-- By Fang Songhua

The Chinese dream has been interpreted as "a strong and prosperous state, national revival and well-beings of the people". Since over 100 years ago, the Chinese people have been asking "what is the road ahead for China?", and now the Chinese dream offers a solution to the century-old question of how the uninterrupted civilization will realize modernization.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and particularly after the reform and opening-up, China has achieved outstanding achievements and blazed a unique development road toward socialist modernization.

Along this road, China within just one generation (30 years) has achieved what the West has achieved during a span of over 200 years. We have never been so close to achieving the goal of national revival.

However, China's achievements in terms of GDP scale are not the whole picture. What is more important theoretically and practically is that China's modernization process has presented the world a different development model from those of the western countries. The influence in this sense will be far-reaching and lasting.

However, in the pursuit of modernization, there have emerged a lot lessons that we should reflect on. Since the first Opium War broke out in 1839, the Chinese people have been lost in a psychological trap of "attempting to achieve goals at a stroke". This national psychology prevailed among generations. Kang Youwei, reformer of the late Qing Dynasty, wished to build a strong and prosperous China within 10 years. Sun Yat-sen hoped to achieve his goal at a stroke.

Actually, the 20th century was never free from this national psychology which was still seen in the May Fourth Movement in 1919, the Chinese Civil War and the economic and social campaign Great Leap Forward from 1958 to 1961. China has witnessed high-speed growth since its reform and opening up over 30 years ago, but has also left many urgent problems unsolved. By reflecting on the lessons of the past, it is hoped that the Chinese people will be more clear-eyed.

The author is executive deputy director of the Research Institute of China's Marxism, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

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