On this day in 1922, a treaty for securing the Republic of China's independence and maintaining an "open door" was signed in Washington by nine powers.
On this day in 1971, eighty-seven countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union, signed the Seabed Arms Control Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons on the ocean floor in international waters.
On this day in 1978, China lifted a ban on works by Aristotle, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.
On this day in 1990, Nelson Mandela was released from Victor Verster Prison outside Cape Town, South Africa after 27 years as a political prisoner.