China and the World in the Nineties

Abstract

Since the founding of the new China, a relatively integrated industrial system has been established after nearly forty years’ efforts. Industrial and agricultural production has developed rapidly, and scientific and technological standards have risen remarkably. By 1986, China’s output of major industrial and agricultural products was the largest in the world: for example, cereal, meat, cotton, cloth and cement ranked first; coal, second; chemical fertilizer, third; steel, fourth; and crude oil, chemical fibers and electric energy, fifth. The number of natural scientists and technical personnel in China reached 8,253,100; the number of R&D institutes in natural science and technology affiliated to governmental organizations above county level was up to 5,271, employing 1.02 million staff, of whom 324,800 are scientists and engineers. The scale of these operations also put China among the first in the world.