Commentary by Li Bin
President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, announced the historic mission in the new era entrusted by the CPC Central Committee to Shenzhen at a grand gathering celebrating the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (SEZ) last Wednesday.
Xi called on the city to develop itself into a pilot zone for socialism with Chinese characteristics, set an example for cities of a modern socialist country, increase its capabilities to implement the new development philosophy, build a new pattern to deepen all-round reform and expand opening-up on all fronts, contribute to the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA) to enrich the new practices of the “One Country, Two Systems” cause, and take the lead in realizing socialist modernization.
Shenzhen, a city that has walked a long way and achieved remarkable fruits in development, is now embarking on a new journey for deeper-level reform and higher-level opening-up from a higher starting point.
‘Time is money, efficiency is life’
Time has always been highly valued during the development of Shenzhen. When the Shenzhen SEZ was first established, the slogan “Time is money, efficiency is life” was displayed at the most eye-catching spot in the Shekou Industrial Zone in the city.
Such a powerful slogan that breaks the shackles on people’s minds and holds strong appeal has greatly changed people’s ideas about development and sense of time.
Shenzhen’s GDP increased from 270 million yuan in 1980 to 2.7 trillion yuan in 2019, and its total value of imports and exports jumped from US$18 million in 1980 to US$431.5 billion in 2019.
In 2019, the per capita disposable income of Shenzhen residents reached 62,500 yuan, an increase of 31.6 times over that in 1985.
In just 40 years, Shenzhen has completed a journey that took metropolises in other countries over one hundred years, showing the world the “time efficiency” in the implementation of China’s reform and opening-up policy as well as the bright prospects of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Francis Bacon believed that time is the greatest innovator. Indeed, innovation is a close friend of time, for endless changes and innovations make time meaningful and rewarding.
Shenzhen is a brand-new city created by the CPC and the Chinese people since the country’s reform and opening-up and a brilliant interpretation of socialism with Chinese characteristics on a blank sheet of paper, Xi pointed out.
It was one of the nation’s pioneer cities that established export processing zones and carried out market-oriented economic system reforms.
Today, the city is also taking the lead in building a pilot zone for socialism with Chinese characteristics.
With the pioneer spirit, great courage and hard work, Shenzhen is like a pilot boat in the tide of reform and opening-up, constantly fighting its way out of the waves and creating new prospects.
At the Shekou Museum of China’s Reform and Opening-Up in Shenzhen, many visitors find themselves very much interested in finding all the new things that Shenzhen has tried as a vanguard in China.
Over the past 40 years, the Shenzhen SEZ has ranked first in China in terms of over 1,000 items. It was the first to hold a land auction, issue shares in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and become a pilot city for building national innovative cities in the country.
Shenzhen has been getting rid of outdated ideas and embracing new things almost every single day. It has neither wasted its time nor failed the CPC and the people.
Karl Marx once said that nothing can promote the prosperity of people’s causes better than making good use of time and opportunities.
Looking back on the course of China’s reform and opening-up for more than 40 years, it’s easy to find that the country’s old goal of catching up with the times through reform has become a gratifying reality as the socialist country is now standing rock-firm in the East.
From ‘catching up with the times’ to ‘leading the times’
It is because of reform and opening-up that China has embraced an increasingly wider path of socialism with Chinese characteristics; it is by making reform and opening-up the source of development and progress that China has achieved a great leap from “catching up with the times” to “leading the times”.
Especially since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, the CPC Central Committee with Xi at the core has ushered in a new era when the country has endeavored to comprehensively deepen reforms, design reforms on an overall basis and push forward reforms as a whole. These efforts have led to historic achievements and changes in the undertakings of the CPC and the country.
In the new era, China’s firm determination to carry out comprehensive and systematic reforms as well as prompt and positive actions have forged an unstoppable force on its way to achieving dreams.
Reform and opening-up is always an ongoing task and will never end. The remarks made by Xi represent a bold declaration made by the Chinese people in the face of time and future.
Time stops for no one. As it enters a new era, Shenzhen needs to take on new missions in the new situation and make new efforts on the new journey.
After making marvelous achievements on the long journey of reform and opening-up, it is ready to make strenuous efforts to open up an even brighter future.
It’s believed that the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation will surely be realized in the process of reform and opening-up, and every one of the Chinese people will be witnessing and contributing to the process.
– Minor edits and subheadings by The Macau Post Daily
– Courtesy People’s Daily
This file photo taken on September 24, 2019 shows a light show in downtown Shenzhen. – Xinhua
