As of the end of June 2020, foreign investors had bought a total of US$440 billion in Chinese stocks, representing about 2.9% of the total value, and indicating that foreign investors scooped up a total of US$156.6 billion in the stocks just in the first half of 2020. As of 12 October 2020, the total market capitalization of Mainland Chinese stock markets, consisting of the Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange, topped US$10 trillion, excluding the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with about US$5.9 trillion. China has three of the world's ten largest stock exchanges ( Shanghai, Hong Kong and Shenzhen), both by market capitalization and by trade volume. China has four of the world's top ten most competitive financial centers ( Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shenzhen), more than any other country. As a result, China has the world's fastest-growing major economy, with growth rates averaging 10% over 30 years. The government began its economic reforms in 1978 under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping. Historically, China was one of the world's foremost economic powers for most of the two millennia from the 1st until the 19th century. An official forecast states that China will become the world's largest economy in nominal GDP by 2028. It has been the second largest by nominal GDP since 2010, with data relying on fluctuating market exchange rates. China has the world's second largest economy when measured by nominal GDP, and the world's largest economy since 2014 when measured by Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), which according to some economists is a more accurate measure of an economy's true size. Ninety-one (91) of these SOEs belong to the 2020 Fortune Global 500 companies. As of the end of 2019, the total assets of all China's SOEs, including those operating in the financial sector, reached US$78.08 trillion.
State-owned enterprises accounted for over 60% of China's market capitalization in 2019 and generated 40% of China's GDP of US$15.66 trillion in 2020, with domestic and foreign private businesses and investment accounting for the remaining 60%. Dominated by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and mixed-ownership enterprises, the economy also consists of a large domestic private sector and openness to foreign businesses in a system described as a socialist market economy. The economy of the People's Republic of China is a developing market-oriented mixed economy that incorporates economic planning through industrial policies and strategic five-year plans. All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars.