“What we risked our life for has become a thunderbolt in China's reform as well as a landmark of this reform.”

On April 25, 2016, General Secretary Xi Jinping visited Xiaogang village, Fengyang county, Chuzhou city, Anhui province, recalled the Xiaogang Spirit

and the process of reform, and re-affirmed the resolve in reform.

Standing on the land of “No. 1 Village in China's Rural Reform”,

General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed: “As Chairman Mao put it in his poem - magnificent passes and long journeys are as indomitable as iron; but we start from the beginning to overcome them all.

Today, we are here to recall the process of reform, and reiterate that the CPC’s basic roadmap will be upheld for a hundred years without wavering. Reform and opening up will not stop. We will continue to write a new chapter.”

In December 1978, in order to show no intention of retreating, 18 households in Xiaogang village

wrote down and put their fingerprints on the wills after they signed their land contracts, thus the Xiaogang Spirit came into being.

This event marks the official beginning of China’s rural reform and the rural development entering a fast track.

Having the courage to break the old, try the new and take the lead, Xiaogang village blazed a new trail. As the main birthplace of China’s rural reform, Xiaogang village experienced great changes in the past 38 years, which is a miniature of China's reform and opening up.

“There is only present continuous tense for reform and opening up, no perfect tense. Without reform and opening up, there will be no today’s China, let alone tomorrow’s China.”

This is a profound summary of the journey of reform and opening up made by General Secretary Xi Jinping, as well as our fundamental principle of pursuing a better future.

"Reform and opening up will never stop.” (This is the slogan proposed by Xi Jinping on December 11, 2012 when he left Beijing for Guangdong for his first inspection tour.)

The 19th CPC National Congress enshrined in its report the perseverance in reform and opening up in the new era and the basic strategy of developing socialism with Chinese characteristics.

In the new round of reform, we shall redouble our efforts to pioneer and explore, and fulfil the great success in the critical last phase of the marathon of building a moderately prosperous society, which may be the best way to pay tribute to the Xiaogang Spirit and those memorable years.