BEIJING (Reuters) - Ding-dong! The Avon lady is coming back to China.

Cosmetics giant Avon Products Inc. said on Friday it had won Chinese government approval to test direct selling in three regions beginning this month, seeking a stronger presence in the world's seventh-largest economy.

"The objective of the test is to help the government find a suitable direct selling model that would fit the needs of Chinese consumers, promote social stability and help protect consumers against illegal practices," Avon chief executive officer Andrea Jung told reporters.

China closed the door on Avon's direct selling in 1998, confining the company to selling through retail outlets.

The government ban, which was mainly aimed at domestic pyramid schemes, sparked rioting and looting in central China, with thousands left holding goods bought with life-savings and some provincial officials claiming it left residents without desperately needed jobs.

But last July, Avon, one of the legitimate companies also broadsided by the ban, said it had won verbal approval from the government to once again send its famed army of sales staff directly to Chinese homes.

Avon said it would begin testing direct selling in Beijing and Tianjin and the southern province of Guangdong, but Jung declined to give details of how many sales staff would be involved or the expected impact on growth.

Avon is the world's top direct seller of beauty products, with $7.7 billion in sales in 2004. Jung did not say how big the company's China sales were, but said they grew 40 percent last year.

"We continue to see the same kind of growth this year," she said.

"Avon China remains the number one opportunity for our corporation. Over the last several years the growth here has been spectacular, and we have no doubt that our business in China will continue to succeed."

Avon currently operates more than 6,000 boutiques and 1,000 department store counters in China.

Chinese state media has linked direct selling schemes to underworld gang activities and the growth of religious sects and the stability-obsessed government has been wary of the marketing strategy.

But Avon was at pains to distance itself from the pyramid schemes that have been widely exposed in the press, emphasizing it was a legitimate organization that complied with Chinese laws.

Avon managing director of sales for China Smith Chen said in a crackdown on illegal direct selling last year, investigators found 340,000 people involved in the schemes during a five-month period, with business worth 500 million yuan ($60.4 million).

One person was sentenced to death, Chen said.