Timeline: Northern China By erocks2 5000 BCE Cities first emerge. Period: 5000 BCE to 2023 Timeline: Northern China 1300 BCE Writing first emerges. 550 BCE Confucius philosophizes. 125 BCE Silk Road is established. 105 Paper is invented. 132 Earthquake detector is invented. 220 Great Wall of China is built. 540 Buddhism spreads. 725 Mechanical clock is invented. 1000 Gunpowder is invented. 1100 Compass is invented. 1100 Neo-confucianism spreads. 1100 Utilized paper currency. 1557 China trades with Europe. Period: 1840 to 1842 The First Opium War. Period: 1851 to 1864 The Taiping Rebellion. Period: 1856 to 1860 The Second Opium War. 1912 Independence declared from Qing Dynasty. 1921 Communist Party of China is formed. Period: 1931 to 1949 Civil War. 1966 Cultural Revolution. 1974 Terracotta Army was discovered. 1989 Tianamen Square protests. 2008 Olympics hosted in Beijing, China.