ABSTRACT
The Chinese economy has experienced spectacular growth since it started economic reform and the open-door policy in 1978. Real growth of gross domestic product (GDP) during 1979-1999 was at an annual rate of 9.7 per cent. In 1978, China’s total GDP was only US$44 billion or just 70 per cent of that of South Korea’s. By mid-2000 China’s total nominal GNP had reached US$1 trillion, which was two and a half times that of South Korea’s and ranked the world’s seventh largest. In terms of purchasing power parity (PPP), the Chinese economy in 1999 became the world’s second largest after the USA, although one needs, of course, to be aware of the problem of overstating China’s real GDP by the PPP measure (World Bank, 2000-2001).
