人类历史上前所未有的壮举 - 2021-04-23

China has a huge population, which is one of its basic national conditions and an important feature of its modernization. The modernization of China, the biggest developing country in the world, means that the Chinese population, more than the total of all developed countries, will enter a modernized society. This will completely reshape the global landscape of modernization and surely become an unprecedented major achievement in human history.

Create a miracle in the history of poverty reduction
The Communist Party of China adheres to the people-oriented development idea, and regards more notable and substantial progress in achieving common prosperity for everyone as one of the long-range goals through 2035. In the process of socialist modernization, it has united and led people of all ethnic groups in China in a long-term painstaking struggle to create a better life. Finally, a complete victory has been declared in the fight against poverty, creating a miracle in the history of poverty reduction.
When the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was founded in 1949, it ranked among the poorest countries in the world in terms of per capita GDP. In 1978, according to the poverty threshold at that time, there were 770 million Chinese people living in poverty. After the reform and opening-up, from 1978 to 2012, the average annual growth rate of the country’s real GDP reached 9.86%, and the per capita GDP increased from RMB 385 to RMB 39,874. The sustained, rapid economic and social development has helped the vast majority of the population to get out of poverty and live a well-off life.
As socialism with Chinese characteristics enters a new era, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core has placed poverty alleviation in a prominent position in governance, taken it as the primary task for building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, and organized massive national campaigns on poverty alleviation. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC, China has secured a complete victory in the fight against poverty. According to the current standards, 98.99 million rural poor have been lifted out of poverty, 832 poor counties and 128,000 poor villages have been removed from the poverty list. Overall regional poverty has been resolved. China has completed the task of eradicating absolute poverty, which is truly a miracle in human history. This achievement has laid a solid foundation for continuously advancing the modernization of a large population and bringing its fruits to everyone.
Promote the largest and fastest urbanization in world history
Advancing urbanization is the only way towards modernization. Adhering to the path of the new type of people-oriented urbanization, China has been committed to achieving urbanization in a major developing country with a population of 1.4 billion, and bringing the fruits to all people. This is an unprecedented endeavor in the history of human development.
China’s urban population has been expanding continuously. When the PRC was founded, the vast majority of Chinese people lived in rural areas, and urban population accounted for less than 11% of the total. By 1978, it was still less than 18%. Since the reform and opening-up, the country has experienced the largest and fastest urbanization process in world history, and made remarkable achievements. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, along with continuous growth in the urbanization rate, urbanization quality has been constantly improving. As a result, urban functions have been comprehensively enhanced, and cities have taken on a new look. The continuous coordinated development of large, medium and small cities and small towns, optimization of urbanization pattern with urban agglomerations as the core, and accelerated construction of urban agglomerations such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, have made urban distribution more balanced. By the end of 2020, the urbanization rate of China’s permanent population had exceeded 60%, ushering in a new era with urban society as the mainstay.
In the process of urbanization, more jobs have been created, and people’s income have seen continuous increase. When the PRC was founded, the vast majority of people were engaged in agricultural production, and there were few job opportunities in urban areas. Later, as rapid industrialization and urbanization created a large number of jobs, the proportion of urban employment in the total employment increased to 48.4% in 2012 from 23.7% in 1978. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has implemented the strategy of giving top priority to employment, which creates more than 10 million jobs in urban areas every year. In 2019, the number of urban employees reached 442.47 million, accounting for 57.1% of the total. Meanwhile, workers’ wage has been on rapid rise. From 2012 to 2019, the average annual wage growth rate of employees in urban non-private units reached 9.9%, which was 0.86 percentage point higher than the GDP growth in the same period.
Efforts have been made to promote the new type of people-oriented urbanization. In 2013, the CPC Central Committee made important arrangements for advancing the new type of people-oriented urbanization on the first urbanization work conference held since the reform and opening-up. The State Council has successively released the Opinions on Further Promoting Household Registration System Reform and Opinions on Further Improving Services for Migrant Workers, and introduced a series of reform opinions and policies to advance the new type of urbanization. The Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People’s Republic of China and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035 (hereinafter referred to as the Outline) proposes that China will adhere to the path of the new type of urbanization with Chinese characteristics, further promote the new type of people-oriented urbanization, rely on urban agglomerations and metropolitan areas to promote coordinated and featured development of large, medium and small cities and small towns, so that more people can enjoy higher-quality urban life. The introduction and implementation of these policies and measures will effectively help new citizens better into integrate cities and accelerate the urbanization of rural people who have moved to cities.
China has made a huge leap in improving population quality, and established the world’s largest social security system 
China’s modernization endeavor aims to achieve well-rounded development for every individual and social progress in all respects. In the process of continuously promoting the modernization of the large population, significant improvement has been achieved in population quality and people’s livelihood and well-being.
The education level has been improving steadily. When the PRC was founded, 80% of Chinese people were illiterate, and the primary school enrollment rate for school-age children was less than 20%. After the founding of the PRC, especially since the reform and opening-up, the education level has increased substantially. In 1982, the people with high school diplomas or higher accounted for 7.2% of the total. In 2018, the figure surged to 29.3%. In 2020, a total of 41.83 million students were studying in the country’s 2,738 higher education institutions nationwide, with the gross enrollment rate of higher education hitting 54.4%. The continuous expansion of talent teams and improvement of knowledge level and skills have provided abundant human resources for the construction of a modern socialist country.
The health level has been on gradual rise. When the PRC was founded, the average life expectancy in the country was only 35 years. With the economic and social development, China’s investment in health care has grown rapidly. The public health system and medical service system have been continuously improving, a basic health care system covering urban and rural areas has been established and bettered, and people’s physical fitness has been improving day by day. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, China has further increased investment in health care, and the maternal and child health level has been continuously improving. In 2019, the country’s average life expectancy reached 77.3 years old, and that for urban residents exceeded 80 years old. China’s main health indicators of residents were higher than the average of middle- and high-income countries worldwide.
The social security benefits have been constantly improving. In the early days after the founding of the PRC, there was almost no social security. After the founding of the PRC, especially since the reform and opening-up, China has gradually established a social security system, which has been expanding continuously. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, a multi-level social security system has been improving. Currently, a full-fledged social security system with social insurance as the main body, including social assistance, social welfare and social special care, has been basically completed. China has established the world’s largest social security system, with basic medical insurance covering more than 1.3 billion people and basic pension insurance covering nearly 1 billion people. The continuous improvement of the social security system has provided favorable conditions for advancing the modernization of a large population.
The deep logic behind China’s efforts to promote modernization of a large population
Adhering to and strengthening the Party’s leadership, and following the principle of people-centered development, China has given full play to the prominent advantages of the socialist system, pooled the strength of 1.4 billion people in advancing the modernization, creating a happy and beautiful life, and continuously promoting the modernization of a large population.
To uphold and strengthen the Party’s leadership. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized, “the key to getting things well done in China lies in the Party’s leadership.” It’s an important practice of contemporary CPC members to fulfill their original aspiration and make the achievements of socialist modernization benefit all the people. For a country with a large economy and population like China, it’s not easy to achieve modernization for all people. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core has directed the overall situation and coordinated the efforts of all quarters. In the course of economic and social development, they have charted the course, crafted overall plans, designed policies and promoted reform. Moreover, they have facilitated the implementation of the five-sphere integrated plan and four-pronged comprehensive strategy, and made solid progress in advancing the modernization of a large population. The CPC proves to be a party with strong leadership, organizational power and executive capacity, being the most reliable leading force to unite and lead the people to overcome difficulties and forge ahead. The strong leadership of the CPC serves as a commander for national governance, an excellent navigator for modernization, and the backbone for the unity of hundreds of millions of people. This will enable us to make new achievements and see new progress in the modernization of a large population.
To put people first. The Party has been adhering to the people-oriented development idea. The aim and outcome of all the work of the Party is to realize, safeguard and expand the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people. For this purpose, it has completed one difficult task after another, and has been working hard year after year. Eventually, it has delivered a good performance in matters concerning people’s livelihoods such as employment, education and social security, ensuring that the results of reform and development will benefit all the people more equally. The Outline takes people-oriented development as one of the principles that must be followed in the economic and social development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. It emphasizes the importance of adhering to the principal status of the people, and the direction of achieving common prosperity. It points out the necessity of ensuring that development is for the people, by the people and with its fruits shared by the people. It proposes to safeguard the fundamental interests of the people, stimulate the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of the people as a whole, promote social justice, enhance people’s livelihood and well-being, and continue to realize people’s aspirations to live a better life. Practice has proven that as long as we adhere to the people-oriented development idea, put people first, and strive for common prosperity, we can gain endorsement and support from the overwhelming majority of the people in advancing the modernization of a large population, and have an inexhaustible source of power.
China has given full play to its institutional strengths. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, “we should take economic development as the central task, advance in an all-around way economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological progress, and promote the coordinated development of modernization in all links and aspects.” China’s socialist system has the political advantage of concentrating efforts on major tasks, which enables it to coordinate and handle the relations of all aspects and fields of modernization in the overall planning, make breakthroughs in key areas such as important industries, infrastructure, strategic resources and major scientific and technological development, and protect people’s lives and property in face of major risks and challenges as much as possible. To fulfill the arduous, complex systematic task of achieving modernization for 1.4 billion Chinese people, it’s necessary to give full play to the political advantages of China’s socialist system, effectively arouse the enthusiasm of all parties, and concentrate efforts on major initiatives. It’s crucial to promote the full participation of all regions, all departments, all walks of life and all fronts, encourage them to think and work in one heart and one mind, and form a strong synergy for the modernization drive.
(The author is the Dean of the Institute of Population and Labor Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)