This Day, That Year

40 years on

Editor’s Note: This year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up policy.

In 1982, the Shanghai Bureau of Education launched a pilot program to provide computer training to elementary and middleschool students.

It was the first experiment in promoting comput- er awareness in children’s education.

In 1984, the New Technology Developer Inc was established in Beijing, which was changed into the Lenovo Group in 2003.

On Sept 14, 1987, the country’s first email was sent saying “Across the Great Wall we can reach every corner of the world.”

In 1994, China officially established a full internet connection between the Institute of High-Energy Physics in Beijing and Stanford University.

Since then, the country has witnessed the rapid development of personal computer makers.

Lenovo is the largest PC maker in the world with employees in more than 60 countries and regions. In 2005, it completed its acquisition of IBM’s PC unit.

Last year, telecom giant Huawei in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, planned a global expansion into computers.

Domestically, exponential growth in the use of the internet has triggered new business opportunities.

The internet has changed people’s lives dramatically and become a new engine of economic growth.