After the founding of New China in 1949, the Chinese government started construction on a large and planned scale. As a result, the country’s industrial foundation has been strengthened and its production level raised rapidly. The metallurgical, mining and energy industries, airplane and automobile industries, and the new industries, including petrochemicals, computers, telecommunication equipment, instruments and meters, and aeronautics have been built up from nothing. Since 1978, the policies of reform and opening to the outside world have enabled China’s industry to enter a stage of great innovation and development. From 1978 to 1999, China’s industry increased at an average rate of 11.1 percent every year, and the comprehensive industrial strength was remarkably enhanced. By 1999, some 3,535.7 billion yuan of industrial added value had been attained, an increase of 10.2 times over 1978.
Increases in Output of Major Industrial Products
Product |
Unit |
1952 |
1978 |
1999 |
raw coal |
100 million tons |
0.66 |
6.18 |
10.45 |
crude oil |
10,000 tons |
44 |
10,405 |
16,000 |
generated energy |
100 million kwh |
73 |
2,566 |
12,393 |
steel |
10,000 tons |
135 |
3,178 |
12,426 |
cement |
10,000 tons |
286 |
6,524 |
57,300 |
tractors |
10,000 |
- |
11.35 |
6.54 |
automobiles |
10,000 |
- |
14.91 |
185.00 |
color TV sets |
10,000 |
- |
0.38 |
4,262 |
chemical fibers |
10,000 tons |
- |
28.46 |
600 |
yarn |
10,000 tons |
65.6 |
238.2 |
567 |
cloth |
100 million meters |
38.3 |
110.3 |
250 |
sugar |
10,000 tons |
45 |
227 |
861 |
sulphuric acid |
10,000 tons |
19 |
661 |
2,356 |
fertilizer |
10,000 tons |
3.9 |
869.3 |
3,251 |
pesticide |
10,000 tons |
0.2 |
53.3 |
62.5 |
integrated circuits |
100 million |
- |
- |
41.5 |
program-controlled exchanges |
10,000 lines |
- |
- |
4,726 |
mobile telecom equipment |
10,000 sets |
- |
- |
3,203 |
micro-computers |
10,000 sets |
- |
- |
405 |
|
Young workers of the main production line of the Shanghai Baoshan Iron and Steel ompany. |
The establishment of large numbers of Sino-foreign joint and wholly foreign-owned enterprises has not only brought more capital to enterprises, but also advanced equipment and modernized management. Through 21 years of reform, China’s industry has got rid of the backwardness in which it could only make one or a few varieties of products and its technological level was low. The production level of industrial products has increased by a big margin. In 1999, the outputs of steel, raw coal, electricity and cement were 124 million tons, 1.045 billion tons, 1,239.3 billion kwh and 573 million tons—increases of 3.9 times, 69 percent, 4.8 and 8.8 times over 1978, respectively. The growth rates of chemical fibers, fertilizers, ethylene, plastics, plate glass and other important means of production products have doubled or more than doubled. Many consumer goods closely related to people’s lives have grown from zero and expanded from small to large, the growth rate of some products has even reached more than one hundred times, such as color TV sets, refrigerators, washing machines, air-conditioners, cameras, video recorders, VCD and DVD sets, and stereos. A number of new- and high-technology products have grown by leaps and bounds, such as stored-program-controlled switching systems, large-scale integrated circuits and micro-electronic computers. The output of cars is also increasing at a rapid rate, along with the increasing number of cars possessed by households.
The dam of the Ertan Hydropower Station, the largest of its kind constructed in this century in China. |
Though China has made rapid progress in industry, irrational structure within industries and unbalanced development in regional economies still exist. The reform of state enterprises has just been started, and the tasks are arduous. Facing the 21st century, China will quicken its steps in restructuring industry and establishing its new-type industrial system as fast as it can, to suit the development of socialist market economy.