ABSTRACT
Between 1978 and 2008 China recorded the most extended period of rapid economic growth the world has ever seen, averaging close to 10 per cent per annum during this time. Economic reforms, combined with the opening up to the global economy, have brought hundreds of millions of Chinese people out of poverty and raised the living standards of virtually every Chinese citizen. The Chinese economy is now the second largest in the world and, barring a major growth collapse, is on track to becoming the largest.
