Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao delivered a report on the work of the government Friday at the annual session of the National People's Congress, the top legislature.

Below are major quotes from the report.

-- The year 2009 was the most difficult one for China's economy since the beginning of the new century;

-- It was not at all easy for our country to make all these achievements against the backdrop of the severe impact of the global financial crisis;

-- We must make best use of the socialist system's advantages, which enable us to make decisions efficiently, organize effectively and concentrate resources to accomplish large undertakings;

-- This (2010) is a crucial year for continuing to deal with the global financial crisis, maintaining steady and rapid economic development, and accelerating the transformation of the pattern of economic development;

-- Larger fluctuations may occur in the prices of major commodities and exchange rates among the major currencies;

-- Trade protectionism is clearly reasserting itself;

-- Government investment at all levels needs to be concentrated in the most important areas, and the launching of new projects must be strictly controlled;

-- It is of decisive importance for the future of our country that we develop emerging industries of strategic importance and capture the economic, scientific and technological high ground;

-- For a country to become strong, it must first strengthen education;

-- A country cannot become strong and prosperous if it does not make education universal and improve its quality;

-- To develop the country and rejuvenate the nation, we must not only be economically strong, but more importantly, be culturally strong;

-- The Chinese nation can not only create economic miracles but also make brilliant new cultural achievements;

-- Improving people's wellbeing is the fundamental goal of economic development;

-- A rational income distribution system is an important manifestation of social fairness and justice. We will not only make the “pie” of social wealth bigger by developing the economy, but also distribute it well on the basis of a rational income distribution system.

-- We will resolutely curb the precipitous rise of housing prices in some cities and satisfy people's basic need for housing;

-- Without political restructuring, it would not be possible for economic restructuring and the modernization drive to succeed;

-- Nevertheless, the government's work still fell considerably short of public expectations;

-- We will earnestly deal with serious infringements on the interests of the people related to conversion of enterprises to a stockholding system, land expropriation, housing demolition and resident relocation, environmental protection...

-- Everything we do we do to ensure that the people live a happier life with more dignity and to make our society fairer and more harmonious;

-- The Chinese nation's life, strength and hope lie in promoting solidarity and achieving common progress of our ethnic groups;

-- We need to take a clear-cut stand against attempts to split the nation, safeguard national unity, and get ethnic minorities and the people of all ethnic groups who live in ethnic minority areas to feel the warmth of the motherland as one large family.