Aug 17 - Sept 19, 1952: Zhou Enlai led a Chinese government delegation to visit the Soviet Union to exchange views with the Soviet Union on the draft outline?of the?First Five-year Plan and try to get the assistance of the Soviet Union.

Aug 17-30, 1958: the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held an enlarged meeting in Beidaihe, where they decided to establish people's communes in rural areas.

Aug 17, 1964: the CPC Central Committee and the State Council approved the National Economic Council's report on setting up industrial and transportation trusts and approved the set-up of 12 trusts in the country.

August 17, 1982: China and the United States issued the Joint Communique of the People's Republic of China and the United States of America, also known as the August 17 Communique.