The excerpt is from Jiang Zemin's report delivered at the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on September 12, 1997, entitled "Hold High the Great Banner of Deng Xiaoping Theory for an All-round Advancement of the Cause of Building Socialism with Chinese Characteristics to the 21st Century":

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Earth-shaking changes have taken place in China over the past century from 1900 when the Eight-Power Allied Forces occupied Beijing, subjecting the Chinese nation to great humiliation and bringing the country to the verge of subjugation, to the year 2000 when China will enjoy a fairly comfortable life on the basis of socialism and take big strides toward the goal of being prosperous and strong.

After the Opium War of 1840, China was reduced to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country. The Chinese nation was faced with two great historical tasks: to win national independence and the people's liberation, and to make the country prosperous and strong and achieve common prosperity for the people. The former task was set to remove obstacles and create essential prerequisites for the fulfillment of the latter task.

The past century has witnessed the Chinese people undergoing three tremendous historic changes on their road of advance and the birth of Sun Yat-sen, Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, three great men who stood at the forefront of the times.

The first change was represented by the Revolution of 1911, which overthrew the autocratic monarchy reigning in China for thousands of years. It was led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen. He was the first to raise the slogan of "rejuvenating China" and pioneered the national and democratic revolution in the true sense in modern times. The Revolution of 1911 failed to change the social nature of old China and free the people from their hard lot, but it opened the sluice-gates for progress in China and made it impossible for the reactionary rule to remain stable any longer.

The second change was marked by the founding of the People's Republic of China and the establishment of the socialist system.

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