New era of a more equitable society unfolds

In his opening speech on the opening day of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on Wednesday, General Secretary Xi Jinping said China has entered a new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and the main contradiction in Chinese society is no longer the gap between people's wants and the limits of social production, instead it is "the contradiction between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people's ever-growing needs for a better life". This signals a paradigmatic shift in the Party's assessment of its main challenge.

For long the Party believed its main challenge in improving people's living standards was the deficiency of production. After nearly 40 years of spectacular growth, however, China is now the world's second-largest economy, its per-capita income is more than 10 times it was 40 years ago, and the Party's centennial goal of establishing a well-off society by 2020 will soon come true.

However, the fruits of economic growth have not been evenly distributed across the population. And although China is a much more affluent society today and the skylines of many Chinese coastal cities dwarf those in Europe, income and wealth inequality has greatly widened and many people in inland provinces' rural areas have just about managed to move into safer houses. Also, high economic growth has come at the cost of the environment, as smog has become a frequent phenomenon in the North China plains, and surface and ground water has been contaminated by industrial wastes and eco-systems impaired in many areas.