Five-year plans of China

The Five-Year Plans () are a series of social and economic development initiatives issued since 1953 in the People's Republic of China. Since 1949, the Communist Party of China has shaped the Chinese economy through the plenums of its Central Committee and national congresses. The party plays a leading role in establishing the foundations and principles of Chinese communism, mapping strategies for economic development, setting growth targets, and launching reforms.
Planning is a key characteristic of the nominally socialist economies, and one plan established for the entire country normally contains detailed economic development guidelines for all its regions. In order to more accurately reflect China's transition from a Soviet-style command economy to a socialist market economy (socialism with Chinese characteristics), the plans since the 11th Five-Year Plan for 2006 to 2010 were referred to in Chinese as "guidelines" () instead of "plan" ().
First Plan (1953–1957).
Having restored a viable economic base, the leadership under Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and other revolutionary veterans were prepared to embark on an intensive program of industrial growth and socialization. For this purpose, the administration adopted the Soviet economic model, based on state ownership in the modern sector, large collective units in agriculture, and centralized economic planning. The Soviet approach to economic development was manifested in the First Five-Year Plan (1953–1957).
The key tasks highlighted in the Plan were:
Accumulated investment in capital construction was 55 billion yuan and fixed asset increments reached 46.05 billion yuan, 1.9 times higher than at the end of 1952. About 595 large and medium-sized projects were completed and put into production, laying the framework of China's industrialization. The gross value of industrial products in 1957 increased 128.6% from 1952.
The two major problems that arose during this period were the following:
Agricultural production couldn't keep pace with industrial production. The Plan regarded gross industrial output value accounting for 70% of the gross output value of industry and agriculture and means of production accounting for 60% of the gross industrial output value as indicators of industrial modernization, which ignored the development agriculture in some sense.
In addition, investments in capital construction in 1956 totaled 14.735 billion yuan, increasing 70% over the previous year. Fiscal expenditure in the form of infrastructure loans rose to 48% from 30% from 1955, putting a strain on the national budget as a result.
As in the Soviet economy, the main objective was a high rate of economic growth, with primary emphasis on industrial development at the expense of agriculture and particular concentration on heavy industry and capital-intensive technology. Soviet planners helped their Chinese counterparts formulate the plan. Large numbers of Soviet engineers, technicians, and scientists assisted in developing and installing new heavy industrial facilities, including entire plants and pieces of equipment purchased from the Soviet Union.
Government control over industry was increased during this period by applying financial pressures and inducements to convince owners of private, modern firms to sell them to the state or convert them into joint public-private enterprises under state control. By 1956, approximately 67.5% of all modern industrial enterprises were state owned, and 32.5% were under joint public-private ownership, with no privately owned firms remaining. During the same period, the handicraft industries were organized into cooperatives, which accounted for 91.7% of all handicraft workers by 1956.
Agriculture also underwent extensive organizational changes. To facilitate the mobilization of agricultural resources, improve the efficiency of farming, and increase government access to agricultural products, the authorities encouraged farmers to organize cooperative farming, starting in 1953. Since traditional family farming practices were not sufficient to bankroll the country's ambitious industrialization projects, party officials encouraged families to pool their farms into small cooperatives in order to increase farm yields. Unlike the large scale collective farming policies which began in 1958, the cooperatives were successful and popular. Local parties representatives, such as Geng Xiufeng, largely met support from local farmers By the end of 1955 almost 2/3, about 60%, of all Chinese farmers were engaged in cooperative farming. Farming families, who previously engaged largely in subsistence farming, now began raising and selling livestock based on the increase in grain surpluses, which was directly responsible for the practices popularity and rapid rate of enrollment. Central committee planning dictated that from the loosely structured, tiny mutual aid teams, villages were to advance first to lower-stage, agricultural producers' cooperatives, in which families still received some income on the basis of the amount of land they contributed, and eventually to advanced cooperatives, or collectives beginning in 1958 with the second Five Year Plan. In the agricultural producers' cooperatives, income shares were designed to be based only on the amount of labor contributed. In reality, small farming markets that revolved around cooperative surpluses, sprang up across the nation. The land reforms from 1949 to 1951 increased private land ownership, with typical results increasing land ownership of farmers from just under one acre to approximately three acres. The cooperative process, began in 1953, accelerated quickly, slowly from 1955 to 1956. By 1957 about 93.5% of all farm households had joined producers' cooperatives.
In terms of economic growth, the First Five-Year Plan was quite successful, especially in those areas emphasized by the Soviet-style development strategy. A solid foundation was created in heavy industry. Key industries, including iron and steel manufacturing, coal mining, cement production, electricity generation, and machine building were greatly expanded and were put on a firm, modern technological footing. Thousands of industrial and mining enterprises were constructed, including 156 major facilities. Industrial production increased at an average annual rate of 19% between 1952 and 1957, and national income grew at a rate of 9% a year.
Despite the lack of state investment in agriculture, agricultural output increased substantially, averaging increases of about 4% a year. This growth resulted primarily from gains in efficiency brought about by the reorganization and cooperation achieved through cooperative farming. As the First Five-Year Plan wore on, however, Chinese leaders became increasingly concerned over the relatively sluggish performance of agriculture and the inability of state trading companies to increase significantly the amount of grain procured from rural units for urban consumption, and for funding the many large urban industrialization projects.
Second Plan (1958–1962).
This plan was created to accomplish several tasks, including:
The Political Bureau of the CPC had determined that gross value of agricultural products should increase 270%; in fact, the gain was a considerably more modest 35%. Nevertheless, the plan was successful in some respects. The country saw increases in capital construction over those observed during the first Five-Year Plan and also saw significant increases in industry (doubling output value) and income (workers and farmers, increase by as much as 30%).
However, the Great Leap Forward, which diverted millions of agricultural workers into industry, and the great sparrow campaign, which led to an infestation of locusts, as well as unprecedented natural and weather based issues, caused a huge decrease in food production. Simultaneously, rural officials, under huge pressure to meet their quotas, vastly overstated how much grain was available. Thus, a massive nationwide famine ensued.
Third Plan (1966–1970).
The Third Plan was originally due early in 1963, but at that time China's economy was too dislocated, as a result of the failure of the Great Leap Forward and four poor harvests to permit any planned operations. Research and study into the elements of this Plan started in early 1964. The Plan contained two comparatively detailed schemes: one was the Preliminary Tentative Plan of the 3rd Five-year Plan (1966–1970) proposed by the State Planning Commission and agreed by the Central Government Work Meeting in May 1964; the other was the Report Syllabus about the Arrangement of the 3rd Five-year Plan drawn out by the State Planning Commission and agreed by the central government in September 1965.
The Tentative Plan set out the following basic tasks:
The Plan also called for the prioritization of national defense in the light of a possible big war, actively preparing for conflicts and speeding up construction in three key areas; national defense, science and technology, and industry and transport infrastructure.
The outputs of other newly added major products were 68.06 million tons of coal; 8.60 million kilowatts of electricity; 27.77 million tons of petroleum; 6.53 million tons of steels; 35.90 million tons of iron ore; 2.44 million tons of synthesized ammonia; 2.04 million tons of fertilizers; 15.33 million tons of cement; 187,000 tons of plastics; 3.22 million tons of cotton spindles; 12,300 tons of chemical fibers; 3,894 kilometers of newly constructed railways and 31,223 kilometers of newly constructed highways were put into operation; and handling capacity of the coastal harbors were over 11.91 million tons.
This plan was more successful than anticipated, with the industrial and agricultural goals exceed by 14.1% and industrial gross output value goals by 21.1%. Agricultural gains also exceeded goals, but more moderately, with a 2.2% rise above expectations. According to the Official Portal of the Chinese Government, however, the focus on accumulation and rapid development in this and preceding plans were impediments to long-term economic development.
Fourth Plan (1971–1975).
A first draft of the Plan was developed and agreed upon in September 1970 at the 2nd Plenary Session of the 9th Communist Party Central Committee, which stipulated:
In July 1973, the State Planning Commission amended the draft, lowering some of the targets initially set. Steel output was reduced to between 32 and 35 million tons and later further reduced to 30 million tons. The national economy took a favorable turn in 1972 and 1973. By 1973, all major economic indices had been fulfilled or exceeded, making it the year with the fastest economic growth.
Fifth Plan (1976–1980).
The central government stipulated the 1976–1985 Ten Year Plan Outline of Developing National Economy (Draft) in 1975, which included the 5th Five-Year Plan.
In March 1978, the Ten Year Development Outline was amended because the original version in 1975 stipulated that by 1985, steel and petroleum outputs should reach 60 and 250 million tons respectively, and 120 large projects, including 10 steel production bases, nine non-ferrous metal bases, eight coal bases and 10 oil and gas fields, should be built. To achieve these goals, the government would invest 70 billion yuan in infrastructure construction, equaling total national investment over the previous 28 years. These were impossible targets and ran counter to economic development rules.
The Plan put forward suggestions to set up an independent and comparatively complete industrial system and national economic system from 1978 to 1980.
With the implementation of the Plan, considerable success was achieved. In 1977, the gross output value of industry and agriculture reached 505.5 billion yuan, 4.4% above-target and representing an increase of 10.4% compared with the previous year. Gross domestic product for 1978 reached 301 billion yuan, an increase of 12.3% compared with 1977, and an increase of 19.4% compared with 1976.
However, during this period, the Chinese economy developed too quickly, and the very high goals triggered the onset of yet another round of mistakes. In December 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Communist Party Central Committee shifted the work focus of the Communist Party to modernization. The Session emphasized that the development should follow economic rules and proposed readjustment and reform measures, which indicated that national economic development had entered a new phase, one of exploration and development. In April 1979, the central government formally put forward new principles of readjustment, reform, rectification and improvement.
Note: This Summary was prepared by the China Daily newspaper, owned directly by the Communist Party of China
Sixth Plan (1981–1985).
This Plan took some time to draft. It was first planned as part of the "Ten Year National Economic Development Plan Outline for 1976–1985." In February 1980, the State Council decided to redraft the country's mid- and long-term plans. It convened a seminar to discuss the compilation of the 6th Five-Year Plan. To that end, the State Planning Commission and related departments also carried out extensive research and calculation work on the compilation of the Plan, and organized related experts to conduct scientific appraisals. The 1982 national planning meeting was again mainly focused on the drafting of the Plan. It was only in December that year that the fifth meeting of the Fifth National People's Congress officially ratified the Plan.
It was a more comprehensive plan compared to its predecessors since it adjusted and set national economic development onto a more stable and healthy track, with general objectives to:
Specific objectives included:
The Plan was overall a great success:
Alternatively, several negative results included a disproportionately high fixed asset ratio, rapid growth in consumption and fiscal over-supply. All of this negatively impacted the economy's stability and growth.
Note: This Summary was prepared by the China Daily newspaper, owned directly by the Communist Party of China
Seventh Plan (1986–1990).
In March 1986, the State Council submitted "The 7th Five Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People’s Republic of China, 1986–1990" to the Fourth Session of the Sixth National People's Congress for review and ratification. It was the first time in China's history that an all-round plan for social and economic development was created at the start of a new five-year plan.
The fundamental principles and guidelines of the 7th Five Year Plan were:
Specific goals of economic development set out in the Plan were:
Note: This Summary was prepared by the China Daily newspaper, owned directly by the Communist Party of China
Eighth Plan (1991–1995).
In March 1991, the fourth session of the Seventh National People's Congress (NPC) approved the State Council's Report entitled "The Ten-year Layout for National Economy and Social Development and 8th Five-Year Plan". Under Deng Xiaoping's leadership, this Plan marked the start of a new phase in China's development.
The national economy maintained its growth momentum during this time. Gross national product in 1995 reached 5.76 trillion yuan ($730 billion), 4.3 times higher than that in 1980.
Outputs of coal, cement, TV, foodstuff, cotton and cotton dresses were the highest in the world, with steel and chemical fiber outputs second, and electricity supply third.
China's economy experienced an annual growth of 11%, 4 percentage points higher than that during the 7th Five-Year planning period.
Total investment in fixed assets during this time hit 3.89 trillion yuan, with an annual growth rate of 17.9%, 13.6 percentage points higher than the previous planning period. Of these, state-owned units’ investments saw an annual growth of 22.9%, much higher than the average growth of 4.1% previously.
845 large and medium-sized infrastructure projects were completed and put into production, as were 374 technical innovation projects. In terms of transportation infrastructure, 5,800 kilometers of trunk railway, 3,400 kilometers of double-track lines, and 2,600 kilometers of electrified railway were built. Road lengths were increased by 105,000 kilometers, including 1,600 kilometers of highway.
The throughput of ports increased by 138 million tons and 12 new airports were built. 100,000 kilometers of long-distance trunk cable were finished, and the number of telephone switchboards increased to 58.95 million sets. Total installed generation capacity was increased to 75 million kilowatts, and annual electricity supply grew by 9%.
Output value of the primary industry increased at an annual growth rate of 4.1%, the secondary industry at a rate of 17.3%, and the tertiary industry at a rate of 9.5%. Output composition of the three sectors stood at 20.3: 47.7:32.0; it was 28.4:43.1:28.5 at the end of the 6th, and 27.1:41.6:31.3 at the end of the 7th Five-Year Program periods respectively.
Significant achievements were also made in the reform of the economic system. The new financial system with tax decentralization at its core, and the new tax system with value-added tax as its main component, were set up. Policy finance and commercial finance were gradually separated. A macro regulating system emerged, and the market started to play a more major role in resource allocation. Also mapped out were the beginnings of a dominant public sector.
More than 1,100 cities at county level were opened to the outside world, and 13 bonded zones and other a lot of economic development zones were set up.
Foreign trade developed at an astonishing pace with total trade volume reaching US$1.0145 trillion, at an annual growth rate of 19.5%, higher than the 12.8% and 10.6% growth rates during the 6th and 7th Five-Year periods respectively. The value of annual export volume was 100 billion yuan, accounting for 3% of the world's commodity trade.
By import and export trade volume, China ranked 11th in the world in 1995.
Foreign exchange reserves reached US$73.6 billion, 5.6 times higher than that at the end of the 7th Five-Year period.
Major improvements were also made to people's lives. Per capita income was 1,578 yuan in 1995 ($230). Retail sales reached 6.7275 trillion yuan, representing an annual growth rate of 10.6% as compared to 3.3% during the 7th Five-Year period. Savings deposit balances in urban and rural areas reached 3 trillion yuan, 2 trillion higher than at the end of the previous planning period.
Per capita floor space of newly built houses in urban and rural areas reached 4.3 billion square meters. At the end of 1994, rural residents' per capita living space was 20.5 square meters, and 7.7 square meters for urban residents.
China registered an increase of 50 million in terms of social labor forces, including 37.4 million in the urban areas. The population of the extreme poor decreased from 85 million at the end of the 1980s to 65 million in 1995.
Population control was achieved during this period, with growth rates dropping from 14.4% in 1990 to 10.6% in 1995. Rates of radio and TV population coverage reached 78.7% and 84.8% respectively, 4 and 5% respectively higher than in 1990.
Ninth Plan (1996–2000).
The Fifth Plenary Session of the 14th CPC Central Committee adopted the Proposal on the Ninth Five-Year Plan on National Economy and Social Development and Long-Range Objectives to the Year 2010 on 28 September 1995. It was the first medium-length plan made under a socialist market economy, and a cross-century development strategy.
The basic tasks stipulated in the Plan were to complete the second phase in the modernization drive; to cap population growth at 300 million by 2000; to quadruple per capita GNP as compared to 1980; to eliminate poverty; and to speed up the establishment of a modern enterprise system.
Long-range objectives to the year 2010 were to double 2000's GNP; and to continue to build the socialist market economic system.
Tenth Plan (2001–2005).
The basic tasks set out in the 10th Plan were:
On the environmental front, to increase forest coverage to 18.2%, and the urban green rate to 35%. The total amount of major urban and rural pollutants discharged will be reduced by 10% as compared with 2000, and more measures would be taken to protect and save natural resources.
The Plan also set out to increase the growth rates of disposable income of urban residents and the net income of rural residents to five procent each. In addition, objectives were set to increase housing floor space per urban resident to 22 sq m by 2005, and to install 40% of all households in China with cable TV.
Another key objective was to improve medical and health services in both urban and rural areas.
Eleventh Plan (2006–2010).
According to draft guidelines submitted to the 2006 National People's Congress session, the goals of the Eleventh Five-Year Guideline were:
Economic growth:
Economic structure:
Population, resources, environment:
Public service, people's life:
Twelfth Plan (2011–2015).
The Twelfth Five-Year Guideline was debated in mid-October 2010 at the fifth plenary session of the 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the same session in which Xi Jinping was selected as Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission. A full proposal for the plan was released following the plenum and approved by the National People's Congress on 14 March 2011, with the goals of addressing rising inequality and creating an environment for more sustainable growth by prioritizing more equitable wealth distribution, increased domestic consumption, and improved social infrastructure and social safety nets.
The plan is representative of China's efforts to rebalance its economy, shifting emphasis from investment towards consumption and development from urban and coastal areas toward rural and inland areas – initially by developing small cities and greenfield districts to absorb coastal migration. The plan also continues to advocate objectives set out in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan to enhance environmental protection, accelerate the process of opening and reform, and emphasize Hong Kong's role as a center of international finance.
The targets for the Twelfth Five-Year Guideline in 2011 were to grow of GDP by around 8%, 7% annual growth of per capita income, spend 2.2% of GDP on research and development by 2015, bring the population below 1.39 billion by 2015, readjust income distribution to stop the yawning gap, firmly curb excessive rise of housing prices, implement prudent monetary policy, intensify anti-corruption efforts, accelerate economic restructuring, and deal with the complex situations in development in 2011.
Among the other highlights of draft plan distributed to the media prior to the opening of the Fourth Session of the 11th NPC are:
Fourteenth plan (2021–2025).
The 14th Five-Year Plan was drafted during the fifth plenum of the 19th Central Committee held from 26 to 29 October 2020. Han Wenxiu, the deputy director of the Office of the Central Finance and Economic Commission, said Xi Jinping had personally led the drafting process through multiple meetings of the Politburo, its standing committee, and the drafting panel that he headed. 
The plan was drafted against the backdrop of worsening China–United States relations and the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused China's economy to shrink for the first time in 44 years. The plan includes:
Economy.
Broadly outlined in late October 2020, the new plan aims at China becoming a "moderately developed" economy by 2035 with a per capita GDP of about US$30,000, nearly three times the 2020 level. It anticipates future growth as largely based on domestic consumption of goods and services, and aims to reduce disparities between urban and rural living standards. The plan includes the "peaceful development" of relations with Taiwan, considered "a rebel province and part of Chinese territory." The Chinese Government also wishes to expand its role in the economy by implementing market restrictions, furthering the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative. 
Environment.
Economists expect the plan's target growth rate for the period to exceed five percent annually. The 2021-2025 plan is anticipated to have aggressive goals on sustainable energy in order to reach China's announced goals of carbon neutrality by no later than 2060.
Energy.
Recommendations regarding the development of up to 60 gigawatts hydropower capacity on the Yarlung Tsangbo.