People's Republic of China. The flag is red with five gold stars in the upper left quadrant; one large star is near the hoist and four smaller ones are arranged in an arc to the right. The renminbi, or "people's money," denominated in yuan yis equivalent to 10 jiao or fen. There are coins of 1, 2, and 5 fen, 1, 2, and 5 jiao, and 1 yuan, and notes of 1, 2, and 5 fen, 1, 2, and 5 jiao, and 1, 2, 5, 10, 50, and yuan. The metric system is the legal standard, but some Chinese units remain in common use.

New Year's Day, 1 January; Spring Festival Chinese New Yearfrom the 1st to the 3d day of the first moon of the lunar calendar, usually in February; International Women's Day, 8 March; May Day, 1 May; Army Day, 1 August; Teachers' Day, 9 September; and National Day, 1 — 2 October. Comparatively, the area occupied by China is slightly larger than the United States. If the area of Taiwan is excluded, China is the fourth-largest country in the world, after RussiaCanada, and the United States.

The mainland has an extension of 4, km 3, mi ene — wsw and 3, km 2, mi sse — nnw. The mainland's 5, km 3, mi coastline, extending from the mouth of the Yalu River in the northeast to the Gulf of Tonkin in the south, forms a great arc, with the Liaodong and Shandong peninsulas in the north protruding into the Yellow Sea and the Leizhou Peninsula in the south protruding into the South China Sea.

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China's territory includes several large islands, the most important of which is Hainan, off the south coast. These reefs and islands include Dongsha Pratasto which Taiwan has also laid claim. China's claims to the Xisha Paracel and Nansha Spratly archipelagoes are also in dispute.

Inthe United Kingdom agreed to transfer Hong Kong to the PRC in ; in Marchthe PRC and Portugal reached an agreement for the return of Macau to the PRC on 20 December China is bordered on the n by Mongolia Mongolian People's Republic — MPR and Russia; on the ne by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea DPRK ; on the e by the Yellow and the East China seas; along the southern border are Hong Kong, Macau, the South China Sea, the Gulf of Tonkin, Vietnamand Laos ; on the sw by MyanmarIndiaBhutanand Nepal ; on the w by India, Jammu and Kashmir disputed areasPakistan west of the Karakoram Passand Afghanistan ; and on the nw by TajikistanKyrgyzstanand Kazakhstan.

China's capital city, Beijing, is located in the northeastern part of the country. The principal lowlands are the Manchurian Dongbei Plain, drained by the Songhua Sungari River, a tributary of the Amur Heilongjiangand by the Liao River, which flows to the Yellow Sea; the North China Plain, traversed by the lower course of the Yellow Huang He River; the valley and delta of the Yangtze Chang Jiang River; and the delta of the Pearl Zhu River surrounding Guangzhou Canton.

West of these lowlands, the country's topography rises to plateaus of 1, — 1, m about 4, — 5, ft: Beyond lie the high plateaus of Tibetwith an average elevation of 4, m 15, ftand the great mountain ranges.

The highest mountains are the Kunluns and the Himalayas. North of Tibet are two plateau basins of Central Asia, the Tarim and the Junggar, which are separated from each other by the Tian Mountains.

The Chinese portion of the Tian range, which also extends into the former USSR, rises above 7, m 23, ft. The great rivers of China flow eastward toward the Pacific.

In the northeast, the Amur drains a great part of the Manchurian Basin as it winds along its 4, km 2, mi course. Other north-eastern rivers include the Liao, the Tumen, and the Yalu, the last two both rising in Mt.

Paaktu, flowing respectively northeast and southwest, and forming the boundary between China and the DPRK. The main river of north China, and the second-largest in the country, is the Yellow River Huang He. From Gansu it winds about 4, km 2, mi eastward to Shandong Province, where it empties into Bo Hai Gulf of Zhili, or Chihli.

The valley of the Yellow River covers an area of 1, sq kmmi. Central China is drained mainly by the Yangtze and its tributaries. The largest river in China, the Yangtze travels 5, km 3, mi and drains 1, sq kmsq mi of land.

As China's only long river with no natural outlet, the Huai River, flowing between the Yangtze and the Yellow Huang He and roughly parallel to them, is subject to frequent flooding.

To the southwest are the upper courses of the Mekong Lancang and Brahmaputra Yarlung Zangbo rivers. Northern China is in a major earthquake zone with some of the most destructive earthquakes on record. On 28 Julya tremor measuring 7. On 3 Februarya 6. Abouthomes were completely destroyed and overothers were damaged.

On 24 Februarya 6. It was recorded as the deadliest earthquake of the year worldwide. Although most of China lies within the temperate zone, climate varies greatly with topography. Rain falls mostly in summer. Precipitation is heaviest in the south and southeast, with Guangzhou receiving more than cm 80 inand diminishes to about 60 cm 25 in in north and northeast China, and to less than 10 cm 4 in in the northwest. Nearly every major plant found in the tropical and temperate zones of the northern hemisphere can be found there.

In all, more than 7, species of woody plants have been recorded, of which there are 2, timber trees and over species of gymnosperms. The rare gingko tree, cathaya tree, and metasequoia, long extinct elsewhere, can still be found growing in China. Among flowering plants, of the known varieties of azalea occur in China, while of the known varieties of primrose and about of the known varieties of gentian are also found there.

The tree peony, which originated in Shandong Province, appears in varieties. The richest and most extensive needle-leaf forests occur in the Greater Hinggan Ling Khingan Mountains of the northeast, where stands of larch, Asian white birch, and Scotch pine flourish, and in the Lesser Hinggan Ling Khingan Mountains, with stands of Korean pine and Dahurian larch. In the Sichuan Szechuan Basin, vegetation changes with altitude to embrace a variety of conifers at high levels, deciduous trees and cypresses at middle elevations, and bamboo in lower elevations.

Farther south, in subtropical Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, broadleaf evergreen forests predominate. Forests give way to natural grasslands and scrub in drier western and northwestern areas, especially in the semiarid regions of Shanxi and Shaanxi, in the steppes of Inner Mongolia, and along the desert margins of the Tarim and Junggar basins.

China's most celebrated wild animal is the giant panda, a rare mammal now found in the wild only in remote areas of Sichuan, Gansu, and Shanxi provinces; as ofjust over wild pandas were still in their natural state. Other fauna unique to China include the golden-haired monkey, found in remote parts of Shaanxi, Gansu, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan; the northeast China tiger, found in the Lesser Hinggan Ling and Changbai mountains along the Korean border; the Chinese river dolphin and Chinese alligator, both found along the middle and lower Yangtze River; the rare David's deer and the white-lipped deer, the latter found mainly in Qinghai Province and Tibet; a rare kind of white bear found in Hubei Province; and the lancelet, an ancient species of fish representing a transitional stage between invertebrate and vertebrate development, now found only in Fujian Province.

In addition, more than 1, species of birds have been recorded. Among the rarer kinds are the mandarin duck, the white-crowned long-tailed pheasant, golden pheasant, Derby's parakeet, yellow-backed sun-bird, red-billed leiothrix, and red-crowned crane. It is estimated that China has lost one-fifth of its agricultural land since due to economic development and soil erosion. SinceChina has taken significant steps to rectify some of the environmental damage caused by rampant use of wood for fuel, uncontrolled industrial pollution, and extensive conversion of forests, pastures, and grasslands to grain production during the Cultural Revolution.

Reforestation, including construction of shelter belts, has emphasized restoration of the erosionprone loesslands in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. Inthe Standing Committee of the Fifth National People's Congress adopted an Environmental Protection Law and a Forestry Law. InChina began a nationwide program called the Great Green Wall of China which began to accelerate the rate of reforestation.

Inabout Water supplies are limited — per capita consumption in China's cities is about 34 gallons a day, less than half that in many developing countries — and conservation, reclamation, and redistribution of water constitute major national priorities. Safe drinking water is unavailable to much of the population as much as one-third, according to some estimates. Byof rivers were polluted. Inthe World Health Organization reported that Chinese cities pollute water supplies more than those of any other country in the world.

Legislation provides for the protection of aquatic resources, including water quality standards for farmland irrigation and fisheries.

To alleviate water shortages in the heavily populated Beijing-Tranjin region, a massive water transfer project began in by construction of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River.

The project aroused considerable controversy. Project managers faced technological problems and higher-than-expected costs.

Completion of the project scheduled for will create a reservoir that will flood prime farm land and leave the ecology of the river area damaged.

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By earlyone million people had already been displaced by construction. An additionalpeople were expected to be displaced by completion of the project. The use of high-sulfur coal as a main energy source causes air pollution and contributes to acid rain. In the mids, China had the world's second-highest level of industrial carbon dioxide emissions, totaling 2.

Inthe total increased to 2. Investment in pollution-reducing technology is required of all industrial enterprises. Penalties are imposed for noncompliance and incentives, in the form of tax reductions and higher allowable profits, are available for those enterprises that meet environmental standards. Beijing has implemented programs for controlling discharges of effluents, smoke and soot emissions, and noise pollution.

Special success has been claimed for the recovery of oil from effluents of the Daqing oil field in Heilongjiang, refineries, and other oil-processing establishments; use of electrostatic precipitators and bag collectors by the cement and building industries; recovery of caustic soda and waste pulp from effl uents of the pulp and paper industries; introduction of nonpolluting processes into the tanning and depilating of hides; use of nonmercuric batteries; recovery of fine ash from coal-burning power plants for use in the manufacture of bricks, tiles, cement, and road-surfacing materials; and development of new methodologies for recycling coal wastes and marine oil discharges.

To protect the nation's botanical and zoological resources, a program was adopted in to establish new reserves, with a total area of 9. That goal was achieved by the end ofone year ahead of schedule. Inabout 7. The largest reserve, coveringha 1, acresis the Changbai Mountain Nature Reserve, in the northeast. Others include the Wolong reserve in Sichuan Province, coveringhaacres and famous for its research on the giant panda; the Dinghu Mountain reserve in Guangdong Province, where a subtropical evergreen broadleaf monsoon forest that has remained virtually untouched for four centuries provides opportunities for ecological studies; and the Nangun River area in Yunnan Province, where the principal focus of protection is the tropical rain forest.

There are 30 Ramsar wetland sites and eight natural and mixed properties designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. According to a report issued by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources IUCNthreatened species included 80 types of mammals, 82 species of birds, 31 types of reptiles, 86 species of amphibians, 47 species of fish, 1 type of mollusk, 3 other invertebrates, and species of plants.

Endangered species in China include Elliot's pheasant, Cabot's tragopan, yarkand deer, Shansi sika deer, South China sika, North China sika, the Chinese alligator, the Amur leopard, Javan rhinoceros, Thailand brow-antlered deer, the white-lipped deer, Bactrian camel, the giant panda, and the Siberian white crane.

There are about nine extinct species, including the Yunnan box turtle and the wild horse. There were males for every females in the country.

According to the UN, the annual population rate of change for — 10 was expected to be 0. The government has emphasized family planning since the s, and has accomplished a significant reduction in population growth. The projected population for the year was 1,, The population density was per sq km per sq mibut the distribution of the population throughout China is extremely uneven.

The most densely populated areas near the coast have a population density of more than people per sq km per sq miwhile the western plateaus are sparsely populated. Untilit was also the only country to have attained the status of demographic billionaire, but in March that year, India also reached a one billion population. The government policy, launched in the s calling for an extensive family planning program to limit population growth, has been successful. Government policy has sought to limit the growth of the large eastern cities, especially the capital city, Beijing PekingShanghaiand Tianjinand to promote the growth of smaller cities away from the coast.

China has over 60 metropolitan areas with populations greater thanAs ofthe largest urban centers were Shanghai, 12,; Beijing, 10,; and Tianjin, 9, Other large metropolitan areas included Wuhan, 6,; Chongqing, 4,; Shenyang4,; Guangzhou, 3,; Chengdu, 3,; Xi'an, 3,; Changchun3,; Harbin, 2,; Dalian2,; Jinan2,; Hangzhou, 1,; and Qingdao, 1, The overseas migration of millions of Chinese reached its peak in the s when thousands of farmers and fishermen from the southeastern coastal provinces settled in other countries of South-east Asia.

Chinese constitute a majority in Singaporeare an important ethnic group in Malaysiaand make up a significant minority in the Americas. Inafter the Communist victory, some two million civilians andmilitary personnel were evacuated to Taiwan. Since in many places abroad the Chinese population has been growing at a rate faster than that of the local non-Chinese population, most countries have been trying to curtail the entrance of new Chinese immigrants.

Emigration from China under the PRC government was once limited to refugees who reached Hong Kong, but is now denied only to a few political dissidents, if the state is reimbursed for postsecondary education costs. Immigration is for the most part limited to the return of overseas Chinese. During the Cultural Revolution of the s and s, more than 60 million students, officials, peasant migrants, and unemployed were sent "down to the countryside" in a gigantic rustication movement. The goals of this program were to relocate industries and population away from vulnerable coastal areas, to provide human resources for agricultural production, to reclaim land in remote areas, to settle borderlands for economic and defense reasons, and, as has been the policy since the s, to increase the proportion of Han Chinese in ethnic minority areas.

Another purpose of this migration policy was to relieve urban shortages of food, housing, and services, and to reduce future urban population growth by removing large numbers of those 16 — 30 years of age. However, most relocated youths eventually returned to the cities. Efforts to stimulate "decentralized urbanization" have characterized government policy since the late s.

Decentralized urbanization and the related relocation of industries away from established centers has also been promoted as a way for China to absorb the increasing surplus labor of rural areas, estimated at million in However, China's economic boom of the s led to rapid growth of coastal provinces attracting inland rural males for construction and females to work in factories. This contrast extends to how children are perceived.

Urban parents call their only child "little sun" as in "center of the universe"compared with rural parents, who call their child or children "left behind," with their grandparents, as parents travel distances for work. For rural areas another split has developed: On 1 Julythe sovereignty of Hong Kong reverted back to China. As ofsome 1, refugees and screened-out nonrefugees still remained in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region SAR. Inthere wererefugees living in China, all but in camps.

In addition, 44 people sought asylum in China. The main countries to which Chinese emigrated in were the United States, Canada, South AfricaFranceand the United Kingdom. Chinese sought asylum in India, the United States, Germany and Canada. Inthe net migration rate for China was estimated as The government views the migration levels as satisfactory. According to the latest estimates, the largest ethnic group, accounting for The Han form a majority in most of the settled east and south but remain a minority, despite continuing immigration, in the west.

Because of their predominance in strategically sensitive border areas, they hold a political and economic importance disproportionate to their numbers. The largest minority, at last estimate was the Zhuang, a Buddhist people, related to the Thai, who are primarily concentrated in Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guangdong. Other large minorities were the Manchuconcentrated in Heilongjiang, Jilinand Liaoning; the Hui, a Chinese-speaking Muslim people concentrated in Ningxia, Gansu, Henan, and Hebei; the Uygur, a Muslim Turkic people of Xinjiang; the Yi, formerly called Lolo, a Buddhist people related to the Tibetans and concentrated in Yunnan, Sichuan, and Guizhou; the Miao, in Guizhou, HunanYunnan, and Guangxi; and the Tibetans, concentrated in Xizang TibetQinghai, and Sichuan.

Other minority nationalities, with estimated populations of more than one million, included the Mongolians; Tujia; Buyi; Koreans; Dong; Yao; Bai; Hani; Li; and the Kazaks, concentrated in Xinjiang, Gansu, and Qinghai. Chinese, a branch of the Sino-Tibetan linguistic family, is a monosyllabic tone language written by means of characters representing complete words.

The Chinese script is not phonetic and remains constant throughout China, but the spoken language has regional phonetic differences. Spoken Chinese falls into two major groups, separated roughly by a northeast-southwest line running from the mouth of the Yangtze River to the border of Vietnam. North and west of this line are the socalled Mandarin dialects, based on the Beijing dialect and known as putonghua "common language".

The most important dialect south of the linguistic divide is that of Shanghai, the Wu dialect spoken in the Yangtze River Delta.

Hakka and Hokkien are dialects of the southeastern coastal province. Cantonese, the Yue dialect spoken in southern China, is the language of the majority of Chinese emigrants.

Others include the Minbei or Fuzhou dialect, the Xiang, and Gan dialects. Mandarin Chinese was adopted as the official language of China in To communicate in written Chinese, thousands of Chinese characters must be memorized. Since the establishment of the PRC inreform of the written language has been a major priority. A simplified system of writing, reducing the number of strokes per character, has been adopted, and the language restructured so that anyone familiar with the basic 2, — 3, characters is functionally literate defined as being able to read a newspaper.

A number of systems have been developed to transcribe Chinese characters into the Latin alphabet. The principal romanization scheme was the Wade-Giles system untilwhen the PRC government adopted Pinyin, a system under development in China since the mids. Inside China, Pinyin is used in the schools to facilitate the learning of Chinese characters, in minority areas where other languages are spoken, and on commercial and street signs.

Pinyin has replaced the Wade-Giles system in all of China's English-language publications and for the spelling of place names. In general, pronunciation of Pinyin follows standard American English, except that among initial sounds, the sound of q is like the sound of ch as in chart, the sound of x like the sound of sh as in ship, and the sound of zh like the sound of j as in judge, and among final sounds, the sound of e is like the sound of oo as in look, the sound of eng like the sound of ung as in lung, the sound of ui like the sound of ay as in way, and the sound of uai like the sound of wi as in wide.

Of the 55 recognized minority peoples in China, only Hui and Manchus use Chinese as an everyday language. More then 20 minority nationalities have their own forms of writing for their own languages. Minority languages are used in all state institutions in minority areas and in all newspapers and books published there.

Three faiths — Confucianism, Buddhismand Taoism — have long been established in China and the religious practice of the average Chinese traditionally has been an eclectic mixture of all three.

Confucianism has no religious organization but consists of a code of ethics and philosophy; filial piety, benevolence, fidelity, and justice are among its principal virtues. Taoism, a native Chinese religion that evolved from a philosophy probably founded in the 6th century bc by Laotzu Laoziand Buddhism, imported from India during the Han dynasty, both have elaborate rituals. Tradition-minded Chinese base their philosophy of life on Confucianism, but such old habits of thought came under strong attack during the Cultural Revolution.

Suppression of religion and the introduction of programs of antireligious indoctrination began in and intensified, with the closure of temples, shrines, mosques, and churches, from the mids through the mids.

Overt antireligious activity eased inand the government reactivated its Bureau of Religious Affairs. The constitution of provides for freedom of belief and worship; however, the government restricts religious practices and maintains a great deal of control over the growth of various religious organizations. The State Administration for Religious Activities and the United Front Work Department monitor religious organizations and supervise the implementation of government regulations for religious groups and activities.

All groups are required to register with the government in order to legally participate in worship. Many groups refuse to register, however, either out of protest for government policies and control over religion or from fear of providing the names of religious leaders to government authorities. As ofthe country had five officially recognized religions, Buddhism, Taoism, IslamCatholicism, and Protestantism. Nearly all of the nation's Muslims are members of the ethnic minority nationalities; most belong to the Sunni branch, but the Tajiks are Shias.

The tiny Jewish minority has virtually disappeared through emigration and assimilation. A majority of the population does not claim official religious affiliation. Small groups of a dozen or so members are usually allowed to gather without registration as long as the meetings are small, private, and unobtrusive. As membership grows however, these house churches face difficulties in finding ways to continue conducting religious activities without attracting the notice and control of the government.

Tensions between the Vatican and the Chinese government have caused difficulties for the nation's Catholics. The state forbids the official Catholic church from recognizing the authority of the Papacy and in matters where government policy and traditional Catholic faith differ, such as abortion, the state takes precedence.

This has had a major impact on recruiting, appointing, and retaining the Catholic clergy within the country. Though spiritual in content, it is considered more of a general practice than a religion, since there are no clergy and no places of worship.

The group has been considered a heretical cult by the Chinese government and reports indicate that thousands of adherents have been arrested and imprisoned since It is believed that several hundred have died while in detention. Railways, roads, and inland waterways all play an important role in China's transportation system, which has undergone major growth since the s. China's rail network forms the backbone of the transportation system. Chinese railways increased in length from 21, km 13, mi into 71, km 44, mi inof which 18, km 11, mi were electrified.

In the rush to expand rail facilities during the "Great Leap Forward," the Chinese laid rails totaling 3, km 2, mi inwith some 4, km 2, mi added in Many major projects had been completed by the s, including double-tracking of major lines in the east; the electrification of lines in the west, including the km mi Baoji-Chengdu link; and the addition of several new trunk lines and spurs, many providing service to the country's more remote areas.

While the total rail network is more than twice what it was inthe movement of freight is more than 25 times that of Shortages of freight and tank cars continue to delay deliveries of coal and other industrial raw materials to their destinations. Road transportation has become increasingly important.

Motor roads grew from aboutkmmi in tokmmi in and to 1, km 1, mi by About 1, kmmi were paved, including at least 29, km 18, mi of expressways. Major roads completed in the s included the 2, km 1, mi Sichuan-Tibet Highway, the 2, km 1, mi Qinghai-Tibet Highway, and the 1, km mi Xinjiang-Tibet Highway. Between and50, km 31, mi of highways and more than 15, bridges were built. Byan estimated 6, passenger automobiles used the highway system, up from 50, in In addition, there were some 17, commercial vehicles operating in the same year.

Bicycles are the chief mode of transport in large cities. In Beijing, there are an estimated eight million bicycles, accounting for As ofChina hadkm 75, mi of navigable inland waterways. The principal inland waterway is the Yangtze River. Much work was done in the early s to dredge and deepen the river, to improve navigational markers and channels, and to eliminate the treacherous rapids of the Three Gorges section east of Yibin.

Steamboats can now travel inland throughout the year from Shanghai, at the river's mouth, upstream as far as Yibin, and 10,ton oceangoing vessels can travel inland as far as Wuhan in the high-water season and Nanjing in the low-water season. Major ports on the river include: Chongqing, the principal transportation hub for the southwest; Wuhan, its freight dominated by shipments of coal, iron, and steel; Wuhu, a rice-exporting center; Yuxikou, across the river from Wuhu and the chief outlet for the region's coal fields; Nanjing; and Shanghai.

The Pearl River is navigable via a tributary as far as Nanning. The ancient Grand Canal, rendered impassable by deposits of silt for more than years, has been dredged and rebuilt; it is navigable for about 1, km mi in season and km mi year-round. China's merchant fleet expanded fromgross registered tonnage GRT in to over 10, GRT inand to 18, GRT in China's 1, merchant ships of 1, GRT or over can accommodate most of the country's foreign trade. The balance is divided among ships leased from Hong Kong owners and from other foreign sources.

Other important ports include Qinhuangdao; Qingdao; Ningbo, the port for Hangzhou; Fuzhou; Xiamen ; and Zhanjiang. The Civil Aviation Administration of China CAAC operates all domestic and international air services.

Operations have grown significantly with the purchase, since the s, of jet aircraft from the United States, United Kingdom, and other Western sources. Inthere were an estimated airports. As ofa total of had paved runways and there were also 30 heliports. Principal airports include Capital at Beijing, Shuangliu at Chengdu, Hongqiao at Shanghai, Baiyun at Guangzhou, Wujiaba at Kunming, and Gaoqi at Xiamen. From Beijing there are scheduled daily flights to Shanghai, Guangzhou, Kunming, Chengdu, Shenyang, Changchun, ChangshaWuhan, Zengzhou, and Harbin.

The total scheduled international and domestic service performed in included 5, million freight tonkm, as well as Fossils attest to hominid habitation in China more thanyears ago, and Paleolithic cultures appeared in the southwest by 30, bc. Neolithic peoples appeared before bc; by bc there were millet-growing settlements along the Yellow River Huang He.

The original home of the Chinese Han people is probably the area of the Wei, Luo Loand middle Yellow rivers. According to tradition, the Xia Hsia dynasty c. Its successor, the Shang, or Yin, dynasty c. The Shang was probably conquered by the Western Zhou Chou dynasty c. Fleeing foreign attack in bc, the Western Zhou abandoned its capital near the site of Xi'an and established a new capital farther east at Luoyang Loyang.

The new state, known as the Eastern Zhou dynasty — bcproduced the great Chinese philosophers including Confucius K'ung Futzu or Kong Fuzi and the semi-historical figure, Lao Tzu Lao Zi. Between and bc, the Qin Ch'in dynasty — bc gradually emerged from among warring, regional states to unify China. Shi Huangdi Shih Huang Ti, r. For defense against nomadic proto-Mongolian tribes, Shi Huangdi connected walls of the feudal states to form what was later to become known as the Great Wall.

By this time, the Yellow River had an irrigation system, and cultivation had begun in the Yangtze Valley; at the end of Shi Huangdi's reign, China probably had close to 40 million people. During the period of the Han dynasties bc — ad 8, ad 25 —China expanded westward, nomadic tribes from the Mongolian plateau were repelled, and contacts were made with Central Asia, the West, and even Rome. The Han saw the invention of paper. Under the later Han, Buddhism was introduced into China.

After the Han period, the Three Kingdoms Wei, Shu, and Wu contended for power, and nomadic tribes from the north and west raided northern China. From the 4th century ad on, a series of northern dynasties was set up by the invaders, while several southern dynasties succeeded one another in the Yangtze Valley, with their capital at Nanjing Nanking.

Buddhism flourished during this period, and the arts and sciences were developed. The empire was reunited by the Sui — dynasty, which built the Grand Canal, linking the militarily strategic north with the economic wealth of the south and laying the basis for the Tang T'ang, — dynasty. Under the early Tang, especially under Emperor Taizong T'aitsung, r. The bureaucratic system, begun by the Han, was further developed, including the regular use of an examination system to recruit officials on the basis of merit.

Handicrafts and commerce flourished, a system of roads radiated from the capital at the site of Xi'ansuccessful wars were fought in Central Asia, and China became the cultural and economic center of Asia. Civil wars and rebellion in the late Tang led to a period of partition under the Five Dynasties r. However, Mongol and Tatar tribes in the north forced the Song to abandon its capital at Kaifeng in and move it to Hangzhou Hangchow. InKublai Khan r.

The Mongols encouraged commerce and increased the use of paper money. The Grand Canal was reconstructed, and a system of relay stations ensured safe travel. Many European missionaries and merchants, notably Marco Polocame to the Mongol court. After a long period of peasant rebellion, Mongol rule was succeeded by the native Chinese Ming dynasty — The famous Ming admiral, Zheng He Cheng Ho, — led seven naval expeditions into the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean between andreaching as far as the east coast of Africa.

The Portuguese reached China inthe Spanish inthe Dutch inand the English in The Ming dynasty was overthrown by the Manchus, invaders from the northeast, who established the last imperial dynasty, the Qing Ch'ing or Manchu, — The first century and a half of Manchu rule was a period of stability and expansion of power, with outstanding reigns by Kang xi K'anghsi, — and Qian long Ch'ienlung, — Although the Manchus ruled as conquerors, they adopted indigenous Chinese culture, administrative machinery, and laws.

Under Manchu rule, Chinese territories included Manchuria, Mongolia, Tibet, Taiwan, and the Central Asian regions of Turkestan. The population of over million by grew to over million a century later. By the close of the 18th century, only one port, Guangzhou Cantonwas open to merchants from abroad, and trade was greatly restricted.

Demands by the British for increased trade, coupled with Chinese prohibition of opium imports from British India, led to the Opium War — 42which China lost. By the Treaty of Nanjingthe ports of Guangzhou, Xiamen AmoyFuzhou FoochowNingbo, and Shanghai were opened, and Hong Kong Island was ceded to Britain.

The T'aiping Rebellion — 64nearly overthrew the Manchus and cost 30 million lives. A second war — 60 with Britain, joined by France, resulted in the opening of Tianjin Tientsin to foreign trade. The West's interest then turned from trade to territory. Russia acquired its Far Eastern territories from China in China's defeat in the Sino-French War — 85in which it came to the defense of its tributary, Vietnam, resulted in the establishment of French Indo-China. In the First Sino-Japanese War — 95Japan obtained Taiwan, the opening of additional ports, and the independence of Korea which Japan subsequently annexed in This was a major turning point and led to the "scramble for concessions.

The Boxer Rebellion, an uprising in — by a secret society seeking to expel all foreigners and supported by the Manchu court, was crushed by the intervention of British, French, German, American, Russian, and Japanese troops.

A revolution that finally overthrew Manchu rule began in in the context of a protest against a government scheme that would have handed Chinese-owned railways to foreign interests. City after city repudiated the Manchus, and in Februarythe dowager empress, Ci Xi Tz'u Hsisigned an abdication document for the infant emperor, Puyi P'uyi. Following Yuan's death inthe Beijing regime passed into the hands of warlords.

The Beijing regime joined World War I on the Allied side in Inthe Versailles Peace Conference gave Germany's possessions in Shandong to Japan, sparking the May Fourth Movement as student protests grew into nationwide demonstrations supported by merchants and workers.

This marked a new politicization of many social groups, especially those intellectuals who had been emphasizing iconoclastic cultural change. Meanwhile, civil war grew more intense. In the south, at Guangzhou, the Nationalists Guomindang, Kuomintang led by Sun Zhongshan in alliance with the Communists whose party was founded in Shanghai in and supported by Russia, built a strong, disciplined party. After Sun Zhongshan's death inhis successor, Chiang Kaishek Jiang Jieshiunified the country under Nationalist rule in with the capital in Nanjing.

Inthe Nationalists began a bloody purge of the Communists, who sought refuge in southern Jiangxi Province. Their ranks severely depleted by Nationalist attacks, the Communists embarked on their arduous and now historic Long March during — The Communists eventually reached Shaanxi Province in north-western China, where, under the leadership of Mao Zedong Tsetungthey set up headquarters at Yan'an Yenan.

Japan, taking advantage of Chinese dissension, occupied Manchuria Dongbei in Increasing Japanese pressure against northern China led, in Julyto the second Sino-Japanese war, which continued into World War II and saw Japanese forces occupy most of China's major economic areas.

Nationalist China, established in the south-western hinterland with its capital at Chongqing, resisted with US and UK aid, while the Communists fought the Japanese in the northwest. Japan evacuated China in and both Communist and Nationalist forces moved into liberated areas.

The rift between the two factions erupted into civil war. Although supported by the United States, whose mediation efforts had failed, the Nationalists steadily lost ground through andwere expelled from the mainland by earlyand took refuge on Taiwan. The Communists, under the leadership of Mao, as chairman of the Chinese Communist Party CCPproclaimed the People's Republic of China PRC on 1 Octoberwith the capital at Beijing.

A year later, China entered the Korean War — 53 on the side of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea DPRK. In the fall ofChina entered Tibet, which had asserted its independence after the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty, despite formal claims to it by all subsequent Chinese governments.

Inthe Dalai Lama fled to India during a Tibetan revolt against Chinese rule. Tibet became an autonomous region in The Nationalists held, in addition to Taiwan, islands in the Taiwan Formosa Strait: In domestic affairs, a rapid program of industrialization and socialization up to was followed in — 59 by the Great Leap Forward, a crash program for drastic increases in output and the development of completely collectivized agricultural communes.

The program ended in the "three bad years" of famine and economic crisis — 61which produced 20 million deaths above the normal death rate, followed by a period of restoration and retrenchment in economics and politics. In the early s, Chinese troops intermittently fought with Indian border patrols over conflicting territorial claims in Ladakh and the northeastern Indian state of Assam.

Mediation attempts failed, but inthe Chinese withdrew from the contested areas that they had occupied, and war prisoners were repatriated. Meanwhile, growing discord between China and the former Soviet Union had become more open, and inthe USSR withdrew its scientific and technical advisers from China.

Public polemics sharpened in intensity in the succeeding years, as the two powers competed for support in the world Communist movement. After the Chinese economy recovered inMao again steered the country onto the revolutionary path, and gradually built up momentum for the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, one of the most dramatic and convulsive periods in modern Chinese history.

It continued until Mao's death inbut the most tumultuous years were from toduring which the cities witnessed a chaotic and violent pattern of factional fighting, accompanied by attacks on bureaucrats, intellectuals, scientists and technicians, and anyone known to have overseas connections. Increasing confrontation between Mao and the party establishment, beginning in the fall ofculminated in August with the CCP Central Committee's "16Point Decision" endorsing Mao's Cultural Revolution policy of criticizing revisionism.

In response to Mao's initiative, high levels of urban protest demonstrated widespread dissatisfaction with bureaucracies and privilege. In the latter half ofthe Red Guard movement of radical students attacked educational and state authorities and split into competing factions.

Amid the rising conflict, the party institution collapsed in major cities. Liu Shaoqi, second to Mao in the political hierarchy and Chairperson of the People's Republic, was ousted from power as the chief target of the Cultural Revolution. InLiu was formally dismissed from all positions and expelled from the party. He died at the end of From January through mid, the discredited political establishment was replaced by Revolutionary Committees, comprised of the new radical organizations, the officials who remained in power, and representatives of the army.

Finally, the army was told to restore order. In andstudents were sent out of the cities into the countryside. Colleges did not reopen until At the Ninth Party Congress in Aprilthe military's role was confirmed when Lin Biao, the Minister of Defense, was named Mao's successor. Estimates place the number of dead as a direct result of the Cultural Revolution from to atMuch of the countryside, however, was unaffected and the economy, despite a setback insuffered little. The remaining years of the Cultural Revolution decade, up towere marked by a legacy of struggles over policies and over political succession to the aging Mao 83 at his death in In SeptemberLin Biao died in a plane crash, allegedly while fleeing to the former USSR following an abortive coup.

The decade from to left persistent factionalism in Chinese politics and a crisis of confidence, particularly among the young. These years of domestic upheaval also brought profound changes in international alignments. InChinese and Soviet forces clashed briefly along the Amur River frontier of eastern Heilongjiang Province.

Throughout the late s and early s, China played a major role in supporting the Democratic Republic of Vietnam North Vietnam in the Vietnamese conflict. In Novemberthe PRC government replaced Taiwan's Nationalist government as China's representative at the UN and on the Security Council, following a General Assembly vote of 76 — 35, with 17 abstentions, on 25 October. Following two preliminary visits by US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, President Richard M.

Nixon journeyed to China on 21 February for an unprecedented state visit, and the two countries took major steps toward normalization of relations as the two nations sought common ground in their mutual distrust of Soviet intentions. In the period following the Nixon visit, US-China trade accelerated and cultural exchanges were arranged. In Maythe two countries established liaison offices in each other's capital and full diplomatic relations were established by In at the Fourth National People's Congress, Zhou Enlai Chou Enlai announced a reordering of economic and social priorities to achieve the Four Modernizations of agriculture, industry, national defense, and science and technology.

Factional strife reminiscent of the late s emerged between radical party elements led by Mao's wife, Jiang Qing Chiang Ch'ingand three associates later collectively dubbed the Gang of Fourwho opposed the modernization plans, and veteran party officials, such as Deng Xiaoping previously associated with Liu Shaoqi and restored to power inwho favored them. When Zhou died on 8 Januarythe radicals moved to block the appointment of Deng Zhou's heir apparent as premier, with Mao resolving the impasse by appointing Hua Guofeng, a veteran party official and government administrator, as acting premier.

Attacks on Deng continued until he was blamed for spontaneous disorders at a Beijing demonstration honoring Zhou on the Festival of the Dead, 5 Stock exchange disney tradedand, for the second time in his career, Deng was removed from all official positions.

When Mao Zedong died on 9 SeptemberHua Guofeng was quickly confirmed as party chairman and premier. A month later, the Gang of Four was arrested, and in earlythe banished Deng Xiaoping was again "reinstated. The Third Party Plenum and the Fifth National People's Congress in adopted a new constitution and confirmed the goals of the Four Modernizations.

Another new constitution in again confirmed policies of economic reform and emphasized legal procedure. The Cultural Revolution was officially condemned and Mao's historical role reevaluated. After a show trial from November to Januarythe Gang of Four, together with Mao's former secretary and five others associated with Lin Biao, were convicted of crimes of the Cultural Revolution. Jiang Qing, whose death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, committed suicide in after being diagnosed with cancer.

The s saw a gradual process of economic reforms, beginning in the countryside with the introduction of the household responsibility system to replace collective farming. As the rural standard of living rose, reforms of the more complex urban economy began in the mids in an attempt to use the economic levers of the market instead of a command system of central planning to guide the economy.

These included, with varying degrees of success, reforms of the rationing and price system, wage reforms, devolution of controls of state enterprises, legalization of private enterprises, creation of a labor market and stock markets, the writing of a code of civil law, and banking and tax reforms. At the same time, the Chinese pursued a policy of opening toward the outside world, establishing Special Economic Zones, and encouraging joint ventures and foreign investment.

In the s and s, China attempted to settle its relations with neighboring states. After a border clash with Vietnam inthere were agreements with Great Britain trainee forex jobs for the return of Hong Kong to China inand with Portugal infor the return of Macau — informed trading in stock and option Portuguese colony since the 16th century — in In MaySoviet President Mikhail Gorbachev visited Beijing in the first Sino-Soviet summit since Top Vietnamese leaders came to China innormalizing relations between the two countries after a gap of 11 years.

In the early s, China and South Korea established regular relations, with China also maintaining a relationship with North Korea. Untileconomic reforms were accompanied by relatively greater openness in intellectual spheres.

A series of social and political movements spanning the decade from to were critical of the reforms and reacted to their effects. In the Democracy Wall movement in Beijing in the winter of — 79, figures like Wei Jingsheng imprisoned from to and subsequently reimprisoned called for democracy as a necessary "fifth modernization.

In Juneblamed for allowing the demonstrations, Hu Yaobang was dismissed as party General Secretary, and several important intellectuals, including the astrophysicist Fang Lizhi and the journalist Liu Binyan, were expelled from the party. At the 15th Party congress of Novembermany hardline radicals failed to retain their positions, but Zhao Ziyang, who was confirmed as General Secretary to replace Hu, had to give up his position as Premier to Li Peng.

In Decemberstudent disaffection and nationalism were expressed in a demonstration against African students in Nanjing. On 15 AprilHu Yaobang died of a heart attack. Students in Beijing, who had been planning to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the May Fourth Movement, responded with a demonstration, ostensibly in mourning for Hu, demanding a more democratic government and a freer press. Student marches continued and spread to other major cities.

The urban population, unhappy with high inflation and the extent of corruption, largely supported the students and, by 17 May, Beijing demonstrations reached the size of one million people, including journalists, other salaried workers, private entrepreneurs and a tiny independent workers' organization, as well as students.

On 19 May, martial law was imposed to no effect, and the government attempted to send troops to clear Beijing's Tiananmen Square, where demonstrators were camped, on 19 — 20 May and 3 June. Finally, in the early hours of 4 Junearmed troops, armored personnel carriers, and tanks, firing on demonstrators and bystanders, managed to reach the Square. Firing continued in the city for several days and estimates of the total number killed range from to 3, The events of 4 June sparked protests across the country, and thousands were arrested as the movement was suppressed.

On 24 June, Zhao Ziyang was dismissed as General Secretary and Jiang Zemin, the mayor of Shanghai, was named in his place. Following 4 April stock market commentaryeconomic reforms were curtailed and some private enterprises closed down as the leadership launched an anticorruption drive.

Ideological expression, higher education, and the news media were more tightly controlled in the ensuing years. The move toward a market oriented economy began again, with increased speed, after Deng Xiaoping made a publicized visit in the spring of to the most developed areas in southern China. China's economy became one of the most rapidly growing in the world but continued to be plagued by inflation, corruption, and a growing disparity among the provinces.

With a high rate of tax evasion, state revenues were shrinking and one-third went to subsidize state enterprises. Having been at the forefront of change in the early s, peasants in the early s were being left behind. In andthere were peasant protests and riots over receiving IOUs for their produce and over local corruption. There were workers' disputes and strikesbetween and in response to low pay and poor working conditions.

Labor unrest continued into as thousands of workers in several impoverished inland provinces rioted when promises of back pay went unfulfilled. A March labor protest involving 20, workers in Nanchong was the largest since the Communist revolution.

China's uneven economic development also stock market advisors ahmedabad to the growth of a migrant worker class. Byit was estimated that some — million peasants left their homes in northern and western provinces in search of menial work along the coast. The unemployment in urban areas was 9. Parallel to but separate from the student and labor movements were ongoing demonstrations by ethnic minorities; there are 56 officially recognized minority groups in China.

The most visible were those of the Tibetans Buddhistsdue to their international connections, but there have also been protests by other minorities, such as the Uyghurs Muslims in Xinjiang province. Violent Tibetan demonstrations in the fall of and spring of were forcibly suppressed, and from March to Aprilmartial law was imposed in LhasaTibet.

A Uyghur uprising in Xinjiang was met with force by the Chinese military in Februaryleaving an estimated ethnic Uyghur and 25 Chinese dead. But the situation in Tibet posed the most difficulty for Beijing. China's efforts to control Tibet and dilute its culture led in to the indefinite detention of the six-year-old boy chosen by the exiled Dalai Lama as his nigerian stock exchange price list as at 31 december 2016, or Panchen Lama.

Beijing selected another six-year-old and forced Tibetan leaders to accept him. According to the CCP the Panchen Lama and his family are living in 'protective diventare broker forex however, no international organization has been able to visit the family to verify their whereabouts since he was taken in In Septemberthe CCP's 15th National Congress elected a Central Committee, which selected the 22member Politburo.

Jiang Zemin became the General Secretary of the party in addition to his title of president. Li Peng was appointed prime minister, and Zhu Rongji, deputy prime minister. During this Congress, political power was consolidated in the triumvirate, with Jiang Zemin officially taking the deceased Deng Xiaoping's position.

As the government prepared for the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of the People's Republic of China, it witnessed the return of Hong Kong 1 July and Macau 20 December Both former colonies were designated Special Administrative Regions SAR and Jiang stated that each SAR would continue to operate with a considerable degree of economic autonomy.

Also inChinese nationalism increased with the US bombings of the Chinese Embassy in BelgradeYugoslavia in May as an outpouring of government-sanctioned anti-American demonstrations took place in Beijing. Despite rising nationalism, the political leadership felt threatened by a small but rapidly growing religious sect, the Falun Gong.

On 22 JulyChinese authorities banned the sect and arrested its leaders despite international human rights watch groups' criticism. The country celebrated its 50th anniversary on 1 October with a ,person military parade showcasing its new technological achievements in armaments. In February and MarchChina forex trading course canada missiles near Taiwan's two main ports, which caused the United States to send two aircraft carrier groups to the Taiwan Strait.

It was the largest US naval movement in the Asia-Pacific region since the Vietnam War. The missile firings and accompanying military exercises were considered to be responses to Taiwan's presidential elections of Marchwhich President Lee Tenghui, whom China accused of supporting Taiwanese independence, won.

In the runup to Taiwanese presidential elections in MarchChen Shuibian of the Commodities put option Progressive Party, the eventual winner, issued proindependence campaign speeches advocating "one country on each side," contradicting China's "one-country, two systems" policy.

In MarchZhu Rongji, the deputy prime minister, warned Taiwan and the United States that Taiwanese independence could lead to armed conflict. A Chinese newspaper also quoted a government white paper stating that war with the United States is inevitable in the future and that if the United States intervened on behalf of Taiwan, the Chinese may use nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, China began construction of military bases on the mainland across the Taiwan Strait.

InChina had fewer than 50 shortrange missiles within striking distance of Taiwan. In Aprilit was estimated that China's military forces had more than missiles in the region and by the number had stock broker graduate to On 1 Aprila US Navy EP-3 reconnaissance aircraft survived a midair collision real estate investment in india for nri a Chinese F-8 fighter jet over the South China Sea.

The Chinese fighter financial betting on binary options was lost. The EP-3 conducted an emergency landing on Hainan Island, and the member crew was detained there for 11 days in a standoff between the two countries.

The United States and China blamed each other's aircraft 5 point binary option system log trading the crash. The EP-3 was later disassembled for transport back to the United States. China expressed deep sympathy toward the United States following the 11 September terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, DC.

It has backed the Americanled war on terrorism, and cited its own problems with what it considers to be terrorist activities led by ethnic Uyghurs fighting for an independent homeland in the northwest Xinjiang province. China has detained thousands of Uyghurs since 11 September China voted in favor of UN Security Council Resolution on 8 Novemberwhich required Iraq to immediately disarm itself of weapons of mass destruction chemical, biological, and nuclear weaponsto allow UN and International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA arms inspectors into the country, and to comply with previous UN resolutions regarding Iraq.

On 11 DecemberChina formally became a member of the World Trade Organization, representing international recognition of China's growing economic power. Several nongovernmental organizations and individuals worldwide protested China's accession to the body, due to its record on human rights violations. Another formidable problem for China, in regards to acceptance of WTO regulations, is the lack of adherence to intellectual property rights which involves industries as different as films to computer software.

Most concerning is the availability of counterfeit medicine; thousands of Chinese are reported to have died from the ill effects of fake medicine. WTO regulations forbid counterfeiting although this has not yet affected China's membership in the organization. In NovemberChina and the ten members of ASEAN signed an accord to resolve any conflicts over the Spratly Islands without armed force.

The Spratlys are claimed by China, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, kuwait stock exchange market quotes Philippines and Vietnam, and are home to some of the world's busiest shipping lanes; they are also believed to be rich in oil and natural gas.

Signatories to the accord agreed to cease further occupation of the islands, to help anyone in distress in the area, to exchange views with one another on defense issues, and to give advance warning of military exercises. At the 16th Communist Party Congress held 8 — 14 Novemberwhat is considered to be a "fourth generation" of Chinese leaders emerged, led by Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin's replacement as Communist Party General Secretary. In addition to Hu, the other eight members of the 9-member Politburo Standing Committee were new appointees.

In Hu advised the CCP not to focus solely on economic growth and instead integrate social and environmental factors into decision making. Hu also took a number of high profile trips to the poorer areas of China as well as made the minutes of the Politburo Standing Committee meetings public.

On 4 DecemberChina adopted its fourth constitution sincesucceeding those of, and In theory, the highest organ of state power is the National People's Congress NPCin which legislative power is vested. The stock market closing christmas stipulates, however, that the congress is to function under the direction of the Chinese Communist Party, headed by the general secretary.

The NPC meets annually for about two weeks to review major new policy directions, to adopt new laws, and to approve the national budget submitted to it by the state council. Each congress consists of more than 3, deputies elected forex vekselkurs for a term of five years. The NPC elects a standing committee as its permanent working organ between sessions.

The state council, the executive organ of the NPC, consists of a premier the head of governmentfive vicepremiers, ministers, and heads of other major government agencies. The state council issues administrative regulations and both formulates and executes economic policy and the state budget. The constitution restored the largely ceremonial post of state chairman, or president, a position abolished by Mao Zedong in The eighth National People's Congress in March elected Jiang Zemin as president and reelected Li Peng, first elected into vfx trading system second five-year term as premier.

At the ninth National People's Congress in MarchLi Peng was elected chairman of the NPC standing committee, and Zhu Rongji became premier. Since the s, the NPC has slowly increased its function as a locus for discussion of issues instead of merely being a rubber stamp. The debate on the Yangtze River Chang Jiang dam project is an example of this.

The death of Communist Party patriarch Deng Xiaoping in February brought patersons stockbrokers brisbane a head the infighting between Jiang Zemin, Li Peng, and Zhu Rongji.

At the 15th National People's Congress, Jiang was chosen to succeed Deng Xiaoping. The political leadership settled into one of shared leadership. At the 16th party congress held in NovemberJiang Zemin, Li Peng and Zhu Rongji resigned their posts in the Politburo standing committee, and the three gave up their positions as president and general secretary, chairman of the NPC standing committee, and premier, fume fx tutorials pdf, at the 10th NPC held in March Hu Jintao was named president he had already been named general secretary of the Communist Party and Wen Jiabao was named premier.

Democratic elections are held at the village level, but are forbidden above that level. The one lone opposition party, China Democratic Party, is acknowledged by the CCP, but it exists in theory only. Corruption, embezzlement, and bribery are all aspects of contemporary Chinese political life. The government owns all forms of media, including television, radio stations, and most newspapers. However, access to the Internet is widespread, especially in large cities and Western news outlets can be reached.

The Chinese Communist Party CCP has been the ruling political organization in China since Eight other minor parties have existed since as members of a United Trading options expiration jeff augen, but their existence has been purely nominal.

The party, with 55 million members estimateplays a decisive role in formulating broad and detailed government policies and supervising their implementation at all levels of administration. Party supervision is maintained not only through placement of CCP members in key government posts, but also through specialized organs of the central committee of the CCP, which focus their attention on given subjects e.

The CCP also forms branches within individual government units, as well as in factories, communes, schools, shops, neighborhoods, and military units. Theoretically, the highest organ of party power is the National Party Congress, which usually meets once every five years. At each party congress a central committee is elected to oversee party affairs between sessions.

The central committee members — full members and alternate members meets annually in a plenary session to elect a political bureau, or Politburo with 24 members as ofand its standing committee, the party's most powerful organ 9 members in Directing day-to-day party affairs at the highest level is the secretariat, headed by Hu Jintao as general secretary since November Inthe post of party chairman, formerly the most powerful in the nation, was abolished; the title had been held by Mao Zedong until his death inby Hua Guofeng from until his ouster inand by Hu Yaobang thereafter.

Deng Xiaoping, China's acknowledged political leader sinceretired from the central committee inretired as chairperson of the party's central military commission inand retired as chairperson of the state's central military commission, his last formal position, in A new CCP charter adopted at the 12th Communist Party congress in September forbids "all forms of personality cult" and, in an implicit criticism of Mao, decrees that "no leaders are allowed to practice arbitrary individual rule or place themselves above the party organization.

The 13th party congress, convened in Octoberaffirmed Deng's reform policies and the drive for a younger leadership. In the wake of the June Fourth massacre inDeng Xiaoping declared that Jiang Zemin, former mayor of Shanghai, should be the "core" of collective leadership after Deng's death.

The Politburo announced prohibitions, largely ineffectual, against some forms of party privileges and nepotism, the corruption that had sparked the protests. The 14th stock return volatility heavy tails skewness and trading volume a bayesian approach congress in October removed Yang Shangkun, state president — 93from the Politburo, weakening the power of his clique in the military.

Inthe National People's Congress reelected Jiang Zemin, already party general secretary, as chairperson of the central military commission and elected him as state president.

This was the first time since the late s forex pk dollar rate top, formal positions in the party, government, and military were concentrated in one leader's hands. After the 15th Communist Party congress, a highly publicized anticorruption drive resulted in the execution of several prominent cases. In addition, Jiang began to remove the Communist Party from state-owned enterprises through an aggressive privatization strategy.

InJiang interactive brokers direct access trading a theory revamping the image of the Communist Party.

Called the "three represents," it was written into the party constitution at the 16th party congress in November Seen as a reorientation of the party away from its sole mission to serve the proletariat, the theory of the "three represents" emphasizes the importance of the middle class, stating that the party will represent not only how to become a stockbroker in illinois and peasants, but the "advanced productive forces, advanced culture, and the broad masses of the people.

Seen as moderate and cautious, he was expected to proceed with Jiang's slow but steady policy of economic liberalization, and perhaps to introduce some administrative and political reform. Soon into his tenure, the SARS severe acute respiratory syndrome crisis broke out and Hu was criticized for not taking action quickly enough. Hu also chose to move China away from a policy of favoring rapid economic growth and toward a more balanced view of growth, most notably by establishing a "green" GDPtaking into consideration the degradation of both natural resources and the environment.

The People's Republic of China PRC consists of 22 provinces sheng — the PRC claims Taiwan as its 23rd provincefive autonomous regions zizhiquand four centrally administered municipalities zhixiashi. Provinces and autonomous regions, in turn, are divided into "special districts," counties xianand cities shi under provincial jurisdiction, as well as into autonomous minor regions zhou and autonomous counties zizhixianwhere non-Han Chinese minority groups reside.

Counties, autonomous counties, and autonomous zhou are divided into townships xiangautonomous townships for small minority groupstowns, and stock market butterfly communes. Hong Kong and Macau are designated as Special Administrative Regions SAR. From — 82, local administrative authority formerly held by the xiang was transferred to the communes and their local people's councils.

InHainan Island, formerly part of Guangdong, was made China's newest province. The constitution returned local administrative control to the xiangs as the communes began to be disbanded.

Article about stock market crash of 1929 revolutionary committees, which replaced the local people's councils during the Cultural Revolution and under the constitution, were abolished in The restored local people's councils have the power to formulate local laws and regulations. The local people's governments are administrative organs of the state and report to the State Council.

In the s an emphasis was placed on recruiting and promoting younger and better-educated officials in local party and government posts. Many provinces along the coastal regions have adopted more decentralized forms of administration while interior provinces remain highly beholden to the central party.

Local elections involving multiple candidates have taken place, especially in the more urbanized coastal forex m2u. Elections began on a trial basis inand in overvillages, peasants were scheduled to go to the polls every three years to elect local committees. China's legal system, instituted after the establishment of the PRC inis largely based on that of the former USSR.

However, afterMao Zedong's government consistently circumvented the system in its campaign to purge the country of rightist elements and "counter-revolutionaries. Efforts to reestablish a credible legal system important stock market indicators in when there were no lawyers in Chinaas party moderates came to power.

These efforts were accelerated in the early s as China sought to provide the legal protection required by foreign investors. The highest judicial organ is the Supreme People's Court, which, with the Supreme People's Procuratorates, supervises the administration of justice in the basic people's courts and people's tribunals courts of first instanceintermediate people's courts, and higher people's courts.

The judiciary is independent but subject to the Communist Party's policy guidance. The legal profession was still in an incipient stage of development in the mids. Over 25 law departments at universities and four special schools for training legal officials were in operation inwhen China had 26, lawyers. Bythere werelawyers with plans to increase this number toby A major anticrime campaign during the autumn of resulted in public executions at the rate of at least a month; capital punishment may be meted out for 65 offenses, including embezzlement and theft.

Under the Chinese criminal codes, as revised inlocal committees may sentence "hoodlums" to terms in labor camps of up to four years, in proceedings that grant the suspect no apparent opportunity for defense or appeal.

Government records for indicated that nearlypersons were assigned to such camps during the s. Inthere werepeople reported to be incarcerated in these camps. China does not permit international observation of prisons or labor camps. Sincesentences to labor camps may be judicially challenged under the Administrative Procedures Law. In practice the review of such a sentence is rarely sought.

Due process rights are afforded in the constitution, but they have limited practical import. The Criminal Procedural Law requires public trials, with an exception for cases involving state secrets, juveniles, or personal privacy. The Criminal Code contained 26 crimes punishable by death.

A law raised this number to 65, including financial crimes such as passing fake negotiable notes and letters of credit, and illegal "pooling" of funds. Appeal is possible but with little chance of success. However inthe National Peoples' Congress passed new legislation to reform criminal procedure and the legal profession.

The new legislation recognized for the first time that lawyers represent their clients, not the state. Under the new system lawyers may establish private law firms. Defendants may also ask near relatives or guardians to provide additional defense. Amendments to the criminal procedure became effective in January The amendments state that suspects may retain a lawyer after being first interrogated by an investigative organ. Attorneys may conduct limited investigation, call defense witnesses, and argue their client's cases in open court.

According to the amendments, defendants will enjoy a presumption of innocence. Beginning inthe government began a comprehensive "internal shakeup" german binary robot forex peace army the judiciary, resulting in the punishment or dismissal of over 4, judicial branch employees.

In Januarythe former head of the Anticorruption Bureau of the Supreme People's Procuratorate was dismissed for corruption. China is party to many international organizations such as the UN, the ICC, ASEAN, and most recently the World Trade Organization. China's entry into the World Trade Organization WTO in December has caused China to undertake a full-scale revision of its laws and regulations in order to adhere to WTO rules.

In opening its market up to sectors involving finance, insurance, telecommunications, commerce, transportation, construction, tourism, and other services, China will require its judicial system to perform in accordance with international standards.

As ofChina's lawyers were adhering to a new policy to wear black suits in court, in an attempt to promote professionalism and as a step toward integration with international practices. Independent trade unions are illegal. Striking is also illegal although there have been increased use of strikes as a method of bargaining with mixed results. Sometimes leaders are arrested but other times not. The oft misunderstood "one-child policy" has been clarified in recent years.

The Population and Family Planning Law requires couples to employ birth control measures and technically limits the couple to only one child. This is well enforced in the cities, but less so in more rural areas.

However, there are many avenues through which couples may have a second child. Two examples are as follows: In Marchthe State Council passed the Regulation on Religious Affairs which human rights groups believe sharply curtailed both freedom of religious belief and freedom to express one's belief.

However, Chinese officials claimed that the regulation safeguards "normal" religious activities, places of religious worship, and religious believers. At the same time religious believers are expected to abide by the government's laws. Religious activities that are banned if deemed "nonnormal" include publishing and distributing texts, selecting leaders, raising funds and managing finances, organizing training, inviting guests, independently scheduling meetings and choosing venues, and communicating freely with other organizations.

InChina's active military forces totaled 2, personnel, with aroundreservists. China has been modernizing its military at a rapid pace even as it reduces personnel. The Army had 1, personnel, whose major weaponry included more than 7, main battle tanks, 1, light tanks, 1, armored infantry fighting vehicles, over 3, armored personnel carriers, and over 17, artillery pieces 14, towed.

The Army's air arm included 31 attack helicopters and eight assault helicopters. The Army is deployed over seven regions. The Chinese Navy in consisted of an estimatedpersonnel, including an estimated 10, Marines and a naval aviation arm of 26, personnel.

The Navy's aviation arm had combat capable aircraft including 68 bombers, 74 fighters, and fighter ground attack aircraft. Chinese naval forces are deployed into three fleets. The air-force had a total ofpersonnel includingassigned to air defense and 40, assigned to China's strategic forces.

The Air Force's arsenal had 2, combat capable aircraft, including up to bombers, 1, fighters, and 1, fighter ground attack aircraft.

Chinese military strength also includes a nuclear capability. It is suspected that China possesses captcha server earn money sites and nonstrategic nuclear weapons.

There are more thanpersonnel assigned to the nation's Strategic Missile Forces. China's paramilitary forces in had about 1. In addition, there are overborder defense and 69, communications personnel. There are also an estimatedInternal Security personnel. The Chinese are involved in UN peacekeeping missions in 10 countries or regions around the world.

However, that figure may be misleading. China has held a seat in the United Nations since 24 October After the Communist victory inUN representation was exercised by the Republic of China ROC government on Taiwan until Novemberwhen the PRC replaced the ROC in the world organization and its member agencies.

As of Januarythe PRC belonged to ESCAP and several nonregional specialized agencies. The PRC displaced the ROC in the World Bank and IMF in China acceded to WTO membership on 11 December China also participates in APEC, the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and G The country is an observer in the OAS and the Latin American Integration Association LAIAa nonregional member of the Caribbean Development Bank, and a dialogue partner in ASEAN.

The United States extended recognition to China on 15 December and resumed full diplomatic relations as of 1 January Continued US links with Taiwan in the s, however, remained an irritant in USPRC relations. The future of Hong Kong, for which part of the lease the New Territories expired indominated UK-Chinese discussions, and inan agreement to give Hong Kong back to China in was formally signed.

Relations with the USSR, severed during the Sino-Soviet split in the s, improved somewhat in the s but remained strained over China's support of anti-Soviet forces in Cambodia and Afghanistan. By the end ofmore than nations had extended full diplomatic recognition to the PRC, with a parallel drop to about 10 in the number recognizing Taiwan's government. By the mids, the PRC had achieved normal relations with most of its Asian neighbors, including Japan, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore.

Relations with Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos all allies of the former USSR were tense after the late s, but improved in the s. At the Eighth Summit of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations held in Singliforex newsChina forgave the debts of Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in lateChina established diplomatic relations with the republics of the former Soviet Union. China normalized relations with the Republic of Korea in As of Januarya proposed ASEAN-China Free Trade Area was being planned, to begin in China is part of the Nuclear Suppliers Group London Groupthe Zangger Committee, and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and participates as an observer in the Nonaligned Movement.

InChina joined with Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, How much money do the gosselins make, and Uzbekistan to establish the Shanghai Cooperation Organization SCOa cooperative security partnership focused on combating terrorism, extremism, and separatism.

China is also a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. Traditional China was predominantly agricultural. Adhering to farming patterns developed over a score of centuries, China could sustain a harsh level of self-sufficiency, given surcease from natural calamities. For almost three decades prior tothe incessant ravages of civil disorder, foreign principally Japanese invasion, and gross economic neglect virtually decimated China's frail abilities to sustain itself. The what time binary options in forex trading task of the new PRC government thus was to restore the flow of natural resources to prewar levels.

By the early s, the government had succeeded in halting massive starvation. Almost all means of production and distribution were brought under state control, and vast parcels of land were redistributed to the peasantry. During — 57, China's first five-year plan stressed heavy industry. Economic development was aided by imports of machinery and other industrial equipment from the former USSR and East European countries.

In return, China exported agricultural produce to them. A major geological prospecting drive resulted in the discovery of mineral deposits that provided a major thrust toward industrialization. The Great Leap Forward of — 59 initially produced sharp gains in industry and agriculture, but the zeal for increased quotas quickly resulted in undue strain on resources and quality.

The Great Leap was followed by "three bitter years" of economic crisis brought on by bad harvests and the economic dislocation of the previous period. Byhowever, a readjustment of expectations, coupled with a careful program of industrial investment, helped the economy to recover. China's trade patterns, meanwhile, had shifted radically away from the USSR and toward Japan and Western Europe. During the late s, in the Cultural Revolution period, long-range central economic planning was abandoned in favor of policies promoting local self-reliance.

Self-sufficiency in grain production was particularly stressed. Centralized planning resumed in with Zhou Enlai's announcement of key goals for the fourth five-year plan — 75including an increase in grain output.

The fifth five-year plan — 80disrupted during the political upheaval that followed the deaths of Mao and Zhou inwas restructured in to embody scottrade options first android app Four Modernizations, with the use of Western technology as necessary. At the same time, a year plan — 85 calling for the traditional expansion of agriculture and heavy industry was revamped to emphasize the growth of light industries and the accelerated development of industrial raw materials.

Trade with the United States expanded after full diplomatic relations were restored inand four special economic zones were established as centers for foreign investment. The sixth five-year plan — 85adopted inreflected this new pragmatic approach to economic development by emphasizing agriculture, light industry, energy, and improved transportation facilities. During the s, the Chinese economy underwent a major restructuring under the leadership of Zhao Ziyang.

Rural reforms launched inwhich linked remuneration to output and centered on household responsibility, had a profound and beneficial impact on the rural economy, and output and income rose to record levels for rural residents.

The commune system was disbanded in — 84 and replaced by a system of townships, and the household or family became the main unit of rural production.

In the wake of the success of these rural reforms, the CCP Central Committee published "A Decision on the Reform of the Economic Structure" in Octobershort-term investment options for idle cash include what four areas the goal of totally overhauling the national economy and bringing urban industrial organization in line with rural practice.

The main points of the decision were that all urban enterprises would be responsible for their own profits and losses, managers would have greater decisionmaking authority, and national and local governments would relinquish direct control over enterprises and assume a regulatory and supervisory position. Remuneration would be based on productivity, subsidies would be abolished, wages and prices would find their own level, and private and collective enterprises would be encouraged.

The seventh five-year plan — 90 made reform its paramount concern. The reforms put forth in and firmly anchored in the Enterprise Law proved remarkably successful, leading to much higher rates of industrial and general economic growth than previously expected.

Real GNP grew by an average of 9. By this time, however, indicators of a seriously research paper impact fii indian stock market economy were also clearly emerging; inflation accelerated to Infrastructure development was given special priority in the China's eighth plan covering — With growth came rising inflation and infrastructural bottlenecks, which highlighted the need for further improvements in macroeconomic management.

To attract and maintain foreign investors China needed to reform its legal and financial institutions. Despite the government's endorsement of market reforms, the plan continued to affirm the role of state-owned enterprises, which still accounted for more than one-third of total industrial output.

InChina committed two-thirds of fixed-asset investment to state-owned enterprises even though most were heavily in debt.

By propping up the state sector China risked continuing budget deficits and the higher debt service that came with the borrowing necessary to pay for those expenditures. Economic growth, which slowed during the late s, recovered after China gained entrance to the WTO in International analysts warn that reports of the GDP issued by the government may be suspect, pointing to historical how to make money with alchemy rs between government-reported GDP statistics and those reported by other economic analysts.

Mid-way throughthe Economist Intelligence Unit's estimates of a GDP increase of 9. Also in that year, draft proposals for the eleventh five-year plan specified several objectives, including the promotion of energy efficiency, doubling percapita GDP, and encouraging "harmonious development. The average inflation rate in was The CIA defines GDP as the value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year and computed on the basis of purchasing power parity PPP rather than value as measured on the basis of the rate of exchange.

Household consumption includes expenditures of individuals, households, and nongovernmental organizations on goods and services, excluding purchases of dwellings. InChina's labor force was estimated at Although unemployment in urban areas was officially put at 4.

Although workers in China are legally allowed the freedom of association, as ofin reality they cannot organize or join a union of their own choosing. Instead, workers are roblox wiki trade currency by the AllChina Federation of Trade Unions ACFTUwhich is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party CCP and is headed by a top party official. The ACFTU controls all union activities and organizations, including those at the enterprise level.

Independent unions are illegal. As of the end ofit was reported by the ACFTU that its membership totaled Union officials working outside the official confines of the ACFTU have reported being harassed and detained by authorities.

Unlike their urban counterparts, China's estimated million rural labor force including million primary sector workers were unorganized, with no similar organization to represent the nation's farmers. In addition, only a small number of the million rural residents that work in village and township enterprises were unionized. While collective bargaining for workers in all enterprise types is legal, in reality it falls way short of international standards.

Although forced and compulsory labor is prohibited by law, it was a serious problem in penal institutions. Those held in reeducation-through-labor facilities were frequently forced to work often with no or little remuneration. In some cases they were contracted to nonprison enterprises to the profit of the facilities and their respective managers.

There is a minimum working age of 16, but compliance with this is irregular, especially in the burgeoning and unregulated private economy. The huge surplus of adult labor reduces the incentive to employ children. Children are most often found working on farms in poorer, isolated areas. Those between the ages of 16 and 18 are foreks4yu trade binary options "juvenile workers" and were prohibited from certain types of physical work, including laboring in mines.

The minimum wage varies depending on the area of the country. There is no set national minimum wage rate. It generally provides a decent standard of living for a family. The Labor Law provides that the standard workweek is 40 hours, with a mandatory hour rest period weekly. Despite recent advances — grain crops totaling an estimated million tons were produced in From toagricultural goetsch stock broker grew at an average annual rate of 5.

The PRC government expropriated large landholdings in a land reform carried out in — 52, redistributing the land among poor peasants. By the end of The Chinese collective farms had virtually no mechanical equipment, but the peasants pooled their labor in various projects, such as water management, which were beyond the capacity of individual peasants. Inthe collective farms were merged into larger units as people's communes.

The communes were concerned not only with agricultural output but also with subsidiary farm activities, such as light industry and handicrafts, usually produced for fx options cftc consumption.

Far-reaching changes in the organization of communes took place during — Formerly, the production brigade the major division of a commune pork belly stock market, of which there were aboutinwas regarded as the commune's "basic accounting unit.

The average production team consisted of 33 households and cultivated about eight hectares 20 acres. Production teams the secret of winning at binary options almost autonomously, making basic decisions on production and distribution of income, while the commune mainly exercised the functions of a township government.

Inin addition to the rural communes, which provided most of China's agricultural output, there were 2, state farms working approximately 4. These farms, under the Ministry of State Farms and Reclamation, generally served as commodity production centers and as research units for the improvement of crop and livestock yields.

In — 84, a major reform of the agricultural system was launched. The 50, communes ipc international trading commodities joint stock company disbanded and replaced by 92, townships, and the six million production brigades were broken up.

Production decisions were now made by the household, which sets production targets in contracts with the government; households could sell their surpluses in the open market for cash. Crop diversification was encouraged. The main food crops are rice, wheat, and corn, followed by kaoliang a type of sorghummillet, potatoes, and soybeans.

China is the world's leading producer of rice, with production increasing from Early rice is planted in April and harvested in July; single-crop rice is planted in May and harvested in September; and late double-cropped rice is planted in June and harvested in October.

The total wheat crop in amounted to Wheat is cultivated throughout the country, often as a dry-season crop in the rice-growing south, with specialized production centered in the Yangtze Valley and North China Plain.

Output of other coarse grains, including corn in the southwest and drought-tolerant millet and kaoliang in northern and north-eastern China, exceeded Production of roots and tubers, including sweet potatoes grown as a second crop in areas south of the Yellow River Huang He and white potatoes in forex trading deals areas north of the Great Wall, totaled mforex spready Among the most important are cotton the chief raw material for the important textile industryvarious oil-bearing crops, sugar, tobacco, silk, tea, and rubber.

Cotton output totaled 6. Oilseed output in was derived from a diverse assortment of widely grown industrial crops, including sunflower seeds 1, tons and rapeseed 13, tons. Other oilseed products includedtons of castor beans,tons of sesame seeds, andtons of linseed in Sugar production reached Most tobacco is produced as a sideline by commune householders working private plots; output was 2. Most natural rubber is produced on specialized state farms; production totaledtons in The irrigated area is estimated to have increased from about The expansion of fertilizer production is viewed as a key to major growth in the agricultural sector.

Toward this end, China during — 74 contracted for the purchase of 13 large urea plants from Japan, the United States, and Western Europe. China's use of chemical fertilizers increased from kg per hectares in to about kg per hectares in Farm machinery in includedtractors andcombines. Except in outlying areas, nearly all of China's arable land is devoted to crops. Most agricultural units, however, also support the raising of large quantities of hogs and poultry.

Natural grasslands for the grazing of sheep and cattle occupy 4 million sq km 1. In an effort to improve these pastures, million hectares million acres were planted with improved forage seed strains from to Nonetheless, animal husbandry continues to be the weak link in the agricultural economy. China leads the world in swine production, the total number of hogs reaching about The provinces with the largest hog populations are Sichuan, Hunan, Henan, and Shandong.

Pig raising, often pursued as a private sideline by peasants, is the fastest-growing sector of the livestock industry, and hogs and pork products are becoming valuable export earners. The number of sheep expanded from Most sheep are raised by pastoral herders, mostly the ethnic minorities, in the semiarid lands of Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, and Sichuan Szechuan.

Goats, also raised primarily in semiarid areas but increasingly promoted throughout China as a profitable household sideline for milk and dairy production, increased in number from Provinces with the greatest numbers of sheep and goats include Shandong, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Itenan. In there were also million head of cattle and buffalo, up from Chickens and ducks are raised throughout China on private plots and constitute, together with fish and pork, China's chief sources of dietary protein.

The provinces with the largest cattle populations are Itenan, Shandong, Sichuan, and Guangxi. China producedtons of honey inmore than any other nation. InChina produced With a coastline of some 6, km 4, mi adjoining a broad continental shelf, China has excellent coastal fisheries.

A vast number of inland lakes and ponds, covering a total area of aboutsq kmsq miare also used for fish culture, and a 30 km 19 mi section of the Yangtze below Gezhouba Dam at Yichang is a designated sturgeon preserve. The principal marine fisheries are located on the coast of southern and southeastern China, in the provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, and Zhejiang.

China's leading aquacultural products are carp, kelp, oysters, and scallops. Exports of fisheries products in accounted for 8. Regulations for the protection of aquatic resources were enacted in Forest cover has grown from 8. Mature stands are decreasing, however, while the share of plantation and commercial forests continues to rise in response to government policies.

Most of the forests are in remote regions, however, and lack of transportation limits exploitation. China has three major forest areas: Coniferous stands, which yield the most valuable commercial timber, are found mainly in the northeast and adjoining parts of Inner Mongolia.

Deciduous trees are felled in Sichuan and Yunnan. While China is a major producer of softwood logs and lumber, virtually all of its production is domestically consumed.

Paper production, which has benefited from the substitution of rice-straw and other non-wood materials for wood pulp, nearly tripled during the s. Special forestry products originating in southwestern China include tung oil, cassia oil, and aniseed oil. Wood imports can vary widely from year to year. China's domestic industrial round-wood production is divided into two parts — state quota production accounting for about 50 million cu m, and production from illegal over-quota logging, which contributes an additional 40 million cu m.

Private mills dominate China's wood processing sector. Deforestation has been a persistent and serious problem in China, leading to massive erosion and desertification. The government has, from the start of its first five-year plan ingiven high priority to campaigns for afforestation. By26 million hectares 64 million acres of new forests had been planted, and during the s, afforestation proceeded at the rate of 4. However, cutting of trees for fuel continued in rural areas, and many of the trees planted as part of afforestation efforts were lost because of neglect after planting.

During —the forested area grew by an annual average of 1. In its tenth five-year plan commencing in Januarythe Ministry of Forestry set the annual allowable timber cut at Intensive geologic exploration has yielded greatly expanded mineral reserves.

This increase in known subsurface resources was reflected in production rises for China's most important mineral products — coal, petroleum, iron ore, copper, lead, zinc, tungsten, mercury, antimony, tin, molybdenum, barite, fluorspar, magnesite, and rare earths.

InChina produced a total of 7. The production of iron and steel was China's leading industry incoal production ranked second, and petroleum, cement, and chemical fertilizers were among the top eight.

Mineral fuels ranked fifth among export commodities. Iron ore production in gross weight was million metric tons, up from million metric tons in Virtually all iron mining was carried out north of the Yangtze River, and the country's total resources totaled 55, million tons, the largest reserves being in Liaoning, Hebei, and Sichuan.

The largest producers — Anshan Mining Co. Beijing — had annual capacities of 30 million tons and 20 million tons, respectively.

Tungsten output inmainly from Jiangxi, was 67, metric tons metal contentup from a revised figure of 55, metric tons in Copper output metal content wasmetric tons inunchanged frombut up frommetric tons in Other metallic ore outputs in were: China also mined alumina, bismuth, cobalt, gallium, germanium, gold, indium, manganese, nickel, platinum-group metals, silver, uranium, and vanadium.

Henan geologists discovered a bauxite deposit in western Hunan Province that could contain reserves of 50 million tons and a significant amount of gallium. Another bauxite discovery, in Jingxi County, Guangxi Province, could contain reserves of 82 million tons 37 million tons of which could be economically developed,00 tons of gallium, and a significant amount of niobium, scandium, and titanium.

The government since has eased restrictions on its gold market, allowing gold producers to sell their gold through the Shanghai Gold exchange, instead of to the Central Bank at a fixed price.

However, imports and exports of gold ingot were still controlled by the government. The establishment of gold mining companies that were wholly owned by foreign investors was not permitted. Shandong province was the leading gold-producing province in China, followed by Henan, Fujain, Shaanxi, Liaoning, and Hebei provinces.

Major portions were exported to France, Japan, and the United States. In Nei Mongol, rare-earth concentrate, known as Baotou rare-earth concentrate, was the by-product of producing iron concentrates, and contained oxides of the light rare-earth group — lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, samarium, europium, and gadolinium.

In Mianning and Dechang Sichuanrare earths were mainly bastnasite, and, in Ganzhou Jiangxithe rare earths were of the ionic absorption type. A joint venture in Jiangsu province was to produce vanillin. The largest producers — Gansu Rare Earths Co. China's rare-earth processing capacity expanded from 50, metric tons per year in tometric tons per year in Rare earths remained a highly controlled sector, and a rare-earth quota was introduced in to control exports.

Hydraulic cement production in was million metric tons, up from million metric tons in Other industrial mineral production in included: China also produced diamond, diatomite, dolomite, kyanite and related materials, lithium minerals, nitrogen, phosphate rock and apatite, potash, salt, sodium compounds, and sulfur.

The government in approved the opening of a diamond exchange market in Shanghai. China in became the world's eighth-largest consumer of precious stones actual figures were difficult to ascertain because of smuggling and overseas purchasesand "Greater China," which included Hong Kong and Taiwan, was believed to be the world's third-largest diamond market, after the United States and Japan.

Inthe government issued several laws and regulations to improve the country's investment environment and foreign investors' confidence. The laws and regulations dealt with, among other things, mineral resource exploitation planning, land exploitation, mine ownership transfer, customs law, gold mining, Sinoforeign contractual joint ventures, foreign capital enterprises, and mineral-resource deposit size classification standards. The government continued its efforts to restructure the mining and metal sectors, abolishing nine bureaus, transferring responsibilities to industrial associations, dissolving three state-owned nonferrous enterprises, and, to help the industry become more efficient, ceding management to provincial and city governments.

The government also offered incentives to companies — exemption from income tax, tariffs, and import value-added tax VAT — to invest in the poorer western provinces. It also began to phase out the preferential taxes for foreign enterprises, prepared to draft a "zero tariff rate" policy for exports, issued guidelines to allow foreign enterprises to conduct mineral exploration in China, and agreed to eliminate import quotas and dismantle export subsidies.

China planned to increase production of cement, copper, fertilizer, iron, lead, nickel, salt, soda ash, and zinc, and expected to retain its dominance in the world market for antimony, barite, fluorspar, magnesite, rare earths, and tungsten.

China's petroleum resources are a key to its industrial development. Init became the world's second-largest consumer of petroleum products, surpassing Japan. Crude oil production increased frombarrels per day in to 3. InChina had proven reserves of 24 billion barrels.

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As of 1 Januaryits proven reserves were estimated at Inconsumption was estimated at 6. The major producing centers are the Daqing field in Heilongjiang, which came into production in and the Liaohe field, located in northeastern China. By the mids, China no longer had to rely on oil imports; petroleum exports had, in fact, emerged as a major source of foreign exchange earnings. More than 9, km 6, mi of long-distance pipelines transport the oil from fields to refineries and other points of consumption and export.

China, however, became a net importer of oil inbecause rapid increases in oil demand from high economic growth rates outpaced the slower increases in oil production. After rising dramatically in the early s, owing largely to the discovery and exploitation of vast deposits in Sichuan Province during the late s and early s, natural gas output stagnated somewhat in the late s. As ofnatural gas supplied only an estimated 2.

However, with proven reserves totaling an estimated Intotal national production reached billion cu ft. Bythat figure had risen to an estimated 1. A pipeline to transport natural gas from the Xinjiang province in the west to Shanghai in the east was planned, with Shell chosen to lead a consortium of development companies. Although China's rivers provide a vast hydroelectric potential an estimated million kWonly a small part has been developed.

In the late s, after economic growth slowed due to the Asian economic crisis, the government declared a two- to three-year moratorium on construction of new power plants due to an oversupply problem. The main hydroelectric projects include Ertan in Sichuan Province, Yantan in Guangsxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Manwan in Yunan Province, Geheyan in Hubei Province, Wuqiangxi in Hunan Province, Yamzho Yumco in Xizang Autonomous Region, and Lijia Xia in Qinghai Province.

In Aprilthe government approved the construction of the largest hydropower project in China — the Three Gorges Project on the middle reaches of the Chang Jiang. Construction began inand as of Augustwas still underway with completion in The Three Gorges Project will include 26 hydropower generating units, at MW each, producing a total of The Three Gorges Project will require the relocation of millions of people just in Sichuan Province alone.

A second major hydroelectric project, consisting of a series of dams on the upper portion of the Yellow River, was also underway as of August Plans for this project call for 25 generating stations to be built, having a combined China's electrical generating capacity was estimated as of 1 January to stand at Total output of electricity increased during the — 98 period from billion to 1, billion kWh.

Output in was 1, billion kWh, of which Inelectrical power output was estimated at 1, billion kWh, of which 1, billion kWh hours are from thermal sources, billion kWh from hydroelectric sources, and 42 billion kWh from nuclear sources.

Electricity consumption in was 1, trillion kWh. Inconsumption rose to 1, Electric power consumption is forecast to increase at an annual rate of 4.

Traditionally, coal has been China's major energy source, with auxiliary biomass fuels provided by brushwood, rice husks, dung, and other noncommercial materials. The abundance of coal continues to provide cheap thermal power for electric plants.

InChina was both the world's largest coal producer, at 1. InChina produced an estimated 1. Coal comes from over two dozen sites in the north, northeast, and southwest; Shanxi Province is the leading producer. Recoverable reserves as ofwere estimated at over InChina accounted for Large thermal power plants are situated in the northeast and along the east coast of China, where industry is concentrated, as well as in new inland industrial centers, such as Chongqing, TaiyuanXi'an, and Lanzhou.

The development of nuclear power has become a major factor within China's electricity sector. The MW Qinshan nuclear power plant near Shanghai began commercial operation in That same year, two MW reactors at the Guangdong facility at Daya Bay also started commercial service. InChinese authorities approved the construction of four more reactors.

In Maythe 1 GW first unit of the Lingao nuclear power plant came online while a second 1 GW unit began operating in January An additional MW generating unit also came online at Qinshan in February Net capacity for China's three nuclear reactors was estimated at 2, kW in At the start ofinstalled capacity for nuclear power was placed at 2 GW.

By mid, that capacity had risen to 15 GW and further construction is being planned. A 6 GW complex is being planned for Guangdong province at Yangjiang slated to begin commercial operation inwhile a second facility is being planned for Daya Bay.

Byplans call for the completion of 27 GW of additional nuclear power generating capacity. China achieved a rapid increase in the gross value of industrial output used before China switched to GNP accounting inwhich, according to official Chinese statistics, rose by Major policy reforms of further accelerated the pace of industrial growth, which reached Industrial output was officially up Also apparent has been the spatial unevenness of recent industrial development, with growth concentrated mainly in Shanghai, the traditional hub of China's industrial activity, and, increasingly, a number of new economic centers along the southern coast.

One key factor in this industrial geography has been the government's establishment of several Special Economic Zones in Guangdong, Fujian, and Hainan provinces, and its designation of over 14 "open coastal cities" where foreign investment in export-oriented industries was actively encouraged during the s. Before the first five-year plan — 57China had only one major steel center — Anshan, in the northeast — and several minor ones.

All these produced 1. ByChina was producing 92, million tons of crude steel andmillion tons of pig iron. China's cotton textile industry is the largest in the world, producing yarn, cloth, woolen piece goods, knitting wool, silk, jute bags, and synthetic fibers.

In addition to garments and textiles, output from light industry includes footwear, toys, food processing, and consumer electronics. Heavy industries include iron and steel, coal, machine building, armaments, petroleum, cement, chemical fertilizers, and autos. High technology industries produce high-speed computers, types of semiconductors, specialized electronic measuring instruments, and telecommunications equipment. Sinceindustry has been providing agriculture with farm machines, chemical fertilizers, insecticides, means of transportation, power, building materials, and other essential commodities.

Handicraft cooperatives also have been busy making hand-operated or animal-drawn implements. Production of a variety of industrial goods has expanded, increasingly in order to supply the country's own expanding industrial base.

In addition to fertilizers, the chemicals industry produces calcium carbide, ethylene, and plastics. Sincegreat emphasis has been placed on the manufacture of transportation equipment, and China now produces varied lines of passenger cars, trucks, buses, and bicycles.

Inoutput included 1, motor vehicles more than double the figure. Output for was over 1. The industry underwent a major overhaul in the late s in order to stimulate efficiency and production.

From —the growth in manufacturing was Contributing to this growth in the early s was an increase in agriculture-related industry, as promoted by local governments in town and village enterprises TVEs in which agricultural surpluses were invested in low-tech and labor-intensive manufacturing processes.

By the end of the s, during an economic slowdown, TVEs began to employ fewer rural workers. Foreign and private enterprises FIEs — foreign-invested enterprises became increasingly important to industry, while the state-controlled sector declined. Whereas there wererecorded SOEs inthe number had decreased to 31, in ; those that exist are plagued by outdated equipment and a lack of skilled workers.

High-tech manufacturing gained ground, supplanting the low-technology, assembly-line production of the early s. Though textiles still contribute largely to China's production output, industrial growth is increasingly in sectors producing advanced electronic goods such as cell phones, integrated circuits, and cars. Modern China is the heir to a remarkably inventive civilization that pioneered in the development of the abacus the first mechanical calculating devicepaper and paper moneyprinting by movable type, gunpowder, the magnetic compass, and the rocket.

Contact with the West during the 19th century however, revealed how technologically backward China had become, and it is only in recent decades that the nation has begun to catch up. China detonated its first fission device in and its first hydrogen bomb in ; the nation now possesses a variety of nuclear weapons mounted on missiles, bombers, submarines, and other delivery systems.

Its first satellite was launched in Bythe PRC had launched an INTELSAT satellite on a Chinese launch vehicle. Other priorities have been the development of high-energy physics, laser research, powerful computer memory chips, color television broadcasting technology, and laser infrared devices, although the PRC still relies heavily on outside investment and technology transfer.

Major advances have also been claimed in rice hybridization, insecticides, fertilizers, biogas digesters for rural electrification, and pollution control technology. Two scientific exchange agreements between the United States and China were signed in January during Premier Zhao Ziyang's visit to Washington, D. China has proposed to several Western nations that it provide long-term storage facilities in remote provinces for radioactive waste — a proposal that Western observers believed would provide China not only with hard currency but also with nuclear materials for possible reprocessing.

China's principal technological handicap is lack of skilled personnel. Part of China's response to this shortage has been to send tens of thousands of students overseas for advanced study, especially in the United States.

Bythe number of scientists and engineers per million people had risen to excluding Hong Kong. Scientific research is coordinated by the prestigious Chinese Academy of Sciences, founded in and headquartered in Beijing. China in had 90 specialized learned societies in the fields of agriculture, medicine, science, and technology. Most are affiliated members of the China Association for Science and Technology, founded in International science and technology cooperation is also increasing.

However, concerns over human rights issues have had the effect of cooling USPRC science and technology exchanges.

InChina had universities and colleges offering courses in basic and applied science. The remainder was undistributed. Three types of retail trade outlets — the periodic market, the peddler, and the urban shop — constituted the basis of the traditional commercial structure.

In the early s, however, a number of state trading companies were established for dealing in commodities such as food grains, cotton, textiles, coal, building materials, metals, machinery, and medicines. These companies, under the control of the Ministry of Commerce, have established branch offices and retail stores throughout the country. In the s, the establishment of state-owned department stores and cooperative retail outlets virtually replaced private trade.

There was a resurgence of periodic open markets and private traders when domestic trading regulations were relaxed in Farm-lands and the agricultural industry, however, remain under state control. The China Export Commodities Fair, usually held each spring and fall in Guangzhou, was for more than 20 years an important point of contact for Westerners doing business with China. Though still important as an initial introduction to the full range of China's potential suppliers, the decentralization of trading activities in recent years has greatly reduced the fair's role in mediating sustained contact between producers and buyers.

Local foreign trade commissions in various industrial centers of the country have taken on a much more active role in organizing many of the services associated with the commodities fair, while any domestic enterprise with foreign trading rights may now participate directly in all events related to trade promotion.

Guangzhou still hosts two annual trade fairs, though on a reduced scale. In the major cities, Friendship Stores and other restaurants, hotels, service bureaus, and taxis cater exclusively to foreign visitors; payment is made in foreign exchange certificates. By the mids, international credit cards could be used to obtain cash advances in selected outlets and for direct purchases in Friendship Stores.

Internet commerce was initiated in China in the late s, and bythere were more than million computer Internet users. Though China has only recently become a major trading nation, its enormous trading potential is attracting great attention by both. Trade has performed important functions within the economy, providing needed capital goods and modern technology to abet development, as well as primary commodities such as grains to supplement local supply in slack years.

Foreign trade is under the direction of a single Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade, created in through the merger of the former ministries of Foreign Trade and Foreign Economic Relations with the Export-Import and Foreign Investment commissions.

A major issue since the early s, however, has been the decentralization of trade management and greater reliance on currency devaluation major devaluations were implemented in and and market incentives rather than direct export and import controls to promote desired trade patterns. After the Asian financial crisis ofofficials were tempted to devalue the currency once more; instead the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economics MOFTEC spent massive sums of money on state industry, while dismantling trade barriers in anticipation of WTO membership.

Prior tosome three-fourths of China's exports were agricultural products. However, China's efforts to emulate the success of Japan, British Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the ROK in basing economic expansion on textile and clothing exports encountered protectionist resistance from major potential markets in the United States and European Union.

The textile and clothing industry created the large majority of China's commodity exports in China's special administrative region of Hong Kong also produces clothes, averaging The direction of China's trade has followed three major patterns since the s. Prior to World War II, Japan, Hong Kong, the United States, and the United Kingdom together made up about three-fourths of the total trade volume.

With the founding of the PRC intrade shifted in favor of the former USSR and Eastern Europe. By the early s, most of China's leading trade partners were industrialized non-Communist countries, and China's trade pattern overall reflected a high degree of multilateralism. In recent years, as China has rapidly enlarged its role on the international market, the importance of Hong Kong as an entrepot and major source of revenue has increased.

Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule inbut because of its enormous trade activity, Hong Kong's trade is often measured separate from China. The most dramatic change in the mids was the emergence of the United States as China's third-largest trading partner; by the United States was China's second-largest trading partner, and the largest importer of Chinese goods. Both foreign trade and international financing in China are state monopolies, with policies and transactions administered by the People's Bank of China PBC.

Among its various functions, the PBC sets exchange rates for foreign currencies. The PBC releases foreign exchange to the Bank of China, which plays a major payments role through its branches in Hong Kong, Singapore, and other overseas financial centers.

The government has, overall, maintained a record of financial stability, linked to a policy of stringent controls over its international transactions. Adhering generally to a principle of self-reliance, it has resorted to the use of commercial credit at certain junctures but until the s avoided falling into long-term indebtedness as a means of financing major development goals.

In the period — 60, the Great Leap Forward and the succeeding years of economic crisis caused a sharp deterioration in China's international payments position. Bythe Chinese had completely cleared their long-term debt to the former USSR, and byChina had redeemed all national bonds and was free of all long-term external and internal debts. Publication of official balance-of-payments statistics was discontinued during the Cultural Revolution and not resumed until September According to Western analyses, the period — 81 saw a continuing surplus in current accounts, as rising levels of imports were generally matched or exceeded by increases in exports over the same period.

The trade account was helped by the slow but steady devaluation that occurred after China went to a managed float exchange rate system in January Tourism receipts and visitor figures also continued to grow, passing pre-Tiananmen levels.

A usually positive current account balance stockpiled China's reserves. Government infrastructure and industrial projects received funding for goods that could not be sold domestically in due to lower demand, losing money for each party involved. In effect, external trade plays a secondary role in China's economy because of normally high, unsatisfied domestic demand.

Agreements with the WTO threaten to increase China's dependence on foreign trade. Economic reforms under the Four Modernizations program adopted in brought major changes in China's highly centralized and tightly controlled banking system.

Inthe People's Bank of China PBC became the central bank and turned over its commercial operations to the new Industrial and Commercial Bank. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange SAFE helps set foreign exchange policy. Other specialized agencies include the People's Construction Bank, the Agricultural Bank of China, the Bank of China, the Bank of Communications, the China Development Bank, and the Export-Import Bank of China.

The China Construction Bank CCB makes payments for capital construction according to state plans and budgets. The Agricultural Bank of China finances agricultural expansion, grants rural loans, supervises agricultural credit cooperatives, and assists in the modernization of agriculture.

The Bank of China BOC handles foreign exchange and international settlements for the PBC. It has branches throughout China as well as in Singapore, Hong Kong, ParisLondon, Luxembourg, New York, and Tokyo. The BOC is charged with financing China's foreign trade and also acquiring and channeling into appropriate areas the foreign capital needed for imports of industrial equipment and other items for modernization.

The foreign-owned Standard Chartered Bank maintains long-established offices in China. Over 90 foreign banks, representing Japan, the United States, France, Italy, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom, received permission to establish offices in Beijing in the early s.

Infor the first time, foreign banks were allowed to do business in the four special economic zones established to attract foreign investment in foreign currency. In mid, 10 foreign banks were given permission to operate outside of the special zones; and inforeign banks were given limited authority to do business in rembi the local currency at the time. The discount rate, the interest rate at which the central bank lends to financial institutions in the short term, was 3.

Instock exchanges opened in Shanghai and several other cities, and several stock and bond issues were floated domestically. Securities exchanges are controlled by the PBC, and trading in securities is very limited. InChina accelerated stock-market listings of about 50 large and medium-sized state-owned enterprises SOEs and considered raising the number of enterprises piloting group holding structures from 57 to In Novemberthe Shanghai Stock Exchange President, Yang Xianghai, predicted that China's two exchanges Shanghai and Shenzhen would number in excess of 1, companies by At the time he was speaking, there were companies listed on the stock exchanges.

Bythere were listed companies and listed securities being traded on the exchange. Inthe Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges listed a combined total of 1, companies. In that same year, the Shanghai Stock Exchange stood at 1, China's stock market is split into two sections, the "A" share market and the "B" share market. Foreigners may only participate in the Bshare market, denominated in foreign currencies and consisting predominantly of foreign private companies.

The Ashare market is reserved for domestic investors who are not allowed to participate in the Bshare market and dominated by state enterprises. The People's Insurance Co. Inthe People's Insurance Co. Two additional state enterprises, the China Insurance Co. Demand for insurance projects is predicted to grow as economic reforms limit the social security benefits provided by state enterprises. Motor-vehicle third-party liability for foreigners and for citizens in certain provinces, workers' compensation in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zoneold age pension, unemployment insurance, and property fire in Shenzhen for commercial risks are compulsory.

The annual state budget is prepared by the Ministry of Finance and approved by the National People's Congress. A major reform in public finance, introduced inwas a new system of allocating revenues and expenditures between local and national levels of government.

Previous revenue-sharing procedures allowed the central government to fix maximum spending levels for each. The new system fixed for a five-year period the proportion of local income to be paid to the central government and except for emergency appropriations for floods and other such disasters the level of subsidies to be provided by the central government, as well as the proportion of local income to be retained by local governments.

Autonomous regions receive proportionately greater state subsidies than the provinces and centrally administered municipalities, and they are entitled to keep all revenues from local industrial and commercial taxes.

During the s, the Chinese consolidated budget deficit grew at a rapidly increasing rate. Deficits are largely financed by domestic debt issuance rather than by money creation. Public debt in amounted to Government outlays by function in were as follows: It is applicable to resident as well as those business operations that involve foreign investments, or socalled foreign investment enterprises FIEs.

In addition, local authorities are allowed to collect certain license and registration fees, as well as levy a surcharge. FIEs typically pay taxes at concessional rates, depending upon the type of business and location.

Capital gains incurred by companies are generally considered income and are taxed as such. On 1 Januarythe PRC Individual Income Tax law came into effect in China.

People resident in China for five or more years are considered residents and are taxed on worldwide income. However, the sale of a private dwelling is exempt from the capital gains tax, if the seller lived in it for at least five years.

The lower rate applies to water, grain, edible oils, certain agricultural products such as fertilizers, and books. Although China is in the process of aligning its trade system with international standards, prohibitively high tariffs and quotas discourage many imports.

It uses the Harmonized System for tariff classification. A minimum tariff rate is granted to countries that have special agreements with China, including the United States. Raw materials are exempt. Inthe USChina Trade Relations Working Group successfully opened trade relations with China, with such agreements as: These reductions would be implemented on a sliding yearly basis. China acceded to the World Trade Organization on 11 December Official PRC policy is that direct trade with Taiwan is interregional, rather than international, since Taiwan is considered a province of China and, therefore, no customs duties are levied.

There are free trade zones in Shanghai, Tianjin, Dalian, Haikov, the Hainan Island Special Economic Zone, and within the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. Smuggling, reportedly well organized along the coasts of Guangdong, Fujian, and Zhejiang provinces and in the frontier regions of Tibet and Yunnan, is a major governmental concern. China strongly emphasizes attracting foreign investment in projects that will enhance the nation's economic development. Beginning in the early s, China contracted for the construction of a substantial number of complete plants, notably for iron and steel, automobile, fertilizer manufacture, and power generation, including nuclear power.

Such agreements, often made with private firms from Japan, Germany, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, and Canada, as well as with agencies of the Communist states, all called for direct purchase of materials and services. Residual ownership by foreigners and remittance of profits from production were expressly disallowed. InChina established the Foreign Investment Control Commission to attract and coordinate foreign investment, and the first four Special Economic Zones SEZs in southern China at Shenzhen, Xiamen, Shantou, and Zhuhai to attract foreign investment the fifth SEZ was established on Hainan Island in In the s, foreign investment was restricted to export-oriented businesses, and foreign investors were required to enter into joint ventures JVs with Chinese counterparts in order to enter the market.

Under the Joint Ventures Law, enacted in and revised inthe development of joint ventures for the production of exports has been particularly stressed as a means of securing for China the foreign exchange needed to pay for purchases of advanced technology.

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Foreign investment in products for the domestic market, other than those needed for modernization, was discouraged. Infurther foreign investment opportunities were created with the designation of 14 open coastal cities — Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Fuzhou, Dailan, Qinhuangdao, Yantai, Qingdao, Lianyungan, Nantong, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Zhanjiang, and Beihai — where preferential incentives could also be offered.

Since then, 52 state approved economic and technology zones have come into existence, and most provinces, regions, and major municipalities have their own international and trust investment corporations, of which the one in Shanghai is the largest. Special corporations for the attraction of investment by overseas Chinese have been established in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces.

In the early s, the government began allowing foreign investors to manufacture and sell an increasingly wide variety of goods in the domestic market. From the mids, wholly foreign owned enterprises WFOEs have been allowed to operate. In andChina revised its laws on JVs and WFOEs to eliminate requirements for foreign exchange balancing, to eliminate domestic sales ratio requirements, to eliminate or adjust advanced technology and export performance requirements, and to modify provisions on domestic procurement of raw materials.

With China's accession to the WTO in Decemberforeign investment opportunities were further expanded with the removal of financial and distribution services from the restricted list. Only the production of arms and the mining and processing of certain minerals are currently off limits to foreign investment.

China attracts capital in four ways: This figure includes investment from the Special Administrative Regions SARs of Hong Kong and Macao as well as from Taiwan. On an annual basis, this not very-foreign proportion of FDI has dropped from over two-thirds to an average of By the end ofoverforeign invested enterprises had registered in China. In a World Bank study found that China attracted more than one-third of all investment in factories and other manufacturing plants in developing nations.

Growth rates, of course, moderated after their early surge, but it was not until the Asian financial crisis of — 98, precipitated by China's reabsorption of Hong Kong in Julythat annual FDI levels stagnated, with a 0. InFDI only grew 0. China continues to have no mergers and acquisitions law that would permit the involuntary takeover of a company.

A company can be bought outright but the sale requires specific government approval, as do all investments in China. Indirect foreign or portfolio investment FII is limited to those willing to invest to the mainland companies listed on the Chinese stock exchange.

Until the early s, the flow of Chinese funds abroad was confined to assistance to developing countries and to investment in Hong Kong real estate. Inhowever, China began making direct investments overseas, in the United States, Canada, the Solomon Islands, and Sri Lanka. China has been a significant supplier of development aid to other countries.

Recipients of Chinese military and economic assistance have included the DPRK, Vietnam, EgyptPakistan, and Tanzania. A profound restructuring of China's economy began in following the founding of the PRC.

Adhering to orthodox models borrowed wholesale from the former USSR, the PRC brought all major industrial, infrastructure, and financial enterprises directly under state ownership.

Management of the economy was closely controlled by central authorities, whose powers extended to the allocation of basic commodities and the basic division of resources into investment, consumption, and defense channels. Centralized planning for economic development was introduced in the form of five-year economic plans. The first five-year plan — 57belatedly announced inpursued rapid industrialization along Soviet lines, with a special emphasis on increases in steel and other heavy industries.

The second five-year plan — 62 was voided at its start by the social and economic upheavals of the Great Leap Forward. At the heart of the Great Leap was the establishment of the self-sufficient rural commune; decentralization of industry was stressed, and the rural unemployed put to work in "backyard steel furnaces" and other industrial enterprises of dubious efficiency.

Incomes were determined by need, and coercion and revolutionary enthusiasm replaced profit as the motivation for work. After the bad harvests of andan "agriculture first" policy was adopted under which large areas of semiarid steppe and other marginal lands in the north and west were converted to agricultural use. A third five-year plan — 70formulated by governmental pragmatists and calling for rapid growth of all sectors, was aborted by the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution.

Inthe government published a report calling for a more open approach to foreign assistance and trade. Domestically, it confirmed the use of the "mass line" — the system of calling upon workers and peasants to take responsibility and initiative, and to work without material incentives.

It favored the simultaneous use of modern and traditional employment methods the "walking on two legs" policyand recommended expansion of industry through investment of profits derived from the sale of agricultural and light industrial products. At the heart of the policy was a reversion to the commune system of — a program to make the countryside self-sufficient, with every commune not only growing its own food but also producing its own fertilizer and tools, generating its own electricity, and managing its own small handicrafts factories, health schemes, and primary schools.

In contrast to the hastily organized communes of — 60, however, the new units frequently adhered to the traditional — and more manageable — structure of Chinese rural life. Long-range economic planning resumed in with the announcement of a fourth five-year plan, for — In latePremier Zhou Enlai proclaimed the plan successful. Specifically, the following growth rates — 74 for mining and industry were reported: A fifth five-year plan — 80announced ingave priority to modernization of the economy and, for the first time, emphasized the development of light rather than heavy industry.

Implementation of this new departure was, however, delayed by the deaths of Mao and Zhou in and did not occur untilby which time the economic pragmatists, led by Deng Xiaoping, had emerged victorious from the subsequent political and ideological struggles. The sixth five-year plan — 85 reemphasized China's commitment to the pragmatic line and to the Four Modernizations. The seventh five-year plan — 90announced in March and called by Deng Xiaoping "The New Long March," featured the following major goals: Concerns about the unevenness of China's economic development progress, both in geographic and sectoral terms, shaped the country's eighth five-year plan — To ameliorate potentially crippling bottlenecks in the supply of raw materials, energy, transportation, and communications capacity, the government prioritized the financing of infrastructure investments.

Streamlining of inefficient state industrial enterprises was targeted as well, with the setting up of an unemployment security fund planned in order to assist laid off workers make the transition to employment in nonstate industry and the services sector.

Direct foreign investment in industry, services, and infrastructure especially energy and communications development were promoted. The plan also emphasized better distribution of the country's development momentum. Inland cities, especially along the Russian, Mongolian, and North Korean borders were targeted for development as export-oriented special economic zones in addition to coastal areas. Particular emphasis was given to developing major infrastructure projects to link Hong Kong, Macao, and the Pearl River delta area of Guangdong province into an integrated economic area and major export base for the 21st century.

The ninth five-year plan — called for a shift from a centrally planned economy to a "socialist market economy. The goals included continuing progress toward quadrupling the GNP by the year a goal that had already been met by and doubling the GNP by the yeara goal carried over into tenth five-year plan — By the end ofthe Chinese economy had come through two major external shocks the Asian financial crisis of — 98 and the global economic slowdown of — 02 without seriously faltering, at least according to official government figures.

Inflation has held near zero or below, with a slight deflation in consumer prices The tenth five-year plan — 05 called for a continuance of these trends: Under the tenth five-year plan the government sought to improve its "socialist market economy.