Abstract
China’s aggregate economic activity has increased and the national economy has developed rapidly since the reform and opening-up policy was carried out after 1978. The GDP growth rate has kept over 10 percent since 2004. It is really a success taking consideration of the previous poverty and lagging industry. This active change is mainly due to the upgrading of the industrial structure.
The first part of this thesis mainly described the gradual changes in China’s industrial structure. The adjustment after 1978 can be divided into 5 stages. The first stage was from 1978 to 1984. The focus point of adjustment in this period was to develop primary industry to release the food stress. Among the three main industries, the government gave top priority to primary industry and light and textile industry and promoted the development of infrastructure and basic industry. As to the internal structure of primary industry, the government provided fund and policy support to encourage farmers to engage in forestry, animal-breeding and fishery.
The second stage was from 1985 to 1992. The main task in this period was to develop non-agricultural industries. For primary industry, the most important policy was to promote the development of labor and skill intensive industry and the ratio of crops farming still kept the downtrend. For secondary industry, the main part of the structure was changed from raw material industry to processing and assembly industry. The light industry still got the priority to develop comparing to the heavy industry in this period. For tertiary industry, the government gave priority to transportation and communication and new industry was highly valued.
The third stage was from 1993 to 2000. The dominant position of secondary industry was reestablished and strengthened in this stage. The notable feature of this period was that the ratio of secondary industry increased rapidly with the strengthening of the construction of infrastructure industry such as energy, transportation and communication. The government made policy to proceed with the construction of infrastructure of energy, transport and communication. Industrial departments such as electricity, steel, machinery, motor, shipbuilding, chemical, electronics, building materials became the main driving force of national economic development. In the urban areas, the development of business and catering service industry was preceeded. In the rural areas, policies were made according to their local circumstances and combined with the industrialization of agriculture and the construction of small towns. The regional imbalance also got improvement.
The fourth stage was from 2001 to 2005. The tenth five-year plan was carried out in this period and it was the most important period for the strategic adjustment of economic structure. The main guide-line was that the fundamental position of primary industry should be strengthened and the comprehensive development of rural economy should be promoted. The overall quality and international competitiveness of China’s secondary industry, which was market-oriented and took enterprises as the main bodies, were improved by the technological development. The great development of social production capacity was gained by the stimulation of information to industrialization. The quality and efficiency of traditional service industries such as commerce, transportation and municipal service were transformed by the use of modern management methods and service technology.
The fifth stage was from 2006 to now. The eleventh five-year plan was carried out during this period. The main policies here were to take the development of comprehensive agricultural production capacity as the primary task, to change the growth mode and to strengthen its fundamental position. The main requirements of new-style industrialization were to adjust the production structure, the organizational structure of enterprises and industrial layout so that the overall technical level and competitiveness could be improved. The government tried their best to promote the coordinated regional development and reduce the energy consumption.
The second part of this thesis compared China with India in the aspect of changes in industrial structure. China and India are neighbors and have many similarities in the aspect of national basic conditions. They both have a large population and a weak economic background. They were almost at the same starting line in the process of industrialization and social and economic modernization. Although China and India adopted similar economic development strategy at the begining of their national independence, their industrial structures differed greatly. China followed the traditional path of industrialization that was following the procedure of primary-secondary-tertiary and took secondary industry especially manufacturing industry as the core of economic development at the present stage. India’s economic growth pattern was quite different from other countries in Asia especially China. It mainly relied on domestic market instead of export, on consumption instead of investment, on tertiary industry instead of secondary industry, on high technology instead of low-skilled manufacturing. India’s service industry played a very important role in Indian economic growth.