Milestones: 1974

-- Deng Xiaoping attends the Sixth Special Session of the UN General Assembly in April and delivers a speech on China's basic views on the international situation and principles governing its foreign relations.

-- Mao Zedong brings up the issue of Hong Kong's return to China with former UK Prime Minister Edward Heath during the latter's visit to Hunan province. Mao says China will resume sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997.

-- A huge army of terracotta warriors is discovered in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, at the purported site of the mausoleum of China's first emperor Qinshihuang, who died in 210 BC.