China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong: historical events
Page last modified 15/1/2021
Click here for events in Japan pre-1891
Click
Here for events in N, S, Korea post 1945
Colour key:
People
China-Opium War 1839-42
Taiping Rebellion
‘Unequal’ Trade Treaties
China Boxer Rebellion 1899-1901
Chinese Communists
Chinese
Nationalists
Tibet
Russia-Japan War 1904-05
Japan-China
War 1931-38
World War
Two 1939-45
Chang’an Avenue & Tiananmen Square
(1960) image here
Beijing urban expansion 1905 – 1999, 5 maps
here.
China Shenyang suburb image here
28/8/2020, Shinzo Abe, Japanese Prime
Minister, resigned, having broken the previous length of service record by four
days.
15/6/2020, Tensions along the
ill-defined and disputed Himalayan border between India and China escalated.
India accused China of annexing the Galwan Valley, some 60 square miles. China
accused India of building military roads into disputed areas and of attempting
to control more of Kashmir, including an area ceded by Pakistan to China that
India claims. Some 20 soldiers died, mainly through falling into icy gorges.
24/11/2019, Elections were held in
Hong Kong, after weeks of often-violent protests against the Chief Executive of
Hong Kong, Carrie
Lam, and her changes to the extradition laws. Opposition candidates
won 17 of the 18 councils, having controlled none previously.
12/8/2019, After several weeks of
low-key protests in Hong Kong, against a new law permitting extradition to
mainland China (despite the ‘One Country Two Systems arrangement instituted in
1997 for 50 years) the unrest escalated
after a woman was shot in the eye by a police beanbag round during
demonstrations at Hong Kong Airport.
16/6/2019, Large protests in Hong
Kong over a proposed new rule allowing extradition to mainland China. These
protests continued on into July, although the new law was ‘suspended’.
1/1/2016, The two-child policy took effect in China, allowing couples in the
country to have at most two children, replacing the controversial one-child
policy. The change in law was announced by the ruling Communist Party on
October 29 and passed the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
on December 27, five days prior to its effect.
12/8/2015, A large explosion in
Tianjin, China, destroyed a warehouse containing several hundred tons of
hazardous chemicals. At least 50 died and over 700 injured.
15/12/2014, In Hong Kong police
cleared away the barricades set up in September 2014 by pro-democracy
demonstrators who were demanding free elections without preliminary screening
of the candidates by Beijing. The Chinese President, Xi Jinping, had won against
the Occupy Central movement, but
popular discontent, by young educated students from affluent families remained.
14/3/2011, Fears of a meltdown at Fukushima nuclear plant, Japan. See Japan
earthquake.
24/8/2008, The Beijing Olympics
closed.
8/8/2008, The Beijing Olympics opened. They continued until 24/8/2008.
20/5/2006, The Three Gorges Dam in China
was completed, the world’s largest hydro-electric dam.
2005, Japanese Prime Minister Junchiro
Koizumi called a general election 2 years early after Bills to
privatise Japan Post were voted down in the Upper House.The incumbent Liberal
Democratic Party were re-elected with a landlide victory.
4/12/2005, 250,000 people in Hong
Kong protested for democracy.
12/9/2005, The Hong Kong Disneyland
resort officially opened.
18/8/2005, Peace Mission 2005, the first joint Chinese-Russian military exercise, began an
8-day programme on the Shandong Peninsula.
2003, Japan sent
troops to support the
USA in the invasion of Iraq. This was the first time Japanese soldiesr
had operated in a war zone since World war two, and it drew protests from those
who felt this violated Japan’s pacifist stance.
1/6/2003, China began filling the Three Gorges Dam, raising the water level by over 100 metres.
2001, Japan’s
Liberal Democratic Party appointed populist right-winger Junichito Koizumi as Prime
Minister. Controversially, he paid homage at a memorial to Japan’s war dead. Tanaka Mikiko
became Japan’s first female Foreign Minister.
27/12/2001, China was granted
permanent normal trade status with the USA.
11/12/2001. China joined the World Trade Organisation, following 15 years of
negotiations.
16/7/2001, China and Russia signed a treaty of
friendship.
2000,
In Taiwan the Democratic Progressive Party candidate Chen Shui-bian became the
country’s first non-Kuomintang President.
2000, Japanese
Prime Minister Keizo
Obuchi fell into a coma and was replaced by Yoshiro Mori. The Liberal
Democratic Party remained in power, with its coalition oartners, after the
6/2000 general elections. Unemployment rose above 5% for the first time since
World War Two.
20/12/1999, Macau was handed back to China by Portugal.
9/5/1999,
Widespread protests in cities across China over the US accidental bombing of
the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia.
20/1/1999, China announced restrictions on Internet use, aimed
especially at Internet cafes.
26/11/1998, Japan
and China signed a joint declaration of friendship and economic development.
6/7/1998, The new airport at Chek Lai Kok, Hong Kong, opened.
8/11/1997, The main channel of China’s Yangtze River was
blocked as construction work continued on the Three Gorges Dam.
1/7/1997. Hong Kong was handed back to China.
19/2/1997, The last of the Chinese revolutionaries, Deng Xiaoping, died aged 92 (born 1904); weeks
of mourning followed.
1996, Japan repealed its Eugenic Protection Laws, under which females deemed to have mental disabilities could be forcibly
sterilised.
29/8/1996. British forces began to leave Hong
Kong.
16/5/1995, Japanese police
besieged the headquarters of the Aum
Shrnrinko cult near Mount Fuji, and arrested the leader Shoko Asuhara.
20/3/1995. Nerve gas was released on the Tokyo Subway by the
Ayum Shrinkyo religious cult. Five separate trains were affected; 12 died
and 5,500 were injured.
17/1/1995. 5.46 am, local time, earthquake in Kobe, southern Japan,
killed 6,433, and injured 27,000. The quake measured 7.2 on the Richter Scale
and made 300,000 homeless. Cost of damage was estimated at Ł63 billion. It was
the worst quake to hit Japan since Tokyo, 1923.
3/9/1994, The USSR and China agreed to stop targeting nuclear
missiles at each other.
1993, In Japan the Social Demicratic Party lost power after a 38-year
rule. Corruption scandals were a major factor in this defeat.
13/12/1993, A fire in textile factory in Fuzjou China, killed
60.
27/3/1993, Ziang Zemin became President of the People’s
Republic of China.
3/3/1993. Rolls Royce announced plans to open a showroom
in China.
19/12/1992, The first democratic General Elections in Taiwan
(see 1986). The incumbent Kuomintang won, with 53% of the vote, but the
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) made significant inroads. See 2000.
9/7/1992, Chris Patten, last British Governor of Hong Kong,
took office; the colony was to be handed back to China in 1997.
18/1/1992, Chinese leader Deng Xiao Ping stated that China
should continue to focus on improving its economy, even at the ‘cost of
embracing certain capitalistic models and ideas’. This was a marked reversal of
the ideas of Chairman
Mao.
23/5/1991, Chinese authorities
marked the 40th anniversary of their ‘liberation’ of Tibet with
low-key celebrations..
1990, Japan amended its immigration law, opening up the
labour market to foreign workers. This was in response to chronic labour
shortages caused by a rapidly falling birth rate and ageing population.
1990, The Shanghai Stock
Exchange reopened, after a 41-year closure.
12/11/1990, Crown Prince Akihito
became the 125th Japanese monarch and Emperor.
9/10/1990. Hundreds of Chinese queued to buy Big Macs when McDonalds opened
its first restaurant in Shenzhen.
4/4/1990, The Chinese People’s Congress approved the Basic
Law, effectively a Constitution for Hong Kong after the transfer from Britain
to China.
13/1/1990, China
lifted martial law, imposed 11 months earlier after the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy
protests.
23/12/1989, The Bank of Japan
announced a major interest rate rise, leading to the peak and bursting of the
Japanese ‘bubble’ economy.
24/7/1989, Japan’s Liberal
Democratic Party suffered its first defeat in 30 years, forcing the resignation
of Prime Minister Sosuke Uno. A scandal involving Uno’s former mistress ruined
his career.
3/7/1989, Britain stated there would be no automatic right
of abode in the UK for Hong Kong citizens concerned about life under future
Chinese rule.
22/6/1989, In China, seven students were shot after televised
show trials following the Tiananmen
Square protests.
21/6/1989 The first public
executions of Tiananmen Square demonstrators began in China.
9/6/1989, In China, the show
trials of the leaders of the Tiananmen
Square demonstration began.
4/6/1989. Massacre in
Tiananmen Square, Beijing, as troops opened fire and brought in tanks. On
early morning Sunday 4th June the army entered the Square. 2,600
were killed and 10,000 injured as soldiers fired on demonstrators, and tanks
drove over them.
14/5/1989, Gorbachev visited China, the first Soviet leader
to do so since the 1960s.
2/5/1989, China imposed martial law as pro-democracy
protestors camped in Tiananmen Square.
17/4/1989. Chinese students demonstrated in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, calling for
democracy.
8/3/1989, China declared martial law in Tibet.
7/3/1989. Chinese troops fired on Tibetan monks and civilians
demanding independence in Lhasa.
Some reports said hundreds died. China annexed Tibet in 1950, and protests for
Tibetan independence had been growing since 1985.
7/1/1989. Emperor Hirohito of Japan died, aged 87. He had ruled for more than
62 years. 500,000 people lined the streets for his funeral on 24/2/1989; US
& British war veterans protested that their countries should not honour a
war criminal. Hirohito had opposed war
with the USA in the 1930s, he was also against the Japanese invasion of
Manchuria and Japan’s alliance with Nazi Germany. In 1941 he proposed peace
with Washington, but was persuaded by the War Minister and his generals to hit
Pearl Harbour. He was buried near his father’s mausoleum in the Imperial Palace
Gardens in Japan; his son Akihito, 55, succeeded
him.
1/12/1988, The Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Qian Qichen,
visited Moscow.
12/4/1988. China’s
National People’s Congress voted to allow private enterprise and the transfer
of use of land between private individuals. They did not, however, allow
outright private ownership of land.
14/3/1988, Three days of conflict between China and Vietnam
began over the disputed Spratly Islands.
10/3/1988, The Chinese Army
occupied Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, after large anti-Chinese demonstrations
by Tibetans.
13/1/1988. Chiang Ching Kuo, President of Taiwan since 1978, died. Lee Teng Hui became
President of Taiwan. The first
Taiwan-born leader of the country, he was a reforming technocrat who
accelerated the pace of economic liberalisation.
24/11/1987, Li Peng succeeded Zhao Ziyang as Chinese Prime
Minister.
25/10/1987, At the 13th Communist Party Congress in Beijing, Deng Xiaopoing
resigned as Party leader.
27/9.1987, Nationalist demonstrations broke out in Lhasa,
Tibet, against Chinese rule there imposed
in 1950 (see 7/10/1950). Furthermore, China had been
encouraging poor Han Chinese to resettle in Tibet, competing for job
opportunities and housing with poorer indigenous Tibetans. The Chinese were at
first taken by surprise, having believed that the Tibetans were subjugated and
pacified.
14/7/1987, Taiwan legalised opposition Parties. Martial law
was also lifted, for the first time in 38 years, and the press was granted
freedom.
13/4/1987, Portugal and China agreed to the return of Macao
to China in 1999.
1986, First
legally-recognised opposition Party was formed in Taiwan, the Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP). This was after some 40 years as a One Party State,
ruled by the Nationalist Kuomintang Government. See 19/12/1992.
12/10/1986, Queen
Elizabeth II visited China, the first British monarch to visit the
country.
16/9/1985, In China, 10 Politburo members and 64 members of
the Central Committee resigned to make way for younger replacements.
6/8/1985, In Hiroshima, tens of thousands marked the
40th anniversary of the bombing of the city.
17/3/1985, Expo '85, World's
Fair, opened at Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. It ran until September 16.
19/12/1984. Mrs Thatcher signed an agreement
to return Hong Kong to China in 1997.
26/9/1984, China and the UK signed an initial agreement to hand Hong
Kong back to China in 1997.
12/10/1983, The Chinese Communist
Party began its biggest purge of membership since the Cultural revolution. The
records of 40 million Party members were to be reviewed. The Anti Spiritual Pollution Campaign was
launched, with the (initial) approval of Deng Xiaoping. It was an attempt to roll back
economic reform and Western influence. Individualism and hedonism were
condemned, as were academics who promoted alternatives to Communism.
25/5/1983, The USA agreed to export high-technology
items to China.
15/4/1983, The first non-American
Disney theme park opened, near Tokyo.
1/9/1982, At the 12th Congress of
the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing, Hua Guofeng, who had succeeded Chairman Mao,
was removed from the Politburo.
25/1/1981. The Chinese ‘Gang of Four’ and Mao Tse Tung’s 67 year old
widow were sentenced to death.
20/11/1980, The trial for treason of the Gang of Four former Chinese
leaders opened in Beijing.
26/8/1980, Leadership changes in China consolidated the power
of pragmatic reformers led by Deng Xiaopoing.
1979, The US passed the Taiwan Relations Act, committing the USA to defending Taiwan
against an attack by China – however if Taiwan provoked China first, by for
example declaring full independence, then the USA would not be committed to defending
Taiwan.
26/10/1979, President Park Chung Hee of South Korea was assassinated
by his secret service.
7/10/1979, In Japanese general elections, the Liberal
Democrat Party won a narrow victory.
26/7/1979, Former Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka
was arrested on charges of taking a large bribe from Lockheed.
3/4/1979, China warned the USSR it would not seek to renew the 1950 Treaty of
Friendship when it expired in1980.
17/2/1979, China
launched an invasion of northern Vietnam.
China had backed North Vietnam during the Vietnam war with the US-backed South,
but since Hanoi’s victory in 1975, North Vietnam had aligned with the Soviet
Union, and in January 1979 North Vietnam
invaded Cambodia and ousted the Pol Pot regime,
which China backed.
1/1/1979. Diplomatic
relations were established between China and the USA.
12/8/1978, China and Japan signed a 10-year friendship treaty
22/7/1977. The ‘Gang of Four’ were expelled from the Chinese
Communist Party.
2/7/1977, In China Deng Xiaoping, 73, was restored to power.
5/12/1976, In Japan, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party
suffered losses in the general election.
29/10/1976, Chairman Hua of China repudiated messages of congratulations
from Communist countries.
11/10/1976. In China the ‘Gang of Four’ were arrested, accused of
plotting a coup.
7/10/1976, In China, Hua Guofeng succeeded Mao Zedong as Chairman. The ‘Gang of Four’,
including Mao’s
widow, were arrested and denounced for plotting to seize power.
9/9/1976. Mao Zedong,
Chairman of the Chinese Communist party for 40 years, died of a series of
strokes, aged 82.
8/1/1976, Zhou En Lai, Chinese revolutionary and Prime Minister of China, 1949-76, died. Aged 77, he was succeeded by Hua Goufeng.
8/8/1975, The Banqiao
Dam in China failed during a fierce typhoon, killing over 200,000 people.
3/6/1975, Eisaku Sato, Japanese politician, died aged 75.
5/4/1975. The Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang
Kai Shek died in Taiwan, aged 87.
26/11/1974, Kakuei Tanaka resigned as Prime Minister of
Japan after financial scandals emerged.
14/9/1974. China sent two giant pandas, Chia-Chia and
Ching-Ching, to London
Zoo.
6/9/1974. At least one
Japanese soldier was reported to be still roaming the forests of the central Philippines,
left behind after World War Two.
13/4.1974, End of a strike by 6 million Japanese workers,
which had begun on 11/4/1974.
8/1973, The Chinese Communist
Party launched the ‘Anti-Confucian
Campaign’. The radical supporters of Mao Zedong ostensibly wanted to continue the
suppression of traditional, anti-Communist, ideas, hence the name of the
campaign. In fact it was an attack on the more moderate supporters of Zhou Enlai,
who (just as Confucius
attempted to restore traditional practices such as feudalism) wanted to water
down the Cultural Revolution and
rehabilitate pruged Party officials.
29/3/1974, Chinese peasants digging a well unearthed a terracotta army of 8,000 figures and
horses, buried over 2,000 years ago near Xi’an. They belonged to Emperor Qin Shi
Huangdi, who first united China and built the Great Wall. The
artisans who built the tomb were walled up within it, to safeguard its secrets.
10/3/1974, A Japanese soldier was found hiding on Lubang Island in the Philippines;
he believed World War Two was ongoing and was waiting for relief by his own
side.
29/9/1972, Japan and China formally ended the state of war between them
that had existed since 1937.
13/5/1972, A fire devastated a department store in Osaka, Japan, killing 115
people.
13/3/1972, Britain resumed diplomatic
links with China, and closed its consulate in Taiwan.
3/3/1972, Beijing, at a UN speech, claimed the territory of Hong Kong.
24/1/1972, A Japanese soldier, Shoichi Yokoi, was found on Guam, unaware that
World War Two had ended. His last two surviving companions had died in 1964. He
lived until 1997.
25/10/1971, China was admitted to the United
Nations; Taiwan was expelled
from the UN to accommodate this.
5/10/1971, Emperor Hirohito of Japan arrived in Britain on a tour of Europe. He was the first Japanese sovereign to leave Japan for over 2,000 years. He left the UK on 7/10/1971.
13/9/1971, Lin
Paio, 65, Chinese Defence Minister who led an abortive coup against Mao Tse Tung,
died in a plane crash in Mongolia as he attempted to escape.
15/7/1971, US
President Nixon announced he would visit China in 1972.
15/4/1971, Britain
restored the telephone link with China, which had been cut in 1949.
10/4/1971, US table tennis team arrived in China. On 14/4/1971, the US relaxed
restrictions on trade and travel with China.
25/11/1970, The
Japanese novelist Yukio Mishima harangued 1,000 troops on the
disgrace of losing World War Two, then tried to persuade them to form a private
army and launch a military coup. When he realised this was not going to happen,
Mishima
committed seppuku, ritual suicide.
10/7/1970, US Roman
Catholic missionary, Bishop James Walsh, was released after 12
years in a Shanghai prison.
30/3/1970, Japanese students hijacked a Boeing 727 and flew to North Korea.
2/3/1969. Soviet and Chinese troops clashed on their border.
Chinese troops attempted to occupy Damiansky island, one of the Ussuri river
islands ceded by China to Tsarist Russia in 1860. China now maintained that the
concession had been unfairly extracted and revoked it. Russia drove off the
Chinese invasion.
13/10/1968, The Chinese
Cultural Revolution ended when President Liu was dismissed from his posts in the Party and the Republic. The Cultural Revolution (see 3/9/1965),
encouraging a return to basic Maoist principles, but also public criticism of
all party members, had been too
disruptive to China’s government and economy.
23/1/1968,
The USS Pueblo, an intelligence ship, and its 89 man crew was seized by the
North Koreans in the Sea of Japan.
15/10/1967. Henry Pu Yi, the last emperor of China from the age of 2, died in Peking aged 61.
22/8/1967, Red Guards set fire to the British Embassy in Beijing.
17/6/1967. China exploded its first hydrogen bomb. This raised tensions between China and the
USSR.
26/1/1967, Red Guards besieged the Soviet Embassy in Beijing, alleging
mistreatment of Chinese students in Moscow.
8/1/1967, Rioting in Shanghai,
China, as workers went on strike.
13/8/1966. Chairman Mao of China
announced a 'cultural revolution'. On 18/8/1966 Mao appeared on the
gallery of the Tiananmen Gate in Peking to a crowd of over a million Red
Guards. Then the student Red Guards spread out into China to radicalise the
towns and countryside.
6/4/1966, Increased ferry tolls sparked riots in Hong Kong.
3/9/1965, The Cultural
Revolution began in China. A reassertion of Maoist principles, it began
with a speech by Marshal Lin Biao urging pupils in schools and colleges to return to the basics of the Chinese Revolution and to purge liberal and Kruschevian trends in the
Chinese Communist Party. See
13/10/1968.
13/8/1965, Ikeda Hayato, Prime Minister of Japan, died.
1/8/1965, General
Lo Jui-ching, the Chief of Joint Staff of the armed forces of the
People's Republic of China, declared that the Chinese were ready to fight the
United States again, as they had in the Korean War.
22/6/1965, The Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea
was signed in Tokyo, almost twenty years after South Korea had been liberated
from the Japanese Empire.
1964, Japan joined the OECD. Tokyo
hosted the 1964 Olympics.
16/10/1964, China exploded a nuclear weapon at Lop Nor.
3/2/1964. China challenged the
USSR for leadership of the Communist world.
14/1/1964, In China, the nuclear
processing facility at Lanzhou made its first delivery of enriched uranium, 90%
uranium-235; China exploded its first atom bomb, 22-kilotons, on 16/10/1964.
27/1/1964. France recognised Communist
China.
1963, By the end of 1963, Chairman Mao was calling on all
Chinese to ‘Learn from the People’s
Liberation Army (PLA)’. With Lin Biao as Chinese Defence
Minister from 1959, the PLA was now centred as the example of self sacrifice
and dedication to collective values which all China should follow. The PLA now
increasingly dominated Chinese politics.
1/9/1963, About 100,000
people in two Japanese cities demonstrated against the presence of American
nuclear submarines.
21/11/1962, Ceasefire in the India-China border dispute.
20/10/1962, Chinese troops attacked
Indian border positions.
8/9/1962. China-India border dispute escalated. China
attacked Indian border posts on 20/10/1962. On 28/10/1962 the USA pledged to
send arms to India.
17/5/1962, Hong Kong
built a wall to keep out Chinese migrants.
21/1/1962 . In Communist China it was revealed that only
‘registered addicts ‘ were allowed to buy or smoke cigarettes.
1960, The San Men Dam, Hunag He (Yellow) River, China, was completed.
27/4/1960. Synghman Rhee resigned as President of South
Korea.
15/3/1960, Presidential elections in South Korea were won
fraudulently by Synghman
Rhee, 85; demonstrations across the country forced his resignation
on 27/4/1960.
19/1/1960, President Eisenhower of the USA signed a Treaty of Mutual
Co-operation and Security with Japan in Washington. This confirmed Japan as an
integral member of the anti-Communist alliance.
28/11/1959, The dockyard at Hong Kong closed, after 80 years of operation.
18/10/1959, As China stepped up the
persecution of the 20 million Christians within its borders, 68-year-old Bishop James E Walsh was arrested. He was
imprisoned until 1971.
22/9/1959. The United Nations refused to admit
Communist China.
23/5/1958, China, under Mao, began its Great Leap Forward. Peasant farmers were grouped into huge communes
of many thousands of families. Farming families were encouraged to build makeshift
steel furnaces using household scrap metal, fuelled by firewood. This was
disastrous as time was taken away from food production and the ‘steel’ produced
was very substandard. Crops rotted in the fields and some 14 – 40 million
people starved to death. This was humiliating for Mao and he eased up on the
Reforms until his Cultural Revolution
in 1966. After Mao’s
death in 1976, leaders such as Deng Xiaoping sought to correct his excesses
by breaking up the communes and introducing market reforms.
Aftermath of Chinese occupation of
Tibet 1958-65. See also 1950-52
1965, Tibet
was officially made an ‘autonomous region’ of China.
9/3/1961, The Dalai
Lama appealed to the UN to restore the independence of Tibet.
19/4/1959, The Dalai Lama arrived in India.
31/3/1959, The Dalai Lama escaped to India. Tibet lost its independence to China in 1951.
28/3/1959, China
dissolved the government of Tibet.
10/3/1959, Thousands
of Tibetans protested in the streets of Lhasa over the influx of Chinese
settlers, which had begun when Chinese troops entered eastern Tibet in October
1950.
31/7/1958. Kham tribesmen in eastern Tibet
rebelled against Chinese rule
2/9/1958. The first
television station in China opened in Beijing.
9/8/1958. The USA reaffirmed its refusal to
recognise Red China.
9/2/1957, Poland and Japan
resumed diplomatic relations.
7/1/1957. President Khrushchev of the USSR welcomed China’s Prime Minister Chou En Lai. Behind the scenes, however, there
was rivalry between the two countries. The USSR supported Manchurian and
Vietnamese Communists, and there were differences on how Communism should be
enforced. However Chou En Lai supported the USSR’s crackdown in
1956 in Hungary.
1956, Chinese characters were
simplified in a bid to increase literacy. There was a second round of
simplification in 1964.
31/12/1956, 90% of Chinese farms had been re-organised into
collectives, with land, implements and animals owned collectively, not
privately.
18/12/1956. Japan joined the United Nations.
3/1/1956, The USSR gave technical aid to China.
1955, In Japan, The Liberal
Democratic Party was set up.
17/7/1955. The Chinese writer Hu Feng was arrested for
publically criticising Communism as having a ‘blighting influence’ on
literature.
8/5/1955. Hiroshima victims arrived in the USA for plastic surgery.
31/3/1955, The Communist Party in China was purged.
16/2/1955, Nearly 100 died in a fire at a home for the
elderly in Yokohama, Japan.
Chinese
threats to Taiwan 1955. See also 1945-49
7/2/1955, The US 7th fleet began an evacuation of
14,000 Chinese Nationalist troops and 18,000 Chinese civilians from the Tachen
Islands (see 17/1/1955). The evacuation was completed 6 days later, whereupon
the Chinese Communists took over the islands.
24/1/1955, Because of increasing tensions between
China and Formosa (Taiwan), US President Eisenhower asked Congress for
authority to protect Formosa; it was granted within four days by 409 votes to 3
in the House of Representatives.
17/1/1955, Chinese Communists began a heavy
bombardment of Chinese Nationalists on the Tachen Islands just west of Taiwan.
The next day Chinese Communist forces occupied the small island of Yikiang,
which the Nationalists did not have the firepower to defend.
5/11/1954, Burma and Japan signed a peace treaty.
7/1954, Defence of Hokkaido Island, excepting air and radar units, passed from
the US to the Japanese military. The size limit of the Japanese military was
raised from 120,000 to 165,000, and a ban on the employment of former officers
of the Jaopanese Imperial Army was removed.
8/3/1954, The US and Japan signed a mutual defence pact.
27/9/1953, Japan established a national defence force.
15/6/1953, Chinese leader Xi Jinping
was born onto a well-connected political family; his father was Xi Zhongxun.
25/10/1952, The USA blocked the entry of China to the United
Nations for the third year running. See 25/10/1971.
2/10/1952, China held a ‘Asia and Pacific Peace’ Conference,
attended by delegates from 37 countries.
1/10/1952, The Liberal Party won Japanese elections.
17/8/1952, A large Chinese delegation, led by Zhou Enlai,
visited the USSR for discussions.
5/8/1952, Japan and
China resumed diplomatic relations.
Chinese
occupation of Tibet 1950-52. See also 1958-65
28/4/1952. Japan
regained sovereignty.
26/10/1951, The
Chinese news agency Xinhua announced that the Tibetan people had been ‘liberated from imperialist aggression and
returned to the great family of the People’s Republic of China’
9/9/1951, Chinese troops occupied the Tibetan capital, Lhasa.
8/9/1951, The San Francisco Treaty of Friendship between the US and Japan was
signed.
29/3/1951, The US completed a draft Peace Treaty with Japan, which was circulated
to the Allied Powers.
25/3/1951, China issued an ultimatum to Tibet, to choose between ‘peaceful liberation’ or
‘military annihilation’. Tibet chose to sign the 17-Point Agreement with China
on 24/5/1951.
25/12/1950. The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in the wake of the Chinese invasion.
13/11/1950, Tibet appealed to the UN for aid against Chinese aggression.
21/10/1950. Chinese
forces occupied Tibet. China has
always feared that if it did not control Tibet, India might gain influence
there, giving it not only control of much of China’s water supply but also a
commanding high position over the Chinese plains to the east.
17/10/1950, Chinese troops took Chamdo,
opening up the way to central Tibet.
7/10/1950, 30,000 Chinese troops entered Tibet, meeting little opposition. 30,000 well trained and equipped Chinese troops confronted a Tibetan
army of fewer than 4,000 trained soldiers.
1/3/1950. Chiang
Kai Shek became President in Formosa (Taiwan).
27/2/1950, China and the USSR signed
a joint agreement for exploiting oil in Sinkiang, for joint mining operations,
and joint operation of a civil airline.
14/2/1950. China and the USSR signed a 30-year pact in Moscow.
1/1/1950, Radio Beijing announced that Tibet
was to be ‘liberated’.
China; Communist victory, separation of Taiwan
1945-49. See also 1955
8/12/1949, Taipei, Taiwan, was
formally chosen as the capital of Nationalist China. Chiang Kai Shek’s Nationalist
Government fled to Taiwan from China to escape the advancing Communists.
20/10/1949, Britain recognised the People’s Republic of China,
under Chairman
Mao.
6/10/1949, The USA granted South Korea US$ 10.2 million
for military aid and US$ 110 million for economic aid for the year 1950.
1/10/1949. The Chinese Communists
set up a government in Peking, The People’s Republic of China, under Mao. Taiwan
remained independent. Chinese Party Chairman
Mao Tse Tung made no secret of the fact that he considered Tibet part of China.
2/9/1949, The redistribution of land
became an official part of Chinese Communist policy.
30/7/1949, The HMS Amethyst
successfully sailed 140 miles down the Yangtse
River overnight to escape Chinese Communist forces, see 20/4/1949.
26/5/1949. Chinese Communists captured Shanghai.
23/5/1949. Chinese Communists drove the Nationalists off the mainland to
Taiwan.
20/4/1949, The HMS Amethyst
was fired upon by Chinese whilst sailing up the Yangtse River with supplies for the British community in
Nanking. She was trapped until the night
of 30/7/1949 when she successfully sailed downriver 140 miles, under fire from
further Chinese forces.
22/1/1949 The Chinese Communists under Mao Tse Tung
captured Peking. The
Nationalists under Chaing Kai Shek were defeated at Huai Hai
north of Beijing.
21/1/1949, Chiang Kai Shek resigned
15/1/1949. Chinese Communists captured Tientsin.
29/10/1948, Chinese Communist forces captured the important city of
Mukden, and its arsenal, from Kuomintang
forces.
1/9/1948. The North China People’s Republic was formed by the Communists, under Chairman Mao.
11/10/1945. Fighting broke out in China between the Nationalists under Chiang Kai Shek and the Communists under
Mao Tse Tung.
Aftermath of World War Two; Japanese war crimes
trials
7/1949,
Evacuation of Japanese civilians from the Kuril Islands (Etorofu, Kunashir),
and their relocation on Hokkaido, was now complete.
23/12/1948, Hideki Tojo, Japanese Prime Minister 1941-44, who attacked Pearl Harbour and so provoked
the entry of the USA into the War, was hanged as a war criminal.
14/12/1948, South
Korea formed a Department of National Defence.
12/11/1948, The main
War Crimes trials ended in Japan. Hideki Tojo and 6 others were sentenced to
death by hanging; 16 received life imprisonment, and 2 were given shorter
prison terms. The hangings were carried out on 23/12/1948.
7/10/1948, In Japan, Shigeru Yoshida
formed a Democratic-Liberal Government.
7/1947,Evacuation
of Japanese families living on the islands
of Etorofu and Kunashir, Japanese territory before World War Two but now
occupied by Soviet troops. Families were given 24 hours notice to pack and
leave. They were taken by ship to Sakhalin, another larger island once divided between
Japan and Russia but now entirely Russian-occupied, then relocated on the
Japanese northernmost island of Hokkaido. Many of these families buried
valuable items in their gardens, expecting to return soon to retrieve them.
3/5/1947, A new Constitution was
approved in Japan by means of a referendum. Women voted in Japan for the first
time. The Emperor’s powers were limited, and the country renounced the use of
war.
12/1946, Russia began relocating several thousand settlers to the southern
portion of Sakhalin, formerly Japanese
territory but now Soviet-occupied.
4/11/1946. US and China signed a
friendship pact.
10/10/1946, In China the Kuomintang re-elected Chiang Kai Shek
as President.
23/2/1946, Lt. Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita, who led the
Japanese conquest of Singapore and the Philippines, was executed by hanging in
Manila for war crimes, followed by Lt. Col. Seichi Ohta, who headed security for
Japan's ‘thought police’ (kempei tai), also interpreter Takuma Higashigi.
27/1/1946, In the Far
East, more than 2,000 airmen went on strike at the slow pace of demobilisation.
7/12/1945. The
Japanese General
Yamashita was sentenced to death as a war criminal – on the
anniversary of Pearl Harbour – and was hanged the following month.
25/10/1945, Taiwan was formally ceded by
Japan to China.
Japan – the
final surrender
15/9/1945, Japan was
occupied by Allied forces under General MacArthur. See 28/4/1952, and 14/8/1945.
13/9/1945, Lieutenant General Hatazo Adachi of Japan surrendered. Just 13,000 of his orig8inal
65,000 men were left alive. He was sentenced to life imprisonment as a war
criminal, and committed suicide in 1947.
11/9/1945, Japanese General Hideki
Tojo attempted suicide when American troops arrived at his home to
arrest him as a war criminal. Tojo shot himself below the heart with a
revolver, but survived.
9/9/1945, Japanese
forces in China formally surrendered to Chiank Kai Shek in Nanking.
5/9/1945. Singapore re-occupied by the British. See 15/2/1942.
3/9/1945, General Tomoyuki
Yamashita formally surrendered the
remaining Japanese troops in the Philippines to United States Army General
Jonathan M. Wainwright, the same commander who was compelled to
surrender to Yamashita
at Corregidor in 1942.
2/9/1945, Formal surrender of Japan, see 14/8/1945. The Japanese Chief of Staff,
General Yoshijiro Umezo, signed the surrender document on board the USS
Missouri, in front of General McArthur.
1/9/1945. British troops took control of Hong Kong.
31/8/1945, Douglas MacArthur established the Supreme Allied Command in Tokyo.
30/8/1945, The British Royal Navy returned to Hong Kong.
29/8/1945, The Xinghua Campaign began
in China.
19/8/1945. Soviet troops occupied Harbin and Mukden in Manchuria; 100,000
Japanese there surrendered.
18/8/1945 The Soviet invasion of the Kuril Islands began, opening with the
Battle of Shumshu.
16/8/1945, Emperor Hirohito issued a decree at 4:00 p.m. local time ordering
all Japanese forces to cease fire. The Japanese cabinet resigned.
14/8/1945. (1) Japan
surrendered unconditionally. This
marked the end of World War II. VJ day was officially celebrated on the following day, the 15th
August. The Japanese surrender was officially accepted by General Douglas
MacArthur on the US aircraft carrier Missouri
on 2/9/1945. Between
November 1944 and August 1945 nearly 70 japanese cities were pulverised, with
around 300,000, mostly civilians, killed.
(2) The Soviet Union concluded a Treaty of Friendship
with Nationalist
China. This included handing over Manchuria, which the Soviets had
conquered from Japanese forces, to China. However before the Soviets moved out,
they stripped the region of all the military and industrial equipment they
could move, and took this, along with many Japanese PoWs, back to Russia to
support their own industrial reconstruction.
12/8/1945, Soviet
forces occupied North Korea, Sakhalin and the Kurile islands.
For events in North & South Korea after 1945 see Appendix One below
11/8/1945, The US
drafted General Order No.1, providing for Japanese forces in Korea north of the
38th parallel to surrender to the Soviets; those south of the 38th
parallel to surrender to the Americans. The Soviets began to seal off the North
at the 38th parallel, whilst the US was keen to halt any further
southwards penetration by Russian soldiers.
10/8/1945, Emperor
Hirohito of Japan announced he was prepared to surrender unconditionally. The
US cancelled plans to drop two further atoms bombs, scheduled for 13 and 16
August.
The atomic
bombing of Japan
9/8/1945 The second atomic bomb was dropped,
on Nagasaki. 40,000 were killed
here. The intended target, Kokura, was
obscured by cloud.
Click here for images of Nagasaki, before and after the atomic bomb.
8/8/1945, The USSR,
under Stalin,
declared war on Japan. The USSR invaded Japanese-held Manchuria, and northern Korea.
7/8/1945, Radio
Tokyo reported unspecifically about an attack on Hiroshima. The Americans were
unable to immediately assess the results for themselves because of impenetrable
cloud over the detonation site. Late in the day, Imperial Japanese headquarters
referred to a "new type of bomb" used on Hiroshima, admitting that
"only a small number of the new bombs were released, yet they did
substantial damage.
6/8/1945. The first atomic
bomb was dropped, on Hiroshima,
Japan, from the B29 bomber Enola Gay.
At 8.15 in the morning a nuclear chain reaction in the bomb built up a
temperature of several million degrees centigrade. In 0.1 milliseconds a
fireball at 300,000 degrees centigrade was created, and this expanded to 250
yards in diameter one second after detonation. The mushroom cloud reached
23,000 feet into the sky. 78,000 of the city’s population of 300,000 was
killed, some instantaneously, by the blast, some later by the firestorm that
the bomb created, and another 90,000 injured, many seriously.
5/8/1945, The U.S.
Twentieth Air Force flew over twelve Japanese cities and dropped 720,000
pamphlets warning their populations to surrender or face devastation.
4/8/1945, The US
dropped leaflets over Hiroshima,
warning that their city was to be obliterated.
3/8/1945, The
American government announced that every Japanese and Korean harbor of
consequence had been mined, leaving Japan totally blockaded.
31/7/1945, On Tinian,
the assembly of the Little Boy atomic bomb was completed.
30/7/1945, The Japanese submarine I-58 sank the USS
Indianapolis, killing 833 seamen.
29/7/1945, Japan
rejected a US ultimatum to surrender. The US estimated that 1 million Allied
casualties would ensue from a land invasion of Japan.
27/7/1945, On the
Philippine island of Tinian, the Little Boy atomic bomb began being prepared
for use.
26/7/1945. In the
war against Japan, the Allies issued their final terms for peace; the Potsdam Declaration. This failed to
guarantee the post-surrender retention of the Japanese Emperor, Hirohito; which
was the only guarantee the Japanese were seeking for surrender. Therefore the
war continued, culminating in the dropping of atom bombs on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. In fact the Emperor was allowed to remain, post-surrender.
24/7/1945, US
President Harry
Truman told Joseph Stalin that a new and powerful weapon
was ready to be deployed against Japan, but did not provide any specific
information. Truman
was relieved that Stalin did not ask for further details; in fact the Russians already knew from
their spies. The atom bomb was used against Japan, but it was also intended to
deter Russia from attempting to occupy Japan.
Air raids
on the Japanese homeland began
25/7/1945, The
British 14th Army captured the railhead of Taunggyi in Shan State,
north eastern Burma.
Capture of Okinawa
22/6/1945. US troops
captured Okinawa.
4/6/1945, US forces
landed on the Oruku peninsula, Okinawa, in an attempt to outflank Japanese
defensive positions.
1/6/1945, Heavy air
raid on Osaka, Japan; 20 square km of the city was totally destroyed.
3/5/1945, British
forces took Rangoon, Burma.
17/4/1945, The Battle of the Hongorai River began in
New Guinea.
8/4/1945, Cebu City
fell to the Allies.
1/4/1945, The Battle of Okinawa began
as US troops landed on the island. US victory came 83 days later.
Capture of Okinawa
Capture of
Mandalay
20/3/1945. Mandalay was recaptured
from the Japanese.
16/3/1945, Iwo Jima was totally
occupied by US forces; 4,590 US soldiers were killed, out of a force of 30,000
attacking 23,000 Japanese who were heavily dug in with underground bunkers. See
19/2/1945. Iwo Jima, just 750 miles from
Tokyo,
could now be used as a base to bomb some 66 Japanese cities in an attempt to
force a Japanese surrender.
9/3/1945, A night
of major firebombing of Tokyo began. Around 100,000 died, mostly the elderly, women
and children; men were away fighting a war that Japan was by then losing badly.
5/3/1945. The British
captured the Japanese base of Meiktilla in Burma, cutting Japanese-occupied Burma in two.
2/3/1945 The British 14th army
entered Mandalay, Burma.
Capture of
Mandalay
25/2/1945,
Tokyo was devastated by a firestorm in a
raid by 172 B-29 bombers.
21/2/1945, Japanese
kamikaze airstrikes sank the US aircraft carrier Bismarck Sea and damaged the
Saratoga.
20/2/1945, US
marines captured the first airfield on Mindanao.
19/2/1945, US forces began the invasion of Iwo Jima, see 16/3/1945.
17/2/1945, Indian
forces broke out of the bridgehead of Nyaungu against Japanese forces towards
Mektila.
16/2/1945. (1) US Air Force began heavy raids on Tokyo.
(2) The US took Bataan, Philippines.
3/2/1945. The US recaptured Manila, which
had fallen to the Japanese on 2/1/1942. Manila was not totally cleared of
Japanese soldiers till 24/2/1945.
9/1/1945. Luzon in the
Philippines was taken by the US from the Japanese.
4/1/1945, Severe
Kamikaze attacks on US ships.
1/1/1945, Mindoro
Island, Philippines, taken by US forces.
1944, In China the Uighurs declared independence. This
lasted until Mao
sent in Communist troops to reclaim the region. In 1941 the Uighur region was
ethnically 80% Uighur, 9% Kazakh and 5% Han Chinese. After a rapid rise in the
Han population in the 1950s, in 2007 the ethnic mix was 46% Uighur, 39% Han
Chinese and 8% Kazakh. In 1947 there were around 220,000 Han Chinese and 3
million Uighurs; in 2007 there were 9.6 million Uighurs, but also 8.2 million
Han Chinese.
15/12/1944, A US task
force landed on Mindoro, a small island off south Luzon. By end-January 1945
the island was cleared of Japanese forces, providing useful airfields for the
US campaign in the Philippines.
8/12/1944, The US
began a massive bombardment of Iwo Jima, which lasted 72 days, in preparation
for an amphibious invasion.
25/11/1944, The first
Kamikaze (divine wind) suicidal attacks were made by Japanese pilots on US
ships.
24/11/1944. US planes
bombed Tokyo, for the first time
since 18/4/1942.
Japanese retreat 1942-44
19/11/1944, The Shinano, the largest Japanese aircraft
carrier ever built, was formally commissioned. Thought capable of withstanding
any bomb, she was sunk ten days later by the US submarine Archerfish, with four
torpedo hits, with the loss of 1,435 lives. A further 1,000 sailors were
rescued.
11/11/1944, Iwo Jima was bombarded by the U.S. Navy.
5/11/1944. The
Japanese cruiser Nachi was sunk in Manila Bay by U.S. aircraft.
27/10/1944, The
Japanese fleet suffered a crushing defeat in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, effectively ending its role as a fighting
force. The Japanese lost 300,000 tons of combat
ships as against US losses of just 37,000 tons. This was the world’s
largest naval battle, which began on 22/10/1944, involving a total of 231 ships
and 1996 aircraft.
25/10/1944, US escort
carrier St Lo became the first ship sunk by a Japanese kamikaze attack.
20/10/1944. General Mac
Arthur returned to the Philippines with 250,000 troops, fulfilling a
promise ha made when his forces retreated from the Japanese.
1/8/1944. US forces
captured the Pacific island of Tinian from the Japanese. Tinian was then developed as a US air force base, from which the
mission to drop atom bombs on Japan was to
depart (see 6/8/1945).
18/7/1944. Prime Minister Tojo of Japan resigned.
4/7/1944, Conclusion
of the Battle of Kohima-Imphal. Crucial battle of the Burma campaign; the 14th
Army under Slim
fought the Japanese in Burma from 4/3/1944. Allied troops were supplied by air
and held back the Japanese from the key towns of Kohima and Imphal.
19/6/1944, The USA
took Saipan. It took over three weeks to
defeat the Japanese, at a cost of 3,000 Americans dead and 17,000 wounded;
27,000 Japanese also died. The US did
not attempt to capture all Pacific islands in their path to Japan, only
selected ones, leaving other heavily-armed islands to ‘wither on the vine’. The Japanese fought fiercely and had no fear
of death; many ‘Banzai’-charged the US soldiers, led by officers wielding
swords.
18/6/1944, The Japanese 11th Army occupied the Chinese
cities of Changsha and Chuchow.
15/6/1944. Air raids
on Japan hit steel mills at Yawata.
18/4/1944, The 5th Brigade attacked Japanese defences
near Kohima.
14/4/1944, British forces overcame a Japanese
roadblock near Zubza, western Kohima trail, relieving the besieged 161st Indian
Brigade.
12/4/1944, Japanese forces cut the road between Kohima
and Imphal.
24/3/1944, Orde Wingate, British Army Commander who created and led the
Chindits in Burma, was killed in a plane crash in the rainforest in Assam. The
Chindits, from the Burmese for ‘mighty lion’ struck deep behind Japanese lines,
destroying railways and bridges.
7/3/1944, Japan
launched an offensive from Burma into India.
21/2/1944. Hideki Tojo became Chief of Staff of the Japanese Army.
19/2/1944, The US
Submarine Jack attacked a Japanese
convoy 428 km west of Luzon, sinking four vessels.
4/2/1944. US warships
shelled the Japanese homeland; the island of Paramishu.
31/1/1944, US forces
made major amphibious landings on the Marshall Islands.
1/12/1943, The Cairo
Declaration, issued by the USA, UK, and China, pledged independence for Korea
‘in due course’. The provisional Korean government in exile, in Chungking,
south west China, asked for clarification of this vague phrase, but received
none.
1/11/1943, US forces
retook Bougainville, in the Solomon Islands.
13/9/1943. General
Chiang Kai Shek was elected President of the Chinese Republic.
25/8/1943, US forces captured New Georgia in the Solomon
Islands.
15/8/1943. US forces landed on Kiska Island, Aleutians. However the Japanese forces they
expected to find there had already evacuated under cover of foggy nights in July
1943.
29/7/1943, The Aleutian
island of Kiska was evacuated by the remaining 5,183 Japanese officers,
enlisted men and civilians who had occupied the American territory. U.S. ships
had been diverted away from the island between July 23rd and 26th, when
American radar detected what appeared to be a convoy seven reinforcement ships.
With the U.S. warships away from Kiska, the Japanese escaped to their own
rescue ships within 55 minutes. When Allied troops arrived on August 15, they
were surprised to find that the island was deserted.
29/6/1943, US forces
landed in New Guinea.
2/6/1943, US troops
completed the recapture of Attu Island, Aleutian Islands, from Japan.
11/5/1943, US forces began
to recapture Attu in the Aleutian Islands, from Japan.
4/3/1943, The Battle of the Bismarck Sea ended (began 2/3/1943). A Japanese
convoy carrying troops to Papua New Guinea was sunk by Allied forces.
7/2/1943, The Japanese completed their
withdrawal from Guadalcanal.
2/2/1943. Japan made
a last-ditch effort to recapture the Solomon
Islands.
14/1/1943. The Japanese began withdrawing from
Guadalcanal.
17/12/1942, The US
submarine Drum mined the waters
around Japan.
11/1/1943, Britain made a treaty with China,
renouncing all British territorial rights in China.
19/12/1942. British
troops advanced in the Malay peninsula, pushing the Japanese back into Burma.
23/11/1942, Lieutenant General Tomitaro Horii of Japan died. He was replaced by Hataze Adachi.
The Japanese in New Guinea were already in retreat by now, under heavy attack
by US forces, and had lost Rabaul air base to the Allies.
15/11/1942, The naval battle of Guadalcanal ended
in US victory. On the battle's
final day the Japanese battlecruiser Kirishima and destroyer Ayanami were sunk
by the American battleship USS Washington, while the Americans lost the
destroyers Benham and Walke.
12/11/1942, The naval
battle of Guadalcanal began.
27/9/1942. Japanese forces pulled back in New
Guinea as the allies advanced.
18/8/1942, Japanese
troops landed at Taivu, 32 km east of Guadalcanal, as a diversionary operation.
10/8/1942, US
submarine S-44 sank the Japanese heavy cruiser Kako near Kavieng, as it
withdrew from the Battle of Savo Island.
8/8/1942, 7 Japanese
warships and 1 cruiser set sail from Rabaul to attack US transport ships off
Savo Island.
7/8/1942. The USA
attempted a landing on the Japanese-occupied southern Solomon Islands. US
troops invaded Guadalcanal.
High point
of the Japanese Pacific Invasion
8/6/1942. The Japanese
shelled the Australian cities of Newcastle and Sydney.
31/5/1942 Japanese
submarines attempted, unsuccessfully, to enter Sydney harbour, Australia.
8/5/1942. The
Battle of the Coral Sea. The Japanese and the US each lost an aircraft carrier(US carrier, the Lexington), and the Japanese turned back from an invasion of Port
Moresby, New Guinea. This was the first Allied success in the
Pacific, and saved Australia from a
Japanese invasion.
7/5/1942, Madagascar was
occupied by British troops to forestall any Japanese invasion.
6/5/1942. The Japanese
captured Corregidor.
2/5/1942. The Japanese
captured Mandalay.
26/4/1942, The world’s worst coalmine disaster occurred at
Honkeiko Colliery, China. 1,572 were killed.
25/4/1942, American troops
arrived in New Caledonia to assist in defence of the archipelago.
17/4/1942, Japanese forces
in Burma reached Yenangyaung. The main
oilfields in Burma were destroyed to prevent them from falling into Japanese
hands.
9/4/1942. The Japanese
captured Bataan
12/3/1942, US troops occupied New Caledonia.
10/3/1942. Rangoon, Burma, fell to the Japanese.
9/3/1942, The Dutch East Indies campaign ended in decisive Japanese victory. The
Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies began.
8/3/1942. Java surrendered to the Japanese.
7/3/1942. British forces withdrew from Rangoon.
Bandung, Java, also fell to the Japanese, effectively giving all of Java to Japan.
2/3/1942, The Japanese began heavy air strikes on New Guinea in preparation for an invasion.
28/2/1942. The Japanese landed on Java, Indonesia.
27/2/1942, The Battle of the
Java Sea, in which the Dutch navy was
destroyed in defence of Australia. The Japanese were now able to occupy
Java.
22/2/1942. Civilians were
evacuated from Rangoon as fighting
raged 80 miles north east of the city.
20/2/1942, Bali, east of
Java, was invaded by Japan.
19/2/1942. The Japanese
bombed the Australian city of Darwin.
15/2/1942. Singapore occupied by the Japanese. See 5/9/1945. The base was supposed to be
impregnable, but all its guns pointed out to sea; the Japanese came overland.
The base was running out of water and surrendered, but the British did not know
the Japanese were almost out of ammunition. The Japanese now had a massive
arsenal of guns and ammunition.
12/2/1942. The Japanese
captured Bandjermasin, the main town on the south coast of Borneo.
31/1/1942. The Japanese laid
siege to Singapore. They landed on
Singapore on 9/2/1942.
23/1/1942, Japanese forces
captured the port of Rabaul, New Britain.
19/1/1942. Japanese
invaded Burma.
18/1/1942, Japanese forces
captured Tavoy, Burma.
16/1/1942, In the Battle of
Muar in Malaya, the Japanese 5th Infantry Division crossed the Muar River and
captured Muar itself.
14/1/1942, The Battle of
Gemas was fought in Malaya, resulting in tactical Australian victory.
11/1/1942. Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia, was captured by the Japanese. The Japanese also landed on the northern tip
of the Celebes this day, and within a month controlled all the island
except the remote interior.
10/1/1942. The Japanese
invaded the Dutch East Indies.
2/1/1942. Manila captured by the Japanese. The US recaptured it on
3/2/1945.
1/1/1942, The British
withdrew from Sarawak.
25/12/1941. Hong Kong surrendered to the Japanese. 6,000 troops laid down arms after a 7-day battle.
22/12/1941, General Wavell met with Chiang Kai Shek at Chonqquing.
21/12/1941, Siam
(Thailand) signed a treaty with Japan permitting the entry and transit of
Japanese troops. This facilitated the Japanese invasion of Burma.
18/12/1941, British
and Dutch forces occupied East Timor. Malaya was evacuated and the Japanese
attacked Hong Kong.
17/12/1941. Sarawak, Borneo, was invaded by the Japanese.
14/12/1941, Japan and Siam
(Thailand) signed a ten-year co-operation treaty.
13/12/1941, The Japanese
controlled the mainland area of Hong
Kong, and Kowloon; Hong Kong
Island was still British-held.
12/12/1941. The Japanese
captured the island of Guam, see 20/7/1944.
10/12/1941. Japanese forces
off Malaya sank two major British naval vessels, the Repulse and Prince
of Wales, thereby eliminating
British naval power from the Far East for some time. Also on this day the
Japanese occupied Aparri, a major port in northern Luzon, Philippines. US
forces retook it in June 1945. Japan invaded Malaya.
9/12/1941, US air force
bombed Luzon, Philippines.
See also France-Germany,
from 1/1/1870, for European events of World War Two
See also USA for World
War Two, 1940s, Pacific
Pearl Harbour 1941 – USA enters Wor;ld
War Two against Japan
8/12/1941. Britain and the USA declared war on Japan. Costa Rica, El Salvador, Haiti, and the Dominican
Republic also declared war on Japan, and China declared war on all the Axis
powers. Britain declared war on Finland, Rumania, and Hungary. Siam (Thailand) agreed to the passage of
Japanese forces through its territory to attack British Malaya.
7/12/1941. Japanese attack on the USA fleet in Pearl
Harbour, Hawaii. Pearl Harbour
was taken entirely by surprise and within 2 hours 360 Japanese warplanes had
destroyed 5 battleships, 14 smaller craft, and 200 aircraft. 2,400 people, many
of them civilians, were killed. However the Japanese failed to find and destroy
America’s all-important aircraft carriers, both of which were away on
manoeuvres. The Japanese force then turned west to strike the British in the
East Indies, Australia, and Ceylon (Sri Lanka). The US Congress met to declare war in emergency session on 8/12/1941,
much to the relief of Britain.
Hitler, meanwhile, was pleased because he imagined that this would distract the
US away from the War in Europe.
26/11/1941, Japanese naval forces set sail for Pearl
Harbour
Prelude to war in the Pacific; Japan
and the USA, 1939-41
22/10/1941, Tokyo
conducted its first practice blackout.
18/10/1941, The
expiry of a 6-week deadline, set by the Japanese military on 6/9/1941, for the
completion of negotiations with the USA. By the end of September 1941 Japanese
oil reserves had fallen to 15 million barrels, and the military wanted to go to
war in SE Asia to secure more oil. However there were concerns in Japan about
the reaction of America to this invasion. The President of the Japanese
National Planning Board stated that domestic oil production could be increased
for a fraction of the cost of a war. The pacifist Prince Konoye also opposed war.
But when the 18 October deadline passed without result, Konoye resigned and General Tojo
became Minister of War. Tojo was less militant than many of his
colleagues and extended the deadline for a result of the Japan-US negotiations
for a further 6 weeks, to 25 November; again no agreement was achieved.
17/10/1941. General Tojo appointed Prime Minister of Japan.
1/8/1941, The US
imposed an embargo on oil sales to Japan.
30/7/1941, The US
gunboat Tutuila was bombed by Japanese aircraft. Japan later apologised for the
incident.
29/7/1941, The Vichy
French Government gave Japanese forces use of the air bases in Indo China.
27/7/1941. Japanese troops moved into Cambodia and Thailand,
and captured Saigon.
24/7/1941, Japan
announced that Vichy France had consented to Japanese ‘protection’ of the
French colonies in Indo-China.
2/7/1941, Japan
called up over one million conscripts, and pulled its merchant ships out of the
Atlantic.
5/6/1941, Heavy
Japanese air raid on Chonqquing, where the Chinese Nationalists had moved their
capital to in 1937 when the Japanese invaded China. Many died of suffocation as
the underground tunnels they were sheltering in collapsed.
7/11/1940. Britain, the USA, and Australia agreed on the
defence of the Pacific.
27/9/1940. Imperial
Japan signed a 10-year military and economic alliance with Nazi Germany and
Fascist Italy. This was greatly
disturbing to both the USSR and the USA; Japan and Russia had been enemies
since the 1905 war, and Hitler’s alliance with Russia, signed in 1939, was looking more uncertain.. The USA now realised that entering the war
on the side of the Allies would now entail a war in the Pacific.
22/9/1940. Japanese forces entered Indo-China.
22/7/1940, In Japan,
Prince
Fumimaro Konoe, out of office since 1939, was reappointed Prime
Minister. He declared his intention to establish a ‘New Order’ across East
Asia.
4/1/1939. The fascist Baron Hiranuma became Prime
Minister of Japan.
22/2/1940, The 5-year-old Tenzin Gyatso
was enthroned as the 14th Dalai Lama in Tibet. Gyatso was born on 6/6/1935, the
day the 13th Dalai Lama died, and was beloved to be his
reincarnation, in a sequence going back 544
years. Lhasa’s wise men located Gyatso in 1938 and in traditional manner
Gyatso had to pick out various objects that had belonged to his predecessor
from amongst a collection of similar objects; he picked them without hesitation.
Japanese invasion of China, 1937-41. See also Japanese occupation of
Manchuria 1931-36
13/4/1941. Stalin signed a neutrality pact with Japan; Russia was concerned that Japanese conquests in
Manchuria had brought Japanese forces up to Russian territory. Whilst this meant that Russian troops from Siberia
could be used to resist the German threat,
it also freed Japanese troops for action against China
26/7/1940, US President Roosevelt imposed
sanctions on Japan in retaliation for Japanese air raids on US missions and
churches in China.
21/10/1938. The Japanese occupied Canton.
12/10/1938, Japanese troops landed in force on the Chinese mainland, and advanced swiftly on Canton.
27/9/1938. The League of Nations denounced Japanese
aggression in China.
11//7/1938. Soviet and Japanese troops clashed on the Manchukuo border.
6/3/1938, The
Japanese advanced along the Hangchow Railway through Shansi Province towards
the Yellow River.
10/1/1938, Japan
captured the Chinese port of Qingdao.
24/12/1937. Japanese
troops captured Hankow, China.
22/12/1937, Britain
protested to Japan about attacks on Royal Navy ships on the Yangtse River.
12/12/1937, Japan captured Nanjing, China, see 7/12/1937. They massacred over
100,000 of the city’s population.
7/12/1937. Japan attacked Nanjing, bitter fighting followed. Japan occupied Nanjing
on 12/12/1937. Defeated Chinese soldiers
who surrendered were nevertheless killed, and women and children were raped and
murdered.
8/11/1937, Japan captured
Shanghai.
27/10/1937, Japan announced the capture of Pingding, Shanxi
Province after a three-day battle.
29/9/1937. In the face
of a full-scale Japanese invasion of China, Chiang Kai Shek, the Chinese leader,
came to an agreement with his Communist rival, Mao Zedong.
28/9/1937. The League of
Nations condemned the Japanese invasion of China.
25/9/1937. The
Japanese bombed the Chinese Nationalist capital of Nanjing.
14/8/1937. Hundreds were killed in a Chinese air raid on
Shanghai. 1,000 died as Chinese aircraft, intending to
bomb Japanese warships in the harbour, in
fact bombed the International Concession; their bombs fell short of the
target. Many Chinese refugees were
killed, and foreign powers made urgent plans to evacuate their nationals as Japanese land forces closed in.
29/7/1937. Japanese
troops took Beijing, see 7/7/1937.
10/7/1937, In China, Chiang Kai-shek
made a radio address to millions announcing the Kuomintang's policy of
resistance against Japan.
7/7/1937. The Marco Polo Bridge Incident. Japanese soldiers were exercising near the Marco
Polo Bridge, south-west of Beijing, under the Boxer Protocol of 1901 which
permitted foreign troops to be stationed in the Beijing area. However they were
attacked by Chinese forces. A ceasefire was arranged on 11/7/1937, however the
Japanese Foreign Minister, Konoe, nevertheless announced plans to mobilise five
divisions in northern China. In response Chiang Kai Shek, reversing his
previous appeasement policy which he had followed in response to Japan’s efforts
to remove northern China from Chinese control, now reinforced Chinese forces.
Japanese forces then took control of Beijing, on 29/7/1937, starting the
1937-45 War.
9/7/1937, Japan,
just two days after the outbreak of war with China, introduced a system of
universal healthcare, to supplement the existing scheme which covered
industrial employees only. Between end-1938 amd end-1944 the number of citizens
covered by this universal health insurance rose from 500,000 to 40 million. The
aim was to ensure a healthy population, ready to fight in war.
11/8/1936, Chiang Kai Shek entered Canton, China.
20/10/1935. Mao Zedong’s troops completed their ‘Long March’ and arrived in the
comparative safety of Yan’an in remote north-west China (Shenxi province). Of
the 100,000 that set out from Kiangsi province 364 days and 6,000 miles
earlier, only 10,000 battered and emaciated survivors remained. They had fought
all the way, broken through ten encircling armies, crossed 11 provinces and 24
rivers. The Communists could now regroup to
fight Chinese Nationalists
and the Japanese occupiers.
16/10/1934. Mao Tse Tung's 'Long March'
began. See 20/10/1935.
22/3/1934, Major fire in Hakodate,
Japan, killed 1,500 people.
15/6/1933, China and Tibet
ended a two-year war, agreeing to settle upon their pre-war border.
25/7/1932. The USSR, Poland, and Japan
signed a non-aggression pact.
17/7/1932, In China Chiang Kai Shek began an anti-Communist
drive.
15/5/1932, The
Japanese Prime Minister, Ki Tauyoshi Inukai, was assassinated. He was
succeeded by the Governor-general of Korea, 73-year old Makoto Saito.
Japanese occupation of Manchuria, 1931-36. See
also Japanese invasion of China 1937-41
25/11/1936. Germany and
Japan agreed to protect world civilization from the Bolshevik menace, and
signed the Anti-Comintern Pact,
organised by Ribbentrop. Germany
recognised the Japanese puppet state in Manchuria. See 6/11/1937.
25/2/1933. Japan withdrew from the League of Nations in protest at a
vote condemning the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. Japan now occupied all of China north of the Great Wall.
5/5/1932. Japanese
troops withdrew from Shanghai after an armistice was agreed.
28/1/1932. The Japanese occupied Shanghai, start
of a full scale invasion of China.
Ostensibly in revenge for a Chinese boycott of Japanese goods, the Japanese
were aware of possible US attacks in defence of China. They warned the US that
any attempt to interfere in their operations in China would result in war.
8/1/1932. An assassination attempt was made on the Japanese Emperor Hirohito.
2/1/1932. The Japanese proclaimed the Republic of Manchukuo in Manchuria.
24/9/1931, The Japanese set up a puppet government of Manchuria
based in Mukden.
21/9/1931, The Japanese
took Kirin, China. By early 1932 they controlled three coastal provinces.
18/9/1931. Japan
besieged Mukden as it invaded Manchuria. The Japanese set up a puppet state called Manchukuo, which was returned to China
in 1945 after World War Two. The
Kwantung (Japanese) Army had started the incident, by blowing up wagons on the
South Manchuria railway, near the Chinese garrison at Mukden, then blaming the
Chinese. However the plot was supported
by military leaders in Tokyo. See
18/2/1931.
3/8/1931, Heavy
rainfall along the Yangtze River burst a dam which flooded 104,000 square
kilometres of farmland. Widespread famine followed. The 37-year old leader of
China, Mao
Tse Tung, faced multiple threats from this and the Communist
rebellion, undermining
his ability to deal with the Japanese invasion.
18/2/1931, The Mukden Incident, an explosion on a railway line near Mukden, gave
the Japanese an excuse to occupy Manchuria. The Chinese were driven out of
Manchuria. See 18/9/1931.
9/3/1932. The last emperor of China, Pu Yi,
was installed as head of the Japanese puppet government in Manchuria.
31/7/1931,
Chiang Kai Shek defeated the Communists, in northern China.
17/6/1931. In China, the British arrested Nguyen Ai Quoc, also known as Ho Chi Minh,
founder of the Indo-Chinese Communist Party.
1930, Japan
adopted the Western metric system of weights and measures.
22/10/1930, Rebels massacred 8,000 in Shanghai, China.
2/9/1930, In Beijing, rebels under Yen Hsi-chan took power.
10/7/1930, In China, Communist troops attacked the city of Hankow.
22/12/1929. China and Russia agreed to withdraw troops from the
border as their dispute over the eastern railway ended.
30/11/1929, Soviet planes bombed the Manchurian town of
Pokutu.
11/11/1929, Anti-Japanese
occupation protests in Korea.
9/9/1929. Heavy fighting between Russia and China on
their border.
17/7/1929. Russia
broke off diplomatic relations with China
and began to mobilise troops on the border.
2/7/1929, The Giichi Tanaka Government in Japan fell.
26/6/1929. The Japanese
government signed the anti-war Kellogg-Briand
pact, the last government to sign it.
20/12/1928. The UK recognised the Kuomintang
government of China.
10/11/1928, Hirohito was ernthroned as the 124th Emperor of
Japan, continuing a line dating back to 660 BCE. He ruled until his death in
1989, aged 87.
6/10/1928. Chiang
Kai-Shek became President of Nationalist
China.
22/7/1928. Japan
severed all relations with China.
19/7/1928, China annulled the ‘unequal treaties’ formerly
made with European powers.
8/6/1928, Beijing fell to Nationalist
forces under Chiang
Kai Shek, ending the Chinese
civil war.
3/5/1928, Chinese Nationalist
forces suffered major losses against the Japanese.
19/4/1928. The Japanese occupied Shantung, China.
7/4/1928, Chinese Nationalists
launched an offensive to capture Beijing.
6/2/1928. 50,000 fled as Communists
raided Peking.
19/12/1927, In China, 600 Communists
were executed by the Nationalists.
15/12/1927, China broke off diplomatic relations with the USSR.
14/12/1927. Chiang Kai Shek’s forces
suppressed an attempted Communist coup in Canton.
7/9/1927, Mao Tse Tung led a Communist uprising
in the rural province of Hunan.
1/8/1927, The Nanchang Army
uprising against the Kuomintang. The Chinese Communist Party considers this the
date of the founding of the Red Army.
6/4/1927, Chinese
police raided the Soviet Embassy in Beijing, seizing incriminating
evidence of subversion. Several Communist leaders were later executed.
21/3/1927. The victorious army
of Chiang Kai-Shek entered Shanghai. In April 1927 he mounted an offensive
against trade unionists and Communists, driving them into the countryside.
31/1/1927, 12,000 British troops were ordered to China to
defend British nationals in Shanghai, where the civil war was posing a threat to foreigners.
1/1/1927. In China the Kuomintang established a government at Hankow.
1926, Japan passed a ‘Peace Preservation Law’, to ‘regulate extremist
movements’; this facilitated the suppression of Communist groups.
25/12/1926. Emperor Hirohito ascended the Japanese throne after the death of his father Emperor Yoshihito. He died in January 1989 after 62 years as
Emperor.
16/10/1926, A troopship exploded on the Yangtze River, China,
killing 1,200 people.
6/9/1926, In China, Chiang Kai Shek captured Hankow.
1/1/1926, The Nationalist government was established in China.
30/11/1925, The US sent warships to Hankow, China, to stop attacks by Communist
Chinese on foreigners.
7/9/1925. Anti-British
rioters were shot in Shanghai. Protests had begun in May over working
conditions in Japanese owned factories in Shanghai, and British police shot and
killed demonstrating workers on 30/5/1925.
29/3/1925. Japan passed a
Bill for universal male suffrage.
22/3/1925, Radio broadcasting began in Japan.
19/3/1925. Britain established a large naval base at Singapore. This reinforced links with
the British colonies such as Hong Kong, but
Japan saw it as a threat.
20/1/1925, The UK and China made the Treaty of Peking.
12/3/1925, In China, Kuomintang leader Dr Sun Yat Sen died. General Chiang
Kai Shek became the new leader.
5/11/1924, The last Manchu
Emperor, Pu-Yi,
18, was evicted from his palace in Beijing by the Christian warlord Feng Xuyiang
who took control of the city. Pu-Yi had been compelled to abdicate in 1912, when he was aged 6,
by the Revolutionary Government in Nanking after the Wuchang uprising, ending
268 years of Manchu rule and over 2000 years of imperial tradition. He was
allowed to continue living in his palace in the Forbidden City, and was temporarily restored to the throne by
General Xun’s coup in 1917, but was dethroned after 12 days. Pu-Yi now sought
refuge in the Japanese concession at Tien-Tsin.
3/11/1924, Feng Yuxiang's
troops entered Tianjin.
25/10/1924, In China, President Tsao Kun resigned.
31/5/1924. China
recognised the USSR.
15/4/1924, The Japan Times
called for a boycott of California if the United States passed the Immigration
Act, putting the blame for the Bill on that State.
31/1/1924, Japanese Prime Minister Kiyoura Keigo dissolved the
National Diet and called for new elections. A brawl broke out during the
morning session over accusations that the government had failed to protect a
train that prominent opposition leaders were riding on when it was pelted with
rocks and timbers
21/1/1924 The Chinese Kuomintang Congress admitted the Communists.
27/12/1923, Emperor Hirohito of Japan narrowly escaped assassination.
1/9/1923. An earthquake magnitude 7.9 in Japan left the
cities of Tokyo and Yokohama in ruins and killed over 300,000 people. The
epicentre was just outside Tokyo. Half of Tokyo’s houses were destroyed, a
million of its people made homeless, and 132,807 killed in Tokyo alone.
Altogether 143,000 died and 2.5 million were made homeless.
17/8/1923. The defence
treaty between Japan and the UK (see 30/1/1902 and 23/8/1914) was replaced by a
four power agreement between the USA, France, Japan, and the UK.
7/1922, The Japanese Communist Party was formed, as a branch of the Comintern.
It remained an illegal organisation with few members until 1945. In Japanese
elections in 1946 the Japanese Communist Party secured 2.1 million votes and 5
seats in the Lower House. The Party was again suppressed in the 1950s with the
outbreak of the Korean War. Subsequently the Party, relegalised, gradually
gained ground and in 1980 secured 20 seats woth nearly 10% of the vote.
3/3/1922, Over 1,000 Japanese Burakumin (a hereditary class
of social outcasts, who performed menial and despised tasks such as
slaughterers, executioners and tanners) formed the Suiheisha, or National
Levellers Association. They appealed for equal Human Rights in Japanese
society. Their numbers grew to over 40,000, but they became notorious for
kidnappings and mock trials of those believed to have discriminated against the
Burakumin. Eventually growing Japanese Nationalism forced the Suiheisha to disband
in 1940.
4/2/1922, Japan agreed to return the Shandong Peninsula to
China, whilst retaining some mines and commercial interests.
1/2/1922, Death of
the Japanese statesman Yamagata Aritomo (born 14/6/1838). He played a
key role in the rise of Japan as a military power in the early 20th
century. He was Chief of Staff during the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05.
Because of this War he developed the ‘Plan of National Defence’ in case of
another war with either Russia or America. This Plan formed the basis of Japan’s
entry into World War Two. Yamagata died in disgrace after public censure
for meddling in the Crown Prince’s marriage.
25/11/1921. Hirohito became Regent in Japan.
23/7/1921. The first congress of the Chinese Communist Party
was held in Beijing.
1/6/1921, The Chinese Communist Party was founded.
10/4/1921, Sun Yat Sen was elected President of China.
15/12/1920. China and Austria were admitted to the League of
Nations.
15/9/1919. China ended its war with Germany.
25/7/1919, The Soviet Assistant Foreign Commissar, Leo Karakhan,
issued the Karakhan Manifesto. This renounced all former Tsarist rights and
privileges in China. Although Russia did not hand over the Chinese eastern
Railway (it in fact sold it to the Japanese in 1935), this Manifesto did much to
convince the Chinese
radicals that Soviet Russia
was their only ally.
4/5/1919. News that the Treaty of Versailles been signed
reached China. However, despite the fact that China had declared war on Germany
in August 1917, and had over 200,000 soldiers to fight with the Allies, the
Treaty stated that German concessions in China would not be returned to the
Chinese but would be given to Japan. There were large anti-foreigner demonstrations in China.
Over 3,000 students gathered in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, to protest at
Japan’s continued occupation of Shantung after World War One had ended.
1/3/1919, Anti Japanese colonialism demonstrations in
Seoul, Korea, which were violently suppressed by the Japanese.
2/8/1918. British, French, and US forces landed at Archangel to support White Russians
against the Bolsheviks. Japan invaded Siberia.
6/4/1918. US, British, and Japanese
troops landed at Vladivostock.
6/7/1916. Russia and Japan signed a peace treaty.
22/3/1916, In China, President Yuan Shikai died.
China, Japan on Allied side against Germany, World
War One.
15/9/1917. China
offered the Allies 15,000 troops to fight on the Western Front.
14/8/1917. China
declared war on Germany and Austria.
14/3/1917, China
broke off diplomatic relations with Germany.
18/1/1915. Japan made
’21 Demands’ on China, which if accepted would virtually give Japan sovereignty
over China.
29/11/1914, Japanese
forces seized German territory at Kiaochow, China, thereby winning favour with
the Allies. However Japan then went on to try and
establish a virtual protectorate over most of China.
7/11/1914. The German fortified city of Qingdao
(Tsingtao) in China surrendered to the
Japanese.
2/9/1914. The
Japanese began landing forces at Lungkow, 150 miles north of Tsingtao.
27/8/1914, Japanese
forces began a blockade of Kiaochow Bay, China, to force the surrender of the German stronghold of the town of Tsingtao
there.
For European events of
World War One see France-Germany
23/8/1914. Japan
declared war on Germany. This was
due to the treaty of mutual defence concluded between Japan and the UK on
30/1/1902. The Germans had not responded to an ultimatum by Japan issued
14/8/1914. See 17/8/1923.
14/8/1914, Japan
demanded that Germany withdraw warships from the China and Japan region
by15/9/1914,
21/11/1913, Death of Tokugawa Keiki,
last of the Japanese shoguns who
controlled the country from 1603 to 1867.
5/11/1913, A joint declaration by Russia and China
recognising the autonomy of Outer Mongolia (Mongolia) under Chinese suzerainty.
8/7/1913, China agreed to grant independence to Mongolia.
8/4/1913. China’s
first parliament opened, in Beijing.
22/2/1913. Death of the Dowager Empress of China.
20/2/1913. Great fire in
Tokyo.
10/8/1912, The Republic of China's provisional government
enacted its election law, creating a
lower house of Parliament, and limiting voting rights to male citizens aged
over 21, had two years residency in their district, and met property and
educational restrictions.
7/8/1912. Japan and Russia reached agreement on their spheres of influence in
Mongolia and Manchuria.
30/7/1912, In Japan, Meiji Emperor Mutsuhito died aged 60, after a
45-year reign during which Imperial power was restored to Japan (the Meiji Restoration). He was succeeded by
his son, Yoshihito,
aged 33, who reigned until 1926.
14/4/1912, China's President Yuan Shih-kai
issued a manifesto asking the five separate race groups in the nation to unite
through intermarriage.
3/1912, The Japanese Tourist Bureau was formed, now known as the Japan Travel
Bureau.
2/3/1912, As rioting broke out in response to the fall of
the Manchu Dynasty in China, Beijing was placed under martial law. Foreign
troops arrived the next day to protect the citizens of their respective
nations.
29/2/1912, Military revolt in Beijing.
12/2/1912, The Chinese Manchu dynasty came to an end when the
weeping Empress,
Dowager Longyu, read out an edict of abdication on behalf of the
5-year-old Chinese
boy-Emperor, Pu-Yi. However the Imperial family were allowed to
continue to live in the Forbidden City, with a stipend of US$ 4million a year.
1/1/1912. The Republic of
China was officially proclaimed.
29/12/1911, Chinese revolutionary Dr Sun Yat Sen (1866-1925) became
the first President of the Republic of
China.
7/12/1911, China abolished men’s pigtails.
6/12/1911. Russia announced that Mongolia was a Russian
protectorate.
2/12/1911, Chinese Republicans captured Nanking.
30/10/1911, Guided by the Regent, Prince Chun, the Emperor Pu Yi
granted China a constitution. This was to combat growing support for the rebel Republican army of Sun Yat Sen.
28/10/1911, China's new National Assembly demanded three
reforms: a cabinet of ministers without
Manchu nobility; an amnesty for persons who committed political offences,
and a permanent constitution.
10/10/1911, The Imperial Manchu Dynasty,
which had ruled China since 1644, was forced to abdicate ‘voluntarily’ and a Kuomintang Republic was proclaimed at Wuchang,
under Sun Yat-Sen.
28/6/1911, Japan signed a
commercial treaty with France.
5/1911, The
Imperial Dynasty of China was brought down – by a decision to nationalise the
railways. This was disliked by the local gentry, who owned the railways. It was
also distasteful to the Nationalists because a
US$ 6 million foreign loan had bene taken out to finance this nationalisation.
3/4/1911, Japan and Britain signed a commercial treaty.
21/2/1911, Japan and the US signed a
commercial treaty in Washington.
22/8/1910. Japan formally
annexed Korea.
4/7/1910. Russia
recognised Japanese occupation of Korea
in return for a free hand in Manchuria.
China takes control of Tibet (see 1904-06 below)
2/8/1912, Tibetans were routed by Chinese soldiers at Lhasa.
4/4/1912. A Chinese Republic was declared in Tibet.
23/2/1910. The
Dalai Lama and several noted Tibetans fled from Lhasa to India, as Chinese
troops occupied Tibet.
31/1/1910. China abolished slavery. In 1906 Chou Fu,
Viceroy at Nanking, called on the Emperor of China to abolish slavery. At that
time all Chinese citizens had tio belong to one of four clsasses. These were 1)
the Bannermen (ruling class, 2) Free Chinese subjects, 3) Outcasts, 4) Slaves;
there were severe penalties for not fulfilling the duties of their class. Fu’s
recommendations were finally accepted in 1910, despite opposition from Manchu
nobles. However the former slaves were still compelled to live in their
,master’s households for the rtest of their lives, although as ‘free
labourers’.
26/10/1909, Ahn Jung-geun, a Korean nationalist and
independence activist, shot dead Hirobumi Ito, the Japanese colonial governor of Korea, on a station platform at
Harbin.
2/12/1908. In China, the child
emperor Pu Yi succeeded to the throne, aged 2. His father, the Regent Prince
Chun, held the real power. Pu
Yi was forced to abdicate in 1912 aged 5 as Republican forces gained strength
in China.
15/11/1908. Death of the Chinese
Empress Dowager Cixi, at 37 years of age. Her suspicious demise (she
was not unhealthy) greatly reduced the chances of a smooth transition to a
constitutional monarchy in China.
25/7/1907. Japan made Korea a protectorate. The
Korean Emperor Kojong
(I T’ae Wang) who had ruled since 1864 abdicated 19/7/1907, aged 55
under pressure from Japan, who was occupying Korea.
19/7/1907, Kojong,
Emperor of Korea for 43 years, aged 55, abdicated under pressure from the
Japanese, who were occupying his country.
15/4/1907. Japan handed Manchuria back to China
under the Treaty of Portsmouth, which ended the Russo-Japanese war.
15/11/1906, Japan
launched what was then the world’s
largest battleship, the Satsuma.
20/9/1906, In China, an imperial edict ordered the end of the use of heroin within 10
years.
11/4/1906, Having occupied Taiwan
since the Sino-Japanese War of 1895, Japan now appointed military commander Sakuma Samata
to ‘control and pacify’ the island’s aboriginal population. Tribal land was
confiscated and entire villages forcibly relocated; resistance was countered by
collective punishment. Villages were bombed and hit with nerve gas, And
concentration camps set up behind electrified fences.
7/2/1906. Pu Yi, last Emperor of China, was born in Beijing.
3/2/1906. Japan decided to double the size of its navy by 1908.
Russo-Japanese War 1904-05. Russia defeated, Japan
makes territorial gains in Manchuria region
20/2/1908, Russian General Stossel was sentenced to
death for surrendering to the Japanese.
5/12/1906, Russian Admiral Niebogatov went on
trial, accused of surrendering ships to the Japanese.
5/9/1905. The Treaty of Portsmouth (New Hampshire) was signed, ending the Russo-Japanese
war. Japan acquired south Sakhalin from Russia, also the Russian
leasehold territories in South Manchuria. Russia
also recognised Japanese dominance in Korea, which led to Japan formally
annexing Korea as a colony in 1910. Russia refused to pay any indemnities,
sparking angry demonstrations in Tokyo. This Treaty marked the start of
Japanese expansion into China, which aroused unease in Washington.
29/8/1905. Russia and Japan agreed peace.
An armistice was arranged for 31/8/1905. A peace treaty was signed between
Russia and Japan on 5/9/1905 at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA.
31/7/1905. The Russian governor of Sakhalin Island surrendered to the Japanese.
27/5/1905. The Russian fleet was annihilated by the Japanese at the
Battle of Tsushima. Tsar Nicholas II had sent a fleet of 38 ships on
an 18-month voyage from the Baltic to the Far East, including 7 battleships and
6 cruisers. This was met in the Tsushima Straits by Admiral Togo who commanded
a fleet of similar size. Battle began on the afternoon of the 27 May and
recommenced at dawn on the 28th. All but 3 of the 38 Russian ships
were sunk or captured; Japanese losses were just 3 torpedo boats. The Russian
fleet was too late to save Port Arthur in any case, which had surrendered to
Japan on 2/1/1905. Along with the hunliating defeat at Mukden (10/3/1905) the
Tsar now had to accept a humiliating treaty allowing extensive Japanese territorial gains in northern China.
The rest of the world now had to accept Japan as a major power, although until
1854 Japan had been a feudal state closed to the rest of the world.
30/3/1905, President Roosevelt was asked to mediate in the Far
East war between Japan and Russia.
10/3/1905. The Japanese defeated the 200,000 strong Russian army at
Mukden.
19/2/1905, The Japanese began fighting the
Russians for control of Mukden.
13/2/1905. The Japanese laid siege to Vladivostock.
1/1/1905. Russians defending Port Arthur
finally capitulated to the Japanese; the effort had cost the lives of 60,000
Japanese troops.
5/12/1904. The Japanese destroyed the Russian fleet at Port Arthur.
30/11/1904, The Japanese made headway
against the Russians at Port Arthur, at the cost of 12,000 casualties.
For Dogger Bank Incident, October 1904, see
Russia
26/6/1904. Japanese forces inflicted a heavy defeat on the
Russians at Telissu.
25/5/1904. In a major battle of the
Russo-Japanese war at Nanshan, near Port Arthur, 4,500 Japanese and 3,000
Russians died. Oku sealed off Port Arthur by
land and sea.
1/5/1904. The Battle of the Yalu marked the start of the Russo-Japanese War.
13/4/1904. Russia
lost its flagship battleship Petropavlosk and 600 men to a mine in an ill-fated
sortie from Port Arthur.
6/3/1904, Japan bombarded Vladivostok.
10/2/1904. Night attack by the Japanese crippled the Russian fleet
at Port Arthur.
9/2/1904, Japan landed troops at Chemulpo
(Inchon), near Seoul, Korea; within three weeks they had advanced to the Yalu
River, border of Manchuria.
8/2/1904. The Russo-Japanese war broke out. This was provoked by Russian penetration into
Manchuria and Korea. By 1898 Russia had
secured the Pacific ice-free port of Port Arthur and had linked it to the
Trans-Siberian railway going to Vladivostock and beyond. Japan ousted the Russians from
Seoul, Korea. The Russian
army numbered 1,000,000 peacetime standing, plus 4,500,000 reserves; the
Japanese army only comprised 150,000 men with 900,000 reserves. However the
Russians faced a huge logistical problem because most of their forces had to be
transported from Europe. The Trans-Siberian railway, still incomplete, was not
up to the job. In an effort to resist
the |Japanese they sent their Baltic Fleet around the Cape to the Pacific; en
route they sank two British North Sea trawlers, thinking they were Japanese
warships. See 30/1/1902. Fighting started when the Japanese attacked Port
Arthur without warning, sinking two battleships and a cruiser, trapping the
rest of the fleet in port. Only after this event did Japan declare war on
Russia.
British domination of Tibet 1904-06
27/4/1906. China reluctantly granted Britain control
of Tibet, following the occupation of the capital Lhasa by British troops. However see 1910 above
7/9/1904, A treaty
between the UK and Tibet gave
Britain trading posts in Tibet and a
promise that the Dalai
Lama would not cede
territory to a foreign power such as Russia.
3/8/1904, Tibet’s
religious leader, the Dalai Lama, fled Lhasa as Lord Curzon’s forces entered the
city.
2/8/1904, The
British had faced resistance by Tibetans
against colonial expansion. On this day the British,
successful against Tibet, entered Lhasa. See 7/9/1904. Britain was
concerned about growing Russian
influence over Tibet. In May 1904
the last serious Tibetan resistance, in the Karo Pass, had been overcome. 3,000
Tibetans had taken up position behind a wall connecting two forts fired on
advancing British, Sikh and Ghurkha forces. However the Sikhs outflanked the
Tibetans whilst the Ghurkhas climbed a precipice to fire down on them. The
Tibetans fled, leaving 400 dead.
31/3/1904. British
forces under MacDonald killed some 300
Tibetans attempting to halt a British mission to Tibet.
24/8/1904, The Chinese leader, Deng Xiaoping,
was born in Sichuan Province.
10/11/1903. 10,000 Chinese troops moved into Manchuria.
8/4/1902. Russia signed an agreement with China, promising
to withdraw its troops from Manchuria.
30/1/1902. Japan and the UK
concluded a mutual defence alliance.
See 8/2/1904 and 23/8/1914. Each country agreed not to sign treaties with third
nations without consulting the other; if one country was attacked the other
guaranteed to remain neutral, and furthermore if a second country attacked,
each would aid the other. Each needed an ally in the region. British interests
in China were threatened by other countries, especially Germany, whilst Japan
was under threat from Russian expansion in Manchuria.
7/12/1901, Japan abandoned
negotiations with Russia, and started to arrange an alliance with Britain.
25/11/1901, Prince Hirobumi Ito of Japan, whilst visiting St Petersburg, sought
Russian acceptance of Japanese claims in Korea.
3/8/1901, Pavel Mil,
Soviet
administrator who guided the development of the Chinese Communist Party in the
1920s, was born.
29/4/1901. Birth of Crown Prince
Hirohito. Later Emperor of
Japan.
2/4/1901, A
proposed agreement between Russia and China for Russian occupation of Manchuria
was cancelled by China, after Chinese appeals for support from Britain, Japan
and Germany. For details see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchuria
Boxer rebellion, China, 1899-1902
7/1/1902, Following
the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion,
the Chinese Imperial Court returned to Beijing.
7/9/1901. The Peace
of Peking ended the Boxer Rising in
China. It was signed by a Manchu prince, Li Hung-Chang, and eleven European powers.
Under this Treaty, ten Chinese officials were to be executed and 100 others
punished, China gave formal apologies, Chinese civil service exams were
suspended in 45 cities (so as to penalise the Chinese middle class), the
European Legation quarter was to be expanded and fortified, and permanently
garrisoned with troops, and key railway posts were to be manned by Western
troops to ensure access to Beijing from the sea, and a large indemnity was to
be paid by China.
26/2/1901, Two leaders of China’s Boxer Rebellion were
publically executed in Beijing,
ending the 2-year rebellion against foreigners. Japanese soldiers led the men to their death. In January 1901
10,000 allied troops captured Beijing and ended a 56-day Boxer siege of the
foreign legations. The Chinese Dowager Tzu Hsi shared the beliefs of the
Boxers, the Society of Righteous Harmony Fists, and refused to act against
them. She has now fled Beijing; China had
to pay an indemnity for the deaths of 1,500 foreigners in the rebellion, and to
accept Western troops permanently stationed in Beijing.
14/8/1900. 10,000
European troops entered Beijing and ended
the 56-day Boxer siege of the legations there. The Chinese Dowager fled Beijing, and
accepted the foreign powers’ terms.
These included punishment of 96 senior officials, large reparations in
gold, an expression of regret, and the acceptance of a string of foreign forts
on Chinese territory. Some Boxer leaders
were beheaded in public.
30/6/1900, European
troops, also from the US and Japan, occupied Tianjin, as the Boxer Rebellion
progressed.
20/6/1900. The Boxer troops, and Dong Fuxiang’s Gansu troops,
began attacks on legations, churches, and other foreign establishments. They
murdered the German Ambassador in Peking.
18/6/1900, The
Empress of China ordered that all foreigners in the country were to be killed.
17/6/1900. In response
to the growing Boxer threat, the
allied troops of Germany, Britain, France, the USA, Italy, France, Austria, and
Japan captured the Dagu forts.
3/6/1900, The railway
between Beijing and Tianjin was cut by Boxer rebels.
30/5/1900, Diplomats
representing foreign powers in China requested troops to protect them from
increasing threats from Chinese nationalists.
7/4/1900, Britain,
France, Germany and the US warned China
to suppress the Boxer movement, or face invasion.
9/2/1899, The Boxer Rebellion gained momentum in China. Lack of rain had caused crops to fail, and Boxer
pamphlets blamed the Churches for ‘standing in the way of Heaven and angering
the Gods’. The Boxer publicity blamed ‘blue-eyed barbarians’ for angering the
ancestors and said railways, electric wires and ships must be destroyed.
Britain, France, Germany and Russia had forced territorial concessions from
China. The Boxers, or ‘society of harmonious fists’, were a secret society,
originally formed to promote boxing, who became dedicated to removing foreign
influence from China.
21/5/1900. Russia annexed Manchuria.
30/12/1899, A British missionary was murdered in China, close
to Tsinan. As a result the British consul in Shanghai ordered that three
Chinese should be beheaded, also one to be strangled, another to serve 10 years
in prison, and another to be banished; furthermore, three village elders were
to be flogged. This incident illustrates
the weakness of the Chinese State at the time against British colonialism.
1/7/1898, China leased the New Territories (Hong Kong) to Britain for 99 years.
5/3/1898, Zhou Enlai, Chinese Premier, was born.
30/6/1897, The Shanghai
Foot Emancipation Society was founded. It was one of several such
organisations dedicated to eliminating
the custom of foot-binding which had been practiced on young aristocratic
Chinese girls, leaving them in some cases scarcely able to walk. This practice
dated from the 10th century AD; in China bound (small) feet were considered a
mark of beauty, and also a sign that the woman was wealthy enough not to have
to work. It also made her totally dependent upon her husband. As Christianity
penetrated China in the 1880s a move to make women equal in status to men
began, and to eliminate foot-binding. The Hundred
Days Reform in 1898 also aimed to stop this practice. By 1899 some 800,000
Chinese people has joined anti-foot-binding societies. However the practice
continued into the 20th century, and in 1949 the Communist administration found
it necessary to ban the practice, still underway in remote rural areas. China
retains a ban on foot-binding today.
1/8/1895. The people of Gutian in Fujian Province, destroyed
churches and killed more than ten Australian and British missionaries,
including women and children.
2/6/1895, Japan took formal
possession of Formosa (Taiwan) from
China.
29/5/1895, The Japanese landed near Keelung on the northern
coast of Taiwan, and in a five-month campaign swept southwards to Tainan.
17/4/1895. Japan and
China signed the Peace Treaty of Shimonoseki.
China recognised the independence of Korea (although Japan did not have to recognise this), and ceded Formosa (Taiwan), the Pescadores Islands, and
the Liaodong Peninsula, to Japan. China
also had to pay a huge indemnity to Japan,
and allow Japanese trade in four treaty
ports, which would be exempt from Chinese taxation. Rivalry between Japan and China
over Korea had started this war; the immediate cause was the assassination of a
pro-Japanese politician in Korea,
which gave Japan an excuse to send in
troops. Japan opened hostilities
without declaring war, by sinking a Chinese troopship and machine-gunning the
survivors. However on 23/4/1895 Russia, France, and Germany intervened, forcing
Japan to hand back the Liaodong
Peninsula.
30/11/1895. China and Russia made a secret treaty so that Russia could build the
Trans-Siberian railway through Manchuria to the port of Vladivostock.
21/11/1894. Japan
defeated China at Port Arthur.
1/8/1894. War was formally declared between China and Japan.
27/7/1894, Korea declared
war on China.
25/7/1894, Japanese
forces sank the Kowshing, a British ship carrying Chinese forces to
Korea.
26/12/1893. Mao Tse Tung,
Chinese Communist leader, was born
in Hunan. He was the son of a peasant
farmer.
28/10/1891, A severe earthquake hit Osaka, Japan; 10,000 were
killed.
31/10/1887, Chiang Kai-Shek, Chinese military leader and
politician, was born in Fenghua, Chekiang province.
9/6/1885, The Treaty
of Tientsin was signed, under which China recognised the French
Protectorate of Indo-China in return for France agreeing to respect China’s
southern border. See 26/10/1884.
17/11/1884. Chinese Turkestan was given provincial status, and
renamed Xinjiang, or New Frontier.
26/10/1884, China declared war on France after France
bombarded Taiwan as reprisal for China’s refusal to acknowledge the French
Protectorate of Indo-China, see 9/6/1885.
11/9/1883, Anti-European riots in Canton, China
25/8/1883, A Treaty was signed at Hue recognising Tonkin,
Cochin China and Annam as French Protectorates. However China rejected the
Treaty and resisted French interference in the region.
22/5/1882, The USA signed a treaty with Korea recognising its independence from China, Russia, and Japan.
27/2/1876, Japan and Korea
signed the Treaty of Kanghwa. Until
1873 Korea, governed by the xenophobic Regent Taewon-Gun, had rejected
diplomatic approaches by Japan. In 1875
Japanese gunboats off Kanghwa Island, near Seoul, were fired upon by the Koreans. Japan used this incident to force
closer commercial and political links with Korea,
backed up by the Japanese Navy. The
Treaty of Kanghwa encouraged Western powers to also seek closer links with Korea, ending its isolation and its status as
a vassal state of China.
22/2/1875, Tensions between London and Beijing increased
after Augustus
Margary, a British official, was killed by bandits close to the
Burma-China border.
1/1875, Chinese Emperor Mu Zung
died aged 19. He was succeeded by his cousin Zaitian as the Guangxu Emperor.
10/1874, China agreed to pay
compensation to Japan, and Japan
withdrew its invasion force from Taiwan.
4/1874, Japan invaded Taiwan, justifying the action because
of the murder of 54 Japoanese sailors who had been shipwrecked there in 1871.
24/10/1871. In Los Angeles, 19 Chinese were killed in anti-Chinese riots.
4/7/1871. Russian troops occupied the Ili area of Chinese
Turkestan.
12/11/1866, Sun Yat Sen, President of China, was born.
6/9/1866, Three British tea clippers reached London within hours of each other
after a 16,000 mile race from China. The Serica, Taiping and Ariel left Foochow at the end of May
1866 ; the 200 foot clippers were the fastest ships yet built, sailing at over
20 mph.
7/8/1865. In the continuing Muslim rebellion in Chinese Turkestan, Ya’qub Beg
captured the oasis towns of Kucha and Aksu and took the ruler Burhanuddin as
prisoner. On 7/9/1865 Ya’qub Beg captured Kashgar, slaughtering some 4,000 Han Chinese.
19/7/1864, The British Army under General Gordon assisted Tseng Kuo Fan’s Army to
sack Nanjing. Hung Hsiu Chuan committed suicide by poison as over 100,000 were
killed, and the Taiping Rebellion
was finally ended. See 19/3/1853.
24/10/1860. China gave way to
trade demands from Britain and France after fighting. Beijing was captured on
6/10/1860.
18/10/1860, The Old Summer Palace in Beijing was looted, then
destroyed and burnt by British
soldiers, in revenge for the killing of British negotiators by the Chinese.
6/10/1860, An Anglo-French force invading China captured
Peking.
12/8/1860, The French and British bombarded Sinho, to force
China to admit their diplomats.
29/6/1858, The Treaty of Tientsin ended the Anglo-Chinese
War. China agreed to open up more ports to trade.
28/5/1858. Russia acquired from China the territory on the
left (north) bank of the middle and upper River Amur, along with the territory
on both sides of the lower Amur. This was under the Treaty of Aigun.
31/3/1858, China gave in to
British and French demands for trade concessions.
3/3/1857, Britain and France declared war on China, using the killing of a missionary as a
pretext.
7/9/1853, Shanghai fell to rebels as the Taiping
Rebellion continued.
19/3/1853, Taiping (Heavenly Peace) rebels in China, a Protestant movement, challenged the
ruling Manchu Ch’ing dynasty by taking the city of Nanjing. See 19/7/1864.
19/10/1851, Myeongseong, Empress
of Korea, was born.
22/8/1849, Amaral, the Portuguese Governor of Macao, was
assassinated for his pro-Chinese policies.
25/7/1845. China
granted Belgium equal trading rights with Britain, France, and the USA. See
24/10/1844.
24/10/1844. France
and China signed the Treaty of Whampoa,
opening up Chinese ports to French trade. French traders came under French, not
Chinese, law, and the French gained the right to build Catholic churches in the
treaty ports of China.
3/7/1844. China and the USA signed the Treaty
of Wanghiya, giving US citizens similar rights to those of the UK in the
Treaty of Nanjing signed in 1843. US traders now had access to the same five
Chinese trading ports as Britain did.
1/12/1843. China again banned
opium smoking, the cause of the Opium War. However the Chinese already
had an insatiable appetite for it, and
ignored this decree. Opium smuggling into China was rampant, run by
gangsters such as the Triads.
17/11/1843. In accordance with the Treaty
of Nanjing (see 29/8/1842) Shanghai was opened up to foreign trade.
8/10/1843, Britain and China signed the British Supplementary
Treaty; an addition to the Treaty of Nanjing (29/8/1842), giving Britain
favourable trading terms with China. See 3/7/1844.
29/8/1842. The Opium War
(1839-1842) between Britain and China ended (see 26/1/1841) with the Treaty of Nanjing. China ceded Hong
Kong Island in perpetuity to Britain and opened up five ports to foreign
trade. There was further humiliation
for the Chinese; they were to pay
US$21million over the next 5 years for the opium they destroyed, which started
the war. On 5/4/1843 Queen Victoria
proclaimed Hong Kong a British Crown Colony.
26/1/1841. Hong
Kong was proclaimed British territory. It was occupied by British troops as
the Opium War with China continued. It was ceded by China on 20/1/1841,
in what the Chinese termed the ‘Unequal
Treaties’. The much larger
area known as the ‘New Territories’ was leased from China until 1997. This area contained Hong Kong’s water supplies
and the whole territory was returned to China then.
See 5/7/1840, and 29/8/1842.
20/1/1841, Hong Kong
was ceded to Britain by China, see 26/1/1841.
5/7/1840. In the Opium War (see 4/9/1839), British naval forces bombarded
Dinghai on Zhousan Island and then occupied it. See 26/1/1841. This war is not
just about opium but the right to force
China to open its ports to British trade.
20/2/1840, In the UK, Palmerston ordered the British Navy to attack China in order to prevent
the suppr4ession of the opium trade.
30/1/1840, The Emperor of China, Emperor Daoguang, forbade all trade with Britain. This was an
effort to curb the flood of opium entering China.
3/11/1839, Britain began to
assemble an expeditionary military force
as relations with China deteriorated
over the opium trade issue.
4/9/1839. The British fired
the first shots on the Chinese in the Opium War, see 24/3/1839. On
3/11/1839 British and Chinese forces clashed near the Bogue Forts at the mouth
of the Pearl River. The formal declaration of the Opium War was in June
1840. see 5/7/1840.
24/3/1839. The Chinese blockaded foreign owned opium factories. This was to force the
factories to hand over their opium stocks for destruction. The Chinese destroyed 20,000 chests of opium
belonging to British traders, worth US$ 12 million. Opium had been imported
from India to China since the 17th century, but was now ruining the
Chinese economy. European tea imports
from China had been paid for in silver but the merchants forced them to accept
opium instead. The British also refused to hand over sailors who killed a
Chinese peasant in a drunken pub brawl. News of this reached London on
5/8/1839, and on 23/8/1839 the British assembled a fleet of warships off Hong
Kong. See 4/9/1839.
12/12/1838. In China, a riot broke out when British and American opium traders drove away
Chinese officials intending to execute a native opium dealer in front of
the foreign owned opium factories.
10/3/1839, An
imperial Chinese official named Lin Zexu arrived at Canton with orders from Emperor
Daoguang to eradicate the opium trade.
1799, China made opium illegal.
9/2/1796, Qianlong,
6th emperor of the Qing dynasty and the
leader of China at its pre-modern peak of power, size, and prestige, abdicated
in the 61st year of his reign in favor of his 35-year-old son. Though, until
his death three years later, Qianlong continued to exercise power from
behind the scenes, his abdication was crucial to his dynasty’s legitimacy. Qianlong abdicated one day before the length of his reign
would have matched that of his illustrious grandfather, Emperor Kangxi. Kangxi’s
unprecedentedly long reign was viewed as a kind of golden age, and Kangxi
was still held in high regard. For Qianlong to outshine his grandfather would
have been viewed as immodest, reflecting badly on the House of Aisin Gor. His
abdication preserved respect for the imperial office.
1775, The Yangtze Delta area of China
was now the most economically
developed region of the country.
1736, Chi’en Lung became Emperor of
China aged 25, commencing the Ch’ing Dynasty that endured until 1796. He
extended Chinese control far into central Asia. He also spent huge amounts of
money on imperial leisure.
8/10/1735, Qianlong
succeeded Yongzheng
as Emperor of China.
1729, China banned the sale and
smoking of opium.
1724, The huge Chinese encyclopedia, Gujin Tushu Jicheng, was printed using
movable type.
20/12/1722, Qing Kangxi, Emperor of China,
born 1654, died after the longest reign in China.
1720, Tibet became a dependency
of China. Apart from foreign and military affairs, China largely left Tibet
alone until te 20th century.
1696, China launched an invasion of
Outer Mongolia.
7/9/1689, China
signed the Treaty of Nerchinsk with Russia. This was the first treaty signed by China
with another country as opposed to a vassal state. The Treaty settled
border disputes in the Amur region.
5/2/1661, Emperor Kangxi
began his reign in China; he ruled for over 61 years.
1650, Death of Prince Dorgon (born 1612). he
was the uncle of the child-Emperor and so exercised real power. He made
compulsory for all male Chinese the ‘queue’hairstyle,shaved at the front and a pigtail
at the back. This clashed with the Confucian ideal that hair,as a gift from
your parents,whouldnever be cut. Thousands of Chinese were executed for defying
the ‘Queue Order’.
1645, Construction of the Potala
Palace, the largest Buddhist monastery in Tibet, began.
25/4/1644, China’s
last Ming Emperor committed
suicide, as rebels led by Li Zi Cheng reached the gates of Beijing. The Manchu Qing Dynasty began.
The Manchus invaded Korea, which became a vassal State to China.
1643, Abahai (born 1592), Manchu leader, 8th son of Nurhaci,
died. He rose to supremacy over the other senuor Manchu princes, becoming sole leader. Under his rule, from his
capital at Mukden Abahai extended the Manchu empire into Korea and Mongolia, and raided northern China.
In 1636 Abahai
proclaimed himself Emperor of the Qing Dynasty; then invaded
China in 1644.
1636, The Qing Dynasty
was founded by the Manchus.
1634, The English established a trading post at Canton.
1626, Manchu leader Abahai, 8th son of Nurhaci,
(1592-1643) succeeded him as ruler.
30/9/1626, Manchu
leader Nurhaci
died (born 1559)
1625, The Manchus established their capital at Mukden.
1624, The Dutch established a trading post in Taiwan.
3/1619, The Qing defeated the
Ming at the Battle of Sarhu.
1616, Manchu leader Nurhaci became Great Jin (khan) of China.
1593, Japan pulled its forces out of Korea following Chinese
military intervention. Japanese land forces had prevailed against the Korean
army, but well-armoured Korean naval forces had repulsed the Japanese navy.
Korea although victorious was devastated,and the cost of intervention bore
heavily on China, provoking riots against increased taxation and leaving the
country weakened on its strategic north-eastern frontier.
1588, Famine and lawlessness in China.
1581,The ‘Single Whip’ tax reforms in China now entailed all
taxes being based on property ownership, as recorded in a central register, and
payable in silver. The aim was both to simplify the tax system and to avoid
inflation which had been caused by the debasement of a paper currency after the
inflow of Spanish and Japanese silver.
1573, In China, Wan Li became Emperor at age 10.
He ruled for 47 years as Emperor Shen Zong.
1557, The Portuguese first obtained
permission from China to trade at Macao.
8/1517, The Portuguese became the
first Europeans to visit Taiwan.
They called it Ilha Formosa, meaning
‘beautiful island’.
China bans
sea voyages, after Zheng He
1500, It became a capital offence for any Chinese to go to sea in a ship with
more than two masts, without special permission. This was a further measure
aimed at erasing the era of Zheng He’s voyages.
1477, Courtiers tentatively suggested reviving the voyages of Zheng He.
In response a group of civil servants led by Liu Daxia
destroyed all
the records of these voyages they could find, on the grounds that the expense,
and lives lost, did not justify the rewards.
30/7/1470, Hongzhi, Emperor of China, was born.
1464, Revolts broke out across Ming China,
as a result of famine. They were harshly suppressed by the rigid Ming
government, with the aid of 160,000 troops. However further such rebellions
broke out, in 1466, 1467 and 1475.
1436, Emperor
Zhengtong denied a
request from Nanjing shipyards for craftsmen to maintain Zheng He’s ships. However Zhengtong
was only 9 years old at this time and the real decision was made by his
advisors.
1433, Zheng He died (1371-1433) died.
1433, China
abrubtly halted its overseas
exploration,
even banning the construction of seagoing ships. One factor was the cost of these expeditions, draining
the Chinese Treasury.
Zheng He’s ships could probably have reached North and South America
(although they almost certainly did not), making the Americas a Chinese
colony decades before Columbus
got there. In fact Columbus might never have sailed, because the
large Chinese ships also had the capability to reach Europe, making vassal
states in Europe also.
However the great fleet of Zheng He
was left to rot at Nanjing shipyards, and in 1436 a request for craftsmen to
maintain these ships was denied. By 1500 the ships had rotted beyond repair.
1424, Emperor Yongle
died, and his successor’s first act was to halt overseas voyages. The Indian
ocean states then stopped sending tribute, so Zheng He was sent out again in
1431.
5/8/1424, Emperor Chu Ti, also known as Yongle
or Ch’eng
Tsu, died (born 2/5/1360). Under his rule China sent out exploration
fleets, between 1403 and 1433, under the command of the Muslim eunuch Cheng Ho (Zheng He). These expeditions reached Java, southern
India, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and eastern Africa as far south as
Zanzibar. He also maintained peaceable relations with the Mongols and other
peoples, as far as the Amur River and west to Herat and Samarkand.
1421, China transferred the capital from
Nanjing to the Forbidden City in Beijing.
1416, Zheng He’s ships reached Aden.
1405, Zheng He sailed from Nanjing to Sri Lanka. He led a fleet of nearly
300 ships, with 27,000 sailors.
1405, Chinese Emperor
Yongle announced plans to send ambassadors to ‘the various countries
of the Western (Indian) Ocean’, to create diplomatic links, bestow rewards, and
exact tribute.
1/1368, Zhu Yuanzhang, founder of the Ming (=
Brilliant) Dyansty, proclaimed himelf Emperor. He made Nanjing the
capital of China.
1/1328, Zhu Yuanzhang, founder of the
Ming Dyansty, was born in poverty. He joined a Buddhist monastery as a teenager
but that too was poor and he had to beg for food on the streets. Soon, this
monastery was burnt down in China’s civil wars.
29/11/1394, The capital city
of the Joseon Dynasty in present-day Korea
was moved from Gaegyeong (now Gaeseong)
to Hanseong (now Seoul).
1392, The Yi Dynasty, which ruled
Korea until 1910, was founded by
warlord Yi Songgye.
He was a General under the Goryo regime.
11/10/1335, Yi Seong-gye, founder of the Joseon Dynasty, was born in Korea.
Yuan
Dynasty
2/5/1360, Emperor Chu Ti, also known as Yung Lo
or Ch’eng
Tsu, was born. See 5/8/1424.
1355, Nanking was recaptured from the Mongols by 27-year-old Chinese patriot Chu Yuan Chang.
19/3/1279, The last Song child-Emperor
was defeated by the Mongols at the Batlle of Yamen, a naval battle off the
coast of southern China.
1274, End of the seige of
Xiangyang (now, Xiangfan, Hubei Province). The Mongols had been besieging the city for 6 years, and finally
triumphed when they brought in counterweight trebuchets, that could catapult
huge stones up to 1 metre in diameter.
1267, Beijing was founded as a city called Khanbelig, founded by Kublai Khan.
1260, Yuan Dynasty founded,
by Kublai
Khan, a 44-year-old grandson of the late Ghenghis Khan. It endured until
1368.
1243, The earliest evidence for footbinding in China; tiny shortened
slippers from the tomb of Huang Sheng, a 7-year-old girl buried this year.
Original 13 c footbindoing made the feet slimmer, but by the 17 c it was also
being used to make the feet shorter, grossly distorting and twisting the toes
back under the sole.
1234, The Song Emperor
proposed an alliance with the Mongols against the Jurchen.
As before, this resulted in the Mongols taking over the Jurchen
Empire and bringing China to its knees. However China was saved from total
annihilation because Genghiz Khan had died in 1227, replaced by his
son Ogodei.
Other family members feared that allowing Ogodei to take over China would make him too
powerful, so the Mongol chiefs launched major raids into Europe, to distract
from the China adventure.
1215, The Mongols under Genghiz Khan raided and burnt
Beijing.
1194, The Yellow River burst its
banks, once again, destroying the dikes that brought coal and food to Kaifeng,
and carried its manufactured products out. This natural disaster had occurred
several times before, but now the Chinese State was weakened by wars with the
Mongols and Jurchen, and recovery was much
harder.
1161, Battle of Zaishi; Southern Song repulsed a Jurchen Jin invasion .This victory, along with that off the Shandong
Peninsula, allowed the Song Rmpire to survive
another century before its conquest by the Mongols in 1279.
16/11/1161, The Jurchen Jin dynasty planned a seaborne invasion of southern Song China. Some 70,000 soldiers embarked on transport ships.
Their commander, Zheng Zia, was not intending to undertake a sea battle, a
form of warfare which his horseborne steppe warriors had no experience. However
the invasion fleet was intercepted by a squadron of Song
warships, commanded by Li Bao, in the islands off the Shandong
Peninsula. The Song warships included ‘tower ships’; these
had a trebuchet to hurl missiles. They also had inflammable gunpowder missiles
that set fire to enemy ships. Many Jurchen
soldiers drowned as they leapt off burning ships, including Zheng Zia.
1153, The Jurchen
Jin moved their capital from Manchuria to
Beijing.
1141, The Jurchen
Jin Empire
in northen China was established, with the Song Chinese Empire now
ruling a reduced territory in the south.
The two empires signed the Treaty of
Shaoxing and peaxe was established for the enxt 20 years.
1132, China, Song Dynasty, established its first permament navy, at
Dinghai.
9/1/1127, Kaifeng
in northern China was captured by the Jurchen, after
a siege that began in 12/2216,. The Jurchen’s military technology and capability was rapidly
developing. They also captured the Song Emperor.
1125, Jin Dynasty
founded by the Jurchens.
1115, The ‘wild Jurchens’ of Manchuria offered to ally with Emperor Hui
Tsung to help fight the Khitans, who also lived to the
north of China. This was a tactical error by Hui Tsung, who was more a lover
of high culture than a skilled statesman, for soon the Jurchens
turned against him and were themselves attacking northern China, see 9/1/1127.
1101, The Chinese Sung Emperor Hui
Tsung acceded, aged 19, to begin a 24-year reign.
1071, Eastern Tibet disintegrated into small states, paving the way for
penetration by China.
1068, Chinese Emperor Shen
Tsung began a 17-year reign. He was a radical reformer.
30/4/1063, Renzong,
Emperor of China, died.
1038, The Western Xia in north-west China declared independence.
Winter 1018/19, Some 100,000 Liao soldiers, a mix of Khitan mounted bowmen
and Chinese peasand conscripts, began an invasion of Goryo Kingdom, Korea.
Goryo had an army twice that soize but most were poorly-trained foot militaia
with just basic equipment. Gang Gam Chan, Goryo military commander,
failed to stop the Chinese advancing towards the Goryo capital, Kaesung, but
subjected them to constant harassment as they advanced further into enemy
territory. Tye Khitan commander, Xiao Baiya, became increasingly nervous and
finally he turned tail and made for home. The Koreans now attacked the hungry
exhausted Chinese as they withdrew; Goryo’s continued existence was assured,
and Gang
Gasm Chan hailed as a national hero.
1013, Fuel riots in Kaifeng. Ironworks
had stripped entire forests around the city for charcoal, driving the price of
firewood beyond affordability of many households. Fortunately Kaifeng was close
to coal deposits, which were soon
after this utilised for fuel.
1004, The earliest mention of gunpowder, in
China. Gunpowder, a mixture of saltpetre (potassium nitrate, the white
powder that forms in organic-rich environments protected from rainfall, sulphur
and charcoal, powdered together, is explosive because the potassium nitrate
provides the oxygen for very rapid combustion; gunpowder is stable at room
temperature but can be set off by temperatures above 300 C. Daoist alchemists
had reportedly discovered a crude form of gunpowder as early as 850, whilst loking for the
elixir of life, and by 950 this burning black powder was being catapulted as a
weapon, although at this date its explosive power was limited.
Gunpowder gave the West the gun, which was to demolish the ancient chivalric
knightly horse-based warfare of the Mediaeval period, and give the infantry the
upper hand. Gunpowder likewise demolished the
power of the Japanese Samurai, when the gun entered Japanese society. Early guns (cannon) were
in use in Europe by 1326, but were low-powered and inaccurate until
metallurgists found how to cast strong barrels to contain and direct larger
explosive charges, from the 1400s.
993, The Khitan, nomadic
horsemen from central Asia who now ruled much of northern China, now began
attempts to conquer te Korean Kingdom of Goryeo.
979, The Song Dynasty
conquered the Northern Han State.
978, The Wu-Yue State
suyrrendered to the Song Dynasty.
975, The Song Dynasty
conquered the Southern T’ang Kingdom
and Hunan province.
971, The Southern Han fell to
the Song Dynasty.
965, Northern Song armies
conquered the Later Shu Kingdom.
960, The Song Dynasty,
which ruled China until 1279, was established by Chao K’uang-yin who began to reunite China. He ruled
until 976 as (Sung)
T’ai Tsu. The Song Dynasty overlapped
with the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, which began in 1260.
951, The Chu State was taken
over by the Southern T’ang. The Later Zhou Dynasty was founded by Guo Wei. The
Northern Han Dynasty was founded by Lui Min, in northern China.
950, The fall of the Later Han
Dynasty.
947, The Khitan Empire
adopted the dynastic name ‘Great Liao’. The Later Jin Dynasty fell to the Later
Han Dynasty, founded by Gaozu of Later Han.
945, The Southern T’ang Dynasty
conquered the Min Kingdom.
942, End of the Southern Han
Dynasty.
935, The Goryo Kingdom was established in Korea, reuniting the
peninsula.
935, Later Shu, one of theTen
Kingdoms, was founded by Meng Zhixiang.
927, Chu State, one of the Ten
Kingdoms, was founded by Ma Yin.
925, The Shu Kingdom (one of
the Ten Kingdoms) fell to the Later T’ang.
924, The Qi State in north west
China fell to the Later T’ang Dynasty.
923, The Later Liang Dynasty
fell to the Later T’ang Dynasty (founded by Li Cunxu).
921, During the Later Liang
Dynasty, the Khitan stated that they had ‘pacified all barbarian tribes’.
908, Khitan Mongols under Ye-lu a-pao-chi began to conquer Inner
Mongolia and adjacent areas of China.
T’ang Dynasty
907,
In China, fall of the T’ang Dynasty. Zhu Wen
established the Later Liang Dynasty.
This was the first of northern China’s Five
Dynasties; for
the next 50 years China was divided into many warring states.
905,
The Khitan Empire was set up in southern Manchuria.
902,
The Wu State was founded in Yangzhou, southern China by Yang Xingmi.
884,
The T’ang Dynasty suppressed the Huang Zhao rebellion, with the help of
the Shatuo Turkic tribes. However T’ang power was
weakend.
874,
Peasant revolt against the T’ang rulers after a
severe drought. In 880
Hunag Zhao, a peasant rebel turned
General, usurped the throne from the T’ang Emperor.
845,
Buddhism was banned in China.
18/11/763, Forces of the Tibetan
Empire under Trisong Detsan occupied the T’ang Chinese capital Chang’an for 16 days. Chang’an, formerly a city of one million people, was virtually
obliterated.
762, Emperor Tang
Xuanzong, sixth emperor of the T’ang Dynasty, ruler
712-756, born 685, died. The 755 rebellion rebellion of An LuShan, a
frontier General, forced his abdication. The dynasty was restored, with reduced
power, in 763.
However the Turkic rebellion was only
curbed by inviting in other Turkic military men in from the steppes and
eventually further rebellions and Turkic incursions ensued. Tax revenues fell
as disorder grew, and eventually in 907 a warlord ended the T’ang
Dynasty by murdering a teenage Emperor and seizing power.
757, General An Lushan was assassinated. However see 762.
755, General An Lushan, rather inevitably, turned on his Chinese ruler Emperor Tang Xuanzong (see 740), creating civil
war within China. Xuanzong and Yuhian fled; facing demands from the military for the
execution of Yuhuan, Xuanzong had her strangled by his chief eunuch, to keep her
out of the soldier’s hands.
7/751, Battle of Talas, on the Talas River in modern-day Kazakhstan. Chinese
expansion westwards had met Islamic Arab expansion estwards. Local Uighurs
asked the Arabs for protection. The Arab army under Ziadh Ibn Salih was
bosletered by Uighurs and Tibetans, giving it numerical superiority over the
Chinese forcres led by Korean-born General Gao Xianzhi. The Chinese were
attacked in the rear by Turkic nomadic horsemen, the Karluks, and defeated.
Many Chinese were taken prisoner, including two experts in papermaking. From
the Arab world, papermaking technology then reached the West. Maenwhile China
plunged ointo civil war and abandoned iyts expansion intio central Asia,
leaving the region to be Islamicised.
746, Emperor Tang
Xuanzong began to favour Taoism over Buddhism.
740, Emperor Tang
Xuanzong fell in love with a woman known as Guifei (meaning
‘consort; real name Yuhuan) who was formerly his son’s wife. Yuhuan demanded
that Xuanzong favour a
certain General An
Lushan, aTurkic soldier but fighting on the Chinese side. General Lushan was
allowed to accumulate great power and huge armies, However see 755.
733, China,under the T’ang Dynasty, now
had 17,680 civil servants.
713, The
Chinese Emperor Ming Huang acceded to the
throne; he ruled until 756. He promoted the arts and learning.
16/12/705, Empress Wu Zhou of China died. Born in 625, she became a
junior concubine in the palace of Emperor Taizong in 638; on his death in 649 she became very close to his
successor, Kao Tsung. In 655 she
became Empress. By 660 Emperor Kao Tsung was very ill and Wu Zhou was effective ruler of China. Between 655 and 675 China
conquered Korea. In 690
Wu Zhou officially became Empress. In
February 705 Chinese government ministers forced her to abdicate in favour of
her son, Chung Tsung.
694, Empress Wu Zhou Tian conquered the kingdom of Khotan, western China.
690, Empress Wu Zhou Tian became Empress of China, founding the Zhou Dynasty. She was the only woman in
history to rule China. She ruled until her death in 705.
668, The Buddhist Silla Kingdom
of Korea, backed up by China, conquered the other two kingdoms on the
peninsula, Paekche, and Koguryo in the north, unifying the
region. However by the late 700s the Silla Kingdom broke up.
663, Battle of Baekgang. China
had remained unable to subdue the Gogyureo
Kingdom of Korea, despite growing Chinese power. Hiowever there were two
other smaller Koirean kingdoms, Silla and Baekje, and these offered China tye
chance to open a second front against Goguryeo. China allied with Silla and
fought against Goguryeo and its ally Baekje. Meanwhile Japan felt threatened by
growing Chinese power in Korea, and assembled a fgleet to carry 40,000 troops
to aid Baekje. At this time Chinese and Silla forces were besieging the the
Baekje capital, Churyu. The Jaoanese fleet sailed to the mouth of the Geum
River, intendiong to sail upstream to relieve Churyu. However the river estuary was blocked by a
smaller Chinese fleet, which sent the Japanese fleet into disarray. The Chinese
fired burning arrows at the Japanese ships, setting many on fire and drowning
many Japanese sailors. Eventually Baekje was defeated, and Silla went on to
contrioo the whole Korean Peninsula. Japan prepared elaborate defences on its
home island for a Chinese invasion that never came.
649, Emperor Taizong, second emperor
of the T’ang Dynasty, ruler since 627 (born 600), died.
He was succeeded by his weak-willed son who was heavily influenced by Empress Wu.
644, The
Chinese T’ang Dynasty mounted an invasion of the Goguryo Kingdom in Korea.
639, In
Tibet, King Sbrong Tsan Sgam Po introduced Buddhism from India, and founded Lhasa.
630, Emperor Taizong exploited civil
strife within the Turkic tribes to extend Chinese rule deeper into the Asian
steppes. Meanwhile the Chinese explorer Xuanzang reached India on
his overland travels west. He returned to China having visited as far west as
what is now Persia, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan in 645.
627, Chinese
Emperor Kao Tsu abdicated after a
9-year reign. He was succeeded by his son who ruled as Emperor Taizong until 649.
624, The T’ang Court officially
adopted Buddhism. The Emperors’s son, Taizong, subdued
rebellons in northern China,consolidating their power.
621, In
China, an imperial bureau was established to regulate the manufacture of porcelain.
618, In China the T’ang Dynasty
began; it lasted until 907. This dynasty was founded by an official of the Sui Dynasty, Li Yuan, who now began ruling as Emperor Kao Tsu (meaning, High Progenitor).
T’ang Dynasty
617, Sui Gong Di succeeded Sui Yang Di as Emperor of China.
615, Turkic tribes invaded China.
612, Koguryo, in modern-day Korea, opened negotiations with the Turkic tribes to raid China; the Sui Emperor of China was forced to act,
and sent a large army to vanquish Koguryo. However poor planning, bad
leadership and adverse weather ensured the failure of the Chinese force. In
613 the Emperor sent a second army, with the same
result, and again this happened to a third army in 614. The ongoing costs of raising a
fourth army brought about rebellions in China that rocked the State.
604, Death of
Emperor Wen Di. Accession
of Emperor Yang Di. His rule
was despotic and he was deposed in 617.
4/8/598, Emperor Sui Wen Di ordered his youngest son, Yang Liang, to conquer Korea during the rainy season, with a Chinese army (300,000 men).
589, Emperor Sui Wen
Di, first Sui Emperor, conquered southern China. Northern State power now combined with
southern rice resources.
587, End of the Nan Liang
Dynasty.
585, Emperor
Xiaojing succeeded Emperor
Xiaoming as ruler of the Nan
Liang Dynasty.
581, The Sui Dynasty replaced the Northern Zhou Dynasty. The first ruler
was Sui Wen Di.
579, End of
the Northern
Qi Dynasty.
565, Hou Zhu succeeded Wu Cheng Di as ruler of the Northern Qi
Dynasty.
562, Nan Xiao Ming Di succeeded Nan Liang Xuan Di as ruler of the Nan Dynasty.
561, Wu Cheng Di succeeded Xiao Zhao Di as ruler of the Northern Qi
Dynasty.
557, Start of
the Northern Zhou Dynasty; the first
ruler was Xiao Min Di. In
southern China the Liang Dynasty ended, and
the Chen Dynasty began; the first Chen ruler was Chen Wu Di.
556, End of
the Western Wei Dynasty.
555, Start of
the Nan Lang Dynasty; the first
ruler was Nan Liang Xuan Di. Liang Yuan Di was succeeded by Liang Zheng Yang Hou and then Liang Jing Di.
554, Wei Ging Di succeeded Wei Fei Di as ruler of the Western Wei.
551, Liang Yuan Di succeeded Liang Yu Zhang Wang as ruler of the Liang Dynasty.
550, In
northern China the Eastern Wei Dynasty
was replaced by the Northern Qi Dynasty. Qi Wen Xuan was the first Northern Qi ruler..
549, Emperor Jin Wen succeeded Emperor Wu as ruler of the Liang Dynasty.
534, The Northern Wei Kingdom split into east and
western States. The east was the more innovating part; the west remained
traditionalist.
532, Xiao Wu Di succeeded An Ding Wan as ruler of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
530, Guang Wang succeeded Xiao Zhuang Di as ruler of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
528, Xiao Zhuang Di succeeded Xiao Ming Di as ruler of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
522, The
earliest known pagoda in China was
built at the Sung Yuen Temple in Honan. The structure derived from the tall
Indian stupa.
502, End of
the Southern Qi Dynasty. End of
the rule of Qi He Di. Start of
the Liang Dynasty. Chinese Emperor Liang Wu Di began a 47-year reign.
501, Qi He Di succeeded Qi Dong Hun Hou as ruler of the Southern Qi Dynasty.
500, There were now about ten million Buddhists in China.
496, The
ruling Tuoba family of the Northern Wei Dynasty changed their name to Yuan.
493, The Northern
Wei capital moved to Luoyang.
479, End of the Song Dynasty; start of
the Southern Qi Dynasty in
southern China. Qi Gao Di was the
first ruler of the Qi Dynasty.
471, Xiao Wen Di succeeded Xian Wen Di as ruler of the Northern Wei.
465, Song Qian Fei
Di and then Song Ming Di became
rulers of the Song Dynasty.
452, Tai Wu Di was
succeeded by Nan An Wang, and then by
Wen Cheng Di, as ruler
of the Northern Wei.
450, Death of Cui Hao, main
architect of the Northern Wei
administrative reforms.
439, The Northern Wei Kingdom began to
unite the whole of northern China.
430, Emperor Feng
Ba was succeeded as ruler by Feng
Hong as Emperor of the Northen
Yan; one of the states competing for control of China.
427, The Korean King Changsu made Pyongyang the capital of the country.
424, Song Wen Di succeeded Song Shao Di as Song
Emperor.
420, End of the Jin Dynasty;
Liu Yu (Emperor Wu of Lui Song) became first Emperor of
the Song Dynasty.
416, Emperor Gong succeeded Emperor An of the Jin Dynasty.
400, There were now about one
million Buddhists in China. However in the
politically-unstable north of China the Buddhists tended to cluster in the cities
for protection. This rendered them liable to government control. In 400 the Northern Wei, strongest of the northern Chinese
kingdoms, set up a government department to ‘supervise’ Buddhists, and in
446 began persecution of them. In southern China the Buddhists enjoyed
more freedom, and in 402 an Emperor even no longer required them to bow to him.
396, Emperor An succeeded Emperor Xiaowu as ruler of the Jin Dynasty.
393, Gao Zu succeeded Tai Zu as Emperor of the Later Qin Empire in China.
380s, The Kingdom of the Northern
Wei (also known as the Tuoba
Wei, after the Tuoba clan, who
governed the State) was set up by the Xianbei.
They reunified northern China.
383, At the Battle of
Feishui (Fei River), the Jin Dynasty defeated the Former Qin Dynasty. Fu Jian, founder of the Former Qin Dynasty dynasty,
had expanded his rule into territories north of the Yangtse River, then turned
his attention southwards.He took the Jin satellite States
of Former Yan and Sichuan, then found further expansion blocked by the Eastern Jin . Xiaowu of the Eastern Jin
could only muster an army of 80,000 to meet the Former Qin army of
900,000; however Xiaowu’s army was
well disciplined, against Fu Jian’s largely
reluctant-conscript army,many recruited from conquered territories. The two
armies met on opposite banls of the Fei River, with Fu
Jian on the north bank. The river was too deep to ford at this
point, so the armies could not engage. The Jin Generals sent a
message to the Qin camp asking them to move upriver
to a point where they could do battle. The Qin commanders were sceptical, because
moving their huge 900,000 strong army would be logistically difficult, but they
agreed, confident of destroying the smaller 80,000 Jin
army when they did meet. However Fu Jian’s troops,
undisciplined, were unnerved by the move, and the Jin
shouted out that it was a retreat; this rumour spread amongst the Qin troops and
soon it was believed by all of them. Fu Jian’s army fled in a hopeless
disorganised rabble, and was slaughtered by the Jin.
365,In China, Emperor Fei succeeded Emperor Ai.
361, In China, Emperor Ai succeeded Emperor Mu,
350, One region in northern China slaughtered over 200,000
central Asians in an orgy of ethnic cleansing. Between 265 and 287, over
250,000 central Asians had migrated into China as climate change made the central Asian
steppes colder and drier. These new arrivals were sometimes welcomed for the
extra manpower they provided; at other times they were seen as a political threat
to the State.
349, The Mou-Jong (Mongols) conquered northern China.
317, Yuandi became the
first Eastern Jin Emperor. The Eastern Jin
Dynasty (317-420) brought a period of stability fo China.
316, The Xiongnu sacked the city of Chang’an, capitalof the
Chinese Western Jin Dynasty. Jin Mindi, Emperor, (acceded 313) surrendered,
ending the dynasty.
314, The Jin Dynasty abandoned
northern China to the Xiongnu.
311, Luoyang, the Chinese capital,was sacked by a confederation
of barbarians led by the Huns.The Chinese Emperor was captured.
307, Jin Huai Di became
Emperor of China.
304, The Hun Lui Yan invaded
China and established the Han Kingdom,beginning
the Sixteen Kingdoms Era in China.
291, The Western Jin allowed
steppe people from north of the Great Wall to settle inside China’s borders.
290, Jin Hui Di succeeded Jin Wu Di as Emperor of China.
280,The Wu Kingdom was
subsumed by the Jin Dynasty, ending the Three Kingdoms Period.
China was now united again under Sima Yao.
274, The Jin Dynasty conquered
the Eastern Wu.
265, Emperor
Wu of Jin founded the Jin Dynasty.
264, Sun Hao
succeeded Sun
Xiu as ruler of the Wu Kingdom.
263, The Wei Kingdom conquered the Shu Han Kingdom.
260, Nanjing University
was founded.
249,
Collapse of the Wei
Dynasty. Its territory was taken by the Western Jin.
243, Sun Liang became
ruler of the Kingdom of Wu.
239, In the Chinese Wei Kingdom, Qi Wang succeeded Wei Ming Di.
234, Zhuge Liang’s Fifth Northern
Expedition. Liang’s commander Sima Yi had organised food supplies. Sima Yi, Wei Kingdom, established an impregnable
position along the Wei River, and gradually wore down the Shu forces ina series of
pinprick raids. The Shu army was
also hit by disease and food shortages. Zhuge Liang himself died in
his camp. Demoralised, the Shu
army began a retreat to carry their
revered leader’s body hume. Sima Yi hesitated to pursue, unsure
whether :Liang was really dead, or it was a ploy to lure him into a fight and defeat
him. In any case the Shu fell to
infighting as they straggled back south in disarray.
228, Zhuge Liang, Shu Kingdom, began a series of ‘Northern Expeditions’ to defeat the Wei and reunify China. There were major logistical
problems, including marches through rugged terrain and sparse food supplies.
226, Death of Chinese Emperor Cao
Pi (born 186).
222, The Wu Kingdom was
established.
221, Liu
Bei, a Chinese warlord who was related to the Han Dynasty, proclaimed himself Emperor.The Shu Han Kingdom was established.
220, End of the Eastern Han Dynasty.It was succeeded by the Three Kingdoms (, Wei Wu, and Shu Han) and then the Jin Dynasty. Cao Cao’s son Cao Pi forced Xiandi to
abdicate; by 222,
Cao Pi, Liu Bei and Sun
Quan all declared themselves Emperor; the unity of China under the Han Dynasty was over.
208, Battle of the Red
Cliffs. Han Dynasty Minister
Cao Cao attempted to subdue rebellious warlords Lui Bei and Sun Quan in the
south of China. Cao Cao needed to
win control of the Yangtze River, but his army was unused to naval fighting. He
advanced to the Yakngtze overland, then captured a fleet of river boats, and
sailed down to meet the warlords. However Cao
Cao’s army was unable to fight on moving ship decks, and
encountered unfamiliar diseases in southern China, causing many to fall sick. Cao Cao lashed some ships together to
stabilise the decks but Zhou Yu, commander
of the warlords’ armies, then sent fireships into Cao
Cao’s immobilised fleet. The massive casulaties this caused, and
mass illness, caused Cao cao to decide on a rapid retreat north. China then
became divided into the Three
Kingdoms, led by the three combatants at Red Cliffs; Cao Cao in Wei, Liu in Shu, and Sun in Wu.
190, Accession of Xiandi, the last Han Emperor.
189, Eunuch rule in China
ended by General Dong Zhuo.
184, A rebellion by the Yellow Turban
peasants weakened the Han Dynasty.
168, Accession of Emperor Lingdi (ruled to
189). He was aged 12 upon accession, and Duo
Maio was appointed Regent. However Duo
Miao was concerned at the power of the Eunuch Faction and plotted to have them massacred. The plot was
betrayed and Duo Maio was forced
to commit suicide. Several hundred of Duo
Miao’s supporters were executed, and the power of the Eunuch Faction was greatly increased. The Han Empire was in serious decline.
146, Accession of Emperor Huandi (ruled to 168).
125, Chinese General Pan Yong
reconquered the Tarom Basin from the Hsuing-Nu of central Asia.
125, Chinese Emperor Shaodi was
assassinated by the Eunuch Faction,
who were increasing in power.
89, The northern Hsuing-Nu
confederation collapsed, allowing Chna to regain control under General Bao (32 -102). Bao became Protector-General of the Western Region,
controlling the Silk Road.
88, The Han Dynasty abolished the
State monopolies on iron and salt.
58, Emperor Ming-Ti of China introduced Buddhism.
48, Guang Wu Di
re-established Chinese rule over Inner Mongolia.
27, The Red Eyebrow Movement
was defeated.
25, Collapse of the H’sin Dynasty. The Han Dynasty was restored in China. Accession of Emperor Guang
Wu Di, first Emperor of the
Eastern Han Dynasty; ruled until 57. He moved the capital east
again, from Chang’an to Luoyang. There were continual threats
from the Qiang, a
farmer-herder-nomadic people just to the west of China, who were growing in
numbers and continually taking over land in the western frontier region of
China. By 145-150, western Chinese landowners were having to organise their own
defences, seemingly forgotten by the State. There was dissatisfaction with the
ruling Han Dynasty, although the tax burden was also
less onerous.
25,
Accession of Emperor Gengshi; he was overthrown before the end of
the year, and replaced by Guang Wu Di. Gengshi failed to mollify the Red Eyebrows,
and he also alienated the nobility and beaurocrats by moving the Chinese
capital from Luoyang back west to Chang’an.
4/10/23, After disastrous floods in China as the Yellow River
changed course several times between 2AD and 11 AD, causing famine, starving
rebel peasants, the so-called Red Eyebrows, joined forces with Han loyalists and stormed the Chinese Imperial Palace. Emperor
Wang Mang attempted to marshal magical forces
in defence, in vain, and he was killed in fighting on 6/10/23. His attempts to
curb usury and promote social welfare had aroused considerable hostility.
17, China imposed a tax on
slave-holding.
12, Wang Mang’s land
reforms were reversed after major protests.
9, Wang Mang nationalised Chinese land, breaking
up large estates and establishing state granaries. He also forbade the private
sale of slaves, and reorganised command of China’s regions. He imposed greater
central State control, reinstating some State monopolies.
10/1/9, Wang Mang assumed
the title of Emperor of China, replacing the Han Dynasty by the new H’sin Dynasty.
3/2/6, Chinese
Emperor P’ing
suddenly died; some suspected Wang Mang of poisoning him. Wang Mang arranged for the youngest of some 50 possible successors,
a 1 year old baby, to be the new Emperor; Wang
Mang became Acting
Emperor.
15/8/1 BCE, Emperor Ai di of China died. Wang Mang became Regent once more, at the
behest of Wang Mang’s aunt, the Empress Dowager. Wang Mang quickly arranged for his 14 year old daughter to be the
Empress of the new Chinese Emperor, P’ing Di. See also Homosexuality.
1 BCE, Accession of Emperor Ping Di; he ruled to 6 CE.
27/8/7 BCE, Under the rule of Emperor Ai di of China, Wang Mang
resigned the regency. Ai di disliked Wang Mang, and he was sent to
his country estates.
7 BCE, Ai di became Emperor; he ruled to 1 BCE. Both Chengdi and Ai di created numerous
marquisates in the provinces, which were governed by sons of the kings of the
re-emerging kingdoms (see 49
BCE). This weakened central control,and also caused dissent amongst
Chinese nobles, who felt their family members should have been awarded these
marquisates.
17/4/7 BCE, Emperor
Chengdi of China died, without an heir.
28/11/8 BCE, Wang
Mang became Regent
of China.
14 BCE, Peasant revolt in China.
33 BCE, In China, Chengdi became Han Emperor; he ruled to 7 BCE. Having no male heir, he was succeeded
by his half-nephew Ai di.
49 BCE, Yuandi became Emperor;
he ruled to 33 BCE. Economic cutbacks continued, and some semi-independent
Kingdoms earlier suppressed by the Han began to reassert
themselves.
55 BCE, Breakup of the Xongnu Confederacy; southern States became
tributary to China.
87 BCE, Wu Ti died; a period of
disorder followed in China.
100 BCE, Chinese maritime explorers first reached the coast
of India.
108 BCE, Wu Ti conquered Choson.
111 BCE, China invaded Annam.
115 BCE, Chinese armies invaded the Lop Nor region and Tarim
basin.
140 BCE, The Chinese Han Dynasty Emperor, Wu Ti, began a 53-year reign during which he conquered
parts of Tonkin and Korea. He also sent
his emissariy, Chang Ch’ien, far to
the west to Bactria and Sogdiana, to seek alliances against the Huns (Hsiung Nu).
139 BCE, In response to raids by the Hsuing-Nu, the Chinese Imperial Envoy, Zhang
Qian, travelled ascross central Asia seeking allies against these
raiders. Zhang Qian was
captured by the Hsuing-Nu and held
for some years before he managed to escape.
177BCE, Raids by nomadic Hsuing-Nu tribes began to threaten the
northern borders of China.
180 BCE, Wen-Ti became
Chinese Emperor; his reign provided 23 years of internal stability.
190 BC, Establishment of the Choson Kingdom, which occupied northern
Korea and south Manchuria. It was heavily influenced by Chinese culture. It
began to conquer southern Korea but
was itself overrun by the Chinese Han Dynasty in 108 BC.
200 BCE, Accession of the first Han Emperor, Gaodi.
202 BCE, The last Qin Emperor died. He
was succeeded by a minor official, inaugurating the Han Dynasty.
210 BCE, Shi Huangdi died.
Rebellions within the Qin Empire.
212 BCE, The Qin Empire banned ‘non-scientific books’,and
standardised and simplified the Chinese script.
215 BCE, The Great
Wall of China, 1,400 km long, was completed. Each tower along the Wall
could accommodate a small garrison, with enough provisions for a 4-month siege.
Beacons placed every 18 km allowed a signal, by smoke in day or fire at night,
to be sent the 2,400 km length of the Wall in 24 hours. However the Chinese
Empire could, even without the Wall, easily see off any threats from northern
tribes. The Wall did, though, provide a place to send troublemakers to work,
and kept the Chinese Army well away from the capital where it might mount a
coup.
221 BCE, Start of the Qin Dynasty. China was
united under Zhao Zheng, now known as Qin Shi Huangdi, or First Emperor. This ended
the Warring States Period (221). The
Great Wall was built, along with
roads and canals, also the Chinese
script, the system of weights and measures, and the legal system, were
standardised.
246 BCE, Zhao Zheng succeeded
his father to the Qin throne. With sound advice from his
chancellor, Li Si, Zhao negan to conquer the other Warring States. He overran Zhao and Yan, then Qin forces
captured Wei, and in 223 he overcame
Chu State. The last State, Qi, fell in 221 BCE, and China was united once more.
256 BCE, End of the Zhou Dynasty.
287 BCE, China’s northern States began building a defensive
wall.
342 BCE, The Wei
Army was attacking .the Han Kingdom,
an ally of the Qi. The Qi now supported the Han by mounting an attack on the Wei capital, Daliang. The Wei king
was forced to recall his army from the Han
(where ot had been on the verge of victory). The Wei forces were now too large for the Qi to attack directly, so the Qi
withdrew from Dailang, with the Wei in pursuit. The Qi deliberately left deserted camps,
each successive one with a diminishing number of camp fires, and abandoned
weaponry, so the Wei concluded that Qi forces must be shrinking due to
desertions. The Wei stepped up ther
pace of pursuit, and were ambushed and routed at a narrow pass by the Qi. Wei now became a vassal Stste of Qi.
353 BCE, Wei was
defeated by Qi armies at Guiling.
356 BCE, The first Great
Wall was built, to protect against Hun invasions. Wei became temporarily powerful enough to force four other Warring States to attend its Court, but this
victory was short-lived.
364 BCE, Wei State
was again defeated at the Battle of
Shimen. Chu now declined and the
capital of Wei was moved east to Dalian.
366 BCE, The Qin State
won a major victory against Han and Wei forces.
380 BCE, Chu, the
most southerly of the Warring States, had
become powerful through annexation of neighbouring smaller States.
403 BCE, Start of the Warring States Period in China. Seven principal States continually manoeuvred to weaken each other, sometimes
erupting into full-scale war.This situation lasted until 221 BCE.
479 BCE, Death of Kung Fu-tse, Chinese philosopher (born 551
BCE).
27/8/551 BCE, Confucius was born.
565 BCE, Lao
Tse founded the belief system of Taoism.
604 BCE, Lao
Tse, Chinese philosopher, born.
643 BCE, Death of Qi Huan Gong, acceded 685 BCE;as Qi Emperor,
The Qi Empire held real power in the region.
700 BCE, The Zhou Emperors had little
real power, with actual control residing with the ‘Ba’ (Senior Ones) from
neighbouring States.
771 BCE, The Zhou capital was moved east
to Luoyang,
marking the start of the Eastern Zhou Period.
China fragmented into perhaps as many as 148 separate States.
771, BCE, Rebellious vassal-state peoples, the Rong and Shen, attacked
and killed King
Yu. They installed his estranged son, Ping, on the throne (Ping
had earlier joined the rebel forces).
842 BCE, King
Li was forced into exile by conflict.
885 BCE, Conflict in China between different ruling Lords. King Yih
was deposed, but resored by one of his Lords.
1027 BCE, King
Wu of the Zhou defeated the last Shang ruler, Di Xin.
1041 BCE, The Duke
of Zhou won the conflict for power (1043 BCE) but, realising he
could not fully control his domain, set up semi-independent city states ruled
by other members of the Zhou
clan.
1043 BCE, Wu
Wang died, His son, Cheng, was too young to rule, so Wu’s younger
brother, the Duke
of Zhou, agreed to act as Regent (or launched as coup for power).
King Wu’s two older brothers joined forces with the remnants of the Shang Dynasty to overthrow the Duke of Zhou.
1046BCE, Battle of Muye. The Shang
Dynasty (see 1766 BCE) was overthrown by the Zhou
Dynasty, a Chinese speaking people from the Shanxi area. Due to a
collapsing economy and popular unrest, the Shang ruler Di Xing was unable to muster a decent
sized army to meet Wu Wang’s soldiers. Di Xing even resorted to
assembling an army of 170,000 slaves, whom he exhorted to defend ‘their’
country; unsupriusingly they immediately defected to the enemy side. This
prompted many of the actual soldiers in Di Xing’s Army to also defect; those who
stayed loyal were slaughtered.
Wu Wang, son of Wen Wang, was the first Zhou
ruler. Start of a flourishing of Chinese art, literature and philosophy; the
start of Confucianism. The Zhou
Dynasty endured until 256 BCE. Start of
the Western Zhou Period, which lasted until 771 BCE.
1100 BCE, First Chinese dictionary was compiled.
1192,
Death of King
Wuding.
1250,
Wuding
became king.
1300,
The final Shang Dynasty capital, Anyang, was established, on the Yellow River.
1766 BCE, Start of Shang Dynasty in China (see
1122 BCE); earliest recorded dynasty in China. Emerging from the earlier Hsia
(Xia) Neolithic culture (see 2205 BCE), the Shang was centred
on the Henan area; it was differentiated from the ‘barbarians to the north’ by
sophisticated bronze tools,ancestor worship, and an established warrior
aristocracy with chariots.
1900 BCE, The city of Erlitou, in
the Yellow River valley, rose to prominence, hosting a population of 25,000 by
1700 BCE.
2205 BCE, Start of the Hsia Culture in China (see 1766 BCE).
2697 BCE, Start of reign of Huang-Ti, the ‘Yellow Emperor’. According to
legend, his wife was the first to unwind a silkworm cocoon and make silk.
3500 BCE, Urban centres developed in China. Cities had walls and rammed-earth
platforms. Social stratification began with the wealthy trading in luxury
items.
4000 BCE, Earliest evidence of Feng Shui
building practice in China. Certain dwellings and graves were aligned on
astronomical principles.
7000 BCE, Start of sedentary agriculture, in Yellow River Basin, China.
8500 BCE, Estimated date of earliest known Chinese pottery.
9000 BCE, Evidence of hunter-gatherer and fishing lifestyle from caves in
central China.
Many dates for China here
from ‘Why the West Rules – For Now’, Ian Morris, Profile Books, 2011