2018 marks the 40th anniversary of the beginning of China’s ‘reform and opening up’. This has produced in China the greatest economic achievement in human history – that statement is not meant as an exaggeration or as polite words, it is a simple statement of objective fact.

The ‘Western media’ is forced to attempt to factually conceal the scale of China’s achievement because to admit it would transform the world’s understanding of itself. For developing countries, the overwhelming majority of the world’s population, to admit this reality would show that the China’s ‘economic model’ is by far most effective practical way to achieve economic growth, to gigantically and rapidly improve the living standards of the average population, and to radically eliminate poverty. For the advanced economies China’s ‘socialist market economy’, with its decisive role of the state sector, but combined with a private sector, shows a clear and successful alternative to the failure of neo-liberalism in the ‘Washington Consensus’ and the austerity policies pursued by the advanced countries.

Most terrifyingly of all for the Western media China shows that the most successful economy in the world in producing economic growth and improving living standards is a socialist and not a capitalist one.

Because it is therefore vital for the Western media to prevent the truth about China’s economic achievements being widely know this website is therefore going to mark the 40th anniversary of the ‘reform and opening up’ policy, introduced by Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun, by a series of articles on the facts of China’s economic achievements in 1978-2018. It will demonstrate why it is simply a statement of fact that China’s economic achievement in the 40 years of ‘reform and opening up’ is greatest in human history.

This first article simply deals with the speed of China’s economic development. The economic growth rate of China in 1978-2019 is the fastest in a major economy in human history.

• Between 1978 and 2017 China’s economy expanded at an annual average 9.5% growth rate, growing in size almost 35 times.

For comparison the fastest rates of growth of other major economies over a 39 year period were the so called ‘Asian Tigers’. These were:
Taiwan Province of China, expanding at an average 8.8% and increasing in size almost 27 times in 1950-89;
South Korea expanding at an annual average 8.3% or increasing in size almost 23 times in 1952-91,
Hong Kong SAR growing at an average 8.1% or expanding almost 21 times in 1958-1997, and Singapore growing at an annual average 8.1%, or expanding almost 21 times in 1951-1990. These are shown on the chart.

But all these economies were very small compared to China. Taking really large economies, which are therefore more comparable to China, the fastest growth over a 39 year period ever recorded was Japan in 1950-89 when it expanded at an annual average 6.7% or by almost 13 times.

The facts are therefore clear. China’s is the fastest growth ever experienced by a major economy in the whole of human history. There are other features, which will be explored in this series of articles, which are equally striking, but this single fact alone establishes China as an unprecedented economic achievement.