China is among the nationalities which discovered, produced and utilized gold the earliest in the world and its history of gold exploitation and utilization is as long as 4,000 years. With the swift development of modern industries and agriculture, such as space and electronic industries, information technology, new energy resources and new materials, gold has found its vast range of applications.

Gold has many excellent properties such as high stability and thermal and electric conductivity, so it has been widely used in more and more highly stable electronic elements and components. Gold is also used in the modern space technology to make gold-coated infrared devices and thermal reflectors, gold-coated covers and plates for aircraft, vehicles and ships. In the chemical industry, gold is necessary in spinning nozzles for the production of man-made fibers. Apart from modern industries, gold is also consumed in large quantity in some traditional trades such as the manufacturing of artificial teeth, photographic equipment and materials and pens.     

Ever since mankind started to dig gold, 107,700 tons of gold had been mined in total until 1985. It is reckoned that 40% of the produced gold exists as various gold-inlaid jewels and coins, 40% as gold ingots in national treasuries of different countries and the rest 20% has been lost or consumed in industrial production. The quantity of gold as private belongings such as gold bars, coins and jewels is estimated to be equal to the government gold stocks of all countries in the world.     

By the end of 1985, there had been 65,315 tons of gold reserves in the world. In terms of the government gold stocks, the USA takes the first place with 8,220 tons; while in terms of private reserves, France is the number one with 6,251 tons; and 3,732 tons for India and also for the USA.