What one worries about is not the small population but instability, not poverty but uneven distribution.
This is from a dialogue in The Analects of Confucius. Confucius said: What the head of a state should concern himself with is not the lack of wealth or people but the lack of even distribution of wealth or the lack of life stability. So long as wealth is evenly distributed among the people, nobody will complain about whether he is poor or rich; so long as there is solidarity, there will be no worry about the small population. This will bring about peace and contentment and protect against failure.
This belief is informed by the traditional Chinese pursuit of moderate prosperity and universal harmony. In Chinese philosophy, as a good society is created by all the people, it should be enjoyed by all the people.
At a study session on implementing the decisions of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, opened in January 2016 for provincial and ministerial officials, Xi Jinping cited this quotation and said: In nature, the philosophy of shared development represents the idea of people-centered development, and it reflects the demand to achieve shared prosperity in stages.
不患寡而患不均，不患貧而患不安
“不患寡而患不均，不患貧而患不安”，出自《論語》，大意是對一個國家來說，不必去擔心土地、財富、人口不多，而應該擔心社會貧富不均，人民生活不安寧。如果財富平均，就無所謂貧窮和富裕，而人民團結一心，就不會覺得人口稀少，并且只有這樣才能讓國家和平安樂，不會有傾覆危險。這一理念是由中國傳統文化中一直延續的奔小康、求大同的社會理想所決定的。中國人始終認為，一個美好的社會狀態既然是由人民創造的，那么自然也應該由人民來共享。
2016年1月，習近平在省部級主要領導干部學習貫徹中共十八屆五中全會精神專題研討班上的講話中引用“不患寡而患不均，不患貧而患不安”，指出共享理念實質就是堅持以人民為中心的發展思想，體現的是逐步實現共同富裕的要求。
