In 2009, China succeeded in tiding over the impact of the worst global financial crisis in decades thanks to the government economic stimulus package, which included a 4 trillion yuan (¥52 trillion) two-year investment. But Premier Wen Jiabao's government work report to China's Parliament shows that a crucial time has come for the country to make serious efforts to realize a "harmonious society" by solving such problems as an increasing gap between the rich and the poor, soaring property prices and ethnic tensions.
As Mr. Wen said in his report to the annual session of the National People's Congress, which started March 5, China was the first country to emerge from the global economic downturn. In 2009, China's gross domestic product grew 8.7 percent. The rate was lower than the 9.6 percent growth in 2008 and the annual double-digit growth from 2003 to 2007.
For this year, Mr. Wen set the economic growth target at "around 8 percent." Economic growth at this pace is needed to absorb surplus labor, primarily new graduates and people who move from rural to urban areas. The government will try to create more than 9 million jobs in cities, keep urban unemployment rate at no higher than 4.6 percent and hold the rise in the consumer price index to about 3 percent. Social security and employment-related spending will increase by 8.7 percent.