Given its vast population and its remarkable economic development in the last twenty years or so, China represents perhaps the most important market of the future for flat glass. Since 1995, when supply for flat glass began to outweigh demand, the industry has been gleaned to make it more competitive. Manuacturing technology has been updated and surplus production facilities closed down. This article briefly traces the development of China's flat glass manufacturing industry from its beginnings to its current status. Flat glass output in China is reported from between the years 1949 to 1997. One of the activities of the China Glass Development Centre has been that of monitoring global float glass production and a table of which has been compiled by the centre up to the year 1997.
