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MODERN HISTORY OF CHINA

Objective chronological listing of significant events leading up to modern China.

1982

• January - Strike Hard Campaign Against Economic Crimes aims to curb corruption in coastal areas.
  
• April - Chen Yun proposes birdcage approach to economic reform. The economy would be allowed to develop within confines of central planning.
  
• August - Third communiqué between the PRC and the U.S. United States commits to gradual reduction of arms sales to Republic of China, and termination of sales after an indefinite period.
  
• September - Chinese Communist Party adopts a new constitution. Deng Xiaoping emphasizes modernization based on the situation in China and 'socialism with Chinese characteristics'. Planned economy would be developed supplemented by market forces.
  
• September – Margaret Thatcher visits Beijing. Great Britain enters into negotiations with People’s Republic of China concerning future of Hong Kong.
  
• November - Defection. Wang Bingzhang, a Ph.D. student sent by Beijing to study in Canada, declares his intention to promote democracy, freedom and human rights in China. Wang starts a magazine in New York called China Spring with other Chinese students. Years later, in 2003, Wang would be sentenced to life in prison after being kidnapped to China from Burma.
  
• December - At the National People’s Congress of the People's Republic of China, provisions are made for special administrative regions in which other political systems can be instituted.
  
• December - In Taiwan, election candidates propose self-determination for the people in Taiwan.
  
• December - Publication of the first issue of China Spring in the United States. The magazine receives popular support from prominent Chinese outside of mainland China.