Families relish the joy brought by the first snowfall this winter in a Hutong in Beijing on December 13, 2023. Yu Xiangjun

Seventy-five years after the UN proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievements for all people and all nations, China has carved out a unique path of human rights development with historic achievements, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. In China, human rights are no abstract concept but tangible progress seen in the improvement of people’s life and life expectancy. The development and practice of human rights in China has four distinctive features: it is people-centric, autonomous, comprehensive, and sustainable. 

In particular, people’s rights to subsistence and development has been guaranteed, their right to be the masters of their country is better reflected, and the rights of all ethnic people and all groups have been more comprehensively fulfilled. 

China’s conclusion from its own experience is that the path of human rights development should be based on a country’s specific conditions and in line with its people’s aspirations. There is no one-size-fits-all formula. As President Xi Jinping once emphasized, people living a happy life is the biggest human right. Human rights should not be politicized or used as a tool to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs. 

This Special Report looks at human rights development in China’s border areas and among some previously unprivileged groups and assesses the achievements and challenges in this field.