Map

History of China from 1949-1976

By Lourdes C.
  • Period: to

    China Timeline Assignment

  • China Becomes Communist

    China Becomes Communist
    • Communist nation after a 20-year civil war, ending centuries of dynastic rules.
    • Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong, officially announced the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) at the Gate of Heavenly Peace in Beijing.
    • With Mao leading the Communists, they won the civil war against China's National Party, and set out to reshape Chinese society.
    • Mao faced many problems, one of which a mass departure took place for those who could/would not live under his government.

  • China's New Marriage Law Publicized

    China's New Marriage Law Publicized
    • China finally put an end to arranged marriages and motivated the freedom of choice in selecting a spouse.
    • Allowed women to have legal equality with men, while leading many to believe that the idea of "free love" meant that people could sleep with whoever they wish.
    • It overlapped the Land Reform movement under Mao Zedong's leadership causing considerable confusion.

  • UN Place a Global Arm Embarge on China

    UN Place a Global Arm Embarge on China
    • Oct 1950, China was involved in the Korean War where the Chinese People's Volunteer Army invades Korean Peninsula to support their North Korean allies against the USA. As the result of its act, in 1951 the UN sanctioned a global embargo on the shipments of arms and war materiel to China.
    • This step shut out any possibility that the People's Republic might replace Nationalist China (on Taiwan) as a member of the UN and as a veto-holding member of the UN Security Council.

  • Mao becomes President of People's Republic of China

    Mao becomes President of People's Republic of China
    • Mao Zedong was the leader of the Communist Party of China who showed it the way to victory against the 'Kuomintang' in the Civil war of China.
    • During his ruling, he was famous with the disastrous policies of the 'Great Leap Forward' and the 'Cultural Revolution'. The event turned out catastrophic.

  • Great Leap Forward

    Great Leap Forward
    • A 5-year economic plan launched by Mao, in attempts to modernize China’seconomy so that by 1988, China would have matched America.- Farming is collectivized and labour-intensive industry is introduced, produceing economic breakdown.
    • Disruption to agriculture is blamed for the deaths by starvation of millions of people (estimated over 14 millions) following poor harvests.
    • Considered as one of the largest man-made disasters in human history.

  • China's Population Growth Peaks.

    China's Population Growth Peaks.
    • Between 1962 and 1972 some 300 million babies are born. This high population growth makes an average of 26.7 million birth per year increases pressure on natural resources.
    • This rapid population growth assumed to be the main reason for the government to introduced the 'One Child Policy' in 1978 and established in 1980 to restrict & suppress population growth.

  • China & USSR Cut off Relations WIth One Another

    China & USSR Cut off Relations WIth One Another
    • Since 1959, the two communist powers disagreed on the wisdom of the Great Leap Forward, thus relationship with the Soviet Union had deteriorated markedly and retaliated.
    • The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)

  • Tibet Becomes Independet Region

    Tibet Becomes Independet Region
    • China invaded Tibet shortly after Mao's communist revolution in 1950.
    • Tibet pleaded for assistance from the United Nations, the British, and the newly independent Indians. In 1959 a Tibetan uprising was suppressed by the Chinese where the leader of theocratic Tibetan government, the Dalai Lama, fled to Dharamsala, India and created a government-in-exile. After several upheavals over China on Tibet issue, Chinese government established Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) in 1965.

  • Mao's "Great and Cultural Revolution"

    Mao's "Great and Cultural Revolution"
    The start of Mao's 10-year political and ideological campaign focusing on bringing back the revolutionary spirit, which brought the system a tremendous social, economic and political confusion and disorder.

  • The People's Republic replaces the Republic of China (Taiwan) in UN Security Council

    The People's Republic replaces the Republic of China (Taiwan) in UN Security Council
    After the normalization of US-China relations, the People's Republic of China is finally granted a seat in the United Nations. China is one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

  • Normalization of US - China relations

    Normalization of US - China relations
    • The "fall" of mainland China to communism in 1949 led the United States to suspend diplomatic ties with the PRC for decades.
    • Up to the Nixon White House, there was no commercial relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China.
    • After several years from President Nixon's visits to China, both countries declared a desire to normalized their relations in 1972. Since then the U.S.-China economic relationship has progressed.

  • The Death of Mau Zedong

    The Death of Mau Zedong
    • "His death resolved only some of the problems inherent in the succession struggle," the Cultural Revolution, which later became vulnerable.
    • Mao's death brought Communist China into national grief.
    • After his death there was struggle for power, this to include the "Gang of Four", including Mao's widow, compete and try to gain power but were arrested and convicted of crimes against the state.