Chinese Cities by Historical Events #1

770 BC

King Ping of Zhou (周平王) moved the capital to this city after Quanrong invaded the capital Haojing (modern day Xi'an)

207 BC

Liu Bang's (劉邦) forces entered this city peacefully after the last ruler of Qin dynasty, Ziying (子嬰), surrendered

196

Cao Cao (曹操) escorted Emperor Xian of Han (漢獻帝) to this city and began to control the military and political power of the Eastern Han Dynasty

617

Li Yuan (李淵) started his military campaign from this city to overthrow the Sui dynasty

1127

During the Jingkang incident when the forces of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty besieged and sacked this city, captured the Song ruler, Emperor Qinzong (宋欽宗), along with his father, Emperor Huizong (宋徽宗), and many members of the imperial family and officials of the Song imperial court

1626

An unexplained catastrophic explosion occurred at this heavily populated city and had reportedly killed around 20,000 people. The nature of the explosion is still unclear to this day, as it is estimated to have released energy equivalent to about 10-20 kiloton of TNT, similar to that of the Hiroshima bombing

1645

Mass killings of innocent civilians in this city by the invading Manchu, often referred to as a ten-day massacre

1856

The Porcelain Tower of this city which was constructed in the 15th century and rising up to a height of 79 m with nine stories was destroyed during the course of the Taiping Rebellion

1938

The greatest human-caused citywide fire in Chinese history when Kuomintang officials ordered this city be set on fire during the Second Sino-Japanese War to keep its wealth removed from the Japanese

1948

A military blockade undertaken by the People's Liberation Army against this city, the largest city in Manchuria at the time, and one of the headquarters of the Republic of China Army in Northeast China. Numbers of civilian casualties have been estimated at around 150,000