Improve the Wellbeing of the People*

March 9, 2015-May 25, 2016

I

People's wellbeing is inseparable from their daily life. As a hammer drives a nail, we must work hard constantly to improve people's wellbeing. We must implement every policy we have approved, one by one and year on year, and do concrete work in responding to people's demands, letting them see the progress and enjoy the benefits.

(from the speech at the deliberation session of the Jilin delegation
to the Third Session of the 12th National People's Congress,
March 9, 2015)

II

Our success in securing and improving the wellbeing of the people can increase social consumption and expand domestic demand; improving standards of living is in essence promoting development. We should rely on the driving force of industry and necessary policy incentives to encourage entrepreneurship and increase employment, and strive to raise the income of urban and rural residents. We should focus on issues that most concern the people, including education, health care, social security and food safety, and we should improve them step by step in practical ways. We should improve standards of living and accelerate economic growth in tandem by increasing employment and promoting entrepreneurship, developing social undertakings, and achieving success in poverty alleviation. We should pay more attention to public security, keeping in mind that it secures people's wellbeing. We must make sure that there are no weak links, loopholes, or hidden dangers in public security work. We should deliver care to the children and old people who are left behind at home and need help after the other members of the families have gone to work in cities. We should improve our work and take measures to upgrade management and services, letting them live comfortably in the big family of socialism.

(from the speech during a fact-finding trip to Guizhou Province,
June 16-18, 2015)

III

The work of securing and improving the wellbeing of the people will never end. Instead, there are always new starting points. We must take targeted measures that are more inclusive and effective to help people solve problems and enjoy greater benefits and justice. We should proceed from reality, focus on relevant projects that are general, fundamental and directed to the public interest, be more effective in developing public services, strengthen the welfare network, and eliminate hidden problems, so as to ensure that people live and work in peace and contentment and that society is stable and orderly.

(from the speech during a fact-finding trip to Jiangxi Province,
February 1-3, 2016)

IV

In the context of growing pressure from the economic downturn and increasing social strains, it is particularly important to guarantee the basic living standards and welfare of the people. We should start with the problems that people regard as the most serious, visible, and urgent, and make our work on improving wellbeing more targeted, effective and sustainable. As supply-side structural reform continues, some workers will be laid off, so we must focus on employment, create more jobs, implement and improve assistance measures, and help people find jobs. We should open up more channels to recruit people in difficulty by encouraging enterprises to hire more, by creating jobs that are welfare in nature, and by implementing social policies that guarantee the basic living standard of the people, so that there will be no families with no member in work.

(from the speech during a fact-finding trip to Anhui Province,
April 24-27, 2016)

V

In the face of a complex domestic and international economic situation, we should focus on securing and improving people's wellbeing, and do everything to maintain the standard of living. More consideration should be given to this when allocating public funds. We must ensure that there is enough money for public welfare, and never reduce it. We should pay more attention to key issues, like employment, education, health care, housing, old-age pension, poverty reduction, and other major concerns of the people. Before introducing policies and measures, we should carry out in-depth investigation and make thorough analysis, listen to different opinions, and take into account the interests of all parties. Following implementation, we should track feedback and identify problems for the improvement of the policies. We must increase the transparency of our policies so that the public will be aware of, understand and help to implement them.

(from the speech during a fact-finding trip to Heilongjiang Province,
May 23-25, 2016)

* Excerpts from speeches made between March 9, 2015 and May 25, 2016.

(Not to be republished for any commercial or other purposes.)