The connections and capriciousness that formed the foundation for China's dazzling economic growth, mean it is necessary to understand a series of historic connections if one is to fully appreciate China's development.

In fact, it is impossible to ignore them when evaluating the country today, because China's development is not a model, but rather a rapid learning curve.

China's reforms began in the rural areas, which attached great significance to fairness. Although a serious crisis has occurred in the countryside in China since the 1990s, it is caused by the increasing disparity between urban and rural areas and the commercialization of land, not the fairness in land relations constructed in the early stages of reform.

The quality of China's labor is higher than that of other labor-intensive economies, thanks to the education and agricultural traditions in this country. And the government's aggressiveness and flexibility in pushing forward reforms and adapting itself to changing circumstances has secured the support of the public.

However, these achievements face many challenges.

Globalization, especially financial globalization, has changed sovereign relations in a fundamental way. The interactions of political authorities and capital tend to tilt public policies in favor of capital. Inequality between urban and rural areas still exists and tens of millions of migrant workers, the new urban working class, cannot easily air their grievances.

China is unique among East Asian countries because it has independently explored its development path, unlike its neighbors, which have relied on global powers. It is inaccurate to generalize the development of the whole of Eastern Asia as "Confucian capitalism".

China is still a sovereign economy, even if it is deeply involved in the global economy and the tenacity of China's sovereignty is much greater than that of any other developing country.