The Third Plenum of the 11th Central Committee, guided by Deng Xiaoping, shifts China's focus to economic development and opening up.
China attacks Vietnam's northern border provinces and withdraws after about a month; both sides claim victory.
Chairman Mao Zedong, founder of the People's Republic of China, dies in Beijing; the Cultural Revolution ends soon after.
Citizens of Gwangju rise against Chun Doo-hwan's military regime; the uprising is violently suppressed by the army.
Farmers digging a well near Xi'an uncover thousands of terracotta warriors buried with Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum.
Chinese naval forces clash with the South Vietnamese navy and take control of all of the Paracel Islands.
U.S. President Richard Nixon's visit opens the way to normalised relations between the United States and China.