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Today in Asian History

August 17

1851 The Qing government in China banned two works, the Daoist book Xingming guizhi (A Pointer to the Meaning of Human Nature and the Life Span) and the novel Shuihu zhuan (Water Margin) and orders the destruction of their printing blocks. The works were associated with secret societies and "religious bandits."

1945 Sukarno declared Indonesia's independence from the Netherlands.

1949 In China's civil war, the Communist-led People's Liberation Army captured Fuzhou, capital of Fujian province.

1976 Mindano, in the Philippines, was hit by an earthquake which killed 8,000 people.

1982 US-PRC Joint Communique established the parameters within which the US may sell defensive weapons to Taiwan.

1988 Pakistani Pres. Zia ul-Haq and Arnold Raphel, U.S. ambassador, died when their airplane exploded. Gen. Zia was part of the military coup that overthrew Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1977.

The AI "Today in Asian History" page was compiled by Clayton Dube. He welcomes your comments and suggestions. Send them to <cdube@isop.ucla.edu>.

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