CPC to convene 5th plenary session tomorrow
(chinadaily.com.cn/Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-10-06 11:35

China now has 120 million rural surplus labor seeking a life in the cities. There are another 30 million of unemployed population, including laid-off workers. These people represent an important stake of social disharmony, Ding warned.

"If they cannot savor the sweetness of economic prosperity, their growing discontent may touch off an appalling social disaster," Xinhua quoted Ding as saying.

Zhang the vegetable vendor might not understand the meaning of social harmony. Yet, a laid-off steel worker who is now working as a traffic assistant on Beijing's Chang'an Boulevard told Xinhua: "Equity and justice must be the core. Without that, no people can hope for harmony. "

His remarks are in keeping with what Hu Jintao has warned: Without equity and justice, people won't be happy.

Balancing Different Interest Groups

Conflicts of various economic interests are primary among the people's internal contradictions, said Jing Tiankui, director for the Sociology Institute of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "Building a harmonious society is a long-term and systematic project. Balancing different interests cannot be delayed any longer."
Beijing is working hard to guarantee that the people's rights and interests are honored. In a bid to improve employment, it has decided to put in 10.9 billion yuan on reemployment projects and 3 billion yuan to improve industrial safety.

And, it has pledged to exempt 730 million farmers from agricultural taxation, and provide subsidies to rural families which cannot afford their children's education.

"The rural population plays an important role in fostering a harmonious society," Dr. Ding siad. "Only when the poor farmers live a better life, can the whole society expect to live in harmony and stability."