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The Story of

China

1046 BCE – 2026

Country in East Asia

  1. Battle of Muye

    1046 BCE

    The Battle of Muye, Mu, or Muh (c. 1046 BC) was fought between forces of the ancient Chinese Shang dynasty led by Di Xin and the rebel state of Zhou led by King Wu. The Zhou defeated the Shang at Muye and captured the Shang capital Yin, marking the end of the Shang and the establishment of the Zhou dynasty—an event that features prominently in Chinese historiography as an example of the Mandate of Heaven theory that functioned to justify dynastic conquest throughout Chinese history.

  2. Rebellion of the Seven States

    154 BCE

    The Rebellion of the Seven States or Revolt of the Seven Kingdoms (simplified Chinese: 七国之乱; traditional Chinese: 七國之亂; pinyin: Qī Guó zhī Luàn) took place in 154 BC against the rule of Emperor Jing of the Western Han dynasty by its regional semi-autonomous kings, to resist the emperor's attempt to centralize the government further. The rebellion was crushed by the Western Han imperial forces within three months, and the powers of the imperial court grew exponentially afterward.

  3. Red Eyebrows

    17–27

    The Red Eyebrows (Chinese: 赤眉; pinyin: Chìméi) was one of the two major peasant rebellion movements against Wang Mang's short-lived Xin dynasty, the other being Lülin. It was so named because the rebels painted their eyebrows red.

  4. Battle of Guandu

    200

    The Battle of Guandu was fought between the warlords Cao Cao and Yuan Shao in 200 AD in the late Eastern Han dynasty. Cao Cao's decisive victory against Yuan Shao's numerically superior forces marked the turning point in their war.

  5. Battle of Red Cliffs

    208

    The Battle of Red Cliffs, also known as the Battle of Chibi, was a decisive naval battle in China that took place during the winter of 208–209 AD. It was fought on the Yangtze River between the forces of warlords controlling different parts of the country during the end of the Han dynasty. The allied forces of Sun Quan, Liu Bei, and Liu Qi based south of the Yangtze defeated the numerically superior forces of the northern warlord Cao Cao.

  6. Battle of Fei River

    30 November 383

    The Battle of Fei River, also known as the Battle of Feishui (simplified Chinese: 淝水之战; traditional Chinese: 淝水之戰; pinyin: Féishǔi zhī zhàn), took place in the autumn of 383 AD in China, where forces of the Di-led Former Qin dynasty were decisively defeated by the outnumbered army of the Eastern Jin dynasty. The location of the battle, the Fei River, no longer exists but is believed to have flowed through modern Lu'an, Anhui, near the Huai River.

  7. Battle of Yamen

    19 March 1279

    The Battle of Yamen (Chinese: 厓門戰役), also known as the Battle of Yashan (Chinese: 厓山海戰), was a naval battle which took place in southern China on 19 March 1279. It is considered to be the last stand of the Song dynasty against the invading forces of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty.

  8. Red Turban Rebellion

    1351–1368

    The Red Turban Rebellions (Chinese: 紅巾起義; pinyin: Hóngjīn Qǐyì) were uprisings against the Yuan dynasty between 1351 and 1368, eventually leading to its collapse. Remnants of the Yuan imperial court retreated northwards and is thereafter known as the Northern Yuan in historiography.

  9. Revolt of the Three Feudatories

    1681

    The Revolt of the Three Feudatories, (Chinese: 三藩之亂; pinyin: Sānfān zhī luàn) also known as the Rebellion of Wu Sangui, was a rebellion lasting from 1673 to 1681 in the early Qing dynasty of China, during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor (r. 1661–1722).

  10. Century of Humiliation

    1839–1949

    The century of humiliation (simplified Chinese: 百年国耻; traditional Chinese: 百年國恥; pinyin: bǎinián guóchǐ) is a Chinese historiographical concept for a period in history beginning with the end of the First Opium War (1839–1842), and terminating with the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The century-long period is typified by the decline, defeat and political fragmentation of the Qing dynasty and the subsequent Republic of China, which led to demoralizing foreign intervention, annexation and subjugation of China by Western powers,…

  11. Taiping Rebellion

    December 1850 – August 1864

    The Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864) was a civil war in late imperial China fought between the ruling Qing dynasty and the rebelling Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It was the deadliest civil war in history and the second-deadliest conflict in history overall.

  12. Battle of Canton

    28 December 1857 – 31 December 1857

    The Battle of Canton (Chinese: 廣州城戰役) was fought by British and French forces against Qing China on 28–31 December 1857 during the Second Opium War. The British High Commissioner, Lord Elgin, was keen to take the city of Canton (Guangzhou) as a demonstration of power and to capture Chinese official Ye Mingchen, who had resisted British attempts to implement the 1842 Treaty of Nanking.

  13. Boxer Rebellion

    August 1899 – September 1901

    The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, Boxer Movement, Yihetuan Movement (traditional Chinese: 義和團運動; simplified Chinese: 义和团运动), or Boxer War, was an uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists. Its members were known as the "Boxers" in English, owing to many of them practicing Chinese martial arts, which at the time were referred to as "Chinese boxing".

  14. British expedition to Tibet

    December 1903 – September 1904

    The British expedition to Tibet, also known as the Younghusband expedition, began in December 1903 and lasted until September 1904. The expedition was effectively a temporary invasion by British Indian Armed Forces under the auspices of the Tibet Frontier Commission, whose purported mission was to establish diplomatic relations and resolve the dispute over the border between Tibet and Sikkim.

  15. Siege of Port Arthur

    1 August 1904 – 2 January 1905

    The siege of Port Arthur (Japanese: 旅順攻囲戦, romanized: Ryojun Kōisen; Russian: Оборона Порт-Артура, romanized: Oborona Port-Artura; August 1, 1904 – January 2, 1905) was the longest and most violent land battle of the Russo-Japanese War. Port Arthur, the deep-water port and Russian naval base at the tip of the Liaodong Peninsula in Manchuria, had been widely regarded as one of the most strongly fortified positions in the world.

  16. Battle of Liaoyang

    25 August 1904 – 5 September 1904

    The Battle of Liaoyang (遼陽会戦, Ryōyō-kaisen; 25 August – 3 September 1904) (Russian: Сражение при Ляояне) was a major land battle of the Russo-Japanese War, on the outskirts of the city of Liaoyang in present-day Liaoning Province, China. The city was of great strategic importance as the major Russian military center for southern Manchuria, and a major population center on the main line on the Russian South Manchurian Railway connecting Port Arthur with Mukden.

  17. Battle of Mukden

    6 February 1905 – 25 February 1905

    The Battle of Mukden (19 February – 10 March 1905) was fought in the Russo-Japanese War between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan near the town of Mukden (now Shenyang, China). Involving close to 550,000 troops and resulting in over 150,000 casualties, it was the largest battle of the war, as well as the last major engagement on land.

  18. Wuchang Uprising

    10 October 1911 – 1 December 1911

    The Wuchang Uprising was an armed rebellion against the ruling Qing dynasty that took place in Wuchang (now Wuchang District of Wuhan) in the Chinese province of Hubei on 10 October 1911, beginning the 1911 Revolution that successfully overthrew China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing dynasty. It was led by elements of the New Army, influenced by revolutionary ideas from Tongmenghui.

  19. Siege of Tsingtao

    27 August 1914 – 7 November 1914

    The Siege of Tsingtao (German: Belagerung von Tsingtau; Japanese: 青島の戦い; simplified Chinese: 青岛战役; traditional Chinese: 青島戰役) was the attack on the German port of Qingdao (Tsingtao) from Jiaozhou Bay during World War I by Japan and the United Kingdom. The siege was waged against Imperial Germany between 27 August and 7 November 1914.

  20. World War I

    11 November 1918

    World War I, or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. One of the deadliest conflicts in history, World War I caused 15 to 22 million deaths, including those resulting from war crimes and genocides.