Ding Yuanzhu: Improving the Quality of Life for the People Amidst the Construction of Chinese-path Modernization: Internal Requirements and Practical Dimensions
Based on the national conditions of China and meeting the people’s aspirations for a better life, the report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) highlights five basic characteristics of Chinese-path modernization: the modernization of a huge population, of common prosperity for all, of material and cultural-ethical advancement, of harmony between humanity and nature, and of peaceful development. Centering on the main thread of Chinese-path modernization, Part IX of the report to the 20th National Congress sets "improving the people's wellbeing and raising the quality of life" as a new task and requirement for the entire Party and the people of all ethnic groups. This task comes as they embark on a new journey to build a modern socialist country in all respects and advance toward the Second Centenary Goal [1], particularly during the critical opening period of the next five years. This further emphasizes "wellbeing" and "quality of life" in accordance with the requirements of Chinese-path modernization, building upon the "improvement of the quality of people's lives and raising the level of social construction" proposed in the 2020 Recommendations of the CPC Central Committee for Formulating the 14th Five-Year Plan and the 2035 Long-Range Objectives and the "improving the people's wellbeing and lifting the level of transition toward co-construction, co-governance, and sharing" [2] proposed in the 2021 Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development and Long-Range Objectives through the Year 2035. The common prosperity for all, the coordination of material and cultural-ethical advancement, and the harmony between humanity and nature emphasized by Chinese-path modernization are all centrally embodied in the improvement of the people’s quality of life. Deeply understanding the formulation of "quality of life" and its conceptual connotation in the report to the 20th National Congress is of great significance for deepening our understanding of the essential requirements of Chinese-path modernization and promoting its construction.
Improving the Quality of People's Life is an Intrinsic Requirement of Chinese-Path Modernization
Quality of life integrates economic, social, cultural, and spiritual dimensions. It is a developmental dimension commonly adopted by all countries to measure the level of economic development and the stage of social development. It refers to the standard of material life people enjoy and their subjective feelings and satisfaction levels regarding material enjoyment, encompassing both objective and subjective quality of life.
First, objective quality of life refers to the level of economic and social development and the economic income it brings to people, as well as the various services, including public services, that people obtain based on economic and social development. Subjective quality of life refers to people's subjective feelings and levels of satisfaction regarding the level of economic development, the resulting economic income, and the various services obtained through social progress. As the ultimate goal of economic and social development, people's needs are met through the acquisition of economic income and services; objective acquisition and subjective perception are ultimately embodied in the individual, through which the quality of life is realized.
Second, quality of life is a comprehensive concept integrating economic, social, cultural, and spiritual elements. Amartya Sen, the Nobel laureate in economics from India, elucidated the subjectivity and complexity of quality of life: "You could be well off, without being well. You could be well, without being able to lead the life you wanted. You could have the life you wanted, without being happy. You could be happy, without having much freedom. You could have a good deal of freedom, without achieving much." Through this statement, Sen reveals the internal logic and characteristics of quality of life.
Third, quality of life reflects the life characteristics of individuals and groups. Individual quality of life is a person's perception of their own physical and mental health and their socio-economic environment, their satisfaction with life, and their feedback behaviors toward society. At the individual level, quality of life mainly includes economic income, physical health, family relations, neighborhood relations, work conditions, entertainment, and leisure. Because each individual's life pursuits, values, cultural background, and institutional environment differ, different individuals may have different psychological perceptions of the same thing. However, there is also generality in individual quality of life; for instance, almost every individual pursues comfortable living conditions, higher income levels, and more opportunities for self-development. Individuals cannot exist apart from society. Classical Marxist writers believe that man is, in his essence, the ensemble of the social relations [3]. The improvement of individual quality of life is the result of the joint efforts of individuals, the government, and society. Group quality of life is the general manifestation of the collective life quality of a certain group. A "group" can refer to a collective with common characteristics, such as women, children, or people with disabilities, or a collective living in a certain area, such as community residents, urban residents, rural residents, or citizens of a specific country. Improving the quality of people’s life must start with the most immediate and practical interests that concern the people most, understanding their actual lives and subjective feelings. At the same time, it is necessary to understand the living conditions and subjective perceptions of various social groups. Individual and group quality of life are both interconnected and possess distinct characteristics. Individual quality of life is the foundation of group quality of life, while group quality of life is the collective manifestation of individual quality of life.
Quality of life embodies the degree and level of all-around human development. The report to the 20th National Congress points out: "We have continued to enrich the material foundation for modernization and consolidate the material conditions for the people's happy lives. At the same time, we have focused on developing advanced socialist culture, strengthening education on ideals and convictions, inheriting Chinese civilization, and promoting all-around material abundance and the all-around development of the person." This further clarifies that Chinese-path modernization must emphasize "all-around material abundance and the all-around development of the person." First, placing "material abundance" and "all-around development" side-by-side demonstrates the CPC’s scientific judgment regarding the new stage of modernization and its high regard for the significance of human development; it is an embodiment of the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism. Classical Marxist writers attached great importance to the all-around development of the person, proposing vital theories such as the connotation of all-around development and the idea that such development is an inevitable trend in the evolution of human society.
Second, the theory of classical Marxist writers regarding the all-around development of the person can be divided into three interconnected levels. The all-around development of the human body and spirit is the basic, first-level essence. Marx and Engels studied people engaged in productive labor and other social practices under specific historical conditions and social relations. They critically absorbed modern Western philosophical doctrines on the mind-body relationship, revealed the basic social characteristics that distinguish humans from animals, viewed humans as a unity of body and spirit, and regarded the all-around development of the person as the all-round development of both body and spirit. Marx and Engels also discussed the roles of human consciousness, thinking, emotion, and will in guiding, promoting, and regulating productive labor and other social practices, understanding the all-around development of the human spirit as the coordinated development of wisdom, virtue, beauty, and the triad of cognition (knowledge), emotion (feeling), and volition (will). The healthy, all-around development of the human body and spirit is the basis for engaging in productive labor and other social practices. The second level of essence is the capacity for human activity, primarily the capacity for productive activity. This capacity is a structure generated by the unity of the human body and spirit, representing the concrete manifestation of all-around bodily and spiritual development in terms of active capability. The multifaceted development of human activity capacity can clearly and concretely reflect the degree of all-around development of the person. Marx pointed out that only by developing the productive forces and creating the material conditions for production "can the real basis be created for a higher form of society, a society in which the full and free development of every individual forms the ruling principle." The comprehensive, sufficient, and free development of the human body and spirit is the third-level essence—the highest manifestation of all-around development and the noble ideal of human self-perfection. Specifically, the free development of the human body and spirit is reflected in three dimensions: the use of leisure time; the free choice of occupation; and the free disposal and control of society, nature, and the self. People's subjective perceptions come, on the one hand, from their share in economic and social development and, on the other, from their free choices, including the free choice of time and self-development.
Third, in the evaluation of quality of life, leisure time is an important metric for evaluating free choice and the choice of self-development. In a society that takes simple economic growth as its only goal, where everyone is busy rushing for a livelihood and material goods, there will not be a very high quality of life. The all-around development of the person is the inevitable trend of human social development. Only "real individuals" engaged in actual activities (primarily production) within certain historical conditions and social relations possess human needs and a human essence. By placing "material abundance" and "all-around development" on equal footing, the report to the 20th National Congress combines the basic principles of Marxism with the reality of Chinese-path modernization, representing a contemporary inheritance and development of the Marxist theory of the "all-around development of the person."
The improvement of the quality of life is the inevitable result of the development of Chinese-path modernization. Quality of life is an inevitable requirement and concrete manifestation of economic and social development reaching a certain stage. First, China's economic and social development has entered a new stage of development. In 2022, China's total economic output exceeded 120 trillion yuan, the national per capita disposable income reached 36,883 yuan, and the per capita GDP reached 85,698 yuan; the construction of a modern socialist country has reached a new level. As pointed out in the Resolution of the CPC Central Committee on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century: "Since the 18th National Congress, the balance, coordination, and sustainability of China’s economic development have been significantly enhanced... our economic strength, scientific and technological strength, and comprehensive national strength have leapt to a new level. China’s economy has moved toward a development path that is of higher quality, more efficient, more equitable, more sustainable, and more secure." The sustained and healthy development of China's economy and society has laid a solid foundation for improving the people's quality of life.
Second, improving the quality of life is an inevitable choice when economic development reaches a certain stage. W.W. Rostow combined economic theory and history to study human life, proposing the "Stages of Economic Growth" theory. In his 1960 book The Stages of Economic Growth, he proposed that the economic development of countries worldwide is divided into five stages: the traditional society, the preconditions for take-off, the take-off, the drive to maturity, and the age of high mass-consumption. Generally, these five stages follow one another to form a complete process of economic growth. Rostow believed that "high mass-consumption" was not the end of economic growth but merely reflected quantitative consumption characteristics. In his 1971 book Politics and the Stages of Growth, Rostow supplemented this by adding a new stage—the "search for quality of life." With this, Rostow introduced the concept of quality of life into the stages of economic growth. According to his theory, before the "search for quality of life" stage, the leading sectors are industrial, primarily consumer durables. After entering the "search for quality of life" stage, the leading sector becomes the service industry, and improving the "quality of life" of residents becomes a vital component of economic development. According to Rostow, "take-off" and the "search for quality of life" are two important "mutations" in the process of social development. The "search for quality of life" is the true mutation of human life in industrial society. Humans pursue quality of life at every stage of economic development; it is only that the methods, content, degree, and focus of these pursuits differ across development stages.
Third, economic growth itself is neither good nor bad, but the results it brings to humanity can be distinguished as such. In this sense, the quality of life of all people should be used as the evaluation standard for economic and social development. To follow the basic requirement that Chinese-path modernization is the modernization of common prosperity for all, one must examine economic growth from the perspective of what kind of wellbeing it brings to the people. One of the criteria for this examination is the quality of life of all the people. In this sense, quality of life is a form of human "economic self-awareness." Amartya Sen proposed that "the standard of living is not a level of opulence, even though it is one of the things that is particularly affected by opulence." He pointed out the complex relationship between economic growth, opulence, and wellbeing. When implementing economic and social policies, efforts should be made to handle the relationship between economic growth, people's wellbeing, and their quality of life, ensuring that the fruits of development benefit all people.
Fourth, the quality of life depends on both material life and spiritual life.
The satisfaction of material life is the most fundamental of human needs. In the era of globalization and information, the impact of individual capability and educational attainment on one's ability to secure an advantageous position and higher economic income in market competition has continuously expanded; meanwhile, demand for science, technology, and culture shows an increasing trend. To improve the quality of life for the masses, we must look beyond the needs of material and spiritual culture [4] to devote more resources and energy to promoting well-rounded human development. We must commit to improving the capabilities, cultural literacy, and moral character of all members of society, as well as transforming their mental outlook. The concept of quality of life is closely linked to that of well-being. Well-being consists of the goods and services that satisfy people's basic needs and provide life security. Subjective well-being is an intrinsic element of the quality of life and a fundamental requirement of social policy. We must understand people's attitudes toward their quality of life through the cognition and judgment of their subjective feelings, adjusting social policies in a timely manner to meet their needs for a better life.
Coordinating the Objectivity and Subjectivity of Quality of Life
Quality of life is a state of existence characterized by the unity of subjectivity and objectivity. The report to the 20th CPC National Congress proposed: "We must ensure that the gain, happiness, and security of our people are more substantial, better settled, and more sustainable, and make new progress in achieving common prosperity." This requires us to continuously improve the people’s mental outlook while developing the economy and raising material living standards.
First, we must persist in the organic unity of the subjectivity and objectivity of the quality of life. Party organizations and governments at all levels must formulate economic and social development strategies and policies based on thorough and in-depth investigation and research [5] into the needs of the masses. Through whole-process people's democracy, they should encourage the broad participation of the masses in political, economic, social, and cultural management, achieving the effective supply of various material and spiritual products—including public goods and services—to ensure the goal of improving the quality of life for the masses is realized.
Second, we must treat the "sense of happiness" (幸福感) as a crucial indicator for evaluating the quality of life. In recent years, "happiness" has been a frequently used concept in social discourse regarding people's livelihoods, well-being, and quality of life. Happiness represents people's aspirations for a better life and their evaluation of social life; it encompasses happy and pleasant emotional experiences, life satisfaction levels, as well as unpleasant moods and emotions. As a comprehensive indicator for measuring the quality of life of individuals and groups, happiness serves as a "barometer" reflecting the social mentality. Happiness is a subjective feeling, but it is also the result of full engagement in and enjoyment of life. The academic community has incorporated happiness into broader studies of "subjective feelings" and "quality of life." Regarding the causes of happiness, analysis can be conducted from both objective and subjective factors. Objective factors involve both external and internal dimensions. External objective factors mainly include the economic environment, social support (e.g., formal and informal social support), and environmental conditions (e.g., natural and man-made environments). Internal (individual) objective factors affecting happiness mainly include personal health status, education level, income level, social relations, as well as age and gender. Subjective factors affecting happiness are primarily personality traits, self-efficacy, cognitive patterns, and coping mechanisms.
In the construction of Chinese-path modernization, we must organically combine objective measurement with subjective evaluation. Improving the quality of life for the masses requires persisting in the organic unity of subjective evaluation and objective measurement; this is an important policy tool for substantively achieving the goal of improving the quality of life. First, regarding the measurement and evaluation of quality of life: on one hand, we must fully evaluate the supply of material products and various services based on economic and social development; on the other hand, we must consider the feelings and demands of the masses. Professor Erik Allardt of the University of Helsinki raised a methodological question regarding the measurement of quality of life: "A fundamental problem in the construction of all social indicators is whether, in evaluating levels of human welfare, we should rely on objective measures of external conditions or on the subjective evaluations of individual citizens." It is generally believed that "subjective well-being is an attitude composed of two basic levels: cognition and emotion." In practice, quality of life evaluation must coordinate the objective and the subjective, which is also a common practice internationally.
Second, people's quality of life relates both to material living conditions and to subjective life satisfaction; either aspect alone constitutes only a necessary condition, not a sufficient condition, for reflecting high or low quality of life. Only by organically combining evaluations of both can we accurately reflect the state of quality of life.
Third, under the guidance of the New Development Philosophy [6], governments at all levels need to consider the quality of life of the entire society from the heights of history and overall social development, rather than merely focusing on the happiness of certain individuals. Quality of life involves indexes of happiness and social order, and it inevitably touches upon individual living conditions and consumer culture. In real life, individual consumer desires are limitless; individual needs are actually not entirely self-determined but rather dictated by the market. The government, representing the interests of the entire society, must transcend the well-being of single individuals or interest groups. It must distinguish itself from the market by focusing on longer-term, more macroscopic, more holistic, and more comprehensive group well-being and quality of life. If the whole of society, including the government, only considers the happiness of certain individuals, the quality of life for society as a whole will be greatly compromised. A conception of well-being centered solely on the happiness of certain individuals will make people greedy and selfish, even endangering the future of subsequent generations.
We must continuously explore the various factors affecting people's quality of life within the process of Chinese-path modernization. Improving the quality of life is an important subject in advancing Chinese-path modernization. First, an overview of the history and related policies of quality of life reveals several evaluation methods, such as people's feelings regarding social welfare, quality of life, physical health, mental health, and cultural quality. Other examples include how materialism and individualism affect the quality of life for individuals and society, and the progress and adaptations in measurement methods. Generally, people measure quality of life using objective quality of life, subjective quality of life, or life satisfaction. A high quality of life means not only "living well" but also possessing a sense of meaning, realizing human potential, and perceiving the value of life. As mentioned, individual and subjective quality of life depends on an individual's genes, environment, choices, the social environment on which they depend for survival, and the combination of these factors. Genes primarily affect well-being through personality, but the influence of genes is not fixed; it changes as the environment changes. People's upbringing, personal experiences, and even their living environment can change their personality and individual quality of life.
Second, we must continue to deeply investigate the various factors affecting quality of life. Research has found that the following can improve quality of life: a perfect marriage, the company of good friends, a well-paying job, sufficient savings, good food, physical exercise, adequate sleep, leisure and ease, and being full of spirit. Additionally, optimism, mutual trust, self-respect, self-reliance and self-strengthening [7], a sense of gratitude, a spirit of kindness toward life, clear work goals, a sense of belonging, and a positive worldview also make people feel happier. These components of a happy life depend not only on individual choices but also on social conditions and government policies. Some firmly believe that robust, rapid economic development and income growth are the overriding goals and responsibilities, and that wealth is the solid foundation of a high-quality life. However, history and reality prove that the growth of wealth does not automatically bring about an improvement in the quality of life or well-being. Quality of life depends on multiple aspects, including individual circumstances and the social environment. In this sense, it is easier to understand why comprehensively advancing Chinese-path modernization must persist in the "Five-Sphere Integrated Plan"—that is, promoting the coordinated development of economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological civilization.
Resolving Key and Difficult Issues in Enhancing Well-being and Improving Quality of Life in the New Development Stage
We must comprehensively and deeply grasp the connotation and requirements of high-quality development. The report to the 20th CPC National Congress incorporated "enhancing people's well-being and improving their quality of life" into the overall layout of Chinese-path modernization. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has adhered to a people-centered approach, continuously realizing the people's aspirations for a better life. The 19th CPC National Congress proposed "continuously meeting the people's ever-growing needs for a better life." This has greatly enriched the connotation of social policy with Chinese characteristics, Chinese style, and Chinese spirit [8]. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "We must always keep the fundamental interests of the broadest possible majority of the people in mind, unwaveringly enhance people's well-being, and closely integrate high-quality development with meeting the people's needs for a better life. We must promote the organic integration and mutual reinforcement of prioritizing ecological conservation, driving high-quality development, and creating high-quality lives."
Closely integrating economic development with the improvement of people's livelihoods is the concentrated expression of the CPC's practice of the people-centered development philosophy. From Comrade Mao Zedong's proposal to build a great socialist country, to Comrade Deng Xiaoping's "three-step" development strategy [9] for China's modernization, to Comrade Jiang Zemin's goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects [10], and then to Comrade Hu Jintao's struggle to win new victories in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the Party Central Committee has always persisted in the principle of "people first." Since the 18th CPC National Congress, our Party has always kept the fundamental interests of the broadest possible majority of the people in mind, unwaveringly enhancing people's well-being. Standing in the New Development Stage [11], the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has put forward the major decision to "closely integrate high-quality development with meeting the people's needs for a better life," reflecting the CPC's deliberate and time-advancing pursuit of securing and improving people's livelihoods during the process of development. Through the practical action of continuous struggle, our Party has lived up to the solemn promise that "the people's aspiration for a better life is our goal." Improving the people's quality of life is an inherent requirement for China to achieve high-quality development in the New Development Stage.
We must focus on the leverage points for enhancing well-being and improving quality of life. From the perspective of the economics of happiness, income, employment, and prices have a significant impact on people's sense of happiness. Therefore, to improve the quality of life in the New Development Stage, we must base our work on reality, observe people's livelihoods, care for their sentiments, achieve high-quality development, strive to expand employment, and create conditions to encourage and support household consumption.
First, we must continuously enhance the social resilience of residents. We should focus on the impact of people's health, future employment, digital development, and intensifying climate change on the quality of life, raising the enhancement of well-being and quality of life to new heights.
First, we must pay attention to the impact of the pandemic and continuously refine relevant institutional building. In human history, while pandemics and disasters have brought severe negative impacts, they have also facilitated positive outcomes—for example, the convening of the first International Sanitary Conference and the establishment of the International Court of Justice—all of which promoted the refinement of the international order. Currently, the national epidemic prevention and control situation is generally positive, having smoothly entered the stage of routine prevention and control under "Category B management" [12], yet the global pandemic continues and the virus is still mutating. During this critical period, we must attend to people's quality of life, especially their "spiritual world," because "unlike patients with physiological diseases, those with psychological illnesses often hide traumas in their hearts that are invisible to the naked eye of non-professionals." One characteristic of infectious diseases is that they trigger emotions of fear, anxiety, and mass hysteria, challenging social cohesion and the capacity for collective crisis management. Infectious diseases can cause social fragmentation and individual trauma. After studying the historical impact of pandemics, some scholars found that the impact of certain epidemics on economic development can last for decades, significantly reducing economic efficiency, and that epidemics may recur periodically in different regions. Given this, we must "keep a close watch on key links, manage individuals at risk, and further advance and implement measures based on existing work. We must strengthen the construction of epidemic monitoring and routine early-warning capabilities, refine the epidemic monitoring system and information reporting system, and issue timely and accurate warnings while taking necessary emergency prevention and control measures."
Second, we must continuously strengthen the confidence to overcome difficulties and improve our ability to respond to unexpected challenges and risks.
Economic recovery depends largely on people’s confidence in overcoming various risks. Consumer spending can only expand if confidence is continuously strengthened. In the internet age, events occurring to individuals or groups spread rapidly through social networks and can even be amplified to an unprecedented degree and speed, with their impact manifesting in greater intensity. The report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC emphasized the need to bolster the ambition, grit, and backbone of the entire Party and the Chinese people of all ethnic groups. We must remain undaunted by ghosts or demons [13] and refuse to be cowed by pressure. We must press ahead in the face of difficulties, balance development and security, strive to overcome all hardships and challenges on the road ahead, and rely on tenacious struggle to open up new horizons for our cause. We should keep in mind that "hollow talk harms the nation, while solid work makes it flourish" [14], maintaining firm confidence and unity of mind, toiling hard and forging ahead with courage.
Third, against the backdrop of significant downward pressure on the global economy, we must push the Chinese economy forward against the wind to promote development and increase employment.
First, we must further leverage the decisive role of the market in resource allocation while better utilizing the role of the government, promoting a better integration of an effective market and a proactive government. Second, we must vigorously support the development of private enterprises, promote cooperation among multiple stakeholders, and find more solutions for the growth of private firms within increasingly interconnected and competitive domestic and international markets. We should fully leverage the irreplaceable role of private enterprises in driving development, promoting innovation, increasing employment, improving people's livelihoods, and expanding opening-up. Finally, we must persist in balancing development and security, formulating strategies and measures that address both the short and long term.
Fourth, we must focus on special groups and actively respond to population aging.
Population aging in China exhibits distinct characteristics: the elderly population is massive, the aging process is accelerating significantly, there are clear urban-rural disparities in aging levels, the quality (education/health) of the elderly population is continuously improving, and those in the "young-old" category (lower-age elderly) account for more than half of the total elderly population. Consequently, it is difficult for China to simply copy the experiences of other countries. The Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has taken a holistic view of the overall situation, assessed the trends, and made a major strategic deployment by proposing the "national strategy for actively responding to population aging." We must uphold the Party's role in overseeing the big picture, adhere to the concept of active aging, and build a governance community for an aging society characterized by "extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits" [15]. We must implement comprehensive measures to address reproductive pressures and population aging.
Secondary, promoting high-quality employment.
We must consistently adhere to the employment-first strategy and continuously improve the quality of employment.
Employment is the foundation of the people's livelihood. Employment is a vital factor affecting quality of life because "a lack of work leads to isolation, and this state of isolated living makes it difficult or impossible for an individual to lead a satisfying life. However, the significant decrease in happiness levels caused by unemployment is not limited to loss of income. In fact, even if the reduction in income or other losses directly associated with unemployment are compensated or offset, anxieties still arise during the process of unemployment." The issue of employment is both an objective matter and one that produces subjective impacts. We must unswervingly implement the employment-first strategy, placing employment at the forefront of economic and social development and continuously expanding employment capacity. In 2023, we must prioritize driving development, stabilizing employment, and promoting jobs, implementing employment service policies across the board, improving workers' skills, ensuring employment stability, and paying particular attention to the employment of key social groups.
We must urgently study the impact of the internet and artificial intelligence (AI) on employment. Not only in China but worldwide, the COVID-19 crisis and subsequent social distancing measures caused a sudden acceleration in the process of innovation and technological change. Chatbots (often using the same voice recognition technology as Amazon’s AI assistant Alexa) and other software that can replace general human labor are being rapidly deployed. These innovative applications, triggered by necessity (such as the need for hygiene measures), will quickly lead to the loss of thousands or even millions of jobs. Academics need to follow up with research on these new developments in the domestic and international labor sectors, while practitioners should use AI rationally under the premise of ensuring improvements in the quality of life for all members of society. For example, digital technology will provide technical support for entirely new medical models; based on high-quality information and a patient's records, doctors can use AI assistance to greatly improve diagnostic accuracy. Many surgeries can be completed via robots, and robots can also undertake certain nursing tasks, such as reminding patients to take medication. These will change the mode and structure of medical services and have a profound impact on related employment.
Facing the challenges of the scientific and technological revolution, we must accelerate the reform of the education system. In the face of the impact of AI, innovation in educational reform is key. Informatization and globalization have accelerated profound changes in the global economic landscape. Data from various countries show that technological progress is the root cause of declining skill levels and wages for workers in some sectors of developed economies; those who primarily benefit from technological progress are workers with higher levels of education. The issue of education will be the pivotal, core issue in the era of scientific and technological innovation. Whether for developed or developing countries, education is a fundamental issue. Developing countries need to be even more steadfast in promoting educational reform to cultivate a workforce of scientific researchers with innovative thinking and strong development capabilities.
We must pay close attention to the employment and living conditions of the younger generation. We need to further strengthen social interaction, promote sustained and stable economic development, and resolve employment issues, particularly for the younger generation. Among all age groups, special attention should be paid to "Gen Z's" views on economic prospects. We must strive to increase their job opportunities and confidence, creating a level playing field for the younger generation. Meanwhile, within high-quality economic development, while raising material living standards, we must create a vibrant environment for personal spiritual and mental life to minimize "involution" [16] as much as possible.
Third, expanding consumer demand on the basis of increasing income levels.
Whether expanding employment or expanding consumption, we must ensure steady, healthy, and sustainable economic development. First, we must increase the income of all members of society, striving to raise the incomes of low-income groups and expand the size of the middle-income group, ensuring that growth in national per capita disposable income is basically synchronized with economic growth. To increase income, driving high-quality development is key. We must seize upon the prominent contradiction currently facing economic operations—insufficient aggregate demand—placing the recovery and expansion of consumption in a priority position, accelerating the construction of a modern industrial system, intensifying efforts to attract and utilize foreign investment, and comprehensively promoting the rural revitalization strategy to prevent any large-scale return to poverty. Furthermore, expanding consumption requires stabilizing and expanding employment while maintaining steady growth in resident income. Additionally, targeting different groups, we must improve the mechanism for reasonable wage growth, increase the share of labor remuneration in primary distribution, improve the mechanism for innovation factors to participate in distribution, and increase property income through multiple channels. Finally, we must further refine the income distribution system. In accordance with the requirements of the report to the 20th National Congress, we must correctly handle the relationship between primary distribution, redistribution, and tertiary distribution [17]; guide and support enterprises, social organizations, and individuals who are willing and able to participate in public welfare and charity; and encourage and support the development of internet-based philanthropy.
Second, regarding consumption, it is necessary to study the "consumption dilemma" that emerged in Japan after it entered the stages of population aging and a declining birthrate. Matsuda Hisakazu, chairman of a Japanese market research institute, believes that "consumption-aversion brings more than just negative impacts. The result of this generation suppressing expenditure is an increase in savings. As society ages and the income of the elderly decreases, the exhaustion of assets such as savings will lead to a lower savings rate, which in turn leads to insufficient capital for investment in hardware such as equipment." Japan's experiences and lessons show that a declining birthrate and reduced consumption by the younger generation affect long-term economic growth trends. Concurrently, with the arrival of the information society and the smart society, people's consumption patterns are changing, all of which will impact sustained economic growth. We should encourage the younger generation to strive upward, "especially diligence, which is highly valued as a value and ethic supporting social development."
Conclusion
The road ahead will not be smooth sailing; Chinese-path modernization will by no means be achieved easily by simply beating drums and clanging gongs [18]. General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly pointed out in the report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC: "We must be more mindful of potential dangers, adhere to bottom-line thinking, and be prepared for worst-case scenarios. We must be localized to undergo the major tests of high winds, choppy waters, and even perilous storms." On the road ahead, we must firmly grasp the following major principles: upholding and strengthening the Party’s overall leadership, persisting in the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, staying committed to a people-centered development philosophy, remaining dedicated to deepening reform and opening up, and persisting in pigging forward the spirit of struggle. These "Five Major Principles" are a call to action issued by the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core to the entire Party and the people of all ethnic groups—based on the strategic overall situation of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the world’s once-in-a-century profound changes—as they embark on the new journey. They are the fundamental guidelines for our efforts to build a modern socialist country in all respects, achieve the Second Centenary Goal [19], and realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. At the same time, they point the way for us to continuously improve the quality of people’s lives during the New Development Stage and the construction of Chinese-path modernization.
Source: Academic Frontiers (Xueshu Qianyan) Journal WeChat Public Account November 8, 2024 Online Editor: Jingmu