Survey and Analysis of China's
            Technology Introduction in 1997
                     By Yuan Zhu
The national economy of China made a sustained  and  stable
functioning in 1997. It was a year with the best  economic
situation after the reform and opening up. The  technology
introduction and equipment import also  had  a  continuous
and steady growth. According  to  the  statistics  of  the
Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic  Cooperation,   the
total  contract  number  of  technology  introduction  and
equipment import registered and filed was 5 984  in  1997,
and the total contractual volume was 15.923 billion  U. S.
dollars. Compared with 1996,  the  total  contract  number
dropped  by  1. 5%,   but  the  total  contractual  volume
increased by 4.4%. (See Table 1)
The technology introduction and equipment  import  in  1997
involved 33 countries and regions. Countries  and  regions
whose contractual volume exceeded 10 million U.S.  dollars
numbered 23.   Countries  and  regions  whose  contractual
volume exceeded 100 million U.S. dollars  included  Japan,
Canada, the United States, Germany, Russia,etc.(See Table 2)
The main features of technology introduction in  1997  were
as follows:
(1) The projects were concentrated on  infrastructures  and
basic industries such as energy, power, water conservation
, agriculture, and  high  and  new- tech  sectors  such  as
   electronics,     computer   software,      postal    and
telecommunications and information. It was  in  line  with
the state policies of strengthening  the  construction  of
infrastructures and accelerating the introduction of  high
and new technologies and advanced  technologies.   In  the
introduction of high and  new  technologies  and  advanced
  technologies,   special  attention  was   paid   to   the
  combination  with  traditional   industries   and   basic
industries to promote the technical upgrading. For example
,   the  technology  of  circulating  fluidized   bed   was
introduced for coal-fired power plants, the technology  of
refrigerant conversion  was  introduced  for  refrigerator
producers, and the technologies of  sewage  treatment  and
  garbage  calcination  were   introduced   for   municipal
construction departments. (See Table 3)
(2) The capital sources  of  technology  introduction  were
diversified. It included government loan, commercial loan,
buyer's credit, bank loan, self- funding  by  enterprises,
  special  foreign   exchange   capital   and   loan   from
international financial institutions. (See Table  4)   The
proportion of the  contract  number  in  self- funding  by
enterprises was as high as 36%. It showed that  in  a  new
situation  of  the  market  economy  enterprises  actively
conducted technical introduction and technical  renovation
in an effort to suit the market and enhance their strength
. It also proved that the policy of  conducting  reform  in
state-owned enterprises was correct.
(3) The construct number in technical transfer,   technical
license, technical consultation, technical service,  joint
venture technical  license  and  proprietorship  technical
license had a gradual increase. The proportion of know-how
expenses accounted for 14% of the total contractual volume
. The most outstanding in the projects  of  pure  technical
transfer was the "909" project in the  integrated  circuit
sector. The project was at the world's advanced  technical
level and has an epoch-making significance in the  history
of the integrated circuit sector in China.  Besides,   the
"948" special project also  had  many  advanced  technical
items in agriculture and key control technologies  in  the
communication sector.
(4) There were quite a lot of major technology introduction
projects such as Qinshan nuclear power project  and  Three
Gorges project.   Table  6  shows  the  first  40  Chinese
companies in technology introduction and equipment  import
in 1997.
Table 1   Statistics of Technology Introduction  in
1995 - 1997
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               Total contract           Total contractual volume        Proportion in total
                      number               (billion U.S. dollars)          import volume (%)
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        1995             3 629                  13.032                            9.87
        1996            6 074                   15.257    &