Building a Harmonious Society and Achieving Individual Harmony

Rapid economic growth in China is accompanied by economic disparity, corruption, crime, and a great deal of frustration among China’s citizens. These social problems threaten the country’s further development, social stability, and harmony. This study discusses the recent campaign in China for a harmonious society. Many Chinese scholars, officials, and citizens seem to believe that more effective and efficient social structures will result in social harmony. However, social harmony is a more complex social psychological phenomenon which is determined by the interactions among social values, people, and society. People achieve social harmony when they feel their values and desires are attainable in society. They have to make strong social and psychological effort if they want to successfully achieve harmony with nature, society, and themselves. Ai Guo Han, professor of Writing Arts at Rowan University. He received a doctorate from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania and is specialized in writing pedagogy and language studies. He teaches courses in freshman writing, TESOL, Chinese language and culture. He is the Executive Vice President of the Association of Chinese Professors of Social Sciences and Humanities in the United States and actively promotes academic and cultural programs between China and the United States. His recent research focuses on Daoist philosophy and rhetorical traditions. The author wishes to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.