The fall of Communism in most of the world has had little effect on the People's Republic of China, a nation which has resisted any move toward democracy or any other significant change after the demonstrations in Tiananmen Square ended in the violent suppression of dissent. Yet China has to change in terms of its degree of modernization in order to compete in the world markets, and the nurturing of trade ties with the United States and others in the West is one aspect of trying to modernize the industrial and manufacturing sectors of China. The leadership may also hope to do this without raising any serious challenge to the political and social structures they have built, but it is not clear that this can be accomplished. Indeed, U.S. trade policy has been based on the belief that increased trade will have a salutary effect on the Chinese leadership and produce democratic reforms over time. The modernization effort is being carried forth not only by those within China or by her trading partners but also by Chinese living abroad and finding ways to increase business for the home country or to develop China in a wide variety of fields, including the scientific, financial, artistic, tourism, and so on. These Chinese are accomplishing their tasks in a number of different ways as they try to alter the course of their homeland and improve the lives of their people.
Medical research is an important field for any nation to undertake, and there are particular health concerns in China which are being addressed by Chinese scientists around the world today. One such problem is the fact that Chinese are prone to cancer of the esophagus, and no one at this time knows why this is so. Rutgers pharmacologist Chung Yang and Chinese pathologist Wang Li Dong of Henan Medical University are undertaking research in China's Hunan Province sponsored by the U.S. National Institute of Health, and the two scientists see this as an opportunity not onl...