The impact of China's economic reforms in the last three decades has been as awe-inspiring, if not more, than the country's growth rate during the period, according to a leading international economist.

     As a result of the Industrial Revolution, living standards (in Britain) increased by 50 to 75 percent in a lifetime (then only about 40 years), said former president of Harvard University, Lawrence Summers. At the current growth rate in China, living standards rise 100-fold, or 10,000 percent.

     Between 1978 and 2007, China's real GDP grew annually at an average of 9.8 percent, increasing more than 13 times in real terms, while per capita GDP rose from 381 yuan to 15,973 yuan.

     Budget revenue grew at an average annual rate of 13.45 percent, from 113.226 billion yuan to 5.13 trillion yuan, an increase of more than 700 percent after adjusting for inflation. Over the same period, United States' federal revenue only doubled in real terms.

     China's fast economic growth has vastly improved the quality of life for its population. The enrollment rate of primary schoolchildren remained steady at nearly 100 percent between 2000 and 2005, and the gross enrollment rate in junior middle schools increased from 88.6 percent to 95 percent.

     The life expectancy data from the World Health Organization show China's average life expectancy was 72.4