The research utilized the World Bank’s method as a reference, and made the numerous appropriate adjustments based on China’s national condition. The GDP also has been converted to USD based data by utilizing the moving average exchange rate. The research systematically completed China’s GDP and GDP per capita from 1952 to 1986 and analyzed growth rate, the change and contribution rates of each component. The research also included international comparisons. Additionally, the research compared MPS and SNA, looking at the results from the two systems from analyzing Chinese economy. This achievement created the foundation for China's GDP research.
The State Council of China issued “The notice regarding implementation of System of National Accounting” in August 1992, the Western SNA system officially is introduced to China, replaced Soviet Union's MPS system, Western economic indicator GDP became China’s most important economic indicator. Based on Dr. Fengbo Zhang's research, in 1997, the National Bureau of Statistics of China, in collaboration with Hitotsubashi University of Japan, re-estimated China’s GDP Data from 1952 upto 1995 based on the SNA principal.
When comparing Fengbo Zhang’s GDP measurement in the 1980s and the GDP in 1997 by the National Bureau of Statistics of China and Japan’s cooperative research, the two are found to be very consistent; the deviation rate each year is very slight, between only 0.1% and 7%. During this period, there were many data adjustments, with weighting factors undergoing significant changes along with each years comparable price amendments, statistical method significant changes result in the substantial deviation. Even with science and technology as advanced as it is today, the single item survey is allowed at least +-3%, or a total of 6% deviation. Despite the extremely difficult conditions of a destroyed economy, blank theory, a lack of data, and simple methods in 1980s, there is so little deviation for such a long period of time and the comprehensiveness of the national economic indicator, indicates that the research conducted by Fengbo Zhang with the support of the extensive group he trained is extremely rigorous, and their result very precise.
Fengbo Zhang’s achievement comprehensively covered China’s macroeconomy. He published more than 10 books and hundreds of reports and research papers; however, the GDP-related contents comprise only 9 pages (Chapter 2, Section 1 in the book “Chinese Macroeconomic Structure and Policy”). At early stage of China’s reform, as the forerunner of Chinese Economists, he removed himself from the traditional Chinese political economy, but he also did not attach himself solely to Western economic theory. Instead, he incorporated the essence of both theories and focused his research on the newest achievements of economic structure and policies of various countries. Basing it on comprehensive research of Chinese economic structure, operation law, and policy, he created a completely new Chinese macroeconomic analysis theory and method, unique for its usage of personal computing technology, forming a significant feature of Chinese Economics, especially economic policy research.
