Some not often seen statistics about China that will shock and awe!
We are all bombarded on a daily basis about what is happening with China’s economy (averaging around 10% for last two decades and despite the GFC shooting for 8% in 2009) - will it maintain it’s high growth target, will the government stimulus package of 4 trillion yuan continue to counter the economic downturn? It is staggering to see how this growth is manifested in some not often seen facts and figures. Read on…
China’s Space Program:
China began developing a space program in the 1950’s and their first satellite,Dongfanghong-1 (The East is Red) was launched in 1970 making China the 5th country to launch a satellite into space.
The manned space program was inaugurated in 1992 with Taikonaut Yang Liwei.He was launched on Shenzhou 5 in October 2003. China was the third nation capable of putting a human in space on its own, after the USSR and the USA. Shenzhou 6 launched the second manned mission in 2005 with two Taikonauts; in 2009 Shenzhou 7 returned after 100 days in space and the taikonauts on board had their first space walk ever. China’s first lunar probe – Chang’e 1 was launched in 2007 to explore the moon.
Goal to build a Space Station
China is preparing to establish its first space station by 2020. In 2011 it plans to launch a space module to provide a safe room for Chinese taikonauts to live and conduct research - Tiangong 1 (Heavenly Palace) – a docking and testing base for the space station.
Cities with Populations Greater than 1 million:
Shanghai has a population of 20 million people; Beijing and Tianjin 15 million each; and seven other cities had a population of more than 5 million. More than 100 Chinese cities have a population of more than 1 million.
The municipality of Chongqing claims 31 million taking in neighbouring counties.
By 2025 China will have 221 cities with more than a million inhabitants.
Skyscrapers:
Hong Kong with 7422 skyscrapers will be hard to top.
Shanghai has 549 skyscrapers with 300 more under construction
According to statistics in The Guardian, “China will build up to 50,000 skyscrapers in the next 20 years, the equivalent of 10 New Yorks, creating sustained long-term demand for steel and other raw materials.”
Steel:
The largest producer of steel in the world and the top exporter
According to a 2005 report China’s steel consumption had increased to more than twice what the USA consumes annually. Steel usage is an economic barometer for a country’s industrial development. Other than steel China was also the leading user of other metals such as aluminum and copper.
In 2008, 500 million tonnes (36.6% of world); and despite forecasts to the contrary – in 2009 it is approaching record levels again.
Cement:
For the past 18 years, China has produced the most cement in the world
Global cement usage in 2008 was 2.8 billion tons andChina used 1.3 billion tons - 45% of the world consumption.
The cement usage is fueled by the addition of one to one-and-a-half Los Angeles every year which is driven by a 1.5%- 2% population migration from rural areas to small and large cities or 20 million to 30 million people into cities.
What is all of the cement being used for? China is rapidly building apartments, houses, roads, rail, airports, offices and factories.
Roads:
1949: 81,000 kilometres of roads in which 32,000 were surfaced roads; in 1998: 1.3 million kms - a 16 fold increase – all counties connected by roads (a county is an administrative region under a city), almost 99% of townships and 88% of villages had roads.
In 2005 the number of kilometres of roads had increased to 1.9 million kms.
China now has 3.57 million kms of road and over 60,000 km of expressways (divided roads) – second only to the US.
About 13 million tons of cement is needed per 100,000 km of rural road.
Rail:
1949 - 1999 - In 50 years more than 120 rail lines were constructed. 57,600 kms of lines up from about 19,000 kms in 1949; In 2009 – 77,834 kilometres
China aims to increase its operational railways to more than 90,000 km by 2010.
China has the 430km/hour maglev train from Pudong Airport in Shanghai and now a link from Beijing to Tianjin which is capable of 350km/hour. Thirty-five high speed routes are to be built by 2012 (13,000 kms of high-speed railways (200 – 350 km/hour).
The highest railway in the world to Lhasa at a cost of $4 billion and 5 years opened in 2006 and connects Beijing to Lhasa. It reaches an altitude of just over 5000 metres at its highest point.
Airports/Planes:
1978 - 78 airports
1999 – 141 airports.In 50 years China's civil air strength increased 12-fold from 12 planes plus 17 refurbished planes in 1949 to 80 in 1978, to 485 in 1999. In 2009 the first China-made Airbus A320 rolled out. From about 1100 passenger aircraft now, China expects to have over 4400 aircraft by 2025 – more than triple, including producing its own large commercial aircraft by 2025.
2009 - 482 airports across the country; 425 airports with paved runways; 57 airports with unpaved runways; 45 heliports
Ships:
There are over 260,000 vessels while pre-1949 there were 4500. China's shipping fleet is ranked 9th in the world.
Passenger vehicles:
Numbered 13.2 million in 1999 whereas before 1949 there were 51,000; in 1998 China became one of the top ten car manufacturers with annual production of 1.6 million cars and private car ownership reached 360,000.
Car sales are expected to hit 13 million in 2009 and China is now the world's biggest car consumer. Beijing adds 1500 cars per day to its roads!
Internet Users:
At the end of June 2009 there were 338 million internet users in China, a 13.4% jump since the end of 2008, and well ahead of the official US population, put at 307 million by the US Census Bureau.
This shows that internet penetration in China remains comparatively low - just 25.5% - compared to the US, where internet penetration is at 70% and Australia with about 80% of the population using.
Mobile phones:
Number one in the world with 634 million mobiles in 2008.
Communist Party membership:
In 1949 there were 4.5 million members; in 2009 about 61 million with 16.6% women; in 2009 – membership is approaching 76 million having increased 16-fold since the founding of the PRC (21% female compared with 12 % in 1949)
Population:
1999 - Life expectancy was less than 40 years in the 1940s; now it is in the low seventies. With the introduction of the One-Child Policy in the late 1970s, China's total fertility rate has reduced from 5.4 in 1971 to 1.4 in 2009 and is expected to reach zero between 2040 and 2050 with a peak in population of about 1.6 billion.
Foreign Reserves
China’s foreign currency reserves are at $ 2 trillion.
Incomes:
Rural - average of 133 Yuan in 1978 to 2150 in 1998
Urban - average 343 in 1978 to 5454 Yuan in 1998.
In 2009: per capita net income for rural residents is 4,716 Yuan
Eastern China enjoys the highest amount of RMB 34,316. The average annual income of individuals employed in the securities industry was RMB 172,123 - 5.9 times the national average. Individuals employed in other areas of the finance industry earned RMB 87,670 on average - 3.0 times the national average, and individuals working in the aviation and shipping industry earned RMB 75,769 on average.
The three urban industries with the lowest average income were the wood processing and wood products industry (RMB 15,663, only 53.6% of the national average), the textiles industry (RMB 16,222, or 55.5% of the national average) and the food processing industry (RMB 17,559, or 60.1% of the national average).
The latest Hurun Report (2009) by author Rupert Hoogewerf claims China has more than 130 US dollar billionnaires and concludes that with many individuals staying off the radar, the number could be much higher. China has 825,000 individuals worth more than 10 million yuan and 51,000 individuals with more than 100 million yuan, according to the report.
