BEIJING, Oct. 1  -- New China has achieved a lot during the past 65 years.

Despite problems that still trouble the country today, such as food safety, corruption and a giant gap between the rich and poor, China's quality of life, economy, and science and technology have advanced drastically since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

Back in 1793, when British diplomat George Macartney visited China, he was surprised to see people kneeling down, prostrating themselves three times and knocking their heads on the ground as a courtesy to the emperor.

Kneeling down was the stereotypical pose of the Chinese people in the eyes of foreigners before 1949, which is why China's late chairman Mao Zedong said at the founding ceremony of New China that "the Chinese people have stood up." In China's national anthem, the word "arise" appears four times.

Yuan Xuefen, a Peking opera actress who was 27 in 1949, couldn't believe it when she was invited to the Tian'anmen rostrum at the country's founding ceremony.

"In the past, the social status of an actress was very low," she said. "I didn't dare to imagine it even in my wildest dreams."

However, liberation was just the first step, with more difficulties to follow.

Guan Youjiang from east China's Anhui Province recalled that, in the old days, they didn't celebrate National Day. "We rural people worried about food every day," he said.

His family lived in an adobe house. When it rained outside, the drizzle entered the house. In his home there were only pots and beds.

To raise his four children, Guan and his wife became beggars, knocking on every door with a cloth bag.

His life changed on a winter night in 1978, when 18 villagers in Xiaogang, including Guan, signed a land-contracting agreement to divide the farmland owned by the commune into family plots.

The first harvest came in 1979, when the grain they reaped was even more than the total in the past ten years.

A report at the Sixth Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party China (CPC) in 1981 said that from 1952 to 1980, the output of grain and cotton in China doubled.

"Although the population is growing quickly, we can still guarantee the basic needs of people with our own efforts," it said.

With the deepening of reform and opening up, more people benefited.

Yang Huaiding was a gatekeeper at a steel plant in Shanghai. In 1988, he was wrongly accused of stealing bronze and quit his job. Yang gained 800 yuan by buying and selling government bonds before investing in the stock market, which started operation in China in 1990. He became one of the first people to benefit from the country's financial openness. Soon he became a millionaire.

China has impressed the world with its economic miracle and become the world's second-largest economy.

"The fast growth of the economy has pushed China to the center of the world stage," said Yu Pei, a research fellow with the world history research institute of the China Academy of Social Sciences. "China is becoming increasingly influential in the course of world history."

But the economy is not everything. Chinese technology and infrastructure have also advanced to astonishing levels.

In 2013, China launched the Shenzhou-10 manned spacecraft, and Yutu, China's first moon rover, drew the world's attention. By 2014, China had built more than 10,000 kilometers of railway for high-speed trains, with another 12,000 kilometers under construction.

"China has been talking about rejuvenation since the first Opium War in 1840, but has never been so close to it," Yu said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has a "Chinese dream," which he has explained to mean the pursuit of peace, prosperity, happiness and social stability.

There are also two goals.

By 2021, when the CPC celebrates its centenary, China aims to complete the building of a "moderately prosperous society in all respects." By 2049, when the People's Republic of China marks its centennial, the country aims to be a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious.

To achieve the goals, Xi said, "We must continue reform and opening up without hesitation."