China's Epic Journey from Poverty to Prosperity

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II. Prosperity Through All-Round Development

All-round development is essential to moderate prosperity. In pursuing moderate prosperity, China emphasizes balanced, coordinated and sustainable progress in the economic, political, cultural, social, and eco-environmental fields. It aims to meet people's growing needs in all areas and at all levels and to promote their well-rounded development. Moderate prosperity makes China a strong and prosperous country striving for national rejuvenation and people's wellbeing.

1. Sustained and Healthy Economic Growth

A sound economy underpins moderate prosperity in all respects. The CPC considers national development to be its top priority in governance and the key to tackling all the challenges facing China. Under its leadership, the Chinese people have focused on economic development and expanded the productive forces, and have made every effort to steer China's development towards higher quality and efficiency, as well as greater equity, sustainability and security. China's economic power, scientific and technological capabilities, and its composite national strength have significantly increased.

Economic strength has increased significantly. China's GDP soared from RMB67.9 billion in 1952 to RMB101.6 trillion in 2020. As the world's second largest economy, it accounts for over 17 percent of the global total (Chart 1). With per capita GDP rising from less than US$100 in 1952 to over US$10,000 in 2020, China has achieved a historic transformation from a low-income country to an upper-middle-income country (Chart 2). For years it has ranked first in the world in terms of added value in the manufacturing sector and output of over 220 major industrial products. It has also been the world's largest manufacturing country for the past 11 years.

China ranks first in terms of trade in goods and foreign exchange reserves, and ranks second in terms of its trade in services and consumer market. In 2020, it was the largest recipient of foreign direct investment. The vitality, potential and staying power of its economy have been nurtured by a population of over 1.4 billion in pursuit of common prosperity, including a middle-income group of over 400 million people that keeps expanding－offering a supersized market growing faster than any other place in the world.

In 2020, China was the first country to bring Covid-19 under control and reopen its economy. It was also the first economy to shift back from negative to positive growth. This reflects the resilience of China's economy.

 

Exponential advances have been made in science and technology. The dream of moderate prosperity has been realized with the support of science and technology.

In the early years of the PRC, even matches and nails had to be imported. Now great successes have been achieved in quantum information, iron-based superconductors, neutrinos, stem cells, brain science and other frontier fields. Major breakthroughs have been made in a large number of strategic high technologies, including manned space flight and lunar exploration, the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, manned deep-sea submersibles, high-speed railways, 5G mobile communications, and supercomputing. China is now a leader in innovation, building greater strengths in science and technology (Panel 1).

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