A calendar of Chinese history
28 events
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Birth
Birth of Lee Teng-hui
Lee Teng-hui is born at Sanzhi, Taiwan, in 1923. An economist and agronomist, he leads the Republic of China from 1988 to 2000, ends martial law, steers Taiwan's transition to democracy and in 1996 becomes its first popularly elected president; he dies in Taipei in 2020.
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Festival
Feast of Saint Francis Ferdinand de Capillas
The Catholic Church keeps the feast of Francis Ferdinand de Capillas, a Spanish Dominican friar born in 1607 who died as a missionary in China in 1648. Canonised by John Paul II on 1 October 2000 as one of the 120 Martyrs of China, he is honoured as the first martyr among the missionaries to China.
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Birth
Birth of Xu Zhimo
Poet Xu Zhimo is born in 1897. His best-known poem, a second farewell to Cambridge written in 1928, is still taught in schools across China; he dies in 1931.
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Politics
Zunyi Conference
During the Long March, the Chinese Communist Party holds the Zunyi Conference in 1935. The leadership of Bo Gu and Otto Braun is challenged by Mao Zedong, who leaves the meeting poised to take over military command and lead the Party. The conference went unacknowledged until the 1950s.
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War
End of the Third Battle of Changsha
The Third Battle of Changsha ends in a Chinese victory in 1942. Fought in Hunan province from late 1941, it pitted the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy against the National Revolutionary Army and Communist guerrillas during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
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Death
Death of Lou Tseng-Tsiang
Lou Tseng-Tsiang, Chinese diplomat and statesman, dies at Saint Andrew's Abbey in Bruges in 1949. Born in Shanghai in 1871, he had converted to Catholicism and become a Benedictine monk and abbot in Belgium under the name Dom Pierre-Célestin Lou.
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Economy
Line 1 of the Beijing Subway enters service
Line 1 of the Beijing Subway opens in 1971. Running from west to east through the heart of the capital, it remains the historic spine of a network that has grown to some thirty lines.
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Birth
Birth of Li Fabin
Weightlifter Li Fabin is born in Nan'an, Fujian, in 1993. A national team member since 2012, he wins Olympic gold in the 61 kg class at the 2020 Games and again in Paris in 2024.
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Birth
Birth of Chen Meng
Table tennis player Chen Meng is born in 1994. World number one in 2019 and World Cup winner in 2020, she takes back-to-back Olympic singles titles in Tokyo in 2021 and Paris in 2024, beating compatriot Sun Yingsha in both finals.
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Death
Death of Bo Yibo
Bo Yibo, one of the Eight Immortals of the Chinese Communist Party and a former vice premier, dies of illness in Beijing in 2007; he was born in 1908.
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Death
Death of Jiang Zhongyuan
Jiang Zhongyuan, scholar and soldier from Hunan born in 1812, dies. He fought for the Qing against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom during the Taiping Rebellion.
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Culture
Founding of National Cheng Kung University
National Cheng Kung University is founded in Tainan in 1931. Named after Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong), who drove out the Dutch and founded the Kingdom of Tungning, it ranks among Taiwan's most prestigious universities in science, engineering, medicine and management.
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Birth
Birth of Shih Ming-teh
Shih Ming-teh, Taiwanese statesman and human rights activist, is born. Arrested at 21 in 1962 and sentenced to life for founding a pro-independence study group, he spent more than twenty-five years in prison in all and joined the Tangwai opposition to the Kuomintang upon his release.
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Birth
Birth of Ko Chun-hsiung
Ko Chun-hsiung, Taiwanese actor, director and politician, is born. Acting since the 1960s, he appeared in more than 200 films and won three Golden Horse Awards before his death in 2015.
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Birth
Birth of Ken Chu
Ken Chu, Taiwanese singer and actor, is born. He is best known as a member of the boy band F4 and for his solo music, film and television work.
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Birth
Birth of Sun Xiang
Sun Xiang, a Chinese international footballer who plays as a defender, is born in Shanghai in 1982.
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Death
Death of Yang Baibing
Yang Baibing, senior general and political commissar of the People's Liberation Army born in 1920, dies. Together with his elder half-brother Yang Shangkun he effectively controlled the PLA from the early 1980s to the early 1990s.
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Death
Death of Shih Ming-teh
Shih Ming-teh, Taiwanese statesman and former political prisoner, dies on his birthday. Sentenced to life in 1962 for pro-independence activities and released in 1977, he had joined the Tangwai opposition movement.
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Death
Death of Wang Jingchong
Wang Jingchong, official and general who served the Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han and Later Shu during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, dies. Having rebelled against the Later Han alongside Li Shouzhen and Zhao Siwan and submitted to the Later Shu, he took his own life after repeated defeats.
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Birth
Birth of Yang Du
Yang Du, a Chinese politician who would die in 1931, is born.
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Birth
Birth of Tsai Eng-meng
Tsai Eng-meng, Taiwanese businessman and major media shareholder, is born in Taipei's Datong district.
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Birth
Birth of Liu Wei
Chinese basketball point guard Liu Wei is born in Shanghai.
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Birth
Birth of Yang Zhi
Yang Zhi, goalkeeper and China international footballer, is born.
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Birth
Birth of Xu Dongxiang
Chinese rower Xu Dongxiang is born in Shaoxing.
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Birth
Birth of Bu Tao
Bu Tao, left-handed pitcher for China's national baseball team, is born. He represented China at the World Baseball Classic in 2006, 2009 and 2013 and at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
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Birth
Birth of Sun Ye
Sun Ye, Chinese breaststroke swimmer, is born in Shanghai. She took bronze in the 4 x 100 m medley relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and silver in the 200 m breaststroke at the 2010 short course world championships in Dubai.
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Birth
Birth of Darren Chen
Guan Hong, better known as Darren Chen, is born in Taiwan. The actor rose to fame playing Huaze Lei in the television series Meteor Garden.
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Economy
Founding of Suparna Airlines
Suparna Airlines, a Chinese cargo carrier based in Shanghai and also known as Yangtze River Express, is founded.