Zhu's reforms included closing thousands of unprofitable SOEs, cleaning up the technically insolvent banking system, slashing the number of government agencies from 40 to 29, separating the regulatory role of ministries from their business interests, abolishing state-subsidized housing, and encouraging home ownership. The restructuring was predicated on continued strong economic growth that would create jobs for newly unemployed state workers. By the autumn, Zhu was forced to scale back his plans, as slowing domestic demand made it less likely that China would reach the 8.2 percent annual growth that it averaged from 1978 to 1996. In November, authorities cracked down on the fledgling China Democracy Party, which dissidents launched in the aftermath of United States President Bill Clinton's trip to China in June. In December, courts sentenced the group's three most influential leaders to prison terms of 11 years or more.
Chinese citizens lack the democratic means to change their government.
The CCP holds absolute power, has imprisoned nearly all active dissidents, uses the judiciary as a tool of state control, and severely restricts freedoms of speech, press, association, and religion. In practice there is little separation between party and state. The NPC, constitutionally the highest organ of state authority, has little independent power and has never rejected legislation. Recently, however, delegates have registered protest votes over the government's handling of corruption, rising crime rates, and other issues. Under the 1987 Village Committees Organic Law, approximately 60 percent of the country's 928,000 village bodies are chosen through local elections.