When Chen Jiandong learned that his village's collectively-owned hog farm was seeking to raise 20 million yuan (about $3 million) in share capital in June 2021, he didn't hesitate to invest.

Chen – a resident of Beilangzhong Village in the northeastern suburbs of Beijing – said he and other villagers raced to put money into the farm. Today, the business is generating good returns for them.

Raising capital through issuing enterprise shares to villagers was part of the economic reforms, which began in 1993 in Beilangzhong, once a poverty-stricken village reliant on traditional farming. The introduction of joint-stock cooperative enterprises aimed to improve the efficiency and profitability of local farming industries.

The villagers who have invested in the companies are stockholders as well as employees, who receive both dividends and salaries from the firms.

Driven by the reforms, profitable enterprises have emerged in three sectors – flower planting, tourism, and food production and processing. Each villager's average disposable income in Beilangzhong exceeded 50,000 yuan in 2022, significantly higher than the national per capita figure of 36,883 yuan in 2022.

Reform and innovation fundamental for human progress

"One doesn't have to follow a beaten path if he wishes to benefit the people, and one doesn't have to observe old conventions if he wishes to get things done."

This is an ancient Chinese saying quoted by President Xi Jinping in his keynote speech to the 2018 Boao Forum for Asia in south China's Hainan Province.

"Reform and innovation are the fundamental driving force of human progress. Those who reject them will be left behind and assigned to the dustbin of history," Xi said.

In the 1980s, reforms in China started from rural areas with the introduction of the household responsibility system, which gave the households relative autonomy over land use and selection of crops, and finally allowed them to reap what they sow. Meanwhile, township and village enterprises were set up to churn out products for sale locally and nationwide, providing extra sources of income for villagers.

Beilangzhong Village's path to prosperity is just one example of how the country has sought to enrich its people through reforms and innovation. Thanks to reforms and opening-up over more than four decades, there has been a substantial improvement in the living standards of the Chinese people and the level of social development.

In the report Xi delivered to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China last October, which charted the course for the nation's development over the following five years, the word "reform" was mentioned dozens of times.

The report stressed the need to intensify efforts to advance reform and explore new ground, and continuously imbue socialist modernization endeavors with fresh dynamism and vitality.