by Wang Weiping, Zhu Lin

    BEIJING, Dec. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- China, the world's fastest-growing major economy, is bracing for social harmony.

    The central economic conference attended by Chinese leaders earlier this month made it clear that the country will "put people first, to foster a socialist harmonious society and to give top priority to resolving urgent problems facing up with the overwhelming majority of the people."

    Never before has "fostering a harmonious society" been put on the high agenda of economic work. This decision came in a timely manner, experts say.

    "It manifests the importance of sustainable development for theeconomy and society, and plays a very important role in stimulating Asia's and the world's prosperity," Li Zhongze, a sociology professor with Beijing Second International Studies University, said in an interview with Xinhua.

    His view was echoed by Li Peilin, vice-president of the sociology institute under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). "With economic and social resources being allocated towardsthe objective of sustainable and coordinated development, China isushering in what could be its best period," he said.

    He acknowledged that the drastic changes in industrial structures would entail both social risks and new opportunities. China's per capita gross domestic product (GDP) has exceeded 1,000US dollars, a threshold analyst say that means industrialization will be speeded up.

    A range of social issues crop up accompanying robust economic progress, such as the loss of farmland, widening gap of income of rural and urban residents and remaining pressures from employment,the effective ironing out of which contributes to realizing China's goal of quadrupling the GDP by 2020, experts say.

    But China is also endowed with such favorable conditions for building social harmony as steady and rapid economic growth, effective curb on population increase, expansion of employment andsocial security.

    Hang Lin, an associate research fellow of the CASS's economic institute, said that a good society lies in the harmony between man and nature on one hand and the harmony between different social strata on the other hand. The government plays a key role in coordinating the development, he said.

    He suggested that the government should exert more efforts to magnify the scale of the middle class, reduce the number of low-income families and battle more severely against corruption. Enditem