The "length, width and height" of a better life

The yearning for a better life has always been the value support and eternal pursuit of human beings. From the first press conference after the First Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) that "the people's yearning for a better life is our goal", to the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) that clearly stated that "the main contradiction in mainland society has been transformed into a contradiction between the people's growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development", and then to the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China emphasizing that "we must insist on ensuring and improving people's livelihood in the process of development, encourage joint struggle to create a better life, and constantly realize the people's yearning for a better life" , General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches great importance to the people's better life. Deeply comprehending these important expositions and understanding the rich connotation of "length, width and height" of a better life is of great guiding significance for us to do a good job in people's livelihood and social undertakings and promote common prosperity.

The length of the good life continues to extend

The wheel of history is always rolling forward in the people's unremitting pursuit of a better life. More than 2,000 years ago, our ancestors depicted a beautiful blueprint for a moderately prosperous society and a Datong society, reflecting the Chinese nation's desire for a better life. From the "four haves" of "the old have their end, the strong have their usefulness, the young have their growth, and the widows, widows, loneliness, and the sick are all supported", to the increasing number of homeowners have their houses, those who work hard have their jobs, those who work have their food, and those who work have their fields...... These "existences" are the ideal countries of the ancestors who admired righteousness in the wind. However, due to the constraints of various conditions such as productive forces and production relations, "rice beads and laurels" have almost become the norm in history, and "prosperity, the people suffer, and death, the people suffer" has always been an inextricable knot.

The founding of the Communist Party of China was a groundbreaking event, and the founding of New China opened a new era in the history of the Chinese people's pursuit of a better life. Mao Zedong pointed out: "We should pay profound attention to the problems of the people's lives, from the problems of land and labor to the problems of firewood, rice, oil and salt. The masses of women should learn how to plow and rake, and who should they find to teach them? Children ask to study, but is there a primary school? The wooden bridge on the opposite side is too small and will cause pedestrians to fall, should it be repaired? Many people are suffering from sores and diseases, what can be done? All these problems in the lives of the masses should be put on their agenda. Deng Xiaoping stressed: "In a socialist country, a genuine Marxist political party must devote itself to the development of productive forces and gradually improve the people's living standards on this basis after taking power." "Failure to uphold socialism, reform and opening up, economic development, and improvement of the people's living standards can only lead to a dead end." As soon as General Secretary Xi Jinping took office, he solemnly declared, "Our people love life and look forward to better education, more stable jobs, more satisfactory incomes, more reliable social security, higher levels of medical and health services, more comfortable living conditions, and a more beautiful environment, and hope that children can grow up better, work better, and live better." The people's yearning for a better life is our goal." In the 75 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, from getting rid of hunger and cold, to solving the problem of food and clothing, and then to achieving a well-off life in an all-round way, the journey of the times has opened an extraordinary movement of the "Symphony of Destiny" towards great rejuvenation.

There is no end to security and improvement, only a continuous new starting point. On the basis of the requirements of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, "new progress has been made in learning and teaching, income from labor, medical treatment for the sick, support for the elderly, and housing for the elderly", the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China further proposed that "we must seek more benefits for the people's livelihood, solve the worries of the people's livelihood, make up for the shortcomings of people's livelihood in development, promote social fairness and justice, and continue to make new progress in educating the young, learning and teaching, earning from labor, providing medical treatment for the sick, providing for the elderly, housing and supporting the weak", and innovatively added "education for the young" and "support for the weak". From the "five haves" to the "seven haves", the content is richer and more extensive, which fully reflects the full-cycle guarantee and all-round improvement of people's lives in the new era. These "seven haves" are the sublimation of the dreams and expectations of the Chinese nation, laying out a picture of a better life that is deep and prosperous, and the seedlings are new.

The breadth of a better life continues to expand

If the length of a good life refers to the specific content that meets the people's growing needs for a better life, then the width refers to the scope of the subject of enjoying a good life. General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed the need to "let the fruits of development benefit all people more and more equitably", and put forward clear requirements that "no one should be left behind" and "no one should be left behind". "All the people" is the breadth of a good life in Chinese-style modernization.

"The young are educated, the learning is taught, the labor is earned, the sick are treated, the old are supported, the housing is lived, and the weak are supported", so that the good life of the people is not for some people, but for all the people. The people's stand is the fundamental political stand of the Communist Party of China and a conspicuous sign that distinguishes a Marxist political party from other political parties. Our party has no special interests of its own, always represents the fundamental interests of the broadest masses of the people in China, puts the interests of the masses of the people in the first place at all times, and shares happiness and hardship with the people. Therefore, our good life is shared by all, that is, everyone enjoys it and everyone gets what he wants. General Secretary Xi Jinping has said affectionately many times, "Whether you are well-off or not, the key depends on your fellow villagers." To build a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way and build a modern socialist country in an all-round way, no region or nation can be left behind. It is precisely with such determination and perseverance that we have embarked on a path of poverty reduction with Chinese characteristics, which the World Bank has called "the best textbook for the world's anti-poverty cause".

All people share a better life and promote common prosperity in a solid manner. Whoever governs the country must first enrich the people. The ultimate goal of development is for the benefit of the people. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "our goal is grand and simple, and in the final analysis, it is to make all Chinese people live a good life." It can be seen that the process of the Communist Party of China leading the people towards common prosperity is also the process of building a better life for the people. Common prosperity is the essence of socialism, and Chinese-style modernization is the modernization of common prosperity for all people. Integrating such a grand future development goal into the simple and civilian narrative discourse of "a better life" and into the daily needs of the people can stimulate the strength of every ordinary person to forge ahead. The family and the country are one, the family and the country are concentric, and the simple small goals in the lives of ordinary people are becoming a vivid footnote to the common prosperity of the people and the process of national modernization.

Not only that, the Communist Party of China not only seeks happiness for the Chinese people, rejuvenation for the Chinese nation, but also for the progress of mankind and the common good of the world. China actively shoulders the responsibility of promoting global development, promoting the "revolution" of world history with the "rotation" of a century of struggle, "Datong" leading a better future with the "great road" of the world in mind, and contributing to the "Chinese plan" of human civilization with "Chinese characteristics" of independent exploration, and striving to build a "community with a shared future for mankind". China welcomes all countries in the world to actively participate in the process of Chinese-style modernization and share the tremendous opportunities brought about by China's high-quality development.

The height of a better life continues to rise

A good life is historical and presents a dynamic development process. In different historical periods, people have different definitions of "good life", and with the development of economy and society and the improvement of social civilization, it continues to rise. A better life in the context of the new era is advancing in tandem with the development of China's social productive forces, and echoes the process of Chinese-style modernization.

The value elevation and realization process of a better life are accompanied by the dynamic process of Chinese-style modernization, and the two have value consistency and synchronization. Marx said: "When people cannot fully guarantee their food, drink, shelter and clothing in terms of quality and quantity, they cannot be emancipated at all." If building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way is still focused on solving the problem of "whether it is good", then building a modern socialist country in an all-round way is more focused on solving the problem of "whether it is good or not". From "looking forward to food and clothing" to "looking forward to environmental protection", from "seeking survival" to "seeking ecology", from "wanting to be well-off" to "wanting to be healthy", etc., are the people's growing new needs for a better life. In response to the situation, our party has clearly put forward five important characteristics of Chinese-style modernization -- "huge population, common prosperity of all people, harmony between material civilization and spiritual civilization, harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and taking the road of peaceful development", constructing the Chinese people's good life index from different dimensions, and incorporating high-level needs such as high-quality cultural needs, rich emotional needs, high-quality aesthetic needs, and broader communication needs into the "content package".

Expanding the length, width and height of a better life and weaving the warp and weft of common prosperity are inseparable from high-quality development. At present, the main contradiction we are facing in society has been transformed into "the contradiction between the people's growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development", and high-quality development focuses on solving the problem of imbalance and inadequacy. Based on this, on the one hand, we should deeply study the goals of different stages, gradually improve the people's living standards according to the economic development and financial situation, positively superimpose and accumulate momentum, do our best and do what we can, focus on providing basic public services in the areas that the people are most concerned about, such as education, medical care, pension, housing, etc., do a good job in the key livelihood work of sending charcoal in the snow, and hold the basic living bottom line of the people in difficulty. On the other hand, it is necessary to adhere to the new development concept of "advocating innovation, focusing on coordination, advocating green, cultivating openness, and promoting sharing" to lead high-quality development, create new quality productivity, provide people with a more satisfying sense of achievement, a more sustainable sense of happiness, and a more secure sense of security, and encourage people to create a happy life with their hands and move the gears of destiny with hard work.

(The author is Deputy Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Vice President of the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences)