Since the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, Chinese industry has been developing quickly. Now an independent and comprehensive industrial system has been built up, which includes all industries, such as steel and iron, chemical engineering, mechanics, textiles, electronics, aeronautics and astronautics.

Before 1949, Chinese industry was mainly distributed in the coastal cities of the east, such as Shenyang, Dalian, Tianjin, Qingdao, Shanghai and Guangzhou. In the vast expanse of central and western China, the industry level was extremely low, except for a few cities like Wuhan and Chongqing.

Since 1949, Chinese industrial layout has changed greatly. Now it has established a series key projects; a heavy industrial base in central and southern Liaoning province, a comprehensive industrial base centered around Beijing, Tianjin and Tangshan, the nation's biggest comprehensive industrial base with Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou as the centre, and comprehensive industrial base centered around Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Zhujiang Delta area.