Home | P.R.C. Modern Chinese History
In this section on modern history of China we cover the last one hundred years. Our History section gives full coverage of the dynastic period from earliest times. The Republic of China was founded on January 1st 1912, and we include pages on the Peoples Republic that was founded in 1949, the leaders of the P.R.C. and also the unique system of Chinese government . Looking both backwards and forwards there is coverage of China's ambitious program of space exploration ; some musings on China's likely future trajectory , its economy and that formative experience for the founding P.R.C. leaders : the Long March .
Qing dynasty The end of the dynastic system in China came after a very promising and prosperous start under the wise rule of the first four Manchu Emperors. Years of decline followed, with the Opium Wars and Taiping Rebellion culminating in the sad tale of the Last Emperor Puyi Read more…
The Republic of China 1912-1949 Modern History The years 1912-49 marked the difficult transition from centuries of Imperial dynastic rule to that of a Republic. Sun Yatsen's dream of a democratic Republic was never achieved amidst the turmoil of the Japanese Occupation and then the Civil War with the Communists. Read more…
The Long March Modern History The epic tale of the struggle of thousands of soldiers over thousands of miles of challenging terrain has been held up as the chief heroic episode in the early days of the Communist party. It was during the Long March that Mao Zedong emerged as leader with his own vision for the future of China. Read more…
War between Britain and China The import of opium from India had a devastating effect on China. Although opium had been grown and used in China for centuries the import of huge quantities of the British controlled trade into Guangdong proved far more addictive. The two 'Opium Wars ' between Britain, France and China 1839-1860 mark China's forced change in direction after thousands of year of dynastic rule. Defeat by a far away foreign power created turmoil in China and triggered the 'century of humiliation' from which China only emerged in 1949. Read more…
The South China Sea China lays claim to a vast area of sea as far south as northern Borneo. The sea contains two main groups of islands: the Paracels and the Spratleys. China's claim is disputed by all the neighboring countries around the South China Sea. China and the other countries have occupied some of these tiny islands and tensions continue to simmer. The U.S. navy has recently provocatively sailed through the region and plans further naval maneuvers. Read more…
Book: Chronicles of the Chinese Emperors Amazon details... ➚
Tue 3rd SepSounds, the Future and the oldest Thesaurus A mixed bag of updates to the web site has now been released. Looking ahead to the future new Chinese calendars for 2021 and 2022 have been added. These includes all the public and traditional holidays. While doing this work we found an error in the lunar month calculation for 2020 which has been corrected.
Our three Mandarin Chinese lessons remain popular and we have added sound effects so you can here the words pronounced - very important when getting to grips with the Chinese tones.
Some time ago we added a page on the Hanlin Academy but failed to mention an even older academic institution - the Taixue which was up and running 2,000 years ago. With now added a bit about it. On the same lines there is one ancient text, may be 2,400 years old that has a good claim to be by far the oldest Thesaurus, this is the ‘Er ya ’, so we've added a bit about that.
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Book: God's Chinese son Amazon details... ➚
"Ways of souls" tombs of the Emperors of the Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644CE). 50km north west of Beijing, in Changping. December 2005. Image by ofol available under a
Creative Commons License ➚ .
Modern History Index People's Republic of China - Future - Leaders - Government - Space Exploration - Economy - Long March - Republic of China - May 4th Movement Copyright © Chinasage 2012 to 2019
