Major events in PLA's history 1977-1986

　　1977

　　On July 31, 1977, the Central Committee of the CPC, the State Council and the Central Military Commission jointly held a grand meeting in Beijing to celebrate the 50th birthday of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

　　During the last 10 days of November 1977, the first electronic countermeasures experimental exercise of the PLA conducted by actual troops was held in Wuhan, the capital of Central China's Hubei Province.

　　1978

　　The Standing Committee of the 5th National People's Congress ratified on March 7 the Decision on the Issue of Military Service System put forward by the State Council. According to the Decision, the military service system in China would be a system which combines conscripts with volunteers, which was an important reform in China's military service system.

　　Senior General Luo Ruiqing passed away on 3rd of August, 1978. Luo Ruiqing, a native of Nanchong, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, ever assumed the office of member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, vice premier of the State Council, secretary-general of the Central Military Commission, chief of general staff of the PLA and deputy minister of national defense.

　　1979

　　The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress issued the Message to the Compatriots of Taiwan on the New Year's Day of 1979 to declare the policies of the Communist Party of China and Chinese government on the peaceful reunification of the motherland. On the same day, the Minister of National Defense Xu Xiangqian gave an order to the troop units garrisoning the front line of Fujian Province to stop cannonading the islets of the Greater Jinmen, Lesser Jinmen, Dadan and Erdan as of January 1, 1979.

　　The PLA set up its first marine regiment in April 1953. The regiment was enlarged to be a Marine division under the East China Navy of the PLA. In June 1957, the marine division was reorganized. In December 1979, the PLA Navy started under orders to reestablish the Marine Corps to meet the demand of modern warfare.

　　1980

　　The General Staff Headquarters, the General Political Department and the General Logistics Department of the PLA jointly promulgated on Dec. 11, 1980 a provision on the elevation of officers through academic training, which had been ratified at the PLA 's 11th Military Academy Conference. According to the provision, the PLA would eliminate its old modus operandi of selecting officers straightly from excellent privates and practise a new system of promoting officers from cadets with military academy training backgrounds, that's to say, commanding, political, logistic and technical officers at all levels could only be elevated from graduates of military academies instead of excellent privates.

　　1981

　　On Feb. 13, 1981, the General Staff Headquarters and the General Political Department of the PLA issued the notice on oath-taking for newly recruited servicemen. The Servicemen's Pledge of the Chinese People's Liberation Army was issued for enforcement in the PLA on the same day.

　　At the 6th plenary meeting of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held in Beijing on June 27, 1981, Deng Xiaoping was elected as the chairman of the Central Military Commission.

　　1982

　　Upon the approval of the CPC Central Committee, the Central Military Commission made a decision on 1st September that the headquarters of the artillery, armored force and engineer corps under the Central Military Commission be transformed to the Artillery Department, the Department of Armored Force and the Department of Engineer Corps under the General Staff headquarters, the headquarters of the railway engineering corps merged into the Ministry of Railway and the capital construction engineer corps dissolved. The Central Military Commission issued on Sept. 16 the military system reform and reorganization plan.

　　1983

　　The State Council and the Central Military Commission issued jointly on March 15 a notice, which said that the Chinese People's Liberation Army would since 1983 recruit from non-military institutions of higher learning graduates of the year who would be promoted to be military and political officers after receiving a short period of training. This policy adopted by the PLA to keep pace with the times was designed to improve gradually the quality of officers and accelerate the pace of making the officers of the PLA young in age, profound in knowledge and specialized in military technologies.

　　1984

　　Senior General Su Yu passed away in Beijing on Feb. 5, 1984. Su Yu, born in Huitong County of Hunan Province in 1907, ever assumed the office of chief of general staff of the PLA, vice minister of national defense of the People's Republic of China, deputy president and first political commissar of the PLA Academy of Military Sciences.

　　In early March, 1984, the North China Sea Fleet of the PLA Navy launched a warship and fighter formation coordination drilling, which marked a new stage of the marine-air coordination training of the PLA Navy.

　　1985

　　US Chairman of Joint Staffs General John Vessey paid an official visit to China on Jan. 12, 1985.

　　All the servicemen of the PLA began to wear new-type military uniforms on May 1, 1985.

　　1986

　　The PLA General Staff Headquarters, the General Political Department and the General Logistics Department issued jointly a notice on Aug. 10, 1986 about adding the reserve force into the organizational system of the PLA and conferring designations and the PLA banner to divisions and regiments of the reserve force.

　　Marshal Liu Bocheng passed away in Beijing on Oct. 7, 1986. Liu Bocheng, born in Kaixian County of Sichuan Province in 1892, ever assumed the office of member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission and vice chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee.

　　Marshal Ye Jianying passed away in Beijing on Oct. 22, 1986. Ye Jianying, born in Meixian County in Guangdong Province, ever assumed the office of vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee and vice chairman of the CPC Central Committee.

　　Upon the approval of the Central Military Commission, the PLA Daily began to open its issue both abroad and at home.

　　Senior General Huang Kecheng passed away on Dec. 28, 1986. Huang Kecheng, born in Yongxing County in Hunan Province in 1902, ever assumed the office of member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, secretary-general of the Central Military Committee concurrently chief of general staff of the PLA and vice defense minister.

　　In the year of 1986, the Army Aviation, the newest arm of the PLA, was formally established.