From the Economist: China: Dreaming of Harmony
IT IS the end of a good harvest for crab apples in Dagucheng village, but the locals are not celebrating. Even after the central government's decision to scrap an ancient agricultural tax from this year, residents of the village, in a poor quarter of Hebei province 50 miles (80km) north of Beijing, say they will be no better off. A recent decision by the Communist Party to build a “socialist harmonious society”, in which peasants prosper and corruption fizzles, was met in the village with scepticism.
Rarely since the days of Mao Zedong has the party leadership formally declared such a utopian objective as it did on October 11th, by approving a document on building a harmonious China. For President Hu Jintao, whose speeches have been filled with calls for harmony since he took over as party chief four years ago, the document's adoption by the party's Central Committee was an important rite of passage. The next step, possibly next year at a five-yearly party congress, is likely to be the rewriting of the party's constitution to make harmony one of its goals. Mr Hu will then officially become one of the party's great “thinkers” alongside Mao, Deng Xiaoping and Mr Hu's predecessor, Jiang Zemin.
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But China is not about to change course dramatically. Mr Hu can afford to spend more on the countryside, health care and education thanks to strong growth in government revenues. But he and other party leaders remain focused on the party's paramount objective: maintaining social stability. Although corruption, rural poverty and damage to the environment threaten this, party leaders are still more concerned about the danger of unemployment.
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