While achieving development of its own, China has constantly provided aid to developing countries, such as those in Africa, with no political strings, said Lian Ping, an economist with the Bank of Communications. In 1978, the ratio was just 3.1 percent.īetween 19, the country’s average annual contribution to global growth was 18.4 percent, the second-largest in the world.
“The reform and opening-up integrated the country’s huge labor market into the global industrial chain, which boosted the productivity of the world economy while bringing a low-cost advantage,” Xing said.Ĭhina has emerged as the biggest driver of the global economy, contributing 27.8 percent of world growth last year, more than the contribution of the United States and Japan combined. “It is undoubted that China’s rise is peaceful as it did not take advantage of or bully other countries.”Ī winner-takes-all approach has never been an option for China, which pursues open, innovative and inclusive development that benefits everyone.Ĭhina’s fast growing and open consumer market has provided manufacturers and service providers with an enormous opportunity, said Morgan Stanley economist Robin Xing. “The biggest difference between the modernization paths of China and Western countries is the way of accumulating capital,” Tu said. The miracles the country attained in past decades are unparalleled compared with the history of Western modernization. Song also mentioned factors including a large and educated workforce, a high savings ratio, as well as the country’s distinctive political system that allows it to push reforms in the long-term interests of the nation and the people.
“The favorable conditions created by the reform and opening-up gave full play to such traits of the people,” Tu said.
Tu also attributed the stunning progress to Chinese people being both industrious and frugal, which allowed them to create and accumulate wealth. With the landmark decision to start the reform and opening-up, the CPC was able to bring the nation’s development back on the right track, which needed political courage and wisdom, Tu added. Tu Xinquan, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics, said the most important reason behind China’s economic and social marvels is the leadership of the CPC. There are several factors behind China’s economic and social marvels. World Bank data showed that China lifted 853 million people out of poverty from 1981 to 2013, accounting for more than 70 percent of the world’s total poverty reduction figure. To make the economy more balanced and sustainable, the country has continued to optimize its economic structure toward a growth model driven more by consumer spending, innovation and services while weaning it off over-reliance on exports and investment.Īnother remarkable achievement was poverty reduction, Ross said, pointing out that China’s commitment to lifting all its rural poor out of poverty by 2020 “carries great significance for China and even the whole world.” Others were the largest economic and social transformation, and “the largest industrialization at a fast pace,” amid the country’s peaceful rise. The view was shared by Shanghai-based researcher Song Luzheng, who said achieving the fast growth was only one of China’s “unprecedented miracles in human history.” Reform and opening-up have “produced the greatest economic achievement in human history,” said John Ross, a researcher with the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China. “This year, the output could exceed 900 million tons,” Chen said.Ĭhina’s brisk economic growth over the past decades is undoubtedly one of the country’s most stunning feats.Ĭompared with global growth, China’s economy was in the fast lane between 19, expanding at an average annual rate of 9.5 percent, outpacing annual global growth at about 2.9 percent in the same period. “As a college student back then, I clearly remember a celebration was held in Beijing for China’s annual steel output exceeding 30 million tons for the first time,” said Chen Derong, who majored in steelmaking in 1978 and this year became the chairman of China Baowu Steel Group, Baosteel’s parent company. With its first pile driven into the earth in Shanghai, Baosteel broke ground on December 23, 1978, just one day after the Communist Party of China closed its epoch-making meeting that ushered in the era of reform and opening-up. A file photo on display at the Baosteel History Museum shows the groundbreaking ceremony of the company on December 23, 1978.