European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 01, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                New China continued from Page 13 slates and. Lately the soviet Union without leaning too heavily toward either except Lor the korean War and some Briel Border clashes wit h India. The soviet Union and Vietnam it has rescued the chinese people trom centuries of civil and International strife. The economic strides Are impressive. Coal production jumped from 66 million tons in 1952 to 947 million tons last year rolled steel irom 1 million tons to 47 million tons in the same period Grain harvests grew trom 113 million tons in 1949 to about 400 million tons this year. China produced 14.000 bicycles in 1949,41.2million in 1988 1,600 refrigerators in 1957.7.4 million last year. Foreign Trade is now $100 billion a year 100 times More than tour decades ago. Foreign investors have poured $12 billion into 16,000 joint ventures and other projects. In 1978, the year Deng started his reforms 10,000 chinese had washing machines. Now 43 million do. In 1983 Only four out of every 100 Rural households had televisions. Now almost a third do. Rural incomes at 545 Yuan $147 per person a year Are triple those of 1978 Urban residents earn 1.119 Yuan $302 a person up 87 6 percent Over 1978 after deducting Price rises. Daunting problems remain. Illiteracy has been Cut trom 80 percent of the population to 20 percent but that still leaves 220 million people who can t read and an under financed educational system that does Little to encourage children to slay in school. The government says 60 million people More than the entire population of France live below the poverty line of 200 Yuan $54 in annual income. Some in Remote Barren areas depend on government handouts Lor survival. Forty years alter Mao announced the end to exploitation of the people More and More people Are asking whether the Progress achieved has been Worth the pain a million people in the Beijing streets this past Spring demanding democratic Reform attested to disillusionment with the communist party which like other absolute rulers is tainted by corruption privilege and disdain for the common Man. Alter four decades China still lacks a Legal system that protects people from the whims of politicians and police and the Large majority have Little or no control Over where they will live or work. The communist party s claims to infallibility have Long been discredited by its excesses and miscalculations there was the anti rightist Campaign of 1957 that led to the persecution of tens of thousands of intellectuals the economic fiasco of Mao s leap Forward in 1958, which was followed by crop failures and mass starvation and the tragic Folly of the leftist cultural revolution which nearly destroyed a whole generation of educated chinese. In Beijing the fear s still there associated presso n the surface lilo is Back to Normal in Bei ing Tho tanks Are gone. The bodies of the dead have been cremated. The buses Are running again. The markets Are bustling. Everyone goes to work. One of the few visual reminders of a popular seven week student led movement for democracy and the violence that ended it june 3-4 in Tiana men Square arc the soldiers at main intersections and on Bridges throughout the capital. The government is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the founding of the people s Republic of China on oct. 1, 1949. But people Are frightened. There s no Law anymore no Legal Protection a College student said. They can just come and take you  Many say they fear the soldiers who the government says Are Here to protect the people others fear the Telephone hotlines and the boxes in every work unit to report people. Beijing residents also worry about the Miles of footage taken by the police and on cameras mounted on main streets during the weeks of demonstrations. Police now Are studying the dim and Many people wonder if their faces will be found. One old Man who said he was persecuted during the 1966-76 Ultra leftist cultural revolution was asked by a foreigner How the police could find one person in Beijing s population of about 10 million. He waved his hand impatiently and looked away to show what a silly question he thought it was. He did not participate in any protests never went to Tiana men Square and even told Young friends and colleagues not to go yet he is fearful. In a room he and his friends once considered Safe to speak freely he now Speaks in Low hushed tones. We have to be very careful  a Young intellectual who took a foreign Friend to his Home barely spoke until they reached his room. There with a sigh of Relief he said. It s of. You can say whatever you want Here. It s  Beijing University the site of animated open discussions about politics and the government in the Spring is virtually empty of students now. The Start of the fall term was delayed until after National Day to prevent disturbances during the 40th anniversary of the communist takeover. But earlier in the summer the graduating class was still on Campus undergoing several weeks of political study. In former chinese communist party Chile Zhao Lyang left the main proponent of Reform visited hospitalized students. Optimistic chinese Point out that in the past decade under Deng Xiaoping the periodic political campaigns against spiritual pollution and Bourgeois liberalization have been far Milder with fewer arrests and less persecution than in the past. But since the june military attack on protesters in Beijing followed by a nationwide crackdown on dissent the mellowing of the masters seems less certain. The party in turn is demanding patience saying it will put its divided House in order and guide the nation to prosperous stability if Only people learn to forgo Western political ideas and consumer habits. Jiang Zemin the new communist parly chief set the stage Lor National Day 1989 by returning to Yean the still impoverished town of Cave dwellers in Northwest China where Mao set up his revolutionary base in the 1930s and 1940s. We should carry Forward the Yean spirit of self Reliance and hard struggle Jiang said. It will be hard to accomplish the socialist modernization drive without such a  contrast to their earlier eagerness Many students politely backed away from talking to strangers about political issues. Tho few who talked did so Only in a Remote Corner of the Campus away from others. Many chinese have Learned it is Best not to talk about the events of May and june. What s the use said a student. Many chinese still fear the soldiers who manhandled pro democracy protesters during the uprising. Page 14 the stars and stripes sunday of