pposition groups exist

International organization participation: AfDB, APEC, AsDB, BIS
(pending member), CCC, ESCAP, FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM,
IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat,
Interpol, IOC, ISO, ITU, LAIA (observer), MINURSO, NAM (observer),
PCA, UN, UN Security Council, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM,
UNITAR, UNTSO, UNU, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO (applicant)

Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador LI Zhaoxing
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

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador James R. SASSER
embassy: Xiu Shui Bei Jie 3, 100600 Beijing
mailing address: PSC 461, Box 50, FPO AP 96521-0002
telephone: [86] (10) 6532-3831
FAX: [86] (10) 6532-6422
consulate(s) general: Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenyang

Flag description: 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

@China:Economy

Economy-overview: Beginning in late 1978 the Chinese leadership has
been trying to move the economy from a sluggish Soviet-style centrally
planned economy to a more market-oriented economy but still within a
rigid political framework of Communist Party 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 quadrupling of GDP since 1978.
Agricultural output doubled in the 1980s, and industry also posted
major gains, especially in coastal areas near Hong Kong and opposite
Taiwan, where foreign investment helped spur output of both domestic
and export goods. 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 1992-97 annual growth
of GDP accelerated, particularly in the coas