On July 18th, 1994, the State Council made the "Decision on Deepening the Reform of Urban Housing System", which clarified the basic contents of the reform of urban housing system, including changing the distribution mode of housing benefits in kind to the distribution mode of monetary wages based on distribution according to work, and establishing the housing accumulation fund system. On April 1st, 1996, China drastically reduced the import tariffs on more than 4, commodities, and the total tariff level was reduced to 23%. On December 1st, 1996, China began to accept Article VIII of the International Monetary Fund Agreement and implemented convertibility of RMB under current account. Meeting the requirements of Article 8 of the International Monetary Fund Agreement ahead of schedule marks a significant progress in the reform of China's foreign exchange management system. On July 3, 1998, the State Council issued the Notice of the State Council on Further Deepening the Reform of Urban Housing System and Accelerating Housing Construction, which abolished the system of housing distribution in kind, cleared away the "competitors" for the development of commercial housing, and thus established the main position of commercial housing in the market. From March 5 to 15, 1999, the Second Session of the Ninth National People's Congress was held in Beijing. The meeting adopted an amendment to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, which made it clear that the non-public sector of the economy is an important part of China's socialist market economy and greatly promoted the development of social productive forces. On March 22, 1999, the State Council's Opinions on Further Promoting the Development of the Western Region put forward ten opinions on further promoting the development of the western region.