The Winds of Change: China's Growing Economy

Authors

Tony Johnson '98, Illinois Wesleyan University
Jennifer Van Dyke '99, Illinois Wesleyan University

Abstract

For three decades after the 1949 revolution, China pursued a strategy of socialist economic development based on self-reliance and the centrally directed allocation of resources. Today, China is the fastest growing economy in the world. China began reform in 1978, just after it emerged from a political crisis started by Mao Zedong’s death in 1976. China’s policymakers began to recognize the impossibility of traditional methods of economic management and began to overhaul the economic system. After the start of reforms, real growth accelerated markedly. China’s GDP has been growing at an annual percentage rate of 9.3% since 1980. (Waters, xiii) This paper will look at China’s reforms and how these reforms have affected China’s growth in its agricultural, industrial, and trade sectors.

Recommended Citation

Johnson '98, Tony and Van Dyke '99, Jennifer (1998) "The Winds of Change: China's Growing Economy," The Park Place Economist: Vol. 6
Available at: https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/parkplace/vol6/iss1/17