Astonishing growth has been foretold

When Deng Xiaoping embarked on the reform path 40 years ago, did he, never mind anyone else, have the slightest inkling it would lead to the China we know today? I was just about to start a one year's master's degree in economics and finance at Sheffield University in the United Kingdom, having just completed my first degree in economics.

Indeed, I am returning to a 40-year alumni event as a guest of the university to give an after-dinner speech, and I might ask the audience: Did anyone think about China in those days? I know I didn't, and I suspect, not many outside a small elite of international thinkers focused on China.

Few thought much about China four decades ago