Timeline China (C) 1995-1999

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1995        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)

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