January 26

The CPC Central Committee issued the Instructions on Combating “Five Evils” First in Large and Medium-Sized Cities, calling for combating bribery, tax evasion, theft of  state property, cheating on government contracts, and theft of economic intelligence committed by capitalists in large and medium-sized cities. The “Combating Five Evils” movement came to an end in October 1952.

April 5

The first phase of flood diversion on the Jingjiang River, China’s first large-scale project to harness and develop the Yangtze River, got into full swing. By the end of 1978, a number of water conservancy projects had been completed one after another, such as the Xin’anjiang Hydropower Station, the Sanmenxia Dam, the Qingtongxia Dam, the Danjiangkou Reservoir, and and the Liujiaxia Dam of the Yellow River.

April 21

The Central People’s Government promulgated the Regulations on Punishing Corruption in the People’s Republic of China. 

June 10

Mao Zedong wrote an inscription for the founding meeting of the All-China Sports Federation—“Do sports better and make people healthier.” On January 8, 1954, the CPC Central Committee approved and distributed the Report on Better Work Concerning People’s Sports written by the Leading Party members group of the Sports Committee of the Central People’s Government, pointing out that “it is an important political task of the Party to work to improve the health of the people and strengthen their physique.” 

July 1

  The Chengdu-Chongqing Railway, the first railway trunk line built entirely with domestically produced materials after the founding of the PRC, was completed and opened to traffific. By the end of 1978, railways such as Baoji-Chengdu, Yingtan-Xiamen, Baotou-Lanzhou, Lanzhou-Xinjiang, Chengdu-Kunming, and Hunan-Guizhou had been completed one after another. 

August 9

The Central People’s Government promulgated the Outline for Implementing Ethnic Regional Autonomy of  the People’s Republic of  China, stipulating provisions on the establishment of ethnic autonomous areas, the composition of autonomous organs and the right of autonomy. Prior to that, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Government, established on May 1, 1947, was renamed People’s Government of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on December 2, 1949.  On October 1, 1955, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was established. On March 5, 1958, the Guangxi Tong Autonomous Region was established (renamed Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on October 12, 1965). On October 25, 1958, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region was established. On September 9, 1965, the Tibet Autonomous Region was established. 

November 15

The Central People’s Government set up a working committee for the eradication of illiteracy. Mass literacy campaigns were planned and gradually carried out on a large scale throughout the country. 

End of the Year

The national economy was fully recovered and began to see some growth. The total output value of industry and agriculture reached 81 billion yuan, an increase of 77.6% over 1949 at comparable prices. 

This Year

China began to adjust programs and departments in institutions of higher learning, and these were basically been completed by the end of 1953.

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, PP16-19