China historical timeline

Chronology

After 2000 BC — A Bronze Age culture emerges on the Central Plain, named Erlitou after its main site. It has been controversially identified with the Xia, traditionally the first dynasty, but no written records exist to confirm it — so Chinese history begins with an argument about whether its first chapter happened.
c. 1046 BC — The Zhou overthrow the Shang and rule a vast, loose confederation of vassal states, gradually weakened by regional lords until central authority collapses in 771 BC. The centuries of division that follow are when Confucius lives and when most of Chinese classical thought is written.
221 BC — China is unified under the Qin. Qin Shi Huang is buried around 210 BC with the Terracotta Army, which is the single most visited archaeological site in the country and the reason Xi'an is on every itinerary.
206 BC–AD 220 — The Han dynasty reinstates centralised control and legitimises it through Confucian scholarship and political institutions that later dynasties keep. Two millennia of imperial rule are built on the Han template, and the majority ethnic group still carries the dynasty's name.
1206 — Genghis Khan unites the Mongols, and over the next fifty years they conquer the Western Xia and the Jin. China becomes part of the largest contiguous land empire in history, ruled from outside for the first time.
1368 — After the 1340s brought disease, famine and severe Yellow River flooding, rebellion carries a peasant leader to the throne as the Hongwu Emperor, founding the Ming. His son the Yongle Emperor moves the capital from Nanjing to Beijing and begins the Forbidden City in 1406 — now the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world.
Mid-15th century — The Ming build extensively on the northern frontier, including the Liaodong Wall. The brick-faced Great Wall that visitors walk is Ming work rather than Qin, and the Qing stopped maintaining it once Mongolia was inside the empire.
1636 — The Manchus declare the Qing dynasty and conquer the Ming, killing the last claimant emperor in 1662. China is again ruled by a northern dynasty, and stays so until the empire ends.
1839–1842 — The First Opium War, the beginning of a century of European wars against the Qing. The treaty ports and the foreign concessions that shape the Shanghai Bund and Guangzhou's waterfront date from this defeat and the ones after it.
1894–1895 — Japan defeats the Qing in the First Sino-Japanese War. China loses Taiwan, and both reformist and revolutionary movements grow; an imperial reform push in 1898 is ended by an internal coup.
1911 — The Xinhai Revolution, supported by students and intellectuals returning from abroad, revolutionary organisations, overseas Chinese, new-army soldiers, gentry and farmers, ends with the Qing abdication. Two thousand years of imperial rule stop.
1912 — Yuan Shikai takes power, crushes the Kuomintang and rules as a dictator until his death in 1916 after an abortive attempt to restore the monarchy. The warlord era follows.
1931 — Japan occupies Manchuria and launches a full invasion in 1937. The Kuomintang and the Communists, who had allied in the mid-1920s and then split, form a renewed coalition against Japan as part of the Second World War.
1949 — Mao Zedong proclaims the People's Republic of China. The Republic of China government retreats to Taiwan and continues to claim legitimacy, which is why there are two governments using the word China and why the Taiwan question is unresolved.
1958 — The Great Leap Forward, a mass industrialisation project, produces the Great Chinese Famine and millions of deaths.
1966–1976 — The Cultural Revolution. The party's decision of 8 August 1966, the Sixteen Points, opens a decade of sociopolitical turmoil whose most intense phase runs to summer 1968. Temples, monasteries and collections destroyed in it are why so much of what a visitor sees today is reconstruction.
1978–1989 — Deng Xiaoping is paramount leader, and reform and opening-up moves the economy towards a socialist market model with rapid growth and improved relations with the West. The current constitution dates from 1982.
2012 — Xi Jinping takes office as general secretary on 15 November, holding the presidency and the chairmanship of the Central Military Commission alongside it.

Verified against Wikipedia, September 2026.

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Checked against Wikipedia — Humans first arrived in China during the Paleolithic. During the 2nd millennium BCE, dynastic states emerged. In 221 BCE, China was unified under the Qin,…, After 2000 BCE, a Bronze Age culture emerged in the Central Plain, dubbed the Erlitou culture after its main site. Erlitou has been controversially…, The Shang were overthrown by the Zhou c. 1046 BCE. The Zhou ruled over a vast and loose confederation of vassal states across central China, which was…, Soldier statues of the Terracotta Army, buried alongside Qin Shi Huang c. 210 BCE, the Han dynasty emerged to rule China between 206 BCE and 220 CE. The Han gradually reinstated centralized control, legitimizing their rule through…, In 1206, Genghis Khan united the nomadic Mongols to the north under the Mongol Empire. Over the following fifty years, they conquered the Western Xia and…, In the 1340s, central China was devastated by disease, famine, and severe flooding along the Yellow River. Various rebellions erupted, leading to a peasant…, The Ming state declined, and by the 1600s, became unable to contain peasant rebellions. The Manchus to the north declared the Qing dynasty in 1636 and…, European powers fought various wars against the Qing dynasty during the 19th century. These began with the United Kingdom's First Opium War in 1839-1842, The Empire of Japan's defeat of the Qing in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) resulted in the loss of Taiwan and the growth of both reformist and…, President Yuan Shikai rose to power in 1912 and crushed his main opposition, the Kuomintang, ruling China as a dictator until his death in 1916, Japan occupied Manchuria in 1931, and launched an invasion of the rest of China in 1937, After a string of military victories, CCP chairman Mao Zedong formally proclaimed the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. The ROC government retreated…, In 1958, Mao launched the Great Leap Forward, a mass industrialization project which resulted in the Great Chinese Famine and millions of deaths, Deng Xiaoping served as paramount leader from 1978 to 1989. The reform and opening-up policies of the 1980s and 1990s saw economic liberalization towards a…, China's current constitution dates to 1982, The current general secretary is Xi Jinping, who took office on 15 November 2012, China is one of 17 megadiverse countries, containing a wide variety of forests, shrublands, wetlands, steppes, and deserts, which host (as of 2018) 92,300…, The PRC has engaged in 23 border disputes since 1949, of which six remain unsettled., Many groups supported the 1911 Revolution, including students and intellectuals returning from abroad, participants of revolutionary organizations, overseas…, The Hui General Ma Anliang abandoned the Qing cause upon the Qing abdication in the Xinhai Revolution., Period of sociopolitical turmoil in China (1966-1976), The Cultural Revolution can be divided into two main periods: spring 1966 to summer 1968 (when most of the key events took place) a tailing period that…, During the Red August of Beijing, on 8 August 1966, the party's General Committee passed its 'Decision Concerning the Great Proletarian Cultural…, When the Hongwu Emperor's son Zhu Di became the Yongle Emperor, he moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing, and construction began in 1406 on what would…, During the mid-15th century, the Ming also built a so-called 'Liaodong Wall', Under Qing rule and the annexation of Mongolia into the empire, China's borders extended beyond the Great Wall; work on it for the purpose of border defense… (September 2026).