Milestones: 2002

-- Yang Yang wins China's first gold medal in the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, US, in February.

-- In November, the 16th National Congress of the CPC proposes the concept of building a well-off society - both materially and socially - as the goal of China's accelerated growth and bid to steadily lift living standards.

-- Hu Jintao is elected general secretary of the CPC Central Committee.