Many countries advocating protectionism will suffer the consequences of inertia in economic and social growth structures. China's growth in recent decades is an economic miracle. As it lifted 728 million people above the UN-defined poverty line - contrasting with a mere 152 million in the rest of the world since 1981 - China became the world's second-largest economy, contributing nearly 39 percent to global economic growth. China's economic structure has evolved adaptively, from a central-government-ruled economy to a market-oriented one.