During the past 20 years China has been undergoing the greatest changes in its history earmarked by rapid economic growth. In 1997 the annual income of Chinese residents reached an average equivalence of 660 US dollars an annual increase of about eight times than that in 1990 (Xie 1998). The increase though low as compared with the western standard is remarkable considering the fact that China has a large population base of more than 1.2 billion.The rapid economic growth has no
