The following timeline covers key events in Ya-Ching's life, as well world events. Events involving Ya-Ching are shown in normal type; world events are shown in italics.
| 1909 | M. Vallon flies first plane in China |
| 1911 | China ousts the 2000 year old Imperial System for a Republic |
| April 16, 1912 | Lee Ya-Ching is born in Canton, China |
| 1916 | Ya-Ching's mother dies of tuberculosis |
| 1917 | China enters World War 1 on the side of the Allies |
| 1926 | Begins career as a movie actress |
| 1928 | Leaves the film industry and goes to school in England |
| 1929 | The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) is ousted from China |
| 1929 | Goes to Switzerland |
| Sept. 1931 | Japan seizes control of Manchuria |
| Nov. 1931 | CCP resurfaces in China and forms the Chinese Soviet Republic in Jiangxi Province |
| May 1932 | Amelia Earhart becomes first woman to solo across the Atlantic |
| 1933 | Begins flying lessons at Geneva's Cointrin-Ecol d'Aviation |
| 1934 | Receives her pilot's license from Ecole Aero Club de Suisse |
| 1935 | Attends and receives license from the Boeing School of Aeronautics in Oakland California |
| Falls out of an aerobatic plane, earning her membership in the Caterpillar Club |
| 1936 | Receives her pilot's license from the Chinese Government |
| Opens a civilian flying school in Shanghai |
| 1936 | First domestic airline established in China |
| 1937 | Japan invades China |
| 1937 | Helps establish hospitals in Shanghai |
| Earns Hong Kong commercial pilot's license |
| Flies for the Red Cross ferrying supplies from Hong Kong to Canton |
| 1938 | Begins goodwill tour of United States and Canada |
| 1939 | Appears in US film Disputed Passage with Dorothy Lamour |
| 1940 | Flies "Estrella China" to Caribbean, Central and South America |
| Aids Ruth Nichols in raising money for Relief Wings |
| 1941 | Begins working for United China Relief |
| 12/07/1942 | Bombing of Pearl Harbor forces American entry into World War II |
| 1944 | Begins Goodwill and Fund Raising tour of South America and Caribbean |
| August 1945 | Atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, followed by Japanese surrender and end of World War II |
| 1946 | Returns to China and retires |
| 1946 | Fighting between CCP and KMT (Nationalist party) resumes |
| 1949 | KMT retreats to Taiwan |
| Mao Zedong establishes the People's Republic of China |
| 1950 | Receives Hong Kong private pilot's license |
| 1963 | Receives Hong Kong Special Purpose Pilot's license |
| 1971 | Permanently moves to the United States |
| 1997 | British rule ends in Hong Kong |
| January 28, 1998 | Dies at the age of 86 |
