BEIJING, Feb 20 (AFP) - A chronology of the People's Republic of China (PRC):

1949 - Chinese communists defeat Kuomintang, establish PRC.

1950 - Sino-Soviet friendship treaty signed in Moscow. Chinese troops enter Korean War on side of North Korea

1951 - Chinese troops enter Tibet

1954 - Mao Zedong elected PRC chairman by NPC, Zhou Enlai appointed premier

1957 - Hundred Flowers movement gives way to Anti-Rightist Campaign, a huge crackdown on intellectuals and suspected dissidents

1958 - Mao launches disastrous economic campaign, the Great Leap Forward

1959 - Troops suppress armed rebellion in Lhasa, Dalai Lama flees to India

1961 - Tens of millions die in famine as a result of the Great Leap Forward

1963 - Open split between Chinese and Soviet communist parties

1964 - China carries out first nuclear test

1966 - Cultural Revolution begins

1971 - China is admitted to United Nations

1972 - Nixon visits China

1976 - Zhou Enlai dies, demonstrations and clashes in Tiananmen Square.

Mao dies, succeeded by chosen successor Hua Guofeng. Gang of Four imprisoned.

Earthquake in northeastern Tangshan kills 250,000.

1978 - China and United States restore diplomatic relations. Deng Xiaoping

emerges as supreme leader, launches economic reform. Democracy Wall movement

begins

1981 - Gang of Four sentenced. Party central committee condemns Cultural Revolution, Mao's mistakes

1984 - Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong signed

1987 - Demonstrations attacked as sign of "bourgeois liberalisation." Hu Yaobang dismissed, replaced by Zhao Ziyang as general secretary

1988 - Li Peng formally appointed premier. Austerity campaign launched

1989 - Sino-Soviet ties normalised. Beijing pro-democracy protests violently suppressed, martial law imposed in Beijing and Lhasa. Zhao Ziyang dismissed, replaced by Jiang Zemin as general secretary.

1990 - Martial law lifted. Deng resigns from last official post

1992 - Deng launches drive for accelerated economic reform

1993 - Jiang Zemin appointed president. Deng's doctrine of "socialist market economy" enshrined in constitution.

1997 - Deng dies February 19