Research Into The Trade Openness In China

International trade is considered as the "Engine for Growth". When a developing country is in her "take-off" stage, one of her outstanding characteristics is that the increasing speed of foreign trade is higher than that of national economy. In other words, the nominal trade openness is growing up.The foreign trade in China has been expanding because of the open policy, which was implemented in 1978. And the nominal trade openness has been on the increase, together with the high speed of the economic growth in China. The trade openness in 1978 was just 9.80%, while in 2005 it went up to 63.90%. Scholars both inland and outland pay much attention to the phenomenon that the figure of trade openness in China is comparatively large and the increasing speed of trade openness is comparatively high. At the same time, the trade openness is a topic of great controversy. In China, some scholars believe the present trade openness with large ratio and high increasing speed will influence the security of the economy; some other scholars think that there are some limitations in the calculation of trade openness. Therefore, after proper adjustments, we will find that the real trade openness in China is not high.The research into the trade openness in China is meaningful, both in theory and practice. On the one hand, the trade openness is linked to the long-term development of the economy in China, the structure of trade and the formulation of trade policy. On the other hand, both its objectivity and rationality are questioned in China. The reason for choosing this topic is to explain these problems, and in this thesis, the research focuses on the trade openness in China.We will start our analysis in two aspects. One is the decrease of trade barrier, i. e. the export-oriented degree of the policy of economy. The more export-oriented the economy policy in a country or district is, the more mobile merchandises among countries are, and the higher the trade openness is. And the other is the evaluation of trade openness by trade flows. Usually we can get the result directly by the equation of trade interdependence, or we may get another different result through controlling kinds of regular factors affecting trade. The more similar the trade flow in a country or region is to the evaluation in the assumption of perfect free trade, the higher the trade openness is.Following these thoughts, the paper is divided into six chapters. Chapter one is the introduction. Chapter two is the review of the documents on trade openness both inland and outland. Chapter three is the analysis of the trade openness in China. In this part, the writer analyzes the process of the trade open-up in China both in the policy adjustment and the quantity of the trade value, compares the tendency of development in trade openness in China with that of foreign countries, and at last summarizes the factors that are both in common and unique. Chapter four is the empirical analysis between trade openness and the growth of economy. The writer uses the Co-integration analysis and Granger Cause test to compare the relations between trade openness and the growth of economy in our country. Chapter five is the analysis of dual influences of trade openness, and the corresponding resolutions of the negative influences. Chapter six is the conclusion, giving a summary of this paper and bringing forward the future researching direction.Through analysis, the writer reaches the following conclusions. First, it is rational to use nominal trade openness as the generally accepted measurement worldwide. Furthermore, the formation of trade openness in each country reflects the structure of trade. As a result, trade openness should be studied not only in quantity, but also in its essence, which is more important. The existing trade openness in China reflects structure of trade in our country. That is to say, we have great value of foreign trade, but our structure of foreign trade has not been optimum yet. Second, we will find there is correlation between trade openness and the growth of economy in China by Co-integration analysis and Granger cause test. The open-up of trade in a country will boost the economic growth, and in the long term, the growth of economy in a country will accelerate the development of foreign trade in turn. Third, there is the tendency of concretization and variety. It is not proper for us to just use the trade openness to measure the degree of opening-up, but to choose several suitable indexes according to the focus of our research to make the analysis more scientific. Fourth, the processing trade should not be measured by simple figures, which are neither accurate nor reasonable, for there are both static and dynamic effects in the processing trade. When we research into it, we should consider its totaling welfare effects, to which more attention will and should be paid in the future.