Zhao Xianfeng: Achieving Effective Improvement in Quality and Reasonable Growth in Quantity
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that we must continue to define the promotion of high-quality development as the theme of economic and social development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period [1]. This requires adhering to economic construction as the center, implementing the new development philosophy completely, accurately, and comprehensively, achieving the effective improvement of quality and reasonable growth of quantity, and promoting sustained, healthy economic development and comprehensive social progress. To promote high-quality development, the most important task is to accelerate high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening, actively develop new quality productive forces, and achieve substantive and breakthrough progress in promoting technological innovation, accelerating the cultivation of new kinetic energy [2], and promoting the optimization and upgrading of the economic structure. This important discourse points out the fundamental direction for China's economic and social development over the next five years, marking a historic transition in Chinese-path modernization from extensive growth focused on scale and speed to intensive improvement [3] that places greater emphasis on quality and efficiency.
The "15th Five-Year Plan" period is a critical five-year span in the new journey of comprehensively building a modern socialist country. Achieving the organic unity of the "effective improvement of quality" and "reasonable growth of quantity" at this stage is not only a profound understanding and conscious following of the laws of economic and social development, but also a creative application and epochal expansion of Marxist developmental philosophy. It requires us to maintain stable economic operations while focusing more on the innovativeness, coordination, and sustainability of development. By deepening reform and opening up and optimizing systems and mechanisms, we must truly allow the fruits of development to better benefit all people, solidly promoting sustained, healthy economic development and comprehensive social progress to lay a solid foundation for comprehensively building a great modern socialist country.
Enriched and Expanded Connotations of Modernization
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that the "15th Five-Year Plan" period holds an important position in the process of basically achieving socialist modernization, serving as a link between the past and the future. This judgment is made based on the historical tasks to be undertaken during this period. This pivotal status determines that in advancing Chinese-path modernization, we must focus on the following three points:
First is the qualitative-change orientation of modernization goals. Promoting the effective improvement of quality and reasonable growth of quantity means placing quality before quantity, marking a historic shift in development strategy. While maintaining a reasonable growth rate, more emphasis is placed on the substance and efficacy of development. Historically, China has completed the transition from high-speed growth to high-quality development, and the "15th Five-Year Plan" will further promote the leap from "general development" toward "qualitative development."
Second is the historical deepening of the resolution of the principal contradiction in society [4]. The recommendations for the "15th Five-Year Plan" emphasize qualitative indicators such as the continuous improvement of the people's quality of life, the significant elevation of social civility, and new major progress in the construction of a Beautiful China. This reflects a historic progression from "material and cultural needs" to the "need for a better life."
Third is the civilizational self-awareness of the path to modernization. As a new form of human advancement [5], the "qualitative" nature of Chinese-path modernization is reflected in goals such as promoting "the mutual reinforcement of material and spiritual civilizations" and "promoting the comprehensive development of the person and common prosperity for all." This enrichment and expansion of the connotations of modernization breaks the singular materialistic logic of Western modernization models and demonstrates a historical consciousness regarding the diversity of civilizations.
Multi-dimensional and Multi-layered Development
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that the "15th Five-Year Plan" period is a critical period for consolidating the foundation and launching comprehensive efforts. By formulating and implementing the "15th Five-Year Plan" well, we can lay a more solid foundation for basically achieving socialist modernization by 2035. Specifically, we should focus on the following two aspects:
First is the qualitative orientation of consolidating the foundation. The Party's comprehensive leadership provides the fundamental guarantee for qualitative development, ensuring that the direction of development does not deviate and the path does not change. Putting the people first establishes the value orientation of qualitative development, taking "meeting the people's growing needs for a better life" as the fundamental purpose. High-quality development defines the path for qualitative development, achieving a shift in driving forces by "developing new quality productive forces according to local conditions." Comprehensively deepening reform constructs the power mechanism for qualitative development, prompting the relations of production and productive forces, and the superstructure and economic base, to better adapt to one another. The combination of an effective market and a proactive government optimizes resource allocation for qualitative development, forming an economic order that is both "dynamic" and "well-managed." Integrated development and security forge the baseline shield for qualitative development, safeguarding the new development pattern with a new security architecture.
Second is the qualitative characteristics of achieving goals. The "steady improvement of total factor productivity" reflects qualitative efficiency; the "significant enhancement of basic research and original innovation capabilities" reflects qualitative innovation; the "widespread practice of core socialist values" reflects qualitative culture; "the optimization of the distribution structure and the continuous expansion of the middle-income group" reflects qualitative distribution; the "basic formation of green production and lifestyles" reflects qualitative ecology; and the "further consolidation of the national security shield" reflects qualitative security. This target system breaks through the limitations of a single economic dimension and constructs a multi-dimensional and multi-layered framework for qualitative development.
An Important Stage of Continuous Development and Progress
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that realizing socialist modernization is a historical process of step-by-step progression and continuous development, requiring unremitting efforts and successive struggles. The "15th Five-Year Plan" period is a key stage for achieving substantive and breakthrough progress in high-quality development. Therefore, we should grasp the following three points:
First is the step-by-step progression of the modernization process. The positioning of achieving "decisive progress" in basically realizing socialist modernization reflects the procedural and staged nature of modernization construction. The "15th Five-Year Plan" period is in a pivotal position, needing both to consolidate existing achievements and to lay a solid foundation for the basic realization of socialist modernization by 2035. This "step-by-step" procedural logic requires that we neither rush for quick results nor wait passively, but rather grasp the rhythm and advance steadily.
Second is the systemic engineering of qualitative transformation. Qualitative development is a complex systemic project requiring coordinated promotion across various fields and links: in the economic field, transitioning from factor-driven to innovation-driven growth; in science and technology, moving from "following and running alongside" to "running alongside and leading"; in the social field, moving from ensuring basics to improving quality; in the ecological field, moving from pollution prevention and control to a Beautiful China; and in the governance field, moving from management and control to the modernization of governance. These changes are not isolated but constitute an interconnected and mutually reinforcing organic whole.
Third is the procedural characteristic of systems becoming mature and localized. Goals such as the further perfection of the socialist market economy system, the strengthening of institutions for high-level opening up, and the increased institutionalization, standardization, and proceduralization of whole-process people's democracy reflect the procedural logic of institutional construction moving from exploratory establishment toward maturity and localization. The qualitative improvement of institutions is a gradual process requiring the continuous deepening of reform to transform institutional advantages into governance efficacy.
Placing Stress on Common Prosperity for All
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "Chinese-path modernization is the modernization of common prosperity for all people. Since the 18th National Congress [6], we have adhered to our original aspiration and considered issues from the standpoint of the people," and "stressing that common prosperity for all people has made solid strides is a general requirement guiding economic and social development during the '15th Five-Year Plan' period." To this end, we need to focus on three points:
First is the development logic centered on the people. Adhering to the people-centered principle and the goal of continuously improving the quality of people's lives establishes the populist essence of Chinese-path modernization. This logic is manifested in: development for the people, taking the satisfaction of the people's growing needs for a better life as the fundamental purpose; development relying on the people, respecting the people's principal status and relying closely on them; and development fruits shared by the people, allowing the achievements of modernization to benefit all people more extensively and fairly. This stands in sharp contrast to the polarization between rich and poor that occurs in Western modernization processes, reflecting the essential requirements of socialism.
Second is the logic of comprehensive and coordinated development. Chinese-path modernization is the comprehensive modernization of the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan. The "15th Five-Year Plan" recommendations cover economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological civilization fields: economic development emphasizes the simultaneous rise of quality and efficiency; political development emphasizes whole-process people's democracy; cultural development emphasizes cultural confidence; social development emphasizes fairness and justice; and ecological development emphasizes a Beautiful China. This comprehensiveness breaks through the singular economic orientation of Western modernization and reflects the holistic laws of human social development.
Third is the developmental logic of civilizational innovation. As a new form of human advancement, the "qualitative" nature of Chinese-path modernization is reflected in its transcendence of traditional modernization models: it transcends Western capital-centered modernization by adhering to the principle of "people first"; it transcends Western materialistic modernization by pursuing the comprehensive development of the person; it transcends Western expansionist and predatory modernization by taking the path of peaceful development; and it transcends Western consumerist modernization by advocating green and low-carbon living. This civilizational innovation provides new choices for humanity to achieve modernization and demonstrates the "four confidences" [7] in the path, theory, system, and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Achieving the effective improvement of quality and reasonable growth of quantity during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period marks the entry of Chinese-path modernization into a new historical stage. From the perspective of historical logic, this is an inevitable leap from quantitative to qualitative change in the modernization process; from the perspective of practical logic, this is a systemic shift in development modes from scale and speed to quality and efficiency; from the perspective of procedural logic, this is a key link in the step-by-step progression of modernization construction; and from the perspective of developmental logic, this is the vivid practice of creating a new form of human advancement.
The fundamental guarantee of this qualitative journey lies in adhering to the Party's comprehensive leadership; its fundamental power lies in comprehensively deepening reform; its value orientation lies in putting the people first; and its methodology lies in coordinating development and security. The whole Party must profoundly understand the decisive significance of the Two Establishments, strengthen the Four Consciousnesses [8], firm up the Four Confidences, and achieve the Two Upholds. We must maintain historical patience and strategic resolve to continuously open new horizons for Chinese-path modernization during this qualitative journey.
The grand goal of basically realizing socialist modernization by 2035 requires not only the speed of economic growth but also the comprehensive improvement of development quality, the substantive improvement of people's lives, the comprehensive progress of social civility, and the significant elevation of ecological civilization. This "qualitative journey" will prove to the world that Chinese-path modernization is not only a modernization of an enormous population but also a modernization of common prosperity for all, a modernization that coordinates material and spiritual civilizations, a modernization of harmony between humanity and nature, and a modernization that follows the path of peaceful development.
(The author is the Party Secretary and a Professor at Yanshan University) Source: Guangming Daily (January 23, 2026) Editor: Hui Hui