This Day, That Year

Item from July 9, 1986, in China Daily: The country's domestic satellite communication network officially went into operation yesterday afternoon, signaling a new stage in China's communication industry.

At the inauguration ceremony at the network's headquarters in Beijing, Vice-Premier Li Peng spoke over the phone - via satellite - with officials in the Tibet, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regions.

First constructed in 1984, the network is composed of five earth stations - Beijing, Guangzhou, Lhasa, Urumqi and Hohhot - which are linked by an Intelsat satellite over the Indian Ocean ... China launched its first communication satellite earlier this year.