In 2007, China's gross domestic product (GDP) reached 24.66 trillion yuan, ranking fourth in the world; the GDP accounted for about 5.5% of the world's GDP, while in 1978 China's GDP was only 1.8% of the world's GDP, which was the lowest in China's history (according to the book "China's Long-Term Economic Performance" by renowned economist Angus Madison (1998). Calculated according to the purchasing power parity (PPP) method: China's GDP accounted for 32.4% of the world's GDP in 1820, ranking first in the world, falling to 13.2% in 1890, 9.1% in 1919, 5.2% in 1952, 5.0% in 1978, and rising to 11% in 1995 after the reform and opening up).
At the beginning of the reform and opening up, China's manufacturing industry accounted for less than 1 percent of the world's manufacturing industry, but now its share of the global manufacturing industry has increased to more than 8 percent, and China has become the world's third largest manufacturing country (according to the "2007-China Manufacturing Industry Development Research Report," December 2007 by Science Publishing House).
In 2007, the national fiscal revenue reached 5.13 trillion yuan (up to 9~10 trillion yuan if extra-tax charges are added), ranking second in the world; China's total import and export trade amounted to 2.17 trillion U.S. dollars, ranking third in the world; and the foreign exchange reserves exceeded 1.52 trillion U.S. dollars, ranking first in the world, whereas China's foreign exchange reserves amounted to only 167 million U.S. dollars in 1978 and 55.5 million in 1989, compared with only 167 million U.S. dollars in 1978 and 55.5 million in 1989, respectively. In 1989, it was only 5.55 billion U.S. dollars.
China's iron and steel production ranks first in the world; in February 2005, China became the world's first major producer to break through the annual output of 200 million tons of iron and steel; China's cement production and coal production is the world's first, more than half of the world's total output; China's television sets, refrigerators, DVDs, air conditioners, motorcycles, cell phones, pianos, fertilizers, the output of the world; China is the world's first phosphorus-producing countries, the first copper-consuming countries, the first machine tool consumer market. copper consumer, the first consumer market for machine tools, the first furniture exporter, the first country of telephone users and Internet users, the first producer and exporter of footwear and textiles; China is the world's second largest shipbuilder, with 70% of the world's container manufacturing industry; the number of high-rise buildings in China's cities is the highest in the world; China's production of grains, fruits and vegetables, meat, and cotton is the highest in the world; and China is the world's number one fishery country and goat-raising country. .
China also leads the world in spaceflight, high-speed rail, hydroelectric power plants, nuclear power plants, carrier rockets, nuclear weapons, high-performance computers, third-generation mobile communications, and super hybrid rice.
2. It has gained tremendous development in social life.
China's urbanization rate has risen from 17.9 percent in 1978 to 41.8 percent in 2005 ("2005 China Urban Forum Beijing Summit", Beijing Evening News, September 14, 2005), 43.9 percent in 2006 (People's Daily Overseas Edition, September 27, 2007), and 44 percent in 2007 (People's Daily Overseas Edition, September 27, 2007), and has been the largest in the world. The per capita disposable income of urban residents increased from 343 yuan in 1978 to 13,786 yuan in 2007, and the per capita net income of rural residents increased from 133.6 yuan in 1978 to 4,140 yuan in 2007.
After the reform and opening-up, China has also made greater or certain achievements in education, medical care, social security, and cultural endeavors. At present, China ranks first in the world in terms of the scale of higher education, the number of doctoral students, and the number of primary and secondary school and university students; the government has successively promoted free and compulsory education in both rural and urban areas, and in 2007 it began a pilot program of free education for teacher training college students. China has taken the first step in realizing equity in education.
China has the largest number of doctors in the world; the number of diseases prevented by the national immunization program has been expanded from seven to 15, and free treatment has been provided to patients with AIDS, tuberculosis, schistosomiasis and other major infectious diseases; the state has arranged funds for the renovation and construction of 18,800 township and village health centers, 786 county hospitals, 285 county traditional Chinese medicine hospitals, and 534 county women's and children's health care hospitals, and has provided medical equipment for 11,700 township health centers; the World Health Organization has issued a report on the implementation of the free compulsory education program in China. Medical equipment has been deployed; the World Health Report 2007 published by the World Health Organization shows that the life expectancy of Chinese men and women reached 71 and 74 years respectively in 2007, an increase of more than four years from 1978.
China has also made progress in the area of social security, with the number of people participating in old-age pension, medical care, and unemployment insurance reaching 129.3 million, 140.5 million, and 103.5 million, respectively, in 2006 (according to the Overseas Edition of the People's Daily on Sept. 27, 2007); the minimum subsistence guarantee system for urban residents continues to be perfected, and a minimum subsistence guarantee system was set up for the nation's rural villages in 2007, with 34,519,000 rural residents covered. 34.519 million rural residents were covered.
According to World Bank statistics and the international poverty (abject poverty) line of US$1 per person per day, China's poor population, which numbered 624 million in 1978, fell to 220 million in 2003. Also according to the World Bank's calculation based on purchasing power parity (PPP), there were 135 million poor people in China in 2007, accounting for 10 percent of the population.
3. Comparative progress has been made in building democracy and the rule of law.
Before the reform and opening up, China lacked basic freedoms, and could only follow the orders of the "Four Greats" - the Great Loudness and the Great Debate; the unit system, the people's commune system, the household registration system, the ticket system, and the planned economic system kept the people firmly in bondage; there was no rule of law at that time, and the Constitution could not be applied to the people. At that time, there was no rule of law, and the Constitution could not protect the president of the country, let alone the common people, such as the "Four Clean-ups" movement, which killed 77,560 people, and the Cultural Revolution, which killed 7.73 million people. After the reform and opening up, the Chinese people have gradually gained economic freedom, as well as some political and social freedoms, and to some extent have realized freedom of speech and freedom of movement; the civil rights of the vast majority of nationals have been safeguarded; China's society and culture have become more diversified; democracy has progressed, with the personal dictatorship of the Supreme Leader giving way to the collective leadership of the Politburo Standing Committee; and the cause of building a country based on the rule of law has been progressing in a tortuous manner. The cause of the rule of law and the construction of a rule of law country is moving forward with twists and turns, with the implementation of the Property Law, the Supervision Law, the Administrative License Law, and the Anti-Monopoly Law; the news media have got rid of the situation of singing the praises of the whole country, and the supervision of public opinion and the network has been increasing; and the independent roles of the National People's Congress (NPC), the judiciary, the supervision, and the auditing have become more and more obvious.