Is China’s 'Common Prosperity' a goal of equality or a shift in control?
In short: China’s political slogan of 'common prosperity' is often mistaken for a simple push for equality. In reality, it is a complex ideological evolution that has shifted from collective ownership to market-driven growth, and now toward a state-led effort to curb private capital while maintaining a non-egalitarian economy.
The concept of common prosperity is rooted in both ancient Chinese philosophy—such as Confucian 'Great Unity'—and Marxist theory. It first appeared as an official slogan in 1953, where it was defined as collective ownership of the means of production. During this era, the goal was to distinguish socialism from capitalism, which was framed as a road where 'a few get rich' while the majority remain destitute.
Deng Xiaoping fundamentally altered the nation's approach by adopting a pragmatic doctrine where specific areas and individuals could 'get rich first.' This shift enabled the move toward a market-based system, clarifying that shared prosperity excludes 'equal wealth' or 'uniform egalitarianism.' Although this triggered swift expansion, it also resulted in China becoming a highly unequal state, as the Gini coefficient climbed from 0.45 in 1995 to over 0.7 by 2023.
Xi Jinping has recently repurposed the concept as a core component of 'Chinese-style modernization.' Diverging from earlier versions, his perspective prioritises 'adjusting excessive incomes' and curbing 'disorderly expansion of capital'—actions that triggered significant crackdowns across the tutoring, property, and tech industries. While it aims for a large middle class and 'equitable access to basic public services' by 2050, it remains a nuanced balance: it rejects 'welfarism' to avoid encouraging laziness, yet seeks to shrink the urban-rural income gap to a 'reasonable range.'
The tension of the policy is best captured in the 'cake theory.' While some advocates argue for 'making the cake bigger' first, others, like Bo Xilai in 2011, argued that 'dividing the cake well' is what actually drives faster growth. Today, the policy serves as a mechanism to reassert state control over private industries, seeking a society that avoids the 'middle-class collapse' seen in some Western nations without resorting to total economic leveling.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Common prosperity
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