This year marks the 40th anniversary of the reform and opening-up policy that has transformed China.

Once a backward and closed society, China is now the world's second-largest economy. It plays an indispensable role in the global arena, engaging openly with almost every country on earth and participating in every matter of global importance such as economics, technology, and the environment. 

On December 18, President Xi Jinping addressed the grand commemoration of 40 years of reform and opening-up in the Great Hall of the People. This occasion provided an opportunity to reflect on all that China has accomplished and a call to action for all that the nation still needs to accomplish. 

Laurence Kuhn, the host of "Closer to China," is about to celebrate a significant milestone of his own, the 30th anniversary of his first visit to China in January 1989. He has witnessed and also contributed to China's rejuvenation over three decades. 

At the commemoration, Kuhn was one of the ten foreigners who received the China Reform Friendship Medal for having helped China throughout this historic four decades of transformation. 

In this new era of China's reform and opening-up, his award is not only personal but also represents the importance of international communications to China – a willingness to learn more about the world and a desire to tell the world its true story.