In the new era, China's beauty lies in its landscapes, in daily life, and in the hearts of its people.

In 2024, PM2.5 levels in major Chinese cities dropped by 60% from 2013 levels. During the first half of this year, China's national per capita disposable income rose 5.4% year-on-year (YoY) in real terms, outpacing GDP growth. Families now receive an annual childcare subsidy of RMB 3,600 per child until the child reaches 3 years old... These heartwarming statistics and pro-people policies exemplify how Chinese modernization prioritizes people's well-being.

Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed, "We must comprehensively boost domestic demand, stay committed to deepening reform and opening-up, integrate sci-tech innovation with industrial innovation, mitigate risks in key sectors, and take various measures to improve people's livelihoods."

The July 30 meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee emphasized, "China will effectively upgrade and appropriately expand China’s economic output and make solid progress in promoting the people’s well-rounded development and prosperity for all."

Chinese modernization is the modernization of common prosperity for all. "The gains of modernization will benefit all people fairly." This reflects our Party's solemn commitment to the people.

The Beauty of Life—

Ensuring and Improving People’s Livelihoods Through Development

The Political Bureau meeting stressed, "Work should be done to ensure people's livelihoods, implement pro-people policies, and improve the tiered and classified social assistance system."

A person surnamed Zhong from Sixian County, Suzhou, Anhui Province, was born with hemophilia requiring lifelong treatment. Local civil affairs authorities secured subsistence allowances for him, while the medical insurance department provided major disease insurance and medical assistance, which covers approximately 95% of his medical expenses.

Local civil affairs authorities continue to assist vulnerable families like Zhong's, and collaborate with health and medical insurance departments to ensure basic living standards for those in need.

It is essential to prioritize top-level design and focus on improving people's livelihoods.

The Guidelines on Further Safeguarding and Improving Public Well-being and Resolutely Addressing the Most Pressing Concerns of the People, issued by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, outline 10 key measures, including expanding social security coverage and enhancing support for low-income groups, to promote a more equitable, balanced, inclusive, and accessible development of public services.

From family matters to national affairs and global issues, ensuring people's well-being remains the top priority. Currently, policies and measures for people's livelihoods are rapidly benefiting all citizens.

Starting January 1, 2025, families with children under 3 years old born in compliance with laws will receive an annual subsidy of RMB 3,600 per child until the child reaches 3 years old. This year, China will increase nursery capacity for children under 3 years per 1,000 people to 4.5 and add 660,000 affordable childcare places nationwide. Subsidies and expanded childcare services will enable more families to access affordable care.

This year, the basic aged-care pension benefits for rural and non-working urban residents will see a monthly minimum increase of RMB 20, funded by state finances. Approximately 190 million people are now covered by the long-term care insurance system. By the end of 2024, over 6,000 secondary-level or higher public general hospitals in China had established geriatric medicine departments... With rising pensions and an improved elderly care system, seniors are enjoying better golden years.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China established 114 new regional medical centers and expanded county-level medical communities and urban medical treatment alliances to improve the equitable distribution of quality healthcare resources. In addition, China maintained a 95% coverage rate for basic medical insurance. Efforts were also made to further address the challenges of inaccessible and costly healthcare, advance medical reform, and improve public access to medical services.

China has been intensifying efforts to renovate old urban residential communities. In 2024, renovation work began on 58,000 old urban residential communities, while 1.8 million units of allocation-type affordable housing, government-subsidized rental housing, and public rental housing were constructed. Housing is a fundamental need that directly impacts quality of life. This year, the central government will advance the renovation of residential communities and the construction of affordable housing to ensure more people have access to stable housing.

The central government has allocated RMB 156.68 billion in aid subsidies this year to bolster local efforts in providing minimum living allowances, extreme poverty relief, temporary assistance, and related services. As of end-May, the average urban and rural subsistence allowance stood at RMB 799.7 and RMB 594.9 per person per month, to safeguard basic living standards for disadvantaged groups and uphold the fundamental safety net for people's livelihoods.

People's livelihoods are no small matter; every detail carries profound significance. Advancing people's well-being is a complex task that requires identifying key priorities and breakthroughs by addressing the public's most pressing concerns. The government remains committed to doing its utmost within capacity, and continuously rolls out policies that benefit, warm, and align with people's aspirations to ensure all people enjoy a greater sense of attainment, happiness, and security.

The Beauty of Shared Prosperity—

Consolidating Poverty Alleviation Achievements and Advancing Common Prosperity for All

The Political Bureau meeting emphasized consolidating and building on the achievements in poverty elimination to see that people do not return to impoverishment in large numbers.

One bamboo shoot farmer's success story exemplifies China's progress in consolidating poverty alleviation achievements and advancing rural revitalization.

This September, the bamboo shoots harvesting season will begin across 54,000 hectares (810,000 mu) of bamboo forests in Yanjin County, Zhaotong, Yunnan Province. "I'm happy to earn RMB 400,000 annually," said Li Xingzhen, a bamboo shoot farmer from Xinsheng Village, Shizi Town, as she tends to her 13.3 hectares (200 mu) of bamboo groves. Once struggling with poverty, her family has now turned this "green bank" into a thriving source of wealth.

The village's poverty alleviation initiatives have created jobs for rural women like Li, further boosting local incomes. At Yanjin County's Shuitian relocation and resettlement area, Kunpeng Human Resources Co., Ltd.'s plastic flower factory hums with activity. This factory employs hundreds of residents from surrounding communities.

China has firmly guarded against large-scale relapse into poverty. By the end of June, over 6.8 million at-risk households had been stabilized nationwide through targeted assistance programs, effectively eliminating their risk of returning to poverty.

The victory over absolute poverty was not an endpoint, but a starting point for common prosperity. The greatest challenge lies in transforming poverty alleviation achievements into sustainable development momentum.

The model of poverty alleviation has changed from mainly relying on external support like a blood transfusion to a more sustained effort from self-motivation. Currently, all 832 formerly impoverished counties have developed two to three characteristic pillar industries with a combined output exceeding RMB 1.7 trillion. About 75% of lifted-out populations now benefit from partnerships with new agricultural entities. Targeted industrial upgrades have created 32.833 million jobs for formerly impoverished workers nationwide. Poverty alleviation industries are evolving into prosperity-building sectors.

"We will enhance the quality and effectiveness of monitoring and assistance programs, strengthen industrial and employment support, and guide formerly impoverished regions to extend, supplement, and reinforce their dominant industrial chains. We will also improve mechanisms linking agriculture with farmers' interests to boost entire industrial chains' quality and efficiency, ensuring every production stage increases rural incomes," said Maierdan Mugaiti, vice minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China.

Common prosperity is reflected not only in poverty eradication but also in coordinated regional development. In recent years, China has enhanced east-west collaboration to address development gaps, expand markets, and boost growth, thereby strengthening the western region's development capacities. From the cross-regional partnership spanning thousands of miles to the "industrial enclaves" achieving mutual success, China continues to write a story of complementary strengths and harmonious development.

"We must enhance the effectiveness of collaborative assistance by leveraging the 'four forces'—east-west collaboration, targeted pairing support, village-based assistance, and social mobilization," stated Maierdan Mugaiti. "This includes sustained implementation of the 'four initiatives': upgrading specialty industries, building industrial clusters, boosting consumption-based assistance, and improving labor cooperation quality."

Common prosperity is further demonstrated by the narrowing urban-rural income divide.

Ultimately, increasing farmers' income remains the fundamental priority. This year's No. 1 central document outlines systematic plans for the work on agriculture, rural areas, and farmers in 2025, emphasizing all possible measures to boost agricultural efficiency, rural vitality, and farmers' earnings. In the first half of this year, rural residents' per capita disposable income reached RMB 11,936, marking a real growth of 6.2% after price adjustments, significantly outpacing urban income growth.

Facilitating the free flow of resources between urban and rural areas is crucial for narrowing development gaps and achieving integrated urban-rural growth. Urban household registration restrictions will be further eased to help migrant workers settle in cities. By 2025, 50% of counties aim to establish "education networks" to advance equitable compulsory education. These targeted policies are systematically addressing imbalanced and insufficient urban-rural development.

From the decisive victory in poverty alleviation to the steady progress toward common prosperity, the "beauty" of China's economy lies not in one-dimensional linear growth, but in its balanced pursuit of both efficiency and equity—ultimately reflected in the joyful smiles of hundreds of millions.

The Beauty of Nature—

Beautiful Environment, Green Mountains, and Blue Skies

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the "Two Mountains" theory, which states that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets." This theory has transformed China, influenced the world, and reshaped our daily lives.

On the morning of June 30, under the scorching sun of Tengger Desert in Zhongwei, Ningxia, over 100 workers completed the final brush-shaped grid for straw squares. This marks the full establishment of a 153-kilometer-long, 10 to 38-kilometer-wide sand-fixing belt along the desert's southeastern edge, achieving comprehensive desertification control across the Tengger Desert frontier.

"This represents the cumulative achievements of generations battling desertification," remarked Tang Ximing, chief engineer at the Zhongwei state-owned forestry farm. The completed sand-fixing belt will fortify the ecological barrier for the upper Yellow River, effectively curbing desert expansion and reducing dust sources.

The environment has a significant impact on the quality of life. Green mountains display beauty, and blue skies bring happiness. In recent years, China has strived to build an ecologically beautiful nation where mountains and waters remain visible and nostalgic memories endure, preserving natural landscapes for generations.

—Efforts have been taken to enhance the management of forests, grasslands, and deserts to make mountains greener and grasslands lusher.

Forest coverage continues to expand. In 2024, China afforested 4.446 million hectares, treated 64,000 square kilometers of soil erosion, improved 3.224 million hectares of grasslands through reseeding, and restored 2.783 million hectares of desertified and rocky desertified land. China's forest coverage rate now exceeds 25%, with forest stock volume surpassing 20 billion cubic meters, while its planted forest area remains the largest in the world.

Grassland restoration and expansion have achieved remarkable progress. Since the launch of the 14th Five-Year Plan, the central government has invested a total of RMB 110 billion in grassland protection and restoration, with annual restoration averaging over 3.07 million hectares (46 million mu) and annual pest control covering more than 6.67 million hectares (100 million mu). The total fresh grass yield from grasslands has exceeded 550 million tons.

"We uphold integrated protection and systematic governance of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts, and enhance coordination to achieve new progress in large-scale land greening initiatives," said Liu Lili, deputy director of the Ecological Protection and Restoration Department at the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

– Efforts have been made to strengthen water resource protection for cleaner waters and more fish.

Rivers and lakes are becoming cleaner. In the first half of the year, 90.4% of monitored sections in seven major river basins, including the Yangtze, Yellow, Pearl, Songhua, Huaihe, Haihe, and Liaohe rivers, as well as rivers in the northwest, southwest, and Zhejiang-Fujian regions, achieved "good quality" (Grades I–III), up 0.1 percentage points YoY. Among 209 key lakes and reservoirs, 78.0% met the same high standards.

Aquatic ecosystems are recovering. Since the launch of the 14th Five-Year Plan, China has conducted water ecosystem monitoring across seven major river basins nationwide, with pilot assessments focusing on the Yangtze River Basin. A health-centered indicator system has been established to guide local conservation and restoration efforts. For instance, the Chinese tapertail anchovy has returned to the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and the Dongting Lake area after a 30-year absence.

"We adhere to a 'one river, one policy' approach to improve river and lake ecosystems, enhance water conservation and soil retention, build green ecological corridors along waterways, and strengthen ecological protection of river estuaries and deltas to reinforce watershed ecosystem functions," said Wu Wenqing, chief planner of the Ministry of Water Resources.

– Efforts have been made to strengthen air pollution control for bluer skies and whiter clouds.

Air quality shows sustained improvement. In the first half of the year, 83.8% of days in 339 prefecture-level or higher cities had good air quality, up 1.0 percentage points YoY. The national average PM2.5 concentration stood at 32.1 micrograms per cubic meter, down 2.4% YoY. Key regions, including the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the Yangtze River Delta, saw continued improvement in air quality, with more blue-sky days becoming visible.

Steady progress has been achieved in energy conservation and carbon reduction. In 2024, China's energy intensity dropped by 3.8% YoY, with coal consumption falling to 53.2%, a reduction of over 15 percentage points since 2012. China's annual forestry and grassland carbon sink exceeds 1.2 billion tons of CO2 equivalent, ranking first globally and serving as a cornerstone for achieving carbon neutrality. These efforts represent significant contributions to global carbon reduction and green transition.

*** ***

Bringing benefit to the people is the fundamental principle of governance. "The people's sense of fulfillment is tangible." By upholding a people-centered philosophy, we must insist that development is for the people with the benefits shared by the people, so our progress gains steadfast purpose, clear direction, as well as human warmth and enduring strength.

"Reforms and development, in essence, aim to deliver a better life for all."

(By reporters Xu Jing, Shao Yuzi, and Sun Haitian)