"Harmonious society" is indeed a Chinese concept quite alien to Western culture - so much so that many translate the term as "social harmony."

Social harmony is but one component of a harmonious society, which embraces a wide range of harmony, from the internal harmony of individuals to the ultimate harmony between the human race and nature.

It is more encompassing than the globally popular "sustainable development," which deals only with the balance between economic development, social development and environmental conservation. Sustainable development is a functional approach with an emphasis on intergenerational justice but very little metaphysical philosophical content.

Needless to say, balance is a far cry from harmony. It can be a solution, but never an ideal.

Conflicts are everywhere. To a Westerner brought up in an individualist egoistic tradition and with a problem-solving attitude, they must be proactively resolved.

Let us look at Western medicine: as pathogens are everywhere, doctors and medical scientists are always on the lookout to find ways and means to eradicate them. In theory, we will ultimately be safe in a pathogen-free environment. We all know this is impossible, but to most Westerners, it is the only way out.

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that through paying more attention to environmental and personal hygiene, and enhancing our immune system, we can co-exist with pathogens most of the time without annihilating one another, and will only have to fight them on the rare occasions when they breach our natural defence system.

It is again quite improbable that we can live happily side by side with pathogens, but this is another direction to pursue. Moreover, it does not preclude us from developing our arsenal against pathogens. Not believing that there is only one way to nirvana is also part of the harmonious society psyche.

The above is only one illustration of how an all-encompassing harmonious outlook differs from the now-dominant Western culture. In a nutshell, in the ideal state of a harmonious society, various levels of contradictions can co-exist. This is pluralism in its widest sense - as in our natural ecosystem, which is the ultimate expression of harmony.

If we emulate nature, and blend in with it, we will be in harmony with nature and part of a harmonious natural symphony.

But it all has to start with one's internal harmony, graduating into family harmony, then social harmony and so on. The secret is not to over-emphasize the individual at the expense of the interest of a higher order - not to miss the forest for the trees, so to speak.

Traditional Chinese culture, whether Confucianism, Buddhism or Taoism, advocates forgetting or even voiding the self. If you look at the world from a holistic angle, all our differences seem trivial, and not worth killing one another over.

Back in the real world, building a harmonious society means a lot of things. Basically it amounts to looking at problems within the framework of a big picture and being considerate to others. If all parties can agree on this perspective, many conflicts will never surface in the first place, and others can easily disappear.

This explains why our government extended an invitation to the new Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, immediately after he assumed the post and expressed his intention to visit China, and also why we proposed to Japan more than 20 years ago to put aside our territorial disputes for joint exploration in waters we have every right to claim as ours.

Domestically, the most urgent problem of the day is tackling the gaping income disparity with an emphasis on social justice. Unlike economic development, in which market mechanisms will play an ever-increasing role to facilitate efficiency, social justice is more in the hands of the government through transfer payments and accompanying policy measures.

From 1999 onwards, the central government's share of national budget revenue has been increasing, and transfer payments to the poorer central and western provinces surged accordingly. Initially, these cash injections were designated mostly for the social welfare and social security of city dwellers.

In 2002, the average income of city dwellers was over three times that of people living in the countryside. If we take into account the cities' various welfare measures, the standard of living there was about six times higher than in rural areas. This disparity was crying out to be bridged.

Starting in 2003, emphasis has been shifted to supporting economic and social development in the rural areas. With agricultural taxes soon to be abolished throughout the country, various measures are in place aiming to drastically improve education and medical services to rural areas and to migrant workers in the cities, who are also from the countryside.

At the same time, tough measures have been taken to address the serious problem of environmental degradation.

Previous efforts have successfully increased our forest coverage from 16.1 per cent in 2001 to about 18 per cent in 2005, and reclaimed land from soil erosion at a rate of over 1,200 square kilometres per year, achievements rarely found in other developing countries.

But on the whole, the situation is still pretty austere. For example, over 40 per cent of China's rivers are polluted, and massive tree planting has yet to put a brake on sandstorms. Southern China is still the largest acid rain area in the world, and the air quality in the Pearl River Delta, including Hong Kong, is getting worse by the day.

In the ongoing 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10), officials are to be assessed by their performance in "Green GDP," a composite index reflecting current policy priorities in building a harmonious society. Environmental conservation is one element on the checklist, along with anti-corruption and other non-economic considerations.

Building a harmonious society, in a way, is still a functional approach for resolving social conflicts. The apparent difference is that previously the government would resort to administrative measures, but now a more legal and institutional approach has been adopted. This is more comprehensive, and therefore should be more effective.

And this time, there is a very strong philosophical undertone that is deeply rooted in our culture. If the overriding consideration of building a harmonious society is to persist for a prolonged period of time, it will gradually permeate into every facet of life and become a core value among all citizens, like reform and opening up.

If we succeed in this, as with reform and opening up, we are going to shake the world. This is necessary, since a harmonious society cannot be built in just one country.

The author is a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference

(China Daily 10/20/2006 page4)