18th Communist Party Congress opens

The free trade area entered into force for China and six founding ASEAN members, lowering tariffs across much of their trade. It deepened regional supply chains and South-South economic links, while...

The Expo opened under the theme “Better City, Better Life,” presenting China as a capable host and an urban-development model. Its global spectacle coincided with the displacement and redevelopment...

The National People’s Congress approved the 12th Five-Year Plan, emphasizing rebalancing, social services, innovation and environmental goals alongside continued growth. Planning remained a major tool...

China launched its first space laboratory module, a step toward developing a permanent crewed space station. The program built independent technological capacity after exclusion from the International...

The Liaoning entered service as the PRC’s first aircraft carrier. Its commissioning signaled a new phase in naval modernization and power projection, although the carrier’s operational capability...

The 18th Party Congress installed Xi as the Party’s general secretary and chairman of the Central Military Commission. This succession began a more centralized leadership period that reshaped domestic...

Chinese customs figures for 2012 showed that the value of its goods trade had surpassed that of the United States. The milestone reflected decades of export-led industrialization and global...

In a speech in Kazakhstan, Xi proposed a Silk Road Economic Belt, later joined by a maritime component as the Belt and Road Initiative. The initiative connected infrastructure finance, trade...

The zone opened to test reforms in trade, finance, investment, and administrative regulation. It signaled a new phase of economic opening aimed at moving from export manufacturing toward services...

Xi proposed a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road during a visit to Indonesia. Paired with the overland belt, the proposal widened China’s regional infrastructure and connectivity agenda toward...