 China's GDP in 2001 ranked sixth in the world, compared with 10th in 1990, certifying the country’s position as one of the world's major economic powers. Despite of the impact of the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and the slow-down of the global economy, China's economy has maintained a healthy growth of over 7% in recent years. But the dry figures of economic growth cannot tell of the changes in people's lives as effectively as seeing how these people are enjoying their life and spending their increased incomes.
Statistics show China's GDP (or Gross Domestic Products) in 2001 was 9,593.3 billion yuan, an increase of 7.5 percent over the previous year in constant terms and nearly doubling that of 1990. Now registering the sixth in the world, China has become one of the world's major economic powers.
Until thirteen years ago, owing to a lack of supply, special coupons for food and consumer goods purchases were issued by government departments, effectively restricting many items now considered “daily-use” to acquisition by the privileged few. A survey by the State Economic and Trade Commission show that currently no single product on the Chinese market is in short supply, and the supply of 86 percent of the goods on the market exceeds demand. The annual per capita disposable income of urban households was 6860 yuan in 2001, a real increase of 8.5 percent over that of thirteen years ago. The per capita net income of rural households was 2366 yuan, a real growth of 4.2 percent. The Chinese people, however, are not the only beneficiaries of the sustained and healthy economic growth of China.
The proportion of incomes spent on food, clothes and other daily necessities has decreased by a large margin in recent years, while expenditure for housing, communications, traveling, cultural activities, education and recreation has grown markedly. The proportion of incomes spent on food for urban and rural residents has dropped to 37.9 percent and 47.7 percent respectively, compared with 46.4 percent and 55 percent in 1997.
Of all the contributing factors that have led to China's economic growth, the value of primary industry was 1462 billion yuan, up 2.8%, that of secondary industry was 4906.9 billion yuan, up 8.7 percent, and that of the service industry was 3225.4 billion yuan, up7.4 percent. The annual output of iron and steel, coal, chemical fertilizer, TV sets, program-controlled telephone switchboards, grain, meat, cotton, aquatic products and fruits ranks the first in the world. All these achievements were by no means easy to come by.
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