The Chongqing Model: Promoting People-Oriented Development t of Achieve a Harmonious Society

During this past decade, from 2000 through 2011, China has continued to grow at a rapid rate, although that growth is not universal. Certain regions, such as China's southwest and western, are lagging behind other more developed, often coastal areas; the urban - rural divide seems to have worsened as the cities have become repositories for wealth, while the countryside's quality of life has remained mostly stagnant with only moderate economic development. Widespread inequality and inequity are responsible for much of the expanding social unrest that threatens the stability of the country and thus the Communist Party of China. Bo Xilai (%,[§lj