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Page last updated at 10:01 GMT, Friday, 2 October 2009 11:01 UK
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China: 60 years in facts and figures

Graphic showing GDP per capita: $17 in 1952, $3,388 in 2008. China had 825,000 millionaires in 2009

Key events

Cultural revolution

1966 Cultural Revolution

Launched by Mao Zedong to renew revolutionary zeal and make China less elitist. Schools were shut and millions forced into manual labour. Many died. It sparked civil unrest and chaos. The economy was badly hit.

Car show

1979 Economic Reform


China announced it would embrace a market economy and open up to foreign trade and investment. The economy has been transformed lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty though inequalityhas increased.


GPD over the last 60 years



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CHANGING CHINA

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