1644-1912: Qing Dynasty

1912: End of dynastic rule, founding of the Republic of China under Sun Yat Sen.

1919: May Fourth Movement against European presence and control in certain parts of China.

1921: Founding of the Communist Party of China.

1927: Start of the Chinese Civil War between the Chinese Nationalist Party, Kuomintang (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

1937: Beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War (World War II).

1949: Founding of the People’s Republic of China under Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party; KMT retreats to Taiwan with about 1.3 million people from Mainland China, rules Taiwan under the name of the Republic of China.

1960: Chinese and Soviet Union governments split over communist policies.

1966: Start of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, a crackdown by the CCP on political insurgencies that lead to the persecution of many revolutionaries, intellectuals and religious figures, the death of an estimated half a million people and chaos in much of the country.

1976: Mao Zedong dies.

1978: Chinese government opens borders.

1979: Government begins one-child policy.

1987: First KFC in China opens in Beijing, signifying the influence of American companies in China (there are now almost 2,000 KFCs in China).

1989:Tianenmen Square.

1997: Hong Kong returns to Chinese rule after 156 years under the British Crown.