Year 1984: An archival experience of a year

Mandarin Chinese

In the People's Republic of China, the state intensified efforts to build schools and standardize education within the Beijing Mandarin dialect through the late 1900s. The rate of the citizenship of the country understanding this standard Mandarin raised to 91% in 1984. 

What might May, 1984 have looked like to someone part of these efforts to standardize?

Information on Mandarin standardization retrieved from Ping Chen's Modern Chinese, pages 27-28.