Summary: The article marks the 105th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party’s founding, declaring that its unremitting struggle has fundamentally transformed the Chinese people’s destiny by overthrowing imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism. It states that the Party established a new China, ending the semi-colonial and semi-feudal era, and led the people from subsistence to moderate prosperity and then to full well-off status. The piece concludes that the Chinese people now firmly control their own fate and are advancing confidently on a path of self-reliance and self-strengthening.
Summary: The article, a speech at a 2026 forum on governance, argues that the Communist Party of China under Xi Jinping has provided scientific theory, a correct path (Chinese-style modernization), a strategic blueprint, and strong institutional guarantees for national rejuvenation. It states that Xi's thought guides the Party, and that China's modernization is an irreversible historical process. The text highlights Xi’s role in advancing rejuvenation through concrete plans like the “15th Five-Year Plan” and emphasizes the superiority of China’s institutional system. No U.S.-China relations are discussed.
Summary: The article underscores Xi Jinping’s characterization of the Chinese Communist Party as “deeply rooted in the people” as one of its six fine traits, articulated at the 105th anniversary celebration. It asserts that this people-centered stance is the Party’s fundamental position, tracing its historical reliance on popular support from the Huaihai and Yangtze River crossings to contemporary achievements in poverty alleviation and social systems. The text maintains that this deep connection secures the Party’s governing legitimacy and is essential for future national rejuvenation through Chinese-style modernization. No mentions of the United States or U.S.-China relations appear in the article.
Summary: The article discusses President Xi Jinping's directive to integrate development and security by enhancing economic and social resilience to safeguard national stability. It defines resilience as the ability to withstand and recover from external shocks, framing major-power competition as a contest of resilience. The piece outlines five key elements—institutional advantages, economic strength, endogenous power, social security, and cultural identity—and proposes practical paths, including Party leadership, risk early-warning systems, and international security cooperation. No mention is made of the United States or U.S.-China relations.
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Summary: In a speech commemorating the 105th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC), General Secretary Xi Jinping stated that the Party emerged from the great awakening of the Chinese people and the integration of Marxism-Leninism with the workers' movement, becoming the nation’s backbone. The article, written by a professor from the Central Party School, highlights the CPC's historical mission during the New Democratic Revolution, emphasizing its role in achieving national independence and people's liberation through a uniquely Chinese revolutionary path. It details key milestones such as the establishment of the Jiangxi Soviet, the Long March, the Yan'an rectification, and the victory over the U.S.-supported Nationalist forces in the civil war. The analysis asserts that the CPC's success fundamentally changed China's destiny and provided an alternative to the Western model, altering global power dynamics and strengthening socialism worldwide. The article concludes by stressing that the CPC's revolutionary spirit and self-reform have prepared it to lead China toward national rejuvenation on the new journey of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Summary: The article argues that "whole-process people's democracy" is a signature concept of Xi Jinping Thought, rooted in Marxist theory, the Chinese Communist Party’s centenary of democratic experimentation, and traditional Chinese political culture. It defines this democracy as a full-chain, all-encompassing system integrating elections, consultation, decision-making, management, and oversight—distinct from Western electoral democracy. The piece frames the concept as an ideological tool to rebut the "superiority of Western democracy," emphasizing its basis in the "organic unity" of Party leadership, people's sovereignty, and rule of law. Authored by a senior Chinese Academy of Social Sciences scholar, it presents whole-process people's democracy as a Chinese theoretical contribution to global political civilization. No U.S. relations or specific official statements are discussed.
Summary: The article reports on President Xi Jinping’s directive to construct an independent knowledge system for Chinese philosophy and social sciences, emphasizing “autonomy” as its core feature. It stresses that this autonomy must be guided by Marxism and Xi Jinping Thought, rooted in China’s traditional culture, and grounded in the practice of Chinese modernization. The piece calls for integrating traditional thought with contemporary innovation, while remaining open to absorbing beneficial foreign scholarship. It also advocates for fostering a healthy academic ecosystem and cultivating top-tier talent to produce landmark works. The summary contains no mention of the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: The article argues that future industries are vital for national long-term competitiveness, requiring a financial system overhaul beyond simple product additions. It highlights that global competition in these industries demands patient capital and a shift from traditional asset-heavy lending to support intangible assets like patents and algorithms. Key challenges include insufficient long-term equity capital, lagging risk control, and inadequate risk-sharing mechanisms for early-stage hard tech. Proposed measures include strengthening multi-tier capital markets, reforming bank credit models to serve light-asset firms, and building a full-cycle service system from seed to mature stages. The author calls for a strategic, coordinated effort to integrate finance with innovation and industrial chains, emphasizing the need for digital empowerment and a supportive regulatory environment.
Summary: The article, authored by the Laixi city party secretary, outlines strategies for developing the rural collective economy, citing President Xi Jinping’s emphasis on strengthening village-level organizations. It highlights the legacy of the 1990 "Laixi Conference," which set the central task of leading farmers toward common prosperity. The piece details a three-pronged approach: reinforcing party organizations to enhance management capacity, standardizing asset supervision with digital platforms, and innovating market-oriented mechanisms like "strong village collective companies." It stresses the importance of integrating party leadership with economic operations, including having village party secretaries also serve as heads of collective economic organizations. No mention is made of the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: The article argues that strengthening AI's empowerment of the real economy is essential for China to gain a competitive edge in global tech rivalry, implicitly including the United States. It cites Xi Jinping's call to accelerate next-generation AI as a strategic tool for winning global competition. The author, a deputy general manager of China Telecom, outlines five key areas: computing power infrastructure, electricity coordination, industry-specific models, data circulation, and talent development. Specific measures include building new data centers in remote regions, establishing cross-departmental power planning, and promoting open data ecosystems. The piece emphasizes systemic planning to transform AI potential into industrial upgrades.
Summary: In an article, the Party Secretary of Luqiao District, Taizhou, Zhejiang, argues that optimizing county-level business environments requires shifting from a management-centric to an enterprise-centric mindset, using digital technology to standardize administrative power and processes. The piece advocates for a dynamic response mechanism to aggregate enterprise demands, categorize them into targeted reforms (e.g., factor allocation, innovation, project management), and form a closed loop of data analysis and institutional iteration. It calls for a systematic governance upgrade, including quantitative evaluation, incentive and constraint mechanisms, and unified leadership from the county party committee. The author emphasizes that this transformation is both an economic reform and a governance revolution, anchored in rule-of-law thinking and enterprise satisfaction as the ultimate benchmark.
Summary: This article highlights the imperative of integrating digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence, into grassroots governance to modernize China's national governance system. It emphasizes Xi Jinping's directive to utilize e-government and smart city initiatives to achieve cross-departmental and cross-regional collaborative management through centralized data sharing. The text serves as an introduction to a series of in-depth discussions in the *Study Times* high-end think tank section regarding the empowerment of grassroots governance via digital tools.
Summary: The article analyzes the transformation of China's grassroots governance, highlighting demographic shifts (aging and high mobility), flexible employment, rapid digital infrastructure expansion, and smart production-lifestyle changes. It identifies challenges such as information asymmetry, fragmented resources, diverse public service demands, and hidden online conflicts threatening social stability. The authors—deputy directors from the National Information Center—argue that digital technologies (AI, big data, IoT) are essential for shifting grassroots governance from passive to proactive, fragmented to collaborative. They propose five pathways for the "15th Five-Year Plan" period: strengthening data, tech, and platform empowerment; enhancing comprehensive online governance; and innovating institutional mechanisms. The piece does not discuss the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: The article examines how China's campaign to reduce "formalism on fingertips" for grassroots officials has produced mixed results, with hidden burdens persisting through online meetings, instant messaging tasks, and competitive documentation of work. It warns that algorithm-driven governance platforms are reducing administrative flexibility by automating task assignments and replacing human judgment with rigid systems. Data protection laws are creating new compliance pressures, leading grassroots units to minimize data collection to avoid liability. The opacity and accountability gaps of algorithm-based decision-making raise ethical risks, including potential bias and eroded trust. The author, from Peking University's National Academy of Governance, calls for systemic solutions across technology, institutions, capacity, and ethics.
Summary: The article analyzes the benefits and drawbacks of digital tools in China's grassroots governance, noting improved efficiency alongside issues like "digital landscaping," traceism, and staff fatigue. It warns that prioritizing technology over purpose undermines innovation and calls for reforms to align digital systems with practical needs. Recommendations include optimizing evaluation metrics, enhancing coordination between institutions, and ensuring a better match between responsibilities, authority, and resources at the local level. The piece emphasizes the need to reduce administrative burdens and improve digital literacy to harness technology's potential without overloading grassroots workers. No mention is made of the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: The article provides an overview of wargaming, a simulation tool for training commanders and developing strategies through rule-based, low-cost, and repeatable adversarial scenarios. It traces the development of modern wargaming from 19th-century Prussia to contemporary computer-based systems enhanced by AI and big data. The strategic value includes honing decision-making under uncertainty, testing new operational concepts, and evaluating force capabilities via data-driven analysis. Future trends highlight ultra-fast parallel wargaming, integration of real-time combat data, AI-driven dynamic algorithms, and multi-domain joint simulation. No specific officials, U.S. relations, or political figures are mentioned.
Summary: The article describes a Swiss gold pocket watch used by He Long to synchronize the start of the 1927 Nanchang Uprising, which marked the founding of the People's Liberation Army. Zhou Enlai appointed He Long, then not a Communist Party member, as commander of the uprising forces despite delays imposed by Zhang Guotao. After a defector threatened the operation, the start time was moved to 2:00 AM on August 1, leading to a successful attack. He Long later donated the watch to the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution in 1958. The narrative emphasizes the watch's symbolic role in the Party's military origins and He Long's transformation from a former warlord to a communist soldier.
Summary: President Xi Jinping emphasized the need to integrate development and security, comprehensively implement the holistic approach to national security, and enhance economic and social resilience to safeguard national stability. The article argues that economic resilience provides the material foundation for social resilience, while social resilience offers a stable environment for economic growth, with both being interdependent. It identifies five key elements for building this resilience: institutional advantages, economic strength, endogenous dynamism, social security, and cultural identity. Practical paths outlined include upholding Party leadership, improving risk early-warning systems, strengthening security in key sectors, and deepening international security cooperation under a new security concept. The discussion is framed within China’s strategic response to a rapidly changing global landscape, though it does not explicitly address the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: The article examines the governance philosophy of the *Book of Changes (Yijing)*, emphasizing adaptation, virtue, ritual, and law as complementary tools for statecraft. It cites the legendary rulers Huangdi, Yao, and Shun as exemplars of moral governance, where rulers influenced subjects through virtue and simple rites. The text later highlights the Duke of Zhou's ritual and music reforms, which integrated penal law with moral education to sustain the Zhou dynasty for nearly 800 years. Contrasting the Shang dynasty’s reliance on harsh punishment and ritual sacrifice with the Zhou’s humane, filial piety-centered system, it argues that the *Yijing* preserved this transformative wisdom. The article makes no reference to the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: The article details the Laurentian Library in Florence, founded by the Medici family and designed by Michelangelo, highlighting its role as both a repository of classical and Renaissance manuscripts and an architectural masterpiece. It notes that the library opened to the public in 1571 under Duke Cosimo I de' Medici, transitioning from a private collection to a public cultural institution. The summary emphasizes the library's holdings, including rare texts by Tacitus, Virgil, and Dante, with a focus on the Ashburnham 828 manuscript, the earliest complete witness to the Divine Comedy. The article discusses how the library preserves the legacy of Florentine humanism and Dante's works, connecting classical knowledge to modern scholarship. No mention is made of the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: Yuan Shouding, a Qing dynasty official known as “Yuan Qingtian,” compiled *Tumin Lu* (“Record of Planning for the People”), a classic Chinese guidebook on governance centered on the concept of “putting the people first.” The work emphasizes that officials must love the people like family, understand their needs through open communication, and govern with sincerity and respect to achieve political harmony. Yuan argued that effective rule requires removing bureaucratic barriers to ensure the free flow of information between officials and the people, as summarized in the principle “when governance is unimpeded, the people are harmonious.” He also advocated for “non-interference,” warning that excessive regulations, levies, and projects harm the people, and that officials must be both diligent and patient to avoid bureaucratic lethargy. The book repeatedly stresses that the relationship between ruler and ruled is reciprocal: treating the people well wins their loyalty, while oppressing them breeds resentment.
Summary: The article reports on Shenzhen's Bao'an district implementing the "Mountain-Sea Connected City" initiative, aligning with the 15th Five-Year Plan's call for modern people-centered cities. It emphasizes top-down planning to integrate ecological spaces, systematically addressing "breakpoints" to link natural resources with urban functions through greenways and cycling paths. The process prioritizes public input and aims to deliver tangible benefits, such as 223 parks and extensive walking trails accessible within 15 minutes. The initiative is framed as a key driver of the district’s current "seven-period synchronization" phase of development, converting ecological gains into industrial and openness advantages. No mention is made of U.S.-China relations or specific official statements.
Summary: The article reports on the "Jiaoxin Nuan" service platform, jointly launched by the Bank of Communications Fujian branch and the Fuzhou Municipal Social Work Department, to integrate new employment groups (e.g., delivery workers) into grassroots governance. The platform uses an online-offline system where participants earn points for completing micro-tasks like reporting hazards, which can be exchanged for financial benefits or goods. It aims to lower participation barriers, collect behavioral data for targeted services, and foster community integration among these workers. The piece, authored by the bank's Party secretary and president, outlines plans to expand user scale, enhance platform tools, and develop tailored financial products and insurance. No mention is made of the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: The article reports on the Anqing Municipal Tobacco Monopoly Bureau (company) in Anhui, which is promoting "spiritual civilization" as part of China's modernization drive. Under party leadership, it has established a system integrating party building with cultural and ethical work, including employee training, volunteer services, and a "Four Goods" culture model. The bureau has developed reading programs, recognized model workers, and conducted community outreach such as traffic劝导 and snow removal. It has received provincial and national honors for its workforce and innovation, including 30 intellectual property filings. The bureau aims to sustain these efforts to support local cultural development and high-quality growth.
105 years of unremitting struggle have fundamentally changed the destiny of the Chinese people. Our Party led the people through a magnificent great struggle, overthrowing the three big mountains （三座大山）of imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat-capitalism, establishing a New China where the people are the masters of the country, completely ending the history of the old China as a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society （半殖民地半封建社会）, and achieving a historic leap in the people's lives from inadequate food and clothing to moderate prosperity in general and then to comprehensive moderate prosperity. Today, the Chinese people have firmly grasped their destiny in their own hands and are striding forward with a posture of confidence, self-reliance, and self-strengthening.
Return to TopBy: 中央党校（国家行政学院）分管日常工作的副校长（副院长）谢春涛
Political parties should be the leaders of national development, the representatives of the people's interests, and also the drivers of human progress. Every political party has its own pursuits; different pursuits determine different outcomes. The Communist Party of China (中国共产党) was born at a time of national peril. Upon its founding, it harbored lofty ideals and shouldered the historical mission of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Inspired and summoned by this mission, our Party led the people in bloody battles and 百折不挠 (bǎi zhé bù náo - "not bending despite a hundred setbacks," indomitable), achieving the great victory of the New Democratic Revolution and establishing the new China where the people are the masters of the country; led the people in 自力更生 (zì lì gēng shēng - "relying on one's own strength to regenerate," self-reliance) and 发愤图强 (fā fèn tú qiáng - "arouse determination to strive for strength," to work hard for a strong country), completing the Socialist Revolution, and striding from a situation of extreme poverty and blankness, impoverishment and weakness into a socialist society; led the people in emancipating the mind and forging ahead with enterprise, carrying out the new great revolution of reform and opening up, initiating and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics, and promoting socialist modernization to achieve achievements that have attracted worldwide attention. Several generations of Chinese Communists have 前赴后继 (qián fù hòu jì - "the front falls, the rear continues," to advance wave upon wave) and continued the struggle, running the relay race one lap after another toward the set goal.
The magnificent and 波澜壮阔 (bō lán zhuàng kuò - "waves surging, vast and mighty," magnificent and sweeping) road of rejuvenation bears witness to the Communist Party of China's responsibility and commitment to the nation, the country, and the people. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping has clearly put forward the Chinese Dream (中国梦) of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, leading the entire Party to never forget its original aspiration and keep its mission firmly in mind, step by step turning the great dream into a beautiful reality, and pushing the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation into an irreversible historical process.
First, it has provided scientific theoretical guidance for realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Thought is like a torch, illuminating the journey. The Communist Party of China has always attached great importance to theoretical innovation and insists on guiding practice with developing Marxism. Entering the new era, the overall strategy for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the major global changes unseen in a century are intertwined, and a series of major epochal topics urgently require our Party to provide new theoretical answers. General Secretary Xi Jinping, based on the new historical orientation, insists on integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with China's specific realities and with the fine traditional Chinese culture, promoting theoretical innovation with the times through experience summarization and practical exploration, constantly answering China's questions, the world's questions, the people's questions, and the questions of the times, and establishing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era (习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想). As Marxism in contemporary China and Marxism in the 21st century, this important thought, with a completely new theoretical perspective and profound theoretical insight, has put forward a series of new concepts, new ideas, and new strategies of groundbreaking significance, covering all aspects such as reform, development, stability; internal affairs, foreign affairs, national defense; and Party governance, state governance, and military governance. It has made scientific planning and systematic arrangements for the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation, which has entered a critical period, and clearly answered questions such as how to view and how to act. Relying on the power of scientific theory, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has united and led the entire Party and the people of all ethnic groups across the country, with unified thinking and concerted steps, pursuing the dream together, creating great achievements of socialism with Chinese characteristics for the new era, bringing the Chinese nation closer than ever to the dream of rejuvenation, and enabling China to stand in the East of the world with unprecedented confidence. Now, many political parties in the world are exploring the path to success of the Communist Party of China. Undoubtedly, having scientific theoretical guidance is an extremely important reason.
Second, it has advanced and expanded the correct path for realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
The path determines destiny. Realizing national rejuvenation in a country like China, which was once extremely economically and culturally backward, is a glorious dream but an extremely arduous task. After enduring untold hardships, the Communist Party of China independently blazed a new path of Chinese modernization (中国式现代化). Entering the new era, this path has been forging ahead through self-confidence and self-reliance, 守正创新 (shǒu zhèng chuàng xīn - "uphold the fundamental and create the new," to maintain correct principles while innovating): General Secretary Xi Jinping has further deepened the understanding of the connotation and essence of Chinese modernization, summarizing and forming the Chinese characteristics, essential requirements, and major principles of Chinese modernization, making Chinese modernization clearer, more scientific, and more tangible and feasible. Over the past 10-plus years, in the process of adopting a series of strategic measures, advancing a series of transformative practices, achieving a series of breakthrough progresses, and obtaining a series of landmark results, the Communist Party of China has driven the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation forward irresistibly on a 康庄大道 (kāng zhuāng dà dào - "broad and smooth road," a bright and broad path). We have historically solved the worldwide problem of absolute poverty, built a moderately prosperous society in all respects as scheduled, withstood the 接踵而至 (jiē zhǒng ér zhì - "arriving one after another in close succession," coming in quick succession) huge risks and challenges, and written a new chapter of the two miracles of rapid economic development and long-term social stability. China's total economic output grew from over 50 trillion yuan in 2012 to over 140 trillion yuan in 2025. Hundreds of millions of Chinese people have realized their life dreams, and the land of China has undergone a 焕然一新 (huàn rán yī xīn - "glowing and brand new," a complete change in appearance) historic transformation. In the face of successful practice, we have the greatest reason to be confident: Chinese modernization works and is stable; it is the only correct path for building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation. Today's China, the fruits of modernization benefit the entire people, and the degree of modernization far exceeds expectations. More and more foreign tourists coming to China exclaim: "China lives in the world of the future; this is what modernization should look like!"
Third, it has drawn up a grand strategic blueprint for realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
The Chinese Dream is not a fantasy or illusion but a scientific blueprint. It requires both looking far ahead and planning great affairs, and also 脚踏实地 (jiǎo tà shí dì - "feet planted on solid ground," down-to-earth) and accomplishing great things. Entering the new era, China has successfully completed the "first half" of modernization. Standing at a new historical starting point, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core insists on carrying the blueprint through to the end, making strategic arrangements for the "second half" of modernization in two stages, proposing to basically realize socialist modernization by 2035, and to build China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful by the middle of this century, showcasing the magnificent prospects of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. In this stepwise progressive historical process, our Party has continuously improved its strategy, clarifying the "Five-Sphere Integrated Plan" (五位一体总体布局) and the "Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy" (四个全面战略布局), and deeply implementing a series of major strategies such as the innovation-driven development strategy, the strategy for revitalizing the country through talent, and the rural revitalization strategy, achieving overall planning and systematic integration of development strategies, providing solid support for advancing Chinese modernization. At the same time, taking five years as a development cycle, it decomposes strategies into phased tasks through the formulation of plans, ensuring that the right things are done and the right path is taken at the right time. From the first five-year plan in 1953 to the current 15th Five-Year Plan, it has continued for more than 70 years. A foreign political figure once exclaimed to General Secretary Xi Jinping: "China has a great advantage — you always formulate various plans, and those plans are always realized." This is indeed the case. Countries like China that can continuously formulate and implement plans with such good results are rare in the world. This year marks the start of the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. The Party and the people are anchoring on the tasks, seizing the momentum, and fully striving to ensure a good start and a solid beginning for the "15th Five-Year Plan."
Fourth, it has provided a strong institutional guarantee for realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
The system is the foundation for governing the country and ensuring national security, and it is the greatest advantage of a political party and a country. To keep the socialist system full of vigorous vitality, it is necessary to continuously explore and summarize, continuously reform and innovate, and promote the various systems to become more mature and more established. Adapting to the overall process of national modernization, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has placed institutional construction in a more prominent position, insisting on breaking and establishing simultaneously, establishing before breaking, starting reforms from the areas the people most expect, starting from the most prominent problems constraining economic and social development, resolutely eliminating the drawbacks of systems and mechanisms in various aspects, basically establishing the foundational institutional framework in various fields, and promoting historical changes, systematic reshaping, and overall restructuring in many fields. The scope of reform, the intensity of promotion, and the significance of the effects are unprecedented. To evaluate whether a system is good or effective, in the final analysis, it depends on the actual results. Our Party has organically unified "improving and developing the socialist system with Chinese characteristics" with "promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity", so that the system can operate effectively and be implemented practically, thereby maximizing the transformation of institutional advantages into governance efficiency, achieving both "enlivening" and "managing well". In recent years, I have often had the opportunity to exchange views with political party and government figures, experts, and scholars from some countries. They all sigh in admiration and are very envious of the significant advantages of China's system, such as mobilizing the enthusiasm of all sides and concentrating efforts to accomplish major tasks. The more fully the institutional advantages are demonstrated, the more firmly institutional confidence is strengthened. Looking to the future, we will further advance comprehensive deepening of reforms, promote the self-improvement and development of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, continuously write new chapters of "China's system" (中国之制), and achieve new brilliance of "China's governance" (中国之治).
Only with dreams can there be hope. General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out that the Chinese Dream is a dream of peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefit, and the Chinese Dream is closely connected with the beautiful dreams of people around the world. The Chinese nation has always had the spirit and broad-mindedness of 天下为公 (tiān xià wéi gōng - "the whole world as one community," a spirit of serving the common good), and the Communist Party of China has always taken making new and greater contributions to humanity as its mission. We believe that as long as political parties of all countries join hands and cooperate, sharing the historical mission, they will surely turn dreams into reality, let actions achieve the future, and open up a brighter prospect for human society.
(This article is the author's address at the 2026 High-end Think Tank Forum on Governance of Developing Countries.)
Return to TopBy: 孙海洋
The Chinese Communist Party is the party of the people. For Communist Party members, the people's stance is the fundamental stance, and serving the people wholeheartedly is the fundamental tenet. General Secretary Xi Jinping, at the ceremony celebrating the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, took "deeply rooted in the people, always possessing a solid foundation" as one of our Party's six fine characters. This character, from a perspective that connects history, reality and the future, answers the fundamental question of what the Chinese Communist Party is and what it wants to do, scientifically expounds the essential stipulations of what our Party is, and clearly demonstrates that only by deeply rooting itself in the people can it possess a foundation as firm as a rock.
Looking back at history, deeply rooting in the people has consolidated the historical foundation of more than one hundred years of glory. Since the day of its birth, the Chinese Communist Party has inscribed the word "people" on its banner and integrated it into its blood. The more-than-one-hundred-year history of our Party is a history of unremitting struggle in which the Party and the people 休戚与共 (xiū qī yǔ gòng - "shared joys and sorrows together," to share weal and woe) and life and death depend on each other. During the War of Liberation, the victory of the Huaihai Campaign was pushed out by the common people with small carts; the victory of the Yangtze River Crossing Campaign was rowed out by the common people with small boats. During the period of socialist revolution and construction, our Party united and led the people to self-reliance and hard struggle, establishing an independent and relatively complete industrial system and national economic system. During the new period of reform, opening up, and socialist modernization, our Party led the masses to dare to venture and experiment, dare to be the first, and continuously achieved new accomplishments. Since the new era, our Party has led hundreds of millions of people to win the battle against poverty, built the world's largest education system, social security system, and medical and health system, and created the "two major miracles." The people are the creators of history and the true heroes. This is the philosophical basis for our Party's deep rooting in the people, and also the historical conclusion drawn from the Party's more than one hundred years of struggle.
Based on reality, deeply rooting in the people has consolidated the Party's governing foundation. The Chinese Communist Party has never represented the interests of any interest group, any power group, or any privileged stratum. Struggling for the people's interests is the fundamental starting point and end goal of our founding, developing, and strengthening the Party. The people are the deepest foundation and greatest confidence for our Party's governance. Today, the reason our Party has been able to develop into the world's largest governing party with significant global influence is fundamentally because it has always received the people's heartfelt endorsement and support. Communist Party members, whether thinking about problems, conducting research, or making decisions or handling affairs, must stand on the people's side, firmly stand together with the people, think together with the people, and work together with the people. This is the key to ensuring that the Party never deteriorates in nature, never changes its color, and never alters its flavor.
Looking to the future, deeply rooting in the people has reinforced the development foundation of national rejuvenation. Comprehensively advancing the building of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation through Chinese-style modernization is a common undertaking of the entire Party, the entire military, and the people of all ethnic groups across the country. We must adhere to the people-centered development thinking, fully stimulate the initiative, enthusiasm, and creativity of hundreds of millions of people, and gather the surging strength to advance Chinese-style modernization. Persist in putting the people first, take safeguarding the people's interests as the goal, continuously turn the people's yearning for a better life into reality, and achieve asking the people about their needs; take firmly relying on the people as the driving force, respect the people's creation, pool the people's wisdom, and achieve asking the people for advice; take whether the people are satisfied as the standard, establish and practice a correct view of performance, do good deeds and practical things that touch the people's hearts, and achieve asking the people about effectiveness.
Know where it comes from, recognize what it is, and understand where it is going. A highly self-conscious party can precisely identify its own fine characters and continuously carry them forward, can grasp the historical initiative and create historical great achievements. On the new journey, as long as we deeply root ourselves in the people, firmly rely on the people, and continuously benefit the people, our Party can possess a solid foundation that no wind or wave can shake, and can continue to create new achievements worthy of the times and the people.
Return to TopBy: 傅小强
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that it is necessary to coordinate development and security, deeply implement the holistic approach to national security, continuously enhance economic and social resilience, and go all out to maintain national security and social stability. As the changes unseen in a century accelerate their evolution in today's world, economic and social resilience are the core capabilities of a country to resist external shocks, to recover rapidly under impact, and to achieve adaptive transformation. Great power competition, at its root, is a contest of resilience; only by continuously strengthening the capacity building of economic and social resilience can one truly achieve securing security through development and ensuring stability through security.
Deeply understanding the connotation of enhancing economic and social resilience
Enhancing economic and social resilience is the fundamental support for coordinating development and security, and is an important cornerstone for building a new security pattern and escorting a new development pattern. The "15th Five-Year Plan" outline clearly points out: "Secure security in development, seek development in security, strengthen bottom-line thinking, effectively prevent and resolve various risks, enhance economic and social resilience, and use a new security pattern to guarantee a new development pattern." This deployment fully reflects the key role of enhancing economic and social resilience during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period.
Economic resilience and social resilience are dialectically unified, mutually empowering, and mutually reliant. Economic resilience is the "bone," and social resilience is the "sinew." If the bone is not strong, it is difficult to stand; if the sinew is not flexible, it is easy to break; the two must exert force in synergy to constitute the strong body of holistic national security. On one hand, economic resilience is the material premise and the source of momentum for social resilience. "仓廪实则知礼节，衣食足则知荣辱" (cāng lǐn shí zé zhī lǐ jié, yī shí zú zé zhī róng rǔ - "when the granaries are full, people understand etiquette; when food and clothing are sufficient, people know honor and disgrace," meaning material prosperity leads to social order and moral awareness), the abundance and stability of the economy have been the fundamental basis of national security since ancient times. A stable economic base brings increased fiscal revenue, expanded employment, and enhanced public financial strength, supporting investments in social security, medical care, elderly care, and grassroots governance. Strong economic anti-fluctuation capability can provide funds and industrial resources for improving the social security system and building resilient cities, and can stabilize employment and guarantee the reserve of livelihood resources during crises. On the other hand, social resilience is the environmental foundation and stability guarantee for economic resilience. No matter how vast an economic landscape is, if it lacks the support of public trust, consensus, and cooperation, it is nothing more than a tower built on sand; social resilience is the spiritual core and organizational soul of national security. Perfect social governance, sound livelihood protections, and stable social consensus can smooth out income fluctuations, resolve social contradictions, and facilitate the domestic large cycle; they can also enhance grassroots emergency response capabilities, rapidly repair the order of production and life amidst sudden risks, and create a stable environment for economic recovery.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping has made systematic discourses and guidance on synergistically promoting economic and social governance and preventing and resolving various security risks, providing all-round fundamental followings for the comprehensive enhancement of economic and social resilience capacity building. First, coordinate development and security, and insist on the positive interaction between high-quality development and high-level security. General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized that "security is the prerequisite for development, and development is the guarantee for security; security and development must be promoted synchronously," pointed out that "China's economy has strong resilience, sufficient potential, and wide room for maneuver; the basic fundamentals that have been good for a long time will not change and will not change," and proposed important discourses such as "the Chinese economy is a vast sea, not a small pond," clarifying the natural resilience endowment of our country as a super-large economy, which has laid solid confidence for our country to achieve long-term stable development. Our country stands on the basis of "doing our own things well," relying on high-quality development to consolidate the economic base, using the thick economic foundation of development to continuously enhance the ability to resist risks, and using the certainty of domestic stable production and supply, the expansion of domestic demand, and the quality improvement of industries to deal with various external uncertainties such as global changes, geopolitical conflicts, and cyclical fluctuations.
Second, build solid social resilience with people as the center, and consolidate the foundation of national governance with livelihoods as the essence. The requirements proposed by the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to enhance social resilience are an important manifestation of livelihood demands expanding into the field of social governance. Protecting and improving livelihoods is the fundamental landing point for enhancing social resilience and maintaining social stability. Livelihood protections such as employment, social security, education, medical care, and housing are both the ballasts of social stability and the support for the expansion of domestic demand and the smooth circulation of the economy. Economic policies embed livelihood orientations, and livelihood policies take economic efficiency into account, achieving two-way empowerment between economic development and livelihood improvement, and consolidating the endogenous driving force of social stability. We persist in and develop the "Fengqiao Experience" of the new era, which powerfully proves that being people-centered is the correct path for resilience building.
Third, adhere to bottom-line thinking and the systemic concept, and prevent troubles before they arise. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized, "Enhance awareness of opportunities and risk awareness, establish bottom-line thinking, estimate difficulties more fully, think about risks more deeply, pay attention to plugging loopholes and strengthening weak links, make good opening moves and fight proactive battles, and effectively prevent and resolve various risks and challenges." This important discourse provides powerful guidance for systematically coordinating resilience building across multiple fields and promoting the collaborative construction of economic resilience and social resilience. Since the new era, our country has strengthened risk prevention and control in key areas such as grain, energy, minerals, science and technology, finance, and infrastructure, and built an integrated emergency guarantee mechanism, which both stands on the basis of short-term relief to stabilize the overall situation and looks toward the long term to lay foundations and patch shortcomings, going all out to enhance the comprehensive pressure-bearing resilience of economic and social stable development.
Fourth, construct a new development pattern, and rely on the domestic large cycle to shape endogenous resilience. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "China possesses the institutional advantages of a socialist market economy, the demand advantages of an ultra-large-scale market, the supply advantages of a complete industrial system, and the talent advantages of a large number of high-quality workers and entrepreneurs; economic development possesses strong endogenous momentum, resilience, and potential," and emphasized that "constructing a new development pattern urgently requires accelerating the construction of a national unified large market that is efficient, standardized, fair, and fully open, establishing national unified market institutional rules, and promoting the smooth flow of commodity and factor resources within a larger scope." In essence, constructing a new development pattern with the domestic large cycle as the mainstay and the domestic and international dual cycles mutually promoting each other is a strategic deployment to enhance the overall economic resilience of our country. Regarding important deployments such as accelerating the construction of a national unified large market, it further promotes our country to consolidate dual resilience in industry and markets, enhances economic anti-shock capability from the perspective of the circulation architecture, and firmly holds the initiative of development in our own hands.
Basic elements of economic and social resilience construction
Enhancing economic and social resilience includes five major basic elements: institutional advantages, economic strength, endogenous momentum, social security, and cultural identity; these five aspects together determine the comprehensive capability of economic and social systems to respond to shocks and recover development.
Institutional advantages are the fundamental guarantee for enhancing economic and social resilience. Insisting on the leadership of the Party is the greatest political advantage; the Party stands on the basis of the national whole and long-term interests, unifying the top-level design of resilience construction; it oversees the overall situation, coordinates all parties, and concentrates strength to handle risks and resolve the impact of major sudden incidents. The basic socialist economic system conforms to our country's stage of development; the rural collective land system guarantees the basic rights of farmers; state-owned enterprises grow larger, stronger, and better to guarantee national economic security; and adhering to public ownership as the mainstay and the common development of various ownership economies mobilizes the enthusiasm of all parties to continuously liberate and develop social productive forces. A sound market economy system can achieve the organic unity of an efficient market and a proactive government, efficiently allocate resources, take both fairness and efficiency into account, avoid market failures, and resolve economic fluctuation risks. A perfected legal and regulatory system can provide strong guarantees for the legitimate rights and interests of business entities and citizens, and provide long-term stable expectations for the market.
Economic strength is the material foundation for enhancing economic and social resilience. Modernization of the industrial structure, a thick foundation of traditional industries, the continuous growth of emerging industries, and the forward-looking layout of future industries form an organic whole of tiered succession and two-way empowerment; these can enhance development momentum, expand development space, and improve industrial competitiveness. A complete industrial system and intact industrial and supply chains, along with strong guarantee capabilities for production factors such as energy and resources, can compensate for gaps through internal adjustments during external supply disruptions or sudden changes in demand. The diverse synergy, complementarity, and mutual promotion of business entities can maintain economic vitality, fully absorb employment, and form a stable development pattern. Perfect infrastructure can improve economic operational efficiency and ensure that production and circulation, livelihood protection, and emergency rescue are carried out in an orderly manner. A development pattern of urban-rural integration and regional coordination can form a growth synergy, effectively disperse regional risks, and enhance the overall economic anti-shock capability.
Endogenous momentum is the core engine for enhancing economic and social resilience. Comprehensively deepening reform helps to construct a high-level socialist market economy system, improve the macro-economic governance system, and promote high-level opening-up, thereby consolidating the foundation of economic and social development, stimulating development potential, and strengthening the ability to prevent and resolve risks. Based on the scale of the national unified large market, it helps to boost consumption and expand investment, continuously injecting new vitality into the economy. A complete industrial system matching arrangement can independently meet various production needs. The talent advantage of a large number of high-quality workers and entrepreneurs provides continuous human support for industrial innovation and development. Accelerating high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening can innovate and transform industries, cultivate new quality productive forces, and achieve technological autonomy and controllability, enhancing the ability of industries to resist the risks of external sanctions and technological supply disruptions from the supply side.
Social security is an important cornerstone for enhancing economic and social resilience. As the level of basic livelihood protection continuously improves, and new forms such as flexible employment, shared employment, and the gig economy emerge, ensuring that workers in new employment forms obtain corresponding social security can enhance employment resilience; a sound social security, medical insurance, and assistance bottom-line network, continuously improving levels of equalization of public services, and continuously narrowing the gaps between urban and rural areas and between regions to build a safety net for disadvantaged groups can reduce social contradictions triggered by income fluctuations and sudden contingencies. As modern social governance capabilities continuously enhance, building a social governance community where everyone is responsible, everyone performs their duties, and everyone enjoys the benefits, and achieving the benign interaction of government governance, social regulation, and resident autonomy, can resolve contradictions locally and enhance the social capacity for self-repair and adjustment.
Cultural identity is the spiritual support for enhancing economic and social resilience. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "The unity of Chinese civilization fundamentally determines that the cultures of all ethnic groups in the Chinese nation merge into one and remain firmly cohesive even when encountering major setbacks; it determines the common belief that the territory is indivisible, the country cannot be in chaos, the ethnic groups cannot be scattered, and the civilization cannot be broken." Excellent traditional Chinese culture is the crystallization of wisdom and the essence of Chinese civilization, and is the foundation upon which we stand firm amidst the turbulence of world culture. Cultural identity based on excellent traditional Chinese culture nurtures strong cultural confidence, a shared historical memory, a tenacious national spirit, and rich experience in struggle, forming deep national cohesion, which enables us to be unyielding when facing suppression and containment; to respond in unity when facing risks and challenges; and to resolve internal contradictions in a timely manner and build harmony together when internal contradictions arise.
Practical paths for enhancing economic and social resilience
The "15th Five-Year Plan" outline points out that our country's development environment is facing profound and complex changes, and our country's development is in a period where strategic opportunities and risk challenges coexist, and uncertain and unpredictable factors are increasing. To enhance economic and social resilience, one must profoundly grasp the important discourses of General Secretary Xi Jinping regarding the enhancement of economic and social resilience, adhere to the holistic approach to national security, coordinate development and security, and maintain national security and stability.
Adhere to the leadership of the Party. The Communist Party of China is the strong leadership core of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics; maintaining the authority of the Party Central Committee and its centralized and unified leadership, and improving the Party's ability to set direction, plan the overall situation, determine policies, and promote reform, will integrate the Party's leadership throughout all aspects and the entire process of economic and social resilience construction. Profoundly grasp the decisive significance of the "Two Establishes," enhance the "Four Consciousnesses," strengthen the "Four Confidences," and achieve the "Two Maintenances," transforming our Party's advantages into a powerful synergy for maintaining national security, and gathering the strength of the whole society to continuously forge strong economic and social resilience, jointly preventing and resolving risks and challenges, and achieving long-term stability and security for the country.
Improve the risk early warning and prevention and control system. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Strengthen the synergy between risk prevention and development promotion policies to further enhance development resilience." This requires continuously improving the national security early warning and prevention and control system; otherwise, "resilience" can only be an emergency response and after-the-fact urgent remedy when facing sudden risks, and ineffective response can easily trigger unpredictable risks and consequences. To enhance economic and social resilience, it is necessary to achieve "moving the checkpoint forward" through the continuous improvement of the national risk early warning and prevention and control system, strengthening "pre-event prevention" capabilities, and achieving early identification, early warning, and early handling of various security risks, which both makes full preparations for responding to risk challenges and reserves and creates space for subsequent development.
Strengthen security capacity building in key fields. Once risks in key fields are handled improperly, they can easily produce chain reactions and impact the overall national security situation. To this end, we must adhere to high-quality development, strengthen the real economy, promote the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy, and build a modern industrial system, aiming to build the ballast of economic and social resilience by consolidating the foundation of the national economy. Develop new quality productive forces according to local conditions, firmly grasp the autonomy of key core technologies, focus on solving difficult problems, ensure that production and supply chains are autonomous, controllable, and secure, and promote the capacity leap of economic and social resilience. Continuously strengthen the security guarantee capabilities of energy, grain, and important infrastructure, hold the bottom line of not allowing systemic risks to occur, and build a solid barrier for national security.
Improve the level of capacity to maintain social security. Social security is closely related to the immediate interests of the masses and is an indispensable and solid foundation for maintaining the overall stability of society and guaranteeing long-term stability and security for the country. Under the guidance of the holistic approach to national security, with the goal of building a higher-level peaceful China, we must comprehensively improve social security capacity levels; take multiple measures to build a people's defense line, and through high-efficiency social security governance, resolve security hazards during development, reduce social operating costs, and transform them into development dividends.
Deepen international security cooperation externally. Currently, the linkage, transnationality, and diversity of security issues are more prominent, and global security issues are arising one after another. No single country can remain unaffected, and no country can respond to all security challenges by its own strength alone. We must practice a new security concept of commonality, comprehensiveness, cooperation, and sustainability, actively participate in the reform and construction of the global security governance system, and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. At the same time, we must adhere to benefiting ourselves while benefiting others, continuously deepen development and security cooperation with all countries, join hands to respond to transnational risk challenges, and help enhance economic and social resilience under the conditions of high-level opening-up.
Economic resilience can allow a country to maintain the confidence to survive and counterattack amidst wind and rain; social resilience can allow hundreds of millions of individuals to merge into an indestructible community with a shared future when faced with tests. Facing the future, only by unremittingly forging the dual resilience of economy and society can one steadily hold the course amidst the changes unseen in a century and sail toward the magnificent journey of national rejuvenation.
(The author is the President of the China Institute of International Studies)
Return to TopBy: 高中华
At the celebration of the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “105 years ago, in the great awakening of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation, and in the close integration of Marxism-Leninism with the Chinese workers’ movement, the Communist Party of China emerged as the times require (应运而生, yìng yùn ér shēng – “born in response to the movement of destiny,” to arise at the right time). From then on, the Chinese people and the Chinese nation had their most reliable backbone, and China, beset by 内忧外患 (nèi yōu wài huàn – “internal turmoil and external invasion,” domestic trouble and foreign aggression), 积贫积弱 (jī pín jī ruò – “accumulated poverty and weakness,” long impoverished and weak), began a 翻天覆地 (fān tiān fù dì – “overturning heaven and earth,” earth-shaking) historic transformation.” This important assertion is not only a high condensation of the Party’s 105 years of brilliant achievements, but also a vivid portrayal of the Party’s mission and great accomplishments during the New Democratic Revolution (新民主主义革命). An in-depth analysis of the Party’s historical role and great function in the New Democratic Revolution period, drawing wisdom and strength from Party history to forge ahead on the new journey, and continuing to push forward the great undertakings pioneered by revolutionary forebears from a new starting point, has important practical significance and far-reaching historical启示.
The Communist Party of China, which emerged as the times require, shouldered the historical mission of national salvation and survival. In modern China, under the powerful ships and guns of the Western powers, the country was forced open, and the Chinese nation fell into a dark situation of internal and external woes: the nation was humiliated, the people suffered, and its civilization was tarnished. China gradually became a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, and the Chinese nation encountered “unprecedented calamities.” Countless people of lofty ideals stepped forward one after another (前赴后继, qián fù hòu jì – “advance wave upon wave,” to surge forward in relay), singing sorrowful and heroic songs. Though their efforts to save the nation from subjugation and ensure its survival were moving and tragic, they ultimately failed due to class limitations and the lack of theoretical weapons. History proved that neither the old-style peasant uprisings, the self-rescue reforms of feudal dynasties, nor the imitation of Western bourgeois republican schemes could accomplish the historical tasks of national independence and the liberation of the people. Chinese society fell into deep confusion: the old road was exhausted—where was the new road?
For the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, a thorough awakening was urgently needed, scientific theoretical guidance was required, and a completely new leadership core capable of organizing hundreds of millions of people was essential. This historic issue summoned the most advanced thinking and the strongest organizational force. It was precisely the call of the times that gave birth to a great awakening. The October Revolution brought Marxism-Leninism to China; the May Fourth Movement greatly promoted its spread in China, enabling the Chinese people and the Chinese nation to achieve a great ideological emancipation. When this scientific truth revealing the laws of human social development combined with China’s growing proletariat, it produced a great force.
In July 1921, the Communist Party of China emerged as the times require—this was a great event that 开天辟地 (kāi tiān pì dì – “split the heavens and open the earth,” epoch-making). The birth of the Party, a single spark that ignited the prairie fire (星火燎原, xīng huǒ liáo yuán – “a single spark can start a prairie fire”), brought new hope to the Chinese people who were in darkness and confusion. From then on, the ship of the Chinese revolution had a lighthouse to guide its direction; the Chinese people and the Chinese nation had their most reliable backbone; the face of the Chinese revolution was completely renewed, beginning a great process that profoundly affected world history. The founding of the Party was by no means an accidental historical event, but the logical necessity of the development of social contradictions and ideological emancipation in modern China, and the historical choice of the Chinese people after a hundredfold search on the road to national salvation and survival.
From the day of its birth, the Communist Party of China, with its distinctive class character, thorough revolutionary nature, and forward-looking vision, established its original aspiration and mission: to seek happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation. This was based on a profound insight into the principal social contradictions of modern China—the contradiction between imperialism and the Chinese nation, and the contradiction between feudalism and the broad masses of the people.
At its Second National Congress, the Party put forward for the first time a thorough democratic revolutionary program against imperialism and feudalism, clarifying the targets, driving forces, and prospects of the revolution. This showed that the Communist Party of China, as the most thoroughly revolutionary proletarian party, clearly recognized that achieving national independence and people’s liberation was the necessary path to realize its highest ideal. All the struggles of the New Democratic Revolution period revolved around the core task of “winning national independence and people’s liberation, and creating fundamental social conditions for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” History has proven that the Communist Party of China, upholding this original aspiration and mission, condensed the 450 million compatriots into a mighty force that could 改天换地 (gǎi tiān huàn dì – “transform heaven and earth,” reshape the world), guiding the Chinese revolution to ultimate victory.
In blood-soaked and indomitable struggle (浴血奋战 yù xuè fèn zhàn – “bathed in blood, fighting fiercely,” bloody battle; 百折不挠 bǎi zhé bù náo – “hundreds of setbacks, never giving in,” keep forging ahead despite repeated setbacks), the Chinese revolutionary road was formed. The 28-year history of the New Democratic Revolution is a grand epic of exploration amid blood and fire, of advancing through frustration and resurgence, and finally moving toward brilliant victory. Its closely linked great historical stages fully embody the tenacious struggle and innovative brilliance of the Chinese Communists in achieving national independence and people’s liberation.
In the early days of the Party’s founding, the Communist Party of China placed its work focus on leading the workers’ movement, setting off the first high tide of the Chinese workers’ movement and initially demonstrating the Party’s organizational capacity and fighting strength. Subsequently, the Party assessed the situation, actively promoted cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, launched a vigorous Great Revolution, and carried out the Northern Expedition, dealing heavy blows to the Beiyang warlords and imperialist forces in China. At the critical juncture of the revolution, the Party’s Fifth National Congress put forward important principles such as striving for the proletariat’s leadership of the revolution, but it did not propose effective concrete measures on how to win proletarian leadership or how to lead the peasants in carrying out the agrarian revolution, subjecting the Party to severe tests it had never before encountered since its founding. Although the Great Revolution failed, its historical significance is indelible. It was precisely through the Great Revolution that the Party accumulated profound experience from both positive and negative aspects, initially put forward the basic ideas of the New Democratic Revolution led by the proletariat, and began to realize the importance of carrying out the agrarian revolution and mastering the revolutionary armed forces.
Facing the White Terror, at the critical juncture when the Chinese revolution was hanging by a thread (命悬一线, mìng xuán yī xiàn – “life suspended by a thread,” to be in imminent peril), the young Communist Party of China climbed up from underground, wiped the blood from its body, buried the corpses of its comrades, and then threw itself into new battles. The August 7th Meeting established the general policy of the agrarian revolution and armed uprising, initiating the historical transition to the Agrarian Revolutionary War. The Nanchang Uprising, as well as the Autumn Harvest Uprising, the Guangzhou Uprising, and armed uprisings that erupted in various places, like a prairie fire sparked by a single flame, marked the beginning of the Communist Party of China independently leading the revolutionary war and creating a people’s army. Practice continuously drove the Party to seek a revolutionary road suitable for its own survival and development in the course of exploration.
After leading the Autumn Harvest Uprising and encountering setbacks, Mao Zedong decisively abandoned the plan to attack Changsha and led the uprising troops to march into rural areas where enemy rule was weak, establishing the first rural revolutionary base area in the Jinggang Mountains, igniting the spark of “armed independent regimes of workers and peasants” (工农武装割据). In the vast rural areas, the Party gained a deep mass base through “overthrowing the local tyrants and distributing the land”; through proposing and developing Party-building ideas such as “building the Party ideologically,” “the Party commands the gun,” “the branch is built on the company,” and “equality between officers and men,” it built a new type of people’s army under proletarian leadership. From the Jinggang Mountains to the Central Soviet Area, and then to the establishment of multiple revolutionary base areas such as the Xiang-E’-Xi, E-Yu-Wan, and Shaanxi-Gansu areas, the Party independently explored a correct road never before taken: encircling the cities from the countryside and seizing power by armed force. This was the initial and greatest achievement of integrating the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism with the concrete realities of the Chinese revolution.
However, the journey of revolution was not smooth sailing. Due to the erroneous “Left” dogmatist line within the Party, the fifth counter-encirclement and suppression campaign in the Central Soviet Area failed, and the main forces of the Red Army were forced to carry out a strategic shift, beginning a long and arduous journey. At the historic juncture when the Chinese revolution was a matter of life and death (生死攸关, shēng sǐ yōu guān – “concerning life and death,” critical), in January 1935, the Party Central Committee convened an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau in Zunyi, Guizhou, which in fact established Mao Zedong’s leading position in the Party Central Committee and the Red Army, beginning to form the first generation of the Party’s central collective leadership with Comrade Mao Zedong at its core. At a critical moment, it saved the Party, saved the Red Army, and saved the Chinese revolution.
The Party led the Red Army to overcome countless hardships and dangers (千难万险, qiān nán wàn xiǎn – “a thousand difficulties and ten thousand dangers,” innumerable hardships), completing a great feat in human history. The Long March was not only a military strategic shift but also a great manifesto, a propaganda team, and a seeder. It publicized the Party’s propositions, spread the seeds of revolution, and tempered and forged the great Long March spirit, becoming a powerful spiritual driving force for the Chinese revolution to continuously move from victory to victory. After the Central Committee arrived in northern Shaanxi, a new situation for the revolution opened up.
After the September 18th Incident, the Japanese imperialist invasion of China intensified step by step, and the contradiction between China and Japan gradually rose to become the principal social contradiction in China. At the historical juncture of national crisis, the Communist Party of China was the first to raise high the banner of the entire nation’s resistance, always standing at the forefront of the anti-Japanese national salvation movement. From Mao Zedong writing “On the Tactics of Fighting Against Japanese Imperialism” and the Party Central Committee issuing the “August 1st Declaration” and promoting the December 9th Movement, to organizing and leading the anti-Japanese armed struggle in the three northeastern provinces, promoting the peaceful resolution of the Xi’an Incident, and then realizing the second cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party and establishing the Anti-Japanese National United Front, the Communist Party of China always held high the banner of national liberation,凝聚ating the powerful strength of the entire nation’s resistance. During the extremely brutal period of the War of Resistance Against Japan, faced with the Kuomintang’s one-sided resistance line and the successive defeats on the frontal battlefield, the Communist Party of China clearly proposed and implemented a comprehensive resistance line and the general strategy of a protracted war. The Party fully mobilized, organized, and armed the anti-Japanese masses, making the War of Resistance a true people’s war, and the vast ocean of people’s war deeply mired the aggressors. The Party led the people’s army to penetrate deep behind enemy lines to carry out independent mountain guerrilla warfare, opening up enemy rear battlefields, which gradually became the main battlefield of the War of Resistance and the backbone force during the stage of strategic stalemate and counteroffensive. In this rare nationwide war of resistance in world history, the Communist Party of China became a firm mainstay (中流砥柱, zhōng liú dǐ zhù – “a pillar in the midstream,” mainstay).
During the Yan’an period, on the basis of deeply summing up revolutionary practical experience, the Chinese Communists deepened the process of Sinicization of Marxism, and promoted Party building as a great project. The Rectification Movement was a profound ideological education movement in Marxism, which brought the entire Party to unprecedented unity and solidarity in thought, politics, and organization. Mao Zedong Thought reached maturity and was established as the guiding ideology of the Party at its Seventh National Congress. The Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japan was the first complete victory in a war of national liberation against foreign invasion since modern times, opening a new journey of 凤凰涅槃 (fèng huáng niè pán – “phoenix nirvana,” rebirth from the ashes) and 浴火重生 (yù huǒ chóng shēng – “bathing in fire and being reborn,” rebirth after suffering) for ancient China.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Chinese people eagerly anticipated peace and national reconstruction. The Communist Party of China conformed to the people’s will; Mao Zedong, with a sincere desire for peace, went to Chongqing for negotiations, signing the “Double Ten Agreement.” However, the reactionary ruling clique of the Kuomintang, backed by the United States, flagrantly tore up the peace agreement and launched an all-out counter-revolutionary civil war. At the critical juncture concerning the fate of the nation, the Communist Party of China resolutely led the Chinese people to oppose the counter-revolutionary war with revolutionary war, deciding to carry the revolution through to the end. In the early stages of the War of Liberation, the forces of the enemy and ourselves were vastly disparate. The Party adhered to the strategic assertion that “all reactionaries are paper tigers,” adopted the military principle of “taking the annihilation of enemy effective strength as the main objective,” and did not care about the gain or loss of one city or one town. In the liberated areas, the land reform was carried out deeply; hundreds of millions of peasants who had turned over, with the enthusiasm of “protecting their homes and land,” eagerly joined the army and supported the front, laying the deepest mass foundation for defeating Chiang Kai-shek and establishing a new China. From strategic defense to crushing the Kuomintang army’s key offensives against northern Shaanxi and Shandong, from strategic offense to the magnificent and imposing (气势恢宏, qì shì huī hóng – “imposing and grand,” magnificent) strategic decisive battles—the three great campaigns of Liaoshen, Huaihai, and Pingjin—the People’s Liberation Army achieved results rarely seen in the history of Chinese warfare and even world warfare, laying the foundation for the victory of the Chinese revolution nationwide.
While continuously achieving military victories, the Party Central Committee prepared for the establishment of a new China in which the people would be the masters of the country. On April 30, 1948, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the “May Day Slogan,” calling for the convening of a Political Consultative Conference and the establishment of a democratic coalition government, unveiling the prelude to the political consultation among the Communist Party of China, various democratic parties, people’s organizations, and people from all walks of life. From Mao Zedong’s great call in December 1948 to “carry the revolution through to the end,” to the convening of the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee in March 1949, full preparations were made militarily, politically, ideologically, and theoretically for winning nationwide victory and building a new China. After deep thought, Mao Zedong, with foresight and vision (高瞻远瞩, gāo zhān yuǎn zhǔ – “look far ahead and see into the distance,” far-sighted), solemnly put forward to the whole Party the idea of the “two musts” (两个务必), always encouraging the whole Party to forever maintain the glorious tradition of arduous struggle and forever maintain the flesh-and-blood bond with the masses of the people. In September 1949, the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference was held, marking the historic great victory of the Chinese people’s movement for national independence and people’s liberation over the past 100 years.
The New Democratic Revolution fundamentally changed the destiny of the Chinese people. The historic great achievements of the New Democratic Revolution had a profound impact on the Chinese nation’s march toward great rejuvenation.
During the New Democratic Revolution period, the main tasks facing the Party were to oppose imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism, and to strive for national independence and people’s liberation. The Party led the people through a magnificent great struggle, overthrowing the “three great mountains” (三座大山) that weighed down on the Chinese people, completely ending the history of old China’s semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, ending the history of the rule of the vast majority of the working people by a tiny minority of exploiters, thoroughly abolishing all the privileges of imperialism in China, and achieving a great leap of China from thousands of years of feudal autocratic politics to people’s democracy. This great achievement fundamentally changed the destiny of the Chinese people, creating the fundamental social conditions and providing the fundamental political prerequisite for the people to become masters of the country and for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
In the great practice of the revolution, the Party adhered to integrating the basic principles of Marxism with China’s specific realities, and after undergoing untold hardships (千辛万苦, qiān xīn wàn kǔ – “a thousand hardships and ten thousand sufferings,” untold hardships), successfully opened up the New Democratic Revolution road. From the period of the Jinggang Mountains, encircling the cities from the countryside and seizing power by armed force, to the great historical turn at the Zunyi Meeting, and then to leading the people to victory in the three great campaigns, the Party matured through exploration. The victory of the New Democratic Revolution achieved a high degree of national unification and great national unity, established a people’s democratic dictatorship republic, and the era in which the Chinese nation was trampled upon and bullied (任人宰割, rèn rén zǎi gē – “allow others to butcher,” be at others’ mercy; 饱受欺凌, bǎo shòu qī líng – “suffer much bullying,” endure humiliation) was gone forever. This marked that the road to national rejuvenation had been thoroughly opened, and China began to explore a new path of modernization on a completely new and independent starting point.
The victory of the New Democratic Revolution was a great victory of the scientific nature and truth of Marxism. Facing extremely complex revolutionary situations, the Chinese Communists, represented mainly by Comrade Mao Zedong, based on the reality of the revolutionary struggle, made profound theoretical generalizations of successful experiences and failure lessons, integrated the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism with the concrete realities of the Chinese revolution, and created Mao Zedong Thought in revolutionary practice. This was the first historic leap in the Sinicization of Marxism. Mao Zedong Thought, with its original theoretical contributions, systematically answered how to carry out the New Democratic Revolution in a semi-colonial and semi-feudal Eastern country like China, creatively solved a series of fundamental issues concerning the nature, targets, driving forces, leadership, and prospects of the Chinese revolution. The living soul of Mao Zedong Thought, which embodies seeking truth from facts, the mass line, and independence, became the ideological source for the Party to maintain its eternal vitality.
The Communist Party of China has always stood on the correct side of history and on the side of the progress of human civilization. During the New Democratic Revolution period, the Party clearly put forward the correct proposition that “the Chinese revolution is part of the world revolution,” closely linking the democratic revolution of modern China with the world proletarian revolution. The Party led the Chinese people to achieve the great victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan; China became the main eastern battlefield of the World Anti-Fascist War, making significant contributions to the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War and the cause of world peace, significantly enhancing China’s international status and influence. The victory of the War of Liberation greatly changed the world political pattern. The success of the Chinese revolution profoundly affected the course of world history from multiple dimensions: it greatly inspired the struggle for liberation of all oppressed nations and oppressed peoples in the world, changed the balance of world political forces, and strengthened the forces of world peace, democracy, and socialism. The unique revolutionary road explored by China provided the world with a valuable experience in achieving national independence and social liberation different from the Western model.
After the baptism of blood and fire and the test of life and death, the Party completed its revolutionary forging during the New Democratic Revolution period. In the long-term revolutionary struggle, the Party carried forward and formed the great Party-building spirit of adhering to truth, upholding ideals, practicing the original aspiration, undertaking the mission, fearing no sacrifice, bravely fighting, being loyal to the Party, and letting the people down. Taking this as the source, it built a series of spiritual monuments including the Jinggangshan spirit, the Long March spirit, the Yan’an spirit, and the Xibaipo spirit. Through movements such as the Yan’an Rectification, the Party continuously self-purified and self-improved. In the cruel struggle, the Party formed the “three magic weapons” (三大法宝) of the united front, armed struggle, and Party building, and the three major styles of work (三大作风) of integrating theory with practice, maintaining close ties with the masses, and practicing criticism and self-criticism, which were systematically summed up and consolidated. This tempering through a thousand hammers (千锤百炼, qiān chuí bǎi liàn – “a thousand hammers and a hundred temperings,” repeatedly tempered) turned the Party from a small party with only a few dozen people at the beginning into one that gradually developed and grew, forming a strong leading collective, establishing correct ideological, political, and organizational lines, and growing into a Marxist political party with a solid mass base, strategic initiative, and strong leadership capacity, forging a strong leading core for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
During the New Democratic Revolution period, with the fearless spirit of “daring to sacrifice, daring to change the sun and moon for a new sky” (为有牺牲多壮志，敢教日月换新天), the Party not only fulfilled its consistent mission and responsibility to the country and the nation, but also wrote the most tragic and most brilliant opening chapter in the most magnificent epic in the thousands of years of Chinese history.
The New Democratic Revolution nurtured and tempered the excellent qualities of the Communist Party of China. The Communist Party of China cultivated and tempered its own excellent qualities in the extremely arduous struggles of the New Democratic Revolution period. These qualities, together with the Party’s century-old historical experience, complement each other and become the “key code” for the Party to lead the people to overthrow the three great mountains and establish a new China.
Early Communists saw new hope from the victory of the October Revolution, chose Marxism as a powerful ideological weapon to transform the subjective and objective world, and wrote it on the Party’s banner. In revolutionary practice, the Party adhered to emancipating the mind and seeking truth from facts, adhered to integrating the basic principles of Marxism with China’s specific realities, independently broke new paths, led the Chinese revolution from setbacks to victory, and ensured that the revolutionary cause advanced in the right direction.
Since its founding, the Party has established the concept of “founding the Party for the public good and exercising power for the people” (立党为公、执政为民) and the original aspiration and mission of “seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation.” The Party deeply understood that revolutionary war is people’s war, and to overthrow the three great mountains, it must rely closely on the workers and peasants. During the Soviet area period, it proposed “caring about the people’s livelihood and paying attention to working methods”; in the Red Army, it formulated the “Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention” (三大纪律八项注意), truly sharing life and death with the masses. The land reform policy won the support of hundreds of millions of peasants. “The victory of the Huaihai Campaign was pushed out by the common people with small carts” is a vivid portrayal. It is this flesh-and-blood bond that gives the Party a solid foundation that cannot be shaken by any storm.
Facing an unprecedented national crisis, the Party took the initiative to shoulder the historical responsibility of striving for national independence and people’s liberation. In the process of the New Democratic Revolution, the Communist Party of China always stood on its own feet and relied on the strength of the Chinese people to advance the revolutionary process. The united front, as one of the Party’s three magic weapons, played a huge role in the Kuomintang-Communist cooperation during the Great Revolution, the Anti-Japanese National United Front during the War of Resistance, and the People’s Democratic United Front during the War of Liberation,凝聚ating the greatest possible support from different classes, parties, and groups around the Party’s correct propositions, firmly grasping the leadership and strategic initiative of the Chinese revolution.
The road of the New Democratic Revolution was a correct revolutionary road fully in line with China’s national conditions. The Party clearly grasped China’s national conditions and the theme of the times, and forged ahead with determination in the course of historical development. Driven by the nationwide war of resistance, the Party conformed to the great tide of the times of anti-Japanese national salvation, always stood on the side of human progress in the revolutionary struggle, embodying the grand realm and profound sentiment of embracing the world and looking far into the future.
Facing strong enemies with armed force and an extremely perilous path, the Party forged the great Party-building spirit in the baptism of blood and fire. From the 25,000-li Long March crossing thousands of rivers and mountains, to the bloody battles of the War of Resistance, to the sweeping force of the War of Liberation, the Chinese Communists, with their fearless revolutionary spirit and iron will, led the people in a desperate struggle and finally achieved victory.
The Party clearly realized that “to forge iron, one must be strong oneself” (打铁必须自身硬), and always promoted self-building as a great project. From the Gutian Meeting establishing the principles of building the Party ideologically and building the army politically, to the Yan’an Rectification Movement creatively using rectification to oppose subjectivism, sectarianism, and Party stereotyped writing, unifying the entire Party’s thinking and thoroughly correcting erroneous tendencies within the Party. Although the revolutionary period experienced setbacks, the Party always adhered to truth and corrected mistakes, forging itself into a Marxist political party that was fully consolidated ideologically, politically, and organizationally.
In the fiery years of the New Democratic Revolution struggle, the Party’s political core role, its original aspiration and mission, and its historical experience were deeply embedded in the bloodline of the Chinese nation, inspiring the Communist Party of China to unite and lead the Chinese people, with confidence and self-reliance (自信自强), upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground (守正创新), advancing irresistibly on the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics toward the magnificent journey of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
[The author is a professor at the Party History Department of the Central Party School (National Academy of Governance).]
Return to TopBy: 莫纪宏
Democracy is a common value of all humanity, and it is an important concept to which the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese people have always steadfastly adhered. Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Party, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, based on the reality of socialist political development with Chinese characteristics, has profoundly grasped the laws governing the development of democratic politics and originally put forward the major concept of whole-process people's democracy. This concept has become a highly recognizable and leading signature concept within Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. It not only systematically answers the fundamental questions of "what is socialist democracy and how to develop socialist democracy," but also, through China's independent theoretical construction, distinct ideological characteristics, and solid institutional support, opens a new realm in the Sinicization and modernization of Marxist democratic theory, contributing Chinese wisdom and a Chinese approach to the development of human political civilization.
The theoretical basis for whole-process people's democracy as a signature concept
The reason why whole-process people's democracy can become a signature concept of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is rooted in the truth core of Marxist democratic theory, the practical accumulation of the Chinese Communist Party's century-long exploration of democracy, and the deep nourishment of fine traditional Chinese political culture. It is a vivid manifestation of the "two integrations" in the field of democratic politics, possessing solid theoretical logic, historical logic, and practical logic.
The Sinicization and modernization innovation of Marxist democratic theory. The Marxist view of democracy is the theoretical source of whole-process people's democracy. Marx and Engels pointed out that the essence of democracy is "the people being the masters of the country," and that proletarian democracy is a new type of state system that serves the interests of the vast majority of the people, distinct from the hypocritical democracy of the bourgeoisie, which is "the rule of the few over the many." Lenin further emphasized that proletarian democracy must realize "the true management of the state by all the people," breaking the formalistic limitations of bourgeois democracy. Whole-process people's democracy inherits and develops this core essence, abandons the drawback of Western democracy where "the people are awakened during elections and put into hibernation after elections," runs the Marxist idea of "people as the subject" through the entire process of national governance, and achieves an original expansion of Marxist state theory and socialist democratic theory. From a theoretical positioning perspective, "developing whole-process people's democracy" has been incorporated into the important content of the "ten clarifications" of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, becoming one of the essential requirements of Chinese-style modernization, marking that our Party's understanding of the laws governing the development of socialist democratic politics has reached a new height. This concept is not a simple copy of Marxist democratic theory, but rather, by combining China's national conditions and the characteristics of the times, transforms "the people being the masters of the country" from a value concept into a systematic theoretical system, institutional arrangement, and practical path. It is a landmark achievement of the Sinicization and modernization of Marxist democratic theory.
The historical accumulation of the Chinese Communist Party's century-long exploration of democracy. Since its founding, the Chinese Communist Party has taken the realization of the people being the masters of the country as its original aspiration and mission, continuously exploring the path of democratic political development in various historical periods of revolution, construction, and reform. From the "bean election" democracy and the "three-thirds system" political power in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, to the establishment of the state system of people's democratic dictatorship and the political system of the People's Congress system after the founding of New China; from the improvement of the grassroots mass self-governance system after reform and opening up, to the comprehensive promotion of the institutionalization, standardization, and proceduralization of socialist democratic politics in the new era, the Party has led the people in accumulating rich practical experience in democracy. Whole-process people's democracy is a theoretical distillation of a century of democratic exploration. It summarizes the core experience of Chinese democracy "coming from practice and going to practice," breaks the cognitive misunderstanding that "democracy can only be Western electoral democracy," integrates the Party's democratic practices from different periods into a democratic system that is entire-chain, all-encompassing, and full-coverage, and solidifies the achievements of a century of democratic exploration in the form of a signature concept, making it the core theoretical achievement within Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era that responds to the practical needs of Chinese democratic politics.
The creative transformation of fine traditional Chinese political culture. Fine traditional Chinese culture contains rich people-oriented thought and governance wisdom, such as "the people are the foundation of the state; when the foundation is stable, the state is at peace," "the world is for all," and "governance gains the people's support," providing deep cultural soil for whole-process people's democracy. Whole-process people's democracy is a model of combining the basic tenets of Marxism with fine traditional Chinese culture. It transforms the traditional people-oriented thought's "valuing the people as precious" into modern democracy's "the people being the masters of the country," and incorporates the consultative wisdom of "harmony in diversity" into democratic practice, forming a socialist democratic model with Chinese characteristics where electoral democracy and consultative democracy complement each other. This theoretical innovation rooted in the fertile soil of China makes whole-process people's democracy conform to the basic tenets of Marxism while possessing distinct Chinese characteristics, Chinese style, and Chinese manner, becoming an important signature that distinguishes it from other democratic theories.
The ideological connotation of whole-process people's democracy
As a signature concept, whole-process people's democracy has a systemically complete and logically clear ideological connotation. It is the essential attribute of socialist democratic politics. Its core is to uphold the organic unity of Party leadership, the people being the masters of the country, and the rule of law. Its characteristic is the realization of the "four organic unifications": process democracy and outcome democracy, procedural democracy and substantive democracy, direct democracy and indirect democracy, and people's democracy and state will. It is the broadest, most genuine, and most effective socialist democracy.
The core essence of whole-process people's democracy is to make the people's role as masters of the country concretely and realistically manifest in all aspects of national political life and social life, rather than remaining at the level of slogans or formalities. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "China's whole-process people's democracy not only has a complete institutional procedure, but also has a complete participatory practice." This connotation breaks through the limitation of Western democracy which "emphasizes elections but neglects governance," extending democracy to the five core links of democratic elections, democratic consultation, democratic decision-making, democratic management, and democratic supervision, forming an interlocking, seamlessly connected entire-chain, all-encompassing, and full-coverage democratic system.
Whole-process people's democracy is not an abstract political concept, but a practical concept that serves the great construction of a strong country and the national rejuvenation. It takes ensuring the people being the masters of the country as its foundation, takes stimulating the people's creative vitality as its driving force, closely integrates democratic construction with economic development, social governance, and improvement of people's livelihood, and provides solid political guarantees and strength support for Chinese-style modernization. As a signature concept, it clarifies the value direction of democratic political construction in the new era of China — democracy is not an end in itself, but an important means to realize the people's aspiration for a better life and to advance the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
The academic construction function and ideological characteristics of the signature concept of whole-process people's democracy
As a signature concept, whole-process people's democracy not only has a deep theoretical and practical foundation, but also possesses a strong academic construction function and distinct ideological characteristics, providing core theoretical support for summarizing the theory of socialist democratic politics and distinguishing between socialist and non-socialist democracy.
At the academic level, whole-process people's democracy is an original concept independently constructed by China and scientific, providing a core framework and signature category for the improvement of the theoretical system of socialist democratic politics. First, it fills a research gap in socialist democratic theory. For a long time, Western democratic theory has monopolized academic discourse power, equating Western electoral democracy with the only form of democracy. Based on Chinese practice, whole-process people's democracy systematically distills core categories such as "entire-chain, all-encompassing, full-coverage" and "four unifications," constructing a democratic theoretical system distinct from the West, providing a new academic paradigm for the academic community to study socialist democratic politics. Second, it achieves a systematic summarization of the characteristics of socialist democratic politics. Whole-process people's democracy integrates scattered democratic practices, institutions, and concepts into an organic whole, clearly defining the essential attributes, core characteristics, and practical paths of socialist democracy, elevating socialist democratic political theory from fragmented empirical summaries to a systematic scientific theory, becoming a landmark academic achievement in the field of democratic politics within Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Third, it expands the research horizon of democratic theory. It breaks the single cognition of "democracy = elections," incorporating consultation, decision-making, management, supervision, and other links into the category of democracy, promoting the transformation of democratic theory research from an "election-centric" to a "whole-process-centric" approach, contributing Chinese academic wisdom to the development of global democratic theory.
From an ideological perspective, whole-process people's democracy, with its essential characteristics and practical logic, clearly draws the line between socialist democracy and capitalist democracy, highlighting the unique advantages of socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics. Capitalist democracy is essentially democracy of the bourgeoisie, with "separation of powers" and "multi-party competition" as its core, serving the interests of capital and the demands of minority groups, exhibiting obvious class limitations and formal hypocrisy. Its democracy is often limited to the electoral link; after elections, it is difficult for the people to continue participating in national governance, resulting in a "democratic hibernation" phenomenon, and it is prone to falling into the predicaments of partisan infighting, inefficient decision-making, and social fragmentation.
Whole-process people's democracy consistently adheres to the people's standpoint, takes "the people being the masters of the country" as its essence, takes Party leadership as its fundamental guarantee, takes the rule of law as its safeguard, and realizes the fundamental interests of the vast majority of the people. It does not engage in multi-party alternating governance or "separation of powers," but instead, through the People's Congress system, the grassroots mass self-governance system, the political party consultation system, etc., truly makes the people the masters of the country. This distinct ideological distinction makes whole-process people's democracy a core concept that identifies the attributes of socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics, forcefully refuting the erroneous cognition of "the superiority of Western democracy."
The theoretical value and practical significance of the signature concept of whole-process people's democracy
As a signature concept of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, whole-process people's democracy has irreplaceable theoretical value and significant practical significance. It both enriches and develops the Party's innovative theory and provides fundamental guidance for China's democratic political construction in the new era and the development of human political civilization. On the one hand, it expands the theoretical connotation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Focusing on the major topic of democratic political construction, whole-process people's democracy uses original theoretical achievements to fill the gap in the signature category of the Party's innovative theory in the field of democracy, making the system of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era more complete and its content richer. On the other hand, through entire-chain, all-encompassing, and full-coverage democratic practices, it truly makes the people the masters of the country, society, and their own destiny, stimulating the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of hundreds of millions of people; using democracy to build consensus, optimize decision-making, and strengthen supervision, it raises the modernization level of the national governance system and governance capacity, achieving long-term stability and security for the country.
In summary, whole-process people's democracy is an original, leading, and symbolic core concept within Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. It is rooted in Marxist truth, based on Chinese practice, inheriting the Chinese cultural lineage. With its systematic ideological connotation, distinct ideological characteristics, and solid institutional support, it profoundly answers the fundamental questions of China's democratic political construction in the new era. This signature concept is not only a scientific theoretical achievement independently constructed by China, but also a clear banner of socialist democratic politics with Chinese characteristics. On the new journey of the new era, we must deeply grasp the theoretical logic, historical logic, and practical logic of whole-process people's democracy, uphold the organic unity of Party leadership, the people being the masters of the country, and the rule of law, fully leverage the role of the People's Congress system as an institutional carrier, continuously develop broader, fuller, and more robust whole-process people's democracy, use the vigorous vitality of democracy to assist the great construction of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation, and let this signature concept radiate even more dazzling truth light in practice.
(The author is a member of the Academic Division of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Director of the Institute of Law)
Return to TopBy: 陈辉宗
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “Accelerating the construction of philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics is, in the final analysis, the construction of an independent knowledge system of China.” Constructing philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics is a noble undertaking that establishes the heart for the nation, establishes the destiny for the people, and establishes learning for the era. Whether this undertaking can stand firm and go far depends on whether it can construct an independent knowledge system that takes root in China’s earth and responds to the topics of the era. “Independence” is the essential characteristic of this knowledge system and also the key to constructing the knowledge system. We must fully understand the great significance of “independence,” correctly grasp the profound connotation of “independence,” and make unremitting efforts toward the direction of “independence,” fundamentally constructing philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics and promoting high-quality development of philosophy and social sciences.
The core of “independence” lies in the independence of the ideological system, adhering to Marxism as the soul and banner for constructing the independent knowledge system of Chinese philosophy and social sciences.
The independence of the ideological system is, first and foremost, the independence of the guiding ideology, and fundamentally also the independence of the guiding ideology. Marxism has a fundamental guiding role for the development of Chinese philosophy and social sciences, is the guiding ideology that Chinese philosophy and social sciences must always adhere to, and is also the fundamental symbol distinguishing contemporary Chinese philosophy and social sciences from other philosophy and social sciences. Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is the latest achievement of the sinicization and modernization of Marxism. To adhere to the guiding role of Marxism is to take the systematic and theoretical research and interpretation of this important thought as the fundamental traction and primary task.
Specifically, on the one hand, fully embody the “independence” requirement of Chinese philosophy and social sciences from the root and source, firmly uphold the soul of Marxism, be adept at using sinicized and modernized Marxist academic concepts and academic language to research and interpret the landmark major concepts, original ideological viewpoints, and principled theoretical achievements in the Party’s innovative theories, so that the independent knowledge system presents a distinct “Chinese characteristic.” On the other hand, on the basis of grasping the overall study of the new thought, from the perspective of “substance” (体) and “function” (用), advance sub-field research, forming a systematic, comprehensive, and logically rigorous theoretical system. The current focus is to advance the study of Xi Jinping’s thought on Party building, deeply interpret the scientific system, rich connotation, spiritual essence, and practical requirements of this thought, and produce a batch of research achievements with theoretical logic and ideological system. At the same time, combining with the development practice of the new era, systematically sort out the nurturing context of the new thought, and carry out traceability research. As far as Fujian is concerned, centering on Comrade Xi Jinping’s important concepts and major practices regarding Party building, economy, politics, culture, and ecological civilization during his work in Fujian, systematically study their historical generation, theoretical evolution, and practical logic, effectively transform the advantage of theoretical traceability into the research advantage of knowledge system innovation, and inject fresh source water into the construction of the independent knowledge system.
The root of “independence” lies in excellent traditional Chinese culture, highlighting the subjectivity of culture and establishing the subject position of Chinese culture.
The essence of “independence” lies in the unity of subjectivity and independence. Excellent traditional Chinese culture has strong independence and autonomy, with deep leading, cohesive, shaping, and radiating power. To construct an independent knowledge system, it must be deeply rooted in the fertile soil of excellent traditional Chinese culture, firmly uphold the deep and heavy “root vein” of excellent traditional Chinese culture, establish the subject position of Chinese culture at the academic level, draw wisdom from the accumulation of over five thousand years of civilization, promote the creative transformation and innovative development of excellent traditional Chinese culture, and ultimately form a knowledge system with Chinese characteristics, Chinese style, and Chinese manner.
Specifically, on the one hand, deeply cultivate the traditional culture resource repository, deeply excavate the philosophical concepts, ethical norms, and historical wisdom contained therein, organically integrate inherent conceptual terms and theoretical traditions into contemporary academic production, thereby activating the original vitality of local scholarship, solidifying the theoretical foundation of independent innovation, and realizing the enrichment and innovation of Chinese learning. On the other hand, based on contemporary Chinese practice, in answering major topics in the fields of economy, politics, society, etc., refine original concept groups, theoretical paradigms, and explanatory frameworks that reflect the spirit of excellent traditional Chinese culture and embody the position, experience, and wisdom of the Chinese nation, thereby consolidating the cultural foundation of the independent knowledge system. For example, area and country studies should strive to construct major landmark concepts and theoretical frameworks that manifest the subjectivity of Chinese culture, ultimately forming an independent knowledge system for Chinese area and country studies.
The base point of “independence” lies in the great practice of Chinese-style modernization, being adept at using Chinese practice to elevate Chinese theory and using innovative theory to guide great practice.
All great theories must reflect the voice of the times, manifest the characteristics of the times, answer the propositions of the times, be conceived in great practice and guide great practice. Contemporary China is carrying out the most grand and unique practical innovation in human history, namely Chinese-style modernization. This process is actually a process of promoting knowledge innovation and theoretical generation in practice, and also a process in which the Party’s innovative theories are constantly tested, enriched, and elevated. It will inevitably provide strong impetus and broad space for theoretical creation and academic prosperity. The more Chinese-style modernization advances, the more it is necessary to use the Party’s innovative theories as the “fixed star” (定盘星) and “navigation device” (导航仪) to guide the developing practice, so that the theory forcefully responds to the questions of China, the questions of the world, the questions of the people, and the questions of the times.
Specifically, on the one hand, strengthen the problem awareness and realistic mission of philosophical and social science academic research, actively summarize and refine regular understanding from great practice, elevate and abstract new theories and concepts of scholarly nature; take solving major realistic problems in economic and social development as the research orientation, advance forward-looking and foundational research, accelerate the formation of a batch of high-quality and influential theoretical achievements. On the other hand, deeply study, thoroughly understand, and make good use of the Party’s innovative theories; in response to new situations and new problems encountered in the process of advancing Chinese-style modernization, use the Party’s innovative theories to provide scientific answers with ideological penetration and theoretical persuasiveness, use the scientific thought methods contained therein to solve difficulties and promote work, so that the independent knowledge system truly becomes a powerful ideological weapon for guiding China’s development and solving China’s problems.
The driving force of “independence” lies in upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground (守正创新), opening up and development, leading with the Party’s innovative theories, and promoting the flourishing development of philosophy and social sciences with an open attitude.
The process of independence is essentially a process of innovating while upholding fundamental principles, and also a process of developing while opening up. From the perspective of upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground, what is “upheld” is Marxism’s guiding position in the ideological domain and the fundamental requirement of the “two combining” (两个结合); this is the foundation and premise of theoretical innovation. The core of “breaking new ground” lies in deeply integrating Marxist scientific methods with the thinking wisdom in excellent traditional Chinese culture, and leading the innovation of philosophy and social sciences with the Party’s innovative theories. From the perspective of open development, philosophy and social sciences can become rich and colorful only by 兼收并蓄 (jiān shōu bìng xù - “incorporate things of diverse nature,” to be inclusive and eclectic); if they are self-enclosed and reject the foreign, they will lose vitality and even move towards decline. Through opening up, dialectically absorb and draw on all beneficial achievements of human civilization, and blaze a development path of opening up and innovation. Upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground and open development complement each other and promote each other, unified in the flourishing development of philosophy and social sciences. It is necessary to strengthen “independence” in innovation and maintain “independence” in opening up.
Specifically, on the one hand, promote the “three major innovations.” In knowledge innovation, reshape the knowledge map, innovate the academic concept system, realize the renewal and expansion of knowledge content and the optimization and improvement of knowledge system structure; in theoretical innovation, construct an independent theoretical framework that supports Chinese practice and explains Chinese experience, providing systematic theoretical support and intellectual support for national development; in method innovation, actively promote the deep integration of philosophy, history, sociology, etc., under the guidance of Marxist theory, with artificial intelligence, continuously expand new spaces for research, thereby forming an independent knowledge system of Chinese philosophy and social sciences with landmark concepts and original theories of each discipline as the backbone. On the other hand, adhere to “bringing in” (引进来), uphold open development as the distinctive mark of the independence and self-confidence of China’s knowledge system, absorb excellent foreign theories with dialectical thinking, draw on scientific methods that fit the context of China’s local research, learn from comparison, surpass from learning, so that outstanding foreign academic achievements effectively serve the construction of China’s independent knowledge system. Strive to “go global” (走出去), through deepening international academic dialogue, expanding Sino-foreign cultural exchanges and other international communication channels, display the latest achievements of Chinese philosophy and social sciences research to the world, let the world understand “China in academia,” “China in theory,” “China in philosophy and social sciences.”
The hallmark of “independence” lies in possessing a group of renowned masters and 鸿篇巨制 (hóng piān jù zhì - “great piece and grand composition,” a masterpiece of great length and profundity), creating an academic ecology of 百花齐放 (bǎi huā qí fàng - “a hundred flowers bloom,” encourage flourishing and diversity) and 百家争鸣 (bǎi jiā zhēng míng - “a hundred schools contend,” let different voices be heard), and constructing a talent system with complete categories and echelon connection.
Flourishing philosophy and social sciences will inevitably be accompanied by the emergence of a group of renowned masters and monumental works. This is both a symbol of strength, an embodiment of confidence, and a mark of maturity. In practice, China’s philosophy and social sciences “are still in a state of having quantity but lacking quality, having experts but lacking masters,” “academic pomposity, academic misconduct, and academic corruption exist to varying degrees,” etc. Philosophy and social science research is ultimately a cause of “offering fine works to the people.” It requires thinkers and theorists with profound Marxist theoretical literacy, learned in both Chinese and Western knowledge (学贯中西 (xué guàn zhōng xī - “learning traverses China and the West,” erudite in both Chinese and Western learning)), and fine works that stand firm, spread wide, and withstand the test of practice and history. Masters and fine works are not isolated individual phenomena; they are the result of the comprehensive effect of academic ecology and talent cultivation. In the final analysis, one relies on grasping the ecology, and two relies on grasping talent.
Specifically, on the one hand, adhere to the policy of a hundred flowers blooming and a hundred schools contending, cultivate a healthy and upward academic ecology, guide experts and scholars to continuously expand new spaces and new paths for research in academic exchange and practical testing. Improve the academic evaluation mechanism, take original contributions and the supporting role for the development of the Party and the country’s cause as the core criterion for measuring the value of scientific research achievements, encourage scholars to settle down and sit on the cold bench (坐冷板凳), engage in real research, so that scholars who dedicate themselves to research receive due respect and support. On the other hand, implement the talent project for philosophy and social sciences, deepen the reform of the talent development system and mechanism in the field of philosophy and social sciences, focus on discovering and cultivating a group of discipline leaders with solid theoretical foundation, courage to explore and innovate, and a group of middle-aged and young academic backbones who are 年富力强 (nián fù lì qiáng - “year abundant, strength strong,” in the prime of life) and 锐意进取 (ruì yì jìn qǔ - “sharp intent to advance,” forge ahead with determination), encourage young scholars to deeply cultivate and work intensively around the direction of “independence,” take up the main beam of research, and form a vivid situation where 人才辈出 (rén cái bèi chū - “talents emerge in generations,” talents emerge in succession) and fine works surge forth.
Return to TopBy: 于建忠
Future industries concern the country’s long-term development initiative. Today’s future industries may be tomorrow’s strategic emerging industries and the day after tomorrow’s pillar industries. Finance is the bloodline of the real economy; from laboratory research and development to large-scale application, every stage of future industries cannot do without the strong support of finance. Building a financial system that suits future industries is by no means a simple product overlay, but rather a systemic transformation covering resource allocation, risk management and control, and industry governance, which requires us to coordinate and advance from a strategic and overall perspective.
From the perspective of international competition, the contest of future industries is essentially a competition of innovation ecology and capital strength. From basic research, pilot scale-up to scenario implementation, a cutting-edge technology often takes five to ten years, with huge upfront investment and difficulty in generating stable returns in the short term. Relying only on enterprises’ own funds and short-term credit, it is difficult to cross the “valley of death” of achievement transformation. Major global economies generally rely on the coordinated efforts of long-term venture capital, multi-level capital markets, and policy-based finance to guide patient capital toward early-stage hard technology fields. Facing increasingly fierce international competition, we must adjust the logic of financial resource allocation, cultivate long-term risk-tolerant capital, and lay a solid financial foundation for our country’s high-level technological self-reliance and self-strengthening.
Analyzed from the laws of industrial development, the attributes of future industries determine that traditional financial models are difficult to adapt. Traditional finance relies on real estate collateral and historical financial data for risk control, and its service targets are mainly mature heavy-asset enterprises. However, the core value of future industries is concentrated in intangible assets such as patented technology, algorithm models, and scientific research teams, generally possessing the characteristics of “light assets, high growth, high risk,” and the financing needs at different development stages are completely different. China’s current financial system still has problems such as insufficient equity capital, lagging debt services, and weak risk-sharing mechanisms, causing frontier projects to face difficult and expensive financing and slow transformation. Only by systematically restructuring the service model from the supply side can we unblock the bottlenecks in the transformation of scientific and technological achievements and achieve deep integration of the innovation chain, industrial chain, and capital chain.
From the perspective of financial mission, serving future industries is an important direction for the transformation and development of the financial industry and for fulfilling its original aspiration. Supporting the development of future industries is not only an inherent requirement for finance to eliminate diverting from real to virtual and adhere to the positioning of serving the real economy, but also an inevitable choice for the industry to expand development space and achieve transformation and upgrading. The financial industry must abandon the impulse for scale and path dependence, establish a correct development outlook, actively align with national strategies, and in the process of serving frontier technology breakthroughs and cultivating new drivers, achieve the organic unity of economic and social benefits.
Comparing with the development needs of future industries, there are still shortcomings in current financial services for future industries. First, the financing structure is unbalanced, with insufficient supply of long-term patient capital. Bank credit still dominates financing, the volume of equity investment is relatively small, the duration of venture capital funds does not match the industry cultivation cycle, capital clusters in mid-to-late stage projects, and investment in early hard technology fields is weak. Second, the risk control system lags behind, making it difficult to adapt to light-asset entities. Existing credit rules rely excessively on tangible assets and operating performance, and there are difficulties in evaluating, disposing, and realizing intangible asset pledges; the phenomenon of financial institutions being cautious and reluctant to lend is common. Third, the risk-sharing mechanism is imperfect, and there is insufficient space for innovation tolerance. The coverage of tools such as government risk compensation, government-bank-guarantee cooperation, and science and technology innovation insurance is limited, tolerances for technological trial and error and market trial and error are insufficient, and the implementation of the due diligence exemption policy is not in place. Fourth, professional coordination capabilities are weak. Financial institutions lack professional talent and specialized mechanisms for frontier industries, the linkage between policy-based finance, commercial finance, and capital markets is insufficient, and full-chain integrated services are missing. Fifth, supporting systems lag behind industrial innovation. Traditional sectoral regulation is difficult to adapt to cross-border new business formats, the use of financial sandboxes and pilot tolerance is insufficient, and there are obvious shortcomings in the intermediary service system for intangible asset valuation, trading, and credit reporting.
Facing the “15th Five-Year” (十五五) development stage, we must closely follow the development goals of new quality productive forces (新质生产力), take the structural reform of the financial supply side as the main line, and build a collaborative, efficient, and risk-controllable modern financial service system around the full life cycle needs of future industries.
Strengthen the multi-level capital market and consolidate the foundation of long-term equity capital. Give full play to the core hub role of the capital market, continuously optimize the rules and regulations of the STAR Market (科创板), ChiNext (创业板), and Beijing Stock Exchange (北交所), improve the listing mechanism for unprofitable technology enterprises, with evaluation criteria focusing on technical barriers, innovation capabilities, and growth potential. Expand the scale of future industry guidance funds at all levels, extend the fund duration cycle, optimize assessment orientation, and guide capital to deeply cultivate early hard technology projects. Implement supporting policies such as taxation, equity transfer, and exit, smooth the channels for insurance funds, pension funds, and wealth management funds to enter the market, and cultivate a patient capital ecosystem that is inclusive and innovative.
Reshape the bank credit model and enhance the service capability for light assets. Relying on the scale advantages of banks, promote the transformation of credit services from “heavy on collateral, heavy on past performance” to “heavy on innovation, heavy on the future.” Strengthen the medium- and long-term supporting role of development and policy finance, and set up special low-interest long-term loans for major fields such as 6G, controlled nuclear fusion, and deep space and deep sea equipment. Large commercial banks should establish specialized institutions for future industries, simplify credit processes, relax collateral restrictions, and vigorously promote pure credit products such as intellectual property pledge, equity pledge, and talent credit loans. Optimize internal assessment mechanisms, reasonably increase the non-performing loan tolerance for science and technology innovation loans, refine the list of due diligence exemption, and unblock the bottlenecks that prevent banks from daring to lend, willing to lend, able to lend, and knowing how to lend. Small and medium-sized banks should base themselves on regional industrial endowments and take a characteristic and differentiated development path.
Improve the risk-sharing network and amplify the efficiency of innovation tolerance. Combining the characteristics of high trial-and-error and high iteration in future industries, build a multi-level market-based risk buffer system. Enrich the categories of science and technology innovation insurance, expand the coverage of first-set equipment, first-batch materials, research and development liability insurance, and intellectual property insurance. Optimize the government financing guarantee system, continuously reduce guarantee fees, and solidify the three-party risk-sharing mechanism of government, banks, and guarantees. Around tracks such as hydrogen energy storage, frontier new materials, and commercial aerospace, develop risk hedging tools to smooth the pressure of long-term R&D investment on enterprises and reduce the service concerns of financial institutions.
Create full-cycle relay services to precisely match stage-specific needs. Following the growth path of “basic research — pilot transformation — scenario demonstration — large-scale production,” implement phased services. In the seed period, rely on angel investment, research interest subsidies, and small R&D loans to ensure basic research; in the start-up period, use equity investment, investment-loan linkage, and intellectual property pledge financing to assist technology implementation; in the growth period, comprehensively use medium- and long-term credit, science and technology innovation bonds, financial leasing, and technology insurance to support large-scale demonstration; in the maturity period, rely on capital markets, merger and acquisition finance, and supply chain finance to promote enterprise integration and expansion. Through the combination of equity and debt, and the linkage of investment and insurance, achieve seamless full-process financial services.
Deepen digital financial empowerment and break down information barriers. Use big data and artificial intelligence to build a unified science and technology innovation information platform, integrate data on enterprise patents, R&D, talent, and application scenarios, and achieve precise profiling and credit granting. Establish exclusive valuation models for frontier industries, step out of the traditional financial evaluation framework, and comprehensively assess technical strength and development prospects. Optimize online approval and smart credit services, streamline processes, reduce time limits, and continuously lower the financing costs of enterprises.
Strengthen the comprehensive guarantee system to escort the coordinated development of industry and finance. Adhere to the overall leadership of the Party, deeply practice the “Five Musts, Five Must-Nots” (五要五不) Chinese characteristic financial culture, and firmly grasp the fundamental direction of serving the real economy. Innovate inclusive and prudent supervision methods, make good use of financial sandboxes and pilot tolerance, distinguish between technical risk, market risk, and ethical risk, achieve a combination of liberalization and regulation, and hold the bottom line. Cultivate composite talents in finance, technology, and policy, improve intermediary services such as intangible asset valuation, technology trading, and science and technology innovation credit reporting. Adhere to the principle of “the whole nation is a single chessboard,” guide all localities to develop with differentiated positioning based on their endowments, strengthen factor guarantees, and eliminate homogeneous competition and duplicate construction. (The author is the Party Secretary and Chairman of Tianjin Bank [天津银行])
Return to TopBy: 刘瑛
Developing the new-type rural collective economy is the only way to build a strong agricultural country and an important pathway to lead farmers toward common prosperity. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "The development and expansion of the village-level collective economy must be treated as a major and urgent task for grassroots Party organizations, to enhance the cohesion of grassroots Party organizations and improve the capacity of village-level organizations to serve the masses." The Laixi Conference (莱西会议) held in 1990 designated "leading the masses to deepen rural reform, develop the economy, and take the road of common prosperity" as the central task of village-level organizations, and experiences such as the coordinated construction of village-level organizations that originated at the grassroots level played a good exemplary and leading role nationwide. In recent years, we have earnestly implemented the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee, continuously deepened the integration of grassroots Party building with collective economic development, and focused on consolidating the foundation, enhancing vitality, and improving efficiency, forging a new path of Party building leadership, asset revitalization, and diversified common prosperity.
Consolidating the organizational foundation, enhancing the staying power of collective economic development. Rural grassroots Party organizations are the foundation of the Party's entire work and combat effectiveness in rural areas. To develop the new-type rural collective economy, the first priority is to build a strong organizational system and transform the political advantages of Party organizations into developmental advantages. In practice, it is necessary to improve the working mechanism of grasping townships and promoting villages, strengthen the overall coordination function of township Party committees, consolidate the primary responsibilities and main duties of township Party committees for grasping Party building and grasping development, select and strengthen township leadership teams, optimize the list of duties, effectively solve problems such as mismatched powers and responsibilities and dispersed forces at the grassroots level, and reduce burdens while empowering village-level organizations. At the same time, to adapt to the trend of agricultural scaling and modernization, optimize the setup of village-level organizations according to local conditions, reasonably adjust village scales, and in accordance with the principle of "adjacent locations, similar functions, connected industries," set up Party branches in natural villages or areas, extend the organizational tentacles, build a vertical-to-bottom system, and ensure that the Party's organizational coverage and work coverage leave no gaps. The team of leaders is the key to organizational revitalization. Implement a program for selecting and cultivating village-level leaders, promote village Party organization secretaries to concurrently serve as village committee directors and heads of collective economic organizations through legal procedures, achieving the "one-shoulder" arrangement (一肩挑), and strengthen the Party organization's comprehensive leadership over the collective economy. For secretaries who are politically solid and have outstanding performance, implement upgraded management and record management, regularly conduct centralized training and practical exercises focusing on topics such as collective economic operation and project management, organize experiential training in advanced regions, and improve village cadres' ability to adapt to the market and develop the economy. Also, with a long-term perspective, intensify efforts to recruit Party members from among young farmers, skilled wealth creators, returned college graduates starting businesses, and demobilized military personnel, establish a full-chain mechanism for "selecting, cultivating, managing, and using" village-level reserve forces, openly select outstanding young talents to serve in villages, and ensure that village-level undertakings have successors and the torch is passed on.
Standardizing asset management, activating the intrinsic value of collective resources. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that it is necessary to "do a good job in the division of rights and improvement of functions regarding rural collective resource assets" and "be good at driving increment through revitalizing stock." For the collective economy to develop, the first step is to clarify the family assets and manage them well. In response to prominent problems such as encroachment on public resources and idle low-efficiency assets, carry out a special campaign to clean up the collective "three types of assets" (三资 - resources, assets, and funds), adhere to the three-level linkage of county, township, and village, with leading cadres taking the lead in contracting, review every household and every item, and comprehensively recover resource assets that are illegally occupied. Establish an information management platform, using digital boundary mapping, field surveying, and other means to achieve visualized and dynamic supervision of collective assets, ensuring that every piece of land and every property is accounted for and under control. In terms of asset integration, given the significant differences in asset conditions among original administrative villages, it is not appropriate to push forward with a "one-size-fits-all" approach; instead, comprehensive consideration should be given to factors such as assets, population, history, etc., with differentiated policies implemented, exploring diversified integration models such as direct integration, share-converted integration, and stock-stay accounting. At the same time, embed the Party's leadership throughout the entire process of asset management, promote village Party organization secretaries to concurrently serve as chairpersons of collective economic organizations, improve the systems for unified management, centralized decision-making, and regulatory auditing of collective assets, and require major asset disposals to be studied by the Party organization. Implement a village-level financial budget and final accounts system, and strengthen professional management personnel. Establish urban-rural property rights trading platforms at the county and township levels, with all public resources entering the platform for open trading and unified market connection. Strictly implement democratic decision-making and oversight mechanisms, safeguard farmers' rights to know, participate, and supervise regarding the collective "three types of assets," and ensure that assets operate under the sun.
Innovating operational mechanisms, broadening paths for collective income increase and common prosperity. In agricultural and rural work, say a thousand and ten thousand words, but increasing farmers' income is the key. As the degree of marketization deepens, the traditional mode of collective economic operation can no longer adapt to the new situation. It is necessary to use organizational forces and market means to promote the transformation of farmers from "scattered operations" to "joint development." Explore the establishment of collective operating platforms such as "strong-village common-prosperity companies" (强村共富公司) led by Party organizations, and in line with the thinking of "county-level overall planning, township-level integration, village-level undertaking," build an industrial platform system with leading-dragon driving, overall planning, and need-based development. Through corporate and market-oriented operation of rural resources and assets, expand diversified business formats such as agricultural product sales, property services, and greening maintenance, and improve the efficiency of collective asset operation. Based on local resource endowments, deeply cultivate the "local specialties" (土特产) article, systematically plan supportive policies for characteristic industries, and direct funds, technology, and talent straight to villages. Adapt to the development of the digital economy, cultivate new formats of "live streaming + agriculture," build three-level live streaming bases at the county, township, and village levels, create regional public brands, expand online models such as direct supply from origin and direct sales in the field, and convert traffic into sales. Deepen the joint construction and co-building of urban and rural Party organizations, build urban-rural resource docking platforms, promote complementary sharing of factors such as funds, land, and talent, and amplify the effect of urban-rural integration. In terms of interest linkage, promote the effective connection between smallholder farmers and modern agriculture, build an agricultural社会化 service system with public service institutions as the support, cooperative economic organizations as the foundation, and social forces as a supplement, achieving precise allocation of services. Guide village collectives and farmers to invest in joint projects with factors such as labor, funds, and land as shares, consolidate contractual, dividend, and equity-based interest linkage mechanisms, and let farmers share more value-added benefits from the industrial chain. At the same time, attach importance to risk prevention, establish an agricultural insurance system of "universal insurance for basic coverage, special insurance for income increase," expand the coverage of special agricultural product insurance, and build a safety bottom line for collective economic development.
(The author is the Party secretary of Laixi City, Shandong Province.)
Return to TopBy: 张鑫
Strengthening the empowerment of the real economy by artificial intelligence is a strategic choice to seize the opportunities of the new round of scientific and technological revolution and to solidify the foundation of high-quality development. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "Accelerating the development of the new-generation artificial intelligence is an important strategic lever for us to win the initiative in global scientific and technological competition, and an important strategic resource for promoting China's scientific and technological leapfrog development, industrial optimization and upgrading, and overall leap in productivity." AI empowerment of the real economy is a systemic transformation involving the reconstruction of productive forces and the adjustment of production relations. Factors such as computing power, electric power, models, data, and talent — any shortcoming in any link will constrain the release of overall effectiveness. Only by basing ourselves on the overall situation, planning systematically, unblocking bottlenecks through coordinated linkage, and stimulating vitality through institutional innovation can we truly transform technological potential energy into surging momentum for industrial upgrading.
Consolidating the computing power foundation is the basis and prerequisite for AI to empower the real economy. Computing power is not merely a pile of technical parameters; it is also related to the autonomy, controllability, security, and resilience of industrial intelligent transformation. In recent years, the scale of intelligent computing power in China has grown rapidly, and the "Eastern Data, Western Computing" project (东数西算) has progressed steadily, providing strong support for large-scale model training. However, the layout of computing power still needs to be further tilted toward the real economy. Currently, a large amount of computing power is concentrated on general-purpose generative tasks such as semantics and video, while model training serving vertical scenarios such as industrial production, materials research and development, and equipment inspection is relatively scarce; the distribution structure of computing power resources has not fully matched the actual needs of industrial scenarios. At the same time, the anti-destruction security capability of data centers under extreme conditions also needs to be strengthened. To resolve this contradiction, it is necessary to guide computing power allocation through scenarios, build a national mechanism for opening up and market-based allocation of computing power resources, and open up the linkage channel between computing power training grounds and industrial pilot bases. In response to the performance shortcomings of domestic chips in industrial applications, special support policies should be introduced, using scenario demands to drive R&D iteration, and accelerating the improvement of their adaptability in training, inference, real-time rendering, and other links. In addition, cave-type new data centers should be prospectively deployed in depth areas such as the Southwest and Northwest, to build a security barrier for the national computing power infrastructure during special periods and ensure that the source of empowerment for the industry remains continuously flowing.
Deepening computing-power-electricity coordination to reduce the cost of industrial intelligence. The training and inference of large AI models consume enormous amounts of energy. The energy consumption level of computing power infrastructure and the stability of electricity supply are directly related to whether real economy enterprises can "afford and use well" intelligent technologies. Currently, there are significant differences in electricity pricing policies and data center support measures across regions; special electricity supporting measures for scenarios such as AI-empowered industrial manufacturing and mining are still lacking; and cross-provincial electricity dispatching mechanisms are not smooth enough, objectively raising the comprehensive cost of enterprises' intelligent transformation. Therefore, power guarantee needs to be incorporated into the integrated planning of the AI industry; for training pools and inference pools respectively, regularized, whole-process electricity supply plans should be established; green electricity trading, cross-regional dispatching, and peak-valley balancing should be coordinated. A cross-departmental special working group on computing-power-electricity coordination needs to be established to formulate differentiated electricity subsidy policies around different industrial scenarios, stimulate the endogenous motivation of various business entities to embrace intelligence through precise cost reduction, and truly achieve "good electricity drives good computing, good computing promotes good production."
Deepening industry-specific models to activate scenario empowerment potential. General-purpose large models have demonstrated strong generalization capabilities, but the real economy's production processes are complex, standards are strict, and safety requirements are high; industry models must delve deeply into professionalism and practicality. Currently, China has a large number of large models, and the scope of application coverage continues to expand, but vertical models deeply applied to core production links such as industrial quality inspection, process optimization, equipment predictive maintenance, and material formula design are still relatively limited; the connection between model R&D supply and frontline industrial demand still needs to be strengthened. The key to solving the problem lies in focusing on the core goal of cost reduction, efficiency increase, and quality improvement, systematically sorting out and releasing a list of high-value application scenarios, and guiding research forces from "showing off skills" to "real combat." State-owned enterprises, as the main force of the real economy, should take the lead in opening up production scenarios, providing pilot environments, and driving upstream and downstream in the industrial chain to participate in model iteration together. For industry models with significant results, promotion efforts should be increased through channels such as industry associations and standardization organizations, pushing excellent solutions from "showrooms" to "commercial housing," forming spillover effects of large-scale application.
Smoothing the data cycle to consolidate the intelligent foundation of industry. Data is the fuel of AI; its quality and circulation efficiency determine the depth and breadth of model learning. The total volume of data resources in China continues to grow, and the data element market system is gradually improving. The construction of standardized, high-quality data sets oriented to sub-sectors of the real economy is being accelerated, but the integration, processing, and cross-industry sharing and circulation of some industrial data are still in the exploratory stage, and related mechanisms need further improvement. To break this situation, it is necessary to adhere to the principle of "open sharing, mutual benefit," build a scenario-oriented data ecosystem through methods such as forming industry alliances and building industry communities, clarify circulation rules and revenue distribution mechanisms, so that data holders are "willing to open up and able to benefit." At the same time, around representative industries such as raw materials, equipment manufacturing, and consumer goods, national-level data annotation and application demonstration bases should be built, forming a categorized and clustered scenario-based supply system, providing accurate and reliable "nourishment" for industry model training, and realizing the leap from data resources to data assets.
Strengthening industry-education integration to cultivate a fertile ground for talent. The depth of AI empowerment of the real economy ultimately depends on the height of the talent team. Currently, the collaborative innovation system among industry, academia, and research is continuously improving, and the interaction between technology R&D and industrial application is increasingly close. However, in specific practice, basic frontier research in universities and research institutes accounts for a relatively high proportion, and applied R&D oriented to the industrial frontline still needs to be strengthened; the AI engineering capabilities of some real economy enterprises are still in the accumulation stage, and the integrated collaborative research mechanism is still being improved. It is necessary to build an integrated linkage mechanism among real economy enterprises, AI technology companies, and universities and research institutes, guiding enterprises to establish independent AI engineering teams and cultivate composite talents in actual combat. The coverage of programs such as engineering master's and doctoral degrees and outstanding engineers should be expanded, and the effectiveness of large-model implementation should be incorporated into the scientific research evaluation and graduation assessment system, promoting the growth of young talents on the production line. At the same time, innovate the talent incentive mechanism for central and state-owned enterprises, separately calculate the total wage bill for the science and innovation sector, break down salary barriers, create an institutional environment that attracts, retains, and fully utilizes talent, and nourish the fertile soil of industry with the living water of talent.
(The author is a staff member of China Telecom Guizhou Branch (中国电信贵州分公司))
Return to TopBy: 潘崇敏
The county domain is the cornerstone of national governance, the terminal where business environment construction is implemented, and the frontline for serving business entities. Its governance effectiveness directly determines the vitality of business entities and the core competitiveness of the region. Currently, as the reform to "delegate power, improve regulation, and upgrade services" advances in depth, the county-level business environment has moved from the initial stage of process simplification and service acceleration into a critical period of regulating administrative power, restructuring government-business relations, and perfecting the institutional system. Optimizing the county-level business environment requires a conceptual shift from "management-based" to "enterprise-based," taking "wholeheartedly helping enterprises" as the fundamental value guideline, unifying a demand-oriented approach with a problem-oriented approach, and systematically integrating and unblocking bottlenecks on the basis of the existing institutional system.
The vitality of business environment optimization lies in precisely aligning with enterprise demands and constructing a dynamic response mechanism from grievance discovery to institutional iteration, achieving reform based on needs. Establish a unified platform for collecting enterprise-related grievances, integrate multiple online and offline grievance channels, and set up a grievance handling mechanism of "single-window acceptance, categorized circulation, graded handling, time-limited completion, and full-process traceability," achieving rapid handling of general matters, coordinated handling of cross-department matters, and escalated handling of difficult matters. Establish a big data analysis mechanism for grievances, regularly sort and collect high-frequency enterprise demands and common pain points, take the most concentrated issues reported by enterprises as the core entry point for institutional optimization, and form a virtuous closed loop of "grievance collection — analysis and judgment — institutional iteration — effectiveness feedback." Establish a rigid error-correction mechanism, implement a "re-handling on dissatisfaction" system, initiate re-handling and supervision inspection for matters with which enterprises express dissatisfaction; for matters replied to as "cannot be handled," introduce third-party supervision such as people's congress evaluation, comprehensively review the process and basis, and ensure every item is implemented.
Digital technology is a rigid lever to compress discretionary space and regulate power operation. It must connect both government and enterprise ends, cover the entire enterprise-related process, and ensure institutional rigidity through technological rigidity. Construct a digital platform covering the full life cycle of enterprises, comprehensively integrate business modules such as administrative approval, factor supply, policy fulfillment, and law enforcement supervision. Enterprises can access full-process services from establishment to exit through a single entry point, eliminating bottlenecks such as multiple declarations, lost management in circulation, and running back and forth across multiple platforms. Convert various pro-enterprise systems, approval standards, and regulatory norms into rigid system procedures, automatically verifying approval processes and time limits. Implement digital plan management for law enforcement inspections, strictly controlling arbitrary and repeated inspections. Set up quantitative scoring models for matters such as factor allocation and policy fulfillment, with automatic matching and full-process traceability. Build a real-time dynamic evaluation and feedback module, quantify a dynamic digital evaluation system, capture abnormal data such as overdue handling, high-frequency complaints, and unsatisfactory items in real time, and simultaneously connect it to the business environment assessment system.
Business entity demands are diverse and differentiated; business environment reform must adopt targeted and categorized policy measures. For demands related to factor guarantees, establish an open and transparent evaluation system for the allocation of factors such as land, using per-mu output, innovation capability, and industrial contribution as core indicators, implement market-based allocation, and eliminate backroom deals and personal interference. Step up efforts to revitalize inefficient land and tap idle space. For demands related to innovation and transformation, establish a regular docking mechanism, using models such as "public platform + general contracting service" for digital-real integration and "market operation + technology total investment" for technology empowerment as traction, build docking bridges for cooperation among government, enterprises, and innovation resources, and solve the problem of upgrading and enhancing the entire industrial chain. For demands related to engineering projects, establish a full life-cycle management mechanism for projects, deepen reforms such as "start construction upon land acquisition," parallel approval, and phased acceptance, and support with project specialist digital on-site services, achieving fast project landing, fast construction, and fast results through digital closed-loop control. For demands related to cost reduction and efficiency improvement, focus on reducing production and operation costs such as financing, logistics, and energy, improve the comprehensive cost reduction mechanism for enterprises, and achieve precise matching of cost-reduction policies, intelligent supply of cost-reduction resources, and dynamic monitoring of cost-reduction effectiveness. For demands related to policy fulfillment, focus on unblocking the "last kilometer" of policy implementation, comprehensively sort out the list of pro-enterprise policies, streamline declaration materials, optimize the fulfillment process, promote the model of "no application required for enjoyment, direct and immediate enjoyment," and ensure enterprises know everything they should know and enjoy everything they are entitled to.
Build a complete governance chain with systematic thinking, and promote the upgrading of business environment governance toward systematization. Construct a quantitative evaluation system, set differentiated quantitative indicators based on local industry characteristics from core dimensions such as government service efficiency, standardization of power operation, and satisfaction of business entities, and create a "barometer" reflecting the business environment. Improve the system empowerment mechanism, focusing on the full life-cycle needs of business entities, promote the transformation of the business environment from "single-point breakthroughs" to "systematic improvement," and achieve a governance upgrade from "solving one matter" to "solving a category of matters." Improve incentive and constraint systems, establish a talent selection orientation of "judging heroes by practical work, judging merit by service," and take business environment effectiveness as an important basis for cadre selection and appointment. Delineate accountability scenarios for inaction, slow action, and arbitrary action, and establish a normalized supervision and inspection mechanism. Improve the fault tolerance and error correction mechanism, and establish a list of matters for exemption from liability when due diligence is exercised. Strengthen high-level coordination by the county party committee, establish a work system under the unified leadership of the county party committee, carry out normalized special inspections, seriously pursue accountability for acts that damage the business environment, and strengthen the joint force of coordinated management.
The systematic optimization of the county-level business environment is not only a reform of economic development but also a transformation of county governance. Adhere to a demand orientation, take the sense of gain of business entities as the fundamental yardstick, base on the local development stage, anchor on high-frequency enterprise demands, and reform according to needs. Adhere to a systematic perspective, solve the problem of fragmented governance with holistic thinking, coordinate all links of institutional design, mechanism operation, technical support, and team building, and form a closed loop. Adhere to the rule of law thinking, promote the transformation of governance models to an institutionally guaranteed type, manage people by institutions, handle affairs according to institutions, and regulate power by relying on institutions, thus consolidating the institutional foundation for the modernization of county governance. (The author is the Party secretary of Luqiao District (路桥区), Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province.)
Return to TopGrassroots governance is the cornerstone of national governance. Coordinated advancement of governance in townships (subdistricts) and urban-rural communities is the foundational project for modernizing the national governance system and governance capacity. It is necessary to deepen the application of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and raise the level of digitization and intelligentization of grassroots governance. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that we must take the promotion of e-government and the construction of new-type smart cities as the starting point, and take data centralization and sharing as the pathway, to achieve cross-level, cross-regional, cross-system, cross-department, and cross-business collaborative management and service. Focusing on improving the level of digital technology empowering grassroots governance, the High-end Think Tank edition of Study Times (学习时报) has launched an in-depth discussion.
Return to TopBy: 盛磊 牛犁
If the foundation is not firm, the earth moves and the mountains shake. The modernization level of a country’s governance system and governance capability is largely reflected at the grassroots level, and it is necessary to continuously consolidate this foundation of grassroots social governance. High-quality promotion of grassroots governance as a foundational project is also a basic requirement for comprehensively advancing the construction of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation through Chinese-style modernization.
Grassroots social morphology presents new changes. Currently, China’s grassroots social morphology is in a period of transition, encompassing systematic and deep-level changes in aspects such as population structure, social structure, technological means, and modes of production and lifestyle.
First, the population structure shows aging and high mobility. The scale of the elderly population is large and growing rapidly; the number of elderly people aged 65 and above nationwide increased from 201 million in 2021 to 224 million in 2025. In terms of regional population mobility characteristics, the resident population in remote villages and towns is decreasing and aging is intensifying; the central cities of core metropolitan areas have a relatively large floating population, with both resident and floating populations coexisting. This leads to significant differences in public service demands across different regional spaces.
Second, employment forms are increasingly becoming flexible. The proportion of personnel in new employment forms such as online delivery workers, ride-hailing drivers, and internet marketing specialists continues to rise, and labor relations have gradually extended from mainly fixed employment to mainly platform algorithm management. At the same time, the proportion of emerging groups such as freelancers, online writers, and “one-person companies” is increasing year by year, and some groups frequently change jobs across different industries and different regions.
Third, digital infrastructure is upgrading rapidly and covering a wide area. Digital infrastructure is accelerating its extension to communities (villages), and the urban-rural digital divide continues to narrow. Currently, China has achieved gigabit connectivity in every county and 5G in every township, with 100% of administrative villages having broadband access and over 95% having 5G access. The total number of rural broadband users nationwide increased from 158 million in 2021 to 204 million in 2025, and the internet penetration rate in rural areas increased from 57.6% in 2021 to 69.5% in 2025. The digital transformation of facilities such as rural roads, power grids, water conservancy, and cold chain logistics is accelerating, and many places have built a three-level logistics network of “county-level coordinated dispatch, township-level transit and distribution, and village-level convenience services.”
Fourth, production methods are becoming smart and lifestyles are becoming intelligent. The smart farm (pasture, fishery) model is being promoted faster, and “digital commerce to revitalize agriculture” (数商兴农) is accelerating and upgrading, continuously promoting the sinking of supply chains, logistics distribution, goods and services, as well as the upward movement of agricultural products. “E-commerce + industrial belts” injects new vitality into the rural economy; mobile phones have become “new farm tools,” data has become “new agricultural capital,” and live streaming has become “new agricultural work.” In 2025, rural online retail sales and agricultural product online retail sales were 3 trillion yuan and 783.31 billion yuan respectively, up 6.7% and 9.9% year-on-year respectively. Grassroots residents are active in online communities and other digital living spaces. As of the end of 2025, the number of short video users in China reached 1.074 billion, and the number of adult users of micro-dramas exceeded 664 million. The scale of digital consumption users continues to expand, with “silver-haired” users accounting for 12.2%, and digital products such as health monitoring bracelets and sweeping robots have become consumption focuses for the silver-haired group.
Grassroots governance faces new challenges. The profound changes in grassroots social morphology have led to some new challenges for traditional grassroots governance models. First, grassroots organizations have problems of information asymmetry and resource fragmentation. Frequent population movement leads to an unclear understanding of the resident population base, and the traditional grassroots governance boundary based on household registration or village (community) as the basic unit has been broken. Second, the public service demands of various groups are diversified, and precise allocation of resources is relatively difficult. The degree of organization of grassroots resident population declines, employment forms diversify, and the difficulty of safeguarding rights and interests increases, especially the public service supply for migrant children and the elderly in remote areas needs further optimization. Third, grassroots conflicts and disputes based on digital spaces are highly concealed and change rapidly, making them difficult to detect in time. Currently, cyberspace has become a “second grassroots organization”; offline conflicts are easily fermented online, and online chaos may also backfire on offline order. Risks in cyberspace such as rumor propagation, online fraud, and online violence may directly impact grassroots social security. Finally, traditional governance models not only have low efficiency and high costs, but also face problems such as slow response and insufficient coverage. It can be seen that grassroots governance has multiple subjects, complex tasks, and large variables, presenting dual characteristics of complexity and dynamism, and it urgently needs to shift from “human-driven” to “digital empowerment.”
Focus points of digital technology empowering grassroots governance. Against the backdrop of digital intelligence, empowering grassroots governance with digital intelligence technologies is an inevitable choice to solve grassroots governance problems and promote the modernization of the grassroots governance system and governance capability. Through digital empowerment, efforts should be made to promote the transformation of grassroots governance models from passive to active, from extensive to precise, and from fragmented to collaborative, and this transformation is a systemic reshaping of grassroots governance concepts, systems, mechanisms, and models. First, data becomes a key element for breaking through the “last kilometer” of grassroots governance. Only by breaking down grassroots data barriers can we accurately ascertain the full-element baseline of grassroots society including people, land, affairs, objects, and situations, integrating scattered “data islands” into a “data panorama.” With the continuous improvement of social awareness and capability in supplying and using data, the role of data elements in ensuring and improving people’s livelihoods and enhancing grassroots governance efficiency becomes more prominent. Second, digital intelligence technologies such as artificial intelligence become key variables driving the transformation of the grassroots governance system. With the accelerated development of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things, the organizational forms and operational logic of grassroots governance are undergoing profound changes. The deep integration of artificial intelligence and community governance can create a “heaven, earth, people + AI” four-in-one smart community, and through the Internet of Things and smart terminals, it can achieve precise push of public services such as elderly care, child care, medical care, and education, making community services more inclusive and convenient. Third, comprehensive governance of the network ecology is an important task for grassroots governance. Cyberspace is a shared living home and work carrier for hundreds of millions of people, and the grassroots level is the first line of defense for discovering security risks and resolving contradictions. The people’s expectations for a clean and clear cyberspace are increasingly urgent; therefore, grassroots governance must achieve the same frequency resonance online and offline. Comprehensive governance of the network ecology must be deeply integrated into the grassroots governance system, becoming a key lever and important position for maintaining grassroots social stability and safeguarding the interests of grassroots people.
New paths for digital technology empowering grassroots governance during the 15th Five-Year Plan (十五五) period. The outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan proposes: “Promote coordinated online and offline governance. Strengthen the functions of public service platforms such as citizen hotlines, and promote ‘where the people call, I respond’ (民有所呼、我有所应).” Facing the new tasks and new demands of the first year of the 15th Five-Year Plan, we must, with firmer conviction and more practical measures, identify the focus points and further consolidate the grassroots foundation of the modernization of the national governance system and governance capability.
First, strengthen data empowerment. Build and make good use of high-quality data sets oriented to grassroots governance, providing data support for digital technology empowerment of grassroots governance. Accelerate the improvement of data circulation, sharing, and opening mechanisms, break down data barriers between various grassroots departments, integrate and optimize public data from public security, civil affairs, medical care, education, human resources and social security, and promote data integration and innovation work in fields such as party building, government affairs, grid management, comprehensive law enforcement, and emergency command in an integrated manner. Build high-quality data sets that connect the three levels of county (district), township (street), and village (community), promote grassroots data resources to “run” and “be used,” achieving “more data running” and “fewer errands for the masses.” Establish and improve data security management mechanisms, through technical means such as data encryption and access control, ensure the security and legality of grassroots governance data during collection, storage, and use, and protect citizens’ personal information security and privacy rights.
Second, strengthen technology empowerment. Make good use of digital intelligence technologies such as artificial intelligence, continuously enrich and expand application scenarios. Use digital intelligence technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things to promote innovation in grassroots governance concepts and models. Through means such as artificial intelligence “video processing,” break regional and time limitations, solve the problem of handling affairs across different places, and ensure special groups equally enjoy digital convenience. Develop intelligent voice assistants and accessible interactive interfaces to help the elderly and disabled cross the “intelligence divide.” Use artificial intelligence technology to intelligently dispatch, semantically understand, and predict trends of mass demands, promoting the transformation of grassroots governance from passive response to active prevention. Promote the use of “AI digital employees” to undertake repetitive and standardized tasks such as report filling and work order distribution. By upgrading digital processes, release the energy of grassroots cadres, enabling them to invest more in handling complex incidents and communicating with the masses. Pay attention to preventing and resolving ethical security risks of artificial intelligence, and improve artificial intelligence governance capabilities.
Third, strengthen platform empowerment. Build and make good use of grassroots digital service platforms, achieving the organic unity of physical grids and digital grids. Accelerate the construction of “digital party building” at the grassroots level, through “digital grid + party building,” extend party organizations to new economic organizations, new social organizations, and new employment groups, solving the problem of “small horse pulling a big cart” (小马拉大车) and blind spots in organizational coverage. Integrate work groups and government affairs APPs with similar functions and duplicate content, break “formalism at the fingertips,” and implement “digital burden reduction” for grassroots cadres. Comprehensively review existing grassroots governance processes, optimize digital service platforms for grassroots governance, orderly promote intelligent upgrading of platforms, and strengthen network security and data security capabilities. Install smart government service terminals in villages (communities) to facilitate mass handling of business. Equip grassroots grid workers with mobile terminals to achieve online closed-loop functions such as information collection, incident reporting, and task processing. Establish interactive platforms such as community forums and WeChat public accounts, integrate and optimize mass demand channels such as hotlines and online platforms, and create an integrated “immediate response upon receipt” (接诉即办) platform.
Fourth, strengthen comprehensive governance of cyberspace. Adhere to the unity of development and governance, the integration of online and offline, and continuously create a clean and orderly cyberspace. Widely carry out online promotion of the most beautiful grassroots figures, good people around us, etc., and spread positive energy in cyberspace. Improve the online handling mechanisms for network public opinion and emergencies, strengthen territorial management and the responsibility of competent authorities and organizers, and combine responding to public opinion with solving affairs. Focus on issues of concern to grassroots netizens, strengthen the guidance of social emotions and social mentality. Strengthen network content management, rectify malicious marketing in the short video field, attach importance to the rule of law in cyberspace, promptly handle illegal and harmful information, and widely carry out propaganda activities such as “network law popularization going to the grassroots” (网络普法下基层).
Fifth, strengthen institutional and mechanism innovation. Adhere to adapting measures to local conditions and implementing policies by category, promoting precision and inclusiveness in digital technology empowerment of grassroots governance. For areas with a higher level of digital governance, strengthen and optimize the supply of computing power, algorithms, and data, deeply expand application scenarios of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, further enhance the refinement level of grassroots governance; for areas with relatively weak digital governance, actively participate in the construction of national “six networks” (六张网) such as computing power networks and new-generation communication networks, accelerate the upgrade and transformation of digital infrastructure. At the same time, improve the digital literacy of grassroots cadres and the masses, bridge the “digital divide” and “intelligence divide” between different regions and different groups. Use “city brain” (城市大脑) and “rural new infrastructure” (乡村新基建) to promote the sinking of public service resources, continuously improve the accessibility of public services. For migrant children, left-behind elderly, and new employment groups, accelerate the establishment of special care and rights protection mechanisms for health rights. Establish and improve digital grid management mechanisms, divide digital grids according to the smallest residential units such as streets, buildings, and villager groups, and equip each grid with full-time grid workers responsible for security inspections, conflict mediation, etc., achieving “digital small grids” safeguarding “grassroots great peace.”
(The authors are respectively the Deputy Director of the State Information Center (国家信息中心) and the Deputy Director of the Forecasting Department (预测部).)
Return to TopBy: 李齐
In recent years, as the central level has continued to promote the rectification of formalism to reduce burdens at the grassroots level, "formalism at the fingertips" (指尖上的形式主义) has been significantly curbed. The cleanup of various redundant APPs and work groups, along with the regulation of check-ins, sign-ins, and point rankings, has allowed grassroots cadres to extricate themselves somewhat from the negative effects of digital governance. However, the stubborn nature of formalism, as well as the instrumental rationality of digital technology, has also given rise to new problems.
The application of digital technology brings hidden burdens. To advance the rectification of formalism, the grassroots level cleaned up a number of APPs and standardized check-ins and sign-ins, but the digital burden on grassroots cadres has not decreased as expected; instead, it exists in more covert forms. First, burden-reduction policies have spawned more online meetings. To circumvent the assessment of the number of offline meetings, much work has shifted from the conference room to video conferencing platforms. A normal meeting may be broken down into morning dispatches, evening reviews, and brief huddles. Although these online meetings are short in duration, they frequently interrupt the normal work rhythm of grassroots cadres, and the actual attention they consume far exceeds the meeting time itself. Second, the assignment of tasks has shifted from platform-based record-keeping to instant messaging. Unlike in the past when tasks were centrally distributed to platforms, tasks now appear at any time in the form of work tips, urgent notices, and temporary dispatches, requiring immediate responses and instant implementation. The tasks themselves may not be onerous, but the continuous psychological consumption and the cost of shifting attention constitute an unquantifiable hidden burden. Finally, a deeper issue is that digital record-keeping has evolved from mandatory check-ins to the involution of publicly showcasing work. Although check-ins and point rankings are no longer mandatory, grassroots cadres still need, while doing their own work well, to achieve effective presentation of work results and timely feedback. To this end, grassroots cadres must carefully sort out work highlights, transmit information in an intuitive and concise form, and while implementing efficiently, also ensure that higher-level departments accurately grasp frontline dynamics, achieving an effective linkage between decision-making and execution. The root of the hidden burden does not lie in the technical tools themselves, but in the higher levels' demand for "controllability" and the grassroots' demand for "visibility." More effective ways need to be explored to achieve an effective balance in grassroots governance.
Algorithmic compulsion reduces the flexibility of grassroots governance. The deep embedding of digital governance platforms, while improving efficiency, has also quietly altered the power structure in grassroots governance. Higher-level departments have gained, via the platforms, the capability to monitor grassroots work across the entire time period and entire process, such as automatic task assignment, countdowns for processing deadlines, and progress rankings. Technical means make it possible to satisfy the higher levels' need for "controllability," but the grassroots' space for discretionary decision-making has been correspondingly compressed. A typical manifestation is the system's dispatch-based model of law enforcement and services. In scenarios such as grid governance, digital urban management, and government service hotlines, algorithms automatically assign tasks to grassroots grid workers or community staff according to preset rules, and require the completion of various procedures within a specified time. This model is highly efficient when handling standardized tasks, but often struggles to adapt when faced with complex, ambiguous, grassroots contradictions that require acting 因地制宜 (yīn dì zhì yí - "according to local conditions"). For example, a neighborhood dispute within a community caused by historical legacy issues may require multiple home visits and repeated communication, making it impossible to meet the system's requirement of "settled in one go." More deeply, algorithmic decision-making is replacing some human judgment. In some places, the determination of priority and responsibility attribution for matters such as petition letters, complaints, and requests for help is handed over to algorithms, which automatically make judgments based on keywords and historical data. Consequently, grassroots governance, as a field heavily reliant on interpersonal trust and situational judgment, must, while fully leveraging the "impersonal" advantages of digital technology, also maintain the warmth of governance and avoid over-reliance on algorithms leading to the compression of governance flexibility.
Compliance requirements for data protection put pressure on the grassroots. With the in-depth implementation of data security laws and regulations concerning personal information protection and the like, the compliance requirements for the collection, storage, and utilization of data at the grassroots level have been substantially raised. However, at the implementation level of the grassroots, a new problem of being afraid to use data has emerged. Data security responsibilities are broken down layer by layer, ultimately landing on the most basic units such as townships, subdistricts, and communities, making the grassroots a significant pressure point for data security responsibility. Sensitive information collected by community workers during home visits—such as residents' ID numbers, home addresses, contact information, and income status—once leaked, makes them the primary responsible party. Yet, the grassroots generally lack professional data security management capabilities, including dedicated information security officers, encrypted storage devices, and data masking technologies. Under these circumstances, collecting less, storing less, and utilizing less become the rational choice. For the grassroots, collecting data means assuming security risks and high compliance operation costs, while the benefits of utilizing data are very vague, leading to a generally passive attitude among grassroots cadres toward data collection, storage, and utilization: they will collect as little as possible, and if possible, not record at all. Therefore, to realize digital empowerment, it is necessary to resolve this misalignment of "costs and benefits" and consolidate the foundation of digital governance.
The promotion and use of algorithms increase technical ethical risks. When algorithms begin to deeply intervene in core grassroots governance areas such as public resource allocation, conflict resolution, and eligibility review, issues of technical ethics are no longer abstract discussions. The first is the lack of algorithm transparency and explainability. In smart systems piloted in some places, algorithms automatically determine applicants' eligibility and benefit levels; the bases for decisions include weight settings, data sources, and judgment logic. For grassroots staff and ordinary citizens, these are mostly "black boxes." When faced with questions from the public, grassroots cadres can neither provide adequate explanations nor effectively review the algorithm's results, thereby sparking new distrust. The second is the problem of responsibility attribution. In traditional governance, the attribution of responsibility was relatively clear. But in the human-machine collaborative digital governance model, the boundaries of responsibility become blurred. When algorithm dispatch leads to task mismatches, or when automatically generated handling recommendations cause adverse consequences, grassroots cadres often become the ultimate executors and responsible parties. This state of unclear technical responsibility not only causes grassroots cadres to bear responsibilities they should not, but also gives rise to blame-avoidance behaviors. The third is the potential risk of algorithmic bias and data discrimination. Social structural characteristics implicit in training data, such as urban-rural gaps, income disparities, and regional differences, may be captured and amplified by algorithms, causing certain groups to be systematically disadvantaged in access to public services. The grassroots are often the first to feel the problems brought about by such technical injustices, yet lack the power and capability to correct the algorithms.
At present, the rectification of "formalism at the fingertips" has achieved phased results, but the deep-seated contradictions brought about by the use of digital technology have not disappeared along with it. From new burdens to algorithmic over-control, from data security anxiety to ethical risks, these issues are no longer simple and superficial; rather, they are structural problems arising from the deep integration of digital technology and grassroots governance. They require systematic reflection and reconstruction from multiple dimensions, including technology, institutions, capabilities, and ethics. (The author is a researcher at the Peking University National Academy of Governance Research (北京大学国家治理研究院).)
Return to TopBy: 李晓方
With the deepening of digital transformation in the public sector, governance tools such as digital platforms, government affairs APPs, and smart terminals have been widely applied in grassroots governance, continuously improving the precision and efficiency of governance. Specifically, in the area of government services, the "National Integrated Platform" (全国一体化平台) has been launched and operated; the construction of content such as the unified electronic certificate library and the data sharing hub has greatly reduced the data collection burden on grassroots governments. Innovations and reforms such as "data reaches the grassroots directly" (数据直达基层) and "one unified form" (一表通) directly target pain points in grassroots governance work, providing a typical demonstration for governance innovation driven by digital technology. In the field of "unified network management" (一网统管), "Party-building + grid + big data" (党建+网格+大数据) has already become the mainstream model of grassroots governance. "One screen views the whole world, one network manages the entire city" (一屏观天下，一网管全城); digital technology has broken down information barriers in grassroots governance, driving the transformation of governance methods from passive response to active prevention, and from fragmented and extensive to holistic and intelligent governance.
It cannot be denied that, due to constraints from multiple factors such as technical cognition, evaluation settings, organizational coordination, and resource allocation, digital technology, which was supposed to play an empowering role, has also produced some "side effects" in grassroots governance, prominently manifested in aspects such as "digital landscaping" (数字景观化), "traces-ism" (痕迹主义), and the increase in "digital fatigue" (数字疲惫感) among grassroots staff. "Digital landscaping" is related to technical cognition in digital transformation, objectively manifested as an excessive pursuit of novelty and trends. It replaces user and value narratives with technical narratives, blindly follows trends, and invests heavily in building digital big screens and smart big screens, while paying insufficient attention to practicality and usability, ultimately turning digital systems into "bonsai projects" (盆景工程) and "face projects" (面子工程) for inspection and visits. "Traces-ism" is associated with the intervention of process-oriented indicators into administrative processes through methods such as ranking and competition. The unique advantage of digital technology in recording governance process data provides a process-visible indicator for performance measurement. The development of new indicators helps strengthen vertical supervision and management, but excessive attention to process-oriented indicators can also easily lead to goal displacement regarding outcome data and process-traces-keeping behaviors, occupying the limited attention resources in grassroots governance. "Digital fatigue" reflects a state of grassroots staff in terms of physiology, psychology, and value cognition under the context of digital transformation. It does not stem from staff's rejection of technology itself, but is related to the weakening of grassroots discretion by digitization, as well as the imbalance of "responsibilities, powers, and interests" (责权利) for grassroots staff. The improvement of management refinement brought by digital technology is premised on the miniaturization of governance tasks and the full quantification of data collection, but grassroots governance has long faced resource constraints in areas such as finance and talent. The structural mismatch between task rigidity and resource scarcity concretizes administrative burdens into high-frequency, fragmented, and sustained work pressures in practice.
The phenomenon of replacing "means" with "ends" and digitizing for the sake of digitization weakens the positive effects brought by digital technology and affects the sustained innovation of grassroots governance. Therefore, there is an urgent need for remodeling and reform to bridge the implementation gap between digital governance practice and its goals.
Optimize evaluation settings, value "simple governance" (简约治理), and learn to appropriately "leave blank space" (留白). To enhance the effectiveness of digital technology in grassroots governance and reduce digital burdens, it is necessary to recognize that while digital technology enhances performance information management, it also has its limitations. Processes cannot reflect ultimate value information, nor can they fully measure the effort and creativity of staff. During the transformation process, it is necessary to maintain a certain degree of "information restraint," appropriately "leave blank space" for grassroots discretion, and create conditions for creativity and flexibility in grassroots work. Moreover, the blurred boundaries of grassroots powers and responsibilities can easily lead to unequal distribution of responsibilities between vertical levels of government. Administrative responsibilities are pressed downward layer by layer through target assessment; if digitization is improperly used, it can exacerbate this problem. Therefore, to achieve digital empowerment, it is also necessary to organically combine digital technology, performance evaluation, and the refined construction of grassroots power-and-responsibility lists, achieving a precise match between powers and responsibilities.
Strengthen the coordinated transformation of systems and processes, making 久久为功 (jiǔ jiǔ wéi gōng - "long, long makes effort," sustained effort over a long time) lasting efforts. From the perspective of digital construction, organizational coordination and data sharing can be taken as starting points, adhering to the basic principle of government affairs standardization, and building an integrated government service and governance system. Streamline government affairs applications, optimize departmental relationships and work procedures through digital means, and build a grassroots digital-intelligence platform that is fully connected across provinces, cities, counties, and townships, truly achieving unimpeded digital links and improving service efficiency. From the perspective of responsibility system adjustment, digital technology empowerment can be combined with the refinement of responsibility management, drawing on the experience of integrated digital-intelligence platforms such as Beijing's "immediate handling of complaints upon receipt" (接诉即办) in areas such as item allocation. Using big data as a means, integrate refined grassroots power-and-responsibility lists, realizing the orderly flow and joint governance of responsibility items among hierarchical governments.
Focus on the matching relationship among "responsibilities—powers—funds" (责—权—费) at the grassroots government level. On the basis of improving mechanisms such as "streets and townships sound the whistle, departments report for duty" (街乡吹哨、部门报到), use big data and other means to dynamically analyze the distribution relationship among responsibilities, powers, and financial resources between grassroots governments, ensuring that while responsibilities are delegated downward, corresponding powers and resources are also delegated, achieving a positive interaction between technological pressure and grassroots carrying capacity through resource integration and capacity building. At the same time, great importance must be attached to the digital capacity building of grassroots staff, improving their digital literacy and artificial intelligence literacy, and fully tapping the potential of digital technology in empowering and increasing efficiency.
(Affiliation of the author: Hohai University (河海大学))
Return to TopBy: 王哲
Wargaming, abbreviated as “wargame,” is a tool that does not involve actual military forces but simulates the decision-making activities of two or more opposing sides through rules, data, etc., in a low-cost, immersive, repeatable simulated adversarial environment to train command capabilities and formulate battle strategies. As an effective means of studying war and designing war, wargaming is often hailed as “the 0.9999th war.”
Development and Evolution
It is generally believed that the modern wargame was born in Prussia in the early 19th century. In 1811, Prussian court war advisor von Reisswitz used clay to create a terrain model at a scale of 1:2372, represented troops and weapons with porcelain blocks, designed corresponding rules, probability tables, and dice for confrontation performances, which was later named the war game “Kriegsspiel,” in English Wargame. In 1824, von Reisswitz’s son, Lieutenant von Reisswitz the Younger, introduced concepts such as experience and time, upgrading and improving his father’s “Kriegsspiel,” initially forming a board-based simulation system based on mathematical calculations, and publishing a detailed wargame manual titled Instructions for the Conduct of Military Wargames. Subsequently, with the support of the Prussian military, “Kriegsspiel” officially became an auxiliary tool for officer training and operational planning, thus taking a key step from a court game to an operational simulation tool.
From the mid-19th century onward, wargaming entered its heyday, and “Kriegsspiel” crossed national boundaries and quickly swept across the European continent. By the period of the two world wars, with the support of mathematical theories such as statistics, probability theory, and game theory, wargaming simulated the complex offensive and defensive confrontations between warring parties more finely, and its operational simulation capabilities were further improved. After World War II, computer wargaming adopted three-dimensional modeling technology, enabling more realistic simulation of the operational environment, supporting the simulation of hundreds or thousands of weapons and equipment, and at the same time allowing multiple computers to be connected for multi-domain joint operations simulation across various services and arms, land, sea, air, space, cyber, and electro-magnetic domains, greatly improving simulation efficiency and precision. In recent years, with the rapid development and application of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and digital twins, wargaming is accelerating toward intelligence and human-machine collaboration, further enhancing war simulation capabilities.
Strictly speaking, wargaming is a war simulation activity carried out by “people” on the platform of “wargame.” From a material perspective, a wargame is mainly composed of three basic elements: map, pieces, and rules. The map is used to simulate battlefield environments such as terrain, landforms, hydrology, meteorology, and electromagnetism; in the past this was mainly achieved through sand tables or maps, whereas now it relies more on geographic information systems, computer simulation systems, etc. Pieces are used to simulate combat forces or combat units such as troops, equipment, and weapon platforms, e.g., tank companies, infantry battalions, fighter aircraft, naval task forces, etc. Each piece possesses the real attributes of the combat force or unit, such as movement speed, attack direction, defensive capability, reconnaissance capability, etc. Rules are the “soul” of the entire wargame, stipulating the principles for how forces maneuver, how firepower is employed, how victory or defeat is determined, and so on. The rule system is usually relatively complex, including maneuver rules, engagement rules, and damage adjudication, among others.
Strategic Value
Supporting and honing commanders’ decision-making capabilities. The reason wargaming is called the “training ground” for future warfare lies precisely in that it provides commanders with a high-intensity, repeatable, and low-cost decision-making training environment. Specifically: first, deliberately setting up war “fog” such as reconnaissance blind zones, communication interruptions, and intelligence lags during the wargame forces commanders to make operational decisions under conditions where they “cannot see clearly,” thereby honing their situational judgment ability; second, setting strict time limits for each round of wargaming accelerates changes in the enemy situation, requiring commanders to complete the “Observe – Orient – Decide – Act” cycle within an extremely short time — exceeding the time limit is considered “missing the opportunity” — further honing commanders’ rapid reaction ability; third, constructing extreme situations such as an enemy several times larger, severed supply lines, and isolation without support, tempering commanders’ anti-fatigue and psychological endurance under adversity through high-intensity confrontation; fourth, organizing wargame after-action reviews, pointing out from an external perspective problems the commander had not noticed, sharing “failure lessons” and “success experiences,” guiding commanders to break their own inertial thinking, explore thinking loopholes, iteratively improve decision-making levels, and push commanders to learn how to fight outside the actual battlefield.
Used for exploring new operational concepts, weaponry development, doctrine design, and operational plan validation. Leveraging the utility of wargaming as a virtual “trial-and-error field” and an “incubator” for innovating combat doctrines. In exploring new operational concepts, abstract concepts such as “distributed lethality” and “mosaic warfare” are transformed into specific rules and simulated actions within the wargame; typical or slice-based combat scenarios are set; quantitative indicators such as mission completion rate and time consumption ratio are established; through extreme-condition wargaming, the boundary conditions and failure thresholds for the concept’s applicability are identified; through multi-round, large-sample wargaming, trends in the effectiveness changes of the operational concept are observed, pushing the demonstration of operational concepts from “experience-based judgment” to “data-driven.” In operational plan validation, by introducing high-level formidable adversaries, proactively wargaming the weaknesses of attack plans and checking the pros and cons of operational plans under adverse weather, terrain, and enemy conditions; conducting multi-plan comparison wargaming for multiple operational plans, observing their effectiveness under the same initial conditions, or exploring the combined use of different plans, and verifying alternative operational plans through the search for the best combination.
Testing and evaluating the level of unit combat capability. Breaking through the bottleneck where traditional combat capability assessment often relies on observers’ subjective judgment, lacks unified standards, and struggles to precisely measure the actual level of units. On the basis of decomposing combat capability into measurable and comparable specific indicators, a multi-dimensional, all-factor evaluation indicator system is constructed. At the same time, data collection points are pre-embedded at key wargaming links and locations for all-factor, all-process, all-time data collection and recording. After the wargame concludes, an “operational process replay” is automatically generated, “tracing” the unit’s action trajectory in the form of dynamic data, clearly displaying the timing and interval of each issued command. Meanwhile, using techniques such as attribution analysis and pattern recognition, in-depth mining and analysis of wargaming data are carried out, precisely locating capability shortcomings from full-sample wargaming data, and improving unit combat capability in a targeted manner.
Furthermore, with the continuous expansion of application fields, wargaming frequently appears in many non-military settings such as politics, economics, education, and disaster response. For example, to deal with various natural disasters such as typhoons, floods, earthquakes, and forest fires, people can rely on specialized desktop wargames, using simulation maps, pieces representing rescue forces and affected populations, and wargame rules to conduct wargaming replays and evaluations of the emergency evacuation process for actual cases, thereby verifying the pros and cons of different evacuation plans and improving the decision-making ability of emergency command personnel.
Future Directions
Several recent local wars indicate that modern warfare is gradually extending from the “hour-level” and “minute-level” toward the “second-level” or even “millisecond-level.” The rhythm of war is undergoing fundamental changes, and the decision-making pressure on commanders is increasing exponentially. Looking toward the evolution of future war forms, wargaming is accelerating its evolution in four directions.
The first is ultra-high speed — moving from pre-war “proactive wargaming” toward in-battle “parallel wargaming.” With the aid of supercomputing and cloud architecture, the speed of future wargaming will increase to more than ten thousand times real-time speed. During the pre-war operational planning phase, commanders can set the initial situation and mission objectives, and the wargame will automatically generate thousands of action plans, screening out the operational plan with the highest success rate for the commander to choose. When the operational situation changes during execution, the wargame can reassess the original plan in real time within minutes and generate adjustment recommendations based on the new situation. For example, when reconnaissance detects that the enemy’s main force is moving toward the flank, the wargame can immediately wargame the expected effects of multiple response options such as “frontal assault,” “flank encirclement,” and “deep penetration.”
The second is combat realism — shifting from “pure virtual wargaming” to “virtual-real combined wargaming.” With the development of digital intelligence simulation, military simulation standardization, and interoperable heterogeneous systems technologies, it will be possible in the future to bridge the “gap” between the real-force command and control system and the wargaming system, using real intelligence information and data to generate “threat models” for training. Commanders access the digital battlefield to direct and control virtual forces for maneuver and fire strikes, injecting real-time intelligence data from actual combat into the wargame system, linking virtual and real forces as one, achieving “wargaming is fighting,” and pushing wargaming from a “training tool” to truly being embedded in the “operational command chain.”
The third is intelligentization — moving from being driven by “static rules” to being driven by “dynamic algorithms.” Getting rid of the traditional wargaming reliance on pre-set static rules and expert experience modeling, and adapting to the requirements of wargaming given the rapidly changing future battlefield situation, multi-domain interaction and coupling, and information fog. Leveraging AI’s dynamic modeling capability, reasoning and judgment capability, and learning and evolution capability, converting human commanders’ experience, intuition, and judgment patterns into algorithm-recognizable instructions, achieving dynamic evolution and autonomous evolution of intelligent virtual models in wargaming, and carrying out intelligent wargaming.
The fourth is full-domain wargaming — entering from “single-domain wargaming” into “full-domain wargaming.” With technological development, it is expected to achieve deep integration and interoperability between wargaming systems and combat simulation systems, balancing fidelity and computability, constructing a joint full-domain wargaming environment linking space and ground, cyber and firepower, electronic warfare and maneuver, supporting cross-domain joint operations wargaming.
Return to TopBy: 黄鹂
In the Chinese People’s Revolutionary Military Museum (中国人民革命军事博物馆), a national first-class cultural relic is treasured: a gold pocket watch made in Switzerland. On August 1, 1927, during the Nanchang Uprising, Comrade He Long (贺龙), then the General Commander of the insurgent army, used this very watch to precisely set the time, firing the "first shot" of armed resistance against the reactionary Kuomintang.
In mid-July 1927, in order to save the Chinese revolution, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party 审时度势 (shěn shí duó shì - "examine the times and gauge the situation," to size up the situation) under extremely perilous circumstances, concentrated the troops that the Party controlled or influenced toward Nanchang, deciding to launch an uprising in Nanchang on the night of July 28. On July 27, Zhou Enlai arrived in Nanchang and formed the CPC Front Committee (中共前敌委员会) with Li Lisan (李立三), Yun Daiying (恽代英), and Peng Pai (彭湃) to jointly deliberate on the uprising plan. Considering the troops had traveled in haste and that rashly launching the uprising had little chance of victory, the Front Committee decided to postpone the uprising to the night of July 30.
On July 28, Zhou Enlai met He Long at the headquarters of the Twentieth Army, informed him of the uprising plan, and solicited his opinion. He Long firmly stated: "I completely obey the Communist Party; whatever the Party wants me to do, I will do." Although He Long was not yet a Party member at the time, Zhou Enlai, on the authority of the Front Committee, appointed him General Commander of the insurgent army. On the morning of July 30, Zhang Guotao (张国焘), who had come from Jiujiang to Nanchang as a Central representative to convey instructions from the Comintern and the CPC Central Committee, arrived, and the Front Committee immediately convened an enlarged meeting. At the meeting, due to Zhang Guotao's obstruction, the uprising time was again postponed to 4:00 a.m. on August 1, 1927.
On the eve of the uprising, He Long grasped this pocket watch tightly in his palm, adjusted the time to its most accurate setting, and ordered the troops into combat readiness. The officers and soldiers of the insurgent army wore red cloth bands around their necks, white towels on their left arms, and red crosses on their kerosene lamps and flashlights. He Long stared intently at the pocket watch, quietly waiting for that thrilling moment. Unexpectedly, on the night of July 31, a deputy battalion commander of the Twentieth Army suddenly defected to the enemy and revealed secrets, putting the situation in extreme peril.
To ensure the uprising proceeded smoothly, the Front Committee immediately decided to advance the uprising time by two hours. At 2:00 a.m., a gunshot rang out over Nanchang city, like a flash of lightning tearing through the night sky. Under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee Front Committee with Zhou Enlai as its Secretary, He Long, Ye Ting (叶挺), Zhu De (朱德), Liu Bocheng (刘伯承) and others led the insurgent army according to the predetermined plan, using the password "river and mountain unified" (河山统一), launching a fierce attack on the enemy troops stationed in Nanchang. The battle was exceptionally intense; He Long's command post was separated from the enemy's positions by a single street less than 200 meters apart. He Long and Liu Bocheng stood on the stone steps observing the situation and directing the battle. Stray bullets occasionally whistled over their heads, yet they were 从容不迫 (cóng róng bù pò - "calm and unhurried," composed and unflustered) and 处之泰然 (chǔ zhī tài rán - "handle it with calmness," to deal with the situation with equanimity). After more than four hours of intense combat, the uprising troops annihilated over 3,000 enemy defenders at one stroke and occupied Nanchang city.
On July 11, 1933, the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic, following the recommendation of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, decided to designate August 1 as the founding anniversary of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (the predecessor of the People's Liberation Army). After the founding of New China, August 1 was also designated as the Army Day of the People's Liberation Army, and consequently the Nanchang Uprising became the starting point of the people's army's glorious journey. This period of 峥嵘岁月 (zhēng róng suì yuè - "extraordinary years," eventful and memorable times) also became a milestone and important turning point in Comrade He Long's revolutionary career. Because of the Nanchang Uprising, Comrade He Long's fate became closely intertwined with the People's Army led by the Chinese Communist Party, and he thoroughly transformed from an old-style military man into a staunch communist fighter.
In 1958, He Long donated this precious pocket watch, which had witnessed the birth of the People's Army, to the Chinese People's Revolutionary Military Museum. Afterwards, the Nanchang August First Uprising Memorial Hall, with the agreement of the Military Museum, reproduced one exactly according to the original for display in the memorial hall.
Return to TopBy: 傅小强
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that it is necessary to coordinate development and security, thoroughly implement the holistic approach to national security, continuously enhance economic and social resilience, and fully safeguard national security and social stability. In today’s world, where the once-in-a-century transformations are accelerating, economic and social resilience constitute the core capacity of a nation to withstand external shocks, recover rapidly under impact, and achieve adaptive transformation. Great-power competition, in essence, is a contest of resilience. Only by unceasingly strengthening the capacity-building of economic and social resilience can we truly secure safety through development and maintain stability through security.
Deeply understanding the connotation of enhancing economic and social resilience
Enhancing economic and social resilience is the fundamental underpinning for coordinating development and security and is an important cornerstone for forging a new security architecture and safeguarding the new development paradigm. The Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan (十五五规划纲要) explicitly states: “Consolidate security through development, seek development amid security, strengthen bottom-line thinking, effectively prevent and defuse various risks, enhance economic and social resilience, and safeguard the new development paradigm with a new security architecture.” This deployment fully reflects the key role of enhancing economic and social resilience during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
Economic resilience and social resilience are dialectically unified, mutually empowering, and interdependent. Economic resilience is the “bone,” and social resilience is the “sinew.” Without strong bones, it is difficult to stand; without supple sinews, one easily breaks. The two must work in concert to form a robust body of overall national security. On the one hand, economic resilience is the material prerequisite and driving force for social resilience. “When the granaries are full, the people know propriety and moderation; when clothing and food are sufficient, they know honor and disgrace.” Economic abundance and stability have been the fundamental foundation of national security since ancient times. A solid economic base brings increased fiscal revenue, expanded employment, and enhanced public financial capacity, supporting investment in social security, healthcare, elderly care, and grassroots governance. A strong ability of the economy to withstand fluctuations can provide financial and industrial resources for perfecting the social security system and building resilient cities; it can stabilize employment during crises and ensure the reserve of livelihood resources. On the other hand, social resilience is the environmental foundation and stabilizing guarantee for economic resilience. No matter how grand the economic landscape, if it lacks the support of public trust, consensus, and concerted effort, it is nothing but a tower built on sand. Social resilience is the spiritual core and organizational soul of national security. Well-developed social governance, sound livelihood guarantees, and stable social consensus can smooth out income fluctuations, resolve social conflicts, facilitate the smooth functioning of the domestic economic cycle, enhance grassroots emergency response capacity, quickly restore production and living order amid sudden risks, and create a stable environment for economic recovery.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping has made systematic theoretical guidance on coordinating economic and social governance and preventing and defusing various security risks, providing a comprehensive fundamental guideline for comprehensively enhancing the capacity-building of economic and social resilience. First, coordinate development and security, and adhere to the benign interaction between high-quality development and high-level security. General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized that “security is the prerequisite for development, development is the guarantee of security, and security and development should be advanced in tandem,” pointing out that “the Chinese economy is resilient, has ample potential, and vast room for maneuver, and the fundamentals of its long-term soundness have not changed and will not change,” and put forward important statements such as “the Chinese economy is a vast ocean, not a small pond,” highlighting the inherent resilient endowments of our country as a mega-economy and laying a solid foundation of confidence for our country’s long-term stable development. Based on “handling our own affairs well,” our country relies on high-quality development to consolidate the economic base, constantly enhances the ability to resist risks through the solid economic foundation achieved by development, and uses the certainty of domestic stable production and supply, domestic demand expansion, and industrial quality improvement to respond to various external uncertainties such as global transformations, geopolitical conflicts, and cyclical fluctuations.
Second, take the people as the center to build social resilience, and take people’s livelihoods as the foundation to consolidate the foundation of national governance. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party (党的二十届四中全会) put forward the requirement to enhance social resilience, which is an important reflection of the expansion of livelihood demands into the field of social governance. Protecting and improving people’s livelihoods is the fundamental foothold for enhancing social resilience and maintaining social stability. Livelihood guarantees such as employment, social security, education, healthcare, and housing are not only the ballast stones for social stability but also the support for expanding domestic demand and smoothing the economic cycle. Economic policy embeds a livelihood orientation, while livelihood policy takes into account economic efficiency, achieving a two-way empowerment of economic development and improvement of people’s livelihoods, and consolidating the endogenous driving force of social stability. We adhere to and develop the “Fengqiao Experience” (枫桥经验) in the new era, which powerfully proves that taking the people as the center is the correct path for resilience building.
Third, adhere to bottom-line thinking and a systematic approach, and take preventive measures before problems arise. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasizes, “Strengthen awareness of opportunities and risks, establish bottom-line thinking, estimate difficulties more fully, think about risks more deeply, focus on plugging loopholes and strengthening weak links, take preemptive action and fight the initiative battle, and effectively prevent and defuse various risks and challenges.” This important statement provides powerful guidance for systematically coordinating multi-field resilience building and promoting the coordinated construction of economic resilience and social resilience. Since the new era, our country has strengthened risk prevention and control in key areas such as grain, energy, minerals, science and technology, finance, and infrastructure, set up an integrated emergency support mechanism, both focusing on short-term relief to stabilize the overall situation and looking to the long term to shore up foundations and fill gaps, fully enhancing the comprehensive load-bearing resilience for stable economic and social development.
Fourth, build a new development paradigm, and rely on the domestic economic cycle to shape endogenous resilience. General Secretary Xi Jinping states, “China has the institutional advantages of the socialist market economy, the demand advantage of a super-large market, the supply advantage of a complete industrial system, and the talent advantage of a large number of high-quality laborers and entrepreneurs; the economic development has strong endogenous driving force, resilience, and potential,” and emphasizes that “building a new development paradigm urgently requires accelerating the construction of a high-standard, efficient, and standardized national unified market that is fair competition, fully open, establishing a unified set of market institutional rules nationwide, and promoting the smooth flow of goods, factors, and resources over a wider range.” Essentially, building a new development paradigm with the domestic cycle as the mainstay and the domestic-international dual cycles mutually reinforcing is a strategic deployment to enhance our country’s overall economic resilience. Important deployments such as accelerating the construction of a national unified market further promote our country’s consolidation of dual resilience in industry and market, enhance the economy’s ability to withstand shocks from the perspective of circulation structure, and firmly grasp the initiative of development in our own hands.
Basic elements of economic and social resilience building
Enhancing economic and social resilience includes five basic elements: institutional advantages, economic strength, endogenous driving force, social security, and cultural identity. These five aspects jointly determine the comprehensive ability of economic and social systems to cope with shocks and restore development.
Institutional advantages are the fundamental guarantee for enhancing economic and social resilience. Adhering to the Party’s leadership is the greatest political advantage. The Party, based on the overall and long-term interests of the nation, uniformly plans the top-level design of resilience building; oversees the overall situation, coordinates all parties, concentrates forces to handle risks, and defuses the impact of major emergencies. The basic socialist economic system is compatible with our country’s development stage; the rural collective land system guarantees farmers’ fundamental rights; state-owned enterprises are expanded, strengthened, and optimized to safeguard national economic security; adhering to the dominance of public ownership and the common development of multiple forms of ownership mobilizes the enthusiasm of all parties and continuously emancipates and develops social productive forces. A sound market economic system can achieve the organic unity of an effective market and a well-functioning government, efficiently allocate resources, balance fairness and efficiency, avoid market failures, and defuse risks of economic fluctuations. A complete system of laws and regulations can provide strong protection for the legitimate rights and interests of business entities and citizens, and provide long-term stable expectations for the market.
Economic strength is the material foundation for enhancing economic and social resilience. The modernization of industrial structure, the solid foundation of traditional industries, the continuous growth of emerging industries, and the forward-looking layout of future industries form an organic whole with gradient succession and two-way empowerment, which can enhance development stamina, expand development space, and improve industrial competitiveness. A complete industrial system, a full-chain production and supply chain, and strong guarantee capacity for production factors such as energy and resources can make up for gaps through internal adjustments when external supply is cut off or demand changes suddenly. Diversified, synergistic, and mutually reinforcing business entities can maintain economic vitality, fully absorb employment, and form a stable development pattern. Complete infrastructure can improve the efficiency of economic operation and ensure the orderly conduct of production and circulation, livelihood guarantees, and emergency rescue. The development pattern of urban-rural integration and regional coordination can form a synergistic force for growth, effectively disperse regional risks, and enhance the overall ability of the economy to withstand shocks.
Endogenous driving force is the core engine for enhancing economic and social resilience. Deepening reform comprehensively helps to build a high-level socialist market economic system, improve the macroeconomic governance system, promote high-level opening up, consolidate the foundation of economic and social development, unleash development potential, and strengthen the ability to prevent and defuse risks. Based on the scale of the national unified market, it helps to boost consumption, expand investment, and continuously inject new vitality into the economy. A complete industrial system can autonomously meet various production demands. The talent advantage of a large number of high-quality laborers and entrepreneurs provides a continuous human resource support for industrial innovation and development. Accelerating high-level self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology can innovate and transform industries, cultivate new quality productive forces, achieve technological autonomy and controllability, and enhance the ability of industries to resist external sanctions and technology supply cut-offs from the supply side.
Social security is an important cornerstone for enhancing economic and social resilience. The level of basic livelihood guarantees continuously improves; new forms such as flexible employment, shared labor, and the gig economy emerge; workers in new forms of employment receive corresponding social security, which can enhance employment resilience. The social security, medical insurance, and assistance safety net is sound; the level of equalization of public services continuously improves; the gap between urban and rural areas and between regions narrows; the safety net for vulnerable groups is consolidated, which can reduce social contradictions caused by income fluctuations and sudden changes. The capacity for modern social governance continuously strengthens; a social governance community characterized by responsibility for everyone, participation by everyone, and enjoyment by everyone is built; benign interaction among government governance, social regulation, and resident autonomy is achieved, which can resolve contradictions locally and enhance society’s ability for self-repair and adjustment.
Cultural identity is the spiritual support for enhancing economic and social resilience. General Secretary Xi Jinping points out, “The unity of Chinese civilization fundamentally determines that the cultures of all ethnic groups in the Chinese nation are integrated into one whole, staying firmly cohesive even when encountering major setbacks, and determines the common conviction that the territory must not be divided, the country must not be thrown into chaos, the nation must not be fragmented, and the civilization must not be interrupted.” China’s excellent traditional culture is the wisdom crystallization and essence of Chinese civilization and is the foundation for us to stand firm in the world’s cultural turbulence. The cultural identity based on China’s excellent traditional culture nurtures strong cultural confidence, common historical memory, tenacious national spirit, and rich experience in struggle, forming a profound national centripetal force, enabling us to remain tenacious and unyielding when facing suppression and containment; to unite and respond to risks and challenges; to resolve internal contradictions in a timely manner and jointly build harmony when they arise.
Practical paths for enhancing economic and social resilience
The Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan points out that the development environment of our country faces profound and complex changes, and our country’s development is in a period where strategic opportunities coexist with risks and challenges, and uncertain and unpredictable factors increase. To enhance economic and social resilience, we must deeply comprehend General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important statements on enhancing economic and social resilience, adhere to the holistic approach to national security, coordinate development and security, and safeguard national security and stability.
Adhere to the leadership of the Party. The Communist Party of China is the strong leadership core of the socialist cause with Chinese characteristics. We must uphold
Return to TopBy: 兰甲云
The Zhouyi (周易, "Zhou Changes) as a Chinese classic has its core meaning in following the times and tending toward change, and on this basis it provided successive generations of governance with administrative strategies that adjust measures to circumstances and are flexible and adaptable. Looking throughout the Zhouyi, the three thoughts of rule of virtue (德治), rule of rites (礼治), and rule of law (法治) mutually fuse, interpenetrate, and complement each other, upholding the fundamental principle that the human way takes its model from heaven and earth, and contain a long-standing (源远流长, yuǎn yuǎn liú cháng - "source distant, flow long," of long duration) governance wisdom.
"Let the robes and ceremonial cap hang down and the world be governed" (垂衣裳而天下治)
The era of the Yellow Emperor, Yao, and Shun in high antiquity was always regarded by the Confucians as an ideal age of governance. The "Xici, Part Two" (系辞下传, "Appended Statements, Lower Tradition) of the Zhouyi records: "The Yellow Emperor, Yao, and Shun arose; they comprehended the changes and made the people not weary; they were spirit-like and transformed them, making the people suitable. In Yi, when things are exhausted they change; when they change, they become unimpeded; when unimpeded, they endure long. Therefore, they receive help from heaven; good fortune, nothing unfavorable. The Yellow Emperor, Yao, and Shun let their robes and caps hang down, and the world was governed — this they took from Qian and Kun." The meaning of "let the robes and caps hang down and the world be governed" is that the distinction of black and yellow robes and caps is merely an external symbol of the order of heaven and earth; the core is not simply the promulgation of dress regulations, but the ruler using "virtue" to silently influence the people. At that time, the folkways were simple, honest, and unadorned, supplemented by simple rites and regulations, and peace and order under heaven could be achieved — this is precisely a portrayal of the fusion and co-governance of high-antiquity virtue-education and simple rites.
The Qian (乾) and Kun (坤) hexagrams are the core for understanding this thought. Qian, pure yang, is heaven, symbolizing the ruler and the fatherly way; Kun, pure yin, is earth, symbolizing ministers and the motherly way. In antiquity there was the symbolic metaphor of "heaven is black, earth is yellow; upper garment, lower skirt": the black upper garment belongs to the way of heaven of the Qian hexagram, and the yellow lower skirt corresponds to the thick virtue of Kun earth. But one must not mechanically bind it to a single line position such as the fifth line (nine in the fifth) of the Qian hexagram or the fifth line (six in the fifth) of the Kun hexagram. The line text of the fifth line (six in the fifth) of the Kun hexagram says: "Yellow lower garment; primordial good fortune." Yellow is the color of central correctness; the lower garment is worn on the lower body — it metaphorically means that the minister maintains centrality and compliance, occupies the lower position without overstepping. Thus it uses attire to symbolize virtue, not a specific set of robe and cap regulations. When the positions of Qian and Kun are clearly fixed, the gradations of honor and lowliness are ordered; when the court and the common people each settle in their proper places, then the world can achieve long-term peace and order. The "Commentary on the Words of the Text" (文言, Wenyan) of the Qian hexagram says that at that time "the world is cultured and bright" and "thus the heavenly pattern is seen." The way of centrality and correctness prevails universally throughout the world — this is a distinct characteristic of the Grand Unity (大同, great harmony) age of governance.
The "Xici, Part One" (系辞上传, "Appended Statements, Upper Tradition) further elaborates the governance wisdom contained in the Qian and Kun hexagrams: "Heaven is exalted, earth is lowly; thus Qian and Kun are fixed. The lowly and the high are exhibited; thus the noble and the base have their positions. Movement and rest have constancy; thus the firm and the soft are distinguished." Once the order of high and low is fixed between heaven and earth, then among human society the gradations of ruler and minister, elder and younger are produced; all things moving and resting have constant regularities, so society's operation can be stable and orderly. It also says: "Qian is known through what is easy; Kun is enabled through what is simple." This means the way of Qian is plain and upright, making people easily comprehend the Way and righteousness; people's hearts become intimate, kind, and inclined toward goodness, nurturing the benevolent virtue of the gentleman. The way of Kun is simple and practical, making people content with their duties, accomplish undertakings, and achieve meritorious service that benefits the world. The great Way is extremely simple; grasping the principle of Qian and Kun and yin and yang can enable one to understand the foundation of governing the state. From this we can know that Qian governs bright virtue, self-cultivation, and awakening wisdom; Kun governs practical affairs and establishing merit. Virtue and achievement are pursued together, yin and yang assist each other — this was the foundation of great order in high antiquity.
Implemented in rule by virtue, the Qian hexagram uses its four virtues to unify the way of governing the mind. In the Tang dynasty, Li Dingzuo (李鼎祚) held that Qian is the ruler, governs trust; primordial (元, yuan) is benevolence; enjoyment (亨, heng) is rites; benefit (利, li) is righteousness; correctness (贞, zhen) is wisdom. The ruler's self-cultivation should extend from oneself to others, from filial piety toward parents and respect for elders to compassion for the myriad people and treating all quarters with courtesy. Its ideal picture connects with the discourse on Grand Unity in the "Li Yun" (礼运, "Evolution of Rites") chapter of the Book of Rites (礼记): "Not only treat one's own parents as parents, not only treat one's own children as children, so that the old have a proper end, the strong have a proper use, the young have proper growth, and the widowers, widows, orphans, childless, and the disabled are all provided for."
The Qian hexagram advocates ceaseless self-renewal (自强不息, zì qiáng bù xī - "self-strengthen without cease") — this is the virtue of the ruler for transforming the world; the Kun hexagram governs the virtue of carrying all things with generous earth (厚德载物, hòu dé zài wù - "thick virtue bears things") — this is the virtue of ministers for assisting and ordering the four quarters. The two combined constitute the standard for the ruler's self-cultivation and administration, and also became the yardstick for later generations in educating people, establishing oneself, and conducting affairs.
"Only when there are superiors and inferiors can rites and righteousness be applied" (有上下然后礼义有所措)
As social forms gradually evolved, mere moral education could no longer sustain operation, so rule by rites stepped onto the historical stage. The "Xugua Zhuan" (序卦传, "Sequence of the Hexagrams) combs through the developmental vein of human relations and ritual system: "There are heaven and earth, then there are the myriad things. There are the myriad things, then there are male and female. There are male and female, then there are husband and wife. There are husband and wife, then there are father and son. There are father and son, then there are ruler and minister. There are ruler and minister, then there are superiors and inferiors. There are superiors and inferiors, then rites and righteousness have a place to be applied." Heaven and earth give birth to the myriad things, from which emerge the sequential order of male and female, husband and wife, father and son, ruler and minister. After the gradations of honor and lowliness are delineated, "rites" have something to rely on for implementation.
The family is the starting point of human relations and ritual system. The Jiaren (家人, "Family) hexagram centrally explains the way of regulating the family. The hexagram statement says: "It is favorable for the woman to be correct," pointing out the meaning of the division of internal and external duties in traditional society. The "Xici, Part One" says: "The way of Qian becomes the male; the way of Kun becomes the female." The distinction of yin and yang in Qian and Kun delineates the natural duties of men and women. The "Tuan Zhuan" (彖传, "Judgment Commentary) of the Jiaren hexagram states directly: "In the family, the woman has her correct position inside, the man has his correct position outside. The correctness of man and woman is the great righteousness of heaven and earth. In the family there are strict rulers — this refers to the father and mother." Within the framework of family rites, men and women each perform their own functions — this is the great way that accords with the yin and yang of heaven and earth. The father and mother are the masters of the family, bearing the responsibility of rectifying the family atmosphere and harmonizing the clan. When father and son, elder and younger brothers, husband and wife each keep their proper station and are content with their roles, the family way can be correct. And regulating the family is precisely the foundation for governing the state and bringing peace to the world.
The Gu (蛊, "Decay) hexagram expands the connotation of regulating the family, proposing the ethical norm that younger generations can correct the faults of elders, thereby enriching traditional family ritual law. "Doing away with the decay of the father" means correcting the faults of the father: the line text of the first line (six at the beginning) speaks of actively correcting the faults of the former generation, and after undergoing trials, finally attaining good fortune; the line text of the fourth line (six in the fourth) speaks of lenient indulgence and slackness in not correcting faults, which brings difficulty. When admonishing the faults of the mother, one must vary the measure. The line text of the second line (nine in the second) says: "Doing away with the decay of the mother; one must not be too correct," meaning that when persuading the mother, one should be gentle and soft, and not use rigid, forceful remonstrance. The alternation of firmness and gentleness, directness and tact, with appropriate measure, while taking into account the distinction between elders and youth and between male and female, fully expresses how traditional ritual law is attuned to human sentiment and appropriate to the times, confirming the inherent logic that self-cultivation, family regulation, and state governance are one continuous thread.
The relationship between ruler and minister is the core of state ritual system. The Bi (贲, "Adornment) hexagram, through its line images, depicts an ideal picture of co-governance between ruler and minister. The fifth line (six in the fifth) occupies the minister's position softly; it uses the ceremonial adornment of rites and music to seek out talented recluses in the mountains and wilds. Though initially there are shortcomings, it finally attains good fortune. The top line (nine above) resides at the end of the entire hexagram; it discards extravagance, guards a simple original heart, and assists the ruler with straight way, thus obtaining "no blame." Commentators of the Yi throughout the ages, in explaining this hexagram, all held that the way of governing the state lies in the ruler treating worthies with courtesy, humbly accepting remonstrance, and that reclusive worthies come out to serve in administration, doing their utmost with dedication. When the ruler and minister share the same mind and virtue, only then can an age of peace be achieved.
The Duke of Zhou instituted rites and created music (周公制礼作乐)
With the fall of the Shang dynasty and the rise of the Zhou house, the Duke of Zhou instituted rites and created music, establishing the wisdom of using both the transformation of rites and music and the punishment of penalties. Among the sixty-four hexagrams, the Qian (谦, "Modesty) hexagram is the most unique; all six lines are auspicious. The "Xici, Part Two" explicitly states: "Modesty is used to regulate the rites." Modesty and reverence are the spiritual core of the Zhou dynasty's ritual and music system. In the Qian hexagram, the second line (six in the second) and the top line (six above) both speak of "proclaiming modesty," linking modest virtue with the sound of music, fully showing that the way of modesty and reverence is fused into music and dance and runs through the entire ritual and music system.
The third line (nine in the third) of the Qian hexagram is the main line of the entire hexagram. The "Xici, Part One" extols its virtue abundant and rites reverent — that is, to bear toil and labor without claiming merit, to establish achievements without vaunting virtue, and always to treat others with a modest heart. This is the core meaning of "rites." "Virtue values abundance; rites value reverence." Virtuous conduct values fullness and profundity; ritual behavior values modesty, harmony, and respect. Always cherishing modesty and reverence, then each can be at peace in their position and the court and commonalty can be harmonious. The rites and music of the Western Zhou did not bias toward civilizing virtue while discarding restraints. The line text of the fifth line (six in the fifth) says: "It is favorable to attack and punish; nothing unfavorable." The top line (six above) says: "It is favorable to mobilize the army to attack one's own city or state." This makes clear that the power of punitive expeditions and military affairs belongs to the Son of Heaven, confirming the state principle of the Analects (季氏, "Ji Shi" chapter): "Rites, music, and punitive expeditions proceed from the Son of Heaven." Rites and music education pacify the people's hearts; military force and punishments deter the wicked. Civilizing virtue and martial achievement complement each other, forming the complete governance framework of the Western Zhou.
The Yu (豫, "Delight) hexagram specially discusses the rites of music and dance and of sacrifice. Its "Xiang Zhuan" (象传, "Image Commentary) says: "The former kings used it to make music to honor virtue, presenting it abundantly to the Supreme God, and matching the ancestors with him." The general meaning is that the former kings created music and dance to manifest the great virtue of heaven and earth, offered solemn sacrifices to heaven, and matched the ancestors in sacrifice to commemorate the origin of life. Tradition holds that King Wen of Zhou composed the hexagram statements and the Duke of Zhou perfected the system of line statements. The Duke of Zhou's thought of instituting rites and creating music shares the same source as the way of rites and music contained in the Zhouyi. The suburban sacrifice (郊祀) ritual of matching ancestors with heaven and earth is also seen in the Classic of Filial Piety (孝经); the Book of Rites (礼记, "Method of Sacrifices" chapter) and the Yu hexagram have full records of it. The Duke of Zhou did not invent the suburban sacrifice but rather perfected and standardized the old rites of the Shang, establishing a sacrificial system based on filial piety, and all the feudal lords under heaven followed it uniformly. From this it can be seen that the connotations of rites and music recorded in the Qian and Yu hexagrams are precisely the intellectual reflection of the Duke of Zhou's ritual and musical system in the Zhouyi. Complementary to the transformation by rites and music, the phrase in the "Xiang Zhuan" of the Shi Ke (噬嗑, "Biting Through) hexagram — "the former kings thereby made punishments clear and rectified the laws" — more concentratedly embodies the Western Zhou legal philosophy of giving primacy to rites and supplementing them with punishments.
Looking across the history of the transition from Shang to Zhou, the comparison of the rise and fall of the two dynasties suffices to confirm the governance wisdom of the Zhouyi. At the end of the Shang dynasty, the rulers indulged in sacrifices to ghosts and spirits, were addicted to alcohol and extravagance, and let the ritual system decay. Although there were harsh penal codes, they relied solely on violence, lost the foundation of virtue-education, and ultimately headed toward collapse. The Western Zhou established a system that pursued rule by virtue as its goal, took rule by rites as its main body, and used punishments as a supplement — balancing leniency and severity, employing grace and authority together — sustaining the Zhou house's foundation for nearly 800 years. The Zhouyi was completed during the tumultuous period of the Shang-Zhou dynastic change, preserving intact the intellectual crystallization of this major transformation. Compared with the shamanistic customs of the Xia and Shang dynasties, which emphasized sacrifices to ghosts and spirits, the sacrifices of the Western Zhou no longer simply worshipped deities but instead embodied the filial way of carefully attending to the end and pursuing the distant, of knowing gratitude and repaying one's roots. Humanistic spirit became the core of ritual-music civilization. At the same time, the Zhou rites abolished at the state institutional level the evil practice of large-scale human sacrifice that was prevalent in the Shang dynasty. Although remnants of burial with the dead occasionally persisted among the people, it had fundamentally eradicated the barbaric sacrificial customs of the Shang, from then on initiating the civilization of Chinese rites and music that lasted for millennia.
Return to TopBy: 游雨泽
The Laurentian Library, situated on Piazza San Lorenzo in Florence, Italy, and whose full name is the Medici-Laurentian Library, is one of the most important collecting institutions in the world. It is both a library housing treasured classical, medieval, and Renaissance documents, and an architectural masterpiece in whose design Michelangelo participated. This library allows one, from the intersection of books and space, to enter the historical scene of Florentine humanism; and the Dante documents preserved within it also let us see how the Divine Comedy was read, copied, and rediscovered in the poet’s homeland.
The Publicization of the Medici Family’s Book Collection
The history of the Laurentian Library is, first of all, a history of the Medici family’s book collecting. In 15th-century Florence, commercial wealth, political power, and humanist scholarship were interwoven. The Medici family not only funded artists but also collected, copied, and collated ancient texts. The core collection of this library can be traced back to the private book collection of Cosimo de’ Medici. Between 1417 and 1418, Cosimo owned 63 volumes; by the time of his death in 1464, this number had grown to 150. Thereafter, his descendants continued to expand the collection; Lorenzo de’ Medici, in particular, amassed a great many Greek manuscripts, gradually creating a high-quality collection of humanist documents.
For a private book collection to become a public cultural space in the true sense, it also required the combined impetus of space, institutions, and political will. The one who actually planned a dedicated library for this collection was Giulio de’ Medici, later Pope Clement VII. He commissioned Michelangelo to design a space specifically for the storage and reading of the Medici family’s manuscripts. Work began in 1524 but was interrupted by Michelangelo’s departure from Florence and the death of Clement VII. It was not until the time of Duke Cosimo I of Tuscany that the project was restarted, and it officially opened to the public on June 11, 1571. This marked the moment when the private cultural wealth accumulated over several generations of the Medici family was properly installed in a public space open to a broad readership. The Laurentian Library thus differs from an ordinary private book collection; it retains the taste of the family collection while gradually taking on the public mission of preserving ancient knowledge and serving humanist scholarship.
The Space Michelangelo Built for Books
Upon entering the Laurentian Library, what first impresses is not the books themselves but the space itself. Michelangelo’s designed entrance hall soars high; the famous tripartite staircase, executed by Bartolomeo Ammannati according to Michelangelo’s conception, opens elliptically downward from the central flight, as if leading one into the world of books.
Michelangelo deliberately treated the entrance hall as a prelude leading toward the reading room. In contrast to the verticality of the entrance hall, the reading room unfolds horizontally, bright with light and orderly in its arrangements. Long wooden reading desks line both sides of the space. These desks are not simple tables and chairs but combine the functions of reading stand and bookcase. When the library opened in 1571, the core collection was placed on or inside these desks and fastened with chains. Each desk’s side bears a wooden shelf list indicating the books it contains. Manuscripts and printed works were arranged according to categories such as theology, astronomy, rhetoric, philosophy, history, grammar, poetry, and geography; this design made books part of the spatial order. A reader sitting among the desks faces not just a single book, but a world of knowledge classified, arranged, and displayed. The uniqueness of the Laurentian Library also lies precisely in its combination of architecture, aesthetics, the institutional system of book storage, and the act of reading, making “reading” a highly visible and perceptible cultural ritual.
A Treasure House of Classical and Humanist Documents
Today the Laurentian Library holds approximately 11,000 manuscripts, 2,500 papyrus documents, 43 ostraka, 566 incunabula, 1,681 16th-century printed works, and a large number of books from the 17th to the 20th centuries.
Among the treasures of the Laurentian Library are both important legacies of the classical world and evidence of the rediscovery and reorganization of ancient knowledge during the humanist era. In addition to precious or unique manuscripts of ancient authors such as Tacitus, Pliny, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Quintilian, there is a corrected copy of Virgil from the year 494 CE, as well as the earliest extant manuscript of Justinian’s Corpus Juris Civilis. The library also preserves the autographs or former holdings of several Florentine humanists. The autographs of Petrarch and Boccaccio, Guicciardini’s History of Italy with his own annotations, and Cellini’s autobiographical manuscript make this library an important site for understanding Italian humanism and Renaissance culture.
If the Medici family provided the material conditions for these documents, the Florentine humanists gave them new life. Classical texts were no longer merely relics in monasteries and courts but became objects for scholars to collate, translate, lecture on, and reinterpret. What the Laurentian Library bears is precisely the process of continuous transmission from classical knowledge to modern research.
The Memory of Dante’s Circulation in His Homeland
The Laurentian Library is closely connected to the dissemination of Dante’s works in Florence. In 2021, to commemorate the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death, the Laurentian Library, together with the National Central Library of Florence and the Riccardiana Library, co-hosted the exhibition “Dante and His Time,” which centrally displayed the Dante-related documentary heritage held by the three libraries and attempted to reconstruct the trajectory of Dante’s works’ circulation in his homeland.
Manuscripts, early commentaries, precious miniatures, and later printed editions together shaped the textual life and visual imagination of the Divine Comedy. The Laurentian Library pays particular attention to the forms in which the Divine Comedy was copied and circulated in Florence. Florence saw the “extraordinary and immediate” success of the Divine Comedy soon after Dante’s death. Among the most striking items is the Laurentian Library’s Ashburnham 828, one of the earliest complete witnesses, dating from before 1335. For Dante scholars, such an item is extremely valuable because Dante’s original autograph no longer exists; the text of the Divine Comedy can only be reconstructed through the later manuscript tradition. An early and complete witness is an important gateway into the poem itself and its early dissemination and reception.
In addition, the Laurentian Library preserves and displays other important materials related to Dante, such as fragments of the Il Fiore (or Detto d’Amore), and illustrations for the Divine Comedy created by Giovanni Stradano in 1587. Pluteo 40.7 is one of the 14th-century manuscripts of the Divine Comedy held by the Laurentian Library; a facsimile edition was published in 2018 by the Italian Institute of the Encyclopaedia. Hence, the Dante-related collections of the Laurentian Library are in fact an entire cultural tradition sustained by copying, commentary, painting, collecting, collation, and publication.
This is precisely the most meaningful connection between the Laurentian Library and Dante. It is not merely a place that “houses Dante’s works,” but one that lets us see how Dante, as a poet and an exile who died far from his homeland, was read, interpreted, and viewed in his native city. For modern scholars, the history of the Divine Comedy is not only a history of textual interpretation but also a history of book circulation, commentary, and reading. The handwriting of copyists, marginal annotations, frontispiece images, and the catalog system on the old reading desks all participated in the generation of the work’s meaning. Literature here is not an abstract text detached from material form, but a historical existence continuously reorganized through copying, collecting, reading, and research. In this sense, the Laurentian Library is a bridge connecting the classical world, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and modern scholarship. It began with the Medici family’s collection, gained spatial form through Michelangelo’s architectural design, and is continually reborn through generations of scholars’ work in organization, cataloging, research, and exhibition. What it preserves is not only books, but also humanity’s understanding of the world and the process of transmitting that understanding.
Return to TopBy: 杜金
In ancient Chinese official advisory texts, there is an important work centered on the people (民) — the Tumin Lu (图民录). Its author, Yuan Shouding (袁守定, 1705–1782), a native of Fengcheng, Jiangxi (江西丰城), became a jinshi (presented scholar) in the eighth year of the Yongzheng reign. He served successively as magistrate of Huitong, Hongjiang, and Zhijiang in Hunan, and acted as prefect of Guiyang, achieving outstanding governance and a resounding official reputation; the common people called him "Yuan the Blue Sky (袁青天)". In the sixth year of the Qianlong reign, Yuan Shouding returned to his hometown to care for his widowed mother; in the twenty-first year of the Qianlong reign, he again entered officialdom, serving successively as sub-prefect of Badating, magistrate of Quzhou in Zhili, and secretary of the Ministry of Rites. The Tumin Lu was compiled on the eve of his departure for the north to assume office again, collecting the excellent words and admirable deeds of the ancients together with what he had learned from his experience in Hunan. The original intention of its compilation was self-reflection, but because the book was of great help in the governance of prefectures and counties, it was printed many times, and many of its contents were also excerpted by other official advisory texts, spreading widely. The two characters tumin (图民) are taken from the Guoyu (国语): "If one truly sets his mind on tumin (图民, planning for the people), even if his wisdom is insufficient, he will surely attain it." It means that if one earnestly considers the welfare of the common people, even if his talents are somewhat deficient, he will certainly achieve his goals. The entire work comprises four volumes and 253 essays, with the character min (民) appearing over 500 times, repeatedly emphasizing putting the people first, putting oneself in their place and thinking for them, cherishing a heart that loves the people, and implementing governance that benefits the people.
The first priority in governance is loving the people.
The first essay of the Tumin Lu is "For the People (为民)". Yuan Shouding cites the saying, "The people are the foundation of the state; when the foundation is firm, the state is tranquil," and holds that just as this applies to governing the empire, so it also applies to governing a single county: "Working for the people is precisely being loyal." The foundation of working for the people is loving the people; when approaching the people and handling affairs, one must have a "heart that loves others" and possess the "talent to love others," only then can one achieve a "government that loves others."
A county magistrate, as a "father-mother official," should "regard the people as his children and govern the people as his family," caring for the common people as parents raise and look after their own children. In Yuan Shouding's view, although those capable officials who clearly perceive the hidden and subtle are praised as gods, it is officials like Zhao Xinchen and Du Shi, whom the people called "Father Zhao, Mother Du," who are the most worthy models to emulate. The ways of loving the people are, first, protecting the people (保民), originating from the Book of Documents (尚书) phrase "as if protecting an infant" — meaning that the ruler must protect the people as tenderly as one cares for a newborn baby. The official should be a guarantor for the region, i.e., "act as the people's master, awakening the foolish, supporting the weak, straightening the wronged, rescuing the endangered, and completing what is lacking," providing support and protection to the people so that they can live in peace, safety, and stability. Second, suiting the people (宜民), i.e., accommodating the people so that they live and work in contentment. "The people are still the same old people; it is up to me to make them comfortable." Governance does not mean forcibly changing the populace, but should conform to popular sentiment, comply with popular will, and maintain a state of ease and stability.
Only by loving the people can one put oneself in their place and understand them empathetically, i.e., "compare heart with heart." How officials treat the people determines how the people will repay them. The relationship between officials and the people is always reciprocal: "Regard the people as children, and the people will regard you as father-mother; regard the people as enemies, and the people will regard you as an enemy." Regarding the attitude toward the people, the Tumin Lu emphasizes the two words sincerity (诚) and reverence (敬). "Sincerity" means "a sincere heart and solid governance"; with heartfelt sincerity in implementing pragmatic policies, the people will naturally be moved and guided. Conversely, the slightest pretense cannot deceive the masses: "The temperament, disposition, and intentions of an official are known thoroughly by the people, with nothing hidden or obstructed." "Reverence" means being earnest and cautious in administrative affairs, holding the people's livelihood in awe. "If one is reverent, the people will receive endless blessings; if one is not reverent, the people will suffer endless calamities."
Only when government is unimpeded can harmony be achieved between the ruler and the people.
"政通人和" (zhèng tōng rén hé - "government unimpeded, people harmonious") is the political ideal and governance pursuit of traditional China. "Government unimpeded" has a bidirectional meaning: first, the sentiments below must reach above (下情上通); only when the higher level can understand the true situation below can governmental affairs be smoothly carried out and decrees flow unimpeded. The Tumin Lu emphasizes that "the sentiments above and below must be connected" and "In all cases, when the sentiments above and below are connected, there is governance; when they are not connected, there is no governance." If the official's decrees and measures are transmitted directly to the people without being obstructed by clerks and runners, and the people's appeals and opinions are reported directly to the official without being blocked by clerks and runners, then information flows freely between officials and people, and governance will succeed. Conversely, if officials and people are cut off from each other, governance will fail.
Why is communication (通) so important? Yuan Shouding says: "There is no other technique for holding office than to strive to conform to human feelings. Matters that follow the sentiments of the people can be implemented; those that go against the sentiments of the people cannot be implemented." Governance requires winning popular support, conforming to popular will, and complying with popular sentiment, and the prerequisite for all this is understanding popular sentiment. Empathy (共情) in governance is not merely emotional resonance and psychological comfort; more importantly, it means truly standing in the people's position to formulate and implement policies. Deeply understanding the hardships, sufferings, worries, and hopes of the people, perceiving their situation, comprehending their emotions, and responding to their demands — such governance that complies with popular sentiment will naturally win the people's approval. This is what the book calls the official sharing "the same likes and dislikes" with the people. "Whatever benefits the people, the official also calls beneficial; even if the benefit has not yet been achieved, the people will still be grateful. Whatever the people suffer from, the official also calls suffering; even if the suffering has not yet been removed, the people will not resent." Clearly, the foundation of good governance lies in promptly and effectively observing popular sentiment; only when government is unimpeded can harmony between the ruler and the people be achieved.
How to ensure that the sentiments below reach above? First, be approachable and easy to get along with (平易近人). Officials should be gentle, modest, and amiable, not putting on airs or displaying authority, "so that the people can approach him, and only then can the people fully express their feelings." Second, solicit opinions broadly (博采舆论). When implementing something in a locality, it is essential to widely gather the people's views. If one acts arbitrarily, the policy will be obstructed midway. Third, inquire about gains and losses everywhere (随处咨询得失). Actively seek remonstrance, humbly listen to others' pointing out one's own gains and losses, and take them as a mirror. If one always maintains a cautious heart, seeks opinions and listens to the people's voices everywhere, and promptly corrects mistakes, it will surely be possible not to go against popular sentiment.
Pacifying the people lies in not disturbing them.
"Quietness and stability are the root of governance." This is Yuan Shouding's request to himself from the perspective of the people. He divides good officials into two types: one type is exceptionally talented, decisive, and fully capable of handling all affairs properly — these are "capable officials." The other type is simple, generous, steady, and always thinks of not harassing the people when doing things — these are "blessed officials." The latter bring blessings to the people and represent a higher realm of good officialdom. "If one can be quiet and stable, the people will receive his blessings, and he will be fully capable of achieving; if one is not quiet and stable, the people will suffer harm, and he will also be incapable of achieving."
Quietness and stability (安静) can be understood as leniency and simplicity (宽简省事) — being lenient without harshness, simple without triviality, not annoying, not creating trouble, and not burdening the people. In dealing with the people, if one is lenient a step, they will be grateful; if one is harsh a step, they will resent. In handling affairs, if one is relaxed a step, it can be accomplished; if one is hasty a step, it will easily fail. When government affairs are convenient for the people, they are easy to accept and cooperate with, and naturally can be smoothly promoted and implemented. When procedures are cumbersome, the people cannot bear the annoyance, and officials will also suffer from difficulties in execution, passing the buck, corruption, and other evils. The book lists five kinds of "diseases of annoyance and disturbance (烦扰之病)": first, government decrees are too numerous and complex, so the people are unclear about what to do; second, levies and apportionments are too frequent, draining the people's pockets; third, large-scale construction projects exhaust the people with labor; fourth, policies are changed in the morning and altered in the evening, leaving the people at a loss; fifth, government affairs are too trivial, making them unbearable for the people. "One more matter for the official means one more disturbance for the people." If the people are disturbed, they will produce resentment. By the time the official realizes that he is disturbing the people and rescinds or stops, the people have already suffered deeply. Therefore, Yuan Shouding added the two characters "gentle and slow (和缓)" to the three-character formula "clean, cautious, diligent (清慎勤)" for holding office, stating that all five characters are indispensable.
Quietness and stability do not equal lazy governance. To make things easy for the people, officials must possess the skill of "not being annoyed (耐烦)". Official duties are endless — there is no skill or shortcut; one can only handle them one by one with tireless patience, caution, and diligence. As the saying goes, "Officials grow slack when success is at hand." It is not hard to be patient for a while; the difficulty is in being consistent from beginning to end. Yuan Shouding therefore warns: "Weariness is a major illness in holding office." He compares a weary official to a weary horse — no matter how much you urge and command, it remains unmoved. This state of administrative numbness and lethargy is not innate but accumulates day by day under a perfunctory mindset of putting things off and muddling along. Once one becomes accustomed to delaying and shirking, government affairs will surely be ruined, and the people will suffer harm — this must be taken as a serious warning.
Return to TopCities are the people's cities, and the people's city serves the people. The outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan (十五五规划纲要) clearly states: "Promote the transformation of urban development mode, and build modern people's cities that are innovative, livable, beautiful, resilient, civilized, and intelligent." The high-quality supply of ecological space is precisely an important yardstick for testing the quality of people's city construction. Bao'an District (宝安区), Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, taking the "Mountain-Sea Connected City" (山海连城) construction as an important starting point, has explored a practical path for the synergistic advancement of ecological spatial restructuring and high-quality living.
Top-level design is implemented first, drawing a single blueprint. The systematic restructuring of urban ecological space cannot be separated from planning guidance. Bao'an has superior ecological resource endowments, with complete elements such as mountains, sea, forest, city, and lake, and undertakes the construction tasks for about 20% of the total length of the city's "one ridge, one belt" (一脊一带) and the mission of building six mountain-sea corridors. The two symbolic starting points of the city's "one ridge, one belt" are located in Bao'an, establishing Bao'an's important position in the city's mountain-sea landscape. As early as 2021, Bao'an completed research on the "Mountain-Sea Connected City" connection framework design for the entire district, forming the "11650" implementation code — that is, "one ridge, one belt, six corridors" (一脊一带六廊) and approximately 50 groups of roaming city paths, striving to build over 1,000 kilometers of greenways by 2035, and fully forming a district-wide roaming network characterized by "mountains and sea merging with the city, rivers and forests weaving the city, composite functions, and sharing by all people."
This top-level design not only provides a clear action blueprint but also uses the slow-traffic system as a "needle" to "string scattered natural ecological resources and urban functional nodes into a chain" (串珠成链). This systematic planning thinking reflects a deep understanding and holistic grasp of the value of urban ecological space.
Innovative pathways are explored to break through ecological "break points." The blueprint has been drawn; the key lies in implementation. In the process of rapid urban expansion, there are "break points" (断点) formed by road barriers and land segmentation between mountains and the sea, between parks, and between greenways. Breaking through these "break points" to truly connect ecological spaces into networks and patches is the key focus of Bao'an's "Mountain-Sea Connected City" construction.
Bao'an adheres to a strategy of simultaneous "connection and upgrading." In December 2025, the longest lake-ring cycling path in Shenzhen — the Shiyan Lake (石岩湖) cycling path — was officially opened through. The Shiyan Lake cycling path project systematically implemented "break point" connections and road section renovations targeting problems such as existing greenway "break points," narrow sections, and wear, greatly enhancing cycling safety and smoothness. The upgraded cycling path's main ring road is 3 to 6 meters wide, with a level surface, winding through lychee forests, wetlands, flower fields, and fir forests, outlining an ecological scroll painting of "one step, one view" (一步一景).
The same "connection" thinking is also reflected in the weaving and mending of the green vein that runs through the urban area. The Four Seasons Greenway (四季绿道), approximately 12 kilometers in total length, spans three subdistricts — Fuyong (福永), Xinqiao (新桥), and Songgang (松岗) — and connects five major reservoirs, becoming an important green vein of the "Mountain-Sea Roaming Path" (山海漫道). Before the Four Seasons Greenway construction project began, Bao'an incorporated the opening of multiple "break points" into the plan and fully integrated the sponge city concept, planning to realize the organic integration of ecological and recreational functions by adding ecological facilities such as rainwater gardens and wetland parks.
From the meticulous refinement of a single cycling path to the systematic connection of a green vein, Bao'an employs "acupuncture-point-style" (针灸式) precise intervention to eliminate structural barriers in urban ecological space one by one. This approach — which does not engage in large-scale demolition and construction but seeks "connectivity" through "connection" — avoids resource waste from duplicate construction and taps incremental value from existing resources.
Proceeding from the people's interests, it highlights the warmth of people's livelihood. Cities belong to the people, and urban construction must implement the people-centered development philosophy so that the masses can live happier lives. In Bao'an, "see green when pushing open the window, enter a park when stepping out the door" (推窗见绿、出门入园) has shifted from a beautiful vision to a tangible daily reality.
Over the past year, Bao'an newly built or renovated 5 parks of various types, created 30 pocket parks and micro-green spaces, added 36,000 trees and 30,000 square meters of vertical greening, and built 120 kilometers of new footpaths, achieving full coverage of "footpaths reachable within 15 minutes." From the data, it can be seen that the "granularity" of Bao'an's ecological product supply is becoming increasingly fine — not only are there "main arteries" such as large parks and greenways, but also "capillaries" like pocket parks and micro-green spaces spread throughout communities. As of 2025, the total number of parks in the district has reached 223, with 81 kilometers of newly built or renovated recreational cycling paths, bringing the total length of recreational cycling paths to 92 kilometers. This layered, grid-like ecological spatial layout allows citizens of different ages and needs to find their own leisure spaces near their homes.
During the construction of the "Mountain-Sea Connected City," relevant departments extensively solicited citizens' opinions, ensuring that the construction results truly meet people's livelihood needs. Facing multiple challenges such as the complexity of land-use coordination, pressure from capital investment, and balancing ecological protection with development and construction, Bao'an has consistently adhered to a problem-oriented approach, solving difficulties one by one with systematic thinking. This practice of "not avoiding problems and breaking through with solid work" is an inherent requirement for implementing the concept of the people's city.
Integrating into the broader development landscape, moving toward higher goals. As greenways thread through the city and connect to the sea, and as parks are embedded into communities one after another, the "Mountain-Sea Connected City" is transforming from a blueprint into reality. The significance of this project goes far beyond the physical connection of spaces. A high-quality ecological environment is becoming a strategic resource for attracting talent, nurturing industries, and shaping the city's brand.
The Coastal Gallery (滨海廊桥), a three-dimensional green corridor integrating "air, ground, and underground," allows citizens to go directly from the central business district to the seaside. The "Bay Glory" (湾区之光) Ferris wheel, the Joy Theater (欢乐剧场), and the Shenzhen International Convention and Exhibition Center (深圳国际会展中心) unfold gradually along the Qianhai Bay (前海湾) shoreline. A three-dimensional, dynamic coastal scroll painting has taken shape, and the synergistic effect of ecological governance and industrial upgrading is also emerging.
Bao'an is in a development phase of "seven periods in synchronicity" (七期同频): the dividend release period of strategic policies, the investment realization period of earlier accumulation, the value monetization period of hub traffic, the ecological construction period of leading enterprises, the growth contribution period of emerging enterprises, the concentrated emergence period of new business forms and new models, and the breakthrough leap period of urban quality. The "Mountain-Sea Connected City" construction is precisely the key strategic move for Bao'an to promote a breakthrough leap in urban quality.
From the "micro-renewal" (微更新) of opening a single cycling path to the "grand chess game" (大棋局) of weaving a district-wide roaming network, Bao'an fully practices the concept of the people's city, striving to transform ecological dividends into industrial momentum and openness advantages. (Lyu Quanwei (吕全伟))
Return to TopBy: 黄海
New employment groups are an important component of socialist laborers and an indispensable and important force in economic and social development. The General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council's "Opinions on Strengthening Service Management for New Employment Groups" states: "Establish and improve working mechanisms and incentive mechanisms, leverage the characteristics and advantages of new employment groups, and mobilize the initiative and enthusiasm of new employment groups to participate in social governance." The Fujian Branch of Bank of Communications and the Social Work Department of the Fuzhou Municipal Committee jointly carried out finance-empowered social work, establishing a "Jiaoxin Nuan" (交心暖 - "heart-to-heart warmth") service platform to encourage and guide new employment groups to participate in grassroots governance and volunteer services, promoting joint construction, joint governance, and shared benefits.
Build an online-offline collaborative service network. Innovatively create a "1+1+N" project cooperation system, using the "Jiaoxin Nuan" service platform as the connection channel online, relying on the New Employment Groups Service Center as the physical anchor offline, while simultaneously expanding N friendly scenarios, building a systematic support network covering the work and life radius of new employment groups, and optimizing service management.
At the online level, supported by digitalization, embed the "Jiaoxin Nuan" service platform into a WeChat mini-program, realizing the full-process operation of "project release — project application — completion declaration — project review — points accumulation — points inquiry — points redemption." Community workers dynamically release various specific service projects on the platform, such as community patrols, hazard information reporting, and elderly volunteer services, based on actual governance needs within their jurisdictions. New employment groups independently select corresponding service projects based on their own time arrangements, work routes, and interest preferences. After completing services, they submit declarations in the form of photos, text descriptions, etc. After community review and approval, they receive corresponding points, which can be used to redeem financial benefits or daily necessities.
At the offline level, utilize the self-owned网点 space of the Fujian Branch of Bank of Communications located in urban areas, and cooperate with partner enterprises to jointly build the New Employment Groups Service Center. Innovatively plan the "Two Passages, Six Points, and Six Centers." The "Two Passages" refer to the fast track for new employment groups' employment and the fast track for medical insurance and social security, providing basic procedural guidance for new employment groups. The "Six Points" refer to the Party member reporting point, grassroots governance participation reporting point, government services convenience point, urban courier volunteer base, urban courier joint trade union, and warm-heart classroom; the "Six Points" together constitute a basic service matrix. The "Six Centers" refer to further establishing six specialized functional spaces: the Party-building activity center, the consultation and discussion center, the rights and interests care center, the road safety publicity and education center, the financial assistance innovation center, and the financial consumer education and publicity center, providing fixed venues for new employment groups to obtain help.
In terms of scenario extension, focus on high-frequency activity areas for new employment groups such as communities, commercial districts, and office buildings, and build N friendly scenarios. For example, set up dedicated parking areas for food delivery riders in some residential communities, create temporary transfer and relay points for couriers inside commercial complexes, and add rest chairs for ride-hailing drivers waiting for orders in office building lobbies. Through spatial optimization, convey the city's humanistic care for laborers.
Practice has proven that the operation of the "Jiaoxin Nuan" service platform has had a positive impact on the willingness of new employment groups to participate in grassroots governance.
First, lower the threshold for participation and solve the mobilization problem. New employment groups have a fast pace of work and little leisure time; mobilizing them to participate in grassroots governance should not "add burden" but rather "integrate." Embedding governance tasks into the action routes of new employment groups is a prerequisite for effective mobilization. The platform breaks down grassroots governance tasks into "micro-tasks" suited to occupational characteristics, such as "quick snap and upload" and "help along the way." A food delivery rider who discovers a damaged manhole cover while delivering meals can quickly snap a photo and upload it; a courier can deliver greetings to an elderly person living alone while making deliveries. These tasks do not add extra burden, transforming participation in governance from "something done by specially setting aside time" into "something that can be done as a side task." At the same time, the smooth points redemption channel also provides new employment groups with perceptible rewards.
Second,沉淀 behavioral data to provide a basis for precise services. The participation behaviors and points flow recorded by the platform can preliminarily outline the active time periods, demand preferences, and focus areas of new employment groups. These data provide references for offline service centers to adjust opening hours, optimize material reserves, and for the bank to precisely target their financial needs, helping to improve the targeting and effectiveness of service resource allocation.
Third, deepen two-way interaction and promote the integration of new employment groups into the community. By participating in community affairs, new employment groups gradually transform from passers-by to participants in community governance. While earning points, they also establish emotional bonds with community workers and residents, which helps enhance their sense of belonging and happiness.
Continuously promote the expansion of platform functions and system upgrades. Based on the current operation of the "Jiaoxin Nuan" service platform, the Fujian Branch of Bank of Communications will continue to join hands with the Social Work Department of the Fuzhou Municipal Committee, focusing on the real needs of new employment groups, to continuously improve platform functions and promote finance-empowered social work to go deeper and become more substantive.
First, expand the user scale. Through promotion by community grid workers, embedding entry points in cooperative platform enterprises, and inviting existing registered users to bring in more people, guide more new employment groups to use the platform. At the same time, continuously enrich the categories of points redemption, linking the exclusive benefits of the "City Builder Theme Card" launched by Bank of Communications for new employment groups with more life service scenarios, making the rewards for participating in grassroots governance more abundant and diverse.
Second, enhance the platform's tool attributes. On the basis of the core points redemption function, gradually integrate practical tools such as local policy express, social security contribution calculation, special additional deduction guidance for individual income tax, and loan simulation calculators, pushing the platform to evolve from a single points management window into a comprehensive personal affairs assistant.
Third, improve online-offline collaborative efficiency. Optimize the linkage mechanism between online points redemption and offline service centers and friendly scenarios, promoting the formation of a functionally complementary closed-loop structure between "governance participation at your fingertips" and "entity services at your doorstep."
Fourth, improve the service guarantee system. Coordinate with human resources and social security, medical insurance departments, as well as insurance institutions, to explore and develop inclusive insurance products suitable for new employment forms. Research a "points + credit" credit enhancement model, using governance participation points as an auxiliary assessment dimension to provide small loans or working capital support for eligible individuals. Rely on the warm-heart classroom to carry out financial science popularization, anti-fraud publicity, and skills training.
New employment groups are creators and guardians of a better life, and they are also pursuers and sharers of a better life. In the next step, the Fujian Branch of Bank of Communications will continue to adhere to the original aspiration of finance serving the people, take the "Jiaoxin Nuan" service platform as the starting point, continuously improve the efficiency of government-bank collaboration, let the financial living water truly nourish every laborer, and help enhance the sense of gain, happiness, and belonging of new employment groups.
(The author is Secretary of the Party Committee and President of the Fujian Branch of Bank of Communications)
A person without spirit cannot stand; a nation without spirit cannot be strong. Chinese-style modernization is a modernization in which material civilization and spiritual civilization are coordinated. As a National Civilized Unit (全国文明单位), the Anqing Municipal Tobacco Monopoly Bureau (Company) of Anhui Province (安徽省安庆市烟草专卖局（公司）) (hereinafter referred to as the Anqing Municipal Bureau (Company)) adheres to leading the construction of spiritual civilization with high-quality Party building, embedding the construction of spiritual civilization into the entire process of high-quality development of the enterprise, using the “Four Goods” culture (四好文化) to cast the soul, the scholarly position to educate people, voluntary service to fulfill commitments, and advanced models to guide the way, constructing a civilized creation work system with full participation, full coverage, normal and long-term effectiveness, and contributing to the construction of a civilized city with practical work and responsibility.
Adhere to Party Building Leadership, Anchor New Course for Civilized Creation
In recent years, the Anqing Municipal Bureau (Company) has made overall plans and systematic advancements, promoting the deep integration and resonance of Party building and civilized creation. It has clarified the goal of building a “five-type” Anqing Municipal Bureau (Company) that is “learning-oriented, innovation-oriented, service-oriented, collaboration-oriented, and happiness-oriented,” established the management philosophy of “recharging thoughts, raising the process’s yang energy, and giving warmth to the atmosphere,” advanced the “211” project (211工程) of full-staff commitment and promise fulfillment, guided all cadres and workers to set growth aspirations of learning improvement and moving toward goodness, allowing the concept of civilization to 入脑入心 (rù nǎo rù xīn - “enter the brain, enter the heart,” to be deeply internalized) and 落地生根 (luò dì shēng gēn - “fall to ground, take root,” to become established).
The Anqing Municipal Bureau (Company) continues to consolidate ideological and cultural positions, forms youth theoretical study groups, builds multiple learning platforms such as the Quality Improvement Lecture Hall and the Clean Culture Lecture Hall, regularly conducts theoretical propaganda and clean culture sharing, etc., has cumulatively held nearly 30 sessions of the Quality Improvement Lecture Hall, and many frontline employees have stepped onto the podium, achieving a transformation from audience to lecturer, sharer, and disseminator. Simultaneously, it implements the “double contacts, double reporting, double service” system (双联系双报到双服务制度) for Party members and cadres, pushing organs’ Party members to go down to communities, putting tasks such as civilized persuasion, hazard investigation, and environmental remediation into practice. For employees’ “eight hours outside,” it regularly conducts clean-government home visits and heart-to-heart talks and visits, building a family defense line against corruption and promoting integrity, shaping a 风清气正 (fēng qīng qì zhèng - “wind clean, air upright,” an honest and upright atmosphere) enterprise ecology.
Focus on Main Business to Build Achievements, Stimulate New Momentum for Striving for Excellence and Creating Superiority
The Anqing Municipal Bureau (Company) focuses on its main responsibilities and main business to build a platform for achievement, stimulating the endogenous motivation of cadres and workers to start undertakings and innovate. At the talent cultivation level, it comprehensively deepens the “master-apprentice” dual-mentor mechanism, formulates a 5-year growth plan for new employees, and around areas such as monopoly inspection, marketing, and logistics distribution, carries out post-based training, skills competition, and innovation tackling by level and category. All cadres and workers, based on their posts, tackle difficulties and overcome challenges; in the past year, they have cumulatively declared 30 intellectual property rights, 3 innovation achievements received provincial-level commendations, the pass rate for monopoly professional skill identification reached 100%, and a large number of young cadres and workers have grown and matured through practical work.
In terms of leveraging the exemplary and leading role of models, the Anqing Municipal Bureau (Company) vigorously digs into post pioneers and industry role models, cultivating advanced models such as provincial-system “Growth Figures,” city-level “Most Beautiful Workers,” and individuals who acted bravely for a just cause. Frontline employees root themselves in their posts, strive for excellence, and take the initiative to act and assume responsibility in work such as serving retail customers, ensuring product distribution, and regulating market order. The “National Worker Vanguard” (全国工人先锋号) and “Anhui Province Worker Vanguard” (安徽省工人先锋号) have successively been awarded to the logistics center and the Municipal Bureau’s inspection detachment, fully demonstrating the Anqing Municipal Bureau (Company) team’s spirit of 敢闯敢干 (gǎn chuǎng gǎn gàn - “dare to break through, dare to do,” bold and daring) and 争先创优 (zhēng xiān chuàng yōu - “strive to be first, create excellence,” competing for excellence), achieving integrated promotion and concerted effort in team building and business development.
Deeply Cultivate Civilized Practice, Nurture a New Ethos of Upward and Good
The Anqing Municipal Bureau (Company) continues to enrich the carriers of spiritual civilization practice, integrating multiple grasp points including voluntary service, scholarly positions, distinctive culture, and clean-government construction, nurturing in all dimensions a new enterprise ethos of 向上向善 (xiàng shàng xiàng shàn - “upward and good,” positive and virtuous).
Regularly carry out voluntary service. During the scorching summer heat, volunteers go to communities to regulate vehicle parking and inspect floor by floor for safety hazards of flying-wire charging; during rainy and snowy weather, they promptly go to communities to shovel snow and remove ice, ensuring residents’ travel; daily, they carry out public welfare actions such as civilized persuasion, policy advocacy, consolation of people in difficulty, and rural school assistance. Volunteers, undeterred by high temperatures and severe cold, stick to the front line; the flowing “volunteer red” becomes a striking landscape in the city.
Deeply advance the construction of a scholarly enterprise. Continuously build multi-level, full-coverage cultural positions, empowering civilization literacy improvement through reading. It has successively been rated as “Anhui Province Staff Bookstore” and “National Trade Union Staff Bookstore Demonstration Site”; the Yuexi County Bureau (岳西县局) was awarded “Top Ten Scholarly Enterprises of the Province”; the scholarly position has become an important carrier of civilized creation. Jointly with the Anqing City Library, it built a branch library of the Anqing Municipal Bureau (Company), with a collection of more than 3,500 sets (volumes), equipped with an electronic borrowing system, implemented staff “ordering books,” and opened regularly to employees. Each grassroots unit has respectively created distinctive reading brands such as “Growth Classroom” and “Yamen · Reading,” and jointly built “Huiying Growth · Book Room” (徽映成长·书屋) with local libraries. Innovate the “reading + civilized creation” model, donate books to paired assistance villages, and carry out family parent-child reading, book sharing, and other activities.
Distinctive culture permeates people’s hearts. Deeply advance the construction of the “Four Goods” culture of good people, good families, good teams, and good enterprises, continuously discover ordinary people’s good deeds. Currently, in the city-wide system, 2 people have received “Anhui Good Person” and the nomination award for “Anhui Good Person,” 7 people have been rated “Anqing Good Person,” and 4 people have been rated county-level good persons. Advanced models continue to emerge, forming a strong atmosphere of 见贤思齐 (jiàn xián sī qí - “see worthy, think to equal,” emulate the virtuous) and 崇德向善 (chóng dé xiàng shàn - “honor virtue, incline to good,” uphold virtue and goodness). At the same time, it firmly grasps civilized office work, thrift and economy, and clean-government construction, and enriches employees’ spiritual life through cultural and sports associations such as calligraphy, fitness, and reading.
Promote Normal and Long-lasting Advancement, Continue Writing New Chapter of High-Quality Development
Achievements belong to the past; struggle wins the future. The honors already received are both affirmation of the Anqing Municipal Bureau (Company)’s strengthening of spiritual civilization construction and deep cultivation of post achievements, and a driving force for the enterprise’s continued good development. Standing at a new starting point, the Anqing Municipal Bureau (Company) will always adhere to Party building leadership, improve the normal and long-lasting working mechanism of civilized creation, and continue to consolidate the existing achievements of civilized creation. Internally, continuously enrich cultural activity carriers, strengthen the cultivation of employees’ comprehensive moral, cultural, and artistic literacy; externally, continuously expand channels for community co-construction and social public welfare services, enrich the forms of voluntary service, and promote civilized practice to 走深走实 (zǒu shēn zǒu shí - “go deep, go solid,” deepen and solidify).
Facing the future, the Anqing Municipal Bureau (Company) will always adhere to leadership by Party building, deeply integrate the construction of spiritual civilization into the entire chain of product operation, market supervision, and grassroots service, injecting lasting and strong civilized power into the construction of Anqing as a culturally strong city and the high-quality development of the Anqing Municipal Bureau (Company).
(Zhang Qinyu 张沁宇)
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