This Month in History

April 6, 317

Sima Rui (276-323), a prince of the collapsed Western Jin Dynasty, founded a small regime Eastern Jin (317- 420) in southern China. Its capital was today’s Nanjing, Jiangsu Province.

April 20, 429

Zu Chongzhi (429-500), a prominent Chinese mathematician and astronomer, was born. His two main achievements include using the cyclotomic method to set the value of pi at between 3.1415926 and 3.1415927, and deriving the formula to calculate the volume of a sphere. At 33 he made the Daming Calendar, which for the first time in China took into consideration the precession of the equinoxes. He also calculated that a year consists of 365.24281481 days, very close to the 365.24219878 days as we compute today.

April 22, 1898

Yan Fu’s (1854-1921) translation of Thomas Huxley’s Evolution and Ethics was published, introducing two new concepts to Chinese people: Charles Darwin’s idea of “natural selection,” and the “survival of the fittest” concept offered by another Darwin reader, Herbert Spencer. A preeminent translator, thinker and educator in the late Qing Dynasty, Yan Fu introduced other foreign books on philosophy, social and natural sciences, and was a vocal advocate for reform in national governance. His best-known translations include Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty and Herbert Spencer’s Study of Sociology.

April 26, 1911

Tsinghua University, one of China’s most renowned educational institutions, was established. Its campus is situated on the site of a former royal garden belonging to a prince of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in northwestern Beijing and surrounded by a number of historical sites. Every year top scorers in the National College Entrance Exams are recruited by Tsinghua, and the university has become important for fostering talent, especially in scientific research.

April 3, 1949

The national organization All-China Women’s Federation (ACWF) was established. It is designed to represent and safeguard the rights and interests of women and promote gender equality in the nation, in which male superiority was the norm for thousands of years.

April 1, 1950

China Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) was founded and its name inscribed by Mao Zedong, with Xu Beihong (1895-1953) as its first president. The academy initiated modern education in the fine arts in China and has cultivated a constellation of artists preeminent on the world scene. Its museum of fine arts has built up a rich collection over the years, including many ancient Chinese scroll paintings.

April 12, 1957

The Chinese Taoist Association, the main association for this religion in the People’s Republic of China, was founded in Beijing. Taoism is indigenous to China and came into being during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). It advocates the pursuit of ultimate harmony between nature and society and a long, happy life. Many important elements of Chinese culture, such as martial arts and traditional medicine, have been deeply influenced by Taoism.

April 22, 1958

China completed the construction of the Monument to the People’s Heroes installed on the southern edge of Tian’anmen Square in Beijing. The monument is a memorial to the people who laid down their lives during wars from 1840 to 1949. One of the most famous sculptures in the country, its construction spanned the years from 1952 to 1958.

April 10, 1971

The U.S. table tennis team began a week-long visit to the People’s Republic of China at the invitation of the Chinese government. The trip marked a thaw in US-China relations and paved the way for a visit to Beijing by US President Richard Nixon and ushered in “ping-pong diplomacy.”

April 13, 1972

China resumed its legitimate seat in the Universal Post Union (UPU). China’s first set of postage stamps, “Large Dragons,” was issued in 1878 and its first post office – the Imperial Postal Service – was officially established in 1896.

April 2, 1983

Zhang Daqian (1899-1983), a legendary 20th-century Chinese artist, passed away in Taipei. He had a good command of traditional Chinese painting, calligraphy, seal-carving and poetry. His meeting with Picasso in 1956 in France was regarded as a summit meeting between contemporary masters of Eastern and Western art.

April 6, 1984

The State Council issued the Tentative Regulations of the People’s Republic of China Concerning Resident Identity Cards. It stipulated that Chinese Resident Identity Cards, the country’s official form of personal identification, shall be issued on receipt of application, to Chinese citizens over 16 years of age (except for active-duty members of the People’s Liberation Army and the People’s Armed Police, prisoners, and persons undergoing rehabilitation through labor).

April 28, 2003

The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) went into formal operation. It was designed to supervise and administer banks, financial management companies, trust and investment companies, and other depository financial institutions, and ensure the lawful and sound operation of the banking industry.

April 29, 2005

Hu Jintao and Lien Chan held historically significant talks in Beijing, marking the first time a CPC leader and a KMT leader had met in 60 years. They jointly issued a document entitled “Common Aspirations and Prospects for Cross-Strait Peace and Development.”