the securities industry, the shaky firms were closed down and some important ones received government capital injection and were restructured. their customers'cash accounts were put into independent custodian arrangements with the major banks, thus removing the possibility of customer asset commingling and misappropriations. the banking reform and the securities industry cleanup have proved to be successful and have laid a solid foundation for the financial sector to withstand economic downturn, in particular the ongoing global financial crisis. for example, despite the steep drop of the stock market since late 2007, no securities firms have gotten into big trouble so far. and the major banks are in a strong position to weather economic slowdown. icbc, ccb and boc top the global list of banks'market capitalizations. a more robust financial industry after the reform places china in a better position to withstand the financial crisis. meanwhile, it should be noted that china's financial system has been helped by the progressive opening - up strategy and its limited exposure to overseas markets. we should bear in mind that despite the notable achievements in banking reform, the major banks have not gone through a full business cycle and still have much to improve. an economic slowdown will be the ultimate stress test for the robustness of the banks'strengths. irrespective of china's sound financial sector, the chinese economy, especially the export sector, has felt the impact brought by the slowdown of the global economy. since the fourth quarter of 2008, as international economic crisis worsened and exerted greater impacts on china's economy, the chinese government made rapid responses by decisively adopting a proactive fiscal policy and an adaptively easing monetary policy, and launching a bundle of timely, targeted and temporary policies and measures. first, ten measures were launched to stimulate domestic demand and promote stable and relatively rapid economic growth. the central government planned to invest an extra 4 trillion rmb over two years, which would mainly go to the agricultural sector, welfare and affordable housing, transportation infrastructure, and energy conservation and emission reduction. second, ten measures to revitalize the industrial sectors were initiated, aiming to strengthen policy support for enterprises. at present, the revitalization plans cover 10 industries including the light industry, automobiles, steel, textile, equipment manufacturing, shipping, petrochemicals, non - ferrous metals, it and logistics, with the aim to curb and reverse the trend of declining growth in these industries. third, bolster financial support for economic developments

both positive and negative. but in general, the theories, practice and experiences are driven by isolated events instead of a systematic plan. there is no theoretical conclusion made from the strategic perspective of constructing a harmonious socialist society, and no practice under the guidance thereof. because of the absence of a systematic financial theory, institutional and policy system to guide and push ahead the construction of a harmonious society, it is difficult to display the synergy of the entire financial sector in this cause. in the new century, especially since the 16th cpc national congress, we have clarified the strategic importance of building a socialist harmonious society for the socialist society construction drive. in addition, the just concluded 6th plenary session of the 16th cpc national congress adopted the decisions on major issues concerning the construction of a harmonious socialist society. as the center of the modern economy, finance should and is able to play an important role in the construction of a socialist harmonious society. so far, the financial sector has not fully adapted to the endeavors to build a harmonious socialist society. we need to make major breakthroughs in financial reform in the future. one of the major tasks is to conduct theoretical analysis on how to utilize the financial sector to support the building of a harmonious socialist society, and find a way for the sector to do so.. since structural imbalance is a major strain, finance should make its due contribution to solving the structural imbalances. to be specific, the financial sector should move away from the concept of “ favoring the rich over the poor ”, and provide, based on the market principle, necessary support to industrial sectors, regions and groups that are short of funding and lag behind in economic and social development. this is not only a requirement for the financial sector to support the harmonious economic development, but also a responsibility. as such, i believe it necessary to put forward the concept of “ developing the financial system for the disadvantaged ” to fully display the functions of the financial sector in the construction of a harmonious socialist society. 2. definition of the concept “ finance for the disadvantaged ” refers to the financing activities for the underdeveloped areas and groups. so far in china, it is meant to be the support rendered to the disadvantaged sectors with agriculture as the primary one, less - developed regions mainly in central and western china, and disadvantaged groups of farmers and laid - off workers in urban areas. it is fair to say that finance for the disadvantaged represents a revision to traditional finance