New Plan, Old Problem

Drawing back from last year's ambitious plans for rapid industrialization, Peking's leaders have endorsed a more prudent policy of slow but steady growth, with more stress on consumer goods. Last week the Fifth National People's Congress, China's rubber-stamp parliament, unveiled both the new approach and its key man, Chen Yun. Named a Vice Premier and head of the newly revived State Finance and Economic Commission, Vice Premier Chen Chen, 79, in effect becomes China's principal economic technocrat and a powerful figure in his own right. Chen had been purged from similar posts after he opposed the Great Leap Forward espoused by Chairman Mao Tse-tung in 1958.

One reason for Peking's retreat to more modest goals became clear during the two-week session of the congress, when precise statistics on the Chinese economy were released for the first time since 1959. They showed that the country had a gross national product of $360 billion in 1978, compared with $2.107 trillion for the U.S. The average Chinese buys only $6 worth of goods per month, excluding food. Out of a population of an estimated 960 million, only about 95 million people receive regular wages. For the others, who are paid partly in rice and other grains, Chen's plan to raise living standards has scarcely come a moment too soon.

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