In his 100-minute, 13,000-character speech addressing the official commemoration of the 40th anniversary of reform and opening-up, President Xi Jinping offered what is to date the most comprehensive elaboration of the latest proposal for the 40-year-old cause to "start over".

That, according to Xi, means to press ahead with reform and opening-up with a new-found confidence and sense of direction. Which boils down to a deeper conviction in the continuous indispensability of reform and openness as well as a continuous commitment to doing it the right way.

No one is in a position to dictate to the Chinese people what should or should not be done, Xi said, making it clear that the country will change what should and can be reformed, but it won't change what shouldn't and can't be.

Commemorating China's transformative journey over the past 40 years is more than just marking the milestones, it is also about carrying forward what this nation of over 1.3 billion people has learned in the process.

In particular what the Communist Party of China has learned through its "great awakening", an awakening that 40 years after it began, continues.

"Only when conforming to the trends of history, actively responding to changes, spontaneously seeking changes, can we advance with the times," Xi said. And in the CPC's understanding, China can contribute more to the world by being the guide for countries to build a community with a shared future for humanity.