Flag of China
  1. China Main Page
  2. War Losses Cause China to Sign Away Sovereignty
  3. People's Republic of China Is Established
  4. China Is Condemned for Poor Treatment of Tibetans
  5. President Nixon's Visit to China Establishes New Relations
  6. Student Demonstrators Are Killed at Tiananmen Square
  8. Natural Disasters Ravage China
  9. China Hosts a Successful Olympics
  10. Space Exploration, Government Reforms, and Military Crackdowns
  11. Tension Reignites with Asian Neighbors Over Islands
  12. Transfer of Power, Bo Xilai Sentenced to Life in Prison
  13. New Air Defense Zone Declared and Increased Tension with Vietnam
  14. Chinese Hackers Indicted by the United States
  16. China and U.S. Reach Landmark Agreement on Climate Change
  17. China, South Korea, and Japan Hold First Foreign Minister Talks in Three Years
  18. China Ends One-Child Policy, Meets with Taiwan for First Time in Sixty-Six years
Transfer of Power, Bo Xilai Sentenced to Life in Prison

On Nov. 8, 2012, the Chinese Communist Party's 18th Congress convened in Beijing, beginning its leadership transition, with Vice President Xi Jinping set to take over as president. In preparation, Xi was named chairman of the Central Military Commission and general secretary of the Communist Party. He assumed the presidency of China in March 2013. Li Yuanchao was named vice president. It was only the second time since the party was established in 1949 that power was transferred from one leader to another without violence or protest. Xi was expected to propose several changes to China's social and economic policies, and in Nov. 2013, the party announced it was relaxing its one-child policy to allow urban parents who were both only children to have two children and was abolishing its system of "re-education through labor."



Next: New Air Defense Zone Declared and Increased Tension with Vietnam