Historical starting point for new stage of development

The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which begins on October 18, will set the leadership and establish the policies for the next five years, at least. While Party national congresses are always seminal events in the political life of the country, there is reason to expect that this congress will have even greater and longer-reaching impact.

The context of the 19th CPC National Congress is the grand vision for China presented by CPC Central Committee General Secretary Xi Jinping, who is now the "core" of "the CPC Central Committee and of the whole Party". It is an epic narrative of what China has remarkably achieved, what China has yet to do, and what China envisages as necessary to become a great nation.

Xi's grand vision is famously expressed as "the Chinese Dream", described as "the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation", which has personal and national implications. It is specified by two overarching goals: the two centenary goals of establishing a moderately prosperous society by 2020 - the 100th anniversary of the CPC is 2021 - and establishing China as a "fully modernized, socialist nation" by the 100th anniversary of the People's Republic of China in 2049.