"We will further develop the economy, improve democracy, advance science and education, enrich culture, foster social harmony and upgrade the texture of life for the people," he said.

However, what is exactly the strategic goal of an all-round Xiaokang society?

Some people refer to criteria like by 2020, we shall quadruple the gross domestic product (GDP) from the 2000 level and achieve a per capita GDP of US$3,000. Some use indexes like the average level of salary, per capita housing or private vehicle ownership.

But the concept of a Xiaokang society covers much more than these.

First, improving people's living standards will be manifested in the way people's demands for further development can be better met.

Twenty years of reform and opening up has facilitated China's realization of a well-off society at a low level. People's material demands have been met more as they are adequately fed and decently dressed.

Take the per capita housing of urban residents for example. By the end of 2001, this figure had reached 15.5 square meters, more than three times that of 1980.

Over the same period, the urban population increased 1.5 times from 191 million to 481 million.

But besides demands of living, people still have requirements to develop themselves further.

An all-around Xiaokang society should help people realize more dreams of development, such as receiving higher education, mastering more skills to cope with social competition and giving full play to their talents, among other goals.

Second, increased social fortune should be displayed through accelerated accumulation of private property.

In the past 20 years, improvement of people's living standards and an increase in social wealth have mainly been shown in the growth of residents' income.

According to economic laws, when people's income reaches a certain level, private property is accumulated continuously. This accumulation will be reflected in two aspects.

One is, at an early stage, private property concentrates on financial assets before the proportion of real estate goes up. The other is deposits for future consumption are changed into investment for more returns.

In fact, during the commercialization process of housing distribution and growth of securities markets, a capitalization trend of Chinese people's private property has been taking shape.

It should be noted that the capitalization of private property not only means the private economy is pushed forward, but also indicates letting more common people share in the returns of investment.

In addition, in the reports from the Party's 16th National Congress, it is the first time that protection of legal income - from work or not - was put forward.

And China should establish the principle that labor, capital, technology, managerial expertise and other production factors participate in income distribution in accordance with their contributions.

These important conclusions justify not only the interests of some groups, but the interests of the overwhelming majority of social members.

Third, most risks in social and economic activities will be largely warded off with an improved social security system.

The social security system functions not only as a systematic project to counter risks, but as a way to reallocate social fortune for fairness.

In an all-around Xiaokang society, people can get proper help when they grow old, fall ill or are poverty-stricken. At the same time, the social security system can help co-ordinate relations between urban and rural areas, government and the market and economic efficiency and social fairness.

Now our limited resources will mainly be put into four areas: improving the endowment insurance system of city employees and medical insurance system; upgrading the unemployment insurance system and system for ensuring a minimum living standard of urban citizens; developing the work of social relief and welfare; and beginning to establish a social security system in rural areas.

Forth, development gaps in different aspects will be largely bridged.

As a developing nation, great imbalance of development exists between China's urban and rural areas and in different regions.

In 2002, per capita GDP in China's southeastern coastal areas exceeded US$1,400, while the figure in the vast western areas did not reach US$600.

In 2001, consumption expenditure per capita for urban families was US$641, but in the countryside it was only US$210.

This shows the well-off life we are living is still at a low level, incomplete and unbalanced.

Building an all-around well-off society should achieve a basic balance in every aspect.

Western development should be further pushed forward to make breakthroughs in the next 10 years.

Rural surplus labor should be more rapidly transferred to non-agricultural industries and urban areas.

And the rural economy should be boosted further to increase farmers' income.

Disadvantaged groups should be assisted and the government should regulate distribution further to increase the revenue of low-income groups and secure basic standards.

Finally, the country's capability for sustainable development will keep being strengthened.

The relationship between humans and nature needs to become more harmonious.

Now in China, the contradiction between sustainable development and utility of resources is very acute.

Sluggish progress in urbanization and the irrational structure of cities makes it more difficult for China to get rid of the negative influences of industrialization.

Control of industrial pollution in big cities and environmental recovery in rural areas will be the two most pressing problems the country has to tackle in the future.

(China Daily February 12, 2003)