Events in the year 1917 in China.

• President: Li Yuanhong
• Vice President:
  • Feng Guozhang (June 7, 1916 – July 1)
  • position abolished on July 1st
• Premier: Duan Qirui

• Warlord Era
  • July 1–12 — Manchu Restoration: An attempt by monarchist general Zhang Xun to restore the Qing Dynasty

• January 1 — Cheng Gwan-min, Hong Kong TVB actor (d. 1994)
• January 6 — Koo Chen-fu, Taiwanese businessman, diplomat and film producer (d. 2005)

• February 1 — Zhang Chunqiao, political theorist, writer and politician (d. 2005)
• February 9 — Sanggyai Yexe, 1st Chairman of Tibet Autonomous Region (d. 2008)

• March 10 — Ling Zifeng, film director (d. 1999)
• March 31 — Liu Fuzhi, politician (d. 2013)

• April 13
  • Li Rui, politician, historian and dissident (d. 2019)
  • Shen Shanjiong, microbiologist and geneticist (d. 2021)
• April 24 — Song Ping, Communist revolutionary and retired high-ranking politician
• April 26 — Ieoh Ming Pei, main architect of the Louvre Pyramid (d. 2019)

• July 6 — Wang Da-hong, Taiwanese architect (d. 2018)

• August 9 — Jao Tsung-I, Hong Kong sinologist, calligrapher, historian and painter (d. 2018)

• September 6 — Yao Yilin, former Vice Premier of China (d. 1994)
• September 10 — Ren Rong, general and politician (d. 2017)
• September 24 — Lee Huan, Taiwanese politician (d. 2010)

• November 3 — Chung Sze-yuen, Hong Kong politician and businessman (d. 2018)
• November 28 — Xiang Shouzhi, general and revolutionist (d. 2017)
• November 29 — Hou Baolin, xiangsheng performer (d. 1993)

• December 2 — Ye Qun, military officer and politician (d. 1971)
• December 20 — Li Pei, linguist and professor of English (d. 2017)

• January 9 — Liu Yongfu, commander of the Black Flag Army (b. 1837)
• January 28 — Yikuang, Manchu noble and politician of the Qing Dynasty (b. 1838)
• February 3 — Liang Cheng, former ambassador to the United States during the Qing dynasty (b. 1864)