Old dreams give way to new realities

Expectations are running high in China that the ongoing Third Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, which commenced on Nov 9, will clear the decks for meaningful policy changes and further reforms.

There is no doubt that the Third Plenum will be an important milestone for the country. Chinese economists tend to say that the country's reform, launched in 1978, has so far been an effort of "crossing the river by feeling the stones". But now, they say, the reform has waded into a "deep water zone" and a new strategy has to be adopted.

What do they mean by "crossing the river by feeling the stones"? In practice, it means to tackle the easy tasks, or to pick the low-hanging fruit. The very first step of the reform, for example, seemed to dismantle the regimented communes and return to farming in small family plots, a practice that has existed for more than 2,000 years.