2026 in China

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Events in the year 2026 in China.

Incumbents

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer shakes hands with Chinese leader Xi Jinping ahead of their meeting in Beijing on 29 January 2026

• General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party – Xi Jinping
• President – Xi Jinping
• Premier – Li Qiang
• Congress chairman – Zhao Leji
• Consultative Conference chairman – Wang Huning
• Vice President – Han Zheng
• Supervision Commission director – Liu Jinguo

Events

January

• 2 January – The New York Times reports that Chinese car company BYD Auto has overtaken American company Tesla as the world's largest seller of electric vehicles.
• 6 January – The Ministry of Commerce bans the export of dual-use items, with military applications, to Japan, citing contentious statements made by the Japanese government regarding tensions with Taiwan.
• 7 January – Cross-strait relations: The government bans Taiwanese interior minister Liu Shyh-fang and education minister Cheng Ying-yao and their families from entering the country on allegations of their involvement in the Taiwan independence movement.
• 8 January – Chen Zhi, the founder of Cambodian conglomerate Prince Group, is extradited to China to face charges of cryptocurrency fraud and human trafficking.
• 18 January – Four people are killed while 84 others are injured with six reported missing following an explosion at the Baogang United Steel factory in Baotou.
• 22 January – The Singapore-flagged cargo vessel Devon Bay sinks off Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea on its way to Guangdong, leaving two crewmembers dead and four others missing.
• 24 January – Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Zhang Youxia and Chief of Staff of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission, Liu Zhenli are placed under investigation over suspected "serious violations of discipline."
• 29 January –
  • China executes 11 members of the Ming crime family that ran scam centers in Myanmar.
  • The Chinese Football Association imposes lifetime bans on 73 people, including athlete Li Tie and former association president Chen Xuyuan, for involvement in match-fixing.

February

• 2 February – China executes four members of the Bai crime family that ran scam centers in Myanmar.
• 6 February – The Supreme People’s Court overturns the death sentence issued to Canadian national Robert Lloyd Schellenberg for drug trafficking.
• 7 February – Eight people are killed in an explosion at a biotechnology facility in Shuoyang, Shanxi.
• 15 February – Eight people are killed in an explosion at a fireworks store in Donghai County, Jiangsu.
• 17 February – China grants visa-free entry for 30 days to citizens of Canada and the United Kingdom.
• 18 February – Twelve people are killed in an explosion at a fireworks store in Xiangyang, Hubei.
• 24 February – China imposes export restrictions on 40 Japanese entities accused of contributing to Japanese "remilitarization" efforts.
• 26 February – Nineteen members of the National People's Congress are dismissed due to unspecified reasons.

March

• 2 March – The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference votes to remove five of its members following a Standing Committee.
• 12 March –
  • Train services between Beijing and Pyongyang resume after a suspension imposed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • The National People's Congress passes a law to promote "ethnic unity" by making the teaching of Mandarin Chinese mandatory throughout the entirety of the compulsory education period, among other provisions.
• 19 March – Authorities announce the arrest of seven people in Hubei on charges of trading fentanyl.
• 29 March – At least eight people are killed in a ramming attack in Fangshan District, Beijing.
• 30 March –
  • Four eight people are killed in an explosion at an under construction tunnel in Wanzhou, Chongqing.
  • In an interview conducted by the magazine People, Chinese Olympic diver Quan Hongchan reveals that she was a target of cyberbullying.

April

• 2 April – Air China, China Southern Airlines, and its subsidiary XiamenAir increase fuel surcharges by ¥60–120 (US$8.70–17.5) on domestic flights in response to rising oil prices linked to the 2026 Iran war.
• 3 April –
  • The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announces that Ma Xingrui, the former Party Secretary of Xinjiang, is under investigation over suspected "serious violation of law and discipline", becoming the third member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party to be investigated by the commission.
  • An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease is declared in Xinjiang.
• 18 April – China lodges a diplomatic complaint alleging that a Royal New Zealand Air Force aircraft violated its airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea. The New Zealand Defence Force denies breaching Chinese airspace, stating that it was monitoring shipping near North Korea as part of a multinational sanctions enforcement team.
• 23 April – Actress Dilraba Dilmurat wins a lawsuit after Beijing Internet Court ruled that Hangzhou Qianyan Wanyu Culture Communication Co., Ltd. and Fuyang Zhishang Culture Media Co., Ltd. infringed her portrait rights by using AI face-swapping technology in paid short dramas, ordering both companies to issue public apologies on Douyin and pay compensation for economic losses and legal expenses.
• 28 April – Flash flooding displaces more than 200 people in Qinzhou, Guangxi.

May

• 1 May –
  • A ban on the sale and flying of drones in Beijing comes into effect.
  • China lifts tariffs on imports from 20 African countries until 2028.
• 4 May – At least 37 people are killed in explosion at a fireworks factory in Liuyang, Hunan.
• 13–15 May – U.S. President Donald Trump makes a state visit to China and meets with CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping.
• 16 May – A truck falls into a river in Huanjiang Maonan Autonomous County, Guangxi, killing nine people.
• 18 May – A magnitude 5.2 earthquake hits Guangxi, killing two people and injuring four in Liuzhou.
• 19 May – Three people, including two Japanese nationals, are injured in a knife attack at a restaurant in Shanghai.
• 20 May –
  • At least 12 people are reported killed following days of flooding caused by heavy rains in Hunan, Hubei and Guizhou provinces.
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a state visit to China and meets with CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping.
• 21 May – Xu Yao is executed following his conviction for the 2020 murder of Yoozoo Games founder Lin Qi.
• 22 May – At least 82 people are killed in an explosion at a coal mine in Shanxi.
• 29 May – A court in Henan convicts Shi Yongxin, the former abbot of the Shaolin Temple, on charges of misappropriation of funds and bribery involving 282 million yuan ($41 million) and sentences him to 24 years' imprisonment.
• 31 May – Five people are killed in a collapse at an illegal mine in Huize County, Yunnan.

June

• 3 June — The Chinese Government bans four New Zealand MPs from entering the country for a year after they visited Taiwan in May as part of a cross-party parliamentary delegation amid Beijing's One China policy.
• 11 June — The Chinese Government imposes sanctions and an entry ban on Philippine defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro and his family, citing statements made against the country.
• The State Administration for Market Regulation approves Paramount Skydance's proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Predicted and scheduled

• 27 October–8 November – 2026 World Weightlifting Championships in Ningbo.
• 5–8 November – 2026 Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships.

Holidays

Further information: Public holidays in China

Source:

• 1 January – New Year's Day
• 15–23 February – Chinese New Year
• 5–6 April – Tomb-Sweeping Day
• 1 May – Labour Day
• 19 June – Dragon Boat Festival
• 25 September – Mid-Autumn Festival
• 1 – 7 October – National Day

Deaths

• 3 January –
  • Wang Zheng, 64, vice admiral.
  • Zhang Kerang, 78, Peking opera actor.
• 4 March – Song Ping, 108, head of the organization department (1987–1989), state councillor (1983–1988), and governor of Gansu (1977–1979).
• 7 May – Zhang Anjian, 55, politician, deputy mayor of Chongqing.

Art and entertainment

• List of Chinese submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film
• 2026 in Chinese music

See also

• Timeline of Chinese history
• Years in China

External links

• Online calendar