The congress, held once every five years, scheduled to convene on Friday, is expected to endorse and enshrine the essential concepts for "construction of an overall Xiaokang society," said Li Zhongjie, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

Since it was first put forward, in its modern sense, by Deng Xiaoping in 1979, the concept of Xiaokang has found its way into a string of key Party meetings in recent years.

But details of how to build a Xiaokang society have not yet been spread at large among the populace, according to some analysts.

"Judging by the ways in which Xiaokang has been taken up and increasingly stressed in China, it is only to be expected that the upcoming Party Congress will likely detail guidelines and procedures for building an overall Xiaokang society in China," Li said.

During the previous Party Congress -- the 15th, held five years ago -- Jiang Zemin, general secretary of the CPC, said the first decade of the 21st century would see China's gross national product (GNP) double that of 2000, enabling the people to enjoy an even higher level of Xiaokang.

In 2000, the Fifth Plenary Session of the 15th Central Committee of the CPC issued a communique saying that in the 21st century, China will usher in a new stage of development in building an all-round Xiaokang society and speeding up modernization.

On May 31, Jiang reiterated that China has entered a new era in the building of an overall, well-to-do society, in which China should accelerate the pace of socialist modernization.

"The first Party Congress in the new century is expected to expound on ways and means of building a Xiaokang society in sectors such as politics, economy, culture, science and technology," Li said.

Linking past to future

The term Xiaokang, which means "a society that is well-to-do" or "fairly well-off," is first mentioned in China's first collection of poems -- the Shijing, or Book of Poetry -- a collection of poems current between the 10th and 6th centuries BC.

Ancient Chinese thinkers used the term Xiaokang to refer to a comfortable, orderly society with harmonious families, which honors ceremony and propriety, according to Lu Shuzheng, a Beijing-based expert in the study of the concept of Xiaokang.

However, ordinary Chinese tend to see Xiaokang as meaning "owning enough property to be self-sufficient," or "economically comfortable and free from hunger and cold," or simply "comfortably-off," according to Lu, author of the book "Building an Overall Xiaokang Society in the New Century."

"China's architect of reform Deng Xiaoping first used Xiaokang in 1979 to describe the realization of a Chinese-style modernization, with the country's per capita GNP average reaching US$800 to US$1,000," Lu said.

In fact, attaining Xiaokang constituted the second phase of the famous "three-step development strategy" Deng crafted in 1987.

Deng said, China must first double the 1980 per capita GNP average to US$500 by 1990 to solve food and clothing shortages; and, second, quadruple the 1980 figure by the end of the 20th century to attain an average per capita GNP of US$800. By then, Deng said, "We can say that we have reached the level of Xiaokang."

The third step is to basically complete the nation's modernization, raise the per capita GNP to that of intermediate-level developed countries and improve people's standard of living.

Deng's economic Xiaokang strategy, designed to raise most Chinese to a level of material wealth regarded as "comparatively well off" by international standards, was reaffirmed and expanded at the 13th, 14th and 15th Party congresses.

In Deng's eyes, Xiaokang is a key element in China's modernization drive.

Based on Deng's strategy, China has roughly charted a course and destination for the first half of this century.

Apart from doubling the GNP for 2000 by 2010, Jiang said at the 15th Party Congress in 1997 that "with the efforts to be made in another decade when the Party celebrates its centenary (in 2021), the national economy will be more developed and the various systems will be further improved."

By the middle of the 21st century when the People's Republic celebrates its centenary (in 2049), the modernization program will have been accomplished by and large and China will have become a prosperous, strong, democratic and culturally advanced socialist country, Jiang said.

Pursuing well off society

Crossing the Xiaokang threshold does not mean that China has become a Xiaokang society, said Li Zhongjie of the Party School.

To build a Xiaokang society in an all-round way in China is an encouraging and arduous task calling for solid and strenuous efforts, he said.

At the core of the project is the need to develop the economy, which will provide the material base for a Xiaokang society.

As always, China should greatly promote progress and innovation in science and technology, which will power its national economy.

In addition, the country should conscientiously implement a sustainable development strategy and properly handle the relationships among population, resources, environment and economic growth, Li said.

Since the reform and opening-up drive has contributed greatly to China's current economic health, the country has now crossed the threshold to become a preliminary Xiaokang society, and China now should continue and deepen the drive to speed up the building of an overall Xiaokang society, the professor said.

"More importantly, finding ways to substantially add to the wealth of Chinese farmers will determine the Xiaokang level of China in the years to come," Li said. "Accelerating rural urbanization has proven to be a solution."

(China Daily November 6, 2002)