A discussion panel on a book, which focuses on China's development miracle and lessons learned since its reform and opening-up in 1978, was held in Guangzhouon on 17th August.

The book, The Sleeping Giant Awakens, was produced by China Watch and the Guangdong People’s Publishing House in 2019 to celebrate the achievements of the past 40 years.

As a part of the South Literary Festival 2019, the book discussion event was jointly organized by Southern Newspaper Media Group, the Guangdong Writers Association and Guangdong People's Publishing House.

In the book, more than 40 world-class figures, ranging from prominent politicians, scholars to business leaders worldwide, who have experienced China’s reform and opening-up, shared their insights on the so-called “China Miracle” from their own perspectives.

The articles in the book cover the changing relationships between China and other countries during China's peaceful rise; the contribution of China's reform and opening-up in terms of global development and also the opportunities and challenges that China will be faced up with in the further reforms.

David Gosset, the founder of the Europe-China Forum; Ding Li, an economics researcher of the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences and Fu Jing, the managing director of China Daily's think tank, the China Watch Insititute shared their views on this book.

Gosset, one of the authors of The Sleeping Giant Awakens, has been paying close attention to China for years and speaks fluent Chinese. His experience of working and living in China makes him an expert with a very keen grasp and rich understanding of China issues.

Gosset reckoned that the rejuvenation of China is a historic opportunity for the whole world. "China's economic growth has not threatened anyone, nor any country, but on the contrary, is one of the important engines of world economic development in the past decades," he said.

"We live in a world full of complexities and instabilities. And it is China's peaceful rise that has made the world more prosperous, peaceful and rich. In the meantime, the world has realized the possibility of peaceful development through reform and opening-up," said Gosset.

Gosset said that the key to reform and opening-up in the past 40 years is China’s opening door to the outside world, and in this way presenting a welcoming environment for people worldwide.

He said that from the proposing to the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative to the building of "a community with a shared future for mankind", today's China is standing on the world stage confidently.

In Gosset's view, the starting point of putting forward "a community with a shared future for mankind" is to unite all mankind. "China is increasingly a global player, and undeniably the development of people all over the world cannot do without China," he said.

“China has actively and successfully integrated itself into the world, becoming a major force in promoting world peace as well as building a new type of international order.”

Ding Li, an expert in the study of regional economy and enterprise competitiveness of the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences, commented on the book too.

He added from an economic perspective: economic globalization has basically solved the problem of "making the cake big", while the pressure lies in "how to share the cake".

Ding Li said China holds great potential in solving the latter problem, for the institutional advantages have not been fully explored. In the next stage of reform and opening-up, it is hoped that China's way will contribute more to the global economy.

The bilingual (English-Chinese) collection, The Sleeping Giant Awakens, is committed to provide a comprehensive yet innovative collective work so that readers are able to appreciate professional points of views on economic growth, targeted poverty alleviation, mass innovation and entrepreneurship, environmental governance, the e-commerce boom and anecdotes of China.