Factbook
Histoire de république populaire de Chine — Chronologie
Dates clés de l'histoire de république populaire de Chine, d'après le Factbook Magna et l'Encyclopédie universelle.
1911It collapsed following the Revolution of 1911, and China became a republic under SUN Yat-sen of the Kuomintang (KMT or Nationalist) Party.
1912(unification under the Qin Dynasty); 1 January 1912 (Qing Dynasty replaced by the Republic of China).
1912under the Qin Dynasty and lasted until the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912.
1937Japan occupied much of northeastern China in the early 1930s, and then launched a full-scale invasion of the country in 1937.
1945The resulting eight years of warfare devastated the country and cost up to 20 million Chinese lives by the time of Japan’s defeat in 1945.
1949Independence: 1 October 1949 (People's Republic of China established); notable earlier dates: 221 B.C.
1949The Nationalist-Communist civil war continued with renewed intensity after the end of World War II and culminated with a CCP victory in 1949, under the leadership of MAO Zedong.
1958MAO and the CCP established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring the PRC's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and launched agricultural, economic, political, and social policies -- such as the Great Leap Forward (1958-1962) and the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) -- that cost the lives of millions of people.
1978Beginning in 1978, leaders DENG Xiaoping, JIANG Zemin, and HU Jintao focused on market-oriented economic development and opening up the country to foreign trade, while maintaining the rule of the CCP.
2011By 2011, the PRC’s economy was the second largest in the world.
2012XI Jinping assumed the positions of General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and Chairman of the Central Military Commission in 2012 and President in 2013.
2013Over the past decade, China has increased its global outreach, including military deployments, participation in international organizations, and a global connectivity plan in 2013 called the "Belt and Road Initiative" (BRI).
2018In 2018, the PRC’s National People’s Congress passed an amendment abolishing presidential term limits, which allowed XI to gain a third five-year term in 2023.
2021Languages: Standard Chinese or Mandarin (official; Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghainese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages; note - Zhuang is official in Guangxi Zhuang, Yue is official in Guang Religions: folk religion 21.9%, Buddhist 18.2%, Christian 5.1%, Muslim 1.8%, Hindu < 0.1%, Jewish < 0.1%, other 0.7% (includes Daoist (Taoist)), unaffiliated 52.1% (2021 est.) Urban population: 64.6% of total population (2023).
2021Since the change, China has been among the world’s fastest growing economies, with real gross domestic product averaging over 9% growth annually through 2021, lifting an estimated 800 million people out of poverty and dramatically improving overall living standards.
2023Generation mix — fossil fuels: 64.2% of total installed capacity (2023 est.); nuclear: 4.7% of total installed capacity (2023 est.); solar: 6.3% of total installed capacity (2023 est.); wind: 9.6% of total installed capacity (2023 est.); hydroelectricity: 13.3% of total instal Energy use: 113.805 million Btu/person (2023 est.).
2023Industries: world leader in gross value of industrial output; mining and ore processing, iron, steel, aluminum, and other metals, coal; machine building; armaments; textiles and apparel; petroleum; cement; chemicals; fertilizer; consumer products (including footwear, toys Agriculture: maize, rice, vegetables, wheat, sugarcane, potatoes, cucumbers/gherkins, tomatoes, watermelons, pork (2023) Electricity access: 100% (2022 est.).
2023Major urban areas: 29.211 million Shanghai, 21.766 million BEIJING (capital), 17.341 million Chongqing, 14.284 million Guangzhou, 14.239 million Tianjin, 13.073 million Shenzhen (2023) world’s second-largest economy by nominal GDP; global leader in exports and manufacturing; historically strong growth slowing; challenges of aging workforce, weak productivity, rising youth unemployment, struggling property sector, and public debt; state-sponsored economic controls and infrastructure investments Inflation: 0.2% (2024 est.).
2024Military spending: 1.5% of GDP (2024 est.).
2025Population: 1.41 billion (2025 estimate).
