Critical Events of the Chinese People’s Revolution
From Vohra and lecture/seminar notes
Dr. Ron Robel,
University of Alabama
Eave of European Agression
China’s self-sufficiency and sino-centric world view permit isolation at top of
vassal system
1742Pope declares Chinese traditional rights evil, Jesuits forced out
1760 Western trade restricted to one
Cantonese port.
1784
America begins trade with
China.
1796-1804 rebellion of the
White Lotus Society,
Qing military useless
End of Isolation 1800-1860
China considers all other rulers “barbarians” from vassal states, trade is “tribute”
leads to
British “insults,” cultural conflicts, political excuses, violence
China and the west learn the meaning of firepower.
1793,1916 failed missions of Lords
Macartney and
Amherst
1834
British East India Company looses monopoly
Napier arrrives in
Guangchou
1839
Lin arrives in
Guangchou
1839-1842
Opium War, (Anglo-Chinese war), to open
China to trade
1850-1864
Taiping Rebellion
1854
America opens
Japan
1857-1860
2nd Opium War,
America
Decline of the Old Order 1860-1895
China’s traditional order is destroyed along with the vassal system
steps on the path of revolution
1861-1908
Ci-xi holds absolute power in
China
1861-1875 reign of
Tong-zhi
1862
Zongli Yamen (foreign office) established
1862-1873
Northwest Muslim Rebellion
1871 1st treaty with
Japan, start of modern relations with Asian powers
America tries to open
Korea, fails
1874
France occupies
Hanoi (
VietNam becomes protectorate 1883)
1875-1908 reign of
Guang-xu,
Ci-xi looses power in 1908
1875
Japan opens
Korea
1878
Chinese embassy opened in
Washington
1879
Japan annexes
Ryukyu islands. They Westernized fast.
1880-1896
China looses many satellite states, forced to rethink world order
1883
French make
VietNam a protectorate, embarrass
Chinese military
Ci-xi dismisses
Prince Gong
1884
Yuan Shi-kai asserts Chinese power over the
Japanese in
Korea
1894-1895
1st Sino-Japanese War, looses
Korea as vassal, embarrassing
1895
Japan takes control of
Taiwan.
China Turns to Revolution 1895-1911
Western powers scramble for concessions before the expected collapse of the Qing
Reliance on foreign assistance loans leads to foreign control of financial system
1895
Kang You-wei writes
Candidates Memorial, 1st scholarly reformist
1898-1901
Ci-xi in control, phase I, reforms reversed, reformers are traitors
1898 Chinese sign territory to
Germany,
Russia,
France,
Britain,
Japan.
America is busy invading the
Philippines
Yuan Shi-kai betrays anti-
Ci-xi coup,
Guang-xu arrested
1899
American Open Door notes denied monopolies and spheres in
China, really just equal-opportunity exploitation
1901 Newspapers and magazines spread (120 to date)
1902-1908
Ci-xi in power phase II, forced to accept reform, nationalism emerges, Western and Japanese models make more sense
1904
Chinese East Railroad build by
Russia in
Manchuria, joint control
1904-1905
Japan wins war against
Russia in
Korea and
Manchuria
1905 Traditional examinations abolished, modern schools spread
Sun Yat-sen formes
Revolutionary Alliance
1908
Gang-xuand
Ci-xidie, leaving
Pu-yi(
Guan-tong)
Constitutional reform announced
1909
Zhang Zhi-dong dies, last of mature leaders
1911
Yuan Ski-kai president,
Republic of China, military support
The Republic the Never Was 1912-1927
Attempt
Sun’s
3 Stage Democracy, military unification first
private military loyalties split
China into autonomous warlord zones
1912-13
Guomindang (
Nationalist Party) forms under
Song Jiao-ren
Yuan Shi-kai assassinates him, ending democratic experiment
1914-1918
WWI distracts West,
Japan moves in
1915
National Humiliation Day (shitty Japanes treaty)
1916
Yuan ascends throne then dies
Guomindang sets up capitol in Canton
1916-1929
Warlordism in post-
Yuan power vacuum.
1917
Zhang Xun restores
Pu-yi to throne,
Duan Qu-rui &
Sun Yat-sen form
Guomindang gov’t in
Guangzhou (
Canton)
Cai Yuanpei takes over
Beijing University, reforms
1917-1927 competition between gov’t in
Beijing and
Guangzhou
1917
Hu Shi proposes to drop wen-yan for bai-hua
1919
May 4th Incident
1920
Wu Pei-fu’s
Zhili clique seizes power in
Guomindang
Mao Ze-dong establishes communist cell in
Hunan
1921
Communist Party of China (
CPC) forms,
Chen Du-xiu secretary
1920s regional warlords fuck shit up in
China
1924-27
First United Front:
Communist/Guomindong,
Soviet pressure
1926
Zhong-shan incident puts
Chiang in firm control of
Guomindang
1927
Chiang K’ai-shek commands
Nationalist army, unifying
China
Communists expelled from the
Guomindang, liquidated
The Nationalist Government 1928-1937
Warlords and
Communists continue to rebel behind the façade of unification
Guomindang looses revolutionary drive and succumbs to factionalism
Authority-dependency syndrome causes problems
1928
Guomindang captures
Beijing, nationalist capitol at
Nanjing,
Chiang Kai-shek President
1930
Mao Ze-dong establishes
Jangxi Soviet
1930-1931
Chiang launches 3
anti-commi expeditions, failures
1931
Japan invades
Manchuria,
Pu-yi as “emperor”
“national” gov’t open in
Guangzhou, anti-Chiang kids
1932
Japanese absorb
Manchuria
Second gov’t reunifies with
Nationalists,
Wang Jing-wei in charge
CSR declairs war on
Japan
CPC moves to
Ruijin, accepting
Mao’s belief in rev. from masses
1933/34 last anti-commie campaign, beginning of
Long March.
1934
Tsunyi conference,
Mao in charge
1935
Communists declare war on
Japan, propaganda.
1936
2nd United Front against
Japan, end of
Long March in
Yenan
WWII,
Guomindang becomes increasingly dictatorial,
Communists gain popular support and ideology
1937-1945 War with Japan,
WWII
1937
Marco Polo Bridge –
Japanese on 1 side,
Chinese on the other, start of war.
Rape of Nanjing
1941
Pearl Harbor,
US enters
WWII,
Nationalists declare war
1942
Mao Ze-dong becomes chairman
CPC, full power
1945
WWII ends,
Nationalist and
Communist fight over surrenders
1946
Red Army reorganized as
People’s Liberation Army (PLA)
1947
Chiang Kai-shek starts civil war against
CPC
1948
Nationalists institute new constitution
Republic Of Korea founded by
Sigmon Rhee
1949
People’s Republic of China founded by
Mao Ze-dong
People’s Republic of North Korea founded by
Kim il Sung.
From “Liberation” to “Independence” 1949-1958
Mao reeducates the
Chinese and begins his socialist experiment
Desperately trying to jump start the economy
As membership rises standards drop
1950
Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance
1950-1953
Korean War,
Police Action,
Inchon,
MacArthur,
Taiwan neutralized
1953
Stalin dies, replaced by
Khrushchev
Soviets develop
atomic weapons
1954
China’s 1st
5-year plan ends more productively than
Soviet’s
1956 peasants organized as
APCs (
Agricultural Produce Cooperatives)
Hundred Flowers Campaign
1957 constitution adopted, gov’t centralized under
CPC
Great Leap Forward
1958
Mao Ze-dong officially retires
PRC takes
Quemoy and
Matsu from
Taiwan.
From Consensus to Factional Conflic 1959-1966
Ideological differences split the
CPC into pro- & anti- Mao factions
1959-1961 Natural disasters all over China
1959 Sino-Indian border war
1960 Soviets cancel aid to China
1960s APC-style organization gives way to communes and individuals
1965 U.S. ends aid to Taiwan.
Mao inspires the masses to reform culture, gets chaos
1966-1969
Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (
GPCR)
1968
Soviets cut off aid to
China, pulled out experts
1971
Lin Biao eliminated in plane crash
Nixon visits
China, accepts “1-China”
1972
Deng Xiao-ping rehabilitated by
Zho En-lai
1976
Zhou En-lai dies, thousands mourn,
Hua Guo-feng takes power
Mao Ze-dong dies.
Deng Xiao-ping’s New Model For China 1976-1992
Economic reform leads to privatization and freer markets
1976
Gang of 4 arrested by
Hua Gup-feng.
1977 Constitution revised to limit
Maoism.
1979 Family planning=1 child only, abortion, female infanticide
China invades
VietNam, fails
U.S. extends formal recognition to the
PRC.
1980
Deng Xiao-ping &
Hua Guo-feng resign
Zhao Zi-yang replaces
Hua as premier
1980-81 public trial of
Lin Biao clique and
Gang of 4 ends ultra-leftism
1987
Deng pressured old party members to step down, young blood
1988
Tiananmen Incident
1989-1990
Communism collapses in
Europe.
1990
US grants
China “Most Favored Nation” status, wide trade
1997
Hong Kong reintegrated as
Special Administrative Region (
SAR)
This node is a work in progress