Snapshots from China, 2006: Nimble-fingered workers in a Guangdong toy factory.... Apple pickers in Shandong's orchards.... Pipeline inspectors in the hot deserts of Xinjiang.... Wind-farm engineers in Inner Mongolia.... Fuel-cell researchers in Liaoning.... Crane operators in a Shanghai container port....

Together, these and other members of China's 791-million labor force now turn out a gross domestic product whose value (in purchasing power) is over $8 trillion. Global experts analyze the economic bases for China's rapid growth. But China's people know there is another kind of explanation, too: They are fulfilling the hopes of an earlier generation.... Barely 60 years ago, China lay in ruins from multiple wars and famines. For recovery, its war-torn survivors had only the land, their skills, and their new government — the People's Republic of China (PRC).

Early efforts. The majority of that government were members of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Under Mao Zedong, the Party came to power at the end of a civil war (1949), and economic recovery was its top priority. The government began building new industries and setting policies for old ones (1953). It organized farms into big "communes" (1958). It supervised all budgets and jobs. Yet the economy repeatedly stalled. Why? Some leaders argued that, by relying on central planning, they were neglecting "local savvy." The planners listened. And in 1978, the CPC gave responsibility for daily decisions to local managers of farms, factories, and small businesses. Soon, such managers were making and reinvesting profits.

Turning point. With that breakthrough, China's next leader, Deng Xiaoping, launched a campaign to modernize the nation's agriculture, industry, science, and technology. Results? Farm and factory output began doubling. Beijing (China's capital), Shanghai, and port cities on the east coast soon flourished. Foreign and domestic sales soared. By 2005, China ranked third worldwide in trade, second in oil consumption, and first in the use of cell phones and other hi-tech items. Today, under President Hu Jintao, China is a thriving socialist market economy. Its key industries, such as steel, are still government-controlled. But there's a growing private sector, too, with thousands of small businesses. Over half of China's exports are now produced by privately owned businesses. And in 2005, global investors poured over $60 billion into China's economy.

Challenges, still... At least 100 million people in China can now build homes, buy cars, travel abroad, and pay university tuition for their kids. Yet millions of China's rural citizens (especially in the west) still live in deep poverty. President Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao are determined to help them: The PRC has launched huge projects to bring new industries to China's interior: A 2,500-mile gas pipeline was recently completed between Xinjiang (in the west) and Shanghai (on the east coast). The new Qinghai-Tibet Railway spans China's frozen western plateau. And the PRC has approved a mega-project to transport water directly from the Yangtze River in the south to cities in the north.

For the Record... Can China's economy sustain such rapid expansion? "For some time," predicted the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in a September 2005 report. Still, tough challenges face the country's leaders: how to balance opportunities for rural and urban workers; how to provide more energy for expanding industries; how to protect the environment while doing so. Yet one thing seems sure.... The society that first cultivated the rice plant (7,000 years ago), then recently helped to break its genetic code, has more than enough skills for such modern challenges. Just watch China, as it continues its journey....