When China's new leaders confront economic challenges, they may want to keep in mind lessons learned from the various economic models their predecessors have tried and tested during the past 20 years.
Chief among these is the experience of Guangdong province, which pioneered China's reforms in the 1980s.
No other region has made the strides that Guangdong has during the past two decades. Between 1978 and last year, provincial gross domestic product increased almost 60 fold, from 18.6 billion yuan (HK$17.4 billion) to 1.06 trillion yuan. Annual growth averaged 13.4 per cent during this period. In per capita terms, GDP increased from 367 yuan per head - US$115 (HK$894) at historic exchange rates - in 1979 to 13,680 yuan last year.
This has led to a significant increase in living standards. The per capita disposable income of Guangdong's urban residents grew from 412 yuan in 1979 to 10,415 yuan last year, implying an annual average increase of 15.1 per cent.
Despite this impressive track record, Guangdong has been overshadowed by Shanghai during the past five to 10 years, particularly in the minds of foreign investors.
Relative to the gleaming new metropolis that has emerged in Shanghai, Guangdong's development appears messy and ad hoc, characterised as it is by the tens of thousands of primarily Hong Kong and Taiwanese factories set up there.
