As Xi Jinping attends an international climate change conference in Paris this week, the world has become familiar with the "Chinese Dream" development concept that he first proposed three years ago.
Since President Xi first used the concept on Nov. 29, 2012 in Beijing, it has changed the lives of 1.3 billion people and resonated with the world's common aspiration of development. "Nowadays, everyone is talking about the Chinese Dream," he said at the time.
"In my view, realizing a great renewal of the Chinese nation is the country's greatest dream." Sixty-six years ago, when the People's Republic of China was founded, the nation had endured social turbulence, foreign aggression and wars dating back to 1840.
Despite all this suffering impeding the country's development, Chinese people have never stopped pursuing their dream of a better future. Through decades of hard work, China, now the world's second-largest economy, is aiming to reach its "two centenary goals" -- doubling the 2010 GDP and per-capita income of urban and rural residents and completing the building of a moderately prosperous society by 2020; and building a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious by the middle of this century.
A DREAM OF THE PEOPLE
During the past three years, Xi has mentioned "Chinese Dream" countless times in his public speeches as well as interviews. And the term can be heard and seen in every corner of this country, as it has chimed with ordinary Chinese so full of aspirations.
"The Chinese Dream is after all a dream of the people. We can fulfill the Chinese Dream only when we link it with our people's yearning for a better life," Xi said in a speech on Sept. 22 during his visit to the United States. In the past three years, China has kept its people's average income increasing faster than economic growth.
Reforms in areas concerning people's interests and social justice, such as college entrance exams, household registration, social security and price formation, have had great effect.
Since late 2012, thousands of corrupt officials, including high-ranking "tigers" and lowly "flies," have been nabbed, showcasing China's commitment to combat corruption and build a clean government, which serves the long-term interests of the country's development and all Chinese people.
Although progress has been made, much is still left to be done to realize the Chinese Dream. As of the end of 2014, 70.2 million people in rural China were living below the poverty line.
Xi pledged measures to help these remaining millions shake off poverty and enjoy essential social services by 2020 at a conference on the topic in Beijing last week.
Identifying poverty alleviation as "an arduous task," the president told the conference that "no single poor region nor an individual living in poverty will be left behind" when the country accomplishes the goal of "building a moderately prosperous society" by 2020.
A DREAM CONNECTING THE WORLD
The Chinese Dream concept, besides concerning "making life better for the Chinese people," as Xi once put it, also enshrines peace, development, cooperation and mutually-beneficial results.
What does the Chinese Dream mean to the world? This has been a hot topic discussed as Chinese leaders traveled abroad in the past three years, holding the Chinese Dream as the name card of today's China.
The country is sharing its dream and achievements with the world, with the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative, the New Development Bank for BRICS countries and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in recent years.
"Welcome aboard China's train of development!" Xi told Mongolian lawmakers in Ulan Bator in 2014. Xi has subsequently repeated the metaphor on many occasions to show China's willingness for common development.
"We are ready to share our development experience and opportunities with other countries and welcome them to board China's express train of development so that all of us will achieve common development," Xi told the general debate of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly in late September.
The upcoming 15th Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Johannesburg, South Africa in early December, will once again demonstrate China's willingness to link the Chinese Dream to dreams cherished by the whole world.
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