The Internal Logic, Main Connotations, and Contemporary Value of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s Important Proposition that “the Greatest Human Right of All Is the Right to a Happy Life”

LIU Kui*

Abstract: General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important exposition that “the greatest human right of all is the right to a happy life” is guided by Marxist views on human rights, rooted in the CPC’s practical explorations in respecting and protecting human rights, and absorbs and draws on human rights concepts embedded in the fine traditional Chinese culture, thus possessing profound internal logic. This important exposition embodies a teleology of realizing the people’s happy life based on the rights to subsistence and development, an axiology of adhering to a people-centered approach to human rights, and a methodology of exploring a path of human rights development based on national conditions and the people’s needs. Against the backdrop of severe challenges facing global human rights governance, this important exposition provides guidance for strengthening confidence in China’s path of human rights development and advancing China’s human rights cause. Also, it carries great significance in breaking the western monopoly on human rights discourse and building a Chinese discourse system on human rights. It thus contributes Chinese experience and wisdom to global human rights governance.

Keywords: China’s path of human rights development · people’s happy life · put the people first · contemporary Chinese outlook on human rights