Opium War. It marks the beginning of China's modern history. The modern history of China lasted from the Opium War (1840) to the founding of New China (1949). The modern history of China is a history of humiliation full of disasters, backwardness and beatings, a history of China people's exploration of saving the country and realizing freedom and democracy, and a history of China people's struggle against aggression, overthrowing imperialism and realizing national liberation and feudalism and people's prosperity.