Commentary
BEIJING – What are the purposes of development? Where does economic growth come from? Who benefits from a country’s prosperity? China’s practice provides a new development paradigm: humanomics in the new era.
According to “The Humanomics in the New Era,” a research report released on Sunday by New China Research, a think tank under Xinhua News Agency, realizing people’s aspirations for a good life is what economic development aims to achieve, and the ultimate goal is to enable people’s free and all-around development.
The research report not only serves as an academic reference to understand Chinese modernization but also provides enlightening ways to achieve resilient, sustainable and people-centered growth at a time when humanity is increasingly troubled by grave challenges, such as the widening gap between the rich and the poor, climate change, sluggish economic recovery, and the rise of anti-globalization sentiment.
The United Nations Development Programme’s “Human Development Report 2021/2022” showed that the global Human Development Index value saw a drop for two years in a row for the first time in 30 years. The report warned that human development faces multiple crises and regresses in most countries.
Humanomics in the new era, based on the analysis of Chinese modernization practice, transcends the limited vision of Western mainstream thoughts and breaks the “humanistic paradox” of economic growth. Highlighting the profound humanistic value, the paradigm upholds that humanities can positively drive economic growth, expand the potential, and provide a more sustainable impetus for economic development.
Historical and dialectic perspectives are necessary in exploring paths to economic growth and social development for all countries. Specifically, besides keeping pace with the times, we must properly understand and manage the relationship between material and cultural-ethical advancement, traditional culture and modernization, efficiency and equity, as well as cultural self-reliance and mutual learning. This methodology inspires all to learn how to better integrate the economy with humanities and build economic resilience with effective responses to growth fluctuations.
This approach recognizes that economic growth and development are not just about maximizing profits and increasing efficiency but also about improving people’s lives and promoting cultural prosperity.
China has successfully transformed itself from an impoverished agricultural country into the world’s second-largest economy. In recent years, the Chinese economy has remained a stabilizer of the world economy and demonstrated strong resilience against the sluggish global economy. China has won the largest and most vigorous battle in human history against poverty, lifting 770 million rural people out of poverty since the start of reform and opening up in the late 1970s, and is on its new journey of building a modern socialist country.
The ideas in humanomics in the new era have been reflected in the major features of Chinese modernization. It is also in line with the building of an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world of lasting peace, universal security and shared prosperity in pursuit of a community with a shared future for humanity.
Nourished by fine traditional Chinese culture and based on China’s realities, humanomics in the new era represents a unique and innovative approach to growth and development. It also demonstrates that each country can explore its own path to modernization based on its unique culture and national spirit. – Xinhua
