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MODERN HISTORY OF CHINA

Objective chronological listing of significant events leading up to modern China.

1928

• January – Chiang Kai-shek resumes command of Nationalist forces.
  
• February - The first ever Communist base is eliminated. Located in Hailufeng, Guandong province, it was nick named "Little Moscow" and existed for only two months.
  
• April – Northern Expedition continues. Troops led by Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan join forces with Chiang Kai-shek.
  
• April – Communist troops led by Zhu De retreat to Jianggang Mountain and join up with Mao Zedong. The combined forces are later known as the Zhu-Mao Red Army.
  
• April - As Nationalist troops advance north, Japanese troops land in Shangdong province and enter Jinan.
  
• April – Nationalist forces enter Jinan.
  
• May - Seeds of the Sino-Japanese war. Representatives of Nanjing government in Jinan are tortured and killed by the Japanese.
  
• May - To avoid conflict with the Japanese, Nationalist forces retreat from Jinan. They are attacked by the Japanese along the way. From that time on, Chiang Kai-shek anticipates a future war with Japan.
  
• June - As Nationalist forces approach Beijing (named Beiping at the time), Zhang Zuolin leaves for Manchuria. Zhang is assassinated by Japanese agents along the way.
  
• June - Nationalist forces enter Beijing without a fight. Northern troops in general retreat.
  
• June - Sixth Congress of the Chinese Communist Party held in Moscow. Decision to establish a Red Army to overthrow the Nanjing government.
  
• June - Zhang Xueliang, son of Zhang Zuolin, becomes head of the Northeast Army in Manchuria and pledges loyalty to the Nanjing government.
  
• June - The city of Beijing  is renamed Beiping. Nanjing is now the capital of China.
  
• July - Generals of different Nationalist factions meet outside Beijing to discuss consolidation of various armies.
  
• October - Nationalist Party Central Standing Committee passes resolution to terminate the military government. A period of political tutelage by the Party would begin to prepare for full democracy. The period is to end by 1935.
  
• December – Flag of the Republic of China is raised in Shenyang, Manchuria. China nominally becomes a united country.