1999 China’s gross domestic product (GDP) was $989.5 billion. The size of the country’s economy, which is comparable to that of Canada($635 billion), makes China a significant economic power; despite this, it remains a low-income, developing country because it must support a huge population of more than 1.2 billion. In 1999 China’s per capita GDP was just $790, compared to $20,820 in Canada. Industrial activity (manufacturing, mining, and construction) contributes the largest percentage of the country’s GDP, amounting to 49 percent in 1999. Transportation, commerce, and services together accounted for 33 percent. And agriculture, together with forestry and fishing, contributed 18 percent.

The Chinese economy thus has been in a state of transition since the late 1970s as the country has moved away from a Soviet-type economic system. Agriculture has been decollectivized, the small nonagricultural private sector has grown rapidly, and government priorities have shifted toward light, rather than heavy, industry. Nevertheless, key bottlenecks continue to constrain growth. Available energy is sufficient to run less than 80 percent of installed industrial capacity, the transport system is inadequate to move sufficient quantities of such critical items as coal, and the communications system cannot meet the needs of a centrally planned economy of China's size and complexity.