◆On January 31, the peaceful liberation of ancient Peiping (Beijing) was proclaimed. On February 3, the People's Liberation Army units marched into the city to a warm welcome by the local residents.

◆On April 23, the People's Liberation Army crossed the Yangtze River and liberated Nanjing and occupied the presidential palace, ending the rule of Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang.

◆The First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference(CPPCC) was held in Beijing from September 21 to 30. It passed the Common Programme of CPPCC, the organization law and other documents of the Central People's Government Council, elected Mao Zedong chairman of the Central People's Government Council, and decided on Beijing as the country's capital. This picture shows the meeting place of the First Plenary Session of CPPCC.

◆A grand ceremony was held on October 1, 1949, at which Mao Zedong solemnly proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China to the world from the rostrum of the Tiananmen Gate Tower in Beijing.

1960

◆The launch into production of the Daqing Oil Field on the Songliao Basin, Heilongjiang Province, marked China's achievement in becoming self-sufficient in oil. At the early period of the oil field, conditions were extremely harsh. Here, model worker Wang Jinxi installs a drilling machine with other workers.

◆On February 2, 61 road construction workers suffered food poisoning in Pinglu County, Shanxi Province. With the help of the Ministry of Health, Beijing Special Medicine Pharmacy and the PLA air force, they were brought out of danger after emergency treatment, demonstrating the spirit of cooperation of the Chinese people.

◆On May 25, three Chinese mountaineers reached the summit of Mount Qomolangma from the north side, and planted the national flag of China and chairman Mao's statue on the summit of the earth. Here are the three mountaineers, Wang Fuzhou, Gongbu (Tibetan) and Qu Yinhua (from left to right).

1970

◆China successfully launched its first earth satellite on April 24. Weighing 173 kg, it took 114 minutes to circle the earth and broadcast the music of "The East Is Red" on a frequency of 20.009 megacycles. The picture is the Dongfanghong-I satellite model.

◆The Chengdu-Kunming Railway opened to traffic.

◆A large 400,000-fold electron microscope was designed and made by the Shanghai Electron Optics Research Institute, with materials produced in China.

1980

◆From May 18 to 21, China successfully carried out a launching of a carrier rocket into a designated area of the Pacific Ocean. Here, the rocket is being launched.

◆ The ocean-going comprehensive survey ship, Yuanwang, manufactured by the Shanghai Jiangnan Shipyard, is primarily for surveying, tracking and remote control jobs for carrier rockets, man-made satellites and aircraft. It is nicknamed the "City of Sciences on the Sea".

◆Since the founding of New China, the Shanghai Animated Film Studio has formed its own unique style on the basis of national traditions. The ink and wash cartoons, paper cuts and puppet animated films it has produced have been well received by the domestic audience and won many international awards. Here, Ahfanti, a puppet film, is being produced.

◆The Chongqing Yangtze River Bridge was completed.

1990

◆"Light of the Asian Games," the torch of sacred fire kindled from the Nyainqentanglha Mountains in Tibet, was relayed from the four Chinese cities of Lhasa, Urumqi, Harbin and Haikou. The four torch relays reached Tiananmen Square on the evening of September 20 after having passed through 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.

◆On September 22, the 11th Asian Games opened in Beijing. The Chinese athletes won 183 gold medals at the games as the top winner. This is a bird's-eye view of the Beijing Workers Stadium, the main games site, with the sacred fire lit. At the center is the emblem of the games formed by group calisthenics.

◆China successfully launched the domestically developed Long March II binding-type carrier rocket with improved thrust.

◆The Beijing electron-position collider passed the national approval formalities. Its functions reached the advanced international level.

◆The Division of Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences discovered the new structures of desoxyribose for the first time in the world.

◆On December 19, the first securities exchange of Shanghai started business. This is the business hall of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Center.

◆The people of Zhongcun Village in Maqiao Township of Shanghai County became well off after having changed the single agricultural economy for simultaneous development of agriculture, industry and side-line production. Well-equipped new residential buildings sprang up one after another.

(CIIC 12/31/2000)