As someone aptly put it, "No mountain is too high for man to scale and no road too long for man to walk." However high the mountain may be or however long the road may seem, we will be able to get there as long as we stay the course and keep moving forward.

No Mountain Is Too High for Man to Scale and No Road Too Long for Man to Walk

The expression "no mountain is too high for man to scale and no road too long for man to walk" first appeared in "The Distance Is Far and the Mountain Is High," a poem by the contemporary Chinese poet Wang Guozhen. The meaning embedded in the poem is that the one who perseveres will be able to scale mountains of difficulty regardless of their elevation, and the one who aspires will be able to traverse the road of life regardless of its length. Xi Jinping quoted this verse at an APEC CEO Summit in Bali, Indonesia in order to express China's determination to comprehensively deepen reform and thereby create a powerful new impetus for economic development.

Xi Jinping's declaration that "no mountain is too high for man to scale and no road too long for man to walk" was synchronized with China's transition into a new phase of economic development -- a phase marked by profound change in the method and structure of economic development. Growing pains are a foregone conclusion, which means that determination is needed -- determination to cross the rough terrain and tackle difficulties.

Reform is a profound revolution that involves adjustment of major interests and improvement of systems and institutions in various fields. But such reform is difficult and calls for courage, fortitude, and persistence. The massive complexity of real issues requires that we incorporate the principle of strengthening top-level design in our present reform efforts of "wading across the river by feeling for the stones." In this way, we will continue to drive overall reform through institutional innovation and rigor. China has already formulated its master plan for deepening overall reform. We are now taking a holistic approach to reform in the economy, politics, culture, society, and ecology, and working hard to resolve issues in development.

Having the courage to make such a public declaration is a clear testament to the courage and tenacity of China's leadership and the Chinese people. After all, it is confidence that enables a man to stick to the path he has chosen and embody the spirit of Yu Gong, "the foolish old man who removed mountains," one stone at a time. It is confidence that drives us not to run away from countless difficulties and challenges but to hold our ground.

During his tour of southern China in 1992, Deng Xiaoping articulated his vision: "It will probably take another thirty years for us to develop a more mature and well-defined system in every field." This was reaffirmed by the 18th CPC National Congress in its statement that we must put in place a well-developed, systematically and rationally regulated, and effective framework of systems to ensure that all systems and institutions are working properly and functioning well. Looking back over more than thirty years of reform, the road has been anything but smooth: We have had to chisel through the ice of old ideologies, reorient interests, adjust our development model, and cultivate institutional civility. Every step forward has been made amid difficulty and peril. But as Mao Zedong wrote in a poem, "Nothing is hard in this world / If you dare to scale the heights." This is the same unshakable conviction that was echoed from the APEC CEO Summit in Bali: "However high the mountain may be or long the road may seem, we will reach our destination so long as we stay the course and keep moving forward."

(An excerpt from XI JINPING: WIT AND VISION -- SELECTED QUOTATIONS AND COMMENTARY, published by FOREIGN LANGUAGES PRESS in 2015)