As statistics attest ,in countries beginning to industrialize,the service industry accounts for 30 to 35 percent of GNP:for developed countries,the figure is around 20 percent of the total employment in China.In decepoped countries,service-related expenditures usually account for 40 percent of the individual personal expenditures;in China that figure is 4 percent .As a result of the underdevelopment of the service sector,sjopping,dining,commuting,and communicatinf are major difficulities for virtually every Chinese family.
To be sure ,the service industry in China has never been accorded any proiority in national development.The mani reason for its underdevelopment was the influence of the policy that :production takes precedence over consumption .”After liberation,Mao Zegong called for the consumption cities to become production cities.
In the economy of general scarcity in China as it was then .the emphasison material production was easily understandable.What service establishments existed were shifted one after another to industrial production activities;the service economy continued to shrink .In fact ,most services doctrinaire Marxist tradition.Hence,they were regarded as “remnants of capitalism”which should be abolished.Providing service was ranramount to granting a favor;it ran counter to the idea that production.