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Chronology from 1635 to 1976
Chronology from 1635 to 1976
This chronology shows the major events in China according to years and
months of occurrence. Names and places are romanized according to the
the Wade-Giles system. I have translated some of the events written in
Chinese into English and hope this information will give some help to
the China-Watchers and the students studying recent Chinese history.
1635: The Jurchen start to call themslves Manchus
1644: Li Tzu-cheng enters Peking, where the Ming emperor commits suicide;
Li Tzu-cheng is driven out of Peking by the Manchus; the Manchus
establish Ching Dynasty; Chang Hsien-chung invades Szechwan
1645: The Manchus make the Chinese wear the pigtail and Manchu clothes,
and create enclaves in North China
1646: The Manchus occupy Chekiang, Fukien, and Szechwan
1647: Canton is taken by the Manchus
1649: Piratical activities of Cheng Cheng-kung (Coxinga) on the coast of
Fukien and in Taiwan
1650: First Catholic church in Peking
1657: Reopening of the official competitions
1659: "The Intolerateble" an anti-Christian pamphlet by Yang Kuang-hsien
1661: Acession of Emperor Kang-hsi; Coxinga lands in Taiwan and drives
the Dutch out; end of resistanc by the Southern Ming
1662: The Manchus order the evacuation of all the coastal regions
1668: Manchuria is closed to Chinese
1670: The Manchus conquer Turkestan
1673: Wu San-kuei's rebellion against the Manchus and secession of the
southern provinces
1677: The Manchus reconquer Fukien and the north-western provinces
1679: Selection of compilers for the History Of The Ming
1680: The Manchus reoccupy Szechwan
1681: The Manchus reconquer Kweichow
1683: Taiwan falls to the Manchus
1685: Any fresh confiscation of land for the Banners is forbidden
1689: Border treaty of Nerchinsk between the Manchus and the Russia concluded
1697: The Manchu armies occupy Outer Mongolia
1723: Acession of the emperor Yung-cheng; christianity proscribed in China
1727: Border treaty of Kiakhta between China and Russia concluded
1729: Creation of the Chun-chi-chu, the supreme organ of government
(progress of centralization); printed edition in movable type of
the encyclopaedia Tushu chi-cheng, comprising 10,000 chapters; the
Tai chueh-min lu, a work by the emperor Yung-cheng defending the
legitimacy of the Manchu dynasty
1735: Accession of the emperor Chien-lung; the history of Ming is completed
1746: Revolts by the peoples of Chin-chuan in north-western Szechwan; the
Yuan-ming-yuan, the emperor Chien-lung's summer palace, is built in
Western style
1751: The Manchus conquer Tibet
1756: Extermination of the Dzungars by the Manchu armies
1757-1758: Conquest of the Ili valley and of the Tarim basin by the Manchus
1762: 200 million inhabitants recorded by census
1763: Tsao Hsueh-chin leaves unfished at his death his great romantic,
psychological novel of manners, the Dream of the Red Chamber
(Hung-lou-meng or Shih-tou-chi)
1767-1771: Sino-Burma war
1769: The Atlas of Chien-lung, a combined work by the Jesuit missionaries
and Chinese geographers
1775: Ho-shen, a young general of the Banners, becomes the favourite of
the emperor Chien-lung; advance of corruption; 264 million
inhabitants recorded in census
1776: End of the Chin-chuan rebellions
1781-1784: Revolts by Moslems in Kansu, following the creation of a new
sect by Ma Ming-hsin
1781: More than 10,000 Chinese colonists slaughtered by Vietnamese
1787-1788: Bloody suppression of revolt in Taiwan
1788: Manchus expeditions to Vietnam
1791-1792: Expedition by the Manchu armies to Nepal against the Gurkhas
1793: Lord Macartney leads a British delegation to China
1795-1803: White Lotus Rebellion in North China challenges the dynasty
1796: Chien-lung abdicates in favour of Chia-Ching, but in fact continues
to reign
1799: Death of the emperor Chien-lung and of his favourite Ho-shen
1811-1814: Rising of the Celestial Order sect (Tien-li-chiao) in Shantung
and Hopei
1812: Census 361 million inhabitants
1816: the East India Company decides to develop imports of opium into China
1820-1825: The opium imports cause the Chinese balance of trade to fall
into deficit
1821: Acession of the emperor Tao-kuang
1830: Census 394,780,000 inhabitants; from 1830 onwards, very rapid
growth in clandestine imports of opium
1834: Lord Napier's mission skirmishes with the Manchus
1839: Lin Tse-hsu appointed governor of the two Kwangs (Kwangtung and
Kwangsi provinces) takes radical measures against the imports of
opium into Canton. These measures provoke acts of piracy on the
part of the British ; Opium War between China and Britain begins
1842: Treaty of Nanking concluded between China and Britain
1843: Hong Kong ceded to Britain; Canton, Shanghai, Amoy, Foochow,
and Ningpo opened to imports of opium; First extra-territorial
rights for foreigners; Hung Hsiu-chuan founds the society of the
Worshippers of God (Pai-shang-ti-hui)
1846: Census 421,340,00 inhabitants
1850: Taiping Rebellion breaks out in eastern Kwangsi
1851: Accession of the emperor Hsien-feng; census 432 million inhabitants;
Hung Hsiu-chuan proclaims himself King of the kingdom of Heaven
1853: Taipings capture Nanking which becomes the Tien-ching "celestial
capital" ; big revolts of the Nien in North China
1854: Taipings threaten Peking; Tseng Kuo-fen organizes the army of the
Hsiang in Hunan
1855: The Yellow River moves from the north to south of the Shangtung
peninsula; revolt of the Moslems of Yunnan
1856: "Arrow" War, the second conflict with the West, begins
1857: British and French troops occupy Canton
1858: Treaties signed with Britain, France, Russia, and the United
States, extending special foreign privileges; Li hung-chang
organizes the army of the Huai; treaty of Aigun, which gives Russia
the territories east of the Ussuri
1959: Translation of Western works on algebra, analytical geometry and
botany
1860: Chinese renege on treaty terms; British and French troops occupy
and sack Peking; Russia gains concessions in Manchuria
1861: Rising of the Moslems of Shensi and Kansu; creation of the Tsung-li
ya-men to deal with relations with foreigners
1862: Accession of the emperor Tung-chih; the Moslem territories of Sinkiang
secede; extension of the li-chin, a tax on goods in transit, to
all provinces; beginning of T'ung-chih Restoration and the
Self-Strenthening Movement; creation of the Peking Tung-wen-kuan,
a school of Western languages and sciences
1864: Tso Tsung-tang recaptures Hangchow; Nanking retaken and Taipings
crushed; suicide of Hung Hsiu-chuan and the principal leaders of the
Taipings
1866: Arsenal at Ma-wei, near Foochow
1867: The nien threaten Peking, but Li Hung-chang defeats them; Fukien
naval academy
1868: Tso Tsung-tang is given the task of suppressing the Moslem revolt
in the north-east
1870: The Tienten incidents; Russian troops occupy Ili region in Sinkiang;
The Chiang-nan arsenal in Shanghai is one of the biggest in the
world
1872: First Chinese students go abroad
1873: Record amount of opium imported into China; the rebellion of the
Moslems of Yunnan is suppressed after massacres and wide destruction;
the whole of Sinkiang in revolt
1875: Accession of the emperor Kuang-hsu, but the empress Tzu-hsi governs
1876: Convention of Chih-fu
1878: All Sinkiang pacified; China sends first ambassadors abroad
1880: Start of the construction of a new battle fleet under the direction
of Li Hung-chang
1881: China recognizes Japanese occupation of Rykyu Islands
1883-1885: Conflict between China and France
1884: Sino-French War; Anname (Vietnam) becomes a French protectorate
1887: Kowloon opened as port; Amoy formally ceded to Portugal
1888: Peiyang Army, China's first modern army, formed
1889: Kuang-hsu Emperor assumes power; Empress Dowager's regency
abolished
1890: China's early industrialization: Han-yang foundaries; Li Hung-chang
establishes China's first modern textile factory in Shanghai
1891: Anti-Christian movement spreads in Yangtze region
1892: Anti-foreign writings prohibited by Peking; floods, famines,
natural disasters; Sun Yat-sen founds China Resurrection Society
1893: Chang Chih-tung establises factories in Hankow region; China's
first newspaper founded; Chang chih-tung founds in Wu-han a modern
school with four departments; foreign languages, mathematics, natural
science and commercial; Mao Tse-tung born on December 26,
1894: The tung-hak Rebellion in Korea unleashes the Sino-Japanese War;
Tientsin-Shanghai railway
1895: China defeated; Treaty of Shimonoseki; Japan obtains Taiwan, the
Peng-hu Islands (Pescadores) and Lioatung Peninsula in Manchuria
and other concessions in China; war damages of 200 million liang to
be paid to Japan; Kang Yu-wei founds the Chiang-hsueh-hui
(Association for the Study ofReinforcement) in Shanghai; Kang Yu-wei
manifesto
1896: China and Russia sign treaty for construction of jointly operated
Central Manchuria Railway; railway concessions granted other powers;
Sun Yat-sen arrested in London
1897: Russians occupy Dairen; Germany annexes the Ching-tao area in Shantung
1898: Abortive "Hundred Days" ends short period of liberal reform and
execution of the reformer Tan Ssu-tung; the British annex the
Wei-hai region in Shantung; the Russians annex Lu-shan in Liao-tung
1899: Boxer rebellion begins; John Hay proclaims "Open Door Policy"; the
French annex the Chan-chiang region (Kwang-chou-wan) in western
Kwangtung; discovery of the inscriptions of the end of the second
millennium B.C.
1900: The Boxers occupy Peking and besiege the foreign embassies;
Boxer-led anti-foreignism spreads'; the Boxers occupy Peking and
besiege the foreign embassies; international expedition to Peking
and declaration of war on China; allied nations occupy Peking;
pace of industrial and business development quickens
1901: The Boxers indemnity, 450 million silver dollars; Li Hung-chang dies
1903: Publication of the Ko-ming-chun (The Army of the Revolution) by
Tsou Jung
1904: Russo-Japanese War breaks out; fighting in Manchuria; Japanese
wins
1905: Sun Yat-sen organizes anti-Manchu revolutionary movement in Japan
and founds the Tang-meng-hui (United League) in Tokyo
1906: Constitutional government proclaimed in Peking; about 1300 Chinese
students in Japan
1910: Division of north-eastern China into Russian and Japanese spheres
of influence
1911; 10 October, republican insurrection of Wu-chang; Manchu Dynasty
overthrown; Outer Mongolia passes under Russian control
1912: 1 January, Sun Yat-sen inaugurates the Chinese REPUBLIC in Nanking;
Sun Yat-sen soon yields power to General Yuan Shih-kai who
transfers the republican government to Peking
1913: Yuan Shih-kai becomes President of China and is recognized by
foreign powers; Sun Yat-sen flees to Japan
1914: Yuan Shih-kai dissolves the Paliament; the Japanese occupy the
German possessions in Shantung
1915: Japan presents Twenty-one Demands to China; anti-Japanese
demonstrations; Yuan Shih-kai proclaims himself Emperor
1916: Yuan Shih-k'ai dies; military and civil governors become supreme
commanders in provinces and declare provincial autonomy (period of
warlordism begins); "Chinese Renaissance" begins
1917: Canton government declares war on Germany in World War I; China
declares war on Germany; Russian Revolution begins
1919: The Paris Peace Conference gives Japan the former German
possessions in China; violent anti-Japanese demonstrations; May
Fourth Movement in Peking; China's first general strike takes
place in Shanghai; Mao Tse-tung and others organize the Hunan
Students Union to direct strikes and the boycott of Japanese
goods in response to the May Fourth Movement in Peking
1920: General Strike of Manchuria Railway workers: Chen Tu-hsiu, father
of Chinese Communism, becomes Chinese delegate to Comintern and
founds Chinese Socialist Youth League; Mao Tes-tung and others
found Marxist and Communist groups in Hunan and also take part in
the Hunan Self-government Movement
1921: Kuomintang revived; Sun Yat-sen becomes President of Kwangtung
government; Chinese Communist Party founded in Shanghai; Mao Tse-tung
attends the CCP First Congress; first contacts between Sun Yat-sen
and Comintern; publication of Lu Hsun's novel The Biography Of Ah Q
1922: Hong Kong seamen strike, other workers follow suit; Sun Yat-sen
flees to Shanghai from Canton; Mao Tse-tung misses the CCP Second
Congress
1923: Kuomintang-Comintern collaboration begins; Sun Yat-sen returns to
power in Canton; Soviet military advisors attached to kuomintang;
Chiang Kai-shek goesto Russia for military training; Mao Tse-tung
works at the CCP Centre in Shanghai
1924: First Kuomintang Congress; Mao Tse-tung is elected an alternate
member of the Central Executive Committee of the KMT; "Northen
March" to unify China begins; Sun Yat-sen goes to Peking
1925: Sun Yat-sen dies; May 30 general strikes in Shanghai spreads to
other cities; Chiang Kai-shek's power grows with the help of Soviet
adviser Borodin; Mao Tse-tung misses the CCP Fourth Congress, at
which he is not re-elected to the Central Committee
1926: Peasant association movement spreads, notably in Kwangtung and
Hunan; Canton Coup, first break between Chiang Kai-shek and
Communists; Chiang Kaishek launches final stages of "Northern March";
Mao Tse-tung attends the KMT Second Congress and is re-elected an
alternate member of the Central Committee
1927: Chiang Kai-shek launches "White Terror" against Communists in
Shanghai ; left Kuomintang-Wuhan government overthrown; Mao
Tse-tung leads peasant insurrection in Hunan; Canton commune
crushed; Soviet government proclaimed in Hailufeng district of
Kwangtung; Mao Tse-tung leads the Autumn Harvest Uprising in Hunan
as the secretary of the Front Committee of the CCP; Mao establishes
his revolutionay base in the Chingkang Mountains
1928: Chu Teh joins Mao Tse-tung at the Chingkang Mountains base; Nanking
government proclaimed and recognized by foreign powers; "Northen
March" completed
1929: Soviet republic of Southern Kiangsu; revolutionary land reform
carried out by Communists
1930-1934: Chiang Kai-shek begins "bandit extermination" campaigns against
Communists
1931: Japanese occupy Manchuria; Nanking government prohibits
anti-Japanese demonstrations; Chinese Soviet Republic formed in
Kiangsi
1932: Japanese attack on Shanghai; Communists declare war on Japan;
Kuomintang concludes armistice with Japan; creation by the Japanese
of the state of Manshukoku (Manchkuo)
1933-1935: The Japanese advance in northen China
1934: Chiang Kai-shek launches last and greatest "bandit extermination"
campaign; New Life Movement begins; red Army's "Long March" begins
1935: Conference of Tsunyi (northern Kweichow); Mao Tse-tung wins undisputed
control of Chinese Communist Party; Communists reach Northern
Shensi; anti-Japanese united front proclaimed
1936: Anti-Japanese student demonstrations erupt throughout China;
Chiang kai-shek taken prisoner at Sian and forced to direct his
efforts against the Japanese
1937: Soviet government in Yenan; Kuomintang and Communists agree to
cooperate; Sino-Japanese War begins, Japan attack Marco Polo Bridge
and capture all the big cities
1938: Japan occupies large areas of China; clashes between Kuomintang and
Communists resume; Chinese capital moved to Chungking
1939: Wang Ching-wei sets up puppet government in Japanese occupied
Nanking
1940: Death of Tsai Yuan-pei
1941: Communist "New Fourth Route Army" attacked by Kuomintang; U.S.
enters war in the Pacific after Japanese bomb Pearl Harbour
1942: Party "rectification" movement begins in Communistareas; Burma Road
closed; famine in Honan estimated deaths-two million
1943: Village cooperativization movement launched in Communist areas;
Cairo Declaration restores Taiwan to China
1944: Constitutiona convention in Chungking attended by Communists;
General Stilwell is relieved of command
1945: Yalta Conference; Seventh Congress of Chinese Communist Party;
Russia enters the Pacific War and occupies Manchuria; Japan
surrenders; treaty of friendship and alliance signed by Soviet
Union and Nationalist China; civil war between Communists and
Kuomintang resumes; Marshall mission dispatched to China
1946: Marshall wins short-lived armistic; Soviets evacuate Manchuria,
U.S. airlift helps Nationlists take cities; American Military
Advisory Group formed; Communist armies enter Manchuria in large
numbers; Communists resume revolutionary land reform; full-scale
civil war erupts
1947: Uprising in Taiwan against Chiang Kai-shek's occupying armies;
Nationalists occupy Yenan; Nationalists reach peak of military
success in civil war; Wedemeyer Report recommends support of
Nationalists but sharply criticizes the regime; Communists
consolidate control over Manchurian hinterland; U.S. refuses
increased assistance to Chiang Kai-shek
1948: Communists go on the offensive in Manchuria, North, North-west, and
Central China; Party rectification movement; anti-American student
demonstrations in the cities; China's first National Assembly
convenes in Nanking, Chiang Kai-shek elected President, Li
Tsung-jen Vice-President; cities fall; Nationalists abandon
Manchuria; China Aid Act restores limited U.S. assistance to China;
formation of a people's government in North China; the Yellow River
goes back to its 1855 course and moves from the south to the north of
Shantung
1949: Tietsin and Peking fall; Mao Tse-tung proposes eight-point peace
plan to Nationalists; Nationalist government moves to Canto; Chiang
Kai-shek abdicates, Li Tsung-jen succeds him; peace moves fail;
Shanghai falls and most of Mainland China occupied by the
Communists; preparations made for setting up the People's Republic
of China with the capital at Peking; PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC proclaimed
in Peking on 1 October; U.S. State Department issues White Paper
and indicates abandonment of support for Nationalists; friction
between Communist authorities and American diplomats begins; Mao
Tse-tung goes to Moscow; Nationalists establish government in
Taiwan
1950:
Febuary: Sino-Soviet Pact of Friendship and Alliance, and trade agreement
concluded
April: New liberal marriage law promugated
June: Land-reform law adopted; Korean War begins; Truman orders
Seventh Fleet into Taiwan Straits
October: China enters Korean War; Chinese armies enter Tibet
1951:
May: Thought reform movement launched among writers
July: Korean armistice negotiations begin
October: Publication of Mao Tse-tung's Selected Works begins
November: Three-Anti and Five-Anti movements begin against political and
economic corrution, lasting into the following year
1952:
October: Land reform completed
November: State Planning Commission established under leadership of
Kao Kang
December: Democratic reform and nationalization of private business
completed; Soviets return Central Manchurian Railway to China
1953:
January: Inauguration of the First Five Year Plan
Febuary: Resolution on reformation of mutual aid terms adopted
June: Population census taken
July: Korean armistice concluded
December: Resolution on formation of Agricultural Producers Cooperatives
adopted
1954:
Febuary: Struggle against Separatist Kao Kang movement in Manchuria
begins
May: Geneva Conference begins on Indochina, China participates
June: "Large Administrative Region" (notably Manchuria) abolished,
country becomes politically unified; Chou En-lai and Nehru issue
their "Five Priciple" (Panch Shila) as guides for peaceful
relations between atates
September: First National People's Congress convenes; Constitution
proclaimed; Mao Tse-tung and Khrushchev confer in Peking with
display of Sino-Soviet amity; first bombardment of Quemoy
December: Defence pact signed by Taiwan and United States
1955:
March: Kao Kang expelled from party; Party recruitment expanded in
rural areas
April: Bandung Conference, Chou En-lai proposes co-existence and easing
realtions with United States
July: First Five Year Plan officially adopted; drive launched to fufil
production targets; Mao gives speech on rural cooperativization
August: Sino-American ambassadorial talks begin in Geneva; China frees
U.S. war prisoners
October: Cooperativization drive begins
1956:
January: China rejects U.S. formula for renouncing use of force to settle
problems of Taiwan
Febuary: Khrushchev denounces Stalin at the Twentieth Party Congress
April: China slows down her economic programme
May: "Hundred Flowers" period of criticism and free expression begins
September: Eighth Party Congress convenes in Peking
October: China proposes cultural exchange with the U.S.at Geneva talks;
U.S. rejects proposals; Gomulka comes to power in Poland;
Hungarian revolt; Chinese support Soviet intervention in Hungary
1957:
January: Chou En-lai goes to Moscow, praises Soviet leadership
April: Rectification movement launched in China
May: "Blooming and Contending" period of open criticism at Peking
University; U.S. sends missiles to Taiwan; anti-U.S. riots in
Taipei
June: Anti-rightist movement begins in China against government critics
August: Soviets achieve breakthrough in ICBM field; movement to send
intellectuals to village and factories begins; forty-one American
youths defy State Department travel ban and leave for China;
U.S.allows twenty-four newsmen to go to China, China balks
because U.S. refuses to make the agreement reciprocal
October: Central Committee plenum adopts Mao's programme for mass social
mobilization; Sputnik launched; Sino-Soviet nuclear sharing signed
November: Mao visits Moscow to attend international meeting of Communist
Parties and states his "east wind prevails over the west wind"
thesis, indicating belief that balance of world forces had changed
December: Purge of rightist critics begins; Sino-American Ambassadorial
talks suspended in Geneva
1958:
January: Great Leap Forward begins
April: Transfer of industries to local control begins as part of
decentralization plan
May: Second Session of the Eighth Party Congress convenes; Liu
Shao-ch'i explans strategy of Great Leap; selection of a Politburo
and Central Committee
July: First communes formed; conflict in Taiwan Starits begins; Quemoy
shelled, U.S. convoys Nationalists ships to offshore islands
September: People's Militia established; Eisenhower asks Khrushchev to
restrain the Chinese; U.S. opens talks with the Chinese in
Warsaw over Taiwan
October: Chiang Kai-shek renounces the use of force to-reconquer the
Mainland
1959:
March: Tibetan Revolt
April: Dalai Lama flees to India; Liu Shao-ch'i named President of
Communist China to succeed Mao Tse-tung who remains as Party
leader
June: Soviet reportedly abrogate nuclear sharing agreement
guaranteeing protection of China
August: Nehru accuses China of provoking border incidents; Central
Committee plenum liberalizes commune policy
September: Camp David meeting between Eisenhower and Khrushchev (the
turning point in Sino-Soviet relations); Khrushchev goes to
Moscow via Peking; Defence Minister P'eng Te-huai dismissed
for anti-Party activity
1960:
January: Sino-Burman boundary treaty signed
April: "Long Live Leninism" editorial signals first open polemic in
the Sino-Soviet dispute; Chou En-lai holds talks with Nehru
June: Bucharest Conference, P'eng Chen represents China; Khrushchev
attacks Mao Tse-tung
July; Cuba agrees to sell Peking half a million tons of sugar
annually for five years
August: Soviet technicians withdraw from China
September: Castro establishes diplomatic relations with Peking; Great
Leap production drive intensifies
October: Publication of Volume IV of Mao Tse-tung's Selected Works
(On the Civil War)
November: Further decentralization of the communes; Moscow meeting of
eighty-one Communist Parties attended by Liu Shao-ch'i;
Sino-Soviet dispute worsens
December: China in deep economic crisis
1961:
January: Reversal of the Great Leap policy; liberalization of economic
policy
March; U.S. sends Special Forces to Loas
May : International Conference on Laos opens in Geneva
October: Chou En-lai arrives in Moscow for Twenty-second Party Congress
November: Twenty-second Party Congress begins, Khrushchev bitterly
denounces Albania, Chou defends Albania; Sino-Soviet conflict
worsens
1962:
March: Supreme State Conference presided by Liu Shao-ch'i
April: Rumours of Nationalist plans to attack the Mainland; U.S
pressures China via Warsaw that Chiang Kai-shek lacks U.S. support
May: Kennedy orders troops to Thailand against possible Communist
thrust from Laos; China halts flow of seventy thousand refugees to
Hong Kong
June: Laotian coalition government formed
September: Central Committee plenum attacks Russian "modern revisionism"
and calls for strenghtening of the Party
October: Cuba crisis and attack on India by Chinese forces almost
coincide
November: Chinese order cease-fire in border war with India
1963:
Febuary: Public exchange of hostile letters between China and the Soviet
Union begins
March: New financial procedures adopted in China
April: Directive on political work circulates in People's Liberation
Army, pointing up problem of Party control of Army
May: The Soviet Union and China agree to meet and discuss their
ideological differences
June: The Soviet Union demands the recall of three Chinese Embassy
official who had allegedly distributed a letter critical of the
Soviet Union
July: Sino-Soviet bilateral talks in Moscow end without resolution;
test-ban treaty talks begin
August: Test-ban treaty concluded; China refuses to sign
November: Ngo Dinh Diem's regime overthrow; Kennedy assassinated
1964:
January: France recognizes Peking
Febuary: France provokes Taiwan into breaking diplomatic relations; Chou
En-lai returns from seven-week trip to Africa
May: Peking rejects Soviet call for early world conference of
Communist parties to settle ideoligical disputes
June: National Congress of Chinese Communist Youth League meets;
campaign to train "revolutionary successor generation" begins
August; First air attacks on North Vietnam after Gulf of Tonkin
incident; China supports proposal for a Geneva Conference for
settlement of Vietnam conflict
October: Khrushchev falls; China explodes first atomic bomb
November: Chou En-lai goes to Moscow to confer on Sino-Soviet split
December: National People's Congress meets; Roger Hilsman delivers speech
on China policy in which he intimates need for changes in
America's China policy
1965:
Febuary: Escalation of the war in Vietnam; Kosygin visits Peking on way
home from Hanoi
March: Chinese and Vietnamese students demonstrate in Moscow against
the war in Vietnam; Johnson says there is no possibility of
negotiating an end to the war until North Vietnam ends aggression
May: China explodes second nuclear test bomb; U.S. orders lull in
raids against North Vietnam for six days
June: All Chinese Army ranks abolished; Ben bella overthrown;
Afro-Asian Conference in Algeria called off despite Chinese
protestations
July: Johnson orders fifty thousand more troops into Vietnam and
doubles the U.S. draft
September: Lin Piao's article "Long Live the Victory of the People's War"
is published; Chen Yi clarifies China's foreign policy at a large
press conference
October: Palace guard coup in Indonesia fails; Indonesian Communist Party
is destroyed; China agrees to buy $403 million worth of Canadian
wheat over a three-year period
December: U.S. announces temporary cessation in North Vietnam air strikes
1966:
January: Third Five Year Plan officially begins; military reorganization
with indications of command decentralization; U.S. resumes
bombing of North Vietnam; Castro denounces China
Febuary: Five-member "Cultural Revolution Group: leds by Peng Chen
March: China debates in Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings
begin; Chins refuses to attend the Twenty-third Party
Congress in Moscow; Nkrumah ousted by Ghana coup while in Peking
April: Liu Shao-chi visits Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Burma; U.S. State
Department partially lifts travel restrictions to China
May: Attacks against "anti-party" elements gain momentum; China
explodes her third nuclear bomb; Chiang Kai-shek inauguaranted
as President of Republic of China for fourth time; May 7 directive
from Mao Tse-tung and Lin Piao on educational revolution;
Thermonnuclear detonation; beginning of public attack on "demons
and monsters"; five U.S. planes penetrate Yunnan Province; May
16 directive-formation of new Cultural Revolution Group; Neih
Yuan-tzu's wall poster launches attack in Peking University;
first Red Guards formed in Tsinghua University
June: Peking Mayor Peng Chen ousted, leadership struggle takes shape;
Chou En-lai visits Rumania and Albania; "Great Proletarian
Cultural Revolution" erupts in the universities; suspension of
all entrance exams to universities; Chou En-lai visits Albania
and Rumania;
July: Liu Shao-chi announces China no longer regards the Geneva
Agreements as valid and China henceforth will be the "rear force
base" for North Vietnam; Mao Tse-tung dramatically reappears in
public by swimming the Yangtze River signifying resumption of
power: "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution" gains in intensity;
million people demonstrate for Vietnam in Peking
August: Central Committee meets in Eleventh Plenary session; one million
Red Guards formed at great mass meeting in Tien An Men Square on
August 18, presided over by Mao Tse-tung, Lin Piao, and Chou
En-lai; rank order of leaders at demonstration indicates major
shifts in leadership positions (particularly in regard to Liu
Shao-chi); Red Guards carry out the "cultural revolution: in
all major cities; Mao Tse-tung's "Bombard the Headquaters" Wall
Poster
September: Mass demonstrations continue; Red Guards openly criticize top
Party leaders; Red Guards mass-march through China to spread
Cultural Revolution
October: Chinese students expelled from Soviet Union; Central Committee
working session criticizes Liu Shao-chi and Teng Hsiao-ping; China
explodes intermediate ballistics missile with nuclear warhead
December: Fifth thermonuclear detonation
1967:
January: January revolution seizure of power begins in Shanghai;
criticism of "economism (bribery of workers by wage increases);
revolutionary rebel headquarters set up in Shansi; fight between
Russian police and Chinese students in Moscow's Red Square;
first provincial revolutionay committee established in Heilungkiang
Febuary: Chinese embassy personnel attacked in Moscow; national meeting of
Red Guards at Peking University; "counter-current" by capitalist
roaders
March: Mao Tse-tung's March 7 appeal for reopening of schools; Central
Committee call to workers, managers, revolutionary cadres to
maintain production
April: Beginning of comprehensive attacks against Liu Shao-chi; Peking
city revolutionary committee established
May: Strikes, demonstrations, clashes in Hong Kong; Chinese embassy
in Ulan Bator (Mongolia) attacked
June: Hydrogen bomb detonated; President Kaunda visits China
July: Hsieh Fu-chih and Wang Li detained by conservative military in
Wuhan; ultra-left wave-attacked on PLA, Foreign Ministry,
British Consulate
August: Preliminary agreement reached between Tanzania, Zambia, and
China to build Tanzam railroad; China-North Vietnam economic
assistance agreement
September: Mass meeting in Peking to support PLA propaganda teams
entering Cultural Revolution; McNamara announces "anti-China
ABM; Russians carry out first anti-China military maneuvers
(code name Dniepr)
October: Chines Embassy blockaded in New Delhi; Chinese experts leave
Burma
1968:
January: Revolutionary Committee set up throughout China; U.S. planes
bomb Chinese ships in North Vietnam port; Wang Li and Chi Pen-yu
expelled from Cultural Revolution Group
March: Acting Chief of Staff Yang Cheng-wu removed from office
May: Mass support demonstrations in Peking
June: President Nyerere visits China
September: With Tibet, revolutionary committees now established in all
twenty-nine provinces save Taiwan; Soviet planes intrude into
Heilungkiang air space
October: Yangtzr River railroad bridge formally inaugurated; Twelfth
Plenum of Central Committee- Liu Shao-chi expelled from Party
December: Call for city youth to go to countryside; new nuclear test;
China announces all external and interal debts repaid
1969:
March: Sino-Soviet military clashes over Chenpao island; mass
anti-Soviet demonstrations in China; anti-China demonstrations
in Moscow
April Ninth Party Congress; Lin Piao written into Party Constitution
as Mao's successor
May: Significant work with acupuncture reported at PLA hospitals
July: Bumper summer crops reported from throughout South China
September: Chou En-lai-Kosygin talks at Peking airport; first underground
nuclear test; thermonuclear test
October: Soviet border talks delegation arrives in Peking
November: Zambia, Tanzania, China railroad agreement signed
December: Year-end record industrial output reported
1970:
January: Record textile output reported
March: Cambodia coup-Sihanouk establishes government in Peking
April; China launches earth-orbiting satellite
May: Mao statement on danger of new world war
October: Diplomatic relations established with Canada
November: Diplomatic relations established with Italy; relations with
Burma renewed after three-year break; Soviet trade delegation
arrives in China; Sino-Soviet trade agreement signed
1971:
January: Record food harvests reported
Febuary: U.S. supported South Vietnam invasion of Laos; China warns of
possible use nuclear weapons
March: Chou En-lai and large delegation conclude major agreements in
Hanoi
April; American ping-pong team visits China; Chou En-lai greets
American ping-pong team; Mao says Nixon welcome to China in
December 1970 interview with Edgar Snow published in Lif magazine
May: Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars and American journalists
visit China
July: Kissinger visits Peking; Nixon visit announced; U.S. halts spy
flights over China
August: Party committee completely reestablished throughout China
September: All flights suspended in China; Lin Piao dies; major military
leaders ousted
October: Second Kissinger visit to Peking; China voted into UN
November: Chinese delegation arrives at UN; Chins attacks Indian invasion
of East Pakistan
1972;
Febuary: Head of Soviet border talks delegation Ilychev returns to Peking;
Nixon in Peking
July: Lin Piao death officially confirmed
April; China vetoes Bangladesh membership in UN; certain top leaders
attacked during Cultural Revolution rehabilitated
September: Premier Tanaka visits China
October: Purchase of U.S. corn announced
November: Urban exodus to rural areas reduced
1976 the death of Chou En-lai and of Mao Tse-tung
References:
Zhong Guo Li Shi Nian Biao by Mo Zi-fen
A History of Chinese Civilization by Jacques Gernet
China Readings 1
Imperial China edited by Franz Schurmann and Orville Schell
China Readings 2
Republican China edited by Franz Schurmann and Orville Schell
China Readings 3
Comminist China edited by Franz Schurmann and Orville Schell
China Readings 4
People's China by Franz Schurmann, David milton and Nancy Milton
MAO edited by Jerome Chen
Arranged by CHUNG Yoon-Ngan.
- References:
- Hello Dixie
- From: CHUNG Yoon-Ngan <chungyn@mozart.joinet.net.au>