Chronography of China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong
Page last
modified 26 March 2023
Click here for events in Japan pre-1891
Click
Here for events in N, S, Korea post 1945
Chang�an Avenue & Tiananmen Square
(1960) image here
Beijing urban expansion 1905 � 1999, 5 maps
here.
China Shenyang suburb image here
Box
Index:-
28.0,
Three Gorges Dam, River
Yangtse, 1997-2006
27.0,
China regains Hong Kong and
Macau; pro-democracy protests 1992-2019
26.0,
China to recover Hong Kong and
Macao, 1984-89
25.0,
Liberalisation policies
in China 1993-2001
24.0,
China and Taiwan, 1992-96
23.0,
Japan 1974-96
23(a),
Japanese Lockheed bribery
scandal 1974-76
22.0,
China 1990-92
21.0,
Tiananmen Square protests 1989
20.0, Anti-Chinese protests in Tibet; Chinese
crackdown there, 1987-91
19.0, Taiwan governmental changes 1979-88
18.0, Chinese governmental changes 1978-86
17.0, China: Gang of Four, 1976-81
16.0, China 1974-75
15.0, Relic Japanese soldiers from World
War Two, 1972-74
14.0, Japan 1970-76
13.0, Beijing consolidates its position at
the United Nations 1971-72
12.0, China, 1969-72
11.0, Chinese Cultural Revolution 1965-68
10.0, Chinese military development, 1962-63
9.0, China cultural development 1959-62
8.0, Aftermath of Chinese occupation of
Tibet 1958-65
7.0, Chinese� political developments 1952-58
6.0, Chinese threats to Taiwan 1955. See also 1945-49
5.0, Japan becomes self-governing nation
again, 1951-57
4.0, Chinese occupation of Tibet 1950-52.
See also 1958-65
3.0, China; Communist victory, separation
of Taiwan 1945-49. See also 1955
2.0,
Aftermath of World War
Two; Japanese war crimes trials, 1945-49
1,0, Japan � the final surrender, 1945
0.0, The atomic bombing of Japan, 1945
-1.0, Air raids on the Japanese homeland
began, 1944-45
-1.0(a),
Capture of Okinawa, 1945
-1.0(b), Capture of Mandalay, 1945
-2.0, Japanese retreat 1942-44
-2.0(a) Guadalcanal 1942-3
-3.0, High point of the Japanese Pacific
Invasion, 1942
8 July 2022, Shinzo Abe, former Japanese PM,
was shot and killed by a disaffected Japanese naval veteran.
28 August 2020, Shinzo Abe, Japanese Prime Minister, resigned,
having broken the previous length of service record by four days.
15 June 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.
1 January 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 August 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.
7 September 2013, China announced
plans for a new Silk Road economic Belt, part of the Belt and Road initiative.
14 March 2013, Xi Jinping was named the new
President of China.
14 March 2011, Fears of a
meltdown at Fukushima nuclear plant, Japan. See Japan earthquake.
24 August 2008, The Beijing Olympics closed.
8 August 2008, The Beijing
Olympics opened. They continued until 24 August 2008.
13 April 2006, Gyaltsen Norbu was confirmed as
the11th Panchen Lama, at a ceremony of 1,000 Buddhist monks and nuns in
Hangzhou, China. The 16-year-old had been selected for this role 10 years
earlier, and is known as the �Chinese Panchen�, to distinguish him from the
Panchen previously chosen by the exiled Dalai Lama and kept in a secret safe
location.
28.0, Three Gorges Dam, River
Yangtse, 1997-2006
20 May 2006, The Three Gorges Dam in China
was completed, the world�s largest hydro-electric dam.
1 June 2003, China began
filling the Three Gorges Dam, raising the water level
by over 100 metres.
1 August 1999, In China the Yangtze River
burst its banks, making 5 million homeless.
8 November 1997, The main channel of China�s Yangtze River was
blocked as construction work continued on the Three Gorges 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.
18 August 2005, Peace
Mission 2005, the first joint Chinese-Russian military exercise, began an 8-day
programme on the Shandong Peninsula.
28 February 2004, In Taiwan, over 1
million people formed a 500 km human chain to commemorate the 1947 massacre of
30,000 civilians.
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.
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.
16 July 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.
9 February 2001, The US submarine USS
Greeneville accidentally struck and sunk the Ehime-Maru, a Japanese training
ship operated by the Uwajima Fishery High School.
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.
22 July 1999, China cracked down on the Falun Gong religious movement, which claimed
to have 70 million followers.
9 May 1999, Widespread protests in cities across China over the US
accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia.
20 January 1999, China
announced restrictions on Internet use, aimed especially at Internet cafes.
26 November 1998, Japan and China signed a joint declaration of
friendship and economic development.
19 May 1998, Uno
Sosuke, Japanese Prime Minister, died.
27.0, China regains Hong Kong and Macau;
pro-democracy protests 1992-2019
24
November 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
August 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 June 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�.
15 December 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.
4 December 2005, 250,000 people
in Hong Kong protested for democracy.
12 September 2005, The Hong Kong Disneyland resort officially opened.
12 September
2004, In Hong Kong, pro-Democracy Parties did badly as
voters seemed wary of offending China. Pro-Beijing Parties won 34 seats against
25 for the pro-Democracy Parties.
20
December 1999, Macau was
handed back to China by Portugal.
6
July 1998, The new airport at Chek Lai Kok, Hong Kong, opened.
24 May 1998, In the first legislative
elections in Hong Kong since China took control, pro-democracy Parties took 60%
of the vote.
1
July 1997. Hong Kong was handed back to China.�
29
August 1996. British forces began to leave Hong Kong.
9 July 1994, China announced its
intention to abolish Hong Kong�s Legislative Council once it took back the territory
from the UK in 1997.
9 July 1992, Chris Patten, last British Governor of Hong Kong,
took office; the colony was to be handed back to China in 1997.
26.0, China to recover Hong Kong and Macao,
1984-89
3
July 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.
13 April 1987,
Portugal
and China agreed to the return of Macao to China in 1999.
19 December
1984. Mrs Thatcher signed an agreement to return
Hong Kong to China in 1997.
26 September 1984, China and the UK signed an initial agreement to hand Hong
Kong back to China in 1997.
25.0, Liberalisation policies in China
1993-2001
27 December 2001, China was granted
permanent normal trade status with the USA.
11 December 2001. China joined the World Trade Organisation, following 15
years of negotiations.
12 September 1997, Jiang Zemin was
confirmed as Chinese Communist party general secretary by the Party�s 15th
Congress. The liberalising policies started by the late Deng Xiaoping were to continue.
19
February 1997, The last of the Chinese revolutionaries, Deng Xiaoping,
died aged 92 (born 1904); weeks of mourning followed.
3 September 1994, The USSR and China agreed to stop targeting
nuclear missiles at each other.
13 December 1993, A fire in textile factory
in Fuzjou China, killed 60.
27 March 1993, Ziang Zemin became President of
the People�s Republic of China.
3 March 1993. Rolls Royce announced
plans to open a showroom in China.
24.0, China and
Taiwan, 1992-96
8 March 1996, China conducted military
exercises in the Taiwan Strait, to intimidate Taiwanese voters in their
upcoming elections. In these elections the pro-independence candidate Lee
Teng-Hui won, but there was no subsequent formal declaration of independence.
23 February 1995, The Taiwanese Parliament
approved compensation payments to�
relatives of indigenous Taiwanese massacred by Kuomintang troops after
they evacuated from mainland China in February 1947.
19 December 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.
23.0, Japan 1974-96
1996, Japan repealed its Eugenic
Protection Laws, under which females deemed to have� mental disabilities could be forcibly
sterilised.
15
April 1996, The USA returned some of its bases
to Japan and promised to enforce better discipline amongst its troops,
following a scandal in 1995 in which a child was raped. See 4 September 1995.
16 May 1995, Japanese
police besieged the headquarters of the Aum
Shrnrinko cult near Mount Fuji, and arrested the leader Shoko Asuhara.
4 September 1995, The alleged rape of a
12-year-old girl in Japan by three US servicemen caused widespread resentment
against the US military presence in Japan. See 15 April 1996.
20 March 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 January 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 �63 billion. It was the worst quake to hit Japan since Tokyo,
1923.
18/71993, In
Japan the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lost power after a 38-year rule.
Corruption scandals were a major factor in this defeat. Morihiro Hosokawa,
leader of the Japan New Party, formed a coalition that dod not include the LDP.
8 September 1992, The Japanese Cabinet
approved sending peacekeeping troops to Cambodia. This was the first overseas
deployment of Japanese forces since 1945.
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.
12 November 1990, Crown Prince Akihito became the 125th Japanese
monarch and Emperor.
21 October 1990, Japanese coastguard
vessels repulsed two Taiwanese ships seeking to assert a Taiwanese claim on the
Senkaku Islands. Anti-Japanese protests ensued in Hong Kong.
23 December 1989, The Bank of Japan announced a major interest rate rise, leading to the
peak and bursting of the Japanese �bubble� economy.
24 July 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.
7 January 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 February 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.
6 August 1985, In Hiroshima, tens
of thousands marked the 40th anniversary of the bombing of the city.
17 March 1985, Expo '85, World's Fair, opened at Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. It ran
until September 16.
15 April 1983, The first
non-American Disney theme park opened, near Tokyo.
7 October 1979, In Japanese general
elections, the Liberal Democrat Party won a narrow victory.
23(a), Japanese Lockheed bribery scandal 1974-76
26 July 1976, The former Prime Minister
of Japan, Kakuei
Tanbaka, was arrested on charges that he accepted bribes from the
Lockheed Aircraft Corporation.
9 December 1974, Miki Takeo became Japanese Prime
Minister.
26 November 1974, Kakuei Tanaka resigned as Prime
Minister of Japan after financial scandals emerged.
18 November 1974, US President Ford made the first
ever visit by a US President to Japan.
22.0, China 1990-92
18 January 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.
1990, The Shanghai Stock
Exchange reopened, after a 41-year closure.
9 October 1990. Hundreds of Chinese queued
to buy Big Macs when McDonalds opened its first restaurant in Shenzhen.
4 April 1990, The Chinese People�s
Congress approved the Basic Law, effectively a Constitution for Hong Kong after
the transfer from Britain to China.
13 January 1990, China lifted martial law, imposed 11 months earlier after the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy
protests.
21.0, Tiananmen
Square protests 1989
22 June 1989,
In China, seven students were shot after televised show trials following the Tiananmen Square protests.
21 June 1989 The first public executions
of Tiananmen Square demonstrators
began in China.
9 June 1989,
In China, the show trials of the
leaders of the Tiananmen Square
demonstration began.
4 June 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.
17 May 1989, Over one million people gathered in central
Beijing to support the student pro-democracy demonstrators.
2 May 1989, China imposed martial law as pro-democracy
protestors camped in Tiananmen Square.
17 April 1989. Chinese students
demonstrated in Tiananmen Square,
Beijing, calling for democracy.
15 April 1989, In China, death of
disgraced Party Chairman Hu Yaobang. He had been ousted in 1987� for failing to suppress student protests
calling for democracy and human rights. Students eulogised him and began daily
marches in Tiananmen Square calling for democratic reforms.
20.0, Anti-Chinese
protests in Tibet; Chinese crackdown there, 1987-91
23 May 1991,
Chinese authorities marked the 40th
anniversary of their �liberation� of Tibet with low-key celebrations..
8 March 1989, China declared martial law in Tibet.
7 March 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.
10 March 1988, The Chinese Army occupied Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, after large
anti-Chinese demonstrations by Tibetans.
2 October 1987, 6 Buddhist monks in Tibet protesting against the Chinese occupation
were killed by the Chinese. On 6 October 1987 China banned all foreigners from
visiting Tibet.
27 September 1987, Nationalist demonstrations broke out
in Lhasa, Tibet, against Chinese rule there imposed
in 1950 (see 7 October 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.
19.0, Taiwan
governmental changes 1979-88
13 January 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.
14 July 1987, Taiwan legalised
opposition Parties. Martial law was also lifted, for the first time in 38
years, and the press was granted freedom.
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 December 1992.
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.
18.0, Chinese
governmental changes 1978-86
14 May 1989, Gorbachev visited China, the first Soviet
leader to do so since the 1960s.
1 December 1988, The Chinese Minister of
Foreign Affairs, Qian Qichen, visited Moscow.
12 April 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 March 1988, Three days of conflict
between China and Vietnam began over the disputed Spratly Islands.
24 November 1987, Li Peng succeeded Zhao Ziyang
as Chinese Prime Minister.
25 October 1987, At the 13th Communist
Party Congress in Beijing, Deng Xiaopoing resigned as Party leader.
12 October 1986,
Queen
Elizabeth II visited China, the first British monarch to visit the
country.
1985, China
announced that the so-called �barefooot
doctors�, farmers trained to giver local medical assistance� without leaving their agricultural work, and
recognised as such during the Cultural Revolution, were to be disbanded.
16 September 1985, In China, 10 Politburo
members and 64 members of the Central Committee resigned to make way for
younger replacements.
12 October 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 May 1983, The USA agreed
to export high-technology items to China.
1 September 1982, At the 12th
Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing, Hua Guofeng, who had succeeded Chairman Mao,
was removed from the Politburo.
26 August 1980, Leadership changes in
China consolidated the power of pragmatic reformers led by Deng Xiaopoing.
3 April 1979, China warned the USSR it would not seek to renew the 1950 Treaty of
Friendship when it expired in1980.
17 February 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 January 1979. Diplomatic relations were established between China and the USA.
12 August 1978, China and Japan signed a 10-year friendship treaty. In
April 1978, Chinese fishing boats had been operating near the Japanese held,
but Chinese/Taiwan claimed, Senkaku Islands. These boats were withdrawn before
the treaty was signed.
11 February 1978,
China lifted a ban on the works of Shakespeare, Dickens and Aristotle.
17.0, China: Gang of Four, 1976-81
25 January 1981. The Chinese �Gang of Four�
and Mao Tse Tung�s 67 year old widow were sentenced to death.
20 November 1980, The trial for treason of
the Gang of
Four former Chinese leaders opened in Beijing.
22 July 1977. The �Gang of Four�
were expelled from the Chinese Communist Party.
2 July 1977, In China Deng Xiaoping, 73, was restored
to power.
11 October 1976. In China the �Gang of Four�
were arrested, accused of plotting a coup.
7 October 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.
29 October 1976, Chairman Hua of China
repudiated messages of congratulations from Communist countries.
9 September 1976. Mao
Zedong, Chairman of the Chinese Communist party for 40 years, died of a series of
strokes, aged 82.
8 January 1976, Zhou En Lai, Chinese
revolutionary and Prime Minister of
China, 1949-76, died.
Aged 77, he was succeeded by Hua Goufeng.
16.0, China 1974-75
1 December 1975, Gerald Ford became the
second U.S. president to travel to China, where he met with Vice-Premier Deng
Xiaoping.
8 August 1975, The Banqiao Dam in China failed during a fierce typhoon, killing
over 200,000 people.
5 April 1975. Chinese Nationalist
leader Chiang Kai Shek died in
Taiwan, aged 87.
14 September 1974. China sent two giant
pandas, Chia-Chia and Ching-Ching, to London Zoo.
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.
26 May 1974, UK
Opposition leader Edward Heath met Chairman Mao of China to improve
relations between the two countries.
29 March 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.
19 January 1974, In a very brief war
lasting less than a day, China drove the Vietnamese out of the Paracel Islands
and occupied them.
15.0, Relic
Japanese soldiers from World War Two, 1972-74
6 September 1974. At least one Japanese soldier was reported to be still roaming the
forests of the central Philippines, left behind after World War Two.
10 March 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.
24 January 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.
14.0, Japan 1970-76
5 December 1976, In Japan, the ruling
Liberal Democratic Party suffered losses in the general election.
3 June 1975, Eisaku Sato, Japanese politician, died aged
75.
13 April 1974, End of a strike by 6
million Japanese workers, which had begun on 11 April 1974.
29 September 1972, Japan and China formally ended the state of
war between them that had existed since 1937.
14 May 1972, A
treaty between the USA and Japan returned the Ryukyu and Senkaku Islands to
Japanese sovereignty. However the US retained rights to operate a military base
on Okinawa, with possible nuclear use, which the Japanese objected to.
13 May 1972, A fire devastated a department store in Osaka,
Japan, killing 115 people.
17 February 1972,
Japan protested to Taiwan after Taiwan formally announced the incorporation of
the Senkaku islands into Taiwanese territory.
5 October 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 October 1971.
30 December 1971, China claimed the Senkaku
islands, following Taiwan�s claim of 11 June 1971, as part of greater China.
11 June 1971, Taiwan claimed the Senkaku
Islands, which had been occupied by Japan in 1895 (after Japan had overrun the
larger Ryukyu Islands, including Okinawa. The Ryukyu Islands had been an
independent kingdom until overrun by China in the 7th� century and then by Japan in the 17th
century. China had relinquished its claims to the Ryukyu Islands in 1874. From
1945 the Ryukyu and Senkaku Islands had been under US occupation.
25 November 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.
30 March 1970, Japanese students hijacked a Boeing 727 and flew to North
Korea.
13.0, Beijing
consolidates its position at the United Nations 1971-72
3 March 1972, Beijing, at a UN speech, claimed the territory of Hong
Kong.
23 November 1971, The United Nations declared The People�s Republic of
China to be the sole representative of China, ousting Taiwan from the UN
Security Council.
25 October 1971, China was admitted to the United Nations; Taiwan was expelled from the UN to accommodate this.
12.0, China,
1969-72
13 March 1972, Britain
resumed diplomatic links with China, and closed its consulate in Taiwan.
13 September 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 July 1971, US President Nixon announced he would visit
China in 1972.
15 April 1971, Britain restored the telephone link with China,
which had been cut in 1949.
10 April 1971, US table tennis team arrived in China. On 14 April 1971, the US relaxed
restrictions on trade and travel with China.
10 November 1970, The Great Wall of China was opened to tourists for
the first time.
10 July 1970, US Roman Catholic missionary, Bishop James Walsh, was released
after 12 years in a Shanghai prison.
19 October 1969, The USSR and China began talks in Beijing to settle their
boundary dispute along the River Issuri.
2 March 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.
11.0, Chinese Cultural Revolution 1965-68
13 October 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 September 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.
27 October 1967, China
succeeded in laumching
a nuclear warhead from a guided missile.
15 October 1967. Henry Pu Yi, the last emperor of China from the age of
2, died in Peking aged 61.
1 September 1967, Chinese civilians, including the Red Guards,
were ordered to surrender their weapons to the Chinese Army, which would now be
sole peacekeeper. Factory workers were to return to their jobs, and
rural peasants were forbidden from going into the cities to foment revolution.
Schools, suspended since May 1966, would re-open.
22 August 1967, Red Guards set fire to the
British
Embassy in Beijing.
17 June 1967. China exploded its first hydrogen bomb. �This raised tensions between China and the
USSR.
26 January 1967, Red Guards besieged the Soviet Embassy in Beijing, alleging
mistreatment of Chinese students in Moscow.
8 January 1967, Rioting in
Shanghai, China, as workers went on strike.
5 December 1966, Jiang Qing,
wife of Chairman
Mao, encouraged the Red Guards, the Chinese Army, to join the
struggole of the Cultural Revolution. However the military was about the only
organised tool of government still functioning inan orderly manner. Despite her best efforts., most units of
the People;�s Liberation Army continued to maintain a degree of law and order.
Otherwise, China was teetering on the brink of anarchy and civil war.
13 August 1966.
Chairman Mao of China announced a
'cultural revolution'. On 18 August 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.
3 September
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
October 1968.
6 April 1966, Increased
ferry tolls sparked riots in Hong Kong.
17 May 1962, Hong Kong
built a wall to keep out Chinese migrants.
28 November 1959, The dockyard at Hong Kong closed, after
80 years of operation.
13 August 1965, Ikeda Hayato, Prime Minister of Japan, died.
22 June 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.
1 September 1963, About
100,000 people in two Japanese cities demonstrated against the presence of
American nuclear submarines.
20 November 1960, In Japanese elections the Liberal
Democratic Party increased its majority in the 467 member House of
Representatives, gaining 13 seats for a total of 296; the Japan Socialist Party
gained 23 for a total of 145. The leftist Democratic Socialists fell from 40 to
23. Ikeda
told a news conference that the results showed that the Japanese people
approved the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty that had been violently protested
against in the Spring
12 October 1960, Inajiro Asanuma, leader of the Japanese
Socialist Party, was assassinated because of his support for an anti-Communist
Treaty with the USA, see 19 January 1960.
19 January 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. However there was popular anger
against the USA, against the perceived growth of US influence over Japan, and
the Japanese Government advised US President Eisenhower to cancel a planned
visit. See 12 October 1960.
10.0, Chinese
military development, 1962-63
1 August 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.
16 October 1964, China exploded a nuclear
weapon at Lop Nor.
3 February 1964. China
challenged the USSR for leadership of the Communist world.
27 January 1964. France
recognised Communist China.
14 January 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 October 1964.
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.
21 November 1962, Ceasefire in the
India-China border dispute.
20
October 1962, Chinese troops attacked Indian border
positions.
8 September 1962. China-India
border dispute escalated. China attacked Indian border posts on 20 October 1962.
On 28 October 1962 the USA pledged to send arms to India
9.0, China cultural development 1958-62
21 January 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.
18 October 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 September 1959. The United Nations refused to
admit Communist China.
27 April 1959, Mao stepped down as China�s
Chief of State, but remained Chairman of the Communist Party.
2 September
1958. The first
television station in China opened in Beijing.
23 May 1958, China, under Mao, began its Great Leap Forward. Peasant farmers
were grouped into huge communes of many thousands of families. Some
74,000 such communes
were created.� The small garden plots,
around 10 by 15 metres, that each household used to grow vegetables, were
abolished. However this caused a rural food crisis and the plots were later
returned in the early 1960s. 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.
8.0, Aftermath of Chinese occupation of
Tibet 1958-65. See also 1950-52
1965, Tibet was officially made an �autonomous region� of
China.
9 March 1961, The Dalai Lama appealed to the UN to restore the independence of Tibet.
19 April 1959, The Dalai Lama arrived in India.
31 March 1959, The Dalai Lama escaped to India. Tibet lost its independence to China in 1951.
28 March 1959, China dissolved the government of Tibet.
19 March 1959, China stepped up its
shelling ot the Lama�s Palace, killing many of his supporters camped around it.
17 March 1959, Chinese troops fired two
shells at the Lama�s palace; at 10pm that day the Lama fled the palace
disguised as a soldier.
10 March 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.
9 March 1959, Chinese officials in Tibet
ordered the Dalai Lama to go alone to the Chinese military headquarters the
next day. This order traised suspicions and the Lama�s supporters formed a
human shield around him the following day.
31 July 1958. Kham tribesmen in eastern Tibet rebelled against Chinese rule
7.0, Chinese�
political developments 1952-58
9 August 1958.
The USA reaffirmed its refusal to
recognise Red China.
7 January 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 December 1956, 90% of Chinese farms had
been re-organised into collectives, with land, implements and animals owned
collectively, not privately.
3 January 1956, The USSR gave technical aid to China.
17 July 1955. The Chinese writer Hu Feng
was arrested for publically criticising Communism as having a �blighting
influence� on literature.
31 March 1955, The Communist Party in China was purged.
15 June 1953, Chinese leader
Xi Jinping
was born onto a well-connected political family; his father was Xi Zhongxun.
25 October 1952, The USA blocked the entry of China to the
United Nations for the third year running. See 25 October 1971.
2 October 1952, China held a �Asia and
Pacific Peace� Conference, attended by delegates from 37 countries.
17 August 1952, A large Chinese
delegation, led by Zhou Enlai, visited the USSR for discussions.
6.0, Chinese
threats to Taiwan 1955. See also 1945-49
7 February 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 January 1955). The evacuation was completed 6
days later, whereupon the Chinese Communists took over the islands.
24 January 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 January 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.
9 August 1954, Chinese Nationalists sank
a Communist gunboat off Taiwan.
5.0, Japan
becomes self-governing nation again, 1951-57
9 February 1957, Poland and Japan
resumed diplomatic relations.
18 December 1956. Japan joined the United Nations.
1955, In Japan,
The Liberal Democratic Party was set up.
8 May 1955. Hiroshima victims arrived in the USA
for plastic surgery.
16 February 1955, Nearly
100 died in a fire at a home for the elderly in Yokohama, Japan.
5 November 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 March 1954,
The US and Japan signed a mutual defence pact.
27 September
1953, Japan established a national defence force.
28
April 1953, Japan regained the right to
self-governmemnt, which had been lost at the end of World War Two.
1 October 1952, The
Liberal Party won Japanese elections.
5 August 1952, Japan and China resumed
diplomatic relations.
8 September 1951, The San Francisco Treaty
of Friendship between the US and Japan was signed.
4.0, Chinese
occupation of Tibet 1950-52. See also 1958-65
28 April 1952. Japan regained sovereignty.
26 October 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 September 1951, Chinese troops occupied the Tibetan capital, Lhasa.
29 March 1951, The US completed a draft Peace Treaty with Japan,
which was circulated to the Allied Powers.
25 March 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 May 1951.
25 December 1950. The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in the wake of the Chinese invasion.
17 November 1950, Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama,
was enthroned as Tibetan head of State, aged 15.
13 November 1950, Tibet appealed to the UN for aid against Chinese aggression.
21
October 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
October 1950, Chinese troops took Chamdo, opening up the way to central
Tibet.
7
October 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 March 1950. Chiang Kai Shek became President in Formosa (Taiwan).
27 February 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 February 1950. China and the USSR signed a 30-year pact in
Moscow.
1 January 1950, Radio Beijing announced that Tibet was to be �liberated�.
3.0, China;
Communist victory, separation of Taiwan 1945-49. See also
1955
13
July 1950, Ma Ying-jeou, President of Taiwan, was born.
6
January 1950, Britain officially recognised Communist China.
8 December 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 October 1949,� Britain recognised the People�s Republic of China,
under Chairman
Mao.
6
October 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 October 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.
21 September
1949, The People�s Republic of China was officially
proclaimed. The Chinese Nationalists, aware of the birden previously imposed in
the indigenous Taiwanese by Chinese officials, now made efforts to reduce the
tax burden, and reduced rents charged to tenant farmers. The Land to Tiller Act
allowed landlords to keep 7.5 acres of irrigated land or 15 acres of dry land;
the rest was bought by the Taiwanese Government for, mostly, resale to the
peasants, under a shares, bonds, and instalment payments scheme. About 25% of
the land was not resold but could be rented out as a ladder for new farmers to
get going.
2 September 1949, The
redistribution of land became an official part of Chinese Communist policy.
5
August 1949, The USA halted aid to China.
30 July 1949, The HMS
Amethyst successfully sailed 140 miles down the Yangtse River overnight to escape Chinese Communist forces, see 20
April 1949.
26 May 1949. Chinese Communists captured Shanghai.
23 May 1949. Chinese Communists drove the Nationalists
off the mainland to Taiwan.
22 April 1949, Chinese Communists captured Chaing Kai
Sehk�s Nationalist capital, Nanjing,
20 April 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 July 1949
when she successfully sailed downriver 140 miles, under fire from further
Chinese forces.
22 January 1949 The Chinese Communists
under Mao
Tse Tung captured Biejing. The
Nationalists under Chaing Kai Shek were defeated at Huai Hai
north of Beijing.
21 January 1949, Chiang Kai Shek
resigned
15 January 1949. Chinese Communists
captured Tientsin.
29 October 1948, Chinese Communist
forces captured the important city of
Mukden, and its arsenal, from Kuomintang
forces.
1 September 1948. The North China People�s Republic was
formed by the Communists, under Chairman Mao.
1947, Mao now governed large Communist
enclaves, with a total population of some 10 million.
29
March 1948, Chiang Kai Shek was re-elected President of
China by the Nanjing Assembly.
19
March 1947, Chinese Nationalists captured the city of Yenang.
28
February 1947, �An anti-government
protest in Taiwan was violently put down by the Kuomintang under Chiang
Kai-shek with the loss of 18,000-28,000 lives. This was the beginning of the
White Terror.
16
February 1947, Chiang Kai-shek introduced a number of
measures to address China's economic crisis, including the repatriation of all
Chinese assets held abroad, prohibiting dealings in gold and foreign currency
and banning strikes and lockouts.
25
December 1946, The Guomintang Chinese Government adopted a new
Constitution. However
the Communists under Mao were now regrouping and would soon oust the Guomintang
from power in mainland China.
15
November 1946, The Guomintang Chinese Government excluded all Communists
from power.
4
November 1946, The new Chinese Guomintang Government signed a
treaty of co-operation with the USA.
10
October 1946, In China the Kuomintang re-elected Chiang Kai Shek
as President.
12
May 1946, A further truce between the Guomintang and the
Communists in China took effect.
5
May 1946, In China, Communists and Nationalists clashed along the
Yangtze River.
1
May 1946, The Guomintang Government returned to Nanjing.
28
April 1946, Chinese Communists captured the Manchurian rail hub of
Tsisihar.
14
April 1946, A US-mediated truce between the Communists and the
Guomintang broke down and the Chinese Civil war resumed.
25
October 1945, Taiwan was formally ceded by Japan to China. However
the Chinese again exploited the territory, and having been seen as liberators
in 1945, the local population soon began to resent them.
11 October 1945. Fighting broke out in China between the Nationalists under Chiang Kai Shek
and the Communists
under Mao Tse Tung.
2.0, Aftermath of
World War Two; Japanese war crimes trials, 1945-49
7/1949, Evacuation of Japanese civilians from the Kuril
Islands (Etorofu, Kunashir), and their relocation on Hokkaido, was now
complete.
23
January 1949, General elections were held in Japan. The Democratic
Liberal Party won 269 of the 466 seats.
23 December 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
December 1948, South Korea formed a Department of National
Defence.
12
November 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
December 1948.
7 October 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 May 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.
:Land reforms curbed the power of absentee landlords and land was
redistributed.
3
March 1947, Japan adopted a new Constitution, renouncing war.
12/1946, Russia began relocating several thousand
settlers to the southern portion of Sakhalin, formerly Japanese territory but now Soviet-occupied.
29
April 1946, Japanese General Hideki Tojo and 27 other members of
the military were formally indicted by an Allied war crimes Court. There was
international pressure to also try the Japanese Emperor, but the US feared that
this would precipitate the disintegration of Japan as a nation and thereby
require the continued� prolonged presence
of a large US occupation force.
10 April 1946, Japan held
elections for the new Diet (parliament). Under US influence, women now had the
vote, transforming traditional Japanese hierarchies, and 34 women were elected.
23 February 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.
11 February 1946, The appeal by
Japanese General
Masaharu Homma against his death sentence was rejected by the US
Supreme Court.
4 February 1946, The US Supreme
Court rejected the appeal by Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita against his
death sentence by 2 to 6.
27 January 1946, In the Far East, more than 2,000 airmen went on
strike at the slow pace of demobilisation.
19
January 1946, The Far East International War Crimes Tribunal was
established. This enabled countires such as India and The Philippines, which
had not been signatories to the surrender of japan, to be represented in the
war crimes trials.
4
January 1946, General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander
of the Allied Powers during the occupation of Japan, began a purge of the
Japanese government, with the goal of removing �undesirable personnel� from
office. Over two and a half years, 210,287 people were removed or barred from
public office.
7
December 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.
19 November 1945, General
MacArthur ordered the arrest of 11 Japanese wartime leaders,
including ex-Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka and General Sadao Araki.
22 September 1945, MacArthur
issued instructions for setting up an International War Tribunal to try major
Japanese war criminals.
1,0, Japan �
the final surrender, 1945
15 September 1945, Japan was occupied by Allied forces under General MacArthur.� See 28 April 1952, and 14 August 1945.
13 September 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 September 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 September 1945, Japanese forces in China formally surrendered to Chiank Kai Shek in Nanking.
5 September 1945. Singapore re-occupied by the British. See 15
February 1942.
4 September
1945, The Japanese garrison on Wake Island formally
surrendered to the USA, see 23 December 1941..
3 September 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 September 1945, Formal surrender of Japan, see 14 August 1945. The
Japanese Chief of Staff, General Yoshijiro Umezo, signed the surrender document
on board the USS Missouri, in front of General McArthur.
1 September 1945. British troops took control of Hong Kong.
31 August 1945, Douglas
MacArthur established the Supreme
Allied Command in Tokyo.
30 August 1945, The British Royal Navy returned to Hong Kong.
29 August 1945, The Xinghua
Campaign began in China.
28
August 1945. US troops
landed in Japan.
19 August 1945. Soviet troops occupied Harbin and Mukden in
Manchuria; 100,000 Japanese there surrendered.
18 August 1945 The Soviet invasion of the Kuril Islands began,
opening with the Battle of Shumshu.
16 August 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 August 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 September 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 August 1945, Soviet
forces occupied North Korea, Sakhalin and the Kurile islands.
For events in North & South Korea after 1945 see Appendix One below
10 August 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.
0.0, The
atomic bombing of Japan, 1945
9 August 1945 The second atomic
bomb was dropped, on Nagasaki.
40,000 were killed here.� The intended
target, Kokura, was obscured by cloud.
For atom bomb
development and tests after World War Two click here
Click here for images of Nagasaki, before and after the atomic bomb.
8 August 1945, The USSR, under Stalin, declared war on Japan. The USSR
invaded Japanese-held Manchuria, and
northern Korea.
7 August 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 August 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 August 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 August 1945, The US dropped leaflets over Hiroshima,
warning that their city was to be obliterated.
3 August 1945, The American government announced that every Japanese and Korean
harbor of consequence had been mined, leaving Japan totally blockaded.
31 July 1945, On Tinian, the assembly of the Little Boy atomic bomb was completed.
30 July 1945, The Japanese submarine I-58 sank the USS
Indianapolis, killing 833 seamen.
29 July 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 July 1945, On the
Philippine island of Tinian, the Little Boy atomic bomb began being prepared
for use.
26 July 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 July 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.
-1.0, Air
raids on the Japanese homeland began, 1944-45
25 July 1945, The British 14th Army captured the railhead of Taunggyi in
Shan State, north eastern Burma.
12 July 1945, Japan sought clearance
from Russia for sending an envoy to Moscow, which would probably have been Prince Konoe.
The Japanese Ambassador in Moscow, Naotake Sako, sought approval for this, but he
warned that if the UK and USA insisted on unconditional surrender, Japan would
fight to the end. Russia refused to make any decision.
10 July 1945, US military strategists
began planning the invasion of mainland Japan, starting with Honshu and Kyushu.
4 July 1945, Britain gave consent to use the Atom Bomb
against Japan.
25 May 1945, Heavy US bombing raid on Tokyo.
-1.0(a), Capture of
Okinawa, 1945
22 June 1945. US troops captured Okinawa.
6 June 1945, The Japanese Supreme Council passed a
resolution to fight to the end, to uphold Japanese national honour. The entire
adult civilian population would be expected to back up the military in
resisting any US invasion. However on 22 June 1945 Emperor Hirohito, despite initially appearing
to accept this Resolution, told the Supreme council that they must take steps
towards peace.
4 June 1945, US forces
landed on the Oruku peninsula, Okinawa, in an attempt to outflank Japanese
defensive positions.
3 June 1945, Japan made its first peace approach to the
Russians through Yakov Malik, Russian Ambassador to Japan. He remained
non-committal, despite continued Japanese overtures throughout June 1945.
1 June 1945, Heavy air
raid on Osaka, Japan; 20 square km of the city was totally destroyed.
29 May 1945, Shuri, Okinawa, was captured
27 May 1945, Naha, capital of Okinawa, was captured.
20 May 1945, US. forces captured Malaybalay on Mindanao.
12 May 1945, The Japanese Supreme Council for the
Conduct of War first discussed peace. They hoped that the USSR would want to
see a strong Japan as a buffer between itself and the USA, and would be
prepared to act as a mediator. In return, Japan would be prepared to surrender
Port Arthur, Dairen, the South Manchurian Railways and the northern Kuriles.
3 May 1945, British
forces took Rangoon, Burma.
17 April 1945, The Battle of the Hongorai
River began in New Guinea.
8 April 1945, Cebu City fell to the Allies.
1 April 1945, The Battle of
Okinawa began as US troops landed on the island. US victory came 83 days
later.
-1.0(b), Capture of
Mandalay, 1945
20 March 1945. Mandalay
was recaptured from the Japanese.
16 March 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 February 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 March 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 March 1945. The British captured the Japanese base of Meiktilla in Burma, cutting Japanese-occupied Burma in two.
4 March 1945, US General McArthur returned to
the Philippines, fulfilling a promise that �we shall return� he made in 1942
when advancing Japanese troops forced him to flee on a torpedo boat.
2 March 1945 �The British 14th army
entered Mandalay, Burma.
24 June 1945, In
Thailand, British bombers destroyed the two railway bridges over the notorious
River Kwai, built with slave labour
13 June 1945,
Australian forces captured Brunei City.
28 February 1945, Part of
the US 41st Division landed at Puerto Princesa, Palawan. It met little
resistance and the island was soon cleared.
27 February 1945, Allied
forces reached Meiktila, Burma.
26 February 1945, The 19th
Indian Division began to advance on Mandalay, Burma, from the north.
25 February 1945,
Tokyo� was devastated by a firestorm in a
raid by 172 B-29 bombers.
21 February 1945, Japanese
kamikaze airstrikes sank the US aircraft carrier Bismarck Sea and damaged the Saratoga.
20 February 1945, US
marines captured the first airfield on Mindanao.
19 February 1945, �US forces began the invasion of Iwo Jima, see 16 March 1945.
17 February 1945, Indian
forces broke out of the bridgehead of Nyaungu against Japanese forces towards
Mektila.
16 February 1945. (1) US Air Force began heavy raids on Tokyo.
(2) The US took Bataan, Philippines.
3 February 1945. The US recaptured Manila, which
had fallen to the Japanese on 2 January 1942. Manila was not totally cleared of
Japanese soldiers till 24 February 1945.
9 January 1945. Luzon in the
Philippines was taken by the US from the Japanese.
7 January 1945, The US
XXXIII Corps entered Schwegu, Burma.
4 January 1945, Severe
Kamikaze attacks on US ships.
1 January 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 December 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 December 1944, The US
began a massive bombardment of Iwo Jima, which lasted 72 days, in preparation
for an amphibious invasion.
25 November 1944, The first
Kamikaze (divine wind) suicidal attacks were made by Japanese pilots on US
ships.
24 November 1944. US planes
bombed Tokyo, for the first time
since 18 April 1942.
-2.0, Japanese retreat 1942-44
19 November 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 November 1944, Iwo Jima was bombarded by the U.S. Navy.
5 November 1944. The
Japanese cruiser Nachi was sunk in Manila Bay by U.S. aircraft.
27 October 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 October 1944, involving a total of 231
ships and 1996 aircraft.
25 October 1944, US escort
carrier St Lo became the first ship sunk by a Japanese kamikaze attack.
20 October 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 August 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 August 1945).
21 July 1944, Guam, in the western
Pacific, was liberated by US Marines.� It
had been under Japanese occupation since December 1941.
20 July 1944. Tbe USA began to retake
the island of Guam from the Japanese.
18 July 1944. Prime Minister Tojo of Japan resigned.
6 July 1944, Japanese Admiral Nagumo and General Saito
committed suicide on Saipan. Before they died they ordered their troops to
undertake a final suicide attack. The Japanese lost 26,000 men to the US losses
of 16,500 dead and wounded. Resistance on Saipan now ended.
4 July 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 March 1944. Allied troops were supplied by
air and held back the Japanese from the key towns of Kohima and Imphal.
26 June 1944, Naval
fighting between the USA and Japan off the Marianas Islands.
19 June 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 June 1944, The Japanese 11th Army
occupied the Chinese cities of Changsha and Chuchow.
15 June 1944. Air raids on Japan hit steel mills at Yawata.
13 June 1944. Fifteen US warships
bombarded Saipan with 165,000 shells. Saipan, with Tinian (see 1 August 1944),
was a small Pacific island halfway between Australia and Japan, occupied by the
Japanese. 8,000 US marines landed on Saipan on 15 June 1944; Japanese troops
hid in caves but were attacked with flame throwers. On 7 July 1944 3,000
cornered Japanese troops, along with hundreds of civilians jumped to their
death rather than surrender.
11/ June 1944, Planes from US carrier
ships softened up Saipan, Marianas Islands, prior to a US invasion.
17 May 1944, US and Chinese forces seized the airfield
at Myitkyina, Burma, from the Japanese. Howebver strong Japanese resistance
meant the city of Myitkyina was not captured until 3 August 1944.
29 April 1944, Aircraft from carrier
ships destroyed the Japanese base at Truk, Caroline Islands.
28 April 1944, Second US attack on Truk
in 10 weeks. 30 US aircraft were shot down but 25 of the pilots were rescued.
However the Japanese fuel and ammunition depots were destroyed, making any
Japanese flank attack on western New Guinea impossible,
24 April 1944, The Japanese evacuated New
Guinea as US troops landed.
23 April 1944, Hollandia, New Guinea,
fell to the Americans without much fighting.
22 April 1944, The US launched Operation
Persecution, attacking the Japanese on the north coast of New Guinea.
18 April 1944, The 5th Brigade attacked
Japanese defences near Kohima.
15 April 1944, The US began devising
Operation Wed;lock, a spurious plan to attack the Kurile Islands, northern
Japan. This was a diversionary tactic.
14 April 1944, British forces overcame a
Japanese roadblock near Zubza, western Kohima trail, relieving the besieged
161st Indian Brigade.
12 April 1944, Japanese forces cut the
road between Kohima and Imphal.
24 March 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.
9 March 1944, The U.S. 5th Marine
Regiment took Talasea in New Britain unopposed.
7 March 1944, Japan launched an offensive from Burma into India.
5 March 1944. US troops under Stilwell
defeated the Japanese 18th Division at Maingkwan and Walawbaum, Burma.
29 February 1944. US troops landed at Los
Negros in the Admiralty Islands.
27 February 1944, The Battle of the Green
Islands in the Solomon Islands ended in Allied victory.
21 February 1944. Hideki Tojo became Chief of Staff of the Japanese Army.
19 February 1944, The US Submarine Jack
attacked a Japanese convoy 428 km west of Luzon, sinking four vessels.
15 February 1944, The US cleared the Solomon
Islands of Japanese forces.
6 February 1944, The Japanese launched a
counter-offensive in the Arakan, Burma, named Ha-Go. This offensive ceased on
26 February 1944.
5 February 1944, The first Chindit Brigade,
16th, set off from Ledo on foot.
4 February 1944. US warships shelled the Japanese homeland; the island of Paramishu.
31 January 1944, US forces made major amphibious landings on the Marshall Islands.
9 January 1944, The XV Indian Corps
occupied Maungdaw, Burma.
2 January 1944, US forces launched
Operation Dexterity, a seaborne assault on the Japanese stronghold of Saidor,
New Guinea. The fort was captured; 1,275 Japanese were killed, against 55 US
troops.
9 December 1943, The US military opened an
airfield on Bougainville.
1 December 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.
25 November 1943, US bombers attacked
Shinchiku Airfield, Formosa.
23 November 1943. US forces retook Makin in
the Gilbert Islands.
10 November 1943, The Allied Gilbert islands
invasion fleet sailed from Pearl Harbour.
7 November 1943, Japanese counter attack at
Bougainville.
1 November 1943, US forces retook Bougainville,
in the Solomon Islands.
27/10;/1943, New Zealand troops landed on Stirling
Island, central Solomons, unopposed.
25 October 1943, Japan celebrated the
completion of the Burma-Thailand railway. Of the 46,000 Allied PoWs forced to
work on it, 16,000 had died of starvation, disease and maltreatment. 50,000
Burmese labourers had also died during its completion.
6 October 1943, US forces landed unopposed
on the central Solomon Island of Kolombangara.
2 October 1943, A Japanese counter attack
in New Guinea was beaten off by Australian forces.
13 September 1943. General Chiang Kai Shek was
elected President of the Chinese
Republic.
5 September 1943,
US and Australian troops seized Nazdab, New Guinea, where an airstrip was
quickly built to facilitate an assault on Lae.
1 September 1943, Minami-Tori-shima, a Japanese coral atoll that
included an airstrip, located approximately 1,600 km from Tokyo, was attacked
by the US in the first successful strike of the new Fast Carrier Task Force.
25 August 1943, US forces captured New Georgia in the Solomon
Islands.
15 August 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 July 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.
17 July 1943,
Japan commenced counter attacks on US forces in New Georgia; they gained some
ground against the US.
16 July 1943,
The Battle of Mount Tambu began in New Guinea.
4 July 1943,
US troops made further landings in New Georgia, at Rice Anchorage on the
northern coast.
3 July 1943,
US troops established a beachhead near Munda, New Georgia.
2 July 1943,
Allied forces on New Georgia began the drive on Munda Point.
1 July 1943,
US troops secured Viru, on the south west coast of New Georgia.
30 June 1943,
US troops landed on Rendova Island, off New Georgia. There were also landings
in the Trobriand Islands, and the US began constructing airstrips.
29 June 1943, US forces landed in New Guinea.
23 June 1943, US troops occupied
Kiriwina Island, largest of the Trobriand Group.
22 June 1943, US troops occupied
Woodlark Island, Trobriand Island group.
21 June 1943, US Marines landed
unopposed at Segi Point, southernmost tip of New Georgia.
8 June 1943, The Japanese began to evacuate Kiska
Island.
2 June 1943, US troops
completed the recapture of Attu Island, Aleutian Islands, from Japan.
30 May 1943, The US completed the capture of Attu Island
from the Japanese. Mist and mud had hampered progress.
28 May 1943, Japanese forces launched a suicide attack
against US troops at Attu Island.
11 May 1943, US forces began
to recapture Attu in the Aleutian Islands, from Japan.
29 April 1943, Wingate and his Chindit troops
completed their withdrawal back from Burma into India
15 April 1943, General Slim took control of
Allied troops in Burma. His attaclks on the Japanese were hampered by exhaustion
and malaria amongst his troops.
18 April 1943, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto,
Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Navy and the architect of the December� 7 1941, attack on Pearl Harbour, was killed
when the plane that he was on was shot down by U.S. Army fighter pilot Thomas
Lanphier, Jr. US naval intelligence had decoded a Japanese message
that included the itinerary for an inspection tour that Yamamoto was making of the
Solomon Islands.
24 March 1943, Wingate was ordered to return
from Burma back into India. Air supply was becoming difficult an dthe Japanese
now seized all boats on the Irawaddy River.
11 March 1943, The US assisted the
Chinese in creating an air force there, to counter Japanese threats to push up
the Yangtze River.
7 March 1943, Japanese attacks on the
Allies at Rathedaung, Burma.
4 March 1943, The Battle of the Bismarck Sea
ended (began 2 March 1943). A
Japanese convoy carrying troops to Papua New Guinea was sunk by Allied forces.
-2.0(a)
Guadalcanal 1942-3
9 February 1943. The USA reported
that Japanese resistance in Guadacanal and the Solomon Islands had ceased.
7 February 1943, The
Japanese completed their withdrawal from Guadalcanal.
14 January 1943. The
Japanese began withdrawing from Guadalcanal.
10 January 1943, The US began
an assault on Mount Austin, Guadalcanal.
21 August 1942, The Battle
of the Tenaru was fought on Guadalcanal, resulting in Allied victory.
15 November 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 November 1942, The naval battle of Guadalcanal began.
27 October 1942, The Battle
of Goodenough Island ended in Australian victory.
18 August 1942, Japanese troops landed at Taivu, 32 km east of
Guadalcanal, as a diversionary operation.
7 August 1942. The USA attempted a landing on the Japanese-occupied
southern Solomon Islands. US troops invaded Guadalcanal. This was
Operation Watchtower.
Guadalcanal
fighting
2 February 1943. Japan made a last-ditch effort to recapture the Solomon Islands.
1 February 1943. Japan successfully
repulsed an attack by Indian troops on the garrison at Donbaik, Burma.
17 December 1942, The US submarine Drum mined
the waters around Japan.
14 December 1942, US troops made an attack
on Buna Village, Papua New Guinea, but found the Japanese had already evacuated
it.
11 January 1943, Britain made a treaty with
China, renouncing all British territorial rights in China.
2 January 1943, US troops finally captured
Buna Station, Papua New Guinea, against fierce Japanese resistance.
22 December 1942, In Burma the Japanese
withdrew from the Buthidaung-Maungdaw lone, which they had established and fortified
on 24 October 1942.
19 December 1942. British troops advanced in the Malay peninsula, pushing the Japanese back into Burma.
30 November 1942, Battle of Tassafaronga,
Guadalcanal. A naval clash in which Japan technically won, causing more damage
t the US than it suffered. However this victory did nothing to help the
Japanese garrison on Guadalcanal, now very short of food.
23 November 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.
3 November 1942, Australian forces were
pushing back the Japanese, denying the chance of taking Port Moresby. This day
the Australians recaptured Kokoda.
25 October 1942, Japan dropped plans for
Operation 21, an invasion of eastern India.
12 October 1942, Battle of Cape Esperance,
off Guadalcanal. A US supply convoy was intercepted by Japanese forces, who
were beaten off by US air attacks.
1 October 1942, US General MacArthur issued further
orders, to push along the Kokoda Trail, Papua New Guinea, and cut the Japanese
off.
27 September 1942. Japanese forces pulled
back in New Guinea as the allies advanced.
15 September 1942, US troops landed at Port Moresby,
Papua New Guinea.
29 August 1942, Australian troops forced
back on the Kokoda Trail, Papua New Guinea.
28 August 1942, Australian attack on
Japanese troops at Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea. Despite the arrival of Japanese
reinforcements the next day, they were forced to retreat back to Rabaul on 6 September
1942.
10 August 1942, US submarine S-44 sank the Japanese heavy cruiser Kako near Kavieng,
as it withdrew from the Battle of Savo Island.
-3.0, High
point of the Japanese Pacific Invasion, 1942
29 July 1942, Japanese forces took
Kokoda from the Australians, after 4 days fierce fighting.
22 July 1942, Japan, seeing how easily
they had overrun Burma, began to consider a thrust into India, along the Assam
frontier, capturing Imphal and the port of Chittagong. This was Operation 21.
20 June 1942, A Japanese submarine
shelled Vancouver island. This was the only time Canadian ;land territory came
under fire; little damage was done.
8 June 1942. Battle of Midway Island (4-8 June). The
Japanese withdrew after 4 days of shelling. See 27 May 1942. The Japanese
ability to mount strategic attacks in the Pacific was effectively ended. The US
lost 500 men, the Japanese lost 3,500 men. The
Japanese shelled the Australian cities of Newcastle and Sydney.
31 May 1942 Japanese
submarines attempted, unsuccessfully, to enter Sydney Harbour, Australia.
8 May 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 May 1942, Madagascar was
occupied by British troops to forestall any Japanese invasion.
6 May 1942. The Japanese
captured Corregidor.
5 June 1942, Japanese Admiral Yamamoto realised the surprise
factor had failed and ordered a withdrawal from Midway.
3 June 1942, The Japanese launched a diversionary attack on the
Aleutians but did not draw US forces away from Midway.
30 May 1942, US Task Force 17 set sail from Pearl Harbour to
join Task force 16 against the Japanese at Midway Island,
28 May 1942, US Task Force 16 sailed to intercept the Japanese
fleet bound for Midway Island.
27 May 1942, A Japanese fleet left Japan on operation M.1, the
capture of Midway Island. They hope
to repeat the surprise factor of Pearl Harbour; however the US had cracked the
Japanese radio codes and were ready, see 8 June 1942
2 May 1942. The Japanese
captured Mandalay.
10 May 1942, Final
Allied surrender of The Philippines.
9 May 1942, Japanese
forces took Dalirig on Mindanao.
26 April 1942, The
world�s worst coalmine disaster occurred at Honkeiko Colliery, China. 1,572
were killed.
25 April 1942, American
troops arrived in New Caledonia to assist in defence of the archipelago.
18 April 1942, US planes
bombed Tokyo and other Japanese cities; the �Doolittle Raids�. See 24 November 1944.
17 April 1942, Japanese
forces in Burma reached Yenangyaung. The
main oilfields in Burma were destroyed to prevent them from falling into
Japanese hands.
12 April 1942, Japanese
forces captured Migyaungye, Burma, close to the oilfields there. The Allies
began to destroy the oil installations on 15 April 1942.
10 April 1942, The
Bataan Death March. Some 75,000 Filipino and US troops captiured by the
Japanese at Bataan were forced to march 137km in 6 days. Many hundreds died
during the march.
9 April 1942. The
Japanese captured Bataan
8 April 1942, Japanese
forces landed on Lorengau in the Admiralty Islands.
5 April 1942, Easter
Sunday. Japanese aircraft attacked Colombo, Sri Lanka, and sank two British
cruisers.
3 April 1942, Final
Japanese push to capture Bataan, with the Allied defences crumbling.
31 March 1942, The
Battle of Christmas Island was fought. Japanese soldiers were able to occupy
Christmas Island without resistance, although the American submarine Seawolf
damaged the Japanese cruiser Naka.
24 March 1942, Japan
began intensive bombing of Bataan and Corrigedor.
23 March 1942, The
Japanese occupation of the Andaman Islands began.
18 March 1942, US troops
occupied the New Hebrides, to guard against a Japanese attack on the wqest
coast of Australia.
12 March 1942, US troops
occupied New Caledonia.
10 March 1942. Rangoon, Burma, fell to the Japanese.
9 March 1942, The Dutch
East Indies campaign ended in decisive Japanese victory. The Japanese
occupation of the Dutch East Indies began.
8 March 1942. Java surrendered to the Japanese.
7 March 1942. British
forces withdrew from Rangoon.
Bandung, Java, also fell to the Japanese, effectively giving all of Java to Japan.
5 March 1942, The Dutch announced the
evacuation of Batavia in the face of the Japanese advance. Java could no longer
be held. The Japanese entered Pegu in Burma, just 40 miles from the capital,
Rangoon.
2 March 1942, The Japanese
began heavy air strikes on New Guinea
in preparation for an invasion.
28 February 1942. The Japanese
landed on Java, Indonesia.
27 February 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 February 1942. Civilians
were evacuated from Rangoon as
fighting raged 80 miles north east of the city.
20 February 1942, Bali, east
of Java, was invaded by Japan.
19 February 1942. The Japanese
bombed the Australian city of Darwin.
16 February 1942, Japanese forces in Borneo occupied the town
of Sintang, West Kalimantan. In Sumatra, Palembang fell to Japanese forces.
15 February 1942. Singapore occupied by the Japanese. See 5 September 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 February 1942. The
Japanese captured Bandjermasin, the main town on the south coast of Borneo.
11 February 1942, Japanese forces crossed the Salween River
in Burma.
31 January 1942. The
Japanese laid siege to Singapore.
They landed on Singapore on 9 February 1942.
23 January 1942, Japanese
forces captured the port of Rabaul, New Britain.
22 January 1942, Belatedly, Allied reinforcements reached
Singapore
19 January 1942. Japanese
invaded Burma.
18 January 1942, Japanese
forces captured Tavoy, Burma.
16 January 1942, In the
Battle of Muar in Malaya, the Japanese 5th Infantry Division crossed the Muar
River and captured Muar itself.
14 January 1942, The Battle
of Gemas was fought in Malaya, resulting in tactical Australian victory.
11 January 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 January 1942. The
Japanese invaded the Dutch East Indies.
4 January 1942, The Japanese 14th Army captured Guagua in
the Philippines.
3 January 1942, The Allies set up the South West Pacific
Command
2 January 1942. Manila captured by the Japanese. The US recaptured it on 3
February 1945.
1 January 1942, The
British withdrew from Sarawak.
30 December 1941, The Battle of Kampar began in Malaya.
28 December 1941, General Wavell took command of the Allied
defence of Burma.
25 December 1941. Hong Kong surrendered to the Japanese. 6,000 troops laid down arms after a 7-day battle.
23 December 1941, Wake Island (US territory) surrendered to
the Japanese, see 4 September 1945.
22 December 1941, General Wavell met with Chiang Kai Shek at Chonqquing.
21 December 1941, Siam
(Thailand) signed a treaty with Japan permitting the entry and transit of
Japanese troops. This facilitated the Japanese invasion of Burma.
18 December 1941, British
and Dutch forces occupied East Timor. Malaya was evacuated and the Japanese
attacked Hong Kong.
17 December 1941. Sarawak, Borneo, was invaded by the Japanese.
14 December 1941, Japan and
Siam (Thailand) signed a ten-year co-operation treaty.
13 December 1941, The
Japanese controlled the mainland area of Hong
Kong, and Kowloon; Hong Kong
Island was still British-held.
12 December 1941. The Japanese
captured the island of Guam, see 20 July 1944.
10 December 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 December 1941, US air
force bombed Luzon, Philippines.
See also France-Germany,
from 1 January 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 December 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 December 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 December 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 November 1941, Japanese naval forces set
sail for Pearl Harbour
Prelude to war in the Pacific; Japan
and the USA, 1939-41
22 October 1941, Tokyo conducted its first practice blackout.
18 October 1941, The
expiry of a 6-week deadline, set by the Japanese military on 6 September 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 October 1941. The belligerent General Tojo
was appointed Prime Minister of Japan. He replaced Prince Konoe, who had resigned
the previous day after failing t make headway in negotiations with the US and
facing strong pressure from the Japanese military.
13 September 1941, Three days of war games held at the Naval War College, Tokyo,
ended. They had been staged to develop possible Japanese strategy in the
Pacific.
6 September 1941, Japan now aimed to be
fully bready for war with the US by end October 1941. Meanwhile Prince Konoe
continued talks with the US to buy time.
29 August 1940, Vichy France acceded to
Japanese demands to station their forces in northern Indo-China.
1 August 1941, The US imposed an embargo on oil sales to Japan.
30 July 1941, The US gunboat Tutuila was bombed by Japanese aircraft. Japan later
apologised for the incident.
29 July 1941, The Vichy French Government gave Japanese forces use of the air bases
in Indo China.
27 July 1941. Japanese troops moved into Cambodia
and Thailand, and captured Saigon.
26 July 1941, Britain and the USA froze
Japanese assets. US codebreakers had been reading Japanese government
communications and along with Britain and The Netherlands were convinced of
Japanese aggressive intentions. Japan was now cut off from 90% of its oil
supplies, and felt it had no option but to invade the oil-rich Dutch East
Indies.
24 July 1941, Japan
announced that Vichy France had consented to Japanese �protection� of the French
colonies in Indo-China.
18 July 1941, The
belligerent Yosuke
Matsuoka, who had advocated an attack on the USA. was replaced as
Japanese Foreign Minister by the more moderate Teijiro Toyoda. This move was
intended to appease the US and keep them out of a war with Japan.
2 July 1941, Japan
called up over one million conscripts, and pulled its merchant ships out of the
Atlantic.
29 June 1941,� Germany demanded that Japan open an attack on Russia.
Japan considered this on 2 July 1941, but their preference was merely to
maintain their military presence in Manchukuo as a rear guard against a Russian
attack whilst they thrust southwards where greater resources for their economy
were to be found. They would only mount a greater attack on Russia
if Russia increased its threat to them.
5 June 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.
11 May 1941. Japan
demanded that the US cease aid to China and restore normal trade links with
Japan. The US declined these demands but continued negotiating with Japan so as
to avoid war; japan meanwhile, not yet ready for war, was happy to continue
talking.
10 March 1941, Japanese
Rear Admiral Takijiro
Onishi gave Isoroku Yamamoto a draft of the Pearl Harbour
attack plan.
7 November 1940. Britain, the USA, and Australia agreed
on the defence of the Pacific.
27 September 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 September 1940. Japanese forces entered Indo-China.
20 September 1940, Taro Aso, 59th Prime Minister of
Japan,was born� in Iizuka, Fukuoka,
Japan.
22 July 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.
16 July 1940, The
Japanese Army toppled the moderate Government of Admiral Yonai and replaced it
with one headed by Prince Konoe.
4 January 1939. The fascist Baron Hiranuma
became Prime Minister of Japan.
22 February 1940, The
5-year-old Tenzin
Gyatso was enthroned as the 14th Dalai Lama in Tibet. Gyatso
was born on 6 June 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.
15 June 1933, China and Tibet
ended a two-year war, agreeing to settle upon their pre-war border.
1939,
Battle of Nomonchan, Manchuria
13 April 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.
20 August 1939. At Khalikhin Gol (see 5
June 1939) Zhukov
launched a surprise attack against the Japanese, having mounted an elaborate
deception that he intended to merely reinforce existing battle lines and dig
in.� Both sides fought hard and suffered
heavy losses. The Japanese sustained 61,000 casualties and the Soviets saw
7.974 killed and 15,251 wounded. By 31 August 1939 the battle was over. Germany
had signed a pact with Russia, and was poised to invade western Poland. It was
in both the Soviet and Japanese interests to agree a ceasefire, which Japan now
requested. Zhukov
was now a Soviet hero, and the Japanese resolved to conquer south and east, not
north towards Russian territory.
5 June 1939, Soviet military commander Zhukov
arrived at the Khalkhin Gol military
conflict between Soviet-Mongolian forces and Japanese-Manchurian forces. On 12/
May 1939 a Mongolian cavalry regiment had crossed the Khalkhin Gol River
(regarded by Manchuria as the frontier) and grazed their horses on the steppe
as far as the large village of Nomonchan, 20 kilometres from the river;
Mongolia regarded this village as the frontier.
See https://apjjf.org/-Uradyn-E.-Bulag/3263/article.html
for more details.
The nearest Mongolian railway station was 650
km away, meaning any Soviet reinforcements faced a 5-day round trip along poor
dirt roads; the Japanese underestimated the strength of forces that Zhukov
could muster. See 20 August 1939.
Japanese invasion of China, 1937-41. See also Japanese occupation of
Manchuria 1931-36
26 July 1940, US President Roosevelt imposed
sanctions on Japan in retaliation for Japanese air raids on US missions and
churches in China.
31 March 1939. Japan
annexed the Spratly Islands, formerly a French possession though in fact of no
utility to France. France did not contest the action. However Japan then
commenced improving the naval facilities on the Islands, which were just 700
miles from Singapore.
24 December 1938,
Hangzhou fell to the Japanese.
21
October 1938. The Japanese occupied Canton.
12
October 1938, Japanese
troops landed in force on the Chinese mainland, and advanced swiftly on Canton.
27
September 1938. The League
of Nations denounced Japanese aggression in China.
11 July 1938. Soviet and Japanese troops clashed on
the Manchukuo border.
6 March 1938, The
Japanese advanced along the Hangchow Railway through Shansi Province towards
the Yellow River.
10
January 1938, Japan captured the Chinese port of Qingdao.
24 December 1937. Japanese
troops captured Hankow, China.
22 December 1937, Britain
protested to Japan about attacks on Royal Navy ships on the Yangtse River.
12 December 1937, Japan captured Nanjing, China, see 7
December 1937. They massacred over 100,000 of the city�s population.
7 December 1937. Japan attacked Nanjing, bitter fighting
followed. Japan occupied Nanjing on 12 December 1937. Defeated Chinese soldiers who surrendered were nevertheless killed, and
women and children were raped and murdered.
8 November 1937, Japan
captured Shanghai.
27 October 1937, Japan announced the capture of Pingding,
Shanxi Province after a three-day battle.
29 September 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 September 1937. The League of Nations condemned the Japanese
invasion of China.
25 September 1937. The
Japanese bombed the Chinese Nationalist capital of Nanjing.
23 August 1937, Japan
began a major offensive against Shanghai.
14 August 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 July 1937. Japanese
troops took Beijing, see 7 July 1937.
25 July 1937, First
major battle between Chinese and Japanese forces, at Langfang, south of
Beijing.
10 July 1937, In
China, Chiang
Kai-shek made a radio address to millions announcing the Kuomintang's
policy of resistance against Japan.
7 July 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 July 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 July 1937, starting the 1937-45 War.
Chinese Communists, Long March
11 August 1936, Chiang Kai Shek entered Canton,
China.
20 October 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 October 1934. Mao Tse Tung's
'Long March'
began.� See 20 October 1935.
17 July 1932, In China Chiang Kai Shek
began an anti-Communist
drive.
9 July 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.
7 July 1936, In Japan,
17 officers implicated in a failed coup (see 26 February 1936) were executed.
26 February 1936, An
attempted coup in Tokyo, Japan. A group of Army officers killed the Prime
Minister, Saiko
Makoto, and the Finance Minister, Takahashi Korekiyo. The coup was
thwarted.
22 March 1934, Major fire in Hakodate, Japan, killed 1,500
people.
25 July 1932. The USSR, Poland, and Japan
signed a non-aggression pact.
15 May 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 November 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 November 1937.
9 December 1935,
Thousands of Chinese students demonstrated in Beijing against the
ineffectiveness of the Kuomintang response to Japanese encroachment into China.
19 December 1934, Japan
renounced the Washington Treaty, which had limited naval armaments.
17 April 1934, Japan
issued a statement claiming it alone had responsibility for po;litical
relations and military security in the western Pacific region.
31 May 1933, Japan
and China signed an armistice. Japanese troops withdrew to north of the Great
Wall of China.
25 February 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.
23 February 1933, From
occupied Manchuria, Japan invaded China's Jehol Province with 30,000 Japanese
troops and 1,000 from Manchukuo
5 May 1932. Japanese
troops withdrew from Shanghai after an armistice was agreed.
28
January 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
January 1932. An assassination attempt was made on the Japanese Emperor
Hirohito.
2
January 1932. The Japanese proclaimed the Republic of Manchukuo in Manchuria.
24 September 1931, The Japanese set up a puppet government of Manchuria based in
Mukden.
21 September 1931, The Japanese took Kirin, China. By early 1932 they controlled three
coastal provinces.
18 September 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 February 1931.
3 August 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
February 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 September 1931.
Fighting against the Communists, 1926-31 (see also Kuomintanng 1925-28 below)
31 July 1931,
Chiang Kai Shek defeated the Communists, in northern China.
17 June 1931. In China, the British
arrested Nguyen
Ai Quoc, also known as Ho Chi Minh, founder of the Indo-Chinese Communist
Party.
4 November 1930, In China, Chiang Kai Shek
defeated rival forces in the Central Plains War.
22 October 1930, Rebels massacred 8,000 in Shanghai,
China.
2 September 1930, In Beijing, rebels
under Yen Hsi-chan took power.
10 July 1930, In China, Communist
troops attacked the city of Hankow.
6 February 1928. 50,000 fled as Communists
raided Peking.
19 December 1927, In China, 600 Communists
were executed by the Nationalists.
15 December 1927, China broke off diplomatic relations with
the USSR. This was after
an attempted Communist uprising in Guangzhou.
14 December 1927. Chiang Kai
Shek�s forces suppressed an attempted Communist
coup in Canton.
1 December 1927, Chiang Kai Shek
(also, Jiang
Jieshi) married Song Meiling (Sung Mei Ling), a wealthy and
Christianised US educated member of one of China�s wealthiest families. He had
earlier divorced his previous wife.
19 September 1927, A Communist
uprising in Guangdong (Canton) was easily crushed. However under a new leader, Mao Zedong,
it would develop into a stronger Party based on peasant support.
7 September 1927, Mao Tse Tung
led a Communist
uprising in the rural province of Hunan.
1 August 1927, The Nanchang Army
uprising against the Kuomintang. The Chinese Communist Party considers this the
date of the founding of the Red Army.
6 April 1927, Chinese
police raided the Soviet Embassy in Beijing, seizing incriminating
evidence of subversion. Several Communist leaders were later executed.
1926, Japan passed a �Peace Preservation Law�, to �regulate extremist
movements�; this facilitated the suppression of Communist groups.
9 March 1932. The last emperor of China, Pu Yi, was installed as head of
the Japanese puppet government in Manchuria.
1930, Japan adopted the Western metric system of weights
and measures.
14 November 1930, Hamaguchi Yuko,
Prime Minister of Japan, was shot and wounded by an agitator following
widespread public anger at his acceptance of Japanese naval reductions
according to the terms of the London Naval Conference.
22 April 1930, The London Naval Treaty
committed the USA, Britain, Japan France and Italy to limit the tonnage of
submarines they possessed and extended a moratorium on the construction of new
capital ship until 1936.
21 January 1930, The London Naval
Conference opened.
22 December 1929. China and Russia agreed to withdraw troops
from the border as their dispute over the eastern railway ended.
30 November 1929, Soviet planes bombed the Manchurian town of
Pokutu.
11 November 1929, Anti-Japanese
occupation protests in Korea.
9 September 1929. Heavy fighting between Russia and China on
their border.
17 July 1929. Russia broke
off diplomatic relations with China
and began to mobilise troops on the border.
2 July 1929, The Giichi Tanaka Government in� Japan fell.
26 June 1929. The Japanese
government signed the anti-war Kellogg-Briand
pact, the last government to sign it.
10 November 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.
4 June 1928, Marshal Chang was killed when
his train was mined. The assassination was done by Japanese Kwantung Army staff
who wanted to secure Manchuria for Japan.
Chinese Kuomintang Government established; end of Chinese Civil War,
1925-28
20 December 1928. The UK
recognised the Kuomintang
government of China.
6 October 1928. Chiang Kai-Shek became President of Nationalist China.
7 September 1926, Kuomintang
troops entered Wuchang, Hupeh Province.
22 July 1928. Japan severed all relations with China.
21 August 1926, Kuomintang troops took Changsha,
Hunan Province.
19 July 1928, China annulled the �unequal
treaties� formerly made with European powers.
8 June 1928, Beijing fell
to Nationalist
forces under Chiang
Kai Shek, ending the Chinese
civil war.
3 May 1928, Chinese Nationalist
forces suffered major losses against the Japanese.
19 April 1928. The Japanese
occupied Shantung, China.
12 April 1927, Chiang Kai Shek
massacred his former Communist allies in Shanghai.
7 April 1928, Chinese Nationalists
launched an offensive to capture Beijing.
24 March 1927, In
China, the Kuomintang
took Shanghai. Jiang Jeishi now began negotiations with wealthy Shanghai
bankers and
turned on his former Communist allies.
22 March 1927, Kuomintang
troops entered Shanghai, Kiangsu P{rovince.
21 March 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.
Kuomintang turn agaist their former allies, the Communists (see also above, 1926-31)
24 February 1927, Kuomintang
forces entered Hangchow, Chekiang Province.
31 January 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.
16 October 1926, A troopship exploded on
the Yangtze River, China, killing 1,200 people.
10 October 1926, Kuomintang troops entered Wuchang,
Kiangsi Province.
7/1926, The Kuomintang began a campaign
northwards from their base in Canton, Kwangtung Province, against the Northern
Chinese warlords. This was the Northern Expedition.
Start of
the Northern Expedition
1 January 1926, The Nationalist government was
established in southern China.
30 November 1925, The US sent warships to
Hankow, China, to stop attacks by Communist Chinese on foreigners.
7 September 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 May 1925.
12 March 1925, In China, Kuomintang
leader Dr
Sun Yat Sen died.� General Chiang Kai Shek became the new leader. Discontent within China at the Unequal Treaties with Western powers
grew, and China started a boycott of British trade and shipping.
20 January 1925, The UK and China made the
Treaty of Peking.
15 January 1925, In China, strikes at Shanghai
weer suppressed by British and French troops. This sparked revolutionary
unrest, and US troops now arrived to protect their nationals and economic
interests.
25 December 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.
29 March 1925. Japan
passed a Bill for universal male suffrage.
22 March 1925, Radio broadcasting began in Japan.
19 March 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.
15 April 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 January 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.
Start of
Communism in China
5 November 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 November 1924, Feng Yuxiang's troops entered
Tianjin.
25 October 1924, In China, President Tsao
Kun resigned.
13 August 1924, Severe flooding in China,
50,000 killed.
31 May 1924. China recognised the USSR.
21 January 1924 The Chinese Kuomintang
Congress admitted the Communists.
6 October 1923, Soviet agent Mikhail Borodin
arrived iun China to assist Sun Yat Sen�s Kuomintang Government.
13 June 1923, Li Yuanhung, President of the
Chinese Government in Beijing, was oiusted by warlord Cao Kun.
9 August 1922, Chinese Nationalist
leader Sun
Yat Sen fled southern China for Hong Kong after his defeat by
warlord Chen
Jiongming.
23 July 1921. The first congress of the
Chinese Communist
Party was held in Beijing.
1 July 1921, The Chinese Communist Party was founded,
assisted by Russian Comintern agents. Their first meeting was in Shanghai this
day. The police were soon on their trail, and they fled to a lake resort 100
miles away. At this point the Chinese Communist Party has 57 members, mostly
anarchists.
25 July 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.
27 December 1923, Emperor Hirohito of Japan narrowly escaped assassination.
1 September 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 August 1923. The
defence treaty between Japan and the UK (see 30 January 1902 and 23 August 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 March 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 February 1922, Japan agreed to return the Shandong
Peninsula to China, whilst retaining some mines and commercial interests.
1 February 1922, Death of
the Japanese statesman Yamagata Aritomo (born 14 June 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 November 1921. Hirohito became Regent in Japan.
10 April 1921, Sun Yat Sen was elected President of China.
21 December 1920, Widespread
famine in China 7 November 1920 to 21 December 1920.
15 December 1920. China and Austria were admitted to the
League of Nations.
17 October 1919, Zhao Ziyang, Chinese politician, was born
(died 17 January 2005).
15 September 1919. China ended its war with Germany.
4 May 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 March 1919, Anti Japanese colonialism demonstrations in
Seoul, Korea, which were violently suppressed by the Japanese.
17 August 1918, After rioting occurred, the Japanese
Government requisitioned rice stocks.
2 August 1918. British, French, and US forces landed at Archangel to support White Russians
against the Bolsheviks. Japan invaded Siberia.
6 April 1918. US, British, and Japanese
troops landed at Vladivostock.
26 February 1918, 604 were killed in Hong Kong when the
stands at the Hong Kong Jockey Club collapsed and caught fire.
6 July 1916. Russia and Japan signed a peace treaty.
4 July 1916, Ikugo Toguri, the voice of Japanese propaganda
radio during World War two, was born (died 26 September 2006).
22 March 1916, In China, President Yuan Shikai died.
China, Japan on Allied side against Germany, World
War One.
15 September 1917. China offered the Allies 15,000 troops to fight on the Western Front.
14 August 1917. China declared war on Germany and Austria.
14 March 1917, China broke off diplomatic relations with Germany.
18 January 1915. Japan made �21 Demands� on China, which if accepted
would virtually give Japan sovereignty over China.
29 November 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 November 1914. The German fortified city of Qingdao (Tsingtao)� in China surrendered to the Japanese.
2 September 1914. The Japanese began landing forces at Lungkow, 150 miles north of
Tsingtao.
27 August 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 August 1914. Japan declared war on Germany.
This was due to the treaty of mutual defence concluded between Japan and the UK
on 30 January 1902. The Germans had not responded to an ultimatum by Japan
issued 14 August 1914.� See 17 August 1923.
14 August 1914, Japan demanded that Germany withdraw warships from the China and Japan
region by15 September 1914,
Death of
Meiji Emperor Mutsuhito. Japan creating further links with the West.
21 November 1913, Death of Tokugawa Keiki, last of the Japanese shoguns who controlled the country from 1603 to
1867.
20 February 1913. Great fire in Tokyo.
7 August 1912. Japan and Russia reached agreement on their spheres
of influence in Mongolia and Manchuria.
30 July 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.
3/1912, The Japanese Tourist Bureau was formed, now known as the Japan Travel
Bureau.
28
June 1911, Japan signed a
commercial treaty with France.
3
April 1911, Japan and Britain signed a commercial treaty.
21
February 1911, Japan and the US signed a commercial treaty in Washington.
5 November 1913, A joint declaration by Russia and China
recognising the autonomy of Outer Mongolia (Mongolia) under Chinese suzerainty.
8 July 1913, China agreed to grant independence to Mongolia.
6 December 1911. Russia announced that Mongolia was a
Russian protectorate.
Conflict in
China as Republican administration set up,
after end of Manchu Dynasty
6 October 1913, Yuan Shikai became President of
China.
8 April 1913. China�s first parliament opened, in Beijing.
3 September 1913, In China Yuan Shikai
captured Nanjing.
22 February 1913. Death of the Dowager Empress
of China.
10 August 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.
14 April 1912, China's
President Yuan
Shih-kai issued a manifesto asking the five separate race groups in
the nation to unite through intermarriage.
11 March 1912,
Chinese Republican
Government established in Lanchow, capital of Kansu Province. This was one of
the last areas to see the new Republican administration established.
2 March 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 February 1912, Military revolt in
Beijing.
12 February 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 January 1912. The
Republic of China was officially proclaimed.
29 December 1911, Chinese revolutionary Dr Sun Yat Sen
(1866-1925) became the first President
of the Republic of China.
22 December 1911, A Chinese Republican
Government was established in Kaifeng, capital of Honan Province.
7 December 1911, China abolished men�s
pigtails.
2 December 1911, Chinese Republicans
captured Nanking.
22 November 1911. Chinese Republican
Government established in Chengtu, capital of Szechuan Province.
16 November 1911, In China, Prime Minister Yuan Shikai
formed a Cabinet.
30 October 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 October 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.
22 October 1911, A Chinese Republican
Government was established in Sian, capital of Shansi Province.
Fall of the
Chinese Manchu Dynasty, 1905-11
10 October 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.
May 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 been
taken out to finance this nationalisation.
2 December 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 November 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.
11 April 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 indigenous 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 February 1906.
Pu Yi, last Emperor of China, was born in Beijing.
20 August 1905, Chinese
revolutionary Sun
Yat Sen, exiled from China in 1895, had travelled the world in order
to muster support to bring down the Manchu Dynasty. This day in Tokyo he formed
the first Chapter of the T�ung Meng Hui,
a union of all secret organisations aimed at overthrowing the Manchus.
Increasing
Japanese influence over Korea
22 August 1910. Japan formally annexed Korea.
4 July 1910. Russia recognised Japanese
occupation of Korea in return for a free hand in Manchuria.
26 October 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.
25 July 1907. Japan made Korea a protectorate.
The Korean Emperor Kojong (I T�ae Wang) who had ruled since 1864
abdicated 19 July 1907, aged 55 under pressure from Japan, who was occupying
Korea.
China takes
control of Tibet (see 1904-06 below)
17
August 1912, Britain called on China not to send a military
expedition to Tibet.
2 August 1912, Tibetans
were routed by Chinese soldiers at Lhasa.
4 April 1912. A Chinese Republic was declared in Tibet.
23 February 1910. The Dalai Lama and several noted Tibetans fled from Lhasa to India, as
Chinese troops occupied Tibet.
31 January 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�.
19 July 1907, Kojong,
Emperor of Korea for 43 years, aged 55, abdicated under pressure from the
Japanese, who were occupying his country.
10 June 1907, France
and Japan signed a treaty guaranteeing equal trading rights for both in China,
and recognising Japan�s �special interests� in Manchuria, Fukien and Mongolia.
1 January 1907. In China, 4 million people were starving
due to heavy rains and crop failure.
15 November 1906, Japan
launched what was then the world�s
largest battleship, the Satsuma.
20 September 1906, In China, an imperial edict ordered the end of the use of heroin within 10
years.
18 September 1906, Typhoon hit Hong Kong, killing some 10,000
peopole.
3 February 1906. Japan decided to
double the size of its navy by 1908.
9 May 1905, The Chinese Government
announced that it was taking control of the Imperial Customs Service, removing Robert Hart
from office, who had been its Inspector-General since 1863.
24 August 1904, The Chinese leader, Deng Xiaoping, was born in
Sichuan Province.
Russo-Japanese
War 1904-05. Russia defeated, Japan makes territorial gains in Manchuria region
20 February 1908, Russian General Stossel
was sentenced to death for surrendering to the Japanese.
15
April 1907. Japan handed Manchuria back to China under the Treaty of Portsmouth, which ended the Russo-Japanese War.
5 December 1906, Russian Admiral
Niebogatov went on trial, accused of surrendering ships to the
Japanese.
5 September 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 (7 September 21905). This Treaty
marked the start of Japanese expansion into China, which aroused unease in
Washington.
29 August 1905. Russia and Japan agreed peace. An
armistice was arranged for 31 August 1905. A peace treaty was signed between
Russia and Japan on 5 September 1905 at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA.
5
August 1905, The preliminary meeting of the Japanese and Russian
peace negotiators, at President Roosevelt�s home at Oyster Bay, New
York State.
Russia defeated by Japan
31 July 1905. The Russian
governor of Sakhalin Island
surrendered to the Japanese.
29
July 1905, In negotiations promoted by US President Roosevelt to end
the Russo-Japanese War, the US Secretary of State, William Howard Taft, made a
secret agreement with Japan. Japan could have a free hand in Korea in return
for it not interfering with US activities in The Philippines.
8
June 1905, US President Roosevelt sent notes to both
Japan and Russia urging them to end the conflict and offering his services as
mediator.
27 May 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 January 1905. Along with the
hunliating defeat at Mukden (10 March 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 March 1905, President
Roosevelt was asked to mediate in the Far East war between Japan and Russia.
10 March 1905. The Japanese
defeated the 200,000 strong Russian army at Mukden. Japan was on the verge of overextending its land forces, and Russia
might have been able to gain the upper hand against them, with its large
reserves, However unrest at home in Russia prevented this.
19 February 1905, The Japanese began fighting the Russians
for control of Mukden.
13 February 1905. The Japanese
laid siege to Vladivostock.
1 January 1905. Russians defending Port Arthur finally
capitulated to the Japanese; the effort had cost the lives of 60,000 Japanese
troops.
5 December 1904. The Japanese
destroyed the Russian fleet at Port Arthur.
30 November 1904, The Japanese made headway against the
Russians at Port Arthur, at the cost of 12,000 casualties.
25
October 1904, Japan began a heavy bombardment of the Russian-held
forts at Port Arthur, under siege since June.
For Dogger Bank
Incident, October 1904, see Russia
4 September 1904, Japanese forces captured Liao-Yang. 200,000 Japanese troops
defeated 150,000 Russians. Japan suffered the heavier casualties, at 18,000 to
16,000.
11
August 1904, The Russian fleet in harbour at Port Arthur was now
vulnerable to Japanese gunfire from the hills near the town. Several Russian
ships attempted to escape to sea but were forced back in harbour by the
Japanese Navy.
6 July 1904, Russia sent two battle cruisers into the
Red Sea to stop passage of ships belonging to nations they believed friendly to
Japan, including Germany and Britain. After protests, Russia ordered these
ships to desist on 3 September 1904.
26 June 1904. Japanese forces inflicted a
heavy defeat on the Russians at Telissu.
30 May 1904, Japan captured
Dairen, Manchuria, from Russia.
25 May 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 May 1904. The Battle of the Yalu marked the start
of the Russo-Japanese War.
13 April 1904. Russia lost its flagship battleship
Petropavlosk and 600 men to a mine in an ill-fated sortie from Port Arthur.
28 March 1904, Japanese troops captured
the Korean town of Chengju from the Russians.
6 March 1904, Japan bombarded Vladivostok.
10 February 1904. Night attack by the
Japanese crippled the Russian fleet at Port Arthur.
9 February 1904, Japan landed troops at Chemulpo (Inchon), near Seoul, Korea; within
three weeks they had advanced to the Yalu
River, border of Manchuria.
8 February 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 January 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.
6 February 1904. Japan
announced that due to what it saw as Russian provocation and delaying tactics,
it was recalling its ambassador from Moscow.
British
domination of Tibet 1903-06
27 April 1906. China
reluctantly granted Britain control of Tibet, following the occupation of the
capital Lhasa by British troops. However
see 1910 above
7 September 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 August 1904, Tibet�s religious leader, the Dalai Lama, fled Lhasa as Lord Curzon�s
forces entered the city.
2 August 1904, The British had faced resistance by Tibetans against colonial
expansion.� On this day the British, successful
against Tibet, entered Lhasa. See 7 September 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 March 1904. British forces under� MacDonald killed
some 300 Tibetans attempting to halt a British mission to Tibet.
12 December 1903, A British expedition
entered Tibet.
Japan forges alliance with UK, after abandoning one with Russia, 1901-02
25 June 1902, Yasuhito,
Prince Chichibu, member of the Japanese royal family and Japanese
Imperial Navy admiral; was born in Tokyo. The second son of Emperor Yoshihito
and younger brother of the Emperor Hirohito, he was second in line for
succession during Yoshihito's reign from 1912 to 1925, but never
the crown prince. He died of tuberculosis in 1950.
20 March 1902,
France and Russia formally stated that they had no objections to the
Anglo-Japanese alliance of 30 January 1902, but reserved the right to protect
their own interests in China and Korea.
30 January 1902. Japan and the
UK concluded a mutual defence alliance. See 8 February 1904 and 23 August 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 December 1901, Japan
abandoned negotiations with Russia, and started to arrange an alliance with
Britain.
25 November 1901, Prince Hirobumi
Ito of Japan, whilst visiting St Petersburg, sought Russian
acceptance of Japanese claims in Korea.
7 November 1901, Li Hung Chang,
Chinese statesman, died (born 16 February 1823).
3 August 1901, Pavel Mil,
Soviet
administrator who guided the development of the Chinese Communist Party in the
1920s, was born.
29 April 1901. Birth of Crown Prince
Hirohito. Later Emperor of
Japan.
27 March 1901, Eisaku Satu,
Prime Minister of Japan 1964-72, was born (died 1975).
Boxer rebellion, China, 1899-1902
7 January 1902, Following the suppression of the Boxer
Rebellion, the Chinese Imperial Court returned to Beijing.
7 September 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 May 1901, China
announced that it had agreed with the Eight-Nation Alliance (six European
superpowers, also Japan and the USA) on the indemnity to be paid for damages
from the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. Economists estimated that it would take China
39 years to pay the reparations amount of 450 million taels (�67,500,000 or
$175,500,000) along with four percent annual interest, and that China would
have to raise 23,000,000 taels in tax revenues each year in order to avoid
default.
26 February 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.
26 October 1900, Two months after fleeing
from Beijing to Xian, Empress Dowager Cixi re-established the
Imperial Court to rule China.
Western
forces invade China to deal with the Boxer threat
16 October 1900, The UK and Germany signed
the Anglo-German Treaty, agreeing to maintain the territorial integrity of
China and to support the �open door� free trade policy of the USA. However this was rather less to benefit
China than a cynical policy to retain access to China in the face of growing
Japanese and Russian influence there.
14 September 1900, 62,000 foreign troops now
occupied Beijing. However isolated attacks by the Boxers continued on Chinese
Christians, providing the troops with a ready excuse for more retaliation.
15 August 1900, European troops began
looting Beijing, not only attacking the Boxers but also pillaging the property
of non-combatant Chinese. The Peking Observatory was looted, and many artistic
and cultural items were stolen.
14 August 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.
7 August 1900, In China, European forces
captured Yang-tsun from the Boxers, after losing 700 men
26 July 1900, In China, European forces
captured Tianjin from the Boxer rebels. They now looted the city, destroying or stealing
millions of dollars worth of goods.
21 July 1900, The Chinese Emperor
appealed for �mediation�, from France, Germany, the USA and Japan, over the
European invasions following the Boxer rebellion. However Europe tended to
blame Chine itself for the Boxer attacks.
30 June 1900, European troops, also from the US and Japan, occupied Tianjin, as the
Boxer Rebellion progressed.
29 June 1900, The Chinese Imperial Court
issued a declaration blaming foreigners for the troubles within China.
Effectively a declaration of war, this emboldened the Boxers to even greater
ferocities against the Europeans there. In Manchuria the Roman Catholic
Archbishop and others were burnt alive after taking refuge in the cathedral in
Mukden.
24 June 1900, In China, Boxer rebels
made further attacks on foreign embassies.
23 June 1900, The Hanlin Academy library
in Beijing adjacent to the British Legation, China's largest collection of
works, housing thousands of centuries-old publications, burnt down. Soldiers
under the command of General Chang Fu Shiang set fire to the
academy while attacking the British embassy; the library burned to the ground,
but the winds blew the flames away from the embassy, which survived unscathed.
20 June 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.
19 June 1900, The Chinese Imperial
Government, due to the fact that foreign troops were now firing on Chinese
citizens, delivered notes to the foreign legations, stating that relations with these governments were now broken off and
that Imperial troops would escort the foreigners to the port of Tianjin to
depart. Many were tempted to accept this offer, but did not because that would
mean abandoning many Chinese staff to certain slaughter.
18 June 1900, The
Empress of China ordered that all foreigners in the country were to be killed.
17 June 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.
Western
forces invade China to deal with the Boxer threat
Boxer attacks intensify
16 June 1900, Foreign legations in
Beijing were now virtually under siege as angry Boxer rebels controlled the
streets. This day a large fire in Beijing, set by the Boxers, destroyed much of
the Western Quarter, also many famous landmarks.
13 June 1900, When three Chinese Boxers
came too close to the German legation, one of them, a young man, was captured
by the German guards. Baron von Ketteler, the German minister
thrashed the Boxer with his cane, ordered his guards to extend the beating, and
warned the Chinese Foreign Ministry (the Zongli Yamen) that the boy would die.
Over the next few days, the foreign diplomats began shooting at Chinese
nationals near the Beijing Legation Quarter. Von Ketteler himself would be
killed on June 20. The same day, communication between the foreign embassies
and the rest of the world was halted as their telegraph lines were severed.
10 June 1900, Western forces under Admiral Seymour
set out from Tianjin to protect the Beijing Legations form the Boxers.
9 June 1900, In China, the Boxers destroyed the Beijing
race course, which had been a social centre for Westerners there.
3 June 1900, The railway
between Beijing and Tianjin was cut by Boxer rebels.
30 May 1900, Diplomats
representing foreign powers in China requested troops to protect them from
increasing threats from Chinese nationalists.
28 May 1900, Boxer
attacks on foreigners and Chinese Christians continued, the Boxers becoming
more confoident that they had the tacit approval of the Imperial Court.� This day they attacked Fengtai railway
station, on the Beijinbg-Tianjin line, besieging the staff and cutting the
telegraph lines. The Chinese Government did indeed respond in an ambivalent
manner.
Boxer attacks intensify
7 April 1900, Britain, France, Germany and the US warned China to suppress the Boxer movement, or face invasion.
20 March 1900, The USA, Britain, Germany,
France, Japan and Russia agreed to an �open door� policy in China that would
avoid each one carving out exclusive areas of influence, whch might lead to the
partition of China. However anti-foreigner sentiment was already growing fast
in China.
27 January 1900, European diplomats
demanded that China curb the Boxers.
9 February 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.
Russian ambitions in Manchuria, Korea, as China
weak; curbed by China, with European support, 1898-1903
10 November 1903. 10,000 Chinese troops moved
into Manchuria.
30 October 1903, Russia re-occupied Mukden,
in violation of their promise to vacate Manchuria. This alarmed both China and
Japan.
8 April 1902. Russia signed an agreement with China,
promising to withdraw its troops from Manchuria.
Russia
extends its influence in Manchuria, to exclude Japan from the region; China
weak.
2 April 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
15 March 1901, Germany�s
Chancellor
von Bulow declared that the Anglo-German agreement of October 1900,
to restrain foreign aggression and maintain open trade, did not apply to
Manchuria. Britain retaliated by ending its initiative to form an
Anglo-German-Japanese bloc to halt Russian penetration of Manchuria.
4 September 1900, Russia
seized south Manchuria from China.
19 July 1900, Russia
inflicted a heavy defeat on the Chinese on the River Amur.
26 June 1900. Japan
mobilised 20,000 troops ostensibly to suppress the Boxer rebellion. In reality
Japan wanted to seize as much land as possible in mainland Asia, before Russia
got there.
25 June 1900, Russia
mobilised its army in eastern Siberia for actions against China. The excuse was
Boxer instigated attacks on Russian territory across from Manchuria; in reality
Russia wanted to occupy Manchuria, in part so as to exclude Japan from that
area.
21 May 1900. Russia annexed Manchuria.
Russia
extends its influence in Korea, alarms Japan.
27 March 1900, A Russian fleet arrived at
Korea. Russia was taking advantage of a weak China to increase its influence in
Manchuria and Korea. This was alarming to Japan.
18 March 1900, Japan coerced the Korean
Government into blocking a Russian initiative to gain a concession for a
naval� base at the Korean port of
Masampo. Japan was moving towards war with Russia and annexation of Korea.
30 December 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.
21 September 1898, In China the Dowager
Empress Tzu Hsi seized power, and began reversing the reformist policies of her
nephew Emperor Guangxu.
1 July 1898,
China leased the New Territories (Hong
Kong) to Britain for 99 years.
25
April 1898, Under the Nishi-Rosen Protocol,
Russia and Japan agreed that neither would interfere in Korean internal
affairs, although Japan would be allowed to develop its economic interests
there.
14
November 1897, German forces occupied Qingdao
(Tsing-Tao) in China following the murder of several German missionaries. This
invasion sparked a rush by other European powers for trade and territorial
concessions in China.
Foot-binding curbed in China, 1897-1902
1 February 1902, Foot binding was declared
illegal in China.
30 June 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.
5 March 1898, Zhou Enlai, Chinese Premier, was born.
28 March 1897, The Japanese Yen went on the Gold Standard.
19 January 1896, The first motor vehicle was operated in Japan. It was a motorcycle
made in Germany.
1 August 1895. The people of Gutian in Fujian Province,
destroyed churches and killed more than ten Australian and British
missionaries, including women and children.
2 June 1895, Japan took formal
possession of Formosa (Taiwan) from
China.
29 May 1895, The Japanese landed near Keelung on the northern
coast of Taiwan, and in a five-month campaign swept southwards to Tainan.
17 April 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 April 1895 Russia, France, and Germany intervened, forcing Japan to hand back the Liaodong Peninsula.
30 November 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 November 1894. Japan
defeated China at Port Arthur.
1 August 1894. War was formally declared between China and Japan.
27 July 1894, Korea declared
war on China.
25 July 1894, Japanese
forces sank the Kowshing, a British ship carrying Chinese forces to
Korea.
26 December 1893. Mao Tse Tung,
Chinese Communist leader, was born
in Hunan.� He was the son of a peasant
farmer.
28 October 1891, A severe earthquake hit Osaka, Japan;
10,000 were killed.
31 October 1887, Chiang Kai-Shek, Chinese military leader and
politician, was born in Fenghua, Chekiang province.
9 June 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 October 1884.
17 November 1884. Chinese Turkestan was given provincial
status, and renamed Xinjiang, or New Frontier.
26 October 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 June 1885.
11 September 1883, Anti-European riots in Canton, China
25 August 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 May 1882, The USA signed a treaty with Korea recognising its independence from China, Russia, and Japan.
27 February 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.
26 April 1875, Synghman Rhee, South Korean statesman, was
born.
22 February 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 October 1871. In Los Angeles, 19 Chinese were killed in anti-Chinese riots.
1 June 1871, US Rear-Admiral John Rodgers attempted to emulate
Commodore Perry�s opening up of Japan to US trade, by arriving off Seoul in his
ship, the Colorado. His ship[s were
fired upon as he approached Fort Chojijin on the Salee River. Receiving no
apology for this, Rodgers then destroyed the fort, then left believing he had
made his point of US domiinance. However the Koreans beliebved they had
repulsed the enemy. It was not until 1876 that Japan succeeded in forcing open
Korea to trade and then only for Japan. US trade with Korea only began in 1883.
21 June 1870, The
Teintsin Massacre. Many Chinese resented the arrival of Christian
missionaries, and to stir up trouble they spread rumours that the foreigners
were sorcerers. At Tientsin the French Sisters of Mercy ran an orphanage and
gave small cash rewards to people who brought in homeless or unwanted children;
this gave rise to rumours of child kidnap and abuse. This day an angry Chinese
crowd led by a magistrate assembled outside the orphanage; the French consul
ordered his guards to fire on the crowd to disperse it. The Chinese now stormed
the orphanage, killing 18 Europeans including the consul and 10 nuns. France
demanded punishment as both Rome and France protested. Western naval ships
sailed to Teintsin, 16 Chinese were executed amd China made an official apology
to France.
12 November 1866, Sun Yat Sen, President of China, was born.
14 October 1866, French troops occupied Ganghwa Island,
Korea, in retaliation for the execution of French Jesuit priests.
6 September 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.
Russian gains from China 1858-71
4 July 1871. Russian troops occupied the
Ili area of Chinese Turkestan.
7 August 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 September 1865 Ya�qub Beg
captured Kashgar, slaughtering some
4,000 Han Chinese.
28 May 1858. Russia under Czar Alexander
II acquired from China large swathes of territory, over which they generally
already had de facto control. These included land to the north of the Amur
River and east of thye Ussuri River, to the Pacific coast, also land between
Lake Baikal and the present-day frontier woth western Choina and the NW
Mongolian frontier. Russia was exploiting the weakness of the Chinese State at
the time, with both Eng;land and France waging war against it. This was the Treaty of Aigun. It was signed by a
local Chinese Commander, in the city of Aigun, locsate edon the Amur River.
However the Manchu Dynasty refused to recognise this Treaty. Then, further
incursions into China by the English and French, even to the looting of the
Forbidden City, also the Taiping Rebellion, gave China little choice but to
sign the Treaty of Peking, on 14 November 1860, affirming the transfer of territories
form China to Russia.
19 July 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 March 1853.
20 August 1862, US mercenary Frederick
Townsend Ward led Imperial Chinese forces to victory over the
Taiping rebels at Tzeki, near Shanghai.
3 March 1857, Britain and France declared war on China, using the killing of a missionary as a
pretext.
7 September 1853, Shanghai fell to
rebels as the Taiping Rebellion
continued.
19 March 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 July 1864.
1863,
Start of the reign of boy-King Kojong in Korea (ruled until 1907).
19 October 1851, Myeongseong, Empress
of Korea, was born.
22 August 1849, Amaral, the Portuguese Governor of Macao, was
assassinated for his pro-Chinese policies.
Second Opium War, West uses military force to open China to trade
14 November 1860, China, under duress from
Western powers, signed the Beijing Convention, ratifying the Treaty of Tainjin
(1858)
24 October 1860. China gave way to trade demands from Britain and France after fighting.
Beijing was captured on 6 October 1860.
18 October 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 October 1860, An
Anglo-French force invading China captured Beijing
25 August 1860, British
and French forces took the port of Tianjin.
12 August 1860, The
French and British bombarded Sinho, to force China to admit their diplomats.
29 June 1858, The
Treaty of Tientsin ended the Anglo-Chinese War. China agreed to open up more
ports to trade.
31 March 1858, China
gave in to British and French demands for trade concessions.
1856, The Second
Opium War began as Western powers made more demands on China to open up to
trade. Western troops seized Canton (Guangzhou)
25 February 1850, Daoguang,
Emperor of China, died.
25 July 1845. China granted
Belgium equal trading rights with Britain, France, and the USA. See 24 October 1844.
24 October 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 July 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.
17 November
1843. In accordance with the Treaty of Nanjing (see 29 August 1842) Shanghai was opened
up to foreign trade.
8 October 1843,
Britain and China signed the British
Supplementary Treaty; an addition to the Treaty of Nanjing (29 August 1842),
giving Britain favourable trading terms
with China. See 3 July 1844.
Opium Wars
1908, The opium trade finally
ceased.
Opium imports
into China (selected years). One chest contained 150 lbs (67 kg) of opium,
netting the importer a profit of �20 in 1820.
Year |
Chests |
1850 |
52,000 |
1845 |
39,000 |
1839 |
20,000 |
1836 |
26,018 |
1830 |
18,760 |
1825 |
9,621 |
1820 |
4,770 |
1 December 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.
29 August 1842. The Opium
War (1839-1842) between Britain and China ended (see 26 January 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$21million over the next 5 years for the opium they destroyed, which started
the war. On 5 April 1843 Queen Victoria
proclaimed Hong Kong a British Crown Colony.
26 January 1841. Hong
Kong was proclaimed British territory. It was occupied by British troops as
the Opium War with China continued. It was ceded by China on 20 January 1841,
in what the Chinese termed the �Unequal Treaties�.� The much larger area known as the �New
Territories� was leased from China until 1997.�
This area contained Hong Kong�s water supplies and the whole territory
was returned to China then.
See 5 July 1840, and 29 August 1842.
20 January 1841, Hong Kong was ceded to Britain by China, see 26 January 1841.
5 July 1840. In the Opium War (see 4 September
1839), British naval forces bombarded Dinghai on Zhousan Island and then
occupied it. See 26 January 1841. This war is not just about opium but the
right to force China to open its ports
to British trade.
20
February 1840, In the UK, Palmerston ordered the British Navy to attack China in
order to prevent the suppr4ession of the opium trade.
30
January 1840, The Emperor
of China, Emperor Daoguang,
forbade all trade with Britain. This was an effort to curb the flood of opium entering China.
3 November 1839, Britain
began to assemble an expeditionary
military force as relations with China
deteriorated over the opium trade
issue.
4 September 1839. The
British fired the first shots on the Chinese in the Opium War, see 24 March
1839. On 3 November 1839 British and Chinese forces clashed near the Bogue
Forts at the mouth of the Pearl River. The formal declaration of the Opium
War was in June 1840. see 5 July 1840.
21 May 1838, In an
attempt to placate �Liu Zexu,� European traders offered to surrender 1,034
chewsts of opium, valued at US$ 725,000. This was a fraction of the total
estimated exiting stock of 20,000 chests, and Liu
Zexu contemptuously refused this offer. Had the Chinese been
prepared to offer free trade in return for the abolition of the opium trade
this offer woiuld have been speedily accepted by the Europeans, However China
suspected the British of expansionist plans, not without basis in fact, and
this would have destabilised Chinese society.
17 May 1838, Liu Zexu summoned the Hong Kong opium
merchants to ascertain the names of the opium dealers, whom he then threatened
with execution.
24 March 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 August 1839, and on 23 August 1839 the British
assembled a fleet of warships off Hong Kong. See 4 September 1839.
10 March 1839, An
imperial Chinese official named Lin Zexu
arrived at Canton with orders from Emperor Daoguang to eradicate the opium trade.
12 December 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.
3 December 1838, Lin Zexu was appointed by Chinese Emperor Daoguang to halt the opium trade.
16 February 1823, Li Hung Chang,
Chinese statesman, was born (died 7 November 1901).
1799, China made opium illegal.
30 August 1785, Lin Tse Hu,
Chinese official whose attempt to halt the opium trade led to the Opium War,
was born in Hou-Kuan, Fukien Province, China (died 1850).
1729, China banned the sale and smoking of opium.
Emperor Qianlong
9 February 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. �He was
succeeded by his 36-year-old son Chia Ch�ing who ruled until his death in 1820.
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 October 1735, Qianlong
succeeded Yongzheng
as Emperor of China.
1724, The huge Chinese encyclopedia, Gujin Tushu Jicheng, was printed using
movable type.
1723, Emperor Yongzheng acceded, ruled intil
1735.
Emperor Qing Kangsi
20 December 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.
19 March 1715,� Pope Clement XI
issued a Papal Bull againstt Chinese ancestor worship.
1696, China launched an invasion of Outer Mongolia.
7 September 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 with Russia in the Amur region.
1683, China took possession of Taiwan from the Dutch.
China heavily exploited this new territory, appointing absentee landlords who
confiscated land from the local people and forced them to work as serfs.
5
February 1661, Emperor Kangxi began his reign in China, then
aged 7; 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,whould never 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 April 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 September 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.
Attemnpted, unsuccessful, invasions of Korea by Japan, 1592, 1597
1597, Japan again attempted an invasion of Korea. They
were again defeated and pulled out by 1599, but Korea was devastated in the
fighting. China was also weakened, with riots against the tatxatioin levied to
fight Japan, and its NE frontier made more vulnerable; however Japan became
isolationist and developed its economy.
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.
8 February 1593, A Chinese
and Korean army took Pyongyang from the Japanese.
23 May 1592, Japan
began an invasion of Korea.
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 to 1620
�as Emperor Shen Zong.
1566, End of reign of Jiajang
(acceded 1522).
1557, The Portuguese first obtained
permission from China to trade at Macao.
August 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 July 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 voyages involved
some 60 large ships, several hundred smaller ones, almost 30,000 sailors, and
extensive gifts given as tools of diplomacy. The cost wasa met by increased
money printing and a rise in mining activities within China.
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 August 1424, Emperor Chu Ti, also known as Yongle
or Ch�eng
Tsu, died (born 2 May 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. The Mongols were evicted from China.
1332, China experienced very
heavy rains and severe flooding. Up to seven million may have died. There wasd
also a run of 35 consecutive secere winters at this time.
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 November 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 October 1335, Yi Seong-gye, founder of the Joseon Dynasty, was born in Korea.
Yuan
Dynasty
2 May 1360, Emperor Chu Ti, also known as Yung Lo
or Ch�eng
Tsu, was born. See 5 August 1424.
1355, Nanking was recaptured from the Mongols by 27-year-old Chinese patriot Chu Yuan Chang.
1287, The Mongolian hegemony permitted
safer travel across Asia. This year the first recorded visit by a person born
in China to Europe was made. Rabban Sauma, a Turk born in China, visited
Naples and then travelled on to Paris where he met French King Philip IV. He then
visited Bordeaux and met King Edward I of England.
19 March 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.
Mongol
attacks
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.
1211, The Mongols attacked the
Qin Empire, subduing it by 1215.
1205, The Mongols began
conquering the Xi Xia Kingdom in NW China, fully subduing it by 1209.
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.
1191, A ban on Chinese
intermnarrying with Jurchen
(which hads been woidely disregarded anyway0 was rescinded.
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 November 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 January 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
January 1127.
1101, The Chinese Sung Emperor Hui
Tsung acceded, aged 19, to begin a 24-year reign.
1100, Chinese farmland was held
very unequally. The wealthiest 14% of the population owned 77.5% of the
farmland.
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 April 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. However the
Khitan
could not be fully driven out of northern China and were allowed to continue
ruling there. 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. The Khitan, or Qidan,
peoples, gavfe rise to the name Cathay in Europe.
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. Emperor Wuzong was opposed to Buddhism,
and he took steps to regulate the monasteries, weeding out unregistered and
�undesiorable� monks, from 842 onwards. He was concerned at both the financial
resoucres being consumed by these monasteries and their growing influence over
Chinese morals, both political and family-related. In 845 some 4.600
monsateries, and 40,000 temples and shrines, were destroyed, and 260,500 monks
laicised. Millions of acres of (tax-exempt) Buddhist-owned farmland was
confiscated.
18 November
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. The Tibetans then withdrew but made repeated
attacks through to 784, at which point both sides were exhausted from fighting.
A new Sino-Tibetan peace treaty was concluded, defining a mutual border (with
considerable territorial gains for Tibet). China now sought alliance with the
Uighurs to regain territory from Tibet, and China managed to regain control of
Nanzhao Territory from Tibet. In 821 China and Tibet made a new peace treaty, which this time
endured. China recognised Tibetan sovereignty, and Tibet acknowledged the
sovereignty, and regional hegemony, of China.
744 � 840,
Establishment of the Uighur Empire in what is now Mongolia. The Uigjhurs
generally supported a weaker Chinese State in return for large tribute
oayments, so both sides benefitted. The Uighurs were aware that it was in their
interests for the T�ang Dynasty to
continue. However
in 840 the Uighiur Empire was split by ba siccession dispute, and Kirghiz
tribes form thr nprth invaded and looted the Uighiur capital, Karabalgashun.
The fall of the Uighur empire therefore gravely weakened the T�ang Dynasty.
805-820, Rule of Xianzong, He was interested in Chan Buddhism, and encouraged major translation
projects of Buddhist textx into Chinese.
762-769, Rule of Daizong. He authorised large sukjms of money to be spent on the creation of
Buddhist monasteries.
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.
General An
Lushan, 740-755
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.
722, Continued Tibetan raids were repulsed by
China, and in 730
the Tibetan King recognised Chinese sovereignty, diplomatic relations were
established, and a mutual border demarcated. Hpowever Tibetan hostilities
recommenced in the 740s, mainly in the Gansu region. The Chinese won a major
victory against them at Gilgit, and in 755 the Tibetan King died. His successor
accepted Chinese hegemony and the Tibetan threat seemed over for now.
713, The Chinese Emperor Ming Huang acceded to the
throne; he ruled until 756. He promoted the arts and learning.
16 December 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.
Tibetan expansion, 600s.
639, In Tibet, King Sbrong Tsan Sgam Po
introduced Buddhism from
India, and founded Lhasa. He expanded Tibetan influence,
attacking the Tuhuyun nomads who grazed theor herds around Lake Kokonor. These
nomads were finally expelled around 665. However this removed the only buffer State
between Tibet and China. Tibet now attacked China, seizing the Tarim Basin,
and, despite pushbacks by Chinese forces, gaining control of large parts of
Sichuan by 680.
631, Nestorian Christianity reached China (see
also Christian Missionary). The first Nestroain Church was built in
China in 638.
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.� The economic burden of China�s foreign conquets was now becoming very
heavy, leading to extensive rebellions in northern 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 August 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 Di (acceded 502)
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.
629, Buddhist pilgrim Xuan Tang travelled to India, not returning to China
until 645.
534, Rapid growth of Buddhism in China 477-534.
Year |
Buddhists |
Monasteries |
Monks |
534 |
|
over 30,000 |
2 million |
500 |
10 million |
|
|
477 |
|
6,478 |
77,000 |
400 |
1 million |
|
|
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.
Buddhist pigrims began to travel
outside of China, mainly to
vist India and SE Asia to obtain copies of Buddhist scriptures. An early siuch
pilgrim was Fa Xian, who in 399
travelled overland to India, then visited Sri Lanka and then (probably) Java,
returning toi Shandong on a 200-day voyage.
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.
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.
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
smaller �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. Under
his reign internecine court fighting increased, wealth disparities grew, and
Xianbei raids on the northern frontier intensified.
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.
148, A
Parthian monk, An Shigao, made the first translation
of Buddhist textx into Chinese.
58, Emperor Ming-Ti of China introduced Buddhism.
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.
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 October 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 October 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 January 9, Wang Mang assumed
the title of Emperor of China, replacing the Han Dynasty by the new H�sin Dynasty.
3 February 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 August 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 August 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 April 7 BCE, Emperor
Chengdi of China died, without an heir.
28 November 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.
73 � 49 BCE, Emperor Siuan Ti succeeded Tchao
Ti.
86 � 74 BCE, Emperor Tchao Ti succeeded Wu
Di.
Reign of Wu Ti
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).
Accession of Wu Ti
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.
154 BCE, Seven
feudal princes rebelled against the Han Dynasty.� The rebellion was suppressed, with
difficulty.
177 BCE, 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. All books not about agriculture,
medicine or divination were supposed to be destroyed. Fortunately for historians
today, some were not.
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 (the unification/consolidation
process began around 231 BCE) 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.
238 BCE, Death of Xunxi, Chinese philosopher, born 298 BCE.
246 BCE, Zhao Zheng
(Zheng the
Upright) ucceeded 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. Last Zhou ruler deposed by the Qin
287 BCE, China�s
northern States began building a defensive wall.
289 BCE, Death of Mengzi (sometimes westernised as Mencius), born 372 BCE. He was a follower of
Confucius, and wrote down a large number of �sayings�, or proverbs
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.
End of Eastern Zhou Period This period is also known as
the Spring and Autumn Period, from the Spring and Autumn Annsals, which ceased
neing kept at 481 BCE, although extended in a form until 464 BCE in the
Zuozhuan.
479 BCE, Death of Confucius (Kung Fu-tse), Chinese philosopher (born 551 BCE).
27 September 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.
End of Western Zhou Period;start of Eastern Zhou
Period
771 BCE, Armies from northern China destroyed the Zhou
capital of Hao, on the Wei River. 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 restored 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.
2850 BCE, Supposed start of reign of Emperor Fu-Hi, first Emperor of China.
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