Games preparations promote steady increase in social harmony

(BEIJING, November 22) -- Preparation for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games is effectively promoting the progress of a harmonious society, increasing social development. The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics (the National Bureau of Statistics, Beijing) had a survey team comprehensively evaluate Beijing's social development for the year 2006. An in-depth analysis was conducted to measure the city's social development, involving many factors of concern to people's harmonious livelihoods. The results showed that for the year 2006, Beijing residents rated the city at 115.77 points, 2.07 points higher than the previous year, continuing its steady upward trend. The public's positive attitude indicated their desires in building a harmonious society.

China's goal of building of a harmonious society is steadily gaining momentum since the idea was brought forward at the 4th Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC). In order to reflect the city's actual conditions (to build a harmonious society), the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics and the National Bureau of Statistics, Beijing, have gradually established an index of social harmony. This index, first developed in 2005, is composed of three indicators: The

first reflects an indication of social conflict, the second reflects the social aspirations of those surveyed and the third reflects social conflict coordination mechanisms.

The first and third index indicators noted above were used to estimate social harmony in Beijing since 2000, with contradictions and issues being analyzed objectively. A public opinion poll showed that residents' subjective feelings about social harmony in the city supplemented and verified, to some extent, the index of social harmony.

In recent years, Beijing's overall harmonious social index has shown a steady upward trend. The overall index values were 101.8, 113.03, 110.93, 113.23, 113.7, and 115.77 points, respectively, from the years 2001 to 2006. With an average annual growth rate of 2.47%, Beijing is indeed a city showing increased social harmony.

In 2006, the social conflict coordination mechanisms index rose 7.76 points over the previous year. Clearly, conflict coordination mechanisms act as a "social safety valve" and have a prominent regulating role promoting social stability and coordination, pulling the overall index up.

The index of social harmony follows the trend of economic development. In 2006, Beijing's social harmony score rose 2.07 points over the previous year, continuing its steady upward trend; in the same year, the city's GDP reached 787.03 billion yuan, up 12.8%, achieving a ninth year of consecutive growth. The construction of a harmonious society has, to some extent, promoted the economic development of Beijing.

The overall harmonious society index is nearly identical to public opinion poll results. Over the past few years, the development of a harmonious society has been quite clear; this is evident from the three year continuous launch of "Beijing residents intention of building a harmonious society investigation." In June of 2007, the community development public opinion survey center started "Beijing residents intention of building a harmonious society survey" for the third time through the use of computers and telephones. This survey, improved from the previous two surveys, highlighted peoples' livelihoods, so the results tend to more rational and objective.

In the end, this survey involved 2089 samples. 18 to 70 year old residents who live in Beijing's 18 districts and counties for more than six months (including people from other places) were targeted. Survey results show that they are positive and confident in the building of a harmonious society. More than 90% (90.5%) of respondents were content with "Beijing's current social harmony level," which has changed only a little in comparison with the previous two years (92% in 2004 and 89.8% in 2005). 31.8% of the respondents believed that the city is very harmonious or relatively harmonious. When asked about "Beijing's confidence in achieving a harmonious society," more than 70% (71.7%) of respondents indicated strong confidence, which is generally consistent with survey results from the first two years (72.8% and 70.2%, respectively).