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Period: to
China Timeline
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1830-1860
In the Opium Wars, China and Western nations battle over trade issues. -
1931-1945
Japan invades the province of Manchuria. After Japan is defeated in World War II, civil war breaks out in China. -
1949
Mao Zedong, head of the Communist Party, establishes the People's Republic of China. Rivals belonging to the Nationalist Party move to Taiwan, off China's eastern coast. -
1958-1961
Mao's plan to change China's economy and farming system fails. Millions of people die of starvation. -
1972
Richard M. Nixon becomes the first U.S. President to visit Communist China. -
1989
About 1 million students hold pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. The uprising is crushed by the army. -
1997
China regains control of Hong Kong, which had been under British rule for 99 years. -
2006
The Three Gorges River Dam across the Yangtze is completed. It took 13 years to build. -
2007
Beijing gears up to host the XXIX Olympiad, set for August 2008.
