Hainan continuing nation's reform process

In his famous poem, Locksley Hall, Alfred Lord Tennyson included the memorable line: "Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay." Published in 1842, at the height of British economic innovation and dominance, he meant that Europe was changing more in a short period than China did over dynasties. (Cathay is an old name for China.)

The situation couldn't be more different now. China is constantly reforming and developing its economy and society, while Europe's and North America's economic institutions are, at best, stagnant. It seems like every month China announces the next step in the long-term process of reforms designed to strengthen productivity-enhancing institutions.

The recent announcement that Hainan will become a free trade port is another in a long series of market-based reforms building the institutions that will allow the country to continue to develop over this century.