18th party congress Preview

Zhang Lan, a 43-year-old primary school teacher in Southwest China's Sichuan province, has seen her monthly salary quadruple over the past decade to 4,000 yuan ($635), but still has to watch her finances.

"My monthly income still falls short of the price of one square meter of an apartment," Zhang said.

Zhang, who lives in an urban area, complains that with more than 20 years' work experience, her income is still far behind that of people in the country's monopolized industries and sectors.

But public discontent over income distribution is not confined to cities.

Latest figures from the National Bureau of Statistics show rural per capita income in the first three quarters this year was 6,778 yuan, just 36.8 percent of the per capita disposable income of urban residents in the same period.

Analysts warn that China's yawning wealth gap has triggered not only rural resentment over wealthy people living in urban areas, but is also stirring discontent in cities as well as villages.

Although the Chinese economy has grown into the world's second largest, the original goal of China's economic reform to achieve common prosperity remains a distant prospect, they say.

"Poverty and backwardness brew social turmoil. The remedy is to put development first to secure economic prosperity, sufficient employment and the smooth flow of wealth," says Ji Zhengju, researcher with the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

The State Council has decided to establish an overall income distribution plan by the end of the year, and observers have placed high hopes on the National Congress of the CPC, scheduled to open on Nov. 8.

Zhao Chenggen, professor with the School of Government at Peking University, expects China's new leadership to elaborate on how to stimulate the economy and how to ensure that economic rewards are shared by all Chinese in a more equitable way.

Hu's message

At a high-profile meeting in July, widely considered to send a key message for the upcoming five-year CPC congress, President Hu Jintao called for efforts to deliver more benefits to the public, to relieve people's fears and address their concerns.

Progress should be made in education, employment, healthcare, retirement and housing to allocate more to people in a fairer way, Hu said while addressing the opening session of a workshop for ministerial officials and provincial heads.

Ji Zhengju says it is a harder task for the Party to ensure fairness in a country where the economy and society are experiencing complex and profound changes amid rapid economic growth.

Yawning wealth gap

In urban regions, uneven income distribution and excessive wealth gaps among groups have become a severe problem.

Last year, the maximum income gap between senior company executives and migrant workers was 4,553 times, according to a report conducted by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

The income growth rate of executives has also vastly exceeded that of ordinary employees. The income gap is apparently increasing, says the report.

Experts say an upcoming income distribution scheme should be able to regulate inappropriately high earnings in sectors with a monopoly, in an attempt to address income disparity.

China has been working on income distribution reform since 2004, but public expectations have not been met. State-run monopolized sectors have become a major target of public complaints, says Ji.

Apart from improving incomes, capping high wages in State-run sectors will become a focus in the reforms, he says.

Xie Chuntao, a professor with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, said the principle of "by the people, of the people and for the people" has been the linchpin for the Party to secure social stability over past decades.