The history of Taishan (aka Sunning) County is one of colonisation, population, war, famine and revolution. It is inextricably interwoven with that of the other three Siyi (aka Sze Yap or See Yap) Counties of Kaiping (aka Hoiping), Xinhui (aka Sunwei or Sunwui) and Enping (aka Yanping), and Guangdong (aka Kwangtung) Province itself.
Any additions to that listed here will be incorporated into this page.
| 214 BC |
Guangdong Province was incorporated into China,
and three prefectures were formed - Guilin, Nanhai and Cheung. The Siyi area was part of
Nanhai. |
| 222 AD |
Pingyi County was established. The area was
still largely populated by "barbarians" of the Miao, Li, Yao and Thai peoples. |
| 280 AD |
Pingyi County was renamed Xinyi County. |
| 420 AD |
Xinyi County was first official referred to as
Xinhui County. |
| 1152 |
Chongshan County was established from the
south-eastern portion of Xinhui County. |
| 1452 |
Land on the north-western corner of Xinhui
County became Shunde County. |
| 1478 |
The south-western corner of Xinhui County was
excised to form Enping County. |
| 1498 |
In the 11th year of the reign of
Hongzhi, officer Deng Zan and Assistant Officer Wang Zhe were assigned to govern a new
land region which was to be separated from Xinhui County. Judge Lin Pan was assigned to
handle all judicial affairs. |
| 1499 |
In February of the 12th year of the
reign of Hongzhi, Xinning County was formed from land in the south-west of Xinhui
County. |
| 1649 |
Kaiping County was established from the land
between Xinning and Enping Counties. |
| 1662 |
The emperor issued an edict ordering his subjects
to withdraw 50 Li, which is 30km, inland to deprive the rebels in Taiwan from any outside
aid. This edict was in force for eight years. |
| 1684 |
In February of the 23rd year of the
reign of Kangzhi, after the final defeat of the rebels, five of Taishan's ports were
reopened, including Nanwan. |
| 1732 |
Hakshan County was created from the
north-eastern section of Xinhui County. |
| 1850-64 |
Taiping Rebellion was started in Guangdong
Province by Hung Hsiu-ch'uan, and spread north and west. Some 20 million people died
throughout southern and central China before the rebels were defeated. Central government
control was severely weakened. |
| 1856-67 |
Punti-Hakka Clan War was fought between the
Punti who were the local Han Chinese and the Hakka from the mountains of Fujian Province
for control of the southwest corner of the Pearl River Delta (qv). The major battleground
was Taishan County. |
| 1881 |
On the 19th January in the
7th year of the reign of Guangxu, Chixi experienced an earthquake, which was
heard over 5 km away. |
| 1892 |
On the 20th & 21st
October in the 18th year of the reign of Guangxu, torrents of freezing rain hit
Chixi. On the 29th November, unusually cold weather culminated in a severe
snowstorm. |
| 1895 |
In the 21st year of the reign of
Guangxu, "Ning Yang Poetry Set" was published in Taishan.
The first grade school was founded with donations from Mei Wan's Village, Wu Li
Men, and Xi Ze's Village, Wu Yao Yu, as well as some 500 other Wu family members. |
| 1908 |
In the 34th year of the reign of
Guangxu, the first educational arts organization, Xinning's Educational Society, was
established in Taishan. |
| 1909 |
In the 1st year of the reign of
Xuantong, the county's railroads was connected to the main lines of the province. |
| 1910 |
In the 2nd year of the reign of
Xuantong, the first middle school was opened in the county. It is now known as
Taishan's No. 1 Middle School. |
| 1914 |
Xinning County was renamed to Taishan [ ]
County by Sun Yat Sen to avoid confusion with other counties of the same name. In
Cantonese it is transliterated as Toishan (aka Toisan, Toisaan). Unfortunately the name in
Pinyin is the same as that for Mount Taishan [ ] in Shandong Province, which was
entered onto the World Heritage List in 1987. |
| 1919 |
Overseas Chinese built the first electric power
station, Yong Ming Power and Electricity Company, in the county. |
| 1921 |
The Public Highway Bureau was established in
Taishan. |
| 1924 |
During the spring, Taishan was given
self-government by Dr. Sun Yat Sen.
Later that year, the first section of public highway was built to connect Taihuo Road
and Yuanshen Road in the capital Taicheng. |
| 1928 |
The county's first telephone company, "Same
Voice Telephone", was formed. |
| 1931 |
On the 18th September, the Japanese
began invading Manchuria, on the pretext of the "Mukden Incident", where a small
segment of the Japanese-owned South Manchurian Railway was destroyed by a bomb. |
| 1932 |
The first middle school funded by Overseas
Chinese was built in Duanfen. |
| 1936 |
On the 20th May, Duanfen experienced
an earthquake. Walls were shaken and windows rattled loudly. |
| 1937 |
Japan began its invasion of Taishan, when on the
28th December the Japanese invaded Shangchuan Island. |
| 1939 |
The "Youth Vanguard Against Japanese Aggression"
was formed in Taishan, as a local resistance group. |
| 1941 |
At 1pm on the 3rd March, Japanese
troops from Doushan, guided by a Chinese traitor, marched down Tainan Road through
Chonglou into Taicheng. By 4pm, Taicheng was surrendered to the Japanese. On that day
alone, 282 people were killed, 534 stores and houses were burnt down, and $3.6 million
worth of goods were plundered. On the 10th March, the Chinese Nationalist Army
retook Taishan, but the county was abandoned to the Japanese on the 20th
September. |
| 1942 |
There was severe famine, and the peasants ate
their rice seedlings. |
| 1945 |
On the morning of the 24th July,
Japanese troops stationed at Doushan and Chonglou were defeated by Chinese troops, before
being pushed back to Taicheng. On the 15th August, the Japanese surrendered
unconditionally with the end of World War II.
On the 27th December, the companies who owned the various sections of the
public highways in the county merged to form a road transport company to manage all of the
county's highways. |
| 1947 |
The Sixth Taishan Athletic Games held its
opening ceremonies at Taishan Park in Taicheng.
On the 10th June, the Taishan volleyball team received a gold medal in
Guangdong's provincial championship. |
| 1949 |
Taishan's volleyball team participated in
Kaiping's "Hanling Cup" volleyball contest and won three gold medals.
Taishan was officially "liberated" by the victorious communist forces of Mao Tse Tung.
Massed groups of 30,000 people celebrated the liberation at Taishan Park in Taicheng, and
the peace that was achieved. |
| 1992 |
Taishan County was elevated to the status of a
city. |
| 1999 |
The 500th anniversary of the
establishment of Taishan County was celebrated, and a commemorative book was published
(qv). |