Forging a stable society is a major task for the leadership in the next three decades
When they defied the state and risked a lifetime in jail to distribute communal farmland among the village's households 30 years ago, the farmers of Xiaogang, in Anhui province , were only thinking of how to feed their families. They wanted to prevent relatives starving to death or leaving home to beg.
They grew up wondering when their next meal would come - a world away from the concerns of many of today's urban younger generation who wonder whether they should buy a modern apartment or car, or go west, to the United States in particular, to study.
The contrasts are stark. Back in 1978, as 60 aircraft took off or landed at Paris' Charles de Gaulle International Airport per hour, just two arrived and departed at the Beijing Capital International Airport. But today, Beijing's international airport has the biggest single-building passenger terminal and can handle more than 124 aircraft per hour, putting the facility alongside any first-class airport across the globe.
Thirty years may be an instant in human history, but the world's most populous nation has used that time to create a miracle, pushing its economy from the verge of collapse and one of the world's poorest to the fourth-biggest.
During the period, the mainland saw a boom in almost all sectors of the economy and dramatic changes in the communist-ruled society. The living standards of the 1.3 billion Chinese people improved greatly. By the end of last year, per capita gross domestic product had risen to 18,700 yuan (HK$21,200), nearly 50 times the 1978 level of 379 yuan. Commendable increases have also been registered in the disposable income of urban residents - from 343 yuan to 13,786 yuan - and that of rural residents - from 134 yuan to 4,140 yuan.
At this historic moment, the world is wondering how long the China miracle can last and what its international role will be in the next 30 years.