As traditional education and public health systems remain constrained by industrial-age models of standardisation—treating learning as a unidirectional transfer of facts and care as mere reactive intervention—these fragmented approaches struggle to address the profound shifts of the AI era and global demographic transitions. In response, there is an urgent need to embrace the Eastern epistemology of Gewu Zhizhi (Investigating Things to Extend Knowledge), shifting the logic of social infrastructure from functional maintenance toward systemic awakening.

This session explores a profound transformation centred on “Holistic Prosperity”. We examine how education can return to its essence—moving beyond simple knowledge acquisition to the cultivation of mind, character, and systemic thinking. Simultaneously, we explore how well-being systems can evolve from passive cost burdens into lifelong fountains of vitality. As a frontline laboratory for digital integration and demographic change, China is demonstrating a modern transformation rooted in the classical ideals of “Self-cultivation, Family Harmony, State Governance, and Universal Peace”. We shall observe how digital innovation, inclusive institutions, and social capital converge to establish the comprehensive development of the individual as the very foundation of future civilisational resilience.