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This is a timeline of Chinese history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in China and its predecessor states. For a background to these events, see History of China. See also the list of rulers of China, dynasties in Chinese history and years in China.

17th century

[edit]
Year Date Event
1637 30 January Second Manchu invasion of Korea: The Joseon king Injo of Joseon recognized Hong Taiji's Qing dynasty as the legitimate rulers of China.
Song Yingxing published the Tiangong Kaiwu.
1638 The Peking Gazette first used moveable type.
1639 Xu Guangqi published a treatise on agriculture.
Chen Hongshou arrived in Beijing.
1641 8 March Xu Xiake died.
1642 1642 Yellow River flood: The Ming governor of Kaifeng destroyed the levees holding back the Yellow River in order to break the siege of the peasant army of Li Zicheng. The resulting flood destroyed Kaifeng and killed some three hundred thousand people.
A Han army was made the last of the Qing Eight Banners.
1643 21 September Hong Taiji died.
8 October Hong Taiji's young son the Shunzhi Emperor became emperor of the Qing dynasty.
1644 25 April The Chongzhen Emperor hanged himself from the Zuihuai as the army of Li Zicheng's Shun dynasty breached the walls of the Ming capital Beijing.
27 May Battle of Shanhai Pass: An Shun army was dealt a heavy defeat by the Qing and the former Ming general Wu Sangui at Shanhai Pass.
4 June Li Zicheng fled Beijing.
1645 20 May Yangzhou massacre: Qing forces conquered Yangzhou from the Southern Ming. A ten-day massacre began in which some eight hundred thousand people would be killed.
1653 January The 5th Dalai Lama, the Dalai Lama of Tibet, visited the Qing capital Beijing.
1659 Jesuits Martino Martini and Ferdinand Verbiest arrived in China.
1661 5 February The Shunzhi Emperor died. He was succeeded by his young son the Kangxi Emperor, with the Four Regents of the Kangxi Emperor acting as regents.
14 June The Southern Ming admiral Koxinga declared the establishment of the Kingdom of Tungning on Taiwan.
1662 1 February Siege of Fort Zeelandia: The VOC surrendered Fort Zeelandia on Taiwan to Koxinga.
1664 Schall von Bell was imprisoned.
1673 Revolt of the Three Feudatories: Wu rebelled against the Qing dynasty on the pretext of seeking to restore the Ming.
1682 The Belgian Jesuit Antoine Thomas arrived in China.
1683 Battle of Penghu: A Qing fleet destroyed the Tungning navy at Penghu. The king of Tungning Zheng Keshuang surrendered to the Qing.
1684 The first of the Qing Thirteen Factories, neighborhoods where foreigners were allowed to live and trade, were established outside Guangzhou.
1689 27 August The Qing dynasty signed the Treaty of Nerchinsk with Russia, under which the two countries mutually agreed to a border at the Stanovoy Range.
1690 Yun Shouping died.
1698 The Lugou Bridge was reconstructed.

18th century

[edit]
Year Date Event
1705 4 December The papal legate Charles-Thomas Maillard De Tournon arrived in the Qing capital Beijing.
1711 The East India Company (EIC) established a trading post in Guangzhou.
The Peiwen Yunfu was completed.
1715 19 March Chinese Rites controversy: The pope Pope Clement XI issued a papal bull forbidding veneration of the dead and worship of Confucius among Chinese converts to Catholicism.
1716 The Kangxi Dictionary was published.
1720 Chinese expedition to Tibet (1720): A Qing expedition expelled the invading forces of the Dzungar Khanate from Tibet.
1721 Chinese Rites controversy: The Kangxi Emperor banned Christian missions in China.
1722 20 December The Kangxi Emperor died.
27 December The Kangxi Emperor's son the Yongzheng Emperor became emperor of the Qing dynasty.
1725 The Gujin Tushu Jicheng was completed.
1732 Jiang Tingxi died.
1735 8 October The Yongzheng Emperor died. He was succeeded by his son the Qianlong emperor.
1750 The French Jesuit Jean Joseph Marie Amiot was sent to China.
1755 Ten Great Campaigns: The khan of the Dzungar Khanate surrendered to invading Qing forces.
1760 The Canton System was established, under which the Chinese merchants operating in the Thirteen Factories were organized into a guild, the Cohong, and given an official monopoly.
1793 14 September Macartney Embassy The British ambassador George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney was introduced to the Qianlong Emperor.
1796 9 February The Qianlong Emperor abdicated in favor of his son the Jiaqing Emperor.
White Lotus Rebellion: White Lotus began an armed rebellion against the Qing dynasty.

19th century

[edit]
Year Date Event
1807 Protestant missions in China 1807–1953: The Protestant missionary Robert Morrison arrived in China.
1820 2 September The Jiaqing Emperor died.
3 October The Jiaqing Emperor's son the Daoguang Emperor became emperor of the Qing dynasty.
1823 The Bible was first published in Chinese.
1839 3 June Destruction of opium at Humen: The Qing Imperial Commissioner Lin Zexu ordered the destruction of roughly a thousand tons of opium seized from EIC merchants in Humen.
1842 29 August First Opium War: The Qing dynasty and the United Kingdom signed the Treaty of Nanking, under which the former agreed to end the monopoly of the Cohong, pay reparations for the war and the destruction of opium, and cede Hong Kong Island in perpetuity.
1844 Wei Yuan published the Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms.
3 July The Qing dynasty and the United States signed the Treaty of Wanghia, according to which the United States was granted most favoured nation (MFN) status and extraterritoriality was granted to its citizens resident in China.
1850 25 February The Daoguang Emperor died.
9 March The Daoguang Emperor's son the Xianfeng Emperor became emperor of the Qing dynasty.
1851 11 January Jintian Uprising: The followers of Hong Xiuquan, who believed him to be the younger brother of Jesus, announced their rebellion against the Qing dynasty and the establishment of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in modern Guiping.
1855 Third plague pandemic: A plague pandemic began in Yunnan which would kill hundreds of thousands in China and millions worldwide.
Punti-Hakka Clan Wars: An ethnic conflict began in Guangdong between the Punti and Hakka peoples which would claim roughly a million lives.
1856 23 October Second Opium War: The British navy began a bombardment of Guangzhou.
1858 28 May The Qing dynasty signed the Treaty of Aigun, ceding to Russia the land north of the Amur River.
June Second Opium War: The Qing dynasty signed the Treaty of Tientsin, under which foreigners were granted greater freedom of movement within China and France and the United Kingdom were promised war reparations.
18 November Battle of Sanhe: A Taiping army encircled and destroyed a much smaller Qing force in Anhui.
1860 18 October Second Opium War: British and French forces looted and burned down the Old Summer Palace in the Qing capital Beijing.
24 October The Qing prince Prince Gong signed the Convention of Peking, ratifying the Treaty of Tientsin and ceding the Kowloon Peninsula in perpetuity to the United Kingdom.
1861 Gong established the Zongli Yamen to temporarily supervise the conduct of foreign affairs throughout the Qing government.
22 August The Xianfeng Emperor died.
11 November The Xianfeng Emperor's young son the Tongzhi Emperor became emperor of the Qing dynasty.
1862 Dungan Revolt (1862–77): A disordered uprising began among the Hui people living on the west bank of the Yellow River.
The Tongwen Guan school of European languages was established.
1864 May The Ever Victorious Army of the Qing dynasty was disbanded.
1868 22 August Yangzhou riot: Scholar-officials resident in Yangzhou instigated a riot in which the headquarters of the British missionary society OMF International were attacked and burned.
Nian Rebellion: The last of the rebel armies was destroyed.
1870 June Tianjin Massacre: A riot took place in Tianjin in which some sixty people, including foreigners and Chinese Christians, were killed.
1871 Li Hongzhang was appointed Viceroy of Zhili.
1873 Panthay Rebellion: The last surviving Panthay rebels were defeated by the Qing dynasty in Tengchong.
1875 12 January The Tongzhi Emperor died.
21 February Margary Affair: The British diplomat Augustus Raymond Margary was murdered with his retinue in Tengchong.
25 February The young Guangxu Emperor became emperor of the Qing dynasty, with the empress dowagers Empress Dowager Ci'an and Empress Dowager Cixi acting as regents.
1876 21 August The Qing dynasty and the United Kingdom signed the Chefoo Convention, under which Qing promised to punish those responsible for Margary's murder and repeal the likin.
1884 23 August Battle of Fuzhou: A French fleet destroyed the Qing Fujian Fleet at the mouth of the Min River.
1891 Foreign businessmen established the Shanghai Sharebrokers' Association in Shanghai.
1894 1 August First Sino-Japanese War: War was officially declared between Japan and the Qing dynasty.
1895 17 April First Sino-Japanese War: The Qing dynasty signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki, under which it recognized the independence of Joseon, granted Japan MFN status and ceded to it Penghu, Taiwan and the Liaodong Peninsula.
1898 11 June Hundred Days' Reform: The Guangxu Emperor instituted reforms including radical changes in the imperial examination and the elimination of sinecures.
21 September The Guangxu Emperor was removed from the imperial palace in a coup organized by Cixi and Ronglu, the Viceroy of Zhili.
1900 21 June Boxer Rebellion: Cixi responded to anti-foreign unrest by issuing the Imperial Decree of declaration of war against foreign powers in the Guangxu Emperor's name.

20th century

[edit]
Year 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.
1908 14 November The Guangxu Emperor died of arsenic poisoning.
2 December The Guangxu Emperor's young nephew Puyi became emperor of the Qing dynasty.
1911 27 April Second Guangzhou Uprising: Followers of the revolutionary Huang Xing occupied the residence of the Viceroy of Liangguang.
10 October Wuchang Uprising: New Army soldiers staged a mutiny in Wuchang District and occupied the residence of the Viceroy of Huguang.
29 December Republic of China provisional presidential election, 1911: Sun Yat-sen was elected president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of China, with a majority of sixteen of the seventeen provincial representatives of the Tongmenghui in Nanjing.
1912 1 January Xinhai Revolution: Sun Yat-sen was inaugurated president of the 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.
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 (KMT).
Republic of China National Assembly election, 1912: An election to the National Assembly under the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China began which would produce pluralities for the KMT in the House and Senate.
1915 8 January Japan issued the Twenty-One Demands to the 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.
12 December Yuan declared himself the Hongxian Emperor of the Empire of China.
The progressive, anti-Confucian New Culture Movement was founded.
25 December National Protection War: The republican generals Cai E and Tang Jiyao declared the independence of Yunnan from the Empire of China.
1916 16 June Yuan died.
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 territories in Shandong to Japan, was signed.
1921 1 June The Communist Party of China (CPC) was founded.
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.
1923 January The Radio Corporation of China was founded.
The KMT and CPC agreed to the First United Front, under which Communists would join the KMT as individuals to help combat warlordism.
1926 9 July Northern Expedition: The KMT general Chiang Kai-shek launched an expedition of some hundred thousand National Revolutionary Army (NRA) soldiers from Guangdong against the warlords Zhang Zuolin, Wu Peifu and Sun Chuanfang.
1927 1 August Nanchang Uprising: Communist forces launched an uprising against the KMT in Nanchang.
1928 7 May Jinan Incident: The Japanese general Hikosuke Fukuda tortured and killed seventeen of Chiang's representatives in Jinan.
4 June Huanggutun incident: Zhang Zuolin's train was blown up by the Japanese Kwantung Army, killing him.
10 October Chiang became chairman of the Nationalist government of the Republic of China.
1931 July Encirclement Campaign against Northeastern Jiangxi Soviet: The NRA encircled and invested the Northeastern Jiangxi Soviet.
July 1931 China floods: Flooding began in the valleys of the Yellow, Yangtze and Huai Rivers which would claim as many as four million lives.
18 September Mukden Incident: In a false flag operation against the Republic of China, Japanese agents set off a dynamite explosion near a South Manchuria Railway line.
Japanese invasion of Manchuria: The Kwantung Army invested all Manchurian territory along the South Manchuria Railway.
7 November The Chinese Soviet Republic was established in Ruijin.
15 December Chiang resigned under pressure from the KMT. Lin Sen became acting chairman of the Nationalist government.
1932 1 January Lin Sen became chairman of the Nationalist government.
28 January January 28 Incident: 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: 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 Japanese-occupied Manchuria.
9 March Pacification of Manchukuo: The Big Swords Society rebelled en masse against the government of Manchukuo.
1934 February Chiang and his wife Soong May-ling established the quasi-fascist New Life Movement.
16 October Long March: The Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army broke through the KMT lines attempting to encircle them at Ganzhou.
1935 5 February First Encirclement Campaign against Hubei–Henan–Shaanxi Soviet: Red Army forces forced the retreat of a KMT army attempting to encircle the soviet of Hubei, Henan and Shaanxi provinces.
9 December December 9th Movement: A student protest took place in Beijing demanding internal liberalization and stronger anti-Japanese resistance.
1936 12 December Xi'an Incident: Zhang Xueliang arrested Chiang in Xi'an due to concerns he was insufficiently committed to anti-Japanese resistance.
1937 7 March Marco Polo Bridge Incident: Roughly one hundred Chinese soldiers were killed defending the Marco Polo Bridge in Beijing from a Japanese attack.
22 September The KMT and CPC joined to establish the Second United Front. The Red Army was reorganized into the Eighth Route and New Fourth Armies, which were nominally part of the NRA chain of command.
25 September Battle of Pingxingguan: The Eighth Route Army wiped out a Japanese force of a few hundred attempting to bring supplies through Pingxing Pass.
26 October Battle of Shanghai: The NRA began withdrawing from downtown Shanghai in the face of a Japanese onslaught.
10 December Battle of Nanking: The Japanese Central China Area Army launched a full-scale assault on Nanjing.
13 December Nanking 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.
1938 18 February Bombing of Chongqing: The 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 Japanese army was forced to withdraw after suffering heavy losses in an attempted conquest of Tai'erzhuang District.
1939 1 September The nominally independent Mengjiang was established on the Mongol territories of the Japanese-occupied Chahar and Suiyuan provinces.
17 September Battle of Changsha (1939): The Japanese army attacked Changsha.
1940 20 August Hundred Regiments Offensive: Communist NRA soldiers under Peng Dehuai began a campaign of terrorism and sabotage against Japanese targets in North China.
1941 1 February The 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): A Japanese army began a general retreat after failing to take Changsha.
1942 15 January Battle of Changsha (1942): A Japanese army crossed the Xinqiang River after suffering heavy losses in a failed attempt to conquer Changsha.
1943 1 August Lin Sen died. Chiang became acting chairman of the Nationalist government.
27 November Cairo Conference: Chiang, United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt, and British prime minister Winston Churchill issued the Cairo Declaration, under which the three powers expressed their desire for the independence of Korea and the return of Chinese territories.
1944 27 May Battle of Changsha (1944): The Japanese army launched a general offensive against Changsha.
1945 26 June The United Nations Charter establishing the United Nations (UN) was signed at the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center by fifty nations including China.
6 August Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: As many as eighty thousand Japanese, largely civilians, were killed in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima by a United States aircraft.
9 September Surrender of Japan: Japanese forces in China formally surrendered to Chiang Kai-shek.
November Campaign to Suppress Bandits in Northeast China: The Communist People's Liberation Army (PLA) launched a campaign against bandits and KMT guerillas in northeast China.
1946 20 July Chinese Civil War: The NRA invaded PLA-held territory en masse.
1947 28 February 228 Incident: 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 NRA the Republic of China (ROC) Armed Forces.
1948 2 November Liaoshen Campaign: The last ROC garrison in Manchuria, in Yingkou, retreated in the face of a PLA advance.
15 December Huaihai Campaign: The PLA encircled an ROC army in Xuzhou.
1949 21 January Chiang resigned the presidency of the 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 PLA took Beijing.
23 April Chinese Civil War: The PLA conquered the ROC capital Nanjing. The ROC moved its capital to Guangzhou.
1 October Mao declared the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC).