Traditional IO techniques have been used and applied in detail to the case of the Chinese economy with a view to describing and analysing the gradual, albeit radical, transformation of the Chinese industrial fabric since the beginning of the economic reforms. Using a Biproportional Filter, our study has a threefold objective: to measure and analyse structural change that has taken place in the Chinese manufacturing sector since 1985; to highlight those industries that have been most responsible for the change; and to explain the reasons for these changes.