Over the past 75 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Communist Party of China has united and led the people of all ethnic groups across the country to work hard and forge ahead, and gradually establish a relatively complete national economic system under the conditions of poverty and whiteness. Through in-depth promotion of reform and opening up and continuous enhancement of the vitality of economic development, the mainland's economy and society have achieved historic leapfrog development, creating great miracles in the history of human development. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, all regions and departments have thoroughly implemented the new development concept, accelerated the construction of a new development pattern, and focused on promoting high-quality development.
1. Economic strength has developed by leaps and bounds, and its comprehensive output capacity is leading in the world (1) The total economic output has jumped to the second place in the world At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the mainland's economic foundation was very weak, and the scale of the economy was very small, and the mainland's gross domestic product (GDP) in 1952 was only 30 billion US dollars[1]. As a result of unremitting efforts, the mainland's economy has achieved relatively rapid development, and its economic aggregate ranks among the highest in the world. In 1978, the mainland's GDP reached $149.5 billion, accounting for 1.7% of the world economy. Since the beginning of reform and opening up, the mainland's total economic output has continued to expand, and its proportion in the world economy has increased substantially, making a significant contribution to world economic growth. From 1979 to 2023, the average annual growth rate of the mainland economy is 8.9%, much higher than the average growth rate of the world economy of 3.0% in the same period, and the average annual contribution rate to world economic growth is 24.8%, ranking first in the world. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the mainland's economic aggregate has continuously crossed a new level, exceeding 10 trillion US dollars in 2014, reaching 10.5 trillion US dollars, and reaching 17.8 trillion US dollars in 2023, accounting for 16.9% of the world's total, an increase of 5.6 percentage points over 2012, ranking second in the world. (2) Leading in the world in industrial development At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the level of industrial development on the mainland was extremely low, and the total scale was small. In 1952, the added value of the mainland's industry was only $6.23 billion, and the added value of agriculture was only $15.1 billion. Adhering to the path of independent development, the mainland's industrial and agricultural production has made great progress and established a relatively complete industrial system. In 1978, the added value of the mainland's agriculture, industry, and service industries was $41.4 billion, $71.4 billion, and $36.8 billion, respectively, 2.7 times, 11.5 times, and 4.3 times that of 1952. Since the reform and opening up, the mainland's industrial development has entered the fast lane, and industrialization has advanced rapidly, and it has completed the industrialization process that developed countries have gone through for hundreds of years in a few decades. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the mainland's industrial and service industries have increased in quantity and quality. From the perspective of industry, the added value of mainland industry will reach 6.8 trillion US dollars in 2023, of which the added value of manufacturing will reach 4.7 trillion US dollars, maintaining the status of the world's largest manufacturing country for 14 consecutive years. The high-tech industry is developing rapidly, and the technological level of key industries such as new energy vehicles and smart phones has entered the forefront of the world. From the perspective of the service industry, the scale of output has increased steadily, and the international competitiveness has been significantly enhanced. In 2023, the added value of the mainland's tertiary industry will reach 9.7 trillion US dollars. (3) The Output of Major Industrial and Agricultural Products Ranks Steadily in the Forefront of the World In the early days of the founding of New China, the mainland's industrial and agricultural production foundation was weak, and the output of major industrial and agricultural products was relatively low, making it difficult to meet the basic living needs of the masses. After nearly 30 years of development, the output of major industrial and agricultural products on the mainland has increased substantially. In 1978, the mainland's grain and meat output ranked second and third in the world respectively; The crude steel output was 31.78 million tons, 201 times that of 1949, ranking fifth in the world; The output of raw coal was 620 million tons, 19.3 times that of 1949, ranking third in the world, and the output of cement was 65.24 million tons, 98.8 times that of 1949, ranking fourth in the world. Since the beginning of reform and opening up, with the continuous deepening of the mainland's rural reforms, the total grain output has stepped onto a new level one after another, and the output of cereals, meat, peanuts, tea, fruits, and other crops has increased steadily, ranking first in the world in terms of output. The mainland's industrialization has advanced rapidly, and the output of major industrial products has increased substantially. At present, among the world's 500 major industrial products, more than 40 percent of the mainland's product output ranks first in the world. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the mainland's grain production has remained stable at more than 650 million tons for nine consecutive years, achieving "basic self-sufficiency in grain and absolute security in rations." The output of some high-tech products ranks among the top in the world. In 2023, the output of smartphones and microcomputer equipment in mainland China will reach 1.14 billion units and 330 million units, respectively, both of which will remain the first in the world, and the annual shipbuilding output will account for more than 40% of the world's market share. (4) Leading the World in Infrastructure Construction In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the mainland's infrastructure was devastated, and the constraints on the development of the national economy and the improvement of the people's living standards were very obvious. As a result of continuous efforts, in 1978, the operating mileage of the mainland railways, the mileage of highways, and the number of fixed-line telephone subscribers increased to 52,000 kilometers, 890,000 kilometers, and 1.93 million respectively, which were 2.4 times, 11.0 times, and 8.8 times that of 1949, respectively. Since the reform and opening up, the mainland's infrastructure construction has entered a golden period of development. In 2008, the operating mileage of the mainland railway reached 80,000 kilometers, ranking second in the world, and in 2012, the operating mileage of the mainland railway, the mileage of highways and the number of fixed telephone users increased to 98,000 kilometers, 4.24 million kilometers and 280 million respectively. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the mainland's infrastructure construction has advanced rapidly By the end of 2023, the operating mileage of mainland railways and highways will be 159,000 kilometers and 5.44 million kilometers respectively; The operating mileage of high-speed railways and expressways in mainland China are 45,000 kilometers and 184,000 kilometers respectively, ranking first in the world. In 2023, the penetration rate of mobile phone users in mainland China will reach 123 per 100 people, the Internet penetration rate will reach 77.5%, and the number of mobile communication users and mobile broadband users will rank first in the world, and the world's largest mobile broadband network has been built. 2. Growing Scientific and Technological Strength, Successfully Ranking Among the Ranks of Innovative Countries (1) R&D Investment Has Increased Significantly In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the mainland's R&D investment was very limited, there was a shortage of scientific research personnel and institutions, and there were no more than 50,000 scientific and technological personnel in the country, and there were only more than 30 specialized scientific and technological institutions. Since the reform and opening up, the mainland's investment in the field of science and technology has increased. In 1995, the mainland's R&D investment was only US$4.18 billion, and in 2010 it exceeded US$100 billion, reaching US$104.3 billion. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the mainland's R&D investment has increased significantly. In 2013, China's R&D investment was US$191.21 billion, surpassing Japan to become the world's second largest R&D investment economy, and the R&D investment intensity[2] reached 2.00%, exceeding the EU average for the first time. In 2023, the mainland's R&D investment will reach US$469.8 billion, and the intensity of R&D investment will increase to 2.64%, close to the average of 2.7% in OECD countries. (2) Knowledge output has leapt to the ranks of major countries In the nearly 30 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the construction of the mainland's intellectual property system has basically been blank. After the reform and opening up, with the gradual improvement of the intellectual property system from scratch, the mainland's knowledge output has grown rapidly. In 1985, the number of invention patent applications accepted in mainland China was 8,558, and in 2011 it climbed to 526,000, ranking first in the world. In 2009, the proportion of scientific and technological papers indexed by the Science Citation Index (SCI) in mainland China reached 8.8% of the world's, an increase of 5.6 percentage points over 2000, and it jumped to the second place in the world for the first time. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the number of intellectual property rights accepted and the number of scientific and technological papers in mainland China have further increased. By the end of 2022, the number of invention patent applications accepted in mainland China reached 1.619 million, ranking first in the world, and the number of PCT international patent applications ranked first in the world for four consecutive years. The share of scientific and technological papers included in the mainland in the world has increased from 12.1% in 2012 to 28.9% in 2022, surpassing United States to rank first in the world since 2021. From 2013 to 2023, the number of highly cited international papers [3] in various disciplines in mainland China reached 58,000, accounting for 30.8% of the world share, second only to the 77,000 in United States and ranking second in the world [4]. (3) Significant Improvement in Innovation Ability At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the mainland's scientific and technological level lagged behind significantly. Under extremely difficult conditions, the mainland has created a number of major scientific and technological achievements, such as the "two bombs and one satellite." Since the beginning of reform and opening up, the mainland's scientific and technological strength has been continuously enhanced, and the gap between the mainland and the developed countries has gradually narrowed. Breakthroughs have been made in manned spaceflight engineering and deep-sea diving, with the "Shenzhou-1" successfully flying into the sky and the "Jiaolong" winning the 7,000-meter sea trial. The yield per mu of hybrid rice is the first in the world to achieve the goal of "super rice". The construction of satellite navigation system has been continuously strengthened, and it has a completely independent high-performance satellite navigation system. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the mainland has been moving forward to build a scientific and technological power, and a series of major achievements with far-reaching impact have emerged in some key and cutting-edge fields, and its innovation ability has been significantly enhanced. Major breakthroughs have been made in basic research fields such as quantum science, iron-based superconductivity, dark matter particle detection satellites, and CIPS stem cells. The C919 large aircraft has achieved commercial flight, the domestic large cruise ship has been officially operated, the Shenzhou family space relay, the "Struggler" extreme deep diving, the new energy vehicle industry leads the world, the installed capacity of lithium batteries, photovoltaics, wind power, energy storage, and hydrogen production scale ranks first in the world, and 5G is the first to achieve large-scale application. In 2013, the mainland ranked 35th in the world in the total innovation index, and in 2023, it jumped to 12th in the world, and is the only economy in the top 30 in the upper-middle-income group and has reached the median level of G7 countries. III. Earth-shaking Changes in Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, and the Influence of Major Powers Has Become Increasingly Evident (1) Breakthroughs in Foreign Trade At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the scale of the mainland's foreign trade in goods was extremely limited. According to the data of the World Trade Organization, in 1950, the total import and export volume of the mainland's trade in goods was only 1.1 billion US dollars, accounting for 0.9% of the world's total. After the reform and opening up, the mainland's foreign trade in goods has entered a period of accelerated development. In 1999, the mainland's total import and export of goods reached US$360.6 billion, ranking ninth in the world, and in 2009, the total import and export volume of goods reached US$2,207.5 billion, ranking second in the world. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the total import and export volume of the mainland's trade in goods and its ranking in the world have been further improved, and in 2013, the mainland has become the world's largest country in trade in goods. In 2023, the total import and export volume of the mainland's trade in goods will reach 5.9 trillion US dollars, accounting for 12.4% of the world's total, ranking first in the world for seven consecutive years. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the mainland's trade in services was almost zero, but after the reform and opening up, it realized that it started from scratch and entered a period of rapid development. In 1982, the total import and export volume of the mainland's trade in services was US$4.69 billion, ranking 34th in the world, and in 2012, it reached US$482.9 billion, ranking fourth in the world. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the scale of the mainland's trade in services has been In 2023, the total import and export volume of China's service trade will reach 933.1 billion US dollars, ranking fourth in the world. (2) "Bringing In" and "Going Out" Yielding Fruitful Results In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the mainland's use of foreign direct investment was almost blank, and since the reform and opening up, it has entered a period of rapid growth. In 1983, the mainland attracted only $920 million in foreign direct investment, in 1992 it exceeded $10 billion, reaching $11 billion, and in 2008, it exceeded $100 billion, reaching $108.3 billion. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the scale of foreign direct investment attracted by the mainland has continued to expand. In 2020, the mainland attracted US$149.3 billion in foreign direct investment and reached US$163.3 billion in 2023, maintaining its position as the world's second largest foreign capital inflow country for three consecutive years. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China and the early days of reform and opening up, the scale of the mainland's foreign direct investment was extremely small, and in 1990 the mainland's foreign direct investment was only $830 million. With the active integration of the mainland into globalization, especially after its accession to the World Trade Organization, the scale of the mainland's foreign direct investment has expanded rapidly. In 2005, the mainland's outward FDI reached US$12.3 billion, an increase of 13.8 times over 1990, and reached US$87.8 billion in 2012. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the scale of the mainland's foreign direct investment has continued to expand, ranking among the top in the world. In 2013, it exceeded 100 billion US dollars, reaching 107.8 billion US dollars; In 2023, it will reach 147.9 billion US dollars, ranking third in the world. (3) The status of foreign exchange reserves and the renminbi has been greatly improved In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the mainland's foreign exchange reserves were "stretched", and in 1952 the mainland's foreign exchange reserves were only 110 million US dollars. Since the beginning of reform and opening up, the mainland's foreign exchange reserves have gradually moved from a shortage to an abundance. In 1982, the mainland's foreign exchange reserves exceeded US$10 billion, reaching US$11.1 billion; In 1996, it exceeded 100 billion US dollars, reaching 105 billion US dollars; In 2006, it reached $1,066.3 billion, ranking first in the world. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the mainland's foreign exchange reserves have ranked first in the world. At the end of 2023, the balance of China's foreign exchange reserves was US$3,238 billion, accounting for 26.2% of the global foreign exchange reserves. For a long time since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the renminbi has been rarely used in international trade, investment and other fields. With the internationalization of the renminbi in mainland China, the international status of the renminbi has been greatly enhanced in recent years. According to the International Monetary Fund, at the end of 2023, the scale of RMB reserves held by global central banks was US$261.7 billion, accounting for 2.3%, an increase of 1.2 percentage points from 2016, when the RMB first joined the IMF's Special Drawing Rights (SDR), ranking sixth among major reserve currencies. In September 2023, the renminbi accounted for 5.8% of global trade finance, rising to second place in the world. (4) The Belt and Road Initiative has been deepened and implemented Since its inception in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative has achieved solid and substantial results. As of 2022, the mainland has completed an average annual turnover of US$130 billion in contracted projects in the co-construction countries, and has built a series of landmark projects such as the China-Laos Railway and the Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway. From 2013 to 2022, the cumulative scale of trade in goods between the mainland and the co-construction countries reached US$19.1 trillion, and the cumulative two-way investment exceeded US$380 billion. IV. Social Undertakings Flourish and People's Livelihood Security Becomes Increasingly Strengthened (1) The Human Development Index Continues to Rise In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the level of economic and social development on the mainland was very low, and the overall living standards of the people were poor. Since the beginning of reform and opening up, the living standards of the people on the mainland have been continuously improved, and the leap from a low level of human development to a high level of human development has been achieved. In 1990, the mainland's human development index was only 0.482, which was a country with a low level of human development, in 1997, the mainland's human development index reached 0.554, achieving a leap from a low level of human development to a medium level of human development, and in 2011, the mainland's human development index reached 0.706, reaching a high level of human development for the first time. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the mainland's human development index has continued to rise. In 2022, the mainland's human development index reached a record high of 0.788, and the per capita GNI, average life expectancy and expected years of education in the human development index are all higher than the world average. (2) Historic Settlement of the Problem of Absolute Poverty At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the mainland was poor and weak, and the majority of the people lived below the poverty line. Even in the early days of reform and opening up, according to the 2010 poverty standard, the incidence of rural poverty in mainland China was as high as 97.5% at the end of 1978. After reform and opening up, the mainland has implemented a planned and targeted policy of poverty relief and development, and the number of poor people has been greatly reduced. At the end of 2012, the incidence of rural poverty in mainland China dropped to 10.2 percent, down 87.3 percentage points from 1978. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core has always put poverty alleviation in a prominent position in governance, adhered to targeted poverty alleviation, and made every effort to win the largest battle against poverty in human history. By the end of 2020, all 832 poverty-stricken counties across the country had been lifted out of poverty, nearly 100 million rural poor people had been lifted out of poverty, and more than 9.6 million poor people had been relocated, completing the arduous task of eradicating absolute poverty, accounting for more than 70% of the world's poverty reduction population, and making significant contributions to global poverty reduction. (3) Significant improvement in the level of education and medical care In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the starting point of education in the mainland was low. In 1949, about 80 percent of the mainland's 540 million people were illiterate. As a result of vigorous development, the level of education on the mainland has been markedly improved. Since the beginning of reform and opening up, education on the mainland has entered the fast lane of development, and education at the junior and senior high school levels has basically been popularized. According to the Ministry of Education, in 2012, the gross enrolment rate at the junior and senior secondary levels in mainland China reached 102.1 per cent and 85.0 per cent respectively. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the development of education has ushered in a new situation, and the level of popularization of higher education has been significantly improved. In 2023, the mainland's gross enrolment ratio in tertiary education reached 60.2%, significantly higher than that of middle-income countries. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the medical and health conditions on the mainland were poor There are few medical institutions and medical professionals, and the level of medical technology is low. The average life expectancy of residents is only 35 years [5]. According to the World Bank, the infant mortality rate in mainland China was 83.3 per thousand in 1969, which was significantly higher. Through the establishment and improvement of the medical security system for urban workers and the cooperative medical care in rural areas, the mainland's medical and public health conditions have been markedly improved. Since the beginning of reform and opening up, the mainland's public health undertakings have accelerated their development. In 2000, for the first time, the infant mortality rate on the mainland was lower than the average for the upper-middle-income group over the same period. In 2012, the infant mortality rate in mainland China was 10.5 per thousand, a decrease of 41.1 thousand points from 1978, and the average life expectancy of residents reached 74.4 years. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the mainland's medical and health conditions have continued to improve In 2022, the infant mortality rate in mainland China fell to 4.8 per thousand, close to the average of 4.1 per thousand for the high-income group of countries. In 2023, the average life expectancy of mainland residents will increase to 78.6 years, an increase of 43.6 years from the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China. The proportion of the population with access to basic sanitation services increased from 81.2% in 2013 to 95.9% in 2022, and the proportion of the population with access to basic drinking water services increased from 91.2% in 2013 to 97.6% in 2022, exceeding the average for the upper-middle-income group in 2016 and 2022 respectively. (4) Great Progress in Culture and Sports In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, there was an extreme shortage of public cultural service facilities on the mainland. In 1949, there were only 55 public libraries and 21 museums in the country. At the beginning of reform and opening up, the mainland's public cultural service facilities were still insufficient. Since the beginning of reform and opening up, the cultural life of the masses on the mainland has become richer and richer. In 2012, the number of public libraries and museums increased to 3,076, an increase of 1.5 times and 7.8 times respectively over 1978. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the mainland's cultural undertakings have further prospered, and the cultural soft power has been greatly enhanced. In 2023, the number of public libraries in the country will further increase to 3,246, and the number of museums will double from 2012 to 6,833. According to data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the mainland's exports of personal, cultural and entertainment services will reach US$1.39 billion in 2023, an increase of 10.1 times compared with 2012. The mainland's cultural exchanges with other countries have been further deepened. Since its first Chinese in 2002, the "Chinese Bridge" series of competitions has attracted more than 1.5 million young people from more than 160 countries to participate in the competition, with hundreds of millions of visitors worldwide every year, and has become an international competition that Chinese learners from all over the world pay close attention to and actively participate in. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the development of the mainland's sports industry has made a difficult start, and it has made continuous breakthroughs, realizing the transformation from the "sick man of East Asia" to a sports power, and is continuing to advance towards the goal of becoming a sports power. In 1956, Chen Jingkai broke the world record in the bantamweight clean and jerk with a score of 133 kg, becoming the first Chinese athlete to break the world record; In the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics in United States, shooting athlete Xu Haifeng won the first gold, and China achieved a breakthrough of "zero" Olympic gold medal; In 2008, the mainland hosted the Olympic Games for the first time and topped the gold medal table with 48 gold medals; In 2022, the 24th Winter Olympics will be successfully held in mainland China, and Beijing will become the world's first "double Olympic city". According to data from the General Administration of Sports of China, as of 2023, mainland athletes have won 3,913 world championships, setting a world record of 1,397 times. 75 years of hard work, 75 years of spring and autumn. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese nation has increasingly moved closer to the center of the world stage, ushered in a bright prospect of great rejuvenation, and created a Chinese miracle of rapid economic development and long-term social stability that is rare in the world. The country's economic, scientific and technological strength, and comprehensive national strength have achieved a historic leap, and its contribution to the international community has become increasingly significant, profoundly changing the pattern of world development. However, at the same time, it should also be noted that the world is undergoing major changes unseen in a century, external instability and uncertainties are increasing, the country is in a critical period of transformation and adjustment, and the tasks of reform, development and stability are arduous and arduous. In the next stage, we must adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, thoroughly implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the 2nd and 3rd Plenary Sessions of the 20th CPC Central Committee, adhere to economic construction as the center, comprehensively deepen reform and opening up, accelerate the construction of a new development pattern, strive to promote high-quality development, continuously enhance the comprehensive strength of the mainland's development, improve people's livelihood and well-being, strive to promote Chinese-style modernization, and strive to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Note: [1] For the sake of international comparison, a large amount of data in this article comes from international organizations. [2] Ratio of R&D expenditure to GDP. [3] Highly cited papers refer to papers that rank in the top 1% of the world's cumulative citations. [4] The relevant data of paper output are from the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the international comparative data of SCI papers include Hong Kong and Macao.
5. The average life expectancy of residents is from the National Health Commission.
Source: Statistical WeChat