Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0083/00831.txt

Text File | 1991-06-24 | 39KB | 607 lines

$Unique_ID{COW00831}
$Pretitle{260}
$Title{China
Chapter 5C.   Industry}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Thomas R. Gottschang}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{enterprises
state
percent
bank
system
government
prices
goods
economic
industrial}
$Date{1989}
$Log{}
Country:     China
Book:        China, A Country Study
Author:      Thomas R. Gottschang
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1989

Chapter 5C.   Industry

     The industrial sector employed only about 17 percent of the labor force in 1985
but, as a result of much higher labor productivity than the agricultural sector,
accounted for over 46 percent of national income. Industrial units were very
diverse in size and technological sophistication, ranging from tiny handicraft
manufacturing enterprises to giant modern complexes producing such goods as
steel, chemical fertilizer, and synthetic fibers. The majority of the country's
large industrial units were clustered in the major industrial centers in the
northeast, the Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan area, the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River)
Valley, and Shanghai. Small and medium-size units were found throughout the
country, and a number of first-rank plants were located far from the leading
cities (see Geographical Distribution of Industry, ch. 7). Ownership of
industrial enterprises fell into three general categories: state ownership,
urban collective ownership, and rural collective ownership. Industry was
dominated by the state-owned sector, which included the largest, most
technically advanced, and most important enterprises.

 In 1985 state-owned enterprises produced 70 percent of national industrial
output by value, held 75 percent of fixed industrial assets, and employed 46
percent of the industrial labor force (including rural industrial enterprises).
Although all of these units were owned by "the state" in the abstract sense,
operational control and effective ownership of specific enterprises were divided
among the different levels of government. A few of the largest enterprises were
under the direct authority of their respective ministries in the central
government. Most major enterprises were owned by the province, autonomous
region, or special municipality where they were located or were subject to
shared control by the central ministry and the provincial-level government.
Small and medium-size units usually were owned by city, prefecture, county, or
town governments. Control of some enterprises was shared with higher
administrative levels.

 Workers in state-owned enterprises were paid regular wages according to an
established pay scale, as well as bonuses that were supposed to be related to
personal or enterprise performance or both. In addition, they received a number
of important benefits, including free health care, subsidized housing, and
subsidies for such work-related expenses as special clothing and commuting
costs. The average income of industrial workers was considerably higher than
that of most farmers and was much more stable.

     Urban, collectively owned enterprises (owned by the workers) for the most
part were small units equipped with relatively little machinery. Many of these
units were engaged in handicraft production or other labor-intensive activities,
such as manufacturing furniture or assembling simple electrical items. In the
late 1970s and early 1980s, the government promoted them as a means of using
surplus labor to increase supplies of consumer and export goods. By 1985 urban
collective industrial enterprises employed over 17 million people, 20 percent of
the total industrial labor force. These enterprises held only 13 percent of all
industrial fixed assets but produced 19 percent of total industrial output
value.

     Rural, collectively owned industrial enterprises-commonly referred to as
"township enterprises" -were the most rapidly growing portion of the industrial
sector in the mid-1980s. The government regarded them as a means of expanding
industrialization (without further taxing the overcrowded major urban centers),
alleviating rural unemployment, and increasing supplies of industrial products
in rural areas. Most of the township enterprises were operated by township and
town governments, but a large number of very small units were operated by
private cooperative organizations called "rural economic unions." In 1985
township enterprises employed 30 million workers, over a third of the total
industrial labor force. The value of their fixed assets, however, was only 12
percent of the national total, and their output value came to less than 10
percent of the national total. Nonetheless, in 1985 their income grew by 44
percent over the 1984 levels. The most common products of township industries
were building materials, agricultural machinery, textiles, and processed foods.

Other Important Sectors

     Transportation, the postal system, and telecommunications employed over 12
million people in 1985. Long-distance transportation was carried primarily by
railroads, inland waterways, and highways. The government- run railroad network
was the backbone of the freight system, and rail lines extended to nearly all
parts of China. In most areas, however, the rail system had too few feeder lines
and was inadequately integrated. Much of the rail system had been improved in
the 1980s; many heavily used stretches were converted to double track or
upgraded, and several key new lines were constructed to relieve congested areas.
Most locomotives in use in the early 1980s were picturesque but outdated steam
engines. By 1987, however, several railroad districts had converted entirely to
more modern and efficient diesel or electric locomotives, and domestic
production of modern engines was supplemented by imported models. Within their
limitations the railroads functioned fairly efficiently and made intensive use
of the rail network. In 1986 the railroads carried 874.5 billion ton-kilometers
of freight, 45 percent of the national freight total and a 7.8 percent increase
over 1985. They also carried nearly 1.1 billion passengers, 20 percent of the
national total. Despite reasonably good performance, the ability of the economy
to move goods between cities and regions was severely limited by deficiencies in
the system, and improvement of the railroads continued to be a high priority for
state investment (see Railroads, ch. 8).

 Inland navigation grew more quickly than the rail system and in 1986 carried
827.8 billion ton-kilometers of freight, nearly as much as the railroads. The
principal inland waterway was the Chang Jiang and its tributaries, which
constituted the major artery linking the industrial and agricultural areas of
central China and the southwest to the great port and industrial center of
Shanghai. Improvements to the water routes enabled larger and faster modern
vessels to use them, extended their navigable length, and reduced the amount of
time they were closed each year. In addition to modern vessels, the lakes,
rivers, and canals were plied by thousands of motorized and nonmotorized
traditional craft of all sizes (see Inland Waterways, ch. 8).

 Local road networks were extensive, but many were narrow and unpaved, and all
were overcrowded with trucks, jeeps, buses, carts pulled by tractors and
animals, bicycles, pedestrians, and grain laid out to dry by local farmers.
Owing to rapid increases in the volume of private and work-unit trucking,
highway freight traffic was the fastest growing major portion of the
transportation system aside from ocean shipping. In 1986 highway freight traffic
totaled 259.6 billion ton-kilometers, an increase of 47 percent over 1985, and
80 percent of the volume was carried by vehicles that were not managed by state
highway departments. In 1986 buses served 4.3 billion passengers for relatively
short trips (see Highways and Roads, ch. 8).

 Civil aviation provided important links both to isolated areas of the country
and to foreign nations. It carried, however, only a small fraction of total
freight and passenger tra