"Fifty Glorious Years 1949-1999" (光辉的五十年1949-1999), designed by the Museum of the Chinese Revolution (中国革命博物馆) and published by the Zhongguo funü chubanshe (中国妇女出版社) and the Zhongguo dabaike quanshu chubanshe (中国大百科全书出版社) in 1999, is a series of 20 posters devoted to the period 1949-1999.
The developments that occurred after the adoption of Deng Xiaoping's strategy of Reform and Opening Up (改革开放) in 1978 receive more attention than the events preceding 1978. In that sense, the series celebrates the successes of Deng's actions. Jiang Zemin, Deng's successor, takes the credit for these successes as well.
The title reads "5. Great development of light and heavy industries" (5. 轻重工业大发展).
The text reads "What was left behind by the old China was a mess with many holes. After the founding of the PRC, the Chinese people relied on their own efforts and worked hard to initially establish an independent, relatively complete and large-scale industrial system. The output of major industrial products has increased significantly, and some products and industries have entered the forefront of the world. Take heavy industry as an example. The output in 1949 was only 158,000 tons. In 1996, it exceeded the 100 million tons mark, surpassing the United States and Japan and ranking first in the world. Light industry has also made great strides, and our country has become a major producer and exporter of light industrial products. Our country has successfully completed the Eighth Five-Year Plan and achieved the goal of doubling the scale of production by the end of this century five years ahead of schedule." (旧中国留下的是一个千疮百孔的烂摊子。中华人民共和国成立后，中国人民自力更生，艰苦奋斗，初建立起了独立的，门类比较齐全的，规模较大的工业体系。 主要工艺品产量大幅度增长，一些产品和产业已经入世界前列。重工业一个为例，1949年的产量只有15.8万吨，1996年突破亿万吨大关，超过美国和日本，跃居世界第一位。轻工业同样突飞猛进，我国已成为轻工产品生产与出口大国。 我国已顺利完成了第八个五年计划，并提前五年实现了本世纪末规模生产翻两番的目标).
Photographs show, among others, the Shanghai BaoGang Steelworks, a tractor factory, a textile factory in Jiangsu, the Beijing Jeep Automobile Plant, an electronics fair.
