The year 2026 marks not only the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), but also the fifth anniversary of the introduction of the concept of Chinese modernization, which was formally put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping at a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Chinese modernization is defined by five key features: modernization of a huge population, common prosperity for all, material and cultural-ethical advancement, harmony between humanity and nature, and peaceful development.

Five years after the concept was put forward, Xi stressed Chinese modernization is the modernization of common prosperity for all while taking part in a deliberation with his fellow deputies from the delegation of east China's Jiangsu Province during the annual Two Sessions in March.

People-centered modernization

Also during the Two Sessions, the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), a blueprint for the country's economic and social development, was approved by national lawmakers. More than one-third of the plan is related to people's livelihoods, covering employment, income, education, healthcare, elderly care and childcare – issues that are of the greatest and most immediate concern to the public.

Liu Xu, director of the Institute of Social Development at the Macroeconomic Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said when the CPC Central Committee planned economic and social development for the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), it has consistently upheld a people-centered development philosophy, and always taken the people's aspiration for a better life as the goal of its efforts.

This fully demonstrates the people-centered nature of Chinese modernization, Liu said.

Concrete policy steps have continued to reinforce this approach. China will expand its pilot occupational injury insurance program to fully cover platform companies in the ride-hailing, rapid delivery and intra-city freight sectors across 31 provincial-level regions, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said Tuesday.

In the first quarter, the central government allocated 156.68 billion yuan (roughly $23 billion) in subsidies for people in need. Besides, China's Ministry of Finance has allocated 99.9 billion yuan in central government funds for childcare subsidies this year, up 10.6% from 2025. And to address the needs of seniors with functional disabilities and dementia, China will also support equipment renewal in elderly care institutions, renovate and upgrade 2,000 public elderly care institutions, and strive to increase the share of nursing beds in elderly care institutions to over 73% in the next five years, according to the NDRC.

Innovation as a pillar of high-quality development

Alongside improving livelihoods, the 15th Five-Year Plan places strong emphasis on innovation and technological self-reliance as drivers of high-quality development. A dedicated chapter highlights efforts to advance sci-tech innovation and build new quality productive forces.

Zhang Linshan, a researcher at the Academy of Macroeconomic Research under NDRC, said the plan reflects China's shift in development from pursuing whether there is growth to pursuing whether growth is of higher quality.

During a visit to an information technology innovation park in Beijing, in early February, Xi stressed self-reliance and strength in science and technology is key in building China into a great modern socialist country. Similarly, in his April visit to northern China's Xiongan New Area, Xi called for efforts to build Xiongan into an innovation hub in the new era and a model of promoting high-quality development.

China's innovation capacity has expanded rapidly in recent years. According to the Global Innovation Index 2025, China now has 24 clusters among the world's top 100 innovation clusters, ranking first globally. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area have emerged as key engines of national growth.

The embodied intelligence industry, represented by humanoid robots, has been experiencing leapfrog growth in recent years, with its market scale expanding at a rate of over 50%. A report released by the Development Research Center of the State Council, China's embodied AI market is expected to surpass one trillion yuan by 2035.

"We sought to energize high-quality development through innovation," Xi said in his 2026 New Year message. He noted that rapid advances in large AI models and breakthroughs in domestic chip development have positioned China among the world's fastest-growing innovation economies.