China's economy changed from a centrally planned system that was largely closed to international trade, to a more market-oriented economy that has a rapidly growing private sector and is a major player in the global economy.
In 1989, the [[Tiananmen Square democracy protests]] were inspired by an explosion of democracy protests worldwide, resulting in the [[Fall of the Berlin Wall]], the Czech [[Velvet Revolution]], and the collapse of Soviet Communism. The Chinese protests however were quashed when the so-called "People's Liberation Army" killed over 10,000 Chinese people. The Chinese Communist Party then established a registry of social organizations, in order to head off political upheaval. Falun Gong, a revival of pre-Maoist Cultural Revolution traditions, registered with the Chinese government in 1992. It soon attracted “tens of millions of adherents,” the political-science professor Maria Hsia Chang writes in ''Falun Gong: The End of Days.''' Falun Gong started holding enormous gatherings; by the mid- 1990s, there were more than two thousand Falun Gong practice sites in [[Beijing]] alone. Troubled by the possibility that a large part of the population was becoming more loyal to Falun Gong than to the Communist Party, the government began cracking down on groups and banning sales of Falun Gong publications.
By 1999, the CCP estimated that the group had seventy million adherents; that year, more than ten thousand of them staged a silent protest in Tiananmen Square. An arrest warrant was issued for Li Hongzhi, the group founder, who had by then immigrated to Queens, New York. The Chinese National Congress subsequently passed, and began [[violent]]ly enforcing, an "anti-cult law".<ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20101127131821/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/16/world/china-expels-53-foreign-falun-gong-followers.html</ref>
==Deng reform era==
Nevertheless, serious imbalances exist behind the spectacular trade performance, high investment flows, and high GDP growth. High numbers of non-performing loans weigh down the state-run banking system. Inefficient state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are still a drag on growth, despite announced efforts to sell, merge, or close the vast majority of SOEs.
Social and economic indicators have improved since after reforms were launched, but rising inequality is evident between the more highly developed coastal provinces and the less developed, poorer inland regions. According to World Bank estimates, more than 152 million people in China in 2003—mostly in rural areas of the lagging inland provinces—still live in poverty, on consumption of less than U.S. $1 a day.
Following the Chinese Communist Party's Third Plenum, held in October 2003, Chinese legislators unveiled several proposed amendments to the state constitution. One of the most significant was a proposal to provide protection for private property rights. Legislators also indicated there would be a new emphasis on certain aspects of overall government economic policy, including efforts to reduce unemployment (now in the 8-10% range in urban areas), to rebalance income distribution between urban and rural regions, and to maintain economic growth while protecting the environment and improving social equity. The National People's Congress approved the amendments when it met in March 2004. The Fifth Plenum in October 2005 approved the 11th Five-Year Economic Program aimed at building a "harmonious society" through a more balanced wealth distribution and improved education, medical care, and social security.
China used the Summer Olympics in 2008 as a platform of propagating the so-called "economic development" to the world, while it is still a Communist country in its core of the past two decades since the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre. The new leadership is committed to generating greater economic development in the interior and providing more services to those who do not live in China's coastal areas.
In 2015, the Communist-controlled Mainland China (or self-proclaimed People's Republic) denied being as a market economy.
China's investment climate changed significantly. In the early 1980s, China restricted foreign investments to export-oriented operations and required foreign investors to form joint-venture partnerships with Chinese firms. Foreign direct investment (FDI) grew quickly during the 1980s, but stalled in late 1989 in the aftermath of Tiananmen. In response, the government introduced legislation and regulations designed to encourage foreigners to invest in high-priority sectors and regions. Since the early 1990s, China has allowed foreign investors to manufacture and sell a wide range of goods on the domestic market, and authorized the establishment of wholly foreign-owned enterprises, now the preferred form of FDI. However, the Chinese Government's emphasis on guiding FDI into manufacturing has led to market saturation in some industries, while leaving China's services sectors underdeveloped. China is now one of the leading recipients of FDI in the world, receiving almost $80 billion in 2005 according to World Bank statistics.
Despite the CCP's human rights abuses in the Tiananmen massacre, no trade sanctions were ever leveled by Western Powers and globalists. China was rewarded for its human rights abuses in 2001, despite the absence of reforms, by being welcomed into the [[World Trade Organization]] with full membership and a year later granted [[Most Favored Nation]] trade status by the [[U.S. Congress]].
China's merchandise exports totaled $969.3 billion and imports totaled $791.8 billion in 2006. Its global trade surplus surged from $32 billion in 2004 to $177.5 billion in 2006. China's primary trading partners include Japan, the EU, the United States, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. According to U.S. statistics, China had a trade surplus with the U.S. of $232.6 billion in 2006.
==Social policy==
[[File:Wmr1a.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Remains of what used to be [[human being]]s in the Tiananmen Square [[democracy]] protests.<ref>http://www.cnd.org/HYPLAN/yawei/june4th/</ref>]]
Despite the CCP's human rights abuses in the Tiananmen massacre, no trade sanctions were ever leveled by Western Powers and globalists. China was rewarded for its human rights abuses in 2001, despite the absence of reforms, by being welcomed into the [[World Trade Organization]] with full membership and a year later granted [[Most Favored Nation]] trade status by the [[U.S. Congress]].
===Tiananmen Square massacre===
===Doping in the Olympic Games===
''See also'': [[Irreligion and unsportsmanlike conduct]]
China used the Summer Olympics in 2008 as a platform of propagating the so-called "economic development" to the world, while it is still a Communist country in its core of the past two decades since the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre. The new leadership is committed to generating greater economic development in the interior and providing more services to those who do not live in China's coastal areas.
German news website ''Deutsche Welle'' (DW) reported:
{{Cquote|A former doctor has revealed the massive extent of doping of Chinese Olympic athletes during the 1980s and 1990s. The whistleblower has claimed more than 10,000 athletes were doped in the state-backed program.<ref>[https://www.dw.com/en/systematic-doping-of-chinese-athletes-in-olympic-games-revealed-by-former-doctor/a-41065227Systematic doping of Chinese athletes in the Olympic Games revealed by former doctor], DW</ref>}}