Chinese Dream
[1] Xi began promoting the phrase as a slogan during a high-profile tour of an exhibit at the National Museum of China in November 2012, shortly after he became leader of the CCP.
The objective is for China to become a “modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, civilized, and harmonious.”, including many more ambitious political, economic, social, and cultural dimensions.
[8] In the Classic of Poetry (Shi Jing), the poem "Flowing Spring" (下泉) describes a poet waking up in despair after dreaming of the former Western Zhou dynasty.
[8] In 2008, architect Neville Mars, author Adrian Hornsby, and the Dynamic City Foundation published The Chinese Dream – a society under construction.
Maps of the emerging spatial forms and analysis of the economic development processes that have originated within the extreme conditions of the 1980s and 1990s are combined with progressive planning concepts and personal portraits of a rapidly changing society.
As such, it synthesizes a body of research to tackle the main paradoxes at the heart of China's struggle for change and a more equitable and sustainable future.
The overarching premise of the book is that China reveals a direct correlation between its shifting urban forms and its waning societal objectives.
Mars introduces the term "MUD," or Market-driven Unintentional Development to describe this new hybrid urban condition, and suggests that planning itself needs to be radically redefined to be effective and not contribute to ex-urbanization.
In the foreword, Wei wrote: The Chinese Dream today as portrayed in Helen's book speaks of a changing China that is discovering consumerism, that is increasingly globalised, and also at a crossroads.
Will her path in years to come continue to be one that resembles that of Western countries with all the benefits of further urbanization, wealth, and industrialization, but at the same time challenges in managing scarce resources, population migration, and the social problems that affluence can bring, elsewhere called 'Affluenza'?
[10]The British publication The Economist credits a column written by the American journalist Thomas Friedman for popularizing the term in China.
"[18]: 84 On this belief, Xi argues that "time and momentum are on China's side" citing: (1) the accelerating rise of emerging and developing countries, (2) the rate of new technologies replacing old ones, and (3) changing patterns of global governance.
[18]: 84 Xi's use of the slogan ties national and personal prosperity together to evoke a patriotic goal based on Chinese peoples' efforts to build better lives for their families.
Xi told young people to "cherish the glorious youth, strive with pioneer spirit and contribute their wisdom and energy to the realization of the Chinese dream.
Since the idea was put forward by Xi in November 2012 and repeated by him on numerous important occasions, the CCP's propaganda chief, Liu Yunshan, has directed that the concept of the Chinese Dream be incorporated into school textbooks.
[21] In an article for the Huffington Post, French sinologist David Gosset (高大伟) presented the idea that the so-called "Liyuan Style" is an illustration of the China Dream.
"[28] In October 2013, Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, described the Chinese Dream as a political reform that includes "rebalancing from investment to consumption.
[32] China's rising middle class is expected to increase by 500 million people by 2025 and will continue to put a strain on the country's dwindling resources.
Zheng Dahua has noted that the increase in domestic public concern surrounding the Chinese identity and connected to the self-consciousness movement in country.
Dahua argues that the Chinese Dream has been internalized within the consciousness of the domestic public and as a result, nationalistic attitudes and opinions in China have subsequently increased.
[39] The second-generation ethnic policy was originally introduced in line with Xi Jinping's "national rejuvenation" theory of the Chinese dream.
Xi attended the Second Xinjiang Work Forum, and stressed that: We must strengthen the interaction, interchange and intermingling between ethnic groups; we must prepare and expand all kinds of shared constructive projects, advance "bilingual education" and promote the building of social structures and community environments in which the people of different ethnic groups are mutually embedded.
The local government of Qiemo County in Xinjiang established a new regulation in 2014, called "Regarding the Incentive Measures for Families Encouraging Intermarriage Between Ethnic Minorities and Han.
[44] County CCP Secretary Zhu Xin remarked:[45] Our advocacy of intermarriage is promoting positive energy ... Only by promoting the establishment of a social structure and community environment in which all ethnic groups are embedded in each other ... can we boost the great unity, ethnic fusion and development of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, and finally realize our China dream of great rejuvenation of our Chinese nationJames A. Millward, a scholar of Xinjiang at Georgetown University, stated that "state-sponsored efforts at ‘blending’ and ‘fusion’ will be seen by Uyghurs in China or by China's critics anywhere as really aimed at assimilating Uighurs into Han culture.
[48] Measuring public sentiment on Sina Weibo, Christopher Marquis and Zoe Yang of CivilChina.org found that the Chinese Dream refers more to the common goods bestowed by civil society than it does to individual achievements.
In a genre of reality shows in public speaking, for example, contestants frequently connect between their "dreams" and the triumph of China and further emphasize the legitimacy of the CCP in delivering a better future.
[58] By emphasizing the need for moral rule and harmony the CCP attempts to align itself with traditional Confucian beliefs as a means of legitimization.
[59][57] Scholars argue that the Chinese Dream slogan, and its connection to morality and tradition, is a good approach to building Party legitimacy, as they remind people of China's roots and origins.
"[60] Ravi Kant, a financial writer, commented on Asia Times that Xi Jinping himself is hindering the Chinese people from realizing their dreams.
He compared and contrasted Xi to Deng Xiaoping, who he said believed in empowering people instead of leaders, and whose policy contributed to China's economic rise.
