Top marks for report

The performance report Premier Wen Jiabao delivered to the national legislature yesterday on behalf of his cabinet was by and large an excellent answer-sheet given the dramatic twists and turns our economy and society has been through in the past five years.

The economy, as has been true since the late 1970s, continues to produce the most convincing hallmarks of progress - the country's GDP last year was 65.5 percent higher than it was when Wen and his colleagues assumed office in 2002. With that, the country is now the fourth largest economic entity the world over. We are the world's third largest foreign trader, with the largest foreign exchange reserve.

The most impressive difference, as we see it, lies in the swelling government revenues and the subsequent weight put on public finance. Last year, financial revenues reached 5.13 trillion yuan nationwide, 1.71 times more than in 2003. The abolition of the agriculture tax, popularization of free compulsory education in rural areas, and a recent subsistence guarantee mechanism for rural residents are only some of the practical benefits of the wealthier State.