Peoples Daily Comments: To build a great modern country, China plans out for the next 30 years

Xi Jinping talks with villagers in Shibadong village in Hunan province in November 2013, where he put forward the goal of Targeted Poverty Alleviation. (Photo: Xinhua)

"Hold Your Hands" is a Chinese film based on how a village in central China’s Hunan province was lifted out of poverty by developing tourism, farming, and developing the local embroidery industry after Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward the goal of targeted poverty alleviation for the first time when visiting the village on November 3, 2013. The annual per capita income of the village increased to 8313 yuan ($1,253) in 2016 from 1668 yuan ($252) in 2013.

The change of the village is a miniature of what happened in China in the past five years. The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China has made a clear deployment. “In the first stage from 2020 to 2035, we will build on the foundation created by the moderately prosperous society with a further 15 years of hard work to see that socialist modernization is basically realized. In the second stage from 2035 to the middle of the 21st century, we will, building on having basically achieved modernization, work hard for a further 15 years and develop China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful.” The two-stage development plan and the goal of building a great modern socialist country indicate that the Communist Party of China will lead Chinese people to start a new journey.

The goal can be understood from two aspects. Thirty years ago, Deng Xiaoping, the chief architect of China’s "reform and opening-up" put forward the "Three-Step" Development Strategy. Now, China has resolved food and clothing issues and reached the level of being "well-off" in advance, speeding up to achieve modernization. It shows the CPC’s confidence that it has decided to realize modernization 15 years earlier than the original plan and upgraded the goal to “develop China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally a culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful”.

China has contributed to 30% of the world’s economic growth, far surpassing the combined amount made by the U.S., Eurozone, and Japan. When many countries are fighting a “boxing game”, China is running a relay race. More and more people are convinced that the new goal set by the CPC reflects China’s further contribution to the peace and development of the world.