A page from the reform book

A long time ago, Deng Xiaoping termed the reform he helped initiate as China’s second revolution. “The reform we are now carrying out is very daring. But if we do not carry it out, it will be hard for us to make progress. Reform is China’s second revolution,” he is quoted to have said during his talk with Mr Susumu Nikaido, Vice-President of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, in 1985. “It is something very important that we have to undertake even though it involves risks. Our principle is to be bold, take a confident step and then look around carefully before taking another. “Our policy is firm, and we are not going to change it. What is important is that we should review our experience at regular intervals, because reform involves the vital interests of the people, and every step we take will affect hundreds of millions of them.”