Unprecedented success was made in China's economy in the past thirty-year reform. In spite of this, our per capita income is merely one tenth that of the Japanese, and one twentieth that of the American. There's still immense room for China's further economic expansion. It is the most concerned matter of both the Chinese people and the Chinese government whether China can maintain its past growth record in the following thirty years. 

When we look back at the past thirty years, it can be seen that fundamental changes have happened to China's political and economic situations. It's not right to predict the future with old experiences. Great progress has been made in politics. This is reflected by the tenure system of leaders which allows nobody to rule the country for an indefinite time. Moreover, leadership succession is no longer marked by bloody coups and assassinations. Instead, steady and transitional measures are taken. This is a fast progress in many aspects, though it is not written into the law yet and is not mature enough. In my opinion, the greatest progress was made in protection of people's right of life. No leaders were persecuted to death, and no political prisoners were killed. The average annual mortality rate fell from 1.1% to 0.66% in the past thirty years, and the major reason is that far fewer people died from political factors. In the former thirty years before the reform and opening-up, forty to fifty million people in total died from starvation due to erroneous party lines, suppression of counterrevolutionaries, suicide due to various movements, hunger or disease while being reformed through labor, and violent fights between two factions, which is even larger than the number of people died in World WarⅡ. It is only when people's personal rights are guaranteed that we can talk about people's property right. Great progress was also made in protection of property right in China. Nobody can search the others' house and confiscate their possessions freely, or blow the "communist wind" any more. However, property right protection in China is not strong enough, and that's why many wealthy people migrate to other countries where their property will be under sound protection.

How can we catch up with the per capita income of developed countries? I think the most fundamental problem lies in human rights. In development countries, human rights are all soundly protected, while in underdevelopment countries, there are all problems in human rights protection. However, to realize higher income, personal rights and property rights are not enough, and we also have to ensure the right of fair competition and equal status. In other words, we need a society where there is no privilege both in terms of politics and economics. What's the relationship between privilege and economic development? Since a market has to be free and equal, a market without privilege will be able to create more wealth. 

Thirty years ago, what's on our leaders' mind was setting things right, changing the old  unreasonable institutions and looking for new road of social development, and the only thing they could do was to "cross the river by touching the stones" and explore the unknown. Leaders from the general secretary to ministers of different ministries were an army of innovators and creators, and conservative people could not get into the leadership at all. In contrast, the most important issue for current leaders is to maintain stability. They are required to dedicate themselves to maintain current order, not to take risks, not to step out of bounds, and to cover conflicts. Requirements for leaders have greatly changed. Thirty years ago, none of Chinese leaders had any secret accounts in the UBS. In contrast, according to WikiLeaks, Chinese people now possess five thousand secret accounts in the UBS, and most of our Chinese leaders have secret accounts there (up until now, no one ever stand out to refute the rumor). Thirty years ago, almost all common people advocated the government's policy of reform and opening-up, and there was no antagonism between the government and the people, while now antagonism between the government and the people has become a common rule, and interception of petitions has almost become the government's daily routine. The people protested the demolition of private houses by committing suicide, while the government calls this action as "anti-law action of violence". Since there's no place for petition, the people's violence tendency prevails and they would turn over the officials' cars and burn the office buildings at the drop of a hat. It's getting harder and harder to administer the society. Under such circumstances, it's really uncertain whether we can have another thirty years of steady economic growth. [Page]

Neither the government nor the common people feel like seeing our society come to this situation. However, we do come to this situation. Unirule Institute of Economics cares about our society and is dedicated to social progress, stability and unity. Under such circumstances, we need to have confidence in ourselves and look at the sunny side. Information exchange through the Internet has become an irresistible global trend, and both government officials and common people of China are holding a rather similar view on future prospect. Fewer and fewer people can be hoodwinked, and the people are having a stronger awareness of defending their legal rights. Democratic rules are gradually being formed within the communist party, and reason and reform paths avoiding severe conflict are gaining more support and approval. There's still much work to be done at this time. That's also the direction for our efforts in the following year.