Special report:
30 Years of Reform Opening Up
Highlights of President
Hu's speech at reform eulogy meeting
Backgrounder: Major events
in 30 years of China's reform, opening-up
China holds a conference to mark the
30th anniversary of the convening of the Third Plenary Session of the 11th
Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, at the Great Hall of
the People in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 18, 2008. (Chinese media
Photo)
Photo
Gallery
BEIJING, Dec. 18 (Chinese media) -- President Hu
Jintao said on Thursday that China must continue the reform and opening-up
drive, which in the past 30 years turned the once poverty-stricken country into
one of the world's largest economies.
Hu said China's significant changes over the past 30
years have proved that the direction and path of reform and opening-up are
"completely correct".
Given the current world situation, especially the
escalation and spread of the international financial crisis, China must continue
to firmly focus on economic development, Hu said.
China holds a conference to mark the
30th anniversary of the convening of the Third Plenary Session of the 11th
Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, at the Great Hall of
the People in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 18, 2008. (Chinese media
Photo)
Photo
Gallery
"Standing still and regressing will lead only to a dead
end," Hu told an audience of more than 6,000, including top Chinese leaders.
The meeting, which started at the Great Hall of the
People in downtown Beijing at 10:00 a.m, was held to mark the 30th anniversary
of the holding of the 3rd plenary session of the 11th Central Committee of the
Communist Party of China, which spearheaded the reform and opening-up drive in
1978.
Leaders including Jiang Zemin, Wu Bangguo, Wen
Jiabao, Jia Qinglin, Li Changchun, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, He Guoqiang and Zhou
Yongkang attended the meeting.
Economic reforms began 30 years ago after the 10-year
Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), which left the country on the verge of economic
breakdown.
The decision to open up the once-secluded country and
reform its moribund economy was made at the 3rd plenary session of the 11th
Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Dec. 18,1978, which was
masterminded by Deng Xiaoping and his comrades. Deng himself was then called the
chief architect of the reform and opening up drive.
China held a meeting on Thursday morning
to celebrate the 30th anniversary of its reform and opening-up drive,
which turned the once poverty-stricken country into one of the world's
largest economies.(Chinese media Photo)
Photo Gallery
Hu said the meeting 30 years ago ushered in a new
historic period of reform and opening-up, marking the most significant turning
point in the Party's history since the New China was founded in 1949.
By gathering to commemorate the 30th anniversary of
that meeting, Hu said the intention was to fully recognize the significance and
great achievements of the reforms, sum up experience, and continue to develop
the country on the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
China has maintained an average annual growth rate of
9.8 percent over the past three decades, more than three times the world
average.
Gross domestic product soared from a mere 360 billion
yuan (about 52 billion U.S. dollars at current rates) in 1978 to 24.95 trillion
yuan in 2007, making China the world's fourth-largest economy.
Hu said the past 30 years were a period in which
China's national strength rose a big margin, and the Chinese people have
received more tangible benefits than ever before.
"Reform and opening-up are the fundamental causes of
all the achievements and progress we have made," Hu said.
But Hu also cautioned the Party and the Chinese
people not to become content with their achievements and stop moving forward.
Hu said China still faced many challenges, including
a weak agricultural foundation and less-developed rural areas. The nation's
ability to innovate new things is also weak.
"We must adhere to the correct direction of reform
and opening-up so as to build a system that is full of vigor, highly efficient,
more open and has a favorable environment for scientific development," he said.
He also suggested that the reform of political system
be pushed in keeping pace with economic reforms.
Commentary: Financial crisis won't
stop China's opening up, reform
BEIJING, Dec. 18 (Chinese media) -- After 10 years of discussion
and planning, China will launch fuel tax reforms in the New Year, part of an
effort to streamline its price systems.
It will be just the latest market-oriented major policy
move that China has undertaken in its three decades of reform and opening up. Full story
Changed and unchanged: PLA 30 years
after China's reform, opening-up
WENSHAN, Yunnan, Dec. 18 (Chinese media) -- To 53-year-old Liu
Zhihe, it is easy to grab a machine gun and fight on the battleground, but it is
a big headache to press any button on a computer keyboard in the office.
"It's a tough job for me to learn new technologies such as
office automation," he said. Liu has been on active service for 36 years and is
now political commissar of the Wenshan Military Area Command of the Chinese
People's Liberation Army (PLA) in southwestern Yunnan Province. Full story
30 years on, Chinese still crave for reform,
opening-up
BEIJING, Dec. 17 (Chinese media) -- Reform and opening-up is a
natural choice for China to handle challenges triggered by the world financial
crisis, and sustain its economic miracle, a Chinese scholar said on Wednesday.
Chi Fulin, the executive director of the China (Hainan)
Reform and Development Research Institute, along with other members of Chinese
society, and newspapers have voiced their support for extending reform and
opening up, on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the country's reform and
opening-up. Full story
South China boom province pays tribute
to opening-up policy
GUANGZHOU, Dec. 15 (Chinese media) -- South China province of
Guangdong held a grand ceremony on Monday to mark the 30th anniversary of the
opening of a tune-setting conference for China's opening up policy.
Dubbed as the experimental field of China's reform and
opening-up policy, Guangdong has sustained an average annual growth rate of 13.8
percent over the past 30 years, said Wang Yang, secretary of Guangdong
provincial committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) at the ceremony. Full story
Top ten catch phrases in China since
1978 reform
BEIJING, Dec. 14 (Chinese media) -- Chinese media selected the 10
most popular phrases from the past three decades to mark the official 30th
anniversary of China's reform and opening up, which falls on this month.
When China began to reform and open-up 30 years ago,
people began experiencing, seeing and doing new things. In fact things were so
new, they needed to create new words to describe what was happening. Full story
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