Economy

In the 50 years after the founding of the republic, the economic construction of the province has basically undergone three periods. The first one was from the founding of the republic to the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. This was a period during which the province's economy, after having overcome some interference and difficulty and having experienced some ups and downs, gained a comparatively big development and a comparatively fast increment. From 1949 to 1952, the province successfully completed its work of restoration of national economy. From 1953, Shanxi began to implement its own 'five-year' plan. Along with the implementation of the first 'five-year' plan and the second one, the province's conditions of agricultural and industrial production were greatly improved and the province's comprehensive economic strength was enhanced. During this period, in spite of the adverse influence of the Great Leap Forward, the struggle against "Right opportunism" and the three years' natural disasters, by 1965, the province's total output value of agriculture and industry had reached 5.63 billion yuan. At the same time, the structure of national economy had also been much improved.

The second period was the 10 years of the Cultural Revolution, during which the province's economy was seriously interfered with, trampled and sabotaged. The 10 years made a loss of 13.7 billion yuan only in terms of industry output value, which is equal to the province's total industrial investment from 1949 to 1977. In agriculture, due to the interference and sabotage of the "Left" thinking and line, the economic development in the countryside was severely hindered.

The third period was the 20 years after the third plenary session of the Party's 11th Congress. These were the years when the province's economic construction attained brilliant achievements. The 20 years can also be divided into three periods. The first one was from the third plenary session in 1978 to the third plenary session of the Party's 12th Congress in October 1984 - an initial period of the reform. In this period, the reform started from the countryside, and then edged into the fields of industry, finance, banking, commerce and construction and it was clarified that the province's economic development would focus on the construction of a base of energy, heavy and chemical industries. By 1984, the province had fulfilled the main economic indexes of its sixth five-year plan one year in advance. Its gross agricultural and industrial output values reached 8.674 billion yuan and 17.104 billion yuan respectively; a 149.7% and 68.3% increase over those of 1978. The second period was from October 1984 to early 1992, a period during which the reform was being carried out and deepened in an all around way. The reform of this period helped the province's economy gain a comparatively fast increase. By 1990, the province's annual GNP and per capita GNP had reached 42.93 billion yuan and 152.8 billion yuan respectively, an increase of 96% and 82.3% over those of 1985 respectively; local revenue had reached 5.175 billion yuan, 1.07 times that of 1985; urban and rural per capita incomes had increased 104% and 68% over those of 1985. The third period was one from the delivery of Deng Xiaoping's speech on his inspection tour of the South to now when the reform and opening have been further quickening the pace and developing in an all around way. By 1996, the province had reached its strategic economic objective of "quadruplication" four years in advance. The province's GDP rose from 8.8 billion yuan in 1978 to 160.11 billion yuan in 1998. The 1997 per capita GDP was 12.9 times that of 1978. The local revenue raised from1.964 billion yuan of 1978 to 10.41 billion yuan of 1998, while the workers and staff's annual per capita income in 1998 increased 27 times over that of 1978 and the peasants' annual per capita income rose from 101.6 yuan in 1978 to 1858.6 yuan in 1998.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 [Origin:Shanxi Government Website]