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A calendar of Chinese history

20 events

  1. Death

    Death of Lao She

    Lao She, the pen name of Shu Qingchun, dies on 24 August 1966 during the Cultural Revolution. Born in 1899 into a family of Manchu origin, the novelist and playwright drew both his language and his characters from the hutongs of Beijing.

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  2. War

    The Kweilin airliner shot down

    On 24 August 1938 Japanese aircraft shoot down the Kweilin, a Douglas DC-2 carrying eighteen passengers and crew over China, killing fifteen. It was the first civilian airliner in history to be brought down by hostile aircraft, and the attack caused outrage abroad.

  3. Birth

    Birth of Yan Lianke

    Novelist Yan Lianke is born in 1958 in Song County. He served in the army as an official military writer before becoming one of the best known satirists in contemporary Chinese literature.

  4. Birth

    Birth of Yang Yang

    Short track speed skater Yang Yang is born on 24 August 1976 in Harbin. She became the first Chinese woman to win a Winter Olympic gold medal, and the first skater to take six consecutive world championships.

  5. Birth

    Birth of Wang Zhen

    Racewalker Wang Zhen is born on 24 August 1991 in Suihua, Heilongjiang province. He won the Olympic 20 km title in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, adding world silver medals at Daegu in 2011 and Beijing in 2015.

  6. Death

    Death of chancellor Zhang Ye

    Zhang Ye, a general and official of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, dies on 24 August 948. He served Later Tang and then Later Shu, where he was chancellor under Emperor Meng Chang.

  7. Death

    Death of Empress Xiaoyiren

    Empress Xiaoyiren, of the Manchu Tunggiya clan, dies on 24 August 1689. The third empress consort of the Kangxi Emperor, she is known by that posthumous name.

  8. Birth

    Birth of Liang Sili

    Aerospace engineer Liang Sili is born on 24 August 1924. A specialist in rocket and missile control systems, he was elected to the International Academy of Astronautics in 1987 and to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1993. He was the youngest son of the scholar and reformer Liang Qichao.

  9. Death

    Death of Zhang Jian

    Zhang Jian, also romanised Chang Chien, an industrialist, politician and teacher born in 1853, dies on 24 August 1926.

  10. Birth

    Birth of Lin Yi-hsiung

    Lawyer and politician Lin Yi-hsiung is born on 24 August 1941. A leading figure in Taiwan's democratisation movement, he acted in 1976 for Kuo Yu-hsin in a lawsuit accusing the ruling Kuomintang of electoral fraud, and won a seat on the Taiwan Provincial Consultative Council the following year.

  11. Birth

    Birth of Regina Ip

    Regina Ip is born in Hong Kong on 24 August 1950. A senior civil servant turned politician, she was the first woman appointed Secretary for Security in Hong Kong, and later founded the New People's Party.

  12. Birth

    Birth of Zhang Xin

    Business executive Zhang Xin is born on 24 August 1965. She founded the property developer SOHO China.

  13. Death

    Death of the philosopher Li Da

    Marxist philosopher Li Da dies on 24 August 1966. Born in 1890 and a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party, he did much to bring Marxism into China through translation, writing and teaching.

  14. Birth

    Birth of Elva Hsiao

    Birth of Elva Hsiao, a Taiwanese Mandopop singer. She reached the finals of a singing contest in Vancouver, where she was studying, and launched her career in 1998 with Virgin Records.

  15. Birth

    Birth of Jiro Wang

    Taiwanese singer and actor Jiro Wang is born on 24 August 1981. He started out as a model before joining the Mandopop boy band Fahrenheit.

  16. Birth

    Birth of Zhang Ruoyun

    Actor Zhang Ruoyun is born on 24 August 1988. He became known for leading roles in television series such as Sparrow, Joy of Life and Sword Snow Stride.

  17. Birth

    Birth of Wenwen Han

    Actress and violinist Wenwen Han is born on 24 August 1995 in Xi'an. She is best known for her part in the 2010 film The Karate Kid.

  18. Death

    Death of Liu Baiyu

    Writer Liu Baiyu dies on 24 August 2005. Born Liu Yuzan in Beijing in 1916, he was a communist whose mark on Chinese literature rested on his rejection of what he saw as Western bourgeois values.

  19. Death

    Death of Wei Wei

    Poet, writer and journalist Wei Wei dies in Beijing on 24 August 2008. Born in Zhengzhou, Henan province, in 1920, he also wrote under the name Hong Jie.

  20. Science

    Launch of Formosat-5

    Taiwan's National Space Agency successfully launches the observation satellite Formosat-5 in 2017.

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