There has also been major progress in developing the rule of law and local democracy. In the past 30 years, 223 laws were promulgated, a task that has taken many countries hundreds of years. When the labour law was debated, the National People's Congress received 200,000 suggestions, largely from public letters, emails and web comments. Elections were introduced at rural level 10 years ago, and all of the 64,000 village committees are directly elected. The government is working hard to introduce democratic decision-making at all levels to ensure that people's voices are heard.

But we know we still have much to do. After all, China's per capita GDP ranks 104th in the world while the UK's is 20th. Britain is about the size and population of China's Hunan province, yet Britain's GDP is 17 higher. Per capita overseas investment in China is only 1/25th of that of Britain. Some 135 million people across the country still live on less than a dollar a day.

中国在民主法治建设方面也取得了重要进展。过去30 年共制定了223项法律。讨论劳动法期间，全国人大收到20万多条建议，大部分是民众直接通过信件、邮件和网上留言提出来的。10多年前，中国开始实行基层选举，六万四千个村民委员会由村民直接选举产生。政府坚持推进政治体制改革，加强各级民主决策，倾听民众意见。

但是，我们清醒地认识到，还有很长的路要走。中国人均GDP排名第104位，英国排第20位。英国的国土面积和人口与中国的湖南省差不多，但英国的GDP却是湖南省的17倍。中国人均海外投资额仅为英国的1/25。目前仍有1.35亿人每天生活费不足一美元。