Note: dates prior to 841 BC are provisional and subject to dispute.
| Date |
Ruling entity |
Emperor |
Events |
Other people/events |
| 255 BC |
Qin Dynasty |
|
Warring States Period |
|
| 246 BC |
Qin Shi Huang |
|
| 221 BC |
| Unification of China |
|
| 220 BC |
Start of construction of the Great Wall |
|
| 213 BC |
Start of the Book Burning policy |
|
| 210 BC |
Burial of the Terracotta Army |
|
| 209 BC |
Qin Er Shi |
|
|
| 207 BC |
|
|
| Ziying |
|
|
| 206 BC |
Han Dynasty
(Western Han) |
|
Chu-Han contention |
|
| 205 BC |
|
Battle of Jingxing |
| 202 BC |
Han Gao Zu |
|
| 200 BC |
|
The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art |
| 195 BC |
|
|
| 6 CE |
Ruzi |
|
|
| 9 |
|
|
| Xin Dynasty |
Wang Mang |
|
|
| 23 |
|
|
Han Dynasty
(Eastern Han) |
Gengshi |
|
|
| 25 |
|
|
|
| 88 |
He |
|
|
| 105 |
|
Cai Lun invents paper |
| 106 |
|
|
| Shang |
|
|
| 142 |
Shun |
|
Gun powder compositions in The Kinship of the Three |
| 168 |
Ling |
|
|
| 184 |
Yellow Turban Rebellion |
|
| 189 |
|
|
| King of Hongnong |
|
|
| Xian |
|
|
| 191 |
Battle of Jieqiao |
|
| 200 |
Battle of Guandu |
|
| 208 |
Battle of Changban |
Battle of Red Cliffs |
| 220 |
|
|
| Three Kingdoms |
|
|
|
| 222 |
Cao Pi (Wei)
Liu Bei (Shu)
Sun Quan (Wu) |
Battle of Yiling |
|
| 225 |
Zhuge Liang's Southern Campaign |
|
| 230 |
|
| 234 |
Battle of Wuzhang Plain |
|
| 250 |
Introduction of Buddhism in China |
|
| 252 |
|
|
| 265 |
|
|
|
| Jin Dynasty |
Wu |
|
|
| 271 |
|
First record of Compass |
| 274 |
|
|
| 290 |
Hui |
|
|
| 291 |
|
War of the Eight Princes |
| 304 |
Sixteen Kingdoms
(Han Zhao, Later Zhao, Cheng Han, Former Liang, Later Liang, Northern Liang, Western Liáng, Southern Liang, Former Yan, Later Yan, Northern Yan, Southern Yan, Former Qin, Later Qin, Western Qin, Xia) |
| 306 |
| 307 |
|
| 372 |
Xiaowu |
|
| 383 |
Battle of Fei River |
| 396 |
|
| 419 |
Gong |
|
| 420 |
| Southern and Northern Dynasties |
|
|
| 439 |
|
|
| 475 |
|
Bodhidharma arrives in China |
|
| 589 |
|
|
|
| 581 |
Sui Dynasty |
|
|
|
| 618 |
|
|
|
| Tang Dynasty |
|
|
|
| 627 |
Li Shi Min |
|
|
| 635 |
First Christian missionaries arrive in China: Nestorian monks from Asia Minor and Persia, building Daqin Pagoda. |
|
| 649 |
|
|
| 650 |
|
The Records of the Tang Dynasty describes a landmark visit to China by Saad ibn Abi Waqqas (ra), one of the companions of Prophet Muhammad, in 650 C.E. This event is considered to be the birth of Islam in China. |
|
| 684 |
Wu Ze Tian |
|
|
| 705 |
|
|
| 712 |
Xuanzong |
|
|
| 751 |
Battle of Talas |
|
| 756 |
An Lushan Rebellion |
|
| 763 |
|
|
| 845 |
|
Mass persecution of Buddhism |
|
| 907 |
Five Dynasties
and Ten Kingdoms |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 960 |
|
|
|
| Song Dynasty |
|
|
|
| 1127 |
|
End of Northern Song / Beginning of Southern Song
Jingkang Incident: Sacking of Kaifeng by the Jurchens, capturing a pair of father-son emperors.
|
|
| 1214 |
|
Battle of Beijing |
|
| 1255 |
|
|
Voyages of Marco Polo |
| 1260 |
Kublai Khan |
|
| 1271 |
Yuan Dynasty |
|
| 1273 |
Battle of Xiangyang |
| 1279 |
Battle of Yamen |
| 1289 |
Franciscan friars begin mission work in China |
| 1294 |
|
| 1295 |
|
|
| 1368 |
|
|
|
| Ming Dynasty |
Hongwu |
|
|
| 1398 |
|
|
| 1399 |
Jianwen |
|
|
| 1402 |
|
|
| 1403 |
Yongle |
|
|
| 1405 |
|
Voyages of Zheng He |
| 1406 |
Construction of the Forbidden City begins |
| 1424 |
|
| Hongxi |
|
| 1425 |
|
| 1426 |
Xuande |
|
| 1433 |
|
| 1435 |
|
|
| 1449 |
|
Battle of Tumu Fortress |
|
| 1506 |
Zhengde |
|
|
| 1516 |
First Portuguese settlement in Macau |
|
| 1521 |
|
|
| 1522 |
Jiajing |
|
|
| 1556 |
Shaanxi Earthquake. 850,000 casualties |
|
| 1566 |
|
|
| 1573 |
Wanli |
|
|
| 1582 |
Jesuits begin mission work in China |
|
| 1590 |
|
Journey to the West |
| 1616 |
Nurhaci founds the Qing Dynasty in Manchuria |
|
| 1619 |
Battle of Sarhu |
|
| 1620 |
|
|
| Taichang |
|
|
| Tianqi |
|
|
| 1627 |
First Manchu invasion of Korea |
|
| Chongzhen |
|
| 1637 |
Second Manchu invasion of Korea |
|
| 1644 |
|
|
| Qing Dynasty |
Shunzhi |
|
|
| 1661 |
|
|
| 1662 |
Kangxi |
|
|
| 1674 |
Revolt of the Three Feudatories |
|
| 1680 |
First Portuguese governor in Macau |
| 1683 |
|
| 1689 |
Treaty of Nerchinsk |
|
| 1711 |
The British East India Company establishes a trading post in Guangzhou |
|
| 1716 |
Publication of the Kangxi dictionary |
|
| 1722 |
|
|
| 1723 |
Yongzheng |
|
|
| 1735 |
|
|
| Qianlong |
|
|
| 1755 |
Ten Great Campaigns |
|
| 1790 |
|
| 1793 |
Lord Macartney, first British envoy to Beijing |
|
| 1796 |
|
|
| Jiaqing |
|
|
| 1814 |
First recorded Chinese convert to Western Christianity (the Nestorian form was long-established in China) |
|
| 1820 |
|
|
| 1821 |
Daoguang |
|
|
| 1839 |
First Opium War |
|
| 1842 |
Treaty of Nanjing |
| 1850 |
|
|
| 1851 |
Xianfeng |
Taiping Rebellion |
|
| 1854 |
|
| 1855 |
Third Pandemic of Bubonic plague |
|
| 1856 |
Second Opium War |
|
| 1858 |
Treaty of Aigun
Treaties of Tientsin |
| 1860 |
Beijing Convention |
| 1861 |
|
|
| 1862 |
Tongzhi |
|
|
| 1874 |
|
|
| 1875 |
Guangxu |
|
|
| 1876 |
Chefoo Convention |
|
| 1884 |
Franco-Chinese War |
|
| 1885 |
Battle of Foochow |
| 1891 |
Founding of Shanghai Sharebrokers Association |
|
| 1894 |
First Sino-Japanese War |
Battle of Yalu River |
| 1895 |
Treaty of Shimonoseki |
| 1898 |
Hundred Days' Reform |
Coup by Empress Dowager Cixi |
| 1900 |
Boxer Rebellion |
|
| 1901 |
Boxer Protocol |
|
| 1908 |
|
|
| Puyi |
|
|
| 1911 |
Xinhai Revolution |
Wuchang Uprising |
