The industrialization of China refers to the process of China undergoing various stages of industrialization and technological revolutions. The focus is on the period after the founding of the People's Republic of China where China experienced its most notable transformation from a largely agrarian country to an industrialized powerhouse. Although the Chinese industrialization is largely defined by its 20th-century campaigns, especially those motivated by Mao Zedong's political calls to "exceed the UK and catch the USA", China has a long history that contextualizes the proto-industrial efforts, and explains the reasons for delay of industrialization in comparison to Western countries.
In 1952, 83 percent of the Chinese workforce were employed in agriculture.[1] The figure remained high, but was declining steadily, throughout the early phase of industrialization between the 1960s and 1990s. In view of the rapid population growth, however, this amounted to a rapid growth of the industrial sector in absolute terms, of up to 11 percent per year during the period.[2][3] By 1977, the fraction of the workforce employed in agriculture had fallen to about 77 percent, and by 2012, to 33 percent.[1]
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