In recent years, Chinese people's demands for more social equality have dominated public opinion, along with people's soaring requirements on livelihood and mounting dissatisfaction with the wealth gap. This has pushed China to invest more in public welfare.

But at the same time, the emphasis on development seems to be ignored. Public opinion is shaping a perception that the country is wealthy enough and substandard public welfare is a result of unfair distribution.

Once it is resolved, a solution will be found to the primary problems regarding public welfare.

Unfair wealth distribution does deserve strenuous efforts from the government, but it should not eclipse the importance of growth. Livelihoods cannot be improved by distribution reform alone. Stable and continuous development is the driving force of reform.

Chinese society before reform offers a good comparison. Life was fair, but people were poor. The later reforms in both rural and urban areas firstly set to break the old mindset of fair distribution. Work-based payment was adopted as a new measure of social fairness.

Three decades of fast development have resulted in overwhelming apathy toward the income gap today. There are various reasons for this. However, China cannot stop its development for the sake of fair distribution, but should create a mechanism to coordinate between growth and distribution.

This is a daunting challenge and many countries have suffered from this nagging issue. Emphasizing efficiency alone could lead to recurring social turbulence.

But countries, long stuck in a debate over the fairness of distribution, would also miss growth opportunities. Many developed countries have bitter memories of this.

True sustainable development has to be based on social fairness. It is also an essential political environment for China. Otherwise, development will be fragile and it will be difficult to tell how long it can last.

China has created a growth miracle. It now needs a miracle of creating new social fairness. The most important thing is to strike a good balance between the two ends.

China's population is almost double the total of the West. Improving the livelihood of the Chinese population cannot simply be done by a slogan or a policy. It requires much detailed planning and coordination. We also need good luck.