Understanding China’s Achievements

October 1, 2019, marked an important event in the history of China. It was a time the Chinese people celebrated 70 years of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. To the Chinese people it was a great moment not only to count but also to celebrate achievements as a country that has moved up the rungs of economic development to the world’s second largest after America.
A central part of this celebration focused on the country’s success in economic development and poverty reduction. Indeed, by next year, China hopes to celebrate the elimination of absolute poverty. More than half of the population of China now live in cities, thanks to the Reform and Opening Up.
The Chinese people have succeeded in getting the historical record right, and the history is still great changing day by day. China now also positions itself as an example for other countries. China has made its presence in the world economy as investor, destination for exports, and increasingly innovator and provider of ideas with a global governance policy for a shared future for all mankind.
Over the past three decades, China has made tremendous achievements in almost all fields, including technology, health, and the economy generally. 
Forty years of reform turned China into the second largest economy in the world, the largest manufacturer and exporter, and the second largest spender on Research and Development. 
At the time of the founding of the People’s Republic, China was among the poorest countries in the world. Its per capita income was, at a little over US$700 (in today’s prices) barely 5 per cent of that of the United States then. 
Though no official poverty statistics exist from that era, poverty at the World Bank’s extreme poverty line likely affected more than 95 percent of its population. Between 1951 and 1977, consumption per capita increased by some 50 per cent, according to national accounts data in the Penn World Tables. 
Nevertheless, by 1978, the onset of the era of Reform and Opening Up, China was still very poor. Almost 90 per cent of its population lived in absolute poverty, its share of the world economy barely 1.5 per cent, and its economy was predominantly agricultural, rural and closed. 
Per capita income in constant dollars rose 25-fold, from US$308 in 1978 to US$7,329 in 2017; and more than 800 million people, so far, have escaped poverty, according to World Bank numbers.
To a large extent,