China had a trade deficit as recently as 1993, as shown in the graph below. After 2004, China’s trade surplus exploded from USD 32 billion to USD 102 billion.
The source of data for the graph is the National Bureau of Statistics of China. You may also want to check our China section, our graph of Chinese exports, and our graph of Chinese imports.
Chinese imports, just like Chinese exports, grew exponentially starting from 1978 until 2006, as show in the graph below. The dashed line shows an exponential trend line. The exponential regression equation and R2 values are also shown.
The data is sourced from the National Bureau of Statistics of China. Check additional statistics in our China section.
I just released trade statistics by country and by product. Exports and imports are available for the period 2001-2005. The product groupings belong to the SITC Rev. 3 international standard. The primary data source is the commerce and trade database maintained by the United Nations.