Note: dates prior to 841 BC are provisional and subject to dispute.
 

Date	Ruling entity	Emperor	Events	Other people/events
2500 BC	Three August Ones and Five Emperors		This period is part of the Chinese mythology
2205 BC
	Xia Dynasty
1806 BC
1523 BC	Shang Dynasty		First records of Chinese characters
1122 BC
1027 BC	Zhou Dynasty	King Wu of Zhou
781 BC		You
771 BC			End of Western Zhou
770 BC		Ping	Beginning of Eastern Zhou
722 BC			Spring and Autumn Period
720 BC
619 BC		Xiang
632 BC				Battle of Chengpu
651 BC
551 BC				Lao Zi
551 BC				Confucius
481 BC
479 BC
475 BC			Warring States Period
314 BC		Nan
260 BC				Battle of Changping
256 BC

Date	Ruling entity	Emperor	Events	Other people/events
255 BC	Qin Dynasty		Warring States Period
246 BC		Qin Shi Huang
221 BC				Start of construction of the Great Wall
			Unification of China
210 BC			Burial of the Terracotta Army
209 BC		Qin Er Shi
207 BC
		Ziying
206 BC			Chu-Han contention
205 BC				Battle of Jingxing
202 BC
	Han Dynasty (Western Han)	Han Gao Zu
195 BC
6 CE		Ruzi
9
	Xin Dynasty	Wang Mang
23
	Han Dynasty (Eastern Han)	Gengshi
25
88		He
105			Cai Lun invents paper
106
		Shang
168		Ling
184			Yellow Turban Rebellion
189
		King of Hongnong
		Xian
191			Battle of Jieqiao
200			Battle of Guandu
208			Battle of Changban	Battle of Red Cliffs
220
	Three Kingdoms
222		Cao Pi (Wei) Liu Bei (Shu) Sun Quan (Wu)	Battle of Yiling
225			Zhuge Liang's Southern Campaign
230
234			Battle of Wuzhang Plain
250			Introduction of Buddhism in China
252
265
	Jin Dynasty	Wu
274
290		Hui
291				War of the Eight Princes
304			Sixteen Kingdoms (Han Zhao, Later Zhao, Cheng Han, Former Liang, Later Liang, Northern Liang, Western Liáng, Southern Liang, Former Yan, Later Yan, Northern Yan, Southern Yan, Former Qin, Later Qin, Western Qin, Xia)
306
307
372		Xiaowu
383				Battle of Fei River
396
419		Gong
420
	Southern and Northern Dynasties
439
475			Bodhidharma arrives in China
589
581	Sui Dynasty
618
	Tang Dynasty
627		Li Shi Min
635			First Christianmissionaries arrive in China: Nestorianmonks from Asia Minor and Persia, building Daqin Pagoda.
649
650			The Records of the Tang Dynasty describes a landmark visit to China by Saad ibn Abi Waqqas (ra), one of the companions of Prophet Muhammad, in 650 C.E. This event is considered to be the birth of Islam in China.
684		Wu Ze Tian
705
712		Xuanzong
751			Battle of Talas
756			An Lushan Rebellion
763
845			Mass persecution of Buddhism
907
	Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
960
	Song Dynasty
1127			End of Northern Song / Beginning of Southern Song Jingkang Incident: Sacking of Kaifeng by the Jurchens, capturing a pair of father-son emperors.
1214			Battle of Beijing
1255				Voyages of Marco Polo
1260		Kublai Khan
1271	Yuan Dynasty
1273			Battle of Xiangyang
1279			Battle of Yamen
1289			Franciscan friars begin mission work in China
1294
1295
1368
	Ming Dynasty	Hongwu
1398
1399		Jianwen
1402
1403		Yongle
1405				Voyages of Zheng He
1406			Construction of the Forbidden City begins
1424
		Hongxi
1425
1426		Xuande
1433
1435
1449			Battle of Tumu Fortress
1506		Zhengde
1516			First Portuguese settlement in Macau
1521
1522		Jiajing
1556			Earthquake in Shaanxi and Gansu. 850,000 casualties
1566
1573		Wanli
1582			Jesuits begin mission work in China
1616			Nurhaci founds the Qing Dynasty in Manchuria
1619			Battle of Sarhu
1620
		Taichang
		Tianqi
1627			First Manchu invasion of Korea
		Chongzhen
1637			Second Manchu invasion of Korea
1644
	Qing Dynasty	Shunzhi
1661
1662		Kangxi
1674			Revolt of the Three Feudatories
1680				First Portuguese governor in Macau
1683
1689			Treaty of Nerchinsk
1711			The British East India Company establishes a trading post in Guangzhou
1716			Publication of the Kangxi dictionary
1722
1723		Yongzheng
1735
		Qianlong
1755			Ten Great Campaigns
1790
1793			Lord Macartney, first British envoy to Beijing
1796
		Jiaqing
1814			First recorded Chinese convert to Western Christianity (the Nestorian form was long-established in China)
1820
1821		Daoguang
1839			First Opium War
1842				Treaty of Nanjing
1850
1851		Xianfeng	Taiping Rebellion
1854
1856			Second Opium War
1858				Treaty of Aigun Treaties of Tianjin
1860				Beijing Convention
1861
1862		Tongzhi
1874
1875		Guangxu
1876			Chefoo Convention
1884			Franco-Chinese War
1885				Battle of Foochow
1894			First Sino-Japanese War	Battle of Yalu River
1895				Treaty of Shimonoseki
1898			Hundred Days' Reform	Coup by Empress Dowager Cixi
1900			Boxer Rebellion
1901			Boxer Protocol
1908
		Puyi
1911			Xinhai Revolution	Wuchang Uprising

Date	Ruling entity	Head of State	Events	Other people/events
1912	Republic of China	Sun Yat Sen	Xinhai Revolution
1913
		Yuan Shikai
1915			Japan's Twenty-One Demands
1919			May Fourth Movement
1921			Foundation of the Communist Party of China
1926			Northern Expedition
1927				Kuomintang-Communist split<
				Nanchang Uprising
1928		Chiang Kai-Shek		Jinan Incident
1931			Chinese Soviet Republic	Mukden Incident
		Lin Sen
1932				Japan declares Manchukuo in Manchuria, independent from China
1934
			Long March
1935
1936			Xian incident	Japan establishes the Mengjiang
1937			Second Sino-Japanese War	Marco Polo Bridge Incident
				Battle of Pingxingguan
				Battle of Nanjing
				Nanking Massacre
1938				Battle of Tai'erzhuang
1939				Battle of Changsha (1939)
1940				Hundred Regiments Offensive
1941				Battle of Changsha (1941)
1942				Battle of Changsha (1942)
1943
		Chiang Kai-Shek
1944				Battle of Changsha (1944)
1945				The nationalist government is one of the founding members of the UN
1947			February 28 Incident
1949			Kuomintang retreats to Taiwan
1971			The PRC replaces the ROC as a permanent member of the UN Security Council
1975
		Yen Chia-jin
1978
		Chiang Ching-Kuo
1979			Taiwan Relations Act passed by the United States Congress
1988
		Lee Teng-hui
1996			Third Taiwan Strait Crisis	ROC Presidential Election 1996
2000			ROC Presidential Election 2000
		Chen Shui-bian	Chen Shui-bian's Four Noes and One Without
2002			Accession to World Trade Organization
2003			SARS outbreak
2004			ROC Presidential Election 2004
Date	Ruling entity	Head of State	Events	Other people/events
1949	People's Republic of China	Mao Zedong	Founding of the People's Republic of China
1950			Battle of Chosin Reservoir	Korean War
1951			PLA enters Tibet
1953
1956			Hundred Flowers campaign
1957
1958			Great Leap Forward
1959				Three Years of Natural Disasters
1960
			Sino-Soviet split
1961
1962			Sino-Indian War
1964			State Council decrees it is acceptable to abbreviate most characters listed in the Plan for Character Simplification	The PRC detonates its first atomic bomb
1966			Cultural Revolution	The Little Red Book
1969				Opening of the first line of the Beijing Subway: 17 stations
1970			First satellite launch, using Long March rocket
1971			The PRC replaces the ROC as a permanent member of the UN Security Council	Henry Kissinger secretly visits Beijing
1972			Richard Nixon visits China. Shanghai Communiqué
1974			Discovery of the Terracotta Army
1976			Four Modernizations	Tiananmen incident following the death of Zhou Enlai
		Hua Guofeng of Deng Xiaoping Period
1977			Beijing Spring
1978			Start of Chinese economic reforms	Democracy Wall Movement
1979			One-child policy
			USA and PRC establish full diplomatic relations	Visit of Deng Xiaoping to Washington, D.C.
			Border-war with Vietnam	Deng Xiaoping's Four cardinal principles
1980			First Special Economic Zones	Trial of the Gang of Four
1981
		Hu Yaobang of Deng Xiaoping Period
1984			Margaret Thatcher in China, signs Sino-British Joint Declaration, to handover of Hong Kong to the PRC in 1997
1987
		Zhao Ziyang of Deng Xiaoping Period
1989			Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
		Jiang Zemin of Deng Xiaoping Period
1991			First McDonald's restaurant in Beijing
1996			Third Taiwan Strait Crisis
1997			Hong Kong handover, becomes a Special Administrative Region	Death of Deng Xiaoping
1999			Macau handover
2000			The PRC passes Japan as the country with which the USA has the largest trade deficit
2001			Accession to World Trade Organization	Beijing elected to hold the 2008 Summer Olympics
2002			16th Party Congress
2003		Hu Jintao	SARS outbreak	Shenzhou 5, PRC's first manned space mission
2004				Jiang Zemin retires from his post as Chairman of the Central Military Commission