Historical Changes and Essence of "Development Values" of Chinese Society

The reform practice of the Chinese society bears many aspects of significant transformations. From perspective of the historic and epochal theme, they are represented by the initiative explorations and recognition of the rational public patterns in terms of development as the focus; and the development values provide human being with a philosophical ideal that can fully express the purpose and meaning of development. The reflection of the essence and the chief drawbacks of the traditional development values, namely growth as the ultimate goal, has effectively given rise to the scientific development view. This new angle provides a new turning point for realizing value reconstruction by means of social development activities. It suggests that the ultimate goal of development is not merely oriented for increase in national wealth; rather, the primary importance of it lies in promoting national happiness, and the economic growth is only a crucial means toward it. It also implies that the orientation in the Chinese society is gradually transforming from the construction as the focus to the comprehensive development of economic society and human being.