

China has been a leading civilisation for about four thousand years with a worldwide influence in art and sciences :
* 2000 BC - 1000 BC : antiquity
* 1000 BC - 221 BC : feudal period
-570 BC: birth of Lao Tseu (Taoïsm)
-551 BC: birth of Confucius (Confusianism)
-563 BC: birth of Buddha (Buddhism)
-221 BC: starting of the Great Wall of China construction (unification of China)
* 221 BC to 1912 : imperial period
- 1041: birth of printing works
- 1090: invention of the magnetic compass
- XIIIe century: Marco Polo discovers China
* 1912 - 1949 : Republican China (popular unrests, starvation, military defeats and foreign occupation)
* 1949 - nowadays : People's Republic of China
- 1949 to 1976: the Communist Party takes control of the country.
Mao Zedong succeeds in giving back its sovereignty to China. Besides, he settled a planned economy as well as strict controls on Chinese's life.
- 1978 to 1997: Deng Xioping decides to gradually reform the Chinese economic system but keep close control on people's life.
Step by step, the government starts a new policy aimed at opening China's economy to the rest of the world.
- 2001: entry to the World Trade Organisation



