Industrial Reforms in China

China has had an enviable record of industrial development since liberation in 1949. In aggregate terms the rate of growth of industrial output in China since 1960 has been about twice as fast as in the rest of the world and China’s performance has easily exceeded that of the other large Third World countries such as India, Brazil and Mexico. This is shown in the first column of Table 5.1. In per capita terms China’s performance compares even more favourably because of its below-average rate of growth of population. Thus, for example, in aggregate terms China’s industrial output grew 38 per cent faster than the average of the middle-income economies, whereas in per capita terms China grew 68 per cent faster (see the second column of Table 5.1).