Robert Lawrence Kuhn, chairman of the Kuhn Foundation, gives a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of International Dialogue on the Chinese Dream in Shanghai on Dec.7, 2013. [China.org.cn]

A Framework for The Chinese Dream:

Toward a Taxonomy of Concept and Category

Dr. Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Chairman of the Kuhn Foundation

 

A framework for The Chinese Dream may facilitate a way of thinking, a methodology, to determine what follows from these categories. In the taxonomy I propose, I have five high-level categories with which to describe and analyze The Chinese Dream: national, personal, historical, global, antithetical. For each I suggest subcategories. Then I show how the remarkable Third Plenary of the 18th CPC Central Committee reinforces The Chinese Dream.

The National Chinese Dream can be seen from a viewpoint of seven interlocking perspectives:

1. Strong China -- economically, politically, scientifically, militarily;

2. Stable China -- freedom from chaos; social confidence;

3. Bountiful China – high standards of living for all citizens;

4. Harmonious China -- amity among social classes and ethnic groups;

5. Civilized China -- equity and fairness, rich culture, high morals;

6. Beautiful China -- healthy environment, low pollution, modern cities, scenic landscapes;

7. Creative China – scientific excellence; artistic elegance; innovative products.

The "Personal Chinese Dream" focuses on the well-being of individual Chinese citizens and thus modifies traditional notions of the primacy of the collective over the individual.

The Personal Chinese Dream can be explicated by two subcategories: (i) material or physical well-being, and (ii) mental or psychological well-being.

Material Well-Being encompasses all the necessities of life and assures that all are being well taken care of; these include education, healthcare and retirement in addition to the obvious necessities of safe food, decent housing and public security.

Psychological Well-Being can best be explained in terms of "positive psychology" which aligns with the Chinese Dream.

The "Historical Chinese Dream" recognizes (i) China's rich millennia-long civilization with its high culture and seminal achievements, aspiration and expectation, turmoil and trauma, challenge and triumph, and (ii) China's more recent development of its political theory.

The Third Plenum of the 18th CPC Central Committee provides a transformative vision for China and as such paves the road to the Chinese Dream. In his explanatory address to the CPC Central Committee, President Xi Jinping said, "we must waste no time in deepening reform in important areas with even greater political courage and wisdom, firmly do away with all ideological concepts." He stressed that "the development of practice is boundless, liberated thoughts are boundless, reform and opening up are boundless as well; there is no way out in pausing and withdrawing, reforming and opening up only has a progressive tense, not have a perfect tense." These are the strongest words of reform in a generation, a public commitment that sets a high bar to benchmark policies.

The list is stunning—any one of which, by itself, would be significant. The result is a blueprint for China's future. It does not guarantee success but it defines what China's leaders now describe as success.