1937 – Second Sino-Japanese War: USS Panay incident

12 December

The USS Panay incident was a Japanese attack on the American gunboat Panay while it was anchored in the Yangtze River outside Nanking,  China on this day in 1937.

Japan and the United States were not at war at the time. The Japanese claimed that they did not see the American flags painted on the deck of the gunboat, apologized, and paid an indemnity. Nevertheless, the attack and the subsequent Allison incident in Nanking caused US opinion to turn against the Japanese. Fon Huffman, the last survivor of the incident, died in 2008.

757 – Du Fu returns to Chang'an as a member of Emperor Xuanzong's court

8 December

Du Fu (712 – 770) was a prominent Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty. Along with Li Bai (Li Po), he is frequently called the greatest of the Chinese poets. His greatest ambition was to serve his country as a successful civil servant, but he proved unable to make the necessary accommodations. His life, like the whole country, was devastated by the An Lushan Rebellion of 755, and his last 15 years were a time of almost constant unrest.

Although initially he was little-known to other writers, his works came to be hugely influential in both Chinese and Japanese literary culture. Of his poetic writing, nearly fifteen hundred poems have been preserved over the ages. He has been called the "Poet-Historian" and the "Poet-Sage" by Chinese critics, while the range of his work has allowed him to be introduced to Western readers as "the Chinese Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Shakespeare, Milton, Burns, Wordsworth or Hugo".

395 – 'Later Yan' is defeated by its former vassal 'Northern Wei' at the Battle of Canhe Slope

8 December

Battle of Canhe Slope refers to a battle in 395 where the Chinese/Xianbei state Later Yan, then ruling over northern and central China, had launched a punitive campaign against its former vassal Northern Wei, also of Xianbei extraction.

Later Yan forces were led by its crown prince Murong Bao and and enjoyed some initial successes, but after being frustrated by the containment strategy of Northern Wei's prince Tuoba Gui (the later Emperor Daowu), withdrew. Tuoba Gui then gave chase and crushed Later Yan forces at Canhe Slope. He captured a large number of Later Yan forces as captive, but in fear that releasing them would allow a future Later Yan campaign against Northern Wei, slaughtered them. The battle reversed the power relations between Later Yan and Northern Wei. After Later Yan's emperor Murong Chui (Emperor Wucheng) died in 396 and Murong Bao succeeded to the throne (as Emperor Huimin), Northern Wei would launch a debilitating campaign of conquest against Later Yan, and by 398 had captured most of Later Yan's territory, reducing Later Yan to a small regional state.

1962 – The Chinese declare a unilateral ceasefire in the Sino-Indian War

The Sino-Indian War was a war between China and India that occurred in 1962. A disputed Himalayan border was the main pretext for war, but other issues played a role. There had been a series of violent border incidents after the 1959 Tibetan uprising, when India had granted asylum to the Dalai Lama. India initiated a Forward Policy in which it placed outposts along the border, including several north of theMcMahon Line, the eastern portion of a Line of Actual Control proclaimed by Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in 1959.

Unable to reach political accommodation on disputed territory along the 3,225-kilometre-long Himalayan border, the Chinese launched simultaneous offensives in Ladakh and across the McMahon Line on 20 October 1962. Chinese troops advanced over Indian forces in both theatres, capturing Rezang la in Chushul in the western theatre, as well as Tawang in the eastern theatre. The war ended when the Chinese declared a ceasefire on 20 November 1962, and simultaneously announced its withdrawal from the disputed area.

The Sino-Indian War is notable for the harsh mountain conditions under which much of the fighting took place, entailing large-scale combat at altitudes of over 4,000 metres (14,000 feet). The Sino-Indian War was also noted for the non-deployment of the navy or air force by either the Chinese or Indian side.