Starting from the mid-1990s,the international financial crisis has hit almost the whole world. The global financial system is breaking apart and it is hurtling ever more national economies in the abyss (深渊)with it. In order to earn foreign exchange, the economies are forced to dump the rest of their production onto the shrinking world market at bargain-basement prices. That is why the average prices of raw materials are currently at their lowest level since the mid-1970s. But it was not only the prices for raw materials that collapsed ； collapsing prices and reduced demand has also hit trade in automobiles, ships, chemical products, and computer chips. Now it is hitting the core of the Western industrial countries, which are heavily export-dependent.Looking at world economic developments from the west European point of view, the gale warnings are up. East Asia,which had accounted for more than half of the additional worldwide demand for industrial goods of all kinds since the beginning of 1990s,has largely dropped away as an importer.The supposed land of economic miracles of the past year,the United States,which increased its imports from Germany in 1997 by 30% ,is finally showing the traces of the global economic collapse. On Nov. 8,1998 , representatives of the US government threaten the European Union with trade war. They warned that a u protectionist firen would take hold in the United States if the European were not willing to massively reduce their trade surplus. US representatives had made similar threats against Japan one year before. TTie backdrop of these threats is,of course,the explosive growth of the US balance of payments deficit.The trade war against Japan had successfully decreased theUS'stradedeficit.

Now Zhangjiagang is China's seventh largest port and a 【tumultuous】 construction zone of halfbuilt office buildings and hotels.

“The trade surplus itself will be the No.1 problem this year,” says one Chinese official."After Japan,we'll be first in line for 【retaliation】.”

For China's newly-rising enterprises,【profits】 are up throughout the region—thanks largely to low wages.

Few state-owned firms have been sold, and most are 【laggard】 behemoths.

China has the most 【dynamic】 economy in the world today.

Zhangjiagang is a commercial 【hub】 of Jiangsu,the fastest-growing province in China.

China's emergence as an economic heavyweight after more than a decade of fast growth makes it likely to 【supplant】 Japan.

This 【boom】 in adult education,in turn,helps to raise the intellectual standard of the whole country.

Even more striking,China, s entrepreneurs are starting to 【hunt for】 opportunities abroad.