Calculating China’s GDP

Abstract

This chapter focuses on China’s GDP. It starts by explaining two national accounting systems, the System of Material Product Balances (MPS) and the System of National Accounts (SNA), and then details the evolution of China’s national accounting system, from the recovery period (1978–1984), to the reform period (1985–1992), and to the development period (1993–present). The authors further introduce several major changes in China’s official GDP statistics, including two supplements and three adjustments. Finally, the authors discuss the reasons why the sum of China's regional GDPs is larger than the national GDP, including the implementation of the accounting system at different levels, inconsistent basic information used in regional and national statistics, double counting or omiting relevant items, different understandings of operational concepts, etc.