At a meeting with personages of industrial and business communities and of democratic parties in January 1979, Mr. Deng Xiaoping expressed the hope that Mr. Rong Yiren and other comrades could do some actual work for the reform and opening-up and play their role accordingly. In February of the same year, Mr. Rong Yiren submitted to the central government his Tentative Opinions on Establishing an International Investment and Trust Corporation. In June, the State Council approved the establishment of China International Trust and Investment Corporation, and in October 1979, China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC) was founded. Mr. Rong Yiren was the first Chairman and President.
Established at the early years of China's reform, CITIC has become a window of China's opening-up to the outside world.