In the Sixteenth National Congress，the Communist Party of China put forward the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects. Economically，by the year 2020，the party is to achieve the goal of quadrupling the GDP of 2000 on the basis of successful structure optimization and improvement in effectiveness；besides，with noticeable growth in comprehensive national strength and international competitiveness，the country will construct an economic system with increasing vigor and openness and achieve basic industrialization. This goal is a concentrated reflection of the lofty aspirations of Communist Party of China’s to striving for bringing about a great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. It represents the whole nation’s strong desire for development and creation of a better life，and is a declaration that Chinese people entry into the new century and a mobilization order that appeals to the billion of Chinese people to unite and step towards a new target. To achieve this goal will exert a profound influence on the history of China and even the world.

When human civilization transits from agrarian era to Industrial era，a rapid economic growth is bound to occur as a result of a remarkable increase in labor productivity. It takes two or three hundred years for western developed countries to have finished this process. In the sixties or seventies in the twentieth century，Japan maintained a rapid economic growth for 20 years，which created the “East Asian Miracle”，while 30 years’ sustained rapid growth in Korea has enabled the country to jump from a laggard agricultural country to a newly industrialized one. Industrialization in China started in the 1950s，and was ushered into the period of rapid growth in the 1980s. If China can maintain the momentum of rapid growth in the past twenty years to 2020，the country will break at least two world records. Firstly，China will be honored as the nation that has maintained the longest period of rapid economic growth. Secondly，China will be honored as the nation that has transited the largest population from agricultural society to industrial society in a certain period，which will be considered the greatest contribution that the Chinese nation has made to human civilization.

This is a scientific but arduous objective. It should be said，in the following 18 years，we have sufficient conditions to achieve a rapid and sustained economic growth.

First of all，the country has a huge demand potential. According to the statistics of the World Bank，GNP per capital in China was only 840 dollars by the year 2000，which ranked China 109th out of 160 countries and regions in the world. China just met the lower limit of middle-income countries. By the year 2002，GDP per person in China reached nearly 1000 dollars. Compared with developed countries，consumption level in China was still at a low level. According to the universal law of economic development in other countries，a period of rapid economic growth is featured with a GDP per person of 1，000-3，000 dollars. The following 18 years is such a period for China. Secondly，a 40% saving ratio in China can maintain the investment rate at the level of 37%，which can guarantee a rapid economic growth. Thirdly，development since the implementation of reform and opening up has laid a sound material and technological foundation for sustained economic growth，especially the substantial input into infrastructure and basic industries after the implementation of the “Ninth Five-year Plan” has removed bottleneck restrictions and ensured a sufficient supply of main raw materials. Fourthly，the booming of education in recent years has provided abundant human resources for economic growth in the following 18 years，especially in the year 2002 when the number of enrollments in universities and junior colleges reached 4.64 million. Fifthly，continuous deepening of the reform and opening up will infill inexhaustible vitality into economic growth. Constant enhancement in the government’s capacity for macro control and increasing reinforcement of economic strength will ceaselessly exploit the incremental potential and strengthen risk-resistance capacity of national economy.

At the same time，China is also faced with tough challenges. At present and in a period in future，economic development is faced with three big challenges. The first one is demand insufficiency，which constitutes a principal contradiction imposing restrictions on economic growth and leads to a continuous rising of the proportion of oversupplied products in the market. The second one is the slow growth of farmers’ income，especially the reduction in income of farmers and grain growers in major grain production areas，which gives rise to a continuous decrease in the proportion of rural market sales to the total volume of retail sales in the whole country and becomes a principal factor that sets limits to the expansion of market size. The third one is the growing employment pressure in cities and towns. The following years are the very peak period for the employment of new labor force. To redirect laid-off workers of state-owned enterprises is still on the agenda，and a large number of surplus rural labor forces are to be transferred，both of which have constituted a conspicuous employment contradiction. The fourth one is science and technology，which has become a major bottleneck that places restrictions on investment and upgrade in industries. Currently，the state has to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on imports of mechanical and electrical products every year. Attributed to the shortage of technologies，the country is unable to carry out production and investment project that can supersede imports. The fifth one is the lagging reform of financial system，which results in a situation that market participants can not get equal and sufficient capital support. The price of commodities has been falling for years，and deflationary tendency has not been fundamentally changed.

In the Report to the Sixteenth National Congress，the Communist Party of China’s proposal that “development calls for new ideas” is against current economic situation. Achievements in development that Chinese people have made in the past twenty years are the results of constant exploration for new development ideas and bold practice. In the following 18 years，to maintain a sustained and rapid economic growth is up to whether China can find out new development ideas，bring into play the advantages and potential and propose proper solutions to problems cropping up on the way forward. Due to rapid changes in international and domestic economic situations，China will be confronted with many contradictions and problems that were never met before. To find out the most optimal solutions and promote economic development to step on a new stage，the state must emancipate the mind and seek truth from the facts，rely on the masses and boldly develop innovations. On the basis of summing up successful experience in the past，the Party’s 16th Congress Report comes up with some new policies and measures for development in future. To learn relevant statements and grasp the spirit in a serious manner is of significant importance to the exploration for new development ideas and the realization of development targets in the future. To sum up，centering on new development ideas，the Party’s 16th Congress Report has proposed the following requirements：