刘奇葆：我们走在正确的道路上（中英对照）

评判中国道路

Judging the Chinese Path

我们把全体人民共建共享作为最终标准

We make it our ultimate criteria to allow all people to participate in and benefit from development.

中国道路是人民的选择、人民的创造，是党领导人民干出来、走出来的。可以说，我们在认识和实践上的每一次突破和创新，改革开放中每一个新生事物的产生和发展，现代化建设中每一条重要经验的创造和积累，无不来自人民群众的实践和智慧。从小岗村18户村民按下红手印实行“包干到户”、无数农民洗脚上田投身乡镇企业，到“踏遍千山万水、吃尽千辛万苦”创办民营企业，等等，亿万人民的探索与创新，汇聚成改革开放的强劲原动力。正是因为我们党尊重人民主体地位、尊重群众首创精神，得以让一切劳动、知识、技术、管理、资本的活力竞相迸发，让一切创造社会财富的源泉充分涌流，使中国道路获得了最深厚的力量源泉。

The Chinese path is the choice and the creation of the people. It has been pioneered by the people through their actions under the leadership of the CPC. We can say for certain that each breakthrough and innovation in our understanding and practice; each new development in reform and opening up; and each important new experience in modernization has without exception come from the endeavors and wisdom of the people. From the 18 farmers in Xiaogang Village, Anhui Province, who entered into a daring agreement to divide farmland and production quota between themselves, to the countless rural laborers who left the fields to go and work in township enterprises, and again to the men and women who have traveled the land and endured all manner of hardships to run their own businesses, the explorations and innovations of millions of people have culminated in a huge motive force driving China’s reform and opening up forwards. It is precisely the respect that the Party has shown for the principal role of the people and for the people’s spirit of creativity that has allowed the vigor of labor, knowledge, technology, managerial expertise, and capital to fully unleash themselves; and all potential sources for the creation of wealth to fully surge forward, injecting the Chinese path with the most resourceful strength.

人民对美好生活的向往，就是我们的奋斗目标。中国人民热爱生活、富有梦想，期盼有更好的教育、更稳定的工作、更舒适的居住条件，追求尊严的保证、事业的成功、价值的实现。改革开放30多年来，这些朴实的梦想逐步成真，并正在向更高的水平迈进。我们对民生投入的决心之大、力度之大，在世界范围内都是少有的。我们用十多年时间实现了最低生活保障制度、城乡基本养老保险制度、基本医疗保障制度的全覆盖，构筑起一些西方国家近百年才完成的基本社会保障网络。经过多年努力，中国有6亿多人口脱贫，完成全世界超过70%的减贫任务。保障民生没有终点，只有接连不断的新起点。党的十八大以来，户籍制度改革、考试招生制度改革、计划生育政策调整完善等，一批改善民生的政策密集出台，使发展成果更多更公平地惠及全体人民。美国学者库恩认为，“在人类的历史上，以前从未有过如此之多的人口以如此之快的速度过上这样水准的生活。”

People’s yearning for a better life is our goal to strive forward. The Chinese people love life and have many dreams. They wish to have better education, more stable jobs, and better living conditions. They want their dignity to be assured, their careers successful, and their value fulfilled. During more than 30 years of reform and opening up, these ordinary dreams have gradually become a reality, and are now in the process of being realized on a higher level. The degree of our commitment to improving the people’s wellbeing and the amount of resources we have devoted have been almost unmatched anywhere in the world. In merely over a decade, we have managed to cover the entire population with a subsistence allowance system, a basic pension system for residents in both urban and rural areas, and a basic medical insurance system, thereby putting in place the kind of basic social safety net that some Western countries spent almost a century building. Following years of efforts, China has lifted more than 600 million people out of poverty, a figure that accounts for more than 70% of the global target in poverty reduction.

There is no end to the efforts to ensure public wellbeing, only one new starting point after the next. Since the convening of the Party’s Eighteenth National Congress in 2012, we have introduced a series of polices in close succession in a bid to improve public wellbeing, including the reform of the household registration system, the reform of examination and enrollment systems for school and university students, and the adjustment and improvement of the family planning policies. These initiatives have ensured that all people can benefit more fairly and thoroughly from the fruits of development. In the words of the American scholar Robert Lawrence Kuhn, “never before in human history has the standard of living of so many people improved so fast.”

道路好不好，走在这条路上的人最有发言权。中国人民从衣食住行的持续改善中、从国家面貌的巨大变化中、从充满希望的憧憬中，切身感受到中国道路的正确性，也发自内心地拥护这条道路。有人形象地说，改革开放30多年来，大多数中国人事实上经历了一场“财富革命”，普通家庭的“大件”消费，从过去的手表、自行车、缝纫机，到冰箱、彩电、洗衣机，再到现在的住房、汽车和电脑，发生了翻天覆地的巨变。现在，中国人对自己国家总体状况和发展前景持比较满意和乐观的态度。2013年，留学回国人数超过35万，是本世纪初的近30倍，年均增长率超过32%。这种留学人员“回国潮”彰显了中国魅力，从一个侧面反映了人们对国家未来的信心。有了亿万人民对中国道路的坚定信心，我们更加有理由、有底气继续走好这条道路。

No one is more qualified to comment on the merits of a path than those who are following it. The Chinese people are able to directly appreciate the correctness of the Chinese path – a feeling which comes from the constant improvements in their standard of living, the huge changes that have taken place to the face of the country, and their strong optimism for the future. Moreover, they genuinely support this path from the bottom of their hearts. According to one vivid observation, most Chinese people have in fact experienced a “wealth revolution” over the past three decades of reform and opening up: the major items of consumption that the average family once purchased were watches, bicycles, and sewing machines; later they were refrigerators, color television sets, and washing machines; and now they are houses, cars, and computers. These changes have been simply enormous.

At present, the Chinese people are largely happy with the overall state of their country and optimistic about its prospects for development in the future. In 2013, more than 350,000 Chinese students returned to China from abroad, almost 30 times the number that returned at the beginning of this century. According to these figures, the number of returning students has grown at an average rate of over 32% per year. This wave of students returning to China bears testament to China’s appeal, and to the confidence that people have in China’s future. As we have the confidence of millions of people, we feel even more justified and assured in our commitment to following the Chinese path.

道路问题最根本，事关国运兴衰和人民福祉。上世纪90年代，站在杨浦大桥桥头，望着改革开放大潮激荡下的新上海，邓小平同志感慨：“喜看今日路，胜读百年书。”对党领导人民历经千辛万苦、付出各种代价成功走出的中国道路，必须倍加珍惜、始终坚持并不断拓展延伸。我们要不断加深对中国特色社会主义的思想认同、理论认同、情感认同，不断增强道路自信、理论自信、制度自信，始终保持战略定力，不为任何风险所惧，不为任何干扰所惑。我们坚信，中国特色社会主义道路必将越走越宽广，中华民族伟大复兴的中国梦一定能够实现！

The path we take is the most fundamental issue, having a bearing on the fortunes of the country and the wellbeing of the people. In the 1990s, when he stood on the Yangpu Bridge and looked out over the new Shanghai, which had been transformed amidst the surge of China’s reform and opening up drive, Deng Xiaoping exclaimed: “What I see today gives me more joy than reading books for a hundred years.” It is imperative that we cherish, uphold, and constantly expand the Chinese path – a path that the Chinese people have successfully pioneered under the leadership of the Party after enduring all manner of hardships and making all manner of sacrifices. We need to continue strengthening our ideological, theoretical, and emotional identification with Chinese socialism, our confidence in our path, theories, and system and our strong strategic resolve, neither allowing ourselves to be intimidated by risks nor led into confusion amidst interference. We have every confidence that the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics will become broader as it goes, and that the Chinese Dream – the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation – will become a reality!