LYCOS RETRIEVER 
China: Chinese Communist
built 642 days ago
China is a very diverse place with large variations in culture, language, customs, and economic levels. The economic landscape is particularly diverse. The major cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai are rich and modern. However, more than half the population, some 800 million rural residents, still live as peasants, farming with manual labour or draft animals. Many of these men and women live in severe poverty. A Chinese government estimate as of 2005 had 90 million living on under ¥924 (US$112) a year; 26 million were under the official poverty line, ¥668 (US$81) a year.
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In ancient times, China was East Asia’s dominant civilization. Other societies—notably the Japanese, Koreans, Tibetans, and Vietnamese—were strongly influenced by China, adopting features of Chinese art, food, material culture, philosophy, government, technology, and written language. For many centuries, especially from the 7th through the 14th century
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China returned to development of more-modest unmanned spacecraft and entering the international commercial launch market in 1985. China developed new cryogenic engines and used a modular approach based on the CZ-2 design to create a family of 12 Long-March rocket configurations, capable of placing up to 9,200 kg into orbit. China launched 27 foreign-made satellites in 1985-2000. A series of launch failures lead to US assistance in improving the design, resulting in 21 consecutive successful flights from October 1996 to October 2000. However by then a US embargo over improper technology transfer and collapse of the MEO satellite market led to a sharp reduction in Chinese commercial launches. Geography and the availability of existing CZ-2 launch pads resulted in China establishing three land-locked launch sites to reach various orbits.
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China offers investors a complex system of incentives at the national, regional, and local levels. The Special Economic Zones (SEZ’s) of Shenzhen, Shantou, Zhuhai, Xiamen and Hainan, 14 coastal cities, hundreds of development zones and designated inland cities all court foreign investors with unique packages of reduced national and local income taxes, land use fees, and import/export duties, as well as priority treatment in obtaining basic infrastructure services. Many locales offer high-level support and services to businesses, including streamlined government approvals. Chinese authorities have ... established a number of free ports and bonded zones. China offers preferences for investments in sectors it seeks to develop, including transportation, communications, energy, metallurgy, construction materials, machinery, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, environmental protection, energy conservation, and electronics. Finally, China boasts numerous national science parks, many focused on commercializing research developed in Chinese universities.
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The constitution of the People's Republic of China provides for religious freedom, but religious practice is not encouraged. Traditionally, Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, and ancestor worship were practiced in an eclectic mixture with varying appeals, and these religions have experienced a revival. Islam, the largest monotheistic sect, is found chiefly in the northwest. There is ... a small but growing Christian minority. In recent years there have been some well-publicized confrontations between the Chinese government and religious groups. Places of worship for unregistered Christian churches and traditional sects have at times been destroyed, leaders of such groups have been sentenced to death on apparently trumped-up charges, and orthodox Islamic practices have been discouraged or suppressed out of fear that they would be a focus for Muslim-minority separatists.
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China has made some progress in publicizing its regulations. The State Council's Legislative Affairs Office has reiterated instructions to Chinese agencies to publish all foreign trade and investment related laws, regulations, rules, and policy measures in the MOFCOM Gazette, in accordance with China’s WTO accession commitment. China said it would ... help WTO members and enterprises understand its rules. However, foreign investors report that Chinese regulators at times rely on unpublished internal guidelines that impact their businesses. Moreover, the MOFCOM Gazette still does not capture all policy measures that affect trade and investment.
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