President Writes Foreword for Book on China's Major Economic Events ����President Jiang Zemin has inscribed the title and written a foreword for "Major Events in China's 50 Years of Economic Development," a book that came off the press on October 17. ����In the foreword, entitled "Sum Up the Past, Explore the Future, " Jiang says that under the correct leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the country has made remarkable economic achievements since the People's Republic was founded 50 years ago, especially in the 20 years of reforms and opening-up. ����Jiang, also CPC General Secretary, says China has strengthened the agricultural sector and built up an independent and comparatively integrated industrial system out of an extreme poverty. ����The country's modernization drive has now achieved continuous progress, resulting in prosperity in all undertakings, and China has notably strengthened integrated national power with dramatic and lasting changes in both rural and urban life resulting in improved living standards of the people, he writes. ����The magnificent economic achievements in China during the past 50 years is the most splendid chapter in the history of the Chinese nation, Jiang says, adding that it is of great importance for China to sum up the enormous achievements and abundant experiences in the past 50 years in order to push the country's great cause of socialist modernization forward into the 21st century. ����The book was compiled by the Office of the Leading Group on Financial and Economic Affairs under the CPC Central Committee and published by the People's Publishing House and the CPC Party School Publishing House. ����A VCD version of the book also went on sale today. (Xinhua) HomeNews 1999-10-18 Page1 Full Story in Chinese