Strengthen the construction of inclusive, basic and comprehensive people's livelihood※
Xi Jinping
one
Our people love life and hope to have better education, more stable jobs, more satisfactory income, more reliable social security, higher-level medical and health services, more comfortable living conditions, and a more beautiful environment. They hope that their children will grow better, have better jobs, and live better lives. The people's yearning for a better life is our goal. All happiness in the world needs to be created through hard work. Our responsibility is to unite and lead the entire Party and people of all ethnic groups in the country to continue to emancipate their minds, adhere to reform and opening up, continuously liberate and develop social productive forces, strive to solve the people's production and living difficulties, and unswervingly follow the path of common prosperity.
(Speech delivered by members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the 18th CPC Central Committee when meeting with Chinese and foreign journalists on November 15, 2012)
two
We must do a good job in people's livelihood work in accordance with the ideas of holding the bottom line, highlighting key points, improving systems, and guiding public opinion. "Keeping the bottom line" means focusing on ensuring the basic living standards of low-income people and providing financial assistance to college students who are living in difficulty. "Highlighting key points" means paying attention to stabilizing and expanding employment, especially encouraging entrepreneurship and employment, creating jobs through multiple channels, and especially doing a good job in youth employment, focusing on college graduates. It is necessary to treat and support the development of small and micro enterprises, strengthen the social responsibilities of large enterprises, and maintain the overall stability of the employment situation. It is necessary to do a good job in employment training, re-employment services and life relief for unemployed people. "Improving the system" means adhering to the policy of full coverage, basic protection, multi-level and sustainable, strengthening the construction of urban and rural social security systems, continuing to improve the transfer and continuation methods of pension insurance, and raising the level of coordination. Continue to strengthen the construction and management of affordable housing and accelerate the transformation of shantytowns. "Guiding public opinion" means promoting the formation of a good public opinion atmosphere and social expectations, and guiding the masses to establish the concept of improving their lives through hard work and getting rich, so that improving people's livelihood is not only the direction of the work of the party and the government, but also the goal of the people's own efforts. At the same time, we must deepen the reform of the income distribution system, rationally adjust excessive income, steadily expand the proportion of middle-income earners, strive to increase the income level of low-income earners, standardize the order of income distribution, and gradually improve the income distribution situation.
(Speech at the Central Economic Work Conference on December 15, 2012)
three
We must pay special attention, care and attention to all kinds of people in need, always keep their safety in mind, care about their sufferings, and do everything possible to help them solve their problems. Zheng Banqiao wrote in a poem: "I am lying in the Yazhai listening to the rustling bamboos, which is suspected to be the sound of suffering among the people. These little Caozhou county officials are always concerned about every branch and leaf." We Communists must have such feelings for the sufferings of the people, have a heart of benevolence and care, pay more attention to the people in need, and constantly improve the living standards of all people.
(Speech delivered while inspecting poverty alleviation and development work in Fuping County, Hebei Province on December 29, 2012)
Four
Grasping people's livelihood is also pursuing development. On the basis of ensuring the effective supply of basic public services, we must actively guide the public's social needs for home services, elderly care services, health services, cultural and sports services, leisure services, etc., support the accelerated development of related service industries, cultivate new economic growth points, and effectively connect and complement each other with the improvement of people's livelihood and economic development. We must focus on ensuring capital investment in people's livelihood construction, make every effort to solve issues of education, employment, income, social security, medical and health, food safety and other issues that the people are concerned about, and ensure the normal operation of the people's livelihood chain. People's livelihood work must directly meet with the people and reconcile accounts, and there must be no falsehoods. We must be proactive and act within our capabilities. We must fulfill our promises.
(Speech delivered at a symposium of leading comrades of party committees in some provinces and regions on July 17, 2015)
five
To support social policies, we must protect the bottom line of people's livelihood. We must make preparations and plans in terms of ideas, funds, and materials to resolutely maintain the bottom line of social stability. As countries promote structural reforms, the focus and difficulty lies in social policies. Western countries implement a multi-party system, and each political party represents different interest groups. It is difficult to reach a consensus on social policies. They can promise anything for votes, but in the end they often end up with nothing. We are a socialist country under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. The party and the country seek the interests of the people. We should have a better unified understanding and set a good tone in social policies. Some structural reforms will bring about the pain of laid-off, unemployment and reduced income for some employees. We must better utilize the role of social security as a social stabilizer and focus on ensuring the basic livelihood of the people and ensuring basic public services. It is necessary to increase fiscal funds for unemployment assistance, minimum living security and other aspects, and make feasible plans that are realistic, differentiated, and divided by industry and region.
(Speech at the Central Economic Work Conference on December 18, 2015)
six
The fundamental purpose of economic development is to better protect and improve people's livelihood. Comrade Mao Zedong said as early as 1934: "All the practical life problems of the masses are issues that we should pay attention to. If we pay attention to these problems, solve them, and meet the needs of the masses, we will truly become the organizers of the masses' life, and the masses will truly surround us and enthusiastically "At present, the macro environment and internal conditions facing people's livelihood work are changing. In the past, food, education, and housing were basic needs. Now the people have more needs such as steady increase in income, high-quality medical services, fair education, improved housing, beautiful environment, and clean air. It is necessary to adapt to these new changes and follow the work ideas of holding the bottom line, highlighting key points, improving the system, and guiding expectations, starting from the most direct and practical interest issues that the people are most concerned about, taking measures that are more targeted, larger in coverage, more direct in effect, and more effective in effectiveness, focusing on basic and basic people's livelihood construction, and coordinating work in education, income distribution, employment, social security, medical and health, housing and other aspects.
(Speech delivered at the Second Plenary Session of the Sixth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee on October 27, 2016)
seven
To protect and improve people's livelihood, we must grasp the most direct and practical interests of the people, do our best, and within our capabilities, and do one thing after another, year after year. Adhere to the principle that everyone should fulfill their responsibilities and enjoy the benefits, adhere to the bottom line, highlight key points, improve systems, guide expectations, improve the public service system, guarantee the basic life of the people, continue to meet the people's growing needs for a better life, continue to promote social fairness and justice, form effective social governance and good social order, and make the people's sense of gain, happiness, and security more fulfilling, more secure, and more sustainable.
(Report at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on October 18, 2017)
eight
It is necessary to establish a strategic vision, comply with the people's expectations for high-quality life, adapt to the process of all-round development of people and the common prosperity of all people, and continuously promote new progress in providing education for children, education, income for work, medical care for diseases, support for the elderly, housing, and support for the weak. It is necessary to enhance risk awareness, study and judge the development trends of my country's aging population, increase in average life expectancy, increase in years of education, and changes in labor structure in the next five, 15 or even 30 years, analyze new situations and new problems that social security may face, improve work foresight and initiative, and take proactive measures to deal with them. It is necessary to expand international horizons, pay attention to the development of social security abroad, and learn from experiences and lessons, so as to avoid blindly pursuing "welfare catch-up" and falling into the "middle-income trap" as some countries do, and avoid implementing "pan-welfare" as some countries do, resulting in insufficient social vitality. One truth should never be forgotten. Economic development and social security are in a relationship where a rising tide lifts all boats. If the water is shallow, a small boat can be used, and if the water is deep, a big ship can be used. If the law is violated, the ship will be stranded or capsized.
(Speech delivered at the 28th collective study session of the Political Bureau of the 19th CPC Central Committee on February 26, 2021)
nine
We must coordinate needs and possibilities, and base the protection and improvement of people's livelihood on the basis of economic development and sustainable financial resources. We must not aim too high, increase our appetite, and make promises that cannot be fulfilled. The government cannot cover everything, and the focus is to strengthen the construction of basic, universal and comprehensive people's livelihood security. Even if the level of development is higher and financial resources are stronger in the future, we must not set too high goals or provide excessive guarantees, and resolutely prevent ourselves from falling into the trap of "welfarism" to support lazy people.
(Speech at the 10th meeting of the 19th Central Financial and Economic Committee on August 17, 2021)
ten
The country is the people, and the people are the country. The Communist Party of China leads the people to conquer and defend the country, and to protect the hearts of the people. Governing the country should be based on the interests of the people. Benefiting the people is the essential requirement of building a party for the public good and governing for the people. We must persist in ensuring and improving people's livelihood during development, encourage joint efforts to create a better life, and constantly realize the people's yearning for a better life.
We must realize, safeguard and develop the fundamental interests of the vast majority of the people, firmly grasp the most direct and practical interests of the people, insist on doing our best and within our capabilities, go deep into the masses and the grassroots, take more measures to benefit people's livelihood and warm people's hearts, strive to solve the urgent, difficult and anxious problems of the people, improve the basic public service system, improve the level of public services, enhance balance and accessibility, and solidly promote common prosperity.
(Report at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on October 16, 2022)
eleven
Adhere to promoting the all-round development of people and the common prosperity of all people. To do a good job in population work in the new era, we must comply with the people's expectations for a better life, adhere to the people's dominant position, closely integrate high-quality population development with the people's high-quality life, closely integrate "investment in things" with "investment in people", do our best and within our capabilities, establish and improve a population service system covering the entire population and the entire life cycle, taking into account marriage, childbirth, parenting, education, employment, medical care, housing, elderly care, etc., to effectively promote the all-round development of people and the common prosperity of all people.
(Speech at the first meeting of the 20th Central Financial and Economic Committee on May 5, 2023)
twelve
Our goal is both ambitious and simple. In the final analysis, it is to help people live a better life. The upbringing and education of children, the employment and success of young people, and the medical care and elderly care of the elderly are family and state affairs. We must work together to get these things done well. Nowadays, the pace of society is very fast, everyone is very busy, and work and life are very stressful. We need to create a warm and harmonious social atmosphere, expand inclusive and active space for innovation, and create convenient and comfortable living conditions so that everyone can be happy, live a brilliant life, and make their dreams come true.
(2024 New Year’s message published on December 31, 2023)
Thirteen
Promoting high-quality and full employment is the new positioning and new mission of employment work in the new era and new journey. We must adhere to the people-centered development philosophy, fully implement the policy of independent employment of workers, market-regulated employment, government promotion of employment and encouragement of entrepreneurship, based on promoting high-quality development, guided by the implementation of the employment priority strategy, strengthening the employment priority policy as the starting point, and deepening the reform of the employment system and mechanism as the driving force, continue to promote the effective improvement of the quality of employment and the reasonable growth of quantity, continuously enhance the sense of gain, happiness and security of the majority of workers, and provide strong support for comprehensively promoting the construction of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation with Chinese-style modernization.
(Speech delivered at the 14th collective study session of the Political Bureau of the 20th CPC Central Committee on May 27, 2024)
fourteen
Adhere to the people-centered approach and continuously improve the inclusiveness, accessibility, and convenience of educational public services, so that the results of educational reform and development can benefit all people more and more equitably. It is necessary to optimize the allocation of regional educational resources, establish a basic public education service supply mechanism that is coordinated with population changes, promote the high-quality and balanced development of compulsory education, strengthen the standardization of compulsory education schools, and gradually narrow the gaps between urban and rural areas, regions, schools, and groups. Strengthen care for left-behind children and children with disabilities, improve the conditions and management level of boarding schools, run necessary small-scale rural schools, and build special education schools. Promote the universalization of preschool education and the diversified development of high school schools, and explore and gradually expand the scope of free education. Continue to consolidate the results of "double reduction", comprehensively improve classroom teaching standards, and improve the quality of after-school services. Vigorously strengthen the construction of preschool education and specialized education infrastructure.
(Speech at the National Education Conference on September 9, 2024)
fifteen
Chinese-style modernization puts people’s livelihood first. In the new era and new journey, party committees and governments at all levels must adhere to the people-centered approach, strengthen leadership over civil affairs work, strengthen inclusive, basic, and comprehensive people's livelihood construction, solve the most direct and practical interest issues that the people are most concerned about, and continuously promote the high-quality development of civil affairs undertakings. Civil affairs departments at all levels must adhere to the leadership of the Party, strengthen Party building, deepen reform and innovation, improve the policy and institutional system, service guarantee system, supervision and management system, and social participation system, strive to promote the implementation of the national strategy to actively respond to the aging of the population, strive to improve the level of social assistance, social welfare, social affairs, and social governance, actively and proactively do good things for the people, do practical things, and solve problems, and make due contributions to the comprehensive promotion of the construction of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation with Chinese-style modernization.
(Instructions on Civil Affairs Work on October 23, 2024)
sixteen
Promoting social development and improving people's livelihood are the focus. Over the years, I have emphasized many times that economic development and improvement of people's livelihood should be organically integrated, that the formulation of economic development policies should simultaneously embed the requirements of improving people's livelihood, and that the formulation of people's livelihood policies should simultaneously consider the effect of promoting economic development. The "Recommendations" on improving people's quality of life goals and policy measures are practical and must be fully implemented.
(Speech delivered at a special seminar for leading cadres at the provincial and ministerial levels to study and implement the spirit of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee on January 20, 2026)
