{"id":8724,"date":"2021-10-20T07:00:44","date_gmt":"2021-10-20T07:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/?p=8724"},"modified":"2025-04-23T09:49:21","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T09:49:21","slug":"what-does-common-prosperity-actually-mean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/what-does-common-prosperity-actually-mean\/","title":{"rendered":"What does ‘Common Prosperity’ actually mean?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although a Maoist term, Xi Jinping\u2019s \u2018common prosperity\u2019 has little in common with radical egalitarianism. The concrete policy proposals that we have seen to date \u2014 like those in Zhejiang\u2019s Common Prosperity Polit Area \u2014 are relatively modest and below the standards of many modern welfare states, writes Torsten Weller<\/span><\/h2>\n

China\u2019s dramatic crackdown on the country\u2019s tech firms is turning into a broader reform of the welfare system and a greater policy focus on social equality. The term for that shift is common prosperity<\/a>, which has been used frequently by China\u2019s President Xi Jinping, but which gained more prominence after he declared in a speech in August that \u2018common prosperity\u2019 was one of the main hallmarks of modernisation with Chinese characteristics.<\/span><\/p>\n

The re-emergence of a term that was widely used during the Mao era has sparked discussions about its meaning for China\u2019s future. W<\/span>hether the Chinese government can truly push through the reforms needed to address the growing inequality at home remains open to debate. <\/span><\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the increased emphasis on social equality sends a clear signal that the government is unwilling to procrastinate and that it wants to see progress on some of the more contentious reforms <\/span>\u2014 <\/span>including the long-discussed but never fully enacted property tax<\/a> and the even trickier pension reform. This alone merits full attention.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"launchpad<\/a><\/p>\n

Background<\/span><\/h4>\n

Common prosperity (<\/span>\u5171\u540c\u5bcc\u88d5<\/span> gongtong fuyu<\/em>) isn\u2019t a new term in Chinese political vocabulary. Its first appearance was as early as 1953, when it was used as a rallying cry in support of China\u2019s impoverished peasantry, according to the China Media Project. But the events of the 1960s and 1970s gave the term a bitter aftertaste and an intrinsic association with violent class struggle and stifling collectivism. <\/span><\/p>\n

Even Xi\u2019s frequent reference to common prosperity in recent years \u2014 the first being in his inauguration speech as Party Secretary in 2017 \u2014 and its emphasis in the 14th Five-Year Plan<\/a> did little to change this perception. <\/span><\/p>\n

How difficult it might be to reframe an established political term in China became clear in late August when state media started to circulate a polemical and ultra-nationalistic essay by a previously unknown blogger, Li Guangman. Li apparently took the renewed stress on common prosperity as a sign that the current tax investigations into Chinese media personalities such as actress Zhang Wei was not just a crackdown on notorious tax evaders but the beginning of a \u201cprofound revolution\u201d that would end China being a \u201cparadise for capitalists\u201d and turn it back into a people-oriented society. <\/span><\/p>\n

Although Li\u2019s blog post was widely quoted by official state media, including the state-backed Xinhua news agency, it also attracted criticism. Hu Xijin, the nationalist editor of Global Times wrote on his personal Weibo account that Li\u2019s language was incendiary and not in line with the Chinese government\u2019s official reform agenda. Hu stressed that \u2018Reform and Opening-up\u2019 remains the guiding principle of the country\u2019s policies and that any change, including the current crackdown on China\u2019s tech giants, would be carried out in accordance with Chinese legal procedures, and not in a Maoist \u2018campaign-style revolution.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\n

Hu wasn\u2019t the only one spooked by Li Guangman\u2019s essay. Vice-premier and Xi Jinping\u2019s chief economic advisor Liu He reassured private businesses saying that their role in China\u2019s economic development had not been diminished and it would remain crucial in the future. Even the announcement of a new Beijing stock exchange by Xi himself has been considered by some as a subtle sign in support of private entrepreneurs.<\/span><\/p>\n