China - Country history and economic development

2205-1783 B.C. Early Bronze Age occurs, as does use of metal.

1783-1134 B.C. Economy is based on agriculture, with some hunting and animal husbandry. More advanced bronze metallurgy appears. Silk fabric appears.

1134-770 B.C. Feudalistic society appears. Routine taxation on agriculture begins. Systematic irrigation, fertilization, and animal-drawn plows are used in farming. Iron tools appear in farming and mining. Cowry shells, silk, jade, pearls, leather, and pieces of silver are used in trading.

770-246 B.C. Commerce improves through coinage and technology.

246-206 B.C. Standardization of legal codes, bureaucratic procedures, coinage, writing, philosophical thought, and scholarship take place. Walls from warring states are combined to make a Great Wall. Public works projects begin, including an imperial road.

206-1 B.C. Merchant class grows wealthy due to agricultural enterprises (cereals and rice), cattle, fish farming, cloth mills, private foundries, lacquer factories, shops, and money lending. State foundries appear in most areas. Technological advances occur, noticeably in paper and porcelain.

1-88. Government supports free, no-interest loans to curb usury. Regional commissions set prices on staple goods. Granaries hold surplus food in case of famine. State Wine Monopoly is formed. State monopolies in iron and salt are abolished.

89-166. Embassies from various nations are established.

220-265. Advances in medicine, astronomy and cartography occur. State supports silk weaving workshops, each with thousands of workers. Gunpowder is introduced in fireworks.

300-399. Oil wick lamps and umbrellas appear. Coal is used in lieu of wood in making cart iron.

400-499. Harness with paddle-horse collar is invented. Fusion process is used in making steel. First true porcelain is made in China.

552. Byzantine emperor, Justinian, sends missionaries to China to smuggle out silk worms and mulberry leaves.

600. Man-powered paddle-wheel boat appears. Merchants from 27 different lands meet at Zhang-ye on silk road to discuss trade.

618-907. Tang Dynasty adopts function of state affairs over public administration, finances, rites, army, justice, and public works. A censorate ensures compliance of governmental performance with plans. Use of receipts of deposit, for exchange of commercial transactions, begins. Earlier restrictions on business activities are ignored. Tang dynasty recognizes middle class over peasants.

894-1300. Japan severs all relations with China; however, it allows informal commercial visits by private traders with luxury goods.

960-1126. K'ai-feng becomes a major city, under the Northern Song Dynasty, with broad roads, wide canals, all-day markets, eateries, and restaurants, merchants, vendors, and entertainers. Invention of navigational compasses, astronomical instruments, celestial globes, water-driven mechanical clocks, blast furnace using coke, and spinning wheel occurs. Government prints promissory notes. Civil servants manage state monopolies. The government recognizes association of merchants and artisans and "chambers of commerce." Silk working machinery aids production. Specialization in pottery occurs. Tea and cotton are major cultivated crops.

1000-99. Large-scale iron and steel complexes are built in the north using blast furnaces and employing some 3,000 workers. An industrial complex is built to mass-produce ceramic for imperial court.

1068-85. Under emperor Shen Tsung, provincial money taxes are substituted for labor obligation to reduce peas-ant's dependence on moneylenders. A financial bureau reduces budget by 40 percent. Government loans cash or grain to poor to protect usury on crop loans.

1100-99. Intaglio printing is used in money printing to prevent counterfeiting.

1260-94. Kublai Khan rules over the Mongol empire, Central Asia, Persia, North China, and Mongolia. He retains the salt and iron monopolies. Discrimination against the Huns begins. Three types of paper money are established: one based on silk and two based on silver. Fixed taxes are adopted and large levies of Song Dynasty are abolished. Government is reorganized to include a bureau of imperial manufactures (industrial matters), a secretariat (civilian matters), a privy council (military matters), a censorate (evaluating officials), and offices of personnel, revenue, rites, war, justice, and public works. Banners are used to advertise wine. Pawnshops are first seen.

1277. Marco Polo is appointed agent to the imperial council.

1287. Kublai Khan replaces paper money with new currency to fight against rapid inflation.

1295. Marco Polo returns to Italy, incites interest in trade with China.

1342. Weapons, fans, screens, laquerware, and books are traded during Japanese trading expeditions.

1368-1644. Ming Dynasty begins, and government is re-organized. Silk is reserved for imperial use. Nationwide tax system is implemented, and corrupt Mongols are replaced. Slavery is abolished. Large estates are confiscated and poor peasants rent land. The wealthy are taxed heavily. Contact with foreigners is restricted. Elementary school system is established.

1420. Ming navy produces combat vessels. More than 250 are capable of long-range voyages.

1421. Beijing becomes the capital. The imperial workshop employs more than 27,000 craftsmen in trade and foreign relations.

1557-97. Chinese allow Portuguese colonization and development on Macau.

1637. First English factory is established in Canton.

1644-1912. Manchu overthrow Ming Dynasty, and China enters Qing Dynasty.

1800. China produces 33.3 percent of the world manufacturing output. Foreign merchants exchange opium for goods.

1842. Treaty of Nanking is signed; Britain gets control of Hong Kong. Shanghai and other coastline cities are open to foreign settlements.

1873-90. Modern non-military enterprises begin to form, owned and operated by Chinese compradors and merchant middlemen.

1900-01. Boxer Rebellion tries to force foreigners out, suppressed by Britain, United States, France, and Japan. China pays US$330 million in restitution.

1916-31. Japanese receive commercial rights to Inner Mongolia and Southern Manchuria and create the puppet state of Manchuria.

1937. Japanese forces invade and eventually occupy Beijing.

1949. People's Republic of China is formed when Communists take over the government. A mass exodus of entrepreneurs to Hong Kong and nationalists to Taiwan occurs.

1958. Great Leap Forward begins by creating communes to increase production and increase collectivism. However, it fails to increase economic growth.

1966. Great Cultural Revolution is launched, attacking bourgeoisie ideology and capitalist thought, which leads to rioting and instability. These events have a devastating impact on the economy.

1976. The death of Mao Zedong and arrest of Gang of Four end Great Cultural Revolution.

1980. Special Economic Zones are extended for capitalist enterprises north of Hong Kong. The country's first management program is established and forms the Chinese National Center for Industrial Science and Technology at Dalian Institute of Technology.

1985. The development of consumer-based industry occurs. The first stockbroker in Shanghai trades with 10 corporations.

1989. The first Beijing International Fair opens, which is the first and the biggest international fair held independently by China. Growing student objections to official corruption lead to violence after a demonstration in Tiananmen Square.

1990. The 4th Asian Trade Promoting Meeting is held in Beijing. Official census counts 1 billion people. China is granted observer status in GATT.

1991. China Stock Association announces its establishment in Beijing.

1992. China announces that the goal of the economic reform is to set up a socialist market system.

1993. Electric power groups (North, East, Middle, Easter-North, and West-North) were permitted to be set up by the State Council.

1994. The launching ceremony of Yangtzi River Three Gorges is held and its construction started.

1995. The China Investment Association announces its establishment in Beijing.

1996. With sharp economic growth and controlled inflation under control, China achieves the goal of macro economic control.

1997. China decreases tariffs and promises to reduce the average tariff of the industrial products to 10 percent.

1998. In order to protect China's growing economy from the Asian economic crisis, Chinese government issues 1,000 billion national debts for the construction of domestic infrastructure and civil services.

1999. China resumes the collection of tax on the interest of personal savings.

2000. China successfully completes the 9th 5-Year Plan for economic growth; and the country's GDP reaches US$10,000 billion.