Conscientiously summing up the experience of ten years of reform – An important lesson

It has been ten years since the momentous occasion of the Third Plenary Session of

the Eleventh CPC Central Committee in the winter of 1978. During this past decade,

our reforms have made remarkable achievements and have helped most people in the

country transition from simply having enough food and clothing to enjoying a fairly

well-off life. Reform is never smooth, however, especially reforms involving the

restructuring of a socialist economy, and no reform in the world proceeds absolutely

easily, without a hitch. Reform can only progress under continuous exploration and

practice, and by summarizing past experience and surmounting diffi culties.