Search

The Central Agricultural Broadcasting and Television School (CABTS) contributes to socio-economic development in the rural areas of China by imparting basic education to the rural masses. CABTS was set up by the government during 1980-1981 to improve the life of farmers through education. Its distance education programs cover various areas of agriculture and animal husbandry. Broadcasting and electronic media are used to teach the rural masses. The organization has the potential to reach a 470 million labor force.

Several strategies designed to help implement population control programs are being applied in Sichuan, China's province with the highest population. Publicity on population control help farmers understand its economic importance both at the individual and state level. Several incentives are also offered to encourage the practice of one family one child principle. These incentives include financial support from the government in developing agricultural industries as well as free education for the child.

Wang Mengkui identifies the economic benefits that can be derived from the proposed Ninth Five-Year Plan and Long-Term Target for the Year 2010 of the Communist Party of China's Central Committee. Wang also differentiates the socialist market economic system adopted by China from the free market economic structure. According to Wang, China's approach ensures that public ownership remains the foundation of the economy.

The quality of Chinese-manufactured electrical appliances is good enough to compete at the international level. This was evident in the non-participation of Japan in the 1995 Beijing International Household Electrical Appliances Fair. Japan's powerful advertisement position in China is also the other cause. China has improved its quality and management of electrical goods due to the use of foreign technology and production lines. Its export also increased rapidly in 1994. The Ninth Five Year Plan has set encouraging and achievable target for electric goods industries.

Chinese scholars denounced the charges of human rights abuse contained in the 1994 Human Rights Country Reports issued by the US Department of State at a forum of the China Society of Human Rights Studies (CSHRS). Professor Chen Zhishang pointed out that the US had no right to criticize China, since America's perception of human rights differed from that of the United Nations charter. Another scholar said that Chinese law guarantees protection from torture as a means for obtaining confession. Wang Lixina said that women in China were better of than their American counterparts, since they constitute 77% of the work force in China compared to 51% in US.

The Chinese government has pursued policies to usher in egalitarianism in the society by enhancing the economic stature of women by encouraging their active participation in the nation's business and industry. Women enjoy equal rights in the labor market and are increasingly participating in scientific research, industrial enhancement, political, social and financial organizations.

Reform efforts in China in 1995 should focus on improving the management of large and medium-sized state-owned enterprises and creating a modern enterprise system. State-owned enterprises followed the traditional planned economic system which is outdated and this resulted in limited development. These enterprises should make efforts to focus on comprehensive and coordinated reform instead of individual reforms, combining system reform with technological advances and establishing enterprise capital system as a reserve in times of financial crisis.

The Chinese government has decided to follow a development-centered approach rather than passive compensation in resettling relocated population, the major problem faced by the government in implementing the Three Gorges Project. The 1993 Regulations on Relocation of Residents in the Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Area focussed on the new approach, with specific preferential policies and self-reliance. The trial relocation project confirmed that recovery and reinvestment of relocation funds are more profitable. The government has also emphasized developing agriculture.

Vice-Minister Peng Yu of China's State Family Planning Commission states that his country's family planning policy aims at encouraging the one child per couple norm, late marriages and child bearing and promoting the concept of fewer and healthier children. The birth control measures promoted by the government are voluntary and does not violate human rights as alleged by the West. Problems of over-population remain in 1994 despite the drop in birth rate by 33.43 per thousand and the population growth rate by 25.83 per thousand since 1970.

Feng Bing, deputy secretary general of the State Commission for Restructuring the Economic System, talks about the measures taken to improve China's economy. Reforms have been implemented in areas such as banking, taxation, enterprises, social security systems and foreign trade enterprises. The government will encourage development of the less developed regions of China to decrease the imbalance in development between various regions.

Americans have predicted that the rate of population growth in China, will instigate a grain shortage in the country. But the grain production in China increased steadily from 1949 to 1984, recording an annual growth of 3.7%. However, insufficient resources and the lack of new technology in agriculture has adversely affected the overall grain production. To realize the demand for 640 million tons of grain per year, China will have to increase the per hectare output of low yield lands by 1500 kgs besides raising the multiple crop index and the per unit yield.

The Fifth session of the Seventh National People's Congress approved the Three Gorges Project on the Yangtze River in China and preparatory work is already underway. The Three Gorges Project Construction Committee takes important decisions for the project, and this includes financing and building roads and cofferdams. The project offers wide opportunity to foreign investors who can also help by introducing new technology.

China is in the process of executing large-scale construction projects as part of an attempt to ensure sustained economic growth. The optical fiber telecommunication link between Beijing-Guangzhou which is 4,700 km long has produced a telecommunication 'expressway' aiding economic growth. The Qinshan Nuclear Power Station and the Shanghai ethylene project are other results of Chinese trust for infrastructural progress.

Economic development in China has been impeded by the 'bottleneck' in railway transport, and the Chinese government plans to overcome this problem by hastening the construction of new railway lines. Despite the severe economic recession, the Chinese government has not curtailed expenditure on the rail transport system, and has announced privileges to the agricultural sector. The government has introduced fresh financing systems to enable a speedy recovery from the economic crunch.

China's Eighth Five Year Plan for the years 1991 to 1995 includes the construction of 10 important electrified railway lines with double-tracking to facilitate speedy transport between the northern and southern regions. This project, however, requires considerable funds, which can be acquired only from foreign finance corporations. The Railway Ministry already receives financial assistance amounting to $3 billion from the World Bank and the Japanese Overseas Economic Cooperation Funds. The railway project is expected to revitalize the economic situation in the country.

The state owned Beijing Heavy Machine Factory has been renamed The Universal Machine Works, after its merger with the Beijing-based Shougang (Shoudu Iron and Steel Co., SISC) in 1992. There is an increase in the company's production and export due to a change in its policy and operation. An increase in the income of the employees has instilled enthusiasm in them. Strict management rules improved the work of the staff.

The Beijing watch factory revitalised itself by setting up a market oriented system and changing its operational mechanisms to counter the losses it suffered due to competition from the foreign market. The factory is now producing fashionable watches, and is expanding its market and improving performance by giving bonuses and rewards to personnel who boost sales. The recruitment of trained personnel and the production of high quality watches sensitive to market demand has increased the production and sale of its watches.

Deng Xiaopeng's remarks on planning and markets spurred the Chinese government to actively pursue the transformation of the country from a planned economy into a socialist market economy in 1992. The government implemented a number of programs aimed at revitalizing the economy. In addition, it implemented pilot programs geared towards developing streamlined government services in five major Chinese cities. Also, it reformed its import management system to conform to GATT standards.

The China Democratic National Construction Assn (CDNCA) was founded in 1945 by patriotic national industrial and commercial entrepreneurs who were supported by intellectuals. The orgainzation has since grown to a membership of 50,000, most of whom are distinguished intellectuals involved in financial, economic and research activities. CDNCA has mainitained its close ties with entreprenuers and intellectuals. The organization has been involved with government affairs, urban youth employment programs, technical consultations and in technological research.

Legal notary services are in the upswing in mainland China. The legal procedure of notarization has performed a crucial role in China's drive toward market reforms and reflects a higher level of legal consciousness among the country's populace. Chinese notaries now pay particularattention to the quality of their services. They are also improving in stoppingdishonest applications.

China's Regulations Concerning Management Mechanism Transformation of State-Owned Industrial Enterprises give greater decision-making power to state-owned enterprises and redefine the government's role. The regulations give 14 kinds of power to China's state-owned industries. Enterprises can now make decisions on the volume of production, prices, import-export transactions, capital investment and employees' hiring and wage policies.The government's role entails establishing a macro-control management system, improving market and public facilities and the social security system.

The China Association for Promoting Democracy (CAPD) is an organization of more than 50,000 professionals involved in various fields such as culture, publishing, research and education. CAPD has dedicated itself to the improvement of teacher treatment in China. It has actively participated in government efforts to improve the education system in the country. CAPD has conducted numerous studies on various education-related issues and has successfully lobbied for legislation on these issues. In addition, the organization's efforts to address the concerns of education have helped in building a strong teaching staff.

The China Democratic League has dedicated much of its time and resources to develop the country's rural areas. The league, one of China's eight democratic political parties, boasts of over 100,000 members most of whom are mid-level and senior intellectuals. The league utilizes its vast intellectual resources to provide rural areas with various services ranging from agricultural research to technology dissemination. The benefits of the league's efforts can be seen in the rapid economic growth of its model area in Mijiaxia, Huining County, Gansu Province.

China is a land of diverse nationalities speaking different languages. To pursue its goal of national integration and non-discrimination, the country has always been tolerant and even encouraging of the development of minority languages. There exists the freedom to develop minority dialects. In education, the dual-language policy ensures that both the national and minority languages are used to enable minorities to better grasp educational concepts through a familiar tongue.

China's steps toward economic reform and opening to the outside world have prompted the Revolutionary Committee of the Kuomintang (RCK) to actively work towards the reunification of mainland China and Taiwan. The RCK favors peaceful reconciliation through talks between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China on a complementary basis and rejects the idea of Taiwan remaining as separate from the motherland.

Wenzhou, a coastal city in Zhejiang Province, China, has pioneered in carrying out market-originated reforms and in developing diversified economic sectors. One is the state-owned enterprises which have adopted a series of measures that include the replacement and destruction of all sub-quality products, concentrating on the development of a high-grade and marketable products, and having a quality inspection system. Another new type of collective economic ownership is the shareholding enterprises, characterized by a defined property rights, economic benefits and risk sharing.

Chinese families have traditionally taken care of their aged members. However, this tradition is being undermined by a number of factors, chief among which is the manner in which the Chinese population is aging. Most Chinese still prefer to stay with their families but a growing number, realizing that this would impose an undue burden on their relatives, are leaving their homes to take up residence in special homes for the aged. Many pensioners who live alone are finding themselves increasingly dependent on community services.

China began reforming its energy industry in 1979 and set up an energy production and consumption system based on coal usage. State Planning Commission Vice-Minister Ye Qing highlighted achievements of the power, coal and oil industries during a recent briefing. China generated 920 billion kwh of energy in 1994, coal production reached 1.21 billion tons the same year, and 293 oilfields were in production by 1993. China is also seeking foreign cooperation in various energy fields.

China plans to reform its social security scheme along the lines of market economy to meet the problem of providing pension for increasing numbers of pensioners. The new social security system will focus on various aspects such as revising the security level, amount of capital and accumulation rate for the pension fund and making regular reviews of pension levels.

China's investment system, to be reformed in 1994, will emphasize the promotion of the past played by the market competitive mechanism in the investment areas and establish a new method by which investors will be made to cope with the risks. Economic experts have revealed that the present system of investment in which authority, benefit and responsibility are separated and in which investors are powerless should be reformed.

China plans to intensify its efforts to achieveeconomic growth. Consequently, the State Commission for Restructuring the Economic System has outlined its plan to stimulate reform in eight key areas ofthe economy in 1993. The reforms will focus on giving more decision-making powers to Chinese business enterprises. In addition, they will cover reformation of the enterprise organization and management. Also, the reforms will affect pricing, investment and taxation.

China's new trade policy has helped it achieve significant gains in international trade. The new trade policy involves the elimination of severalburdensome taxes such the import regulatory tax. In addition, it includes the opening up many Chinese cities to foreign investors.China's trade policy reforms also includes the adoption of new macro-managementtechniques to strengthen foreign trade.

The Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League (TDSGL) continues to fight for the welfare of Taiwanese in China and is still actively pursuing the reunification of China. TDSGL currently has 13 branches and boasts of 1,300 members that include the best Taiwanese intellectuals. The league is presently headed by Chmn Cai Zimin. TDSGL adopts a 'one country two systems' philosophy which accepts the disparitybetween the Chinese mainland and Taiwan.

The Jiusan Society aims to promote the development of southwest China, particularly in the poverty-stricken karst area. The party, which was formed in 1946 by Chinese intellectuals, has provided feasibility studies and sustainable development strategies for the people in the region. The society has also sent educators and experts to Guizhou Province in line with the implementation of the nationwide Spark Program for promoting science and technology.