China
on Wheels
By
staff reporter QIU JIANGHONG
"When are you going to buy a car?"
is a question frequently heard these days. Over the past few
years, automobiles have become a feature of Chinese households.
China's first automobile manufacturing base
was 50 years ago in Changchun, Jilin Province. For three decades,
production was limited to old-style lorries, and a limited number
of Red-flag brand cars for government use. Technology was outdated
and output capacity low. The few family cars on Chinese roads
were imported. In the 1980s, Deng Xiaoping, pioneer of China's
reform and opening policy, decided to develop China's national
automobile industry in order that the Chinese people might drive
Chinese-made rather than foreign cars.
In the following two decades, with the establishment
of joint ventures, the Chinese automobile industry boomed. By
1998 China had become one of the top ten automobile manufacturing
countries in the world. Now, in 2003, with an estimated annual
production volume of 4 million vehicles, China ranks fourth
in the world.
The development of the automobile industry
has brought an enormous change to the Chinese people. The increasing
number of family cars enriches their lives, stimulates the tourism
industry, and keeps business at car repair firms and driving
schools brisk. Since China put itself on wheels, an increasing
number of leading world automobile companies have focused on
its market.
