Editor's Note: Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held in 2012, the CPC has made much headway in socio-economic development. Before the opening of the 20th CPC National Congress in October, China News Release invited several foreigners to talk about "China in the Past Decade" from their perspectives.

Looking back, moving forward

By Erik Nilsson

The upcoming 20th Party Congress is poised to be a particularly historic event not only for China but also for the world, in light of the achievements the Communist Party of China has made since the last congress, the rapidly changing national and global situation currently and the challenges and opportunities presented by the future.

It was truly an honor to attend the 19th Party Congress in person as a China Daily journalist and to create a video series about the event from the front lines with tens of millions of views.

What is both interesting and heartening is that many of the goals I saw charted by the previous congress have been accomplished, especially as the country has achieved the first of its two centenary goals — namely, attaining xiaokang, or a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

I look forward to seeing how the 20th Party Congress will better chart the course toward the second centenary goal of building a modern socialist country in all respects.

I have been delighted to realize that my daughter will reach my exact age of 39 when China achieves this. Because what China's leadership is working to achieve is not only for the people of today but also for the children of tomorrow, especially as it moves beyond providing for people's material needs to enabling them to pursue spiritual aspirations in the new era.

This is the fundamental feature of the Chinese Dream. But what my 16 years of living in China as an American has taught me is that the Chinese Dream belongs to the world.

My Chinese dream has been telling the story of and contributing to China's poverty alleviation miracle. A capstone of this has been publishing my bestselling book, Closer to Heaven: A Global Nomads Journey Through China's Poverty Alleviation, or 《太阳升起：美国小哥见证中国扶贫奇迹》, with the China Intercontinental Press.