China: A Decade In Review

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With the beginning of another decade at hand, 2point6billion.com took a look at the highlights of the past 10 years in China

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2000

Jan. 25 China launches ChinaSat-22 (Zhongxing-22) communication satellite

Sept. 14 Government intensifies anti-corruption activities. Former deputy chairman of Peoples Congress, Cheng Kejie is executed for taking bribes of nearly RMB37 million (US$5 million). He is the most senior official to be given the death penalty for charges of bribery in 50 years

2001

Jan. 23 Falun Gong (Falun Dafa) members stage mass demonstrations in Beijings Tiananmen Square despite the outlawing of the movement

Jul. 4 Beijing wins bid for 2008 Olympic Games

Nov. 19 After 15 years of negotiations, China finally joins the World Trade Organization

2002

Feb. 27 U.S. President George W. Bush visits China on the 30th year anniversary of President Nixons visit then the first visit by a U.S. president

Jul. 13 China makes its first football World Cup appearance in the competition hosted in Japan and Korea

Nov. 25 Vice-President Hu Jintao is named head of the ruling Communist Party and replaces Jiang Zemin

2003

Mar. 15 Hu Jintao is elected President of the National Peoples Congress of the Peoples Republic of China

March to April China and Hong Kong are hit by pneumonia-like SARS virus. Strict quarantine measures are enforced to stop the disease from spreading

June Sluice gates on the Three Gorges Dam, the worlds largest hydro-power scheme, are closed to fill the reservoir

Oct. 15 Launch of Chinas first manned spacecraft with astronaut Yang Liwei sent into space on a Long March 2F rocket

2004

Sept. 14 Chinese government deploys heavily armed troops to protect Three Gorges Dam against terrorist attacks from Taiwan

Dec. 27 CERNET2, the first backbone IPv6 network in China, is launched by the China Education and Research Network (CERN)

2005

June 30 China Internet Network Information Center says that China now has at least 103 million Internet users, 45.6 million computer hosts and 677,500 web sites

Nov. Harbin city water supply is cut off after high concentration of benzene is found in the Songhua River in Jilin Province. Regional government officials attempt to cover up the water pollution catastrophe.

Dec. Agricultural taxes, in existence for 2,000 years, were abolished to reduce the financial burden on farmers

2006

May 21 China completes construction of the worlds largest dam in Central Chinas Hubei Province, signifying a milestone accomplishment of major structure of the mammoth Three Gorges water control project that aims to tame the flood-prone Yangtze River

June At 1.66 billion metric tons of carbon, China surpasses the United States as the worlds largest emitter of carbon dioxide due to fossil-fuel use and cement production

2007

Oct. Four million people are resettled within the next 10 to 15 years in the Three Gorges Dam area, which is more than five times the number previously planned

Nov. Yahoo! accused of providing information in the 2004 arrest and imprisonment of civil rights activist Shi Tao

Nov. 26 French company Areva wins deal to build two nuclear reactors in South China

Dec. 31 China Internet Network Information Center reports that Internet users in China has reached 210 million

2008

Feb. As most Chinese people celebrated the Spring Festival, some 27,000 citizens worked against the clock in southwest Chinas land-locked Guizhou Province (with no provision for heat, no winter coats, and no snow removal equipment) to repair the power facilities severely damaged during the Chenzhou Blizzard, the worst snowfall in half a century

Mar. 14 The Tibetan resistance movement use the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing to protest against Chinese rule of Tibet leading to the most violent ethnic protest in years with a reported 19 deaths in Lhasa

May 12 An earthquake strikes Sichuan Province with a strength of 7.9 on the richter scale leaving a death toll of 69,016, with more than 18,000 people still missing

Aug. 8 China welcomes the world to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games with fourteen thousand performers on the opening show for the 91,000 guests watching in the National Stadium (Birds Nest)

Aug. 20 Hua Guofeng, who succeeded Mao Zedong for a short period in 1976 at the end of the Cultural Revolution, dies in Beijing at 87 years old. He was one of the old guard of revolutionary fighters, who had joined Maos communist movement at the age of 15, fighting against Chiang Kai-Sheks Nationalists

Sept. 22 Health Ministry officials reveals that affected infants by tainted milk scandal rise to 53,000

Nov. The Chinese government announces a US$586 billion economic stimulus package to combat the the global financial crisis

Dec. -The mainland and Taiwan begin direct air and sea transport and postal services, the first time since the two sides split after the civil war of 1949

2009

Feb. 2 20 million migrant workers are estimated to have lost their jobs due to global economic crisis

Feb. 12 Chinas state-owned Chinalco invests US$19.5 billion in the Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto; increasing its stake from 9 percent to 18 percent. With this strategic partnership, China again secures supplies of vital metals and minerals for its growing economy

Jul. 1 China demands that all new personal computers are delivered with the pre-installed filtering software Green Dam Youth Escort, starting July. The software is for filtering out pornographic content from the internet. However, there is widespread suspicion that the Chinese government would use this software to strengthen their censorship of internet

Oct. 1 China celebrates the 60th founding anniversary of the Peoples Republic of China

by: Andy Scott

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