Economic development must be based on objective initial conditions, and then enforced through the proper use of developmental strategy. When China's communist regime was first established, the communist government ignored initial economic conditions and destroyed the original economic system, which barely improved economical growth rapidly. After thirty years of effort, the economy of China's neighbors have flourished while mainland China was, for the most part, in a state of economic depression. Therefore, the Communist government had no choice but to reform the economy. Due to ideological restrictions and the pragmatic character of the Chinese, Communist China chose to reform the economy gradually. Profit and power was given to the local government and enterprises on an experimental basis. Although the economy improved greatly during these twenty years of reform, it also fluctuated. In the future, China must not only keep up economic growth, but at the same time face problems such as opening up the market, reforming property rights, changing the role of the government, and establishing the rule of law.