Martin Jacques, visiting senior fellow of IDEAS of London School of Economics and Political Science, gives a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of International Dialogue on the Chinese Dream in Shanghai on Dec.7, 2013. [China.org.cn]

The Chinese Dream – The Future in Historical Perspective

Martin Jacques

Author, When China Rules the World: the End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order;

Senior Fellow, Department of Politics and International Relations, Cambridge University

The Chinese dream, while emphasizing the importance of the nation and its unity, suggests a different kind of relationship between the state and society. And manifestly empowers the individual as the individual is also encouraged to dream about not just the country's future but their own futures. We can already see this amongst the young with their sense of optimism and possibility regarding the future. The Chinese will, over the periods imagined in the Plenum statement, go through a huge transformation in countless different ways: a different kind of Chinese individual, more cosmopolitan, more global, more empathetic, more confident, more broad-minded, more environmentally aware, will emerge. But the Chinese Dream is, nonetheless, above all a dream about China, about the nation and its metamorphosis.

The Chinese Dream, as envisaged by Xi Jinping, is seen as realising the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and, as such, he argues, is the greatest dream in the country's modern history. What does this mean? One aspect is clearly the economic, political, cultural and social transformation of the country. But 'the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation' is not simply a national phenomenon. The great achievements of China in earlier dynasties such as the Tang and the Song are recognised as such because by international standards they were so advanced for their time. So 'the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation', home to a fifth of the world's population, must also and equally be seen as an international phenomenon, even more so in a globalised age, which will have profound global effects and consequences. 'The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation' will transform China's relationship with the world and this is an integral part of the Chinese Dream. Indeed, this is one of the boldest elements of the Chinese Dream.

There is a growing confidence about the way in which China sees the future and its own place within it. There are two underlying reasons for this. The first reason is China's own transformation. Its success has imbued the country and its leadership with a strong sense of self-assurance and self-belief; and it has also invested them with a strong attachment and commitment to the importance and virtue of change. The second reason involves a much broader canvas, namely a wider global transformation. This can be summarised as follows. The global centre of gravity is shifting from the developed world, where a small minority live, to the developing world, home to the great majority of the world's population. Large numbers of countries are now in the process of modernisation. This is the key trend of our time. China, furthermore, is in the process of establishing itself as the key agency and catalyst for their development.