Knowledge Economy: New Trends in Economy in the Twenty-First Century

This chapter explores the origin, connotation and characteristics of the knowledge economy in against the background of China. The author, first, introduces the economic growth of China in recent years and the four momentums laying behind to this drive this to growth. Each one is based on the contribution made by the relevant knowledge power. Second, the author presents a retrospectives of the history of knowledge economy; the relationship between knowledge and economy; the three stages of the laborlabour economy, resource economy and knowledge economy, and thus summings up the features of knowledge economy; and, finally, a primary indicator to view this difference among the three is proposed. Third, concepts concerned about high-tech are discussed since high-tech industrialization is the primary pillar in knowledge economy. After looking into the prospect of knowledge economy, a general picture for the development of China’s Science Parks, which are the forcing bed for developing knowledge economy, has been provided, with Zhongguancun Science Park, Beijing, as a case. At present, after the industrial revolution, the entire world is in a new era, which is also the post-industrialization era for developed countries and the new and high-tech industrialization era for developing countries. Since the reform and opening of China at the end of the 1970s, the per year growth rate has been over 8 per cent, and the total economic output of China has doubled.