January 1

   The CPC Central Committee approved and distributed the Minutes of the Meeting on National Rural Work, recognizing that various production responsibility systems such as the fixing of farm output quotas on a household basis were all different forms of the production responsibility system of the socialist collective economy. From 1982 to 1986, the CPC Central Committee issued in succession five Documents No.1 on issues relating to agriculture andrural areas.

January 11

   When meeting Yao-Tzu Li, president of the Chinese American Association, Deng Xiaoping put forth the idea of “one country, two systems.” During his meeting with Winston L. Yang, professor at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, the United States, on June 26, 1983, Deng Xiaoping further expounded the six policies on realizing the peaceful reunification of the mainland and Taiwan.

February 20

   The CPC Central Committee adopted the Decision on Establishing the Retirement System for Veteran Officials.

March 31

   The CPC Central Committee issued a document entitled “On the Basic Viewpoints and Policies Concerning Religious Questions during China’s Socialist Period.” 

April 13 

   The CPC Central Committee and the State Council adopted the Decision on Combating Serious Criminal Activities in the Economic Sector.

August 17 

   The Chinese government and the government of the United States issued the Joint Communiqué of the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China (also known as the August 17 Communiqué), agreeing to take a step-by-step approach to resolving the issue of US arms sales to Taiwan until it was finally resolved.

September 1–11 

   The 12th CPC National Congress was convened. Deng Xiaoping proposed in his opening speech to integrate the universal truth of Marxism with the concrete realities of China for it to blaze a path of its own and build socialism with Chinese characteristics. The Congress adopted the report entitled “Create a New Situation in All Fields of Socialist Modernization,” which mapped out a strategic plan consisting of two major steps and set the objective of quadrupling the gross annual value of industrial and agricultural production by the end of the 20th century. The Congress also adopted the revised Constitution of the Communist Party of China and decided to set up the Central Advisory Commission.

September 12–13

   The 1st Plenary Session of the 12th CPC Central Committee elected Hu Yaobang general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, appointed Deng Xiaoping as chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission, and approved Deng Xiaoping as chairman of the Central Advisory Commission and Chen Yun as first secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

September 24

   Deng Xiaoping met British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and elaborated on the basic stance of the Chinese government on the issue of Hong Kong. 

October 12

   China successfully launched a carrier rocket from an underwater submarine to a designated target zone in the sea for the first time.

December 4

   The 5th Session of the 5th NPC adopted and issued the extensively revised Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, which took effect immediately. This is the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China still in effect at present. The Constitution made the following stipulations: The system of the people’s congresses should be strengthened, and the functions and powers of the NPC Standing Committee should be expanded; state presidency was to be restored; the state would establish the PRC Central Military Commission, which would be headed by a chairman; the State Council would be headed by a premier; the state should establish special administrative regions when necessary; the system of merging government administration with commune management at people’s communes in rural areas would be changed, and township administration would be put into practice. The Constitution also expressly defined the nature and the functions of the people’s political consultative conferences in its preamble. Later on, five amendments were made to the Constitution in 1988, 1993, 1999, 2004 and 2018 to cater to the need of reform and opening up and socialist modernization.

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.108-112.