New Development Theory in the New Century 1
All problems are chiefly ascribable to the development problem whereas the soul of the development problem lies in the development theory.
The problem of becoming “gods” is actually the problem of human development.
Development is the theme of the world of the present age, and is also the theme of the present China. “Only development is the hard truth”，and this famous saying by Deng Xiaoping has already become the tenet in the minds of all the Chinese. Development concerns success or failure, and survival or death. Only development can save China and save the world. The whole China tries its best to seek development, and so does the whole world.
All problems are chiefly ascribable to the development problem whereas the soul of the development problem lies in the development theory. In the face of development，what we must think first of all is：What kind of development do we need most? Today，people tend to regard development as the same of social development and economic economy，even simply use economic growth to replace development in general，and economic growth is chiefly reflected by a few economic indicators such as the GDP. Such a traditional development theory may easily lead people towards the simplex market development, commercial development and material asset development. For this kind development, they play hard, even if it may cause resource depletion or environmental deterioration，thus, man has degenerated as “an economic animal”, “a slave of technology”. Although the appeal to sustainable development is getting more and more people’s consent, hardly any government’s decision makers have really responded to it in action. The sticking point of all these problems just lies in the problem of development theory.
The development theory plays a guiding and decisive role for development. The old development theory taking economic growth as the major purpose may lead people to serious mistakes unavoidably. Unlike the old development theory, the new development theory may not only help us come out of mistakes, but also bring about the best development for us. The major meanings of the new development theory are like this：
Take human development as the core value, and let human development and social development interact with each other；
While valuing economical development，value human development all the more.
First of all，human is the purpose，not the means. We do not develop economy just for the sake of economic development, nor do we develop the society just for the sake of social development，but completely for the human. The purpose Marx stressed repeatedly from beginning to end is to realize “the thorough liberation of mankind and the overall development of the human”. In Marx’s eyes, the human has always been the purpose rather than the means. Nevertheless，in the eyes of many Chinese, such a notion as “It is not easy to find a three-legged toad, but two-legged persons can be found everywhere” is still very popular. Such a notion results in overlooking of people’s life, people’s survival and people’s development. For example，the scholar of a local area doing AIDS investigation was dry-docked and deprived of his salary, because the local officials thought disclosing the AIDS condition of the place would affect the achievement in their post and damage the image of the government. Later, they showed a concern for AIDS, but it was not owing to their concern for the people, only because some scholar’s estimation worried the leadership of the department concerned：Once AIDS got spread, would it affect the economic construction achievement since the reform and opening? Look, the standard of value of all things is the economic construction achievement，not people’s life and people’s sufferings. Isn’t it a saddening heterization of the purpose?
Secondly，human development is the foundationstone of all kinds of development. All problems in the world are problems of people. There is such a story：While a man was busy with his job，his son dashed up to pester him for playing. He could not stand the harassment, so he tore a world map to pieces，and threw them to his son: “Darling child, go and play yourself, and come to see me again after putting this map together.” In a while，his son came to him: “Papa，I have done it!” The man was surprised，as he had thought it would take the kid several hours to piece it together. How could he finish it so soon? His son said, “The back of the world map is a person’s portrait. After piecing the person together, the world is pieced together at the same time.” These words are just like a direct sharp warning, containing a long-lasting aftertaste: So long as the people are upright, the world will be upright.
Look at this world full of splendors and crises at the same time. Does it result from God? No，it results from human. As the old saying goes, “What caused the six states to perish was not State Qin, but the six states themselves.” (In the Warring States period more than 2000 years ago, Qin, one of the states wiped out all the other states and unified China) Likewise，what can cause the world or mankind to perish is not others, but mankind itself；What can save the world or mankind is not others, but mankind itself, too；Only when the people have developed can the society and world develop.
Development of the people is the foundationstone of social development. In general，the society’s existence depends on the existence of the people as its precondition. Without people, there would be no society，and without development of the people，the society would have no way to develop. Meanwhile，development of the people and development of the society are in a two-in-one organic system, supporting each other and acting on each other：Only when everyone has fully developed can it promote the full development of the society；And only when the society has fully developed can it provide the sufficient condition for full development of the people.
As is well known，some aspects of the present society have already entered the information society and knowledge economy society，yet, if the majority of people in this society are still in the agricultural age tilling in the field all day long without knowing what the computer is, how can we build up a knowledge economy society? How can such a society be able to keep a high-speed development，and how can it make leaps and bounds all the time? We have to face such data：A car that can be produced on the flow production line just in a couple of minutes in Japan equals the total income of a farmer working for 100 years in Shaanxi, China；The value created by an American professional working on the computer for one hour is equivalent to the total value of thousands of Chinese farmers working in one day… The social development of any nation or country depends on the brain power of the people of that nation or country, and depends on the development of their intelligence. The final winner can only be the nation that has the most people mastering high technology and having a high intelligence!
Not only human intelligence development concerns the development of the society directly, but human morality development is also directly related to social development. In a society composed of people with a very low moral standard, people intrigue against each other, causing a serious internal friction of the social power; mutual distrust causes the social transaction cost to rise day by day. Lies and flams fly everywhere; the meat is injected with water; the wine contains a toxic matter; the doctorate or master degree diploma is bought from a street hawker; the speeches at the official meeting are not believable to anyone; those who curse corruption most loudly are just the most greedy on the sly; false contracts, false data and false accounts are everywhere, even to the extent that the school motto Premier Zhu Rongji gave to an accounting college should be “Do Not Make False Accounts”… Nothing is without falsehood, and nothing can be trusted. A society composed of such people is full of a sense of insecurity even in the air, being beset with crisis everywhere! Today，the ecological crisis has sounded the alarm to people. But who knows the moral crisis is even more terrible than the ecological crisis and the blustering sand devil of the mind is even more heart-breaking? Someone said, today’s China is full of people having no belief, no faith, no confidence and no credit. If we still overlook people’s moral development, can this society still develop? Even if it is very prosperous and rich on the surface, it can only be a transitory “bubble development”, very easy to go to the dead end of perdition!
According to the study done by world-renowned scholar Ingles on modernization：The key to the modernization of a country is modernization of the people. If a country only borrows the fine blueprints and measures from other countries and the people carrying out these blueprints and measures have not undergone a transformation to modernization in ideology，mentality, attitudes and pattern of behavior, then, failure and lopsided development will be unavoidable. The foundationstone of the society is the people; the kind of people determines the kind of society. When we compare human development and social development, it is easy to come to the conclusion that human development is more fundamental.
In the comparison between human development and economical development, human development is also more fundamental. The greatest obstacle in poverty is the obstacle in human quality. “In curing poverty, first we must cure folly” and “In curing poverty, first we must cure laziness” are truths we have summed up from poignant facts. The chief cause of the long-standing poverty state of many regions of our country does not lie in the disadvantageous factors in the natural environment or geographic environment, but lies in the low quality of the people. When the economist Zhong Pengrong did investigation in an area in West China, he found, every day, around 9 - 10 o’clock in the morning or around 2 - 3 o’clock in the afternoon, there were always scores of sturdy men in each village sitting at one end of the village taking a sun bath. They had a famous saying: “Although I am starving, I am sitting.” On the contrary, in another place，the holy land of the new economy, Silicon Valley，we find people working night and day, holding the tenet of “If I fall asleep, I will fail”. Every night, they work before the display screen till 4 - 5 o’clock in the next morning, and sometimes even till 6 o’clock. On the one hand, there are many benighted lazybones who are sitting although starving, and on the other hand, there are many hard-working brilliant people who believe in “Sleeping or failing”: That is just where the basic cause of poverty or richness lies. If we think little of human development，do not try our best to raise human quality, but only seek the one-sided economical development, then, achieving a sustained economical development will be nothing else than seeking fish from the woods.
In curing poverty, we can not get away from human development; but after getting out of poverty, we will need human development all the more. Whatever high indicator the economy has reached, only when the people have really developed can the economy have a sustainable development. Otherwise，even the rising economy may also fall. We should pay attention to the warning by the director general of United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization: “If we detach elementary education from knowledge economy, a fissure might appear between poor countries and rich countries”. Likewise, a fissure will appear between rich people and poor people in the country, so the disparity between rich and poor may grow sharper and sharper. US futurist Toffler has expressed his good opinion on China’s economy：Whether China can “jump from the first wave to the third wave” will depend on whether its people can receive a good education. “You may jump over technology，but you can never jump over education”. Being unable to jump over education，in fact, means being unable to jump over human development.
The system emphasises theoretical knowledge at the expense of technical, …New Development Theory in the New Century New Development Theory in the New Century? All problems are chiefly ascribable to the development