2008:

-- On Jan. 8, a ceremony was held to reward outstanding Chinese scientists with the State Top Scientific and Technological Awards. Five awarding ceremonies have been held since the CPC's 17th national congress. Hu Jintao has presented awards to 10 outstanding scientists.

-- From Jan. 21 to 23, Hu called for enhancing China's soft power at a national conference on publicity and ideological work.

-- From Feb. 25 to 27, the second plenary meeting of the 17th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee deliberated and adopted a document to deepen the reform of the administrative system and the Plan for Restructuring the State Council.

-- From March 3 to 14, the First Session of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country's top advisory body, reelected Jia Qinglin as chairman of the CPPCC National Committee.

-- From March 5 to 18, the First Session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC), the top legislature, elected Hu Jintao as president of the nation and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), Wu Bangguo as the top legislator and Xi Jinping as the nation's vice president. The meeting also decided to appoint Wen Jiabao as the premier and adopted the plan for institutional restructuring of the government.

-- In mid-March, riotous activities of robbery, arson and vandalism occurred in Lhasa and other Tibetan regions. The Party and the government adopted resolute measures to control the situation and resume normal social order.

-- On April 11, Hu made a keynote speech on China's reform, opening-up and global cooperation at the 2008 Boao Forum for Asia, held from April 11 and 13.

-- On April 25, the First China-EU High Level Economic and Trade Dialogue was held in Beijing, attended by visiting European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

-- On April 29, while meeting with Kuomintang (KMT) Honorary Chairman Lien Chan, President Hu called on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to establish mutual trust and to seek common ground while reserving differences so as to open a new prospect for cross-Strait relations.

-- From May 6 to 10, President Hu visited Japan. China and Japan issued a joint statement on promoting a strategic partnership of mutual benefit. ' -- On May 12, a deadly 8-magnitude earthquake occurred in southwest China's Sichuan Province, leaving nearly 70,000 people dead and 18,000 missing.

-- On May 28, President Hu met KMT Chairman Wu Po-hsiung. The two sides reached consensus on developing CPC-KMT relations and cross-Strait relations.

-- From June 11 to 14, a delegation headed by Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung visited Beijing and held talks with his mainland counterpart Chen Yunlin, president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, marking the resumption of cross-Strait institutional consultations after a nine-year suspension. As of August 2012, the two sides had held eight rounds of talks and signed 18 agreements.

-- From Aug. 8 to 24 and from Sept. 6 to 17, the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games were held, respectively, with China taking the top spot in the gold medal tally.

-- On Aug. 20, the State Council, China's Cabinet, issued a document on the institutional restructuring of local governments, which was completed at the end of 2009.

-- On Sept. 13, the State Council launched a first-level national emergency response to the Sanlu milk powder scandal, caused by the Sanlu Group, one of China's largest dairy makers, which produced infant formula adulterated with melamine. The Cabinet established a special committee on food safety on Feb. 6, 2010.

-- On Sept. 16, China's first high-performance supercomputer Shuguang 5000A came off the assembly line in north China's port city of Tianjin. In 2009, China's Tianhe-1 supercomputer was confirmed to be the most powerful in the world and one of the few Petascale supercomputers globally.

-- From Sept. 25 to 28, the Shenzhou-7 manned spacecraft, with three astronauts on board, completed China's first space walk, making the country the third in the world to independently acquire the key space technology.

-- From Oct. 9 to 12, the third plenary meeting of the 17th CPC Central Committee discussed and adopted a resolution on promoting rural reform and development.

-- On Nov. 5, a State Council meeting discussed the impact of the international financial crisis on China and made the plan to invest 4 trillion yuan (about 641 billion U.S. dollars) in two years to stimulate the economy.

-- On Dec. 15, the three direct links of shipping, air and postal services across the Taiwan Strait officially started, marking an historical step for the development of cross-Strait relations.

-- On Dec. 18, China marked the 30th anniversary of the reform and opening-up drive at a commemorative congress.

-- On Dec. 26, the People's Liberation Army(PLA) Navy ship formation departed from Sanya, Hainan Province, to the Gulf of Aden and waters off the coast of Somalia to conduct naval escort missions, the first such missions for China.