Chinese Communist Party|CCP]] led campaigns to massively overhaul the Chinese economy and society with such innovations as [[collective farming]] and the use of [[backyard furnace]]s.
|-
| || [[Mao Zedong|Mao]] launched the [[Four Pests Campaign]], which encouraged the eradication of rats, flies, mosquitos and sparrows.
|-
| || ''[[Second Taiwan Strait Crisis]]'': PLA fails to capture ROC-held islands of [[Kinmen Island|Quemoy]] and [[Matsu Island]]s in [[Fujian Province, Republic of China|Fujian]].
|-
| rowspan="2" valign="top" | 1959 || 10 March || ''[[1959 Tibetan uprising]]'': A rebellion broke out in the [[Tibet]]an regional capital [[Lhasa]] after rumors the government was planning to arrest the [[14th Dalai Lama]] at the local [[People's Liberation Army|PLA]] headquarters.
|-
| || ''[[Great Chinese Famine]]'': A famine began which would claim as many as forty million lives over three years.
|-
| 1960 || 16 April || ''[[Sino-Soviet split]]'': A [[Chinese Communist Party|CCP]] newspaper accused the Soviet leadership of "revisionism."
|-
| 1962 || 20 October || ''[[Sino-Indian War]]'': The [[People's Liberation Army|PLA]] attacked Indian forces across the [[Line of Actual Control]].
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| rowspan="4" valign="top" | 1964 || 5 January || ''[[Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung]]'' was first published.
|-
| 16 October || ''[[596 (nuclear test)|596]]'': The Chinese government detonated its first nuclear weapon at [[Lop Nur]].
|-
| ||The ROC government outlaws [[Taiwanese Hokkien]] language in schools and official settings
|-
| || The second of two volumes of [[Simplified Chinese characters]] ordered by the [[State Council of the People's Republic of China]] was published.
|-
| rowspan="2" valign="top" | 1966 || 19 August || ''[[Cultural Revolution]]'': The [[Chinese Communist Party|CCP]] launched a campaign to destroy the [[Four Olds]].
|-
| || The [[Three-Self Patriotic Movement]], the sole government-sanctioned [[Protestant]] church, was abolished.
|-
| rowspan="2" valign="top" | 1968 || || [[Deng Pufang]] was thrown from a third-story window at [[Peking University]] by [[Red Guards (China)|Red Guards]], crippling him.
|-
| 22 December || The ''[[People's Daily]]'' published an editorial entitled "We too have two hands, let us not laze about in the city," invigorating the [[Down to the Countryside Movement]] under which the [[sent-down youth]], many former [[Red Guards (China)|Red Guards]], were relocated from the cities to the country.
|-
| rowspan="2" valign="top" | 1969 || 2 March || ''[[Sino-Soviet border conflict]]'': [[People's Liberation Army|PLA]] forces attacked the [[Soviet Border Troops]] of the [[Soviet Union]] on [[Zhenbao Island]], killing 59.
|-
| 1 October || The [[Beijing Subway]] opened in Beijing.
|-
| 1970 || 24 April || China launched [[Dong Fang Hong I]], its first satellite.
|-
| rowspan="3" valign="top" | 1971 || July || United States secretary of state [[Henry Kissinger]] visited Beijing.
|-
| 13 September ||[[Cultural Revolution]]: [[Lin Biao]] dies in mysterious air crash after failed coup. 
|-
| 25 October || ''[[China and the United Nations]]'': The People's Republic of China is [[United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758|admitted]] to the [[United Nations]], replacing the [[Taiwan|Republic of China]].
|-
| 1972 || 28 February || ''[[1972 Nixon visit to China]]'': The United States and China issued the [[Shanghai Communiqué]] pledging to normalize relations during the visit of the former's president [[Richard Nixon]].
|-
| 1974 || 19 January || ''[[Battle of the Paracel Islands]]'': Some fifty [[South Vietnam]]ese soldiers were killed in a Chinese conquest of the [[Paracel Islands]].
|-
| 1975 || 5 April || [[Chiang Kai-shek]] died.
|-
| rowspan="6" valign="top" | 1976 || 8 January || The [[Premier of the People's Republic of China|premier]] [[Zhou Enlai]] died.
|-
| 5 April || ''[[1976 Tiananmen Incident|Tiananmen Incident]]'': Some four thousand people were arrested during a protest against the removal of wreaths, flowers and poems laid at the [[Monument to the People's Heroes]] in [[Zhou Enlai|Zhou's]] memory.
|-
| 27 July || ''[[1976 Tangshan earthquake]]'': An earthquake with its epicenter near [[Tangshan]] killed roughly a quarter of a million people.
|-
| 9 September || [[Mao Zedong|Mao]] [[Death and state funeral of Mao Zedong|died]].
|-
| 6 October || The [[Gang of Four]], a political faction including [[Mao Zedong|Mao's]] wife [[Jiang Qing]], was arrested on the orders of the [[Premier of the People's Republic of China|premier]] [[Hua Guofeng]].
|-
| 7 October || [[Hua Guofeng|Hua]] became [[Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party]].
|-
| 1977 || || ''[[Beijing Spring]]'': A brief period of political [[liberalism|liberalization]] began.
|-
| rowspan="4" valign="top" | 1978 || 11 October || The poet [[Huang Xiang]] pasted pro-democracy, anti-[[Mao Zedong|Mao]] poems on the [[Democracy Wall]] in Beijing.
|-
| December || The [[Chinese Communist Party|Communist]] official [[Deng Xiaoping]] became [[paramount leader]] of China.
|-
| December || ''[[Chinese economic reform]]'': Economic [[liberalism|liberalization]] measures including the replacement of [[collective farming]] with the [[household-responsibility system]] began to be instituted.
|-
| December || [[Deng Xiaoping]] first advocated for the [[Four Modernizations]], of agriculture, industry, national defense and science and technology.
|-
| rowspan="3" valign="top" | 1979 || 1 January || China and the United States issued the [[Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations]], under which the latter recognized the PRC as the legitimate government of China and terminated its participation in the [[Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty]] with [[Taiwan]].
|-
| 6 March || ''[[Sino-Vietnamese War]]'': China declared that the punitive objective of its invasion of [[Vietnam]] had been achieved and began to retreat.
|-
| 30 March || [[Deng Xiaoping]] declared in a speech the [[Four Cardinal Principles]] not subject to debate within China.
|-
| rowspan="3" valign="top" | 1980 || || The first of the [[Special Economic Zones of China]], characterized by low regulation and the encouragement of foreign investment, were established.
|-
| 28 June || ''[[Sino-Vietnamese conflicts 1979–90]]'': Chinese forces began shelling the Vietnamese [[Cao Bằng Province]].
|-
| 18 September || The [[one-child policy]], under which Chinese couples are heavily fined for additional children after their first, with some exceptions, came into force, and then phased out in 2015.
|-
| 1984 || 19 December || The [[Sino-British Joint Declaration]], under which China and the United Kingdom agreed to the transfer of [[British Hong Kong|Hong Kong]] to China and the preservation there of democracy and capitalism under the [[one country, two systems]] model, was signed during the visit of the British prime minister [[Margaret Thatcher]].
|-
| rowspan="2" valign="top" | 1987 || 7 May || [[1987 Lieyu massacre]]: 19 people killed by the [[Republic of China Army]] targeting [[Vietnamese boat people]] near the coast of Kinmen.
|-
| || ''[[Martial law in Taiwan]]'' lifted.
|-
| 1988 || 14 March || ''[[Johnson South Reef Skirmish]]'': The [[People's Liberation Army|PLA]] took control of the [[Johnson South Reef]] after a short naval battle in which some seventy Vietnamese soldiers were killed.
|-
| rowspan="3" valign="top" | 1989 || 15 April || ''[[Tiananmen Square protests of 1989]]'': A crowd gathered at the [[Monument to the People's Heroes]].
|-
| 4 June || ''[[Tiananmen Square protests of 1989]]'': Anywhere from 241 to 5 thousand people killed in the [[Tiananmen Square Massacre]]. 
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| 24 June || [[Jiang Zemin]] became [[General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party]].
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| rowspan="2" valign="top" | 1990 || 18 March || [[Wild Lily student movement]] in [[Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall]] which saw less bloodshed compared to the Tiananmen protests in Beijing.
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| || ''[[Shanghai Stock Exchange]]'' re-opened on 26 November and began operation on 19 December.
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| rowspan="3" valign="top" | 1991 || 1 May || [[Legislative Yuan]] and [[National Assembly (Republic of China)|National Assembly]] delegates elected in 1947 resigns.
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| 26 December || The [[Soviet Union]] [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|officially dissolves]] leaving the People's Republic of China as the only major communist state on Earth.
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| || The first [[McDonald's]] restaurant in mainland China opened in Beijing.
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| rowspan="2" valign="top" | 1992 || || First free democratic elections for the [[Legislative Yuan]] held since 1948 in Taiwan only. 
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| || ''[[Deng Xiaoping]]'' traveled south to reassert the economy policy.
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| 1993 || 27 April || ''[[Wang–Koo summit]]'' took place in ''[[Singapore]]'': the first public meeting between figures of non-governmental organization (NGO) since 1949.
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| 1994 || 8 December || ''[[1994 Karamay fire]]'': A fire at a theater in [[Karamay]] killed some three hundred people.
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| 1996 || || The first direct presidential elections in Chinese history took place in Taiwan with [[Lee Teng-hui]] and the [[Kuomintang]] retaining power.
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| rowspan="3" valign="top" | 1997 || 19 February || [[Deng Xiaoping]] [[Death and state funeral of Deng Xiaoping|died]].
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| 1 July || ''[[Hong Kong handover ceremony]]'': A ceremony marked the return of sovereignty over [[British Hong Kong|Hong Kong]] to China from the United Kingdom under the terms of the [[Sino-British Joint Declaration]].
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| || The term [[Great Firewall]] was coined to describe the tools of [[Internet censorship in China]].
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| 1998 || June || ''[[1998 China floods]]'':  China experienced massive flooding including floods of the ''[[Yangtze River]]'', the ''[[Nen River]]'', the ''[[Songhua River]]'' and the ''[[Pearl River (China)|Pearl River]]''. The ''[[People's Liberation Army]]'' gained further respect for their actions amongst the people.
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| rowspan="3" valign="top" | 1999 || 7 May || ''[[United States bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade]]'': United States bombers under the command of the [[NATO|North Atlantic Treaty Organization]] accidentally bombed the Chinese embassy in [[Belgrade]].
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| 22 July || The [[Chinese Communist Party]] declared the religious organization [[Falun Gong]] illegal.
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| 20 December || ''[[Transfer of sovereignty over Macau]]'': Sovereignty over [[Portuguese Macau|Macau]] was transferred from [[Portugal]] to China.
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| 2000 || || China passed Japan as the country with which the United States has the largest trade deficit.
|}
{{anchor|3rd millennium}}