That goal embodies much more than the buoyant economic
indices the country has been pursuing for decades.
Once their basic needs of food, shelter and clothing are
satisfied, people's desires become much more diverse.
There's a growing trend to care about such non-material
things as self-esteem, greater freedom in personal development, and a
comfortable living environment. The objectives of different social strata are
equally diverse.
Generally speaking, the road to a xiaokang society is
paved with sustained economic growth coupled with progress on all
fronts.
All-round social development requires four basic
elements: artificial assets such as machinery, infrastructure and financial
assets; natural resources, including forestry, water, soil and mines; human
resources; and intangible social resources such as cohesion and established
values.
The four elements are equally important and none should
be ignored in the construction of a xiaokang society.
However, developing economies often tend to focus on the
growth of artificial assets at the expense of other elements.
For example, some countries concentrate on bolstering
their economy by mass logging of primordial forests and exhaustion of mines,
which only saps the sustainability of their development.
Although the growth of gross domestic product (GDP)
achieved in this way can help improve things like the infant mortality rate and
overall life expectancy, it creates such negative impacts as pollution, acid
rain and the greenhouse effect.
In some places, welfare indices such as the Gini
Coefficient, a key gauge of income equality, have worsened amid growing GDP
numbers.
China's development on the economic and social fronts is
emphatic, thanks to the reform and opening-up strategies taken over the past two
decades.
For example, the illiteracy rate for people aged from 15
to 50 declined from 23.5 per cent of the population in 1982 to 6.7 per cent in
2000. The nation's forestry area rose from 12 per cent in the early 1980s to
16.55 per cent by the late 1990s.
Still, China's concern for natural, human and social
resources continues to lag behind that for artificial assets, resulting in
backsliding in some aspects.
For example, the imbalance in education facilities in
different areas has widened since 1995. The drain on arable land and forests
remains serious. Some 90 per cent of natural pastures in the country have
deteriorated. The intensifying pollution of water and air has yet to be
checked.
Within the social framework, the decline of credit, trust
and public morality is an incontrovertible fact, although no tangible measures
are available to gauge it.
The impact of these defects will eventually surface and
curb social progress and the improvement of people's welfare.
Balanced care for all resources should be promoted,
otherwise the goal of a xiaokang society will be difficult to
achieve.
Take the consumption of motor vehicles as an example.
China now has roughly 24 million vehicles, with cars accounting for less than 30
per cent. These vehicles guzzle oil refined from 420 million barrels of crude
each year, a huge strain on China's crude oil production, which is 1.1 billion
barrels annually.
China therefore must rely on imports to meet the mounting
oil consumption at home.
By reckoning, the import of crude oil may exceed 80
million tons, making up over 30 per cent of domestic demand.
But as China's per capita GDP approaches US$3,000, more
and more families will own private cars. Analysts have estimated that by 2020
China's auto numbers will jump eight to nine fold from the current level more
than 50 per cent of which will be sedans.
If the per unit oil consumption cannot be reduced
effectively, the huge number of automobiles will drain China's dwindling oil
reserves, not to mention the daunting costs paid for imports.
This example is not aimed at thwarting private car
ownership. But the administration is responsible for anticipating similar
pitfalls in the building of a xiaokang society and must take the necessary
precautions.
The government should strengthen the protection of
natural resources and the environment, and encourage the build-up of
non-material resources.
It needs to bolster investment in education, training and
healthcare to improve the quality of human resources. Fostering a credit system
and cultivating greater trust between the government and citizenry are other
daunting tasks.
Only the comprehensive development of all resources, both
material and non-material, can lay a sustainable foundation for the country's
pursuit of greater prosperity.
(China Daily )
