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China Timeline
Travel through our timeline of major events in China's History.
Around 1600 B.C.
The Shang dynasty, the region's first recorded dynasty, masters the production of bronze.Around 221 B.C.
Qin Shi Huangdi unifies China and becomes its first emperor.1368-1644 A.D.
During the Ming dynasty, painting, calligraphy, pottery and other arts flourish.1839-1860
In the Opium Wars, China and Western nations battle over trade issues.1931-1945
Japan invades the province of Manchuria. After Japan is defeated in World War II, civil war breaks out in China.
GETTY IMAGES
1949
Mao Zedong, head of the Communist Party, establishes the People's Republic of China. Rivals belonging to the Nationalist Party move to Taiwan, off China's eastern coast.1958-1961
Mao's plan to change China's economy and farming system fails. Millions of people die of starvation.
AFP/GETTY IMAGES
1972
Richard M. Nixon becomes the first U.S. President to visit Communist China.1989
About 1 million students hold pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. The uprising is crushed by the army.1997
China regains control of Hong Kong, which had been under British rule for 99 years.2006
The Three Gorges River Dam across the Yangtze is completed. It took 13 years to build.
FRANCK FIFE—AFP/GETTY IMAGES