ON 17 MARCH IN ASIAN HISTORY
To see another date, on Internet (Google…), type “On (day + month) in Asian history”
Updated on March 17, 2019
1001: Kiling, the Rajah of Butuan in the island of Mindanao (Philippines) sends a tributary mission to the Song Dynasty of China
http://thebulwaganfoundation.wordpress.com/2010/09/01/the-kingdom-of-butuan/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Butuan
1231: Birth of the 87th Japanese emperor Shijo in 1232, who died in an accident on February 10, 1242
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Shij%C5%8D
1272: Death of Go-Saga, the 88th emperor of Japan (1232-1246), born on April, 1, 1220
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Go-Saga
1425: Death of Ashikaga Yoshikazu, 5th shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate from 1423 to 1425
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashikaga_Yoshikazu
1537: Birth of Toyotomi Hideyoshi one of the great unifiers of Japan, who died on 18 September 1598
https://www.thoughtco.com/toyotomi-hideyoshi-195660
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/01/19/national/history/toyotomi-hideyoshi-brutality-victory/#.XEWEqfZFw2y
1798: The Dutch East India Company is dissolved
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_India_Company
1824: British and Dutch sign Treaty of London and divide the Indies between themselves. The Dutch claim Sumatra, Java, Maluku, Irian Jaya, and so on. The British claim Malaya and Singapore, and retain an interest in North Borneo. Aceh is supposed to remain independent
http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/history/events/5005d886-9c27-421e-a22d-44fb5965350c
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Dutch_Treaty_of_1824
1864: Birth of Joseph Baptista, Indian Home Rule Movement founder who died in 1930
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Baptista
1890: Anglo-Chinese convention of Calcutta (Kolkata), which established the Tibetan renunciation of suzerainty over Sikkim, and delimited the border between Tibet and Sikkim
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikkim_Expedition
http://www.tibetjustice.org/materials/treaties/treaties9.html
http://history.04007.cn/en.php/HisMain/3183.html
1894: USA & China sign treaty preventing Chinese laborers from entering USA
1907: Birth of Takeo Miki, 66th Japanese premier (1974-1976), who died on November 4, 1988
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takeo_Miki
1919: China’s first batch of work-study students in France leave Shanghai to France. Among them, the next year, will be Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping
https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2173319/trail-deng-xiaoping-french-town-where-he-embraced
1920: Birth of Sheik Mujibur Rahman, father of Bangladesh independence (1971) assassinated on August 15, 1975
https://biographybd.com/sheikh-mujibur-rahman/
1939: The Battle of Nanchang, between the Kuomintang and the Japanese breaks out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Nanchang
http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=178
http://history.04007.cn/en.php/HisMain/2169.html
1941: Birth of Wang Jin-pyng, Taiwanese KMT politician
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Jin-pyng
1942: General MacArthur arrives in Australia to become supreme commander of Allied forces in the southwest Pacific theater during World War II
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0317.html#article
1946: Death of Dai Li, Chinese Chiang Kai-shek head of secret police, born on May 17, 1897
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dai_Li
http://history.04007.cn/en.php/HisMain/2810.html
1953: Birth of Filemon Lagman, Filipino communist revolutionary, assassinated on February 6, 2001
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filemon_Lagman
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/54a/183.html
1957: Death of the Philippines president Ramon Magsaysay in an airplane crash
https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/1020/today-in-philippine-history-march-17-1957-president-ramon-magsaysay-died-in-a-plane-crash-in-cebu
http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Ramon-Magsaysay/ramon-magsaysay.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1RLuPR9s5c
1959: Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, flees Lhasa to India
http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,864579-1,00.html
https://www.dw.com/en/the-fleeing-of-the-dalai-lama-to-india-60-years-ago/av-47830491
https://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/10/how-the-dalai-llama-escaped-tibet-in-1959/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpyEL_CX7_Q
1963: Mount Agung erupts on Bali (Indonesia). 11,000 dead
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Agung
1963: Birth of Alex Fong Chung-Sun, Hong Kong actor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Fong_(actor)
http://www.lovehkfilm.com/people/fong_alex.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0iMe42f7A4
1964: The U.S. pledges “to furnish assistance and support to South Vietnam for as long as it is required to bring Communist aggression and terrorism under control.”
1968: Anti-Vietnam war demonstration turns violent in London
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/17/newsid_2818000/2818967.stm
1970: My Lai massacre in March 1968: The United States Army charges 14 officers with suppressing information related to the incident
1973: Birth of Rico Blanco, Filipino singer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rico_Blanco
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRay_ussbGI
1973: Captain So Potra, a Cambodian Air force officer robs an airplane and bombs the palace of president Lon Nol. Around 20 are killed
http://idnc.library.illinois.edu/cgi-bin/illinois?a=d&d=DIL19731120.2.73
1975: Birth of Puneet Rajkumar, Indian (Kannada) actor, singer and director
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puneet_Rajkumar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDhWrR_cx_U
1979: Birth of Sharman Joshi, Indian actor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharman_Joshi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VOZYnVwxKw
1980: Death of Prince Boun Oum, twice Laos’ prime minister: 1948-1950 and 1960-1962
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boun_Oum
1998: Zhu Rongji is elected Chinese prime minister by the National Congress, up to March 2003
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/66108.stm
http://history.04007.cn/en.php/HisMain/3008.html
1999: In Indonesia, beginning of riots in West-Kalimantan against Madura migrants. More than 250 will be killed
http://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/mar/20/johnaglionby
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/299406.stm
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/1999/04/indo-a06.html
2002: Death of Van Tien Dung, Vietnamese general and politician, born on May 2, 1917
http://www.economist.com/node/1056849
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Tien_Dung
2003: Death of Su Buqing, Chinese mathematician and educator, born on September 23, 1902
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Su_Buqing
http://www.chinavitae.com/biography/Su_Buqing/full
2008: Violence spills over Tibet into neighboring provinces
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120661528938768371.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Tibetan_unrest
2009: Seven sharia (Islamic law) courts open in Pakistan’s northwest Swat Valley region as part of a peace agreement signed between tribal leaders and the government last month
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/03/200931715490896931.html
2012: East Timor votes in the country’s second presidential election as a free nation, as UN forces prepare to leave
http://www.france24.com/en/20120317-east-timor-test-vote-presidential-election-timor-leste
2015: Pakistan hang 12 male convicts, the largest number of people executed on the same day since an unofficial moratorium on capital punishment was lifted in December
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/03/17/uk-pakistan-executions-idUKKBN0MD0E120150317 http://tribune.com.pk/story/854551/pakistan-hangs-12-men-in-largest-execution-since-moratorium-lifted/
2016: China resumes ties with former Taiwan ally Gambia, ending an unofficial diplomatic truce between China and Taiwan following January’s landslide election of the leader of a pro-independence party as the self-ruled island’s president
http://worldaffairsjournal.org/content/moving-resume-ties-gambia-china-ends-diplomatic-truce-taiwan
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2016/03/18/2003641843
2017 : China and Russia block a proposed UN Security Council statement that would have expressed concern over the tense situation in Myanmar’s Rakhine state
http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2080159/china-russia-block-un-statement-myanmar
2018: Xi Jinping gets second presidential term, with ally Wang Qishan as vice-president
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2137615/wang-qishan-chinas-new-vice-president-after
http://www.france24.com/en/20180317-china-xi-jinping-reappointed-second-term-president
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-43440877
2018: U.S. president signs Taiwan Travel Act despite warnings from China
http://www.dw.com/en/donald-trump-signs-taiwan-travel-act-drawing-chinas-ire/a-43018787
https://www.trtworld.com/asia/china-says-it-is-resolutely-opposed-to-new-us-law-on-ties-with-taiwan-15994
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3384344
2018: Vietnam’s reformist ex-PM Phan Van Khai dies at age 84
http://www.dw.com/en/vietnams-reformist-ex-pm-phan-van-khai-dies-at-age-84/a-43020787
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/politics/20180317/former-vietnamese-premier-phan-van-khai-dies-aged-85/44577.html
http://vietnamnews.vn/politics-laws/424640/state-funeral-for-former-pm-phan-van-khai.html#o16ToGKzh2HbtzmD.97
Holidays and observances
Children’s Day (Bangladesh)
Thailand: National Muay Thai Day