The Rights Logic of Common Prosperity: Structure, Evolution, and Path to Implementation

WANG Dezhi* & WANG Bixing**

Abstract: The concept of common prosperity embodies the right of the people to a happy life, which is in line with General Secretary Xi Jinping’s proposition that “the people’s happiness is the greatest human right.” Its rights structure has the attributes of collective rights, reflecting the people’s pursuit of material civilization, spiritual civilization, harmony, beauty, and other social values. The realization of these rights is based on individual diligent labor and also entails human rights responsibilities of the state and society. Since the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee, China has pursued the basic policy of reform and opening-up, dismantling institutional barriers that hindered the development of productivity and the full realization of rights. This has stimulated the initiative, enthusiasm, and creativity of the people in their endeavors and entrepreneurship, leading to a historic leap from standing up to becoming prosperous. The living standards of the people have greatly improved. In the new journey toward achieving the second centenary goal, China should follow the important discourse of General Secretary Xi Jinping on respecting and protecting human rights, take the path of socialist human rights with Chinese characteristics, and better meet the growing aspirations of the people for a better life in the pursuit of high-quality economic development.

Keywords: common prosperity · the right of the people to a happy life · the right to subsistence · protection of human rights

To realize the common prosperity of the people is the consistent pursuit of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Under the leadership of the CPC, the Chinese people have experienced a series of efforts to explore common prosperity, from “revolution for prosperity”, to “construction for prosperity”, to “reform for prosperity” and to “poverty alleviation for common prosperity”. In 1921, the first CPC National Congress adopted the First Program of the CPC, which clearly defined that by confiscating land, machinery and other means of production, the CPC aimed to realize “the elimination of capital and private ownership” to promote common prosperity.¹ During the period of socialist construction, Mao Zedong pointed out that socialism is a system that can achieve common prosperity and strength.² In 1953, the CPC Central Committee issued the Resolution of the CPC Central Committee on the Development of Agricultural Production Cooperatives, which formally put forward the proposition of “common prosperity” for the first time, pointing out that the Party should lead farmers to take the socialist road to get rid of poverty, so that they could “achieve common prosperity and a generally prosperous life”.³ In July 1955, Mao Zedong emphasized the important role of socialist transformation in realizing “common prosperity” in his report On Agricultural Cooperatives. He pointed out that “While gradually realizing socialist industrialization and the socialist transformation of handicraft industry and capitalist industry and commerce, we should gradually realize the socialist transformation of the entire agriculture, namely, implementing cooperation, eliminating the rich peasant economic system and individual economic system in the countryside, and making all rural people achieve prosperity.”⁴ Since the reform and opening up, Deng Xiaoping has given new meaning to common prosperity. In the 1992 South Talk, Deng Xiaoping regarded the realization of common prosperity as the essence of socialism. He pointed out that “The essence of socialism is to liberate the productive forces, develop the productive forces, eliminate exploitation, eliminate polarization, and finally achieve common prosperity.”⁵ Meanwhile, he creatively used the “moderately prosperous society” to describe the prospects of China’s modernization, and promoted the improvement of comprehensive national power and people’s living standards through reform and opening up, and liberating and developing productive forces.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee has placed the gradual realization of common prosperity of all people in a more critical position, taken strong measures to guarantee and improve people’s livelihood, won the battle against poverty, and built a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, creating good conditions for promoting common prosperity.⁶ Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Commitee has repeatedly stressed that the people’s aspiration for a better life is our goal, and we must unswervingly follow the path of common prosperity, adhere to the people-centered development philosophy, and make more tangible progress in promoting common prosperity for all people. He pointed out that “Achieving common prosperity is a basic requirement of socialism and an important feature of the Chinese path to modernization.”⁷ In his report to the 20th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that common prosperity had made new achievements in both the material and spiritual life of the people. He put forward that “The Chinese modernization is the modernization of a huge population, modernization of common prosperity for all people, modernization of harmony between material and spiritual civilization, modernization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and modernization of peaceful development.”⁸ General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important statement on common prosperity makes clear the goal and purpose of common prosperity, that is, to realize the people’s aspiration for a better life; expounds the guiding ideology of common prosperity, that is, adhering to the people-centered development thought, and enriching and developing the scientific connotation of common prosperity in the fields of rights, the contents of rights and the ways to realize rights. The author believes that common prosperity contains the right of the people to pursue happiness, which is in line with the important thought of General Secretary Xi Jinping that “people’s happy life is the greatest human right.” Therefore, from a theoretical perspective, we can propose the concept of the right of the people to a happy life. The people’s right to a happy life is the purpose of common prosperity, and common prosperity is the focus of realizing the people’s right to a happy life. The substantive process of promoting common prosperity is also the process of realizing the people’s right to a happy life. Based on the perspective of rights protection, this paper demonstrates the right structure contained in common prosperity from the aspects of the subject of rights, the object of rights and the subject of obligations by using normative analysis methods. From the historical context of New China’s realization of common prosperity, the author discovers the evolution of rights in the process of China’s rise from standing up, becoming rich to becoming strong, and expounds on the internal relationship between the protection of human rights and productivity development and social progress. Through the theoretical interpretation of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important statements on the right to life and development, and that people’s happy life is the greatest human right, the paper seeks to clarify the rights path for common prosperity to make substantive progress.

I. The Rights Structure of Common Prosperity

Regarding the normative structure of rights, some scholars believe that the general form of rights can be expressed as “a has a right to demand c from b.” Rights are a ternary structural relationship that includes three elements: (a) the subject or owner of rights, (b) the relative person of rights, and (c) the object of rights.⁹ The rights structure contained in common prosperity can also be discussed around these aspects. Common prosperity contains the right of people to pursue a happy life. From the perspective of the rights subject, it is a collective right. From the perspective of the object of rights, a prosperous or happy life reflects people’s pursuit of material civilization, spiritual progress, as well as values such as harmony and beauty. From the perspective of the realization of rights, the realization of common prosperity is based on the hard work of individuals, and contains the human rights responsibilities of the state and society.

A. The subject of rights of common prosperity: A people-centered approach

The subject of rights contained in common prosperity is the beneficiary of common prosperity and the sharer of development achievements. From the right to life and development in the 1990s to the “people’s right to yearn for and pursue a happy life” in the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the rights representation of common prosperity has changed, but “people,” “the Chinese people,” “the people” and “all the people” have always been the main terms to identify the subject of rights. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed in his speeches that “we should constantly explore the path of civilized development featuring improved production, prosperous life and good ecology, and make unremitting efforts to achieve common prosperity for all people,”¹⁰ that “common prosperity is the common prosperity of all people, the prosperity of both the material and spiritual lives of the people, not the prosperity of a few people,”¹¹ and that “no one should fall behind on the path of common prosperity.”¹² In documents such as the Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development (2021-2025) and Long-Range Objectives through the Year 2035, the Opinions on Supporting Zhejiang’s High-quality Development and Building a Demonstration Zone for Common Prosperity, terms such as “the people,” “all the people” and “the people” are also used to identify the rights subjects of common prosperity. The beneficiaries are the people. It reflects the attribute of common prosperity as a collective human right. Collective human rights are an aggregation formed based on the extension of the first and second generations of human rights, and their intergenerational paradigm construction includes “individuals, collectives, nations, and states” as human rights subjects.¹³ Common prosperity is not the prosperity of individuals, not that of a few people, but the general prosperity of the broad masses of the people. The people becoming the subject of rights for common prosperity reflects the popularity, universality and shared nature of China’s human rights, and is a people-centered representation of rights.

Achieving common prosperity is the inherent requirement of the socialist system, and the people’s nature of common prosperity in terms of the subject is determined by the essence of socialism. From the perspective of the generation and development of rights, the subject of rights has witnessed continuous expansion from a few people to the general public. The universality of the subject of rights is directly proportional to the level of social civilization. Some capitalist countries have developed productive forces, but the bourgeoisie and elite social groups are the ones that enjoy the fruits of development. In recent years, the top of the pyramid has become smaller, and the middle class has shrunk. The socialist principles of China determine that the subject of common prosperity is the people, showing extensive coverage. In October 1955, Mao Zedong emphasized in his speech at the symposium on the socialist transformation of capitalist industry and commerce that “Now we implement such a system and plan, which can make us wealthier and stronger year by year. This kind of wealth is common wealth. This strength is common. And everyone has a share.”¹⁴ Deng Xiaoping clearly pointed out that socialism meant upholding public ownership as the mainstay and achieving common prosperity. “When the economy develops to a certain extent, we must achieve common prosperity.”¹⁵ “If only a few people are rich, we will end up being capitalist.”¹⁶ General Secretary Xi Jinping said that “Human rights are not special privileges bestowed on some people or a small minority but universal rights to be enjoyed by all the people.”¹⁷ The universality of common prosperity regarding the subject of rights is the embodiment of the superiority of the socialist system.

Citizens are the general and regular subject stipulated by the Constitution and laws, the basic subject of pursuing prosperity, and the specific beneficiaries of common prosperity. The people is not an abstract concept, but a community composed of individual citizens. As General Secretary Xi Jinping said, “The people are not abstract symbols, but concrete people.”¹⁸ In the process of achieving common prosperity, individuals are concrete beings. Every individual has the right to pursue prosperity. Only the efforts of each individual to pursue prosperity can converge to become the trend of the times and promote the value goal of common prosperity for all people. The individuality of common prosperity requires that the individual should be the starting point in the protection of the labor and the fruits of labor of each citizen, and the protection of the lawful rights and interests of each citizen. The individuality and collectivity of common prosperity are unified. General Secretary Xi Jinping said, “The Chinese Dream is the dream of the Chinese nation and that of every Chinese people. Our goal is to let everyone have the opportunity to develop themselves and contribute to society, to share the opportunity to make a difference in life, to share the opportunity to realize their dreams, to ensure the equal participation of the people and the equal right to development, to safeguard social fairness and justice, to make more and more equitable development achievements to benefit all people, and to move steadily toward common prosperity.”¹⁹ Common prosperity is not egalitarianism. There are differences in everyone’s ability to become rich through hard work. People don’t get rich at the same time. The degree of prosperity cannot be absolutely the same. Legal protection of formal equality will create a gap in the degree of prosperity. Therefore, it is necessary to allow some people to get rich first, implement the policy of the richer helping the poorer, and safeguard the honest work and lawful property of those who get rich first in accordance with the law. In this regard, General Secretary Xi Jinping said, “For middle-income groups, property rights are a major source of their confidence. Only by protecting property rights and ensuring wealth security can we give them peace of mind and perseverance and stabilize their expectations.”²⁰ Only by protecting the property rights and wealth security of those who get rich earlier can they be able to help the poor, to fulfill their social responsibility of helping others and achieve the beautiful goal of common prosperity.

The people’s nature of common prosperity requires preferential protection for farmers, people living in difficulties, women, children, the elderly, the people with disabilities and other specific groups. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, China’s economy has developed with high quality. In 2021, China’s GDP reached RMB 114 trillion, with a per capita GDP of $12,500, approaching the threshold for high-income countries.²¹ As China has built a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, the problem of absolute poverty has been solved historically, and some people have achieved common prosperity. However, there are still huge development gaps and insufficient middle-income groups to achieve common prosperity for all people. The ratio of the GDP of the eastern, central, western and northeast regions of China is about 52:22:21:5, and the regional development gap is huge. The per capita income of urban residents in China is RMB 43,833, 2.6 times that of rural residents, and the Gini coefficient is 0.468, which is significantly higher than the internationally recognized “warning line” of 0.4. The per capita expenditure on education, culture and entertainment of urban residents is about twice that of rural residents.²² The size of the middle-income group is about 400 million, less than 30% of the total population.²³ At present, further expanding the proportion of middle-income groups in China is the key to forming an “olive type” society and helping China overcome the middle-income trap, which shows that the special subject of common prosperity is significant for achieving common prosperity. In April 2019, during a visit to Chongqing, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that “Development is socialism, and development must be committed to common prosperity.” The more the country develops, the more we must ensure the basic livelihood of the poor people.”²⁴ The weak subjects who fall into one category due to the common “weak feature” of lack of power capacity are called “quasi-subjects.”²⁵ The special protection of these people’s rights reflects equality in promoting common prosperity. In the long-term development process, due to various factors such as history, policy and resource allocation, the scale of quasi-subjects of common prosperity in China is large. Quasi-subjects cannot fully enjoy the fruits of common prosperity only by their ability to realize their rights, so they become weak subjects who need special care and protection from the state or society in common prosperity. In the temporal and spatial field of China today, the quasi-subjects of common prosperity mainly include farmers, the poor population in the central and western regions, and some poor people in the cities. It is necessary to “take formal preferential protection as the means and take substantive equality as the goal”²⁶ in order to finally realize the common prosperity of the poor groups in the real sense. In the Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Supporting Zhejiang’s High-quality Development and Building a Demonstration Zone for Common Prosperity, the guiding ideology of “focusing on rural areas, grass-roots areas, relatively underdeveloped areas, and people in need” is precisely an expression of the equality of rights demands in common prosperity.

B. The object of rights of common prosperity

The object of the rights refers to the object to which the subject of the rights points when exercising the rights, which is the embodiment of the interests endowed by the subject, and is reflected in the aspects in which the subject can perform or refrain from performing certain actions.²⁷ From the social and historical process of the emergence of human rights in the West, the West pays more attention to political rights and ignores economic and social rights.²⁸ China has avoided the human rights approach of Western liberalism, and attaches importance to the coordinated development of the social attribute and freedom attribute of rights when promoting common prosperity. In 2012, General Secretary Xi Jinping described the main aspects of a “good life” in the new era as “better education, more stable jobs, more satisfactory income, more reliable social security, higher-level medical and health services, more comfortable living conditions, and a more beautiful environment.”²⁹ In 2016, the General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the theory of shared development, pointing out that “shared development requires sharing the achievements of the country’s economic, political, cultural, social and ecological development.”³⁰ The concept of all-round sharing embodies Marx’s theory of all-round human development based on human dignity. According to Marx, human development is man’s “possession of his own comprehensive essence” in a comprehensive and complete way.³¹ The realization of the comprehensive development of human beings requires the satisfaction of all rights based on human nature, rather than partial satisfaction or satisfaction in a certain aspect. Some scholars point out that “Human dignity is embodied, guaranteed and developed in three aspects: Material level, emotional and psychological level and spiritual level.”³² Therefore, the “prosperity” that common prosperity refers to is no longer limited to material rights such as survival and property, but should be extended to economic, political, cultural, social and ecological aspects. It is required to share the achievements of development in both material and spiritual aspects, meet the needs of human development to the maximum extent, and comprehensively protect the lawful rights and interests of the people.

First, common prosperity is embodied in the pursuit of material civilization. Material civilization is the foundation of common prosperity. In terms of the composition of human rights, some scholars believe that human rights can be divided into four levels, of which the most basic level of needs is the requirements for clothing, food and housing.³³ From the perspective of China’s historical development, the content of common prosperity in the early days was mainly the enjoyment of land. And the transition from the right to subsistence to the right to living standards still emphasizes improving the quality of material life. This also confirms that only when people fully ensure the quality and quantity of their food, drink, shelter, and clothing can they fundamentally achieve liberation.³⁴

Second, common prosperity embodies the pursuit of spiritual civilization. General Secretary Xi Jinping points out that “To meet the people’s new expectations for a better life, we must provide rich spiritual food.”³⁵ From the perspective of the goal of promoting the all-round development of people, common prosperity should include not only material civilization, but also spiritual civilization, which is also the requirement of comprehensive sharing. The change of human civilization form is a process in which human spiritual life constantly transcends. The richness of spiritual life is an important measure of social civilization. At present, in order to survive and manifest their subjectivity, capitalist countries over rely on and pursue material rights, which gives rise to unbalanced civilization development such as money politics, commodity surplus, wealth differentiation, ecological destruction and spiritual materialization. The inner transcendence of the human spirit is covered by various “materialized ideas.”³⁶ While promoting common prosperity, China has always paid attention to the coordinated protection of people’s material rights and spiritual rights. Especially in the context of building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way and eliminating absolute poverty, the material survival needs have been met, and the spiritual rights needs of the people have become more intense and diversified. “The people’s aspiration for a better life extends more to democracy, the rule of law, fairness, justice and security.”³⁷

Third, common prosperity embodies the value pursuit of “harmony.” The history of human social development is a history of continuous development from an inharmonious society to a harmonious society, which is an inevitable law of human social development.³⁸ Harmony embodies social civilization, and harmonious social relations are the proper meaning of common prosperity. In 2006, the Sixth Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee stressed that a harmonious socialist society should “follow the path of common prosperity and promote coordinated social, economic, political and cultural development.”³⁹ Common prosperity has become the basic feature of a harmonious socialist society.⁴⁰ In 2018, the Constitution was amended from “build China into a prosperous, strong, democratic and culturally advanced socialist country” to “build China into a strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful modern socialist country,” adding the connotation of “harmony” to the national goal of achieving common prosperity. As the object of common prosperity, “harmony” aims to pursue a good social moral order.⁴¹ This good social moral order requires the construction of new harmonious labor-capital relations, ethnic relations and social relations with the nature of common prosperity, which is manifested in the reduction of social contradictions and conflicts, and the benign interaction and cooperation between different income classes.

Last, common prosperity is reflected in the value pursuit of the goal of “beauty.” General Secretary Xi Jinping points out that “China’s socialist modernization has many important features, one of which is that China’s modernization is harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and pays attention to the simultaneous promotion of material progress and ecological progress.”⁴² Beauty relates to living and ecological environments, constituting the external space of common prosperity. It reflects the common prosperity of one generation and that of many generations. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that “A sound ecological environment is the most inclusive welfare for people’s livelihood.”⁴³ Common prosperity is directly related to an ecological civilization. To achieve common prosperity, we should consider the redistribution of income and wealth, meet the people’s growing needs for a beautiful ecological environment and provide more and better ecological public goods for the people.

C. Obligation subject of common prosperity

According to traditional rights theories, the state is the main obligation subject of civil rights. The right to freedom, also known as a “negative human right,” is seen as a defense against the public power of the state, and the state bears the obligation of passive inaction in this regard. Social rights are also called “positive human rights,” to which the state undertakes the obligation to take positive measures to help. In German constitutional theory, the obligation of national protection of fundamental rights has also been developed.⁴⁴ However, these traditional theories are not enough to explain the obligation subject of people’s pursuit of wealth and happiness. Because, first of all, the realization of common prosperity is based on the hard work of individuals. Article 42 of the Constitution stipulates that “Citizens of the People’s Republic of China have the right and duty to work.” The labor obligation stipulated by the Constitution constitutes an inherent limitation of the labor right. If citizens do not have the will to work, then the state does not need to protect their labor rights,⁴⁵ which means that citizens’ work and fight for a better life is a prerequisite for achieving common prosperity. Maslow’s “self-actualization theory” holds that there is a tendency in human nature toward the realization of more and more perfect human nature.⁴⁶ Only those who give for life and freedom are worthy to enjoy life and freedom.⁴⁷ Therefore, common prosperity requires self-development and self-realization. The right premise of common prosperity in the new era is “striving for a better life.” In August 2021, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that “A happy life is the result of great efforts, and common prosperity depends on hard work and wisdom,” stressing the need to “create a development environment for everyone’s participation.”⁴⁸ This further defines individual citizens as the subject of practice and the force to rely on for common prosperity.

Second, the realization of common prosperity means a kind of national responsibility. In the process of realizing common prosperity, the power of individuals is limited. The existence of the socially and economically weak in the market competition makes it necessary to rely on the intervention of the state. “To achieve common prosperity, we need to overcome the drawbacks brought by the free economy, overcome the negative effects of excessive expansion brought by the separation from the economic system, and gradually achieve this through national intervention, the improvement of the social welfare system, the realization of public provision obligations and other measures.”⁴⁹ The state should relatively restrict traditional economic freedom rights such as property rights and business freedom. Meanwhile, it is necessary to provide material, service and institutional guarantees to realize the right to subsistence, education and adequate housing through active actions, to make up for the deficiency of individuals’ ability to realize common prosperity.

Meanwhile, common prosperity is also a social responsibility. With the changes in social governance structure, the state is no longer the exclusive obligation subject of human rights, and the subject of human rights obligation is becoming more diversified. Private entities in an advantageous position must assume human rights obligations in certain fields or, to some extent, based on their abilities, roles, and whether they undertake public tasks.⁵⁰ In the 1980s, Deng Xiaoping pointed out that “Some regions and some people can get rich first, lead and help other regions and people, and gradually achieve common prosperity”.⁵¹ The social responsibility of “those who get rich earlier helping the poor” is based on the theory that citizens’ property rights also bear social obligations. In other words, for the purpose of preserving social justice, individuals should self-limit their property rights so that their property also contributes to the realization of integral human existence in accordance with human dignity.⁵² However, in the context that the Constitution protects citizens’ lawful private property, this distribution mechanism is not an expediency of “killing the rich to help the poor.” Its essence and purpose is not to sacrifice the interests of some people for the interests of others, but to further realize the fair and reasonable distribution of wealth through joint efforts and “guidance to the good.”⁵³ At the beginning of reform and opening-up, China’s social productivity and comprehensive national power were relatively backward. Common prosperity focused more on the dimension of “prosperity,” highlighting the “getting rich first” strategy. In contrast, in the new era of relatively developed social productivity, common prosperity pays more attention to the “common”dimension, emphasizing “those who get rich earlier helping the poor.” Since the 18th CPC National Congress, under the leadership of the Party, the “ten thousand enterprises helping ten thousand villages” action has been successfully concluded, and the “ten thousand enterprises prospering ten thousand villages” action has been successfully launched. Private enterprises consciously practice corporate social responsibility, fully demonstrating the important role of private enterprises in helping and leading the country to achieve common prosperity. By the end of June 2019, 88,100 private
enterprises had entered the “ten thousand enterprises helping ten thousand villages” targeted poverty alleviation action’s account management and had helped 102,700 villages, with RMB 75.371 billion of industrial investment and RMB 13.91 billion of public welfare investment, placing 661,500 people in employment, and 941,000 people in skills training. A total of 11.63 million registered poor people were helped and benefited.⁵⁴

II. The Evolution of Rights from Standing Up, Getting Rich, to Becoming Strong

From the history of human development, the protection of rights is an essential measure of social progress and a powerful driving force for social progress. In a slavery society, slaves, as producers of material wealth, were not regarded as human beings. They were just production tools of the slave owners. They did not enjoy any rights and freedoms. Slave owners owned means of production, slaves and slaves’ labor products. This system must be the most inefficient system in human history. In a feudal society, landlords occupied land and other major means of production and did not fully occupy farmers. As wealth creators, farmers were in a state of personal attachment and semi-attachment to their rulers, suffering from the cruel oppression of land rent and various corvees, and had no rights or freedom. So, this system was also very limited in liberating productive forces. In addition to promoting science and technology, capitalism can achieve the rapid development of productive forces because it flaunts the liberation of people and stipulates the basic rights and freedoms of citizens in the constitution. However, the rights and freedoms stipulated in the capitalist constitutions are often mere formality and have great hypocrisy. Although private property rights are stipulated, it is only the minority group of capitalists who really own the means of production. Although the right to participate in politics is stipulated, the candidates who can be elected are wealthy businessmen or candidates funded by capital consortia. The role of the Constitution since the founding of the People’s Republic of China indicates that only with the protection of human rights as the basis and starting point can we realize the harmonious unity of the dream of national prosperity and personal happiness. The realization of the goal of national prosperity and the protection of human rights show the same development track during the implementation of the Constitution. The period when the protection of human rights is valued, and the system operates well is also a period of rapid development of the national economy and rapid improvement of people’s living standards. The period when citizens’ basic rights were restricted and violated was also a period when national development suffered setbacks and failures.

After the founding of New China, our people stood up. But for a long time, China did not usher in the leap of “getting rich.” The main reason was that individual rights were not fully protected. As early as 1954, China’s first Constitution stipulated citizens’ rights to labor, rest, material assistance, education, and corresponding national obligations.⁵⁵ However, the system implemented then was not conducive to implementing the rights protection system, and this Constitution, which established a relatively complete rights protection system, had only been in operation for a few years. Since the late 1950s, the error of “left” deviation in guiding ideology had developed more seriously. In terms of political philosophy, adhering to the “class struggle” as the principle, the anti-rightist struggle, the Great Leap Forward, and the people’s commune movement were carried out in succession. In terms of the economic system, China implemented single public ownership, with socialist ownership by the whole people and socialist collective ownership as the mainstay, abolished private ownership of the means of production, and regarded individual industrial and commercial households and private enterprises as an integral part of the capitalist economy. This gave birth to the practice of “egalitarianism” of “preferring poor socialism to rich capitalism,”which led to the waste of resources and talents, as well as the phenomenon of laziness in society, resulting in the people’s “common backwardness and common poverty.”⁵⁶ This system greatly limited the implementation of the rights protection system, dampened the people’s enthusiasm for work and production, limited their ability to create wealth, and hindered the development of China’s social productivity. By 1978, China’s GDP was only RMB 364.5 billion, and there were 770 million impoverished people in rural areas, with a rural poverty incidence rate of 97.5%.⁵⁷

The protection of human rights plays a role in promoting social development through the central link of productivity. Productivity is the ability of humans to conquer and transform nature. The improvement of productivity level is the fundamental driving force for national prosperity and social progress. Among the various factors that determine the level of productivity, human factors are the most active and decisive. A political system can only become a driving force for the development of productive forces by maximizing the release of people’s enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity. Since the reform and opening up, China has created a higher level of productivity than many Western developed countries. One important reason is that China has improved and strengthened the protection of citizens’ basic rights by amending the Constitution and improving the socialist legal system. And through various measures to deepen reform, it has broken down the system and mechanism that hindered the development of productivity and the play of rights, and stimulated the initiative, enthusiasm and creativity of people to strive for their careers.

First, the reform of the rural household contract responsibility system started China’s reform and opening-up, directly linked farmers’ income to their labor, released the potential of farmers’ property rights and labor rights, stimulated the initiative and enthusiasm of hundreds of millions of farmers to create wealth, and solved the problem of food and clothing for farmers that had plagued China for many years. The reform of the household responsibility system, which was carried out in the 1980s, separated the ownership of land from the contractual management right. The ownership of land still belonged to the collective economic organization, which subcontracted it to farmers according to the average household. Farmers enjoyed the right to land contractual management in accordance with the law during the contract period. And later, the policy of voluntary paid transfer of land contractual management rights was introduced. The reform of the household contract responsibility system gave farmers the autonomy to manage their contracted land, which essentially changed the operation of farmers’ labor rights and property rights. Because under the previous people’s commune system, the peasants’ labor in the production team was very passive and obedient, and they had almost no say in what to produce, how much to produce, and how to sell agricultural products. Under the economic systems of household contract responsibility system and the combination of unified and separate production, farmers had the right to contract management, that is, a certain degree of freedom of business. They increasingly had more and more power to decide on these issues. After the implementation of the household responsibility system, the products produced by farmers on the contracted land were all their own except those handed over to the state and left to the collective, which clarified the property rights of farmers to the fruits of labor. From 1982 to 1984, the CPC Central Committee, in the form of “No. 1 Document” for three consecutive years, fully affirmed and actively guided the responsibility system of household contract responsibility, and finally formed the rural household contract responsibility system. After the reform, farmers were transformed from mere laborers into both producers and operators in the collective economy, closely combining their labor and profits, greatly stimulating their enthusiasm for production. After Xiaogang Village in Fengyang, Anhui Province, began to implement the policy of “fixing farm output quotas for each household,” the grain output in the first year was equivalent to the total output of more than 10 years of people’s commune system, and the oil yield was the total output of the past 20 years.⁵⁸ Subsequently, the state issued relevant policies to stabilize and improve the household responsibility system constantly, encouraged farmers to develop diversified businesses, and adopted the principle of combining unified management with decentralized management, so that collective superiority and individual enthusiasm could be brought into play at the same time. The land contract management right almost fully carries a series of collective functions, such as the realization of rural residents’ employment rights, unemployment security, medical security, elderly care security, etc.,⁵⁹ which greatly promoted the enthusiasm for farmers’ production. China has also achieved remarkable results through this reform, creating a miracle of using 7% of the world’s land to feed 22% of the world’s population.

Since the reform and opening-up, China’s Constitution and laws have expanded the scope of personal property rights, gradually evolving from safeguarding traditional ownership to protecting all rights with property value. The market economy is closely related to economic freedom. The establishment of the market economy as an economic system provides a constitutional basis for fully guaranteeing economic freedom.⁶⁰ One of the main themes of the 1982 Constitution and its 1988 and 2004 amendments was the protection of economic rights. The 1982 Constitution began to replace the expressions of “means of life” and “means of production” in the 1975 Constitution and the 1978 Constitution with a unified concept of “property.” The Constitutional amendment in 1993 included provisions for the rural household responsibility system. The content of farmers’ property rights expanded to the category of usufruct, such as rural land contract rights, highlighting the main position of farmers’ property rights. Since 2004, China has successively abolished the animal husbandry tax, pig slaughter tax, and agricultural and forestry specialty tax, especially the agricultural tax that has existed in China for over 2,600 years, and has been fixed in legal form. The vast majority of Chinese farmers have completely bid farewell to the history of paying agricultural tax, and farmers’ property rights have been further protected. The Property Law implemented in 2007, the Labor Contract Law and the Tort Liability Law promulgated successively have strengthened the protection of citizens’ private property rights, and legally defined the protection of private property rights. Meanwhile, the issue of production factors participating in distribution according to their contributions has been clarified, and the lawfulness of non-labor production factors participating in the distribution has been strengthened. The 16th CPC National Congress clearly proposed to “establish the principle that labor, capital, technology and management factors of production participate in distribution according to their contributions, and improve the distribution system with distribution according to work and multiple modes of distribution co-existing,” affirming the important role of non-labor factors of production in wealth production. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee further proposed to “improve the mechanism whereby labor, capital, land, knowledge, technology, management, data and other factors of production are evaluated by the market, and their remuneration is determined according to their contributions.” Starting from the development reality of productive forces in China, this move grasps the new trends and characteristics of economic development scientifically and further points out the direction for the participation of various production factors in distribution.

Second, by reforming the ownership structure and constructing the socialist market economy system, the scope of citizens’ labor rights was expanded, and the powers and functions of citizens’ property rights were activated. Before the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, China had a single ownership structure, pursued pure public ownership, and the limited scale of the individual economy was also regarded as the tail of capitalism. Since the reform and opening-up, China has carried out the reform of the ownership structure, and encouraged the development of the non-public economy, from allowing the private economy to exist and develop within the scope of the law, to the constitutional recognition that the non-public economy was an essential part of the socialist market economy, and laid a solid institutional foundation for the development of the non-public economy. China had established a basic economic system and a socialist market economy with public ownership as the mainstay and multiple forms of ownership co-existing. The reform of China’s ownership structure and the establishment of the constitutional status of the non-public economy have changed the operation mode of citizens’ labor rights and property rights as a whole, broken the monopoly of the state on business, and enabled individual citizens to enjoy the freedom of business. Meanwhile, the scope of citizens’ freedom of business is constantly expanding. From self-employment and voluntary organization for employment in the early days of reform and opening-up, to the establishment of the individual economy and private economy, from the non-public sector of the mixed ownership economy to the establishment of Sino-foreign joint ventures and cooperative enterprises, citizens’ individual business and entrepreneurship were everywhere. Because in the planned economy era, only the government had business freedom, and citizens’ labor rights were mainly reflected as a “right to employment,” which greatly restricted their initiative in entrepreneurship and business operations. Unlike the single public economy, the non-public economy is characterized by the entrepreneurship and business of individual citizens from the perspective of labor form. Therefore, in the era of the domination of the public economy, “employment” — whether it was resettlement employment in towns or employment under the rural people’s commune system was almost the only form of labor for people. After the reform and opening-up, the development of the non-public economy had made “business” and “entrepreneurship” enter the vision of constitutional labor rights, and increasingly became an important form of labor for people to earn a living and an important way for people to become rich and obtain property through hard work. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, China has accelerated the construction of a first-class business environment, vigorously promoted the reform of the commercial system, changed the registered capital paid-in system to a subscription system, changed the annual inspection to the annual report, and changed the “license after certificate” to “certificate after license.” China has deepened the “license-certificate separation” reform nationwide, established a list management system for enterprise-related business licenses, promoted the “less certificate after license” and simplified approval. Non-public entities have made their work more convenient and predictable, and market entities have gained vitality.

Since the reform and opening-up, under the guidance of the principles and policies that the Party and the state attach great importance to, strongly support and actively guide the development of the non-public economy, China’s non-public economy has grown from scratch and small to large, from weak to strong, and has become an important part of the socialist market economy, and an important force to develop social productivity and improve the socialist market economy system. At present, the number of various market entities exceeds 150 million, with an average annual growth rate of over 12%. The number of employees in self-employed entrepreneurs and private enterprises is 170 million and 220 million, respectively.⁶¹ The establishment and development of the non-public economy are based on the security model of combining property rights and labor rights, which marks the transformation of Chinese citizens from property consumption to property management, from dependent labor to independent labor. The development of the non-public economy has greatly released the potential of property rights, mobilized the enthusiasm of people to create wealth, and enabled people to create unlimited wealth through their hard work. Meanwhile, some employment problems have been solved, providing huge taxes for the country and laying a solid material foundation for common prosperity.

Third, science and technology are the primary productive forces. By deepening the reform of the scientific research system, we ensure the rights of scientific research and literary and artistic creation and stimulate the enthusiasm of intellectuals for scientific research and innovation, providing strong intellectual support for economic development. During the exploration period of socialist construction, with the expansion of the anti-rightist campaign, the Party’s understanding of intellectuals deviated, and intellectuals became the objects of dictatorship. In the early stages of reform and opening-up, the Party deeply drew lessons from the “cultural revolution” period and began reform by adjusting policies for intellectuals. In 1977, Deng Xiaoping pointed out that the “‘Two Estimates’ are not in line with reality”⁶² and strongly called for “creating an atmosphere within the party: Respecting knowledge and talents”.⁶³ In September 1977, the Ministry of Education decided to resume the national higher education enrollment examination, which had been suspended for more than 10 years, and to select talents for university through unified examination and selective admission. This opened up a situation for implementing the policy of “respecting knowledge and talents.” In 1982, the CPC Central Committee issued a Notice on Inspecting the Work of Intellectuals, proposing to continue correcting prejudices against intellectuals. At the end of 2003, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council convened the first National Talents Work Conference in the history of New China. The Decision of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Further Strengthening Talents Work was discussed and adopted. It was proposed that the fundamental task of talent work in the new century was to carry out the strategy of strengthening the country through talent. The strategy of strengthening the country through talent was upgraded to a national strategy.

While valuing talents, China has also begun to strengthen the protection of the rights of researchers. In the early days of the founding of New China, under the background of public ownership of means of production, China implemented ownership and free use of scientific and technological achievements by the whole people, which weakened the enthusiasm of scientific researchers for invention and creation. In 1988, Deng Xiaoping proposed the important statement that “science and technology are the primary productive forces,”⁶⁴ fully emphasizing the role of science and technology in social and economic development. In this context, scientific research achievements have witnessed the evolution from ownership to rights of ownership, and China has gradually strengthened the protection of the rights of scientific researchers with the autonomy and achievements of scientific and technological workers as the core. Since the reform and opening-up, with the proposal of “ownership of scientific and technological achievements,” China has begun to protect the individual rights of scientific researchers to their research achievements. Since 1980, China has successively joined a series of international intellectual property conventions in different fields, such as patents and copyrights, including the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization, the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, and formulated laws and regulations such as the Patent Law, the Copyright Law, the Law on Science and Technology Progress, and the Law on Promoting the Transformation of Scientific and Technological Achievements in a relatively short period of time. With the development of the times, the above laws and regulations have been amended several times. In order to deepen the reform of the right to use, dispose of, and benefit from scientific and technological achievements, in February 2020, China decided to grant scientific researchers the ownership and long-term use rights of their scientific and technological achievements.⁶⁵ Meanwhile, the state emphasizes the leading role of judicial protection of intellectual property rights. In 2014, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress voted to establish a specialized intellectual property court, providing organizational protection for the intellectual property rights of scientific researchers. From a historical perspective, the subjects of the right to scientific research achievements have undergone changes from the state to organizations and then to individuals. Meanwhile, the scope of objects has been continuously expanded, and the protection efforts have been continuously strengthened, actively protecting the lawful rights and interests of scientific and technological workers in their research results and inventions.

Last, through reforming the social security system and implementing poverty alleviation actions, the national responsibility to protect human rights has been fulfilled, and the problem of absolute poverty has been historically resolved. Common prosperity is about “prosperity,” “universal prosperity” and “prosperity of all.” It is the “common prosperity” of the whole society and all people. This requires establishing a social security system to eliminate poverty and narrow the income and living standard gap. Since the reform and opening-up, China has promoted fuller and higher-quality employment, established the world’s largest education, social security and medical and health systems, and greatly improved the quality of people’s living environment.⁶⁶ In order to promote common prosperity and solve the problem of absolute poverty, China has implemented the great initiative of “poverty alleviation.” Since the 1980s, under the guidance of Deng Xiaoping’s important assertion that “Poverty is not socialism, and socialism should eradicate poverty,”⁶⁷ China has implemented a series of major agricultural and rural reforms and carried out large-scale, planned and organized poverty alleviation and development at the national level. Since 1994, the State Council has formulated and implemented medium — and long-term poverty alleviation plans such as the National Eight-Seventh Poverty Alleviation Plan (1994-2000), the Outline of Poverty Alleviation and Development in China’s Rural Areas (2001-2010), and the Outline of Poverty Alleviation and Development in China’s Rural Areas (2011-2020), and carried out large-scale national actions of poverty alleviation and development. The central and western regions have been selected as key areas for poverty alleviation, and 150,000 poor villages have been selected as targets for poverty alleviation on the basis of 592 key counties in the national poverty alleviation work. The government has implemented a participatory “whole village” approach to poverty alleviation. Meanwhile, a series of rural social security systems, such as new rural cooperative medical care, have been established, and the heavy burden on farmers has been fundamentally alleviated.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee has made poverty alleviation a bottom-line task and landmark indicator for building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and made a series of major plans to promote poverty alleviation and development with unprecedented efforts, and entered a new stage of poverty alleviation. First, the concept of Targeted Poverty Alleviation was put forward, and innovative changes have been made to improve the poverty alleviation mechanism. The poor households are accurately identified through farmers’ income and other conditions, and a file is established to solve the problem of “whom to help.” The second is to distinguish categories and implement “five batches” to solve the problem of “how to help” by developing production, relocating, ecological compensation, education development, and social security. The third is to summarize the “two no worries and three guarantees” as the poverty alleviation index of the rural poor population and steadily realize that the rural poor population does not worry about food and clothing, and that their compulsory education, basic medical care and housing safety are guaranteed. Under the leadership of the CPC and through the long-term unremitting fight, China has created two major miracles: Rapid economic development and long-term social stability. “People’s living standards have been significantly improved.”⁶⁸ The income of the poor population has continued to rise. The “two no worries and three guarantees” has been fully realized. Infrastructure and basic public services have been significantly improved. By the end of 2020, 98.99 million registered rural poor people in China have been lifted out of poverty.⁶⁹ Social security benefits the entire population. As of the end of June 2021, the number of people covered by basic old-age insurance, unemployment insurance, work-related injury insurance and medical insurance reached 1.014 billion, 222 million, 274 million and 1.3 billion, respectively. Old-age services and children’s welfare have been further developed and improved, and the world’s largest social security system, including social insurance, social assistance, social welfare, and special care, has been basically established.⁷⁰

The great achievements in poverty alleviation are beyond the reach of Western capitalist countries. They demonstrate the great advantages of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics. At the beginning of the 20th century, Western capitalist countries produced the concept of a welfare state. They gradually established the social security system, but this was only an expediency to delay capitalism’s economic and social crisis. The concept of the welfare state is not the concept of common prosperity, and its social security system is different from poverty alleviation. The capitalist system cannot close the gap between the rich and the poor and eradicate poverty. Capitalist societies will continue to have severe socioeconomic inequality and social polarization. Prosperity under capitalism can only be the prosperity of the few. First, Western capitalist countries do not have the concept of common prosperity. Western countries adhere to the concept of “limited government,” claiming that the government with the least control is the best government and limiting government responsibilities mainly to aspects such as security and order. Meanwhile, the right to freedom is the focus of human rights. In contrast, the protection of social rights is ignored, the supremacy of freedom and individual efforts are promoted, and common prosperity is regarded as the category of individual efforts, which denies the attribute of the people and the responsibility of the state. Second, during the eight-year poverty alleviation campaign, China’s central, provincial, and city/county governments invested nearly RMB 1.6 trillion in special poverty alleviation funds, of which the central government invested RMB 660.1 billion.⁷¹ In capitalist countries, parliaments have the power to review fiscal bills and supervise the government’s revenue and expenditure. As spokespersons for capital and capitalists, parliamentary members can only invest government funds in areas of concern to capitalists and matters that can bring abundant profits to capital. The capitalist representative system determines that it is difficult to invest large amounts of national funds in social undertakings to alleviate poverty. Last, in China’s poverty alleviation, the CPC has given full play to its organizational advantages and established a poverty alleviation management system with the central government as the overall planner, provinces as the overall responsibility bearer, and cities and counties as the actor, and a working mechanism that focuses on large areas, carries out grassroots work in villages and directly helps poor households. By the end of 2020, 255,000 village working teams, more than 3 million first secretaries and village officials had been selected to work together with nearly 2 million township officials and millions of village officials on the front line of poverty alleviation.⁷² The electoral mechanism of Western capitalist countries cannot produce a strong political party representing the entire people’s interests. National policies are deeply influenced by party rotation and interest disputes, making it difficult to form strong organizational capabilities and social cohesion.

III. The Rights Approach to Substantial Progress in Common Prosperity

In March 2021, The Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development (2021–2025) and Long-Range Objectives through the Year 2035 of the People’s Republic of China identified a three-step strategic goal to achieve common prosperity, that is, to take solid steps by 2025, achieve more tangible progress by 2035, and achieve common prosperity for all people by the middle of this century. Facing the second centenary goal, we should sum up the human rights experience in promoting common prosperity since reform and opening- up, especially since the 18th CPC National Congress, and follow the socialist human rights path with Chinese characteristics under the guidance of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important statement on respecting and protecting human rights. The promotion of common prosperity and the realization of the people’s rights to subsistence, development and happy life complement each other and promote each other. The promotion of common prosperity can lay a solid material and cultural foundation for the realization of basic human rights. Meanwhile, only by following the guiding principles of the important statement of General Secretary Xi Jinping can the promotion of common prosperity maintain the correct line and direction. We should enhance the effectiveness of the protection of human rights through comprehensively deepening reform, give full play to the motivating role of protection of human rights in the material, spiritual and cultural fields, as well as in the value creation of security, harmony and ecology fields, make the pie bigger and promote high-quality economic development. We should give full play to the institutional role of protection of human rights in safeguarding fairness and justice and divide the pie well. We should make substantial progress in promoting common prosperity through high-quality economic development and better meet the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life.

A. Upholding people-centered concept of human rights

The Xi Jinping on Respecting and Protecting Human Rights and the speech made by General Secretary Xi Jinping when he presided over the collective study of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on human rights in February 2022 reflect the core essence of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s meaningful discussion on respecting and protecting human rights. These are the product of the combination of Marxist human rights principles and China’s human rights practice, the latest achievement of the socialist human rights theory with Chinese characteristics, and the fundamental principle of the cause of protection of human rights in our new journey. To follow the guidance of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important statement on respecting and protecting human rights, we must first pursue the people-centered concept of human rights. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping has put forward the idea of people-centered development, insisting that “development is for the people, development depends on the people, and development fruits should be shared by the people.”⁷³ In his speech on February 25, 2022, General Secretary Xi Jinping said that “The people-centered nature is the most striking feature of China’s human rights development path... We need to protect the people’s democratic rights, fully stimulate their enthusiasm, initiative and creativity, make them the main participants, promoters and beneficiaries of the development of human rights, and make more tangible and substantive progress in promoting all-round human development and common prosperity for all people.” This profoundly illustrates the people-centered nature and universality of human rights in China, the internal logical connection between the protection of human rights and people’s initiative and creativity, and common prosperity. “For the people” is the starting point of China’s human rights cause, and China’s human rights system is to establish the people’s principal position, protect the people’s democratic rights, and protect the lawful rights and interests of the people. Only through such a human rights system and its operation can the people’s enthusiasm and initiative in creating wealth and value be stimulated, and the people become the main participants and promoters of the human rights cause, so that development “depends on the people,” the pie of social wealth will be enlarged, and at the same time, the human rights system can play its fairness and justice functions, and the problem of inadequate and unbalanced development can be solved. We should promote substantive equality among regions, urban and rural areas, and social groups, well divide up the bigger pie, and realize the universality of human rights, so that the fruits of development can be “shared by the people.”

B. Adhering to the right to subsistence and development as the primary basic human rights and prioritizing the safety of people’s lives and physical health

As early as 2016, General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the idea that the rights to subsistence and development are the primary basic human rights, pointing out that “development is the eternal theme of human society.” The United Nations Declaration on the Right to Development recognizes the right to development as an inalienable human right. As the world’s largest developing country with a population of 1.3 billion, development is the key to solving all of China’s problems and the top priority of the CPC in governing and rejuvenating the country. China adheres to the principle of universality of human rights in combination with its national conditions and maintains that the rights to subsistence and development are the primary basic human rights. Over the years, China has adhered to the philosophy of people-centered development, and taken improving the people’s well-being, ensuring that they are masters of the country, and promoting well-rounded human development as the starting point and ultimate goal of development. This has effectively protected the people’s rights and interests in development and blazed a path of human rights development with Chinese characteristics.”⁷⁴ This statement makes clear that the rights to subsistence and development are the primary basic human rights and inalienable human rights and the priority of the CPC in governing and rejuvenating the country.

The right to subsistence advocated by China is no longer the traditional right to subsistence that requires a certain amount of material conditions such as food, clothing, and housing to sustain life, in order to have enough food, shelter oneself, and resist the invasion of wind and rain.⁷⁵ Instead, it covers multi-level needs such as food and clothing, education, housing, medical services, and the environment. General Secretary Xi Jinping said that “The macro environment and internal conditions for people’s livelihood work are changing. In the past, people’s basic needs were food, education and housing. Now people have more needs, such as a steady increase in income, quality medical services, fair education, housing improvement, a beautiful environment and clean air.”⁷⁶ The right to subsistence he proposed shows the advanced form of the right to subsistence, emphasizing that “We must always put people’s life safety and health first,”⁷⁷ stressing the quality and safety of life, including “letting the people enjoy a more livable living environment, better medical and health services, and more assured food and medicine,”⁷⁸ “letting the people breathe fresh air, drink clean water and eat safe food.”⁷⁹ In terms of the realization of the right to subsistence, various measures and means should be comprehensively utilized, such as poverty alleviation, assistance to the disadvantaged, reform of the distribution system, reform of the medical and pharmaceutical system, environmental protection, and food security.

C. Based on the needs of the people for a happy life, we should promote the economic, political, social, cultural, and environmental rights of all people in a coordinated way

In 2018, in his congratulatory letter to the symposium commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the important statement that “people’s happiness is the foremost human right.” When interpreting this statement, some scholars summarize the right to a happy life as the right of citizens to pursue, enjoy, and realize a happy life. It is a right enjoyed and realized by individual citizens because happiness, as a joyful experience, is unique to individual natural persons.⁸⁰ The author believes that the people’s right to a happy life is not a specific right, but a collective right. It is a principle that should be adhered to in the process of achieving common prosperity for the broad masses of the people. It reflects the people’s general experience and recognition of a happy life. The people-centered nature and universality are the essential attributes of the people’s right to a happy life. The right of the Chinese people to a happy life is different from the “right to pursue happiness” in foreign constitutions. Article 13 of the current Constitution of Japan stipulates that “All citizens are respected as individuals. The right of citizens to pursue life, freedom, and happiness must be respected to the greatest extent in legislation and other national policies, as long as it does not violate public welfare.” Japanese scholars have interpreted this provision as the “right to pursue happiness.”⁸¹ It should be noted that the people’s right to a happy life is a human right with Chinese characteristics based on the people’s dominant position, the original mission of the CPC and the people-centered concept. The people’s happy life is the goal of the Party and the state, and such original mission and goal are not possessed by any party or government in any Western capitalist country. Some scholars in Japan interpret the provisions of Article 13 of their Constitution as the right to pursue happiness, but others question whether the pursuit of happiness can become a right. Moreover, even those scholars who recognize the right to pursue happiness as a right often define the pursuit of happiness as an abstract “human dignity” or “personal interests,” which is quite empty in content.

In stark contrast to the empty and abstract content of Japan’s “right to pursue happiness,” China’s “the right of the people to a happy life” has specific content and rich connotations. As early as November 15, 2012, when the members of the Standing Committee of Political Bureau of the 18th CPC Central Committee met with Chinese and foreign journalists, General Secretary Xi Jinping said that “Our people love life and hope to have better education, more stable jobs, more satisfactory income, more reliable social security, higher-quality medical and health services, more comfortable housing conditions, a more beautiful environment, and hope that their children can grow up better, work better and live better. People’s longing for a better life is our goal.”⁸² The content of a happy life covers all aspects of people’s work and life, such as education, income, environment, social security, medical and health care, children’s growth, etc. From the opportunity for each person to develop himself and contribute to society, to the opportunity to stand out, to the people’s living, work, safety, shelter, emergency, difficulties, worries and expectations; from issues closely related to people’s livelihood such as access to childhood education, education, employment, medical care, elderly care, housing, and support for the weak, to the equal participation, equal development of the people and social equity and justice, a complete rights framework of the people’s right to a happy life has been built. In addition to making the content of rights concrete and operable, the means and ways of realizing the right of the Chinese people to a happy life include innovating institutional arrangements, comprehensively deepening the reform process, innovation-driven development, improving the quality and efficiency of economic development, implementing new development concepts, and focusing on solving the problem of insufficient and unbalanced development. General Secretary Xi Jinping said that “In order to adapt to the changes in the principal contradiction facing Chinese society and better meet the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life, we must focus our efforts on promoting common prosperity for all.”⁸³ In combination with the people’s right to a happy life, it can be said that common prosperity is an important focus to realize the people’s right to a happy life, and the process of promoting common prosperity is also the process of realizing the people’s right to a happy life.

China’s Constitution and relevant laws stipulate citizens’ rights to equality, personal freedom and freedom of religious belief, political rights and freedoms such as the right to vote and the right to stand for election, social and economic rights such as property rights and labor rights, and cultural and educational rights such as the right to education, the right to engage in scientific research and the freedom to create literature and art. The rights of specific subjects such as women, children and the people with disabilities are stipulated as well. The relationship between the people’s right to a happy life and constitutional and legal rights is the relationship between overall, principled rights and specific rights. The right of the people to a happy life reflects the basic principles, goals, purposes, and directions of China’s human rights system. The specific rights stipulated in the Constitution and laws are the concretization of the people’s right to a happy life, making the realization of the people’s right to a happy life operable. The exercise of constitutional and legal rights is guided by the basic principles reflected in the people’s right to a happy life. In contrast, the realization of the people’s right to a happy life is based on the operation of specific rights. The pursuit of a better life by the people is multi-level and diverse. The realization of the people’s right to a happy life requires coordinating and enhancing the economic, political, social, cultural, and environmental rights of all people, enhancing the efficiency of the exercise of each specific right, and enabling everyone to obtain a sense of happiness in the exercise of each right.

General Secretary Xi Jinping’s statement on the coordinated development of rights embodies the comprehensive theory and the key point theory of Marxism. In the protection of human rights, comprehensive consideration should be given to the coordinated promotion of political, economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights. In terms of the scope of rights protection, it includes not only citizens’ democratic rights, such as the right to vote and be elected, the right to know, the right to participate, the right to expression, and the right to supervision, but also social and economic rights such as property rights, employment rights, social security rights, and housing rights. It includes both the right to education and cultural rights, as well as the rights to life, health, and the environment, reflecting the universality of the protection of human rights in China. While insisting on the comprehensive theory, we should also grasp the main contradictions and aspects of contradictions in protecting rights. In terms of the subject of rights, we should focus on farmers and workers, especially front-line workers, migrant workers and workers in need. Particular attention should be paid to specific groups such as the elderly, women, children and the people with disabilities, especially rural left-behind women, the elderly and children, urban subsistence allowance workers, seniors over 65, college graduates working in megacities, and urban registered unemployed people. In terms of the content of rights, attention should be paid to livelihood matters closely related to people’s lives, including labor and employment, income distribution, safety and health, living environment, living conditions, medical services, educational equity, and social security. Particular attention should be paid to the prevention and control of water, air and soil pollution, particulate matter pollution, heavy metal pollution and chemical pollution, which are closely related to people’s lives and health, and other prominent environmental problems that harm people’s health. This also demonstrates General Secretary Xi Jinping’s deep feelings for the people.

General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important statement that the rights to subsistence and development and the people’s happy life are the greatest human rights and his statement on common prosperity enrich the connotation of human rights and common prosperity, and also make it clear that substantial progress should be made in promoting human rights development and common prosperity in the process of jointly advancing economic, political, cultural, social and ecological progress. He pointed out the way and direction for the development of the cause of protection of human rights and the substantial progress of common prosperity in the new journey. In terms of economic development, we should implement the new development concept, build a modernized economy, accelerate the development of an innovative country, implement the strategy of rural revitalization and the strategy of coordinated development among regions, accelerate the improvement of the socialist market economy, and promote the formation of a new pattern of all-round opening up. In political development, we must uphold the organic unity of Party leadership, the role of the people as masters of the country, and law-based governance, strengthen institutional guarantees for the role of the people as masters of the country, give play to the important role of socialist consultative democracy, deepen the practice of law-based governance, deepen institutional and administrative reform, and consolidate and develop the patriotic united front. In cultural development, we must firmly grasp the leadership of ideological work, cultivate and practice core socialist values, strengthen ideological and moral development, flourish socialist literature and art, and promote the development of cultural undertakings and cultural industries. In terms of social development, we should give priority to education, improve the quality of employment and people’s income, strengthen the social security system, implement the Healthy China Initiative, build a social governance pattern featuring joint contribution, joint governance and shared benefits, and effectively safeguard national security. In terms of environmental development, we should promote green development, focus on solving prominent environmental problems, increase efforts in ecosystem protection, and reform the ecological environment supervision system.⁸⁴

IV. Conclusion

Common prosperity implies the people’s right to pursue a happy life, and the right structure contained in it is consistent with the people’s right to a happy life proposed according to the important statement of General Secretary Xi Jinping in terms of the subject of the right, the content of the right, the value pursuit and the way to realize the right. The process of promoting common prosperity is also the process of realizing the people’s right to a happy life. Since the reform and opening up, especially since the 18th CPC National Congress, China has implemented the basic national policy of reform and opening up, which has stimulated the people’s initiative, enthusiasm and creativity in production, enabling China to achieve a historic leap from standing up, getting rich to becoming strong, greatly improved the people’s living standards, and successfully embarked on a path of human rights development of socialism with Chinese characteristics. In the new journey to achieve the second centenary goal, China should follow the guiding principles of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important statement on respecting and protecting human rights and take the path of socialist human rights development with Chinese characteristics. We should adhere to the leadership of the CPC and the socialism with Chinese characteristics system, proceed from China’s national conditions, adhere to the people-centered development thought, stick to the right to subsistence and development as the primary basic human rights, put the safety of people’s lives and health first, and take meeting the people’s needs for a happy life as the purpose. We should coordinate the promotion of the economic, political, social, cultural and environmental rights of all the people, so as to promote common prosperity, achieve substantial progress in high-quality economic development, and better meet the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life.

(Translated by CHEN Feng)

* WANG Dezhi ( 王德志 ), Researcher and Doctoral Supervisor of the Xi Jinping Legal Thought Research Center of Shandong University.

** WANG Bixing ( 王必行 ), Doctoral Candidate in the Law School of Shandong University.

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