China 1368-present
By none other than April
Ming Empire (1368-1644)
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founded by Zhu Yuanzhang
capital moved to Nanjing
1403-1424: Reign of Yongle
1404-1433: Voyages of Zheng He
-goal was to reestablish tributary systems with
other countries
-no increase in trade
Less technological advance
-fear of tech transfer
-surpassed by Korea and Japan
Cultural achievements
-reestablished Confucian exam system
-vernacular novels
-cosmopolitan cities
-Ming ware (porcelain)
Rapid population growth
1517: Portuguese embassy to China
-not permitted to trade
-Jesuits in China
Fall of Ming: inflation, internal rebellions,
Manchu power
Qing Empire (1644-1911)
 Kangxi (1662-1722)-greatest expansion of
Empire, supported foreign culture
 Early Qing repaired roads/waterworks, lowered
taxes, cut rents, etc.
 1860s: Treaty of Nerchinsk with Russia along
Amur River
 One market point for each foreign sector
(Canton for Europe)
 1792: Macartney missionattempt by the
British to establish diplomatic relations with the
Qing (FAIL)
 Deforestation, dams not maintained,
population pressure, crumbling of the Empire
(18th century)
 1794: White Lotus Rebellion of Chinese peoples
 1839-1850: Opium War
-Britain wanted trading rights
-Qing soldiers called Bannermen obsolete
-British gunboats
-Treaty of Nanking (1842): British win, get Hong
Kong and trading rights
-new treaty ports
-lower Chinese tariffs
-most-favored-nation status
 Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864)
- Christian inspired rural rebellion
- Founded by Hong Xiuquan
- Attracted hakkas (minority group)
- Captured Nanjing 1853became the capital of
“Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace”
- Arrow War (1856-1860): British and French
punish Qing for not following treaty, then help
quench the Taiping Rebellion
- Bloodiest civil war of the WORLD
 1864-1875: Decentralization of Qing
- Britain and France helped recovery of Qing
- Provinces led by strong leaders helped
recovery
- Dowager Empress Cixi: reform programs,
secretly encourages opposition to foreigners
-1900: Boxer Rebellion
 Overthrown by Sun Yat-sen in 1911
Revolution (1900-1929)
 1908: Sun Yat-senRevolutionary Alliance
 1911: Sun Yat-sen is elected president of
China
- Gives presidency to Yuan Shikai (powerful
regional general) to avoid conflict
- Sun reorganizes followers into
Guomingdang (Nation People’s Party)
 1915: Japan presents China with 21
demands (World War I)tension for many
years
 1919: May fourth Movement to oppose
Japanese seizure of German enclaves in
China
 1925: death of Sun, Chiang Kai-shek
succeeds trains military, defeats
Communists, corrupt military dictatorship
 1921: founding of Chinese Communist
Party
World War II (1931-1945)
 1931: Japan takes Manchuria
 1934-1935: Long March
-forced by the Guomingdang
-6000 miles to Shaanxi in NW china
-only 4 thousand out of 100 thousand
reached destination
 Sino Japanese War 1937-1945
-War World II
-rape of Nanjing 1937
-kill all, burn all, loot all
 1945: Japanese surrender in World War II
defeat by the US
 Guomingdang defeats Communists and
drives Chiang Kai-Sheck to Taiwan despite
US aid to Guomingdang
 1949: founding of the People’s Republic of
China
People’s Republic (1949-NOW)
 1958: Great Leap Forward
-intended to propel China into industrial
power
-collectivization of agriculture
-20 to 30 million deaths
 1966: Cultural Revolution
-red guard units of youth
-goal to reestablish revolutionary fervor
-3 million purged and .5 million deaths
 1971: US allow PRC to join UN and kick poor
little Taiwan out 
-Pres Nixon establishes good relations with
China because of its stray from Soviet Union
 1976: Mao Zedong dies
 Deng Xiaoping: economic reforms,
permitted foreign investments, dual
industrial sector (one modern, one political)
 1989: Tiananmen Square
-students and protesters gathered in Beijing
to demand more democracy and less
corruption
-troops rolled in
 2009: China is 3rd largest economy in the
world