1919: Communism and Marxism ideas started to spread widely after the May Fourth Movement in China. A lot of youths were inspired by the Russian October Revolution in which the proletarians overthrown the Tsar regime.
1921: The Chinese Communist Party was founded during the summer of 1921 by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao. The National Congress of CCP was held in the French Section of Shanghai on July 23nd. Due to the sudden inspection by French polices, the last meeting was held on a fishing boat in the South Lake of Jiaxing. The Central Committee of CCP decided to make July 1st as the anniversary of foundation of the party. Early members of CCP include Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Lin Biao and later Deng Xiaoping (in France).
1922: CCP joined the Comintern and accepted supervision from the Communist Party of Soviet Union.
1923 - 1924: The founder of Republic of China, Sun Yet-sun, decided to work closely with CCP after a meeting with the Comintern representative Henk Sneevliet. All members of CCP joined the Kuomintang as Sun hosted the First National Assembly in 1924 and decided to unite with the Soviet Union and the CCP to solve the domestic problems of China such as imperialism and feudalism. This marked the first cooperation between Kuomintang and CCP. With the help from the Soviets, Huangpu Military School was opened in Guangzhou with Chiang Kai-shek as the principal.
1925 - 1927: After the death of Sun Yet-sun in 1925. Chiang Kai-sheck gained the power of Kuomintang and launched a full scale attack on CCP and killed many of its members. As a result, CCP leads by Zhou Enlai started the Nanchang Uprising in 1927 and built their own army called the “People's Liberation Army". Nanchang Uprising marked the first break up of Kuomintang and CCP.
1927 - 1930: CCP carried out several uprisings in southern China and caused the Kuomintang to attack the communist bases in Hunan, Jiangxi and Guangdong Province.
1931: Mao Zedong established a communist regime in Jiangxi Province named "Chinese Soviet Republic". The Kuomintang Government decided to destroy this regime by launching Encirclement Campaign against the Jiangxi Soviet.
1934 - 1936: Kuomintang finally succeeded on the 5th Encirclement Campaign against the Jiangxi Soviet. As a result, the Red Army in Jiangxi and Hunan led by Mao launched a full scale retreat to Yan'an in northwest China known as the "Long March". The Long March last for 2 years and stretched over 12,000 kilometers. The communists encountered many problems during their retreat which includes extreme cold weather, lack of foods and the advancing of Chiang's forces on their back. As a result, only 25,000 out of the original 300,000 arrived at their final destination.
1936: The arrest of Chiang Kai-sheck by his colleague Zhang Xueliang during Xi'an Incident forced KMT to cooperate with CCP due to the Japanese aggression on China.
1937 - 1945: Japanese started to attack central China and launched the second Sino-Japanese War. The communist party transformed its red armies into Eighth Route Army and New Fourth Army. Both divisions will be led and supervised by Kuomintang and the Nationalist Government to defend China from foreign attack.
1945: Japanese surrendered in China as the World War 2 ended. Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai flew to Chongqing to negotiate with Chiang Kai-sheck and his Kuomintang representatives about China's future and the forming of a united democratic government.
1945 - 1949: Chiang betrayed the joint agreement that was made between KMT and CCP and started to attack CCP controlled regions all across China. The Chinese Civil War broke out again. A lot of civilians and members of other parties strongly opposed this warfare and stated that Chinese people killing each other are not acceptable. Many opposition personnel were either arrested or killed by KMT spies. At the same time, the United States Government terminated the financial support for the KMT regime and caused the party to lose its advantage during the civil war. After 4 years of fighting, CCP captured most of Mainland China and forced the Nationalist Government to retreat to Taiwan.
1949: The Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong established the People's Republic of China in Beijing on October 1st.
1950: The People's Liberation Army liberated Tibet and cleared out the local separatists.
1950 - 1953: Due to the warfare in the Korean Peninsula, the CCP decided to send voluntary forces to North Korea and participated in the Korean War.
1953 - 1966: The CCP launched many political events in the next decade, most of these events heavily damaged the society and economy of China. One of the most famous event was the "Great Leap Forward" which was later on became the direct cause of the "Great Chinese Famine". During early 1960's, conflict broke out between CCP and Khrushchev, the head of USSR. A series of "Anti-Soviet" movement occurred after the recall of Soviet experts. The Chinese Government stated that the Soviets were "social imperialism".
1966: Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution and caused a huge depression in the nation's economy and a disaster for Chinese culture. A lot of ancient Chinese antiques and heritage sites were either ruined or destroyed by Mao's Red Guard. It was known as the dark age of the republic, schools and universities were terminated as scholars and intellectuals were classified as "Going Capitalized". Many of Mao's old colleague such as Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping were classified as "Anti-Revolution" and expelled from the party. Liu Shaoqi was persecuted to death while Deng Xiaoping was back in office after the disaster. A political organization named "Gang of Four" was formed during the Cultural Revolution to secure the central leadership.
1972: US President Richard Nixon changed his foreign policy and paid an ice-breaking trip to China. During the same year, the United Nation replaced the seat for China with PRC instead of ROC.
1976: Mao Zedong died in Beijing as the Culture Revolution came to an end. Gang of Four was arrested and sent to justice.
1978: Deng Xiaoping came back to office and became the top leader of CCP. He stated that China needs to reform and open up to the whole world. The nation needs to focus on economy and international trade instead of making useless political events. The reformed government also rehabilitated the people who were persecuted during the Cultural Revolution.
1979: China officially launched the "Reform and Open Up" plan carried out by Deng Xiaoping. He appointed several cities along the Chinese coastline such as Tianjin, Qingdao and Shenzhen to open up for international trade. Shenzhen for example, was just a fishing village before 1980 and was quickly transformed into a major metropolis in southern China during the 1990's.
1984 - 1985: Deng Xiaoping negotiated with the British and Portuguese Government about the issues regarding to Hong Kong and Macau's sovereignty. The Joint Declaration with Britain and Portugal was made in 1988 and announced that Hong Kong will return to China in 1997 and Macau in 1999.
1989: University students went on a hunger strike in the Tiananment Square of Beijing due to the desire of more democracies in China. As a result, CCP sent troops into Beijing and cracked down this democratic movement with the casualties of over a hundred students. This incident was known as "June 4th Incident" to the western world and information about this event is still forbidden in Mainland China.
1990: CCP decided to open up Pudong region in Shanghai as an economic zone.
1992: Deng Xiaoping made a visit to southern China to see the progress of economic development. During that time, a lot of cities along the coastline were refreshed with modern skyscrapers and the living standard in China has greatly raised.
1993: Jiang Zemin (President) and Li Peng (Prime Minister) became the third generation CCP top leaders.
1997: Hong Kong return to China on July 1st.
1999: Macau return to China on December 20th.
2001: China joined the World Trade Organization.
2002-2003: Hu Jintao (President) and Wen Jiabao (Prime Minister) became the fourth generation CCP top leaders.
2005: CCP invited the head of Kuomintang, Lien Chan, to visit the mainland. He was the first Kuomintang leader who visited the mainland since the broke up in 1949. The trip of Lien Chan has promoted the cross-strait relation and restored the peace talk over the Taiwan Strait.
2008: Beijing successfully host the 29th Summer Olympic Game.
2010: Expo 2010 in Shanghai. China signed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with the Taiwanese Authority.
2011: 90th Anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party.
