What to Remember and What to Expect

by Zhou Xin

The COVID-19 pandemic bombarded the world with uncertainty in 2020.

No predictions from late 2019 saw it coming. New Years Eve revelers from around the world were elated about the dawn of 2020 as they are about any other year.

2020 already passed and 2021 has arrived. From behind masks， it is hard to see the future through the fog of uncertainties. Optimism for the future has become in short supply.

Will the world become a better place？“No winter can stay forever， and spring will always come，” declared Zhong Nanshan， an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a respiratory expert， in his opening speech for the“Zooming in on COVID-19” online photo exhibition. On January 18， 2020， a photo of 83-year-old Zhong taking a nap on the high-speed train bound for Wuhan went viral in China. In 2003 when SARS was raging， Zhong Nanshan， then director of the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases and president of Guangzhou Medical University， led a team to fight on the frontlines of the battle against SARS. He accepted and treated SARS patients without hesitation and rushed to various places to offer guidance on treating the deadly disease. Zhong was a major player in the victory over SARS. Seventeen years later， the doctor in his eighties joined the battle against another respiratory disease and headed a high-level expert group from the National Health Commission of China. Again， he was a force in the fight against COVID-19.

Huoshenshan Hospital and Leishenshan Hospital were built in about 10 days to treat severe and critically ill COVID-19 patients， and many temporary treatment centers were established to admit patients with mild symptoms. A top-level response to the coronavirus outbreak was launched across the country. Under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China （CPC） Central Committee with General Secretary Xi Jinping at the core and through joint efforts of medical workers and people across the country， China achieved a phased victory in epidemic prevention and control. The prevention and control system now in place has matured， and people are now getting vaccinated. We look forward to complete victory over the virus around the world in the foreseeable future.

On February 24， 2020， Huangfu Yiming， a graduate student from Northwestern Polytechnical University staying in his hometown of Nantong City， Jiangsu Province for winter holiday， engaged in his online thesis defense with university instructors more than 1，000 kilometers away. “We were supposed to complete the thesis defense at my university on February 24，” Huangfu said. “I had prepared slides and text during the winter vacation. Although the sudden outbreak disrupted the graduation schedule， the school soon arranged defense online so we could graduate on time.”

The epidemic decimated normal communications， but with the help of the internet， people moved much of their lives to the “cloud.” Online conferences， virtual classrooms， and online exhibitions suddenly became the norm. For some time now， online activities have been mainstream. Grocery shopping， medical consultation， and medicine purchasing can all be performed with a mobile phone without leaving home. The epidemic has made mobile phones even more indispensable in modern life. As 5G networks spread across the country， we look forward to a new narrative driven by the “Internet of Everything” in 2021.

As the epidemic was effectively brought under control in China， offline activities gradually resumed. From May 21 to 28， the 2020 annual sessions of the National Peoples Congress （NPC） and the National Committee of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference（CPPCC）， which had been delayed for two months due to the epidemic， successfully convened offline in Beijing. From July 7 to 10， the national college entrance examination， postponed for a month， was successfully conducted in-person. From November 4 to 10， the 3rd China International Import Expo was held as scheduled in Shanghai. What strategies facilitated successful large-scale offline activities after initial progress of epidemic prevention and control in China？ Masks， nucleic acid testing， social distancing and other resolute measures ensured peoples safety at those events. After the strictest control measures of the early stage， business and life could go back to normal with ongoing epidemic prevention work in place.

Yang Zhongxiu， from the Bouyei ethnic group deep in the mountains of the Qianxinan Bouyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in Guizhou Province， recently relocated to a city. At present， he takes his children to school after breakfast every day， then goes to work in a factory， goes home for lunch at noon， and takes a walk with his family after getting off work in the afternoon. “I used to dream of seizing such a lifestyle， but it has already become reality.”

“No single person should be left behind during the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects.”The year 2020 marked the final year for the targets of Chinas campaign to complete the construction of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and eradicate absolute poverty. On November 23， Guizhou Province announced that the last nine poor counties in the province， including Ziyun， had been lifted above the poverty line. They were the last counties to achieve the poverty alleviation goal among all 832 poverty-stricken counties defined by the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development. The goal of poverty alleviation across the country has been completed. China achieved the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals in poverty reduction 10 years ahead of schedule.

Escaping poverty is not the end， but the start of the journey to a better life. China will consolidate poverty alleviation achievements and prevent people from falling back into poverty. In the new year， we hope all emerging from poverty will continue reaching for better living.

“Someday， when my sail pierces the clouds， I will mount the wind， break the waves， and traverse the vast， rolling sea，” goes a famous line from a Chinese poem. China has remained committed to guarding against imported cases and preventing a resurgence of the outbreak at home. At the same time， business has resumed in an orderly manner. Chinas GDP rebounded to growth in the second quarter and recorded an average year-onyear growth of 0.7 percent in the first three quarters of 2020. Growth for the whole year is a foregone conclusion. China became the only major economy in the world to achieve GDP growth in 2020. Globally， the pandemic is far from under control. What will Chinas economy look like in 2021？

From October 26 to 29， 2020， the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee was held in Beijing. The meeting set the main goals of Chinas economic and social development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period （2021-2025）. The blueprint has already been unveiled. In 2021， the Chinese people will roll up their sleeves and continue to work hard.

And things are happening above the clouds. On July 23， 2020， Chinas Tianwen-1 probe set off for Mars. On December 17， after over a fortnight of space travel， Change-5 successfully returned to Earth with 1，731 grams of lunar soil. We look forward to scientific researchers unraveling the mysteries hidden in the lunar soil.

In February 2021， the Tianwen-1 probe will reach Mars. Radio waves sent from the red planet represent even greater expectations.

Even when a huge “black swan”appears， we still have reason to draw lessons from the past and look forward with optimism. In addition to the setbacks， grief， and loss， the past year also brought acts of courage， wisdom， and love， which made us capable of enduring the past difficult year to welcome rays of sunshine from 2021. We believe that tomorrow will be better， and we believe that our dreams can still come true.