Summary: The article discusses the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee's call to strengthen Party spirit through the Party's innovative theories, emphasizing that this is the fundamental task of full and rigorous self-governance. General Secretary Xi Jinping is quoted as saying that political cultivation must be placed first in Party spirit cultivation, drawing nourishment from these theories, and that firm ideals and convictions must be built on a profound understanding of Marxism. The piece highlights Xi's emphasis on serving the people, citing his inspections in Beijing, Dezhou, and Shanghai to illustrate his commitment to people's livelihood. It concludes that Party spirit cultivation must be reflected in guiding concrete practice, with Xi urging resolute implementation of Central Committee decisions and advancing the fight against corruption. The article stresses that Party members must internalize and act on the Party's innovative theories to open new space for the development of the cause.
Summary: The article emphasizes that the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee prioritized "adhering to serving the missions and tasks" as a major principle for full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, aligning Party building with the central task of advancing Chinese modernization and national rejuvenation. It highlights that high-quality development, shaped by General Secretary Xi Jinping's theories including new quality productive forces, has become the primary task, with "Intelligent Manufacturing in China" and a complete industrial system underpinning economic resilience. The Plenary Session also deployed measures to forge a high-quality cadre contingent, promoting a correct view of political achievements and serving the people as the greatest political achievement. The article stresses that persisting in Party self-governance is essential to unify thoughts and actions, build the Party stronger, and open new prospects for governing and strengthening the Party on the new journey toward the 15th Five-Year Plan.
Summary: The article reports on reactions to the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, which approved a decision on persistently advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. Party members, cadres, and experts quoted in the piece express support for the "Two Establishments" and "Two Upholds," and emphasize the importance of self-revolution and the "Three Inevitable Requirements" as outlined by General Secretary Xi Jinping. Various officials, including He Lijun, Zhang Haitao, Zhang Xiuwu, Yuan Fang, Wang Xipeng, Liu Kai, Guo Yongtian, Liu Bo, Huang Ping, Zhu Hongming, Liu Ronggang, Wang Tao, and Bao Rengui, discuss implementing the Plenary Session's spirit in their respective fields, such as party building, development and reform, community work, agriculture, law enforcement, finance, health, and cadre management. The article highlights the "Seven Adherences" principles and stresses carrying through the strict tone of party governance from beginning to end.
Summary: The article commemorates 80 years of Communist Party leadership in Yellow River governance, highlighting Xi Jinping's three symposiums on the basin's ecological protection and high-quality development. It details historic achievements in flood control, water-sediment regulation, and ecological restoration, including 33 rounds of water-sediment regulation and treatment of 290,000 square kilometers of soil erosion. Officials such as Wei Xiangyang, Chief Engineer of the Yellow River Conservancy Commission, and Chen Dongming, its Director, are quoted on institutional progress and future goals. The piece emphasizes the shift from passive to active governance under Party leadership, with cumulative economic benefits of 24.2 trillion yuan. It concludes by framing the Yellow River's transformation as a symbol of national rejuvenation and the "river strategy" alongside the Yangtze River Economic Belt.
Summary: The article discusses General Secretary Xi Jinping's emphasis on passing the "test of the internet" as essential for long-term governance and Chinese modernization, framed around his "questions of the era" at the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference. It outlines China's efforts in cyberspace ecological governance, cybersecurity, informatization-driven development, and global cooperation, citing Xi's leadership in establishing the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission and his inspections of AI and computing power projects. The piece highlights China's legal and technological advances, including amendments to the Cybersecurity Law and breakthroughs in AI, 6G, and quantum technologies. It also covers China's global initiatives, such as the World Organization for Artificial Intelligence Cooperation and the concept of a community with a shared future in cyberspace. The article concludes that China's internet governance path, guided by Xi's thought on building a cyber power, will continue to support national rejuvenation and contribute to human digital civilization.
Summary: Fuzhou, Fujian, as one of the first batch of cities nationwide to carry out urban renewal initiatives, practices the people-centered city concept, steadily advances the renovation of old residential communities, and promotes the leap of urban construction from basic safe housing to quality livability. The photo shows citizens and tourists touring the Sanjie River in the Shangxiahang Historical and Cultural District of Fuzhou. The photo was taken by Wei Peiquan, Xinhua News Agency reporter.
Summary: The themed interview activity "Carrying Forward the Long March Spirit, Striving on the Journey of Rejuvenation — Reporters Retrace the Long March Road," organized by the Central Propaganda Department, concluded successfully. Reporters from central and local media witnessed new changes in old revolutionary base areas and received a baptism of the Long March spirit. The article highlights the contrast between the Central Red Army's 12-month march and today's 11-hour 32-minute high-speed rail journey from Ruijin to Yan'an, which achieved direct connectivity for the first time. It also details how railway infrastructure, including the New Western Land-Sea Corridor and the Xi'an-Yan'an high-speed railway, is driving revitalization, with examples such as Huaihua's freight growth and Luochuan apple exports to Nepal and international markets.
Summary: The Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee adopted the "Decision" on advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, prompting central and state organs and people's organizations to study its spirit and commit to implementing Xi Jinping's thought on Party building. Party members and cadres across various ministries expressed that the session's seven principles and systematic deployments will strengthen the Party's resilience and governance, with emphasis on strict discipline, anti-corruption, and institutional implementation. They pledged to unify actions with the plenary's spirit, deepen Party building, and provide a strong guarantee for socialist modernization and national rejuvenation. The session also decided that the 21st National Congress of the Communist Party of China will be held in Beijing in the second half of 2027.
Summary: Space-bred rice "Huahang Xiangyin Needle" has entered harvest at Wanlv Smart Farm in Dongyuan County, Heyuan City, Guangdong Province, with 50,000 mu planted across the city. Liu Yongzhu, deputy director of the National Engineering Research Center of Space Breeding for Plants at South China Agricultural University, explained that seeds returning from space require generations of observation and must be combined with local climate and soil conditions to assess yield, grain quality, and resistance. Guo Tao, director of the center, noted that finding a suitable mutant was extremely difficult due to the low probability of superior genes and the need for extensive field and laboratory identification, which took five years. The variety, certified by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, yields 723.5 kilograms per mu and resists rice blast and lodging, according to farm head Wang Jiankuan. A Heyuan Municipal Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs official added that the city has developed 2 categories and 3 series of space-bred Simiao rice products, with some varieties sent abroad for trial planting.
Summary: The article commemorates 80 years of Communist Party leadership in Yellow River governance, highlighting Xi Jinping's three symposiums on the basin's ecological protection and high-quality development. It details historic achievements in flood control, water-sediment regulation, and ecological restoration, including 33 rounds of water-sediment regulation and treatment of 290,000 square kilometers of soil erosion. Officials such as Wei Xiangyang, Chief Engineer of the Yellow River Conservancy Commission, and Chen Dongming, its Director, are quoted on institutional progress and future goals. The piece emphasizes the shift from passive to active governance under Party leadership, with cumulative economic benefits of 24.2 trillion yuan. It concludes by framing the Yellow River's transformation as a symbol of national rejuvenation and the "river strategy" alongside the Yangtze River Economic Belt.
Summary: Political party and government leaders from various countries, including Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Nepal, Turkey, Liberia, Zimbabwe, Chad, Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Botswana, Cuba, Spain, Russia, and members of the European Parliament, have highly evaluated the outcomes of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee. These leaders, such as Silva of the People's Liberation Front of Sri Lanka and Abhisit of the Democrat Party of Thailand, praised the Communist Party of China for its achievements in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. Many officials, including Chang Lih Kang of Malaysia and Belki of the Patriotic Party of Turkey, noted that General Secretary Xi Jinping's thought on Party building provides important inspiration and strategic guidance for political parties worldwide. The leaders further highlighted the significance of the Party's self-revolution and its commitment to serving the people as valuable references for sustainable development and national rejuvenation.
Summary: On October 30, President Xi Jinping held talks in Beijing with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and met with Swiss Federal President Viola Amherd, with both engagements releasing a positive signal of upholding dialogue and expanding cooperation. Xi pointed out that China-Germany relations have maintained a high level of development since the establishment of diplomatic relations, and emphasized that China-Switzerland relations have become a model for exchanges between countries of different sizes and social systems through "equality, innovation, and win-win" cooperation. The protocol on upgrading the China-Switzerland Free Trade Agreement was signed on the same day, further deepening bilateral economic and trade cooperation. Xi stressed that cooperation outweighs competition and consensus outweighs differences in China-EU relations, and that the two sides are fully capable of properly resolving economic and trade differences through dialogue and consultation. China is willing to work with the European side to uphold dialogue and consultation, tap the potential of practical cooperation, and jointly walk the path of mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation.
Summary: President Xi Jinping sent a letter to the 2026 Global Governance Forum (Xiong'an), stating that China is willing to work with all parties to practice the global governance concept of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, and promote the implementation of the Global Governance Initiative. The article argues that certain countries are politicizing and weaponizing economic, trade, scientific, technological, and financial tools, exacerbating bloc confrontation and fragmentation. It highlights the Global Governance Initiative's five core concepts and the Belt and Road Initiative's role in advancing connectivity and stabilizing global supply chains. The piece emphasizes that resolving governance deficits requires practical cooperation, not just conceptual declarations, and that people-to-people connectivity is essential for sustained international cooperation. The author is the Director of the Institute of Asian and African Development Studies under the Development Research Center of the State Council.
Summary: Sultan Haitham of Oman will pay a state visit to China from November 1 to 2 at the invitation of President Xi Jinping. Haitham bin Tariq, born in 1954, previously served as Oman's Minister of Heritage and Culture and succeeded to the throne in January 2020.
Summary: The article reports on reactions to the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, which approved a decision on persistently advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. Party members, cadres, and experts quoted in the piece express support for the "Two Establishments" and "Two Upholds," and emphasize the importance of self-revolution and the "Three Inevitable Requirements" as outlined by General Secretary Xi Jinping. Various officials, including He Lijun, Zhang Haitao, Zhang Xiuwu, Yuan Fang, Wang Xipeng, Liu Kai, Guo Yongtian, Liu Bo, Huang Ping, Zhu Hongming, Liu Ronggang, Wang Tao, and Bao Rengui, discuss implementing the Plenary Session's spirit in their respective fields, such as party building, development and reform, community work, agriculture, law enforcement, finance, health, and cadre management. The article highlights the "Seven Adherences" principles and stresses carrying through the strict tone of party governance from beginning to end.
Summary: The 2026 Shanghai Cooperation Organization Traditional Medicine Forum was held in Nanchang, Jiangxi, under the theme "Gathering the Wisdom of Traditional Medicine, Jointly Building People's Health," aiming to deepen cooperation among SCO member states and promote the integration of traditional medicine with modern science and technology. Brilewich, Deputy Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus, said traditional medicine embodies the wisdom of peoples for many centuries and that exchanges can become a vivid example of people-to-people diplomacy. Zholdasbai Yerlan, Chairman of the Association of Traditional Medicine Experts of Kazakhstan, noted over 200 registered traditional Chinese medicine clinics operate in Kazakhstan, with more than 30 in Astana alone. At the forum, a heat-sensitive moxibustion robot was showcased, which Panina, an academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, called an effective combination of modern technology and traditional Chinese medicine. The International Education Alliance for Traditional Medicine Technology was established, and guests visited the High-Tech Campus of the Affiliated Hospital of Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine and Jiangzhong Medicine Valley, with Hansaka Wijemuni, Deputy Minister of Health and Media of Sri Lanka, expressing hope for strengthened Sri Lanka-China cooperation in traditional medicine.
Summary: China and Switzerland signed the Protocol on Upgrading the China-Switzerland Free Trade Agreement in Beijing on October 30, according to the Ministry of Commerce. The protocol commits both sides to high-level opening-up in goods, services, and investment, and upgrades rules on origin, trade facilitation, technical barriers, digital trade, competition, and sustainable development. A Ministry of Commerce official said Switzerland is China's seventh-largest trading partner in Europe, while China is Switzerland's largest in Asia, with bilateral trade reaching USD 49.04 billion in 2025. The upgrade aims to expand market access, boost two-way investment, and set an example for jointly addressing challenges in international economic and trade affairs. The original agreement was signed in 2013 and took effect in July 2014; negotiations on the upgrade began in September 2024 and concluded in August 2026, with both sides now moving toward domestic approval and early implementation.
Summary: He Lifeng, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council, attended the opening ceremony of the 2026 Global Observance of World Cities Day and the Fourth Global Award for Sustainable Development in Cities (Shanghai Award) in Fuzhou, presenting awards and delivering a speech. He noted that China has fully implemented the people-centered approach to urban development, achieving historic progress, with the people basically achieving adequate housing and high-quality full employment. He said China aims to build modern people's cities that are innovative, livable, beautiful, resilient, civilized, and smart, and is willing to advance the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the New Urban Agenda. Before the ceremony, He Lifeng met with UN-Habitat Executive Director Rosebach, expressing China's willingness to expand strategic coordination and help Global South countries achieve sustainable urban development. Rosebach stated the UN-Habitat is willing to deepen practical cooperation with China. He Lifeng also visited the experience zone at the event site.
Summary: The Central Propaganda Department organized the themed interview activity "Carrying Forward the Long March Spirit, Striving Forward on the Journey of Rejuvenation — Reporters Retrace the Long March" on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army's Long March, with reporters from central and local media following the route of the First Front Army and covering the marching routes of other Red Army units across 15 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities. The reporters expressed that enhancing the "Four Capabilities" is an endless pursuit and that they must vigorously carry forward the great Long March spirit to write a new chapter on the new Long March. Reporters recounted visiting red heritage sites, hearing stories of martyrs like the "Seventeen Warriors of the Dadu River," and experiencing the spirit of the Long March through immersive encounters, with many noting that only by stepping into the soil and keeping close to the people can they tell more Chinese stories. The article highlights how the road to the Red Army's great victory was forged by the Party's correct leadership, firm revolutionary will, independence and self-reliance, and the support of the masses, as seen in sites like the Zunyi Conference Memorial Hall and Shazhou Village's "Half a Quilt" story. Reporters concluded that on the new Long March, they must draw strength from revolutionary predecessors, firm up convictions, and implement their work in a down-to-earth manner.
Summary: In the first three quarters, cultural and related industries enterprises above designated size nationwide achieved operating revenue of 10.821 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.3%, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The core cultural sector saw revenue of 7.5042 trillion yuan, up 5.1%, with cultural investment and operation, creative design services, and news and information services growing fastest at 11.7%, 8.8%, and 7.3%, respectively. New cultural business format industries contributed 98.9% to the growth of cultural enterprises above designated size, with subcategories like digital publishing, copyright and cultural software services, and internet advertising services achieving double-digit growth. Cultural service industries reached 6.5697 trillion yuan in revenue, up 7.3%, accounting for 60.7% of total cultural enterprise revenue, a 1.7 percentage point increase year-on-year.
Summary: The themed interview activity "Carrying Forward the Long March Spirit, Striving on the Journey of Rejuvenation — Reporters Retrace the Long March Road," organized by the Central Propaganda Department, concluded successfully. Reporters from central and local media witnessed new changes in old revolutionary base areas and received a baptism of the Long March spirit. The article highlights the contrast between the Central Red Army's 12-month march and today's 11-hour 32-minute high-speed rail journey from Ruijin to Yan'an, which achieved direct connectivity for the first time. It also details how railway infrastructure, including the New Western Land-Sea Corridor and the Xi'an-Yan'an high-speed railway, is driving revitalization, with examples such as Huaihua's freight growth and Luochuan apple exports to Nepal and international markets.
Summary: The article discusses General Secretary Xi Jinping's emphasis on passing the "test of the internet" as essential for long-term governance and Chinese modernization, framed around his "questions of the era" at the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference. It outlines China's efforts in cyberspace ecological governance, cybersecurity, informatization-driven development, and global cooperation, citing Xi's leadership in establishing the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission and his inspections of AI and computing power projects. The piece highlights China's legal and technological advances, including amendments to the Cybersecurity Law and breakthroughs in AI, 6G, and quantum technologies. It also covers China's global initiatives, such as the World Organization for Artificial Intelligence Cooperation and the concept of a community with a shared future in cyberspace. The article concludes that China's internet governance path, guided by Xi's thought on building a cyber power, will continue to support national rejuvenation and contribute to human digital civilization.
Summary: Shenzhen Hetao College, jointly established by 31 mainland universities and 6 from Hong Kong and Macao, held an Innovation and Cooperation Conference showcasing six annual research achievements, including the MM-Hand dexterous robotic hand. Vice President Luo Zhiquan emphasized the college's goal to cultivate top-tier AI talent through real-task assessments, all-English instruction, and a dual-track model integrating industry mentors, moving classrooms to the industrial front line. The college completed full-parameter post-training of a 1.6-trillion-parameter large model on domestic Ascend 910C computing power, and a doctoral team won the 2026 ITU Global AI Agent competition. It has established deep ties with enterprises like Huawei and Tencent, and formed the "Hetao Gravity Artificial Intelligence Innovation Consortium" with 36 units to drive joint research. Luo stated the college will pursue end-to-end research around national needs, aiming for original results and an integrated education-science-technology-talent development model.
Summary: Several Chinese universities, including Hubei University of Automotive Technology and Jining Medical University, have issued rules strictly prohibiting "reliance on PPT throughout the entire class" to end "reading from courseware." The commentary argues that this reflects insufficient teaching preparation and a need to improve teaching effectiveness, while also noting that some students treat photographing slides as attending class. It stresses that the ban is not a one-size-fits-all return to an era without projectors, but rather aims to leave time for knowledge internalization, with teaching methods chosen based on whether they enhance learning. The piece attributes the problem partly to evaluation systems that "emphasize research and de-emphasize teaching," making classroom teaching a "soft indicator," and calls for reforming evaluation mechanisms alongside the ban. It cites Zhongnan University of Economics and Law's "My Favorite Teacher" selection, which rewards teachers based on teaching quality rather than research, and concludes that technology cannot replace real-time dialogue and emotional resonance between teachers and students.
Summary: The article argues that the integration of industry and education must run through the entire process of talent cultivation in vocational education, emphasizing that success depends on whether mechanisms operate, teaching changes, and teachers keep pace with industry. It highlights the role of Party building in smoothing coordination, the need for majors to synchronize with industrial structures, and the importance of technology feeding back into teaching to develop "dual-qualified" teachers. The author, the Party Secretary of Mianyang Vocational and Technical College, describes opening over 30 order-based classes and forming technical service teams to serve small, medium, and micro enterprises. The piece concludes that the school will continue pursuing high-quality development featuring industry-education collaboration and service to the local area.
Summary: Shandong Agricultural University is advancing a "grand ideological and political course" by taking education into rural fields, with students like Qin Weibo sharing frontline service experiences as student science and technology commissioners. The university promotes a "double-teacher" model pairing ideological and political instructors with agricultural experts, holding classes in orchards, greenhouses, and fields to address students' questions about why and for whom to study agriculture. Students apply their learning to real problems, such as Zhang Xiaoya helping melon growers with disease and sugar content issues, and Chen Shangjing shortening fruit vinegar fermentation from 28 to 8 days. The university has built a "Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand" practical service team—100 doctoral students covering counties, 1,000 master's students covering townships, and 10,000 undergraduates covering villages—to support rural revitalization. Party Secretary Zhang Ran stated the university will continue using rural platforms to guide students to write their theses on the land and deliver a youthful answer sheet of "strengthening agriculture, with me."
Summary: Macao Polytechnic University celebrated two gold medals within a week: Kuong Chi Hin won Macao's first gold at the 20th Asian Games in men's martial arts changquan, and Wong Weng Kei won gold in Visual Merchandising at the 48th WorldSkills Competition. Rector Chou Chong Ion attributed the achievements to a "people-oriented" philosophy of education, enabling each student to find a suitable development track. The university emphasizes practical training, individualized plans, and an "integration of sports and education" model, supported by advanced sports science laboratories. MPU is expanding into Hengqin with a new campus under a "one university, two campuses" model, aiming to cultivate talent with international vision and align with national development. The article highlights Macao's institutional advantages under One Country, Two Systems, backed by the motherland and connected to the world.
Summary: The Taiwan authorities' ban on commemorative visits to the mainland for the 160th anniversary of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's birth reveals their fears, as the article accuses them of betraying the nation and history to escalate cross-strait confrontation. It argues that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities fear Taiwanese compatriots will see the mainland's realization of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's blueprint and strengthen their identity as "both sides of the strait are Chinese," undermining their "de-Sinicization" efforts. The piece condemns the DPP's attempts to erase Dr. Sun Yat-sen's legacy, including dismantling statues and redesigning banknotes, as "forgetting one's roots and traditions." It asserts that such manipulations cannot change the fact that both sides belong to one China or stop the inevitable reunification of the motherland.
Summary: The "Uniting Family and Country Toward Rejuvenation — Thematic Exhibition Marking the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese" was held at the Overseas Chinese History Museum of China. The exhibition displays more than 400 sets of collected items, presenting the federation's 70-year journey in uniting and guiding overseas Chinese, returned overseas Chinese, and their family members to serve national development. It will run until February next year. The photo shows visitors touring the exhibition.
Summary: The sixth Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Culture and Arts Festival opened on October 31 at the Shenzhen Bay Culture and Arts Center, with Hong Kong and Macao troupes performing in the mainland while Guangdong productions toured south. The article argues that shared cultural roots are the foundation for uniting the three places, citing the success of works like *Wing Chun* and *I Am What I Am* as evidence of common cultural memory. It calls for expanding performance platforms and innovating mechanisms to shift Hong Kong and Macao troupes from "passing through" to "mainland premieres" and "joint creation." The piece highlights "soft connectivity" measures, including Shenzhen Customs' "zero-delay" clearance for cross-border musical instruments and unified service standards, to smooth cultural exchange. The festival features 75 productions and 148 performances across 11 cities, with Hong Kong and Macao productions accounting for nearly one-third of domestic offerings.
Summary: The Hong Kong Museum of Art, located on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront, is showcasing "A Refreshing Breeze: Selected Fans from the Jingguan Lou Collection," featuring over 150 folding fans from collector Wong Kwai-kuen's private collection alongside the museum's own holdings. Hong Kong arts practitioner Zhu Chenxin noted that the small fan surface tests an artist's composition and brushwork skill, requiring balance between scenery and inscription. The museum, which received more than 1.38 million visits in 2025 and has been ranked among the world's 100 most popular art museums, is Hong Kong's first public art museum, founded in 1962 with a collection of approximately 20,000 treasures. Chief Curator Mok Ka-wing said the museum is accelerating Hong Kong's building into a center for cultural and artistic exchanges between China and other countries, placing Chinese and Western landscape paintings together and combining traditional art with digital experiences. The article highlights how international visitors, including a Canadian traveler named Annabelle who became the five-millionth visitor since the museum's expansion, come to Hong Kong because of exhibitions and experience the city's cultural character of blending Chinese and Western cultures.
Summary: At the 2026 International Forum on Grotto Temple Protection in Datong, Shanxi, Li Li, deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage, said climate change and severe weather have become key factors affecting the preservation of China's cultural heritage, citing 2025 data on record rainfall and high-temperature days. The article details how water damage, including condensation water, is the most widespread deterioration type for grottoes, with researchers like Huang Jizhong of Shanghai University developing monitoring and treatment technologies achieving over 97% effectiveness at the Yungang Grottoes. Protection efforts have shifted from rescue to preventive conservation, as exemplified by the Yungang Grottoes' monitoring systems and the Maijishan Grottoes' comprehensive management based on risk assessment, according to officials Hang Kan and Yue Yongqiang. Digital technologies, including 3D scanning and AI, are creating permanent "digital archives" for grottoes, with the Dunhuang Academy's "Digital Dunhuang" project completing photographic collection for 323 caves and over 600 TB of data, as reported by deputy director Yu Tianxiu. The article also notes that UNESCO World Heritage Centre director Lazare Eloundou Assomo praised China's continued investment in heritage protection and sharing of experience with the world.
Summary: The article discusses a shift in China's cultural and museum boom from superficial check-ins to deeper, immersive engagement with cultural relics. It cites a Tongcheng Travel report showing a 62 percent year-on-year growth in bookings for guided interpretation services in the first half of 2026, reflecting a move toward knowledge acquisition and emotional resonance. The transformation is attributed to rising public spiritual needs, with younger generations prioritizing content and experiential quality over shallow leisure. The piece highlights improved public cultural services, noting museum numbers grew from 5,788 to 7,188 during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, hosting 224,000 exhibitions and 2.251 million educational activities. It concludes that this deepening cultural engagement strengthens identification with China's traditional culture and supports the building of a culturally strong country.
Summary: In Wangxian Village, Wanrong County, Shanxi Province, a self-organized "Leshan Wanrong Mama Group" of over 20 rural women in red cheongsams performed at a wedding, replacing costly outsourced drum teams and song-and-dance troupes as a frugal, festive alternative to lavish celebrations. Wang Maiju, whose family hosted the event, praised the volunteers for setting aside farm work to help, calling their neighborly affection more precious than any grand spectacle. The county's "Eight Advocacies, Eight Resistances" initiative has promoted simple funerals and thrift, with every village now fielding 1 to 3 "Mama Group" rehearsal teams, and larger villages up to six. Li Hongquan, Party Secretary of Nanzhang Township, said the group helps cultivate civilized rural customs, good family traditions, and simple folkways. Yin Zhongli, Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of the Wanrong County Party Committee, noted the group has united villagers and refreshed mothers' mental state, embedding virtues like harmonious couples and helping others through imperceptible influence.
Summary: The article reflects on how the great Long March spirit has been inherited by generations of art workers, focusing on the author's father, Dong Xiwen, one of the first painters to retrace the Long March route after the founding of New China. Dong's 1955 sketching journey with the August First Film Studio, during which he completed over 250 sketches, provided the material for his oil painting *The Red Army Fears Not the Hardships of the Long March*. The author details how Dong's firsthand experience on the grasslands, including the sketch *The High Grassland by the Banks of the Banyou River*, allowed him to combine historical truth with emotional expression, breaking through popular models of historical painting. Dong's final work uses cold tones and bonfires to symbolize hardship and hope, integrating Chinese freehand brushwork to embody his "nationalization of oil painting" concept. The painting remains a moving tribute, displayed in the "Great Long March" exhibition at the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution, illuminating the road ahead for viewers.
Summary: The article argues that public calligraphy aesthetic education is urgent, as internet access has widened the aesthetic distance despite narrowing spatial distance, allowing "broom-style" and "jianghu" calligraphy to proliferate. It calls on professional institutions and calligraphy workers to make education "heard" (broad reach) and "understood" (deep impact), addressing challenges like scattered popularization efforts and weak online presence. Solutions include proactive outreach to venues like schools and parks, establishing incentive mechanisms for new-media knowledge services, and using accessible forms like short videos and livestreams. To achieve understanding, professionals should translate jargon into plain language, build goodwill before interpretation, and use narrative and humor. The author, Vice Chairman of the Chinese Calligraphers Association, concludes that improving public aesthetics is an ongoing, era-defining task.
Summary: The article discusses the concept of "leaving blank" in Chinese painting, as explored in the Guangzhou Museum of Art's exhibition "Leaving Blank: From Traditional Artistic Conception to Contemporary Expression." It explains that blank space is a major feature of traditional Chinese painting composition, serving functions of "separating" and "connecting" while regulating the viewer's rhythm of appreciation. The piece cites Qing dynasty painter Dai Xi and Pan Tianshou on the importance of void and solid, sparseness and density in composition. In contemporary art, leaving blank has been endowed with richer expression, as seen in works by artists like Fang Xiang, Wei Qingji, and Che Jianquan, extending from an artistic concept to a life attitude. The author is identified as a research curator at the Guangzhou Museum of Art.
Summary: This article discusses the artistic conception of autumn in Chinese painting, focusing on Ming-dynasty painter Lan Ying's blue-and-green heavy-color work *White Clouds and Red Trees*. The painting, created when Lan Ying was seventy-four, depicts autumn scenery with mineral blue and green mountains, red and yellow trees, and white clouds, using the *mogu* (boneless) technique. The author notes Lan Ying's inscription referencing Zhang Sengyou's *mogu* method, linking his style to the influence of Ming-dynasty Dong Qichang. The work presents autumn as radiant and luxuriant rather than desolate, conveying a composed recognition of life. The author is an associate professor at the School of Art, Suzhou University of Science and Technology.
Summary: The article is a photo report featuring the Chinese painting *Golden Boughs of a Bumper Year* by Ma Shulin.
Summary: The article discusses the exhibition "Splendid Waves of Color — A Cloisonné Journey on the Grand Canal" at the China Grand Canal Museum in Yangzhou, which explores how the imported craft of cloisonné was localized and refined into a distinctly Chinese art form. It traces the craft's development from its foreign origins through the Qing Dynasty, when the Imperial Household Department's Palace Workshops established a dedicated cloisonné workshop and regional schools in Guangzhou and Yangzhou flourished. The article highlights how craftsmen traveling along the canal, including "southern craftsmen" from Guangzhou, Yangzhou, and Suzhou, as well as Western artisans, contributed to technical innovation and aesthetic characteristics such as solemn grandeur and richly ornate decoration. It emphasizes the theme of "fusion," noting how cloisonné absorbed Chinese cultural elements in vessel forms, decoration, and techniques, and concludes that the craft's journey epitomizes Chinese civilization's absorbing and integrating diverse elements while upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground.
By: 本报记者 孟祥夫
The Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party proposed that "strengthening Party spirit is the fundamental task of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party," required that "making the enhancement of Party spirit cultivation a lifelong subject," and emphasized "persisting in using the Party's innovative theories to unite hearts and forge souls."
Emphasizing building the Party through ideology and strengthening the Party through theory is a distinctive feature and glorious tradition of our Party.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The advanced nature of a Marxist political party is first and foremost reflected in the advanced nature of its ideology and theory" and "for our Party, the world's largest Marxist governing party, only with strong theory can we have clear direction, united hearts, and sufficient confidence."
"Persisting in using the Party's innovative theories to unite hearts and forge souls" is one of the essential connotations of the Fourteen Commitments (十四个坚持) of Xi Jinping's Party building thought, profoundly revealing the fundamental task of the Party's ideological construction.
The Party's innovative theories not only contain the wisdom of the Party's governance and administration, but also run through the requirements of the political character, value pursuits, spiritual realm, and work style integrity of Chinese Communists.
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Political cultivation must be placed first in Party spirit cultivation, drawing Party spirit nourishment from the Party's innovative theories." Persisting in tempering strong Party spirit is a required course for Chinese Communists in the new era to forever maintain their political character, and is the fundamental requirement for a long-term governing Marxist party to forever maintain its advanced nature and purity.
Drawing Party spirit nourishment from the Party's innovative theories begins with firmly establishing ideals and convictions.
In Ganzhou, Jiangxi, on the banks of the Yudu River, the Memorial Hall of the Long March Departure of the Central Red Army has many visitors.
Crossing snowy mountains and grasslands, passing through hail of bullets, over 25,000 li — on what did the Party and the Red Army rely to "repeatedly rise from desperate situations, becoming more courageous after setbacks (愈挫愈勇, yu cuo yu yong - "more defeat, more courage"), and finally achieve victory, creating incredible miracles"?
At the conference commemorating the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "we must adhere to the ideals, convictions, and purposes of the Party."
Firm ideals and convictions must be built upon a profound understanding of Marxism and a deep grasp of the laws of history.
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "The foundation of us Communists is faith in Marxism, conviction in socialism with Chinese characteristics and communism, and loyalty to the Party and the people. The foundation we must solidify is to firmly establish this faith, firmly establish this conviction, and firmly establish this loyalty."
Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has successively deployed and carried out 9 rounds of centralized intra-Party education, each time leading with ideological education, promoting Party members and leading cadres to bear in mind the fundamental question of what the Communist Party of China is and what it wants to do. The broad masses of Party members and leading cadres have been strengthening the foundation and revitalizing the essence (固本培元, gu ben pei yuan - "solidify foundation, nourish origin"), tempering Party spirit, sublimating theoretical recognition into firm faith, and building a solid foundation of Party spirit through ideological tempering.
Drawing Party spirit nourishment from the Party's innovative theories emphasizes cultivating deep feelings for the people.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The Communist Party of China regards doing things for the people and bringing well-being to the people as its most important political achievement, and regards how many good deeds and practical things have been done for the common people as an important criterion for testing political achievements."
The people's standpoint is the fundamental standpoint of Marxism. A red thread running through Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is putting the people first.
"The Communist Party of China is a party that serves the people," a party that "can get things done, and does things seriously."
General Secretary Xi Jinping has been leading by example (以上率下, yi shang lv xia - "above, lead below"), going deep into the grassroots and among the masses time and again.
Since the beginning of this year, during an inspection in Beijing, he emphasized "effectively ensuring people's livelihood security and work safety"; in Dezhou, Shandong, he learned in detail whether the Party's policies on agriculture, rural areas, and farmers (三农) have all been fully implemented; in Shanghai, he listened to briefings on Shanghai's promotion of renovation and upgrading of old houses without sanitary facilities, historically solving the problem of residents in old urban areas "carrying chamber pots," and community renovation... Asking about the warmth and cold of people's livelihood, listening to the voices of the masses, reflecting the profound feelings of "putting the people first."
The country is the people, and the people are the country. Placing the people at the highest position in our hearts and maintaining close ties with the masses of the people has always been the foundation of our Party's invincibility.
Drawing Party spirit nourishment from the Party's innovative theories is ultimately reflected in guiding concrete practice.
The Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party required "tempering Party spirit in practice."
At the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized the need to "more resolutely and forcefully implement the major decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee, more scientifically and effectively confine power in the cage of institutions, more soberly and firmly advance the fight against corruption, and provide strong guarantees for achieving the goals and tasks of the '15th Five-Year Plan' period."
Implementing and following through is the fundamental requirement of the Party's political line, ideological line, and mass line, and is also an important indicator for measuring the Party spirit and view of political achievements of leading cadres.
In emergency rescue and disaster relief, Party members and leading cadres charge ahead, sparing no effort to protect the safety of people's lives and property; on the front line of comprehensive rural revitalization, first secretaries stationed in villages work deep in the fields, exploring the development of distinctive industries; at the sites of major engineering projects, Party member vanguard teams overcome tough problems and difficulties (攻坚克难, gong jian ke nan - "attack key point, overcome difficulty"), finding the keys to solving problems...
Truly internalizing principles and putting them into practice (内化于心、外化于行, nei hua yu xin, wai hua yu xing - "internalize in heart, externalize in action") the results of theoretical study, being adept at nourishing Party spirit with the Party's fine traditions and China's excellent traditional culture, consciously being firm believers and faithful practitioners of the Party's innovative theories, and being firm actionists and doers in Chinese modernization.
"Live to old age, learn to old age, cultivate to old age." On the new journey, every Party member and leading cadre must learn through study, reflection, and practice (学思践悟, xue si jian wu - "learn, think, practice, realize"), carefully self-examine and act with determination (细照笃行, xi zhao du xing - "carefully examine, earnestly act"), deepen, internalize, and transform the Party's innovative theories into "nourishment" for remolding the subjective world and "keys" for remolding the objective world, serving the masses with strong Party spirit, taking on responsibilities with strong Party spirit, and continuously opening up new space for the development of the cause.
Return to TopBy: 本报评论员
Our Party is committed to the eternal great cause of the Chinese nation, and first of all it must accomplish the Party's missions and tasks for the new era and the new journey.
The Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party deliberated and adopted the "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues Concerning Persisting in Full and Rigorous Self-Governance of the Party," which clearly sets forth the major principles to be followed in persisting in full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, with "adhering to serving the missions and tasks" ranked first. This fully demonstrates the strategic vision and sense of responsibility of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core in coordinating the two overall situations and commanding the overall development situation.
Subordinating to and serving the development of the cause of the Party and the state has always been an important principle of Party building. Comprehensively advancing the building of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation through Chinese modernization is the central task of the entire Party and the people of all ethnic groups across the country on the new journey of the new era. The Plenary Session paid attention to grasping the internal connection between governing and managing the Party, invigorating and strengthening the Party, and building a strong country and national rejuvenation, and planned and proposed various policies and measures that are closely aligned with the needs of the development of the cause of the Party and the state, ensuring that all aspects of the deployment for persisting in full and rigorous self-governance of the Party revolve around the central task and serve the overall situation. This will inevitably have a major and far-reaching impact on strengthening the Party and the country.
"The more effective the governance and management of the Party, the stronger the guarantee for economic and social development." From opening up a new realm of governance in China through the governance of the Communist Party of China, we can better understand the profound connotation and far-reaching significance of the strategic tasks and major measures deployed by the Plenary Session.
Only with strong Party spirit will one always take the Party's banner as one's banner, the Party's will as one's will, and the Party's mission as one's mission. "Adhering to tempering strong Party spirit" is an important part of Xi Jinping's thought on Party building.
The Plenary Session proposed that strengthening Party spirit is the fundamental task of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. Around "strengthening the Party spirit of Communists," it made specific deployments such as "adhering to using the Party's innovative theories to consolidate the soul and forge the heart," with the aim of promoting all Party members and cadres to unify their thoughts, will, and actions with the Party's missions and tasks.
Now let us look at high-quality development.
From making the major judgment that "China's economy has shifted from a stage of high-speed growth to a stage of high-quality development," to proposing the new development philosophy to initiate a profound transformation related to the overall situation of China's development, and then to creatively proposing the theory of new quality productive forces and making major deployments...
High-quality development is a theoretical crystallization formed by General Secretary Xi Jinping's scientific summary of the new stage of China's development and its essential characteristics, and has become the "theme of economic and social development" and the "primary task."
Acting under the overall situation commanded by the Party Central Committee, finding their own positioning in the overall national development situation, all localities promote high-quality development in light of local conditions and advance in unison.
"Intelligent Manufacturing in China" has become another shining calling card of Chinese modernization, firmly maintaining the position of the world's second-largest commodity consumer market and the largest trading country in goods, and the complete industrial system has become the strategic support for China's economy to brave the wind and waves and forge ahead (顶风破浪, ding feng po lang - "top, wind, break, waves") while maintaining strong resilience and vitality... Facing the complex and changing domestic and international environment, our Party grasps the initiative in development through theoretical initiative.
Taking the Party's political construction as the guide, adhering to ideological guidance, strengthening theoretical arming, high-quality development has become the hard truth of the new era and a consensus and action of the entire Party and the whole society.
As an important part of Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, "adhering to building a high-quality cadre contingent capable of shouldering the heavy task of national rejuvenation" is a key issue related to the cause of the Party and the state.
The Plenary Session planned and deployed "forging a high-quality cadre contingent capable of shouldering the heavy task of national rejuvenation," and made specific deployments such as "promoting cadres to establish and practice a correct view of political achievements," with the aim of ensuring that our cadre contingent is politically sound, highly capable, has excellent work style, and strict discipline, so as to provide an important guarantee for better realizing the Party's missions and tasks.
"Leading cadres at all levels should proceed from realizing the Party's missions and tasks to establish and practice a correct view of political achievements." The study and education on establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements carried out across the Party this year has achieved notable results, and adhering to ideological guidance, truly investigating and practically rectifying, leaders setting an example for subordinates (以上率下, yi shang lü xia - "above, lead, rate, below"), treating both symptoms and root causes (标本兼治, biao ben jian zhi - "mark, root, simultaneously, treat"), and serving the central task are important experiences.
Implementing "adhering to making high-quality development an important part of leading cadres' view of political achievements," all localities develop new quality productive forces in light of local conditions, and new industries and new economic growth points are continuously cultivated;
Keeping in mind that "bringing benefits to the people is the greatest political achievement," advancing old housing renovation and urban renewal, promoting trade-in of consumer goods, high-quality development and high-quality life are moving toward each other...
Through study and education, Party organizations at all levels and the vast majority of Party members and cadres have a clearer direction for progress, a more solid work style, and better results in promoting reform, development, and stability, and with a more vigorous and uplifting spirit, they strive to create real achievements that stand the test of practice, the people, and history.
"Without the revolutionary forging of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, there would not be such a highly united, strong, and cohesive Communist Party of China today, there would not be a Party-mass relationship of unanimous unity of the people (万众一心, wan zhong yi xin - "ten thousand, masses, one, heart") and strength in unity of purpose (众志成城, zhong zhi cheng cheng - "masses, will, form, city") in the face of difficulties, and it would be impossible to win historical initiative amid international vicissitudes."
Striving for the 15th Five-Year Plan, the uncertain and unpredictable factors facing China's development are increasing, and further comprehensively deepening reform and promoting high-quality development encounter many new issues. The more unprecedented in history (前无古人, qian wu gu ren - "front, no, ancient, person") the pioneering undertaking, the more glorious and dream-filled the expedition, the more we must persist in full and rigorous self-governance of the Party and build our Party better and stronger.
The new journey is the new Long March of the Party and the people. Unifying thoughts and actions with the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party and the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee, adhering to staying true to the Party's original aspiration and founding mission, always revolving around the central task and serving the overall situation, and striving to open up a new situation in governing and managing the Party, invigorating and strengthening the Party, we will surely be able to push the development of the cause of the Party and the state to a new level.
Return to TopBy: 本报记者
Handling China's affairs well hinges on the Party, and hinges on full and rigorous self-governance of the Party.
The Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee deliberated and approved the "Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Several Major Issues Concerning Persistently Advancing Full and Rigorous Self-Governance of the Party," fully demonstrating the historical initiative of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core to strengthen the Party and strengthen the country.
After the conclusion of the Plenary Session, the broad ranks of Party members, cadres, and the people earnestly studied and comprehended the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee. Everyone unanimously expressed that they would firmly uphold the Two Establishments (两个确立), resolutely achieve the Two Upholds (两个维护), deeply understand the importance and urgency of persistently advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, and, with a high sense of political responsibility and a strong sense of historical mission, do a solid job of implementing the spirit of the Plenary Session, so that our Party forever retains its vigor and vitality, successfully traverses the new road of examination, and continuously advances the great cause of Chinese modernization.
Deeply Understanding the Party's Outstanding Qualities
The journey of rejuvenation is magnificent and magnificent, and the century-old major Party is in the prime of its life or glory (风华正茂, feng hua zheng mao - "wind, flower, correct, flourishing").
The Plenary Session reviewed the Party's more than 100 years of struggle and pointed out: "Finding the two answers of 'letting the people supervise the government' and 'self-revolution' to escape the historical cycle of rise and fall, chaos and order, is the unique creation of the Communist Party of China and will forever be recorded in the annals of the construction of Marxist political parties."
He Lijun (何丽君), a professor at the China Executive Leadership Academy Pudong, said: "The classic Marxist writers did not provide a ready-made plan for preventing party degeneration under conditions of long-term governance. Chinese Communists have always remained sober and steadfast, advancing theoretical innovation, practical innovation, and institutional innovation in party governance without a moment's pause. These two answers are a profound summary of the Party's historical experience in party building and a major innovation in the Marxist theory of party building. On the new journey, the whole Party must adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping's thought on party building, thoroughly implement the spirit of the Plenary Session, and continue to answer well the major question of the times—'what kind of long-term governing Marxist party to build and how to build a long-term governing Marxist party'—through practical action."
Looking back on the road traveled, one outstanding quality of our Party is "focusing on strengthening itself and always being full of vigor and vitality." Full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era has opened up a new realm of self-revolution for the century-old major Party.
"The Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has made full and rigorous self-governance of the Party a long-term strategy and an eternal topic for the Party, never retreating a single step and carrying it through to the end. This is a vivid manifestation of this outstanding quality on the new journey of the new era," said Zhang Haitao (张海涛), associate professor of the Department of Party Building Teaching and Research at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance). "As long as the whole Party always maintains unified thinking, firm will, coordinated action, and strong combat effectiveness, and persistently advances full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, it will surely be able to continuously create a new situation of party governance, party revitalization, and party strengthening in the new era."
Looking ahead, at whatever stage the cause of the Party and the people develops, party building must advance to that stage. Full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is always on the road.
"The Plenary Session's major strategic deployment for persistently advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is of great significance for consolidating the Party's long-term governing position and realizing the Party's mission and tasks," said Zhang Xiuwu (张秀武), Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission of the Party Committee of the National Development and Reform Commission. "We will adhere to strengthening the Party's overall leadership over development and reform work, strengthen Party spirit education, consolidate the grassroots foundation, continue to rectify work styles and discipline, advance in an integrated manner the efforts to ensure that officials do not dare to be corrupt, cannot be corrupt, and do not want to be corrupt, and promote high-quality development of development and reform work through high-quality party building."
"As grassroots community workers, persistently advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party means persistently exercising self-restraint and persistently maintaining close ties with the masses," said Yuan Fang (袁芳), Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Residents' Committee of Nanhu Community, Nanhu Street, Nanhu District, Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province. "We must take the spirit of the Plenary Session as our guide, continue to do a good job of volunteer services such as 'Guarding the Red Boat,' treat the residents' 'small matters' as the community's 'major matters,' and practice our original aspiration and founding mission through tangible work results."
Accurately Grasping the "Three Inevitable Requirements"
The examination paper of the times is constantly renewed, and the pace of the examination journey has never stopped.
General Secretary Xi Jinping explained the "Decision (Draft)" to the Plenary Session and put forward the major thesis of the "Three Inevitable Requirements."
Persistently advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is an inevitable requirement for maintaining the Party's advanced nature and purity and consolidating the Party's long-term governing position.
"Advanced nature and purity are the essential attributes of a Marxist party, but they are not naturally generated, nor are they a one-off solution that solves a problem permanently (一劳永逸, yi lao yong yi - "one, labor, forever, forever")." Wang Xipeng (王希鹏), a researcher at the China Academy of Discipline Inspection and Supervision, said that full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era has fundamentally reversed the lax, loose, and soft state of party governance, and the Party has become stronger and more powerful through revolutionary tempering. However, party governance must never slacken or rest on its laurels. Only by maintaining persistent tenacity and continuously realizing the Party's self-purification, self-improvement, self-renewal, and self-enhancement can the Party be ensured to forever remain a strong leading core.
Persistently advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is an inevitable requirement for consolidating and developing the sound political situation of the whole Party's high degree of unity and solidarity and the high degree of cohesion of Party spirit, military spirit, and popular sentiment.
"Speaking politics with a clear-cut stand and ensuring the Party's unity and centralized, unified leadership are the life of the Party. The closer we get to the goal, the more complex the situation and the more arduous the tasks, the more we must safeguard the Party's unity and solidarity and ensure that the whole Party acts with unified will, unified action, and acting in perfect unison (步调一致, bu tiao yi zhi - "step, tune, one, consistent")." Liu Kai (刘凯), Secretary of the Baiyin Municipal Party Committee of Gansu Province, said that he would unswervingly and thoroughly (不折不扣, bu zhe bu kou - "not, fold, not, mouth") implement the spirit of the Plenary Session, especially by making the enhancement of Party spirit the fundamental task of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, taking benefiting the people as the greatest political achievement, sincerely responding to the expectations of the masses, earnestly handling livelihood matters for the people, and striving to create a better life, continuously consolidating the Party's governing foundation.
Persistently advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is an inevitable requirement for accomplishing the Party's historical mission and promoting the steady and long-term development of the Party and the country's cause.
"Adhering to the Party's leadership is the most essential feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics. To continuously create new historical achievements, we must build our Party better and stronger." Guo Yongtian (郭永田), Director of the Department of Farmland Construction Management of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said that he would earnestly study and implement the spirit of the Plenary Session, focus on the urgent and difficult problems of the masses in the field of high-standard farmland construction, deal with problems directly and firmly (动真碰硬, dong zhen peng ying - "move, true, bump, hard") and carry out problem rectification on a regular basis, establish and improve mechanisms for the construction, operation, and management and protection of high-standard farmland, further consolidate the foundation of national food security, and promote the implementation of measures to achieve tangible results (落地见效, luo di jian xiao - "land, ground, see, effect") of all the Plenary Session's decisions and deployments in the agricultural and rural fields.
Liu Bo (刘波), Director of the Bureau of Administrative Law Enforcement Coordination and Supervision of the Ministry of Justice, said: "The national administrative law enforcement supervision front must deeply study and implement Xi Jinping's thought on party building and Xi Jinping's thought on the rule of law, accurately grasp the practical requirements of promoting the organic unity of law-based governance and rule-based governance of the Party, make every effort to implement the tasks deployed by the Plenary Session, continuously rectify prominent problems in administrative law enforcement strongly reflected by enterprises and the masses, comprehensively improve the quality and efficiency of administrative law enforcement, optimize the law-based business environment, and provide solid guarantees for high-quality development."
Carrying Through the Strict Tone from Beginning to End
The new journey is the new Long March of the Party and the people.
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Facing the future, no matter what difficulties we encounter, no matter what storms and trials we endure, we must maintain our resolve and confidence, and carry through from beginning to end (一以贯之, yi yi guan zhi - "one, by, pass through,之") full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, without the slightest hesitation or retreat."
The Plenary Session clarified the "Seven Adherences" principles to be followed in persistently advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. Huang Ping (黄平), Deputy Secretary in charge of routine work of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Finance, said: "This is both an epistemology and a methodology. We must firmly grasp the political orientation of the financial departments and the political attributes of financial work, run the 'Seven Adherences' through the entire process of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the financial departments, better play finance's role as the foundation and important pillar of national governance, strengthen financial macro-control, deepen fiscal and tax system reform, strengthen fiscal and accounting supervision, and ensure the high-quality development of the financial cause through new achievements in full and rigorous self-governance of the Party."
Zhu Hongming (诸宏明), Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Health Development Research Center of the National Health Commission, said: "The health system must deeply study and implement the spirit of the Plenary Session, run the 'Seven Adherences' through the entire process of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, run the Party's leadership through all aspects of the Healthy China initiative; firmly press and compact the political responsibility for party governance, motivate Party members and cadres to take responsibility and act, and ensure that the Party Central Committee's major decisions and deployments on the Healthy China initiative are implemented."
"Party spirit is the cornerstone for Party members and cadres to establish themselves, establish their careers, establish their words, and establish their virtue. The Plenary Session proposed that enhancing Party spirit is the fundamental task of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. This fully reflects our Party's profound grasp of the laws of party governance." Liu Ronggang (刘荣刚), Director of the Seventh Research Department of the Central Institute of Party History and Literature, said that as Party history and literature workers, we must adhere to examining, planning, and advancing work from a political and overall perspective, further do a good job of research and interpretation, learning and education, and publicity and popularization of the Party's theories and history, use the Party's struggle course and great achievements to inspire fighting spirit and guide direction, use the Party's glorious traditions and fine work styles to strengthen conviction and gather strength, and use the Party's historical experience and practical creation to enlighten wisdom and temper character.
"The key to full and rigorous self-governance of the Party lies in governing officials with strict discipline (从严治吏, cong yan zhi li - "follow, strict, govern, official")." Wang Tao (汪滔), member of the Standing Committee of the Nanchong Municipal Party Committee of Sichuan Province and head of the Organization Department, said that we must take the spirit of the Plenary Session as our guide, run the strict tone through the entire process of cadre education and training, selection and appointment, and management and supervision. Adhere to strictly grasping and strictly forging the team, continuously strengthen the capacity building of leadership teams after the change of term, and promote the concentration of outstanding cadres and high-quality talent resources in the front lines of industrial development and comprehensive rural revitalization; adhere to encouraging practical work and responsibility, improve the performance assessment for high-quality development, and truly select and use good cadres who are loyal and reliable, responsible and dutiful, and have outstanding practical achievements; adhere to combining strict management with care and support, so that cadres can boldly do their work and strive to accomplish things on the premise of abiding by rules and discipline.
"Advancing in an integrated manner the efforts to ensure that officials do not dare to be corrupt, cannot be corrupt, and do not want to be corrupt is an important strategy for full and rigorous self-governance of the Party and the basic policy for the fight against corruption, and must be adhered to for a long time and deepened in application." Bao Rengui (包仁贵), member of the Standing Committee of the Wushan County Party Committee of Chongqing, Secretary of the County Discipline Inspection Commission, and Director of the County Supervision Commission, said that he would deeply study and implement the spirit of the Plenary Session, carry through from beginning to end maintaining a high-pressure posture, deeply investigate and strictly investigate industrial, systemic, and regional corruption problems; carry through from beginning to end adhering to enforcing discipline and law for the people and rectifying work styles and chaos for the people, resolutely rectify unhealthy tendencies and corruption problems around the masses; carry through from beginning to end consolidating clean governance construction, improving the matrix of clean culture, and making clean winds and righteous energy more abundant.
(People's Daily reporters Zhang Yang, Liu Zhiqiang, Liu Junguo, Wang Jintao, Zhu Jun, Zhang Cong, Qu Zhehan, Bai Jianfeng, Li Linwei, He Zhaoyu)
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 王 浩 邓剑洋
The mighty Yellow River surges through gorges, churns the thick soil, and spreads out a majestic "bow" shape across the land of China.
No other river has, like the Yellow River, historically experienced "two breaches every three years, one course change every century." For thousands of years, the Chinese people have prayed for the Yellow River's tranquility.
In 1946, the Communist Party of China, upholding the righteousness of the nation and bearing the heavy responsibility of history, established the Yellow River Old Course Management Committee in the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Liberated Area, "holding a gun in one hand and a shovel in the other," ushering in a new era of the Party leading the people in harnessing the Yellow River.
General Secretary Xi Jinping has deep concern for this mother river of the Chinese nation, having traveled across all 9 provinces and regions along the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the Yellow River, earnestly instructing "to make the Yellow River a river of happiness that benefits the people." Within 5 years, he convened symposiums on the same theme 3 times, continuously advancing the national strategy of ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin to greater depth.
Since the new era, Yellow River protection and governance have entered a new stage of high-quality development, achieving historic accomplishments and undergoing historic transformations, setting a benchmark for river protection and governance worldwide.
The great river surges onward, advancing fearlessly (一往无前, yi wang wu qian - "one, go, no, front").
From "One Major Matter" to the River of Tranquility
"Only under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, leveraging the advantages of the socialist system, can we truly realize the historic transformation of Yellow River governance from passive to active"
The Yellow River winds through nine bends and eighteen turns.
One bend tells of history.
In Lankao County, Henan, the Yellow River makes its final great bend. With its wandering course and suspended river channel, it is the "weak waist" of the ten-thousand-li river.
"In a sense, the history of the Chinese nation's governance of the Yellow River is also a history of statecraft." General Secretary Xi Jinping reflected across the ages: "Some have even characterized ancient Chinese society as a 'hydraulic society.'"
Looking back at history. In 1855, the Yellow River breached its banks near Dongbatou in Lankao County, seized the Daqing River course and flowed into the Bohai Sea. The great river was reshaped, forming the current channel.
The "weak waist" bears witness to the difficulty of Yellow River governance. In the more than 2,500 years before the founding of New China, the lower Yellow River breached and overflowed more than 1,500 times and changed course 26 times; from Yu the Great's flood control to Pan Jixun's "constraining the current to scour sediment," from the "Huzi plugging" to carving "river affairs and grain transport" on the pillars of the imperial palace, the Chinese nation has always been locked in struggle with the Yellow River's floods and droughts.
One bend reflects the original aspiration.
In October 1952, Comrade Mao Zedong's first inspection trip after leaving Beijing brought him to the banks of the Yellow River, to Lankao, where he issued the great call "to handle the Yellow River's affairs well."
Speaking of this unwavering original intention, General Secretary Xi Jinping said with deep emotion, "Now we are continuing the work" and "uniting knowledge and action (知行合一, zhi xing he yi - "know, act, combine, one"), being doers."
Yang Jie, a river course maintenance worker at the Lankao Yellow River Affairs Bureau under the Yellow River Conservancy Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources, has patrolled the river and protected the embankments for over 20 years, participating in more than a hundred emergency rescue operations.
Yang Jie's home is right by the Yellow River. As a child, during flood season, he would follow the adults to guard the river; after starting work, he continued to work with the Yellow River, delving into technical research. He said: "Now, there are drones in the sky and 'smart stones' in the embankments, and the Yellow River turns its bend safely."
From one bend, we see the governance of the great river. The Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, focusing on the overall picture of ecological civilization construction, has defined the water governance approach of "prioritizing water conservation, spatial balance, systematic governance, and dual efforts by government and market." Great achievements have been made in both Yellow River governance and the economic and social development of the basin, and the people's sense of gain, happiness, and security has significantly improved. The historical miracle of the Yellow River's annual tranquility has written a new chapter in the history of the Chinese nation's governance of the Yellow River.
Practice powerfully confirms: "Only under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, leveraging the advantages of the socialist system, can we truly realize the historic transformation of Yellow River governance from passive to active, and fundamentally change the tragic situation of the Yellow River breaching twice every three years."
Why is this possible? To understand the Yellow River is to understand today's China.
General Secretary Xi Jinping, standing at the height of the overall development of the Party and the nation's undertakings, has thought about this with long-term vision and planned it systematically. "What is the Communist Party for? It serves the people and seeks rejuvenation for the Chinese nation. Therefore, we must constantly examine what matters need to be handled well and which matters need to be accelerated, and governing the Yellow River well is one such major matter."
The governance of the great river embodies the historical patience of drawing one blueprint to the end.
The difficulty of governing the Yellow River lies fundamentally in sediment.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "To ensure the long-term tranquility of the Yellow River, we must firmly grasp the regulation of the water-sediment relationship, which is the 'key link.'"
A set of data highlights the difficulty of governance: the Yellow River's multi-year average natural runoff is only 1/17 of the Yangtze River's, but its multi-year average sediment concentration is about 65 times that of the Yangtze.
Thirty-three rounds of water-sediment regulation demonstrate the determination to govern.
"Downstream discharge increased to 2,600 cubic meters per second," the dispatch order came. Zhang Pengfei, a senior engineer at the Xiaolangdi Water Control Project Management Center, pressed the button, the sluice gates rose, and huge waves surged forth. In July this year, before the main flood season, the Yellow River water-sediment regulation was completed, "stretching the muscles and bones" of the Yellow River.
From exploratory beginnings in 2002, to transitioning into production operation in 2005, and then moving toward legalization and standardization, water-sediment regulation has cumulatively sent 3.74 billion tons of sediment into the sea, completely rewriting the history of continuous sediment deposition and elevation of the lower Yellow River riverbed.
Governing the Yellow River means surmounting difficulties, seeking innovation, and "advancing firmly step by step."
Building embankments: multiple rounds of flood control projects have been implemented, with a cumulative total of approximately 3,000 kilometers of embankments built along the main stream.
Protecting smooth flow: pioneering among China's major rivers, unified dispatch of main stream water volume was implemented, and the Yellow River has achieved continuous flow for 27 consecutive years.
Establishing institutions: the "Outline of the Plan for Ecological Protection and High-Quality Development of the Yellow River Basin" was issued, and the "Yellow River Protection Law of the People's Republic of China" was implemented, establishing the "four beams and eight pillars" of the institutional framework.
The governance of the great river embodies the notable advantage of concentrating resources to accomplish major undertakings.
The Guxian Water Control Project on the Yellow River, with one dam spanning two provinces, is being constructed in the midst of gorges. Shanxi and Shaanxi are cooperating closely, and batches of builders, accompanied by the roar of machinery and the sound of Yellow River waves, are sprinting toward the goal of river closure in 2027.
Looking from Guxian to the winding Yellow River, 100,000 builders carried earth on their shoulders and by hand to build the Sanmenxia Reservoir, and after decades of planning, demonstration, and construction, the Xiaolangdi Reservoir was built... Raising dams, smoothing canal systems, and weaving water networks, the national "one chessboard" approach has gathered powerful strength for Yellow River governance.
"Over the 80 years of the Party leading the people in governing the Yellow River, the military and civilians along the river and Yellow River builders have carried out large-scale Yellow River governance and protection work. The strategy of 'blocking upstream, discharging downstream, and diverting floods on both banks' for flood regulation, and the comprehensive approach of 'blocking, regulating, discharging, placing, and dredging' for sediment management have been established. Since 2012, we have successfully responded to 20 numbered floods in the main stream." said Wei Xiangyang, Chief Engineer of the Yellow River Conservancy Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources.
"When the Yellow River is peaceful, the world is at peace." The age-old aspiration condensed in these six characters has truly become a reality today under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. The historical picture of the Party leading the people in governing the Yellow River vividly illustrates: "The Party's leadership is the most essential attribute and the greatest advantage of socialism."
From "Key Task" to the River of Ecology
"Jointly undertake major protection, collaboratively advance major governance"
Where the Yellow River flows into the "ji-shaped bend," the great river, the great desert, and the great grasslands unfold a colorful picture.
A stretch of clear water reflects the transformation of the mother river.
Wuliangsuhai Lake, a pearl beyond the Great Wall. Liu Wenbin drives a speedboat through the reeds, "We have set up 6 patrol points around the lake area, protecting fish, protecting birds, and even more so protecting the water."
Liu Wenbin, who grew up by the shores of Wuliangsuhai, is the captain of the sea area management brigade of Inner Mongolia Wuliangsuhai Industrial Co., Ltd. From the "soy sauce lake" in his memory to today's "paradise for migratory birds," he has witnessed the transformation of this body of water.
At one time, agricultural return water and urban production and domestic wastewater entered Wuliangsuhai, causing large-scale yellow algae blooms in the lake area and deteriorating water quality to worse than Class V.
In the past, "treating the water only as water" yielded no results for a long time. Only by considering mountains, water, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts as a whole did the "pearl" regain its luster. Liu Wenbin counts the changes: there are now 263 species of wild birds, and the ecological environment is improving year by year.
General Secretary Xi Jinping has always kept this in mind. At the 2021 National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference sessions, when participating in deliberations with the Inner Mongolia delegation, the General Secretary pointed out: "The governance has now achieved obvious results, and sustained, long-term effort is still needed." In June 2023, the General Secretary came to Wuliangsuhai and urged "leaving a beautiful homeland with green mountains, clear waters, and fresh air for future generations."
"I have put forward requirements for the governance of several important lakes in Inner Mongolia. It is rare for Inner Mongolia to have these lakes, and they should be truly treated as precious resources and properly protected." The General Secretary is constantly thinking about this (念兹在兹, nian zi zai zi - "think, this, at, this"), always unable to set his mind at ease.
The Yellow River is an important barrier for national ecological security, yet its own ecological foundation is poor, water resources are extremely scarce, soil erosion is severe, and the carrying capacity of resources and the environment is weak.
"These problems manifest on the surface in the Yellow River, but their roots lie in the entire basin," "The key to governing the Yellow River lies in protection, and the crux lies in governance," "Coordinate planning for upstream and downstream, main streams and tributaries, and left and right banks, jointly undertake major protection, and collaboratively advance major governance"... General Secretary Xi Jinping has set the rules and clarified the direction for the protection and governance of the Yellow River, requiring "taking major protection as the key task."
The biggest contradiction in the Yellow River basin is water scarcity. What to do? "How much soup you have determines how much mantou you can soak."
Weishan Irrigation District, the largest irrigation district in Shandong, nourishes more than 5 million mu of fertile farmland in Liaocheng City.
"Whether there is a harvest depends on water." Kang Shihong, a villager from Sankang Village, Xuying Town, Liaocheng High-tech Zone, always feels that "only with more watering can one feel at ease."
"More water is not necessarily better; water should be used according to need." Yi Houzhen, deputy station master of the Weishan Irrigation District Irrigation Experiment Station, came to the door to promote water-saving irrigation technology.
Two plots of land were compared. One was irrigated using the old method; the other adopted the new approach. Precise irrigation according to need saved more than 20 cubic meters of water per mu and increased wheat yield by more than 100 jin per mu. The "old hand" was convinced.
This is an "inequality" of water resources. The Yellow River basin, with 2% of the nation's water resources, supports 12% of the nation's population, 17% of its cultivated land, and 14% of its GDP.
Determining cities by water, determining land by water, determining people by water, determining industry by water. The Ministry of Water Resources took the lead in establishing a mandatory water quota management system in the Yellow River basin, continuously promoting agricultural water conservation and efficiency, industrial water conservation and emission reduction, and urban water conservation and loss reduction. The overall level of water resource conservation and intensive utilization in the Yellow River basin ranks among the forefront of the nation.
The biggest problem in the Yellow River basin is ecological fragility. How to solve it? "We must adhere to comprehensive, systematic, and source-based governance of mountains, waters, forests, farmlands, lakes, and grasslands."
The difficulty of governing the Yellow River lies in its complexity and systematic nature. Glaciers, grasslands, mountains, wetlands... ecological elements are abundant, and species types are diverse.
"When Yu the Great dredged the rivers, he took water as his teacher." General Secretary Xi Jinping earnestly instructed: "We must respect the laws of nature and abandon the impulsive thinking of conquering water and conquering nature."
In Qinghai, he emphasized that "the top priority is to safeguard the Sanjiangyuan region, the 'Chinese Water Tower'"; in Ningxia, he cautioned to "resolutely put an end to acts that pollute the Yellow River and keep the mother river forever healthy"; in Shanxi, he required that "anything detrimental to the ecological protection of the Yellow River basin must resolutely not be done." Bearing in mind these instructions and revering nature, the ecological environment governance system integrating upstream and downstream continues to improve, and the beauty of the great river unfolds progressively.
Upstream, trickles converge, and the "Chinese Water Tower" conserves water sources.
"In recent years, reducing livestock numbers and treating black soil beaches have yielded visible results," said Han Changpeng, station master of the Ecological Protection Station of the Yellow River Source Park Management Committee of Sanjiangyuan National Park. On patrol routes, he often encounters herds of wild animals.
Midstream, wind prevention and sand fixation, soil and water conservation.
Pisha sandstone turns to mud when it meets water. The Pisha sandstone area in Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Inner Mongolia covers only 16,700 square kilometers, but the coarse sediment it produces accounts for 25% of the coarse sediment deposited in the lower Yellow River channel.
Apple orchards have grown on the Pisha sandstone. Hua Shengming, a large planter from Deshengyoulang Village, Nuanshui Township, Jungar Banner, Inner Mongolia, said, "Pisha sandstone, loess, and farmyard manure mixed together are suitable for growing apples."
Green extends, sand retreats. As of 2025, the Yellow River basin has cumulatively treated 290,000 square kilometers of soil erosion area, and the dominant color of the Loess Plateau has changed from yellow to green.
Downstream, coordinated governance of river and banks, creating a green ecological corridor.
Where the Yellow River flows through Gaoqing County, Zibo City, Shandong, a sharp bend was historically a flood-prone area. From strengthening embankments to planting greenery, from water management to water utilization, the danger of the great river has been transformed into the beauty of the great river.
Suoyifan Village, nestled in the "crook of the arm" of the Yellow River, has developed new business forms such as fruit and vegetable picking and wetland boating. The village now has more than 60 homestays and farmhouse restaurants.
Governing the river: the overall water quality of the Yellow River basin is steadily improving; governing the banks: a cumulative total of more than 102,000 "four disorder" problems have been cleaned up and rectified; governing the greenery: a comprehensive protection network covering wave-break forests, roadside forests, and ecological forests has been basically established. In the new era, the ecological environment of the Yellow River basin has significantly improved, and the mother river is radiating vigorous vitality.
The Yellow River is very beautiful, and it will become even more beautiful in the future.
From "Green Development" to the River of Happiness
"Unswervingly follow the modernization path of ecological priority and green development"
A water diversion line connects to the foundation of development.
Roses bloom on what was once a dry plain.
In greenhouse facilities, sensors precisely monitor, and water, fertilizer, and heat are automatically controlled. In Lanzhou New Area, Gansu, roses bloom all year round, with an annual production capacity of nearly 100 million fresh-cut flowers.
In livestream rooms, hosts enthusiastically promote the products, and netizens inquire and place orders. E-commerce livestreaming + preservation warehouses + low-temperature cold storage allow roses to reach domestic customers within 48 hours.
Leveraging the locational advantages of Lanzhou New Area, fresh-cut roses are also sold to countries such as Russia and Kazakhstan.
Innovation, coordination, green, openness, and sharing — a single rose embodies the microcosm of high-quality development.
The gushing living water of development comes from the Datong River-to-Qinwangchuan diversion project. Water starts from the Datong River in Qinghai, passes through tunnels and aqueducts, and arrives at the Qinwangchuan area in Gansu. "Wherever there is demand for industrial development, good water is diverted there," said An Jianmin, deputy director of the Gansu Provincial Datong River-to-Qinwangchuan Water Resources Utilization Center. Ample water sources provide support for modern agriculture, green chemicals, equipment manufacturing, and other industries in Lanzhou New Area.
The "symphony" of high-quality development and high-level protection resounds across the great river.
"Provinces and regions along the Yellow River should implement the strategic deployment for ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin, and unswervingly follow the modernization path of ecological priority and green development," "We must firmly follow the path of green and low-carbon development and promote quality, efficiency, and momentum changes in the basin's economic development," General Secretary Xi Jinping has made far-sighted plans.
From the Yellow River to the water network, the spatial balance of water resources expands development space.
Hongsipu District, Wuzhong City, Ningxia, is China's largest single-site concentrated resettlement area for ecological migrants. With the arrival of Yellow River water, the people's homes are secure.
In the strawberry greenhouses of Yangliu Village, Xinzhuanji Township, the seedlings are lush green. Ji Shaohua manages 8 greenhouses with more than 10 varieties including strawberries. "The Yellow River water has brought us new hope," and returning home to start a business, he is full of drive.
Zhu Xiaoming, head of the Irrigation Dispatch Section of the Hongsipu Pumping Station Management Office, introduced that 5 levels of main pumping stations lift the Yellow River water by 305.8 meters, and the irrigation area of the Hongsipu Irrigation District is 1.006 million mu.
A water network enables the optimal allocation of Yellow River water over a broader scope. Cross-basin and cross-regional water diversion projects such as the Hanjiang-to-Weihe River diversion, the Tao River water supply project, and the Datong River-to-Huangshui River diversion have been completed with notable benefits. The regulation capacity of key nodes of the national water network such as Longyangxia, Xiaolangdi, and Liujiaxia has been continuously strengthened. Ensuring water supply, irrigating fertile farmland, and generating green electricity, water security support capacity has been continuously enhanced, the foundation of energy and food security has been continuously consolidated, and the people's living standards have continued to improve.
From basin to region, coordinated regional development activates development momentum.
The great river spanning east and west opens up strategic depth. General Secretary Xi Jinping's vision is far-reaching: "Following the Yangtze River Economic Belt development strategy, we proposed the strategy of ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin, and the nation's 'river strategy' was thus established."
The nation's "river strategy," originating with the Yangtze and Yellow River mother rivers, relies on major rivers as its foundation, breaks through geographical unit limitations, aims at the optimal allocation of resource factors, anchors coordinated regional development, and empowers strategic superposition effects.
On Tala Beach in Gonghe County, Qinghai, there is a "sea of photovoltaics." Above the photovoltaic panels, sunlight is converted into green electricity. Below the panels, shade retains moisture and pasture grass thrives. Herders have become "photovoltaic shepherds," earning income from work, animal husbandry, and dividends — one family with multiple sources of income.
At the Dongjia Town railway logistics park in Jinan, Shandong, China-Europe freight trains shuttle back and forth. "Gathering at the doorstep, one-stop customs clearance for exit," bringing "Made in Shandong" mechanical equipment and agricultural and sideline products from along the Yellow River into the international market.
The Yellow River flows to the sea, embracing the world. According to statistics from Qingdao Customs, in 2025 the import and export value of the Yellow River basin reached 6.51 trillion yuan, with the scale continuing to expand and new momentum constantly emerging.
Bearing in mind the instruction to "actively explore new paths for high-quality development with regional characteristics," building a modern industrial system with distinctive advantages, vigorously developing clean energy, and expanding strategic emerging industries, high-quality development has taken solid steps. According to preliminary calculations, over the 80 years of the Party leading the people in governing the Yellow River, Yellow River protection and governance have cumulatively generated economic benefits of 24.2 trillion yuan.
Chen Dongming, Director of the Yellow River Conservancy Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources, stated that they will persistently and comprehensively build a tranquil Yellow River, a living Yellow River, and a happy Yellow River, contributing to promoting high-quality water development and safeguarding China's water security.
Dongying, Shandong, where the Yellow River meets the sea. "Beautiful scenery by the Yellow River beach, happiness lasts for ten thousand years," the Yellow River work chant resounds with new and lasting charm.
These chants, spanning history, voice the endless and continuous vitality (生生不息, sheng sheng bu xi - "birth, birth, not, cease") of Yellow River culture and the unyielding spirit in the face of setbacks (百折不挠, bai zhe bu nao - "hundred, bend, not, yield") of the Chinese people.
The great river surges onward, and the pace of struggle does not cease. "We must continue to do well in the work of protecting and governing the mother river," advancing the new era's Yu the Great-style flood control with sustained, long-term effort.
A hundred rivers flow eastward to the sea, gathering the surging power of ten thousand valleys returning to one current, advancing fearlessly. Striding forward on the new journey, the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is unstoppable.
(Wang Jintao and Li Rui, reporters of this newspaper, participated in the writing)
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 徐 隽 金 歆
At present, artificial intelligence technology is deeply reshaping the pattern of internet development and profoundly changing the way humanity produces and lives.
"When machines begin to think, how should humanity coexist with them? When algorithms participate in decision-making, how can security be guaranteed? When technology challenges ethics, how can governance keep pace? When the gap continues to widen, how can universal benefit be achieved?" General Secretary Xi Jinping's "questions of the era" at the opening ceremony of the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance were deeply moving and thought-provoking (振聋发聩, zhen long fa kui - "shake the ears, startle the mind").
Today, the new round of information revolution is converging historically with the strategic overall situation of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and changes unseen in a century. Whether one can adapt to and lead internet development, and whether one can respond to the profound challenges brought by technology, tests the vision and responsibility of a major party and a major country.
"If we cannot pass the test of the internet, we cannot pass the test of long-term governance." "To achieve Chinese modernization, the test of the internet must be passed."
These important assertions carry profound implications.
The test of the internet is a test of improving the effectiveness of cyberspace ecological governance, a test of building a solid national cybersecurity shield, a test of empowering high-quality development through informatization, and a test of jointly building a community with a shared future in cyberspace.
Overcoming difficulties and challenges (闯关夺隘, chuang guan duo ai - "break through passes, seize obstacles") bears on the future and destiny of the nation; forging ahead through hardships (砥砺前行, di li qian xing - "grind, sharpen, move forward"), we embrace a better future.
Under the guidance of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important thought on building a cyber power, we aim at the historical coordinates of building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation, always with firm resolve and pragmatic action, improving our ability to use and govern the internet, striving to turn this greatest variable of the internet into the greatest increment for the development of our cause, injecting strong momentum into Chinese modernization, and contributing Chinese wisdom to the progress of human civilization.
Uphold the Party's overall leadership and improve the effectiveness of cyberspace ecological governance
The internet is the main battlefield, main arena, and frontline of ideological struggle.
Perceiving the times and the trends, General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out, "Cyberspace ecological governance is an important task in building a cyber power, bearing on national development and security, and bearing on the vital interests of the people." "When cyberspace enjoys clear skies and fresh air and a sound ecology, it serves the interests of the people."
Uphold fundamental principles and break new ground, maintain political guidance, adhere to a problem-oriented approach, promote multi-party coordination, and continuously foster a clean and upright cyberspace.
The key to running China's affairs well lies in the Party. Strengthen the Party's overall leadership, and uphold the Party's management of the internet in a clear-cut and unswerving manner—
In 2014, the first meeting of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs was held, with General Secretary Xi Jinping personally serving as its head.
In 2018, the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs was restructured into the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, further strengthening the Party Central Committee's centralized and unified leadership over cyberspace affairs.
From top-level design to implementation at the grassroots level, a cyberspace affairs work organizational system that extends horizontally to every edge and vertically to every level has been gradually woven together: a three-tier cyberspace affairs work system at the central, provincial, and municipal levels has been basically established, construction of cyberspace affairs institutions at the county level has been solidly advanced, responsibilities have been pressed down level by level, and the Party's management of the internet has been implemented in practice.
When the source is clear, the stream is clear; move upward and toward goodness. Persist in shaping cyberspace with positive voices, mainstream values, and the new spirit of the times—
"In the Memorial Hall of the Departure of the Central Red Army's Long March in Yudu, a pair of straw sandals traversed the ten-thousand-li Long March road, leaving behind the longing of a Red Army soldier"... On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Red Army's Long March, People's Daily launched a series of micro-documentaries titled "Warp and Weft: Long March Stories Where the General Secretary Paused," which topped the headlines of major online platforms.
Online thematic publicity campaigns such as "Our Long March Road" and online publicity activities such as "Red Star Shines Over China" have been carried out in depth; the "Voice of Reason China" online theoretical communication brand has continued to be strengthened, allowing the Party's innovative theories to "fly into the homes of ordinary people" through the internet; the "China Positive Energy Online Excellent Works Collection and Exhibition Activity" has been held for many consecutive years, fully leveraging the role of positive energy in inspiring, encouraging, and guiding people...
Dots of starlight gather into a torch. Deepening online publicity of the Party's innovative theories and vigorously promoting the core socialist values, the internet is becoming an important front for ideological guidance, moral cultivation, and cultural inheritance.
Weeding out the dross and keeping the essence (去芜存菁, qu wu cun jing - "remove, weeds, keep, essence"), clearing away corruption and promoting integrity (激浊扬清, ji zhuo yang qing - "stir, turbid, raise, clear"). Daring to draw the sword against online chaos and resolutely cracking down on it—
"The Yingxian Wooden Pagoda is about to be demolished!" This "news" posted by a self-media account sparked public concern online, with many netizens expressing worry and confusion. Soon, the China Internet Joint Rumor-Refuting Platform released information: "After verification with the relevant competent authorities, it has been confirmed that the relevant information is a rumor."
Since 2021, the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission has coordinated the implementation of more than 60 "Qinglang" (Clear and Bright) special operations and carried out more than 200 rectification campaigns for other prominent problems; in 2025, the China Internet Joint Rumor-Refuting Platform published more than 17,000 rumor-refuting articles (works)...
Not neglecting the smallest details, sustained, long-term effort. Severing the interest chains and industrial chains, and eradicating the soil and conditions that breed online chaos, cyberspace has become even more "clear in sky and air, sound in ecology."
Stay connected with the people and serve the people. Let the internet better benefit the people—
"Netizens come from the people, and once the people are online, public opinion is online as well."
From May to June 2025, during the preparation of the 15th Five-Year Plan, an online solicitation of opinions was carried out, receiving a total of more than 3.113 million suggestions from netizens, which were sorted and excerpted into more than 1,500 constructive and representative opinions across 27 areas. This was a vivid practice of whole-process people's democracy.
From the online solicitation of opinions for the work of the 20th Party Congress, which collected more than 8.542 million messages, to the construction of online platforms for collecting people's suggestions in provinces such as Beijing, Jiangsu, and Jiangxi; from using artificial intelligence to improve efficiency in handling matters for the people, to various new government media platforms enlivening policy publicity and better "turning the Party's correct propositions into the people's conscious actions"... Observing people's conditions, listening to people's voices, gathering people's wisdom, and resolving people's concerns, the internet has become a "bridge of hearts," with the hearts of the Party and the people resonating at the same frequency (同频共振, tong pin gong zhen - "same, frequency, together, resonate") in cyberspace, and the foundation of the Party's governance becoming even more solid.
Uphold secure development and build a solid national cybersecurity shield
Mobile banking, QR code payments, online government services—digital technology has become part of daily life, yet it also harbors hidden risks.
New technologies have always been a double-edged sword. "Without cybersecurity there is no national security," "Cybersecurity and informatization are complementing each other (相辅相成, xiang fu xiang cheng - "complement, each other, together, complete")," and "Let artificial intelligence, this fine steed capable of traveling a thousand li, run both fast and steadily"—General Secretary Xi Jinping is constantly thinking about (念兹在兹, nian zi zai zi - "think, this, at, this") development and security.
Preparing for adversity in advance has always been the constant principle of governing a country.
In recent years, China has continuously improved cybersecurity policies, laws, and regulations, promoted the integrated development of cybersecurity education, technology, and industry, strengthened cybersecurity publicity, and continuously advanced the modernization of the cybersecurity system and capacity.
Improve the system of laws and regulations for cyberspace governance—
"Advance the construction of infrastructure such as training data resources and computing power, and improve artificial intelligence ethical norms," "The state supports innovative approaches to cybersecurity management and the use of new technologies such as artificial intelligence to enhance the level of cybersecurity protection"... On October 28, 2025, the 18th session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress voted to pass a decision on amending the Cybersecurity Law. This law, in effect for more than eight years, has undergone major revisions, promptly responding to the new demands of artificial intelligence development and governance.
The construction of cyberspace rule of law has been accelerated. At present, China has enacted more than 190 laws in the cyberspace field, successively promulgating laws and administrative regulations such as the Cybersecurity Law, the Data Security Law, the Personal Information Protection Law, and the Regulations on the Protection of Minors in Cyberspace, formulating rules and normative documents such as the Measures for Cybersecurity Review, the Interim Measures for the Management of Generative Artificial Intelligence Services, the Interim Measures for the Management of Anthropomorphic Interactive Artificial Intelligence Services, and the Measures for Security Assessment of Cloud Computing Services, and formulating and publishing more than 400 national standards for cybersecurity, providing a solid institutional guarantee for building a cyber power.
Enhance cybersecurity protection capabilities—
"From January 26 to February 14, 2025, the event information system was subjected to more than 270,000 overseas cyberattacks..." In 2025, the 9th Asian Winter Games was held in Harbin, Heilongjiang. The monitoring and analysis report of the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center showed that while ice and snow athletes were striving on the field, an invisible cyber war was quietly unfolding. It was precisely the effective operation of relevant cybersecurity technologies that ensured the smooth progress of the Games.
Blockchain, with its technical characteristics of distribution, immutability, and full traceability, builds a solid cornerstone of digital trust; quantum information technology fully leverages the security endowments at the physical level; 6G technology oriented toward the integration of space, air, ground, and sea deeply integrates security capabilities into network architecture design... Breakthrough after breakthrough, leap after leap, endows us with ample confidence to withstand risks.
Jointly build the cybersecurity defense line—
"Sister, you should uninstall those unknown apps on your phone right away—they can easily leak personal information!" In Xiaohe Town, Shitai County, Anhui, volunteers moved through the fields, village entrances, and alleys, explaining cybersecurity knowledge to villagers and helping protect personal information.
Maintaining cybersecurity is the shared responsibility of the whole society. The government, enterprises, social organizations, and the vast number of netizens participate together in building the cybersecurity defense line.
In September this year, the 13th National Cybersecurity Awareness Week arrived as scheduled. In Jinan, Shandong, cybersecurity-themed drone light shows, the "Qilu Cybersecurity" themed special train, and cybersecurity science popularization mobile vehicles attracted widespread attention and praise; in Deyang, Sichuan, activities such as cybersecurity micro-video solicitation and online knowledge quizzes were carried out; in Yanchi County, Ningxia, witty and humorous "legal popularization stand-up comedy" allowed audiences to enhance their cybersecurity awareness while laughing...
The National Cybersecurity Awareness Week extensively carried out activities such as the "Seven Entries" of cybersecurity, with continuous improvement in the coverage of publicity and education, public awareness, and social participation.
Uphold innovation-driven development and empower high-quality development through informatization
With the accelerated breakthrough of the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, informatization is moving toward a new stage of comprehensive advancement in digitalization, networking, and intelligence.
Recognize change, respond to change, and seek change.
General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out: "In the face of the informatization trend, only by actively seizing the commanding heights can we win the first opportunity for development." "We must seize this historical opportunity to cultivate new drivers of growth through informatization and use new drivers to promote new development."
In recent years, systematically and deeply advancing informatization development, empowering high-quality development through informatization, and promoting informatization to benefit the people... We have continuously won the initiative, won advantages, and won the future in fierce international competition.
Continuously achieve new breakthroughs on the core track—
"Core internet technologies are our greatest 'lifeline,' and being constrained by others in core technologies is our greatest hidden danger," "Strive to achieve major new breakthroughs in core technologies as soon as possible."
On the banks of the Huangpu River in Xuhui District, Shanghai, in the "Model Speed Space" large-model innovation ecosystem community, a robot named "Mo Xiaosu" is busy welcoming guests and giving tours. Not far away, in the newly opened "Model Speed Space Embodied Workshop," engineers are repeatedly debugging its movements, voice, and model capabilities.
In April 2025, when General Secretary Xi Jinping inspected and investigated the "Model Speed Space" large-model innovation ecosystem community, he emphasized "striving to be at the forefront in all aspects of artificial intelligence development and governance."
These earnest instructions inspire us to forge ahead. Today, "Model Speed Space" has been established for three years. As the country's first large-model innovation ecosystem community, it continues to gather artificial intelligence innovation enterprises and has gradually formed an industrial ecosystem covering computing power, algorithms, and applications.
Represented by artificial intelligence, China's core technologies in the cyberspace field have continuously achieved breakthroughs: the first phase of 6G technology trials was successfully concluded, forming a reserve of more than 300 key technologies; the integrated circuit and electronic special materials industries lead the industrial sector in growth rate; domestically produced general-purpose large models and vertical industry large models have been densely deployed; frontier technologies such as quantum communication, supercomputing, and blockchain rank in the world's first tier.
Build and strengthen the "main artery" of digital economy development—
On October 16 this year, General Secretary Xi Jinping came to the Chahar High-Tech Development Zone in Ulanqab City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, for inspection and investigation.
The tide of the digital intelligence era is surging, and the vast grasslands are nurturing a profound transformation. The sand table in the exhibition hall visually displays the layout of Ulanqab's computing power industry. Computing power center projects are rising one after another, and data center buildings present a magnificent sight, initially forming an industrial layout led by the computing power industry, equipment manufacturing, and services.
"The pace of development is very fast, and there is great potential for the future." General Secretary Xi Jinping affirmed the green computing power industry of Inner Mongolia and Ulanqab, emphasizing that "we must actively extend the industrial chain, promote the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy, and continuously transform computing power advantages into development advantages."
Inner Mongolia's abundant "wind" and "light" are being converted into a continuous supply of green electricity, becoming the "green engine" driving computing power. This is a microcosm of China's computing power infrastructure construction. From the comprehensive advancement of the "East Data, West Computing" project, with the eight computing power hubs working in tandem, to the coverage of 5G evolution networks (5G-A) in more than 330 cities, to the commissioning of the national integrated computing power network pilot verification platform, computing power interconnection and intercommunication continue to deepen... China has built the world's largest and most technologically advanced information infrastructure, laying a solid foundation for innovative internet development.
People-centered, deepen informatization to serve and benefit the people—
Informatization promotes the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas. Laying fiber optic cables, climbing iron towers, installing equipment, testing signals... On the banks of the surging Dulong River, communication equipment was transported deep into the mountains, 5G trial base stations were opened here, and the light of the internet reached the extremely remote Dulongjiang Township of Gongshan Dulong and Nu Autonomous County in Yunnan.
Informatization activates development momentum. Dozens of sorting lines convey goods, sorting devices operate continuously, and packages speed away on "fast tracks"... The busy yet orderly scene at an e-commerce sorting center on the outskirts of Beijing is also a microcosm of the rapid development of China's digital economy.
Informatization innovates social governance. Taking out a phone, opening the "medical insurance electronic voucher," and scanning it lightly, a patient from Zhejiang completed settlement at a hospital in Beijing. The accelerated advancement of the national "one-card" system for social security cards makes seeking medical treatment more convenient.
"Internet + government services" has enabled 92.5% of provincial-level administrative licensing matters to achieve "at most one visit"; live-streamed classrooms allow children in remote mountainous areas to hear lessons from urban teachers... Digital technology is crossing mountains and seas, filling the gap, allowing the people to share the fruits of scientific and technological progress, and continuously enhancing the people's sense of gain, happiness, and security.
Uphold a global vision and jointly build a community with a shared future in cyberspace
Global governance of cyberspace is at a new crossroads. Will it turn toward "small yards with high fences," or choose openness and cooperation?
December 16, 2015, Wuzhen, Zhejiang.
"Cyberspace is a shared space of activity for humanity, and its future and destiny should be jointly grasped by all countries in the world." At the Second World Internet Conference, General Secretary Xi Jinping, standing at the strategic height of the future and destiny of humanity, for the first time put forward the concept of building a community with a shared future in cyberspace, and profoundly elaborated the "Four Principles" for advancing the reform of the global internet governance system and the "Five Proposals" for building a community with a shared future in cyberspace.
Respond to the changes of the times and meet the needs of the world.
"Uphold openness and win-win cooperation to drive innovative development." "Strengthen risk awareness to ensure security and controllability." "Encourage inclusiveness and mutual learning to promote exchanges among civilizations." "Advocate solidarity and cooperation to improve global governance."
At the opening ceremony of the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance, General Secretary Xi Jinping solemnly put forward, from four dimensions, the joint building of a fair and reasonable global artificial intelligence governance system.
The international community has called it "a systematic plan worthy of being recorded in the annals of scientific and technological development."
Concept leadership shapes a new pattern.
From November 2 to 5 this year, the 2026 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit will be held. Today, the World Internet Conference has been upgraded from an annual international conference to an international organization with permanent institutions, with more than 240 institutions, organizations, enterprises, and individuals from nearly 50 countries and regions as its members.
In July this year, the world's first intergovernmental international organization on artificial intelligence—the World Organization for Artificial Intelligence Cooperation—was established in Shanghai. Representatives of 29 countries signed the documents amid sustained and warm applause.
The China-Africa Internet Development and Cooperation Forum, the China-ASEAN Information Harbor Forum, the Online Silk Road Conference... In recent years, more and more international exchange platforms have been established in China, allowing insightful views on global cyberspace development and governance to burst forth through exchange.
The release of the International Strategy of Cooperation on Cyberspace, the white paper "Jointly Build a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace," the Global AI Governance Initiative, and the Global Initiative on Cross-Border Data Flow Cooperation... The proposal of one global internet governance plan after another promotes the international community to transcend differences with a more coordinated and inclusive posture and jointly address the common challenges facing human society.
China's responsibility, win-win cooperation.
The benefits of the internet belong to all humanity. China actively promotes the building of a more inclusive and prosperous cyberspace, "so that more countries and peoples can share the fruits of internet development."
The Southern Power Grid Global Data Operations Center has built a global operations system of "one cloud, one chessboard, one network," providing digital support for Belt and Road Initiative power projects; spanning more than 9,000 kilometers, the Asia Direct Cable, led and constructed by China, provides more secure and stable data connections for Asia-Pacific countries, especially Southeast Asian countries; in Latin America, China has carried out innovative cooperation with multiple countries using digital technology, helping protect the Amazon rainforest ecosystem and the marine ecological environment...
China is using concrete actions to promote international cooperation, helping countries, especially developing countries, accelerate internet development, share digital development opportunities, and jointly cross this gateway of the era that is the internet.
The tide rises in the information age, and the journey has no end.
From the difficult exploration of connecting to the international internet more than 30 years ago to the magnificent practice of building a cyber power in the new era, China has blazed a path of internet governance with Chinese characteristics.
"To achieve Chinese modernization, the test of the internet must be passed" is both a profound understanding of the laws of internet development and a deep consideration oriented toward the great cause of building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation.
On the new journey, under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, we will surely continue to open up new prospects for building a cyber power, inject surging strength into Chinese modernization, and write a magnificent chapter for the Chinese nation in the annals of human digital civilization.
Return to TopAs one of the first batch of cities nationwide to carry out urban renewal initiatives, Fuzhou, Fujian, practices the people-centered city concept, steadily advances the renovation of old residential communities, continuously optimizes the living environment, and promotes the leap of urban construction from basic safe housing to quality livability, constantly enhancing the public's sense of gain and happiness.
The photo shows citizens and tourists touring the Sanjie River in the Shangxiahang Historical and Cultural District of Fuzhou.
Photo by Wei Peiquan, Xinhua News Agency reporter.
Return to Top(People's Daily, Beijing, October 31) (Reporters Dai Linfeng, Yuan Taoxiong, He Biao) The themed interview activity "Carrying Forward the Long March Spirit, Striving on the Journey of Rejuvenation — Reporters Retrace the Long March Road," organized by the Central Propaganda Department, recently concluded successfully.
General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out: "The history of the Long March has never faded away, and the road of the Long March is constantly extending. In the 90 years since the victory of the Long March, the Party has united and led the people in carrying out one great Long March after another in various historical periods of revolution, construction, and reform, and has won one great victory after another."
During the mobile interviews lasting more than a month, reporters from central and local media witnessed the new changes in the old revolutionary base areas and, moreover, received a baptism of the great Long March spirit.
More than 90 years ago, the Central Red Army soldiers, wearing straw sandals, climbed over lofty mountains and ridges step by step, marching for about 12 months.
Today, taking the "Fuxing" high-speed train, the journey from Ruijin, Jiangxi, to Yan'an, Shaanxi, takes only 11 hours and 32 minutes, achieving "same-day arrival."
At 11:02 on September 6, as the Fuxing train G3998 departed from Ruijin, Jiangxi, heading for Yan'an, Shaanxi, the starting point and the destination of the Central Red Army's Long March achieved direct high-speed rail connectivity for the first time.
"Back then, Grandfather wore straw sandals, climbed snow mountains, and crossed grasslands, and sacrificed his life on the Long March. Today, I board the high-speed train to Yan'an, carrying Grandfather's unfulfilled wish, to go and see the destination of victory." In the carriage, Liu Yang, a descendant of Red Army martyr Liu Degui, said. In the first month of the Ruijin-Yan'an high-speed rail operation, a cumulative total of 122,000 passenger trips were dispatched.
One "red artery" after another links up revolutionary landmarks, pushing the revitalization of the old base areas to take solid steps forward.
With whistles sounding one after another, a freight train fully loaded with bamboo products, furniture, and luggage and bags slowly departed from the railway special line of Huaihua International Land Port in Hunan, heading for Mohan Port in Yunnan. In the first three quarters of this year, Huaihua International Land Port cumulatively dispatched 1,051 freight trains, with a cargo value of approximately 7.9 billion yuan.
In December 1934, the Central Red Army, having suffered heavy losses after the Battle of the Xiangjiang River, arrived at Tongdao, Huaihua, and made the important decision to divert troops to Guizhou. More than 90 years later, the place where troops were "diverted" back then is now "connecting rivers and reaching the sea" —
"Huaihua has become an important node on the eastern line of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor and Hunan's freight assembly center facing ASEAN, with 7 international freight train routes, including the China-Laos and China-Vietnam routes, operating on a regular basis." Wang Liang, manager of the Huaihua Business Division of the Changsha Railway Logistics Center, said. Based on the corridor economy, Huaihua is vigorously developing the logistics industry, with a number of logistics enterprises successively settling in, providing support for local industries to expand their markets.
The surging flow of goods is transformed into vitality for industrial development, and the extended railway tracks unfold a broad development prospect for the old revolutionary base areas.
In the orchards on the Luochuan tableland in Yan'an, customers from Canada and Vietnam tasted apples and gave thumbs up. They took the high-speed train from Xi'an to Luochuan, hoping to promote Luochuan's Red Fuji, Qincui, and other varieties to the international market.
"In the past, outside merchants had to first fly or take a train to Yan'an, and then transfer to a bus for nearly two hours before reaching Luochuan. At the end of last year, the Xi'an-Yan'an high-speed railway was extended to our doorstep, and more and more merchants and enterprises are coming for visits and inspections." Guo Xuyang, deputy director of the Luochuan County Apple Marketing Service Center, said.
In June this year, a cold-chain special train loaded with 100,000 jin of Luochuan apples departed from Huangling East Station in Shaanxi, and after arriving at Xigaze West Station in Tibet, transferred to road transport, traveling far to Kathmandu, Nepal.
From the loess tableland to dining tables around the world, the "red fruits" covering the mountains and fields extensively (漫山遍野, man shan bian ye - "mountain, hill, everywhere, field") have become "golden fruits" witnessing the revitalization of the old base areas. In 2025, the total output of Luochuan apples reached 1.1685 million tons, with a comprehensive apple output value of 16.5 billion yuan. Since the beginning of this year, Luochuan has exported 3,307.09 tons of apples, with an export value of 29.2459 million yuan.
Reporters who participated in the themed interview activity "Carrying Forward the Long March Spirit, Striving on the Journey of Rejuvenation — Reporters Retrace the Long March Road" all stated that the best tribute to history is to create new history, and that they should write a brand-new answer sheet for high-quality development in the new era through practical actions in undertaking work and starting businesses.
(Related reports on Page 4)
Return to TopThe Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee reviewed and adopted the "Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Several Major Issues Concerning Continuously and Persistently Advancing Full and Rigorous Self-Governance of the Party," unifying thinking, rallying hearts and minds, and inspiring morale, eliciting an enthusiastic response among the broad ranks of Party members and cadres in central and state organs and people's organizations.
After the plenary session concluded, central and state organs and people's organizations promptly conveyed and studied the spirit of the plenary session through various forms, quickly setting off a wave of study and implementation. Everyone expressed that they must walk in the "first echelon" and serve as "vanguard" in studying and implementing Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, deeply comprehend the decisive significance of the Two Establishments (两个确立), resolutely achieve the Two Upholds (两个维护), effectively unify thoughts and actions with the spirit of the plenary session, continuously and persistently advance full and rigorous self-governance of the Party with higher standards and more concrete measures, tighten and consolidate the responsibility for governing and managing the Party, deepen the great new project of Party building in the new era, and provide a strong guarantee for promoting the development of various undertakings in central and state organs and people's organizations.
Striding on the New Journey — The Party Has Become Stronger and More Resilient Through Revolutionary Tempering
The Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee was a very important meeting convened at a critical period of basically realizing socialist modernization, profoundly summarizing the great achievements and valuable experience of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era.
Party members and cadres of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission, the Working Committee of Central and State Organs, and the National Development and Reform Commission expressed that the most important achievement of the plenary session was the review and adoption of the Decision. The Decision features profound analysis of the situation, scientific overall planning, clear task deployment, and pragmatic measures and requirements. It is a programmatic document for continuously advancing the great new project of Party building in the new era, fully reflecting the historical initiative of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core to strengthen the Party and the country, and will surely further inspire the entire Party, the entire military, and the people of all ethnic groups across the country to unite and strive on the new Long March and create new brilliance.
To govern the country, one must first govern the Party; to strengthen the country, one must first strengthen the Party.
"Since the advent of the new era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has unswervingly advanced full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, driving historic achievements and historic changes in the cause of the Party and the state." Party members and cadres of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance), and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism expressed that full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era has opened up a new realm of self-revolution for the century-old major Party, our Party has become stronger and more resilient through revolutionary tempering, and the Party's creativity, cohesion, and combat effectiveness have been significantly enhanced, providing a fundamental guarantee for comprehensively advancing the building of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation through Chinese modernization.
Governing and managing the Party, revitalizing and strengthening the Party — not for a single moment can this be separated from the guidance of scientific thought.
Party members and cadres of the Central Organization Department, the Central Publicity Department, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Finance expressed that Xi Jinping's thought on Party building has major practical significance and long-term guiding significance for strengthening the Party and the country. It is necessary to further study and comprehend Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, carry the results of study through into the practice of strict Party governance and management, and implement the requirements and deployments of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party into all aspects and the entire process of the work of the Party and the state, ensuring that the Party is governed with sound methods, managed with strength, and built with effectiveness.
The plenary session emphasized adhering to serving the mission and tasks, adhering to taking the Party's political construction as the guide, adhering to comprehensive strictness, adhering to a problem-oriented approach, adhering to upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground, adhering to leading by example from above, and adhering to governing the Party by rules and regulations.
Party members and cadres of the National Health Commission, the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, the People's Bank of China, and the All-China Women's Federation expressed that the seven principles followed in continuously and persistently advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party are a profound summary of the practical experience of governing and managing the Party in the new era, and must be deeply understood and grasped and implemented as an integrated whole. On the new journey, only by firmly grasping these principles can we build our Party into a stronger and more resilient Marxist governing party that stays at the forefront of the times, enjoys the heartfelt support of the people, withstands the tests of various storms, and is full of vigor, and can it always remain the strong leading core of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Implementing New Deployments — Further Opening Up a New Situation in Full and Rigorous Self-Governance of the Party
Standing at a new historical starting point, the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee made systematic deployments for continuously and persistently advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, threading through all links including forging the soul with thought, strengthening the foundation with organization, strictly governing officials, and rectifying conduct and enforcing discipline.
Party members and cadres of the organs of the National People's Congress, the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, and the Central Social Work Department expressed that they must make studying and implementing the spirit of the plenary session a major political task for the present and a period to come, make strengthening Party spirit cultivation a lifelong subject, and make intensive efforts in firming up ideals and convictions, forging loyalty to the Party, cultivating deep feelings for the people, seeking truth from facts, purifying moral character, and maintaining being clean, upright, and incorruptible; improve and implement the various systems of democratic centralism, fully develop intra-Party democracy, effectively implement correct centralism, and better bring into play the political, organizational, institutional, and operational advantages of democratic centralism.
Party organizations at all levels and Party members and cadres are the subjects of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, and are also the key force driving the development of the cause of the Party and the state.
Party members and cadres of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of State Security, and the Ministry of Emergency Management deeply feel the weight of their responsibility. Everyone expressed that they must implement the requirements for strictly governing officials, forge a high-caliber cadre contingent that is loyal, clean, and responsible in practice, promote a more pronounced "atmosphere of strictness" and a more consolidated "sound ecology"; implement the Party's organizational line for the new era, and ensure the precise and efficient implementation of the Party Central Committee's decisions and deployments through an organizational system that is connected from top to bottom and effective in execution.
Rectifying conduct and enforcing discipline are powerful measures for full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, and advancing in an integrated manner the goals of not daring to be corrupt, not being able to be corrupt, and not wanting to be corrupt is an important strategy for full and rigorous self-governance of the Party and the basic policy for the fight against corruption.
Party members and cadres of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate expressed that they must effectively unify their thoughts and actions with the spirit of the plenary session. They must persevere without giving up (锲而不舍, qie er bu she - "persevere, unremitting") in implementing the spirit of the Eight-Point Regulation of the Central Committee, adhere to grasping Party spirit, Party conduct, and Party discipline together, and integrating rectification of conduct, enforcement of discipline, and anti-corruption efforts, resolutely punish corruption and other crimes, supervise and correct prominent problems in law enforcement and judicial work according to law, continuously eradicate the soil and conditions for corruption, and translate the clear-cut stance that "the Party and corruption are irreconcilable" into practical results.
The plenary session proposed that strengthening the building of the system of intra-Party laws and regulations is a long-term and fundamental strategy for full and rigorous self-governance of the Party.
Party members and cadres of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Water Resources, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs expressed that they must raise their political positioning, adhere to taking the Party Constitution as the fundamental code of conduct, and strengthen the study of Party discipline, national laws, and institutional systems. In practical work, they must promote the organic unity of law-based governance and rule-based Party governance, serve as the "hub" for the implementation of institutions, strengthen supervision over institutional implementation, enhance the enforcement capacity of institutions, and vigorously eliminate hidden rules.
Demonstrating New Responsibility — Providing a Strong Guarantee for the Great Cause of Building a Strong Country and National Rejuvenation
The governance of a major Party presents a new atmosphere. Everyone expressed that they must carry full and rigorous self-governance of the Party deeper with the persistence of "always being on the road," and continuously achieve new development in the Party's own construction and in various undertakings.
Party members and cadres of the CPPCC National Committee organs, the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, the National Ethnic Affairs Commission, and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions expressed that they must unswervingly uphold the Party's overall leadership and the centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, benchmark against the new deployments and new requirements proposed by the plenary session, uphold and apply the valuable experience of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era with higher standards and more concrete measures, rectify and resolve the prominent problems facing Party building, consolidate and develop the sound political situation formed by governing and managing the Party, and write a new chapter of Chinese modernization with new responsibility and new achievements.
The period of the "15th Five-Year Plan" is a critical period for consolidating the foundation and making comprehensive efforts to basically realize socialist modernization. To strengthen confidence and continue the struggle, it is necessary to continuously and persistently advance full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, firmly establish and practice a correct view of political achievements, and deliver political achievements for the people and through practical work.
Party members and cadres of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development expressed that in implementing the spirit and deployments of the plenary session, they must consolidate and expand the results of study and education on establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements, consciously adhere to establishing the party for the public good, benefiting the people, making scientific decisions, and taking practical and earnest action, strengthen inclusive, foundational, and safety-net livelihood construction, introduce more policies that benefit the people and do more practical things for people's livelihoods, genuinely enhance the people's sense of gain, happiness, and security, and win the people's trust with the practical results of benefiting the people.
The plenary session required continuing to make efforts in resolving prominent problems and ensuring that the various deployments of the Decision are implemented.
Party members and cadres of the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Commerce, and the National Audit Office expressed that in the first year of the "15th Five-Year Plan," they must provide a strong guarantee for promoting development with more forceful measures for governing and managing the Party, plan, deploy, and advance the implementation of the requirements of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party together with economic and social development work, make good use of and fully utilize macro policies, deeply tap the potential of domestic demand, further deepen reform and opening up, and promote sustained development of the economy toward innovation, quality, and improvement.
The plenary session decided that the 21st National Congress of the Communist Party of China will be held in Beijing in the second half of 2027.
Party members and cadres of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League expressed that they must coordinate and do a good job in all work including conveying and studying, publicizing and lecturing, and education and training on the spirit of the plenary session, strengthen the sense of mission and the will to strive, give play to the vanguard and exemplary role of Party members, continuously enhance the Party's political leadership, ideological guidance, mass organization, and social appeal, unswervingly serve as executors, doers, and practitioners in implementing the Party Central Committee's decisions and deployments, and welcome the successful convening of the 21st National Congress of the Party with practical actions.
Party members and cadres of central and state organs and people's organizations expressed that they must unite more closely around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, strive for better administration and governance, work hard and strive to become stronger, continuously and persistently advance full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, and continuously open up new prospects for governing and managing the Party and revitalizing and strengthening the Party in the new era.
(Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, October 31) (Xinhua News Agency reporter)
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 洪秋婷
At the Wanlv Smart Farm in Liucheng Township, Dongyuan County, Heyuan City, Guangdong Province, large tracts of space-bred rice "Huahang Xiangyin Needle" have entered the harvest period.
Space-bred rice is a multi-gene superior variety cultivated through the combination of space breeding and modern biotechnology. After rice seeds are carried into space aboard spacecraft, under the influence of special environmental conditions such as cosmic rays and microgravity, they undergo induced beneficial genetic changes and are cultivated into new varieties.
"Seeds that enter space do not immediately become superior varieties. After returning to the ground, they must undergo generations of continuous planting and observation. Combining the local climate and soil conditions of Heyuan, we focus on observing the seeds' actual performance in terms of yield, grain quality, disease resistance, and lodging resistance," said Liu Yongzhu, deputy director of the National Engineering Research Center of Space Breeding for Plants at South China Agricultural University.
"'The birth of 'Huahang Xiangyin Needle' hinged on finding a new space-breeding germplasm (mutant) that met the breeding requirements," Liu Yongzhu explained. A mutant is a new rice material that carries superior genes making outstanding contributions to certain traits. By crossing mutants carrying superior genes with other breeding parents, and using modern breeding techniques to aggregate traits of high yield, high quality, and disease resistance, a rice variety with excellent quality and high yield is cultivated.
"Although mutants induced by space mutagenesis are relatively common, finding one that meets breeding requirements is extremely difficult," said Guo Tao, director of the National Engineering Research Center of Space Breeding for Plants. The difficulty is reflected in two aspects: first, the probability of producing superior genes is very low; second, whether superior genes have been produced cannot be directly observed with the naked eye, requiring extensive field and laboratory identification work. "It can be said that without finding this suitable mutant, there would be no 'Huahang Xiangyin Needle.'"
At the breeding base, the research team conducted screening and identification of the massive number of mutants. In the fields, they braved the scorching sun overhead and trudged through mud underfoot, walking with uneven, unsteady steps (深一脚浅一脚, shen yi jiao qian yi jiao - "deep, one foot; shallow, one foot") as they observed and recorded the growth conditions of tens of thousands of individual plants on site; in the laboratory, the work of experimental identification and data analysis was heavy and complex. After five years of arduous exploration, the research team finally found this critical mutant.
"We experimented countless times (成千上万, cheng qian shang wan - "become, thousand, up, ten thousand"), and our sweat was not shed in vain," Guo Tao said. After finding this mutant, they crossed it with other parent materials, aggregating and introducing different superior genes, and ultimately bred "Huahang Xiangyin Needle," which has high yield, good taste, and strong disease resistance. Its high yield is a stable heritable trait obtained through space mutagenesis screening, far exceeding the yield increase of ordinary varieties; in terms of taste, it contains a high concentration of aromatic substances, with an amylose content of 15.0%–15.3%, placing it in the soft, sticky, and springy category. It is a conventional Simiao rice super rice variety certified by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
"The average yield of the hundred-mu demonstration field of 'Huahang Xiangyin Needle' can reach 723.5 kilograms per mu, and it is also resistant to rice blast and lodging," said Wang Jiankuan, head of Wanlv Smart Farm.
"Heyuan City has planted space-bred rice on a large scale across 50,000 mu, developing 2 categories and 3 series of space-bred Simiao rice agricultural products. The relevant space-bred rice varieties have also gone abroad for introduction and trial planting," said a relevant official from the Heyuan Municipal Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 王 浩 邓剑洋
The mighty Yellow River surges through gorges, churns the thick soil, and spreads out a majestic "bow" shape across the land of China.
No other river has, like the Yellow River, historically experienced "two breaches every three years, one course change every century." For thousands of years, the Chinese people have prayed for the Yellow River's tranquility.
In 1946, the Communist Party of China, upholding the righteousness of the nation and bearing the heavy responsibility of history, established the Yellow River Old Course Management Committee in the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Liberated Area, "holding a gun in one hand and a shovel in the other," ushering in a new era of the Party leading the people in harnessing the Yellow River.
General Secretary Xi Jinping has deep concern for this mother river of the Chinese nation, having traveled across all 9 provinces and regions along the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the Yellow River, earnestly instructing "to make the Yellow River a river of happiness that benefits the people." Within 5 years, he convened symposiums on the same theme 3 times, continuously advancing the national strategy of ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin to greater depth.
Since the new era, Yellow River protection and governance have entered a new stage of high-quality development, achieving historic accomplishments and undergoing historic transformations, setting a benchmark for river protection and governance worldwide.
The great river surges onward, advancing fearlessly (一往无前, yi wang wu qian - "one, go, no, front").
From "One Major Matter" to the River of Tranquility
"Only under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, leveraging the advantages of the socialist system, can we truly realize the historic transformation of Yellow River governance from passive to active"
The Yellow River winds through nine bends and eighteen turns.
One bend tells of history.
In Lankao County, Henan, the Yellow River makes its final great bend. With its wandering course and suspended river channel, it is the "weak waist" of the ten-thousand-li river.
"In a sense, the history of the Chinese nation's governance of the Yellow River is also a history of statecraft." General Secretary Xi Jinping reflected across the ages: "Some have even characterized ancient Chinese society as a 'hydraulic society.'"
Looking back at history. In 1855, the Yellow River breached its banks near Dongbatou in Lankao County, seized the Daqing River course and flowed into the Bohai Sea. The great river was reshaped, forming the current channel.
The "weak waist" bears witness to the difficulty of Yellow River governance. In the more than 2,500 years before the founding of New China, the lower Yellow River breached and overflowed more than 1,500 times and changed course 26 times; from Yu the Great's flood control to Pan Jixun's "constraining the current to scour sediment," from the "Huzi plugging" to carving "river affairs and grain transport" on the pillars of the imperial palace, the Chinese nation has always been locked in struggle with the Yellow River's floods and droughts.
One bend reflects the original aspiration.
In October 1952, Comrade Mao Zedong's first inspection trip after leaving Beijing brought him to the banks of the Yellow River, to Lankao, where he issued the great call "to handle the Yellow River's affairs well."
Speaking of this unwavering original intention, General Secretary Xi Jinping said with deep emotion, "Now we are continuing the work" and "uniting knowledge and action (知行合一, zhi xing he yi - "know, act, combine, one"), being doers."
Yang Jie, a river course maintenance worker at the Lankao Yellow River Affairs Bureau under the Yellow River Conservancy Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources, has patrolled the river and protected the embankments for over 20 years, participating in more than a hundred emergency rescue operations.
Yang Jie's home is right by the Yellow River. As a child, during flood season, he would follow the adults to guard the river; after starting work, he continued to work with the Yellow River, delving into technical research. He said: "Now, there are drones in the sky and 'smart stones' in the embankments, and the Yellow River turns its bend safely."
From one bend, we see the governance of the great river. The Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, focusing on the overall picture of ecological civilization construction, has defined the water governance approach of "prioritizing water conservation, spatial balance, systematic governance, and dual efforts by government and market." Great achievements have been made in both Yellow River governance and the economic and social development of the basin, and the people's sense of gain, happiness, and security has significantly improved. The historical miracle of the Yellow River's annual tranquility has written a new chapter in the history of the Chinese nation's governance of the Yellow River.
Practice powerfully confirms: "Only under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, leveraging the advantages of the socialist system, can we truly realize the historic transformation of Yellow River governance from passive to active, and fundamentally change the tragic situation of the Yellow River breaching twice every three years."
Why is this possible? To understand the Yellow River is to understand today's China.
General Secretary Xi Jinping, standing at the height of the overall development of the Party and the nation's undertakings, has thought about this with long-term vision and planned it systematically. "What is the Communist Party for? It serves the people and seeks rejuvenation for the Chinese nation. Therefore, we must constantly examine what matters need to be handled well and which matters need to be accelerated, and governing the Yellow River well is one such major matter."
The governance of the great river embodies the historical patience of drawing one blueprint to the end.
The difficulty of governing the Yellow River lies fundamentally in sediment.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "To ensure the long-term tranquility of the Yellow River, we must firmly grasp the regulation of the water-sediment relationship, which is the 'key link.'"
A set of data highlights the difficulty of governance: the Yellow River's multi-year average natural runoff is only 1/17 of the Yangtze River's, but its multi-year average sediment concentration is about 65 times that of the Yangtze.
Thirty-three rounds of water-sediment regulation demonstrate the determination to govern.
"Downstream discharge increased to 2,600 cubic meters per second," the dispatch order came. Zhang Pengfei, a senior engineer at the Xiaolangdi Water Control Project Management Center, pressed the button, the sluice gates rose, and huge waves surged forth. In July this year, before the main flood season, the Yellow River water-sediment regulation was completed, "stretching the muscles and bones" of the Yellow River.
From exploratory beginnings in 2002, to transitioning into production operation in 2005, and then moving toward legalization and standardization, water-sediment regulation has cumulatively sent 3.74 billion tons of sediment into the sea, completely rewriting the history of continuous sediment deposition and elevation of the lower Yellow River riverbed.
Governing the Yellow River means surmounting difficulties, seeking innovation, and "advancing firmly step by step."
Building embankments: multiple rounds of flood control projects have been implemented, with a cumulative total of approximately 3,000 kilometers of embankments built along the main stream.
Protecting smooth flow: pioneering among China's major rivers, unified dispatch of main stream water volume was implemented, and the Yellow River has achieved continuous flow for 27 consecutive years.
Establishing institutions: the "Outline of the Plan for Ecological Protection and High-Quality Development of the Yellow River Basin" was issued, and the "Yellow River Protection Law of the People's Republic of China" was implemented, establishing the "four beams and eight pillars" of the institutional framework.
The governance of the great river embodies the notable advantage of concentrating resources to accomplish major undertakings.
The Guxian Water Control Project on the Yellow River, with one dam spanning two provinces, is being constructed in the midst of gorges. Shanxi and Shaanxi are cooperating closely, and batches of builders, accompanied by the roar of machinery and the sound of Yellow River waves, are sprinting toward the goal of river closure in 2027.
Looking from Guxian to the winding Yellow River, 100,000 builders carried earth on their shoulders and by hand to build the Sanmenxia Reservoir, and after decades of planning, demonstration, and construction, the Xiaolangdi Reservoir was built... Raising dams, smoothing canal systems, and weaving water networks, the national "one chessboard" approach has gathered powerful strength for Yellow River governance.
"Over the 80 years of the Party leading the people in governing the Yellow River, the military and civilians along the river and Yellow River builders have carried out large-scale Yellow River governance and protection work. The strategy of 'blocking upstream, discharging downstream, and diverting floods on both banks' for flood regulation, and the comprehensive approach of 'blocking, regulating, discharging, placing, and dredging' for sediment management have been established. Since 2012, we have successfully responded to 20 numbered floods in the main stream." said Wei Xiangyang, Chief Engineer of the Yellow River Conservancy Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources.
"When the Yellow River is peaceful, the world is at peace." The age-old aspiration condensed in these six characters has truly become a reality today under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. The historical picture of the Party leading the people in governing the Yellow River vividly illustrates: "The Party's leadership is the most essential attribute and the greatest advantage of socialism."
From "Key Task" to the River of Ecology
"Jointly undertake major protection, collaboratively advance major governance"
Where the Yellow River flows into the "ji-shaped bend," the great river, the great desert, and the great grasslands unfold a colorful picture.
A stretch of clear water reflects the transformation of the mother river.
Wuliangsuhai Lake, a pearl beyond the Great Wall. Liu Wenbin drives a speedboat through the reeds, "We have set up 6 patrol points around the lake area, protecting fish, protecting birds, and even more so protecting the water."
Liu Wenbin, who grew up by the shores of Wuliangsuhai, is the captain of the sea area management brigade of Inner Mongolia Wuliangsuhai Industrial Co., Ltd. From the "soy sauce lake" in his memory to today's "paradise for migratory birds," he has witnessed the transformation of this body of water.
At one time, agricultural return water and urban production and domestic wastewater entered Wuliangsuhai, causing large-scale yellow algae blooms in the lake area and deteriorating water quality to worse than Class V.
In the past, "treating the water only as water" yielded no results for a long time. Only by considering mountains, water, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts as a whole did the "pearl" regain its luster. Liu Wenbin counts the changes: there are now 263 species of wild birds, and the ecological environment is improving year by year.
General Secretary Xi Jinping has always kept this in mind. At the 2021 National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference sessions, when participating in deliberations with the Inner Mongolia delegation, the General Secretary pointed out: "The governance has now achieved obvious results, and sustained, long-term effort is still needed." In June 2023, the General Secretary came to Wuliangsuhai and urged "leaving a beautiful homeland with green mountains, clear waters, and fresh air for future generations."
"I have put forward requirements for the governance of several important lakes in Inner Mongolia. It is rare for Inner Mongolia to have these lakes, and they should be truly treated as precious resources and properly protected." The General Secretary is constantly thinking about this (念兹在兹, nian zi zai zi - "think, this, at, this"), always unable to set his mind at ease.
The Yellow River is an important barrier for national ecological security, yet its own ecological foundation is poor, water resources are extremely scarce, soil erosion is severe, and the carrying capacity of resources and the environment is weak.
"These problems manifest on the surface in the Yellow River, but their roots lie in the entire basin," "The key to governing the Yellow River lies in protection, and the crux lies in governance," "Coordinate planning for upstream and downstream, main streams and tributaries, and left and right banks, jointly undertake major protection, and collaboratively advance major governance"... General Secretary Xi Jinping has set the rules and clarified the direction for the protection and governance of the Yellow River, requiring "taking major protection as the key task."
The biggest contradiction in the Yellow River basin is water scarcity. What to do? "How much soup you have determines how much mantou you can soak."
Weishan Irrigation District, the largest irrigation district in Shandong, nourishes more than 5 million mu of fertile farmland in Liaocheng City.
"Whether there is a harvest depends on water." Kang Shihong, a villager from Sankang Village, Xuying Town, Liaocheng High-tech Zone, always feels that "only with more watering can one feel at ease."
"More water is not necessarily better; water should be used according to need." Yi Houzhen, deputy station master of the Weishan Irrigation District Irrigation Experiment Station, came to the door to promote water-saving irrigation technology.
Two plots of land were compared. One was irrigated using the old method; the other adopted the new approach. Precise irrigation according to need saved more than 20 cubic meters of water per mu and increased wheat yield by more than 100 jin per mu. The "old hand" was convinced.
This is an "inequality" of water resources. The Yellow River basin, with 2% of the nation's water resources, supports 12% of the nation's population, 17% of its cultivated land, and 14% of its GDP.
Determining cities by water, determining land by water, determining people by water, determining industry by water. The Ministry of Water Resources took the lead in establishing a mandatory water quota management system in the Yellow River basin, continuously promoting agricultural water conservation and efficiency, industrial water conservation and emission reduction, and urban water conservation and loss reduction. The overall level of water resource conservation and intensive utilization in the Yellow River basin ranks among the forefront of the nation.
The biggest problem in the Yellow River basin is ecological fragility. How to solve it? "We must adhere to comprehensive, systematic, and source-based governance of mountains, waters, forests, farmlands, lakes, and grasslands."
The difficulty of governing the Yellow River lies in its complexity and systematic nature. Glaciers, grasslands, mountains, wetlands... ecological elements are abundant, and species types are diverse.
"When Yu the Great dredged the rivers, he took water as his teacher." General Secretary Xi Jinping earnestly instructed: "We must respect the laws of nature and abandon the impulsive thinking of conquering water and conquering nature."
In Qinghai, he emphasized that "the top priority is to safeguard the Sanjiangyuan region, the 'Chinese Water Tower'"; in Ningxia, he cautioned to "resolutely put an end to acts that pollute the Yellow River and keep the mother river forever healthy"; in Shanxi, he required that "anything detrimental to the ecological protection of the Yellow River basin must resolutely not be done." Bearing in mind these instructions and revering nature, the ecological environment governance system integrating upstream and downstream continues to improve, and the beauty of the great river unfolds progressively.
Upstream, trickles converge, and the "Chinese Water Tower" conserves water sources.
"In recent years, reducing livestock numbers and treating black soil beaches have yielded visible results," said Han Changpeng, station master of the Ecological Protection Station of the Yellow River Source Park Management Committee of Sanjiangyuan National Park. On patrol routes, he often encounters herds of wild animals.
Midstream, wind prevention and sand fixation, soil and water conservation.
Pisha sandstone turns to mud when it meets water. The Pisha sandstone area in Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Inner Mongolia covers only 16,700 square kilometers, but the coarse sediment it produces accounts for 25% of the coarse sediment deposited in the lower Yellow River channel.
Apple orchards have grown on the Pisha sandstone. Hua Shengming, a large planter from Deshengyoulang Village, Nuanshui Township, Jungar Banner, Inner Mongolia, said, "Pisha sandstone, loess, and farmyard manure mixed together are suitable for growing apples."
Green extends, sand retreats. As of 2025, the Yellow River basin has cumulatively treated 290,000 square kilometers of soil erosion area, and the dominant color of the Loess Plateau has changed from yellow to green.
Downstream, coordinated governance of river and banks, creating a green ecological corridor.
Where the Yellow River flows through Gaoqing County, Zibo City, Shandong, a sharp bend was historically a flood-prone area. From strengthening embankments to planting greenery, from water management to water utilization, the danger of the great river has been transformed into the beauty of the great river.
Suoyifan Village, nestled in the "crook of the arm" of the Yellow River, has developed new business forms such as fruit and vegetable picking and wetland boating. The village now has more than 60 homestays and farmhouse restaurants.
Governing the river: the overall water quality of the Yellow River basin is steadily improving; governing the banks: a cumulative total of more than 102,000 "four disorder" problems have been cleaned up and rectified; governing the greenery: a comprehensive protection network covering wave-break forests, roadside forests, and ecological forests has been basically established. In the new era, the ecological environment of the Yellow River basin has significantly improved, and the mother river is radiating vigorous vitality.
The Yellow River is very beautiful, and it will become even more beautiful in the future.
From "Green Development" to the River of Happiness
"Unswervingly follow the modernization path of ecological priority and green development"
A water diversion line connects to the foundation of development.
Roses bloom on what was once a dry plain.
In greenhouse facilities, sensors precisely monitor, and water, fertilizer, and heat are automatically controlled. In Lanzhou New Area, Gansu, roses bloom all year round, with an annual production capacity of nearly 100 million fresh-cut flowers.
In livestream rooms, hosts enthusiastically promote the products, and netizens inquire and place orders. E-commerce livestreaming + preservation warehouses + low-temperature cold storage allow roses to reach domestic customers within 48 hours.
Leveraging the locational advantages of Lanzhou New Area, fresh-cut roses are also sold to countries such as Russia and Kazakhstan.
Innovation, coordination, green, openness, and sharing — a single rose embodies the microcosm of high-quality development.
The gushing living water of development comes from the Datong River-to-Qinwangchuan diversion project. Water starts from the Datong River in Qinghai, passes through tunnels and aqueducts, and arrives at the Qinwangchuan area in Gansu. "Wherever there is demand for industrial development, good water is diverted there," said An Jianmin, deputy director of the Gansu Provincial Datong River-to-Qinwangchuan Water Resources Utilization Center. Ample water sources provide support for modern agriculture, green chemicals, equipment manufacturing, and other industries in Lanzhou New Area.
The "symphony" of high-quality development and high-level protection resounds across the great river.
"Provinces and regions along the Yellow River should implement the strategic deployment for ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin, and unswervingly follow the modernization path of ecological priority and green development," "We must firmly follow the path of green and low-carbon development and promote quality, efficiency, and momentum changes in the basin's economic development," General Secretary Xi Jinping has made far-sighted plans.
From the Yellow River to the water network, the spatial balance of water resources expands development space.
Hongsipu District, Wuzhong City, Ningxia, is China's largest single-site concentrated resettlement area for ecological migrants. With the arrival of Yellow River water, the people's homes are secure.
In the strawberry greenhouses of Yangliu Village, Xinzhuanji Township, the seedlings are lush green. Ji Shaohua manages 8 greenhouses with more than 10 varieties including strawberries. "The Yellow River water has brought us new hope," and returning home to start a business, he is full of drive.
Zhu Xiaoming, head of the Irrigation Dispatch Section of the Hongsipu Pumping Station Management Office, introduced that 5 levels of main pumping stations lift the Yellow River water by 305.8 meters, and the irrigation area of the Hongsipu Irrigation District is 1.006 million mu.
A water network enables the optimal allocation of Yellow River water over a broader scope. Cross-basin and cross-regional water diversion projects such as the Hanjiang-to-Weihe River diversion, the Tao River water supply project, and the Datong River-to-Huangshui River diversion have been completed with notable benefits. The regulation capacity of key nodes of the national water network such as Longyangxia, Xiaolangdi, and Liujiaxia has been continuously strengthened. Ensuring water supply, irrigating fertile farmland, and generating green electricity, water security support capacity has been continuously enhanced, the foundation of energy and food security has been continuously consolidated, and the people's living standards have continued to improve.
From basin to region, coordinated regional development activates development momentum.
The great river spanning east and west opens up strategic depth. General Secretary Xi Jinping's vision is far-reaching: "Following the Yangtze River Economic Belt development strategy, we proposed the strategy of ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin, and the nation's 'river strategy' was thus established."
The nation's "river strategy," originating with the Yangtze and Yellow River mother rivers, relies on major rivers as its foundation, breaks through geographical unit limitations, aims at the optimal allocation of resource factors, anchors coordinated regional development, and empowers strategic superposition effects.
On Tala Beach in Gonghe County, Qinghai, there is a "sea of photovoltaics." Above the photovoltaic panels, sunlight is converted into green electricity. Below the panels, shade retains moisture and pasture grass thrives. Herders have become "photovoltaic shepherds," earning income from work, animal husbandry, and dividends — one family with multiple sources of income.
At the Dongjia Town railway logistics park in Jinan, Shandong, China-Europe freight trains shuttle back and forth. "Gathering at the doorstep, one-stop customs clearance for exit," bringing "Made in Shandong" mechanical equipment and agricultural and sideline products from along the Yellow River into the international market.
The Yellow River flows to the sea, embracing the world. According to statistics from Qingdao Customs, in 2025 the import and export value of the Yellow River basin reached 6.51 trillion yuan, with the scale continuing to expand and new momentum constantly emerging.
Bearing in mind the instruction to "actively explore new paths for high-quality development with regional characteristics," building a modern industrial system with distinctive advantages, vigorously developing clean energy, and expanding strategic emerging industries, high-quality development has taken solid steps. According to preliminary calculations, over the 80 years of the Party leading the people in governing the Yellow River, Yellow River protection and governance have cumulatively generated economic benefits of 24.2 trillion yuan.
Chen Dongming, Director of the Yellow River Conservancy Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources, stated that they will persistently and comprehensively build a tranquil Yellow River, a living Yellow River, and a happy Yellow River, contributing to promoting high-quality water development and safeguarding China's water security.
Dongying, Shandong, where the Yellow River meets the sea. "Beautiful scenery by the Yellow River beach, happiness lasts for ten thousand years," the Yellow River work chant resounds with new and lasting charm.
These chants, spanning history, voice the endless and continuous vitality (生生不息, sheng sheng bu xi - "birth, birth, not, cease") of Yellow River culture and the unyielding spirit in the face of setbacks (百折不挠, bai zhe bu nao - "hundred, bend, not, yield") of the Chinese people.
The great river surges onward, and the pace of struggle does not cease. "We must continue to do well in the work of protecting and governing the mother river," advancing the new era's Yu the Great-style flood control with sustained, long-term effort.
A hundred rivers flow eastward to the sea, gathering the surging power of ten thousand valleys returning to one current, advancing fearlessly. Striding forward on the new journey, the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is unstoppable.
(Wang Jintao and Li Rui, reporters of this newspaper, participated in the writing)
Return to Top(Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, October 31) In recent days, political party and government leaders from many countries around the world have warmly congratulated, in various ways, the successful convening of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, positively evaluated the experience and achievements of the Communist Party of China in persistently advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, and highly appreciated that General Secretary Xi Jinping's thought on Party building has provided important inspiration for party building worldwide.
The General Secretary of the People's Liberation Front of Sri Lanka, Silva, stated that the Communist Party of China has consistently attached importance to Party building, and one important dimension of this is correctly handling the relationship between the Party and the people. General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches importance to strict Party discipline and strengthening Party mechanisms, and has led the building of a contingent of Party members and cadres who are serving the public with integrity and honesty (廉洁奉公, lian jie feng gong - "clean, honest, serve, public") and maintain close ties with the masses, which holds important enlightening significance for the People's Liberation Front.
The leader of the Democrat Party of Thailand and former Prime Minister of the government, Abhisit, stated that the Communist Party of China accurately grasps the general trend of world development and responds to the fundamental demands of the people. Party organizations at all levels have always been acting with one heart and mind toward the same goal (同心同向, tong xin tong xiang - "same, heart, same, direction") and in unison, implementing the national vision and overcoming difficulties and challenges. The governance practices and valuable experience of the Communist Party of China are highly instructive and worthy of deep reflection by every political party.
The Vice President of the People's Justice Party of Malaysia and Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation of the government, Chang Lih Kang, stated that General Secretary Xi Jinping's thought on Party building responds to the subjects of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, self-revolution, and anti-corruption, and is equally applicable to political parties that wish to maintain vitality over the long term and be responsible to the people. For a political party to go far and go steadily, it must put the interests of the people first.
The Deputy Coordinator of the Communist Party of Nepal and former Prime Minister of the government, Nepal, stated that General Secretary Xi Jinping's thought on Party building answers questions that all political parties cannot avoid but almost no political party has seriously answered. Only by always attaching importance to its own building and daring to carry out self-renovation can a political party lead the country toward long-term stability and peace (长治久安, chang zhi jiu an - "long, govern, long, peace").
The First Deputy Secretary General of the Patriotic Party of Turkey, Belki, stated that this plenary session placed upholding full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, upholding and strengthening the centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, strictly enforcing Party discipline, and advancing the Party's self-revolution at the core of its agenda, which has strategic significance for achieving sustainable development and demonstrates the firm determination of the Communist Party of China to advance its historical mission.
The National Chairman of the Unity Party of Liberia, Tarpeh, stated that this plenary session focused on deepening full and rigorous self-governance of the Party and improving institutional governance, fully demonstrating the Communist Party of China's persistent discipline, spirit of self-revolution, and firm commitment to the people. The successful governance model of the CPC has paved a path of national rejuvenation for sustainable development, providing valuable reference for countries of the Global South.
The General Secretary of the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front and Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mudenda, stated that General Secretary Xi Jinping's thought on Party building has been continuously enriched and developed, demonstrating the Communist Party of China's firm pursuit of strict discipline, forever maintaining integrity and honesty, and consolidating the organizational foundation. We firmly support the CPC in building a strong, disciplined Marxist political party that leads the Chinese nation to achieve great rejuvenation.
The General Secretary of the Patriotic Salvation Movement of Chad, Aziz, stated that this plenary session systematically summarized the achievements of the Communist Party of China's self-revolution and further clarified the direction of consolidating the Party's leadership and serving national rejuvenation. The Communist Party of China has accumulated valuable experience in governance, cadre training, and Party building, providing a source of inspiration for the building of the Patriotic Salvation Movement.
The General Secretary of the SWAPO Party of Namibia, Shaningwa, stated that General Secretary Xi Jinping has put forward effective solutions to the problems of political party governance, fully demonstrating global vision and a strong sense of responsibility. Having such an outstanding leader as General Secretary Xi Jinping is an honor of this era. SWAPO is willing to strengthen exchanges and mutual learning with the Communist Party of China and systematically study General Secretary Xi Jinping's thought on Party building.
The General Secretary of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, Baziramwabo, expressed belief that the research content and published outcomes of the plenary session will provide important strategic guidance for China's next stage of development and open a new chapter for sustained improvement in economic development, scientific and technological progress, and the well-being of the people.
The General Secretary of the Patriotic Party of Senegal, Daffé, stated that the Patriotic Party highly appreciates the emphasis of this plenary session on strengthening the Party's organizational building, discipline building, and intra-Party governance, and agrees that the unity of a political party stems from a clear program, the commitment of its members, and attention to the public interest.
The General Secretary of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi of Tanzania, Migiro, stated that this meeting will consolidate the institutional foundation for Chinese modernization and the successful implementation of the 15th Five-Year Plan. The experience of the Communist Party of China is of special and major significance for the Chama Cha Mapinduzi in strengthening organizational building, strictly enforcing intra-Party discipline, implementing accountability systems, and cultivating leadership talent.
The General Secretary of the National Resistance Movement of Uganda, Todwong, stated that this plenary session focused on continuously advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, which is not only of great significance to China but also has far-reaching global impact. The Communist Party of China's efforts to strengthen its own building provide strong support for realizing Chinese modernization and also provide an example for developing countries in Africa and other regions to enhance their governance capacity.
The General Secretary of the United Party for National Development of Zambia, Imenda, stated that the Communist Party of China's important practices such as full and rigorous self-governance of the Party and improving governance efficiency provide useful reference for political parties around the world. The UPND is implementing the useful experience drawn from the CPC throughout the entire party.
The National Executive Secretary of the Umbrella for Democratic Change of Botswana, Molutsi, stated that the Communist Party of China's emphasis on full and rigorous self-governance of the Party brings important inspiration to ruling parties around the world in strengthening discipline building, reinforcing accountability, and being responsible political parties. The Umbrella for Democratic Change looks forward to further learning from the CPC's experience and practices in codes of conduct for Party members, evaluation and assessment of leading cadres, political education, and the continuous and fair handling of violations of law and discipline.
The Director of the International Relations Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, Losada, stated that full and rigorous self-governance of the Party has always been a priority in the process of strengthening the Party's own building by the leadership of the Communist Party of China, and this plenary session demonstrated its realm of transparency and courage in self-criticism.
The President of the Communist Party of Spain, Centella, stated that this plenary session was held against the backdrop of the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, continuing the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's speeches at the two important commemorative events, highlighting the importance of the Party's own building and self-revolution, and laying a solid foundation for better completing the 15th Five-Year Plan for the benefit of the people.
The Co-Chair of the Left Group in the European Parliament, Schirdewan, stated that the Left Group and all sectors of Europe generally pay close attention to the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, believing that it has strategic guiding significance for China's future development.
The Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and First Deputy Chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the State Duma, Novikov, stated that the greatness of the Communist Party of China lies in facing itself squarely, confronting problems directly, and having the courage to solve them, ensuring that power serves the people and seeks no private gain, and ensuring that the Party forever retains vigor and vitality. This is the consistent code of conduct of the CPC and has set an example for political parties in other countries.
Leaders of political parties and political organizations, think tank scholars, and media heads from many other countries also highly praised the important outcomes and worldwide significance of the Fifth Plenary Session, and look forward to in-depth study of General Secretary Xi Jinping's thought on Party building and the experience and practices of the Communist Party of China in full and rigorous self-governance of the Party.
Return to TopChina is willing to continue working with the European side to uphold dialogue and consultation, tap the potential of practical cooperation, and jointly walk the path of mutually beneficial and win-win (互利共赢, hu li gong ying - "mutual, benefit, common, win") cooperation, injecting valuable confidence and greater certainty into China-EU economic and trade cooperation and global economic development.
On October 30, President Xi Jinping held talks in Beijing with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who was in China for a state visit, and met with Swiss Federal President Viola Amherd, who was in China for a working visit. These two important events, grounded in bilateral relations while looking toward Europe as a whole, both looked back at the foundation of mutual trust accumulated in China-Germany and China-Switzerland relations and looked ahead to new space for writing a new chapter of mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation through openness and cooperation. They released a positive signal of upholding dialogue and expanding cooperation, not only drawing a new blueprint for the development of China-Germany and China-Switzerland relations, but also providing experience and inspiration for the current development of China-EU relations.
Looking back on the course of China-Germany and China-Switzerland relations, mutual respect and mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation are among the important lessons. President Xi Jinping pointed out that since the establishment of diplomatic relations more than half a century ago, China-Germany relations have maintained a high level of development, with the two sides always being friends who trust each other and partners who achieve together. He expressed the hope that the German side will view China's development and cooperation with China with an open and positive mindset, adhere to a rational, pragmatic, and friendly policy toward China, and uphold mutual respect and equal treatment — this is also the valuable experience for the sustained and healthy development of China-Germany relations. Looking back on China-Switzerland relations, President Xi Jinping emphasized that since the establishment of diplomatic ties, the two sides have adhered to achieving together and daring to be a pioneer (敢为人先, gan wei ren xian - "dare, for, person, first"), continuously interpreting the China-Switzerland cooperation spirit of "equality, innovation, and win-win" with practical results, and becoming a model for exchanges between countries of different sizes and different social systems. The historical lesson is clear and unmistakable (清晰可鉴, qing xi ke jian - "clear, distinct, can, examine"): mutual respect and mutual trust are the cornerstone of stable bilateral relations, and mutual benefit and reciprocity are the code for cooperation to achieve maintaining steady progress to achieve long-term success (行稳致远, xing wen zhi yuan - "walk, steady, reach, far"). A stable China-Germany and China-Switzerland relationship not only creates more well-being for the peoples of the two countries, but also injects greater certainty into world economic development.
Throughout the two talks and meetings, "openness" and "cooperation" ran through from beginning to end. President Xi Jinping pointed out that China and Germany, as the world's second and third largest economies, bear important responsibility for the development of China-EU relations and the stable growth of the world economy, and should strengthen communication and coordination, forge a new model of cooperation featuring equality, mutual benefit, and strategic stability, and release to the outside world a positive signal of embracing openness rather than closure and cooperation rather than confrontation. This charts the course for the sustained and healthy development of China-Germany relations. Switzerland has long played an important exemplary role in China-EU economic and trade exchanges. At a time when unilateralism and protectionism are seeing surging countercurrents of opposing forces (逆流涌动, ni liu yong dong - "against, current, surge, move"), free trade cooperation has become the most shining calling card of China-Switzerland relations. On October 30, the protocol on upgrading the China-Switzerland Free Trade Agreement was signed in Beijing, further deepening China-Switzerland economic and trade cooperation and providing a more solid institutional guarantee for the liberalization and facilitation of bilateral trade and investment. President Amherd stated that the two sides completed the high-quality upgrade negotiations of the free trade agreement in a short period of time, reflecting the high degree of mutual trust between the two sides, meeting the expectations of the enterprises and all parties of both countries, and injecting new impetus into the development of Switzerland-China relations.
For a long time, Germany and Switzerland have both played important roles in China-EU economic and trade exchanges. The continued deepening of communication and expansion of practical cooperation between China and Germany and between China and Switzerland can inject impetus into building a stable and balanced China-EU key trading partnership. Recently, some European figures have played up the so-called "risk narrative," attempting to magnify differences and talk down cooperation. History and reality have repeatedly proven that in China-EU relations, cooperation outweighs competition and consensus outweighs differences. The essence of China-EU economic and trade relations is complementing each other's strengths (优势互补, you shi hu bu - "advantage, mutual, complement") and mutual benefit and win-win; the path to achieving together is mutual respect and mutual understanding and concession (互谅互让, hu liang hu rang - "mutual, understanding, mutual, yield"); and the key to coordinated development is seeking common ground while reserving differences (求同存异, qiu tong cun yi - "seek, same, preserve, difference") while upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground. Recently, the second regular meeting of the China-EU Trade and Investment Consultation Mechanism made positive progress, demonstrating that the two sides are fully capable of properly resolving economic and trade differences through dialogue and consultation. As President Steinmeier said, the two sides can properly handle economic and trade differences through dialogue and consultation, achieve mutual benefit and win-win, and set an example for the world.
At present, China is advancing Chinese modernization through high-quality development, providing new opportunities for countries around the world, including Germany and Switzerland. Germany is a representative of advanced manufacturing and high-quality products. China is willing to carry out cooperation with the German side in areas such as artificial intelligence, green and low-carbon development, trade in services, and the digital economy, jointly enhancing future competitiveness, and adding new dimensions and momentum to China-Germany cooperation. Switzerland has always been at the forefront of European countries in cooperation with China. China is willing to strengthen innovation cooperation with the Swiss side, focus on cultivating cooperation in emerging industries such as the digital economy, green energy storage, and artificial intelligence, build high-quality industrial and supply chains featuring collaborative innovation and shared benefits, and jointly promote artificial intelligence to move toward goodness and benefit humanity. China is willing to build its market into a market for the world and a shared market, welcoming enterprises from all countries to deepen their presence in China, share in the dividends of the super-large market, and turn the blueprint of openness and cooperation into a tangible reality that can be seen and felt.
Governance values consistency. No matter how the international situation changes, China's original aspiration to regard the EU as a partner and develop relations with Europe with sincerity and goodwill will not change, and China's determination to continue providing new opportunities to the world through new achievements in Chinese modernization will not change. China is willing to continue working with the European side to uphold dialogue and consultation, tap the potential of practical cooperation, and jointly walk the path of mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation, injecting valuable confidence and greater certainty into China-EU economic and trade cooperation and global economic development.
Return to TopBy: 关健斌
China is willing to work with all parties to practice the global governance concept of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, promote the implementation of the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative, and the Global Governance Initiative, and join hands to build a world of lasting peace, universal security, common prosperity, openness, inclusiveness, cleanliness, and beauty.
Recently, the 2026 Global Governance Forum (Xiong'an) was held in the "city of the future," the Xiong'an New Area in Hebei. President Xi Jinping sent a letter to the forum, stating that China is willing to work with all parties to practice the global governance concept of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, gather strength with confidence, resolve difficulties through cooperation, promote the implementation of the Global Governance Initiative, inject more certainty and positive energy into a world characterized by both instability and disorder (变乱交织, bian luan jiao zhi - "change, chaos, interweave"), and jointly move toward a community with a shared future for mankind. The letter resonated widely at the forum, and participating guests generally believed that it is necessary to firmly uphold the central role of the United Nations in the international system, continue to strengthen the Global South's force in global governance, adhere to the correct direction of open development, and promote the development of global governance in a more just and reasonable direction.
At present, the century-old transformation of the world is accelerating, and the governance deficit is continually increasing (有增无减, you zeng wu jian - "have increase, no decrease"). Many international shipping routes are operating unstably, and pressure on industrial and supply chains continues to manifest. Certain countries are politicizing and weaponizing economic, trade, scientific, technological, and financial tools, artificially setting up barriers and raising institutional transaction costs, exacerbating the trend toward bloc confrontation and fragmentation in the international landscape. Unilateral and exclusive practices compress the space for multilateral consultation, continuously amplify the trust deficit, and impact the principles of international rule of law and sovereign equality. Facts have repeatedly shown that closed barriers cannot stop the trend of economic globalization, bloc confrontation cannot resolve humanity's common challenges, and seeking one's own interests by harming the security and development of other countries will ultimately be unsustainable.
The Global Governance Initiative embodies five core concepts: upholding sovereign equality, abiding by international rule of law, practicing multilateralism, advocating a people-centered approach, and emphasizing action orientation, responding to the universal expectations of all countries for fairness and justice. Regardless of size, strength, or wealth, all countries enjoy equal rights and development opportunities. International affairs should be discussed jointly by the people of all countries, and the future and destiny of the world must be jointly grasped by all countries. Security is the premise of development, development is the guarantee of security, and mankind is an indivisible security community. Only by jointly enlarging the development pie, promoting trade connectivity, industrial coordination, and universal access to science and technology, paying attention to the legitimate demands of developing countries, and bridging the North-South development gap can the governance dilemma be alleviated at its root.
Resolving multiple governance deficits requires both consensus on concepts and practical cooperation. The Belt and Road Initiative is an international public good widely welcomed by the international community. Over the years, it has steadily advanced the "hard connectivity" of infrastructure, the "soft connectivity" of rules and standards, and the "heart-to-heart connectivity" among the people of partner countries, building a cooperation network that spans geographical barriers. High-quality Belt and Road cooperation continues to densify infrastructure networks such as ports, railways, and pipelines, smooth cross-border logistics links, hedge against the risks of decoupling and severing supply chains, and maintain the stability of global industrial and supply chains. In the first three quarters of this year, China's imports and exports with Belt and Road partner countries maintained steady growth, and economic and trade ties have become closer.
People-to-people connectivity is the foundation for international cooperation to go far and steadily. High-quality Belt and Road cooperation not only advances economic and trade exchanges and rule alignment, but also implements livelihood projects and carries out diverse people-to-people and cultural exchanges, bringing different civilizations and different peoples closer together. Replacing a zero-sum game (零和博弈, ling he bo yi - "zero, sum, game") with shared interests, eliminating cognitive biases through regular exchanges, and continuously consolidating the foundation of mutual trust that transcends borders. This forum has sent a clear signal: improving global governance cannot remain at the level of conceptual declarations, but must be translated into practical actions that benefit ordinary people, so that the fruits of governance reform are shared by the people of all countries.
Closure and isolation lead nowhere, and bloc confrontation wins no support. Facing the international environment characterized by both instability and disorder, China is willing to work with all parties to practice the global governance concept of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, promote the implementation of the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative, and the Global Governance Initiative, and join hands to build a world of lasting peace, universal security, common prosperity, openness, inclusiveness, cleanliness, and beauty.
(The author is the Director of the Institute of Asian and African Development Studies under the Development Research Center of the State Council)
Return to TopAt the invitation of President Xi Jinping, Sultan Haitham of Oman will pay a state visit to China from November 1 to 2.
Haitham bin Tariq, born in 1954, previously served as Oman's Minister of Heritage and Culture. He succeeded to the throne in January 2020.
(Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, October 31)
Return to TopBy: 本报记者
Handling China's affairs well hinges on the Party, and hinges on full and rigorous self-governance of the Party.
The Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee deliberated and approved the "Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Several Major Issues Concerning Persistently Advancing Full and Rigorous Self-Governance of the Party," fully demonstrating the historical initiative of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core to strengthen the Party and strengthen the country.
After the conclusion of the Plenary Session, the broad ranks of Party members, cadres, and the people earnestly studied and comprehended the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee. Everyone unanimously expressed that they would firmly uphold the Two Establishments (两个确立), resolutely achieve the Two Upholds (两个维护), deeply understand the importance and urgency of persistently advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, and, with a high sense of political responsibility and a strong sense of historical mission, do a solid job of implementing the spirit of the Plenary Session, so that our Party forever retains its vigor and vitality, successfully traverses the new road of examination, and continuously advances the great cause of Chinese modernization.
Deeply Understanding the Party's Outstanding Qualities
The journey of rejuvenation is magnificent and magnificent, and the century-old major Party is in the prime of its life or glory (风华正茂, feng hua zheng mao - "wind, flower, correct, flourishing").
The Plenary Session reviewed the Party's more than 100 years of struggle and pointed out: "Finding the two answers of 'letting the people supervise the government' and 'self-revolution' to escape the historical cycle of rise and fall, chaos and order, is the unique creation of the Communist Party of China and will forever be recorded in the annals of the construction of Marxist political parties."
He Lijun (何丽君), a professor at the China Executive Leadership Academy Pudong, said: "The classic Marxist writers did not provide a ready-made plan for preventing party degeneration under conditions of long-term governance. Chinese Communists have always remained sober and steadfast, advancing theoretical innovation, practical innovation, and institutional innovation in party governance without a moment's pause. These two answers are a profound summary of the Party's historical experience in party building and a major innovation in the Marxist theory of party building. On the new journey, the whole Party must adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping's thought on party building, thoroughly implement the spirit of the Plenary Session, and continue to answer well the major question of the times—'what kind of long-term governing Marxist party to build and how to build a long-term governing Marxist party'—through practical action."
Looking back on the road traveled, one outstanding quality of our Party is "focusing on strengthening itself and always being full of vigor and vitality." Full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era has opened up a new realm of self-revolution for the century-old major Party.
"The Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has made full and rigorous self-governance of the Party a long-term strategy and an eternal topic for the Party, never retreating a single step and carrying it through to the end. This is a vivid manifestation of this outstanding quality on the new journey of the new era," said Zhang Haitao (张海涛), associate professor of the Department of Party Building Teaching and Research at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance). "As long as the whole Party always maintains unified thinking, firm will, coordinated action, and strong combat effectiveness, and persistently advances full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, it will surely be able to continuously create a new situation of party governance, party revitalization, and party strengthening in the new era."
Looking ahead, at whatever stage the cause of the Party and the people develops, party building must advance to that stage. Full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is always on the road.
"The Plenary Session's major strategic deployment for persistently advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is of great significance for consolidating the Party's long-term governing position and realizing the Party's mission and tasks," said Zhang Xiuwu (张秀武), Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission of the Party Committee of the National Development and Reform Commission. "We will adhere to strengthening the Party's overall leadership over development and reform work, strengthen Party spirit education, consolidate the grassroots foundation, continue to rectify work styles and discipline, advance in an integrated manner the efforts to ensure that officials do not dare to be corrupt, cannot be corrupt, and do not want to be corrupt, and promote high-quality development of development and reform work through high-quality party building."
"As grassroots community workers, persistently advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party means persistently exercising self-restraint and persistently maintaining close ties with the masses," said Yuan Fang (袁芳), Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Residents' Committee of Nanhu Community, Nanhu Street, Nanhu District, Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province. "We must take the spirit of the Plenary Session as our guide, continue to do a good job of volunteer services such as 'Guarding the Red Boat,' treat the residents' 'small matters' as the community's 'major matters,' and practice our original aspiration and founding mission through tangible work results."
Accurately Grasping the "Three Inevitable Requirements"
The examination paper of the times is constantly renewed, and the pace of the examination journey has never stopped.
General Secretary Xi Jinping explained the "Decision (Draft)" to the Plenary Session and put forward the major thesis of the "Three Inevitable Requirements."
Persistently advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is an inevitable requirement for maintaining the Party's advanced nature and purity and consolidating the Party's long-term governing position.
"Advanced nature and purity are the essential attributes of a Marxist party, but they are not naturally generated, nor are they a one-off solution that solves a problem permanently (一劳永逸, yi lao yong yi - "one, labor, forever, forever")." Wang Xipeng (王希鹏), a researcher at the China Academy of Discipline Inspection and Supervision, said that full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era has fundamentally reversed the lax, loose, and soft state of party governance, and the Party has become stronger and more powerful through revolutionary tempering. However, party governance must never slacken or rest on its laurels. Only by maintaining persistent tenacity and continuously realizing the Party's self-purification, self-improvement, self-renewal, and self-enhancement can the Party be ensured to forever remain a strong leading core.
Persistently advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is an inevitable requirement for consolidating and developing the sound political situation of the whole Party's high degree of unity and solidarity and the high degree of cohesion of Party spirit, military spirit, and popular sentiment.
"Speaking politics with a clear-cut stand and ensuring the Party's unity and centralized, unified leadership are the life of the Party. The closer we get to the goal, the more complex the situation and the more arduous the tasks, the more we must safeguard the Party's unity and solidarity and ensure that the whole Party acts with unified will, unified action, and acting in perfect unison (步调一致, bu tiao yi zhi - "step, tune, one, consistent")." Liu Kai (刘凯), Secretary of the Baiyin Municipal Party Committee of Gansu Province, said that he would unswervingly and thoroughly (不折不扣, bu zhe bu kou - "not, fold, not, mouth") implement the spirit of the Plenary Session, especially by making the enhancement of Party spirit the fundamental task of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, taking benefiting the people as the greatest political achievement, sincerely responding to the expectations of the masses, earnestly handling livelihood matters for the people, and striving to create a better life, continuously consolidating the Party's governing foundation.
Persistently advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is an inevitable requirement for accomplishing the Party's historical mission and promoting the steady and long-term development of the Party and the country's cause.
"Adhering to the Party's leadership is the most essential feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics. To continuously create new historical achievements, we must build our Party better and stronger." Guo Yongtian (郭永田), Director of the Department of Farmland Construction Management of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said that he would earnestly study and implement the spirit of the Plenary Session, focus on the urgent and difficult problems of the masses in the field of high-standard farmland construction, deal with problems directly and firmly (动真碰硬, dong zhen peng ying - "move, true, bump, hard") and carry out problem rectification on a regular basis, establish and improve mechanisms for the construction, operation, and management and protection of high-standard farmland, further consolidate the foundation of national food security, and promote the implementation of measures to achieve tangible results (落地见效, luo di jian xiao - "land, ground, see, effect") of all the Plenary Session's decisions and deployments in the agricultural and rural fields.
Liu Bo (刘波), Director of the Bureau of Administrative Law Enforcement Coordination and Supervision of the Ministry of Justice, said: "The national administrative law enforcement supervision front must deeply study and implement Xi Jinping's thought on party building and Xi Jinping's thought on the rule of law, accurately grasp the practical requirements of promoting the organic unity of law-based governance and rule-based governance of the Party, make every effort to implement the tasks deployed by the Plenary Session, continuously rectify prominent problems in administrative law enforcement strongly reflected by enterprises and the masses, comprehensively improve the quality and efficiency of administrative law enforcement, optimize the law-based business environment, and provide solid guarantees for high-quality development."
Carrying Through the Strict Tone from Beginning to End
The new journey is the new Long March of the Party and the people.
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Facing the future, no matter what difficulties we encounter, no matter what storms and trials we endure, we must maintain our resolve and confidence, and carry through from beginning to end (一以贯之, yi yi guan zhi - "one, by, pass through,之") full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, without the slightest hesitation or retreat."
The Plenary Session clarified the "Seven Adherences" principles to be followed in persistently advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. Huang Ping (黄平), Deputy Secretary in charge of routine work of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Finance, said: "This is both an epistemology and a methodology. We must firmly grasp the political orientation of the financial departments and the political attributes of financial work, run the 'Seven Adherences' through the entire process of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the financial departments, better play finance's role as the foundation and important pillar of national governance, strengthen financial macro-control, deepen fiscal and tax system reform, strengthen fiscal and accounting supervision, and ensure the high-quality development of the financial cause through new achievements in full and rigorous self-governance of the Party."
Zhu Hongming (诸宏明), Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Health Development Research Center of the National Health Commission, said: "The health system must deeply study and implement the spirit of the Plenary Session, run the 'Seven Adherences' through the entire process of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, run the Party's leadership through all aspects of the Healthy China initiative; firmly press and compact the political responsibility for party governance, motivate Party members and cadres to take responsibility and act, and ensure that the Party Central Committee's major decisions and deployments on the Healthy China initiative are implemented."
"Party spirit is the cornerstone for Party members and cadres to establish themselves, establish their careers, establish their words, and establish their virtue. The Plenary Session proposed that enhancing Party spirit is the fundamental task of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. This fully reflects our Party's profound grasp of the laws of party governance." Liu Ronggang (刘荣刚), Director of the Seventh Research Department of the Central Institute of Party History and Literature, said that as Party history and literature workers, we must adhere to examining, planning, and advancing work from a political and overall perspective, further do a good job of research and interpretation, learning and education, and publicity and popularization of the Party's theories and history, use the Party's struggle course and great achievements to inspire fighting spirit and guide direction, use the Party's glorious traditions and fine work styles to strengthen conviction and gather strength, and use the Party's historical experience and practical creation to enlighten wisdom and temper character.
"The key to full and rigorous self-governance of the Party lies in governing officials with strict discipline (从严治吏, cong yan zhi li - "follow, strict, govern, official")." Wang Tao (汪滔), member of the Standing Committee of the Nanchong Municipal Party Committee of Sichuan Province and head of the Organization Department, said that we must take the spirit of the Plenary Session as our guide, run the strict tone through the entire process of cadre education and training, selection and appointment, and management and supervision. Adhere to strictly grasping and strictly forging the team, continuously strengthen the capacity building of leadership teams after the change of term, and promote the concentration of outstanding cadres and high-quality talent resources in the front lines of industrial development and comprehensive rural revitalization; adhere to encouraging practical work and responsibility, improve the performance assessment for high-quality development, and truly select and use good cadres who are loyal and reliable, responsible and dutiful, and have outstanding practical achievements; adhere to combining strict management with care and support, so that cadres can boldly do their work and strive to accomplish things on the premise of abiding by rules and discipline.
"Advancing in an integrated manner the efforts to ensure that officials do not dare to be corrupt, cannot be corrupt, and do not want to be corrupt is an important strategy for full and rigorous self-governance of the Party and the basic policy for the fight against corruption, and must be adhered to for a long time and deepened in application." Bao Rengui (包仁贵), member of the Standing Committee of the Wushan County Party Committee of Chongqing, Secretary of the County Discipline Inspection Commission, and Director of the County Supervision Commission, said that he would deeply study and implement the spirit of the Plenary Session, carry through from beginning to end maintaining a high-pressure posture, deeply investigate and strictly investigate industrial, systemic, and regional corruption problems; carry through from beginning to end adhering to enforcing discipline and law for the people and rectifying work styles and chaos for the people, resolutely rectify unhealthy tendencies and corruption problems around the masses; carry through from beginning to end consolidating clean governance construction, improving the matrix of clean culture, and making clean winds and righteous energy more abundant.
(People's Daily reporters Zhang Yang, Liu Zhiqiang, Liu Junguo, Wang Jintao, Zhu Jun, Zhang Cong, Qu Zhehan, Bai Jianfeng, Li Linwei, He Zhaoyu)
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 杨颜菲
The 2026 Shanghai Cooperation Organization Traditional Medicine Forum was recently held in Nanchang, Jiangxi. With the theme "Gathering the Wisdom of Traditional Medicine, Jointly Building People's Health," the forum aimed to deepen mutual learning and cooperation among SCO member states in the field of traditional medicine, and to jointly promote the deep integration and coordinated development of traditional medicine with modern science and technology.
"Traditional medicine embodies the wisdom of the peoples of all countries for many centuries (千百年, qian bai nian - "thousand, hundred, year") and helps improve people's health," said Brilewich, Deputy Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus. "Exchanges in traditional medicine can become a vivid example (生动范例, sheng dong fan li - "vivid, model") of people-to-people diplomacy."
"At present, there are more than 200 registered and operating traditional Chinese medicine clinics across Kazakhstan, with more than 30 in the capital Astana alone. Traditional Chinese medicine is increasingly welcomed by the people of Kazakhstan," said Zholdasbai Yerlan, Chairman of the Association of Traditional Medicine Experts of Kazakhstan.
In the "Traditional Medicine and Intelligent Innovation Experience" exhibition area set up by the forum, a heat-sensitive moxibustion robot performed precise moxibustion on a human body model. "This is an effective combination of modern technology and traditional Chinese medicine," said Panina, an academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. She noted that technology empowerment has become a key lever for traditional medicine to transcend geographical and cultural boundaries and achieve standardization and accessibility.
"Traditional medicine is a precious asset, and the future development of traditional medicine requires closer cooperation between traditional knowledge and modern scientific research," said Wickramaratne, Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka.
At the "Traditional Medicine Education Dialogue" sub-forum, the International Education Alliance for Traditional Medicine Technology was formally established, aiming to promote the alignment of educational standards, integration of curricula, and mutual recognition of qualifications among countries, and to consolidate the talent foundation for the sustainable development of traditional medicine.
During the forum, guests from multiple countries visited the High-Tech Campus of the Affiliated Hospital of Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine (Jiangxi Hospital of Longhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine), Jiangzhong Medicine Valley, and other sites. At the Longhua Xinglin characteristic culture exhibition area of Jiangxi Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, guests observed traditional Chinese medicine processing techniques and modern decoction technology, learned about the selection of authentic medicinal materials, traditional processing techniques, and quality control of prepared slices, tasted well-formulated traditional Chinese medicine health-preserving teas, and experienced distinctive traditional Chinese medicine therapies. Anwar Naeem, Secretary of the Association of Traditional Medicine Practitioners of the Maldives, remarked that the scale and level of automation of the production lines in Jiangzhong Medicine Valley were impressive. Hansaka Wijemuni, Deputy Minister of Health and Media of Sri Lanka, expressed that traditional Chinese medicine culture has profound heritage and expressed hope for strengthened exchanges and cooperation between Sri Lanka and China in the field of traditional medicine.
Return to Top(Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, October 30) (Reporters Xie Xiyao, Wang Yuhao) A reporter learned from the Ministry of Commerce on the 30th that the Protocol on Upgrading the China-Switzerland Free Trade Agreement was signed in Beijing that day.
According to the upgrading protocol, on the basis of the original free trade agreement, China and Switzerland will jointly make high-level opening-up commitments in goods, services, and investment, and further upgrade rules in areas such as rules of origin, trade facilitation, technical barriers to trade, digital trade, competition, and trade and sustainable development. The successful upgrade of the China-Switzerland Free Trade Agreement will further deepen China-Switzerland economic and trade cooperation, provide more solid institutional safeguards for the liberalization and facilitation of bilateral trade and investment, and demonstrate the two sides' clear stance of supporting free trade, open cooperation, and the rules-based multilateral trading system in the current international environment fraught with uncertainty.
The head of the Department of International Trade and Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Commerce said that Switzerland is China's seventh-largest trading partner in Europe, and China is Switzerland's largest trading partner in Asia. In 2025, bilateral trade volume reached USD 49.04 billion. The signing of the protocol is conducive to further expanding market access and promoting two-way investment, unleashing greater cooperation potential in bilateral trade and investment, bringing more innovation opportunities and development dividends to the enterprises and people of both countries, and at the same time holding important exemplary significance for all countries in working together to address challenges (携手应对, xie shou ying dui - "hold hands, respond to") in international economic and trade affairs.
China and Switzerland signed the free trade agreement in 2013, and the agreement entered into force in July 2014. In September 2024, the two sides launched negotiations on upgrading the free trade agreement. After five rounds of negotiations, the two sides announced the conclusion of the negotiations in August 2026. After the signing of the upgrading protocol, the two sides will respectively fulfill their respective domestic legal approval procedures, jointly promote the early entry into force and implementation of the upgrading protocol, and enable the enterprises and people of both countries to benefit from it as soon as possible.
Return to Top(Xinhua News Agency, Fuzhou, October 31) The 2026 Global Observance of World Cities Day and the Award Ceremony for the Fourth Global Award for Sustainable Development in Cities (Shanghai Award) were held on October 31 in Fuzhou, Fujian Province. He Lifeng, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council, attended the opening ceremony, presented awards to the winning cities, and delivered a speech.
He Lifeng noted that since the advent of the new era, the Chinese government, following the important instructions of President Xi Jinping, has fully implemented the people-centered approach to urban development, achieving historic progress in urban development. The people as a whole have basically achieved having adequate housing (住有所居, zhu you suo ju - "live, have, what, reside"), urban populations have achieved high-quality and full employment, harmonious development has been realized between people and between people and nature, historical and cultural heritage has been effectively protected, and the effectiveness of urban governance has been continuously enhanced. In the current and coming period, we will, in accordance with the deployment of the Central Urban Work Conference, aim to build modern people's cities that are innovative, livable, beautiful, resilient, civilized, and smart, blazing a new path of urban modernization with Chinese characteristics. China is willing to work with all parties to advance the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the New Urban Agenda, so that the fruits of urban development can better benefit people of all countries and truly realize "Better City, Better Life."
Before the opening ceremony, He Lifeng met with Rosebach, Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme. He Lifeng stated that China is willing to expand strategic coordination with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, practice the global governance concept of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, and help Global South countries achieve sustainable urban development. Rosebach stated that the United Nations Human Settlements Programme is willing to continue deepening practical cooperation with China and jointly contribute to improving the global human settlement environment.
During the event, He Lifeng visited the experience zone at the site of the 2026 Global Observance of World Cities Day.
Return to TopFrom September to October, reporters from central and local media followed in the footsteps of their predecessors, embarking on a red pilgrimage of remembrance that crossed mountains and rivers.
On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army's Long March, the Central Propaganda Department organized the themed interview activity "Carrying Forward the Long March Spirit, Striving Forward on the Journey of Rejuvenation — Reporters Retrace the Long March," promoting the great Long March spirit in the new era. The interview route primarily followed the path taken by the First Front Army of the Red Army, while also covering the marching routes of the Second Front Army, the Fourth Front Army, and the 25th Army of the Red Army, mainly spanning 15 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government, including Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Chongqing, Yunnan, Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu, Henan, Hubei, Ningxia, and Shaanxi.
The reporters measured the red hot land with their steps, recorded the stirring events of the past with their pens, and captured the transformation of the old revolutionary base areas with their lenses, documenting from multiple angles and in multiple forms the vivid practices of the old revolutionary base areas in advancing Chinese modernization. They all expressed that enhancing the "Four Capabilities" is an endless pursuit, and that they must vigorously carry forward the great Long March spirit, serve as witnesses to history and recorders of the times with a strong sense of responsibility and mission, and strive to write a new chapter on the new Long March.
Tracing the Footsteps of the Long March
Traversing rugged and muddy mountain paths to pay respects to the clusters of martyrs' graves; wading through ankle-deep babbling streams to return to the Red Army's ferry crossings; venturing deep into dense, leafy forests to seek out the sites of battlefields...
"With steps never ceasing and writing continuously without interruption (笔耕不辍, bǐ gēng bù chuò - "pen, writing, not, stop"), I gathered stories and emotions along the way." People's Daily reporter Zhou Huan received the baptism of the great Long March spirit during the journey, regarding participation in this activity as a valuable experience for honing the "Four Capabilities."
From the banks of the Yudu River to the shores of the Chishui River, from snowy mountains and grasslands to the Loess Plateau, reporters from central and local media walked, observed, and listened along the way, going deep into the front lines to interview and gather stories of the Long March. Ma Xue, editorial team leader of the Converged Media News Center of Hebei Radio and Television Station, said: "Many powerful details and vivid stories simply cannot be discovered without being on site. The 'Four Capabilities' are not abstract requirements, but rather taking one more step, asking one more question, and sinking deeper into observation and thinking."
Banma County in Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, with an average altitude of about 3,500 meters, is the only place in Qinghai that the Red Army passed through during the Long March. Here, Gan Haiqiong, a reporter from the Qinghai Channel of People's Daily Online, gained a great deal: led by an ecological forest ranger of the Make River forest area, she sought out "the woods the Red Army walked through"; beside the copper pot left behind by the Red Army, she listened to the docent tell the story behind it; she witnessed returning young people introducing yak products and Tibetan snow tea, smiling confidently and brightly before the camera.
"What has changed is the daily life; what has not changed is that drive to keep pushing forward." Gan Haiqiong remarked with emotion, "Only by stepping into the soil and keeping one's heart close to the people can one tell more Chinese stories that are stained with soil, dewy with freshness, and radiating warmth."
"Walking into the red heritage sites, the Long March stories from the textbooks seemed to reappear before my eyes." Dong Qian, who just joined Sichuan Radio and Television Station this year, said that retracing the Long March brought Long March history to life, and she truly experienced the extreme hardship and arduousness of the Red Army climbing snowy mountains and crossing grasslands. This interview experience will inject strong spiritual motivation into her future career.
After experiencing the trek on the Red Army trail on Victory Mountain in Wuqi County, Shaanxi, Xue Ye, a reporter from the Mass News Network of Shaanxi Daily, remarked with emotion: "Back then, the Red Army, traveling long distances through difficult terrain (跋山涉水, bá shān shè shuǐ - "climb, mountain, wade, water") and undergoing extreme hardships and difficulties (历尽千辛万苦, lì jìn qiān xīn wàn kǔ - "experience, end, thousand, hardship, ten thousand, bitterness"), sought to win happiness for the people and rejuvenation for the nation; today, we go to the grassroots, record society, and convey voices, also for the same goal."
Revisiting the Stories of the Long March
"More than 90 years ago, the local people gave their last bowl of rice as military grain, their last foot of cloth to make military uniforms, and sent their last son to the battlefield." At the East Gate Ferry in Yudu, Jiangxi, the immersive situational drama "Farewell" recreated the tear-jerking scene of local people seeing off the Red Army in 1934, moving Zhang Tengfei, a reporter from China Media Group, to tears. "The details of history are the most vivid."
In Changting County, Fujian, there is a mark about 1.5 meters above the ground on a pillar of the Red Army Bridge. This was the minimum height line for joining the Red Army back then, and some youths stuffed straw into their shoes to try to make the line. "The sons of the elderly Luo Yunnan joined the army with honor, and all of them sacrificed their lives." As the docent spoke with deep emotion, the reporters present were all deeply moved.
"These stories were heard standing before the bridge pillars and the martyrs' wall, which carries a special significance." Xie Kaifei, a reporter from Science and Technology Daily, said, "Reporters must resonate with history, engage in dialogue with the times, bring excellent works to the audience, and ensure that the great Long March is forever remembered by future generations."
In the honor room of the "Dadu River Company" of a certain Army brigade, Li Yekun, a reporter from Southern Daily, stood for a long time looking at a silver dollar with blackened edges. Company Political Instructor Wu Junjie told her that it was a display item just recovered this year, belonging to Chen Wanqing, the youngest of the "Dadu River Warriors."
"The river-crossing assault team initially selected 16 men. Chen Wanqing, a 16-year-old messenger, tearfully requested to join the fight and became the seventeenth warrior." Li Yekun said, "The stories of the warriors let me feel the power of faith." In 2025, the military and local authorities jointly launched a special operation to search for the "Seventeen Warriors of the Dadu River," and the life stories of the warriors after crossing the river emerged one by one. Chen Wanqing, who was seriously wounded, later recuperated at a local family's home, and the silver dollar in the honor room was what the company commander left him as a memento when they parted.
At the nightly roll call of the "Dadu River Company," the company commander first calls the names of the martyrs who sacrificed during the Long March, and the entire company answers "Here!" — the sound shaking the night sky... "These stories keep the great Long March spirit passing on a tradition or spirit from generation to generation (薪火相传, xīn huǒ xiāng chuán - "firewood, flame, mutually, pass down") and becoming more vibrant or relevant over time (历久弥新, lì jiǔ mí xīn - "endure, long, increasingly, new")." Li Yekun said.
On the Jiangxi leg, the Guizhou-Yunnan leg, and the Shaanxi-Gansu leg, Wu Yijie, a post-2000s reporter from the Southern International Communication Center, gained insights through the journey: "The closer I get to history, the more I feel the shock that transcends time and space. Today, we must make good use of new media and new forms to let the great Long March spirit take deep root in the hearts of contemporary young people."
Carrying Forward the Long March Spirit
The road to the great victory of the Red Army's Long March was forged by relying on the correct leadership of the Party. At the Zunyi Conference Memorial Hall, VR (virtual reality) technology brings visitors back to the scene of the meeting, allowing them to listen to the revolutionary stories of those fiery years and understand this "great turning point."
The road to the great victory of the Red Army's Long March was forged by relying on firm revolutionary will. At the Memorial Hall of the Red Army's Long March Crossing of Jiajin Mountain in Baoxing County, Sichuan, a pair of worn-out straw sandals brings people back to the stirring years when the Red Army soldiers trod on ice and slept in snow, undaunted by hardship. Zhou Hongshuang, a reporter from Guangming Daily, was deeply touched: "I want to pass on the power of faith to more people."
The road to the great victory of the Red Army's Long March was forged by relying on independence, self-reliance, and seeking truth from facts. In the Tongdao Troop Reorientation Memorial Hall at the foot of Luomeng Mountain in Huaihua City, Hunan, the four characters "extremely urgent" on the replica telegram paper are written with such force that they seem to pierce through the paper, striking and shaking the heart. After this telegraphic order was issued, more than 30,000 Red Army soldiers of the Central Army decisively reoriented their troops and broke out of the encirclement laid by the enemy's heavy forces.
The light of truth of seeking truth from facts still shines brightly to this day. At the Yudai River Chinese Medicine Valley in Tongdao Dong Autonomous County, Hunan, a place the Red Army passed through, the Chinese medicine uncaria industry has now risen, enriching the local people. Yang Yuqing, a reporter from the Converged Media Center of Tongdao Dong Autonomous County, has gained a deeper understanding of the connotation of the great Long March spirit: "By adhering to independence, self-reliance, and seeking truth from facts, and proceeding from reality in everything, we can blaze a path for the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas."
The road to the great victory of the Red Army's Long March was forged by relying on the support of the broad masses of the people. Shazhou Village in Rucheng County, Hunan, once left behind the touching story of "Half a Quilt." Today, the villagers collectively protect the red heritage sites and jointly build cultural tourism formats. The villagers have opened homestays and study classrooms, red culture tourism is captivating, and the deep bond between the army and the people is passed down from generation to generation.
With faith in the heart, there is strength underfoot. Cheng Huan, a reporter from People's Daily, said: "On the new Long March, we must draw strength from the struggle of our revolutionary predecessors, firm up our convictions, forge ahead with determination, shoulder our responsibilities, and implement our work in a down-to-earth manner."
(Reporters of this newspaper: Jiang Feng, Qiao Dong, Zhong Ziwei, Yang Xun, Li Zong, You Yi, Wu Jun, Jia Fengfeng, Zhao Shuaijie, Qin Ruijie, Li Weijun, Zhang Chi, Song Chaojun, Cheng Yuanzhou, Zeng Yichen, Jiao Siyu, Shen Jingran, Zhang Wenhao, Jiang Meng, Zhu Jiaqi, Ye Chuanzeng; Coordinators: Liu Yurui, Dai Linfeng, Zhang Yikai)
Return to Top(People's Daily, Beijing, October 31) (Reporter Liu Zhiqiang) The reporter learned from the National Bureau of Statistics: In the first three quarters, cultural and related industries enterprises above designated size nationwide achieved operating revenue of 10.821 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.3%. By sector, the core cultural sector achieved operating revenue of 7.5042 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.1%. Among them, three major industry categories — cultural investment and operation, creative design services, and news and information services — saw relatively rapid growth in operating revenue, with growth rates of 11.7%, 8.8%, and 7.3%, respectively.
In the first three quarters, the 16 industry subcategories with relatively prominent characteristics of new cultural business formats achieved operating revenue of 5.3827 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.9%. The contribution rate of new cultural business format industries to the operating revenue growth of cultural enterprises above designated size was 98.9%, and the development momentum of new cultural business format industries continued to be released. Among them, industry subcategories such as digital publishing, copyright and cultural software services, internet advertising services, intelligent unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturing for entertainment, and wearable intelligent cultural equipment manufacturing achieved double-digit growth in operating revenue, with growth rates of 37.5%, 29.3%, 14.6%, 13.2%, and 12.0%, respectively.
In the first three quarters, cultural service industries achieved operating revenue of 6.5697 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.3%. The operating revenue of cultural service enterprises accounted for 60.7% of the operating revenue of cultural enterprises above designated size, an increase of 1.7 percentage points year-on-year.
Return to Top(People's Daily, Beijing, October 31) (Reporters Dai Linfeng, Yuan Taoxiong, He Biao) The themed interview activity "Carrying Forward the Long March Spirit, Striving on the Journey of Rejuvenation — Reporters Retrace the Long March Road," organized by the Central Propaganda Department, recently concluded successfully.
General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out: "The history of the Long March has never faded away, and the road of the Long March is constantly extending. In the 90 years since the victory of the Long March, the Party has united and led the people in carrying out one great Long March after another in various historical periods of revolution, construction, and reform, and has won one great victory after another."
During the mobile interviews lasting more than a month, reporters from central and local media witnessed the new changes in the old revolutionary base areas and, moreover, received a baptism of the great Long March spirit.
More than 90 years ago, the Central Red Army soldiers, wearing straw sandals, climbed over lofty mountains and ridges step by step, marching for about 12 months.
Today, taking the "Fuxing" high-speed train, the journey from Ruijin, Jiangxi, to Yan'an, Shaanxi, takes only 11 hours and 32 minutes, achieving "same-day arrival."
At 11:02 on September 6, as the Fuxing train G3998 departed from Ruijin, Jiangxi, heading for Yan'an, Shaanxi, the starting point and the destination of the Central Red Army's Long March achieved direct high-speed rail connectivity for the first time.
"Back then, Grandfather wore straw sandals, climbed snow mountains, and crossed grasslands, and sacrificed his life on the Long March. Today, I board the high-speed train to Yan'an, carrying Grandfather's unfulfilled wish, to go and see the destination of victory." In the carriage, Liu Yang, a descendant of Red Army martyr Liu Degui, said. In the first month of the Ruijin-Yan'an high-speed rail operation, a cumulative total of 122,000 passenger trips were dispatched.
One "red artery" after another links up revolutionary landmarks, pushing the revitalization of the old base areas to take solid steps forward.
With whistles sounding one after another, a freight train fully loaded with bamboo products, furniture, and luggage and bags slowly departed from the railway special line of Huaihua International Land Port in Hunan, heading for Mohan Port in Yunnan. In the first three quarters of this year, Huaihua International Land Port cumulatively dispatched 1,051 freight trains, with a cargo value of approximately 7.9 billion yuan.
In December 1934, the Central Red Army, having suffered heavy losses after the Battle of the Xiangjiang River, arrived at Tongdao, Huaihua, and made the important decision to divert troops to Guizhou. More than 90 years later, the place where troops were "diverted" back then is now "connecting rivers and reaching the sea" —
"Huaihua has become an important node on the eastern line of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor and Hunan's freight assembly center facing ASEAN, with 7 international freight train routes, including the China-Laos and China-Vietnam routes, operating on a regular basis." Wang Liang, manager of the Huaihua Business Division of the Changsha Railway Logistics Center, said. Based on the corridor economy, Huaihua is vigorously developing the logistics industry, with a number of logistics enterprises successively settling in, providing support for local industries to expand their markets.
The surging flow of goods is transformed into vitality for industrial development, and the extended railway tracks unfold a broad development prospect for the old revolutionary base areas.
In the orchards on the Luochuan tableland in Yan'an, customers from Canada and Vietnam tasted apples and gave thumbs up. They took the high-speed train from Xi'an to Luochuan, hoping to promote Luochuan's Red Fuji, Qincui, and other varieties to the international market.
"In the past, outside merchants had to first fly or take a train to Yan'an, and then transfer to a bus for nearly two hours before reaching Luochuan. At the end of last year, the Xi'an-Yan'an high-speed railway was extended to our doorstep, and more and more merchants and enterprises are coming for visits and inspections." Guo Xuyang, deputy director of the Luochuan County Apple Marketing Service Center, said.
In June this year, a cold-chain special train loaded with 100,000 jin of Luochuan apples departed from Huangling East Station in Shaanxi, and after arriving at Xigaze West Station in Tibet, transferred to road transport, traveling far to Kathmandu, Nepal.
From the loess tableland to dining tables around the world, the "red fruits" covering the mountains and fields extensively (漫山遍野, man shan bian ye - "mountain, hill, everywhere, field") have become "golden fruits" witnessing the revitalization of the old base areas. In 2025, the total output of Luochuan apples reached 1.1685 million tons, with a comprehensive apple output value of 16.5 billion yuan. Since the beginning of this year, Luochuan has exported 3,307.09 tons of apples, with an export value of 29.2459 million yuan.
Reporters who participated in the themed interview activity "Carrying Forward the Long March Spirit, Striving on the Journey of Rejuvenation — Reporters Retrace the Long March Road" all stated that the best tribute to history is to create new history, and that they should write a brand-new answer sheet for high-quality development in the new era through practical actions in undertaking work and starting businesses.
(Related reports on Page 4)
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 徐 隽 金 歆
At present, artificial intelligence technology is deeply reshaping the pattern of internet development and profoundly changing the way humanity produces and lives.
"When machines begin to think, how should humanity coexist with them? When algorithms participate in decision-making, how can security be guaranteed? When technology challenges ethics, how can governance keep pace? When the gap continues to widen, how can universal benefit be achieved?" General Secretary Xi Jinping's "questions of the era" at the opening ceremony of the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance were deeply moving and thought-provoking (振聋发聩, zhen long fa kui - "shake the ears, startle the mind").
Today, the new round of information revolution is converging historically with the strategic overall situation of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and changes unseen in a century. Whether one can adapt to and lead internet development, and whether one can respond to the profound challenges brought by technology, tests the vision and responsibility of a major party and a major country.
"If we cannot pass the test of the internet, we cannot pass the test of long-term governance." "To achieve Chinese modernization, the test of the internet must be passed."
These important assertions carry profound implications.
The test of the internet is a test of improving the effectiveness of cyberspace ecological governance, a test of building a solid national cybersecurity shield, a test of empowering high-quality development through informatization, and a test of jointly building a community with a shared future in cyberspace.
Overcoming difficulties and challenges (闯关夺隘, chuang guan duo ai - "break through passes, seize obstacles") bears on the future and destiny of the nation; forging ahead through hardships (砥砺前行, di li qian xing - "grind, sharpen, move forward"), we embrace a better future.
Under the guidance of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important thought on building a cyber power, we aim at the historical coordinates of building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation, always with firm resolve and pragmatic action, improving our ability to use and govern the internet, striving to turn this greatest variable of the internet into the greatest increment for the development of our cause, injecting strong momentum into Chinese modernization, and contributing Chinese wisdom to the progress of human civilization.
Uphold the Party's overall leadership and improve the effectiveness of cyberspace ecological governance
The internet is the main battlefield, main arena, and frontline of ideological struggle.
Perceiving the times and the trends, General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out, "Cyberspace ecological governance is an important task in building a cyber power, bearing on national development and security, and bearing on the vital interests of the people." "When cyberspace enjoys clear skies and fresh air and a sound ecology, it serves the interests of the people."
Uphold fundamental principles and break new ground, maintain political guidance, adhere to a problem-oriented approach, promote multi-party coordination, and continuously foster a clean and upright cyberspace.
The key to running China's affairs well lies in the Party. Strengthen the Party's overall leadership, and uphold the Party's management of the internet in a clear-cut and unswerving manner—
In 2014, the first meeting of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs was held, with General Secretary Xi Jinping personally serving as its head.
In 2018, the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs was restructured into the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, further strengthening the Party Central Committee's centralized and unified leadership over cyberspace affairs.
From top-level design to implementation at the grassroots level, a cyberspace affairs work organizational system that extends horizontally to every edge and vertically to every level has been gradually woven together: a three-tier cyberspace affairs work system at the central, provincial, and municipal levels has been basically established, construction of cyberspace affairs institutions at the county level has been solidly advanced, responsibilities have been pressed down level by level, and the Party's management of the internet has been implemented in practice.
When the source is clear, the stream is clear; move upward and toward goodness. Persist in shaping cyberspace with positive voices, mainstream values, and the new spirit of the times—
"In the Memorial Hall of the Departure of the Central Red Army's Long March in Yudu, a pair of straw sandals traversed the ten-thousand-li Long March road, leaving behind the longing of a Red Army soldier"... On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Red Army's Long March, People's Daily launched a series of micro-documentaries titled "Warp and Weft: Long March Stories Where the General Secretary Paused," which topped the headlines of major online platforms.
Online thematic publicity campaigns such as "Our Long March Road" and online publicity activities such as "Red Star Shines Over China" have been carried out in depth; the "Voice of Reason China" online theoretical communication brand has continued to be strengthened, allowing the Party's innovative theories to "fly into the homes of ordinary people" through the internet; the "China Positive Energy Online Excellent Works Collection and Exhibition Activity" has been held for many consecutive years, fully leveraging the role of positive energy in inspiring, encouraging, and guiding people...
Dots of starlight gather into a torch. Deepening online publicity of the Party's innovative theories and vigorously promoting the core socialist values, the internet is becoming an important front for ideological guidance, moral cultivation, and cultural inheritance.
Weeding out the dross and keeping the essence (去芜存菁, qu wu cun jing - "remove, weeds, keep, essence"), clearing away corruption and promoting integrity (激浊扬清, ji zhuo yang qing - "stir, turbid, raise, clear"). Daring to draw the sword against online chaos and resolutely cracking down on it—
"The Yingxian Wooden Pagoda is about to be demolished!" This "news" posted by a self-media account sparked public concern online, with many netizens expressing worry and confusion. Soon, the China Internet Joint Rumor-Refuting Platform released information: "After verification with the relevant competent authorities, it has been confirmed that the relevant information is a rumor."
Since 2021, the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission has coordinated the implementation of more than 60 "Qinglang" (Clear and Bright) special operations and carried out more than 200 rectification campaigns for other prominent problems; in 2025, the China Internet Joint Rumor-Refuting Platform published more than 17,000 rumor-refuting articles (works)...
Not neglecting the smallest details, sustained, long-term effort. Severing the interest chains and industrial chains, and eradicating the soil and conditions that breed online chaos, cyberspace has become even more "clear in sky and air, sound in ecology."
Stay connected with the people and serve the people. Let the internet better benefit the people—
"Netizens come from the people, and once the people are online, public opinion is online as well."
From May to June 2025, during the preparation of the 15th Five-Year Plan, an online solicitation of opinions was carried out, receiving a total of more than 3.113 million suggestions from netizens, which were sorted and excerpted into more than 1,500 constructive and representative opinions across 27 areas. This was a vivid practice of whole-process people's democracy.
From the online solicitation of opinions for the work of the 20th Party Congress, which collected more than 8.542 million messages, to the construction of online platforms for collecting people's suggestions in provinces such as Beijing, Jiangsu, and Jiangxi; from using artificial intelligence to improve efficiency in handling matters for the people, to various new government media platforms enlivening policy publicity and better "turning the Party's correct propositions into the people's conscious actions"... Observing people's conditions, listening to people's voices, gathering people's wisdom, and resolving people's concerns, the internet has become a "bridge of hearts," with the hearts of the Party and the people resonating at the same frequency (同频共振, tong pin gong zhen - "same, frequency, together, resonate") in cyberspace, and the foundation of the Party's governance becoming even more solid.
Uphold secure development and build a solid national cybersecurity shield
Mobile banking, QR code payments, online government services—digital technology has become part of daily life, yet it also harbors hidden risks.
New technologies have always been a double-edged sword. "Without cybersecurity there is no national security," "Cybersecurity and informatization are complementing each other (相辅相成, xiang fu xiang cheng - "complement, each other, together, complete")," and "Let artificial intelligence, this fine steed capable of traveling a thousand li, run both fast and steadily"—General Secretary Xi Jinping is constantly thinking about (念兹在兹, nian zi zai zi - "think, this, at, this") development and security.
Preparing for adversity in advance has always been the constant principle of governing a country.
In recent years, China has continuously improved cybersecurity policies, laws, and regulations, promoted the integrated development of cybersecurity education, technology, and industry, strengthened cybersecurity publicity, and continuously advanced the modernization of the cybersecurity system and capacity.
Improve the system of laws and regulations for cyberspace governance—
"Advance the construction of infrastructure such as training data resources and computing power, and improve artificial intelligence ethical norms," "The state supports innovative approaches to cybersecurity management and the use of new technologies such as artificial intelligence to enhance the level of cybersecurity protection"... On October 28, 2025, the 18th session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress voted to pass a decision on amending the Cybersecurity Law. This law, in effect for more than eight years, has undergone major revisions, promptly responding to the new demands of artificial intelligence development and governance.
The construction of cyberspace rule of law has been accelerated. At present, China has enacted more than 190 laws in the cyberspace field, successively promulgating laws and administrative regulations such as the Cybersecurity Law, the Data Security Law, the Personal Information Protection Law, and the Regulations on the Protection of Minors in Cyberspace, formulating rules and normative documents such as the Measures for Cybersecurity Review, the Interim Measures for the Management of Generative Artificial Intelligence Services, the Interim Measures for the Management of Anthropomorphic Interactive Artificial Intelligence Services, and the Measures for Security Assessment of Cloud Computing Services, and formulating and publishing more than 400 national standards for cybersecurity, providing a solid institutional guarantee for building a cyber power.
Enhance cybersecurity protection capabilities—
"From January 26 to February 14, 2025, the event information system was subjected to more than 270,000 overseas cyberattacks..." In 2025, the 9th Asian Winter Games was held in Harbin, Heilongjiang. The monitoring and analysis report of the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center showed that while ice and snow athletes were striving on the field, an invisible cyber war was quietly unfolding. It was precisely the effective operation of relevant cybersecurity technologies that ensured the smooth progress of the Games.
Blockchain, with its technical characteristics of distribution, immutability, and full traceability, builds a solid cornerstone of digital trust; quantum information technology fully leverages the security endowments at the physical level; 6G technology oriented toward the integration of space, air, ground, and sea deeply integrates security capabilities into network architecture design... Breakthrough after breakthrough, leap after leap, endows us with ample confidence to withstand risks.
Jointly build the cybersecurity defense line—
"Sister, you should uninstall those unknown apps on your phone right away—they can easily leak personal information!" In Xiaohe Town, Shitai County, Anhui, volunteers moved through the fields, village entrances, and alleys, explaining cybersecurity knowledge to villagers and helping protect personal information.
Maintaining cybersecurity is the shared responsibility of the whole society. The government, enterprises, social organizations, and the vast number of netizens participate together in building the cybersecurity defense line.
In September this year, the 13th National Cybersecurity Awareness Week arrived as scheduled. In Jinan, Shandong, cybersecurity-themed drone light shows, the "Qilu Cybersecurity" themed special train, and cybersecurity science popularization mobile vehicles attracted widespread attention and praise; in Deyang, Sichuan, activities such as cybersecurity micro-video solicitation and online knowledge quizzes were carried out; in Yanchi County, Ningxia, witty and humorous "legal popularization stand-up comedy" allowed audiences to enhance their cybersecurity awareness while laughing...
The National Cybersecurity Awareness Week extensively carried out activities such as the "Seven Entries" of cybersecurity, with continuous improvement in the coverage of publicity and education, public awareness, and social participation.
Uphold innovation-driven development and empower high-quality development through informatization
With the accelerated breakthrough of the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, informatization is moving toward a new stage of comprehensive advancement in digitalization, networking, and intelligence.
Recognize change, respond to change, and seek change.
General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out: "In the face of the informatization trend, only by actively seizing the commanding heights can we win the first opportunity for development." "We must seize this historical opportunity to cultivate new drivers of growth through informatization and use new drivers to promote new development."
In recent years, systematically and deeply advancing informatization development, empowering high-quality development through informatization, and promoting informatization to benefit the people... We have continuously won the initiative, won advantages, and won the future in fierce international competition.
Continuously achieve new breakthroughs on the core track—
"Core internet technologies are our greatest 'lifeline,' and being constrained by others in core technologies is our greatest hidden danger," "Strive to achieve major new breakthroughs in core technologies as soon as possible."
On the banks of the Huangpu River in Xuhui District, Shanghai, in the "Model Speed Space" large-model innovation ecosystem community, a robot named "Mo Xiaosu" is busy welcoming guests and giving tours. Not far away, in the newly opened "Model Speed Space Embodied Workshop," engineers are repeatedly debugging its movements, voice, and model capabilities.
In April 2025, when General Secretary Xi Jinping inspected and investigated the "Model Speed Space" large-model innovation ecosystem community, he emphasized "striving to be at the forefront in all aspects of artificial intelligence development and governance."
These earnest instructions inspire us to forge ahead. Today, "Model Speed Space" has been established for three years. As the country's first large-model innovation ecosystem community, it continues to gather artificial intelligence innovation enterprises and has gradually formed an industrial ecosystem covering computing power, algorithms, and applications.
Represented by artificial intelligence, China's core technologies in the cyberspace field have continuously achieved breakthroughs: the first phase of 6G technology trials was successfully concluded, forming a reserve of more than 300 key technologies; the integrated circuit and electronic special materials industries lead the industrial sector in growth rate; domestically produced general-purpose large models and vertical industry large models have been densely deployed; frontier technologies such as quantum communication, supercomputing, and blockchain rank in the world's first tier.
Build and strengthen the "main artery" of digital economy development—
On October 16 this year, General Secretary Xi Jinping came to the Chahar High-Tech Development Zone in Ulanqab City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, for inspection and investigation.
The tide of the digital intelligence era is surging, and the vast grasslands are nurturing a profound transformation. The sand table in the exhibition hall visually displays the layout of Ulanqab's computing power industry. Computing power center projects are rising one after another, and data center buildings present a magnificent sight, initially forming an industrial layout led by the computing power industry, equipment manufacturing, and services.
"The pace of development is very fast, and there is great potential for the future." General Secretary Xi Jinping affirmed the green computing power industry of Inner Mongolia and Ulanqab, emphasizing that "we must actively extend the industrial chain, promote the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy, and continuously transform computing power advantages into development advantages."
Inner Mongolia's abundant "wind" and "light" are being converted into a continuous supply of green electricity, becoming the "green engine" driving computing power. This is a microcosm of China's computing power infrastructure construction. From the comprehensive advancement of the "East Data, West Computing" project, with the eight computing power hubs working in tandem, to the coverage of 5G evolution networks (5G-A) in more than 330 cities, to the commissioning of the national integrated computing power network pilot verification platform, computing power interconnection and intercommunication continue to deepen... China has built the world's largest and most technologically advanced information infrastructure, laying a solid foundation for innovative internet development.
People-centered, deepen informatization to serve and benefit the people—
Informatization promotes the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas. Laying fiber optic cables, climbing iron towers, installing equipment, testing signals... On the banks of the surging Dulong River, communication equipment was transported deep into the mountains, 5G trial base stations were opened here, and the light of the internet reached the extremely remote Dulongjiang Township of Gongshan Dulong and Nu Autonomous County in Yunnan.
Informatization activates development momentum. Dozens of sorting lines convey goods, sorting devices operate continuously, and packages speed away on "fast tracks"... The busy yet orderly scene at an e-commerce sorting center on the outskirts of Beijing is also a microcosm of the rapid development of China's digital economy.
Informatization innovates social governance. Taking out a phone, opening the "medical insurance electronic voucher," and scanning it lightly, a patient from Zhejiang completed settlement at a hospital in Beijing. The accelerated advancement of the national "one-card" system for social security cards makes seeking medical treatment more convenient.
"Internet + government services" has enabled 92.5% of provincial-level administrative licensing matters to achieve "at most one visit"; live-streamed classrooms allow children in remote mountainous areas to hear lessons from urban teachers... Digital technology is crossing mountains and seas, filling the gap, allowing the people to share the fruits of scientific and technological progress, and continuously enhancing the people's sense of gain, happiness, and security.
Uphold a global vision and jointly build a community with a shared future in cyberspace
Global governance of cyberspace is at a new crossroads. Will it turn toward "small yards with high fences," or choose openness and cooperation?
December 16, 2015, Wuzhen, Zhejiang.
"Cyberspace is a shared space of activity for humanity, and its future and destiny should be jointly grasped by all countries in the world." At the Second World Internet Conference, General Secretary Xi Jinping, standing at the strategic height of the future and destiny of humanity, for the first time put forward the concept of building a community with a shared future in cyberspace, and profoundly elaborated the "Four Principles" for advancing the reform of the global internet governance system and the "Five Proposals" for building a community with a shared future in cyberspace.
Respond to the changes of the times and meet the needs of the world.
"Uphold openness and win-win cooperation to drive innovative development." "Strengthen risk awareness to ensure security and controllability." "Encourage inclusiveness and mutual learning to promote exchanges among civilizations." "Advocate solidarity and cooperation to improve global governance."
At the opening ceremony of the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance, General Secretary Xi Jinping solemnly put forward, from four dimensions, the joint building of a fair and reasonable global artificial intelligence governance system.
The international community has called it "a systematic plan worthy of being recorded in the annals of scientific and technological development."
Concept leadership shapes a new pattern.
From November 2 to 5 this year, the 2026 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit will be held. Today, the World Internet Conference has been upgraded from an annual international conference to an international organization with permanent institutions, with more than 240 institutions, organizations, enterprises, and individuals from nearly 50 countries and regions as its members.
In July this year, the world's first intergovernmental international organization on artificial intelligence—the World Organization for Artificial Intelligence Cooperation—was established in Shanghai. Representatives of 29 countries signed the documents amid sustained and warm applause.
The China-Africa Internet Development and Cooperation Forum, the China-ASEAN Information Harbor Forum, the Online Silk Road Conference... In recent years, more and more international exchange platforms have been established in China, allowing insightful views on global cyberspace development and governance to burst forth through exchange.
The release of the International Strategy of Cooperation on Cyberspace, the white paper "Jointly Build a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace," the Global AI Governance Initiative, and the Global Initiative on Cross-Border Data Flow Cooperation... The proposal of one global internet governance plan after another promotes the international community to transcend differences with a more coordinated and inclusive posture and jointly address the common challenges facing human society.
China's responsibility, win-win cooperation.
The benefits of the internet belong to all humanity. China actively promotes the building of a more inclusive and prosperous cyberspace, "so that more countries and peoples can share the fruits of internet development."
The Southern Power Grid Global Data Operations Center has built a global operations system of "one cloud, one chessboard, one network," providing digital support for Belt and Road Initiative power projects; spanning more than 9,000 kilometers, the Asia Direct Cable, led and constructed by China, provides more secure and stable data connections for Asia-Pacific countries, especially Southeast Asian countries; in Latin America, China has carried out innovative cooperation with multiple countries using digital technology, helping protect the Amazon rainforest ecosystem and the marine ecological environment...
China is using concrete actions to promote international cooperation, helping countries, especially developing countries, accelerate internet development, share digital development opportunities, and jointly cross this gateway of the era that is the internet.
The tide rises in the information age, and the journey has no end.
From the difficult exploration of connecting to the international internet more than 30 years ago to the magnificent practice of building a cyber power in the new era, China has blazed a path of internet governance with Chinese characteristics.
"To achieve Chinese modernization, the test of the internet must be passed" is both a profound understanding of the laws of internet development and a deep consideration oriented toward the great cause of building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation.
On the new journey, under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, we will surely continue to open up new prospects for building a cyber power, inject surging strength into Chinese modernization, and write a magnificent chapter for the Chinese nation in the annals of human digital civilization.
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 程远州
On October 17, in the Shenzhen Park of the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone, a building converted from an old warehouse was crowded with people (人头攒动, ren tou zan dong - "person, head, crowd, move"). In the results display and exchange area, a robotic hand folded its five fingers, deftly picked up a tiny component, lifted it, and set it down.
"This hand is called MM-Hand. It has 21 degrees of freedom, uses a modular 3D-printed structure, allows for rapid finger replacement, and has a grasp cycle life of 100,000 times." Li Zhuoheng (李卓恒), a 2026 cohort doctoral student at the Embodied Intelligence and Computer Vision Center of Shenzhen Hetao College, introduced it on behalf of the R&D team.
That day, Shenzhen Hetao College held an Innovation and Cooperation Conference. This dexterous hand was one of six annual research achievements unveiled together.
"Our goal is to cultivate top-tier talent for the era of artificial intelligence." Luo Zhiquan, Vice President of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Executive Dean of Shenzhen Hetao College, explained that Shenzhen Hetao College is jointly established by 31 mainland universities and 6 universities from Hong Kong and Macao. Internationalization, multidisciplinary crossover, and deep integration with industry constitute the college's "from 0 to 1" foundation for running the institution.
In just one year, the results have been abundant: relying on the Ascend 910C domestic computing power cluster, the college completed full-parameter post-training of a 1.6-trillion-parameter large model; a doctoral student team that had been enrolled for less than a year competed with more than 1,300 teams in the 2026 ITU (International Telecommunication Union) Global AI Agent for Telecommunication competition and ultimately won the championship; a collaborative research mechanism is gradually taking shape, and the scale of joint laboratories co-built by universities and enterprises continues to expand...
Innovating the Talent Cultivation Model
Not fixated solely on scores, not fixated solely on papers, pushing students to the forefront of industry
How does a new college recruit students? "Selection camps, various AI competitions, plus special plans." Luo Zhiquan explained that students need to be assessed in real tasks, and only those with potential get in.
According to reports, the 509 doctoral students admitted to Shenzhen Hetao College in two cohorts come from 37 co-building universities, covering 65 professional directions, with students from Hong Kong and Macao accounting for 48 percent. The faculty is recruited globally, bringing in a team of internationally top-tier academic discipline leaders.
Two months after enrollment, Li Zhuoheng spoke about his feelings upon coming to this new college, his tone full of delight: "The college uses all-English instruction and also offers practical courses such as Ascend courses, Tencent short courses, and entrepreneurship courses, inviting enterprise experts to give lectures, all about real problems on the front line of industry." What particularly satisfied him was that the college practices teaching students according to their individual needs (因材施教, yin cai shi jiao - "according to, talent, teach, instruct"), allowing students to arrange their learning progress according to their own pace.
Luo Zhiquan explained that at Shenzhen Hetao College, papers are no longer the sole evaluation yardstick. Evaluations by the academic community and evaluations by industry will both be incorporated into the assessment system, and a dual-track cultivation model with industry mentors participating is also being rolled out. The philosophy behind this is to promote close alignment between talent cultivation, scientific research innovation, and industrial demand.
At the first class of the semester, Luo Zhiquan told the students: "This is not only a classroom, but also an important position for us to break through key core technologies." In Luo Zhiquan's view, "moving" the classroom to the front line of industry is not simply replicating enterprises' research and business operations, but focusing on key links urgently needing research breakthroughs in industry, such as computing power adaptation and foundational model development, allowing students to solve important problems through training.
Over the course of a year, student teams have undertaken key tasks in multiple frontier research projects, with scientific exploration and talent growth reinforcing each other in real tasks.
An image is fed into the model, and as the user moves forward, turns, and performs other operations, it can continuously generate real-time interactive scenes lasting hours... Huang Junchao is a doctoral student jointly cultivated by Shenzhen Hetao College and The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and is also the main developer of the streaming interactive world model SolarWM.
"The college encourages us to focus on real problems and produce real results. This project was oriented toward industrial application from the very beginning, not merely staying at the level of academic demonstration." Huang Junchao explained that the team is committed to providing a foundational framework for researchers in universities and industry, lowering the threshold for building world models.
"Traditional research groups find it hard to obtain large-scale computing power and storage resources, but Shenzhen Hetao College can provide them." Huang Junchao said that with the college's resource support, the team hopes to continue making the project bigger and more solid, serving industrial demand.
Exploring a Joint Scientific Research Paradigm
Strengthening platforms, breaking down disciplinary walls, results responding to real-world needs
"Domestic computing power is up to the task!" When reporting on the college's annual achievements in running the institution, Luo Zhiquan's tone was resolute. The confidence behind these words comes from one test after another under real workloads.
In 2025, the world's first Ascend 384 supernode in the field of global education and scientific research was deployed at Shenzhen Hetao College. The college immediately formed an AI training platform project team, which, together with Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, the Shenzhen Research Institute of Big Data, and relevant teams from Huawei, and in coordination with the Shenzhen Smart City AI computing platform, carried out joint research on large-model training on domestic computing power.
In June this year, good news came: the joint research team, relying on the Ascend 910C domestic computing power cluster, completed full-parameter post-training of the 1.6-trillion-parameter large model DeepSeek-V4 series, greatly improving model training efficiency and reducing training costs.
"This means that domestic computing power can support world-class ultra-large-parameter model training." Hu Baotian, professor at the Language Model and Human-Computer Interaction Center of Shenzhen Hetao College and head of the AI training platform, explained that this research has provided support for the autonomous and controllable development of China's artificial intelligence industry.
The trillion-level model training research is also a "training ground" for faculty and students. Seven young faculty members led 45 doctoral students, fighting side by side (并肩战斗, bing jian zhan dou - "side, shoulder, fight, battle") on the AI training platform, completing the full-chain tasks of model training, framework adaptation, and engineering deployment, forming a collaboration model in which young faculty lead, doctoral students undertake core research, and engineering teams advance implementation. Four doctoral students who participated in the research also formed a team to enter an international competition, and the telecommunications operations AI agent they built on domestic computing power won the championship.
University-enterprise collaboration, disciplinary crossover, and platform strengthening are the research characteristics of Shenzhen Hetao College. This "playbook" was described by Luo Zhiquan as a "heavy combined-arms brigade" — various entities and multiple disciplines are forged into one fist, running through the entire chain from theoretical breakthroughs to technological innovation to application expansion.
At the college, the walls between disciplines have also been deliberately dismantled, replaced by five major research centers: the AI Theory and Systems Center, the Language Model and Human-Computer Interaction Center, the Science and Engineering Intelligence Center, the Social Science Intelligence Center, and the Embodied Intelligence and Computer Vision Center.
Xu Jinchao, director of the Science and Engineering Intelligence Center, has a professional background in mathematics, but he has taken up interdisciplinary research, leading a team that, together with multiple Shenzhen institutions and hospitals, integrates artificial intelligence, scientific computing, and microfluidic chip technology to detect cancer cells in blood, striving to reduce screening costs.
"We use chips to enrich large cells in the blood, then use microscopy imaging plus AI image recognition technology to identify cancer cells, achieving a technological breakthrough from cell capture to intelligent identification." Xu Jinchao explained that the team has also independently developed the single-cell large model BioMod to provide technical support for advancing drug development and other fields. At present, the project has signed contracts with multiple top-tier hospitals.
Building a wireless communication network world model, with related technologies applied to wireless communication network optimization in 20 cities; tackling the challenges of domestic chip adaptation and performance optimization, providing solid technical support for building the domestic AI ecosystem... In just one year, Shenzhen Hetao College has accumulated more than 100 scientific research achievements. Taking root in (扎根, zha gen - "pierce, root") the fertile soil of industry, responding to real-world needs, and facing the intelligent frontier, these scientific explorations are moving toward a broader space of application.
Building an Industry-University-Research Collaborative Ecosystem
Enterprises pose the questions, the college answers them, the market judges the answers
As a new college built "from 0 to 1," how does it forge its advantages in running the institution?
"We want to combine the educational resources of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area with industrial innovation advantages, becoming the 'backyard' for enterprises' AI research and solving the real problems enterprises encounter in actual operations." Luo Zhiquan's thinking is clear.
Shenzhen Hetao College not only provides students with abundant practical opportunities, but also brings tangible technical support to enterprises. At present, the college has established deep cooperative relationships with enterprises such as Huawei, Tencent, and Zibianliang Technology, and some of these enterprises have also sent dedicated personnel to be stationed at the college to jointly advance research and development work.
The scope of cooperation is growing ever wider. In July this year, a matchmaking meeting was held at Shenzhen Hetao College, with representatives from the Futian District Government Service and Data Management Bureau, the Futian District Health Bureau, and seven hospitals in the district present at the venue.
Two lists were presented at the meeting — on the college's side, a 24-item healthcare capability list, and what Futian District brought was an 82-item scenario demand list. Both supply and demand sides held discussions around scenario demands, technology adaptation, data compliance, implementation paths, and other topics. In more than three hours, nine projects reached preliminary cooperation intentions, covering directions such as surgical robots, full-cycle management of chronic diseases, and intelligent screening for mental health.
At the Innovation and Cooperation Conference in October, the industry-university-research collaborative ecosystem was further expanded. Initiated by Shenzhen Hetao College, 36 units, including universities, research institutions, leading technology enterprises, and industry think tanks, formed the "Hetao Gravity Artificial Intelligence Innovation Consortium," committed to taking the domestic computing power ecosystem and real scenario demands as the entry point, using real problems to drive joint research, integrating enterprise projects into teaching, and jointly building and sharing an open collaborative platform for deep integration of industry, academia, research, and application.
It is reported that Shenzhen Hetao College has already co-built joint laboratories and innovation laboratories with a number of enterprises and institutions, and the collaborative research mechanism of "enterprises pose the questions, the college answers them, the market judges the answers" is gradually being established.
The path of internationalization is also growing wider. The college has signed agreements with multiple foreign universities to carry out joint student cultivation and scientific research cooperation. The application channel for international students has also been opened, with more than 100 international students having visited cumulatively.
At Shenzhen Hetao College, there is an interactive installation called the "Question Bellows," where visitors often drop in scientific questions awaiting solutions. The slips of paper filled with questions flutter inside the bellows, inspiring the college's faculty and students to launch attacks on difficult problems.
"We will carry out end-to-end research around the nation's major needs, cultivate top-notch innovative talent, form a batch of original, leading, and verifiable results, and continue to explore an integrated development model for education, science and technology, and talent." Luo Zhiquan said.
Return to TopBy: 闫伊乔
Recently, several universities, including Hubei University of Automotive Technology and Jining Medical University, have successively issued documents regulating classroom teaching, explicitly requiring that "reliance on PPT throughout the entire class is strictly prohibited" and putting an end to "reading from courseware," which has drawn attention.
In response, some are applauding enthusiastically (拍手叫好, pai shou jiao hao - "clap hands, shout good"), while others believe PPT should not be dismissed completely without nuance (一棍子打死, yi gun zi da si - "one stick, hit dead"). In fact, the new rules of these universities do not deny the auxiliary value of PPT, but rather target the two words "reliance throughout." Some teachers read from PPT from beginning to end in class, without deriving formulas or explaining terminology; students below replace note-taking with photographing slides, lacking interactive thinking. What is more, some teachers "use the same courseware year after year," with content that cannot keep up with disciplinary development and is divorced from students' actual learning conditions, earning the course the label of a "watered-down course."
What "reliance on PPT throughout the entire class" actually reflects is that the teaching attitude and teaching effectiveness of some teachers need improvement. Reciting from a script without understanding (照本宣科, zhao ben xuan ke - "according to book, proclaim text") often means insufficient lesson-preparation time, with classroom design centered on "what is convenient for me to teach" rather than "how students can learn effectively," emphasizing the transfer of knowledge over the transformation of teaching. At the same time, it must be noted that dependence on PPT is not only related to teachers. Some students are accustomed to treating "photographing the courseware" as "attending the class," pinning their hopes for final-exam review on copied courseware, lacking the process of interacting with the teacher and internalizing understanding. If both teachers and students are focused on the screen, a classroom that should be a collision of intellectual sparks can easily shift from shared thinking to one-way lecturing, from dynamic dialogue to static indoctrination.
"Strictly prohibiting reliance on PPT throughout the entire class" is not about applying a one-size-fits-all approach (一刀切, yi dao qie - "one knife, cut") and returning to an era without projectors, but rather about leaving time for the internalization of knowledge. In medical courses, pathological sections and surgical demonstrations are more intuitive when explained with high-definition images and dynamic videos. In mathematics courses, through traditional blackboard writing, writing important terms once and deriving key formulas once allows students' thinking to better follow the teacher's pace. Whether it is PPT or blackboard writing, the choice of teaching method should depend on whether it can enhance teaching effectiveness and whether it can help students better understand and learn.
Looking further, "reading from PPT" also has its deeper causes. Many universities have long maintained an evaluation orientation that "emphasizes research and de-emphasizes teaching," where papers and projects are directly linked to professional titles and performance, while classroom teaching carries low weight and has become a "soft indicator." When lesson-preparation time is compressed, organizing knowledge points into PPT naturally becomes the most "efficient" choice. If only the tool is banned without reforming the evaluation mechanism, the new rules may become distorted — instead of reading from PPT, one may turn to reading from lecture notes or outlines.
Therefore, while issuing the "ban," optimization and adjustment should also be made to the evaluation mechanism. The Overall Plan for Deepening the Reform of Educational Evaluation in the New Era clearly states that it is necessary to highlight actual performance in education and teaching, and to make the conscientious fulfillment of education and teaching duties a basic requirement for evaluating teachers. Pleasingly, some universities are already exploring increased positive incentives. Zhongnan University of Economics and Law recently held a selection for "My Favorite Teacher," with three teachers each receiving a reward of 100,000 yuan; the selection does not look at research or professional titles, but at whether classes are taught well and whether students gain something; teachers who have been selected multiple times will also receive corresponding policy support when applying for position promotion.
Saying no to perfunctory teaching on one hand, and rewarding craftsmanship on the other, the signal being sent is clear: the protagonist of the classroom is always people. Today, AI can already write lesson plans, make courseware, and simulate lectures, but what cannot be replaced is the real-time dialogue, intellectual guidance, and emotional resonance between teachers and students in the classroom. Technology can assist teaching, but it cannot replace teaching. In the final analysis, it is about placing "people" at the center of the classroom. The mutual progress of teacher and student through instruction (教学相长, jiao xue xiang zhang - "teaching, learning, mutually grow") and the passing of knowledge or tradition from generation to generation (薪火相传, xin huo xiang chuan - "firewood, flame, pass along") are precisely what classroom teaching should be about.
Return to TopBy: 袁 蓉
The integration of industry and education, and school-enterprise cooperation, are the basic models for running vocational education, and are also an important lever for connecting the education chain, the talent chain, the industrial chain, and the innovation chain. Whether the integration of industry and education can be implemented cannot be judged only by how many cooperation projects there are, but more importantly by whether the mechanism operates, whether teaching has changed, and whether teachers can keep pace with the industrial rhythm. The key to solving the problem lies in ensuring that the integration of industry and education is reflected throughout the entire process of talent cultivation.
Give play to the role of Party building, and the mechanism will run more smoothly. The school incorporates the integration of industry and education into its development plan and annual assessment, and relies on the faculty Party branch and the enterprise Party branch to carry out themed Party Day activities, craftsman lectures, and so on, extending the tentacles of communication and coordination to professional groups and industrial chains.
Follow the industry, and the classroom will be more on target. As industries upgrade, majors cannot afford to stay in the same place (making no progress or staying in the same place (原地踏步, yuan di tui bu - "original place, step, step, not")); it is necessary to strengthen forward-looking planning and promote the synchronization of the professional structure with the industrial structure (acting in synchronization or resonance (同频共振, tong pin gong zhen - "same, frequency, together, vibrate")). For example, focusing on urgent local needs, we have opened more than 30 order-based classes, integrating job standards and skill-level standards into the training plan, and introducing real production tasks and process-improvement topics from enterprises into the teaching process. The school and enterprises jointly formulate training plans, jointly develop courses, and jointly implement evaluation, which helps students practice skills and grow their abilities in real tasks.
Technology feeds back into teaching, and teachers become more professional. Technical service is not a "sideline" for teachers, but an important way for them to stay close to the industrial frontier and update their knowledge structure. The school has formed technical service teams with Party members as the backbone, providing technical consulting and process optimization for small, medium, and micro enterprises. The process difficulties and production cases encountered in the actual operation of enterprises can be effectively transformed into teaching cases, practical training projects, and graduation design topics, promoting the growth of "dual-qualified" teachers and allowing scientific research services and classroom teaching to nourish each other.
Vocational education has broad prospects and great potential. The integration of industry and education must ultimately be implemented in each major, each course, and each class. In the future, the school will continue to follow the path of high-quality development featuring industry-education collaboration, distinctive characteristics, and service to the local area, cultivating more high-quality technical and skilled talents.
(The author is the Party Secretary of Mianyang Vocational and Technical College, compiled and organized by People's Daily reporter Zhai Qinqi)
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 吴 丹
Recently, after a presentation concluded, Qin Weibo, an undergraduate student in the College of Agriculture at Shandong Agricultural University, stepped down from the podium, still feeling excited. "In the previous two years, I always sat in the audience listening. I never expected that in my junior year, I too would stand on the podium to share the story of my service as a student science and technology commissioner."
In his speech, there was no flowery language or rhetoric (华丽的辞藻, hua li de ci zao - "magnificent, flowery, vocabulary"), but there were the moon over the mountains, the wind on the field ridges, and the account books in the cooperatives. He helped farmers deal with corn diseases, used a satellite-based field inspection system to complete whole-region monitoring of wheat, and proposed e-commerce livestreaming development ideas for edible fungus enterprises... In February this year, Qin Weibo came to Tengzhuang Village, Luquantun Township, Wucheng County, Shandong, living, eating, and working alongside the villagers. One after another, these fresh practices stained with soil and bearing dewdrops moved the more than 2,000 teachers and students on site.
The transformation from "one who hears stories" to "one who tells stories" in Qin Weibo's growth experience is a vivid microcosm of how Shandong Agricultural University runs a good "great ideological and political course" for agriculture-related universities. Rooted in its positioning as a new agricultural science institution, the university adheres to forging the soul through ideological and political education, sharpening abilities through scientific research, and cultivating talent through practice, guiding young students to go deep into the front line of the fields, using what they have learned to resolve farmers' concerns, and injecting youthful energy into rural revitalization.
Why study agriculture, and for whom does one study agriculture? These are confusions that some students at agriculture-related universities may have upon entering school.
In the peach orchard of Liujiatai Village, Yiyang Subdistrict, Feicheng City, a live-scene "great ideological and political course" was underway. Liu Youtian, a teacher from the School of Marxism at Shandong Agricultural University, interpreted the rural revitalization policy, while Xie Jiazhuo, a teacher from the School of Chemistry and Materials Science, held a fully degradable temperature-sensitive film material developed independently by the university and reviewed the origin of the research with the students: "This research first came from the real-life distress of peach farmers. Traditional mulch film residue pollutes the soil, and the cost of degradable films on the market remains persistently high..."
Shandong Agricultural University has broken down campus boundaries and innovatively promoted a teaching model featuring both ideological and political instructors and agricultural research experts together (双师同堂, shuang shi tong tang - "double, teacher, same, hall"), explaining principles in orchards, greenhouses, and vast fields. At the same time, it issued the "Work Plan for Building the 'Walking Ideological and Political Course' Practical Education Program," connecting the small classroom of ideological and political education with the big classroom of society, guiding young students to cultivate a deep love for agriculture during internships and practice, and to appreciate the contemporary connotations of agricultural and rural modernization.
The theories learned in ideological and political courses cannot remain in textbooks; they must be transformed into tangible practical topics.
"Nearly 30 percent of these melon seedlings have rotten roots, and the surviving melons are not sweet either. Is it insufficient temperature or lack of light?" In the melon greenhouse of Shangzhuang Village, Dongping Subdistrict, Dongping County, Tai'an City, Zhang Xiaoya, an undergraduate student from the College of Plant Protection, was surrounded by growers asking questions.
During her village-based research in her sophomore year, Zhang Xiaoya discovered that local melon seedlings suffered from root rot and insufficient fruit sugar content, which affected prices, while farmers lacked knowledge of temperature control, light supplementation, and disease prevention. Under the guidance of her college teachers, she organized science popularization lectures on green melon cultivation, invited villagers to attend and discuss, translated professional terms such as temperature and light regulation and temperature-difference sugar accumulation into plain language, and popularized practical methods of light supplementation, temperature adjustment, and green pest control.
Measuring the effectiveness of ideological and political education in agriculture-related universities requires examining whether students truly understand the land and truly understand farmers. At the Jinsi Xiaozhao (Golden Silk Small Jujube) Science and Technology Backyard in Leling City, Dezhou, Chen Shangjing, a graduate student from the College of Food Science, spent half a year cultivating the "Shannong TLT07.78" bacterial strain, shortening the fruit vinegar fermentation cycle from 28 days to 8 days; at the Huanghe Delta (Yellow River Delta) Intelligent Agricultural Machinery and Equipment Industry Research Institute in Dongying, Zhao Zhuang, a doctoral student from the College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, developed a rotary tiller suitable for coastal saline-alkali soil, boosting local crop yields by 15 percent and helping increase farmers' incomes... Batch after batch of young students confront frontline problems head-on and, in serving agricultural production, come to understand the value of agriculture-related majors.
In recent years, relying on rural revitalization stations, science and technology backyards, and industry research institutes across Shandong Province, Shandong Agricultural University has built a "Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand" practical service team — "one hundred doctoral students covering counties and districts, one thousand master's students covering townships and subdistricts, and ten thousand undergraduate students covering administrative villages" — encouraging teachers and students to "take up the challenge and answer the questions" in research, and to "offer advice" for rural development with scientific research achievements.
Ideological and political teachers are also active in the fields. Wang Zhaoming, a young teacher from the School of Marxism, moved his ideological and political course into the fields, explaining policies while standing beside wheat rows and analyzing cases while crouching in greenhouses, instilling the mission of strengthening agriculture and revitalizing agriculture into the hearts of young people. In the "Rural Practice Ideological and Political" activity, 136 ideological and political course teachers walked out of classrooms and into the fields, using the vast countryside as teaching materials and the fertile fields as blackboards, making ideological and political courses stained with soil, bearing dewdrops, and radiating warmth, promoting the coordinated advancement of ideological and political leadership and practical education.
"The countryside is the best soil for the growth of agricultural talent. The university will continue to make good use of practical platforms such as rural revitalization stations, science and technology backyards, and industry research institutes, take the countryside as an important front for ideological and political education, hold ideological and political courses in the fields, guide more young students to write their theses on the vast land, and deliver a youthful answer sheet of 'strengthening agriculture, with me.'" said Zhang Ran, Party Secretary of Shandong Agricultural University.
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 富子梅
Within a single week, two gold medals, and the winners both come from the same university.
On September 20, in Nagoya, Japan. In the men's changquan event of the martial arts competition at the 20th Asian Games (the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games), Macao, China athlete Kuong Chi Hin won the gold medal — this was the first gold medal for the Macao, China delegation at these Asian Games. Kuong Chi Hin is a 2026 graduate of the Bachelor of Physical Education degree program at Macao Polytechnic University.
On September 27, in Shanghai, China. In the final of the Visual Merchandising project at the 48th WorldSkills Competition, Macao, China athlete Wong Weng Kei won the gold medal. Wong Weng Kei is a third-year student in the Bachelor of Design degree program at Macao Polytechnic University.
This is no coincidence. At the 44th WorldSkills Competition, Fong Hok Kin, a student in the university's computer science program, won the gold medal in the Web Design project, achieving a breakthrough of zero gold medals for Macao at the WorldSkills Competition; at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, Lei I, a master's graduate of the university's sports and physical education program, won the gold medal in the women's changquan final of the martial arts competition, winning Macao's first gold medal of those Asian Games; multiple Olympic champions have successively enrolled in the Doctor of Philosophy program in Sports and Exercise Science at Macao Polytechnic University...
What has produced Macao Polytechnic University's impressive record of achievements? "We have always adhered to the 'people-oriented' philosophy of education, enabling every student to find a development track suited to themselves." said Chou Chong Ion, Rector of Macao Polytechnic University.
Recently, a reporter visited Macao Polytechnic University (hereinafter referred to as "MPU"), and following the "people-oriented" philosophy of education, explored how the gold medals were forged.
Enhancing abilities and competencies from multiple angles
Running the university with an open door, emphasizing practice
"In educating and cultivating talent, MPU does not pursue 'large and comprehensive,' but rather 'distinctive and excellent'; it does not engage in being exactly the same without variety (千篇一律, qian pian yi lu - "thousand, pieces, one, pattern"), but rather teaching students according to their individual abilities (因材施教, yin cai shi jiao - "according to, talent, carry out, teach")." Chou Chong Ion introduced that the university's Faculty of Health Sciences and Sports has rich experience in running programs, with a complete training system combining teaching, training, and competition, and has achieved outstanding results in cultivating sports talent.
"Men's martial arts changquan requires athletes to reach an extremely high level in strength, speed, flexibility, and artistic expression." said Kuong Chi Hin, who graduated from MPU's Faculty of Health Sciences and Sports in June this year. "The university provided us with flexible arrangements that balance academics and training, allowing me to neither neglect my studies nor give up pursuing my martial arts dream."
At MPU's Faculty of Health Sciences and Sports, the university formulates individualized training plans, ensuring professional study while leaving ample time for training and competition. "The fact that students can win gold medals at the Asian Games is inseparable from this 'integration of sports and education' training model." said Ng San Fan, Dean of MPU's Faculty of Health Sciences and Sports.
Ng San Fan led the reporter into MPU's Sports Science Laboratory, where various advanced instruments and equipment serve students' growth and development. From measuring maximal oxygen uptake to evaluating the results of altitude training, from muscle training to improving cardiorespiratory function, as well as real-time athlete movement analysis systems, these provide support for scientific training. "Sports competition requires not only hard training, but also scientific research and effective methods, to enhance ability and strengthen mental resilience." Ng San Fan said that MPU has built a complete talent cultivation system from bachelor's, to master's, to doctoral degrees in sports and exercise science, cultivating sports talent with both competitive strength and academic competence, winning gold and silver medals in various competitions, demonstrating the university's advantages in cultivating sports talent.
Seeing Wong Weng Kei on campus, one would never guess at the "majesty" of her commanding presence on the international skills competition stage — in the Visual Merchandising project at the WorldSkills Competition, she won the gold medal with her exquisite product display, color matching, and lighting design skills.
"In our daily studies, we often have dedicated opportunities to enter enterprises, assist communities, and take to the stage; learning is not confined to the classroom." Wong Weng Kei said that the university emphasizes the cultivation of practical abilities in fields such as design, language, translation, information technology, and science and technology, extending the classroom into related fields, so that students come into broad contact with real-world practice during their studies.
MPU encourages students to step out of the school gate and test their learning outcomes on a larger stage. "This time, applying what has been learned to practical work (学以致用, xue yi zhi yong - "learn, and, use, achieve") on the WorldSkills stage was itself a process of re-learning and re-practice." In Wong Weng Kei's view, the WorldSkills Competition tests creativity and comprehension, and competes on service awareness and the ability to think from others' perspectives. At the university's Faculty of Arts and Design, professional courses emphasize the combination of theory and practice, cultivating innovative thinking and hands-on ability, "from creative conception in the classroom to presentation on the competition stage, it is a continuous thread, and success coming naturally when conditions are ripe (水到渠成, shui dao qu cheng - "water, flows, channel, forms")."
Aligning with development needs in all aspects
International vision, high-quality resources
"Although Macao is not a large place, it enjoys the institutional advantages of One Country, Two Systems, backed by the motherland and connected to the world. Students can receive training, access the frontiers, and broaden their horizons at a higher level." Chou Chong Ion said, "What we need to do is to enable every student to find their own brilliance, illuminating themselves and also illuminating Macao."
"MPU's talent cultivation has a unique 'international business card.' The university actively aligns with international standards and introduces high-quality overseas educational resources, allowing students to enjoy an international education without leaving Macao." Lei Mei Kei, Dean of MPU's Faculty of Arts and Design, told the reporter that the interdisciplinary arts master's program established by the university in 2019, drawing on the strengths of others (博采众长, bo cai zhong chang - "broadly, collect, many, strengths") and breaking down the boundaries between specific art categories, integrates the latest international explorations and practices in art education.
"This time, representing Macao in the competition, we underwent more than 500 hours of specialized training. The training instructors were industry elites, not only experienced but many had also won international awards, allowing us to learn the latest industry trends during preparation and stimulate creativity." Wong Weng Kei said.
In addition, as a high-quality convention and exhibition destination, Macao's convention and exhibition industry continues to grow in influence in Asia and even in the international conference and exhibition industry. Wong Weng Kei felt that "this gives us many opportunities to see the world, to come into contact with world-class exhibitions, not only learning skills and accumulating experience, but also broadening our horizons and expanding our perspective."
A systematic and comprehensive cultivation philosophy runs through the growth of sports talent.
"From striving on the competition field to critical thinking in the lecture hall, from individual effort to technological assistance, the university's physical education empowers through technology, continuously updating the knowledge system, and cultivating specialized talent that progresses comprehensively in physical fitness, skills, and psychology." Kuong Chi Hin said that his study experience at MPU was the stage of his fastest growth, and he truly felt his abilities becoming more comprehensive, his psychological quality more stable, enabling him to deliver consistent performance in intense competitions.
The growth of students is also inseparable from broader collaborative support.
In Macao, the SAR government, universities, and professional associations each fulfill their own responsibilities while complementing each other to achieve a better result (相辅相成, xiang fu xiang cheng - "mutually, complement, mutually, complete"). Ao Chun In, head coach of the Macao martial arts team and a doctoral student in sports and exercise science at MPU, said that the SAR government has vigorously promoted the construction of a "City of Sports," giving athletes and students many opportunities for exchange and competition; professional sports associations provide systematic and standardized services for athletes, offering professional guidance for training and competition; universities provide continuous cultivation and education in theoretical knowledge, psychological quality, teamwork, and other aspects, and promote talent cultivation through high-quality scientific research, forming a "1+1+1>3" effect, making the spirit of sports shine brightly in energetic young people.
New campus extends and expands the university's operations
Building the Greater Bay Area, integrating into the nation
"Whether for training and competition, or for research and study, we more often go to Hengqin, coming into contact with outstanding talent and scientific research opportunities in the mainland, especially in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, broadening our horizons and widening our choices." Many of the interviewees mentioned, as if by common agreement, MPU's new campus extending its operations in Hengqin.
In the Hengqin Cooperation Zone, the Aoqin International Education (University) City is accelerating its construction. MPU, through its "one university, two campuses" model of extended operations, is preparing to establish a new campus in Hengqin, building an international teaching and research platform linked with Macao.
Chou Chong Ion told the reporter that with the support of the state, the Macao SAR government, the Macao Foundation, and other parties, MPU has already obtained educational land in Hengqin. The new campus is expected to reach a student population of 10,000 in stages. The university will fully leverage the advantages of the Macao-Hengqin campus linkage, focus on "technology+" interdisciplinary teaching and research, expand the "Global Campus" international development strategy, and cultivate composite talent with international vision and professional competence.
"We are very focused on the construction of the new Hengqin campus. In the future, the sports science laboratory and related facilities and equipment will be even more complete, greatly assisting talent cultivation and athlete training." Ng San Fan said with anticipation.
At the end of August this year, at the first-phase site of the university city, MPU welcomed its first batch of graduate students. Lam Chong Tong, Dean of MPU's Faculty of Applied Sciences, shared with the new students that the university continues to expand international academic exchanges, possesses good international recognition and high-level teaching and research strength in fields such as computer science and artificial intelligence, and will provide students with diverse research and practical opportunities through bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs and joint laboratory construction.
"In the development of MPU's new Hengqin campus, we will further expand science and engineering fields such as advanced manufacturing, smart transportation, and artificial intelligence, cultivating more high-quality technical and skilled talent for the nation." Chou Chong Ion said.
MPU's exploration and practice are precisely a microcosm of the development of Macao SAR's education sector. At present, the Macao SAR government is proactively aligning with the national 15th Five-Year Plan, implementing Macao's "Third Five-Year Plan," adhering to the governance philosophy of "prospering Macao through education" and "building Macao with talent," coordinating the integrated development of education, science and technology, and talent, and building a complete system covering basic education, higher education, and vocational education, to build a broad platform for the growth and success of young people.
Return to TopBy: 长 乐
This year marks the 160th anniversary of the birth of Dr. Sun Yat-sen. However, the Mainland Affairs Council of the Taiwan region recently stated that anyone applying to travel to the mainland to participate in activities commemorating the 160th anniversary of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's birth will be "denied permission." Its betrayal of the nation and of history, its scheming to split the country and escalate cross-strait confrontation and antagonism, is completely exposed (暴露无遗, baolu wuyi - "expose, no, omission").
Dr. Sun Yat-sen was a great national hero, a great patriot, and a great pioneer of China's democratic revolution. His spirit and sentiments are revered by compatriots on both sides of the strait.
Looking back, the Taiwan authorities have repeatedly attempted to "de-Sun Yat-sen-ify": when Lai Ching-te served as mayor of Tainan, he insisted on dismantling the bronze statue of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, prompting residents to camp out in defense for days on end; the green camp once proposed "amending the law" to require the removal of the portrait of the late Dr. Sun Yat-sen; the "independence faction" once proposed renaming "Zhongshan Road"... Earlier this year, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities pushed for a redesign of New Taiwan Dollar banknotes, attempting to omit Dr. Sun Yat-sen's portrait. Not to mention that Dr. Sun Yat-sen devoted his life to national reunification and once warned against becoming the "bullying hawk's hound." Since taking office, the DPP authorities have ignored the people's hardships, extravagantly squandered the people's hard-earned resources, fawned upon and pledged allegiance to external forces, and attempted to "seek independence by relying on external forces" and "seek independence by force of arms."
The Taiwan authorities are calculating and plotting with ulterior motives (处心积虑, chuxin jili - "plan, heart, accumulate, scheme") to obstruct and prohibit Taiwanese people from traveling to the mainland to participate in commemorative activities, and to intimidate and suppress them. What exactly are they afraid of?
They are afraid that Taiwanese compatriots will see with their own eyes that the blueprint Dr. Sun Yat-sen depicted back then has long since been realized on the mainland. In his book The International Development of China, Dr. Sun Yat-sen conceived a grand blueprint for China's construction. Today, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the blueprint Dr. Sun Yat-sen depicted back then has long been realized, and many achievements even exceed his vision. On the island, jokes such as "can't afford tea eggs," "high-speed trains have no backrests," and "no refrigerators in Beijing" circulate precisely because of the "information cocoon" carefully woven by the Taiwan authorities. Facts speak louder than words (事实胜于雄辩, shishi shengyu xiong bian - "fact, surpass, powerful, debate"): with the DPP authorities refusing to lift the "ban on tour groups" to the mainland and maintaining an "orange" alert, from January to June this year, the number of Taiwanese compatriots visiting the mainland increased by 24.9% year-on-year. The tide of cross-strait exchanges and interactions is surging forward; the DPP authorities are precisely afraid that the "information cocoon" will continue to be punctured and the false "Taiwan independence" narrative they have constructed will continue to be exposed.
They are afraid that Taiwanese compatriots will strengthen their identity as "both sides of the strait are Chinese" through shared historical memory with mainland compatriots, leading to the bankruptcy of the "de-Sinicization" farce they have calculatingly manipulated. The reason the DPP authorities attempt to "de-Sun Yat-sen-ify" is, in essence, to erase Taiwanese compatriots' memory of and reverence for Dr. Sun Yat-sen, weaken the spiritual bond between the two sides, alter Taiwanese compatriots' identity as part of the Chinese nation, and thereby manipulate "de-Sinicization." Whether it is revising the curriculum guidelines, deleting the term "Han people," changing road names, or planning to redesign the New Taiwan Dollar, the DPP authorities are using all sorts of tricks and gimmicks (花招百出, huazhao baichu - "trick, hundred, emerge") to sever the historical and cultural ties between the two sides. These political manipulations harboring malicious intent are a betrayal of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and the pioneers of the Revolution of 1911 — forgetting one's roots and traditions (数典忘祖, shudian wangzu - "count, classics, forget, ancestor") — and are utterly contemptible.
What they fear most is that, while jointly commemorating Dr. Sun Yat-sen with mainland compatriots, Taiwanese compatriots will come to appreciate Dr. Sun Yat-sen's heartfelt words: "If we can achieve reunification, the people of the whole country will enjoy happiness; if we cannot achieve reunification, they will suffer." Dr. Sun Yat-sen always firmly upheld national reunification and ethnic unity, unequivocally opposed all words and deeds that split the country and the nation, and emphasized that "'reunification' is the hope of all Chinese citizens." It is precisely because the DPP authorities have a guilty conscience that they bluster, allowing the "green terror" to become more and more intense (愈演愈烈, yuyan yulie - "more, perform, more, fierce"); precisely because they are afraid that they impose restrictions, fearing that more and more Taiwanese compatriots will come to realize that Taiwan's development prospects lie in a strong motherland and that the interests and well-being of Taiwanese compatriots are tied to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Dr. Sun Yat-sen once said, "The tide of the world is mighty and surging; those who follow it prosper, those who go against it perish." The Taiwan issue arose out of the nation's weakness and chaos, and it will inevitably be resolved with the rejuvenation of the nation. No matter what tricks the DPP authorities change, they cannot change the fact that both sides of the strait belong to one China, cannot sever the deep blood ties between Chinese people on both sides, cannot erase the imprint of Chinese culture on Taiwanese society and compatriots, and even less can they stop the historical trend that the motherland will ultimately and inevitably be reunified.
Return to TopRecently, the "Uniting Family and Country Toward Rejuvenation — Thematic Exhibition Marking the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese" was held at the Overseas Chinese History Museum of China. The exhibition centrally displays more than 400 sets of collected items, presenting through precious artifacts, documents, and images the glorious journey over the 70 years since the founding of the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese in uniting and guiding the vast number of overseas Chinese, returned overseas Chinese, and family members of overseas Chinese to serve the nation's overall development. The exhibition will run until February next year. The photo shows visitors touring the exhibition.
Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Fan
Return to TopBy: 陈 帅
On October 31, the sixth Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Culture and Arts Festival opened at the Shenzhen Bay Culture and Arts Center, with more than ten Hong Kong and Macao performing arts troupes, including the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and Macao's Theatre Farm, bringing fine works north for performances. Earlier, outstanding Guangdong productions such as the dance drama Wing Chun and the musical I Am What I Am had already traveled south to tour Hong Kong and Macao, earning widespread acclaim. The coming and going of performances and audiences has gathered strong popularity for the Greater Bay Area's culture and arts scene.
Gathering popularity is even more about gathering hearts. Using culture to nurture people, a silent and subtle influence (润物无声, run wu wu sheng - "moisten, things, without, sound"), and pushing the three places of Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao from "geographical proximity" toward "hearts bound together" requires strengthening efforts in cultural and artistic exchange, expanding platforms, and innovating mechanisms, so that each fine production becomes an important bond for promoting people-to-people connectivity.
To gather hearts, shared cultural roots are the foundation. Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao share the same river water, with common cultural origins, close people-to-people ties, and similar folk customs. The same story can often evoke emotional resonance among audiences in all three places. The reason Wing Chun and I Am What I Am have won both critical acclaim and box-office success in Hong Kong, Macao, and the mainland is precisely the shared cultural memory of audiences in all three places. On and off the stage, cultural identity naturally reveals itself, and hearts connecting comes about something happening naturally when conditions are ripe (水到渠成, shui dao qu cheng - "water, arrives, channel, formed").
To gather hearts, build a good stage for good productions. In recent years, an increasing number of performance seasons and arts festivals have become "cultural living rooms" for the people of Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao, with a large number of outstanding literary and artistic works circulating within the Greater Bay Area. Circulation brings encounters, and encounters strengthen identity. The "Yishu" Greater Bay Area performance season, held continuously since 2023, has accumulated nearly one hundred performances, with Hong Kong and Macao projects accounting for more than 80 percent. The operating model of many Hong Kong and Macao performing arts troupes is shifting from "passing through on a mainland tour" to "mainland premieres and first releases" and "joint creation and rehearsal with the mainland," turning one-time encounters into regular companionship.
To gather hearts, use "soft connectivity" to support "frequent exchanges." If a musical instrument is delayed at customs for a day, a performance may have to be rescheduled; if ticket purchasing has one more hurdle, audience enthusiasm may cool. We should target bottlenecks and smooth the mechanisms. Shenzhen Customs has implemented special measures supporting Qianhai to ensure "zero-delay" customs clearance for cross-border musical instruments; multiple theaters have launched ticket-purchasing functions on social media platforms, allowing Hong Kong and Macao audiences to buy tickets conveniently; the group standard for the Cross-border Performance Service Guide for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has been approved for project initiation, and rules for cross-border performance services are being unified at an accelerated pace... Increasingly improved service guarantees are paving the way for "barrier-free passage" in cultural and artistic exchange.
This year's Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Culture and Arts Festival has spread 75 fine productions and 148 performances across 11 cities in the Greater Bay Area, with Hong Kong and Macao productions accounting for nearly one-third of domestic productions. Fine productions from all three places share the stage, and Greater Bay Area audiences share the same venues. As the curtains rise and fall, the beautiful vision of the "concentric circle" of the humanistic Greater Bay Area grows ever more splendid.
(The author is the head of the Shenzhen Bay Culture and Arts Center)
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 陈 然
Stepping into the Hong Kong Museum of Art, located on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront in Hong Kong, sunlight streams through the floor-to-ceiling glass into the exhibition hall.
On the fourth floor of the museum, in the Jingguan Lou Collection Gallery, the ongoing exhibition "A Refreshing Breeze: Selected Fans from the Jingguan Lou Collection" has drawn many visitors to pause and linger. Before the display cases, people study meticulous attention to every single stroke (一笔一画, yi bi yi hua - "one, brush, one, drawing") on the fan surfaces. Zhang Daqian's Pine Entwining at Huangshan, with ink and color complementing each other, shows pine branches twisting and coiling, rocks rendered with vivid vitality—within a small space, it seems to hold the rugged spirit of Huangshan; Zhao Zhiqian's Ink Chrysanthemums, with ancient and elegant brushwork and spreading chrysanthemum branches, condenses onto paper the refined delight of literati expressing their feelings through flora.
Fan after fan is laid out in sequence, with landscapes, flowers and birds, and the charm of brush and ink having unique merits or characteristics in different aspects (各有千秋, ge you qian qiu - "each, have, thousand, autumn"), inviting viewers to imagine the carefree and elegant mood (闲情逸致, xian qing yi zhi - "leisure, feeling, escape, intention") of literati and scholars of bygone days holding fans in the breeze and inscribing paintings with their brushes. The exhibition selects more than 150 folding fans from the private collection established by Hong Kong collector and photographer Wong Kwai-kuen—the Jingguan Lou Collection—and presents them alongside Chinese paintings and calligraphy from the museum's own holdings.
"The fan surface is small, which tests the artist's composition and brushwork skill. One must arrange the scenery on a curved surface while also balancing the inscription with the pictorial intent; the slightest carelessness can throw it off balance," said Hong Kong arts practitioner Zhu Chenxin, who looked closely, leaning down toward the glass, her gaze moving slowly along the rocks and pine branches on the fan surface, observing the variations in ink density and the painting's layout.
Through these treasured pieces, visitors can savor the exquisite beauty of Chinese painting and calligraphy, and appreciate how fans transcend their function of cooling to become artistic carriers that convey emotions and embody Chinese aesthetics.
In the museum, art students carefully copy the works stroke by stroke, a family of three sits together in the interactive area assembling a paper-art garden, and tourists from around the world raise their phones to capture these rare paintings and calligraphy treasures... Art is no longer merely an artifact in a display case; it is also a topic of conversation among people.
Leaving the exhibition hall and walking along the corridor, one's gaze is easily drawn to the view outside the windows. At the museum's popular "photo spot"—the sea-facing side from the second to the fourth floor—the entire wall of floor-to-ceiling glass brings Victoria Harbour within one's full view (尽收眼底, jin shou yan di - "completely, receive, eye, bottom"), the Star Ferry glides slowly past, skyscrapers cast their reflections, and sunlight piercing through drifting clouds leaves dappled patches of light on the floor. Continuing upward to the fifth floor, a pristine white platform seems to float in mid-air, and many visitors make a special trip to take photos there. A Ms. Ding from Shanxi said: "The museum seems to have deliberately turned the building itself into an exhibit, making Victoria Harbour part of the exhibition as well."
Annabelle, a traveler from Canada, visited Hong Kong for the first time and happened to become the five-millionth visitor since the museum's expansion and reopening. She came because of her love of traditional art and was pleasantly surprised by the rich collection and comfortable viewing experience. On online travel platforms, overseas visitors often leave comments such as "Here you can understand Hong Kong," "There's something new to discover on every floor," and "The museum is a place I'll definitely revisit on my next trip to Hong Kong"...
Data shows that the Hong Kong Museum of Art received more than 1.38 million visits in 2025, has welcomed over one million visitors for three consecutive years since 2023, and has once again been ranked among the world's 100 most popular art museums. More and more international visitors are coming to Hong Kong because of an exhibition, and are getting to know Hong Kong anew because of an art museum.
This appeal stems from the Hong Kong Museum of Art's profound cultural heritage. Founded in 1962, the Hong Kong Museum of Art is Hong Kong's first public art museum. Over more than 60 years, it has amassed a collection of approximately 20,000 art treasures, forming four major collection categories: Chinese antiquities, Chinese painting and calligraphy, export art, and modern and Hong Kong art.
"At present, Hong Kong is accelerating the building of itself into a center for cultural and artistic exchanges between China and other countries, and the Hong Kong Museum of Art is putting this positioning into practice," said Mok Ka-wing, Chief Curator of the Hong Kong Museum of Art. The museum places Chinese landscape painting alongside Western landscape painting, combines traditional painting and calligraphy with digital experiences, and lets Chinese culture and international classics illuminate each other, so that audiences from different cultural backgrounds can all find an entry point into art. This open and pluralistic curatorial philosophy has earned the museum the favor of many world-renowned museums: as international masterpieces come to Hong Kong, Chinese culture also reaches the world from here.
Walking out of the museum, the setting sun is just right; the paintings in the galleries remain quietly on display, while the sea outside the windows shifts continuously with the light. Some people leave with a photograph, some with an art album, and others with a fresh memory of art and of Hong Kong. It is in such encounters that the Hong Kong Museum of Art quietly leaves in people's hearts the cultural character of this city—the blending of Chinese and Western cultures (中西交融, zhong xi jiao rong - "middle, west, intersect, blend")...
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 何思琦
A drop of rain falls on a cliff face—how long does it take to penetrate a thousand years?
Today, as global warming intensifies and extreme weather events become frequent, how can the epic of civilization carved into cliff faces withstand the test of wind and rain?
Monitoring data show that climate change and severe weather events have become one of the important factors affecting the preservation of China's cultural heritage. Grotto temples, chiseled into cliffs and exposed to nature, with fragile structures and complex materials, are precisely among the most sensitive bearers of these impacts—extreme climate accelerates deterioration of the artifacts themselves such as efflorescence, weathering, and hollowing and fading of murals, triggers secondary disasters such as collapses and rockfalls, and further breeds hidden and sustained damage such as microbial proliferation amid environmental shifts...
This is a long contest with climate change. On the cliff faces, protection has already begun.
Thousand-Year Grottoes Face Heat, Cold, Wind, and Rain Head-On
"The global climate is undergoing significant change, and whether in China or the wider world, cultural heritage protection is facing a tremendous test." At the 2026 International Forum on Grotto Temple Protection held in Datong, Shanxi, Li Li, deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage, got straight to the point (开门见山, kaimen jianshan - "open the door, see the mountain").
Li Li identified the crux of the problem—taking 2025 as an example, the rainy season in North China "overstayed its welcome," with cumulative rainfall 161.1% above the long-term average; the national average number of high-temperature days reached 16.5 days, 7.4 days more than the long-term average, the highest since 1961. The impact of climate change on grotto temples includes both the impact of extreme climate events—torrential rain scouring, flood erosion, and geological disasters such as landslides, collapses, and mudslides—and hidden long-term effects: the evolution of fracture seepage networks, changes in seepage paths and seepage points, dry-wet and freeze-thaw damage from temperature and humidity changes, dynamic changes in microorganisms, and alterations to the grotto micro-environment.
In recent years, extreme weather events such as extreme high temperatures and heavy precipitation have occurred frequently, testing the thousand-year grottoes on the cliff faces—in 2020, the Danzishi Cliffside Sculptures in Chongqing were hit by floodwaters, and the Great Buddha statue was submerged; in 2021, the "July 20" extraordinary rainstorm in Zhengzhou, Henan, caused the Yi River to rise, and the Longmen Grottoes faced the test of approaching floodwaters.
"Water damage is one of the most widespread and most severely damaging types of deterioration affecting China's grotto temples and cliffside sculptures. As an intermediate medium, water causes weathering and structural instability in grottoes; essentially all deterioration of grotto temples is directly or indirectly related to water, including salt damage, biological deterioration, surface dissolution, exfoliation, cracking, and instability of key rock blocks." Li Li said.
Atmospheric precipitation, capillary water, fracture seepage, and condensation water—the types of water affecting grotto safety are numerous and their mechanisms complex.
Visible rainwater scouring can be blocked by physical means such as building cave eaves; rock mass seepage can be treated through anti-seepage and drainage measures... These protection methods have matured through years of practice. But the treatment of condensation water on grotto surfaces once perplexed grotto protection researchers.
Compared with visible floods, torrential rains, and mudslides, water damage hidden inside the rock mass is more like a silent erosion that accumulates over years.
"The degree of weathering of sandstone cultural relics is closely related to the formation of condensation water." Huang Jizhong, dean of the Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage at Shanghai University, explained the difficulty: "In the past, we did not research the formation of condensation water and its mechanism of action sufficiently, real-time monitoring technology was insufficient, treatment methods were singular, and improper handling could cause more severe weathering problems."
He and his team proved through experimental research that under certain conditions, condensation water first forms inside the rock. The team's research showed that initial condensation occurs mainly in the shallow surface zone of the rock wall, 0 to 3 centimeters deep. The invisible water now has a traceable "signature."
Having found the problem, the challenge was to solve it. The team carried out research on condensation water monitoring and intelligent treatment technology for grottoes, and implemented a comprehensive condensation water treatment trial in Caves 9 and 10 of the Yungang Grottoes, achieving a treatment effectiveness rate of over 97%.
From scouring visible to the naked eye to traces inside the rock mass, China's grotto temple protection has traversed more than 60 years of exploration in water management.
From investigation and emergency rescue in the 1960s and 1970s, to the initial formation of an engineering system in the 1980s and 1990s; and from refined treatment to systematic prevention. In the past five years, China has completed the compilation of more than 30 grotto temple protection plans and implemented more than 400 grotto temple protection, restoration, and environmental improvement projects. Through repeated protection practices, generations of cultural heritage workers have accumulated rich governance experience.
"Grotto temples are fragile in themselves, sensitive to environmental change, and extremely susceptible to damage. China has continued to invest in heritage protection, monitoring, scientific research, technological innovation, and capacity building, sharing valuable experience with the world." said Lazare Eloundou Assomo, director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre.
Protection Actions Shift from Rescue to Prevention
Nothing is harder than stone, and no stone is greater than a mountain.
On the southern slope of Mount Wuzhou in Datong, Shanxi, the Yungang Grottoes are carved into the mountain, stretching approximately one kilometer from east to west. From the majestic "Five Caves of Tanyao" to the exquisitely crafted (精雕细琢, jingdiao xizhuo - "fine carving, delicate polishing") Wuhua Caves, statues blending diverse cultures stand as "witnesses to history."
Standing before the open-air Great Buddha of Cave 20, Wang Shuai, a tourist from Tianjin, was deeply moved: "Spanning more than a thousand years of wind and frost, the Buddha's robe folds remain vigorous; the seemingly frozen lines convey a sense of flowing beauty."
"Because they were carved into thick sandstone strata, stability was once a challenge for the preservation of the Yungang Grottoes, and weathering is a worldwide problem." said Hang Kan, dean of the Yungang Research Institute.
How can this thousand-year treasure be passed down forever?
In recent years, the protection of the Yungang Grottoes has shifted from rescue conservation to preventive conservation, gradually establishing a protection system centered on monitoring, inspection, and routine maintenance. Since 2015, the Yungang Grottoes have successively carried out maintenance on more than 30 caves, with a maintenance area of nearly 12,000 square meters.
Entering the Cultural Heritage Protection and Monitoring Center of the Yungang Research Institute, data such as temperature and humidity, carbon dioxide levels inside the caves, and visitor flow are clearly displayed on the electronic large screen. "The heritage monitoring system covers the artifacts themselves, the cave micro-environment, visitors, and other elements, and in recent years earthquake monitoring has also been strengthened." Hang Kan explained.
Just as dawn was breaking, Yang Bingqing, a post-90s inspector at the Yungang Research Institute, appeared among the grottoes. From Cave 1 to Cave 45, she had already completed a full inspection before the scenic area opened. "We check areas that have previously been prone to seepage or dampness, such as mudstone layers, fracture zones, and cave ceilings. During the rainy season or when there are many visitors in summer, we pay even more attention to whether the seepage area or seepage volume has changed. Once a new problem is discovered, we immediately write it into the inspection report and report it at the first opportunity." Yang Bingqing said. "In summer, there is a large temperature difference between inside and outside the caves, which easily forms 'condensation water.' In winter, we must pay special attention to whether 'freeze-thaw' occurs—wherever the water is, our eyes must follow."
Stone cannot speak, but generation after generation of guardians, through day-after-day gazing, allow the treasures on the cliff faces to shine with even more brilliant radiance in the new era.
Tianshui, Gansu, is located in a transitional zone between semi-arid and semi-humid climates, making it a region sensitive to climate change.
"In the past 10 years, the annual maximum rainfall in the grotto area has reached more than 1,000 millimeters. Observations over the past five years show that torrential rain and heavy rain mostly occur from April to October, with obvious seasonal characteristics." said Yue Yongqiang, deputy director of the Maijishan Grottoes Art Research Institute. "The new precipitation pattern of 'increased rain intensity, fewer rain days' means each rainfall event is more concentrated and more extreme, and the threat it poses to the grotto rock mass and the painted sculptures and murals is also intensifying."
Every subtle change in climate ultimately translates into visible deterioration on the grottoes—in 2018, a rainfall event lasting nearly 30 days caused mold to break out intensively in 10 caves of the Maijishan Grottoes.
"Protection work can no longer target a single type of deterioration; it must shift to comprehensive management and systematic protection based on risk assessment. This is precisely a fundamental turn in contemporary grotto temple protection philosophy." Yue Yongqiang said.
Cliff reinforcement, seepage treatment, plank-road stability assessment, microbial management... a series of grotto cultural relic protection practices are being carried out at the Maijishan Grottoes.
"The impact of climate change on grotto temples will be long-term, sustained, and cumulative. Our response cannot remain at the passive level of post-disaster rescue." Yue Yongqiang said. In the future, we should build a proactive protection system with preventive conservation as the overall goal, risk assessment as the scientific foundation, monitoring and early warning as the technical support, and comprehensive disaster prevention and mitigation as the management guarantee.
Preserving a Digital "Backup" That Never Fades
While grotto temples in the physical world continue to face the various tests posed by climate change, digital technology has opened a path of guardianship across time for the thousand-year civilization.
Three-dimensional laser scanning technology, digital close-range photogrammetry, hyperspectral technology, AI (artificial intelligence) technology... technological forces act like a fine brush, painting for the grottoes a "digital archive" that will not weather or fade, allowing the epic of civilization carved into stone walls to be permanently preserved and sustainably utilized in the digital world.
At present, 80% of the full-dimensional digital preservation of the Yungang Grottoes' 45 main caves and more than 59,000 statues of various sizes has been completed. The application of digital twin technology has allowed countless statues to "walk" out of the cliff faces and embark on cultural journeys across mountains and rivers; in Luoyang, Henan, in March 2026, during a protection and reinforcement project at the Longmen Grottoes, a Tang Dynasty Diamond Sutra stone inscription was identified on the cliff face. Using three-dimensional scanning, macro photography, and other technologies, comprehensive information on the artifact itself was collected and a high-precision digital archive was established, providing reliable support for subsequent protection, research, and display.
"'Digital Dunhuang' has been underway for nearly 40 years. As of the end of 2025, digital photographic collection has been completed for 323 caves, image stitching for 210 caves, and panoramic tour production for 169 caves." said Yu Tianxiu, deputy director of the Dunhuang Academy.
At present, the total data volume of "Digital Dunhuang" exceeds 600 TB. Such massive resources must not only be "stored," but also "put to use."
Take a touch of vibrant color from the wall and gain a thousand years of charm; excerpt a few lines of true scripture and convey heartfelt wishes. Opening the "Dunhuang Heart Note" mini-program, selecting a theme for an upcoming festival, and leaving one's signature, the system automatically connects to the Digital Dunhuang open material library and the Digital Library Cave document resources to match a blessing message. Cave 144 and Cave 61 of the Mogao Grottoes... exquisite murals become elements on greeting cards. This is a positive experiment by the Dunhuang Academy in using AI to empower massive data.
Digitalization is also changing the relationship between visitors and grotto temples.
Driving to visit the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, the first stop is a building reclining on the Gobi desert—the Mogao Grottoes Digital Exhibition Center.
Why build a digital exhibition center more than ten kilometers away from the Mogao Grottoes? Li Ping, a researcher at the Dunhuang Academy, recalled a past event: in the early 1990s, when visitors to the Mogao Grottoes numbered fewer than 200,000, the then director Duan Wenjie had fine cave replicas painted by Dunhuang Academy artists displayed to the public in an exhibition center outside the caves, with the aim of diverting visitors and relieving pressure on the caves. As visitor numbers grew, in the early 21st century, the then director Fan Jinshi proposed building a digital exhibition center, exploring the approach of "bringing" what is inside the caves outside for viewing.
Generation after generation has passed on the baton of guardianship, and the philosophy has been carried forward in an unbroken line. Entering the Digital Exhibition Center, the lights of the dome-screen theater gradually dim, and the images of the ultra-high-definition dome-screen film "Dreamlike Buddhist Grottoes" extend in an arc from beneath one's feet to the dome above. The audience looks up to "gaze upon" special-grade caves that are not open to the public. The delicate textures of thousand-year-old murals and the colors of ancient mineral pigments are shown in every minute detail (纤毫毕现, xianhao bixian - "every tiny hair, clearly appearing"), drawing gasps of amazement from the audience.
Pre-viewing presentations and group visits to the physical caves, combined with the reservation system and the total daily visitor cap of 6,000 at the Mogao Grottoes, have reduced the instantaneous carrying capacity from more than 2,300 people in the past to around 1,600. "Visitors see less inside the caves, but there is more high-quality digital presentation. This both protects the grottoes and improves the visitor experience." Li Ping said.
Generation after generation of guardians are answering the same question in different ways: how to let a thousand-year civilization travel farther along the river of time. The thousand-year grottoes stand quietly, and the epic of civilization on the cliff faces continues to be written.
(Yu Shangbo, reporter for People's Daily Overseas Edition, contributed to this report)
Return to TopBy: 耿 磊
Visiting a museum with an AI (artificial intelligence) assistant, asking questions at any time when encountering content one does not understand; booking a professional docent several days in advance, willing to queue all night for a cultural and museum study tour... At present, the cultural and museum boom is quietly undergoing an upgrade: people are no longer walking in a great hurry (步履匆匆, bu lv cong cong - "step, foot, hurried, hurried") to take photos as "been there, done that" check-ins, nor are they satisfied with a superficial glance at things (走马观花, zou ma guan hua - "ride, horse, observe, flower"). Quieting the mind to listen to interpretations, settling the heart to savor the relics, and tracing the historical threads and profound cultural connotations that have flowed through millennia behind cultural relics have already become the choice of more and more people.
This progression in exhibition viewing, from "watching the excitement" to "understanding the craft," is most directly reflected in the changes in the way people enter cultural and museum venues. The "2026 Museum Travel Consumption Trends Report" released by the Tongcheng Travel platform shows that in the first half of 2026, the booking popularity of cultural and museum products with guided interpretation on the platform grew by more than 62 percent year-on-year. "Immersive" cultural experiences that pursue deep understanding, knowledge acquisition, and emotional resonance are becoming the core demand of exhibition viewing.
Behind the data lies a thought-provoking detail: orders with accompanying interpretation services have grown substantially, and the public is willing to invest more time, energy, and cost in acquiring new cultural knowledge. Analyzing this at a deeper level, this is in fact a profound adjustment in the structure of public cultural consumption. In the past, for some people, visiting a museum was more like an "additional attraction" on a trip; today, museums are becoming the primary destination for many people's travels. Going to the Henan Museum to see the Han Dynasty green-glazed pottery dog, going to the Shandong Museum to see the "emoji pack" of Shang Dynasty royal power, the Yachou Yue, and then going to the Sanxingdui Museum to pursue the "vertical-eyed gazing at the sky" bronze mask... "Traveling to a city for one exhibition" has repeatedly become a cultural phenomenon.
From a superficial glance at things to absorbing the essence of literature or culture (含英咀华, han ying ju hua - "contain, essence, chew, flower"), behind this transformation is reflected the deep changes in people's cultural mentality, spiritual needs, and social development. As material life grows increasingly abundant, the public's spiritual and cultural needs are shifting from "whether one has it" to "whether it is good." In particular, the younger generation is no longer satisfied with shallow leisure and entertainment, and increasingly values the knowledge content, experiential quality, and sense of value in travel.
Museums, historical and cultural districts, and various cultural exhibitions are like volumes of three-dimensional textbooks that freeze history and carry civilization, responding to the call of the era for lifelong learning for all and immersive aesthetic education, and becoming important vehicles for the public to enrich their inner selves, cultivate their character, and continue the cultural lineage. The profound assertion that "as the people's living standards continue to improve, the people's requirements for the quality, taste, and style of cultural products, including literary and artistic works, have also become higher" is now being realized in reality.
This change in cultural behavior is also a vivid footnote to the continuous vitality of Chinese civilization and the increasingly prominent cultural confidence. Each cultural relic and each exhibition hall carries the code of millennia of civilization and engraves the thread of national development. The public no longer stops at the form and appearance of cultural relics, but yearns to explore the historical dust, cultural genes, and spiritual homeland behind the objects. In essence, this is the continuous enhancement of identification with and belonging to China's excellent traditional culture. In tracing history and interpreting the cultural lineage, people touch the roots of the nation and feel the power of culture, turning traditional culture from words in books and relics in display cases into spiritual wealth that can be perceived, empathized with, and passed on — this is precisely the cultural self-awareness belonging to this era.
This cultural self-awareness cannot be separated from the resonance between the development of the times and the building of a culturally strong country. In recent years, the level of public cultural services in China has continued to improve, and the high-quality development of the museum sector has advanced steadily. Data show that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the number of museums nationwide grew from 5,788 to 7,188, cumulatively receiving more than 6.2 billion visitors, holding 224,000 exhibitions, and carrying out 2.251 million educational activities. The improvement of infrastructure has made culture within reach. Some localities have also created dedicated cultural and museum routes to make exhibition viewing more convenient; many cultural and museum institutions have broken with traditional exhibition models, expanding new cultural scenarios through digital touring exhibitions, on-site study tours, and intangible cultural heritage experiences. From deeply mining collection resources to create distinctive study courses, to using digital technology to bring the public closer to cultural relics, the improvement of public services and the proactive innovation of the cultural and museum sector have made the "national treasures" "sleeping" in museums perceptible and accessible, providing solid support for the public's in-depth experience and understanding of the cultural lineage.
From chasing internet-famous check-ins to settling down for deep and careful reading, the cultural and museum boom's progression from the surface to the depths reveals the enrichment and growth of the national spiritual world and also bears witness to the development of the civilization of the era. When the cultural and museum boom sheds its superficial splendor and settles into a depth of inward exploration, the Chinese cultural lineage that has stretched for thousands of years will be able to achieve an unending transmission of spirit or tradition (薪火不绝, xin huo bu jue - "firewood, fire, not, cease") through the public's reading, study, and continued inheritance, gathering even more majestic strength for the building of a culturally strong country.
Return to TopBy: 本报记者 马睿姗
"Beat the gongs and drums, blow the suona horns, beat and blow, and the newlyweds rejoice with open hearts..." In the farmhouse courtyard of Wangxian Village, Wanrong County, Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province, the sound of gongs and drums rang out, cheerful folk songs resounded through the courtyard, and more than 20 rural women dressed in red cheongsams danced gracefully with radiant smiles, brimming with high spirits and vitality.
This is the locally self-organized "Leshan Wanrong Mama Group." A down-to-earth local performance has replaced the previous lavish and wasteful celebrations (大操大办, da cao da ban - "great, act, great, do") of traditional wedding ceremonies, becoming the most touching new sight at rural weddings.
Wang Maiju's family was about to celebrate a happy occasion. She discussed with her husband: in the past, when villagers married off their children, they always had to spend money hiring outside drum teams and song-and-dance troupes, costing anywhere from several thousand to tens of thousands of yuan, which was wasteful and lacked the warmth of rural life. Wang Maiju thought of the village's "Mama Group."
The night before the wedding, the "Mama Group" performed continuously for one hour. On the wedding day, after the banquet ended, they also helped clear the dishes and clean up, providing their full support throughout as volunteers. Wang Maiju's eyes were filled with emotion: "During the busy farming season, everyone set aside their own farm work to come and help. This neighborly affection is more precious than any grand spectacle."
Previously, when villagers held weddings and funerals, they valued ostentation, placing a heavy burden on grassroots residents. To cultivate civilized rural customs, Wanrong County issued the "Eight Advocacies, Eight Resistances" initiative, advocating simple funerals and resisting funeral extravagance, advocating thrift and frugality and resisting lavish and wasteful celebrations. The "Mama Group" gradually replaced the expensive outsourced commercial song-and-dance troupes and one-stop celebration services. The frugal, festive, warm, and simple way of holding banquets has already become a new trend in rural areas.
"Starting from such a small entry point as the 'Mama Group' helps to continuously cultivate civilized rural customs, good family traditions, and simple folkways," said Li Hongquan, Party Secretary of Nanzhang Township, Wanrong County.
As of now, among the 207 villages and 6 communities in Wanrong County, every village can field 1 to 3 "Mama Group" rehearsal teams. In villages with larger permanent populations, such as Taijia Village in Xiedian Town, Gaocun Village in Gaocun Town, and Hanxue Village in Hanxue Town, five or six "Mama Group" teams can even be formed.
There are no fixed rehearsal venues—fields, farmhouse courtyards, and rural parks all serve as stages; there is no restriction on a single performance form—opera ditties, folk dances, gong-and-drum performances, humorous skits, and instrumental ensembles are all done with ease and skill (信手拈来, xin shou nian lai - "trust, hand, pick, come"); young daughters-in-law in their twenties and rural elders over seventy are all mainstays of the teams... The "Mama Group" uses song and dance as a medium and talent to convey emotion, dancing out a new look for the countryside, brightening the spiritual lives of rural women, and allowing civilized new trends to quietly permeate the countryside.
"When the village's children get married, we are genuinely happy from the bottom of our hearts. Being able to add joy to the newlyweds with our own songs and dances, the more we dance, the more energetic we feel. I hope the 'Mama Group' will always be the warm harbor in the children's hearts," said Yang Lizhi, a villager of Wangxian Village and member of the "Leshan Wanrong Mama Group," with a smile.
"The 'Mama Group' is a beneficial practice for rural women in the new era to showcase their elegance. They have found confidence and value through song and dance," said Yin Zhongli, Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of the Wanrong County Party Committee. "Since the 'Mama Group' became active, the most obvious change in the village is that everyone's hearts are more united, and the mothers' mental state has become completely new and refreshed (焕然一新, huan ran yi xin - "change, however, one, new"). Leading the big family with the small family, promoting rural customs through family traditions, the traditional virtues of harmonious couples, united neighbors, and finding pleasure in helping others (助人为乐, zhu ren wei le - "help, others, for, joy") have become more deeply rooted in people's hearts through imperceptible influence (潜移默化, qian yi mo hua - "subtle, move, silent, transform")."
Return to TopBy: 董一沙
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in his important speech at the conference commemorating the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army of China: "Where the spirit is, there is the strength." How should the great Long March spirit be inherited and carried forward? How should the strength to forge ahead be drawn from it? From the mid-20th century to the present day, generation after generation of art workers have retraced the Long March route, condensing the great Long March spirit into their paintings through authentic life experiences, allowing the torch of the spirit to always illuminate the road ahead.
My father, Dong Xiwen, was one of the painters who retraced the Long March route relatively early after the founding of New China. In fact, he had long planned to create a work reflecting the Red Army's crossing of the grasslands, but because he lacked being personally present on the scene (身临其境, shen lin qi jing - "body, arrive, reach, environment"), he had been unable to put brush to paper for a long time. In 1955, he was presented with a rare opportunity — to travel with the filming crew of On the Road of the Long March of the August First Film Studio, sketching along the route the Red Army had taken during the Long March. Carrying over 20 jin of painting equipment on his back, he crossed snowy mountains and grasslands... the journey lasted half a year. In order not to miss any splendid scenes, he sometimes rode on a pack animal while sketching; sometimes he held dry rations in one hand while eating and a paintbrush in the other while sketching; sometimes he even painted standing in the rain... In this way, he completed more than 250 sketches. These works not only recorded the local customs and conditions along the Long March route, but also crystallized his profound understanding of the great Long March spirit.
"We camped in the open on the grassland. Though we had good tents, when we woke, the dew and dampness of the night had still soaked through our clothes and bedding, and we were often awakened by the cold; when we could not bear it, we would sit up and warm ourselves by the fire, waiting for dawn." The grassland sketches accumulated a large amount of material for my father's creation of the oil painting The Red Army Fears Not the Hardships of the Long March (see figure). He said: "The different temperatures of morning and evening on the grassland, the bonfires, the changes in the colors of the grassland — when warming ourselves by the fire, the joking of the escorting soldiers, their playing of the harmonica, their roasting of clothes, and other expressions and movements — none of these could be imagined out of thin air (凭空, ping kong - "rely, empty, air") by someone without military life experience." This sense of being present allowed my father's creation to preserve historical truth while at the same time transcending simple historical reproduction, elevating it into a profound inquiry into human nature and faith.
Among the sketches, The High Grassland by the Banks of the Banyou River is one of special significance. The banks of the Banyou River were the key location where the Red Army emerged from the grassland and welcomed the dawn of victory, and also the place where countless Red Army soldiers lie in eternal rest. Here, my father sketched while ill, and at the same time read the memoirs of old Red Army soldiers, ultimately pouring the shock and emotion in his heart onto the brush. In the painting, my father first used broad brushstrokes to render unrestrained and vigorous expression (酣畅淋漓, han chang lin li - "joyful, smooth, dripping, flowing") of the vastness of the grassland, then used the handle of the brush for delineation and fine brushwork for dotting and hooking, meticulously depicting the rich layers of the wind-blown thatch. The picture uses deep ochre, earth yellow, and dark green as its dominant tones, but here, color is not a simple imitation of nature, but rather is elevated into an emotional symbol, signifying the weight of history and the tenacity of the spirit — just as my father said, "Form must be form with feeling, and color must also be color with feeling." In the picture, the vast grassland and the swift river constitute a harsh living environment, but beneath the deep tones surges an unyielding vitality.
As an important preparatory sketch for The Red Army Fears Not the Hardships of the Long March, The High Grassland by the Banks of the Banyou River provides a precious perspective for people today to understand my father's creative process. He broke through the then-popular model of historical painting creation, combining grand historical narrative with delicate personal emotional experience through realist brushwork, making this work not merely a landscape painting depicting nature, but also a spiritual hymn dedicated to the revolutionary martyrs.
After returning to Beijing, my father set about creating The Red Army Fears Not the Hardships of the Long March. He revised the conception he had held before setting out to sketch, making clear that the work's "theme is the contrast between the most bitter material life and the greatest spirit of optimism when the Long March reached the grasslands, so in terms of color I also wanted to pursue the coordination of hardship and fortitude." He boldly used large areas of Prussian blue, black, and blue-green to construct a cold, oppressive scene of the grassland at night, symbolizing the harsh natural environment and the test of life and death. Several clusters of orange-yellow bonfires in the picture represent light and vitality, telling people that even in the most difficult moments, the spark of hope has never been extinguished.
The picture adopts an asymmetrical diagonal composition, with the group of figures converging from the lower left toward the bonfire in the middle distance, forming a forward momentum. In the foreground, soldiers support and lean on one another as they rest. In the middle distance, the crowd surrounds the bonfire, and one soldier conveys warmth through the sound of his flute. In the far distance is a sky dense with dark clouds. This clearly layered arrangement both presents the true state of the cold night grassland and, through the interaction among the figures, condenses a lofty revolutionary spirit. My father also integrated his understanding of "brushwork" in Chinese freehand painting into his oil painting creation, outlining contours with printmaking-style black lines and building up the mud of the grassland and the exhaustion of the soldiers with thick blocks of color, the brushwork rough and vigorous. This freehand approach fills the picture with a sense of power and Eastern charm, and is a vivid embodiment of the "nationalization of oil painting" concept he advocated.
Historical painting creation is not hollow propaganda, but rather must "turn purely rational things into the expression of emotion, flowing out naturally like singing." The most moving aspect of The Red Army Fears Not the Hardships of the Long March lies in its presentation of the true state of Red Army soldiers as ordinary people: thin faces, weary bodies, uniforms stained with mud. Yet it is precisely in this extreme adversity that the determination in their eyes and the optimism beside the bonfire appear all the more profoundly stirring.
From content to form, my father's meticulous construction of The Red Army Fears Not the Hardships of the Long March enabled the painting to find its way into the hearts of its viewers. Nearly 70 years have passed, and this work still radiates a moving brilliance. In the "Great Long March" exhibition at the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution, the undying spark in the painting crosses time, warming the hearts of every viewer and illuminating the road ahead for those who come after.
Return to TopBy: 潘善助
At present, strengthening public calligraphy aesthetic education has become particularly urgent. On the one hand, material affluence has brought about a growth in the public's demand for calligraphy aesthetics; on the other hand, the development of the internet has greatly lowered the threshold for the public to appreciate calligraphy works, participate in calligraphy activities, and conduct calligraphy criticism. However, while the spatial distance between calligraphy and the public continues to narrow, the aesthetic distance has grown wider. With just a little attention, one can see that "broom-style" calligraphy appears from time to time both online and offline, and "jianghu" (amateurish, self-styled) calligraphy videos garner considerable traffic on self-media platforms, showing every sign of bad money driving out good (劣币驱逐良币, lie bi qu xu liang bi - "bad, coin, expel, good, coin"). If this is allowed to develop unchecked, there is no doubt that it will be detrimental to the inheritance of the art of calligraphy, detrimental to the improvement of public aesthetics, and detrimental to the harmonious development of society.
When such problems arise, the public cannot be blamed for failing to distinguish the good from the bad. In fact, many people have never received calligraphy aesthetic education and lack a deep understanding of the cultural connotations and refined appeal of the art of calligraphy. Under these circumstances, what professional institutions and calligraphy workers can do and must do is to pool the efforts of multiple parties, carry out in-depth calligraphy aesthetic education aimed at the public, and raise the public's level of calligraphy aesthetics. There are two main dimensions for measuring the effectiveness of public calligraphy aesthetic education, namely, being heard and being understood.
Being heard refers to the breadth of education and the rate of contact, addressing the issue of educational channels; being understood refers to the depth and effectiveness of education, addressing the issue of aesthetic transformation.
In recent years, as aesthetic education has received increasing attention from all sectors of society, calligraphy associations, professional colleges and universities, primary and secondary schools, painting and calligraphy academies, cultural centers, and other institutions, as well as a number of calligraphy workers, have carried out a series of calligraphy aesthetic education efforts both online and offline, achieving remarkable results and making important contributions to improving the public's calligraphy aesthetic abilities. However, it cannot be ignored that, constrained by funding, manpower, technology, and concepts, public calligraphy aesthetic education still faces many challenges at present. For example, professional institutions focus on raising standards, but their understanding of the importance of popularization work is inadequate, and the mechanism for calligraphy popularization is not yet well established. Calligraphy popularization work is mostly scattered in a piecemeal fashion, lacking systematic planning. Some calligraphy exhibitions have not yet established supporting guided-tour mechanisms, making it difficult to fully bring into play the aesthetic education role of exhibitions. Especially online, professional institutions' calligraphy video accounts are relatively rare, and the content they publish is mostly news about calligraphy activities, resulting in insufficient user stickiness and greatly diminished influence.
To solve the problems of educational breadth and contact rate, professional institutions and calligraphy workers need to change their mindsets, lower their posture, and proactively step forward—by going into exhibition halls, government offices, schools, factories, military camps, parks, and other places to carry out calligraphy lectures, calligraphy critiques, calligraphy guided tours, and other activities, engaging in calligraphy dialogue with the public and popularizing calligraphy knowledge. An incentive mechanism for calligraphy popularization could be established to encourage professional institutions and calligraphy workers to expand and strengthen calligraphy new-media platforms, pushing their content to shift from activity reporting to knowledge services, so that they become people's online classrooms and studies. At the same time, explore using short videos, infographics, livestreams, and other forms that the public enjoys to showcase the charm of calligraphy, allowing audiences of all walks of life and all ages across the country to draw close to calligraphy.
Being heard is only the first step; what is more critical is making the audience understand. This requires professional forces to become translators of calligraphy aesthetics and disseminators of calligraphy culture, with transforming the mode of discourse as the main lever, and there are three key points. First, without lowering professionalism, try to explain calligraphy knowledge in a more accessible way, converting professional language into expressions familiar to the public. Many terms in calligraphy, such as center-tip stroke, lifting and pressing, turning and twisting, and rhythmic vitality, are very difficult for the public, who lack practical experience, to understand. If the center-tip stroke is explained as the pen tip moving along the middle of the stroke, and lifting and pressing is explained as the varying pressure of the wrist when writing, the public can more easily understand the aesthetic connotations of calligraphy. Second, build goodwill first and then offer interpretation. That is, first explain where a good calligraphy work is good, and then explain why it is good, which makes it easier for knowledge to enter the mind and heart. Third, strengthen narrative-based expression, placing the art of calligraphy in the context of history, dialects, folk customs, and geography, rather than talking in isolation about how a particular stroke is written. In addition, calligraphy aesthetic education must keep pace with the times, exploring the use of forms favored by the public, such as stand-up comedy, making humor an accelerator for efficient translation, allowing the public to shed their psychological burdens through laughter, and improving the quality of calligraphy aesthetic education.
Improving the public's level of calligraphy aesthetics is not a one-day achievement, but rather an era-defining topic to which professional institutions and calligraphy workers must continuously respond. Only by building a solid aesthetic foundation can the cause of Chinese calligraphy flourish with lush branches and leaves.
(The author is Vice Chairman of the Chinese Calligraphers Association)
Return to TopBy: 黎丽明
In a painting, is the "blank" space really nothing at all? At the Guangzhou Museum of Art's exhibition "Leaving Blank: From Traditional Artistic Conception to Contemporary Expression," viewers may find the answer. From ancient works with refined and understated in character (素雅内敛, su ya nei nei - "plain, elegant, restrained, inward") coloring and having a subtle and profound artistic atmosphere (意境淡远, yi jing dan yuan - "artistic conception, light, distant"), to contemporary works with diverse forms and varied media, artists of every era have woven their understanding of leaving blank into their creations, striving to make "the places without painting all become wondrous realms."
Leaving blank, that is, the use of blank space, is a major feature of traditional Chinese painting composition. In Chinese philosophy, black and white, solid and void exist dialectically. In Chinese painting, the "solid" is the subject matter, while the "void" is the connotation and extension of the painting's theme; arranging "blank" is as important as arranging "ink." The blank spaces in a painting are left for the viewer's imagination to take flight—they may be mountain mists, ripples on a river, a vast firmament... The Qing dynasty painter Dai Xi once said, "Painting lies where there is brush and ink; the wonder of painting lies where there is no brush and ink." The places without brush and ink are the emotional foil to the places with brush and ink; they are the profound artistic conception, the lingering charm. Pan Tianshou, in his On Issues of Composition, specifically noted that Chinese painting is executed according to "seeing without seeing." With blank space, there are places that need not be attended to, and the subject becomes more prominent—hence in Chinese painting, existence through emptiness and substance (虚以实存, xu yi shi cun - "void, use; solid, exist") and prominence through the use of emptiness (实以虚显, shi yi xu xian - "solid, use; void, manifest"). The blank left in a painting is a vital rhythm endowed with the connotation of life, becoming the eye of the composition through which the picture breathes and flows.
Leaving blank serves the functions of "separating" and "connecting." The blank spaces in a long landscape scroll can separate or connect mountain ridges, horizons, and water surfaces, leaving a vast and boundless expanse of water and sky (shui tian wu yin - "water, sky, no, boundary") for the imagination. Leaving blank can also regulate the viewer's rhythm of appreciation. The "Hundred Flowers Scrolls" of famous masters through the ages mostly depict the fragrances of the four seasons—peach blossoms, peonies, lotuses, chrysanthemums, plum blossoms, and other cut-branch flowers unfolding in succession—with the blank spaces in the painting hinting at the passage of the seasons. There are also "Hundred Flowers Scrolls" that do not follow the order of the seasons, using blank space as an invisible partition to subtly signal shifts in scene. In long figure scrolls, blank space mostly serves a transitional and concluding function, assisting the switching between scenes and protagonists.
The management of blank space concerns not only void and solid, but also the control of sparseness and density. Pan Tianshou pointed directly to the issue of sparseness and density in Chinese painting as "the problem of the arrangement and crossing of pictorial materials and lines." When the relationship between sparseness and density is handled well, the picture can be like music—possessing both rhythmic regularity and abundant variation. The empty places in both sparse and dense passages are blank space; skillfully using blank space can not only create a sparse, open, and far-reaching realm in the picture, achieving the artistic effect of achieving more with less through minimalist excellence (以少胜多, yi shao sheng duo - "use, few, defeat, many"), but can also make the dense places extremely compact—abundant without being cluttered or excessive (多而不冗, duo er bu rong - "many, but, not, redundant") and complex yet well-organized (繁而有序, fan er you xu - "flourishing, but, have, order").
In contemporary artistic creation, leaving blank has been endowed with richer expression. On the one hand, it is an aesthetic language that can be continued. Artists view the methods of the ancients with today's eyes, allowing the charm of leaving blank to radiate new vitality in the present. For example, in Fang Xiang's urban landscape paintings, blank space is the breathing gap in the dense city, as well as the trace of flowing light and shadow. In Wei Qingji's experimental ink paintings, blank space serves as a "plane" with a sense of composition, engaging in a contest with his heavy, vivid black ink masses. On the other hand, leaving blank is a conceptual boundary that can be expanded. Artists leap beyond the limitations of ink, employing diverse media to push leaving blank from a visual expressive technique toward a vehicle for conceptual expression.
Leaving blank is also extending from the artistic realm to a broader experience of life. In artist Che Jianquan's video works, there is no narration or explanation—only natural scenes: a gentle breeze brushing against pine trees (清风拂松, qing feng fu song - "clear, wind, brush, pine"), the sound of flowing water (流水潺潺, liu shui chan chan - "flowing, water, murmuring"), birds flitting gracefully. Leaving blank is no longer merely an artistic concept, but also a life attitude that invites viewers to pause, linger, and perceive beauty. When we face works of art, we need not rush to seek a standard answer about leaving blank. The charm of leaving blank lies precisely in its ability to make every viewer stop, contemplate all things, contemplate the inner self, and encounter a myriad of scenes uniquely one's own.
(The author is a research curator at the Guangzhou Museum of Art.)
Return to TopBy: 张一弛
After Frost's Descent, the chill arrives, and it is already late autumn, when all things gradually shift from a state of vigor to a state of stillness. Since ancient times, the Chinese people's perception of time has largely derived from the succession of the four seasons, and their reflections on autumn seem all the more profound. In the Shuowen Jiezi Zhu (Annotations on the Explaining and Analyzing Characters), "autumn" carries the meaning that "at this time all things grow old," and hence in literary and artistic works, the arrival and passing of autumn are always accompanied by a sentiment interweaving joy and sorrow. From the Book of Songs, "Airs of Qin: Reeds and Rushes," which uses autumn to set off feelings of longing, to the Nine Arguments, which inaugurated the theme of "sorrowful autumn" in the history of Chinese literature, "autumn," though mostly bearing a melancholy tone, also presents bright, vast, and stirring artistic conceptions in the works of Tang-dynasty poets and men of letters such as Li Bai and Liu Yuxi. The generation and enrichment of the "autumn" motif in literature likewise laid the ideological foundation for the construction of the "autumn" artistic conception in painting.
Lan Ying, classified under the "Wulin school of painting," was a Ming-dynasty painter skilled in rendering the autumn scene. He left behind many landscape paintings on the theme of autumn scenery, which display multiple facets: delicate and moist, elegant and pure, vigorous and free-flowing, and gorgeous and resplendent. As a representative work of his blue-and-green heavy-color style, White Clouds and Red Trees (see illustration) not only depicts the variegated splendor of autumn colors but also conveys a sense of clarity and purity. The composition adopts a deep, far-reaching perspective: the rocks and mountains are arranged in a winding manner, with a gently undulating shallow slope in the foreground, on which red woods and white trees set each other off; a wooden bridge spans the pool, and a lofty recluse, staff in hand, seeks out the secluded spot. In the middle distance the woods grow denser, and a mountain stream cascades straight down into the pool. In the far distance, layered peaks rise one upon another, thrusting into the clouds, with mist and haze curling upward, as if entering a fairyland.
In the painting, the mountain bodies and sloping rocks are rendered directly in thick mineral blue and mineral green using the mogu (boneless) technique, with the feet of the mountains and the roots of the rocks washed in ochre; here, only the density and lightness of the colors distinguish the front and back of the rocks, and the textures are applied with ink washes, with not a single outlining stroke to be seen. The tree trunks are drawn with double outlines and washed in ochre, while the leaves are dotted in red, yellow, white, blue, and green. The clouds and mist are painted after leaving blank spaces, built up directly with white powder, appearing and disappearing among the mountain ridges. This painting unites the brilliance and the clarity of autumn: red trees and yellow woods, green crags and blue mountains form the resplendent colors, strikingly beautiful or eye-catching (夺人眼目, duo ren yan mu - "seize, people, eye, look"), while the drifting white clouds and the quietly flowing stream make the colors of the mountains and woods appear all the more delicate, moist, and elegant. This work was painted when Lan Ying was seventy-four years old; in his later years, through this stretch of bright autumn mountains, he gave expression to the ravines and valleys within his breast.
On the painting, Lan Ying inscribed his own note, "Zhang Sengyou's mogu painting method," and this manner of inscription was likely influenced by the Ming-dynasty Dong Qichang. Heavy-colored mogu landscape painting was Dong Qichang's innovative interpretation of "applying colors according to the categories of things," and he likewise inscribed on his paintings "in imitation of Zhang Sengyou" and "in imitation of Yang Sheng." The Qing-dynasty An Qi recorded Dong Qichang's Imitation of Yang Sheng's Mogu Landscape Painting: "In the middle are high mountains and level foothills, clustered trees and a secluded pavilion, red and green in myriad forms, capturing perfectly the beauty of the evening glow." Dong's "theory of the Northern and Southern Schools" was of far-reaching significance; his advocacy of the Southern School and his proposal to emulate the literati painting of the Song and Yuan dynasties likewise influenced Lan Ying's creative approach of imitating antiquity without being bound by it. In both pictorial schema and brushwork, Lan Ying's mogu landscapes reveal their connection to Dong Qichang, and both men placed emphasis on the contrast and mutual fusion of colors. Works of this kind cast off the desolate and barren feeling that often accompanies ink-wash autumn scenes, presenting instead a different visage of red trees and blue mountains, radiant and luxuriant.
Autumn possesses both the splendid vista of red trees and golden leaves and abundant autumn harvests, and the vast realm of clear skies, crisp air, and bright, lofty distance, as well as the bleak appearance of falling leaves, withered grass, and the soughing of the cold wind. Surveying the white clouds and red trees beneath Lan Ying's brush, one likewise finds condensed his sighs and reflections on the mood of autumn. With rich, gorgeous coloring, he exhaustively renders the fullness of autumn's mood, and with the wreathed white clouds and the meandering stream, he gathers the ardor of these fire-like red trees into a clear, moist harmony. When we stand before the painting, it is as if we share the same autumn sky with the ancients. That sigh over the passage of time, in this moment of gazing, is likewise transformed into a composed recognition of life itself.
(The author is an associate professor at the School of Art, Suzhou University of Science and Technology)
Return to TopThe Chinese painting Golden Boughs of a Bumper Year (《金缀丰年》), by Ma Shulin.
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The canal flows broad and deep, bearing boats and barges to and fro, spreading a thousand-year cultural lineage. Brilliantly colored cloisonné wares traveled north and south along this waterway, opening a dialogue of craftsmanship that spanned mountains and seas. The exhibition "Splendid Waves of Color — A Cloisonné Journey on the Grand Canal," currently on display at the China Grand Canal Museum in Yangzhou, presents this dialogue before the audience and answers an important question: how did an imported craft take root on Chinese soil and be refined into a dazzling splendor uniquely belonging to the East.
Cloisonné, also known as "Folin" or "Folang," is a transliteration of a foreign word. Its basic components are quartz, feldspar, borax, and fluorides, and like ceramic glaze and colored glass, it belongs to the category of silicate substances. In ancient China, the substance attached to the surface of pottery or porcelain bodies was commonly called "glaze"; that attached to architectural tiles was called "colored glass"; and that attached to metal surfaces was called "cloisonné." The core category of cloisonné ware is copper-body cloisonné, which, according to production methods and technical characteristics, is mainly divided into cloisonné with wire inlay, painted enamel, and champlevé enamel. After the cloisonné craft was introduced from abroad, through long-term localization and development, it gradually became a traditional craft category with distinctly Chinese characteristics.
In the Qing Dynasty, the cloisonné craft reached its peak. The Imperial Household Department's Palace Workshops established a dedicated cloisonné workshop, gathering the finest craftsmen and materials from across the realm. What truly made cloisonné "take root" in China were the craftsmen who traveled north along the canal. According to records, during the Qianlong period alone, the cloisonné workshop of the Palace Workshops included dozens of "southern craftsmen" from Guangzhou, Yangzhou, Suzhou, and other places, as well as artisans from the West, who together participated in the production of court cloisonné and in technical innovation, giving cloisonné ware such aesthetic characteristics as solemn grandeur and richly ornate decoration.
The rise of regional cloisonné pushed Qing Dynasty cloisonné art toward diversity. During the Kangxi reign, Guangzhou introduced painted enamel techniques, and craftsmen combined them with traditional Chinese art forms to create uniquely original and distinctive (独树一帜, du shu yi zhi - "alone, build, one, mark") Guangzhou cloisonné, which served not only as tribute goods but also as export commodities. As a canal hub, Yangzhou, gathering craftsmen from north and south, saw its cloisonné craft reaching a peak of prosperity (日臻鼎盛, ri zhen ding sheng - "day, approach, tripod, prosperous") during the Qianlong reign. Yangzhou cloisonné ware has a distinctive style: cool and striking glaze colors, fine and even lines, with representative vessel types including celestial-sphere vases and table lamps, possessing both the opulence of imperial tribute vessels and the refined elegance of Jianghuai literati. It was precisely these regional cloisonné schools responding in concert with the imperial palace workshop system that brought about the pattern of Qing Dynasty cloisonné art in which a hundred flowers bloomed in competition (百花竞放, bai hua jing fang - "hundred, flower, compete, bloom").
The localization of cloisonné hinges on the character "fusion." When cloisonné ware first entered China, its patterns were mostly Western passionflower motifs, and its vessel forms carried foreign styles. After centuries of transformation through the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, it gradually absorbed the nutrients of Chinese culture: in vessel forms, it drew on the bronze ritual vessels of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, giving rise to archaic forms such as the gu, ding, and zun; in decoration, it came to feature mainly dragons and phoenixes, the Eight Treasures, and pine-and-crane motifs, condensing the Chinese people's heartfelt wishes for fortune, longevity, peace, and well-being between copper wire and enamel; it also absorbed the strengths of lacquerware decoration and porcelain painting, gradually forming an aesthetic character embodying the spirit of Chinese aesthetics.
Today, this craft spanning a thousand years has not faded with the passage of time; on the contrary, empowered by digital technology and innovative design, it has regained its luster. From form to pattern, from technique to color, a new generation of craftspeople, through continuous innovation, has brought cloisonné into the folds of garments, onto dining tables, into homes, and within architecture, demonstrating its brand-new vitality.
The journey of cloisonné art is precisely a vivid epitome of Chinese civilization's absorbing and integrating diverse elements (兼收并蓄, jian shou bing xu - "simultaneously, receive, combine, store") and its practice of upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground. A foreign craft took root and blossomed in the soil of Chinese culture; traditional treasures have been reborn amid the tides of the times — this is the power of a civilization that thrives endlessly.
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