SOME WELL-KNOWN ENTREPRENEURS WON the honorary title of "reform pioneer" at the meeting to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the reform and opening-up held in Beijing on Tuesday. Beijing News comments:

That some private entrepreneurs were among those honored shows that the authorities attach great significance to the important role private enterprises have played in promoting the country's development over the past 40 years, as well as the authorities' resolve to accelerate the growth of the private sector in the foreseeable future.

The 40th anniversary of the great course that has not only reshaped China, but also influenced the world provides an ideal opportunity to review the evolution of China's private economy, if not the authorities' change of attitude toward it.

The legitimacy of the private economy－as an important supplement to the State-owned economy－was recognized by the Constitution in 1988, a landmark move that put the development of the private economy on a healthy track.

China has established and developed a set of institutions and laws ever since to improve its regulation of private companies, promoting the fast development of the private economy, which is now the main job creator, tax source and innovator.

The number of private companies has increased fast since Deng Xiaoping's tour to Southern China in 1992, in which he expressed his confidence in and endorsement of reform and opening-up.

By the end of 2017, the number of private enterprises in China had reached 27.263 million, and the contribution of the private economy to the national fiscal revenue accounted for more than 50 percent, and it accounted for more than 90 percent of the new jobs created.

Over the past 40 years, generations of entrepreneurs, far beyond those few who were honored in Beijing on Tuesday, deserve tribute for their contribution and sacrifice, as one of the most vigorous, hardworking and innovative groups of pioneers to blaze a trail for the great course of reform and opening-up.

Reform is not confusing, opening-up is not awkward, and the exploration and breakthrough of these by individuals will not be forgotten.