The Four Comprehensives, or the Four-pronged Comprehensive Strategy () is a list of political goals for

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, put forward by

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, s ...

General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party The general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party () is the head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since 1989, the CCP general secretary has been the paramount leader o ...

(CCP) in 2014. They are: # Comprehensively build a

moderately prosperous society Moderately prosperous society or Xiaokang society (), is a Chinese term, originally of Confucianism, used to describe a society composed of a functional middle-class. In December 1979, Deng Xiaoping, then paramount leader of China, first proposed ...

# Comprehensively deepen

reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill#The Yorkshire Associati ...

# Comprehensively govern the nation according to

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

# Comprehensively strictly govern the

Party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature f ...

. Some scholars argue that there are the same or very similar statements of the "four comprehensives" in

Deng Xiaoping Theory Deng Xiaoping Theory ( zh, s=邓小平理论, p=Dèng Xiǎopíng Lǐlùn), also known as Dengism, is the series of political and economic ideologies first developed by Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping. The theory does not reject Marxism–Leninism ...

. Comprehensively build a moderately prosperous society (Xiaokang society) The term "moderately prosperous society" dated back to 1979, when Chinese leader

Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. After CC ...

said to visiting Japanese Prime Minister

Masayoshi Ōhira was a Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1978 to 1980. Ōhira's time in office was cut short when he died in office; he remains the most recent Japanese Prime Minister to die in office. Early life Masayoshi Ōhira was bo ...

that "Xiaokang society was the goal of Chinese modernization". In 1997, the term "building a moderately prosperous society" was officially adopted in General Secretary

Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2004, and as pres ...

's report to the 15th CCP National Congress. In 2002, the term was changed to "comprehensively building a moderately prosperous society" in the report to the 16th CCP National Congress. In 2012, "Completing the Building of a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects" was first introduced in

Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese politician who served as the 16–17th general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the 6th president of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 2003 to 2013, an ...

's report to the 18th CCP National Congress.

Timeline

The Four Comprehensives have been developed incrementally during the early years of Xi's tenure: * November 2012: "Comprehensively build a moderately prosperous society" put forward at the

18th Party Congress The 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was held November 8-15, 2012 at the Great Hall of the People. It was preceded by the 17th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. Due to term and age limits restrictions, seven o ...

* November 2013: "Comprehensively deepen reform" put forward at the 3rd Central Committee Plenum * early October 2014: "Comprehensively strictly govern the Party" put forward at the summary meeting of the Mass Line Campaign * late October 2014: "Comprehensively govern the nation according to law" put forward during the 4th Central Committee Plenum * November 2014: "Three Comprehensives" (absent the Party governance clause) formulated as a strategic bundle during Xi's tour of

Fujian Province Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its cap ...

* December 2014: "Three Comprehensives" amended to "Four Comprehensives" during Xi's tour of

Jiangsu Province Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...

* February 2015: Four Comprehensives unveiled as official Party and national strategy in advance of the

Lianghui The Two Sessions (NPC & CPPCC National Committee annual sessions), or in Chinese ''Lianghui'' is a common Mandarin Chinese abbreviation for a pair of organizations which have close relations. In the Chinese government, the term refers to the ...

, the annual sessions of China's

National People's Congress The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. With 2, ...

and the

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC, zh, 中国人民政治协商会议), also known as the People's PCC (, ) or simply the PCC (), is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of ...

References

{{Authority control Ideology of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping

Timeline

See also

References