The Chinese nation has always valued human dignity and value. Even in the ancient days, our ancestors came up with the idea of people being most important, believing that "man is the most valuable among all the things that heaven fosters". The Progress and development of a society hinge on human progress and development and depend on how well human dignity is maintained and how much human value is realized. The immense vitality displayed by China today is a vivid reflection of the broad freedoms and democratic rights enjoyed by the Chinese people. China's population reached around 60 million as early as in the 1st century. For several thousand years, to provide for the people’s need for food, clothing, housing and transport has all along been the primary human rights challenge for successive governments in Chinese history. In today's China, which is a large developing country with a population of over 1.2 billion, top priority should still be given to ensuring the greatest possible majority of its people the rights to subsistence and development. Otherwise, there would be no other rights to speak of. To ensure our people these rights is in itself a major contribution to the progress of the world human rights cause. Collective and individual human rights should be considered together and their coordinated development should be pursued, and the same consideration should be given to the development of economic, social and cultural rights on the one hand and of civil and political rights on the other. This is dictated by China’s specific national conditions and therefore, is the only way to progress in human rights cause in China.
The Chinese nation has persistently pursued an independent national spirit and road to development. We regard independence as the foundation on which to build the country. We have created a splendid Chinese civilization by making unremitting endeavors over 5,000 years. We grew stronger by relying on our own efforts in the struggle to resist foreign aggression and gain national liberation in modern times and finally became masters of our own destiny. Independence and self-reliance should not rule out learning from other countries and drawing upon the fruits of world civilization. The two are complementary to each other. Our ancestors came to know this a long time ago.
In this respect, we have valuable historical experience from the Han and Tang Dynasties. Those were periods of prosperity when China strove to develop itself on its own and also periods when it learned extensively from foreign advanced cultures in the process of activity conducting external exchanges.
Today, we Chinese people have preserved in taking our own road and engaging in the economic, political and cultural undertakings and turning our motherland into a socialist country with initial prosperity. Meanwhile, we have earnestly absorbed and drawn upon fruits of advanced world civilization, which in turn have greatly promoted the development of China. However, it must be pointed out that the absorption and learning process is by no means one of simple imitation. China cannot copy the development model of western capitalist countries, nor can it mechanically follow in other countries’ models of building socialism. On the contrary, it must take a road to development that is suited to its national conditions. We will continue unswervingly our journey along this road leading to a strong and prosperous China.
