timeline: seven decades of communist china

August 8, 2008: Olympic Games open in Beijing. . 2009: Ethnic riots in China’s far western region of Xinjiang kill 197 people. . 2012: Xi Jinping becomes head of the Communist Party, and president the next year, kicking off a massive crackdown on corruption and civil society, with dozens of senior officials..

Most controversial news of the day, as detected by AI.