In the new historical period, our party put forward Scientific Outlook on Development, which further emphasized the need to put people first. This is a significant development of the Party's mass viewpoint. Adhering to the people-oriented principle means always taking the realization and development of the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people as the starting point and the end result of all the work of the party and the state, respecting the people's dominant position, giving play to the people's initiative, safeguarding people's rights and interests, taking the road of common prosperity, promoting people's all-round development, and achieving development for the people, relying on the people and enjoying the fruits of people's development.
At present, the hot and difficult issues concerned by our society mainly include employment, schooling, housing, income distribution, environmental protection, medical care and social security. In view of these problems, our party and government are taking a series of practical measures to accelerate social construction focusing on improving people's livelihood, focus on safeguarding and improving people's livelihood, promote social system reform, expand public services, improve social management and improve people's living standards. In the report of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, it is clearly put forward that people's livelihood should be guaranteed and improved from the following aspects: (1) giving priority to the development of education and building a powerful country with human resources; (2) Implementing the strategy of expanding employment and promoting entrepreneurship, so as to promote employment through entrepreneurship; (3) Deepening the reform of income distribution system and increasing the income of urban and rural residents; (4) Accelerate the establishment of a social security system covering urban and rural residents to ensure people's basic livelihood; (5) Establish a basic medical and health system to improve the health level of the whole people; (6) Improve social management and maintain social stability and unity. Under the guidance of these basic policies, in 2007 alone, the Chinese government launched a series of specific measures to protect and improve people's livelihood, such as exempting rural children from tuition and fees, implementing medical insurance for urban residents and minimum living security in rural areas, promulgating property law, including "property income" in the report of the party congress, introducing low-rent housing by the government, implementing the new labor contract law, building a "two-oriented" society, and adjusting the residents' vacation system. Judging from the formulation and concrete implementation of the above principles and policies, our party and government are really anxious about what the people are anxious about and think about what the people think. Especially after the Sichuan earthquake, a series of earthquake relief measures adopted by our party and country have more profoundly reflected our party's high sense of responsibility and broad feelings of upholding the people's interests above all else and putting people first.