"In the last three decades China has undergone a remarkable transformation. The highly planned and centralised country of the 1970s has given way to a dynamic market economy that has caught the attention of the world. Since 1979, with the introduction of reforms, China’s GDP has grown at an average of 9.8 percent per annum, per capita income has increased fifty-fold and some 500 million people have been lifted out of poverty." (Quoted from paper)