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PRC's Firsts
Special> 60th Anniversary of The People's Republic of China> PRC's Firsts
UPDATED: September-24-2009 Web Exclusive
PRC's "Firsts"

The First Law

The Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China was adopted at the Seventh Session of the Central People's Government Council on April 13, 1950, and became effective as of May 1, 1950.

The First Homemade Trunk Railway

The 505-km-long Chengdu-Chongqing Railway was the first railway line constructed independently by the Chinese people. Construction began on June 15, 1950 and ended on June 13, 1952, and it was officially opened to traffic on July 1.

The First Domestically Produced Plane

In July 1954, the first domestically developed plane, CJ -5, made a successful maiden flight at the Nanchang Aircraft Factory. Chairman Mao Zedong signed a letter of encouragement for the success.

The First Constitution

On September 20, 1954, the First Session of the First National People's Congress adopted the Constitution of the People's Republic of China. The Constitution, made up of four chapters and 106 articles, includes the general principles, the state organizational structure, the basic rights and duties of citizens, the national flag, the national emblem and the capital.

The First Bridge over the Yangtze River

Wuhan Bridge over the Yangtze River was the first highway-railway bridge in China. Construction began in September 1955 and concluded in September 1957. Opening to traffic on October 15, 1957, the bridge has two levels. The upper one is 18 meters wide, wide enough for six buses to run parallel, while the lower one is for trains. Ships are able to sail under the bridge.

The First Domestically Produced TV

In January 1958, the Tianjin Radio Factory made China's first black-and-white Beijing-brand TV, which successfully received a signal on March 17.

The First Digital Electronic Computer

On August 1, 1958, China's first digital electronic universal computing engine was jointly developed by the Institute of Computing Technology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Beijing Wire Telecommunication Factory. The calculation accuracy reached nine digits.

The First World Champion in Sports

Rong Guotuan, the 21-year-old national table tennis champion, became world champion after beating Ferenc Sido 3-1 in the men's singles finals at the 25th World Table Tennis Championships held from March 27 to April 5 in 1959 in Dortmund, West Germany. Rong's victory opened a new chapter in the history of sports in China; it came as great encouragement to China's young athletes.

The First Nuclear Test

China successfully tested its first nuclear device at 3 p.m. on October 16, 1964. On that day, the Chinese Government announced the news to the world and declared that China would never at any time or under any circumstances be the first to use nuclear weapons.

The First Hydrogen Bomb Successfully Exploded

On June 17, 1967, China successfully exploded its first hydrogen bomb over the western region of the country.

The First Man-made Earth Satellite

China successfully launched its first man-made earth satellite on August 24, 1970. The satellite weighed 173 kg. It broadcast the music of Dongfanghong (The East Is Red) at a frequency of 20.009 megacycles. China was the fifth county to independently research and launch a satellite following the Soviet Union, America, France and Japan.

The First Electrified Railway

The Baoji-Chengdu Railway, which runs 669 km from Baoji in northwest China's Shaanxi Province to Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, was China's first electrified railway. Completed in 1958, it was the first mountain railway joining northwest and southwest China. To eliminate slope, it wound for 27 km around the Qinling Mountains at a vertical distance of 6 km between Yangjiawan Station and the Qinling Tunnel.

The First Retrievable Man-made Satellite

On November 26, 1975, China successfully launched its first retrievable man-made satellite.

The First Village to Initiate the Household Contract Responsibility System

In December 1978, 18 farmers in Xiaogang Village, Fengyang County, east China's Anhui Province, signed a secret contract that divided collectively owned land into family plots. Thus it became the first village to initiate the household contract responsibility system, which made rural households into farmland contractors, greatly boosting their agricultural production.

The First Village Committee

China's first village committee was elected by secret ballot in February 1980, in a small village in Yishan County (now known as Yizhou City) in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The First Carrier Rocket Launched

China successfully launched a carrier rocket to a target in the southern Pacific Ocean on May 18, 1980.

The First Batch of Special Economic Zones

On August 26, 1980, the 15th Session of the Standing Committee of the Fifth National People's Congress resolved to approve the Regulations on Special Economic Zones in Guangdong Province and the Regulations on the Xiamen Special Economic Zone in Fujian Province submitted by the State Council, and decided to establish special economic zones in Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shantou in Guangdong Province, and Xiamen in Fujian Province.

The First Issue of Treasury Bonds

According to the Regulations of the Treasury Bills of the People's Republic of China, the Ministry of Finance issued 4 billion yuan ($2.35 billion) in treasury bonds in 1981. State enterprises and institutions were required to purchase half, while the other half was reserved for private individuals. The actual purchasing amount reached 4.665 billion yuan ($2.744 billion).

The First Communications Satellite

On April 8, 1984, China successfully launched an experimental communications satellite, the 15th man-made satellite developed and launched by this country. Its development marked a new breakthrough in China's space technology.

The First Developing Country to Win World Expo Bid

Shanghai won the bid to host the World Expo 2010 in Monte Carlo, Monaco, on December 3, 2002, with 54 votes in the fourth round of voting. China became the first developing country to host the Expo in the event's 150-year history.

The First Manned Spacecraft Launched

China successfully sent its first astronaut into space on October 15, 2003, thus becoming the first developing country in the world to be able to engage in manned space flight independently.

The Shenzhou 5 spacecraft blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center aboard a Long March-2F carrier rocket on October 15. After orbiting the Earth 14 times, the Shenzhou 5 landed in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at 6:23 a.m. on October 16.

The First Supercomputer

The National University of Defense Technology started developing the computer in March 1978, and in December 1983 successfully produced its first supercomputer, Galaxy I, capable of over 100 million operations per second.

The First Stockholding Company

On July 25, 1984, the Tianqiao Department Store (now known as Beijing Tianqiao Department Co. Ltd.), the first stockholding company in China, was founded in Beijing.

The First Olympic Gold Medal

Xu Haifeng won the first-ever Olympic gold medal for China in shooting on July 29, 1984 at the 23rd Olympic Games held in Los Angeles in the United States.

The First State-Owned Enterprise Bankruptcy

On August 3, 1986, the Shenyang Explosion-Proof Equipment Factory was formally declared bankrupt by the Shenyang Municipal Government, marking the first state-owned enterprise to go bankrupt in China.

The First Credit Card

The Bank of China headquarters in Beijing issued the Great Wall credit card on June 1, 1986.

The First Land Auction

Shenzhen held the country's first land auction in December 1987, when an 8,588-square-meter plot of "transferable land" with 50-year usage rights was sold, setting a milestone in China's land system reform.

The First Test-Tube Baby

The Chinese mainland's first test-tube baby, Zheng Mengzhu, was born on March 10, 1988 at the No.3 Hospital affiliated with the Peking University of Medical Sciences. The baby turned out to be very healthy, at measuring 52 cm and weighing 3.9 kg. Test-tube babies had previously been born in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

(Source: Xinhua News Agency)



 
Pan Duo
Yuan Longping
Chen Guangbiao
Chen Zhangliang
Zheng Xiaoying
Song Dafang
Jiang Qingliang
Liu Jinyan
Hu Fei
NO. 40, 1959
NO. 40, 1969
NO. 40, 1979
NO. 40, 1989
NO. 42, 1999
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