

Nearly 40 years after Deng Xiaoping's first reform, China has become one of the leading economic power of the world with a yearly average growth rate of 9%.
* People, culture and education
- 1.3 billion inhabitants (25% aged under 14, and 7% over 65)
- average unemployment rate in towns : 10%
- Birth rate : 16‰ / Infantile death rate : 27‰
- main religions: Taoism, Buddhism (+ Islam, Christianism)
- education:
* reading and writing rate : 82% of the people
* 40 millions graduate students per year / 1.5 millions engineers
* Geography and infrastructure
- area: 9.6 million km2
- 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions et 2 special administrative regions
- 5 special economic zones
- 1997 - 2002: development of 500 000 km of roads and 20 000 km of motorways
- 2002 - 2005: building of 10 new airports
* Socialist market economy
- currency : Yuan
- GDP : 1150 billion US$ (world rank : 6 th
- natural resources: coal, iron, oil, natural gas, aluminium, lead, zinc... + world's lagest hydroelectrical power potential.
- yearly average growth: 7.5% in 2003
- industrial yearly averaeg growth : 9.9% in 2001
- working people: 700 millions (50% in agriculture / 23% in industry)
- 8 million companies with 99% of small businesses
- exports: USA 21% , Europe 15.2%
- imports: Japan 18.5% , Europe 14.1%, USA 10.3%



