Prudently moving forward in new era

Despite the great achievements the just-concluded 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China made and the enthusiastic public response it drew, it is very important to remember that General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed the fact that China is still and will long remain in the primary stage of socialism has not changed, and its status as the world's largest developing country, too, has not changed.

The first "has not changed" refers to China's overall situation at the current stage, based on the country's socio-economic development, and the second means it has started seeing its role in comparison to its counterparts.

The term "primary stage of socialism" refers to a stage that China must go through given its relatively low productivity and still developing commodity economy in the pursuit of modernization. According to Xi's report, toward "the middle of the 21st century, we will, building on having basically achieved modernization, work hard for a further 15 years and develop China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful". Which could mean China will remain in the primary stage of socialism till about 2050.