Abstract: In the new era,the principal social contradictions in China have been transformed into the contradiction between the growing needs of the people for a better life and the unbalanced and inadequate development. The transformation of the main contradictions makes it clear that the construction of a better life is the fundamental task and goal of future work. This goal is based on the realistic logic such as the increasing abundance of people's material life in the new era, the irreversibility of the transformation of social principal contradictions, the influence of mass culture cannot be ignored and the unshakeable practice of “people-centered”development thought. However,a better life is not achieved overnight,and there are still difficulties in the key dimension of construction, the dimension of construction subject and in the dimension of construction horizon. In the new era,to achieve the people's expectation for a better life,we must follow three practical guidelines. The essential requirement is taking the people as the center and solving the problem of unbalanced and inadequate development;the prerequisite is enriching the subjects of construction and jointly building and sharing a better life in the new era; the correct direction is to choose the mainstream socialist values as the guidance in practice.

Key words: the new era, a better life, realistic foundation, the guidance in practice, the mainstream socialist values