Abstract
China's industrial sector entered China's reform movement, beginning in 1979, with a number of distinctive features. These include an emphasis on heavy industry that was a pillar of China's planned socialist economy, a highly decentralized system in which many provinces developed a wide range of industries, and extensive rural industry which had its origins in the rural commune structure. Total industry employed nearly 60 million workers representing a generally high level of literacy for a low-income developing economy.