China would overtake America in 2016

Income growth in China

In 1980, the father of China’s Reform and Opening-up, Deng Xiaoping, put forward the idea that “China should ‘double its national income’” after referencing Japan’s “National Income Doubling Plan”. Since then, the income of Chinese citizens has doubled, or even quadrupled, every 10 years. In the 30 years from 1980 to 2010, China’s GDP grew by 9% annually and in 2010, it surpassed Japan to become the world’s second largest economy. Its export volume has also surpassed that of Germany and become the largest in the world. The IMF predicted (World Economic Outlook 2011 that if China continues its high-speed growth and the US economy stagnates, China would overtake America as the world’s largest economy in 2016, much faster than economists and international organizations have predicted. Meanwhile, living standard of Chinese people has been better off their GDP per capita increased from US$ 313 in 1980 to US$ 42002, ranked as up-middle income economy. Furthermore, the 12th Five-Year Plan for the National Economic and Social Development, passed by the 11th National People’s Congress in March 2011, proposed that GDP per capita should be doubled again, namely to US$ 8400 by 2015.