Zhejiang, one of China’s richest provinces, has vowed to achieve “common prosperity” by 2035 – a marquee policy goal of President Xi Jinping that sparked extensive debate upon its unveiling, but has been a less frequent subject of official rhetoric since.
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The manufacturing powerhouse and innovation hub in eastern China has laid out a four-phase road map to prosperity for all its people in a decade’s time, according to a press conference held on Monday by the provincial government.
Referring to a baseline level of cultural and material affluence enjoyed by all of society, the “common prosperity” slogan was a cause for concern among the country’s upper crust as top officials began to use it in 2021, but those worries have quieted down as the phrase has become less prominent.
Zhejiang – an exception to China’s wide urban-rural divide with its relatively well-off countryside – will achieve the benchmark primarily by upgrading its villages and expanding urbanisation, officials said at the conference.
Success would be measured by gradual changes in the regional wealth gap, they said – there should be “tangible progress” by 2025, followed by further results by 2027 and 2030 before “decisive victory” in 2035.
The plan is in line with Xi’s declaration of the country’s new mission – fighting “uneven and inadequate development” – after announcing the elimination of absolute poverty in 2020. By 2035, according to a set of national objectives, China is expected to “basically achieve socialist modernisation”.
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