The 'big four' concerns of Chinese

An ancient Chinese philosopher described the perfect society as "living in harmony, treating others as family... there is love and caring for the elderly ... nourishment and education for children ... kindness and compassion for widows, orphans, the disabled and the sick".

Historically, such harmony is the standard of happiness.

But now, after vast economic development, are the Chinese people happy?

What I hear are the "big four" social concerns: education, healthcare, housing and retirement.

These challenges are what China's new leaders face.

For over two decades, I've witnessed the astonishing growth of China's economy. At the same time, I've watched burgeoning economic disparity and social inequality between rich and poor, urban and rural, become China's most severe and alarming problem. I've wondered, could equality in education be a partial solution?

If I'm a poor migrant worker, but if my child has an equal opportunity for a good education, and thus has an equal opportunity for a good life, I'd be more willing to endure my own hardships.

How to provide equality in education? I visit the Jin Ding elementary school in Shanghai, where all the students are children of migrant workers. Sure, they're better off here than they'd be in their rural hometowns, but how will they feel when they realize that they're not like the children of Shanghai residents?

There are more than 200 million migrant workers in China. In Shanghai alone, there are about half a million children of migrant workers. Over 40 percent of students in Beijing and Shanghai are non-residents. At best they are second-class citizens.

Migrant workers built these cities, and through education they expect to change their children's fate. But even for successful migrant families, their children cannot overcome structural barriers. They may dream of going to college, but they cannot. According to current policy, migrant workers' children receive compulsory education from elementary through middle school, but if they do not return to their hometowns when they reach 9th grade, they can apply only to vocational schools. This means their careers will be similar to that of their parents' - construction workers, hotel attendants, maids, cooks. And if they do return, the education is so inferior they will not pass the rigorous college entrance exams.

Worse are the "left-behind children", the multitudes of rural kids, 60 million of them, who have not moved with their parents to the big cities. Their parents return home generally only once a year, and then only for a short visit. "Left-behind children" are a national heartbreak.

Disparities in education cripple the capacity of education to make opportunities equal, to level the playing fields of life and career. For many, the "Chinese Dream" can never come true.

In 2012, Premier Wen Jiabao promised that educational funding would grow to 4 percent of China's GDP, a major commitment to China's future.

Healthcare affects everyone and China's system suffered in the transition from a planned to a market economy. No one is satisfied, not patients, not doctors, not society.

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