China's economy has undergone a tremendous change since 1978. The best way to make an objective judgment of the success of Chinese economy in raising the average income of the Chinese people and spurring the social progress of the country is through the eyes of the reporters of Western media who have witnessed for themselves what has taken place in China. People from abroad who have visited China in the last quarter of the 20th, irrespective of their political views, have been invariably impressed by China's economic growth and social changes.
It is the economic reform initiated in 1978 that has pushed China's economy on the road of a market economy. China set out on the fast track of economic growth since then.