Wang Puqu and Sun Yiping: Upholding the Organic Unity of Centering on the People and Centering on Economic Development
Adhering to a people-centered approach is the contemporary interpretation of the Marxist pro-people stance and the value foundation for the steady and sustained progress of Chinese-path modernization. Adhering to economic construction as the center is a requirement of the Party's Basic Line and grasps the "ox's muzzle" (niú bízǐ) [1] of economic construction. By regarding development as the top priority, other work can be unfolded more effectively. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized: "The people-centered approach is our fundamental governing philosophy" and "Economic construction as the center is the key to national rejuvenation." The "Proposals" of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, when elucidating the guiding ideology for economic and social development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, proposed: "Adhere to taking economic construction as the center" and "Taking the satisfaction of the people's ever-growing needs for a better life as the fundamental purpose." The people-centered approach and the focus on economic construction are interconnected and complementary; within the movement of social contradictions, they form an organic unity of objective laws and subjective goals, of social subjects and historical stipulations. They demonstrate a high degree of consistency between conformity to laws and conformity to purpose, jointly serving the grand blueprint of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the New Era.
Understanding the People-Centered Development Philosophy Based on the Basic Contradictions of Society
The people-centered approach is the political expression of the Marxist philosophical connotation regarding the people as the subject of history, the subject of practice, and the subject of value.
Historical materialism maintains that human practical activities drive the development of the basic contradictions of society [2], human practical abilities resolve the problems of these contradictions, and the purpose of human practice influences their trajectory. The fundamental orientation of the movement of society’s basic contradictions lies in the realization of the free and well-rounded development of individuals. In material production, spiritual creation, and social activities, the movement of basic social contradictions is usually manifested through the agency, sociality, and historicity of human beings as the subjects of practice. The organic unity between the objective stipulations of the laws governing social contradictions and human subjectivity, practice, and agency drives social development and creates human civilization. In a socialist society, this organic unity of the objective and subjective aspects of basic social contradictions is typically reflected in the following areas:
The inherent stipulation of the people as the subjects of social history provides the socio-economic foundation for the people-centered approach. As the subjects of social history, the people are an inherent attribute of social history’s own development; fundamentally, social history is the history created by the masses in social practice. The contradictory movement between the productive forces and the relations of production, and between the economic base and the superstructure, is the fundamental motive force for the emergence and development of human historical activities. The basic contradictions of socialist society remain those between the productive forces and the relations of production, and between the economic base and the superstructure. Today, the public-owned economy is the mainstay of our country's economy, while various forms of non-public ownership are essential components of the primary stage of socialism. Under socialist conditions, these economic components possess a "people-oriented" attribute. Therefore, the basic socialist economic system lays the economic foundation for the people to become the subjects of society. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must persist in the consistency between respecting the laws of social development and respecting the people’s status as the subjects of history." The objectivity of the laws of social development is realized through the subjective practice of the people, while the people's subjective activities unfold by following the objective laws of social development. The economic relations of a socialist society are the fundamental carriers of the laws of socialist social development. They cause the basic contradictions of socialism to manifest realistically as a social formation with the people as the social subject, thereby laying the premise and foundation for the fundamental direction and political purpose of social development, and determining the people's status as the subjects of socio-historical development.
The internal logic of the people as the fundamental driving force of social development establishes their status as the subjects of practice for the people-centered approach. The movement of the basic contradictions of socialist society is the fundamental force driving its development. In the historical process of human social development, the driving force formed by basic social contradictions is manifested and realized through the subjective practice of human beings. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "The magnificent history of the development of the Chinese nation was written by the Chinese people! The profound Chinese civilization was created by the Chinese people! The enduring spirit of the Chinese nation was nurtured by the Chinese people! The great leap of the Chinese nation from standing up and becoming prosperous to becoming strong was achieved through the struggle of the Chinese people!" In a socialist society, the role of basic social contradictions as a fundamental driver is manifested through the practice of the people as subjects. The people are the creators of society's material and spiritual wealth; the labor practice of the masses creates the prerequisite conditions for the development of material production. Meanwhile, the people's social practical activities provide the basis of productive labor and life for the creation of spiritual wealth. Therefore, the masses are the great driving force and the ultimate deciding force of social transformation. The adjustment of the relations of production required by the development of productive forces, and the changes or even replacement of the superstructure required by changes in the economic base, are all manifested and realized through the people as the subjects of history. The masses continuously drive the development of productive forces and transform social relations during the production process, thereby profoundly manifesting the laws of movement of basic social contradictions in historical development.
The value characteristics of the people as the purpose of development determine the value basis for the people-centered approach. In the process of continuously driving the development of productive forces and the transformation of social relations, the basic social contradictions create the social conditions for the well-rounded development of individuals. In a socialist society, the people are not only the subjects of practice in economic and social development but also the subjects of value. The people-centered development philosophy runs through the entire process of the contradictory movement between productive forces and relations of production, and between the economic base and the superstructure. It achieves the organic integration of the objective movement of basic social contradictions with the subjectivity and agency of the people in the great practice of the New Era, reaching an organic unity between conformity to laws and conformity to purpose in social development. General Secretary Xi Jinping noted: "Leading the people to create a better life is the unswerving goal of our Party." Our Party’s persistence in the people-centered approach means grasping the objective laws of the movement of basic social contradictions, and by promoting a better alignment between the relations of production and productive forces, and between the superstructure and the economic base, continuously realizing the interests of the people, leading the socialist cause forward, and ultimately achieving the well-rounded development of the individual.
Since the beginning of the New Era, the people-centered development philosophy has further consolidated the subject status of the people, reflected the essential stipulations of basic social contradictions, and highlighted the characteristics of subjective practice in the movement of socialist basic social contradictions. The systematic elucidation of important concepts such as "The country is the people, and the people are the country" [3], "The people's support is the greatest politics," "Persistence in putting the people and their lives first," and "Always maintaining flesh-and-blood ties with the masses"; the implementation of major strategic deployments such as developing whole-process people's democracy, building a social governance pattern of consultation, contribution, and shared benefits, and solidly promoting common prosperity; and the successful local reform practices such as "At Most One Visit" [4], "One-Network Access," and "Inter-provincial Services"—these all-round explorations and systematic advancements, ranging from conceptual guidance to strategic deployment and practical implementation, have allowed the people's subject status to be more fully and comprehensively manifested in socialist economic, political, and social relations. This has not only consolidated the people's central position as the subjects of history but also allowed the people's subjective consciousness, capabilities, and values to be elevated to unprecedented heights in the great journey of the New Era, becoming the deepest source of strength driving Chinese-path modernization.
Understanding Economic Construction as the Center Based on the Principal Contradiction of Society
The principal contradiction of society [5] is the contradiction that plays a dominant and decisive role at a specific stage of social development; in essence, it is the concrete presentation of the basic contradictions of society in different historical periods. The principal contradiction serves as the basis for determining the central tasks of the Party and the state at a specific historical stage. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Whether the cause of the Party and the people can advance in the right direction depends on whether we can accurately recognize and grasp the principal contradiction of society and determine the central task." In different historical stages and under different social conditions, the manifestations and methods for resolving the basic social contradictions vary, thereby forming different principal contradictions and determining the central tasks of social development at different historical stages.
Taking economic construction as the center is the core content, important guarantee, and key path for resolving the principal contradiction in the primary stage of socialism. Marxism maintains that the production of material goods is the foundation for the existence and development of human society, and the productive forces are the ultimate deciding force of social development. The primary object of transforming the world is the natural world, and the production of material goods is the most direct practice through which humans connect with and transform nature. Among various human practices, economic construction is the core carrier and primary path for the production of material goods. For our country, which remains in the primary stage of socialism for a long time, taking economic construction as the center is undoubtedly the fundamental support for consolidating the nation's developmental foundation and satisfying the material and cultural needs of the people.
Entering the New Era, the principal contradiction in Chinese society has evolved into the contradiction between the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development. Amidst complex and severe domestic and international situations, China has persisted in taking economic construction as the center and achieved world-renowned achievements. China's GDP climbed from approximately 52 trillion yuan in 2012 to over 140 trillion yuan in 2025. The economic growth rate ranks among the top of major economies, and its contribution to global economic growth has remained around 30% for many consecutive years, making it the most stable and reliable source of power for world economic development. Our industrial structure continues to upgrade, the pace of building a modernized industrial system has accelerated, and the industrial field is accelerating its transition from being driven primarily by factor inputs and investment scale to being driven by innovation, moving toward high-end, intelligent, and green development. In 2025, the added value of high-tech manufacturing above a designated size in China rose to 17.1% of the total industrial added value above a designated size. China is not only the only country in the world to possess all industrial categories in the United Nations industrial classification but has also become the "locomotive" of global manufacturing. In the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, China has implemented an innovation-driven development strategy, achieving major results in fields such as manned spaceflight, artificial intelligence, and 5G communications. The "New Three" products—new energy vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic products—have achieved leapfrog development and led the world. These achievements fully prove that economic construction as the center demonstrates even greater practical power in the New Era.
The transformation of the principal contradiction in the New Era requires economic construction to better play its foundational and central role, providing solid material support and driving force for construction in all fields. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We have also highlighted the need to take economic construction as the center and give play to the leading role of economic structural reform. This means grasping the main aspect of the basic contradictions of society at our current stage, with the focus on development." This important discourse provides scientific guidance for us to grasp the requirements of economic construction as the center in the New Era. Leading the overall development with economic construction as the center can both promote the enhancement of "hard power" such as infrastructure improvement and industrial upgrading, and drive the development of "soft power" such as the optimization of public services and the enhancement of governance effectiveness. For example, through various means such as policy guidance and market regulation, China allows financial and private capital to flow into key areas of people's livelihoods, playing an important role in supporting small and micro-businesses, assisting in comprehensive rural revitalization, guaranteeing the needs of key groups, and promoting the development of people's livelihood undertakings.
Taking economic construction as the center is a strategic choice made by the Party based on its precise grasp of the principal contradiction in the primary stage of socialism. Economic construction plays a fundamental role in satisfying the people's material needs, catalyzing higher-level social needs, and driving coordinated development in all fields. This is determined first of all by the principal contradiction of socialist society, and also by the foundational status of economic construction in national development. China's practice of social development has fully proven: by firmly grasping the center of economic construction, we can master and promote the overall situation of modernization; deviating from this center would damage the entire cause of modernization.
Following the Laws of the Movement of Social Contradictions to Profoundly Grasp the Organic Unity Between the People-Centered Approach and Economic Construction as the Center
The people-centered approach originates from the laws of the movement of the basic contradictions of society; it is the value core permeating the entire process of socialist construction and the value destination of Chinese-path modernization. Persisting in a people-centered approach provides the fundamental positioning for the nature, purpose, and direction of our country's economic and social development. Taking economic construction as the center focuses on the historical demands of the principal contradiction’s current stage. The specific manifestations of the principal contradiction in different historical periods determine that economic construction, as the basic way to resolve the contradiction, possesses distinct practical attributes and stage-specific characteristics. The organic connection between the people-centered approach and economic construction as the center shows that the Party's central tasks and work follow the basic laws of human social development while responding to the developmental demands of different stages. This reflects our Party's accurate grasp and creative application of the laws governing the movement of socialist social contradictions. The dialectical relationship between the two is mainly reflected as follows:
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These two elements possess an organic unity characterized by the reciprocal adaptation of "subject and object." Centering on the people highlights the practical subject of economic construction, and this subject-oriented focus ensures that the center of economic construction is always directed toward the value-laden goal of the supremacy of the people. Economic construction serves as the objective support for centering on the people; its high-quality development is the material prerequisite for ensuring the comprehensive development of the subject, allowing the subject's needs to be grounded and realized. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized: "We must persist in development for the people, development relying on the people, and development fruits shared by the people." This requires taking human development as the fundamental measure of the development of things, preventing both the scarcity of being "trapped by things" and the alienation [6] of being "enslaved by things." Following the principle of centering on the people requires precisely responding to human needs, respecting human values, and protecting human rights during the processes of production, quality improvement, and distribution of goods, ensuring that the development of things always serves people, thereby achieving a virtuous cycle where "people find their place and things are utilized to their fullest" [7]. Taking economic construction as the center is the strategic line and objective content driving China’s economic and social development. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must promote the continuous forward development of our society's productive forces, and promote the realization of the unity between the continuous enrichment of things and the comprehensive development of people." Through the practical results of economic construction, we enrich the connotations of centering on the people, continuously transforming the principle and concept of being people-centered into a tangible sense of gain and happiness for the masses. For example, by the end of 2025, with the opening of the Xi’an-Yan’an High-Speed Railway in Shaanxi, China’s high-speed rail operating mileage will exceed 50,000 kilometers, forming the world’s largest and most advanced high-speed rail network, with a mileage more than double that of the rest of the world combined. Its significance lies not only in iterative technological breakthroughs or leading the world in scale, but more importantly, in the fact that rapidly developing high-speed rail significantly shortens travel time between the central/western and eastern regions. This allows for smoother cross-regional flow of various factors of production, promoting a new development pattern of industrial collaboration between regions; it responds to the people’s aspiration for a better life with high-quality service, making business, tourism, and family visits more convenient, directly improving the quality of life and efficiency for hundreds of millions of people. This is a vivid practice of centering on the people within the field of infrastructure construction.
The two maintain an organic unity of "motivation and guarantee" supporting each other. Centering on the people is the core engine driving development. The needs of the people are the most lasting and reliable driver of development. The people’s pursuit of a better life—from meeting basic needs for food and clothing to expecting a high-quality life—continuously gives rise to new consumer demands and market space, providing sustained demand-side motivation for economic construction. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "internal demand is the fundamental driver of China’s economic development and an inevitable requirement for meeting the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life," and that we must "make internal demand the primary driver and stabilizing anchor of economic growth," profoundly revealing the core logic of people's needs as the endogenous power of economic development. The objective laws of economic development are embedded in the production and living needs of the hundreds of millions of people. The expectations of enterprises for an optimized business environment, the longing of farmers for increased production and income, and the anticipation of the masses for improved public services—these real demands are the very source of economic development. Simultaneously, taking economic construction as the center provides the economic guarantee for the people’s happiness. It strengthens the economic foundation through development, providing the indispensable material prerequisite for the value-objectives of centering on the people. General Secretary Xi Jinping noted: "Development is the basis and the key to solving all our country's problems." Whether it is the improvement of public services like education and healthcare, the enhancement of the ecological environment, or the optimization of social governance, all require the financial, technical, and resource support provided by economic development. Detached from the guarantee of economic construction, centering on the people would lose its realistic basis. The optimized allocation of resources and factors brought by economic development also allows human, material, and technical resources to be more efficiently tilted toward public services, ecological protection, and social governance, breaking through resource bottlenecks in development. Therefore, centering on the people continuously injects value-based and developmental momentum into economic construction, promoting development that is higher quality, more efficient, more equitable, more sustainable, and more secure; economic construction, through the process of transforming economic models and upgrading industrial structures, builds the material foundation and development platform for the people’s better life; and on this new platform, the people’s needs present new content, which in turn endows economic construction with new momentum. Within this dialectical interaction of "motivation and guarantee," the two empower and promote each other, continuously driving the overall progress of economy and society.
The two possess an organic unity of "ends and means" complementing each other. Centering on the people clarifies the core goal of "what kind of development to achieve," while taking economic construction as the center answers the key path-dependent question of "how to develop." On the one hand, the fundamental purpose of developing the economy is to benefit the people and let the broad masses of laborers share the fruits of reform and development. Taking economic construction as the center is fundamentally intended to better realize the well-being of all people, and ultimately to properly realize, maintain, and develop the fundamental interests of the broadest possible masses. This is precisely where centering on the people and taking economic construction as the center reach a high degree of unity and deep congruence in their pursuit of goals. This unity and congruence are manifested in the tangible life changes experienced by hundreds of millions of citizens. For example, between 2012 and 2025, the per capita disposable income of national residents increased from 16,510 yuan to 43,377 yuan; in 2025, the income ratio between urban and rural residents dropped from 2.34 the previous year to 2.31, with the relative gap continuously narrowing, fully reflecting that the fruits of development centered on economic construction benefit all people. On the other hand, economic construction provides solid practical support for centering on the people by resolving developmental contradictions and empowering the improvement of livelihoods. For instance, the expansion of the total economic volume creates more job opportunities; along with the sustained growth of China’s economy, since the "14th Five-Year Plan" [8], annual new urban employment has remained stable at over 12 million, achieving relatively full employment in a large developing country with a population of over 1.4 billion. Coordinated regional development and urban-rural integrated development have narrowed regional gaps; economic growth in the central and western regions has been faster than in the east, and rural residents' income growth has outpaced that of urban residents for many consecutive years. Projects such as "East-to-West Computing" [9] and "West-to-East Power Transmission" [10] have promoted the transformation of resource advantages into developmental advantages, ensuring that the people enjoy equal access to developmental opportunities. Taking economic construction as the center is both oriented toward the goal of persisting in centering on the people and serves as the practical path for realizing human development. Therefore, centering on the people is the ontological value of economic construction, while economic construction is the path-dependent requirement for centering on the people.
The two possess an organic unity of "principles and lines" connecting with each other. In the process of modernization, whatever principles exist will determine the corresponding line. In Western modernization, the principles of capital dominance, individualism, and the logic of power led to characteristics of colonial expansion, hegemonic monopoly, and plunder. The value orientation of Chinese-path modernization, which centers on the people, takes economic construction as the "core requirement for national rejuvenation" [11], creating a brand-new path for late-developing countries to achieve modernization. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Whether the road to modernization can ultimately be traversed and remain stable depends crucially on whether we persist in centering on the people." On the one hand, persisting in centering on the people requires using the subjective status of the people and their comprehensive development to command the logic of capital, while simultaneously playing an active role in utilizing the productive force attributes of capital as an important factor of production. Through market-oriented reforms, we activate the vitality of capital to assist in technological innovation, industrial upgrading, and employment expansion, exploring a path to modernization where capital serves the people. For example, the China Private Enterprise Social Responsibility Report (2025) released by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce shows that by the end of 2024, a total of 235,100 private enterprises participated in the "Ten Thousand Enterprises Relieving Ten Thousand Villages" [12] initiative, with industrial investment reaching 1.23 trillion yuan, benefiting 161,900 villages. Private enterprises have become an important force serving the Rural Revitalization Strategy. On the other hand, persisting in economic construction requires advancing modernization through endogenous development, abandoning the old path of Western colonial-style plunder, and unswervingly following the path of peaceful development. Chinese-path modernization uses the domestic ultra-large-scale market as a strategic pivot, driving high-quality development through internal industrial upgrading and consumption expansion. Simultaneously, through equal and mutually beneficial international trade and high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, it promotes infrastructure connectivity and capacity cooperation, helping relevant countries and regions achieve industrial upgrading and economic revitalization. Thus, it is evident that centering on the people and taking economic construction as the center is an inevitable requirement for the unity of values and laws in Chinese-path modernization. It is also an important magic weapon for China’s success in carving out a new path to modernization, providing a practical paradigm for late-developing countries to reference.
Based in the critical period of Chinese-path modernization, we must properly realize the organic unity of centering on the people and taking economic construction as the center. The "15th Five-Year Plan" period (2026–2030) is a critical period for laying the foundation and exerting full force to basically realize socialist modernization. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must persist in taking economic construction as the center, completely, accurately, and comprehensively implement the New Development Philosophy, achieve effective quality improvement and reasonable quantitative growth, and promote sustained, healthy economic development and comprehensive social progress." This fully reflects China's firm determination to concentrate on strengthening the domestic economy under a global situation of intensified turbulence, severe challenges to the international economic and trade order, and increasingly complex and fierce great-power competition. It further clarifies the economic development orientation of achieving the unity of effective quality improvement and reasonable quantitative growth—making the "cake" bigger and better. This is a strategic consideration to coordinate the domestic and international situations and ensure decisive progress in basically realizing socialist modernization. In this critical period of promoting socialist modernization, the organic unity of centering on the people and taking economic construction as the center is endowed with more era-specific and innovative connotations, making their integration tighter and more practically significant, as manifested in the following aspects:
The organic unity of upholding the supremacy of the people and persisting in high-quality development. General Secretary Xi Jinping noted: "We must persist in the people-centered development philosophy, taking the enhancement of people's well-being, the promotion of overall human development, and steady progress toward common prosperity as the starting and ending points of economic development. This is something we must never forget; we must firmly adhere to this fundamental standpoint when deploying economic work, formulating economic policies, and promoting economic development." Upholding the supremacy of the people and persisting in high-quality development are the principles that must be followed for economic and social development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. Among them, upholding the supremacy of the people is the underlying color, and promoting high-quality development is the theme. The people-centered development philosophy must be integrated into the entire process, all fields, and all links of development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. Meanwhile, the "15th Five-Year Plan" period will continue to take high-quality development as its theme, utilizing the development of new quality productive forces as an important handle, striving for substantive breakthroughs in technological innovation, the cultivation of new momentum, and the optimization of economic structures.
The organic unity of improving livelihoods and developing the economy. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Economic development and social development complement each other and must proceed in coordination. We must take improving people’s livelihoods as the focus of social development, steadily improving the quality of people’s lives while developing the economy." Economic development is the prerequisite for improving livelihoods, while continuously improving livelihoods can stimulate internal demand and give birth to new economic growth points, expanding the space for development. Economic and social development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period should focus on the real economy and new quality productive forces to stabilize employment and increase income, solidifying the material foundation of the people's livelihoods. At the same time, we must expand the supply of high-quality livelihood services, boost consumption, and optimize public services to release effective demand that guides supply-side upgrades, achieving mutual promotion between development and livelihoods.
The organic unity of sustained, healthy economic development and comprehensive social progress. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, we must develop new quality productive forces according to local conditions, strengthen the real economy, enhance the endogenous power and reliability of the domestic circulation, and promote sustained, healthy economic development. We must also stimulate the cultural innovation and creative vitality of the entire nation, enhance the level of social civilization, accelerate the comprehensive green transition, and promote solid steps toward comprehensive human development and common prosperity for all. This series of deployments aims at constructing high-quality development where economic development and social progress move in tandem, and where material abundance and spiritual wealth complement each other, injecting lasting momentum into Chinese-path modernization and steadily advancing the cause of national rejuvenation.
In this critical period of the "15th Five-Year Plan," achieving the organic unity of centering on the people and taking economic construction as the center requires the following actions:
Further inject new momentum into economic and social development by comprehensively deepening reform. Centering on the two key orientations of economic development and the needs of the people, we must persist in taking institutional building as the main thread for further comprehensively deepening reform. Focusing on the construction of a high-level socialist market economy system, we must break down the institutional and structural barriers restricting high-quality development by accelerating the improvement of systems and mechanisms for the market-based allocation of production factors and unifying basic market systems and rules. We must strengthen the evaluation of policy implementation effects, improve mechanisms for expectation management, optimize comprehensive performance appraisals for high-quality development, stabilize market confidence, and build a consensus for development. At the same time, we must persist in planning and promoting reform, establishing and improving relevant systems, and optimizing and innovating structures and mechanisms based on the interests of the people. More respect must be given to the principal position of the people [13], taking the high-quality life and well-rounded development of the people as the fundamental value measure, and using the people’s sense of gain [14], happiness, and security as the standards for institutional evaluation. This ensures that institutional building is truly rooted in the needs of the people, focuses on the "urgent, difficult, and anxious" problems [15] of the masses, and becomes a solid guarantee for responding to expectations regarding people's livelihoods, resolving pain points in those livelihoods, and protecting their well-being.
Build a new bridge between the economy and people’s livelihoods through high-level scientific and technological innovation. To promote high-quality development, we must accelerate high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and strength. Neither the improvement of economic quality nor the betterment of people's livelihoods can be achieved without the power of science and technology. Scientific and technological innovation is the key link connecting economic growth with the improvement of people's livelihoods. By breaking through core technologies and spawning emerging industries, scientific and technological innovation drives the transition of the economy from scale expansion to an upgrading of quality and efficiency, thereby stimulating industrial upgrading and enhancing the quality and effectiveness of economic development. At the same time, the practical application of scientific and technological innovation makes livelihood services more convenient, more inclusive, and of higher quality. For example, telemedicine and AI-assisted diagnostic technologies break through geographical restrictions, allowing people in remote areas to share high-quality medical resources; smart education platforms and personalized learning systems promote the balanced allocation of educational resources; and so forth. The improvement of livelihoods brought about by scientific and technological innovation can stimulate the consumption potential of residents, injecting endogenous momentum into economic development; the upgrading of demand in the livelihood sector can also drive the iteration of scientific and technological innovation, forming a virtuous cycle where the economy empowers livelihoods and livelihoods nurture the economy.
Calibrate the new direction of high-quality development with a high-quality life. The core of a high-quality life in the New Era is a comprehensive upgrade from "whether it exists" to "how good it is" (from "having" to "being good" [16]), with the aim of ensuring that high-quality development always adjusts its direction, allocates resources, and optimizes paths around the people's needs for a high-quality life. This can be advanced from four dimensions. First, guide the direction of industrial development based on livelihood needs; for example, centering on health needs to promote the development of industries such as biomedicine and smart healthcare, or meeting the needs for livability by promoting green construction and smart home industries. Second, calibrate the direction of resource allocation through the equalization of public services; for example, focusing on the modernization of agriculture and rural areas to gradually improve the completeness of rural infrastructure, the convenience of public services, and the comfort of the living environment. Third, lead the direction of distribution reform with the goal of common prosperity; for example, broadening the channels for residents' property income and expanding the size of the middle-income group. Fourth, clarify the direction of the development model through the green and low-carbon transition; for example, strictly controlling projects with high energy consumption and high emissions, and promoting the realization of the value of ecological products, so that the masses can enjoy a high-quality life amidst lucid waters and lush mountains [17].
Achieve new breakthroughs in high-quality development through high-efficiency governance. In May 2025, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out during an inspection in Henan: "Strive to write a new chapter of promoting Chinese-path modernization on the Central Plains with high-quality development and high-efficiency governance." High-efficiency governance primarily involves systematically optimizing the governance system and comprehensively improving governance capabilities to achieve the maximum governance effect—simultaneously realizing high-quality economic development and the improvement of people's well-being—with more intensive inputs of governance resources. This requires strengthening innovation-driven governance during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period [18], improving the investment mechanism for basic research that combines competitive support with stable support, constructing an integrated development pattern for education, science, technology, and talent, and fortifying the foundation for the development of new quality productive forces. We must strengthen the governance of factor allocation; by promoting the efficient allocation of various factor resources, we allow market entities to participate in economic activities more efficiently, thereby accumulating the material basis for fair distribution. We must strengthen collaborative and linked governance; by improving mechanisms for consultation and discussion, optimizing resource integration mechanisms, and perfecting joint disposal mechanisms, we can promote efficient linkage between the government and enterprises, and between the government and social organizations. This will stimulate the people's sense of agency and vigor for participation, guide all parties to participate in social governance in an orderly manner, and consolidate the mass foundation of social governance.