January

1
The Law on Renewable Energy goes into effect.

4
The Administrative Measures Concerning Strategic Investment of Foreign Investors in Listed Companies are promulgated. The measures, which are applicable when a foreign investor acquires yuan-denominated A shares of a listed company that has completed the split equity structure reform and a company newly listed after the split equity structure reform through long- and middle?term strategic merger and acquisition investment on a considerable scale, represented the further opening up of China's stock market.

12
The Chinese Government issues China's African Policy, the first official paper of its kind in the history of the People's Republic.

12
The Guidelines on Deepening Reform of the Cultural System are jointly issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council.

22
China's first scientific research ship, Dayang Yihao, returns to Qingdao in east China's Shandong Province, where it set off to circumnavigate the globe, after 300 days at sea.

February

9
The State Council releases the National Guidelines on Long- and Middle-Term Program for Science and Technology Development (2006-20), setting the goal of making China an innovation-oriented society by 2020.

10
The 20th Winter Olympic Games opens in Turin, Italy. Han Xiaopeng claimed China's first ever Olympic snow gold medal at the men's freestyle aerials.

13
Wang Xuan, inventor of the laser photo-typesetting of Chinese characters, dies in Beijing at the age of 69. Wang was professor at Peking University and an academic with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

21
The Proposals for Promoting the Building of a New Socialist Countryside are jointly published by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, detailing a set of measures to boost development of the vast countryside.

28
China's foreign exchange reserves reach $853.7 billion, overtaking Japan's stockpile to become the world's largest.

March

14
The Fourth Session of the 10th National People's Congress, China's parliament, endorses the country's 11th Five-Year Program for National Economic and Social Development (2006-10).

21
Chinese President Hu Jintao and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin jointly unveil the "Russia Year in China" at a ceremony in Beijing. The bilateral cultural exchange program concluded on November 9.

26
The National Development and Reform Commission, which regulates energy prices, announces that the producer prices of gasoline will be raised by 300 yuan per ton while that of diesel oil will be up by 200 yuan per ton. On May 24, ex-factory prices of gasoline, diesel and fuel oil were raised by 500 yuan per ton, respectively.

27
The General Office of the State Council promulgates the Outline of IPR Protection Actions (2006-07), defining the objectives, priorities and principal measures for the protection of intellectual property rights for the two years.