To understand today's China, first understand its past

In a recent speech at the College of Europe in Belgium, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the key to understanding today's China is an understanding of its past. He outlined several traits of China crucial to the study of his country. Below is an excerpt from his speech.
The Straits Times, 10 Jun 2014

FIRST, China has a time-honoured civilisation. In fact, it has spanned over 5,000 years. The Chinese characters, invented by our ancestors several millennia ago, are still used today. Over 2,000 years ago, there was an era of great intellectual accomplishments in China, which is referred to as "the period of 100 masters and schools of thought". Great thinkers such as Laozi, Confucius and Mozi, to name just a few, explored a wide range of topics from the universe to the Earth, and from man's relations with nature to relations among human beings, and to that between the individual and society.

Second, China has gone through many vicissitudes. For several thousand years before the Industrial Revolution, China had been leading the world in economic, technological and cultural development. However, feudal rulers of the 18th and 19th centuries closed the door of China in boastful ignorance and China was left behind in the trend of development. The country was subdued to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society.

As a result of incessant foreign invasions thereafter, China experienced great social turmoil and its people had to lead a life of extreme destitution. Poverty prompted the call for change and people experiencing turmoil aspired for stability. After a hundred years of persistent and unyielding struggle, the Chinese people, sacrificing tens of millions of lives, ultimately took their destiny back into their own hands. Nevertheless, the memory of foreign invasion and bullying has never been erased from the minds of the Chinese people, and that explains why we cherish so dearly the life we lead today.

The Chinese people want peace; we do not want war. This is the reason China follows an independent foreign policy of peace. China is committed to non-interference in other countries' internal affairs, and China will not allow others to interfere in its own affairs. This is the position we have upheld in the past. It is what we will continue to uphold in the future.

Third, China is a socialist country with Chinese characteristics. In 1911, the revolution led by Dr Sun Yat Sen overthrew the autocratic monarchy that had ruled China for several thousand years. The Chinese people then started exploring long and hard for a path that would suit China's national conditions. They experimented with constitutional monarchy, imperial restoration, parliamentarism, multi-party system and presidential government, yet nothing really worked. Finally, China took on the path of socialism. Admittedly, in the process of building socialism, we have had successful experience and also made mistakes. We have even suffered serious setbacks.

After the "reform and opening up" was launched under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, we have, acting in line with China's national conditions and the trend of the times, explored and blazed a trail of development and established socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Our aim is to build a socialist market economy, democracy, an advanced culture, a harmonious society and a sound eco-system, uphold social equity and justice, promote all-round development of the people, pursue peaceful development, complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and eventually achieve modernisation and ensure prosperity for all.

The uniqueness of China's cultural tradition, history and circumstances determines that China needs to follow a development path that suits its own reality. In fact, we have found such a path and achieved success along this path.

Fourth, China is the world's biggest developing country. It is now the second-largest economy in the world. It has achieved in several decades what took developed countries several centuries to achieve.

In the meantime, we are clearly aware that the large size of the Chinese economy, when divided by 1.3 billion, sends China to around the 80th place in terms of per capita GDP. In China, over 74 million people rely on basic living allowances; each year, more than 10 million urban people would join the job market and several hundred million rural people need to be transferred to non-agricultural jobs and settle down in urban areas; more than 85 million people are with disabilities; and more than 200 million people are still living under the poverty line set by the World Bank, and that is roughly the population of France, Germany and Britain combined.

Economic development remains the top priority for China, and we still need to work on that basis to achieve social progress in all areas.

Fifth, China is a country undergoing profound changes. China's reform has entered a deep water zone, where problems crying to be resolved are all difficult ones. What we need is the courage to move the reform forward.

To observe and understand China properly, one needs to bear in mind both China's past and present and draw reference from both China's accomplishments and the Chinese way of thinking. One can hardly understand China well without a proper understanding of China's history, culture, the Chinese people's way of thinking and the profound changes taking place in China today.

The world's development is multi-dimensional, and its history is never a linear movement. China cannot copy the political system or development model of other countries, because it would not fit us and it might even lead to catastrophic consequences.

The Chinese people, over 2,000 years ago, had come to understand this from a simple fact that the tasty orange, grown in southern China, would turn sour once it is grown in the north. The leaves may look the same, but the fruits taste quite different, because the north means different location and different climate.