BEIJING -- The "Chinese dream," a new hot topic among Chinese, has drawn international attention from scholars and foreign policy experts.
China's new Communist Party leader Xi Jinping said during a museum tour last November the Chinese dream meant for him the "great renewal of the Chinese nation."
He has pledged to pursue the shared Chinese dream of national rejuvenation.
The initiative has drawn a positive response from experts.
"After more than three decades of steady reform, China has achieved remarkable economic growth, but in terms of culture and ideas, there has not been enough progress," said Professor Zhang Taofu of China's Fudan University.
"China now needs something else, an idea, or a common cause, to support further development, and the Chinese dream fills the gap," he said.
Yao Huan, an expert on the Communist Party of China (CPC), said the Chinese dream was "exhilarating," as it inspired the passion of the Chinese people to seek national rejuvenation.
Kim Jin Ho, a professor of international relations at South Korea's Dankook University, said: "A nation without a dream will not survive in the competition between different nations on earth."
"If China wants to make a difference in the world, it has to have a dream and pursue it consistently," the professor said.
James Oruko, a development professor at Kenya's Egerton University, said pursuing a common Chinese dream would compel individual Chinese to embrace high aspirations and it promoted national progress.
The Chinese dream had set a common goal among the Chinese about the country's future course, said Alejandro Simonoff, an international studies expert at the Argentine National University of La Plata.
However, the dream of national strength, prosperity and happiness of the people could not be realized overnight, experts said.
Li Jie, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said one way to fulfill the dream was through completing the "two 100-year" goal.
That included first finishing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2021, when the CPC marks its 100th founding anniversary, and then building an affluent, strong, civilized and harmonious socialist modern country by 2049 at the 100th founding anniversary of new China, Li said.
"We will still find many places unsatisfactory after realization of the 'two 100-year' goal. But then we will pursue a still higher degree of modernization," she said.
"BIG DREAM" AND "SMALL DREAM"
Xi has described the Chinese dream as a big dream for the Chinese nation: "History tells us that everybody has one's future and destiny closely connected to those of the country and nation."
Wang Zheng, a public policy scholar of the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said China had a highly collective culture "and that is an important feature of the Chinese dream."
"The charm of the Chinese dream lies in that every Chinese could at the same time realize their own values, ideals, improve their lives and pursue happiness as they devote themselves to the cause of national rejuvenation," Yao said.
OPPORTUNITIES
Insisting on socialism with Chinese characteristics is the only viable path for China to fulfill its dream, experts say.
"Reform and opening-up and building socialism with Chinese characteristics are key to the realization of the Chinese dream," Kim said.
Analysts said the Chinese dream had a global impact, as it targeted one-fifth of the world's population and offered rich opportunities for other countries.
"China's development serves an engine for global growth," Li said. "Its pursuit of 'harmony' in society and in the world is also a unique culture that will be more widely recognized by other countries."
The Chinese dream, Li points out, will not pose any threat to other nations as Beijing pursues the path of peaceful development, which is in line with the heritage of the country's thousands of years of history and culture.
Khalid Rahman, director general of the Institute of Policy Studies in Pakistan, agrees with Li. He said, with a big population, China would see its development exert a positive influence on the global economy and trade.
On the road ahead, however, China will encounter many challenges, which require collective wisdom, analysts say.
Suh Seong-hwan, a professor at South Korea's Yonsei University, said China must first accomplish the task of bridging the urban-rural gap and addressing regional disparity.
On top of that, separatist forces and other potential unstable factors are also obstacles to the drive to realize the Chinese dream, experts say, adding many around the world are still suspicious of China's development.
Meanwhile, challenges also remain in developing "soft power."
Zhang suggests China pursue its dream in an open environment. "Our ideal and faith will inevitably engage in the competition with that of other countries," he said, adding that, to win out, increasing influence and persuasion of the Chinese dream was required.
