Turning 60 is an important milestone in the life of any person, let alone a country. A big parade was held in Beijing yesterday to celebrate the dramatic improvement in living standards in the 60 years of the People's Republic, and the party continues, with a national holiday running until next Thursday.

A mood of nostalgia has also prevailed, people comparing photos and telling stories. This has led me to reminisce over an old handkerchief parcel of food coupons my mother left me. For decades in China there was rationing of everything from meat to cloth. I grew up knowing and experiencing hunger. My mother kept the coupons in case such times were to return. They never did.

In 1949 China's GDP was $18bn, or $50 per capita. In 2008, total GDP reached $4.3 trillion and $3,260 per capita. In the past 30 years, 200 million people came out of poverty. Today, Chinese society has become open and dynamic. There are close to 2,000 newspapers, more than 9,000 magazines and 287 TV channels. With 700 million mobile phone subscribers, 300 million internet users and 180 million bloggers, not surprisingly the Chinese lead the world in texting, blogging and surfing the web. Some 800 international journalists sat in some of the meetings of the National People's Congress this year and asked questions. And more than 30,000 journalists covered the Olympics last year.

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.

Any small problem can grow into a huge one if multiplied by 1.3 billion. A big achievement can become too tiny to notice once divided by that number. China will press ahead with reforms aimed to build a strong and harmonious society, where every child is at school, everyone has work to do and a roof over their head, ever

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