There have been periods of great disorder, the worst of which was the Cultural Revolution, officially lasting from 1966-1970. .
Economic Facts .
China's economy has been improving rapidly since 1978 when China opened the doors to foreign investment and opened the economy to more private initiative. This has resulted in an immense increase in consumer activity, so that upper middle class families have many symbols of middle class wealth: refrigerators, telephones, color televisions, video CD players, and more. Commercialism and materialism are increasingly popular in China. However, there is still terrible poverty as well. In the brief time since 1978, China has once again emerged a significant economic power and throughout much of China today, business is booming. ( ) .
China's economy is largely based on the rich supply of natural resources located in the country. It has coal, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, uranium, hydropower potential (world's largest). China has strong infrastructure in place and developed transport, water and electricity networks. Rivers also play a major role in China, both for transportation and for irrigation. .
China is self-sufficient in food, has a wealth of mineral resources and an increasingly diversified industrial base, aided in part by foreign direct investment over the past two decades and a steadfast adherence to unfair trade practices.
China now produces the largest crops of grains, meat, cotton, peanuts, rape seed and fruits in the world, and the third-largest crops of tea, soybean and sugar cane. It is also the world's largest producer of steel, coal, cement, fertilizers and TV sets in the world, and the second-largest producer of electricity, cotton cloth and chemical fiber. .
Chinas major exports are machinery and equipment; textiles and clothing, footwear, toys and sporting goods; mineral fuels.
