On October 26, 1958, the last units of the Chinese forces that had been in Korea since 1950 crossed the Yalu river and returned home, and a withdrawal that had been announced in March of that year was complete. The troops had been in the country since they entered the war in October 1950, and they had stayed after the armistice of July 1953, when the fighting ended without a peace treaty.
The decision to leave was announced in February and March 1958, and the withdrawal was carried out in stages, and the forces handed over barracks, roads and equipment to the North Korean side before they left. Those who had been killed in the war were honoured, and the last commander signed a farewell message before crossing the border. The North Korean side held a send off in Pyongyang, and the date is marked by both sides. The troops went home.
The government in Beijing presented the withdrawal as a way to reduce tension and to make the case that the remaining foreign forces in the south should also go, and the statement pointed to the American troops that stayed under the United Nations command. The withdrawal also came at a time when China's relations with the Soviet Union were still close but were beginning to change, and the costs of keeping a large force abroad had become a burden. The forces were needed at home as well.
The armistice of 1953 has held in its main lines since, though there have been incidents along the line, and no peace treaty has been signed, and the demilitarised zone is still guarded. The war never formally ended. The line still holds. Chinese forces have not returned in large numbers, while American forces remain in the south under the armistice arrangements, and the question of a formal end to the war has been raised many times in later negotiations.