A calendar of Chinese history
18 events
-
Festival
Memorial day for the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis
This day marks the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, known in Taiwan as the August 23 shelling war. In 1958 the People's Republic of China shelled the islands of Kinmen, or Quemoy, and Matsu, then held by the Republic of China.
-
War
Shelling of Quemoy and Matsu
In 1958 the People's Liberation Army opens fire on the islands of Quemoy and Matsu. The bombardment marks the start of the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis.
-
War
Britain seizes Hong Kong as a base
In 1839 Britain takes Hong Kong as a base as it prepares for the First Opium War against Qing China. The dispute had begun when Chinese officials seized the opium stocks of mainly British merchants at Guangzhou, then known as Canton.
-
Birth
Birth of basketball player Jeremy Lin
Jeremy Lin is born in Torrance, California, in 1988. The first Taiwanese-American to play in the NBA, he went undrafted out of Harvard in 2010 before making his name with the New York Knicks.
-
Birth
Birth of film director Bu Wancang
Director and screenwriter Bu Wancang is born in Anhui in 1903. He was active from the 1920s to the 1960s and died in 1973.
-
Birth
Birth of actress Wang Danfeng
Actress Wang Danfeng is born in 1924. She appeared in some sixty films over a forty-year career, mostly between the 1940s and the 1960s, and was named one of Hong Kong's four great actresses in 1949.
-
Birth
Birth of writer Yu Qiuyu
Scholar and writer Yu Qiuyu is born in Qiaotou, Zhejiang, in 1946. He has served as dean and professor at the faculty of humanities and arts of the Macau University of Science and Technology.
-
Death
Death of Chu Minyi
Chu Minyi dies in 1946. A leading figure of the Chinese republican movement and of the early Nationalist government, he later served as foreign minister in Wang Jingwei's collaborationist government during the Second World War.
-
Birth
Birth of singer Alan Tam
Hong Kong singer and actor Alan Tam is born in 1950. He first made his name in the 1970s with the band The Wynners, alongside Kenny Bee.
-
Birth
Birth of writer Wang Shuo
Writer and screenwriter Wang Shuo is born in Nanjing in 1958.
-
Birth
Birth of composer Peter Kam
Composer Peter Kam is born in Hong Kong in 1961. A film composer whose credits include The Warlords and Isabella, he won the Silver Bear for best film music at the 2006 Berlinale for the latter.
-
Birth
Birth of basketball player Sun Mingming
Basketball player Sun Mingming is born in Bayan county in 1983. At 2.36 metres, Guinness World Records lists him as the tallest professional player of all time.
-
Death
Death of film director Benny Chan
Hong Kong director, producer and screenwriter Benny Chan dies in 2020, in the city where he was born in 1961.
-
Birth
Birth of martial artist Chan Heung
Chan Heung is born in 1806 in Xinhui district, Guangdong. From 1823 he studied Lijia quan under Li Youshan, and later founded the Choy Lee Fut style of martial arts.
-
Birth
Birth of rower Zhang Dechang
Rower Zhang Dechang is born in Shandong in 1978. He competes as a coxswain.
-
Birth
Birth of actor Yuan Hong
Actor Yuan Hong, also known as Justin Yuan, is born in 1982.
-
Birth
Birth of footballer Zhu Chenjie
China international footballer Zhu Chenjie is born in Shanghai in 2000. He plays as a centre-back for Shanghai Shenhua.
-
Sport
UFC Fight Night comes to Shanghai
The Ultimate Fighting Championship stages its Fight Night card, Walker versus Zhang, at the Shanghai Indoor Stadium in 2025.