Military crackdown in Beijing

The PRC formally requested to resume its status in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, beginning a long process that eventually led to WTO accession. The application marked an attempt to enter...

Taiwanese opposition activists founded the Democratic Progressive Party while martial law was still in force, challenging the Kuomintang’s one-party system. The move reflected local democratic...

China and Portugal signed a declaration setting the terms for Portugal’s administration of Macau until the 1999 transfer of sovereignty. The agreement drew on negotiations between two states but...

President Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law in Taiwan after 38 years. The decision followed sustained opposition organizing and opened a transition toward competitive politics; this history...

The National People’s Congress approved Hainan’s elevation to provincial status and designated it a special economic zone. The measure extended the experimentation with market opening and sought to...

Nine students began a sit-in at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, demanding political reform and an end to the entrenched “ten-thousand-year” legislature. The six-day protest helped press Taiwan’s...

Premier Li Peng announced the decision to develop Pudong, across the Huangpu River from Shanghai’s historic center. The project became a showcase of urban modernization, finance, and foreign...

The Shanghai Stock Exchange was established as China rebuilt domestic securities markets. It became a key institution in the gradual expansion of market mechanisms under party-state supervision. Its...

China joined APEC at the Seoul ministerial meeting, alongside Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei under agreed names. Participation connected the PRC to a major regional economic forum and supported its...

Deng began a tour of southern China, publicly urging faster reform and opening after political and economic retrenchment. The tour helped restore momentum to market reforms and investment,...