The achievements of China’s reform and development over the past three decades or so since the late 1970s have captured global attention. With a rapid growth of economy, it would be impossible for China to effect such a substantial rise in its economic strength and all-round national power, to improve the life of its people remarkably and to bring about a historic change in the people’s living standards. In the great practice of the reform, opening-up and socialist modernization drive, Chinese Communists have become distinctly aware of contradictions and problems in the course of development.

“No development scored in spite of growth,” is a problem endemic to some localities. When the total economic output expands, prices paid in resources and environment, however, have become costly due to the irrational structure and gross growth mode and, when the people’s overall living standards improve, the income disparity enlarges and, when national development is achieved on the whole, social development between the urban and rural areas and between different regions remains imbalanced, and pressures on employment and social security is added, and the personal interests of people in some regions have not so well attended to.

In view of these contradictions and problems, Chinese Communists have set forth a major strategy of transforming the mode of economic growth mode with an objective of achieving the better and faster development of national economy through means of speeding up the transfer of the economic growth mode.

In a bid to realize the shift from “growth” to “development” mode, the most essential thing is to acquire an in-depth understanding of scientific connotations and spiritual essence of the scientific outlook on development and implement it in a penetrating way. With a thorough, in-depth awareness of contradictions and problems in the course of economic operation and development, people will be better able to carry out the scientific outlook on development consciously and resolutely. With a firm belief in such an outlook, people will be more aware or conscious to respect and grasp what guides the economic development, while striving to innovate the development concept, transfer the mode of economic growth, and increase both the quality and efficiency of economic development still more effectively.

Then, how to change or transfer the mode of the economic growth mode? Clear-cut requirements have been made, in compliance with vital arrangements set in the report to the 17th CPC Congress, to improve the innovative capacity, spur the strategic adjustment of the economic structure and proceed to take a new road of industrialization with Chinese characteristics and develop the setup of modern industry; to comprehensively arrange the development of urban and rural economy, take a path of agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics, conserve energy resources and environment, and proceed to advance the coordinated regional development in various sectors.

Economic development, instead of merely implying the growth mode of domestic product (GDP) alone or the mere growth of “Green GDP,” has wide-ranging contents in such spheres of optimizing the economic structure and improving economic returns while reducing consumption of resources and protecting the environment. Moreover, economic development also contains consideration given over such a basic issue as “for whom should our development be made and on whom should development is to depend on”?