| Sixty
years ago, the Communist Party of China
(CCP) led by Mao Zedong won the Chinese
Civil War, and forced the Chinese Nationalist
Party led by Chiang Kai-shek to retreat
to the island of Taiwan. On October 1, 1949,
Chairman Mao proclaimed in Tiananmen rostrum
the founding of the People’s Republic
of China. The following is a chronology
of major events in the past 60 years:
1. On October 8th, 1950,
the day after the US forces northward crossing
of the 38th-parallel border into North Korea,
China sent its army to intervene in the
Korean War. About 114,000 Chinese were killed
in the combat between 1950 and 1953, including
one of Mao's sons.
2. From 1950 to early 1960s,
Mao initiated a series of political campaigns,
such as the Zhen Fan, Three-Anti/Five-Anti
Campaign, and Anti-Rightist Movement, to
rid Chinese cities of corruption and enemies
of the state. Millions of people were put
to death. Those campaigns consolidated Mao's
power base by targeting political opposition.
3. In January 1958, Mao
unveiled the "Great Leap Forward"
to rapidly transform China from a primarily
agrarian economy to a modern communist society.
It is believed to have triggered "The
Great Chinese Famine" that resulted
in tens of millions of deaths from 1958
to 1961.
4. Mao launched the Cultural
Revolution on May 16, 1966. The Revolution
brought economic and educational activity
to a virtual halt for ten years, leading
to almost an entire generation of inadequately
educated individuals, and devastating damage
of its historical reserves and traditional
Chinese culture.
5. Regardless of all the
political, economic, and social chaos, China
made the most significant progress in its
defense industry in the 1960s, including
successful testing of nuclear weapons, ballistic
missiles, and satellites.
6. On October 25, 1971,
China replaced the Republic of China as
a member of the United Nations and a permanent
member of the Security Council. Soon after
that, in February 1972, The President of
United States Richard Nixon visited China,
signifying a new era of China international
relations.
7. Mao died on September
9, 1976 and soon after, the Cultural Revolution
ended. On December 18, 1978, the pivotal
Third Plenum of the Eleventh CCP Congress
was held, and the vice Premier Deng Xiaoping
emerged as the de-facto leader of China
by outmaneuvering Hua Guofeng, Mao's chosen
successor. Deng led Chinese economic reform
through a synthesis of theories that became
known as the "socialist market economy",
and opened China to foreign investment,
the global market, and private competition.
Deng traveled abroad and had a series of
amicable meetings with western leaders,
and the relations with the West improved
remarkably.
8. In 1979, the Chinese
government introduced the One-child policy
to alleviate social, economic, and environmental
problems in China.
9. The Tiananmen Square
Protests of 1989 took place from April 15
to June 4, resulting in a military response
to the protesters by the PRC government
and hundreds of death. There was widespread
international condemnation of the government's
use of force against the protesters. The
government defended its actions as a necessary
means to prevent the nation from further
chaos and potential civil war.
10. In 1997 and 1999, the
sovereignty of Hong Kong and Macau was transfered
back to Chinese rule.
11. On December 11, 2001,
after 15 years and 5 months of negotiations,
China became a member of the World Trade
Organization (WTO). As a result of the negotiations,
China has agreed to undertake a series of
important commitments to open and liberalize
its regime in order to better integrate
in the world economy and offer a more predictable
environment for trade and foreign investment.
12. On August 8, 2008,
China opened the 29th Olympic Games in spectacular
fashion. Chinese athletes won the most gold
medals in the event. The Games were not
only regarded as a source of national pride
for China, but also a milestone in China’s
exploration of soft power.
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