Han Xiping, Du Du: A Scholarly Interpretation of “the People’s Needs for a Better Life”

As socialism with Chinese characteristics enters a New Era, the principal contradiction in Chinese society has undergone a major shift from “the contradiction between the ever-growing material and cultural needs of the people and backward social production” to “the contradiction between the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development.” The connotation and extension of the people’s needs are constantly expanding, the level of needs is continuously rising, and the diversity of needs is steadily enriching. These needs are no longer confined to material abundance and cultural-ethical fulfillment in the traditional sense; rather, needs in the political, legal, cultural, moral, health, and ecological spheres are also increasing without abatement. How to scientifically understand the specific connotation of “the people’s needs for a better life” is of extremely great significance for effectively resolving the problems of imbalance and inadequacy, thereby advancing the continuous satisfaction of the people’s needs for a better life.

中国特色社会主义进入新时代，我国的社会主要矛盾实现了由“人民日益增长的物质文化需要同落后的社会生产之间的矛盾”到“人民日益增长的美好生活需要和不平衡不充分的发展之间的矛盾”的重大转变。人民群众需要的内涵和外延在不断扩大，需要的层次不断提高、需要的多样性不断丰富，其不仅局限于传统语境下的物质生活富足和精神生活充盈，而且在政治、法治、文化、道德、健康、生态等方面的需要也有增无减。如何科学理解“人民美好生活需要”的具体内涵，对于有效解决不平衡、不充分问题，从而推进不断满足人民美好生活需要具有极为重大的意义。

I. The Conceptual Evolution of “the People’s Needs for a Better Life”

一、“人民美好生活需要”的概念演进

“The people’s needs for a better life” is a new concept and a new category solemnly put forward by General Secretary Xi Jinping at the 19th National Congress of the CPC. We must follow the guidance of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s grand historical perspective and comprehensively understand the people’s needs for a better life from the past, present, and future of China’s social and historical development. People in every era will have visions of a better life that correspond to the specific historical development conditions of that time. In each historical period, the category, grade, and level of the people’s better life will undergo corresponding changes. The proposal of the needs for a better life for humanity is the result of the continuous development of Chinese social history, and its connotation and extension will also become richer with the development of Chinese social history.

“人民美好生活需要”是习近平总书记在党的十九大上郑重提出的新概念、新范畴，我们必须遵循习近平总书记大历史观的指引，从中国社会历史发展的过去、现在和未来全面理解人民美好生活需要。每个时代的人都会有与当时特定历史发展状况相适应的美好生活愿景，在每一个历史时期中，人民美好生活的类别、档次、水平都会出现相应的变化。人类美好生活需要的提出是中国社会历史不断发展的结果，其内涵和外延也会随着中国社会历史发展而更加丰富。

The basic contradiction of society is the driving force of social development. In corresponding periods of social and historical development, the basic contradiction of society will manifest itself in the most representative and prominent form, namely, the principal contradiction of society. Scientific grasp of the principal contradiction of society is the primary requirement for promoting social development and progress, and the principal aspect of the principal contradiction of society is the basic direction of social development and progress. Grasping the change in the principal contradiction of society in the New Era is a historic change that concerns the overall development of our country. This requires us not only to make great efforts to solve the problems of unbalanced and inadequate development but also to understand and grasp the people’s needs for a better life in an all-round, multi-level, and dynamic manner.

社会基本矛盾是社会发展的动力源泉。在相应的社会历史发展时期，社会基本矛盾会以最具代表性、最为突出的形式所体现，即社会主要矛盾。对于社会主要矛盾的科学把握是推动社会发展进步的首要要求，社会主要矛盾的主要方面则是社会发展进步的基本方向。把握新时代社会主要矛盾变化是关系我国全局发展的历史性变化，这就要求我们既要着力解决好发展不平衡不充分问题，也要全方位多层次动态认识和把握人民美好生活需要。

“Need” is the basic driving force for human survival and development; the “pattern of needs” characterizes the level of human civilization; and the “change of needs” runs through the entire historical process of the evolution and development of human social civilization. The phased changes in human needs are closely related to the development of social productive forces, forming a relationship of mutual complementarity and dialectical unity. The interaction between the two is mainly reflected in the following two aspects: First, the primary reason why humans engage in productive labor is to satisfy their own survival needs. It is precisely under the impetus of human needs that humans carry out the transformation of the natural world, enabling productive forces to transform from potential productive forces into actual productive forces. Second, changes in human needs will prompt laborers to continuously raise their level of understanding, improve their production skills, and refine their production tools, ultimately promoting the leapfrog development of productive forces. In turn, the improvement in the level of development of productive forces will realize the satisfaction of human needs. In this way, human needs and productive forces, through their mutual influence and mutual promotion, drive the direction of human social development. If comprehensive development and the need for freedom and liberation are the highest needs of humanity, then the people’s needs for a better life are the phased needs after the transformation of the principal contradiction of society in the New Era.

“需要”是人类生存发展的基础性动因，“需要的样态”表征的是人类文明形态的层次高低，“需要的变化”贯穿于人类社会文明发展演变的整个历史进程。人的需要的阶段性变化与社会生产力发展息息相关，是相辅相成、辩证统一的关系。二者相互作用主要体现于以下两个方面：其一，人类之所以从事生产劳动，首要原因是为了满足自身生存需要。正是在人的需要的推动下，人类展开对自然世界的改造，生产力才能由潜在的生产力转变为现实的生产力；其二，人的需要的变化会促使劳动者不断提升认识水平、提高生产技能、改进生产工具，最终推动生产力的跃迁发展，而生产力发展水平的提升反过来又会实现人的需要的满足。如此，人的需要与生产力就以相互影响、相互促进的方式推动了人类社会的发展方向。如果说全面发展和自由解放需要是人的最高需要，那么，人民美好生活需要就是新时代社会主要矛盾转化后的阶段性需要。

In modern China, in order to save the nation from subjugation and ensure its survival, various classes successively appeared on the historical stage, but none could rescue the Chinese nation from dire peril. The arrival of Marxism and the founding of the CPC gave a completely new complexion to the Chinese revolution. During this period, national independence was the greatest and best need of the Chinese people. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, all aspects of economic and social development were in a state of

近代中国，为了救亡图存，各阶级都先后亮相于历史舞台，但都未能救中华民族于水火之中。马克思主义的到来、中国共产党的成立，让中国的革命面貌变焕然一新。在这一时期，民族独立是中国人民群众最大、最美好的需要。中华人民共和国成立之后，经济社会发展各方面都百废待兴，吃饱穿暖是中国人民群众最大、最美好的需要。改革开放之后，经过几十年的量变积累，温饱问题从根本上得到解决，全面建设小康社会目标基本实现，人民需要“以真正的、完整的、全面的美好”方式进入中国历史舞台。由求独立到求温饱，由到求富裕到求美好，是近200年以来中国人民的需要问题发展演变的逻辑主线。只有基本物质需求问题解决了，才会凸显其他方面的问题，温饱问题都得不到解决，美好生活就无从谈起。现阶段，改革开放的一系列成就虽然从根本上解决了人民群众基本的物质需要问题，但仍然存在收入差距较大、地区城乡发展不平衡、生态污染、文化建设与经济发展不平衡等等。人民对于解决这些问题的期待逐渐上升。

In the "Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy," Marx profoundly pointed out: "Mankind always sets itself only such tasks as it can solve; since, looking at the matter more closely, it will always be found that the task itself arises only when the material conditions for its solution already exist or are at least in the process of formation." [1]1 Marx, "Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy," 1859. Therefore, the understanding of "the people's need for a better life" should likewise, following Marx's theoretical prompt, be comprehended from the contradictions of social material life, from the conflict and evolution between productive forces and relations of production. Moreover, special attention should be paid to the prefix "ever-growing" attached to "the people's need for a better life." Hence, the introduction of this new concept is based both on already matured material conditions and on the continuously improving socialist relations of production. And with the arrival of entirely new material conditions and more perfected socialist relations of production, the people's need for a better life will inevitably undergo corresponding changes. It is precisely in the above sense that the connotation and extension of the people's need for a better life will continuously enrich with the historical development of Chinese society.

在《〈政治经济学批判〉序言》中，马克思深刻指出：“人类始终只提出自己能够解决的任务，因为只要仔细考察就可以发现，任务本身，只有在解决它的物质条件已经存在或者至少是在生成过程中的时候，才会产生。”因此，对于“人民美好生活需要”的理解，同样应该按照马克思的理论提示，从社会物质生活的矛盾中，从生产力与生产关系的冲突演进中进行理解。并且，尤其应该注意到“人民美好生活需要”的前缀“日益增长的”。所以，这一新概念的提出，既建立在已经成熟了的物质条件的基础之上，也建立在不断完善的社会主义生产关系之上。而随着全新的物质条件和更加完善的社会主义生产关系的到来，人民美好生活需要必然也会产生相应变化。正是在上述意义上，人民美好生活需要的内涵和外延会随着中国社会历史发展不断丰富。

II. The Specific Connotation of "the People's Need for a Better Life"

二、“人民美好生活需要”的具体内涵

Historical materialism holds that, on the one hand, as a natural being, humans possess a passive aspect, while on the other hand, as conscious social beings, they also possess an active aspect. Therefore, humans are in essence a unity of passivity and activity, both indispensable. Reflected in the issue of human needs, as a special existence distinct from other species, humans have both material needs similar to those of other species and spiritual needs that can embody the particularity of humans.

历史唯物主义认为，人一方面作为自然存在物，具有受动性的一面，而另一方面作为有意识的社会存在物，又具有能动性的一面。所以，人在本质上应该是受动性与能动性的统一体，二者不可或缺。反映到人的需要问题上，人作为一个区别于其他物种的特殊性存在，既具有与其他物种类似的物质性需要，同时也具有能够体现人的特殊性的精神性需要。

First, the people’s needs for a better life are based on rich and diverse material needs. Grounded in historical materialism, we find that the most fundamental issue running through the history of human social development is the satisfaction of material needs; all struggles waged by humanity actually revolve around the issue of material interests, and their socio-historical roots lie in the underlying economic factors. This is because the economic base determines the superstructure: “The development of politics, law, philosophy, etc. is based on economic development. But they all also interact with each other and exert an influence on the economic base… Economic relations, no matter how much they are influenced by other relations, are in the final analysis decisive.” [1]1 Marx, "Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy," 1859. Marx paid attention to the issue of human material needs as early as his time at the *Rheinische Zeitung*, and it was precisely this attention that drove Marx’s philosophical shift from idealism to materialism and his political shift from revolutionary democracy to communism. In the *Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844*, Marx pointed out that under capitalist social conditions, wages have a minimum standard, namely the cost of maintaining the worker’s own survival and supporting a family—the lowest level of need. This minimum standard is the “usual wages” in Adam Smith’s classical economic context. Marx criticized the national economists for “treating the worker only as a working animal, as a beast reduced to the most necessary bodily needs.” Moreover, under the rule of the capitalist social system’s logic, all human needs ultimately evolve into one need: the need for money, which is a “true, sole need.” Thus, human needs degenerate into pathological, alienated needs. In response to the alienation of workers’ labor and the alienation of workers’ needs, Marx proposed the establishment of a communist society of human freedom and equality. In the communist stage, “after labor has become not only a means of life but life’s primary need; after the productive forces have also increased with the all-around development of the individual, and all the springs of cooperative wealth flow more abundantly… only then can society inscribe on its banner: From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!” [2]2 “Original aspiration and founding mission” (初心使命): A standard Party formulation referring to the CPC’s founding commitment to serve the people and realize communism, formally codified in the “original aspiration and founding mission” education campaign launched in 2019. It is evident that in Marx’s view, the reasonable satisfaction of material needs is not only the primary prerequisite for the all-around development of human beings but also a basic hallmark of communist society. Material wealth is the foundation of civilization; the satisfaction of rich, multi-layered material needs is the basis and key to satisfying the people’s needs for a better life. The satisfaction of material needs concerns not only the realization of the people’s needs for a better life but also the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Among the different types and levels of needs for a better life, material needs have primacy and priority. Richer and higher-level material needs are not only an economic issue but also a major political issue concerning the Party’s governing foundation. Over more than four decades of reform and opening up, the people’s living standards have been greatly improved, and at the same time, the people’s needs have further enriched and elevated. First, there is the issue of richer and higher-level material needs. Having completed the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and satisfied the people’s basic living needs, it inevitably requires richer and higher-level material needs. This means emphasizing the richness, efficiency, coordination, and greenness of material production on the supply side; placing greater emphasis on the supply of public goods in the field of people’s livelihoods, so that children are well cared for, the young receive education, workers are remunerated, the sick receive medical treatment, the elderly are provided for, people have housing, and the weak are supported. [3]3 Marx and Engels, *The German Ideology* (1845–1846). The full passage reads: “The first historical act is thus the production of the means to satisfy these needs, the production of material life itself. And indeed this is an historical act, a fundamental condition of all history, which today, as thousands of years ago, must daily and hourly be fulfilled merely in order to sustain human life.” The quotation in the text is from a slightly different formulation in the same work. Second, there is the issue of fairness in richer and higher-level material needs. Although material production in developed capitalist countries is rich in variety and higher in level, the polarization between rich and poor leaves the material needs of the vast majority of working people at the bottom of capitalist society still relatively deficient. Facing the widening gap between rich and poor across classes, regions, and urban and rural areas since reform and opening up, General

首先，人民美好生活需要以丰富多样物质性需要为基础。立足于唯物史观，我们发现，贯穿于人类社会发展史的一个最基本问题就是物质需要的满足问题，人类进行的一切斗争实际上都围绕着物质利益问题展开，并且其社会历史根源就在于背后的经济因素。因为，经济基础决定上层建筑，“政治、法、哲学……等等的发展是以经济发展为基础的。但是，它们又都互相作用并对经济基础发生作用……经济关系不管受到其他关系多大影响，归根到底还是具有决定意义的”。对于人的物质性需要问题，马克思在《莱茵报》时期就给予了重视，并且正是对于这种问题的重视推动了马克思在哲学立场上由唯心主义向唯物主义、在政治立场上由革命民主主义向共产主义的转变。在《1844年经济学哲学手稿》中，马克思指出在资本主义社会条件下，工资有一个最低的标准，即是维持工人自身存活和养家糊口的费用，是需要的最低水平。这个最低的标准就是斯密的古典经济学语境下的“通常的工资”。马克思在批判国民经济学家“把工人只当做劳动的动物，当做仅仅有最必要的肉体需要的牲畜”。并且，在资本主义社会体制逻辑的统治下，人的需要最后都会演变为一种需要，就是对货币的需要，这是一种“真正的、唯一的需要”。由此，人的需要沦为一种病态的、异化的需要。针对工人劳动的异化和工人需要的异化，马克思提出要建立人类自由平等的共产主义社会，在共产主义阶段，“在劳动已经不仅仅是谋生的手段，而且本身成了生活的第一需要之后；在随着个人的全面发展，他们的生产力也增长起来，而集体财富的一切源泉都充分涌流之后……社会才能在自己的旗帜上写上：各尽所能，按需分配！”可见在马克思看来，物质性需要的合理满足不仅是人的全面发展的首要前提，也是共产主义社会的基本标志。物质是文明的基础，丰富的、多层次的物质需要满足是人民美好生活需要满足的基础和关键，物质性需要的满足不仅关系到人民美好生活需要的实现，更关系到中华民族的伟大复兴。人民美好生活不同类型、不同层次的需要中，物质需要具有第一性、优先性。更加丰富、更高水平的物质需要不仅是经济问题，更是关系党的执政基础的重大政治问题。改革开放四十多年的发展，人民群众的生活水平得到了很大程度的提升，同时人民的需求也进一步丰富与提升。一是更加丰富、更高水平的物质性需要问题。在全面建成小康社会、人民基本生活需要得到满足的情况下，就必然要求更加丰富的、更高水平的物质性需要。重视供给端物质生产的丰富性、高效性、协调性、绿色性；更加重视民生领域公共产品供给，使得幼有所育、学有所教、劳有所得、病有所医、老有所养、住有所居、弱有所扶。二是更加丰富、更高水平的物质性需要的公平性问题。资本主义发达国家的物质生产虽然类型丰富、水平更高，但贫富分化使得生活在资本主义社会广大底层劳动者的物质性需要仍旧相对匮乏。面对改革开放以来阶层间、地区间、城乡间贫富差距扩大问题，习近平总书记明确指出：“我们决不能允许贫富差距越来越大、穷者愈穷富者愈富，决不能在富的人和穷的人之间出现一道不可逾越的鸿沟。”党的十八大以来，为进一步缩小贫富差距，党中央采取了一系列重大措施，在缩小贫富差距的问题上做出了巨大努力，并向世人展现了坚定不移的决心。三是更加丰富、更高水平的物质性需要的合理性问题。更加丰富、更高水平的物质性需要虽然是美好生活需要的前提基础，但要防止滑入马克思所批判的资本主义社会虚假需要、奢侈需要的泥潭之中。面对享乐主义、消费主义、物质主义的诱惑，在人的物质需要问题上更应当进行合理引导，防止在更加丰富、更高水平的物质需要问题上走向极端。

Second, the people’s need for a better life is elevated by spiritual needs at the social level. As a composite of material and spiritual existence, natural and social existence, the particularity of the human being is manifested in the spiritual and social dimensions that transcend the material and natural. Reflected in the level of human needs, the particularity of human nature determines that humans inevitably possess strong spiritual needs distinct from those of animals. In *The German Ideology*, Marx and Engels, starting from “real individuals,” scientifically revealed the hierarchical types of human needs. On the one hand, as natural beings, humans’ physical survival must be based on material needs; on the other hand, as social beings distinct from all other species, humans also possess social needs in economic, political, cultural, and other aspects. When the problem of subsistence is resolved, people’s spiritual needs begin to emerge; spiritual needs are a higher-level need built upon material needs. However, in Marx’s view, the true need of humans should be a need beyond material needs, namely, social needs. For Marx emphasizes that “the production of life, both of one’s own in labor and of fresh life in procreation, now appears as a twofold relation: on the one hand as a natural, on the other as a social relation.” It is precisely these two main dimensions of human interaction that determine the two major categories of human needs: natural needs and social needs. And given that animals also possess material needs at the natural level, Marx defines social needs as the essential needs of human nature; these essential needs precisely include human spiritual needs. As an important driving force for the progress of human civilization, spiritual needs are a key component of the people’s need for a better life. In his report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping, when elaborating on the Chinese characteristics of Chinese-path modernization, profoundly pointed out that it is “a modernization of material and cultural-ethical progress coordinated.” A major drawback of capitalist modernization is the excessive expansion of material desires; the logic of things replaces the logic of people, the rich and full human nature is degraded into a single, barren material nature, and the diverse and multi-layered needs manifest only as the need for commodities, bringing about the loss of humanistic spirit and the extinction of ideals and morality. General

第二，人民美好生活需要以社会层面的精神性需要为提升。人作为物质性存在与精神性存在、自然性存在与社会性存在的集合体，其特殊之处就体现于超越于物质、自然层面的精神性与社会性。反映到人的需要层面，人的本质的特殊性决定了人必然会有着区别于动物的、强烈的精神性需要。在《德意志意识形态》中，马克思恩格斯从“现实的人”出发，对人的需要的层次类型进行了科学揭示。一方面，人作为自然存在物，其肉体的存活必须建立在物质需要的基础之上；另一方面，人作为区别于其他一切物种的社会存在物，又具有经济、政治、文化等方面的社会性需要。当人的温饱问题解决之后，人的精神需要开始凸显，精神需要是物质需要基础之上的更高层次需要。但是，在马克思看来，人的真正的需要应该是超出物质需要之外的一种需要，即社会性需要。因为，马克思强调，“生命的生产，无论是通过劳动而生产自己的生命，还是通过生育而生产他人的生命，就立即表现为双重关系：一方面是自然关系，另一方面是社会关系”。正是人类交往的两个主要维度，决定了人的需要的两个大类：自然需要和社会需要。而鉴于动物也具有自然层面的物质需要，导致马克思将社会需要界定为人的本质性需要，这种本质性需要恰恰就包含人的精神性需要。精神性需要作为人类文明进步的重要动力，是人民美好生活需要的重要构成内容。习近平总书记在党的二十大上阐释中国式现代化的中国特色时深刻指出，“物质文明与精神文明相协调的现代化”。资本主义现代化的一个重大弊端就是物欲的过度膨胀，物的逻辑取代了人的逻辑，丰富饱满的人性被贬斥为单一干瘪的物性，类型丰富、层次多样的需要仅仅呈现出对于商品的需要，它所带来的是人文精神失落和理想道德泯灭。习近平总书记指出：“物质富足、精神富有是社会主义现代化的根本要求。物质贫困不是社会主义，精神贫乏也不是社会主义。”党的十八大以来，“党和国家事业取得历史性成就、发生历史性变革，为实现中华民族伟大复兴提供了更为完善的制度保证、更为坚实的物质基础、更为主动的精神力量”。中国正处于向现代化第二个目标迈进的关键时期，既要牢牢把握住经济建设的主方向，将物质文明的发展推向更高水平；也要高度重视人民群众的精神需要满足和精神世界建设，这本身就是人民美好生活的具体要求。

III. The Profound Basis for Satisfying "the People's Needs for a Better Life"

三、满足“人民美好生活需要”的深刻依据

The proposal of “the people’s needs for a better life” has profound theoretical foundations and the practical logic of the development requirements of the New Era. It embodies the value tenets of Marxism, reflects the essential requirements of socialism, is rooted in the actual economic and social development of China, conforms to the original aspiration and founding mission of the CPC, and manifests a high degree of unity between conformity to laws and purposiveness.

“人民美好生活需要”的提出，有着深刻的理论依据和新时代发展要求的实践逻辑，内含着马克思主义的价值宗旨，体现社会主义的本质要求，根植于中国经济社会发展实际，符合中国共产党的初心使命，体现合规律性与合目的性的高度统一。

(I) The Value Tenets of Marxism

（一）马克思主义的价值宗旨

The question of value, as a core topic in philosophical and social science research, runs through the entire development of human society. What is the meaning of human existence? What kind of life is meaningful and valuable? What should the ideal state of human life be? The answers to this series of questions cannot be constructed abstractly at the theoretical level alone, but must be based on the broad space of human practice as reality. Marxism, as a scientific theoretical doctrine with human emancipation as its theme and the free development of humanity as its pursuit, follows the theoretical path of practical materialism to complete the scientific resolution of a series of questions concerning human value. From the perspective of constructing the foundation of general axiology, it is necessary first to answer the following three core questions: First, the distinction between fact and value. Starting from the critique of the economic and social reality of capitalism, Marxism discovered the laws of development of human society and, on a factual basis, proposed the value goal of transforming capitalism and realizing communism. Second, the question of the subject of value. In the theoretical context of Marxism, the subject of value is not a particular group, but all of humanity. Third, the question of the standard of value, i.e., what is the standard of value? Marxism seeks to realize both the natural emancipation of humanity and its social emancipation; it seeks to satisfy both people’s material needs and their social needs; it is a high degree of unity between the subjective world and the objective world, between the human measure and the measure of things, and between the individual standard and the social standard. From the perspective of value logic, Marxism reveals the most sublime value pursuit of human society, namely, the free emancipation and comprehensive development of all humanity. The reason Marxism has trans-century influence and appeal lies not only in its truth, but also, and even more so, in its standing at the moral high ground, without any prejudice, depicting a beautiful blueprint for a human society characterized by selfishness, conflict and confrontation, exploitation and oppression, and providing scientific theoretical guidance for humanity to eliminate exploitation and oppression. Objectively speaking, the realization of the free emancipation and comprehensive development of humanity can, in essence, be understood as the concrete satisfaction of human needs. The people’s needs for a better life are both an accurate judgment by Chinese Marxism of the phased historical tasks of socialism and a Chinese and contemporary theoretical generalization of the classical Marxist value pursuit of “the free emancipation and comprehensive development of humanity.” From the perspective of inheritance and development, the two categories have a high degree of theoretical commonality. The realization of the value pursuit of “the free emancipation and comprehensive development of humanity” should be premised on the satisfaction of “the people’s needs for a better life”; conversely, the satisfaction of “the people’s needs for a better life” will create historical conditions for the realization of the value pursuit of “the free emancipation and comprehensive development of humanity.” If Marxism takes the comprehensive development of humanity and the free emancipation of all humanity as its highest value pursuit, then satisfying the people’s needs for a better life is Marxism’s phased value pursuit.

价值问题作为哲学社会科学研究的核心论题，贯穿于人类社会的发展始终。人类存在的意义是什么？怎样的生活是有意义、有价值的？人类理想的生活状态应该是怎样的？而对于这一系列问题的回答，不能仅仅在理论层面进行抽象建构，而必须立足于人的实践这一现实的广阔空间。马克思主义作为一种以人类解放为主题，以人的自由发展为追求的科学理论学说，正是按照实践唯物主义的理论进路，完成了对人的价值的一系列问题的科学解答。从一般价值论的基础构建来看，必先对以下三个核心问题进行回答：一是事实与价值的分殊问题。马克思主义从批判资本主义经济社会现实出发，发现了人类社会发展规律，在事实性的基础上提出要变革资本主义、实现共产主义的价值目标。二是价值主体的问题。在马克思主义的理论语境下，价值主体不是某一特殊群体，而是全体人类。三是价值标准的问题，也即为价值标准是什么？马克思主义既要实现人的自然解放，也要实现人的社会解放；既要满足人的物质性需要，也要满足人的社会性需要；是主观世界与客观世界、人的尺度与物的尺度、个体本位与社会本位的高度统一。从价值逻辑来看，马克思主义展现了人类社会最崇高的价值追求，即全人类的自由解放和全面发展。马克思主义主义之所以具有跨世纪的影响力、感召力，不仅在于马克思主义的真理性，而且更在于其站在道义的制高点，不带任何偏见的，为自私自利、冲突对抗、剥削压榨的人类社会描绘了一个美好蓝图，为人类消灭剥削、消灭压迫提供了科学的理论指引。客观来看，人的自由解放和全面发展的实现在本质上都可以理解为人的需要的具体满足。人民美好生活需要既是中国化马克思主义对社会主义阶段性历史任务的准确判断，也是对经典马克思主义关于“人的自由解放和全面发展”价值追求的中国化、时代化理论概括。从继承性与发展性的角度来看，两个范畴具有高度的理论共通性。“人的自由解放和全面发展”价值追求的实现，应该以“人民美好生活需要”的满足为前提；而“人民美好生活需要”的满足又会为“人的自由解放和全面发展”价值追求的实现创造历史条件。如果说马克思主义将人的全面发展和全人类的自由解放作为最高价值追求；那么，满足人民美好生活需要就是马克思主义的阶段性价值追求。

(II) The Essential Embodiment of Socialism

（二）社会主义的本质体现

Deng Xiaoping pointed out that “the essence of socialism is to liberate and develop the productive forces, eliminate exploitation and polarization, and ultimately achieve common prosperity.” This is a scientific revelation of the essence of socialism based on the contradictory movement between the productive forces and the relations of production, from two major aspects: the fundamental task and the development goal. That is, the fundamental task is “to liberate and develop the productive forces,” and the development goal is “to eliminate exploitation and polarization, and ultimately achieve common prosperity.” From the logical relationship between the “fundamental task” and the “development goal” of the essence of socialism, the fundamental task and the development goal are mutually conditional and interchangeable. The fundamental task is the basis of the development goal; only on the basis of highly developed productive forces can common prosperity be achieved. The development goal can only be realized through the means of the fundamental task. It can be seen that whether it is the fundamental task or the development goal, both are aimed at achieving the fundamental goal of “common prosperity,” which is the connotation of the essence of socialism. In the New Era, General Secretary Xi Jinping has provided an innovative interpretation of the essence of socialism by adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times, clearly pointing out that “eliminating poverty, improving people’s livelihoods, and achieving common prosperity are the essential requirements of socialism.” It can be seen that continuously promoting the common prosperity of all the people is an inherent requirement of the people’s better life, and also a concrete content of the people’s better life. The “people” in “the people’s needs for a better life” requires all the masses of the people, which satisfies the “common” requirement of common prosperity, and is a deep integration of multiple categories of needs and different levels of needs, such as material needs and spiritual needs, individual needs and social needs. At the same time, “the people’s needs for a better life” necessarily requires highly developed productive forces, and necessarily requires the absence of exploitation, equality, and justice. Satisfying the people’s needs for a better life embodies the essential requirements of socialism.

邓小平指出“社会主义的本质，是解放生产力，发展生产力，消灭剥削，消除两极分化，最终达到共同富裕”，这是立足于生产力与生产关系的矛盾运动，从根本任务和发展目的两大方面对社会主义本质进行了科学揭示，即根本任务是“解放生产力和发展生产力”，发展目标是“消灭剥削、消除两极分化、最终达到共同富裕”。从社会主义本质的“根本任务”和“发展目标”的逻辑关系来看，根本任务与发展目标是互为条件、相互转换的。根本任务是发展目标的基础，只有以生产力的高度发达为基础，才能实现共同富裕；发展目标只有通过根本任务的方式才能实现。可见，无论是根本任务，还是发展目标，都是为了达到社会主义本质内涵的“共同富裕”这一的根本目标。新时代，习近平总书记对社会主义本质进行了中国化时代化的创新阐释，明确指出，“消除贫困、改善民生、实现共同富裕，是社会主义的本质要求”。可见，不断推进全体人民共同富裕是人民美好生活的内在要求，也是人民美好生活的具体内容，“人民美好生活需要”中“人民”要求是全体人民群众，这满足的是共同富裕的“共同”要求，而且是物质需要与精神需要、个体需要与社会需要等多种需要类别、不同需要层次的深度融合。同时，“人民美好生活需要”必然要求生产力高度发达，而且必然要求没有剥削、平等公正，满足人民美好生活需要体现的是社会主义的本质要求。

(III) The Embodiment of the Original Aspiration of the CPC in the New Era

（三）新时代中国共产党的初心体现

Seeking happiness for the people is the original aspiration and founding mission of the Communist Party of China. As socialism with Chinese characteristics enters the New Era, General Secretary Xi Jinping has further clarified that “our people love life and look forward to better education, more stable employment, more satisfactory income, more reliable social security, higher-level medical and health services, more comfortable living conditions, and a more beautiful environment. They want their children to grow up better, work better, and live better.” “The people’s aspiration for a better life is our goal.” The history of the Communist Party of China’s struggle is in fact a history of leading the people to continuously satisfy their needs and realize their happiness. The proposal of “the people’s needs for a better life” originates from the historical practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics; the transformation of the principal contradiction driven by the development of social productive forces defines its content and essence. Over the more than forty years of reform and opening up, the continuous adjustment and optimization of relations of production have greatly released the potential of productive forces. China’s comprehensive national strength has markedly increased, and its developmental achievements have laid a solid material foundation for satisfying the people’s needs for a better life, pushing China’s economic and social development into a brand-new stage. The report of the 19th National Congress of the CPC pointed out: “Socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a New Era, which is a new historical juncture for China’s development.” The transformation of the principal contradiction profoundly reflects the all-round historic changes in China’s economic and social development. Specifically, it is mainly manifested in the following two aspects: first, the level of productive forces has achieved high-quality development, and the total volume of social production has entered the forefront of the world, yet imbalances and inadequacies remain in development; second, the categories of the people’s needs have become increasingly rich, their levels more distinct, and their individuality more prominent—that is, “the people’s needs for a better life are growing ever broader; not only have higher requirements been raised for material and cultural life, but demands in areas such as democracy, the rule of law, fairness, justice, security, and the environment are also growing day by day.” It can thus be seen that the fundamental reason for the proposal of the proposition “satisfying the people’s needs for a better life” lies in the enormous improvement in the level of China’s social material productive forces. After the satisfaction of the people’s material needs, the level, type, and requirements of the people’s needs have undergone new upgrades. Over the more than forty years of reform and opening up, the people’s needs for a better life have been advancing from the stage of “whether there is or is not” at the beginning of reform and opening up to the stage of “whether it is beautiful or not” and “whether it is good or not” after completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. The people are paying more attention to their sense of gain, happiness, and security in real life. From the Marxist point of view, people always advance on the basis of real social material conditions, continuously satisfying their own ever-changing needs in various ways, which in fact constitutes the internal driving force of the historical development of human society. As Marx pointed out: “The satisfaction of the first need itself, the activity of satisfying it and the instruments already acquired for its satisfaction lead to new needs, and this generation of new needs is the first historical act.” [1]1 Marx, "Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy," 1859. Therefore, the satisfaction of people’s needs must be the result of practice, and the proposal of new needs is also the result of practice. It can be said that the goal of satisfying the people’s needs for a better life runs through the entire process of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics and is an inevitable requirement of the practical development of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

为人民谋幸福是中国共产党的初心使命，中国特色社会主义进入新时代，习近平总书记进一步明确“我们的人民热爱生活，期盼有更好的教育、更稳定的工作、更满意的收入、更可靠的社会保障、更高水平的医疗卫生服务、更舒适的居住条件、更优美的环境，期盼孩子们能成长得更好、工作得更好、生活得更好”。“人民对美好生活的向往，就是我们的奋斗目标。”中国共产党的奋斗史实际上就是一部领导人民不断满足其需要、实现人民幸福的历史。“人民美好生活需要”的提出源于中国特色社会主义的历史实践，社会生产力发展推动的社会主要矛盾转化规定了其内容实质。在改革开放的四十多年中，生产关系的不断调整优化极大程度地释放了生产力发展潜力，我国的综合国力明显增强，其发展成就为满足人民美好生活需要奠定了坚实的物质基础，推动中国经济社会发展进入到了一个崭新阶段。党的十九大报告指出：“中国特色社会主义进入了新时代，这是我国发展新的历史方位。”社会主要矛盾的转化深刻反映了中国经济社会发展全方位的历史性变革。具体而言，主要体现在以下两个层面：一是生产力水平实现高质量发展，社会生产总量踏入世界前列，但在发展中尚存不平衡不充分；二是人民群众的需要的品类愈发丰富，层次更为鲜明，个性更加突出，即“人民美好生活需要日益广泛，不仅对物质文化生活提出了更高要求，而且在民主、法治、公平、正义、安全、环境等方面的要求日益增长”。由此可见，“满足人民美好生活需要”命题的提出，根本原因在于我国社会物质生产力水平的巨大提升，在人民物质层面的需要满足之后，人民群众的需要水平、类型、层次要求有了新的提升。在改革开放的四十多年间，人民群众对于美好生活的需要正在由改革开放之初的“有没有”向全面建成小康社会后的“美不美”“好不好”的阶段迈进。人民群众更加注重现实生活中的获得感、幸福感、安全感。从马克思主义的观点来看，人总是在现实的社会物质状况的基础上，不断以各种方式满足自身持续变化的需要过程中前进的，这实际上也构成了人类社会历史发展的内在动力。正如马克思指出：“已经得到满足的第一个需要本身、满足需要的活动和已经获得的为满足需要而用的工具又引起新的需要，而这种新的需要的产生是第一个历史活动。”所以，人的需要的满足必然是实践的结果，新的需要的提出同样也是实践的结果。可以说，人民美好生活需要的满足这一奋斗目标贯穿于中国特色社会主义事业始终，是中国特色社会主义实践发展的必然要求。

IV. Basic Guarantees for Satisfying “the People’s Needs for a Better Life”

四、满足“人民美好生活需要”的基本保障

From the objective laws of human survival and development, the satisfaction of any form of need must take the satisfaction of material needs at the natural level as a prerequisite, because this is the key to the survival of the human body. Only on the basis of maintaining physical survival can people be qualified to discuss the satisfaction of other needs. Therefore, the satisfaction of the people’s needs for a better life must necessarily take the satisfaction of material needs as a prerequisite. The constraining factors for the satisfaction of material needs are mainly manifested in two major aspects: first, the objects of labor provided by the natural environment; second, the production practice of human beings transforming nature. Hence, in the face of the increasingly severe global ecological crisis in the 21st century, the satisfaction of material needs with the value goal of the people’s needs for a better life must take into account the unity of productivity and ecology. It must be guaranteed both by scientific and rational material production and by a good ecological environment.

从人类生存发展的客观规律来看，任何形式的需要的满足都应该以自然层面的物质需要为前提，因为这是人的肉体得以存活的关键。人只有在维持肉体存活的基础上，才能有资格谈论其他需要的满足。所以，人民美好生活需要的满足必然要以物质需要的满足为前提。而物质需要满足的制约因素主要表现在两大方面：一是自然环境所提供的劳动对象，二是人类改造自然的生产实践。因此，面对21世纪日益严峻的全球性生态危机，以人民美好生活需要为价值目标的物质需要满足必须兼顾生产性与生态性的统一，其既要以科学合理的物质生产为保障，又要以良好的生态环境为支撑。

(I) The People’s Needs for a Better Life Are Guaranteed by Strong and Mature Material Production

（一）人民美好生活需要以强大且成熟的物质生产为保障

Marx and Engels profoundly pointed out in *The German Ideology* that the first historical act of human history is “the production of material life itself” to satisfy human needs such as “eating, drinking, shelter, and clothing.” This is the “first fact” and primary premise of human existence. On the basis of this “first fact,” the second fact of human history is that, on the basis of the satisfaction of original material life needs, entirely new needs are continuously generated and aroused. It can be said that “without need, there is no production.” [2]2 “Original aspiration and founding mission” (初心使命): A standard Party formulation referring to the CPC’s founding commitment to serve the people and realize communism, formally codified in the “original aspiration and founding mission” education campaign launched in 2019. The motive of human need determines the development of production practice. The generation of need motives and need consciousness is inevitably influenced by objective historical conditions, by the actual state of development of productive forces, and by relations of production. Conversely, human needs are also determined by social production. Marx profoundly pointed out: “As individuals express their life, so they are. Hence, what they are coincides with their production—both with what they produce and with how they produce.” [3]3 Marx and Engels, *The German Ideology* (1845–1846). The full passage reads: “The first historical act is thus the production of the means to satisfy these needs, the production of material life itself. And indeed this is an historical act, a fundamental condition of all history, which today, as thousands of years ago, must daily and hourly be fulfilled merely in order to sustain human life.” The quotation in the text is from a slightly different formulation in the same work. In the view of Marx and Engels, human needs and material production are dialectically unified: need is the subjective motive force of production, and production is the objective prerequisite of need; neither can be dispensed with. From the practical process of Chinese socialism, economic construction has always been the central task of the Party and the government. Continuously releasing production potential and steadily raising the level of material production is not only a basic condition for moving toward communism but also the primary prerequisite for satisfying the people’s needs for a better life. At the present stage, the goal of completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects has been achieved, and China’s social production capacity can satisfy the people’s basic material needs. However, the transformation of the principal contradiction indicates that on the production side, there still exist problems of “imbalance and inadequacy,” especially a marked increase in the quantity of production, while the quality of production still needs further improvement. From the perspective of the relationship between production and ecology, the waste of resources and environmental pollution brought about by the past extensive mode of production have become pain points facing China’s economic and social development. Therefore, to better satisfy the people’s needs for a better life, we should pay more attention to the issues of rationality, greenness, and sustainability of material production. To advance the resolution of this issue, we must follow General Secretary Xi Jinping’s economic development dialectics of the “Two Mountains Theory,” [4]4 “Two Mountains Theory” (两山论): Xi Jinping’s formulation that “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets” (绿水青山就是金山银山), advocating the unity of ecological protection and economic development. achieving the organic unity of ecological protection and production development—that is, “economic development should not be a case of draining the pond to catch the fish with regard to resources and the ecological environment, nor should ecological and environmental protection be a case of climbing a tree to catch the fish by abandoning economic development. Instead, we must adhere to protecting in development and developing in protection, achieving coordination between economic and social development and population, resources, and the environment.” [5]5 Xi Jinping, speech at the National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection, May 2018.

马克思恩格斯在《德意志意识形态》中深刻指出，人类历史的第一个活动就是“生产物质生活本身”，以满足人类“吃喝住穿”等一些需要。这是人类存在的“第一事实”和首要前提。在“第一事实”的基础上，人类历史的第二个事实就是在原有物质生活需要得到满足的基础上，不断催生、引起全新的需要。可以说，“没有需要，就没有生产”。人的需要动机决定了生产实践的开展。需要动机、需要意识的产生必然受客观历史条件的影响，受现实的生产力发展状况和生产关系的影响。反之，人的需要也是由社会生产所决定的。马克思深刻指出：“个人怎样表现自己的生命，他们自己就是怎样。因此，他们是什么样的，这同他们的生产是一致的——既和他们生产什么一致，又和他们怎样生产一致。”在马克思恩格斯看来，人的需要与物质生产之间是辩证统一的：需要是生产的主观动力，生产是需要的客观前提，二者缺一不可。从中国社会主义的实践进程来看，经济建设始终都是党和政府的中心任务。不断释放生产潜力，持续提升物质生产水平，不仅是走向共产主义的基本条件，也是满足人民美好生活需要的首要前提。现阶段，全面建成小康社会的目标已经实现，我国的社会生产能力能够满足人民基本的物质需要。但是，社会主要矛盾的转化表明，我国在生产一端仍存在“不平衡、不充分”的问题，尤其是生产数量上增长明显，在生产质量上仍需进一步提升。从生产与生态的关系来看，过去粗放式生产方式带来的资源浪费、环境污染已经成为中国经济社会发展所面临的痛点问题。所以，为更好地满足人民美好生活需要，我们应该更为重视的是物质生产的合理性、绿色性、可持续性的问题。要想推进这个问题的解决，要按照习近平总书记“两山论”的经济发展辩证法，做到生态保护与生产发展的有机统一，即“经济发展不应是对资源和生态环境的竭泽而渔，生态环境保护也不应是舍弃经济发展的缘木求鱼，而是要坚持在发展中保护、在保护中发展，实现经济社会发展与人口、资源、环境相协调”

(2) The people’s needs for a better life are supported by a sound ecological environment. In the theoretical context of historical materialism, the material goods provided by the natural environment are the prerequisite for human survival and development. The true state of the relationship between humans and nature should be a dialectical unity based on practical activity. In the *Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844*, Marx pointed out: “Man lives on nature—meaning that nature is his body, with which he must remain in continuous intercourse if he is not to die.” [6]6 Karl Marx, *Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844*, in *Marx and Engels Collected Works*, Vol. 3 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1975), p. 276. Moreover, as a unity of natural existence and social existence, humans must depend on the natural environment; only by relying on the practical objects provided by the natural environment can humans engage in various activities to transform the world. In *Capital*, when examining the factors influencing labor productivity, Marx further proposed: “The productivity of labor is determined by many circumstances, including the average degree of skill of the workers, the level of development of science and its technological application, the social combination of the production process, the scale and efficiency of the means of production, and natural conditions.” [7]7 Karl Marx, *Capital*, Vol. 1, in *Marx and Engels Collected Works*, Vol. 35 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1996), p. 53. The objective conditions provided by the natural environment also have varying degrees of impact on the level of labor productivity. Today, economics often uses a term when examining the level of economic development in different regions—namely, resource endowment conditions—which expresses precisely this principle. Furthermore, Engels in *Dialectics of Nature* similarly warned people: “Let us not, however, flatter ourselves overmuch on account of our human victories over nature. For each such victory nature takes its revenge on us.” [8]8 Friedrich Engels, *Dialectics of Nature*, in *Marx and Engels Collected Works*, Vol. 25 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1987), p. 461. In the New Era, General Secretary Xi Jinping has provided a more profound analysis of the natural environment and the dialectical relationship between humans and nature, pointing out that “the ecological environment is the most basic condition for human survival.” [9]9 Xi Jinping, “Speech at the National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection” (May 18, 2018), in *Xi Jinping: The Governance of China*, Vol. 3 (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 2020), p. 361. And, building on Marx’s view of the dialectical relationship between humans and nature, from the height of modern symbiosis theory, he has stated that “humans are born of nature, and humans and nature are a symbiotic relationship,” [10]10 Xi Jinping, “Speech at the National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection” (May 18, 2018), in *Xi Jinping: The Governance of China*, Vol. 3, p. 361. that humans and nature are a community of life sharing weal and woe and linked by destiny, and that a sound ecological environment is the natural prerequisite for human survival and development. From “natural environment” to “ecological environment,” there is only a difference of two characters, but the meaning is vastly different. In terms of basic connotation, the natural environment in Marx’s context emphasizes “naturalness,” that is, the objective world outside humans, which appears as the object of human labor and the means of production; whereas the ecological environment emphasizes “ecological nature,” and its connotation is richer. On the one hand, the ecological environment contains the basic content of the natural environment; on the other hand, on the basis of modern ecological science, it pays more attention to the scientific and rational nature of human production activities. As a product of the era of ecological civilization, it encompasses the important content of environmental protection and begins to emphasize the impact of production activities on the stability of the ecosystem. In the post-industrial civilization era, the destruction of the natural environment by human activities has already taken on an irreversible trend. Against the backdrop of a global ecological crisis, a sound ecological environment is the foundation for a better life for the Chinese people and even all of humanity, the key to ensuring a healthy quality of life and creating a sustainable future, and has irreplaceable significance. On August 24, 2016, in his speech at the conclusion of his inspection tour in Qinghai Province, General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out: “‘Heaven nurtures things with seasons; earth produces wealth with limits.’ The ecological environment has no substitute; it goes unnoticed when used, and is hard to preserve when lost. Human development activities must respect nature, conform to nature, and protect nature.” [11]11 Xi Jinping, “Speech at the Conclusion of the Inspection Tour in Qinghai Province” (August 24, 2016), in *Xi Jinping: The Governance of China*, Vol. 2 (Beijing: Foreign

（二）人民美好生活需要以良好的生态环境为支撑在历史唯物主义的理论语境下，自然环境所提供的物质资料是人类生存发展的先决条件。人与自然的真正关系状态应该是建立在实践活动基础上的辩证统一体。在《1844年经济学哲学手稿》中马克思就指出：“人靠自然界生活。这就是说，自然界是人为了不致死亡而必须与之处于持续不断的交互作用过程的、人的身体。”并且，人作为自然存在与社会存在的统一，必须依赖于自然环境；只有借助于自然环境所提供的实践对象，人才有可能进行改造世界的各种活动。在《资本论》中，马克思在考察劳动生产力的影响因素时进一步提出：“劳动生产力是由多种情况决定的，其中包括：工人的平均熟练程度，科学的发展水平和它在工艺上应用的程度，生产过程的社会结合，生产资料的规模和效能，以及自然条件。”自然环境所提供的客观条件对于劳动生产力水平也存在不同程度的影响。现在，经济学在考察不同地区的经济发展水平时常用到一个术语，即资源禀赋条件，所表达的就是这样一个道理。此外，恩格斯在《自然辩证法》中同样警示人们：“我们不要过分陶醉于我们人类对自然界的胜利。对于每一次这样的胜利，自然界都对我们进行报复。”新时代，习近平总书记对于自然环境、人与自然的辩证关系问题上有着更为深刻的分析，指出“生态环境是人类生存最为基础的条件”。并且在马克思人与自然辩证关系观点的基础上，从现代共生论的高度指出，“人因自然而生，人与自然是一种共生关系”，人与自然是休戚与共、命运相关的生命共同体，良好的生态环境是人类生存发展的自然前提。从“自然环境”到“生态环境”仅两字之差，但意义却大不相同。从基础内涵来看，马克思语境下的自然环境强调的是“自然性”，即人之外的客观世界，其作为人的劳动对象、生产资料而出现；而生态环境强调的则是“生态性”，其内涵更为丰富。生态环境一方面包含自然环境的基本内容，另一方面也在现代生态科学的基础上更加关注人的生产活动的科学性、合理性问题。其作为生态文明时代的产物，内涵了环境保护的重要内容，开始重视生产活动对于生态系统的稳定性影响。在后工业文明时代，人类活动对自然环境的破坏已经呈现出不可逆的态势，在全球性生态危机的时代背景下，良好的生态环境是中国人民乃至全人类美好生活的基础，是保障健康生活质量以及创造可持续发展未来的关键，具有无可替代的重要意义。2016年8月24日，习近平总书记在青海省考察工作结束时的讲话中深刻指出：“‘天育物有时，地生财有限。’生态环境没有替代品，用之不觉，失之难存。人类发展活动必须尊重自然、顺应自然，保护自然。”

In summary, the proposition of “the people’s needs for a better life” has profound theoretical and historical logic. As a scientific judgment on the current state of China’s social development and the stage-based changes in the people’s needs, it is a concentrated expression of the value pursuit of Marxism, the essential requirements of socialism, and the practical demands of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Meeting “the people’s needs for a better life” must adhere to a high degree of unity between stage-based and historical, material and spiritual, and productive and ecological aspects, and understand “the people’s needs for a better life” from multiple levels, dimensions, and aspects: on the one hand, “the people’s needs for a better life” is not a rigid, static, or quantitative category, but a constantly changing, concrete, and dynamic category; on the other hand, “the people’s needs for a better life” is not an abstract category proposed out of thin air, but an open and historical category based on the past, present, and future of China’s economic and social development. Of course, the realization of “the people’s needs for a better life” cannot be achieved overnight; we must resolve the principal contradiction between the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development through continuous development.

总之，“人民美好生活需要”命题的提出有着深刻的理论逻辑与历史逻辑，作为对中国社会发展现状和人民需要阶段变化的科学研判，是马克思主义的价值追求、社会主义的本质要求和中国特色社会主义实践要求的集中表现。满足“人民美好生活需要”必须坚持阶段性与历史性、物质性与精神性、生产性与生态性的高度统一，从多层次、多方面、多维度理解“人民美好生活需要”：一方面，“人民美好生活需要”不是一个僵化的、静止的、定量的范畴，而是不断变化的、具体的、运动的范畴；另一方面，“人民美好生活需要”不是凭空提出的抽象范畴，而是立足于中国经济社会发展的过去、现在和未来的开放的、历史的范畴。当然“人民美好生活需要”的实现不是一蹴而就的，我们要在不断的发展中解决人民日益增长的美好生活需求与不平衡不充分的社会主要矛盾。

Source: *Ideological Front*, Issue 4, 2023

文章来源：《思想战线》2023年第4期

Online Editor: Jing Mu

网络编辑：静穆