A calendar of Chinese history

18 events

  1. Chang'e 4 lands on the far side of the Moon

    Science

    On 3 January 2019, Chang'e 4, a robotic mission of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, makes the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon and deploys the Yutu-2 rover. Launched on 7 December 2018, the lander and rover rely on the Queqiao relay satellite, placed in May 2018 in a halo orbit near the Earth-Moon L2 point; on 15 January it is announced that seeds have sprouted in the lander's biological experiment.

    Source : Chang'e 4

  2. Death of Emperor Yuan of Jin

    Death

    Emperor Yuan of Jin, personal name Sima Rui, dies in 323. Born in 276, a great-grandson of Sima Yi, he was stationed at Jiankang, south of the Yangtze, during the Upheaval of the Five Barbarians and so escaped the chaos that befell northern China; backed by his cousins Wang Dun and Wang Dao, by the southern gentry clans and by émigré families from the north, he became the first emperor of the Eastern Jin.

    Source : Emperor Yuan of Jin

  3. Death of Li Linfu

    Death

    Li Linfu dies in 753. A historian, musician and statesman of the Tang dynasty, born in 683, he served as chancellor for eighteen years, from 734 to 752, under Emperor Xuanzong, one of the longest tenures in Tang history; known for flattering the emperor and for his political skill, he cut off every potential rival, including through false accusations against other officials.

    Source : Li Linfu

  4. Death of Yuan Mei

    Death

    The writer Yuan Mei dies in 1797. Born in 1716 under the Qing dynasty, he first pursues an official's career, then retires to a garden he had built in order to write poems and tales.

    Source : Yuan Mei · On chine.in

  5. Battle of Nui Bop begins

    War

    On 3 January 1885, during the Sino-French War, the Battle of Nui Bop begins; it ends the next day in a victory for the French forces of the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps. The engagement is fought to push Chinese forces back from the French bridgehead at Chũ, and serves as the prelude to the Lang Son campaign launched in February 1885.

    Source : bataille de Nui Bop

  6. Cixi returns to the Forbidden City

    Politics

    In 1902, after the failure of the Boxer Rebellion, the Empress Dowager Cixi returns to the Forbidden City in Beijing. The uprising, an armed conflict that shook China from 1899 to 1901, had been organised by the secret society of the Fists of Righteousness and Harmony, and Cixi had turned it against the foreigners alone.

    Source : révolte des Boxers · On chine.in

  7. Birth of Vincent Siew

    Birth

    Taiwanese politician Siew Wan-chang, known by his English name Vincent Siew, is born in 1939. Vice president of the Republic of China, in Taiwan, from 2008 to 2012, he was the first Taiwanese-born premier of the Republic of China and a former vice-chairman of the Kuomintang.

    Source : Vincent Siew

  8. Birth of Gu Jun

    Birth

    Badminton player Gu Jun is born in 1975 in Wuxi. Partnering her childhood friend Ge Fei, she wins the Olympic women's doubles title twice, in 1996 and 2000, and the pair go unbeaten for more than four years.

    Source : Gu Jun · On chine.in

  9. Death of Koo Chen-fu

    Death

    Taiwanese businessman and diplomat Koo Chen-fu dies in 2005. Born in 1917, head of the Koos Group from 1940 and chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation, he arranged the first direct talks between Taiwan and the People's Republic of China since 1949 and served as Taiwan's negotiator at the 1993 and 1998 Wang-Koo summits; he also produced a number of Taiwanese films between 1973 and 1982.

    Source : Koo Chen-fu

  10. Death of Joseph Koo

    Death

    Composer Joseph Koo, born Koo Kar-fai, dies in 2023 in Vancouver. Born in Guangzhou in 1931, the Canadian of Hong Kong origin wrote, among others, the main themes of Fist of Fury (1972), Game of Death (1978) and A Better Tomorrow (1986).

    Source : Joseph Koo

  11. Birth of Zou Jingyuan

    Birth

    Chinese artistic gymnast Zou Jingyuan is born in 1998 in Yibin.

    Source : Zou Jingyuan

  12. Death of Li Zuopeng

    Death

    Li Zuopeng, Chinese politician and general of the People's Liberation Army, dies in 2009. He was born in 1914.

    Source : Li Zuopeng

  13. Death of Fong Fei-fei

    Death

    Taiwanese singer, presenter and actress Fong Fei-fei, born Lim Chiu-luan in 1953, dies in 2012.

    Source : Fong Fei-fei

  14. Death of Michael Yeung Ming-cheung

    Death

    Michael Yeung Ming-cheung, the eighth Roman Catholic bishop of Hong Kong, dies in 2019. Born in 1945, he had been consecrated on 30 August 2014.

    Source : Michael Yeung

  15. Death of Chu Chia-hua

    Death

    Politician Chu Chia-hua (Zhu Jiahua) dies in 1963. Born in 1893, he served as vice-premier of the Republic of China from 1949 to 1950.

    Source : Zhu Jiahua

  16. Birth of Shi Jinglin

    Birth

    Swimmer Shi Jinglin is born in 1993 in Nanjing. She wins the bronze medal in the 200 metres breaststroke at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

    Source : Shi Jinglin

  17. Birth of Tang Xijing

    Birth

    Chinese artistic gymnast Tang Xijing is born in 2003 in Guangdong.

    Source : Tang Xijing

  18. Execution of Gao Chengyong

    Death

    Serial killer Gao Chengyong is executed in 2019 in Baiyin. Arrested in 2016, twenty-eight years after his first murder, thanks to advances in DNA technology, he had raped and killed his victims and mutilated their bodies, earning him the nickname of the Chinese Jack the Ripper in the Chinese media.

    Source : Gao Chengyong

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