1932 - First Appearance by China at the Summer Games in Los Angeles, California

China again competed in the 1936 (Berlin), 1948 (London), and 1952 (Helsinki) Summer games. In the Helsinki games, the then British crown colony Hong Kong also sent a delegation. Hong Kong won it's only Olympic medal--a Gold medal by Lee Lai-Shan in Women's mistral (sailing)--at the Atlanta games in 1996.

During the Cold War, China was represented in the Olympics by the Nationalist government under dictator Chiang Kai-shek better known as the Republic of China or Taiwan. Taiwan sent athletes to the 1960 (Rome) and the 1968 (Mexico City) Summer Olympics. The Nationalist government withdrew from the 1976 (Montreal) games after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decision that the team could not compete under the name China and, following the U.S. lead, boycotted the 1980 (Moscow) games.

Meanwhile, mainland China returned to the Olympics in the 1980 Winter games. A year later, in 1981, the IOC and the Nationalist government on Taiwan agreed that any future representation from Taiwan would be under the name "Chinese Taipei" with a neutral flag and anthem. To this day, Chinese Tapei continues to compete well in the Olympics.

Since the 1984 (Los Angeles) Summer Olympics, China has sent ever larger delegations of athletes and won a growing share of Olympic medals.

China now ranks 19th on the all-time medal chart with 164 medals (52 gold, 63 silver and 49 bronze), all accumulated in only the last four Games!

Based on Sinomania! research