I. Introduction

The textile industry is one of the world's traditional industries. It was once regarded by many industrialized countries as a stepping stone towards industrial development and economic prosperity. Today, it also plays an important role in building up China's socialist economy. For over thirty years since the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC), the country's textile industry has made a great contribution to the people's welfare, social employment, promotion of foreign trade, as well as capital accumulation. Being the largest manufacturing industry in the economy, its total output value accounted for 20 to 25 per cent of the national industrial output during the 1950s. Due to the overwhelming development of heavy industry, its weight in the'national economy has been gradually reduced. Nevertheless, the industry still accounted for 18 per cent of the total national industrial output value in 1985 and ranked second only to the machine-building industry among the ten key industries of the country. Of the 18 per cent, 15.5 per cent was accounted for by textiles proper, and the remaining 2.5 per cent by garments. Statistics of the Ministry of Textile Industry show that in 1986 the textile and garment industry employed 6.66 million workers (not including self-employed workers in the urban and rural areas) with 4.60 million working in the textile industry and 2 million working in the garment industry, together accounting for about 17.0 per cent of the nation's total employment, second only to the machine-building industry.

Since 1987, under the policies of “economic reform” and “opening to the outside world”, China's textile and garment industry has entered into a period of speedier development. Presently, China owns the largest number of cotton spindles and looms in the world and leads in the production of cotton yarns and fabrics. Its output of man-made fibres has surpassed 1 million tons to rank fourth in the world, after the United States, Japan, and the Soviet Union.

China's textile and garment industry serves not only as a cornerstone in domestic industrialization, but also plays an influential role in foreign trade.