Harmonious Society

和谐社会

Six main characteristics of a harmonious society:

1. Democracy and the rule of law,

2. fairness and justice,

3. integrity and fraternity,

4. vitality,

5. stability and order,

6. and harmony between man and nature.

The main objectives and tasks for building a harmonious socialist society by 2020:

-- The socialist democratic and legal system must be further improved; the fundamental principle of administering the country according to the law must be generally implemented; people's rights and interests shall enjoy concrete respect and be guaranteed. To achieve this, we shall develop a socialist democracy and fully integrate the leadership of the Party with the people's position as masters of the country and thus administer the country according to the rule of law; we shall enable the broad masses of people to participate in economic, political, cultural and social management; we shall constantly improve the legal system, ensure judicial justice and safeguard judicial authority so as to concretely respect and protect people's economic, political, cultural and social rights and interests and protect human rights and property rights.

-- The widening gap between urban and rural development and between different regions shall be gradually reversed; a reasonable and orderly income distribution pattern will take shape in general; household wealth shall increase universally, thus enabling people to lead more affluent lives; employment rates will be relatively high and a social security system covering both urban and rural residents shall be established in general. To achieve this, we shall reverse the unbalanced development between urban and rural areas and between different regions; we should reduce the proportion of high and low income groups and increase the proportion of the middle income group so as to enable the "diversified" income distribution pattern to take shape. The distribution order that ensures equal opportunities and an equitable distribution process will surely make the distribution result more reasonable; and the per capita income level of all members of society will be improved. We shall achieve full employment through economic restructuring and innovation of systems and basically set up the social security system covering both urban and rural residents.

-- Basic public service systems shall be further improved and the government will attain relatively significant improvements in administrative and service levels. To achieve this, the government's public finance system shall be further improved and the division of the administrative power and financial power of governments at all levels shall become more reasonable. Urban and rural residents shall gradually enjoy equal basic public services. And the quality of the public products such as education, medicare, employment and social security shall realize marked progress. The change of government functions in line with the requirements of the socialist market economy shall make great progress. The government’s economic regulation, market supervision, social management and public services should be more responsive to the growing material and cultural needs of the people.

-- The ideological and moral qualities, scientific and cultural qualities and health status of the whole nation will be improved markedly and further progress will be made in fostering a sound moral atmosphere and harmonious interpersonal relationships. To achieve this, we shall filter socialist core values into the minds of people and help them reach a wide agreement on moral standards such as patriotism, devotion, honesty and friendliness. We shall popularize 9-year compulsory education so as to increase the physical and mental health of the people and create a social atmosphere of one for all and all for one.

-- Creativity of society as a whole will be enhanced markedly and an innovation-based nation will be established in general; public administration system will be further improved and social order made sound. To achieve this, we shall ensure that the whole society becomes more united and harmonious; we shall deliver more perfect mechanisms for fair competition, further improve the modern property rights so as to give full play to the creativity of the whole society. On the basis of integrating social management resources we shall set up a complementary network to ensure a clear division of government and market and a reasonable division of responsibilities between governments at higher and grassroots levels so as to better meet the needs of social restructuring and constantly enhance the people's sense of convenience and security.

-- Resources will be used more efficiently and the ecological environment will be improved visibly. To achieve this objective, we shall speed up our pace to change patterns of economic growth and reduce our overall consumption level of energy and other resources; we shall focus on addressing the environmental and ecological problems which endanger people’s health and affect sustainable development, thus enabling people to have clean water, fresh air and safe, healthy food; we shall make new progress in building a resource conserving and environmentally friendly society.

The principles observed in building a harmonious socialist society:

-- Putting people first. We must always put the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people as both the starting point and objective of the work of the Party and state to satisfy their ever-increasing material and cultural demands. We shall insist that development should be for the people and by the people and its benefit should be shared among the people.

-- Development in a scientific way. We shall work to strike a proper balance between urban and rural development, development among regions, economic and social development, development of man and nature, and domestic development and opening wider to the outside world. We shall change our growth mode, promote energy-efficient development to realize comprehensive, balanced, and sustainable economic and social development.

-- In-depth reform and opening up. We shall continue in the direction of reform to develop the socialist market economy. In order to meet the requirements for economic and social development, we shall promote economic, political, cultural and social restructuring and innovation. We shall open wider to the outside world, make the reform decisions more scientific and the reform measures more coordinate so as to establish more dynamic, more efficient and more open systems and mechanisms.

-- Democracy and the rule of law. We should build socialist democracy and implement the fundamental principle of administering the country according to law. We shall build a socialist country under the rule of law, enhance the legal awareness of the whole society and promote the legalization and standardization of national economy, politics, culture and social life so as to gradually constitute the social justice guaranteeing system and to promote social justice.

-- Properly handling the relationships between reform, development and stability. We should take into full consideration the momentum of reform, the speed of development and the responses of the general public. We shall maintain the stability and unification of the society so as to ensure that people should live and work in peace and contentment.

-- The participation of the whole society under the leadership of the Party. We shall follow a scientific and democratic path of administration in accordance with laws, and unite all forces available so as to create a harmonious society where everyone shares the responsibilities as well as achievements.

（英语点津Celene编辑）