Editor's note: This 100-episode podcast explains how China works. Exploring Xi Jinping Thought and how the Chinese president's approach has shaped the governance of China, the podcast recounts the country's growth story to help you truly understand its success and challenges.

People on a long and arduous journey will not stop and opt for an easy one before reaching the destination. Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, we have championed reform and opening-up and made unprecedented efforts to drive reforms on all fronts. We have made top-level designs and rolled out more than 1,600 reform programs in economic, political, cultural, social, eco-civilization and other fields. Many of the reforms are unprecedented and having a nationwide impact. They include the reform of the market system, the macroeconomic regulation system, the fiscal and tax systems, the financial system, state-owned enterprises, the judicial system, the education system, the ecological conservation system, Party and state institutions, the supervision system, and of national defense and the armed forces.

I have been talking about reform and opening-up on every major occasion, emphasizing that we must have the courage to tackle tough issues, navigate treacherous waters, and engage in painful self-adjustment to carry reform through. At the opening ceremony of both the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference and the First China International Import Expo earlier this year (2018), I reiterated China's resolve to press on with reform. My recent inspection tour in Guangdong Province was designed to send a strong message of continued reform and opening-up in the new era; reform and opening-up is an ongoing process with no endpoint. I also emphasized that, by continuing reform and opening-up, China is to create new and greater miracles that will impress the world. The more complex the situation, the more steadfast we will be in reform and opening-up. We will never regress to closed-door development. To realize national rejuvenation, China must advance with the times, and keep pressing forward. As our ancestors said, "If you can improve yourself in a day, do so each day, forever building on improvement."

(Source: Extract from Xi Jinping's remarks when he meets with a delegation from Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions in Beijing, China, November 12, 2018.)

This episode is presented by Julian Waghann.