Asia's Turning Point: An Introduction to Asia's Dynamic Economies at the Dawn of the New Century

7

China: A New Heavyweight

A Few Basics

China has the largest population in the world—1.3 billion people. By territory it runs third after Russia and Canada.

In terms of per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) of the purchasing power parity (PPP) variety, which was US$5,292 in 2007, it still belongs to the group of low-middle-income countries and was ranked ninety-ninth between Samoa and Namibia.

China is very rich in natural resources. Vast cultivated lands are concentrated in its eastern part, grasslands in the north and west, and forests in the northeast and southwest. The country has deposits of most of the fuel and mineral resources known. The major ones include coal, petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, copper, aluminum, tungsten, molybdenum, manganese, tin, lead, zinc, mercury, phosphorus, sulfur, and antimony. The resources of rare metals are the richest in the world. Many deposits are still undeveloped.

China’s representative agricultural products are rice (the largest volume of production in the world), wheat, corn, tobacco, soybean, barley, apples, oil seed, cotton, and pork. It produces a uniquely wide variety of teas.

The country has a full set of industries—both mining and manufacturing—and is the world leader, in terms of production volume, for certain major products. The main industries are iron and steel, nonferrous metals, coal, petroleum, electrical and nonelectrical machinery, home electronics, telecommunication equipment, transportation machinery (including production ...