China

Travel through our timeline of major events in China's History

Around 1600 B.C.:
The Shang dynasty, the region's first recorded dynasty, masters the production of bronze.

Around 221 B.C.:
Qin Shi Huangdi unifies China and becomes its first emperor.

1368-1644 A.D.:
During the Ming dynasty, painting, calligraphy, pottery and other arts flourish.

1839-1860:
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.