Timeline
1644–1911 The QING DYNASTY
- 1845 Treaty of Wanghia formalizes China-U.S. diplomatic relations
- 1849 California gold rush and first wave of Chinese immigration to U.S.
- 1867 Pacific Mail Steamship Company opens Pacific mail route to China
- 1867 U.S. Postal Agency in Shanghai begins operation
- 1882 Exclusion Act effectively ends Chinese immigration to the U.S.
- 1896 China establishes a national postal system
- 1899–1911 Boxer Rebellion against the Qing dynasty
- 1908 Construction of Chinese Bureau of Engraving and Printing begins
- 1911 Revolution
1912–1949 The REPUBLIC of CHINA
- 1911–12 Sun Yat-sen is provisional president
- 1912–16 Yuan Shikai is president
- 1916–28 Warlord Era
- 1921 Communist Party of China founded
- 1927–37 Civil war between Guomindang (Chinese Nationalist Party) under Chiang Kai-shek and Communists
- 1937 Pan American Airways provides Pacific airmail routes to China
- 1937–45 China at war with Japan
- 1939–45 World War II; U.S. declares war 1941, forms alliance with China
- 1945–49 Chinese civil war resumes
- 1949 Guomindang retreats to Taiwan
1949–Present The PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC of CHINA
- 1949 Mao Zedong becomes chairman of the People’s Republic of China
- 1956–75 Vietnam War
- 1965 United States restores significant Chinese immigration to the U.S.
- 1966–76 Cultural Revolution
- 1971 Secretary of State Kissinger visits Beijing
- 1972 President Nixon visits Beijing, meets with Chairman Mao
