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| 1968 |
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| The army took over administrative control at many levels, resulting in a gradual restoration of order. In the spring and summer, many violent clashes occurred between the Red Guards and the workers and peasants organized by local authorities to resist them; but by the fall, progress had been made in getting the Red Guard students back to school or assigned to farm labor. Throughout local government, revolutionary committees, increasingly dominated by the military, made their appearance. | 1 |
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| 1969, March–June |
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| China's internal crisis was aggravated by a series of clashes along the Sino-Soviet frontier, both in the east and in Central Asia (See 1969, March 2, 5). The two governments embarked on long, controversial debates, culminating in the interview of Zhou Enlai with Soviet premier Aleksey Kosygin at the Beijing Airport (Sept.) during the latter's return from the funeral of Hô Chi Minh. | 2 |
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| April 1–24 |
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| THE 9TH PARTY CONGRESS (the first since 1958) met in secrecy and officially marked the end of the Cultural Revolution, formally declaring the victory of Mao's thought over the “revisionists.” About 40 percent of the new Central Committee was drawn from the military, and Lin Biao, who reported on the “success” of the Cultural Revolution, was officially designated as Mao's eventual successor. Lin celebrated Mao as the “great teacher of the world proletariat of our time.” Although Mao had indeed (with the support of the army) purged the bureaucracy of the more moderate elements, he had done so at the expense of countless deaths, destruction of property, wastage of much of China's cultural heritage, and the dislocation and demoralization of its people. Moreover, the conflict greatly enhanced the influence of the military, who came to dominate the revolutionary committees that had taken control. Many former Red Guards were now sent down to the countryside, as the objects of their attacks had earlier been, to work in the fields. | 3 |
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| Oct. 19 |
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| Soviet-Chinese border discussions began in Beijing. | 4 |
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| Dec. 19 |
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| The U.S. relaxed restrictions on trade with the PRC, marking the beginning of a slow and cautious policy of friendlier relations between the two countries. | 5 |
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