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Steady Agricultural Development

In 1997, the total output of grain, cotton and edible oil came to 490 million tons, 4.6 million tons and 21.57 million tons, increasing respectively by 62.1 percent, 112.4 percent and 313.5 percent over 1978. The output of milk and eggs was 4.5 times and 2.7 times as much as those in the early 1980s. The output of grain and cotton jumped to No.1 in the world. The total output value of agriculture, forestry, husbandry and fishery reached 2.4709 trillion Yuan, 2.4-fold increase over 1978 after adjustment for price factors with an average annual increase of 6.6 percent which is 2.8 times as much as that before the initiation of reform and opening to the outside world. By the end of 1997, township and town enterprises throughout the country added up to 2,015 and provided 130 million job opportunities for the surplus labor force in the countryside. At the end of 1997, the original value of fixed assets of township and town enterprises exceeded one trillion Yuan, current assets came to over 1.3 trillion Yuan, business income totaled 3.8 trillion Yuan, tax paid and profit turned to the state amounted to 323.8 billion Yuan and these enterprises retained nearly 200 billion Yuan of profit.

Investment in Fixed Assets Increased Notably

Since 1981, China has made a total investment of more than 14 trillion Yuan in fixed assets. This figure includes 8.1 trillion Yuan made by state-owned enterprises, a 12.5-fold increase over the total investment made in the 29 years prior to the launching of reform and opening up to the outside world. Investment in fixed assets in 1997 totaled 2.53 trillion Yuan, a 26-fold increase over 1981. The percentage of investment in the state-owned economic sectors of the total investment decreased from approximately 70 percent in 1981 to 53 percent in 1997. The percentage of investment in private enterprises decreased from 18.5 percent to 13.5 percent. The percentage of investment in collective-owned enterprises rose from 12 percent to 15.3 percent. Investments in other fields started from scratch and rose to 458.1 billion Yuan in 1997, which was 18.2 percent of the total investment. In terms of investment pattern, the scale of investment in basic industries was enlarged conspicuously. The percentage of investment in the capital construction of energy industry increased from 20.7 percent in 1980 to 26.6 percent in 1997. The percentage of investment in transportation, post and telecommunications rose from 11.2 percent to 21.5 percent while there was a big increase in the percentage of investment in the tertiary industry, which reached 53.8 percent in 1997.

From 1978 to 1997, nearly 100,000 reservoirs of different purposes were constructed with a total water storage of 500 billion cubic meters. 5608 irrigated areas were added and the size of irrigated land came to 22.6 million hectares. New investment in capital construction resulted in an increase of coal-mining capacity by 380 million tons, oil-drilling capacity by 240 million tons, steel-making capacity by 18.84 million tons and power-generating capacity by 159 million kilowatts. At the same time, 1,226,000 kilometers of highway were constructed and the loading capacity of newly constructed (or extended) ports amounted to 460 million tons. From 1980 to 1997, main-track railway newly laid throughout the country increased by 17,000 kilometers.

Fast Industrial Growth

In 1997, industrial enterprises at the township level and above achieved a total output value of 11.2 trillion Yuan, 13-fold increase over 1978 after adjustment for price factors with an average annual increase of 14.9 percent. The state-owned enterprises and collective-owned enterprises increased annually by 7.6 percent and 19.7 percent respectively on the average. The quality of various industrial products improved constantly and the passive state resulting from long-term shortage of industrial products in the country came to an end. As a result, there was a sufficient supply of daily consumer goods in the market. Even the insufficiency of some basic industrial products such as coal and power, which had restricted the growth of Chinese economy, was also noticeably eased up.

In the past two decades, China has completed and put into operation 1,906 large and medium-sized industrial projects and increased an investment of 3.2877 trillion Yuan in industrial fixed assets. The completion of such large projects as the Beijing-Kowloon Railway, the Nanchang-Kunming Railway and Qinshan and Daya Bay Atomic Power Stations strengthened the national economy for continued development.

Foreign Trade and Utilization of Foreign Investment

In 1978, China's total volume of foreign trade ranked No.27 in the world. By 1997, China's total volume of import and export trade climbed to US$325.1 billion, a 17.7-fold increase over 1978 with an average annual increase of 15.6 percent and China's place in the world jumped to No.10. The percentage of China's volume of export in the world trade rose from 0.8 percent in 1978 to 3.3 percent. China's foreign exchange reserve in 1978 came to only US$ 167 million. However, this figure rose to US$139.9 billion in 1997 (US$ 145 billion at the end of 1998), ranking No.2 in the world.

Prior to the reform and opening to the outside world, China had hardly any foreign investment for use. However, since China opened itself to the outside world and carried out reform, foreign investment actually used in the country added up to US$348.35 billion. In the years after 1993, the amount of foreign investment absorbed by China has maintained the honor of No.2 in the world (only second to USA) for five years consecutively. In addition, China's revenue from tourism in 1997 amounted to US$12.1 billion (US$12.6 billion in 1998), a 45-fold increase over that of 1978, ranking No.8 in the world.

Education, Science and Technology, Cultural and Health Undertakings

China's scientific and educational undertakings occupy a position a little above the middling among the developing countries. At present, the contribution rate of science and technology to economy in developed countries exceeds 60 percent while it is only around 30 percent in China. With regard to education, China has a fairly high level of primary and secondary school education but a relatively backward higher education as shown by statistics. According to a statistic result published by the UNESCO, the literacy rate of adult Chinese citizens was 73 percent in 1992, above the average global level.

China's cultural undertaking occupies a middle position among the developing countries. In 1996, the number of books per million people in China came to 93, lower than the average global level (160) but higher than that of the developing countries (55). About 49.18 million copies of daily newspapers were published each day and every thousand people had 41 copies on the average, close to the average level of developing countries (44) and lower than that of the world (96).

The Living Standard of Urban and Rural Residents Increased Significantly

In the past two decades, the income of both urban and rural residents redoubled. In 1997, savings deposits of urban and rural residents reached 4628 billion Yuan, over 218 times that of 1978 with an average annual increase rate of 32.8 percent. Plus foreign currency savings, debentures and stocks, the amount of financial assets owned by urban and rural residents had exceeded 6 trillion Yuan. In 1997, total retail sales of consumer goods reached 2.7299 trillion Yuan, over 20 times that 1978 in real terms. The residents' consumption level increased from 184 Yuan in 1978 to 2,677 Yuan with an annual increase rate of 7.8 percent if calculated by comparable prices. The pattern of consumption underwent positive changes--the Engel Coefficient of both urban and rural population lowered by 11 and 12.6 percentage points respectively. The average living space for urban residents increased from 3.5 square meters in 1978 to 8.8 square meters in 1997. According to an investigation and analysis of the supply and demand of 601 kinds of major commodities made by the State Administration for Domestic Trade in the first half of 1998, commodities whose supply exceeded demand occupied 74.2 percent of all the commodities while the percentage of those that achieved a balance between supply and demand was 25.8 percent. That is to say, there was already no commodity whose demand exceeded supply. And the food, oil and cloth coupons, which symbolized rationing, have exited the historical arena for long. The residents can afford more and more durable goods. The so-called "three major articles"--bicycles, wrist watches and sewing machines are renewed every few years. In the recent years, part of urban residents had turned their focus of consumption to personal computers, automobiles and housing. In 1998, the standard of living of both urban and rural residents continued to improve. The average per capita net income of rural residents rose by 4.3 percent over the previous year in real terms taking into consideration price drops; the average per capita disposable income of city and town dwellers increased by 5.8 percent in real terms. There was an abundant supply of commodities on the market. The development and sales of affordable housing for people with low or medium incomes increased by a fairly large margin. There was improvement in infrastructure facilities in cities and environmental protection. The living conditions of both the urban and rural population improved during the year.