History of the People's Republic of China

History of the People's Republic of China
1949–1976
Mao era Revolution Proclamation Korean War Land Reform Movement Zhen Fan Three-anti and Five-anti Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence Bandung Conference Sufan Hundred Flowers Anti-Rightist Canton Fair Two Bombs, One Satellite Great Leap Forward (Great Chinese Famine) Seven Thousand Cadres Conference Socialist Education Movement Third Front Cultural Revolution Restoring legitimate seat in the UN 1972 visit by Richard Nixon to China
1976–1989
Transition and Deng era Arrest of the Gang of Four Boluan Fanzheng 1978 Truth Criterion Controversy Message to Compatriots in Taiwan [zh] Reforms and Opening-up Four Special Economic Zones Establishment of China-US Relations (Three Communiques) Four Modernizations Sino-Vietnamese War Beijing Spring Strike Hard Anti-crime Campaign Sino-British Joint Declaration Campaign against spiritual pollution Bourgeois liberalization Anti-bourgeois liberalization 863 Program 1986 Chinese student demonstrations Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration Revolutions of 1989 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre
1989–2002
Jiang and the third generation Shanghai Stock Exchange Pudong New District Deng Xiaoping's southern tour 1992 consensus One country, two systems Hong Kong Macau 1998 China floods Embassy in Belgrade Bombed Persecution of Falun Gong China Western Development Hainan Island incident Bidding Beijing 2008 APEC China 2001 Joining WTO Forum on China–Africa Cooperation Shanghai Cooperation Organization
2002–2012
Hu and the fourth generation 2002–2004 SARS outbreak Shenzhou 5 South–North Water Transfer Project Qinghai-Tibet Railway Sichuan earthquake Beijing Olympics Shanghai 2010 Expo BRICS Three Gorges Dam West–East Gas Pipeline Chinese High-speed Railway Liaoning Aircraft Carrier
2012–present
Xi and the fifth generation Anti-corruption campaign Belt and Road Initiative Chang'e 3 China Supercomputing APEC China 2014 Celebration of 70th anniversary of victory of Anti-Japanese War [zh] 2016 G20 Hangzhou summit Xiong'an New Area BRICS summit Xiamen 2017 Xinjiang internment camps Persecution of Uyghurs in China China–United States trade war SCO Summit 2018 Qingdao [zh] China-Africa Cooperation Forum Summit Beijing 2018 [zh] China International Import Expo Chinese Space Station 2019–20 Hong Kong protests COVID-19 pandemic Hong Kong national security law 2020–2021 reform spree Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games
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The history of the People's Republic of China details the history of mainland China since 1 October 1949, when CCP chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China (PRC) from atop Tiananmen, after a near complete victory (1949) by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the Chinese Civil War. The PRC is the most recent political entity to govern mainland China, preceded by the Republic of China (ROC; 1912–1949) and thousands of years of monarchical dynasties. The paramount leaders have been Mao Zedong (1949–1976); Hua Guofeng (1976–1978); Deng Xiaoping (1978–1989); Jiang Zemin (1989–2002); Hu Jintao (2002–2012); and Xi Jinping (2012 to present).^[1]

The origins of the People's Republic can be traced to the Chinese Soviet Republic that was proclaimed in 1931 in Ruijin (Jui-chin), Jiangxi (Kiangsi), with the backing of the All-Union Communist Party in the Soviet Union^[2][3] in the midst of the Chinese Civil War against the Nationalist government only to dissolve in 1937.^[4]

Under Mao's rule, China went through a socialist transformation from a traditional peasant society, leaning towards heavy industries under planned economy, while campaigns such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution wreaked havoc on the entire country. Since late 1978, the economic reforms led by Deng Xiaoping had made China the world's second-largest and one of the fastest growing economies, with a specialty in high productivity factories and leadership in some areas of high technology. Globally, after receiving support from the USSR in the 1950s, China became bitter enemy of USSR on a worldwide basis until Mikhail Gorbachev's visit to China in May 1989. In the 21st century, the new wealth and technology led to a contest for primacy in Asian affairs versus India, Japan and the United States, and since 2017 a growing trade war with the United States.^[5]