A moderately prosperous society in all respects: the ecological environment is key
Spending a few thousand or even tens of thousands of yuan to rent a few fen or a few mu of land and grow a few scallions and vegetables…… nowadays, in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, more and more people are renting land to grow their own vegetables, heading out of the city with their whole families every weekend to work the soil, and a trend of returning to rural life is quietly rising. “The suburbs have good air. Going out to grow vegetables with the whole family on weekends is good exercise, and you get to enjoy the beautiful surroundings.” “Vegetables grown in your own plot, without chemical fertilizers or pesticides, give you peace of mind.” Green mountains and clear waters, natural and organic - this is everyone's most genuine and concrete expectation of ecology.
The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China made “Beautiful China” the grand goal of ecological civilization construction for the first time, and placed ecological civilization construction at the strategic position of the “five-sphere integrated plan” for socialism with Chinese characteristics, making ecology an important component of China's future development. “A sound ecological environment is the most equitable public good and the most inclusive form of public wellbeing.” Beautiful China and ecological civilization - this is the grand blueprint the central leadership has drawn for the ecological environment.
From ordinary citizens going to the suburbs to grow vegetables to the formulation of the country's major policies on ecological civilization, the two seem completely unrelated, yet within the larger framework of building a moderately prosperous society, an inherent and inevitable connection has been found. Over the more than 30 years of reform and opening up, China's economic and social development has achieved remarkable results and the people's living standards have risen markedly, but ecological problems have also kept emerging, with harmful incidents such as air pollution, water pollution and food contamination occurring frequently. People increasingly expect that the national level can provide effective institutional guarantees for the public good of a sound ecology.
In the past, when people talked about the moderately prosperous society that was soon to be achieved, what came to mind was mostly having a little more money in one's pocket, eating and dressing a little better, and living a little more comfortably. Now, for many people this goal has already been achieved on schedule. Looking to the future, when people talk about moderate prosperity again, they care more about the environment, hoping the sky will become bluer, the mountains greener and the water clearer. The ecological environment is not only a necessary condition for a moderately prosperous society; its weight in people's hearts is also growing ever greater, which in turn brings corresponding changes in the standards by which they evaluate public policy.
The expectations of the people are the fundamental consideration in the Party Central Committee's planning of future development. Since 2012, when the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China first put forward the concept of “Beautiful China”, General Secretary Xi Jinping has spoken, written and issued instructions on ecological civilization on more than 60 occasions of various kinds, and “Xi-style ecological vocabulary” such as “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets”, “APEC blue” and “nostalgia” has become widely known. General Secretary Xi Jinping's series of important statements on ecological issues accord with the trend of the times and respond to the concerns of the people. “Moderate prosperity must be in all respects, and ecology is the key” is becoming a universal consensus across society. The people expect the gale of policy, like the wind that blows away smog, to bring the beautiful ecology of green mountains and clear waters to the land of China.
The vision is beautiful, but the road is long and full of obstacles. Ecological development concerns everyone's interests, and at the same time requires everyone's efforts. If developing the economy requires bold, swift “action”, then improving the ecology requires a thorough change of mindset and a cautious, reverent “refraining from action”. We need to strike a comprehensive balance among indicators that reflect the state of ecological civilization construction, such as resource consumption, environmental damage and ecological benefits, and incorporate these indicators into the evaluation system for economic and social development, making them an important constraint that advances ecological civilization construction. We need to strengthen the binding force of institutions by improving the accountability system for ecological and environmental protection and the compensation system for environmental damage.
The blueprint for building “Beautiful China” has already been drawn, and the goal of achieving green mountains and clear waters is already before us. Everyone is both one who holds expectations and one who takes part; achieving green mountains and clear waters requires the government to step up, and it also requires each of us to save energy and travel green in the little details of daily life, making our own due contribution to green mountains and clear waters and helping the Chinese nation's dream of green and its dream of rural life come true as soon as possible.