Zhuang Jian says the 17th National Congress of the CPC, to open on October 15, will continue to touch up the "xiao kang" blueprint and set the tone for future fine-tuning.
With a membership of 73 million, about five percent of the population, and another 19 million applicants by June, the Party has established its reputation by constantly repositioning itself while marching toward the goal of Socialism.
In a 2004 decision, the CPC Central Committee added "the happiness of the people" and "social harmony" into the general targets of its governance, which also includes economic prosperity and national rejuvenation. Analysts say this was a response to the complaints that many people felt richer, but unhappier.
Xiao Kang Magazine teamed up with the National Bureau of Statistics to release an annual national happiness index the following year based on people's living standards, health, income, jobs, and sense of security.
The 2007 happiness index published this month edged up by 0.3 points from a year earlier to 79.6, indicating the Chinese were slightly happier this year.
But only 28.7 percent of those polled declared they were happier than last year, 44.6 percent were much the same, and 26.7 percent unhappier. Their biggest concerns were health, followed by family, income, freedom, social status and safety.
Ma Xuexian, 45, of rural Tongxin, one of China's poorest counties, in northwestern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, had mixed feelings.
His arid village of Shixia, Weizhou Township, had no harvest for three straight years, and he was grateful for grain a subsidy from a cropland-to-forest program. But he still earned less than a dollar a day from rice selling.
"In this remote and backward place, I'll take whatever hard jobs make life easier, but what we lack most here are opportunities," he said.
An editorial published in the People's Daily in the run-up to the 17th CPC National Congress said the Party would foster core values for building Socialism, which should inspire "strong affinity, charisma and cohesive forces" and "integrate the common wishes of all social strata".
