Timeline: China - A chronology of key events (BBC)

1986-90 - China's "Open-door policy" opens the country to foreign investment and encourages development of a market economy and private sector. 1989 - Troops open fire on demonstrators who have camped for weeks in Tiananmen Square initially to demand the posthumous rehabilitation of former CCP General Secretary Hu Yaobang, who was forced to resign in 1987. The official death toll is 200. International outrage leads to sanctions.

1989 - Jiang Zemin takes over as Chinese Communist Party general secretary from Zhao Ziyang, who refused to support martial law during the Tiananmen demonstrations.

Stockmarkets open in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

1992 - Russia and China sign declaration restoring friendly ties.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) ranks China's economy as third largest in the world after the US and Japan.

1993 - Jiang Zemin officially replaces Yang Shangkun as president.

Preliminary construction work on the Three Gorges dam begins. It will create a lake almost 600 kilometres (375 miles) long and submerge dozens of cultural heritage sites by the time it is completed in 2009.

1994 - China abolishes the official renminbi (RMB) currency exchange rate and fixes its first floating rate since 1949.

1995 - China tests missiles and holds military exercises in the Taiwan Strait, apparently to intimidate Taiwan during its presidential elections.

1996 - China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan - dubbed the Shanghai Five - meet in Shanghai and agree to cooperate to combat ethnic and religious tensions in each others' countries.

1997 - Deng Xiaoping dies, aged 92. Rioting erupts in Yining, Xinjiang and on day of Deng's funeral Xinjiang separatists plant three bombs on buses in Urumqi, Xinjiang, killing nine and injuring 74.

Hong Kong reverts to Chinese control.

1998 - Zhu Rongji succeeds Li Peng as premier, announces reforms in the wake of the Asian financial crisis and continued deceleration of the economy. Thousands of state-owned enterprises are to be restructured through amalgamations, share flotations and bankruptcies. About four million civil service jobs to be axed.

Large-scale flooding of the Yangtse, Songhua and Nenjiang rivers.

50th anniversary

1999 - Nato bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, souring Sino-US relations.

Falun Gong, a quasi-religious sect, outlawed as a threat to stability.

Fiftieth anniversary of People's Republic of China on 1st October.

Macao reverts to Chinese rule.

2000 - Crackdown on official corruption intensifies, with the execution for bribe taking of a former deputy chairman of the National People's Congress.

The Falun Gong sect continues to defy its ban and holds demonstrations.

Bomb explosion kills up to 60 in Urumqi, Xinjiang.

2001 - China urges US not to supply Taiwan with advanced anti-missile equipment. US says it will go ahead with sales, but won't supply everything on Taiwan's wish list.

2001 April - Diplomatic stand-off over the detention of an American spy plane and crew after a mid-air collision with a Chinese fighter jet.

2001 June - Leaders of China, Russia and four Central Asian states launch the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and sign an agreement to fight ethnic and religious militancy while promoting trade and investment. The group emerges when the Shanghai Five - China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan - are joined by Uzbekistan.

2001 June - China carries out military exercises simulating an invasion of Taiwan, at the same time as the island's armed forces test their capability to defend Taiwan against a missile attack from China.

2001 November - China is officially admitted as member of the World Trade Organisation.

2002 February - US President George W Bush visits, on the 30th anniversary of President Nixon's visit to China - the first by a US president

2002 July - The US says China is modernising its military to make possible a forcible reunification with Taiwan. Beijing says its policy remains defensive.

2002 November - Vice-President Hu Jintao is named head of the ruling Communist Party, replacing Jiang Zemin, the outgoing president. Jiang is re-elected head of the influential Central Military Commission, which oversees the armed forces.

2003 March - National People's Congress elects Hu Jintao as president. He replaces Jiang Zemin, who steps down after 10 years in the post.

Sars virus outbreak

2003 March-April - China and Hong Kong are hit by the pneumonia-like Sars virus, thought to have originated in Guangdong province in November 2002. Strict quarantine measures are enforced to stop the disease spreading.

2003 June - Sluice gates on Three Gorges dam closed to allow reservoir to fill up. Construction of $25 billion project displaced almost one million people to make way for world's largest hydroelectric scheme.

2003 June - Hong Kong is declared free of Sars. Days later the World Health Organization lifts its Sars-related travel warning for Beijing.

2003 June - China, India reach de facto agreement over status of Tibet and Sikkim in landmark cross-border trade agreement.

2003 July/August - Some 500,000 people march in Hong Kong against Article 23, a controversial anti-subversion bill. Two key Hong Kong government officials resign. The government shelves the bill.

2003 October - Launch of China's first manned spacecraft: Astronaut Yang Liwei is sent into space by a Long March 2F rocket.

2004 September - Former president Jiang Zemin stands down as army chief, three years ahead of schedule.

2004 November - China signs a landmark trade agreement with 10 south-east Asian countries; the accord could eventually unite 25% of the world's population in a free-trade zone.

2005 January - Former reformist leader Zhao Ziyang dies. He opposed violent measures to end 1989's student protests and spent his last years under virtual house arrest.

Aircraft chartered for the Lunar New Year holiday make the first direct flights between China and Taiwan since 1949.

2005 March - Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa resigns.

New law on Taiwan calls for use of force should Taipei declare independence from mainland China.

2005 April - Relations with Japan deteriorate amid sometimes-violent anti-Japanese protests in Chinese cities, sparked by a Japanese textbook which China says glosses over Japan's World War II record.

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