Politburo Study Session on Social Management

On May 30, the Chinese Communist Party’s Politburo, a group of 25 of the most senior cadres, held a study session on “strengthening and innovating social management.” The meeting, over which Hu Jintao presided, emphasized that “strengthening and innovating social management matters for consolidating the ruling status of the Party and is important for the nation’s long term stability and for people’s livelihoods.” “China is now in an important period of strategic opportunities, and also in a period with prominent social conflicts. The task of social management is heavier and more arduous.” “(We need) to firmly grasp the general requirements of maximally stimulating social vitality, maximally increasing harmonious factors, and maximally reducing disharmonious factors.”