Veteran reporter records nation's success story

During his time at university, FlorCruz saw how China was gradually changing and opening up, as evidenced by the growing popularity of dancing. He spent many weekends dancing in the university cafeteria－a significant development in a country that once banned such activity as a "form of bourgeois decadence".

"We waltzed and tangoed to music blaring from a boom box. But what about this new-fangled Western thing called disco? Few people knew anything about it, and I was expected to teach (the dance moves) to my curious Chinese friends. Luckily, one Chinese agency published a booklet offering some (advice on) method, along with illustrated steps," he said.

Soon after China introduced reform and opening-up in 1978, Flor-Cruz witnessed the country's "exciting transformative period". In the years that he worked as reporter and bureau chief for Time magazine and later as Beijing correspondent and bureau chief for CNN, he reported on and was impressed by the efforts made to lift millions of people out of poverty.

In the following years, China posted double-digit GDP growth, took more than 800 million people out of poverty and significantly improved access to health, education and other services.

As the country prepares to celebrate the centenary of the founding of the CPC, FlorCruz praised the Party's role in alleviating poverty.

He said it is admirable how China has been able to lift the lives of hundreds of millions of farmers from poverty to a degree of prosperity.

"In the initial years, opening-up literally meant opening closed cities and towns," the veteran journalist added.

Recalling his first years in China, FlorCruz said most places were offlimits to foreigners, but in March, 1991, the Foreign Ministry's Information Department sent a document to correspondents based in Beijing, informing them that 733 cities and counties had been opened up.

In the early years of reform and opening-up, China witnessed an influx of imported goods and services. FlorCruz remembers bottles of Coca-Cola first being sold in the nation and how local consumers initially rejected the drink, saying it tasted like herbal medicine.

He watched British duo Wham! perform in Beijing－the first Western pop group to appear in China.

In 1992, McDonald's opened its first outlet in Beijing－h(huán)anding out free food on its first day. FlorCruz was given one of the watches presented to journalists covering the event, which he still owns.

He visited villages in northern and southern China to report on the country's grassroots elections. He also covered the meeting in 1989 between Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping and US President George H. W. Bush, along with several CPC meetings in Beijing, including the 13th through 18th CPC National Congresses.

The 13th Congress in 1987 was memorable for FlorCruz, as it was the first time that foreign journalists were granted admission to such an event.

"For years, Party Congresses were always top-secret affairs," he said, recalling the days when journalists had to rely on rumors about where the meetings would be held. Correspondents drove around looking for cars parked at hotels－writing speculative reports by examining any official photographs, speeches and party documents that were available.

"Since the 13th Congress, the meetings have gradually become relatively open to the media, at least in terms of holding news conferences featuring ministers and local party cadres," he said.