Of all the sayings attributed to Deng Xiaoping, his commentary on the colour of cats is surely the most famous. Thanks to the radical campaign against him in 1976, all of China was reminded that Deng did not care whether a cat was black or white – so long as it could catch mice it was good enough for him. This was said to demonstrate his lack of commitment to political principle. As a consequence he was hailed outside China as a pragmatist and a moderate bent on seeking the shortest, quickest route towards his country's modernization, s of the political or ideological implications of the means adopted.

This article is concerned with one aspect of the spatial distribution of power in the People's Republicof China – the relationship between Centre and region during 1958–66. During the past decade or so several different interpretations of the spatial distribution of power have emerged amongst western analysts of China, polarizing between centralized and decentralized models of the Chinese decision-making process. The recordof the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution certainly suggests that political power was not only decentralized but also misused in the preceding period. Between 1966 and 1968 the impact of the attack on the Party-State system fell disproportionately on the provincial level, and most first secretaries of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) provincial committees and regional bureaus were criticized and removed from office. Moreover, many ofthese were accused of having created “independent kingdoms” in the areas under their leadership.

After the severe economic setback in 1959–61 the Chinese Government decided to blackout virtually all economic statistics. The policy was so thoroughly executed for 17 years that during this period China-watchers outside the country were forced to engage in a guessing game to estimate how well the Chinese economy had performed. Through a variety of procedures they derived numerous estimates for important products and major economic indicators. Since most of the estimates differed considerably from each other, people who were interested in the economic development of China and hoped to gather information from the studies of China-watchers often found themselves in a state of deep confusion. They did not know which set of estimates they should accept as representing, or nearly so, the true situation in the country. It is only in recent months that the Chinese authorities haverelaxed their information control, with scattered economic statistics gradually appearing in Chinese newspapers and other publications. Some of these statistics concern current production while others refer to previous economic performance. It is possible now to compare the official figures for early years with the western estimates to see how close they are. In other words, assuming that these official figures are the nearest we shall get to the truth for some time, they give us an opportunity for the first time to rate the performance of the China-watchers.

It is now possible to present official Chinese population figures for the end of 1978 and to set them against previous western estimates. In Table I attached to this note columns A and B give the provincial distribution of population in China at the end of 1978. The data therefore refer to the system of provincial boundaries which existed prior to the reorganization of July 1979 in which Inner Mongolia expanded to its pre-1969 configuration at the territorial expense of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Ningxia and Gansu.

The following is an abridged transcript of an afternoon discussion of 9 May 1979 at the central building of the People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries in Beijing. Wu Daying is presently deputy director of the Institute of Law, Academy of Social Sciences, while Zhang Zhonglin, also a member of the Institute, is a prominent legal theorist, who has had a high profile in his dealings with western jurists. Miss Gao Jian and Mrs Lu Wanru acted as interpreters. The Chinese principals answered the questions of various members of the Prairie Canada-China Friendship Associations, who are, herein, referred to by their surnames.

A key to understanding the armed forces of any nation may be found in the manner in which it selects and trains its senior military officers. Although China's military forces are unique in many respects, they are similar to those of other countries in that a great deal of emphasis is placed on professional military training for the officer corps. Comparatively little is known about precisely how the Chinese conduct this education.

In May 1979, while on a private visit to China, I was fortunate to be able to meet staff of the Television University (Zhongyang guangbodianshi daxue). A visit to the Open University in Britain of a delegation from China's Preparatory Committee for a National Audio-Visual Centre made us aware of the establishment of the Television University. Its opening on 6 February 1979 was announced in the Beijing Review and in broadcasts.