Before finishing my special study tour to the United States in March, I visited Washington DC, where my last stop was the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. Standing beneath his statue, I could hear his historic speech reverberating: "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed that all men are created equal."

It was also in the US that I watched from TV the 2013 session of the National People's Congress and listened to President Xi Jinping's inaugural address, in which he declared: "That all people, living in this great land and this great epoch, enjoy equal opportunities toward a colorful life, toward realization of their dreams "

Some scholars have distinguished the "American Dream" as individualistic and the "Chinese Dream" as collectivistic. That may be true given the difference in the two countries' histories, cultures and approaches to social life. But there is no denying that both dreams emphasize the importance of people's welfare and national prosperity.