Timeline China (E) 2005-2009
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2005 Jan 1, The 1974 Multi-Fiber Arrangement (MFA), which had restricted Chinese textile exports, ended. This forced Cambodia to face fierce competition from rival exporters. This led to the loss of some 30,000 jobs in Mauritius.
(www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/February06/Features/feature2.htm)(Econ, 2/19/05, p.42)(Econ, 10/18/08, p.58)
2005 Jan 1, China was forecast for 8.1% annual GDP growth with a population at 1.3 billion and GDP per head at $1,360.
(Econ, 1/8/05, p.90)
2005 Jan 6, A baby boy delivered in Beijing became China's 1.3 billionth citizen.
(AP, 1/6/05)
2005 Jan 6, Chinese authorities bulldozed Silk Alley, a 20-year-old landmark in Beijing. Traders felt the motive was to eliminate competition for a new indoor complex soon to open next to the alley, to be named Xiushui, which was the name of the old market.
(Econ, 1/15/05, p.39)
2005 Jan 15, China and Taiwan agreed to allow the first direct flights since 1949.
(AP, 1/15/05)
2005 Jan 17, Chinese news reports said authorities have arrested dozens of government officials and others accused in a scheme to steal 7.4 billion yuan ($900 million) from a state bank through fraudulent loans.
(AP, 1/17/05)
2005 Jan 17, Zhao Ziyang (85), former Chinese leader (1980-1987), died after 15 years under house arrest. He was ousted as China's Communist Party leader after sympathizing with the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests. In 2009 a secret recording of his insights regarding the 1989 protests were translated edited and published by Bao Pu: “Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang."
(AP, 1/17/05)(SFC, 1/17/05, p.B4)(Econ, 1/22/05, p.82)(Econ, 5/23/09, p.88)
2005 Jan 19, The Chinese government ordered a halt to construction at 30 big construction projects, including two at the massive Three Gorges Dam, due to alleged violations of environmental protection regulations and other concerns.
(AP, 1/19/05)
2005 Jan 24, China and India opened a first round of "strategic dialogue", as their regional and international influence surges despite a nagging border dispute.
(AFP, 1/24/05)
2005 Jan 24, China's vice president expressed a strong desire to increase economic and diplomatic cooperation with Mexico while meeting with Mexican lawmakers.
(AP, 1/24/05)
2005 Jan 26, The World Economic Forum, the global business meeting that attracts world leaders and Hollywood stars, opened in Davos, Switzerland. A Chinese economist said that China has lost faith in the stability of the US dollar and would seek to broaden the exchange rate for the yuan to a more flexible basket of currencies.
(AP, 1/26/05)(SFC, 1/27/05, p.C1)
2005 Jan 26, China’s central bank said a nationwide personal credit database will be available across the country by the end of the year. The database was launched in January, 2006, and included records of 340 million individuals.
(WSJ, 1/27/05, p.A10)(WSJ, 1/17/06, p.A15)
2005 Jan 27, It was reported that Japan’s trade with China in 2004 exceeded its trade with the US for the 1st time. This included figures for Hong Kong.
(WSJ, 1/27/05, p.A10)
2005 Jan 29, Chinese jetliners touched down in Taiwan, completing the first nonstop flights between the rivals since a bloody civil war split the two sides 56 years ago.
(AP, 1/29/05)
2005 Feb 1, China lent Russia $6 billion to help finance the nationalization of OAO Yukos. The loan was in effect a forward payment for some 48 million metric tons of crude oil.
(WSJ, 2/2/05, p.A2)
2005 Feb 2, China and Russia agreed to set up a new body to consult more closely on security issues.
(AP, 2/2/05)
2005 Feb 5, Central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said China is committed to revamping its foreign exchange regime and further relaxing its capital account controls.
(Reuters, 2/5/05)
2005 Feb 9, Ethnic Chinese communities across Asia celebrated the start of the lunar year 4703, the Year of the Rooster, with visits to crowded temples and family banquets.
(AP, 2/9/05)(SFC, 2/9/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 14, A gas explosion in China's northeast Sunjiawan mine killed 214 people in the deadliest mining disaster reported since communist rule began in 1949.
(AP, 2/15/05)(AP, 2/14/06)
2005 Feb 19, China's state news said North Korea no longer wants to negotiate with the US and 4 other nations in an effort to ease the standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear program.
(AP, 2/19/05)
2005 Feb 21, A Chinese newspaper reported that the China Construction Bank is investigating the disappearance of $8 million, in the latest big embezzlement case to hit the country's scandal-ridden state banks.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 26, China state television said China will gradually open its capital account in 2005, another step in its plan to make the yuan currency fully convertible.
(AP, 2/26/05)
2005 Feb, China issued a government document that allowed private investment in any business not banned by law.
(Econ, 3/19/05, p.72)
2005 Feb, China said that 10 regions had begun a pilot project in green GDP assessment, in an effort to assess environmental costs in development.
(Econ, 10/22/05, p.43)
2005 Feb, Vietnam signed an agreement with the World Society for the Protection of Animals to phase out its bear bile farms, where an estimated 3,000 bears were held for their bile. In China an estimated 7,000 caged bears were milked for their bile.
(SFC, 4/25/05, p.A8)
2005 Mar 2, In northern China a cache of explosives at the home of a coal mine manager blew up in Kecheng, killing him and at least 10 others including 2 children at a nearby school.
(AP, 3/3/05)(SFC, 3/3/05, p.A6)
2005 Mar 5, China's foreign exchange chief said a sharp appreciation of China's yuan is unlikely and the currency will be kept in a small range as the country gradually implements a more flexible exchange rate.
(AP, 3/5/05)
2005 Mar 6, China convened its National People’s Congress.
(WSJ, 3/7/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 6, Shanghai became the 1st Chinese city to levy a capital gains tax on the sale of private property held for less than a year.
(Econ, 3/26/05, p.73)
2005 Mar 7, China said it will keep controversial exchange-rate controls and hold down industrial investment this year as it tries to rein in surging growth and restrain inflation.
(AP, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 8, China unveiled the Taiwan Anti-Secession Law, authorizing an attack if Taiwan moves toward formal independence, increasing pressure on the self-ruled island while warning other countries not to interfere.
(AP, 3/8/05)(Econ, 4/7/12, p.30)
2005 Mar 9, Senior officials said China will use taxes from its fast-growing eastern cities to help pay for rural social programs as it tries to close a widening divide between rich and poor.
(AP, 3/9/05)
2005 Mar 14, China's parliament enacted a law authorizing force to stop rival Taiwan from pursuing formal independence.
(AP, 3/14/05)
2005 Mar 15, Hong Kong press reported that Zhang Enzhou was removed as president of China Construction Bank (CCB), China’s 3rd largest bank, allegedly for taking bribes.
(Econ, 3/19/05, p.79)
2005 Mar 16, China's central bank tightened mortgage lending rules to raise the cost of borrowing for home loans in an effort to cool the sizzling property market.
(AP, 3/17/05)(WSJ, 3/31/05, p.A9)
2005 Mar 19, A blast at the Xishui Colliery in Shuozhou, in a major coal-mining area in China’s Shanxi province, left at least 60 miners dead.
(AP, 3/20/05)
2005 Mar 23, Chinese President Hu Jintao stepped up pressure on North Korea to return to nuclear talks, telling its visiting premier that dialogue is the only way to settle the dispute.
(AP, 3/23/05)
2005 Mar 23, Chinese state media reported that already severe water shortages are worsening due to heavy pollution of lakes and aquifers and urban development projects with a big thirst for water, such as lawns and fountains.
(AP, 3/23/05)
2005 Mar 26, in Taiwan about a million people marched through the capital to protest a new Chinese law that authorizes an attack on the island if it moves toward formal independence.
(AP, 3/26/05)
2005 Mar 28, Hu Xiaoliam was appointed the 1st female head of China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE). The regulator will oversee new trading and price quotes in 8 currency pairs through the interbank China foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS).
(Econ, 4/2/05, p.68)
2005 Mar 29, It was reported that China’s influence in Africa was expanding rapidly. Chinese projects included the rebuilding of Nigeria’s railroad network; the paving of roads in Rwanda; ownership of copper mines in Zambia; timber operations in Equatorial Guinea; supermarket operations in Lesotho and numerous ventures in other African countries.
(WSJ, 3/29/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 29, In eastern China a truck loaded with chlorine overturned on a highway after a tire burst, spewing fumes that killed 27 people and left another 285 hospitalized.
(AP, 3/30/05)
2005 Mar, A Chinese cabinet think tank issued a report that said unless China overhauls its medical care, “economic development, social stability and public support for reform" will be impacted.
(WSJ, 12/5/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar, The British-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) described a timber-smuggling chain bringing 300,000 cubic meters of merbau, a valuable hardwood, from Indonesia’s Papua province to China.
(Econ, 3/26/05, p.42)
2005 Apr 3, Residents in China’s Zhejiang province clashed with police officers and workers sent in to quell their protests over pollution from chemical factories. As many as 60 cars were destroyed and some people were reported killed.
(SSFC, 10/2/05, p.C1)(www.christusrex.org/www1/news/nyt-4-14-05b.html)
2005 Apr 4, China's foreign ministry called in Japan's ambassador to Beijing to express its "indignation" at Tokyo's approval of nationalist school history textbooks.
(AP, 4/5/05)
2005 Apr 4, Shanghai, China's largest city, enacted a new rule requiring home owners to pay off their mortgages before selling property, the boldest measure yet in new efforts to cool surging real estate prices.
(AP, 4/7/05)
2005 Apr 5, Amnesty International said China accounted for the majority of executions reported worldwide last year, but the true frequency of the death penalty is impossible to count because many death sentences are carried out secretly.
(AP, 4/5/05)
2005 Apr 5, China's top industrial safety official said the number of deaths in China's accident-plagued coal mines surged by nearly 21 per cent in the first three months of this year despite a national safety crackdown.
(AP, 4/5/05)
2005 Apr 6, A government official said China plans to build 40 nuclear power plants over the next 15 years, making them the main power source for its booming east coast.
(AP, 4/7/05)
2005 Apr 6, Colombia's president met top Chinese leaders during a visit to boost trade, seek financing for an oil pipeline and to promote sales of Colombian coal to fuel China's booming economy.
(AP, 4/6/05)
2005 Apr 6, Under pressure to stem a rising tide of textile imports from China, the European Union's executive unveiled guidelines for imposing curbs on a country which already has 20 percent of a $400 billion market.
(AP, 4/6/05)
2005 Apr 9, Chinese PM Wen Jiabao arrived in Bangalore on the last leg of a 4 nation South Asia tour for talks with Indian leaders expected to boost trade and narrow differences.
(AFP, 4/9/05)
2005 Apr 11, China reported rioting in Dongyang after 2 older women were killed in a clash with police during a pollution protest.
(WSJ, 4/12/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 11, India and China agreed to form a strategic partnership to end a border dispute and boost trade in a deal marking a major shift in relations between the Asian giants.
(AP, 4/11/05)
2005 Apr 12, China said it will soon begin “trial sales" of hitherto untraded stocks it holds in publicly traded companies.
(WSJ, 4/13/05, p.C16)
2005 Apr 16, Protesters in Shanghai threw stones and broke windows at Japan's consulate and Japanese restaurants as tens of thousands of people defied government warnings and staged demonstrations against Tokyo's bid for a permanent UN Security Council seat.
(AP, 4/16/05)
2005 Apr 18, Australia and China agreed to start talks on a free trade pact. Visiting PM John Howard also announcing Canberra's recognition of China as free market economy.
(AP, 4/18/05)
2005 Apr 21, Tradeable shares on China’s 2 stock exchanges were reportedly worth $150 billion, about the same as Denmark’s stock exchange.
(WSJ, 4/21/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 21, In China a chemical plant blast in Chongqing left 19 people missing.
(WSJ, 4/22/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 21, Zhang Chunqiao (88), a member of The Gang of Four, died. Beginning around 1965 the Gang of Four were able to manipulate the Chinese media and youth to leverage their positions over party moderates, such as Deng Xiaoping. Mao’s death in 1976 ended their influence and led to their imprisonment and trial in 1980-81 for their role in the Cultural Revolution, during which some 34,800 people died.
(SFC, 5/11/05, p.B7)(Econ, 5/21/05, p.90)
2005 Apr 21, In Zambia at least 51 people were killed in a blast at a Chinese-owned mining-explosives factory in Chambisi.
(WSJ, 4/22/05, p.A1)(WSJ, 2/2/07, p.A1)
2005 Apr 22, Japan's PM Koizumi apologized for his country's World War II aggression in Asia in a bid to defuse tensions with regional rival China, but a Chinese diplomat dismissed the remarks, saying "actions are more important" than words.
(AP, 4/22/05)
2005 Apr 23, The leaders of China and Japan met in an effort to end a dispute over Japan's World War II aggression that has badly damaged relations between them. They met on the sidelines of a summit for Asian and African leaders in Jakarta.
(AP, 4/23/05)
2005 Apr 24, In China a 108-meter statue of Guanyin, an East Asian deity of mercy, was enshrined after six years of construction on the south coast of the island province Hainan near the Nanshan Temple of Sanya.
(Econ, 6/27/15, p.36)
2005 Apr 24, In northeast China rescuers worked to free 69 coal miners trapped in a flooded mine at the Tengda Coal Mine, run by the local government in Jiaohe, a city in Jilin province.
(AP, 4/24/05)
2005 Apr 26, Lien Chan, the leader of Taiwan's opposition Nationalist Party, arrived in China on an 8-day trip for the first meeting between the party of Chaing Kai-shek and the communists since both sides split amid civil war nearly six decades ago.
(AP, 4/26/05)
2005 Apr, Chinese journalist Shi Tao was sentenced to 10 years in prison for illegally providing state secrets to foreigners. He had detailed how his newspaper colleagues were instructed not to commemorate the 15th anniversary of 1989 pro-Democracy action. He was identified by his e-mail address provided by Yahoo. Shi Tao was released on Aug 23, 2013.
(WSJ, 9/8/05, p.A16)(SFC, 9/9/13, p.A4)
2005 May 4, In China 178 birds were found dead at Bird Island in Qinghai province in a lake that served as a major area for research on migratory water fowl. They were killed by the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu virus. The number of dead birds was later raised to 1,500 with bar-headed geese among the most dead.
(WSJ, 5/23/05, p.A11)(SFC, 7/7/05, p.A5)
2005 May 4, Chinese authorities confined residents in Yanqing, 50 miles north of Beijing, to their homes following the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in cattle. Numerous farms were put under quarantine.
(WSJ, 5/24/05, p.A10)
2005 May 7, China and Japan agreed to try to improve strained ties and meet soon to discuss a disputed gas field.
(Reuters, 5/7/05)
2005 May 7, After extensive use of H2OIL fuel additives for over 15 years, China will begin manufacturing F2-21 nanotechnology fuel additives. H2OIL's first overseas plant in Tianjin opened under a joint venture agreement with PetroChina's Huafu Oilfield Chemical Company. F2-21, developed by H2Oil president Richard Hicks, is a mixture of water, shampoo and baby oil that forms nano-sized globules which explode in an engine’s combustion chamber helping the gas to burn more cleanly and completely.
(www.h2oil.com/press.shtml)(SFC, 3/23/06, p.C3)
2005 May 9, In northern China nearly a dozen homes built into hillside caves were buried when the soil above them collapsed, trapping 24 people.
(AP, 5/10/05)
2005 May 11, In northeastern China a gas explosion at a coal mine killed nine miners.
(AP, 5/12/05)
2005 May 13, A senior Chinese official met with President Fidel Castro during a visit aimed at cementing political and economic ties between the two communist nations.
(AP, 5/14/05)
2005 May 19, In northern China a large gas explosion in a coal mine left at least 51 workers trapped. 40 bodies were later found and 10 remained missing.
(AP, 5/19/05)(AP, 5/22/05)
2005 May 20, Chinese state media reported China is to lift a decades-old ban on mainland tourists visiting political rival Taiwan. Ultimately, however, it was up to the Taiwan government to decide whether the floodgates should be opened.
(Reuters, 5/20/05)
2005 May 20, In northern China 20 people died in mine explosions in two neighboring mines in Shanxi province.
(AP, 5/22/05)
2005 May 21, China ordered emergency measures to prevent an outbreak of avian flu after investigators said migratory birds found dead in a western province this month were killed by the virus.
(AP, 5/21/05)
2005 May 23, In Shenzhen, China, 16 buildings toppled near the Hong Kong border in what state media said was the largest urban demolition blast ever in China.
(AP, 5/23/05)
2005 May 25, China rolled out the red carpet for Uzbekistan's Pres. Karimov, underscoring the importance it places on curbing the rise of Islamic militancy as it welcomed the authoritarian leader criticized in the West for a bloody crackdown on protesters. China signed a $600 million joint oil venture with Uzbekistan.
(AP, 5/25/05)(WSJ, 5/26/05, p.A1)
2005 May 26, China’s Xinhua news agency reported that China has developed vaccines that block the spread of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu among birds and mammals.
(AP, 5/26/05)
2005 May 30, China scrapped concessions meant to avert a trade war with the US and Europe, withdrawing a plan to sharply increase export duties on Chinese-made textiles that are flooding foreign markets. The turnaround followed new import controls imposed by Washington and the EU, which China's commerce minister called a violation of WTO rules.
(AP, 5/30/05)
2005 May 31, China said reporter Ching Cheong of The Straits Times, Singapore's main English-language newspaper, has admitted to spying for a foreign intelligence agency. Cheong’s wife said he was arrested April 22 after a source gave him documents about purged former Communist Party leader Zhao Ziyang, who died this year.
(AP, 5/31/05)(WSJ, 5/31/05, p.A1)
2005 Jun 1, China began levying a 5.5% tax on residential property sold after this date. It would only be applied to property sold fewer than 2 years after its purchase.
(WSJ, 5/26/05, p.A10)
2005 Jun 1, China called a resolution by Brazil, Germany, India and Japan to expand the U.N. Security Council, and hopefully give them permanent seats, "dangerous" and hinted it would use its veto power if necessary to block final approval.
(AP, 6/1/05)
2005 Jun 1, In southern China heavy rain triggered floods and mudslides, leaving about 200 people dead or missing.
(AP, 6/1/05)
2005 Jun 2, Chinese, Indian and Russian foreign ministers, meeting in Vladivostok, agreed to intensify joint work against terrorism and underscored their common approach to international affairs.
(AP, 6/2/05)
2005 Jun 4, It was reported that the death rate on China’s roads, according to the WHO, was 680 per day plus 45,000 injuries. American traffic deaths in contrast were at 115 per day.
(Econ, 6/4/05, p.25)
2005 Jun 4, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said China is not a threat to the US but is building up its military without being threatened by any other country. The US commerce secretary warned China of a potential political backlash in Washington amid tensions over mounting Chinese trade surpluses, surging textile exports and rampant product piracy.
(AP, 6/4/05)
2005 Jun 4, Australian officials said a senior Chinese diplomat has sought Australian government protection for himself and his family, claiming he faces persecution if he goes home. Analysts said Chen Yonglin's defection could muddy Canberra's relations with Beijing.
(AP, 6/4/05)
2005 Jun 5, The Chinese government said 3 days of flooding triggered by torrential rains killed 204 people in China's south and desert northwest and left 79 missing at the beginning of the country's summer flood season.
(AP, 6/5/05)
2005 Jun 7, In Australia 2 Chinese defectors, one of them a diplomat who walked away from his post, claim that China is running a spy network in Australia and other Western countries.
(AP, 6/8/05)
2005 Jun 9, Chinese officials signed preliminary agreements to invest about $1.5 billion in construction, timber, agriculture and other industries in Russia.
(AP, 6/9/05)
2005 Jun 10, China resolved a trade dispute over textiles with the EU.
(WSJ, 6/13/05, p.A3)
2005 Jun 10, In northeast China a torrent of water rushed down a mountain and hit a primary school in Heilongjiang province, killing 91 people, most of them students, and leaving another four people missing.
(AP, 6/12/05)
2005 Jun 10, In southern China a fire raced through the top three floors of a hotel, killing 31 people and injuring 15 others.
(AP, 6/12/05)
2005 Jun 11, In northern China an attack on a shantytown left six people dead and wounded 48 others. Villagers had disputed compensation offered by officials for their land and occupied the proposed site in 2004. Authorities have arrested more than 100 people and began investigating two Communist Party officials following the attack.
(AP, 7/11/05)(Econ, 6/25/05, p.40)
2005 Jun 15, China's biggest automaker, FAW Car Co., warned that its first-half net profit could fall by more than 50 percent amid sluggish sales, rising costs and government moves to tighten credit for buying cars.
(AP, 6/15/05)
2005 Jun 17, Bank of America signed an agreement to buy a 9 percent stake in state-owned China Construction Bank for $3 billion, the largest single purchase of stock in a Chinese bank by a foreign financial institution.
(AP, 6/17/05)
2005 Jun 18, It was reported that rising waters in China's central Dongting Lake, one of the nation's largest freshwater bodies, are forcing millions of rats into surrounding farmlands where the rodents are ravaging crops.
(AP, 6/18/05)
2005 Jun 19, China’s Xinhua news agency reported that the China Regulatory Commission had approved 42 more companies to take part in a state share reform program. 4 maiden companies were named a month earlier.
(WSJ, 6/20/05, p.C16)
2005 Jun 21, China appointed Donald Tsang as Hong Kong's new leader for the next 2 years. The veteran civil servant expressed confidence the territory will become more democratic.
(AP, 6/21/05)
2005 Jun 22, Xinhua News said flooding triggered by torrential rains killed at least 27 people and forced the evacuation of more than 300,000 in a mountainous region of southern China.
(AP, 6/22/05)
2005 Jun 22, It was reported that China's Pearl River estuary is so badly polluted the fish that once thrived in its waters have virtually vanished.
(AFP, 6/23/05)
2005 Jun 23, Chinese state-run oil firm CNOOC Ltd. said it is confident its $18.5 billion cash offer for U.S. producer Unocal will prevail in the takeover battle with Chevron Corp.
(AP, 6/23/05)
2005 Jun 24, China’s government said flooding and mudslides have killed at least 567 people across the country in the past two weeks, with more heavy rain forecast in the southern province whose factories are the heart of the country's booming export industries.
(AP, 6/25/05)
2005 Jun 25, In southern China thousands of students rioted at Jiujiang Institute, a university jointly run by the military, to protest high university fees, overcrowded dorms and unappealing cafeteria food.
(AP, 7/2/05)
2005 Jun 26, Thousands of Chinese rioted in a dispute sparked by a lopsided roadside brawl, set fire to cars and wounded six police officers in Chizhou, eastern Anhui province.
(Reuters, 6/29/05)
2005 Jun 28, China said it will begin filling its strategic oil reserve by the end of the year.
(WSJ, 6/29/05, p.A13)
2005 Jun 28, Avian flu has killed 5,000 wild birds in China's northwest, the World Health Organization said, five times the number previously reported by the Chinese government.
(AP, 6/28/05)
2005 Jun 28, In Madrid a Tibetan group presented a criminal case against top Chinese officials for genocide and crimes against humanity, seeking to take advantage of Spain's laws on international human rights crimes.
(AP, 6/28/05)
2005 Jun 30, Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Russia and is expected to bolster ties with Beijing's former rival in hopes of quadrupling their trade turnover to up to $80 billion a year by 2010.
(AP, 6/30/05)
2005 Jun 30, China overtook Japan as the world’s largest holder of foreign exchange reserves. The combined China and Hong Kong reserves stood at $833 billion.
(Econ, 9/17/05, p.80)
2005 Jun 30, The EU and China plunged into a 2nd trade row, this time over shoes, but Brussels said a deal was still possible over Beijing's surging footwear exports.
(AP, 6/30/05)
2005 Jul 1, China and Russia issued a declaration demanding respect for the right of all countries to develop free of outside interference.
(SFC, 7/2/05, p.A14)
2005 Jul 2, A gas explosion at an illegal coal mine in central China killed 19 workers.
(AP, 7/3/05)
2005 Jul 4, In China protests began at the Jinxing Pharmaceutical plant in Xinchang, a town about 125 miles south of Shanghai, by local farmers angry over pollution.
(AP, 7/19/05)
2005 Jul 5, An alliance of Russia, China and central Asian nations called for the US and coalition members in Afghanistan to set a date for withdrawing from member states, reflecting growing unease over America's regional military presence. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization includes China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
(AP, 7/5/05)
2005 Jul 6, China unveiled its 1st index of manufacturing-purchasing activity.
(WSJ, 7/7/05, p.A11)
2005 Jul 6, In northeastern China a bomb exploded in a shopping mall, injuring 47 people but causing no deaths. Xinhua News said Ma Yuanxi, had fled China after being suspected of murder but sneaked back into the country seeking revenge in a dispute with another man.
(AP, 7/6/05)
2005 Jul 8, In China Exxon Mobil Corp., Saudi Aramco and top Asian refiner Sinopec signed a $3.5 billion deal to expand a refinery in south China, sealing what they called the country's largest oil project.
(Reuters, 7/8/05)
2005 Jul 10, China said torrential rains in the southwest have killed 65 people over the past two weeks and forced more than 428,000 to flee their homes in flood-prone areas.
(AP, 7/10/05)
2005 Jul 11, An explosion in a coal mine in China's far west killed 41 people, with another 42 still missing.
(AP, 7/11/05)
2005 Jul 18, China evacuated over 600,000 people from coastal areas after typhoon Haitang slammed into Taiwan, killing up to four people.
(Reuters, 7/18/05)
2005 Jul 20, Haitang was downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it moved into southeast China, leaving a trail of destruction. The death toll in Taiwan and in China rose to 15.
(AFP, 7/20/05)
2005 Jul 21, China scrapped the yuan's peg to the US dollar and tied it to a basket of currencies revaluing the yuan by 2.1 percent and leaving the door open to further rises.
(Reuters, 7/21/05)
2005 Jul 21, Airbus said it has received an order for 20 of its twin-aisle A330 passenger jets from Air China, in a deal worth about 3.2 billion euros ($3.9 billion) at list prices.
(AP, 7/21/05)
2005 Jul 22, Taiwan will allow computer maker Lenovo Ltd. to become the first mainland Chinese company to establish a subsidiary on the island in a significant step forward in commercial ties between the two rivals.
(AP, 7/22/05)
2005 Jul 23, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe arrived in Beijing for a visit expected to include a plea for oil and food to aid his state's failing economy.
(AP, 7/23/05)
2005 Jul 25, North Korean and US negotiators held a rare one-on-one meeting in Beijing amid a flurry of contacts between delegations to the six-nation talks aimed at persuading the communist nation to relinquish its nuclear program.
(AP, 7/25/05)
2005 Jul 26, Chinese health officials reported that over the last 4 weeks an unidentified illness has killed 19 farmers and sickened 80 in southwestern China after they butchered sick pigs or sheep. The pigs in question were infected with streptococcus bacteria, a common pathogen in humans and domestic animals.
(AP, 7/26/05)
2005 Jul 26, Six-party nuclear disarmament talks opened in Beijing after a 13-month boycott by North Korea, and the communist nation's envoy said his country was ready to work on eliminating atomic weapons from the Korean Peninsula.
(AP, 7/26/05)
2005 Jul 27, North Korea said it would give up its nuclear weapons only after the alleged US atomic threat is removed from the divided peninsula and relations with the US are normalized.
(AP, 7/27/05)
2005 Jul 29, Xinhua News said China plans to sign a deal next month to buy 50 Boeing 787 Dreamliner jetliners in a deal worth $6 billion.
(AP, 7/29/05)
2005 Jul 30, The death toll in China from a mysterious pig-borne disease continued to rise, with several more cities affected. Sichuan province in southwestern China has launched a campaign to educate poor, illiterate farmers not to slaughter sick pigs or eat their meat after an outbreak of swine flu hit about 100 villages and killed at least 34 people.
(Reuters, AFP, 7/30/05)
2005 Jul 30, In southern China a brick wall collapsed at a festival, killing seven people and injuring 22. The wall fell during the opening ceremony of an annual "torch festival" celebrated by the Yi ethnic minority in Yunnan province's Yuanyang county.
(AP, 7/31/05)
2005 Jul, Li Guang, a teacher in a teacher in China’s northwestern Changhe township, was sentenced to death for raping 23 fourth- and fifth-grade students.
(AP, 6/13/07)(AP, 6/13/07)
2005 Aug 1-2005 Sep 2, An American man and 11 Chinese citizens were arrested in a counterfeit medicine scheme that spanned 11 countries and involved millions of dollars worth of fake drugs.
(AP, 9/8/05)
2005 Aug 3, China's UN ambassador said the US and China have agreed to work together to block a plan to expand the powerful UN Security Council.
(AP, 8/3/05)
2005 Aug 5, China’s government said Ching Cheong, a Hong-Kong based reporter, has been charged with spying for Taiwan. China accusing him of obtaining huge amounts of classified information under an alias.
(AP, 8/5/05)
2005 Aug 5, Baidu.com, a Chinese search engine, went public on Nasdaq and closed up 354% at $122.54.
(SFC, 8/6/05, p.C1)
2005 Aug 6-2005 Aug 8, Tropical Storm Matsa hit China’s eastern province of Zhejiang. 13 people were killed since it hit the mainland as a typhoon. Beijing's Municipal Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters was preparing to evacuate as many as 40,000 people in the mountains north of Beijing as Tropical Storm Matsa approached.
(AP, 8/9/05)
2005 Aug 7, In southern China rescuers attempted to reach 123 miners trapped in a flooded coal mine.
(AP, 8/7/05)(AP, 8/9/05)
2005 Aug 9, China’s official media reported that 123 miners trapped in south China have little chance of survival. One body was recovered the next day.
(AP, 8/9/05)(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 9, Australia’s Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Australia and China are negotiating an agreement to allow Australia to export uranium to China for peaceful purposes.
(AP, 8/9/05)
2005 Aug 11, Beijing ordered an investigation into the cause of a flood at a coal shaft in southern China. Hopes of finding survivors among the 122 miners still trapped underground all but disappeared.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 11, 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. Jack Ma started Alibaba.com in 1999 to support small business people in China.
(WSJ, 8/12/05, p.A1,B1)
2005 Aug 12, Liu Jinbao, a former president of state-owned Bank of China's Hong Kong branch fired in May, 2003, received a suspended death sentence for embezzlement in an apparent effort by Beijing to help restore faith in its scandal-plagued banks as they prepare to sell shares abroad. Mr. Liu was convicted of embezzling $1.8 million with others plus and additional amount for himself.
(AP, 8/12/05)(WSJ, 8/15/05, p.A11)
2005 Aug 16, A university professor in Shanghai said is he is offering China's first class on homosexuality and gay culture and that several hundred students have applied for the 100 openings.
(AP, 8/17/05)
2005 Aug 16, A top Indian official said Indian and Chinese oil firms will sign agreements aimed at bidding jointly for foreign oil and gas projects and reducing cut-throat competition.
(AP, 8/16/05)
2005 Aug 17, China announced a broad crackdown on all media harmful to young people.
(Econ, 8/20/05, p.33)
2005 Aug 17, Researchers from Greenpeace Int’l reported that toxic waste from electronic devices discarded in the US and dismantled in China and India was posing a sever problem around Guiyu, China, and New Delhi, India.
(SFC, 8/17/05, p.C3)
2005 Aug 18, British bank Royal Bank of Scotland (RBoS) announced that it would lead a consortium to buy a 10-percent stake in Bank of China for 3.1 billion dollars (2.5 billion euros).
(AP, 8/18/05)
2005 Aug 18, China and Russia began unprecedented joint military exercises involving air, sea and land forces, as commanders from both nations insisted the war games weren't meant to intimidate other countries.
(AP, 8/18/05)
2005 Aug 20, Protesters demanding the closure of an eastern China battery factory they say is spewing lead into the environment clashed with police, and dozens of people were injured.
(AP, 8/21/05)
2005 Aug 23, China submitted legislation to cut income taxes on its poorest workers.
(WSJ, 8/24/05, p.A9)
2005 Aug 24, Chinese share prices surged after the government issued new market guidelines and pledged to push ahead with shareholding reforms.
(AP, 8/24/05)
2005 Aug 24, In southern China a bus swerved to avoid an oncoming bicycle and veered onto a roadside crowded with pedestrians in Shenzhen, killing 19 people and injuring 16.
(AP, 8/24/05)
2005 Aug 25, Thousands of Chinese and Russian troops wrapped up their historic first joint military exercises with a mock invasion by paratroopers on China's east coast. The eight-day exercises with 7,000 Chinese troops and 1,800 Russians underscored growing military ties between the former Cold War enemies.
(AP, 8/25/05)
2005 Aug 25, In China Monsignor Xie Shiguang (88), the bishop of Mingdong, died of leukemia. He was first arrested in 1955 by Chinese authorities "because of his loyalty and obedience to the pope," and released a year later. He was next arrested in 1958 and stayed in jail until his release in 1980. Xie was also jailed from 1984-1987, and finally for two years starting in 1990, and was kept under surveillance by authorities until his death.
(AP, 8/27/05)
2005 Aug 28, A committee of China’s male-dominated parliament amended the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Women. It made sexual harassment of women unlawful and stipulated that equality between men and women is a basic state policy.
(Econ, 9/3/05, p.38)
2005 Aug 30, It was reported that China's top lender, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, is selling a 10 percent stake to investment bank Goldman Sachs, American Express and the German insurer Allianz. ICBC is also shedding $17.3 billion in bad loans to prepare for an overseas listing.
(AP, 8/31/05)(Econ, 9/3/05, p.67)
2005 Aug 30, In China tobacco smugglers from Shangdeng were intercepted by authorities from nearby Yantang and 2 smugglers ended up killed. Shangdeng residents sacked the Yantang City Hall in response.
(SFC, 12/9/05, p.A25)
2005 Aug 31, The Chinese government signed an agreement with the UN human rights agency to collaborate on reforming China's legal system in preparation for adopting a key UN treaty on civil and political rights.
(AP, 8/31/05)
2005 Aug 31, A government newspaper reported that China is suspending production at 7,000 coal mines, nearly one-third of the nationwide total, in a safety crackdown on the accident-plagued industry.
(AP, 8/31/05)
2005 Sep 1, Nearly 600,000 people were evacuated as Typhoon Talim plowed into southern China, forcing authorities to shut down schools, highways and airports.
(AP, 9/1/05)
2005 Sep 1, The United States slapped extra curbs on Chinese imports, hours after talks on a formula to deal with China's surging textile shipments ended in failure.
(AP, 9/1/05)
2005 Sep 2, China said it plans to end a 1998 prohibition on direct sales on Dec. 1, clearing the way for such companies as Avon Products Inc. to expand into its booming market for cosmetics and other consumer products.
(AP, 9/2/05)
2005 Sep 2, China’s government said torrential rains and flooding from Typhoon Talim killed at least 10 people and left 15 missing in eastern China.
(AP, 9/2/05)
2005 Sep 3, Chinese President Hu Jintao postponed his official visit to Washington next week due to Hurricane Katrina.
(AP, 9/3/05)
2005 Sep 5, China said the death toll from last week's Typhoon Talim climbed by 13 to at least 95 on the mainland, with another 30 people missing.
(AP, 9/5/05)
2005 Sep 5, China and the EU reached an agreement to unblock some 77 million garments held up at European borders after Chinese textile imports broke through 2005 quota limits.
(AP, 9/5/05)
2005 Sep 6, China’s state media reported that Muslim separatists in western China have carried out 260 attacks in the past decade, killing 160 people and injuring 440.
(AP, 9/6/05)
2005 Sep 7, European Union governments backed a deal to unblock Chinese textiles held at EU borders, ending a trade dispute that saw some 77 million garments pile up after imports broke through 2005 limits.
(AP, 9/7/05)
2005 Sep 8, Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Canada for his first state visit, celebrating 35 years of diplomatic ties and rapidly expanding trade and energy agreements with Canada.
(AP, 9/8/05)
2005 Sep 9, China deployed a fleet of 5 warships near a gas field in the East China Sea, an area disputed by China and Japan.
(SSFC, 9/11/05, p.A12)
2005 Sep 9, It was reported that China Telecom has started blocking access to Skype, a popular Internet telephone service that is threatening its long-distance revenue.
(AP, 9/9/05)
2005 Sep 10, Chinese President Hu Jintao urged Canada to expand its investment in the Asian giant and pledged to improve living standards in the world's most populous country.
(AP, 9/11/05)
2005 Sep 11, Typhoon Khanun made a direct hit on Taizhou city in prosperous eastern China after nearly a million villagers and farmers had been evacuated from flimsy coastal and hillside huts to safety.
(AP, 9/11/05)
2005 Sep 12, An official said China will no longer consider death tolls and other relevant information about natural disasters to be state secrets in a move aimed at boosting government transparency.
(AP, 9/12/05)
2005 Sep 12, The new Hong Kong Disneyland theme park on Lantau Island opened. Zeng Qinghong, China’s vice-president, presided over opening ceremonies.
(SSFC, 9/18/05, p.C2)(Econ, 9/17/05, p.44)
2005 Sep 12, In Mexico Chinese President Hu Jintao promised Mexican leaders that he would crack down on the millions of dollars worth of Chinese contraband entering their nation, goods that undermine Mexican businesses ranging from sandal makers to religious icon sellers.
(AP, 9/12/05)
2005 Sep 13, Pres. Bush met briefly with Chinese Pres. Hu Jintao in NYC on the sidelines of the opening session of the UN General Assembly. Bush sought China's help to stop nuclear weapons programs in North Korea and Iran and won a pledge from President Hu Jintao to step up pressure on Pyongyang.
(SFC, 9/14/05, p.C1)(AP, 9/13/06)
2005 Sep 13, Negotiations aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program resumed in Beijing after a monthlong recess, but prospects for progress were uncertain as Pyongyang remained insistent on its right to use civilian atomic technology.
(AP, 9/13/05)
2005 Sep 15, China’s Pres. Hu Jintao spoke at the UN and called for a “harmonious world."
(Econ, 11/19/05, p.23)
2005 Sep 19, China's state media reported that its family planning agency admitted that officials in the eastern province of Shandong had carried out forced abortions and sterilizations. Time magazine last week reported that at least 7,000 people in Shandong were forcibly sterilized earlier this year by officials under pressure to limit the growth of the country's massive population.
(AFP, 9/19/05)
2005 Sep 19, An Indonesian warship fired on a Chinese fishing fleet it suspected of using illegal nets, killing one crew member and wounding two others in the Arafuru sea off Papua Island.
(AP, 9/21/05)
2005 Sep 23, The People’s Bank of China said the yuan would be allowed to fluctuate by 3% a day against the euro, yen and other non-dollar currencies, compared with a 1.5% previous limit. Movements against the dollar remained limited to 0.3%.
(Econ, 10/1/05, p.71)
2005 Sep 25, China’s government said it is imposing new regulations to control content on its news Web sites, another step in its ongoing effort to police a rapidly expanding Internet population.
(AP, 9/25/05)
2005 Sep 25, A group of pro-democracy lawmakers from Hong Kong crossed into mainland China for the first time since being barred for criticizing Beijing after the Tiananmen Square crackdown of 1989. They put their case for electoral reform directly to a Chinese communist leader for the first time, but complained that they were rebuffed.
(Reuters, 9/25/05)(AFP, 9/25/05)
2005 Sep 26, China's navy commissioned the first in a new class of domestically designed and built warships. The missile frigate Wenzhou, named after a port city in eastern China, entered service at a ceremony attended by East China Fleet commander Zhao Guojun.
(AP, 9/27/05)
2005 Sep 26, Typhoon Damrey slammed into southern China's resort island of Hainan, killing at least two people, collapsing houses and sweeping away rice, rubber and banana crops.
(AP, 9/26/05)
2005 Sep 28, China announced color-coded emergency measures to avert or handle an influenza pandemic amid fears that a deadly strain of bird flu could mutate and infect millions of people around the world.
(AP, 9/28/05)
2005 Sep 28, It was reported that General Electric has agreed to pay $100 million for a 7% stake in China’s Shenzhen Development Bank.
(WSJ, 9/29/05, p.A2)
2005 Sep, In China the Univ. of Nottingham opened a $68 million branch in Ningbo. Britain’s Univ. of Liverpool also began a joint-venture university with China in Suzhou.
(Econ, 11/12/05, p.46)(www.liv.ac.uk/newsroom/press_releases/2005/10/china.htm)
2005 Sep, Chinese surgeons at Guangzhou General Hospital performed a successful penis transplant. They were forced to remove it after 2 weeks because of psychological problems experienced by the man and his wife. Guangzhou is the Mandarin for Canton.
(SFC, 9/20/06, p.A2)(Econ, 11/11/06, p.18)
2005 Oct 1, Tens of thousands of Chinese marked the 56th anniversary of Communist rule in Beijing's Tiananmen Square with the country enjoying the benefits of two decades of rapid economic growth but still facing deep-seated social problems.
(AP, 10/1/05)
2005 Oct 1, China and Japan ended 2 days of talks with no resolution on their territorial dispute in the East China Sea, which focused on oil and gas deposits straddling the border.
(Econ, 10/8/05, p.52)
2005 Oct 4, China’s state media reported that raging floodwaters spawned by Typhoon Longwang along the southeastern coast swept away at least 80 paramilitary police officers and washed away two buildings at a military training school.
(AP, 10/7/05)
2005 Oct 8, In eastern China 22 passengers were killed when a bus plunged into a river in Zhejiang province as the National Day holiday week wound down.
(Reuters, 10/9/05)
2005 Oct 11, China's ruling party said communist leaders have approved an economic plan aimed at easing the growing and politically explosive gap between its rich and poor.
(AP, 10/11/05)
2005 Oct 12, A rocket carrying two Chinese astronauts blasted off from a base in China's desert northwest Gansu province, returning the country's manned space program to orbit two years after its history-making first flight.
(AP, 10/12/05)(Econ, 10/15/05, p.46)
2005 Oct 12, In eastern China a man armed with homemade guns opened fire at a primary school, injuring 16 students before escaping.
(AP, 10/13/05)
2005 Oct 13, Chinese archeologists reported their find of a 4,000 year-old container in northwestern China of noodles made from millet.
(SFC, 10/13/05, p.A2)
2005 Oct 14, A trade delegation of some 300 Chinese officials and business executives visited SF for the 1st Hong Kong-Guangdong Business Conference USA.
(SFC, 10/15/05, p.C1)
2005 Oct 15-2005 Oct 16, The G20 group of rich and developing nations met in Xianghe, China. They sounded the alarm over high oil prices but barely touched on the role a stronger yuan could play in easing world economic imbalances.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2005 Oct 16, In China top US economic officials, led by Treasury Secretary John Snow and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, began talks with their Chinese counterparts on rancorous economic issues, including Beijing's currency controls and its huge and growing trade surplus. This is the 17th meeting of the U.S.-China Joint Economic Commission since the forum was founded in 1979 to thrash out economic issues.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2005 Oct 17, China’s Shenzhou 6 capsule carrying astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng landed before dawn by parachute in China's northern grasslands after a five-day mission.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 17, Two days of U.S.-Chinese trade talks ended with no response by China to an ambitious American proposal to reform its financial sector and open its markets wider to foreign products, while also moving faster on currency reforms.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 17, Deutsche Bank AG and private bank Sal. Oppenheim said they would acquire a combined 14% stake in China's Hua Xia Bank in a deal worth 272 million euros ($326.4 million).
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 17, Ba Jin (100), one of China's most revered communist-era writers who attacked the evils of the pre-revolutionary era in novels, short stories and essays, died of cancer in Shanghai. He is best known for his 1931 novel "Family," the story of a disintegrating feudal household. Ba Jin also translated the Russian writers Ivan Turgenev and Pyotr Kropotkin.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 18, An environmental watchdog alleged that Chinese logging companies in Myanmar have illegally exported huge amounts of timber in collusion with the military government and ethnic guerrillas, destroying ecologically unique forest areas.
(AP, 10/18/05)
2005 Oct 18, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz prodded China to give more power to the people for the sake of sustaining strong economic growth.
(AP, 10/18/05)
2005 Oct 19, China’s government said some 2,600 birds have been found dead of bird flu in northern China's grasslands, amid reports of new outbreaks in Europe and Russia.
(AP, 10/19/05)
2005 Oct 19, In China Tan Kai was taken into custody in the eastern city of Hangzhou. He was detained after he opened a bank account as part of efforts to register an environmental group, "Green Watch." He went on trial in May, 2006, on alleged charges of stealing state secrets, which stemmed from repairs he did on a computer belonging to a member of the provincial Communist Party committee.
(AP, 5/15/06)
2005 Oct 22, China’s legislature agreed to cut income taxes on the country’s poorest workers. The cutoff point to pay taxes was raised from 800 yuan to 1600 yuan ($198) per month.
(WSJ, 10/24/05, p.A13)
2005 Oct 22, A bird flu outbreak killed 545 chickens and ducks in central China and prompted authorities to destroy 2,487 others.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct 23, In southern China an explosion at a coal mine killed 15 miners and injured 3.
(AP, 10/24/05)
2005 Oct 25, A UN official said a bird flu outbreak sickened 2,100 geese in eastern China and killed about a quarter of them, the country's second outbreak reported in a week.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct 25, A Canadian court approved a $4.2 billion takeover of PetroKazakhstan by China's largest oil company, China National Petroleum Corp., clearing the final potential obstacle to China's biggest foreign acquisition yet.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 25, In southwest China a stampede on a stairwell at an elementary school in Tongjiang killed seven children and injured 37.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 25, Carlyle, a private-equity firm, paid $375 million for an 85% stake in Xugong, China’s leading maker of construction machinery and became the 1st foreign buyout group to gain control of a big Chinese company.
(Econ, 11/5/05, p.71)
2005 Oct 26, Toyota Motor Corp. said that its joint venture with China's biggest automaker plans to build a 3rd plant in China with annual production capacity of 200,000 passenger cars.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 26, Former Vice President Rong Yiren (89), a textile magnate who joined with China's communists and helped launch Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms, earning the nickname "Red Capitalist," died in Beijing.
(AP, 10/27/05)(Econ, 11/5/05, p.94)
2005 Oct 27, In Honk Kong the IPO of China Construction Bank raised $8 billion from foreign investors for a 12% stake. Ahead of the float CCB sold a 9% stake to Bank of America and a 5.1% stake to Temasek, a Singapore investment agency.
(Econ, 10/29/05, p.71)
2005 Oct 28, China's President Hu Jintao flew to North Korea to meet with reclusive leader Kim Jong Il ahead of new nuclear talks and was greeted by cheering crowds of thousands on a rare visit by a leader of the North's last major ally.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Oct 31, China's Pres. Hu Jintao arrived in Vietnam on a mission to expand booming trade ties between the communist nations.
(AP, 10/31/05)
2005 Nov 2, China’s government made public the results of a 2-month investigation into conflicts of interest in the coal industry and found that 4,578 government officials illegally held stakes in coal mines, where corruption and other abuses contributed to thousands of deaths each year.
(WSJ, 11/3/05, p.A10)
2005 Nov 2, Chinese scientists said they had gathered evidence that shows a giant object in the center of our galaxy is a super-massive black hole.
(Reuters, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 3, North Korea's abduction of Japanese citizens decades ago took center stage at the opening of talks in Beijing between the former bitter enemies.
(Reuters, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 4, China reported its fourth bird flu outbreak in three weeks, saying that 8,940 chickens died in a northeastern village despite a nationwide effort to contain the virus. The discovery prompted authorities to destroy about 370,000 birds.
(AP, 11/4/05)
2005 Nov 5, More than 50,000 people flocked to the opening day of a racy sex festival in southern China in a sign the conservative nation is shedding its sexual taboos. The three-day event began in the southern province of Guangzhou. It featured lingerie shows and adult toy exhibitions as experts and local authorities sought to convey information about the dangers of unsafe sex.
(AFP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 5, US industry officials said the US and China have reached a tentative agreement to limit imports of Chinese clothing and textile products into the United States.
(AP, 11/5/05)
2005 Nov 6, China said it had asked the World Health Organization to help it determine whether the death of a 12-year-old girl last month was caused by bird flu.
(AP, 11/6/05)
2005 Nov 6, In northern China an explosion at a coal mine killed 13 miners and left three missing at the Taiping Colliery in Shanxi province's Qingxu County.
(AP, 11/6/05)
2005 Nov 6, In northern China a cave-in at a gypsum mine killed 27 workers and trapped 20 others. The mine collapse occurred in Xingtai, a city in Hebei province, and affected two other nearby mines.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 7, Chinese authorities ordered all live poultry markets in Beijing to close immediately and went door-to-door seizing chickens and ducks from private homes, as the government dramatically beefed up its fight against bird flu.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 8, Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Britain for a 3-day state visit that will include a banquet dinner with Queen Elizabeth II and trade talks with PM Tony Blair. Jintao faced protests from human rights campaigners upon his arrival in London.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 8, The US State Department issued its 7th annual report to Congress on religious freedom. It cited Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Vietnam as restricting religious freedom.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 9, Chinese President Hu Jintao met Prime Minister Tony Blair as business leaders signed $1.3 billion in contracts and human rights protesters demonstrated outside Blair's office.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 10, China reported that its trade surplus surged to $12 billion in October, the highest monthly total this year, as exports continued to outpace imports.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 10, Authorities in China said they have quarantined 116 people in northeastern Liaoning province after two new outbreaks of bird flu there.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 10, Russia captured the world chess team championship with a last-minute, come-from-behind victory over the surprised Chinese team.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 11, In an elaborate, nationally televised gala at a Beijing sports arena to mark the 1,000-day countdown until the Games, senior Chinese leaders introduced their Olympic mascots: cartoon renditions of a panda, fish, Tibetan antelope, swallow and the Olympic flame, each one the color of one of the Olympic rings.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 11, In Beijing the US and North Korea urged each other to make concessions as a round of six-nation talks aimed at ending the North's nuclear programs concluded with no sign of progress or a date to meet again.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 13, China's President Hu Jintao has arrived in Spain for the final leg of a European trip dominated by trade, but was again set to be dogged by protests over his country's human rights record.
(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 13, In China's northeast a series of explosions at a chemical plant in Jilin, Xinhua, killed five people, left dozens hospitalized and forced more than 10,000 others to flee their homes fearing contamination and more blasts. Benzene leaked into the Songhua River and forced officials to close the water supply to Harbin. News of the leak was kept secret for days.
(AP, 11/14/05)(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 14, It was reported that Liu Qibing, a trader handling Chinese strategic commodity reserves, had shorted some 100k to 200k tons of copper. Copper prices moved up in response.
(Econ, 11/19/05, p.81)
2005 Nov 14, China reported a new case of bird flu in poultry in the country's east, its ninth outbreak since Oct. 19.
(AP, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 14, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger arrived in China on a six-day mission to promote California products and encourage Chinese officials to crack down on the piracy of copyrighted music, movies and software.
(AP, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 16, Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Seoul for talks with South Korea's president and an annual meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders, the first time in a decade a Chinese president has visited South Korea.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 16, China reported its first three confirmed human cases of bird flu as the government raced to vaccinate billions of chickens, ducks and other poultry in a massive effort to stop the spread of the virus. 2 cases were confirmed in the province of Hunan in central China and one in Anhui in the east.
(AP, 11/16/05)
2005 Nov 17, Chinese President Hu Jintao assured a Pacific Rim forum in South Korea that there is nothing to fear from his fast-developing country, which he said has great potential to contribute to global peace.
(AP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 18, China and Chile signed a free-trade agreement on behalf of their nations, the first between China and a Latin American country.
(AP, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 19, President Bush arrived in Beijing for talks with Chinese leaders. Bush and other Pacific Rim leaders urged Europe to show new flexibility on farm subsidies, an issue that has stalled global trade negotiations. The 21 APEC leaders promised to boost cooperation on fighting terrorism and preparing for a possible flu pandemic. They endorsed a roadmap for lifting trade barriers across APEC member countries and launched an initiative to protect intellectual property.
(AP, 11/19/05)(SFC, 11/19/05, p.A8)
2005 Nov 19, A US official said China will buy 70 Boeing 737 airliners as President Bush arrived on a visit expected to include discussion of Beijing's surging trade surplus with the US.
(AP, 11/19/05)
2005 Nov 20, US President George W. Bush pressed President Hu Jintao to rein in China's swelling trade surplus and push forward currency reform after calling for greater religious freedom. Hu Jintao has rebuffed Bush's calls to allow greater religious and political freedom but promised to show more flexibility on Sino-US economic disputes.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 20, China reported two new outbreaks of bird flu in which almost 3,700 poultry died and more than 7,000 were culled as provinces hit by the deadly virus tightened preventive measures.
(Reuters, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 21, China ordered already strict anti-bird flu measures tightened following two new outbreaks in poultry, while Romania said it would destroy 2,000 farm birds after finding the virus in hens and North Korea tightened border controls.
(AP, 11/21/05)
2005 Nov 22, China’s northeastern city of Harbin said its water system will be shut down for four days to check for contamination from a Nov. 13 chemical plant explosion, setting off panic buying of bottled water among its 3 million residents.
(AP, 11/22/05)(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 22, A woman farmer in east China died from bird flu after contact with sick poultry, becoming the third confirmed human case in the country and the 2nd confirmed fatality.
(AFP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 24, A man in south China was sentenced to death for leading a gang that kidnapped 38 children and sold them to other families for adoption.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 24, In China a slick of river-borne toxins from a chemical plant explosion flowed into Harbin as the government dug wells after shutting down its water system to protect residents. A 50-mile-long patch of water carrying toxic benzene began entering Harbin, a city of 3.8 million people in China's northeast, before dawn. A chemical plant explosion Nov. 13 in the nearby city of Jilin spewed toxic benzene into the Songhua River.
(AP, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 24, In southwestern China an explosion at the Yingte Chemical Company in Dianjiang killed one worker. This prompted fears of a 2nd benzene leak and warnings to residents not to drink river water.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 25, Pushing China's foreign exchange reform ahead by another step, the central bank carried out its first currency swap deals with local banks in a move that could help bring more flexibility to the market.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 25, China's Ministry of Agriculture confirmed a bird flu outbreak in Zalantun city in northern China's Inner Mongolia bringing to 23 the number of outbreaks of the disease.
(Reuters, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 26, A magnitude 5.7 earthquake shook part of central China, killing at least 15 people, injuring more than 450 and destroying hundreds of buildings.
(AP, 11/26/05)
2005 Nov 27, Running water was restored in Harbin, China, a city of 3.8 million people where a chemical spill forced a 5-day shutdown. Officials warned it was not immediately safe to drink.
(AP, 11/27/05)
2005 Nov 27, In northeast China coal dust caught fire at the Dongfeng coal mine in the city of Qitai while 221 miners were working underground. The final death toll reached 171. In 2007 the owner and four employees of the mine were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 3 1/2 to six years.
(AP, 11/28/05)(AP, 12/06/05)(AP, 12/22/07)
2005 Nov 30, Dalianhe, China, shut down its water system as a toxic slick caused by the Nov 13 chemical plant explosion at Jilin arrived on the Songhua River.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2005 Nov 30, SF mayor Gavin Newsom signed a new memorandum of agreement with Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng, the 8th since the 2 cities forged a formal relationship in 1980.
(SFC, 12/1/05, p.B10)
2005 Nov, China decided to implement int’l. accounting standards. Rules to this end went into effect in January 2007.
(Econ, 1/13/07, p.63)
2005 Dec 1, Thousands marched in anti-AIDS rallies in India's plagued northeast, while China rolled out a campaign targeting millions of migrant workers to mark World AIDS Day.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Dec 2, Manfred Nowak, the first UN torture investigator to visit China said that abuse was still widespread and authorities subjected detainees to electric shocks, beatings and sleep deprivation. He also accused the government of obstructing his work.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 2, China’s state news said police in southern China have arrested 16 people allegedly involved in kidnapping and selling baby girls as young as newborns to foreigners.
(AP, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 2, Jiamusi, a second city in northeast China, shut down a water plant on a poisoned river, fearing contamination from the approaching toxic chemicals. The slick on the Amur River, which is fed by the Songhua River, originally 50 miles long, now stretched for 90 miles.
(AP, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 2, In China 16 workers were killed and 42 others trapped in two separate coal mine accidents.
(AFP, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 3, Economic officials from the world's richest countries resumed their pressure on China to adopt a more flexible exchange rate as they concluded a meeting in London.
(AP, 12/3/06)
2005 Dec 4, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in France for a four-day visit. The Chinese government and the European aircraft manufacturing consortium Airbus signed a cooperation agreement at a public ceremony in Toulouse that may pave the way for the opening of an aircraft assembly plant in China.
(AFP, 12/04/05)
2005 Dec 5, China ordered 150 Airbus single-aisle A320 airliners, more than twice as many plane orders as the company's U.S.-based rival Boeing Co. snagged from China last month.
(AP, 12/05/05)
2005 Dec 6, China reported that a 10-year old girl in the Guangxi region had tested positive for bird flu, its 4th case of the deadly H5N1 strain.
(WSJ, 12/7/05, p.A1)
2005 Dec 6-2005 Dec 7, In southern China police allegedly killed as many as 10-20 protesters in a dispute over land use in Dongzhou. Villagers were angry over land confiscations and plans to construct a wind power plant. Armed police sealed off the village following the violent clashes. State news later reported 3 villagers killed and 8 wounded.
(AP, 12/09/05)(SFC, 12/9/05, p.A15)(SSFC, 12/11/05, p.A2)
2005 Dec 6, In China Wang Wei, the vice mayor of Jilin, was found dead. He was in charge of the environment affairs and had denied that the Nov 13 explosion in a petrochemical plant had caused any environmental damage.
(WSJ, 12/8/05, p.A15)
2005 Dec 7, In northern China an explosion tore through the Liuguantun coal mine in Hebei province and killed at least 91 workers. Police arrested seven people accused of responsibility for a coal mine disaster.
(AFP, 12/11/05)
2005 Dec 8, China announced a fifth human case of bird flu, a 31-year-old female farmer who fell ill after contact with dead birds but has since recovered.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 9, In Beijing, China, the US ambassador for fighting international slavery said that many North Korean refugees who flee to China every year end up as sex slaves and China often sends them back for punishment.
(AP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 10, China’s Ministry of Railways signed an agreement to let an American subsidiary of Shanghai-based TZG Partners operate a luxury train service that will cross the Tibetan plateau. Custom carriages will need oxygen levels adjusted for the high altitude.
(WSJ, 12/12/05, p.A17)
2005 Dec 10, In Dongzhou, China, residents of the southern village near Hong Kong described a tense standoff in the area with thousands of armed troops patrolling the perimeter and blocking anyone from leaving. Frightened villagers said they were either hunkering down at home or arguing with police, who are refusing to return the dead to their families. Police had opened fire on demonstrators there on Dec 6.
(AP, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 10, China and Portugal vowed to boost their economic cooperation in resource-rich former Portuguese colonies in Africa as the premiers of the two nations attended a business conference in Lisbon.
(AFP, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 10, Miss Iceland, Unnur Birna Vilhjalmsdottir (21), an anthropology and law student and part-time policewoman, was crowned Miss World on the southern Chinese resort island of Hainan.
(Reuters, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 11, China’s government said the commander of forces that shot and killed people protesting land seizures in a southern village has been detained, as police in riot gear patrolled the community and appealed for order.
(AP, 12/11/05)
2005 Dec 12, The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said China surpassed the US as the world's top exporter of laptop computers, mobile phones and other information and communications technology devices in 2004.
(AP, 12/12/05)
2005 Dec 14, The Walt Disney Co. announced its first film production in China, adding to its efforts to break into the booming Chinese entertainment market.
(AP, 12/14/05)
2005 Dec 15, In China's northeast Patients leapt from the windows of a burning four-story hospital to escape a blaze that killed at least 39 people in Liaoyuan.
(AP, 12/16/05)
2005 Dec 15, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev ceremonially opened the taps of a new pipeline carrying oil from one of the region's greatest energy powers to one of its hungriest consumers, China.
(AP, 12/15/05)
2005 Dec 18, Chinese state media published the names of three villagers killed by police during a protest over the seizure of land for a power plant and provided a rare and vivid account of the small-town politics that led to the bloody confrontation.
(AP, 12/18/05)
2005 Dec 18, In China authorities ordered a smelter in Shaoguan to halt the discharge of waste into the Bei River that contained an unusual amount of cadmium.
(SFC, 12/22/05, p.A9)
2005 Dec 19, A World Bank fund signed deals to buy pollution credits from two Chinese chemical companies for $930 million under a plan that lets richer countries meet commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions by paying for reductions in poorer economies.
(AP, 12/19/05)
2005 Dec 20, China said its economy is much bigger and less dependent on exports than previously reported, issuing new data that analysts said make its roaring growth look easier to sustain and could encourage even more foreign investment.
(AP, 12/20/05)
2005 Dec 22, China's southern business capital of Guangzhou rushed to ensure water supplies as a toxic spill from a smelter flowed toward the city of 7 million people 60 miles north of Hong Kong. Yingde, a smaller city nearby, stopped drawing drinking water from the contaminated Bei river. The spill from a smelter in Shaoguan pushed up levels of the heavy metal cadmium in the Bei to 10 times acceptable limits.
(AP, 12/22/05)
2005 Dec 22, A toxic spill from China reached Khabarovsk, and the region's governor appealed for calm in the Far Eastern Russian city, where residents have crammed their apartments with bottles, pails, pans and even bathtubs full of fresh water.
(AP, 12/22/05)
2005 Dec 22, In southwestern China a gas explosion at a road construction site killed 42 people in Sichuan province.
(AP, 12/22/05)
2005 Dec 23, China’s government announced that it has dismissed two provincial deputy governors and prosecuted 96 officials blamed for six high-profile coal mine accidents that killed a total of 528 people over the past 13 months.
(AP, 12/23/05)
2005 Dec 23, In China's southwestern city of Chongqing Xu Wanping (44) was sentenced by a court after being convicted of subversion charges. He was convicted and jailed for 12 years for organizing anti-Japanese protests on the mainland.
(AP, 12/25/05)
2005 Dec 23, In China’s Henan province a blast triggered a fire that swept through a long-distance bus, killing 11 passengers and seriously injuring three. Chinese police later detained the suspected architect of a bus bombing designed to kill his wife.
(Reuters, 1/4/06)
2005 Dec 23, Yao Wenyuan (74), the last surviving member of the Gang of Four, died. The Gang of Four, reportedly given its name by then-Chinese leader Mao Zedong, directed the purge of moderate party officials and intellectuals during the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution.
(AP, 1/6/06)(Econ, 1/14/06, p.84)
2005 Dec 24, China and North Korea signed an agreement to jointly develop offshore oil reserves.
(AP, 12/24/05)
2005 Dec 25, In China a fire at an unlicensed bar killed at least 26 people and injured eight in Zhongstan, which abuts Macau west of Hong Kong.
(AP, 12/26/05)
2005 Dec 26, News reports said China has closed 2,411 coal mines for safety violations, and will start requiring mines to post safety bonds. 12,990 mines were ordered to suspend operations for safety inspections.
(AP, 12/26/05)
2005 Dec 27, In China Tian Fengshan, former minister of land and resources, was sentenced to life in prison on charges of taking $545,000 in bribes from 1995-2003.
(AP, 12/27/05)
2005 Dec 27, US financial services giant Citigroup Inc. said it plans to increase its stake in China's Shanghai Pudong Development Bank to 19.9 percent, the maximum legal holding for a single foreign bank in a local lender.
(AP, 12/27/05)
2005 Dec 28, Police blocked a Chinese family from holding a news conference in Beijing to publicize complaints of police brutality in their village. The Fengs and a fellow villager complained that police in Xiong County, 50 miles from Beijing in Hebei province, beat two of them and refused to pursue complaints of rape and assault.
(AP, 12/28/05)
2005 Dec 28, In China 17 coal miners working at the Fanjiasi mine in Dianwan town, Zuoyun county, were trapped by flooding. On Dec 31 eight were confirmed dead.
(AFP, 12/31/05)
2005 Dec 29, China’s Premier Wen Jiabao warned in a speech against land seizure abuses. The speech was published Jan 20, 2006.
(WSJ, 1/21/06, p.A1)
2005 Dec 29, Reporters at a Beijing newspaper known for covering sensitive topics walked off the job after editor Yang Bin was removed this week amid efforts to tighten press controls.
(AP, 12/30/05)
2005 Dec 29, China’s government said about 300 million people living in the vast countryside drink unsafe water tainted by chemicals and other contaminants in its latest acknowledgment of mounting risks from widespread pollution.
(AP, 12/29/05)
2005 Dec 29, China confirmed its 7th human infection, and third human death, from bird flu, after health officials revealed a factory worker (41) died from the disease over a week ago.
(Reuters, 12/29/05)
2005 Dec 30, State media said Chinese police have closed 598 Web sites in a crackdown on pornography, but online gambling and fraud are growing.
(AP, 12/30/05)
2005 Tim Clissold authored “Mr. China," an account of how Chinese partners cheated Asimco out of millions. In 2008 Jack Perkowski, who ran Asimco for 13 years, authored “Managing the Dragon: How I'm Building a Billion-Dollar Business in China."
(Econ, 1/26/08, p.80)
2005 Robert Lawrence Kuhn, investment banker, authored “The Life and legacy of Jiang Zemin."
(WSJ, 3/9/05, p.B1)
2005 James McGregor authored “One Billion Customers: Lessons from the Front Lines of Doing Business in China ."
(http://tinyurl.com/l5uou3h)
2005 In China the “Xi Yangyang" (Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf), a children’s animated TV show, was launched. In 2013 state broadcasting authorites issued plans for stricter control of violence in the shows.
(Econ, 10/19/13, p.50)
2005 China produced 260 films this year compared to 425 in America and over 800 in India.
(Econ, 4/29/06, p.69)
2005 China appointed Zhang Qingli, a Han Chinese, as Tibet’s party chief.
(Econ, 3/22/08, p.29)
2005 Over 31 million Chinese traveled abroad, but most were border tourists going to Hong Kong and Macao. Just 1 million visited Europe and only a handful made it to the US and Canada, which still restrict Chinese visitors.
(Econ, 6/24/06, p.74)
2005 In China more than 6,000 people died in accidents in its coal mines and petroleum industries in this year, with the proportion of those killed in major disasters rising sharply.
(AP, 2/10/06)
2005 China surpassed the US in exporting the most technology wares around the world.
(Econ, 12/17/05, p.58)
2005 A Chinese government think-tank declared medical reforms to be “basically a failure."
(Econ, 11/19/05, p.45)
2005 China’s government in 2006 said AIDS surpassed hepatitis B to become China's third-deadliest infectious disease in 2005. Some 130 million Chinese carried the hepatitis B virus. The UN estimated that 55,000 people were infected with HIV from commercial blood and plasma donations.
(AP, 2/13/06)(Econ, 11/18/06, p.45)(Econ, 1/20/07, p.51)
2005 China's Health Ministry reported almost 34,000 food-related illnesses, with spoiled food accounting for the largest number, followed by poisonous plants or animals and use of agricultural chemicals.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2005 Japanese investment in China reached $6.5 billion, more than a tenth of the total received by China this year.
(Econ, 10/7/06, p.30)
2005 A syndicate called China Int’l. Fund or China Sonangol, created by a man named Sam Pa (aka Xu Jinghua), signed contracts giving the company the right to export Angolan oil and act as a middleman between Sonangol and Sinopec. The company operated out of Hong Kong. By 2009 the company had bought the JPMorgan Chase building at 23 Wall Street, NYC. Newbright Int’l., a core company of the syndicate, was 70% controlled by Veronica Fung.
(Econ, 8/13/11, p.21)
2005 The Paris-based Press Freedom Index ranked China at 159th out of 167 countries.
(www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=554)
2005 Intel planned to complete a new $375 million chipset assembly plant in Chengdu, China.
(SFC, 5/31/05, p.C1)
2005 Burger King introduced its hamburger operations in China.
(Econ, 10/25/08, p.78)
2006 Jan 1, In China a new policy took effect that allowed listed companies to grant stock options to senior executives and certain employees as incentives.
(WSJ, 1/6/06, p.A8)
2006 Jan 2, China’s Xinhua News reported that the nation’s GDP grew 9.8% in 2005.
(WSJ, 1/3/06, p.A14)
2006 Jan 4, In China’s central province of Hunan a mismanaged silt clean-up project allowed the industrial chemical cadmium, which can cause neurological disorders and cancer, to flood out of a smelting works and into the Xiangjiang River.
(AFP, 1/8/06)
2006 Jan 5, China’s government announced the closing 5,290 coal mines in a safety crackdown on the world's deadliest mining industry.
(AP, 1/5/06)
2006 Jan 5, In China Feng Bingxian (59), a businessman who led investors against the government seizure of oil fields in northern China, was convicted along with 2 co-defendants of organizing illegal protests and sentenced to 3 years in prison.
(SFC, 1/6/06, p.A3)(WSJ, 1/6/06, p.A8)
2006 Jan 5, In China an oil spill occurred at Gongyi city in neighboring Henan province when a frozen pipe broke, causing six tons of oil to spill into a tributary of the Yellow River.
(AFP, 1/8/06)
2006 Jan 5, In western China violent blizzards have forced the evacuation of 97,000 people in a largely Muslim region of Xinjiang, as the nation braced for its worst winter in 20 years.
(AP, 1/5/06)
2006 Jan 6, In China a farmer angry over a court ruling set off a bomb in a courthouse in Gansu province, killing himself and four other people. Qian Wenzhao (62) was angry over a ruling in a property dispute involving the house of his late son and daughter-in-law.
(AP, 1/7/06)
2006 Jan 7, China's ruling Communist Party called on its members to do more to fight widespread corruption and politically explosive problems such as unpaid back wages for migrant workers.
(AP, 1/7/06)
2006 Jan 8, State media said China will invest more than $3 billion over the next five years to clean up the Songhua River, a key source of drinking water for tens of millions of people that was polluted in November by a toxic spill that flowed into Russia.
(AP, 1/8/06)
2006 Jan 9, Bolivian President-elect Evo Morales met with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing and called China an "ideological ally," a day after he invited the communist country to develop Bolivia's vast gas reserves.
(AP, 1/9/06)
2006 Jan 9, China and Japan agreed to hold new talks to resolve a dispute over gas deposits in the East China Sea that could help ease their increasingly strained relations.
(AP, 1/9/06)
2006 Jan 9, China’s state-controlled oil company CNOOC Ltd. said it is paying $2.3 billion for a 45 percent stake in a Nigerian oil field.
(AP, 1/9/06)
2006 Jan 11, New customs figures indicated that China's trade surplus surged to $101.9 billion in 2005, more than triple the $32 billion gap recorded the year before.
(AP, 1/11/06)
2006 Jan 11, The WHO said 2 more people sickened by bird flu in China have died, bringing the total number of humans killed by the disease in the country to five.
(AP, 1/11/06)
2006 Jan 12, China’s government released a white paper outlining its African policy.
(Econ, 1/21/06, p.44)
2006 Jan 12, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing gave four million US dollars to Dakar within hours of his arrival in Senegal, the latest west African country to have recently ditched Taiwan in favor of mighty Beijing.
(AP, 1/12/06)
2006 Jan 12, EU governments refused to ascribe market-economy status to 13 Chinese shoemakers, opening the way for duties to be imposed on their imports to Europe.
(AP, 1/12/06)
2006 Jan 13, A Hong Kong newspaper reported that North Korea's secretive leader Kim Jong Il is on a two-day visit to the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.
(AP, 1/13/06)
2006 Jan 14, In southern China scores of protesters were wounded and a girl was killed as hundreds of police used electric batons and tear gas to quell a land protest.
(AP, 1/15/06)(WSJ, 1/17/06, p.A1)
2006 Jan 16, Chinese state media reported that foreign currency reserves rose 34% last year to a record $818.9 billion.
(SFC, 1/17/06, p.C5)
2006 Jan 16-2006 Jan 18, In southwestern China workers protesting the sale of a factory in Chengdu clashed for three days with baton-wielding police. According to Boxun.com, an overseas-hosted Chinese-language Web site, the factory was worth $37 million, but was going to be sold for $9.9 million.
(AP, 1/23/06)
2006 Jan 18, In China senior envoys from the United States, North Korea and China held a "beneficial" meeting on the stalled six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program.
(AFP, 1/19/06)
2006 Jan 18, In China alarmed by the spread of bird flu beyond East Asia, nations pledged nearly $2 billion to fight the disease, far exceeding expectations at the fundraising conference in Beijing. The US promised $334 million, Japan $155 million, and China $10 million.
(AP, 1/18/06)(Econ, 3/25/06, Survey p.19)
2006 Jan 20, Taiwan allowed students and tour groups to fly direct to China for the first time in the third annual installment of symbolic Chinese New Year flights aimed at warming tense relations with the mainland.
(AP, 1/20/06)
2006 Jan 22, Xinhua News reported that US-based General Electric has won an 196-million-dollar bid to help build China's West-East Gas Pipeline.
(AP, 1/22/06)
2006 Jan 23, Saudi King Abdullah met with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing, amid efforts by China to secure overseas oil and gas reserves for its power-hungry economy.
(AP, 1/23/06)
2006 Jan 23, China's Ministry of Health announced the country's 10th human case of bird flu infection after a 29-year-old woman from the southwest of the country was diagnosed with the H5N1 virus.
(Reuters, 1/23/06)
2006 Jan 23, Belgian brewer InBev NV, the world's largest brewery by volume, said it has agreed to buy the largest brewer in China's Fujian province for 614 million euros ($740 million).
(AP, 1/23/06)
2006 Jan 24, China shut down Bing Dian, a newspaper supplement known for its in-depth reporting on sensitive issues, the latest measure by the communist government to tighten control over the media.
(AP, 1/25/06)(Econ, 2/4/06, p.39)
2006 Jan 24, FedEx Corp. said it would take over local distribution from its Chinese joint-venture partner DTW Group in a $400 million buyout.
(WSJ, 1/25/06, p.A2)
2006 Jan 25, Google Inc. launched a search engine in China that censors material about human rights, Tibet and other topics sensitive to Beijing, defending the move as a trade-off granting Chinese greater access to other information.
(AP, 1/25/06)
2006 Jan 27, China's biggest lender, state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, signed a $3.78 billion investment deal with Goldman Sachs Group Inc., American Express Co. and Germany's Allianz AG.
(AP, 1/27/06)
2006 Jan 28, Beijing prepared to usher in the Lunar New Year with bang, after authorities lifted a 12-year ban on fireworks.
(AP, 1/28/06)
2006 Jan 28, China’s state-owned CNOOC began gas production at the Chunxiao field near the disputed border region with Japan.
(WSJ, 4/6/06, p.A13)
2006 Jan 29, The Chinese New Year ushered in the year of the Dog. As many as 10 million dogs were slaughtered annually for food consumption in China. Fireworks explosions killed 36 people and injured hundreds more in China as traditional Lunar New Year celebrations led to much mayhem as well as joy across the nation.
(SSFC, 1/29/06, p.A3)(AFP, 1/30/06)
2006 Jan 30, Feng Xiliang (86), a US-trained journalist, died in Beijing. In 1978 he helped to launch the China Daily, the communist government's main English-language newspaper.
(AP, 2/2/06)
2006 Jan, Mani Shankar Aiyar, India’s petroleum minister, visited China and signed a series of cooperation agreements.
(Econ, 1/21/06, p.59)
2006 Feb 1, In northern China a blast at the Sihe Coal Mine, the subsidiary of a state-owned coal mine, killed 23 workers and injured 53 others in Shanxi Province.
(AP, 2/1/06)
2006 Feb 8, China's Ministry of Health announced one more human case of bird flu, bringing the number of the country's confirmed cases in humans to eleven.
(AP, 2/8/06)
2006 Feb 10, China's Ministry of Health said a woman had died of bird flu in the central province of Hunan, the eighth person killed by the virus in the country.
(AP, 2/10/06)
2006 Feb 14, In southern China toxic wastewater was flushed untreated into a river, prompting the government to cut water supplies to 28,000 people in Guanyin for at least four days. A power plant on the upper reaches of the Yuexi River in Sichuan province was to blame for the pollution.
(AP, 2/20/06)
2006 Feb 14, The Bush administration announced it will step up enforcement of US trade laws governing China, following a top-to-bottom review of America's trading relationship with the Asian giant.
(AP, 2/14/06)
2006 Feb 15, China announced a plan to combat widespread pollution and leave a better environment for future generations, citing the need to stave off possible social instability.
(AP, 2/15/06)
2006 Feb 15, Gunmen on a motorcycle killed three Chinese engineers and their Pakistani driver in a remote tribal region of southwestern Pakistan.
(AP, 2/15/06)
2006 Feb 16, In China Li Datong said the Bing Dian newspaper supplement, known for hard-hitting coverage of sensitive issues, will resume publication March 1. However he and deputy editor Lu Yuegang were removed from their posts and transferred to the News Research Institute, another department of the China Youth Daily.
(AP, 2/16/06)
2006 Feb 16, Two shipping accidents off eastern China's Fujian province left 61 sailors missing.
(AP, 2/17/06)
2006 Feb 19, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf arrived in China on a visit that analysts said would focus on anti-terrorism cooperation, trade and technological assistance.
(AFP, 2/19/06)
2006 Feb 21, Japan's trade minister arrived in Beijing for talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the highest-level contact between the two countries since relations soured last October.
(AP, 2/21/06)
2006 Feb 21, The Chinese government issued a plan with promises to spend more on schools, health care and aid for farmers in the poor countryside, where communist leaders worry about potentially explosive unrest over poverty and other problems.
(AP, 2/21/06)
2006 Feb 22, In China Yu Dongyue, a man who was jailed for throwing paint on Mao Zedong's portrait overlooking Beijing's Tiananmen Square during pro-democracy protests in 1989, was released after nearly 17 years in prison.
(AP, 2/24/06)
2006 Feb 22, Wu Hao, Chinese filmmaker, was detained for allegedly working on a documentary film on Christian churches not recognized by the Chinese government. Wu had returned to China in 2004 after 12 years in the US. He was released on July 11.
(WSJ, 7/3/06, p.A1)(AP, 7/11/06)
2006 Feb 23, China warned Hong Kong’s new Cardinal Joseph Zen that he should avoid mixing religion and politics.
(WSJ, 2/24/06, p.A4)
2006 Feb 23, China’s Lenovo Group, the world’s 3rd largest computer maker, announced it was introducing low-priced desktop an notebook computers in the US and other countries.
(SFC, 2/24/06, p.D1)
2006 Feb 23, In China a coal mine explosion in eastern Shandong province killed 15 miners and injured 12 others. The mine belonged to the Zaozhuang Mining Group Co.
(AP, 2/23/06)
2006 Feb 25, China Xinhua News reported that an orphanage director and nine other people in Hengyang had been sentenced to prison for buying and selling scores of infants who were adopted by foreign parents. Another 22 officials were fired in the case in Hunan province.
(AP, 2/25/06)
2006 Feb 25, China warned of the threat of a massive avian flu outbreak among birds in the country as it reported two new human cases, a girl in eastern Zhejiang province and a woman farmer in neighboring Anhui province.
(Reuters, 2/26/06)
2006 Feb 27, In China the trial of 17 members of the Three Ranks of Servants church began in the northeastern city of Shuangyashan. The trial involved the alleged killings of 20 members of Eastern Lightning, one of China's many unregistered church groups.
(AP, 2/28/06)
2006 Feb 27, China’s Commerce Ministry said Avon Products Inc. has received approval to become the first company to resume direct sales in China following an eight-year ban.
(AP, 2/27/06)
2006 Feb 27, Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian terminated the governmental committee responsible for unifying with rival China, significantly deepening tensions with Beijing and defying opinion in Washington. The National Unification Council had been inactive for 6 years.
(AP, 2/27/06)(Econ, 3/4/06, p.38)
2006 Feb 28, Chinese President Hu Jintao denounced the Taiwanese president's decision to scrap an agency dedicated to uniting Taiwan with the communist mainland, and warned that Beijing will not permit the self-ruled island to pursue formal independence.
(AP, 2/28/06)
2006 Feb 28, Bob Fu, a US-based activist and a Chinese legal scholar, said leaders of an underground Chinese church, who are accused of killing of 20 members of a rival group, were tortured into confessing in a crackdown on unofficial religious organizations.
(AP, 2/28/06)
2006 Feb, China’s main television and film regulator banned TV shows and movies that blend animated characters with live-action actors. The move was aimed to nurture local animators.
(SFC, 2/24/06, p.E10)
2006 Feb, China detained an Australian and later convicted under China's state security laws. James Sun, a former Chinese air force employee, was helping to recruit foreign students to Australia when he was seized by security police and detained as he headed to dinner. Sun was accused of "seducing" a former air force colleague into copying more than 1,000 top-secret and classified documents, and of passing them to the Taiwanese. He was found guilty in late 2007 and sentenced to life in prison. In 2011 the foreign ministry in Canberra confirmed the story.
(AFP, 2/1/11)
2006 Mar 1, China moved ahead with 3 new internet address suffixes in the Chinese language, as national variants to .cn, .com and .net.
(Econ, 3/4/06, p.61)
2006 Mar 3, A US trade envoy said China is failing to do enough to prevent growing product piracy and could be forced to answer formal complaints over it in the World Trade Organization if it doesn't take more aggressive action.
(AP, 3/3/06)
2006 Mar 4, A government spokesman said China's military budget will rise 14.7% this year to $35.3 billion. China’s National People's Congress, largely a rubber-stamp for decisions taken at the top level of the Chinese Communist Party, approved a 14.7% increase in military spending to 35 billion dollars (27 billion euros). Although this is paltry compared to the 419 billion dollar (325 billion euro) US defense budget in 2006, the Pentagon last year estimated that China's defense spending was two to three times the publicly announced figure.
(AP, 3/4/06)(AP, 8/17/06)
2006 Mar 5, Premier Wen Jiabao opened the annual session of China's figurehead parliament with promises to spread prosperity to the restive countryside and predictions of fast but steady economic growth.
(AP, 3/5/06)
2006 Mar 5, Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai said on Sunday that anti-dumping duties by the European Union and U.S. threats of more trade complaints contradict the spirit of free trade and add to global protectionism.
(AP, 3/5/06)
2006 Mar 6, A Chinese lawmaker called for police to tape interrogations in possible death penalty cases following widespread complaints of confessions being forced by torture.
(AP, 3/6/06)
2006 Mar 8, Chinese officials promised to crack down on seizures of farmland for redevelopment that were fueling unrest, saying as many as 1 million farmers lose their land each year and are paid too little for it. Communist leaders launched China's most ambitious initiative in decades, promising billions of dollars in social spending and farm aid to help the 800 million people in its neglected countryside catch up with its booming cities.
(AP, 3/8/06)(AP, 3/10/06)
2006 Mar 8, Xinhua News reported that a court in southern China has sentenced 16 officials to jail terms of up to six years in connection with The Aug 7, 2005, coal mine flood that killed 123 people.
(AP, 3/8/06)
2006 Mar 8, A German minister claimed that deadly bird flu was moving closer to infecting humans in Europe after two more cats died of the virus. China reported its 10th human fatality.
(AFP, 3/8/06)
2006 Mar 9, A flood at a mine in southwestern China killed 7 miners and injured 3 others. In central China a coal mine explosion and fire killed 3 miners and left six others missing.
(AP, 3/9/06)
2006 Mar 11, A Chinese activist who documented villagers' claims of forced abortions and sterilizations was detained while trying to report the beating of his cousin. Chen Guangcheng, his older brother and his cousin were taken away in a police van and other vehicles from their home village of Dongshigu in Shandong, as they were on their way to file a police report.
(AP, 3/12/06)
2006 Mar 13, News reports said the world industrial-standards association has rejected China's controversial wireless encryption standard for global use.
(AP, 3/13/06)
2006 Mar 13, Liu Zhijun, China’s minister of railways, announced $25 billion plans to build two new high-speed train lines linking Shanghai with Beijing (1320km) and another linking Shanghai and Hangzhou (175km). Plans included the use of magnetic levitation technology that can reach speeds of 260 mph.
(AP, 3/13/06)(Econ, 3/25/06, p.69)
2006 Mar 14, Premier Wen Jiabao vowed to crack down on seizures of farmland for redevelopment, a source of rising rural anger in China, but stopped short of saying whether the communist government might allow farmers to own land. The 10-day session of the National People’s Congress closed as delegates approved a budget that promised more cash for farmers and a new 5-year economic plan.
(AP, 3/14/06)(Econ, 3/18/06, p.42)
2006 Mar 14, EU trade chief Peter Mandelson told China to remove barriers on imports of European goods if it wants to be recognized as a market economy by the 25-nation bloc.
(AP, 3/14/06)
2006 Mar 14, China refused to take back 39,000 citizens who have been refused entry to the US and are languishing in detention centers.
(WSJ, 3/15/06, p.A1)
2006 Mar 14, China and Russia objected to a tough UN Security Council statement backed by the United States, Britain and France calling for a report in two weeks on Iran's compliance with demands that it suspend uranium enrichment.
(AP, 3/14/06)
2006 Mar 15, In China 8 aphorisms by Pres. Hu Jintao were issued on a $1 poster with plain, black Chinese characters above a photo of the Great Wall: Love, do not harm the motherland. Serve, don't disserve the people. Uphold science; don't be ignorant and unenlightened. Work hard; don't be lazy and hate work. Be united and help each other; don't gain benefits at the expense of others. Be honest and trustworthy, not profit-mongering at the expense of your values. Be disciplined and law-abiding instead of chaotic and lawless. Know plain living and hard struggle, do not wallow in luxuries and pleasures.
(AP, 3/16/06)
2006 Mar 15, In southwest China a boat carrying people home from a fair capsized while crossing a river leaving at least 27 dead.
(AP, 3/15/06)
2006 Mar 17, A Chinese court dropped charges against a Chinese researcher for The New York Times who was accused of leaking state secrets, about a month ahead of a visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao to Washington. Zhao Yan, who worked for the Times' Beijing bureau, was detained in September 2004.
(AP, 3/17/06)
2006 Mar 17, A Chinese court jailed teacher Ren Ziyuan (27) for 10 years for publishing anti-government views on the Internet, continuing an official crackdown on Web-based dissidents.
(AP, 3/17/06)
2006 Mar 17, Yuan Baojing, a Chinese tycoon once worth more than $360 million, and two accomplices were executed by lethal injection. Yuan (40) was convicted last year of hiring a hit man in a failed plot to kill a business partner who had caused Yuan's company to lose $11 million in futures trading.
(AP, 3/18/06)
2006 Mar 20, A Chinese cargo ship hit an anchored freighter and sank off South Korea's west coast, killing at least three Chinese crew members.
(AP, 3/20/06)
2006 Mar 21, Chinese President Hu Jintao and visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on to deepen energy cooperation, as Russian gas giant Gazprom said it would look to meet some needs of oil and gas-hungry China.
(Reuters, 3/21/06)
2006 Mar 25, The Vatican's foreign minister said that the "time is ripe" for the Holy See and Beijing to establish diplomatic relations, and confirmed it is ready to move its embassy from Taiwan.
(AP, 3/26/06)
2006 Mar 26, The Chinese partner of Time Warner’s consumer products unit said the studio division plans to open some 200 stores in China over the coming years as demand for branded merchandise increases in China.
(Reuters, 3/26/06)
2006 Mar 28, In China new regulations viewed on the Health Ministry's Web site forbade the buying and selling of organs and require that donors give written permission for their organs to be transplanted.
(AP, 3/28/06)
2006 Mar 29, State media reported that China has arrested 76 officials and recovered about $510 million in misused funds following a national audit.
(AP, 3/29/06)
2006 Mar 30, China said it would spend 1.2 billion dollars cleaning up the Songhua River following a major chemical spill last year that contaminated water supplies for millions of people.
(AFP, 3/30/06)
2006 Mar 30, The Bush administration said that it is filing a trade case against China before the World Trade Organization in a dispute involving auto parts from the US and other nations.
(AP, 3/30/06)
2006 Mar 31, In China Hu Jia, a prominent AIDS activist, said he would sue the government for improperly detaining him. Jia, released on March 28, accused Chinese security forces of abducting and holding him for 41 days.
(AP, 4/1/06)
2006 Mar, China announced the 1st retail fuel price increases in 8 months. Beijing taxi drivers believed that the government’s fear of wildcat strikes was the main reason why they were not allowed to install 2-way radio systems.
(Econ, 4/8/06, p.44)
2006 Apr 1, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in Australia for a visit aimed at finalizing a uranium supply deal and speeding up free trade negotiations between the two nations.
(AFP, 4/1/06)
2006 Apr 1, In eastern China a blast at an explosives plant killed at least 20 workers and injured two. Nine workers were missing.
(AP, 4/2/06)
2006 Apr 3, Australia agreed to sell China uranium for nuclear power stations despite concerns that Beijing could divert the material to atomic weapons.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 4, Wen Jiabao arrived in Fiji as the first Chinese premier to visit the Pacific islands, seeking to deepen China's influence in the region and contain Taiwan's diplomatic clout.
(AP, 4/4/06)
2006 Apr 8, The Rolling Stones made their debut in mainland China with a censored, but still raucous, concert in Shanghai.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2006 Apr 8, Harley-Davidson Inc. opened its first dealership in China, with promises to bring its trademark easy-riding attitude to bikers in the world's most sought-after market.
(AP, 4/8/06)
2006 Apr 10, It was reported that China has agreed to open a corridor through its tightly restricted airspace. This could save airlines $30 million a year in fuel and trim an average half hour off flight times between China and Europe.
(WSJ, 4/10/06, p.A3)
2006 Apr 10, In China an explosion in a hospital parking garage killed at least 30 people. The blast occurred in an underground garage at a hospital for the staff of the Xuangang Coal and Electricity Co. Ltd. in Shanxi province's Yuanping county. Local authorities found explosives at the site.
(AP, 4/11/06)
2006 Apr 10, In northwest China a truck crashed into a minivan and a passenger bus after its brakes failed, killing at least 26 people and injuring 24.
(AP, 4/10/06)
2006 Apr 12, Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt defended the search engine's cooperation with Chinese censorship as he announced the creation of a Beijing research center and unveiled a Chinese-language brand name.
(AP, 4/12/06)
2006 Apr 12, In southern China thousands of villagers clashed with police over government plans to tear down sluice gates built for irrigation, leaving one woman dead and several people injured.
(AP, 4/13/06)
2006 Apr 13, China's controversial choice for a Tibetan holy figure made his first major appearance before an international audience, saying Tibetan Buddhists should be patriotic and "defend the nation."
(AP, 4/13/06)
2006 Apr 13, Chinese Vice-President Zeng Qinghong met with Lithuanian Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis in Beijing. Zeng said the relations between China and Lithuania are developing smoothly with frequent high-level contacts and fruitful cooperation in economic and cultural sectors.
(http://news.xinhuanet.com)
2006 Apr 15, China announced tariff cuts on imports of fruit and fish from Taiwan, offering the self-ruled island new trade concessions in an effort to boost sentiment for uniting with the communist mainland.
(AP, 4/15/06)
2006 Apr 15, China reported that the orbiting capsule of its Shenzhou VI spacecraft, which was launched into space six months ago, has returned to earth after orbiting 2,920 times.
(AP, 4/15/06)
2006 Apr 18, Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Washington state, toured the Redmond campus of Microsoft and had dinner at the home of MS Corp. Chairman Bill Gates.
(AP, 4/19/06)
2006 Apr 20, Pres. Bush welcomed Chinese President Hu Jintao to the White House as the two leaders embarked on talks aimed at cooling tensions over a yawning US-China trade gap. Bush urged Hui Jintao to make trade concessions, improve human rights and exert more influence over North Korea. The 2 leaders broke no new ground on sensitive issues.
(AP, 4/20/06)(SFC, 4/21/06, p.A1)
2006 Apr 20, China denied it is engaged in industrial espionage in Canada, calling accusations by Ottawa's foreign minister baseless and irresponsible.
(AP, 4/20/06)
2006 Apr 21, Chinese President Hu Jintao wrapped up his US tour with a visit to Yale University in New Haven, Conn.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2006 Apr 21, In China Tong Daning, an official from the social security fund, was executed on charges of spying for rival Taiwan. Government employees were then required to watch a video about the case. Tong had passed information to the island's leaders about China's currency regime, allowing them to avoid massive losses due to exchange rate changes.
(AP, 8/8/06)(AP, 8/29/11)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tong_Daning)
2006 Apr 22, Saudi Arabia and China signed defense, security and trade agreements in Riyadh on the first day of Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit.
(AP, 4/22/06)
2006 Apr 24, The annual Goldman Environmental Prizes were awarded in San Francisco. The winners included Craig Williams (58) for helping to persuade Congress to order the Defense Dept. to consider alternatives to incinerating chemical weapons; Tarcisio Feitosa (35) of Brazil for his campaign against rampant logging; Olya Melen (26) of Ukraine for her suits forcing the government to scale back a large canal project impacting wetlands; Yu Xiaogang (35) of China for his reports on damages caused by new dams; Silas Siakor (36) of Liberia for his documentation showing how logging was used to fund civil war; and Anne Kajir of Papua New Guinea for her work to get reimbursements from logging companies to peasants.
(WSJ, 4/24/06, p.B7)
2006 Apr 27, China's central bank raised interest rates by .27% in the government's strongest move yet to cool an economy verging on overheating. The news sent resource stocks, oil and commodity prices lower around the world.
(AP, 4/27/06)(Econ, 4/29/06, p.43)
2006 Apr 27, In Nigeria President Hu Jintao said China wants a "strategic partnership" with Africa, seeking to add a new political dimension to a blossoming economic romance.
(Reuters, 4/27/06)
2006 Apr 28, Chinese President Hu Jintao signed an oil exploration contract with Kenya, the latest in a series of deals designed to keep Africa's natural resources flowing to China's booming economy.
(AP, 4/28/06)
2006 Apr 28, It was reported Baiyangdian Lake in northern China's Hebei province was choking for its life. Large-scale fish deaths have occurred regularly since the 1980s as excessive amounts of untreated industrial waste water and raw sewage, coupled with drought and constantly falling water levels, have left fish farms decimated.
(AFP, 4/28/06)
2006 Apr 29, A coalition of Chinese Web activists launched a petition decrying censorship of the Internet and challenging the legality of government information controls on China's more than 100 million net users.
(Reuters, 5/1/06)
2006 Apr 29, In northwestern China a gas explosion at a coal mine killed at least 30 miners and left eight missing at the Wayaobao Coal Mine in Shaanxi province.
(AP, 4/30/06)(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 Apr 30, China successfully tested a locally made magnetic levitation train, the first time the country has achieved the feat without using foreign technology. The 20-ton test maglev train ran steadily on a 1,400-foot experimental line in the provincial capital of Chengdu, the capital of southwestern Sichuan province.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 Apr, China’s PM Wen Jiabao visited Cambodia and announced aid for roads, dams and other projects for up to $600 million.
(Econ, 3/31/07, SR p.14)
2006 Apr, China and Turkmenistan signed a gas-supply deal. Operations of the pipeline was scheduled to start in 2009.
(WSJ, 9/28/06, p.A8)
2006 May 2, China's official Xinhua News Agency said glaciers in western China's Qinghai-Tibet plateau, known as the "roof of the world," are melting at a rate of 7 percent annually due to global warming.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 3, China's state-approved Catholic church installed a bishop without Vatican approval, the second this week.
(AP, 5/3/06)
2006 May 3, Owners of a coal mine in China's central Henan province falsely claimed that five workers were killed and seven injured in a blast, when 66 miners were underground. An investigation by the county government later revealed that 10 workers were killed and 18 were injured in the accident which occurred in Yegou village.
(AP, 5/8/06)
2006 May 4, The Vatican excommunicated two bishops ordained by China's state-controlled church without the pope's consent, escalating tensions as the two sides explored preliminary moves toward improving ties.
(AP, 5/4/06)
2006 May 4, Chinese weather specialists used chemicals to engineer Beijing's heaviest rainfall of the year, helping to relieve drought and rinse dust from China's capital.
(AP, 5/5/06)
2006 May 5, In central China explosions rocked two Internet cafes in Hefei, the capital of Anhui province, killing two people, injuring four.
(AP, 5/6/06)
2006 May 5, The US State Department disclosed that Albania has agreed to take in five Chinese, ethnic Uighur detainees, held at Guantanamo Bay. They were flown to Albania the next day.
(AP, 5/5/06)(WSJ, 5/6/06, p.A1)
2006 May 6, Chen Li (b.1929), a Chinese journalist and former editor-in-chief of China Daily, the communist government's main English-language newspaper, died in Beijing.
(AP, 5/8/06)
2006 May 7, China's official Roman Catholic church named a new bishop, reportedly with papal approval, as Beijing rejected Vatican criticism of the unauthorized ordination of two other bishops.
(AP, 5/7/06)
2006 May 8, In China Bai Ningyang (19) walked into a Gongyi kindergarten in central Henan, locked the door and set fire to two gasoline cans. Local authorities said 13 children and one teacher were injured in addition to three students killed. Ningyang was captured the next day.
(AP, 5/10/06)
2006 May 9, Authorities said Chinese and US had agents seized more than 300 pounds of cocaine in March smuggled from Colombia in the country's largest ever cocaine bust. Nine people involved in a drug ring were arrested in southern China.
(AP, 5/9/06)
2006 May 9, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, China and Russia won seats on the new UN Human Rights Council despite their poor human rights records. Two rights abusers, Iran and Venezuela, were defeated.
(AP, 5/10/06)
2006 May 9, Officials said Iran will supply crude oil and equity investment to build an oil refinery in Indonesia that will supply China and provide Iran with a secure outlet in the face of possible sanctions.
(WSJ, 5/10/06, p.A8)
2006 May 10, In southern China a gas blast at the Aotian Coal Mine in Sichuan province killed 11 people and injured nine.
(AP, 5/11/06)
2006 May 13, In central China a shaft collapsed in an iron mine, trapping eight miners 420 feet underground at the Dalongshan Iron Mine near Anqing City.
(AP, 5/14/06)
2006 May 15, China's official exchange rate broke through the psychologically important 8 yuan per dollar level, its highest level in more than a decade, in a move traders said might signal Beijing's willingness to allow its currency to appreciate faster.
(AP, 5/15/06)
2006 May 16, Yang Tianshui, a freelance writer, was sentenced to 12 years in prison amid one of China's most severe media crackdowns since the 1980s. Yang was convicted after being accused of posting articles on foreign Web sites, receiving money from abroad and helping a would-be opposition party.
(AP, 5/16/06)
2006 May 17, Following a meeting of the State Council China announced a series of policy measures to rein in prices. These included levying profits taxes on real estate.
(WSJ, 5/19/06, p.A6)
2006 May 17, Some 620,000 people were evacuated from southern China as Typhoon Chanchu, the strongest storm to hit the region at this time of year, churned towards the coastal province of Guangdong.
(AP, 5/17/06)
2006 May 18, China reported a ban on Ao Mei Ding, a breast-enlarging liquid that was approved for general use in 2000. Some 300,000 women were injected with the liquid and some reported so much pain that they had their breasts removed.
(SFC, 5/19/06, p.A17)
2006 May 18, In northern China an underground flood trapped as 56 miners in a coal mine in the Xinjing Coal Mine in Shanxi province. 9 mine managers were soon detained after apparently trying to conceal the scale of the disaster. The last of the bodies were recovered on June 28.
(AP, 5/21/06)(AP, 5/22/06)(AFP, 6/28/06)
2006 May 18, Typhoon Chanchu pummeled southern China, killing at least eight people and leaving 27 Vietnamese fishermen missing after their boats sank in Chinese waters.
(AP, 5/18/06)
2006 May 19, Nigeria sold to a state-owned Chinese group licenses to explore four oil blocks, underlining Beijing's increasing drive for energy resources. In exchange for the drilling rights, China agreed to invest two billion dollars in northern Nigeria's Kaduna refinery. The Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), rejected the claim and described the allocation as a "bribe".
(AFP, 5/19/06)
2006 May 20, China held a ceremonial pouring of a final slab of cement for its Three Gorges Dam in Hubei province. The 600-foot dam cost at least $22 billion.
(SFC, 5/18/06, p.A10)(WSJ, 8/29/07, p.A12)
2006 May 20, South Korean media reported that 4 North Koreans had overpowered a security guard and scaled the wall of a US consulate in China in hopes of gaining asylum from their impoverished, communist country.
(AP, 5/20/06)
2006 May 22, An explosion in an illegal Chinese coal mine in the village of Siyuangou in Henan province killed eight miners and left an undetermined number missing.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 23, German Chancellor Angela Merkel met the Shanghai bishop from the Chinese Catholic church on the final day of a visit in which rights issues took center stage alongside trade.
(AP, 5/23/06)
2006 May 24, China's government on raised state-set gasoline and diesel prices by about 10 percent in response to soaring world oil prices.
(AP, 5/23/06)
2006 May 25, China angrily rejected a US Defense Department report that says Beijing is a potential military threat, insisting that its multibillion-dollar buildup is defensive.
(AP, 5/25/06)
2006 May 26, American International Group Inc. said that one of its units had received approval from local Chinese regulators to provide group insurance there, as the world's largest insurer makes a push to boost its business in the world's most populous nation.
(AP, 5/26/06)
2006 May 29, China and India pledged to deepen military exchanges during a visit by Indian Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the latest sign of warming relations between the neighbors and one-time foes.
(AP, 5/29/06)
2006 May 31, China closed 201 Hebei clinics that aborted female fetuses and offered subsidies to families without sons to curb widespread gender engineering.
(WSJ, 6/1/06, p.A1)
2006 May, Ernst & Young reported that China’s stock of non-performing loans added up to $911 billion, over 5 times the government’s March estimate of $164 billion. The People’s Bank of China called the report ridiculous and Ernst & Young soon withdrew it.
(Econ, 5/20/06, p.78)
2006 Jun 1, The Bank of China began trading shares in Hong Kong in an IPO that raised $9.7 billion. Options by underwriters could raise the total to $11.2 billion. Shares closed up 15% to HK$3.40 (44 US cents).
(WSJ, 6/2/06, p.C12)
2006 Jun 3, In northeast China a suicide bomber attacked his former wife's wedding, killing at least eight other people and injuring five.
(AP, 6/5/06)
2006 Jun 3, In China a military transport plane carrying 40 crashed in eastern Anhui province. All 40 people aboard were killed. 2 Beijing-backed newspapers later reported that the plane was a surveillance aircraft carrying nearly 3 dozen electronics experts.
(AP, 6/4/06)(AP, 6/6/06)(AP, 9/7/06)
2006 Jun 5, A top official said China's pollution problems cost the country more than $200 billion a year and called for better legal protection for grassroots groups so they can help clean up the environment.
(AP, 6/5/06)
2006 Jun 6, Chinese engineers blew up a temporary barrier used during construction of the Three Gorges Dam, unleashing the full force of the Yangtze River upon the world's largest hydroelectric project.
(AP, 6/6/06)
2006 Jun 7, A Chinese government report said more than 60% of recent land acquisitions for construction in China are illegal, with the figure rising to 90% in some cities. The report demanded investigations.
(AP, 6/7/06)
2006 Jun 7, State-run media said storms pummeling southern China over the past week have killed at least 46 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless.
(AP, 6/7/06)
2006 Jun 8, In southern China the bank of a rain-swollen river collapsed, flooding 11 villages filled with sleeping people and causing an unknown number of deaths and injuries.
(AP, 6/8/06)
2006 Jun 8, Fu Xiancai (47) was called into the Zigui County Public Security Bureau in Hubei province and criticized for his television appearance in which he criticized the government's treatment of people who were forced to relocate as a result of the Three Gorges dam project. He was attacked after leaving the police station and was paralyzed after assailants broke his neck. On July 26 the head of the security bureau's forensics department and another county official said that experts concluded the injuries were self-inflicted.
(AP, 7/27/06)
2006 Jun 9, Liu Zhihua, deputy mayor of Beijing in charge of Olympics-related construction projects, was detained and dismissed for corruption and degeneracy.
(Econ, 6/17/06, p.48)
2006 Jun 11, Amnesty International released a report saying China's sales of military vehicles and weapons to Sudan, Nepal and Myanmar have aggravated conflicts and abetted violence and repressive rule in those countries.
(AP, 6/11/06)
2006 Jun 12, In northern China a truck carrying the coal tar fell into the Dasha river in Shanxi province. Cleanup crews scrambled to absorb 60 tons of toxic coal tar accidentally dumped into a river before it reaches a reservoir serving a city of 10 million people.
(AP, 6/15/06)
2006 Jun 13, China ordered civil servants to do without cars, elevators and air conditioning for one day as part of an energy-saving awareness campaign. Some 1,000 new cars were hitting the streets of Beijing every day as nitrogen dioxide levels exceeded WHO clean air guidelines by 78%.
(AP, 6/13/06)(WSJ, 6/13/06, p.A1)
2006 Jun 14, China and Taiwan they've agreed to launch direct charter passenger flights between them during major holidays, a key trust-building step toward restoring regular direct flights cut five decades ago amid civil war.
(AP, 6/14/06)
2006 Jun 14, Husky Energy, Cnooc’s Canadian partner, announced a large gas discovery under the South China Sea. In 2009 Husky confirmed the discovery saying the Liwan field could ultimately produce over 150 million cubic feet per day.
(WSJ, 7/19/06, p.A8)(http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060614/to279.html?.v=30)(WSJ, 2/25/09, p.B3)
2006 Jun 15, In China a series of explosions rocked the Longxin Chemical Plant in the city of Longquan, Zhejiang province, destroying two factories and threatening to contaminate the Oujiang river, which empties into the East China Sea.
(AP, 6/16/06)
2006 Jun 15, In China students rioted at Shengda after learning that the word Shengda would be added to their graduation certificates. The quasi-private college was affiliated with the prestigious Zhengzhou Univ. and up to now had just Zhengzhou Univ. printed on their degree certificates.
(Econ, 8/12/06, p.33)
2006 Jun 15, The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a Russian and Chinese-led bloc of Asian states, said it plans to set up an expert group to boost computer security and help guard against threats to their regimes from the Internet. SCO members (China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) are mostly authoritarian states that maintain tight controls on communications technology, including the Internet.
(AP, 6/15/06)
2006 Jun 16, China's central bank demanded that commercial banks raise reserves requirements by half a percentage point to restrain credit and investment growth, which it feared have been getting out of control.
(AP, 6/16/06)(Econ, 6/24/06, p.82)
2006 Jun 16, In China cleanup crews scrambled to absorb toxic coal tar, from a June 12 spill, before it reaches the Wangkuai Reservoir of Baoding, a city of about 10 million people. Authorities tried to slow the spread of a toxic spill by building 51 makeshift dams along the tainted Dasha River and using fire trucks to pump out polluted water. In eastern China an explosion at a chemical plant in Anhui killed 16 people and injured 30.
(AP, 6/16/06)(AP, 6/18/06)
2006 Jun 18, China's PM Wen Jiabao wrapped up a two-day visit to Cairo after meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and signing 10 oil, natural gas and telecommunications deals. He was also scheduled to visit Ghana, Republic of Congo, Angola, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.
(AP, 6/18/06)
2006 Jun 18, China's PM Wen Jiabao went to Ghana, where he signed an agreement to lend the small West African nation about $66 million to fund a number of projects. China has leapfrogged Ghana's traditional trading partners India and Britain to become the West African nation's biggest foreign investor.
(AFP, 6/17/06)(AP, 6/19/06)
2006 Jun 21, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao flew into South Africa on the fifth leg of an African tour where he is due to sign a nuclear cooperation pact and hold talks on the thorny question of textile imports from Beijing.
(AP, 6/21/06)
2006 Jun 23, Chinese PM Wen Jiabao arrived in Uganda, the final leg of a seven-nation African tour aimed at boosting ties and partnerships as well as shopping for resources for his country's fast-expanding economy.
(AP, 6/23/06)
2006 Jun 25, In southern China flash flooding caused by torrential rain in Hunan province killed at least 21 people with another 6 missing.
(AP, 6/25/06)(AP, 6/30/06)
2006 Jun 27, China’s government said a law imposing fines on media that report emergencies such as riots and natural disasters without official approval could go into effect by October. A rights group urged Beijing to scrap it. Xinhua News said a cache of dynamite exploded in a house in northern Shaanxi province, killing at least 10 people and injuring 20.
(AP, 6/27/06)
2006 Jun 28, Australia's PM Howard hailed his country's record liquid natural gas export contract with China as a symbol of blossoming trade between the countries during an inaugural ceremony with Premier Wen Jiabao at the Chinese gas terminal in Shenzen.
(AP, 6/28/06)
2006 Jun 28, In northern China an explosion at a coal mine killed at least 22 workers and injured 37. Five more people were missing following the explosion in the Wulong Coal Mine in Fuxin, a city in Liaoning province.
(AP, 6/28/06)
2006 Jun 29, China’s government said Vice Adm. Wang Shouye (62), a deputy commander of China's navy, has been dismissed and stripped of a seat in parliament for corruption, one of the most senior military figures to be punished in a multiyear crackdown on rampant graft.
(AP, 6/29/06)
2006 Jun 30, China's ruling party must stamp out the rampant corruption that led to the convictions of thousands of officials last year, President Hu Jintao said as the Communist Party commemorated the 85th anniversary of its founding.
(AP, 6/30/06)
2006 Jun, In China a revision to the education law abolished the key-school system. For most of the Communist era a few key schools received extra money and other favors to nurture pockets of academic excellence.
(Econ, 8/12/06, p.32)
2006 Jul 1, China’s new $4.2 billion, 710-mile-long railway from Golmud to Lhasa, Tibet, began operations. Canada’s Bombardier manufactured high-tech cars for the Sky Train with regulated oxygen levels to cope with 16,500-foot passes. Two years later the line was extended from Lhasa to Shigatse.
(SFC, 6/30/06, p.A18)(Reuters, 7/1/06)(Econ, 5/21/16, p.37)
2006 Jul 1, It was reported that Chinese consumers had begun ganging up on retailers by arriving en masse at pre-arranged times, arranged online, to push for bargain prices.
(Econ, 7/1/06, p.59)
2006 Jul 1, China reported a new outbreak of bird flu near Zhongwei in the Ningxia region.
(WSJ, 7/3/06, p.A6)
2006 Jul 3, China's new train from Beijing to Tibet arrived in the ancient capital of Lhasa, ending its maiden journey after climbing to elevations so high that ballpoint pens and packaged foods burst.
(AP, 7/3/06)
2006 Jul 6, China’s state media said torrential rains and a tornado killed at least 30 people as storms battered eastern China this week, with millions more affected by flooding and other storm damage.
(AP, 7/6/06)
2006 Jul 6, China and India reopened the 14,000-foot Nathu La pass, an ancient Silk Road pass high in the Himalayas, more than 40 years after it was shut by war.
(AP, 7/6/06)
2006 Jul 7, In northern China a fire ignited explosives at a home in Dongzhai, a village in the coal-mining province of Shanxi, killing at least 47 people, many of them neighbors who had rushed to the scene to battle the flames. A seven-story apartment building collapsed in the major city of Zhengzhou in central China, killing at least two people and burying an unknown number of others.
(AP, 7/7/06)
2006 Jul 8, China launched a Web site, www.linese.com, offering free Chinese lessons and materials to promote the study and use of the language abroad.
(Reuters, 7/8/06)
2006 Jul 8, In central China a landslide at a construction site buried migrant workers sleeping in a tent, killing 11 of them.
(AP, 7/8/06)
2006 Jul 11, China's president issued an unusual public appeal to a visiting North Korean official to avoid aggravating tensions with its missile test program, as the US and Japan urged Beijing to press its ally Pyongyang for concessions.
(AP, 7/11/06)
2006 Jul 13, A Chinese reporter who posted essays on foreign Web sites criticizing the ruling Communist Party was sentenced to two years in prison on subversion charges.
(AP, 7/13/06)
2006 Jul 14, In China Qiu Xinhua (47) killed the abbot of the Tiewadian temple in the northern city of Ankang, five staff members and four pilgrims. He reportedly believed the abbot had flirted with his wife. Xinhua was executed on Dec 28.
(AP, 12/28/06)
2006 Jul 15, A gas explosion in a coal mine in Shanxi province killed at least 18 miners and trapped 39 others.
(AP, 7/16/06)
2006 Jul 17, In China tropical storm Bilis left at least 612 people dead as it pounded the southeast over the weekend, toppling houses and forcing the evacuation of a prison and thousands of villages.
(AP, 7/18/06)(AP, 7/24/06)
2006 Jul 18, China reported its fastest economic growth in a decade and warned that booming construction and bank loans could fuel inflation, raising expectations that Beijing might nudge up interest rates and possibly the value of its currency.
(AP, 7/18/06)
2006 Jul 19, It was reported that factories and cities in China dump some 40-60 billion tons of waste-water and sewage into lakes and rivers each year.
(WSJ, 7/19/06, p.A1)
2006 Jul 19, Taiwan’s largest air carrier launched the 1st direct cargo flight between the island and China since 1949.
(WSJ, 7/20/06, p.A6)
2006 Jul 20, The UN food agency said China became the world's third-largest food aid donor in 2005, the same year it stopped receiving assistance from the World Food Program, while the US and the EU remained the top two contributors.
(AP, 7/20/06)
2006 Jul 22, A magnitude-5.1 earthquake hit southwestern China, killing at least 19 people.
(AFP, 7/22/06)
2006 Jul 26, China's PM Wen Jiabao called for urgent steps to prevent economic overheating, as the government forecast more double-digit growth in the next quarter.
(AP, 7/27/06)
2006 Jul 26, Xinhua News said heavy rain from Tropical Storm Kaemi caused a levee in southern China to collapse, threatening to inundate an area that's home to 20,000 villagers.
(AP, 7/26/06)
2006 Jul 26, An unhappy China said that Canada's decision to bestow honorary citizenship on the Dalai Lama could hurt commercial relations between the two countries.
(Reuters, 7/26/06)
2006 Jul 27, China’s government introduced new taxes on real estate to discourage speculation. State media said flooding and landslides caused by Tropical Storm Kaemi have killed at least 25 people in southern China, including six who died when a torrent of water washed away a military barracks.
(AP, 7/27/06)(SFC, 7/28/06, p.D1)
2006 Jul 28, In eastern China an explosion at a chemical plant killed at least 12 people and prompted the evacuation of 7,000 others.
(AP, 7/28/06)
2006 Jul 29, Workers at Wal-Mart stores in China formed their 1st trade union.
(SFC, 7/31/06, p.A3)(Econ, 9/23/06, p.43)
2006 Jul 30, It was reported that China had lowered the estimated number of HIV/AIDS infected people from 840,000 to 650,000.
(SSFC, 7/30/06, p.A17)
2006 Jul, China National Petroleum, the parent of PetroChina, took a $500 million stake in Rosneft, the Russian oil group.
(Econ, 8/5/06, p.66)
2006 Jul, In Shanghai, China, a financial scandal was uncovered that involved the misappropriation of one-third of the city’s $1.2 billion social-security fund. An official said that $2 billion had been embezzled from the fund since 1998. Chinese investigators began looking into corruption and malfeasance associated with Shanghai’s $1.2 billion pension fund. On Sep 24 the probe brought down the city’s top official, Communist party Secretary Chen Liangyu, a British educated architect. In 2007 the government made a propaganda film titled “The Harm of Greed" featuring confessions from 11 people involved in the scandal.
(Econ, 9/9/06, p.42)(WSJ, 11/14/06, p.C14)(WSJ, 2/6/07, p.A1)(WSJ, 1/30/08, p.A9)
2006 Aug 1, Chinese official media reported that Mouding county in Yunnan killed as many as 50,000 dogs in a 5-day government campaign ordered after three people died from rabies.
(AP, 8/1/06)
2006 Aug 3, Typhoon Prapiroon slammed into southern China, packing heavy rain and 75 mph winds as authorities evacuated tens of thousands of people from their homes.
(AP, 8/3/06)
2006 Aug 3, State press reported that China is building a 27-billion-dollar train line from Beijing to the southern economic hub of Shenzhen and foreign investors will be invited to join the project. The new 2,300-kilometer (1,420-mile) railway will cut travel time between Beijing and Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong, from 24 hours to 10.
(AFP, 8/3/06)
2006 Aug 6, In China an explosion aboard a bus in Hunan province's Guiyang county killed eight people, just days after a similar explosion killed 11. Fatal explosions aboard public buses in recent years have been blamed on both bomb attacks and accidents with gas canisters and other dangerous cargo.
(AP, 8/7/06)
2006 Aug 6, Taiwan condemned China after oil producer Chad switched diplomatic ties to Beijing from Taipei, forcing Premier Su Tseng-chang to scrap his plans to visit the African nation at the last minute.
(Reuters, 8/6/06)
2006 Aug 7, China’s state media said the death toll from Tropical Storm Prapiroon, named after the Thai god of rain, rose to 80 with 9 more people missing.
(AFP, 8/6/06)(AP, 8/8/06)
2006 Aug 7, An explosion at a Chinese perfume factory killed at least seven people and left three hospitalized.
(AP, 8/7/06)
2006 Aug 9, The American Humane Society said it will give China $100,000 to vaccinate dogs against rabies if it promises to immediately stop their mass slaughter in areas where humans have died from the disease.
(AP, 8/9/06)
2006 Aug 10, Saomai, the most powerful typhoon to hit China in five decades, slammed into its southeastern coast, destroying hundreds of homes and battering the region with rain and wind after more than 1.3 million people were evacuated. It ultimately killed at least 483 people.
(AP, 8/10/07)
2006 Aug 10, Wal-Mart Stores said it will work with Chinese government officials to establish labor unions in all its outlets in China.
(SFC, 8/11/06, p.D2)
2006 Aug 11, Typhoon Saomai, the strongest storm to strike China in 50 years, weakened to a tropical depression but drenched the country's southeast after killing at least 105 people with another 190 missing.
(AP, 8/12/06)
2006 Aug 13, The death toll from Typhoon Saomai, the strongest storm to hit China in 50 years, rose to 114 as more evacuees died when buildings used as shelters collapsed. China’s state media reported About 17 million people in southwest China don't have access to clean drinking water due to sustained drought.
(AP, 8/13/06)(Reuters, 8/13/06)
2006 Aug 14, In China the death toll from Typhoon Saomai rose to 255 after scores more bodies were pulled from the sea.
(AP, 8/14/06)
2006 Aug 15, The official death toll in China from Typhoon Saomai jumped to 295 as fishing families grieving the loss of loved ones said authorities were no help and had covered up the number of fatalities.
(AFP, 8/15/06)
2006 Aug 18, China’s central bank announced its 2nd interest rate hike in 4 months to choke off excess investment. The benchmark lending rate rose .27% to 6.12% effective Aug 19.
(WSJ, 8/19/06, p.A4)
2006 Aug 18, The death toll from Typhoon Saomai, the strongest storm to hit China in more than five decades, jumped to 436 after more than 100 new deaths were confirmed in the country's east.
(AP, 8/18/06)
2006 Aug 22, In China visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said China will expand its cooperation in oil exploration and help his country build a fiber-optic communications network under agreements to be signed in Beijing this week.
(AP, 8/22/06)
2006 Aug 24, In China a blind activist who was arrested after recording complaints of forced abortions was sentenced to four years and three months in prison. Chen Guangcheng was convicted of damaging property and "organizing a mob to disturb traffic" after a trial in the eastern province of Shandong.
(AP, 8/24/06)
2006 Aug 24, China reported that a chemical spill on the Mangniu River in Jilin province was contained. A 3-mile slick had been created by a xylidine spill from a local chemical company.
(SFC, 8/24/06, p.A3)
2006 Aug 25, Zhao Yan (44), a Chinese researcher for The New York Times who has been detained since 2004, was cleared of charges of revealing state secrets but convicted of fraud and sentenced to three years in prison. Xinhua News said communities in southeastern China are straining to resettle more than 15 million people left homeless by four devastating typhoons in recent months. A moderate earthquake jolted southwest China, killing two people.
(AP, 8/25/06)
2006 Aug 25, In China a tanker truck loaded with 25 tons of liquid caustic soda, colorless, transparent corrosive liquid that rapidly burns skin and eyes, fell into a river 3 miles away from the Xuefeng reservoir in a city within the municipality of Weinan in Shaanxi province. It polluted a reservoir serving at least 100,000 residents for two days until water quality returned to normal.
(AP, 8/27/06)
2006 Aug 27, China adopted a new bankruptcy law making it easier to restructure insolvent firms. It became effective on June 1, 2007.
(http://tinyurl.com/gpav4ar)(Econ, 6/11/16, p.46)
2006 Aug 27, State media quoted officials saying that one-third of China's vast landmass is suffering from acid rain caused by its rapid industrial growth, while local leaders are failing to enforce environmental standards for fear of hurting business.
(AP, 8/27/06)
2006 Aug 31, A Chinese court sentenced Ching Cheong, a Hong Kong reporter, to five years in prison on spying charges in a case that prompted outcries by press freedom groups. In Hunan Province a mine gas explosion killed at least nine people.
(AP, 8/31/06)(Reuters, 9/3/06)
2006 Aug, In China a project was begun in Shanghai to treat industrial waste with iron filings, a process which had been found to be a cheap and efficient way to clean up polluted water.
(Econ, 12/6/08, TQ p.11)
2006 Sep 2, In China’s Guizhou Province a mine gas explosion killed at least 8 people. Six miners died when their pit in central Hubei province flooded.
(Reuters, 9/3/06)
2006 Sep 6, State media said hundreds of people in northwestern China have been hospitalized with lead poisoning that was likely caused by pollution from a nearby smelter. The first sign of trouble in the villages of Xinsi and Moba, Gansu province, came on Aug. 18.
(AP, 9/6/06)
2006 Sep 8, In southern China crowds angered by alleged police mishandling of a school teacher's death attacked government offices in Rui'an City, sparking arrests and beatings by riot troops. Students and local residents claimed police falsified a report and colluded with the wealthy husband of high school English teacher Dai Haijing, 30, to have her Aug 18 death classified as a suicide.
(AP, 9/11/06)
2006 Sep 10, China announced detailed controls on the distribution of news by foreign news agencies, banning all content that violates its own tight media restrictions.
(AP, 9/10/06)
2006 Sep 10, The Chinese film “Still Life" won the top award as the 11-day Venice Film Festival came to a close. The Chinese film was about the Three Gorges Dam project.
(SFC, 9/11/06, p.D5)
2006 Sep 11, China said it will send 1,000 peacekeeping troops to Lebanon.
(WSJ, 9/12/06, p.A1)
2006 Sep 13, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao vowed to continue his vast country's opening up to the international community, notably rejecting suggestions Beijing is set to crack down on foreign media.
(AFP, 9/13/06)
2006 Sep 14, China’s stock market regulator made official a ban on foreign acquisitions of domestic stockbrokers and investment banks.
(Econ, 9/23/06, p.84)
2006 Sep 14, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she has again raised human rights issues with visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and urged Beijing to respect the freedom of the press.
(AP, 9/14/06)
2006 Sep 14, Prof. Frederic Evans Wakemen Jr. (68), leading US scholar on China, died in Oregon. His books included “Policing Shanghai 1927-1937" (1995) and “Spymaster: Dai Li and the Chinese Secret Service" (2004). Prof. Wakemen had taught at UC Berkeley (1965-2006).
(SFC, 9/26/06, p.B5)
2006 Sep 15, The US joined with the EU and Canada charging that China has erected illegal barriers to the sale of U.S. and other foreign-made auto parts there.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 15, China denounced accusations by top US officials that it was selling weapons to Iran and North Korea amid nuclear tensions with the two regimes. State media said at least four children, among the hundreds of people sickened by emissions from a lead smelter in western China, are likely to suffer permanent brain damage.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 16, In Singapore top finance chiefs stepped up pressure on China to relax its grip on its currency, warning that trade imbalances threaten a flourishing global economy. G7 finance ministers and central bank governors also called for a resumption of global free trade talks and a revamp of the IMF, saying China should be given a louder voice but must also fulfill its broader economic responsibilities.
(AFP, 9/16/06)
2006 Sep 18, Premier Wen Jiabao said China will increase its peacekeeping force in Lebanon to 1,000 and double the humanitarian aid it has pledged.
(AP, 9/18/06)
2006 Sep 18, The 184-nation IMF approved reforms to increase the voice of China, South Korea, Turkey, and Mexico to reflect their growing economic sway.
(SFC, 9/19/06, p.D2)
2006 Sep 22, In Shanghai health officials added 3 more items to a list of toxic metals in SK-II products, made in Japan by US consumer products giant Procter and Gamble. P&G has pulled its popular SK-II line of beauty products off the shelf after authorities a week earlier discovered traces of the two toxic metals in nine SK-II products including powder, foundation, lotion and cleansing oil products. The company said a hotline had been set up and that all refund requests submitted by September 21 would be honored.
(AP, 9/22/06)
2006 Sep 24, In China Chen Liangyu, the Communist Party boss of Shanghai, was sacked for corruption, toppling the highest leader so far in national party chief Hu Jintao's drive to root out abuse and enforce loyalty.
(Reuters, 9/25/06)(Econ, 9/30/06, p.49)
2006 Sep 30, In Tibet Sergiu Matei, a Romanian cameraman with an expedition climbing Cho Oyu, shot a video that shows Chinese forces fatally shooting Tibetan refugee Kelsang Namtso (17), who was with a group of people trying to flee to Nepal at the 19,000-foot Nanpa La Pass. Chinese border guards opened fire on some 75 Tibetans making their way over a 19,000-foot-high Himalayan pass, killing a 25-year-old Buddhist nun and another person. 32 were caught and detained. In January Jamyang Samten (15), one of those detained, escaped to India and provided the first reported account of the fate of the group. Some 3,000 Tibetans continued to sneak across the border to Nepal and India every year. In 2010 Jonathan Green authored “Murder in the High Himalaya: Loyalty, Tragedy, and Escape from Tibet."
(AP, 10/14/06)(Econ, 11/18/06, p.18)(AP, 1/30/07)(Econ, 6/12/10, p.96)
2006 Oct 1, China began its week-long national day holiday, with rail stations and airports packed and roads gridlocked around Tiananmen Square and at other major tourist sites throughout the nation. In the southwestern city of Chongqing a bus careened off a bridge and plunged nearly 100 feet into a river, killing 30 people.
(AP, 10/1/06)
2006 Oct 2, Morgan Stanley said it has acquired China's Nan Tung Bank, a deal that would give the Wall Street giant a coveted onshore commercial banking license in China ahead of U.S. investment bank rivals.
(AP, 10/2/06)
2006 Oct 5, China criticized newly imposed EU antidumping tariffs on Chinese shoes as unlawful and threatened possible retaliation.
(AP, 10/6/06)
2006 Oct 8, Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe visited Beijing and held talks with Pres. Hu Jintao and PM Wen Jiabao. Abe said Japan and China agree that a North Korea nuclear test "cannot be tolerated" and that Pyongyang should return unconditionally to six-party negotiations on its nuclear programs.
(AP, 10/8/06)(Econ, 10/7/06, p.29)
2006 Oct 10, China, which holds the key to whether tough UN sanctions will be imposed for North Korea's nuclear test, warned its ally that the detonation would harm relations, but called on the UN to use "positive and appropriate measures."
(AP, 10/10/06)
2006 Oct 10, Cheung Yan (49), founder and chairwoman of Chinese paper packager Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) Ltd., topped a list of China's richest people for the first time, elbowing past two-time leader Huang Guangyu of GOME Electrical Appliances and a coterie of CEOs at old-economy government enterprises. Cheung, born in northeastern China's Heilongjiang province and now a Los Angeles native, began building her fortune in 1985, when she set up a waste-paper trading business in Hong Kong.
(Reuters, 10/10/06)
2006 Oct 11, China’s 347 central committee members ended a 4-day annual meeting. They charted a course to repair some of the social and environmental damage left by more than 2 decades of economic growth and approved a document on building a harmonious China by 2020.
(WSJ, 10/12/06, p.A8)(Econ, 10/21/06, p.51)
2006 Oct 16, In northern China a fire in a coal mine trapped 28 miners.
(AP, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 17, A Chinese court ruled that journalist Yang Xiaoqing was exempt from serving the remainder of his sentence but would not overturn the lower court's conviction. Xiaoqing, convicted of extortion for exposing local corruption, was released on bail last month.
(AP, 10/21/06)
2006 Oct 19, China stepped up its diplomatic efforts with North Korea, sending a personal message and a gift from the Chinese president to the North's leader Kim Jong Il as Washington appealed for cooperation by Asian powers on U.N. sanctions for Pyongyang's nuclear test.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 20, China’s state press said the estuaries of China's two greatest rivers, the Yangtze and the Yellow, have been declared dead zones by the UN due to high amounts of pollutants. The leading People's Daily reported that it would take at least 200 years to clean up the Bohai Sea, even if no more sewage was poured into it. Beijing published a 5-year plan for economic and bureaucratic reforms in the capital.
(AFP, 10/20/06)(Econ, 10/28/06, p.50)
2006 Oct 22, A half-mile section of China's Yellow River turned "red and smelly" after an unknown discharge was poured into it from a sewage pipe in Lanzhou, a city of 2 million people in western Gansu province.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2006 Oct 24, Liu Jianchao, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, said North Korean leader Kim Jong Il did not apologize for his regime's nuclear test, as some South Korean media had reported, but is willing to return to six-party talks under certain conditions.
(AP, 10/24/06)
2006 Oct 25, French President Jacques Chirac and a delegation of French executives traveled to China in hopes of expanding trade with one of the world's largest economies.
(AP, 10/25/06)
2006 Oct 26, A foreign monitoring group said as many as 10,000 college students fought with Chinese police in four days of protests over their academic status, damaging cars and buildings and leaving at least 20 people injured. An overturned truck spilled 33 tons of toxic oil into a river in northern Shanxi province. The spill flowed into the Yangjiapo reservoir, contaminating 70 million cubic feet of water. Water supplies to 28,000 people were cut following the spill.
(AP, 10/26/06)(AP, 11/1/06)
2006 Oct 26, China’s state controlled Citic Group said it has reached an agreement to buy an oil field in Kazakhstan from Canada’s nations Energy for $1.9 billion.
(WSJ, 10/27/06, p.A10)
2006 Oct 27, China’s biggest bank, the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, went public and raised a record $19.1 billion with an option to increase to $21.9 billion. The previous IPO record was in 1998 by NIT DoCoMo for $18.4 billion.
(SFC, 10/28/06, p.C1)
2006 Oct 27, French President Jacques Chirac called for closer ties with China in telecommunications, nuclear power and other fields after Airbus's decision to open a Chinese aircraft assembly line.
(AP, 10/27/06)
2006 Oct 28, An explosion inside a western China coal mine trapped and killed 14 miners and burned six others.
(AP, 10/28/06)
2006 Oct 29, China rocketed a domestically produced communications satellite into orbit to provide wider and more advanced television services across the country.
(AP, 10/29/06)
2006 Oct 30, Nigeria and China signed an 8.3 billion dollar contract for the construction of a railway line from the economic capital Lagos to Kano, the largest commercial city in the north.
(AFP, 10/30/06)
2006 Oct 31, China's legislature barred all but the nation's highest court from approving death sentences, a move that state media called the country's biggest change to capital punishment in more than 20 years. In northwest Gansu province gas exploded in a coal mine, killing about 20 miners.
(AP, 10/31/06)
2006 Oct 31, Scientists reported that the Fujian-strain of H5N1 avian influenza has become dominant in southern China.
(SFC, 10/31/06, p.A2)
2006 Oct, China’s trade surplus rose to a record $23.8 billion.
(Econ, 11/11/06, p.9)
2006 Nov 1, An ammonia gas leak in central China killed one person, injured six and forced the evacuation of about 20,000 residents. Ammonia gas leaked out of a broken pipe at a chemical fertilizer factory in the Dawu county of Hubei province.
(AP, 11/1/06)
2006 Nov 2, Russia and China indicated that they will not support a draft UN resolution imposing tough sanctions on Iran for its refusal to halt its nuclear enrichment program.
(AP, 11/2/06)
2006 Nov 3, Leaders of more than 40 African nations converged on Beijing for a summit at which China will seek to bolster its influence on the resource-rich but economically backward continent.
(Reuters, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 4, China launched a sweeping effort to expand its access to Africa's oil and markets, pledging billions of dollars in aid and loans as dozens of leaders from the world's poorest continent opened a conference aimed at building economic ties. President Hu Jintao said China will offer $5 billion in loans and credits, and double aid to Africa by 2009.
(AP, 11/4/06)(Reuters, 11/4/06)
2006 Nov 5, China and Africa ended an unprecedented summit, signing deals worth $1.9 billion and pledging to boost trade and development between the world's fastest-growing economy and its poorest continent. The leaders of China and 48 African nations pledged to form a new strategic partnership aimed at deepening their political and economic ties.
(AFP, 11/5/06)
2006 Nov 5, A gas blast in northern China killed 47 miners at the Jiaojiazhai mine in Shanxi province's Xinzhou city.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 6, China's relations with Zimbabwe are "unshakeable", President Hu Jintao said as he met Pres. Mugabe amid accusations that Beijing's ties help shore up a pariah regime.
(AFP, 11/6/06)
2006 Nov 7, China and Egypt agreed to co-operate on the peaceful use of nuclear energy, state media said, in a development that could rile the United States, a traditional Cairo ally.
(AFP, 11/8/06)
2006 Nov 8, Indonesian troops found detonators and 63 tons of explosive powder on a Chinese ship anchored off Batam island after it broke down in the Malacca Strait.
(AP, 11/8/06)
2006 Nov 9, In southern China police armed with shields, clubs and attack dogs fired tear gas on thousands of villagers protesting what they called a land grab by officials of Sanzhou village in Guangdong province.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 10, Chinese central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said China will diversify its $1 trillion foreign exchange reserves across different currencies and investment instruments, including in emerging markets. In southwest China about 2,000 people mobbed a hospital in Guang'an City where a young boy died after his grandfather was sent away to raise money for the child's treatment. At least 10 people were injured in fighting with police.
(AP, 11/10/06)(AP, 11/12/06)
2006 Nov 10, Asian nations reached their first international agreement to implement what has been dubbed the "Iron Silk Road." Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Laos, Russia, South Korea, Turkey and seven other nations agreed to meet at least every two years to identify vital rail routes, coordinate standards and financing and plan upgrades and expansions, among other measures. The UN first conceived the Trans-Asian Railway Network in 1960.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 11, In Beijing, China, demonstrators angry at a crackdown on dogs staged a noisy protest, decrying police killings of dogs and new limits on pet ownership.
(AP, 11/11/06)
2006 Nov 12, In southwest China 8 miners had died in a coal mine flood in Guizhou province. In northern China 34 miners were killed by an explosion in a coal mine in Shanxi province.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 13, The China Daily reported that Zhou Shengxian, the head of China’s State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), said that the degradation of China's environment is reaching a critical point where health and social stability are under threat. (AFP, 11/13/06)(AP, 11/15/06)
2006 Nov 13, The commander of the US Pacific Fleet began a visit to China in a trip aimed at strengthening ties between the two navies and gaining insight into the Asian power's military buildup.
(AP, 11/13/06)
2006 Nov 14, China’s ambassador to India set off a flap by reaffirming claim to India’s northeastern Arunachal Pradesh state on the eve of President Hu Jintao’s visit to new Delhi.
(WSJ, 11/15/06, p.A1)(Econ, 11/18/06, p.43)
2006 Nov 14, US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez urged Beijing to toughen a crackdown on pirated goods and other copyright infringements, saying failure to do so could fuel an American backlash against trade with China.
(AP, 11/14/06)
2006 Nov 15, China said that it and India must make "mutual compromises" on the "disputed" issue of Arunachal Pradesh, and that it was ready to do so.
(www.hindu.com/2006/11/16/stories/2006111605831200.htm)
2006 Nov 16, Citigroup in a consortium with IBM, China Life, State Grid and Citic Trust signed an agreement to take control of Guangdong Development Bank.
(www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/11/17/2088082.htm)(Econ, 11/18/06, p.80)
2006 Nov 16, Juang Jiefu, China’s Deputy Health Minister, acknowledged that human organs used in transplants have been taken from executed prisoners and that foreign recipients have paid large sums to avoid a long wait.
(SFC, 11/18/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 18, In southern China police in Dongzhou dispersed a crowd and freed 8 hostages held captive for a week by villagers angry about the detention of a local activist. In eastern China a stampede on a stairwell killed six children and injured 11 at Tutang Middle School in Jiangxi province's Duchang County.
(AP, 11/18/06)(AP, 11/19/06)
2006 Nov 19, President Bush in Vietnam sought Chinese President Hu Jintao's help on dual fronts, aiming to rein in North Korea's nuclear ambitions and encourage the Chinese people to buy more US goods. Pacific Rim leaders urged North Korea to take concrete steps to live up to its commitments to stop developing nuclear weapons.
(AP, 11/19/06)
2006 Nov 20, China’s Pres. Hu Jintao arrived in New Delhi for the second visit by a Chinese president.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 21, In northeastern China a bus carrying primary school students plunged off a bridge, killing eight of the children and injuring 39.
(AP, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 22, China reported that the number of HIV/AIDS cases is nearly 30% higher than for all of last year, with intravenous drug use as the biggest source of infection.
(AP, 11/22/06)
2006 Nov 23, China’s state media reported government plans to spend about $250 billion extending the country's expressways to deal with a surge in car ownership over the next three decades.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 23, Chinese President Hu Jintao received a red carpet welcome to Pakistan on a trip aimed at expanding economic ties with Beijing's longtime ally, including signing a free trade agreement between the two countries.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 23, In India a Tibetan activist protesting against Chinese rule in the Himalayan region set himself on fire outside a hotel where China's president was staying. An official later said the activist was not seriously injured.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 24, China signed a five-year free trade pact with Pakistan, promised to continue joint development of nuclear energy, and pledged to play a "constructive" role in resolving disputes between Pakistan and neighboring rival India.
(AP, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 26, In China construction of the $3.7 billion Xiangjiaba project formally began. Completion was set for 2015. The 6-gigawatt project Xiangjiaba dam on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and the nearby 12.6-gigawatt Xiluodu dam together are expected to match or exceed the capacity of the Three Gorges dam. An explosion triggered by a gas buildup in a coal mine in northern China killed 24 miners at the Luweitan Coal Mine in Linfen, Shanxi province.
(AP, 11/27/06)
2006 Nov 28, Beijing’s environmental protection agency reported that water from the Guanting reservoir, Beijing's fourth-largest drinking source, was not fit for human consumption or irrigation during the month of October.
(AFP, 11/29/06)
2006 Nov 29, The Texas-based China Aid Association said in a statement 3 leaders of the Three Grade Servant church had been put to death in northeast China's Heilongjiang province over the past week. It said another 12 members of the congregation had also been previously executed, bringing the total number to 15. The case involved accusations that the Three Grade Servant Church was involved in the murder of members of another Christian cult, the Eastern Lightning.
(AP, 11/29/06)
2006 Nov, In China a painting by Liu Xiaodong, one of the so-called cynical realists, was auctioned in Beijing for $2.7 million, the highest price ever paid for a work by a contemporary Chinese artist.
(Econ, 1/13/07, p.66)
2006 Nov, Zhou Zhengyi, a Shanghai business tycoon, was arrested amidst the corruption probe involving the city’s pension system. He had been released from prison in May, 2006, following a fraud and stock manipulation case in 2003.
(WSJ, 12/11/06, p.B8)
2006 Nov, Swiss-based Novartis, the world’s 4th largest pharmaceutical company, announced plans to invest $100 million in a new research facility in Shanghai.
(Econ, 11/11/06, p.72)
2006 Dec 1, Chinese courts rejected an appeal from Zhao Yan, the NY Times researcher who reported on official corruption and peasant rights before he joined the newspaper. They upheld the four-year prison term of activist Chen Guangcheng, who documented cases of forced abortions.
(AP, 12/1/06)
2006 Dec 2, China’s Xinhua news said underground water reserves in around 9 out of every 10 Chinese cities are polluted or over-exploited, and could take hundreds of years to recover.
(AP, 12/2/06)
2006 Dec 4, China’s state media said Ying Fuming, a manager at the Fanchang Grease Factory in Taizhou in east China, has been arrested for using grease from swill, sewage, pesticides and recycled industrial oil to make lard for human consumption. 6 children died of possible food poisoning at a boarding school at the school in Nanyao, a village in northern Shanxi province.
(AP, 12/4/06)(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 7, Gao Qinrong (51), a Chinese journalist jailed in 1998 after exposing government corruption, was released 5 years early for good behavior. He maintained that he was innocent and that he would continue trying to clear his name.
(AP, 12/12/06)(AP, 12/20/06)
2006 Dec 8, China launched its Fengyun-2D weather satellite. Its priority mission was forecasting weather for the 2008 Olympics.
(Econ, 12/16/06, p.42)
2006 Dec 11, China's banking industry officially opened to full foreign competition, a landmark for the country's financial sector and a day of reckoning for the country's mostly state-owned banks.
(AP, 12/9/06)
2006 Dec 12, China’s state press reported that Liu Zhihua (57), a former Beijing vice mayor in charge of 2008 Olympic construction projects, was ousted from the ruling Communist Party for graft and faces judicial prosecution.
(AFP, 12/12/06)
2006 Dec 13, An international expedition declared that a rare, nearly blind white dolphin that survived for millions of years, is effectively extinct after ending a fruitless six-week search of its Yangtze River habitat.
(AP, 12/13/06)
2006 Dec 14, Cisco Systems Inc. announced a $50 million investment in the newly public China Communications Services Corporation Ltd., making the US network-equipment maker the largest foreign investor in CCS.
(AP, 12/14/06)
2006 Dec 16, US-based Westinghouse Electric Co. won a two-year battle for a multibillion-dollar nuclear power deal with China, edging out French and Russian rivals. Stephen Tritch, Westinghouse Electric Co. President and CEO, said the four plant deal was a multi-billion dollar one, but gave no specifics. Past estimates put the deal at $8 billion.
(AP, 12/16/06)
2006 Dec 18, China’s state television said China plans to keep an "absolute ability to control" seven key sectors including oil and telecoms, even as it tries to expose its creaking state-owned firms to the rigors of a market economy.
(AP, 12/18/06)
2006 Dec 18, Verizon Communications Inc. said it and five Asian telecom companies will build a $500 million undersea optical cable linking the United States and China to boost communications capacity by more than 60 times.
(AP, 12/18/06)
2006 Dec 22, In China the first talks on North Korea's nuclear program since the communist nation tested an atomic device ended without an agreement on disarmament or a date for further negotiations.
(AP, 12/22/06)
2006 Dec 23, The UN Security Council voted unanimously to impose sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment. The Security Council resolution ordered all countries to stop supplying Iran with materials and technology that could contribute to its nuclear and missile programs. It also froze the Iranian assets of 10 key companies and 12 individuals related to those programs. Iran denounced the sanctions. China’s endorsement was an important symbolic act.
(AP, 12/24/06)(Econ, 1/13/07, p.37)
2006 Dec 24, China’s state media announced that Du Shicheng, a top Communist Party official in the eastern province of Shandong, had been fired for misconduct.
(AP, 12/24/06)
2006 Dec 26, Chinese and Japanese history scholars met for the first in a series of government-mandated study groups aimed at smoothing over differences between the Asian powers on historical issues.
(AP, 12/26/06)
2006 Dec 27, China’s state media reported that temperatures in China will rise significantly in coming decades and water shortages will worsen, citing the government's first national assessment of global climate change.
(AFP, 12/27/06)
2006 James Kynge authored “China Shakes the World: The Rise of a Hungry Nation."
(Econ, 4/22/06, p.80)
2006 China commenced the building of an eco-city called Dongtan at the northern boundary of Shanghai on the island of Chongming at mouth of the Yangzi River. The 1st phase, expected to be completed in 2010, would accommodate 25,000 people. The British engineering firm Arup helped in the design. Chen Liangyu, Shanghai Communist Party chief, was a big promoter, but was sacked and later convicted for property-related corruption. In 2009 construction on the development was put on hold.
(Econ, 9/23/06, TQ p.20)(Econ, 3/21/09, p.44)
2006 China’s central government included Plum Flower Boxing, a type of martial art, in its first-ever list of “intangible cultural heritages."
(Econ, 12/18/10, p.76)
2006 In China the annual income per person passed $2,000 and demand for natural resources began to grow at a faster pace.
(Econ, 3/15/08, SR p.21)
2006 China overtook Japan to become the world’s 4th largest spender of defense, after American, Britain and France.
(Econ, 6/30/07, p.32)
2006 China’s trade surplus with the US increased to $233 billion this year, accounting for almost 30% of America’s total deficit.
(Econ, 5/19/07, p.73)
2006 In China more than 800 senior officials were convicted this year of embezzlement, bribery and dereliction of duty.
(WSJ, 3/21/07, p.A16)
2006 China ended centuries-old taxes on all crops except tobacco.
(Econ, 1/17/15, p.46)
2006 China exported 75,000 vehicles this year to over 100 countries.
(Econ, 11/25/06, p.63)
2006 Official reckoning of deaths on China’s roads numbered some 89,000 this year.
(Econ, 2/16/08, p.32)
2006 China said 4,750 people died in mine accidents this year, an average of 13 a day.
(AP, 3/28/07)
2006 Dr. Jiao Nianzhi of China’s Xiamen Univ. developed a technique called time series observation based infra red epifluorescence microscopy (TIREM). He used it accurately measure creatures in the ocean called aerobic anoxygenic photoheterotrophic bacteria (AAPB). Results showed that these organisms constitute 7% of the oceans’ microbes.
(Econ, 9/11/10, p.96)
2006 The first penis transplant in the world took place in China. It was later removed due to a severe psychological problem of the recipient and his wife.
(AFP, 5/16/16)
2006 Employees at a Chinese owned copper mine in Chambisi, Zambia, were sprayed with gunfire while protesting working conditions.
(WSJ, 2/2/07, p.A1)
2006 Amnesty Int’l. counted 2,790 people sentenced to death in China and 1,010 executed.
(Econ, 1/12/08, p.36)
2006 Angola’s Gen. Fernando Miala, head of the external intelligence service, alleged that some $2 billion in Chinese money intended for infrastructure projects had disappeared. The general was soon sacked and imprisoned.
(Econ, 8/13/11, p.22)
2006 Foreign ministers of Brazil, Russia, India and China began annual meeting as a group. In 2001 Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs coined the acronym BRIC to describe these 4 developing countries.
(Econ, 4/17/10, p.64)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BRIC)
2007 Jan 1, China’s government began requiring all companies listed on the Shenzhen and Shanghai stock markets to prepare their accounts according to Int’l. Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The initial decision had been made in Nov 2005. New rules came into effect that allowed foreign reporters to go more or less where they pleased.
(Econ, 1/13/07, p.13, 63)(Econ, 1/20/07, p.18)
2007 Jan 1, Li Zhaoxing, China's foreign minister, signed a string of accords in Benin as part of a whistle-stop tour of seven African nations as Beijing bolsters economic ties on the continent. From Benin Li flew to Equatorial Guinea ahead of visits in the coming days to Guinea-Bissau, Chad, the Central African Republic, Eritrea and Botswana.
(AFP, 1/2/07)
2007 Jan 2, China's foreign minister continued his whistle-stop African tour in Equatorial Guinea, where he cancelled debt, promised aid and opened a new Chinese-built media centre.
(AP, 1/2/07)
2007 Jan 3, It was reported that more than a million Chinese die each year of smoking related diseases. The toll was expected to double by 2025. A roadside bomb in southern China killed two children who found the explosive wrapped in a package and began playing with it in Shenzhen.
(WSJ, 1/3/07, p.A1)(AP, 1/4/07)
2007 Jan 3, China's Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing arrived in the central African nation of Guinea-Bissau for cooperation talks. His 7-nation tour reflected Chinese interest in Africa.
(AP, 1/4/07)
2007 Jan 5, Chinese police raided an alleged terrorist camp in a western mountain region near the border with Pakistan, killing 18 suspects and arresting 17 at a training camp run by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM). Critics accused Beijing of using claims of terrorism as an excuse to crack down on peaceful pro-independence sentiment and expressions of Uighur identity.
(AP, 1/8/07)
2007 Jan 5, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing met with Pres. Bozize of the Central African Republic. Zhaoxing was set to sign a series of accords as part of seven-nation tour highlighting China's increasing interest in the African continent.
(AFP, 1/5/07)
2007 Jan 5, Australia’s Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Australia and China have ratified a nuclear agreement clearing the way for the export of uranium to feed Beijing's giant nuclear power program.
(AFP, 1/5/07)
2007 Jan 5, In southern Nigeria gunmen kidnapped five Chinese workers fixing overhead telephone lines.
(AP, 1/5/07)
2007 Jan 6, China unveiled its Jian-10 multi-role indigenous fighter jet, marking a "historic leap forward" and narrowing a technological gap with major military powers.
(AP, 1/6/07)
2007 Jan 7, Staff at a logistics company in Qingdao, in China's eastern Shandong province, found a human torso in a box seeping blood but marked as carrying medicine. Two days later, police in Beijing and Jiangyin, in eastern Jiangsu province, found a man's head and arms. On Jan 15 state media said Chinese police have detained a man and a woman suspected of killing a man and posting his body parts to three different cities.
(Reuters, 1/15/07)
2007 Jan 7, The North American Int’l. Auto Show opened in Detroit. China’s Changfeng Group Co., made its first appearance at the international auto show in Detroit, Mich. China numbered over 100 automakers and industry consolidation was expected.
(Econ, 1/6/07, p.54)(WSJ, 1/3/07, p.B1)
2007 Jan 9, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert arrived in China for a visit centered around boosting trade ties and discussions on Iran's nuclear program.
(AP, 1/9/07)
2007 Jan 10, China said 2006 its global trade surplus jumped nearly 75% from the previous year to a record $177.5 billion. Lan Chengzhang, who worked for the China Trade News, was beaten while visiting a mine in Hunyuan county in the northern province of Shanxi and died of an apparent brain hemorrhage the next day. His death sparked a media outcry and a police investigation. On June 27 the Intermediate People's Court of Linfen city in Shanxi province convicted Hou Zhenrun, the head of a small unlicensed mine outside the northern city of Datong, for organizing a gang of five men to beat reporter. Zhenrun sentenced to life in prison. The five men who beat the reporters received jail terms of 5-15 years. A sixth was sentenced to a year in jail for harboring the suspects.
(AP, 1/10/07)(Reuters, 1/17/07)(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jan 10, Israeli PM Ehud Olmert, midway through an official visit to Beijing, said he received a candid assurance from China that it opposes Iran having a nuclear arsenal.
(AP, 1/10/07)
2007 Jan 11, China destroyed its Feng Yun 1-C, an aging weather satellite launched in 1999, with a ballistic missile 537 miles above the Earth. The impact created about 28% of the junk currently floating in space. The US halted such tests in 1985 for fear of creating debris deadly to spacecraft.
(WSJ, 1/19/07, p.A1)(Econ, 1/27/07, p.38)(Econ, 1/19/08, p.26)
2007 Jan 11, Israeli PM Ehud Olmert ended a visit to China after talks with Chinese leaders on Iran's nuclear program and efforts to boost trade and economic ties.
(AP, 1/11/07)
2007 Jan 12, State media said China will have 30 million more men of marriageable age than women in less than 15 years as a gender imbalance resulting in part from the country's tough one-child policy becomes more pronounced. In northern China an underground gas explosion struck the Niuxinhui Coal Mine in the province of Shanxi killing 13 people with 9 injured. Police in southern China arrested 10 farmers in Botang in the impoverished region of Guangxi embroiled in a dispute with a paper mill over pollution they say is killing their crops and fouling their water sources.
(AP, 1/12/07)(AP, 1/13/07)(AP, 1/26/07)
2007 Jan 12, China and Russia blocked the Security Council from demanding an end to political repression and human rights violations in military-ruled Myanmar, rejecting a resolution proposed by the United States. South Africa sided with China and Russia.
(AP, 1/13/07)(Econ, 1/27/07, p.47)
2007 Jan 15, Bo Yibo (b.1908), one of China's first Communist revolutionaries and a member of the post-Mao circle of leaders known as the "eight immortals," died in Beijing.
(AFP, 1/16/07)
2007 Jan 16, Canadian Trade Minister David Emerson signed a technology deal with China, on a visit aimed at reinvigorating relations with the Asian superpower that have been dented by Canada's blunt talk on human rights.
(Reuters, 1/16/07)
2007 Jan 16, Chinese search engine Baidu.com and EMI Music launched an Internet venture that will let users listen to streaming music for free, adding to Baidu's growing entertainment business.
(AP, 1/16/07)
2007 Jan 17, In Nigeria rebels released 5 Chinese telecommunications workers and an Italian oil worker abducted in the southern delta region.
(AP, 1/18/07)
2007 Jan 18, In China hundreds of riot police clashed with villagers protesting against an alleged land grab by officials in the southern province of Guangdong.
(AP, 1/19/07)
2007 Jan 18, The United States criticized China for conducting an anti-satellite weapons test in which an old Chinese weather satellite was destroyed by a ballistic missile on Jan 11.
(AP, 1/18/07)
2007 Jan 23, China Central Television banned all images and spoken references to pigs in order to avoid offending Muslims. The Year of the Pig was set to begin in February.
(WSJ, 1/25/07, p.A1)
2007 Jan 25, China reported that its sizzling economy grew at 10.7% in 2006, its fastest rate in a decade, as the government struggled to contain the strains of an export-driven boom.
(AP, 1/25/07)
2007 Jan 25, In southern Nigeria gunmen stormed the local offices of a major Chinese oil company, abducting seven Chinese employees and stealing a large amount of cash.
(AP, 1/25/07)
2007 Jan 26, China’s state media said police in northern China have detained three men for the deaths of two women last year whose corpses were sold as "ghost brides" to accompany dead men in the afterlife. The ghost bride tradition, called "minghun" or afterlife marriage, is common in the Loess Plateau region of northern China.
(AP, 1/26/07)
2007 Jan 27, In China a gas explosion in the Yile Coal Mine in the southern town of Shuitang in Guizhou province killed at least 15 miners.
(AP, 1/29/07)
2007 Jan 30, China’s Pres. Hu Jintao set out on an eight-nation tour of Africa. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said: “On the arms exports to Africa, China takes a cautious and responsible attitude."
(AP, 1/30/07)(AFP, 1/30/07)
2007 Jan 31, Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Cameroon to begin his second African tour to boost ties with a continent that has many of the oil and commodity reserves the Asian giant needs for its ballooning economy.
(Reuters, 1/31/07)
2007 Jan 31, Canada's former Secretary of State for the Asia Pacific region David Kilgour and human rights lawyer David Matas released a report saying China's military is harvesting organs from prison inmates, mostly Falungong practitioners, for large scale transplants including for foreign recipients.
(AFP, 1/31/07)
2007 Jan, Police in China arrested Song Tiantang, who soon confessed to killing 6 women and selling their bodies to buyers of ghost brides. In the late 1990s he had been arrested for supplying the ghost bride market by just robbing graves.
(Econ, 7/28/07, p.44)
2007 Feb 1, China’s Pres. Hu Jintao arrived in Liberia. He held talks with Liberian Pres. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and address the parliament, before meeting some 500 Chinese peacekeepers. Jintao was also due to visit Sudan, Zambia, Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique and the Seychelles during his 12-day tour.
(AP, 2/1/07)
2007 Feb 1, Zhengzhou city authorities put Gao Yaojie under house arrest to stop her from traveling to Washington to be honored by a charity backed by Sen. Hillary Clinton. The retired Chinese doctor helped expose blood-buying schemes that infected thousands with HIV.
(AP, 2/4/07)
2007 Feb 2, Chinese President Hu Jintao offered Sudan assistance for the peaceful resolution of the Darfur conflict but ignored Western pressure to make future aid conditional on the progress made. Jintao agreed on closer economic cooperation with Sudan after sealing talks with a series of trade agreements. Jintao told Sudan's leader he must give the United Nations a bigger role in trying to resolve the conflict in Darfur.
(AFP, 2/2/07)
2007 Feb 2, A mine explosion in China’s Henan province killed 24 coal miners at the Xing'an coal mine. Newspapers later reported that mining officials had said that seven miners had died in the blast, and that mine owner Fu Faming ordered miners back into the shaft to seal it with earth in an attempt to bury evidence of the deaths.
(AP, 2/10/07)
2007 Feb 3, Chinese President Hu Jintao brought his eight-nation African tour to Zambia, a copper-rich country where China's growing clout has prompted charges of exploitation and emerged as a volatile political issue.
(AP, 2/3/07)
2007 Feb 3, In southern China a tour bus traveling in the wrong lane on a highway plowed into an oncoming bus in Hechi, killing 13 passengers and injuring 75.
(AP, 2/4/07)
2007 Feb 4, In eastern China a fire swept through a two-story building of shops and apartments, killing at least 17 people in Zhejiang province's Taizhou city.
(AP, 2/4/07)
2007 Feb 4, In Zambia China’s President Hu Jintao pledged $800 million in investments, debt write-offs and a "showcase" free trade zone as he ended a tour there. Beijing's economic juggernaut has sparked tensions in Zambia.
(AFP, 2/4/07)
2007 Feb 5, China’s president Hu Jintao brought his eight-nation African tour to Namibia, a sparsely populated, mineral-rich desert country that hopes to benefit from an influx of Chinese investment and tourists.
(AP, 2/5/07)
2007 Feb 6, China’s President Hu Jintao vowed to forge a partnership of equals with South Africa as he held talks with his counterpart Thabo Mbeki.
(AP, 2/6/07)
2007 Feb 7, In South Africa Chin’s President Hu Jintao promised to increase imports from Africa, responding to fears about the trade deficit that increased as China pumped unprecedented aid, investment and loans into the poor but resource-rich continent.
(AP, 2/7/07)
2007 Feb 7, In central China an overcrowded passenger vehicle returning from a wedding party plunged off a cliff, killing 16 members of an extended family.
(AP, 2/8/07)
2007 Feb 8, State media said officials in eastern China plan to name and shame rich families who ignore the country's strict one-child policy and simply pay the fine for having a second or third baby. China executed Ismail Semed, an ethnic Muslim and member of the Uighur minority group in Xinjiang, for alleged separatist activities. Human rights groups condemned because they said the prosecution's case against him lacked evidence and his confession may have been coerced.
(AP, 2/8/07)(AP, 2/9/07)
2007 Feb 8, China’s President Hu Jintao arrived in Mozambique on the penultimate stop in his 8-nation African tour.
(AFP, 2/8/07)
2007 Feb 9, China’s state Food and Drug Administration vowed to probe up to 170,000 medicines produced by manufacturers, which allegedly bribed its sacked head Zheng Xiaoyu for production licenses. The top drug safety official was being investigated for bribery after a number of deaths and scandals were linked to shoddy medicines.
(AFP, 2/9/07)
2007 Feb 9, In China envoys to international talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program struggled to find a compromise as differences emerged over a Chinese proposal on how to begin the disarmament process.
(AP, 2/9/07)
2007 Feb 12, China's General Administration of Customs said surging trade surplus jumped 67% in January from the same month last year to $15.88 billion.
(AP, 2/12/07)
2007 Feb 13, Gan Yisheng, a senior party discipline and oversight official, said nearly 100,000 members of China's ruling Communist Party were punished last year for corruption, and that eradicating graft in the near future remains a huge challenge. A Chinese business executive was sentenced to death for swindling $385 million from investors in a bogus ant-breeding scheme. Wang Zhendong, chairman of Yingkou Donghua Trading Group Co., had promised returns of up to 60% for buying kits of ants and breeding equipment.
(AFP, 2/13/07)(AP, 2/15/07)
2007 Feb 13, In Geneva the US clashed with China and Russia during a disarmament debate over how to prevent an arms race in outer space, and Washington criticized Beijing for its recent test of an anti-satellite missile. Russia and China, in turn, condemned the "one state" that refuses to consider a treaty banning space weapons, a reference to the US.
(AP, 2/13/07)
2007 Feb 18, The Chinese flocked to temples, parks and Disneyland to pray, play, eat, and celebrate the first day of the Lunar New Year, ushering in the Year of the Pig. The celebrations extended to March 4.
(AP, 2/18/07)(WSJ, 3/3/07, p.A1)
2007 Feb 23, It was reported that China had established clinics to treat teens addicted to the Internet.
(SFC, 2/23/07, p.A16)
2007 Feb 26, China’s state media said falling water levels in the Yangtze River have left 1 million people short of drinking water.
(AP, 2/26/07)
2007 Feb 27, In China stocks sold off sending the Shanghai composite index down 8.8% as rumors circulated that the government was considering new measures to tame speculation. The plunge, assisted by order routing problems on the NYSE, led to a 416 point drop in the DJIA.
(SFC, 2/28/07, p.C8)(Econ, 3/3/07, p.11)(Econ, 3/10/07, p.70)
2007 Feb 27, China’s state media said scientists in eastern China say they have succeeded in controlling the flight of pigeons with micro electrodes planted in their brains.
(AP, 2/27/07)
2007 Feb 27, DaimlerChrysler AG, seeking to cut costs and boost sales in North America, said it will start selling Chinese-made cars in that market and western Europe as it tries to meet demand for smaller, more economical vehicles.
(AP, 2/27/07)
2007 Feb 28, An official report said China's population grew by almost 7 million people last year. China's National Bureau of Statistics said that the country's population was 1,314,480,000 at the end of 2006, an increase of 6.92 million people. Numbers also showed that China will overtake the US this year or in 2008 as the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
(AP, 2/28/07)(SFC, 3/5/07, p.A1)
2007 Feb 28, Chinese stocks recovered following their worst plunge in a decade as regulators shifted into damage control, denying rumors of plans for a 20 percent capital gains tax on stock investments. A sandstorm with hurricane-strength wind gusts derailed a train in the far west, killing at least four people and injuring another 30.
(AP, 2/28/07)
2007 Feb, China's top leaders approved a program to build large commercial aircraft, lending crucial government support to plans to challenge the domination of Boeing and Airbus in the country's fast-growing aviation market. State-owned China Aviation Industry Corporation I, or AVIC I, planned to start making large aircraft by 2020.
(AP, 3/19/07)
2007 Feb, In China the Roewe 750 saloon went on sale. The car was launched as part of a joint venture between SAIC, a state-owned carmaker, General Motors and Volkswagen.
(Econ, 2/24/07, p.79)
2007 Mar 2, China demanded the United States scrap a planned sale of hundreds of missiles to Taiwan, warning the deal would harm regional stability and bilateral ties.
(AFP, 3/2/07)
2007 Mar 2, Scientists scanning the deep interior of Earth have found evidence of a vast water reservoir beneath eastern Asia that is at least the volume of the Arctic Ocean.
(www.livescience.com/environment/070228_beijing_anomoly.html)
2007 Mar 4, China said it will boost military spending by 17.8% this year, continuing more than a decade of double-digit annual increases that have raised concerns among the United States and China's neighbors.
(AP, 3/4/07)
2007 Mar 5, A Tokyo paper said Japan, the United States and India will carry out a joint military drill in the Pacific off Japan's coast amid concerns about China's military build-up.
(AFP, 3/5/07)
2007 Mar 6, An explosion at a coal mine in south China killed at least 15 workers.
(AP, 3/7/07)
2007 Mar 6, Researchers reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that pollution from Asia is helping generate stronger storms over the North Pacific, according to new research. Satellite measurements have shown an increase in tiny particles generated from coal burning in China and India in recent decades.
(AP, 3/6/07)
2007 Mar 7, In China a government directive said all pet dogs will be killed in a district of the southwestern city of Chongqing as part of an anti-rabies campaign. Residents of the city's Wanzhou district had until March 15 to hand over their dogs.
(AP, 3/7/07)
2007 Mar 7, North Korea reported that it has slaughtered hundreds of cows and pigs after an outbreak of foot and mouth disease. The report said the sickened cows had been imported from Tieling, China.
(AP, 3/8/07)
2007 Mar 8, Chinese lawmakers formally introduced a hotly debated law to protect private property, saying that personal wealth in an increasingly prosperous China requires legal safeguards.
(AP, 3/8/07)
2007 Mar 9, Finance Minister Jin Renqing said China is creating an investment company to make more profitable use of its $1 trillion in foreign currency reserves, in a move that could change the flow of billions of dollars in global markets.
(AP, 3/9/07)
2007 Mar 9, Xinhua Finance Media shares made their debut on the NYSE raising $300 million. Fredy Bush (49), a US-born entrepreneur, served as CEO of Xinhua Finance Ltd., the Shanghai-based parent of the US listed company.
(WSJ, 1/7/07, p.A1)
2007 Mar 11, In northeast China 22 miners were confirmed dead and the lives of seven others were feared lost in a coal mine flood on the previous day. The flood occurred in a pit belonging to the state-owned Fushun Mining Group in the province of Liaoning.
(AFP, 3/11/07)
2007 Mar 12, In central China villagers armed with bricks and rocks continued to clash with baton-wielding police over rising bus fares and at least 60 people were injured. A student died from wounds incurred a day earlier.
(AP, 3/13/07)
2007 Mar 15, China expressed "deep regret" over a US decision to punish a Macau bank for allegedly helping North Korea launder money, foreshadowing the difficulties of enforcing an international agreement on the North's nuclear disarmament.
(AP, 3/15/07)
2007 Mar 16, China's legislators passed a law providing the most sweeping protection for private businesses and property since the nation's move toward a more capitalist-style economy beginning in the late 1970s. The legislature approved a law to end three decades of blanket tax breaks for foreign investors, raising their rates to match those of Chinese companies.
(AP, 3/16/07)
2007 Mar 17, China's central bank said it will raise key interest rates by more than a quarter point to control a surge in bank lending and investment and to prevent consumer prices from rising. The 0.27% point hike in one-year deposit and lending benchmark rates will go into effect Mar 18. This was the 3rd rate hike in a year.
(SSFC, 3/18/07, p.A18)(AP, 3/19/07)
2007 Mar 17, Two cargo ships collided in the East China Sea, killing at least eight people. The collision occurred off Zhejiang province between a cargo ship from China and a Hong Kong-registered vessel. The Hong Kong ship, with 29 crew aboard, sank immediately.
(AP, 3/19/07)
2007 Mar 17, Officials in Guatemala City said China is seeking to join the Inter-American Development Bank, Latin America's largest financing institution, as a way to fuel its economic development and increase its influence in the region.
(AP, 3/18/07)
2007 Mar 18, In northern China a coal mine explosion killed 19 with two miners still missing and presumed dead in a mine in the suburbs of Shanxi province's Jincheng City.
(AP, 3/21/07)
2007 Mar 20, China approved four foreign banks to begin local currency services to individual Chinese customers, opening up access to the country's 30 trillion yuan ($4 trillion; 3 euros trillion) in household savings and surging demand for credit cards and other financial services.
(AP, 3/20/07)
2007 Mar 26, Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Russia on his third visit as national leader, seeking energy deals but also offering Moscow business opportunities and international cooperation as they expand ties.
(Reuters, 3/26/07)
2007 Mar 27, State media said China will pour billions of dollars into an airport, power plants, roads and education to help raise the standard of living of Tibetans over the next three years.
(AP, 3/27/07)
2007 Mar 27, United Commercial Bank of San Francisco said it had concluded negotiations to become the sole owner of the Business Development Bank of Shanghai. In 1992 the Business Development Bank of Shanghai was established as China’s first foreign-owned bank.
(Econ, 4/7/07, p.73)
2007 Mar 28, In northern China an underground gas explosion killed 26 miners in a coal mine in Linfen city, Shanxi province. 6 workers were trapped underground after a subway construction site for the 2008 Beijing Olympics collapsed. Hopes for their survival were slim.
(AP, 3/29/07)
2007 Mar 30, The Bush administration, facing heavy pressure to deal with soaring trade deficits, said it is imposing economic sanctions against China to protect American paper producers from unfair Chinese government subsidies.
(AP, 3/30/07)
2007 Apr 1, A knife-wielding Chinese tour guide injured 20 people in a stabbing-and-slashing spree at a southwestern resort following an argument over kickbacks on souvenir sales. Xu Mingchao (25) from the province of Heilongjiang, was arrested following the incident.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 2, China’s first deadline for income taxes was extended a few days because of low compliance. Anyone earning over 120,000 yuan ($15,500) annually was supposed to file a return. In southwestern China developers tore down a stubborn couple's house after a three-year standoff that hindered a construction project and captivated the nation. The couple reportedly negotiated a deal with the real estate developer that gives them a new apartment and a sizable compensation package.
(Econ, 4/14/07, p.49)(AP, 4/3/07)(Econ, 4/7/07, p.39)
2007 Apr 3, A state news agency said China's government has ordered newspapers to stamp out the common practice of demanding money from people they cover.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 5, China told banks to increase their reserves for the third time this year, cutting the amount of money available for lending in a new effort to cool an investment boom that Beijing worries could lead to a financial crisis. Chinese celebrated the annual tomb-sweeping festival, but state media said soaring funeral costs were leading to people complaining they can no longer afford to die.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 6, China published new rules governing human organ transplants in its latest effort to clean up a business critics say has little regard for medical ethics. These included consent from the deceased owner’s family.
(AP, 4/7/07)(Econ., 3/14/15, p.48)
2007 Apr 6, A Chinese delegation arrived in Sudan's troubled Darfur region for a 4-day visit. They met officials and visited camps for the internally displaced.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 8, A Chinese ship, Jinhaikun, and a foreign cargo vessel, Harvest, collided off the east China coast in Taizhou Bay. 19 Chinese and one Indonesian missing in the accident were all on the Harvest.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 9, State press reported that China's farmland is becoming increasingly polluted, with coal-dependent factories and polluted waterways causing billions of dollars in damages.
(AFP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 9, China urged Sudan to be more flexible on a plan put forward by former UN chief Kofi Annan to bolster peacekeeping operations in the war-torn western region of Darfur.
(AFP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 10, China reported a sharp drop in its politically sensitive trade surplus and angrily rejected US plans to file a World Trade Organization complaint over product piracy amid pressure for Beijing to rein in its bulging trade gap. The US filed two new complaints against China at the WTO over copyright policy and restrictions on the sale of American movies, music and books. China missed its deadline for announcing a total tally of completed tax returns. Officials estimated some 1.6 million filed with 6m-7m required to file.
(AP, 4/10/07)(Econ, 4/14/07, p.49)
2007 Apr 10, In China’s southeast Guangxi Zhuangzu region thousands of fish were reported killed this month in a lake near Nanning due to “sharp drops in temperature."
(SFC, 4/12/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 11, Japanese and Chinese leaders heralded a new era of closer ties between the two Asian powers, moving to repair relations damaged by a harsh dispute over history and signing accords on energy and environmental protection.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 13, Prominent Chinese environmental activist Wu Lihong (39) was arrested for alleged blackmail. Lihong has campaigned for years against the pollution of Tai Lake which lies in the center of Yangtze Delta plain, a region known for its natural beauty but littered with polluting light industry and chemical factories. In August Lihong was sentenced to 3 years in prison for fraud and blackmail.
(AFP, 4/23/07)(Econ, 5/3/08, p.49)
2007 Apr 14, A Chinese rocket placed a navigation satellite in orbit as part of an effort to build a global positioning system.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 16, In southwest China about 450 people, including 135 school students, were hospitalized after a fertilizer plant discharged a "huge amount" of sulfur dioxide. A state-run newspaper said China's massive Yangtze river, a lifeline for tens of millions of people, is seriously polluted and the damage is almost irreversible.
(AP, 4/16/07)(AFP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 17, In China state media said Ablikim Abdureyim, the son of a prominent US-based Chinese Muslim activist, was sentenced in Urumqi, capital of the Muslim Xinjiang region, to nine years in prison on subversion charges. Abdureyim's mother, Rebiya Kadeer, once was one of China's most prominent businesswomen. She was detained in 1999 and sentenced to 8 years in prison on charges of endangering state security but was allowed to leave for the United States in 2005.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 18, The futuristic No. D460 bullet train departed Shanghai Station, heralding a new era of high-speed rail travel in China. In northeast China at least 32 workers were killed and two injured when they were engulfed in white-hot molten steel in a metal factory.
(AFP, 4/18/07)(AP, 4/18/07)(Econ, 5/19/07, p.70)
2007 Apr 19, China jailed Huseyin Celil (37), a Uighur-Canadian, for life for separatism and terrorism and warned Canada not to get involved even as Ottawa announced it would send its foreign minister to discuss the case. Celil was detained in Uzbekistan in March 2006 when he was visiting relatives and sent to China last June.
(Reuters, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 20, Bishop Fu Tieshan (76), the hard-line chairman of the state-sanctioned Catholic Church, died. He sparred had with the Vatican over China's insistence on appointing its own bishops. An upsurge of gas in a coal mine killed 11 miners in the Tao'er Coal Mine in Handan, an industrial city in Hebei province.
(AP, 4/21/07)(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 21, A Zimbabwe cabinet minister said the Chinese government has given Zimbabwe a 58 million dollars financing facility that will be used to purchase farming equipment, implements and tools.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, Zhou Chunxiu made history as the first Chinese runner to win the London marathon as she came home in 2hrs 20min 38sec, finishing ahead of Ethiopia's Gete Wami and Romanian Constantina Tomescu-Dita.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 23, Chinese, state television reported that President Hu Jintao has launched a campaign to rid the country's sprawling Internet of "unhealthy" content and make it a springboard for Communist Party doctrine.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, China’s The Ministry of Land and Resources said agricultural land in China fell to 121.8 million hectares (300 million acres) by the end of October 2006, a loss of 306,800 hectares since the start of the year. The ministry said that heavy metals had contaminated about 13 million tons of grain and that 30.4 million acres is contaminated by pollution.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6582571.stm)(WSJ, 6/30/07, p.A12)
2007 Apr 24, China's secretive communist government said it has approved rules boosting official transparency but added that state secrets have to be safeguarded and social stability preserved. Eight miners were missing and feared dead following an explosion in a mine in Handan, an industrial city in Hebei province.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, In Ethiopia Ogaden rebels raided a Chinese-run oil field near the Somali border, killing 65 Ethiopians and nine Chinese workers. An Ethiopian rebel group claimed responsibility. The next day Ethiopia blamed Eritrea for the attack. Eritrea issued a swift, angry denial. In 2008 security forces arrested eight men suspected of involvement in the deadly raid.
(AP, 4/24/07)(AP, 4/25/07)(WSJ, 4/25/07, p.A1)(AFP, 3/30/08)
2007 Apr 25, China detained four Americans on Mount Everest after they called for independence for Tibet and protested the Beijing Olympics. More than 50 children were poisoned by a kindergarten breakfast in Zhengzhou city in Henan province, in the latest case highlighting problems in the country's food supply chain.
(AP, 4/25/07)(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, China said it has banned melamine from food products after the chemical was found in exports of vegetable protein shipped to the United States, but rejected it as the cause of dozens of pet deaths in North America.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Ethiopian rebels holding seven Chinese oil workers captured during an attack this week on an oil venture in Ethiopia said they would release them "as soon as possible."
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 27, China’s Premier Wen Jiabao pledged to phase out tax breaks and discounts on land and electricity for highly polluting industries, saying the country's environmental situation was grim and required urgent action.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, China said it has expelled five Americans who staged a protest against the Olympics on Mount Everest to challenge Chinese rule over the mountainous region.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, Japan's Supreme Court upheld a ruling denying compensation to two Chinese women who were forced to work in military brothels during World War II. The court said that the women had no right to seek war compensation from Japan because of a 1972 agreement with China. The top court also overturned a lower court ruling awarding compensation to five Chinese who were forced to work for a Japanese construction company during the war.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 28, China's president called for closer business ties with Taiwan to help squelch the self-ruled island's pro-independence movement as he met with a former Taiwanese opposition leader.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, China's ZTE signed a $200 million deal with Ethiopia's state-owned Telecom Corp.
(AFP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, In China 7 suspects went on trial in the beating death of a reporter at an illegal coal mine in northern Shanxi province. Lan Chengzhang was attacked along with a colleague when they went to interview Hou Zhenrun, the owner of the small unlicensed coal mine outside the northern city of Datong on Jan 10. He died the next day from head injuries.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, In Ethiopia 7 Chinese oil workers and two Africans kidnapped during a rebel attack on a Chinese oil field near the Somali border were released.
(AP, 4/29/07)
2007 Apr 30, In China a manager of a feed company and one of the chemical's producers said that the mildly toxic chemical melamine is commonly added to animal feed in China. The process fraudulently boosts the feed's sales value but risks introducing the chemical into meat eaten by humans.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 May 1, China lashed out at the Caribbean nation of St. Lucia for restoring diplomatic relations with Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as Chinese territory.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 5, In central China an explosion at the Pudeng mine, outside of Linfen city, killed 28 miners and trapped others.
(AP, 5/6/07)(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 5, It was reported that China has 16 of the world’s most polluted cities. The UN said dirty air caused the premature death of some 400,000 Chinese each year.
(Econ, 5/5/07, SR p.11)
2007 May 7, State media said China's top family planning body has warned that the country could face a "population rebound" because the newly rich are ignoring population control laws and because of early marriages in rural areas. In southwestern China a bus plunged off a highway, killing 17 people including three children and injuring 24 others.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Hong Kong newspapers reported that an unidentified animal illness has spread in two southern Chinese cities, infecting at least 1,300 pigs and killing more than 300. The diseased pigs began dying in Gaoyao and Yunfu in Guangdong province following Chinese New Year celebrations in February. The illness was soon identified as a strain of blue ear disease. Blue ear disease, also called porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, was first identified in the United States in 1987. The disease this year killed an estimated 45 million pigs in China.
(AP, 5/8/07)(SFC, 5/8/07, p.A17)(AP, 5/10/07)(Econ, 12/20/14, p.68)
2007 May 8, Amnesty Int’l. said in a report that China and Russia are supplying arms to Sudan that are being used to fuel the violence in the Darfur region in violation of a UN arms embargo. China and Russia quickly rejected the report and Sudan's government said it was "not justified." China confirmed it would send military engineers for a planned UN peacekeeping force to Sudan's Darfur region.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 9, China ordered strengthened controls over its food industry after a series of health scares with international repercussions laid bare lax standards. A Beijing court sentenced a man to life in prison for taking nearly $500,000 in bribes while posing as a reporter, and sometimes a top editor, for the Communist Party's official newspaper, the People's Daily.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, Japan's Supreme Court rejected compensation claims by Chinese victims of atrocities committed by Japan in the 1930s and 40s, which included the use of biological weapons and a massacre in the city of Nanjing.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, China, criticized for not pushing its close ally Sudan to resolve the Darfur crisis, said that it had appointed a special representative on African affairs to focus on the issue.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, A US federal jury in California convicted Chi Mak, a China-born engineer, of passing submarine data to Beijing.
(WSJ, 5/11/07, p.A1)
2007 May 12, A South Korean cargo vessel sank after colliding with a Chinese freighter in heavy fog in waters off northeast China. 16 crew were on board the 3,800-ton Golden Rose when it sank. The crew of the Chinese ship, the 4,800-ton JinSheng, were unharmed and returned safely to Dalian.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 14, A Chinese rocket blasted a Nigerian communications satellite into orbit, marking an expansion of China's commercial launching services for foreign space hardware. The NIGCOMSAT-1 ceased functioning on November 11, 2008, due to a power failure.
(AP, 5/14/07)(AP, 11/13/08)
2007 May 14, Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian named his sixth premier in seven years amid paralysis in the island's relations with rival China and gridlock in its deeply divided legislature. The World Health Organization rejected Taiwan's bid for membership after Chinese officials accused the island of trying to strengthen its claim to sovereignty.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 16, Zheng Xiaoyu, China's former top drug regulator, went on trial accused of taking bribes to approve untested medicine, including an antibiotic that killed at least 10 patients last year before it was taken off the market. Zheng was fired in 2005 on charges he took up to $780,000 in bribes to approve medicine that had not been tested to ensure its safety. He was expelled earlier this year from the ruling Communist Party.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 17, US lawmakers branded China and Russia the world's two biggest copyright thieves.
(Reuters, 5/17/07)
2007 May 18, China took steps to let its currency appreciate faster against the dollar and to cool its sizzling economy ahead of what are expected to contentious talks in Washington over Beijing's soaring trade surplus.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 19, China’s state media said an outbreak of a viral disease common in children has sickened almost 900 people in eastern China but the outbreak has been contained. The outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease began in late April in the city of Linyi in Shandong province. In southern China thousands of farmers rioted at a government office in Shabi township, Guangxi region, after authorities imposed heavy fines on families that had more children than allowed under the country's family planning policy.
(AP, 5/19/07)(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 20, China’s state press said that pollution and the excessive use of chemicals in foodstuffs are sending national cancer rates soaring. 20 Chinese women were killed and 4 injured when a 3-wheeled tractor overturned on a mountain road in northern Liaoning province.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 21, A Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Wu Yi arrived in the United States for two days of talks that will spotlight tensions over US trade deficits with the Asian export giant. A Chinese state fund that is buying a $3 billion stake in US private equity firm Blackstone Group LP wants to avoid political backlashes when it makes other investments abroad.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 22, The US and China opened a new round of high-level economic talks with the Bush administration pushing for concrete results and China saying efforts to politicize trade disagreements would be a mistake.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 23, China said it was investigating reports that toothpaste containing a potentially deadly chemical had been exported to Central America.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 24, In southern China residents of Bobai county angrily accused authorities of forcing women to have abortions and vandalizing homes in a brutal campaign to enforce birth-control policies. Government "work teams" had raided homes, carried out mass arrests and levied crippling fines across Guangxi, a sprawling region near the Vietnam border. Communist Party officials in Shanghai convened a congress to install a new generation of leaders following a corruption scandal that toppled the city's top leader. 2 days of heavy rainstorms in southwest China triggered flash floods and mudslides killed 21 people and left 11 missing.
(AFP, 5/24/07)(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 25, Costa Rica health officials said they have seized more than 350 tubes of Chinese-made toothpaste tainted with a deadly chemical reportedly found in tubes sold elsewhere in the world.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, China and the African Union launched a 150-million-dollar project to build a new conference centre for the cash-strapped continental body.
(AFP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 26, In northeast China a restaurant fire killed 11 staff and diners and injured 16 others. The fire started in the kitchen and raged through the popular three-story Baixinglou restaurant in Liaoning province's Chaoyang city.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 29, Zheng Xiaoyu, China's former top drug regulator, was sentenced to death in an unusually harsh punishment for taking bribes to approve substandard medicines, including an antibiotic blamed for at least 10 deaths.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, China said it will not be tied to targets on cutting carbon emissions as Europe and Asia failed to agree at a 40-nation meeting on how to fight global warming.
(AFP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, The roof of a newly built house in Wulanji, a northern Chinese village in Inner Mongolia, collapsed during a celebration for its completion, killing 16 people and injuring another 29.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Chinese stocks plunged after the government raised a tax on share trades, trying to cool a market boom amid growing concerns about a possible bubble. The stamp tax was tripled to 0.3%. The port city of Xiamen announced a decision to temporarily suspend construction of a petrochemical plant after nearly a million text messages were sent protesting its construction.
(AP, 5/30/07)(WSJ, 5/31/07, p.A8)(Econ, 6/2/07, p.82)
2007 May 31, China’s state media said fast-spreading, foul-smelling blue-green algae smothered Lake Tai in eastern Jiangsu province, contaminating the drinking water for millions of people and sparking panic-buying of bottled water.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, Mexico's Televisa network, known around the world for its soap operas, said it plans to expand in China, following the lead of taco chains and other Mexican businesses looking for a slice of the Asian nation's market.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 Jun 1, On Children’s Day in China thousands of people rallied in Xiamen to protest plans for a Taiwanese-owned chemical factory to make paraxylene, used in polyester. Thousands marched again the next day
(Econ, 6/23/07, p.48)
2007 Jun 1, In China a new bankruptcy law took effect making it easier to restructure insolvent firms.
(http://tinyurl.com/gpav4ar)(Econ, 1/9/10, p.68)
2007 Jun 1, The US government warned consumers to avoid using toothpaste made in China because it may contain a poisonous chemical used in antifreeze.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 3, A strong earthquake shook a hilly southwestern Chinese region near the border with Laos, killing at least three people.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, A 19-year-old Chinese soldier died of the virulent strain of bird flu, the country's 16th reported death from the virus.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, China promised to better control emissions of greenhouse gases, unveiling a national program to combat global warming, but rejected mandatory caps on emissions as unfair to countries still trying to catch up with the developed West. The government also said it will license no new Internet cafes this year while regulators carry out an industry-wide inspection, amid official concern that online material is harming young people.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 5, China joined Russia in criticizing a US plan to build a missile defense system in Europe, saying the system could set off an arms race.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 5, Coca-Cola Co. at the World Wildlife Foundation's annual meeting in Beijing announced it is funding a $20 million project to conserve seven major rivers worldwide and also will revamp its bottling practices to reduce pollution and water use.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 6, In north China Song Pingshun (61), head of Tianjin's advisory committee to the national legislature, died in an apparent suicide amid a probe into alleged bribe-taking and shady real estate deals by at least three high-level officials.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 6, President Oscar Arias announced that Costa Rica has broken diplomatic ties with Taiwan and established relations with China, delivering a blow to the Asian island's fragile international standing.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 8, In southern China thousands of workers, mostly women, at a plastic Christmas tree factory clashed with police after a 10-day strike.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, China said it had rejected a shipment of pistachios from the US because it contained ants, the latest indication the government may be retaliating as Chinese products are turned back from overseas because of safety concerns. Xinhua news agency said rain storms and floods have killed at least 40 people across southern China in recent days and made thousands homeless.
(AP, 6/9/07)(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, A human rights group issued a report saying China is forcing nomadic Tibetan herders to settle in towns to clear land for development, leaving many unable to earn a living.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, Sweden’s telecoms network firm Ericsson signed a framework agreement to provide $1 billion worth of networking equipment to China Mobile Communications Corp.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 11, Organizers of the Beijing Olympics threatened to cancel the contracts of companies using child labor and violating minimum-wage rules to make Olympic-licensed products. The country's chief veterinarian said Blue ear disease, blamed for a surge in politically sensitive pork prices, has spread to 22 Chinese provinces and regions. State media said Chinese authorities are investigating the widespread sale of fake blood protein to hospitals and pharmacies, a practice that deprives patients of a crucial medical need.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, Yahoo Inc. said China should not punish people for expressing their political views on the Internet, a day after the mother of a Chinese reporter announced she was suing the US company for helping officials imprison her son.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 12, Australian PM John Howard agreed to meet the Dalai Lama after opponents charged he was afraid of offending China, drawing an immediate rebuke from Beijing. The Dalai Lama warned major nations not to try to contain China's economic and military rise, and urged countries like Australia to use their trading clout to pressure Beijing on human rights.
(AP, 6/12/07)(Reuters, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 13, State media said China’s southern Guangdong province was rushing to shore up dams eroded by weeks of heavy rains and high waters that already have killed at least 76 people. State media also reported that Cheng Laifu, a teacher in northwestern China, has been sentenced to death for raping 18 primary school girls, the second such case in the same area. He was convicted of raping the 18 third- and fourth-grade students on 70 separate occasions between September 2001 and March 2005. The victims were 9 and 10. Xinhua News said that in July 2005, Li Guang, also a teacher in Changhe township, was sentenced to death for raping 23 fourth- and fifth-grade students.
(AP, 6/13/07)(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 14, Police in Henan province said they have rescued more than 200 people, including 29 children, who were working as "slaves" in brick kilns, in a shocking revelation of labor practices in booming China.
(AFP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 15, China’s state media said as many as 1,000 children may have been sold into slave labor in central China, enduring maiming and brutality in primitive brick kilns, amid an expanding scandal about official neglect.
(Reuters, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 16, China’s state media said that a total of 548 slave laborers have been freed in the past month from brick kilns and other illegal job sites in central China where they were starved, beaten and forced to work 14 hours or more per day.
(AP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 18, Researchers reported that the first skull of the earliest known ancestor of the giant panda has been discovered in China and estimated to be at least 2 million years old. The animal, formally known as Ailuropoda microta, or "pygmy giant panda," would have been about 3 feet long, compared to the modern giant panda, which averages in excess of five feet.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 19, China’s state media reported that the worst drought in 30 years in northeast China's Liaoning province has left more than 1.2 million people short of drinking water.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 20, China announced a nationwide crackdown on enslavement and child labor. China's regulatory standards chief pledged to update and boost enforcement of food safety rules as the country faces intense international pressure for exporting unsafe products from toothpaste to pet food ingredients. State media said floods and landslides triggered by heavy rain have killed 36 more people and left 13 missing in southwest and central China. A knife-wielding man slashed four students, wounding one seriously at a high school in Fuzhou, capital of southeastern Fujian province.
(AP, 6/20/07)(Reuters, 6/20/07)(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 20, A Dutch government-funded agency said China has overtaken the United States as the top emitter of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, because of surging energy use amid an economic boom. However consumption and emission levels per head remained a mere fraction of America’s.
(AP, 6/20/07)(Econ, 6/13/09, p.45)
2007 Jun 21, China signed an agreement to cancel Iraqi debt at a ceremony after a meeting between Chinese President Hu Jintao and his Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talabani. State media reported no more brightly dyed hair, flashy jewelry or smoking in public for China's police while they're in uniform.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 22, Chinese investigators said government labor monitors and police officers were actively involved in the Chinese brickyard slavery scandal. A provincial governor apologized as the government stepped up efforts to try to show it was responding to a growing slave labor scandal.
(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 26, China launched a $1 billion fund to finance trade and investment by Chinese companies in Africa as part of efforts to nurture commercial ties. The Chinese government said inspectors have seized shipments of US-made orange pulp and dried apricots containing high levels of bacteria and preservatives. A 22-mile long bridge that its builders claim is the world's longest sea-crossing structure was formally linked-up just south of the business hub of Shanghai.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 27, Chinese inspectors, following a six-month crackdown, said industrial oils, acid, cancer-causing chemicals and other dangerous ingredients have been found in thousands of foods. The government said it closed 180 food manufacturers found to have used industrial chemicals and additives in food products. A state news agency quoted China's chief auditor saying auditors have found that officials stole or misused $1.9 billion in pension funds and other government money. Cases in the latest investigations stretched back to before 2000.
(AFP, 6/27/07)(AP, 6/27/07)(WSJ, 6/28/07, p.A8)
2007 Jun 28, In Sudan China's No. 1 oil company, CNPC, and Indonesia's PT Pertamina agreed to co-develop a Sudanese offshore oil block, ignoring international efforts to isolate Sudan over the crisis in its Darfur region.
(AP, 7/1/07)
2007 Jun 28, The US FDA halted imports of 5 kinds of farm raised seafood from China after tests revealed trace amounts of carcinogens and antibiotics.
(SFC, 6/29/07, p.B5)
2007 Jun 29, China enacted law meant to improve workers' rights, capping a round of unprecedented legislation by the communist government that included input from foreign companies and the Chinese public. A French-educated scientist was named China's health minister, becoming only the 2nd noncommunist appointed to the Cabinet since the 1970s. Beijing banned ten types of drugs for exaggerated effectiveness amid rising concerns of fake and tainted products in China's food and drug supply chains.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jul 3, The US-made film "Nanking," documenting eyewitness accounts of atrocities committed by Japanese troops in China during World War Two, opened in Beijing.
(Reuters, 7/3/07)
2007 Jul 3, China issued guidelines restricting organ transplants for foreigners, giving priority to Chinese patients in the government's latest effort to regulate procedures that have been criticized as profit-driven and unethical. Officials said that Chinese inspectors have found excessive amounts of additives and preservatives in dozens of children's snacks and seized hundreds of bottles of fake human blood protein from hospitals.
(AP, 7/3/07)
2007 Jul 4, In northeast China a blast ripped through a karaoke parlor and bath house, killing 25 people and injuring 33 others. It was later reported that a coal mine owner, who ran the karaoke parlor, stored more than a ton of explosives in the basement.
(AP, 7/5/07)(AP, 7/6/07)
2007 Jul 5, China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi visited Indonesia and said their countries should cooperate to defend the interests of developing nations as they work to enhance bilateral ties.
(AFP, 7/5/07)
2007 Jul 6, A former department head at China's drug regulation agency was sentenced to death on bribery charges. Cao Wenzhuang was given a two-year reprieve because he provided evidence that helped with the investigation of other cases. Chinese cat lovers mobilized online to save a truck load of cats from the cooking pot. A standoff continued for hours while cat lovers spread word of the incident online, eventually raising $1,320 in donations to buy the whole load of some 800 cats.
(AP, 7/6/07)(AP, 7/10/07)
2007 Jul 7, A global poll picked the Great Wall of China, Rome's Colosseum, India's Taj Mahal, Peru’s Macchu Picchu, Jordan’s Petra, Brazil's Statue of Christ Redeemer and Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid as the new seven wonders of the world. The campaign to name the new wonders was launched in 1999 by the Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber.
(AP, 7/8/07)
2007 Jul 8, China’s state media said nearly 2,000 officials in central China's Hunan province have been caught breaking China's strict one-child policy. State media also said floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains have killed at least 26 people and left 17 missing in southwest Sichuan province in the last week.
(AP, 7/8/07)
2007 Jul 10, China executed Zheng Xiaoyu (63), former head (1997-2006) of its State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), for approving untested medicine in exchange for cash. Zheng was convicted of taking cash and gifts worth $832,000 when he was in charge of the state administration.
(AP, 7/10/07)(WSJ, 1/11/07, p.A1)
2007 Jul 10, The bulk log carrier Hai Tong No. 7 went down, 375 miles northwest of Guam, where it ran into Typhoon Man-yi. 9 of 22 crew members were dead or missing. The ship, owned by Fuzhou Haijing Shipping, was en route from Papua New Guinea to China.
(AP, 7/14/07)
2007 Jul 11, China's food and drug agency announced stricter rules for approving new drugs. The government also ordered small, loosely regulated food producers to clean up their act.
(AP, 7/11/07)
2007 Jul 11, Nick Young, British editor of the newsletter China Development Brief, said officials had ordered the shut down of the newsletter for violating a 1983 law on gathering statistics. Young had founded the publication in 1995.
(SFC, 7/12/07, p.A11)
2007 Jul 12, China’s state media said nearly a half-million people fled a flood zone surrounding the swollen Huai River, while high waters in the south unleashed a plague of an estimated 2 billion field mice that were ravaging crops.
(AP, 7/12/07)
2007 Jul 13, China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said on its Web site that frozen poultry products from Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest meat processor, were found to be contaminated with salmonella. AQSIQ said other imports barred included frozen chicken feet from Sanderson Farms, Inc. tainted with residue of an anti-parasite drug, as well as frozen pork ribs from Cargill Meat Solutions Corp. containing a leanness-enhancing feed additive.
(AP, 7/14/07)
2007 Jul 17, A foreman from a kiln in north China where workers were beaten and forced to work 18-hour days was sentenced to life in jail and another man was sentenced to death for the beating death of a laborer. A total of 29 people were convicted in seven different courts in Shanxi for their roles in the slavery scandal.
(AP, 7/17/07)
2007 Jul 17, An international think-tank said China's smog-choked cities and contaminated waterways are leaving many people sick and unable to work, in turn fomenting unrest and threatening the country's economic growth.
(AP, 7/17/07)
2007 Jul 18, US President George W. Bush ordered the creation of a "working group" of top aides to review the safety of imports from China and all around the world.
(AP, 7/18/07)
2007 Jul 20, China said it had shut down several firms at the heart of food and drug safety scares, including a chemical plant implicated in the deaths of 94 people in Panama. China also said that it "strongly opposed" decisions by the United States to initiate anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations on imports of some woven sacks and steel pipes from China. Total deaths in Panama reached 116 from contaminated medications.
(AP, 7/20/07)(Reuters, 7/20/07)(AP, 5/10/08)
2007 Jul 20, In southern China a mentally ill man wielding a wrench wounded 18 children and a teacher in a kindergarten before fleeing on a motorcycle. Police nabbed the attacker at his home and sent him to hospital because he had stabbed himself in the stomach.
(AP, 7/21/07)
2007 Jul 20, A magnitude-6.1 quake hit far western Xinjiang's mountainous Tekes county. Chinese authorities relocated 8,250 people after the earthquake damaged and destroyed thousands of mud brick houses.
(AP, 7/22/07)
2007 Jul 22, China’s state media said record rainfall this week triggered floods, landslides and mud flows had killed 152 people and forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands.
(AP, 7/22/07)
2007 Jul 24, Chinese officials said the FBI and Chinese police have busted two software piracy gangs and seized programs worth an estimated $500 million in a joint campaign that began in 2005.
(AP, 7/24/07)
2007 Jul 24, Westinghouse Electric Co., majority-owned by Toshiba Corp., signed a multi-billion-dollar contract to build 4 nuclear reactors in China.
(WSJ, 1/25/07, p.A10)
2007 Jul 25, China said it will step up inspections on the use of antibiotics in fish farms, including chemicals that can cause cancer, after contaminants caused trading partners to block its seafood exports.
(Reuters, 7/25/07)
2007 Jul 26, China’s state media said flooding in the far west has killed 32 people over the last 10 days, while a central city of 9 million was on high alert as the mighty Yangtze River approached dangerous heights. Runoff from a lead-zinc mine polluted the Zijiang river in Hunan province, cutting off supplies to the riverside city of Lengshuijiang and residents downstream.
(AP, 7/26/07)(AP, 7/28/07)
2007 Jul 27, In China 2 men were sentenced to death for masterminding a plan to steal oil from an underwater pipeline, a botched plot that caused an estimated $53 million in damages.
(AP, 7/28/07)
2007 Jul 29, Whang Joung-il (52), a senior South Korean diplomat in Beijing, died hours after becoming ill after eating a tuna sandwich. His death left the envoy's family and his government asking China for an explanation.
(AP, 8/23/07)
2007 Jul 30, China tightened credit in a new effort to cool its sizzling economy, ordering banks to shrink the pool of money for lending by increasing their reserves for a sixth time this year.
(AP, 7/30/07)
2007 Jul 30, China’s state media said floods, landslides and mud flows triggered by torrential rains have killed 652 people in China so far this year, with more heavy rains in the forecast.
(AP, 7/30/07)
2007 Jul 31, China’s state media reported another 27 deaths from flooding and landslides in different parts of the country.
(AP, 7/31/07)
2007 Aug 1, In China 69 men trapped in a flooded Chinese coal mine for more than three days were pulled out alive, ending a terrifying ordeal in which they survived on milk and pumped-in oxygen.
(AP, 8/1/07)
2007 Aug 2, China’s state media reported that courts in northern China have sentenced 31 people, including a police officer, to prison terms of up to five years stemming from the use of slave labor in brick kilns. In east China a rising wave in the Qiantang River, known for its strong tides, engulfed 33 swimmers and visitors walking along a levee. At least eight were killed.
(AP, 8/2/07)(AP, 8/3/07)
2007 Aug 2, Beijing and Washington agreed to cooperate more closely on product and food safety as the US recalled almost 1 million toys due to lead concerns. Mattel apologized to customers as it recalled nearly a million Chinese-made toys from its Fisher-Price division that were found to have excessive amounts of lead.
(AP, 8/3/07)(SFC, 8/3/07, p.D1)(AP, 8/2/08)
2007 Aug 3, China asserted the sole right to recognize living Buddhas, reincarnations of famous lamas that form the backbone of the religion's clergy. All future incarnations of living Buddhas related to Tibetan Buddhism must get government approval.
(AP, 8/3/07)
2007 Aug 3, China banned Indonesian seafood after checks turned up dangerous contamination. Indonesian authorities called the move an apparent reaction to an Indonesian ban on some tainted Chinese products. The Chinese administration said Indonesian products have been found to contain mercury and cadmium, metals that can accumulate in water and soil from burning garbage, mining or other industrial processes.
(AP, 8/4/07)
2007 Aug 3, Lenovo Group Ltd. said it will sell a basic personal computer aimed at China's vast but poor rural market and priced as low as $199.
(AP, 8/3/07)
2007 Aug 4, A Hong Kong newspaper reported that China is cracking down on cable television operators who offer unauthorized foreign satellite broadcasts, the communist government's latest bid to maintain its monopoly on information.
(AP, 8/4/07)
2007 Aug 7, China Daily reported that foreign exchange and public security authorities had closed down the operations of an illegal bank based in Shenzhen, across the border from Hong Kong. It did business in every province of the country and in the year and half to May had done some $544 million in unspecified transactions.
(www.chinaknowledge.com/news/news-detail.aspx?ID=9654)
2007 Aug 7, State media said Chinese city traffic police have an average life expectancy of just 43 years because of the dire working conditions and pollution.
(AP, 8/7/07)
2007 Aug 8, Beijing began the one-year countdown to the 2008 Olympics. Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, acknowledged that Beijing's air pollution could force the postponement of outdoor events during next year's Olympics.
(AP, 8/7/07)(AP, 8/8/07)
2007 Aug 8, An international team of researchers said the long-threatened Yangtze River dolphin in China is probably extinct. They also said this would mark the first whale or dolphin to be wiped out due to human activity.
(Reuters, 8/8/07)
2007 Aug 8, Researchers from Belgium and China said a simple blood test can detect early stage liver cancer and more accurately diagnose the disease that is a major killer in Asia and Africa.
(Reuters, 8/9/07)
2007 Aug 9, China banned exports by two toy manufacturers whose products were subject to major recalls in the United States.
(AP, 8/9/08)
2007 Aug 9, A government news agency reported that 2 former bank employees were sentenced to death for stealing $6.7 million from their branch's vault in northern China. Most of the money was spent on lottery tickets.
(AP, 8/9/07)
2007 Aug 9, WuXi PharmaTech, a Chinese pharmaceutical research firm, began trading on the NYSE at $14 per share. By Sep 22 its shares had doubled in value.
(Econ, 9/22/07, p.79)
2007 Aug 11, Zhang Shuhong, who co-owned Lee Der Industrial Co. Ltd., killed himself at a warehouse, days after China announced it had temporarily banned exports by the company.
(AP, 8/13/07)
2007 Aug 12, A Hong Kong-based human rights group said a chemical plant leaked arsenic into a river in southern China that supplies water to at least 20,000 people. High levels of arsenic and other chemicals already have killed at least 10,000 fish in the Chongan, a 43-mile river in Guizhou province.
(AP, 8/13/07)
2007 Aug 13, According to new data China's inflation rate accelerated to the highest monthly rate in a decade, driven by a 15.4% surge in food prices over the year-earlier period. Officials said China is still freeing people, including children, forced to work as slaves in illegal brick factories, two months after the scandal involving the brick yards was exposed. A bridge under construction in the central Hunan city of Fenghuang collapsed as workers removed scaffolding from its facade, killing 64 people.
(AP, 8/13/07)(AP, 8/14/07)(AP, 8/13/08)
2007 Aug 14, Toy-making giant Mattel Inc. issued recalls for some 18 million Chinese-made toys that contained magnets which children could swallow. Mattel also recalled 436,000 toy cars daubed with lead-based paint.
(AP, 8/14/07)(Econ, 8/18/07, p.58)
2007 Aug 15, State radio reported that Iran has detained two Chinese nationals on charges of spying on its military and nuclear facilities.
(AP, 8/15/07)
2007 Aug 16, It was reported that a highly infectious swine virus, blue pork disease, had spread to 25 of China’s 33 provinces, prompting pork shortages and an 85% increase in pork prices over the last year.
(SFC, 8/16/07, p.A15)
2007 Aug 17, In eastern China a dike on the Wen river in Shandong province broke, sending water gushing into 2 mines run by the Huayuan Mining Co. in the city of Xintai. 181 miners were killed. In 2008 two managers were sentenced to 7 years in prison for their roles in the accident.
(Econ, 8/25/07, p.58)(AP, 4/17/08)(AP, 8/17/08)
2007 Aug 17, The six members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held their first joint maneuvers on Russian land in a demonstration of their growing military ties and a shared desire to counter US global clout. The presidents of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan attended the unprecedented joint military exercises in Chelyabinsk near the Kazakh border.
(AFP, 8/17/07)
2007 Aug 18, It was reported that China faced a major shortage of skilled talent including doctors with only 4,000 general practitioners. Lawyers numbered about 122,000. An average of 2,200 new pilots per year will be needed to keep up with the growth in air travel. Accountants, technicians and good managers were also reported to be in short supply.
(Econ, 8/18/07, p.59)
2007 Aug 19, In China at least 36 people were killed as Typhoon Sepat hit the mainland after more 1.3 million people were evacuated as a precaution. In eastern China At least 14 people died and 59 were injured when a container spilled molten aluminum with a temperature of 1,650 degrees Fahrenheit at a factory.
(AP, 8/19/07)(AP, 8/20/07)(AP, 8/22/07)
2007 Aug 20, In China Jia Youling, chief veterinary officer, said that the Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS), aka as blue-ear pig disease, head been brought under control. He said 257,000 pigs in 26 provinces had been infected. 68,000 had died from the disease and 175,000 were destroyed.
(Econ, 8/25/07, p.41)
2007 Aug 20, In Okinawa, Japan, passengers used emergency slides to evacuate a China Airlines Boeing 737-800 just minutes before the plane burst into a fireball on the tarmac. All 165 people aboard escaped unhurt, including the pilot, who jumped from the cockpit at the last second.
(AP, 8/20/07)(AP, 8/20/08)
2007 Aug 21, China’s government announced that mainland citizens would be allowed to invest in Hong Kong. State media reported that a test run of traffic controls to clear Beijing's smoggy skies for next year's Olympic Games successfully improved air quality. Media also reported that China will execute people who sabotage the electricity supply, reversing recent steps to rein in widespread use of the death penalty.
(Econ, 10/6/07, p.86)(http://tinyurl.com/2ugksh)(AP, 8/21/07)
2007 Aug 22, A distributor said Chinese-made blankets containing high levels of formaldehyde have been recalled across Australia and New Zealand, amid rising global concern over the safety of products from China.
(AP, 8/22/07)
2007 Aug 23, The Bank of China revealed that it held a $9.6 billion exposure to securities backed by American subprime mortgages.
(Econ, 9/1/07, p.67)
2007 Aug 24, In China Meng Xianchen and Meng Xianyou surfaced after more than 130 hours trapped in an illegal mine in Beijing's Fangshan district.
(AP, 8/27/07)
2007 Aug 26, In Manila, Philippines, economic ministers of Southeast Asian countries (ASEAN) and China agreed to strengthen product standards and safety. The move follows recalls of several tainted Chinese products from international markets.
(AP, 8/26/07)
2007 Aug 29, China began selling $79 billion in bonds to finance a state agency that will invest the country's foreign currency reserves.
(AP, 8/29/07)
2007 Aug 29, It was reported that China’s Three Gorges Dam, completed last year, faced a number of problems including landslides and pollution accumulation in the reservoir. The dam has also caused a decrease of silt moving downstream causing the Yangtze estuary, which includes Shanghai, to shrink.
(WSJ, 8/29/07, p.A1)
2007 Aug 30, China’s government said it has replaced five Cabinet ministers, including the finance minister and the head of the secret police, just weeks ahead of a major Communist Party meeting that will set the country's policies for the next five years. The official Xinhua News Agency said China removed four officials accused of corruption from its legislature. State media said China's top legislature has adopted a measure allowing the government to seize private homes on state-owned land, as long as owners are compensated and properly resettled.
(AP, 8/30/07)(AP, 8/31/07)
2007 Aug 30, The Rome-based Hands Off Cain, an anti-death penalty group, reported that more people were put to death in 2006, 5,628, than in either of the previous two years. China alone accounting for 5,000 executions.
(AP, 8/30/07)
2007 Aug 31, China officially put in place systems to recall unsafe food and toys, one of its strongest steps yet to deal with recurring quality problems. At least 12 miners were missing after an explosion in central China. Authorities continued their efforts to reach 181 workers trapped in flooded coal shafts for two weeks.
(AP, 8/31/07)
2007 Aug 31, The World Trade Organization opened a formal investigation into allegations by the US and Mexico that China is providing illegal subsidies for a range of industries.
(AP, 8/31/07)
2007 Aug, China’s President visited Kazakhstan. Soon after it was announced that a new oil pipeline would be built from Kazakhstan to China, and that a new gas pipeline linking Turkmenistan with China would run through Kazakhstan.
(Econ, 8/25/07, p.54)
2007 Sep 2, In central Chinese 4 boats carrying the toxic chemical methanol caught fire in Wuhan, causing one boat to sink and prompting fears of drinking water contamination.
(AP, 9/3/07)
2007 Sep 2, Temasek, Singapore’s state-owned investment company, said it would take a 8.3% stake in China Eastern Airlines and Singapore Airlines announced a 15.7% stake.
(Econ, 9/29/07, p.68)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Eastern_Airlines)
2007 Sep 3, In eastern China about 2,000 ex-soldiers took part in riots that began and spread over a 775-mile stretch in the cities of Baotou, Wuhan, and Baoji. Demobilized soldiers are frequently rewarded for their service with government jobs, and 6,000 of them were sent to 12 different railway schools in July for two years of training. However, they were angered by run-down dormitories, bad but expensive food and a lack of study materials, At least 20 people were injured and five arrested when riot police moved in to quell the disturbances.
(AP, 9/11/07)
2007 Sep 3, The Financial Times, citing unnamed officials, reported that the People's Liberation Army hacked into a computer system in the office of Defense Secretary Robert Gates in June. China denied the allegations.
(AP, 9/4/07)
2007 Sep 4, An official said China's environmental watchdog has closed down 400 factories since it started a national campaign in July to tackle water pollution.
(AP, 9/4/07)
2007 Sep 5, Chinese authorities said two late-night radio shows that discussed sex and drugs have been banned for damaging young people and being "extremely pornographic."
(AP, 9/6/07)
2007 Sep 6, In Australia Pacific Rim nations agreed that climate change was of "vital interest," but officials squabbled over whether their leaders should include energy efficiency targets in a statement at their annual summit. China’s President Hu Jintao, on the defensive over recalls of tainted toothpaste, pet food and toys, told President Bush that Beijing was stepping up product safety inspections.
(AP, 9/6/07)
2007 Sep 6, Media reports said China has created its first agency to combat corruption, a rampant problem that the country's communist leadership has said is a threat to their rule. State media also reported that Chinese computer hackers are infiltrating British government networks, giving them access to secret information.
(AP, 9/7/07)(AFP, 9/6/07)
2007 Sep 6, The US and Chinese presidents set aside their differences on Taiwan and put pressure on the island to drop plans for a referendum on UN membership.
(AP, 9/6/07)
2007 Sep 7, China's securities regulator said it has approved an application by China Construction Bank, the nation's biggest mortgage lender, to issue shares in what could be one of China's biggest initial public offerings. Chinese stocks broke their winning streak, with the benchmark index falling 2.2 percent after the central bank raised the amount of reserves banks are required to hold.
(AP, 9/7/07)
2007 Sep 9, Bishop Han Dingxiang (71), who led an underground congregation of Roman Catholics and was repeatedly detained in China for his loyalty to the Vatican, died in police custody. He died while being treated in a hospital for an unspecified illness.
(AP, 9/11/07)
2007 Sep 10, Blackstone Group LP bought a 20% stake in a Chinese chemical company in its first deal in the country since a Chinese government fund bought into the US private equity firm.
(AP, 9/10/07)
2007 Sep 11, China signed an agreement to prohibit the use of lead paint on toys exported to the United States.
(AP, 9/11/07)
2007 Sep 11, American, Russian and Chinese nuclear experts began a rare visit to North Korea to examine ways of disabling the country's main nuclear facilities so they can no longer produce bombs.
(AP, 9/11/07)
2007 Sep 12, Beijing showed off its new multibillion-dollar airport terminal, a mammoth structure of glass and steel with a gracefully sloping roof that the owners said is meant to impress visitors to China's capital for the 2008 Olympics.
(AP, 9/12/07)
2007 Sep 12, Li Changjiang, the head of China's product safety agency, said the Chinese-made toys children receive for Christmas this year will be safe, pledging that problems over the use of dangerous lead paint will be resolved in time for holiday exports.
(AP, 9/12/07)
2007 Sep 12, Akmal Shaikh (51), a British citizen, was arrested in Urumqi, in China's western Xinjiang region, with four kg (8.8 pounds) of heroin. He was later convicted and sentenced to die on Dec 29, 2009. Supporters of Shaikh said he was duped into carrying the drugs for a criminal gang. If the death penalty is carried out, Shaikh would become the first national from a European Union country to be executed in China in 50 years.
(AFP, 12/22/09)(www.amnesty.org.uk/actions_details.asp?ActionID=638)
2007 Sep 13, In central China a man threw six children from a balcony of their school. A girl (9) was killed and 2 others badly hurt.
(Econ, 9/22/07, p.58)
2007 Sep 14, China’s government said it has ordered judges to use the death penalty more sparingly by showing leniency for murderers who cooperate with authorities and white collar criminals who help recoup their ill-gotten gains. Beijing also said it will give urban Chinese who break the one-child policy a black mark on their credit reports.
(AP, 9/14/07)(WSJ, 9/15/07, p.A1)
2007 Sep 15, In China Zhao Yan (45), a Chinese researcher for the NY Times, was released from prison after serving three years of a fraud conviction that was strongly criticized by the international community.
(AFP, 9/15/07)
2007 Sep 16, State media reported that Chinese authorities had ordered the recall of tainted leukemia drugs blamed for leg pains and other problems, the latest crisis to strike the country's embattled food and drug industries.
(AP, 9/16/07)
2007 Sep 18, Typhoon Wipha targeted China's booming eastern province of Zhejiang and the nation's financial capital, Shanghai, prompting evacuation of over 1.6 million people as ships were recalled to port.
(Reuters, 9/18/07)
2007 Sep 17, China and the Democratic Republic of Congo signed a draft accord in which China would lend $5 billion to modernize Congo’s decrepit infrastructure and rich but deteriorated mining sector. Congo’s government later announced that Chinese state-owned firms would build or refurbish various railways, roads and mines at accost of $12 billion.
(Reuters, 9/18/07)(Econ, 3/15/08, SR p.3)
2007 Sep 19, Typhoon Wipha flooded streets and destroyed hundreds of homes as it swept through eastern China, but the storm eventually weakened and caused little overall damage in the financial center of Shanghai. One man was electrocuted.
(AP, 9/19/07)
2007 Sep 19, China’s government froze prices that it controls for the rest of the year, in the latest sign of mounting concern over inflation, which reached 6.5% in the year through August.
(WSJ, 9/20/07, p.A6)
2007 Sep 20, Typhoon Wipha weakened as it slammed China with strong winds and torrential rains. At least nine people were reported killed as the storm destroyed thousands of homes and triggered landslides.
(AP, 9/20/07)
2007 Sep 21, Mattel Inc, apologized for damaging China's reputation after recent massive recalls of its Chinese-made toys, admitting it targeted some goods that were actually up to scratch.
(AP, 9/21/07)
2007 Sep 24, Dell Inc. announced a deal to launch a retail presence in China by selling computers through the country's biggest chain of electronics stores as it struggles to capture a bigger share of the booming market.
(AP, 9/24/07)
2007 Sep 27, China issued an evenhanded plea for calm in Myanmar, calling on all sides to show restraint.
(AP, 9/27/07)
2007 Sep 30, It was reported that China has banned television and radio ads for push-up bras, figure-enhancing underwear and sex toys in the communist government's latest move to purge the nation's airwaves of what it calls social pollution.
(AP, 9/30/07)
2007 Sep, In China the National Grand Theater, also known as The Egg, opened opposite the Great Hall of the People. The opera house, a pet project of former Premier Jiang Zemin, was designed by French architect Paul Andreu at a cost of $360 million.
(Econ, 10/13/07, p.43)
2007 Sep, The China Investment Corp. (CIC) was launched, with $200 billion in registered capital allocated from China's foreign exchange reserve, to mitigate the risks in China's huge foreign exchange reserve.
(http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90884/6298585.html)
2007 Oct 2, China’s Pres. Hu Jintao kicked off the 2007 Special Olympics in Shanghai as 7,500 athletes from over 165 countries entered the stadium before a crowd of 80,000.
(WSJ, 10/3/07, p.B3A)
2007 Oct 3, Li Heping, an outspoken Chinese lawyer, said he was abducted and beaten for hours on Sep 29, and accused of causing unrest by representing clients with complaints of official corruption and police abuse. Li said he wasn't sure if he would be able to continue working. He returned to his office the day after the attack and found his lawyer's license was missing. A portable hard drive and his computer memory had been wiped clean.
(AP, 10/3/07)
2007 Oct 4, President Jalal Talabani said Iraq has ordered light military equipment from China worth $100 million because the United States is unable to meet Baghdad's requirements. Abbas Hassan Hamza, the mayor of the religiously mixed town of Iskandariyah, was killed along with four of his guards in a roadside bomb attack. Hamza belonged to Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa party. In Baghdad, a car bomb exploded near people on line at a gas station, killing four civilians and wounding eight others.
(Reuters, 10/4/07)(AP, 10/4/07)
2007 Oct 5, Chinese medical officials agreed not to transplant organs from prisoners or others in custody, except into members of their immediate families. The agreement was reached at a meeting of the World Medical Association in Copenhagen.
(AP, 10/6/07)
2007 Oct 7, Tropical storm Krosa drenched China's southeast coast after killing five people on Taiwan and prompting the mainland to evacuate more than 1 million people.
(AP, 10/7/07)
2007 Oct 10, Some 30 Tibetan exiles protesting Chinese religious policies stormed the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi, with several breaching the front gate and chaining themselves to the flag pole inside.
(AP, 10/10/07)
2007 Oct 12, State media said Chinese authorities plan to move some 4 million more rural residents from behind the Three Gorges Dam in recognition of environmental and economic problems spawned by the giant project.
(AFP, 10/12/07)
2007 Oct 13, State media said China plans to carve a huge national park out of its vast northwest Xinjiang region that would eclipse Yellowstone National Park in size.
(AP, 10/13/07)
2007 Oct 15, In China 2,217 delegates listened as party leader Hu Jintao pledged to make communist rule more inclusive and better spread the fruits of China's economic boom. Hu said economic growth must remain the party’s main task.
(AP, 10/15/07)(WSJ, 10/16/07, p.A1)(Econ, 10/13/07, p.42)
2007 Oct 16, President Bush and the Dalai Lama met with a ceremony planned for tomorrow to award the spiritual leader the Congressional Gold Medal. China warned that the events are bad for US-Chinese ties.
(AP, 10/16/07)
2007 Oct 17, President Bush attended a ceremony in which the Dalai Lama was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress’ highest civilian honor. China lodged an official protest over the honoring of the Dalai Lama in Washington, while bluntly rejecting US President George W. Bush's advice on how to handle the Tibet issue.
(AFP, 10/16/07)(WSJ, 10/18/07, p.A1)
2007 Oct 20, In China 13 foreign and domestic companies launched the Chinese Federation for Corporate Social Responsibility in Shanghai.
(Econ, 1/19/08, SR p.21)(www.chinacsr.com/2006/10/20/799-cfcsr-established-in-beijing/)
2007 Oct 21, Chinese President Hu Jintao engineered the retirement of a powerful Communist Party rival in a move that enhanced his political standing yet may have opened up a divisive battle to succeed him. A fire at a shoe factory in southeastern China killed 37 people and injured at least 20. The factory in Fujian province was operating without a license and the owners were arrested.
(AP, 10/21/07)(AP, 10/22/07)(AP, 10/25/07)
2007 Oct 21, A Hong Kong newspaper reported that police in the capital of Tibet clashed for four days with Buddhist monks trying to celebrate the awarding of a congressional honor for the Dalai Lama.
(AP, 10/21/07)
2007 Oct 22, President Hu Jintao emerged politically stronger after the Communist Party handed him a second five-year term, allowing him a freer hand to manage tensions over a rising wealth gap and boost spending on long-neglected social services.
(AP, 10/22/07)
2007 Oct 22, Bear Stearns, one of America’s top investment banks, announced a strategic alliance with Citic Securities, China’s largest listed brokerage firm.
(Econ, 10/27/07, p.84)
2007 Oct 24, In Beijing Costa Rican president Oscar Arias signed several accords with his Chinese counterpart, months after the Central American nation established diplomatic relations with the Asian giant.
(AP, 10/24/07)
2007 Oct 24, China launched its first lunar probe, Chang’e 1, an initial step in an ambitious 10-year plan to send a rover to the moon and return it to Earth.
(AP, 10/24/07)(Econ, 10/27/07, p.52)
2007 Oct 25, The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China announced that it was buying 20% of Standard Bank in South Africa for $5.6 billion.
(Econ, 11/3/07, p.80)
2007 Oct 25, The US government issued a flurry of product-safety recalls affecting hundreds of thousands of Chinese-made children's toys and jewelry amid fresh concerns about lead paint.
(AFP, 10/26/07)
2007 Oct 26, China announced a multibillion-dollar plan to clean up severely polluted Lake Tai, where an algae bloom forced the suspension of water supplies to millions of people this summer. The $14.5 billion plan to clean up the lake, in a densely populated area northwest of Shanghai, should take five years.
(AP, 10/27/07)
2007 Oct 29, China’s Xinhua news agency said more than 6,000 people will be forced from their homes on the southern island of Hainan to make way for the country's newest space launch centre. China said that it had arrested 774 people in a crackdown on substandard goods, part of ongoing efforts to calm international worries over the quality of the country's products. State media said coal mining regions of northern China are reporting soaring levels of defects in newborns, an apparent result of heavy pollution.
(AP, 10/29/07)(AP, 10/29/07)
2007 Oct 29, Canada’s PM Harper received Tibet's exiled spiritual leader in his office in Parliament. He presented the 1989 Nobel laureate with a maple-leaf scarf. The next day China condemned Harper for "disgusting conduct" for playing host to the Dalai Lama.
(Reuters, 10/30/07)
2007 Oct 31, China's worst fuel crisis in two years spread to the capital and other inland areas, and one man was killed in a brawl at a petrol station queue, upping pressure on the government to intervene.
(Reuters, 10/31/07)
2007 Nov 1, China’s government for the first time in 17 months allowed an increase of about 10% in the retail prices of petrol, diesel and kerosene. The government also said more than 700 toy factories in southern China have been banned from exporting what they produce as part of a crackdown on shoddy products.
(Econ, 11/24/07, p.46)(AP, 11/1/07)
2007 Nov 5, In China construction began on what was expected to be the world's tallest Ferris wheel. The $99 million Beijing Great Wheel will soar 680 feet over Beijing when it is complete.
(AP, 11/5/07)
2007 Nov 5, Ao Man-long, a former transportation and public works secretary, went on trial charged with taking $100 million in kickbacks in Macao, the freewheeling Chinese gambling resort that has attracted some of Las Vegas' top casino operators.
(AP, 11/5/07)
2007 Nov 5, PetroChina made its debut on the Shanghai stock exchange. It sold 2.2% of its share capital to domestic investors in an IPO that rose from 16.90 yuan to 43.96 yuan ($5.90). For a short time it was the most valuable company in the world, but by December share value had dropped by a third.
(WSJ, 11/6/07, p.C3)(Econ, 12/8/07, p.85)
2007 Nov 6, Chinese e-commerce portal Alibaba.com soared in its debut on the Hong Kong stock market. It opened at $3.86 and closed at $5.09.
(AP, 11/6/07)(SFC, 11/7/07, p.C1)
2007 Nov 7, A Chinese government publication reported that industrial discharge and household wastewater have polluted the northern Futuo River so badly that the water is dark red in some sections and has caused chronic illnesses among villagers.
(AP, 11/7/07)
2007 Nov 7, The US dollar fell sharply after a Chinese parliamentarian called for his country to diversify its reserves out of weak currencies.
(Econ, 11/10/07, p.93)
2007 Nov 8, In southwest China a gas leak at the Qunli mine in Nayong county in Guizhou province killed 35 coal miners.
(AP, 11/8/07)(AP, 11/11/07)
2007 Nov 9, China froze exports of the "Aqua Dots" bead toy, following recalls of the potentially toxic toy in the United States and Australia.
(Reuters, 11/9/07)
2007 Nov 9, China Merchant Bank, the country’s 6th largest bank, became the 3rd Chinese bank to win permission to open a branch in NYC.
(Econ, 11/17/07, p.90)
2007 Nov 12, China released data that said its trade surplus had jumped to a new all-time monthly high in October, despite government pledges to restrain export growth and adding to pressure for action on trade barriers and currency.
(AP, 11/12/07)
2007 Nov 14, Guo Feixiong, a Chinese dissident lawyer, was sentenced to five years in prison after publishing a book about a political scandal and helping villagers lead a campaign to unseat local officials accused of corruption. Feixiong (also known as Yang Maodong), convicted of alleged illegal business activity, was also fined US$5,300 in a district court in Guangzhou.
(AP, 11/14/07)
2007 Nov 14, China’s state media said the amount of sewage dumped into the Yangtze River rose 3 percent last year to a record level. An early morning blaze at a foot massage parlor killed at least 11 people in northern China.
(AP, 11/14/07)
2007 Nov 14, A US congressional advisory panel said that Chinese espionage posed "the single greatest risk" to US technology, and called for efforts to protect industrial secrets and computer networks.
(Reuters, 11/15/07)
2007 Nov 17, State media reported that China has called on Myanmar to speed up democratic reforms, an unusual move for Beijing, which has traditionally refrained from criticizing the military regime.
(AP, 11/17/07)
2007 Nov 19, It was reported that Chinese regulators in recent weeks have ordered commercial banks to freeze lending through the end of the year. PM Wen Jiabao acknowledged that vast amounts of currency were flowing out of China through illegal channels. This followed the recent arrest of To Ling (43), a Hong Kong resident, whose black market foreign exchange business handled transactions worth more than $1 million a day.
(WSJ, 11/19/07, p.A1)(Econ, 11/24/07, p.78)
2007 Nov 20, A Chinese court sentenced a Tibetan nomad to eight years in prison for seeking Tibetan independence after he urged a crowd to proclaim loyalty to the Dalai Lama.
(AP, 11/20/07)
2007 Nov 20, In China Huang Qingnan (34), a workers’ rights advocate in Shenzhen, was severely beaten and stabbed by thugs believed to have been hired by Chinese companies opposed to labor activism.
(SFC, 1/7/08, p.A18)
2007 Nov 20, The Paris-based World Association of Newspapers said imprisoned Chinese journalist Li Changqing has been awarded the Golden Pen of Freedom, its annual press freedom prize.
(AP, 11/20/07)
2007 Nov 20, A landslide in central China buried a bus. Workers clearing rocks from the landslide discovered the bus underneath rubble three days later and recovered 29 bodies, that included 28 inside the bus. The landslide raised concern that the massive reservoir of the Three Gorges Dam, 120 miles away, was wreaking ecological havoc in the region. The death toll later increased to 34.
(AP, 11/23/07)(AP, 11/24/07)(AP, 12/3/07)
2007 Nov 21, Officials in the US announced the recall of more than a half-million pieces of Chinese-made children's jewelry contaminated with lead.
(AP, 11/21/08)
2007 Nov 22, China’s state media reported that five Hollywood studios have sued a Chinese online service and internet cafe they accuse of offering pirated downloads of "Pirates of the Caribbean" and other hit films.
(AP, 11/22/07)
2007 Nov 24, More than 100 Chinese engineers arrived in Sudan's war-torn Darfur as part of the vanguard for a joint African Union-UN peacekeeping mission to be in place next year. Rebels demanded Beijing pull its peacekeepers out of Darfur, just hours after a unit of Chinese army engineers arrived.
(AFP, 11/24/07)(AP, 11/25/07)
2007 Nov 25, In China 6 people were confirmed dead and 7 others were reported missing after an iron tailing dam collapsed early this morning in northeast Liaoning Province.
(Reuters, 11/25/07)
2007 Nov 26, France netted deals in China for nuclear reactors and passenger jets worth a combined $29.62 billion on the second day of a state visit by President Nicolas Sarkozy.
(AP, 11/26/07)
2007 Nov 27, In central China an explosion ripped through a house where villagers in Hunan province were illegally making fireworks, killing 13 people.
(AP, 11/27/07)
2007 Nov 27, Cessna said it will turn over complete production of its new Cessna 162 SkyCatcher to a Chinese partner. The base price of the plane will be $109,500.
(WSJ, 11/28/07, p.A14)
2007 Nov 28, A Chinese warship dropped anchor off Tokyo in the communist nation's first military visit to Japan since World War II, symbolizing improving ties.
(AP, 11/28/07)
2007 Nov 28, In central China an explosion in a fireworks factory killed 11 people and injured eight on the rural outskirts of Yangquan city.
(AP, 11/28/07)
2007 Nov 28, Brazil and China said they will give Africa free satellite imaging of its landmass to help the continent respond to threats like deforestation, desertification and drought.
(AP, 11/28/07)
2007 Nov 29, According to a new report released by the UN and the Chinese government the number of people estimated to be living with HIV in China has risen to 700,000, with increases among intravenous drug users and sex workers.
(AP, 11/29/07)
2007 Nov 29, The Bush administration announced that China has agreed to eliminate improper trade subsidies it was using to the detriment of US and other foreign companies.
(AP, 11/29/07)
2007 Nov 30, The $1.2 million film “Lost in Beijing" directed by Li Yu was released in China and made over $1.8 million before it was censored for sexually explicit scenes in uncut, pirated copies. Li Yu was banned from producing films for 2 years.
(SFC, 1/5/08, p.E4)
2007 Nov, Xue Feng, a Chinese-born American geologist, was detained in China on charges of procuring state secrets. Xue was sentenced in 2010 on charges of illegally gathering information on China's oil industry. He was released in 2015.
(AP, 4/4/15)
2007 Dec 1, Zhang Zilin (23), Miss China, won the Miss World 2007 title in her own country in front of an estimated two billion viewers around the globe.
(AFP, 12/1/07)
2007 Dec 1, China and Japan began talks on trade and economic issues that are intended to bolster the recent warming of their long-uneasy relations.
(AP, 12/1/07)
2007 Dec 1, The Times reported that Jonathan Evans, the head of Britain's domestic security service, has warned business leaders that China has been carrying out state-sponsored espionage against vital parts of the economy.
(AFP, 12/1/07)
2007 Dec 2, China and Japan amicably wrapped up their first high-level trade and economic talks on Sunday by pledging greater overall cooperation, but left the touchy issue of gas exploration in the East China Sea unresolved.
(AP, 12/2/07)
2007 Dec 5, A Tibetan woman said that she pulled out of a beauty pageant in Malaysia after organizers, reacting to pressure from Beijing, told her halfway through the event that she could only participate if she added "China" to her "Miss Tibet" title.
(AP, 12/6/07)
2007 Dec 6, A gas blast at mine in northern China killed at least 105 people.
(AP, 12/7/07)
2007 Dec 6, A New Zealand judge sentenced two Chinese students to 18 1/2 years in prison for the ransom kidnapping and slaying of a fellow student, saying the two fell into "cyber sloth" and greed during their studies abroad.
(AP, 12/6/07)
2007 Dec 7, China said it will not consider mandatory cuts on greenhouse gases, saying the United States and other industrialized countries should take the lead in fighting climate change by embracing a less-extravagant lifestyle.
(AP, 12/7/07)
2007 Dec 7, The World Health Organization confirmed that the father of a Chinese man who died of bird flu has been infected with the virus that causes the disease, saying it could not rule out the possibility of human-to-human infection.
(AP, 12/7/07)
2007 Dec 9, Beijing's foreign exchange regulator said the ceiling on foreign investment in Chinese securities will be raised to $30 billion from $10 billion.
(AP, 12/9/07)
2007 Dec 9, Iran signed a contract with China's Sinopec for the development of Iran's huge Yadavaran oil field, the kind of energy deal the United States has been trying to prevent. Hundreds of Iranian students angry over a crackdown on activists protested at Tehran University, the second such demonstration in less than a week.
(Reuters, 12/9/07)(AP, 12/9/07)
2007 Dec 11, The United States and China signed two deals to safeguard the quality of food and drugs ranging from pet food to certain types of antibiotics imported into the US from China.
(AP, 12/11/07)
2007 Dec 11, Darfur rebel group the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) said it had attacked and taken over a Chinese-run oilfield in central Sudan.
(AP, 12/11/07)
2007 Dec 12, China launched a nationwide recall system that shifts responsibility to companies to recall harmful drugs. In eastern China a fire tore through an apartment building, killing at least 21 people and injuring two others.
(AP, 12/12/07)
2007 Dec 14, Indonesia, the nation hardest hit by bird flu, announced its 93rd death due to the H5N1 virus. In China, the military in eastern Nanjing banned the sale of poultry this week after a father and son came down with the disease earlier this month. Health officials confirmed the 24-year-old man died from the virus a day before his father, 52, became sick. It was the country's 17th bird flu death. The WHO confirmed Myanmar's first human case of bird flu and praised the secretive country for its quick and open handling of the infection. State media reported a girl (7) was hospitalized on Nov. 27 and released on Dec. 12 in good condition after being treated with the antiviral drug Tamiflu.
(AP, 12/15/07)
2007 Dec 16, China announced holiday changes to ease overcrowding on trains, flights and other transport systems. The changes will bring back three traditional one-day holidays and let workers take paid vacations at times other than officially-set breaks.
(AP, 12/17/07)
2007 Dec 19, In Tianjin, China, Li Baojin was convicted of taking bribes worth $760,000 from 7 businesses between 1996 and 2006. Li was also convicted of misappropriating $1.9 million from the Tianjin prosecutor's office. Li's sentence was suspended for two years. That means his death sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment if he shows good behavior for the next two years.
(AP, 12/20/07)
2007 Dec 20, In China a female tiger was found with its head, legs and skin missing at the Three Gorges Forest Wild Animal World in Yichang city in Hubei province. The WWF conservation group lists the Siberian tiger as "critically endangered" and says there are only about 530 of the animals alive in the wild.
(AP, 12/23/07)
2007 Dec 21, A Chinese radio station reported that about 1,000 riot police fired tear gas at protesters in southern China who were blocking an electricity pylon near a power station in Dongzhou village they felt was built on unfairly seized land.
(AP, 12/21/07)
2007 Dec 21, China's first fully homegrown commercial aircraft, the 70-seat ARJ21, rolled off the production line, marking a potential milestone for the country's aviation program. Its first test flight was set for 2008.
(AP, 12/21/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACAC_ARJ21)
2007 Dec 21, Chinese archeologists raised a merchant ship loaded with porcelain and other rare antiques to the surface in a specially built basket. The 100-foot Nanhai No. 1, discovered in 1987, sank off the south China coast some 800 years ago during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279).
(AP, 12/21/07)
2007 Dec 27, Shawn Wang, the chief financial officer of leading Chinese search engine Baidu.com, died in an accident while on holiday.
(AP, 12/29/07)
2007 Dec 28, China and Japan made no major breakthroughs in resolving a row over natural resources in the East China Sea, but a visit by Japanese PM Yasuo Fukuda signaled a new warmth in bilateral relations.
(AP, 12/28/07)
2007 Dec 28, Sun Daolin (b.1921), Chinese actor and director, died in Shanghai. He appeared in over 100 movies and plays during a career that was interrupted by the Cultural Revolution, when he was sent to work in the countryside for 6 years.
(SFC, 1/5/08, p.B3)
2007 Dec 29, China said Hong Kong will be allowed to directly elect its leader in 2017 and all of its lawmakers by 2020 at the earliest, an announcement that sparked protests by pro-democracy activists who sought an earlier date.
(AP, 12/29/07)
2007 Dec 29, In northeast China 19 miners died in a coal mine blast at the Shunfa Coal Mine in Heilongjiang province, the latest casualties in the world's most dangerous mines.
(AP, 12/31/07)
2007 Chris Alden authored “China in Africa: Partner, Competitor of Hegemon."
(Econ, 11/24/07, p.89)
2007 Bob Gifford authored “China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power."
(Econ, 7/7/07, p.80)
2007 Rebiya Kadeer, prominent Uighur exile, authored her memoir “Dragon Fighter: One Woman’s Epic Struggle for Peace with China." The original German publication was made available in English in 2009.
(Econ, 8/15/09, p.77)
2007 Joshua Kurlantzick authored “Charm Offensive: How China's Soft Power Is Transforming the World."
(WSJ, 6/28/07, p.D7)
2007 James Mann, American journalist, authored “The China Fantasy: Why Capitalism Will Not Bring Democracy to China."
(Econ, 6/25/11, SR p.5)
2007 Robyn Meredith authored “The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What It Means for All of Us."
(SSFC, 7/29/07, p.M1)
2007 Susan L. Shirk authored “China: Fragile Superpower: How China's Internal Politics Could Derail Its Peaceful Rise."
(WSJ, 5/17/07, p.D7)(Econ, 7/7/07, p.80)
2007 Colin Thubron, travel writer, authored “Shadow of the Silk Road," the story of his 8-month trip in 2003 along the silk route from China to Central Asia.
(WSJ, 8/18/07, p.P9)
2007 China established a sovereign wealth fund backed by around $1.2 trillion in foreign currency reserves. China moved rapidly ahead with plans to create a State Investment Corporation (SIC) that would more aggressively invest approximately USD 200bn of the country’s USD 1.3tr of existing foreign exchange reserves to boost long term returns.
(Econ, 7/28/07, p.75)(http://tinyurl.com/3c6lo4)
2007 In China Zhang Hai, former president and chief executive of the sports drink maker Jianlibao Group, was found guilty of misappropriating 206 million yuan ($33.82 million). He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for embezzling millions of dollars in public funds. Through bribery and the fabrication of documents to prove his good behavior, Zhang was released in 2011 and promptly went overseas with his girlfriend, Huang Lu. In 2014 24 others were being or have been investigated in connection with Zhang's release, including 11 in the judiciary and prison service, a court official and two lawyers. Authorities sought his extradition.
(Reuters, 2/24/14)
2007 China said it would offer African countries $20 billion in new financing. No terms or time period were announced.
(Econ, 6/6/09, p.59)
2007 China surpassed the US this year for the first time in its contribution to global GDP growth.
(Econ, 10/20/07, SR p.34)
2007 China Minsheng Bank bought a 10% stake in UCBH Holdings, a San Francisco based bank that served Chinese Americans. UCBH failed in 2009 and Minsheng wrote off its investment.
(Econ, 5/15/10, SR p.18)
2007 Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) spent $5.5 billion to acquire a 20% stake in South Africa-based Standard Bank. This was China’s largest corporate foreign investment to date.
(Econ, 5/15/10, SR p.18)
2007 A rail line from China’s Qinghai province to Lhasa, Tibet, was expected to be completed. The world’s highest railroad required pressurized rail cars.
(SFC, 2/24/05, p.A1)
2007 In China the Great Wall Motor company in Hebei province produced 108,000 vehicles this year. The company had ambitious plans for growth. It already built cars with a licensee in Iran and in 2006 had opened a factory in the Ukraine.
(Econ, 5/10/08, p.74)
2007 Chinese made cars were expected to hit the US auto market.
(WSJ, 3/31/05, p.A2)
2007 China signed a deal to invest some $3.5 billion in the Aynak copper mine in Logar province, Afghanistan. It was said to be the 2nd largest source of untapped copper in the world.
(Econ, 11/7/09, p.44)
2007 Singapore proposed a co-operative green-city venture with China. The Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City opened in 2011.
(Econ, 4/19/14, SR p.12)
2007 Accidents in China's coal mines killed 3,786 people this year.
(AP, 1/12/08)
2007 The US with a population of 301,139,947 counted 1,498,157 soldiers on active duty (~4.9%); China with a population of 1,321,851,888 counted 2,105,000 soldiers on active duty (~.159%). Russia with a population of 141,377,752 counted 1,027,000 soldiers on active duty (~7.2%); These numbers excluded paramilitary troops in China and Russia.
(WSJ, 8/30/08, p.W5)
2007 Four Russian defense officials were sentenced this year to up to 11 years in jail for selling missile delivery technologies to Beijing for $2 million.
(AP, 10/5/11)
2007 Pope Benedict XVI wrote an open letter to Chinese Catholics emphasizing that the church had no political ambitions.
(Econ, 8/23/14, p.36)
2008 Jan 1, China’s new Labor Contract Law (LCL) went into effect. The legislation aimed at strengthening the contractual rights of workers.
(Econ, 6/5/10, p.48)(www.pacificbridge.com/publication.asp?id=110)
2008 Jan 3, China issued rules restricting the broadcast of Internet videos to sites run by the state.
(WSJ, 1/4/08, p.A1)
2008 Jan 7, China’s state media said authorities in central China have expelled 500 people from the Communist Party for defying the country's one-child policy. Wei Wenhua (41), a passer-by who filmed a streetside fracas between villagers and authorities, was beaten and killed in Hubei province. His death touched off protests in central China, in the latest incident to underscore public anger over abusive treatment by government employees.
(AP, 1/7/08)(AP, 1/9/08)
2008 Jan 8, China posted a regulation dating from Dec 31 declaring war on the "white pollution" choking its cities, farms and waterways. China said it is banning free plastic shopping bags and called for a return to the cloth bags of old, steps largely welcomed by merchants and shoppers. The ban takes effect June 1.
(AP, 1/10/08)
2008 Jan 12, China’s state media reported that accidents in China's coal mines killed 3,786 people In 2007, a toll that is a marked improvement from previous years, but still leaves China's mines the world's deadliest.
(AP, 1/12/08)
2008 Jan 13, China took aim at price manipulators and hoarders of goods, as Beijing ramped up its campaign to rein in inflation which is running at its highest level in more than a decade. The government said it has closed more than 11,000 small coal mines as part of a two-year-old safety crackdown aimed at stemming the industry's high death toll.
(Reuters, 1/13/08)(AP, 1/13/08)
2008 Jan 13, Indian PM Manmohan Singh arrived in Beijing for a three-day visit aimed at boosting sometimes strained relations between the two Asian giants.
(AP, 1/13/08)
2008 Jan 14, A Chinese cargo ship sank in high waves off western Taiwan, leaving 12 seamen missing.
(AP, 1/14/08)
2008 Jan 14, Taiwan reported that Malawi has cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of relations with China, which has been using its rising political and economic clout to reduce the number of countries who recognize the island. Chinese state media said Beijing and Malawi had established diplomatic relations late last month.
(AP, 1/14/08)
2008 Jan 18, British PM Gordon Brown brought a high-profile delegation of business leaders to China for a visit focused on expanding economic ties between the countries. Brown began a major effort to position Britain as China's premier international business partner, offering London as a base for distribution of the Asian nation's state fund for private investment.
(AP, 1/18/08)
2008 Jan 21, Shares in China's banks fell sharply after news reports said its No. 2 lender, Bank of China, might write down holdings of US mortgage securities and two others increased reserves for possible losses. State media said a gas explosion in an illegal mine in northern China has killed at least 20 people.
(AP, 1/21/08)
2008 Jan 22, The foreign ministers of China and Germany said that ties between their countries had normalized after months of stony silence over Berlin receiving the Dalai Lama.
(AP, 1/22/08)
2008 Jan 23, In China a train ran into group of railway workers in eastern Shandong province, killing 18 and injuring nine others.
(AP, 1/25/08)
2008 Jan 24, In China protesters staged a rare public demonstration in Beijing over what they said were illegal property seizures and compensation packages that fell far short of that needed to buy new homes. Authorities said sulfuric acid had leaked into the water supply from a chemical factory in central China, poisoning at least 26 villagers.
(AP, 1/24/08)
2008 Jan 27, Chinese police shot and killed two members of a "terrorist gang" and rounded up 15 others during a raid in the restive northwestern Muslim region of Xinjiang. Police found guns, homemade bombs, training materials and "extremist religious ideological materials" during a raid in Urumqi.
(Reuters, 2/18/08)(AP, 3/9/08)
2008 Jan 29, In China deadly winter storms, the worst in five decades, showed no signs of letting up, where cities were blacked out, transport systems were paralyzed and a bus crash on an icy road killed at least 25 people during the nation's busiest travel season.
(AP, 1/29/08)
2008 Jan 30, China’s government deploy nearly 500,000 army troops to assist areas troubled by winter storms. 15 sailors drowned and another was missing after two ships collided on China's Yangtze river.
(AP, 1/30/08)
2008 Jan 31, In China a top agriculture official warned that snow battering central China has dealt an "extremely serious" blow to winter crops, raising the likelihood that future shortages would exaggerate already surging food prices. China said it had stopped production and exports from a company whose insecticide-tainted frozen dumplings sickened 10 people in Japan. Tens of thousands of Chinese massed impatiently near a railway station in Guangzhou, desperate to get on trains home for a major holiday after days of delay caused by snow.
(AP, 1/31/08)(Reuters, 1/31/08)
2008 Feb 1, China’s government said 3 weeks of crippling snow storms have inflicted $7.5 billion in damages and announced a $700 million relief fund for farmers.
(AP, 2/1/08)
2008 Feb 1, Chinese aluminium giant Chinalco said it and US peer Alcoa have bought a 12-percent stake in Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto, setting up a possible takeover tussle with rival BHP Billiton.
(AP, 2/1/08)
2008 Feb 3, In southern China railway service inched back to normal, a day after one person died in a stampede by frustrated train passengers who were stranded for days because of snow ahead of an important holiday.
(AP, 2/3/08)
2008 Feb 3, Police said Japanese investigators found insecticide on the outside of six bags of Chinese-made dumplings in Japan after separate dumplings made by the same company sickened 10 people there.
(AP, 2/3/08)
2008 Feb 5, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said "final victory" was in sight with transportation returning to normal after the worst winter in decades, but power outages remained a problem for millions. the former communist party boss of Olympic host city Qingdao was sentenced to life in prison for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. Du Shicheng was found guilty of taking $870,000 worth of bribes from 2000 to January 2006 while serving as the port city's most powerful official.
(AP, 2/5/08)(AP, 2/6/08)
2008 Feb 5, Ching Cheong (58), a Hong Kong journalist charged with spying for Taiwan, was released from prison in mainland China after being detained for nearly three years.
(AP, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 6, In China the Year of the Pig ended at midnight making way for Year of the Rat.
(AFP, 2/6/08)
2008 Feb 10, State media reported that China has lost about one tenth of its forest resources to recent snow storms regarded as the most severe in half a century.
(AP, 2/10/08)
2008 Feb 11, A US defense official, an ex-Boeing engineer and two others were charged in 2 separate spy cases with spying for China involving sensitive military and aerospace secrets, including on the space shuttle. Dongfan Chung, a longtime aerospace worker in Southern California, was indicted for allegedly passing classified documents to China in an elaborate espionage endeavor that spanned two decades and exposed trade secrets from the space shuttle, the Delta IV rocket and the C-17 military transport aircraft. In 2010 Chung was sentenced to over 15 years in prison.
(http://articles.latimes.com/2008/feb/12/nation/na-espionage12)(SFC, 2/12/08, p.A3)(SFC, 2/9/10, p.A4)
2008 Feb 12, China and Russia challenged the United States at a disarmament debate by formally presenting a plan to ban weapons in space, a proposal that Washington has called a diplomatic ploy by the two nations to gain a military advantage.
(AP, 2/12/08)
2008 Feb 12, US filmmaker Steven Spielberg abandoned his role in the Beijing Olympics and a host of prominent figures accused China of not doing enough to press its ally Sudan to end devastating violence in Darfur.
(AFP, 2/13/08)
2008 Feb 12, In southwestern China a bus veered off a highway and plunged down a 160-foot cliff into a river, killing at least 21 people.
(AP, 2/12/08)
2008 Feb 13, The WTO condemned China for the first time for taxing imports of auto parts at the same rate as foreign-made finished cars.
(SFC, 2/14/08, p.C3)
2008 Feb 15, A restaurant fire in eastern China killed 11 people and injured at least 4 others.
(AP, 2/15/08)
2008 Feb 17, In China an explosion at an illegal mine disguised as a wild boar farm killed 26 people in northern Hebei province. On Dec 31, 2009, Gao Huailiang was sentenced to death in Hebei province, for making, selling and transporting illegal explosives. 20 others were sentenced to prison time for running the mine.
(AP, 2/18/08)(AP, 12/31/09)
2008 Feb 20, The US FDA inspected a heparin production facility in China. 19 deaths and some 350 allergic reactions had taken place among patients who received heparin sold in the US by Baxter Int’l. In March officials identified oversulfated condroitin sulfate, a chemical that does not occur naturally, as a contaminant in the drug. In April the death toll linked to contaminated heparin was raised to 62.
(WS, 2/21/08, p.A1)(SFC, 3/20/08, p.C3)(SFC, 4/9/08, p.A5)
2008 Feb 21, Chinese state media said authorities are using algae-munching fish to clean up one of the country's most polluted lakes, and after their diet of toxins they will be sold on to consumers.
(AP, 2/21/08)
2008 Feb 22, In China 4 men pleaded guilty in a Yunnan court to producing bogus receipts valued at $147 billion. The scam operated in 9 provinces. In 2007 almost 3,000 cases of printing fake receipts were uncovered.
(Econ, 3/1/08, p.70)
2008 Feb 23, A senior Chinese official said the freakish winter storms that coated much of central and southern China in snow and ice have left 129 people dead so far this year.
(AP, 2/23/08)
2008 Feb 24, In China’s Hubei province water plant workers from Jianli County found that the Dongjing River, a tributary of the Han, had turned red and foamy. The pollution forced authorities to cut water supplies to as many as 200,000 people.
(AP, 2/27/08)
2008 Feb 27, In China an early morning factory fire left 15 people dead and three others severely wounded in Shenzhen.
(AP, 2/27/08)
2008 Feb 28, The presidents of resource-hungry China and oil-rich Nigeria met ahead of the planned signing of energy deals in Beijing's latest overture to an African nation.
(AFP, 2/28/08)
2008 Feb 28, In China at least 14 miners were missing after a cave-in at the Jianbao Coal Minein Jixi city. The mine owners in northeastern Heilongjiang province initially concealed the number of missing workers.
(AP, 3/12/08)
2008 Feb 29, China agreed to release sensitive records about missing US soldiers and establish a hot line to the Pentagon.
(AP, 2/29/08)
2008 Feb 29, US Defense Department officials announced that they had formally agreed to implement the long-discussed Defense Telephone Link (DTL) with China. The US and China established a hotline between their defense ministries.
(www.armscontrol.org/act/2008_04/Hotline)(Econ, 10/24/09, SR p.9)
2008 Feb, In China poisoned food at a snack bar in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen, killed two diners and sickened 61 others. In 2009 two migrant workers were sentenced to death for the poisoning. Ke Bizhi was sentenced to death, while Wang Yingde was also given death but with the possibility of it being commuted to a life sentence if he shows good behavior over the next two years. Zhu Yuanlin, the businessman who masterminded the plot, was sentenced to life in prison. Another man was given 15 years for his role in the scheme.
(AP, 2/24/09)
2008 Mar 3, The US and EU filed a WTO case against China demanding that it loosen restraints on foreign companies vying for a greater slice of the country's lucrative market for financial information.
(AP, 3/3/08)
2008 Mar 4, China said its defense spending would jump 17.6 percent this year but insisted the rise was moderate, amid a flare-up in tensions with the United States over Beijing's growing military muscle.
(AP, 3/4/08)
2008 Mar 4, China and Russia scuttled a Western attempt to introduce a resolution on Iran's nuclear defiance at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
(AP, 3/4/08)
2008 Mar 5, In northwest China a hijacker in Xi’an armed with explosives took a group of Australian tourists and a translator hostage before police shot and killed him. A fire at a coal mine in northeastern China killed 17 people.
(AP, 3/5/08)(AFP, 3/5/08)
2008 Mar 5, In China at least 13 miners were missing at the Taiyuan Coal Mine in Hegang city. 43 men were trapped when the mine caught fire, but 30 were rescued. The mine owners in northeastern Heilongjiang province initially concealed the number of missing workers.
(AP, 3/12/08)
2008 Mar 7, A flight crew prevented an apparent attempt to crash a China Southern flight from Urumqi. Officials later said a Uighur woman attempted to start a fire on board the flight to Beijing. No passengers were injured. In northern Hebei province 10 people were killed in a collision between a bus and a truck loaded with coal.
(AP, 3/9/08)(AP, 3/7/08)(Econ, 3/22/08, p.29)
2008 Mar 10, China said it will keep family-planning limits to one child per couple for at least another decade.
(WSJ, 3/11/08, p.A1)
2008 Mar 10, Hundreds of Tibetan exiles began a six-month march from India to Tibet to protest Beijing's hold on the Himalayan region and China's hosting of the Olympic Games. Indian police barred the Tibetan exiles from marching.
(AP, 3/10/08)(WSJ, 3/11/08, p.A1)
2008 Mar 11, China unveiled plans to revamp bureaucratic government ministries and create new agencies to help it tackle pressing issues such as nuclear energy, food and drug safety, environmental protection and the Internet.
(AP, 3/11/08)
2008 Mar 11, Thousands of Chinese security personnel fired tear gas to try to disperse more than 600 monks taking part in a second day of rare street protests in Tibet.
(Reuters, 3/12/08)
2008 Mar 12, Human Rights Watch said in a report that the armies of migrant workers building Beijing's skyscrapers and Olympic venues are being bilked of wages and placed in dangerous conditions. China's foreign minister said Human rights groups that cite the Beijing Games in their criticisms of the Chinese government are violating the Olympic charter.
(AP, 3/12/08)
2008 Mar 13, In China an avalanche buried 12 workers at a mountainous construction site for a pipeline in the far northwest.
(AP, 3/13/08)
2008 Mar 13, A human rights group said Chinese sales of assault rifles and other small arms to its ally Sudan have grown rapidly during the Darfur conflict despite a UN arms embargo.
(Reuters, 3/13/08)
2008 Mar 14, It was reported that China had likely surpassed the US last month in its number of Internet users.
(WSJ, 3/14/08, p.B3)
2008 Mar 14, In China a gas explosion at a southwestern Yunnan coal mine killed 14 miners and injured four.
(AP, 3/15/08)
2008 Mar 14, In Tibet angry protesters set shops ablaze and gunfire in Lhasa as the largest demonstrations in two decades against Chinese rule turned violent months ahead of the Beijing Olympics. 18 people died in the conflagration or from physical assaults. The government later said losses amounted to 280 million yuan ($41 million).
(AP, 3/14/08)(Econ, 2/6/10, p.43)
2008 Mar 15, China's legislature re-elected Hu Jintao as president, giving him a second five-year term as leader of the world's most populous country. It also returned Hu as head of the Central Military Commission, the body overseeing the armed forces.
(AP, 3/15/08)
2008 Mar 15, China kept government workers confined to their offices and ordered tourists out of Tibet's capital while lines of soldiers sealed off streets where riots had erupted. A Tibetan exile group said at least 30 people were killed in protests a day earlier. Tibet's government-in-exile demanded the UN intervene to end what it called "urgent human rights violations" by China in the region following deadly protests.
(AP, 3/15/08)
2008 Mar 16, Premier Wen Jiabao was appointed to a second five-year term as China's top economic official, leading efforts to cool soaring inflation and showcase the country to the world at the Beijing Olympics.
(AP, 3/16/08)
2008 Mar 16, The Dalai Lama called for an international investigation into China's crackdown against protesters in Tibet, which he said is facing a "cultural genocide" and where his exiled government said 80 people were killed in the violence. Internet users in China were blocked from seeing YouTube.com after dozens of videos about protests in Tibet appeared on the popular US video Web site.
(AP, 3/16/08)
2008 Mar 17, China denounced attacks on its embassies by pro-Tibetan activists hours before a deadline for rioters in Lhasa to turn themselves in and said it would do all in its power to protect its territorial integrity.
(Reuters, 3/17/08)
2008 Mar 18, Protesters in Australia burned Chinese flags, demanding freedom for Tibet, following similar demonstrations in Europe and the US against Beijing's crackdown on anti-government riots in the Himalayan region.
(AP, 3/18/08)
2008 Mar 18, In India the Dalai Lama vowed he would resign as leader of Tibet's exiles if violence back home worsened, just hours before his aides said 19 people were killed in new demonstrations.
(AP, 3/18/08)
2008 Mar 19, China called the Dalai Lama a "wolf in monk's robes" and said it was locked in a "life-and-death battle" with his supporters after protests marking the biggest challenge to Chinese rule in Tibet in almost two decades. Lhasa prosecutors announced the arrest of 24 suspects on charges of endangering state security.
(AP, 3/19/08)(WSJ, 3/20/08, p.A1)
2008 Mar 20, China sent additional troops into restive areas and made more arrests in the Tibetan capital Lhasa in an effort to suppress anti-government protests even as the Dalai Lama offered face-to-face negotiations with Chinese leaders. Tibet authorities said they had arrested dozens of people involved in a wave of anti-Chinese violence. China forced the last remaining foreign journalists out of Tibet, and stepped up restrictions on Internet and radio reports from people within the country.
(AP, 3/20/08)(Reuters, 3/20/08)(AP, 3/21/08)
2008 Mar 21, A regulator said China will shut down or punish dozens of video-sharing Web sites for carrying content deemed pornographic, violent or a threat to national security under rules that tighten Internet controls. China’s government stepped up its manhunt for protesters in last week's riots in the capital of Tibet, as thousands of troops converged on foot, trucks and helicopters to Tibetan areas of western China.
(AP, 3/21/08)
2008 Mar 22, China said 19 people died in riots in the Tibetan capital last week and official media warned against the unrest spreading to the northwest region of Xinjiang, where Uighur Muslims bridle under Chinese control. Exiled Tibetans claim as many as 100 have died in the protests which spilled over this week into neighboring ethnic-Tibetan areas.
(Reuters, 3/22/08)
2008 Mar 23, China attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her recent meeting with the Dalai Lama, accusing her and other "human rights police" of double standards and ignoring the truth about the unrest in Tibet. Han residents said some 500 Uighurs protested in Khotan in the northwestern Xinjiang region. A bombing targeted a government building in the town of Gyanbe. Chinese authorities later arrested 9 monks for the bombing.
(AP, 3/23/08)(SFC, 4/3/08, p.A8)(AFP, 4/13/08)
2008 Mar 24, In Greece 3 men from a free-press group ran onto the field of the stadium in Ancient Olympia during a flame-lighting ceremony for the Beijing Olympics, evading massive security aimed at preventing such disruptions in the wake of China's crackdown in Tibet.
(AP, 3/24/08)
2008 Mar 24, An exiled Tibetan leader said 2 weeks of protests against China's rule of Tibet have left about 130 people dead.
(AP, 3/24/08)
2008 Mar 25, In Nepal police armed with bamboo sticks stopped a protest by Tibetan refugees and monks in front of the Chinese Embassy and arrested about 100 participants.
(AP, 3/25/08)
2008 Mar 26, China announced the surrender of hundreds of people over anti-government riots among Tibetans and allowed the first group of foreign journalists to visit the regional capital since the violence.
(AP, 3/26/08)
2008 Mar 26, In China 24 people were killed when fireworks that had been trucked to the Gobi Desert to be destroyed exploded as they were being dumped into a ditch.
(AP, 3/28/08)
2008 Mar 27, A group of monks shouting there was no religious freedom disrupted a carefully orchestrated visit for foreign reporters to Tibet's capital, an embarrassment for China as it tried to show Lhasa was calm following deadly anti-government riots.
(AP, 3/27/08)
2008 Mar 28, China allowed the first foreign diplomats to visit Tibet following deadly riots, as Germany joined some other European nations in announcing its leader would skip the Olympics opening. Police closed off Lhasa's Muslim quarter, two weeks after Tibetan rioters burned down the city's mosque during the largest anti-Chinese protests in nearly two decades.
(AP, 3/28/08)
2008 Mar 29, In Kathmandu, Nepal, around 80 Tibetan protesters shouting "stop the killing in Tibet" were hauled away in police vehicles and detained after demonstrating outside the Chinese embassy.
(AP, 3/29/08)
2008 Mar 31, Chinese President Hu Jintao presided over the re-lighting of the Olympic torch in Beijing, signaling the start of an around-the-world torch relay that already has become a magnet for protesters.
(AP, 3/31/08)
2008 Mar 31, Chinese authorities arrested suspects in four arson and murder cases stemming from anti-government riots that engulfed the Tibetan capital in mid-March.
(AP, 3/31/08)
2008 Apr 2, Diplomats said that China has given the UN nuclear watchdog intelligence linked to Tehran's alleged attempts to make nuclear arms.
(AP, 4/2/08)
2008 Apr 3, Hu Jia, a Buddhist Chinese dissident outspoken on Tibet and other sensitive topics, was jailed for three-and-a-half years, a conviction likely to become a focus of rights campaigns ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
(Reuters, 4/3/08)(WSJ, 4/4/08, p.A1)
2008 Apr 3, In Tibet Wang Xiangming, the deputy Communist Party secretary of Lhasa, said 800 had been arrested in local violence, while another 280 had surrendered to take advantage of a police offer of leniency. New violence broke out in a volatile Tibetan region of western China, leaving eight people dead. Chinese police opened fire during a "riot" in a Tibetan populated area of southwest China.
(AP, 4/3/08)(AP, 4/4/08)(AFP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 3, A group of about 200 Uighur Muslims demonstrated against China before the Olympic torch ceremony near Istanbul's Blue Mosque, one of Turkey's most famous tourist destinations.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 6, Thousands of anti-China protesters draped in Tibetan flags disrupted the Olympic torch relay through London, billed as a journey of harmony and peace.
(AP, 4/6/08)
2008 Apr 7, China’s official Xinhua News Agency said Zhang Rongkun, a Shanghai tycoon, has been sentenced to 19 years in prison in a pension funds scandal that toppled the city's communist party chief.
(AP, 4/7/08)
2008 Apr 7, China and New Zealand signed a free-trade agreement effective October 1.
(www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-04/07/content_6596491.htm)(WSJ, 4/8/08, p.A14)
2008 Apr 7, A Chinese fishing boat capsized after colliding with a South Korean cargo ship off South Korea's southernmost island, leaving six Chinese sailors missing.
(AP, 4/7/08)
2008 Apr 7, Security officials extinguished the Olympic torch three times as protests against China's human rights record turned a relay through Paris into a chaotic series of stops and starts. France's former sports minister, Jean-Francois Lamour, said that though the torch had been put out, the Olympic flame itself still burned in the lantern where it is kept overnight and on airplane flights.
(AP, 4/7/08)
2008 Apr 8, China denounced protesters who upstaged Olympic Games torch relays in London and Paris and asked the United States to ensure the next leg in San Francisco avoids similar mayhem. Olympic chiefs raised the prospect for the first time of abandoning the international legs of the Beijing Games torch relay, amid a wave of protests targeting the flame overseas.
(AP, 4/8/08)
2008 Apr 8, The riot-damaged market in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa opened its doors amid plans to allow foreign tourists to enter the restive region by the end of the month.
(AP, 4/8/08)
2008 Apr 8, Intel executives said their venture capital arm has completed its first round of investment in China and plans to invest an additional $500 million during the next several years.
(WSJ, 4/9/08, p.B4)
2008 Apr 9, State media said China will ban smoking on school campuses as part of an effort to cut down on tobacco use before the Olympics.
(AP, 4/9/08)
2008 Apr 10, In China a police spokesman said authorities have detained 45 East Turkestan "terrorist" suspects (Uighurs), and foiled plots to carry out suicide bomb attacks and kidnap athletes to disrupt the Beijing Olympics.
(Reuters, 4/10/08)
2008 Apr 10, Australia’s PM Kevin Rudd met China's premier for talks expected to touch on what Rudd has called significant human rights problems in Tibet. Rudd said Chinese paramilitary police will not be allowed to run alongside the Olympic torch in Australia, after their heavy-handed tactics drew criticism in earlier legs of the relay.
(AP, 4/10/08)
2008 Apr 11, An indignant China said the US "seriously hurt the feelings of the Chinese people" when Congress passed a resolution calling on Beijing to stop cracking down on Tibetan dissent and talk to the Dalai Lama.
(AP, 4/11/08)
2008 Apr 11, Chen Liangyu, the former Communist Party chief of China's financial capital, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in a massive corruption scandal involving the city's pension fund and state-owned companies.
(AP, 4/11/08)
2008 Apr 11, Runners surrounded by rows of security carried the Olympic flame past thousands of jubilant Argentines in the most trouble-free torch relay in nearly a week.
(AP, 4/11/08)
2008 Apr 11, G7 finance officials endorsed a plan to prevent financial crises and reiterated its demand that Beijing allow the yuan to rise. They also issued a warning to financial markets that they won’t sit by and watch the dollar continue to slide.
(SFC, 4/12/08, p.C2)(WSJ, 4/12/08, p.A3)
2008 Apr 12, Chinese President Hu Jintao defended the crackdown on protests in Tibet and denied the disturbances were linked to human rights in his first public comments on the incident.
(AFP, 4/12/08)
2008 Apr 12, Taiwan's vice president-elect said he and Chinese President Hu Jintao held "candid and harmonious" talks in the highest-level contact ever between the sides, and they had brought results.
(AP, 4/12/08)
2008 Apr 13, In Tanzania about 1,000 people cheered and marched with a team of 80 athletes and a Cabinet minister participating in the Olympic torch relay, the flame's only stop in Africa.
(AP, 4/13/08)
2008 Apr 14, China’s state television said police found 30 firearms in a Tibetan monastery in Aba prefecture of Sichuan province last month.
(Reuters, 4/14/08)
2008 Apr 15, Mike Leavitt, the top US health official, said US food and drug regulators will start working in China next month once Beijing gives its final approval.
(AP, 4/15/08)
2008 Apr 16, China’s state media reported that over the last 2 days police in northeastern Gansu province have found guns, dynamite, bullets and satellite receivers hidden in 11 Tibetan Buddhist monasteries.
(Reuters, 4/16/08)
2008 Apr 16, In Pakistan runners carried the Olympic flame around the outside of a sports stadium, an invitation-only event in front of an elite, sparse crowd with heavy security to deter any anti-China protesters or terrorist attacks.
(AP, 4/16/08)
2008 Apr 17, In India runners carried the Olympic flame along a heavily guarded route through central New Delhi, protected by about 15,000 police who kept Tibetan exiles and other anti-China protesters from disrupting the ceremony. Tens of thousands of pro-Tibetan demonstrators gathered across India to protest the torch relay.
(AP, 4/17/08)(SFC, 4/18/08, p.A16)
2008 Apr 17, In Japan Buddhist Monks at the ancient Zenkoji Temple decided to pull out of hosting an April 26 ceremony for the protest-marred Olympic torch relay because of China's crackdown in Tibet, as visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi rebuffed Japanese pressure over Tibet, reiterating that Beijing sees it as an internal matter.
(AFP, 4/18/08)
2008 Apr 18, In China 56 fishermen were reported missing as one of the earliest typhoons to hit the region in six decades barreled down on the southern island of Hainan. 38 swam to a reef area after their boats were damaged leaving 18 still missing.
(AP, 4/18/08)(AP, 4/19/08)
2008 Apr 18, South Africa's main transport union thwarted the delivery of a controversial shipment of Chinese arms destined for Zimbabwe, saying its workers would not offload the cargo. The Chinese ship left the South African harbor and headed for neighboring Mozambique. Angola and Mozambique said the ship is not welcome. China defended the cargo against international criticism.
(AFP, 4/18/08)(AP, 4/19/08)(AFP, 4/22/08)(SFC, 4/23/08, p.A2)
2008 Apr 19, Typhoon Neoguri swept through Macau, after it struck Hainan island south of mainland China the night before.
(AFP, 4/19/08)
2008 Apr 20, China unveiled a new draft food safety law that provides for penalties of up to life imprisonment for people responsible for the production of substandard food.
(Reuters, 4/20/08)
2008 Apr 21, Malaysia's leg of the Olympic torch relay passed off largely without incident with a heavy police presence netting just five protesters and thousands of well-wishers braving torrential rain.
(AP, 4/21/08)
2008 Apr 24, China said a shipment of arms bound for Zimbabwe will be recalled after South African workers refused to unload the vessel and other neighboring countries barred it from their ports.
(Reuters, 4/24/08)
2008 Apr 25, China's government agreed to a meeting with an envoy of exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama, a step that follows weeks of calls from world leaders for dialogue in the wake of anti-government protests in Tibet.
(AP, 4/25/08)
2008 Apr 25, China banned a controversial type of irreversible brain surgery used to treat schizophrenia.
(WSJ, 4/28/08, p.A11)
2008 Apr 25, In Japan protesters waved the Tibetan flag and denounced China's rulers as the Beijing Olympic torch arrived for the latest leg of a worldwide relay marred by demonstrations.
(AP, 4/25/08)
2008 Apr 27, A North Korean defector tried to set himself on fire to halt the Olympic torch relay through Seoul, while thousands of police guarded the flame from protesters blasting China's treatment of North Korean refugees. A North Korean soldier defected to South Korea for the first time in a decade across the heavily fortified border dividing the countries.
(AP, 4/27/08)(AP, 4/28/08)
2008 Apr 27, In Sudan China’s state-owned China Water and Electric Corp (CWE) and Sino-Hydro signed a 400-million dollar (255-million euro) deal to raise the height of Sudan's oldest dam, in the southern Blue Nile state.
(AFP, 4/27/08)
2008 Apr 28, In China a policeman and a Tibetan activist were killed following a raid against ethnic Tibetans in Qinghai province.
(WSJ, 5/1/08, p.A11)
2008 Apr 28, A high-speed passenger train jumped its tracks and slammed into another train in eastern China, killing 72 people and injuring 416 in China's worst train accident in a decade.
(AP, 4/28/08)(AP, 7/24/11)
2008 Apr 28, The Olympic torch arrived in Vietnam from North Korea, where tens of thousands of citizens were mobilized to celebrate the relay in Pyongyang in the flame's first visit to the authoritarian nation.
(AP, 4/29/08)
2008 Apr 29, A Chinese court jailed 30 people for terms ranging from three years to life for their roles in Tibet's deadly riots, which triggered anti-China protests across the globe ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
(AP, 4/29/08)
2008 Apr 29, In China a newspaper reported that thousands of children in southwest China have been sold into slavery like "cabbages," to work as laborers in more prosperous areas such as the booming southern province of Guangdong.
(Reuters, 4/29/08)
2008 Apr 30, The Olympic torch returned to Chinese soil after a turbulent 20-nation tour, landing in the bustling financial capital of Hong Kong where officials deported at least seven activists before the flame's arrival.
(AP, 4/30/08)
2008 May 1, China inaugurated one of the world's longest bridges, which will provide an important new route into Shanghai. The 36-kilometer (22-mile) structure connected Jiaxing city near Shanghai to the port city of Ningbo in the eastern province of Zhejiang.
(AFP, 5/2/08)
2008 May 4, China's Pres. Hu Jintao said he was hoping for positive results with envoys of the Dalai Lama, as talks opened, but state media kept up a barrage of attacks on Tibet's exiled spiritual leader. In Shenzhen envoys of the Dalai Lama and Chinese officials held a day of talks aimed at mending fences following a wave of unrest that pushed Tibet to centre stage ahead of the 2008 Olympics. They agreed to further contact.
(Reuters, 5/4/08)(Reuters, 5/5/08)
2008 May 4, China's Health Ministry issued a nationwide alert after the enterovirus 71 virus, or EV-71, which causes hand, foot and mouth disease, infected more than 4,500 children in central Anhui province. The outbreak was centered around Fuyang city, where 22 deaths have occurred.
(AP, 5/4/08)
2008 May 5, In China, state media said a deadly viral outbreak that preys on children has appeared in Beijing, and the number of infections in China has grown to more than 8,000. Enterovirus 71 was blamed and went on to kill at least 43 people with over 24,000 sickened.
(AP, 5/5/08)(SFC, 5/24/08, p.A8)
2008 May 6, Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Tokyo for a feel-good visit that will use ping pong and pandas to take the edge off more contentious problems like border disputes, historical animosity and concerns over China's rule in Tibet.
(AP, 5/6/08)
2008 May 7, The leaders of Japan and China agreed to resolve a territorial row and start regular summits to ease decades of tension, pledging that Asia's two largest economies would not see each other as a threat.
(AP, 5/7/08)
2008 May 7, China’s state media said the number of infections of hand, foot and mouth disease has grown to more than 15,000 with 28 deaths.
(AP, 5/5/08)
2008 May 8, A Chinese mountaineering team took the Olympic flame to the top of Mount Everest, a feat dreamed up to underscore China's ambitions for the Beijing games.
(AP, 5/8/08)
2008 May 11, China PM Wen Jiabao launched Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (CACC), in an effort to challenge the duopoly of Airbus and Boeing.
(Econ, 5/17/08, p.82)
2008 May 12, Initial reports said a 7.8 earthquake struck central China, killing over 9,000 people and trapping nearly 900 students under the rubble of their school. 80% of the buildings had collapsed in Beichuan county in Sichuan province. The death toll soon exceeded 12,000 in Sichuan province alone. 18,645 were reported buried in debris in the city of Mianyang, near the epicenter of the quake, whose magnitude was raised to 7.9. The Sichuan quake ended up killing some 80,000 people. Scientists in 2009 linked the quake to the Zipingu Dam, 5.5 km from the epicenter. In 2009 an official tally said 5,335 students were left dead or missing.
(AP, 5/1208)(AP, 5/13/08)(WSJ, 2/7/08, p.A6)(AP, 5/7/09)
2008 May 12-2008 May 13, Chinese police detained 16 Tibetan Buddhist monks from eastern Tibet's Mangkam county, who were allegedly involved in a series of bombings in early April.
(AP, 6/5/08)
2008 May 14, China’s Xinhua News Agency said that 2,000 troops had been sent to work on the Zipingku Dam, upriver from Dujiangyan in Sichuan province as the death toll from the May 12 earthquake approached 15,000.
(AP, 5/14/08)
2008 May 15, China warned the death toll from this week's earthquake could soar to 50,000, while the government issued a public appeal for rescue equipment as it struggled to cope with the disaster.
(AP, 5/15/08)
2008 May 16, In China a strong aftershock sparked landslides near the epicenter of this week's powerful earthquake, while some survivors were pulled from rubble after being buried for four days. The official death toll rose to about 22,069, and another 14,000 still were buried in Sichuan.
(AP, 5/16/08)
2008 May 17, In China the confirmed death toll rose to 28,881 as thousands of earthquake victims fled areas near the epicenter, fearful of floods from rivers blocked by landslides rattled loose in this week's powerful temblor. A 6.1-magnitude earthquake shook Sichuan province. At least 14 people died in a collision between a bus and a tractor in eastern China.
(AP, 5/17/08)(Reuters, 5/17/08)
2008 May 18, China declared three days of national mourning for earthquake victims and ordered a suspension of the Olympic torch relay, as the search for survivors of the disaster grew bleak with the confirmed death toll rising to 32,476.
(AP, 5/18/08)
2008 May 19, China stood still to begin 3 days of mourning over tens of thousands of earthquake victims, and the government appealed for more international aid to cope with the country's deadliest disaster in a generation. The confirmed death toll from the May 12 quake rose to 34,073.
(AP, 5/19/08)(Econ, 5/24/08, p.57)
2008 May 20, In China the confirmed death toll rose to more than 40,000 as authorities struggled to find shelter for many of the 5 million people whose homes were destroyed in last week's earthquake.
(AP, 5/20/08)
2008 May 22, China said the toll of dead and missing from last week's powerful earthquake jumped to more than 80,000, while the government appealed for millions of tents to shelter homeless survivors.
(AP, 5/22/08)
2008 May 23, China and Russia jointly condemned a US plan for a global missile defense system at the start of a highly symbolic visit by new Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
(AP, 5/23/08)
2008 May 24, In China rescuers rushed to reach 24 coal miners trapped underground by the earthquake almost two weeks ago, as the government sharply raised the quake's death toll, warning it could exceed 80,000.
(AP, 5/24/08)
2008 May 25, A 6.0 aftershock hit quake-ravaged central China killed 6 people, left dozens more injured and destroyed some 71,000 homes. Soldiers carrying explosives hiked to a blocked-off river to alleviate the threat of floods.
(AP, 5/25/08)(SFC, 5/26/08, p.A8)
2008 May 26, China said the confirmed death toll had risen to 65,080 with 23,150 people still missing. The final number of dead was expected to exceed 80,000. officials said that the country's one-child policy exempts families with a child killed, severely injured or disabled in the country's devastating earthquake.
(AP, 5/26/08)
2008 May 27, Chinese officials rushed to evacuate another 80,000 people in the path of potential floodwaters building up behind a quake-spawned dam as soldiers carved a channel to try to drain away the threat. A government spokesman said the confirmed death toll in the earthquake more than two weeks ago has risen to 67,183.
(AP, 5/27/08)
2008 May 28, China’s Xinhua News Agency reported that torrential rains had killed 18 people in southern Guizhou province since May 25, and that the rains were expected to continue for 3 more days. 12 more people were reported missing. Some 6,700 houses were damaged since the rains began.
(SFC, 5/29/08, p.A7)
2008 May 31, Chinese authorities had evacuated nearly 200,000 people and warned more than 1 million others to be ready to leave quickly as a lake formed by a devastating earthquake threatened to breach its dam. A Russian-designed Mi-171 transport helicopter carrying 10 people injured in the devastating earthquake and four crew members crashed in fog and turbulence, and authorities searched for survivors. The confirmed death toll from the May 12 earthquake, reached nearly 69,000, with another 18,000 still missing.
(AP, 5/31/08)(AP, 6/1/08)
2008 Jun 1, China became the latest country to declare war on plastic bags in a drive to save energy and protect the environment.
(Reuters, 6/1/08)
2008 Jun 2, China began paying sums of about $144 to each parent whose sole offspring was killed in the May 12 earthquake.
(WSJ, 6/3/08, p.A1)
2008 Jun 4, Chinese police blocked access to a school that collapsed in last month's massive earthquake, a day after breaking up a protest by parents of students who died in the disaster.
(AP, 6/4/08)
2008 Jun 5, In China more than 10,000 people were moved to higher ground as water continued to rise in a brimming lake formed by landslides from the May 12 earthquake and another strong aftershock rocked the quake-battered region.
(AP, 6/5/08)
2008 Jun 7, In Hong Kong a routine inspection found chickens infected with H5N1 bird flu in a poultry market. Authorities slaughtered 2,700 birds and banned live poultry imports from China.
(WSJ, 6/9/08, p.A12)
2008 Jun 10, A new WWF report said China is now consuming more than twice as much as what its ecosystems can supply sustainably, having doubled its needs since the 1960s.
(AFP, 6/10/08)
2008 Jun 10, Chinese authorities detained Huang Qi for posting articles on his Web site criticizing the government's response to the massive earthquake that struck Sichuan province the month before. In 2009 he was sentenced to 3 years in prison.
(AP, 11/23/09)(AP, 11/23/09)
2008 Jun 12, Chinese police kicked foreign journalists out of Dujiangyan city, where the collapse of several schools in China's earthquake drew charges of corruption from parents of dead children.
(AFP, 6/12/08)
2008 Jun 12, Taiwan and China agreed for the first time ever to set up permanent offices in each others' territories as the two sides met for their first formal talks in more than a decade.
(AP, 6/12/08)
2008 Jun 13, Chinese President Hu Jintao said the long journey to better ties with Taiwan was off to a good start, after the rivals signed historic agreements to set up direct flights and boost tourism.
(AP, 6/13/08)
2008 Jun 13, A blast in a north China coal mine left 34 workers trapped underground, after rescuers lifted nine to safety. Heavy rains in southern China triggered floods that killed six people and forced the evacuation of 150,000 residents. A landslide in northern China buried a brick factory, killing 19 workers.
(AP, 6/13/08)(AP, 6/14/08)
2008 Jun 15, China’s state media said at least 55 people have died and seven were missing in flooding across a broad stretch of southern China.
(AP, 6/15/08)
2008 Jun 17, China's Xinhua News Agency said recent flooding has killed 169 people in 12 provinces following several weeks of rains.
(SFC, 6/17/08, p.A8)
2008 Jun 18, China and Japan agreed to end a dispute over control of offshore natural gas fields and to jointly develop the fields in the East China Sea.
(SFC, 6/19/08, p.A12)
2008 Jun 19, China’s government raised its base price for gasoline by 17% and 18% for diesel in an effort to diminish the nation’s appetite for fuel.
(WSJ, 6/19/08, p.A1)
2008 Jun 22, A Russian film about a teenager surprised by the sudden appearance of the father she thought to be dead won the top prize at the 11th Shanghai International Film Festival. Vladimir Kott's directorial debut "Mukha" was named best feature film in the Jin Jue Awards announced at the conclusion of the nine-day festival.
(AP, 6/23/08)
2008 Jun 23, Anglo-Australian mining group Rio Tinto said that it had agreed to a near doubling of the price of its iron ore sales to Chinese steel maker Baosteel.
(AFP, 6/23/08)
2008 Jun 24, A Japanese warship steamed into a Chinese port, the first such visit since World War Two, in a military exchange aimed at putting relations between the former bitter enemies on a firmer footing.
(AP, 6/24/08)
2008 Jun 25, China re-opened Tibet to foreign tourists after claiming victory over the worst unrest there in decades -- which led Beijing to all but seal off the area from the outside world.
(AP, 6/25/08)
2008 Jun 28, China’s government said Tropical Storm Fengshen killed at least nine people in southern China. In southwest China angry villagers set fire to police and government offices and overturned vehicles to protest how officials handled a teenage student's death. The unrest was sparked by the death of a 16-year-old student who was raped and murdered. Relatives said she disappeared after being called away by three young men, two of whom were related to officials in the county's public security bureau. Provincial officials soon dismissed the town’s government, party and police chiefs.
(AP, 6/28/08)(AP, 6/29/08)(Econ, 8/2/08, p.30)
2008 Jun, Cosco, China’s biggest state-owned shipping company, won a tender to build and operate a new container terminal at the Greek port of Piraeus.
(Econ, 8/23/08, p.51)
2008 Jul 1, In China a man armed with a knife stormed a police station in Shanghai, stabbing officers inside and killing 6 officers. On September 1 Yang Jia (28) was sentenced to death for the knife attack. In northwest China 18 miners were killed in a mine-shaft collapse at the state-owned Huisen Liangshuijing Coal Mine in Shaanxi province. Yang Jia was executed on Nov 26.
(AP, 7/1/08)(AP, 7/2/08)(AP, 9/1/08)(AP, 11/26/08)
2008 Jul 4, China and Taiwan launched regular direct flights for the first time in nearly six decades, ushering in what Beijing called a "new start" in their tense and testy relations.
(AP, 7/4/08)
2008 Jul 5, In northern China an apparent blast at a coal mine killed 21 workers at the Wujiu coal mine outside Datong city in Shanxi province. In central China a four-story building under construction in a suburb of Wuhan city collapsed and killed eight people.
(AP, 7/6/08)
2008 Jul 7, In China Diana O'Brien (22), a Canadian model, was found murdered in her Shanghai apartment. On Jul 11 police arrested Chen Jun (18), who confessed to killing the woman during a robbery.
(AP, 7/11/08)
2008 Jul 8, A Chinese court jailed Xiong Zhengliang, a former anti-graft prosecutor for life, for torturing a suspect to death. His superior was sentenced to seven years in prison for trying to cover up the case. Liang Jiping, a deputy director of the county's electricity bureau, was detained in May 2007 on suspicion of taking bribes. Liang died on June 1, 2007, after being held in custody for nearly five days and in three separate places.
(Reuters, 7/9/08)
2008 Jul 8, Chinese police killed five Muslims who were planning a "holy war" in the latest alleged terror threat ahead of the Beijing Olympics. The five were shot dead when police raided their hide-out in Urumqi.
(AFP, 7/9/08)
2008 Jul 9, China convicted and then executed two ethnic Uighur men and imprisoned another 15 for alleged terrorist links in the western region of Xinjiang.
(AP, 7/12/08)
2008 Jul 10, In China migrant workers began a 3-day riot in Kanmen town in coastal Zhejiang province. Three hundred military police arrived on July 13 and 30 migrant workers have been detained. A Hong Kong-based rights group said the unrest was centered around a migrant worker who was beaten by a security guard while trying to get a temporary residence permit.
(AP, 7/14/08)
2008 Jul 11, Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change said a total of 113 MDC supporters have now been killed in politically-related violence. Zimbabwe's ruling party and opposition held a second day of talks in South Africa. A UN Security Council bid to pass sanctions against Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe was vetoed by Russia and China.
(AP, 7/11/08)(AFP, 7/11/08)(AFP, 7/12/08)
2008 Jul 12, North Korea agreed to completely disable its main nuclear facilities by the end of October and to allow thorough site inspections to verify that all necessary steps had been taken as the latest round of six-nation disarmament talks concluded in Beijing.
(AFP, 7/12/08)
2008 Jul 14, A Chinese migrant worker at the Shuangqiao Garden Plaza in Wenshan county killed one person and stabbed nine others after discovering his savings of 2,600 yuan ($380) had been swapped for counterfeit notes while he visited a prostitute.
(Reuters, 7/16/08)
2008 Jul 14, An explosion at a mine in northern Hebei province killed 34 miners and a rescue worker. In November, 2009, officials at the mine were charge with moving dead bodies, destroying evidence and paying journalists 2.6 million yuan ($380,000) not to report the explosion. In 2010 a journalist was sentenced to 16 years in prison for taking bribes to help cover up the disaster, which took place just 3 weeks before the Beijing Olympics.
(www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/world/asia/01mine.html?_r=1)(AP, 1/6/10)
2008 Jul 15, China voiced concern over an International Criminal Court prosecutor's decision to seek an arrest warrant for Sudan's president on charges of genocide in the African country's war-torn Darfur region.
(AP, 7/15/08)
2008 Jul 16, The government of China’s Gansu province told the Ministry of Health about an unusual surge of kidney stones among infants who had all drunk the same brand of milk.
(Econ, 9/20/08, p.57)
2008 Jul 17, A new company of Chinese engineers deployed to Sudan's war-torn western region of Darfur, boosting the number of UN-led peacekeeping troops to 8,000.
(AP, 7/17/08)
2008 Jul 20, Beijing started its most drastic pollution-control plan, restricting car use and limiting factory emissions in a last-minute push to clear smog-choked skies for the August Olympics.
(AP, 7/20/08)
2008 Jul 21, In China 2 people were killed in explosions aboard two public buses in Kunming city, Yunnan province. On Dec 24 Li Yan reportedly confessed to his role in the bombings as he lay on his death bed after trying to plant another bomb. 20 miners escaped or were rescued from a flooded coal mine in southern China but six have died and 30 remain trapped.
(AFP, 7/21/08)(AP, 7/22/08)(SFC, 12/29/08, p.A3)
2008 Jul 21, China and Russia signed an agreement that demarcated their 2,700 mile border ending a long running border dispute.
(WSJ, 7/22/08, p.A1)
2008 Jul 24, Iraq was told it's not welcome to the Beijing Olympics because of a political feud in Baghdad that angered the games' guardians and exiled a country that arrived to a roaring ovation at the opening ceremony four years ago.
(AP, 7/25/08)
2008 Jul 29, The International Olympic Committee agreed to allow Iraq to participate in the Beijing games, reversing itself after Baghdad pledged to ensure the independence of its national Olympics.
(AP, 7/30/08)
2008 Jul 30, A human rights group said Chinese authorities have sent Liu Shaokun to a labor camp for a year. He had posted pictures of collapsed schools on the Internet and was detained last June for allegedly “seriously disturbing social order." And disrupting post-quake reconstruction efforts.
(WSJ, 7/31/08, p.A7)
2008 Jul, In China the founder of a company involved in commodities futures trading allegedly fled to the US with millions of dollars of customers’ money.
(Econ, 8/9/08, p.40)
2008 Jul, Japan for the first time exported more to China this month than to America. Japan’s public sector debt stood at 170% of GDP, the highest among the big rich economies.
(Econ, 9/6/08, p.87)
2008 Aug 1, China’s broad anti-monopoly law, promulgated in August, 2007, went into effect. It became informally referred to as its economic constitution.
(www.iflr.com/Article/2017768/Anti-Monopoly-Law.html)(Econ, 3/21/09, p.68)
2008 Aug 2, In China Zhang Jinfu (43), a farmer, killed six and injured one in a stabbing spree in the Hubei province village of Xuyang.
(AP, 8/3/08)
2008 Aug 2, China’s Sanlu Group, a dairy product producer, told Fronterra, a New Zealand company that owns 43% of Sanlu, that there was problem with milk powder.
(Econ, 9/20/08, p.57)
2008 Aug 4, In western China 2 Uighur men rammed a truck into a clutch of jogging policemen and tossed explosives, killing 17 officers, in an attack in Kashgar, Xinjiang province, just days before the Beijing Olympics. The 2 men were sentenced to death on Dec 17.
(AP, 8/4/08)(SFC, 8/5/08, p.A11)(AP, 12/17/08)
2008 Aug 5, A magnitude 6.0 earthquake rocked the western Chinese provinces of Sichuan and Gansu, killing one person and injuring 23 near the site of May's devastating quake that killed at least 70,000 people.
(Reuters, 8/5/08)
2008 Aug 6, China announced changes to its foreign exchange rules to address surging growth in its hard currency reserves.
(WSJ, 8/7/08, p.C12)
2008 Aug 6, The US said it will protest to China over its decision to revoke the visa of Olympic gold medalist Joey Cheek, an activist on the African region of Darfur where China is accused of failing to help end the crisis. Speedskater Cheek is co-founder of Team Darfur, an international coalition of athletes campaigning to draw world attention to the humanitarian crisis there.
(Reuters, 8/6/08)
2008 Aug 7, Critics of China's human rights record made sure they were not forgotten, a day before the grand opening of the Beijing Olympics, with protest actions the world over and in China itself. Thousands of Tibetan exiles demonstrated in Nepal and India.
(AFP, 8/7/08)(AP, 8/7/08)
2008 Aug 7, The US Olympic team chose Lopez Lomong, one of the "Lost Boys" of Sudan, to carry the flag at the Olympic opening ceremony, throwing the spotlight on China's much-criticized policy on Darfur.
(AFP, 8/7/08)
2008 Aug 8, In Beijing, China, the 29th Olympic Games, costing an estimated 40 billion dollars and shrouded by political controversies, burst into life with a spectacular opening ceremony at the “bird’s nest" stadium designed by Ai Weiwei. The official slogan for the games this year was “One world, one dream." Actress activist Mia Farrow began Web-casting her own "Darfur Olympics" from a refugee camp on the barren Sudan-Chad border, aiming to shame China into using its influence with Khartoum to end the Darfur conflict.
(AP, 8/8/08)(AP, 8/7/08)(Econ, 8/2/08, p.28)(Econ, 8/2/08, p.85)
2008 Aug 8, President Bush blended carefully calibrated political messages for China and Russia with enthusiasm for his nation's athletes as he became the first US president to attend an Olympics abroad.
(AP, 8/8/08)
2008 Aug 9, Tang Yongming (47), a knife-wielding Chinese man, attacked two relatives of a coach for the US Olympic men's volleyball team at a tourist site in Beijing, killing Todd Bachman (62) and injuring his wife on the first day of the Olympics. Yongming then committed suicide by throwing himself from the second story of the site, the 13th century Drum Tower just five miles from the main Olympics site.
(AP, 8/9/08)(SFC, 8/11/08, p.A12)
2008 Aug 10, In northwest China bombings and fierce clashes took place between police and attackers, the second outbreak of deadly violence there in under a week. Two women were among a squad of assailants accused of killing 12 people when they hurled homemade bombs at government buildings and police.
(AFP, 8/10/08)(AP, 8/11/08)
2008 Aug 10, Welshwoman Nicole Cooke handed Britain their first gold of the Beijing Olympic Games when she won the women's cycling road race.
(AP, 8/10/08)
2008 Aug 10, Japan's Masato Uchishiba has won his second straight Olympic gold medal, pinning France's Benjamin Darbelet just seconds into their final match in the men's 66-kilogram division and bringing Japan its first judo gold of the Beijing Games.
(AP, 8/10/08)
2008 Aug 11, In China the US remained third in the medals table at the end of the third day of Olympic competition with three gold medals behind hosts China with nine after the completion of 34 events, and South Korea with four. Abhinav Bindra became the first Indian to ever win a solo gold medal at the Olympic Games after winning the men's 10m air rifle title.
(AP, 8/11/08)(www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/aug/14/olympicgames.shooting)
2008 Aug 11, President George W. Bush said he used talks with China's leaders during the Beijing Olympics to press them to use their influence with Sudan to help end the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
(Reuters, 8/11/08)
2008 Aug 12, Knife-wielding assailants attacked a road checkpoint in China's troubled far west, killing three guards and raising the death toll to 31 from a surge in violence coinciding with the Beijing Olympics.
(AP, 8/12/08)
2008 Aug 13, A Chinese team beat the United States and clinched China's first women's team Olympic gold in gymnastics, amid allegations that at least one member, He Kexin, of the Chinese team was under age.
(AP, 8/14/08)
2008 Aug 13, Michael Phelps swam into history as the winningest Olympic athlete ever with his 10th and 11th career gold medals, and 5 world records in 5 events at the Beijing Games.
(AP, 8/13/08)
2008 Aug 15, In Beijing 2 positive dope tests by Asian athletes overshadowed Singapore's first medal in 48 years and a podium for Malaysia with a North Korean shooter and a Vietnamese gymnast exposed as cheats.
(AP, 8/15/08)
2008 Aug 15, Xinhua News said a bus veered off the road and plunged into a ravine in central China, killing 15 people.
(AP, 8/15/08)
2008 Aug 16, Carol Huynh, whose parents fled communist Vietnam in the 1970s, won Canada's first gold of the Olympics in the women's 48 kg freestyle wrestling. Usain Bolt of Jamaica was crowned the world's fastest man when he raced to victory in the Olympic men's 100 meters final in a world record time of 9.69 sec.
(AP, 8/16/08)(AFP, 8/16/08)
2008 Aug 17, In Beijing Michael Phelps won his 8th gold medal as team mate Jason Lezak brought it home for a world record in the 400-meter medley relay.
(AP, 8/17/08)
2008 Aug 18, State media reported that Chinese authorities have not approved any of the 77 applications they received from people who wanted to hold protests during the Beijing Olympics.
(AP, 8/18/08)
2008 Aug 18, In northeast China a gas explosion tore through a coal mine, leaving 24 workers trapped.
(AP, 8/18/08)
2008 Aug 20, In Beijing Rohullah Nikpai of Afghanistan won a bronze medal in taekwondo. This was Afghanistan’s first Olympic medal ever.
(http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer08/news/story?id=3544339)
2008 Aug 20, Hua Guofeng (b.1921), who succeeded Mao Zedong as chairman of China's ruling Communist Party and briefly ruled the country (1976), died in Beijing.
(AP, 8/20/08)
2008 Aug 22, Two Beijing grandmothers remained defiant and in good spirits despite being sentenced to one year of reeducation through labor for applying to protest during the Olympics.
(AFP, 8/22/08)
2008 Aug 23, In Beijing Angel Matos, a Cuban taekwondo athlete, and his coach Leudis Gonzalez were banned for life after Matos kicked the referee in the face following his bronze-medal match disqualification.
(AP, 8/23/08)
2008 Aug 24, The Beijing Olympics, played out against a background of political intrigue and featuring 16 days of compelling and controversial action, drew to a spectacular close. China's haul of 51 gold medals was the largest since the Soviet Union won 55 in Seoul in 1988. The US won 36 gold medals and Russia came in 3rd with 23. Jamaica ended up with 11 medals including 6 gold. Cuba took home 24 medals, but only 2 gold.
(AP, 8/24/08)(Econ, 8/30/08, p.38)
2008 Aug 26, In southwest China explosions ripped through a chemical plant, killing at least 11 people, injuring dozens and forcing the evacuation of thousands of nearby residents.
(AP, 8/26/08)
2008 Aug 27, The first outbreak of violence in China's western region of Xinjiang since a pair of high-profile attacks during the Olympics left 2 Chinese policemen dead and 7 more wounded. In north China 9 miners in Hebei province became trapped underground after the illegal mine they worked in collapsed. Police were only informed 2 days later. All 9 were feared dead.
(AP, 8/28/08)(AFP, 8/29/08)
2008 Aug 27, China and Iraq signed a $3 billion deal revising a prewar agreement for China's biggest oil company to help develop the Ahdab oil field. On Sep 2 Iraq’s Cabinet approved the deal with China National Petroleum Corp.
(AP, 8/28/08)(AP, 9/2/08)
2008 Aug 28, State media reported that Chinese government auditors have uncovered the misuse of millions of dollars in disaster assistance as part of an embezzlement probe spanning 10 central government departments.
(AP, 8/28/08)
2008 Aug 29, Chinese police investigating a spate of attacks this month in western Xinjiang province shot dead six suspects and arrested three others near Kashgar.
(AP, 8/30/08)
2008 Aug 30, China’s tallest building, the 101-story, 1,614-foot Shanghai World Financial Center, opened 14 years after Minoru Mori, its Japanese developer, began the $1.13 billion project. The family owned Mori Building Co. owned 70% of the project.
(SFC, 8/29/08, p.A1)(WSJ, 9/2/08, p.B2)
2008 Aug 30, A 6.1 earthquake hit southwest China's Sichuan province, killing least 36 people and turning tens of thousands of homes into rubble and cracked reservoirs.
(Reuters, 8/30/08)(AP, 8/31/08)
2008 Sep 1, In China the 128-meter Spring Temple Buddha, the tallest statue in the world, was completed in Henan province. Construction had begun in 1997.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_Temple_Buddha)(Econ, 6/27/15, p.36)
2008 Sep 1, In China a new tax on gas guzzling cars took effect in an effort to reduce fuel consumption and fight pollution. In June the tax on fuel was increased by almost 20%.
(Econ, 8/23/08, p.54)
2008 Sep 2, Iraq’s Cabinet approved an oil deal, signed August 27, with China National Petroleum Corp. An American soldier died of non-combat related causes in Baghdad.
(AP, 9/2/08)(AP, 9/1/08)
2008 Sep 2, Pakistani Taliban militants said they had kidnapped two Chinese telecoms engineers and their entourage and would soon issue a list of demands. The engineers went missing along with their local driver and a security guard four days ago near the Afghan border where they had been checking an installation.
(AFP, 9/2/08)
2008 Sep 3, Coca-Cola Co. announced a bid to acquire China Huiyuan Juice Group in a $2.4 billion.
(WSJ, 9/4/08, p.B1)
2008 Sep 3-2008 Sep 4, In China’s Hunan province, thousands of people demonstrated and clashed with police in Jishou about a property company they said cheated them of their money. News of the protests did not become public until after the Olympics.
(Econ, 9/13/08, p.52)
2008 Sep 4, In northeast China 24 people were killed and six injured in a coal mine gas explosion, that left 3 miners trapped.
(AP, 9/4/08)
2008 Sep 7, In China a flood swamped the mine in Yuzhou city of Henan province trapping 23 people.
(AP, 9/7/08)
2008 Sep 8, In northern China a landslide triggered by heavy rain killed at least 277 people, with 10 missing and presumed dead in Shanxi province's Xiangfen county. In 2009 a Chinese court jailed 12 officials for the collapse of an illegal mining dump that triggered the landslide.
(AP, 9/8/08)(AP, 9/18/08)(AP, 6/28/09)
2008 Sep 11, China’s Sanlu Group announced a nationwide recall of 700 tons of milk powder.
(Econ, 9/20/08, p.58)
2008 Sep 12, Shops throughout China pulled a milk powder, suspected sickening babies, from shelves in the latest safety scandal to rock the country's food industry. Investigators soon detained 19 people and were questioning 78 to find out how melamine was added to milk supplied to Sanlu Group Co., China's biggest milk powder producer. On Sep 15 Zhang Zhenling, vice president of Sanlu Group, read a letter of apology at a news briefing in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei Province, where the corporation is based. China later reported that more than 6,000 babies had fallen ill and three died after drinking contaminated milk powder. Consumer complaints to Sanlu Group regarding its baby milk formula had begun as early as last December. By the end of the year 6 children had died and tens of thousands were made ill from milk powder tainted with melamine.
(AP, 9/12/08)(AP, 9/13/08)(AFP, 9/15/08)(AFP, 9/17/08)(SFC, 9/24/08, p.A12)(Econ, 5/25/13, p.67)
2008 Sep 13, A fiery bus crash in China's Sichuan province killed 51 people.
(AP, 9/13/08)
2008 Sep 16, Tian Wenhua, the board chairwoman and general manager of China dairy giant Sanlu Group, was fired from her posts in the wake of the tainted milk powder scandal.
(http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-09/16/content_10041638.htm)
2008 Sep 17, A packed "Bird's Nest" National stadium witnessed the formal end of the Beijing Paralympic Games, bringing down the curtain on a glittering 12-day sports extravaganza.
(AP, 9/17/08)
2008 Sep 18, China announced plans to buy shares and take other measures to support the nation’s plummeting stock market.
(WSJ, 9/19/08, p.A8)
2008 Sep 18, The Bank of China announced that it would take a 20% stake in the French arm of LCF Rothschild, its first investment in a euro-zone bank.
(Econ, 9/27/08, p.77)
2008 Sep 19, Singapore banned all dairy imports from China and the European Union demanded answers from Beijing as the baby formula scandal, which left 4 babies dead and over 6 thousand infants ill across China, spread to liquid milk.
(Reuters, 9/19/08)
2008 Sep 20, In southern China a fire and subsequent stampede at the Dance King nightclub in Shenzhen killed 44 people and left 88 injured. In 2010 two bosses of the club were sentenced to 15½ years in prison. Club general manager Lu Jinghuang was ordered jailed for three years. 14 other club managers received jail terms ranging up to six years. In Hubei province a migrant worker stabbed 12 people, seriously inuring 2 of them in Shiyan city.
(AFP, 9/21/08)(SFC, 9/22/08, p.A3)(AP, 3/31/10)
2008 Sep 21, Hong Kong authorities said they found traces of melamine in a batch of Chinese-made Nestle commercial milk. The next day they forced Nestle to recall the milk line.
(WSJ, 9/23/08, p.A22)
2008 Sep 22, The number of Chinese infants sick in hospital after drinking tainted milk formula doubled to nearly 13,000 and the country's top quality regulator resigned in the latest blight on the "made-in-China" brand.
(AP, 9/22/08)
2008 Sep 23, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived in China to hold talks with his counterpart Hu Jintao and sign a deal for combat aircraft in a visit likely to irk the US. Chavez said Venezuela and China agreed to jointly build 2 oil refineries, one in each country.
(AP, 9/23/08)(WSJ, 9/24/08, p.A25)
2008 Sep 23, In China Li Shiming, a corrupt and rapacious local Communist Party secretary in Shanxi province, was murdered by Zhang Xuping (18). Shiming had Zhang expelled from school in 2003 following the imprisonment of his mother, who had protested along with others the confiscation of land by Shiming.
(Econ, 8/22/09, p.38)
2008 Sep 24, Typhoon Hagupit plowed into south China, killing at least 13 people, closing schools, canceling flights, uprooting trees and bringing down billboards in several cities. Torrential rain isolated more than 20,000 people in an area of southwest China still recovering from a devastating earthquake in May. Flash floods and landslides unleashed by heavy rains killed at least 16 people in Sichuan province.
(Reuters, 9/25/08)(AP, 9/26/08)
2008 Sep 25, China successfully launched a three-man crew into space to carry out the country's first spacewalk, beginning the nation's most challenging space mission since it first sent a person into space in 2003. The Shenzhou VII spacecraft was launched on a Long March II-F rocket in western Inner Mongolia.
(AP, 9/25/08)(Econ, 9/27/08, p.60)
2008 Sep 25, The EU banned imports of baby food containing Chinese milk as tainted dairy products linked to the deaths of four babies turned up in candy and other Chinese-made goods that were quickly pulled from stores worldwide. More than a dozen countries have banned or recalled Chinese dairy products as melamine was found in milk products from 22 Chinese dairy companies.
(AP, 9/25/08)(SFC, 9/25/08, p.A3)
2008 Sep 27, Mission commander Zhai Zhigang floated, a Chinese astronaut, performed the nation's first-ever spacewalk, the latest milestone in an ambitious program that is increasingly rivaling the United States and Russia in its rapid expansion. Fellow astronaut Liu Boming also emerged briefly from the capsule to hand Zhai a Chinese flag that he waved for an exterior camera filming the event. The third crew member, Jing Haipeng, monitored the Shenzhou 7 from inside the re-entry module.
(AP, 9/27/08)
2008 Sep 28, Three Chinese astronauts made a jubilant return to Earth after successfully completing the country's first-ever spacewalk, an event the premier said was "a stride forward" in China's space history.
(AP, 9/28/08)
2008 Sep 29, China kicked off its National Day celebrations.
(AP, 9/29/08)
2008 Sep 29, British candy maker Cadbury said it is recalling 11 types of Chinese-made chocolates found to contain melamine, as police in northern China raided a network accused of adding the banned chemical to milk.
(AP, 9/29/08)
2008 Sep 29, Typhoon Jangmi roared toward eastern China after lashing Taiwan with torrential rains and powerful winds that killed two people and injured more than 30.
(AP, 9/29/08)
2008 Sep 30, China’s state media reported that police in northern China have arrested 27 people in their probe into tainted milk that has sickened 53,000 children and tarnished China's reputation abroad.
(AP, 9/30/08)
2008 Sep 30, Zhou Yongjun (41), former student leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement, was seized and secretly imprisoned as he sought to re-enter China to visit his parents. When he tried to return to China in 1998, he was sentenced to three years of "re-education through labor" and returned to the United States in 2002. In May 2009 he was charged with fraud.
(SFC, 5/14/09, p.A2)(http://tinyurl.com/p6mcno)
2008 Sep, In China hepatitis C infections were discovered after a patient who had received a transfusion during an operation in Pingtang tested positive for the disease. In 2009 police detained the director of the hospital, where at least 64 people were infected with the potentially deadly liver disease after receiving transfusions from blood collected illegally.
(AP, 4/2/09)
2008 Oct 1, Fifteen more Chinese dairy companies were identified as producing milk products contaminated with an industrial chemical, further broadening a scandal affecting products ranging from baby formula to chocolate.
(AP, 10/1/08)
2008 Oct 3, Officials said Vietnam's health ministry has discovered the industrial chemical melamine in 18 food products imported from China and three other countries and has ordered them recalled and destroyed.
(AP, 10/3/08)
2008 Oct 4, Taiwan's president welcomed a US decision to sell the island up to $6.5 billion in advanced weaponry, while China warned the move would damage relations between Beijing and Washington.
(AP, 10/4/08)
2008 Oct 5, Hong Kong said it found two Cadbury chocolate products contained considerably more of the industrial chemical melamine than the city's legal limit in a growing scandal over Chinese tainted food. China attempted to contain the fallout from the tainted milk scandal, announcing a new survey of dairy products showed no traces of melamine and promising to subsidize farmers hit by the scare.
(AP, 10/5/08)(AFP, 10/5/08)
2008 Oct 8, Six central banks jolted markets by cutting interest rates together in an attempt to shore up confidence in the world's crisis-stricken financial system. The US Fed reduced its key rate from 2% to 1.5%. The Bank of England unexpectedly slashed its key lending rate by a half-point to 4.5%. The Bank of Canada cut its key interest rate by 50 basis points to 2.5%. China also cut its key interest rates for a second time in less than one month to 6.9%. The European Central Bank sliced its rate by half a point to 3.75%. Sweden, and Switzerland also cut rates. Earlier in a day Japan's Nikkei showed its biggest drop since the October, 1987 stock market crash. The IMF said the world economy is entering a major downturn.
(AP, 10/8/08)(AFP, 10/8/08)(Econ, 10/11/08, p.100)
2008 Oct 10, A state news report said Beijing will ban half of its 3.4 million cars from the roads during periods of very heavy pollution. A crane at a construction site next to a kindergarten collapsed in Zibo city, Shandong province, killing five children.
(AP, 10/10/08)
2008 Oct 14, China unveiled a plan to achieve universal health care. The plan hoped to cover 90% of the population within 2 years and achieve universal health care by 2020. State media reported that a ginseng injection contaminated by bacteria caused the deaths of three people using the medicine to treat thrombosis and heart disease.
(http://tinyurl.com/5f6fyb)(WSJ, 10/20/08, p.A12)(AP, 10/15/08)
2008 Oct 15, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari reached trade deals with China, raising hopes that Beijing would help his country through difficult economic and diplomatic times.
(AP, 10/15/08)
2008 Oct 18, Liu Zhihua, a former Beijing vice mayor in charge of overseeing Olympic construction projects, was given a suspended death sentence for corruption, in a stern warning to wayward Communist officials. The sentence will be commuted to life in prison in two years if Liu shows good behavior.
(AP, 10/19/08)
2008 Oct 18, Pakistan said that China will help it build two more nuclear power plants, offsetting Pakistani frustration over a recent nuclear deal between archrival India and the US.
(AP, 10/18/08)
2008 Oct 18, In southern Sudan unknown assailants kidnapped nine Chinese oil workers.
(AP, 10/19/08)
2008 Oct 19, China's communist leaders announced the approval of key rural reform that for the first time will permit farmers to lease or transfer their land in a change aimed at raising rural incomes and speeding migration from the farm to the cities. The policy change was approved a week ago at a high-level meeting.
(AP, 10/20/08)
2008 Oct 20, In China, a veterinarian said some 1,500 dogs, bred for their raccoon-like fur, have died after eating feed tainted with the same chemical that contaminated dairy products and sickened tens of thousands of babies nationwide.
(AP, 10/20/08)
2008 Oct 22, China’s government announced that the minimum downpayment on first homes would be reduced to 20% from 30%, stamp tax would be eliminated and mortgage rates cut.
(Econ, 10/25/08, p.52)
2008 Oct 23, China arrested six people for their alleged role in supplying contaminated milk to the country's dairy companies, as the Health Ministry said more than 3,600 Chinese children remain hospitalized after consuming compromised products. Scores of villagers in a remote timber region ransacked the offices of a forestry company and fought with security guards, accusing the company of paying too little for use of their land.
(AP, 10/23/08)(AP, 10/27/08)
2008 Oct 23, China and Singapore signed a free trade agreement on the eve of a summit of European and Asian leaders in Beijing. Held every two years, ASEM has no mandate to issue decisions, but participants hope it will produce some degree of consensus ahead of a Nov. 15 meeting of the world's top economies in Washington to discuss the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.
(AP, 10/23/08)(WSJ, 10/24/08, p.A13)
2008 Oct 23, The European Parliament awarded a prestigious rights prize to jailed Chinese dissident Hu Jia on the eve of a key Beijing summit and despite pressure from Beijing not to honor him.
(AFP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 24, Tokyo and Beijing agreed to establish a hotline between their leaders to build mutual trust, as Prime Minister Taro Aso held his first meeting as Japanese leader with his Chinese counterparts.
(AP, 10/24/08)
2008 Oct 24, Asian and European leaders, meeting in Beijing, called for a coordinated response to the global financial meltdown and prepared to endorse a critical role for the International Monetary Fund in aiding the hardest-hit countries.
(AP, 10/24/08)
2008 Oct 25, In China the 2-day ASEM economic summit closed. 43 Asian and European leaders pledged around $4 trillion to support banks and restart money markets to try to stem the global crisis. This was ASEM’s 7th biennial gathering since 1996.
(Reuters, 10/25/08)(Econ, 11/1/08, p.49)
2008 Oct 26, China’s state media said the World Bank and France have agreed to lend China more than $900 million to rebuild areas devastated by a massive earthquake earlier this year.
(AP, 10/26/08)
2008 Oct 27, In central Sudan kidnappers killed 4 Chinese oil workers out of nine they had been holding hostage for more than a week. A local leader in troubled South Kordofan state, where the hostages were abducted and killed, said the Chinese died as a result of fighting between the Sudanese army and the kidnappers. The next day 3 bodies and 3 wounded were flown to Khartoum. A 4th body was found on Oct 29. The last 2 were reported found Oct 31, one alive and one dead.
(AFP, 10/28/08)(AFP, 10/29/08)(AP, 10/29/08)(Reuters, 10/31/08)
2008 Oct 28, Namibia sold more than seven tons of ivory for $1.1 million, in the first legal auction of elephant tusks in nearly a decade, exclusively for Chinese and Japanese buyers.
(AP, 10/28/08)
2008 Oct 29, China cut interest rates for the 3rd time in six weeks.
(Econ, 11/1/08, p.84)
2008 Oct 29, A local Chinese government acknowledged that officials knew about melamine-tainted eggs for a month before the contamination was publicly disclosed. A Dalian government notice said that local authorities were notified Sept. 27 of tests by the customs bureau of Liaoning province that had found melamine in a batch of export-bound eggs produced by Dalian Hanwei Enterprise Group.
(AP, 10/29/08)
2008 Oct 29, In northern China a gas explosion in a mine shaft at a coal mine trapped 29 miners at the Yaotou mine in central Shaanxi province. 26 bodies were recovered over the next few days and 3 remained missing. In Henan province 20 miners were trapped after a mine flooded at the Mazhuang colliery. After a few days rescuers gave up hope of finding any alive.
(AP, 10/30/08)(AFP, 11/2/08)
2008 Oct 29, David Miliband, Britain’s foreign secretary, acknowledged China’s suzerainty over Tibet.
(Econ, 11/8/08, p.54)
2008 Oct 29, Venezuela launched its first satellite from Sichuan, China. It will begin carrying radio, television and other data transmissions in early 2009 after three months of tests.
(AP, 10/29/08)
2008 Oct 30, China’s state media reported that the industrial chemical melamine is commonly added to animal feed in China to make it appear higher in protein. This appeared to be a tacit admission by the government that contamination is widespread in the country's food supply.
(AP, 10/30/08)
2008 Oct 30, In China 12 people died after an elevator plunged at the Sunshine City construction site in east Fujian province.
(AP, 10/30/08)
2008 Oct 31, In southern China a truck driver killed 4 people and injured 20 by driving into a crowd of high school students coming out of class. The male driver was shot dead by police after the incident in the city of Zhuhai in Guangdong province.
(AP, 11/6/08)
2008 Oct, Smart Union, a Chinese toymaker founded by Tony Wu, went into forced liquidation with the direct loss of some 12,000 jobs and the indirect loss of many more. Flooding in June hit Dongguan and severely impacted the company’s inventories and the following credit crunch forced it to shut down in September.
(Econ, 1/17/09, p.63)
2008 Oct, China’s first Disney operated English-language school opened.
(Econ, 8/28/10, p.52)
2008 Nov 2, China opened the final session of the Canton Fair, the country's biggest trade show, amid complaints that attendance has been dismal because of the financial crisis clobbering the nation's biggest export markets in the US and Europe. In southwest China at least 40 were killed after mudslides engulfed several villages.
(AP, 11/2/08)(AFP, 11/2/08)(AP, 11/4/08)
2008 Nov 3, Chen Yunlin, the most senior Chinese official to visit Taiwan since the end of a civil war 60 years ago, arrived in Taipei on a charter flight from Beijing for talks on strengthening economic ties, as supporters of independence for the island staged demonstrations and planned mass protest rallies against his visit.
(AFP, 11/3/08)
2008 Nov 4, In China authorities in Chongqing, one of China's biggest cities, vowed to crack down on violence that has marked a rare strike by taxi drivers, and called for an immediate return to work.
(AP, 11/4/08)
2008 Nov 4, Taiwan and China set aside decades of hostilities and agreed to drastically expand flights and allow shipping links across the Taiwan Strait, a potential hotspot that has long threatened to become a war zone.
(AP, 11/4/08)
2008 Nov 6, Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou made history when he met with a senior Chinese official as tens of thousands of anti-Beijing protesters brought the island's capital to a standstill.
(AFP, 11/6/08)
2008 Nov 7, In China hundreds of people clashed with police in the southern city of Shenzhen, throwing stones and setting fire to a police car after a motorcyclist died while trying to avoid a checkpoint.
(Reuters, 11/8/08)
2008 Nov 8, Li Ximing (82), Beijing's Communist Party boss during the bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protests, died.
(AP, 11/11/08)
2008 Nov 9, China announced a $586 billion stimulus package in its biggest move to stop the global financial crisis from hitting the world's fourth-largest economy.
(AP, 11/9/08)
2008 Nov 10, Iraq and China signed the final agreement on a $3 billion deal to develop the Ahdab oil field south of Baghdad over a 22 year-period.
(AP, 11/11/08)
2008 Nov 12, China launched a 50-day campaign against unlicensed taxis in Beijing.
(WSJ, 11/14/08, p.A10)
2008 Nov 12, Hong Kong officials said they had found elevated levels of melamine in fish feed from China’s Fuzhou Haima Feed Co.
(WSJ, 11/13/08, p.A13)
2008 Nov 13, China signed an agreement in Geneva to loosen controls on financial news providers in an out-of-court settlement of a dispute with the US, the EU and Canada.
(AP, 11/13/08)
2008 Nov 13, US Federal health officials slapped a sweeping detention order on dozens of imported foods from China, from snacks and drinks to chocolates and candies. The agency said the action was needed as a precaution to keep out foods contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine, which can cause serious kidney problems.
(AP, 11/13/08)
2008 Nov 13, Pakistan announced that China had offered it a $500 million aid package.
(WSJ, 11/14/08, p.A10)
2008 Nov 14, In Tibet 18 people died after a bus overturned in Naqu district..
(AP, 11/17/08)
2008 Nov 15, In eastern China a subway tunnel under construction collapsed in Hangzhou, trapping workers and creating a huge crater into which more than 10 vehicles plunged. At least 7 people died and 14 were missing.
(AP, 11/15/08)(AP, 11/17/08)
2008 Nov 17, In northwest China a crowd of 1,000 people stormed a local Communist Party headquarters, smashing cars and clashing with police following a land dispute. The protesting began with just a small group of people complaining about the demolition of their homes to make way for a new road in Longnan city in Gansu province. Police later arrested 30 people for involvement in a two-day violent protest, that had to be broken up with tear gas after 74 people were injured.
(AP, 11/18/08)(AFP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 17, In central China flood waters trapped workers in a coal mine in Pingdingshan, Henan province. The next day rescuers saved 33 miners who had been trapped for 28 hours by an underground flood. One miner died.
(AP, 11/17/08)(AP, 11/18/08)
2008 Nov 18, Belgian brewing giant InBev announced it had completed the takeover of Anheuser-Busch to create the world's biggest brewer. Beijing agreed to Belgium-based InBev SA's takeover of Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc.'s Chinese operations as part of their global merger, but limited future acquisitions on anti-monopoly grounds.
(AP, 11/18/08)
2008 Nov 19, Chinese President Hu Jintao promised Cuba at least $78 million in donations, credit and hurricane relief. Hu also met with a thin-looking Fidel Castro before leaving for the Asia-Pacific economic summit in Peru. China agreed to donate $8 million to Cuba and extend the second, $70 million phase of $350 million in previously agreed-upon credit to renovate Cuban hospitals.
(AP, 11/19/08)
2008 Nov 19, China and Peru signed a free trade agreement.
(Econ, 11/29/08, p.42)
2008 Nov 19, In China Huang Guangyu, founder and chairman of GOME Electrical Appliances, was detained for insider trading in shares of Shandong Jintai Group, a pharmaceutical company controlled by his brother. On Feb 12, 2010, authorities announced charges of insider trading and bribery.
(Econ, 11/29/08, p.69)(Econ, 2/20/10, p.64)
2008 Nov 21, Chinese authorities destroyed the home of leading rights activist Ni Yulan in front of her distraught husband who pleaded with the government to release her from jail. Chen Daojun, a writer and journalist who was arrested after protesting against a power plant in southwest China, was sentenced to three years in prison on charges of subverting state power.
(AFP, 11/21/08)
2008 Nov 22, The Yellow River Conservancy Committee reported that one-third of the Yellow River, which supplies water to millions of people in northern China, is heavily polluted by industrial waste and unsafe for any use.
(AP, 11/25/08)
2008 Nov 23, In southwest China men wielding knives and batons attacked employees at an arcade in a brawl that left five dead and two injured in Chongqing.
(AP, 11/25/08)
2008 Nov 24, China's President Hu Jintao arrived in Greece for a three-day visit timed to coincide with the signing of a 831.2 million euro ($1 billion) port deal.
(AP, 11/24/08)
2008 Nov 25 Armenia won its second straight gold medal at the Chess Olympiad in Germany by defeating China 2.5-1.5 in the 11th and final round.
(AP, 11/26/08)
2008 Nov 26, China executed Wang Zhendong, a businessman convicted of bilking thousands of investors out of $416 million in a bogus ant-breeding scheme.
(AP, 11/27/08)
2008 Nov 26, China cut interest rates by more than a percentage point to 5.58%, the most significant cut in 11 years, as the economic conditions worsened.
(SFC, 12/9/08, p.A10)(Econ, 11/29/08, p.80)
2008 Nov 28, China executed Wo Weihan, a scientist accused of passing information to Taiwan, triggering condemnation from his family and several countries including the US.
(AP, 11/28/08)
2008 Nov 29, In southern China about 300 taxi drivers went on strike in Chaozhou, smashing cars and demanding a crackdown on unlicensed taxis in the latest protest against illegal taxi competition in China.
(AP, 11/30/08)
2008 Nov 30, Chinese health authorities and the UN AIDS agency pledged to fight discrimination against people with the disease in China with the unveiling of a massive red ribbon, the symbol of AIDS awareness, at the Olympic Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing.
(AP, 11/30/08)
2008 Nov 30, In northern China a coal mine blast killed 15 miners at the Changlong Coal Mine in Heilongjiang province. 3 rescuers died the next day in a cave-in.
(AP, 12/1/08)
2008 Nov, China detained Hu Zhicheng, an American automotive engineer, on accusations he misused trade secrets. His case was first reported in Dec, 2009, in an account written under a pen name that appeared on Boxun News. Zhicheng was released in May, 2010, with no charges filed against him, but he was not allowed to leave China. On June 3, 2013, word came that he was finally free to return to his home in southern California.
(AP, 12/17/09)(AP, 5/14/10)(SFC, 6/6/13, p.A13)
2008 Dec 1, China's Health Ministry said six babies may have died after consuming tainted milk powder, up from a previous official toll of three, and announced a six-fold increase in its tally of infants sickened in the scandal, to nearly 300,000.
(AP, 12/1/08)
2008 Dec 1, In northern China 11 girls died of carbon monoxide poisoning at a school in Shaanxi province. A news report said the girls had lit a fire to keep warm.
(AP, 12/2/08)
2008 Dec 4, In eastern China a fire at the dormitory of a seafood company killed 11 workers and injured 10 others.
(AP, 12/4/08)
2008 Dec 5, The US and China pledged to work together to tackle global financial turmoil as they wrapped up economic talks but left open whether the high-level dialogue will continue under President-elect Barack Obama.
(AP, 12/5/08)
2008 Dec 5, In southern China about 100 factory owners and employees held up red protest banners outside a government building, demanding that officials help them collect more than $13 million in debts from an electronics factory that recently closed.
(AP, 12/5/08)
2008 Dec 6, Okay Airways, China's first private airline, began a planned one-month suspension of passenger service 10 days early after skittish airports insisted on cash to refuel its planes. The airline suffered from financial and management woes.
(AP, 12/6/08)
2008 Dec 7, China protested strongly to France over President Nicolas Sarkozy's meeting with the Dalai Lama, calling it a "rude intervention" into Chinese affairs.
(AP, 12/7/08)
2008 Dec 8, In China Liu Xiaobo (53), a dissident, was detained hours before releasing Charter 08, the China democracy movement's most comprehensive call yet for peaceful reform. Liu had cut short a visiting scholar stint at Columbia University to join the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing in 1989. He and three other older activists famously persuaded students to peacefully leave the square hours before the deadly June 4 crackdown.
(AP, 10/2/10)
2008 Dec 9, In Beijing delegates from six nations focused on a Chinese proposal on how to verify North Korea's claims about its atomic program in talks aimed at ending the secretive regime's nuclear activities.
(AFP, 12/9/08)
2008 Dec 9, In China activists issued a new public call for greater freedoms ahead of the 60th anniversary of the UN convention on human rights, but police detained two of the signatories before it was even issued. The petition known as Charter 08 was issued online and initially signed by 303 intellectuals. Within a week 5,000 people added their signature.
(AP, 12/9/08)(Econ, 1/17/09, p.42)(Econ, 2/14/09, SR p.17)
2008 Dec 13, Japan, China and South Korea moved to ward off the effects of the global financial crunch at a trilateral summit in Japan, while Tokyo and Seoul criticized North Korea for stalling denuclearization talks.
(AP, 12/13/08)
2008 Dec 15, In China substances commonly used as industrial dyes, insecticides and drain cleaners were included on a list of illegal food additives released as part of a months long government crackdown aimed at improving the country's shoddy food safety record.
(AP, 12/15/08)
2008 Dec 15, In China the BYD Co. introduced the F3DB, country’s first homegrown electric vehicle for the mass market. The sedan was expected to be priced at about $22,000 and introduced to the US in the second half of 2010.
(WSJ, 12/13/08, p.B2)
2008 Dec 15, Taiwanese jetliners and cargo ships left for China to open a new era of direct air and shipping services with the mainland, formally ending a nearly six-decade ban on regular links between the rivals.
(AP, 12/15/08)
2008 Dec 16, Chinese agricultural officials ordered the slaughter of some 377,000 chickens after finding the H5N1 bird flu virus in two areas of Jiangsu province.
(WSJ, 12/17/08, p.A14)
2008 Dec 17, In Beijing the presidents of China and Angola signed a series of agreements as the oil rich African nation sought greater Chinese participation in its energy and infrastructure development.
(AP, 12/17/08)
2008 Dec 17, The European Parliament gave a jailed Chinese dissident a one-minute standing ovation as it honored him in absentia with its top human rights award.
(AP, 12/17/08)
2008 Dec 17, An international anti-piracy force thwarted the attempted takeover of a Chinese cargo ship off the Somali coast, sending in attack helicopters that fired on the bandits and forced them to abandon the ship they had boarded. The Indian navy handed over 23 pirates, caught at sea on Dec 13, to authorities in Yemen.
(AP, 12/17/08)
2008 Dec 20, China said it will send two destroyers and a supply vessel to the seas off Somalia to back international efforts to fight piracy.
(AP, 12/20/08)
2008 Dec 20, The NY Times said China has blocked access to its Web site, days after the central government defended its right to censor online content it deems illegal.
(AP, 12/20/08)
2008 Dec 22, China’s central bank announced its 5th interest rate cut in just over 3 months. The benchmark one year lending rate was cut .27% to 5.31%.
(WSJ, 12/23/08, p.A5)
2008 Dec 24, In China a gas leak at the Ganglu Iron and Steel Co. Ltd. in Hebei province killed 17 people.
(AP, 12/24/08)
2008 Dec 25, Chinese state media reported that 59 people in Tibet have been detained on charges that they sought to foment unrest by spreading ethnic hatred and by downloading and selling banned songs from the Internet.
(SFC, 12/26/08, p.A16)
2008 Dec 26, Chinese warships, armed with special forces, guided missiles and helicopters, set sail for anti-piracy duty off Somalia, the first time the communist nation has sent ships on a mission that could involve fighting so far beyond its territorial waters.
(AP, 12/26/08)
2008 Dec 26, China’s state media reported that nearly 5,000 higher-level Chinese government officials were punished for corruption over the past year.
(AP, 12/26/08)
2008 Dec 26, China National Offshore Oil Corp., the country's largest offshore oil and gas producer, signed four oil cooperation agreements with Taiwan's CPC Corp.
(AP, 12/26/08)
2008 Dec 27, An explosion in central China's Henan province killed 15 people and injured nine others. Explosives, used for small-scale demolition, were illegally stored at a home when they ignited, destroying more than 10 neighboring houses. At least 17 workers were killed and one seriously injured when an elevator suddenly dropped to the ground at a construction site in central Hunan province.
(AP, 12/27/08)
2008 Dec 29, Top brass from the Chinese and Russian armies hailed closer ties in their first-ever conversation over a newly installed military hot line.
(AP, 12/29/08)
2008 Dec 29, In China 9 people went on trial in connection with the tainted milk scandal. This followed the announcement of steps to compensate the families of hundreds of thousands of children harmed by contaminated infant formula.
(AP, 12/29/08)
2008 Dec 30, A Chinese state-run newspaper said the companies, whose tainted milk products sickened nearly 300,000 children and were blamed in the deaths of six, will likely pay 1.1 billion yuan ($160 million) in compensation to victims' families.
(AP, 12/30/08)
2008 Dec 30, China’s state press said paleontologists in east China have dug up what they believe is one of the world's largest group of dinosaur fossils including the remains of an enormous "platypus."
(AFP, 12/30/08)
2008 Dec 30, The Bahamas' foreign affairs minister said China will help build a national sports stadium. Construction will start early next year in the capital of Nassau. China will send the Bahamas a $7.3 million grant as well as Chinese construction workers who will build the stadium.
(AP, 12/31/08)
2008 Dec 31, It was reported that China has delayed plans to start the central section of its massive South-to-North water diversion project by 4 years due to environmental concerns.
(WSJ, 12/31/08, p.A4)
2008 Dec 31, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported that a pair of Chinese forestry executives cheated thousands of investors out of 160 million dollars by selling off "timber lands" in a barren desert region. Chairman Chen Xianggui of Inner Mongolia's Wanli Afforestation Co. was sentenced to 11 years in prison by a court in the region while general manager Liu Yanying received nine years for the pyramid scheme.
(AFP, 12/31/08)
2008 Dec 31, Tian Wenhua, former chairwoman of the Sanlu Group, one of China’s biggest dairy producers, pleaded guilty to selling fake and substandard milk powder.
(SFC, 1/1/09, p.A3)
2008 Dec, Tanganyika Oil was acquired by a subsidiary of China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) for $2 billion.
(Econ, 6/27/09, p.72)
2008 Jasper Becker authored “City of Heavenly Tranquility: Beijing in the History of China."
(Econ, 8/2/08, p.85)
2008 Leslie Chang, American journalist, authored “Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China." This followed her 3 years of reporting on women workers in Dongguan.
(Econ, 5/11/13, p.51)
2008 Chinese journalist Yang Jisheng authored "Tombstone," a 1,200-page account of the 1958-1961 famine — which he estimated claimed at least 36 million Chinese lives. In 2016 Jisheng was blocked from traveling to the United States to accept a Harvard University prize for the book.
(AP, 2/16/16)
2008 Tarun Khanna authored “Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India are Reshaping The Futures and Yours."
(Econ, 1/26/08, p.80)
2008 Tubten Khetsun authored “Memories of Life in Lhasa Under Chinese Rule."
(Econ, 3/22/08, p.93)
2008 James Mann authored “The China Fantasy: Why Capitalism Will Not Bring Democracy to China."
(Econ, 10/24/09, SR p.14)
2008 The book “The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories, China From the Bottom Up" by Liao Yiwu, Chinese poet, was translated to English by Wen Huang. The book was banned as soon as it was published in China. Wen had been imprisoned for 5 years for an epic poem published after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
(SSFC, 5/18/08, Books p.1)
2008 In China the comedy film “If You Are the One" became a blockbuster hit.
(Econ, 11/20/10, SR p.12)
2008 China legalized horse racing.
(Economist, 9/29/12, p.66)
2008 Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) was founded to develop a range of aircraft. Its first airplane, a regional jet called ARJ21, entered into service in June 2016.
(Econ, 11/5/16, p.58)
2008 In China Eric Pan founded Saeed Studio, a Shenzhen contract manufacturer. By 2014 it was one of the world’s largest manufacturers of open sourced hardware.
(Econ, 1/18/14, p.14)
2008 In China regulations took effect on open government information (OGI).
(Econ, 5/3/14, p.40)
2008 China became Mozambique's second-largest investor after neighboring South Africa, pouring 76.8 million dollars (58.6 million euros) into the country.
(AFP, 12/26/10)
2008 China became the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide this year as it spewed some 6.5 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, about 22% of the world’s total.
(Econ, 4/17/10, p.64)
2008 China executed some 1,700 convicts this year.
(Econ, 1/2/10, p.31)
2008 Russia proposed to China that both countries dump their holdings of debt issued by lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac so as to exacerbate the US financial crises and force a bail-out. China declined the offer.
(Econ, 4/19/14, p.22)
2009 Jan 3, In eastern China an explosion at an illegal fireworks factory killed 13 people in the city of Weifang in Shandong province. A boy, Zou Chuanshuo (2) was killed with an ax in Luoyang in Hubei province. The child's grandmother Zhu Deqing (43) and six others were also killed. On Jan 11 authorities arrested junk collector Xiong Zhenlin (32) in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province. He confessed to the murders, which included a widow who jilted him. A Chinese court sentenced him to death on Feb 9 for the murders. Zhenlin was executed on april 16 in the central city of Suizhou.
(AP, 1/4/09)(AP, 2/9/09)(AP, 4/16/09)
2009 Jan 5, China launched a major crackdown on Internet pornography targeting popular online portals and major search engines such as Google.
(AP, 1/5/09)
2009 Jan 5, A Chinese woman (19) died from bird flu in a Beijing hospital, but the World Health Organization said the case did not appear to signal a new public health threat.
(AP, 1/6/09)
2009 Jan 7, In China a court in Hangzhou, a prosperous city in eastern Zhejiang province, sentenced Wang Rongqing (65) to 6 years in jail on charges of subverting state power for organizing the banned China Democracy Party.
(AP, 1/8/09)
2009 Jan 7, Bank of America Corp. raised more money to cope with US economic turmoil by selling part of its stake in China Construction Bank Ltd., China's second-biggest commercial lender, for $2.8 billion.
(AP, 1/7/09)
2009 Jan 12, State media said China has shut down 91 websites for pornographic and other "vulgar" content, as well as a political blog portal, since announcing its latest bid to ensure Internet morality.
(Reuters, 1/12/09)
2009 Jan 12, In China a Shanghai distributor of a popular brand of dog food said it had suspended sales of the product following reports that dogs who ate it had died from aflatoxin poisoning. This appeared to involve an imported product, Optima, a brand of dog food made by Nashville, Tennessee-based Doane Pet Care Co. It was not clear if the pet food sold in China was the US brand.
(AP, 1/12/09)
2009 Jan 13, China's government reported that exports fell at their fastest rate in a decade as the country's trade slump worsened again in December, a decline that's led to masses of layoffs and growing fears of social unrest.
(AP, 1/13/09)
2009 Jan 15, A police official said Chinese authorities have detained 13 members of a gang suspected of kidnapping and selling children, sometimes swooping by on motorcycles and snatching them in broad daylight. Xinhua News Agency said Su Tonghua (21) was arrested on Dec. 31. His 12 accomplices were arrested last week.
(AP, 1/15/09)
2009 Jan 18, China’s public security bureau of Lhasa, Tibet, launched a "strike hard" campaign against crime, with raids on residential areas, Internet cafes, bars, rented rooms, hotels and guesthouses.
(AP, 1/28/09)
2009 Jan 19, China warned of a rising bird flu risk after a second person died of the virus in less than a month, and said it could be especially dangerous as the nation headed into the Lunar New Year holiday.
(AP, 1/19/09)
2009 Jan 19, China’s state media reported that nearly 1,000 people have been caught cheating on China's notoriously competitive civil service entrance exams, some with high-tech listening devices in their ears.
(AP, 1/18/09)
2009 Jan 20, In central China a 16-year-old boy infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus died, the country's third fatality from the disease this month.
(AP, 1/20/09)
2009 Jan 22, Asian economic gloom worsened when China said growth plunged in the final quarter of 2008 while Japan said exports fell at a record pace in December amid weakening Western consumer demand.
(AP, 1/22/09)
2009 Jan 22, A Chinese court condemned two men to death and gave a dairy boss life in prison in the first sentences handed down in the tainted milk scandal, which ignited public anger and accusations of cover-ups.
(AP, 1/22/09)
2009 Jan 24, China announced the death of a 31-year-old woman from bird flu, its fourth human victim this year, sparking fears of an outbreak during the country's main festive season.
(AFP, 1/24/09)
2009 Jan 25, In China a Richter scale 5.0 earthquake hit an area inhabited by the Xibe people. It destroyed nearly 200 homes and damaged nearly 3,000 buildings. The community, originally from Manchuria, had established a frontier garrison in Xinjiang during the Qing dynasty.
(Reuters, 1/26/09)
2009 Jan 26, China greeted the arrival of the Year of the Ox with fireworks and celebrations, bidding farewell to a tumultuous 2008 marked by a massive earthquake, the Olympics, and a global economic crisis.
(AP, 1/26/09)
2009 Jan 26, China’s state media reported that an 18-year-old man has died from bird flu in southern China, the fifth human death from the virus in the country this year.
(AP, 1/26/09)
2009 Jan 28, China’s state media said at least 81 people have been detained as the country launched a security sweep in Tibet ahead of one of the region's most sensitive anniversaries in years.
(AP, 1/28/09)
2009 Jan 28, In Switzerland some 2,500 business and political leaders met at Davos for the World Economic Forum, as the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression served to mute the enthusiasm of previous years. China’s Premier Wen Jiabao and Russia’s PM Vladimir Putin blamed the US-led financial system for the global economic slump.
(AP, 1/28/09)(WSJ, 1/29/09, p.A1)
2009 Jan 31, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in London in the latest leg of a European tour aimed at tackling the global financial and economic crisis and improving relations between the trading partners.
(Reuters, 1/31/09)
2009 Jan 31, In southern China revelers celebrating a birthday set off fireworks just before midnight inside a bar, triggering a blaze that killed 15 people and injured 22.
(AP, 2/1/09)
2009 Jan, In Ethiopia an inauguration ceremony was held for the new headquarters of the 53-member AU. Completion was expected December 2011. The structure, a gift to the AU, was designed by China, managed by China, financed by China and constructed by China.
(AFP, 1/31/10)
2009 Feb 2, A Chinese official said an estimated 26 million desperately poor rural Chinese are jobless after pinning their hopes on factory jobs that dried up due to the global economic slowdown, noting that widespread unemployment could threaten the country's social stability.
(AP, 2/2/09)
2009 Feb 2, In England a protester hurled abuse and then a shoe at China's Premier Wen Jiabao as he delivered a speech on the global economy at Cambridge University.
(AP, 2/3/09)
2009 Feb 4, Gao Zhisheng, one of China's most daring lawyers, was arrested. In Jan, 2010, the Beijing police officer who took Gao away said he "went missing" in September, leading to fears for the lawyer's safety. On Jan 21, 2010, a Foreign Ministry official said Zhisheng has been judged by legal authorities and "is where he should be." This was China's first public comment on the case. Zhisheng resurfaced in northern China on March 28, 2010, saying he wants spend time with family and away from media attention. Gao described his ordeal to The Associated Press in April and disappeared again 2 weeks later.
(AP, 1/22/10)(SFC, 3/29/10, p.A3)(AP, 1/10/11)
2009 Feb 5, China declared an emergency in eight provinces suffering a serious drought that has left nearly 4 million people without proper drinking water and is threatening millions of acres of crops. The government published a plan for the relocation and urbanization of farmers living near the Three Gorges Reservoir. Some 1.4 million farmers would have to move again.
(AP, 2/5/09)(WSJ, 2/7/09, p.A6)
2009 Feb 6, It was reported that Canada has granted Lai Changxing a work permit. Chinese authorities have accused Lai Changxing of masterminding a network that smuggled as much as $10 billion of goods with the protection of corrupt government officials. Before fleeing to Canada in 1999, Lai lived a life of luxury in China complete with a mansion and a bulletproof Mercedes.
(AP, 2/10/09)
2009 Feb 8, China’s government said that there was no end in sight for its worst drought in five decades. Some 4.4 million people lacked adequate drinking water in the north as winter wheat withered.
(SFC, 2/9/09, p.A2)
2009 Feb 9, In Beijing, China, the tower of a nearly completed skyscraper was destroyed by a fire believed to have ignited by a fireworks display marking the end of the Lunar New Year celebrations. It was part of the new headquarters for China Central Television (CCTV). In 2010 a Beijing court sentenced 20 people to up to seven years in prison over the deadly fire at CCTV's iconic headquarters.
(SFC, 2/10/09, p.A6)(AP, 5/10/10)
2009 Feb 12, China's President Hu Jintao arrived in Mali at the start of a four-country African tour which Beijing insists is about strengthening cooperation and not solely for economic gain.
(AP, 2/12/09)
2009 Feb 12, Local officials confirmed that swaths of western China that have large Tibetan populations have been declared off limits to foreign visitors, ahead of the politically sensitive 50th anniversary of a failed Tibetan uprising.
(AP, 2/12/09)
2009 Feb 12, The Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco) announced that it would invest $19.5 billion in Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto. In June it was reported that Chinalco would not complete the deal.
(Econ, 2/14/09, p.73)(AFP, 6/4/09)
2009 Feb 13, State media reported that China plans to create a blacklist of journalists who break its reporting rules, adding to an array of controls used to restrict its domestic media.
(AP, 2/13/09)
2009 Feb 13, The World Bank said it will provide a $710 million loan to China to help rebuild areas hit by last year's devastating Sichuan earthquake.
(AP, 2/13/09)
2009 Feb 14, China's Pres. Hu Jintao toured the site of a new, Chinese-financed national theater in Senegal, a day after signing a bilateral agreement promising the West African nation over $90 million in gifts and loans.
(AP, 2/14/09)
2009 Feb 15, China and Tanzania signed cooperation agreements worth millions of dollars during a visit by President Hu Jintao to this east African country aimed to reinforce ties.
(AFP, 2/15/09)
2009 Feb 15, Shots from a Russian naval vessel sank the Chinese-owned cargo ship the New Star off Russia's east coast. 8 the 16 crew members on board were killed. The Sierra Leone-flagged, Chinese-owned vessel New Star had earlier fled the Russian port of Nakhodka where it had been impounded for alleged smuggling.
(AFP, 2/20/09)
2009 Feb 16, China’s Pres. Hu Jintao arrived in Mauritius to sign deals worth more than 270 million dollars to fund infrastructure projects on the Indian Ocean island. The next day he pledged continued aid to Africa despite his country's economic downturn, and wrapped up a four-nation visit to the continent.
(AFP, 2/17/09)
2009 Feb 17, China and Russia signed a $25 billion energy deal in Beijing that will see the Asian country secure oil supplies from Moscow for the next 20 years in return for loans.
(AP, 2/17/09)
2009 Feb 18, A Chinese state news agency said AIDS was the top killer among infectious diseases in China for the first time last year, with 6,897 people dying in the nine months through September.
(AP, 2/18/09)
2009 Feb 20, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Beijing for talks with Chinese leaders after vowing not to let human rights block progress on the global economic crisis, climate change and security.
(AP, 2/20/09)
2009 Feb 20, Chinese authorities closed a chemical plant being investigated for contaminating water supplies to 1.5 million people in the country's east. Water supplies were restored after a five-hour shutdown. Biaoxin Chemical Company caused "massive" tap water pollution in Yancheng, a city in east Jiangsu province. Investigators identified the pollutant as a phenol compound used to make products including air fresheners, medical ointments, cosmetics and sunscreens.
(AP, 2/21/09)
2009 Feb 22, In northern China a gas explosion ripped through a coal mine outside Taiyuan, capital of the main coal-producing province of Shanxi, killing at least 77 miners and trapping dozens in the deadliest Chinese coal mine accident in more than a year.
(AFP, 2/22/09)(AP, 2/25/09)
2009 Feb 23, China’s state media said pig organs contaminated by a banned animal feed additive have been blamed for sickening at least 70 people in southern China. The pig organs tainted by the steroid clenbuterol were sold last week in markets in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province. Another 14 cases in Guangzhou were reported on Feb 25.
(AP, 2/23/09)(AP, 2/26/09)
2009 Feb 24, Tour agencies and other industry people reported that China has closed Tibet to foreign tourists ahead of next month's highly sensitive 50th anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
(AFP, 2/24/09)
2009 Feb 24, China’s state media reported that a Chinese delegation will buy as much as $15 billion worth of machinery, automobiles and food products while on a trip to Europe.
(WSJ, 2/25/09, p.A11)
2009 Feb 25, Russian news agencies quoted Chief Military Prosecutor Sergei Fridinsky as saying that his office has exposed an attempt by military officers to smuggle $18 million worth of stolen Russian weapons to China via Tajikistan.
(AP, 2/25/09)
2009 Feb 25, Danish and Chinese warships stopped pirates attacking two different vessels off Somalia's coast.
(AP, 2/26/09)
2009 Feb 25, In Paris an auction of art works owned by the late fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent concluded with dazzling sales of nearly $500 million. Two rare bronze sculptures that disappeared from China nearly 150 years ago and demanded back by Beijing, sold for millions. The Chinese businessman, who bid $15.1 million, later refused payment.
(AP, 2/26/09)(Econ, 3/7/09, p.92)
2009 Feb 27, In China US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense David Sedney began talks with a delegation led by Maj. Gen. Qian Lihua, the Chinese Defense Ministry's head of foreign affairs, marked a resumption of military consultations after a half-year suspension.
(AP, 2/28/09)
2009 Feb 27, A Tibetan monk, in his late 20s, was shot after dousing himself with petrol and setting himself alight in the Tibetan-populated town of Aba in China's Sichuan province. Police put out the fire, and the man was taken to hospital with burn injuries to his neck and head.
(AFP, 2/28/09)
2009 Feb 28, China's legislature enacted a tough new food safety law, promising tougher penalties for makers of tainted products in the wake of scandals that exposed serious flaws in monitoring of the nation's food supply.
(AP, 2/28/09)
2009 Feb, China extended nationwide a program of government financed discounts for household appliances. The program had been due to end in 2008, but was extended to 9 provinces in December and was now expected to continue for 4 years.
(Econ, 2/21/09, p.44)
2009 Feb, Chinese authorities started using fish to try to clean up Lake Taihu when they released 10 million mostly green and silver carp into the water, after the algae tainted the drinking supply of millions of residents. In 2010 authorities planned to release 20 million more algae-eating fish into the scenic lake ravaged by pollution.
(AFP, 2/23/10)
2009 Mar 1, China's lunar probe, the Chang'e-1, named for a moon goddess, ended its 16-month life with a planned crash into the moon.
(Reuters, 3/1/09)
2009 Mar 1, Scores of Tibetan monks in southwestern China marched in protest over the banning of a prayer service, the latest incident in an apparent increase in acts of defiance against Chinese rule ahead of sensitive anniversaries.
(AP, 3/2/09)
2009 Mar 2, A Chinese man said he was the mystery collector behind winning bids for two imperial bronzes auctioned last week at Christie's over Beijing's objections, and that he made the bogus offers to protest any sale of the looted relics. The sculptures disappeared from the Summer Palace on the outskirts of Beijing when French and British forces sacked and burned it at the end of the second Opium War in 1860. The sculptures date to the early Qing Dynasty, established by invading Manchu tribesmen in 1644. The Christie's catalog said they were made for the Zodiac fountain at the imperial palace.
(AP, 3/2/09)
2009 Mar 2, In China a top justice official said courts will accept the cases of hundreds of families with children sickened in last year's tainted milk scandal.
(AP, 3/3/09)
2009 Mar 4, In central China more than 2,000 people displaced by construction of the Three Gorges Dam clashed with police during a protest over missing resettlement payments, leaving 30 protesters injured.
(AP, 3/4/09)
2009 Mar 5, China fleshed out an ambitious expansion in government spending designed to prevent the sinking global economy from further dragging down the country's recently buoyant growth and sparking unrest among laid-off workers and poorer Chinese.
(AP, 3/5/09)
2009 Mar 6, A senior employee of Taiwan's presidential office was indicted on charges of providing classified information to rival China. Wang Jen-bing was charged with violating the national security law by leaking documents gathered during the last three years of former President Chen Shui-bian's eight-year tenure. Chen Pin-jen, a legislative aid, was indicted on similar charges.
(AP, 3/6/09)
2009 Mar 9, China's President Hu Jintao ordered a "Great Wall" against Tibetan separatism, as extra soldiers were deployed to the Himalayan region on the 50th anniversary of a failed anti-Chinese uprising. Homemade bombs damaged police vehicles in a Tibetan part of western China. Authorities expanded a security cordon across the restive region ahead of the 50th anniversary of a failed revolt that sent the Dalai Lama into exile.
(AFP, 3/9/09)(AP, 3/9/09)
2009 Mar 9, Chinese ships surrounded and harassed a Navy mapping ship in international waters off China, at one point coming within 25 feet of the American boat and strewing debris in its path. The Obama administration said it would continue naval operations in the South China Sea, most of which China considers its territory, and protested to China about what it called reckless behavior that endangered lives. China held that the USNS Impeccable was operating illegally inside its 200-mile exclusive economic zone.
(AP, 3/10/09)(WSJ, 3/11/09, p.A8)
2009 Mar 10, Tibetans and their supporters rallied across the Asia-Pacific region demanding an end to Chinese rule in their homeland on the 50th anniversary of the Dalai Lama being forced into exile. Paramilitary police and soldiers swarmed cities and villages in Tibet and restive western China, on the alert for possible unrest. The Dalai Lama said Tibet had become "hell on earth" under Beijing's control.
(AP, 3/10/09)
2009 Mar 10, The Philippine president signed a law affirming sovereignty over islands also claimed by China and Vietnam, sparking protests over the control of strategic South China Sea islands. The Chinese Embassy issued a statement expressing its "strong opposition and solemn protest" over the signing of the law.
(AP, 3/11/09)
2009 Mar 11, In eastern China 11 people were killed and 20 were injured after a blast led to the collapse of a former factory that was housing railway workers. Preliminary investigations revealed the collapse was triggered when leftover aluminium powder in the building in Danyang city, Jiangsu province ignited and exploded just after midnight.
(AFP, 3/11/09)
2009 Mar 12, China announced plans to assist millions of unemployed migrant workers with increases in grain subsidies and rural infrastructure projects.
(AP, 3/12/09)
2009 Mar 13, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Beijing is willing to hold talks with the Dalai Lama if Tibet's exiled spiritual leader abandons his separatist cause, as he defended his government's hard-line policies toward the region.
(AP, 3/13/09)
2009 Mar 14, Iran’s state TV said Iran and China have signed a $3.2 billion gas deal to produce more than 10 tons of liquid natural gas.
(AP, 3/14/09)
2009 Mar 16, The Vatican said it will launch a Chinese version of its website on March 19 in an effort to bring more of Pope Benedict's message to China, whose communist government does not allow Catholics to recognize his authority.
(Reuters, 3/16/09)
2009 Mar 18, The prime ministers of China and North Korea discussed the nuclear situation on the Korean peninsula as they met in Beijing amid rising tensions over Pyongyang's atomic and missile programs.
(AFP, 3/18/09)
2009 Mar 20, China said a new WTO report rejected the majority of intellectual property complaints made by the US and broadly backed Beijing's stance against commercial piracy.
(AP, 3/20/09)
2009 Mar 21, In northwestern China hundreds of Tibetans attacked a police station and government officials despite heightened security, prompting the arrests the next day of nearly 100 monks. The protest appeared to be in response to the disappearance of a Tibetan who escaped from police custody in Qinghai province.
(AP, 3/22/09)
2009 Mar 22, In South Africa the Sunday Independent said the Chinese embassy in South Africa had confirmed its government had appealed to South Africa not to allow the Dalai Lama into the country for a peace conference on march 27. Archbishop Tutu threatened to pull out of the meeting and to demand an explanation from the authorities.
(AP, 3/22/09)
2009 Mar 23, Gov. Zhou Xiaochuan, Chinese central bank governor, called for a new global currency controlled by the International Monetary Fund, stepping up pressure ahead of a London summit of global leaders for changes to a financial system dominated by the US dollar and Western governments.
(AP, 3/24/09)
2009 Mar 23, A northern Chinese court accepted a compensation suit against the dairy at the heart of China's tainted milk scandal, the first court to do so.
(AP, 3/25/09)
2009 Mar 23, In southwest China the ceiling at a chemical plant collapsed, killing 11 workers and leaving one person trapped under rubble. A potentially lethal radioactive material was lost after the 53-year-old Shaanxi Qinling Cement Co. was torn down in the Tongchuan city in Shaanxi province. Officials on March 27 said the material had been recovered.
(AP, 3/23/09)(AP, 3/27/09)
2009 Mar 25, China’s state media said forestry officials in far western China have resorted to scattering abortion pills near gerbil burrows in a bid to halt a rodent plague threatening the desert region's fragile ecosystem.
(AP, 3/25/09)
2009 Mar 25, Australia PM Kevin Rudd visited the US and urged Americans not to view China as an enemy but as a country offering huge economic opportunities, even though its leaders have "done some bad things in the past."
(AP, 3/26/09)
2009 Mar 26, In Ganzi, China, a predominantly Tibetan prefecture in Sichuan province, Phuntsok Rabten (27), a Tibetan Buddhist monk of Draggo monastery, was found dead. He had called for protests against Chinese authorities. He had fled on a motorcycle after police in a van discovered him distributing flyers urging Tibetans to leave their farming plots untended.
(AP, 3/31/09)
2009 Mar 27, Chinese health officials said that hand, foot and mouth disease has sickened 41,000 people across the country and killed 18 children so far this year.
(AP, 3/27/09)
2009 Mar 27, In China a minibus collided with two trucks and a bus tumbled into a mountain gorge in two unrelated crashes, killing a total of 37 people.
(AP, 3/27/09)
2009 Mar 28, Tibetans rallied against the China’s new holiday, Serfs Liberation Day, on the 50th anniversary of Beijing’s crushing of a Tibetan uprising that led to the Dalai lama’s exile.
(AP, 3/29/09)
2009 Mar 29, Canadian researchers said a shadowy cyber-espionage network based mostly in China has infiltrated secret government and private computers around the world, including those of the Dalai Lama. They said the network, known as GhostNet, had infected 1,295 computers in 103 countries and penetrated systems containing sensitive information in top political, economic and media offices.
(AP, 3/29/09)
2009 Mar 30, Banking officials meeting in Colombia said Argentina and China have tentatively agreed to swap $10 billion worth of their currencies to enable South America's second-largest economy to avoid using dollars in trade between the nations.
(AP, 3/30/09)
2009 Mar 31, In China and official said police have arrested nine people and revoked the license of a livestock market owner in a case involving pork tainted with a chemical that made 70 people sick in Guangzhou, southern China's biggest city. Investigators determined the pork was tainted with clenbuterol and ractopamine, banned chemicals used to make animals develop more muscle and less fat.
(AP, 3/31/09)
2009 Apr 1, In London Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama said Russia and the United States will pursue a new deal to cut nuclear warheads, making good on a pledge to rebuild relations from a post-Cold War low. The US and China agreed to establish a "strategic and economic dialogue" group that would first meet in Washington later this year.
(Reuters, 4/1/09)
2009 Apr 5, State media said China has reopened Tibet to foreign tourists almost two months after imposing a ban ahead of politically sensitive anniversaries.
(AP, 4/5/09)
2009 Apr 6, China announced it will make improved health care services available to all its citizens by 2020, taking aim at a system long derided as creaking and inadequate.
(AP, 4/6/09)
2009 Apr 8, In China visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said the world's center of gravity has moved to Beijing, as he focused on boosting Chinese oil purchases.
(AP, 4/8/09)
2009 Apr 8, China said that it would build a clinic in each of its nearly 700,000 villages within three years, part of a sweeping 850 billion yuan ($124 billion) investment in health care reform.
(AP, 4/8/09)
2009 Apr 8, China's state media said a court in Tibet has sentenced two people to death over riots in Lhasa last year, in what was the harshest sentence yet reported over the deadly unrest. Xinhua said the crimes committed by the five defendants resulted in seven deaths and the destruction of five shops in Lhasa.
(AFP, 4/8/09)
2009 Apr 9, A Chinese court executed two men from a Muslim minority group for killing 17 police in an attack in China's far west that the government portrayed as an attempt to sabotage the Beijing Olympics.
(AP, 4/9/09)
2009 Apr 10, About 30 protesters tried to force their way into China's elite Peking University to confront Sun Dongdong, a law professor, who said 99 percent of the people petitioning the government with grievances are mentally ill and could be institutionalized.
(AP, 4/10/09)
2009 Apr 10, A study was released saying China has 32 million more young men than young women, a gender gap that could lead to increasing crime, because parents facing strict birth limits abort female fetuses to have a son.
(AP, 4/10/09)
2009 Apr 12, China announced a $10 billion infrastructure fund and $15 billion in credits and loans to help its Southeast Asian neighbors face the global financial crises.
(WSJ, 4/13/09, p.A9)
2009 Apr 13, China released its first human rights action plan, pledging to improve the treatment of minorities and do more to prevent the torture of detainees but said that raising living standards would remain a central goal.
(AP, 4/13/09)
2009 Apr 14, In southern China hundreds of workers at a textile factory blocked roads, in a second day of protests over unpaid wages.
(AP, 4/14/09)
2009 Apr 15, China fired into orbit its second satellite in a program to build an alternative to the global positioning system based on U.S. satellites.
(AP, 4/15/09)
2009 Apr 17, In central China a warehouse explosion reportedly killed 18 people and injured three at an illegal coal mine in Hunan province. State television reported that six people were injured in the blast with 2 missing.
(AP, 4/18/09)
2009 Apr 19, The Shanghai Motor Show opened. Porsche kicked off the show by unveiling the Panamera, the German luxury carmaker's first foray into the sedan segment.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8007484.stm)
2009 Apr 20, In China a new English-language paper published by the Communist Party hit newsstands, part of Beijing's efforts to raise its profile on the global stage and find an international audience for the party line.
(AP, 4/20/09)
2009 Apr 20, At the Shanghai Motor Show Rolls Royce CEO Tom Purves announced that the company's new model would be called Ghost.
(http://tinyurl.com/dfqycq)(Econ, 5/9/09, p.66)
2009 Apr 21, In China three people were sentenced to lengthy prison terms for deadly arson attacks during last year's rioting in the Tibetan capital.
(AP, 4/21/09)
2009 Apr 22, The film “City of Life and Death," written and directed by Chuan Lu, opened in China. It depicted the 1937 Japanese assault on Nanjing.
(Econ, 5/2/09, p.43)(www.imdb.com/title/tt1124052/)
2009 Apr 24, China enacted a new postal law propping up its China Post monopoly. It imposed new rules on small domestic companies and severely limited the activities of foreign owned firms.
(Econ, 5/2/09, p.65)
2009 Apr 26, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi wrapped up a regional Middle East visit in Damascus saying Israel should return the Golan Heights to Syria.
(AFP, 4/26/09)
2009 Apr 28, In eastern China police freed a total of 32 people in a raid on kilns located on the outskirts of the city of Jieshou in Anhui province. Police later arrested 10 men for allegedly enslaving mentally handicapped people who were forced to work at brick kilns and endure beatings.
(AP, 5/22/09)
2009 Apr 29, The prime ministers of China and Japan pledged to lay a stronger foundation for cooperation between the historic Asian rivals amid global economic and health crises.
(AFP, 4/29/09)
2009 Apr 29, Taiwan said it had persuaded China to allow it to participate in a key UN body, offering a victory for President Ma Ying-jeou's campaign to win greater international recognition for the democratic island. China confirmed that Taiwan will attend next month's meeting of the World Health Assembly in Geneva as an observer.
(AP, 4/29/09)
2009 Apr 29, China Mobile said it would buy 12% of Far EasTone Telecommunications, a big Taiwanese mobile operator.
(Econ, 5/9/09, p.65)
2009 Apr 30, In Beijing Japan’s PM Taro Aso called for Tokyo and Beijing to unite in facing the world's environmental and economic challenges, while playing down concerns over China's military power.
(AP, 4/30/09)
2009 Apr 30, Chinese state media reported that China has reopened its land border to tourists traveling to North Korea after a three-year break, with a group of 71 tourists visiting the isolated country earlier this week on a one day tour of Sinuiju.
(AP, 4/30/09)
2009 May 3, China tightened visa rules for citizens from the US, which has reported the second highest number of swine flu cases in the world.
(AP, 5/5/09)
2009 May 5, China said it has given 10 million dollars (7.5 million euros) to Zimbabwe, half of it directly into the state coffers, to help boost the country's troubled economy.
(AP, 5/5/09)
2009 May 5, In central China more than 1,000 villagers clashed with police following a land dispute with construction workers that left one person dead. Protests continued into the next day.
(AP, 5/7/09)
2009 May 10, In China Deng Yujiao (21), a karaoke bar waitress, turned herself in shortly after allegedly using a fruit knife to stab Deng Guida (43), who ran a local government office for business promotion. She had also attacked his colleague Huang Dezhi at Badong's Xiongfeng Hotel after they tried to force her into having sex. On May 22 the local government in the central city of Badong posted a statement online promising her fair treatment. On May 31 the government announced that the two surviving officials had been sacked. On June 16 Yujiao was freed.
(AP, 5/22/09)(Econ, 6/6/09, p.40)(AP, 6/16/09)
2009 May 12, The US won a seat on the UN Human Rights Council for the first time along with Cuba, Saudi Arabia, China and Russia, four countries accused of serious human rights violations.
(SFC, 5/13/09, p.A2)
2009 May 15, Microsoft Corp. announced a 3-year partnership aimed at helping make the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou a model for innovation and protection of intellectual property, in the company's latest attempt to combat rampant software piracy.
(AP, 5/15/09)
2009 May 18, In China a government spokesman said a sex theme park that featured explicit exhibits of genitalia and sexual culture is being demolished before it can even open. The park, christened "Love Land" by its owners, went under the wrecking ball over the weekend in the southwestern city of Chongqing.
(AP, 5/18/09)
2009 May 19, China’s government Web site said Liu Youjun (46), a senior official in southern Guangdong province, has been detained in an apparent corruption sweep that has already targeted other major figures in the wealthy region on the cutting-edge of China's economic reforms.
(AP, 5/19/09)
2009 May 19, China and Brazil signed a raft of agreements in Beijing including a $10 billion loan for the South American country's state energy company and a deal to send oil to China amid stronger ties between the two developing world giants.
(AP, 5/19/09)
2009 May 20, EU and Chinese leaders met in Prague to tackle the economic crisis and turn the page on tensions over the Dalai Lama. Lingering differences cast a shadow over the talks.
(AFP, 5/20/09)
2009 May 30, In southwest China 25 miners were killed and 20 trapped by a gas explosion at the Tonghua Coal Mine in Anwen town, Chongqing municipality.
(AFP, 5/30/09)
2009 May 31, In Beijing US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, aiming to persuade China that its US investments were safe, pledged that the Obama administration was firmly committed to ratcheting down huge deficits as quickly as it can once economic recovery is assured.
(Reuters, 5/31/09)
2009 Jun 1, In China US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner reassured the Chinese government that its huge holdings of dollar assets are safe and reaffirmed his faith in a strong US currency.
(AP, 6/1/09)
2009 Jun 1, China's special envoy to Darfur met with Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir and pledged three million dollars in humanitarian aid for the volatile region. Liu Guijin "greeted the president for the beginning of talks in Doha between the JEM and the government."
(AFP, 6/2/09)
2009 Jun 2, GM struck a tentative deal to sell its Hummer brand to China’s Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co.
(SFC, 6/3/09, p.C2)
2009 Jun 3, In China foreign journalists were barred from Beijing's Tiananmen Square as an Internet clampdown that blocked Twitter expanded to include more blogs on the eve of the 20th anniversary of a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests.
(AP, 6/3/09)
2009 Jun 3, In central China a storm with gale-force winds killed 20 people and seriously injured 117 as it swept through Shangqiu and Kaifeng in Henan province.
(AP, 6/4/09)
2009 Jun 4, China aggressively deterred dissent in Beijing on the 20th anniversary of the crackdown on democracy activists in Tiananmen Square. But tens of thousands turned out for a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong to mourn the many demonstrators who were killed.
(AP, 6/4/09)
2009 Jun 5, In southwestern China at least 26 people were buried when part of a mountain collapsed in a massive landslide in a remote area of Wulong county in Chongqing municipality. 74 people were missing, including 47 workers at an iron ore mine, 21 local residents, two telecom company workers and four passers-by. 27 people died and dozens were hurt when a packed commuter bus burst into flames and was destroyed within minutes during the morning rush hour in the southwestern city of Chengdu. Police later said a 62-year-old unemployed man set the fire after carrying a bucket of gasoline onto the bus.
(AP, 6/5/09)(AP, 6/6/09)(AP, 7/3/09)
2009 Jun 6, Chinese rescuers found the body of Jonny Copp, an American mountain climber, following an avalanche in an isolated part of southwestern China. Wade Johnson (24) of Arden Hills, Minnesota, and Micah Dash and Jonny Copp of Boulder, Colo., were last heard from May 20 at the base camp of Mount Edgar, a peak of Mount Gongga. Johnson’s body was recovered on June 8.
(AP, 6/6/09)(AP, 6/8/09)
2009 Jun 6, It was reported that Chinese aid to Myanmar totaled some $400 million over the past five years. US aid to Myanmar was said to be worth $12 million a year.
(Econ, 6/6/09, p.59)
2009 Jun 6, Turkmenistan state media reported that China will lend the energy-rich country $3 billion to develop its vast South Yolotan natural gas field.
(AP, 6/6/09)
2009 Jun 7, China and Japan pledged to throw their combined weight behind efforts to revive the struggling world economy after talks aimed at boosting trade between the two powers.
(AFP, 6/7/09)
2009 Jun 8, The Wall Street Journal reported that China will require all personal computers sold in the country from July 1 to come with software that blocks access to certain websites. The program aimed to prevent the spread of pornography and other "unhealthy" content. On June 16 the government backed away from the order required use of installation of the Green Dam Youth Escort software, but the software would come pre-installed or included with all PCs sold on the mainland as of July 1.
(AFP, 6/8/09)(AP, 6/9/09)(SFC, 6/17/09, p.C3)
2009 Jun 10, a Chinese submarine collided with an underwater sonar apparatus towed by a US destroyer near Subic Bay, off the coast of the Philippines. Officials later said the collision with the sonar array connected to the USS John S. McCain probably occurred due to a misjudgment of distance.
(AP, 6/15/09)
2009 Jun 13, In China a colorful show of drag queens dressed in Chinese opera costumes was one of the festivities that marked Shanghai's gay pride, the first in China where homosexuality remains largely hidden.
(AP, 6/13/09)
2009 Jun 15, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) and China's state oil firm SIPEC said they have discovered crude oil in Niger Delta region.
(AFP, 6/15/09)
2009 Jun 16, China’s Pres. Hu Jintao announced a $10 billion loan to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, founded in 2001. The SCO grouped China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
(http://tinyurl.com/pr5v65j)(Econ, 1/30/10, p.51)
2009 Jun 17, China and Russia expressed serious concern about tension on the Korean peninsula and, in the face of North Korea's rhetoric, joined international pressure for it to return to nuclear talks.
(AP, 6/17/09)
2009 Jun 17, In China’s Hubei province, the body of Tu Yuangao (24) was found in front of the Shishou city hotel. Xinhua News later said that Tu worked as a chef at the hotel and some believed he was killed by gangsters or by the hotel's boss, who is related to the city mayor. The Communist Party boss of Shishou and head of law enforcement were dismissed on July 25 for mishandling the violent protests that followed Yuangao’s death.
(AP, 6/21/09)(AP, 7/25/09)
2009 Jun 17, In China 16 miners became stuck when the Xinqiao Coal Mine flooded in Henan province. 3 of the men were rescued on July 12.
(AP, 7/13/09)
2009 Jun 18, China's Internet watchdog condemned the Chinese-language version of Google for "disseminating pornographic and vulgar information."
(AP, 6/18/09)
2009 Jun 18, China angrily denounced the recent approval by the Asian Development Bank of a 2.9-billion-dollar funding plan for India, saying the scheme encroached on a territorial dispute between the Asian giants. China was particularly concerned about a 60-million-dollar watershed protection project in the Arunachal Pradesh region, where much of China and India's territorial dispute is centered.
(AFP, 6/18/09)
2009 Jun 19, Google Inc. said that it was working to block pornography reaching users of its Chinese service after a mainland watchdog found the search engine turned up large numbers of links to obscene and vulgar sites.
(AP, 6/19/09)
2009 Jun 20, In central China hundreds of baton-wielding police dispersed protesters and cordoned off a Shishou city hotel after a young man's mysterious death sparked unrest [see June 17]. In eastern China an explosion at a factory producing quartz sand killed 16 people and injured dozens in Fengyang, a county in Anhui province.
(AP, 6/21/09)
2009 Jun 21, In China the Danish-Swedish comedy “Original," about mental illness, won the best picture at the 12th Shanghai International Film Festival. It also took the best actor award for lead Sverrir Gudnason.
(AFP, 6/22/09)
2009 Jun 23, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk said the United States is launching a World Trade Organization case against China over its export restrictions on raw materials. The EU said it was joining the US in the action, which follows failure to persuade China to reduce its export tariffs and raise quotas on materials such as zinc, tin, tungsten and yellow phosphorous.
(Reuters, 6/23/09)
2009 Jun 25, The EU said it will give China up to euro50 million ($70 million) to build a carbon capture and storage plant that will test a technology aimed at limiting climate change.
(AP, 6/25/09)
2009 Jun 26, Dozens of China's most prominent writers and scholars called for the release of Liu Xiaobo (53), a dissident who was arrested on Dec 8, 2008, after co-authoring a bold manifesto urging civil rights and political reforms. Xiaobo, who had been held by police at a secret location for more than six months, was formally arrested this week on suspicion of "inciting to subvert state power," a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in jail. In southern China ethnic tensions between workers at a toy factory sparked a brawl that left two Uighurs dead and 118 injured. Han Chinese workers had accused Uighurs of rape.
(AP, 6/26/09)(AP, 6/27/09)(Econ, 7/11/09, p.27)(AP, 10/2/10)
2009 Jun 27, In China a nearly finished 13-story apartment building collapsed in Shanghai killing one worker. Authorities soon detained nine people in an investigation into the collapse.
(AP, 6/29/09)
2009 Jun 29, In China two passenger trains collided in Hunan province in an accident that killed three people and injured 60 as train cars were derailed and nearby houses knocked over. In northeastern China one man died after part of a bridge caved in, sending eight vehicles plunging into the river below.
(AP, 6/29/09)
2009 Jun 29, The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China urged Beijing to reconsider implementing a controversial Internet filter, saying it raised serious concerns about security, privacy and user choice.
(AP, 6/29/09)
2009 Jun 29, In Zimbabwe PM Morgan Tsvangirai's party boycotted a meeting of the cabinet on the grounds that it made a mockery of the country's power-sharing deal. Tsvangirai said Zimbabwe has won 950 million dollars in credit lines from China, the largest loan secured by the unity government since it was formed in February.
(AFP, 6/29/09)AFP, 6/30/09)
2009 Jun 30, China postponed a plan to require personal computer makers to supply Internet-filtering software, retreating in the face of protests by Washington and Web surfers hours before it was due to take effect.
(AP, 6/30/09)
2009 Jul 1, Iraq's government approved a BP-led consortium's offer to develop a giant southern oil field near Basra, moving forward with the only deal struck during a disappointing international oil auction. On Oct 16 the Iraqi government approved the deal by BP and its Chinese partner CNPC to develop the 17.8 billion barrel Rumaila field, the 2nd largest in the Middle East. A bombing in Kirkuk killed at least 30 people.
(AP, 7/1/09)(AP, 7/2/09)(AP, 10/17/09)(Econ, 12/4/10, p.58)
2009 Jul 5, In China’s far west protesters from a Muslim ethnic group clashed with police, with activists saying police fired shots in the air and used batons to disperse a crowd that had swelled to nearly 1,000. Over the next few days some 192 people were killed and over 800 wounded in protests that roiled Urumqi, the capital of western Xinjiang province. State media said at least 20 people have died and more than 670,000 had to be evacuated in China after torrential rain and floods destroyed houses, damaged roads and caused rivers to overflow.
(AP, 7/5/09)(AFP, 7/5/09)(Time.com, 7/6/09)(AP, 7/16/09)
2009 Jul 7, In China mobs of Han Chinese wielding meat cleavers and clubs and groups of Muslim Uighur men beat people in the streets of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang region. The government imposed a curfew as it tried to stem communal violence. The official Xinhua News Agency said that 1,434 suspects had been arrested, and that checkpoints had been set up to stop rioters from escaping.
(AP, 7/7/09)
2009 Jul 7, The Cameroonian newspaper Le Jour said five Chinese workers were abducted off the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula in Cameroon near the border with Nigeria.
(AFP, 7/8/09)
2009 Jul 8, In China hundreds of helmeted troops in riot gear swarmed the central square of Urumqi, capital of western Xinjiang, after ethnic riots left some 192 dead. The city's Communist Party boss promised those behind the killings would be executed. On July 11 China said 137 of the riot victims were Han while 46 were Uighurs and one was a Hui, another Muslim group. Uighurs on the streets of Urumqi, and from exile activist groups disputed the new figures.
(AP, 7/8/09)(AP, 7/11/09)(AP, 7/15/09)
2009 Jul 8, Australia said Chinese authorities had detained Stern Hu, Rio Tinto Ltd's top iron ore negotiator, as well as three other Rio employees on suspicion of espionage and stealing state secrets, threatening to strain already fraying ties.
(Reuters, 7/8/09)
2009 Jul 9, In China a 6.0 earthquake rocked Yunnan province, killing one person and destroying thousands of houses. More than 400,000 people left their homes following the tremor that left at least one person dead.
(AP, 7/10/09)
2009 Jul 10, In China boisterous crowds turned up at mosques in riot-hit parts of Urumqi, ignoring orders canceling Friday prayers due to the ethnic violence and forcing officials to let them in.
(AP, 7/10/09)
2009 Jul 10, China’s state media said 4 detained Rio Tinto Ltd. employees are accused of paying bribes for secret information about China's stance in iron ore price talks. A Chinese steel executive, also detained along with four Rio Tinto employees, was being investigated for leaking China's "bottom line" on iron ore prices. Chinalco denied the move was payback for a collapsed deal.
(AP, 7/10/09)(Reuters, 7/10/09)
2009 Jul 13, In China police shot dead two Uighur men and wounded a third on the streets of Urumqi, where tens of thousands of troops are stationed to restore calm a week after deadly ethnic riots.
(AP, 7/13/09)
2009 Jul 13, China's Health Ministry ordered a hospital to stop using electric shock therapy to cure youths of Internet addiction, saying there was no scientific evidence it worked.
(AP, 7/14/09)
2009 Jul 15, In China the former head of oil giant Sinopec was sentenced to death after being found guilty of corrupt practices over many years, but state press reported that he will likely not be executed. The Beijing court had found Chen Tonghai guilty of graft amounting to 195.7 million yuan (28.8 million dollars) when he served in top Sinopec ranks from 1999 to 2007.
(AFP, 7/15/09)
2009 Jul 16, Australia and China traded warnings over Rio Tinto employees detained for spying, as the United States urged Beijing to ensure transparency and fair treatment for staff of foreign companies.
(Reuters, 7/16/09)
2009 Jul 16, In Taiwan’s southern city of Kaohsiung, more than 3,000 athletes and staff from 105 countries and territories marched into the World Games Stadium, a new, eye-catching structure designed by renowned Japanese architect Toyo Ito. China’s 100-strong delegation boycotted the opening ceremony of the World Games in Taiwan, underscoring the limits of the historic breakthrough in relations between Taipei and Beijing.
(AP, 7/16/09)
2009 Jul 17, In China government officials in Beijing descended on the Open Constitution Initiative (OCI), a public interest lawyer’s group that challenged abuse and corruption by state and local governments. They took away almost everything the group owned and tax authorities ordered it to pay $207,900.
(Econ, 7/25/09, p.38)
2009 Jul 19, In Kazakhstan more than 5,000 ethnic Uighurs rallied in Almaty to protest China's use of deadly force to quash Uighur protests this month.
(AP, 7/19/09)
2009 Jul 20, Algeria’s Ministry of Transport said the Chinese civil engineering group CCECC has won 3 contracts worth a total of 1.46 billion euros to build railways in Algeria.
(AFP, 7/20/09)
2009 Jul 21, Several Chinese Internet sites and parts of popular Web portals went offline amid tightening controls that have already left mainland Web users without access to Facebook, Twitter and other well-known social networking sites.
(AP, 7/21/09)
2009 Jul 23, Chinese researchers reported that they have produced living mice from connective tissue cells induced to revert to their embryonic state.
(SFC, 7/24/09, p.A11)
2009 Jul 23, In China female panda You You (pronounced Yo Yo) gave birth to the new cub at the Wolong Giant Panda Research Center in southwestern Sichuan. This was the first successful birth of a panda cub from artificial insemination using frozen sperm, giving a new option for the notoriously poor breeders.
(AP, 7/24/09)
2009 Jul 23, In China a landslide triggered by heavy rain hit a county in southwestern Sichuan province, killing at least four people and leaving 53 others missing.
(AP, 7/23/09)
2009 Jul 24, In China some 30,000 steelworkers in Tonghua clashed with police in a protest over plans to merge their mill with another company. Angry employees of Tonghua Iron and Steel Group attacked Jianlong Steel general manager Chen Guojun during the protest and beat him to death.
(AP, 7/25/09)
2009 Jul 25, In eastern China more than 3,000 villagers of Shipu town, in Zhejiang province, blocked a highway and clashed with police while protesting alleged official corruption in a land compensation deal.
(AP, 7/26/09)
2009 Jul 25, Chinese state television launched an Arabic-language channel beamed to the Middle East and Africa as part of efforts to expand the communist government's media influence abroad.
(AP, 7/25/09)
2009 Jul 26, In Macao, China, Fernando Chui (52), the sole candidate for chief executive in the former Portuguese colony, was endorsed by a 300-member panel in the first leadership change since Macao reverted to Chinese rule in 1999.
(AP, 7/26/09)
2009 Jul 27, President Barack Obama in Washington, DC, opened 2 days of high-level talks with China. Obama called for deeper US-Chinese economic cooperation and outlined a broad agenda for a positive relationship between two countries that do not always see eye to eye.
(Reuters, 7/27/09)
2009 Jul 28, A court in southwest China accepted the country's first lawsuit filed by an environmental group against a local government. The All-China Environmental Federation had filed the suit on behalf of residents against the local land resources bureau in Qingzhen city in Guizhou province, which sold land to a drink and ice cream processing plant they allege is a threat to a scenic lake area.
(AP, 7/31/09)
2009 Jul 29, China’s state media reported that contaminated drinking water has sickened more than 2,600 people in northern China, including 59 who were hospitalized with fevers, diarrhea, stomach aches and vomiting.
(AP, 7/29/09)
2009 Jul 29, In China Xu Zhiyong (35), prominent legal scholar, was arrested in Beijing. A week later he was accused of tax evasion. His group had tackled some of China’s most politically sensitive cases.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xu_Zhiyong)(SFC, 8/5/09, p.A2)
2009 Jul 29, The anti-death penalty group Hands Off Cain said the number of prisoners put to death worldwide decreased in 2008. At least 5,727 executions were carried out in 2008, down from 5,851 the year before. China accounted for at least 5,000 executions, or 87.3$ of the total, the same estimate as last year.
(AP, 7/29/09)
2009 Jul 30, In China nearly a thousand villagers gathered at government and police offices in Zhentou township in Hunan province to highlight what they say is deadly pollution being discharged from the Xianghe Chemical Factory in nearby Liuyang city.
(AP, 8/2/09)
2009 Jul, Chinese authorities, following riots in Xinjiang province, put the province under electronic lockdown for the next 10 months. Clashes between Uighurs and Hans left some 200 people dead in Urumqi.
(AP, 9/3/09)(Econ, 4/6/13, SR p.15)(Econ, 8/9/14, p.38)
2009 Aug 1, China’s Ziketan town in Qinghai province was put under collective quarantine when laboratory tests showed it had been struck by the highly virulent disease. 2 of its residents had recently died from pneumonic plague, which spreads through the air, making it easier to contract than bubonic plague, which requires that a person is bitten by an infected flea. Its fatality rate was up to 100% if left untreated, compared with 60% for bubonic plague. The outbreak was first detected on July 30.
(AFP, 8/2/09)(AP, 8/4/09)
2009 Aug 1, Chinese police detained the head of the Xianghe Chemical Factory and the government suspended the chief and deputy chief of the city's environment protection bureau.
(AP, 8/2/09)
2009 Aug 2, China reported that police in the northwest region of Xinjiang have arrested hundreds of people in connection with disturbances that left at least 197 people dead.
(AFP, 8/2/09)
2009 Aug 3, China’s state media reported that more than 500 villagers in central China have been found to have high concentrations of a dangerous metal in their bodies after a series of leaks from the Changsha Xianghe Chemical Plant in Hunan province's Zhentou township. 509 people were found to have high concentrations of cadmium and 33 were hospitalized over the weekend.
(AP, 8/3/09)
2009 Aug 4, China’s state media reported that police have formally arrested 83 people on charges including murder and arson in connection with last month's deadly rioting in the western region of Xinjiang.
(AP, 8/4/09)
2009 Aug 4, In northern China an unfinished factory building collapsed as torrential rain hit the city of Shijiazhuang. 17 people were reported killed.
(AP, 8/4/09)
2009 Aug 7, In China Li Peiying (60), the former head of Beijing airport's management company, was executed following his conviction on corruption charges. He was found guilty in February of accepting almost $4 million in bribes and embezzling about $12 million in public money since 1995.
(AP, 8/7/09)
2009 Aug 8, In China hundreds of villagers rioted after news broke about the lead poisoning at the Wugang Manganese Smelting Plant in Wenping township, central Hunan province. A crowd of 600 to 700 people overturned four police cars and smashed a local government sign. China later detained two factory officials after 1,354 children were reported poisoned by lead pollution from the manganese processing plant.
(AP, 8/20/09)
2009 Aug 8, Myanmar government troops seized a weapons factory near the Chinese border after being informed about it during a ministerial meeting with China on combating transnational crime. This triggered several days of clashes with an ethnic militia that sent more than 30,000 refugees fleeing across the border into China.
(AP, 9/9/09)
2009 Aug 9, Typhoon Morakot slammed into China's eastern coast, forcing the evacuation of nearly a million people after earlier lashing Taiwan with torrential rains that caused the island's worst flooding in 50 years and left dozens missing and feared dead.
(AP, 8/9/09)
2009 Aug 10, China said that it has released more than 1,200 detainees held over the unrest in Tibet last year while more than 700 people are still being held over last month's riots in Xinjiang. China's police said they have installed 2.75 million surveillance cameras since 2003 and are expanding the system into the largely neglected countryside.
(AFP, 8/10/09)
2009 Aug 11, China formally arrested four employees of Anglo-American mining giant Rio Tinto Ltd. for infringing trade secrets and bribery, but stopped short of laying politically explosive espionage charges in a case that has strained ties with key trading partner Australia.
(AP, 8/12/09)
2009 Aug 12, China’s state media reported that authorities in northern China have shut down the Dongling Lead and Zinc Smelting Co. in Shaanxi province after it was found to have caused lead poisoning that sickened more than 300 children. Media later reported that 851 children in Changqing township had tested positive for lead poisoning.
(AP, 8/12/09)(AP, 8/14/09)(AFP, 8/19/09)
2009 Aug 12, The WTO upheld American complaints that China breaks trade commitments by the way it regulates the import and distribution of foreign publications, films and music. The initial complaint was filed in 2007 and was later joined by the EU, Japan, Australia and others.
(Econ, 8/15/09, p.36)
2009 Aug 13, Chinese officials retreated from a plan to install anti-pornography software on every computer sold, but said Internet cafes, schools and other public places must use the program.
(SFC, 8/14/09, p.A2)
2009 Aug 16, Chinese authorities in central Henan province called off the takeover of Linzhou Iron and Steel Co. Ltd., a state-owned steel plant, after workers protested and trapped an official in the factory office for four days, the second time in a month that the country's steelworkers have rallied to successfully avoid privatization.
(AP, 8/16/09)
2009 Aug 19, Australia celebrated the biggest trade deal in its history and said it proved vital ties with China had survived a series of bruising rows. PM Kevin Rudd said ExxonMobil's 41.3 billion US dollar liquefied natural gas contract with PetroChina would create up to 6,000 jobs and pump billions of dollars into the economy. PetroChina ordered 2.25 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) a year over two decades from ExxonMobil's share of the still-undeveloped Gorgon plant off Western Australia.
(AFP, 8/19/09)
2009 Aug 23, A Chinese state news agency reported that a drought in the north has left nearly 5 million people short of drinking water and damaged crops, while dry weather in the south could cause more shortages.
(AP, 8/23/09)
2009 Aug 24, In China 14 workers were killed in a gas explosion at a coal mine in northern Shanxi province.
(AP, 8/25/09)
2009 Aug 25, In China Wang Yunlong, the head of the legislative committee on agriculture and rural affairs, told his fellow lawmakers that efforts to stop the use of "lean meat powder" (clenbuterol) had fallen short in many areas and called for a "concentrated countrywide effort to bring it under control." Farmers used the banned drug because it boosted profits in two ways: It speeds up the growth of animals to get them to market quicker and creates meat for which consumers are willing to pay extra.
(AP, 1/24/11)
2009 Aug 26, China’s state media reported that the majority of transplanted organs in China come from executed prisoners in a rare disclosure about an industry often criticized for being opaque and unethical.
(AP, 8/26/09)
2009 Aug 26, In China six members of an alleged "terror gang" were detained in the suburbs of the city of Aksu, 675km (420 miles) southwest of Urumqi. The Ministry of Public Security later said a "large quantity" of materials and tools needed to make explosive devices was seized.
(AFP, 9/16/09)
2009 Aug 27, In Myanmar fresh fighting erupted between government forces and an armed ethnic group in the remote northeast, forcing tens of thousands to flee across the border into China.
(Reuters, 8/28/09)
2009 Aug 28, In China 15 miners died after inhaling poisonous gas at the Jicai Graphite Mine near Chenzhou City in central Hunan province.
(AP, 8/29/09)
2009 Aug 29, Fighting erupted in northeast Myanmar after days of clashes in which the leader of ethnic forces said more than 30 government troops had been killed. Hundreds of ethnic rebels fled clashes in northeastern Myanmar, surrendering their weapons and uniforms to Chinese border police and crossing to safety after several days of skirmishes with Myanmar government troops. The UN and Chinese officials said up to 30,000 civilian refugees have streamed into China to escape the fighting.
(Reuters, 8/29/09)(AP, 8/30/09)
2009 Aug 30, In eastern China Yu Xiaochun (37) was going home when she was surrounded by five Wal-Mart employees, four men and one woman, all in their 20s, who accused her of shoplifting. They fought and Yu fell to the ground and was taken to a hospital, where she died on Sept. 2. Two employees, a man surnamed Liu and a man surnamed Yu, were detained following her death.
(AP, 9/8/09)
2009 Aug 30, The Myanmar junta ended a news blackout about clashes with ethnic rebels near the China border, saying three days of fighting killed 26 government forces and at least eight rebels.
(AP, 8/30/09)
2009 Aug 31, In China a demonstration occurred when angry villagers from Fujian province's Fengwei town confronted 2,000 riot police over a wastewater treatment plant that had fouled local air and water. At least 10 people were injured when the demonstrations turned violent and riot police fired warning shots.
(AP, 9/1/09)
2009 Aug 31, Thousands of Myanmar refugees headed home from China as fighting between government troops and a rebel militia that left more than 30 people dead appeared to be over.
(AP, 8/31/09)
2009 Aug, In China the Canton Tower was topped out in Guangzhou. At 1,969 feet it was the world’s tallest tower. It opened on Sep 30, 2010.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canton_Tower)
2009 Aug, In China a new micro-blogging service (Sina Weibo), similar to Twitter, began operating. Property mogul Pan Shiyi, co-founder of SOHO hina, was signed on for one of the first 20 accounts.
(Econ, 10/30/10, p.42)(Econ, 4/6/13, SR p.7)
2009 Sep 2, In eastern China a chemical explosion near Linyi city in Shandong province killed 18 people and injured 10 others.
(AP, 9/2/09)
2009 Sep 2, The IMF said China is buying the equivalent of $50 billion of the International Monetary Fund's first bond sale in a move that might boost Beijing's standing in the Fund and help its quiet campaign to expand the reach of its tightly controlled currency. Brazil, Russia and India have also agreed to participate in the $80 billion issue.
(www.wsoctv.com/money/20698248/detail.html)(Econ, 9/19/09, p.83)
2009 Sep 3, Hundreds of Chinese protested deteriorating public safety after a series of mysterious syringe attacks further unnerved residents in the western Chinese city of Urumqi where ethnic rioting in July killed nearly 200 people.
(AP, 9/3/09)
2009 Sep 4, In China security forces in the far-west city of Urumqi used tear gas to break up fresh protests, as thousands of Han Chinese demanded better security after a reported spate of attacks with syringes.
(Reuters, 9/4/09)
2009 Sep 5, Chinese leaders removed the Communist Party chief of the restive western city of Urumqi, trying to appease public anger following sometimes violent protests this week that the government worries could re-ignite deadly ethnic rioting. The removal of Li Zhi came amid reports of police again dispersing crowds outside Urumqi's government offices using tear gas, and more unconfirmed reports of needle attacks.
(Reuters, 9/5/09)
2009 Sep 8, In central China's Henan province an explosion at an illegal coal mine killed 42 miners and left another 37 men trapped. Elsewhere in Henan province 13 workers were killed in gold mine fire sparked by the severing of electrical wires in a cave-in.
(AP, 9/8/09)(AP, 9/9/09)
2009 Sep 11, Chinese officials said mystery needle attacks appeared to spread in China's far western region as authorities arrested nine new suspects in three cities. Since last week, more than 500 people in Urumqi have reported attacks, though only about 100 showed evidence of being pricked.
(AP, 9/11/09)
2009 Sep 11, Europe's biggest automaker Volkswagen said it planned to invest 4.0 billion euros (5.8 billion dollars) to boost its presence in China over the next three years.
(AP, 9/11/09)
2009 Sep 11, Pres .Obama slapped punitive tariffs on all car and light truck tires entering the US from China as the rising tide of imported tires hurt American producers.
(SFC, 9/12/09, p.A4)
2009 Sep 12, China decried a US decision to impose added duty on Chinese-made tires, saying the move sent a dangerous protectionist signal before a G20 summit and could stoke reactions impeding global recovery. The tire duty was the first time Washington has applied special "safeguard" provisions Beijing agreed to before joining the WTO in 2001.
(Reuters, 9/12/09)
2009 Sep 12, A court in western China's Xinjiang region sentenced three people to up to 15 years in prison in the first trials over a series of mysterious syringe attacks that led to mass protests against the local government. In eastern China 3 people died and an additional 17 required medical treatment after they were exposed to bags of a toxic chemical illegally dumped by a factory in Dongyang.
(AP, 9/12/09)(AP, 9/16/09)
2009 Sep 14, China filed a WTO complaint over new US tariffs on Chinese tires, stepping up pressure on Washington in the latest in a series of trade disputes.
(AP, 9/14/09)
2009 Sep 14, China broke ground on its fourth space center. The new port on the southern island province of Hainan, slated to go into use in 2013, highlights the country's soaring space ambitions six years after it sent its first man into orbit.
(AP, 9/14/09)
2009 Sep 17, Chinese state media said nine people have been killed and nine others are missing after Typhoon Koppu roared into the southern province of Guangdong. A knife-wielding man stabbed two guards to death and wounded 14 near Beijing's Tiananmen Square. The attacker, a 46-year-old man, was drunk at the time.
(AP, 9/17/09)(AP, 9/19/09)
2009 Sep 19, In southeastern China at least 16 people died and 14 were injured after a truck hit a road maintenance vehicle from behind, sending it off a bridge.
(AP, 9/19/09)
2009 Sep 22, China appealed at the last minute against a World Trade Organization ruling upholding parts of a US complaint about Chinese restrictions on imports of films, books and other audio-visual material.
(Reuters, 9/22/09)
2009 Sep 23, Ethiopia said its national electricity company has signed contracts with three Chinese firms to develop hydro-electric projects and made preliminary accords for wind power projects.
(AFP, 9/23/09)
2009 Sep 25, Authorities in China's restive northwestern Xinjiang region charged 21 suspects over deadly July unrest, the first reported criminal charges to emerge from the violence.
(AFP, 9/25/09)
2009 Sep 26, China reported that medical tests have shown at least 121 children living near a battery plant in eastern Fujian province are suffering from lead poisoning, the latest in a recent string of such cases that have affected hundreds. The government has ordered the Huaqiang Battery Plant to shut about 10 days ago after local villagers approached the authorities with test results showing lead poisoning in some children.
(AP, 9/27/09)
2009 Sep 26, In Spain "City of Life and Death," Chinese director Lu Chuan's account of the Japanese occupation of Nanjing in 1937, won top honors at the San Sebastian film festival.
(AFP, 9/26/09)
2009 Sep 28, Canada’s train maker Bombardier Transportation says its Chinese joint venture has been awarded a $4 billion contract to build 80 high-speed trains for China's railway ministry.
(AP, 9/28/09)
2009 Sep 28, In China foreign ministers from China, Japan and South Korea pledged to deepen cooperation on non-proliferation and disarmament, as pressure grew on Pyongyang over its nuclear program.
(AFP, 9/28/09)
2009 Sep 29, China said it has completed a high-resolution, three-dimensional map of the entire surface of the moon, in an important step towards a future lunar landing.
(AP, 9/29/09)
2009 Sep 30, China launched a massive shut-down of bustling central Beijing on the eve of a spectacular celebration of 60 years of Communist rule, with authorities determined to leave nothing to chance.
(AFP, 9/30/09)
2009 Oct 1, China celebrated 60 years of communist rule with a military parade and elaborate pageantry on Beijing's Tiananmen Square showcasing the nation's revival as a global power. China demonstrated its new J-10 fighters and DF-31 nuclear ICBM.
(AFP, 10/1/09)(Econ, 10/3/09, p.54)
2009 Oct 4, North Korea told visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao that it was open to bilateral and multilateral talks on its nuclear programs.
(AFP, 10/4/09)
2009 Oct 5, Visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il amid efforts to bring Pyongyang back to nuclear disarmament talks. China pledged to strengthen bonds with isolated North Korea, calling their relationship a boon to peace.
(AFP, 10/5/09)(Reuters, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 10, China, Japan and South Korea held a 3-way summit in Beijing.
(Econ, 10/10/09, p.43)
2009 Oct 10, A Chinese court sentenced a man to death for his role in the June 26 toy factory brawl that sparked riots in western Xinjiang region that left almost 200 dead. Xinhua News said Xiao Jianhua was given death and Xu Qiqi was given life in prison on charges of intentionally harming others. Their names suggest they are members of the Han majority.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 11, Chinese state media reported that more than 50,000 people in southern Guangdong province are suffering from water shortages as a spreading drought has left farmers' fields dry and cracked.
(AFP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 12, A court in China's far western Xinjiang region sentenced six men to death for murder and other crimes committed during ethnic riots that killed nearly 200 people. A seventh man was given life imprisonment.
(AP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 12, Russian PM Vladimir Putin landed in China in an effort to bolster energy, political and military ties between the former rival nations turned strategic partners.
(AP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 13, China and Russia signed a framework agreement that could see a steady flow of natural gas to energy-hungry China from its resource-rich neighbor.
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, China’s Xinhua state news agency said 968 children in central China have tested positive for lead poisoning in the latest environmental scandal to erupt in the nation's smelting industry. Residents in Jiyuan city, Henan province, had protested over pollution from three local smelters last month.
(AFP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, Guinea's military government said it has signed a $7 billion mining agreement with a Chinese company. Guinea is the world's largest producer of bauxite, the raw material used to make aluminum, and also produces diamonds and gold. The Hong Kong-based syndicate, China Int’l. Fund or China Sonangol, transferred $100 million to the cash-strapped junta.
(AP, 10/13/09)(Econ, 8/13/11, p.23)
2009 Oct 14, A security summit between China, Russia and their Central Asian neighbors wrapped up in Beijing with vague promises to deepen economic cooperation but no public mention of regional flashpoints like Afghanistan.
(Reuters, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, A hot air balloon crashed in a southern Chinese resort town with dramatic limestone formations, killing four Dutch tourists.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 15, China’s Premier Wen Jiabao said that China intends to strengthen its cooperation with Iran, an indication Beijing would oppose growing calls in the West for additional sanctions against the Islamic regime for its nuclear program.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, A Chinese court handed out a further three death sentences to people convicted of violent crimes during ethnic rioting in far western Xinjiang region in July in which almost 200 people died. The court also sentenced three defendants to suspended death sentences, which could be commuted to life sentences in two years. At least two of those sentenced were Han Chinese. The others all appeared to be Uighurs.
(Reuters, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 16, In China former university professor and judge Guo Quan was sentenced to 10 years in prison for "subversion of state power" by a court in eastern Jiangsu Province.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 18, China reported that authorities have started resettling 330,000 people in central Hubei and Henan provinces to make way for a massive project to divert water hundreds of miles to cities in its arid north. The estimated $62 billion water diversion could be nearly three times as expensive as the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydroelectric project.
(AP, 10/18/09)
2009 Oct 19, Somali pirates seized a Chinese cargo ship with 25 people onboard.
(AP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 20, China executed 2 people for their roles in deadly protests last year in the Chinese-controlled region of Tibet, the first known executions for the violence. Lobsang Gyaltsen (28) and Loyak (30), who goes by one name, were sentenced to death in April on charges relating to "starting fatal fires."
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 21, China and India put aside a diplomatic spat to sign a five-year agreement in New Delhi to cooperate on climate change leading up to crucial talks in Copenhagen.
(AFP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 21, A court in southwest China sentenced six men to death for gang-related crimes including blackmail and murder, the first convictions in a months long crackdown that has exposed a major city mired in violent organized crime. More than 1,544 suspects have been detained in Chongqing, China's largest municipality, since the gang sweep started in June, with more than a dozen criminal gangs busted.
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 23, Chinese state media reported that police have arrested 42 alleged members of a trafficking ring that sold dozens of infants stolen or bought from their rural parents.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, Top US safety officials met with their Chinese counterparts to discuss complaints from American homeowners of illness and other damage from suspect drywall imported from China. Consumer Products Safety Commission Chairman Inez Tenenbaum said that the two sides were talking about the issue while they await results of tests on what is causing the problems.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, Australia approved Yanzhou Coal's 3.2 billion US dollar takeover of miner Felix Resources, its biggest by a Chinese firm, in a breakthrough for the Asian giant's scramble for commodities.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 24, In China a Belgian cargo vessel leaked oil into waters at the Caofeidian port in northeastern Hebei province, after a Chinese ship crashed into it at a refueling dock.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 29, Chinese officials agreed to lift the ban on US pork imports they imposed last spring out of fear of swine flu.
(AP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 30, In China a bus plunged into a valley along a mountainous road in northern Shanxi province, killing 13 people and injuring at least 40 others.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 31, China's legislature removed Zhou Ji (63), the country's unpopular education minister, amid a corruption scandal in a city he used to oversee and widespread public dissatisfaction with the education system.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Oct 31, Qian Xuesen (b.1911), a rocket scientist known as the father of China's space technology program, died in Beijing. Qian left for the US after winning a scholarship to graduate school in 1936. He studied at MIT and later at the California Institute of Technology, where he helped start the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Qian, also known as Tsien Hsue-shen, was regarded as one of the brightest minds in the new field of aeronautics before returning to China in 1955, driven out of the US at the height of anticommunist fervor.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Nov 1, In China a ship carrying 100 tons of hydrochloric acid sank in the Yangtze river after colliding with another vessel.
(AFP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 3, In China a woman called the "godmother" of a mafia-style gang in the southern city of Chongqing was sentenced to 18 years in prison for running underground casinos and bribing government officials.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 4, In China a guard at an unofficial jail in Beijing pleaded guilty to raping a young detainee, in a case that has put a spotlight on "black jails" where a growing number of people seeking justice from the government end up. The woman (21), from central Anhui province, had been expelled from college because of poor exam scores and came to Beijing to ask the government to reinstate her. The woman escaped the "black jail" with about 50 other detainees after the guard fled following the alleged rape. On Nov 12 Human Rights Watch said the unofficial black jails have evolved into a cottage industry and blamed a civil service evaluation system that penalizes officials if too many of their people complain to the central government. It was estimated that some 10,000 people were detained annually.
(AP, 11/5/09)(SFC, 11/13/09, p.A4)
2009 Nov 4, It was reported that China’s central government has approved a proposal for a Shanghai Disney theme park. Disney hoped to open Shanghai Disneyland by 2014, at a reported cost of about $3.6bn (£2.17bn).
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8341570.stm)(SFC, 11/24/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 5, China’s Xinhua News Agency said Xu Wei (42), a former gang leader who was the son of Yushu's former deputy mayor, was executed this week in northern China after being convicted of murder, kidnapping, and extortion. In an earlier separate case his father, Xu Fengshan, was sentenced to death with a reprieve of two years for taking more than 20 million yuan (2.93 million U.S. dollars) in bribes, and harboring criminal organizations.
(AP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 6, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao headed to Egypt for a summit with African leaders as Beijing bids to expand its diplomatic and economic influence on the resource-rich continent.
(AP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 7, China’s PM Wen Jiaobao sought to reassure the world's Muslims about his country's goodwill towards them in Cairo, at a time when Beijing is criticized for the treatment of its own Muslim minority.
(AFP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 8, At the start of the two-day Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Egypt China's Premier Wen Jiabao pledged $10 billion in low interest loans to African nations over the next three years and said Beijing would cancel the government debts of some of the poorest of those countries.
(AP, 11/8/09)
2009 Nov 9, China said it had put to death nine people over deadly ethnic unrest in its far-western Xinjiang region, the first executions since the rioting in July.
(AFP, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 9, In China Hu Shuli, the founder and editor of the 11-year-old Caijing financial magazine, resigned. He had tackled tough subjects and his departure cast doubts over greater media independence.
(SFC, 11/10/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 13, China’s Civil Affairs Ministry said unusually early snow storms in north-central China have claimed 40 lives, caused thousands of buildings to collapse and destroyed almost 500,000 acres (200,000 hectares) of winter crops.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 14, It was reported that Chinese officials are being told to dump their mistresses, avoid hostess bars, and shun extravagances as part of the Communist party's efforts to clamp down on the corruption that is threatening its rule and sullying its reputation.
(AP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 15, In Singapore President Barack Obama said the United States and Russia would have a replacement treaty on reducing nuclear arms ready for approval by year's end, an announcement designed as an upbeat ending to a summit with Asia-Pacific leaders. Obama also attended a second summit with leaders of the 10 southeast Asian countries that make up the ASEAN group. Obama then arrived in Shanghai, launching a three-day visit to an important global US partner and his first travels ever in China.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 16, In Shanghai President Barack Obama pointedly nudged China to stop censoring Internet access, offering an animated defense of the tool that helped him win the White House and suggesting Beijing need not fear a little criticism.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 17, In Beijing President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao promised a determined, joint effort to tackle climate change, nuclear disarmament and other global troubles yet emerged from their first full-blown summit with scant progress beyond goodwill. Obama also raised the case of American geologist Xue Feng, who disappeared into Chinese custody in 2007 under charges of stealing state secrets over the purchase of a commercial database on the oil industry.
(AP, 11/17/09)(SFC, 11/20/09, p.A4)
2009 Nov 18, China's health minister said his country is vaccinating 1.5 million people a day against swine flu, part of a mammoth effort to reach nearly 7 percent of inhabitants of the world's most populous country by year's end.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 19, A US congressional advisory panel said that Chinese spies are aggressively stealing American secrets to use in building Beijing's military and economic strength.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 21, In northern China a gas explosion tore through the state-run Xinxing coal mine in Heilongjiang province, killing at least 107 people with 2 missing.
(AP, 11/21/09)(AP, 11/22/09)(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 23, A Chinese court sentenced Web site manager Huang Qi, a veteran dissident, to three years in prison after he criticized the government's response to the May, 2008, earthquake that killed about 90,000 people.
(AP, 11/23/09)(Econ, 2/13/10, p.45)
2009 Nov 24, China executed Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping for their roles in a contaminated milk powder scandal last year that led to the deaths of at least six infants and sickened up to 300,000.
(AFP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 25, A court in northern China sentenced five leaders of an unauthorized Protestant church to prison terms of up to 7 years on charges including illegal assembly. Their arrests stemmed from a Sept. 13 raid by police and hired security guards on sunrise services held in a dormitory building by the 50,000-member Linfen Fushan Church in Linfen, northern Shanxi province.
(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 25, A Chinese health official said eight cases of swine flu mutation have been detected amid longstanding concerns among scientists that the virus could change into a more dangerous form.
(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 26, China announced plans to cut its carbon emissions by up to 45 percent as measured against its economic output, a commitment from the world's largest polluter that builds momentum ahead of a widely anticipated climate conference in Copenhagen next month.
(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, In China 172 miners were underground when an explosion occurred at the Zhenxing coal mine. 10 miners were killed in the gas explosion.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 27, China and Japan agreed to conduct their first joint military training exercise, in the latest sign of warming ties between the Asian neighbors, long marked by mutual suspicion and spats over a range of issues.
(Reuters, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 27, In China Justin Franchi Solondz, an American man wanted in the US on terrorism charges, was sentenced in Dali city, Yunnan province, for making illegal drugs. The FBI office in Seattle listed Solondz among its "most wanted." Charges in 2006 related to his alleged role in 2001 with the Earth Liberation Front. Solondz was accused of having a role in the destruction of a horticulture center at the University of Washington, as well as the destruction of several buildings in Oregon.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 27, In northeastern China flooding trapped 16 coal miners in Jilin province.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 28, In China Wu Xiaoqing (57) hanged himself in his cell using the drawstring from his underwear five months following his arrest for corruption. The ex-judge was charged with taking bribes from gangsters.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 28, In China a Zimbabwe-registered cargo plane crashed in flames during takeoff from Shanghai's main airport, killing 3 American crew members and injuring 4 others on board.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Dec 1, China’s quarantine bureau said it has lifted bans on imports of pork products from the United States, Canada and Mexico, but analysts said the move would not likely lead to a surge of new imports.
(Reuters, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 2, Canadian PM Stephen Harper arrived in Beijing for what Chinese experts are touting as a fence-mending trip to repair ties damaged by Ottawa.
(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 3, A Chinese court handed down a further five death sentences to people convicted of murder and other crimes during ethnic rioting in the far western Xinjiang region in July in which almost 200 people died.
(Reuters, 12/3/09)
2009 Dec 4, China sentenced three more people to death for murder and other crimes committed in riots in the western region of Xinjiang in July.
(AP, 12/4/09)
2009 Dec 4, In China the file-sharing site BTCHINA, a major source of overseas movies, television shows and games in the country, was closed. Another site, VeryCD.com, was down on Dec 9 and a report in the Southern Metropolis Daily said other file sharing sites would be closed in the coming days. The closures were said to be a fight against copyright infringement, but could be seen as another measure aimed at controlling what content the country's Web users can find online.
(AP, 12/9/09)
2009 Dec 4, GM and its Chinese partner SAIC announced a joint venture to produce small cars in India.
(Econ, 12/12/09, p.72)
2009 Dec 7, In China 8 children died in a crush after someone stumbled while hundreds of children leaving their evening classes raced down the narrow stairway closest to their dormitory in Xiangxiang city, Hunan province.
(AP, 12/8/09)
2009 Dec 8, China executed Yang Yanming, a former securities trader, for embezzlement. He became the first person in the industry to be put to death, but millions of yuan remained missing. He was the general manager of the Beijing securities trading department of the China Great Wall Trust and Investment Corp., which became Galaxy Securities, from 1997 to 2003.
(Reuters, 12/8/09)
2009 Dec 10, Ichiro Ozawa, Japan’s “shadow shogun," flew 645 people in 5 airplanes, including 143 members of the DPJ, to meet with China’s Premier Hu Jintao.
(Econ, 12/19/09, p.75)
2009 Dec 12, In China Liu Aibing (34) went on a rampage with his shotgun killing 12 people including his father. He was apprehended the next day in Gaoming town in Hunan province's Anhua county. Liu also seriously injured two other people and set six homes on fire. He was said to have had a long history of mental illness.
(AP, 12/13/09)
2009 Dec 14, China’s Pres. Hu Jintao and the leaders of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan gathered at the Saman-Depe gas field in Turkmenistan and inaugurated a 1,139-mile gas pipeline running through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to China’s Xinjiang province.
(Econ, 1/30/10, p.51)(www.wsws.org/articles/2009/dec2009/pipe-d21.shtml)
2009 Dec 18, In China an environmental group backed by the government said it had won two lawsuits on behalf of residents threatened by pollution, marking the first time such an organization has been allowed to file a public interest case.
(AP, 12/18/09)
2009 Dec 18, Wu Ying (28), a Chinese businesswoman, was sentenced to death for cheating investors out of $56 million, the latest case in the country's struggle against widespread corruption. She started out a decade ago with a single beauty salon but eventually built up a holding group, Bense Holdings, that was known around the country. A report said Wu collected the $56 million from investors over two years and was arrested in 2007. In 2012 China's high court overturned the death sentence on Wu Ying and ordered the high court in eastern China's Zhejiang province to retry her case.
(AP, 12/18/09)(AFP, 4/20/12)
2009 Dec 19, Cambodia sent back to China 20 Uighur Muslims who had fled China after deadly ethnic rioting and sought asylum in Cambodia, even though rights groups feared they faced persecution and possibly execution there. 2 other Uighurs who had been with the group were missing.
(AP, 12/19/09)
2009 Dec 20, In Taiwan tens of thousands of opposition demonstrators marched through the streets of the central Taichung, ahead of the arrival of a senior Chinese envoy for trade talks that some on the island fear could eventually lead to unification. They condemned a pact the government wanted to sign with China, formally known as the Economic Co-operation Framework Agreement (ECFA).
(AP, 12/20/09)(Econ, 1/2/10, p.32)
2009 Dec 21, Cambodia signed 14 deals worth an estimated $850 million with China, two days after defying international pressure by deporting 20 ethnic Chinese asylum-seekers, underlining growing trade and diplomatic links.
(AP, 12/21/09)
2009 Dec 21, China and France hailed their reinvigorated ties and sealed a series of economic deals during a visit to Beijing by PM Francois Fillon. Electricite de France (EDF) and China Guangdong Nuclear Power Company (CGNPC) formalized their joint venture for the construction of two nuclear reactors at a power plant in Taishan in southern Guangdong province. French aerospace and defense industries group Safran and US conglomerate General Electric won a multi-billion-dollar contract to equip China's future C919 passenger jet with engines.
(AFP, 12/21/09)
2009 Dec 22, Chinese local media reported that a man who killed and ate what may have been the last wild Indochinese tiger in China was sentenced to 12 years in jail. Kang Wannian, a villager from Mengla, Yunnan Province, met the tiger in February while gathering freshwater clams in a nature reserve near China's border with Laos. He claimed to have killed it in self-defense.
(Reuters, 12/22/09)
2009 Dec 23, China sentenced Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche (53), a respected Tibetan lama, to 8 1/2 years in jail for illegal land occupation and ammunition possession, possibly the first senior Buddhist leader tried on serious charges linked to riots in 2008 in the Tibetan capital. He was arrested May 18, 2008, just days after more than 80 nuns in Ganzi held a demonstration against an official campaign to impose "patriotic re-education" on their convents.
(AP, 12/31/09)
2009 Dec 23, In China the Balinghe River bridge opened in Guizhou province. It was the 3rd highest road bridge in the world and featured the 2nd longest span length with a distance between towers of 3,570 feet.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baling_River_Bridge)
2009 Dec 23, US auto giant Ford said it had agreed the main terms for selling its Swedish brand Volvo Cars to Chinese carmaker Geely, in a deal set to underline China's growing economic clout.
(AFP, 12/23/09)
2009 Dec 24, In China the Xinjiang government said five people were convicted of "extremely serious crimes" and sentenced in separate trials on Dec 22 and Dec 23 in the regional capital of Urumqi.
(AP, 12/24/09)
2009 Dec 25, A Chinese court sentenced Liu Xiaobo, a prominent dissident, to 11 years, the longest term ever handed down for subversion charges, according to rights groups that say it signals the government will take an increasingly hard line against activists in the year ahead.
(AP, 12/25/09)
2009 Dec 26, China unveiled what it billed as the fastest rail link in the world, a train connecting the modern cities of Guangzhou and Wuhan at an average speed of 350 km (217 miles) an hour.
(AFP, 12/26/09)
2009 Dec 28, Chinese authorities started administering health checks on all children living near a battery factory in the south of the country and closed the plant after more than 40 children were found with lead poisoning.
(AP, 12/28/09)
2009 Dec 28, Dhondup Wangchen (35), a Tibetan filmmaker, was sentenced to six years in prison. He had made a documentary that was highly critical of the Chinese government's policies in Tibet. "Leaving Fear Behind" features ordinary Tibetans and the filmmaker himself saying that Beijing's policies in Tibet are threatening the remote region's traditional Buddhist culture. It was filmed in Tibet and other ethnically Tibetan areas of China in the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
(AP, 1/7/10)
2009 Dec 28, Chinese state media reported that a coal mine explosion has killed 12 people in northern China, while five other miners were killed and six trapped in an accident in the southwest of the country.
(AP, 12/28/09)
2009 Dec 29, China brushed aside international appeals and executed by lethal injection Akmal Shaikh (53), a British drug smuggler, who relatives said was mentally unstable and unwittingly lured into crime. Shaikh, a Briton of Pakistani descent, was arrested in 2007 for carrying a suitcase with almost 9 pounds (4kg) of heroin into China on a flight from Tajikistan. He told Chinese officials he didn't know about the drugs and that the suitcase wasn't his. He was convicted in 2008 after a half-hour trial.
(AP, 12/29/09)
2009 Dec 29, In China the government of Xinjiang, a restive Chinese Muslim region rocked recently by ethnic strife, adopted what appeared to be a sweeping law barring the spread of views deemed to threaten national unity. The law bars individuals and organizations from spreading opinions deemed not conducive to national unity and also from gathering, producing and spreading information to that effect.
(AP, 12/31/09)
2009 Dec 30, A US trade panel gave final approval to duties ranging from about 10 to 16% on Chinese-made steel pipe in the biggest US trade case to date against China.
(Reuters, 12/30/09)
2009 Dec 30, An unknown amount of oil poured from a China National Petroleum Corp. pipeline into the Wei River in Shaanxi province following a construction accident. The pipeline links the capitals of northwest Gansu province and central Henan province. Shaanxi TV later said 20 miles (33 km) along the Wei were polluted by the leak, estimated at 40,000 gallons.
(AP, 1/2/10)
2009 Dec 30, Leon Yao Liang (87), a bishop in China's underground church, died in the northern township of Xiwanzi, where he had been auxiliary bishop since 2002. He had been imprisoned for more than 28 years under the communists.
(AP, 1/4/10)
2009 Miriam Clifford, Cathy Giangrande and Antony White authored a guide to Chinese museums. In 2014 the Chinese Museums Organization (CMA) asked them to repackage the work as its own guide: “Chinese Museums Guide."
(Econ, 5/24/14, p.78)
2009 Martin Jacques authored “When China Rules the World: The Rise of the Middle Kingdom and the End of the Western World."
(Econ, 7/11/09, p.84)
2009 China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs proposed “Document 26," which suggested that HIV-infected children and orphans whose parents have died of AIDS be given a monthly subsidy of 600 yuan ($95).
(Economist, 9/8/12, p.41)
2009 Chinese researchers announced that they had reduced schistosomiasis infection rates in 2 villages near Poyang lake by replacing water buffaloes, a parasite host, with tractors and improved sanitation. The parasitic worm Schistosoma japonicum, carried by tiny snails, caused schistosomiasis, which stood as the world’s 2nd most prevalent disease.
(Econ, 6/20/09, p.43)
2009 Mephedrone, an ecstacy-like drug, arrived in Europe about this time. It could be ordered cheaply from China from manufacturers who described it as “plant food" or “research chemicals."
(Econ, 5/24/14, p.55)
2009 The Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest, will be fully operational. Its cost was projected to be $75 billion. It will be 600 feet high and 6,500 feet long, six times the length of the Hoover Dam. 26 generators will produce electricity. A 400-mile lake would be formed behind it allowing ocean freighters to sail upstream to Chongqing.
(WSJ, 10/8/96, p.A20)(SFC,11/6/97, p.D2)(SSFC, 4/14/02, p.C9)
2009 This year 6.1 million students will graduate from Chinese universities, nearly 6 times as many as in 2000. Next year the figure is expected to reach about 7 million.
(Econ, 4/11/09, p.40)
2009 In southern China the city of Yulin, Guangxi province, introduced an annual dog-eating festival.
(Econ 7/8/17, p.38)
2009 In China divorces outnumbered marriages this year.
(Econ, 11/22/14, p.40)
Go to China 2010
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = China
Return to home
2005 Jan 1, The 1974 Multi-Fiber Arrangement (MFA), which had restricted Chinese textile exports, ended. This forced Cambodia to face fierce competition from rival exporters. This led to the loss of some 30,000 jobs in Mauritius.
(www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/February06/Features/feature2.htm)(Econ, 2/19/05, p.42)(Econ, 10/18/08, p.58)
2005 Jan 1, China was forecast for 8.1% annual GDP growth with a population at 1.3 billion and GDP per head at $1,360.
(Econ, 1/8/05, p.90)
2005 Jan 6, A baby boy delivered in Beijing became China's 1.3 billionth citizen.
(AP, 1/6/05)
2005 Jan 6, Chinese authorities bulldozed Silk Alley, a 20-year-old landmark in Beijing. Traders felt the motive was to eliminate competition for a new indoor complex soon to open next to the alley, to be named Xiushui, which was the name of the old market.
(Econ, 1/15/05, p.39)
2005 Jan 15, China and Taiwan agreed to allow the first direct flights since 1949.
(AP, 1/15/05)
2005 Jan 17, Chinese news reports said authorities have arrested dozens of government officials and others accused in a scheme to steal 7.4 billion yuan ($900 million) from a state bank through fraudulent loans.
(AP, 1/17/05)
2005 Jan 17, Zhao Ziyang (85), former Chinese leader (1980-1987), died after 15 years under house arrest. He was ousted as China's Communist Party leader after sympathizing with the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests. In 2009 a secret recording of his insights regarding the 1989 protests were translated edited and published by Bao Pu: “Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang."
(AP, 1/17/05)(SFC, 1/17/05, p.B4)(Econ, 1/22/05, p.82)(Econ, 5/23/09, p.88)
2005 Jan 19, The Chinese government ordered a halt to construction at 30 big construction projects, including two at the massive Three Gorges Dam, due to alleged violations of environmental protection regulations and other concerns.
(AP, 1/19/05)
2005 Jan 24, China and India opened a first round of "strategic dialogue", as their regional and international influence surges despite a nagging border dispute.
(AFP, 1/24/05)
2005 Jan 24, China's vice president expressed a strong desire to increase economic and diplomatic cooperation with Mexico while meeting with Mexican lawmakers.
(AP, 1/24/05)
2005 Jan 26, The World Economic Forum, the global business meeting that attracts world leaders and Hollywood stars, opened in Davos, Switzerland. A Chinese economist said that China has lost faith in the stability of the US dollar and would seek to broaden the exchange rate for the yuan to a more flexible basket of currencies.
(AP, 1/26/05)(SFC, 1/27/05, p.C1)
2005 Jan 26, China’s central bank said a nationwide personal credit database will be available across the country by the end of the year. The database was launched in January, 2006, and included records of 340 million individuals.
(WSJ, 1/27/05, p.A10)(WSJ, 1/17/06, p.A15)
2005 Jan 27, It was reported that Japan’s trade with China in 2004 exceeded its trade with the US for the 1st time. This included figures for Hong Kong.
(WSJ, 1/27/05, p.A10)
2005 Jan 29, Chinese jetliners touched down in Taiwan, completing the first nonstop flights between the rivals since a bloody civil war split the two sides 56 years ago.
(AP, 1/29/05)
2005 Feb 1, China lent Russia $6 billion to help finance the nationalization of OAO Yukos. The loan was in effect a forward payment for some 48 million metric tons of crude oil.
(WSJ, 2/2/05, p.A2)
2005 Feb 2, China and Russia agreed to set up a new body to consult more closely on security issues.
(AP, 2/2/05)
2005 Feb 5, Central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said China is committed to revamping its foreign exchange regime and further relaxing its capital account controls.
(Reuters, 2/5/05)
2005 Feb 9, Ethnic Chinese communities across Asia celebrated the start of the lunar year 4703, the Year of the Rooster, with visits to crowded temples and family banquets.
(AP, 2/9/05)(SFC, 2/9/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 14, A gas explosion in China's northeast Sunjiawan mine killed 214 people in the deadliest mining disaster reported since communist rule began in 1949.
(AP, 2/15/05)(AP, 2/14/06)
2005 Feb 19, China's state news said North Korea no longer wants to negotiate with the US and 4 other nations in an effort to ease the standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear program.
(AP, 2/19/05)
2005 Feb 21, A Chinese newspaper reported that the China Construction Bank is investigating the disappearance of $8 million, in the latest big embezzlement case to hit the country's scandal-ridden state banks.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 26, China state television said China will gradually open its capital account in 2005, another step in its plan to make the yuan currency fully convertible.
(AP, 2/26/05)
2005 Feb, China issued a government document that allowed private investment in any business not banned by law.
(Econ, 3/19/05, p.72)
2005 Feb, China said that 10 regions had begun a pilot project in green GDP assessment, in an effort to assess environmental costs in development.
(Econ, 10/22/05, p.43)
2005 Feb, Vietnam signed an agreement with the World Society for the Protection of Animals to phase out its bear bile farms, where an estimated 3,000 bears were held for their bile. In China an estimated 7,000 caged bears were milked for their bile.
(SFC, 4/25/05, p.A8)
2005 Mar 2, In northern China a cache of explosives at the home of a coal mine manager blew up in Kecheng, killing him and at least 10 others including 2 children at a nearby school.
(AP, 3/3/05)(SFC, 3/3/05, p.A6)
2005 Mar 5, China's foreign exchange chief said a sharp appreciation of China's yuan is unlikely and the currency will be kept in a small range as the country gradually implements a more flexible exchange rate.
(AP, 3/5/05)
2005 Mar 6, China convened its National People’s Congress.
(WSJ, 3/7/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 6, Shanghai became the 1st Chinese city to levy a capital gains tax on the sale of private property held for less than a year.
(Econ, 3/26/05, p.73)
2005 Mar 7, China said it will keep controversial exchange-rate controls and hold down industrial investment this year as it tries to rein in surging growth and restrain inflation.
(AP, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 8, China unveiled the Taiwan Anti-Secession Law, authorizing an attack if Taiwan moves toward formal independence, increasing pressure on the self-ruled island while warning other countries not to interfere.
(AP, 3/8/05)(Econ, 4/7/12, p.30)
2005 Mar 9, Senior officials said China will use taxes from its fast-growing eastern cities to help pay for rural social programs as it tries to close a widening divide between rich and poor.
(AP, 3/9/05)
2005 Mar 14, China's parliament enacted a law authorizing force to stop rival Taiwan from pursuing formal independence.
(AP, 3/14/05)
2005 Mar 15, Hong Kong press reported that Zhang Enzhou was removed as president of China Construction Bank (CCB), China’s 3rd largest bank, allegedly for taking bribes.
(Econ, 3/19/05, p.79)
2005 Mar 16, China's central bank tightened mortgage lending rules to raise the cost of borrowing for home loans in an effort to cool the sizzling property market.
(AP, 3/17/05)(WSJ, 3/31/05, p.A9)
2005 Mar 19, A blast at the Xishui Colliery in Shuozhou, in a major coal-mining area in China’s Shanxi province, left at least 60 miners dead.
(AP, 3/20/05)
2005 Mar 23, Chinese President Hu Jintao stepped up pressure on North Korea to return to nuclear talks, telling its visiting premier that dialogue is the only way to settle the dispute.
(AP, 3/23/05)
2005 Mar 23, Chinese state media reported that already severe water shortages are worsening due to heavy pollution of lakes and aquifers and urban development projects with a big thirst for water, such as lawns and fountains.
(AP, 3/23/05)
2005 Mar 26, in Taiwan about a million people marched through the capital to protest a new Chinese law that authorizes an attack on the island if it moves toward formal independence.
(AP, 3/26/05)
2005 Mar 28, Hu Xiaoliam was appointed the 1st female head of China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE). The regulator will oversee new trading and price quotes in 8 currency pairs through the interbank China foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS).
(Econ, 4/2/05, p.68)
2005 Mar 29, It was reported that China’s influence in Africa was expanding rapidly. Chinese projects included the rebuilding of Nigeria’s railroad network; the paving of roads in Rwanda; ownership of copper mines in Zambia; timber operations in Equatorial Guinea; supermarket operations in Lesotho and numerous ventures in other African countries.
(WSJ, 3/29/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 29, In eastern China a truck loaded with chlorine overturned on a highway after a tire burst, spewing fumes that killed 27 people and left another 285 hospitalized.
(AP, 3/30/05)
2005 Mar, A Chinese cabinet think tank issued a report that said unless China overhauls its medical care, “economic development, social stability and public support for reform" will be impacted.
(WSJ, 12/5/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar, The British-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) described a timber-smuggling chain bringing 300,000 cubic meters of merbau, a valuable hardwood, from Indonesia’s Papua province to China.
(Econ, 3/26/05, p.42)
2005 Apr 3, Residents in China’s Zhejiang province clashed with police officers and workers sent in to quell their protests over pollution from chemical factories. As many as 60 cars were destroyed and some people were reported killed.
(SSFC, 10/2/05, p.C1)(www.christusrex.org/www1/news/nyt-4-14-05b.html)
2005 Apr 4, China's foreign ministry called in Japan's ambassador to Beijing to express its "indignation" at Tokyo's approval of nationalist school history textbooks.
(AP, 4/5/05)
2005 Apr 4, Shanghai, China's largest city, enacted a new rule requiring home owners to pay off their mortgages before selling property, the boldest measure yet in new efforts to cool surging real estate prices.
(AP, 4/7/05)
2005 Apr 5, Amnesty International said China accounted for the majority of executions reported worldwide last year, but the true frequency of the death penalty is impossible to count because many death sentences are carried out secretly.
(AP, 4/5/05)
2005 Apr 5, China's top industrial safety official said the number of deaths in China's accident-plagued coal mines surged by nearly 21 per cent in the first three months of this year despite a national safety crackdown.
(AP, 4/5/05)
2005 Apr 6, A government official said China plans to build 40 nuclear power plants over the next 15 years, making them the main power source for its booming east coast.
(AP, 4/7/05)
2005 Apr 6, Colombia's president met top Chinese leaders during a visit to boost trade, seek financing for an oil pipeline and to promote sales of Colombian coal to fuel China's booming economy.
(AP, 4/6/05)
2005 Apr 6, Under pressure to stem a rising tide of textile imports from China, the European Union's executive unveiled guidelines for imposing curbs on a country which already has 20 percent of a $400 billion market.
(AP, 4/6/05)
2005 Apr 9, Chinese PM Wen Jiabao arrived in Bangalore on the last leg of a 4 nation South Asia tour for talks with Indian leaders expected to boost trade and narrow differences.
(AFP, 4/9/05)
2005 Apr 11, China reported rioting in Dongyang after 2 older women were killed in a clash with police during a pollution protest.
(WSJ, 4/12/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 11, India and China agreed to form a strategic partnership to end a border dispute and boost trade in a deal marking a major shift in relations between the Asian giants.
(AP, 4/11/05)
2005 Apr 12, China said it will soon begin “trial sales" of hitherto untraded stocks it holds in publicly traded companies.
(WSJ, 4/13/05, p.C16)
2005 Apr 16, Protesters in Shanghai threw stones and broke windows at Japan's consulate and Japanese restaurants as tens of thousands of people defied government warnings and staged demonstrations against Tokyo's bid for a permanent UN Security Council seat.
(AP, 4/16/05)
2005 Apr 18, Australia and China agreed to start talks on a free trade pact. Visiting PM John Howard also announcing Canberra's recognition of China as free market economy.
(AP, 4/18/05)
2005 Apr 21, Tradeable shares on China’s 2 stock exchanges were reportedly worth $150 billion, about the same as Denmark’s stock exchange.
(WSJ, 4/21/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 21, In China a chemical plant blast in Chongqing left 19 people missing.
(WSJ, 4/22/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 21, Zhang Chunqiao (88), a member of The Gang of Four, died. Beginning around 1965 the Gang of Four were able to manipulate the Chinese media and youth to leverage their positions over party moderates, such as Deng Xiaoping. Mao’s death in 1976 ended their influence and led to their imprisonment and trial in 1980-81 for their role in the Cultural Revolution, during which some 34,800 people died.
(SFC, 5/11/05, p.B7)(Econ, 5/21/05, p.90)
2005 Apr 21, In Zambia at least 51 people were killed in a blast at a Chinese-owned mining-explosives factory in Chambisi.
(WSJ, 4/22/05, p.A1)(WSJ, 2/2/07, p.A1)
2005 Apr 22, Japan's PM Koizumi apologized for his country's World War II aggression in Asia in a bid to defuse tensions with regional rival China, but a Chinese diplomat dismissed the remarks, saying "actions are more important" than words.
(AP, 4/22/05)
2005 Apr 23, The leaders of China and Japan met in an effort to end a dispute over Japan's World War II aggression that has badly damaged relations between them. They met on the sidelines of a summit for Asian and African leaders in Jakarta.
(AP, 4/23/05)
2005 Apr 24, In China a 108-meter statue of Guanyin, an East Asian deity of mercy, was enshrined after six years of construction on the south coast of the island province Hainan near the Nanshan Temple of Sanya.
(Econ, 6/27/15, p.36)
2005 Apr 24, In northeast China rescuers worked to free 69 coal miners trapped in a flooded mine at the Tengda Coal Mine, run by the local government in Jiaohe, a city in Jilin province.
(AP, 4/24/05)
2005 Apr 26, Lien Chan, the leader of Taiwan's opposition Nationalist Party, arrived in China on an 8-day trip for the first meeting between the party of Chaing Kai-shek and the communists since both sides split amid civil war nearly six decades ago.
(AP, 4/26/05)
2005 Apr, Chinese journalist Shi Tao was sentenced to 10 years in prison for illegally providing state secrets to foreigners. He had detailed how his newspaper colleagues were instructed not to commemorate the 15th anniversary of 1989 pro-Democracy action. He was identified by his e-mail address provided by Yahoo. Shi Tao was released on Aug 23, 2013.
(WSJ, 9/8/05, p.A16)(SFC, 9/9/13, p.A4)
2005 May 4, In China 178 birds were found dead at Bird Island in Qinghai province in a lake that served as a major area for research on migratory water fowl. They were killed by the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu virus. The number of dead birds was later raised to 1,500 with bar-headed geese among the most dead.
(WSJ, 5/23/05, p.A11)(SFC, 7/7/05, p.A5)
2005 May 4, Chinese authorities confined residents in Yanqing, 50 miles north of Beijing, to their homes following the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in cattle. Numerous farms were put under quarantine.
(WSJ, 5/24/05, p.A10)
2005 May 7, China and Japan agreed to try to improve strained ties and meet soon to discuss a disputed gas field.
(Reuters, 5/7/05)
2005 May 7, After extensive use of H2OIL fuel additives for over 15 years, China will begin manufacturing F2-21 nanotechnology fuel additives. H2OIL's first overseas plant in Tianjin opened under a joint venture agreement with PetroChina's Huafu Oilfield Chemical Company. F2-21, developed by H2Oil president Richard Hicks, is a mixture of water, shampoo and baby oil that forms nano-sized globules which explode in an engine’s combustion chamber helping the gas to burn more cleanly and completely.
(www.h2oil.com/press.shtml)(SFC, 3/23/06, p.C3)
2005 May 9, In northern China nearly a dozen homes built into hillside caves were buried when the soil above them collapsed, trapping 24 people.
(AP, 5/10/05)
2005 May 11, In northeastern China a gas explosion at a coal mine killed nine miners.
(AP, 5/12/05)
2005 May 13, A senior Chinese official met with President Fidel Castro during a visit aimed at cementing political and economic ties between the two communist nations.
(AP, 5/14/05)
2005 May 19, In northern China a large gas explosion in a coal mine left at least 51 workers trapped. 40 bodies were later found and 10 remained missing.
(AP, 5/19/05)(AP, 5/22/05)
2005 May 20, Chinese state media reported China is to lift a decades-old ban on mainland tourists visiting political rival Taiwan. Ultimately, however, it was up to the Taiwan government to decide whether the floodgates should be opened.
(Reuters, 5/20/05)
2005 May 20, In northern China 20 people died in mine explosions in two neighboring mines in Shanxi province.
(AP, 5/22/05)
2005 May 21, China ordered emergency measures to prevent an outbreak of avian flu after investigators said migratory birds found dead in a western province this month were killed by the virus.
(AP, 5/21/05)
2005 May 23, In Shenzhen, China, 16 buildings toppled near the Hong Kong border in what state media said was the largest urban demolition blast ever in China.
(AP, 5/23/05)
2005 May 25, China rolled out the red carpet for Uzbekistan's Pres. Karimov, underscoring the importance it places on curbing the rise of Islamic militancy as it welcomed the authoritarian leader criticized in the West for a bloody crackdown on protesters. China signed a $600 million joint oil venture with Uzbekistan.
(AP, 5/25/05)(WSJ, 5/26/05, p.A1)
2005 May 26, China’s Xinhua news agency reported that China has developed vaccines that block the spread of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu among birds and mammals.
(AP, 5/26/05)
2005 May 30, China scrapped concessions meant to avert a trade war with the US and Europe, withdrawing a plan to sharply increase export duties on Chinese-made textiles that are flooding foreign markets. The turnaround followed new import controls imposed by Washington and the EU, which China's commerce minister called a violation of WTO rules.
(AP, 5/30/05)
2005 May 31, China said reporter Ching Cheong of The Straits Times, Singapore's main English-language newspaper, has admitted to spying for a foreign intelligence agency. Cheong’s wife said he was arrested April 22 after a source gave him documents about purged former Communist Party leader Zhao Ziyang, who died this year.
(AP, 5/31/05)(WSJ, 5/31/05, p.A1)
2005 Jun 1, China began levying a 5.5% tax on residential property sold after this date. It would only be applied to property sold fewer than 2 years after its purchase.
(WSJ, 5/26/05, p.A10)
2005 Jun 1, China called a resolution by Brazil, Germany, India and Japan to expand the U.N. Security Council, and hopefully give them permanent seats, "dangerous" and hinted it would use its veto power if necessary to block final approval.
(AP, 6/1/05)
2005 Jun 1, In southern China heavy rain triggered floods and mudslides, leaving about 200 people dead or missing.
(AP, 6/1/05)
2005 Jun 2, Chinese, Indian and Russian foreign ministers, meeting in Vladivostok, agreed to intensify joint work against terrorism and underscored their common approach to international affairs.
(AP, 6/2/05)
2005 Jun 4, It was reported that the death rate on China’s roads, according to the WHO, was 680 per day plus 45,000 injuries. American traffic deaths in contrast were at 115 per day.
(Econ, 6/4/05, p.25)
2005 Jun 4, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said China is not a threat to the US but is building up its military without being threatened by any other country. The US commerce secretary warned China of a potential political backlash in Washington amid tensions over mounting Chinese trade surpluses, surging textile exports and rampant product piracy.
(AP, 6/4/05)
2005 Jun 4, Australian officials said a senior Chinese diplomat has sought Australian government protection for himself and his family, claiming he faces persecution if he goes home. Analysts said Chen Yonglin's defection could muddy Canberra's relations with Beijing.
(AP, 6/4/05)
2005 Jun 5, The Chinese government said 3 days of flooding triggered by torrential rains killed 204 people in China's south and desert northwest and left 79 missing at the beginning of the country's summer flood season.
(AP, 6/5/05)
2005 Jun 7, In Australia 2 Chinese defectors, one of them a diplomat who walked away from his post, claim that China is running a spy network in Australia and other Western countries.
(AP, 6/8/05)
2005 Jun 9, Chinese officials signed preliminary agreements to invest about $1.5 billion in construction, timber, agriculture and other industries in Russia.
(AP, 6/9/05)
2005 Jun 10, China resolved a trade dispute over textiles with the EU.
(WSJ, 6/13/05, p.A3)
2005 Jun 10, In northeast China a torrent of water rushed down a mountain and hit a primary school in Heilongjiang province, killing 91 people, most of them students, and leaving another four people missing.
(AP, 6/12/05)
2005 Jun 10, In southern China a fire raced through the top three floors of a hotel, killing 31 people and injuring 15 others.
(AP, 6/12/05)
2005 Jun 11, In northern China an attack on a shantytown left six people dead and wounded 48 others. Villagers had disputed compensation offered by officials for their land and occupied the proposed site in 2004. Authorities have arrested more than 100 people and began investigating two Communist Party officials following the attack.
(AP, 7/11/05)(Econ, 6/25/05, p.40)
2005 Jun 15, China's biggest automaker, FAW Car Co., warned that its first-half net profit could fall by more than 50 percent amid sluggish sales, rising costs and government moves to tighten credit for buying cars.
(AP, 6/15/05)
2005 Jun 17, Bank of America signed an agreement to buy a 9 percent stake in state-owned China Construction Bank for $3 billion, the largest single purchase of stock in a Chinese bank by a foreign financial institution.
(AP, 6/17/05)
2005 Jun 18, It was reported that rising waters in China's central Dongting Lake, one of the nation's largest freshwater bodies, are forcing millions of rats into surrounding farmlands where the rodents are ravaging crops.
(AP, 6/18/05)
2005 Jun 19, China’s Xinhua news agency reported that the China Regulatory Commission had approved 42 more companies to take part in a state share reform program. 4 maiden companies were named a month earlier.
(WSJ, 6/20/05, p.C16)
2005 Jun 21, China appointed Donald Tsang as Hong Kong's new leader for the next 2 years. The veteran civil servant expressed confidence the territory will become more democratic.
(AP, 6/21/05)
2005 Jun 22, Xinhua News said flooding triggered by torrential rains killed at least 27 people and forced the evacuation of more than 300,000 in a mountainous region of southern China.
(AP, 6/22/05)
2005 Jun 22, It was reported that China's Pearl River estuary is so badly polluted the fish that once thrived in its waters have virtually vanished.
(AFP, 6/23/05)
2005 Jun 23, Chinese state-run oil firm CNOOC Ltd. said it is confident its $18.5 billion cash offer for U.S. producer Unocal will prevail in the takeover battle with Chevron Corp.
(AP, 6/23/05)
2005 Jun 24, China’s government said flooding and mudslides have killed at least 567 people across the country in the past two weeks, with more heavy rain forecast in the southern province whose factories are the heart of the country's booming export industries.
(AP, 6/25/05)
2005 Jun 25, In southern China thousands of students rioted at Jiujiang Institute, a university jointly run by the military, to protest high university fees, overcrowded dorms and unappealing cafeteria food.
(AP, 7/2/05)
2005 Jun 26, Thousands of Chinese rioted in a dispute sparked by a lopsided roadside brawl, set fire to cars and wounded six police officers in Chizhou, eastern Anhui province.
(Reuters, 6/29/05)
2005 Jun 28, China said it will begin filling its strategic oil reserve by the end of the year.
(WSJ, 6/29/05, p.A13)
2005 Jun 28, Avian flu has killed 5,000 wild birds in China's northwest, the World Health Organization said, five times the number previously reported by the Chinese government.
(AP, 6/28/05)
2005 Jun 28, In Madrid a Tibetan group presented a criminal case against top Chinese officials for genocide and crimes against humanity, seeking to take advantage of Spain's laws on international human rights crimes.
(AP, 6/28/05)
2005 Jun 30, Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Russia and is expected to bolster ties with Beijing's former rival in hopes of quadrupling their trade turnover to up to $80 billion a year by 2010.
(AP, 6/30/05)
2005 Jun 30, China overtook Japan as the world’s largest holder of foreign exchange reserves. The combined China and Hong Kong reserves stood at $833 billion.
(Econ, 9/17/05, p.80)
2005 Jun 30, The EU and China plunged into a 2nd trade row, this time over shoes, but Brussels said a deal was still possible over Beijing's surging footwear exports.
(AP, 6/30/05)
2005 Jul 1, China and Russia issued a declaration demanding respect for the right of all countries to develop free of outside interference.
(SFC, 7/2/05, p.A14)
2005 Jul 2, A gas explosion at an illegal coal mine in central China killed 19 workers.
(AP, 7/3/05)
2005 Jul 4, In China protests began at the Jinxing Pharmaceutical plant in Xinchang, a town about 125 miles south of Shanghai, by local farmers angry over pollution.
(AP, 7/19/05)
2005 Jul 5, An alliance of Russia, China and central Asian nations called for the US and coalition members in Afghanistan to set a date for withdrawing from member states, reflecting growing unease over America's regional military presence. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization includes China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
(AP, 7/5/05)
2005 Jul 6, China unveiled its 1st index of manufacturing-purchasing activity.
(WSJ, 7/7/05, p.A11)
2005 Jul 6, In northeastern China a bomb exploded in a shopping mall, injuring 47 people but causing no deaths. Xinhua News said Ma Yuanxi, had fled China after being suspected of murder but sneaked back into the country seeking revenge in a dispute with another man.
(AP, 7/6/05)
2005 Jul 8, In China Exxon Mobil Corp., Saudi Aramco and top Asian refiner Sinopec signed a $3.5 billion deal to expand a refinery in south China, sealing what they called the country's largest oil project.
(Reuters, 7/8/05)
2005 Jul 10, China said torrential rains in the southwest have killed 65 people over the past two weeks and forced more than 428,000 to flee their homes in flood-prone areas.
(AP, 7/10/05)
2005 Jul 11, An explosion in a coal mine in China's far west killed 41 people, with another 42 still missing.
(AP, 7/11/05)
2005 Jul 18, China evacuated over 600,000 people from coastal areas after typhoon Haitang slammed into Taiwan, killing up to four people.
(Reuters, 7/18/05)
2005 Jul 20, Haitang was downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it moved into southeast China, leaving a trail of destruction. The death toll in Taiwan and in China rose to 15.
(AFP, 7/20/05)
2005 Jul 21, China scrapped the yuan's peg to the US dollar and tied it to a basket of currencies revaluing the yuan by 2.1 percent and leaving the door open to further rises.
(Reuters, 7/21/05)
2005 Jul 21, Airbus said it has received an order for 20 of its twin-aisle A330 passenger jets from Air China, in a deal worth about 3.2 billion euros ($3.9 billion) at list prices.
(AP, 7/21/05)
2005 Jul 22, Taiwan will allow computer maker Lenovo Ltd. to become the first mainland Chinese company to establish a subsidiary on the island in a significant step forward in commercial ties between the two rivals.
(AP, 7/22/05)
2005 Jul 23, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe arrived in Beijing for a visit expected to include a plea for oil and food to aid his state's failing economy.
(AP, 7/23/05)
2005 Jul 25, North Korean and US negotiators held a rare one-on-one meeting in Beijing amid a flurry of contacts between delegations to the six-nation talks aimed at persuading the communist nation to relinquish its nuclear program.
(AP, 7/25/05)
2005 Jul 26, Chinese health officials reported that over the last 4 weeks an unidentified illness has killed 19 farmers and sickened 80 in southwestern China after they butchered sick pigs or sheep. The pigs in question were infected with streptococcus bacteria, a common pathogen in humans and domestic animals.
(AP, 7/26/05)
2005 Jul 26, Six-party nuclear disarmament talks opened in Beijing after a 13-month boycott by North Korea, and the communist nation's envoy said his country was ready to work on eliminating atomic weapons from the Korean Peninsula.
(AP, 7/26/05)
2005 Jul 27, North Korea said it would give up its nuclear weapons only after the alleged US atomic threat is removed from the divided peninsula and relations with the US are normalized.
(AP, 7/27/05)
2005 Jul 29, Xinhua News said China plans to sign a deal next month to buy 50 Boeing 787 Dreamliner jetliners in a deal worth $6 billion.
(AP, 7/29/05)
2005 Jul 30, The death toll in China from a mysterious pig-borne disease continued to rise, with several more cities affected. Sichuan province in southwestern China has launched a campaign to educate poor, illiterate farmers not to slaughter sick pigs or eat their meat after an outbreak of swine flu hit about 100 villages and killed at least 34 people.
(Reuters, AFP, 7/30/05)
2005 Jul 30, In southern China a brick wall collapsed at a festival, killing seven people and injuring 22. The wall fell during the opening ceremony of an annual "torch festival" celebrated by the Yi ethnic minority in Yunnan province's Yuanyang county.
(AP, 7/31/05)
2005 Jul, Li Guang, a teacher in a teacher in China’s northwestern Changhe township, was sentenced to death for raping 23 fourth- and fifth-grade students.
(AP, 6/13/07)(AP, 6/13/07)
2005 Aug 1-2005 Sep 2, An American man and 11 Chinese citizens were arrested in a counterfeit medicine scheme that spanned 11 countries and involved millions of dollars worth of fake drugs.
(AP, 9/8/05)
2005 Aug 3, China's UN ambassador said the US and China have agreed to work together to block a plan to expand the powerful UN Security Council.
(AP, 8/3/05)
2005 Aug 5, China’s government said Ching Cheong, a Hong-Kong based reporter, has been charged with spying for Taiwan. China accusing him of obtaining huge amounts of classified information under an alias.
(AP, 8/5/05)
2005 Aug 5, Baidu.com, a Chinese search engine, went public on Nasdaq and closed up 354% at $122.54.
(SFC, 8/6/05, p.C1)
2005 Aug 6-2005 Aug 8, Tropical Storm Matsa hit China’s eastern province of Zhejiang. 13 people were killed since it hit the mainland as a typhoon. Beijing's Municipal Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters was preparing to evacuate as many as 40,000 people in the mountains north of Beijing as Tropical Storm Matsa approached.
(AP, 8/9/05)
2005 Aug 7, In southern China rescuers attempted to reach 123 miners trapped in a flooded coal mine.
(AP, 8/7/05)(AP, 8/9/05)
2005 Aug 9, China’s official media reported that 123 miners trapped in south China have little chance of survival. One body was recovered the next day.
(AP, 8/9/05)(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 9, Australia’s Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Australia and China are negotiating an agreement to allow Australia to export uranium to China for peaceful purposes.
(AP, 8/9/05)
2005 Aug 11, Beijing ordered an investigation into the cause of a flood at a coal shaft in southern China. Hopes of finding survivors among the 122 miners still trapped underground all but disappeared.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 11, 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. Jack Ma started Alibaba.com in 1999 to support small business people in China.
(WSJ, 8/12/05, p.A1,B1)
2005 Aug 12, Liu Jinbao, a former president of state-owned Bank of China's Hong Kong branch fired in May, 2003, received a suspended death sentence for embezzlement in an apparent effort by Beijing to help restore faith in its scandal-plagued banks as they prepare to sell shares abroad. Mr. Liu was convicted of embezzling $1.8 million with others plus and additional amount for himself.
(AP, 8/12/05)(WSJ, 8/15/05, p.A11)
2005 Aug 16, A university professor in Shanghai said is he is offering China's first class on homosexuality and gay culture and that several hundred students have applied for the 100 openings.
(AP, 8/17/05)
2005 Aug 16, A top Indian official said Indian and Chinese oil firms will sign agreements aimed at bidding jointly for foreign oil and gas projects and reducing cut-throat competition.
(AP, 8/16/05)
2005 Aug 17, China announced a broad crackdown on all media harmful to young people.
(Econ, 8/20/05, p.33)
2005 Aug 17, Researchers from Greenpeace Int’l reported that toxic waste from electronic devices discarded in the US and dismantled in China and India was posing a sever problem around Guiyu, China, and New Delhi, India.
(SFC, 8/17/05, p.C3)
2005 Aug 18, British bank Royal Bank of Scotland (RBoS) announced that it would lead a consortium to buy a 10-percent stake in Bank of China for 3.1 billion dollars (2.5 billion euros).
(AP, 8/18/05)
2005 Aug 18, China and Russia began unprecedented joint military exercises involving air, sea and land forces, as commanders from both nations insisted the war games weren't meant to intimidate other countries.
(AP, 8/18/05)
2005 Aug 20, Protesters demanding the closure of an eastern China battery factory they say is spewing lead into the environment clashed with police, and dozens of people were injured.
(AP, 8/21/05)
2005 Aug 23, China submitted legislation to cut income taxes on its poorest workers.
(WSJ, 8/24/05, p.A9)
2005 Aug 24, Chinese share prices surged after the government issued new market guidelines and pledged to push ahead with shareholding reforms.
(AP, 8/24/05)
2005 Aug 24, In southern China a bus swerved to avoid an oncoming bicycle and veered onto a roadside crowded with pedestrians in Shenzhen, killing 19 people and injuring 16.
(AP, 8/24/05)
2005 Aug 25, Thousands of Chinese and Russian troops wrapped up their historic first joint military exercises with a mock invasion by paratroopers on China's east coast. The eight-day exercises with 7,000 Chinese troops and 1,800 Russians underscored growing military ties between the former Cold War enemies.
(AP, 8/25/05)
2005 Aug 25, In China Monsignor Xie Shiguang (88), the bishop of Mingdong, died of leukemia. He was first arrested in 1955 by Chinese authorities "because of his loyalty and obedience to the pope," and released a year later. He was next arrested in 1958 and stayed in jail until his release in 1980. Xie was also jailed from 1984-1987, and finally for two years starting in 1990, and was kept under surveillance by authorities until his death.
(AP, 8/27/05)
2005 Aug 28, A committee of China’s male-dominated parliament amended the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Women. It made sexual harassment of women unlawful and stipulated that equality between men and women is a basic state policy.
(Econ, 9/3/05, p.38)
2005 Aug 30, It was reported that China's top lender, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, is selling a 10 percent stake to investment bank Goldman Sachs, American Express and the German insurer Allianz. ICBC is also shedding $17.3 billion in bad loans to prepare for an overseas listing.
(AP, 8/31/05)(Econ, 9/3/05, p.67)
2005 Aug 30, In China tobacco smugglers from Shangdeng were intercepted by authorities from nearby Yantang and 2 smugglers ended up killed. Shangdeng residents sacked the Yantang City Hall in response.
(SFC, 12/9/05, p.A25)
2005 Aug 31, The Chinese government signed an agreement with the UN human rights agency to collaborate on reforming China's legal system in preparation for adopting a key UN treaty on civil and political rights.
(AP, 8/31/05)
2005 Aug 31, A government newspaper reported that China is suspending production at 7,000 coal mines, nearly one-third of the nationwide total, in a safety crackdown on the accident-plagued industry.
(AP, 8/31/05)
2005 Sep 1, Nearly 600,000 people were evacuated as Typhoon Talim plowed into southern China, forcing authorities to shut down schools, highways and airports.
(AP, 9/1/05)
2005 Sep 1, The United States slapped extra curbs on Chinese imports, hours after talks on a formula to deal with China's surging textile shipments ended in failure.
(AP, 9/1/05)
2005 Sep 2, China said it plans to end a 1998 prohibition on direct sales on Dec. 1, clearing the way for such companies as Avon Products Inc. to expand into its booming market for cosmetics and other consumer products.
(AP, 9/2/05)
2005 Sep 2, China’s government said torrential rains and flooding from Typhoon Talim killed at least 10 people and left 15 missing in eastern China.
(AP, 9/2/05)
2005 Sep 3, Chinese President Hu Jintao postponed his official visit to Washington next week due to Hurricane Katrina.
(AP, 9/3/05)
2005 Sep 5, China said the death toll from last week's Typhoon Talim climbed by 13 to at least 95 on the mainland, with another 30 people missing.
(AP, 9/5/05)
2005 Sep 5, China and the EU reached an agreement to unblock some 77 million garments held up at European borders after Chinese textile imports broke through 2005 quota limits.
(AP, 9/5/05)
2005 Sep 6, China’s state media reported that Muslim separatists in western China have carried out 260 attacks in the past decade, killing 160 people and injuring 440.
(AP, 9/6/05)
2005 Sep 7, European Union governments backed a deal to unblock Chinese textiles held at EU borders, ending a trade dispute that saw some 77 million garments pile up after imports broke through 2005 limits.
(AP, 9/7/05)
2005 Sep 8, Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Canada for his first state visit, celebrating 35 years of diplomatic ties and rapidly expanding trade and energy agreements with Canada.
(AP, 9/8/05)
2005 Sep 9, China deployed a fleet of 5 warships near a gas field in the East China Sea, an area disputed by China and Japan.
(SSFC, 9/11/05, p.A12)
2005 Sep 9, It was reported that China Telecom has started blocking access to Skype, a popular Internet telephone service that is threatening its long-distance revenue.
(AP, 9/9/05)
2005 Sep 10, Chinese President Hu Jintao urged Canada to expand its investment in the Asian giant and pledged to improve living standards in the world's most populous country.
(AP, 9/11/05)
2005 Sep 11, Typhoon Khanun made a direct hit on Taizhou city in prosperous eastern China after nearly a million villagers and farmers had been evacuated from flimsy coastal and hillside huts to safety.
(AP, 9/11/05)
2005 Sep 12, An official said China will no longer consider death tolls and other relevant information about natural disasters to be state secrets in a move aimed at boosting government transparency.
(AP, 9/12/05)
2005 Sep 12, The new Hong Kong Disneyland theme park on Lantau Island opened. Zeng Qinghong, China’s vice-president, presided over opening ceremonies.
(SSFC, 9/18/05, p.C2)(Econ, 9/17/05, p.44)
2005 Sep 12, In Mexico Chinese President Hu Jintao promised Mexican leaders that he would crack down on the millions of dollars worth of Chinese contraband entering their nation, goods that undermine Mexican businesses ranging from sandal makers to religious icon sellers.
(AP, 9/12/05)
2005 Sep 13, Pres. Bush met briefly with Chinese Pres. Hu Jintao in NYC on the sidelines of the opening session of the UN General Assembly. Bush sought China's help to stop nuclear weapons programs in North Korea and Iran and won a pledge from President Hu Jintao to step up pressure on Pyongyang.
(SFC, 9/14/05, p.C1)(AP, 9/13/06)
2005 Sep 13, Negotiations aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program resumed in Beijing after a monthlong recess, but prospects for progress were uncertain as Pyongyang remained insistent on its right to use civilian atomic technology.
(AP, 9/13/05)
2005 Sep 15, China’s Pres. Hu Jintao spoke at the UN and called for a “harmonious world."
(Econ, 11/19/05, p.23)
2005 Sep 19, China's state media reported that its family planning agency admitted that officials in the eastern province of Shandong had carried out forced abortions and sterilizations. Time magazine last week reported that at least 7,000 people in Shandong were forcibly sterilized earlier this year by officials under pressure to limit the growth of the country's massive population.
(AFP, 9/19/05)
2005 Sep 19, An Indonesian warship fired on a Chinese fishing fleet it suspected of using illegal nets, killing one crew member and wounding two others in the Arafuru sea off Papua Island.
(AP, 9/21/05)
2005 Sep 23, The People’s Bank of China said the yuan would be allowed to fluctuate by 3% a day against the euro, yen and other non-dollar currencies, compared with a 1.5% previous limit. Movements against the dollar remained limited to 0.3%.
(Econ, 10/1/05, p.71)
2005 Sep 25, China’s government said it is imposing new regulations to control content on its news Web sites, another step in its ongoing effort to police a rapidly expanding Internet population.
(AP, 9/25/05)
2005 Sep 25, A group of pro-democracy lawmakers from Hong Kong crossed into mainland China for the first time since being barred for criticizing Beijing after the Tiananmen Square crackdown of 1989. They put their case for electoral reform directly to a Chinese communist leader for the first time, but complained that they were rebuffed.
(Reuters, 9/25/05)(AFP, 9/25/05)
2005 Sep 26, China's navy commissioned the first in a new class of domestically designed and built warships. The missile frigate Wenzhou, named after a port city in eastern China, entered service at a ceremony attended by East China Fleet commander Zhao Guojun.
(AP, 9/27/05)
2005 Sep 26, Typhoon Damrey slammed into southern China's resort island of Hainan, killing at least two people, collapsing houses and sweeping away rice, rubber and banana crops.
(AP, 9/26/05)
2005 Sep 28, China announced color-coded emergency measures to avert or handle an influenza pandemic amid fears that a deadly strain of bird flu could mutate and infect millions of people around the world.
(AP, 9/28/05)
2005 Sep 28, It was reported that General Electric has agreed to pay $100 million for a 7% stake in China’s Shenzhen Development Bank.
(WSJ, 9/29/05, p.A2)
2005 Sep, In China the Univ. of Nottingham opened a $68 million branch in Ningbo. Britain’s Univ. of Liverpool also began a joint-venture university with China in Suzhou.
(Econ, 11/12/05, p.46)(www.liv.ac.uk/newsroom/press_releases/2005/10/china.htm)
2005 Sep, Chinese surgeons at Guangzhou General Hospital performed a successful penis transplant. They were forced to remove it after 2 weeks because of psychological problems experienced by the man and his wife. Guangzhou is the Mandarin for Canton.
(SFC, 9/20/06, p.A2)(Econ, 11/11/06, p.18)
2005 Oct 1, Tens of thousands of Chinese marked the 56th anniversary of Communist rule in Beijing's Tiananmen Square with the country enjoying the benefits of two decades of rapid economic growth but still facing deep-seated social problems.
(AP, 10/1/05)
2005 Oct 1, China and Japan ended 2 days of talks with no resolution on their territorial dispute in the East China Sea, which focused on oil and gas deposits straddling the border.
(Econ, 10/8/05, p.52)
2005 Oct 4, China’s state media reported that raging floodwaters spawned by Typhoon Longwang along the southeastern coast swept away at least 80 paramilitary police officers and washed away two buildings at a military training school.
(AP, 10/7/05)
2005 Oct 8, In eastern China 22 passengers were killed when a bus plunged into a river in Zhejiang province as the National Day holiday week wound down.
(Reuters, 10/9/05)
2005 Oct 11, China's ruling party said communist leaders have approved an economic plan aimed at easing the growing and politically explosive gap between its rich and poor.
(AP, 10/11/05)
2005 Oct 12, A rocket carrying two Chinese astronauts blasted off from a base in China's desert northwest Gansu province, returning the country's manned space program to orbit two years after its history-making first flight.
(AP, 10/12/05)(Econ, 10/15/05, p.46)
2005 Oct 12, In eastern China a man armed with homemade guns opened fire at a primary school, injuring 16 students before escaping.
(AP, 10/13/05)
2005 Oct 13, Chinese archeologists reported their find of a 4,000 year-old container in northwestern China of noodles made from millet.
(SFC, 10/13/05, p.A2)
2005 Oct 14, A trade delegation of some 300 Chinese officials and business executives visited SF for the 1st Hong Kong-Guangdong Business Conference USA.
(SFC, 10/15/05, p.C1)
2005 Oct 15-2005 Oct 16, The G20 group of rich and developing nations met in Xianghe, China. They sounded the alarm over high oil prices but barely touched on the role a stronger yuan could play in easing world economic imbalances.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2005 Oct 16, In China top US economic officials, led by Treasury Secretary John Snow and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, began talks with their Chinese counterparts on rancorous economic issues, including Beijing's currency controls and its huge and growing trade surplus. This is the 17th meeting of the U.S.-China Joint Economic Commission since the forum was founded in 1979 to thrash out economic issues.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2005 Oct 17, China’s Shenzhou 6 capsule carrying astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng landed before dawn by parachute in China's northern grasslands after a five-day mission.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 17, Two days of U.S.-Chinese trade talks ended with no response by China to an ambitious American proposal to reform its financial sector and open its markets wider to foreign products, while also moving faster on currency reforms.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 17, Deutsche Bank AG and private bank Sal. Oppenheim said they would acquire a combined 14% stake in China's Hua Xia Bank in a deal worth 272 million euros ($326.4 million).
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 17, Ba Jin (100), one of China's most revered communist-era writers who attacked the evils of the pre-revolutionary era in novels, short stories and essays, died of cancer in Shanghai. He is best known for his 1931 novel "Family," the story of a disintegrating feudal household. Ba Jin also translated the Russian writers Ivan Turgenev and Pyotr Kropotkin.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 18, An environmental watchdog alleged that Chinese logging companies in Myanmar have illegally exported huge amounts of timber in collusion with the military government and ethnic guerrillas, destroying ecologically unique forest areas.
(AP, 10/18/05)
2005 Oct 18, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz prodded China to give more power to the people for the sake of sustaining strong economic growth.
(AP, 10/18/05)
2005 Oct 19, China’s government said some 2,600 birds have been found dead of bird flu in northern China's grasslands, amid reports of new outbreaks in Europe and Russia.
(AP, 10/19/05)
2005 Oct 19, In China Tan Kai was taken into custody in the eastern city of Hangzhou. He was detained after he opened a bank account as part of efforts to register an environmental group, "Green Watch." He went on trial in May, 2006, on alleged charges of stealing state secrets, which stemmed from repairs he did on a computer belonging to a member of the provincial Communist Party committee.
(AP, 5/15/06)
2005 Oct 22, China’s legislature agreed to cut income taxes on the country’s poorest workers. The cutoff point to pay taxes was raised from 800 yuan to 1600 yuan ($198) per month.
(WSJ, 10/24/05, p.A13)
2005 Oct 22, A bird flu outbreak killed 545 chickens and ducks in central China and prompted authorities to destroy 2,487 others.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct 23, In southern China an explosion at a coal mine killed 15 miners and injured 3.
(AP, 10/24/05)
2005 Oct 25, A UN official said a bird flu outbreak sickened 2,100 geese in eastern China and killed about a quarter of them, the country's second outbreak reported in a week.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct 25, A Canadian court approved a $4.2 billion takeover of PetroKazakhstan by China's largest oil company, China National Petroleum Corp., clearing the final potential obstacle to China's biggest foreign acquisition yet.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 25, In southwest China a stampede on a stairwell at an elementary school in Tongjiang killed seven children and injured 37.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 25, Carlyle, a private-equity firm, paid $375 million for an 85% stake in Xugong, China’s leading maker of construction machinery and became the 1st foreign buyout group to gain control of a big Chinese company.
(Econ, 11/5/05, p.71)
2005 Oct 26, Toyota Motor Corp. said that its joint venture with China's biggest automaker plans to build a 3rd plant in China with annual production capacity of 200,000 passenger cars.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 26, Former Vice President Rong Yiren (89), a textile magnate who joined with China's communists and helped launch Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms, earning the nickname "Red Capitalist," died in Beijing.
(AP, 10/27/05)(Econ, 11/5/05, p.94)
2005 Oct 27, In Honk Kong the IPO of China Construction Bank raised $8 billion from foreign investors for a 12% stake. Ahead of the float CCB sold a 9% stake to Bank of America and a 5.1% stake to Temasek, a Singapore investment agency.
(Econ, 10/29/05, p.71)
2005 Oct 28, China's President Hu Jintao flew to North Korea to meet with reclusive leader Kim Jong Il ahead of new nuclear talks and was greeted by cheering crowds of thousands on a rare visit by a leader of the North's last major ally.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Oct 31, China's Pres. Hu Jintao arrived in Vietnam on a mission to expand booming trade ties between the communist nations.
(AP, 10/31/05)
2005 Nov 2, China’s government made public the results of a 2-month investigation into conflicts of interest in the coal industry and found that 4,578 government officials illegally held stakes in coal mines, where corruption and other abuses contributed to thousands of deaths each year.
(WSJ, 11/3/05, p.A10)
2005 Nov 2, Chinese scientists said they had gathered evidence that shows a giant object in the center of our galaxy is a super-massive black hole.
(Reuters, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 3, North Korea's abduction of Japanese citizens decades ago took center stage at the opening of talks in Beijing between the former bitter enemies.
(Reuters, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 4, China reported its fourth bird flu outbreak in three weeks, saying that 8,940 chickens died in a northeastern village despite a nationwide effort to contain the virus. The discovery prompted authorities to destroy about 370,000 birds.
(AP, 11/4/05)
2005 Nov 5, More than 50,000 people flocked to the opening day of a racy sex festival in southern China in a sign the conservative nation is shedding its sexual taboos. The three-day event began in the southern province of Guangzhou. It featured lingerie shows and adult toy exhibitions as experts and local authorities sought to convey information about the dangers of unsafe sex.
(AFP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 5, US industry officials said the US and China have reached a tentative agreement to limit imports of Chinese clothing and textile products into the United States.
(AP, 11/5/05)
2005 Nov 6, China said it had asked the World Health Organization to help it determine whether the death of a 12-year-old girl last month was caused by bird flu.
(AP, 11/6/05)
2005 Nov 6, In northern China an explosion at a coal mine killed 13 miners and left three missing at the Taiping Colliery in Shanxi province's Qingxu County.
(AP, 11/6/05)
2005 Nov 6, In northern China a cave-in at a gypsum mine killed 27 workers and trapped 20 others. The mine collapse occurred in Xingtai, a city in Hebei province, and affected two other nearby mines.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 7, Chinese authorities ordered all live poultry markets in Beijing to close immediately and went door-to-door seizing chickens and ducks from private homes, as the government dramatically beefed up its fight against bird flu.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 8, Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Britain for a 3-day state visit that will include a banquet dinner with Queen Elizabeth II and trade talks with PM Tony Blair. Jintao faced protests from human rights campaigners upon his arrival in London.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 8, The US State Department issued its 7th annual report to Congress on religious freedom. It cited Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Vietnam as restricting religious freedom.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 9, Chinese President Hu Jintao met Prime Minister Tony Blair as business leaders signed $1.3 billion in contracts and human rights protesters demonstrated outside Blair's office.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 10, China reported that its trade surplus surged to $12 billion in October, the highest monthly total this year, as exports continued to outpace imports.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 10, Authorities in China said they have quarantined 116 people in northeastern Liaoning province after two new outbreaks of bird flu there.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 10, Russia captured the world chess team championship with a last-minute, come-from-behind victory over the surprised Chinese team.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 11, In an elaborate, nationally televised gala at a Beijing sports arena to mark the 1,000-day countdown until the Games, senior Chinese leaders introduced their Olympic mascots: cartoon renditions of a panda, fish, Tibetan antelope, swallow and the Olympic flame, each one the color of one of the Olympic rings.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 11, In Beijing the US and North Korea urged each other to make concessions as a round of six-nation talks aimed at ending the North's nuclear programs concluded with no sign of progress or a date to meet again.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 13, China's President Hu Jintao has arrived in Spain for the final leg of a European trip dominated by trade, but was again set to be dogged by protests over his country's human rights record.
(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 13, In China's northeast a series of explosions at a chemical plant in Jilin, Xinhua, killed five people, left dozens hospitalized and forced more than 10,000 others to flee their homes fearing contamination and more blasts. Benzene leaked into the Songhua River and forced officials to close the water supply to Harbin. News of the leak was kept secret for days.
(AP, 11/14/05)(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 14, It was reported that Liu Qibing, a trader handling Chinese strategic commodity reserves, had shorted some 100k to 200k tons of copper. Copper prices moved up in response.
(Econ, 11/19/05, p.81)
2005 Nov 14, China reported a new case of bird flu in poultry in the country's east, its ninth outbreak since Oct. 19.
(AP, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 14, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger arrived in China on a six-day mission to promote California products and encourage Chinese officials to crack down on the piracy of copyrighted music, movies and software.
(AP, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 16, Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Seoul for talks with South Korea's president and an annual meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders, the first time in a decade a Chinese president has visited South Korea.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 16, China reported its first three confirmed human cases of bird flu as the government raced to vaccinate billions of chickens, ducks and other poultry in a massive effort to stop the spread of the virus. 2 cases were confirmed in the province of Hunan in central China and one in Anhui in the east.
(AP, 11/16/05)
2005 Nov 17, Chinese President Hu Jintao assured a Pacific Rim forum in South Korea that there is nothing to fear from his fast-developing country, which he said has great potential to contribute to global peace.
(AP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 18, China and Chile signed a free-trade agreement on behalf of their nations, the first between China and a Latin American country.
(AP, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 19, President Bush arrived in Beijing for talks with Chinese leaders. Bush and other Pacific Rim leaders urged Europe to show new flexibility on farm subsidies, an issue that has stalled global trade negotiations. The 21 APEC leaders promised to boost cooperation on fighting terrorism and preparing for a possible flu pandemic. They endorsed a roadmap for lifting trade barriers across APEC member countries and launched an initiative to protect intellectual property.
(AP, 11/19/05)(SFC, 11/19/05, p.A8)
2005 Nov 19, A US official said China will buy 70 Boeing 737 airliners as President Bush arrived on a visit expected to include discussion of Beijing's surging trade surplus with the US.
(AP, 11/19/05)
2005 Nov 20, US President George W. Bush pressed President Hu Jintao to rein in China's swelling trade surplus and push forward currency reform after calling for greater religious freedom. Hu Jintao has rebuffed Bush's calls to allow greater religious and political freedom but promised to show more flexibility on Sino-US economic disputes.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 20, China reported two new outbreaks of bird flu in which almost 3,700 poultry died and more than 7,000 were culled as provinces hit by the deadly virus tightened preventive measures.
(Reuters, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 21, China ordered already strict anti-bird flu measures tightened following two new outbreaks in poultry, while Romania said it would destroy 2,000 farm birds after finding the virus in hens and North Korea tightened border controls.
(AP, 11/21/05)
2005 Nov 22, China’s northeastern city of Harbin said its water system will be shut down for four days to check for contamination from a Nov. 13 chemical plant explosion, setting off panic buying of bottled water among its 3 million residents.
(AP, 11/22/05)(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 22, A woman farmer in east China died from bird flu after contact with sick poultry, becoming the third confirmed human case in the country and the 2nd confirmed fatality.
(AFP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 24, A man in south China was sentenced to death for leading a gang that kidnapped 38 children and sold them to other families for adoption.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 24, In China a slick of river-borne toxins from a chemical plant explosion flowed into Harbin as the government dug wells after shutting down its water system to protect residents. A 50-mile-long patch of water carrying toxic benzene began entering Harbin, a city of 3.8 million people in China's northeast, before dawn. A chemical plant explosion Nov. 13 in the nearby city of Jilin spewed toxic benzene into the Songhua River.
(AP, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 24, In southwestern China an explosion at the Yingte Chemical Company in Dianjiang killed one worker. This prompted fears of a 2nd benzene leak and warnings to residents not to drink river water.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 25, Pushing China's foreign exchange reform ahead by another step, the central bank carried out its first currency swap deals with local banks in a move that could help bring more flexibility to the market.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 25, China's Ministry of Agriculture confirmed a bird flu outbreak in Zalantun city in northern China's Inner Mongolia bringing to 23 the number of outbreaks of the disease.
(Reuters, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 26, A magnitude 5.7 earthquake shook part of central China, killing at least 15 people, injuring more than 450 and destroying hundreds of buildings.
(AP, 11/26/05)
2005 Nov 27, Running water was restored in Harbin, China, a city of 3.8 million people where a chemical spill forced a 5-day shutdown. Officials warned it was not immediately safe to drink.
(AP, 11/27/05)
2005 Nov 27, In northeast China coal dust caught fire at the Dongfeng coal mine in the city of Qitai while 221 miners were working underground. The final death toll reached 171. In 2007 the owner and four employees of the mine were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 3 1/2 to six years.
(AP, 11/28/05)(AP, 12/06/05)(AP, 12/22/07)
2005 Nov 30, Dalianhe, China, shut down its water system as a toxic slick caused by the Nov 13 chemical plant explosion at Jilin arrived on the Songhua River.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2005 Nov 30, SF mayor Gavin Newsom signed a new memorandum of agreement with Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng, the 8th since the 2 cities forged a formal relationship in 1980.
(SFC, 12/1/05, p.B10)
2005 Nov, China decided to implement int’l. accounting standards. Rules to this end went into effect in January 2007.
(Econ, 1/13/07, p.63)
2005 Dec 1, Thousands marched in anti-AIDS rallies in India's plagued northeast, while China rolled out a campaign targeting millions of migrant workers to mark World AIDS Day.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Dec 2, Manfred Nowak, the first UN torture investigator to visit China said that abuse was still widespread and authorities subjected detainees to electric shocks, beatings and sleep deprivation. He also accused the government of obstructing his work.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 2, China’s state news said police in southern China have arrested 16 people allegedly involved in kidnapping and selling baby girls as young as newborns to foreigners.
(AP, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 2, Jiamusi, a second city in northeast China, shut down a water plant on a poisoned river, fearing contamination from the approaching toxic chemicals. The slick on the Amur River, which is fed by the Songhua River, originally 50 miles long, now stretched for 90 miles.
(AP, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 2, In China 16 workers were killed and 42 others trapped in two separate coal mine accidents.
(AFP, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 3, Economic officials from the world's richest countries resumed their pressure on China to adopt a more flexible exchange rate as they concluded a meeting in London.
(AP, 12/3/06)
2005 Dec 4, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in France for a four-day visit. The Chinese government and the European aircraft manufacturing consortium Airbus signed a cooperation agreement at a public ceremony in Toulouse that may pave the way for the opening of an aircraft assembly plant in China.
(AFP, 12/04/05)
2005 Dec 5, China ordered 150 Airbus single-aisle A320 airliners, more than twice as many plane orders as the company's U.S.-based rival Boeing Co. snagged from China last month.
(AP, 12/05/05)
2005 Dec 6, China reported that a 10-year old girl in the Guangxi region had tested positive for bird flu, its 4th case of the deadly H5N1 strain.
(WSJ, 12/7/05, p.A1)
2005 Dec 6-2005 Dec 7, In southern China police allegedly killed as many as 10-20 protesters in a dispute over land use in Dongzhou. Villagers were angry over land confiscations and plans to construct a wind power plant. Armed police sealed off the village following the violent clashes. State news later reported 3 villagers killed and 8 wounded.
(AP, 12/09/05)(SFC, 12/9/05, p.A15)(SSFC, 12/11/05, p.A2)
2005 Dec 6, In China Wang Wei, the vice mayor of Jilin, was found dead. He was in charge of the environment affairs and had denied that the Nov 13 explosion in a petrochemical plant had caused any environmental damage.
(WSJ, 12/8/05, p.A15)
2005 Dec 7, In northern China an explosion tore through the Liuguantun coal mine in Hebei province and killed at least 91 workers. Police arrested seven people accused of responsibility for a coal mine disaster.
(AFP, 12/11/05)
2005 Dec 8, China announced a fifth human case of bird flu, a 31-year-old female farmer who fell ill after contact with dead birds but has since recovered.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 9, In Beijing, China, the US ambassador for fighting international slavery said that many North Korean refugees who flee to China every year end up as sex slaves and China often sends them back for punishment.
(AP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 10, China’s Ministry of Railways signed an agreement to let an American subsidiary of Shanghai-based TZG Partners operate a luxury train service that will cross the Tibetan plateau. Custom carriages will need oxygen levels adjusted for the high altitude.
(WSJ, 12/12/05, p.A17)
2005 Dec 10, In Dongzhou, China, residents of the southern village near Hong Kong described a tense standoff in the area with thousands of armed troops patrolling the perimeter and blocking anyone from leaving. Frightened villagers said they were either hunkering down at home or arguing with police, who are refusing to return the dead to their families. Police had opened fire on demonstrators there on Dec 6.
(AP, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 10, China and Portugal vowed to boost their economic cooperation in resource-rich former Portuguese colonies in Africa as the premiers of the two nations attended a business conference in Lisbon.
(AFP, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 10, Miss Iceland, Unnur Birna Vilhjalmsdottir (21), an anthropology and law student and part-time policewoman, was crowned Miss World on the southern Chinese resort island of Hainan.
(Reuters, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 11, China’s government said the commander of forces that shot and killed people protesting land seizures in a southern village has been detained, as police in riot gear patrolled the community and appealed for order.
(AP, 12/11/05)
2005 Dec 12, The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said China surpassed the US as the world's top exporter of laptop computers, mobile phones and other information and communications technology devices in 2004.
(AP, 12/12/05)
2005 Dec 14, The Walt Disney Co. announced its first film production in China, adding to its efforts to break into the booming Chinese entertainment market.
(AP, 12/14/05)
2005 Dec 15, In China's northeast Patients leapt from the windows of a burning four-story hospital to escape a blaze that killed at least 39 people in Liaoyuan.
(AP, 12/16/05)
2005 Dec 15, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev ceremonially opened the taps of a new pipeline carrying oil from one of the region's greatest energy powers to one of its hungriest consumers, China.
(AP, 12/15/05)
2005 Dec 18, Chinese state media published the names of three villagers killed by police during a protest over the seizure of land for a power plant and provided a rare and vivid account of the small-town politics that led to the bloody confrontation.
(AP, 12/18/05)
2005 Dec 18, In China authorities ordered a smelter in Shaoguan to halt the discharge of waste into the Bei River that contained an unusual amount of cadmium.
(SFC, 12/22/05, p.A9)
2005 Dec 19, A World Bank fund signed deals to buy pollution credits from two Chinese chemical companies for $930 million under a plan that lets richer countries meet commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions by paying for reductions in poorer economies.
(AP, 12/19/05)
2005 Dec 20, China said its economy is much bigger and less dependent on exports than previously reported, issuing new data that analysts said make its roaring growth look easier to sustain and could encourage even more foreign investment.
(AP, 12/20/05)
2005 Dec 22, China's southern business capital of Guangzhou rushed to ensure water supplies as a toxic spill from a smelter flowed toward the city of 7 million people 60 miles north of Hong Kong. Yingde, a smaller city nearby, stopped drawing drinking water from the contaminated Bei river. The spill from a smelter in Shaoguan pushed up levels of the heavy metal cadmium in the Bei to 10 times acceptable limits.
(AP, 12/22/05)
2005 Dec 22, A toxic spill from China reached Khabarovsk, and the region's governor appealed for calm in the Far Eastern Russian city, where residents have crammed their apartments with bottles, pails, pans and even bathtubs full of fresh water.
(AP, 12/22/05)
2005 Dec 22, In southwestern China a gas explosion at a road construction site killed 42 people in Sichuan province.
(AP, 12/22/05)
2005 Dec 23, China’s government announced that it has dismissed two provincial deputy governors and prosecuted 96 officials blamed for six high-profile coal mine accidents that killed a total of 528 people over the past 13 months.
(AP, 12/23/05)
2005 Dec 23, In China's southwestern city of Chongqing Xu Wanping (44) was sentenced by a court after being convicted of subversion charges. He was convicted and jailed for 12 years for organizing anti-Japanese protests on the mainland.
(AP, 12/25/05)
2005 Dec 23, In China’s Henan province a blast triggered a fire that swept through a long-distance bus, killing 11 passengers and seriously injuring three. Chinese police later detained the suspected architect of a bus bombing designed to kill his wife.
(Reuters, 1/4/06)
2005 Dec 23, Yao Wenyuan (74), the last surviving member of the Gang of Four, died. The Gang of Four, reportedly given its name by then-Chinese leader Mao Zedong, directed the purge of moderate party officials and intellectuals during the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution.
(AP, 1/6/06)(Econ, 1/14/06, p.84)
2005 Dec 24, China and North Korea signed an agreement to jointly develop offshore oil reserves.
(AP, 12/24/05)
2005 Dec 25, In China a fire at an unlicensed bar killed at least 26 people and injured eight in Zhongstan, which abuts Macau west of Hong Kong.
(AP, 12/26/05)
2005 Dec 26, News reports said China has closed 2,411 coal mines for safety violations, and will start requiring mines to post safety bonds. 12,990 mines were ordered to suspend operations for safety inspections.
(AP, 12/26/05)
2005 Dec 27, In China Tian Fengshan, former minister of land and resources, was sentenced to life in prison on charges of taking $545,000 in bribes from 1995-2003.
(AP, 12/27/05)
2005 Dec 27, US financial services giant Citigroup Inc. said it plans to increase its stake in China's Shanghai Pudong Development Bank to 19.9 percent, the maximum legal holding for a single foreign bank in a local lender.
(AP, 12/27/05)
2005 Dec 28, Police blocked a Chinese family from holding a news conference in Beijing to publicize complaints of police brutality in their village. The Fengs and a fellow villager complained that police in Xiong County, 50 miles from Beijing in Hebei province, beat two of them and refused to pursue complaints of rape and assault.
(AP, 12/28/05)
2005 Dec 28, In China 17 coal miners working at the Fanjiasi mine in Dianwan town, Zuoyun county, were trapped by flooding. On Dec 31 eight were confirmed dead.
(AFP, 12/31/05)
2005 Dec 29, China’s Premier Wen Jiabao warned in a speech against land seizure abuses. The speech was published Jan 20, 2006.
(WSJ, 1/21/06, p.A1)
2005 Dec 29, Reporters at a Beijing newspaper known for covering sensitive topics walked off the job after editor Yang Bin was removed this week amid efforts to tighten press controls.
(AP, 12/30/05)
2005 Dec 29, China’s government said about 300 million people living in the vast countryside drink unsafe water tainted by chemicals and other contaminants in its latest acknowledgment of mounting risks from widespread pollution.
(AP, 12/29/05)
2005 Dec 29, China confirmed its 7th human infection, and third human death, from bird flu, after health officials revealed a factory worker (41) died from the disease over a week ago.
(Reuters, 12/29/05)
2005 Dec 30, State media said Chinese police have closed 598 Web sites in a crackdown on pornography, but online gambling and fraud are growing.
(AP, 12/30/05)
2005 Tim Clissold authored “Mr. China," an account of how Chinese partners cheated Asimco out of millions. In 2008 Jack Perkowski, who ran Asimco for 13 years, authored “Managing the Dragon: How I'm Building a Billion-Dollar Business in China."
(Econ, 1/26/08, p.80)
2005 Robert Lawrence Kuhn, investment banker, authored “The Life and legacy of Jiang Zemin."
(WSJ, 3/9/05, p.B1)
2005 James McGregor authored “One Billion Customers: Lessons from the Front Lines of Doing Business in China ."
(http://tinyurl.com/l5uou3h)
2005 In China the “Xi Yangyang" (Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf), a children’s animated TV show, was launched. In 2013 state broadcasting authorites issued plans for stricter control of violence in the shows.
(Econ, 10/19/13, p.50)
2005 China produced 260 films this year compared to 425 in America and over 800 in India.
(Econ, 4/29/06, p.69)
2005 China appointed Zhang Qingli, a Han Chinese, as Tibet’s party chief.
(Econ, 3/22/08, p.29)
2005 Over 31 million Chinese traveled abroad, but most were border tourists going to Hong Kong and Macao. Just 1 million visited Europe and only a handful made it to the US and Canada, which still restrict Chinese visitors.
(Econ, 6/24/06, p.74)
2005 In China more than 6,000 people died in accidents in its coal mines and petroleum industries in this year, with the proportion of those killed in major disasters rising sharply.
(AP, 2/10/06)
2005 China surpassed the US in exporting the most technology wares around the world.
(Econ, 12/17/05, p.58)
2005 A Chinese government think-tank declared medical reforms to be “basically a failure."
(Econ, 11/19/05, p.45)
2005 China’s government in 2006 said AIDS surpassed hepatitis B to become China's third-deadliest infectious disease in 2005. Some 130 million Chinese carried the hepatitis B virus. The UN estimated that 55,000 people were infected with HIV from commercial blood and plasma donations.
(AP, 2/13/06)(Econ, 11/18/06, p.45)(Econ, 1/20/07, p.51)
2005 China's Health Ministry reported almost 34,000 food-related illnesses, with spoiled food accounting for the largest number, followed by poisonous plants or animals and use of agricultural chemicals.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2005 Japanese investment in China reached $6.5 billion, more than a tenth of the total received by China this year.
(Econ, 10/7/06, p.30)
2005 A syndicate called China Int’l. Fund or China Sonangol, created by a man named Sam Pa (aka Xu Jinghua), signed contracts giving the company the right to export Angolan oil and act as a middleman between Sonangol and Sinopec. The company operated out of Hong Kong. By 2009 the company had bought the JPMorgan Chase building at 23 Wall Street, NYC. Newbright Int’l., a core company of the syndicate, was 70% controlled by Veronica Fung.
(Econ, 8/13/11, p.21)
2005 The Paris-based Press Freedom Index ranked China at 159th out of 167 countries.
(www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=554)
2005 Intel planned to complete a new $375 million chipset assembly plant in Chengdu, China.
(SFC, 5/31/05, p.C1)
2005 Burger King introduced its hamburger operations in China.
(Econ, 10/25/08, p.78)
2006 Jan 1, In China a new policy took effect that allowed listed companies to grant stock options to senior executives and certain employees as incentives.
(WSJ, 1/6/06, p.A8)
2006 Jan 2, China’s Xinhua News reported that the nation’s GDP grew 9.8% in 2005.
(WSJ, 1/3/06, p.A14)
2006 Jan 4, In China’s central province of Hunan a mismanaged silt clean-up project allowed the industrial chemical cadmium, which can cause neurological disorders and cancer, to flood out of a smelting works and into the Xiangjiang River.
(AFP, 1/8/06)
2006 Jan 5, China’s government announced the closing 5,290 coal mines in a safety crackdown on the world's deadliest mining industry.
(AP, 1/5/06)
2006 Jan 5, In China Feng Bingxian (59), a businessman who led investors against the government seizure of oil fields in northern China, was convicted along with 2 co-defendants of organizing illegal protests and sentenced to 3 years in prison.
(SFC, 1/6/06, p.A3)(WSJ, 1/6/06, p.A8)
2006 Jan 5, In China an oil spill occurred at Gongyi city in neighboring Henan province when a frozen pipe broke, causing six tons of oil to spill into a tributary of the Yellow River.
(AFP, 1/8/06)
2006 Jan 5, In western China violent blizzards have forced the evacuation of 97,000 people in a largely Muslim region of Xinjiang, as the nation braced for its worst winter in 20 years.
(AP, 1/5/06)
2006 Jan 6, In China a farmer angry over a court ruling set off a bomb in a courthouse in Gansu province, killing himself and four other people. Qian Wenzhao (62) was angry over a ruling in a property dispute involving the house of his late son and daughter-in-law.
(AP, 1/7/06)
2006 Jan 7, China's ruling Communist Party called on its members to do more to fight widespread corruption and politically explosive problems such as unpaid back wages for migrant workers.
(AP, 1/7/06)
2006 Jan 8, State media said China will invest more than $3 billion over the next five years to clean up the Songhua River, a key source of drinking water for tens of millions of people that was polluted in November by a toxic spill that flowed into Russia.
(AP, 1/8/06)
2006 Jan 9, Bolivian President-elect Evo Morales met with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing and called China an "ideological ally," a day after he invited the communist country to develop Bolivia's vast gas reserves.
(AP, 1/9/06)
2006 Jan 9, China and Japan agreed to hold new talks to resolve a dispute over gas deposits in the East China Sea that could help ease their increasingly strained relations.
(AP, 1/9/06)
2006 Jan 9, China’s state-controlled oil company CNOOC Ltd. said it is paying $2.3 billion for a 45 percent stake in a Nigerian oil field.
(AP, 1/9/06)
2006 Jan 11, New customs figures indicated that China's trade surplus surged to $101.9 billion in 2005, more than triple the $32 billion gap recorded the year before.
(AP, 1/11/06)
2006 Jan 11, The WHO said 2 more people sickened by bird flu in China have died, bringing the total number of humans killed by the disease in the country to five.
(AP, 1/11/06)
2006 Jan 12, China’s government released a white paper outlining its African policy.
(Econ, 1/21/06, p.44)
2006 Jan 12, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing gave four million US dollars to Dakar within hours of his arrival in Senegal, the latest west African country to have recently ditched Taiwan in favor of mighty Beijing.
(AP, 1/12/06)
2006 Jan 12, EU governments refused to ascribe market-economy status to 13 Chinese shoemakers, opening the way for duties to be imposed on their imports to Europe.
(AP, 1/12/06)
2006 Jan 13, A Hong Kong newspaper reported that North Korea's secretive leader Kim Jong Il is on a two-day visit to the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.
(AP, 1/13/06)
2006 Jan 14, In southern China scores of protesters were wounded and a girl was killed as hundreds of police used electric batons and tear gas to quell a land protest.
(AP, 1/15/06)(WSJ, 1/17/06, p.A1)
2006 Jan 16, Chinese state media reported that foreign currency reserves rose 34% last year to a record $818.9 billion.
(SFC, 1/17/06, p.C5)
2006 Jan 16-2006 Jan 18, In southwestern China workers protesting the sale of a factory in Chengdu clashed for three days with baton-wielding police. According to Boxun.com, an overseas-hosted Chinese-language Web site, the factory was worth $37 million, but was going to be sold for $9.9 million.
(AP, 1/23/06)
2006 Jan 18, In China senior envoys from the United States, North Korea and China held a "beneficial" meeting on the stalled six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program.
(AFP, 1/19/06)
2006 Jan 18, In China alarmed by the spread of bird flu beyond East Asia, nations pledged nearly $2 billion to fight the disease, far exceeding expectations at the fundraising conference in Beijing. The US promised $334 million, Japan $155 million, and China $10 million.
(AP, 1/18/06)(Econ, 3/25/06, Survey p.19)
2006 Jan 20, Taiwan allowed students and tour groups to fly direct to China for the first time in the third annual installment of symbolic Chinese New Year flights aimed at warming tense relations with the mainland.
(AP, 1/20/06)
2006 Jan 22, Xinhua News reported that US-based General Electric has won an 196-million-dollar bid to help build China's West-East Gas Pipeline.
(AP, 1/22/06)
2006 Jan 23, Saudi King Abdullah met with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing, amid efforts by China to secure overseas oil and gas reserves for its power-hungry economy.
(AP, 1/23/06)
2006 Jan 23, China's Ministry of Health announced the country's 10th human case of bird flu infection after a 29-year-old woman from the southwest of the country was diagnosed with the H5N1 virus.
(Reuters, 1/23/06)
2006 Jan 23, Belgian brewer InBev NV, the world's largest brewery by volume, said it has agreed to buy the largest brewer in China's Fujian province for 614 million euros ($740 million).
(AP, 1/23/06)
2006 Jan 24, China shut down Bing Dian, a newspaper supplement known for its in-depth reporting on sensitive issues, the latest measure by the communist government to tighten control over the media.
(AP, 1/25/06)(Econ, 2/4/06, p.39)
2006 Jan 24, FedEx Corp. said it would take over local distribution from its Chinese joint-venture partner DTW Group in a $400 million buyout.
(WSJ, 1/25/06, p.A2)
2006 Jan 25, Google Inc. launched a search engine in China that censors material about human rights, Tibet and other topics sensitive to Beijing, defending the move as a trade-off granting Chinese greater access to other information.
(AP, 1/25/06)
2006 Jan 27, China's biggest lender, state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, signed a $3.78 billion investment deal with Goldman Sachs Group Inc., American Express Co. and Germany's Allianz AG.
(AP, 1/27/06)
2006 Jan 28, Beijing prepared to usher in the Lunar New Year with bang, after authorities lifted a 12-year ban on fireworks.
(AP, 1/28/06)
2006 Jan 28, China’s state-owned CNOOC began gas production at the Chunxiao field near the disputed border region with Japan.
(WSJ, 4/6/06, p.A13)
2006 Jan 29, The Chinese New Year ushered in the year of the Dog. As many as 10 million dogs were slaughtered annually for food consumption in China. Fireworks explosions killed 36 people and injured hundreds more in China as traditional Lunar New Year celebrations led to much mayhem as well as joy across the nation.
(SSFC, 1/29/06, p.A3)(AFP, 1/30/06)
2006 Jan 30, Feng Xiliang (86), a US-trained journalist, died in Beijing. In 1978 he helped to launch the China Daily, the communist government's main English-language newspaper.
(AP, 2/2/06)
2006 Jan, Mani Shankar Aiyar, India’s petroleum minister, visited China and signed a series of cooperation agreements.
(Econ, 1/21/06, p.59)
2006 Feb 1, In northern China a blast at the Sihe Coal Mine, the subsidiary of a state-owned coal mine, killed 23 workers and injured 53 others in Shanxi Province.
(AP, 2/1/06)
2006 Feb 8, China's Ministry of Health announced one more human case of bird flu, bringing the number of the country's confirmed cases in humans to eleven.
(AP, 2/8/06)
2006 Feb 10, China's Ministry of Health said a woman had died of bird flu in the central province of Hunan, the eighth person killed by the virus in the country.
(AP, 2/10/06)
2006 Feb 14, In southern China toxic wastewater was flushed untreated into a river, prompting the government to cut water supplies to 28,000 people in Guanyin for at least four days. A power plant on the upper reaches of the Yuexi River in Sichuan province was to blame for the pollution.
(AP, 2/20/06)
2006 Feb 14, The Bush administration announced it will step up enforcement of US trade laws governing China, following a top-to-bottom review of America's trading relationship with the Asian giant.
(AP, 2/14/06)
2006 Feb 15, China announced a plan to combat widespread pollution and leave a better environment for future generations, citing the need to stave off possible social instability.
(AP, 2/15/06)
2006 Feb 15, Gunmen on a motorcycle killed three Chinese engineers and their Pakistani driver in a remote tribal region of southwestern Pakistan.
(AP, 2/15/06)
2006 Feb 16, In China Li Datong said the Bing Dian newspaper supplement, known for hard-hitting coverage of sensitive issues, will resume publication March 1. However he and deputy editor Lu Yuegang were removed from their posts and transferred to the News Research Institute, another department of the China Youth Daily.
(AP, 2/16/06)
2006 Feb 16, Two shipping accidents off eastern China's Fujian province left 61 sailors missing.
(AP, 2/17/06)
2006 Feb 19, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf arrived in China on a visit that analysts said would focus on anti-terrorism cooperation, trade and technological assistance.
(AFP, 2/19/06)
2006 Feb 21, Japan's trade minister arrived in Beijing for talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the highest-level contact between the two countries since relations soured last October.
(AP, 2/21/06)
2006 Feb 21, The Chinese government issued a plan with promises to spend more on schools, health care and aid for farmers in the poor countryside, where communist leaders worry about potentially explosive unrest over poverty and other problems.
(AP, 2/21/06)
2006 Feb 22, In China Yu Dongyue, a man who was jailed for throwing paint on Mao Zedong's portrait overlooking Beijing's Tiananmen Square during pro-democracy protests in 1989, was released after nearly 17 years in prison.
(AP, 2/24/06)
2006 Feb 22, Wu Hao, Chinese filmmaker, was detained for allegedly working on a documentary film on Christian churches not recognized by the Chinese government. Wu had returned to China in 2004 after 12 years in the US. He was released on July 11.
(WSJ, 7/3/06, p.A1)(AP, 7/11/06)
2006 Feb 23, China warned Hong Kong’s new Cardinal Joseph Zen that he should avoid mixing religion and politics.
(WSJ, 2/24/06, p.A4)
2006 Feb 23, China’s Lenovo Group, the world’s 3rd largest computer maker, announced it was introducing low-priced desktop an notebook computers in the US and other countries.
(SFC, 2/24/06, p.D1)
2006 Feb 23, In China a coal mine explosion in eastern Shandong province killed 15 miners and injured 12 others. The mine belonged to the Zaozhuang Mining Group Co.
(AP, 2/23/06)
2006 Feb 25, China Xinhua News reported that an orphanage director and nine other people in Hengyang had been sentenced to prison for buying and selling scores of infants who were adopted by foreign parents. Another 22 officials were fired in the case in Hunan province.
(AP, 2/25/06)
2006 Feb 25, China warned of the threat of a massive avian flu outbreak among birds in the country as it reported two new human cases, a girl in eastern Zhejiang province and a woman farmer in neighboring Anhui province.
(Reuters, 2/26/06)
2006 Feb 27, In China the trial of 17 members of the Three Ranks of Servants church began in the northeastern city of Shuangyashan. The trial involved the alleged killings of 20 members of Eastern Lightning, one of China's many unregistered church groups.
(AP, 2/28/06)
2006 Feb 27, China’s Commerce Ministry said Avon Products Inc. has received approval to become the first company to resume direct sales in China following an eight-year ban.
(AP, 2/27/06)
2006 Feb 27, Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian terminated the governmental committee responsible for unifying with rival China, significantly deepening tensions with Beijing and defying opinion in Washington. The National Unification Council had been inactive for 6 years.
(AP, 2/27/06)(Econ, 3/4/06, p.38)
2006 Feb 28, Chinese President Hu Jintao denounced the Taiwanese president's decision to scrap an agency dedicated to uniting Taiwan with the communist mainland, and warned that Beijing will not permit the self-ruled island to pursue formal independence.
(AP, 2/28/06)
2006 Feb 28, Bob Fu, a US-based activist and a Chinese legal scholar, said leaders of an underground Chinese church, who are accused of killing of 20 members of a rival group, were tortured into confessing in a crackdown on unofficial religious organizations.
(AP, 2/28/06)
2006 Feb, China’s main television and film regulator banned TV shows and movies that blend animated characters with live-action actors. The move was aimed to nurture local animators.
(SFC, 2/24/06, p.E10)
2006 Feb, China detained an Australian and later convicted under China's state security laws. James Sun, a former Chinese air force employee, was helping to recruit foreign students to Australia when he was seized by security police and detained as he headed to dinner. Sun was accused of "seducing" a former air force colleague into copying more than 1,000 top-secret and classified documents, and of passing them to the Taiwanese. He was found guilty in late 2007 and sentenced to life in prison. In 2011 the foreign ministry in Canberra confirmed the story.
(AFP, 2/1/11)
2006 Mar 1, China moved ahead with 3 new internet address suffixes in the Chinese language, as national variants to .cn, .com and .net.
(Econ, 3/4/06, p.61)
2006 Mar 3, A US trade envoy said China is failing to do enough to prevent growing product piracy and could be forced to answer formal complaints over it in the World Trade Organization if it doesn't take more aggressive action.
(AP, 3/3/06)
2006 Mar 4, A government spokesman said China's military budget will rise 14.7% this year to $35.3 billion. China’s National People's Congress, largely a rubber-stamp for decisions taken at the top level of the Chinese Communist Party, approved a 14.7% increase in military spending to 35 billion dollars (27 billion euros). Although this is paltry compared to the 419 billion dollar (325 billion euro) US defense budget in 2006, the Pentagon last year estimated that China's defense spending was two to three times the publicly announced figure.
(AP, 3/4/06)(AP, 8/17/06)
2006 Mar 5, Premier Wen Jiabao opened the annual session of China's figurehead parliament with promises to spread prosperity to the restive countryside and predictions of fast but steady economic growth.
(AP, 3/5/06)
2006 Mar 5, Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai said on Sunday that anti-dumping duties by the European Union and U.S. threats of more trade complaints contradict the spirit of free trade and add to global protectionism.
(AP, 3/5/06)
2006 Mar 6, A Chinese lawmaker called for police to tape interrogations in possible death penalty cases following widespread complaints of confessions being forced by torture.
(AP, 3/6/06)
2006 Mar 8, Chinese officials promised to crack down on seizures of farmland for redevelopment that were fueling unrest, saying as many as 1 million farmers lose their land each year and are paid too little for it. Communist leaders launched China's most ambitious initiative in decades, promising billions of dollars in social spending and farm aid to help the 800 million people in its neglected countryside catch up with its booming cities.
(AP, 3/8/06)(AP, 3/10/06)
2006 Mar 8, Xinhua News reported that a court in southern China has sentenced 16 officials to jail terms of up to six years in connection with The Aug 7, 2005, coal mine flood that killed 123 people.
(AP, 3/8/06)
2006 Mar 8, A German minister claimed that deadly bird flu was moving closer to infecting humans in Europe after two more cats died of the virus. China reported its 10th human fatality.
(AFP, 3/8/06)
2006 Mar 9, A flood at a mine in southwestern China killed 7 miners and injured 3 others. In central China a coal mine explosion and fire killed 3 miners and left six others missing.
(AP, 3/9/06)
2006 Mar 11, A Chinese activist who documented villagers' claims of forced abortions and sterilizations was detained while trying to report the beating of his cousin. Chen Guangcheng, his older brother and his cousin were taken away in a police van and other vehicles from their home village of Dongshigu in Shandong, as they were on their way to file a police report.
(AP, 3/12/06)
2006 Mar 13, News reports said the world industrial-standards association has rejected China's controversial wireless encryption standard for global use.
(AP, 3/13/06)
2006 Mar 13, Liu Zhijun, China’s minister of railways, announced $25 billion plans to build two new high-speed train lines linking Shanghai with Beijing (1320km) and another linking Shanghai and Hangzhou (175km). Plans included the use of magnetic levitation technology that can reach speeds of 260 mph.
(AP, 3/13/06)(Econ, 3/25/06, p.69)
2006 Mar 14, Premier Wen Jiabao vowed to crack down on seizures of farmland for redevelopment, a source of rising rural anger in China, but stopped short of saying whether the communist government might allow farmers to own land. The 10-day session of the National People’s Congress closed as delegates approved a budget that promised more cash for farmers and a new 5-year economic plan.
(AP, 3/14/06)(Econ, 3/18/06, p.42)
2006 Mar 14, EU trade chief Peter Mandelson told China to remove barriers on imports of European goods if it wants to be recognized as a market economy by the 25-nation bloc.
(AP, 3/14/06)
2006 Mar 14, China refused to take back 39,000 citizens who have been refused entry to the US and are languishing in detention centers.
(WSJ, 3/15/06, p.A1)
2006 Mar 14, China and Russia objected to a tough UN Security Council statement backed by the United States, Britain and France calling for a report in two weeks on Iran's compliance with demands that it suspend uranium enrichment.
(AP, 3/14/06)
2006 Mar 15, In China 8 aphorisms by Pres. Hu Jintao were issued on a $1 poster with plain, black Chinese characters above a photo of the Great Wall: Love, do not harm the motherland. Serve, don't disserve the people. Uphold science; don't be ignorant and unenlightened. Work hard; don't be lazy and hate work. Be united and help each other; don't gain benefits at the expense of others. Be honest and trustworthy, not profit-mongering at the expense of your values. Be disciplined and law-abiding instead of chaotic and lawless. Know plain living and hard struggle, do not wallow in luxuries and pleasures.
(AP, 3/16/06)
2006 Mar 15, In southwest China a boat carrying people home from a fair capsized while crossing a river leaving at least 27 dead.
(AP, 3/15/06)
2006 Mar 17, A Chinese court dropped charges against a Chinese researcher for The New York Times who was accused of leaking state secrets, about a month ahead of a visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao to Washington. Zhao Yan, who worked for the Times' Beijing bureau, was detained in September 2004.
(AP, 3/17/06)
2006 Mar 17, A Chinese court jailed teacher Ren Ziyuan (27) for 10 years for publishing anti-government views on the Internet, continuing an official crackdown on Web-based dissidents.
(AP, 3/17/06)
2006 Mar 17, Yuan Baojing, a Chinese tycoon once worth more than $360 million, and two accomplices were executed by lethal injection. Yuan (40) was convicted last year of hiring a hit man in a failed plot to kill a business partner who had caused Yuan's company to lose $11 million in futures trading.
(AP, 3/18/06)
2006 Mar 20, A Chinese cargo ship hit an anchored freighter and sank off South Korea's west coast, killing at least three Chinese crew members.
(AP, 3/20/06)
2006 Mar 21, Chinese President Hu Jintao and visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on to deepen energy cooperation, as Russian gas giant Gazprom said it would look to meet some needs of oil and gas-hungry China.
(Reuters, 3/21/06)
2006 Mar 25, The Vatican's foreign minister said that the "time is ripe" for the Holy See and Beijing to establish diplomatic relations, and confirmed it is ready to move its embassy from Taiwan.
(AP, 3/26/06)
2006 Mar 26, The Chinese partner of Time Warner’s consumer products unit said the studio division plans to open some 200 stores in China over the coming years as demand for branded merchandise increases in China.
(Reuters, 3/26/06)
2006 Mar 28, In China new regulations viewed on the Health Ministry's Web site forbade the buying and selling of organs and require that donors give written permission for their organs to be transplanted.
(AP, 3/28/06)
2006 Mar 29, State media reported that China has arrested 76 officials and recovered about $510 million in misused funds following a national audit.
(AP, 3/29/06)
2006 Mar 30, China said it would spend 1.2 billion dollars cleaning up the Songhua River following a major chemical spill last year that contaminated water supplies for millions of people.
(AFP, 3/30/06)
2006 Mar 30, The Bush administration said that it is filing a trade case against China before the World Trade Organization in a dispute involving auto parts from the US and other nations.
(AP, 3/30/06)
2006 Mar 31, In China Hu Jia, a prominent AIDS activist, said he would sue the government for improperly detaining him. Jia, released on March 28, accused Chinese security forces of abducting and holding him for 41 days.
(AP, 4/1/06)
2006 Mar, China announced the 1st retail fuel price increases in 8 months. Beijing taxi drivers believed that the government’s fear of wildcat strikes was the main reason why they were not allowed to install 2-way radio systems.
(Econ, 4/8/06, p.44)
2006 Apr 1, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in Australia for a visit aimed at finalizing a uranium supply deal and speeding up free trade negotiations between the two nations.
(AFP, 4/1/06)
2006 Apr 1, In eastern China a blast at an explosives plant killed at least 20 workers and injured two. Nine workers were missing.
(AP, 4/2/06)
2006 Apr 3, Australia agreed to sell China uranium for nuclear power stations despite concerns that Beijing could divert the material to atomic weapons.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 4, Wen Jiabao arrived in Fiji as the first Chinese premier to visit the Pacific islands, seeking to deepen China's influence in the region and contain Taiwan's diplomatic clout.
(AP, 4/4/06)
2006 Apr 8, The Rolling Stones made their debut in mainland China with a censored, but still raucous, concert in Shanghai.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2006 Apr 8, Harley-Davidson Inc. opened its first dealership in China, with promises to bring its trademark easy-riding attitude to bikers in the world's most sought-after market.
(AP, 4/8/06)
2006 Apr 10, It was reported that China has agreed to open a corridor through its tightly restricted airspace. This could save airlines $30 million a year in fuel and trim an average half hour off flight times between China and Europe.
(WSJ, 4/10/06, p.A3)
2006 Apr 10, In China an explosion in a hospital parking garage killed at least 30 people. The blast occurred in an underground garage at a hospital for the staff of the Xuangang Coal and Electricity Co. Ltd. in Shanxi province's Yuanping county. Local authorities found explosives at the site.
(AP, 4/11/06)
2006 Apr 10, In northwest China a truck crashed into a minivan and a passenger bus after its brakes failed, killing at least 26 people and injuring 24.
(AP, 4/10/06)
2006 Apr 12, Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt defended the search engine's cooperation with Chinese censorship as he announced the creation of a Beijing research center and unveiled a Chinese-language brand name.
(AP, 4/12/06)
2006 Apr 12, In southern China thousands of villagers clashed with police over government plans to tear down sluice gates built for irrigation, leaving one woman dead and several people injured.
(AP, 4/13/06)
2006 Apr 13, China's controversial choice for a Tibetan holy figure made his first major appearance before an international audience, saying Tibetan Buddhists should be patriotic and "defend the nation."
(AP, 4/13/06)
2006 Apr 13, Chinese Vice-President Zeng Qinghong met with Lithuanian Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis in Beijing. Zeng said the relations between China and Lithuania are developing smoothly with frequent high-level contacts and fruitful cooperation in economic and cultural sectors.
(http://news.xinhuanet.com)
2006 Apr 15, China announced tariff cuts on imports of fruit and fish from Taiwan, offering the self-ruled island new trade concessions in an effort to boost sentiment for uniting with the communist mainland.
(AP, 4/15/06)
2006 Apr 15, China reported that the orbiting capsule of its Shenzhou VI spacecraft, which was launched into space six months ago, has returned to earth after orbiting 2,920 times.
(AP, 4/15/06)
2006 Apr 18, Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Washington state, toured the Redmond campus of Microsoft and had dinner at the home of MS Corp. Chairman Bill Gates.
(AP, 4/19/06)
2006 Apr 20, Pres. Bush welcomed Chinese President Hu Jintao to the White House as the two leaders embarked on talks aimed at cooling tensions over a yawning US-China trade gap. Bush urged Hui Jintao to make trade concessions, improve human rights and exert more influence over North Korea. The 2 leaders broke no new ground on sensitive issues.
(AP, 4/20/06)(SFC, 4/21/06, p.A1)
2006 Apr 20, China denied it is engaged in industrial espionage in Canada, calling accusations by Ottawa's foreign minister baseless and irresponsible.
(AP, 4/20/06)
2006 Apr 21, Chinese President Hu Jintao wrapped up his US tour with a visit to Yale University in New Haven, Conn.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2006 Apr 21, In China Tong Daning, an official from the social security fund, was executed on charges of spying for rival Taiwan. Government employees were then required to watch a video about the case. Tong had passed information to the island's leaders about China's currency regime, allowing them to avoid massive losses due to exchange rate changes.
(AP, 8/8/06)(AP, 8/29/11)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tong_Daning)
2006 Apr 22, Saudi Arabia and China signed defense, security and trade agreements in Riyadh on the first day of Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit.
(AP, 4/22/06)
2006 Apr 24, The annual Goldman Environmental Prizes were awarded in San Francisco. The winners included Craig Williams (58) for helping to persuade Congress to order the Defense Dept. to consider alternatives to incinerating chemical weapons; Tarcisio Feitosa (35) of Brazil for his campaign against rampant logging; Olya Melen (26) of Ukraine for her suits forcing the government to scale back a large canal project impacting wetlands; Yu Xiaogang (35) of China for his reports on damages caused by new dams; Silas Siakor (36) of Liberia for his documentation showing how logging was used to fund civil war; and Anne Kajir of Papua New Guinea for her work to get reimbursements from logging companies to peasants.
(WSJ, 4/24/06, p.B7)
2006 Apr 27, China's central bank raised interest rates by .27% in the government's strongest move yet to cool an economy verging on overheating. The news sent resource stocks, oil and commodity prices lower around the world.
(AP, 4/27/06)(Econ, 4/29/06, p.43)
2006 Apr 27, In Nigeria President Hu Jintao said China wants a "strategic partnership" with Africa, seeking to add a new political dimension to a blossoming economic romance.
(Reuters, 4/27/06)
2006 Apr 28, Chinese President Hu Jintao signed an oil exploration contract with Kenya, the latest in a series of deals designed to keep Africa's natural resources flowing to China's booming economy.
(AP, 4/28/06)
2006 Apr 28, It was reported Baiyangdian Lake in northern China's Hebei province was choking for its life. Large-scale fish deaths have occurred regularly since the 1980s as excessive amounts of untreated industrial waste water and raw sewage, coupled with drought and constantly falling water levels, have left fish farms decimated.
(AFP, 4/28/06)
2006 Apr 29, A coalition of Chinese Web activists launched a petition decrying censorship of the Internet and challenging the legality of government information controls on China's more than 100 million net users.
(Reuters, 5/1/06)
2006 Apr 29, In northwestern China a gas explosion at a coal mine killed at least 30 miners and left eight missing at the Wayaobao Coal Mine in Shaanxi province.
(AP, 4/30/06)(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 Apr 30, China successfully tested a locally made magnetic levitation train, the first time the country has achieved the feat without using foreign technology. The 20-ton test maglev train ran steadily on a 1,400-foot experimental line in the provincial capital of Chengdu, the capital of southwestern Sichuan province.
(AP, 5/1/06)
2006 Apr, China’s PM Wen Jiabao visited Cambodia and announced aid for roads, dams and other projects for up to $600 million.
(Econ, 3/31/07, SR p.14)
2006 Apr, China and Turkmenistan signed a gas-supply deal. Operations of the pipeline was scheduled to start in 2009.
(WSJ, 9/28/06, p.A8)
2006 May 2, China's official Xinhua News Agency said glaciers in western China's Qinghai-Tibet plateau, known as the "roof of the world," are melting at a rate of 7 percent annually due to global warming.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 3, China's state-approved Catholic church installed a bishop without Vatican approval, the second this week.
(AP, 5/3/06)
2006 May 3, Owners of a coal mine in China's central Henan province falsely claimed that five workers were killed and seven injured in a blast, when 66 miners were underground. An investigation by the county government later revealed that 10 workers were killed and 18 were injured in the accident which occurred in Yegou village.
(AP, 5/8/06)
2006 May 4, The Vatican excommunicated two bishops ordained by China's state-controlled church without the pope's consent, escalating tensions as the two sides explored preliminary moves toward improving ties.
(AP, 5/4/06)
2006 May 4, Chinese weather specialists used chemicals to engineer Beijing's heaviest rainfall of the year, helping to relieve drought and rinse dust from China's capital.
(AP, 5/5/06)
2006 May 5, In central China explosions rocked two Internet cafes in Hefei, the capital of Anhui province, killing two people, injuring four.
(AP, 5/6/06)
2006 May 5, The US State Department disclosed that Albania has agreed to take in five Chinese, ethnic Uighur detainees, held at Guantanamo Bay. They were flown to Albania the next day.
(AP, 5/5/06)(WSJ, 5/6/06, p.A1)
2006 May 6, Chen Li (b.1929), a Chinese journalist and former editor-in-chief of China Daily, the communist government's main English-language newspaper, died in Beijing.
(AP, 5/8/06)
2006 May 7, China's official Roman Catholic church named a new bishop, reportedly with papal approval, as Beijing rejected Vatican criticism of the unauthorized ordination of two other bishops.
(AP, 5/7/06)
2006 May 8, In China Bai Ningyang (19) walked into a Gongyi kindergarten in central Henan, locked the door and set fire to two gasoline cans. Local authorities said 13 children and one teacher were injured in addition to three students killed. Ningyang was captured the next day.
(AP, 5/10/06)
2006 May 9, Authorities said Chinese and US had agents seized more than 300 pounds of cocaine in March smuggled from Colombia in the country's largest ever cocaine bust. Nine people involved in a drug ring were arrested in southern China.
(AP, 5/9/06)
2006 May 9, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, China and Russia won seats on the new UN Human Rights Council despite their poor human rights records. Two rights abusers, Iran and Venezuela, were defeated.
(AP, 5/10/06)
2006 May 9, Officials said Iran will supply crude oil and equity investment to build an oil refinery in Indonesia that will supply China and provide Iran with a secure outlet in the face of possible sanctions.
(WSJ, 5/10/06, p.A8)
2006 May 10, In southern China a gas blast at the Aotian Coal Mine in Sichuan province killed 11 people and injured nine.
(AP, 5/11/06)
2006 May 13, In central China a shaft collapsed in an iron mine, trapping eight miners 420 feet underground at the Dalongshan Iron Mine near Anqing City.
(AP, 5/14/06)
2006 May 15, China's official exchange rate broke through the psychologically important 8 yuan per dollar level, its highest level in more than a decade, in a move traders said might signal Beijing's willingness to allow its currency to appreciate faster.
(AP, 5/15/06)
2006 May 16, Yang Tianshui, a freelance writer, was sentenced to 12 years in prison amid one of China's most severe media crackdowns since the 1980s. Yang was convicted after being accused of posting articles on foreign Web sites, receiving money from abroad and helping a would-be opposition party.
(AP, 5/16/06)
2006 May 17, Following a meeting of the State Council China announced a series of policy measures to rein in prices. These included levying profits taxes on real estate.
(WSJ, 5/19/06, p.A6)
2006 May 17, Some 620,000 people were evacuated from southern China as Typhoon Chanchu, the strongest storm to hit the region at this time of year, churned towards the coastal province of Guangdong.
(AP, 5/17/06)
2006 May 18, China reported a ban on Ao Mei Ding, a breast-enlarging liquid that was approved for general use in 2000. Some 300,000 women were injected with the liquid and some reported so much pain that they had their breasts removed.
(SFC, 5/19/06, p.A17)
2006 May 18, In northern China an underground flood trapped as 56 miners in a coal mine in the Xinjing Coal Mine in Shanxi province. 9 mine managers were soon detained after apparently trying to conceal the scale of the disaster. The last of the bodies were recovered on June 28.
(AP, 5/21/06)(AP, 5/22/06)(AFP, 6/28/06)
2006 May 18, Typhoon Chanchu pummeled southern China, killing at least eight people and leaving 27 Vietnamese fishermen missing after their boats sank in Chinese waters.
(AP, 5/18/06)
2006 May 19, Nigeria sold to a state-owned Chinese group licenses to explore four oil blocks, underlining Beijing's increasing drive for energy resources. In exchange for the drilling rights, China agreed to invest two billion dollars in northern Nigeria's Kaduna refinery. The Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), rejected the claim and described the allocation as a "bribe".
(AFP, 5/19/06)
2006 May 20, China held a ceremonial pouring of a final slab of cement for its Three Gorges Dam in Hubei province. The 600-foot dam cost at least $22 billion.
(SFC, 5/18/06, p.A10)(WSJ, 8/29/07, p.A12)
2006 May 20, South Korean media reported that 4 North Koreans had overpowered a security guard and scaled the wall of a US consulate in China in hopes of gaining asylum from their impoverished, communist country.
(AP, 5/20/06)
2006 May 22, An explosion in an illegal Chinese coal mine in the village of Siyuangou in Henan province killed eight miners and left an undetermined number missing.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 23, German Chancellor Angela Merkel met the Shanghai bishop from the Chinese Catholic church on the final day of a visit in which rights issues took center stage alongside trade.
(AP, 5/23/06)
2006 May 24, China's government on raised state-set gasoline and diesel prices by about 10 percent in response to soaring world oil prices.
(AP, 5/23/06)
2006 May 25, China angrily rejected a US Defense Department report that says Beijing is a potential military threat, insisting that its multibillion-dollar buildup is defensive.
(AP, 5/25/06)
2006 May 26, American International Group Inc. said that one of its units had received approval from local Chinese regulators to provide group insurance there, as the world's largest insurer makes a push to boost its business in the world's most populous nation.
(AP, 5/26/06)
2006 May 29, China and India pledged to deepen military exchanges during a visit by Indian Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the latest sign of warming relations between the neighbors and one-time foes.
(AP, 5/29/06)
2006 May 31, China closed 201 Hebei clinics that aborted female fetuses and offered subsidies to families without sons to curb widespread gender engineering.
(WSJ, 6/1/06, p.A1)
2006 May, Ernst & Young reported that China’s stock of non-performing loans added up to $911 billion, over 5 times the government’s March estimate of $164 billion. The People’s Bank of China called the report ridiculous and Ernst & Young soon withdrew it.
(Econ, 5/20/06, p.78)
2006 Jun 1, The Bank of China began trading shares in Hong Kong in an IPO that raised $9.7 billion. Options by underwriters could raise the total to $11.2 billion. Shares closed up 15% to HK$3.40 (44 US cents).
(WSJ, 6/2/06, p.C12)
2006 Jun 3, In northeast China a suicide bomber attacked his former wife's wedding, killing at least eight other people and injuring five.
(AP, 6/5/06)
2006 Jun 3, In China a military transport plane carrying 40 crashed in eastern Anhui province. All 40 people aboard were killed. 2 Beijing-backed newspapers later reported that the plane was a surveillance aircraft carrying nearly 3 dozen electronics experts.
(AP, 6/4/06)(AP, 6/6/06)(AP, 9/7/06)
2006 Jun 5, A top official said China's pollution problems cost the country more than $200 billion a year and called for better legal protection for grassroots groups so they can help clean up the environment.
(AP, 6/5/06)
2006 Jun 6, Chinese engineers blew up a temporary barrier used during construction of the Three Gorges Dam, unleashing the full force of the Yangtze River upon the world's largest hydroelectric project.
(AP, 6/6/06)
2006 Jun 7, A Chinese government report said more than 60% of recent land acquisitions for construction in China are illegal, with the figure rising to 90% in some cities. The report demanded investigations.
(AP, 6/7/06)
2006 Jun 7, State-run media said storms pummeling southern China over the past week have killed at least 46 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless.
(AP, 6/7/06)
2006 Jun 8, In southern China the bank of a rain-swollen river collapsed, flooding 11 villages filled with sleeping people and causing an unknown number of deaths and injuries.
(AP, 6/8/06)
2006 Jun 8, Fu Xiancai (47) was called into the Zigui County Public Security Bureau in Hubei province and criticized for his television appearance in which he criticized the government's treatment of people who were forced to relocate as a result of the Three Gorges dam project. He was attacked after leaving the police station and was paralyzed after assailants broke his neck. On July 26 the head of the security bureau's forensics department and another county official said that experts concluded the injuries were self-inflicted.
(AP, 7/27/06)
2006 Jun 9, Liu Zhihua, deputy mayor of Beijing in charge of Olympics-related construction projects, was detained and dismissed for corruption and degeneracy.
(Econ, 6/17/06, p.48)
2006 Jun 11, Amnesty International released a report saying China's sales of military vehicles and weapons to Sudan, Nepal and Myanmar have aggravated conflicts and abetted violence and repressive rule in those countries.
(AP, 6/11/06)
2006 Jun 12, In northern China a truck carrying the coal tar fell into the Dasha river in Shanxi province. Cleanup crews scrambled to absorb 60 tons of toxic coal tar accidentally dumped into a river before it reaches a reservoir serving a city of 10 million people.
(AP, 6/15/06)
2006 Jun 13, China ordered civil servants to do without cars, elevators and air conditioning for one day as part of an energy-saving awareness campaign. Some 1,000 new cars were hitting the streets of Beijing every day as nitrogen dioxide levels exceeded WHO clean air guidelines by 78%.
(AP, 6/13/06)(WSJ, 6/13/06, p.A1)
2006 Jun 14, China and Taiwan they've agreed to launch direct charter passenger flights between them during major holidays, a key trust-building step toward restoring regular direct flights cut five decades ago amid civil war.
(AP, 6/14/06)
2006 Jun 14, Husky Energy, Cnooc’s Canadian partner, announced a large gas discovery under the South China Sea. In 2009 Husky confirmed the discovery saying the Liwan field could ultimately produce over 150 million cubic feet per day.
(WSJ, 7/19/06, p.A8)(http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060614/to279.html?.v=30)(WSJ, 2/25/09, p.B3)
2006 Jun 15, In China a series of explosions rocked the Longxin Chemical Plant in the city of Longquan, Zhejiang province, destroying two factories and threatening to contaminate the Oujiang river, which empties into the East China Sea.
(AP, 6/16/06)
2006 Jun 15, In China students rioted at Shengda after learning that the word Shengda would be added to their graduation certificates. The quasi-private college was affiliated with the prestigious Zhengzhou Univ. and up to now had just Zhengzhou Univ. printed on their degree certificates.
(Econ, 8/12/06, p.33)
2006 Jun 15, The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a Russian and Chinese-led bloc of Asian states, said it plans to set up an expert group to boost computer security and help guard against threats to their regimes from the Internet. SCO members (China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) are mostly authoritarian states that maintain tight controls on communications technology, including the Internet.
(AP, 6/15/06)
2006 Jun 16, China's central bank demanded that commercial banks raise reserves requirements by half a percentage point to restrain credit and investment growth, which it feared have been getting out of control.
(AP, 6/16/06)(Econ, 6/24/06, p.82)
2006 Jun 16, In China cleanup crews scrambled to absorb toxic coal tar, from a June 12 spill, before it reaches the Wangkuai Reservoir of Baoding, a city of about 10 million people. Authorities tried to slow the spread of a toxic spill by building 51 makeshift dams along the tainted Dasha River and using fire trucks to pump out polluted water. In eastern China an explosion at a chemical plant in Anhui killed 16 people and injured 30.
(AP, 6/16/06)(AP, 6/18/06)
2006 Jun 18, China's PM Wen Jiabao wrapped up a two-day visit to Cairo after meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and signing 10 oil, natural gas and telecommunications deals. He was also scheduled to visit Ghana, Republic of Congo, Angola, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.
(AP, 6/18/06)
2006 Jun 18, China's PM Wen Jiabao went to Ghana, where he signed an agreement to lend the small West African nation about $66 million to fund a number of projects. China has leapfrogged Ghana's traditional trading partners India and Britain to become the West African nation's biggest foreign investor.
(AFP, 6/17/06)(AP, 6/19/06)
2006 Jun 21, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao flew into South Africa on the fifth leg of an African tour where he is due to sign a nuclear cooperation pact and hold talks on the thorny question of textile imports from Beijing.
(AP, 6/21/06)
2006 Jun 23, Chinese PM Wen Jiabao arrived in Uganda, the final leg of a seven-nation African tour aimed at boosting ties and partnerships as well as shopping for resources for his country's fast-expanding economy.
(AP, 6/23/06)
2006 Jun 25, In southern China flash flooding caused by torrential rain in Hunan province killed at least 21 people with another 6 missing.
(AP, 6/25/06)(AP, 6/30/06)
2006 Jun 27, China’s government said a law imposing fines on media that report emergencies such as riots and natural disasters without official approval could go into effect by October. A rights group urged Beijing to scrap it. Xinhua News said a cache of dynamite exploded in a house in northern Shaanxi province, killing at least 10 people and injuring 20.
(AP, 6/27/06)
2006 Jun 28, Australia's PM Howard hailed his country's record liquid natural gas export contract with China as a symbol of blossoming trade between the countries during an inaugural ceremony with Premier Wen Jiabao at the Chinese gas terminal in Shenzen.
(AP, 6/28/06)
2006 Jun 28, In northern China an explosion at a coal mine killed at least 22 workers and injured 37. Five more people were missing following the explosion in the Wulong Coal Mine in Fuxin, a city in Liaoning province.
(AP, 6/28/06)
2006 Jun 29, China’s government said Vice Adm. Wang Shouye (62), a deputy commander of China's navy, has been dismissed and stripped of a seat in parliament for corruption, one of the most senior military figures to be punished in a multiyear crackdown on rampant graft.
(AP, 6/29/06)
2006 Jun 30, China's ruling party must stamp out the rampant corruption that led to the convictions of thousands of officials last year, President Hu Jintao said as the Communist Party commemorated the 85th anniversary of its founding.
(AP, 6/30/06)
2006 Jun, In China a revision to the education law abolished the key-school system. For most of the Communist era a few key schools received extra money and other favors to nurture pockets of academic excellence.
(Econ, 8/12/06, p.32)
2006 Jul 1, China’s new $4.2 billion, 710-mile-long railway from Golmud to Lhasa, Tibet, began operations. Canada’s Bombardier manufactured high-tech cars for the Sky Train with regulated oxygen levels to cope with 16,500-foot passes. Two years later the line was extended from Lhasa to Shigatse.
(SFC, 6/30/06, p.A18)(Reuters, 7/1/06)(Econ, 5/21/16, p.37)
2006 Jul 1, It was reported that Chinese consumers had begun ganging up on retailers by arriving en masse at pre-arranged times, arranged online, to push for bargain prices.
(Econ, 7/1/06, p.59)
2006 Jul 1, China reported a new outbreak of bird flu near Zhongwei in the Ningxia region.
(WSJ, 7/3/06, p.A6)
2006 Jul 3, China's new train from Beijing to Tibet arrived in the ancient capital of Lhasa, ending its maiden journey after climbing to elevations so high that ballpoint pens and packaged foods burst.
(AP, 7/3/06)
2006 Jul 6, China’s state media said torrential rains and a tornado killed at least 30 people as storms battered eastern China this week, with millions more affected by flooding and other storm damage.
(AP, 7/6/06)
2006 Jul 6, China and India reopened the 14,000-foot Nathu La pass, an ancient Silk Road pass high in the Himalayas, more than 40 years after it was shut by war.
(AP, 7/6/06)
2006 Jul 7, In northern China a fire ignited explosives at a home in Dongzhai, a village in the coal-mining province of Shanxi, killing at least 47 people, many of them neighbors who had rushed to the scene to battle the flames. A seven-story apartment building collapsed in the major city of Zhengzhou in central China, killing at least two people and burying an unknown number of others.
(AP, 7/7/06)
2006 Jul 8, China launched a Web site, www.linese.com, offering free Chinese lessons and materials to promote the study and use of the language abroad.
(Reuters, 7/8/06)
2006 Jul 8, In central China a landslide at a construction site buried migrant workers sleeping in a tent, killing 11 of them.
(AP, 7/8/06)
2006 Jul 11, China's president issued an unusual public appeal to a visiting North Korean official to avoid aggravating tensions with its missile test program, as the US and Japan urged Beijing to press its ally Pyongyang for concessions.
(AP, 7/11/06)
2006 Jul 13, A Chinese reporter who posted essays on foreign Web sites criticizing the ruling Communist Party was sentenced to two years in prison on subversion charges.
(AP, 7/13/06)
2006 Jul 14, In China Qiu Xinhua (47) killed the abbot of the Tiewadian temple in the northern city of Ankang, five staff members and four pilgrims. He reportedly believed the abbot had flirted with his wife. Xinhua was executed on Dec 28.
(AP, 12/28/06)
2006 Jul 15, A gas explosion in a coal mine in Shanxi province killed at least 18 miners and trapped 39 others.
(AP, 7/16/06)
2006 Jul 17, In China tropical storm Bilis left at least 612 people dead as it pounded the southeast over the weekend, toppling houses and forcing the evacuation of a prison and thousands of villages.
(AP, 7/18/06)(AP, 7/24/06)
2006 Jul 18, China reported its fastest economic growth in a decade and warned that booming construction and bank loans could fuel inflation, raising expectations that Beijing might nudge up interest rates and possibly the value of its currency.
(AP, 7/18/06)
2006 Jul 19, It was reported that factories and cities in China dump some 40-60 billion tons of waste-water and sewage into lakes and rivers each year.
(WSJ, 7/19/06, p.A1)
2006 Jul 19, Taiwan’s largest air carrier launched the 1st direct cargo flight between the island and China since 1949.
(WSJ, 7/20/06, p.A6)
2006 Jul 20, The UN food agency said China became the world's third-largest food aid donor in 2005, the same year it stopped receiving assistance from the World Food Program, while the US and the EU remained the top two contributors.
(AP, 7/20/06)
2006 Jul 22, A magnitude-5.1 earthquake hit southwestern China, killing at least 19 people.
(AFP, 7/22/06)
2006 Jul 26, China's PM Wen Jiabao called for urgent steps to prevent economic overheating, as the government forecast more double-digit growth in the next quarter.
(AP, 7/27/06)
2006 Jul 26, Xinhua News said heavy rain from Tropical Storm Kaemi caused a levee in southern China to collapse, threatening to inundate an area that's home to 20,000 villagers.
(AP, 7/26/06)
2006 Jul 26, An unhappy China said that Canada's decision to bestow honorary citizenship on the Dalai Lama could hurt commercial relations between the two countries.
(Reuters, 7/26/06)
2006 Jul 27, China’s government introduced new taxes on real estate to discourage speculation. State media said flooding and landslides caused by Tropical Storm Kaemi have killed at least 25 people in southern China, including six who died when a torrent of water washed away a military barracks.
(AP, 7/27/06)(SFC, 7/28/06, p.D1)
2006 Jul 28, In eastern China an explosion at a chemical plant killed at least 12 people and prompted the evacuation of 7,000 others.
(AP, 7/28/06)
2006 Jul 29, Workers at Wal-Mart stores in China formed their 1st trade union.
(SFC, 7/31/06, p.A3)(Econ, 9/23/06, p.43)
2006 Jul 30, It was reported that China had lowered the estimated number of HIV/AIDS infected people from 840,000 to 650,000.
(SSFC, 7/30/06, p.A17)
2006 Jul, China National Petroleum, the parent of PetroChina, took a $500 million stake in Rosneft, the Russian oil group.
(Econ, 8/5/06, p.66)
2006 Jul, In Shanghai, China, a financial scandal was uncovered that involved the misappropriation of one-third of the city’s $1.2 billion social-security fund. An official said that $2 billion had been embezzled from the fund since 1998. Chinese investigators began looking into corruption and malfeasance associated with Shanghai’s $1.2 billion pension fund. On Sep 24 the probe brought down the city’s top official, Communist party Secretary Chen Liangyu, a British educated architect. In 2007 the government made a propaganda film titled “The Harm of Greed" featuring confessions from 11 people involved in the scandal.
(Econ, 9/9/06, p.42)(WSJ, 11/14/06, p.C14)(WSJ, 2/6/07, p.A1)(WSJ, 1/30/08, p.A9)
2006 Aug 1, Chinese official media reported that Mouding county in Yunnan killed as many as 50,000 dogs in a 5-day government campaign ordered after three people died from rabies.
(AP, 8/1/06)
2006 Aug 3, Typhoon Prapiroon slammed into southern China, packing heavy rain and 75 mph winds as authorities evacuated tens of thousands of people from their homes.
(AP, 8/3/06)
2006 Aug 3, State press reported that China is building a 27-billion-dollar train line from Beijing to the southern economic hub of Shenzhen and foreign investors will be invited to join the project. The new 2,300-kilometer (1,420-mile) railway will cut travel time between Beijing and Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong, from 24 hours to 10.
(AFP, 8/3/06)
2006 Aug 6, In China an explosion aboard a bus in Hunan province's Guiyang county killed eight people, just days after a similar explosion killed 11. Fatal explosions aboard public buses in recent years have been blamed on both bomb attacks and accidents with gas canisters and other dangerous cargo.
(AP, 8/7/06)
2006 Aug 6, Taiwan condemned China after oil producer Chad switched diplomatic ties to Beijing from Taipei, forcing Premier Su Tseng-chang to scrap his plans to visit the African nation at the last minute.
(Reuters, 8/6/06)
2006 Aug 7, China’s state media said the death toll from Tropical Storm Prapiroon, named after the Thai god of rain, rose to 80 with 9 more people missing.
(AFP, 8/6/06)(AP, 8/8/06)
2006 Aug 7, An explosion at a Chinese perfume factory killed at least seven people and left three hospitalized.
(AP, 8/7/06)
2006 Aug 9, The American Humane Society said it will give China $100,000 to vaccinate dogs against rabies if it promises to immediately stop their mass slaughter in areas where humans have died from the disease.
(AP, 8/9/06)
2006 Aug 10, Saomai, the most powerful typhoon to hit China in five decades, slammed into its southeastern coast, destroying hundreds of homes and battering the region with rain and wind after more than 1.3 million people were evacuated. It ultimately killed at least 483 people.
(AP, 8/10/07)
2006 Aug 10, Wal-Mart Stores said it will work with Chinese government officials to establish labor unions in all its outlets in China.
(SFC, 8/11/06, p.D2)
2006 Aug 11, Typhoon Saomai, the strongest storm to strike China in 50 years, weakened to a tropical depression but drenched the country's southeast after killing at least 105 people with another 190 missing.
(AP, 8/12/06)
2006 Aug 13, The death toll from Typhoon Saomai, the strongest storm to hit China in 50 years, rose to 114 as more evacuees died when buildings used as shelters collapsed. China’s state media reported About 17 million people in southwest China don't have access to clean drinking water due to sustained drought.
(AP, 8/13/06)(Reuters, 8/13/06)
2006 Aug 14, In China the death toll from Typhoon Saomai rose to 255 after scores more bodies were pulled from the sea.
(AP, 8/14/06)
2006 Aug 15, The official death toll in China from Typhoon Saomai jumped to 295 as fishing families grieving the loss of loved ones said authorities were no help and had covered up the number of fatalities.
(AFP, 8/15/06)
2006 Aug 18, China’s central bank announced its 2nd interest rate hike in 4 months to choke off excess investment. The benchmark lending rate rose .27% to 6.12% effective Aug 19.
(WSJ, 8/19/06, p.A4)
2006 Aug 18, The death toll from Typhoon Saomai, the strongest storm to hit China in more than five decades, jumped to 436 after more than 100 new deaths were confirmed in the country's east.
(AP, 8/18/06)
2006 Aug 22, In China visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said China will expand its cooperation in oil exploration and help his country build a fiber-optic communications network under agreements to be signed in Beijing this week.
(AP, 8/22/06)
2006 Aug 24, In China a blind activist who was arrested after recording complaints of forced abortions was sentenced to four years and three months in prison. Chen Guangcheng was convicted of damaging property and "organizing a mob to disturb traffic" after a trial in the eastern province of Shandong.
(AP, 8/24/06)
2006 Aug 24, China reported that a chemical spill on the Mangniu River in Jilin province was contained. A 3-mile slick had been created by a xylidine spill from a local chemical company.
(SFC, 8/24/06, p.A3)
2006 Aug 25, Zhao Yan (44), a Chinese researcher for The New York Times who has been detained since 2004, was cleared of charges of revealing state secrets but convicted of fraud and sentenced to three years in prison. Xinhua News said communities in southeastern China are straining to resettle more than 15 million people left homeless by four devastating typhoons in recent months. A moderate earthquake jolted southwest China, killing two people.
(AP, 8/25/06)
2006 Aug 25, In China a tanker truck loaded with 25 tons of liquid caustic soda, colorless, transparent corrosive liquid that rapidly burns skin and eyes, fell into a river 3 miles away from the Xuefeng reservoir in a city within the municipality of Weinan in Shaanxi province. It polluted a reservoir serving at least 100,000 residents for two days until water quality returned to normal.
(AP, 8/27/06)
2006 Aug 27, China adopted a new bankruptcy law making it easier to restructure insolvent firms. It became effective on June 1, 2007.
(http://tinyurl.com/gpav4ar)(Econ, 6/11/16, p.46)
2006 Aug 27, State media quoted officials saying that one-third of China's vast landmass is suffering from acid rain caused by its rapid industrial growth, while local leaders are failing to enforce environmental standards for fear of hurting business.
(AP, 8/27/06)
2006 Aug 31, A Chinese court sentenced Ching Cheong, a Hong Kong reporter, to five years in prison on spying charges in a case that prompted outcries by press freedom groups. In Hunan Province a mine gas explosion killed at least nine people.
(AP, 8/31/06)(Reuters, 9/3/06)
2006 Aug, In China a project was begun in Shanghai to treat industrial waste with iron filings, a process which had been found to be a cheap and efficient way to clean up polluted water.
(Econ, 12/6/08, TQ p.11)
2006 Sep 2, In China’s Guizhou Province a mine gas explosion killed at least 8 people. Six miners died when their pit in central Hubei province flooded.
(Reuters, 9/3/06)
2006 Sep 6, State media said hundreds of people in northwestern China have been hospitalized with lead poisoning that was likely caused by pollution from a nearby smelter. The first sign of trouble in the villages of Xinsi and Moba, Gansu province, came on Aug. 18.
(AP, 9/6/06)
2006 Sep 8, In southern China crowds angered by alleged police mishandling of a school teacher's death attacked government offices in Rui'an City, sparking arrests and beatings by riot troops. Students and local residents claimed police falsified a report and colluded with the wealthy husband of high school English teacher Dai Haijing, 30, to have her Aug 18 death classified as a suicide.
(AP, 9/11/06)
2006 Sep 10, China announced detailed controls on the distribution of news by foreign news agencies, banning all content that violates its own tight media restrictions.
(AP, 9/10/06)
2006 Sep 10, The Chinese film “Still Life" won the top award as the 11-day Venice Film Festival came to a close. The Chinese film was about the Three Gorges Dam project.
(SFC, 9/11/06, p.D5)
2006 Sep 11, China said it will send 1,000 peacekeeping troops to Lebanon.
(WSJ, 9/12/06, p.A1)
2006 Sep 13, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao vowed to continue his vast country's opening up to the international community, notably rejecting suggestions Beijing is set to crack down on foreign media.
(AFP, 9/13/06)
2006 Sep 14, China’s stock market regulator made official a ban on foreign acquisitions of domestic stockbrokers and investment banks.
(Econ, 9/23/06, p.84)
2006 Sep 14, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she has again raised human rights issues with visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and urged Beijing to respect the freedom of the press.
(AP, 9/14/06)
2006 Sep 14, Prof. Frederic Evans Wakemen Jr. (68), leading US scholar on China, died in Oregon. His books included “Policing Shanghai 1927-1937" (1995) and “Spymaster: Dai Li and the Chinese Secret Service" (2004). Prof. Wakemen had taught at UC Berkeley (1965-2006).
(SFC, 9/26/06, p.B5)
2006 Sep 15, The US joined with the EU and Canada charging that China has erected illegal barriers to the sale of U.S. and other foreign-made auto parts there.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 15, China denounced accusations by top US officials that it was selling weapons to Iran and North Korea amid nuclear tensions with the two regimes. State media said at least four children, among the hundreds of people sickened by emissions from a lead smelter in western China, are likely to suffer permanent brain damage.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 16, In Singapore top finance chiefs stepped up pressure on China to relax its grip on its currency, warning that trade imbalances threaten a flourishing global economy. G7 finance ministers and central bank governors also called for a resumption of global free trade talks and a revamp of the IMF, saying China should be given a louder voice but must also fulfill its broader economic responsibilities.
(AFP, 9/16/06)
2006 Sep 18, Premier Wen Jiabao said China will increase its peacekeeping force in Lebanon to 1,000 and double the humanitarian aid it has pledged.
(AP, 9/18/06)
2006 Sep 18, The 184-nation IMF approved reforms to increase the voice of China, South Korea, Turkey, and Mexico to reflect their growing economic sway.
(SFC, 9/19/06, p.D2)
2006 Sep 22, In Shanghai health officials added 3 more items to a list of toxic metals in SK-II products, made in Japan by US consumer products giant Procter and Gamble. P&G has pulled its popular SK-II line of beauty products off the shelf after authorities a week earlier discovered traces of the two toxic metals in nine SK-II products including powder, foundation, lotion and cleansing oil products. The company said a hotline had been set up and that all refund requests submitted by September 21 would be honored.
(AP, 9/22/06)
2006 Sep 24, In China Chen Liangyu, the Communist Party boss of Shanghai, was sacked for corruption, toppling the highest leader so far in national party chief Hu Jintao's drive to root out abuse and enforce loyalty.
(Reuters, 9/25/06)(Econ, 9/30/06, p.49)
2006 Sep 30, In Tibet Sergiu Matei, a Romanian cameraman with an expedition climbing Cho Oyu, shot a video that shows Chinese forces fatally shooting Tibetan refugee Kelsang Namtso (17), who was with a group of people trying to flee to Nepal at the 19,000-foot Nanpa La Pass. Chinese border guards opened fire on some 75 Tibetans making their way over a 19,000-foot-high Himalayan pass, killing a 25-year-old Buddhist nun and another person. 32 were caught and detained. In January Jamyang Samten (15), one of those detained, escaped to India and provided the first reported account of the fate of the group. Some 3,000 Tibetans continued to sneak across the border to Nepal and India every year. In 2010 Jonathan Green authored “Murder in the High Himalaya: Loyalty, Tragedy, and Escape from Tibet."
(AP, 10/14/06)(Econ, 11/18/06, p.18)(AP, 1/30/07)(Econ, 6/12/10, p.96)
2006 Oct 1, China began its week-long national day holiday, with rail stations and airports packed and roads gridlocked around Tiananmen Square and at other major tourist sites throughout the nation. In the southwestern city of Chongqing a bus careened off a bridge and plunged nearly 100 feet into a river, killing 30 people.
(AP, 10/1/06)
2006 Oct 2, Morgan Stanley said it has acquired China's Nan Tung Bank, a deal that would give the Wall Street giant a coveted onshore commercial banking license in China ahead of U.S. investment bank rivals.
(AP, 10/2/06)
2006 Oct 5, China criticized newly imposed EU antidumping tariffs on Chinese shoes as unlawful and threatened possible retaliation.
(AP, 10/6/06)
2006 Oct 8, Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe visited Beijing and held talks with Pres. Hu Jintao and PM Wen Jiabao. Abe said Japan and China agree that a North Korea nuclear test "cannot be tolerated" and that Pyongyang should return unconditionally to six-party negotiations on its nuclear programs.
(AP, 10/8/06)(Econ, 10/7/06, p.29)
2006 Oct 10, China, which holds the key to whether tough UN sanctions will be imposed for North Korea's nuclear test, warned its ally that the detonation would harm relations, but called on the UN to use "positive and appropriate measures."
(AP, 10/10/06)
2006 Oct 10, Cheung Yan (49), founder and chairwoman of Chinese paper packager Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) Ltd., topped a list of China's richest people for the first time, elbowing past two-time leader Huang Guangyu of GOME Electrical Appliances and a coterie of CEOs at old-economy government enterprises. Cheung, born in northeastern China's Heilongjiang province and now a Los Angeles native, began building her fortune in 1985, when she set up a waste-paper trading business in Hong Kong.
(Reuters, 10/10/06)
2006 Oct 11, China’s 347 central committee members ended a 4-day annual meeting. They charted a course to repair some of the social and environmental damage left by more than 2 decades of economic growth and approved a document on building a harmonious China by 2020.
(WSJ, 10/12/06, p.A8)(Econ, 10/21/06, p.51)
2006 Oct 16, In northern China a fire in a coal mine trapped 28 miners.
(AP, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 17, A Chinese court ruled that journalist Yang Xiaoqing was exempt from serving the remainder of his sentence but would not overturn the lower court's conviction. Xiaoqing, convicted of extortion for exposing local corruption, was released on bail last month.
(AP, 10/21/06)
2006 Oct 19, China stepped up its diplomatic efforts with North Korea, sending a personal message and a gift from the Chinese president to the North's leader Kim Jong Il as Washington appealed for cooperation by Asian powers on U.N. sanctions for Pyongyang's nuclear test.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 20, China’s state press said the estuaries of China's two greatest rivers, the Yangtze and the Yellow, have been declared dead zones by the UN due to high amounts of pollutants. The leading People's Daily reported that it would take at least 200 years to clean up the Bohai Sea, even if no more sewage was poured into it. Beijing published a 5-year plan for economic and bureaucratic reforms in the capital.
(AFP, 10/20/06)(Econ, 10/28/06, p.50)
2006 Oct 22, A half-mile section of China's Yellow River turned "red and smelly" after an unknown discharge was poured into it from a sewage pipe in Lanzhou, a city of 2 million people in western Gansu province.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2006 Oct 24, Liu Jianchao, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, said North Korean leader Kim Jong Il did not apologize for his regime's nuclear test, as some South Korean media had reported, but is willing to return to six-party talks under certain conditions.
(AP, 10/24/06)
2006 Oct 25, French President Jacques Chirac and a delegation of French executives traveled to China in hopes of expanding trade with one of the world's largest economies.
(AP, 10/25/06)
2006 Oct 26, A foreign monitoring group said as many as 10,000 college students fought with Chinese police in four days of protests over their academic status, damaging cars and buildings and leaving at least 20 people injured. An overturned truck spilled 33 tons of toxic oil into a river in northern Shanxi province. The spill flowed into the Yangjiapo reservoir, contaminating 70 million cubic feet of water. Water supplies to 28,000 people were cut following the spill.
(AP, 10/26/06)(AP, 11/1/06)
2006 Oct 26, China’s state controlled Citic Group said it has reached an agreement to buy an oil field in Kazakhstan from Canada’s nations Energy for $1.9 billion.
(WSJ, 10/27/06, p.A10)
2006 Oct 27, China’s biggest bank, the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, went public and raised a record $19.1 billion with an option to increase to $21.9 billion. The previous IPO record was in 1998 by NIT DoCoMo for $18.4 billion.
(SFC, 10/28/06, p.C1)
2006 Oct 27, French President Jacques Chirac called for closer ties with China in telecommunications, nuclear power and other fields after Airbus's decision to open a Chinese aircraft assembly line.
(AP, 10/27/06)
2006 Oct 28, An explosion inside a western China coal mine trapped and killed 14 miners and burned six others.
(AP, 10/28/06)
2006 Oct 29, China rocketed a domestically produced communications satellite into orbit to provide wider and more advanced television services across the country.
(AP, 10/29/06)
2006 Oct 30, Nigeria and China signed an 8.3 billion dollar contract for the construction of a railway line from the economic capital Lagos to Kano, the largest commercial city in the north.
(AFP, 10/30/06)
2006 Oct 31, China's legislature barred all but the nation's highest court from approving death sentences, a move that state media called the country's biggest change to capital punishment in more than 20 years. In northwest Gansu province gas exploded in a coal mine, killing about 20 miners.
(AP, 10/31/06)
2006 Oct 31, Scientists reported that the Fujian-strain of H5N1 avian influenza has become dominant in southern China.
(SFC, 10/31/06, p.A2)
2006 Oct, China’s trade surplus rose to a record $23.8 billion.
(Econ, 11/11/06, p.9)
2006 Nov 1, An ammonia gas leak in central China killed one person, injured six and forced the evacuation of about 20,000 residents. Ammonia gas leaked out of a broken pipe at a chemical fertilizer factory in the Dawu county of Hubei province.
(AP, 11/1/06)
2006 Nov 2, Russia and China indicated that they will not support a draft UN resolution imposing tough sanctions on Iran for its refusal to halt its nuclear enrichment program.
(AP, 11/2/06)
2006 Nov 3, Leaders of more than 40 African nations converged on Beijing for a summit at which China will seek to bolster its influence on the resource-rich but economically backward continent.
(Reuters, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 4, China launched a sweeping effort to expand its access to Africa's oil and markets, pledging billions of dollars in aid and loans as dozens of leaders from the world's poorest continent opened a conference aimed at building economic ties. President Hu Jintao said China will offer $5 billion in loans and credits, and double aid to Africa by 2009.
(AP, 11/4/06)(Reuters, 11/4/06)
2006 Nov 5, China and Africa ended an unprecedented summit, signing deals worth $1.9 billion and pledging to boost trade and development between the world's fastest-growing economy and its poorest continent. The leaders of China and 48 African nations pledged to form a new strategic partnership aimed at deepening their political and economic ties.
(AFP, 11/5/06)
2006 Nov 5, A gas blast in northern China killed 47 miners at the Jiaojiazhai mine in Shanxi province's Xinzhou city.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 6, China's relations with Zimbabwe are "unshakeable", President Hu Jintao said as he met Pres. Mugabe amid accusations that Beijing's ties help shore up a pariah regime.
(AFP, 11/6/06)
2006 Nov 7, China and Egypt agreed to co-operate on the peaceful use of nuclear energy, state media said, in a development that could rile the United States, a traditional Cairo ally.
(AFP, 11/8/06)
2006 Nov 8, Indonesian troops found detonators and 63 tons of explosive powder on a Chinese ship anchored off Batam island after it broke down in the Malacca Strait.
(AP, 11/8/06)
2006 Nov 9, In southern China police armed with shields, clubs and attack dogs fired tear gas on thousands of villagers protesting what they called a land grab by officials of Sanzhou village in Guangdong province.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 10, Chinese central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said China will diversify its $1 trillion foreign exchange reserves across different currencies and investment instruments, including in emerging markets. In southwest China about 2,000 people mobbed a hospital in Guang'an City where a young boy died after his grandfather was sent away to raise money for the child's treatment. At least 10 people were injured in fighting with police.
(AP, 11/10/06)(AP, 11/12/06)
2006 Nov 10, Asian nations reached their first international agreement to implement what has been dubbed the "Iron Silk Road." Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Laos, Russia, South Korea, Turkey and seven other nations agreed to meet at least every two years to identify vital rail routes, coordinate standards and financing and plan upgrades and expansions, among other measures. The UN first conceived the Trans-Asian Railway Network in 1960.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 11, In Beijing, China, demonstrators angry at a crackdown on dogs staged a noisy protest, decrying police killings of dogs and new limits on pet ownership.
(AP, 11/11/06)
2006 Nov 12, In southwest China 8 miners had died in a coal mine flood in Guizhou province. In northern China 34 miners were killed by an explosion in a coal mine in Shanxi province.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 13, The China Daily reported that Zhou Shengxian, the head of China’s State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), said that the degradation of China's environment is reaching a critical point where health and social stability are under threat. (AFP, 11/13/06)(AP, 11/15/06)
2006 Nov 13, The commander of the US Pacific Fleet began a visit to China in a trip aimed at strengthening ties between the two navies and gaining insight into the Asian power's military buildup.
(AP, 11/13/06)
2006 Nov 14, China’s ambassador to India set off a flap by reaffirming claim to India’s northeastern Arunachal Pradesh state on the eve of President Hu Jintao’s visit to new Delhi.
(WSJ, 11/15/06, p.A1)(Econ, 11/18/06, p.43)
2006 Nov 14, US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez urged Beijing to toughen a crackdown on pirated goods and other copyright infringements, saying failure to do so could fuel an American backlash against trade with China.
(AP, 11/14/06)
2006 Nov 15, China said that it and India must make "mutual compromises" on the "disputed" issue of Arunachal Pradesh, and that it was ready to do so.
(www.hindu.com/2006/11/16/stories/2006111605831200.htm)
2006 Nov 16, Citigroup in a consortium with IBM, China Life, State Grid and Citic Trust signed an agreement to take control of Guangdong Development Bank.
(www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/11/17/2088082.htm)(Econ, 11/18/06, p.80)
2006 Nov 16, Juang Jiefu, China’s Deputy Health Minister, acknowledged that human organs used in transplants have been taken from executed prisoners and that foreign recipients have paid large sums to avoid a long wait.
(SFC, 11/18/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 18, In southern China police in Dongzhou dispersed a crowd and freed 8 hostages held captive for a week by villagers angry about the detention of a local activist. In eastern China a stampede on a stairwell killed six children and injured 11 at Tutang Middle School in Jiangxi province's Duchang County.
(AP, 11/18/06)(AP, 11/19/06)
2006 Nov 19, President Bush in Vietnam sought Chinese President Hu Jintao's help on dual fronts, aiming to rein in North Korea's nuclear ambitions and encourage the Chinese people to buy more US goods. Pacific Rim leaders urged North Korea to take concrete steps to live up to its commitments to stop developing nuclear weapons.
(AP, 11/19/06)
2006 Nov 20, China’s Pres. Hu Jintao arrived in New Delhi for the second visit by a Chinese president.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 21, In northeastern China a bus carrying primary school students plunged off a bridge, killing eight of the children and injuring 39.
(AP, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 22, China reported that the number of HIV/AIDS cases is nearly 30% higher than for all of last year, with intravenous drug use as the biggest source of infection.
(AP, 11/22/06)
2006 Nov 23, China’s state media reported government plans to spend about $250 billion extending the country's expressways to deal with a surge in car ownership over the next three decades.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 23, Chinese President Hu Jintao received a red carpet welcome to Pakistan on a trip aimed at expanding economic ties with Beijing's longtime ally, including signing a free trade agreement between the two countries.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 23, In India a Tibetan activist protesting against Chinese rule in the Himalayan region set himself on fire outside a hotel where China's president was staying. An official later said the activist was not seriously injured.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 24, China signed a five-year free trade pact with Pakistan, promised to continue joint development of nuclear energy, and pledged to play a "constructive" role in resolving disputes between Pakistan and neighboring rival India.
(AP, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 26, In China construction of the $3.7 billion Xiangjiaba project formally began. Completion was set for 2015. The 6-gigawatt project Xiangjiaba dam on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and the nearby 12.6-gigawatt Xiluodu dam together are expected to match or exceed the capacity of the Three Gorges dam. An explosion triggered by a gas buildup in a coal mine in northern China killed 24 miners at the Luweitan Coal Mine in Linfen, Shanxi province.
(AP, 11/27/06)
2006 Nov 28, Beijing’s environmental protection agency reported that water from the Guanting reservoir, Beijing's fourth-largest drinking source, was not fit for human consumption or irrigation during the month of October.
(AFP, 11/29/06)
2006 Nov 29, The Texas-based China Aid Association said in a statement 3 leaders of the Three Grade Servant church had been put to death in northeast China's Heilongjiang province over the past week. It said another 12 members of the congregation had also been previously executed, bringing the total number to 15. The case involved accusations that the Three Grade Servant Church was involved in the murder of members of another Christian cult, the Eastern Lightning.
(AP, 11/29/06)
2006 Nov, In China a painting by Liu Xiaodong, one of the so-called cynical realists, was auctioned in Beijing for $2.7 million, the highest price ever paid for a work by a contemporary Chinese artist.
(Econ, 1/13/07, p.66)
2006 Nov, Zhou Zhengyi, a Shanghai business tycoon, was arrested amidst the corruption probe involving the city’s pension system. He had been released from prison in May, 2006, following a fraud and stock manipulation case in 2003.
(WSJ, 12/11/06, p.B8)
2006 Nov, Swiss-based Novartis, the world’s 4th largest pharmaceutical company, announced plans to invest $100 million in a new research facility in Shanghai.
(Econ, 11/11/06, p.72)
2006 Dec 1, Chinese courts rejected an appeal from Zhao Yan, the NY Times researcher who reported on official corruption and peasant rights before he joined the newspaper. They upheld the four-year prison term of activist Chen Guangcheng, who documented cases of forced abortions.
(AP, 12/1/06)
2006 Dec 2, China’s Xinhua news said underground water reserves in around 9 out of every 10 Chinese cities are polluted or over-exploited, and could take hundreds of years to recover.
(AP, 12/2/06)
2006 Dec 4, China’s state media said Ying Fuming, a manager at the Fanchang Grease Factory in Taizhou in east China, has been arrested for using grease from swill, sewage, pesticides and recycled industrial oil to make lard for human consumption. 6 children died of possible food poisoning at a boarding school at the school in Nanyao, a village in northern Shanxi province.
(AP, 12/4/06)(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 7, Gao Qinrong (51), a Chinese journalist jailed in 1998 after exposing government corruption, was released 5 years early for good behavior. He maintained that he was innocent and that he would continue trying to clear his name.
(AP, 12/12/06)(AP, 12/20/06)
2006 Dec 8, China launched its Fengyun-2D weather satellite. Its priority mission was forecasting weather for the 2008 Olympics.
(Econ, 12/16/06, p.42)
2006 Dec 11, China's banking industry officially opened to full foreign competition, a landmark for the country's financial sector and a day of reckoning for the country's mostly state-owned banks.
(AP, 12/9/06)
2006 Dec 12, China’s state press reported that Liu Zhihua (57), a former Beijing vice mayor in charge of 2008 Olympic construction projects, was ousted from the ruling Communist Party for graft and faces judicial prosecution.
(AFP, 12/12/06)
2006 Dec 13, An international expedition declared that a rare, nearly blind white dolphin that survived for millions of years, is effectively extinct after ending a fruitless six-week search of its Yangtze River habitat.
(AP, 12/13/06)
2006 Dec 14, Cisco Systems Inc. announced a $50 million investment in the newly public China Communications Services Corporation Ltd., making the US network-equipment maker the largest foreign investor in CCS.
(AP, 12/14/06)
2006 Dec 16, US-based Westinghouse Electric Co. won a two-year battle for a multibillion-dollar nuclear power deal with China, edging out French and Russian rivals. Stephen Tritch, Westinghouse Electric Co. President and CEO, said the four plant deal was a multi-billion dollar one, but gave no specifics. Past estimates put the deal at $8 billion.
(AP, 12/16/06)
2006 Dec 18, China’s state television said China plans to keep an "absolute ability to control" seven key sectors including oil and telecoms, even as it tries to expose its creaking state-owned firms to the rigors of a market economy.
(AP, 12/18/06)
2006 Dec 18, Verizon Communications Inc. said it and five Asian telecom companies will build a $500 million undersea optical cable linking the United States and China to boost communications capacity by more than 60 times.
(AP, 12/18/06)
2006 Dec 22, In China the first talks on North Korea's nuclear program since the communist nation tested an atomic device ended without an agreement on disarmament or a date for further negotiations.
(AP, 12/22/06)
2006 Dec 23, The UN Security Council voted unanimously to impose sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment. The Security Council resolution ordered all countries to stop supplying Iran with materials and technology that could contribute to its nuclear and missile programs. It also froze the Iranian assets of 10 key companies and 12 individuals related to those programs. Iran denounced the sanctions. China’s endorsement was an important symbolic act.
(AP, 12/24/06)(Econ, 1/13/07, p.37)
2006 Dec 24, China’s state media announced that Du Shicheng, a top Communist Party official in the eastern province of Shandong, had been fired for misconduct.
(AP, 12/24/06)
2006 Dec 26, Chinese and Japanese history scholars met for the first in a series of government-mandated study groups aimed at smoothing over differences between the Asian powers on historical issues.
(AP, 12/26/06)
2006 Dec 27, China’s state media reported that temperatures in China will rise significantly in coming decades and water shortages will worsen, citing the government's first national assessment of global climate change.
(AFP, 12/27/06)
2006 James Kynge authored “China Shakes the World: The Rise of a Hungry Nation."
(Econ, 4/22/06, p.80)
2006 China commenced the building of an eco-city called Dongtan at the northern boundary of Shanghai on the island of Chongming at mouth of the Yangzi River. The 1st phase, expected to be completed in 2010, would accommodate 25,000 people. The British engineering firm Arup helped in the design. Chen Liangyu, Shanghai Communist Party chief, was a big promoter, but was sacked and later convicted for property-related corruption. In 2009 construction on the development was put on hold.
(Econ, 9/23/06, TQ p.20)(Econ, 3/21/09, p.44)
2006 China’s central government included Plum Flower Boxing, a type of martial art, in its first-ever list of “intangible cultural heritages."
(Econ, 12/18/10, p.76)
2006 In China the annual income per person passed $2,000 and demand for natural resources began to grow at a faster pace.
(Econ, 3/15/08, SR p.21)
2006 China overtook Japan to become the world’s 4th largest spender of defense, after American, Britain and France.
(Econ, 6/30/07, p.32)
2006 China’s trade surplus with the US increased to $233 billion this year, accounting for almost 30% of America’s total deficit.
(Econ, 5/19/07, p.73)
2006 In China more than 800 senior officials were convicted this year of embezzlement, bribery and dereliction of duty.
(WSJ, 3/21/07, p.A16)
2006 China ended centuries-old taxes on all crops except tobacco.
(Econ, 1/17/15, p.46)
2006 China exported 75,000 vehicles this year to over 100 countries.
(Econ, 11/25/06, p.63)
2006 Official reckoning of deaths on China’s roads numbered some 89,000 this year.
(Econ, 2/16/08, p.32)
2006 China said 4,750 people died in mine accidents this year, an average of 13 a day.
(AP, 3/28/07)
2006 Dr. Jiao Nianzhi of China’s Xiamen Univ. developed a technique called time series observation based infra red epifluorescence microscopy (TIREM). He used it accurately measure creatures in the ocean called aerobic anoxygenic photoheterotrophic bacteria (AAPB). Results showed that these organisms constitute 7% of the oceans’ microbes.
(Econ, 9/11/10, p.96)
2006 The first penis transplant in the world took place in China. It was later removed due to a severe psychological problem of the recipient and his wife.
(AFP, 5/16/16)
2006 Employees at a Chinese owned copper mine in Chambisi, Zambia, were sprayed with gunfire while protesting working conditions.
(WSJ, 2/2/07, p.A1)
2006 Amnesty Int’l. counted 2,790 people sentenced to death in China and 1,010 executed.
(Econ, 1/12/08, p.36)
2006 Angola’s Gen. Fernando Miala, head of the external intelligence service, alleged that some $2 billion in Chinese money intended for infrastructure projects had disappeared. The general was soon sacked and imprisoned.
(Econ, 8/13/11, p.22)
2006 Foreign ministers of Brazil, Russia, India and China began annual meeting as a group. In 2001 Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs coined the acronym BRIC to describe these 4 developing countries.
(Econ, 4/17/10, p.64)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BRIC)
2007 Jan 1, China’s government began requiring all companies listed on the Shenzhen and Shanghai stock markets to prepare their accounts according to Int’l. Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The initial decision had been made in Nov 2005. New rules came into effect that allowed foreign reporters to go more or less where they pleased.
(Econ, 1/13/07, p.13, 63)(Econ, 1/20/07, p.18)
2007 Jan 1, Li Zhaoxing, China's foreign minister, signed a string of accords in Benin as part of a whistle-stop tour of seven African nations as Beijing bolsters economic ties on the continent. From Benin Li flew to Equatorial Guinea ahead of visits in the coming days to Guinea-Bissau, Chad, the Central African Republic, Eritrea and Botswana.
(AFP, 1/2/07)
2007 Jan 2, China's foreign minister continued his whistle-stop African tour in Equatorial Guinea, where he cancelled debt, promised aid and opened a new Chinese-built media centre.
(AP, 1/2/07)
2007 Jan 3, It was reported that more than a million Chinese die each year of smoking related diseases. The toll was expected to double by 2025. A roadside bomb in southern China killed two children who found the explosive wrapped in a package and began playing with it in Shenzhen.
(WSJ, 1/3/07, p.A1)(AP, 1/4/07)
2007 Jan 3, China's Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing arrived in the central African nation of Guinea-Bissau for cooperation talks. His 7-nation tour reflected Chinese interest in Africa.
(AP, 1/4/07)
2007 Jan 5, Chinese police raided an alleged terrorist camp in a western mountain region near the border with Pakistan, killing 18 suspects and arresting 17 at a training camp run by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM). Critics accused Beijing of using claims of terrorism as an excuse to crack down on peaceful pro-independence sentiment and expressions of Uighur identity.
(AP, 1/8/07)
2007 Jan 5, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing met with Pres. Bozize of the Central African Republic. Zhaoxing was set to sign a series of accords as part of seven-nation tour highlighting China's increasing interest in the African continent.
(AFP, 1/5/07)
2007 Jan 5, Australia’s Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Australia and China have ratified a nuclear agreement clearing the way for the export of uranium to feed Beijing's giant nuclear power program.
(AFP, 1/5/07)
2007 Jan 5, In southern Nigeria gunmen kidnapped five Chinese workers fixing overhead telephone lines.
(AP, 1/5/07)
2007 Jan 6, China unveiled its Jian-10 multi-role indigenous fighter jet, marking a "historic leap forward" and narrowing a technological gap with major military powers.
(AP, 1/6/07)
2007 Jan 7, Staff at a logistics company in Qingdao, in China's eastern Shandong province, found a human torso in a box seeping blood but marked as carrying medicine. Two days later, police in Beijing and Jiangyin, in eastern Jiangsu province, found a man's head and arms. On Jan 15 state media said Chinese police have detained a man and a woman suspected of killing a man and posting his body parts to three different cities.
(Reuters, 1/15/07)
2007 Jan 7, The North American Int’l. Auto Show opened in Detroit. China’s Changfeng Group Co., made its first appearance at the international auto show in Detroit, Mich. China numbered over 100 automakers and industry consolidation was expected.
(Econ, 1/6/07, p.54)(WSJ, 1/3/07, p.B1)
2007 Jan 9, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert arrived in China for a visit centered around boosting trade ties and discussions on Iran's nuclear program.
(AP, 1/9/07)
2007 Jan 10, China said 2006 its global trade surplus jumped nearly 75% from the previous year to a record $177.5 billion. Lan Chengzhang, who worked for the China Trade News, was beaten while visiting a mine in Hunyuan county in the northern province of Shanxi and died of an apparent brain hemorrhage the next day. His death sparked a media outcry and a police investigation. On June 27 the Intermediate People's Court of Linfen city in Shanxi province convicted Hou Zhenrun, the head of a small unlicensed mine outside the northern city of Datong, for organizing a gang of five men to beat reporter. Zhenrun sentenced to life in prison. The five men who beat the reporters received jail terms of 5-15 years. A sixth was sentenced to a year in jail for harboring the suspects.
(AP, 1/10/07)(Reuters, 1/17/07)(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jan 10, Israeli PM Ehud Olmert, midway through an official visit to Beijing, said he received a candid assurance from China that it opposes Iran having a nuclear arsenal.
(AP, 1/10/07)
2007 Jan 11, China destroyed its Feng Yun 1-C, an aging weather satellite launched in 1999, with a ballistic missile 537 miles above the Earth. The impact created about 28% of the junk currently floating in space. The US halted such tests in 1985 for fear of creating debris deadly to spacecraft.
(WSJ, 1/19/07, p.A1)(Econ, 1/27/07, p.38)(Econ, 1/19/08, p.26)
2007 Jan 11, Israeli PM Ehud Olmert ended a visit to China after talks with Chinese leaders on Iran's nuclear program and efforts to boost trade and economic ties.
(AP, 1/11/07)
2007 Jan 12, State media said China will have 30 million more men of marriageable age than women in less than 15 years as a gender imbalance resulting in part from the country's tough one-child policy becomes more pronounced. In northern China an underground gas explosion struck the Niuxinhui Coal Mine in the province of Shanxi killing 13 people with 9 injured. Police in southern China arrested 10 farmers in Botang in the impoverished region of Guangxi embroiled in a dispute with a paper mill over pollution they say is killing their crops and fouling their water sources.
(AP, 1/12/07)(AP, 1/13/07)(AP, 1/26/07)
2007 Jan 12, China and Russia blocked the Security Council from demanding an end to political repression and human rights violations in military-ruled Myanmar, rejecting a resolution proposed by the United States. South Africa sided with China and Russia.
(AP, 1/13/07)(Econ, 1/27/07, p.47)
2007 Jan 15, Bo Yibo (b.1908), one of China's first Communist revolutionaries and a member of the post-Mao circle of leaders known as the "eight immortals," died in Beijing.
(AFP, 1/16/07)
2007 Jan 16, Canadian Trade Minister David Emerson signed a technology deal with China, on a visit aimed at reinvigorating relations with the Asian superpower that have been dented by Canada's blunt talk on human rights.
(Reuters, 1/16/07)
2007 Jan 16, Chinese search engine Baidu.com and EMI Music launched an Internet venture that will let users listen to streaming music for free, adding to Baidu's growing entertainment business.
(AP, 1/16/07)
2007 Jan 17, In Nigeria rebels released 5 Chinese telecommunications workers and an Italian oil worker abducted in the southern delta region.
(AP, 1/18/07)
2007 Jan 18, In China hundreds of riot police clashed with villagers protesting against an alleged land grab by officials in the southern province of Guangdong.
(AP, 1/19/07)
2007 Jan 18, The United States criticized China for conducting an anti-satellite weapons test in which an old Chinese weather satellite was destroyed by a ballistic missile on Jan 11.
(AP, 1/18/07)
2007 Jan 23, China Central Television banned all images and spoken references to pigs in order to avoid offending Muslims. The Year of the Pig was set to begin in February.
(WSJ, 1/25/07, p.A1)
2007 Jan 25, China reported that its sizzling economy grew at 10.7% in 2006, its fastest rate in a decade, as the government struggled to contain the strains of an export-driven boom.
(AP, 1/25/07)
2007 Jan 25, In southern Nigeria gunmen stormed the local offices of a major Chinese oil company, abducting seven Chinese employees and stealing a large amount of cash.
(AP, 1/25/07)
2007 Jan 26, China’s state media said police in northern China have detained three men for the deaths of two women last year whose corpses were sold as "ghost brides" to accompany dead men in the afterlife. The ghost bride tradition, called "minghun" or afterlife marriage, is common in the Loess Plateau region of northern China.
(AP, 1/26/07)
2007 Jan 27, In China a gas explosion in the Yile Coal Mine in the southern town of Shuitang in Guizhou province killed at least 15 miners.
(AP, 1/29/07)
2007 Jan 30, China’s Pres. Hu Jintao set out on an eight-nation tour of Africa. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said: “On the arms exports to Africa, China takes a cautious and responsible attitude."
(AP, 1/30/07)(AFP, 1/30/07)
2007 Jan 31, Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Cameroon to begin his second African tour to boost ties with a continent that has many of the oil and commodity reserves the Asian giant needs for its ballooning economy.
(Reuters, 1/31/07)
2007 Jan 31, Canada's former Secretary of State for the Asia Pacific region David Kilgour and human rights lawyer David Matas released a report saying China's military is harvesting organs from prison inmates, mostly Falungong practitioners, for large scale transplants including for foreign recipients.
(AFP, 1/31/07)
2007 Jan, Police in China arrested Song Tiantang, who soon confessed to killing 6 women and selling their bodies to buyers of ghost brides. In the late 1990s he had been arrested for supplying the ghost bride market by just robbing graves.
(Econ, 7/28/07, p.44)
2007 Feb 1, China’s Pres. Hu Jintao arrived in Liberia. He held talks with Liberian Pres. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and address the parliament, before meeting some 500 Chinese peacekeepers. Jintao was also due to visit Sudan, Zambia, Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique and the Seychelles during his 12-day tour.
(AP, 2/1/07)
2007 Feb 1, Zhengzhou city authorities put Gao Yaojie under house arrest to stop her from traveling to Washington to be honored by a charity backed by Sen. Hillary Clinton. The retired Chinese doctor helped expose blood-buying schemes that infected thousands with HIV.
(AP, 2/4/07)
2007 Feb 2, Chinese President Hu Jintao offered Sudan assistance for the peaceful resolution of the Darfur conflict but ignored Western pressure to make future aid conditional on the progress made. Jintao agreed on closer economic cooperation with Sudan after sealing talks with a series of trade agreements. Jintao told Sudan's leader he must give the United Nations a bigger role in trying to resolve the conflict in Darfur.
(AFP, 2/2/07)
2007 Feb 2, A mine explosion in China’s Henan province killed 24 coal miners at the Xing'an coal mine. Newspapers later reported that mining officials had said that seven miners had died in the blast, and that mine owner Fu Faming ordered miners back into the shaft to seal it with earth in an attempt to bury evidence of the deaths.
(AP, 2/10/07)
2007 Feb 3, Chinese President Hu Jintao brought his eight-nation African tour to Zambia, a copper-rich country where China's growing clout has prompted charges of exploitation and emerged as a volatile political issue.
(AP, 2/3/07)
2007 Feb 3, In southern China a tour bus traveling in the wrong lane on a highway plowed into an oncoming bus in Hechi, killing 13 passengers and injuring 75.
(AP, 2/4/07)
2007 Feb 4, In eastern China a fire swept through a two-story building of shops and apartments, killing at least 17 people in Zhejiang province's Taizhou city.
(AP, 2/4/07)
2007 Feb 4, In Zambia China’s President Hu Jintao pledged $800 million in investments, debt write-offs and a "showcase" free trade zone as he ended a tour there. Beijing's economic juggernaut has sparked tensions in Zambia.
(AFP, 2/4/07)
2007 Feb 5, China’s president Hu Jintao brought his eight-nation African tour to Namibia, a sparsely populated, mineral-rich desert country that hopes to benefit from an influx of Chinese investment and tourists.
(AP, 2/5/07)
2007 Feb 6, China’s President Hu Jintao vowed to forge a partnership of equals with South Africa as he held talks with his counterpart Thabo Mbeki.
(AP, 2/6/07)
2007 Feb 7, In South Africa Chin’s President Hu Jintao promised to increase imports from Africa, responding to fears about the trade deficit that increased as China pumped unprecedented aid, investment and loans into the poor but resource-rich continent.
(AP, 2/7/07)
2007 Feb 7, In central China an overcrowded passenger vehicle returning from a wedding party plunged off a cliff, killing 16 members of an extended family.
(AP, 2/8/07)
2007 Feb 8, State media said officials in eastern China plan to name and shame rich families who ignore the country's strict one-child policy and simply pay the fine for having a second or third baby. China executed Ismail Semed, an ethnic Muslim and member of the Uighur minority group in Xinjiang, for alleged separatist activities. Human rights groups condemned because they said the prosecution's case against him lacked evidence and his confession may have been coerced.
(AP, 2/8/07)(AP, 2/9/07)
2007 Feb 8, China’s President Hu Jintao arrived in Mozambique on the penultimate stop in his 8-nation African tour.
(AFP, 2/8/07)
2007 Feb 9, China’s state Food and Drug Administration vowed to probe up to 170,000 medicines produced by manufacturers, which allegedly bribed its sacked head Zheng Xiaoyu for production licenses. The top drug safety official was being investigated for bribery after a number of deaths and scandals were linked to shoddy medicines.
(AFP, 2/9/07)
2007 Feb 9, In China envoys to international talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program struggled to find a compromise as differences emerged over a Chinese proposal on how to begin the disarmament process.
(AP, 2/9/07)
2007 Feb 12, China's General Administration of Customs said surging trade surplus jumped 67% in January from the same month last year to $15.88 billion.
(AP, 2/12/07)
2007 Feb 13, Gan Yisheng, a senior party discipline and oversight official, said nearly 100,000 members of China's ruling Communist Party were punished last year for corruption, and that eradicating graft in the near future remains a huge challenge. A Chinese business executive was sentenced to death for swindling $385 million from investors in a bogus ant-breeding scheme. Wang Zhendong, chairman of Yingkou Donghua Trading Group Co., had promised returns of up to 60% for buying kits of ants and breeding equipment.
(AFP, 2/13/07)(AP, 2/15/07)
2007 Feb 13, In Geneva the US clashed with China and Russia during a disarmament debate over how to prevent an arms race in outer space, and Washington criticized Beijing for its recent test of an anti-satellite missile. Russia and China, in turn, condemned the "one state" that refuses to consider a treaty banning space weapons, a reference to the US.
(AP, 2/13/07)
2007 Feb 18, The Chinese flocked to temples, parks and Disneyland to pray, play, eat, and celebrate the first day of the Lunar New Year, ushering in the Year of the Pig. The celebrations extended to March 4.
(AP, 2/18/07)(WSJ, 3/3/07, p.A1)
2007 Feb 23, It was reported that China had established clinics to treat teens addicted to the Internet.
(SFC, 2/23/07, p.A16)
2007 Feb 26, China’s state media said falling water levels in the Yangtze River have left 1 million people short of drinking water.
(AP, 2/26/07)
2007 Feb 27, In China stocks sold off sending the Shanghai composite index down 8.8% as rumors circulated that the government was considering new measures to tame speculation. The plunge, assisted by order routing problems on the NYSE, led to a 416 point drop in the DJIA.
(SFC, 2/28/07, p.C8)(Econ, 3/3/07, p.11)(Econ, 3/10/07, p.70)
2007 Feb 27, China’s state media said scientists in eastern China say they have succeeded in controlling the flight of pigeons with micro electrodes planted in their brains.
(AP, 2/27/07)
2007 Feb 27, DaimlerChrysler AG, seeking to cut costs and boost sales in North America, said it will start selling Chinese-made cars in that market and western Europe as it tries to meet demand for smaller, more economical vehicles.
(AP, 2/27/07)
2007 Feb 28, An official report said China's population grew by almost 7 million people last year. China's National Bureau of Statistics said that the country's population was 1,314,480,000 at the end of 2006, an increase of 6.92 million people. Numbers also showed that China will overtake the US this year or in 2008 as the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
(AP, 2/28/07)(SFC, 3/5/07, p.A1)
2007 Feb 28, Chinese stocks recovered following their worst plunge in a decade as regulators shifted into damage control, denying rumors of plans for a 20 percent capital gains tax on stock investments. A sandstorm with hurricane-strength wind gusts derailed a train in the far west, killing at least four people and injuring another 30.
(AP, 2/28/07)
2007 Feb, China's top leaders approved a program to build large commercial aircraft, lending crucial government support to plans to challenge the domination of Boeing and Airbus in the country's fast-growing aviation market. State-owned China Aviation Industry Corporation I, or AVIC I, planned to start making large aircraft by 2020.
(AP, 3/19/07)
2007 Feb, In China the Roewe 750 saloon went on sale. The car was launched as part of a joint venture between SAIC, a state-owned carmaker, General Motors and Volkswagen.
(Econ, 2/24/07, p.79)
2007 Mar 2, China demanded the United States scrap a planned sale of hundreds of missiles to Taiwan, warning the deal would harm regional stability and bilateral ties.
(AFP, 3/2/07)
2007 Mar 2, Scientists scanning the deep interior of Earth have found evidence of a vast water reservoir beneath eastern Asia that is at least the volume of the Arctic Ocean.
(www.livescience.com/environment/070228_beijing_anomoly.html)
2007 Mar 4, China said it will boost military spending by 17.8% this year, continuing more than a decade of double-digit annual increases that have raised concerns among the United States and China's neighbors.
(AP, 3/4/07)
2007 Mar 5, A Tokyo paper said Japan, the United States and India will carry out a joint military drill in the Pacific off Japan's coast amid concerns about China's military build-up.
(AFP, 3/5/07)
2007 Mar 6, An explosion at a coal mine in south China killed at least 15 workers.
(AP, 3/7/07)
2007 Mar 6, Researchers reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that pollution from Asia is helping generate stronger storms over the North Pacific, according to new research. Satellite measurements have shown an increase in tiny particles generated from coal burning in China and India in recent decades.
(AP, 3/6/07)
2007 Mar 7, In China a government directive said all pet dogs will be killed in a district of the southwestern city of Chongqing as part of an anti-rabies campaign. Residents of the city's Wanzhou district had until March 15 to hand over their dogs.
(AP, 3/7/07)
2007 Mar 7, North Korea reported that it has slaughtered hundreds of cows and pigs after an outbreak of foot and mouth disease. The report said the sickened cows had been imported from Tieling, China.
(AP, 3/8/07)
2007 Mar 8, Chinese lawmakers formally introduced a hotly debated law to protect private property, saying that personal wealth in an increasingly prosperous China requires legal safeguards.
(AP, 3/8/07)
2007 Mar 9, Finance Minister Jin Renqing said China is creating an investment company to make more profitable use of its $1 trillion in foreign currency reserves, in a move that could change the flow of billions of dollars in global markets.
(AP, 3/9/07)
2007 Mar 9, Xinhua Finance Media shares made their debut on the NYSE raising $300 million. Fredy Bush (49), a US-born entrepreneur, served as CEO of Xinhua Finance Ltd., the Shanghai-based parent of the US listed company.
(WSJ, 1/7/07, p.A1)
2007 Mar 11, In northeast China 22 miners were confirmed dead and the lives of seven others were feared lost in a coal mine flood on the previous day. The flood occurred in a pit belonging to the state-owned Fushun Mining Group in the province of Liaoning.
(AFP, 3/11/07)
2007 Mar 12, In central China villagers armed with bricks and rocks continued to clash with baton-wielding police over rising bus fares and at least 60 people were injured. A student died from wounds incurred a day earlier.
(AP, 3/13/07)
2007 Mar 15, China expressed "deep regret" over a US decision to punish a Macau bank for allegedly helping North Korea launder money, foreshadowing the difficulties of enforcing an international agreement on the North's nuclear disarmament.
(AP, 3/15/07)
2007 Mar 16, China's legislators passed a law providing the most sweeping protection for private businesses and property since the nation's move toward a more capitalist-style economy beginning in the late 1970s. The legislature approved a law to end three decades of blanket tax breaks for foreign investors, raising their rates to match those of Chinese companies.
(AP, 3/16/07)
2007 Mar 17, China's central bank said it will raise key interest rates by more than a quarter point to control a surge in bank lending and investment and to prevent consumer prices from rising. The 0.27% point hike in one-year deposit and lending benchmark rates will go into effect Mar 18. This was the 3rd rate hike in a year.
(SSFC, 3/18/07, p.A18)(AP, 3/19/07)
2007 Mar 17, Two cargo ships collided in the East China Sea, killing at least eight people. The collision occurred off Zhejiang province between a cargo ship from China and a Hong Kong-registered vessel. The Hong Kong ship, with 29 crew aboard, sank immediately.
(AP, 3/19/07)
2007 Mar 17, Officials in Guatemala City said China is seeking to join the Inter-American Development Bank, Latin America's largest financing institution, as a way to fuel its economic development and increase its influence in the region.
(AP, 3/18/07)
2007 Mar 18, In northern China a coal mine explosion killed 19 with two miners still missing and presumed dead in a mine in the suburbs of Shanxi province's Jincheng City.
(AP, 3/21/07)
2007 Mar 20, China approved four foreign banks to begin local currency services to individual Chinese customers, opening up access to the country's 30 trillion yuan ($4 trillion; 3 euros trillion) in household savings and surging demand for credit cards and other financial services.
(AP, 3/20/07)
2007 Mar 26, Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Russia on his third visit as national leader, seeking energy deals but also offering Moscow business opportunities and international cooperation as they expand ties.
(Reuters, 3/26/07)
2007 Mar 27, State media said China will pour billions of dollars into an airport, power plants, roads and education to help raise the standard of living of Tibetans over the next three years.
(AP, 3/27/07)
2007 Mar 27, United Commercial Bank of San Francisco said it had concluded negotiations to become the sole owner of the Business Development Bank of Shanghai. In 1992 the Business Development Bank of Shanghai was established as China’s first foreign-owned bank.
(Econ, 4/7/07, p.73)
2007 Mar 28, In northern China an underground gas explosion killed 26 miners in a coal mine in Linfen city, Shanxi province. 6 workers were trapped underground after a subway construction site for the 2008 Beijing Olympics collapsed. Hopes for their survival were slim.
(AP, 3/29/07)
2007 Mar 30, The Bush administration, facing heavy pressure to deal with soaring trade deficits, said it is imposing economic sanctions against China to protect American paper producers from unfair Chinese government subsidies.
(AP, 3/30/07)
2007 Apr 1, A knife-wielding Chinese tour guide injured 20 people in a stabbing-and-slashing spree at a southwestern resort following an argument over kickbacks on souvenir sales. Xu Mingchao (25) from the province of Heilongjiang, was arrested following the incident.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 2, China’s first deadline for income taxes was extended a few days because of low compliance. Anyone earning over 120,000 yuan ($15,500) annually was supposed to file a return. In southwestern China developers tore down a stubborn couple's house after a three-year standoff that hindered a construction project and captivated the nation. The couple reportedly negotiated a deal with the real estate developer that gives them a new apartment and a sizable compensation package.
(Econ, 4/14/07, p.49)(AP, 4/3/07)(Econ, 4/7/07, p.39)
2007 Apr 3, A state news agency said China's government has ordered newspapers to stamp out the common practice of demanding money from people they cover.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 5, China told banks to increase their reserves for the third time this year, cutting the amount of money available for lending in a new effort to cool an investment boom that Beijing worries could lead to a financial crisis. Chinese celebrated the annual tomb-sweeping festival, but state media said soaring funeral costs were leading to people complaining they can no longer afford to die.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 6, China published new rules governing human organ transplants in its latest effort to clean up a business critics say has little regard for medical ethics. These included consent from the deceased owner’s family.
(AP, 4/7/07)(Econ., 3/14/15, p.48)
2007 Apr 6, A Chinese delegation arrived in Sudan's troubled Darfur region for a 4-day visit. They met officials and visited camps for the internally displaced.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 8, A Chinese ship, Jinhaikun, and a foreign cargo vessel, Harvest, collided off the east China coast in Taizhou Bay. 19 Chinese and one Indonesian missing in the accident were all on the Harvest.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 9, State press reported that China's farmland is becoming increasingly polluted, with coal-dependent factories and polluted waterways causing billions of dollars in damages.
(AFP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 9, China urged Sudan to be more flexible on a plan put forward by former UN chief Kofi Annan to bolster peacekeeping operations in the war-torn western region of Darfur.
(AFP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 10, China reported a sharp drop in its politically sensitive trade surplus and angrily rejected US plans to file a World Trade Organization complaint over product piracy amid pressure for Beijing to rein in its bulging trade gap. The US filed two new complaints against China at the WTO over copyright policy and restrictions on the sale of American movies, music and books. China missed its deadline for announcing a total tally of completed tax returns. Officials estimated some 1.6 million filed with 6m-7m required to file.
(AP, 4/10/07)(Econ, 4/14/07, p.49)
2007 Apr 10, In China’s southeast Guangxi Zhuangzu region thousands of fish were reported killed this month in a lake near Nanning due to “sharp drops in temperature."
(SFC, 4/12/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 11, Japanese and Chinese leaders heralded a new era of closer ties between the two Asian powers, moving to repair relations damaged by a harsh dispute over history and signing accords on energy and environmental protection.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 13, Prominent Chinese environmental activist Wu Lihong (39) was arrested for alleged blackmail. Lihong has campaigned for years against the pollution of Tai Lake which lies in the center of Yangtze Delta plain, a region known for its natural beauty but littered with polluting light industry and chemical factories. In August Lihong was sentenced to 3 years in prison for fraud and blackmail.
(AFP, 4/23/07)(Econ, 5/3/08, p.49)
2007 Apr 14, A Chinese rocket placed a navigation satellite in orbit as part of an effort to build a global positioning system.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 16, In southwest China about 450 people, including 135 school students, were hospitalized after a fertilizer plant discharged a "huge amount" of sulfur dioxide. A state-run newspaper said China's massive Yangtze river, a lifeline for tens of millions of people, is seriously polluted and the damage is almost irreversible.
(AP, 4/16/07)(AFP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 17, In China state media said Ablikim Abdureyim, the son of a prominent US-based Chinese Muslim activist, was sentenced in Urumqi, capital of the Muslim Xinjiang region, to nine years in prison on subversion charges. Abdureyim's mother, Rebiya Kadeer, once was one of China's most prominent businesswomen. She was detained in 1999 and sentenced to 8 years in prison on charges of endangering state security but was allowed to leave for the United States in 2005.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 18, The futuristic No. D460 bullet train departed Shanghai Station, heralding a new era of high-speed rail travel in China. In northeast China at least 32 workers were killed and two injured when they were engulfed in white-hot molten steel in a metal factory.
(AFP, 4/18/07)(AP, 4/18/07)(Econ, 5/19/07, p.70)
2007 Apr 19, China jailed Huseyin Celil (37), a Uighur-Canadian, for life for separatism and terrorism and warned Canada not to get involved even as Ottawa announced it would send its foreign minister to discuss the case. Celil was detained in Uzbekistan in March 2006 when he was visiting relatives and sent to China last June.
(Reuters, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 20, Bishop Fu Tieshan (76), the hard-line chairman of the state-sanctioned Catholic Church, died. He sparred had with the Vatican over China's insistence on appointing its own bishops. An upsurge of gas in a coal mine killed 11 miners in the Tao'er Coal Mine in Handan, an industrial city in Hebei province.
(AP, 4/21/07)(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 21, A Zimbabwe cabinet minister said the Chinese government has given Zimbabwe a 58 million dollars financing facility that will be used to purchase farming equipment, implements and tools.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, Zhou Chunxiu made history as the first Chinese runner to win the London marathon as she came home in 2hrs 20min 38sec, finishing ahead of Ethiopia's Gete Wami and Romanian Constantina Tomescu-Dita.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 23, Chinese, state television reported that President Hu Jintao has launched a campaign to rid the country's sprawling Internet of "unhealthy" content and make it a springboard for Communist Party doctrine.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, China’s The Ministry of Land and Resources said agricultural land in China fell to 121.8 million hectares (300 million acres) by the end of October 2006, a loss of 306,800 hectares since the start of the year. The ministry said that heavy metals had contaminated about 13 million tons of grain and that 30.4 million acres is contaminated by pollution.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6582571.stm)(WSJ, 6/30/07, p.A12)
2007 Apr 24, China's secretive communist government said it has approved rules boosting official transparency but added that state secrets have to be safeguarded and social stability preserved. Eight miners were missing and feared dead following an explosion in a mine in Handan, an industrial city in Hebei province.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, In Ethiopia Ogaden rebels raided a Chinese-run oil field near the Somali border, killing 65 Ethiopians and nine Chinese workers. An Ethiopian rebel group claimed responsibility. The next day Ethiopia blamed Eritrea for the attack. Eritrea issued a swift, angry denial. In 2008 security forces arrested eight men suspected of involvement in the deadly raid.
(AP, 4/24/07)(AP, 4/25/07)(WSJ, 4/25/07, p.A1)(AFP, 3/30/08)
2007 Apr 25, China detained four Americans on Mount Everest after they called for independence for Tibet and protested the Beijing Olympics. More than 50 children were poisoned by a kindergarten breakfast in Zhengzhou city in Henan province, in the latest case highlighting problems in the country's food supply chain.
(AP, 4/25/07)(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, China said it has banned melamine from food products after the chemical was found in exports of vegetable protein shipped to the United States, but rejected it as the cause of dozens of pet deaths in North America.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Ethiopian rebels holding seven Chinese oil workers captured during an attack this week on an oil venture in Ethiopia said they would release them "as soon as possible."
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 27, China’s Premier Wen Jiabao pledged to phase out tax breaks and discounts on land and electricity for highly polluting industries, saying the country's environmental situation was grim and required urgent action.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, China said it has expelled five Americans who staged a protest against the Olympics on Mount Everest to challenge Chinese rule over the mountainous region.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, Japan's Supreme Court upheld a ruling denying compensation to two Chinese women who were forced to work in military brothels during World War II. The court said that the women had no right to seek war compensation from Japan because of a 1972 agreement with China. The top court also overturned a lower court ruling awarding compensation to five Chinese who were forced to work for a Japanese construction company during the war.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 28, China's president called for closer business ties with Taiwan to help squelch the self-ruled island's pro-independence movement as he met with a former Taiwanese opposition leader.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, China's ZTE signed a $200 million deal with Ethiopia's state-owned Telecom Corp.
(AFP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, In China 7 suspects went on trial in the beating death of a reporter at an illegal coal mine in northern Shanxi province. Lan Chengzhang was attacked along with a colleague when they went to interview Hou Zhenrun, the owner of the small unlicensed coal mine outside the northern city of Datong on Jan 10. He died the next day from head injuries.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, In Ethiopia 7 Chinese oil workers and two Africans kidnapped during a rebel attack on a Chinese oil field near the Somali border were released.
(AP, 4/29/07)
2007 Apr 30, In China a manager of a feed company and one of the chemical's producers said that the mildly toxic chemical melamine is commonly added to animal feed in China. The process fraudulently boosts the feed's sales value but risks introducing the chemical into meat eaten by humans.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 May 1, China lashed out at the Caribbean nation of St. Lucia for restoring diplomatic relations with Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as Chinese territory.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 5, In central China an explosion at the Pudeng mine, outside of Linfen city, killed 28 miners and trapped others.
(AP, 5/6/07)(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 5, It was reported that China has 16 of the world’s most polluted cities. The UN said dirty air caused the premature death of some 400,000 Chinese each year.
(Econ, 5/5/07, SR p.11)
2007 May 7, State media said China's top family planning body has warned that the country could face a "population rebound" because the newly rich are ignoring population control laws and because of early marriages in rural areas. In southwestern China a bus plunged off a highway, killing 17 people including three children and injuring 24 others.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Hong Kong newspapers reported that an unidentified animal illness has spread in two southern Chinese cities, infecting at least 1,300 pigs and killing more than 300. The diseased pigs began dying in Gaoyao and Yunfu in Guangdong province following Chinese New Year celebrations in February. The illness was soon identified as a strain of blue ear disease. Blue ear disease, also called porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, was first identified in the United States in 1987. The disease this year killed an estimated 45 million pigs in China.
(AP, 5/8/07)(SFC, 5/8/07, p.A17)(AP, 5/10/07)(Econ, 12/20/14, p.68)
2007 May 8, Amnesty Int’l. said in a report that China and Russia are supplying arms to Sudan that are being used to fuel the violence in the Darfur region in violation of a UN arms embargo. China and Russia quickly rejected the report and Sudan's government said it was "not justified." China confirmed it would send military engineers for a planned UN peacekeeping force to Sudan's Darfur region.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 9, China ordered strengthened controls over its food industry after a series of health scares with international repercussions laid bare lax standards. A Beijing court sentenced a man to life in prison for taking nearly $500,000 in bribes while posing as a reporter, and sometimes a top editor, for the Communist Party's official newspaper, the People's Daily.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, Japan's Supreme Court rejected compensation claims by Chinese victims of atrocities committed by Japan in the 1930s and 40s, which included the use of biological weapons and a massacre in the city of Nanjing.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, China, criticized for not pushing its close ally Sudan to resolve the Darfur crisis, said that it had appointed a special representative on African affairs to focus on the issue.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, A US federal jury in California convicted Chi Mak, a China-born engineer, of passing submarine data to Beijing.
(WSJ, 5/11/07, p.A1)
2007 May 12, A South Korean cargo vessel sank after colliding with a Chinese freighter in heavy fog in waters off northeast China. 16 crew were on board the 3,800-ton Golden Rose when it sank. The crew of the Chinese ship, the 4,800-ton JinSheng, were unharmed and returned safely to Dalian.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 14, A Chinese rocket blasted a Nigerian communications satellite into orbit, marking an expansion of China's commercial launching services for foreign space hardware. The NIGCOMSAT-1 ceased functioning on November 11, 2008, due to a power failure.
(AP, 5/14/07)(AP, 11/13/08)
2007 May 14, Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian named his sixth premier in seven years amid paralysis in the island's relations with rival China and gridlock in its deeply divided legislature. The World Health Organization rejected Taiwan's bid for membership after Chinese officials accused the island of trying to strengthen its claim to sovereignty.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 16, Zheng Xiaoyu, China's former top drug regulator, went on trial accused of taking bribes to approve untested medicine, including an antibiotic that killed at least 10 patients last year before it was taken off the market. Zheng was fired in 2005 on charges he took up to $780,000 in bribes to approve medicine that had not been tested to ensure its safety. He was expelled earlier this year from the ruling Communist Party.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 17, US lawmakers branded China and Russia the world's two biggest copyright thieves.
(Reuters, 5/17/07)
2007 May 18, China took steps to let its currency appreciate faster against the dollar and to cool its sizzling economy ahead of what are expected to contentious talks in Washington over Beijing's soaring trade surplus.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 19, China’s state media said an outbreak of a viral disease common in children has sickened almost 900 people in eastern China but the outbreak has been contained. The outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease began in late April in the city of Linyi in Shandong province. In southern China thousands of farmers rioted at a government office in Shabi township, Guangxi region, after authorities imposed heavy fines on families that had more children than allowed under the country's family planning policy.
(AP, 5/19/07)(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 20, China’s state press said that pollution and the excessive use of chemicals in foodstuffs are sending national cancer rates soaring. 20 Chinese women were killed and 4 injured when a 3-wheeled tractor overturned on a mountain road in northern Liaoning province.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 21, A Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Wu Yi arrived in the United States for two days of talks that will spotlight tensions over US trade deficits with the Asian export giant. A Chinese state fund that is buying a $3 billion stake in US private equity firm Blackstone Group LP wants to avoid political backlashes when it makes other investments abroad.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 22, The US and China opened a new round of high-level economic talks with the Bush administration pushing for concrete results and China saying efforts to politicize trade disagreements would be a mistake.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 23, China said it was investigating reports that toothpaste containing a potentially deadly chemical had been exported to Central America.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 24, In southern China residents of Bobai county angrily accused authorities of forcing women to have abortions and vandalizing homes in a brutal campaign to enforce birth-control policies. Government "work teams" had raided homes, carried out mass arrests and levied crippling fines across Guangxi, a sprawling region near the Vietnam border. Communist Party officials in Shanghai convened a congress to install a new generation of leaders following a corruption scandal that toppled the city's top leader. 2 days of heavy rainstorms in southwest China triggered flash floods and mudslides killed 21 people and left 11 missing.
(AFP, 5/24/07)(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 25, Costa Rica health officials said they have seized more than 350 tubes of Chinese-made toothpaste tainted with a deadly chemical reportedly found in tubes sold elsewhere in the world.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, China and the African Union launched a 150-million-dollar project to build a new conference centre for the cash-strapped continental body.
(AFP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 26, In northeast China a restaurant fire killed 11 staff and diners and injured 16 others. The fire started in the kitchen and raged through the popular three-story Baixinglou restaurant in Liaoning province's Chaoyang city.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 29, Zheng Xiaoyu, China's former top drug regulator, was sentenced to death in an unusually harsh punishment for taking bribes to approve substandard medicines, including an antibiotic blamed for at least 10 deaths.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, China said it will not be tied to targets on cutting carbon emissions as Europe and Asia failed to agree at a 40-nation meeting on how to fight global warming.
(AFP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, The roof of a newly built house in Wulanji, a northern Chinese village in Inner Mongolia, collapsed during a celebration for its completion, killing 16 people and injuring another 29.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Chinese stocks plunged after the government raised a tax on share trades, trying to cool a market boom amid growing concerns about a possible bubble. The stamp tax was tripled to 0.3%. The port city of Xiamen announced a decision to temporarily suspend construction of a petrochemical plant after nearly a million text messages were sent protesting its construction.
(AP, 5/30/07)(WSJ, 5/31/07, p.A8)(Econ, 6/2/07, p.82)
2007 May 31, China’s state media said fast-spreading, foul-smelling blue-green algae smothered Lake Tai in eastern Jiangsu province, contaminating the drinking water for millions of people and sparking panic-buying of bottled water.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, Mexico's Televisa network, known around the world for its soap operas, said it plans to expand in China, following the lead of taco chains and other Mexican businesses looking for a slice of the Asian nation's market.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 Jun 1, On Children’s Day in China thousands of people rallied in Xiamen to protest plans for a Taiwanese-owned chemical factory to make paraxylene, used in polyester. Thousands marched again the next day
(Econ, 6/23/07, p.48)
2007 Jun 1, In China a new bankruptcy law took effect making it easier to restructure insolvent firms.
(http://tinyurl.com/gpav4ar)(Econ, 1/9/10, p.68)
2007 Jun 1, The US government warned consumers to avoid using toothpaste made in China because it may contain a poisonous chemical used in antifreeze.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 3, A strong earthquake shook a hilly southwestern Chinese region near the border with Laos, killing at least three people.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, A 19-year-old Chinese soldier died of the virulent strain of bird flu, the country's 16th reported death from the virus.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, China promised to better control emissions of greenhouse gases, unveiling a national program to combat global warming, but rejected mandatory caps on emissions as unfair to countries still trying to catch up with the developed West. The government also said it will license no new Internet cafes this year while regulators carry out an industry-wide inspection, amid official concern that online material is harming young people.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 5, China joined Russia in criticizing a US plan to build a missile defense system in Europe, saying the system could set off an arms race.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 5, Coca-Cola Co. at the World Wildlife Foundation's annual meeting in Beijing announced it is funding a $20 million project to conserve seven major rivers worldwide and also will revamp its bottling practices to reduce pollution and water use.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 6, In north China Song Pingshun (61), head of Tianjin's advisory committee to the national legislature, died in an apparent suicide amid a probe into alleged bribe-taking and shady real estate deals by at least three high-level officials.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 6, President Oscar Arias announced that Costa Rica has broken diplomatic ties with Taiwan and established relations with China, delivering a blow to the Asian island's fragile international standing.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 8, In southern China thousands of workers, mostly women, at a plastic Christmas tree factory clashed with police after a 10-day strike.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, China said it had rejected a shipment of pistachios from the US because it contained ants, the latest indication the government may be retaliating as Chinese products are turned back from overseas because of safety concerns. Xinhua news agency said rain storms and floods have killed at least 40 people across southern China in recent days and made thousands homeless.
(AP, 6/9/07)(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, A human rights group issued a report saying China is forcing nomadic Tibetan herders to settle in towns to clear land for development, leaving many unable to earn a living.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, Sweden’s telecoms network firm Ericsson signed a framework agreement to provide $1 billion worth of networking equipment to China Mobile Communications Corp.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 11, Organizers of the Beijing Olympics threatened to cancel the contracts of companies using child labor and violating minimum-wage rules to make Olympic-licensed products. The country's chief veterinarian said Blue ear disease, blamed for a surge in politically sensitive pork prices, has spread to 22 Chinese provinces and regions. State media said Chinese authorities are investigating the widespread sale of fake blood protein to hospitals and pharmacies, a practice that deprives patients of a crucial medical need.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, Yahoo Inc. said China should not punish people for expressing their political views on the Internet, a day after the mother of a Chinese reporter announced she was suing the US company for helping officials imprison her son.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 12, Australian PM John Howard agreed to meet the Dalai Lama after opponents charged he was afraid of offending China, drawing an immediate rebuke from Beijing. The Dalai Lama warned major nations not to try to contain China's economic and military rise, and urged countries like Australia to use their trading clout to pressure Beijing on human rights.
(AP, 6/12/07)(Reuters, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 13, State media said China’s southern Guangdong province was rushing to shore up dams eroded by weeks of heavy rains and high waters that already have killed at least 76 people. State media also reported that Cheng Laifu, a teacher in northwestern China, has been sentenced to death for raping 18 primary school girls, the second such case in the same area. He was convicted of raping the 18 third- and fourth-grade students on 70 separate occasions between September 2001 and March 2005. The victims were 9 and 10. Xinhua News said that in July 2005, Li Guang, also a teacher in Changhe township, was sentenced to death for raping 23 fourth- and fifth-grade students.
(AP, 6/13/07)(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 14, Police in Henan province said they have rescued more than 200 people, including 29 children, who were working as "slaves" in brick kilns, in a shocking revelation of labor practices in booming China.
(AFP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 15, China’s state media said as many as 1,000 children may have been sold into slave labor in central China, enduring maiming and brutality in primitive brick kilns, amid an expanding scandal about official neglect.
(Reuters, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 16, China’s state media said that a total of 548 slave laborers have been freed in the past month from brick kilns and other illegal job sites in central China where they were starved, beaten and forced to work 14 hours or more per day.
(AP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 18, Researchers reported that the first skull of the earliest known ancestor of the giant panda has been discovered in China and estimated to be at least 2 million years old. The animal, formally known as Ailuropoda microta, or "pygmy giant panda," would have been about 3 feet long, compared to the modern giant panda, which averages in excess of five feet.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 19, China’s state media reported that the worst drought in 30 years in northeast China's Liaoning province has left more than 1.2 million people short of drinking water.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 20, China announced a nationwide crackdown on enslavement and child labor. China's regulatory standards chief pledged to update and boost enforcement of food safety rules as the country faces intense international pressure for exporting unsafe products from toothpaste to pet food ingredients. State media said floods and landslides triggered by heavy rain have killed 36 more people and left 13 missing in southwest and central China. A knife-wielding man slashed four students, wounding one seriously at a high school in Fuzhou, capital of southeastern Fujian province.
(AP, 6/20/07)(Reuters, 6/20/07)(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 20, A Dutch government-funded agency said China has overtaken the United States as the top emitter of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, because of surging energy use amid an economic boom. However consumption and emission levels per head remained a mere fraction of America’s.
(AP, 6/20/07)(Econ, 6/13/09, p.45)
2007 Jun 21, China signed an agreement to cancel Iraqi debt at a ceremony after a meeting between Chinese President Hu Jintao and his Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talabani. State media reported no more brightly dyed hair, flashy jewelry or smoking in public for China's police while they're in uniform.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 22, Chinese investigators said government labor monitors and police officers were actively involved in the Chinese brickyard slavery scandal. A provincial governor apologized as the government stepped up efforts to try to show it was responding to a growing slave labor scandal.
(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 26, China launched a $1 billion fund to finance trade and investment by Chinese companies in Africa as part of efforts to nurture commercial ties. The Chinese government said inspectors have seized shipments of US-made orange pulp and dried apricots containing high levels of bacteria and preservatives. A 22-mile long bridge that its builders claim is the world's longest sea-crossing structure was formally linked-up just south of the business hub of Shanghai.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 27, Chinese inspectors, following a six-month crackdown, said industrial oils, acid, cancer-causing chemicals and other dangerous ingredients have been found in thousands of foods. The government said it closed 180 food manufacturers found to have used industrial chemicals and additives in food products. A state news agency quoted China's chief auditor saying auditors have found that officials stole or misused $1.9 billion in pension funds and other government money. Cases in the latest investigations stretched back to before 2000.
(AFP, 6/27/07)(AP, 6/27/07)(WSJ, 6/28/07, p.A8)
2007 Jun 28, In Sudan China's No. 1 oil company, CNPC, and Indonesia's PT Pertamina agreed to co-develop a Sudanese offshore oil block, ignoring international efforts to isolate Sudan over the crisis in its Darfur region.
(AP, 7/1/07)
2007 Jun 28, The US FDA halted imports of 5 kinds of farm raised seafood from China after tests revealed trace amounts of carcinogens and antibiotics.
(SFC, 6/29/07, p.B5)
2007 Jun 29, China enacted law meant to improve workers' rights, capping a round of unprecedented legislation by the communist government that included input from foreign companies and the Chinese public. A French-educated scientist was named China's health minister, becoming only the 2nd noncommunist appointed to the Cabinet since the 1970s. Beijing banned ten types of drugs for exaggerated effectiveness amid rising concerns of fake and tainted products in China's food and drug supply chains.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jul 3, The US-made film "Nanking," documenting eyewitness accounts of atrocities committed by Japanese troops in China during World War Two, opened in Beijing.
(Reuters, 7/3/07)
2007 Jul 3, China issued guidelines restricting organ transplants for foreigners, giving priority to Chinese patients in the government's latest effort to regulate procedures that have been criticized as profit-driven and unethical. Officials said that Chinese inspectors have found excessive amounts of additives and preservatives in dozens of children's snacks and seized hundreds of bottles of fake human blood protein from hospitals.
(AP, 7/3/07)
2007 Jul 4, In northeast China a blast ripped through a karaoke parlor and bath house, killing 25 people and injuring 33 others. It was later reported that a coal mine owner, who ran the karaoke parlor, stored more than a ton of explosives in the basement.
(AP, 7/5/07)(AP, 7/6/07)
2007 Jul 5, China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi visited Indonesia and said their countries should cooperate to defend the interests of developing nations as they work to enhance bilateral ties.
(AFP, 7/5/07)
2007 Jul 6, A former department head at China's drug regulation agency was sentenced to death on bribery charges. Cao Wenzhuang was given a two-year reprieve because he provided evidence that helped with the investigation of other cases. Chinese cat lovers mobilized online to save a truck load of cats from the cooking pot. A standoff continued for hours while cat lovers spread word of the incident online, eventually raising $1,320 in donations to buy the whole load of some 800 cats.
(AP, 7/6/07)(AP, 7/10/07)
2007 Jul 7, A global poll picked the Great Wall of China, Rome's Colosseum, India's Taj Mahal, Peru’s Macchu Picchu, Jordan’s Petra, Brazil's Statue of Christ Redeemer and Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid as the new seven wonders of the world. The campaign to name the new wonders was launched in 1999 by the Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber.
(AP, 7/8/07)
2007 Jul 8, China’s state media said nearly 2,000 officials in central China's Hunan province have been caught breaking China's strict one-child policy. State media also said floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains have killed at least 26 people and left 17 missing in southwest Sichuan province in the last week.
(AP, 7/8/07)
2007 Jul 10, China executed Zheng Xiaoyu (63), former head (1997-2006) of its State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), for approving untested medicine in exchange for cash. Zheng was convicted of taking cash and gifts worth $832,000 when he was in charge of the state administration.
(AP, 7/10/07)(WSJ, 1/11/07, p.A1)
2007 Jul 10, The bulk log carrier Hai Tong No. 7 went down, 375 miles northwest of Guam, where it ran into Typhoon Man-yi. 9 of 22 crew members were dead or missing. The ship, owned by Fuzhou Haijing Shipping, was en route from Papua New Guinea to China.
(AP, 7/14/07)
2007 Jul 11, China's food and drug agency announced stricter rules for approving new drugs. The government also ordered small, loosely regulated food producers to clean up their act.
(AP, 7/11/07)
2007 Jul 11, Nick Young, British editor of the newsletter China Development Brief, said officials had ordered the shut down of the newsletter for violating a 1983 law on gathering statistics. Young had founded the publication in 1995.
(SFC, 7/12/07, p.A11)
2007 Jul 12, China’s state media said nearly a half-million people fled a flood zone surrounding the swollen Huai River, while high waters in the south unleashed a plague of an estimated 2 billion field mice that were ravaging crops.
(AP, 7/12/07)
2007 Jul 13, China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said on its Web site that frozen poultry products from Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest meat processor, were found to be contaminated with salmonella. AQSIQ said other imports barred included frozen chicken feet from Sanderson Farms, Inc. tainted with residue of an anti-parasite drug, as well as frozen pork ribs from Cargill Meat Solutions Corp. containing a leanness-enhancing feed additive.
(AP, 7/14/07)
2007 Jul 17, A foreman from a kiln in north China where workers were beaten and forced to work 18-hour days was sentenced to life in jail and another man was sentenced to death for the beating death of a laborer. A total of 29 people were convicted in seven different courts in Shanxi for their roles in the slavery scandal.
(AP, 7/17/07)
2007 Jul 17, An international think-tank said China's smog-choked cities and contaminated waterways are leaving many people sick and unable to work, in turn fomenting unrest and threatening the country's economic growth.
(AP, 7/17/07)
2007 Jul 18, US President George W. Bush ordered the creation of a "working group" of top aides to review the safety of imports from China and all around the world.
(AP, 7/18/07)
2007 Jul 20, China said it had shut down several firms at the heart of food and drug safety scares, including a chemical plant implicated in the deaths of 94 people in Panama. China also said that it "strongly opposed" decisions by the United States to initiate anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations on imports of some woven sacks and steel pipes from China. Total deaths in Panama reached 116 from contaminated medications.
(AP, 7/20/07)(Reuters, 7/20/07)(AP, 5/10/08)
2007 Jul 20, In southern China a mentally ill man wielding a wrench wounded 18 children and a teacher in a kindergarten before fleeing on a motorcycle. Police nabbed the attacker at his home and sent him to hospital because he had stabbed himself in the stomach.
(AP, 7/21/07)
2007 Jul 20, A magnitude-6.1 quake hit far western Xinjiang's mountainous Tekes county. Chinese authorities relocated 8,250 people after the earthquake damaged and destroyed thousands of mud brick houses.
(AP, 7/22/07)
2007 Jul 22, China’s state media said record rainfall this week triggered floods, landslides and mud flows had killed 152 people and forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands.
(AP, 7/22/07)
2007 Jul 24, Chinese officials said the FBI and Chinese police have busted two software piracy gangs and seized programs worth an estimated $500 million in a joint campaign that began in 2005.
(AP, 7/24/07)
2007 Jul 24, Westinghouse Electric Co., majority-owned by Toshiba Corp., signed a multi-billion-dollar contract to build 4 nuclear reactors in China.
(WSJ, 1/25/07, p.A10)
2007 Jul 25, China said it will step up inspections on the use of antibiotics in fish farms, including chemicals that can cause cancer, after contaminants caused trading partners to block its seafood exports.
(Reuters, 7/25/07)
2007 Jul 26, China’s state media said flooding in the far west has killed 32 people over the last 10 days, while a central city of 9 million was on high alert as the mighty Yangtze River approached dangerous heights. Runoff from a lead-zinc mine polluted the Zijiang river in Hunan province, cutting off supplies to the riverside city of Lengshuijiang and residents downstream.
(AP, 7/26/07)(AP, 7/28/07)
2007 Jul 27, In China 2 men were sentenced to death for masterminding a plan to steal oil from an underwater pipeline, a botched plot that caused an estimated $53 million in damages.
(AP, 7/28/07)
2007 Jul 29, Whang Joung-il (52), a senior South Korean diplomat in Beijing, died hours after becoming ill after eating a tuna sandwich. His death left the envoy's family and his government asking China for an explanation.
(AP, 8/23/07)
2007 Jul 30, China tightened credit in a new effort to cool its sizzling economy, ordering banks to shrink the pool of money for lending by increasing their reserves for a sixth time this year.
(AP, 7/30/07)
2007 Jul 30, China’s state media said floods, landslides and mud flows triggered by torrential rains have killed 652 people in China so far this year, with more heavy rains in the forecast.
(AP, 7/30/07)
2007 Jul 31, China’s state media reported another 27 deaths from flooding and landslides in different parts of the country.
(AP, 7/31/07)
2007 Aug 1, In China 69 men trapped in a flooded Chinese coal mine for more than three days were pulled out alive, ending a terrifying ordeal in which they survived on milk and pumped-in oxygen.
(AP, 8/1/07)
2007 Aug 2, China’s state media reported that courts in northern China have sentenced 31 people, including a police officer, to prison terms of up to five years stemming from the use of slave labor in brick kilns. In east China a rising wave in the Qiantang River, known for its strong tides, engulfed 33 swimmers and visitors walking along a levee. At least eight were killed.
(AP, 8/2/07)(AP, 8/3/07)
2007 Aug 2, Beijing and Washington agreed to cooperate more closely on product and food safety as the US recalled almost 1 million toys due to lead concerns. Mattel apologized to customers as it recalled nearly a million Chinese-made toys from its Fisher-Price division that were found to have excessive amounts of lead.
(AP, 8/3/07)(SFC, 8/3/07, p.D1)(AP, 8/2/08)
2007 Aug 3, China asserted the sole right to recognize living Buddhas, reincarnations of famous lamas that form the backbone of the religion's clergy. All future incarnations of living Buddhas related to Tibetan Buddhism must get government approval.
(AP, 8/3/07)
2007 Aug 3, China banned Indonesian seafood after checks turned up dangerous contamination. Indonesian authorities called the move an apparent reaction to an Indonesian ban on some tainted Chinese products. The Chinese administration said Indonesian products have been found to contain mercury and cadmium, metals that can accumulate in water and soil from burning garbage, mining or other industrial processes.
(AP, 8/4/07)
2007 Aug 3, Lenovo Group Ltd. said it will sell a basic personal computer aimed at China's vast but poor rural market and priced as low as $199.
(AP, 8/3/07)
2007 Aug 4, A Hong Kong newspaper reported that China is cracking down on cable television operators who offer unauthorized foreign satellite broadcasts, the communist government's latest bid to maintain its monopoly on information.
(AP, 8/4/07)
2007 Aug 7, China Daily reported that foreign exchange and public security authorities had closed down the operations of an illegal bank based in Shenzhen, across the border from Hong Kong. It did business in every province of the country and in the year and half to May had done some $544 million in unspecified transactions.
(www.chinaknowledge.com/news/news-detail.aspx?ID=9654)
2007 Aug 7, State media said Chinese city traffic police have an average life expectancy of just 43 years because of the dire working conditions and pollution.
(AP, 8/7/07)
2007 Aug 8, Beijing began the one-year countdown to the 2008 Olympics. Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, acknowledged that Beijing's air pollution could force the postponement of outdoor events during next year's Olympics.
(AP, 8/7/07)(AP, 8/8/07)
2007 Aug 8, An international team of researchers said the long-threatened Yangtze River dolphin in China is probably extinct. They also said this would mark the first whale or dolphin to be wiped out due to human activity.
(Reuters, 8/8/07)
2007 Aug 8, Researchers from Belgium and China said a simple blood test can detect early stage liver cancer and more accurately diagnose the disease that is a major killer in Asia and Africa.
(Reuters, 8/9/07)
2007 Aug 9, China banned exports by two toy manufacturers whose products were subject to major recalls in the United States.
(AP, 8/9/08)
2007 Aug 9, A government news agency reported that 2 former bank employees were sentenced to death for stealing $6.7 million from their branch's vault in northern China. Most of the money was spent on lottery tickets.
(AP, 8/9/07)
2007 Aug 9, WuXi PharmaTech, a Chinese pharmaceutical research firm, began trading on the NYSE at $14 per share. By Sep 22 its shares had doubled in value.
(Econ, 9/22/07, p.79)
2007 Aug 11, Zhang Shuhong, who co-owned Lee Der Industrial Co. Ltd., killed himself at a warehouse, days after China announced it had temporarily banned exports by the company.
(AP, 8/13/07)
2007 Aug 12, A Hong Kong-based human rights group said a chemical plant leaked arsenic into a river in southern China that supplies water to at least 20,000 people. High levels of arsenic and other chemicals already have killed at least 10,000 fish in the Chongan, a 43-mile river in Guizhou province.
(AP, 8/13/07)
2007 Aug 13, According to new data China's inflation rate accelerated to the highest monthly rate in a decade, driven by a 15.4% surge in food prices over the year-earlier period. Officials said China is still freeing people, including children, forced to work as slaves in illegal brick factories, two months after the scandal involving the brick yards was exposed. A bridge under construction in the central Hunan city of Fenghuang collapsed as workers removed scaffolding from its facade, killing 64 people.
(AP, 8/13/07)(AP, 8/14/07)(AP, 8/13/08)
2007 Aug 14, Toy-making giant Mattel Inc. issued recalls for some 18 million Chinese-made toys that contained magnets which children could swallow. Mattel also recalled 436,000 toy cars daubed with lead-based paint.
(AP, 8/14/07)(Econ, 8/18/07, p.58)
2007 Aug 15, State radio reported that Iran has detained two Chinese nationals on charges of spying on its military and nuclear facilities.
(AP, 8/15/07)
2007 Aug 16, It was reported that a highly infectious swine virus, blue pork disease, had spread to 25 of China’s 33 provinces, prompting pork shortages and an 85% increase in pork prices over the last year.
(SFC, 8/16/07, p.A15)
2007 Aug 17, In eastern China a dike on the Wen river in Shandong province broke, sending water gushing into 2 mines run by the Huayuan Mining Co. in the city of Xintai. 181 miners were killed. In 2008 two managers were sentenced to 7 years in prison for their roles in the accident.
(Econ, 8/25/07, p.58)(AP, 4/17/08)(AP, 8/17/08)
2007 Aug 17, The six members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held their first joint maneuvers on Russian land in a demonstration of their growing military ties and a shared desire to counter US global clout. The presidents of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan attended the unprecedented joint military exercises in Chelyabinsk near the Kazakh border.
(AFP, 8/17/07)
2007 Aug 18, It was reported that China faced a major shortage of skilled talent including doctors with only 4,000 general practitioners. Lawyers numbered about 122,000. An average of 2,200 new pilots per year will be needed to keep up with the growth in air travel. Accountants, technicians and good managers were also reported to be in short supply.
(Econ, 8/18/07, p.59)
2007 Aug 19, In China at least 36 people were killed as Typhoon Sepat hit the mainland after more 1.3 million people were evacuated as a precaution. In eastern China At least 14 people died and 59 were injured when a container spilled molten aluminum with a temperature of 1,650 degrees Fahrenheit at a factory.
(AP, 8/19/07)(AP, 8/20/07)(AP, 8/22/07)
2007 Aug 20, In China Jia Youling, chief veterinary officer, said that the Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS), aka as blue-ear pig disease, head been brought under control. He said 257,000 pigs in 26 provinces had been infected. 68,000 had died from the disease and 175,000 were destroyed.
(Econ, 8/25/07, p.41)
2007 Aug 20, In Okinawa, Japan, passengers used emergency slides to evacuate a China Airlines Boeing 737-800 just minutes before the plane burst into a fireball on the tarmac. All 165 people aboard escaped unhurt, including the pilot, who jumped from the cockpit at the last second.
(AP, 8/20/07)(AP, 8/20/08)
2007 Aug 21, China’s government announced that mainland citizens would be allowed to invest in Hong Kong. State media reported that a test run of traffic controls to clear Beijing's smoggy skies for next year's Olympic Games successfully improved air quality. Media also reported that China will execute people who sabotage the electricity supply, reversing recent steps to rein in widespread use of the death penalty.
(Econ, 10/6/07, p.86)(http://tinyurl.com/2ugksh)(AP, 8/21/07)
2007 Aug 22, A distributor said Chinese-made blankets containing high levels of formaldehyde have been recalled across Australia and New Zealand, amid rising global concern over the safety of products from China.
(AP, 8/22/07)
2007 Aug 23, The Bank of China revealed that it held a $9.6 billion exposure to securities backed by American subprime mortgages.
(Econ, 9/1/07, p.67)
2007 Aug 24, In China Meng Xianchen and Meng Xianyou surfaced after more than 130 hours trapped in an illegal mine in Beijing's Fangshan district.
(AP, 8/27/07)
2007 Aug 26, In Manila, Philippines, economic ministers of Southeast Asian countries (ASEAN) and China agreed to strengthen product standards and safety. The move follows recalls of several tainted Chinese products from international markets.
(AP, 8/26/07)
2007 Aug 29, China began selling $79 billion in bonds to finance a state agency that will invest the country's foreign currency reserves.
(AP, 8/29/07)
2007 Aug 29, It was reported that China’s Three Gorges Dam, completed last year, faced a number of problems including landslides and pollution accumulation in the reservoir. The dam has also caused a decrease of silt moving downstream causing the Yangtze estuary, which includes Shanghai, to shrink.
(WSJ, 8/29/07, p.A1)
2007 Aug 30, China’s government said it has replaced five Cabinet ministers, including the finance minister and the head of the secret police, just weeks ahead of a major Communist Party meeting that will set the country's policies for the next five years. The official Xinhua News Agency said China removed four officials accused of corruption from its legislature. State media said China's top legislature has adopted a measure allowing the government to seize private homes on state-owned land, as long as owners are compensated and properly resettled.
(AP, 8/30/07)(AP, 8/31/07)
2007 Aug 30, The Rome-based Hands Off Cain, an anti-death penalty group, reported that more people were put to death in 2006, 5,628, than in either of the previous two years. China alone accounting for 5,000 executions.
(AP, 8/30/07)
2007 Aug 31, China officially put in place systems to recall unsafe food and toys, one of its strongest steps yet to deal with recurring quality problems. At least 12 miners were missing after an explosion in central China. Authorities continued their efforts to reach 181 workers trapped in flooded coal shafts for two weeks.
(AP, 8/31/07)
2007 Aug 31, The World Trade Organization opened a formal investigation into allegations by the US and Mexico that China is providing illegal subsidies for a range of industries.
(AP, 8/31/07)
2007 Aug, China’s President visited Kazakhstan. Soon after it was announced that a new oil pipeline would be built from Kazakhstan to China, and that a new gas pipeline linking Turkmenistan with China would run through Kazakhstan.
(Econ, 8/25/07, p.54)
2007 Sep 2, In central Chinese 4 boats carrying the toxic chemical methanol caught fire in Wuhan, causing one boat to sink and prompting fears of drinking water contamination.
(AP, 9/3/07)
2007 Sep 2, Temasek, Singapore’s state-owned investment company, said it would take a 8.3% stake in China Eastern Airlines and Singapore Airlines announced a 15.7% stake.
(Econ, 9/29/07, p.68)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Eastern_Airlines)
2007 Sep 3, In eastern China about 2,000 ex-soldiers took part in riots that began and spread over a 775-mile stretch in the cities of Baotou, Wuhan, and Baoji. Demobilized soldiers are frequently rewarded for their service with government jobs, and 6,000 of them were sent to 12 different railway schools in July for two years of training. However, they were angered by run-down dormitories, bad but expensive food and a lack of study materials, At least 20 people were injured and five arrested when riot police moved in to quell the disturbances.
(AP, 9/11/07)
2007 Sep 3, The Financial Times, citing unnamed officials, reported that the People's Liberation Army hacked into a computer system in the office of Defense Secretary Robert Gates in June. China denied the allegations.
(AP, 9/4/07)
2007 Sep 4, An official said China's environmental watchdog has closed down 400 factories since it started a national campaign in July to tackle water pollution.
(AP, 9/4/07)
2007 Sep 5, Chinese authorities said two late-night radio shows that discussed sex and drugs have been banned for damaging young people and being "extremely pornographic."
(AP, 9/6/07)
2007 Sep 6, In Australia Pacific Rim nations agreed that climate change was of "vital interest," but officials squabbled over whether their leaders should include energy efficiency targets in a statement at their annual summit. China’s President Hu Jintao, on the defensive over recalls of tainted toothpaste, pet food and toys, told President Bush that Beijing was stepping up product safety inspections.
(AP, 9/6/07)
2007 Sep 6, Media reports said China has created its first agency to combat corruption, a rampant problem that the country's communist leadership has said is a threat to their rule. State media also reported that Chinese computer hackers are infiltrating British government networks, giving them access to secret information.
(AP, 9/7/07)(AFP, 9/6/07)
2007 Sep 6, The US and Chinese presidents set aside their differences on Taiwan and put pressure on the island to drop plans for a referendum on UN membership.
(AP, 9/6/07)
2007 Sep 7, China's securities regulator said it has approved an application by China Construction Bank, the nation's biggest mortgage lender, to issue shares in what could be one of China's biggest initial public offerings. Chinese stocks broke their winning streak, with the benchmark index falling 2.2 percent after the central bank raised the amount of reserves banks are required to hold.
(AP, 9/7/07)
2007 Sep 9, Bishop Han Dingxiang (71), who led an underground congregation of Roman Catholics and was repeatedly detained in China for his loyalty to the Vatican, died in police custody. He died while being treated in a hospital for an unspecified illness.
(AP, 9/11/07)
2007 Sep 10, Blackstone Group LP bought a 20% stake in a Chinese chemical company in its first deal in the country since a Chinese government fund bought into the US private equity firm.
(AP, 9/10/07)
2007 Sep 11, China signed an agreement to prohibit the use of lead paint on toys exported to the United States.
(AP, 9/11/07)
2007 Sep 11, American, Russian and Chinese nuclear experts began a rare visit to North Korea to examine ways of disabling the country's main nuclear facilities so they can no longer produce bombs.
(AP, 9/11/07)
2007 Sep 12, Beijing showed off its new multibillion-dollar airport terminal, a mammoth structure of glass and steel with a gracefully sloping roof that the owners said is meant to impress visitors to China's capital for the 2008 Olympics.
(AP, 9/12/07)
2007 Sep 12, Li Changjiang, the head of China's product safety agency, said the Chinese-made toys children receive for Christmas this year will be safe, pledging that problems over the use of dangerous lead paint will be resolved in time for holiday exports.
(AP, 9/12/07)
2007 Sep 12, Akmal Shaikh (51), a British citizen, was arrested in Urumqi, in China's western Xinjiang region, with four kg (8.8 pounds) of heroin. He was later convicted and sentenced to die on Dec 29, 2009. Supporters of Shaikh said he was duped into carrying the drugs for a criminal gang. If the death penalty is carried out, Shaikh would become the first national from a European Union country to be executed in China in 50 years.
(AFP, 12/22/09)(www.amnesty.org.uk/actions_details.asp?ActionID=638)
2007 Sep 13, In central China a man threw six children from a balcony of their school. A girl (9) was killed and 2 others badly hurt.
(Econ, 9/22/07, p.58)
2007 Sep 14, China’s government said it has ordered judges to use the death penalty more sparingly by showing leniency for murderers who cooperate with authorities and white collar criminals who help recoup their ill-gotten gains. Beijing also said it will give urban Chinese who break the one-child policy a black mark on their credit reports.
(AP, 9/14/07)(WSJ, 9/15/07, p.A1)
2007 Sep 15, In China Zhao Yan (45), a Chinese researcher for the NY Times, was released from prison after serving three years of a fraud conviction that was strongly criticized by the international community.
(AFP, 9/15/07)
2007 Sep 16, State media reported that Chinese authorities had ordered the recall of tainted leukemia drugs blamed for leg pains and other problems, the latest crisis to strike the country's embattled food and drug industries.
(AP, 9/16/07)
2007 Sep 18, Typhoon Wipha targeted China's booming eastern province of Zhejiang and the nation's financial capital, Shanghai, prompting evacuation of over 1.6 million people as ships were recalled to port.
(Reuters, 9/18/07)
2007 Sep 17, China and the Democratic Republic of Congo signed a draft accord in which China would lend $5 billion to modernize Congo’s decrepit infrastructure and rich but deteriorated mining sector. Congo’s government later announced that Chinese state-owned firms would build or refurbish various railways, roads and mines at accost of $12 billion.
(Reuters, 9/18/07)(Econ, 3/15/08, SR p.3)
2007 Sep 19, Typhoon Wipha flooded streets and destroyed hundreds of homes as it swept through eastern China, but the storm eventually weakened and caused little overall damage in the financial center of Shanghai. One man was electrocuted.
(AP, 9/19/07)
2007 Sep 19, China’s government froze prices that it controls for the rest of the year, in the latest sign of mounting concern over inflation, which reached 6.5% in the year through August.
(WSJ, 9/20/07, p.A6)
2007 Sep 20, Typhoon Wipha weakened as it slammed China with strong winds and torrential rains. At least nine people were reported killed as the storm destroyed thousands of homes and triggered landslides.
(AP, 9/20/07)
2007 Sep 21, Mattel Inc, apologized for damaging China's reputation after recent massive recalls of its Chinese-made toys, admitting it targeted some goods that were actually up to scratch.
(AP, 9/21/07)
2007 Sep 24, Dell Inc. announced a deal to launch a retail presence in China by selling computers through the country's biggest chain of electronics stores as it struggles to capture a bigger share of the booming market.
(AP, 9/24/07)
2007 Sep 27, China issued an evenhanded plea for calm in Myanmar, calling on all sides to show restraint.
(AP, 9/27/07)
2007 Sep 30, It was reported that China has banned television and radio ads for push-up bras, figure-enhancing underwear and sex toys in the communist government's latest move to purge the nation's airwaves of what it calls social pollution.
(AP, 9/30/07)
2007 Sep, In China the National Grand Theater, also known as The Egg, opened opposite the Great Hall of the People. The opera house, a pet project of former Premier Jiang Zemin, was designed by French architect Paul Andreu at a cost of $360 million.
(Econ, 10/13/07, p.43)
2007 Sep, The China Investment Corp. (CIC) was launched, with $200 billion in registered capital allocated from China's foreign exchange reserve, to mitigate the risks in China's huge foreign exchange reserve.
(http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90884/6298585.html)
2007 Oct 2, China’s Pres. Hu Jintao kicked off the 2007 Special Olympics in Shanghai as 7,500 athletes from over 165 countries entered the stadium before a crowd of 80,000.
(WSJ, 10/3/07, p.B3A)
2007 Oct 3, Li Heping, an outspoken Chinese lawyer, said he was abducted and beaten for hours on Sep 29, and accused of causing unrest by representing clients with complaints of official corruption and police abuse. Li said he wasn't sure if he would be able to continue working. He returned to his office the day after the attack and found his lawyer's license was missing. A portable hard drive and his computer memory had been wiped clean.
(AP, 10/3/07)
2007 Oct 4, President Jalal Talabani said Iraq has ordered light military equipment from China worth $100 million because the United States is unable to meet Baghdad's requirements. Abbas Hassan Hamza, the mayor of the religiously mixed town of Iskandariyah, was killed along with four of his guards in a roadside bomb attack. Hamza belonged to Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa party. In Baghdad, a car bomb exploded near people on line at a gas station, killing four civilians and wounding eight others.
(Reuters, 10/4/07)(AP, 10/4/07)
2007 Oct 5, Chinese medical officials agreed not to transplant organs from prisoners or others in custody, except into members of their immediate families. The agreement was reached at a meeting of the World Medical Association in Copenhagen.
(AP, 10/6/07)
2007 Oct 7, Tropical storm Krosa drenched China's southeast coast after killing five people on Taiwan and prompting the mainland to evacuate more than 1 million people.
(AP, 10/7/07)
2007 Oct 10, Some 30 Tibetan exiles protesting Chinese religious policies stormed the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi, with several breaching the front gate and chaining themselves to the flag pole inside.
(AP, 10/10/07)
2007 Oct 12, State media said Chinese authorities plan to move some 4 million more rural residents from behind the Three Gorges Dam in recognition of environmental and economic problems spawned by the giant project.
(AFP, 10/12/07)
2007 Oct 13, State media said China plans to carve a huge national park out of its vast northwest Xinjiang region that would eclipse Yellowstone National Park in size.
(AP, 10/13/07)
2007 Oct 15, In China 2,217 delegates listened as party leader Hu Jintao pledged to make communist rule more inclusive and better spread the fruits of China's economic boom. Hu said economic growth must remain the party’s main task.
(AP, 10/15/07)(WSJ, 10/16/07, p.A1)(Econ, 10/13/07, p.42)
2007 Oct 16, President Bush and the Dalai Lama met with a ceremony planned for tomorrow to award the spiritual leader the Congressional Gold Medal. China warned that the events are bad for US-Chinese ties.
(AP, 10/16/07)
2007 Oct 17, President Bush attended a ceremony in which the Dalai Lama was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress’ highest civilian honor. China lodged an official protest over the honoring of the Dalai Lama in Washington, while bluntly rejecting US President George W. Bush's advice on how to handle the Tibet issue.
(AFP, 10/16/07)(WSJ, 10/18/07, p.A1)
2007 Oct 20, In China 13 foreign and domestic companies launched the Chinese Federation for Corporate Social Responsibility in Shanghai.
(Econ, 1/19/08, SR p.21)(www.chinacsr.com/2006/10/20/799-cfcsr-established-in-beijing/)
2007 Oct 21, Chinese President Hu Jintao engineered the retirement of a powerful Communist Party rival in a move that enhanced his political standing yet may have opened up a divisive battle to succeed him. A fire at a shoe factory in southeastern China killed 37 people and injured at least 20. The factory in Fujian province was operating without a license and the owners were arrested.
(AP, 10/21/07)(AP, 10/22/07)(AP, 10/25/07)
2007 Oct 21, A Hong Kong newspaper reported that police in the capital of Tibet clashed for four days with Buddhist monks trying to celebrate the awarding of a congressional honor for the Dalai Lama.
(AP, 10/21/07)
2007 Oct 22, President Hu Jintao emerged politically stronger after the Communist Party handed him a second five-year term, allowing him a freer hand to manage tensions over a rising wealth gap and boost spending on long-neglected social services.
(AP, 10/22/07)
2007 Oct 22, Bear Stearns, one of America’s top investment banks, announced a strategic alliance with Citic Securities, China’s largest listed brokerage firm.
(Econ, 10/27/07, p.84)
2007 Oct 24, In Beijing Costa Rican president Oscar Arias signed several accords with his Chinese counterpart, months after the Central American nation established diplomatic relations with the Asian giant.
(AP, 10/24/07)
2007 Oct 24, China launched its first lunar probe, Chang’e 1, an initial step in an ambitious 10-year plan to send a rover to the moon and return it to Earth.
(AP, 10/24/07)(Econ, 10/27/07, p.52)
2007 Oct 25, The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China announced that it was buying 20% of Standard Bank in South Africa for $5.6 billion.
(Econ, 11/3/07, p.80)
2007 Oct 25, The US government issued a flurry of product-safety recalls affecting hundreds of thousands of Chinese-made children's toys and jewelry amid fresh concerns about lead paint.
(AFP, 10/26/07)
2007 Oct 26, China announced a multibillion-dollar plan to clean up severely polluted Lake Tai, where an algae bloom forced the suspension of water supplies to millions of people this summer. The $14.5 billion plan to clean up the lake, in a densely populated area northwest of Shanghai, should take five years.
(AP, 10/27/07)
2007 Oct 29, China’s Xinhua news agency said more than 6,000 people will be forced from their homes on the southern island of Hainan to make way for the country's newest space launch centre. China said that it had arrested 774 people in a crackdown on substandard goods, part of ongoing efforts to calm international worries over the quality of the country's products. State media said coal mining regions of northern China are reporting soaring levels of defects in newborns, an apparent result of heavy pollution.
(AP, 10/29/07)(AP, 10/29/07)
2007 Oct 29, Canada’s PM Harper received Tibet's exiled spiritual leader in his office in Parliament. He presented the 1989 Nobel laureate with a maple-leaf scarf. The next day China condemned Harper for "disgusting conduct" for playing host to the Dalai Lama.
(Reuters, 10/30/07)
2007 Oct 31, China's worst fuel crisis in two years spread to the capital and other inland areas, and one man was killed in a brawl at a petrol station queue, upping pressure on the government to intervene.
(Reuters, 10/31/07)
2007 Nov 1, China’s government for the first time in 17 months allowed an increase of about 10% in the retail prices of petrol, diesel and kerosene. The government also said more than 700 toy factories in southern China have been banned from exporting what they produce as part of a crackdown on shoddy products.
(Econ, 11/24/07, p.46)(AP, 11/1/07)
2007 Nov 5, In China construction began on what was expected to be the world's tallest Ferris wheel. The $99 million Beijing Great Wheel will soar 680 feet over Beijing when it is complete.
(AP, 11/5/07)
2007 Nov 5, Ao Man-long, a former transportation and public works secretary, went on trial charged with taking $100 million in kickbacks in Macao, the freewheeling Chinese gambling resort that has attracted some of Las Vegas' top casino operators.
(AP, 11/5/07)
2007 Nov 5, PetroChina made its debut on the Shanghai stock exchange. It sold 2.2% of its share capital to domestic investors in an IPO that rose from 16.90 yuan to 43.96 yuan ($5.90). For a short time it was the most valuable company in the world, but by December share value had dropped by a third.
(WSJ, 11/6/07, p.C3)(Econ, 12/8/07, p.85)
2007 Nov 6, Chinese e-commerce portal Alibaba.com soared in its debut on the Hong Kong stock market. It opened at $3.86 and closed at $5.09.
(AP, 11/6/07)(SFC, 11/7/07, p.C1)
2007 Nov 7, A Chinese government publication reported that industrial discharge and household wastewater have polluted the northern Futuo River so badly that the water is dark red in some sections and has caused chronic illnesses among villagers.
(AP, 11/7/07)
2007 Nov 7, The US dollar fell sharply after a Chinese parliamentarian called for his country to diversify its reserves out of weak currencies.
(Econ, 11/10/07, p.93)
2007 Nov 8, In southwest China a gas leak at the Qunli mine in Nayong county in Guizhou province killed 35 coal miners.
(AP, 11/8/07)(AP, 11/11/07)
2007 Nov 9, China froze exports of the "Aqua Dots" bead toy, following recalls of the potentially toxic toy in the United States and Australia.
(Reuters, 11/9/07)
2007 Nov 9, China Merchant Bank, the country’s 6th largest bank, became the 3rd Chinese bank to win permission to open a branch in NYC.
(Econ, 11/17/07, p.90)
2007 Nov 12, China released data that said its trade surplus had jumped to a new all-time monthly high in October, despite government pledges to restrain export growth and adding to pressure for action on trade barriers and currency.
(AP, 11/12/07)
2007 Nov 14, Guo Feixiong, a Chinese dissident lawyer, was sentenced to five years in prison after publishing a book about a political scandal and helping villagers lead a campaign to unseat local officials accused of corruption. Feixiong (also known as Yang Maodong), convicted of alleged illegal business activity, was also fined US$5,300 in a district court in Guangzhou.
(AP, 11/14/07)
2007 Nov 14, China’s state media said the amount of sewage dumped into the Yangtze River rose 3 percent last year to a record level. An early morning blaze at a foot massage parlor killed at least 11 people in northern China.
(AP, 11/14/07)
2007 Nov 14, A US congressional advisory panel said that Chinese espionage posed "the single greatest risk" to US technology, and called for efforts to protect industrial secrets and computer networks.
(Reuters, 11/15/07)
2007 Nov 17, State media reported that China has called on Myanmar to speed up democratic reforms, an unusual move for Beijing, which has traditionally refrained from criticizing the military regime.
(AP, 11/17/07)
2007 Nov 19, It was reported that Chinese regulators in recent weeks have ordered commercial banks to freeze lending through the end of the year. PM Wen Jiabao acknowledged that vast amounts of currency were flowing out of China through illegal channels. This followed the recent arrest of To Ling (43), a Hong Kong resident, whose black market foreign exchange business handled transactions worth more than $1 million a day.
(WSJ, 11/19/07, p.A1)(Econ, 11/24/07, p.78)
2007 Nov 20, A Chinese court sentenced a Tibetan nomad to eight years in prison for seeking Tibetan independence after he urged a crowd to proclaim loyalty to the Dalai Lama.
(AP, 11/20/07)
2007 Nov 20, In China Huang Qingnan (34), a workers’ rights advocate in Shenzhen, was severely beaten and stabbed by thugs believed to have been hired by Chinese companies opposed to labor activism.
(SFC, 1/7/08, p.A18)
2007 Nov 20, The Paris-based World Association of Newspapers said imprisoned Chinese journalist Li Changqing has been awarded the Golden Pen of Freedom, its annual press freedom prize.
(AP, 11/20/07)
2007 Nov 20, A landslide in central China buried a bus. Workers clearing rocks from the landslide discovered the bus underneath rubble three days later and recovered 29 bodies, that included 28 inside the bus. The landslide raised concern that the massive reservoir of the Three Gorges Dam, 120 miles away, was wreaking ecological havoc in the region. The death toll later increased to 34.
(AP, 11/23/07)(AP, 11/24/07)(AP, 12/3/07)
2007 Nov 21, Officials in the US announced the recall of more than a half-million pieces of Chinese-made children's jewelry contaminated with lead.
(AP, 11/21/08)
2007 Nov 22, China’s state media reported that five Hollywood studios have sued a Chinese online service and internet cafe they accuse of offering pirated downloads of "Pirates of the Caribbean" and other hit films.
(AP, 11/22/07)
2007 Nov 24, More than 100 Chinese engineers arrived in Sudan's war-torn Darfur as part of the vanguard for a joint African Union-UN peacekeeping mission to be in place next year. Rebels demanded Beijing pull its peacekeepers out of Darfur, just hours after a unit of Chinese army engineers arrived.
(AFP, 11/24/07)(AP, 11/25/07)
2007 Nov 25, In China 6 people were confirmed dead and 7 others were reported missing after an iron tailing dam collapsed early this morning in northeast Liaoning Province.
(Reuters, 11/25/07)
2007 Nov 26, France netted deals in China for nuclear reactors and passenger jets worth a combined $29.62 billion on the second day of a state visit by President Nicolas Sarkozy.
(AP, 11/26/07)
2007 Nov 27, In central China an explosion ripped through a house where villagers in Hunan province were illegally making fireworks, killing 13 people.
(AP, 11/27/07)
2007 Nov 27, Cessna said it will turn over complete production of its new Cessna 162 SkyCatcher to a Chinese partner. The base price of the plane will be $109,500.
(WSJ, 11/28/07, p.A14)
2007 Nov 28, A Chinese warship dropped anchor off Tokyo in the communist nation's first military visit to Japan since World War II, symbolizing improving ties.
(AP, 11/28/07)
2007 Nov 28, In central China an explosion in a fireworks factory killed 11 people and injured eight on the rural outskirts of Yangquan city.
(AP, 11/28/07)
2007 Nov 28, Brazil and China said they will give Africa free satellite imaging of its landmass to help the continent respond to threats like deforestation, desertification and drought.
(AP, 11/28/07)
2007 Nov 29, According to a new report released by the UN and the Chinese government the number of people estimated to be living with HIV in China has risen to 700,000, with increases among intravenous drug users and sex workers.
(AP, 11/29/07)
2007 Nov 29, The Bush administration announced that China has agreed to eliminate improper trade subsidies it was using to the detriment of US and other foreign companies.
(AP, 11/29/07)
2007 Nov 30, The $1.2 million film “Lost in Beijing" directed by Li Yu was released in China and made over $1.8 million before it was censored for sexually explicit scenes in uncut, pirated copies. Li Yu was banned from producing films for 2 years.
(SFC, 1/5/08, p.E4)
2007 Nov, Xue Feng, a Chinese-born American geologist, was detained in China on charges of procuring state secrets. Xue was sentenced in 2010 on charges of illegally gathering information on China's oil industry. He was released in 2015.
(AP, 4/4/15)
2007 Dec 1, Zhang Zilin (23), Miss China, won the Miss World 2007 title in her own country in front of an estimated two billion viewers around the globe.
(AFP, 12/1/07)
2007 Dec 1, China and Japan began talks on trade and economic issues that are intended to bolster the recent warming of their long-uneasy relations.
(AP, 12/1/07)
2007 Dec 1, The Times reported that Jonathan Evans, the head of Britain's domestic security service, has warned business leaders that China has been carrying out state-sponsored espionage against vital parts of the economy.
(AFP, 12/1/07)
2007 Dec 2, China and Japan amicably wrapped up their first high-level trade and economic talks on Sunday by pledging greater overall cooperation, but left the touchy issue of gas exploration in the East China Sea unresolved.
(AP, 12/2/07)
2007 Dec 5, A Tibetan woman said that she pulled out of a beauty pageant in Malaysia after organizers, reacting to pressure from Beijing, told her halfway through the event that she could only participate if she added "China" to her "Miss Tibet" title.
(AP, 12/6/07)
2007 Dec 6, A gas blast at mine in northern China killed at least 105 people.
(AP, 12/7/07)
2007 Dec 6, A New Zealand judge sentenced two Chinese students to 18 1/2 years in prison for the ransom kidnapping and slaying of a fellow student, saying the two fell into "cyber sloth" and greed during their studies abroad.
(AP, 12/6/07)
2007 Dec 7, China said it will not consider mandatory cuts on greenhouse gases, saying the United States and other industrialized countries should take the lead in fighting climate change by embracing a less-extravagant lifestyle.
(AP, 12/7/07)
2007 Dec 7, The World Health Organization confirmed that the father of a Chinese man who died of bird flu has been infected with the virus that causes the disease, saying it could not rule out the possibility of human-to-human infection.
(AP, 12/7/07)
2007 Dec 9, Beijing's foreign exchange regulator said the ceiling on foreign investment in Chinese securities will be raised to $30 billion from $10 billion.
(AP, 12/9/07)
2007 Dec 9, Iran signed a contract with China's Sinopec for the development of Iran's huge Yadavaran oil field, the kind of energy deal the United States has been trying to prevent. Hundreds of Iranian students angry over a crackdown on activists protested at Tehran University, the second such demonstration in less than a week.
(Reuters, 12/9/07)(AP, 12/9/07)
2007 Dec 11, The United States and China signed two deals to safeguard the quality of food and drugs ranging from pet food to certain types of antibiotics imported into the US from China.
(AP, 12/11/07)
2007 Dec 11, Darfur rebel group the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) said it had attacked and taken over a Chinese-run oilfield in central Sudan.
(AP, 12/11/07)
2007 Dec 12, China launched a nationwide recall system that shifts responsibility to companies to recall harmful drugs. In eastern China a fire tore through an apartment building, killing at least 21 people and injuring two others.
(AP, 12/12/07)
2007 Dec 14, Indonesia, the nation hardest hit by bird flu, announced its 93rd death due to the H5N1 virus. In China, the military in eastern Nanjing banned the sale of poultry this week after a father and son came down with the disease earlier this month. Health officials confirmed the 24-year-old man died from the virus a day before his father, 52, became sick. It was the country's 17th bird flu death. The WHO confirmed Myanmar's first human case of bird flu and praised the secretive country for its quick and open handling of the infection. State media reported a girl (7) was hospitalized on Nov. 27 and released on Dec. 12 in good condition after being treated with the antiviral drug Tamiflu.
(AP, 12/15/07)
2007 Dec 16, China announced holiday changes to ease overcrowding on trains, flights and other transport systems. The changes will bring back three traditional one-day holidays and let workers take paid vacations at times other than officially-set breaks.
(AP, 12/17/07)
2007 Dec 19, In Tianjin, China, Li Baojin was convicted of taking bribes worth $760,000 from 7 businesses between 1996 and 2006. Li was also convicted of misappropriating $1.9 million from the Tianjin prosecutor's office. Li's sentence was suspended for two years. That means his death sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment if he shows good behavior for the next two years.
(AP, 12/20/07)
2007 Dec 20, In China a female tiger was found with its head, legs and skin missing at the Three Gorges Forest Wild Animal World in Yichang city in Hubei province. The WWF conservation group lists the Siberian tiger as "critically endangered" and says there are only about 530 of the animals alive in the wild.
(AP, 12/23/07)
2007 Dec 21, A Chinese radio station reported that about 1,000 riot police fired tear gas at protesters in southern China who were blocking an electricity pylon near a power station in Dongzhou village they felt was built on unfairly seized land.
(AP, 12/21/07)
2007 Dec 21, China's first fully homegrown commercial aircraft, the 70-seat ARJ21, rolled off the production line, marking a potential milestone for the country's aviation program. Its first test flight was set for 2008.
(AP, 12/21/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACAC_ARJ21)
2007 Dec 21, Chinese archeologists raised a merchant ship loaded with porcelain and other rare antiques to the surface in a specially built basket. The 100-foot Nanhai No. 1, discovered in 1987, sank off the south China coast some 800 years ago during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279).
(AP, 12/21/07)
2007 Dec 27, Shawn Wang, the chief financial officer of leading Chinese search engine Baidu.com, died in an accident while on holiday.
(AP, 12/29/07)
2007 Dec 28, China and Japan made no major breakthroughs in resolving a row over natural resources in the East China Sea, but a visit by Japanese PM Yasuo Fukuda signaled a new warmth in bilateral relations.
(AP, 12/28/07)
2007 Dec 28, Sun Daolin (b.1921), Chinese actor and director, died in Shanghai. He appeared in over 100 movies and plays during a career that was interrupted by the Cultural Revolution, when he was sent to work in the countryside for 6 years.
(SFC, 1/5/08, p.B3)
2007 Dec 29, China said Hong Kong will be allowed to directly elect its leader in 2017 and all of its lawmakers by 2020 at the earliest, an announcement that sparked protests by pro-democracy activists who sought an earlier date.
(AP, 12/29/07)
2007 Dec 29, In northeast China 19 miners died in a coal mine blast at the Shunfa Coal Mine in Heilongjiang province, the latest casualties in the world's most dangerous mines.
(AP, 12/31/07)
2007 Chris Alden authored “China in Africa: Partner, Competitor of Hegemon."
(Econ, 11/24/07, p.89)
2007 Bob Gifford authored “China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power."
(Econ, 7/7/07, p.80)
2007 Rebiya Kadeer, prominent Uighur exile, authored her memoir “Dragon Fighter: One Woman’s Epic Struggle for Peace with China." The original German publication was made available in English in 2009.
(Econ, 8/15/09, p.77)
2007 Joshua Kurlantzick authored “Charm Offensive: How China's Soft Power Is Transforming the World."
(WSJ, 6/28/07, p.D7)
2007 James Mann, American journalist, authored “The China Fantasy: Why Capitalism Will Not Bring Democracy to China."
(Econ, 6/25/11, SR p.5)
2007 Robyn Meredith authored “The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What It Means for All of Us."
(SSFC, 7/29/07, p.M1)
2007 Susan L. Shirk authored “China: Fragile Superpower: How China's Internal Politics Could Derail Its Peaceful Rise."
(WSJ, 5/17/07, p.D7)(Econ, 7/7/07, p.80)
2007 Colin Thubron, travel writer, authored “Shadow of the Silk Road," the story of his 8-month trip in 2003 along the silk route from China to Central Asia.
(WSJ, 8/18/07, p.P9)
2007 China established a sovereign wealth fund backed by around $1.2 trillion in foreign currency reserves. China moved rapidly ahead with plans to create a State Investment Corporation (SIC) that would more aggressively invest approximately USD 200bn of the country’s USD 1.3tr of existing foreign exchange reserves to boost long term returns.
(Econ, 7/28/07, p.75)(http://tinyurl.com/3c6lo4)
2007 In China Zhang Hai, former president and chief executive of the sports drink maker Jianlibao Group, was found guilty of misappropriating 206 million yuan ($33.82 million). He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for embezzling millions of dollars in public funds. Through bribery and the fabrication of documents to prove his good behavior, Zhang was released in 2011 and promptly went overseas with his girlfriend, Huang Lu. In 2014 24 others were being or have been investigated in connection with Zhang's release, including 11 in the judiciary and prison service, a court official and two lawyers. Authorities sought his extradition.
(Reuters, 2/24/14)
2007 China said it would offer African countries $20 billion in new financing. No terms or time period were announced.
(Econ, 6/6/09, p.59)
2007 China surpassed the US this year for the first time in its contribution to global GDP growth.
(Econ, 10/20/07, SR p.34)
2007 China Minsheng Bank bought a 10% stake in UCBH Holdings, a San Francisco based bank that served Chinese Americans. UCBH failed in 2009 and Minsheng wrote off its investment.
(Econ, 5/15/10, SR p.18)
2007 Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) spent $5.5 billion to acquire a 20% stake in South Africa-based Standard Bank. This was China’s largest corporate foreign investment to date.
(Econ, 5/15/10, SR p.18)
2007 A rail line from China’s Qinghai province to Lhasa, Tibet, was expected to be completed. The world’s highest railroad required pressurized rail cars.
(SFC, 2/24/05, p.A1)
2007 In China the Great Wall Motor company in Hebei province produced 108,000 vehicles this year. The company had ambitious plans for growth. It already built cars with a licensee in Iran and in 2006 had opened a factory in the Ukraine.
(Econ, 5/10/08, p.74)
2007 Chinese made cars were expected to hit the US auto market.
(WSJ, 3/31/05, p.A2)
2007 China signed a deal to invest some $3.5 billion in the Aynak copper mine in Logar province, Afghanistan. It was said to be the 2nd largest source of untapped copper in the world.
(Econ, 11/7/09, p.44)
2007 Singapore proposed a co-operative green-city venture with China. The Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City opened in 2011.
(Econ, 4/19/14, SR p.12)
2007 Accidents in China's coal mines killed 3,786 people this year.
(AP, 1/12/08)
2007 The US with a population of 301,139,947 counted 1,498,157 soldiers on active duty (~4.9%); China with a population of 1,321,851,888 counted 2,105,000 soldiers on active duty (~.159%). Russia with a population of 141,377,752 counted 1,027,000 soldiers on active duty (~7.2%); These numbers excluded paramilitary troops in China and Russia.
(WSJ, 8/30/08, p.W5)
2007 Four Russian defense officials were sentenced this year to up to 11 years in jail for selling missile delivery technologies to Beijing for $2 million.
(AP, 10/5/11)
2007 Pope Benedict XVI wrote an open letter to Chinese Catholics emphasizing that the church had no political ambitions.
(Econ, 8/23/14, p.36)
2008 Jan 1, China’s new Labor Contract Law (LCL) went into effect. The legislation aimed at strengthening the contractual rights of workers.
(Econ, 6/5/10, p.48)(www.pacificbridge.com/publication.asp?id=110)
2008 Jan 3, China issued rules restricting the broadcast of Internet videos to sites run by the state.
(WSJ, 1/4/08, p.A1)
2008 Jan 7, China’s state media said authorities in central China have expelled 500 people from the Communist Party for defying the country's one-child policy. Wei Wenhua (41), a passer-by who filmed a streetside fracas between villagers and authorities, was beaten and killed in Hubei province. His death touched off protests in central China, in the latest incident to underscore public anger over abusive treatment by government employees.
(AP, 1/7/08)(AP, 1/9/08)
2008 Jan 8, China posted a regulation dating from Dec 31 declaring war on the "white pollution" choking its cities, farms and waterways. China said it is banning free plastic shopping bags and called for a return to the cloth bags of old, steps largely welcomed by merchants and shoppers. The ban takes effect June 1.
(AP, 1/10/08)
2008 Jan 12, China’s state media reported that accidents in China's coal mines killed 3,786 people In 2007, a toll that is a marked improvement from previous years, but still leaves China's mines the world's deadliest.
(AP, 1/12/08)
2008 Jan 13, China took aim at price manipulators and hoarders of goods, as Beijing ramped up its campaign to rein in inflation which is running at its highest level in more than a decade. The government said it has closed more than 11,000 small coal mines as part of a two-year-old safety crackdown aimed at stemming the industry's high death toll.
(Reuters, 1/13/08)(AP, 1/13/08)
2008 Jan 13, Indian PM Manmohan Singh arrived in Beijing for a three-day visit aimed at boosting sometimes strained relations between the two Asian giants.
(AP, 1/13/08)
2008 Jan 14, A Chinese cargo ship sank in high waves off western Taiwan, leaving 12 seamen missing.
(AP, 1/14/08)
2008 Jan 14, Taiwan reported that Malawi has cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of relations with China, which has been using its rising political and economic clout to reduce the number of countries who recognize the island. Chinese state media said Beijing and Malawi had established diplomatic relations late last month.
(AP, 1/14/08)
2008 Jan 18, British PM Gordon Brown brought a high-profile delegation of business leaders to China for a visit focused on expanding economic ties between the countries. Brown began a major effort to position Britain as China's premier international business partner, offering London as a base for distribution of the Asian nation's state fund for private investment.
(AP, 1/18/08)
2008 Jan 21, Shares in China's banks fell sharply after news reports said its No. 2 lender, Bank of China, might write down holdings of US mortgage securities and two others increased reserves for possible losses. State media said a gas explosion in an illegal mine in northern China has killed at least 20 people.
(AP, 1/21/08)
2008 Jan 22, The foreign ministers of China and Germany said that ties between their countries had normalized after months of stony silence over Berlin receiving the Dalai Lama.
(AP, 1/22/08)
2008 Jan 23, In China a train ran into group of railway workers in eastern Shandong province, killing 18 and injuring nine others.
(AP, 1/25/08)
2008 Jan 24, In China protesters staged a rare public demonstration in Beijing over what they said were illegal property seizures and compensation packages that fell far short of that needed to buy new homes. Authorities said sulfuric acid had leaked into the water supply from a chemical factory in central China, poisoning at least 26 villagers.
(AP, 1/24/08)
2008 Jan 27, Chinese police shot and killed two members of a "terrorist gang" and rounded up 15 others during a raid in the restive northwestern Muslim region of Xinjiang. Police found guns, homemade bombs, training materials and "extremist religious ideological materials" during a raid in Urumqi.
(Reuters, 2/18/08)(AP, 3/9/08)
2008 Jan 29, In China deadly winter storms, the worst in five decades, showed no signs of letting up, where cities were blacked out, transport systems were paralyzed and a bus crash on an icy road killed at least 25 people during the nation's busiest travel season.
(AP, 1/29/08)
2008 Jan 30, China’s government deploy nearly 500,000 army troops to assist areas troubled by winter storms. 15 sailors drowned and another was missing after two ships collided on China's Yangtze river.
(AP, 1/30/08)
2008 Jan 31, In China a top agriculture official warned that snow battering central China has dealt an "extremely serious" blow to winter crops, raising the likelihood that future shortages would exaggerate already surging food prices. China said it had stopped production and exports from a company whose insecticide-tainted frozen dumplings sickened 10 people in Japan. Tens of thousands of Chinese massed impatiently near a railway station in Guangzhou, desperate to get on trains home for a major holiday after days of delay caused by snow.
(AP, 1/31/08)(Reuters, 1/31/08)
2008 Feb 1, China’s government said 3 weeks of crippling snow storms have inflicted $7.5 billion in damages and announced a $700 million relief fund for farmers.
(AP, 2/1/08)
2008 Feb 1, Chinese aluminium giant Chinalco said it and US peer Alcoa have bought a 12-percent stake in Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto, setting up a possible takeover tussle with rival BHP Billiton.
(AP, 2/1/08)
2008 Feb 3, In southern China railway service inched back to normal, a day after one person died in a stampede by frustrated train passengers who were stranded for days because of snow ahead of an important holiday.
(AP, 2/3/08)
2008 Feb 3, Police said Japanese investigators found insecticide on the outside of six bags of Chinese-made dumplings in Japan after separate dumplings made by the same company sickened 10 people there.
(AP, 2/3/08)
2008 Feb 5, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said "final victory" was in sight with transportation returning to normal after the worst winter in decades, but power outages remained a problem for millions. the former communist party boss of Olympic host city Qingdao was sentenced to life in prison for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. Du Shicheng was found guilty of taking $870,000 worth of bribes from 2000 to January 2006 while serving as the port city's most powerful official.
(AP, 2/5/08)(AP, 2/6/08)
2008 Feb 5, Ching Cheong (58), a Hong Kong journalist charged with spying for Taiwan, was released from prison in mainland China after being detained for nearly three years.
(AP, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 6, In China the Year of the Pig ended at midnight making way for Year of the Rat.
(AFP, 2/6/08)
2008 Feb 10, State media reported that China has lost about one tenth of its forest resources to recent snow storms regarded as the most severe in half a century.
(AP, 2/10/08)
2008 Feb 11, A US defense official, an ex-Boeing engineer and two others were charged in 2 separate spy cases with spying for China involving sensitive military and aerospace secrets, including on the space shuttle. Dongfan Chung, a longtime aerospace worker in Southern California, was indicted for allegedly passing classified documents to China in an elaborate espionage endeavor that spanned two decades and exposed trade secrets from the space shuttle, the Delta IV rocket and the C-17 military transport aircraft. In 2010 Chung was sentenced to over 15 years in prison.
(http://articles.latimes.com/2008/feb/12/nation/na-espionage12)(SFC, 2/12/08, p.A3)(SFC, 2/9/10, p.A4)
2008 Feb 12, China and Russia challenged the United States at a disarmament debate by formally presenting a plan to ban weapons in space, a proposal that Washington has called a diplomatic ploy by the two nations to gain a military advantage.
(AP, 2/12/08)
2008 Feb 12, US filmmaker Steven Spielberg abandoned his role in the Beijing Olympics and a host of prominent figures accused China of not doing enough to press its ally Sudan to end devastating violence in Darfur.
(AFP, 2/13/08)
2008 Feb 12, In southwestern China a bus veered off a highway and plunged down a 160-foot cliff into a river, killing at least 21 people.
(AP, 2/12/08)
2008 Feb 13, The WTO condemned China for the first time for taxing imports of auto parts at the same rate as foreign-made finished cars.
(SFC, 2/14/08, p.C3)
2008 Feb 15, A restaurant fire in eastern China killed 11 people and injured at least 4 others.
(AP, 2/15/08)
2008 Feb 17, In China an explosion at an illegal mine disguised as a wild boar farm killed 26 people in northern Hebei province. On Dec 31, 2009, Gao Huailiang was sentenced to death in Hebei province, for making, selling and transporting illegal explosives. 20 others were sentenced to prison time for running the mine.
(AP, 2/18/08)(AP, 12/31/09)
2008 Feb 20, The US FDA inspected a heparin production facility in China. 19 deaths and some 350 allergic reactions had taken place among patients who received heparin sold in the US by Baxter Int’l. In March officials identified oversulfated condroitin sulfate, a chemical that does not occur naturally, as a contaminant in the drug. In April the death toll linked to contaminated heparin was raised to 62.
(WS, 2/21/08, p.A1)(SFC, 3/20/08, p.C3)(SFC, 4/9/08, p.A5)
2008 Feb 21, Chinese state media said authorities are using algae-munching fish to clean up one of the country's most polluted lakes, and after their diet of toxins they will be sold on to consumers.
(AP, 2/21/08)
2008 Feb 22, In China 4 men pleaded guilty in a Yunnan court to producing bogus receipts valued at $147 billion. The scam operated in 9 provinces. In 2007 almost 3,000 cases of printing fake receipts were uncovered.
(Econ, 3/1/08, p.70)
2008 Feb 23, A senior Chinese official said the freakish winter storms that coated much of central and southern China in snow and ice have left 129 people dead so far this year.
(AP, 2/23/08)
2008 Feb 24, In China’s Hubei province water plant workers from Jianli County found that the Dongjing River, a tributary of the Han, had turned red and foamy. The pollution forced authorities to cut water supplies to as many as 200,000 people.
(AP, 2/27/08)
2008 Feb 27, In China an early morning factory fire left 15 people dead and three others severely wounded in Shenzhen.
(AP, 2/27/08)
2008 Feb 28, The presidents of resource-hungry China and oil-rich Nigeria met ahead of the planned signing of energy deals in Beijing's latest overture to an African nation.
(AFP, 2/28/08)
2008 Feb 28, In China at least 14 miners were missing after a cave-in at the Jianbao Coal Minein Jixi city. The mine owners in northeastern Heilongjiang province initially concealed the number of missing workers.
(AP, 3/12/08)
2008 Feb 29, China agreed to release sensitive records about missing US soldiers and establish a hot line to the Pentagon.
(AP, 2/29/08)
2008 Feb 29, US Defense Department officials announced that they had formally agreed to implement the long-discussed Defense Telephone Link (DTL) with China. The US and China established a hotline between their defense ministries.
(www.armscontrol.org/act/2008_04/Hotline)(Econ, 10/24/09, SR p.9)
2008 Feb, In China poisoned food at a snack bar in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen, killed two diners and sickened 61 others. In 2009 two migrant workers were sentenced to death for the poisoning. Ke Bizhi was sentenced to death, while Wang Yingde was also given death but with the possibility of it being commuted to a life sentence if he shows good behavior over the next two years. Zhu Yuanlin, the businessman who masterminded the plot, was sentenced to life in prison. Another man was given 15 years for his role in the scheme.
(AP, 2/24/09)
2008 Mar 3, The US and EU filed a WTO case against China demanding that it loosen restraints on foreign companies vying for a greater slice of the country's lucrative market for financial information.
(AP, 3/3/08)
2008 Mar 4, China said its defense spending would jump 17.6 percent this year but insisted the rise was moderate, amid a flare-up in tensions with the United States over Beijing's growing military muscle.
(AP, 3/4/08)
2008 Mar 4, China and Russia scuttled a Western attempt to introduce a resolution on Iran's nuclear defiance at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
(AP, 3/4/08)
2008 Mar 5, In northwest China a hijacker in Xi’an armed with explosives took a group of Australian tourists and a translator hostage before police shot and killed him. A fire at a coal mine in northeastern China killed 17 people.
(AP, 3/5/08)(AFP, 3/5/08)
2008 Mar 5, In China at least 13 miners were missing at the Taiyuan Coal Mine in Hegang city. 43 men were trapped when the mine caught fire, but 30 were rescued. The mine owners in northeastern Heilongjiang province initially concealed the number of missing workers.
(AP, 3/12/08)
2008 Mar 7, A flight crew prevented an apparent attempt to crash a China Southern flight from Urumqi. Officials later said a Uighur woman attempted to start a fire on board the flight to Beijing. No passengers were injured. In northern Hebei province 10 people were killed in a collision between a bus and a truck loaded with coal.
(AP, 3/9/08)(AP, 3/7/08)(Econ, 3/22/08, p.29)
2008 Mar 10, China said it will keep family-planning limits to one child per couple for at least another decade.
(WSJ, 3/11/08, p.A1)
2008 Mar 10, Hundreds of Tibetan exiles began a six-month march from India to Tibet to protest Beijing's hold on the Himalayan region and China's hosting of the Olympic Games. Indian police barred the Tibetan exiles from marching.
(AP, 3/10/08)(WSJ, 3/11/08, p.A1)
2008 Mar 11, China unveiled plans to revamp bureaucratic government ministries and create new agencies to help it tackle pressing issues such as nuclear energy, food and drug safety, environmental protection and the Internet.
(AP, 3/11/08)
2008 Mar 11, Thousands of Chinese security personnel fired tear gas to try to disperse more than 600 monks taking part in a second day of rare street protests in Tibet.
(Reuters, 3/12/08)
2008 Mar 12, Human Rights Watch said in a report that the armies of migrant workers building Beijing's skyscrapers and Olympic venues are being bilked of wages and placed in dangerous conditions. China's foreign minister said Human rights groups that cite the Beijing Games in their criticisms of the Chinese government are violating the Olympic charter.
(AP, 3/12/08)
2008 Mar 13, In China an avalanche buried 12 workers at a mountainous construction site for a pipeline in the far northwest.
(AP, 3/13/08)
2008 Mar 13, A human rights group said Chinese sales of assault rifles and other small arms to its ally Sudan have grown rapidly during the Darfur conflict despite a UN arms embargo.
(Reuters, 3/13/08)
2008 Mar 14, It was reported that China had likely surpassed the US last month in its number of Internet users.
(WSJ, 3/14/08, p.B3)
2008 Mar 14, In China a gas explosion at a southwestern Yunnan coal mine killed 14 miners and injured four.
(AP, 3/15/08)
2008 Mar 14, In Tibet angry protesters set shops ablaze and gunfire in Lhasa as the largest demonstrations in two decades against Chinese rule turned violent months ahead of the Beijing Olympics. 18 people died in the conflagration or from physical assaults. The government later said losses amounted to 280 million yuan ($41 million).
(AP, 3/14/08)(Econ, 2/6/10, p.43)
2008 Mar 15, China's legislature re-elected Hu Jintao as president, giving him a second five-year term as leader of the world's most populous country. It also returned Hu as head of the Central Military Commission, the body overseeing the armed forces.
(AP, 3/15/08)
2008 Mar 15, China kept government workers confined to their offices and ordered tourists out of Tibet's capital while lines of soldiers sealed off streets where riots had erupted. A Tibetan exile group said at least 30 people were killed in protests a day earlier. Tibet's government-in-exile demanded the UN intervene to end what it called "urgent human rights violations" by China in the region following deadly protests.
(AP, 3/15/08)
2008 Mar 16, Premier Wen Jiabao was appointed to a second five-year term as China's top economic official, leading efforts to cool soaring inflation and showcase the country to the world at the Beijing Olympics.
(AP, 3/16/08)
2008 Mar 16, The Dalai Lama called for an international investigation into China's crackdown against protesters in Tibet, which he said is facing a "cultural genocide" and where his exiled government said 80 people were killed in the violence. Internet users in China were blocked from seeing YouTube.com after dozens of videos about protests in Tibet appeared on the popular US video Web site.
(AP, 3/16/08)
2008 Mar 17, China denounced attacks on its embassies by pro-Tibetan activists hours before a deadline for rioters in Lhasa to turn themselves in and said it would do all in its power to protect its territorial integrity.
(Reuters, 3/17/08)
2008 Mar 18, Protesters in Australia burned Chinese flags, demanding freedom for Tibet, following similar demonstrations in Europe and the US against Beijing's crackdown on anti-government riots in the Himalayan region.
(AP, 3/18/08)
2008 Mar 18, In India the Dalai Lama vowed he would resign as leader of Tibet's exiles if violence back home worsened, just hours before his aides said 19 people were killed in new demonstrations.
(AP, 3/18/08)
2008 Mar 19, China called the Dalai Lama a "wolf in monk's robes" and said it was locked in a "life-and-death battle" with his supporters after protests marking the biggest challenge to Chinese rule in Tibet in almost two decades. Lhasa prosecutors announced the arrest of 24 suspects on charges of endangering state security.
(AP, 3/19/08)(WSJ, 3/20/08, p.A1)
2008 Mar 20, China sent additional troops into restive areas and made more arrests in the Tibetan capital Lhasa in an effort to suppress anti-government protests even as the Dalai Lama offered face-to-face negotiations with Chinese leaders. Tibet authorities said they had arrested dozens of people involved in a wave of anti-Chinese violence. China forced the last remaining foreign journalists out of Tibet, and stepped up restrictions on Internet and radio reports from people within the country.
(AP, 3/20/08)(Reuters, 3/20/08)(AP, 3/21/08)
2008 Mar 21, A regulator said China will shut down or punish dozens of video-sharing Web sites for carrying content deemed pornographic, violent or a threat to national security under rules that tighten Internet controls. China’s government stepped up its manhunt for protesters in last week's riots in the capital of Tibet, as thousands of troops converged on foot, trucks and helicopters to Tibetan areas of western China.
(AP, 3/21/08)
2008 Mar 22, China said 19 people died in riots in the Tibetan capital last week and official media warned against the unrest spreading to the northwest region of Xinjiang, where Uighur Muslims bridle under Chinese control. Exiled Tibetans claim as many as 100 have died in the protests which spilled over this week into neighboring ethnic-Tibetan areas.
(Reuters, 3/22/08)
2008 Mar 23, China attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her recent meeting with the Dalai Lama, accusing her and other "human rights police" of double standards and ignoring the truth about the unrest in Tibet. Han residents said some 500 Uighurs protested in Khotan in the northwestern Xinjiang region. A bombing targeted a government building in the town of Gyanbe. Chinese authorities later arrested 9 monks for the bombing.
(AP, 3/23/08)(SFC, 4/3/08, p.A8)(AFP, 4/13/08)
2008 Mar 24, In Greece 3 men from a free-press group ran onto the field of the stadium in Ancient Olympia during a flame-lighting ceremony for the Beijing Olympics, evading massive security aimed at preventing such disruptions in the wake of China's crackdown in Tibet.
(AP, 3/24/08)
2008 Mar 24, An exiled Tibetan leader said 2 weeks of protests against China's rule of Tibet have left about 130 people dead.
(AP, 3/24/08)
2008 Mar 25, In Nepal police armed with bamboo sticks stopped a protest by Tibetan refugees and monks in front of the Chinese Embassy and arrested about 100 participants.
(AP, 3/25/08)
2008 Mar 26, China announced the surrender of hundreds of people over anti-government riots among Tibetans and allowed the first group of foreign journalists to visit the regional capital since the violence.
(AP, 3/26/08)
2008 Mar 26, In China 24 people were killed when fireworks that had been trucked to the Gobi Desert to be destroyed exploded as they were being dumped into a ditch.
(AP, 3/28/08)
2008 Mar 27, A group of monks shouting there was no religious freedom disrupted a carefully orchestrated visit for foreign reporters to Tibet's capital, an embarrassment for China as it tried to show Lhasa was calm following deadly anti-government riots.
(AP, 3/27/08)
2008 Mar 28, China allowed the first foreign diplomats to visit Tibet following deadly riots, as Germany joined some other European nations in announcing its leader would skip the Olympics opening. Police closed off Lhasa's Muslim quarter, two weeks after Tibetan rioters burned down the city's mosque during the largest anti-Chinese protests in nearly two decades.
(AP, 3/28/08)
2008 Mar 29, In Kathmandu, Nepal, around 80 Tibetan protesters shouting "stop the killing in Tibet" were hauled away in police vehicles and detained after demonstrating outside the Chinese embassy.
(AP, 3/29/08)
2008 Mar 31, Chinese President Hu Jintao presided over the re-lighting of the Olympic torch in Beijing, signaling the start of an around-the-world torch relay that already has become a magnet for protesters.
(AP, 3/31/08)
2008 Mar 31, Chinese authorities arrested suspects in four arson and murder cases stemming from anti-government riots that engulfed the Tibetan capital in mid-March.
(AP, 3/31/08)
2008 Apr 2, Diplomats said that China has given the UN nuclear watchdog intelligence linked to Tehran's alleged attempts to make nuclear arms.
(AP, 4/2/08)
2008 Apr 3, Hu Jia, a Buddhist Chinese dissident outspoken on Tibet and other sensitive topics, was jailed for three-and-a-half years, a conviction likely to become a focus of rights campaigns ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
(Reuters, 4/3/08)(WSJ, 4/4/08, p.A1)
2008 Apr 3, In Tibet Wang Xiangming, the deputy Communist Party secretary of Lhasa, said 800 had been arrested in local violence, while another 280 had surrendered to take advantage of a police offer of leniency. New violence broke out in a volatile Tibetan region of western China, leaving eight people dead. Chinese police opened fire during a "riot" in a Tibetan populated area of southwest China.
(AP, 4/3/08)(AP, 4/4/08)(AFP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 3, A group of about 200 Uighur Muslims demonstrated against China before the Olympic torch ceremony near Istanbul's Blue Mosque, one of Turkey's most famous tourist destinations.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 6, Thousands of anti-China protesters draped in Tibetan flags disrupted the Olympic torch relay through London, billed as a journey of harmony and peace.
(AP, 4/6/08)
2008 Apr 7, China’s official Xinhua News Agency said Zhang Rongkun, a Shanghai tycoon, has been sentenced to 19 years in prison in a pension funds scandal that toppled the city's communist party chief.
(AP, 4/7/08)
2008 Apr 7, China and New Zealand signed a free-trade agreement effective October 1.
(www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-04/07/content_6596491.htm)(WSJ, 4/8/08, p.A14)
2008 Apr 7, A Chinese fishing boat capsized after colliding with a South Korean cargo ship off South Korea's southernmost island, leaving six Chinese sailors missing.
(AP, 4/7/08)
2008 Apr 7, Security officials extinguished the Olympic torch three times as protests against China's human rights record turned a relay through Paris into a chaotic series of stops and starts. France's former sports minister, Jean-Francois Lamour, said that though the torch had been put out, the Olympic flame itself still burned in the lantern where it is kept overnight and on airplane flights.
(AP, 4/7/08)
2008 Apr 8, China denounced protesters who upstaged Olympic Games torch relays in London and Paris and asked the United States to ensure the next leg in San Francisco avoids similar mayhem. Olympic chiefs raised the prospect for the first time of abandoning the international legs of the Beijing Games torch relay, amid a wave of protests targeting the flame overseas.
(AP, 4/8/08)
2008 Apr 8, The riot-damaged market in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa opened its doors amid plans to allow foreign tourists to enter the restive region by the end of the month.
(AP, 4/8/08)
2008 Apr 8, Intel executives said their venture capital arm has completed its first round of investment in China and plans to invest an additional $500 million during the next several years.
(WSJ, 4/9/08, p.B4)
2008 Apr 9, State media said China will ban smoking on school campuses as part of an effort to cut down on tobacco use before the Olympics.
(AP, 4/9/08)
2008 Apr 10, In China a police spokesman said authorities have detained 45 East Turkestan "terrorist" suspects (Uighurs), and foiled plots to carry out suicide bomb attacks and kidnap athletes to disrupt the Beijing Olympics.
(Reuters, 4/10/08)
2008 Apr 10, Australia’s PM Kevin Rudd met China's premier for talks expected to touch on what Rudd has called significant human rights problems in Tibet. Rudd said Chinese paramilitary police will not be allowed to run alongside the Olympic torch in Australia, after their heavy-handed tactics drew criticism in earlier legs of the relay.
(AP, 4/10/08)
2008 Apr 11, An indignant China said the US "seriously hurt the feelings of the Chinese people" when Congress passed a resolution calling on Beijing to stop cracking down on Tibetan dissent and talk to the Dalai Lama.
(AP, 4/11/08)
2008 Apr 11, Chen Liangyu, the former Communist Party chief of China's financial capital, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in a massive corruption scandal involving the city's pension fund and state-owned companies.
(AP, 4/11/08)
2008 Apr 11, Runners surrounded by rows of security carried the Olympic flame past thousands of jubilant Argentines in the most trouble-free torch relay in nearly a week.
(AP, 4/11/08)
2008 Apr 11, G7 finance officials endorsed a plan to prevent financial crises and reiterated its demand that Beijing allow the yuan to rise. They also issued a warning to financial markets that they won’t sit by and watch the dollar continue to slide.
(SFC, 4/12/08, p.C2)(WSJ, 4/12/08, p.A3)
2008 Apr 12, Chinese President Hu Jintao defended the crackdown on protests in Tibet and denied the disturbances were linked to human rights in his first public comments on the incident.
(AFP, 4/12/08)
2008 Apr 12, Taiwan's vice president-elect said he and Chinese President Hu Jintao held "candid and harmonious" talks in the highest-level contact ever between the sides, and they had brought results.
(AP, 4/12/08)
2008 Apr 13, In Tanzania about 1,000 people cheered and marched with a team of 80 athletes and a Cabinet minister participating in the Olympic torch relay, the flame's only stop in Africa.
(AP, 4/13/08)
2008 Apr 14, China’s state television said police found 30 firearms in a Tibetan monastery in Aba prefecture of Sichuan province last month.
(Reuters, 4/14/08)
2008 Apr 15, Mike Leavitt, the top US health official, said US food and drug regulators will start working in China next month once Beijing gives its final approval.
(AP, 4/15/08)
2008 Apr 16, China’s state media reported that over the last 2 days police in northeastern Gansu province have found guns, dynamite, bullets and satellite receivers hidden in 11 Tibetan Buddhist monasteries.
(Reuters, 4/16/08)
2008 Apr 16, In Pakistan runners carried the Olympic flame around the outside of a sports stadium, an invitation-only event in front of an elite, sparse crowd with heavy security to deter any anti-China protesters or terrorist attacks.
(AP, 4/16/08)
2008 Apr 17, In India runners carried the Olympic flame along a heavily guarded route through central New Delhi, protected by about 15,000 police who kept Tibetan exiles and other anti-China protesters from disrupting the ceremony. Tens of thousands of pro-Tibetan demonstrators gathered across India to protest the torch relay.
(AP, 4/17/08)(SFC, 4/18/08, p.A16)
2008 Apr 17, In Japan Buddhist Monks at the ancient Zenkoji Temple decided to pull out of hosting an April 26 ceremony for the protest-marred Olympic torch relay because of China's crackdown in Tibet, as visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi rebuffed Japanese pressure over Tibet, reiterating that Beijing sees it as an internal matter.
(AFP, 4/18/08)
2008 Apr 18, In China 56 fishermen were reported missing as one of the earliest typhoons to hit the region in six decades barreled down on the southern island of Hainan. 38 swam to a reef area after their boats were damaged leaving 18 still missing.
(AP, 4/18/08)(AP, 4/19/08)
2008 Apr 18, South Africa's main transport union thwarted the delivery of a controversial shipment of Chinese arms destined for Zimbabwe, saying its workers would not offload the cargo. The Chinese ship left the South African harbor and headed for neighboring Mozambique. Angola and Mozambique said the ship is not welcome. China defended the cargo against international criticism.
(AFP, 4/18/08)(AP, 4/19/08)(AFP, 4/22/08)(SFC, 4/23/08, p.A2)
2008 Apr 19, Typhoon Neoguri swept through Macau, after it struck Hainan island south of mainland China the night before.
(AFP, 4/19/08)
2008 Apr 20, China unveiled a new draft food safety law that provides for penalties of up to life imprisonment for people responsible for the production of substandard food.
(Reuters, 4/20/08)
2008 Apr 21, Malaysia's leg of the Olympic torch relay passed off largely without incident with a heavy police presence netting just five protesters and thousands of well-wishers braving torrential rain.
(AP, 4/21/08)
2008 Apr 24, China said a shipment of arms bound for Zimbabwe will be recalled after South African workers refused to unload the vessel and other neighboring countries barred it from their ports.
(Reuters, 4/24/08)
2008 Apr 25, China's government agreed to a meeting with an envoy of exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama, a step that follows weeks of calls from world leaders for dialogue in the wake of anti-government protests in Tibet.
(AP, 4/25/08)
2008 Apr 25, China banned a controversial type of irreversible brain surgery used to treat schizophrenia.
(WSJ, 4/28/08, p.A11)
2008 Apr 25, In Japan protesters waved the Tibetan flag and denounced China's rulers as the Beijing Olympic torch arrived for the latest leg of a worldwide relay marred by demonstrations.
(AP, 4/25/08)
2008 Apr 27, A North Korean defector tried to set himself on fire to halt the Olympic torch relay through Seoul, while thousands of police guarded the flame from protesters blasting China's treatment of North Korean refugees. A North Korean soldier defected to South Korea for the first time in a decade across the heavily fortified border dividing the countries.
(AP, 4/27/08)(AP, 4/28/08)
2008 Apr 27, In Sudan China’s state-owned China Water and Electric Corp (CWE) and Sino-Hydro signed a 400-million dollar (255-million euro) deal to raise the height of Sudan's oldest dam, in the southern Blue Nile state.
(AFP, 4/27/08)
2008 Apr 28, In China a policeman and a Tibetan activist were killed following a raid against ethnic Tibetans in Qinghai province.
(WSJ, 5/1/08, p.A11)
2008 Apr 28, A high-speed passenger train jumped its tracks and slammed into another train in eastern China, killing 72 people and injuring 416 in China's worst train accident in a decade.
(AP, 4/28/08)(AP, 7/24/11)
2008 Apr 28, The Olympic torch arrived in Vietnam from North Korea, where tens of thousands of citizens were mobilized to celebrate the relay in Pyongyang in the flame's first visit to the authoritarian nation.
(AP, 4/29/08)
2008 Apr 29, A Chinese court jailed 30 people for terms ranging from three years to life for their roles in Tibet's deadly riots, which triggered anti-China protests across the globe ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
(AP, 4/29/08)
2008 Apr 29, In China a newspaper reported that thousands of children in southwest China have been sold into slavery like "cabbages," to work as laborers in more prosperous areas such as the booming southern province of Guangdong.
(Reuters, 4/29/08)
2008 Apr 30, The Olympic torch returned to Chinese soil after a turbulent 20-nation tour, landing in the bustling financial capital of Hong Kong where officials deported at least seven activists before the flame's arrival.
(AP, 4/30/08)
2008 May 1, China inaugurated one of the world's longest bridges, which will provide an important new route into Shanghai. The 36-kilometer (22-mile) structure connected Jiaxing city near Shanghai to the port city of Ningbo in the eastern province of Zhejiang.
(AFP, 5/2/08)
2008 May 4, China's Pres. Hu Jintao said he was hoping for positive results with envoys of the Dalai Lama, as talks opened, but state media kept up a barrage of attacks on Tibet's exiled spiritual leader. In Shenzhen envoys of the Dalai Lama and Chinese officials held a day of talks aimed at mending fences following a wave of unrest that pushed Tibet to centre stage ahead of the 2008 Olympics. They agreed to further contact.
(Reuters, 5/4/08)(Reuters, 5/5/08)
2008 May 4, China's Health Ministry issued a nationwide alert after the enterovirus 71 virus, or EV-71, which causes hand, foot and mouth disease, infected more than 4,500 children in central Anhui province. The outbreak was centered around Fuyang city, where 22 deaths have occurred.
(AP, 5/4/08)
2008 May 5, In China, state media said a deadly viral outbreak that preys on children has appeared in Beijing, and the number of infections in China has grown to more than 8,000. Enterovirus 71 was blamed and went on to kill at least 43 people with over 24,000 sickened.
(AP, 5/5/08)(SFC, 5/24/08, p.A8)
2008 May 6, Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Tokyo for a feel-good visit that will use ping pong and pandas to take the edge off more contentious problems like border disputes, historical animosity and concerns over China's rule in Tibet.
(AP, 5/6/08)
2008 May 7, The leaders of Japan and China agreed to resolve a territorial row and start regular summits to ease decades of tension, pledging that Asia's two largest economies would not see each other as a threat.
(AP, 5/7/08)
2008 May 7, China’s state media said the number of infections of hand, foot and mouth disease has grown to more than 15,000 with 28 deaths.
(AP, 5/5/08)
2008 May 8, A Chinese mountaineering team took the Olympic flame to the top of Mount Everest, a feat dreamed up to underscore China's ambitions for the Beijing games.
(AP, 5/8/08)
2008 May 11, China PM Wen Jiabao launched Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (CACC), in an effort to challenge the duopoly of Airbus and Boeing.
(Econ, 5/17/08, p.82)
2008 May 12, Initial reports said a 7.8 earthquake struck central China, killing over 9,000 people and trapping nearly 900 students under the rubble of their school. 80% of the buildings had collapsed in Beichuan county in Sichuan province. The death toll soon exceeded 12,000 in Sichuan province alone. 18,645 were reported buried in debris in the city of Mianyang, near the epicenter of the quake, whose magnitude was raised to 7.9. The Sichuan quake ended up killing some 80,000 people. Scientists in 2009 linked the quake to the Zipingu Dam, 5.5 km from the epicenter. In 2009 an official tally said 5,335 students were left dead or missing.
(AP, 5/1208)(AP, 5/13/08)(WSJ, 2/7/08, p.A6)(AP, 5/7/09)
2008 May 12-2008 May 13, Chinese police detained 16 Tibetan Buddhist monks from eastern Tibet's Mangkam county, who were allegedly involved in a series of bombings in early April.
(AP, 6/5/08)
2008 May 14, China’s Xinhua News Agency said that 2,000 troops had been sent to work on the Zipingku Dam, upriver from Dujiangyan in Sichuan province as the death toll from the May 12 earthquake approached 15,000.
(AP, 5/14/08)
2008 May 15, China warned the death toll from this week's earthquake could soar to 50,000, while the government issued a public appeal for rescue equipment as it struggled to cope with the disaster.
(AP, 5/15/08)
2008 May 16, In China a strong aftershock sparked landslides near the epicenter of this week's powerful earthquake, while some survivors were pulled from rubble after being buried for four days. The official death toll rose to about 22,069, and another 14,000 still were buried in Sichuan.
(AP, 5/16/08)
2008 May 17, In China the confirmed death toll rose to 28,881 as thousands of earthquake victims fled areas near the epicenter, fearful of floods from rivers blocked by landslides rattled loose in this week's powerful temblor. A 6.1-magnitude earthquake shook Sichuan province. At least 14 people died in a collision between a bus and a tractor in eastern China.
(AP, 5/17/08)(Reuters, 5/17/08)
2008 May 18, China declared three days of national mourning for earthquake victims and ordered a suspension of the Olympic torch relay, as the search for survivors of the disaster grew bleak with the confirmed death toll rising to 32,476.
(AP, 5/18/08)
2008 May 19, China stood still to begin 3 days of mourning over tens of thousands of earthquake victims, and the government appealed for more international aid to cope with the country's deadliest disaster in a generation. The confirmed death toll from the May 12 quake rose to 34,073.
(AP, 5/19/08)(Econ, 5/24/08, p.57)
2008 May 20, In China the confirmed death toll rose to more than 40,000 as authorities struggled to find shelter for many of the 5 million people whose homes were destroyed in last week's earthquake.
(AP, 5/20/08)
2008 May 22, China said the toll of dead and missing from last week's powerful earthquake jumped to more than 80,000, while the government appealed for millions of tents to shelter homeless survivors.
(AP, 5/22/08)
2008 May 23, China and Russia jointly condemned a US plan for a global missile defense system at the start of a highly symbolic visit by new Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
(AP, 5/23/08)
2008 May 24, In China rescuers rushed to reach 24 coal miners trapped underground by the earthquake almost two weeks ago, as the government sharply raised the quake's death toll, warning it could exceed 80,000.
(AP, 5/24/08)
2008 May 25, A 6.0 aftershock hit quake-ravaged central China killed 6 people, left dozens more injured and destroyed some 71,000 homes. Soldiers carrying explosives hiked to a blocked-off river to alleviate the threat of floods.
(AP, 5/25/08)(SFC, 5/26/08, p.A8)
2008 May 26, China said the confirmed death toll had risen to 65,080 with 23,150 people still missing. The final number of dead was expected to exceed 80,000. officials said that the country's one-child policy exempts families with a child killed, severely injured or disabled in the country's devastating earthquake.
(AP, 5/26/08)
2008 May 27, Chinese officials rushed to evacuate another 80,000 people in the path of potential floodwaters building up behind a quake-spawned dam as soldiers carved a channel to try to drain away the threat. A government spokesman said the confirmed death toll in the earthquake more than two weeks ago has risen to 67,183.
(AP, 5/27/08)
2008 May 28, China’s Xinhua News Agency reported that torrential rains had killed 18 people in southern Guizhou province since May 25, and that the rains were expected to continue for 3 more days. 12 more people were reported missing. Some 6,700 houses were damaged since the rains began.
(SFC, 5/29/08, p.A7)
2008 May 31, Chinese authorities had evacuated nearly 200,000 people and warned more than 1 million others to be ready to leave quickly as a lake formed by a devastating earthquake threatened to breach its dam. A Russian-designed Mi-171 transport helicopter carrying 10 people injured in the devastating earthquake and four crew members crashed in fog and turbulence, and authorities searched for survivors. The confirmed death toll from the May 12 earthquake, reached nearly 69,000, with another 18,000 still missing.
(AP, 5/31/08)(AP, 6/1/08)
2008 Jun 1, China became the latest country to declare war on plastic bags in a drive to save energy and protect the environment.
(Reuters, 6/1/08)
2008 Jun 2, China began paying sums of about $144 to each parent whose sole offspring was killed in the May 12 earthquake.
(WSJ, 6/3/08, p.A1)
2008 Jun 4, Chinese police blocked access to a school that collapsed in last month's massive earthquake, a day after breaking up a protest by parents of students who died in the disaster.
(AP, 6/4/08)
2008 Jun 5, In China more than 10,000 people were moved to higher ground as water continued to rise in a brimming lake formed by landslides from the May 12 earthquake and another strong aftershock rocked the quake-battered region.
(AP, 6/5/08)
2008 Jun 7, In Hong Kong a routine inspection found chickens infected with H5N1 bird flu in a poultry market. Authorities slaughtered 2,700 birds and banned live poultry imports from China.
(WSJ, 6/9/08, p.A12)
2008 Jun 10, A new WWF report said China is now consuming more than twice as much as what its ecosystems can supply sustainably, having doubled its needs since the 1960s.
(AFP, 6/10/08)
2008 Jun 10, Chinese authorities detained Huang Qi for posting articles on his Web site criticizing the government's response to the massive earthquake that struck Sichuan province the month before. In 2009 he was sentenced to 3 years in prison.
(AP, 11/23/09)(AP, 11/23/09)
2008 Jun 12, Chinese police kicked foreign journalists out of Dujiangyan city, where the collapse of several schools in China's earthquake drew charges of corruption from parents of dead children.
(AFP, 6/12/08)
2008 Jun 12, Taiwan and China agreed for the first time ever to set up permanent offices in each others' territories as the two sides met for their first formal talks in more than a decade.
(AP, 6/12/08)
2008 Jun 13, Chinese President Hu Jintao said the long journey to better ties with Taiwan was off to a good start, after the rivals signed historic agreements to set up direct flights and boost tourism.
(AP, 6/13/08)
2008 Jun 13, A blast in a north China coal mine left 34 workers trapped underground, after rescuers lifted nine to safety. Heavy rains in southern China triggered floods that killed six people and forced the evacuation of 150,000 residents. A landslide in northern China buried a brick factory, killing 19 workers.
(AP, 6/13/08)(AP, 6/14/08)
2008 Jun 15, China’s state media said at least 55 people have died and seven were missing in flooding across a broad stretch of southern China.
(AP, 6/15/08)
2008 Jun 17, China's Xinhua News Agency said recent flooding has killed 169 people in 12 provinces following several weeks of rains.
(SFC, 6/17/08, p.A8)
2008 Jun 18, China and Japan agreed to end a dispute over control of offshore natural gas fields and to jointly develop the fields in the East China Sea.
(SFC, 6/19/08, p.A12)
2008 Jun 19, China’s government raised its base price for gasoline by 17% and 18% for diesel in an effort to diminish the nation’s appetite for fuel.
(WSJ, 6/19/08, p.A1)
2008 Jun 22, A Russian film about a teenager surprised by the sudden appearance of the father she thought to be dead won the top prize at the 11th Shanghai International Film Festival. Vladimir Kott's directorial debut "Mukha" was named best feature film in the Jin Jue Awards announced at the conclusion of the nine-day festival.
(AP, 6/23/08)
2008 Jun 23, Anglo-Australian mining group Rio Tinto said that it had agreed to a near doubling of the price of its iron ore sales to Chinese steel maker Baosteel.
(AFP, 6/23/08)
2008 Jun 24, A Japanese warship steamed into a Chinese port, the first such visit since World War Two, in a military exchange aimed at putting relations between the former bitter enemies on a firmer footing.
(AP, 6/24/08)
2008 Jun 25, China re-opened Tibet to foreign tourists after claiming victory over the worst unrest there in decades -- which led Beijing to all but seal off the area from the outside world.
(AP, 6/25/08)
2008 Jun 28, China’s government said Tropical Storm Fengshen killed at least nine people in southern China. In southwest China angry villagers set fire to police and government offices and overturned vehicles to protest how officials handled a teenage student's death. The unrest was sparked by the death of a 16-year-old student who was raped and murdered. Relatives said she disappeared after being called away by three young men, two of whom were related to officials in the county's public security bureau. Provincial officials soon dismissed the town’s government, party and police chiefs.
(AP, 6/28/08)(AP, 6/29/08)(Econ, 8/2/08, p.30)
2008 Jun, Cosco, China’s biggest state-owned shipping company, won a tender to build and operate a new container terminal at the Greek port of Piraeus.
(Econ, 8/23/08, p.51)
2008 Jul 1, In China a man armed with a knife stormed a police station in Shanghai, stabbing officers inside and killing 6 officers. On September 1 Yang Jia (28) was sentenced to death for the knife attack. In northwest China 18 miners were killed in a mine-shaft collapse at the state-owned Huisen Liangshuijing Coal Mine in Shaanxi province. Yang Jia was executed on Nov 26.
(AP, 7/1/08)(AP, 7/2/08)(AP, 9/1/08)(AP, 11/26/08)
2008 Jul 4, China and Taiwan launched regular direct flights for the first time in nearly six decades, ushering in what Beijing called a "new start" in their tense and testy relations.
(AP, 7/4/08)
2008 Jul 5, In northern China an apparent blast at a coal mine killed 21 workers at the Wujiu coal mine outside Datong city in Shanxi province. In central China a four-story building under construction in a suburb of Wuhan city collapsed and killed eight people.
(AP, 7/6/08)
2008 Jul 7, In China Diana O'Brien (22), a Canadian model, was found murdered in her Shanghai apartment. On Jul 11 police arrested Chen Jun (18), who confessed to killing the woman during a robbery.
(AP, 7/11/08)
2008 Jul 8, A Chinese court jailed Xiong Zhengliang, a former anti-graft prosecutor for life, for torturing a suspect to death. His superior was sentenced to seven years in prison for trying to cover up the case. Liang Jiping, a deputy director of the county's electricity bureau, was detained in May 2007 on suspicion of taking bribes. Liang died on June 1, 2007, after being held in custody for nearly five days and in three separate places.
(Reuters, 7/9/08)
2008 Jul 8, Chinese police killed five Muslims who were planning a "holy war" in the latest alleged terror threat ahead of the Beijing Olympics. The five were shot dead when police raided their hide-out in Urumqi.
(AFP, 7/9/08)
2008 Jul 9, China convicted and then executed two ethnic Uighur men and imprisoned another 15 for alleged terrorist links in the western region of Xinjiang.
(AP, 7/12/08)
2008 Jul 10, In China migrant workers began a 3-day riot in Kanmen town in coastal Zhejiang province. Three hundred military police arrived on July 13 and 30 migrant workers have been detained. A Hong Kong-based rights group said the unrest was centered around a migrant worker who was beaten by a security guard while trying to get a temporary residence permit.
(AP, 7/14/08)
2008 Jul 11, Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change said a total of 113 MDC supporters have now been killed in politically-related violence. Zimbabwe's ruling party and opposition held a second day of talks in South Africa. A UN Security Council bid to pass sanctions against Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe was vetoed by Russia and China.
(AP, 7/11/08)(AFP, 7/11/08)(AFP, 7/12/08)
2008 Jul 12, North Korea agreed to completely disable its main nuclear facilities by the end of October and to allow thorough site inspections to verify that all necessary steps had been taken as the latest round of six-nation disarmament talks concluded in Beijing.
(AFP, 7/12/08)
2008 Jul 14, A Chinese migrant worker at the Shuangqiao Garden Plaza in Wenshan county killed one person and stabbed nine others after discovering his savings of 2,600 yuan ($380) had been swapped for counterfeit notes while he visited a prostitute.
(Reuters, 7/16/08)
2008 Jul 14, An explosion at a mine in northern Hebei province killed 34 miners and a rescue worker. In November, 2009, officials at the mine were charge with moving dead bodies, destroying evidence and paying journalists 2.6 million yuan ($380,000) not to report the explosion. In 2010 a journalist was sentenced to 16 years in prison for taking bribes to help cover up the disaster, which took place just 3 weeks before the Beijing Olympics.
(www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/world/asia/01mine.html?_r=1)(AP, 1/6/10)
2008 Jul 15, China voiced concern over an International Criminal Court prosecutor's decision to seek an arrest warrant for Sudan's president on charges of genocide in the African country's war-torn Darfur region.
(AP, 7/15/08)
2008 Jul 16, The government of China’s Gansu province told the Ministry of Health about an unusual surge of kidney stones among infants who had all drunk the same brand of milk.
(Econ, 9/20/08, p.57)
2008 Jul 17, A new company of Chinese engineers deployed to Sudan's war-torn western region of Darfur, boosting the number of UN-led peacekeeping troops to 8,000.
(AP, 7/17/08)
2008 Jul 20, Beijing started its most drastic pollution-control plan, restricting car use and limiting factory emissions in a last-minute push to clear smog-choked skies for the August Olympics.
(AP, 7/20/08)
2008 Jul 21, In China 2 people were killed in explosions aboard two public buses in Kunming city, Yunnan province. On Dec 24 Li Yan reportedly confessed to his role in the bombings as he lay on his death bed after trying to plant another bomb. 20 miners escaped or were rescued from a flooded coal mine in southern China but six have died and 30 remain trapped.
(AFP, 7/21/08)(AP, 7/22/08)(SFC, 12/29/08, p.A3)
2008 Jul 21, China and Russia signed an agreement that demarcated their 2,700 mile border ending a long running border dispute.
(WSJ, 7/22/08, p.A1)
2008 Jul 24, Iraq was told it's not welcome to the Beijing Olympics because of a political feud in Baghdad that angered the games' guardians and exiled a country that arrived to a roaring ovation at the opening ceremony four years ago.
(AP, 7/25/08)
2008 Jul 29, The International Olympic Committee agreed to allow Iraq to participate in the Beijing games, reversing itself after Baghdad pledged to ensure the independence of its national Olympics.
(AP, 7/30/08)
2008 Jul 30, A human rights group said Chinese authorities have sent Liu Shaokun to a labor camp for a year. He had posted pictures of collapsed schools on the Internet and was detained last June for allegedly “seriously disturbing social order." And disrupting post-quake reconstruction efforts.
(WSJ, 7/31/08, p.A7)
2008 Jul, In China the founder of a company involved in commodities futures trading allegedly fled to the US with millions of dollars of customers’ money.
(Econ, 8/9/08, p.40)
2008 Jul, Japan for the first time exported more to China this month than to America. Japan’s public sector debt stood at 170% of GDP, the highest among the big rich economies.
(Econ, 9/6/08, p.87)
2008 Aug 1, China’s broad anti-monopoly law, promulgated in August, 2007, went into effect. It became informally referred to as its economic constitution.
(www.iflr.com/Article/2017768/Anti-Monopoly-Law.html)(Econ, 3/21/09, p.68)
2008 Aug 2, In China Zhang Jinfu (43), a farmer, killed six and injured one in a stabbing spree in the Hubei province village of Xuyang.
(AP, 8/3/08)
2008 Aug 2, China’s Sanlu Group, a dairy product producer, told Fronterra, a New Zealand company that owns 43% of Sanlu, that there was problem with milk powder.
(Econ, 9/20/08, p.57)
2008 Aug 4, In western China 2 Uighur men rammed a truck into a clutch of jogging policemen and tossed explosives, killing 17 officers, in an attack in Kashgar, Xinjiang province, just days before the Beijing Olympics. The 2 men were sentenced to death on Dec 17.
(AP, 8/4/08)(SFC, 8/5/08, p.A11)(AP, 12/17/08)
2008 Aug 5, A magnitude 6.0 earthquake rocked the western Chinese provinces of Sichuan and Gansu, killing one person and injuring 23 near the site of May's devastating quake that killed at least 70,000 people.
(Reuters, 8/5/08)
2008 Aug 6, China announced changes to its foreign exchange rules to address surging growth in its hard currency reserves.
(WSJ, 8/7/08, p.C12)
2008 Aug 6, The US said it will protest to China over its decision to revoke the visa of Olympic gold medalist Joey Cheek, an activist on the African region of Darfur where China is accused of failing to help end the crisis. Speedskater Cheek is co-founder of Team Darfur, an international coalition of athletes campaigning to draw world attention to the humanitarian crisis there.
(Reuters, 8/6/08)
2008 Aug 7, Critics of China's human rights record made sure they were not forgotten, a day before the grand opening of the Beijing Olympics, with protest actions the world over and in China itself. Thousands of Tibetan exiles demonstrated in Nepal and India.
(AFP, 8/7/08)(AP, 8/7/08)
2008 Aug 7, The US Olympic team chose Lopez Lomong, one of the "Lost Boys" of Sudan, to carry the flag at the Olympic opening ceremony, throwing the spotlight on China's much-criticized policy on Darfur.
(AFP, 8/7/08)
2008 Aug 8, In Beijing, China, the 29th Olympic Games, costing an estimated 40 billion dollars and shrouded by political controversies, burst into life with a spectacular opening ceremony at the “bird’s nest" stadium designed by Ai Weiwei. The official slogan for the games this year was “One world, one dream." Actress activist Mia Farrow began Web-casting her own "Darfur Olympics" from a refugee camp on the barren Sudan-Chad border, aiming to shame China into using its influence with Khartoum to end the Darfur conflict.
(AP, 8/8/08)(AP, 8/7/08)(Econ, 8/2/08, p.28)(Econ, 8/2/08, p.85)
2008 Aug 8, President Bush blended carefully calibrated political messages for China and Russia with enthusiasm for his nation's athletes as he became the first US president to attend an Olympics abroad.
(AP, 8/8/08)
2008 Aug 9, Tang Yongming (47), a knife-wielding Chinese man, attacked two relatives of a coach for the US Olympic men's volleyball team at a tourist site in Beijing, killing Todd Bachman (62) and injuring his wife on the first day of the Olympics. Yongming then committed suicide by throwing himself from the second story of the site, the 13th century Drum Tower just five miles from the main Olympics site.
(AP, 8/9/08)(SFC, 8/11/08, p.A12)
2008 Aug 10, In northwest China bombings and fierce clashes took place between police and attackers, the second outbreak of deadly violence there in under a week. Two women were among a squad of assailants accused of killing 12 people when they hurled homemade bombs at government buildings and police.
(AFP, 8/10/08)(AP, 8/11/08)
2008 Aug 10, Welshwoman Nicole Cooke handed Britain their first gold of the Beijing Olympic Games when she won the women's cycling road race.
(AP, 8/10/08)
2008 Aug 10, Japan's Masato Uchishiba has won his second straight Olympic gold medal, pinning France's Benjamin Darbelet just seconds into their final match in the men's 66-kilogram division and bringing Japan its first judo gold of the Beijing Games.
(AP, 8/10/08)
2008 Aug 11, In China the US remained third in the medals table at the end of the third day of Olympic competition with three gold medals behind hosts China with nine after the completion of 34 events, and South Korea with four. Abhinav Bindra became the first Indian to ever win a solo gold medal at the Olympic Games after winning the men's 10m air rifle title.
(AP, 8/11/08)(www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/aug/14/olympicgames.shooting)
2008 Aug 11, President George W. Bush said he used talks with China's leaders during the Beijing Olympics to press them to use their influence with Sudan to help end the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
(Reuters, 8/11/08)
2008 Aug 12, Knife-wielding assailants attacked a road checkpoint in China's troubled far west, killing three guards and raising the death toll to 31 from a surge in violence coinciding with the Beijing Olympics.
(AP, 8/12/08)
2008 Aug 13, A Chinese team beat the United States and clinched China's first women's team Olympic gold in gymnastics, amid allegations that at least one member, He Kexin, of the Chinese team was under age.
(AP, 8/14/08)
2008 Aug 13, Michael Phelps swam into history as the winningest Olympic athlete ever with his 10th and 11th career gold medals, and 5 world records in 5 events at the Beijing Games.
(AP, 8/13/08)
2008 Aug 15, In Beijing 2 positive dope tests by Asian athletes overshadowed Singapore's first medal in 48 years and a podium for Malaysia with a North Korean shooter and a Vietnamese gymnast exposed as cheats.
(AP, 8/15/08)
2008 Aug 15, Xinhua News said a bus veered off the road and plunged into a ravine in central China, killing 15 people.
(AP, 8/15/08)
2008 Aug 16, Carol Huynh, whose parents fled communist Vietnam in the 1970s, won Canada's first gold of the Olympics in the women's 48 kg freestyle wrestling. Usain Bolt of Jamaica was crowned the world's fastest man when he raced to victory in the Olympic men's 100 meters final in a world record time of 9.69 sec.
(AP, 8/16/08)(AFP, 8/16/08)
2008 Aug 17, In Beijing Michael Phelps won his 8th gold medal as team mate Jason Lezak brought it home for a world record in the 400-meter medley relay.
(AP, 8/17/08)
2008 Aug 18, State media reported that Chinese authorities have not approved any of the 77 applications they received from people who wanted to hold protests during the Beijing Olympics.
(AP, 8/18/08)
2008 Aug 18, In northeast China a gas explosion tore through a coal mine, leaving 24 workers trapped.
(AP, 8/18/08)
2008 Aug 20, In Beijing Rohullah Nikpai of Afghanistan won a bronze medal in taekwondo. This was Afghanistan’s first Olympic medal ever.
(http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer08/news/story?id=3544339)
2008 Aug 20, Hua Guofeng (b.1921), who succeeded Mao Zedong as chairman of China's ruling Communist Party and briefly ruled the country (1976), died in Beijing.
(AP, 8/20/08)
2008 Aug 22, Two Beijing grandmothers remained defiant and in good spirits despite being sentenced to one year of reeducation through labor for applying to protest during the Olympics.
(AFP, 8/22/08)
2008 Aug 23, In Beijing Angel Matos, a Cuban taekwondo athlete, and his coach Leudis Gonzalez were banned for life after Matos kicked the referee in the face following his bronze-medal match disqualification.
(AP, 8/23/08)
2008 Aug 24, The Beijing Olympics, played out against a background of political intrigue and featuring 16 days of compelling and controversial action, drew to a spectacular close. China's haul of 51 gold medals was the largest since the Soviet Union won 55 in Seoul in 1988. The US won 36 gold medals and Russia came in 3rd with 23. Jamaica ended up with 11 medals including 6 gold. Cuba took home 24 medals, but only 2 gold.
(AP, 8/24/08)(Econ, 8/30/08, p.38)
2008 Aug 26, In southwest China explosions ripped through a chemical plant, killing at least 11 people, injuring dozens and forcing the evacuation of thousands of nearby residents.
(AP, 8/26/08)
2008 Aug 27, The first outbreak of violence in China's western region of Xinjiang since a pair of high-profile attacks during the Olympics left 2 Chinese policemen dead and 7 more wounded. In north China 9 miners in Hebei province became trapped underground after the illegal mine they worked in collapsed. Police were only informed 2 days later. All 9 were feared dead.
(AP, 8/28/08)(AFP, 8/29/08)
2008 Aug 27, China and Iraq signed a $3 billion deal revising a prewar agreement for China's biggest oil company to help develop the Ahdab oil field. On Sep 2 Iraq’s Cabinet approved the deal with China National Petroleum Corp.
(AP, 8/28/08)(AP, 9/2/08)
2008 Aug 28, State media reported that Chinese government auditors have uncovered the misuse of millions of dollars in disaster assistance as part of an embezzlement probe spanning 10 central government departments.
(AP, 8/28/08)
2008 Aug 29, Chinese police investigating a spate of attacks this month in western Xinjiang province shot dead six suspects and arrested three others near Kashgar.
(AP, 8/30/08)
2008 Aug 30, China’s tallest building, the 101-story, 1,614-foot Shanghai World Financial Center, opened 14 years after Minoru Mori, its Japanese developer, began the $1.13 billion project. The family owned Mori Building Co. owned 70% of the project.
(SFC, 8/29/08, p.A1)(WSJ, 9/2/08, p.B2)
2008 Aug 30, A 6.1 earthquake hit southwest China's Sichuan province, killing least 36 people and turning tens of thousands of homes into rubble and cracked reservoirs.
(Reuters, 8/30/08)(AP, 8/31/08)
2008 Sep 1, In China the 128-meter Spring Temple Buddha, the tallest statue in the world, was completed in Henan province. Construction had begun in 1997.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_Temple_Buddha)(Econ, 6/27/15, p.36)
2008 Sep 1, In China a new tax on gas guzzling cars took effect in an effort to reduce fuel consumption and fight pollution. In June the tax on fuel was increased by almost 20%.
(Econ, 8/23/08, p.54)
2008 Sep 2, Iraq’s Cabinet approved an oil deal, signed August 27, with China National Petroleum Corp. An American soldier died of non-combat related causes in Baghdad.
(AP, 9/2/08)(AP, 9/1/08)
2008 Sep 2, Pakistani Taliban militants said they had kidnapped two Chinese telecoms engineers and their entourage and would soon issue a list of demands. The engineers went missing along with their local driver and a security guard four days ago near the Afghan border where they had been checking an installation.
(AFP, 9/2/08)
2008 Sep 3, Coca-Cola Co. announced a bid to acquire China Huiyuan Juice Group in a $2.4 billion.
(WSJ, 9/4/08, p.B1)
2008 Sep 3-2008 Sep 4, In China’s Hunan province, thousands of people demonstrated and clashed with police in Jishou about a property company they said cheated them of their money. News of the protests did not become public until after the Olympics.
(Econ, 9/13/08, p.52)
2008 Sep 4, In northeast China 24 people were killed and six injured in a coal mine gas explosion, that left 3 miners trapped.
(AP, 9/4/08)
2008 Sep 7, In China a flood swamped the mine in Yuzhou city of Henan province trapping 23 people.
(AP, 9/7/08)
2008 Sep 8, In northern China a landslide triggered by heavy rain killed at least 277 people, with 10 missing and presumed dead in Shanxi province's Xiangfen county. In 2009 a Chinese court jailed 12 officials for the collapse of an illegal mining dump that triggered the landslide.
(AP, 9/8/08)(AP, 9/18/08)(AP, 6/28/09)
2008 Sep 11, China’s Sanlu Group announced a nationwide recall of 700 tons of milk powder.
(Econ, 9/20/08, p.58)
2008 Sep 12, Shops throughout China pulled a milk powder, suspected sickening babies, from shelves in the latest safety scandal to rock the country's food industry. Investigators soon detained 19 people and were questioning 78 to find out how melamine was added to milk supplied to Sanlu Group Co., China's biggest milk powder producer. On Sep 15 Zhang Zhenling, vice president of Sanlu Group, read a letter of apology at a news briefing in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei Province, where the corporation is based. China later reported that more than 6,000 babies had fallen ill and three died after drinking contaminated milk powder. Consumer complaints to Sanlu Group regarding its baby milk formula had begun as early as last December. By the end of the year 6 children had died and tens of thousands were made ill from milk powder tainted with melamine.
(AP, 9/12/08)(AP, 9/13/08)(AFP, 9/15/08)(AFP, 9/17/08)(SFC, 9/24/08, p.A12)(Econ, 5/25/13, p.67)
2008 Sep 13, A fiery bus crash in China's Sichuan province killed 51 people.
(AP, 9/13/08)
2008 Sep 16, Tian Wenhua, the board chairwoman and general manager of China dairy giant Sanlu Group, was fired from her posts in the wake of the tainted milk powder scandal.
(http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-09/16/content_10041638.htm)
2008 Sep 17, A packed "Bird's Nest" National stadium witnessed the formal end of the Beijing Paralympic Games, bringing down the curtain on a glittering 12-day sports extravaganza.
(AP, 9/17/08)
2008 Sep 18, China announced plans to buy shares and take other measures to support the nation’s plummeting stock market.
(WSJ, 9/19/08, p.A8)
2008 Sep 18, The Bank of China announced that it would take a 20% stake in the French arm of LCF Rothschild, its first investment in a euro-zone bank.
(Econ, 9/27/08, p.77)
2008 Sep 19, Singapore banned all dairy imports from China and the European Union demanded answers from Beijing as the baby formula scandal, which left 4 babies dead and over 6 thousand infants ill across China, spread to liquid milk.
(Reuters, 9/19/08)
2008 Sep 20, In southern China a fire and subsequent stampede at the Dance King nightclub in Shenzhen killed 44 people and left 88 injured. In 2010 two bosses of the club were sentenced to 15½ years in prison. Club general manager Lu Jinghuang was ordered jailed for three years. 14 other club managers received jail terms ranging up to six years. In Hubei province a migrant worker stabbed 12 people, seriously inuring 2 of them in Shiyan city.
(AFP, 9/21/08)(SFC, 9/22/08, p.A3)(AP, 3/31/10)
2008 Sep 21, Hong Kong authorities said they found traces of melamine in a batch of Chinese-made Nestle commercial milk. The next day they forced Nestle to recall the milk line.
(WSJ, 9/23/08, p.A22)
2008 Sep 22, The number of Chinese infants sick in hospital after drinking tainted milk formula doubled to nearly 13,000 and the country's top quality regulator resigned in the latest blight on the "made-in-China" brand.
(AP, 9/22/08)
2008 Sep 23, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived in China to hold talks with his counterpart Hu Jintao and sign a deal for combat aircraft in a visit likely to irk the US. Chavez said Venezuela and China agreed to jointly build 2 oil refineries, one in each country.
(AP, 9/23/08)(WSJ, 9/24/08, p.A25)
2008 Sep 23, In China Li Shiming, a corrupt and rapacious local Communist Party secretary in Shanxi province, was murdered by Zhang Xuping (18). Shiming had Zhang expelled from school in 2003 following the imprisonment of his mother, who had protested along with others the confiscation of land by Shiming.
(Econ, 8/22/09, p.38)
2008 Sep 24, Typhoon Hagupit plowed into south China, killing at least 13 people, closing schools, canceling flights, uprooting trees and bringing down billboards in several cities. Torrential rain isolated more than 20,000 people in an area of southwest China still recovering from a devastating earthquake in May. Flash floods and landslides unleashed by heavy rains killed at least 16 people in Sichuan province.
(Reuters, 9/25/08)(AP, 9/26/08)
2008 Sep 25, China successfully launched a three-man crew into space to carry out the country's first spacewalk, beginning the nation's most challenging space mission since it first sent a person into space in 2003. The Shenzhou VII spacecraft was launched on a Long March II-F rocket in western Inner Mongolia.
(AP, 9/25/08)(Econ, 9/27/08, p.60)
2008 Sep 25, The EU banned imports of baby food containing Chinese milk as tainted dairy products linked to the deaths of four babies turned up in candy and other Chinese-made goods that were quickly pulled from stores worldwide. More than a dozen countries have banned or recalled Chinese dairy products as melamine was found in milk products from 22 Chinese dairy companies.
(AP, 9/25/08)(SFC, 9/25/08, p.A3)
2008 Sep 27, Mission commander Zhai Zhigang floated, a Chinese astronaut, performed the nation's first-ever spacewalk, the latest milestone in an ambitious program that is increasingly rivaling the United States and Russia in its rapid expansion. Fellow astronaut Liu Boming also emerged briefly from the capsule to hand Zhai a Chinese flag that he waved for an exterior camera filming the event. The third crew member, Jing Haipeng, monitored the Shenzhou 7 from inside the re-entry module.
(AP, 9/27/08)
2008 Sep 28, Three Chinese astronauts made a jubilant return to Earth after successfully completing the country's first-ever spacewalk, an event the premier said was "a stride forward" in China's space history.
(AP, 9/28/08)
2008 Sep 29, China kicked off its National Day celebrations.
(AP, 9/29/08)
2008 Sep 29, British candy maker Cadbury said it is recalling 11 types of Chinese-made chocolates found to contain melamine, as police in northern China raided a network accused of adding the banned chemical to milk.
(AP, 9/29/08)
2008 Sep 29, Typhoon Jangmi roared toward eastern China after lashing Taiwan with torrential rains and powerful winds that killed two people and injured more than 30.
(AP, 9/29/08)
2008 Sep 30, China’s state media reported that police in northern China have arrested 27 people in their probe into tainted milk that has sickened 53,000 children and tarnished China's reputation abroad.
(AP, 9/30/08)
2008 Sep 30, Zhou Yongjun (41), former student leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement, was seized and secretly imprisoned as he sought to re-enter China to visit his parents. When he tried to return to China in 1998, he was sentenced to three years of "re-education through labor" and returned to the United States in 2002. In May 2009 he was charged with fraud.
(SFC, 5/14/09, p.A2)(http://tinyurl.com/p6mcno)
2008 Sep, In China hepatitis C infections were discovered after a patient who had received a transfusion during an operation in Pingtang tested positive for the disease. In 2009 police detained the director of the hospital, where at least 64 people were infected with the potentially deadly liver disease after receiving transfusions from blood collected illegally.
(AP, 4/2/09)
2008 Oct 1, Fifteen more Chinese dairy companies were identified as producing milk products contaminated with an industrial chemical, further broadening a scandal affecting products ranging from baby formula to chocolate.
(AP, 10/1/08)
2008 Oct 3, Officials said Vietnam's health ministry has discovered the industrial chemical melamine in 18 food products imported from China and three other countries and has ordered them recalled and destroyed.
(AP, 10/3/08)
2008 Oct 4, Taiwan's president welcomed a US decision to sell the island up to $6.5 billion in advanced weaponry, while China warned the move would damage relations between Beijing and Washington.
(AP, 10/4/08)
2008 Oct 5, Hong Kong said it found two Cadbury chocolate products contained considerably more of the industrial chemical melamine than the city's legal limit in a growing scandal over Chinese tainted food. China attempted to contain the fallout from the tainted milk scandal, announcing a new survey of dairy products showed no traces of melamine and promising to subsidize farmers hit by the scare.
(AP, 10/5/08)(AFP, 10/5/08)
2008 Oct 8, Six central banks jolted markets by cutting interest rates together in an attempt to shore up confidence in the world's crisis-stricken financial system. The US Fed reduced its key rate from 2% to 1.5%. The Bank of England unexpectedly slashed its key lending rate by a half-point to 4.5%. The Bank of Canada cut its key interest rate by 50 basis points to 2.5%. China also cut its key interest rates for a second time in less than one month to 6.9%. The European Central Bank sliced its rate by half a point to 3.75%. Sweden, and Switzerland also cut rates. Earlier in a day Japan's Nikkei showed its biggest drop since the October, 1987 stock market crash. The IMF said the world economy is entering a major downturn.
(AP, 10/8/08)(AFP, 10/8/08)(Econ, 10/11/08, p.100)
2008 Oct 10, A state news report said Beijing will ban half of its 3.4 million cars from the roads during periods of very heavy pollution. A crane at a construction site next to a kindergarten collapsed in Zibo city, Shandong province, killing five children.
(AP, 10/10/08)
2008 Oct 14, China unveiled a plan to achieve universal health care. The plan hoped to cover 90% of the population within 2 years and achieve universal health care by 2020. State media reported that a ginseng injection contaminated by bacteria caused the deaths of three people using the medicine to treat thrombosis and heart disease.
(http://tinyurl.com/5f6fyb)(WSJ, 10/20/08, p.A12)(AP, 10/15/08)
2008 Oct 15, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari reached trade deals with China, raising hopes that Beijing would help his country through difficult economic and diplomatic times.
(AP, 10/15/08)
2008 Oct 18, Liu Zhihua, a former Beijing vice mayor in charge of overseeing Olympic construction projects, was given a suspended death sentence for corruption, in a stern warning to wayward Communist officials. The sentence will be commuted to life in prison in two years if Liu shows good behavior.
(AP, 10/19/08)
2008 Oct 18, Pakistan said that China will help it build two more nuclear power plants, offsetting Pakistani frustration over a recent nuclear deal between archrival India and the US.
(AP, 10/18/08)
2008 Oct 18, In southern Sudan unknown assailants kidnapped nine Chinese oil workers.
(AP, 10/19/08)
2008 Oct 19, China's communist leaders announced the approval of key rural reform that for the first time will permit farmers to lease or transfer their land in a change aimed at raising rural incomes and speeding migration from the farm to the cities. The policy change was approved a week ago at a high-level meeting.
(AP, 10/20/08)
2008 Oct 20, In China, a veterinarian said some 1,500 dogs, bred for their raccoon-like fur, have died after eating feed tainted with the same chemical that contaminated dairy products and sickened tens of thousands of babies nationwide.
(AP, 10/20/08)
2008 Oct 22, China’s government announced that the minimum downpayment on first homes would be reduced to 20% from 30%, stamp tax would be eliminated and mortgage rates cut.
(Econ, 10/25/08, p.52)
2008 Oct 23, China arrested six people for their alleged role in supplying contaminated milk to the country's dairy companies, as the Health Ministry said more than 3,600 Chinese children remain hospitalized after consuming compromised products. Scores of villagers in a remote timber region ransacked the offices of a forestry company and fought with security guards, accusing the company of paying too little for use of their land.
(AP, 10/23/08)(AP, 10/27/08)
2008 Oct 23, China and Singapore signed a free trade agreement on the eve of a summit of European and Asian leaders in Beijing. Held every two years, ASEM has no mandate to issue decisions, but participants hope it will produce some degree of consensus ahead of a Nov. 15 meeting of the world's top economies in Washington to discuss the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.
(AP, 10/23/08)(WSJ, 10/24/08, p.A13)
2008 Oct 23, The European Parliament awarded a prestigious rights prize to jailed Chinese dissident Hu Jia on the eve of a key Beijing summit and despite pressure from Beijing not to honor him.
(AFP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 24, Tokyo and Beijing agreed to establish a hotline between their leaders to build mutual trust, as Prime Minister Taro Aso held his first meeting as Japanese leader with his Chinese counterparts.
(AP, 10/24/08)
2008 Oct 24, Asian and European leaders, meeting in Beijing, called for a coordinated response to the global financial meltdown and prepared to endorse a critical role for the International Monetary Fund in aiding the hardest-hit countries.
(AP, 10/24/08)
2008 Oct 25, In China the 2-day ASEM economic summit closed. 43 Asian and European leaders pledged around $4 trillion to support banks and restart money markets to try to stem the global crisis. This was ASEM’s 7th biennial gathering since 1996.
(Reuters, 10/25/08)(Econ, 11/1/08, p.49)
2008 Oct 26, China’s state media said the World Bank and France have agreed to lend China more than $900 million to rebuild areas devastated by a massive earthquake earlier this year.
(AP, 10/26/08)
2008 Oct 27, In central Sudan kidnappers killed 4 Chinese oil workers out of nine they had been holding hostage for more than a week. A local leader in troubled South Kordofan state, where the hostages were abducted and killed, said the Chinese died as a result of fighting between the Sudanese army and the kidnappers. The next day 3 bodies and 3 wounded were flown to Khartoum. A 4th body was found on Oct 29. The last 2 were reported found Oct 31, one alive and one dead.
(AFP, 10/28/08)(AFP, 10/29/08)(AP, 10/29/08)(Reuters, 10/31/08)
2008 Oct 28, Namibia sold more than seven tons of ivory for $1.1 million, in the first legal auction of elephant tusks in nearly a decade, exclusively for Chinese and Japanese buyers.
(AP, 10/28/08)
2008 Oct 29, China cut interest rates for the 3rd time in six weeks.
(Econ, 11/1/08, p.84)
2008 Oct 29, A local Chinese government acknowledged that officials knew about melamine-tainted eggs for a month before the contamination was publicly disclosed. A Dalian government notice said that local authorities were notified Sept. 27 of tests by the customs bureau of Liaoning province that had found melamine in a batch of export-bound eggs produced by Dalian Hanwei Enterprise Group.
(AP, 10/29/08)
2008 Oct 29, In northern China a gas explosion in a mine shaft at a coal mine trapped 29 miners at the Yaotou mine in central Shaanxi province. 26 bodies were recovered over the next few days and 3 remained missing. In Henan province 20 miners were trapped after a mine flooded at the Mazhuang colliery. After a few days rescuers gave up hope of finding any alive.
(AP, 10/30/08)(AFP, 11/2/08)
2008 Oct 29, David Miliband, Britain’s foreign secretary, acknowledged China’s suzerainty over Tibet.
(Econ, 11/8/08, p.54)
2008 Oct 29, Venezuela launched its first satellite from Sichuan, China. It will begin carrying radio, television and other data transmissions in early 2009 after three months of tests.
(AP, 10/29/08)
2008 Oct 30, China’s state media reported that the industrial chemical melamine is commonly added to animal feed in China to make it appear higher in protein. This appeared to be a tacit admission by the government that contamination is widespread in the country's food supply.
(AP, 10/30/08)
2008 Oct 30, In China 12 people died after an elevator plunged at the Sunshine City construction site in east Fujian province.
(AP, 10/30/08)
2008 Oct 31, In southern China a truck driver killed 4 people and injured 20 by driving into a crowd of high school students coming out of class. The male driver was shot dead by police after the incident in the city of Zhuhai in Guangdong province.
(AP, 11/6/08)
2008 Oct, Smart Union, a Chinese toymaker founded by Tony Wu, went into forced liquidation with the direct loss of some 12,000 jobs and the indirect loss of many more. Flooding in June hit Dongguan and severely impacted the company’s inventories and the following credit crunch forced it to shut down in September.
(Econ, 1/17/09, p.63)
2008 Oct, China’s first Disney operated English-language school opened.
(Econ, 8/28/10, p.52)
2008 Nov 2, China opened the final session of the Canton Fair, the country's biggest trade show, amid complaints that attendance has been dismal because of the financial crisis clobbering the nation's biggest export markets in the US and Europe. In southwest China at least 40 were killed after mudslides engulfed several villages.
(AP, 11/2/08)(AFP, 11/2/08)(AP, 11/4/08)
2008 Nov 3, Chen Yunlin, the most senior Chinese official to visit Taiwan since the end of a civil war 60 years ago, arrived in Taipei on a charter flight from Beijing for talks on strengthening economic ties, as supporters of independence for the island staged demonstrations and planned mass protest rallies against his visit.
(AFP, 11/3/08)
2008 Nov 4, In China authorities in Chongqing, one of China's biggest cities, vowed to crack down on violence that has marked a rare strike by taxi drivers, and called for an immediate return to work.
(AP, 11/4/08)
2008 Nov 4, Taiwan and China set aside decades of hostilities and agreed to drastically expand flights and allow shipping links across the Taiwan Strait, a potential hotspot that has long threatened to become a war zone.
(AP, 11/4/08)
2008 Nov 6, Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou made history when he met with a senior Chinese official as tens of thousands of anti-Beijing protesters brought the island's capital to a standstill.
(AFP, 11/6/08)
2008 Nov 7, In China hundreds of people clashed with police in the southern city of Shenzhen, throwing stones and setting fire to a police car after a motorcyclist died while trying to avoid a checkpoint.
(Reuters, 11/8/08)
2008 Nov 8, Li Ximing (82), Beijing's Communist Party boss during the bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protests, died.
(AP, 11/11/08)
2008 Nov 9, China announced a $586 billion stimulus package in its biggest move to stop the global financial crisis from hitting the world's fourth-largest economy.
(AP, 11/9/08)
2008 Nov 10, Iraq and China signed the final agreement on a $3 billion deal to develop the Ahdab oil field south of Baghdad over a 22 year-period.
(AP, 11/11/08)
2008 Nov 12, China launched a 50-day campaign against unlicensed taxis in Beijing.
(WSJ, 11/14/08, p.A10)
2008 Nov 12, Hong Kong officials said they had found elevated levels of melamine in fish feed from China’s Fuzhou Haima Feed Co.
(WSJ, 11/13/08, p.A13)
2008 Nov 13, China signed an agreement in Geneva to loosen controls on financial news providers in an out-of-court settlement of a dispute with the US, the EU and Canada.
(AP, 11/13/08)
2008 Nov 13, US Federal health officials slapped a sweeping detention order on dozens of imported foods from China, from snacks and drinks to chocolates and candies. The agency said the action was needed as a precaution to keep out foods contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine, which can cause serious kidney problems.
(AP, 11/13/08)
2008 Nov 13, Pakistan announced that China had offered it a $500 million aid package.
(WSJ, 11/14/08, p.A10)
2008 Nov 14, In Tibet 18 people died after a bus overturned in Naqu district..
(AP, 11/17/08)
2008 Nov 15, In eastern China a subway tunnel under construction collapsed in Hangzhou, trapping workers and creating a huge crater into which more than 10 vehicles plunged. At least 7 people died and 14 were missing.
(AP, 11/15/08)(AP, 11/17/08)
2008 Nov 17, In northwest China a crowd of 1,000 people stormed a local Communist Party headquarters, smashing cars and clashing with police following a land dispute. The protesting began with just a small group of people complaining about the demolition of their homes to make way for a new road in Longnan city in Gansu province. Police later arrested 30 people for involvement in a two-day violent protest, that had to be broken up with tear gas after 74 people were injured.
(AP, 11/18/08)(AFP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 17, In central China flood waters trapped workers in a coal mine in Pingdingshan, Henan province. The next day rescuers saved 33 miners who had been trapped for 28 hours by an underground flood. One miner died.
(AP, 11/17/08)(AP, 11/18/08)
2008 Nov 18, Belgian brewing giant InBev announced it had completed the takeover of Anheuser-Busch to create the world's biggest brewer. Beijing agreed to Belgium-based InBev SA's takeover of Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc.'s Chinese operations as part of their global merger, but limited future acquisitions on anti-monopoly grounds.
(AP, 11/18/08)
2008 Nov 19, Chinese President Hu Jintao promised Cuba at least $78 million in donations, credit and hurricane relief. Hu also met with a thin-looking Fidel Castro before leaving for the Asia-Pacific economic summit in Peru. China agreed to donate $8 million to Cuba and extend the second, $70 million phase of $350 million in previously agreed-upon credit to renovate Cuban hospitals.
(AP, 11/19/08)
2008 Nov 19, China and Peru signed a free trade agreement.
(Econ, 11/29/08, p.42)
2008 Nov 19, In China Huang Guangyu, founder and chairman of GOME Electrical Appliances, was detained for insider trading in shares of Shandong Jintai Group, a pharmaceutical company controlled by his brother. On Feb 12, 2010, authorities announced charges of insider trading and bribery.
(Econ, 11/29/08, p.69)(Econ, 2/20/10, p.64)
2008 Nov 21, Chinese authorities destroyed the home of leading rights activist Ni Yulan in front of her distraught husband who pleaded with the government to release her from jail. Chen Daojun, a writer and journalist who was arrested after protesting against a power plant in southwest China, was sentenced to three years in prison on charges of subverting state power.
(AFP, 11/21/08)
2008 Nov 22, The Yellow River Conservancy Committee reported that one-third of the Yellow River, which supplies water to millions of people in northern China, is heavily polluted by industrial waste and unsafe for any use.
(AP, 11/25/08)
2008 Nov 23, In southwest China men wielding knives and batons attacked employees at an arcade in a brawl that left five dead and two injured in Chongqing.
(AP, 11/25/08)
2008 Nov 24, China's President Hu Jintao arrived in Greece for a three-day visit timed to coincide with the signing of a 831.2 million euro ($1 billion) port deal.
(AP, 11/24/08)
2008 Nov 25 Armenia won its second straight gold medal at the Chess Olympiad in Germany by defeating China 2.5-1.5 in the 11th and final round.
(AP, 11/26/08)
2008 Nov 26, China executed Wang Zhendong, a businessman convicted of bilking thousands of investors out of $416 million in a bogus ant-breeding scheme.
(AP, 11/27/08)
2008 Nov 26, China cut interest rates by more than a percentage point to 5.58%, the most significant cut in 11 years, as the economic conditions worsened.
(SFC, 12/9/08, p.A10)(Econ, 11/29/08, p.80)
2008 Nov 28, China executed Wo Weihan, a scientist accused of passing information to Taiwan, triggering condemnation from his family and several countries including the US.
(AP, 11/28/08)
2008 Nov 29, In southern China about 300 taxi drivers went on strike in Chaozhou, smashing cars and demanding a crackdown on unlicensed taxis in the latest protest against illegal taxi competition in China.
(AP, 11/30/08)
2008 Nov 30, Chinese health authorities and the UN AIDS agency pledged to fight discrimination against people with the disease in China with the unveiling of a massive red ribbon, the symbol of AIDS awareness, at the Olympic Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing.
(AP, 11/30/08)
2008 Nov 30, In northern China a coal mine blast killed 15 miners at the Changlong Coal Mine in Heilongjiang province. 3 rescuers died the next day in a cave-in.
(AP, 12/1/08)
2008 Nov, China detained Hu Zhicheng, an American automotive engineer, on accusations he misused trade secrets. His case was first reported in Dec, 2009, in an account written under a pen name that appeared on Boxun News. Zhicheng was released in May, 2010, with no charges filed against him, but he was not allowed to leave China. On June 3, 2013, word came that he was finally free to return to his home in southern California.
(AP, 12/17/09)(AP, 5/14/10)(SFC, 6/6/13, p.A13)
2008 Dec 1, China's Health Ministry said six babies may have died after consuming tainted milk powder, up from a previous official toll of three, and announced a six-fold increase in its tally of infants sickened in the scandal, to nearly 300,000.
(AP, 12/1/08)
2008 Dec 1, In northern China 11 girls died of carbon monoxide poisoning at a school in Shaanxi province. A news report said the girls had lit a fire to keep warm.
(AP, 12/2/08)
2008 Dec 4, In eastern China a fire at the dormitory of a seafood company killed 11 workers and injured 10 others.
(AP, 12/4/08)
2008 Dec 5, The US and China pledged to work together to tackle global financial turmoil as they wrapped up economic talks but left open whether the high-level dialogue will continue under President-elect Barack Obama.
(AP, 12/5/08)
2008 Dec 5, In southern China about 100 factory owners and employees held up red protest banners outside a government building, demanding that officials help them collect more than $13 million in debts from an electronics factory that recently closed.
(AP, 12/5/08)
2008 Dec 6, Okay Airways, China's first private airline, began a planned one-month suspension of passenger service 10 days early after skittish airports insisted on cash to refuel its planes. The airline suffered from financial and management woes.
(AP, 12/6/08)
2008 Dec 7, China protested strongly to France over President Nicolas Sarkozy's meeting with the Dalai Lama, calling it a "rude intervention" into Chinese affairs.
(AP, 12/7/08)
2008 Dec 8, In China Liu Xiaobo (53), a dissident, was detained hours before releasing Charter 08, the China democracy movement's most comprehensive call yet for peaceful reform. Liu had cut short a visiting scholar stint at Columbia University to join the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing in 1989. He and three other older activists famously persuaded students to peacefully leave the square hours before the deadly June 4 crackdown.
(AP, 10/2/10)
2008 Dec 9, In Beijing delegates from six nations focused on a Chinese proposal on how to verify North Korea's claims about its atomic program in talks aimed at ending the secretive regime's nuclear activities.
(AFP, 12/9/08)
2008 Dec 9, In China activists issued a new public call for greater freedoms ahead of the 60th anniversary of the UN convention on human rights, but police detained two of the signatories before it was even issued. The petition known as Charter 08 was issued online and initially signed by 303 intellectuals. Within a week 5,000 people added their signature.
(AP, 12/9/08)(Econ, 1/17/09, p.42)(Econ, 2/14/09, SR p.17)
2008 Dec 13, Japan, China and South Korea moved to ward off the effects of the global financial crunch at a trilateral summit in Japan, while Tokyo and Seoul criticized North Korea for stalling denuclearization talks.
(AP, 12/13/08)
2008 Dec 15, In China substances commonly used as industrial dyes, insecticides and drain cleaners were included on a list of illegal food additives released as part of a months long government crackdown aimed at improving the country's shoddy food safety record.
(AP, 12/15/08)
2008 Dec 15, In China the BYD Co. introduced the F3DB, country’s first homegrown electric vehicle for the mass market. The sedan was expected to be priced at about $22,000 and introduced to the US in the second half of 2010.
(WSJ, 12/13/08, p.B2)
2008 Dec 15, Taiwanese jetliners and cargo ships left for China to open a new era of direct air and shipping services with the mainland, formally ending a nearly six-decade ban on regular links between the rivals.
(AP, 12/15/08)
2008 Dec 16, Chinese agricultural officials ordered the slaughter of some 377,000 chickens after finding the H5N1 bird flu virus in two areas of Jiangsu province.
(WSJ, 12/17/08, p.A14)
2008 Dec 17, In Beijing the presidents of China and Angola signed a series of agreements as the oil rich African nation sought greater Chinese participation in its energy and infrastructure development.
(AP, 12/17/08)
2008 Dec 17, The European Parliament gave a jailed Chinese dissident a one-minute standing ovation as it honored him in absentia with its top human rights award.
(AP, 12/17/08)
2008 Dec 17, An international anti-piracy force thwarted the attempted takeover of a Chinese cargo ship off the Somali coast, sending in attack helicopters that fired on the bandits and forced them to abandon the ship they had boarded. The Indian navy handed over 23 pirates, caught at sea on Dec 13, to authorities in Yemen.
(AP, 12/17/08)
2008 Dec 20, China said it will send two destroyers and a supply vessel to the seas off Somalia to back international efforts to fight piracy.
(AP, 12/20/08)
2008 Dec 20, The NY Times said China has blocked access to its Web site, days after the central government defended its right to censor online content it deems illegal.
(AP, 12/20/08)
2008 Dec 22, China’s central bank announced its 5th interest rate cut in just over 3 months. The benchmark one year lending rate was cut .27% to 5.31%.
(WSJ, 12/23/08, p.A5)
2008 Dec 24, In China a gas leak at the Ganglu Iron and Steel Co. Ltd. in Hebei province killed 17 people.
(AP, 12/24/08)
2008 Dec 25, Chinese state media reported that 59 people in Tibet have been detained on charges that they sought to foment unrest by spreading ethnic hatred and by downloading and selling banned songs from the Internet.
(SFC, 12/26/08, p.A16)
2008 Dec 26, Chinese warships, armed with special forces, guided missiles and helicopters, set sail for anti-piracy duty off Somalia, the first time the communist nation has sent ships on a mission that could involve fighting so far beyond its territorial waters.
(AP, 12/26/08)
2008 Dec 26, China’s state media reported that nearly 5,000 higher-level Chinese government officials were punished for corruption over the past year.
(AP, 12/26/08)
2008 Dec 26, China National Offshore Oil Corp., the country's largest offshore oil and gas producer, signed four oil cooperation agreements with Taiwan's CPC Corp.
(AP, 12/26/08)
2008 Dec 27, An explosion in central China's Henan province killed 15 people and injured nine others. Explosives, used for small-scale demolition, were illegally stored at a home when they ignited, destroying more than 10 neighboring houses. At least 17 workers were killed and one seriously injured when an elevator suddenly dropped to the ground at a construction site in central Hunan province.
(AP, 12/27/08)
2008 Dec 29, Top brass from the Chinese and Russian armies hailed closer ties in their first-ever conversation over a newly installed military hot line.
(AP, 12/29/08)
2008 Dec 29, In China 9 people went on trial in connection with the tainted milk scandal. This followed the announcement of steps to compensate the families of hundreds of thousands of children harmed by contaminated infant formula.
(AP, 12/29/08)
2008 Dec 30, A Chinese state-run newspaper said the companies, whose tainted milk products sickened nearly 300,000 children and were blamed in the deaths of six, will likely pay 1.1 billion yuan ($160 million) in compensation to victims' families.
(AP, 12/30/08)
2008 Dec 30, China’s state press said paleontologists in east China have dug up what they believe is one of the world's largest group of dinosaur fossils including the remains of an enormous "platypus."
(AFP, 12/30/08)
2008 Dec 30, The Bahamas' foreign affairs minister said China will help build a national sports stadium. Construction will start early next year in the capital of Nassau. China will send the Bahamas a $7.3 million grant as well as Chinese construction workers who will build the stadium.
(AP, 12/31/08)
2008 Dec 31, It was reported that China has delayed plans to start the central section of its massive South-to-North water diversion project by 4 years due to environmental concerns.
(WSJ, 12/31/08, p.A4)
2008 Dec 31, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported that a pair of Chinese forestry executives cheated thousands of investors out of 160 million dollars by selling off "timber lands" in a barren desert region. Chairman Chen Xianggui of Inner Mongolia's Wanli Afforestation Co. was sentenced to 11 years in prison by a court in the region while general manager Liu Yanying received nine years for the pyramid scheme.
(AFP, 12/31/08)
2008 Dec 31, Tian Wenhua, former chairwoman of the Sanlu Group, one of China’s biggest dairy producers, pleaded guilty to selling fake and substandard milk powder.
(SFC, 1/1/09, p.A3)
2008 Dec, Tanganyika Oil was acquired by a subsidiary of China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) for $2 billion.
(Econ, 6/27/09, p.72)
2008 Jasper Becker authored “City of Heavenly Tranquility: Beijing in the History of China."
(Econ, 8/2/08, p.85)
2008 Leslie Chang, American journalist, authored “Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China." This followed her 3 years of reporting on women workers in Dongguan.
(Econ, 5/11/13, p.51)
2008 Chinese journalist Yang Jisheng authored "Tombstone," a 1,200-page account of the 1958-1961 famine — which he estimated claimed at least 36 million Chinese lives. In 2016 Jisheng was blocked from traveling to the United States to accept a Harvard University prize for the book.
(AP, 2/16/16)
2008 Tarun Khanna authored “Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India are Reshaping The Futures and Yours."
(Econ, 1/26/08, p.80)
2008 Tubten Khetsun authored “Memories of Life in Lhasa Under Chinese Rule."
(Econ, 3/22/08, p.93)
2008 James Mann authored “The China Fantasy: Why Capitalism Will Not Bring Democracy to China."
(Econ, 10/24/09, SR p.14)
2008 The book “The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories, China From the Bottom Up" by Liao Yiwu, Chinese poet, was translated to English by Wen Huang. The book was banned as soon as it was published in China. Wen had been imprisoned for 5 years for an epic poem published after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
(SSFC, 5/18/08, Books p.1)
2008 In China the comedy film “If You Are the One" became a blockbuster hit.
(Econ, 11/20/10, SR p.12)
2008 China legalized horse racing.
(Economist, 9/29/12, p.66)
2008 Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) was founded to develop a range of aircraft. Its first airplane, a regional jet called ARJ21, entered into service in June 2016.
(Econ, 11/5/16, p.58)
2008 In China Eric Pan founded Saeed Studio, a Shenzhen contract manufacturer. By 2014 it was one of the world’s largest manufacturers of open sourced hardware.
(Econ, 1/18/14, p.14)
2008 In China regulations took effect on open government information (OGI).
(Econ, 5/3/14, p.40)
2008 China became Mozambique's second-largest investor after neighboring South Africa, pouring 76.8 million dollars (58.6 million euros) into the country.
(AFP, 12/26/10)
2008 China became the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide this year as it spewed some 6.5 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, about 22% of the world’s total.
(Econ, 4/17/10, p.64)
2008 China executed some 1,700 convicts this year.
(Econ, 1/2/10, p.31)
2008 Russia proposed to China that both countries dump their holdings of debt issued by lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac so as to exacerbate the US financial crises and force a bail-out. China declined the offer.
(Econ, 4/19/14, p.22)
2009 Jan 3, In eastern China an explosion at an illegal fireworks factory killed 13 people in the city of Weifang in Shandong province. A boy, Zou Chuanshuo (2) was killed with an ax in Luoyang in Hubei province. The child's grandmother Zhu Deqing (43) and six others were also killed. On Jan 11 authorities arrested junk collector Xiong Zhenlin (32) in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province. He confessed to the murders, which included a widow who jilted him. A Chinese court sentenced him to death on Feb 9 for the murders. Zhenlin was executed on april 16 in the central city of Suizhou.
(AP, 1/4/09)(AP, 2/9/09)(AP, 4/16/09)
2009 Jan 5, China launched a major crackdown on Internet pornography targeting popular online portals and major search engines such as Google.
(AP, 1/5/09)
2009 Jan 5, A Chinese woman (19) died from bird flu in a Beijing hospital, but the World Health Organization said the case did not appear to signal a new public health threat.
(AP, 1/6/09)
2009 Jan 7, In China a court in Hangzhou, a prosperous city in eastern Zhejiang province, sentenced Wang Rongqing (65) to 6 years in jail on charges of subverting state power for organizing the banned China Democracy Party.
(AP, 1/8/09)
2009 Jan 7, Bank of America Corp. raised more money to cope with US economic turmoil by selling part of its stake in China Construction Bank Ltd., China's second-biggest commercial lender, for $2.8 billion.
(AP, 1/7/09)
2009 Jan 12, State media said China has shut down 91 websites for pornographic and other "vulgar" content, as well as a political blog portal, since announcing its latest bid to ensure Internet morality.
(Reuters, 1/12/09)
2009 Jan 12, In China a Shanghai distributor of a popular brand of dog food said it had suspended sales of the product following reports that dogs who ate it had died from aflatoxin poisoning. This appeared to involve an imported product, Optima, a brand of dog food made by Nashville, Tennessee-based Doane Pet Care Co. It was not clear if the pet food sold in China was the US brand.
(AP, 1/12/09)
2009 Jan 13, China's government reported that exports fell at their fastest rate in a decade as the country's trade slump worsened again in December, a decline that's led to masses of layoffs and growing fears of social unrest.
(AP, 1/13/09)
2009 Jan 15, A police official said Chinese authorities have detained 13 members of a gang suspected of kidnapping and selling children, sometimes swooping by on motorcycles and snatching them in broad daylight. Xinhua News Agency said Su Tonghua (21) was arrested on Dec. 31. His 12 accomplices were arrested last week.
(AP, 1/15/09)
2009 Jan 18, China’s public security bureau of Lhasa, Tibet, launched a "strike hard" campaign against crime, with raids on residential areas, Internet cafes, bars, rented rooms, hotels and guesthouses.
(AP, 1/28/09)
2009 Jan 19, China warned of a rising bird flu risk after a second person died of the virus in less than a month, and said it could be especially dangerous as the nation headed into the Lunar New Year holiday.
(AP, 1/19/09)
2009 Jan 19, China’s state media reported that nearly 1,000 people have been caught cheating on China's notoriously competitive civil service entrance exams, some with high-tech listening devices in their ears.
(AP, 1/18/09)
2009 Jan 20, In central China a 16-year-old boy infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus died, the country's third fatality from the disease this month.
(AP, 1/20/09)
2009 Jan 22, Asian economic gloom worsened when China said growth plunged in the final quarter of 2008 while Japan said exports fell at a record pace in December amid weakening Western consumer demand.
(AP, 1/22/09)
2009 Jan 22, A Chinese court condemned two men to death and gave a dairy boss life in prison in the first sentences handed down in the tainted milk scandal, which ignited public anger and accusations of cover-ups.
(AP, 1/22/09)
2009 Jan 24, China announced the death of a 31-year-old woman from bird flu, its fourth human victim this year, sparking fears of an outbreak during the country's main festive season.
(AFP, 1/24/09)
2009 Jan 25, In China a Richter scale 5.0 earthquake hit an area inhabited by the Xibe people. It destroyed nearly 200 homes and damaged nearly 3,000 buildings. The community, originally from Manchuria, had established a frontier garrison in Xinjiang during the Qing dynasty.
(Reuters, 1/26/09)
2009 Jan 26, China greeted the arrival of the Year of the Ox with fireworks and celebrations, bidding farewell to a tumultuous 2008 marked by a massive earthquake, the Olympics, and a global economic crisis.
(AP, 1/26/09)
2009 Jan 26, China’s state media reported that an 18-year-old man has died from bird flu in southern China, the fifth human death from the virus in the country this year.
(AP, 1/26/09)
2009 Jan 28, China’s state media said at least 81 people have been detained as the country launched a security sweep in Tibet ahead of one of the region's most sensitive anniversaries in years.
(AP, 1/28/09)
2009 Jan 28, In Switzerland some 2,500 business and political leaders met at Davos for the World Economic Forum, as the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression served to mute the enthusiasm of previous years. China’s Premier Wen Jiabao and Russia’s PM Vladimir Putin blamed the US-led financial system for the global economic slump.
(AP, 1/28/09)(WSJ, 1/29/09, p.A1)
2009 Jan 31, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in London in the latest leg of a European tour aimed at tackling the global financial and economic crisis and improving relations between the trading partners.
(Reuters, 1/31/09)
2009 Jan 31, In southern China revelers celebrating a birthday set off fireworks just before midnight inside a bar, triggering a blaze that killed 15 people and injured 22.
(AP, 2/1/09)
2009 Jan, In Ethiopia an inauguration ceremony was held for the new headquarters of the 53-member AU. Completion was expected December 2011. The structure, a gift to the AU, was designed by China, managed by China, financed by China and constructed by China.
(AFP, 1/31/10)
2009 Feb 2, A Chinese official said an estimated 26 million desperately poor rural Chinese are jobless after pinning their hopes on factory jobs that dried up due to the global economic slowdown, noting that widespread unemployment could threaten the country's social stability.
(AP, 2/2/09)
2009 Feb 2, In England a protester hurled abuse and then a shoe at China's Premier Wen Jiabao as he delivered a speech on the global economy at Cambridge University.
(AP, 2/3/09)
2009 Feb 4, Gao Zhisheng, one of China's most daring lawyers, was arrested. In Jan, 2010, the Beijing police officer who took Gao away said he "went missing" in September, leading to fears for the lawyer's safety. On Jan 21, 2010, a Foreign Ministry official said Zhisheng has been judged by legal authorities and "is where he should be." This was China's first public comment on the case. Zhisheng resurfaced in northern China on March 28, 2010, saying he wants spend time with family and away from media attention. Gao described his ordeal to The Associated Press in April and disappeared again 2 weeks later.
(AP, 1/22/10)(SFC, 3/29/10, p.A3)(AP, 1/10/11)
2009 Feb 5, China declared an emergency in eight provinces suffering a serious drought that has left nearly 4 million people without proper drinking water and is threatening millions of acres of crops. The government published a plan for the relocation and urbanization of farmers living near the Three Gorges Reservoir. Some 1.4 million farmers would have to move again.
(AP, 2/5/09)(WSJ, 2/7/09, p.A6)
2009 Feb 6, It was reported that Canada has granted Lai Changxing a work permit. Chinese authorities have accused Lai Changxing of masterminding a network that smuggled as much as $10 billion of goods with the protection of corrupt government officials. Before fleeing to Canada in 1999, Lai lived a life of luxury in China complete with a mansion and a bulletproof Mercedes.
(AP, 2/10/09)
2009 Feb 8, China’s government said that there was no end in sight for its worst drought in five decades. Some 4.4 million people lacked adequate drinking water in the north as winter wheat withered.
(SFC, 2/9/09, p.A2)
2009 Feb 9, In Beijing, China, the tower of a nearly completed skyscraper was destroyed by a fire believed to have ignited by a fireworks display marking the end of the Lunar New Year celebrations. It was part of the new headquarters for China Central Television (CCTV). In 2010 a Beijing court sentenced 20 people to up to seven years in prison over the deadly fire at CCTV's iconic headquarters.
(SFC, 2/10/09, p.A6)(AP, 5/10/10)
2009 Feb 12, China's President Hu Jintao arrived in Mali at the start of a four-country African tour which Beijing insists is about strengthening cooperation and not solely for economic gain.
(AP, 2/12/09)
2009 Feb 12, Local officials confirmed that swaths of western China that have large Tibetan populations have been declared off limits to foreign visitors, ahead of the politically sensitive 50th anniversary of a failed Tibetan uprising.
(AP, 2/12/09)
2009 Feb 12, The Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco) announced that it would invest $19.5 billion in Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto. In June it was reported that Chinalco would not complete the deal.
(Econ, 2/14/09, p.73)(AFP, 6/4/09)
2009 Feb 13, State media reported that China plans to create a blacklist of journalists who break its reporting rules, adding to an array of controls used to restrict its domestic media.
(AP, 2/13/09)
2009 Feb 13, The World Bank said it will provide a $710 million loan to China to help rebuild areas hit by last year's devastating Sichuan earthquake.
(AP, 2/13/09)
2009 Feb 14, China's Pres. Hu Jintao toured the site of a new, Chinese-financed national theater in Senegal, a day after signing a bilateral agreement promising the West African nation over $90 million in gifts and loans.
(AP, 2/14/09)
2009 Feb 15, China and Tanzania signed cooperation agreements worth millions of dollars during a visit by President Hu Jintao to this east African country aimed to reinforce ties.
(AFP, 2/15/09)
2009 Feb 15, Shots from a Russian naval vessel sank the Chinese-owned cargo ship the New Star off Russia's east coast. 8 the 16 crew members on board were killed. The Sierra Leone-flagged, Chinese-owned vessel New Star had earlier fled the Russian port of Nakhodka where it had been impounded for alleged smuggling.
(AFP, 2/20/09)
2009 Feb 16, China’s Pres. Hu Jintao arrived in Mauritius to sign deals worth more than 270 million dollars to fund infrastructure projects on the Indian Ocean island. The next day he pledged continued aid to Africa despite his country's economic downturn, and wrapped up a four-nation visit to the continent.
(AFP, 2/17/09)
2009 Feb 17, China and Russia signed a $25 billion energy deal in Beijing that will see the Asian country secure oil supplies from Moscow for the next 20 years in return for loans.
(AP, 2/17/09)
2009 Feb 18, A Chinese state news agency said AIDS was the top killer among infectious diseases in China for the first time last year, with 6,897 people dying in the nine months through September.
(AP, 2/18/09)
2009 Feb 20, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Beijing for talks with Chinese leaders after vowing not to let human rights block progress on the global economic crisis, climate change and security.
(AP, 2/20/09)
2009 Feb 20, Chinese authorities closed a chemical plant being investigated for contaminating water supplies to 1.5 million people in the country's east. Water supplies were restored after a five-hour shutdown. Biaoxin Chemical Company caused "massive" tap water pollution in Yancheng, a city in east Jiangsu province. Investigators identified the pollutant as a phenol compound used to make products including air fresheners, medical ointments, cosmetics and sunscreens.
(AP, 2/21/09)
2009 Feb 22, In northern China a gas explosion ripped through a coal mine outside Taiyuan, capital of the main coal-producing province of Shanxi, killing at least 77 miners and trapping dozens in the deadliest Chinese coal mine accident in more than a year.
(AFP, 2/22/09)(AP, 2/25/09)
2009 Feb 23, China’s state media said pig organs contaminated by a banned animal feed additive have been blamed for sickening at least 70 people in southern China. The pig organs tainted by the steroid clenbuterol were sold last week in markets in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province. Another 14 cases in Guangzhou were reported on Feb 25.
(AP, 2/23/09)(AP, 2/26/09)
2009 Feb 24, Tour agencies and other industry people reported that China has closed Tibet to foreign tourists ahead of next month's highly sensitive 50th anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
(AFP, 2/24/09)
2009 Feb 24, China’s state media reported that a Chinese delegation will buy as much as $15 billion worth of machinery, automobiles and food products while on a trip to Europe.
(WSJ, 2/25/09, p.A11)
2009 Feb 25, Russian news agencies quoted Chief Military Prosecutor Sergei Fridinsky as saying that his office has exposed an attempt by military officers to smuggle $18 million worth of stolen Russian weapons to China via Tajikistan.
(AP, 2/25/09)
2009 Feb 25, Danish and Chinese warships stopped pirates attacking two different vessels off Somalia's coast.
(AP, 2/26/09)
2009 Feb 25, In Paris an auction of art works owned by the late fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent concluded with dazzling sales of nearly $500 million. Two rare bronze sculptures that disappeared from China nearly 150 years ago and demanded back by Beijing, sold for millions. The Chinese businessman, who bid $15.1 million, later refused payment.
(AP, 2/26/09)(Econ, 3/7/09, p.92)
2009 Feb 27, In China US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense David Sedney began talks with a delegation led by Maj. Gen. Qian Lihua, the Chinese Defense Ministry's head of foreign affairs, marked a resumption of military consultations after a half-year suspension.
(AP, 2/28/09)
2009 Feb 27, A Tibetan monk, in his late 20s, was shot after dousing himself with petrol and setting himself alight in the Tibetan-populated town of Aba in China's Sichuan province. Police put out the fire, and the man was taken to hospital with burn injuries to his neck and head.
(AFP, 2/28/09)
2009 Feb 28, China's legislature enacted a tough new food safety law, promising tougher penalties for makers of tainted products in the wake of scandals that exposed serious flaws in monitoring of the nation's food supply.
(AP, 2/28/09)
2009 Feb, China extended nationwide a program of government financed discounts for household appliances. The program had been due to end in 2008, but was extended to 9 provinces in December and was now expected to continue for 4 years.
(Econ, 2/21/09, p.44)
2009 Feb, Chinese authorities started using fish to try to clean up Lake Taihu when they released 10 million mostly green and silver carp into the water, after the algae tainted the drinking supply of millions of residents. In 2010 authorities planned to release 20 million more algae-eating fish into the scenic lake ravaged by pollution.
(AFP, 2/23/10)
2009 Mar 1, China's lunar probe, the Chang'e-1, named for a moon goddess, ended its 16-month life with a planned crash into the moon.
(Reuters, 3/1/09)
2009 Mar 1, Scores of Tibetan monks in southwestern China marched in protest over the banning of a prayer service, the latest incident in an apparent increase in acts of defiance against Chinese rule ahead of sensitive anniversaries.
(AP, 3/2/09)
2009 Mar 2, A Chinese man said he was the mystery collector behind winning bids for two imperial bronzes auctioned last week at Christie's over Beijing's objections, and that he made the bogus offers to protest any sale of the looted relics. The sculptures disappeared from the Summer Palace on the outskirts of Beijing when French and British forces sacked and burned it at the end of the second Opium War in 1860. The sculptures date to the early Qing Dynasty, established by invading Manchu tribesmen in 1644. The Christie's catalog said they were made for the Zodiac fountain at the imperial palace.
(AP, 3/2/09)
2009 Mar 2, In China a top justice official said courts will accept the cases of hundreds of families with children sickened in last year's tainted milk scandal.
(AP, 3/3/09)
2009 Mar 4, In central China more than 2,000 people displaced by construction of the Three Gorges Dam clashed with police during a protest over missing resettlement payments, leaving 30 protesters injured.
(AP, 3/4/09)
2009 Mar 5, China fleshed out an ambitious expansion in government spending designed to prevent the sinking global economy from further dragging down the country's recently buoyant growth and sparking unrest among laid-off workers and poorer Chinese.
(AP, 3/5/09)
2009 Mar 6, A senior employee of Taiwan's presidential office was indicted on charges of providing classified information to rival China. Wang Jen-bing was charged with violating the national security law by leaking documents gathered during the last three years of former President Chen Shui-bian's eight-year tenure. Chen Pin-jen, a legislative aid, was indicted on similar charges.
(AP, 3/6/09)
2009 Mar 9, China's President Hu Jintao ordered a "Great Wall" against Tibetan separatism, as extra soldiers were deployed to the Himalayan region on the 50th anniversary of a failed anti-Chinese uprising. Homemade bombs damaged police vehicles in a Tibetan part of western China. Authorities expanded a security cordon across the restive region ahead of the 50th anniversary of a failed revolt that sent the Dalai Lama into exile.
(AFP, 3/9/09)(AP, 3/9/09)
2009 Mar 9, Chinese ships surrounded and harassed a Navy mapping ship in international waters off China, at one point coming within 25 feet of the American boat and strewing debris in its path. The Obama administration said it would continue naval operations in the South China Sea, most of which China considers its territory, and protested to China about what it called reckless behavior that endangered lives. China held that the USNS Impeccable was operating illegally inside its 200-mile exclusive economic zone.
(AP, 3/10/09)(WSJ, 3/11/09, p.A8)
2009 Mar 10, Tibetans and their supporters rallied across the Asia-Pacific region demanding an end to Chinese rule in their homeland on the 50th anniversary of the Dalai Lama being forced into exile. Paramilitary police and soldiers swarmed cities and villages in Tibet and restive western China, on the alert for possible unrest. The Dalai Lama said Tibet had become "hell on earth" under Beijing's control.
(AP, 3/10/09)
2009 Mar 10, The Philippine president signed a law affirming sovereignty over islands also claimed by China and Vietnam, sparking protests over the control of strategic South China Sea islands. The Chinese Embassy issued a statement expressing its "strong opposition and solemn protest" over the signing of the law.
(AP, 3/11/09)
2009 Mar 11, In eastern China 11 people were killed and 20 were injured after a blast led to the collapse of a former factory that was housing railway workers. Preliminary investigations revealed the collapse was triggered when leftover aluminium powder in the building in Danyang city, Jiangsu province ignited and exploded just after midnight.
(AFP, 3/11/09)
2009 Mar 12, China announced plans to assist millions of unemployed migrant workers with increases in grain subsidies and rural infrastructure projects.
(AP, 3/12/09)
2009 Mar 13, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Beijing is willing to hold talks with the Dalai Lama if Tibet's exiled spiritual leader abandons his separatist cause, as he defended his government's hard-line policies toward the region.
(AP, 3/13/09)
2009 Mar 14, Iran’s state TV said Iran and China have signed a $3.2 billion gas deal to produce more than 10 tons of liquid natural gas.
(AP, 3/14/09)
2009 Mar 16, The Vatican said it will launch a Chinese version of its website on March 19 in an effort to bring more of Pope Benedict's message to China, whose communist government does not allow Catholics to recognize his authority.
(Reuters, 3/16/09)
2009 Mar 18, The prime ministers of China and North Korea discussed the nuclear situation on the Korean peninsula as they met in Beijing amid rising tensions over Pyongyang's atomic and missile programs.
(AFP, 3/18/09)
2009 Mar 20, China said a new WTO report rejected the majority of intellectual property complaints made by the US and broadly backed Beijing's stance against commercial piracy.
(AP, 3/20/09)
2009 Mar 21, In northwestern China hundreds of Tibetans attacked a police station and government officials despite heightened security, prompting the arrests the next day of nearly 100 monks. The protest appeared to be in response to the disappearance of a Tibetan who escaped from police custody in Qinghai province.
(AP, 3/22/09)
2009 Mar 22, In South Africa the Sunday Independent said the Chinese embassy in South Africa had confirmed its government had appealed to South Africa not to allow the Dalai Lama into the country for a peace conference on march 27. Archbishop Tutu threatened to pull out of the meeting and to demand an explanation from the authorities.
(AP, 3/22/09)
2009 Mar 23, Gov. Zhou Xiaochuan, Chinese central bank governor, called for a new global currency controlled by the International Monetary Fund, stepping up pressure ahead of a London summit of global leaders for changes to a financial system dominated by the US dollar and Western governments.
(AP, 3/24/09)
2009 Mar 23, A northern Chinese court accepted a compensation suit against the dairy at the heart of China's tainted milk scandal, the first court to do so.
(AP, 3/25/09)
2009 Mar 23, In southwest China the ceiling at a chemical plant collapsed, killing 11 workers and leaving one person trapped under rubble. A potentially lethal radioactive material was lost after the 53-year-old Shaanxi Qinling Cement Co. was torn down in the Tongchuan city in Shaanxi province. Officials on March 27 said the material had been recovered.
(AP, 3/23/09)(AP, 3/27/09)
2009 Mar 25, China’s state media said forestry officials in far western China have resorted to scattering abortion pills near gerbil burrows in a bid to halt a rodent plague threatening the desert region's fragile ecosystem.
(AP, 3/25/09)
2009 Mar 25, Australia PM Kevin Rudd visited the US and urged Americans not to view China as an enemy but as a country offering huge economic opportunities, even though its leaders have "done some bad things in the past."
(AP, 3/26/09)
2009 Mar 26, In Ganzi, China, a predominantly Tibetan prefecture in Sichuan province, Phuntsok Rabten (27), a Tibetan Buddhist monk of Draggo monastery, was found dead. He had called for protests against Chinese authorities. He had fled on a motorcycle after police in a van discovered him distributing flyers urging Tibetans to leave their farming plots untended.
(AP, 3/31/09)
2009 Mar 27, Chinese health officials said that hand, foot and mouth disease has sickened 41,000 people across the country and killed 18 children so far this year.
(AP, 3/27/09)
2009 Mar 27, In China a minibus collided with two trucks and a bus tumbled into a mountain gorge in two unrelated crashes, killing a total of 37 people.
(AP, 3/27/09)
2009 Mar 28, Tibetans rallied against the China’s new holiday, Serfs Liberation Day, on the 50th anniversary of Beijing’s crushing of a Tibetan uprising that led to the Dalai lama’s exile.
(AP, 3/29/09)
2009 Mar 29, Canadian researchers said a shadowy cyber-espionage network based mostly in China has infiltrated secret government and private computers around the world, including those of the Dalai Lama. They said the network, known as GhostNet, had infected 1,295 computers in 103 countries and penetrated systems containing sensitive information in top political, economic and media offices.
(AP, 3/29/09)
2009 Mar 30, Banking officials meeting in Colombia said Argentina and China have tentatively agreed to swap $10 billion worth of their currencies to enable South America's second-largest economy to avoid using dollars in trade between the nations.
(AP, 3/30/09)
2009 Mar 31, In China and official said police have arrested nine people and revoked the license of a livestock market owner in a case involving pork tainted with a chemical that made 70 people sick in Guangzhou, southern China's biggest city. Investigators determined the pork was tainted with clenbuterol and ractopamine, banned chemicals used to make animals develop more muscle and less fat.
(AP, 3/31/09)
2009 Apr 1, In London Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama said Russia and the United States will pursue a new deal to cut nuclear warheads, making good on a pledge to rebuild relations from a post-Cold War low. The US and China agreed to establish a "strategic and economic dialogue" group that would first meet in Washington later this year.
(Reuters, 4/1/09)
2009 Apr 5, State media said China has reopened Tibet to foreign tourists almost two months after imposing a ban ahead of politically sensitive anniversaries.
(AP, 4/5/09)
2009 Apr 6, China announced it will make improved health care services available to all its citizens by 2020, taking aim at a system long derided as creaking and inadequate.
(AP, 4/6/09)
2009 Apr 8, In China visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said the world's center of gravity has moved to Beijing, as he focused on boosting Chinese oil purchases.
(AP, 4/8/09)
2009 Apr 8, China said that it would build a clinic in each of its nearly 700,000 villages within three years, part of a sweeping 850 billion yuan ($124 billion) investment in health care reform.
(AP, 4/8/09)
2009 Apr 8, China's state media said a court in Tibet has sentenced two people to death over riots in Lhasa last year, in what was the harshest sentence yet reported over the deadly unrest. Xinhua said the crimes committed by the five defendants resulted in seven deaths and the destruction of five shops in Lhasa.
(AFP, 4/8/09)
2009 Apr 9, A Chinese court executed two men from a Muslim minority group for killing 17 police in an attack in China's far west that the government portrayed as an attempt to sabotage the Beijing Olympics.
(AP, 4/9/09)
2009 Apr 10, About 30 protesters tried to force their way into China's elite Peking University to confront Sun Dongdong, a law professor, who said 99 percent of the people petitioning the government with grievances are mentally ill and could be institutionalized.
(AP, 4/10/09)
2009 Apr 10, A study was released saying China has 32 million more young men than young women, a gender gap that could lead to increasing crime, because parents facing strict birth limits abort female fetuses to have a son.
(AP, 4/10/09)
2009 Apr 12, China announced a $10 billion infrastructure fund and $15 billion in credits and loans to help its Southeast Asian neighbors face the global financial crises.
(WSJ, 4/13/09, p.A9)
2009 Apr 13, China released its first human rights action plan, pledging to improve the treatment of minorities and do more to prevent the torture of detainees but said that raising living standards would remain a central goal.
(AP, 4/13/09)
2009 Apr 14, In southern China hundreds of workers at a textile factory blocked roads, in a second day of protests over unpaid wages.
(AP, 4/14/09)
2009 Apr 15, China fired into orbit its second satellite in a program to build an alternative to the global positioning system based on U.S. satellites.
(AP, 4/15/09)
2009 Apr 17, In central China a warehouse explosion reportedly killed 18 people and injured three at an illegal coal mine in Hunan province. State television reported that six people were injured in the blast with 2 missing.
(AP, 4/18/09)
2009 Apr 19, The Shanghai Motor Show opened. Porsche kicked off the show by unveiling the Panamera, the German luxury carmaker's first foray into the sedan segment.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8007484.stm)
2009 Apr 20, In China a new English-language paper published by the Communist Party hit newsstands, part of Beijing's efforts to raise its profile on the global stage and find an international audience for the party line.
(AP, 4/20/09)
2009 Apr 20, At the Shanghai Motor Show Rolls Royce CEO Tom Purves announced that the company's new model would be called Ghost.
(http://tinyurl.com/dfqycq)(Econ, 5/9/09, p.66)
2009 Apr 21, In China three people were sentenced to lengthy prison terms for deadly arson attacks during last year's rioting in the Tibetan capital.
(AP, 4/21/09)
2009 Apr 22, The film “City of Life and Death," written and directed by Chuan Lu, opened in China. It depicted the 1937 Japanese assault on Nanjing.
(Econ, 5/2/09, p.43)(www.imdb.com/title/tt1124052/)
2009 Apr 24, China enacted a new postal law propping up its China Post monopoly. It imposed new rules on small domestic companies and severely limited the activities of foreign owned firms.
(Econ, 5/2/09, p.65)
2009 Apr 26, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi wrapped up a regional Middle East visit in Damascus saying Israel should return the Golan Heights to Syria.
(AFP, 4/26/09)
2009 Apr 28, In eastern China police freed a total of 32 people in a raid on kilns located on the outskirts of the city of Jieshou in Anhui province. Police later arrested 10 men for allegedly enslaving mentally handicapped people who were forced to work at brick kilns and endure beatings.
(AP, 5/22/09)
2009 Apr 29, The prime ministers of China and Japan pledged to lay a stronger foundation for cooperation between the historic Asian rivals amid global economic and health crises.
(AFP, 4/29/09)
2009 Apr 29, Taiwan said it had persuaded China to allow it to participate in a key UN body, offering a victory for President Ma Ying-jeou's campaign to win greater international recognition for the democratic island. China confirmed that Taiwan will attend next month's meeting of the World Health Assembly in Geneva as an observer.
(AP, 4/29/09)
2009 Apr 29, China Mobile said it would buy 12% of Far EasTone Telecommunications, a big Taiwanese mobile operator.
(Econ, 5/9/09, p.65)
2009 Apr 30, In Beijing Japan’s PM Taro Aso called for Tokyo and Beijing to unite in facing the world's environmental and economic challenges, while playing down concerns over China's military power.
(AP, 4/30/09)
2009 Apr 30, Chinese state media reported that China has reopened its land border to tourists traveling to North Korea after a three-year break, with a group of 71 tourists visiting the isolated country earlier this week on a one day tour of Sinuiju.
(AP, 4/30/09)
2009 May 3, China tightened visa rules for citizens from the US, which has reported the second highest number of swine flu cases in the world.
(AP, 5/5/09)
2009 May 5, China said it has given 10 million dollars (7.5 million euros) to Zimbabwe, half of it directly into the state coffers, to help boost the country's troubled economy.
(AP, 5/5/09)
2009 May 5, In central China more than 1,000 villagers clashed with police following a land dispute with construction workers that left one person dead. Protests continued into the next day.
(AP, 5/7/09)
2009 May 10, In China Deng Yujiao (21), a karaoke bar waitress, turned herself in shortly after allegedly using a fruit knife to stab Deng Guida (43), who ran a local government office for business promotion. She had also attacked his colleague Huang Dezhi at Badong's Xiongfeng Hotel after they tried to force her into having sex. On May 22 the local government in the central city of Badong posted a statement online promising her fair treatment. On May 31 the government announced that the two surviving officials had been sacked. On June 16 Yujiao was freed.
(AP, 5/22/09)(Econ, 6/6/09, p.40)(AP, 6/16/09)
2009 May 12, The US won a seat on the UN Human Rights Council for the first time along with Cuba, Saudi Arabia, China and Russia, four countries accused of serious human rights violations.
(SFC, 5/13/09, p.A2)
2009 May 15, Microsoft Corp. announced a 3-year partnership aimed at helping make the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou a model for innovation and protection of intellectual property, in the company's latest attempt to combat rampant software piracy.
(AP, 5/15/09)
2009 May 18, In China a government spokesman said a sex theme park that featured explicit exhibits of genitalia and sexual culture is being demolished before it can even open. The park, christened "Love Land" by its owners, went under the wrecking ball over the weekend in the southwestern city of Chongqing.
(AP, 5/18/09)
2009 May 19, China’s government Web site said Liu Youjun (46), a senior official in southern Guangdong province, has been detained in an apparent corruption sweep that has already targeted other major figures in the wealthy region on the cutting-edge of China's economic reforms.
(AP, 5/19/09)
2009 May 19, China and Brazil signed a raft of agreements in Beijing including a $10 billion loan for the South American country's state energy company and a deal to send oil to China amid stronger ties between the two developing world giants.
(AP, 5/19/09)
2009 May 20, EU and Chinese leaders met in Prague to tackle the economic crisis and turn the page on tensions over the Dalai Lama. Lingering differences cast a shadow over the talks.
(AFP, 5/20/09)
2009 May 30, In southwest China 25 miners were killed and 20 trapped by a gas explosion at the Tonghua Coal Mine in Anwen town, Chongqing municipality.
(AFP, 5/30/09)
2009 May 31, In Beijing US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, aiming to persuade China that its US investments were safe, pledged that the Obama administration was firmly committed to ratcheting down huge deficits as quickly as it can once economic recovery is assured.
(Reuters, 5/31/09)
2009 Jun 1, In China US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner reassured the Chinese government that its huge holdings of dollar assets are safe and reaffirmed his faith in a strong US currency.
(AP, 6/1/09)
2009 Jun 1, China's special envoy to Darfur met with Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir and pledged three million dollars in humanitarian aid for the volatile region. Liu Guijin "greeted the president for the beginning of talks in Doha between the JEM and the government."
(AFP, 6/2/09)
2009 Jun 2, GM struck a tentative deal to sell its Hummer brand to China’s Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co.
(SFC, 6/3/09, p.C2)
2009 Jun 3, In China foreign journalists were barred from Beijing's Tiananmen Square as an Internet clampdown that blocked Twitter expanded to include more blogs on the eve of the 20th anniversary of a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests.
(AP, 6/3/09)
2009 Jun 3, In central China a storm with gale-force winds killed 20 people and seriously injured 117 as it swept through Shangqiu and Kaifeng in Henan province.
(AP, 6/4/09)
2009 Jun 4, China aggressively deterred dissent in Beijing on the 20th anniversary of the crackdown on democracy activists in Tiananmen Square. But tens of thousands turned out for a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong to mourn the many demonstrators who were killed.
(AP, 6/4/09)
2009 Jun 5, In southwestern China at least 26 people were buried when part of a mountain collapsed in a massive landslide in a remote area of Wulong county in Chongqing municipality. 74 people were missing, including 47 workers at an iron ore mine, 21 local residents, two telecom company workers and four passers-by. 27 people died and dozens were hurt when a packed commuter bus burst into flames and was destroyed within minutes during the morning rush hour in the southwestern city of Chengdu. Police later said a 62-year-old unemployed man set the fire after carrying a bucket of gasoline onto the bus.
(AP, 6/5/09)(AP, 6/6/09)(AP, 7/3/09)
2009 Jun 6, Chinese rescuers found the body of Jonny Copp, an American mountain climber, following an avalanche in an isolated part of southwestern China. Wade Johnson (24) of Arden Hills, Minnesota, and Micah Dash and Jonny Copp of Boulder, Colo., were last heard from May 20 at the base camp of Mount Edgar, a peak of Mount Gongga. Johnson’s body was recovered on June 8.
(AP, 6/6/09)(AP, 6/8/09)
2009 Jun 6, It was reported that Chinese aid to Myanmar totaled some $400 million over the past five years. US aid to Myanmar was said to be worth $12 million a year.
(Econ, 6/6/09, p.59)
2009 Jun 6, Turkmenistan state media reported that China will lend the energy-rich country $3 billion to develop its vast South Yolotan natural gas field.
(AP, 6/6/09)
2009 Jun 7, China and Japan pledged to throw their combined weight behind efforts to revive the struggling world economy after talks aimed at boosting trade between the two powers.
(AFP, 6/7/09)
2009 Jun 8, The Wall Street Journal reported that China will require all personal computers sold in the country from July 1 to come with software that blocks access to certain websites. The program aimed to prevent the spread of pornography and other "unhealthy" content. On June 16 the government backed away from the order required use of installation of the Green Dam Youth Escort software, but the software would come pre-installed or included with all PCs sold on the mainland as of July 1.
(AFP, 6/8/09)(AP, 6/9/09)(SFC, 6/17/09, p.C3)
2009 Jun 10, a Chinese submarine collided with an underwater sonar apparatus towed by a US destroyer near Subic Bay, off the coast of the Philippines. Officials later said the collision with the sonar array connected to the USS John S. McCain probably occurred due to a misjudgment of distance.
(AP, 6/15/09)
2009 Jun 13, In China a colorful show of drag queens dressed in Chinese opera costumes was one of the festivities that marked Shanghai's gay pride, the first in China where homosexuality remains largely hidden.
(AP, 6/13/09)
2009 Jun 15, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) and China's state oil firm SIPEC said they have discovered crude oil in Niger Delta region.
(AFP, 6/15/09)
2009 Jun 16, China’s Pres. Hu Jintao announced a $10 billion loan to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, founded in 2001. The SCO grouped China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
(http://tinyurl.com/pr5v65j)(Econ, 1/30/10, p.51)
2009 Jun 17, China and Russia expressed serious concern about tension on the Korean peninsula and, in the face of North Korea's rhetoric, joined international pressure for it to return to nuclear talks.
(AP, 6/17/09)
2009 Jun 17, In China’s Hubei province, the body of Tu Yuangao (24) was found in front of the Shishou city hotel. Xinhua News later said that Tu worked as a chef at the hotel and some believed he was killed by gangsters or by the hotel's boss, who is related to the city mayor. The Communist Party boss of Shishou and head of law enforcement were dismissed on July 25 for mishandling the violent protests that followed Yuangao’s death.
(AP, 6/21/09)(AP, 7/25/09)
2009 Jun 17, In China 16 miners became stuck when the Xinqiao Coal Mine flooded in Henan province. 3 of the men were rescued on July 12.
(AP, 7/13/09)
2009 Jun 18, China's Internet watchdog condemned the Chinese-language version of Google for "disseminating pornographic and vulgar information."
(AP, 6/18/09)
2009 Jun 18, China angrily denounced the recent approval by the Asian Development Bank of a 2.9-billion-dollar funding plan for India, saying the scheme encroached on a territorial dispute between the Asian giants. China was particularly concerned about a 60-million-dollar watershed protection project in the Arunachal Pradesh region, where much of China and India's territorial dispute is centered.
(AFP, 6/18/09)
2009 Jun 19, Google Inc. said that it was working to block pornography reaching users of its Chinese service after a mainland watchdog found the search engine turned up large numbers of links to obscene and vulgar sites.
(AP, 6/19/09)
2009 Jun 20, In central China hundreds of baton-wielding police dispersed protesters and cordoned off a Shishou city hotel after a young man's mysterious death sparked unrest [see June 17]. In eastern China an explosion at a factory producing quartz sand killed 16 people and injured dozens in Fengyang, a county in Anhui province.
(AP, 6/21/09)
2009 Jun 21, In China the Danish-Swedish comedy “Original," about mental illness, won the best picture at the 12th Shanghai International Film Festival. It also took the best actor award for lead Sverrir Gudnason.
(AFP, 6/22/09)
2009 Jun 23, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk said the United States is launching a World Trade Organization case against China over its export restrictions on raw materials. The EU said it was joining the US in the action, which follows failure to persuade China to reduce its export tariffs and raise quotas on materials such as zinc, tin, tungsten and yellow phosphorous.
(Reuters, 6/23/09)
2009 Jun 25, The EU said it will give China up to euro50 million ($70 million) to build a carbon capture and storage plant that will test a technology aimed at limiting climate change.
(AP, 6/25/09)
2009 Jun 26, Dozens of China's most prominent writers and scholars called for the release of Liu Xiaobo (53), a dissident who was arrested on Dec 8, 2008, after co-authoring a bold manifesto urging civil rights and political reforms. Xiaobo, who had been held by police at a secret location for more than six months, was formally arrested this week on suspicion of "inciting to subvert state power," a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in jail. In southern China ethnic tensions between workers at a toy factory sparked a brawl that left two Uighurs dead and 118 injured. Han Chinese workers had accused Uighurs of rape.
(AP, 6/26/09)(AP, 6/27/09)(Econ, 7/11/09, p.27)(AP, 10/2/10)
2009 Jun 27, In China a nearly finished 13-story apartment building collapsed in Shanghai killing one worker. Authorities soon detained nine people in an investigation into the collapse.
(AP, 6/29/09)
2009 Jun 29, In China two passenger trains collided in Hunan province in an accident that killed three people and injured 60 as train cars were derailed and nearby houses knocked over. In northeastern China one man died after part of a bridge caved in, sending eight vehicles plunging into the river below.
(AP, 6/29/09)
2009 Jun 29, The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China urged Beijing to reconsider implementing a controversial Internet filter, saying it raised serious concerns about security, privacy and user choice.
(AP, 6/29/09)
2009 Jun 29, In Zimbabwe PM Morgan Tsvangirai's party boycotted a meeting of the cabinet on the grounds that it made a mockery of the country's power-sharing deal. Tsvangirai said Zimbabwe has won 950 million dollars in credit lines from China, the largest loan secured by the unity government since it was formed in February.
(AFP, 6/29/09)AFP, 6/30/09)
2009 Jun 30, China postponed a plan to require personal computer makers to supply Internet-filtering software, retreating in the face of protests by Washington and Web surfers hours before it was due to take effect.
(AP, 6/30/09)
2009 Jul 1, Iraq's government approved a BP-led consortium's offer to develop a giant southern oil field near Basra, moving forward with the only deal struck during a disappointing international oil auction. On Oct 16 the Iraqi government approved the deal by BP and its Chinese partner CNPC to develop the 17.8 billion barrel Rumaila field, the 2nd largest in the Middle East. A bombing in Kirkuk killed at least 30 people.
(AP, 7/1/09)(AP, 7/2/09)(AP, 10/17/09)(Econ, 12/4/10, p.58)
2009 Jul 5, In China’s far west protesters from a Muslim ethnic group clashed with police, with activists saying police fired shots in the air and used batons to disperse a crowd that had swelled to nearly 1,000. Over the next few days some 192 people were killed and over 800 wounded in protests that roiled Urumqi, the capital of western Xinjiang province. State media said at least 20 people have died and more than 670,000 had to be evacuated in China after torrential rain and floods destroyed houses, damaged roads and caused rivers to overflow.
(AP, 7/5/09)(AFP, 7/5/09)(Time.com, 7/6/09)(AP, 7/16/09)
2009 Jul 7, In China mobs of Han Chinese wielding meat cleavers and clubs and groups of Muslim Uighur men beat people in the streets of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang region. The government imposed a curfew as it tried to stem communal violence. The official Xinhua News Agency said that 1,434 suspects had been arrested, and that checkpoints had been set up to stop rioters from escaping.
(AP, 7/7/09)
2009 Jul 7, The Cameroonian newspaper Le Jour said five Chinese workers were abducted off the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula in Cameroon near the border with Nigeria.
(AFP, 7/8/09)
2009 Jul 8, In China hundreds of helmeted troops in riot gear swarmed the central square of Urumqi, capital of western Xinjiang, after ethnic riots left some 192 dead. The city's Communist Party boss promised those behind the killings would be executed. On July 11 China said 137 of the riot victims were Han while 46 were Uighurs and one was a Hui, another Muslim group. Uighurs on the streets of Urumqi, and from exile activist groups disputed the new figures.
(AP, 7/8/09)(AP, 7/11/09)(AP, 7/15/09)
2009 Jul 8, Australia said Chinese authorities had detained Stern Hu, Rio Tinto Ltd's top iron ore negotiator, as well as three other Rio employees on suspicion of espionage and stealing state secrets, threatening to strain already fraying ties.
(Reuters, 7/8/09)
2009 Jul 9, In China a 6.0 earthquake rocked Yunnan province, killing one person and destroying thousands of houses. More than 400,000 people left their homes following the tremor that left at least one person dead.
(AP, 7/10/09)
2009 Jul 10, In China boisterous crowds turned up at mosques in riot-hit parts of Urumqi, ignoring orders canceling Friday prayers due to the ethnic violence and forcing officials to let them in.
(AP, 7/10/09)
2009 Jul 10, China’s state media said 4 detained Rio Tinto Ltd. employees are accused of paying bribes for secret information about China's stance in iron ore price talks. A Chinese steel executive, also detained along with four Rio Tinto employees, was being investigated for leaking China's "bottom line" on iron ore prices. Chinalco denied the move was payback for a collapsed deal.
(AP, 7/10/09)(Reuters, 7/10/09)
2009 Jul 13, In China police shot dead two Uighur men and wounded a third on the streets of Urumqi, where tens of thousands of troops are stationed to restore calm a week after deadly ethnic riots.
(AP, 7/13/09)
2009 Jul 13, China's Health Ministry ordered a hospital to stop using electric shock therapy to cure youths of Internet addiction, saying there was no scientific evidence it worked.
(AP, 7/14/09)
2009 Jul 15, In China the former head of oil giant Sinopec was sentenced to death after being found guilty of corrupt practices over many years, but state press reported that he will likely not be executed. The Beijing court had found Chen Tonghai guilty of graft amounting to 195.7 million yuan (28.8 million dollars) when he served in top Sinopec ranks from 1999 to 2007.
(AFP, 7/15/09)
2009 Jul 16, Australia and China traded warnings over Rio Tinto employees detained for spying, as the United States urged Beijing to ensure transparency and fair treatment for staff of foreign companies.
(Reuters, 7/16/09)
2009 Jul 16, In Taiwan’s southern city of Kaohsiung, more than 3,000 athletes and staff from 105 countries and territories marched into the World Games Stadium, a new, eye-catching structure designed by renowned Japanese architect Toyo Ito. China’s 100-strong delegation boycotted the opening ceremony of the World Games in Taiwan, underscoring the limits of the historic breakthrough in relations between Taipei and Beijing.
(AP, 7/16/09)
2009 Jul 17, In China government officials in Beijing descended on the Open Constitution Initiative (OCI), a public interest lawyer’s group that challenged abuse and corruption by state and local governments. They took away almost everything the group owned and tax authorities ordered it to pay $207,900.
(Econ, 7/25/09, p.38)
2009 Jul 19, In Kazakhstan more than 5,000 ethnic Uighurs rallied in Almaty to protest China's use of deadly force to quash Uighur protests this month.
(AP, 7/19/09)
2009 Jul 20, Algeria’s Ministry of Transport said the Chinese civil engineering group CCECC has won 3 contracts worth a total of 1.46 billion euros to build railways in Algeria.
(AFP, 7/20/09)
2009 Jul 21, Several Chinese Internet sites and parts of popular Web portals went offline amid tightening controls that have already left mainland Web users without access to Facebook, Twitter and other well-known social networking sites.
(AP, 7/21/09)
2009 Jul 23, Chinese researchers reported that they have produced living mice from connective tissue cells induced to revert to their embryonic state.
(SFC, 7/24/09, p.A11)
2009 Jul 23, In China female panda You You (pronounced Yo Yo) gave birth to the new cub at the Wolong Giant Panda Research Center in southwestern Sichuan. This was the first successful birth of a panda cub from artificial insemination using frozen sperm, giving a new option for the notoriously poor breeders.
(AP, 7/24/09)
2009 Jul 23, In China a landslide triggered by heavy rain hit a county in southwestern Sichuan province, killing at least four people and leaving 53 others missing.
(AP, 7/23/09)
2009 Jul 24, In China some 30,000 steelworkers in Tonghua clashed with police in a protest over plans to merge their mill with another company. Angry employees of Tonghua Iron and Steel Group attacked Jianlong Steel general manager Chen Guojun during the protest and beat him to death.
(AP, 7/25/09)
2009 Jul 25, In eastern China more than 3,000 villagers of Shipu town, in Zhejiang province, blocked a highway and clashed with police while protesting alleged official corruption in a land compensation deal.
(AP, 7/26/09)
2009 Jul 25, Chinese state television launched an Arabic-language channel beamed to the Middle East and Africa as part of efforts to expand the communist government's media influence abroad.
(AP, 7/25/09)
2009 Jul 26, In Macao, China, Fernando Chui (52), the sole candidate for chief executive in the former Portuguese colony, was endorsed by a 300-member panel in the first leadership change since Macao reverted to Chinese rule in 1999.
(AP, 7/26/09)
2009 Jul 27, President Barack Obama in Washington, DC, opened 2 days of high-level talks with China. Obama called for deeper US-Chinese economic cooperation and outlined a broad agenda for a positive relationship between two countries that do not always see eye to eye.
(Reuters, 7/27/09)
2009 Jul 28, A court in southwest China accepted the country's first lawsuit filed by an environmental group against a local government. The All-China Environmental Federation had filed the suit on behalf of residents against the local land resources bureau in Qingzhen city in Guizhou province, which sold land to a drink and ice cream processing plant they allege is a threat to a scenic lake area.
(AP, 7/31/09)
2009 Jul 29, China’s state media reported that contaminated drinking water has sickened more than 2,600 people in northern China, including 59 who were hospitalized with fevers, diarrhea, stomach aches and vomiting.
(AP, 7/29/09)
2009 Jul 29, In China Xu Zhiyong (35), prominent legal scholar, was arrested in Beijing. A week later he was accused of tax evasion. His group had tackled some of China’s most politically sensitive cases.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xu_Zhiyong)(SFC, 8/5/09, p.A2)
2009 Jul 29, The anti-death penalty group Hands Off Cain said the number of prisoners put to death worldwide decreased in 2008. At least 5,727 executions were carried out in 2008, down from 5,851 the year before. China accounted for at least 5,000 executions, or 87.3$ of the total, the same estimate as last year.
(AP, 7/29/09)
2009 Jul 30, In China nearly a thousand villagers gathered at government and police offices in Zhentou township in Hunan province to highlight what they say is deadly pollution being discharged from the Xianghe Chemical Factory in nearby Liuyang city.
(AP, 8/2/09)
2009 Jul, Chinese authorities, following riots in Xinjiang province, put the province under electronic lockdown for the next 10 months. Clashes between Uighurs and Hans left some 200 people dead in Urumqi.
(AP, 9/3/09)(Econ, 4/6/13, SR p.15)(Econ, 8/9/14, p.38)
2009 Aug 1, China’s Ziketan town in Qinghai province was put under collective quarantine when laboratory tests showed it had been struck by the highly virulent disease. 2 of its residents had recently died from pneumonic plague, which spreads through the air, making it easier to contract than bubonic plague, which requires that a person is bitten by an infected flea. Its fatality rate was up to 100% if left untreated, compared with 60% for bubonic plague. The outbreak was first detected on July 30.
(AFP, 8/2/09)(AP, 8/4/09)
2009 Aug 1, Chinese police detained the head of the Xianghe Chemical Factory and the government suspended the chief and deputy chief of the city's environment protection bureau.
(AP, 8/2/09)
2009 Aug 2, China reported that police in the northwest region of Xinjiang have arrested hundreds of people in connection with disturbances that left at least 197 people dead.
(AFP, 8/2/09)
2009 Aug 3, China’s state media reported that more than 500 villagers in central China have been found to have high concentrations of a dangerous metal in their bodies after a series of leaks from the Changsha Xianghe Chemical Plant in Hunan province's Zhentou township. 509 people were found to have high concentrations of cadmium and 33 were hospitalized over the weekend.
(AP, 8/3/09)
2009 Aug 4, China’s state media reported that police have formally arrested 83 people on charges including murder and arson in connection with last month's deadly rioting in the western region of Xinjiang.
(AP, 8/4/09)
2009 Aug 4, In northern China an unfinished factory building collapsed as torrential rain hit the city of Shijiazhuang. 17 people were reported killed.
(AP, 8/4/09)
2009 Aug 7, In China Li Peiying (60), the former head of Beijing airport's management company, was executed following his conviction on corruption charges. He was found guilty in February of accepting almost $4 million in bribes and embezzling about $12 million in public money since 1995.
(AP, 8/7/09)
2009 Aug 8, In China hundreds of villagers rioted after news broke about the lead poisoning at the Wugang Manganese Smelting Plant in Wenping township, central Hunan province. A crowd of 600 to 700 people overturned four police cars and smashed a local government sign. China later detained two factory officials after 1,354 children were reported poisoned by lead pollution from the manganese processing plant.
(AP, 8/20/09)
2009 Aug 8, Myanmar government troops seized a weapons factory near the Chinese border after being informed about it during a ministerial meeting with China on combating transnational crime. This triggered several days of clashes with an ethnic militia that sent more than 30,000 refugees fleeing across the border into China.
(AP, 9/9/09)
2009 Aug 9, Typhoon Morakot slammed into China's eastern coast, forcing the evacuation of nearly a million people after earlier lashing Taiwan with torrential rains that caused the island's worst flooding in 50 years and left dozens missing and feared dead.
(AP, 8/9/09)
2009 Aug 10, China said that it has released more than 1,200 detainees held over the unrest in Tibet last year while more than 700 people are still being held over last month's riots in Xinjiang. China's police said they have installed 2.75 million surveillance cameras since 2003 and are expanding the system into the largely neglected countryside.
(AFP, 8/10/09)
2009 Aug 11, China formally arrested four employees of Anglo-American mining giant Rio Tinto Ltd. for infringing trade secrets and bribery, but stopped short of laying politically explosive espionage charges in a case that has strained ties with key trading partner Australia.
(AP, 8/12/09)
2009 Aug 12, China’s state media reported that authorities in northern China have shut down the Dongling Lead and Zinc Smelting Co. in Shaanxi province after it was found to have caused lead poisoning that sickened more than 300 children. Media later reported that 851 children in Changqing township had tested positive for lead poisoning.
(AP, 8/12/09)(AP, 8/14/09)(AFP, 8/19/09)
2009 Aug 12, The WTO upheld American complaints that China breaks trade commitments by the way it regulates the import and distribution of foreign publications, films and music. The initial complaint was filed in 2007 and was later joined by the EU, Japan, Australia and others.
(Econ, 8/15/09, p.36)
2009 Aug 13, Chinese officials retreated from a plan to install anti-pornography software on every computer sold, but said Internet cafes, schools and other public places must use the program.
(SFC, 8/14/09, p.A2)
2009 Aug 16, Chinese authorities in central Henan province called off the takeover of Linzhou Iron and Steel Co. Ltd., a state-owned steel plant, after workers protested and trapped an official in the factory office for four days, the second time in a month that the country's steelworkers have rallied to successfully avoid privatization.
(AP, 8/16/09)
2009 Aug 19, Australia celebrated the biggest trade deal in its history and said it proved vital ties with China had survived a series of bruising rows. PM Kevin Rudd said ExxonMobil's 41.3 billion US dollar liquefied natural gas contract with PetroChina would create up to 6,000 jobs and pump billions of dollars into the economy. PetroChina ordered 2.25 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) a year over two decades from ExxonMobil's share of the still-undeveloped Gorgon plant off Western Australia.
(AFP, 8/19/09)
2009 Aug 23, A Chinese state news agency reported that a drought in the north has left nearly 5 million people short of drinking water and damaged crops, while dry weather in the south could cause more shortages.
(AP, 8/23/09)
2009 Aug 24, In China 14 workers were killed in a gas explosion at a coal mine in northern Shanxi province.
(AP, 8/25/09)
2009 Aug 25, In China Wang Yunlong, the head of the legislative committee on agriculture and rural affairs, told his fellow lawmakers that efforts to stop the use of "lean meat powder" (clenbuterol) had fallen short in many areas and called for a "concentrated countrywide effort to bring it under control." Farmers used the banned drug because it boosted profits in two ways: It speeds up the growth of animals to get them to market quicker and creates meat for which consumers are willing to pay extra.
(AP, 1/24/11)
2009 Aug 26, China’s state media reported that the majority of transplanted organs in China come from executed prisoners in a rare disclosure about an industry often criticized for being opaque and unethical.
(AP, 8/26/09)
2009 Aug 26, In China six members of an alleged "terror gang" were detained in the suburbs of the city of Aksu, 675km (420 miles) southwest of Urumqi. The Ministry of Public Security later said a "large quantity" of materials and tools needed to make explosive devices was seized.
(AFP, 9/16/09)
2009 Aug 27, In Myanmar fresh fighting erupted between government forces and an armed ethnic group in the remote northeast, forcing tens of thousands to flee across the border into China.
(Reuters, 8/28/09)
2009 Aug 28, In China 15 miners died after inhaling poisonous gas at the Jicai Graphite Mine near Chenzhou City in central Hunan province.
(AP, 8/29/09)
2009 Aug 29, Fighting erupted in northeast Myanmar after days of clashes in which the leader of ethnic forces said more than 30 government troops had been killed. Hundreds of ethnic rebels fled clashes in northeastern Myanmar, surrendering their weapons and uniforms to Chinese border police and crossing to safety after several days of skirmishes with Myanmar government troops. The UN and Chinese officials said up to 30,000 civilian refugees have streamed into China to escape the fighting.
(Reuters, 8/29/09)(AP, 8/30/09)
2009 Aug 30, In eastern China Yu Xiaochun (37) was going home when she was surrounded by five Wal-Mart employees, four men and one woman, all in their 20s, who accused her of shoplifting. They fought and Yu fell to the ground and was taken to a hospital, where she died on Sept. 2. Two employees, a man surnamed Liu and a man surnamed Yu, were detained following her death.
(AP, 9/8/09)
2009 Aug 30, The Myanmar junta ended a news blackout about clashes with ethnic rebels near the China border, saying three days of fighting killed 26 government forces and at least eight rebels.
(AP, 8/30/09)
2009 Aug 31, In China a demonstration occurred when angry villagers from Fujian province's Fengwei town confronted 2,000 riot police over a wastewater treatment plant that had fouled local air and water. At least 10 people were injured when the demonstrations turned violent and riot police fired warning shots.
(AP, 9/1/09)
2009 Aug 31, Thousands of Myanmar refugees headed home from China as fighting between government troops and a rebel militia that left more than 30 people dead appeared to be over.
(AP, 8/31/09)
2009 Aug, In China the Canton Tower was topped out in Guangzhou. At 1,969 feet it was the world’s tallest tower. It opened on Sep 30, 2010.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canton_Tower)
2009 Aug, In China a new micro-blogging service (Sina Weibo), similar to Twitter, began operating. Property mogul Pan Shiyi, co-founder of SOHO hina, was signed on for one of the first 20 accounts.
(Econ, 10/30/10, p.42)(Econ, 4/6/13, SR p.7)
2009 Sep 2, In eastern China a chemical explosion near Linyi city in Shandong province killed 18 people and injured 10 others.
(AP, 9/2/09)
2009 Sep 2, The IMF said China is buying the equivalent of $50 billion of the International Monetary Fund's first bond sale in a move that might boost Beijing's standing in the Fund and help its quiet campaign to expand the reach of its tightly controlled currency. Brazil, Russia and India have also agreed to participate in the $80 billion issue.
(www.wsoctv.com/money/20698248/detail.html)(Econ, 9/19/09, p.83)
2009 Sep 3, Hundreds of Chinese protested deteriorating public safety after a series of mysterious syringe attacks further unnerved residents in the western Chinese city of Urumqi where ethnic rioting in July killed nearly 200 people.
(AP, 9/3/09)
2009 Sep 4, In China security forces in the far-west city of Urumqi used tear gas to break up fresh protests, as thousands of Han Chinese demanded better security after a reported spate of attacks with syringes.
(Reuters, 9/4/09)
2009 Sep 5, Chinese leaders removed the Communist Party chief of the restive western city of Urumqi, trying to appease public anger following sometimes violent protests this week that the government worries could re-ignite deadly ethnic rioting. The removal of Li Zhi came amid reports of police again dispersing crowds outside Urumqi's government offices using tear gas, and more unconfirmed reports of needle attacks.
(Reuters, 9/5/09)
2009 Sep 8, In central China's Henan province an explosion at an illegal coal mine killed 42 miners and left another 37 men trapped. Elsewhere in Henan province 13 workers were killed in gold mine fire sparked by the severing of electrical wires in a cave-in.
(AP, 9/8/09)(AP, 9/9/09)
2009 Sep 11, Chinese officials said mystery needle attacks appeared to spread in China's far western region as authorities arrested nine new suspects in three cities. Since last week, more than 500 people in Urumqi have reported attacks, though only about 100 showed evidence of being pricked.
(AP, 9/11/09)
2009 Sep 11, Europe's biggest automaker Volkswagen said it planned to invest 4.0 billion euros (5.8 billion dollars) to boost its presence in China over the next three years.
(AP, 9/11/09)
2009 Sep 11, Pres .Obama slapped punitive tariffs on all car and light truck tires entering the US from China as the rising tide of imported tires hurt American producers.
(SFC, 9/12/09, p.A4)
2009 Sep 12, China decried a US decision to impose added duty on Chinese-made tires, saying the move sent a dangerous protectionist signal before a G20 summit and could stoke reactions impeding global recovery. The tire duty was the first time Washington has applied special "safeguard" provisions Beijing agreed to before joining the WTO in 2001.
(Reuters, 9/12/09)
2009 Sep 12, A court in western China's Xinjiang region sentenced three people to up to 15 years in prison in the first trials over a series of mysterious syringe attacks that led to mass protests against the local government. In eastern China 3 people died and an additional 17 required medical treatment after they were exposed to bags of a toxic chemical illegally dumped by a factory in Dongyang.
(AP, 9/12/09)(AP, 9/16/09)
2009 Sep 14, China filed a WTO complaint over new US tariffs on Chinese tires, stepping up pressure on Washington in the latest in a series of trade disputes.
(AP, 9/14/09)
2009 Sep 14, China broke ground on its fourth space center. The new port on the southern island province of Hainan, slated to go into use in 2013, highlights the country's soaring space ambitions six years after it sent its first man into orbit.
(AP, 9/14/09)
2009 Sep 17, Chinese state media said nine people have been killed and nine others are missing after Typhoon Koppu roared into the southern province of Guangdong. A knife-wielding man stabbed two guards to death and wounded 14 near Beijing's Tiananmen Square. The attacker, a 46-year-old man, was drunk at the time.
(AP, 9/17/09)(AP, 9/19/09)
2009 Sep 19, In southeastern China at least 16 people died and 14 were injured after a truck hit a road maintenance vehicle from behind, sending it off a bridge.
(AP, 9/19/09)
2009 Sep 22, China appealed at the last minute against a World Trade Organization ruling upholding parts of a US complaint about Chinese restrictions on imports of films, books and other audio-visual material.
(Reuters, 9/22/09)
2009 Sep 23, Ethiopia said its national electricity company has signed contracts with three Chinese firms to develop hydro-electric projects and made preliminary accords for wind power projects.
(AFP, 9/23/09)
2009 Sep 25, Authorities in China's restive northwestern Xinjiang region charged 21 suspects over deadly July unrest, the first reported criminal charges to emerge from the violence.
(AFP, 9/25/09)
2009 Sep 26, China reported that medical tests have shown at least 121 children living near a battery plant in eastern Fujian province are suffering from lead poisoning, the latest in a recent string of such cases that have affected hundreds. The government has ordered the Huaqiang Battery Plant to shut about 10 days ago after local villagers approached the authorities with test results showing lead poisoning in some children.
(AP, 9/27/09)
2009 Sep 26, In Spain "City of Life and Death," Chinese director Lu Chuan's account of the Japanese occupation of Nanjing in 1937, won top honors at the San Sebastian film festival.
(AFP, 9/26/09)
2009 Sep 28, Canada’s train maker Bombardier Transportation says its Chinese joint venture has been awarded a $4 billion contract to build 80 high-speed trains for China's railway ministry.
(AP, 9/28/09)
2009 Sep 28, In China foreign ministers from China, Japan and South Korea pledged to deepen cooperation on non-proliferation and disarmament, as pressure grew on Pyongyang over its nuclear program.
(AFP, 9/28/09)
2009 Sep 29, China said it has completed a high-resolution, three-dimensional map of the entire surface of the moon, in an important step towards a future lunar landing.
(AP, 9/29/09)
2009 Sep 30, China launched a massive shut-down of bustling central Beijing on the eve of a spectacular celebration of 60 years of Communist rule, with authorities determined to leave nothing to chance.
(AFP, 9/30/09)
2009 Oct 1, China celebrated 60 years of communist rule with a military parade and elaborate pageantry on Beijing's Tiananmen Square showcasing the nation's revival as a global power. China demonstrated its new J-10 fighters and DF-31 nuclear ICBM.
(AFP, 10/1/09)(Econ, 10/3/09, p.54)
2009 Oct 4, North Korea told visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao that it was open to bilateral and multilateral talks on its nuclear programs.
(AFP, 10/4/09)
2009 Oct 5, Visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il amid efforts to bring Pyongyang back to nuclear disarmament talks. China pledged to strengthen bonds with isolated North Korea, calling their relationship a boon to peace.
(AFP, 10/5/09)(Reuters, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 10, China, Japan and South Korea held a 3-way summit in Beijing.
(Econ, 10/10/09, p.43)
2009 Oct 10, A Chinese court sentenced a man to death for his role in the June 26 toy factory brawl that sparked riots in western Xinjiang region that left almost 200 dead. Xinhua News said Xiao Jianhua was given death and Xu Qiqi was given life in prison on charges of intentionally harming others. Their names suggest they are members of the Han majority.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 11, Chinese state media reported that more than 50,000 people in southern Guangdong province are suffering from water shortages as a spreading drought has left farmers' fields dry and cracked.
(AFP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 12, A court in China's far western Xinjiang region sentenced six men to death for murder and other crimes committed during ethnic riots that killed nearly 200 people. A seventh man was given life imprisonment.
(AP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 12, Russian PM Vladimir Putin landed in China in an effort to bolster energy, political and military ties between the former rival nations turned strategic partners.
(AP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 13, China and Russia signed a framework agreement that could see a steady flow of natural gas to energy-hungry China from its resource-rich neighbor.
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, China’s Xinhua state news agency said 968 children in central China have tested positive for lead poisoning in the latest environmental scandal to erupt in the nation's smelting industry. Residents in Jiyuan city, Henan province, had protested over pollution from three local smelters last month.
(AFP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, Guinea's military government said it has signed a $7 billion mining agreement with a Chinese company. Guinea is the world's largest producer of bauxite, the raw material used to make aluminum, and also produces diamonds and gold. The Hong Kong-based syndicate, China Int’l. Fund or China Sonangol, transferred $100 million to the cash-strapped junta.
(AP, 10/13/09)(Econ, 8/13/11, p.23)
2009 Oct 14, A security summit between China, Russia and their Central Asian neighbors wrapped up in Beijing with vague promises to deepen economic cooperation but no public mention of regional flashpoints like Afghanistan.
(Reuters, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, A hot air balloon crashed in a southern Chinese resort town with dramatic limestone formations, killing four Dutch tourists.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 15, China’s Premier Wen Jiabao said that China intends to strengthen its cooperation with Iran, an indication Beijing would oppose growing calls in the West for additional sanctions against the Islamic regime for its nuclear program.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, A Chinese court handed out a further three death sentences to people convicted of violent crimes during ethnic rioting in far western Xinjiang region in July in which almost 200 people died. The court also sentenced three defendants to suspended death sentences, which could be commuted to life sentences in two years. At least two of those sentenced were Han Chinese. The others all appeared to be Uighurs.
(Reuters, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 16, In China former university professor and judge Guo Quan was sentenced to 10 years in prison for "subversion of state power" by a court in eastern Jiangsu Province.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 18, China reported that authorities have started resettling 330,000 people in central Hubei and Henan provinces to make way for a massive project to divert water hundreds of miles to cities in its arid north. The estimated $62 billion water diversion could be nearly three times as expensive as the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydroelectric project.
(AP, 10/18/09)
2009 Oct 19, Somali pirates seized a Chinese cargo ship with 25 people onboard.
(AP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 20, China executed 2 people for their roles in deadly protests last year in the Chinese-controlled region of Tibet, the first known executions for the violence. Lobsang Gyaltsen (28) and Loyak (30), who goes by one name, were sentenced to death in April on charges relating to "starting fatal fires."
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 21, China and India put aside a diplomatic spat to sign a five-year agreement in New Delhi to cooperate on climate change leading up to crucial talks in Copenhagen.
(AFP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 21, A court in southwest China sentenced six men to death for gang-related crimes including blackmail and murder, the first convictions in a months long crackdown that has exposed a major city mired in violent organized crime. More than 1,544 suspects have been detained in Chongqing, China's largest municipality, since the gang sweep started in June, with more than a dozen criminal gangs busted.
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 23, Chinese state media reported that police have arrested 42 alleged members of a trafficking ring that sold dozens of infants stolen or bought from their rural parents.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, Top US safety officials met with their Chinese counterparts to discuss complaints from American homeowners of illness and other damage from suspect drywall imported from China. Consumer Products Safety Commission Chairman Inez Tenenbaum said that the two sides were talking about the issue while they await results of tests on what is causing the problems.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, Australia approved Yanzhou Coal's 3.2 billion US dollar takeover of miner Felix Resources, its biggest by a Chinese firm, in a breakthrough for the Asian giant's scramble for commodities.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 24, In China a Belgian cargo vessel leaked oil into waters at the Caofeidian port in northeastern Hebei province, after a Chinese ship crashed into it at a refueling dock.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 29, Chinese officials agreed to lift the ban on US pork imports they imposed last spring out of fear of swine flu.
(AP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 30, In China a bus plunged into a valley along a mountainous road in northern Shanxi province, killing 13 people and injuring at least 40 others.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 31, China's legislature removed Zhou Ji (63), the country's unpopular education minister, amid a corruption scandal in a city he used to oversee and widespread public dissatisfaction with the education system.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Oct 31, Qian Xuesen (b.1911), a rocket scientist known as the father of China's space technology program, died in Beijing. Qian left for the US after winning a scholarship to graduate school in 1936. He studied at MIT and later at the California Institute of Technology, where he helped start the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Qian, also known as Tsien Hsue-shen, was regarded as one of the brightest minds in the new field of aeronautics before returning to China in 1955, driven out of the US at the height of anticommunist fervor.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Nov 1, In China a ship carrying 100 tons of hydrochloric acid sank in the Yangtze river after colliding with another vessel.
(AFP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 3, In China a woman called the "godmother" of a mafia-style gang in the southern city of Chongqing was sentenced to 18 years in prison for running underground casinos and bribing government officials.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 4, In China a guard at an unofficial jail in Beijing pleaded guilty to raping a young detainee, in a case that has put a spotlight on "black jails" where a growing number of people seeking justice from the government end up. The woman (21), from central Anhui province, had been expelled from college because of poor exam scores and came to Beijing to ask the government to reinstate her. The woman escaped the "black jail" with about 50 other detainees after the guard fled following the alleged rape. On Nov 12 Human Rights Watch said the unofficial black jails have evolved into a cottage industry and blamed a civil service evaluation system that penalizes officials if too many of their people complain to the central government. It was estimated that some 10,000 people were detained annually.
(AP, 11/5/09)(SFC, 11/13/09, p.A4)
2009 Nov 4, It was reported that China’s central government has approved a proposal for a Shanghai Disney theme park. Disney hoped to open Shanghai Disneyland by 2014, at a reported cost of about $3.6bn (£2.17bn).
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8341570.stm)(SFC, 11/24/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 5, China’s Xinhua News Agency said Xu Wei (42), a former gang leader who was the son of Yushu's former deputy mayor, was executed this week in northern China after being convicted of murder, kidnapping, and extortion. In an earlier separate case his father, Xu Fengshan, was sentenced to death with a reprieve of two years for taking more than 20 million yuan (2.93 million U.S. dollars) in bribes, and harboring criminal organizations.
(AP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 6, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao headed to Egypt for a summit with African leaders as Beijing bids to expand its diplomatic and economic influence on the resource-rich continent.
(AP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 7, China’s PM Wen Jiaobao sought to reassure the world's Muslims about his country's goodwill towards them in Cairo, at a time when Beijing is criticized for the treatment of its own Muslim minority.
(AFP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 8, At the start of the two-day Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Egypt China's Premier Wen Jiabao pledged $10 billion in low interest loans to African nations over the next three years and said Beijing would cancel the government debts of some of the poorest of those countries.
(AP, 11/8/09)
2009 Nov 9, China said it had put to death nine people over deadly ethnic unrest in its far-western Xinjiang region, the first executions since the rioting in July.
(AFP, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 9, In China Hu Shuli, the founder and editor of the 11-year-old Caijing financial magazine, resigned. He had tackled tough subjects and his departure cast doubts over greater media independence.
(SFC, 11/10/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 13, China’s Civil Affairs Ministry said unusually early snow storms in north-central China have claimed 40 lives, caused thousands of buildings to collapse and destroyed almost 500,000 acres (200,000 hectares) of winter crops.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 14, It was reported that Chinese officials are being told to dump their mistresses, avoid hostess bars, and shun extravagances as part of the Communist party's efforts to clamp down on the corruption that is threatening its rule and sullying its reputation.
(AP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 15, In Singapore President Barack Obama said the United States and Russia would have a replacement treaty on reducing nuclear arms ready for approval by year's end, an announcement designed as an upbeat ending to a summit with Asia-Pacific leaders. Obama also attended a second summit with leaders of the 10 southeast Asian countries that make up the ASEAN group. Obama then arrived in Shanghai, launching a three-day visit to an important global US partner and his first travels ever in China.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 16, In Shanghai President Barack Obama pointedly nudged China to stop censoring Internet access, offering an animated defense of the tool that helped him win the White House and suggesting Beijing need not fear a little criticism.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 17, In Beijing President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao promised a determined, joint effort to tackle climate change, nuclear disarmament and other global troubles yet emerged from their first full-blown summit with scant progress beyond goodwill. Obama also raised the case of American geologist Xue Feng, who disappeared into Chinese custody in 2007 under charges of stealing state secrets over the purchase of a commercial database on the oil industry.
(AP, 11/17/09)(SFC, 11/20/09, p.A4)
2009 Nov 18, China's health minister said his country is vaccinating 1.5 million people a day against swine flu, part of a mammoth effort to reach nearly 7 percent of inhabitants of the world's most populous country by year's end.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 19, A US congressional advisory panel said that Chinese spies are aggressively stealing American secrets to use in building Beijing's military and economic strength.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 21, In northern China a gas explosion tore through the state-run Xinxing coal mine in Heilongjiang province, killing at least 107 people with 2 missing.
(AP, 11/21/09)(AP, 11/22/09)(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 23, A Chinese court sentenced Web site manager Huang Qi, a veteran dissident, to three years in prison after he criticized the government's response to the May, 2008, earthquake that killed about 90,000 people.
(AP, 11/23/09)(Econ, 2/13/10, p.45)
2009 Nov 24, China executed Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping for their roles in a contaminated milk powder scandal last year that led to the deaths of at least six infants and sickened up to 300,000.
(AFP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 25, A court in northern China sentenced five leaders of an unauthorized Protestant church to prison terms of up to 7 years on charges including illegal assembly. Their arrests stemmed from a Sept. 13 raid by police and hired security guards on sunrise services held in a dormitory building by the 50,000-member Linfen Fushan Church in Linfen, northern Shanxi province.
(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 25, A Chinese health official said eight cases of swine flu mutation have been detected amid longstanding concerns among scientists that the virus could change into a more dangerous form.
(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 26, China announced plans to cut its carbon emissions by up to 45 percent as measured against its economic output, a commitment from the world's largest polluter that builds momentum ahead of a widely anticipated climate conference in Copenhagen next month.
(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, In China 172 miners were underground when an explosion occurred at the Zhenxing coal mine. 10 miners were killed in the gas explosion.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 27, China and Japan agreed to conduct their first joint military training exercise, in the latest sign of warming ties between the Asian neighbors, long marked by mutual suspicion and spats over a range of issues.
(Reuters, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 27, In China Justin Franchi Solondz, an American man wanted in the US on terrorism charges, was sentenced in Dali city, Yunnan province, for making illegal drugs. The FBI office in Seattle listed Solondz among its "most wanted." Charges in 2006 related to his alleged role in 2001 with the Earth Liberation Front. Solondz was accused of having a role in the destruction of a horticulture center at the University of Washington, as well as the destruction of several buildings in Oregon.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 27, In northeastern China flooding trapped 16 coal miners in Jilin province.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 28, In China Wu Xiaoqing (57) hanged himself in his cell using the drawstring from his underwear five months following his arrest for corruption. The ex-judge was charged with taking bribes from gangsters.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 28, In China a Zimbabwe-registered cargo plane crashed in flames during takeoff from Shanghai's main airport, killing 3 American crew members and injuring 4 others on board.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Dec 1, China’s quarantine bureau said it has lifted bans on imports of pork products from the United States, Canada and Mexico, but analysts said the move would not likely lead to a surge of new imports.
(Reuters, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 2, Canadian PM Stephen Harper arrived in Beijing for what Chinese experts are touting as a fence-mending trip to repair ties damaged by Ottawa.
(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 3, A Chinese court handed down a further five death sentences to people convicted of murder and other crimes during ethnic rioting in the far western Xinjiang region in July in which almost 200 people died.
(Reuters, 12/3/09)
2009 Dec 4, China sentenced three more people to death for murder and other crimes committed in riots in the western region of Xinjiang in July.
(AP, 12/4/09)
2009 Dec 4, In China the file-sharing site BTCHINA, a major source of overseas movies, television shows and games in the country, was closed. Another site, VeryCD.com, was down on Dec 9 and a report in the Southern Metropolis Daily said other file sharing sites would be closed in the coming days. The closures were said to be a fight against copyright infringement, but could be seen as another measure aimed at controlling what content the country's Web users can find online.
(AP, 12/9/09)
2009 Dec 4, GM and its Chinese partner SAIC announced a joint venture to produce small cars in India.
(Econ, 12/12/09, p.72)
2009 Dec 7, In China 8 children died in a crush after someone stumbled while hundreds of children leaving their evening classes raced down the narrow stairway closest to their dormitory in Xiangxiang city, Hunan province.
(AP, 12/8/09)
2009 Dec 8, China executed Yang Yanming, a former securities trader, for embezzlement. He became the first person in the industry to be put to death, but millions of yuan remained missing. He was the general manager of the Beijing securities trading department of the China Great Wall Trust and Investment Corp., which became Galaxy Securities, from 1997 to 2003.
(Reuters, 12/8/09)
2009 Dec 10, Ichiro Ozawa, Japan’s “shadow shogun," flew 645 people in 5 airplanes, including 143 members of the DPJ, to meet with China’s Premier Hu Jintao.
(Econ, 12/19/09, p.75)
2009 Dec 12, In China Liu Aibing (34) went on a rampage with his shotgun killing 12 people including his father. He was apprehended the next day in Gaoming town in Hunan province's Anhua county. Liu also seriously injured two other people and set six homes on fire. He was said to have had a long history of mental illness.
(AP, 12/13/09)
2009 Dec 14, China’s Pres. Hu Jintao and the leaders of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan gathered at the Saman-Depe gas field in Turkmenistan and inaugurated a 1,139-mile gas pipeline running through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to China’s Xinjiang province.
(Econ, 1/30/10, p.51)(www.wsws.org/articles/2009/dec2009/pipe-d21.shtml)
2009 Dec 18, In China an environmental group backed by the government said it had won two lawsuits on behalf of residents threatened by pollution, marking the first time such an organization has been allowed to file a public interest case.
(AP, 12/18/09)
2009 Dec 18, Wu Ying (28), a Chinese businesswoman, was sentenced to death for cheating investors out of $56 million, the latest case in the country's struggle against widespread corruption. She started out a decade ago with a single beauty salon but eventually built up a holding group, Bense Holdings, that was known around the country. A report said Wu collected the $56 million from investors over two years and was arrested in 2007. In 2012 China's high court overturned the death sentence on Wu Ying and ordered the high court in eastern China's Zhejiang province to retry her case.
(AP, 12/18/09)(AFP, 4/20/12)
2009 Dec 19, Cambodia sent back to China 20 Uighur Muslims who had fled China after deadly ethnic rioting and sought asylum in Cambodia, even though rights groups feared they faced persecution and possibly execution there. 2 other Uighurs who had been with the group were missing.
(AP, 12/19/09)
2009 Dec 20, In Taiwan tens of thousands of opposition demonstrators marched through the streets of the central Taichung, ahead of the arrival of a senior Chinese envoy for trade talks that some on the island fear could eventually lead to unification. They condemned a pact the government wanted to sign with China, formally known as the Economic Co-operation Framework Agreement (ECFA).
(AP, 12/20/09)(Econ, 1/2/10, p.32)
2009 Dec 21, Cambodia signed 14 deals worth an estimated $850 million with China, two days after defying international pressure by deporting 20 ethnic Chinese asylum-seekers, underlining growing trade and diplomatic links.
(AP, 12/21/09)
2009 Dec 21, China and France hailed their reinvigorated ties and sealed a series of economic deals during a visit to Beijing by PM Francois Fillon. Electricite de France (EDF) and China Guangdong Nuclear Power Company (CGNPC) formalized their joint venture for the construction of two nuclear reactors at a power plant in Taishan in southern Guangdong province. French aerospace and defense industries group Safran and US conglomerate General Electric won a multi-billion-dollar contract to equip China's future C919 passenger jet with engines.
(AFP, 12/21/09)
2009 Dec 22, Chinese local media reported that a man who killed and ate what may have been the last wild Indochinese tiger in China was sentenced to 12 years in jail. Kang Wannian, a villager from Mengla, Yunnan Province, met the tiger in February while gathering freshwater clams in a nature reserve near China's border with Laos. He claimed to have killed it in self-defense.
(Reuters, 12/22/09)
2009 Dec 23, China sentenced Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche (53), a respected Tibetan lama, to 8 1/2 years in jail for illegal land occupation and ammunition possession, possibly the first senior Buddhist leader tried on serious charges linked to riots in 2008 in the Tibetan capital. He was arrested May 18, 2008, just days after more than 80 nuns in Ganzi held a demonstration against an official campaign to impose "patriotic re-education" on their convents.
(AP, 12/31/09)
2009 Dec 23, In China the Balinghe River bridge opened in Guizhou province. It was the 3rd highest road bridge in the world and featured the 2nd longest span length with a distance between towers of 3,570 feet.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baling_River_Bridge)
2009 Dec 23, US auto giant Ford said it had agreed the main terms for selling its Swedish brand Volvo Cars to Chinese carmaker Geely, in a deal set to underline China's growing economic clout.
(AFP, 12/23/09)
2009 Dec 24, In China the Xinjiang government said five people were convicted of "extremely serious crimes" and sentenced in separate trials on Dec 22 and Dec 23 in the regional capital of Urumqi.
(AP, 12/24/09)
2009 Dec 25, A Chinese court sentenced Liu Xiaobo, a prominent dissident, to 11 years, the longest term ever handed down for subversion charges, according to rights groups that say it signals the government will take an increasingly hard line against activists in the year ahead.
(AP, 12/25/09)
2009 Dec 26, China unveiled what it billed as the fastest rail link in the world, a train connecting the modern cities of Guangzhou and Wuhan at an average speed of 350 km (217 miles) an hour.
(AFP, 12/26/09)
2009 Dec 28, Chinese authorities started administering health checks on all children living near a battery factory in the south of the country and closed the plant after more than 40 children were found with lead poisoning.
(AP, 12/28/09)
2009 Dec 28, Dhondup Wangchen (35), a Tibetan filmmaker, was sentenced to six years in prison. He had made a documentary that was highly critical of the Chinese government's policies in Tibet. "Leaving Fear Behind" features ordinary Tibetans and the filmmaker himself saying that Beijing's policies in Tibet are threatening the remote region's traditional Buddhist culture. It was filmed in Tibet and other ethnically Tibetan areas of China in the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
(AP, 1/7/10)
2009 Dec 28, Chinese state media reported that a coal mine explosion has killed 12 people in northern China, while five other miners were killed and six trapped in an accident in the southwest of the country.
(AP, 12/28/09)
2009 Dec 29, China brushed aside international appeals and executed by lethal injection Akmal Shaikh (53), a British drug smuggler, who relatives said was mentally unstable and unwittingly lured into crime. Shaikh, a Briton of Pakistani descent, was arrested in 2007 for carrying a suitcase with almost 9 pounds (4kg) of heroin into China on a flight from Tajikistan. He told Chinese officials he didn't know about the drugs and that the suitcase wasn't his. He was convicted in 2008 after a half-hour trial.
(AP, 12/29/09)
2009 Dec 29, In China the government of Xinjiang, a restive Chinese Muslim region rocked recently by ethnic strife, adopted what appeared to be a sweeping law barring the spread of views deemed to threaten national unity. The law bars individuals and organizations from spreading opinions deemed not conducive to national unity and also from gathering, producing and spreading information to that effect.
(AP, 12/31/09)
2009 Dec 30, A US trade panel gave final approval to duties ranging from about 10 to 16% on Chinese-made steel pipe in the biggest US trade case to date against China.
(Reuters, 12/30/09)
2009 Dec 30, An unknown amount of oil poured from a China National Petroleum Corp. pipeline into the Wei River in Shaanxi province following a construction accident. The pipeline links the capitals of northwest Gansu province and central Henan province. Shaanxi TV later said 20 miles (33 km) along the Wei were polluted by the leak, estimated at 40,000 gallons.
(AP, 1/2/10)
2009 Dec 30, Leon Yao Liang (87), a bishop in China's underground church, died in the northern township of Xiwanzi, where he had been auxiliary bishop since 2002. He had been imprisoned for more than 28 years under the communists.
(AP, 1/4/10)
2009 Miriam Clifford, Cathy Giangrande and Antony White authored a guide to Chinese museums. In 2014 the Chinese Museums Organization (CMA) asked them to repackage the work as its own guide: “Chinese Museums Guide."
(Econ, 5/24/14, p.78)
2009 Martin Jacques authored “When China Rules the World: The Rise of the Middle Kingdom and the End of the Western World."
(Econ, 7/11/09, p.84)
2009 China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs proposed “Document 26," which suggested that HIV-infected children and orphans whose parents have died of AIDS be given a monthly subsidy of 600 yuan ($95).
(Economist, 9/8/12, p.41)
2009 Chinese researchers announced that they had reduced schistosomiasis infection rates in 2 villages near Poyang lake by replacing water buffaloes, a parasite host, with tractors and improved sanitation. The parasitic worm Schistosoma japonicum, carried by tiny snails, caused schistosomiasis, which stood as the world’s 2nd most prevalent disease.
(Econ, 6/20/09, p.43)
2009 Mephedrone, an ecstacy-like drug, arrived in Europe about this time. It could be ordered cheaply from China from manufacturers who described it as “plant food" or “research chemicals."
(Econ, 5/24/14, p.55)
2009 The Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest, will be fully operational. Its cost was projected to be $75 billion. It will be 600 feet high and 6,500 feet long, six times the length of the Hoover Dam. 26 generators will produce electricity. A 400-mile lake would be formed behind it allowing ocean freighters to sail upstream to Chongqing.
(WSJ, 10/8/96, p.A20)(SFC,11/6/97, p.D2)(SSFC, 4/14/02, p.C9)
2009 This year 6.1 million students will graduate from Chinese universities, nearly 6 times as many as in 2000. Next year the figure is expected to reach about 7 million.
(Econ, 4/11/09, p.40)
2009 In southern China the city of Yulin, Guangxi province, introduced an annual dog-eating festival.
(Econ 7/8/17, p.38)
2009 In China divorces outnumbered marriages this year.
(Econ, 11/22/14, p.40)
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