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Introduction : New China’s industry had very little to start with.
In 1949 it had accumulated only 12.4 billion yuan in fixed assets, and
industrial products were very few: the output of yarn was 327,000
tons, and that of raw coal 32 million tons. Most finished industrial
products were imported at that time.
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 |
Seel |
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 |
China’s
industrial reform first began by giving more rights to and leaving
more profits for enterprises, extending enterprises’ independent
operations and practicing the enterprise contract responsibility
system, which fully mobilized the initiative and creativeness of
enterprises and their workers and staff members, and created an
excellent environment forthe improvement of the operation mechanism of
enterprises. Next, China speeded up its industrialization through the
introduction of foreign capital and opening to the outside world.
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 reform of state industrial enterprises, especially large and
medium-sized enterprises, is the constant focus of China’s economic
system reform. At present, in accordance with the principles of the
modern enterprise system-“the property rights and responsibilities of
enterprises will be clearly defined, the functions of the government
separated from those of enterprises and enterprises scientifically
managed”-strategic reorganization has been carried out in large and
medium-sized enterprises to transform them into standard companies. In
recent years a large number of enterprise groups have been set up
through annexation during the re-organization of enterprises, such as
the China Petroleum and Natural Gas Group, Shanghai Baoshan Iron and
Steel Group, and some household appliance industrial groups, for
instance, Changhong, Haier, Konka, Kelon and TCL. The Legend and
Founder of Beijing University groups are prominent in the
micro-computer industry. These groups take part not only in domestic
but also international competition.
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. |
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Electronic Information
Industry |
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Since
1978, China’s electronic information industry has been advancing at a
high speed, having far-reaching and favorable influence on other
branches of the national economy. Computers, software and
telecommunications are the three major parts of China’s information
industry. By 1999, the total scale of the information industry was at
the top international level. The output of color TV sets, sound
equipment and telephones had leaped to first place in the world; the
total sales income of the electronic information industry had reached
430 billion yuan, with 39 billion US dollars in export value. Chinese
computer groups represented by Legend and Founder of Beijing
University are not only the leaders in the domestic market, their
products have also entered markets in Southeast Asia and Japan. At the
same time, with remarkable market potential, computer software Chinese
computer groups represented by Legend and Founder of Beijing
University are not only the leaders in the omestic market, their
products have also entered markets in Southeast Asia and Japan. At the
same time, with remarkable market potential, computer software
development and information services are also developing well in
recent years. Currently, finance, posts and telecommunications,
science and technology, education, business activities and government
institutions in China all have their own network systems and data
bases connected with the Internet. So far, China has 8.9 million
Internet users. In 1999, Beijing opened a 45-megampere international
exit, which made the total bandwidth of international exit of China’s
electronic information 130 megamperes. As the industry developed most
rapidly since the reform and opening to the outside world,
telecommunications manufacturing kept an over-30-percent development
speed during the Eighth Five-Year Plan period. China has completed
various public telecommunication networks throughout the country and
linked with the rest of the world, including optical-fibre, digital
microwave, satellite communication, program-controlled exchange, and
mobile and data communication. |
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Heavy Industry |
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China’s
heavy industry includes the energy, iron and steel, machinery and
chemical industries. In 1999, the added value produced by heavy
industry in state-owned enterprises and industrial enterprises above a
certain scale amounted to 1,161.7 billion yuan. Among coal, petroleum
and electric power, coal is the major energy source. Large coalfields
include Datong in Shanxi, Kailuan in Hebei, Pingdingshan in Henan,
Huaibei in Anhui, Yanzhou in Shandong, Xuzhou in Jiangsu, Jixi in
Heilongjiang, and Tiefa in Liaoning-16 in all. In recent years, along
with the restructuring of the industrial system, the economic growth
in coal enterprises has reflected their change to the intensive type;
at the same time diversified operations have developed rapidly. Now,
key coal mines in China have set up 17,000 diversified-operation
enterprises, the output value of which exceeds half of the total coal
output value.
The petroleum industry is distributed mainly in the Daqing Oilfield in
Heilongjiang and Liaohe Oilfield in Liaoning, Shengli Oilfield in
Shandong, Huabei Oilfield in Hebei and Dagang Oilfield in Tianjin. In
recent years, three basins rich in oil deposits have been discovered
in Tarim, Turpan-Hami, and Junggar basins. In addition to many large
onshore oil and natural gas operations, a number of offshore
operations are continuing in the Bohai Sea, and the east and west of
the South China Sea.
Two newly-organized groups-the China Petroleum and Natural Gas Group
and the China Petrochemicals Group-are the largest groups of their
kind. The latter, whose business income in 1996 was 38.9 billion US
dollars, ranks 62nd among the 500 strongest conglomerates in the
world.
China’s energy industry, including thermal, hydro and nuclear power,
has developed rapidly. In the 1990s, China’s installed capacity
developed from 100 million kw to 200 million kw, and its generated
energy and installed capacity both ranked second in the world. There
are 58 large hydropower stations, which have been completed or are
under construction in China, and 19 of them have more than one million
kw of installed capacity each. The Ertan, Xiaolangdi and Yangtze River
Three-Gorge hydropower stations, the Lianyungang and Ling’ao nuclear
power engineering projects are under construction. The Qinshan Nuclear
Power Station in Zhejiang and Dayawan Nuclear Power Station in
Guangdong have been completed. The power grids of the country now
cover all the cities and most of its rural areas.
Large iron and steel enterprises are distributed in Anshan, Taiyuan,
Baotou, Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Wuhan and Panzhihua. China at
present has 24 iron and steel enterprises which produce one million
tons or more of steel annually each, among them, the Shanghai Baoshan
Iron and Steel Group being newly organized. Some large iron and steel
enterprises use advanced technologies and have improved their
equipment to produce a number of types of high-class steel, such as
cold-rolled steel plates, cold-rolled silicon steel sheets,
zinc-plated steel plates and steel pipes. Today, China has the
capacity to produce 1,400 varieties of steel to more than 20,000
specifications. In addition, China’s self-sufficiency in rolled steel
has reached 90 percent.
China’s machine-building industry manufactures farm machinery,
engineering machinery, instruments and meters, general machinery,
heavy mining machinery, machine tools, electrical engineering
equipment, bearings, master tools, food-packing machinery and
automobiles. Through the introduction, digestion and absorption of
high technology, a number of top-technology industries representing
today’s advanced industrial development level have developed rapidly
and formed initial production scales. For instance, in the automobile
industry, the Changchun First Automobile Group and Shanghai Automobile
Industry Group have introduced technologies from Germany’s Volkswagen
Company to manufacture sedans. The machine-building industry is
capable of providing other industries with complete sets of high-level
equipment, including large blast furnaces, large continuous slab and
billet casters, electricity generators, coal mining equipment,
petroleum prospecting equipment, oil drills, oil-refining plants,
chemical plants, float-glass production lines and other complete sets
of equipment. China’s mechanical and electrical products, which have
become pillars of China’s export trade, generated 77 billion US
dollars in foreign exchange in 1999.
China’s chemical industry includes chemical extraction, and production
of fertilizers, pesticides, basic inorganic raw materials, basic
organic raw materials, synthetic fiber monomers, synthetic rubber,
photosensitive materials, rubber products, plastic products,
petrochemicals, chemicals for household use and pharmaceuticals-more
than 40,000 kinds in all. Now China is among world leaders in terms of
the output of more than 10 varieties of chemicals, such as synthetic
ammonia, chemical fertilizers, sulphuric acid, soda ash and rubber
tyres. Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian and Shenyang are China’s
most important chemical industry bases. China is self-sufficient in
chemical products, and exports such products to more than 100
countries and regions. |
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Aeronautics and
Astronautics |
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China’s
aeronautics and astronautics industry was established in the 1950s. At
Xi’an, Shanghai, Shenyang and Chengdu, respectively, there are four
large airplane manufacturing bases, capable of producing civilian and
military aircraft. The “Yun 7” airliner produced by the Xi’an Aircraft
Corporation has become the major type used for medium and short
domestic flights. Since 1979, the China Aerospace Corporation has
established trade, economic and technical cooperation relationships
with more than 70 countries and regions, one after another, in various
forms. It has exported airplanes, engines and airborne installations
to several countries, and manufactured airplanes and engine components
for foreign factories and business people. With a complete system
encompassing research, design, trial manufacture, testing and
production, China’s astronautics industry is capable of developing
various types of carrier rockets, and developing and launching all
kinds of satellites. Moreover, an aerospace instrumentation and
command system has been established. Now among the world's leaders
insatellite research and launching, China has mastered all kinds of
technologies, including satellite recovery, the launching of
satellites with single carrier rockets, satellite survey and control,
and strong-propulsion carrier rocket trussing. China is capable of
launching remote-sensing satellites into near-earth orbit and
earth-synchronous orbit, and meteorological satellites into sun-
synchronous or.bit. It is also capable of providing satellite
launching and monitoring and control services for foreign countries.
On November 20, 1999 the first spacecraft, named “Shenzhou,” developed
by China was launched by a China-made carrier rocket, and returned to
earth after fulfilling space science experiments. According to
statistics, between 1970 and 1999, China’s Long March series carrier
rockets successfully launched 51 satellites (excluding those lanched
by China for foreign countries). |
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Light and Textile
Industries |
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Light
industry in China includes 40-odd sectors, including paper-making,
daily-use mechanical devices, salt production, foodstuffs, silicates
for household use, plastics, electro-optical sources, household
chemical products, metal products, household appliances, and leathers
and furs—a total of more than 300,000 varieties. Since the
introduction of the policies of reform and opening to the outside
world, with a high market orientation level, light industrial
enterprises have accelerated the pace of introduction of foreign
investment and advanced technologies. As a result, household
consumption has become abundant, and many famous-brand and
high-quality products have appeared on the market. The textile
industry is developing rapidly, satisfying not only the domestic needs
but also entering the international market. In 1999, the added value
of the light and textile industries reached 869 billion yuan. |
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Information
provided by
China National
Tourism Administration. |
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