Abstract: In this paper, we make measurements for the import specialization degree of China’s 32 industrial sectors utilizing the import data of China's industrial sectors in 2001-2011, and empirically analyze the relationships between import specialization and economic growth of China’s industrial sectors. The result shows that the specialization of import has a positive impact on the economic growth of China's industrial sectors, no matter from all the sectors or capital-intensive industries. Moreover, there is a U-shaped relationship between China’s import specialization and economic growth, and for the current development stage, China has crossed the inflection point of the U-shaped curve. That is, China is in the period when the specialization of import has a positive impact on the economic growth of China's industrial sectors. Therefore, China should attach great importance to the role of import in economic development; raise the degree of import specialization in industrial sectors; make full use of the role import plays in promoting economic growth, especially the development of the industries; and speed up the development of capital-intensive strategic emerging industries.
