China

For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. After World War II, the Communists under MAO Zedong established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, MAO's successor DENG Xiaoping and other leaders focused on market-oriented economic development and by 2000 output had quadrupled. For much of the population, living standards have improved dramatically and the room for personal choice has expanded, yet political controls remain tight. China since the early 1990s has increased its global outreach and participation in international organizations.

Economical characteristics

• Currency: Chinese yuan (renminbi) (¥) (ISO code: CNY)
• Central bank discount rate: 2.79% (31 December 2008)
• Commercial banks lending rate: 5.31% (31 December 2008)
• Stock of money (M1): $2.434 trillion (31 December 2008)
• Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $4.523 trillion (31 December 2008)

Housing bubble

China's economy is continuing to grow despite the global recession, helped by massive government spending. For years, regional governments across China have been building massive real estate projects that have attracted both private and corporate buyers. As prices have continued to rise (residential values in 70 large and medium-size cities across China soared in 2009, according to real estate consultancy Colliers International), more investors have become speculators, buying brand-new properties with the sole intention of flipping them.

A notable example is the city Ordos in Inner Mongolia, a whole town built with government money that is standing empty. The district was originally designed to house, support and entertain 1 million people.

Statistics

Statistic / Year	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
GDP (million USD)	1 083 280	1 198 480	1 324 800	1 453 830	1 640 960	1 931 640	2 235 910	2 657 880	3 382 260	4 327 000
Govt. debt (% of GDP)	11.609
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)	6.580	7.093	7.862	8.671	8.760	9.468	9.621	10.264
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)				10.734	10.448	11.124	10.885	11.372
Debt to revenue (years)	1.764

References

Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.

Links

• China on Wikipedia
• Central bank of China
• Country profile (pdf) from the Enterprise Studies page (part of the The World Bank Group)
• Studies from the Library of Congress (1986-1998)
• BBC country profile
• Economic Decline and the Failure of Chinese Enterpreneurs (pdf) by Greg Clydesdale, 2007
• Chinese equities: even riskier than you think by Sean Corrigan, September 2007
• Is China headed toward collapse? by Eamon Javers, October 2009
• How China Won and Russia Lost by Paul R. Gregory and Kate Zhou, December 2009
• Libertarianism in Ancient China by Murray N. Rothbard, from Economic Thought Before Adam Smith
• Pollution and Government Failure in China by Eric M. Staib, June 2010
• Chinese Factories Now Compete to Woo Laborers by Andrew Jacobs, July 2010
• Economic Thought in Ancient Greece by Jesus Huerta de Soto, September 2010, on Taoism
• Mao's Great Leap Forward 'killed 45 million in four years' by Arifa Akbar, September 2010
• The Last Chinese Banking Crisis Actually WAS Painful, And The Next Will Be Worse by Michael Pettis, January, 2011
• Bust Looms as China Booms by Markus Bergstrom, March 2011
• China's Debt Burden Limits Policy Leeway by Tom Orlik, March 2011