Photographs: Wang Wenlan/China Daily/Reuters.
China is the world's second largest economy by nominal GDP and purchasing power parity after the United States.
It is the world's fastest-growing major economy, with growth rates averaging 10% over the past 30 years. China is also the largest exporter and second largest importer of goods in the world.
Take a look at glimpses of China's transformation over the years...
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Reuters.
Teenagers dressed in cosplay costumes wait to perform at the 2010 China (Hefei) Digital Entertainment Carnival in Hefei, Anhui province.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Wang Wenlan/China Daily/Reuters.
Buses and electrical trolley buses mingle with bicycles and pedestrians at a crossroad near Chongwenmen in Beijing in 1984.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Jason Lee/Reuters.
Vehicles on Three Ring Road (left) and Jianwai Street (right) during the evening rush hour in central Beijing.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Wang Wenlan/China Daily/Reuters.
A child sitting on a roadside snooker pool plays with her mother in Beijing in 1983.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Eric Gaillard/Reuters.
Children play in water fountains next to the National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Wang Wenlan/China Daily/Reuters.
People offer sewing services at an open market in Quanzhou, Fujian province in 1982.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Aly Song/Reuters.
An employee looks up while working along a production line at Suzhou Etron Electronics Co's factory in Suzhou, Jiangsu province.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Wang Wenlan/China Daily/Reuters.
Drivers talk on a steam locomotive at the Yongdingmen railway station in Beijing in 1981.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Carlos Barria/Reuters.
A female construction worker watches a train pass on the new high-speed railway line between Shanghai and Hangzhou on the outskirts of Shanghai.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Wang Wenlan/China Daily/Reuters.
People perform Arhat exercise, a form of traditional Chinese fitness, at a park in Beijing in 1988.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Grace Liang/Reuters.
Locals dance during a morning exercise session at the Temple of Heaven park in Beijing.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Wang Wenlan/China Daily/Reuters.
Black-and-white TV sets are displayed at a department store in Xidan, one of the three traditional shopping streets, in Beijing in 1981.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Jianan Yu/Reuters.
Customers at an internet cafe in Hefei, Anhui province.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Wang Wenlan/China Daily/Reuters.
Residents hold tape recorders to record folk songs during a singing contest in Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in 1988.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Nir Elias/Reuters.
A man sings in a local karaoke club during a night out in Shanghai.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Wang Wenlan/China Daily/Reuters.
Villagers attend a rally in Longxian County, Shaanxi province in 1990.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Claro Cortes IV/Reuters.
Attendants serve tea to delegates during the opening session of China's parliament, the National People's Congress, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Wang Wenlan/China Daily/Reuters.
A worker repairs a pillar in front of a statue of the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong in Yingkou, Liaoning province in 1994.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Reinhard Krause/Reuters.
A spectator waves a Chinese flag in front of a statue of Chairman Mao Zedong in Kashgar, Xinjiang province.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Reuters.
Chinese prisoners return to their compounds at Jiangbei Prison in the central province of Hubei after working in the fields and collecting cotton branches for firewood in 1998.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Wong Campion/Reuters.
A Chinese national flag flies above male inmates as they watch a performance to mark the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking at Kunming Municipal Compulsory Rehabilitation Centre in Kunming, Yunnan province.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Wang Wenlan/China Daily/Reuters.
People push their bicycles across a railway track during rush hour in Shanghai in 1991.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Jason Lee/Reuters.
Passengers wait for buses at a bus stop during rush hour in Beijing.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Wang Wenlan/China Daily/Reuters.
A boy and his father display their soccer skills on a roadside in Beijing in 1981.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Donald ChaN/Reuters.
Shaolin students play soccer at Tagou Wushu School in Zhengzhou, Henan province.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Reuters.
Chinese soldiers rescue residents from a flooded market in Chengdu, in southwest Sichuan Province, in 1998.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Aly Song/Reuters.
Rescuers carry two children on a flooded street in Fuzhou, Jiangxi province.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Wang Wenlan/China Daily/Reuters.
Locals walk past a barbershop in the Sanlitun area of Beijing in 1982.
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Then and Now: Glimpses of China's success story
Photographs: Nir Elias/Reuters.
Shop owner Gong Chui Zhen fixes trousers at the entrance to her shop in an old quarter of Shanghai.
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