Socialist Harmonious Society

It is a social ideal pursued unremittingly by the Communist Party of China, and is an essential requirement of socialism. The socialist harmonious society we want to build should be a society characterized by democracy and the rule of law, fairness and justice, honesty and fraternity, full of vitality, stability and orderliness, and harmony between man and nature. In the critical period of China’s development, the Communist Party of China, proceeding from the overall situation of building a well-off society in an all-round way and creating a new situation for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, clearly put forward the strategic task of building a harmonious socialist society. The report of the 16th CPC National Congress in 2002 put forward “fostering social harmony” as an important goal for the first time. In 2004, the 4th Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee formally put forward the task of “building a socialist harmonious society”. For the first time, the building of a harmonious society has been placed in parallel with economic construction, political construction, and cultural construction, making the goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way expand from the three-in-one overall layout of developing socialist market economy, socialist democratic politics, and advanced socialist culture, into a four-in-one overall layout, including building a socialist harmonious society. In 2006, the 6th Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee adopted the “Decisions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues of Building a Socialist Harmonious Society”, which comprehensively explained the nature and positioning, guiding ideology, objectives and tasks, working principles and major deployment of building a harmonious society with Chinese characteristics. The 17th CPC National Congress once again emphasized the importance of building a harmonious socialist society, and made comprehensive arrangements for social construction focusing on improving people’s livelihood. Building a socialist harmonious society reflects the fundamental interests and common aspirations of the broad masses of the people. It is also a deepening of understanding of the ruling laws of the Communist Party of China, the laws of socialist construction, and the laws of human social development, enriching the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics and expanding the field of building socialism with Chinese characteristics.