At the end of 1988, Hu Jintao was dispatched by Deng Xiaoping to Lhasa to serve as Party Secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region. Soon after taking office, he encountered the death of the Panchen Lama and turmoil in Lhasa.
The Soviet Union passed the Law on Cooperatives, allowing private cooperatives to operate under the umbrella of state-owned enterprises. This turned the floodgates for converting accounting currency into cash from the Communist Youth League to every factory director across the country.
Red Sorghum, directed by Zhang Yimou and adapted from Mo Yan's novel, won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, becoming the first Chinese film to receive the honor; Zhang Yimou thus transitioned from cinematographer to internationally renowned director.
The Chinese Communist Party's attempt to abolish the dual-track system and implement price reform triggered panic buying and severe inflation, becoming a major economic background for the outbreak of the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen crackdown.
In 1988, the national overall retail price index rose by about 18.5%, the first inflation peak since the reform and opening-up, and a wave of panic buying occurred that year.
Fuzhou Group's first construction of large ocean-going cargo ships at a Chinese state-owned shipyard marks the first deep cooperation between the Zhao family and China's national industrial system.
When Huawei was first founded, Ren Zhengfei required all staff to keep mattresses under their desks so they could sleep at the company and work directly when tasks were urgent. This is the origin of "mattress culture."
China has once again launched a severe crackdown campaign.
Ailuming reportedly founded a technology company in Wuhan in 1988, with business involving scientific research and medicine.
In 1988, Mao Xinyu scored only 109 in total on the gaokao. His mother tried to use privileges to get him into Peking University, but was refused by then-president Ding Shisun on the grounds of "welcome to apply."
Brazil's 1988 constitutional amendment reduced the maximum weekly working hours from 48 to 44, raised the overtime pay rate, and stipulated that unjustified dismissal requires an additional compensation equal to 40% of the balance in the severance guarantee fund (FGTS).
In 1988, China and Vietnam fought a naval battle at Johnson South Reef in the Spratly Islands.