Major Political Events in China, 1911-1976

• 1911
  • fall of Qing Dynasty
  • establishment of Republic of China
• 1916
  death of Yuan Shikai
• 1916-1927
  warlordism
• 1919
  May Fourth Protest
• 1921
  founding of Chinese Communist Party
• 1924
  • reorganization of Nationalist Party
  • First United Front
• 1925
  death of Sun Yatsen
• 1925-1927
  Northern Expedition
• 1927
  • massacre of Communists in Shanghai
  • Mao Zedong writes Report from Hunan on peasantry
• 1927-1937
  • period of Nationalist rule in Nanjing (Nanjing Decade)
  • under leadership of Chiang Kaishek
• 1931
  Japanese invade Manchuria and attack Shanghai
• 1931-1934
  • Communists set up base camps in Jiangxi
  • Nationalists try to erradicate them
• 1934-1935
  Commmunists are forced onto a Long March from Jianxi to Shanxi(Yenan)
• 1934-1937
  Nationalists initiate New Life Movement
• 1937-1945
  • Sino-Japanese War
  • Nationalist capitol moves to Chungking
• 1942
  Mao's Talks on Literature and Art in Yenan
• 1940s-1950s
  Land Reform is initiated in Communist-held areas
• 1947-1949
  Civil War
• 1949
  • Communists beat Nationalists in civil war
  • Nationalists retreat to Taiwan
• 1956-1957
  100 Flowers Movement
• 1957
  Anti-Rightist Campaign
• 1958-1960
  Great Leap Forward
• 1966-1976
  the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
• 1975
  Chiang Kaishek dies in Taiwan
• 1976
  Mao Zedong dies
  
  

greater detail of some of these events

E-mail me your comments or suggestions!