24, An earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale strikes Bachu-Jiashi region in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. By February 25, the disaster had killed 262 people and injured 2,055 others. It also ruined more than 10,000 houses and damaged over 40,000.

26, Fidel Castro, President of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers of Cuba, begins visit to China. Chinese President Jiang Zemin held talks with his Cuban counterpart, in which both sides exchanged views on bilateral relations and regional and international issues of common concern. Vice President Hu Jintao, also General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, met with the Cuban leader as well. This is Castro's second China trip.

28, The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council jointly sponsor a ceremony in Beijing to confer the 2002 State Preeminent Science and Technology Award. Jin Yilian, a computer scientist with the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Director of the National Concurrent Computer Engineering Research Center, won the country's top science prize. Before Jin, Wu Wenjun, Yuan Longping, Wang Xuan and Huang Kun had been winners of the prize in 2001 and 2002, respectively. Other state sci-tech awards for 2002 were also presented at the ceremony.