ABSTRACT
The currency of the central government had collapsed during the hyperinflation of 1946-1949. China survived because its economy was mainly based on agriculture and handicrafts. In 1949, in terms of the 1952 Yao Wen-yuan, production amounted to 32,590 million yuan in agriculture, 14,020 million yuan in industry, and 3,240 million yuan in handicrafts. The state of mind and attitude of the Chinese people was also to be a positive element for the Communist Party. Few regrets followed the former government to Taiwan. The production figures for 1949—a bad year to use as a reference, it is true, because of military operations and the transfer of power—were 53 percent below those of the best prewar years, if the Communists are to be believed, when production amounted to 61,880,000 tons of coal, 923,000 tons of steel, and 6,000 million kilowatt hours of electricity.
