The 10 years from 1957 to the beginning of the "cultural revolution" in 1966 was the period in which China started large-scale socialist construction. The nation's total industrial fixed assets quadrupled between 1956 and 1966, and the national income increased by 58 percent in terms of constant prices.

The output of essential industrial products increased several-fold. A group of new and developing industries were founded, and large-scale agricultural capital construction and technological transformation unfolded on a large scale. Both the number of tractors used in agriculture and the volume of chemical fertilizer increased by more than 600 percent. The 12-Year Plan for Scientific and Technological Development (1956-1967) was completed five years ahead of schedule. Outstanding achievements were recorded in many new fields of science and technology.However, during this dynamic decade, serious mistakes were also made in the Party and government's guidelines, harming the national economy.