Five years ago, at the First Plenary Session of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping became general secretary of the CPC Central Committee. Shortly afterward, Xi set out his vision for the future.

That vision included the Chinese Dream, a road map to producing a "moderately prosperous" society by implementing a series of measures designed to raise living standards and lift more than 10 million people out of poverty every year to eradicate the problem by 2020.

While the country still has more than two years to fulfill that goal, the efforts made so far have outstripped estimates and have gained recognition from economists, social commentators and financial institutions across the globe.