In December 2018, forty years have passed since China started its reform and opening-up policy. China has been adhering to the fundamental national policy of reform and opening-up and pursuing development with its door wide open.

A model of all-around, multi-level and wide-ranging opening-up has gradually taken place. Since the very beginning of the policy in 1978, the great architect Deng Xiaoping attached great importance to the relationship between China and the rest of the world.

Deng Xiaoping, on many occasions, warned Chinese by saying “a closed-door development is not workable, and is doomed to fail. He added that without opening-up or the interaction with the world, it is impossible to keep up with the advanced nations in 50 years. To develop the nation and lift people out of poverty, we have no other options but opening up."

At the inception of reform and opening-up policy, China had a typical shortage economy. It was lacking funds and technology, management experience and qualified personnel, raw materials and foreign sales channels.

The only advantage China had at the early stage of the policy was the cheap labor. In the 1980s, China seized the historical chance of international industry transfer to developing its economy, creating special economic zones, opening coastal areas and starting processing trade.

Implementing the plan required transformations in ideas about economic development and policy, in laws and regulatory systems and financial institutions. Most importantly, Chinese people have gained more knowledge and wisdom through education. Deng used to describe economic reforms in China as “crossing the river by feeling the stones at each step.”

In 1978, the then new political environment considered foreign trade, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and the utilization of external technological cooperation and capital in all forms were acceptable elements of the national policy.

Deng Xiaoping initiated a series of liberalization policies. In this regard, the government relaxed the grip of central planning by easing restrictions on non-state-owned enterprises and created special economic zones that encouraged foreign direct investment. For instance, the share of output produced by the state-owned-enterprises declined through the period from 78 percent in 1978 to 27 percent in 1998.

China's reform and opening-up policy has produced many fruits that constitute surprises to observers. Some of the great strengths of the Chinese economy in the era of reforms came as a surprise to Chinese and foreign observers alike. On the top of these surprises was the extraordinary dynamism of industrial production in the township and village enterprises (TVEs) that grow from remnants of the disintegrating people's communes.

Double-digit economic growths were supported by large-scale migration of labor from the countryside and wages that grew more slowly than total economic output. Rapid economic growth and a slower increase in wages raised the profit share of economic activity.

This increased savings, which in turn, underpinned extraordinary levels of investment. GDP growth has averaged nearly 10 percent a year, making it the fastest sustained expansion by a major economy in history.  And it has lifted more than 800 million people out of poverty, which is a huge achievement in history. China reached all the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 and made a major contribution to the success of the MDGs globally.

Forty years ago, China was developing its country with GDP per capita of only 173 U.S. dollars, but now the  GDP per capita is 8, 827 U.S. dollars. China has shifted from processing trade – processing with supplied materials – to world largest exporter of 2,263,329, and the world second largest importer of 1,841,889 (million U.S. dollars, WTO, 2017).

Through processing trade, foreign enterprises provide raw materials and components, then Chinese enterprises process them making semi and final products, then these products are sold abroad by foreign enterprises and China only earn processing fees.

In the end, some describe the Chinese economic development as the most spectacular episode in human history. Since initiating market reforms in 1978, China has shifted from a centrally planned to a more market-based economy and has experienced rapid economic and social development.

China's historical process of reform and opening-up is a glorious chapter in the nation's history. It has not only profoundly changed the country, but also influenced the entire world. The state has made a significant contribution to the noble cause of global peace and development.

The Chinese experience in development, by all means, is a hard and pleasant journey. However, the road ahead may be harder in some important respects than the road already traveled.