The First Five-Year Plan

This was China's first Five-year Plan on economic and social development, carried out from 1953 to 1957. The Central Financial and Economic Commission began drafting the plan in the spring of 1951; the work lasted four years with the text being revised five times. The plan was adopted at the Second Session of the First NPC held in July 1955.

The First Five-year Plan entailed: a major effort to develop heavy industry and lay an initial foundation for industrialization and for modernizing national defense; developing communications and transportation services, light industry, agriculture and commerce as required; training the personnel needed by the new state; gradually establishing cooperatives for agriculture and handicraft industry; continuing the transformation of capitalist industry and commerce; ensuring a steady increase in the share of socialist sectors in the national economy; and ensuring a gradual improvement in the people's material and cultural life on the basis of expanding economic activity.

The basic tasks for the plan included: building a number of new industrial sectors on a large scale and with advanced technology, while using modern, advanced technology to expand and transform existing industrial sectors; making rational use of and rebuilding the existing industrial foundations in Northeast China and in Shanghai and other coastal cities, while beginning to create hinterland industrial bases.

The First Five-year Plan was completed by the end of 1957, with most of the targets being met or exceeded. There was the biggest increase in the scale and quality of industrialization in China's history. China made a giant step forward with its industrial capacity and technical level. These outstanding achievements laid a solid foundation for future industrialization, particularly in terms of human and technological resources.

第一個五年計劃

第一個五年計劃，是中國從1953年到1957年發展國民經濟的計劃。1951年春，中央財經委員會著手試編第一個五年計劃，歷時4年，五易其稿。1955年7月，一屆全國人大二次會議正式審議并通過。

“一五”計劃的指導方針是：集中主要力量發展重工業，建立國家工業化和國防現代化的初步基礎；相應地發展交通運輸業、輕工業、農業和商業；相應地培養建設人才；有步驟地促進農業、手工業的合作化；繼續進行對資本主義工商業的改造；保證國民經濟中社會主義成分的比重穩步增長，同時正確地發揮個體農業、手工業和資本主義工商業的作用；保證在發展生產的基礎上逐步提高人民物質生活和文化生活水平。

“一五”計劃的基本任務是：五年中將新建一批規模巨大、技術先進的新興工業部門，同時要用現代先進技術擴大和改造原有的工業部門；要合理利用和改建東北、上海和其他沿海地區城市已有的工業基礎，同時要開始在內地建設一批新的工業基地。

經過全黨和全國人民五年的艱苦奮斗，到1957年年底，第一個五年計劃的各項指標大幅度地超額完成，形成中國近代以來引進規模最大、效果最好、作用最大的工業化浪潮。中國的工業生產能力和技術水平前進了一大步，取得了令人矚目的成就，為后來的工業化奠定了基礎，特別是人力資源和技術資源的基礎。