The World Economic Forum has succeeded in changing Davos, a small Swiss town once well-known as the home of several ski resorts, into a platform to brainstorm ideas on global issues. What magic does the 43-year-old non-profit foundation have? Since its inception in 1971, the forum has taken every opportunity to expand its influence as it never stops learning from others’ experience in society, politics and business. The theme for this year – “The Reshaping of the World: Consequences for Society, Politics and Business” – exactly sets out the three dimensions of the world’s current circumstances, and it is in this context that the focus will be on China. In the economic dimension, six years after the onset of the global financial crisis, the world economy now comes to a turning point. In the political dimension, policy-makers are pondering how to build a mechanism for better governance and global cooperation. In the social dimension, social inequality calls for global reform and reshaping as the world sees a painful contrast between extravagance in developed countries and famine in poor countries, as well as a yawning development gap between the North and the South. In the context of these three dimensions, how China — the world’s most dynamic economy — lives up to its role in the reshaping of the world and how the world judges its reform will become the focus of Davos 2014.