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Liu Zhichang: Comprehensively Grasp the Core Essentials and Practical Paths of Xi Jinping's Important Expositions on High-Quality Life

Xi Jinping Thought (New Era)

"Chinese-path modernization prioritizes people's livelihoods." Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping has delivered numerous important speeches centered on guaranteeing and improving people's livelihoods and enhancing the quality of people's lives. Volume V of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China contains a series of important works, including reports, speeches, articles, and instructions by General Secretary Xi Jinping from May 27, 2022, to December 20, 2024. The ninth section specifically focuses on the significant discourse regarding "implementing the people-centered development philosophy and continuously improving the quality of people's lives." Carefully studying and profoundly grasping General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important discourse on high-quality life—including its major significance, basic connotations, and practical paths—is of vital importance for advancing the grand cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation in the New Era. This is especially true for creating a high-quality life while promoting high-quality development, as well as advancing well-rounded human development and comprehensive social progress.

I. Profoundly Understanding the Significant Meaning of Creating High-Quality Life

In March 2018, while participating in the deliberation of the Chongqing delegation at the First Session of the 13th National People's Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping first proposed the epochal proposition of "striving to promote high-quality development and create high-quality life." In August of the same year, President Xi Jinping again mentioned "high-quality life" in his congratulatory letter to the first China International Intelligent Industry Expo. Subsequently, creating a high-quality life became a focal point of attention across all sectors of society. Provinces and municipalities such as Chongqing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Qinghai, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu successively began practical explorations into creating high-quality lives.

Viewed from the perspective of its significant meaning, creating a high-quality life conforms to the inherent requirements of the shift in the principal contradiction of society [1]. It serves as a major goal for social development following the comprehensive building of a moderately prosperous society and is an inevitable requirement for upholding the Party's original aspiration and founding mission.

1. Creating a high-quality life is an inevitable requirement for upholding the Party's original aspiration and founding mission

First, the Party's original aspiration and founding mission are to seek happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation. The Communist Party of China is the party of the people and a party that serves the people.

"As soon as it was born, the Communist Party of China established seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation as its original aspiration and founding mission." In modern times, the Chinese nation faced two major historical tasks: striving for national independence and people's liberation, and achieving national prosperity and people's happiness. The former required opposing imperialism and feudal rule to establish a nation-state in the modern sense; the latter required catching up comprehensively with the level of modern Western countries to achieve modernization. As a proletarian party, the CPC has, since the day of its founding, linked its historical mission with the destiny of the broadest masses of the Chinese people. It has taken seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation as its original aspiration and founding mission, and national prosperity and people's happiness as its goals. It has always represented the fundamental interests of the broadest possible majority of the Chinese people, consistently upheld the fundamental purpose of serving the people whole-heartedly, and persisted in the people-centered development philosophy, ensuring that development is for the people, relies on the people, and its fruits are shared by the people.

Second, the Party promotes reform and development in order to improve the quality of people's lives. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The people’s aspiration for a better life is our goal. Grasping reform and promoting development is, in the final analysis, for the sake of letting the people lead better lives." After the founding of New China (1949), in order to allow the people to lead happy lives and centering on the goals of national prosperity and people's happiness, our Party proposed the "Four Modernizations" as the goal of socialist construction. After the start of Reform and Opening-up, our Party further proposed the strategic goal of building a modern socialist country. The 13th National Congress of the CPC proposed the "three-step" development strategy: the first step was to solve the problem of people's food and clothing (subsistence); the second step was for the people's lives to reach a moderately prosperous level (xiaokang) by the end of the 20th century; the third step was for the people to be relatively affluent and for modernization to be basically realized by the mid-21st century. The 15th National Congress made a new "three-step" strategic deployment for the first 50 years of the 21st century, proposing that by 2010, the "people's moderately prosperous life should be even more well-to-do." The 16th National Congress further proposed "building a moderately prosperous society in all respects of a higher level, benefiting over one billion people." The 18th National Congress proposed the strategic goal of comprehensively building a moderately prosperous society, clarifying specific goals and requirements for the "comprehensive improvement of people's living standards." The 19th and 20th National Congresses made a "two-step" strategic arrangement for the 30 years following 2020: precisely, to basically realize socialist modernization by 2035, and to build China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful by the middle of the 21st century. This clarified the development goals of "people’s lives being even happier and more beautiful" by 2035 and "people enjoying an even happier, healthier, and safer life" by the middle of the 21st century.

Finally, promoting well-rounded human development is the goal of our Party's struggle. The free and well-rounded development of the individual is the highest realm of human development, the fundamental value goal of Marxism, and the essential characteristic of communist society. The CPC is a Marxist party that serves the people, unifying the lofty ideal of communism with the common ideal of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and taking the promotion of comprehensive social progress and well-rounded human development as its goal. A high-quality life is the basic condition for well-rounded human development and embodies its value orientation. Without a high-quality life, there can be no well-rounded human development. Marx and Engels pointed out: "People cannot be liberated as long as they are unable to obtain food and drink, housing and clothing in adequate quality and quantity." General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized "continuously promoting well-rounded human development." He pointed out that "Chinese-path modernization is a modernization in which material and spiritual civilizations are coordinated." We must "constantly consolidate the material conditions for the people's happy lives, while simultaneously making great efforts to develop advanced socialist culture, strengthen education in ideals and convictions, pass on Chinese civilization, and promote the comprehensive abundance of material goods and the well-rounded development of the individual." The 20th National Congress explicitly proposed the development target that by 2035, "well-rounded human development and common prosperity for all our people will have made more notable and substantive progress."

2. Creating a high-quality life is an important goal of social development in the New Era

Social development focuses on the construction of people's livelihoods, and creating a high-quality life is the new mission of livelihood construction in the New Era.

First, a high-quality life is the people's pursuit of a better life. Since the founding of New China, the goals and status of our people's lives have undergone a developmental journey from solving food and clothing and achieving overall moderate prosperity to achieving comprehensive moderate prosperity. A high-quality life is the new goal pursued by the people after the elimination of absolute poverty and the comprehensive building of a moderately prosperous society; it is also an important goal for the development of our society in the New Era. Along with economic and social development, the people's need for a better life is growing daily.

In July 2017, in his speech at the opening ceremony of a workshop for provincial and ministerial-level leading officials, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "After nearly 40 years of development since Reform and Opening-up, the level of our country's social productive forces has significantly improved; the people’s lives have notably improved, and their aspiration for a better life has become even stronger." In October 2022, during an inspection in Yan'an, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "The first of the 'Two Centenary Goals' has been achieved, the problem of absolute poverty has been solved, and our fellow villagers are leading good lives, but we must continue to strive forward to make life better and better." General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized the goal of a better life, pointing the way for social development in the New Era.

Second, our country has reached the developmental stage of creating a high-quality life. Creating a high-quality life is a periodic development goal of the New Era. According to the strategic arrangements of the 13th National Congress, in 1987, our country completed the first step of the "three-step" development strategy, achieving a doubling of the GNP compared to 1980 and basically solving the problem of people's food and clothing, three years ahead of schedule. In 1995, our country achieved the goal of doubling the GNP again, completing the second step of the "three-step" development strategy five years ahead of schedule; on this basis, the goal of overall moderate prosperity was realized in 2000. By the end of 2020, our country had eliminated absolute poverty. In July 2021, at the ceremony marking the centenary of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping announced that we "have realized the first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects on the vast land of China." Responding to the people's new expectations for a better life, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core clearly proposed the development goal of creating a "high-quality life." High-quality life is the new periodic goal for improving and elevating the people's living standards following the resolution of food and clothing issues and the comprehensive building of a moderately prosperous society.

3. Creating a high-quality life conforms to the inherent requirements of the shift in the principal contradiction of society

As socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a New Era, the principal contradiction in Chinese society has evolved from the contradiction between the people's growing material and cultural needs and backward social production to the contradiction between the people's growing need for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development. This is a historic change affecting the overall situation and will inevitably lead to a historic adjustment of major tasks and development goals.

First, since Reform and Opening-up, with the continuous improvement of social productive forces and the gradual perfection of the socialist market economy, our country's social production capacity has entered the world's front ranks in many aspects. The era of a shortage economy that existed since the founding of New China has ended. The domestic market supply and demand have moved from scarcity to relaxation and then to abundance; total market commodities are plentiful, varieties are diverse, and quality has improved.

Second, with sustained economic and social development, the living standards of urban and rural residents have continuously leapt forward. Since Reform and Opening-up, on the basis of gradually solving food and clothing issues, our country has entered a state of comprehensive moderate prosperity, and the people's lives have improved in all aspects. China's per capita GDP has grown from 385 yuan in 1978 to 95,749 yuan in 2024; converted into US dollars, it was $13,303 in 2024. The income and consumption levels of urban and rural residents have continued to rise. The per capita disposable income of urban and rural residents increased from 343 yuan and 134 yuan in 1978 to 54,188 yuan and 23,119 yuan in 2024, respectively. The per capita consumption expenditure of urban and rural residents increased from 311 yuan and 116 yuan in 1978 to 34,557 yuan and 19,280 yuan in 2024, respectively.

The educational level of residents has continuously improved, life expectancy is higher than the world average, the level of social security has greatly increased, and a social security system covering both urban and rural residents has been basically established. Livelihood guarantee systems such as social assistance and social welfare have become more complete. At the same time, the people's need for a high-quality life is growing daily. The needs of the masses exhibit characteristics of diversification, multi-layering, and multi-facetedness. They not only have higher requirements for material and cultural life but also have growing demands for democracy, the rule of law, fairness, justice, security, and the environment. The scope of the people's need for a better life is expanding, and the level of those needs is rising; the overall demand is shifting from "whether there is something" to "whether it is good." This requires us to persist in the people-centered development philosophy, focus on solving the problem of unbalanced and inadequate development, continuously improve people's well-being, and steadily enhance the quality of people's lives.

II. Accurately Grasping the Basic Connotations of High-Quality Life

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping has delivered a series of important speeches concerning a better life and the improvement of the quality of people's lives.

In November 2012, during a meeting between the members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the 18th CPC Central Committee and Chinese and foreign journalists, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The people’s aspiration for a better life is the goal we strive for." In October 2015, in a speech at a dinner hosted by the Lord Mayor of London, President Xi Jinping noted: "What the Chinese people want is a better life." In August 2021, in a speech at the 21st meeting of the Central Commission for Comprehensively Deepening Reform, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must promote high-quality development and create high-quality life through high-level protection, and strive to build a beautiful China where humanity and nature coexist in harmony." In October 2022, the 20th CPC National Congress made strategic deployments around "improving the people’s well-being and enhancing the quality of life." In March 2023, while participating in a deliberation with the Jiangsu province delegation at the first session of the 14th National People's Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that "the happiness and well-being of the people are the ultimate goals of promoting high-quality development." The Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform and Advancing Chinese-path Modernization, adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, proposed "seven focuses" for further comprehensively deepening reform, an important aspect of which is "focusing on improving the quality of people’s lives." These important discourses by General Secretary Xi Jinping on the "better life" and "promoting high-quality development and creating high-quality life" clarify the fundamental connotation of high-quality life. The Proposals of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China for Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development, adopted at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee [2], explicitly identified "the continuous improvement of the quality of people's lives" as a major goal for economic and social development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period.

What kind of life constitutes a high-quality life? From the perspective of measurement, high-quality life is a better life of a higher standard that the people yearn for and expect. From the perspective of content, high-quality life encompasses all aspects of life, including material life and spiritual-cultural life, and is the better life created within the process of Chinese-path modernization. From the perspective of evaluative criteria, high-quality life is a state of existence where the people’s needs for a better life are fully met, characterized by a strong sense of gain, happiness, and security.

1. High-quality life is the better life that people yearn for and expect

From the perspective of measurement, high-quality life is the better life expected by the people, one that continuously develops and ascends through the people's pursuit of a better life. Understood intuitively, high-quality life is "high-quality" in that, level-wise, it sits above general standards or average degrees; in terms of connotation, it is a life where material, spiritual, and cultural needs are fully satisfied. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Our people love life and expect better education, more stable jobs, more satisfactory income, more reliable social security, higher levels of medical and health services, more comfortable living conditions, and a more beautiful environment. They hope that children can grow up better, work better, and live better. The people’s aspiration for a better life is the goal we strive for." The "ten expects" mentioned by General Secretary Xi Jinping depict the better life the people yearn for and clarify the basic meaning of high-quality life. The 14th Five-Year Plan for Public Services, jointly issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments, proposed national standards for public services in areas such as "childcare for the young, education for the student, remuneration for the worker, medical care for the sick, elderly care for the aged, housing for the resident, and support for the vulnerable." Simultaneously, it put forward the long-term vision of "excellent childcare, quality education, high remuneration, fine medical care, dignified elderly care, pleasant housing, and universal support" [3], providing an initial blueprint for a better life. High-quality life belongs to the category of the "better life"; it is a high-level manifestation of the better life and a relatively clear and concrete developmental goal. Looking at the changes and development in the living standards and quality of life of our people, high-quality life is a better life built upon the foundation of a moderately prosperous (Xiaokang) level of living. High-quality life is characterized by better education, more stable jobs, more satisfactory income, more reliable social security, higher levels of medical and health services, more comfortable living conditions, and a more beautiful environment. The pursuit and realization of high-quality life is a dynamic process of practice. The standards for high-quality life are not static but change dynamically, developing alongside economic and social progress.

2. High-quality life is the better life created in the process of Chinese-path modernization

From the perspective of content, high-quality life is built upon a foundation of objective living conditions. The level of life quality is closely related to the degree of development in economy, politics, culture, society, and ecological civilization. So-called "life" refers to "all activities carried out by humans or organisms for survival and development." From the perspective of life's arenas, high-quality life encompasses all of life, including both private and public spheres. From the perspective of life's domains, high-quality life includes material life, spiritual-cultural life, and so on. High-quality life is a life of both material and spiritual wealth. It refers not only to the improvement of material living standards but also inherently includes the enrichment of spiritual life and the fulfillment of spiritual pursuits. It must satisfy the people's higher-level needs for material and cultural life, as well as their high-level needs for fairness, justice, social respect, self-actualization, and well-rounded development. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The needs of the people present diverse, multi-level, and multi-faceted characteristics. They expect better education, more stable jobs, more satisfactory income, more reliable social security, higher levels of medical and health services, more comfortable living conditions, a more beautiful environment, and a richer spiritual and cultural life." This discourse clarifies the main content of the high-quality life pursued by the people. Regarding living conditions and environment, high-quality life is built upon the conditions and environment created by Chinese-path modernization. It is a modernized life created in the process of advancing goals such as high-quality development, high-efficiency governance, and high-quality employment. It is a material, spiritual, green, healthy, and "smart" life created through the coordinated advancement of economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological civilization construction within the process of Chinese-path modernization. It reflects the quantity and level of the ultimate fruits of economic and social development—centered on various forms of people's well-being—that the people are able to enjoy.

3. High-quality life is a better life with a strong sense of gain, happiness, and security

From the perspective of evaluative criteria, high-quality life refers to a state of being where the people’s needs for a better life are fully met, and it represents the people's positive perception of their living conditions and environment. While built on objective foundations, high-quality life also manifests as the people's subjective feelings toward those conditions, embodied in their continuously enhancing sense of gain, happiness, and security. That is to say, both the objective conditions created by Chinese-path modernization and the people’s subjective experience of them are integral parts of what constitutes a high-quality life.

On March 5, 2023, while participating in the deliberation of the Jiangsu delegation at the first session of the 14th National People's Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must take satisfying the people’s growing needs for a better life as the starting point and the ultimate goal, continuously transform the fruits of development into quality of life, and unceasingly enhance the people's sense of gain, happiness, and security." "Sense of gain" can be understood as the satisfaction an individual feels after obtaining a certain benefit or achieving a certain goal. "Sense of happiness" is an individual's degree of satisfaction with their own state of life—the subjective level of happiness felt. "Sense of security" is an individual’s stable expectation of whether their needs for survival, development, and emotional fulfillment can be met, and the feeling generated based on an assessment of external risks. These three "senses" are subjective psychological experiences; they are perceptions and evaluations of one’s own life state based on objective conditions, reflecting overall life satisfaction.

III. Comprehensively Advancing the Practical Path of Creating High-Quality Life

Creating high-quality life is a continuously advancing process of practice. It requires us to consistently adhere to the people-centered philosophy of development, firmly grasp the primary task of high-quality development, strive to promote high-quality population development, work hard to improve the people's well-being, solidly promote common prosperity, and continuously enhance the quality of people’s lives amid comprehensive social progress and the well-rounded development of the individual.

1. Firmly grasping the primary task of high-quality development and creating high-quality life within it

High-quality development is the primary task of building a modern socialist country in all respects. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must firmly grasp the primary task of high-quality development to comprehensively advance Chinese-path modernization." The transition of our economy from a stage of high-speed growth to a stage of high-quality development is a scientific judgment made by the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, based on changes in the global economic environment and domestic factor conditions. What is high-quality development? General Secretary Xi Jinping noted: "High-quality development is development that can effectively meet the people's growing needs for a better life. It is development that embodies the New Development Philosophy [4]; it is development where innovation is the primary driver, coordination is an endogenous feature, green is the universal form, openness is the only way, and sharing is the fundamental purpose."

High-quality development and high-quality life are interconnected and mutually reinforcing. First, high-quality development is the foundation of high-quality life, providing its objective conditions; high-quality life is the goal of high-quality development, containing its teleological value. "Undertaking reform and promoting development is, in the final analysis, to let the people live better lives." Second, the upgrades in demand and consumption and the accumulation of human capital brought about by high-quality life are important drivers for high-quality development. Conversely, the income growth and the improvement in the quality of goods and services brought about by high-quality development through industrial upgrading and green transformation are the basic pathways for creating high-quality life. Creating high-quality life is a process of transitioning the people's lives from "having or not" to "being good or excellent." The New Development Philosophy "answers a series of theoretical and practical questions regarding the purpose, driver, mode, and path of development." High-quality development led by the concepts of innovation, coordination, green, openness, and sharing will—while completing the transition of drivers, modes, and industrial structures—also manifest the purpose and value of development: creating high-quality life in the process of satisfying the people’s growing needs for a better life.

We must create high-quality life through high-quality development. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out the need to "strive to promote high-quality development and create high-quality life." On the new journey of the New Era, this means adhering to the New Development Philosophy as a guide, accelerating the construction of the New Development Paradigm, and focusing on promoting the transformation of development modes, the optimization of economic structures, and the transition of growth drivers. It means always grasping, measuring, and promoting development through the internal unity of innovation, coordination, green, openness, and sharing—taking innovation as the primary driver, coordination to promote sustainable and healthy development, green to achieve permanent development, openness to promote national prosperity, and sharing and the improvement of well-being as the fundamental purpose. It means taking high-quality life as the starting point and the ultimate goal of high-quality development, increasing residents' income levels through industrial upgrading, technological innovation, green transformation, and digital-intelligent empowerment. It means enriching the supply of high-quality material and cultural products and public services, and transforming the fruits of high-quality development into high-quality life. Finally, it means coordinately advancing the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan and the Four Comprehensives, pushing material, political, spiritual, social, and ecological civilizations to new heights, and continuously raising the levels of material, spiritual, green, healthy, and smart life.

2. Taking high-quality population development as a lever to enhance quality of life through the well-rounded development of individuals

High-quality population development is a major strategy for population development in the New Era. It is a scientific judgment made by General Secretary Xi Jinping regarding China’s population situation and a strategy adapted to the "new normal" of population development. The goal of high-quality population development is to "shape modernized human resources with excellent quality, sufficient quantity, optimized structure, and reasonable distribution." Advancing this requires that "population work shifts from primarily regulating quantity to enhancing quality, stabilizing quantity, optimizing structure, and ensuring smooth mobility," in order to promote the formation of excellent population quality, an appropriate population scale, a suitable population structure, and a reasonable population distribution.

Promoting high-quality population development is an inherent requirement for fostering the well-rounded development of individuals. Marxism holds that human beings are the subjects of social praxis, and the essence of social development is human development. Human development is not only an internal requirement of social development but also its ultimate manifestation. The highest stage of human development is the free and well-rounded development of the individual, which requires the simultaneous enhancement of multi-dimensional abilities, personality, and social relations on the basis of meeting basic needs. High-quality population development has rich connotations: its focus is on maintaining appropriate fertility levels and population size; its core is improving the overall quality of the population; it constitutes high-quality development across all life stages from birth to death; it is the well-rounded development of all people; and it encompasses development in scientific and cultural literacy, health, and ideological and moral character. It is the unity of the entire life cycle, the entire population, and all aspects of quality, reflecting the Marxist value orientation regarding human development.

High-quality population development and high-quality lifestyles for the people are mutually reinforcing. High-quality population development is an important component of high-quality development. They are closely linked and mutually promotive, intrinsically unified within the process of high-quality development. High-quality population development is the foundation and prerequisite for achieving a high quality of life; a high-quality population is the subject that creates and enjoys a high quality of life, influencing the overall situation of modernization and determining the degree to which the people's high-quality life is realized. A high quality of life serves as the driving force and safeguard for promoting high-quality population development. Meeting the people's needs for a high quality of life is the fundamental motivation for promoting high-quality population development; the people's aspirations for a better life inspire individuals and society to invest in human capital, thereby promoting the enhancement of population quality. Meanwhile, public policy instruments concerning fertility, education, employment, healthcare, and elderly care that promote high-quality population development can effectively enhance human capital and improve the quality of people's lives and well-being.

We must promote the synergistic development of high-quality population development and the creation of high-quality lifestyles. High-quality human resources are an important driving force for social development. Currently, "China has generally shifted from a stage of incremental population growth to a stage of population decrease" [5]. In the New Era, we must adapt to and lead the "new normal" of population development, optimize population development strategies, improve the support and service systems for population development, and comprehensively enhance population quality. We must use high-quality population development to build a high-quality human resource pool and promote the shift from a "quantity dividend" to a "quality dividend." We must persist in a people-centered approach, "closely integrating high-quality population development with the high-quality life of the people, and closely integrating 'investing in things' with 'investing in people'" [6]. We must promote high-quality population development through reform and innovation, establishing a sound population service system that covers the entire population and the full life cycle. This includes establishing a fertility support policy system, deepening education and healthcare reforms, optimizing human resource allocation, and implementing the national strategy to actively respond to population aging. Considerations for marriage, birth, child-rearing, education, employment, medical treatment, housing, and elderly care must be integrated to promote high-quality population development and create a high quality of life within the improvement of public services. We must coordinate the benign interaction between population and the economy, society, resources, and the environment, effectively promoting well-rounded human development and common prosperity for all, and advancing both the well-rounded development of individuals and the comprehensive progress of society.

  1. Improving the quality of people’s lives while enhancing their well-being, continuously strengthening the people’s sense of fulfillment, happiness, and security.

First, prioritize the development of education and build a leading country in education. Education is of fundamental importance to the state and the Party. Building a leading country in education is a foundational project for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. We must persist in placing education in a priority position, deeply implement the strategy of invigorating China through science and education, and accelerate the construction of a high-quality education system. We must deepen comprehensive educational reform and coordinately advance reforms in methods of nurturing students, school-running models, management systems, and safeguard mechanisms. We should improve the mechanism for "fostering virtue through education" [7], promote the integrated reform and innovation of ideological and political courses across primary, secondary, and tertiary levels, and健全 the comprehensive cultivation system encompassing moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor education. We must accelerate the high-quality balanced development and urban-rural integration of compulsory education, strengthen the inclusive development of preschool and special education, and persist in the diversified development of senior secondary schools. We should promote the integration of vocational and general education, the integration of industry and education, and the convergence of science and education, optimizing the positioning of vocational education. We must optimize the layout of higher education, advance the reform of universities by category, accelerate the construction of "Double First-Class" universities and disciplines [8], and achieve the intensive development of higher education. We will promote digital education and build a learning society and a learning nation where lifelong learning is available to all.

Second, implement the employment-first strategy and promote high-quality full employment. Employment is the foundation of the people's livelihood. At the macro level, high-quality full employment is characterized by "sufficient employment opportunities, a fair employment environment, an optimized employment structure, efficient matching between people and positions, and harmonious labor relations." At the micro level, it is characterized by "laborers not only having work to do, but also having stable jobs, reasonable income, reliable protection, and occupational safety." Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Party Central Committee has persisted in placing employment at a prominent position in state governance, achieving relatively full employment and providing important support for the improvement of livelihoods and economic development. The 20th National Congress of the CPC scientifically grasped the new changes in the employment situation and made major deployments to promote high-quality full employment. Currently, the pressure to stabilize growth and employment remains, and improving the quality of employment is an urgent aspiration of laborers. On the new journey in the New Era, we must take high-quality full employment as our goal and the employment-first strategy as our guide. Based on new trends in economic and social development and the people's new expectations for a high quality of life, we must develop new points of employment growth and promote high-quality development to drive improvements in employment quality and capacity. We should promote the connection between human resource supply and demand to solve structural employment contradictions. We must improve the public employment service system, refine the employment support system for key groups, and strengthen the "bottom-line" assistance for groups facing difficulties. We must also deepen the reform of employment systems and mechanisms, improve systems for promoting equal opportunity, keep channels for social mobility open, improve mechanisms for consultation and coordination in labor relations, and strengthen the protection of laborers' rights and interests.

Third, improve the social security system and fortify the social safety net. The social security system serves as the safety net for people's livelihoods and a stabilizer for society. We must further improve a multi-tiered social security system that covers the entire population, coordinates urban and rural areas, is fair and unified, safe and standardized, and sustainable. We should refine social security systems for people in flexible employment, migrant workers, and those in new forms of employment, and expand the coverage of unemployment, work injury, and maternity insurance. We must completely abolish household registration (hukou) restrictions for participating in social insurance programs at the place of employment and improve policies for the transfer and continuation of social insurance relations. We will improve the national unified management system for basic old-age insurance, promote provincial-level unified management of basic medical, unemployment, and work injury insurance, and improve the national unified social security public service platform. We will accelerate the development of a multi-tiered and multi-pillar old-age insurance system, expand the coverage of annuity systems, and implement the individual pension system. We will promote the orderly connection of multi-level medical protections, improve systems for serious illness insurance and medical assistance, establish a long-term care insurance system, deepen the reform of medical insurance payment methods, implement settlement for medical treatment in non-local areas, and strengthen the supervision of medical insurance funds. We will improve the mechanisms for financing and adjusting benefits for basic old-age and basic medical insurance and gradually increase the basic pension for urban and rural residents. We should leverage the role of various types of commercial insurance as supplementary protection, improve a tiered and categorized social assistance system, and refine the social security system and care service system for persons with disabilities to promote the comprehensive development of their cause.

Fourth, advance the Healthy China Initiative and elevate the health level of the entire population. The health of the people is an important hallmark of national prosperity and strength. We must persist in implementing the health-first development strategy, strengthen the construction of the public health system, and promote social co-governance and the integration of medical treatment and prevention. We must enhance the level of the major epidemic prevention and control system and emergency response capabilities. We will deepen the reform of the medicine and healthcare system, promoting the coordinated development and governance of medical insurance, medical services, and pharmaceuticals. We will promote the expansion and downward distribution of high-quality medical resources and their balanced regional distribution, accelerating the construction of a hierarchical diagnosis and treatment system. We will deepen the reform of public hospitals with a public-interest orientation and establish a charging mechanism led by medical services. We will regulate the development of private hospitals, innovate medical and health supervision methods, and strengthen the medical and health workforce. We will promote the preservation, innovation, and development of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). We will deeply carry out the Healthy China action and the Patriotic Health Campaign [9], advocating for civilized and healthy lifestyles.

Fifth, improve the human settlement environment and elevate the quality of housing. The transition from "having a place to live" to "living in a good home" is both a common expectation of the masses and an important foundation for their happiness. On the new journey in the New Era, we must persist in the positioning that "houses are for living in, not for speculation" [10]. We must accelerate the establishment of a housing system with multi-subject supply, multi-channel support, and simultaneous rental and purchase. We must build "good houses" in accordance with the national standards of the "Residential Project Code." We will continue to promote urban renewal actions, strengthen urban infrastructure construction, and solve difficult problems such as elevator installation in old buildings, parking, and charging piles. We will advance the renovation of "villages-in-the-city" and dilapidated housing, transforming old houses into "good houses" and old communities into "good communities," creating livable, resilient, and smart cities. We will continue to promote the improvement of rural housing quality and safety and energy-saving renovations, improving the living environment of urban and rural residents and creating high-quality living spaces to continuously meet the expectations of the masses for better living conditions.

Improving the people's well-being is a process with no end, only a continuous flow; improving the quality of people's lives is a comparative degree with no superlative. We must do our best within our means [11]. We should focus on improving the quality of people's lives and promote the upgrade of livelihoods—from fertility and education to labor, medical care, elderly care, housing, and social assistance—from merely "having" to being "excellent." We must enrich the supply of multi-tiered and diversified life services so that the people's sense of fulfillment, happiness, and security is more substantial, better guarded, and more sustainable.

  1. Solidly advancing common prosperity and elevating high-quality living standards through the coordinated development of material and spiritual civilizations.

In creating a high quality of life while promoting common prosperity, we must persist in "grasping with both hands, and both hands must be firm" [12]. We must promote the coordination and mutual reinforcement of material and spiritual civilizations, so that the people are not only materially wealthy but also spiritually rich, achieving the well-rounded development of individuals and the comprehensive progress of society. "Escaping poverty has been the millennial dream of the Chinese nation. Common prosperity is the common aspiration of the Chinese people." Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has placed the gradual realization of common prosperity for all people in a more important position. It has taken the promotion of common prosperity as the focus of seeking happiness for the people, uniting and leading the people to win the battle against poverty. This historically solved the problem of absolute poverty, created a miracle in the history of human poverty reduction, achieved the historic accomplishment of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and began a new journey of solidly advancing common prosperity.

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We are committed to common prosperity so that every Chinese person can live a beautiful life." "The common prosperity we speak of is the common prosperity of all people; it is a prosperity in which the people's material and spiritual lives are both rich. It is not the prosperity of a few, nor is it a rigid egalitarianism." Common prosperity is the essential requirement of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and its realization is a long-term historical process. To solidly advance common prosperity, we must encourage prosperity through hard work and innovation, persist in the basic economic system, and persevere in doing our best within our means while making progress step-by-step.

We must persist in advancing common prosperity through high-quality development and continuously improve the people's material living standards. Development is the foundation and key to achieving common prosperity, and the quality of development determines the effectiveness of common prosperity. On the new journey in the New Era, we must take high-quality development as our guide, taking the satisfaction of the people's new expectations for a better life as the starting and ending point of development. We must continuously meet the people's growing needs for a better life and consistently improve the quality of their lives. We should implement major regional strategies and regional coordinated development strategies, strengthen the coordination of industrial development, support the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, and promote more balanced, coordinated, and inclusive development. We must build basic institutional arrangements for a multi-tiered distribution system, establish a fair, reasonable, and efficient distribution mechanism, and provide institutional norms and guidance for promoting common prosperity, thus fostering an "olive-shaped" (middle-heavy) distribution structure. We must broaden the channels for farmers to increase their income and become wealthy, comprehensively promote rural revitalization, and promote common prosperity for farmers and rural areas.

We must focus on the construction of spiritual civilization and continuously enrich the people's spiritual and cultural lives.

“Chinese-path modernization requires both a great abundance of material wealth and a great abundance of spiritual wealth, alongside self-reliance and self-improvement in thought and culture.” History and reality have proven that improvements in material living conditions do not automatically lead to the enrichment of the spiritual world or an elevation in the quality of life. While improving the people’s material standard of living, we must also persist in the direction and goal of spiritual prosperity. Guided by the people’s increasing spiritual and cultural needs, we must develop advanced socialist culture and produce more excellent literary and artistic works to “ensure that all people always possess the ideological foundation of unity and struggle, the proactive spirit of forging ahead, and the healthy, upward pursuit of values.” In the process of building a strong socialist cultural power, we must promote the coordinated development of material and spiritual civilizations [13], continuously enrich the people’s spiritual world, elevate the spiritual realm of high-quality life, and promote well-rounded human development.

General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important discourse on high-quality life comprehensively expounds upon the era-defining background, basic foundations, essential connotations, and practical paths of high-quality life. It profoundly answers the questions of “why we must create a high-quality life,” “what kind of high-quality life we should create,” and “how to create a high-quality life.” It represents an important theoretical innovation by our Party in the New Era, applying the worldview and methodology of dialectical materialism and historical materialism. It holds significant and far-reaching guiding significance for creating a high-quality life within high-quality development on the new journey, better advancing the construction of Chinese-path modernization, and realizing the people’s aspirations for a better life.

About the Author: Liu Zhichang is a Professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Marxism, University of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; and a Researcher at the Institute of Marxism Studies (CASS) and the Beijing Institute for Development (CASS).

Source: Marxism Studies (《马克思主义研究》), Issue 12, 2025. Editor: Huihui.