Reforms in the New Era: A World Insight special

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During the past five years, China has done remarkably well in many aspects. But despite its achievements, China still has many battles to fight: making the skies blue again, eliminating extreme poverty, and pushing forward reforms through innovation.

On the sidelines of China's Two Sessions political season, CGTN's World Insight invited three pioneers in the fields of environment, poverty alleviation and innovation to have them deliver TED-style speeches on how they are dealing with the challenges on a daily basis.

Making China's skies blue again

"The turning point came in 2013."

Ma Jun is the Director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs. He is one of China's leading environmental activists and has been documenting China's air and water quality for years. But before the year 2013, that was a difficult task to take on.

Ma Jun speaks at World Insight

"In 2013, the government in response to people's rising demand over clean air, decided to monitor and disclose data on PM 2.5."

With that data, Ma Jun and his colleagues created one of China's first PM 2.5 data monitor apps: the blue Map. Users can see PM 2.5 data in real-time on a Chinese map, and are able to share and give feedback on potential polluters in their neighborhood. "Our app has led to more than 800 iron and steel, cement and coal power plants openly addressing their violation problems. And Beijing’s air quality has improved dramatically these past two months."

Local Air historical data -Beijing

"However, 70 percent of cities including Beijing, still cannot meet national standards. Winning the battle on blue skies by 2020, we need to build a long-term mechanism based on the rule of law, further tap into the market approach, and have more people make their efforts."

Easing poverty though education

"The seeds I planted will grow into giant trees. I know they will one day."

Li Yuqing, an Ivy League school graduate returnee, is now a volunteer English teacher as part of the "Teach for China" project in an elementary school at a remote rural village in China.

Li Yuqing

Because of her passion for social work, the city girl put up with the school's makeshift toilet and took showers once a week. Her students never once saw a sandwich, so when she was teaching the English word sandwich, she made one in class. Li also asked the kids to write to her friends in the US, who sent back postcards of New York and Hollywood.

Li Yuqing speaks at World Insight

Li Yuqing's students

"Less than five percent of my students' parents have completed elementary school. And many of them are migrant workers in the city who are not here all year long. I never expected that not only do I need to teach English, I also have to care for my students in life and emotionally."

"Education is part of the methods to eliminate poverty. In the school where I teach, there are 1,100 students. Those 1,100 students are the future of 1,100 families and the future of these mountains. What I am doing is contributing to that future."

Innovation drives economic growth

"He is the face of a new entrepreneurial China."

Duncan Clark, a European living in China for more than 20 years, is known as Jack Ma's business consultant in the early days of Alibaba. It's said that he's one of the people that know Jack Ma best.

Duncan Clark speaks at World Insight

"I met Jack Ma in 1999 in the small apartment where he founded the company, altogether with 16 people. This is me and Jack Ma in the early 2000s in the freezing Harvard business school on the river. Jack dresses kind of interestingly, less these days, he was more fashionable then."

A photo of Duncan Clark and Jack Ma in 2000

"The story of Jack Ma is sort of the American Dream made in China. He is not a person who came from a good university, nor did he have rich parents. His story is an old story of coming from rags to riches, and apparently selling a lot of rags in the process if you buy on Taobao."

Mr. Clark explained the "iron triangle" in bringing Alibaba's achievements: e-commerce, logistics and payments. And the key to all the three factors is trust.

"Trust is essential to driving not only Alibaba but all of the successful Chinese internet companies."

"The experience we have in China as consumers is actually superior to I would argue in the US and Europe," said Clark. "The mobile payment and dockless bikes...these innovations are coming and transforming people's lives and making them easier."

(World Insight with Tian Wei is a 45-minutes global affairs and debate show on CGTN. It airs weekdays at 10:15p.m. BJT(14:15GMT) with rebroadcasts at 4:15a.m. BJT(20:15GMT))