WCP: The Stature of China in the Global Economy

China started its reform and opening in 1979 and achieved an annual growth rate of 9 percent between 1979 and 1990. At the end of that period and even up to early 2000s, many scholars still believed that China could not continue that growth rate much longer due to the lack of fundamental reforms.1 However, China’s annual growth rate during the period 1990–2010 increased to 10.4 per- cent. On the global economic scene, China’s growth since the reform and open- ing started has been unprecedented. This was a dramatic contrast with the depressing performance of other transitional economies in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.