Abstract According to recent Chinese newspaper accounts, China is thriving, with i t sagriculture annually reaping a good harvest, industrial production booming, and technical innovations steadily aprogressing. Its industrial and agricultural production are said to have marked a record high throughout the postliberation years (that is, the highest in Chinese history). With retail goods plentiful a t stores, prices stable over a relatively long period, and government debts completely cleared both at home and abroad by the end of 1968, the Chinese economy seems to be aready for a new leap forward.