Holidays offer chance to reflect on nation’s future

The eight-day Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays are approaching. It might be time to revisit the topic of our national identity.

The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is scheduled for 2012, which has been an eventful year.

At the beginning of the year, former Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun's attempted defection resulted in the exposure of the scandal of Bo Xilai, Chongqing's former Party chief. Moreover, there have also been social tensions that evolved into mass incidents in Shifang in Sichuan Province and Qidong in Jiangsu Province due to environmental concerns. Online critics have been active and vocal.

China's efforts to safeguard its maritime sovereignty turned into an emergency this year. Frictions between China and Japan escalated recently, following the standoff against the Philippines over Huangyan Island in the South China Sea.

The domestic and external environment for China has been pressing this year. A series of incidents have been widely discussed online. Accordingly, Chinese society is building its capabilities to adapt to the emerging issues.

Chinese identity needs open discussion. Some detailed but diverse ideas are competing. But if we expect an objective judgment, we ought to abandon views that are based on personal interests and instead rely on a unified evaluation system.

As an emerging economy, China's performance should be compared with its developing counterparts. Among the BRICS nations, the per capita GDPs of Russia and Brazil are twice that of China's, thanks to their exports of energy and resources. But China has outperformed the pair in manufacturing and research and development.

China made the most prominent achievements among the BRICS nations. The "China model" has been studied and discussed worldwide.

The rise of the overall national strength of China is based on continuous improvement of people's livelihood. Chinese people have seen the most remarkable advances in the quality of their daily lives compared to their BRICS counterparts.

China, however, still has to face and tackle many problems, which are not necessarily unique for itself. China has been quick in sorting out problems and promulgating economic and social reform policies.

Instead of shunning problems, China chooses to face them. With the proactive participation of public opinion, society appears to be a bit "hectic."

Thoughts and expressions are diverse and critics of the authorities are audible. That is exactly what we hope for from a diverse society.

Despite the problems ahead for China, it is unchallengeable that the opportunities for China's development are the best yet and the nation is at its closest position yet to national revival.

Let's hope China can solve problems and dismiss confusion through reforms.