Taking baton of reform

The reform and opening-up set in motion 40 years ago was a "crucial move" for the country, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, stressed in October.

To stabilize the country after years of turmoil and actuate its belated development, China's leaders at that time acted with expedient pragmatism, initiating reforms to meet people's aspirations for better lives and opening up the country to the outside world in a bid to acquire the technology, science and management skills that were essential for the country's modernization.

These moves transformed China. And the speed and extent of that transformation is probably hard to fully appreciate unless experienced first-hand. In what has been a little more than a generation, the country has lifted more than 800 million people out of extreme poverty, and from being one of the poorest countries in the world it has become the second-largest economy and largest contributor to global economic output. Whichever way you look at it, that's a remarkable achievement.