To keep up with the times, our best recourse is to comply with the trends of history, and to seek and proactively respond to change. As an ancient Chinese scholar said, "Practice improves understanding and a deeper understanding guides further practice." The valuable experience we have gained from 40 years of reform and opening-up is the intellectual wealth of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people. The experience provides significant guidance for upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era. That is why we must value it, uphold it, and continue to enrich and develop it through further practice.

We must ensure the Party leadership over each and every aspect of our work, and continue to strengthen and develop that leadership. Forty years of reform and opening-up have taught us that Party leadership is the defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the greatest strength of China's socialist system.

The Party exercises overall leadership across all areas of endeavor in every part of the country. Relying on this, we have been able to achieve a historic transformation, usher in a new era of reform and opening-up, and embark on a new journey towards the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. We have been able to address major risks and challenges and overcome repeated hardships and setbacks. We have been able to cope with changes, quell political turbulence, battle against such threats as floods, SARS, and earthquakes, and deal with various crises. Finally, we have been able to adhere to the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics rather than following the old path of a rigid closed-door policy, or an erroneous path by abandoning socialism. To uphold the Party leadership, we must keep improving it and adapting to the demands of practice, the current era and the people. Upholding the Party leadership is an essential principle that defines the future of the Party and the Chinese nation, and all Party members and the Chinese people must keep alignment with the Central Committee in their way of thinking, in political principles, and in actions without wavering.

(Source: Extract from Xi Jinping's speech at a grand gathering to celebrate the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, December 18, 2018.)

This episode is presented by Zheng Junfeng.