China: From economic growth to sustainability

by Xinhua Writer Liu Jie

BEIJING, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Sixty years ago when New China was just founded, Dean Gooderham Acheson, then U.S. Secretary of State, asserted that the Communist government would be unable to feed its 546 million population just like its predecessors.

Sixty years on, the 1.3 billion Chinese are not only able to feed themselves, but are expected to lead the world out of the worst economic recession in seven decades.

Starting from scratch, the Chinese economy has managed an 8.1 percent annual growth in the past 57 years. As western economies are still struggling in the current financial crisis, China achieved a 7.1-percent-growth in the first half of 2009.

Since it adopted the policy of reform and opening up, China hastransformed itself within three decades from a semi-secluded country with a highly centralized and planned economy into an open and market-oriented one.

It's only a matter of time when China will replace Japan as the world's second largest economy or even challenge the United States, predicted some foreign analysts.

FOOD SECURITY AND POVERTY REDUCTION

Hou Bingxin, a farmer in west China's Shaanxi Province, still remembered the bitter days of having nothing to eat in the 1950s. "We have to squeeze some wild leaves for food when we could no longer put up with hunger," said the 82-year-old.

Hou's bitterness was shared by many who survived famine and malnutrition in the early years of New China.

In 1949, China's grain output was only 113 million tonnes. Feeding the 540 million Chinese was then top priority for the young government.

Food-rationing coupons had been issued to balance demand and supply in those days when "rice was as precious as gold".