JORGE RODRIGUES SIMAO

1809 Qing government issues six regulations on Sino-foreign trade.

1810 Revolts in Mexico, New Granada and Rio de la Plata vs. Spain.

1811 Uprising of the Tianlijiao (Celestial Order Sect) in Shandong and Hubei (1811–1814). Luddite riots vs. factory industrialization in Britain.

1812 Napoleon’s Russian campaign ends in disastrous retreat.

1813 Eight Trigrams Rebellion—attack on Imperial Court in Beijing fails; East India Company granted control of China trade for twenty additional years. British Parliament abolishes East India Company’s monopoly of trade with India.

1814 Pope Pius VII authorizes Jesuit missionaries to return to China. Congress of Vienna determines political order of post-Napoleonic Europe (1814–1815).

1815 Missionary Robert Morrison begins China Monthly Magazine at Malacca.

1816 British East India Company decides upon increasing opium importation into China; Lord Amherst’s mission to Beijing fails due to protocol considerations.

1818 Missionary William Milne establishes Anglo-Chinese College at Malacca.

1819 Simon Bolivar defeats Spain, becomes president of Gran Columbia; British East India Company establishes settlement at Singapore.

1820 Opium imports result in China’s balance of trade falling into deficit (1820–1825); Jiaqing Emperor dies.

1821 Daoguang Emperor’s reign begins. Jose de San Martin and Simon Bolivar liberate Peru from Spanish rule.

1822 Brazil declares its independence from Portugal.

1824 Missionary Robert Morrison helps to translate the Bible into Chinese. Dutch cede Malacca to British.

1825 Decembrist military coup in Russia fails; Nicholas I becomes czar.

1826 Establishment of Guangdong naval patrols to check opium trade.

1829 Greek independence from Ottoman Empire established; Mexico abolishes slavery.

1830 Revolution in France overthrows Charles X and establishes liberal ‘‘July Monarchy’’ under Louis Philippe.

1831 Protestant missionary Charles Gutzlaff itinerates north along China coast.

1832 Prohibition of British ships sailing north along the China coast. Reform of British Parliament.

1834 End of East India Company’s trade monopoly; Lord Napier’s trade mission to Guangzhou fails.

1835 Missionary Robert Morrison establishes a Western school at Guangzhou. Afrikaners (Boers) begin Great Trek to escape British rule in South Africa.

1836 Emperor orders suppression of the opium trade. Chartism begins in England.

1838 Lin Zexu appointed Imperial Commissioner for opium suppression.

1839 Opium War (1839–1842) begins; British trade blockaded by China; clash of Chinese and British warships near Guangzhou; Palmerston sends naval squadron to China.

1840 Liz Zexu relieved as Imperial Commissioner for opium suppression.

1841 Chuenpi Convention rejected by both China and Britain; Sanyuanli incident: 10,000 gentry-led Cantonese attack retreating British.

1842 Treaty of Nanjing; Hong Kong ceded to Britain. British are forced to withdraw from Afghanistan.

1843 Taiping leader Hong Xiuquan begins preaching Christianity in Guangdong.

1844 U.S. and France sign treaties with China; Imperial decree allows Chinese to convert to Catholicism (and in 1845, to Protestantism).

1845 Foreigners refused permission to enter walled city of Guangzhou, initiating protracted conflict. Potato blight causes widespread famine in Ireland (1845–1846).

1846 Anti-British disturbances in Guangzhou and Fuzhou. U.S.-Mexican War, resulting in cession of all territory north of Rio Grande to U.S. (1846–1848).

1847 Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan establish the Bai Shangdi Hui (God Worshippers’ Society)

1848 Court takes action to suppress piracy along China’s eastern coast. Revolutions of 1848—urban uprisings throughout much of continental Europe; Marx and Engels issue Communist Manifesto; California Gold Rush begins.

1850 God Worshippers win major military victories in Guangxi; Daoguang Emperor dies.

1851 Nian Uprising (1851–1868); Taiping Uprising (1851–1864); Treaty of Ili; Xianfeng Emperor ascends to the throne. Gold rush in Australia begins.

1852 Taipings advance into Hunan and Hubei. British take south Burma.

1853 Taipings capture Nanjing, making it their capital; Small Sword (Triad) Uprising in Shanghai region (1853–1855).

1854 Foreign Inspectorate of Chinese Customs established in Shanghai. U.S. Naval squadron forces Japan open to limited foreign trade; Crimean War: Russia defeated by Britain, France and Ottoman Empire (1854–1856).

1855 Panthay Rebellion (1855–1873); defeat of Taiping Northern Expedition; Yellow River floods, changes course (from south to north of Shandong promontory).

1856 Arrow War (Second Opium War) (1856–1860).

1857 Anglo-French forces capture Guangzhou. ‘‘Sepoy Mutiny’’ in India vs. British East India Company fails, bringing India under direct control of the British Crown.

1858 Gold Coin Uprising; Shanghai Tariff Convention; Treaty of Tianjin; Treaty of Aigun. French forces end the Ngyuen Dynasty in Annam and begin territorial expansion.

1859 British and French forces defeated in engagement at Dagu forts. Construction of Suez Canal begins (completed in 1869); John Stuart Mill publishes On Liberty.

1860 Anglo-French forces seize Beijing and burn the Summer Palace; Beijing Convention; Supplementary Treaty of Peking; Xianfeng Emperor flees to Rehe. Vladivostok founded.

1861 Self-strengthening Movement (1861–1895); Zongli Yamen established; Xianfeng Emperor dies. Civil War between Federal and Confederate forces in the U.S., ending in Federal victory (1861–1865); Russian serfs emancipated.

1862 Northwest Muslim Rebellions (1862–1878); Tongzhi Emperor’s reign begins; Tongzhi Restoration era begins (1862–1874); Beijing Tongwenguan (Interpreters College) established. France occupies parts of Cochin-China.

1863 International Settlement in Shanghai created by merging British and American concessions.

1864 Fall of Nanjing to Qing army, Taiping Rebellion suppressed.

1865 Jiangnan Arsenal is established in Shanghai.

1866 Shipyard and naval academy established at Mawei near Fuzhou. Prussia defeats Austria in Seven Weeks’ War.

1867 Meiji Restoration in Japan, ending Tokugawa Shogunate (1867–1868).

1868 Burlingame mission to U.S. and Europe (1868–1870).

1869 Alcock Convention.

1870 Tianjin Massacre. Franco-Prussian War, leading to Prussian victory and establishment of united German Empire (1870–1871).

1871 Yili Crisis (1871–1881). Paris Commune.

1872 China Merchants’ Steam Navigation Co. founded; thirty Chinese students sent to study in U.S.

1873 Foreign envoys received in audience by Tongzhi Emperor for first time without kowtow protocol.

French annex Hanoi and Red River Delta in Vietnam.

1874 Japan sends military expedition to Taiwan, provoking Sino-Japanese crisis.

1875 Margary affair; Tongzhi Emperor dies; Guangxu Emperor succeeds to the throne.

1876 Chefoo Convention; famine ravages northern China (1876–1878).

1877 First Chinese embassy established in London. Failure of Satsuma Rebellion vs. modernization in Japan.

1878 Qing army recaptures Xinjiang, with exception of Yili Valley.

1879 Japan annexes the Ryukyu (Liuchiu) Islands.

1880 China rejects Treaty of Livadia with Russia over concessions regarding Yili.

1881 Treaty of St. Petersburg signed; Russia agrees to return Yili to China.

1882 Uprising in Korea, China stations troops there. Chinese exclusion act prohibits Chinese immigration into U.S.

1883 Liu Yongfu’s Black Flag Army defeats the French near Hanoi.

1884 Sino-French War (1884–1885); Xinjiang becomes a province. International Berlin Conference decides the political future of much of Africa, beginning the imperialist ‘‘Scramble for Africa.’’

1885 Taiwan established as a province separate from Fujian; Tianjin Military Academy established. Indian National Congress is founded.

1886 Burma comes under the rule of British India.

1887 Sino-Portuguese Treaty formally cedes Macau to Portugal; Guangxuehui (Society for the Diffusion of Christianity and General Knowledge) established by missionaries and foreigners in Shanghai; Kaiping coal mines established. French Indochina established.

1889 Empress Dowager’s regency ends, Guangxu Emperor begins to rule in his own right; Beiyang Fleet established. Meiji Constitution is proclaimed in Japan.

1890 Hanyang iron and steel works, Daye iron mines, and Pingxiang coal mines inaugurated.

1891 Rebellion of the Jindan Jiao (Golden Elixir Sect) is suppressed in North China. Construction of trans-Siberian railroad begins in Russian Empire; Triple Alliance among Germany, Austria, and Italy.

1892 Franco-Russian Alliance.

1893 Zhang Zhidong founds a modern school in Wuhan, stressing mathematics and science, commerce and foreign languages. Laos incorporated into French Indochina.

1894 Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895); Sun Yat-sen founds Xingzhonghui (Revive China Society) in Honolulu. Court martial and false conviction of Col. Alfred Dreyfus in France for treason.

1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki; Taiwan and the Pescadores ceded to Japan; Triple Intervention.

1896 Sino-Russian secret alliance is concluded, sanctioning Russian involvement in Manchuria. Italian invasion of Ethiopia is routed at Battle of Adowa.

1897 Scramble for concessions (1897–1899).

1898 Hundred Days of Reform; coup against reforms staged by Empress Dowager and Court conservatives; Boxer Uprising (1898–1900). Victory in Spanish-American War establishes U.S. as a

global power, Spain cedes Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to U.S.; Hawaii annexed by the U.S.

1899 U.S. proposal of ‘‘open door’’ policy in China; Boer War (1899–1902).

1900 Eight-Power Allied invasion defeats Boxers and Qing forces.

1901 Boxer Protocol (1901–1902); Empress Dowager initiates reforms.

1902 Empress Dowager’s edict bans footbinding. Anglo-Japanese Alliance signed; Triple Alliance renewed; U.S. annexes Philippines.

1903 British troops of Younghusband Mission penetrate into Tibet.

1904 Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) fought on Chinese soil (Manchuria). Britain and France sign the Entente Cordiale; Russo-Japanese War results in Japanese victory (1904–1905).

1905 Imperial Civil Service Examination System abolished; Sun Yatsen forms Tongmenghui (China United League) in Tokyo; Anti-American trade boycott protesting racist policies (1905–1906) . Revolution in Russia leads to granting of a constitution; Anglo-Japanese alliance renewed for 10 years.

1906 Qing government announces intention of establishing a constitutional monarchy. All-India Muslim League is founded.

1907 Qing Court authorizes creation of provincial assemblies. Anglo-Russian entente defines spheres of influence in Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet.

1908 Guangxu Emperor and Empress Dowager Cixi die; outline of Qing Constitution issued.

1909 Xuantong Emperor (Puyi) ascends the throne; Provincial assemblies are established.

1910 Bubonic plague epidemic breaks out in Manchuria. Japan annexes Korea, renaming it Chosen.

1911 Wuchang Uprising; Outer Mongolia secedes from China. Porfirio Diaz overthrown, Mexican Revolution begins.

1912 January 1, Sun Yatsen declares the founding of the Republic; Puyi (Xuantong Emperor) abdicates.

1913 Song Jiaoren assassinated in Shanghai; Second Revolution.

1914 Japanese seize German possessions in Shandong. World War I begins, involving Central Powers vs. Entente Powers (1914–1918); Panama Canal opens.

1915 Twenty-one Demands (of Japan); Yuan Shikai declares himself emperor.

1916 Yuan Shikai dies; Warlord era begins.

1917 China enters World War I on Allied side; New Culture Movement (1917–1923). February Revolution forces Czar’s abdication; October (Bolshevik) Revolution overthrows successor Kerensky government in Russia.

1918 Japanese loans to China reach a peak. Armistice ends World War I in Western Europe.

1919 May Fourth Movement; Chinese delegation refuses to sign Versailles Treaty; John Dewey lectures in China. Paris Peace Conference; Treaty of Versailles signed by Germany; British kill hundreds of Indian protesters at Amritsar.

1920 China joins the League of Nations; Bertrand Russell lectures in China (1920–1921). League of Nations established.

1921 Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is formed in Shanghai. Washington Conference limits Pacific fleets, affirms independence of China.

1922 China Seaman’s Union strike begins in Hong Kong. Fascist march on Rome; Mussolini forms government in Italy; World Court (Permanent Court of International Justice) established.

1923 Sun-Joffe Manifesto establishes alliance between Guomindang and Soviet Union; First GMD-CCP United Front established (1922–1927); GMD is reorganized with Soviet assistance (1923–1924).

1924 Whampoa Military Academy is founded, Chiang Kai-shek is made its first commandant; Rabindranath Tagore lectures in China.

1925 Death of Sun Yatsen; May Thirtieth Incident.

1926 Warship Zhongshan incident, Chiang Kai-shek’s first break with CCP; Northern Expedition (1926–1928). General Strike disrupts British industry, is outlawed in 1927; Germany admitted to League of Nations.

1927 Chiang Kai-shek annihilates Communists in Shanghai, ending the First United Front; Canton Massacre; Nanchang Uprising; National Government under Guomindang established at Nanjing. Inter-Allied military control of Germany ends.

1928 Zhang Zuolin assassinated by Japanese army; Japanese send troops to Shandong. Kellogg-Briand Pact renouncing war as instrument of national policy is signed by 63 nations.

1929 CCP sanctions Li Lisan line of urban insurrections. Wall Street Crash of New York Stock Exchange, beginning of global depression.

1930 Civil war as Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang, and Li Zongren oppose GMD government. Gandhi organizes Salt March in India, is arrested and imprisoned; London Naval Conference results in the Washington Naval Treaty.

1931 Futian Incident; Manchurian Incident; the Chinese Soviet Republic (Jiangxi Soviet) is established.

1932 Japanese army attacks Shanghai; Manzhouguo established by Japanese.

1933 Fujian Rebellion (1933–1934); Fifth Encirclement Campaign. Hitler elected German chancellor; declaration of Third Reich with emergency powers after Reichstag fire; Japan withdraws from League of Nations; U.S. goes off gold standard.

1934 New Life Movement; Communists driven out of Jiangxi Soviet, Long March (1934–1935) begins. Hitler purges Nazi Party; declares himself Fuhrer of Germany.

1935 Zunyi Conference. Second London Disarmament Conference.

1936 Xi’an Incident, kidnapping of Chiang Kai-shek. Spanish Civil War between Republic and Nationalist

rebels, leading to Nationalist victory (1936–1939); Rome-Berlin Axis proclaimed; Japan withdraws from the Second London Naval Disarmament Conference.

1937 Anti-Japanese War (Second Sino-Japanese War) (1937–1945); Second United Front (1937–1945); Battle of Taiyuan; Rape of Nanjing (Nanjing Massacre). Italy joins anti-Comintern Pact; leaves League of Nations.

1938 Battle of Taierzhuang. Anschluss—Hitler annexes Austria; Munich Conference yields to German demands on Czechoslovakia.

1939 Flooding in Yellow River basin, famine in Hubei Province kills 200,000. Nazi-Soviet Pact agrees to partition Poland; World War II begins with German invasion of Poland.

1940 Hundred Regiments Campaign; Wang Jingwei establishes puppet government in Nanjing.

German victory in western Europe, occupation of Low Countries and fall of France; Japan attacks Burma.

1941 New Fourth Army Incident marks effective end of Second United Front. Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, Hong Kong, Singapore, invades Malaysia, south Indochina and Philippines; Germany invades U.S.S.R.

1942 Yan’an rectification campaign (1942–1944).

1943 Cairo Conference: Chiang Kai-shek, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt agree to Japan’s unconditional surrender, return of Manchuria and Taiwan to China. Russian victory—German army at Stalingrad destroyed; Cairo and Teheran Conferences.

1944 Operation Ichigo. D-Day: Allied landings in France, opening second front in Europe.

1945 Marshall Mission begins: unsuccessful U.S. effort to mediate between GMD and CCP. Yalta Conference; Potsdam conference; Allied victory over Germany; atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrenders; U.S. occupation of Japan (1945–1952); United Nations established.

1946 Chinese civil war (1946–1949). International Court of Justice begins (established in 1945)

1947 February 28th Incident (Taiwan); North China land reform and rectification (1947–1948). New constitution proclaimed in occupied Japan; India and Pakistan become independent.

1948 Battle of Huai-Hai, decisive PLA victory over Nationalist forces. Gandhi assassinated.

1949 CCP Common Program; Mao Zedong proclaims inauguration of PRC. Soviet Union tests an atomic bomb.

1950 Marriage Reform Law; Land Reform; Sino-Soviet treaty establishes alliance; China enters Korean War (1950–1953). North Korea invades South Korea, beginning Korean War (1950–1953); Senator Joseph McCarthy begins his attack on Communist subversion in U.S. (his activities are censured by U.S. Senate in 1954).

1951 Chinese send troops into Tibet; Three-Anti’s and Five-Anti’s Campaign (1951–1952). Japan-U.S. Security Treaty.

1952 Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty signed in Taibei by GMD government.

1953 Official beginning of First Five-year Plan.

1954 U.S.-Taiwan Mutual Defense Treaty; Gao Gang and Rao Shushi expelled from CCP leadership; Zhou Enlai represents China at the Geneva Conference. French defeat in Indochina, Geneva Accords result in divided Vietnam; Southeast Asia Treaty Organization formed.

1955 Hu Feng Affair marks continued cultural and intellectual purges in PRC; Bandung Conference.

1956 Hundred Flowers Movement (1956–1957). Egypt nationalizes Suez Canal, prompting invasion and subsequent withdrawal by Anglo-French and Israeli forces; Hungarian Uprising; Polish Uprising.

1957 Anti-Rightist Campaign; Mao Zedong visits USSR. EEC (Common Market) established in Europe.

1958 Beidaihe Resolution; Great Leap Forward (1958–1960); Second Taiwan Straits Crisis.

1959 Lushan Plenum (Peng Dehuai dismissed); Tibetan uprising against Chinese Communist occupation; Dalai Lama flees to India. Cuban revolutionary forces gain power under Fidel Castro.

1960 Great Leap Forward famine—20–30 million deaths; Sino-Soviet split becomes open. Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan.

1961 Wu Han’s article and play openly criticize Mao Zedong. East Germany (DDR) builds wall isolating western areas of Berlin.

1962 War between China and India; Socialist Education Movement launched. Cuban missile crisis, resolved through U.S.-Soviet negotiations; Uganda and Tanganyika become independent.

1963 U.S. President John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas; Malaysia formed; Kenya becomes independent.

1964 PRC explodes an atomic bomb; ‘‘Learn from the PLA’’ movement launched; PLA publishes first edition of Quotations from Chairman Mao (The Little Red Book).

1965 China aids Vietnam’s struggle vs. the U.S. U.S. astronauts walk in space.

1966 Beginning of Cultural Revolution (1966–1969); Mao Zedong’s swim in the Yangzi; Mao mobilizes Red Guards; Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping criticized. Sukarno falls.

1967 Revolutionary ‘‘seizures of power’’ erupt; PLA military interventions restore order; China successfully explodes first hydrogen bomb. Israel defeats Arabs in Six-Day war, capturing Jerusalem, West Bank and Golan Heights.

1968 May 7th cadre schools established to ‘‘reeducate’’ party officials and intellectuals. Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia ousts Dubcek’s reformist government; North Vietnam launches TET offensive in South Vietnam; Alliance between India and U.S.S.R; Martin Luther King killed.

1969 Military clashes occur along Sino-Soviet frontier; CCP’s Ninth Party Congress declares the official end of the Cultural Revolution though power struggle and political turmoil continue; Lin Biao is designated Mao’s successor. Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) begin.

1970 China successfully launches its first space satellite into orbit.

1971 PRC replaces ROC in United Nations; Lin Biao dies in plane crash; ‘‘Ping-Pong Diplomacy.’’ Civil war in Pakistan, establishment of Bangladesh.

1972 U.S. President Nixon visits Beijing; Shanghai Communique; Japan recognizes PRC. U.S. returns Okinawa to Japan

1973 Paris Agreement. OPEC petroleum crisis following Arab-Israeli War; Watergate investigation; U.S. devalues dollar; Britain, Denmark, Ireland join European Common Market.

1974 Campaign launched to criticize Lin Biao and Confucius. Worldwide inflation.

1975 Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi) dies in Taiwan; Zhou Enlai introduces the ‘‘Four Modernizations.’’ End of Vietnam War, Saigon occupied by North Vietnamese forces; Helsinki Accord.

1976 Deaths of Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and Mao Zedong; Tangshan earthquake in Hebei kills 240,000; arrest of the ‘‘Gang of Four.’’ ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (Southeast Asia).

1977 Deng Xiaoping returns to power; Hua Guofeng champions the ‘‘Four Modernizations.’’ 1978 Deng Xiaoping launches free market reforms and open door policy; Jiang Jingguo becomes president in Taiwan.

1979 U.S.-China normalization; Deng Xiaoping visits U.S. and Japan; Gaoxiong (Kaohsiung) Incident in Taiwan; Third Indochina War (Sino-Vietnamese War); Democracy Wall Movement; One-child policy is introduced. Iranian Revolution, overthrow of Shah Reza Pahlevi; Vietnam invades Cambodia.

1980 Trial of the ‘‘Gang of Four’’ (1980–1981); Special Economic Zones established; PRC admitted to World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Beginning of Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988). 1981 CCP denounces the Cultural Revolution and reappraises Mao Zedong.

1982 Policy for retirement of government officials is introduced. U.K. defeats Argentina in war over Falkland (Malvinas) Islands.

1983 Campaign vs. ‘‘spiritual pollution’’ launched.

1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration (Hong Kong to return to PRC on July 1, 1997); fourteen coastal cities open to foreign trade and investment.

1985 Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident in Ukraine, U.S.S.R.

1986 Deng Xiaoping calls for political reforms. Ferdinand Marcos falls from power; Corazon Aquino becomes president of the Philippines.

1987 Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration (Macau to return to PRC on December 20, 1999); Zhao Ziyang succeeds HuYaobang. Gorbachev announces policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in U.S.S.R.

1988 Inflation and corruption lead to controversy over price reforms in PRC; Li Denghui (Lee Teng-hui) succeeds Jiang Jingguo in Taiwan. Mikhail Gorbachev becomes president of U.S.S.R.; Vietnamese troops begin to pull out of Kampuchea

1989 Tiananmen Square Democracy Movement and suppression; Jiang Zemin ousts Zhao Ziyang as CCP head; normalization of Sino-Soviet relations. Berlin Wall dismantled; overthrow of Ceausescu in Romania; democratization in Poland and Hungary; Emperor Hirohito dies, Crown Prince Akihito succeeds to the throne.

1990 Curbs on economic growth, heightened political control in China; promulgation of the Basic Law, post-1997 Hong Kong Constitution. Reunification of Germany; Iraq invades and annexes Kuwait.

1991 Normalization of Sino-Vietnamese relations; PRC’s first stock exchange opens in Shanghai. ‘‘Desert Storm’’ operation liberates Kuwait from Iraqi control; breakup of Yugoslavia and beginning of civil war among Serbs, Croats and Muslims; U.S.S.R. collapses.

1992 Deng Xiaoping ‘‘southern tour’’ promotes faster economic growth; CCP calls for a ‘‘socialist market economy.’’ Canada, Mexico and U.S. form NAFTA.

1993 Wang-Koo Meeting in Singapore on improving PRCTaiwan relations. European Union created.

1994 Construction of Three Gorges Dam begins. Nelson Mandela wins South Africa’s first multi-racial democratic election.

1995 Chinese intellectuals call for political reform. War in Bosnia among Serbs, Muslims and Croats, ended by Dayton Accord.

1996 Crisis in Taiwan Straits—PRC holds war games coinciding with Taiwan’s presidential elections.

1997 Deng Xiaoping dies; Hong Kong restored to PRC rule. Japanese financial crisis precipitates economic crisis throughout Southeast Asia.

1998 Asian financial crisis slows growth in PRC, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

1999 Resolution on Taiwan’s future (DPP); China recovers Macau; crisis in Sino-U.S. relations caused by NATO’s accidental bombing of PRC’s Belgrade embassy. Panama regains control of the Panama Canal.

2000 Chen Shuibian of DPP elected President of Taiwan; PRC intensifies crackdown of Falungong sect.

2001 U.S.-China crisis concerning military aircraft collision over South China Sea; Jiang Zemin’s ‘‘three represents’’ speech sanctions opening CCP membership to wider social interest groups; China enters WTO. Terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. kill over three thousand.

2002 Chen Shuibian’s speech refers to Taiwan and PRC as ‘‘two countries.’’

2003 SARS epidemic in China—government launches emergency public health campaign. Anglo-U.S. invasion of Iraq overthrows Saddam Hussein’s regime.

2004 Hand-in-Hand rally (Taiwan); campaign against corruption in PRC. Massive tsunami in eastern Indian Ocean kills over 200,000.

2005 Death of Zhao Ziyang; widespread anti-Japanese demonstrations in Chinese cities; Donald Tsang (Zeng Yinquan) replaces Tung Chee-hwa (Dong Jianghua) as chief executive of the Hong Kong SAR. 2006 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing; CCP proclaims goal of a ‘‘Socialist Harmonious Society.’’

2007 China launches first lunar probe; widespread Tibetan rioting in Tibet, Gansu, and Sichuan. Severe cyclone Sidr hits Bangladesh killing up to 10,000 2008 Beijing Olympic Games staged; Sichuan earthquake kills over 69,000; milk powder contamination scandal revealed. Global financial crisis begins, sparked by failures in U.S.A. banking and credit system; piracy off the Somali coast, begun in the 1990s, reaches new heights; Fidel Castro resigns as president, succeeded by his younger brother, Rau´l.

2009 Global economic downturn brings sharp export declines, rising unemployment; PRC plans massive fiscal stimulus to counter these problems. Barack Obama takes office as U.S. President; G-20 summit deals with global issues of financial regulation, fiscal stimulus and monetary policy.