A deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC) has proposed that China's top legislature should write the building of a harmonious society into the Constitution to highlight the common aspiration of the state and all the Chinese people.

Song Chenguang, Party chief of Yichun city in east China's Jiangxi Province, said the amendment could be made in the seventh paragraph of the Preamble, which defines the goal of building democracy and promoting the coordinated development of social wealth, political culture and ethic civilization. "We need to underscore harmony here to further clarify the objective," he told Xinhua Tuesday.

A harmonious socialist society features democracy, the rule of law, equity, justice, sincerity, amity and vitality. It gives full scope to people's talents and creativity, enables all the people to share the social wealth brought by reform and development, and forges a still closer relationship between the people and their government.

The concept was launched first at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 16th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and further interpreted by Hu Jintao, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, at a routine high-level Party seminar held prior to the legislature to set the keynote of this year's social and economic development.

In his government work report to the current CPC session, Premier Wen Jiabao said his government will "strive to solve outstanding problems vital to the immediate interests of the people, safeguard social stability and build a harmonious socialist society" in 2005.

(Xinhua News Agency March 8, 2005)