3/6  As a result China has been able to maintain outstanding growth averaging over 9% a year from the end of the 1970s until the present day. The scale of its external trade has risen from 25th in the world ranking at the end of the 1970s to stand third in 2004, trailing only the United States and Germany.
In terms of the scale of its production and exports, it already ranks first in the electronic household appliance, textiles, clothing, footwear and iron and steel sectors. China has risen to become the 'workshop of the world' nowadays, and it accounts for the seventh largest share of the global economy. It also holds the world's second largest foreign exchange reserves, trailing only Japan.