by Qian Shanming, Gao Jiawei, CGTN Radio

Reform and opening-up has played a pivotal role in China’s development over the past four decades and beyond. However, China entered a bottleneck period with many “growing pains” gradually emerging in the early 2010s. It was at this time that China put forward a series of bold plans for systematic reform, which has since brought great societal changes to the country and ensured the continuation of economic progress.

Tailored solutions and bold explorations

One key principle of policy-making in China’s all-round reform is to seek solutions tailored to the specific conditions and challenges of the country.

Back in 2012, China was confronted with unbalanced and inadequate development, while a surge of global trade protectionism and anti-globalization added to the country’s external pressures. In face of these challenges, China decided to initiate a new round of reform and opening-up. But how to achieve a breakthrough?

Shenzhen, the economic powerhouse in southern China, once again became the focus for conducting bold experimentation. The tech hub, as one of the first batches of China’s special economic zones, had already transformed from an underdeveloped fishing village into an international city of innovation after decades of development, setting many precedents in institutional reform. Its coastal location and sound business environment all added to the momentum for innovative reforms and further opening-up. 

With national planning and regional support, a number of policies tailored for Shenzhen for further reform and opening-up came out since 2012, among which the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone stood out as a shining example. This is where a package of experimental activities was exercised in fields including investment, trade assistance and opening-up of the service industry.

An aerial view of the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone in July, 2024. [Photo: CFP]

As Qianhai is adjacent to Hong Kong, preferential policies were implemented in the demonstration zone for businesses from this world financial center. This also served the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, one of China’s most vibrant and dynamic economic hubs. The demonstration zone also led the efforts in setting up a world-leading system to protect IP rights by using big data technology, employing technical investigators to solve problems in IP cases and exerting punitive damages over IP infringements. In terms of talent management, Qianhai has built an international talent port and established an international talent service station to assist foreign scientists, highly skilled talent and entrepreneurs with entry and accommodation issues.

By exercising institutional reform and opening up wider to the outside world, Qianhai has made remarkable transformation in less than a decade, evolving from a stretch of tidal flats into a bustling urban center. As a “special zone within a special zone”, Qianhai has introduced more than six hundred institutional innovations, with dozens being successfully replicated and promoted nationwide. Famed as a leading force in developing the Greater Bay Area, Qianhai is also regarded as a model of China’s new round of reform and opening-up. In 2023, Qianhai achieved a regional GDP of 246.4 billion yuan (US$34.2 billion), a year-on-year increase of 15%. Total import and export volume reached 494 billion yuan, an increase of 6.7%.

The story of Qianhai shines light on how to advance economic reform with innovative measures. It suggests that countries should not be bound by one-size-fits-all economic prescriptions but should craft policies that suit their own unique circumstances and resources. The development of Qianhai, brought about by bold explorations with tailored policies, serves as an epitome of China’s further reform and opening-up in the new era.

Reform is meaningful only if it’s for the people

The core purpose of China’s reforms is to improve the quality of life for its people, and to ensure that benefits from these reforms are shared more equitably among the population.

Since 2012, China has rolled out more than 2,000 reform plans, across sectors that are directly related to people’s livelihood such as employment, education, income distribution and grassroots governance. Among them, reform of the healthcare system is considered most pressing and practical as it concerns people’s interests most directly.

In the past, high prices of medicine and excessive treatment were among the most prominent problems, leading to insufficient local medical insurance funds in many cities. Getting affordable treatment was once a challenge for many ordinary people in the country.

In 2012, Sanming City in southeast China’s Fujian Province took the lead in launching a medical reform, putting new measures in place such as eliminating markups for medicine, prohibiting doctors from taking kickbacks, and cracking down on excessive medical treatment. The reform encountered much resistance, however, because it stepped on the toes of vested interest groups.

At this crucial time, China’s central government voiced support for the medical reform in Sanming City and decided to try out the relevant measures nationwide, to better serve people’s basic needs. The acknowledgement and encouragement from the central government gave much confidence to Sanming City to keep pushing forward its medical reform with more resolution. In 2021, financial expenditure from healthcare for inpatient treatments in Sanming City fell to less than half of the national average.

Today, the experience from Sanming medical reform has been promoted nationwide, and China has built the world’s largest social security and healthcare system. The results have been fruitful. For example, in the coastal city Yancheng in east China, the average cost of hospital stays in 2023 dropped by 10.1% from 2022. In northwest China’s Gansu Province, prices for medicine dropped by more than half on average, greatly easing the burden and stress on patients.

A doctor offers medical consultations to an elderly woman in a community in Suzhou, eastern China in July, 2023. [Photo:CFP]

Lowering the cost of medical care is one priority and ensuring broader access to high-quality treatment is another, particularly in an aging society. Over the past decade, China has been steadily strengthening the service capabilities of county-level hospitals, with more than 1,000 top-tiered hospitals partnering with county-level hospitals. Half of county-level hospitals in China are now able to perform complex procedures such as brain tumor surgery and cervical vertebra surgery, with in-county attendance rate reaching 95%.

It is precisely by starting from what people need the most and from areas that people are most dissatisfied with that China’s top-level design and practical explorations can work toward achieving concrete results.

Gains from reform should benefit all the people fairly

Another principle essential to China’s policy-making is maintaining a long-term vision while addressing short-term challenges. This perspective emphasizes the importance of sustainable development in improving overall societal welfare.

The conservation and development of the Yangtze River has been one good example. Since the start of the reform and opening-up, economic development along the Yangtze River has made remarkable progress, but at a huge cost of ecological degradation. Wastewater disposed from factories flowed into the river, clouds of dust covered the ports, and water quality kept deteriorating. Worsening environment and overfishing caused severe damage to the river’s biological integrity, with some parts seeing no fish at all.

In the face of these environmental challenges, China put forward the proposal in 2016 that restoring the ecosystem of the Yangtze River should be given top priority. After on-site inspections and research, a decision long in the making gradually took shape. China decided to impose a full fishing ban covering all conservation areas of the Yangtze River basin, together with cutting down large-scale development activities. In 2020, the fishing ban was put in place and would run through the year 2030.

It was a tough decision since over 300-thousand fishermen who relied on the river for their livelihood would lose their job, entailing a huge cost in unemployment. During the first year of the fishing ban, more than 110-thousand fishing boats and roughly 280-thousand fishermen returned to shore. Supporting these efforts were financial subsidies that surpassed 20 billion yuan, or 2.75 billion U.S. dollars.

More work needed to be done. How to settle the fishermen and help them find new jobs? For this, the central government worked with local governments to develop as many employment channels and public welfare positions as possible to help them make the transition into a stable life with growing income. They started branching into other professions such as fishery administration, vegetable cultivation, as well as trade and commercial services. With continued attention and efforts, the fishermen also received housing and living subsidies and were included in the basic pension insurance system.

With resolute and concrete actions to balance ecological conservation and economic growth, the Yangtze River has already become cleaner and greener, while the green transition and industry upgrades have promoted economic development along the Yangtze River. This example illustrates how a development-focused approach can turn potential crises into opportunities for long-term benefits.

A fin-less porpoise swims in the Yangtze River in May, 2023. Since the implementation of the Yangtze River fishing ban, the population of this endangered species has begun to recover. [Photo: CFP]

China’s journey of deepening reform and expanding opening-up is characterized by context-specific solutions, a people-centered approach and a long-term vision in addressing problems. For countries seeking to learn from China’s experiences, the key takeaway is not to replicate China’s model wholesale but to draw inspiration from its pragmatism and innovative thinking. As countries worldwide strive for sustainable development and shared prosperity, China’s approach provides valuable insight into what can be achieved when vision is combined with determined actions.