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China
(also see separate Taiwan entry; taken from the CIA World FactBook �95 without
permission)

Geography:

Location: Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea,
and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam

Map references: Asia

Area: total area: 9,596,960 sq km land area: 9,326,410 sq km comparative area:
slightly larger than the US

 

Coastline: 14,500 km

Maritime claims: continental shelf: claim to shallow areas of East China Sea
and Yellow Sea territorial sea: 12 nm

International disputes: boundary with India in dispute; disputed sections of
the boundary with Russia remain to be settled; boundary with Tajikistan in
dispute; a short section of the boundary with North Korea is indefinite;
involved in a complex dispute over the Spratly Islands with Malaysia,
Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, and possibly Brunei; maritime boundary dispute
with Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin; Paracel Islands occupied by China, but
claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan; claims Japanese-administered Senkaku-shoto
(Senkaku Islands/Diaoyu Tai), as does Taiwan

Climate: extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north

Terrain: mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains, deltas, and
hills in east

Natural resources: coal, iron ore, petroleum, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony,
manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, uranium,
hydropower potential (world's largest)

Land use: arable land: 10%
permanent crops: 0%
meadows and pastures: 31%
forest and woodland: 14%
other: 45%
Irrigated land: 478,220 sq km (1991 - Chinese data)

Environment:

current issues: air pollution from the overwhelming use of high-sulfur coal as
a fuel, produces acid rain which is damaging forests; water shortages
experienced throughout the country, particularly in urban areas; future growth
in water usage threatens to outpace supplies; water pollution from industrial
effluents; much of the population does not have access to potable water; less
than 10% of sewage receives treatment; deforestation; estimated loss of
one-fifth of agricultural land since 1957 to soil erosion and economic
development; desertification; trade in endangered species natural hazards:
frequent typhoons (about five per year along southern and eastern coasts);
damaging floods; tsunamis; earthquakes; droughts international agreements:
party to - Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity,
Climate Change, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Nuclear
Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Wetlands,
Whaling; signed, but not ratified - Desertification, Law of the Sea

Note: world's third-largest country (after Russia and Canada)

People

Population: 1,203,097,268 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 26% (female 151,266,866; male 167,234,782)
15-64 years: 67% (female 391,917,572; male 419,103,994)
65 years and over: 7% (female 39,591,692; male 33,982,362) (July 1995 est.)
 Population growth rate: 1.04% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 17.78 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 7.36 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 52.1 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 68.08 years
male: 67.09 years
female: 69.18 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.84 children born/woman (1995 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Chinese (singular and plural)
adjective: Chinese

Ethnic divisions:
Han Chinese 91.9%, Zhuang, Uygur, Hui, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Manchu, Mongol, Buyi,
Korean, and other nationalities 8.1%

Religions:
Daoism (Taoism), Buddhism, Muslim 2%-3%, Christian 1% (est.) note: officially
atheist, but traditionally pragmatic and eclectic

Languages:
Standard Chinese or Mandarin (Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue
(Cantonese), Wu (Shanghainese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese),
Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages (see Ethnic divisions entry)

Literacy:  age 15 and over can read and write (1990) total population: 78%
male: 87%
female: 68%

Labor force:  583.6 million (1991) by occupation: agriculture and forestry 60%,
industry and commerce 25%, construction and mining 5%, social services 5%,
other 5% (1990 est.)

Government

Names: conventional long form: People's Republic of China conventional short
form: China local long form: Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo local short form: Zhong
Guo

Abbreviation: PRC

Digraph: CH

Type: Communist state

Capital: Beijing

Administrative divisions: 23 provinces (sheng, singular and plural), 5
autonomous regions* (zizhiqu, singular and plural), and 3 municipalities**
(shi, singular and plural); Anhui, Beijing**, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong,
Guangxi*, Guizhou, Hainan, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu,
Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol*, Ningxia*, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong,
Shanghai**, Shanxi, Sichuan, Tianjin**, Xinjiang*, Xizang* (Tibet), Yunnan,
Zhejiang note: China considers Taiwan its 23rd province

Independence: 221 BC (unification under the Qin or Ch'in Dynasty 221 BC; Qing
or Ch'ing Dynasty replaced by the Republic on 12 February 1912; People's
Republic established 1 October 1949)

National holiday: National Day, 1 October (1949)

Constitution: most recent promulgated 4 December 1982

Legal system: a complex amalgam of custom and statute, largely criminal law;
rudimentary civil code in effect since 1 January 1987; new legal codes in
effect since 1 January 1980; continuing efforts are being made to improve
civil, administrative, criminal, and commercial law

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch: chief of state: President JIANG Zemin (since 27 March 1993);
Vice President RONG Yiren (since 27 March 1993); election last held 27 March
1993 (next to be held 1998); results - JIANG Zemin was nominally elected by the
Eighth National People's Congress head of government: Premier LI Peng (Acting
Premier since 24 November 1987, Premier since 9 April 1988) Vice Premier ZHU
Rongji (since 8 April 1991); Vice Premier ZOU Jiahua (since 8 April 1991); Vice
Premier QIAN Qichen (since 29 March 1993); Vice Premier LI Lanqing (29 March
1993); Vice Premier WU Bangguo (since 17 March 1995); Vice Premier JIANG
Chunyun (since 17 March 1995) cabinet: State Council; appointed by the National
People's Congress (NPC)

Legislative branch: unicameral National People's Congress: (Quanguo Renmin
Daibiao Dahui) elections last held March 1993 (next to be held March 1998);
results - CCP is the only party but there are also independents; seats - (2,977
total) (elected at county or xian level)

Judicial branch: Supreme People's Court

Political parties and leaders: Chinese Communist Party (CCP), JIANG Zemin,
general secretary of the Central Committee (since 24 June 1989); eight
registered small parties controlled by CCP

Other political or pressure groups: such meaningful opposition as exists
consists of loose coalitions, usually within the party and government
organization, that vary by issue

Member of: AfDB, APEC, AsDB, CCC, ESCAP, FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM,
IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, ISO,
ITU, MINURSO, NAM (observer), PCA, UN, UN Security Council, UNCTAD, UNESCO,
UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNITAR, UNOMIL, UNOMOZ, UNTSO, UNU, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO,
WTO

Diplomatic representation in US: chief of mission: Ambassador LI Daoyu
chancery: 2300 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202)
328-2500 through 2502 consulate(s) general: Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New
York, and San Francisco

US diplomatic representation: chief of mission: Ambassador J. Stapleton ROY
embassy: Xiu Shui Bei Jie 3, 100600 Beijing mailing address: PSC 461, Box 50,
Beijing; FPO AP 96521-0002 telephone: [86] (1) 5323831 FAX: [86] (1) 5323178
consulate(s) general: Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenyang

Flag: red with a large yellow five-pointed star and four smaller yellow
five-pointed stars (arranged in a vertical arc toward the middle of the flag)
in the upper hoist-side corner

Economy

Overview: Beginning in late 1978 the Chinese leadership has been trying to move
the economy from the sluggish Soviet-style centrally planned economy to a more
productive and flexible economy with market elements, but still within the
framework of monolithic Communist control. To this end the authorities switched
to a system of household responsibility in agriculture in place of the old
collectivization, increased the authority of local officials and plant managers
in industry, permitted a wide variety of small-scale enterprise in services and
light manufacturing, and opened the economy to increased foreign trade and
investment. The result has been a strong surge in production, particularly in
agriculture in the early 1980s. Industry also has posted major gains,
especially in coastal areas near Hong Kong and opposite Taiwan, where foreign
investment and modern production methods have helped spur production of both
domestic and export goods. Aggregate output has more than doubled since 1978.
On the darker side, the leadership has often experienced in its hybrid system
the worst results of socialism (bureaucracy, lassitude, corruption) and of
capitalism (windfall gains and stepped-up inflation). Beijing thus has
periodically backtracked, retightening central controls at intervals. In
1992-94 annual growth of GDP accelerated, particularly in the coastal areas -
to more than 10% annually according to official claims. In late 1993 China's
leadership approved additional long-term reforms aimed at giving more play to
market-oriented institutions and at strengthening the center's control over the
financial system. In 1994 strong growth continued in the widening
market-oriented areas of the economy. At the same time, the government
struggled to (a) collect revenues due from provinces, businesses, and
individuals; (b) keep inflation within bounds; (c) reduce extortion and other
economic crimes; and (d) keep afloat the large state-owned enterprises, most of
which had not participated in the vigorous expansion of the economy. From 60 to
100 million surplus rural workers are adrift between the villages and the
cities, many barely subsisting through part-time low-pay jobs. Popular
resistance, changes in central policy, and loss of authority by rural cadres
have weakened China's population control program, which is essential to the
nation's long-term economic viability. One of the most dangerous long-term
threats to continued rapid economic growth is the deterioration in the
environment, notably air pollution, soil erosion, and the steady fall of the
water table especially in the north.

National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $2.9788 trillion (1994
estimate as extrapolated from World Bank estimate for 1992 by use of official
Chinese growth statistics for 1993-94; because of the difficulties with
official statistics in this time of rapid change, the result may overstate
China's GDP by as much as 25%)

National product real growth rate: 11.8% (1994 est.)

National product per capita: $2,500 (1994 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 25.5% (December 1994 over December 1993)

Unemployment rate: 2.7% in urban areas (1994); substantial underemployment

Budget: deficit $13.7 billion (1994)

Exports: $121 billion (f.o.b., 1994) commodities: textiles, garments, footwear,
toys, machinery and equipment, weapon systems partners: Hong Kong, Japan, US,
Germany, South Korea, Russia (1993)

Imports: $115.7 billion (c.i.f., 1994) commodities: rolled steel, motor
vehicles, textile machinery, oil products, aircraft partners: Japan, Taiwan,
US, Hong Kong, Germany, South Korea (1993)

External debt: $100 billion (1994 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate 17.5% (1994 est.)

Electricity: capacity: 162,000,000 kW production: 746 billion kWh consumption
per capita: 593 kWh (1993)

Industries: iron and steel, coal, machine building, armaments, textiles and
apparel, petroleum, cement, chemical fertilizers, consumer durables, food
processing, autos, consumer electronics, telecommunications

Agriculture: accounts for almost 30% of GDP; among the world's largest
producers of rice, potatoes, sorghum, peanuts, tea, millet, barley, and pork;
commercial crops include cotton, other fibers, and oilseeds; produces variety
of livestock products; basically self-sufficient in food; fish catch of 13.35
million metric tons (including fresh water and pond raised) (1991)

Illicit drugs: illicit producer of opium; bulk of production is in Yunnan
Province (which produced 25 metric tons in 1994); transshipment point for
heroin produced in the Golden Triangle

Economic aid: donor: to less developed countries (1970-89) $7 billion
recipient: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-87), $220.7 million; Western
(non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-87), $13.5 billion

Currency: 1 yuan (Y) = 10 jiao

Exchange rates: yuan (Y) per US$1 - 8.4413 (January 1995), 8.6187 (1994),
5.7620 (1993), 5.5146 (1992), 5.3234 (1991), 4.7832 (1990) note: beginning 1
January 1994, the People's Bank of China quotes the midpoint rate against the
US dollar based on the previous day's prevailing rate in the interbank foreign
exchange market

Fiscal year: calendar year

Transportation

Railroads: total: 65,780 km standard gauge: 55,180 km 1.435-m gauge (7,174 km
electrified; more than 11,000 km double track) narrow gauge: 600 km 1.000-m
gauge; 10,000 km 0.762-m to 1.067-m gauge dedicated industrial lines

Highways: total: 1.029 million km paved: 170,000 km unpaved: gravel/improved
earth 648,000 km; unimproved earth 211,000 km (1990)

Inland waterways: 138,600 km; about 109,800 km navigable

Pipelines: crude oil 9,700 km; petroleum products 1,100 km; natural gas 6,200
km (1990)

Ports: Aihui, Changsha, Dalian, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Harbin, Huangpu,
Nanning, Ningbo, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Shantou, Tanggu, Xiamen,
Xingang, Zhanjiang

Merchant marine: total: 1,628 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 16,013,532
GRT/24,027,766 DWT ships by type: barge carrier 3, bulk 298, cargo 849,
chemical tanker 14, combination bulk 10, container 98, liquefied gas tanker 4,
multifunction large load carrier 1, oil tanker 212, passenger 24,
passenger-cargo 25, refrigerated cargo 21, roll-on/roll-off cargo 24, short-sea
passenger 44, vehicle carrier 1 note: China beneficially owns an additional 250
ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling approximately 8,831,462 DWT that operate
under Panamanian, Hong Kong, Maltese, Liberian, Vanuatu, Cypriot, Saint Vincent
and the Grenadines, Bahamian, and Singaporean registry

Airports: total: 204 with paved runways over 3,047 m: 17 with paved runways
2,438 to 3,047 m: 69 with paved runways 1,524 to 2,437 m: 89 with paved runways
914 to 1,523 m: 9 with paved runways under 914 m: 7 with unpaved runways 1,524
to 2,438 m: 7 with unpaved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 3 with unpaved runways under
914 m: 3

Communications

Telephone system: 20,000,000 telephones (summer 1994); domestic and
international services are increasingly available for private use; unevenly
distributed internal system serves principal cities, industrial centers, and
most townships; expanding phone lines, interprovincial fiber optic links,
satellite communications, cellullar/mobile communications, etc. local: NA
intercity: fiber optic trunk lines, 55 earth stations for domestic satellites
international: 5 INTELSAT earth stations (4 Pacific Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean)
and 1 INMARSAT earth station; several international fiber optic links to Japan
and Hong Kong

Radio: broadcast stations: AM 274, FM NA, shortwave 0 radios: 215 million

Television: broadcast stations: 202 (repeaters 2,050) televisions: 75 million

Defense Forces

Branches: People's Liberation Army (PLA), which includes the Ground Forces,
Navy (includes Marines and Naval Aviation), Air Force, Second Artillery Corps
(the strategic missile force), People's Armed Police (internal security troops,
nominally subordinate to Ministry of Public Security, but included by the
Chinese as part of the "armed forces" and considered to be an adjunct to the
PLA in war time)

Manpower availability: males age 15-49 351,330,411; males fit for military
service 194,286,619; males reach military age (18) annually 9,841,658 (1995
est.)

Defense expenditures: defense budget - 63.09 billion yuan, NA% of GDP (1995
est.); note - conversion of the defense budget into US dollars using the
current exchange rate could produce misleading results
History
� 1990-1992 Compton's Learning Company


The Y�an (Mongol) Dynasty (1279�1368)

   The Mongols were the first of the northern barbarians to rule all of China.
After creating an empire that stretched across the Eurasian continent and
occupying northern China and Korea in the first half of the 13th century, the
Mongols continued their assault on the Southern Sung. By 1276 the Southern Sung
capital of Hangzhou had fallen, and in 1279 the last of the Sung loyalists
perished.

   Before this, Kublai Khan, the fifth "great khan" and grandson of Genghis
Khan, had moved the Mongol capital from Karakorum to Peking. In 1271 he
declared himself emperor of China and named the dynasty Y�an, meaning
"beginning," to signify that this was the beginning of a long era of Mongol
rule.

   In Asia, Kublai Khan continued his grandfather's dream of world conquest.
Two unsuccessful naval expeditions were launched against Japan in 1274 and
1281. Four land expeditions were sent against Annam and five against Burma.
However, the Mongol conquests overseas and in Southeast Asia were neither
spectacular nor were they long enduring.

   Mongol rule in China lasted less than a century. The Mongols became the most
hated of the barbarian rulers because they did not allow the Chinese ruling
class to govern. Instead, they gave the task of governing to foreigners.
Distrusting the Chinese, the Mongol rulers placed the southern Chinese at the
lowest level of the four classes they created. The extent of this distrust was
reflected in their provincial administration. As conquerers, they followed the
Ch'in example and made the provincial governments into direct extensions of the
central chancellery. This practice was continued by succeeding dynasties,
resulting in a further concentration of power in the central imperial
government.

   The Chinese despised the Mongols for refusing to adapt to Chinese culture.
The Mongols kept their own language and customs. The Mongol rulers were
tolerant about religions, however. Kublai Khan reportedly dabbled in many
religions. 

    The Mongols and the West. The Mongols were regarded with mixed feelings in
the West. Although Westerners dreaded the Mongols, the Crusaders hoped to use
them in their fight against the Muslims and attempted to negotiate an alliance
with them for this purpose. Friar John of Carpini and William of Rubruck were
two of the better known Christian missionaries sent to establish these
negotiations with the Mongol ruler.

   The best account of the Mongols was left by a Venetian merchant, Marco Polo,
in his 'Marco Polo's Travels'. It is an account of Polo's travels over the long
and perilous land route to China, his experience as a trusted official of
Kublai Khan, and his description of China under the Mongols. Dictated in the
early 14th century, the book was translated into many languages. Although much
of medieval Europe did not believe Polo's tales, some, like Christopher
Columbus, were influenced by Polo's description of the riches of the Orient.
(See Also Polo, Marco.)

   After the death of Kublai Khan in 1294, successive weak and incompetent
khans made the already hated Mongol rule intolerable. Secret societies became
increasingly active, and a movement known as the Red Turbans spread throughout
the north during the 1350s. In 1356 a rebel leader named Chu Y�an-chang and his
peasant army captured the old capital of Nanjing. Within a decade he had won
control of the economically important middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze
River, driving the Mongols to the north. In 1368 he declared himself the
emperor Hung-wu and established his capital at Nanjing on the lower Yangtze.
Later the same year he captured the Y�an capital of Peking. (See Also Kublai
Khan; Mongol Empire.)

 The Ming Dynasty (1368�1644)

   Having restored Chinese rule to China, the first Ming emperor tried to model
his rule after that of the Han, but the Ming fell far short of the Han's
accomplishments. The land under Ming domination was less than under either the
Han or the T'ang. The Ming dominion changed little after the first two decades.
It was confined mostly to what is known as China proper, south of the Great
Wall and east of Xinjiang and Tibet.

   In culture, as well, the Ming lacked the Han's creativity and brilliance.
Coming after almost a century of foreign domination, the Ming was a period of
restoration and reorganization rather than a time of new discovery. In a sense,
the Ming followed a typical dynastic cycle: initial rehabilitation of the
economy and restoration of efficient government, followed by a time of
stability and then a gradual decline and fall.

   The emperor Hung-wu modeled his government on the T'ang system, restoring
the doctrine and practices of Confucianism and continuing the trend toward
concentration of power in the imperial government, especially in the hands of
the emperor himself. He tried to conduct state affairs singlehandedly, but the
work load proved overwhelming. To assist him, he gathered around him several
loyal middle-level officials, thus creating an extra-governmental organization,
the Grand Secretariat. The central bureaucracy was restored and filled by
officials selected by the examination system. That system was further
formalized by the introduction of a special essay style called the eight-legged
essay, to be used in writing the examination. In addition, the subject matter
of the examinations was restricted to the Five Classics, said to have been
compiled, edited, or written by Confucius, and the Four Books, published by Chu
Hsi.

   In the field of provincial government, the emperor Hung-wu continued the
Y�an practice of limiting the power of provincial governors and subjecting them
directly to the central government. The empire was divided into 15 provinces.
The first capital at Nanjing was in the economic heartland of China, but in
1421 the emperor Yung-Lo, who took the throne after a civil war, moved the
capital to Peking, where he began a massive construction project. The imperial
palace, which is also known as the Forbidden City, was built at this time.

   The Ming produced two unique contributions: the maritime expeditions of the
early 15th century and the philosophy of Wang Yang-ming. Between 1405 and 1433,
seven major maritime expeditions were launched under the leadership of a Muslim
eunuch, Cheng Ho. Each expedition was provided with several seagoing vessels,
which were 400 feet (122 meters) high, weighed 700 tons (635 metric tons), had
multiple decks and 50 or 60 cabins, and carried several hundred people. During
these expeditions, the Chinese sailed the South Pacific, the Indian Ocean, the
Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf. They traveled as far west as eastern Africa and
as far south as Java and Sumatra. But these missions ended just as suddenly as
they had begun.

   In philosophy, Wang Yang-ming developed a system of thought that ran counter
to the orthodox teaching of Chu Hsi. While Chu Hsi believed in learning based
on reason and the "investigation of things," Wang Yang-ming believed in the
"learning of the mind," an intuitive process.

   During the second half of the Ming Dynasty, European expansion began. Early
in the 16th century Portuguese traders arrived and leased the island of Macao
as their trading post. In 1582 Matteo Ricci, an Italian Jesuit missionary,
arrived in Macao. Because of his knowledge of science, mathematics, and
astronomy and his willingness to learn the Chinese language and adapt to
Chinese life, he was accepted by the Chinese and became the first foreigner
allowed to live in Peking permanently. Jesuits followed him and served the Ming
emperors as mapmakers, calendar reformers, and astronomers.

   Unlike earlier brief contacts with the West or the later Western incursions
into China, the 16th-century Sino-Western relationship was culturally oriented
and mutually respectful. Both the Chinese and the Jesuits tried to find common
ground in their thoughts. The Jesuits' activities produced 300,000 converts in
200 years, not a great number among a population of more than 100 million.
Among them, however, were noted scholars such as Hs� Kuang-ch'i and Li
Chih-tsao, who translated many of the works that Jesuits brought to China. The
Jesuits themselves wrote over 300 works in Chinese.

   In the last century of its existence, the Ming Dynasty faced numerous
internal and external problems. The internal problem was tied to official
corruption and taxation. Because the Ming bureaucracy was relatively small, tax
collection was entrusted to locally powerful people who evaded paying taxes by
passing the burden on to the poor. A succession of weak and inattentive
emperors encouraged the spread of corruption and the greed of eunuchs. In the
1620s a struggle between the inner group of eunuchs and the outer circle of
scholar-officials led to the execution of about 700 scholars.

   Externally, the security of the Ming empire was threatened from all
directions. The Mongols returned and seized Peking in 1550, and their control
of Turkestan and Tibet was recognized by the Ming in a peace treaty of 1570.
Pirates preyed on the east coast, and Japanese pirates penetrated as far inland
as Hangzhou and Nanjing. In the 1590s the Ming had to send expeditionary forces
to rescue Korea from invading Japanese soldiers under Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The
Ming drove back the Japanese forces, but not without depleting the treasury and
weakening their defensive network against neighboring Manchuria to the
northeast.

   In Manchuria the Manchus (Pinyin: Manzhous) had organized a Chinese-style
state and strengthened their forces under a unique form of military
organization called the banner system. However, it was not the Manchus who
overthrew the Ming but a Chinese rebel, Li Tzu-cheng, who became a leader among
the bandits who had become desperate because of a famine in the northwest in
1628. By 1642 Li had become master of north China and in 1644 he captured
Peking. There he found that the last Ming emperor had hanged himself, ending
the "Brilliant" dynasty. Li, however, was not destined to rule. The rule was to
pass once again into the hands of a people from beyond the Great Wall, the
Manchus. They were invited into China by the Ming general Wu San-kuei to
eliminate the rebels. After driving the rebels from the capital, the Manchus
stayed and established a new dynasty, the Ch'ing.

The Ch'ing Empire (1644 to 1911)

   Like the Mongols in the 13th century, the Manchus (formerly the Juchen) were
barbarians who succeeded in ruling the whole of China, but, unlike the
13th-century conquerers, the sinicized Manchus made their rule more acceptable
to the Chinese. As a result, Ch'ing rule lasted 267 years, compared with 89
years for the Y�an.

   

    Pax Sinica (1683 to 1795). The Manchus took Peking with relative ease in
1644, but they did not gain control of the whole of China until 1683.
Thereafter, the Manchus enjoyed more than a century of peace and prosperity, a
period that came to be called Pax Sinica (�Peace in China"). By the end of that
period the dynasty had reached the height of its power.

   Two strong emperors who were models of Confucian ideals ruled for much of
this period: the emperors K'ang-hsi (1661 to 1722) and Ch'ien-lung (1735 to
1796). By recruiting the well-educated in government and promoting Confucian
scholarship, these two Manchu rulers firmly established themselves as Confucian
rulers in China. Outside China, both were successful conquerers. All of the
Ch'ing empire's vast territories, including Mongolia in the north, Xinjiang in
the northwest, and Tibet in the southwest, were incorporated into the expanding
Chinese Empire during this period.

   The Ch'ing adopted the Ming system of government with two exceptions: the
insertion of Manchu power at the head of the Chinese state, and the creation of
the Grand Council in the emperor Yung-cheng's reign. The Grand Council
superseded the Grand Secretariat and became the most powerful body in the
government. In provincial government, the Ch'ing created 18 provinces from the
15 Ming provinces. A governor, usually Chinese, headed each province, and a
governor-general, usually a Manchu before the 19th century, headed every two
provinces. Local landlords and administrators were generally left alone if they
submitted to the new rule.

   The K'ang-hsi era marked the height of Jesuit success in China, with more
than 200,000 converts. Thereafter, Jesuit influence waned rapidly because of
the rivalry between the Jesuits and other Catholic missionaries and the
so-called Rites Controversy, which concerned the Jesuits' willingness to
tolerate the converts' performance of ceremonies honoring Confucius. The pope
denounced the Jesuit view and prohibited the ceremonies.

   The long period of peace and prosperity had some adverse effects on Chinese
society. There was a shortage of land, resulting from an increase in the
population from 100 million to 300 million at the end of the 18th century.
Decadence and corruption spread in the imperial court. There was a decline of
the Manchu military spirit, and the Ch'ing military organization deteriorated.
The long and illustrious reign of the emperor Ch'ien-lung was marred by the
first of many serious rebellions in the Ch'ing era, the White Lotus Rebellion
from 1796 to 1804. It was not put down for ten years, and China entered the
19th century rocked by revolt. More devastating were the incursions of Western
powers, which shook the foundation of the empire. (See Also Ch'ien-lung). 

    Invasions and rebellions. The first of many Sino-Western conflicts in the
19th century was the first Opium War, fought from 1839 to 1842. It was more
than a dispute over the opium trade in China; it was a contest between China as
the representative of ancient Eastern civilization and Britain as the
forerunner of the modern West. Free trade advocates in the West had protested
against the restrictive trading system in force at Canton. They demanded free
trade in China, the opening of more ports to Westerners, and the establishment
of treaty relations. The Treaty of Nanjing, which ended the first Opium War,
opened five ports to the British�the first of the "treaty ports" where Western
nations were granted various privileges. A second Opium War, also known as the
Arrow War, fought from 1856 to 1860, pitted China against Great Britain and
France.

   The Opium Wars disrupted the old life and economy of southern China. A
number of peasant revolts occurred in the 1840s, coming to a head in the
Taiping Rebellion, the biggest rebellion in Chinese history. The leader of the
Taipings was Hung Hsiu-ch'�an, from a village near Canton. Believing that God
had chosen him to save the world, he adopted a confused version of Christianity
as his guiding doctrine and set out to overthrow the Manchus and change
society. The combination of religious fervor and anti-Manchu sentiment
attracted a following that rose to over 30,000 within a short time. In 1852 the
T'ai-p'ing T'ienkuo (�Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace") was proclaimed. In 1853
the rebels took the city of Nanjing and made it their capital.

   Other revolts erupted in China at about the same time: the Nien Rebellion in
the northeast and Muslim rebellions in the southwest and the northwest. Fearing
a linkup among the rebels that would engulf all of China, the Ch'ing government
created regional armies manned entirely by Chinese and commanded by Chinese of
the scholar-gentry class. The commanders of the new forces, all loyal
supporters of the dynasty�Tseng Kuo-fan, Tso Tsung-t'ang, and Li
Hung-chang�suppressed the rebels with the help of Western weapons and
leadership. They were able to annihilate the Taipings in 1864, the Niens by
1868, and the Muslims by 1873.

   The internal rebellions were suppressed, but external threats continued.
After a brief period of "cooperation" in the 1860s, foreign powers renewed
their assault on China, reacting to widespread antiforeign violence. Again,
China became embroiled in a series of conflicts: the Tianjin Massacre with
France in 1870, the Ili crisis with Russia in 1879, the Sino-French War from
1884 to 1885, and the Sino-Japanese War from 1894 to 1895. Each brought further
humiliation and greater impairment of sovereignty. In the last two incidents
territory was lost, and an indemnity had to be paid to the victor in the
Sino-Japanese War. 

    Reforms and revolutions. The dynasty itself had fallen into the hands of
the empress dowager Tz'u-hsi, who dominated the central government for the rest
of the Ch'ing period. Both a schemer and an archconservative, the empress
dowager considerably delayed China's modernization.

   The first steps toward modernization in China were taken in the 1860s with
the establishment of factories to make Western-style armaments for the regional
armies. After the rebellions, modernization in other sectors continued under
regional leaders. Unlike Japan's modernization effort, however, China's lacked
overall planning and central guidance. It was the country's disastrous defeat
at the hands of the Japanese, whom the Chinese had long referred to as "dwarf
barbarians," that jolted concerned Chinese scholars into forming
"Self-Strengthening" societies. Not until 1898, when the Chinese mainland was
being carved into spheres of influence by foreign powers, was the young
Kuang-hs� emperor convinced of the need for drastic reform.

   With the scholars K'ang Yu-wei and Liang Ch'i-ch'ao as his advisers, the
emperor in 1898 issued a number of decrees called the Hundred Days' Reform.
These were to begin a wide range of changes, including reform of the
educational system. However, Y�an Shih-k'ai, who had led the modernization of
the military, betrayed the project to the empress dowager, who had gone into
retirement. The emperor was seized and detained until his death ten years
later, and Tz'u-hsi took over the administration. Members of the reforming
group who could not escape were executed. The old order remained.

   The next attempt at change took the form of a peasant rebellion. It was led
by an anti-Manchu secret society, the Righteous and Harmonious Fists, known to
Westerners as the Boxers. The Boxers aimed at expelling all foreigners,
including the Manchus. After a year of unsuccessful attempts to suppress the
Boxers, the imperial court officially enlisted them to fight the foreigners. In
the summer of 1900 the Boxers attacked the foreign diplomatic quarters in
Peking, and the government under the empress dowager declared war on the
foreign powers. Once again the Ch'ing Dynasty was saved by loyal officials, who
managed to convince the Western powers that the war was not official policy,
but the result of rebellious forces. They were able to limit the Boxer
catastrophe to northern China. The aging Li Hung-chang conducted peace
negotiations. The resulting Boxer Protocol of 1901 marked the low point of the
Chinese Empire; China was to pay an indemnity of 330 million dollars and to
allow foreign garrisons on its soil. (See Also Boxer Rebellion.)

   After 1901 even the empress dowager was converted to reform. Much of the
program proposed in the Hundred Days Reform of 1898 was enacted in the years
1901 to 1910, including reform of education and abolition of the civil service
examinations, the creation of provincial assemblies, and a promise to establish
a constitutional assembly. But the dynasty�and with it the 2,000-year-old
dynastic system�was fast coming to an end. The personalities that had held the
dynasty together disappeared from the scene. The empress dowager died in 1908,
one day after the Kuang-hs� emperor. The empress dowager had designated his
successor, who was the 2-year-old grandnephew of the empress.

    Revolutionary ideas and organizations. The reforms that were sponsored by
the imperial government were too little and too late. A drastic change was
necessary. The idea of overthrowing the Manchus was suggested by Liang
Ch'i-ch'ao in his concept of hsin min (new people). Publishing a magazine in
Japan, where he had fled after the Hundred Days, Liang called for the Chinese
people to renew themselves and also indicated that the Chinese nation was
distinct and separate from the ruling dynasty of the Manchus. Although he did
not advocate overthrowing the dynasty, the message was quickly picked up by the
more radical leaders who were already leaning toward revolution.

   One such leader was Sun Yat-sen, who is now revered as the father of modern
China by Nationalists and Communists alike. Born into a peasant family near
Canton, the traditional stronghold of anti-Manchu rebels, Sun followed a
traditional Chinese path during his early years. He was educated in Hawaii,
converted to Christianity, and had a short-lived medical career before
switching to politics and attempting to propose a reform program to Li
Hung-chang in 1894. After forming a secret revolutionary society and plotting
an unsuccessful uprising in Canton in 1894, Sun began a long period of exile
outside China. He gained wide recognition as a revolutionary leader in 1896,
when his arrest in the Chinese legation in London and subsequent rescue were
reported sensationally in newspaper articles.

   In 1905, in Japan, he brought together several revolutionary groups and
formed the Revolutionary Alliance Society. Its program consisted of the now
famous Three People's Principles: nationalism, freeing all China from foreign
control; democracy, overthrowing the Manchu dynasty and introducing a
democratic political system; and people's livelihood. Although Sun himself
could not live in China, members of the alliance infiltrated many social
organizations there. The revolutionary spirit that had been developed by Sun
became especially high among students' and soldiers' groups.

    The Revolution of 1911. In the industrial city of Wuhan, a soldiers' group
with only a loose connection to Sun's alliance rose in rebellion in the early
morning of Oct. 10, 1911 (since celebrated as Double Ten, the tenth day of the
tenth month). The Manchu governor and his commander fled, and a Chinese
commander, Li Y�an-hung, was pressured into taking over the leadership. By
early December all of the central, southern, and northwestern provinces had
declared independence. Sun Yat-sen, who was in the United States during the
revolution, returned and was chosen head of the provisional government of the
Republic of China in Nanjing.

   The Manchu court quickly summoned Y�an Shih-kai, the former commander of the
reformed Northern Army. Personally ambitious and politically shrewd, Y�an
carried out negotiations with both the Manchu court and the revolutionaries.
Y�an was able to persuade the Manchus to abdicate peacefully in return for the
safety of the imperial family. On Feb. 12, 1912, the regent of the 6-year-old
emperor formally announced the abdication. The Manchu rule in China ended after
267 years, and with it the 2,000-year-old imperial system.

The Republic of China (1912 to 1949)

   Early in March 1912, Sun Yat-sen resigned from the presidency and, as
promised, Y�an Shih-kai was elected his successor at Nanjing. Inaugurated in
March 1912 in Peking, the base of his power, Y�an established a republican
system of government with a premier, a cabinet, a draft constitution, and a
plan for parliamentary elections early in 1913. The Kuomintang (KMT, National
People's party), the successor to Sun Yat-sen's organization, was formed in
order to prepare for the election.

   Despite his earlier pledges to support the republic, Y�an schemed to
assassinate his opponents and weaken the constitution and the parliament. By
the end of 1914 he had made himself president for life and even planned to
establish an imperial dynasty with himself as the first emperor. His dream was
thwarted by the serious crisis of the Twenty-one Demands for special privileges
presented by the Japanese in January 1915 and by vociferous opposition from
many sectors of Chinese society. He died in June 1916 a broken man. After
Y�an's death, a number of his prot�g�s took positions of power in the Peking
government or ruled as warlords in outlying regions. In August 1917 the Peking
government joined the Allies and declared war on Germany. At the peace
conference in Versailles, France, the Chinese demand to end foreign concessions
in China was ignored.

    The May Fourth Movement. The Chinese felt betrayed. Anger and frustration
erupted in demonstrations on May 4, 1919, in Peking. Joined by workers and
merchants, the movement spread to major cities. The Chinese representative at
Versailles refused to endorse the peace treaty, but its provisions remained
unchanged. Disillusioned with the West, many Chinese looked elsewhere for help.

   The May Fourth Movement, which grew out of the student uprising, attacked
Confucianism, initiated a vernacular style of writing, and promoted science.
Scholars of international stature, such as John Dewey and Bertrand Russell,
were invited to lecture. Numerous magazines were published to stimulate new
thoughts. Toward the end of the movement's existence, a split occurred among
its leaders. Some, like Ch'en Tu-hsiu and Li Ta-chao, were beginning to be
influenced by the success of the Russian Revolution of 1917, which contrasted
sharply with the failure of the 1911 Revolution in China to change the social
order and improve conditions. By 1920, people associated with the Comintern
(Communist International) were disseminating literature in China and helping to
start Communist groups, including one led by Mao Zedong. A meeting at Shanghai
in 1921 was actually the first party congress of the Communist Party of China
(CCP). (See Also Mao Zedong.)

   The CCP was so small that the Soviet Union looked elsewhere for a viable
political ally. A Comintern agent, Adolph Joffe, was sent to China to approach
Sun Yat-sen, who had failed to obtain assistance from Great Britain or the
United States. The period of Sino-Soviet collaboration began with the Sun-Joffe
Declaration of Jan. 26, 1923. The KMT was recognized by the Soviet Union, and
the Communists were admitted as members. With Soviet aid, the KMT army was
built up. A young officer, Chiang Kai-shek, was sent to Moscow for training.
Upon returning, he was put in charge of the Whampoa Military Academy,
established to train soldiers to fight the warlords, who controlled much of
China (see also Chiang Kai-shek). Zhou Enlai (also Chou En-lai) of the CCP was
deputy director of the academy's political department.

   Sun Yat-sen, whose power base was in the south, had planned to send an
expedition against the northern warlords, but he died before it could get under
way. Chiang Kai-shek, who succeeded him in the KMT leadership, began the
northern expedition in July 1926. The Nationalist army met little resistance
and by April 1927 had reached the lower Yangtze. Meanwhile, Chiang, claiming to
be a sincere follower of Sun Yat-sen, had broken with the left-wing elements of
the KMT. After the Nationalist forces had taken Shanghai, a Communist-led
general strike was suppressed with bloodshed. Following suppressions in other
cities, Chiang set up his own government at Nanjing on April 18, 1927. He
professed friendship with the Soviet Union, but by July 1927 he was expelling
Communists from the KMT. Some left-wingers left for the Soviet Union.

   The northern expedition was resumed, and in 1928 Chiang took Peking. China
was formally unified. Nationalist China was recognized by the Western powers
and supported by loans from foreign banks.

    The Nationalist era (1928 to 1937). The Nationalist period began with high
hopes and much promise. More could have been accomplished had it not been for
the problems of Comintern corruption and Japanese aggression. In his efforts to
combat them both, Chiang neglected the land reform needed to improve the lives
of the peasants. Driven from the cities, the Communists concentrated on
organizing the peasants in the countryside. On Nov. 1, 1931, they proclaimed
the establishment of the Chinese Soviet Republic in the southeastern province
of Jiangxi, with Mao Zedong as chairman. Here the first units of the Chinese
Workers' and Peasants' Red Army were formed. While conducting guerrilla warfare
in these regions, the soldiers carried out an agrarian revolution that was
based on Mao's premise that the best way to win the conflict was to isolate the
cities by gaining control of the countryside and the food supply.

   A military man by temperament and training, Chiang sought to eliminate the
Communists by force. He defined his anti-Communist drive as "internal
pacification before resistance to external attack," and he gave it more
importance than opposition to the increasingly aggressive Japanese. With arms
and military advisers from Nazi Germany, Chiang carried out a series of
"extermination campaigns" that killed about a million people between 1930 to
1934. Chiang's fifth campaign, involving over half a million troops and some
400 aircraft, almost annihilated the Communists. Faced with the dilemma of
being totally destroyed in Jiangxi or attempting an almost impossible escape,
the Communists decided to risk the escape. On Oct. 15, 1934, they broke through
the tight KMT siege. Over 100,000 men and women set out on the Long March of
about 6,000 miles (9,600 kilometers) through China's most rugged terrain to
find a new base in the northwest.

   In the meantime, the Japanese had made steady inroads into China. The Mukden
Incident of 1931, through which Mukden was occupied by the Japanese, was
initiated by Japanese officers stationed along the South Manchurian Railway.
This was followed by the occupation of Manchuria and the creation of the puppet
state of Manchukuo in 1932. By the mid-1930s the Japanese had seized Inner
Mongolia and parts of northeastern China and had created the North China
Autonomous Region with no resistance from the Nationalists. Anti-Japanese
sentiment mounted in China, but Chiang ignored it and in 1936 launched yet
another extermination campaign against the Communists in Shaanxi. Chiang was
forced to give up the anti-Communist drive when his troops mutinied and
arrested him as he arrived in Xi'an in December 1936 to plan strategy. He was
released after he agreed to form a united front with the CCP against the
Japanese, who were making steady inroads into China.

   In China, World War II broke out on July 7, 1937, with a seemingly
insignificant little battle between Chinese and Japanese troops near Peking,
called the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. Within a few days, the Japanese had
occupied Peking, and the fighting spread rapidly. The war in China fell into
three stages. The first (1937 to 1939) was characterized by the phenomenally
rapid Japanese occupation of most of China's east coast, including such major
cities as Shanghai, Nanjing, and Canton. The Nationalist government moved to
the interior, ultimately to Chongqing in Sichuan, and the Japanese established
puppet governments in Peking in 1937 and in Nanjing in 1940. The second stage
(1939 to 1943) was a period of waiting, as Chiang blockaded the Communists in
the northwest (despite the united front) and waited for help from the United
States, which had declared war on Japan in 1941.

   In the final stage (1944 to 1945), the United States provided massive
assistance to Nationalist China, but the Chongqing government, weakened by
inflation, impoverishment of the middle class, and low troop morale was unable
to take full advantage of it. Feuds among the KMT generals and between Chiang
and his United States military adviser, General Joseph Stilwell, further
hampered the KMT.

   When Japanese defeat became a certainty in the spring of 1945, the
Communists seemed in a better position to take over from the Japanese garrisons
than the KMT, which was far away in the rear. A United States airlift of KMT
troops enabled them to occupy many cities, but the countryside stayed with the
Communists.

   After the end of World War II in Europe in May 1945, the Allied war effort
moved to the east. The Soviet Union joined the war against Japan at the end of
July. On August 6 and 9 the United States dropped the world's first atomic
bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On Aug. 14, 1945, the
Japanese surrendered. In China, however, civil war raged over who should take
charge of the Japanese arms and equipment. At the end of August an agreement
was reached in Chongqing between a CCP delegation and the KMT, but the truce
was brief.

   In January 1946 a cease-fire was negotiated by United States General George
C. Marshall. The Nationalist government returned to Nanjing, and China was
recognized by the new United Nations as one of the five great powers. The
United States supplied the Chiang government with an additional $2 billion
($1.5 billion had been spent for the war). Although the KMT's dominance in
weapons and supplies was enormous, it was kept under guard in the cities, while
the Communists held the surrounding countryside. As inflation soared, both
civilians and the military became demoralized. The CCP, sensing the national
mood, proposed a coalition government. The KMT refused, and fighting erupted
again.

   The short and decisive civil war that followed was resolved in two main
places: Manchuria and the Huai River area. Despite a massive airlift of KMT
forces by the United States, Manchuria was lost in October 1948 after 300,000
KMT forces surrendered to the CCP. By the end of 1948 the KMT had lost over
half a million men, more than two thirds of whom had defected. In April 1949
the Communists moved south of the Yangtze.

   After the fall of Nanjing and Shanghai, KMT resistance evaporated. By the
autumn, the Communists had taken all mainland territories except Tibet. Chiang
Kai-shek and a number of his associates fled to the island of Taiwan, where
they set up what they claimed was the rightful government of China. 

The People's Republic of China

   On Oct. 1, 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the People's
Republic of China. The CCP hailed its takeover of China as a people's victory
over and liberation from imperial domination (especially that of the United
States) and the oppressive KMT regime. The Red Army was renamed the People's
Liberation Army. During the early days of the People's Republic, the troops
were restrained, foreign-educated Chinese returned to help the country, and
most local administrators remained in office.

   The first Communist government, the People's Consultative Council, included
non-Communists among its 662 members. However, in the top committee, 31 out of
56 seats were occupied by Communists, and the constitution of 1954 drastically
curtailed the role of non-Communists. After 1954, more authority was
concentrated in the central government under the State Council. Real power,
however, lay with the Communist party, especially the Central Committee, then
composed of 94 members. This committee held together the triad of power�army,
government, and party. The inner circle of the Central Committee was the
19-member Political Bureau and its seven-member Standing Committee. 

    Land reform. One of the first tasks of the Communist government was land
reform, redistributing land from landlords to the peasants. The Agrarian Law of
1950 began the nationwide land reform, which was almost completed by the
beginning of 1953.

    Social reform. Land reform erased the social distinction between landlord
and peasant. The new marriage law of 1950 and the campaigns of the early 1950s
removed distinctions within the family. Women were given full equality with men
in matters of marriage, divorce, and property ownership. Children were
encouraged to denounce parents if they failed to support the Communist line.

    Thought reform. Believing that the revolution could not be carried on
without reform of people, the CCP launched a massive campaign to change China's
entire psychology. The Four Olds campaign was launched to eradicate old ideas,
habits, customs, and culture. The Three Anti's movement was directed at
officials, with the aim of eliminating corruption, waste, and "bureaucratism."
The Five Anti's campaign, directed at the remaining businessmen and
bourgeoisie, opposed bribery, tax fraud, cheating, and stealing state property
and economic information. For Chinese Christians, The Three Selfs movement
stressed self-government, self-support, and self-propagation, the object being
to separate the churches in China from their parent denominations abroad.
Leading churchmen were forced into denouncing religion as cultural imperialism.
The idea of cultural imperialism was extended to art and literature, which
henceforth were to serve the people, the class struggle, and the revolution.

    Economic planning. Along with the reforms of land tenure, society, family,
and even thought, the CCP announced the first five-year plan in 1953 to speed
up the socialization of China through a planned economy. The plan's aim was to
produce maximum returns from agriculture in order to pay for industrialization
and Soviet aid. The means chosen was the collectivization of agriculture. Land
and farm implements were pooled into cooperatives and later into collective
farms, which controlled the production, price, and distribution of products. By
May 1956, 90 percent of the farmers were members of cooperatives.

   Similarly, 80 percent of heavy industry and 40 percent of light industry
were in government hands by October 1952. The government also controlled all
the railways and most steamship operations. To speed China's development even
more, Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, and others, after overcoming some opposition
within the leadership, launched the Great Leap Forward in 1958.

    The Great Leap Forward was designed to overcome the backwardness of China's
economy, industry, and technology. It was to be achieved through use of the
vast manpower and indomitable revolutionary spirit of the Chinese. Steel
production was to be increased by setting up small-scale "backyard furnaces,"
and agricultural output was to be raised by combining the collective farms into
communes. About 26,000 communes were created by the Communist government, each
composed of approximately 5,000 households.

   After a year, the leaders admitted that the success of the program had been
exaggerated. The steel produced by the backyard furnaces was of low quality,
and the quantity fell short of the projected goal. The people's reluctance to
join communes was stronger than expected, and the size of the communes had to
be reduced. Domestic life in homes, as well as private plots for family use,
had to be restored. The effect of the Great Leap Forward on the people and the
economy was devastating. Coupled with three straight years of poor harvests, it
resulted in a severe food shortage and industrial decline. For the next several
years, while lip service was paid to Mao's thought and to Great Leap�type
activism, the real power was in more conservative hands.

    The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution was a radical movement that
closed schools, slowed production, and virtually severed China's relations with
the outside world. It was proletarian because it was a revolution of the
workers against party officials. It was cultural because it meant to alter the
values of society in the Communist sense. It was great, because it was on a
mammoth scale. It lasted for two years in its intense form, lingered on for
another year and a half, and was not officially declared over until 1977.

   The Cultural Revolution had its roots in a power struggle between Mao and
his supporters, including his wife, Jiang Qing, and Lin Biao�who believed that
the initial fervor of the revolution was being lost�and more conservative,
bureaucratic elements within the leadership. One point at issue was the
educational system, and particularly the fact that urban youth (especially the
children of privileged officials) appeared to have a better chance of getting a
university education than the children of rural peasants. Mao feared that
Chinese society was becoming rigid, and to prevent this he relied for support
on the military and on youth.

   In the summer of 1966, a group of Peking high school girls protested against
the system of college entrance examinations. The Central Committee acceded to
the students' demand by promising a reform and postponing the 1966 enrollment
for half a year. Freed from their studies, students demonstrated in Peking in
August, touching off demonstrations of young people in general. Obviously
inspired by Mao, youths wearing red armbands and flashing copies of the "little
red book" containing Mao's thought (�Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong'),
marched through the streets shouting the slogan, "To bypass the Communist party
apparatus and force the hierarchy's political foes into submission." These Red
Guards, as they were called, were given free railway passes, and they poured
into Peking and other cities in great numbers throughout 1967.

   In early 1967 some of the highest ranking leaders, former close
revolutionary associates of Mao himself, were criticized and dismissed. Liu
Shaoqi, who had been president of the republic, Zhu De, and Deng Xiaoping were
among the better known victims. Even Confucius was attacked as having been a
hypocritical supporter of the bourgeoisie. Throughout the country,
revolutionary committees sprang up, seized power from the local government and
party authorities, and harassed�and in some cases attacked�those suspected of
being disloyal to Mao's thought.

   The disorders reached a climax in July 1967 in the city of Wuhan, when the
local military commander tried to rally the people against the radicals and
troops had to be sent in to restore order. From that time on, steps were taken
to quiet the more disruptive portions of the Cultural Revolution, though it was
not until 1968 that society returned to something resembling normality. In
March 1969 the government issued a directive to open all schools. The situation
was so chaotic, however, that the universities were not reopened until
September 1970.

   The Cultural Revolution greatly affected the CCP leadership. When the
long-postponed ninth congress of the CCP was finally convened in April 1969,
two thirds of the old members of the Central Committee were missing. Mao's
attempt to maintain a state of permanent revolution had been immensely costly.
Years of work and progress were sacrificed: A whole generation of youth went
without education; factories and farms lay idle. China fell even further behind
the industrialized powers of the world.

   As the Cultural Revolution died down, Zhou Enlai, who had been premier since
the founding of the People's Republic, quietly took control. Deng Xiaoping and
other "pragmatic" leaders were reestablished. The party and government relaxed
their control over the people and granted certain civil rights in a new
constitution adopted in 1975.

    Passing of the old guard. The year 1976 marked the end of an era. Zhou
Enlai died in January. Zhu De, who as chairman of the Standing Committee of the
National People's Congress had been serving as nominal head of state, died in
July. Finally, Mao himself, the chairman of the party and the embodiment of the
revolution, died in September. Although many elderly leaders remained in
positions of power, the old guard�the veterans of the Long March and the civil
war�was clearly passing from the scene.

   There were no provisions for automatic succession. At one time, Lin Biao had
been Mao's designated successor, but Lin had died under mysterious
circumstances in 1971. The stage was set for a power struggle, with the initial
advantage going to the radical faction. Zhou's death left the moderate
pragmatists in a weakened position, and Deng Xiaoping, as their most visible
leader, came under immediate attack.

   In April the people staged an unusual demonstration to protest the removal,
by the police, of memorial wreaths honoring Zhou from Peking's Tiananmen (the
Gate of Heavenly Peace leading to the old Forbidden City). With this as an
excuse, the radicals blamed Deng for the disorders and dismissed him from
office. But the radicals, in turn, lost their protector when Mao died. Within a
month, the "Gang of Four" radical leaders, including Mao's widow, were
arrested, and Deng was reinstated once again. The Gang of Four were
subsequently tried and convicted of various crimes against the state. They
became a convenient scapegoat for the new leadership, which did not wish to
blame China's ills on Mao directly.

   In the following years, the pragmatists consolidated their position.
Although he did not take any of the main party or government positions, Deng
emerged as the outstanding figure within the leadership. An elderly man
himself, he brought in younger men who shared his views. The new policies were
confirmed in the party and state constitutions adopted in 1982. These included
accelerating China's economic development by the best possible means; for
example, by rewarding good work, even if this resulted in some inequalities in
society. Steps were also taken to prevent the concentration of power that had
marked Mao's time. Thus, the new state constitution limited state leaders to
two consecutive terms.

   Nevertheless, the new leadership remained firmly committed to Communism. The
1982 constitution stated again the Four Fundamental Principles that should
guide the society: the leadership of the Communist party; the "people's
democratic dictatorship"; the socialist road; and Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong
Thought. The new constitution allowed a greater measure of political freedom
and civil rights, and legal safeguards were introduced. It was evident,
however, that there were limits to the new liberalization. After an early
period during which considerable freedom of speech was allowed, the post-Mao
leadership began to warn against destructive criticism.  

    The Four Modernizations. The new regime's goal was the development of
China's economy by means of the Four Modernizations: of agriculture, industry,
national defense, and science and technology. The Four Modernizations were
first announced by Zhou at the tenth party congress in 1973, when the country
was just starting its slow recovery from the Cultural Revolution. The new
leadership under Deng placed great stress on them, with the aim of bringing
China into the front rank among the world's nations.

   To achieve the ambitious aims of the program, the new leadership replaced
the Maoist dogma of stressing the revolutionary spirit, the "red," with the
practical value of the "expert." In education, academic achievements were
emphasized, and nationwide college entrance examinations were reinstated. In
industry, the authority of experts was reasserted. In agriculture, peasants
were allowed private plots. Some overambitious projects were begun, and some
replanning proved necessary. Nevertheless, the Chinese were cautiously
optimistic that they would attain their goals. They set a reasonable economic
growth rate of 7.2 percent per year and began a rigorous campaign to slow the
rate of population increase. They hoped that these measures would quadruple
industrial and agricultural production by the year 2000. In 1987 Deng retired
and was succeeded by Zhao Ziyang as general secretary and Li Peng as premier.
(See Also Deng Xiaoping; Zhao Ziyang.)

   Foreign affairs. In December 1949 the Soviet Union and China signed a
30-year alliance for defense against Japan and any ally associated with Japan
(the latter provision aimed at the United States). In addition to military aid,
the Soviet Union extended economic and technical assistance. Many Soviet
technicians came to China, and many Chinese went to the Soviet Union for
training. Good feeling between the two Communist powers reached a high point in
1953, when the Soviet Union relinquished its joint control over the railways in
Manchuria. Two years later the Soviet Union withdrew from L�shun (also called
Port Arthur), which it had jointly used with China as a naval base after World
War II. After the death of Joseph Stalin in the same year, however, China
became increasingly independent of the Soviets. Destalinization in the Soviet
Union, tension along the border, and nationalism in both countries led to
differences between the two powers. A complete break came when, with no
warning, the Soviet Union withdrew its technicians from China in 1960.
Relations between the two countries deteriorated until Mikhail Gorbachev became
the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985. Since that time both countries more
actively pursued the possibilities for reduced tensions and expanded contact
with one another.

   Soon after it was established, the People's Republic had been recognized by
a number of Western countries, with Great Britain taking the lead. The United
States continued to recognize the Nationalist government on Taiwan as the
government of China, however, and it led the opposition to the admission of the
People's Republic to the United Nations. There was a strong emotional
attachment in the United States to Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists. This
was solidified when China entered the Korean War later in 1950 on the side of
North Korea. The Chinese action deprived the United Nations (chiefly United
States) forces of a victory against the North Koreans and led, eventually, to a
stalemate. (See Also Korean War.)

   Through the 1950s and 1960s relations between the two countries remained
frozen. The United States, locked in the Cold War with the Soviet Union, tended
to see all Communist countries as part of the same monolithic bloc. Sentiment
against "Red China" was kept alive within the United States by the so-called
China lobby of Chiang's supporters, many of them old China hands with
long-standing ties to the Nationalists or missionaries who had been ejected
from China after the revolution. Meanwhile, the Chinese did little to develop
relations with the West. Outside the Communist bloc, the main foreign relations
efforts were directed toward the Third World. China gave aid to a number of
African countries, but its relations with its Asian neighbors were frequently
strained by its support of radical insurgency movements. A border dispute
erupted into a short war with India in 1962.

   As the years passed, it became apparent that the Nationalists were unlikely
to reconquer the mainland. China's split with the Soviet Union shattered the
picture of a Communist monolith. Zhou Enlai, taking control after the Cultural
Revolution, began to make contacts with the West. His reasons were both
political�to obtain support in the face of Soviet hostility�and economic�to
gain access to Western trade and technology. In the early 1970s China began to
indicate a willingness to establish contacts with the United States. After
intense behind-the-scenes negotiations, President Richard M. Nixon went to
China in early 1972, and, in a joint communiqu�, the two countries declared
their intention to normalize relations. This procedure, however, took nearly
seven years to accomplish. By that time, most of the countries of the world,
including Japan, had established diplomatic relations with the People's
Republic of China.

   The main reason for the delay was Taiwan. The Peking government insisted
that the United States cease to recognize the Nationalist government, but the
United States was reluctant to break with its old ally. In the end it did so
with the understanding that it could maintain unofficial contacts. It also
agreed to terminate its defense treaty with Taiwan. The solution of the Taiwan
problem seemed distant, however. Since 1949, Taiwan had become a prosperous and
rapidly industrializing country. It had little desire to rejoin the mainland,
where the standard of living was much lower. However, both the Nationalists and
the People's Republic insisted that Taiwan was an integral part of China,
ruling out any solution that involved making Taiwan a separate nation. In the
early 1980s China made several overtures to Taiwan that included promises to
respect the island's way of life and to maintain its prosperity. (See Also
Taiwan.)

   China also made friendly gestures toward the ASEAN (Association of Southeast
Asian Nations) members, but they were received with some suspicion. Gorbachev
met with Deng in Peking in May 1989 in their countries' first summit since
1959. The meeting normalized relations between the two countries. Aside from
the Soviet Union, China's main opponent in the region was Vietnam, which had
ties with the Soviet Union. China fought a short war with Vietnam in 1979 and
backed opponents of Kampuchea's Vietnam-supported government.

   A pro-democracy demonstration by about 1,000 students began in Peking on
April 16, 1989, in Tiananmen Square, a plaza in the center of the city. The
rally was triggered by the death on April 15 of former Communist party General
Secretary Hu Yaobang, who had become a hero to Chinese liberals when he refused
to halt student unrest in January 1987. Despite government warnings, the
peaceful protests continued for the next month, drawing as many as 250,000
supporters to the square.

   The number of protesters swelled to more than 1 million on May 17 and
included about 3,000 who participated in a hunger strike from May 13 to May 21.
The government imposed martial law on May 20 and urged citizens to turn in
dissidents. Military convoys were sent to Peking, but protesters managed to
block most of them from reaching the square.

   On June 4 thousands of army troops stormed the area around Tiananmen Square
in an attempt to regain order. Using tanks, machine guns, clubs, and tear gas,
they attacked the unarmed protesters. According to the Chinese Red Cross nearly
3,000 people were killed. The army stated that more than 1,000 soldiers had
been killed; United States officials estimated more than 3,000 civilian deaths.
The Chinese government gave an official death toll of 300 and said that most of
the dead were soldiers. By the end of June more than 1,600 people had been
arrested for taking part in what the government called rumor-mongering,
hooliganism, and counterrevolutionary activities; 27 had been executed; and
Zhao Ziyang had been ousted as general secretary of the Communist party.

   In the ensuing shake-up, Jiang Zemin, who replaced Zhao as general
secretary, was also named head of the Central Military Commission and
designated by Deng as his choice to succeed him as China's paramount leader. In
1990, in what was believed to be an attempt to influence United States trade
policy toward China, the government released many of those who had been
arrested.
DEFENSE
Asia's Insecurities How can the region's nations keep the peace?

By Todd Crowell


THE ASIAN CENTURY IS not supposed to begin with a bang. Rather, peace and
expanding prosperity are the scripted themes. Reality may be less rosy. As the
sudden escalation of tension in the Taiwan Strait last week and earlier worries
over North Korea's bomb-making capabilities have shown, Asia's security is more
fragile than many people may imagine. What are the chief issues feeding the
region's anxieties on that score?

First and perhaps foremost are the intentions of Asia's emerging superpower,
China. When Singapore's Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong visited Beijing last May,
Foreign Minister Qian Qichen assured him his nation would "never threaten or
invade other countries." Asian leaders would like to believe Qian. Yet there is
considerable uncertainty about what China will do when its military
capabilities catch up with its booming economy. "China is big, near and is
going to be a great regional power, and we're not sure of its intentions," says
Kusuma Snitwongse of Bangkok's Institute of Security & International Studies.

Such uncertainty is partly rooted in the difficulty outsiders have trying to
fathom the mysteries of China's defense posture, weapons acquisition and force
levels. Specialists can't even agree on the size of its military budget.
Estimates range from $7.5 billion (Chinese government) to $50 billion (U.S.
Arms Control and Disarmament Agency). Responding to the demands for more
information, Beijing last November issued its first "white paper" on defense.
It was criticized for being short on specifics -- but hailed as a step in the
right direction.

The Chinese armed forces had more than 4 million troops in 1987. Today, the
force level is 2.9 million, and planned cuts will trim it to 2.5 million. At
the same time, Beijing has acquired more modern weapons from Russia, including
26 Su-27 fighter-bombers, T-72 main battle tanks and two Kilo-class attack
submarines, with more on order. The Chinese also plan to buy MiG-31s from the
Russians.

Conflicting territorial claims are another of Asia's worries. Many of China's
newest weapons are deployed, not in Fujian province opposite Taiwan, but in
southern Guangdong, where they are well placed to assert Beijing's interests
and claims of sovereignty in the South China Sea. The Chinese have built a
runway large enough to handle Su-27s on Woody Island, one of the Paracels
seized from Vietnam in 1975. They also maintain an installation on Mischief
Reef, the trigger of an ownership dispute last year with the Philippines.
"China's assurances [of peaceful intentions] cannot be taken seriously so long
as it remains on Mischief Reef," insists Jose Almonte, security adviser to
President Fidel Ramos. Other nations seem more reassured by Beijing's
declaration at the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Brunei last year that it was
willing to settle the dispute within the norms of the International Law of the
Sea. Overlapping claims on islets in the South China Sea also fuel tensions
among Southeast Asian countries themselves.

Further north, Beijing, Taipei and Tokyo all claim small islands near Taiwan.
The Japanese call them the Senkakus and the Chinese, Diaoyutai. Another islet,
Takeshima to Japan and Tokdo to South Korea, recently sparked angry words
between those two nations. And China and Russia still tangle over territory
along the Amur and Ussuri rivers that was ceded to Moscow by an "unequal
treaty" last century. It was the scene of a sharp skirmish in 1969. A recent
thaw in ties has raised hopes of a resolution.

Some regional strategists fret about a potential arms race. The Philippines
aside, Southeast Asian nations are actively buying new armaments. One reason is
that they can now afford to upgrade their armed forces. Defense budgets are
rising with GNPs -- and at roughly the same clip. Says one Thai military
planner: "In the past we didn't have the money. Now we do." With the expansion
of exclusive economic zones to 370 km offshore, ASEAN countries have lucrative
oil, gas and fisheries resources to protect. That, anyway, is Bangkok's
rationale for acquiring a small aircraft carrier (with helicopters and jump-jet
fighters) from Spain -- and Jakarta's for buying virtually the entire former
East German navy.

Frigates and fast patrol boats may be useful for chasing pirates and poachers,
but attack submarines? By 2010, ASEAN countries -- including Singapore,
Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia -- may own as many as 20 of them. Concerns
about China could be one motivation, though, as Zakaria Ahmad of the National
University of Malaysia notes, "the ASEAN states themselves cannot 'contain'
their giant neighbor." Of course, there are still inter-regional irritants that
date back to the 1960s Konfrontasi between Indonesia and Malaysia. Says Ross H.
Munro of the Philadelphia-based Foreign Policy Research Institute: "Unspoken
concerns about neighbors are still the biggest factor [in arms procurement].
Thailand looks at Malaysia, and Malaysia has concerns about Indonesia.
Singapore's worry is being a small Chinese state in a Malay sea."

Adding to Asia's insecurities is the lack of any real structure for conflict
resolution. The Cold War left behind an arrangement in which the United States
is a "hub" linked by defense treaties to five "spokes": Japan, South Korea,
Thailand, the Philippines and Australia-New Zealand. The first modest step
toward collective security was taken two years ago with the formation of the
ARF, which brings together for annual deliberations the seven ASEAN members and
dialogue partners such as the U.S., China and Russia.

Much has been made of the forum's goal of "confidence building." But, says
Malaysia's Zakaria, "ARF is still in its infancy, and it remains to be seen if
ASEAN-style conflict containment can work beyond the local context." Munro has
a more skeptical view typical of many Western analysts. "Ultimately ARF is a
'talk shop' that historians will see as marking a transition while post-Cold
War Asia sorts itself out." He predicts one of two scenarios: the emergence of
balance-of-power politics or Chinese dominance.

Even so, there are at least the beginnings of collective security in Southeast
Asia. In the region's Northeast, stability would be much dicier without the
U.S. military presence because of the vast numbers of troops deployed and the
unpredictability of North Korea. The Korean peninsula is still widely
considered the biggest potential flashpoint in East Asia. There are more
Koreans (1.7 million) under arms than Americans or Russians (about 1.5 million
each). Seoul's weapons-acquisition plans dwarf anything in ASEAN: 17
destroyers, 20 frigates, 120 new F-16 fighters, Patriot air defense missiles,
possibly an aircraft carrier.

Even more threatening than Korea, say some U.S. officials, is the prospect of a
new confrontation between India and Pakistan. The reason: such a conflict might
involve nuclear weapons. Washington has accused Islamabad of obtaining atomic
technology from the Chinese, while New Delhi has firmly rejected pressures to
ban nuclear testing.

Such anxieties are the reason most Asian leaders prefer to see the Americans
stay in the region. "It reassures us not so much against identifiable enemies
as against uncertainties," says Almonte. But the populations in Japan and South
Korea, which host the U.S. forces, are becoming restless. Following the
controversial rape case in Okinawa, where the bulk of American troops in Japan
are based, 40% of Japanese polled favored abolishing the security pact with
Washington, up from 28% two months earlier. Japanese taxpayers are also
starting to chafe at footing the bill for the U.S. presence, which now costs
them $139,000 per G.I.

When he visits Japan next month, President Bill Clinton is expected to join
Prime Minister Hashimoto Ryutaro in reaffirming their commitment to the
security treaty. The U.S. will try to ease Okinawan concerns by consolidating
some of its bases, though it will not cut force levels below 100,000. As
Washington sees it, anything below this round number may be interpreted in Asia
as the start of a steady retreat from the region.

-- With reporting by Anthony Davis / Bangkok and other correspondents
TAIWAN


Since its final retreat during the last months of 1949, the government of the
Republic of China, also known as Nationalist China, has been in exile on the
island of Taiwan, formerly called Formosa. The Nationalist government fled from
the mainland of China after the Chinese Communists defeated the Chinese
Nationalists in a long civil war. Since then Taiwan has developed as an
independent nation, though the government of the Republic of China continues to
claim that it is the sole legal government for all of China. The government in
Peking makes the same claim. Taiwan's political position regarding this claim
has declined sharply since 1950, especially after Peking was awarded membership
in the United Nations in 1971 and Taiwan was expelled. Taiwan has made great
economic progress and is now one of the wealthiest and most industrialized
nations in Asia. It also has one of the highest population densities in the
world.
 
 Land and Climate

   Taiwan is situated in the South China Sea, about 100 miles (160 kilometers)
off the southeast coast of mainland China. More than two thirds of the country
consists of rugged mountains. Its location on the Tropic of Cancer gives the
lowlands of the country a mostly subtropical climate, which provides a
year-round growing season. This enables the nation's farmers to produce more
than enough food to feed the people. The average annual rainfall of 102 inches
(259 centimeters) is ample for agriculture and the production of
hydroelectricity. Most of the lowlands lie along the west coast of the island,
and this is where most of the people live.

   Much of Taiwan's natural wildlife has disappeared from the island because of
the human overpopulation. Dense subtropical and temperate forests cover much of
the mountain interior, but they are increasingly sought after by the lumber
industry and farmers seeking to clear them for crops. The plains have little
natural vegetation left. Nearly every square mile of land is divided into plots
of farmland, with roads and railroads crisscrossing between the hundreds of
villages, towns, and cities.

   The Taiwan government also controls several islands around the main island.
The most important of these are the Penghu Islands, or Pescadores, off the west
coast. The government also controls the islands of Quemoy, or Jinmen, and
Matsu, or Meizhou, which are directly off the coast of Fujian Province. These
two islands are heavily fortified against possible Chinese Communist attack.

   Taiwan has few mineral resources. The island produces some coal and natural
gas, but most raw materials for the production of energy and for industry must
be imported. The shortage of petroleum is the most critical, and crude
petroleum is the chief import.

People

   Taiwan's people reflect the complex history of the island. The earliest
inhabitants were various aboriginal tribes that migrated to Taiwan from
Southeast Asia several thousand years ago. These peoples practiced hunting and
gathering and shifting cultivation. Today, about 250,000 aborigines live on the
island, most of them in the mountainous interior. The rest of the people are
mostly of Han Chinese cultural origin and are descendants of emigrants from the
mainland provinces of Fujian and Guangdong. There are also about 2 million
Chinese and their descendants, who fled from other parts of the mainland to
Taiwan with the Nationalist government in 1949.

   The people of Taiwan can be further divided into two main groups. The
largest group is made up of the Hokkien, also called the Fujianese or
Fukienese. They came primarily from Fujian Province and speak a form of the Min
dialect that is used there. The other major Taiwanese group consists of the
Hakka, who migrated mainly from Guangdong Province and speak their own dialect.

   Several centuries of living on the isolated frontier of Taiwan produced a
unique culture and society among the settlers of the area. A variety of
religions and philosophies became widespread on the island, including Buddhism,
Taoism, and Confucianism. The people also worshiped their own gods, derived
from mythology or figures in Chinese history. Although a modern industrial
society has been firmly established in Taiwan, hundreds of temples that are
devoted to various gods and religions are scattered throughout the country.

   The Japanese occupation of Taiwan, from 1895 to 1945, introduced further
cultural influences to Taiwanese society. Some elderly people speak Japanese
better than they do Mandarin Chinese, the official language brought over with
the government in 1945. Some Japanese influences are also evident in the food,
the housing, and other elements of the culture.

   Another major foreign influence has been that of Westernization, mainly
American in origin, since 1950. This influence can be seen especially in the
largest cities, where Western cultural tastes are strongly changing the
life-styles of people, particularly the generation born since 1949.

   Population growth is a serious problem on overcrowded Taiwan. The population
has more than doubled since 1950, and there is concern that Taiwan will not be
able to maintain its high standard of living if the birthrate does not decline.

Economy

   Since 1950 the base of Taiwan's economy has changed largely from agriculture
to industry. Most of the people now live in cities and towns and work in
industry or in service occupations. Only about 15 percent still work in
agriculture, and farming accounts for a very small portion of the gross
national product. This economic change has caused the standard of living to
improve. Taiwan has the fourth highest per capita income in East Asia�after
Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong�and its average income is many times that of
mainland China. The quality of life, particularly in the cities, is approaching
that of Japan and other developed nations.

   Taiwan's economy improved rapidly after 1950 partly because of United States
economic and military assistance. However, the main reason was the government's
decision to promote an export-oriented economy based on manufactured goods and
relying on Taiwan's main resource�its abundant and well-educated labor force.
Taiwan's industry specialized in such products as textiles, radios, television
sets, tape recorders, appliances, toys, and many other consumer goods. These
are still the mainstays of the economy, but they have been supplemented by some
heavy industry, including the manufacture of automobiles, iron and steel, and
refined petroleum products. Taiwan has been promoting the development of
high-technology industry, such as the production of computers and related
products, in order to remain competitive in world markets. The main markets for
Taiwan's products are the United States, the nations of the European
Communities, and Japan. Exports account for more than half of Taiwan's gross
national product.

   Agriculture on the island, while declining in relative importance, has made
major advances since 1950. At the end of the Japanese colonial era, Taiwanese
farming was based mainly on rice and sugarcane. Today the agricultural base is
greatly diversified. Although rice remains the single most important crop and
the mainstay of the people's diet, many other crops have become significant for
both the domestic market and for export. These include sugar, many kinds of
vegetables, and a variety of fruits. In addition, livestock production has
increased greatly. Taiwan is one of the largest pig producers in the world on a
per capita basis. Fishing is also a major activity. This includes fish farming,
or the raising of fish and shellfish for use as seafood. Seafood is a principal
part of the people's diet.

   One of the farmers' chief problems is the shortage of farmland and the small
size of the farms. In addition, the diet of the people has been changing, with
decreased rice consumption and increased use of meat and wheat products. As a
result, Taiwan's relative self-sufficiency in food has been slowly declining,
with increased imports of certain key commodities, especially wheat, corn,
soybeans, and cotton.  The United States is the major supplier of these vital
imports.

Transportation, Communication, and Education

   With the economic transformation of the island, there have been improvements
in transportation as well. The north-south railroad has been expanded, double
tracked, and electrified. Rail lines linking the isolated east coast with the
west have nearly been completed. A superhighway was built in the 1970s to link
Taipei, the nation's capital and largest city, in the north with the major
industrial city of Kaohsiung in the south. In addition, several east-west
highways were built across the island's central mountains to improve access to
that area. Three television networks and more than 80 radio stations serve the
Taiwanese people.

   Improvements in education have been a major factor in Taiwan's economic
success. The educational system is among the best in the world in terms of
numbers served, levels of literacy, and the number of people who go to college.

Government and International Relations

   When the government of the Republic of China, under Gen. Chiang Kai-shek,
fled to Taiwan in 1949, it brought much of the structure and many personnel of
the Nationalist government from the Chinese mainland (see also Chiang
Kai-shek). The government structure established by the Chinese constitution of
1946 is still in effect in Taiwan. The government has five branches, of which
the executive, legislative, and judicial divisions are patterned loosely after
those of the United States government. The control and examination branches are
derived from traditional Chinese government of the past. The people elect the
members of the National Assembly, which chooses the president and
vice-president and amends the constitution.

   A major political issue since 1950 has been the dominance of highest-level
political and military affairs by officials who came from the Chinese mainland.
These leaders were reluctant to give the native Taiwanese the right of
significant participation in decision making. In addition, Taiwan was under
martial law from 1949 to 1987, so that many basic legal and human rights were
suspended at will by the government. This authority permitted the government to
suppress political dissent, though it claimed such action was necessary to
prevent Communist subversion. A less restrictive national-security law was
passed in 1987. Taiwan politics also began to change as leaders from the
mainland died and the government was forced to replace them with more
Taiwanese.

   After Chiang Kai-shek died in 1975, his son, Chiang Ching-kuo, took over as
president until his death in early 1988. His successor, Lee Teng-hui, was a
native Taiwanese who came to symbolize a new era of democratic freedoms in
Taiwan, including opposition political parties, growing freedom of speech, and
other human rights.

   Taiwan's international relations have also been undergoing dramatic change.
In the 1950s most non-Communist nations recognized the government of the
Republic of China as the legitimate government of all China. Gradually,
however, most nations switched recognition to the Communist government in
Peking, especially after the ouster of the Republic of China from the United
Nations and from most other international organizations. The United States
switched recognition in early 1979. Yet, economic ties with Taiwan greatly
expanded not only for the United States but for many nations. This was because
of Taiwan's emergence as one of the major industrialized nations and as an
attractive center for foreign investment. Taiwan also began to soften its rigid
stand against any dealings with the government in Peking. Trade, tourism, and
other linkages began to develop, though the Republic of China remains firmly
opposed to a Communist government ruling China.

History

   Taiwan was one of the last frontier regions of China to be settled by the
Chinese, and foreigners first made the island well known. Portuguese sailors,
passing it in the late 1500s, thought the island was so beautiful that they
called it Ilha Formosa (Beautiful Island). The name Formosa became popular for
the island among foreigners, but it is no longer widely used. The Chinese
eventually began to call the island Taiwan. The Dutch took control of the
southwestern part in 1624 and were the dominant power in Taiwan until 1661.
During their brief rule they introduced what were then modern farming methods
and brought many Chinese settlers from the mainland.

   The Dutch were ousted from Taiwan by Cheng Ch'eng-kung, or Koxinga, a
Chinese adventurer and supporter of the Ming Dynasty, which was collapsing on
the mainland at the time. Koxinga's forces planned to use Taiwan as a base from
which to attack the mainland and drive out the Manchus, who had just
established the Ch'ing dynasty in Peking.

   The Manchus took over Taiwan by 1683, however, and ruled Taiwan for the next
two centuries as a remote and unimportant frontier prefecture of Fujian
Province. Many Chinese settlers moved to Taiwan during this period. Foreign
interest in Taiwan was revived in the mid-1800s because the natives often
mistreated sailors who had been shipwrecked on the island. Both the French and
Japanese sent expeditions to Taiwan. These actions prompted the Ch'ing
government to try to exert greater control over Taiwan and to introduce
reforms. But it was too late. When China and Japan went to war in 1895, China
lost, and one of Japan's prizes was Taiwan.

   The next 50 years were decisive for Taiwan. The Japanese regarded the island
as having two main purposes for them. One was as a source of agricultural
products to help feed Japan. The Japanese expanded Taiwan's production of rice,
sugarcane, bananas, and other crops. The other function of Taiwan was to serve
as a "stationary aircraft carrier," as the Japanese described it. They
developed the island as the main staging area for their invasion of the
Philippines and Southeast Asia in 1941 and 1942 during World War II. The
Japanese also introduced industrialization, improved the transportation system
and health care, and started public education. The major cities were
modernized, and political and social order were achieved. The Japanese were
repressive, but they gave Taiwan a solid base for later economic development.

   Taiwan was returned to China after World War II. The Chinese treated the
island as conquered territory and regarded the people of Taiwan as
collaborators with the Japanese enemy. Relations between the mainland Chinese
and the Taiwanese steadily worsened, and the Taiwanese revolted in 1947. The
Chinese put down the uprising but then faced the major problem of winning back
the trust and support of the Taiwanese, especially after the Communist forces
conquered the mainland in 1949.

   The United States at first withdrew support of the Nationalist government
after it fled to Taiwan. However, after the North Korean invasion of South
Korea in 1950, the United States again changed its policy and provided military
support to the Republic of China. This support was formalized in a mutual
security treaty signed in 1954.

   After the People's Republic of China was admitted to the United Nations in
1971 and the Republic of China was expelled, many nations began to switch their
diplomatic ties from the Nationalists to the Communists. In 1972 the United
States agreed to the gradual withdrawal of its military forces from Taiwan. On
Jan. 1, 1979, the United States ended diplomatic relations with Taiwan and
granted diplomatic recognition to the People's Republic of China.

   After 38 years of martial law ended in 1987, political parties became legal
for the first time since 1949. President Teng-hui, who succeeded to the
presidency in 1988, was re-elected in 1990. He was the first native Taiwanese
to hold that office. (See Also China; Kaohsiung; Taipei.)
INTERVIEW

'Absolute Power Is Dangerous'

OF THE FOUR CANDIDATES in Taiwan's March 23 presidential election, independent
Chen Li-an is the only one born in mainland China. U.S.-educated, he had been
one of the Kuomintang's brightest stars, having served as economics and defense
minister as well as head of the Control Yuan. It was in April last year, after
a meeting with President Lee Teng-hui, that the respected Buddhist decided to
run for election. Chen, 58, later left the ruling party. Last week, he spoke
with Senior Correspondent Alejandro Reyes. Excerpts:

What is the key campaign issue?

The tensions in the Taiwan Strait. Only recently, President Lee published his
views on Taiwan's future and this has set off alarms in Beijing, which sees him
moving toward separation. And Mr. Lee continues to provoke the Communists. At
present, he has almost absolute power. There are no checks and balances. This
is dangerous.

Do you regret having served under him?

No. We worked together fairly well. It was after he assumed absolute power that
he changed. I am Chinese. I don't think he considers himself Chinese. Being
Chinese, you have a code of conduct and a certain decency. You're not supposed
to lie openly or privately. Lee says one thing in the morning and another in
the afternoon. He has been president for eight years -- a long time. He's
getting old. It is dangerous to have a leader who is inflexible and emotional.

What would you do to defuse tensions with China?

If I were elected, that itself would be an important signal. I'm for one China.
It's a cultural, spiritual China -- not the People's Republic or the Republic
of China. How can we unify? We should use the European Community concept and do
it gradually, step-by-step. We should start by talking. We already have close
economic links. We can talk about transport and communications. We should also
have more exchange of mid-level officials.

How would you fight corruption?

We have proposed an organization like the anti-corruption agency in Hong Kong.
And I would not control the press, which is now intimidated. I would stop
wiretapping, which is widespread. Businessmen too are intimidated into
supporting President Lee. In the last two or three years, the controls have
been tightened and people are more and more afraid to speak up. They are humble
and don't challenge authority. They don't want trouble. They are concerned
about bread-and-butter issues and are fed up with the old ways, but they feel
helpless. Many just give up. They
--- end of part 1 ---