A calendar of Chinese history
22 events
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Politics
Founding of the Kuomintang
The Kuomintang is founded in Peking on 25 August 1912 under Sun Yat-sen. The oldest political party in modern China, it ran the central government of the Republic of China from 1928 to 1949 and then became the ruling party in Taiwan.
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Birth
Birth of Cheng Maoyun
Composer Cheng Maoyun is born on 25 August 1900. A professor at National Central University, he wrote the national anthem of the Republic of China.
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War
Battle of Liaoyang
On 25 August 1904 the first major land battle of the Russo-Japanese War begins around Liaoyang, in Liaoning. Fighting lasts until 3 September for a city fortified by the Russian army, the hub of its forces in southern Manchuria and a key point on the railway from Port Arthur to Mukden.
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Disaster
Diexi earthquake
A magnitude 7.3 earthquake strikes Diexi, in Mao County, Sichuan, on 25 August 1933. The town and the villages around it are destroyed, landslides dam the valley into what became Diexi Lake, and up to 9,300 people die, making it the deadliest earthquake of the year.
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Birth
Birth of Zhuang Zedong
Table tennis player Zhuang Zedong is born on 25 August 1940. World champion in 1961, 1963 and 1965, he became a central figure of ping-pong diplomacy after meeting the American player Glenn Cowan in 1971; he later served as sports minister and was jailed after Mao's death.
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Birth
Birth of Hao Haidong
Footballer Hao Haidong is born on 25 August 1970 in Qingdao, Shandong province. A striker for the national team, he won 115 caps and holds the Chinese record of forty-one international goals.
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Birth
Birth of Zhao Yunlei
Badminton player Zhao Yunlei is born on 25 August 1986 in Huangshi. A doubles and mixed doubles specialist, she won two Olympic gold medals and five world titles.
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Birth
Birth of Liu Yifei
Actress and singer Liu Yifei is born on 25 August 1987 in Wuhan. Television series such as Chinese Paladin and The Return of the Condor Heroes made her a household name in China, while The Forbidden Kingdom brought her international attention.
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Birth
Birth of general Shang Kexi
General Shang Kexi is born on 25 August 1604. The son of a frontier soldier in Liaodong, he served the Ming before joining the Qing, becoming one of the most powerful commanders to change sides and fighting for the new dynasty in southern China.
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Birth
Birth of Tu Tsung-ming
Pharmacologist Tu Tsung-ming is born on 25 August 1893. An educator as much as a researcher, he was the first Taiwanese to earn a doctorate in medical sciences.
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Birth
Birth of Wu Faxian
Wu Faxian, a military and political leader of the People's Republic of China, is born on 25 August 1915.
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Event
Killing of John Birch in China
On 25 August 1945, ten days after Japan announced its surrender, armed supporters of the Chinese Communist Party kill the American intelligence officer John Birch. Sections of the American right came to regard him as the first casualty of the Cold War.
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Death
Death of Chen Guofu
Politician Chen Guofu dies on 25 August 1951. Born in Zhejiang in 1892, he joined the Tongmenghui in 1911 and took part in the revolution against the Qing, later building with his brother Chen Lifu one of the strongest factions inside the Kuomintang.
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Economy
Launch of the first instant noodles
Chikin Ramen, the first instant noodles ever sold to the public, are launched in 1958 by Momofuku Ando, a businessman born in Taiwan and settled in Japan.
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Birth
Birth of Li Jie
Sport shooter Li Jie is born on 25 August 1979 in Xi'an, Shaanxi province. He took silver in the men's 10 metre air rifle at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
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Birth
Birth of Lee Meng-yuan
Sport shooter Lee Meng-yuan is born on 25 August 1994 in Taoyuan, Taiwan. His bronze medal in men's skeet at the 2024 Paris Olympics made him the first Taiwanese athlete to win an Olympic shooting medal.
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Death
Death of Liu Fuzhi
Politician Liu Fuzhi dies on 25 August 2013. Born in 1917, he served as Procurator General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, Minister of Public Security and Minister of Justice.
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Death
Death of Joseph Wu Shizhen
Joseph Wu Shizhen, a Chinese Catholic archbishop, dies in Nanchang, Jiangxi, on 25 August 2014. He was born in 1921 in Fuzhou, in the same province.
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Disaster
Hotel fire in Harbin
Fire breaks out at the Beilong Hot Spring Hotel in Harbin on 25 August 2018. The four storey building, in the Sun Island resort area, was hosting more than a hundred guests, many of them there for an annual marathon; twenty people are killed and twenty-three injured.
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Birth
Birth of Qi Yuhong
Chinese archer Qi Yuhong is born on 25 August 1989.
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Birth
Birth of Zhao Jiwei
Basketball player Zhao Jiwei is born on 25 August 1995 in Liaoning province. He plays as a point guard and shooting guard.
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Birth
Birth of Wei Xiaoyuan
Artistic gymnast Wei Xiaoyuan is born on 25 August 2004 in Guangxi.