--By Quan Heng

The Chinese dream of income distribution is basically about the fairness and justice of income distribution, and the key factor is equal opportunity.

Only when there are equal opportunities, can we truly achieve the Chinese dream of “everyone has a chance to succeed” and a high economic growth based on fairness, and can we truly lay solid foundations for national revival.

As China’s economy grows rapidly, income disparities have emerged within cities and countries, between rural and urban areas, between regions and between industries. Problems also include the relatively low wage of the labour force. The disparities and unfair distributions have resulted in the widening of China’s overall income gaps, which have been affecting the harmonious economic and social development, and hindering the realization of the Chinese dream of national revival.

The widening income gap is related with the economic growth and the market mechanism, but it is mainly caused by the deeper institutional problems, such as unfair distribution and unequal opportunities.

The 18th National Congress and the Third Plenum of the 18th CPC Central Committee have both placed solving the unfair income distribution as a priority, and have pointed out the directions for its solution. The key of the income distribution reform is to push forward reforms of marketization and government itself. Only when the marketization reform and the government transformation roll forward neck in neck, can we truly achieve fairness and justice of income distribution, and the Chinese dream in the end.

The author is researcher and deputy director of the Economic Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

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