Page 4 - FIRMLY MARCH ON THE PATH OF SOCIALISM WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS AND STRIVE TO COMPLETE THE BUILDING OF A MODERATELY PROSPEROUS SOCIETY IN ALL RESPECTS

has been made in making China an innovative country, and major
breakthroughs have been made in manned spaceflights, the lunar exploration
program, and in the development of a manned deep-sea submersible,
supercomputers and high-speed railways. Solid steps have been taken to
promote ecological progress, and comprehensive progress has been made in
resource conservation and environmental protection.
Major progress has been registered in reform and opening up. China’s
overall rural reform, the reform in tenure of collective forests and the reform
of state-owned enterprises have been deepened, and the non-public sector of
the economy has registered sound growth. The country’s modern market
system and macro-regulatory system have been steadily improved, and its
reform of finance and taxation, banking, prices, science and technology,
education, social security, medicine and public health, and public institutions
has progressed steadily. China’s open economy has reached a new level, and
its import and export volume now ranks second in the world.
Living standards have been significantly improved. Efforts to improve the
people’s wellbeing have been intensified; urban and rural employment has
continued to increase; individual income has increased rapidly; household
assets have grown steadily; people’s need for daily necessities such as clothing,
food, housing and transportation is better met; subsistence allowances for both
urban and rural residents and the rural poverty line have been raised by a big
margin; and basic pensions for enterprise retirees have increased continually.
New strides have been made in developing democracy and the legal
system. Further progress has been made in reforming the political structure.
Urban and rural deputies to people’s congresses are now elected on the basis
of the same population ratio. Community-level democracy has steadily
developed. The socialist system of laws with Chinese characteristics has been
established, and notable achievements have been made in building a socialist
country based on the rule of law. The patriotic united front has been
consolidated and expanded. The reform of the administrative system has
deepened, and further progress has been made in the reform of the judicial
system and the work mechanisms of the judiciary.
Development of the cultural sector has reached a new stage. Intensive
efforts have been made to promote core socialist values; comprehensive
progress has been made in the reform of the cultural system; important
headway has been made in providing public cultural services; the cultural
industry has grown rapidly; cultural creation and production is flourishing; and

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