Of course, these 10 years are not solely filled with positive advances. Unprecedented crises and incidents have also occurred in China during the decade, such as the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan Province, the floods and landslide in Zhouqu in Gansu Province, food security issues, environmental damage, and the 2003 outbreak of SARS. The worldwide economic crisis originating in the financial crisis in the U.S. and the debt crisis in Europe have put China through yet more tests.

In July, the CPC Central Committee organized a consultation meeting attended by non-Party personages, where President Hu Jintao suggested six aims for economic work in the latter half of 2012: to strengthen and improve macro-control; further modernization of agriculture; speed up transformation of the mode of economic development; carry forward the policy of reform and opening-up; guarantee and improve people’s life; and prevent economic risks. These aims were drawn in the light of the past 10 years and directed the development priorities for the new generation of leaders.

Quality of Life Top Priority

The years starting from the founding of New China in 1949 until 1978, when reform and opening-up was embarked upon, were dominated by political and ideological concerns. Since then the focus has shifted towards economic growth.

In 1992, Deng Xiaoping went on his famous tour of southern China and delivered a series of talks on the month-long trip stressing the importance of economic reform in China. His “Southern Tour Speeches” heralded a brand new phase of development which saw many foreign companies enter China. By May 2012 the number of foreign companies in China had reached 439,300, and China is now the largest destination for foreign investment among developing countries.

Compared to other decades that have passed since 1949, the last 10 years can be spoken of as a turning point in the improvement of people’s standard of living, as the country switched its priority from economic growth to the well-being of its people.

Over this decade, China has stressed science-guided development culminating in a harmonious socialist society. Back in 1992 Deng emphasized speed. Today it is this harmonious society, whose central tenet is balanced and coordinated progress that reaches every stratum of society, that is central to China’s path. Many people believe that it is this combination of socialism and the market economy – once considered a contradiction – that has made the country’s fast economic progress possible. It is thanks to the economic strength thus gained that China has been able to stabilize a world economy that has in the last few years been battered by two waves of crises.

The core of a harmonious society is the people that live in it and their standard of living. We can list many achievements in China’s medical services, social welfare, education, employment, and other areas that have contributed to improvements in people’s lives. The agricultural tax, which had been levied for some 2,600 years, was abolished in 2006. Universal free compulsory education was achieved in 2007, and urbanization is well under way. China has thus made a huge progress towards shrinking the gap between different social classes.

One of Deng Xiaoping’s famous development strategies was to let a few people get rich first before the attainment of common prosperity. Embarkment on the improvement of every one of China’s 1.3 billion people’s livelihood implies that its development has reached the stage of striving for “common prosperity.” Back in 2002 the government proposed another national strategy based on the development of human resources. It has since poured huge amounts of time, money, and effort into education and training to improve China’s vast human resources. These investments are expected to result in the eventual improvement of peope’s standards of living.

Globalization, Urbanization, Culture, Innovation

I believe that the strength that has emerged over the past 10 years will further assert itself in China’s globalization, urbanization, outreaching culture, and innovation abilities. This is already apparent as more and more Chinese companies enter the international market, urbanization brings improvements to people’s living standards, Chinese culture gains increasing presence in the world, and innovation is encouraged as part of China’s continuing reform and opening-up.  

NORIYOSHI EHARA is the chief economist at Japan’s Institute of International Trade and Investment.