主播胡力任回忆，1979年10月，他在上海读初一时，看到一辆上海市政府接待车开进学校，一位年轻的美国外交官用手提摄像机拍摄学校，并表示是拍给妈妈看。这反映了当时中美关系开始解冻以及中国社会对外开放的初步迹象。
In March 1979, Deng Xiaoping proposed the Four Cardinal Principles, explicitly rejecting the direction of political democratization reform.
President Jimmy Carter hosted then-Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping and his wife Zhuo Lin. First Lady Rosalynn Carter meticulously prepared a bilingual Chinese-English calligraphy menu and a performance at the Kennedy Center.
In the spring of 1979, Xi Jinping and Bo Xilai met by chance in Beijing's Yuanyuan Tan Park. The two recalled their respective difficult experiences, and Bo Xilai even took Xi Jinping to a gathering of princelings.
In 1979, Xi Jinping married Ke Lingling, the daughter of Ke Hua, the then Chinese Ambassador to the UK. This was a political marriage between red families.