CHRONOLOGY: Changing China: Modern milestones since 1978

(Reuters) -- China's "generation of 2008" could emerge from the tumultuous experiences of the past year more nationalist but also more eager for a bigger say in their future.

Here are some milestones from the last three decades that have shaped this generation:

* 1978: Chinese Communist Party launches economic reforms backed by the recently rehabilitated paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, two years after death of communist leader Mao Zedong.

* 1979: Policies demanding "one child" families for most urban Chinese introduced nationwide to stem population growth. Diplomatic relations with the United States normalized.

* 1986: Student-led protests against corruption and political controls spread in Beijing and other cities. The unrest leads to the dismissal in 1987 of Hu Yaobang, the reformist Communist Party chief seen as too liberal by Deng and Party elders.

* 1988: Economic turbulence stirs public discontent. Bank runs and panic buying are triggered by rising inflation that peaks at over 30 percent in cities.

* 1989: Anti-government protests spread as other Communist states topple. The Communist Party sends troops to crush mass student-led protests on the night of June 3-4, killing hundreds around Beijing's Tiananmen Square and in other cities. Sweeping campaign against dissent launched.

* 1991-92: Deng Xiaoping tours southern China to press for faster economic reforms and quell the influence of Party conservatives opposed to market liberalization. This sparks a fresh wave of market growth and some political relaxation.

* 1997: Deng dies in February. His successor is Jiang Zemin. * 2001: Beijing named 2008 Olympics host in July. China joins the World Trade Organisation in November.

* 2003: March National People's Congress elects Hu Jintao to succeed Jiang as President. China's first manned space flight blasts off from Gobi desert in October.

* 2005: In April, tens of thousands protest against Japan, opposing its bid for a permanent seat in the U.N. Security Council and accusing Japan of white-washing World War Two aggression.

* 2008: China readies for Beijing Olympic Games in August. Early in year, ice and snow storms paralyze trains and communications across much of southern and central China.

In March, protests and riots spread from Lhasa, regional capital of Tibet, to other Tibetan areas, prompting arrests and a crackdown on Tibetan dissent and bitter criticism of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled Buddhist leader.

Protests against Chinese rule in Tibet dog the international legs of the Beijing Olympic torch relay, prompting angry nationalists counter-protests and boycotts by Chinese.

May 12 A massive earthquake shatters parts of southwest China's Sichuan province, killing tens of thousands and sparking a nationwide relief drive.

Source: Reuters

(Writing by Gillian Murdoch, Editorial Reference Unit; Editing by Megan Goldin)