CHINA held a grand gathering in Beijing yesterday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the country’s reform and opening up, a great revolution that has changed the destiny of the Chinese nation and influenced the world.

Addressing the meeting, President Xi Jinping described the reform and opening up as “a great reawakening” of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

The celebration started with all participants rising to sing the national anthem.

Wang Huning, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, read a decision to award personnel for their outstanding contributions to the reform and opening up.

The people are “the creators of the great wonder of reform and opening up” and “the source of power” to drive the campaign started 40 years ago, Wang said.

The award recipients were 100 Chinese and 10 foreigners. Chinese leaders presented the medals to those who were present at the event.

Describing the reform and opening up as “a great revolution in the history of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation,” Xi said a quantum leap has been made in the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

In 40 years, China lifted 740 million people out of poverty. It has built the world’s largest social security system, with the basic old-age pension covering more than 900 million people and medical insurance covering over 1.3 billion people.

China’s share of global GDP rose from 1.8 percent to 15.2 percent, generating more than 30 percent of global growth for years.

The nation must uphold the CPC leadership over all endeavors, adhere to the people-oriented approach, uphold Marxism as its guiding ideology, stay on the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, improve and develop the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, continue to put development as the top priority, promote joint efforts to build a community with a shared future for mankind, exercise full and rigorous governance over the Party, and strike a balance between reform, development and stability, Xi said.

Xi stressed that the decisive role of the market in resource allocation should be put into full play while the role of the government will be better leveraged, and the vitality of various market entities will be stimulated.

By staying committed to advancing reform and opening up and seeing that Chinese people realize their aspirations for a better life, Xi said that new and even greater wonders of the Chinese nation would be made in the new era.

“We will create new and even greater wonders that will truly impress the world,” he said.

(Xinhua)

(Special reports on P2, 3, 4)