2003 in China

← 2002 2001 2000 2003 in China → 2004 2005 2006
Centuries:	19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
See also:	Other events of 2003 List of years in China Timeline of Chinese history 2003 in the Republic of China 2003 in Macau

Events in the year 2003 in China.

Incumbents

• Party General Secretary - Hu Jintao
• President – Jiang Zemin to March 15, Hu Jintao
• Premier – Zhu Rongji to March 16, Wen Jiabao
• Congress Chairman - Li Peng to March 15, Wu Bangguo
• Conference Chairman - Li Ruihuan to March 14, Jia Qinglin

Events

February

• February 24 – 2003 Bachu earthquake: An earthquake measuring 6.3 in magnitude occurred in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in northwest China, killing at least 261 people and injuring at least 4,000 more. Almost 10,000 homes were levelled by the earthquake.

March

• March 15 – Hu Jintao becomes President of the People's Republic of China, replacing Jiang Zemin.

June

• June 1 – The People's Republic of China begins filling the lake behind the massive Three Gorges Dam, raising the water level near the dam over 100 metres.

October

• October 15 – China successfully launches Shenzhou 5, their first manned space mission, becoming the third country in the world to have independent human spaceflight capability after the Soviet Union and the United States.

December

• December 23 - A PetroChina Chuandongbei natural gas field explosion in Chongqing, 234 people lives.

Deaths

• February 11 – Ma Sanli, Chinese comedian (born 1914)
• March 17 – Su Buqing, Chinese mathematician and educator (born 1902)
• June 17 – Zheng Wenguang, science fiction author (born 1929)
• July 5 – Zhang Aiping, Chinese communist military leader (born 1908)
• November 15 – T. Y. Lin, Chinese-born civil engineer (born 1912)
• November 19 – Shi Zhecun, Chinese author (born 1905)
• December 27 – Ying Ruocheng, Chinese actor, director, playwright and Vice Minister of Culture from 1986 to 1990 (born 1929)

See also

• 2003 in Chinese film
• Hong Kong League Cup 2003–04