ABSTRACT
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) was proclaimed on 1 October 1949. The Communist government inherited an economy in which the industrial sector had been decimated by wars. Inflation was rampant, there was a large budgetary deficit, transportation and communication channels had been disrupted for years, and there was high unemployment – the unemployment rate for males in non-agricultural areas was possibly as high as 32 per cent.1 The largely rural population – nearly 90 per cent – was illiterate and unskilled.
