Xi Jinping: The man who leads China's reform into a new era

BEIJING - Wang Jun is a deputy editor and main author of the book "A Study of Xi Jinping Thought on Reform and Opening-Up."

Paper and documents pile up in his office. These are what his team has collected for research in writing the book.

"Xi Jinping is a man whole-heartedly devoted to reform and opening-up," said Wang, president of the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences.

In 2018, China celebrates the 40th anniversary of the reform and opening-up, a cause started by Deng Xiaoping and is now being carried forward by Xi.

In late October, Xi came to Guangdong Province. He visited a reform-themed exhibition at the foot of the Lotus Mountain in Shenzhen, spending more than an hour inside the museum halls.

Xi paused in front of a large painting.

It was a morning rush hour scene of the city in the 1980s. A giant poster stood tall before the Shekou industrial zone to constantly remind the city's early builders to seize the moment and strive for economic miracles.

It was not the first time Xi visited Shenzhen, a prominent test-bed of China's reform and opening-up.

"Coming to Shenzhen, Guangdong again (because) we want to declare to the world that China will never drag its feet on reform and opening-up! China is certain to show the world impressive new achievements in the next 40 years!" Xi said.

Six years ago, when Xi was elected general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, reform entered what many people call a "deep-water" zone. The CPC faced arduous challenges in reform, some foreign media claimed.

Xi has withstood the pressure and led China to achieve so much, Wang said.

The Chinese economy is being transformed from fast growth to high-quality development. In 2017, the growth picked up for the first time in six years, reaching 6.9 percent, way above the 3.7-percent global economic growth.

Over the past six years, more than 70 million new jobs have been created, more than the population of Britain. The size of the Chinese middle-income group has swelled to 400 million, constituting a huge consumer market in the world.

Overseas media called Xi "a far-sighted reformer" and "a serious reformer who built a unique path for China's future" whose clear vision for reform "has inspired the nation."