1949, October: Proclamation of the People's Republic of China.

1949, December: Mao Zedong travels to Moscow to negotiate a friendship treaty with Joseph Stalin.

The 1950s

1950, February: China and the Soviet Union sign "Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance".

1951: Vatican and China break off diplomatic relations.

1951: United Nations places a global arms embargo on China because China's involvement in Korean War.

1956 - 1957: "Hundred Flowers" campaign misleads intellectuals to complain about problems.

1957 - 1958: "Anti-Rightist" Campaign is used by Mao to eliminate critical intellectuals.

1958: Begin of the "Great Leap Forward" campaign.

1959: Sino-Soviet relations deteriorate dramatically. The Soviet Union is restricting transfer of science and technology to China.

The 1960s

1964, January: China and France establish diplomatic relations. Taiwan's embassy in Paris is closed.

1965: Tibet becomes autonomous region.

1966: The "Little Red Book". Climax of Mao-cult.

1966 - 1976: Mao's political concept of a "permanent cultural revolution" paralyzes his political enemies.

1966 - 1976: The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution - a decade lost in anarchy and chaos.

1969: Mao Zedong anoints Lin Biao as his heir apparent.

The 1970s

1970 - 1976: "Gang of Four" with Mao's wife is trying to get influence by spearheading the "Cultural Revolution".

1970 - 1976: Mao Zedong is increasingly disappearing from public life due to health problems.

1971, July: Henry Kissinger secretly visits China.

1971, September: Lin Biao is killed in airplane crash while fleeing after an attempted military coup.

1971, November: The People's Republic replaces the Republic of China (Taiwan) in UN Security Council.

1972, February: Visit of US President Richard Nixon to China. Normalization between US and China begins.

1976, January: Death of Premier Zhou Enlai.

1976, September: Chairman Mao Zedong dies at the age of 82. "Gang of Four" with Mao's widow tries to get into power.

1977: Deng Xiaoping wins the power struggle after Mao's death.

1978 - 1979: "Democracy Wall" in Beijing with pro-democratic posters.

1979: Diplomatic relations are established between the US and China.

1979, January: U.S. President Jimmy Carter visits China.

The 1980s

1980: Early 1980s: Debates between "Reds" who favour ideological correctness and "Technocrats" who promote pragmatic reform.

1984, January: China joins the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

1984, April: State Council authorizes Yangtze Valley Planning Office to draft feasibility report for Three Gorges Dam project.

1985 - 1988: "Cultural Fever": Intellectuals identify China's "feudal" traditions as reason for backwardness.

1986: Thousands of students all over China are demonstrating for greater intellectual freedom.

1987, January: The too "liberal" General Secretary of China's Communist Party, Hu Yaobang, is forced to resign

1988: By mid-1988 the CCP annouces that its membership has increased to the all-time high of 47 million.

1989: Jiang Zemin replaces Zhao Ziyang as CCP General Secretary.

1989, April: Hu Yaobang dies.

1989, June: Crack down of Tiananmen Square demonstrations with military power (official death toll: 200)

1989, June: In Madrid (Spain), the European Council of Ministers agrees to an EU-wide arms embargo against China.

The 1990s

1990 - 2006: Waves of public protests, particularly in rural areas, are concerning the Chinese government.

1997, February: Death of Deng Xiaoping.

1997, July: China gets control over Hong Kong's sovereignty.

1998: Zhu Rongji follows Li Peng as China's Premier.

1999: Cooling of US-China relations after NATO bombs Chinese embassy in Belgrade, former Yugoslavia.

The 2000s

2001, April: Major diplomatic crisis after US spy plane collides with Chinese fighter jet in mid-air and is forced to land.

2001, June: Growing tension across the Taiwan Strait.

2002, February: US President George W. Bush visits China.

2002, November: Hu Jintao replaces Jiang Zemin as head of the Communist Party.

2003, March: Hu Jintao is elected as President by National People's Congress.

2004, October: China signes agreement with Russia setteling their long-lasting border conflicts.

2006, February: Prominent elderly leaders protest in open letter against the Communist Party's secretive propaganda department.

2008, February: U.S. Justice Department announces that several individuals are being charged with spying for China.

2008, March: Most violent ethnic protest in years erupt in Lhasa, Tibet's main city.

2008, March: Xinhua reports 19 deaths in public unrest at Tibet's capital Lhasa.

2008, August: Hua Guofeng dies in Beijing aged 87.