The concept of people-centered governance has long been a central tenet of Chinese culture. The original aspiration and founding mission of China is to seek happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation.
What distinguishes Chinese modernization from Western modernization is that it is the modernization of common prosperity. The biggest problems with Western modernization are that they are capital-centered rather than people-centered and they seek to maximize capital gains rather than serve the interests of the vast majority of the people. This has created a huge gap between the rich and the poor and led to severe polarization.
In their efforts to achieve modernization, some developing countries once approached the developed country threshold only to fall into the “middle-income trap” and become mired in prolonged stagnation. A major cause for this is that these countries failed to solve the problems of polarization and solidification of social strata.
Now, China is pursuing high-quality development and striving to make the economic “pie” bigger and better and to share it more fairly, solving problems that affect people’s well-being in areas such as employment, income distribution, education, health care, housing, elder care, and childcare.
The Resolution adopted in the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee adheres to the people-centered approach, respecting the principal position and pioneering spirit of the people. It makes reform measures highly responsive to the call of the people to ensure that reform is for the people and by the people and that its fruits are shared among the people.
Economic growth has little meaning unless it can give people a better life.
