China's top leaders are gathering in Beijing this week to decide on the country's key goals and aspirations for the rest of the decade.
Every year or so, the country's highest political body, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, convenes for a week of meetings, also known as a Plenum.
What it decides at this one will eventually form the basis of China's next Five Year Plan - the blueprint that the world's second largest economy will follow between 2026 and 2030.
The full plan won't come until next year, but officials are likely to hint at its contents on Wednesday and have previously given more details within a week of that.
Western policy works on election cycles, but Chinese policy making operates on planning cycles, says Neil Thomas, a fellow in Chinese politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute.
Five Year Plans spell out what China wants to achieve, signal the direction the leadership wants to go in and move the resources of the state towards these predefined conclusions, he adds.
Here are three times China's Five Year Plan reshaped the global economy:
1981-84: Reform and Opening Up
Pinpointing exactly when China began its journey to become an economic powerhouse is difficult, but many in the Party like to say it was on 18 December 1978.
For nearly three decades, China's economy had been rigidly controlled by the state. But Soviet-style central planning had failed to lift prosperity, and many were still struggling with poverty.
Speaking at the 11th Committee's Third Plenum in Beijing, the country's new leader Deng Xiaoping declared that it was time to embrace some elements of the free market. His policy of reform and opening up became integral to the next Five Year Plan, which began in 1981.
This new direction transformed the lives of people in China and reshaped the global economy as western manufacturing jobs increasingly moved to China.
2011-15: Strategic Emerging Industries
China's status as the workshop of the world was cemented once it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. However, the Communist Party leadership was already planning ahead to avoid falling into a mid-income trap.
Thus, China identified strategic emerging industries — including green technology like electric vehicles (EVs) — as critical for future growth.
2021-2025: High Quality Development
China's more recent Five Year Plans have shifted towards high quality development under Xi Jinping, aiming to compete with American technology dominance. Success stories like TikTok and Huawei symbolize this technological boom, but have also raised security concerns in the West, leading to diplomatic tensions.
As the next plan takes shape, the focus on self-sufficiency and national security is likely to define China's strategies heading into the next decade.
