ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the process of industrialization in China and discusses the goals and priorities of industrialization. It also discusses the path of expansion of modern industry; the development program outlined by Hua Guofeng in February 1978 and the subsequent readjustment program adopted by the National People’s Congress in June 1979 and August 1980; and the prospects for industrial development. To build a comprehensive industrial system, strenuous efforts were made to establish new industries and to strengthen weak links. The focus was on the iron and steel, chemical, metal-processing, and machine-building industries. The mainstay of industrialization is the construction and expansion of approximately 1,500 major integrated plants using foreign technology and equipment. In the 1949– 1959 period, the 156 major industrial projects build with Soviet aid constituted the backbone of China’s modern industry. China’s industrial performance focuses on the analysis of the aggregate growth rate, the output of selected industries, labor productivity, and technological progress.
