New leadership's first year, a good beginning of Chinese dream

Since China's new leadership was announced, the country has been embracing great changes as it set out to realize a dream of national revival. On Nov. 29, 2012, two weeks after seven members of the Communist Party of China (CPC)'s new leadership was announced, they paid a visit to the National Museum of China and watched an exhibition titled "The Road Toward Renewal." In this visit, Xi Jinping, newly-elected general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, first brought up the concept of the "Chinese dream" which repeatedly appeared in his speeches later and has been considered the new leadership's mission and duty. China's national revival was embodied by two major goals. One is to complete the building of "a moderately prosperous society in all respects" when the CPC celebrates its centenary in 2021. The other is to turn China into a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious when the People's Republic of China marks its centennial in 2049. They are tough tasks for a country of 1.3 billion people, of whom about 100 million are still living below poverty line. China has witnessed economic slowdown since 2012. The growth of gross domestic product (GDP) slowed from 9.3 percent in 2011 to 7.7 percent in 2012. This year it is likely to be 7.6 percent, said a State Council report in December. "We can not deny a downward pressure on economic growth," said Xu Shaoshi, minister in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), when briefing the country's top legislature about the report. While the international market fails to produce strong demand, China's economy is challenged by domestic problems, such as increasing labor costs, slow economic restructuring, as well as risks in both local government debt and the financial sector. Politically and socially, the country faces worsening pollution, social conflicts among interest groups, corruption among officials and lagging public services.