TIMELINE: China stock index above 5,000 for first time

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - The benchmark Shanghai Composite Stock Index .SSEC climbed for the first time above the 5,000-point level on Thursday, more than quadrupling since the start of last year.

Here are key events in one of the world's biggest equities bull markets.

1990

December 19 - The Shanghai Stock Exchange begins operating and launches the benchmark Shanghai composite index at a base of 100 points. The index hits its all-time low of 90.79 on that day.

1992

May 21 - The index posts its biggest single-day rise of 105 percent in response to the government's pledge to continue the "experiment" in stocks.

1993

February 16 - The index hits a record high of 1,558.95. It will not return to that level for more than six years, mainly because of disagreement within the Communist government over how to treat the stock market.

1996

December 16 - The Communist Party newspaper, the People's Daily, runs an editorial warning against "excessive speculation" after the index had jumped 145 percent over the past 11 months. A two-and-a-half-year bear market begins.

1999

May 19 - The market begins to revive as the government's attitude becomes more benign, rising 68 percent from May 19 to June 30, when it hits a fresh record high.

June 15 - The People's Daily, in a sharp contrast to the 1996 editorial, gives its blessing to the market, saying recent rises have brought "hope and happiness to investors".

2000

Shanghai is the world's best-performing major equity market for the year, rising over 50 percent on the back of reforms such as approvals for the creation of a large number of mutual funds.

2001

July 14 - The index hits a new high of 2,245.435. But a four-year bear market then begins as authorities try to sell non-traded government holdings of shares in listed firms at prices unacceptable to the public.

2005

May - Regulators announce new proposals to remove the $200 billion overhang of non-traded shares, allowing listed companies to compensate the public.

2006

May 8 - Regulators say state share reform is proving successful and they will now encourage large, high-quality companies to list domestically.

June - Bank of China (601988.SS)(3988.HK), the first large initial public equity offer since May's announcement, raises $2.6 billion in China's biggest domestic IPO to date.

Oct 27 - Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398.SS)(1398.HK), the country's biggest bank, becomes the first company to list simultaneously in Shanghai and Hong Kong. It raised a total of US$21.9 billion in the world's largest IPO.

December 14 - The index breaches the June 2001 high, closing at 2,249.110.

2007

February 16 - The index rises above 3,000 for the first time.

February 27 - The index plunges 8.84 percent, its biggest daily percentage fall in a decade, amid rumors that authorities will crack down on speculation. The dive rattles global markets.

May 9 - The index hits an intra-day high of 4,015.219 points, exceeding 4,000 for the first time.

May 24 - The index edges down 0.54 percent after former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan warns China's market is heading for a "dramatic contraction". On the next day, it resumes its uptrend.

May 29 - The index rises 1.5 percent to a record intraday high of 4,335.963.

May 30 - In the early hours of the morning, the Ministry of Finance announces an immediate rise in China's stock trading tax to 0.3 percent from 0.1 percent. The index plunges as much as 21 percent by June 5.

July 26 - The index regains May's peak and sets a new intraday high of 4,371.512, boosted by companies' better-than-expected estimates of first-half earnings.

August 23 - The index breaks passes the 5,000 milestone for the first time, hitting an intraday high of 5,050.383.

($1 = 7.58 Yuan)