World

Outgoing Chinese Premiere Wants "Moderately Prosperous Society"

Wen Jiabao out

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In his final speech to his country's representatives, outgoing Chinese premier Wen Jiabao has given no benedictions nor made final demands other than more of the same: to urge his compatriots to build a "moderately prosperous society" in the world's second-largest economy.

Mr. Wen's dry, 100-minute address to the National People's Congress, the annual meeting of the country's rubber-stamp parliamentary body, left even the stock markets largely unmoved, the Hong Kong and Shanghai indices edging upward after days of losses.