Economy of China

China has an upper middle income, developing, mixed, socialist market economy incorporating industrial policies and strategic five-year plans. It is the world's second largest economy by nominal GDP, behind the United States, and the world's largest economy since 2016 by purchasing power parity (PPP). Due to volatile currency exchange rates, China's GDP as measured in dollars fluctuates sharply. China accounted for 19% of the global economy in 2022 in PPP terms, and around 18% in nominal terms in 2022. Historically, China was one of the world's foremost economic powers for most of the two millennia from the 1st until the 19th century. The economy consists of public sector enterprises, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and mixed-ownership enterprises, as well as a large domestic private sector and openness to foreign businesses in their system. Post-1978 economic reforms China's average GDP growth had been over 10% annually for over three decades, and in some years even exceeded 13% annually. China is expected to remain the top contributor to global growth, at around 21% of global growth through 2029, higher than the G7 economies combined.

China is the world's largest manufacturing economy and exporter of goods. However, exports as a percentage of GDP has steadily dropped to just around 20%, reflecting its decreasing importance to the Chinese economy. Nevertheless, it remains the largest trading nation in the world and plays a prominent role in international trade. Manufacturing has been transitioning toward high-tech industries such as electric vehicles, renewable energy, telecommunications and IT equipment, and services has also grown as a percentage of GDP. It is also the world's fastest-growing consumer market and second-largest importer of goods. China is also the world's largest consumer of numerous commodities, and accounts for about half of global consumption of metals. China is a net importer of services products. China was the largest recipient of foreign direct investment in the world as of 2020, receiving inflows of $163 billion. but more recently, FDI has fallen sharply to negative levels. It has the second largest outward foreign direct investment, at US$136.91 billion for 2019 alone. China has the world's largest foreign-exchange reserves worth $3.1 trillion, but if the foreign assets of China's state-owned commercial banks are included, the value of China's reserves rises to nearly $4 trillion. China faced a mild economic slowdown during the 2007–2008 financial crisis and initiated a massive stimulus package, which helped to regain its economic growth. More recently, the imposition of the "3 Red Lines" on developer borrowing has sparked a real estate crisis and has raised questions on the accuracy of China's claims for the severity of this crisis. China's economic growth is slowing down in the 2020s as it deals with a range of challenges from a rapidly aging population, higher unemployment and a property crisis.

With 791 million workers, the Chinese labor force was the world's largest as of 2021, according to The World Factbook. In 2022, China was ranked the 11th most innovative country in the world, 3rd in Asia & Oceania region and 2nd for countries with a population of over 100 million. It is the only middle-income economy and the only newly industrialized economy in the top 30. It also leads in several measures of global patent filings, as well as research and scientific output. China has the second-largest financial assets in the world, valued at $17.9 trillion as of 2021. As of 2022, China was second in the world in total number of billionaires. and second in millionaires with 6.2 million. China has the largest middle-class in the world, with over 500 million people earning over RMB 120,000 a year, making it a priority market for multinational companies.

China has free trade agreements with many nations, some of which are already in force (such as RCEP, the largest trade bloc in history) or are still in the negotiation phase. The country is widely regarded as the "powerhouse of manufacturing" or "the factory of the world". Of the world's 500 largest companies, 142 are headquartered in China. It has four of the world's top ten most competitive financial centers and three of the world's ten largest stock exchanges (both by market capitalization and by trade volume).