Chinese History and Statistics -- Page 25

Foreign Trade

From 1949 to 1960, 70% of China's foreign trade was conducted with the USSR and Eastern Europe. After the Sino-Soviet rift, China's trade with Japan and the Western countries increased rapidly. Industrial machinery, chemicals, manufactured goods, steel, textile yarn, and fertilizer are the chief imports. Textiles, garments, telecommunications and recording equipment, and petroleum had become the leading exports by 1990. In the early 1990s, the government continued to advocate free-market reforms and court foreign capital in order to avert the kind of economic unrest that contributed to the 1991 breakup of the USSR. Between 1990 and 1991, China's industrial output increased by 14%, exports increased by 16%.

People's Republic of China Government -- 1949 (Part 1)

China is a Communist state, with all authority resting in the Chinese Communist party (CCP). The country has had five constitutions since the Communists reorganized the national government in 1949. The first provisional constitution (1949) was superseded by the 1954 constitution adopted by the First National People's Congress (NPC), by the 1975 constitution adopted by the Fourth NPC, by the 1978 constitution adopted by the Fifth NPC, and by the 1982 constitution adopted by the sixth NPC. The 1982 constitution restored the post of president, which had been abolished in 1975.

The NPC is the highest organ of state power. It can amend the constitution, elect to or remove from office the highest state dignitaries, and decide on the national economic plan. The NPC elects a Standing Committee, whose chairman is equivalent to the head of state. The NPC is composed of deputies elected to 5-year-terms.