Looking back at the history of modern times, we can deeply feel the extreme importance of seizing opportunities and catching up with the times. From the middle of the 18th century to the middle of the 19th century, it was about 100 years, which was the period of the industrial revolution and vigorous development, and the rulers of the Qing Dynasty at that time closed the country and were arrogant, losing the development opportunities brought by the industrial revolution, resulting in China's economic and technological progress greatly lagging behind the pace of world development. From the middle of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century, about another 100 years, under the attack of Western ships and artillery, China became a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country, with foreign powers aggressing, government corruption, long-term wars, turmoil, and people's livelihood. In the sixties and seventies of the last century, a wave of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation arose in the world, and a number of countries and regions in East Asia seized this opportunity to develop and move forward. Since the Third Plenary Session of the 11 th CPC Central Committee, we have seized the opportunity to have such a good situation as we have today, and our country and nation have made great strides to catch up.

——Speech at the Second Plenary Session of the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (November 12, 2013)

Further reading:

The two hundred years from the middle of the 18th century to the middle of the 20th century were the period when the West began to embark on the road of industrialization and the world history underwent great changes, and it was also a turning point when China gradually merged from the feudal era to modern civilization.

Opportunity once took the initiative to knock on the door, but it is a pity that this ancient nation passed by in a closed eye. In the first 100 years of Xi Jinping's division, several details can reflect the seclusion and arrogance of the Qing rulers. At that time, Britain was China's largest exporter and importer of foreign trade. Britain's trade imports to China accounted for about 90% of the total value of Western countries, and the value of exports accounted for more than 70%, and the Qing Dynasty was ignorant of this, and referred to the British and Dutch as "Hongmaofan". When the British mission visited China, it brought with them many good things: celestial orbiters, globes, scientific instruments such as the Herschel telescope, Parker lens, barometers, as well as industrial machines such as steam engines, cotton spinning machines, carding machines and looms, and even a hot air balloon pilot, if the emperor was interested, could take a hot air balloon to the sky. That way, he would be the first person in the Eastern Hemisphere to take to the skies. However, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty had little interest in the novelty of the Industrial Revolution, but they were fond of elaborate toys such as "self-owned people" and "robot dogs", and wasted an opportunity to have a dialogue with the Industrial Revolution.

After the middle of the 19th century, the call of "industry to save the country" reflected the efforts of some people with lofty ideals to save the country, and industry to save the country was surging in the land of China. Zhang Jian, a well-known industrialist, believes that "saving the country is an urgent task at present...... For example, education is like flowers, the navy and army are still fruits, and its root is in industry." At that time, China's national industry had indeed made great progress, and Zhang Jian's Nantong Dasheng Yarn Factory, the first and second factories alone made a profit of more than 16 million taels of silver from 1914 to 1921. However, after a long period of frequent wars and turmoil, and the country failed to achieve independence and reunification, industrial salvation of the country could only be a flash in the pan, and there was no condition to catch up with the pace of the times.

At the second plenary session of the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping hooked history, clearly sorted out the development context of more than 200 years, observed China from a global perspective, let the times and history dialogue, profoundly revealed the successes and failures in the process of China's modernization, and analyzed the "extreme importance of seizing opportunities and catching up with the times".

In stark contrast to the 200 years of missing out, it is the struggle to catch up since the founding of the People's Republic of China, especially in the more than 30 years since the reform and opening up. Today, the reform has reached a higher starting point, and where China is going has once again become a world-class issue. It is in this context that Xi Jinping pointed out that "reform and opening up is the key choice that determines the fate of contemporary China, and it is an important magic weapon for the cause of the party and the people to make great strides to catch up with the times", thus building a solid foundation for reform consensus in the depth of history.