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)
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "China: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	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)World Bank. "China: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	11.609 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "China: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	6.580 	7.093 	7.862 	8.671 	8.760 	9.468 	9.621 	10.264 	 	
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "China: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.	 	 	 	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.
==External 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
* China's empty city (video), Al-Jazeera English , November 2009
* 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
Category:Countries