China has entered the Year of the Rooster, the same year in the Chinese zodiac when the Communist Party of China (CPC) was founded in 1921.
The CPC has evolved from a small group with more than 50 members to the world's largest ruling party, with 88 million members -- and with General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping as the core.
The arrival of the lunar new year marks a fresh beginning for the Chinese leadership to lead 1.3 billion people towards the dream of creating an all-round moderately prosperous society by 2020.
Just before Chinese New Year, Xi visited Hebei Province in north China, calling for poverty alleviation and economic reform, both fundamental to building a well-off society.
Xi visited People's Liberation Army troops based in Hebei, and called for a strong military, more reform and the fighting against corruption. He also inspected preparation for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.
"The Chinese people have not only great dreams, but also a great spirit to work hard and endure hardship to realize such dreams," Xi said in his Spring Festival greetings to all Chinese people in Beijing on Jan. 26.
As the Spring Festival is the most important holiday in the Chinese calendar, Xi's trip, speeches and policy initiatives all indicate areas of priority for the year ahead.
MULTIPLE MISSIONS
Xi is tasked with multiple missions: leading the Party and people to fulfill the great dream of revitalizing the Chinese nation; cracking the hard nuts of reform across all sectors; promoting the rule of law; and managing a clean, unified and advanced ruling party.
He is also expected to play a leading role in pushing forward globalization, as the West appears to be in retreat in this regard.
Reform is high on Xi's agenda. Hundreds of measures have been designed and released during the past four years to address issues such as urbanization, innovation and the market's role in resource allocation.
As "the main framework for reform is basically established," implementation will be the focus for the coming years.
Supply-side structural reform, which is called by Xi as a "battle" concerning the overall situation and long-term development, will be continued in 2017. Xi believes it is an "inevitable choice" for developing the Chinese economy.
This includes cutting excess capacity in major sectors such as steel and coal, implementing agricultural reforms, boosting the real economy and nurturing new growth drivers. China will deepen supply-side structural reform in agriculture, according to the first policy statement released by the central authorities this year.
The restructuring of China's economy and the upgrading of industry would generate huge new demand.
