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200
Silk road
Began in about 206 BCE, used as a trade route to Europe from Asia, this made some of the states of China incredibly wealthy. This was slow, but the only route of the time. Its purpose was to create military allies, but none were actually created.
(Sorry for the date mixup, its being difficult) -
Jan 1, 1205
Mongol conquest of china
This was a major event when the mongol horde, led by the famous Gengis Khan, invaded the states of modern day China. There is a story of Khan offering to end the seige of one city if given 1000 cats ad 5000 swallows. They accepted, which was a fatal mistake as Khan had their tails lit on fire and sent back to the city, burning it and giving the horde the victory. -
Jan 1, 1261
Marco Polo
Niccolo Polo and his brother, Maffeo Polo, went to explore the eastern lands and ended up discovering a great civilization. They were granted audience by Kublai Khan, who granted them maps of the area and told them of some of the greatest places to trade in the east. Many pioneers followed after hearing of the Polo's adventures. -
Jan 1, 1406
Forbidden City
The site was layed out during the Yuang dynasty, and built during the Ming dynasty, and was officially used until the Qing dynasty. This district is more than 7 million square feet and located in central Beijing, consisting of 980 buildings. The purpose of this palace was originally the seat of throne for the Ming dynasty. In 1925 it was turned over to the museum foundation and is now available to the public for viewing. -
Qing Dynasty
The last dynasty of China. It came directly after the Ming dynasty and followed by the founding of the Republic of China in 1912. The Qings became very integrated with Chinese culture. The height of the empire was during the 19th century when Qianlong was emporer. -
Opium Wars
Began with the British addiction to tea. They wanted the tea in such large numbers that they traded opium to the Chinese for their tea leaves. This resulted in the Chinese losing large amounts of silver, as well as a large number of addicts -
Boxer Rebellion
Nationalist uprising over the course of 3 years. This was a response to all the opium traders, political invasion, and economic manipulation. In 1900, boxer fighters threatened tradrs and forced them into refuge in the Legation quarter. Eventually, an 8-nation alliance came and put them down. -
Open door policy
It was a policy that basically gave foreign imperialists access to China, wich could only lead to problems. Some of the counties who were involved in this abomination were the US, France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Russia, and Japan. The United States sent notes to all the powers asking for recognition that they would uphold chinese tradition in their homeland. However, every single nation involved declared that they would not agree unless all the others complied as well. removed after WW2. -
Revolution of 1911
Began with the Wuchang uprising. Properly, it is called the Zinhai revolution. The revolution arose mainly in response to the decline of the Qing state, which had proven ineffective in its efforts to modernize China and confront new challenges presented by foreign powers, and was exacerbated by ethnic resentment against the ruling Manchu minority. -
Chiang Kai-Shek & Kuomintang
Chiang was the leader of the Kuomintang, wich was the Chinese nationalist party, founded in the 1890's. Chiang was more of a self-proclaimed leader than a real man of the people. Needless to say, it wasn't the greatest time in Chinese history. -
Long March
This was a major Chinese retreat from the forces of Kai-shek. Zedong's communists managed to retreat and escape mass annihilation -
Japanese invasion
The republic of China finds itself under assault from the Empire of Japan. Under normal circumstances, China would have been destroyed, but the soviets, germans, and americans came in and saved them from complete domination. -
Mao tse- tung
Mao tse-tung was the first chairman of the Chinese communist party. He hald this position until 1976. -
People's republic of china
This is just the modern day China, formed in 1946. -
Great leap forward
Not the event discussed in GGS, but this was the vast population modernizing very quickly, and extremely effectively. This was mostly categorized by economic growth. This was a great and epic failure. -
Cultural revolution
This was a major socialist movement started by Zadong, This marked the return to power of Zedong after the great leap forward failed epically. -
◦Deng Xiaoping
Leader of the communist party of China and was considered a revolutionry veteran. Took the chair of the CPC in 1981. His time in office was characterized by his meetings with several presidents for various reasons, including Ford and Carter. He also met with Margaret Thatcher at one point to discuss the return of hong kong. -
◦Tiananmen Square Incident
This was a rebellion/protest caused by the death of Yaobang. Mostly, it was a student population protesting peacefully for economic reform. In Chang'sha and Xi'an, many violent lootings occured while in Wuhan and Shanghai the protests were peaceful. The end result was some hundreds dead and delayed further reforms -
Hong Kong
The city-state was controlled by British until 1997.