China is going through difficult reforms, and its future will be shaped by its reform today.

Why is reform so difficult? Some scholars have used the metaphor that reform is like doing an operation, requiring exquisite techniques, and prudent and decisive actions. The bigger the reform is, the more complex the process is.

Yet, there are still differences between the two. An operation can resort to anesthetics to relieve the patient's pains, while the shock of reform to a nation is always unbearable, as history has proved time and again.