Writing the first draft of history of China's miracle

As a journalist, the privilege of covering many historic events firsthand is indeed rewarding, and there has probably been no better time to be a journalist if it is about "firsts" and "mosts". Most of which are associated with China's reform and opening-up.

For example, I was there on Aug 8, 1988, when Shanghai leased its, indeed China's, first piece of land through international tender. The No 26 plot in southwest Shanghai's Hongqiao area ushered in a land and housing reform in China in the following decades.

As a result, the average living space per person in Shanghai, which was a mere 6.6 square meters in the early 1990s, shot up to 36.7 square meters in 2017, higher than in Hong Kong and other major Asian cities.