The publishing world, like everything else in China at the moment, manifests both signs of change and resistance to change. Some publishers are cautiously hopeful about the current reforms, others feel change is not happening fast enough, and yet others do not ally themselves with reform at all but would prefer to have more stringent controls. This field note will attempt, therefore, to offer a portrait of how Chinese publishing is organized at the moment with areas of likely change, as well as highlighting the relations between Chinese publishing establishments and their counterparts in the west.

Some 150 Germans in all served as advisers to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi) in the decade between the Guomindang's Northern Expedition against the warlords (1927–28) and the end of the first year of Japan's full-scale invasion. Their importance to a government struggling to survive and modernize in the face of Japanese aggression and the threat of rural-based communism is recognized, and several studies describe the diplomacy and work of the unofficial mission at Nanking. But it is difficult in military as in civil reform to uncover how policies worked in practice. Chinese plans and pronouncements tended to gloss over contemporary realities, of which the most intractable were the persisting habits of warlordism within ex-warlord and even nominally Central armies. A cross-check of German, American, and British assessments with evidence from the Chinese side can indicate how genuine were the reform efforts, how influential the German officers, how intrusive warlord-style habits, and how impressive the results. I shall focus here on the neglected topics of German-directed officer education and troop training, and the much misunderstood German role in Chiang Kai-shek's strategy.

During the period of the Readjustment China has faced numerous and difficult problems in the sphere of energy. The two greatest difficulties now confronting the Chinese are energy supply and energy transport. Even if we put aside for a moment the long-range aspects of these problems, the immediate issues are complex. At present energy investment is directed towards securing the supply in the long run, but while this is occurring shortages remain acute, and conservation and increased efficiency of utilization are critical.

After the turbulence of the anti-rightist movement of 1957 which silenced those who held different views from the Communist Party line, Ma Yin-ch'u, then Dean of Peking University, refusing to yield to pressure, continued to express his “unorthodox” views and accepted a challenge to defend them against some two hundred critics. He stated in November 1959, “Although I am nearly eighty years old and outnumbered, I shall accept this challenge [to defend my position] and fight single-handed till I die. I shall not yield to those critics who resort to force rather than reason.” Professor Ma's integrity and courage in defending his beliefs command our respect and would justify the following biographical account even if he were not one of China's leading intellectuals.

Although there is no detailed definitive Chinese Communist interpretation of the thinkers of the 100 Schools Period, this does not mean that one cannot isolate certain constants from which deviation is not permitted. The sayings of Marx-Engels and Mao Tse-tung which are directly relevant to the early thinkers, if not strictly about them, have obviously been the primary guidelines for the scholar in Communist China. Especially in the material produced since 1957, when relatively intensive study of the period began, one becomes aware of more specific trends in interpretation. With the basic tenets of Marx and Engels as tools for interpretation, it is axiomatic that understanding the class struggle of a given time is the key to understanding the thought of that time. The “contention” among the 100 Schools is taken to be a reflection of the intensity of class struggle in the Warring States Period. It is also axiomatic that the history of the struggle between progressive and reactionary forces is reflected in the enduring philosophical struggle between materialism and idealism. But the philosophical concepts associated with materialism and idealism are not native to China; nor are their Marxist definitions universally accepted in the history of Western philosophy. Therefore, in interpreting the thought of the 100 Schools Period, scholars most frequently cite Marx-Engels definitions as support for their own interpretations or to criticise those of others. Engels states that all those who take spirit as prior to the existence of the natural world and thus in the last analysis admit a creator (Old Testament variety or the more sophisticated Absolute Spirit of Hegel) belong in the idealist camp.

On the morning of 8 November 1977 I was given the opportunity to interview the director, Jen Chien-hsin, and another member of the Legal Affairs Department of the China Council for the Promotion of Foreign Trade. We discussed the Chinese legal system in general and some legal aspects of the law of foreign trade in particular

The National Library of Beijing is the largest library in China currently open to foreigners. During 1979 and 1980 I used this library while carrying out research on the People's Bank of China and its role in industrial enterprise decision-making. Consequently, this report, in so far as it deals with the materials available, will focus only on those which are broadly related to the field of economics. It.is not, therefore, an account of all the Library's holdings, just a small part of them.

Deng Xiaoping's attempt to modernize and professionalize the People's Liberation Army (PLA) will surely be remembered as one of the most important components of his historical legacy. Yet, ironically, Deng's military activities formed a decidedly minor part of his career. Deng received no formal military training, and Chinese Communist sources have very little to say about his military contributions before 1980; most of what was reported comes from his enemies and is difficult to corroborate. What has been written after 1980 has a suspiciously hagio-graphic ring and is also difficult to confirm.

From 12 October to 13 November 1971 I listened to various forms of Chinese as it is spoken in the People's Republic. I listened with the ear of a Chinese educated – after leaving Amoy as a small child – in various dialects as they are spoken by Chinese in South-East Asia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and the United States. I was pleased both as a Chinese and as a professional linguist to discover immediately that language as well as a Chinese face remains a social passport in the People's Republic just as in Chinese communities elsewhere. I entered at Shumchun through the gate for Chinese with my three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Leta. Leta is even more fair-skinned and blonde than her American father, and an army guard on the bridge was somewhat startled to see a westerner coming in that way.

Strictly speaking, recognition is a formal legal act. It involves interchangeable commitments to undertake certain mutual obligations according to international law and custom. In a broader sense, it is a formal declaration of intention to carry on relations with other states in the society of nations.

Since the founding of The People's Republic of China, research on the world economy has been developed on an unprecedented scale, although not without setbacks. The Cultural Revolution and the activities of the “ gang of four ” seriously affected such research and virtually brought it to a halt for 10 years. However, the removal of the “ gang of four ” has meant that work on the world economy has revived and reached a completely new stage of development.

China had no Second Five-Year Plan (1958–62) only five ad hoc annual plans during that period. In basic construction and industrial production a great leap forward did take place in the first three years, only to be followed by collapse and readjustment in the last two years. In agriculture, the period started with an unprecedented bumper crop in the first year, after which there commenced an agricultural crisis that grew in intensity from year to year until 1962 when the output of food grains and green vegetables began to show recovery. This was in sharp contrast to the First Five-Year Plan period which concluded with spectacular achievements in heavy industry, moderate success in light industry and slow but steady improvement in agriculture.