ISO, ITU, LAIA (observer),
Mekong Group, MINURSO, NAM (observer), PCA, UN, UN Security Council,
UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNITAR, UNOMIL, UNTSO, UNU,
UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO (applicant)

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 James R. SASSER
embassy: Xiu Shui Bei Jie 3, 100600 Beijing
mailing address: PSC 461, Box 50, FPO AP 96521-0002
telephone: [86] (10) 5323831
FAX: [86] (10) 5326422
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
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Economic overview: Beginning in late 1978 the Chinese leadership
has been trying to move the economy from a sluggish Soviet-style
centrally planned economy to one that is more market-oriented, 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 strong
surge in production. 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 and modern
production methods helped spur output of both domestic and export
goods. GDP has more than tripled 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 1992-95 annual growth of GDP accelerated, particularly
in the coastal areas - averaging more than 10% annually according to
official figures. In late 1993 China's