1978 in China
Events in the year 1978 in the People's Republic of China.
Incumbents
- Paramount leader - Hua Guofeng → Deng Xiaoping
- Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party – Hua Guofeng
- Premier of the People's Republic of China – Hua Guofeng
- Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress – Ye Jianying
- Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference – Deng Xiaoping
Governors
- Governor of Anhui Province - Song Peizhang then Wan Li
- Governor of Fujian Province - Liao Zhigao
- Governor of Gansu Province - Song Ping
- Governor of Guangdong Province - Wei Guoqing
- Governor of Guizhou Province - Ma Li
- Governor of Hebei Province - Liu Zihou
- Governor of Heilongjiang Province - Yang Yichen
- Governor of Henan Province - Liu Jianxun then Duan Junyi
- Governor of Hubei Province - Zhao Xinchu then Chen Pixian
- Governor of Hunan Province - Mao Zhiyong
- Governor of Jiangsu Province - Xu Jiatun
- Governor of Jiangxi Province - Jiang Weiqing
- Governor of Jilin Province - Wang Enmao
- Governor of Liaoning Province - Zeng Shaoshan, Ren Zhongyi
- Governor of Qinghai Province - Tan Qilong
- Governor of Shaanxi Province - Wang Renzhong, Wang Renzhong
- Governor of Shandong Province - Bai Rubing
- Governor of Shanxi Province - Wang Qian
- Governor of Sichuan Province - Zhao Ziyang
- Governor of Yunnan Province - An Pingsheng
- Governor of Zhejiang Province - Tie Ying
Events
December
- December 18 to 22 — 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party was held. The conference marked the beginning of the "Reform and Opening Up" policy.
Undated
- SIUI – ultrasound manufacturer is founded.
Deaths
- January 17 — Wu Mi, one of the founders of Chinese comparative literature, critic, redologist, educator and poet
- February 2 — Tang Chun-i, philosopher
- February 3 — Jiang Lifu, mathematician and educator
- March 27 — Li Jinxi, linguist and educator
- April 20 — Lo Hsiang-lin, one of the most renowned researchers in Hakka language and culture
- April 25 — Peng Shaohui, general of the People's Liberation Army
- May 15
- *Shang Zhen, general of the National Revolutionary Army
- *Ouyang Qin, politician
- June 12 — Guo Moruo, author, poet, historian, archaeologist, and government official
- June 30 — Yuan Muzhi, actor and director
- August 3 — Luo Ruiqing, politician, army officer and general of the People's Liberation Army
- December 1 — Lu Kanru, scholar of classical Chinese literature