Events in the year 2009 in China.
Incumbents
Governors
Events
January
- January 1 â Tongyong pinyin will no longer be official in the Republic of China, due to the ROC's Ministry of Education's approval of Hanyu pinyin in 2008.
- January 2 â The border demarcation with markers was officially completed between China and Vietnam, signed by Deputy Foreign Minister Vu Dung on the Vietnamese side and his Chinese counterpart, Wu Dawei, on the Chinese side.
- January 5 â Strict of internet keyword filters in China introduced, leading to mass protests online against internet censorship by Chinese netizens.
- January 7 â Ministry of IT China issues the first 3G network TD-SCDMA for China Mobile.
- January 9 â Nationwide alert throughout China regarding a large number of mass-produced, counterfeit renminbi 100 yuan notes;
- January 13 â People's Liberation Army Navy escorted a Taiwanese merchant ship and three other vessels in the Gulf of Aden near Somalia.
- January 15 âÂÂ
- China surpasses Germany to become the third largest economy, based on revised 2007 GDP figures. Chinese officials published the revised figures for 2007 financial year in which growth happened at 13 percent instead of 11.9 percent (provisional figures). China's gross domestic product stood at US$3.4 trillion while Germany's GDP was US$3.3 trillion for 2007. Based on these figures, in 2007 China recorded its fastest growth since 1994 when the GDP grew by 13.1 percent.
- A Taiwanese government official and a legislator's aide have been arrested in Taipei for allegedly leaking state secrets to Mainland China. The information allegedly leaked included details on the process taken during the transition of power between Chen Shui-bian and Ma Ying-Jeou.
- January 25 â 2009 Xinjiang earthquake
February
- February 2 â Wen Jiabao shoe-throwing incident
- February 8 â Yunnan hide-and-seek incident
- February 9 â The Television Cultural Center in Beijing, China, adjacent to the CCTV Headquarters, burned in a spectacular fire started by fireworks on Lantern Festival day.
- February 10âÂÂ17 â Chinese President Hu Jintao visits a series of African and Asian countries, including Saudi Arabia, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania, and Mauritius.
- February 15 â New Star ship incident
- February 17 â The personal details of a large number of Chinese celebrities, which included ID card photos, personal identification numbers and phone numbers, were leaked onto the Internet. This is not the first time such an incident has occurred, with prior minor events occurring throughout 2003 to 2008.
- February 18 â 2009 Winter Universiade
- February 20âÂÂ22 â United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visits Beijing, China.
- February 21 â 2009 Shanxi mine blast
- February 23 â Haiyantang rat and rabbit piece up for sale (see 2009 Auction of Old Summer Palace bronze heads)
- February 25 â Three people attempt self-immolation at Tiananmen square
- February 28 â PRC naming laws
- Early February - Chinese netizens create what is now known as the Baidu 10 Mythical Creatures over a period throughout the first weeks of February, as a sign of protest against increased censorship on Chinese websites.
March
April
May
June
- June 2 â As a part of the General Motors bankruptcy crisis, General Motors announces the sale of the Hummer brand of off-road vehicles to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company, a machinery company in western China, in which the transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2009.
- June 5 â Australian mining company Rio Tinto breaks a deal for Chinese state-owned Chinalco to purchase a larger stake the company, with support by rival Australian mining company BHP Billiton. Rio Tinto is expected to pay a US$195 million breaking fee according to the contract signed earlier by the two parties. Rio Tinto controls large Iron ore reserves in Australia. Since early 2008, Chinalco holds 9% of ownership of Rio Tinto.
- June 5 â Fang Jing spy accusation incident
- June 5 â 2009 Chengdu bus fire
- June 7âÂÂ13 â Shanghai Pride, the first gay pride festival ever held in the People's Republic of China, takes place in Shanghai.
- June 18 â US, Japan, South Korea assist Asian Development Bank funding to Arunachal Pradesh, old India and China territorial dispute
- June 19 âÂÂ
- 2009 Shishou riot
- 2009 Music king award (Ã¥ÂÂæÂÂçÂÂé ÂçÂÂ禮) with large C-pop star gathering at Chengdu
- June 23 â Liu Xiaobo arrested for Charter 08 democratic reform
- June 25 âÂÂ
- Republic of China President Ma Ying-jeou expresses his bid for Kuomintang leadership, as he registered as the sole candidate for the election of the KMT chairmanship. The election is scheduled for July 26, where the new chairman would take office on September 12. If his bid succeeds, he would become the leader of the KMT, as well as the head-of-state of the Republic of China; in effect, this would officially allow Ma to be able to meet with People's Republic of China President Hu Jintao (who is also the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party) and other PRC delegates, as he would be able to represent the KMT as leader of a Chinese political party, rather than as head-of-state of a political entity unrecognized by the PRC.
- Shaoguan incident
- June 27 - Collapse of Lotus Riverside Block 7, at the Lotus Riverside Complex, Shanghai
- June 29 â Hunan train collision
July
- July 5 âÂÂ
- 2009 ÃÂrümqi riots
- South China flood
- July 9 â 2009 Yunnan earthquake
- July 10 â Four Rio Tinto employees, including one Australian citizen, arrested in Shanghai for corruption and espionage. One of the arrested, Australian citizen Stern Hu is suspected of stealing Chinese state secrets.
- July 12 â ÃÂrümqi oil tank explosion
- July 16 â Sun Danyong, a Chinese factory worker employed by Apple's manufacturing partner Foxconn, committed suicide after reporting to have lost a prototype model for a fourth generation iPhone.
- July 21 â 2009 Nuctech corruption case, company formerly run by Hu Jintao's son Hu Haifeng
- July 23 â The birth of the world's first giant panda conceived using frozen sperm is announced in Sichuan.
- July 24 âÂÂ
- First publication of a breakthrough in stem cell research, where Chinese researchers from the Shanghai Stem Cell Institute successfully reprogrammed adult stem cells to be able to differentiate into any body cell.
- Tonghua Iron and Steel Group riot
- July 26 â Republic of China President Ma Ying-jeou won 93.87% of the vote for KMT leadership, becoming the new chairman of the Kuomintang.
- July 27 â 28: China and the United States hold the first U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue.
- July 28 â Chinese border police seize 70 kilograms of Vanadium metal bound for North Korea, a material used to manufacture missile components. 200,000RMB of the metal was seized at the Dandong border between China and North Korea.
August
September
October
November
December
- December 14 âÂÂ
- Central Asia â China gas pipeline inauguration
- Xi Xinzhu self-immolation incident
- December 21 â Fourth Chen-Chiang summit
- December 26 â The WuhanâÂÂGuangzhou High-Speed Railway, the world's fastest commercial train service, is opened.
- December 27 â A tomb, believed to be that of Cao Cao, one of the Chinese leaders during the Three Kingdoms period, is discovered in Henan.
- December 28 â Xinhua News Agency reports that the People's Liberation Army Navy has rescued 25 sailors and the De Xin Hai, a hijacked Chinese cargo ship, two months after they were seized off Somalia.
- December 29 âÂÂ
- China displaces the U.S. as the largest overall buyer of Japanese goods in 2009.
- Despite requests from the British government for clemency, Akmal Shaikh, a British national, is executed in the People's Republic of China for trafficking heroin.
Sports
Births
- May 27 â Lin Bing, female giant panda
- August 5 â Yun Zi, male giant panda
Deaths
- January 3 â Li Zuopeng, 94, Chinese general and politician.
- January 22 â Liang Yusheng, 85, Chinese novelist, natural causes.
- February 3 â Sheng-yen, 79, Chinese-born Taiwanese Buddhist Zen master, kidney disease.
- February 5 â Xiangzhong Yang, 49, Chinese-born American stem cell scientist, cancer.
- March 5 â Hung-Chang Lin, 89, Chinese-born American inventor, lung cancer.
- June 2 â Kai Lai Chung, 92, Chinese-born American mathematician.
- June 5 â Luo Jing, 48, Chinese news presenter, lymphoma.
- June 30 â Shi Pei Pu, 70, Chinese opera singer, gender-bending spy who was basis for M. Butterfly.
- July 11 â Ji Xianlin, 97, Chinese linguist, paleographer, historian and writer, heart attack.
- July 16 â Thomas Dao, 88, Chinese-born American physician, expert in breast cancer treatment, Pick's Disease.
- July 27 â Domingos Lam, 81, Chinese Roman Catholic bishop of Macau.
- July 29 â Zhuo Lin, 93, Chinese consultant, widow of Deng Xiaoping.
- September 14 â Jing Shuping, 91, Chinese businessman, founder of Minsheng Bank.
- October 4 â James Lin Xili, 91, Chinese underground first Bishop of Wenzhou (since 1992), Alzheimer's disease.
- October 13 â Lü Zhengcao, 104, Chinese general, last survivor of the original Shang Jiang.
- October 29 â Bei Shizhang, 106, Chinese biologist and educator.
- October 31 â Qian Xuesen, 97, Chinese scientist and co-founder of the JPL.
- October 31 â Chen Lin, 39, Chinese pop singer, suicide by jumping.
- November 2 â Nien Cheng, 94, Chinese author and political prisoner.
- November 5 â Peter Chen Bolu, 96, Chinese Roman Catholic Bishop of Daming.
- November 23 â Yang Xianyi, 94, Chinese translator.
- December 4 â Matthew Luo Duxi, 90, Chinese Roman Catholic Bishop of Jiading.
- December 23 â Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme, 99, Chinese politician, Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region (1964âÂÂ1968; 1981âÂÂ1983).
- December 30 â Leon Yao Liang, 86, Chinese bishop.
- December 31 â Qian Xinzhong, 98, Chinese politician, Minister of Health (1965âÂÂ1973, 1979âÂÂ1983).
See also
References