ON 16 DECEMBER IN ASIAN HISTORY
To see another date, on Internet (Google…), type “On (day + month) in Asian history”
Updated on December 16, 2018
705: Death of Chinese Empress Wu Zetian who founded her own dynasty in 690, interrupting the Tang dynasty, and ruled under the name Emperor Shengshen
http://history.04007.cn/en.php/HisMain/11758.html
755: An Lushan revolts against Chancellor Yang Guozhong at Fanyang, initiating the An Shi Rebellion during the Tang dynasty
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Shi_Rebellion
http://asianhistory.about.com/od/ancientchina/f/What-Was-The-An-Lushan-Rebellion.htm
1392: Emperor Go-Kameyama abdicates in favor of rival claimant Go-Komatsu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Go-Kameyama
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Go-Komatsu_of_Japan
1598: Amiral Yi Sun-sin (Yi Soon-shin or Lee Sun-shin) is killed during the Battle of Noryang won by the Korean against the Japanese (19 November in lunar calendar)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Noryang
https://openendedsocialstudies.org/2016/06/25/admiral-yi-sun-sin/
1707: Last recorded eruption of Mount Fuji in Japan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C5%8Dei_eruption_of_Mount_Fuji
1730: Birth of Diego Silang y Andaya, a revolutionary leader who conspired with British forces to overthrow Spanish rule in the northern Philippines and establish an independent Ilocano nation who was killed on May 28, 1763
http://www.insights-philippines.de/silang.htm
https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/1399/today-in-philippine-history-december-16-1730-diego-silang-was-born-in-pangasinan
1779: Morohito is enthroned under the name Kokaku. Up to 7 May 1817
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Kokaku_of_Japan
1783: Death of Yoriyuki Arima, Japanese mathematician, born on December 31, 1714
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arima_Yoriyuki
1864: Birth of Qiu Feng Chia (Qiu Fengjia) Chinese patriot, educator and poet who died in 1912
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qiu_Fengjia
http://history.04007.cn/en.php/HisMain/11763.html
1867: Birth of Amy Carmichael, missionary during 55 years in Dohnavur, India and who died on January 18, 1951
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Carmichael
1883: During the Sino-French War, capture of Sontay (Tonking) by the French
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sơn_Tây_Campaign
1884: Birth of Seibo Kitamura, Japanese sculptor who died on March 7, 1987
https://bluejayblog.wordpress.com/2013/12/16/seibo-kitamura/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seibo_Kitamura
1889: Birth of Kim Jwa-jin, who played an important role in the Korean Anarchist Movement and died on January 24 1930
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Jwa-jin
https://kuiwon.wordpress.com/2013/10/21/kim-jwajin-the-anguish-piercing-my-innards/
1917: Birth of Nabi Bux Khan Baloch, a Pakistani scholar who has written many books on Sindh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabi_Bux_Khan_Baloch
http://www.thefridaytimes.com/06052011/page24.shtml
1917: Birth of Arthur C. Clarke, English-Sri Lankan author who died on March 19, 2008
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke
1920: The Haiyuan earthquake, magnitude 8.5, rocks the Gansu province in China, killing an estimated 200,000
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/earthquake-devastates-gansu-province-of-china
1941: Japanese occupy Miri, on Sarawak island (Indonesia)
1945: Suicide of Prince Fumimaro Konoe, three times Japanese Prime Minister between 1937 and 1940, after General MacArthur announced that he was to be tried for war crimes
http://www.rarenewspapers.com/view/585078
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/17963301
1946: Thailand joins the United Nations
1948: Independence of Cambodia from France in the frame of Union Française
1949: Mao Zedong arrives to Moscow for the 70th birthday of Stalin and where he will stay two months
http://history.04007.cn/en.php/HisMain/11576.html
http://astro.temple.edu/~rimmerma/Mao’s_Moscow_visit.htm
1950: President Harry S. Truman declares a state of emergency, after Chinese troops enter the fight with communist North Korea in the Korean War
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/truman-declares-state-of-emergency
1956: Visit of Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to United States and Canada
1957: Malik Feroz Khan Noon replaces Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar as Prime Minister of Pakistan
http://www.storyofpakistan.com/articletext.asp?artid=A064
1961: US president Kennedy decides to ugrate to 15,000 the number of US soldiers based in Vietnam
1962: British restore order in Brunei, after a pro-Indonesian revolt
1962: King Mahendra promulgates the constitution of 1962. It granted to the people of Nepal all freedoms essential to the development of individual personality and democratic living
http://www.constitutionnet.org/vl/constitution-nepal-1962
1963: Death of Empress Nam Phuong, wife of Bao Dai, the last emperor of Vietnam, born on December 14, 1914
http://royal-portraits.blogspot.com/2009/05/empress-nam-phuong-of-vietnam.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nam_Phuong
1963: Death of Chinese Marshal Luo Ronghuan, born on November 26, 1902
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luo_Ronghuan
1965: General William Westmoreland sends U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara a request for 243,000 more men by the end of 1966 in Vietnam
1969: Death of Soe Hok Gie, Indonesian activist, born on December 17, 1942
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soe_Hok_Gie
https://www.myhero.com/Gie_stursula_indonesia_06_ul
1971: Indian forces enter Dakha. Capitulation of the Pakistani army. Bangladesh is independent
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pakistani-forces-defeated-in-bangladesh
http://www.mapsofindia.com/on-this-day/16th-december-1971-india-defeated-pakistan-in-bangladesh-war
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instrument_of_Surrender_(1971)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9afuHgTjNZM&feature=related
1972: A year after declaring its independence, Bangladesh promulgates its constitution which enshrines the four pillars of Mujibbad: nationalism, secularism, democracy and socialism
http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/pdf_part.php?id=367
1972: Henry Kissinger announces that North Vietnam has left private peace negotiations, in Paris
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/kissinger-announces-that-north-vietnamese-left-negotiations
1975: Death of Kang Sheng, chief of Mao Zedong intelligence apparatus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kang_Sheng
1982: Jailed South Korea opposition leader, Kim Dae-Jung, is authorized to go the USA « for health reason”
http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/us-officials-nonviolently-intervene-south-korea-protect-leading-dissident-kim-dae-jung-1985
1985: Birth of Keita Tachibana, Japanese singer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keita_Tachibana
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9dv84_hitman-reborn-ending-1-keita-tachib_music
1987: In South Korea, after having replaced President Chun as president of the ruling Democratic Justice Party in August, Roh Tae-woo wins the presidential election, defeating 4 other candidates
http://history.04007.cn/en.php/HisMain/11550.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roh_Tae-woo
1993: Death of Kakuei Tanaka who was Japanese Prime Minister from July 1972 to December 1974. He has been obliged to resign because of bribes
http://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/17/obituaries/kakuei-tanaka-75-ex-premier-and-political-force-in-japan-dies.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
http://history.04007.cn/en.php/HisMain/11786.html
1996: Hong Kong businessman Tung Chee-hwa is selected by Beijing to be the first Chief Executive of the future Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1708244.stm
2006: In Nepal, the government and Maoist rebels agree on a provisional constitution
2007: The great Pakistani painter Ismail Gulgee is assassinated. He was 81
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7151914.stm
http://pakistaniat.com/2007/12/19/amin-ismail-gulgee-dead-murdered-mystery-suspicious/
http://www.google.fr/search?q=ismail+gulgee&nord=1&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=8M-tUoboJOGm0QX87oDIBw&sqi=2&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=628
2007: Buddhist monks and riot police are involved in a violent confrontation in Cambodia’s capital
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7147981.stm
2008: Bangladesh’s army-backed government lifts its two-year-long state of emergency in the run-up to elections on December 29
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7785919.stm
2009: Detained Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is allowed to meet three senior officials of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8415384.stm
2009: Pakistan’s Supreme Court declares that an amnesty deal that had protected President Asif Ali Zardari and other politicians from corruption charges is illegal. The country’s highest court said the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) amnesty, was “unconstitutional”
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/12/2009121617167705639.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8417170.stm
2010: Malaysia’s ruling coalition has won a parliamentary vote to suspend Anwar Ibrahim, the opposition leader, from the legislature for six months. Anwar had been accused of abusing “his right and privileges as an MP” after he criticised the government’s “One Malaysia” slogan for national unity.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/12/2010121641256448678.html
2011: Burma Karen rebel leader Mahn Nyein Maung is sentenced to 17 years in prison on a charge of “unlawful association”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16227766
2012: Death of John Chen Shizhong, Chinese bishop, born December 26, 1917
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Bishop-Chen-Shizhong,-of-Yibin,-is-dead.He-rebuilt-the-Church-of-Sichuan-26646.htm
2013: More than 1,000 Australian troops have completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan, marking the end of a deployment that has left dozens of troops dead and hundreds more seriously wounded.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/12/australian-troops-leave-afghanistan-201312169306647453.html
2014: At least 142 people, including 132 children, are killed in a horrific attack by Pakistani Taliban fighters (TTP) on a military-run school in Peshawar in Pakistan’s Northwest
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30491435
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2014/12/fighters-attack-army-run-school-pakistan-20141216742794184.html
2015 : The United States government authorizes eight separate defense deals with Taiwan, totaling $1.83 billion and drawing criticism and concern from the Chinese government
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35115507
http://www.chinadailyasia.com/nation/2015-12/16/content_15359498.html
2016 : China express dissatisfaction after exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama met Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, saying it hoped India would recognise the Nobel Peace Prize winning monk as a separatist in religious guise
2016 ; Jigme Dorje Palbar Bista, the last king of the isolated Himalayan region of Upper Mustang dies in Kathmandu, eight years after he lost his royal title when the centuries-old Buddhist monarchy was abolished
http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/2055281/last-king-remote-buddhist-kingdom-dies-nepal
2017: Rahul Gandhi takes over as president of the main opposition Indian National Congress party (INC), becoming the sixth member of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty to head the party
https://www.trtworld.com/asia/india-s-rahul-gandhi-takes-over-as-president-of-opposition-party-13355
https://www.dailyo.in/politics/rahul-gandhi-acceptance-speech-new-congress-president-aicc-sonia-gujarat-elections/story/1/21189.html
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-ray-of-hope-wishes-pour-in-from-politicos-for-rahul-gandhi-as-he-becomes-congress-president-2568170
Holidays and observances
Victory Day (Bangladesh)
Victory Day (India)