Planning-Based Governance: The Institutional Guarantee for Advancing Chinese-Path Modernization

On March 12, 2026, the Fourth Session of the 14th National People's Congress voted to adopt the National Development Planning Law of the People's Republic of China, drawing widespread attention from all sectors of society. The period of the 14th Five-Year Plan occupies a pivotal position linking the past and the future in the process of realizing Chinese-path modernization. Using medium- and long-term planning centered on the five-year plan to guide China's economic and social development is an important method by which Chinese-path modernization, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, has created the "two major miracles" of rapid economic development and long-term social stability, and it is also a significant manifestation of the institutional advantages of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

2026年3月12日，十四届全国人大四次会议表决通过了《中华人民共和国国家发展规划法》，引起社会各界广泛关注。“十五五”时期在实现中国式现代化进程中具有承前启后的重要地位。通过制定以五年规划为核心的中长期规划来指导我国的经济社会发展，是中国式现代化在中国共产党领导下创造经济快速发展和社会长期稳定“两大奇迹”的重要方式，也是中国特色社会主义制度优势的重要体现。

Planning-based governance has become the dynamic mechanism driving the stepwise progression of Chinese-path modernization. The Proposal of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development, reviewed and approved at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, put forward realistic and forward-looking overall ideas, major principles, main objectives, and strategic tasks on the basis of accurately grasping the domestic and international development trends of the next five years.

规划治国成为推进中国式现代化阶梯式递进的动力机制。中国共产党第二十届中央委员会第四次全体会议审议通过的《中共中央关于制定国民经济和社会发展第十五个五年规划的建议》在准确把握未来五年我国国内外发展大势的基础上，提出了符合实际、具有前瞻性的总体思路、重大原则、主要目标和战略任务。

Looking at the great practice of the Communist Party of China in advancing Chinese-path modernization, it can be seen that formulating and implementing medium- and long-term plans has become a historical main line running through the Party's governance activities, and planning-based governance has become the dynamic mechanism driving the stepwise progression of Chinese-path modernization. From the launch of the First Five-Year Plan in 1953 to the conclusion of the 14th Five-Year Plan in 2025, and then to the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan in 2026, China has formulated and successively implemented a total of 15 five-year plans (programs), effectively promoting the layout of national productive forces and the industrialization process, the integrated development of the economy and society, and the improvement of the people's living standards, successfully transforming a poor and backward agricultural country into one whose gross domestic product (GDP) has long ranked second in the world.

纵观中国共产党推进中国式现代化的伟大实践可以发现，编制并实施中长期规划已成为贯穿党治国理政活动的一条历史主线，而规划治国则成为推进中国式现代化阶梯式递进的动力机制。从1953年“一五”计划启动到2025年“十四五”规划收官，再到2026年“十五五”规划开局，我国共编制并接续实施了15个五年规划（计划），有力地推动了国家生产力布局与工业化进程、经济社会一体化发展和人民群众生活水平提高，成功地将一穷二白的落后农业国变成了国内生产总值（GDP）长期位居世界第二的国家。

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the practice of planning-based governance under the leadership of the Communist Party of China has gone through different stages of development. The exploration and foundation-laying period of planning-based governance covers the five five-year plan periods from the First Five-Year Plan in 1953 to the Fifth Five-Year Plan in 1976, with the main task being to build the economic base for Chinese-path modernization. Through the successive construction of the first five five-year plans, China basically formed a relatively complete industrial system and national economic system, establishing a four-beam, eight-pillar development framework for socialist modernization. [1]1 "Four-beam, eight-pillar" (四梁八柱) is a Chinese idiom originally referring to the main structural supports of a building; here it is used metaphorically to describe the fundamental framework or main pillars of the development system. The transition and adjustment period of planning-based governance covers the five five-year plan periods from the Sixth Five-Year Plan in 1981 to the Tenth Five-Year Plan in 2001, with the main task being to build the foundation for the integrated economic and social development of Chinese-path modernization. It was precisely during this stage that the five-year plan was formally renamed from the original "national economic plan" to the "national economic and social development plan," and the national economic system began to shift from a planned economic system that was overly managed and overly rigid to a market-oriented planned commodity economy system. The stabilization and maturation period of planning-based governance covers the five five-year planning periods from the 11th Five-Year Plan in 2006 to the current 15th Five-Year Plan, with the main task being to build the foundation for comprehensive, balanced, and sustainable development of Chinese-path modernization. In this stage, the five-year plan was renamed the five-year planning, marking the increasing maturity of the Party's strategies, policies, and measures for leading economic and social development through planning-based governance. The formulation and implementation of the national overall development strategic plan from the perspectives of top-level design, system integration, and comprehensive advancement have become increasingly institutionalized and legalized. Planning-based governance has become the institutional model for the Party's governance and the dynamic mechanism for the development of Chinese-path modernization.

中华人民共和国成立以来，中国共产党领导的规划治国实践历经了不同的发展阶段。规划治国的探索奠基期，涵盖从1953年“一五”计划到1976年的“五五”计划五个五年计划时期，主要任务是构筑中国式现代化的经济基础。通过前五个五年计划的接力建设，我国基本形成了较为齐全的工业体系和国民经济体系，为社会主义现代化建设构建起了四梁八柱的发展框架。规划治国的转型调整期，涵盖从1981年的“六五”计划到2001年的“十五”计划五个五年计划时期，主要任务是构建中国式现代化的经济社会一体化发展基础。正是在这个阶段，五年计划从原来的“国民经济计划”正式更名为“国民经济和社会发展计划”，国家经济体制开始从管得过多、统得过死的计划经济体制向以市场为导向的有计划的商品经济体制转变。规划治国的稳定成熟期，涵盖从2006年的“十一五”规划到如今的“十五五”规划五个五年规划时期，主要任务是构建中国式现代化的全面均衡可持续发展基础。在这个阶段，五年计划更名为五年规划，这标志着党通过规划治国的方式引领经济社会发展的战略、策略与举措日益成熟，从顶层设计、系统集成、全面推进角度做好国家整体发展战略规划的制定和实施日益制度化和法治化，规划治国成为党治国理政的制度模式，成为中国式现代化发展的动力机制。

Planning-based governance provides institutional and mechanism guarantees for the stepwise progression of Chinese-path modernization. After years of continuous evolution, planning-based governance has formed a development framework of "strategic concept guidance—development consensus shaping—vertical and horizontal translation of plans—action implementation and adjustment," constructing a systematic institutional and mechanism guarantee for the stepwise progression of Chinese-path modernization.

规划治国为中国式现代化阶梯式递进提供体制机制保障。经过多年的持续演进，规划治国已形成了“战略理念引领—发展共识塑造—规划纵横转译—行动落实与调适”的发展框架，为中国式现代化阶梯式递进构筑了体系化的体制机制保障。

"Strategic concept guidance" is manifested in the Central Committee of the CPC establishing the national stage-specific development concepts, strategic directions, strategic tasks, and strategic thinking through the five-year planning proposal, based on which the State Council formulates the outline of the five-year planning, transforming the Party's strategic intentions into the national development will. "Development consensus shaping" deeply integrates the concept of whole-process people's democracy into the national medium- and long-term development strategic decision-making process through various forms such as topic research, online solicitation of opinions, holding various symposiums, and formal meeting consultation and deliberation, making the five-year planning an overall development strategy that consolidates the development consensus of the whole society. "Vertical and horizontal translation of plans" is manifested in first transforming the Party's five-year planning proposal into the national five-year planning outline, and then "translating" the proposal and outline by level, department, and field into local and departmental five-year plans of local Party committees, governments, and various departments, special plans for different fields, and various regional plans, making the programmatic five-year planning concrete into more operational and feasible detailed texts and schemes. "Action implementation and adjustment" refers to using tools such as binding assessment indicators, major strategic tasks, major engineering projects, and annual implementation plans to ensure that the planning objectives move from text to practice, from expectations to performance.

“战略理念引领”体现为中共中央通过五年规划建议确立国家阶段性发展理念、战略方向、战略任务与战略思路等，国务院据此编制五年规划纲要，将党的战略意图转化为国家发展意志。“发展共识塑造”通过课题研究、网络征求意见、举办各种座谈会、进行正式会议协商与审议等多种形式，将全过程人民民主理念深度融入国家中长期发展战略决策过程，使五年规划成为凝聚全社会发展共识的整体发展战略。“规划纵横转译”表现为先将党的五年规划建议转化为国家的五年规划纲要，再将建议和纲要分层级、分部门、分领域地“转译”为各地方党委、政府和各部门的地方与部门五年规划、不同领域的专项规划以及各种区域规划，使得纲领性的五年规划具体化为更具操作性和可行性的细化文本和方案。“行动落实与调适”则是指通过约束性考核指标、重大战略任务、重大工程项目和年度执行计划等工具，确保规划目标从文本走向实践、从预期转化为绩效。

At the same time, planning-based governance, by constructing a top-level design system of ruling party decision-making—National People's Congress deliberation—State Council implementation, a management operation system of plan translation—plan linkage—plan evaluation, and operational mechanisms such as a dynamic adjustment mechanism for plan strategy continuity—plan policy coordination—plan catalog compilation, and a planning consultation mechanism for people's opinion collection—expert consultation and argumentation—think tank auxiliary support, organically unifies the strategic will of the ruling party, the long-term development goals of the country, and the overall demands of society, and organically unifies the stage-specific, forward-looking, and holistic development strategies of the country with the decision-making and implementation of various levels, departments, and fields, forming an overall synergy for advancing Chinese-path modernization.

与此同时，规划治国还通过构建执政党决策—全国人大审议—国务院执行的顶层设计体制、规划转译—规划衔接—规划评估的管理运行体制等管理体制，以及规划战略接续—规划政策协同—规划目录清单编制的动态调适机制、人民意见征集—专家咨询论证—智库辅助支持的规划咨询机制等运行机制，将执政党的战略意志、国家的长远发展目标与社会的整体诉求有机统一起来，将国家的阶段性、前瞻性和整体性发展战略与各层级各部门各领域的决策部署、贯彻执行有机统一起来，形成推进中国式现代化的整体合力。

As a holistic governance paradigm integrating the political leadership of the ruling party, the overall governance of the government, and the comprehensive mobilization of society, planning-based governance takes the formulation and implementation of the national five-year plan for economic and social development as its main carrier. Through institutionalized procedural arrangements, democratized decision-making processes, scientific goal setting, efficient implementation mechanisms, and legalized assessment constraints, it constructs a set of national governance systems and institutions with a high degree of autonomy, adaptability, and sustainability, thereby promoting the continuous deepening of Chinese-path modernization.

作为融合执政党政治引领、政府整体治理与社会全面动员于一体的整体性治理范式，规划治国以国家经济社会发展五年规划的编制与实施为主要载体，通过制度化的程序安排、民主化的决策过程、科学化的目标设定、高效化的执行机制和法治化的考核约束，构建起一套具有高度自主性、适应性和可持续性的国家治理体系与治理制度，进而推动中国式现代化不断向纵深发展。

The rise of the planning-based governance paradigm and its global significance. As a large late-developing country, the modernization process of contemporary China faces the dual pressure of weak basic conditions and heavy and urgent development tasks. It must take a catch-up development path, which can only rely on a ruling party with strong leadership and integration capabilities to actively initiate and comprehensively advance the modernization process. As an ultra-large-scale country, China has a vast territory, obvious regional differences, a large population, and relatively scarce per capita resources. It needs to mobilize the strength of the whole nation, concentrate resources to accomplish major tasks, and use the method of planning (programs) to consolidate national development consensus and synergy, avoiding a situation of each going its own way and fragmented development. As a carrier for implementing stage-specific strategic will and long-term struggle goals, planning-based governance decomposes long-term development strategies and stage-specific struggle goals into operable and assessable stage-specific tasks, projects, and measures, steadily advancing the process of Chinese-path modernization through continuously accumulated development performance.

规划治国范式的兴起及其世界意义。作为后发大国，当代中国的现代化进程面临基础性条件薄弱与发展任务繁重紧迫的双重压力，必须走赶超式发展道路，而这只能依靠具有强大引领和整合能力的执政党主动启动和全面推进现代化进程。作为超大规模国家，中国幅员辽阔、区域差异明显、人口众多、人均资源相对匮乏，需要举全国之力，集中力量办大事，通过规划（计划）的方式，凝聚全国发展共识与合力，避免出现各自为政、碎片化发展的局面。作为阶段性战略意志和长远性奋斗目标的贯彻落实载体，规划治国将长远性发展战略和阶段性奋斗目标分解为可操作、可评估的阶段性任务、工程和举措等，通过持续累积的发展绩效稳步推进中国式现代化进程。

The rise, evolution, and maturation of the planning-based governance paradigm represent that China, under the leadership of the Party, has blazed a unique development path distinctly different from the Western "classical" modernization model. Its essence lies in transforming the long-term strategic vision of the ruling party into stage-specific national action programs through institutionalized and legalized planning methods, and then, through systematic policy tools and governance mechanisms, continuously transforming the struggle goals of different historical periods into tangible development performance, ultimately achieving the organic unity of the stepwise progression of national modernization goals and the continuous improvement of people's well-being.

规划治国范式的兴起、演进与成熟，代表着中国在党的领导下走出了一条迥异于西方“经典”现代化模式的独具特色的发展道路。它的本质在于通过制度化法治化的规划方式，将执政党的长远战略愿景转化为阶段性的国家行动纲领，再通过系统的政策工具与治理机制，将不同历史时期的奋斗目标不断转化为实实在在的发展绩效，最终实现国家现代化建设目标阶梯式递进与人民福祉持续不断提升的有机统一。

Through continuous exploration and maturation, the paradigm of governing by planning has accumulated five experiences of world significance. First, adhere to the Party’s overall leadership and strategic guidance, ensuring that the goals of national and social development always align with the long-term objectives of Chinese-path modernization, organically combining long-term and short-term goals, with one term of leadership carrying on the work of the previous and one generation following the next. Second, uphold the people-centered value orientation, always taking the realization, safeguarding, and development of the fundamental interests of the broadest masses of the people as the starting point and ultimate goal, advancing the integrated development of the economy and society to a higher stage of development and a higher quality of development in the historical journey from solving the people’s food and clothing problems to improving their public welfare and then to achieving common prosperity for all the people. Third, uphold the institutional advantage of concentrating resources to accomplish major tasks, focusing in each stage of advancing Chinese-path modernization on key areas and weak links that concern the overall and long-term development of the country, achieving major breakthroughs, completing major tasks, and creating major development in a relatively short period. Fourth, adhere to a development approach that combines step-by-step goals with cumulative performance, continuously accumulating development resources and outcomes through institutional arrangements of “goals with priorities and tasks with primary and secondary roles,” enabling the broad masses of the people to maintain full commitment, full participation, and active support for Chinese-path modernization in the process of constantly sharing development resources and outcomes. Fifth, build a framework of combined forces for a capable government, an effective market, and an orderly society, fully leveraging the subjectivity, initiative, and cooperation of the four core entities—the ruling Party, the government, the market, and society—in the historical process of Chinese-path modernization, promoting the construction of a multi-force system for the development of Chinese-path modernization.

经过不断探索和成熟定型，规划治国范式积累了五条具有世界意义的经验。第一，坚持党的全面领导与战略引领，确保国家和社会发展目标始终以中国式现代化长远目标为依归，将长远目标和近期目标有机结合，一任接着一任干、一代接着一代干。第二，坚持以人民为中心的价值取向，始终以实现好、维护好、发展好最广大人民群众的根本利益为出发点和落脚点，在从解决人民群众的温饱问题到提高人民群众的公共福祉再到实现全体人民共同富裕的历史征程中，将经济社会一体化发展推进到更高的发展阶段和更有质量的发展水平。第三，坚持集中力量办大事的制度优势，在推进中国式现代化的各个阶段聚焦事关国家整体和长远发展的关键领域和薄弱环节，在较短时间内实现重大突破、完成重大任务、创造重大发展。第四，坚持阶梯式奋斗目标与累积性发展绩效相结合的发展方式，通过“目标有先后、任务有主次”的制度安排，不断累积发展资源和发展成果，让广大人民在不断共享发展资源和成果的过程中始终保持对中国式现代化的全情投入、全力参与和积极支持。第五，构建有为政府、有效市场与有序社会的合力发展框架，充分发挥执政党、政府、市场、社会四大核心主体在中国式现代化历史进程中的主体性、积极性与合作性，推动构建中国式现代化发展的多元合力体系。

(The author is a Distinguished Professor at Fudan University)

（作者系复旦大学特聘教授）