China development needs a closer look

Translated from China Business News

Some media are optimistic that China will realize its goal of succeeding all developed countries as the largest economy in the world in the near future.

China surpassed the United Kingdom and France in 2005, Germany in 2008, and Japan in 2010. The Chinese economy grew an average 10.7 percent annually from 2003 to 2011, much higher than the world average of 3.9 percent.

But the GDP per person in China ranks only 89th. The workers’ share of the GDP has dropped consistently for years. Surveys show that more than half the people polled believe they belong to the bottom class of society.

These problems are rare in other countries experiencing similar economic growth to China’s, and indicate China’s development should be considered in other ways.

Since China has the largest population in the world, we should now pay more attention to the average income per head to evaluate China’s development.

This is a more-realistic way to see today’s China clearly. The most pressing challenge for China now is to promote social fairness and justice, which makes China not only bigger, but also, more importantly, stronger.