July 9, 1912: The Preparatory Office of the National Museum of History was founded by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China. It was located at the Imperial College (Guozijian) in Beijing.
July 1918: The museum was relocated to Duanmen and Wumen of the Forbidden City.
November 1920: The National Museum of History was officially established.
October 1926: The museum officially opened to the public.
October 1949: The museum was renamed the Beijing Museum of History. It was under the Ministry of Culture of the Central People’s Government.
March 1950: The Preparatory Office of the Central Revolution Museum was founded. The site was originally at the Round City (Tuancheng) in the Beihai Park in Beijing, but soon it moved to Wuyingdian of the Forbidden City.
October 1958: Construction of new museums on the east side of the Tian’anmen Square began. The project was completed in August 1959 and was regarded as one of the “Ten Great Constructions” for the 10th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. In October of that year, a public preview of the exhibition entitled General Chinese History was launched.
August 1960: The Beijing Museum of History was renamed National Museum of Chinese History and the Central Revolution Museum was renamed National Museum of Chinese Revolution.
September 1969: The National Museum of Chinese History and the National Museum of Chinese Revolution merged to form the National Museum of Chinese Revolution and History.
Early 1983: The two museums returned to their own separate entities.
February 2003: The merging of the two museums took place and the National Museum of China was established.
March 2007: The National Museum of China began its renovation and enlargement project.
December 2010: The renovation and enlargement project was completed.
March 2011: The new National Museum of China opened to the public.
July 9, 2012: The Commemorative Meeting of the National Museum of China Centennial Celebration was held at the museum theatre.