Structuring the dreams of Chinese

Xi's Vision: Creating a robust, confident nation free from miseries of all kinds

The Chinese Dream is President Xi Jinping's integrative and transformative vision for China, an overarching unifying principle for the Chinese people. To commemorate the first anniversary of Xi proclaiming the Chinese Dream as "the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation", a forum called "International Dialogue on the Chinese Dream" was held in Shanghai.

The forum brought together scholars and officials from China and abroad to discuss the Chinese Dream: what it is, what it should be and what it should not be. All recognized its importance.

I was pleased to participate, exchanging collegial views on how the Chinese Dream reflects China's policies and highlights its challenges. I offered a theoretical framework for the Chinese Dream by organizing its elements or applications into high-level categories. I call the output a "taxonomy", using as an analogy the hierarchical structure of the biological world.

In this taxonomy, I have five categories that compose the Chinese Dream: national, personal, historical, global and antithetical. For each, I suggest subcategories.

National: The "National Chinese Dream" is the collective vision to achieve the "Two 100s": first, the material goal of China becoming a "moderately well-off society" by about 2020, around the CPC's 100th anniversary (2021); second, the modernization goal of China becoming a fully developed nation by about 2050, around New China's 100th anniversary (2049).

"A moderately well-off society" is where all citizens, rural and urban, enjoy decent standards of living. This includes doubling the 2010 per capita GDP (approaching $10,000) by about 2020 and completing urbanization (more than 1 billion people, roughly 75 percent of China's population) over the next decade.

"Modernization" means China re-establishing its position as a world leader in science and technology as well as in economics and business; the resurgence of Chinese civilization, culture and defensive strength; China participating in all areas of human endeavor.