The vast Chinese economy has developed in fits and starts since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949.
China is the world's largest producer of rice, and a major producer of cereals and grain.
Large mineral deposits, particularly coal and iron ore, provide the raw material for an extensive steel industry. In the last ten years, central government policy has switched the emphasis in development from heavy to light industry, and promoted the evolution of a service sector. Chemicals and high technology industries have grown particularly quickly. China is self-sufficient in oil and is developing a petrochemicals industry. Trade has been hampered somewhat in recent years by a shortage of foreign exchange, but China has benefited from the availability of soft loans from Western banks.