Early hominids, known as 'Peking Man', inhabit caves near present-day Beijing and use fire and stone tools.
Homo sapiens reaches East Asia and gradually displaces or mixes with earlier hominid populations.
The first farming communities, such as the Pengtoushan and Jiahu cultures, develop agriculture, pottery, and permanent settlements.
Neolithic farming communities develop painted pottery, millet agriculture and early village structures in the Yellow River basin.
The Shang rulers use painted turtle shells and bones to predict the future, containing the earliest forms of Chinese writing.
King Wu of Zhou defeats the last Shang ruler in a decisive battle and founds the Zhou dynasty.
The philosopher Confucius teaches students about ethics, rituals and good governance, during the turbulent Spring and Autumn period.
China splits into seven powerful kingdoms that fight each other for centuries for supremacy, while military and administrative innovations flourish.
After centuries of division, the state of Qin subdues the rival kingdoms and proclaims the first emperor of a unified China.
After the death of Qin Shi Huang, the dynasty quickly falls apart due to uprisings and power struggles.
After years of civil war, Liu Bang defeats his rival Xiang Yu and proclaims himself emperor.
Envoy Zhang Qian explores Central Asia and lays the foundation for trade routes between China and the West.
Court official Cai Lun develops an improved process for making paper from tree bark, hemp and rags.
Internal power struggles and peasant uprisings lead to the disintegration of the Han empire into three warring states.
Emperor Wen of Sui brings the Chinese empire back under a single administration after centuries of division.
Under the Tang, Chang'an flourishes into a cosmopolitan world city, with poetry, Buddhism and trade along the Silk Road at their height.
A devastating civil war disrupts the Tang dynasty and costs millions of lives
Regional military commanders and governors undermine central authority, until the Tang dynasty officially falls in 907.
For nearly half a century, dynasties and kingdoms rapidly succeed one another in a divided China.
Technological innovations such as movable type printing, the compass and gunpowder emerge or are refined under the Song, with far-reaching global consequences.
Jurchen warriors of the Jin dynasty conquer the Song capital Kaifeng, after which the imperial court flees south and founds the Southern Song dynasty.
Kublai Khan defeats the last Southern Song forces and unites all of China under Mongol rule as the Yuan dynasty, the first time the entire country is ruled by a non-Chinese people.
The peasant rebel Zhu Yuanzhang drives out the Mongol Yuan rulers and proclaims himself the Hongwu Emperor, thereby founding the Ming dynasty and restoring Han Chinese rule.
After a bloody civil war, prince Zhu Di seizes the throne and, as the Yongle Emperor, becomes the driving force behind Chinese expansion, moving the capital to Beijing and building the Forbidden City.
The Ming admiral Zheng He leads seven massive maritime expeditions that expand China's influence to Southeast Asia, India, Arabia and East Africa.
After the death of Emperor Yongle and the halting of Zheng He's voyages, the Ming court chooses a more inward-looking course: shipbuilding for long ocean voyages is banned and attention turns inward once again.
Peasant uprisings, financial crises and Manchu invasions lead to the collapse of the Ming dynasty; the Manchus found the Qing dynasty and gradually conquer all of China.
Under Emperor Kangxi, the Qing dynasty strengthens its grip on China, suppresses the Revolt of the Three Feudatories, and conquers the island of Taiwan, a stronghold of Ming loyalists.
Under Emperor Qianlong, the Qing empire reaches its greatest territorial extent through the so-called 'Ten Great Campaigns', including the subjugation of Xinjiang and Tibet.
China restricts foreign trade to the port of Canton through the so-called Canton System, while a British trade delegation under Lord Macartney requests freer trade and diplomatic relations in vain.
A large-scale peasant uprising plagues central China and undermines the authority of the Qing dynasty.
A British diplomatic delegation under Lord Amherst again attempts to improve trade relations with China, but is refused due to a protocol dispute.
Military defeats against Great Britain force China to accept unequal treaties, marking the beginning of a century of humiliation and weakening.
A massive peasant uprising led by Hong Xiuquan, who saw himself as the brother of Jesus Christ, tears South China apart in one of the bloodiest civil wars in world history.
British and French troops force further concessions from China and destroy the magnificent Yuanmingyuan palace complex near Peking.
Emperor Guangxu, with the support of reformers such as Kang Youwei, launches an ambitious modernisation programme, which after a hundred days is crushed by Empress Dowager Cixi.
A revolutionary uprising ends more than two thousand years of imperial rule and leads to the proclamation of the Republic of China.
Under increasing pressure from the Nationalist troops of Chiang Kai-shek, Mao Zedong and his communist forces march thousands of kilometers through mountainous terrain to northern China.
Mao Zedong proclaims the People's Republic of China in Beijing after the communist victory in the civil war.
Mao Zedong launches a massive campaign program to rapidly industrialize China and collectivize agriculture.
Mao Zedong calls on the youth to destroy the 'Four Olds' and purges the party of suspected revisionists.
After Mao's death, Deng Xiaoping launches sweeping economic reforms that introduce a market economy in China.
Students and citizens demonstrate for months for democratic reforms, after which the army intervenes with force.
The United Kingdom hands over the colony of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China after 156 years of British rule.
After years of negotiations, China officially becomes a member of the WTO on 11 December 2001, a turning point in its integration into the world economy.
In 2002-2003 the SARS virus spreads from Guangdong across China and the world, putting pressure on the Chinese government's healthcare and information policy.
China presents itself as a rising world power with a spectacular opening ceremony during the 2008 Olympic Games.
China overtakes Japan to become the world's second largest economy after the United States.
President Xi Jinping presents the ambitious plan for a new silk road to connect Asia, Africa and Europe through infrastructure and trade.
A new coronavirus emerges in the Chinese city of Wuhan and spreads across the entire world within months.
China completes the construction of its own permanent space station in low Earth orbit.
China dominates the world market for solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles, and leads the global energy transition.
Chinese technology companies and the digital yuan become globally leading, strengthening China's position as a technological superpower.
Speculative: around the hundredth anniversary of the People's Republic, China positions itself as a leading global power in technology, space travel, and economics.
Under the principle of 'one country, two systems', Beijing promised Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy for fifty years and guaranteed the preservation of its capitalist system and freedoms. The solemn ceremony in the rain, with the lowering of the British flag and the raising of the Chinese flag, marked the end of the British Empire in Asia. The handover also symbolized China's growing international status and its ambition to reunite lost territories.