If you were in the China of Deng Xiaoping in 1978 on your Chinese visa, you would have seen a nation bogged down with the ills of socialism, an erosion of the work ethic and anti-market propaganda. China responded with economic reforms such as the decentralization of agriculture, accepting foreign investment and permitting private entrepreneurship. You should have been in China now as winds of change were sweeping over it, on your China visa.

In the 1980s and 90s, economic reforms involved privatizing and sub-contracting most of state-owned industry and lifting price controls and narrow protectionist policies, leading to an annual 9.5% growth rate. China was no longer a poor nation, ridden by corruption and burdensome population. In fact, its economy was second to the United States. Whoever came here on their Chinese visas then could have seen this country on the move!
Reasons for success of reforms:

- Leaders experimented with ways of stimulating the economy by decentralizing state powers
- Local governments reduced barriers and regulations in order to boost economic growth
- Its export-oriented growth strategy
- The fall of the Soviet Bloc energized China to improve its economy.

By dividing agricultural land into small plots, production increased and farmers could keep their earnings from land after paying the state a fixed share. If you were here on your China visa, you would have been disheartened to see that with economic prosperity came corruption and inflation, leading to the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.   

China was now devoid of any red tapism that hampered economic prosperity with the setting up of economic zones to stimulate the economy. You should have been in Shanghai in 1992 on your Chinese visa to see the reopening of the Shanghai Stock Exchange after four decades.  

If on the one hand private enterprise grew, on the other, state sector became loss-making. Finally, after three decades of China's reforms, its GDP grew at 9.5% a year and its per capita income at 6.6% annually. In the 1990s, China also became a member of the World Trade Organization which helped liberalize the service sector. The changes were visible for all to see—even you, if you were here using your China visa.

If you are an importer on a China visa, you would love to trade with China as it grew in exports because it waived the paying of VAT for exports and undervalued its currency. Of course, this is possible only if you have a Chinese visa. To fuel its growth, China wanted to import natural resources, so it increased its investments in Africa, an oil producing country (about 85% of Africa's exports). Besides oil, you could have seen imports like copper, diamonds, consumer goods, processed foods and timber from Africa come into China—all on your China visa.

Chinese economy produces $10.9 trillion (2010) every year, third after the U.S. and the EU, and growing at 10% per annum for the past 30 years. Anyone entering this country on their Chinese visa would have loved to be part of this booming economy.

If you were here after May 2011 on your China visa, you would have seen how important China is to the US economy—what with owning $1.16 trillion in the U.S. in the form of treasury bills, notes and bonds, aggregating to 26% of the publicly-held $4.5 trillion!  

China is a wonderful holiday destination, so use your China visa now.