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Fall of the Qing Dynasty
In the early 1800s, the Qing dynasty was starting to struggle. Population growth meant there wasn't enough farmland or jobs to support everyone. Poverty led many to rebel against the Qing. Foreign powers were also starting to involve themselves in trade with China, which led to wars and treaties that harmed the Qing. -
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion was an uprising against foreigners that occurred in China about 1900, begun by peasants but eventually supported by the government. A Chinese secret society known as the Boxers embarked on a violent campaign to drive all foreigners from China. Several countries sent troops to halt the attacks. -
Establishment of the Republic of China
In the Nineteenth Century, the Qing Empire faced a number of challenges to its rule, including a number of foreign incursions into Chinese territory. In October of 1911, a group of revolutionaries in southern China led a successful revolt against the Qing Dynasty. It established in its place the Republic of China and ending the imperial system. -
May Fourth Movement
May Fourth Movement, intellectual revolution and sociopolitical reform movement that occurred in China in 1917–21. The movement was directed toward national independence, emancipation of the individual, and rebuilding society and culture. -
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War lasted from 1937-45 and had a significant impact on the course of the Chinese Revolution. Known in China as the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, it was a catastrophic conflict for the Chinese people, causing up to 20 million casualties. -
People’s Republic of China established
Communist revolutionary Mao Zedong officially proclaims the existence of the People’s Republic of China. The proclamation was the climax of years of battle between Mao’s communist forces and the regime of Nationalist Chinese leader, who had been supported with money and arms from the American government. The loss of China, to communism was a severe blow to the United States, which was still reeling from the Soviet Union’s detonation of a nuclear device one month earlier. -
Great Leap Forward
Great Leap Forward is the campaign undertaken by the Chinese communists between 1958 and early 1960. It happened to organize its vast population, especially in large-scale rural communes, to meet China’s industrial and agricultural problems. The Chinese hoped to develop labour-intensive methods of industrialization, which would emphasize manpower rather than machines and capital expenditure. -
1960’s Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution was launched in China in 1966 by Communist leader Mao Zedong in order to reassert his authority over the Chinese government. Believing that current Communist leaders were taking the party, and China itself, in the wrong direction, Mao called on the nation’s youth to purge the “impure” elements of Chinese society and revive the revolutionary spirit that had led to victory in the civil war 20 years earlier and the formation of the People’s Republic of China. -
1970’s Economic Reform
Until the 1970s, many economists believed that there was a stable inverse relationship between inflation and unemployment. They believed that inflation was tolerable because it meant the economy was growing and unemployment would be at low levels. Their general belief was that an increase in the demand for goods drives up prices, which in turn encourages firms to expand and hire additional employees, creating additional demand throughout the economy. -
Tiananmen Square Massacre
The Tiananmen Square protests were student-led demonstrations calling for democracy, free speech and a free press in China. They were halted in a bloody crackdown, known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, by the Chinese government on June 4 and 5, 1989.