March 26, 1992

In the struggle for China's soul, the hard-line leadership in Beijing seems to be losing ground to this southern Chinese region of fish farms, toy factories and private bars whose knack for free-market Communism has made it one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Guangdong Province is China's greatest success story, and already it is becoming an international manufacturing center that in some ways recalls the early years of the "four dragons": Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. While Guangdong used to be politically suspect within China for its laissez-faire ways, Deng Xiaoping and other Chinese leaders have recently praised it as a national model and called upon the province to become Asia's fifth "dragon." The Bribes Help That suggests that Guangdong has defeated Beijing, at least for now, in the competition to chart China's future. This could have enormous repercussions, for Guangdong represents a fundamentally different vision of China than Beijing.

The co-pilot of the USAir jet that crashed in a snowstorm at La Guardia Airport on Sunday told Federal investigators yesterday that he checked for ice on the plane at least three times, and perhaps as many as 10 times, as it taxied into position for takeoff. He said he saw no sign of ice. His statement appeared to contradict one of the leading theories about why the plane crashed but does not disprove the possibility that ice on the plane robbed it of lift and caused it to bank sharply to the left, scraping its wing on the ground as it skipped wildly off the runway and into Flushing Bay.

THEIR names are on labels, their faces are on advertisements and, with any luck, their clothes are on women's backs. Faced with a camera, these young fashion designers smile easily, as if they were in love with the world. Gordon Henderson, Zang Toi, Randolph Duke and Carmelo Pomodoro are just a few of the young fashion designers -- 35 or younger warrants the adjective "young" in fashion parlance -- who are gearing up for the American fall collections next week.

THE NEW YORK PRIMARY THE CAMPAIGN REDEFINED In a political world redefined by former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr.'s narrow victory in the Connecticut primary, Mr. Brown and Gov. Bill Clinton campaigned for the newly pivotal New York primary, which will decide both who gets the state's rich lode of 244 convention delegates and whether Mr. Clinton can get back on a glide path to the nomination. A19. Gov. Cuomo remains a study in neutrality. A18. NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL RELEASES ITS BUDGET

The battle for New York began in earnest yesterday as Gov. Bill Clinton struggled with a gritty new problem handed him by the voters of Connecticut: how to deal with former Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., emboldened by victory and ready to roll. Mr. Clinton's campaign had hoped to be focused on President Bush by now, but instead found that Mr. Brown's upset victory in Connecticut on Tuesday had transformed the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination and left the Arkansas Governor with a lot to prove in the April 7 primaries in New York, Wisconsin and Kansas.