The Chinese people have celebrated their national day on October 1 every year since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. But the one this year is extremely special because it marks the country's 60th birthday, which Chinese philosophy regards as a milestone indicating the end of one big cycle of life and the beginning of a new one.

Sixty years may be a drop in the ocean that is the 5,000-year history of the Chinese nation, which has witnessed ups and downs, happiness and misery, triumph and humiliation. Nevertheless, the last 60 years should be hailed and remembered as a golden time when the nation progressed with great difficulty and persistence from a semi-colonial and economically poor country to eventually become a wonderland of hopes, strong enough to survive the unprecedented financial meltdown currently engulfing the world and to pursue its own sustainable development.

Those who have benefited most from this success are the Chinese people, accounting for nearly one quarter of mankind. Though the Chinese Government had spared no efforts in poverty relief, the number of people living in absolute poverty, the majority of whom were in rural areas, stood at 250 million in the late 1970s. Rapid economic development throughout the country combined with government measures in this regard paid off over the following 30 years, and by 2007 the figure had shrunk to 14.87 million, making China a model country in fulfilling the UN Millennium Development Goals. Great changes have happened to Chinese people during the past six decades. The per-capita disposable income of the urban population, which was less than 100 yuan ($14.6) in 1949, rose to 15,781 yuan ($2,310) in 2008.

The most fundamental change for the Chinese people has been in their lifestyle and quality of life. Nowadays ordinary Chinese, those in their twenties or thirties in particular, take all these things for granted—surfing the Internet, buying a Big Mac or Starbucks coffee at lunch, planning an overseas trip over the National Day holiday or just staying in the city to attend ballet performances by foreign dance companies. Nevertheless, those old days should not fade from our memories, when our nation and the people were so poor that keeping everyone fed was the primary task and launching a spacecraft to explore the Moon was an impossible dream. Only by bearing all this in mind can we keep a cool head about the tremendous changes the nation has undergone while saying to ourselves before the big day comes, "We are lucky to have finished this big cycle of 60 years with a truly happy ending, which is also the harbinger of a glorious new one, and, yes! We should celebrate indeed!"