-- China on Wednesday held a grand gathering to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in southern Guangdong Province as the country embarks on a new journey toward socialist modernization.

-- Hailing Shenzhen's development over the past 40 years as "a miracle in the world development history," President Xi Jinping said the establishment of SEZs is a great innovative move made by the CPC and the country in advancing reform and opening up as well as socialist modernization.

-- Building on past success, the CPC central committee, in the face of profound changes in international situations, entrusted the SEZs with new historic missions including leading the country's drive of socialist modernization.

SHENZHEN, Oct. 14  -- In 1982, Lu Jianxin packed up his things and jumped on a train to Shenzhen, a southern border town designated as China's first special economic zone (SEZ) only two years earlier.

Receiving a letter from a friend talking about the construction scenes in the SEZ and building a 50-story building, then the tallest in China, as an 18-year-old architecture student, he could not resist the temptation of participating in the grand project and made up his mind to leave then and there.

"Looking back, I didn't know I would participate in a great cause of building the SEZ and witness a miracle of the age," said Lu, who has remained in Shenzhen ever since, working as an architectural engineer.

Lu was telling his life story and his connection with the city at a grand gathering held Wednesday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the SEZ in the country's southern Guangdong Province, a paragon of China's reform and opening up.