Return to home1995 Jan 25,
The top of a Chinese Long March missile disintegrated as it hit
supersonic speeds and destroyed a Hughes Apstar 2 satellite. The
debris killed at least 6 villagers.
(SFC, 6/15/98,
p.A5)(www.christusrex.org/www2/china/Hughes/pg7.html)
1995 Jan, In China 6 people
were killed in a failed rocket launch.
(WSJ, 3/4/96, p. A-6)
1995 Feb 4, A standoff between
the United States and China escalated into a trade war, with each
country ordering stiff tariffs against the other.
(AP, 2/4/00)
1995 Feb 15, Population of
People's Republic of China hit 1.2 billion.
(www.china.org.cn/e-white/familypanning/13-2.htm)(WSJ, 11/20/95,
p.A-1)
1995 Apr 10, Chen Yun (b.1905),
one of China’s “eight immortals," died. He helped create
modern China.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Yun)(Econ,
2/6/10, p.79)
1995 Apr, In northern China Nie
Shubin was executed after he was found guilty of raping and killing
a woman in the city of Shijiazhuang, Hebei province. On Dec 2, 2016,
China’s Supreme People’s Court reversed its decision and exonerated
Nie.
(CSM, 12/2/16)
1995 May 14, The 11th
reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choikyi Nyima, was
announced by the exiled Dalai Lama. Gedhun Choekyi (5) disappeared
days after his designation. Six months later China declared
Gyaincain Norbu (Gyaltsen Norbu) (5) as the 11th Panchen Lama.
(SFC, 5/8/97, p.C2)(SFC, 6/19/99, p.A11)(SFC,
8/12/11, p.A2)
1995 May, A pro-democracy peace
charter was signed by 56 people to coincide with the 6th anniversary
of student demonstrations in China.
(SFC, 1/1/97, p.C2)
1995 May, Former Chinese
student leader Li Hai was detained after signing a peace charter.
(SFC, 1/1/97, p.C2)
1995 Jun 19, Chinese-American
human rights activist Harry Wu was detained as he tried to enter
China; he was jailed for 66 days before being expelled.
(AP, 6/19/00)(SFC, 5/19/96, Z1, p.3)
1995 Jul 8, Chinese-American
human rights activist Harry Wu, detained on June 19, was arrested in
China and charged with obtaining state secrets. He was later
convicted of espionage and deported.
(AP, 7/8/00)
1995 Jul 21 China began
conducting a series of ballistic missile test firings 85 miles from
Taiwan. The missiles were all MTCR class four short range and two
intermediate range. All were modern, mobile, nuclear-capable. No
country has ever held this level of field tests for nuclear capable
missiles before.
(www.fas.org/news/taiwan/1995/index.html)
1995 Aug 2, China ordered the
expulsion of two US Air Force officers it said were caught spying on
military sites.
(AP, 8/2/00)
1995 Aug 30, At a lavish
opening ceremony in Beijing, organizers of a major women’s
conference vowed to fight for empowerment and equality.
(AP, 8/30/00)(www.iisd.org/women/beijfact.htm)
1995 Sep 5, First Lady Hillary
Rodham Clinton, addressing the UN-sponsored fourth World Conference
on Women in Beijing, declared it was "time to break the silence"
about the abuse of women.
(AP, 9/5/05)
1995 Sep 15, The UN Fourth
World Conference on Women adjourned in Beijing after approving a
wide-ranging platform running the gamut from promoting inheritance
rights to condemning rape in wartime. The Beijing Platform, signed
by 189 states, urged a review of all laws that punish women for
having abortions.
(AP, 9/15/00)(Econ, 5/19/07, p.65)
1995 Sep, Chen Xitong, former
mayor of Beijing, was stripped of his seat on the Politburo.
(SFC, 9/10/97, p.A9)
1995 Sep, Ngawang Choepel, a
musician on a Fullbright scholarship, was arrested in Tibet on
grounds of espionage. He had arrived as a Chinese citizen to make a
documentary on folk music and dance.
(SFC, 12/28/96, p.A13)(SFC, 8/11/00, p.A18)
1995 Oct 19, Firefighters in
western China extinguished a 100 year old blaze in an untapped coal
deposit and saved 5.5 mil. tons of coal reserves in the Baiyanghe
mine in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. The fire had consumed
300,000 tons of coal a year.
(WSJ, 10/20/95, p. A1)
1995 Oct 24, President Clinton
and Chinese President Jiang Zemin met in New York, trying to
stabilize relations shaken by disputes over human rights, trade and
Taiwan.
(AP, 10/24/00)
1995 Nov, China unveiled plans
to slash import tariffs and allow joint ventures.
(WSJ, 11/16/99, p.A19)
1995 Nov, Chinese Bishop Zeng
Jingmu (75) was arrested and sentenced to 3 years of re-education
for holding unauthorized religious services in a home. His
allegiance to the Vatican had already caused him 23 years in jail
since the 1950s. He was released in 1998, 6 months early, prior to a
visit by Pres. Clinton.
(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.A24)
1995 Dec 17, Isa Yusuf Alptekin
(b.1901), exiled Uighur head of the Islamic Republic of East
Turkestan (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China), died in
Turkey.
(Econ, 7/11/09,
p.14)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isa_Alptekin)
1995 Dec 30, In China’s Inner
Mongolia over 200 people demonstrated at the bookstore of Hada,
founder of the Southern Mongolia Democratic Alliance. Hada was
jailed in 1996 on charges of separatism and spying and sentenced to
15 years in jail.
(SFC, 12/14/10, p.A2)
1995 Dec, A Chinese court
convicted Wei Jing Sheng of conspiring to subvert the government. He
was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
(WSJ, 12/14/95, p.A-1)
1995 Mo Yan won the Chinese
Dajia Prize for his novel "Big Breasts and Wide Hips." In 2004
Howard Goldblatt translated it to English.
(SSFC, 1/9/05, p.E3)
1995 The Puccini opera
"Turandot" was staged in Beijing. It marked the first time that a
non-Chinese opera was sung in the country in its original language.
(WSJ, 9/16/98, p.A20)
1995 The film "Red Cherry" was
directed by Ye Ying and became China’s biggest hit of the year.
(SFC, 6/6/97, p.D3)
1995 China seized Mischief
Reef, part of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, that were
claimed by the Philippines.
(WSJ, 3/5/97, p.A16)(Econ, 3/31/07, SR p.7)
1995 Beijing introduced
“managed" competition by breaking up China Telecom.
(Econ, 8/28/04, p.59)
1995 French retailer Carrefour
began operating in China.
(Econ, 10/10/09, p.68)
1995 Hong Kong, a weekly news
magazine was published by millionaire Jimmy Lai, a virulent critic
of China. 88% of Hong Kong's population speaks Cantonese. It is
scheduled to revert to Chinese control in 1997.
(WSJ, 10/26/95, p.A-1)
1995 Cheung Yan founded Nine
Dragons Paper and spent 3 years setting up the first of its
paper-making machines in Dongguan, China. By 2007 the company,
valued at $6.5 billion, was the 3rd largest paper company in the
world.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.76)
1995 Washington said Pakistan
received M-11 missiles from China, capable of carrying nuclear
warheads. [see Jun 13, 1996]
(SFEC, 5/17/98, p.A15)
1995 Anheuser-Busch Cos. bought
the largest brewer in central China and began selling Budweiser in
major Chinese cities.
(WSJ, 6/13/96, p.A1)
1995 Sinochem shipped 284
barrels of glycerin from China to Dastech Int’l. of Great Neck, NY.
The glycerin was labeled 98% pure, but Dastech found that the syrup
contained sugar compounds and diethylene glycol.
(SSFC, 6/17/07, p.A12)
1995 Russia agreed to assist
China with manned spaceflight technology and training of Chinese
astronauts in cosmonaut academy near Moscow.
(AP, 10/15/03)
1995 A World Bank study
concluded that water pollution cost China some $54 billion this
year.
(SFC, 6/6/03, p.A12)
1996 Jan, A Chinese state
policy that limited families to one child has resulted in the
abandonment or death of millions of female infants. Survivors have
been put into state orphanages and a film documenting conditions in
orphanages was made be Kate Blewett, Brian Woods, and Peter Hugh,
who bluffed their way into various orphanages.
(WSJ, 1/11/96, p.A-12)
1996 Feb 3, A 7.0 earthquake
hit Lijiang region of Yunnan province in China. Some 231 people were
killed and 14,000 injured.
(WSJ, 2/5/96, p.A-1)(NH, 4/97, p.44)
1996 Feb 14, A failed Loral
Intelsat satellite launch caused a rocket to hit a village near the
Xichang Space Center in China’s southwest Sichuan province. China
acknowledged 6 deaths. US intelligence estimated the death toll at
200. The rocket was a new-generation Long March 3B. The satellite
was intended for TV shows in Latin America for Rupert Murdoch’s News
Corp.
(WSJ, 2/16/96, p.A-1)(WSJ, 3/4/96, p. A-6)(SFC,
6/15/98, p.A5)
1996 Apr 26, The Shanghai Five
grouping was created with the signing of the Treaty on Deepening
Military Trust in Border Regions in Shanghai. Boris Yeltsin and the
presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan visited Shanghai
and signed a treaty with Pres. Jiang Zemin at the Jin Jiang Hotel
that demarcated their borders with China.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Cooperation_Organisation)(WSJ,
3/5/97, p.A16)
1996 Apr, Beijing announced
that it would prosecute 18 former officials for embezzling more than
2.2 billion. The scandal is tied to last year’s firing of Beijing’s
Communist boss.
(WSJ, 4/4/96, A-1)
1996 Apr, Boris Yeltsin and the
presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan visited Shanghai
and signed a treaty with Pres. Jiang Zemin at the Jin Jiang Hotel
that demarcated their borders with China.
(WSJ, 3/5/97, p.A16)
1996 May 3, A 6.4 earthquake
struck Inner Mongolia in northern China. At least 14 people were
killed and 266 injured.
(SFC, 5/4/96, p.A-8)
1996 May 22, China planned to
spend $10.78 billion on its telecommunications industry this year.
24,800 miles of optical cable were scheduled for install.
(WSJ, 5/22/96, p.A-16)
1996 May 23, Federal agents in
the Bay Area and Sacramento, Ca., began arresting agents of China’s
two main government-owned arms companies on suspicion of smuggling
2,000 illegal automatic assault weapons into the US. The smugglers
are representatives of China Northern Industrial Corp. (Norinco) and
Poly Technologies. Norinco reports to the State Council headed by
Premier Li Peng. Poly Tech operates under the Chinese army General
Staff, which reports to Chinese Pres. Jiang Zemin.
(SFC, 5/23/96, p.A1)(SFC, 5/23/96, p.A17)
1996 Mar 25, China halted its
18-day intimidating naval exercises around Taiwan led by the new
guided-missile destroyer Harbin.
(SFC, 3/22/97, p.A3)
1996 May 25, In China 2 mining
disasters killed nearly 80 people. In Hunan province a coal
explosion killed 46 with 38 missing. In Gansu province flooding in a
lead and zinc mine killed 33.
(SFC, 5/26/96, p.A-2)
1996 May 31, The Ex-Im Bank
said that it would not finance companies bidding on China’s massive
$24 billion Three Gorges Dam project on the Yangtze River due to
human rights and environmental issues.
(WSJ, 5/31/96, p.A1)
1996 Jun 4, A report on China
focused on tens of millions of people suffering from iodine
deficiency. The effects of the deficiency has led to stunted lives
and intellects. Where goiter and cretinism are not visibly apparent,
chronic mental and physical fatigue and some degree of mental
impairment was widespread.
(SFC, 6/4/96, p.A13)
1996 Jun 6, China agreed
conditionally to a ban on the use of nuclear explosions for civilian
projects.
(WSJ, 6/7/96, p.A1)
1996 Jun 8, A second year of
draught in China’s wheat belt has parched 17.5 million acres and
caused the lower reaches of the Yellow River in Shandong Province to
dry up 5 times since Jan.
(SFC, 6/8/96, p.A9)
1996 Jun 8, China set off an
underground nuclear test blast. The Australian Seismological Center
reported a nuclear test by China having a body wave magnitude of
5.7, a middle range explosion, in the Lop Nor area of Xinjiang
Province. This was the 44th test since 1964.
(SFC, 6/8/96, p.A11)(AP, 6/8/06)
1996 Jun 9, Police in southern
Guangdong Province in China shut down production lines at 2
factories since May 30 that were making and processing video disks.
The US officials claimed that 42 factories are still open.
(SFC, 6/10/96, C2)(SFC, 6/12/96, p.A10)
1996 Jun 11, Formosa Plastic
Group of Taiwan led by Y.C. Wang was planning to build 6 thermal
power plants in the coastal province of Fujian in China for an
investment of $3.8 bil.
(WSJ, 6/11/96, p.A10)
1996 Jun 13, A Washington Times
report said that Chinese M-11 missiles have been deployed in
Pakistan in the last few months.
(WSJ, 6/13/96, p.A1,4)
1996 Jun 17, The US threatened
to slap sanctions on $2 billion of Chinese goods if action is not
taken by the government against the manufacture of pirate compact
disks, videos and software. An agreement was reached just before the
deadline.
(WSJ, 6/6/96, p.A16)
1996 Jun 20, China was to
announce the convertibility of its currency, the yuan, for trade,
services, debt payment and profit repatriation by foreign companies.
(WSJ, 6/20/96, p.A14)
1996 Jun 25, A report stated
that China had declared that foreign movies on TV can’t run for more
than 36 minutes between 6 and 10 p.m.
(WSJ, 6/25/96, p.A11)
1996 Jun 26, At least 30
children died of acute kidney failure after taking contaminated
liquid acetaminophen made by a company in Haiti. Another 38 were
being treated for acute kidney failure. Glycerin from China was
contaminated with diethylene glycol as it was shipped to Haiti. It
was then used in children's medication that killed 86 people from
1995-1996.
(SFC, 6/26/96, p.A9)(AP, 10/27/06)
1996 Jun 27, China was believed
to have executed hundreds of drug traffickers after a nationwide
crackdown.
(WSJ, 6/27/96, p.A1)
1996 Jun, Four young Beijing
residents published "China Can Say No." It was very nationalistic
and soon became a best seller with a strident anti-American stance.
(WSJ, 9/19/96, p.A16)
1996 Jun, In mid 1996 Gen'l. Ji
Shengde, chief of Chinese military intelligence, ordered $300,000 to
be deposited in his bank account to subsidize secret contributions
to help re-elect Pres. Clinton. This information was later told to
US federal investigators by Democratic donor Johnny Chung.
(SFC, 4/17/99, p.A4)
1996 Jul 1, A new regulation
went into effect that called for films co-produced with foreigners
to apply for approval from the State Council before filming begins.
(WP, 6/29/96, p.F3)
1996 Jul 4, Floods and
landslides in China killed at least 121 people and forced 450,000
from their homes from Zhejiang on the east coast to Guizhou in the
southwest.
(WSJ, 7/5/96, p.A1)
1996 Jul 4, China’s Pres. Jiang
Zemin began a 3-day to Kazakhstan, whose population numbered about
15 million. Zemin held talks with President Nazarbayev, and met with
Kazakhstan Parliament Lower House Speaker Ospanov and delivered an
important speech entitled "For a Better Future of Friendship and
Cooperation Between China and Central Asia". The two sides signed a
joint statement, the extradition treaty, the agreement on
cooperation between the People's Bank of China and the Kazakhstan
National Bank, the agreement on cooperation in quality control and
mutual certification of import and export commodities and other
documents.
(Econ, 1/30/10,
p.48)(http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2003-05/21/content_879991.htm)
1996 Jul 7, The average cost of
a Big Mac in China was $1.15.
(SFC, 7/7/96, Parade, p.17)
1996 Jul 19, In China the
Yangtze River threatened to burst its banks. workers used 500 tons
of rice in sacks to fill gaps in the banks. Millions have been left
homeless and 716 were reported dead.
(SFC, 7/20/96, p.A8)
1996 Jul 29, China set off a
nuclear test and promised that it would be the last one.
Beijing said it would seek some changes in the global test-ban
treaty currently being fashioned by negotiators.
(WSJ, 7/30/96, p.A1)
1996 Aug 1, It was reported
that 1/5 of China’s river water can no longer be used to irrigate
land.
(WSJ, 8/2/96, p.A1)
1996 Aug 25, Dai Houying,
novelist, and her niece were knifed to death in Shanghai during an
apparent robbery. A former chef was later tried, convicted and
sentenced to death for the murders.
(SFC, 8/30/96, p.E5)(SFC, 10/19/96, A12)
1996 Aug 28, China accused the
US of aiding Taiwanese separatism by selling Stinger antiaircraft
missiles and other weapons to the Taipei government.
(WSJ, 8/28/96, p.A1)
1996 Aug 28, In China Mou
Qizhong, head of the Land Economic Group, was being pressured by the
government to repay up to $50 million in overdue loans. He was also
the proponent for listing China’s 13,700 large state-owned
enterprises on the New York Stock Exchange. However the state has a
minimum 7.65% upfront payment law to take 51% control of a joint
venture.
(WSJ, 8/28/96, p.A1,4)
1996 Aug 30, The US State Dept.
sent a diplomatic note to China protesting the sale of equipment for
use in nuclear facilities in Pakistan.
(SFC, 10/10/96, p.A12)
1996 Sep 23, In Jiangsu
Province, China, the American Dream Park was scheduled to open. It
is a 70-acre-mini Disneyland and admission will cost 100 yuan, about
2 weeks wages for the average Chinese worker.
(WSJ, 9/5/96, p.A14)
1996 Sep, Peasants revolted in
Qidong in Hunan province after they discovered that city authorities
kept secret for 6 months a directive from Beijing to end excessive
taxes.
(SFC, 11/12/96, p.A12)
1996 Oct 11, In China 7 people
were executed for selling women. An additional 54 were given
suspended death sentences. 334 women were rescued from being sold
into marriage or prostitution where the going rate was $240-$360.
(SFC, 10/12/96, p.A11)
1996 Oct 11, Wang Dan,
prominent student leader of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations in
1989, was charged with conspiracy to overthrow the government. His
trial on Oct 30 sentenced him to 11 years in prison. He had been in
detention for the last 17 months.
(SFEC, 10/13/96, p.A18)(SFC, 12/31/96,
p.A10)(SFC, 1/11/96, p.A8)
1996 Oct 24, China’s Foreign
Ministry acknowledged that some samples of serum albumin were
contaminated with the AIDS virus. Authorities said that 4,305 people
in China had HIV. They acknowledged that the number could be as high
as 100,000.
(SFC, 10/25/96, p.A14)
1996 Oct 24, The EU awarded the
1996 Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought to Wei Jingsheng of
China.
(SFC, 10/25/96, p.A17)
1996 Oct 30, After a four-hour
trial, a Chinese court sentenced pro-democracy activist Wang Dan to
11 years in prison for "conspiring to subvert the Chinese
government." Wang was freed in April 1998 and sent into exile in the
United States.
(AP, 10/30/901)
1996 Oct, Shanghai opened a
$48.2 million antiquities museum. A new $72 library was scheduled to
open in Dec. and a new $133 million Grand Theater opera house on Oct
1, 1988.
(SFC, 11/16/96, p.E3)
1996 Nov 6, Chen Ziming,
Chinese political dissident, was released on a medical parole from a
13-year sentence that began in 1989.
(SFC, 11/7/96, p.a12)
1996 Nov 10, China announced a
ban on selected US goods in response to a US cut in import quotas of
textiles.
(SFC, 11/11/96, p.A10)
1996 Nov 28, Chinese Pres.
Jiang Zemin made a 3-day visit to India, the first ever.
(SFC, 11/29/96, p.B8)
1996 Nov, China formed a
Selection Committee to choose the first post-colonial chief
executive and provisional legislature in Hong Kong.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A8)
1996 Nov, Canada revised rules
on overseas sales of ecologically sensitive technology to enable the
sale of two 700-megawat Candu 6, nuclear reactors to China.
The $3 billion project will be built in Qinshan and financed by a
$1.1 billion loan from Ottawa.
(SFC, 12/31/96, p.A11)
1996 Dec 2, India and China
agreed to troop withdrawals along their 2,500 mile border, and
pledged not to use military force against one another.
(SFC, 12/3/96, p.A13)
1996 Dec 17, The Chinese stock
market continued to tumble and authorities deployed plainclothes
police to keep order among angry investors outside security
brokerage houses in the major cities. The drop started when the
official People’s Daily newspaper warned that the stock market was
overvalued.
(WSJ, 12/18/96, p.A16)
1996 Dec 17, Sun Yaoting
(b.1902), China’s last known eunuch, died.
(SFC, 12/20/96, p.B6)
1996 Dec 27, Russia and China
agreed to remove troops along their border and to build a nuclear
power plant in eastern China’s Jiangsu province with a $2.5 billion
loan from Russia.
(SFC, 12/28/96, p.A12,13)
1996 Dec 31, Former Chinese
student leader Li Hai was sentenced to 9 years in prison on charges
of prying into state secrets.
(SFC, 1/1/97, p.C2)
1996 Li Hongjhi published Zhuan
Falun, the bible of the Falun Dafa disciples. He left China under
pressure in 1998 and moved to the US.
(WSJ, 4/26/99, p.A6)
1996 Yu Weichao, Chinese
archeologist, authored “What Is Archeology?"
(Arch, 9/04, p.36)
1996 China ratified the 1982 UN
Convention on the Law of the Sea, giving territorial waters of 12
nautical miles and economic zones of 200 nautical miles.
(WSJ, 3/11/09, p.A8)
1996 China set up the
Preparatory Committee to replace the PWC and oversee the transition
of Hong Kong in line with the Basic Law and decisions of China’s
parliament.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A8)
1996 China Minsheng Bank was
cobbled together by 59 investors, including Liu Yonghao, a pig-feed
seller turned billionaire. It was China’s first bank with primarily
private owners. By 2009 the bank was China’s 7th largest.
(Econ, 11/14/09, p.84)
1996 The World Bank proposed to
move 58,000 poor Chinese farmers from the eastern half of Qinghai
300 miles west to an area of Tibet called Dulan. The $81 million
project faced heavy opposition prior to a Bank vote in 1999.
(SFC, 6/18/99, p.D2)
1996 China’s Huangshan Tourism
Development Co. was formed to manage the 72 peaks of the
60-square-mile Huangshan national scenic area.
(SFC, 7/6/01, p.A17)
1996 Wal-Mart first entered
China through a joint-venture agreement. By 2011 Walmart had 338
shops in 124 Chinese cities with 90,000 employees.
(www.wal-martchina.com/english/walmart/history.htm)(Econ, 5/21/11,
p.69)
1996 Worldwide executions for
the year hit a record high of 4,200. China led with 3,500 executions
and was followed by Ukraine, Russia and Iran.
(SFC, 4/5/97, p.A11)
1997 Jan 14, The China
Agribusiness Development Trust and Investment Corp. (CADTIC), set up
in 1988 to channel domestic and foreign funds into the agricultural
sector, was closed with reports of being involved in smuggling, tax
evasion and ruinous real estate speculation.
(SFC, 2/17/97, p.B3)
1997 Jan 21, In China 2
earthquakes struck within a minute in Xinjiang province and killed
at least 12 people.
(WSJ, 1/22/97, p.A1)
1997 Jan 25, It was reported
that winter storms had stranded some 320,000 people in China’s
Xinjiang province and that many were close to starvation.
(SFC, 1/25/97, p.A18)
1997 Jan 29, In China the
Supreme People’s Court upheld the death sentence for businesswoman
Han Yuji, the former president of the Jilin province Yuquan
Industrial and Trade Co., for fraud that involved as much as $43
million. She was immediately executed.
(SFC, 2/1/97, p.C1)
1997 Feb 4, It was reported
that the Chinese government was cracking down on the arts while
attempting to promote Pres. Jiang Zemin’s "spiritual civilization."
Writer Mo Yan, author of "Ample Breasts, Fat Buttocks" was singled
out for criticism.
(SFC, 2/4/97, p.A10)
1997 Feb 5-1997 Feb 6, The
Uighers rioted in the province of Xinjiang and reports of deaths
varied from 4-300. The fighting was said to have begun after the
public execution of 30 young Muslims. Residents said Muslims
attacked and killed ethnic Chinese before police quashed the revolt.
Authorities said 10 people died and 140 were injured. 12 people were
later executed for the uprising.
(USAT, 2/11/97, p.5A)(USAT, 2/12/97, p.8A)(WSJ,
2/11/97, p.A1)(SFC, 7/29/97, p.A10)
1997 Feb 6, The Chinese New
Year ended the year of the rat and began the year of the ox, 4695.
(SFEC, 2/2/97, DB. p.7)
1997 Feb 19, Deng Xiaoping
(92), the last of China's major Communist revolutionaries, died from
Parkinson’s disease. He smoked heavily and Panda was his brand. In
2011 Ezra Vogel authored “Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of
China." In 2015 Alexander Pantsov and Steven Levine authored “Deng
Xiaoping: A Revolutionary Life."
(AP, 2/19/98)(WSJ, 5/26/04, p.A1)(Econ,
10/22/11, p.103)(Econ, 6/27/15, p.73)
1997 Feb 25, China's elite bid
a final farewell to Deng Xiaoping, the country's last major
revolutionary leader.
(AP, 2/25/98)
1997 Feb 25, In Urumqi, capital
of Xinjiang province, Muslim Uigher separatists set bombs that
killed as many as 5 and wounded 27.
(SFC, 2/26/97, p.A8)(WSJ, 2/26/97, p.A1)
1997 Mar 2, China’s Premier Li
Peng asked the National People’s Congress for a 12.7% increase in
the defense budget for a total of $9.68 billion.
(WSJ, 3/3/97, p.A1)
1997 Mar 17, It was reported
that China was upgrading the city of Chongqing in Sichuan to the
status of province. It would be directly controlled by the central
government but operate as a province.
(WSJ, 3/17/97, p.B9D)
1997 Mar 21, The first Chinese
ships to ever visit the US mainland docked in San Diego, the
destroyer Harbin, Zhuhai, and supply ship Nancang.
(SFC, 3/22/97, p.A3)
1997 Mar 24, Vice President
Gore arrived in China for the highest-level U.S. visit in eight
years. He witnessed the Beijing signing of trade deals with GM and
Boeing.
(SFC, 3/25/97, p.A12)(AP, 3/24/98)
1997 Apr 15, China blocked a UN
resolution criticizing its human-rights record for the 7th year in a
row.
(WSJ, 4/16/97, p.A16)
1997 Apr 25, Police opened fire
on a crowd in China’s Xinjiang province and killed 2 people.
Protestors had tried to block the execution of 3 people convicted
during the February unrest.
(WSJ, 4/29/97, p.A1)
1997 Apr 26, Peng Zhen (95),
former Communist Party secretary and Mayor of Beijing, died.
(SFEC, 4/27/97, p.B8)
1997 Apr 29, At Rongjiawan in
China’s Hunan province a train crash killed at least 67 and injured
260 people.
(WSJ, 4/30/97, p.A1)
1997 May 16, "The Great Wall
and the Empty Fortress" by Andrew J. Nathan and Robert S. Ross was
reviewed. It was an examination of China’s current political role in
int’l. affairs.
(WSJ, 5/16/97, p.A16)
1997 May 19, A gas explosion in
China’s Wuhai city killed at least 28 miners.
(SFEC, 5/25/97, p.C16)
1997 May 21, The UN approved an
agreement for equitable use of waters that flow through more than
one country. Only China and Turkey refused to sign the key UN
convention on transnational rivers.
(SFC, 5/22/97, p.C2)(AP, 4/16/11)
1997 May 29, Authorities
executed 8 Muslim separatists in China’s Xinjiang.
(SFC, 5/30/97, p.16)
1997 May, A Boeing 737 crashed
in Shenzhen, China, and 35 people were killed.
(SFC, 2/25/99, p.A11)
1997 Jun 1, China banned leaded
gasoline in 8 of 18 districts and counties.
(SFC, 1/1/98, p.A17)
1997 Jun 4, China signed a $660
million deal to develop an Iraqi oil field.
(WSJ, 6/5/97, p.A1)
1997 Jun 5, The Chinese film
"In Expectation" was an Int’l. film festival award winner and
premiered in the Bay Area.
(SFC, 6/5/97, p.E3)
1997 Jun 5, China announced
that diplomat Ma Yuzhen would be its top civilian representative in
Hong Kong beginning July 1. Domestic affairs will be run by Hong
Kong residents but foreign affairs will be under the central
government.
(SFC, 6/6/97, p.E3)
1997 Jun 9, The Chinese film
"The Opium War" premiered in Beijing.
(SFC, 6/10/97, p.D4)
1997 Jun 18, In China’s Yunnan
province 27 drug traffickers were executed.
(SFC, 6/20/97, p.A22)
1997 Jun 19, China executed 38
people. In Sichuan 24 died for drug dealing and 14 were executed in
Beijing.
(SFC, 6/20/97, p.A22)
1997 Jun 27, China announced
that it would send 4,000 troops into Hong Kong six hours after the
former colony is handed over to Chinese control.
(SFC, 6/28/97, p.A1)
1997 Jun 27, A major fire at a
petrochemical plant outside Beijing caused many deaths and injuries.
News of the fire was restricted to maintain an official tone of
celebration for the Hong Kong transfer.
(SFC, 6/28/97, p.A13)
1997 Jul 1, Hong Kong reverted
to Chinese rule after 156 years as a British colony. Britain
relinquished Hong Kong as a colonial territory, and China became
master. Many rights were guaranteed for 50 years under a
Sino-British treaty. Tung Chee Hwa (b.1937) began serving as the
first chief executive of Hong Kong.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tung_Chee-hwa)(WSJ, 11/14/94,
p.A9)(SFC, 5/30/96, p.A9)(AP, 7/1/98)
1997 Jul 4, The Hong Kong
Philharmonic premiered of the "Symphony 1997 (Heaven Earth Mankind)"
by the composer Tan Dun. The piece was commissioned by China to mark
the reunification of Hong Kong and China.
(WSJ, 6/25/97, p.A20)
1997 Jul 10, Paramilitary
police suppressed protests in Mianyang city in China’s Sichuan
province where more than 100,000 unemployed textile workers demanded
government assistance and accused local officials of stealing their
unemployment funds.
(SFC, 7/18/97, p.A12)
1997 Jul, Chinese authorities
in Tibet closed down the 700-year old Jonang monastery and sent the
monks home after they refused to denounce the Dalai Lama.
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.E9)
1997 Aug 7, It was reported
that Zhu Qihua planned to move the Big Green Mountain by Lanzhou, a
Chinese railroad hub, in order to clear the air of heavy smog.
(WSJ, 8/7/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 7, The US State Dept.
expressed concern over reports of Chinese nuclear-capable M-11
missiles sold to Pakistan.
(SFC, 8/8/97, p.E3)
1997 Aug 26, It was reported
that China executed at least 4,367 people in 1996.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.A9)
1997 Aug, Chen Xiaotang (Chen
Xitong), son of former Beijing mayor Chen Xitong, was sentenced to
12 years in prison for economic crimes.
(SFC, 9/10/97, p.E3)
1997 Sep 9, In China former
Beijing mayor Chen Xitong was handed over to prosecutors on charges
of corruption in a scandal with the loss of as much as $2.2 billion
in public funds.
(SFC, 9/10/97, p.A9)(Econ, 9/30/06, p.49)
1997 Sep 12, The Chinese
Communist Party Congress opened under Pres. Jiang Zemin and embraced
a program of bold economic reform. The event was held every 5 years.
Jiang Zemin was expected to stay as general-secretary. The positions
of Li Peng and Qiao Shi were in question.
(SFC, 8/28/97, p.C2)(SFC, 9/13/97, p.A8)
1997 Oct 26, The third Shanghai
International Film Festival opened. 350 films from 40 countries were
to be shown over 10 days.
(SFC,10/27/97, p.D3)
1997 Oct 29, Pres. Clinton and
China’s Pres. Jiang Zemin engaged in high level talks and publicly
disagreed on Chinese human rights policies. Business deals included
an accord to let Westinghouse and other firms develop nuclear power
in China and a $3 billion order from Boeing.
(SFC,10/30/97, p.A1)(WSJ, 10/30/97, p.A1)
1997 Oct, China signed the UN
Int’l. Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights during pres.
Zemin’s visit to the US.
(SFC, 10/6/98, p.A10)
1997 Oct, China slashed import
duties on some products but maintained "peak tariffs" on others.
(WSJ, 11/16/99, p.A19)
1997 Nov 3, Chinese President
Jiang Zemin left the United States after an eight-day visit.
(AP, 11/3/98)
1997 Nov 8, Chinese engineers
diverted the Yangtze River to make way for the Three Gorges Dam, the
most ambitious construction project in modern China's history.
(AP, 11/8/98)
1997 Nov 10, In China Pres.
Yeltsin began talks with China’s Pres. Jiang Zemin. They settled a
border dispute and authorized agreements on trade and protection of
Manchurian tigers.
(WSJ, 11/10/97, p.A1)(SFC,11/11/97, p.A12)
1997 Nov 15, This was the
original scheduled date for the damming of the Yangtze River in
China. About 1.2 million people were to be moved due to the rising
waters. The flooded area provides 40% of China’s grain and 70% of
its rice crops.
(SFEC, 1/19/96, p.A14)
1997 Nov 16, Chinese dissident
Wei Jingsheng was released from prison and left for the US after 18
years in captivity.
(SFEC,11/16/97, p.A2)
1997 Nov, Edgar Bronfman,
chairman of the Seagram Co., signed an agreement for a $55 million
joint venture with the Chongqing Three Gorges Construction Group to
develop orange juice production in southwest China.
(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.A1)
1997 Dec 30, China adopted new
rules restricting the use of the Internet. Details forbade
defamation of government agencies, the promotion of separatist
movements, and the divulgence of state secrets. Also forbidden was
pornography and prowling by hackers.
(SFC,12/31/97, p.A1)
1997 Dec 30, Russia signed an
agreement to build a $3B nuclear power plant in China.
(www.nti.org/db/china/jiangsu.htm)
1997 Dec 30, South Africa
established diplomatic ties with China and ended formal ties with
Taiwan.
(SFC,12/31/97, p.A9)
1997 Dec 31, China banned
leaded gasoline in the whole Beijing area.
(SFC, 1/1/98, p.A17)
1997 "Three Thousand Years of
Chinese Painting" was published by Yale Univ.
(SFEC,12/797, Par p.9)
1997 "Power and Virtue: The
Horse in Chinese Art," by Robert E. Harrist, Jr. was published. Also
published was "When Silk Was Gold: Central Asian and Chinese
Textiles," by Anne E. Wardwell and James C.Y. Watt.
(NH, 9/97, p.14)
1997 Chinese author Li Rui had
his novel "Silver City" translated into English.
(WSJ, 11/24/97, p.A20)
1997 Peggy Yu (32) returned to
Beijing from NYC and founded Dangdang.com. By 2003 the company was
China's biggest online bookseller.
(Econ, 8/23/03, p.52)
1997 Shen Qing perfected his
baked pig's head with 30 herbs and spices. He successfully opened
restaurants to serve the dish and registered it with the Chinese
State Patent Bureau.
(WSJ, 5/11/99, p.A1)
1997 China amended its criminal
code. It abolished the crime of being a counter-revolutionary and
made the crime of “inciting subversion of state power" an offence
under Article 105(2).
(http://crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class10/200903/20090306133405_14109.html)(Econ
7/15/17, p.38)
1997 Chinese authorities in
Tibet ordered nuns to leave the 800 year-old Rakhor nunnery and
everything except the main assembly hall was destroyed.
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.E9)
1997 China established a
national social security system whereby each province managed its
own social security fund.
(WSJ, 2/13/04, p.A10)
1997 China decriminalized
homosexuality. The Chinese Classification and Diagnostic Criteria of
Mental Disorders removed homosexuality from its list of mental
illnesses on April 20, 2001.
(Econ, 6/20/09,
p.43)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_China)
1997 China began to allow
consumer loans.
(Econ, 10/29/05, p.72)
1997 China began investing in
Sudan following US sanctions there. By 2005 Sudan provided China
with about 5% if its oil imports.
(WSJ, 3/29/05, p.A2)
1997 China declared that a
committee of experts had located Shangri-La in the Diqing Tibetan
Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan province. A 25,000-square-mile area
was set aside to be called the Great Rivers National Park. The site
was selected based on evidence that it was the area originally
described for National Geographic by American ethnologist James Rock
in the 1920s and 1930s.
(SFEC, 11/28/99, p.A22)
1997 China’s vitamin makers got
a big break following a US Justice Dept. investigation of European
and Japanese companies for price fixing dozens of vitamins. On May
20, 1999, the antitrust case resulted in $750 million in government
fines and several jail terms for executives.
(WSJ, 2/10/06, p.A16)
1997 PepsiCo Inc. introduced
Lay’s potato chips in China.
(WSJ, 12/19/05, p.A6)
1997 Executions in China
totaled about 3,000 for the year. China executed at least 1,876
people in 1977.
(SFC, 9/4/98, p.D4)(SFC, 9/1/00, p.D5)
1997 A study discovered that
the water tables beneath much of northern China were shrinking by
about 5 feet every year.
(SFC, 2/25/99, p.A12)
1997 In China a freshwater
dolphin in the Yangtze River, known as the Baiji dolphin, was last
reliably sighted. Estimates said only about 17 of the 6-foot
dolphins remained. The white dolphin had been known for centuries in
Chinese legend as the Goddess of the Yangtze.
(WSJ, 12/6/06, p.A1)
1997 The Central Asia Regional
Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program was initiated. The 8-member
group included Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, China, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
(www.adb.org/CAREC/default.asp)
1998 Jan 5, In China Stanford
scholar Hua Di (63) was arrested in Beijing on charges of treason
for allegedly leaking military secrets. Di was sentenced to 15 years
in prison in 1999. In 2000 the High Court ordered the lower court to
retry Di because the evidence did not warrant his conviction.
(SFC, 10/29/98, p.A23)(SFC, 12/4/99, p.A12)(SFC,
4/4/00, p.A1)
1998 Jan 9, In Wuhan, China, a
thousand factory workers marched after being laid off with little
compensation.
(SFC, 1/10/98, p.A9)
1998 Jan 10, In China a 6.2
earthquake hit Zhangbei County in northern Hebei province and 50
people were reported killed and over 11,440 injured. The quake
reportedly left cracks in the Great Wall.
(SFEC, 1/11/98, p.A15)(SFC, 1/12/98, p.A12)(SFC,
1/22/98, p.E3)
1998 Jan 11, It was reported
that parrots had become a speculative rage in Beijing where a
green-faced parrot could fetch $2,400.
(SFEC, 1/11/98, p.A29)
1998 Jan 19, The US and China
signed an accord designed to avoid naval and air conflicts at sea.
(SFC, 1/19/98, p.B2)
1998 Jan 23, It was reported
that millions of workers were being laid off in China’s northeast
industrial belt cities like Harbin and Shenyang.
(SFC, 1/22/98, p.E2)
1998 Jan 27, The Chinese lunar
year of 4696, the year of the tiger, began. According to ancient
legend the count began when Buddha called all the animals of the
world and promised to name a year after each one in exchange for
eternal loyalty and obeisance. Only 12 answered the call in the
following order: rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, serpent, horse, ram,
monkey, rooster, dog, and bear.
(SFC, 1/27/98, p.A19)(SFC, 1/28/98, p.A16)
1998 Feb 16, Ren Chengjian was
hauled back to Zhengzhou, China, from the US where he faced charges
of stealing vast sums, $42 million, from state-run banks and
companies.
(SFC, 10/17/98, p.A14)
1998 Feb 16, In Taiwan a China
Airlines Airbus A300-600R crashed at Chiang Kai-shek airport while
trying to land in fog. 196 people on board were killed plus 6 on the
ground. The passengers included the governor of Taiwan’s Central
Bank and other financial officials.
(SFC, 2/17/98, p.A6)(AP, 2/16/08)
1998 Mar 1, China pledged to
spend $32.6 billion to stabilize nearly insolvent state banks amid
the Asian financial crises.
(WSJ, 1/4/98, p.R4)
1998 Mar 5, In a speech by
Premier Li Peng it was announced that China planned to eliminate 11
ministries and lay off as many as 4 million bureaucrats. The plan
was developed by economic chief Zhu Rongji, who was expected to
replace Li Peng.
(SFC, 3/6/98, p.A12)
1998 Mar 12, China agree to
sign a UN pact on civil and political rights.
(WSJ, 3/13/98, p.A1)
1998 Mar 16, Zhu Rongji was
chosen by the National People’s Congress as Premier to replace Li
Peng, who served his limit of two 5-year terms. Hu Jintao (55) was
appointed vice-president, the youngest in modern Chinese history to
that post.
(SFC, 3/17/98, p.A9)(WSJ, 3/17/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 1, A new law requiring
motorists in Beijing to install pollution-reduction devices went
into effect.
(SFC, 3/31/98, p.B3)
1998 Apr 1, China agreed to
release and put into exile Wang Dan (b.1969), the noted dissident
and student leader of Tiananmen Square, for medical reasons.
(http://tinyurl.com/y887u594)
1998 cApr 7, A 2.8 mile stretch
of dike disintegrated in Jiujiang, China.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.A18)
1998 Apr 19, Wang Dan,
prominent student leader of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations,
arrived in the US and was taken to Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit
for medical evaluation.
(SFEC, 4/20/98, p.A8)
1998 Apr 30, Over 800 riot
police clashed with some 3 thousand vendors when they tried to
dismantle the street market in Chengdu, China.
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr, In China Lin Hai
(30), a software entrepreneur, was arrested for inciting subversion
by providing 30,000 Chinese e-mail addresses to Li Hongkuan, a US
based Chinese dissident. [see Dec 4]
(SFC, 12/5/98, p.A10)(Wired, 2/99, p.127)
1998 Apr, Chinese authorities
arrested Jude Shao (37), a Stanford educated entrepreneur, for
alleged tax violations. He had earlier refused to pay bribes for his
medical equipment export company. He was convicted in March, 2000,
and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Efforts to free him continued
into 2008.
(SFC, 5/1/08, p.A12)(www.freejudeshao.com)
1998 May 20, The US House voted
overwhelmingly to block future satellite exports to China. [see May
10, 1999]
(AP, 5/20/99)
1998 Jun 11, China ordered
officials in its nearly 1 million villages to open their activities
to public scrutiny.
(SFC, 6/12/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 12, Torrential rains
began in Hunan province and led to the death of at least 40 people.
Over 100,000 homes were destroyed.
(SFC, 6/20/98, p.A4)
1998 Jun 18, China formally
declared it new housing policy that eliminated the right of workers
to cost-free apartments by the end of the year.
(SFC, 6/19/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 24, In China Wang
Youcai and other dissidents announced plans to form the China
Democracy Party and applied to officials in Zhejiang province for
permission to set up a local committee. The attempt was crushed six
months later with leading organizers sentenced to up to 13 years in
prison. Wu Yilong, a student in the master's program in literature
at Zhejiang University, was one of dozens of dissidents detained
after attempting to register the China Democracy Party. Wu Yilong
(43) was released on Sep 13, 2010.
(SFC, 2/05/04, p.A3)(AP, 9/15/10)
1998 Jun 25, Pres. Clinton
landed in Xian, China. In Zhejiang province democracy activists
announced the formation of the China Democracy Party. Some of the
organizers were later arrested and jailed.
(SFC, 6/26/98, p.A1)(SFC, 7/13/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun 29, Students at Peking
University peppered President Clinton with polite but critical
questions about America's human rights record, Taiwan policy and
views on China in an exchange televised live across the vast nation.
In Beijing US corporations announced major sales agreements with
China worth nearly $2 billion.
(SFC, 6/30/98, p.A8)(AP, 6/29/08)
1998 Jul 8, China announced
that it would broadcast its first live court trial on Jul 11.
(SFC, 7/9/98, p.A15)
1998 Jul 16, China’s leaders
announced a war on smuggling and the formation of a new
anti-smuggling police force.
(SFC, 7/17/98, p.A12)
1998 Jul 22, China’s Pres.
Jiang ordered the People's Liberation Army to close down its many
businesses.
(WSJ, 7/23/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/21/99, p.A9)
1998 Jul 31, Chen Xitong,
former mayor of Beijing, was sentenced to 16 years in prison for
graft. The bribes were to be confiscated and handed over to the
state treasury.
(SFC, 7/31/98, p.D2)
1998 Jul 31, It was reported
that floods on the Yangtze River had killed 1,261 people in China’s
Hubei, Hunan and Jiangxi provinces.
(SFC, 7/31/98, p.D3)
1998 Aug 1, In China
floodwaters burst through a levee along the Yangtze in Hubei
province and over 1000 people were reported missing. News of more
flooding was hushed and it was later learned that 8,000-10,000
people in Jiayu province were inundated and presumed dead.
(SFC, 8/5/98, p.A9)(SFC, 8/6/93, p.A12)(SFEC,
8/16/98, p.A18)
1998 Aug 7, China’s death toll
from the summer floods passed 2,000 and the Jingjiang flood plain
was ordered evacuated.
(SFC, 8/8/98, p.A14)
1998 Aug 9, In China engineers
blew up secondary dikes in Jianli County, 90 miles upriver from
Wushan, to relieve pressure from the swollen Yangtze.
(SFC, 8/10/98, p.A12)
1998 Aug 12, The flooding in
China, the worst in 4 decades, was estimated to surpass $24 billion
in costs.
(SFC, 8/13/98, p.C5)
1998 Aug 14, Flooding in
Daqing, China, broke a levee protecting the nation’s largest oil
field. 155 of 20,000 wells were closed as 200,000 people fought the
flood.
(SFC, 8/15/98, p.A10)
1998 Aug 17, Flooding of the
Nen River at Daqing, China, closed 1,391 oil wells and halted
production at another 280. Daqing’s 25,000 wells produced 17.9
billion gallons of oil in 1997.
(SFC, 8/18/98, p.A7)
1998 Aug 18, In China the
Songhua River rose to 397 1/2 feet and threatened the provincial
capital of Harbin.
(SFC, 8/19/98, p.C16)
1998 Aug 26, China’s government
revised its death toll from the floods to over 3,000 [4,150] people.
(SFC, 8/27/98, p.a14)(SFC, 8/6/99, p.A12)
1998 Sep 1, China imposed a ban
on logging upstream on the Yangtze effective by this date due to the
excess flooding following a half-century of clear-cutting.
(SFEC, 9/27/98, p.A20)(WSJ, 12/23/03, p.A1)
1998 Sep 5, The opera
"Turandot" opened in a Ming Dynasty palace in China’s Forbidden
City. The $15 million production was conducted by Zubin Mehta.
(WSJ, 9/16/98, p.A20)
1998 Sep 14, Yang Shangkun
(b.1907), president of China during the 1969 Tiananmen massacre,
died in Beijing.
(WSJ, 9/15/98, p.A1)(SFC, 9/16/98, p.C4)
1998 Sep 21, It was reported
that the government had begun cracking down on the efforts of
dissidents to organize the fledgling China Democratic Party.
(SFC, 9/21/98, p.A16)
1998 Oct 5, China signed the
1976 Int’l. Covenant on Civil and Political Rights bringing the
number of signatories to 140. The signing still required
parliamentary approval.
(SFC, 10/6/98, p.A10)
1998 Oct 14, China and Taiwan
held their first talks since 1993 and said they were working toward
reunification.
(SFC, 10/15/98, p.A12)
1998 Oct 23, It was reported
that the city of Taiyaun in northern China had exhausted its
groundwater supply and that the Fen River which used to snake
through the town was all dried up.
(SFC, 10/23/98, p.D4)
1998 Oct 28, The new $400
million Wanjiazhai dam on China’s Yellow River was to begin
producing hydroelectric power.
(SFC, 10/23/98, p.D5)
1998 Nov 8, It was reported
that over 5,000 acres of marijuana flourished in China’s Yunnan
province and officials vowed to eliminate it by 2000.
(SFEC, 11/8/98, p.A30)
1998 Nov 11, China and the UN
planned to sign an agreement to turn the Lop Nur nuclear test site
into a sanctuary for Bactrian camels. The barren area is about the
size of Germany.
(SFEC, 11/8/98, p.A13)
1998 Nov 12, In China a Hong
Kong mob boss was sentenced to death for kidnapping and arms
smuggling. Cheung Tze-keung, aka the "big Spender," led a gang that
was convicted of smuggling guns, 7 armed robberies of Hong Kong gold
stores and the theft of 277 tons of steel in Shenzhen. 4 accomplices
were also sentenced to death.
(SFC, 11/13/98, p.D4)
1998 Nov 17, In Beijing Ma
Yulan (41) was sentenced to death for running a brothel disguised as
a restaurant and sauna. She was the first person to receive the
death penalty for prostitution since new statutes were approved in
March.
(SFC, 11/18/98, p.C5)
1998 Nov 17, China accused
Juergen Kremb of the German magazine Der Spiegel of possessing state
secrets. The next day he was ordered to leave the country within 48
hours.
(www.ifex.org/china/1998/11/18/german_journalist_interrogated/)
1998 Nov 25, In Japan Pres.
Jiang Zemin of China and Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi decided not to
sign a joint declaration on the relationship between their countries
during the Jiang’s 6-day visit, the first ever by a Chinese head of
state. Zemin wanted a written apology from Japan for WW II
atrocities that began with a 1931 Japanese invasion. Only verbal
apologies were made.
(SFC, 11/26/98, p.B3)
1998 Nov, Tencent, a Chinese
internet company, was founded in Shenzhen.
(Econ, 7/10/10,
p.61)(www.tencent.com/en-us/at/abouttencent.shtml)
1998 Nov, The Hong Kong
freighter ship Cheung Son (Chang Sheng), loaded with iron ore, was
hijacked and all 23 crewmen were lined up on deck and gunned down by
pirates. In 1999 38 defendants went on trial in China on charges of
murder, robbery and possession of firearms and drugs. In 2000 13 of
37 gang members were executed.
(SFC, 7/7/99, p.C12)(SFC, 12/16/99, p.C9)(SFC,
1/29/00, p.C1)
1998 Dec 4, From China it was
reported that Lin Hai (30), a software entrepreneur, had been
arrested for inciting subversion by providing 30,000 Chinese e-mail
addresses to "hostile foreign organizations. [see Apr 1998]
(SFC, 12/5/98, p.A10)(Wired, 2/99, p.127)
1998 Dec 5, Cheung Tze-keung, a
reputed Hong Kong crime boss, was executed in China.
(SFC, 12/5/98, p.A14)
1998 Dec 10, Zhang Jieying,
Chinese writer and columnist, was reported to have sold 200,000
legal copies and millions of pirated editions of her book "Absolute
Privacy." The book was a collection of people’s private stories on
love and sex in an era of social change.
(WSJ, 12/10/98, p.A1)
1998 Dec 14, In China the armed
forces completed the hand over of their commercial holdings to
civilian control.
(SFC, 12/15/98, p.C7)
1998 Dec 16, In China members
of the "Two Gun, One Ax" gang were executed in Guangdong province.
The group had been found guilty of killing 3 people and about 50
armed robberies and weapons trafficking.
(SFC, 12/17/98, p.C10)
1998 Dec 17, In China
dissidents Wang Youcai in Hangzhou and Qin Yongmin in Wuhan,
arrested for subversion, pleaded their cases for forming the China
Democracy Party. Youcai was released in 2004 and sent to the US.
(SFC, 12/18/98, p.D3)(SFC, 2/05/04, p.A3)
1998 Dec 21, In China 3
dissidents were sentenced to prison terms of 11-13 years. Xu Wenli
received 13 years, Wang Youcai 11 years and Qin Yongmin 12 years for
subversion, i.e. trying to organize an opposition party. Xu Wenli
was released in Dec, 2002.
(SFC, 12/22/98, p.A14)(AP, 12/21/99)(SFC,
12/25/02, p.A1)
1998 Dec 27, In China a 4th
dissident for democracy received a 10 year prison sentence for
speaking to a reported by telephone about farmer's protests.
(SFC, 12/28/98, p.A6)
1998 Dec 29, The language book
operations of China Today Press were suspended and the staff was
ordered to undergo "rectification."
(SFC, 3/18/99, p.A14)
1998 Dec 31, The collected
villages of Bujun in Sichuan province cast ballots for their own
magistrate.
(SFC, 1/26/99, p.A13)
1998 In China Ji Xianlin
authored “The Cowshed," the story of what happened to an eminent
scholar at Peking Univ. during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).
An English translation became available in 2016.
(Econ, 5/14/16, p.73)
1998 Ms. He Qinglian published
"The Trap of Modernization." She warned that China was heading
toward joint rule by the government and a Mafia.
(WSJ, 10/16/98, p.A13)
1998 James Seymour and Richard
Anderson (nom de plume of an anonymous researcher) published "New
Ghosts, Old Ghosts," an examination of the "laogai" (reform through
labor) prison camps.
(WSJ, 11/9/98, p.A21)
1998 Jonathan D. Spence
published "The Chan’s Great Continent," a history of Western
interaction with China.
(WSJ, 9/4/98, p.W12)
1998 The Chinese film "Dragon
Town Story" starred Wu Chien-Lin and was directed by Yang Fenliang.
It was a revenge story set in pre-Communist China.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.D3)
1998 The Chinese film "The
Emperor’s Shadow" was directed by Zhou Xiaowen. It was a historical
drama of the first emperor of a united China.
(SFC, 6/24/98, p.E3)
1998 The unsanctioned Chinese
film "Frozen" directed by Wu Ming (no name) opened in SF.
(SFC, 4/4/98, p.C6)
1998 The Chinese film "The
Great Conqueror’s Concubine" starred Gong Li, Ray Lui and Rosamund
Kwan. It was directed by Stephen Shin and was set in Qin dynasty of
the 3rd century BC.
(SFC, 11/18/98, p.E3)
1998 The Chinese comedy film
"Shower" was produced by Peter Loehr.
(WSJ, 12/30/99, p.A1)
1998 The Chinese film "Spicy
Love Soup" was directed by Zhang Yang and produced by Peter Loehr.
(WSJ, 12/30/99, p.A1)
1998 The world’s tallest
building, the Shanghai Financial Center (1,508 ft, or 460 meters),
was scheduled to begin construction in 1998.
(Hem., 2/97, p.58)
1998 Caijing, a finance and
business magazine, was founded in China by a group of intellectuals,
notably Wang Boming, the son of a former deputy foreign
minister. Its first issued exposed a case of insider trading
in a property company. It soon established itself as a news
authority and leading voice for business and financial issues in
China.
(http://english.caijing.com.cn/aboutus/)(Econ,
5/29/04, p.68)(Econ, 10/17/09, p.74)
1998 An Jun founded Corruption
Watch to report on Chinese government corruption. In 2000 he was
convicted of subversion in Xinyang.
(SFC, 4/20/00, p.C40)
1998 China formally outlawed
price fixing.
(WSJ, 2/10/06, p.A16)
1998 China ordered written
land-use contracts to be issued to peasants.
(Econ, 3/25/06, Survey p.9)
1998 China’s Ministry of Public
Security created its “Golden Shield" for domestic internet
surveillance and filtering.
(Econ, 4/6/13, SR p.5)
1998 Bhutan and China signed an
agreement to maintain peace along their 470 km (290 miles) of shared
border.
(AFP, 6/22/12)
1998 China began to expand its
influence in Ethiopia when the US evacuated its Peace Corps
volunteers and scaled back military aid due to the border war with
Eritrea.
(WSJ, 3/29/05, p.A1)
1998 China’s state metals
conglomerate bought a moth-balled copper mine in Chambisi, Zambia,
bringing in jobs and investments. The Chinese owners soon banned
union activity and cut corners on safety.
(WSJ, 2/2/07, p.A1)
1998-2001 UNICEF reported that at least 60,000
Vietnamese women were trafficked into China’s Guangxi Zhuong
autonomous region during this period.
(SSFC, 8/21/05, p.B6)
1998-2002 China’s closure of state-owned
enterprises and “collectives" resulted in job losses for some 24
million workers, representing about 10% of the work force.
(Econ, 9/11/04, p.37)
1999 Jan 4, A footbridge in
Chongqing collapsed and killed 40 people. A week later another
bridge in Fujian province collapsed and killed 7. Bridge officials
were arrested on suspicion of graft or using shoddy materials. A
Party official in Chongqing was later convicted of taking bribes and
sentenced to death.
(SFC, 3/2/99, p.D1)(WSJ, 4/5/99, p.A1)
1999 Jan 7, In China police
arrested Song Xianggui (36) in Linghai city for setting off
explosives on a bus. 19 people were killed when his plan to stun
passengers to rob them went awry.
(SFC, 1/8/99, p.A16)
1999 Jan 15, China asserted its
sovereignty over the potentially oil-rich Spratly Islands and
rejected a Philippine proposal to discuss the disputed islands.
(SFC, 1/16/99, p.A11)
1999 Jan 20, In China Lin Hai,
a software entrepreneur, was sentenced to 2 years in jail for giving
e-mail addresses to dissidents abroad.
(SFC, 1/21/99, p.A12)
1999 Jan 22, In Beijing
telecommunications authorities issued a circular clamping down on
the use of phone lines for telephone sex.
(SFC, 1/25/99, p.A7)
1999 Jan 25, In China an
explosion in Yizhang killed 8 people and injured over 60. The area
was the site of recent worker and farmer protests over corruption,
unpaid wages and taxes.
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.E9)
1999 Jan 29, From China it was
reported that police were ordered to arrest people posting
anti-government remarks on computer networks.
(SFC, 1/30/99, p.A14)
1999 Jan, In China a government
audit was released that showed state companies lost over $10 billion
last year from graft and plunder.
(WSJ, 1/26/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 4, In China dissidents
set up 5 new branches of the banned China Democratic opposition
political party.
(SFC, 2/5/99, p.A13)
1999 Feb 5, Yu Qiuli, former
Chinese vice-premier, died at age 85.
(SFC, 2/6/99, p.A21)
1999 Feb 6, The Harta Rimba, a
ship not licensed for passenger use, sank in the South China Sea,
killing about 325 people.
(AP, 2/3/06)
1999 Feb 23, The Disney film
"Mulan" premiered in China. Only 10 foreign films per year were
allowed into China so as to protect its own industry.
(SFC, 2/24/99, p.E3)
1999 Feb 24, China announced
that it would veto a Security Council resolution to renew a UN
peacekeeping force in Macedonia, which had recently established
relations with Taiwan.
(SFC, 2/25/99, p.A10)
1999 Feb 24, A China Southwest
Airlines jet crashed near Ruian and all 61 people onboard were
killed. The jet was a Russian-made Tupelov-154.
(SFC, 2/25/99, p.A11)
1999 Feb 28, Xie Bingxin,
prominent Chinese children's novelist, died at age 99. Her books
included "For Small Readers," Little Tangerine Lamp," and "Ode to a
Cherry Blossom."
(SFC, 3/2/99, p.A20)
1999 Feb, In China Qiao Liang
and Wang Xiangsui authored a report on ways to defeat the US. It
stated: "American are slaves to technology in their thinking… a
single man-made market crash, a single computer virus invasion, or a
single rumor or scandal that results in a fluctuation in the enemy
country’s exchange rates… all can be included in the ranks of
new-concept weapons." In 2002 it was published in English as
“Unrestricted Warfare: China's Master Plan to Destroy America."
(http://cryptome.org/cuw.htm)(SFC, 4/20/01,
p.A16)
1999 Mar 5, In China the annual
2-week plenary session was scheduled to amend the Constitution. The
preamble will mention the goal of developing a "socialist market
economy" and acknowledge the late Deng Xiaoping. Revisions were also
planned to protect private enterprise and recognize multiple forms
of ownership.
(SFEC, 1/31/99, p.A22)(WSJ, 2/1/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 8, In China 148 people
were poisoned in Luoyang after nitric acid was put into the donkey
meat soup. 5 people were later arrested. Chi Jianguo, the owner of a
competing restaurant, hired 4 farmers to poison the soup. He was
later sentenced to death, but the sentence was suspended for 2
years.
(SFC, 3/22/99, p.A11)(SFC, 4/7/99, p.C12)
1999 Mar 14, Premier Zhu Rongji
pledged that China would make the biggest concessions it could to
conclude WTO talks.
(WSJ, 11/16/99, p.A19)
1999 Mar 18, The Grand Hyatt
Shanghai opened on the top 35 stories of the new $540 million Jin
Mao Tower, the 3rd tallest in the world.
(WSJ, 3/17/99, p.B1)
1999 Mar 27, Chinese Pres.
Jiang Zemin in a speech to Swiss business leaders criticized NATO
airstrikes in Yugoslavia.
(SFEC, 3/28/99, p.A16)
1999 Mar, Jack Ma (b.1964), a
former English teacher, launched Alibaba.com to support small
business people in China. In 2005 Yahoo agreed to pay $1 billion in
cash and turn over its Chinese operations to Alibaba in return for a
40% stake in the Chinese e-commerce company. On Nov 6, 2007, Alibaba
became listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange. In 2009 Liu Shiying
and Martha Avery authored “Alibaba: The Inside Story Behind Jack Ma
and the Creation of the world’s Biggest Online marketplace."
(WSJ, 8/12/05, p.A1,B1)(SFC, 11/5/07, p.A15)(WSJ,
3/4/09, p.A13)
1999 Apr 6, Chinese Premier Zhu
Rongji began a 9-day, 6-city US visit in Los Angeles. He planned to
gain support for China's entry into the World Trade Organization
(WTO).
(SFC, 4/7/99, p.C12)(WSJ, 4/6/99, p.A1)
1999 Apr 9, China's Premier Zhu
Rongji said that he would trade China's $57 billion surplus, which
he called exaggerated, for technology for a cleaner environment.
(SFC, 4/10/99, p.A10)
1999 Apr 12, The largest video
and installation art exhibit ever held in Shanghai was forced to
close due to lack of proper operating licenses. Artists Yang
Zhenzhong, Xu Zhen and Alexander Brandt had worked 8 months to
organize the controversial "Art for Sale" exhibit in a Shanghai
department store.
(WSJ, 5/5/99, p.A20)
1999 Apr 19, The number of
Siberian tigers living in the wilderness was reported to be less
than 20. Loss of habitat due to deforestation was blamed.
(SFC, 4/19/99, p.A6)
1999 Apr 23, In China it was
reported that a bus collided with a truck and causing an explosion
that killed at least 30 people in Xiangshui county, 300 miles
northwest of Shanghai.
(SFC, 4/24/99, p.A15)
1999 Apr 25, In China some
10,000 people protested in Beijing on behalf of the right to
practice Falun Dafa (law wheel great way), a brand of meditation and
exercise. Adherents to the practice, founded by Li Hongzhi, was
estimated at 70-100 million.
(SFC, 4/26/99, p.A13)(WSJ, 4/26/99, A1,6)
1999 Apr 29, China announced
that 1.6 million people would be allowed to move to Hong Kong over
the next 10-13 years.
(SFC, 4/30/99, p.D7)
1999 May 7, NATO bombs hit a
residential area in Nis and at least 15 people were killed and 60
wounded. NATO bombs hit the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade and 3 people
were killed and 21 injured. An outdated map was blamed for the
embassy bombing. The British Observor later reported that NATO
bombed the Embassy because it was being used to transmit Yugoslav
military communications. British, NATO and US officials denied the
story. In 2000 the US CIA fired one officer and reprimanded 6 others
for the bombing.
(SFC, 5/8/99, p.A1,10)(SFC, 5/10/99, p.A1)(WSJ,
10/18/99, p.A1)(SFEC, 4/9/00, p.A1,15)
1999 May 8, It was reported
that China ordered dozens of cable TV stations to stop broadcasting
foreign satellite programming.
(SFC, 5/8/99, p.C1)
1999 May 8, In China protestors
attacked US diplomatic mission in demonstrations against the NATO
bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade. Many of the
demonstrations were organized by the government-controlled Beijing
Students Assoc.
(SFEC, 5/9/99, p.A1)(SFEC, 5/10/99, p.A8)
1999 May 10, In China Pres.
Jiang Zemin said that NATO must stop bombing Yugoslavia before the
UN Security Council considers any peace plan to end the Kosovo
conflict.
(SFC, 5/11/99, p.A1)
1999 May 10, The US approved
the export of 2 Motorola Iridium satellites to China. [see May 20,
1998]
(WSJ, 5/11/99, p.A1,14)
1999 May 19, A bull market
began in China after the people’s Daily exhorted the masses to buy
stocks.
(SFC, 6/13/00, p.D1)
1999 May, Chinese hackers broke
in and vandalized American government websites in retaliation for
the May 7 American aircraft bombing of the Chinese embassy in
Belgrade. The White House website closed for three days.
(Econ, 5/26/07, p.64)
1999 May, In Sudan a team of
10,000 Chinese laborers under China Natural Petroleum Corp.
completed a 1,000 mile oil pipeline, 2 wells and a refinery after 18
months of work. In exchange Sudan gave CNPC exclusive drilling
rights to over 40,000 square miles near the city of Bor.
(WSJ, 12/20/99, p.A22)
1999 Jun 3, Pres. Clinton
called for an extension of China's favorable trading status on the
10th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
(SFC, 6/4/99, p.A1)
1999 Jun 11, It was reported
that 50,000 copies of the May issue of Beijing Literature were
turned to pulp for an article commemorating the "democratic spirit"
of the May 4, 1919, movement.
(SFC, 6/12/99, p.C1)
1999 Jun 24, The World Bank
approved a plan to relocate 58,000 poor Chinese farmers to land
historically farmed by Tibet. However work on the $40 million
project was delayed pending a review panel.
(SFC, 6/25/99, p.A14)(WSJ, 6/25/99, p.A1)
1999 Jun 26, China's
legislature revised a Hong Kong ruling on immigration and reasserted
its right to decide issues that concern the mainland and Hong Kong.
In Dec the high court in Hong Kong affirmed the Chinese decision.
(SFC, 6/26/99, p.A16)(SFC, 12/4/99, p.A12)
1999 Jun 26, It was reported
that 500,000 acres of forest in China's Liaoning province were
destroyed by at least 20 types of bugs due to lack of diversity, the
high ration of young trees and drought from last year.
(SFC, 6/26/99, p.A8)(HN, 6/26/99)
1999 Jun 29, Volkswagen won
approval to build its own car in China in a joint venture with
Shanghai Automotive Ind. Corp. to sell for about $12,000.
(WSJ, 6/30/99, p.A19)
1999 Jul 5, In China a
landslide caused a cave dormitory at a cement factory to collapse in
Dengfeng and 17 people were killed.
(SFC, 7/9/99, p.A15)
1999 Jul 6-1999 Jul 7, Some
1000 members of Falun Gong demonstrated at the Chinese Communist
Party headquarters in Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi province.
(SFEC, 7/11/99, p.A26)
1999 Jul 7, From China it was
reported that flooding on the Yangtze River since late June had
killed 240 people and caused over $3 billion in damage.
(WSJ, 7/7/99, p.A1)
1999 Jul 9, In China the number
of AIDS cases was reported to have climbed past 400,000. A
government report in 2000 said 20,711 people had tested positive for
AIDS with 397 having died. Health officials estimated 500,000
HIV-positive Chinese.
(SFC, 7/10/99, p.C1)(SSFC, 12/17/00, p.D2)
1999 Jul 14, China announced
that it had developed the design technology to make neutron bombs 11
years ago and could make miniaturized nuclear weapons. [see Jul 15]
(SFC, 7/15/99, p.A9)(WSJ, 7/16/99, p.A1)
1999 Jul 15, China declared
that it had invented its own neutron bomb. [see Jul 14]
(AP, 7/15/04)
1999 Jul 19, China began
arresting 70 members of the Fulan Gong in raids in at least 15
cities.
(SFC, 7/21/99, p.A10)
1999 Jul 22, In China the
government announced a ban on the Falun Gong spiritual movement.
(SFC, 7/23/99, p.A1)
1999 Jul 24, In China the
government arrested some 1,200 government officials accused of
associating with the Falun Gong.
(SFC, 7/27/99, p.A8)
1999 July 29, In China
authorities issued an arrest warrant for Li Hongzhi, the founder of
Falun Gong living in NY.
(SFC, 7/30/99, p.A12)
1999 Jul 30, The US agreed to
pay $4.5 million to the injured and families of the victims of the
May 7 bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.
(SFC, 7/31/99, p.A6)
1999 Jul 31, Chinese
authorities seized a Taiwanese freighter near the Taiwanese military
post of Matsu Island with accusations of smuggling.
(SFC, 8/2/99, p.A10)
1999 Jul, Floodwaters ripped a
dike near Yijang, China, and forced some 130,000 residents to
evacuate from 3 townships in Hunan.
(SFC, 7/31/99, p.A14)
1999 Aug 2, China tested a new
long-range rocket, the 3-stage Dong Feng 31.
(SFC, 8/3/99, p.A8)
1999 Aug 4, It was reported
that flooding of China’s Yangtze River had left 1.8 million people
homeless. Summer flooding left some 725 people dead.
(WSJ, 8/5/99, p.A1)(SFC, 8/6/99, p.A12)
1999 Aug 6, Taiwan pop music
star Ah-mei, Zhang Huimei (26), mesmerized a crowd of 45,000 fans at
a rock concert in Beijing.
(SFEC, 8/8/99, p.A15)
1999 Aug 7, In China Song
Yongyi, a research librarian at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa.,
was imprisoned while collecting data on the Cultural Revolution. On
Dec 12 he was charged with "the purchase and illegal provision of
intelligence to foreigners." Yongyi was released on Jan 28, 2000.
(SFC, 1/26/00, p.A8)(SFC, 1/29/00, p.A8)
1999 Aug 22, In Hong Kong a
China Airlines plane with over 300 passengers overturned while
landing under high winds from Typhoon [Tropical Storm] Sam. 3 people
were killed and 211 injured of the 313 survivors.
(SFC, 8/23/99, p.A14)(AP, 8/22/04)
1999 Aug 25, In Kyrgyzstan
Boris Yeltsin met with Jiang Zemin to forge a closer alliance to
counterbalance US global clout. The meeting preceded a 5-day Central
Asia summit. It was later reported that a deal was made for Russia
to sell 2 nuclear submarines to China.
(SFC, 8/26/99, p.A13)(WSJ, 9/2/99, p.A1)
1999 Aug 28, In China it was
announced that stipends to unemployed workers would be raised 30% to
help arrest an economic slide and brighten sentiment before the 50th
anniversary of Communist Party rule.
(SFC, 8/30/99, p.A14)
1999 Sep 5, Increases in
salaries, pensions and welfare payments were announced for China’s
84 million people as a birthday gift for the Oct 1 anniversary.
(SFC, 9/6/99, p.A14)
1999 Sep 6, Jiang Zemin arrived
in Australia, the first visit there by a Chinese president.
(WSJ, 9/7/99, p.A1)
1999 Sep 9, China and the US
agreed to reopen negotiations for China's entry into the WTO.
(SFC, 9/10/99, p.D3)
1999 Sep 11, China’s Pres.
Jiang and Pres. Clinton agreed to restart WTO talks during the New
Zealand economic summit.
(WSJ, 11/16/99, p.A19)
1999 Sep 20, Factories in
Beijing were closed down to clear the air as part of the $13 billion
preparations for the 50th anniversary of Communist rule.
(SFC, 9/29/99, p.A10)
1999 Oct 1, In China the
celebration for the 50th anniversary of Communism included 50
approved slogans for the masses to chant and 61 approved songs to
sing. Central TV had already aired a 16-part documentary on the past
50 years.
(WSJ, 9/30/99, p.A18)
1999 Oct 8, It was reported
that only about 1000 giant pandas were living in China with fewer
than 100 in captivity.
(SFC, 10/8/99, p.A14)
1999 Oct 15, The People's Daily
published an order that demanded that "foreign organizations or
individuals using encryption products or equipment containing
encryption technology in China must apply" for permission by Jan 31.
(WSJ, 1/25/00, p.A10)
1999 Oct 23, Pres. Jiang Zemin
of China visited France and signed a $2.5 billion deal that included
an order for 28 Airbus planes.
(SFEC, 10/24/99, p.A28)
1999 Oct 26, In China police
arrested Falun Gong protestors in Tiananmen Square during a 2nd day
of protests by the spiritual group.
(SFC, 10/27/99, p.C2)
1999 Oct 27, In China members
of the Falun Gong continued to descend on Beijing in an effort to
press the government to reverse its condemnation.
(SFC, 10/28/99, p.A12)
1999 Oct 28, China Netcom Corp.
began operations. It was formed earlier in the year by several
government agencies as a competitor to the state-owned telecom
monopoly, China Telecom Corp. Jiang Mianheng, the son of Jiang
Zemin, was one of the 5-member board of directors.
(WSJ, 10/28/99, p.A21)(WSJ, 11/1/99, p.A1)
1999 Oct 30, In China the
government approved new laws against superstitious sects and secret
societies with prison terms of 7 years or more.
(SFC, 11/1/99, p.A11)
1999 Nov 1, A new Beijing
Int’l. Airport opened.
(Hem, 8/02, p.34)
1999 Nov 1, A 5.6 earthquake
shook China’s Shanxi and Hebei provinces and some 20,000 people were
left homeless.
(SFC, 11/13/99, p.D8)
1999 Nov 15, In Beijing, China,
US and Chinese trade negotiators agreed to a pact for China to join
the WTO. Charlene Barshefsky and Shi Guangsheng reached a deal that
was similar to the one the US rejected in April. Details of the plan
were made public Mar 14, 2000.
(WSJ, 11/16/99, p.A1,2)(SFC, 3/15/00, p.A3)
1999 Nov 16, UN Sec. Gen'l.
Kofi Annan, in China for a 4-day visit, said he had a "better
understanding" of the government crackdown on the Falun Gong.
(SFC, 11/17/99, p.A17)
1999 Nov 20, China completed
its first unmanned test of a spacecraft. The Shenzhou 1, or "Divine
Vessel," was launched at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in
Gansu province.
(SFEC, 11/21/99, p.A1)
1999 Nov 24-1999 Nov 25, The
Chinese ferry, Dashun, with 312 passengers caught fire and sank in
stormy seas on the Bohai Strait near Yantai in Shandong province.
Only 22 passengers were rescued.
(SFC, 11/26/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/26/99, p.A1)(SFC,
11/27/99, p.A14)(AP, 11/24/00)
1999 Dec 3, A 129 country
environmental conference in China agreed to provide poor countries
an additional $440 million over 3 years to stop using chemicals that
harm the ozone layer.
(SFC, 12/4/99, p.A14)
1999 Dec 10, In China Pres.
Yeltsin of Russia and Pres. Jiang Zemin ended a 2-day summit and
swapped pledges of support for Chechnya and Taiwan.
(SFC, 12/11/99, p.A18)
1999 Dec 10, China signed a
deal to advance Belgrade some $300 million in cash and credits for
reconstruction.
(SFC, 12/11/99, p.C2)
1999 Dec 15, The US and China
agreed to a $28 million compensation package for damage to the
Chinese embassy in Belgrade on May 7. China agreed to pay $2.87
million for damage to the US Embassy and consular offices.
(SFC, 12/16/99, p.A16)
1999 Dec 20, Macao, an enclave
of 430,000 under Portugal, reverted to Chinese control. Edmond Ho,
local banker, took over to head the new government. Local autonomy
was to be had for at least 50 years.
(WSJ, 10/26/95, p.A-18)(SFEC, 12/19/99,
p.A28)(SFC, 12/20/99, p.A10)
1999 Dec 24, Chinese police
identified 22 suspects and rescued 17 children from a kidnapping
ring in Guangdong province. Chen Qifu and his extended family were
accused of taking children and selling them for up to $1,200 each. 6
more suspects were arrested in Jan and 18 more children were
rescued.
(SFC, 1/15/00, p.C14)
1999 Dec 26, In China 4 alleged
ringleaders of the Falun Gong were convicted and sentenced for 7-18
years for stealing "state secrets," organizing a cult to disrupt law
and order, and causing deaths.
(SFC, 12/27/99, p.A1)
1999 Dec, Li Lusong, a villager
from Lan county in China’s Shanxi province, had half of his tongue
cut off by police for cursing police during detention for writing
anti-corruption slogans.
(SFC, 4/25/00, p.A14)
1999 James Mann published
"About Face," a look at diplomatic relations with China since the
Nixon administration.
(WSJ, 1/11/98, p.A21)
1999 Edward Timperlake and
William C. Triplett II authored "Year of the Rat," in which they
explore Pres. Clinton's relations with Chinese officials and their
Washington agents.
(WSJ, 1/11/98, p.A21)
1999 Meihong Hu and Larry
Engelmann authored "Daughter of China: A True Story of Love and
Betrayal." Xu had been a former intelligence officer in China's
People's Liberation Army and Larry Engelmann was her American
target.
(SFEC, 11/7/99, BR p.4)
1999 The Chinese film "The King
of Masks" starred Chu Yuk and was directed by Wu Tianming. It was
about a lonely old magician.
(SFEC, 4/11/99, DB p.16)
1999 The Chinese film "The Last
Woman of Shang" starred Lina Daui and Shin Yung-Kyoon. It was set in
the 11 century BC and was about a woman who pursues becoming empress
in order to avenge her father's death.
(SFC, 6/14/99, p.E3)
1999 The Chinese film "Red
River Valley" starred Ning Jing and Ying Zhen. It was shot in Tibet
and directed by Feng Xiaoning.
(SFC, 10/1/99, p.C7)
1999 Shanghai’s 2nd airport
with a passenger capacity of 60 million was scheduled to be
completed.
(Hem., 2/97, p.70)
1999 China introduced the
system of "Golden Weeks," a vacation scheme which forced workers
across the country to take their three weeks of paid holiday at the
same time, in an effort to boost domestic consumption and tourism
revenue. The plan went under re-evaluation in 2006 as it spawned
major frustrations with overcrowded tourist sites and travel
problems.
(AFP, 9/29/06)
1999 China introduced 2 crucial
changes to its higher education policy. University places were
expanded and state-owned banks were ordered to lend money to
students to pay for fees and expenses. By 2004 some 800,000 students
had taken out subsidized loans.
(Econ, 6/12/04, p.42)
1999 China passed a contract
law.
(Econ, 3/18/17, p.42)
1999 China’s Communist Party
investigated and disciplined 132,447 party and government officials
for corruption in this year.
(SFEC, 1/30/00, p.A25)
1999 Lai Changxing, head of the
China’s Yuanhua Group Inc., was accused of graft and running a
multibillion dollar smuggling ring. Changxing fled to Canada. His
Red Mansion opened as museum in 2001.
(SFC, 9/1/01, p.A6)(WSJ, 11/23/01, p.A1)
1999 In China Rebiya Kadeer, a
prominent Uighur businesswomen in Xinjiang, was detained and
sentenced to 8 years in prison on charges of endangering state
security. She was allowed to leave for the United States in 2005.
(AP, 4/17/07)(Econ, 7/11/09, p.26)
1999 In China Fang Binxing
began working on the “Great Wall," a system to guard the handful of
gateways through which all foreign content and communications enter
China, while at the National Computer Network and Information System
Security Administration Center.
(Econ, 4/6/13, SR p.9)
1999 In China Ji Qi founded
Ctrip, a new Internet firm, catering to the Chinese traveler. He
later followed up with Home Inns, a chain of basic hotels.
(Econ, 1/26/08, p.64)
1999 Masayoshi Son, the boss of
Softbank, agreed for Softbank to buy a 30% stake in the
Hangzhou-based Alibaba website founded by Jack Ma and Joseph Tsai,
for $20 million. In 2017 Alibaba was valued at $270 billion and
Softbank still owned 28%.
(Econ, 4/1/17, p.58)
1999 Haier, under the
leadership of Zhang Ruimin, became China’s biggest maker of
refrigerators.
(Econ, 10/12/13, p.73)
1999 Starbucks opened its first
China store in Beijing’s China World Trade Center and partnered with
Chinese firms to expand.
(WSJ, 11/29/06, p.A12)
1999 The
Bangladesh–China–India–Myanmar Forum for Regional Cooperation was
set up, mainly on China’s initiative. It aimed at greater
integration of trade and investment between the four countries.
(Econ, 5/25/13, SR p.9)
1999 Chinese state executions
were reported to number 1,263 for this year.
(SSFC, 3/11/01, p.D1)
