By Lu Yan

For Wang Xiuying， an 84-year-old re- tired railway worker in Changchun， Jilin Province， a xiaokang life means practicing morning tai chi in a park near her neighborhood and shopping around in the three supermarkets near her apartment. Her cozy life is guaranteed by a regularly increasing pension， which is a source of security and happiness. “For me， all these things constitute a xiaokang life， which was unimaginable when I was young， when the country was recovering and focusing on production and construction，” Wang told Beijing Review.

On July 1， Xi Jinping， General Secretary of the Communist Party of China （CPC） Central Committee， announced that China had realized its first centenary goal—building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

“This means that we have brought about a historic resolution to the problem of absolute poverty in China， and we are now marching in confident strides toward the second centenary goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects，” Xi， also Chinese President and Chairman of the Central Military Commission， said at a ceremony marking the CPC centenary in Beijing that day.

Reaching the goal

Xiaokang is a phrase about a well-off life first mentioned in the Book of Songs， Chinas first anthology of poems dating back more than 2，000 years. Xiaokang was first used to describe Chinese modernization by the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in the early years of Chinas reform and opening up. He proposed building a xiaokang or a moderately prosperous society.

In 1984， Deng further elaborated on the concept by saying， “Xiaokang means that our per-capita GDP reaches $800 by the end of this century.”While according to official data， the countrys percapita GDP was about $250 that year； however， this goal was achieved 16 years later.

At the end of 1990， the Seventh Plenary Session of the 13th CPC Central Committee offered a more detailed definition of xiaokang to include adequate or ample food and clothing. This requires not only the improvement of material life， but also the enrichment of cultural life； it includes raising consumption levels， as well as that of social welfare and the working conditions.

“In the early 1990s， it was an enviable thing to hear some households were leading a xiaokang life，” Wang said， adding that in her eyes， an imported color television set， a radio-cassette recorder， musical instruments like a piano and a car， among others， symbolized a moderately prosperous life at that time.