China has experienced unexpected and unprecedented economic, political, and social change as a result of the "Open Door" policy begun in the early 1980's. Traditional Confucian values have been weakened and replaced by materialism and hedonism. The desire for quick wealth has spawned the re-emergence of drug addiction, drug trafficking, and opium plantations. The southern part of China has become a new trafficking route. The border between China and Burma is nearly 2,500 miles long, and most of it is covered by forests and mountains, making it easy for smugglers to transport drugs across the border. Asian narcotics have a great impact on the American drug market, since most of the heroin that originates in the Golden Triangle is shipped to the west coast of the United States through Hong Kong and secondary transit routes. Another new criminal activity that has emerged in the coastal areas of China since the early 1980's is illegal immigration. In recent years, several criminal groups that specialize in smuggling illegal immigrants into the United States emerged in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the United States because of the large profit obtained from the illegal immigrants. Policy recommendations include more and tougher legislation to provide a legal basis to combat the new crimes within China and expanded international cooperation. 26 references