Five principles to leverage period of opportunity

Many Chinese aphorisms urge people to work hard. Few urge them to work smarter, but that, as the country's leadership has made clear, is what is needed now.

Although it is its hard work that has propelled the country's rapid economic growth since the launch of reform and opening-up, and which has seen it become the world's second-largest economy, the dividends from this labor are diminishing, not only because its population is aging, but also because the world is on the cusp of a new industrial revolution, one that requires brains, not brawn.

China was a late participant in the first three industrial revolutions; it is determined to be one of the leaders of the fourth. That is why it is emphasizing a skilled workforce, and why, over the past five years, it has prioritized further opening-up and creating an environment conducive to innovation.