The Year of the Pig has come to an end, and China Daily summarizes the major events that happened in each month and presents them in cartoon.
February
· On Feb 5, The Wandering Earth was released, marking the start of China's science fiction film industry.
· On Feb 19, the Beijing Film Academy canceled actor Zhai Tianlin's PhD.
March
· On March 10, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight crashed six minutes after takeoff, which killed all 157 people on board.
· On March 15, a gunman attacked two Christchurch mosques killing 50 people and injuring 50.
April
· On April 10, the first ever photo of a black hole was published.
· On April 16, Notre Dame was gutted by fire.
May
· On May 1, the new Japanese Emperor took over from his father.
· On May 24, UK Prime Minister Theresa May announced her resignation.
June
· On June 6, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology officially issued a commercial license for 5G technology
· On June 30, US president Donald Trump stepped into the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
July
· On July 13, the peony was selected as China's national flower via a popular vote.
· On July 18, Brendt Christensen, who was accused of having killed visiting Chinese scholar Zhang Yingying in the US, was sentenced to life imprisonment without any chance of parole.
August
· On Aug 9, domestic telecommunication giant Huawei released its own operating system Harmony.
· On Aug 31, the animated movie Ne Zha reached No 2 on China's all-time box office list.
September
· On Sept 24, China's high-speed railway network was reported to have exceeded 30,000 kilometers in length, making it world champion.
· On Sept 29, the Chinese national volleyball team won the world cup for the 11 successive time.
October
· On Oct 1, a parade was held in Tiananmen Square to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
November
· On Nov 11, the business volume of Single's Day reached 10 billion yuan ($1.45 billion) within 96 seconds.
· On Nov 27, Canadian-Chinese actor Godfrey Gao died from heart attack while filming a reality TV show, which prompted nationwide awareness about first-aid.
December
· On Dec 8, Li Ziqi, a livestreamer of traditional Chines food culture with 27 million followers globally aroused much discussion about cultural exports.
· Starting on Dec 30, some pneumonia cases were found in Wuhan, which was later confirmed to be caused by a new coronavirus.
January 2020
· On Jan 3, the US killed Iranian general Qassam Soleimani, which led to heightened bilateral tensions.
· On Jan 14, China and the US signed an initial economic and trade pact.
