30 Years:A Shift from Poverty to Wealth

30 years of reform and opening-up have released tremendous momentum of development driven by people's desire to pursue wealth. It all began when Chinese people, desperate about their unbearable state of poverty, abandoned traditional ideology for the adventure of reform.
30 years ago, pursuit of individual wealth, like personal property and corporate profit, was regarded as immoral and even criminal. Regardless of what rhetoric or command was used to mobilize the people, as long as enthusiasm for seeking personal wealth was dampened, it was hard to sustain people’s long term passion and motivation.
Laziness and inexertion was eroding productive forces and jeopardizing efficiency, leading the nation and its people to an abyss of common poverty.
30 years of history have proven that once the pursuit of individual wealth is legitimized, revolutionary transformation will be irresistible. The Chinese nation used to have a strong desire to accumulate wealth. Moreover, our people are more inclined to spend less today and invest more for tomorrow, so that more assets can be left to our children. Because of this, China has the highest rates of savings and investment in the world. Unfortunately, however, historical turmoil and havoc ruined our dream of wealth time and time again. Even though China had been in pursuit of wealth for thousands of years, it still remained a poverty-stricken country in the 1980's. A diligent, frugal nation, who was willing to pay more than others for creating and accumulating wealth, was thus let down for too long.
30 years of reform and opening up has presented a once-in-a-millennium opportunity for ordinary Chinese people to strive for their own prosperity. The dream of wealth held by the generations of people has been revived again. 30 years later, this massive influx of wealth created by Chinese has shocked the world.
A hallmark of the renewed sense of wealth is efforts to safeguard assets and increase their value. The 17th CPC Congress officially proposed to "create conditions to
enable more people to possess proprietary income". This is an important development in ideology and policy in light of China's economic and social conditions, and has
encouraged people to not only acquire and spend money, but also invest and accumulate personal wealth. It has explicitly recognized that the accumulation of private wealth is an important means to achieve the nation's prosperity.
Today, reform has brought about a fundamental transformation to the wealth foundation for China: a shift of reform from poverty to wealth accumulation. In the future, reform endeavors will need to take into account complex conflicts and contradictions of interests. How to balance these interests will be an arduous task in the process of wealth creation in the new era.
In short, 30 years of reform and opening-up has aroused people's desire for wealth, unleashed productive forces, and forged tremendous market potential. As a result, companies and investors around the world regard China as an indispensable market for investment, and China has become a respectable power to be reckoned with for any country in the world.
We must keep in mind that 30 years of reform and opening-up has only opened a prelude for the rise of our nation. This process has essentially been started from scratch, and there is no reason for us to be complacent.
In addition, under the market economic system based on wealth civilization, pursuit of wealth also brings with it responsibilities for not only individuals themselves but also for stakeholders, communities and the world at large.
It must be sustainable to not only individuals themselves and their offspring, but also to communities, the world and humankind.