January 22–February 17 

   Deng Xiaoping visited three special economic zones (Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Xiamen) and Shanghai, and fully recognized the positive outcomes of the decisions to experiment with special economic zones and open China to the outside world. 

February

   The CPC Central Committee mobilized nine inland provinces and municipalities to help Tibet build 43 key engineering projects.

March 12 

   The 4th Session of the Standing Committee of the 6th NPC adopted the Patent Law of the People’s Republic of China.

April 8

   China successfully launched Dongfanghong-2, its first experimental telecommunications satellite, becoming the fifth country in the world with satellite communication capabilities.

May 4

   The CPC Central Committee and the State Council approved and distributed the Summary of the Forum Concerning a Number of Coastal Cities, which decided to further open 14 port cities—Tianjin, Shanghai, Dalian, Qinhuangdao, Yantai, Qingdao, Lianyungang, Nantong, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Zhanjiang and Beihai to the outside world, and proposed gradually setting up economic and technological development zones. 

May 16

   The State Council approved and distributed the Report on Continuing the Work on the Survey of Land Resources submitted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fishery, the State Planning Commission and other departments. The first national land survey was launched immediately and was completed at the end of 1997. On July 1, 2007, the second national land survey was launched on a full scale , and was completed in 2009. In January 2018, the third national land survey was launched on a full scale.

May 31

  The 2nd Session of the 6th NPC adopted the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Regional Ethnic Autonomy. The revised Law of the People’s Republic of China on Regional Ethnic Autonomy was adopted at the 20th Session of the Standing Committee of the 9th NPC on February 28, 2001, expressly making regional ethnic autonomy a basic political system of China. 

July 28–August 12 

   The Chinese sports delegation participated in the 23rd Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the United States, and make zero-gold-medal breakthrough for China. This was the first time China sent a sports delegation to the Olympic Games since the legitimate rights of the Chinese Olympic Committee were restored on the International Olympic Committee on November 26, 1979. 

October 1 

   Military and civilian parades were held in Beijing to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the founding of the PRC. Deng Xiaoping reviewed the forces that participated in the military parade and delivered a speech.

October 20 

   The 3rd Plenary Session of the 12th CPC Central Committee adopted the Decision on Economic Structural Reform, which stipulated the tasks and nature of, and various guidelines and policies on the economic structural reform with a focus on cities. The Session also recognized the socialist economy as a planned commodity economy based on public ownership.

December 3

   The CPC Central Committee and the State Council adopted the Decision on Prohibiting Party and Government Departments and Party and Government Officials from Engaging in Business and Running Enterprises. 

December 19 

   The Chinese and British governments formally signed the Joint Declaration of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the People’s Republic of China on the Issue of Hong Kong in Beijing. The Chinese government declared that it would resume sovereignty over Hong Kong on July 1, 1997.

From:Chronicle of the People's Republic of China(October 1949—September 2019), edited by The Institute of Party History and Literature of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, PP.116-119.