Who completed and issued China GDP first?

Answer 1

In 1985, the State Council of China approved to establish a SNA (System of National Accounting), use the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) to measure the national economy. China started the study of theoretical foundation, guiding, and accounting model etc., for establishing a new system of national economic accounting. In 1986, as the first citizen of the People's Republic of China to receive a Ph.D. in economics from an overseas country, Dr. Fengbo Zhang headed Chinese Macroeconomic Research - the key research project of the seventh Five-Year Plan of China, as well as completing and publishing the China GDP data (by China's own research). The summary of the above has been included in the book "Chinese Macroeconomic Structure and Policy" (June 1988) edited by Fengbo Zhang, and collectively authored by the Research Center of the State Council of China. This is the first GDP data which was published by China. The research utilized the World Bank's method as a reference, and made the numerous appropriate adjustments based on China's national condition. The GDP also has been converted to USD based data by utilizing the moving average exchange rate. The research systematically completed China's GDP and GDP per capita from 1952 to 1986, which was more than 30 years, and analyzed growth rate, each component's changes and contribution rates. Also the research included international comparison. Additionally, the research compared MPS (System of Material Product balances) and SNA (System of National Accounting) two systems' results of analyzing China's economy. This achievement created the foundation for China's GDP research. Fengbo Zhang's achievement comprehensively covered China's Macroeconomy. He published more than 10 books and hundreds of reports and research papers; however, the GDP related contents are only 9 pages (Chapter 2, Section 1 in the book "Chinese Macroeconomic Structure and Policy"). At early stage of China's reform, as the forerunner of Chinese Economists, he removed himself from the both the traditional Chinese political economy, also didn't attach himself solely to the Western economic theory. Instead, he incorporated the essence of both theories and focused his research on the newest achievements of economic structure and policies of each country. Based on the comprehensive research of Chinese economic structure, operation law and policy, he created a completely new Chinese Macroeconomic analysis theory and method, which formed a significant feature of Chinese Economics, especially economic policy research. Fengbo Zhang's book "Chinese Macroeconomic Structure and Policy" the June 1988 version published the earliest China GDP data. Chapter 2 section 1 of the book published China GDP data from 1952 to 1986 and the research results, formed the foundation for China's GDP research. Based on this research, in 1997, the National Bureau of Statistics of China in collaboration with Hitotsubashi University of Japan, estimated China's GDP Data from 1952 to 1995 based on the SNA principal. When Fengbo Zhang's GDP data and the new China GDP data, are compared, both are very consistent, each year's deviation rate is very slight, between only 0.1% and 7%.