第二个快速增长期出现在1992年邓小平南巡讲话后，他在讲话中强调中国经济需要向外商直接投资开放，并设立经济特区发展出口导向型产业，实现向以市场为基础的国家控制体制的过渡。
The second such period followed Deng Xiaoping’s southern tour in 1992, during which he emphasized the need to shift to a market-based – albeit state-controlled – system by opening China’s economy to foreign direct investment and establishing special economic zones to help develop export-oriented industries.