The Blue Book on China’ Society: Analysis and Forecast (2021) was recently released on a press conference held by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) in collaboration with the Bureau of Scientific Research, the Institute of Sociology and the Social Sciences Academic Press, all subordinate to CASS.

The blue book’s General Report reviews major achievements in China’s social development during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016—2020) and sheds light on potential problems and future challenges. Moreover, the document includes a summary of the COVID-19 epidemic, from major impacts to positive results achieved in epidemic prevention and control under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.

According to the blue book, over the past five years, the Chinese economy has entered the stage of high-quality development as the incomes of urban and rural residents rose significantly and the quality of life and consumption levels improved continuously. Progress was also made in employment, education, rural development, medical care, ecological conservation and the new type of urbanization.

Despite stable economic and social development, the blue book notes several problems and challenges. For example, the problem of imbalanced and inadequate development remains prominent, and reform tasks are still daunting in key links of important fields.

In his speech, Li Peilin, former vice president of CASS and editor-in-chief of the blue book, noted that downward pressure on the Chinese economy continues to mount, as the international environment becomes increasingly complicated, and the impetus and constraints of economic development have changed greatly. In addition to COVID-19, uncertainty and unpredictability of factors that influence the economic and social situation have increased.

Under such circumstances, China should beef up efforts to improve social structure, Li said. Particularly, defects in the urban-rural structure, or the excessively large population of farmers with low incomes, should be compensated, and the flawed income distribution structure, which features wide income gaps and a low proportion of middle-income groups, should be rectified.

To these two ends, it is essential to make top-down structural adjustments through the formulation of social policies and laws, while efforts are needed to unleash social vitality to help construct the structure from bottom up, Li said.