February 24, 1999

China is on move, with estimated 10 percent of population migrating, mostly in search of better jobs; rural migrants, with strong emotional ties to villages and unable to get urban residence permits needed for entirely legal life in cities, mostly seek to earn money to take home; most of migrants, now thought to number 100 million, return to hometowns every Chinese New Year, in what may be largest seasonal migration in world; their presence is transforming urban life, mixing together China's distinct regional cultures and giving rise to new rootless urban underclass; map; photos (M)

Asia Society will return 1,000-year-old sculpture that was stolen from provincial museum in Dhubela, India; John D Rockefeller 3d, Asia Society's founder, purchased sculpture from London dealer and donated it to museum in 1978; society joins small but growing number of museums that are voluntarily surrendering items of cultural heritage to their countries of origin; Assn of Art Museum Directors has decided to revise its code of ethics; photo (M)

New York Knickerbockers defeat New Jersey Nets, 82-74; photo (M)

Interview with Michael Greene, chief executive of National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, on controversies that dog him as he prepares for 41st Grammy Awards ceremony, which will be broadcast from Los Angeles; photo (M)

A direct-mail campaign saying President Clinton has been saddled with a ''staggering'' debt has raised $4.6 million for his legal defense. Article, page A16.