January 18

The PLA liberated the Yijiangshan Island. From February 13 to 26, the Dachen Island and its peripheral islands were liberated, which meant that so far the coastal islands of Zhejiang Province had all been liberated.

March 21–31

  The CPC National Congress was held, which passed the Resolution on Establishing the CPC Central and Local Monitoring Committees and the resolution concerning Gao Gang and Rao Shushi. Dong Biwu was appointed as secretary of the CPC Central Monitoring Committee. The existing Party Commissions for Discipline Inspection at the central and local levels were all abolished.

April 18–24

Zhou Enlai led a Chinese delegation to the Asian-African Conference held in Bandung, Indonesia, which was attended by 29 countries. Sticking to the principle of “seeking common ground while reserving differences,” the Chinese delegation, together with other participating countries, contributed to the success of the Conference by jointly advocating the “Bandung Spirit.” The Conference helped China open its door to Asian and African countries for extensive exchanges.

May 13

Zhou Enlai delivered the Report on the Asian-African Conference at the 15th Enlarged Session of the 1st NPC Standing Committee, pointing out that the Chinese people were willing to try to liberate Taiwan by peaceful means where possible.

July 30

The 2nd Session of the 1st NPC passed the Military Service Law of the People’s Republic of China. Starting from 1956, the system of voluntary military service for the PLA was to be changed into that of compulsory military service. Prior to that, starting in January 1955, the PLA had instituted its officer wage system.

August 31

The State Council issued the Decree on Fully Implementing a Wage System for Civil Servants and on Changing into a Monetary Wage System, which aimed to launch major reform of the payment system for civil servants.

September

The PLA began to adopt a military ranking system. The rank of Marshal of the People’s Republic of China was conferred on Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, Lin Biao, Liu Bocheng, He Long, Chen Yi, Luo Ronghuan, Xu Xiangqian, Nie Rongzhen and Ye Jianying. By 1965 when the ranking system was abolished, a total of 10 marshals, 10 senior generals, 57 generals, 177 lieutenant generals and 1,360 major generals had been appointed.

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, PP29-31