Improving livelihoods

Today people can see wide roads, modern skyscrapers and beautiful communities everywhere in China. But 35 years ago, there were only narrow alleys, low buildings and farmland.

Song Ze, a researcher with the Institute of Finance and Trade Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said reform and opening up have lifted Chinese people's living standards from shortages of basic needs like food and clothing to a moderately well-off level. Chinese people can share the achievements of economic development.

Thirty-five years ago it would have been a dream for most Chinese to have a color TV set, but now most Chinese families have not just that but refrigerators, air conditioners and telephones. Automobiles and other high-end products are within the reach of more and more families.

In the past 35 years the wealth owned by Chinese people has increased remarkably. According to figures from the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, at the end of 2012 the deposits of Chinese residents had increased by 1,896 folds compared to 1978. The NBS figures showed that the disposable income of Chinese urban residents in 2012 grew by 71 times from 1978, and the net income of rural residents was up by 58 times over the same period.

Song said during the process of economic development, the Chinese Government has tried hard to keep the growth of individual income in line with the pace of economic growth and ensure rapid growth of residents' income and their wealth.

During the past 35 years, the number of people living in poverty dropped remarkably. When the reform and opening up first started, the population living in absolute poverty in China's rural areas was 250 million, accounting for one fourth of the country's total population. At that time China's social security system was weak, and there was no system to guarantee the livelihood of poor people. After the reform and opening up, as the economy grows, China has been carrying out poverty reduction policies and has invested large amount of funds in improving infrastructure and people's living standards in poor areas. In 2012 China only had 98.99 million people living in poverty, down from the 150 million people compared with 35 years ago, which is almost equal to the population of Pakistan or Bangladesh.

For those still living in poverty, the Chinese Government offers fiscal support every year.

Chinese social security has also been improved in the past 35 years. By establishing new endowment insurance for rural residents, basic endowment insurance for urban workers and social endowment insurance for non-working urban residents, China has established a complete pension network covering both its urban and rural areas.

Experience and lessons

While China has made remarkable progress in the past 35 years, wrong decisions and mistakes were hard to avoid.

What Chinese people are most dissatisfied with are environmental pollution and depletion of resources.

"The frequent haze in east China is the result of years of rapid economic growth," according to Professor He. China's consistent economic growth has made huge contributions to the world economy, but has come at the cost of China's resources and its environment.

The excessive pursuit of rapid growth has also created structural imbalances and caused serious overcapacity. China has targeted the international market since the beginning of the reform and opening up, and has tried to develop rules to conform to international standards. However, China has not done enough to tap the potential of its own domestic market and has been excessively relying on investment to drive its economic growth. As a result, performance in expanding domestic consumption is not yet satisfactory.

Another problem is the growing wealth gap between urban and rural areas and between different regions. Urban residents are much richer than rural residents, and people in east China's coastal areas are much richer than those in the remote areas of the west.

According to the CASS figures, in 2012 the per-capita disposable income of urban residents was 3.1 times the per-capita net income of rural residents. The gaps have been expanding in the past decade, indicating that China's income distribution system urgently needs reform and social wealth needs to be more fairly distributed.

There are other problems in China's economic development, and the Chinese Government is aware and concerned by these problems. Five years ago, China began to restructure its economy and transform its economic growth model.

In November 2013, the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee made the decision to comprehensively deepen reforms, aiming to solve these deep-seated development problems.

"Comprehensively deepening reforms in the future will, focusing on promoting social fairness and justice and improving people's well-being, facilitate economic development in a more efficient, fair and sustainable way," He said. "There are many things to expect in the future."

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