CHINATRUTH

Communism is a cancer in human progress.

Timeline

A vertical record of major events.

  1. Jimmy Lai sentenced to 20 years

    People: Jimmy Lai

    On 9 February 2026 the Hong Kong High Court sentenced Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison in his national security case.

  2. White Paper protests and subsequent arrests

    People: Students and citizens

    After the Urumqi fire, citizens in many cities held blank sheets of paper to protest zero-COVID controls; waves of detentions and police summonses followed.

  3. Sitong Bridge protest and arrest of Peng Lifa

    People: Peng Lifa

    Days before the 20th Party Congress, Peng Lifa hung protest banners on Beijing's Sitong Bridge and was immediately detained; his whereabouts remained unclear.

  4. Hong Kong national security law and pressure on civil society

    People: Hong Kong pro-democracy figures, media and civil groups

    After the law took effect, pro-democracy figures faced mass prosecution, several media outlets shut down and civil society groups disbanded.

  5. Mass detention and re-education camps in Xinjiang

    People: Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims

    From 2017 Xinjiang built a large network of detention facilities where hundreds of thousands to over a million people were held and subjected to forced indoctrination.

  6. 709 crackdown on human rights lawyers

    People: Wang Quanzhang, Li Heping and other rights lawyers

    More than 300 lawyers and activists nationwide were summoned, detained or sentenced.

  7. Strike Hard Campaign in Xinjiang

    People: Residents of Xinjiang

    A counter-terrorism campaign that greatly expanded surveillance, checkpoints and criminal punishment.

  8. Crackdown on the New Citizens' Movement

    People: Xu Zhiyong, Ding Jiaxi and others

    Activists calling for official asset disclosure and equal education rights were prosecuted for disturbing public order; several organisers were imprisoned.

  9. Forced sterilisation campaign in Puning, Guangdong

    People: Local women of childbearing age and their families

    Family-planning officials pushed sterilisation quotas within days, detaining relatives to pressure targets into compliance.

  10. Liu Xiaobo sentenced to 11 years

    People: Liu Xiaobo

    For co-drafting Charter 08, Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to 11 years for inciting subversion; he died in custody in 2017.

  11. 2008 Tibetan unrest and crackdown

    People: Residents of Lhasa and Tibetan areas

    Protests and riots broke out in Lhasa and elsewhere; authorities deployed armed police, imposed lockdowns and made mass arrests.

  12. Sun Zhigang incident

    People: Sun Zhigang

    College graduate Sun Zhigang was detained for lacking a temporary residence permit and beaten to death; the case ended the custody and repatriation system.

  13. Persecution of Falun Gong

    People: Falun Gong practitioners

    Authorities banned Falun Gong and set up a dedicated apparatus; large numbers of practitioners were detained, sent to labour camps or imprisoned.

  14. Crackdown on the China Democracy Party

    People: Xu Wenli, Wang Youcai, Qin Yongmin and others

    After registration was refused, the party's main founders were given long sentences for subverting state power.

  15. Military clearance in Beijing

    People: Beijing residents and students

    On the night of 3 June into 4 June, troops advanced into the city to clear the streets, causing mass casualties.

  16. Nationwide student and democracy movement

    People: Students and citizens across China

    Mourning for Hu Yaobang grew into nationwide protests demanding an end to corruption and political reform.

  17. Ongoing pressure on house churches

    People: Members of unregistered religious groups

    Churches outside the official system have long faced bans, fines, demolitions and detentions.

  18. Coercive family planning

    People: Women of childbearing age and families

    Quota-driven family planning was accompanied by forced abortions, sterilisations and heavy fines.

  19. Arrest and sentencing of Wei Jingsheng

    People: Wei Jingsheng

    After publishing “The Fifth Modernization” and other essays, Wei Jingsheng was arrested and sentenced to 15 years for counter-revolution.

  20. Shadian incident in Yunnan

    People: Hui villagers of Shadian

    Troops entered Shadian and neighbouring Hui villages, causing large numbers of civilian deaths.

  21. Binyang massacre

    People: Residents of Binyang County

    Organised mass killings in Binyang County over several days left thousands dead.

  22. Wuxuan cannibalism incident

    People: Victims in Wuxuan County

    During the Cultural Revolution, victims in Wuxuan County, Guangxi were killed at struggle sessions and their bodies eaten.

  23. Daoxian massacre in Hunan

    People: So-called “black categories” and their families in Daoxian

    More than 9,000 people, mostly rural families labelled class enemies, were killed in Daoxian and nearby counties within two months.

  24. Yangjiang massacre in Guangdong

    People: Residents of the Yangjiang area

    Amid Cultural Revolution factional conflict, large-scale killings took place in the Yangjiang area.

  25. Guangxi Massacre during the Cultural Revolution

    People: Residents across Guangxi

    Organised massacres occurred across Guangxi; later official investigations recorded well over 100,000 deaths.

  26. Daxing massacre

    People: Residents of Daxing County, Beijing

    During “Red August”, communes in Daxing County killed entire “black category” families, including the elderly and infants.

  27. Cultural Revolution

    People: The population nationwide

    A decade-long political campaign that produced mass persecution, struggle sessions, imprisonment and unnatural deaths.

  28. Xinyang incident

    People: Farmers in Xinyang, Henan

    Under grain requisition and blockades, around a million people starved in the Xinyang area while officials reported bumper harvests.

  29. 1959 Tibetan uprising and military suppression

    People: Lhasa residents and monks

    The Lhasa uprising was suppressed by force and the Dalai Lama fled to India.

  30. Great Chinese Famine

    People: China's rural population

    A nationwide famine from 1959 to 1962 with excess deaths estimated in the tens of millions.

  31. People's commune movement

    People: The rural population

    Private property, food rations and labour were collectivised; communal canteens deepened the later famine.

  32. Xunhua incident in Qinghai

    People: Salar residents of Xunhua

    Local protests were suppressed by the military; many residents were killed or imprisoned.

  33. Great Leap Forward

    People: The population nationwide

    A campaign built on steel targets and inflated grain figures that directly caused mass famine.

  34. Jiabiangou

    People: “Rightists” sent to labour camps in Gansu

    People labelled rightists were sent to Jiabiangou farm for re-education through labour; most died of starvation and forced labour.

  35. Hu Feng “counter-revolutionary clique” case

    People: Hu Feng and associated writers

    A literary dispute escalated into a nationwide purge implicating over 2,000 people; Hu Feng spent decades in prison.

  36. Five-anti campaign

    People: Private business owners

    Investigations, denunciations and confiscations targeting private capitalists drove many to bankruptcy or suicide.

  37. Three-anti campaign

    People: Party and government officials

    A purge of state organs in the name of fighting corruption, waste and bureaucracy.

  38. Thought reform campaign for intellectuals

    People: University teachers and intellectuals

    Intellectuals were required to make public self-criticisms and denounce one another to enforce ideological conformity.

  39. Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries

    People: Those labelled counter-revolutionaries

    A quota-driven nationwide campaign in which official figures alone acknowledge more than 700,000 executions.

  40. Land reform movement

    People: Landlord and rich-peasant families

    Land reform featured widespread struggle sessions and executions, killing large numbers of landlords.

  41. Siege of Changchun

    People: Civilians inside Changchun

    A five-month siege and blockade caused large numbers of civilian deaths from starvation.

  42. “Special goods” trade in the Shaan-Gan-Ning base area

    People: Base-area economic authorities

    To relieve fiscal pressure, the base area traded opium referred to as “special goods”, documented in research and archives.

CNEN