Eight essays on Chinese affairs comprise this document. Compiled in response to the China Council's objective of making available to the public materials which meet the steadily rising demand for information about contemporary China, the document focuses on Chinese art, literature, politics, foreign policy, literature, society, and economic development. Each of the articles mixes a succinct review of current affairs with broader analysis of implications for China and China's roles in the world. Authors include officials from the Asia Society and professors of political science, economics, oriental art, and East Asian languages and cultures. Essay titles are "Introduction," by Robert B. Oxnam; "Deng Xiaoping: China's Old Man in a Hurry," by Richard C. Bush; "Politics in the PRC: Entering the Fourth Decade," by David M. Lampton; "China's Economic Readjustment: Recovery or Paralysis?" by Nicholas R. Lardy; "Painting with a New Brush: Art in Post-Mao China." by Michael Sullivan; "Recent Chinese Literature: A Second Hundred Flowers," by Leo Ou-fan Lee; "Chinese Foreign Policy in 1979," by Robert A. Scalapino; and "Uncertain Future: Politics in Taiwan," by Hung-mao Tien. Basic themes which appear repeatedly throughout these essays include that the remarkable changes in Chinese politics and economics have been paralleled by a dramatic opening in the areas of art and literature, there is a new seriousness about education, religion is enjoying a resurgence in several major cities, the Chinese are working very hard to restore unity after the topsy-turvy years of the Cultural Revolution, and rapid economic development has overshadowed egalitarianism as China's central goal. The document concludes with appendices which present information on biographical sketches of members of the Chinese Communist politburo and on a statistical profile of Chinese economic development. (DB)