China’s Common Prosperity Endeavour Continues to Develop with Remarkable Achievements

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Communist Party of China has placed the realisation of common prosperity in a more important position, continuously refining the overall concept of common prosperity. It not only advocates “promoting common prosperity through high-quality development” at the material level, but also comprehensively elucidates the rich connotations of common prosperity from the perspectives of political civilisation, ecological civilisation, and cultural-ethical progress.

自中共十八大以来，中国共产党把实现共同富裕摆在更加重要的位置上，不断完善共同富裕的总体概念。不仅在物质层面上提倡“在高质量发展中促进共同富裕”，而且还从政治文明、生态文明、精神文明角度，全方位阐释了共同富裕的丰富内涵。

Achieving common prosperity requires high-quality development. The world stands at the forefront of a new industrial revolution (autonomous vehicles, 3D printing, robotics, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, quantum computing, nanotechnology, genomics, and genetic engineering). At this time, however, China faces unreasonable trade restrictions and even encounters “bottleneck” problems in the import of key products. [1] Faced with this challenge, the Communist Party of China has adopted an innovation-driven development strategy, attaching great importance to the development, promotion, and application of high and new technologies across various fields. To support scientific and technological innovation, the Communist Party of China places great emphasis on developing national education and vocational training, striving to enhance the human capital and professional skills of the entire society. At the same time, the Communist Party of China encourages the people to become prosperous through hard work and innovation, creating a development environment in which everyone can participate.

实现共同富裕需要高质量发展。世界正处于新工业革命（自动驾驶汽车、3D打印、机器人技术、人工智能、物联网、量子计算、纳米技术、基因组学和基因工程）的前沿。中国此时却遭到不合理的贸易限制，甚至在关键产品进口中遇到“卡脖子”问题。面对这一挑战，中国共产党采取了创新驱动的发展战略，重视高新技术的开发、推广及其在各领域的应用。为支持科技创新，中国共产党十分重视发展国民教育和职业培训，致力于提升全社会人力资本和专业技能。同时，中国共产党鼓励民众勤劳创新致富，打造人人参与的发展环境。

While encouraging innovation-driven prosperity, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese government has intensified its crackdown on illegal income and strengthened the regulation and adjustment of unreasonably high incomes. The Chinese government has launched a series of anti-corruption campaigns, including “cracking down on organised crime” and “eliminating gangsters and evil forces” operations, resolutely curbing power-for-money deals. [2] In the financial and real estate sectors, the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government have also taken measures to control debt and related risk red lines, strengthening supervision over real estate and shadow banking; in the platform economy, the Chinese government has strengthened anti-monopoly regulation of platform giants, preventing them from obtaining excess profits by suppressing competitors and squeezing small suppliers; in the cultural field, the government strictly manages the cultural and entertainment industry, severely cracking down on issues such as tax evasion by celebrities, while also striving to ensure that the development of the video game industry does not affect education, science, technology, and other cultural undertakings.

在鼓励创新致富的同时，在中国共产党的领导下，中国政府加大了对非法收入的打击力度，加强了对不合理高收入的规范和调节。中国政府开展了一系列反腐败行动，包括“打击有组织犯罪”和“扫黑除恶”行动，坚决遏制权钱交易。在金融和房地产领域，中国共产党和中国政府还采取措施控制债务和相关风险的红线，强化对房地产和影子银行的监管；在平台经济中，中国政府加强对平台巨头反垄断监管，防止其通过打压竞争对手和压榨小供应商获取超额利润；在文化领域，政府严格对文化娱乐产业管理，严打明星偷税漏税等问题，同时努力确保视频游戏行业的发展不会影响教育、科学、技术和其他文化事业。

The most profound driver of income distribution is the primary distribution of income. The Communist Party of China is striving to expand the size of the middle-income group, increase the share of wages in income distribution, restrict employers from excessively extending working hours, and focus on enhancing the fairness of competition. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese government implements regional development policies for the central, western, and northeastern regions, coordinating urban and rural development. These measures expand local employment, improve infrastructure, attract investment, and increase the income of local people through the construction and mobilisation of local resources.

收入分配最深刻的驱动因素是收入的初次分配。中国共产党着力扩大中等收入群体规模，增加工资在收入分配中的份额，限制用人单位过多延长劳动时间，着力提升竞争公平性。在中国共产党的领导下，中国政府贯彻中西部和东北地区的区域发展政策，统筹城乡发展。这些措施通过建设和调动当地资源，扩大当地就业、改善基础设施、吸引投资并增加当地民众收入。

The Communist Party of China and the Chinese government have also carried out fiscal and tax reforms, promoting more balanced basic public services through secondary distribution. The Communist Party of China has established a minimum living standard guarantee system in both rural and urban areas, and has set up a social security system of “five insurances and one housing fund” for workers, covering endowment insurance, medical insurance, unemployment insurance, work-related injury insurance, maternity insurance, and housing provident fund. [3] In terms of the supply of basic public services, public infrastructure and services such as healthcare, education, elderly care, emergency response, culture and sports, waste management, and transportation have been spread across the country.

中国共产党和中国政府还进行财税改革，通过二次分配促进基本公共服务更加均衡。中国共产党在农村和城市都建立了最低生活保障制度，为劳动者建立了“五险一金”的社会保障制度，涵盖养老、医疗、失业、工伤和生育保险以及住房公积金。在基本公共服务供给方面，医疗卫生、教育、养老、应急、文化体育、垃圾管理、交通运输等公共基础设施和服务已遍布全国。

In recent years, the rapid increase in the costs of housing, education, and healthcare has placed a burden on some families. To promote social justice and ensure that the people share in the fruits of reform and development, the Communist Party of China is striving to address problems in these areas, preventing them from being “hijacked by capital.” The Chinese government has vigorously promoted the construction of government-subsidised housing, reduced the risks of real estate costs and related financial market risks, restricted excessively rapid increases in market rents, and improved the issue of vacant housing. At the same time, in education, the government is working to reduce education costs, implementing the “double reduction” policy to alleviate the burden on families. [4]

近年来，住房、教育、医疗成本迅速增长，给部分家庭造成负担。为了促进社会公正、保障人民群众共享改革发展成果，中国共产党着力解决上述领域问题，防止“被资本劫持”。中国政府大力推进保障性住房建设，降低房地产成本风险及相关金融市场风险，限制市场房租过快上涨，改善空置住房问题。同时，在教育方面，政府着力降低教育成本，实行“双减”政策，减轻家庭教育负担。

For a long time, the Communist Party of China has consistently emphasised the role of tertiary distribution, stressing the responsibility of those who become prosperous first to help others achieve prosperity, and has achieved remarkable results in multiple fields and regions. The “paired assistance plan” and the major cross-regional tax transfers from the central government to local governments in less developed areas are very successful examples. [5]

长期以来，中国共产党始终强调三次分配的作用，强调先富带动后富的责任，在多领域多地区均已取得显著成果。“对口援助计划”以及中央政府向欠发达地区地方政府进行的重大跨区域税收转移就是非常成功的例子。

Furthermore, without attention to China’s poverty alleviation efforts, it is impossible to fully evaluate the contribution of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government to common prosperity. The targeted poverty alleviation proposed by the Chinese government in 2013 is most striking, lifting nearly 100 million people out of extreme poverty under the current standard, with all 832 poverty-stricken counties and 128,000 impoverished villages removed from the poverty list. [6] This reflects the unwavering political commitment of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government; eliminating poverty is a shared responsibility of government departments at all levels. After poverty alleviation, the government turned its attention to addressing the risk that some people might fall back into poverty. Therefore, the Communist Party of China continues to deeply advance rural revitalisation.

此外，如果不关注中国的扶贫事业，也无法全面评价中国共产党和中国政府对共同富裕的贡献。2013年中国政府提出的精准扶贫最引人注目，使现行标准下近1亿人口摆脱了极端贫困，832个贫困县和12.8万个贫困村全部从贫困名单中移除。这体现了中国共产党和中国政府坚定不移的政治承诺，消除贫困是各级政府部门的共同责任。脱贫之后，政府又将注意力转向应对部分人可能重新返贫的风险上。因此，中国共产党持续深入推进乡村振兴。

Achieving high-quality development also requires building an ecological civilisation system, requiring high-quality, green, and healthy modes of living and production, and harmony between humanity and nature. Therefore, the Communist Party of China is establishing and improving a strict national land management system, committed to integrated urban-rural development, and attaching importance to the important role of rural areas as carriers of Chinese civilisation in economic and cultural development. From 2014 to 2020, the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government promoted a new type of people-centred urbanisation. The 19th National Congress of the CPC proposed the rural revitalisation strategy, striving to build vast rural areas into homes where the Chinese people can live and work in peace and contentment and enjoy a happy life. [7]

实现高质量发展还需要构建生态文明体系，需要高质量、绿色健康的生活和生产方式，需要人与自然和谐相处。因此，中国共产党正在建立健全严格的国家土地管理制度，致力于城乡一体化发展，重视农村作为中华文明的载体在经济、文化发展中扮演的重要角色。2014年至2020年，中国共产党和中国政府推进以人为核心的新型城镇化，中共十九大提出了乡村振兴战略，努力将广大乡村地区建设为中国老百姓安居乐业、享受幸福生活的家园。

After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government protected the people’s life and health through preventing, containing, and managing epidemic risks, adding another dimension to the Communist Party of China’s common prosperity agenda. In this area, China achieved great success in protecting the entire population, especially vulnerable groups.

新冠肺炎疫情暴发后，中国共产党和中国政府通过预防、遏制和管理疫情风险来保护人民的生命健康，为中国共产党的共同富裕议程增添了另一个维度。在这一领域，中国在对全体人民尤其是弱势群体的保护方面取得了巨大成功。

The international division of labour under capitalism has formed a world system in which developed countries, relying on their relatively advanced industrial and military technology and strong financial strength, extract value from developing countries. This system has continuously exacerbated the global wealth gap. China’s rise shows that, if governed properly, emerging economies have the ability to gradually overcome these obstacles and help other countries embark on the path of common prosperity in the process of moving forward. In other words, achieving common prosperity is a common need of all countries in the world. Countries can gradually achieve common prosperity by choosing appropriate development paths and governance methods. To this end, China actively fulfils its international responsibilities, proposing the Belt and Road Initiative, taking the lead in establishing the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Development Bank of the BRICS countries, and playing an active role through multilateral occasions such as the BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

资本主义的国际分工形成了一种世界体系，发达国家凭借其相对先进的工业和军事技术以及强大的金融实力从发展中国家榨取价值，这一体系使全球贫富差距不断加剧。中国的崛起表明，如果治理得当，新兴经济体有能力逐步克服这些障碍，并在前进的过程中帮助其他国家走上共同富裕的道路。换言之，实现共同富裕是世界各国共同的需求，各国可以通过选择适当的发展道路和治理方式，逐步实现共同繁荣。为此，中国积极履行国际责任，提出“一带一路”倡议，倡议筹建亚洲基础设施投资银行和金砖国家新开发银行，并通过金砖国家、上海合作组织等多边场合发挥积极作用。

In summary, achieving common prosperity and high-quality development is the necessary path for China under the leadership of the Communist Party of China to realise the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. These two goals are multidimensional, encompassing material, ecological, cultural, and governance progress. The optimisation of income distribution includes encouraging hard work, regulating excessively high incomes, increasing the size of the middle-income group, and raising the income of low-income groups, which helps strengthen the development model of expanding domestic demand. China’s call for building a community with a shared future for mankind is a direct manifestation of the concept of common prosperity on the international stage.

总之，实现共同富裕和高质量发展是中国共产党领导下的中国实现中华民族伟大复兴的必经之路。这两个目标是多维的，包括物质、生态、文化和治理进步各个方面。收入分配的优化包括鼓励辛勤劳动、调节过高收入、增加中等收入群体规模以及提高低收入群体收入，这有助于加强扩大内需的发展模式。中国呼吁构建人类命运共同体，是共同富裕理念在国际舞台上的直接体现。

[Author: Michael Dunford (UK), Emeritus Professor, School of Global Studies, University of Sussex; Translator: Wang Zhen, Distinguished Research Fellow, Research Centre for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for

【作者：唐迈（英国），系苏塞克斯大学全球研究学院名誉教授；译者：王珍，系中国社会科学院习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想研究中心特约研究员】

Online editor: Zhang Jian

网络编辑：张剑