China's economic history

Years

Leaders

Mao

1949 - 1976

Deng

1979 - 1992

Jiang

1993 - 2003

Hu

2004 - 2012

Economic Climate

China was one of the poorest and most undeveloped countries in the world

1949

Roughly 90% lived in the country and most of them in poverty

Less than 13% live in cities

1950

Now more like 40% and expected to reach 60% in next two decades

99% of China's economy was owned by the state

1956

Most of the population worked in agriculture. Although the government tried to push industrialisation productivity was very low.

Cultural revolution

1966 - 1976

Four Modernisations established by Deng

1979

Deng embarked upon an ambitious programme of economic reform under the banner of “To get rich is glorious”

Coke was one of the first companies to set up a joint venture in China

1980

China only started to prosper after major reforms in 1978 one of which was allowing foreign investment

China became net oil importer

1993

expected to match US's demand by 2030, country hungry for energy to power manufacturing

Country open enough to join World Trade Organisation

2001

Economy has grown by 10% per annum for the past 25 years, 'factory of the world'

retail sales double

2005 - 2009

Chinese authorities set up new safety measures after a series of scares

2007

EU estimates 80% of pirated goods come from China

Shenzhen was a fishing village but changed into a city of 8 million

2007

population was 30,000 in 1984

Becomes world's leading car manufacturer

2008

builds 9.3million cars

China becomes second biggest economy overtaking Japan

2010

Could become biggest in the next 10 years experts claim