530Mil BC Chengjiang fauna from the Yunnan Province
of China. Specimens include: the arthropod Jianfengia, Facivermis,
Trilobites (arthropod to 27"), Eldonia (a possible echinoderm),
Microdictyon, Dinomischus, Sponges, Hyolith (possible mollusk),
Anomalocaris, Xianguangia, and early brachiopods.
(NG, V184, No. 4, Oct. 1993, R. Gore, p.133)
530Mil BC Fishlike creatures, early agnathans, with
marks of an early spine were found in 1998 in China’s Chengjiang fossil
field.
(SFC, 11/4/99, p.A8)
195Mil BC A tiny animal the size of a paper clip from
fossil beds in China’s Yunnan province dated to about this time. It was
named Hadrocardium wui in 2001 and was considered as a possible
ancestor to all living mammals.
(SFC, 5/25/01, p.D8)
164 Mil In 2006 a fossil from this
time found in Inner Mongolia in China was reported to have been a
mammal with a flat, scaly tail like a beaver, vertebra like an otter
and teeth like a seal that swam in lakes eating fish. The new animal,
about the size of a small female platypus, is not related to modern
beavers or otters but has features similar to them. The researchers
named it Castorocauda lutrasimilis.
(AP, 2/23/06)
160Mil BC A crested dinosaur with probable feathers
inhabited northwestern China about this time. A fossil of the 10-foot
long relative of Tyrannosaurus rex, later named Guanlong wucaii, was
found in 2004.
(SFC, 2/9/06, p.A5)(WSJ, 2/9/06, p.A1)
140Mil BC Fossils of feathered birds, later called
Confuciusornis, were found in 2002 in Liaoning province, China. They
had bird-like short tales. In 2009 Chinese paleontologists reported
that a small dinosaur named Tianyulong Confuciusi, which lived during
the Cretaceous period, was covered with feather-like structures -- long
before anything like feathers had been believed to have started
developing.
(SFC, 7/25/02,
p.A3)(www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-03/19/content_7594736.htm)
130Mil BC The fossil Sinovenator (Chinese hunter)
dated to at least this time. A member of the troodontid dinosaurs, it
was about the size of a chicken and represented a possible link to
birds. It was discovered in Liaoning province in 2002.
(SFC, 2/14/02, p.A6)
130Mil BC A small Tyrannosaurus rex from this time,
named Dilong paradoxus, was discovered in China in 2004 with evidence
that its body was covered in downy “protofeathers.”
(SFC, 10/8/04, p.A2)
128 Mil BC In 2003 scientists reported a 4-winged,
theropod dinosaur that dated to this time from China’s Liaoning
province. They named it Microraptor gui.
(SFC, 1/23/03, p.A2)
128Mil BC-121Mil BC Chinese paleontologists found the
fossil of a bird-like beast with the impression of feathers. The
feathered dinosaur, a therapod, was about 3-feet long in life. 2
turkey-sized, fossil dinosaurs with feathers were found in China in
1997 in Liaoning province. They were distinctly older than
archaeopteryx. The birds were therapods and could not fly. They were
named Protarchaeopteryx robusta and Caudipteryx zoui.
(SFC, 10/18/96, A9)(SFC, 6/24/98, p.A4)(SFC, 3/7/02,
p.A2)
125Mil BC Eomaia scansoria, a tiny shrewlike
creature, lived in China’s Liaoning province. It was the earliest known
representative of the Eutheria lineage. It’s fossils led researchers in
2002 to believe that it might be the direct ancestor of true placental
mammals.
(SFC, 4/25/02, p.A2)(SFC, 12/5/02, p.A23)
125Mil BC In 2005 Farmers in Inner Mongolia found a
fossil of a small mammal from about this time that displayed evidence
of being able to glide. It was named Volaticotherium antiquius. Tests
for age ranged as far back as 164Mil BC.
(SFC, 12/14/06, p.A15)
c124Mil BC A meat-eating dinosaur called
Sinornithosaurus, dated to this time, was found in Liaoning province,
China, around 2002. The skin was covered with fibers but it had no
wings.
(SFC, 7/25/02, p.A3)
124Mil BC-110Mil BC The fossil of a full-fledged bird
named Jeholornis prima, found in 2002 in Liaoning province, China, was
dated to this time.
(SFC, 7/25/02, p.A3)
120Mil BC A fossil of Protopteryx from this time in
China indicated feathers that were held to have evolved from scales.
(SFC, 12/8/00, p.D4)
120Mil BC Scientists reported in 2008 that a
sparrow-sized pterodactyl, which they named Nemicolopterus crypticus,
inhabited China’s Liaoning province about this time.
(SFC, 2/12/08, p.A5)
110Mil BC In 2006 Chinese researchers reported nearly
complete fossils of Gansus yumenensis, a grebe-like waterbird from this
time, making it the oldest for the group Ornithurae.
(AP, 6/15/06)
110Mil BC The carnivorous dinosaur Microraptor
zhaoianus lived in China about this time along with the fish-eating
bird Yanornis martini. A forged fossil in 1999 linked the 2 as one
feathered dinosaur.
(SFC, 12/5/02, p.F2)
90Mil BC In 2001 Paul Sereno, a paleontologist,
helped lead an expedition to China that uncovered the fossilized
remains of the 25 young sinornithomimus near Suhongtu, a tiny, remote
village in the Gobi desert about 370 miles (600 kilometers) west of
Hohhot.
(AP, 3/16/09)
85Mil BC In 2005 Chinese researchers discovered a
bird-like dinosaur that lived about this time. The feathered but
flightless Gigantoraptor erlianensis weighed about 1.4 tons and had a
beak but no teeth.
(Reuters, 6/13/07)
50Mil BC The Tibetan Plateau began to lift about this
time as India thrust northward. This led to the creation of the Gobi
Desert north of the plateau.
(SFC, 5/19/06, p.B7)
42Mil BC Paleontologist Daniel Gebo announced in 2000
the discovery of bones from 2 tiny primates, the size of a human thumb,
that lived at this time in Shanghuang, China. The Eosimias primates
also lived here about this time.
(SFC, 3/16/00, p.A1)
40Mil BC The entire Tibetan Plateau underwent major
uplifting. Vast ranges rose from the Himalayas on the east to
Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush and Iran’s Elburz mountains on the west.
(SFC, 5/19/06, p.B7)
24Mil BC A period of violent earthquakes shook the
region that later became China’s Yunnan province and created the Ailao
Shan range of Southwest China.
(SFC, 5/19/06, p.B7)
2Mil BC In 2007 researchers reported that the first
skull of the earliest known ancestor of the giant panda has been
discovered in China and estimated to be at least 2 million years old.
The animal, formally known as Ailuropoda microta, or "pygmy giant
panda," would have been about 3 feet long, compared to the modern giant
panda, which averages in excess of five feet.
(AP, 6/18/07)
1.66Mil BC Stone tools of this age were later found
in northern China in the Nihewan Basin west of Beijing.
(Arch, 1/05, p.12)
1.2Mil BC In 1993 a farmer in Sugeng, China, found a
Pithecanthropus IX skull that dated to about this time.
(MC, 5/16/02)
100,00BC-80000BC In 2007 a human skull from this time, consisting of 16
pieces, was dug up after two years of excavation at a site in Xuchang
in China’s Henan province.
(AFP, 1/23/08)
840000BC-420000BC A large migration of people from
Africa to Asia and Europe took place over this period. A 2nd migration
period occurred from 150k-80k.
(SFC, 3/7/02, p.A2)
670000BC-400000BC Homo erectus
occupied the Longushan cave. The Dragon Bone Hill site is 30 miles
southwest of Beijing. The bones were found in the 1920s-1930s and were
popularly referred to as Peking Man.
(Arch, 5/04, p.52)
600000BC-300000BC Excavations begun in 1921 at
Zhoukoudian, China, suggested evidence that Peking Man had mastered
fire and practiced cannibalism over this period. In 1975 Jia Lampo
authored “The Cave Home of Peking Man.”
(NH, 3/1/04, p.46)
c7000BC A flute dating to this time was found in the
1980s in Jiahu. 6 flutes from the hollow wing bones of cranes were
found in Zheng-zhou province from about this time.
(SFC, 9/23/99, p.A8)(SFC, 4/29/00, p.D4)
7000BC Scientists in 2004 found the earliest evidence
of winemaking from pottery shards dating from 7,000 BC in northern
China.
(Reuters, 12/7/04)(SFC, 12/7/04, p.A1)
c4300 BC-2500BC The Dawenkou culture. A 1999 show
exhibited an urn from this period incised with a triple pictograph
interpreted as sun-moon-mountain or sun-fire-mountain.
(WSJ, 10/6/99, p.A20
c4000BC People in the Yellow River Valley switched
from hunting and gathering to agriculture.
(SFC, 3/4/02, p.A3)
c3500BC The Hongshan culture at Niuheliang created
temples and mounds and face sculptures of gods in unbaked clay with
jade eyes.
(NG, 12/97, Geogrph)
3000 BC-1700BC In China’s Late Neolithic, Longshan
period, a walled settlement existed at what was later called the
Puchengdian Ruins of Henan province.
(Arch, 1/05, p.12)
c2850BC China’s Emperor Fushi decreed that people
would be identified with a formal family name as well as a familiar
first name.
(SFEC, 5/18/97, Z1 p.6)
2737BC Chinese emperor Shen Neng prescribed marijuana
tea to treat gout, rheumatism, malaria and poor memory.
(WSJ, 2/8/05, p.D7)
2700BC The Chinese developed India ink, mixing soot
from pine smoke and lamp oil with gelatin of donkey skin and musk.
(SFC, 7/26/04, p.F4)
2698BC The beginning of the Chinese calendar. Feb
19,1996 begins the Year of the Rat and the year 4694. [lunar year, date
not valid]
(enRoute, 2/96, p.24)(SFEC, 2/2/97, DB. p.7)
2500BC-1CE A sacrificial dump in Guanghan, Sichuan
Province, in China was uncovered in 1976 and dated to this period.
Large quantities of elephants tusks reveal that elephants roamed the
area. Human figures, monster masks, and tree fragments made of bronze
tubes were also found.
(WSJ, 9/27/96, p.A16)
c2400BC A site at Chien-kou near Handan of China's
Longshan culture shows strong evidence of warfare between communities.
(NH, Jul, p.30)
2205BC-1766BC In China the Hsia Dynasty unfolded. No
archeological evidence has confirmed this. [see 2100-1600]
(eawc, p.2)
2100BC-1600BC Xia Dynasty of China. The Ba people
controlled salt production on the Yangtze River. They then slowly
migrated upstream and in 316BCE were subjugated by the Qin. Fuling was
a burial site for the kings of Ba. Fengdu was the first capital of Ba.
The 1996 Tujia minority claim descent from the Ba.
(NH, 7/96, p.31)
2100BC-1600BC The protohistoric Xia period. [see
2205-1766]
(WSJ, 2/19/98, p.A20)
2070BC The Xia period began according to results from
government funded studies in 2000 CE. This was about the middle of the
prehistoric Longshan culture.
(SFC, 11/10/00, p.D4)
2000BC For as many as 4,000 years, the salty sand of
the Taklimakan Desert in China held well-preserved mummies wearing
colorful robes, boots, stockings and hats. The people were Caucasian
not Asian. The bodies have been exhumed from the Tarim Basin of
Xinjiang province since the late 1970s.
(SFC, 5/6/96, p.C-1)
c2000BC Feng shui began as a philosophy that held
that the relationship between people, the Earth and objects affects the
flow of energy, or chi, which influences work performance.
(SFEC, 1/16/00, p.B7)
1766BC In China the Shang Dynasty, the 2nd dynasty of
the country according to tradition, began. It flourished on the banks
of the Yellow River from about 1400-1027BC. The period is known for its
use of bronze containers, oracle bones and human sacrifice, which ended
shortly after the collapse of the dynasty.
(eawc, p.3)
1700BC-1100BC This is the Shang Dynasty period of
China. [see 1766BCE]
(Arch, 9/00, p.34)
1600BC Art pieces attributed to the Xia Dynasty of
China before the 16th century are on exhibit at the Shanghai Museum.
These include an ax blade, a three legged food vessel, and 3 wine
vessels.
(WSJ, 5/9/96, p.A-16)
1600BC-300 Neolithic jade pieces
represent some of the oldest of Chinese art.
(WSJ, 2/19/98, p.A20)
1400BC-1200BC Chinese pictorial script first appeared
during the Shang dynasty.
(SFC, 5/8/06, p.A1)
1384BC In China P’an Keng founded the city of Anyang.
A mature culture with writing and art was developed by this time.
(eawc, p.4)
c1300BC China introduced books around this time.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R55)
1300BC-1100BC From the late Shang Dynasty (13th
to the 11th century BCE), a pair of 33-inch-tall ting tripod vessels,
will be part of the traveling exhibit from the National Palace Museum,
Taipei. [see 1600-1100]
(WSJ, 12/29/95, p.A-11)
1300BC-1100BC A 9-foot-tall bronze standing figure
from this time was found in 1986 at a ‘sacrificial pit" at Sanxingdui
in Sichuan province.
(SFC, 6/15/00, p.E1)
c1116BC In China an imperial decree stated that it
was a requirement of the heavenly powers that people regularly take a
moderate amount of alcoholic drink.
(SFEC, 8/9/98, Z1 p.8)
1100BC-265BC The Zhou period. [see 1027-771]
(WSJ, 2/19/98, p.A20)
1045BC The Zhou King Wu subdued the Shang. [see
1027BCE]
(Arch, 9/00, p.37)
1027BC In China the last Shang ruler, Chou Hsin, was
conquered by Wu-wang, and the Chou Dynasty began. It lasted to 221BCE
and is typically divided into three periods.
(eawc, p.5)
1027BC-771BC The Western Chou period of the Chou
Dynasty.
(eawc, p.5)
c1000BC An Indo-European group of people moved east
to live in what later became Xinjiang province of western China. They
left well-preserved Caucasian mummies of this age and 1,300 year old
texts written in an unknown Indo European tongue. Some evidence showed
that they had come from the steppes north of the Black and Caspian seas
as the area filled with Iranian immigrants. They settled in the Tarim
Basin on the edges of the Taklimakan Desert. They area has also been
named Inner Asia, Chinese Turkistan and East Turkistan. The Uighers of
Xinjiang sometimes show physical features that reflects Tocharian blood.
(SFC, 2/27/98, p.A2)
c1000BC In China's southwest one of the world's
great cities flourished, and then inexplicably vanished, leaving no
trace behind in the historical records. In 2001 excavations at Jinsha
village began to uncover extensive artifacts.
(AFP, 7/10/05)
1000BC The Chinese invented kites about this time
that could carry scouts on reconnaissance missions.
(NPub, 2002, p.2)
841BC A Zhou king died.
(SFC, 11/10/00, p.D4)
c800BC The Zhou of China were driven east by nomads.
(Arch, 9/00, p.37)
771BC In China the Chou Dynasty
faced difficulty when King Yu alienated the noble class who refused to
answer his call for help against invading barbarians. King Yu was
killed and the nobles installed a new leader. The capital was moved
eastward to Loyang and the "Western Chou" period ended.
(eawc, p.7)
771BC-471BC The Spring and Autumn
Period. Jingzhou was the capital of the Chu Kingdom.
(AMNHDT, 5/98)
771BC-221BC The Eastern Zhou
period. The power of the Zhou court waned and frequent state wars took
place.
(AM, 7/01, p.62)
722BC-481BC In China the Ch’un Ch’iu period began. It
was characterized by a deterioration of the feudal system and a
collapse of central authority.
(eawc, p.5,7)
700BC-600BC The earliest records
of divination using the I Ching date from this period.
(NH, 9/97, p.12)
650BC The Chinese licensed lady
lovers. This is considered as the 1st example of legalized prostitution.
(SFC, 11/4/00, p.B3)
c604BC-531BC Lao-tzu (Laozi), Chinese philosopher,
author of the "Tao Te Ching" (Tao-te-jing) and founder of Taoism
(Daoism) lived about this time. He encouraged people to live simply and
according to nature. Taoism is one of the three major "spiritual ways"
of China and has influenced Chinese thought--in religion, politics, the
social system and the arts and sciences--for more than 2,000 years. The
other two "spiritual ways" of China are Buddhism and Confucianism. "To
lead the people, walk behind them." "The greater the number of laws and
enactments, the more thieves and robbers there will be." "Quarrel with
a friend -- and you are both wrong."
(SFEC, 2/22/98, Z1 p.8)(AP, 5/4/98)(WSJ,
12/26/00, p.A9)(AM, 7/01, p.62)(HNQ, 11/5/01)
551BC Confucius (d.479BCE), K'ung
Fu-tzu [K'ung Fu-tse], Chinese philosopher, was born in Chufu, China.
His followers transcribed his conversations in 20 books called the
"Analects" following his death. He was an accountant and later taught
the importance of centralized authority and filial piety. Like
Aristotle, he believed the state to be a natural institution. He was
the 11th child of a 70-year-old soldier. "All eminence should be based
entirely on merit." "The way of a superior man is three-fold; virtuous,
he is free from anxieties; wise, he is free from perplexities; bold, he
is free from fear." "To see the right and not do it is cowardice."
"Shall I teach you what knowledge is? When you know a thing, to hold
that you know it; and when you don't know a thing, to allow that you
don't know it. This is knowledge."
(SFC, 8/10/96, p.E4)(http://eawc.evansville.edu,
p.9)(SFC, 3/28/98, p.D3)(AP, 6/17/98)(SFEC, 2/27/00, Z1
p.2)(SFEC, 7/9/00, Z1 p.2)(SFC, 1/2/04, p.D8)
500BC Confucius composed the
Analects about this time. 5 things constitute perfect virtue: gravity,
magnanimity, earnestness, sincerity, kindness.
(PC Comp. 12/94, p.278)
500BC The game of Go was devised
in China about this time.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.128)
500BC The Chinese learned to
ferment soybean around this time. The fermentation removed toxins and
made soy easier to digest. It had already been used for thousands of
years as fertilizer.
(SSCM, 8/13/06, p.6)
c500BC-400BC The first stretch of the north-south
Grand Canal was built. It became fully navigable in the 14th century.
(WSJ, 10/25/99, p.A50)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R51)
481BC-221BC The Waring States
period of the Chou Dynasty. [see 475-221] The states of Ch’in and Ch’u
emerged as the primary competitors in the struggle to found an empire.
During this period a 4-tiered class structure emerged consisting of
lesser nobility (including scholars), the peasant farmers, the
artisans, and the merchants, who held the lowest position in society.
This was also known as the period of the Hundred Schools of Thought
with the emergence of several schools of political philosophy that
included: Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism and Legalism.
(eawc, p.5,11)
479BC Confucius (b.551BCE), K'ung
Fu-tzu [K'ung Fu-tse], Chinese philosopher, died. In 2008 Kung Te-cheng
(b.1920), the 77th lineal descendent of Confucius, died in Taiwan. In
2006 Kung Yu-jen, the 80th lineal descendent was born.
(WSJ, 11/1/08, p.A6)
479BC In China the philosopher
Mo-tzu (d.438BCE), founder of Mohism, was born. He taught a message of
universal love and compassion for the common plight of ordinary people.
(eawc, p.11)
475BC-221BC The Waring [Warring]
States period. [see 403-321BCE]
(SFC, 4/10/97, p.A16)(AMNHDT, 5/98)
433BC The Marquis Yi of Zeng died
about this time. His tomb was discovered in 1978.
(WSJ, 9/27/96, p.A16)
403BC-321BC During the Waring
States period in China, the Pu people buried wedged wooden coffins into
the cliffs a 1,000 feet above the Yangtze River in Jingzhu Gorge. [see
475-221BCE]
(NH, 7/96, p.36,37)
c400BC The tomb of Zeng Hou Yi (c400 BCE) was
discovered. Artifacts were later exhibited in the Hubei Provincial
Museum.
(SSFC, 4/14/02, p.C9)
400BC-300BC The Chinese began
suffering from fierce attacks of nomadic herdsmen, the Hsiung-nu, from
the north and west. They began to build parts of what came to be called
the Great Wall for protection.
(SFEM, 10/12/97, p.24)
400BC-300BC The Zhuangzi, the 2nd
great Taoist text, was compiled.
(WSJ, 12/26/00, p.A9)
373BC-288BC In China the
Confucianist Meng-Tzu (Mencius) lived. He departed from the ideas of
Confucius by positing a theory of just rebellion against immoral
rulers. [see 371-289BCE]
(eawc, p.12)
371BC-289BC Mencius, Chinese philosopher: "The great
man is he who does not lose his child's heart." [see 373-288BCE]
(AP, 11/19/98)
369BC-286BC Chuang-tzu (Zhuang Zhou), Chinese
philosopher and writer, lived about this time. His work included the
spiritual masterpiece "Inner chapters." "Rewards and punishments are
the lowest form of education."
(AP, 11/11/97)(NH, 7/00, p.59)(SSFC, 2/18/01,
DB p.35)
364BC Gan De, noted Chinese
astronomer, reported a viewing of Jupiter and one of its 16 moons.
(SFC, 4/10/97, p.A16)
350BC-338BC In China Shang Yang
ruled the Ch’in Dynasty. He operated against the assumptions of a
theory of absolute aggression justified by the "School of Law."
(eawc, p.12)
320BC-235BC In China the philosopher Hsun-tzu, the
founder of Legalism, lived about this time. He was an orthodox
Confucianist and believed strongly in moral education. He repudiated
any belief in a spiritual realm and believed that human beings are evil
by nature.
(eawc, p.13)
316BC The Ba people on the Yangtze
River were subjugated by the Qin.
(NH, 7/96, p.31)
316BC The Ch’in conquered Shu and
Pa (modern-day Szechuan) and gained a serious advantage over the Ch’u.
(eawc, p.13)
300BC-200BC A Chinese emperor
about this time dispatched the sailor Hsu Fu to search the Pacific
Ocean for the "drug of immortality." He came back empty-handed after
the first trip and set out again never to return.
(SFEC, 8/17/97, Z1 p.3)
300BC-200BC Qu Wan, Chinese poet
and official lived about this time. He despaired on the possibility of
justice in this world and threw himself into a river.
(WSJ, 9/24/97, p.A20)
280BC Li Ssu, Legalist scholar,
was born in the kingdom of Ch’u, later a region of China.
(ON, 9/04, p.1)
278BC Qu Yuan (b.~340BC), Chinese
poet and scholar, died. His poems included “The Lament,” written
following the capture of Yingdu, capital of Chu, by General Bai Qi of
the state of Qin.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qu_Yuan)
259BC Qin Shi Huangdi (d.210BC),
the emperor who unified China, was born about this time. He became
ruler of Qin at age 13. In 2006 Tan Dun’s opera “The First Emperor,”
premiered at the NY Metropolitan with Placido Domingo as the Emperor.
It was based on the life of Qin Shi Huang (First August and Divine
Emperor).
(WSJ, 12/27/06, p.D8)(Econ, 9/8/07, p.87)
247BC Li Ssu left Ch’u and
traveled to Ch’in, a kingdom where Legalist doctrines were practiced.
He found employment with Lu Pu-wei, the king’s grand councilor, who was
compiling an encyclopedia. Lu Ssu soon became tutor to Prince Zheng,
heir to the throne of Ch’in.
(ON, 9/04, p.2)
246BC In China the Ch’in completed
the Chengkuo canal connecting the Ching and Lo rivers. This created a
key agricultural and economic area in western Szechuan. About the same
time the last Chou ruler was deposed.
(eawc, p.14)
246BC Qin Shihuangdi (13), became
the head of Qin, one of 7 major Chinese states.
(AM, 9/01, p.35)
231BC King Qin Shihuangdi (28),
head of one of 7 major states, embarked on a series of campaigns that
in 10 years created China. The king of Ch’in invaded Han.
(AM, 9/01, p.35)(ON, 9/04, p.3)
230BC The capital of Han fell. Its
king and entire extended family were massacred. Han was absorbed by
Ch’in and under Li Ssu’s direction was transformed into a Legalist
state.
(ON, 9/04, p.3)
228BC The Kingdom of Chao fell to
the Ch’in.
(ON, 9/04, p.3)
225BC The Kingdom of Wei fell to
the Ch’in.
(ON, 9/04, p.3)
223BC The Kingdom of Ch’u fell to
the Ch’in. Li Ssu had the royal family spared.
(ON, 9/04, p.3)
222BC The Kingdom of Yen fell to
the Ch’in. The royal family was slaughtered.
(ON, 9/04, p.3)
221BC The Kingdom of Ch’i fell to
the Ch’in and Li Ssu advised King Zheng that there were no other
countries worth conquering. King Zheng proclaimed himself Shi Huangdi,
“First Emperor of the World Under Heaven.”
(ON, 9/04, p.3)
221BC The Qin (Ch’in) unified
China at the end of the "Warring States." King Zheng engaged in a
process of unifying 7 kingdoms in China under a central bureaucracy. He
killed most of the people in the 6 rival kingdoms and buried alive 400
scholars whose loyalty he questioned. The 1998 Chinese film "The
Emperor’s Shadow" was directed by Zhou Xiaowen. It was a historical
drama of the first emperor (Ying Zheng or Jiang Wen) of a united China.
The 1999 film "The Emperor and the Assassin," directed by Chen Kaige,
was about Zheng.
(eawc, p.5,14)(NH, 7/96, p.31)(WSJ, 9/27/96,
p.A16)(SFC, 6/24/98, p.E3)(SFEC, 12/12/99, Par p.11)(SFEC, 1/16/00, DB
p.42)
221BC-206BC Qin Shi Huang ruled as
the first emperor of China. His tomb is in X’ian, one of the ancient
capitals of China, and is guarded by thousands of life-sized
terra-cotta soldiers. He fixed Chinese script of 2,500 characters. The
Great Wall of China was completed under Shi Huangdi and his minister Li
Ssu. In 2001 it was found that the Great Wall extended into Gansu
province to Xinjiang and measured 4,470 miles. The wall was extended
during the Ming Dynasty. In 1990 Arthur Waldron authored “The Great
Wall of China.”
(WSJ, 2/19/98, p.A20)(SFC, 2/23/01, p.A20)(ON, 9/04,
p.3)(WSJ, 5/10/06, p.D12)
214BC In China the building of the
Great Wall was begun. It was designed to keep out the destitute and
starving nomadic Hsiung Nu people.
(eawc, p.15)
214BC Guangdong province became a
part of China.
(WSJ, 9/16/99, p.A26)
213BC Minister Li Ssu convinced
Ch’in King Zheng to outlaw all philosophies except Legalism. Some 500
Confucian scholars resisted and were buried alive. A number of
Confucian and Taoist libraries were burned.
(ON, 9/04, p.4)
210BC Qin Shi Huang (b.259BC), the
first emperor of China, died while on a journey. His death was kept
quite until the entourage returned home. He was buried near the city of
Xi'ab in Central China with some 7-8,000 larger-than-life terracotta
soldiers. The soldiers had real weapons and each had distinct facial
features. Villagers found the 1st terracotta figure in 1974. [see Jul
11, 1975] Qin Shi Huangdi provided his empire with a uniform script,
currency, a measuring system and a bureaucracy.
(Smith., 4/95, p. 33,34)(WSJ, 3/11/97, p.A20)(HN,
7/11/01)(Econ, 9/8/07, p.87)
210BC Crown Prince Fu Su, an
anti-Legalist, committed suicide on orders from a forged message.
Prince Hu-hai was installed as the Second Emperor. Chief eunuch Chao
Kao and Li Ssu shared power at first but Chao Kao gained the backing of
Hu-hai.
(ON, 9/04, p.4)
208BC Ch’in Chief eunuch Chao Kao
had Li Ssu arrested and condemned to death. Most of Li Ssu’s reforms,
including standardized writing, measurement and money, survived for
over 2,000 years.
(ON, 9/04, p.4)(EWH, 1968, p.57)
207BC The end of the Ch’in Dynasty.
(eawc, p.14)
206BC-195BC In China Han Kao-tzu
(Liu Ping), a man of humble origins, became the first ruler of the Han
Dynasty. The dynasty lasted to 9CE.
(eawc, p.15)
206BC-25 In 2003 China's Xinhua News Agency reported
that archaeologists in western China had discovered five earthenware
jars of 2,000-year-old rice wine in an ancient Han dynasty tomb
(206BCE-25CE), and its bouquet was still strong enough to perk up the
nose.
(AP, 6/21/03)
206BC-220 The Han Dynasty ruled in China. The Western
Han period. In the early Han period Prince Liu Sheng had a jade suit
made of 2,498 pieces sewn together with gold thread for his death. Jade
was also used to make plugs for his bodies orifices.
(NH, 7/96, p.31)(WSJ, 2/19/98, p.A20)(WSJ, 2/19/98,
p.A20)(WSJ, 9/27/96, p.A16)
206BC-220 The Zhangfei Temple was built on the
Yangtze during this period. It was expected to disappear following the
construction of the Three Gorges Dam in 2009.
(SSFC, 4/14/02, p.C8)
202BC Liu Pang claimed the Chinese
Imperial throne. He was the 1st of 27 Lius to reign.
(NG, Feb, 04, p.12)
200BC The natural history classic
"Erya" said that the Yangtze River was teeming with baiji, a freshwater
white dolphin. By 1998 the baiji were on the verge of extinction.
(SFC, 3/23/98, p.A8)
195BC China's 1st Han Emperor Liu
Pang died and his empress Lu Zhi took the empire for her own family.
(NG, Feb, 04,
p.13)(www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0830015.html)
180BC The Liu clan regained control of China and
enthroned Emperor Wen, a surviving son of Liu Bang.
(NG, Feb, 04, p.13)
156BC-141BC In China Han Ching-ti ruled the Han
Dynasty.
(eawc, p.15)
154BC In China Han Ching-ti wrote the laws of
inheritance that made all sons co-heirs of their father’s estate.
(eawc, p.15)
145BC-90BC In China Su-ma Ch’ien, the historian and
author of the "Records of the Historian," was born. He included social
and economic consideration in his history but mentioned nothing of Han
Wu-ti and his administration. He was eventually castrated by Wu-ti
after writing an apology on behalf of the Hsiung Nu. He died around
90BCE.
(eawc, p.15)
141BC Wu Di (15) became China's 5th Han emperor.
(NG, Feb, 04, p.14)
133BC China's Emperor Wu Di declared war on the
Xiongnu, a nomadic people in northwest China.
(NG, Feb, 04, p.15)
117BC The original salt monopoly was set up during
the Han dynasty.
(WSJ, 6/20/01, p.A1)
105BC The Jihong Bridge across the Lancang River in
Yunnan, China, was built. It linked 2 portions of the Southern Silk
Road.
(SFEC, 10/6/96, T5)
87BC Chinese Emperor Wu Di died.
Sima Qian, historian of the era, had been castrated by Wu Di for daring
to stand in support of a disgraced general.
(NG, Feb, 04, p.21)
37BC-448 The Koguryo kingdom straddled what is now North Korea and part
of South Korea and the northeastern Chinese region of Manchuria. It
spread Buddhism throughout the region.
(AP, 2/1/04)
16BC Flying Swallow (16) became
empress to China's Emperor Cheng.
(NG, Feb, 04, p.12)
1 The 2000 year-old city of
Dujiangyan, perched on the hills where the River Min leaves the Tibetan
highlands for the Sichuan plain, was founded.
(SFC,12/26/97, p.A18)
1 About this time Sun Tzu, Chinese
strategist, wrote The Art of War (Ping-Fa), the earliest known work on
military science. Military leaders have found the book’s overview of
strategy and tactics as relevant as when it was written over 2,000
years ago. The close relationship between military and political
concerns emphasized in The Art of War has also influenced modern
revolutionary leaders such as Mao Zedong (Mao Tse Tung).
(HNQ, 2/10/01)
2 A Chinese census counted
57,671,400 people.
(NG, Feb, 04, p.12)
9 Wang Mang usurped the Chinese
throne and ended Han rule.
(eawc, p.15)(NG, Feb, 04, p.21)
23 Chinese rebels known as Red
Eyebrows entered Changan and beheaded Emp. Wang Mang. Liu Xiu (Guang Wu
Di), a 9th generation descendant of Emp. Liu Bang, proclaimed himself
emperor and led his followers to Luoyang to begin the Eastern Han rule.
(NG, Feb, 04, p.21)
25-220 The Eastern Han Dynasty
received embassies from Persia who brought lions to the court as
tribute. From this originated the Lion Dancing which represents purity
and protection to the Chinese. The dances are preformed on special
occasions and on the Chinese New year.
(Hem. 1/95, p. 123)
36 Chinese troops defeated the Hun
ruler Zhizhi in what later became Uzbekistan. Among the captives were
145 Romans.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.59)
36 Ancient Chinese records
recorded an August meteor shower that was later assumed to be the
Perseids. The meteorites originated when the Swift-Tuttle comet passed
so close to the sun that its ice head melted and left a stream of
pea-sized particles.
(SFC, 8/11/99, p.A2)
49 The Puyo tribe, living along
the Sungari River in Manchuria, had their chief recognized as a wang
(king) by the Chinese. Koguryo developed into a state during the long
reign of Taejo that began four years later.
56 Huan Tan, Go strategist, died.
In his book “Xin Lun” (New Treatise) he advised that the best approach
to the game is to spread your pieces widely so as to encircle the
opponent.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.128)
57 Liu Xiu's 32-year reign in
Luoyang ended.
(NG, Feb, 04, p.21)
67 Two monks entered China on the
Silk Road and introduced Buddhism in Luoyang.
(NG, Feb, 04, p.28)
105 Ts'ai Lun (Cai Lun), a Chinese
government official (eunuch), told Emperor He about making zhi, i.e.
paper. By the end of the second century, the Chinese were printing
books on rag paper using wooden type.
(V.D.-H.K.p.154)(NG, Feb, 04, p.9)
132 Zhang Heng introduced an
earthquake weathercock, a device that could inform the Chinese court of
a distant earthquake.
(NG, Feb, 04, p.28)
166 A Roman envoy arrived in
China. This was their 1st recorded official contact.
(ATC, p.33)(Econ, 12/18/04, p.58)
184 A Chinese peasant uprising
threatened the capital.
(NG, Feb, 04, p.28)
185 Dec 7, Emperor Lo-Yang of
China saw a supernova (MSH15-52?).
(MC, 12/7/01)
190 General Dong Zhuo seized power
in China and placed a child, Liu Xie, on the throne.
(NG, Feb, 04, p.28)
190 The abacus was invented about
this time.
(NW, 9/16/02, p.34D)
200-300 The scholar Wang Bi wrote an extensive
commentary on the I Ching. He lived only to the age of 23. His
commentaries dominate Chinese thinking on the I Ching until the
Confucian revival in the 11th century. In 1997 an English translation
by Richard John Lynn was published.
(NH, 9/97, p.12)
220 The Han Dynasty dissolved as
Liu Xie abdicated. Three separate kingdoms became established: Shu in
the west, Wu to the east of the gorges, and Wei in the north. The later
classic "Tale of the Three Kingdoms" traced the collapse of the Han
Dynasty.
(NH, 7/96, p.33)(WSJ, 9/16/99, p.A26)(NG, Feb, 04,
p.28)
223 The Shu king Liu Bei died at
Baidi Cheng (White Emperor City).
(NH, 7/96, p.33)
232-238 Tens of thousands of bamboo strips and wooden
boards recording regional government matters during the Three Kingdoms
period were found in an ancient well during construction in 1997 in the
southern city of Changsha.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.26)
244 The Chinese state of Wei sent
a force of 20,000 and took the Koguryo capital while the Puyo made an
alliance by supplying the Chinese troops.
(www.san.beck.org/3-10-Koreato1875.html)
280-473 During some time in this period Sun Zi, also
known as Master Sun, authored the famous Chinese mathematical text “Sun
Tze Suan Ching.” The 3-volume book contained the Chinese remainder
problem in volume 3.
(www.math.sfu.ca/histmath/China/3rdCenturyBC/Sunzi.html)(Econ, 3/24/07,
p.92)
285 When Xienpei tribes from the
north attacked, Puyo king Uiryo committed suicide; but the Chinese Qin
state helped fight them off.
(www.san.beck.org/3-10-Koreato1875.html)
c300-400 Kuqa on the silk road in western China was a
Buddhist center of learning.
(SFEC, 11/22/98, p.T5)
c300-400 Hua mei (song thrush birds) fighting dates
back to at least the Northern Wei dynasty of the 4th century.
(WSJ, 4/6/00, p.A20)
303-360 Wang Xizhi, calligrapher. He is credited with
taking the art of calligraphy to a higher level with the marriage of
technical mastery and unprecedented individuality.
(WSJ, 10/5/00, p.A24)
313 Nanai-vandak, a Sogdian agent,
wrote that "The last emperor fled from Louyang [the eastern capital of
China] because of famine and fire" due to nomadic invasions.
(AM, 9/01, p.50)
386-535 The Northern Wei Dynasty is associated with
the spread of Buddhism from India to China.
(AM, 9/01, p.49)
496 In China the Shaolin Temple
was built in the foothills of Mount Songshan in Henan province. It was
later considered as the birthplace for Shaolin boxing, a combination of
Buddhism and Chinese martial arts that evolved into kung fu (gongfu).
(SFC, 9/26/02, p.B3)
502-557 The Chinese Liang stele dates to this time.
(WSJ, 2/19/98, p.A20)
535 Feb, In Southern China the Nan
Shi Ancient Chronicle reported that "yellow dust rained down like snow."
(WSJ, 5/15/00, p.A46)
550-577 The Northern Qi dynasty ruled in China. A
wall parallel to the Great Wall in the Jinshanling area is attributed
to their rule.
(SFC, 2/9/06, p.E4)
552 Agents from Byzantium
impersonating monks smuggled silkworms and mulberry leaves out of China
in hollow canes.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R50)(Econ, 8/23/08, p.51)
581-618 The Sui Dynasty ruled in China. The "Sui Shu"
are the annals of the Sui Dynasty and mention of cormorant fishing in
Japan is made.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)(SFEC, 8/11/96, Z1,
p.6)(NH, 10/98, p.69)
600 Yang Di (Yangdi), a Sui
emperor, extended the Grand Canal. He reportedly assumed power by
poisoning his father. Ma Shu-mou, aka Mahu, was one of the canal
overseers and was said to have eaten a steamed 2-year-old child each
day he worked on the canal. On completion the canal extended for 1,100
miles. 5.5 million people were pressed into service to complete 1,550
mile canal.
(WSJ, 10/25/99, p.A50)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R51)
600 Li Shimin, son of Chinese
General Li Yuan (the Duke of Tang), was born about this time.
(ON, 5/06, p.1)
c600-700 The 7th century Chinese Buddhist pilgrim
Hsuan-tsang sought out the sources of Buddhism in India.
(AM, 9/01, p.48)
615 Yang Di (Yangdi), a Chinese
Sui emperor, announced a 4th attempt to conquer Korea. In response to
peasant rebellions in the north, Yangdi moved to the eastern city of
Yangzhou.
(ON, 5/06, p.1)
617 Jun, Chinese general Li Yuan
(the Duke of Tang) declared his rebellion and ordered the Tang army to
prepare a march against Chang’an (later Xian), capital of China and the
world’s largest city.
(ON, 5/06, p.2)(Econ, 3/15/08, p.101)
617 Dec 12, The Chinese city of
Chang’an fell to the Tang army.
(ON, 5/06, p.2)
617-1279 The Tang Dynasty unified China.
(ATC, p.69)
618 Apr, General Li Yuan, the Duke
of Tang, claimed the throne of China after receiving word that Emperor
Yangdi had been assassinated in the city of Yangzhou. Yuan proclaimed
himself Emperor Gaozu, the 1st monarch of the new Tang dynasty.
(ON, 5/06, p.3)
618-907 The Tang Dynasty was in China. The marble
head of Eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara dates to the Tang period.
Porcelain was invented during the T’ang dynasty. Dongjing music, used
by disciples of Confucius for meditation and by Taoists to accompany
chanting, became the court music of the Tang Dynasty.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)(NH, 7/96, p.32)(WSJ,
2/19/98, p.A20)(WSJ, 8/28/98, p.W10)(SFC, 3/28/00, p.A10)
618-907 The area of Tiananmen Square was first
cleared.
(SFC, 6/25/98, p.A8)
620 In northern China Gen’l. Li
Shimin (~20) attacked Luoyang, which was held by the warlord Wang
Shichong.
(ON, 5/06, p.3)
621 Mar, In China a force of
120,000 men from Xia province advanced to rescue the city of Luoyang.
(ON, 5/06, p.3)
621 May 28, In China Dou Jiande,
general of the Xia army, was wounded and captured by the Tang army
under Gen’l. Li Shimin at Hulao Pass. 3,000 Xia were killed and 50,000
were taken prisoners. The city of Luoyang soon surrendered. Xia
province surrendered in turn.
(ON, 5/06, p.4)
626 In China Gen’l. Li Shimin
foiled an assassination attempt by 2 brothers. He ambushed his older
brother, Jianchen, killing him with a bow and arrow, and became the
oldest son and crown prince. Li Yuan abdicated 2 months later and
Shimin became the new ruler under the name Emperor Taizong.
(ON, 5/06, p.4)
630-700 Dee Jen-djieh, district magistrate, was born
in the town of Tai-yuan. He was promoted to Minister of Sate with the
title Duke Liang. A novel of his judicial and detective work was
written in the 18th century and translated by Robert Van Bulick in the
late 20th cent. in a series of books title the Celebrated Cases of
Judge Dee.
(RBI, 1989, nar. by N. Dietz)
632 Hiuan-tsang, an Chinese
pilgrim, visited the great Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan.
(WSJ, 12/20/01, p.A13)
685 A manual on calligraphy was
made. It summarized the aesthetic ideals and theories of Chinese
writing.
(SFEC, 10/6/96, DB p.37)
c696 Feng Du, a 1,300-year-old
Tang dynasty city near the Yangtze River gorges, known as the city of
ghosts.
(WSJ, 10/8/96, p.A20)
699 Li Po (d.762), classical
Chinese poet, was born. His poems included "Drinking Alone With the
Moon."
(SFC, 10/30/03, p.A26)
c700-1300 Dali was the capital of an independent
kingdom of what became Yunnan province.
(SFEC, 11/8/98, p.A30)
713 In China construction began on
the Great Buddha of Leshan under the direction of the monk Haitong. It
was completed after 90 years. In 2002 a $30 million restoration project
aimed to preserve the 233-foot statue, the largest Buddha in the world.
(Arch, 9/02, p.19)
c722 In China a 233-foot Buddha
was built in Sichuan province. In 2002 a $30 million restoration
project was undertaken.
(SFC, 7/4/02, p.A12)
763 Tibetan armies occupied the
capital of China.
(SFEM, 1/24/99, p.6)
765 Dec 31, The coffin of Ho-tse
Shen-hui was interred in a stupa built in China.
(MC, 12/31/01)
766 The poet Du Fu arrived in
Baidi Cheng.
(NH, 7/96, p.33)
772 Mar 1, Po Tjiu-I (Bai Juyi),
Chinese poet (d.846), Governor of Hang-tsjow, was born. His work
included the narrative poem "Song of the Pipa," which protested the
social evils of his day.
(WSJ, 3/17/00, p.W2)(SC, 3/1/02)
800-900 The 9th cent. poet Chu Chen Pu wrote about
the hedgehog.
(NH, 7/98, p.54)
c800-900 "The Diamond Sutra,’ a 9th century Chinese
work, was found in 1900 in a cave in Duhuang by Sir Airel Stein, a
British scholar-explorer, and handed over to the British Library.
(SFEC, 6/11/00, p.A30)
800-900 The Uygur, a Turkic people, fled the
Mongolian steppe and settled in Xinjiang.
(NG, Feb, 04, p.12)
855 A version of "Cinderella" came
from China about this time.
(SFEC, 5/25/97, Z1 p.7)
c900-950 The 7-foot hanging scroll, ink-on-silk
masterpiece "Riverbank" by Dong Yuan was created. It is the earliest
surviving example of monumental Chinese landscape painting. The work
was also thought to be a forgery by Chang Da-chien (1899-1983) through
whom it passed to the New York Met.
(WSJ, 7/2/97, p.A12)(WSJ, 7/24/97, p.A16)(WSJ,
12/13/99, p.A32)
902-970 Tao Gu. He wrote "Qing yi lu," (An
Examination of Strange Accounts). He mentioned the Chinese use of
cormorants for fishing.
(NH, 10/98, p.69)
907-1279 "The Five Dynasties and the Song Period" by
Richard M. Barnhart is the first section of Wu Hung’s 1997 "The Origins
of Chinese Painting."
(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.6)
960-1127 The period of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Most artistic representations of nature during this period carried
auspicious meanings, e.g. bamboo signified resilience in the face of
diversity, and the cicada bespoke immortality.
(NH, 7/00, p.59)(SFC, 5/14/03, p.D3)
960-1279 The Sung (Song) dynasty ruled over China. It
was from this period that the Japanese tea ceremony originated; the
ritual was developed for a tranquility of mind. Since this period
mountainous looking rocks have been prized as objects of contemplation.
(Hem, Dec. 94, p.64)(SFC, 6/4/96, p.E5)
967 Li Cheng (b.919), Chinese
artist of the song Dynasty, died.
(SFC, 6/28/08, p.E1)
976 Nov 14, T'ai tsu, emperor of
China and founder of Sung-dynasty, died.
(MC, 11/14/01)
c998-1061 Bao Qingtian (Bao Zheng), Chinese judge of
the Song Dynasty, had a reputation for sticking up for the common man.
(Econ, 4/23/05,
p.43)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bao_Zheng)
1000 Gunpowder was invented in
China about this time.
(V.D.-H.K.p.179)
1000-1100 There was a Confucian revival in China. The
scholar Ch’eng I held that the I Ching was a means of inquiry into any
possible matter.
(NH, 9/97, p.12)
1000-1100 Chinese kilns mass produced ceramics for
the imperial court.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R25)
1006 May 1, A supernova was
observed by Chinese and Egyptians in constellation Lupus.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1017 In China a hermit introduced
the prime minister to "variolation," an inoculation using germs from
smallpox survivors.
(NW, 10/14/02, p.47)
1023 In China a government agency
was formed to print paper money.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)
1030 A landslide on the Yangtze
River cut off navigation for 21 years.
(NH, 7/96, p.32)
1030 Fan Kuan (b.960), Chinese
artist, died. His work included “Travelers and Streams and Mountains.”
(WSJ, 10/29/08, p.D9)
1030-1093 In China Shen Kua was an engineer and high
official Chinese astronomer. In his1086 work "Dream Pool Essays," Shen
Kua made the first reference to the magnetic compass. The work also
gave the first account of relief maps and an explanation of the origin
of fossils, along with other scientific observations. Shen Kua wrote
his essays after being banished from office after an army under his
command lost 60,000 killed in a battle with Khitan tribes.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)(HNQ, 4/22/99)
1041 In China Bi Sheng devised the
first movable-type printing system with clay characters.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)
1075 The Jiaozhi (Vietnam)
launched a war against China, with a force of some 100,000 surrounding
Yongzhou (the southern region of Nanning). It was captured after a
siege of 42 days.
(www.international-relations.com/cm4-1/Nanningwb.htm)
1077-1090 The "heavenly clockwork," a mechanical
water clock of Su Sung, was housed in a pagoda 5 stories high.
(AM, 3/04, p.44)
1086 In China Shen Kua (1030-1093)
gave an account of a magnetic compass for navigation in his work "Dream
Pool Essays." The work also gave the first account of relief maps and
an explanation of the origin of fossils, along with other scientific
observations. Shen Kua wrote his essays after being banished from
office after an army under his command lost 60,000 killed in a battle
with Khitan tribes.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)(HNQ, 4/22/99)
1090 Guo Xi (b.~1001), Chinese
artist of the song Dynasty, died about this time.
(SFC, 6/28/08, p.E1)
1100-1200 The 16-foot scroll titled “Qingming Shanghe
Tu” (Qingming Festival on the River) was created in the 12th century.
It was believed to have been painted by Zhang Zeduan, an artist of the
Song Dynasty.
(SFC, 9/14/05,
p.E2)(www.ibiblio.org/ulysses/gec/painting/qingming/)
1101-1125 Huizong ruled over China. He was a
calligrapher, painter and Confucian advocate of embracing antiquity. He
broadened the scope of Imperial collecting to embrace bronze ritual
objects as well as old paintings and calligraphy.
(SFEC, 10/6/96, DB p.36)
1107 China printed money in 3
colors to thwart counterfeiters.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)
1107 Mi Fu (b.1051), Chinese
calligrapher of the Northern Song period, died.
(SFC, 5/14/03, p.D3)(SFC, 7/1/06, p.E1)
1127-1279 In 2007 Chinese archeologists raised a
merchant ship loaded with porcelain and other rare antiques to the
surface in a specially built basket. The 100-foot Nanhai No. 1,
discovered in 1987, sank off the south China coast during the Southern
Song Dynasty (1127-1279).
(AP, 12/21/07)
1130 China’s Master-of-the-Nets
Garden in Suzhou was built about this time.
(SSFC, 6/25/06, p.A16)
1132 Invaders established what
became known as the southern Song dynasty in Hangzhou.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R51)
1141 Dec 29, Yue Fei, Chinese
general, was executed.
(MC, 12/29/01)
1153 A chicken restaurant, the
world's oldest existing eatery, opened in Kai-Feng, China.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)
1155 A map of western China was
printed and is the oldest known printed map.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)
1160-1225 Ma Yuan, an academic painter, made his
Southern Song masterpiece "Banquet by Lantern Light."
(SFEC, 10/6/96, DB p.37)
1162-1227 Genghis Khan was born in the Hentiyn Nuruu
mountains north of Ulan Bator, Mongolia. His given name was Temujin,
"the ironsmith." He seized control over 5 million square miles that
covered China, Iran, Iraq, Burma, Vietnam, and most of Korea and
Russia. "In Search of Genghis Khan" is a book by Tim Severin. He was
succeeded by his son Ogedai, who was succeeded by Guyuk. Ogedai ignored
numerous pleas from his brother Chaghatai to cut down on his drinking
and died of alcoholism as did Guyuk.
(SFC, 4/14/96, T-10)(WUD, 1994, p. 591)(WSJ,
1/11/99, p.R6)
1178 A Chinese colored scroll from
this time depicted Buddhist guardians washing their clothes in a
mountain stream. Buddha (d.483BCE) was said to have entrusted 16
disciples with the task of guarding the faith.
(SFC, 12/5/03, p.D7)
1181 Aug 4, A supernova was seen
in Cassiopeia. Chinese and Japanese astronomers observed a supernova.
The star 3C58 was later identified as the heart of the explosion in the
constellation Cassiopeia. In 2002 it was thought to be composed of
quarks.
(MC, 8/4/02)(SFC, 4/11/02, p.A2)
1191 Zen Buddhism, guided by the
Dao (The Way) arrived to Japan from China.
(Hem., 2/96, p.58)
1200 Jul 1, Sunglasses were
invented in China.
(MC, 7/1/02)
c1200 The painting "Reading the I
Ching in the Pine Shade" was made.
(NH, 9/97, p.)
1200-1299 Persia introduced polo to Arabia, China and
India in the 13th century.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)
1206-1226 Genghis Khan unified the Mongols and over
the next twenty years conquered northern China and all of Asia west to
the Caucasus. The Mongols numbered about 2 million and his army about
130,000.
(V.D.-H.K.p.169)(SFEM, 10/12/97, p.27)
1215-1294 Kublai Khan lived. He founded the Yuan
dynasty and reunited China for the first time since the fall of the
T’angs in 907. He was the grandson of Genghis Khan and established the
Yuan dynasty in China. He built a court of gilded cane at Ta-tu (later
Beijing) that inspired Marco Polo and Coleridge. He enforced the use of
paper money and had ships built to carry 1,000 men.
(V.D.-H.K.p.169)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R6)
1227 Aug 18, Genghis Khan
(Chinggis), Mongol conqueror, died in his sleep at his camp, during his
siege of Ningxia, the capital of the rebellious Chinese kingdom of Xi
Xia. Subotai was one of Genghis Khan's ablest lieutenants, and went on
to distinguish himself after the khan's death. In Khan's lifetime he
and his warriors had conquered the majority of the civilized world,
ruling an empire that stretched from Poland down to Iran in the west,
and from Russia's Arctic shores down to Vietnam in the east.
Russian archaeologist Peter Kozloff uncovered the tomb of Genghis Khan
in the Gobi Desert in 1927. In 2006 Zhu Yaoting, a Beijing academic,
authored a biography of Genghis Khan.
(AP, 8/18/97)(HN, 10/29/98)(Econ, 12/23/06, p.61)
1231 Guo Shoujing (d.1314),
Chinese astronomer, was born. He developed water clocks with
temperature compensation and escapements to provide high resolution
time accuracy for astronomical observations, a “pinhole camera” to
sharpen shadows cast by the sun and moon, mathematical tools for
polynomial generation and interpolation, and other inventions for
measurements.
(www.1421.tv/pages/evidence/content.asp?EvidenceID=420)
1231-1322 The illustrated text of the Chinese Dharani
Sutra of Great Splendor was created.
(SFC, 8/21/03, p.E2)
1234 Ugoodei attacked and overcame
the Chin (Juchen) dynasty of China.
(www.gobiexpeditions.com)
1235 A murder was solved when
field men were told to lay down their rice sickles and flies landed on
only one.
(SFEC, 9/28/97, Z1 p.2)
1237-1238 Batu Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan,
invaded Russia.
(AM, Jul/Aug ‘97 p.28)
1241 The Great Khan Ogedei died
after completing the Mongol conquest of China and Korea. In April the
Mongols routed the armies of Poles, Germans, and Hungarians, at
Liegnitz and Mohi, within easy distance of Vienna. Only the death of
Ogedei stopped their advance into Europe.
(V.D.-H.K.p.169)
1247 Zen monk Yishan Yining
(d.1317), calligrapher and poet, was born.
(WSJ, 1/8/02, p.A16)
1250 China began manufacturing
guns.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)
1259-1294 The great Kublai Khan, a grandson of
Genghis, reigned.
(www.gobiexpeditions.com)
1253 A Franciscan friar journeyed
to China to see the Great Khan.
(WSJ, 9/4/98, p.W12)
1287 The forces of Kublai Khan
overran Burma. The royal city of Bagan (Pagan) was abandoned under
threat from Kublai Khan in the 13th century. The brick temple of Ananda
Pahto is in Bagan. More than 4,400 pagodas and 3,000 other religious
structures of bricks and stones were built in Bagan, Myanmar's former
capital, during a 243-year period from the 11th to 13th centuries, the
result of extraordinary Buddhist fervor.
(SFEC, 10/22/00, p.T9)(DC, 10/10/98)(AP, 12/1/03)
1260-1294 The Mongol Empire under Kublai Khan reached
its height.
(ATC, p.160)
1260-1344 Chen Shen, Chinese scholar.
(NH, 7/00, p.59)
1260-1368 The Yuan Dynasty ruled in China with the
capital in Beijing. The Yuan Dynasty was founded by Kublai Khan.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)(SFC, 6/25/98, p.A8)
1260-1368 Musical productions known as Zaju became
popular during the Yuan Dynasty. Zaju, an early form of opera, combined
music, dance, song and speech into 4-act dramas with complex plots and
characters.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)
1271 Aug, Jacob, an Italian-Jewish
trader, arrived at the harbor of Zaitun in southeast China, 4-years
before Marco Polo arrived. He wrote a manuscript that surfaced in 1997,
translated by David Selbourne, a British scholar. Jacob described
printing with movable wooden type, paper money, free daily newspapers,
mass-circulation booklets, use of gunpowder, the practice of
foot-binding, and tea-drinking. He also noted a lot of pornography and
a liberated female sexuality. He described a foreign community with
some 2,000 Jews and a great number of Muslims as well as Africans and
Europeans and the oncoming threat of a Mongol invasion.
(SFEC, 9/21/97, p.A23)
1271 The Mongols established the
Yuan dynasty near Kahnbaliq, later Beijing.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R51)
1271-1368 "The Yuan Dynasty" by James Cahill is the
2nd section of Wu Hung’s 1997 "The Origins of Chinese Painting." The
period is marked by the emergence of the literati-amateur movement.
(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.6)
1272 Feb 24, Jacob, an
Italian-Jewish trader, departed in haste from Zaitun, China. [see 1271]
(SFEC, 9/21/97, p.A23)
1274 The first Mongol Invasion of
Japan.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)
1275-1292 Marco Polo left Italy for China. He lived
there during the reign of Kubla Khan and learned about pasta, sherbet,
and paper currency.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)
c1277 Invaders from central Asia
conquered China.
(ATC, p.73)
1279-1368 The Yuan, or Mongol, dynasty in China
(1279-1368) was established by the great Kublai Khan (reigned 1259-94),
a grandson of Genghis.
(www.gobiexpeditions.com)
1280 Liu Guandao, court painter,
depicted the Mongol ruler Kubilai Khan hunting on a sandy, windswept
landscape.
(SFEC, 10/6/96, DB p.37)
1280 In Germany a spinning wheel
invented in China was demonstrated in Speyer.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)
1280-1354 Wu Chen, Chinese painter and master of
calligraphy. He also mastered the play of void and presence at the
heart of Chinese ink painting.
(SFC, 10/14/96, p.B3)
1281 The second Mongol attempt to
conquer Japan.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)
1287 The forces of Kublai Khan
overran Burma.
(DC, 10/10/98)
1300-1400 Kublai Khan made Beijing the imperial
capital in the 14th century.
(AMNHDT, 5/98)
1300-1400 Odoric of Pordenone spent 3 years in China
in the 14th century.
(NH, 10/98, p.69)
c1300-1400 Dongjing music arrived in Lijiang, the
home of the minority Naxi, about this time. Chinese soldiers were
settled in Lijiang at this time to guard against invaders from the west.
(SFC, 3/28/00, p.A10)
c1308-1385 Wang Meng, Chinese artist, his work
included "Temple at Mount Taibai."
(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.6)
1313-1905 The four ancient Confucian texts, Ssu Shu,
or "Four Books," were used as subject matter for official Chinese civil
service exams in China. The volumes reputedly contain direct quotations
from Confucius.
(HNPD, 6/27/99)
1333 The Black Death erupted in
China.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R54)
1342 A tombstone in Yangchou
marked the death of an Italian girl named Katerina.
(SFEC, 9/21/97, p.A23)
1366 Wang Meng painted "Dwelling
in the Qingbian Mountains."
(SFC, 4/4/98, p.C1)
1368 Tamerlane lost control of
China as the Mings took over local power. The Ming dynasty overthrew
Mongol rule and slammed shut the Jade Gate to caravan traffic to
Central Asia.
(V.D.-H.K.p.172)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R49)
1368-1644 The period of the Ming Dynasty in China.
Classical Chinese furniture refers to furniture made during the Ming
and early Ching (1644-1912). During the Ming Dynasty the Great Wall of
China was extended and renovated with watch towers and canons.
(AAM, 3/96, p.9)(WSJ, 9/19/96,
p.A18)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Wall_of_China)
1368-1644 "The Ming Dynasty" by Yang Xin is the 3rd
section of Wu Hung’s 1997 "The Origins of Chinese Painting." The period
is marked by the emergence of the literati-amateur movement.
(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.6)
1368-1644 China extended its hegemony over the Ryukyu
Islands legitimating 3 kings in exchange for submission to the Ming
emperor.
(NH, 9/01, p.56)
1369 Hongwu, the first Ming
emperor, established an imperial kiln at Jungdezhen (Jingdezhen) in
south-central China. It became a famous porcelain center.
(SFEC, 10/6/96, DB p.37)
1371-1435 Cheng Ho (Zheng He), eunuch admiral of the
Ming dynasty, explored the Indian Ocean.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R51)
1372 The 1st Ryukyuan emissaries
reached Nanjing and presented tribute to the Ming emperor.
(NH, 9/01, p.56)
1391 China's Bureau of Imperial
Supplies produced 2-foot by 3-foot sheets of toilet paper for use by
the emperor.
(WSJ, 9/10/03, p.B1)
c1400-1425 Yong Le, the 3rd Ming emperor, created a
permanent imperial residence in Beijing. Work was done by some 200,000
laborers and in time became the 8,886-room complex called the
"Forbidden City."
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R36)
1400-1500 A Shang Xi 15th cent. painting portrayed
"The Xuande Emperor on an Outing."
(WSJ, 2/19/98, p.A20)
1404-1423 China controlled the price of tea and was
able to increase its stock of horses from 20,000 to 1,600,000.
(WSJ, 8/15/00, p.A24)
1405 Admiral Zheng He, a Muslim
eunuch, led a Ming dynasty fleet with 28,000 men through Southeast Asia
to India and on to Africa and the Middle East.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R51)(WSJ, 11/18/06, p.P11)
1406 The Palace of Heavenly
Purity, later renamed the People’s Cultural Palace, was built.
(SFC,12/22/97, p.E7)
1408 The Yongle Encyclopedia was
published in China. It consisted of thousands of volumes containing the
knowledge of some 2,000 scholars.
(WSJ, 3/18/09, p.A13)
1410-1419 Albertin de Virga, a Venetian, published a
map during this period that described unexplored regions of Africa and
Asia. It was later believed that he used Chinese sources.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Virga_world_map)(Econ, 1/14/06, p.81)
1418 In China a book was published
about this time titled “The Marvelous Visions of the Star Raft.” It
documented some of the exploits of Admiral Zheng He, who roamed the
oceans from 1405-1435.
(Econ, 1/14/06, p.80)
1418 In 2006 Liu Gang, a Beijing
lawyer and amateur map collector, unveiled a map that proclaimed to be
a 1763 copy of an older Chinese map dating to 1418. The map showed the
world in 2 hemispheres, but its authenticity was questioned.
(SSFC, 1/22/06, p.A9)(Econ, 1/14/06, p.80)
1421 Mar, Admiral Zheng He of the
Ming dynasty embarked on a voyage that took him to the east coast of
Africa. In 2002 an amateur historian proposed that he continued his
voyage around the world. [see 1431]
(SSFC, 3/17/02, p.A3)
1426 Vietnam provided a defeated
Chinese army with boats and horses to carry home its soldiers.
(NG, May, 04, p.94)
1431 Admiral Cheng Ho of the Ming
dynasty led a fleet of 52 ships with nearly 30,000 men to the east
coast of Africa. Shortly thereafter the Mings halted all voyages and
begin to foster an attitude of anti-foreign conservatism.
(V.D.-H.K.p.172)
1434 The imperial kiln at
Jungdezhen in south-central China produced 250,000 pieces.
(SFEC, 10/6/96, DB p.37)
1448 In China hyperinflation hit
and paper money lost 97% of its value. China soon abandoned paper money.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)
c1450 Legend has it that in
the mid-15th century Vietnam, King Le Loi defeated Chinese invaders
with a magic sword given to him by the gods. After the victory, the
king was said to be boating on the lake when a giant golden turtle rose
to the surface and grabbed the sword in its mouth before plunging deep
into the water to return it to its divine owners. The lake was later
renamed "Ho Hoan Kiem," which means "Lake of the Returned Sword."
(AP, 11/3/03)
1452-1510 Liu Jin, a court eunuch of the Ming dynasty
in China. He abused his office to amass a great fortune and was
executed for treason.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R8)
1459-1508 Wu Wei, artist. His work included the ink
painting "Female Goddess or Immortal."
(SFC, 2/20/01, p.B5)
1465-1487 During the Chenghua reign blended enamels
over a blue underglaze decoration reached a classic stage of
development. Lady Wan, consort of the emperor, was intimately
associated with porcelains and their design.
(SFEC, 10/6/96, DB p.37)
1475 The old Jihong Bridge over
the Lancang River was reinforced with 18 iron chains over the 280-foot
chasm.
(SFEC, 10/6/96, T5)
1498 Jun 26, Toothbrush was
invented. In China the first toothbrushes with hog bristles began to
show up. Hog bristle brushes remained the best until the invention of
nylon.
(SFC, 6/6/98, p.E3)(MC, 6/26/02)
1500-1600 "Hsi Yu Chi" was a 16th century novel based
on the account of a 7th century monk, Tripitaka, who traveled to India
for 16 years for Buddhist scriptures.
(SFC, 12/7/96, p.D1)
c1500-1600 Lu Zhi, Chinese 16th century painter.
(SSFC, 2/18/01, DB p.35)
1510 In China Liu Jin, a eunuch of
the Ming dynasty, was executed for abusing his authority. He had grown
wealthy from graft.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R4)
1523 Portuguese settlers were
expelled from China.
(TL-MB, p.12)
1526 Zhu Duan (b.1464), Chinese
artist, died. His work included the hanging scroll “Looking at a Misty
River at Dusk.”
(http://wwar.com/masters/z/zhu_duan.html)(SFC,
6/28/08, p.E1)
1541 Xie Shichen created the
painting "Clearing Sky After Snow on the Purple Empyrean Palace at
Mount Wudang."
(SFC, 2/20/01, p.B5)
1542 The Taoist scroll "Marshal
Wang" was created.
(SFC, 2/20/01, p.B5)
1542 A landslide on the Yangtze
River cut off navigation for 82 years.
(NH, 7/96, p.32)
1549 Wen Cheng-ming created his
hanging scroll "Trees in a Valley."
(WSJ, 5/15/02, p.D7)
1554 Oct, Mongol fighters battled
Chinese defenders at the Jinshanling wall. After 3 days of fighting the
Chinese overwhelmed the Mongols.
(SFC, 2/9/06, p.E4)
1555-1636 Tung Ch’i-ch’ang, painter and master of
calligraphy. He also mastered the play of void and presence at the
heart of Chinese ink painting.
(SFC, 10/14/96, p.B3)
1556 Jan 24, The worst earthquake
in history devastated China’s Shanxi Province, killing 830,000 people.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.19)(PCh, 1992, p.190)
1559 Wen Zhengming (b.1470),
Chinese artist, died. He was later considered the Michelangelo of
Chinese art. Most of his work, composites of poetry, calligraphy and
painting, was done to repay obligations.
(Econ, 8/21/04, p.70)
1578 Li Shih-Chen summed up
Chinese pharmacology in his "Great Pharmacopoeia."
(TL-MB, 1988, p.22)
1580 Wu Bin (d.1643), Ming Dynasty
painter, was born. His work included "Pine Lodge Amid Tall Mountains."
(SFC, 3/13/03, p.E1)
1583 Matteo Ricci, an Italian
Jesuit, entered China. He was later accused of "going native," and
ignoring his mandate to spread the faith.
(WSJ, 9/4/98, p.W12)
1587 Hai Rui (b.1514), Chinese
statesman during the mid Ming dynasty, died. He is still revered as an
impartial judge, reputed to be an honest and fearless official, who
dared to give controversial advice to the emperor. He later became
subject of a 1960s play, "Hai Rui Dismissed from Office," that provided
Mao Zedong with the pretext to launch the Great Proletarian Cultural
Revolution.
(www.chinaetravel.com/attraction/att10a.html)(http://tinyurl.com/cwsrs)
c1597 The Sao Paulo church in
Macao was constructed by Portuguese colonists.
(WSJ, 5/6/97, p.A19)
c1597 The "Materia Medica
Pharmacopeia" was written and detailed some 1,900 herbs, minerals and
animals used by the Chinese to treat ailments through the ages.
(WSJ, 12/3/97, p.A1)
1598 Tang Xianzu, dramatist, wrote
his 55-act Kunju opera "The Peony Pavilion." Kunju is the oldest of
China’s 360 opera forms.
(WSJ, 6/22/98, p.A20)
1603 Oct 20, A Chinese uprising in
the Philippines failed after 23,000 killed.
(MC, 10/20/01)
1607 In China the Great Wall’s
largest stone tower, Zhenbeitai, was built at Yulin, near the border of
Inner Mongolia.
(SSFC, 9/1/02, p.C6)
c1600-1700 Abakh Khoja ruled the region of Kashgar.
(SFEC, 11/22/98, p.T5)
1610-1664 The painter Hong Ren. His work included
"Peaks and Ravines at Jiuqi."
(WSJ, 2/19/98, p.A20)
1618-1689 The painter Gong Xian. His work included
"Summer Mountains After Rain."
(WSJ, 2/19/98, p.A20)
1634 Ligdan Khan (reigned
1604-34), the last great Mongol leader, died. After his death, the
Mongols were subdued by the Manchu and became part of the Ch’ing
(Manchu) dynasty of China.
(www.gobiexpeditions.com)
1636 Tung Ch’ich’ang (b.1555),
Chinese painter, died.
(SFC, 12/8/05, p.E12)
c1643 The later Zhengyici Theater
in Beijing started as a temple in the late Ming period.
(WSJ, 1/9/97, p.A8)
1643 Wu Bin (b.1580), Ming Dynasty
painter, died. His work included "Pine Lodge Amid Tall Mountains."
(SFC, 3/13/03, p.E1)
1644 Apr 25, The Ming Chongzhen
emperor committed suicide by hanging himself as Beijing fell to the
bandit and rebel leader Li Dzucheng (39). The Qing, or Chi’ing, dynasty
of China began when the Manchus invaded from Northeast China and
overthrew the 300-year-old Ming Dynasty.
(WSJ, 9/13/96, p.B8)(HN, 4/25/98)(PCh, 1992, p.239)
1644 The Manchu emperors of China
ordered all subjects to shave the top of their heads and wear the rest
of their hair in a braid. The men complied until 1911 but the women did
not.
(SFEC, 9/8/96, zone 1 p.6)
1644 Many Chinese mandarins fled
to the port of Hoi An, Vietnam, when the Ming Dynasty was overthrown.
Hoi An at this time was known as Faifo.
(SFEC, 4/26/98, p.T4)
1644-1911 "The Qing Dynasty" by Nie Chongzheng is the
4th section of Wu Hung’s 1997 "The Origins of Chinese Painting." The
period is marked by the emergence of the literati-amateur movement.
(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.6)
1644-1912 The period of the Ching (Qing) dynasty of
China. Others end it at 1911.
(WSJ, 9/19/96, p.A18)(SFC, 10/14/96, p.B3)
1661 Apr 29, Chinese Ming dynasty
occupied Taiwan.
(HN, 4/29/98)
1662 Kangxi ascended the throne of
China as a child. He was the 1st of three Qing emperors who reigned for
133 years until 1795. Kangxi ruled over China until 1722. The film
“Forbidden City: The Great Within,” depicts the period. Kangxi was
followed by Yongzheng and Qianlong.
(WSJ, 11/2/95, p.A-12)(Econ, 11/5/05, p.90)
1681 Fa Jo-chen created a
45-foot-long hand scroll of a winding river with the land on both sides
rolled up in round, furry lumps.
(WSJ, 5/15/02, p.AD7)
1683 Taiwan was claimed by China's
Manchu dynasty after large-scale immigration from the Chinese mainland
to the island.
(AP, 8/12/06)
1690 Emp. Kangxi commissioned Wang
Hui (1632-1717) to create a pictorial chronicle of a ceremonial tour.
“The Kangxi Emperor’s Southern Inspection Tour” took 6 years and became
a magnus opus of some 740 feet in 12 hand scrolls.
(WSJ, 10/29/08, p.D9)
1696 The painter Bada Shanren
created his work: "Ducks and Lotuses."
(WSJ, 2/19/98, p.A20)
1699 References from the Ching
dynasty refer to the Diaoyu Island located between Taiwan and Okinawa.
(SFEC, 10/8/96, A8)
c1700-1800 The novel "Dream of the Red Mansion" was
from the 18th century Qing Dynasty and chronicled opulence and wealth.
(SFC, 9/1/01, p.A6)
1709 Qing emperor Qianlong built
the gardens of Yuanmingyuan (the garden of perfection and light) on the
outskirts of Beijing as the imperial summer palace. In 1860 Lord
Elgin’s cavalry set fire and let the gardens burn for 3 days and nights.
(www.china.org.cn/english/features/beijng/31186.htm)(Econ, 11/26/05,
p.18)
1713 The Ningbo businesspeople
transformed the converted Ningbo Residents Association into the
Zhengyici Theater in Beijing. It had started as a temple in the late
Ming period. The Ningbo had converted the temple into a bank and
Residence Association in the early Qing period.
(WSJ, 1/9/97, p.A8)
1717 Wang Hui (b.1632), Chinese
master painter, died.
(WSJ, 10/29/08, p.D9)
1722 A French Jesuit got into the
Jingdezhen, a gated porcelain producing city in China, and sent home
detailed letters on porcelain production. Within decades France
developed its own porcelain production plant at Sevres.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R50)
1722 Yongzheng followed Kangxi and
was the 2nd of three Qing emperors who reigned over China for 133 years
(1662-1795). He was followed by Qianlong.
(Econ, 11/5/05, p.90)
1729 In China opium smoking was
banned.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)
1736-1795 The period of the Qianlong (Ch’ien-lung)
reign over China. Qianlong was a painter and calligrapher and showed an
insatiable appetite for collecting art. His collection formed the core
of the later National Palace Museum. [3rd source has rule to 1794]
(SFEC, 10/6/96, DB p.36)(SFC, 10/14/96, p.B3)(WSJ,
2/19/98, p.A20)
1742 Jul 11, A papal decree was
issued condemning the disciplining actions of the Jesuits in China.
(HN, 7/11/98)
1743 British Commodore George
Anson reached China in his man-of-war.
(WSJ, 9/4/98, p.W12)
c1750 In China's northeastern
Hebei province large wooden figures were built in Puning Temple
following a military victory. A 50-foot Buddhist boy and dragon
princess were built to guard the deity Avalokitesvara.
(SSFC, 11/9/03, p.C7)
1750-1799 Ho-Shen rose to power in China as the
confidante to Emperor Kao-tsung. He served as a customs superintendent
and pocketed a fortune by prolonging military campaigns and pocketing
sums allocated to the military. He was arrested when the emperor died
and died in prison.
(WSJ, 1/11/98, p.R10)
1751 The Liu clan built its
ancestral hall called Liu Man Shek Tong in Hong Kong.
(Hem., Dec. '95, p.160)
1763 A Chinese map drawn by Mo Yi
Tong imitated a world chart made in 1418. It showed barbarians paying
tribute to the Ming emperor Zhu Di. The map was unveiled to the public
in Beijing in 2006.
(Econ, 1/14/06, p.80)
1769-1843 Howqua, aka Wu Bingjian, Chinese merchant.
His father was permitted to trade silk and porcelain with foreigners.
He lent large sums in silver dollars to foreign traders in exchange for
a share of their shipments. He donated 1.1 million silver dollars
toward reparations after the First Opium War.
(WSJ, 1/11/98, p.R18)
1770s The White Lotus rebellion
against the Qing dynasty was led by Wang Lun, a master of martial arts
and herbal medicine.
(SFC, 7/23/99, p.A10)
1784 Feb 22, A U.S. merchant ship,
the "Empress of China," left New York City for the Far East.
(AP, 2/22/99)
1792-1793 Lord Macartney led the 1st British
diplomatic mission to China.
(NH, 7/00, p.62)
1793 China’s Emperor Qianlong
turned away the British fleet under Lord George Macartney with the
declaration that China had all things in abundance and had no interest
in “foreign manufactures.”
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R51)(Econ, 9/16/06, p.13)
1795 The end of the Qianlong
period. [see 1736-1795]
(WSJ, 8/28/97, p.A12)
c1799 At the close of the 18th
century the White Lotus Movement led a violent uprising in northeastern
China.
(WSJ, 4/26/99, p.A6)
1800-1900 Triads were secret societies first formed
in China to oppose the harsh rule of the Manchu who created the Ching
dynasty and who were viewed by many ethnic Han as outsiders.
(SFC, 6/6/97, p.E3)
1807 Zheng Yi Sao took over a
confederation of pirates in the South China Sea about this time
following the death if her husband. At its peak the confederation
numbered some 50-70 thousand mend and controlled 800 large vessels. The
group disbanded in 1810 under an offer of amnesty.
(WSJ, 11/22/08, p.W2)
1811 May 11, Chang and Eng Bunker,
Chinese Siamese twins, were born.
(MC, 5/11/02)
1814-1864 Hong Xiuquan, believed himself to be the
second son of God. In 1851 he declared himself king of China and the
world. In 1853 his Taiping army took the city of Nanjing as its
heavenly capital. He ruled there until 1864. When the Qing (Manchu)
government troops tightened their siege he died from eating what he
said was manna sent by God to alleviate his believer's starvation. His
story is told by Jonathan D. Spence in "God's Chinese Son: The Taiping
Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan."
(WSJ, 1/5/96, p.A-8)
1834 Jul 15, Lord Napier of
England arrived at Macao, China as the first chief superintendent of
trade.
(HN, 7/15/98)
1839 Jul 5, British naval forces
bombarded Dingai on Zhoushan Island in China and occupy it.
(HN, 7/5/98)
1839 Aug 23, The British captured
Hong Kong from China.
(MC, 8/23/02)
1839 Oct 1, The British government
decided to send a punitive naval expedition to China.
(HN, 10/1/98)
1839 Nov 3, The first Opium War
between China and Britain broke out in and around Guangzhou. Lin Zexu,
a Qing official, started the Opium War when he ordered the dumping of 3
million pounds of Western-owned opium into the sea. 2 British frigates
engaged several Chinese junks.
(SFC, 6/10/97, p.D4)(AP, 11/3/97)(SSFC, 8/30/09,
p.A21)
1839-1842 The Opium War between Britain and China
started when Beijing tried to stop Western imports of the narcotic. The
British won by steaming gunboats up the Yangtze River to the Grand
Canal an then cutting off grain and other supplies to Beijing.
(SFC, 6/10/97, p.D4)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R51)
1840 The British seized Hong Kong.
[see 1841.][see 1842] Hong Kong was seized following the first opium
war.
(SFC, 7/2/96, p.A10)(SFEC, 11/10/96, Parade
p.14)(SFC, 3/11/97, p.A12)
1841 Jan 20, The island of Hong
Kong was ceded to Great Britain from China as part of the concessions
from the Opium War. It became a capitalist bastion as opposed to the
rest of China. The British won the first Opium War and forced China to
open markets to foreign trade. Britain soon established a formal police
force commanded mostly by British officers. Hong Kong returned to
Chinese control in July 1997.
(WSJ, 10/26/95, p.A-1)(SFEC, 11/10/96, Par
p.14)(SFC, 3/11/97, p.A12)(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A8)(AP, 1/20/98)(HN,
1/20/99)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R49)(WSJ, 2/2/04, p.A12)
1842 Aug 29, Britain & China
signed the Treaty of Nanking and ended the Opium war. The Treaty of
Nanking opened the port of Shanghai to foreigners. The 1997 Chinese
film "The Opium War" was directed by Xie Jin. It was about the events
leading up to the Treaty of Nanking. The treaty of Nanking ceded Hong
Kong Island to Britain in perpetuity.
(AMNHDT, 5/98)(SFC, 5/20/98,
p.E3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Nanjing)
1842 Xiamen, known to the British
as Amoy, was one of the five Chinese treaty ports opened by the Treaty
of Nanjing at the end of the First Opium War between Britain and China.
As a result, it was an early entry point for Protestant missions in
China.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiamen)
1842 Jardine, Matheson & Co.,
founded in Canton in 1832, built the first substantial house and
established their head office on the recently acquired island of Hong
Kong. This began an era of increased prosperity and expansion.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jardine_Matheson_Holdings)
1843 Apr 5, Queen Victoria
proclaimed Hong Kong a British crown colony.
(HN, 4/5/99)
1843 Jun 26, Hong Kong was
proclaimed a British Crown Colony. [see Apr 5]
(MC, 6/26/02)
1844 Jul 3, Ambassador Caleb
Cushing successfully negotiated a commercial treaty with China that
opened five Chinese ports to U.S. merchants and protected the rights of
American citizens in China.
(HN, 7/3/98)
1845 Jul 25, China granted Belgium
equal trading rights with Britain, France and the United States.
(HN, 7/25/98)
1845-1864 The Taiping Rebellion was led by a failed
scholar who deemed himself the "Son of God." Some 20 million people
died in the uprising. [see 1853-1864]
(SFC, 7/23/99, p.A10)
1848 Feb 2, The 1st ship load of
Chinese arrived in SF.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1849 Aug 22, The Portuguese
governor of Macao, China, was assassinated because of his anti-Chinese
policies.
(HN, 8/22/98)
1849-1875 Some 100,000 Chinese coolies arrived as
laborers in Peru during this period.
(Econ, 8/15/09, p.21)
1850 Sep 22, An earthquake in
Sichuan, China, killed some 300,000 people.
(www.geohaz.org/member/news/signif.htm)
1852 Jan 3, The 1st Chinese arrive
in Hawaii.
(MC, 1/3/02)
1852 Jun 26, Tzu Hsi (17), aka
Orchid or Lady Yehonala, married Ch'ing Emperor Hsien Feng. She had
competed to become one of his 7 official wives or 3,000 concubines.
(SSFC, 2/1/04, p.M6)
1853-1864 The Taiping army of Hong Xiuquan took the
city of Nanjing as its heavenly capital in the Taiping Rebellion. He
claimed to be Jesus' brother and ruled there until 1864. Imperial
troops crushed his movement and tens of millions died. Some 10,000
people were killed at Nanjing.
(WSJ, 1/5/96, p.A-8)(WSJ, 4/26/99, p.A6)(SFC,
7/23/99, p.A10)
1854 Jun 17, The Red Turban revolt
broke out in Guangdong, China.
(HN, 6/17/98)
1854 Robert Swinhoe (1836-1877),
English naturalist, became the British council in Amoy (later Xiamen,
China). Over the next 2 decades he collected and counted some 650
Chinese species of birds. In 1860 He became the first British
representative on Formosa (later Taiwan).
(Econ, 12/20/08,
p.67)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Swinhoe)
1856 Oct 8, Chinese police boarded
the British vessel Arrow, arrested 12 Chinese crewmen on suspicion of
piracy and lowered the British flag. This began the 2nd Anglo-Chinese
War.
(EWH, 4th ed, p.911)(MC, 10/8/01)
1857 Mar 3, Under pretexts,
Britain and France declared war on China.
(HN, 3/3/99)
1858 Jun 18, The US and China
signed a treaty promoting "peace, amity and commerce."
(AP, 6/18/08)
1860 Oct 7, During the 2nd Opium
War British troops on the outskirts of Beijing began to plunder the
gardens of Yuanmingyuan (the garden of perfection and light), the
imperial summer palace built by the Qing emperor Qianlong in 1709. Lord
Elgin’s cavalry soon set fire and let the gardens burn for 3 days and
nights.
(WSJ, 1/13/04,
p.A8)(www.china.org.cn/english/features/beijng/31186.htm)
1860 Oct 12, British and French
troops captured Beijing.
(MC, 10/12/01)
1860 In China the Taiping Rising
marked the first looting of Peking by the "big-nosed barbarians."
(WSJ, 4/20/95, p. A-13)
1860 Signor Beato (d.1907),
photographer, shot views of the Dagu forts, guarding the approaches to
Beijing, with heaps of dead following their capture by an Anglo-French
expedition.
(WSJ, 11/27/00, p.A36)
1861 Nov 11, The Qing Dynasty
established a new ministry of foreign affairs. It was housed in a
building that had housed the Department of Iron Coins and was
considered as a temporary institution.
(WSJ, 5/16/97, p.A16)
1861 Ch'ing Emperor Hsien Feng
died in exile and his widow Orchid (26) became China's Empress Dowager.
(SSFC, 2/1/04, p.M6)
1861 The British firm Butterfield
& Swire began trading in Hong Kong and China.
(Econ, 6/30/07, SR p.13)
1862 Jun 24, U.S. intervention
saved the British and French at the Dagu forts in China.
(HN, 6/24/98)
1864 Jun 1, Hong Xiuquan (b.1814),
leader of the Taiping Heavenly Army, died from poisoning. At the time
of his death his led over 100,000 troops and controlled an area bigger
than France. In 1996 Jonathan Spence authored “God’s Chinese Son,” a
biography of Xiuquan, who believed himself to be God’s second son.
(WSJ, 8/18/07,
p.P9)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Xiuquan)
1865 Mar, Thomas Sutherland of
Scotland founded the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC)
to finance trade in the Far East. It established the Shanghai branch on
April 3, 1865.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_and_Shanghai_Banking_Corporation)
1865-1869 Some 12,000 Chinese workers were brought to
the US to help complete the transcontinental railroad.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R25)
1866 Nov 12, Sun Yat-Sen (d.1925),
Chinese statesman and revolutionary leader, was born (trad) to a
Christian peasant near Macao. He attended an Anglican grammar school in
Hawaii, and went on to graduate from Hong Kong School of Medicine in
1892. While there he became involved in revolutionary activities and
was forced to leave China in 1895. He organized a revolutionary secret
society in 1905. In 1911 he returned to China after a successful
revolution in the south and became provisional president of a
republican government there before stepping aside for Yuan Shih-k'ai.
Sun formed the nationalist Kuomintang party in 1912.: "To understand is
hard. Once one understands, action is easy."
(HFA, '96, p.18)(AP, 6/22/97)(HNQ, 6/3/98)
1867 Anton Burlingame resigned his
diplomatic post as US ambassador to China and was named High Minister
Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary from the Court of Peking.
(Ind, 8/11/01, 5A)
1868 Jul 28, Pres. Johnson signed
the Burlingame Treaty. It was negotiated by Anson Burlingame, who
represented the interests of China, and committed the US to a policy of
noninterference in Chinese affairs. It also established commercial ties
and provided unrestricted immigration of Chinese to the US.
(Ind, 8/11/01, 5A)
1869 The Giant Panda of China was
first made known to the West by the French missionary Armand David.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Panda)
1870 Oct 20, The Summer Palace in
Beijing, China, was burnt to the ground by a Franco-British
expeditionary force.
(HN, 10/20/98)
1870-1949 "Studies in the Economic History of Late
Imperial China" and "The Chinese Economy" by Albert Feuerwerker was
published in 2 volumes in 1996.
(MT, Fall ‘96, p.14)
1871 Oct 24, Anti Chinese rioting
took place in Los Angeles. A mob in Los Angeles hanged 16 Chinese men
and one woman.
(SFEC, 2/6/00, Rp.10)(SSFC, 6/3/07, p.M5)
1873 The main building of
Britain’s Shanghai consulate was built in the riverside Bund district.
(WSJ, 9/28/05, p.B1)
1876 Chen Banding (d.1970),
Chinese painter, was born. His work included "Landscape" (1942).
(SFC, 10/25/00, p.C5)
1879 Mar 25, Japan invaded the
kingdom of Liuqiu (Ryukyu) Islands, formerly a vassal of China. The
Ruykyuan monarchy was abolished and the islands were annexed to create
the Okinawa Prefecture. Prior to this Okinawa had paid tribute to
both Japan and China.
(HN, 3/25/99)(SSFC, 3/11/01, Par p.5)(NH, 9/01, p.56)
1882 May 6, Over President
Arthur’s veto, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which barred
Chinese immigrants from the United States for 10 years. It was amended
and passed by Congress on August 3 and was signed by Pres. Arthur.
(AP, 5/6/97)(www.u-s-history.com/pages/h739.html)
1882 Aug 3, US Congress passed the
1st Immigration Act. The amended act banned Chinese immigration for ten
years. The Chinese Exclusion Act barred laborers from China and halted
a massive immigration of Cantonese peasants. [see 1882-1943]
(HN, 8/3/98)(SFEC, 9/20/98, Z1
p.4)(www.u-s-history.com/pages/h739.html)
1882 Sep 3, The French, Vietnamese
and Chinese battled at Hanoi; hundreds died.
(MC, 9/3/01)
1882-1943 In the US the Chinese Exclusion Act was in
force. [see May 6, 1882] The Chinese Exclusion Act, prohibiting the
immigration of Chinese laborers into the United States, was first
passed in 1882 and then repealed by Congress in 1943. Strong
anti-Chinese feeling in the West led to the 1882 act, which was
extended for 10 years in 1894 and indefinitely in 1902. The laws were
finally repealed in 1943 but only after the Chinese population in the
U.S. had declined dramatically. In 2007 Jean Pfaelzer authored “Driven
Out: The Forgotten War Against Chinese Americans.”
(SFEC, 8/18/96, DB p.27)(HNQ, 9/9/98)(SSFC, 6/3/07,
p.M1)
1884 Jun 23, A Chinese Army
defeated the French at Bacle, Indochina.
(HN, 6/23/98)
1885 Apr 18, The Sino-Japanese war
ended.
(HN, 4/18/98)
1885 Canada began forcing tens of
thousands of Chinese, who helped build the nation's railroad, to pay a
"head tax" if they wished to remain in the country and then taxed them
again to bring in their families. It started at $50 and by 1903 grew to
$500. Collections ended in 1923, when immigration from China was
banned. Canada only began admitting Chinese again in 1947. On June 22,
2006, Canada apologized.
(AP, 6/23/06)
1887 Oct 31, Chiang Kai-Shek,
Chinese Nationalist, was born.
(HN, 10/31/98)
1887 China’s Huang Ho (Huang He,
Yellow River) flooded and killed about 900,000 people.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_toll)
1889-1933 Gao Qifeng, artist. He was a founder of the
Lingnan School, a group of artists and social activists bent on
modernizing Chinese painting.
(SFC, 4/22/97, p.D2)
1892 May 5, US Congress passed the
Geary Chinese Exclusion Act, which required Chinese in the United
States to be registered and carry an identity card or face deportation.
The Six Companies of San Francisco ordered all 110,000 immigrants to
refuse compliance.
(AP, 5/5/97)(SSFC, 6/3/07, p.M5)
1892 Sun Yat-Sen (d.1925), Chinese
statesman and revolutionary leader, graduated from the Hong Kong School
of Medicine.
(HFA, '96, p.18)(AP, 6/22/97)(HNQ, 6/3/98)
1892 Plague hit China and spread
throughout south Asia. It ended after killing 6 million people in India.
(SFC, 7/2/05, p.F9)
1893 Aug 10, Chinese were deported
from SF under the 1892 Exclusion Act.
(MC, 8/10/02)
1893 Dec 26, Mao Tse-tung,
founding father of the People’s Republic of China (PM 1949-76),
was born in Shaoshan.
(HFA, ‘96, p.44)(HN, 12/26/98)(SFC, 8/24/99,
p.A12)(MC, 12/26/01)
1894 Mar 4, There was a great fire
in Shanghai; over 1,000 buildings were destroyed.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1894 Mar 17, US and China signed a
treaty preventing Chinese laborers from entering US. The Chinese
government abandoned its migrant workers in exchange for a profitable
trade deal with the US.
(PC, 1992 ed, p.610)(SSFC, 6/3/07, p.M5)
1894 Aug 1, The First
Sino-Japanese War erupted, the result of a dispute over control of
Korea; Japan's army routed the Chinese.
(AP, 8/1/04)
1894 Sep 15, Japan defeated China
in the Battle of Ping Yang (Pyongyang).
(http://24.1911encyclopedia.org/C/CH/CHINKIANG.htm)
1894 The plague in China reached
its port cities and began to circle the globe. In Hong Kong it killed
some 10,000 people. Dr Alexander Yersin, a French bacteriologist sent
to Hong Kong by the Institute Pasteur, found in the buboes of the
plague victims "a swarm of microbes, all similar in appearance...short
bacilli with rounded ends."
(NG, 5/88, p.684)
1894-1895 Japan went to war against China.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 215)
1894 T.V. Soong (d.1971), Chinese
financier and government official, was born. He was an official for the
Chinese Nationalist government from 1927-1949. In 1923 he financed the
Nationalist party of Sun Yat-Sen, his brother-in-law, and established
the Central Bank of China. The bank became the government treasury in
1924 when Soong was appointed minister of finance. Chiang Kai-shek was
another brother-in-law to Soong, and appointed him minister of foreign
affairs in 1942. He invested heavily in foreign stock and moved to San
Francisco in 1949 when mainland China was captured by the Soviets.
(WSJ, 1/11/98, p.R18)
1895 Apr 17, China and Japan
signed the peace treaty of Shimonoseki. This followed a war over
control of the Korean peninsula.
(HN, 4/17/98)(Econ, 1/15/05, Survey p.4)
1895 Apr 23, Russia, France, and
Germany forced Japan to return the Liaodong peninsula to China.
(HN, 4/23/99)
1895 May 8, China ceded Taiwan to
Japan under the Apr 17 Treaty of Shimonoseki. This followed a war over
control of the Korean peninsula. Japanese occupation ended in 1945.
(HN, 5/8/98)(Econ, 1/15/05, Survey p.4)(SSFC,
2/18/07, p.G5)
1895 Chinese authorities
discovered a consignment of some 1000 revolvers hidden in casks of
cement that had been shipped by the Scientific Agricultural Society, a
group organized by Sun Yat-sen aiming to overthrow the Qing emperor.
(ON, 10/08, p.6)
1896 Oct 11, Chinese agents
tricked Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925), Chinese revolutionary, into entering
the Chinese Legation in London. They planned to ship him secretly back
to China where a reward for his arrest amounted to half a million
dollars. The story was made public by the London press and the Legation
was forced to release him. In 1911 Sun Yat-sen played an important role
in the overthrow of the Qing dynasty and came to be revered as the
“Father of Modern China.”
(ON, 10/08, p.7)
1896 Chinese cinema was born a
year after it was invented in France.
(Econ, 4/29/06, p.69)
1897 Mar 5, Mei-ling Soong
(d.2003, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, was born on Hainan Island, China. As
wife of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek she was instrumental in enlisting
U.S. sympathy and relief for China in World war II.
(www.nndb.com/people/978/000086720/)(HN, 6/5/99)
1898 Jun 9, China leased Hong
Kong's New Territories to Britain for 99 years by a convention signed
in Peking, respecting an extension of Hong Kong territory, the New
Territories, comprising the area north of Kowloon up to the Shum Chun
(Shenzhen) River and 235 islands.
(www.info.gov.hk/yearbook/2003/english/chapter21/21_03.html)
1898 Jun 11, Emperor Kuang-Hsu of
China began 100 days of Reform in effort to modernize China, but
conservative forces soon squelch the attempt.
(AP, 6/11/03)
1898 Harbin was built by Russian
workers who extended the trans-Siberian railway across Heilongjiang
province.
(SFC, 5/8/01, p.C2)
1898 Ye Yanlan (b.1823), Chinese
painter, connoisseur and Qing Dynasty official, died.
(SFC, 7/1/06, p.E8)
1899-1983 Chang Da-chien, painter, collector and
forger. Some suspected that the 10th century work "Riverbank"
attributed to Dong Yuan was actually a forgery by Chang.
(WSJ, 12/13/99, p.A32)
1900 Jan 2, US Secretary of
State John Hay announced the Open Door Policy to prompt trade with
China. This policy rejected efforts to carve up China or restrict its
ports.
(AP, 1/2/98)(WSJ, 2/3/04, p.A12)
1900 Jan 27, Foreign diplomats in
Peking fear revolt and demanded that the Imperial Government discipline
the Boxer Rebels.
(HN, 1/27/99)
1900 May 31, U.S. troops arrived
in Peking to help put down Boxer Rebellion.
(HN, 5/31/98)
1900 Jun 7, Boxer rebels cut the
rail links between Peking and Tientsin in China.
(HN, 6/7/98)
1900 Jun 13, China's Boxer
Rebellion against foreigners and Chinese Christians erupted into
violence. The Boxer Rebellion was a violent, anti-foreign uprising that
broke out in reaction to years of foreign interference with Chinese
affairs. Led by a Chinese secret society called Yi He Tuan--"the
Righteous, Harmonious Fists"--the Boxers were aided by the Empress
Dowager Ci Xi and pillaged the countryside, murdering foreigners and
Chinese Christians.
(AP, 6/13/97)(HNPD, 6/20/98)
1900 Jun 18, Empress Douairisre
ordered I-Ho-Chuan (the Boxers) to kill all foreigners. [see Jun 21]
(MC, 6/18/02)
1900 Jun 21, After the Empress
declared war on all foreign powers, the Boxers began a two-month
assault on the legations in Beijing. An international force of
Japanese, Russian, German, American, British, Italian and
Austro-Hungarian troops put down the uprising by August 14. The Boxer
Rebellion was a violent, anti-foreign uprising that broke out in
reaction to years of foreign interference with Chinese affairs. Led by
a Chinese secret society called Yi He Tuan--"the Righteous, Harmonious
Fists"--the Boxers were aided by the Empress Dowager Ci Xi and pillaged
the countryside, murdering foreigners and Chinese Christians. In 2000
Diana Preston authored "The Boxer Rebellion: The Dramatic Story of
China’s War on foreigners That Shook the World in the Summer of 1900."
(HNPD, 6/21/99)(WSJ, 6/20/00, p.A24)
1900 Jul 14, European Allies
retook Tientsin, China, from the rebelling Boxers.
(HN, 7/14/98)
1900 Jun 26, The United States
announced it would send troops to fight against the Boxer rebellion in
China.
(HN, 6/26/98)
1900 Aug 14, International forces,
i.e. European allies, including 2,000 U.S. Marines entered Beijing to
put down the Boxer Rebellion, which was aimed at purging China of
foreigners and foreign influence.
(HN, 8/14/98)(AP, 8/14/01)(MC, 8/14/02)
c1900 Wang Yuanlu, a Chinese monk,
discovered a set of manuscripts in the Mogao caves near Dunhuang in
Gansu province. The "Library Cave" contained as many as 50,000 items,
mostly Buddhist documents, from 400-1000CE.
(AM, 7/00, p.72)
1900 As artillery shells crashed
around their house during the siege of Tientsin, Lou Hoover played
solitaire. She and new husband Herbert Hoover had moved there after
their wedding in 1899. Herbert had been engaged as the Director General
of the Department of Mines of the Chinese Government. News from China
during the Boxer Rebellion was bleak, and one New York newspaper had
reported their deaths and printed obituaries.
(HNQ, 11/27/02)
1900 Greeks from the island of
Kefalonia began to migrate to Manchuria after 1900 and flourished in
the liquor and property business. Their world collapsed in 12949 when
the Communists took power.
(Econ, 8/23/08, p.52)
1901 Feb 26, Boxer Rebellion
leaders Chi-Hsin (Chi-hsui) and Hsu-Cheng-Yu were publicly executed in
Peking.
(HN, 2/26/98)(SC, 2/26/02)
1901 Sep 7, The Peace of Peking
(Beijing) ended the Boxer Rebellion in China.
(AP, 9/7/97)
1901 Nov 29, Cixi (1835-1908),
China’s empress dowager, received a new wood-bodied Duryea automobile
to mark her 66th birthday. She is said to have fortified her driver,
Sun Fuling, with a generous bowl of rice wine. Fuling promptly lost
control of the car and ran over and killed a palace eunuch.
(Econ, 8/22/09,
p.40)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_Dowager_Cixi)
1902 Jan 7, Imperial Court of
China returned to Peking. The Empress Dowager resumed her reign.
(HN, 1/7/01)
1902 Feb 1, China's empress
Tzu-hsi forbade binding woman's feet.
(MC, 2/1/02)
1902 Feb 1, U.S. Secretary of
State John Hay protested Russian privileges in China as a violation of
the "open door policy."
(HN, 2/1/99)
1904 Mar 4, Ding Ling, Chinese
writer and women's rights activist, was born.
(HN, 3/4/01)
1904 Aug 22, Deng Xiaoping
(d.1997), Chinese leader from 1977 to 1987, was born in Sichuan
province. He held nominal leadership position until his death.
(HN, 8/22/00)(AP, 8/22/04)
1904 Aug 24, In the field battle
at Liaoyang, China, some 200,000 Japanese faced 150,000 Russians. The
Japanese defeated the Russians in October.
(MC, 8/24/02)(PC, 1992, p.654)
1905 Mar 10, Japanese Army
captured Mukden, later Shenyang, China.
(MC, 3/10/02)
1905 The four ancient Confucian
texts, Ssu Shu, or "Four Books," were used as subject matter for
official Chinese civil service exams in China from 1313 to 1905. The
volumes reputedly contain direct quotations from Confucius.
(HNPD,
6/27/99)
1905-1998 Zhao Shao’ang, painter. He was a
self-conscious modernizer of Chinese painting. His work included
"Cicada and Bamboo" (1942).
(SFC, 10/25/00, p.C5)
1906 Feb 7, Aisingyoro Henry Puyi,
the last emperor of China, was born in Beijing.
(SFC, 6/11/97, p.C16)(AP, 2/7/06)
1906 Nov 21, China prohibited
opium trade.
(MC, 11/21/01)
1907 Apr, William Edgar Geil (42),
travel writer from Doylestown, Pa., arrived on his 2nd trip to China in
Shanhaiaguan. He planned to follow the Great Wall of China from one end
to the other and write a detailed account of the structure.
(ON, 2/09, p.10)
1907 Jun 10, In China 11 men in
five cars set out from the French embassy in Beijing on a race to
Paris. Prince Scipione Borghese of Italy was the first to arrive in the
French capital two months later. The 62-day race was won by an Italian
built Itala.
(AP, 6/10/07)(AH, 6/03, p.21)
1908 Nov 15, China's Empress
Dowager Cixi died two weeks short of her 73rd birthday.
(AP, 11/15/08)
1908 Dec 2, Emp. Zxuan Tong
(Aisingyoro Henry Puyi, 2 1/2 years old) ascended the dragon throne and
became China's Last Emperor.
(SFC, 6/11/97, p.A24)(MC, 12/2/01)
1908 Mar 16 The Chinese released
the Japanese steamship Tatsu Maru.
(HN, 3/16/98)
1909 Feb 26, Diplomats gathered in
Shanghai agreed to set up the International Opium Commission. This was
the first international effort to ban trade in a narcotic drug.
(Econ, 3/7/09, p.15)
1909 Apr 13, William Edgar Geil
(1865-1925), travel writer from Doylestown, Pa., returned to the US
following his 2nd trip to China. He had traveled 1800 miles along the
Great Wall of China gathering notes and photos, which he soon published
in a 393-page volume titled “The Great Wall of China.”
(ON, 2/09, p.10)(http://tinyurl.com/dhtulo)
1909 In the Kando convention Japan
gave China a chunk of Korean Manchuria in return for concessions.
(Econ, 3/31/07, SR p.8)
1910 Feb 25, The Dalai Lama fled
from the Chinese and took refuge in India.
(HN, 2/25/98)
1910 Mar 10, Slavery was abolished
in China.
(HN, 3/10/98)
1910 Dec 21, 2.5 million plague
victims were reported in the An-Hul province of China.
(HN, 12/21/98)
1910 The French built a railroad
line to link Haiphong, Vietnam, to Kunming, the capital of China's
Yunnan province.
(Econ, 11/8/03, p.42)
1911 May 8, England signed a
treaty with China making opium the main trading commodity with the
Chinese.
(SMTS, 10/1/86, p.4)
1911 Oct 10-1911 Oct 14,
Revolution in China began with a bomb explosion and the discovery of
revolutionary headquarters in Hankow. Revolutionaries under Sun Yat-sen
overthrew China's Manchu dynasty. The revolutionary movement spread
rapidly through west and southern China, forcing the abdication of the
last Ch'ing emperor, six-year-old Henry Pu-Yi. He was interned in
Russia and China for 14 years after WW II and later worked as a
gardener. By October 26, the Chinese Republic would be proclaimed, and
on December 4, Premier Yuan Shih-K'ai would sign a truce with rebel
general Li Yuan-hung. The Revolution declared that the art housed in
the Forbidden City was to be for the public. The day became a holiday
known as Double 10 or national Day.
(WSJ, 12/29/95, p.A-11)(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A8)(AP,
10/10/97)(SFC, 10/10/98, p.A21)(HN, 10/10/98)
1911 Oct, In China the Revolution
overthrew the Qing Dynasty and declared that the art housed in the
Forbidden City was to be for the public.
(WSJ, 12/29/95, p.A-11)(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A8)
1911 Nov 10, The Imperial
government of China retook Nanking.
(HN, 11/10/99)
1911 Dec 30, Sun Yat-sen was
elected the first president of the Republic of China.
(AP, 12/30/97)
1911 Chinese men stopped shaving
their heads and wearing braids. The style had originated under the
order of a Manchu emperor in 1644.
(SFEC, 9/8/96, Z1 p.6)
1911 Tsinghua University was
established in 1911 originally as "Tsinghua Xuetang," a preparatory
school for students who would be sent by the government to study in
universities in the United States. The school was renamed "Tsinghua
School" in 1912. The university section was instituted in 1925 and
undergraduate students were then enrolled. The name "National Tsinghua
University" was adopted in 1928, and in 1929 the Research Institute was
set up.
(http://tinyurl.com/cco9p)
1911 The Yangtze River overflowed
and some 100,000 people were killed.
(SFC, 7/11/98, p.B3)
1911-1997 "Traditional Chinese Painting in the
20th Century" by Lang Shaojun is the 5th section of Wu Hung’s 1997 "The
Origins of Chinese Painting." The period is marked by the emergence of
the literati-amateur movement.
(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.6)
1912 Feb 12, China became a
republic following the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty. Pu Yi (reign
name Hsuan T'ung), the last Ch'ing (Manchu) emperor of China,
abdicated. This marked the end of the Qing Dynasty. China adopted the
Gregorian calendar.
(HN, 2/12/01)(AP, 2/12/06)
1912 Feb 13, The Chinese imperial
government acknowledged the new republic.
(HN, 2/13/98)
1912 Mar 15, Yuan Shih-kai
succeeded Sun Yat-sen as President of the Republic of China.
(HN, 3/15/98)
1912 Apr 2, Sun Yet Sen formed the
Kuomintang-Party in China.
(MC, 4/2/02)
1912 Apr 4, A Chinese republic was
proclaimed in Tibet.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1912 After the fall of the Manchu
dynasty, Mongol princes, supported by tsarist Russia, declared the
independence of Mongolia from China.
(www.gobiexpeditions.com)
1913 Apr 8, Opening of China's 1st
parliament took place in Peking (Beijing).
(MC, 4/8/02)
1913 Apr 26, Sun Yet San called
for revolt against Pres. Yuan Shikai in China.
(MC, 4/26/02)
1913 Jul 23, The "Second
Revolution" broke out in south China.
(AP, 7/23/97)
1914 Feb 21, White Wolf troops
attacked Zhanjiang, China.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1914 May 1, Yuan Shikai, China's
1st president, won dictatorial qualification.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1914 Nov 7, Japan attacked a
German concession on Chinese peninsula of Shanghai.
(MC, 11/7/01)
1915 Jan 15, Japan claimed
economic control of China.
(MC, 1/15/02)
1915 Nov 19, The Allies asked
China to join the entente against the Central Powers.
(HN, 11/19/00)
1915 Japan demanded major
concessions from China.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 215)
1917 Mar 14, China broke off
diplomatic relations with Germany.
(HN, 3/14/98)
1917 Apr 26, Ieoh Ming Pei (IM
Pei), architect (1961 Brunner Prize), was born in Canton, China. He
designed the East Wing of the US National Gallery of Art.
(WSJ, 2/20/97,
p.A18)(www.archpedia.com/Architects/IM-Pei.html)
1917 Aug 14, The Chinese
Parliament declared war on the Central Powers, Germany and Austria,
during World War I.
(AP, 8/14/97)(HN, 8/14/98)
1917 Nov 2, In the Lansing-Ishii
Agreement the US recognized Japan's privileges in China.
(MC, 11/2/01)
1917 When the tsarist regime fell,
Mongolia reverted to Chinese control.
(www.gobiexpeditions.com)
1918-1972 Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975), Chinese
statesman and president of the Republic (1943-1950) and President of
the Republic of China, Taiwan (1950-1975), kept a diary during this
period with a least a page entered daily in classical Chinese.
(Econ, 5/9/09, p.86)
1919 May 4, Some 3,000 young
scholars from 13 colleges and universities rallied at Tiananmen Square
to protest the loss of Shandong province to the Japanese under the
Versailles Treaty at the Paris Peace Conference. Among the protestors
were people who helped form the Communist Party.
(SFC, 6/25/98, p.A8)(WSJ, 5/17/99, p.A21)
1919 In China Shougang Group steel
mill was founded on the outskirts of Beijing. It was nationalized after
the communist takeover in 1949. In 2008 the main plant was closed in an
effort to improve air quality for the Olympics.
(Econ, 3/15/08, SR p.6)
1919 Cornelius Vander Starr
(1892-1968) founded "American Asiatic Underwriters" (later known as
AIG). AIG left China in early 1949, as Mao Zedong led the advance of
the Communist People's Liberation Army on Shanghai. Starr moved the
company headquarters to NYC.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelius_Vander_Starr)
1920 Apr 1, Toshiro Mifune,
writer, actor (Shogun), was born in Tsing-tao, China.
(MC, 4/1/02)
1920 Dec 15, China won a place on
the League Council; Austria was admitted.
(HN, 12/15/98)
1920 Dec 16, In China an 8.6
earthquake in the northwestern provinces of Gansu and Shanxi caused
massive landslides and the deaths of 100,000- 200,000 people.
(SFC, 1/800,
p.A8)(www.ig.utexas.edu/research/projects/eq/faq/world.htm)
1920 Chao Shao-An, artist, became
a student of Gao Qifeng. He mastered the technique of brush and ink on
absorbent paper. His work included "Katydid and Weed" (1959); "Penglai
Banana" (1964); "Vegetables" and "Autumn Colors" (1985); and "Cicada
and Bamboo" (1971). He donated 80 works to the Asian Art Museum in SF
in the 1990s.
(SFC, 4/22/97, p.D1,2)
1921 Mar 18, Steamer "Hong Koh"
ran aground off Swatow China killing 1,000.
(MC, 3/18/02)
1921 Jul 11, Mongolia gained
independence from China (National Day).
(PGA, 12/9/98)
1921 In China Lu Xun authored his
allegorical novella “The Story of Ah Q.” It contained damning
insights into the “feudal” thinking of the time.
(Econ, 10/27/07, p.54)
1921 Mao Tse-tung, a young
librarian, formed the Chinese Communist Party. Their 1st meeting was
held in Shanghai.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)(Econ, 3/12/05, p.46)
1922 Apr 29, A 100-mile-long
battle raged near Peking, China.
(HN, 4/29/98)
1922 Aug 2, China was hit by a
typhoon and some 60,000 died.
(MC, 8/2/02)
1923 Jun 16, Sun Yat Sen founded a
military academy.
(MC, 6/16/02)
1923 In Shanghai the Hong Kong and
Shanghai Banking Corp., the 2nd largest banking institution in the
world, erected a new office building.
(SFCM, 3/20/05, p.25)
1924 Jan 9, Sun Yat-sen
appealed to the U.S. to seek international pressure for peace in China.
(HN, 1/9/98)
1924 Oct 24, Christian Gen. Feng
Joe Siang occupied Beijing.
(MC, 10/24/01)
1924 The last emperor, Xuantong
(Aisingyoro Henry Puyi), went to the puppet state of Manchukuo in
northeast China after he was evicted from the Forbidden City by a
warlord.
(SFC, 12/20/96, p.B6)(SFC, 6/11/97, p.C16)