In 1978, China began a journey to modernize, grow and catch up with the rest of the world. In just 40 years, through unprecedented changes and evolution, China has grown into a global leader. 

On December 19, CGTN America held a special panel discussion at the George Washington University in Washington, where leading scholars looked back at China's dramatic transformation and the path forward through the 21st century. 

As someone who experienced China's days of poverty, Minister-Counselor Zhou Jingxing of the Chinese embassy in the U.S. recalled his childhood days when lack of food and clothes was an everyday occurrence. 

In 1978, when urbanization rate was low and 97.5 percent of the rural population was living in poverty, no one could have imagined that China today would have the largest middle-class population, which Martin Jacques, author of "When China Rules the World," describes as "the greatest human right that you can give to people, is to lift them out of poverty."

Throughout this jounery, it is the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) that enabled the great transformation and unleashed Chinese people's potential. Zhou urges people to see the CPC as a ruling party rather than a revolutionary party whose mission is to "run the economy, run the social life, and run the country." 

The party's hope is for every country to coexist peacefully and based on this principle Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward the idea of building a community of a shared future for mankind during the 19th CPC National Congress.

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