Glorious, remarkable achievements so far scored over the past six decades after the founding of new China on October 1, 1949 can be appraised or recognized by means of both the "world" axes of abscissa and the "history" axes of ordinate.
China's economy or gross domestic produce (GDP) grew 7.1 percent to 13.99 trillion yuan (about 2.06 trillion US dollars) in the first half of this year in the teeth of global financial crisis… its forecast of China's 2009 growth by one percentage points 7.5 percent.
China's growing importance on the world arena is on rise, judging from the matchless Beijing summer Olympic Games held in Beijing in August 2008 to the unprecedented Shanghai expo 2010 and from China being a G-20 member to Confucius institutes set up to facilitate such learning around the world.
Who can imagine that China, a so "poor" and "blank" country riddled with gaping wounds six decades ago and, in the ensuing six-decade period, the country has turned increasingly thriving and prosperous. Led by the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Chinese people have written down a most brilliant chapter in the annals of Chinese civilization. The great achievements, however, have been made in an arduous exploration done by the Chinese people. China used to be a big agricultural country, which had a vast population, but its economy was withering and people's livelihoods falling.
Then, how to draw a grand blueprint on a piece of "white paper" for change with modernization efforts, and how to advance the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics? Either China's revolution and construction or the country's reform endeavor has neither precedent to follow, nor criteria answer to turn to for a shortcut to the destination.
So we often employ the phrase "to take one step and look around before taking another step to compare to the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics." Why do we "cross the river by feeling for the stones"? This is precisely because "there is no bridge on the river", and people have to wade across the river step by step.
Since this is an exploration, there would be successful attainments and China would be hard to avert any failures or faulty moves over the past six-decade era. The Chinese people have taken a winding, tortuous path via the "hasty" Great Leap Forward, which led to a temporary difficult period between 1959-61, and a decade of domestic turmoil from 1966-76.
The CPC eventually corrected its grave errors, summed up bitter lessons and groped for a correct orientation in the course of revolutionary practice. Therefore, painstaking efforts made over the past six decades show the triumphant course in China of exploring, shaping and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics.
In this sense, substantial achievements scored over the past 60 years comprise not only "material achievements", which are both visual and touchable, but also the "spiritual crystallization" condensed with the wisdom and painstaking efforts of million upon million of people, with which the generations of Chinese have opened up the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics and established a theoretical setup in this regard.
This is a road to great national rejuvenation. Hence, the Chinese nation with a great ancient civilization, which has selected the socialist system by the choice of its people, stands like a giant in the eastern world. This represents the greatest feat new China has so far worked out in the past six decades.
If grave errors or faulty moves in a given period are utilized to negate new China's development in the past 60 years, this would undoubtedly be a one-sided, biased metaphysics that cuts off history. This viewpoint will be not only disadvantageous to an all-round, objective appraisal of new China's six-decade successes but unfavorable for pooling consensuses in response to challenges in the new era and to march into the future better still.
The past six-decade glorious course is a brand-new, historical era for new China to make exploration and self-renovation. So China can open up its new future and create its new brilliance only by stimulating or building up the confidence and resolve of the 1.3 billion Chinese nationwide and by taking the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics resolutely and steadily.
By People's Daily Online and contributed by PD reporter He Zhenhua
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