Chinese History, Abbreviated

China has a wild and fascinating history, that is to say, hardly able to be distilled into a timeline that fits on the front page of The Inquirer. Regardless, you've gotta start somewhere, so what follows is a (very) abbreviated chronology of the world's most populous nation.

221 BC: Qin Dynasty establishes first unified Chinese state

7th to 14th Centuries AD: China has “Golden Age” under Tang and Song Dynasties. Stimulated by contact with India and the Middle East, the arts flourish

1271: Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, establishes the Mongol Yuan Dynasty

1361: Zhu Yuan Zhang, a peasant, overthrows the Mongols and founds the Ming Dynasty which rules until 1644

1644-1911: The last Dynasty, the Qing, rules China

1839-1842: The British defeat the Chinese in the Opium War and gain control of Hong Kong

1851-1862: After years of peasant unrest, Hong Xiuquan, who believes himself to be the son of God, starts the Taiping Rebellion; at least 20 million people die in the fighting before the rebellion is put down with British and French assistance

1900: The Boxer Rebellion; Emperor Ci Xi helps foreign forces suppress the uprising

1912: Republic of China is established, ending the Qing Dynasty

Late 1920’s: Chiang Kai-shek reunifies fragmented China under nationalist control

1937-1945: Sino-Japanese War

1949: People’s Republic of China established under the Communists; the nationalist government retreats to Taiwan

1959-1961: Mao initiates the “Great Leap Forward” to rapidly develop both industry and agriculture; Though statistics are contested, various sources set the death toll from famine caused by extreme taxation, poor planning, and natural disasters between 20 to 40 million

1989: Tiananmen Square demonstrations are violently put down

1997: The British return Hong Kong to China