Quan Heng, an economics professor at Shanghai Academy for Social Sciences, speaks during a symposium in Cairo, Egypt, Oct. 30, 2019. The Chinese economist explained to Egyptians the challenges and accomplishments of China's 70-year development during a symposium on Wednesday evening. (Xinhua/Mahmoud Fouly)

CAIRO, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese economist explained to Egyptians the challenges and accomplishments of China's 70-year development during a symposium on Wednesday evening.

Quan Heng, an economics professor at Shanghai Academy for Social Sciences, was the keynote speaker of the symposium entitled "70 Years of Economic Development in China: History, Accomplishments and Aspirations," which was held at the Chinese Cultural Center (CCC) in the Egyptian capital Cairo.

Quan, also vice chairman of Shanghai Federation of Social Science Associations, divided the period of China's seven-decade economic development into seven stages starting from 1949, the year that marked the founding of the People's Republic of China.

He explained that during the first three stages, from 1949 to 1957, from 1958 to 1965 and from 1966 to 1977, China identified the issues and gaps of its economic and social development and set up strategies for resolving them.

"The fourth stage from 1978 to 1992 is the most important and influential in the history of the economic development of China," the Chinese professor told the attendees.

He emphasized that China managed in the fifth stage of development from 1992 to 2001 to resolve the dilemma of market economy versus planned economy, while the sixth from 2001 to 2012 marked China's membership at the World Trade Organization.

"In the seventh stage from 2012 to 2019, China entered a new era of economic development focusing on economy of high quality rather than high quantity," said the Chinese economist.

During the current stage, China has focused on implementing innovation-based development, coordinated provincial development and rural prosperity strategies, Quan noted.

He pointed out that the contribution of China's GDP to global economy surged from 0.81 percent in 1978 to 15.86 percent in 2018.

Ahmed al-Saeed, chief of a Cairo-based Chinese publishing house, said such lectures on China's economic development experience are important for Egyptian researchers on Chinese affairs.

"We hope that our research centers in Egypt invite such Chinese scholars to talk about their country's development experience or use the content of their lectures and turn them into researches," Saeed told Xinhua at the CCC.