A chronology of key events in Taiwan's transformation into a democracy
Adopted from CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/03/19/taiwan.timeline.reut/index.html
Also refer to History of Taiwan for details
17th century: an influx of Han Chinese immigrants from areas of Fujian and Guangdong of mainland China, sailed across the Taiwan Strait.
1624-1662: the period of colonial Dutch government on Formosa, known as Dutch Formosa
1661: Koxinga 國姓爺 (aka Zheng Cheng-Gong 鄭成功) led his troops on a landing at Lu'ermen to attack the Dutch colonists at Taiwan.
February 1662: The Dutch Governor of Taiwan, Frederik Coyett, surrendered Fort Zeelandia to Koxinga.
1885: Qing dynasty (清朝) made Taiwan a province of China.
1895: China ceded Taiwan to Japan.
1911: The Nationalist Party
(aka: the KuoMinTang 中國國民黨)
led by Sun Yat-Sen (孫中山) overthrown the Qing Dynasty, the last imperial dynasty of
China, and founded the
Republic of China (中華民國)
1924: in order to hasten the conquest of China, Suun Yat-Sen began a policy of
active cooperation with the Chinese Communists (中国共产党)
1925: Sun Yat-Sen died
of liver cancer on 12 March 1925, at the age of 58 at
the Rockefeller Hospital in Beijing.
1927: The Communists and the Kuomintang split marked the start of the Chinese Civil War
1937-1945 Chinese put the Civil War on hold and fought Japanese in World War II
1945: Taiwan returned to Chinese control after World War II.
February 28, 1947: Nationalist troops crushed islandwide rioting by Taiwanese disgruntled at widespread corruption.
1949: Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek (蔣中正) lost civil war to Mao Zedong's (毛澤東) Communist armies and retreated to Taiwan along with about 2 million refugees (so called the “mainlanders”). The military strongman ruled the island until his death in 1975.
1968: Taiwan held first by-elections to replace deceased China-elected deputies. A majority remained lifetime legislators and only a small minority were elected.
1971: United Nations expeled the Republic of China, Taiwan's official name, and accepts Beijing's People's Republic of China.
1972: Chiang Kai-shek appointed his son, Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), as premier.
1975: Vice President yen chia-kan (嚴家淦) succeeded Chiang Kai-shek as president of Taiwan upon Chiangś death
1978: Chiang Ching-kuo was elected president of Taiwan after the term of President Yen Chia-Kan
1979: Washington switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing. U.S. Congress passes the Taiwan Relations Act promising to help Taiwan defend itself.
1984: Chiang Ching-kuo was re-elected and handpicks Taiwan-born Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) to succeed him.
1986: Chiang Ching-kuo promises political reform. Emboldened dissidents form Taiwan's first illegal opposition party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) 民主進步黨. Government turns blind eye.
July 1987: Taiwan lifted almost four decades of martial law.
January 1988: Chiang Ching-kuo died. Lee Teng-hui became president and curbs on newspapers were eased.
May 1990: Lee Teng-hui took office and pardoned dissidents Shih Ming-teh and Hsu Hsin-liang, who became chairmen of the DPP.
1991: Lifetime members of tri-cameral legislature forced to retire.
1992: Taiwan held first full elections to parliament.: Parliament ordered destruction of tens of thousands of personnel dossiers, ending checks for ideological reliability.
1993: Ban on new radio stations lifted. Parliament ended restrictions on broadcasts in Taiwanese dialect.
1994: Government allowed new television stations.
1996: Voters made Lee Teng-hui first directly elected president in Chinese history in defiance of weeks of menacing war games by China. Lee takes landslide 54 percent of vote.
2000: Voters put DPP in power for first time, electing Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) as president and ending more than five decades of Nationalist Party rule.
Nov 27, 2003: Parliament passed law permitting referenda on issues such as national sovereignty.
March 20, 2004: Taiwan voters re-elected Chen Shui-bian as the president and casted their votes in the island's first referendum.
March, 2008: Ma Ying-Jeou
(馬英九), the chairman of the KuoMinTang
(KMT), became the next president of Taiwan.
March, 2016: Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), became the first female president of Taiwan.
Present: The democracy of Taiwan lives on