The 75 Years Since the Founding of New China Are a Glorious Chapter in the History of Socialist Development

The 75 years since the founding of New China have been magnificent and grand, forming a stirring epic in the history of human social development and the history of world socialist development. Looking back at the history of world socialist development, the history of New China is undoubtedly the most glorious chapter within it.

Marx and Engels founded historical materialism and the theory of surplus value, transforming socialism from utopia into science and inaugurating the socialist movement guided by Marxism. Lenin applied and developed scientific socialism, turning socialism from an ideal into reality and establishing the first socialist state, the Soviet Union, spanning Europe and Asia. After the Second World War, seven or eight countries in Eastern Europe, along with China, Korea, Vietnam, and Laos in Asia, and Cuba in Latin America, successively established socialist political power. Socialist states under the leadership of the working class (through the Communist Party) came to possess one-third of the world’s population and one-quarter of its land. Although after the drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe [n1], only a few socialist countries, including China, remained in the world, China alone has a population exceeding the total population of today’s developed capitalist countries and has long since become an industrial power ranking first in the world in manufacturing and second in overall economic output. This fact not only powerfully proves that the drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe did not signify the demise of socialism but also fully demonstrates that socialism possesses infinitely strong vitality.

As long as one stands on the side of the Chinese people and uses historical materialism to analyze the 75 years of New China, one will see that whether during the period of socialist revolution and construction, the new period of reform and opening up and socialist modernization, or the New Era of socialism with Chinese characteristics; and whether in periods when the construction policy was correct or in periods when it had deviations, the theme of the history of these 75 years has revolved around the question of what socialism is and how to build it. The primary main line has been to build China as soon as possible into a socialist country with strong national power and a prosperous people. In the construction of socialist society, great achievements have been made that change with each passing day, are earth-shaking, and attract worldwide attention. In the exploration of the socialist path, rich valuable experience has been summarized, and many understandings with a regular pattern have been obtained.

What is socialism? Although people cannot yet say they fully understand it, based on the explanations of scientific socialism by the classical writers of Marxism and the practice of the socialist movement over more than a hundred years under the guidance of this theory, its basic principles and main tenets are still clear. Especially with the continuous advancement of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, this understanding has become increasingly clear. The theory of scientific socialism tells us that socialist society is the first stage on the road to the ideal human society—communist society. In this stage, due to the limitations of the level of development of the productive forces, it is not yet possible to eliminate the three major differences between workers and peasants, between town and country, and between mental and manual labor; it is not yet possible to achieve the free and comprehensive development of individuals; it is not yet possible to implement the distribution principle of “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”; and moreover, “it is in every respect, economically, morally and intellectually, still stamped with the birthmarks of the old society from whose womb it emerges.” [n2] However, in terms of its forward direction, it aims to achieve communism; in terms of institutional design, it prepares for the realization of communism; in terms of values, it is oriented toward communism. Therefore, the socialist stage belongs to the category of communism and is fundamentally different from capitalism. The greatest difference lies in the fact that capitalism is a “capital-centered” society, where everything revolves around the interests of capital and submits to the needs of capital—that is, capital is supreme. Socialism, on the other hand, is a “people-centered” society, where everything revolves around the interests of the people and submits to the needs of the people—that is, the people are supreme.

How long exactly does the socialist stage need to last? Marx and Engels did not say, and it was impossible to say before socialist society had emerged. At the beginning of the establishment of socialist political power, Lenin believed that the socialist stage would last only ten or twenty years, but he later discovered that achieving communism was not so easy. He put forward the concept of “socialism in its primary form” [n3] and implemented the New Economic Policy, which utilized the market, commodity-money relations, and some private and foreign enterprises. On this issue, Stalin also suffered from impatience, declaring in 1936 that socialism had been built, but later corrected this formulation. New China also experienced a situation where the socialist stage was viewed as short, committing the error of being eager to transition to communism. Later, although it calmed down after setbacks and correctly recognized that “socialist society is a fairly long historical stage,” there were still deviations in the understanding of the principal contradiction and the main task of socialist society. It was not until after the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee [n4] that our Party creatively proposed that socialist society also has a higher stage and a primary stage. In terms of understanding the principal social contradiction and the Party’s main task, it also returned to the judgment of the Eighth National Congress [n5], namely that the principal contradiction is between the people’s ever-growing material and cultural needs and backward social production, and the main task is to lead the people in socialist construction centered on economic development. It also opened the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, marked by reform and opening up. After the 18th National Congress [n6], the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, proceeding from the reality that New China had already undergone nearly 70 years of construction, solemnly declared that socialism with Chinese characteristics had entered a New Era, and that the primary stage of socialism in China had also entered a new stage of development. In the New Era and new stage of development, the principal social contradiction has transformed into the contradiction between the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development, and the general task has become the realization of socialist modernization and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

What is the relationship between socialism with Chinese characteristics and socialism? In this regard, General Secretary Xi Jinping has made a very incisive exposition: “Socialism with Chinese characteristics is socialism, not some other ‘ism.’ The basic principles of scientific socialism must not be abandoned; if they are abandoned, it is not socialism.” [n7] “When we say that socialism with Chinese characteristics is socialism, it means that no matter how we reform or open up, we must always adhere to the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and adhere to the basic requirements for achieving new victories for socialism with Chinese characteristics put forward at the 18th National Congress.” [n8] These important expositions indicate that although socialism with Chinese characteristics, based on the theory of the primary stage of socialism, differs from the higher stage of socialism in certain specific policies, in its main principles it still follows the theory of scientific socialism; in its forward direction, it still aims at the higher stage of socialism and communism; in its institutional design, it is still preparing for the building of a socialist society; and in its ideology, it is still guided by the Marxist ideological system. Having clarified that the 75 years since the founding of New China are a history of building and exploring socialism, the next question to answer is why these 75 years are said to be a glorious chapter in the history of socialist development. To answer this question, it is necessary to examine the various fields of New China separately. To this end, this article intends to provide a brief and systematic review of the achievements and experiences gained in the process of building and exploring socialism in the fields of economy, politics, culture, society, and ecology over the 75 years of New China.

In the economic field, a system of public ownership of the means of production as the mainstay was established, and China grew into the world’s second-largest economy.

The deepest reason why modern China gave birth to the Chinese Communist Party, and why the Chinese Communist Party led the people to overthrow the “three great mountains”[9]9 The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, held in July 2024, focused on further comprehensively deepening reform and adopted a key decision on the matter. through the New Democratic Revolution, found New China, and embark on the socialist road, lies in the fact that after the Opium War of 1840, owing to the aggression of the imperialist powers, China, a great nation-state with a vast territory, a large population, a long history and a splendid culture, was gradually reduced to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. Facing national peril, all progressive Chinese, in order to save the country and the people, turned to study the West, but in the end all failed. It was not until after the October Revolution, and especially the May Fourth Movement,[10]10 拨乱反正 (bō luàn fǎn zhèng) — literally “to rectify disorder and return to the correct path”; a political slogan used after the Cultural Revolution to describe the process of correcting the errors of that period and restoring normal Party and state life. that the advanced elements of the Chinese working class accepted Marxism and finally found the truth for saving the country and the people.

According to the theory of scientific socialism, the fundamental criterion distinguishing socialism from capitalism is the nature of ownership of the means of production. On the eve of and in the early days of the founding of New China, the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, took into account that, on the one hand, the industrial base left by old China was very weak, making it difficult to launch industrialization focused on heavy industry for the time being, and, on the other hand, the Chinese national bourgeoisie had a dual character. They therefore decided to first pursue a period of New Democracy, that is, to confiscate only the property of imperialism and the bureaucrat-capitalist class, to nationalize enterprises vital to the economic lifeline of the country such as banks, railways and ports, making them the mainstay of the national economy, and to utilize the initiative of the private industrial and commercial enterprises of the national bourgeoisie to accumulate funds and prepare conditions for large-scale industrialization in the future. However, only two years after the founding of New China, the share of state-owned industrial output in the nation’s total industrial output value had risen enormously. Moreover, China encountered the once-in-a-thousand-years historical opportunity of the Soviet Union, because of China’s participation in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea,[11]11 两个凡是 (liǎng ge fán shì) — “two whatevers,” a slogan promoted in 1977 by Hua Guofeng and others, meaning “whatever decisions Chairman Mao made we resolutely uphold; whatever instructions Chairman Mao gave we steadfastly follow.” It was criticized and abandoned in 1978 as dogmatic and an obstacle to reform. promising comprehensive assistance for China’s “First Five-Year Plan”[12]12 四项基本原则 (sì xiàng jī běn yuán zé) — the Four Cardinal Principles, announced by Deng Xiaoping in 1979 as the political foundation of reform and opening up: adherence to the socialist path, the dictatorship of the proletariat, the leadership of the Communist Party, and Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought. focused on heavy industry. Therefore, the Party Central Committee decided to advance the transition to socialism ahead of schedule, to transform private industry and commerce and individual agriculture into ownership by the whole people and collective ownership, and to establish a highly centralized planned economy system, in order to adapt to the conditions of large-scale industrial infrastructure construction under circumstances of scarce funds, materials and personnel.

After the basic completion of the socialist transformation of capitalist industry and commerce, the Party Central Committee discovered that the proportion of public ownership in industry and commerce was too large and that planning was too rigid, which was unsuited to China’s level of productive forces at the time and detrimental to the vitality of the economy and the people’s livelihood. Hence, it once put forward the idea of “three mainstays and three supplements,”[13]13 The “Gang of Four” — the radical faction led by Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan and Wang Hongwen, purged in 1976 after Mao’s death. that is, allowing individual management, free production responding to market changes, and free markets as supplements to the mainstays of state and collective management, planned production and planned sales. However, because of the excessively urgent and high demands placed on production targets and the speed of capital construction, the contradiction between supply and demand became increasingly acute. This idea was not only never implemented, but instead prompted the degree of public ownership of the means of production to become ever higher, the economic planning ever more rigid, and the major proportional relationships within the national economy ever more unbalanced. Therefore, as soon as reform and opening up began, the first thing done was to adjust the unbalanced proportions of the national economy. Subsequently, individual management was restored in the cities, the household contract responsibility system with remuneration linked to output was implemented in the countryside, and the scope of market regulation was expanded under the premise that the planned economy remained the mainstay.

With the deepening advancement of reform and opening up, the scope of market regulation expanded further, giving rise to a private economy in which the hiring of workers was not limited by quotas. Consequently, the Party and government, proceeding from reality, changed the former system of nearly 100 percent public ownership and a planned economy into a basic economic system in which public ownership is the mainstay and diverse forms of ownership develop side by side, and a socialist market economy system in which the market plays a fundamental role in resource allocation. As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at a symposium on private enterprises in November 2018: “Over the past forty years, China’s private economy has grown from small to large, from weak to strong, and has continuously developed and expanded. By the end of 2017, the number of private enterprises in China exceeded 27 million, individually-owned businesses exceeded 65 million, and registered capital exceeded 165 trillion yuan. To sum up, the private economy has the characteristic of ‘56789,’[14]14 The “two estimates” — a 1971 document, later repudiated, that characterized the pre-Cultural Revolution educational and scientific work as following a “revisionist line” and the majority of intellectuals as “bourgeois.” that is, it contributes more than 50 percent of tax revenue, more than 60 percent of GDP, more than 70 percent of technological innovation achievements, more than 80 percent of urban employment, and accounts for more than 90 percent of the number of enterprises.” Under these circumstances, can it still be said that public ownership is the mainstay? If public ownership is no longer the mainstay, can it still be said that socialism with Chinese characteristics is socialism? To answer this question, one must apply an important theoretical achievement gained in the process of exploring socialism, namely, that in judging whether a certain form of ownership is the mainstay, one should mainly look at whether it possesses absolute control over the economy.

Although socialism with Chinese characteristics permits the existence and development of private capital, in the basic economic system public ownership still occupies the mainstay position. The Constitution of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Constitution), which has been revised many times since reform and opening up, has always stipulated that the basis of the socialist economic system is the socialist public ownership of the means of production, that is, ownership by the whole people and collective ownership; that the state-owned economy, that is, the economy under ownership by the whole people, is the leading force in the national economy; that natural resources such as mineral deposits, waters, forests, mountains, grasslands, wasteland and tidal flats are owned by the state, that is, by the whole people; and that land in cities is owned by the state, while land in rural areas and suburban areas is owned by collectives except where the law stipulates it is owned by the state. The Constitution stipulates this, and in practice this is how it is done. Since China basically completed socialist transformation, all natural resources that constitute factors of production, such as land, mineral deposits, rivers and forests, have been owned by the state or collectives. After reform and opening up, the private economy has developed considerably, but all industries vital to the economic lifeline of the country are operated by state-owned enterprises as sole proprietors or controlling shareholders, and all major capital construction projects are also invested in by the state as the main investor. In the total assets of the whole society, state-owned enterprises still hold an absolute advantage. Therefore, it is beyond doubt that public ownership still occupies the mainstay position in our country today.

At the same time, it must be recognized that while the individual and private economy plays a huge role in meeting market demand and absorbing the employed population, state-owned enterprises bear more of the burden of major projects that are beneficial to the country and society but unprofitable or even loss-making for themselves. State-owned enterprises not only pay taxes but also turn over profits. For example, in 2021 alone, central enterprises achieved total profits of 2.4 trillion yuan. In addition, while the Party and government protect the legitimate rights and interests of the individual and private economy in accordance with the law, they are also strengthening guidance, supervision and management over them. As General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly pointed out: “We must neither allow ‘capital sharks’ to

According to the principles of Marxist political economy, the relations of production determine the distribution system. Because socialism with Chinese characteristics implements a system in which public ownership is dominant and diverse forms of ownership develop side by side, the distribution system is likewise one in which distribution according to work is dominant and multiple modes of distribution coexist. Entering the New Era, General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward an important policy direction, namely, to "impel the entire Party to carry through the adherence to the correct political orientation into the practice of planning major strategies, formulating major policies, deploying major tasks, and advancing major work, frequently checking against benchmarks and aligning with standards, and promptly correcting deviations,"[n] emphasizing that "the people's interests must always be placed in the supreme position, so that the fruits of reform and development benefit all the people more and more fairly,"[n] and continuously straightening out the major relationships between efficiency and fairness, between government and the market, and between reform and the people's livelihood.

Taking the income distribution system as an example, in November 2013, the *Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reform* adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Party Congress [9]9 The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, held in July 2024, focused on further comprehensively deepening reform and adopted a key decision on the matter. stressed the need to “form a reasonable and orderly pattern of income distribution” and put forward a series of reform measures, such as focusing on protecting income from labor, striving to achieve simultaneous growth of labor remuneration and labor productivity, and raising the share of labor remuneration in primary distribution; improving the wage determination and normal growth mechanism, perfecting the minimum wage and wage payment guarantee system, and improving the enterprise wage collective negotiation system; and perfecting the remuneration mechanism determined by factor markets for capital, knowledge, technology, management, and so on. In July 2024, the *Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform and Promoting Chinese-Path Modernization* (hereinafter referred to as the *Decision*) adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Party Congress [10]10 拨乱反正 (bō luàn fǎn zhèng) — literally “to rectify disorder and return to the correct path”; a political slogan used after the Cultural Revolution to describe the process of correcting the errors of that period and restoring normal Party and state life. further stressed the need to “improve the income distribution system” and put forward several reform measures, such as constructing a system of institutions in which primary distribution, redistribution, and tertiary distribution are coordinated and complementary, raising the share of household income in the distribution of national income, and raising the share of labor remuneration in primary distribution; and improving the mechanism for determining, reasonably increasing, and guaranteeing payment of workers’ wages, and perfecting the policy system for distribution according to factors, and so on.

Taking the issue of resource allocation as another example, the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Party Congress changed the formulation that the market plays a “basic role” in resource allocation to “playing a decisive role.” General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed in this regard: “The market playing a decisive role in resource allocation does not mean it plays the entire role.” The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Party Congress further proposed: “Focus on building a high-level socialist market economy system, fully leverage the decisive role of the market in resource allocation, and better play the role of the government.” General Secretary Xi Jinping has also made

In the early period of reform and opening up, in order to promote development, a policy was implemented whereby some regions and some people would get rich first. However, while producing positive effects, this also led to a trend of widening income gaps between urban and rural areas, between regions, and between groups. In response, as early as the 1990s, Deng Xiaoping said: “When China’s development reaches a certain level, we must certainly consider the issue of distribution. That is to say, we must consider the gap between backward regions and developed regions. There will always be some gap between different regions. If this gap is too small, it won’t do; if it is too large, it also won’t do. If only a minority become wealthy, then we will fall into capitalism.” After the 18th National Congress of the CPC [n9], the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, taking the opportunity of ensuring the completion of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020, launched the largest-scale campaign of poverty alleviation and elimination in human history across the country. This lifted nearly 100 million rural poor (by the standards of the time) out of poverty, and removed 832 impoverished counties and 128,000 impoverished villages from the poverty list. At the same time, it proposed doing a solid job of consolidating and expanding the achievements of poverty alleviation and effectively linking them with rural revitalization, so as to further increase farmers’ incomes. In terms of narrowing regional development gaps, in addition to continuing to promote the formation of a new pattern in the large-scale development of the western region, achieving new breakthroughs in the revitalization of the northeast, accelerating the rise of the central region, and enabling the eastern region to take the lead in achieving high-quality development, it also implemented strategies such as the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, and the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin. It strengthened support for the development of old revolutionary base areas, ethnic minority areas, border areas, and impoverished areas.

After the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core advanced comprehensive and deepening reform. The so-called comprehensive and deepening reform has as one of its core meanings the further correction of the purpose and direction of reform. General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized: “Comprehensive and

The "Decision" adopted by the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party [n9] points out that it is necessary to "summarize and apply the valuable experience of reform and opening up, especially the comprehensive deepening of reform in the New Era," and clarifies that the principles for further comprehensively deepening reform include: upholding the Party's overall leadership to ensure that reform always advances in the correct political direction; adhering to a people-centered approach, responding to the people's calls with reform, so that reform is for the people, relies on the people, and its fruits are shared by the people; upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground, and unswervingly adhering to socialism with Chinese characteristics; and so on. When the "Decision" elucidates the guiding ideology for further comprehensively deepening reform, it emphasizes taking the promotion of social fairness and justice and the enhancement of the people's well-being as the starting point and ultimate goal. When it elucidates the overall objectives of further comprehensively deepening reform, it emphasizes focusing on improving the quality of the people's lives, perfecting the income distribution and employment systems, improving the social security system, and promoting more obvious and substantive progress in achieving common prosperity for all the people. All of this is undoubtedly a summary and application of the experience of reform and opening up, especially the comprehensive deepening of reform in the New Era, and constitutes principles that must be implemented in further comprehensively deepening reform. To sum up, reform must be people-centered; specifically, it means further strengthening the correct political direction of reform without wavering, further clarifying the starting point and ultimate goal of reform without deviation, and further focusing on the key points of reform without straying.

When Mao Zedong explained the draft of the 1954 Constitution, he said: “Socialist ownership by the whole people is the principle; to achieve this principle, flexibility must be combined with it.” This statement tells us that socialism must have both principledness and flexibility. So-called flexibility means, without violating principledness, combining principle with concrete circumstances. Over the past 75 years, New China has precisely followed this experience, combining the principles of socialism with changes in the domestic and international situation, and continuously adjusting the socialist ownership system and economic system, enabling it to adapt to the level and needs of the development of productive forces to the greatest extent. Precisely because of this, the 75 years since the founding of New China have not only completed the industrialization process that took Western developed countries several hundred years, but have also surpassed Western developed countries in many fields.

For example, old China not only had backward industry, but also had a severe shortage of industrial categories, with only a small amount of machinery repair and light industries such as textiles, cigarettes, and grain processing. Through only four “Five-Year Plans” of construction, New China established an independent and relatively complete industrial system and national economic system, making China the only country in the world today that possesses all industrial categories in the United Nations industrial classification directory. In addition, as early as the 1960s, China’s cutting-edge science and technology sector achieved breakthroughs in the “two bombs, one satellite”[10]10 拨乱反正 (bō luàn fǎn zhèng) — literally “to rectify disorder and return to the correct path”; a political slogan used after the Cultural Revolution to describe the process of correcting the errors of that period and restoring normal Party and state life.; after entering the 21st century, it has moved to the forefront of the world in quantum communication, supercomputers, artificial intelligence, 5G technology, lunar exploration projects, and more. China still lags behind in many areas of cutting-edge science and technology, but we must also firmly believe that as long as we continue along the existing path, given time, those technologies that are “bottlenecked” will certainly be broken through one by one.

Another example: comparing China and the United States in 1950, steel output was 606,000 tons versus 87.72 million tons, a difference of more than 100 times; but in 2023, China’s steel output was 1.019 billion tons, while the United States was 80.7 million tons, with China surpassing it by 12 times. In 1949, China had only 21,800 kilometers of railway, less than India; subways and high-speed rail also started construction very late. But by 2023, China’s total railway mileage had reached 159,000 kilometers, ranking second in the world and far exceeding India; high-speed rail operating mileage was 45,000 kilometers, ranking first in the world; urban subway operating mileage ranked among the top in the world. In 1978, China’s automobile output was only 149,100 vehicles, but in 2023 it reached 30 million vehicles, of which production and sales of new energy vehicles exceeded 9 million, with a market share exceeding 30%, becoming an important force leading the transformation of the global automotive industry. In addition, other industries in China have also been thriving all along, with both quantity and quality greatly improved. All of this benefits from the socialist path China has chosen, and from the complete industrial chain built through continuous efforts over the 75 years since the founding of New China. The United States and other Western countries constantly proclaim “decoupling,” wanting to shift production capacity to other countries, but they can never “decouple” thoroughly or “shift” cleanly; the reason lies precisely here.

In the political sphere, the basic political system of socialism was established and continuously improved and legalized.

Before reform and opening up, the greatest achievement in the political sphere of New China was the establishment of the state power of the people’s democratic dictatorship led by the working class and based on the alliance of workers and peasants, the formulation of the socialist Constitution, the establishment of the fundamental political system of the People’s Congresses, as well as the basic and important political systems of multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, regional ethnic autonomy, and grassroots mass self-governance.

In the 1950s, Mao Zedong discussed socialist political construction in both “On the Ten Major Relationships” and “On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People” (hereinafter referred to as “Correct Handling”). Among them, the most comprehensive and systematic is “Correct Handling.” In the article “Correct Handling,” Mao Zedong deeply analyzed the class situation after the completion of the socialist revolution and creatively proposed that there are two types of contradictions of completely different natures in socialist society, namely contradictions among the people and contradictions between ourselves and the enemy. History has proven that in the 22 years from the basic completion of the socialist transformation in 1956 to the convening of the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the CPC in 1978, the construction and exploration of socialist politics in New China, except for the period of the “Cultural Revolution”[11]11 两个凡是 (liǎng ge fán shì) — “two whatevers,” a slogan promoted in 1977 by Hua Guofeng and others, meaning “whatever decisions Chairman Mao made we resolutely uphold; whatever instructions Chairman Mao gave we steadfastly follow.” It was criticized and abandoned in 1978 as dogmatic and an obstacle to reform. (hereinafter referred to as the “Cultural Revolution”), were basically carried out according to the blueprint outlined in “Correct Handling.” During that period, the historic achievements of political construction and exploration included, in addition to establishing the fundamental and basic political systems of socialism, initially mastering the laws of socialist political development, formulating socialist laws, establishing the socialist legislative and judicial systems, and opening up the socialist political path. It is precisely all this that enabled China to “complete the most extensive and profound social change in the history of the Chinese nation, laying the fundamental political prerequisite and institutional foundation for all development and progress in contemporary China, laying a solid foundation for China’s development and prosperity and the improvement of the Chinese people’s living standards, and realizing the great leap of the Chinese nation from continuous decline to a fundamental reversal of fate and sustained progress toward prosperity and strength.”

Deviations and twists also occurred during construction and exploration, causing losses to the socialist cause. The most concentrated manifestation of this was “the expansion and absolutization of class struggle that existed within a certain scope in socialist society,”[12]12 四项基本原则 (sì xiàng jī běn yuán zé) — the Four Cardinal Principles, announced by Deng Xiaoping in 1979 as the political foundation of reform and opening up: adherence to the socialist path, the dictatorship of the proletariat, the leadership of the Communist Party, and Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought. culminating in the proposal of “taking class struggle as the key link,” leading

Regarding the “Cultural Revolution,” the “Resolution on Certain Historical Issues of the Party since the Founding of the People’s Republic of China” (hereinafter referred to as the Second Historical Resolution) adopted at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Party in 1981 made a specific analysis and judgment. On the question of the motives behind the erroneous launching of the “Cultural Revolution,” the Second Historical Resolution points out: Mao Zedong “often paid attention to overcoming the shortcomings that existed in our Party and in the life of the state,” and “even when he was committing serious errors, he repeatedly demanded that the entire Party earnestly study the works of Marx, Engels, and Lenin, and he always believed that his own theories and practice were Marxist and were necessary for consolidating the dictatorship of the proletariat; this is his tragedy.” That is to say, “Comrade Mao Zedong launched this great revolution mainly out of the need to oppose and prevent revisionism.” In analyzing the historical causes of the “Cultural Revolution,” the Second Historical Resolution points out: “The history of the socialist movement is not long, and the history of socialist countries is even shorter. Some of the laws governing the development of socialist society have become relatively clear, but more remain to be explored.” That is to say, launching the “Cultural Revolution” still belonged to the nature of exploring the laws of development of socialist society. In analyzing the work of the economy, national defense, and foreign affairs during the “Cultural Revolution” period, the Second Historical Resolution points out: During those ten years, “although our national economy suffered huge losses, it still made progress. Grain production maintained a relatively stable increase.” “Amidst the turmoil of the country, the People’s Liberation Army still bravely defended the security of the motherland. Foreign work also opened up a new situation.” That is to say, during the “Cultural Revolution” period, construction in various fields was still proceeding and achieved certain results. In analyzing how to view the nature of our Party and society during that period, the Second Historical Resolution points out: During the “Cultural Revolution,” “the nature of the Party, the people’s political power, the people’s army, and the entire society did not change”; “our Party and the socialist system possess great and tenacious vitality.” These expositions clearly indicate that we must distinguish the “Cultural Revolution” from the “Cultural Revolution” period, and distinguish Mao Zedong’s motives for launching the “Cultural Revolution” from the crimes of the Lin Biao and Jiang Qing counter-revolutionary cliques in ruining the country and harming the people; we must completely negate the “Cultural Revolution,” but we must absolutely not negate the socialist nature of our country during that period, nor must we negate the socialist construction led by our Party among the people during that period and the achievements obtained; the exploration of the socialist political path during that period was undoubtedly a failure, but it cannot be denied on that account that it was still an exploration.

After reform and opening up, on the basis of the achievements, experiences, and lessons from before reform and opening up, our country successfully forged a political development path of socialism with Chinese characteristics and achieved a series of even more significant accomplishments and more mature experiences. For example, it carried out political rectification and restoration [拨乱反正] [10]10 拨乱反正 (bō luàn fǎn zhèng) — literally “to rectify disorder and return to the correct path”; a political slogan used after the Cultural Revolution to describe the process of correcting the errors of that period and restoring normal Party and state life., negated the “two whatevers” [11]11 两个凡是 (liǎng ge fán shì) — “two whatevers,” a slogan promoted in 1977 by Hua Guofeng and others, meaning “whatever decisions Chairman Mao made we resolutely uphold; whatever instructions Chairman Mao gave we steadfastly follow.” It was criticized and abandoned in 1978 as dogmatic and an obstacle to reform. principle that violated the principle of seeking truth from facts, redressed the unjust, false, and erroneous cases from the “Cultural Revolution” and previous political movements, ceased using the slogan “take class struggle as the key link” unsuitable for a socialist society, restored the judgment on the principal contradiction in domestic society made at the Eighth National Congress of the Party, and at the same time, summarized and evaluated major historical issues of the Party since the founding of New China, established Mao Zedong’s historical status, put forward the theory of the primary stage of socialism, and formulated the Party’s basic line centered on economic construction, adhering to the Four Cardinal Principles [12]12 四项基本原则 (sì xiàng jī běn yuán zé) — the Four Cardinal Principles, announced by Deng Xiaoping in 1979 as the political foundation of reform and opening up: adherence to the socialist path, the dictatorship of the proletariat, the leadership of the Communist Party, and Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought. of the socialist path, the dictatorship of the proletariat, the leadership of the Communist Party, and Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought, and adhering to reform and opening up.

Furthermore, it carried out reforms of the political system and administrative system, changed the phenomenon of excessive concentration of power, resolved the problems of lack of distinction between Party and government functions and substitution of the Party for the government, implemented a system combining collective leadership with individual responsibility based on division of labor, abolished the lifelong tenure system for leading cadres, established a system for the succession of new and old leading cadres, changed the system of administrative leadership responsibility under the leadership of the Party committee in enterprises and institutions to the administrative leadership responsibility system, stipulated that the leaders of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and the State Council could not hold concurrent posts, and carried out reforms of the administrative management system and institutions for the State Council and governments at all levels, solving problems such as the lack of distinction between government and enterprise functions, overstaffed institutions, bloated personnel, and low efficiency.

Moreover, it carried out legal system construction, proposed that the Party should not substitute for the government or the law, designated law-based governance as an important policy for the Party and government in managing state and social affairs and as the basic strategy for the Party leading the people in governing the country, gradually placing all work of the state on a legal track and building a socialist country under the rule of law; formulated and promulgated the 1982 Constitution, which embodied the principles of socialism and people’s democracy, as well as national unity and state unification, reform and opening up, seeking truth from facts, and proceeding from reality in everything, and revised it five times in 1988, 1993, 1999, 2004, and 2018. At the same time, it accelerated legislative work, formulated a series of important laws, and initially formed a socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics; reformed the judicial system, improved the management system of the political and legal cadre force, and rebuilt and expanded the lawyer force.

Entering the New Era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has coordinated the advancement of the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan and the Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy, and in the “Decision” adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the Twentieth Central Committee of the Party, systematically outlined the comprehensive deepening of reform. This Decision differs from previous decisions on reform; it does not solely address economic reform, nor solely political and cultural reform, but includes institutional and mechanism reforms in various fields including the economy, politics, culture, society, ecological civilization, and Party building. Its overall goal is to improve and develop the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and advance the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in his speech at the Second Plenary Session of the Third Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee of the Party: “How to govern a completely new society like socialist society was not well resolved in the world socialism of the past. Marx and Engels did not encounter the practice of comprehensively governing a socialist country, and many of their principles about future society were predictive; Lenin passed away not long after the October Revolution in Russia and did not have time to explore this issue deeply; the Soviet Union explored this issue, gained some practical experience, but also committed serious mistakes and did not solve this problem. After the Communist Party of China came to power, it continuously explored this issue. Although it also experienced serious twists and turns, it accumulated rich experience and achieved major results in the national governance system and governance capacity, with progress being particularly notable since reform and opening up. Our country’s political stability, economic development, social harmony, and ethnic unity form a sharp contrast with the constant turmoil in some regions and countries of the world. This shows that our national governance system and governance capacity are generally good and are suited to our national conditions and development requirements.” “At the same time, we must also see… that we still have many deficiencies in the national governance system and governance capacity, and many areas urgently need improvement.” “To better leverage the superiority of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, we must advance the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity from various fields.” In accordance with this guiding ideology, the Decision made a series of further provisions on reforms in areas such as strengthening the construction of the socialist democratic political system, advancing the construction of a rule-of-law China, and strengthening the operational restriction and supervision system. The Decision points out that the overall goal of further comprehensively deepening reform is to “continue to improve and develop the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and advance the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity,” and, in addition to reforms in the economic system, it made many specific provisions on reforms in areas such as “perfecting the system of whole-process people’s democracy,” “continuously deepening national defense and military reform,” and “raising the Party’s leadership level in further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese-path modernization.”

The Communist Party of China is the core political force leading the socialist cause in New China. The Party’s self-building, as well as its exploration of maintaining revolutionary character, advanced nature, and integrity under conditions of governance, is also an important component of socialist political construction and exploration. At the beginning of reform and opening up, our Party established the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, set about building Party institutions, successively formulated documents such as the *Guiding Principles for Inner-Party Political Life* and the *Regulations of the Communist Party of China on Disciplinary Sanctions*, established a system for leading cadres at and above the county (department) level to declare their income, a system for Party and state functionaries to register gifts received during official domestic activities, and a system for dispatching cadres at the ministerial level to conduct inspections in localities and departments, and adopted measures such as the joint office of Party discipline inspection organs and government administrative supervision departments and the establishment of anti-corruption and bribery agencies within the procuratorates; it successively carried out centralized education campaigns including the 1983 Party consolidation, the 1989 education on being a qualified Communist Party member and the re-registration of Party members among some members, the 1998 Party spirit and Party conduct education focused on “studying, maintaining political integrity, and upholding uprightness,” and the 2005 education on maintaining the advanced nature of Communist Party members focused on practicing the “Three Represents” important thought; it severely cracked down on economic crimes involving Party members, intensified the fight against corruption, gradually established an anti-corruption framework of leading cadres’ self-discipline, investigation and handling of cases violating laws and discipline, and rectification of unhealthy practices in departments and trades, and formed an institutional mechanism of unified leadership and centralized direction by Party committees, joint management by Party and government, organization and coordination by discipline inspection commissions, assumption of respective responsibilities by departments, and reliance on mass support and participation.

Entering the New Era, in response to problems from the previous period such as “the once lax and soft governance of the Party and the Party’s leading to the spread of negative and corrupt phenomena within the Party, serious problems in the political ecosystem, damage to Party-mass and cadre-mass relations, and weakening of the Party’s creativity, cohesion, and combat effectiveness”; “problems of vague understanding and weak action in upholding the Party’s leadership, with many problems of weakening, hollowing out, diluting, and marginalizing the implementation of Party leadership”; “serious crises in the political beliefs of some Party members and cadres, unhealthy practices in selecting and appointing personnel in some localities and departments, and the prevalence of formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance,” a series of countermeasures were adopted.

Further clarifying the guiding ideology for political construction. For example, formulating the overall plan for the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan and the Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy for coordinated advancement in the New Era; proposing that “the most essential characteristic of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the leadership of the Communist Party of China” and enshrining this in the Constitution; proposing the overall task of comprehensively deepening reform and the overall requirements for upholding and improving the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and advancing the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity; clarifying that upholding Party leadership is the fundamental requirement of law-based governance, and that integrating the leadership of the Party, the people being the masters of the country, and law-based governance is a basic experience of China’s socialist rule-of-law construction; advancing comprehensive law-based governance, ensuring constitutional review of laws, regulations, and institutional policies before, during, and after their promulgation; strengthening the interpretation of the Constitution and implementing the procedural mechanism for constitutional interpretation; establishing a constitutional oath system to promote constitutional awareness among state functionaries, establishing a National Constitution Day, and extensively carrying out constitutional publicity and education.

Establishing and improving the leadership systems and mechanisms of the Party for major work. For example, making “upholding the Party’s leadership over all work” the first item of the basic strategy for upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the New Era, emphasizing that “the Party exercises leadership over everything in the Party, the government, the military, the people, and all sectors of society, in the east, west, south, north, and center of the country”; strengthening the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee over major work concerning the overall situation of the Party and the state.

Advancing innovation in the theory of socialist democratic politics. For example, proposing the concept of whole-process people’s democracy, implementing a full-chain democracy from democratic elections to democratic consultation, democratic decision-making, democratic management, and democratic oversight, as well as a comprehensive democracy covering process democracy and outcome democracy, procedural democracy and substantive democracy, direct democracy and indirect democracy, and a full-coverage democracy encompassing political democracy, economic democracy, social democracy, legislative democracy, judicial democracy, inner-Party democracy, and inter-Party democracy.

Promoting the construction of political security under the guidance of a holistic approach to national security. For example, combining socialist political construction with political security, on the one hand consolidating the foundation of the political system, and on the other hand waging struggles against all acts from within and outside that endanger political security, especially regime security; resolutely resisting various erroneous ideological trends, improving the responsibility system for ideological work, and safeguarding ideological positions; carrying out struggles related to Xinjiang and Tibet, severely cracking down on infiltration, sabotage, subversion, and separatist activities by hostile forces, withstanding and countering extreme external containment and suppression; resolutely cracking down on forces “opposing China and destabilizing Hong Kong,” preventing and resisting external interference in Hong Kong affairs, and promoting the major transition of the Hong Kong situation from chaos to governance and from governance to prosperity; resolutely opposing the separatist acts of “Taiwan independence,” and effectively responding to external interference and military provocations.

Promoting Party building under the strategy of comprehensive and strict governance of the Party. For example, requiring Party organizations at all levels to adhere to the people-centered fundamental stance and the governing philosophy of putting the people first, emphasizing that the Communist Party of China has no special interests of its own, does not represent any interest groups, power groups, or privileged strata, and that the greatest danger after the Party comes to power is becoming divorced from the masses; emphasizing the study of the basic theories of Marxism, and firming up the lofty ideal of communism and the common ideal of socialism with Chinese characteristics; tightening inner-Party political life, and strictly enforcing the Party’s political discipline and political rules; formulating and implementing the Eight-Point Regulations of the Central Committee, and correcting various unhealthy practices within the Party; successively carrying out centralized education campaigns such as the education and practice campaign on the mass line, the “Three Stricts and Three Honests” special education, the “Two Studies, One Action” learning and education, the education on “staying true to our original aspiration and founding mission,” the education on Party history study, and the education on Party discipline study, so as to constantly sound the alarm and prevent problems before they occur; seriously investigating and handling cases of disciplinary and legal violations, and maintaining a high-pressure stance against corruption.

Under the conditions of reform and opening up and the socialist market economy, one hotbed of corruption is the improper connection between Party and government cadres and private capital. Therefore, to prevent corruption, in addition to strengthening ideological and political work and enhancing cadres’ ideological immunity, institutional measures must also be taken. For example, allowing the existence and development of private capital, but absolutely not allowing Party and government cadres at all levels to engage in business or run enterprises; allowing Party and government cadres and their family members to buy stocks and entrust financial institutions with wealth management, but requiring cadres at and above the county (department) level to truthfully fill in the purchase price and income of each stock and each wealth management product they buy in their annual personal affairs report; allowing and encouraging Party and government cadres to actively help private enterprises solve difficulties and protect their legitimate rights and interests, but absolutely not allowing them to enter private clubs in violation of regulations, or engage in power-for-money deals and interest transfers with private entrepreneurs. In the New Era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core revised and reissued the *Regulations of the Communist Party of China on Disciplinary Sanctions*, making stricter provisions on the business activities of leading cadres and their spouses, children, and children’s spouses, as well as leading cadres after leaving office or retiring. As General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: “If you want to be an official, don’t seek

Our Party has produced in the past, and will inevitably produce in the future, a small number of corrupt elements; its systems and policies may also from time to time have this or that imperfection. But the proletarian-party nature of our Party and its discipline determine and prescribe that neither the makers of Party and state policy nor the participants in decision-making may run private enterprises or hold private capital. Therefore, the orientation of our Party’s governance of the country, and the starting point of its policies and decisions, can only be people-centered, taking into account the people’s fundamental interests and long-term interests. In capitalist countries, by contrast, the principle of commodity exchange can “legally” enter the political sphere; governments, political parties and politicians can openly represent the interests of private capital; party election campaigns can accept private-capital funding; private capital is permitted to use money to hire lobbyists to influence legislators; collusion between officials and businesspeople and the transfer of benefits are entirely legitimate. Hence the capitalist system determines that government policies must tilt toward capital; in order to maximize capital’s interests, it is possible not only to engage in “legal” corruption but also to “legally” harm the people’s interests, sacrifice cultural-ethical progress, and destroy the ecological environment.

In the cultural sphere, an advanced socialist culture guided by Marxism has been established and has yielded rich results.

On the eve of the founding of New China, the Common Programme of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (hereinafter referred to as the Common Programme), adopted at the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, clearly stipulated that the culture of New China was to be a new-democratic one, “i.e., a national, scientific and mass culture and education,” and that it should “eliminate feudal, comprador and fascist ideology and develop the ideology of serving the people.” After the founding of New China, and especially after the transition to a socialist society, the Party and government have always attached great importance to the construction of a new culture and to the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological sphere. They put forward the policy of “letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend” and “making the past serve the present and foreign things serve China,” reformed the old culture, and provided institutional and organizational guarantees for building a new culture. For example, in order to educate cadres and the masses with Marxism, the works of Marx, Engels and Lenin, as well as the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, were published and distributed in succession; basic knowledge of Marxism was vigorously popularized; education in the communist world outlook and outlook on life was carried out; and study was organized of the basic viewpoints of historical materialism, such as that labor creates the world, that the masses of the people create history, and that the state has a class character. Model figures embodying socialist values, such as Lei Feng, Wang Jinxi, Jiao Yulu, Daqing and the Red Flag Canal, were held up; academic works represented by Dialectical and Historical Materialism and A General History of China were produced; and a batch of outstanding literary and artistic works emerged, including the novel Red Crag, the film The Red Detachment of Women, the Peking opera The Red Lantern, the play The Sentinels Under the Neon Lights, the opera The Red Guards of Honghu Lake, and the large-scale music-and-dance epic The East Is Red.

In order to help intellectuals who had come from the old society raise their political consciousness, adapt to and serve the new society, an ideological remoulding movement for intellectuals was carried out in the early years of New China, promoting self-education among intellectuals and gradually establishing the proletarian ideology of serving the people and of equality for all. To eliminate imperialist, feudal and bourgeois erroneous ideas, criticism was directed, using certain typical cases, at pragmatist philosophy, vulgar evolutionism, reformist sociology, historical idealism, views of national inferiority and national nihilism, and the mentality of worshipping the United States and fearing it. Later, “Left” deviations gradually emerged in this criticism, blurring the boundaries between thought and action, between right and wrong and between friend and foe, until it developed into the direct linking of academic and artistic works with real political struggle, and from this the “Cultural Revolution” was triggered, causing serious setbacks to the socialist cause.

After reform and opening up, the Party Central Committee overturned the so-called “theory of the black line in literature and art” for the 17 years after the founding of New China, which had been slanderously fabricated by the “Gang of Four” [n13]; while affirming that literature and art cannot be divorced from politics and that literary and art workers cannot fail to consider the social impact of their works and the interests of the people and the state, the formulation of literature and art serving the people and serving socialism replaced the earlier policy of literature and art serving the workers, peasants and soldiers and serving proletarian politics; it was emphasized that no arbitrary interference should be imposed on the creative work of literary and art workers, and that the environment for literary and artistic development should be improved. The ideological spheres that had been severely battered during the “Cultural Revolution” — education, the social sciences, journalism, publishing, etc. — under the rejection of the erroneous conclusion of the “two estimates” [n14] (namely, that the scientific and educational front had followed a “revisionist line” in the 17 years before the “Cultural Revolution,” and that the world outlook of the vast majority of intellectuals was basically bourgeois, making them “bourgeois intellectuals”) and under the correct policy of “respecting knowledge and respecting talent,” presented a picture of great development and great prosperity.

In the course of emancipating the mind, breaking free from the shackles of “Left” ideology, and opening up to the outside world, some new problems also emerged in the cultural and ideological spheres. For example, some people distorted the policy of emancipating the mind, denying the Party’s leadership, the socialist system, Mao Zedong and Mao Zedong Thought; some believed that all people are selfish and that life has no meaning; some created films propagating the idea that “not loving socialism does not mean not loving the country”; some propagated the view that Marxism is humanism and that socialism also has “alienation”; some trumpeted abstract democracy, arguing that even counter-revolutionary speech should enjoy the freedom of publication; some set Party spirit in opposition to the people’s nature, arguing that the Party newspaper should not only be the Party’s mouthpiece but also the people’s mouthpiece. Others trumpeted the so-called “modernist” ideas of the West, proclaiming that the highest aim of literature and art is “self-expression.” In addition, the evil wind of “putting money above all else” spread through literary and art circles; many people used vulgar and low-grade content and forms to make money, turning spiritual products into commodities. While learning from the advanced science and technology, management methods, and beneficial knowledge and culture of the developed capitalist countries, there was also indiscriminate admiration and importation of Western academic culture without analysis or discrimination, to the point where even books, films, music, dances, and video and audio recordings that even Western countries consider low-grade, vulgar or harmful were imported in large quantities. Faced with these circumstances, Deng Xiaoping clearly proposed upholding the Four Cardinal Principles [n15], opposing bourgeois liberalization, preventing spiritual pollution on the ideological front, and simultaneously promoting socialist cultural-ethical progress while grasping material progress. He stated that the fundamental task of cultural-ethical progress was to cultivate a new type of socialist person with ideals, moral integrity, a good education and a sense of discipline, and to strive to raise the ideological and moral quality and scientific and cultural quality of the entire Chinese nation.

During the new period of reform and opening up, as the reform of the economic system deepened, the reform of the cultural system also gradually started. Apart from cultural service units without commodity attributes, such as libraries and museums, and performing arts troupes with special artistic value requiring state financial support, other cultural units basically entered the market, were incorporated into the tertiary sector, and were required to assume sole responsibility for their profits and losses. In addition, individually operated book-rental stalls, billiard rooms, video-game rooms, roller-skating rinks, dance halls, etc., also appeared. Against the backdrop of profound changes in social structure, profound adjustments in the pattern of interests, and profound shifts in ideas and concepts, the cultural sphere and even society as a whole inevitably experienced problems of vulgarity, moral anomie, the resurgence of ugly phenomena, and, among some young students, confusion of faith and distortion of values. In response to these circumstances, the Party Central Committee proposed constructing a socialist core value system guided by Marxism, with the common ideal of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the national spirit with patriotism at its core, the spirit of the times with reform and innovation at its core, and the socialist concept of honor and disgrace as its basic content; and at the 18th National Congress of the CPC, core socialist values were put forward. While acknowledging the cultural market, the relevant state departments also issued a series of management measures and regulations to address problems such as pornography, gambling, drug abuse, and tax evasion.

Since entering the New Era, the Party and government, in their cultural construction and exploration of socialism, have on the one hand continued the achievements already made in the two historical periods before and after reform and opening up, and on the other hand corrected the deviations in exploration, adopted a series of new measures, and carried out construction and exploration with many new historical characteristics.

(1) The guiding position of Marxism in the ideological sphere has been raised to a new height.

As the reform of ownership deepened, the scope of market regulation expanded, foreign cultural exchanges grew, and people’s independence, selectivity, variability, and diversity in thought became increasingly pronounced. Mutual exchange, integration, and confrontation in the cultural sphere grew ever more intense. Trends derived from bourgeois liberalization—such as Western “constitutional democracy,” neoliberalism, democratic socialism, and historical nihilism—once ran rampant, severely challenging the guiding position of Marxism. Within the Party, especially among cadres, “some harbor doubts about communism, regarding it as an illusory and unattainable fantasy; some do not believe in Marxism-Leninism but in ghosts and gods, seeking spiritual sustenance from feudal superstition, keen on fortune-telling, physiognomy, burning incense and worshipping Buddha, and ‘consulting the gods’ when encountering problems.” [16]16 Co-construction, co-governance and shared benefits (共建共治共享): A formulation in Chinese social governance policy emphasizing the participation of all social actors in building, governing, and benefiting from social development. Regarding adherence to the guidance of Marxism, “there also exist some vague or even erroneous understandings in society. Some believe Marxism is outdated and that what China is practicing now is not Marxism; some say Marxism is merely an ideological dogma, lacking academic rationality and systematicity. In practical work, in some fields Marxism has been marginalized, hollowed out, and reduced to a label; in some disciplines it has ‘lost its voice’ in scholarship, ‘gone missing’ in textbooks, and ‘fallen silent’ in forums.” [17]17 “Protective umbrellas” (保护伞) refers to officials within the Party or government who shield and protect criminal organizations from investigation and prosecution. The emergence of this phenomenon is directly related to the fact that “some units and Party and government cadres lack political sensitivity and a sense of responsibility, being ambiguous and evasive on major ideological issues.” [18]18 The "three great mountains" (三座大山) is a classic Chinese Communist metaphor for the three oppressive forces that weighed on the Chinese people before 1949: imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism. To this end, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has made consolidating and strengthening the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological sphere a “fundamental institution” for upholding and improving the system for the flourishing development of advanced socialist culture. It requires that “Party schools, cadre academies, academies of social sciences, universities, and theoretical study centers all take Marxism as a compulsory course, becoming important bastions for the study, research, and propagation of Marxism”; “fully implement adherence to the guidance of Marxism in all aspects of ideological and theoretical construction, philosophical and social science research, and education and teaching”; “advance the adaptation of Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times and its popularization, building a socialist ideology with strong cohesion and leading power, so that the entire people are closely united in ideals, values, and moral concepts”; at the same time, it emphasizes that Party committees of all units and departments “must firmly grasp the leadership, management, and discursive power over ideological work in their own hands, never allowing it to fall into others’ hands at any time.”

(II) Taking adherence to Party spirit, bold management, and seizing the initiative as the guiding principle for ideological work

For a period, hostile forces at home and abroad, online and offline, were once arrogant and unimpeded. They denigrated Chinese culture, denied the historical contributions of the Chinese nation, denied the history of the Chinese people’s struggle since modern times, distorted the history of the Communist Party of China and the history of the People’s Republic of China, distorted the history of reform and opening up, loudly propagated Western values, maliciously fabricated and wantonly spread political rumors, exploited hot-button and difficult issues to stir up trouble, incited grassroots dissatisfaction with the Party and government, and provoked antagonism between the Party and the masses and between cadres and the masses, attempting to confuse people’s thinking, fish in troubled waters, and seize victory from chaos, to engineer a “color revolution” in China, and to use the internet to “overthrow

General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: “We must take the initiative to speak out, so that people understand what we want them to understand, and let the correct voice gain the upper hand first. Our Party members and cadres must not have soft ears when it comes to political rumors and bizarre arguments spread by those with ulterior motives; they must not take a rumor for gospel. At the same time, we cannot remain silent; we must refute them in a timely manner and let the correct voice drown them out. This is a different matter from keeping a low profile or refraining from debate.” [16]16 Co-construction, co-governance and shared benefits (共建共治共享): A formulation in Chinese social governance policy emphasizing the participation of all social actors in building, governing, and benefiting from social development. “On major issues of right and wrong and political principle concerning whether to uphold or negate the Four Cardinal Principles, we must enhance our initiative, seize the initiative, and fight the initiative battle.” [17]17 “Protective umbrellas” (保护伞) refers to officials within the Party or government who shield and protect criminal organizations from investigation and prosecution. “For statements that maliciously attack the Party’s leadership, attack the socialist system, distort the Party’s and the country’s history, or fabricate rumors to stir up trouble, no space may be provided for them in any newspapers, books, periodicals, lecture platforms, forums, conference venues, films, television, radio stations, or theatrical stages; no convenience may be provided for them through any new media such as digital newspapers, mobile television, mobile phone media, mobile phone text messages, WeChat, blogs, podcasts, microblogs, or forums.” [18]18 The "three great mountains" (三座大山) is a classic Chinese Communist metaphor for the three oppressive forces that weighed on the Chinese people before 1949: imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism. General Secretary Xi Jinping has demanded that “comrades on the propaganda and

For Party committees at all levels, especially their principal leading cadres, General Secretary Xi Jinping particularly emphasizes the necessity of paying close attention to ideological trends and clearly stating positions on erroneous tendencies: "The principal leading comrades of Party committees should take the lead in grasping ideological work, take the lead in reading and reviewing the content of the main media in their own regions and departments, take the lead in controlling the orientation of the media in their own regions and departments, and take the lead in criticizing erroneous views and erroneous tendencies." "The principal leading comrades of Party committees should regularly listen to reports on news and舆论 work, direct important work from the front, personally review important manuscripts, and strengthen guidance and regulation of the media at critical junctures. On issues of a political, principled, or directional nature, they must take a clear stand, dare to grasp and manage, seriously criticize and deal with deviations and errors, and resolutely support media and news and舆论 workers who come under attack for voicing just voices." General Secretary Xi

After the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has given increasingly clear definitions to the significance and status, nature and content, tasks and pathways of cultivating and practicing the core socialist values. Comrade Xi Jinping has pointed out on many occasions that core values are the spiritual bond on which a nation relies for survival, the most enduring and deepest force for civilizational progress and development and growth, the common ideological foundation and important stabilizer of a country, and the soul and focal point of the construction of cultural soft power, determining the nature and direction of culture; whether a core value system with strong appeal can be constructed concerns social harmony and stability, concerns the country’s long-term peace and order; if there are no common core values, a nation and a country will be without a soul to settle on and without a guide to act by. [16]16 Co-construction, co-governance and shared benefits (共建共治共享): A formulation in Chinese social governance policy emphasizing the participation of all social actors in building, governing, and benefiting from social development.

The Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee incorporated the cultivation and practice of the core socialist values into the strategy of building a strong socialist country. [17]17 “Protective umbrellas” (保护伞) refers to officials within the Party or government who shield and protect criminal organizations from investigation and prosecution. Thereafter, it was also incorporated into the strategy of combining law-based governance and rule-of-virtue governance, the five-year plan for national economic and social development, and the basic strategy for socialism with Chinese characteristics for a New Era, making clear that its nature is the qualitative stipulation of the socialist system at the ideological and spiritual level, the value expression of the path, theory system and institutions of socialism with Chinese characteristics; its basic content is to conduct education in ideals and convictions, in the “four histories” [18]18 The "three great mountains" (三座大山) is a classic Chinese Communist metaphor for the three oppressive forces that weighed on the Chinese people before 1949: imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism. and in patriotism, collectivism and socialism, to implement the project of civic moral construction, to advance the construction of new-era civilized practice centers, etc.; its main tasks are to cultivate new-era persons capable of shouldering the mission of national rejuvenation, to train builders of the socialist cause with correct world outlook, outlook on life and values, to guide the construction of advanced socialist culture, to unite the value pursuits of the people of all ethnic groups across the country, and to transform these into their emotional identification and behavioral habits; the implementation pathway is to integrate them into national education, to run them through all aspects and the entire process of activities for cultural-ethical progress, to start with ideological morality and social customs, and to carry out nationwide family tradition building led by the exemplary behavior of cadres.

(4) Placing social benefit more prominently in the first position in promoting the development of the cultural industry

Since the formation of the cultural industry after reform and opening up, some people, in order to make quick money and cater to the market, have engaged in plagiarism and imitation, stereotyped production, mechanized production, and fast-food consumption; have ridiculed the sublime, distorted the classics, subverted history, and vilified the masses and heroic figures; have confused right and wrong, failed to distinguish good from evil, taken ugliness as beauty, and overemphasized the dark side of society; have sought novelty and sensationalism, pandered to vulgar tastes, and treated works as “cash cows” for chasing profits and as “ecstasy pills” for sensory stimulation; have fabricated and written nonsense, produced shoddy and careless work, forced far-fetched analogies, and created cultural “garbage”; have pursued luxury, excessive packaging, flaunted wealth and ostentation, with form outweighing content; have written only about personal joys and sorrows, trivial personal upsets, detached from the masses and from reality. In response to these phenomena, at the 2013 National Conference on Propaganda and Ideology Work, Comrade Xi Jinping pointed out: “We must properly handle the relationship between ideological attribute and industrial attribute, between social benefit and economic benefit, always adhere to the forward direction of advanced socialist culture, and always place social benefit in the first position. No matter what is reformed and how it is reformed, the orientation cannot be changed, and the positions cannot be abandoned.” At the Forum on Literature and Art Work held in 2014, he further emphasized: “Under the conditions of developing a socialist market economy, many cultural products must realize their value through the market, so of course economic benefit cannot be completely disregarded. However, compared with social benefit, economic benefit is secondary. When the two benefits and the two values conflict, economic benefit must submit to social benefit, and market value must submit to social value. Literature and art cannot be slaves of the market, nor be stained with the stench of money. Excellent literary and artistic works are best when they achieve success both ideologically and artistically and are also welcomed in the market. We must hold fast to the aesthetic ideal of literature and art, maintain the independent value of literature and art, and reasonably set quantitative indicators such as circulation, ratings, click-through rates, and box office revenue that reflect the degree of market acceptance. We must neither ignore nor negate these indicators, nor absolutize them and be led by the nose by the market.”

Subsequently, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the “Guiding Opinions on Promoting State-Owned Cultural Enterprises to Place Social Benefit First and Achieve the Unity of Social Benefit and Economic Benefit,” the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee, in conjunction with relevant departments, successively formulated trial measures for evaluating the benefit of book publishing, state-owned literary and art troupes, and state-owned film and television enterprises, and the Central Committee for Deepening Overall Reform passed the “Guiding Opinions on Cultural Enterprises Adhering to the Correct Orientation and Fulfilling Social Responsibilities,” promoting cultural enterprises of all types to create and produce more healthy, uplifting, and high-quality cultural products. The 19th National Congress of the CPC and the 20th National Congress of the CPC also incorporated content concerning the construction of a cultural system and mechanism that places social benefit first and unifies social benefit with economic benefit into the reports of the CPC Central Committee, promoting the gradual implementation of the principle of social benefit taking first place in all categories and industries of culture.

(5) Taking the enhancement of confidence in the culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics as the foundational work for strengthening international communication capacity building

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, in response to the long-standing situation where “the international public opinion landscape is one of the West being strong and us being weak, with major Western media controlling world opinion, and we often have reasons but cannot articulate them, or articulate them but cannot spread them,” our Party has emphasized the necessity of strengthening international communication capacity building, constructing a foreign discourse system, leveraging the role of emerging media, enhancing the creativity, appeal, and credibility of foreign discourse, telling China’s stories well, spreading China’s voice well, and especially enhancing confidence in the culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics. As Comrade Xi Jinping pointed out: “Our country’s development achievements are so great, its development momentum is so good, and our country has done so many good things in the world—this is the greatest capital for doing a good job in guiding international public opinion. We are capable of doing China’s affairs well; are we not capable of telling China’s stories well? We should have this

In the social sphere, a socialist system of social governance and social security was established, and a pattern of co-construction, co-governance and shared benefits initially took shape.

As for socialist society, the first stage of communism, Marx and Engels never experienced it in their own lifetimes, and Lenin only briefly experienced the first few years of the first socialist state. Therefore, they relied more on the basic theories of historical materialism and scientific socialism, starting from the premise that socialism would abolish private ownership of the means of production and the exploitation of man by man, to deduce and discuss in principle that in such a society, the political relations and personal dignity between people and between nations would be equal, the distinctions between mental and manual labor, between industry and agriculture, and between town and country would gradually diminish, consumer goods would be distributed according to work performed, employment would be full, the social mores and traditional habits of capitalism would be gradually overcome, the social status of women and men would be equal, marriage would be monogamous, and religious belief would be free, and so on.

After the founding of New China, our Party, on the one hand, followed the general descriptions of socialist society by the classical Marxist writers, and on the other hand, drew on the Soviet experience in building socialism and its own experience in governing society in the revolutionary base areas, the anti-Japanese base areas, and the liberated areas, to carry out a thorough transformation of Chinese society.

After the founding of New China, in the process of building and exploring socialist society, there were broadly three types of situations as follows.

(I) Always Advancing Unswervingly Along the Correct Direction

1. Women’s Liberation and the Elevation of Their Social Status

As early as the period of the New Democratic Revolution, Mao Zedong pointed out that women in old China suffered not only the oppression of political power, clan authority, and religious authority but also the domination of patriarchal authority, which collectively reflected the “four great thick ropes” binding the Chinese peasantry; he held that “women’s liberation is closely linked with social liberation.” Therefore, as soon as New China was founded, the first law it enacted was the Marriage Law, which stipulated the abolition of arranged and forced marriages and male superiority over female inferiority, the implementation of freedom of marriage, monogamy, and equality between men and women, and the prohibition of bigamy, concubinage, child betrothal, and the exaction of money or gifts in connection with marriage. The 1954 Constitution further stipulated that men and women enjoy equal rights to vote and stand for election, as well as rights to manage state affairs. Mao Zedong also pointed out: “Women’s liberation and equality between men and women are only just beginning now; true equality will come only with socialism”; “genuine equality between men and women can only be realized in the process of the socialist transformation of the whole society.” Around the time of the socialist transformation, China conducted three literacy campaigns, helping 16 million women become literate. After the basic completion of the socialist transformation, China implemented equal pay for equal work for men and women, enabling women not only to obtain the same political and social status as men but also to possess equal economic power. From the very beginning of New China, the law stipulated that men and women enjoy equal rights to vote and stand for election, something that was achieved only much later in Western capitalist countries, and equal pay for equal work for men and women remains unachieved in many Western capitalist countries to this day.

After reform and opening up, the Party Central Committee provided new opportunities and expanded new channels for women’s political participation, further elevating women’s political status. Every congress of the Party has emphasized the importance of giving full play to women’s advantages in political participation, increasing the intensity of training and selection of female cadres and female Party members, and optimizing the social environment for women’s participation in political deliberation. By 2008, the proportion of women deputies in the National People’s Congress had exceeded 20%. The proportion of female cadres in Party and government organs also increased considerably. With the improvement of legislation on the protection of women’s rights and interests, the awareness of safeguarding women’s rights in accordance with the law across society has continuously risen. In particular, the revised Marriage Law and the newly formulated Civil Code both contain provisions favorable to the protection of women’s rights and interests in marital relations.

Entering the New Era, in response to the new situations and new problems facing the development of women’s affairs, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core further clarified that realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is the theme of the contemporary Chinese women’s movement, emphasized adhering to the basic state policy of equality between men and women, ensuring that gender equality is implemented, integrating the development of women’s affairs into the overall planning of the work of the Party and the state, and giving play to women’s unique roles in social life, family life, and in promoting the family virtues of the Chinese nation and establishing good family traditions. By 2021, women accounted for 43.1% of all employed persons nationwide, and the proportion of women among scientific and technological workers nationwide exceeded 40%.

2. Social Relief and Poverty Alleviation

From its very beginning, the Communist Party of China has taken serving the people as its mission. Apart from waging struggles to fundamentally overthrow the exploiting system, it has always provided assistance within its capacity to the difficulties of the masses around it. Shortly after the founding of New China, the people’s government, facing a host of problems requiring resolution such as production contraction and soaring prices, still allocated human, material, and financial resources, and distributed grain, materials, and medicines to settle the masses facing difficulties in their lives due to disasters and other causes, and organized various types of mutual aid and relief activities. At the same time, it adopted active and effective anti-unemployment policies. With the exception of a small number of war criminals, secret agents, and other persons with serious misdeeds, all personnel of the old regime were placed under the policy of “taking them all over” [17]17 “Protective umbrellas” (保护伞) refers to officials within the Party or government who shield and protect criminal organizations from investigation and prosecution. and providing them with work and a means of livelihood. The relief of unemployed workers and intellectuals and helping them find employment was included among the eight important tasks of the report “Fight for a Fundamental Turn for the Better in the Nation’s Financial and Economic Situation” of the Third Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Party. After the movement to establish people’s communes, the Party and government implemented the “five guarantees” policy (guarantees of food, clothing, housing, medical care, and burial expenses) for childless and elderly people and those who had lost the ability to work in rural areas. During the three years of economic difficulty, whenever the actual difficulties at the grassroots level were learned of, the Party and government always dispatched relief grain at the first opportunity, transferred medical personnel and free medicines to treat the sick, and properly resettled disaster victims and refugees. In the face of earthquakes, mudslides, plagues, and floods and droughts, the Party and government also dispatched troops and medical teams to disaster areas at the first opportunity to carry out rescue and relief work.

After reform and opening up, the national economic strength was considerably enhanced, and the approach gradually shifted from relief-based poverty alleviation to development-oriented poverty alleviation. In 1986, the State Council established the Leading Group for Economic Development in Poverty-Stricken Areas, with a Poverty Alleviation Office under it, shifting poverty alleviation work to utilizing the natural resources of poverty-stricken areas, carrying out developmental production and construction, and forming a path centered on the accumulation of self-capacity and development-oriented poverty alleviation for poverty-stricken areas and poor households. In 2010, according to the raised poverty standard, there were still 26.88 million people living in poverty. In 2011, the state again substantially raised the poverty standard, expanding the number of people in poverty to 128 million.

Entering the New Era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core mobilized the strength of the entire Party and the whole country to launch a battle against poverty, implementing centralized and unified leadership, promoting the construction of an overall framework in which secretaries at five levels [18]18 The "three great mountains" (三座大山) is a classic Chinese Communist metaphor for the three oppressive forces that weighed on the Chinese people before 1949: imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism. grasp poverty alleviation and the entire Party is mobilized to promote the assault on fortified positions. A total of 255,000 village-based work teams and over 3 million first secretaries and village-based cadres were successively selected and dispatched, fighting on the front line of poverty alleviation alongside nearly 2 million township cadres and several million village cadres. A total of 1.6 trillion yuan in special fiscal poverty alleviation funds was invested, and over 710 billion yuan in micro-credit loans for poverty alleviation was issued. The nine eastern provinces and municipalities also invested approximately 100.5 billion yuan in financial assistance and social aid funds for counterpart poverty alleviation cooperation regions, and enterprises invested over 1 trillion yuan, fully reflecting the institutional superiority of socialism in concentrating resources to accomplish major undertakings. By the end of 2020, the remaining nearly 100 million rural poor had all been lifted out of poverty, effectively reducing the scale of the world’s poor population.

3. Combating Organized Crime and Rooting out Local Mafia to Protect the Safety of People’s Lives and Property

At the beginning of the founding of New China, in the struggle to sweep away the feudal remnants of the old society, the Party and government dealt severe blows to the local bullies, gang bosses, hooligans, and ruffians who had long ridden roughshod over the people, bringing about a fundamental improvement in public security across the country, orderly production and living conditions, and a stability unprecedented in history.

After reform and opening up, due to the influence of anarchism during the “Cultural Revolution,” the influx of decadent lifestyles from abroad after the opening up, and the effects of other factors, criminal cases and violent crimes such as homicide, arson, robbery, rape, gang crime, major theft, human trafficking, and forcing and enticing women into prostitution increased

Entering the New Era, as the anti-corruption struggle deepened, a number of mafia-like social organizations and their “protective umbrellas” were gradually exposed.[n17] The broad masses had long been deeply disgusted by this. Therefore, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core decided in early 2018 to launch a three-year nationwide special campaign to crack down on mafia-like organizations and evil forces. Subsequently, in order to further strengthen the work style rectification of the political-legal contingent, raise the level of law enforcement, and ensure the stability of social order, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core decided in 2020 to carry out an education and rectification campaign within the national political-legal contingent, promoting the resolution of a number of deep-seated problems, purging a number of black sheep, and further consolidating the ideological defense line against corruption and moral degeneration.

(2) After a period of twists and turns, it returned to the correct path

1. Medical and health work

Old China was deeply oppressed by the three great mountains [18]18 The "three great mountains" (三座大山) is a classic Chinese Communist metaphor for the three oppressive forces that weighed on the Chinese people before 1949: imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism., the people lived in destitution and lacked medical care and medicine, causing infectious diseases such as smallpox, plague, cholera, typhoid, malaria, leprosy, and syphilis to spread everywhere, bringing endless suffering to the masses. After the founding of New China, the Party and government treated health, epidemic prevention, and medical work as a major political task. Especially in the face of the threat of U.S. bacteriological warfare, they launched a nationwide patriotic health campaign, requiring attention to hygiene and the removal of garbage. At the same time, they actively established medical and health institutions, trained medical and health personnel, and built a three-tier medical and health care network. In response to the harm caused by disease vectors such as rats, flies, and mosquitoes, the country also carried out a campaign to eliminate the "four pests" [19]19 The "four pests" (四害) originally referred to rats, sparrows, flies, and mosquitoes, targeted in a mass campaign launched in the 1950s; sparrows were later replaced by bedbugs (and later still by cockroaches) as the campaign evolved. and promote hygiene. In addition, a mass movement to eliminate schistosomiasis was launched, and the disease, which had been prevalent for a thousand years, was basically eradicated.

Before reform and opening up, under the guidance of health work policies such as "serve the workers, peasants, and soldiers, put prevention first, unite Chinese and Western medicine, and combine health work with mass movements" and "focus the emphasis of medical and health work on the countryside," the vast rural areas promoted a rural cooperative medical system mainly based on collective and individual farmer co-payment of medical expenses. During the "Cultural Revolution" period, under Mao Zedong's advocacy, the experience of "barefoot doctors" [20]20 "Barefoot doctors" (赤脚医生) were rural medical workers who received basic training while continuing to farm, a key feature of the cooperative medical system during the Mao era.—rural health personnel who did not leave productive labor—was further promoted, making them the main organizers and implementers of cooperative medical care, thereby providing personnel guarantees for this system and greatly improving rural medical and health conditions. The World Bank and the World Health Organization called China's rural cooperative medical care "the only model for developing countries to solve health financing." The annual report of the United Nations Children's Fund for 1980–1981 stated: "China's barefoot doctor system provided primary care in backward rural areas, providing a model for underdeveloped countries to improve medical and health standards."

After reform and opening up, medical and health work also underwent institutional reform. For public hospitals, measures such as relaxing policies, delegating power, and raising funds from multiple sources were adopted, implementing the policy of simultaneous efforts by the central government, local governments, and departments, and by the state, collectives, and individuals. Hospital autonomy was expanded, the director responsibility system for hospitals, institutes, and stations was implemented, various forms of contract responsibility systems were promoted, and full-time medical and health personnel were allowed to engage in paid part-time services, with fees differentiated by level. At the same time, individual practice was supported. Regarding rural cooperative medical care and "barefoot doctors," because no timely remedial measures were taken after the dissolution of the people's communes, a situation of "broken nets and scattered people" [21]21 "Broken nets and scattered people" (网破人散) is a colloquial expression describing the collapse of the rural cooperative medical system after the dissolution of the people's communes. emerged. According to a 1985 survey, the proportion of administrative villages implementing cooperative medical care nationwide dropped from 90% to 5%; in 1989, only 4.8% of administrative villages nationwide implemented cooperative medical care, and self-funded medical care once again became the dominant form of medical care in rural areas. Starting in the 1990s, the government began to pay attention to this issue, taking measures to address the shortage of rural health technical personnel and corresponding remuneration issues, and actively promoted a new type of rural cooperative medical system mainly based on basic medical insurance.

Entering the New Era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core inherited the good traditions of the Party's health work, further corrected deviations in past work, promoted the downward shift of the focus of medical and health work, the sinking of medical and health resources, and the equalization of basic public services between urban and rural areas. It took people's health as an important content and foundational task of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects in the New Era, and adopted the policy of "focusing on the grassroots, taking reform and innovation as the driving force, putting prevention first, emphasizing both Chinese and Western medicine, integrating health into all policies, and building and sharing by the people" as the guideline for health and health work. In response to problems such as insufficient total medical and health resources, low quality, unreasonable structure and layout, and fragmented service systems, the Party and government clarified five key tasks for optimizing the allocation of medical and health service resources and upgrading services: establishing various types of public hospitals at different levels, vigorously developing social medical care, scientifically laying out high-quality medical resources, strengthening functional layout and division of labor and collaboration, having grassroots medical and health institutions undertake services such as first diagnosis, rehabilitation, and nursing, diverting general outpatient services from public hospitals, promoting the reform of public hospitals, and fully affirming the reform path of Sanming City, Fujian Province, which aimed to sever the interest chain between drugs and hospitals, block the old path of "supporting medical care with drugs," and control drug abuse by implementing centralized drug procurement with volume, establishing general hospitals with centralized and unified management of counties, townships, and villages, personnel, finances, and materials, and promoting the reform of medical insurance "package payment" and payment based on diagnosis-related groups. Through the continuous improvement of the medical security system, by 2019, the number of people covered by basic medical insurance exceeded 1.35 billion, financial investment in medical insurance continued to increase, the basic medical insurance system for urban and rural residents was further integrated, and the universal medical insurance system was further improved. At the same time, the problem of direct settlement of cross-provincial medical expenses for basic medical insurance was gradually resolved, the medical expense burden for people in difficulty and patients with serious illnesses was alleviated, the problem of inflated drug prices was rectified, and the people's health level was greatly improved. At present, China's three major indicators for measuring people's health—maternal and infant mortality rates and average life expectancy—are all among the top ranks of upper-middle-income countries.

2. Education

Education is an important field reflecting social fairness. In old China, the children of working people basically had no opportunity to receive an education, resulting in 80% of the population being illiterate or semi-literate. After the founding of New China, it was made clear that education must serve national construction, schools must open their doors to workers and peasants, primary and secondary schools were required to widely enroll children of workers and peasants, and worker-peasant accelerated middle schools, worker-peasant cadre remedial classes, and technical training classes were established. At the same time, a nationwide literacy campaign was launched, and the literacy rate and education level of the masses were greatly improved. To meet the demand for talent from large-scale industrialization, that period also focused on cultivating industrial construction talent and teachers, adjusting the departments and faculties of higher education institutions nationwide, developing specialized colleges and technical schools, and forming a relatively complete system of higher engineering specialties. During the "Great Leap Forward" period, on the one hand, a large number of part-time primary schools, middle schools, and various technical night schools were established in various localities; on the other hand, higher education institutions greatly expanded enrollment; at the same time, the integration of education with productive labor was emphasized, teachers and students were organized to participate in productive labor for long periods, and classroom teaching and basic theoretical learning were correspondingly reduced. After the outbreak of the "Cultural Revolution," all primary, secondary, and tertiary schools nationwide "suspended classes to make revolution," and universities stopped enrolling students. In the later period of the "Cultural Revolution," a recruitment method combining recommendation and selection was adopted, but liberal arts colleges were basically closed, resulting in university students accounting for only 0.4% of the total number of students nationwide in 1978. However, due to the implementation of the strategy of universalizing primary and secondary education and vigorously focusing on the enrollment rate of school-age children in rural areas, the number of primary school, junior high school, and senior high school students in 1976 increased by 29.1%, 4.4 times, and 10.3 times, respectively, compared with 1965, laying an important foundation for China's realization of universal nine-year compulsory education in 2000.

After the smashing of the "Gang of Four" [22]22 The "Gang of Four" (四人帮) was a political faction, China restored the college entrance examination system, and at the same time implemented nine-year compulsory education, vigorously developed vocational and technical education, expanded the autonomy of higher education institutions, and actively carried out adult education. Education investment continued to increase, especially under the guidance of the policy of "three priorities" (i.e., economic and social development planning, fiscal funds, and public resources should be given priority arrangement). Fiscal education expenditure increased year by year, finally exceeding 4% of GDP in 2012. The gross enrollment rates of education at all levels also increased significantly, compulsory education was fully universalized, and the university enrollment rate was significantly improved. During that stage, China once set off a wave of mergers of higher education institutions, there were also some mistakes in ideological and political education, and in the connection between education and practice, there was a bias of overemphasizing classroom teaching while neglecting practice.

Entering the New Era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, on the basis of summing up the experiences and lessons of the preceding period, has prominently emphasized that “for whom to cultivate people, what kind of people to cultivate, and how to cultivate people” are the fundamental questions of education; it has reaffirmed that the basic policy of China’s education is that education must serve socialist modernization, must be combined with productive labor, and must cultivate builders and successors for the socialist cause who are developed comprehensively in morality, intelligence, physique, aesthetics, and labor; at the same time, it has strengthened the Party’s overall leadership over education, emphasizing the establishment of moral integrity and cultivation of people as the fundamental task, comprehensively advancing quality-oriented education, strengthening labor education, deeply advancing the integrated construction of ideological and political courses in universities, middle schools, and primary schools, combining the small classroom of ideological and political education with the big classroom of society, delivering “big ideological and political courses” well, integrating major thematic education such as socialist advanced culture, revolutionary culture, fine traditional Chinese culture, and national security into the curriculum, and strengthening the status of national authority over textbook construction, explicitly stipulating that compulsory education schools must not introduce foreign textbooks. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Party and government have made great efforts to promote the balanced development of all types and levels of education, especially solving the weak problems in rural education; deeply implementing the nutrition improvement plan for students receiving compulsory education in rural areas; focusing on responding to the public’s concerns about education, including accelerating the popularization of preschool education, striving to solve the problems of “difficulty and high cost of entering kindergarten,” reducing the burden on students in the compulsory education stage, deeply advancing the reform of compulsory education enrollment without exams and based on proximity, promoting the connotative development of higher education, taking talent cultivation as an important indicator for evaluation, and overcoming tendencies such as emphasizing scientific research over teaching, valuing only papers, only professional titles, and only academic degrees.

3. Work on Ethnic Groups and Religion

China has many ethnic minorities, distributed over a wide area. Historically, development among the various ethnic groups was highly uneven, with serious ethnic discrimination and ethnic contradictions. In modern times, due to the invasion and instigation of imperialists, separatist tendencies among some ethnic groups were further fostered. After the founding of New China, the Party and government attached great importance to work on ethnic groups and religion, based on the socialist principle of ethnic equality, striving to implement ethnic unity, improve ethnic relations, and blaze a correct path for solving ethnic problems with Chinese characteristics, combining Marxist ethnic theory with the concrete reality of China’s ethnic problems.

The Common Programme [23]23 The Common Programme (共同纲领) refers to the Common Programme of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, adopted in 1949, which served as the provisional constitution of the People’s Republic of China until the 1954 Constitution. explicitly stipulates: “All ethnic groups within the territory of the People’s Republic of China are equal”; “oppose great-Han chauvinism and narrow nationalism, and prohibit acts of discrimination, oppression, and splitting of unity among ethnic groups”; “in areas where ethnic minorities live in concentrated communities, regional ethnic autonomy shall be practiced, and various organs of ethnic autonomy shall be established according to the size of the population and the area of the concentrated community”; “all ethnic minorities have the freedom to develop their own spoken and written languages, and to preserve or reform their own customs, habits, and religious beliefs. The People’s Government shall assist the masses of the people of all ethnic minorities in developing their political, economic, cultural, and educational construction undertakings”; “make the People’s Republic of China a big family of friendly cooperation among all ethnic groups.” The 1954 Constitution further established regional ethnic autonomy as a basic state policy and basic political system, successively establishing five provincial-level autonomous regions: Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Guangxi, Ningxia, and Tibet.

As early as the early period of New China, the Central People’s Government dispatched multiple ethnic visiting groups to the concentrated ethnic minority areas in the southwest, northwest, central south, and northeast, to deeply understand the actual situation in ethnic regions and offer suggestions for improving ethnic policies; at the same time, it invited representatives from various aspects of ethnic minorities to visit the interior in batches. During the period of democratic reform and socialist transformation, respecting the will of ethnic minorities, different methods were adopted: for ethnic groups at the same or similar stage of development as the Han region, reform and transformation were carried out synchronously with the Han region; for ethnic groups practicing feudal serfdom, lord systems, or slavery, methods of peaceful consultation were adopted for reform and transformation; for ethnic groups maintaining primitive commune systems, they took a single step to embark on the path of mutual aid and cooperation, achieving leapfrog development. In the early period of socialist construction, ethnic work emphasized both opposing great-Han chauvinism and opposing narrow nationalism and ethnic separatism, while at the same time helping ethnic minority regions develop their economies and improve living standards, making ethnic relations increasingly harmonious. During the “Cultural Revolution” period, work on ethnic groups and religion was influenced by “Left” ideology, labeling many ethnic and religious figures as local nationalists, creating a large number of unjust, false, and wrong cases.

After reform and opening up, the Party and government summed up the experiences and lessons of ethnic work since the founding of New China, corrected “Left” errors, and restored the reputations of persecuted upper-level ethnic minority figures; comprehensively implemented the policy of freedom of religious belief, restored and improved religious work institutions, restored the activities of patriotic religious groups, solved the problems of venues, articles, and clergy for religious life of believers, while at the same time strengthening the management of religion. However, during that period, because international anti-China forces intensified their Westernization, division, and infiltration of China’s ethnic minority regions, they emboldened the arrogance of a very small number of ethnic separatists, leading successively to serious violent criminal incidents of beating, smashing, looting, and burning in Tibet and Tibetan-related prefectures and counties, and in parts of Xinjiang, in 2008 and 2009.

Entering the New Era, the Party and government further summed up the positive and negative experiences and lessons in ethnic and religious work since the founding of New China, elevating the social stability and lasting peace and order of ethnic regions to a height concerning the overall situation of reform, development, and stability, concerning national unification, ethnic unity, and national security, and concerning the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, emphasizing the consciousness of forging the Chinese nation as a community with a shared future and the concept of the pluralistic and integrated pattern of the Chinese nation, as well as the idea that no ethnic group can be separated from the others. General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized: “Unity and unification are the highest interests of the state, the common interests of all ethnic groups, and the prerequisite and foundation for practicing regional ethnic autonomy.” It is necessary to resolutely oppose great-Han chauvinism and narrow nationalism, consolidate the ideological foundation of ethnic unity, resolutely curb and strike at the separatist, infiltrative, and destructive activities of hostile forces at home and abroad using ethnic issues, and firmly grasp the initiative in the struggle against separatism; at the same time, legal education must be carried out to enhance the legal awareness of all ethnic groups. The core of doing ethnic work well is to help ethnic minority regions develop their economies and improve people’s livelihoods, the key is to do a good job of ethnic unity, the most effective method is to win people’s hearts, and the top priority is to cultivate ethnic minority cadres and give full play to their role, paying attention to strengthening education on correct views of ethnicity, religion, and history for ethnic minority youth. General Secretary Xi Jinping called on ethnic minorities to learn the Chinese language well “to facilitate employment, acceptance of modern scientific and cultural knowledge, and integration into society,” and “to actively promote integrated schools and mixed classes for ethnic groups and Han.” General Secretary Xi Jinping has delivered a series of important theses and made a series of important instructions and directives on ethnic and religious work, promoting historic achievements and historic changes in the Party’s ethnic and religious work in the New Era.

(3) New Measures Adopted in Response to New Situations and New Problems

The changes that have occurred in the political, economic, scientific, and technological fields over the 75 years since the founding of New China will inevitably be reflected in the social field, bringing new problems to social construction. The most significant change is that, due to policies adopted since reform and opening up, such as separating government from enterprises and government from society, invigorating the economy, breaking the “iron rice bowl,” [24]24 “Iron rice bowl” (铁饭碗) is a Chinese idiom referring to the system of guaranteed lifetime employment, job security, and state-provided benefits that was characteristic of state-owned enterprises and government institutions before the economic reforms. allowing the development of individual and private economies, and gradually expanding the scope of market regulation, the rapid development of informatization, digitalization, and intelligence in the scientific and technological field has made many original methods of social management no longer suitable, new social strata have continuously emerged, and new situations and new problems such as housing commercialization, food safety, and the network society have appeared. In response to these new situations and new problems, the Party and government have correspondingly adopted a series of new measures in the exploration of social construction, forming theories and methods of social construction that conform to China’s national conditions, becoming an important part of the system and path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

1. Changing the Methods of Grassroots Governance

The first change encountered at the level of social governance after reform and opening up was that, as the original rural “integration of government and commune” people’s commune system [25]25 The “integration of government and commune” (政社合一) system refers to the people’s commune structure in rural China from 1958 to the early 1980s, in which the commune simultaneously functioned as the lowest level of state administration and as a collective economic unit. no longer suited the new situation of the promotion of the household contract responsibility system, it reverted to the “separation of government and commune” system that had existed before the Great Leap Forward, [26]26 The Great Leap Forward (1958–1961) was a nationwide campaign for rapid industrialization and agricultural collectivization under Mao Zedong, which led to severe economic crisis and famine. thereby creating a temporary vacuum in rural social governance. In response, under the leadership of the Party and government, many localities established villagers’ self-governing organizations—villagers’ committees—which were written into the 1982 Constitution. In 1987, the 23rd Session of the Standing Committee of the Sixth National People’s Congress passed the “Organic Law of the Villagers’ Committees of the People’s Republic of China (Trial Implementation),” clearly stipulating that villagers’ committees are grassroots mass self-governing organizations through which villagers practice self-management, self-education, and self-service. In 1990, the “Summary of the National Symposium on the Construction of Village-Level Organizations” proposed: “Village-level organizations should take as their central task leading the masses to deepen rural reform, develop the economy, and take the road of common prosperity.” With the influx of large numbers of surplus rural laborers into cities and towns for work, forming a “wave of migrant workers,” the expansion of autonomy for urban state-owned enterprises and the emergence of bankruptcy and restructuring, as well as the gradual development of individual, foreign-invested, and joint-stock enterprises and reforms in housing, medical care, and social security, the original methods of household registration management and unit-based worker management both became unsuited to the new circumstances. Accordingly, the state stipulated that peasants engaged in industry, commerce, and service industries could settle in market towns by providing their own grain rations; the Ministry of Public Security issued the “Provisional Residence Permit Application Measures”; and the National People’s Congress passed the “Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Resident Identity Cards.” At the same time, the state also issued relevant policies allowing scientific and technical personnel to flow rationally from their original units to society, distinguishing unit workers into regular workers, contract workers, and temporary workers, and requiring enterprises to properly place surplus personnel who were laid off, permitting them either to be absorbed internally through measures such as developing the tertiary sector, in-plant training, and early retirement, or to wait for employment or seek their own livelihoods.

Entering the New Era, social construction received further emphasis. The Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core proposed advancing the construction of a “Safe China” within the overall strategy for the development of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and changed the term “social management” to “social governance,” placing greater emphasis on multi-stakeholder coordination, co-governance and shared benefits, the combination of co-governance and self-governance, the simultaneous use of rule of law and rule of virtue, and the continuous promotion of the refinement, legalization, intellectualization, professionalization, and modernization of governance capacity. To further adapt to the new situation after the abolition of the state monopoly on the purchase and marketing of grain [27]27 The state monopoly on the purchase and marketing of grain (统购统销), implemented from 1953 to 1985, was a system under which the state controlled the procurement and distribution of grain and other key agricultural products. and to promote the urbanization of the agricultural transfer population, the state proposed establishing a unified household registration system for urban and rural areas, abolishing the distinction between agricultural and non-agricultural household registrations implemented during the planned economy period, and uniformly registering all as resident households. The treatment of migrant workers in terms of their accompanying children receiving compulsory education, participating in basic medical insurance and pension insurance for workers, and cross-provincial settlement of hospitalization expenses also saw varying degrees of improvement. To perfect and improve the urban and rural community governance system and raise the level of governance, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress amended the “Organic Law of the Villagers’ Committees of the People’s Republic of China” and the “Organic Law of the Urban Residents’ Committees of the People’s Republic of China,” implementing the concurrent holding of the posts of director of the villagers’ committee or residents’ committee and secretary of the Party grassroots organization, thereby further shifting the center of gravity of social governance downward to the grassroots level.

2. Doing a Good Job of Work with the New Social Strata

During the period of complete public ownership and the planned economy, aside from the two major classes of workers and peasants, there were only a few strata such as cadres, intellectuals, and revolutionary soldiers. However, since reform and opening up, the permission and development of individual and private economies and the establishment of foreign-invested and Sino-foreign joint ventures, treating them as necessary and beneficial supplements to the socialist economy, along with the increasingly fine division of labor in society resulting from economic, social, and cultural development, have given rise to many new social organizations and new economic organizations concentrated mainly in the tertiary sector, such as social groups, foundations, private non-enterprise units, intermediary organizations, and literary and artistic performance troupes. This has produced numerous new social strata composed mainly of people working in the non-public economy and intellectuals with free choice of occupation. According to statistics from the 1999 “Occupational Classification Code of the People’s Republic of China,” there were at that time 8 major categories and 41 minor categories of occupations in China, totaling 1,836 types. These included entrepreneurs and technical personnel in private scientific and technological enterprises, managerial and technical personnel employed by foreign-invested enterprises, self-employed individuals, private enterprise owners, employees of intermediary organizations, and freelancers. This group has relatively high incomes, but their occupations and status are characterized by considerable instability; moreover, they control or manage large amounts of capital, use more than half of the nation’s patents, and absorb more than half of the newly added employed population, making them a force that cannot be ignored in economic and social development.

New economic organizations, social organizations, and new social strata are all new phenomena that emerged after reform and opening up. As a whole, they differ from the bourgeoisie of old China and represent a new problem never encountered before reform and opening up. How to view these organizations and strata involves major issues in the construction of a socialist society. In response, the Party and government, proceeding from the spirit of seeking truth from facts, adopted an attitude of active exploration. Regarding the issue of individual economic units exceeding the limit on hired labor, the Party and government first adopted a policy of “wait and see.” In 1987, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee passed the “Decision on Deepening Rural Reform,” which for the first time used the concept of “private enterprises.” Subsequently, the report of the 13th National Congress of the CPC clearly stated: “The private economy is an economic component that involves wage-labor relations. However, under socialist conditions, it is inevitably linked to the dominant public ownership economy and is greatly influenced by it. Practice has proven that a certain degree of development of the private economy is conducive to promoting production, invigorating the market, expanding employment, and better meeting the diverse needs of the people’s lives; it is a necessary and beneficial supplement to the public ownership economy.” With regard to the private economy, the revised 1988 Constitution stipulated that the state permits its existence and development within the scope prescribed by law, protects its lawful rights and interests, and exercises guidance, supervision, and management over it. In the same year, the State Council promulgated the “Provisional Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Private Enterprises,” bringing their development onto a standardized track. In 2001, at the meeting celebrating the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the new social strata were referred to as “builders of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.” At the same time, to effectively carry out the work of guiding, supervising, and managing them, measures were adopted to establish Party organizations within new economic organizations and social organizations and to dispatch Party-building instructors and liaison officers to them.

While new economic organizations, new social organizations, and new social strata play a positive role in promoting economic development and flourishing social undertakings, they also exhibit some negative phenomena. For example, some private enterprise owners, in pursuit of profit, resort to unfair competitive practices, evade taxes, transfer assets overseas, engage in commercial bribery, fraud, and monopolies, prompting disorderly expansion and野蛮生长 [28]28 “Barbaric growth” (野蛮生长) — a term used in Chinese political discourse to describe unchecked, disorderly expansion of capital, often associated with monopolistic practices and regulatory evasion. of capital; some new media practitioners and online figures, including online “opinion leaders,” do not hesitate to create a cyberspace rife with falsehoods, fraud, vulgarity, and personal attacks in order to attract attention. In addition, the coverage rate of Party organizations in new economic and new social organizations is still not high, and the role of Party organizations and Party members is not fully exerted. In response to this situation, our Party has intensified its work on the new social strata in the New Era. For instance, General Secretary Xi Jinping has visited private enterprises many times and, after the 19th National Congress of the CPC, convened several forums with the participation of private entrepreneurs. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “For the non-public sector of the economy to develop healthily, the prerequisite is that people in the non-public sector of the economy must grow healthily. It is hoped that the vast number of people in the non-public sector of the economy will strengthen self-study, self-education, and self-improvement. Private entrepreneurs should cherish their own social image, love the motherland, love the people, love the Chinese Communist Party, practice the core socialist values, promote the entrepreneurial spirit, and serve as models of patriotism and dedication, lawful operation, entrepreneurship and innovation, and giving back to society… The new generation of private entrepreneurs should inherit and carry forward the spirit of the older generation—hard work, daring to venture and act, focusing on real industries, and refining their main business—and strive to make their enterprises stronger and better.” In accordance with the guiding principles of the Party Central Committee, the relevant departments have incorporated the new social strata into the scope of united front work, established specialized work departments, and carried out targeted work.

3. Addressing Issues of Social Security, Housing, and Food and Drug Safety

Although New China began to undertake social security work for the impoverished population before reform and opening up, due to fiscal revenue constraints, the security was basically low-level and non-standardized; moreover, at that time, every urban household basically had someone working in a state organ or state-owned enterprise or institution, and rural laborers were all members of people’s communes, so security work was essentially the responsibility of each person’s respective work unit. However, after reform and opening up, with the transformation from “unit person” to “social person” and the increase in financial resources, establishing a standardized social security system with a certain level became not only necessary but also possible. In addition, before reform and opening up, urban residents’ housing was basically allocated by their work units as welfare for rent, with only low rents paid; after reform and opening up, the housing system reform was implemented, shifting from renting to buying, and the prices of commercial housing, influenced by supply and demand, kept rising, leaving many people sighing at the sight of housing. Before reform and opening up, under the planned economy system, the production and sale of pesticides and chemical fertilizers were both supervised by the government, and the quantities used were small; at the same time, major agricultural products (including Chinese herbal medicines) were also included in the scope of unified state procurement and marketing, so although food and drugs had quality issues, there were basically no problems with counterfeits and shoddy goods; after reform and opening up, however, food and drug safety became major societal problems. All these are new issues encountered in the socialist social construction and exploration.

After more than 20 years of reform and opening up, social issues such as social security, housing, and food and drug safety gradually emerged at the beginning of the 21st century. Social contradictions surrounding these issues became increasingly acute, and the demands of the masses grew stronger. In response, the Party Central Committee promptly put forward the task of building a harmonious socialist society, placing social construction in a position equal to economic, political, and cultural construction, requiring a focus on solving the most immediate, most direct, and most realistic interests of the people, striving to develop social undertakings, promote social fairness and justice, improve social management, and promote the coordinated development of social construction with economic construction, political construction, and cultural construction, emphasizing that we should proceed from the perspective of both the “big society” and the “small society.” In terms of social security, in addition to the basic medical insurance system for urban residents and the new rural cooperative medical care system, the provincial-level pooling system for basic old-age insurance for enterprise employees and the new rural social old-age insurance system were also established, and migrant workers were included in the basic old-age insurance system for urban employees. In terms of social assistance, in response to the new situation after the abolition of the agricultural tax and its surcharges in rural areas, the funding channel for the “five guarantees” [29]29 “Five guarantees” (五保) — a Chinese social welfare program providing food, clothing, medical care, housing, and burial expenses for rural residents who are elderly, disabled, or minors without family support. was adjusted from village collectives to higher-level fiscal transfer payments; at the same time, systems for disaster relief, temporary assistance, and assistance for vagrants and beggars were further established and improved, forming a social assistance system covering both urban and rural areas.

In terms of social welfare, as investment from state-owned enterprises and Party and government organs and public institutions gradually decreased, the social welfare and facilities of the civil affairs system gradually increased, forming a social welfare service system for the elderly with elderly social welfare institutions as the backbone, community-based elderly welfare services as support, and home-based care as the foundation. In addition, the system of preferential treatment and resettlement for military personnel and their families was continuously improved, and dozens of laws concerning the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities were enacted. In terms of affordable housing, the Party and government first required stabilizing housing prices, and later required solving the housing difficulties of low-income families, establishing and improving the urban low-rent housing system, improving and standardizing the affordable housing system, increasing the renovation of shantytowns and old residential areas, and gradually forming an affordable housing and commercial housing system suited to China’s national conditions. However, overall, China’s social security system is not yet perfect, urban and rural social security development is not yet balanced, the coverage of some basic security systems is still relatively narrow, the pooling level of social security is still relatively low, and the gap in social security treatment between different groups is still relatively large.

Entering the New Era, the social security system, as a foundational project of livelihood policies, has received unprecedented attention. The Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core regards perfecting the redistribution mechanism with social security as the main means, developing various social undertakings, and maintaining social fairness and justice as concrete manifestations of the Chinese Communist Party’s adherence to the fundamental purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly and the people-centered development philosophy, placing the people in the highest position in its heart, and responding to the people’s aspiration for a better life. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “At our current level of development, there are still a large number of phenomena in society that violate fairness and justice.” The issues the people care about are “whether food is safe, whether heating is warm, whether smog can be reduced a bit, whether rivers and lakes can be a bit clearer, whether waste incineration can be less harmful to health, whether elderly care services are satisfactory, whether one can afford to rent or buy a house, and so on. Compared with whether the growth rate is a little higher or a little lower, these issues are more concerning to the people. If we only achieve the growth target but make no progress in solving the common problems that the people are generally concerned about, even if we announce the completion of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by then, the people will not recognize it.” At the same time, General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward an important principle for social security work and livelihood policies: “Social policies must provide a safety net, that is, to hold the bottom line of people’s livelihood”; “Do more work that provides timely assistance, and do less work that adds splendor to brocade, proceeding from the basic national condition that China is in the primary stage of socialism.” General Secretary Xi Jinping, from the perspective of comparing different social systems, analyzed the different practices of various types of countries in social policy: “Western countries practice a multi-party system, where different political parties represent different interest groups, making it difficult to form a consensus on social policy. They can promise anything for votes, but in the end, it often amounts to a scrap of paper. We are a socialist country under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, and the Party and the state exist to seek benefits for the people. We should better unify our understanding and set the right tone in social policy.”

Regarding the issue of social security, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has demanded the integration of the basic old-age insurance and basic medical insurance systems for urban and rural residents, the gradual full funding of individual accounts in the old-age insurance system, the nationwide pooling of basic pensions, and the establishment of a social security benefit determination mechanism and a normal adjustment mechanism that take into account all categories of personnel. After years of effort, China has now basically straightened out the collection system and pooling level for social insurance premiums, and has established a unified national social security “one-card” system. The number of participants in the national basic old-age insurance, medical insurance, unemployment insurance, and work-related injury insurance has been rising continuously, and the level of social security has also been significantly raised.

Regarding housing security work, in October 2013, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in a speech during the Tenth Collective Study Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee Political Bureau that housing must adhere to the direction of market-oriented reform, but there will always be a portion of the masses who, for various reasons, face housing difficulties. In response to this, “the government must ‘fill in the gaps’ and provide basic housing security for the needy masses.” At the end of 2016, General Secretary Xi Jinping further proposed at the Central Economic Work Conference: “To solve the real estate problem, we must adhere to the positioning that ‘houses are for living in, not for speculation.’” Subsequently, guided by this thinking, the Party and government deepened the reform of the housing system, integrated the construction of low-rent housing into the public rental housing system, and increased financial support for the construction of public rental housing and the renovation of shantytowns. At present, although there are still many problems in the real estate market and many people still face housing difficulties, an undeniable fact is that after more than 40 years of reform and opening up, especially more than 10 years of construction since entering the New Era, the per capita housing floor area of urban and rural households across the country has significantly increased, and is now higher than that of the United Kingdom and Japan.

Regarding the safety of food and medicine, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has also attached great importance, considering this to be a matter of the people’s “safety on the tip of the tongue” [30]30 Chen Yun (1905–1995) was a senior leader of the Chinese Communist Party and a key architect of China’s early economic planning. Li Xiannian (1909–1992) served as President of the People’s Republic of China (1983–1988). Yao Yilin (1917–1994) was a senior economic official., which has become an issue involving the interests that the people care about most, are most directly concerned with, and are most realistic about. To this end, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core proposed improving unified and authoritative food and drug safety regulatory agencies, strengthening and improving the food and drug safety regulatory system, and safeguarding the people’s health and safety. In 2013, the State Council elevated the China Food and Drug Administration to a ministerial-level general administration, and in 2018, it incorporated this administration into the newly established State Administration for Market Regulation, gradually forming a relatively unified upper and lower market-based food and drug safety risk supervision system. At the same time, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress further revised the Food Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China, and the State Council also revised laws and regulations such as the Regulations on the Implementation of the Food Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China and the Regulations on Pesticide Administration. Relevant state departments have intensified efforts to crack down on and punish illegal and criminal acts in the production and circulation of food and medicine in accordance with the law, gradually changing the previous situation where the cost of violating the law in the food and medicine sectors was too low.

Guided by General Secretary Xi Jinping’s series of new ideas, new viewpoints, and new conclusions on comprehensively deepening reform, the “Decision” [31] adopted by the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party takes promoting social fairness and justice and enhancing the well-being of the people as its starting point and ultimate goal as a principle of reform. It addresses issues of employment, social security, housing, medical care, childbirth, childcare, and elderly care that the people are thinking about, hoping for, worried about, and anxious about, and, proceeding from what is realistically feasible, has made a series of regulations to do everything within its capacity.

The “Decision” points out that in terms of employment, it is necessary to improve the support system for key groups such as college graduates, migrant workers, and demobilized military personnel; promote reforms in services such as household registration, employment, and personnel files; comprehensively remove household registration restrictions on participating in social insurance at the place of employment; and improve policies for the transfer and continuation of social insurance relationships. In terms of housing, it is necessary to accelerate the establishment of a housing system that supports both renting and purchasing, increase the construction and supply of government-subsidized housing, and meet the rigid housing needs of wage-earning groups. In terms of medical care, it is necessary to deepen the reform of public hospitals oriented towards public welfare and establish a fee mechanism dominated by medical services. In terms of childbirth and childcare, it is necessary to establish a childbirth subsidy system and support the development of multiple models such as employer-run nurseries, community-embedded childcare, and family childcare points. In terms of elderly care, it is necessary to cultivate community-based elderly care service institutions, improve the operational mechanism of public elderly care institutions, improve services for special groups of elderly people in difficulty such as the solitary, the disabled, and the incapacitated, and accelerate the establishment of a long-term care insurance system, among other things. It is obvious that these are all matters closely related to the vital interests of the people and also echo the expectations of the people. As long as the people see the effectiveness of these reforms, they will enhance their sense of gain from the reforms, thereby increasing their affinity for reform, caring more about reform, and supporting reform, enabling the cause of reform and opening up to continue to develop steadily.

In the ecological field, attention is paid to protecting resources and the environment, promoting green development, and initially forming a socialist system of ecological civilization.

How to treat the relationship between man and nature is another important aspect in which socialism differs from capitalism. The capitalist system of private ownership of the means of production determines that it will inevitably exploit natural resources irrationally in pursuit of profit maximization, disregarding environmental pollution; at the same time, it will inevitably promote consumerism and hedonism to delay periodic economic crises, stimulating “excessive consumption” in society, thereby causing more serious waste of natural resources and further imbalance of the ecosystem. With the development of science and technology and the awakening of humanity, the first-mover modernized capitalist developed countries began to pay attention to protecting their own resources and environment, but along with the development of economic globalization, they transferred resource and ecological crises to underdeveloped countries, not only plundering resources there wantonly, but also transferring high-pollution and high-energy-consuming enterprises there, dumping various toxic wastes, and expanding pollution to the entire planet.

In the early days of the founding of New China, large-scale industrialization had just begun, and the problem of industrial pollution was not yet significant. However, facing problems such as China’s insufficient natural endowments and frequent disasters, the Party

Entering the 1970s, as factories established during the large-scale industrial foundation-building were successively put into operation, the problem of industrial pollution became increasingly apparent. The Party and government began to pay attention to environmental protection from the perspective of pollution prevention. In June 1972, the Chinese government sent a delegation to attend the first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. Zhou Enlai instructed that "through this conference, we should understand the world environmental situation and the major impact of environmental problems in various countries on economic and social development, and use this as a mirror to recognize China's environmental problems." In August 1973, the State Council convened the first National Conference on Environmental Protection, which established the first guiding principle for environmental protection work, namely: "comprehensive planning, rational layout, comprehensive utilization, turning harm into benefit, relying on the masses, everyone taking action, protecting the environment, and benefiting the people." It reviewed and approved the first regulatory document on environmental protection, which clearly stipulated that industry must be rationally laid out; factories harmful to the environment were not to be established in the upwind direction of towns and cities, in upstream areas of water sources, or in densely populated urban residential areas; those already established were to be renovated, and a small number causing serious harm were to be relocated. It also required the gradual completion of urban drainage systems and sewage treatment facilities, the timely treatment of industrial waste residues, wastewater, and waste gases, the reduction of noise, the strengthening of protection for soil and plants and management of waters and sea areas, and the carrying out of environmental monitoring. Furthermore, it formulated emission standards for the "three industrial wastes" (waste residues, wastewater, waste gases) and put forward the principle that pollution prevention measures must be designed, constructed, and put into operation simultaneously with the main project, thereby ending the history of having no rules to follow in pollution control.

After reform and opening up, while economic construction once again became the focus of the Party’s work, resource and environmental protection also received further attention from the Party and government. In June 1979, Chen Yun, then director of the State Council’s Financial and Economic Commission, wrote to Li Xiannian, vice director of the commission, and Yao Yilin, its secretary-general, proposing that economic construction should pay early attention to water resource issues and industrial pollution problems, and demanding that “henceforth, when building factories, the handling of pollution problems must be placed in the primary position in design, truly achieving prevention of harm before it occurs.” [30]30 Chen Yun (1905–1995) was a senior leader of the Chinese Communist Party and a key architect of China’s early economic planning. Li Xiannian (1909–1992) served as President of the People’s Republic of China (1983–1988). Yao Yilin (1917–1994) was a senior economic official. In 1982, the state wrote into the Constitution the protection and improvement of the living environment and the ecological environment, the prevention and control of pollution and other public hazards, the safeguarding of the rational use of natural resources, the protection of precious animals and plants, and the prohibition of any organization or individual from encroaching upon or destroying natural resources by any means. At the Second National Conference on Environmental Protection held in 1983, environmental protection was designated a basic state policy. At the Third National Conference on Environmental Protection held in 1989, a long-term environmental protection planning outline was adopted, proposing principles such as “whoever pollutes must prevent and control” and “charging for pollution discharge,” and establishing systems such as quantitative assessment of comprehensive urban environmental improvement, environmental protection target responsibility, pollution discharge declaration and registration, and pollution discharge permits. At the same time, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and the State Council successively promulgated laws and regulations including the Marine Environment Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Law on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution of the People’s Republic of China, the Law on the Prevention and Control of Atmospheric Pollution of the People’s Republic of China, the Environmental Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China, and the Standards for Environmental Noise in Urban Areas of the People’s Republic of China. Thereafter, in response to the severe environmental pollution caused by large amounts of industrial solid waste, waste gas, and wastewater from township enterprises in processes such as papermaking, electroplating, textile dyeing and printing, production of building materials and chemical raw materials, and crude smelting of sulfur and coking, the State Council issued the Decision on Further Strengthening Environmental Protection Work, pointing out that preventing and controlling environmental pollution and ecological damage had become a very urgent task, demanding strict implementation of environmental protection laws and regulations, active participation in international cooperation to solve global environmental problems, and implementation of the environmental protection target responsibility system, so that the problems would be gradually alleviated.

Entering the New Era, ecological civilization construction has received high priority. Proceeding from the development thinking of people-centeredness, General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized that the ecological environment, especially the severity of air, water, and soil pollution, has become a prominent shortcoming in completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and that to meet the people’s need for a beautiful ecological environment, it is necessary to reverse environmental degradation and improve environmental quality. General Secretary Xi Jinping has clearly pointed out: “In modern times, the modernization of Western countries has mostly gone through a stage of wanton plundering of natural resources and vicious destruction of the ecological environment. While creating enormous material wealth, it has often caused serious problems such as environmental pollution and resource depletion. Our country’s per capita endowment of energy and resources is severely insufficient, and accelerating development faces more constraints in energy, resources, and the environment. This determines that our country cannot follow the old path of Western modernization.” He emphasized: “Endlessly extracting from nature or even destroying it will inevitably invite nature’s revenge. We adhere to sustainable development, adhere to the principle of prioritizing conservation, protection, and natural restoration, protect nature and the ecological environment as we protect our eyes, unswervingly follow a civilized development path of production development, affluent living, and a sound ecology, and achieve the sustainable development of the Chinese nation.” It is precisely based on these considerations that since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, “ecological civilization construction” has been taken as one of the spheres in the coordinated advancement of the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan, “green” has been taken as one of the five new development concepts, “adhering to the harmonious coexistence of humanity and nature” has been taken as one of the five major Chinese characteristics of Chinese-path modernization, “pollution prevention and control” has been taken as one of the three tough battles in the decisive stage of completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and “beautiful” has been taken as one of the five prefixes for building a great modern socialist country by the middle of the 21st century.

In accordance with General Secretary Xi Jinping’s thinking on ecological civilization — that “humanity and nature form a community of life,” “protecting the ecological environment means protecting the productive forces,” “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets,” “a good ecological environment is the most equitable public good,” and “ecological civilization is the historical trend of human civilization development” — the Party and the state have placed ecological civilization construction in a more prominent position, written it into the Constitution of the Communist Party of China and the Constitution, and established the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, which integrates the responsibilities of pollution prevention and control with ecological protection; the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council issued the Overall Plan for the Reform of the Ecological Civilization System, implemented the main functional area planning, improved the property rights system for natural resource assets, constructed a system for the development and protection of territorial space, improved the standards for ecological environmental protection and the supervision system for the ecological environment, as well as the legal system for ecological environmental protection, set up the basic framework of the ecological civilization system, increased the intensity of ecological protection and restoration, strengthened the construction of various types of nature reserves, actively responded to the invasion of alien species, completely banned the import of foreign waste, carried out comprehensive ecological environment governance and supervision, and promoted the green transformation of production and lifestyle. In response to the United Nations agreement on limiting greenhouse gas emissions, President Xi Jinping also announced at the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly that China will adopt more forceful policies and measures, striving to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, fully demonstrating the sense of responsibility of China as the world’s largest developing country.

Through continuous ecological environment governance, especially the battle against pollution that began in 2015, the national ecological environment has further improved on the existing foundation. Through the battles to defend the blue sky, clear water, and clean soil in the fight against pollution, the ecological environment has seen marked improvement: the national forest coverage rate has exceeded 24%, making China the country with the fastest and largest increase in global forest resources and the largest area of artificial afforestation, contributing about one-quarter of the world’s newly added greening area. In the first half of 2024, the average concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in cities at the prefectural level and above was 33 micrograms per cubic meter, the proportion of days with good air quality was 82.8%, and the proportion of surface water sections with Class I–III water quality nationwide was 88.8%. Soil environmental risks have been effectively controlled, and the “zero import” of solid waste has been resolutely implemented. In addition, a model national park — the Sanjiangyuan area, the source of the Yangtze, Yellow, and Lancang rivers — has been successfully established, with water quality maintained at Class I–II; the ecological protection red line covers key areas of national biodiversity distribution, and the vast majority of rare and endangered species and their habitats have been effectively protected. It is particularly worth mentioning that by 2020, China had overfulfilled its internationally committed target of reducing carbon emissions by 40%–45% compared with 2005, basically reversing the trend of rapid growth in carbon dioxide emissions. In terms of energy intensity, China in 2020 was 28.7% lower than in 2011, making it one of the fastest-decreasing countries in the world. Comparing 2005 with 2020, the share of coal in energy consumption fell from 72.4% to 56.8%, while the share of non-fossil energy rose from 7.4% to 15.9%. By the end of 2020, China’s output of polysilicon, photovoltaic cells, photovoltaic modules, and other products ranked first in the world, exported to more than 200 countries and regions, greatly reducing the cost of using new energy globally. At the same time, China has also been committed to ecological restoration. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, it cumulatively completed desertification prevention and control on an area of more than 10 million hectares, newly added a comprehensive soil erosion control area of 310,000 hectares, and newly added and restored nearly 700,000 hectares of wetlands, further enhancing the carbon sink function of the ecosystem.

Socialism is the first society in human history to have abolished the system of exploitation. Compared with other societies, its duration is, after all, not long; building socialism on the foundation of a backward, large agricultural country that was a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, with no precedent and no experience to draw upon, is even more unprecedented. Therefore, it was inevitable that some setbacks would be encountered and some detours taken in the course of exploration. Nevertheless, by reviewing and sorting through the history of various fields—economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological—over the 75 years since the founding of New China, people can clearly see that these 75 years constitute a glorious chapter in the history of socialist development; the Chinese Communist Party’s construction and exploration of socialism have always been clear and resolute, active and earnest in direction and attitude. It proves with irrefutable facts that socialism possesses an incomparable superiority over capitalism; it can not only save China but also develop China and make China strong. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out explicitly in 2019: over the past 70 years,

(Author: Zhu Jiamu, Research Fellow, former Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, President of the Society for the History of the People's Republic of China.)

Online editor: You Heng