The 1950s

1956, Sept.: The Sino-Soviet agreement on technological aid in the field of nuclear industry is signed in Moscow.

1958-1961: Mao's program of rural industrialization leads to absurd technology of backyard furnaces for steel production.

The 1960s

1960: With availability of gasoline and electricity in the 1960s, farmers begin to use tube wells for irrigation in Northern China.

1960, July: Khrushchev recalls Soviet advisors and technical experts in China. Open conflict between China and USSR.

1968: The Space Flight Medical Research Centre is founded in preparation for manned space flights (led by Tsien Hsueshen).

The 1970s

1970: First satellite launch ("Long March").

1971, March: Successful launch of the SJ-1 statellite into orbit with two scientific payloads (detecting cosmic rays).

1978, Sept.: E-mail link is established between Germany and China (CSNET protocol). First message from China: Sept. 20.

The 1980s

1980, June: Timothy Berners-Lee writes "Enquire" - a program that became the conceptual basis for the World Wide Web (www).

1981, Sept.: Successful launch of three satellites (SJ-2, SJ-2A, SJ-2b) on one rocket into orbit.

1988, March: China successfully launches the DFH-2A fully operational communication satellite into earth's orbit.

The 1990s

1994: China connected to NSFNET (Internet).

1994, Dec.: Start of the "Three Gorges Dam" project.

1996, Feb.: China launches Long March 3B orbital carrier rocket for communication satellites.

1998: The Microsoft and Intel corporations establish high-tech research facilities in Beijing.

The 2000s

2003: First-ever fiber optic network connection across Russian-Chinese border (Internet).

2003, Oct.: First manned spacecraft send into orbit by "Long March 2F". Astronaut Yang Liwei.

2004: CERNET2 is China's first IPv6 high-speed network by CERN connecting 25 universities

2004, Dec.: China has at least 94 million Internet users.

2005: Researchers at the Institute of Computing Technology (CAS) develop powerful 64-bit processor "Godson-2".

2005, June: China has at least 103 million Internet users, 45.6 million computer hosts, and 677,500 Web Sites.

2005, Oct.: Two astronauts sent into space, circling earth with "Shenzhou VI space capsule".

2007, Oct.: Lunar orbiter Chang'e 1 lounched into space to explore the Earth's moon.

2007, Dec.: Number of Internet Users in China reaches 210 million.

2007, Dec.: China celebrates launch of first domestically developed passenger jet Xiang Feng.

2010, March: Shaoxing is the maleware capital of the world in March 2010.

2010, May: China joins supercomputing elite.