Shanghai Stock Exchange established

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...

Chinese troops used force to end the occupation of Tiananmen Square and surrounding protests, causing deaths and injuries. The crackdown isolated China diplomatically for a period and revealed the...

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...

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,...

China deposited its instrument of accession to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Accession integrated the country more deeply into global nuclear governance after it had developed its own...

The two governments signed a joint communique establishing diplomatic ties, opening a period of expanding trade and people-to-people contact. The rapprochement showed China’s ability to normalize...

The Party congress opened in Beijing and endorsed establishing a socialist market economy as the goal of reform. This accelerated integration with global markets while preserving state and Party...