What one worries about is not the small population but instability, not poverty but uneven distribution.

What one worries about is not the small population but instability, not poverty but uneven distribution.

This is from a dialogue in The Analects of Confucius. Confucius said: What the head of a state should concern himself with is not the lack of wealth or people but the lack of even distribution of wealth or the lack of life stability. So long as wealth is evenly distributed among the people, nobody will complain about whether he is poor or rich; so long as there is solidarity, there will be no worry about the small population. This will bring about peace and contentment and protect against failure.

This belief is informed by the traditional Chinese pursuit of moderate prosperity and universal harmony. In Chinese philosophy, as a good society is created by all the people, it should be enjoyed by all the people.

At a study session on implementing the decisions of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, opened in January 2016 for provincial and ministerial officials, Xi Jinping cited this quotation and said: In nature, the philosophy of shared development represents the idea of people-centered development, and it reflects the demand to achieve shared prosperity in stages.

不患寡而患不均，不患贫而患不安

“不患寡而患不均，不患贫而患不安”，出自《论语》，大意是对一个国家来说，不必去担心土地、财富、人口不多，而应该担心社会贫富不均，人民生活不安宁。如果财富平均，就无所谓贫穷和富裕，而人民团结一心，就不会觉得人口稀少，并且只有这样才能让国家和平安乐，不会有倾覆危险。这一理念是由中国传统文化中一直延续的奔小康、求大同的社会理想所决定的。中国人始终认为，一个美好的社会状态既然是由人民创造的，那么自然也应该由人民来共享。

2016年1月，习近平在省部级主要领导干部学习贯彻中共十八届五中全会精神专题研讨班上的讲话中引用“不患寡而患不均，不患贫而患不安”，指出共享理念实质就是坚持以人民为中心的发展思想，体现的是逐步实现共同富裕的要求。