An automobile assembly line in Shanghai

China's machine-building industry can provide advanced complete sets of equipment, including power generating equipment such as large gas turbines, large pump storage groups and nuclear power sets, ultra-high voltage direct-current transmission and transformation equipment, large complete metallurgical, fertilizer and petrochemical plants, city track transport equipment, new paper-making and textile machinery, etc. Electro-mechanical products have become pillar exports for China, earning a net profit of 84.89 billion US dollars in 2001.    

In the 1990s, as one of the country's pillar industries, the auto industry developed steadily, and the output of automobiles increased from 1.45 million in 1995 to 2.07 million in 2000, with an average annual growth rate of 7.33 percent, including the output of cars, which increased from 323,000 in 1995 to 607,000 in 2000, with an average annual growth rate of 19.17 percent. The number of privately-owned automobiles increased from 2.5 million in 1995 to 6.26 million in 2000, with an average annual growth rate of 20 percent, of which the number of passenger cars increased from 1.14 million to 3.65 million, with an average annual growth rate of 26.2 percent. In 2001, the output of automobiles in China was 2.334 million, increasing 12.8 percent over the previous year.