The History of China Foreign Trade
1.The History of China’s Foreign Trade
◆Chinese foreign trade began as early as the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 9), when the famous "silk route" through Central Asia was pioneered by Chinese envoys. In old days, China’s foreign trade was flourishing but foreign trade was never a major economic activity.
◆During the first thirty years since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, Foreign trade did not account for a large part of the Chinese economy . The early 50’s of last century, China’s economy is in a recovery period, the total imports and exports remain in a low level which is less than 20 billion dollars. During the 1950s and 1960s, the total value of foreign trade was only about 2 percent of the gross national product (GNP). ◆With the country's reform and opening-up policies implemented in 1978, The opening up policy led to the reorganization and decentralization of foreign trade institutions, the adoption of a legal framework to facilitate foreign economic relations and trade, direct foreign investment, the creation of special economic zones, the rapid expansion of foreign trade, the importation of foreign technology and management methods, and participation in international foreign economic organizations. These changes not only benefited the Chinese economy but also integrated China into the world economy. In 1985 Chinese foreign trade rose to US$70.8 billion, representing 20 percent of China's GNP and 2 percent of total world trade and putting China sixteenth in world trade rankings. By the mid-1990s China had become one of the world's largest trading nations. ◆Especially, after China’s accession to the WTO in December 2001, foreign trade also brought out new vitality and won the best and fastest period of development in history. The import and export trade in 2001 has amounted to 509.7 billion U.S. dollars and we first achieved to 1000 billion U.S. dollars in 2004. In 2007, the volume of foreign trade has achieved to the goal of 2000
◆Chinese foreign trade began as early as the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 9), when the famous "silk route" through Central Asia was pioneered by Chinese envoys. In old days, China’s foreign trade was flourishing but foreign trade was never a major economic activity.
◆During the first thirty years since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, Foreign trade did not account for a large part of the Chinese economy . The early 50’s of last century, China’s economy is in a recovery period, the total imports and exports remain in a low level which is less than 20 billion dollars. During the 1950s and 1960s, the total value of foreign trade was only about 2 percent of the gross national product (GNP). ◆With the country's reform and opening-up policies implemented in 1978, The opening up policy led to the reorganization and decentralization of foreign trade institutions, the adoption of a legal framework to facilitate foreign economic relations and trade, direct foreign investment, the creation of special economic zones, the rapid expansion of foreign trade, the importation of foreign technology and management methods, and participation in international foreign economic organizations. These changes not only benefited the Chinese economy but also integrated China into the world economy. In 1985 Chinese foreign trade rose to US$70.8 billion, representing 20 percent of China's GNP and 2 percent of total world trade and putting China sixteenth in world trade rankings. By the mid-1990s China had become one of the world's largest trading nations. ◆Especially, after China’s accession to the WTO in December 2001, foreign trade also brought out new vitality and won the best and fastest period of development in history. The import and export trade in 2001 has amounted to 509.7 billion U.S. dollars and we first achieved to 1000 billion U.S. dollars in 2004. In 2007, the volume of foreign trade has achieved to the goal of 2000