The Chinese dream and peaceful development

For centuries China had been the centre of human civilization, and yet almost always defensive and inward looking. Except during the Ching Dynasty, which is Manchu and not Han, some regions adjacent to China had been incorporated.

China was content with itself when the region recognized it as a major power. That changed when Western colonialism, starting with the Opium War, imposed opening the country to trade, including opium. And since then many times China was invaded or temporarily occupied by foreign powers in wartime.

The struggle for China since then, even in the declining Ching Dynasty, was how to repel the West and Japan as colonizers and to retrieve all parts of China that had been occupied by those powers. With the birth of the PRC Mao managed to unify China in 1949. A Herculean task was faced by China during its nation-building efforts to move the country again. After more than 35 years of national, especially economic development, under the leadership of Chairman Deng from 1978 until he stepped down, the realization of the Chinese Dream to become a wealthy and powerful country at long last showed concrete results.

Now, under Chairman and President Xi Jinping, China can look forward to its dream coming true. The results of the Third Plenum of the 18th Central Committee Meeting are reform oriented, especially in responding to the new challenges China is facing for its better future.

In short, China is resolved to deal with:

- Social equity: equal treatment of migrant workers in urban areas or reform of the Hukou system.

- Market forces: giving the market a "decisive" role in setting prices.

- Social reform: freeing up land in rural areas the migrants left behind to become a boost for economic growth. Also, the gradual liberalization of the one child policy will be good for economic growth.

- Political reform: a gradual process that does not include adoption of a Western liberal democracy. Mr. Xi abolished the forced labor penalty. He recognized the usefulness of NGOs and is open to have a partial independent court system.

The dream of China is to become a strong and wealthy country, and one with a utilitarian purpose, and the reforms adopted in the Third Plenum are making headway to this becoming a reality. It is going to double the per capita income to US$12,000.00 by 2021 - the year marking the centennial of the Party - and to become a developed economy in 2049, the centennial of the founding of the PRC.

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