China

China in 1895 is an empire just broken by Japan. Over the next twenty years its court, reformers and rebels contest who rules China and whether it can become a modern state.

Li Hongzhang signs away Taiwan and Korea, and Kang Youwei answers with a petition for reform. As the powers carve up the coast, the young Guangxu Emperor tries the Hundred Days, until in September 1898 Yuan Shikai's choice decides who rules. Cixi backs the Boxers against the world, flees in disguise, and leaves Li to sign the Boxer Protocol. Her court then reforms itself while Sun Yat-sen plots its overthrow. After Cixi dies in 1908, a mutiny at Wuchang brings Yuan back. He trades the throne for a presidency, crushes parliament after Song Jiaoren is shot, yields to Japan's Twenty-One Demands and reaches for a throne himself, until revolt and his death in 1916.

It is told through the people who lived it, and each episode is checked against the sources it lists.

Seasons

1. China, 1895 to 1916, 1895 to 1916

Timeline

1. July 1894 First Sino-Japanese War
2. 25 July 1894 Sinking of the Kowshing
3. 17 September 1894 Battle of the Yalu River
4. 1895 Triple Intervention
5. 1895 First Guangzhou Uprising
6. 20 January 1895 Battle of Weihaiwei
7. 24 March 1895 Attempted assassination of Li Hongzhang at Shimonoseki
8. April 1895 Examination candidates' memorial of 1895
9. 17 April 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki
10. 8 March 1896 Li Hongzhang's embassy to Russia and the West
11. October 1896 Kidnapping of Sun Yat-sen in London
12. November 1897 Juye Incident
13. November 1897 German seizure of Jiaozhou Bay
14. 1898 Scramble for Concessions
15. 1898 Publication of Zhang Zhidong's Exhortation to Study
16. 27 March 1898 Russian lease of Port Arthur and Dalian
17. June 1898 Edict of 11 June 1898 announcing reform
18. 11 June 1898 Hundred Days' Reform
19. 1 July 1898 British lease of Weihaiwei
20. September 1898 Reformers' plot to seize the Empress Dowager
21. September 1898 Flight of Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao
22. 15 September 1898 Audiences of Yuan Shikai with the Guangxu Emperor
23. 20 September 1898 Yuan Shikai's betrayal of the reformers
24. 21 September 1898 Wuxu Coup
25. 28 September 1898 Execution of the Six Gentlemen
26. 1899 Boxer Uprising
27. September 1899 Plan to depose the Guangxu Emperor (1899)
28. 31 December 1899 Murder of Sidney Brooks
29. 24 January 1900 Naming of Pujun as heir apparent
30. June 1900 Mutual Protection of the Southeast
31. June 1900 Siege of the Beitang Cathedral
32. 10 June 1900 Seymour Expedition
33. 17 June 1900 Battle of the Dagu Forts (1900)
34. 20 June 1900 Assassination of Clemens von Ketteler
35. 20 June 1900 Siege of the International Legations
36. 21 June 1900 Qing declaration of war on the foreign powers
37. July 1900 Eight-Nation Alliance relief expedition to Beijing
38. 9 July 1900 Taiyuan Massacre
39. 14 July 1900 July 1900 truce at the Peking legations
40. 24 July 1900 Li Hongzhang's negotiations with the powers
41. August 1900 Flight of the Qing court to Xi'an
42. 14 August 1900 Relief of the International Legations
43. 15 August 1900 Sack of Peking
44. September 1900 Allied punitive expeditions in north China
45. 1901 Boxer Indemnity
46. 1901 New Policies
47. 28 January 1901 Reform edict of January 1901
48. 7 September 1901 Boxer Protocol
49. 7 September 1901 Establishment of the Peking Legation Quarter
50. 7 November 1901 Death of Li Hongzhang
51. January 1902 Return of the Qing court to Beijing
52. 1902 Creation of the Beiyang Army
53. 1 February 1902 Edict permitting Manchu-Han intermarriage
54. 1903 Subao case
55. 1904 Russo-Japanese War
56. 1905 Edict abolishing the civil service examinations
57. 1905 Founding of the Tongmenghui
58. May 1905 Anti-American boycott of 1905
59. 16 July 1905 Mission of the five commissioners to study constitutional government
60. 1 September 1906 Edict of 1906 announcing preparation for constitutional government
61. 28 September 1906 Edict prohibiting opium within ten years
62. 1908 Provincial assembly elections of 1909
63. 27 August 1908 Outline of the Imperial Constitution and nine-year programme
64. 14 November 1908 Death of the Guangxu Emperor
65. 15 November 1908 Death of Empress Dowager Cixi
66. 2 January 1909 Dismissal of Yuan Shikai
67. 14 October 1909 Opening of the provincial assemblies
68. 3 October 1910 Opening of the National Assembly
69. November 1910 Edict of November 1910 advancing parliament to 1913
70. 1911 Railway Protection Movement
71. 1911 1911 Revolution
72. 8 May 1911 Formation of the Princes' Cabinet
73. 9 May 1911 Edict nationalizing the trunk railways
74. 20 May 1911 Huguang Railway Loan
75. October 1911 Massacre of Manchus at Wuhan
76. October 1911 Yuan Shikai's delay in accepting command against the revolution
77. October 1911 Provincial secessions of 1911
78. 10 October 1911 Wuchang Uprising
79. 14 October 1911 Recall of Yuan Shikai
80. 30 October 1911 Qing edict of self-accusation
81. 1 November 1911 Imperialist recapture and burning of Hankou
82. 1 November 1911 Appointment of Yuan Shikai as Premier
83. November 1911 Li Yuanhong's letter to Yuan Shikai
84. November 1911 Nineteen Articles
85. 2 November 1911 Drafting of the Nineteen Articles
86. 22 November 1911 Battle of Hanyang
87. December 1911 North-South Peace Conference
88. 3 December 1911 Armistice of December 1911
89. 6 December 1911 Resignation of Prince Chun as Regent
90. 29 December 1911 Election of Sun Yat-sen as Provisional President
91. 1 January 1912 Founding of the Republic of China
92. 1912 Election of Yuan Shikai as Provisional President
93. 1912 Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China
94. 16 January 1912 Assassination attempt on Yuan Shikai
95. 27 January 1912 Telegram of the northern generals urging abdication
96. February 1912 Articles of Favourable Treatment
97. 12 February 1912 Abdication of the Xuantong Emperor
98. 29 February 1912 Beijing mutiny of the 3rd Division
99. 10 March 1912 Yuan Shikai's oath as Provisional President in Beijing
100. 1913 Second Revolution
101. 20 March 1913 Assassination of Song Jiaoren
102. 25 April 1913 Reorganization Loan
103. 4 November 1913 Yuan Shikai's dissolution of Parliament and the Nationalist Party
104. 5 November 1913 Sino-Russian Declaration on Outer Mongolia
105. 1914 Siege of Qingdao
106. about 1914 Black Dragon Society memorandum on China policy
107. 1 May 1914 Constitutional Compact of 1914
108. 29 December 1914 Presidential Succession Law
109. 1915 Yuan Shikai's monarchy movement
110. 1915 Goodnow Memorandum on monarchy
111. 18 January 1915 Twenty-One Demands
112. 26 April 1915 Japan's revised demands of 26 April 1915
113. 1 May 1915 Chinese reply of 1 May 1915
114. 7 May 1915 Japanese ultimatum of 7 May 1915
115. 8 May 1915 Chinese acceptance of the Japanese ultimatum
116. 25 May 1915 Sino-Japanese Treaty respecting South Manchuria and Eastern Inner Mongolia
117. August 1915 Founding of the Chouanhui
118. August 1915 Yang Du's pamphlet defending monarchy
119. October 1915 Provincial vote electing Yuan Shikai emperor
120. 28 October 1915 Japanese and Allied advice against the monarchy
121. November 1915 Cai E's escape from Beijing to Yunnan
122. December 1915 Liang Qichao's valedictory letter to Yuan Shikai
123. December 1915 Yunnan ultimatum to Yuan Shikai
124. December 1915 National Protection War
125. 11 December 1915 Hongxian Empire
126. 22 March 1916 Decree cancelling the monarchy
127. 6 June 1916 Death of Yuan Shikai