China's Opening up after 40 Years: Standing at a Historic Turning Point

This paper comprehensively reviews China's openness since 1978 from three aspects: trade, foreign investment and global production sharing. We point out that the economic development of China is now standing at a historic turning point. Specifically, economic changes in China are discussed from four dimensions: (i) from China being a world assembly line to a world manufacturing powerhouse; (ii) from China being a world capital receiver to a world investor; (iii) from China being a world factory to a world market; and (iv) from the situation of made in China to innovated in China. At the same time, the global economic system has also reached a turning point. A North America-Europe-Asia tri-polar system has formed, in which the USA, Germany and China, respectively, serve as the regional core economies.