Editor’s note: In this column we introduce phrases frequently used in the Chinese media and by the Chinese government, thereby providing a succinct overview of China’s political thinking, its policies and ongoing reforms and transitions.  

“供给侧改革”

“供给侧”是相对于“需求侧”而言的，它是从供给和生产端入手，通过鼓励企业创新、促进淘汰落后、化解过剩产能、降低税费负担等方式，解放生产力、提升竞争力，从而促进经济发展。“供给侧改革”更加注重经济结构的优化，核心在于提高全要素生产率，政策手段包括简政放权、放松管制、金融改革、国企改革、土地改革、提高创新能力等。“供给侧改革”的提出，旨在加大结构性改革力度，进一步释放内需潜力、激发供给活力，以创新供给带动需求扩展，以扩大有效需求倒逼供给升级，实现稳增长和调结构互为支撑、互促共进。

Supply-side Reform

Supply-side policies, which focus on supply and production, are often discussed in contrast to a demand-side approach. To improve supply-side performance is to unleash productivity and maintain a competitive edge, with greater innovation, decommissioning of obsolete manufacturing, less overcapacity, and lower tax rates, so as to boost economic growth.

This reform is placing greater emphasis on optimizing the economic structure and enhancing the efficiency of all contributing factors. To this end, measures will be implemented to streamline government and delegate powers, relax macro-regulation, spur innovation, and reform the financial sector, land use rights, and SOEs. The reform plan is designed to accelerate structural change, fuel domestic demand and expand supply. Innovation will be encouraged to generate greater demand, which will in return lead to improvements in supply. Steady growth and structural adjustment should be mutually supportive and proceed in parallel.

“中国制造2025”

2015年5月8日，中国国务院正式印发《中国制造2025》，成为中国实施制造强国战略第一个十年的行动纲领。文件中透露，“中国制造2025”的总体思路是，坚持走中国特色新型工业化道路，以促进制造业创新发展为主题，以加快新一代信息技术与制造业深度融合为主线，以推进智能制造为主攻方向，强化工业基础能力，提高综合集成水平，完善多层次人才体系，实现中国制造业由大变强的历史跨越。

它的目标是：到2020年，基本实现工业化，制造业大国地位进一步巩固，制造业信息化水平大幅提升；到2025年，制造业整体素质大幅提升，创新能力显著增强，全员劳动生产率明显提高，工业化和信息化融合迈上新台阶。

Made in China 2025

On May 8, 2015, China’s State Council unveiled its first 10-year national plan for transforming China’s manufacturing, entitled “Made in China 2025.” The plan is designed to put China on a new path to industrialization, with greater emphasis on innovation, expanded use of new-generation information technology, intelligent manufacturing, consolidation of the industrial base, integration of industrial processes and systems, and a robust multilayer talent development structure. Measures taken in this respect will facilitate China’s transformation from a manufacturing giant with a focus on quantity to one with a qualitative edge.

Specifically, the 10-year plan envisions the successful completion by 2020 of the process of basic industrialization, further consolidating China’s position as a manufacturing powerhouse that increasingly relies on cutting-edge information technology. It also foresees a significant leap in China’s overall manufacturing capability by 2025, characterized by markedly reinforced innovative ability, greatly improved overall productivity, and a new level of integration of industrial processes and information technology.

国家大数据战略

大数据是以容量大、类型多、存取速度快、应用价值高为主要特征的数据集合。2014年3月，大数据首次写入中国中央政府工作报告；2015年10月，中共十八届五中全会正式提出“实施国家大数据战略，推进数据资源开放共享”。这表明中国已将大数据视作战略资源并上升为国家战略，期望运用大数据推动经济发展、完善社会治理、提升政府服务和监管能力。此举可以促使中国政府从“权威治理”向“数据治理”转变，促进政府与民众的沟通互联，提高政府应对各类事件和问题的智能化水平。同时，中国希望通过推行国家大数据战略，加快大数据发展核心技术研发及应用，重构国家综合竞争优势，赢得未来发展先机。

The National Big-data Strategy

Big data can be characterized by the huge volume, the wide variety, the extreme velocity at which data are processed, and the high value that big-data technologies can create.

The issue of big data was discussed for the first time in the Report on the Work of the Government delivered in March 2014. At its fifth plenary session in October 2015, the 18th CPC Central Committee unveiled a national big-data strategy that promotes open exchange and sharing of data. The need for such a strategy underscores the increasing importance of big data as a strategic asset on China’s development agenda. The strategy calls for exploring the potential of big-data technologies to boost economic growth, and improve governance at all levels, as well as government services and regulation.

This move will enable the Chinese government to switch from an authority-based approach to governance to a data-based approach. It will not only create a higher level of interaction with the public, but also enhance the ability of the government to respond to exigencies and solve problems with the aid of smart data technologies. The implementation of this strategy is also expected to accelerate big data related core technology research, development and application, so as to enhance China’s national competitiveness and pave the way for future development.