January 16

   Deng Xiaoping delivered a speech entitled “The Situation and Tasks at Present” at a meeting of officials held by the CPC Central Committee, identifying the three tasks of opposing hegemony and preserving world peace, realizing Taiwan’s return to the motherland and peaceful reunification, and speeding up the progress of the four modernizations.

February 29

   The 5th Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee adopted the Guiding Principles for Intraparty Political Life.

March 14–15

   The CPC Central Committee held a forum on the work of Tibet, proposing a planned and systematic approach to making Tibet a thriving and prosperous place.

April 17

   China’s rightful seat in the International Monetary Fund was restored.

May 15

   China’s rightful seat in the World Bank was restored. 

May 18

   China successfully launched its first carrier rocket to a designated area in the Pacific Ocean.

August 18

   Deng Xiaoping delivered a speech entitled “Reform of the System of Party and State Leadership” at an enlarged conference of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, stating that issues pertaining to the leadership and organizational systems were of a more fundamental, holistic, stable and ever-lasting nature, and requiring that reform of malpractices in the present systems should be carried out. 

September 2 

   The State Council approved and distributed the Report on the Pilot Work of Expanding the Decision-Making Power of Enterprises and Further Opinions, requiring that starting from 1981, work relating to the expansion of the decision-making power of enterprises would cover all state-owned industrial enterprises. 

September 10 

   The 3rd Session of the 5th NPC adopted the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Business Income Tax on Chinese-foreign Joint Venture Enterprises and the Individual Income Tax Law of the People’s Republic of China, and appointed Zhao Ziyang as premier of the State Council. 

September 25 

   The CPC Central Committee issued the Open Letter to All Members of the Communist Party of China and the Communist Youth League of China on the Issue of Controlling Population Growth in China, advocating for one couple to bear only one child. In September 1982, the 12th CPC National Congress made family planning a basic national policy. In November 2013, the 3rd Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee decided to initiate and implement the policy of allowing couples in which either spouse was an only child to bear two children. In October 2015, the 5th Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee decided to implement on a full scale the policy of allowing one couple to bear two children.

November

   During the third forum on implementing the Guiding Principles for Intraparty Political Life held by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Chen Yun pointed out that the style of a political party in power determined its very survival and that it was essential to improve the Party style in a speedy and untiring manner.

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.101-104.