A common prosperity society for all: China in 2035
The China Forum seminar on Thursday 12 October 2023 was delivered by Professor Angang HU (Distinguished Professor of Arts, Humanities and Social Science; Professor, the School of Public Policy and Management; Dean, the Institute for Contemporary China Studies, Tsinghua University).
Professor Hu Angang began his lecture with the observation that common prosperity is China’s central development goal. It has been pursued by every generation of Chinese leaders from Mao Zedong to Xi Jinping. Professor Hu explained that China’s overall development goals involve two stages. In the first stage the goal was to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects and eliminate absolute poverty by 2020. The second stage involves building a modern socialist country and a society of common prosperity for the whole population by 2050. Professor Hu observed that no other country or government has proposed such long-term centenary goals. China’s government considers that common prosperity is an essential feature of socialism and a key characteristic of Chinese-style modernization. It embraces both material and spiritual prosperity for the whole population. Professor Hu introduced the comprehensive index system that has been devised to measure progress towards China’s long-term development goals. It involves five indicators to measure China’s progress towards common prosperity for the whole population. Professor Hu identified a number of inter-related missions involved in the achievement of China’s long-term development goals. These include: upholding public ownership; implementing the rural vitalisation and new urbanization strategies; realizing equal access for the whole population to basic public services, including health and education; focusing on the all-round revitalization and development of selected regions; and helping low-income people with special difficulties.
The Q&A session addressed the following issues: how can China’s leaders avoid repeating past mistakes incurred during the pursuit of common prosperity, including the Great Leap Forward of 1958-60, which had disastrous results; what can China learn from efforts made in the OECD and other capitalist countries to achieve common prosperity; what is China’s main contribution to the world in terms of political philosophy; where are the roots of China’s pursuit of common prosperity; what is the relationship between ‘common prosperity’ and Confucius’s concept of ‘all under heaven for the common good’ (tian xia wei gong); and to what extent can China and the rest of the world cooperate in ensuring equal access to the ‘global public goods’ that are necessary for self-realisation of each individual within the global community.
Angang HU is the Professor of the School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, and the Dean of the Institute for Contemporary China Studies, Tsinghua University. HU received his PhD (1988) at Chinese Academy of Sciences and conducted Postdoctoral research (1991-1992) at Yale University. He received an Honorary Doctorate at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Far Eastern Studies in 2004.
Professor Hu is one of the leading experts in China Studies. His research areas covers many topics in China Studies, such as History of Chinese Political Economy, Chinese Leadership System, Chinese Economy, Development Strategy and Planning, Population Studies, Resources and Ecology Studies. He founded and directs the Institute for Contemporary China Studies at Tsinghua University, a prominent Chinese university think tank. He has published over 150 books and over 1100 papers in Chinese and English, and he is one of the most influential scholars in social science in China. With his achievements in his research work, he was awarded the First Prize of Science and Technology Progress Awards of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (twice), Sun Yefang Economic Papers Prize (2000) and Fudan Premium Fund of Management (2008). He is also a member of the Advisory Committee for the Twelfth and Thirteenth Five-Year Plans under NDRC, an Advisory member of the National Disaster Mitigation Committee and a member of the Advisory Committee under the Ministry of Agriculture. He was elected as the representative of the 18th CCP National Congress in 2012.
