• Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party – Hua Guofeng / Hu Yaobang
• Chairman of the Congress – Ye Jianying (head of state)
• Premier – Zhao Ziyang
• Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference – Deng Xiaoping
• Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China – Wan Li

Governors edit

• Governor of Anhui Province – Zhang Jingfu then Zhou Zijian
• Governor of Fujian Province – Ma Xingyuan
• Governor of Gansu Province – Feng Jixin then Li Dengying
• Governor of Guangdong Province – Xi Zhongxun then Liu Tianfu
• Governor of Guizhou Province – Su Gang
• Governor of Hebei Province – Li Erzhong
• Governor of Heilongjiang Province – Chen Lei
• Governor of Henan Province – Liu Jie then Dai Suli
• Governor of Hubei Province – Han Ningfu
• Governor of Hunan Province – Sun Guozhi
• Governor of Jiangsu Province – Hui Yuyu
• Governor of Jiangxi Province – Bai Dongcai
• Governor of Jilin Province – Yu Ke
• Governor of Liaoning Province – Chen Puru
• Governor of Qinghai Province – Zhang Guosheng
• Governor of Shaanxi Province – Yu Mingtao
• Governor of Shandong Province – Su Yiran
• Governor of Shanxi Province – Luo Guibo
• Governor of Sichuan Province – Lu Dadong
• Governor of Yunnan Province – Liu Minghui
• Governor of Zhejiang Province – Li Fengping

1981 was the year of the rooster in the Chinese Zodiac.

• January 24 - Dawu earthquake
• May 22 - 1st Golden Rooster Awards
• July 9 - Chengdu-Kunming rail crash
• July 22 - Yangquan theatre bombing
• Unknown date – TTK Home Appliance, as predecessor of TCL Technology was founded in Guangdong Province.^{[page needed]}

• National Population and Family Planning Commission
• Beijing Marathon
• Capital Museum
• China Daily
• Chongqing Broadcasting Group
• Jinling Hotel
• Golden Rooster Awards
• Flying Apsaras Awards
• Duzhe
• TCL Corporation
• Soong Ching-ling Memorial Residence (Shanghai)
• Shantou Special Economic Zone

• January 2 - Zhang Juanjuan, archer^[1]
• January 18 - Song Lun, figure skater
• February 3 - Huang Zhiyi, footballer
• April 4 - Zhang Lei, racing cyclist
• April 6 - Wang Di, football referee
• April 19 - Zhang Yalin, footballer (d. 2010)
• August 29 - Zeng Shaoxuan, tennis player
• September 23 - Zhang Ai, softball player
• Liu Jiayin, independent filmmaker

• Zhang Dingcheng
• Hu Lancheng, died in Japan
• Du Yuming
• Liu Yuzhang, died in Taiwan
• Wang Shujin, died in Taiwan
• Lü Wencheng
• Jiang Yukun

• 1981 in Chinese film