China's state-owned enterprises(SOEs) have developed more than 70 years since the People's Republic of China (PRC) was founded in 1949. From 1949 to 1978,SOEs provided material guarantee for the construction of the PRC, laid a solid foundation for the industrialization process,and ensured that the people were masters of their own affairs. From 1978 to 2012, SOEs upgraded their growth quality and increased their efficiency for improving people's material and cultural life. Since 2012, SOEs have become “stronger, better and bigger”on all fronts for satisfying people's growing expectations for a better life. In essence,reforming SOEs means interpreting and exercising the people-centered development philosophy, and means addressing principal social contradiction through different stages of socialist development, as SOEs care about the main needs of the people. Such a development is a process of constant exploration and continuous growth from strength to strength, which is the inherent logic of theory and practice of SOE growth in new China for more than 70 years.