China is a large country with a 5,000-year-old civilization. Over a long period of history, it ranked among the most advanced countries in the world. In modern times, China was reduced to poverty and weakness, threatened by domestic strife and foreign aggression, and even confronted with complete demise. Through unrelenting struggle, the Chinese dream of prosperity and rejuvenation for their country, and happiness for the people. In 1949, under the CPC's leadership, they founded the PRC, turning a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society into a completely new one, and achieving national independence and the liberation of the people. China then entered a new epoch of development. Over the past 70 years it has been moving forward against all odds, and exploring its path to development. Based on the 5,000-year-old Chinese culture, the experience and lessons from the birth of socialism, the fall-to-rise turnaround of the Chinese nation in 170 years, and the history of revolution, construction and reform, the Chinese people have opened up the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and achieved remarkable outcomes.

1. China's development lies in self-reliance and hard work

In the early days of the PRC, following a century of war and chaos, the country and the people were in dire poverty, the industrial and agricultural foundations were weak, and the economy was on the verge of collapse. The people faced unimaginable difficulties in seeking survival and development. Over the seven decades that followed, through self-reliance and hard work they rebuilt the country from nothing, and have opened up new horizons.

China's economic strength has greatly increased. From 1952 to 2018, China's industrial added value increased from RMB12 billion to RMB30.5 trillion, up 970 times at constant prices, with an average annual growth rate of 11 percent. GDP increased from RMB67.9 billion to RMB90 trillion, up 174 times at constant prices, with an average annual growth rate of 8.1 percent, and per capita GDP increased from RMB119 to RMB64,644, up 70 times at constant prices. According to World Bank statistics, at market exchange rates China's economy in 2018 was worth US$13.6 trillion, second only to the US economy which was worth US$20.5 trillion. Currently, China is the only country that possesses all the sections in the United Nations' International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC), with the output of many industrial products ranking first in the world.

China has made remarkable progress in technology. Significant achievements such as nuclear bombs, ballistic missiles, manmade satellites, manned spaceflight, super hybrid rice, supercomputers, synthetic bovine insulin, artemisinin, and high-speed rail, have provided strong support for social and economic development. China's foreign trade has been increasing constantly. In 2009, China became the world's largest exporter of goods and second largest importer of goods; in 2013, China became the world's largest trader in goods. Since reform and opening up in 1978, foreign investment in China has seen a substantial increase, and China has become very attractive to global investment. China has become the world's second largest economy, largest manufacturer, largest trader in goods, second largest consumer of commodities, second largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI), and largest holder of foreign exchange reserves (see Table 1).

The Chinese people's lives have been greatly improved. A persevering effort has provided the Chinese people with adequate food and clothing, and made it possible for them to live decent lives and move towards a moderately prosperous society in all respects (see Table 2). China's rural population living under the current poverty line decreased from 770 million in 1978 to 16.6 million in 2018, and China's rural poverty incidence dropped from 97.5 percent to 1.7 percent, down by 95.8 percentage points (see Figure 1). This is an outstanding achievement in the history of poverty reduction (see Box 1). China has established a preliminary social security system covering elderly care, medical care, minimum subsistence, housing, and education – the largest in scale and covering the largest population in the world.

By the end of 2018: Participants in urban workers' basic elderly care insurance numbered 419 million; Participants in unemployment insurance numbered 196 million; Participants in work injury compensation insurance numbered 239 million; Basic elderly care insurance covered more than 900 million people; Basic medical insurance covered more than 1.3 billion people, almost everyone in the country. Over the past 70 years, China's life expectancy has increased from 35 in 1949 to 77 in 2018, higher than the world's average of 72. Over the past 70 years, the Chinese people have witnessed profound changes in their mindset. They have carried forward fine traditional Chinese culture, spread modern Chinese values, and enriched and invigorated their cultural life. According to a global wellbeing report released by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in 2018, in the past decade, China's ranking rose by 25 places, the fastest rate among the 152 countries covered.1

China's international position and influence have greatly improved. In 1971, China recovered its legitimate seat in the United Nations and began to play a more active role in international affairs. In April and May 1980, China recovered its legitimate seats in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. In 2001, China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) and began to participate more extensively and deeply in international economic and trade exchanges and cooperation. China has been making friends in the international community, having established diplomatic relations with 179 countries, and 110 partnerships of various types. Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, China has proposed a global community of shared future and the Belt and Road Initiative, which have been written into many UN resolutions and have won extensive recognition and a warm response from the international community.

China's successes have been achieved through hard work. A large country with a nearly 1.4 billion population, China cannot achieve prosperity by asking for assistance and waiting. The only option is hard work. China relied on the solid and unremitting efforts of generations of Chinese people, which is represented in the typical case of "800 million shirts in exchange for a Boeing airplane". China relied on fulfilling its own responsibility in good times and in adversity, without exporting or shifting problems elsewhere, and without seeking development by trading under coercion or exploiting other countries. China relied on a pioneering spirit, like crossing the river by feeling for stones, neither retracing the steps of imperialism and colonialism, nor copying the development model of Western countries, but blazing its own path with bold experiments, based on its own conditions, experience and lessons as well as the achievements of other civilizations.