Study Times - August 14, 2026

Uphold the political responsibility of governing and strengthening the Party

By: 王刚

Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, General Secretary Xi Jinping, centering on the major epochal question of what kind of long-term governing Marxist party to build and how to build a long-term governing Marxist party, has put forward a series of new concepts, new ideas, and new strategies for governing and managing the Party and revitalizing and strengthening the Party, forming Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building. Based on the duties and mission of organization departments, studying and implementing this important thought, we have come to understand even more deeply that on the new journey, advancing Chinese-style modernization—this pioneering undertaking 前无古人 (qián wú gǔ rén - "no predecessors in antiquity," unprecedented)—the key lies in the Party, and the key lies in the people. Standing at the important historical juncture of the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan, facing a complex situation and various risks and challenges, we must benchmark against the deployment requirements of the "Fourteen Persistences" (十四个坚持), place organization work within the overall work of the Party and the state and the overall situation of Party building for precise positioning and scientific planning, concretely implement "the key lies in the Party, the key lies in the people" in all aspects and the entire process of organization work, and better transform organizational strength and organizational advantages into development momentum and governance effectiveness.

Focusing on "protecting the Party for the Party, revitalizing and strengthening the Party," grasping the focal points of political leadership and Party building leadership

Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building clearly puts forward that the Party's political construction is the Party's fundamental construction, and ideological construction is the Party's foundational construction. To study and implement this major requirement, organization departments must firmly shoulder the fundamental mission of loyally protecting the Party for the Party and fully revitalizing and strengthening the Party. In recent years, we have always placed emphasis on politics, studying thought, and strengthening leadership in the primary position, keeping in mind General Secretary Xi Jinping's earnest expectation for Henan to "strive to write a new chapter of advancing Chinese-style modernization on the Central Plains land" and the major requirements of the "two highs and four focal efforts" (两高四着力), adhering to leading high-quality development with high-quality Party building and promoting high-efficiency governance, contributing organizational strength to serving the overall work of the center.

Focusing on deepening theoretical arming and grasping training. Adhere to using the Party's innovative theory to gather hearts and cast souls, deeply implement the education and training plan for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, continuously do well in the centralized training and special training on the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Party and the successive plenary sessions of the 20th Central Committee, improve the normalized training mechanism, especially the basic training mechanism, and promote Party members and cadres to build a solid foundation of faith, replenish the calcium of the spirit, and steady the rudder of thought, drawing Party spirit nourishment from the Party's innovative theory and building solid political loyalty. Strictly and substantively do well in the four centralized intra-Party education campaigns since the 20th National Congress of the Party, formulate and implement the four "Ten Prohibitions" regulations on illegal eating and drinking, illegal acceptance and giving of gifts and money, infringing on the interests of the masses, and problems of not assuming responsibility and not taking action, and the Several Regulations on Deeply Implementing the Spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulations to Further Improve Work Style and Establish New Customs, promoting the effective rectification of accumulated work style problems. Deeply excavate the precious spiritual wealth of the Jiao Yulu spirit (焦裕禄), the Red Flag Canal spirit (红旗渠), and the Dabie Mountains spirit (大别山), build and make good use of Party spirit education platforms, and deepen and expand the "Party Lectures Begin" (党课开讲啦) and "One Million Party Members Enter Party Schools" (百万党员进党校) activities.

Closely focusing on advancing the "five foundations and four modernizations" (五基四化) to strengthen governance. Deeply understand that "adhering to improving the organizational system that connects the upper and lower levels and executes with strength" is where the Party's advantage lies and where its strength lies, conscientiously implement the major requirement put forward by General Secretary Xi Jinping during his inspection in Henan that "social governance must be solidly and substantively strengthened," highlight grasping the grassroots, strengthening the foundation, and consolidating the fundamentals, and continuously strengthen the construction of grassroots Party organizations, grassroots governance teams, grassroots governance mechanisms, grassroots governance grids, and grassroots governance platforms. Gather strength to build a Henan version, digital-intelligent new era "Fengqiao experience" (枫桥经验), adhere to using "Party building + grid + big data" as the carrier, take the tackling of key matters as the breakthrough, make good use of the "four deliberations, two disclosures" (四议两公开) golden key to grassroots good governance, strive to raise the level of socialization, rule of law, intelligence, and specialization in grassroots governance, and explore a new path of Party building leading high-efficiency grassroots governance that conforms to the spirit of the Party Central Committee and fits Henan's actual conditions. Through concentrated tackling and deepening practice, grassroots governance is realizing systematic reshaping, holistic improvement, and overall breakthrough, and key indicators such as work safety, social security, and petition stability continue to improve.

Centering on national major strategies to cultivate talent. Conscientiously implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important exposition on "gathering the world's outstanding talents and using them," center on serving and safeguarding national strategies such as accelerating the rise of the central region and ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin, rely on local characteristic industries to accelerate the construction of industrial talent agglomeration zones, actively introduce national-level leading talents, and attract more than 2 million potential talents to Henan for innovation and entrepreneurship. Center on serving and safeguarding the strategy of building a strong agricultural province, promote the concentrated layout of the province's agricultural science and education, breeding and promotion resources, and gather high-level scientific research platforms and high-end scientific research talents. Center on serving and safeguarding the rural revitalization strategy, dispatch science and technology special commissioners, doctoral service teams, specially recruited general practitioners, publicly funded normal students, and others to carry out "group-style" sinking services, and the talent ecosystem where 近悦远来 (jìn yuè yuǎn lái - "those near are pleased, those far come," to attract talent through good governance) continues to consolidate.

Focusing on "establishing the Party for the public, bringing benefits to the people," guiding and promoting Party members and cadres to keep in mind the original aspiration and mission and correct the coordinates of political achievements

Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building clearly puts forward that the original aspiration and mission of Chinese Communists is to seek happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation. The fundamental orientation of a correct view of political achievements is establishing the Party for the public and bringing benefits to the people, and the clear direction is scientific decision-making and 真抓实干 (zhēn zhuā shí gàn - "truly grasp, solidly do," to work in a down-to-earth manner). This is both the value guideline of the Party's more than one hundred years of struggle and the core criterion for Party members and cadres to perform their duties and fulfill their responsibilities in the new era. We guide Party members and cadres to practice the original aspiration of serving the people with solid work and responsibility, to shoulder the mission of the times with excellent work style, and to strive to create real achievements that can withstand the test of practice, the people, and history.

Give play to the role of learning and education in casting souls and empowering. Comprehensively implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's major requirement of "three earnestnesses and three solidities," promote learning, examination, and rectification as an integrated whole, compile and distribute positive and negative typical cases, investigate and identify, and openly notify the prominent problems of deviation in the view of political achievements existing in various places, sort out the manifestations of formalism problems, and continuously improve the coverage and penetrating power of education on the view of political achievements.

Give play to the correct guiding role of selecting and appointing personnel. Grasp the decisive factor of cadres, take the change of leadership teams at the city, county, and township levels as an opportunity, implement the standards for good cadres in the new era, refine the correct view of political achievements into cadre behavioral characteristics that can be compared, evaluated, and tested, establish a good yardstick for selecting and appointing personnel, truly select and use good cadres with a correct view of political achievements, who bring benefits to the people, and who assume responsibility and fulfill their duties, and stimulate the endogenous motivation and overall vitality of the cadre team.

Give play to the incentive and spurring role of political achievement assessment. Comprehensively benchmark against the national high-quality development evaluation indicators, promptly revise the annual comprehensive assessment performance evaluation measures for leadership teams on high-quality development, improve special assessments on safe construction, air pollution control, high-standard farmland construction, and others, precisely set key and leading indicators, and guide cadres to pay more attention to development quality, improvement of people's livelihood, grassroots experience, and long-term momentum in their political work and duty performance. Establish a dispatch mechanism for improving the comprehensive quality and efficiency of high-quality development, carry out dynamic monitoring once every quarter and comprehensive dispatch once every half year, and help the comprehensive quality and efficiency of high-quality development continuously improve.

Give play to the rigid constraint role of management and supervision. Closely focus on the list of major problems of deviation in the view of political achievements of local leadership teams and leading cadres, carry out special rectification of problems of deviation in the view of political achievements such as "new officials not dealing with old accounts," 急功近利 (jí gōng jìn lì - "eager for merit, close to profit," seeking quick success and instant benefits), 弄虚作假 (nòng xū zuò jiǎ - "engage in falsehood and fraud," to falsify and deceive), blind and reckless action, unrealistic decision-making against the will of the masses, and "flipping pancakes" in policy planning, and promptly conduct interviews and reminders, and guide correction and rectification for budding and trending problems. Implement the tenure system for leading cadres, formulate measures for the handover of leading cadres upon leaving office, implement the handover list system, improve the post-hoc evaluation and long-term tracking mechanisms for major policies and major projects, formulate specific measures for "clearing old accounts" and solving difficult problems, and build a solid dike to prevent the "political achievement impulse syndrome."

Focusing on "responsible for guarding the territory, fulfilling the duty of guarding the territory," shouldering firmly the responsibility of high-quality development of organization work

Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building clearly puts forward that the responsibility of governing and managing the Party is the most fundamental political responsibility. In the responsibility system and responsibility chain of governing and managing the Party, organization departments must not only manage organizations, manage cadres, and manage talent, but also manage responsibility, manage systems, and manage the ecosystem, embody the assumption of responsibility in action and implement it in work, and always achieve knowing responsibility in the heart, bearing responsibility on the body, and fulfilling responsibility in action.

Adhere to establishing orientation and promoting standardization. Establish a good political orientation, do deep and solid work in the investigation of cadres' political quality, and adhere to precise and scientific selection and appointment of personnel. Establish a standardized full-process cadre work mechanism covering policy learning, special research, comprehensive research and judgment, plan formation, adjustment and deployment, and daily management, formulate trial measures for the political construction of leadership teams and the investigation and assessment of the political quality of leading cadres, make good use of the political quality investigation list, carry out political quality research on leadership teams and leading cadres in a differentiated and full-coverage manner by field, dynamically grasp the operation of teams and the performance of cadres in performing their duties, carry out analysis and research and judgment team by team, and effectively improve the quality and level of cadre selection and use. Strengthen the incentive orientation, and drive cadres to assume responsibility through organizational responsibility. Adhere to political encouragement, work support, treatment guarantee, and psychological care, innovate the training model for young cadres to improve the "three forces" (三力) and strengthen the "four temperings (trainings)" (四炼（练）), implement the "cultivating excellence and empowering" (培优赋能) plan, regularly select and dispatch cadres, carry out special secondment in finance and special secondment in high-quality development, and go to advanced regions for on-the-job learning. Implement well the policy on promotion of civil servant positions and ranks, carry out normalized heart-to-heart talks with cadres, dynamically grasp the physical and mental health status of cadres, and use the warmth and thoughtfulness of the organization to let cadres settle in body, mind, and career. Highlight the problem orientation, and solidly do well in the "second half of the article" of inspections. Take the rectification of inspection findings as a powerful starting point and important opportunity for fulfilling the responsibility of governing and managing the Party and improving the quality and efficiency of organization work, adhere to classified policy implementation and touching the real and meeting the hard, effectively enhance the pertinence, operability, precision, systematicness, and comprehensiveness of inspection rectification, and promote promoting rectification through inspection, promoting construction through inspection, and promoting governance through inspection. Strengthen the comprehensive application of inspection results, use the momentum to make up for shortcomings and weaknesses and crack 顽瘴痼疾 (wán zhàng gù jí - "stubborn miasma and chronic diseases," deep-seated and hard-to-cure problems), and drive the improvement of overall work level through problem rectification.

Highlight grasping the grassroots and laying the foundation. Deeply advance the construction of "five-star" Party branches, and 坚持不懈 (jiān chí bù xiè - "persist without slackening," unremittingly) rectify weak, lax, and scattered grassroots Party organizations. Adhere to grasping Party building to promote rural revitalization, and implement special plans for village-level coordinators for rural revitalization and community grid affairs coordinators. Issue guidance catalogs for village-level organization work affairs and others, improve and implement the grassroots power and responsibility list system, reduce the number of supervision, inspection, and assessment activities, and crack the prominent problem of "a small horse pulling a big cart." Do well in the concentrated tackling of the "two coverages" (两个覆盖) in emerging fields, the coverage rate of Party organizations in "three haves" (三有) non-public enterprises and provincial-level social organizations has significantly increased, and the Party's appeal, cohesion, and influence in emerging fields continue to expand. Increase the intensity of developing Party members in weak fields such as industrial workers, migrant workers, and new employment groups, and improve the mechanism for Party members to play their role on duty and off duty, online and offline, and in normal times and emergencies.

Pay attention to preventing risks and guarding the bottom line. With a high degree of political acuity and sense of responsibility, prevent and resolve risks and hidden dangers in organization work, incorporate them into the "big system" of public opinion monitoring, the "big pattern" of petition handling, and the "big picture" of social stability, improve and perfect the response and handling mechanism for online public opinion involving organization work and cadres, promptly plug institutional loopholes, and clear the "blockages" in mechanisms. Carry out the action of "four go-downs to the grassroots" (四下基层) to solve prominent problems, promote the province's organization system to focus on grasping Party building, laying the foundation, and consolidating the fundamentals, sink to the grassroots front line, and truly publicize policies downward, collect problems upward, and resolve conflicts at the grassroots.

Focusing on "fair and upright, clean and honest," polishing the distinctive background of model departments and excellent teams

Organization departments shoulder the important responsibility of serving Party members, serving cadres, and serving talent, and bear the primary responsibility and heavy mission in studying and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building. We must carry through the entire process of self-construction the important requirements of General Secretary Xi Jinping on organization departments and organization work cadres of being "absolutely reliable politically and absolutely loyal to the Party" and "emphasizing politics, valuing fairness, being proficient in business, and having good work style," develop in benchmarking, be strict in standardization, and break through in quality improvement, truly achieving making the Party reassured and making cadres and the masses satisfied.

With self-correctness, be a demonstrator of strictly observing discipline and rules. "Adhering to managing and governing the entire Party with strict discipline" is the fundamental strategy for comprehensively governing the Party with strict discipline. Every 一言一行 (yī yán yī xíng - "one word, one action," every word and deed) of organization work cadres concerns the Party's image and prestige. They must take the lead in observing rules, regard organizational supervision as the greatest care for themselves, keep in mind that power has boundaries and actions have prohibitions, strictly abide by the Party's policies, systems, procedures, and rules, and be a good "goalkeeper" of the Party's organizational principles and disciplinary bottom line. We must establish rules in work, do all work, handle all matters, and deal with all relationships according to the Party's principles, achieve adhering to principles without wavering, executing standards without deviation, performing procedures without alteration, and observing discipline without relaxation, and drive other Party members and cadres to use power fairly, use power according to law, and use power with integrity.

With self-strength, be a practitioner of organization work policies and regulations. "Adhering to governing the Party with institutions and governing the Party according to regulations" is the long-term and fundamental strategy for comprehensively governing the Party with strict discipline. Organization work cadres must not only have a sense of crisis about capability panic and a sense of urgency about insufficient ability, continuously strengthen learning and practice, but also influence and drive the broad masses of Party members and cadres to learn well and use well the relevant policies and regulations. Continuously strengthen the "two absolutes" (两个绝对) political loyalty education, the education of the core value concept of fairness and uprightness, and the education of the fine traditions of organization departments, center on studying and implementing the major deployments of the Party Central Committee and important organizational and personnel policies and regulations, hold the "Organization Work Forum" (组工讲坛), and have organization work cadres at the four levels of province, city, county, and township "attend the same class together," effectively improving the capability and quality of organization work cadres and the level of work standardization. Continuously do well in the great learning and great training of organizational and personnel cadres on policies and business, and promote the persons in charge of Party organizations at all levels, members of leadership teams, and the broad masses of Party members and cadres to learn policies, understand policies, and strictly implement policies.

With self-purity, be a maintainer of a good political ecosystem. "Adhering to promoting the normalization and long-term effectiveness of work style construction" is an effective way to maintain the flesh-and-blood connection between the Party and the masses. Organization work cadres must not only be pure themselves and clean around them, achieve "equal distance" and "zero material" in interactions with management and service targets, but also be good "guardians" of Party spirit principles and "street sweepers" of the political ecosystem, and resolutely resist all kinds of 歪风邪气 (wāi fēng xié qì - "crooked wind, evil air," unhealthy tendencies and evil practices). Formulate and issue measures for strictly enforcing discipline and rules and strictly managing supervision, regulations for improving work style and closely connecting with the masses, and others, educate and guide organization work cadres to always adhere to the Party's principles first, the Party's cause first, and the people's interests first, dare to draw the sword against people and matters that violate Party spirit principles and violate Party rules and discipline, and gather the powerful positive energy of jointly creating a clean and upright political ecosystem through purifying thought and purifying the organization.

(The author is a member of the Standing Committee of the Henan Provincial Party Committee and Director of the Organization Department)

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Promote full-chain, scaled-up development of emerging pillar industries.

By: 盛朝迅

Industry is the foundation of development, and emerging pillar industries represent the direction of the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation. They are key vehicles for cultivating new quality productive forces, building a modern industrial system, and activating new drivers of economic growth. General Secretary Xi Jinping has explicitly required accelerating the cultivation of emerging pillar industries with international competitiveness and promoting the deep integrated development of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation. At present, the global industrial landscape is undergoing deep restructuring, the technological revolution is accelerating, and the domestic economy has entered the stage of high-quality development. The fragmented, piecemeal model of industrial development can no longer meet the needs of the times. It is necessary to deeply grasp the internal logic and essential meaning of promoting the whole-chain scaled development of emerging pillar industries, systematically explore pathways for scaled cultivation, promote a number of emerging industries to grow and strengthen into pillar industries, consolidate and strengthen the foundation of the real economy, and provide strong support for the construction of a modern industrial system.

The main characteristics and development logic of emerging pillar industries

Emerging pillar industries take new technologies, new models, and new business forms as their core, covering key fields such as integrated circuits, aerospace, biomedicine, the low-altitude economy, new-type energy storage, and intelligent robots. They possess the characteristics of innovativeness, growth potential, strategic significance, and driving force, and are important pillar forces replacing traditional growth drivers and supporting sustained economic growth. In the new era, promoting the whole-chain scaled development of emerging pillar industries has profound historical logic, theoretical logic, and practical logic.

From the perspective of historical logic, whole-chain scaled development is an inevitable requirement for seizing the initiative in the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation. Every technological revolution gives rise to a number of emerging pillar industries and promotes the "metabolism" of the industrial system. Countries that seize the opportunity successfully modernize their industrial systems and smoothly enter the ranks of developed countries, while countries that fail to seize the opportunity lose international competitiveness, and some even fall into the "middle-income trap." History has repeatedly proven that whether one can accelerate breakthroughs in the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation and cultivate emerging pillar industries that lead the adjustment of the global industrial structure is the key to realizing the conversion of old and new growth drivers and supporting the building of a modern powerful country. Through whole-chain scaled cultivation, it is possible to continuously expand the scale of emerging industries, improve the quality and efficiency of industrial development, form trillion-yuan and ten-trillion-yuan industrial clusters, and build a new industrial landscape with multiple pillars and diversified development, helping China to gain the initiative in the accelerating new round of technological revolution and the increasingly fierce global industrial restructuring and layout adjustment.

From the perspective of theoretical logic, whole-chain scaled development is an important lever for breaking through the traditional path of industrial evolution. Adapted to the gradual iteration model of traditional manufacturing, classical industrial life-cycle theory divides industrial development into stages of initiation, growth, maturity, and decline. Emerging pillar industries have great strategic value, fast growth speed, and deep cross-border integration, exhibiting nonlinear, leapfrog growth characteristics and significant industrial multiplier effects. They can give rise to new industries and new business forms through cross-border industrial integration, greatly extend the industrial life cycle, and change the iteration and upgrading model, underlying logic, and evolutionary path of industries. Through whole-chain scaled development, it is helpful to grasp the characteristics of the scaled growth patterns of emerging pillar industries, and through the two-way coordination of policy guidance and market drivers, promote emerging pillar industries to achieve scale expansion, industrial iteration, and competitiveness improvement more quickly, and build a modern industrial system adapted to the development of new quality productive forces.

From the perspective of practical logic, whole-chain scaled development is an urgent need for breaking through industrial development bottlenecks and activating growth drivers. In recent years, China's emerging industries have developed rapidly and continued to grow in scale, with some fields achieving a leading position and becoming an important increment of economic growth. However, objectively speaking, most emerging pillar industries still have problems such as incomplete chains, unbalanced structures, and insufficiently close coordination. Some have shortcomings in upstream core technologies, key components, and high-end equipment, posing the risk of being "strangled" (卡脖子). Some have imbalanced and differentiated midstream manufacturing links, with insufficient high-end supply and excess low-end capacity. Some have lagging cultivation of downstream application scenarios, making it difficult to commercialize technological achievements. Some have insufficient industrial chain coordination mechanisms, weak supporting capabilities of small and medium-sized enterprises, and failure of leading enterprises to fully play their leading and driving role, making it difficult to form scale effects and cluster advantages. Through whole-chain scaled development, it is helpful to solve the above development problems, promote the deep integration of the innovation chain, industrial chain, capital chain, and talent chain, and promote the transformation of emerging pillar industries from "point breakthroughs" to "chain-based rise."

The main connotations of whole-chain scaled development

Promoting the scaling of emerging pillar industries with whole-chain thinking requires basing oneself on the entire industrial life cycle, connecting all links of technology research and development, achievement transformation, production and manufacturing, supporting infrastructure, market application, and iteration and upgrading. Through the coordinated efforts of the whole industrial chain, whole value chain, whole factor chain, whole support chain, and whole policy chain, it is necessary to solve the pain points of emerging industry development and achieve a systematic leap from single-point breakthroughs to cluster rise, and from scattered development to scale and quality improvement.

Whole industrial chain development. The whole industrial chain is the objective carrier of industrial scaled development, covering multiple links such as raw material procurement, research and development design, production and manufacturing, and market sales. At present, global geopolitical conflicts are intensifying, trade protectionism is rising, the global industrial chain and supply chain are accelerating their restructuring, external technological blockade and industrial containment pressure continue to increase, and the external uncertainty facing China's industrial development has risen significantly. Emerging pillar industries bear on national scientific and technological security, industrial security, and economic security, and are the core track of great-power competition. Only through whole industrial chain development, making up for shortcomings and weaknesses, and building an independent, controllable, safe, efficient, complete, and unimpeded industrial chain, can we effectively avoid the impact of external risks and enhance the resilience and core competitiveness of the industrial chain and supply chain.

Whole value chain climbing. The whole value chain focuses on industrial profit distribution and promotes the extension of industries from low value-added processing links to high-value links such as research and development and branding. Promoting the whole-chain scaled development of emerging pillar industries, actively expanding high value-added links such as research and development, manufacturing, and services, strengthening basic research and original technology patent layout, building independent brands, and expanding value-added services will help promote industries to climb to the core links of the value chain and feed back into industrial upgrading through high value-added returns.

Whole factor chain coordination. The whole factor chain is the basic supply for industrial development. For emerging pillar industries, industrial development requires not only the support of traditional factors such as land, capital, and labor, but also the addition of new production factors such as technology, talent, capital, and data. It is necessary to strengthen the coordination of the whole factor chain, open up the transformation channel of scientific and technological achievements from the laboratory to the production line, build a multi-level investment and financing system, promote the cultivation of various types of talent, promote the compliant circulation of data to empower production, remove barriers to the flow of various factors, and build a factor supply system adapted to the entire life cycle of emerging industries, providing a continuous source of factor support for the sustained expansion of industries.

Whole support chain supporting facilities. The whole support chain is the hardware and public service guarantee for industrial operation, including support systems such as new-type infrastructure, public service platforms, and industrial space carriers. Among them, the construction of new-type infrastructure such as computing power centers, industrial internet, and new energy supporting facilities can adapt to the production needs of intelligent and green emerging industries. The establishment of public service platforms such as inspection and testing, standards certification, intellectual property protection, and supply chain logistics platforms helps reduce the operating costs of small and medium-sized enterprises. The coordinated planning of industrial spaces such as high-tech zones, industrial agglomeration areas, and special industrial parks helps centrally allocate water, electricity, environmental protection, and warehousing infrastructure. A complete support chain can greatly reduce the cost of enterprise settlement and capacity expansion, attract enterprise clustering and agglomeration, accelerate industrial scale expansion, and is an important support for the scaled and clustered development of emerging industries.

Whole policy chain support. The whole policy chain covers multi-dimensional policies such as industry, fiscal taxation, finance, land, talent, and opening up, providing enterprises with full-life-cycle policy support. For example, in the front-end research and development stage, enterprises are mainly supported in expanding research and development through additional deductions for research and development expenses, major technological tackling, and strengthened intellectual property protection. In the industrialization stage, enterprises are mainly supported in mass production and capacity expansion through land guarantees, technological transformation funds, and tax reductions and exemptions. In the market expansion stage, domestic and international markets are expanded through the introduction of government procurement, scenario opening, and export support policies. At the same time, by promoting the coordination of central, provincial, municipal, and park policies, policy fragmentation is avoided and policy synergy is formed. The whole policy chain coordinates the industrial chain, value chain, factor chain, and support chain, providing a stable and predictable institutional environment for industrial scaling.

Comprehensively promoting the scaled, high-end, and clustered development of emerging pillar industries

To promote the whole-chain scaled development of emerging pillar industries, it is necessary to thoroughly implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions on the modern industrial system, new quality productive forces, and industrial chain and supply chain construction, adhere to a systematic approach, base oneself on the entire industrial life cycle, focus on strengthening the chain, supplementing the chain, extending the chain, and consolidating the chain, coordinate innovation breakthroughs, entity cultivation, factor guarantees, scenario empowerment, and institutional reform, remove bottlenecks and difficulties in all links, and build a new industrial development pattern featuring innovation leadership, complete chains, active entities, scale agglomeration, and safety and controllability.

Promoting innovation breakthroughs. Scientific and technological innovation is the core driving force for the development of emerging pillar industries and the source of living water for the quality improvement and upgrading of the whole chain. It is necessary to adhere to the innovation-driven development strategy, open up the innovation closed loop of "basic research—technological tackling—achievement transformation," and support industrial scaled development with technological self-reliance and self-strengthening. Accelerate the implementation of the industrial foundation reengineering project and the major technical equipment tackling project, establish industry-university-research-application collaborative innovation consortia, concentrate superior resources to carry out targeted tackling, break through a number of key core technologies, and make up for the shortcomings and weaknesses of the industrial chain. It should also be noted that technological breakthroughs in emerging pillar industries are often not the linear advancement of a single technology, but rather the integrated innovation of cross-field technologies. It is necessary to adhere to a systematic approach, support the layout of multiple technology routes, promote the systematic integration of cross-field technologies such as new-generation information technology, high-end equipment technology, new materials technology, and new energy technology, and promote the shift of development focus from single-point technological breakthroughs to the improvement of systemic capabilities. Lay out basic research and frontier technologies ahead of time, accumulate original and leading scientific and technological achievements, provide source support for the continuous iteration and upgrading of industries, and promote the leap from "following and running alongside" to "leading and running ahead."

Strengthening entity cultivation. Enterprises are the core entities of industrial development, and scaled industrial development cannot be separated from the support of an echeloned enterprise cluster. It is necessary to build a hierarchical, classified, and gradient enterprise growth system to activate the endogenous driving force of industrial development. Focus on key emerging industries, select a number of backbone enterprises with strong innovation capabilities, large market potential, and prominent driving effects, and support enterprises to grow bigger and stronger through policy support, resource preference, and project support, creating a number of industrial chain leading enterprises and industry benchmark enterprises. Focus on the segmented fields of the industrial chain, vigorously cultivate specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative small and medium-sized enterprises and single-champion enterprises that focus on their main business, deeply cultivate their segments, and have outstanding innovation, forming a sound pattern of "leading enterprises providing guidance, small and medium-sized enterprises providing support, and large, medium, and small enterprises developing in an integrated manner."

Strengthening factor guarantees. High-quality and efficient factor supply is an important support for the scaled development of emerging pillar industries. It is necessary to coordinate various factors such as talent, capital, land, and data, and promote the agglomeration of innovation factor resources to enterprises. Around the development needs of emerging industries, precisely cultivate and introduce high-level innovative talents, industrial leading talents, and high-skilled applied talents. Build a diversified investment and financing system and increase credit support for technology-based, innovation-based, and growth-oriented enterprises. Give play to the guiding role of industrial investment funds, focusing investment on key links of the industrial chain, key projects, and high-quality enterprises. Promote the market-oriented allocation of data factors, open up data sharing channels between industry data and enterprise data, and empower the digital upgrading of the entire process of industrial research and development, production, management, and marketing. Optimize the allocation of factors such as land and energy consumption, providing a solid guarantee for the scaled expansion of emerging industries.

Promoting scenario empowerment. The growth and strengthening of emerging pillar industries cannot be separated from rich and diverse application scenarios. Adhere to cultivating industries with scenarios and promoting iteration with application, focus on key fields such as intelligent manufacturing, urban renewal, green and low-carbon development, and smart people's livelihood, continuously open up government scenarios, urban scenarios, and industry scenarios, provide testing, demonstration, and landing platforms for new technologies, new products, and new models, and promote the rapid maturity of technologies and rapid iteration of products. Guide enterprises to innovate products and services based on market demand, explore new scenarios and new demands in consumption upgrading and industrial transformation, promote the transformation of emerging pillar industry products from demonstration application to scaled popularization, and use strong market demand to force industrial quality improvement and capacity expansion.

Promoting institutional improvement. Emerging pillar industries are moving from pilot exploration to the stage of scaled development, and urgently need a complete institutional system for regulation and guarantee. Deepen institutional and mechanism reform, gradually remove institutional obstacles, and build a governance mechanism adapted to the scaled development of emerging pillar industries. Based on the development laws of emerging industries, precisely introduce policies on industrial chain cultivation, innovative research and development, and international development, build a precise, systematic, and normalized policy support system, and guide the agglomerated and scaled development of industries. Strictly implement the intellectual property protection system, strengthen the protection of innovation achievements, and fully stimulate the innovation and creation vitality of enterprises.

(The author is Deputy Director of the Research Center for Xi Jinping's Economic Thought)

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Find the right perspective on the issue.

By: 阴冰

General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that “when it comes to ecological matters, the key is what perspective one takes in looking at the problem,” and that “in ecological conservation and environmental protection, one must establish a broad view, a long-term view, and a holistic view.” Although these important statements originated in the practice of ecological civilization construction, they run through all fields of governance and reveal a scientific epistemology and methodology for assessing situations, viewing problems, and planning development, providing fundamental guidance for leading cadres at all levels to correct cognitive deviations, establish a correct view of political achievements, and advance high-quality development.

“Viewed horizontally, a ridge; viewed sideways, a peak — near and far, high and low, each is different.” The same thing, seen from different perspectives, yields vastly different observations; the same problem, approached from different standpoints, yields vastly different judgments. For leading cadres, the perspective and standpoint from which they view problems are a comprehensive embodiment of Party spirit cultivation, value positions, and performance of duties, and directly determine the quality of their work in undertaking undertakings and the merits of their actual achievements. With broad vision and a lofty standpoint, one can grasp the general trend of development amid complex and changing circumstances, identify inherent laws amid multiple interwoven contradictions, and make scientific arrangements that fit reality and accord with the people’s hearts, advancing various undertakings steadily forward. Conversely, with a narrow perspective and a small-minded framework, one is easily blinded by short-term gains and losses, fettered by partial interests, viewing problems one-sidedly and absolutely, planning work in a department-centered and utilitarian manner, ultimately leading to inaccurate decision-making and distorted implementation, delaying the development of the cause and harming the interests of the people.

“One who grasps the greater whole can encompass the lesser parts.” Only by planning and acting from the height of the overall situation can one consciously break free from the limitations of a single corner and the entanglements of selfish interests, actively embed the development of one region and individual tasks into the overall national strategy and the broader national development picture, bear in mind the “greatest concerns of the country” in coordinating resources and advancing implementation, and achieve two-way empowerment and mutual success between the “one region” and the “whole.” Some leading cadres, confined by partial interests, see only the “one acre and three plots of land” of their own region or department, calculating only “small accounts” and “immediate accounts” in everything, passively coping with cross-regional coordination and cross-field linkage work of an overall nature, or even engaging in selective implementation and flexible execution. This may seem to preserve trivial short-term gains for a time and a place, but in reality it damages the overall development pattern. Without the whole, there is no single part; harming the whole inevitably harms the part. Leading cadres must constantly calibrate their cognitive coordinates, continuously raise their political standing, and always examine and advance their work from the height of the overall cause of the Party and the state and the fundamental interests of the people, resolutely breaking down the barriers of departmentalism — planning both the part and the whole, striving both for the glory of the part and the splendor of the whole.

“One who does not plan for a hundred years is not sufficient to plan for a single moment.” Holding a long-term perspective in advancing development, one will “not be obscured by floating clouds that block the view,” weighing every current decision in the long river of history, cherishing historical patience in cultivating achievements that are latent — those that build foundations, benefit the long term, and serve the people — and accumulating deep momentum for sustainable development with the strategic resolve of “carrying one blueprint through to the end.” The Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, focusing on the fundamental plan for the sustainable development of the Chinese nation, deployed and implemented the ten-year fishing ban in the Yangtze River, voluntarily giving up short-term gains in the fishery economy in exchange for the continued recovery of biodiversity in the river basin — this is a brilliant example of viewing problems and making decisions with a long-term perspective. Once trapped in short-sighted utilitarian thinking, one will emphasize visible achievements over latent ones, the present over the long term, and speed over quality, perfunctorily handling foundational work such as ecological restoration, industrial transformation, and basic research that has long cycles, heavy investment, and little immediate glory, directly causing development gaps and insufficient momentum. Leading cadres must firmly establish a broad view of history, cultivate the realm and pattern of “achievement need not be mine, but achievement must include my effort,” be adept at grasping the orientation of work within historical logic and the general trend of the times, not covet temporary merit or transient fame, do more practical things that benefit future generations, and consolidate the foundation of high-quality development with the perseverance of sustained effort.

“All things are born in harmony with their proper order and nourished by their proper sustenance.” Only by upholding a holistic perspective and systematic thinking in advancing various undertakings in a coordinated manner can one break the habitual thinking of addressing matters in isolation and exerting force at single points, promote mutual complementarity and coordinated action among measures in economic development, livelihood security, safety and stability, and other fields, and achieve balanced, coordinated, and integrated progress across the entire domain. Conversely, grasping work from a single, fragmented perspective easily mires one in the quagmire of isolated problem analysis and linear advancement — treating contradictions by “treating the head when the head aches, treating the foot when the foot hurts,” solving difficulties while attending to one thing and neglecting another, often “pressing down the gourd only for the ladle to rise,” or even “solving one problem while leaving ten regrets.” Mao Zedong required leading cadres to learn to “play the piano,” where all ten fingers must move — some cannot move while others stay still. Leading cadres must possess this kind of systematic thinking ability, coordinate well the multiple relationships between development and security, efficiency and fairness, vitality and order, and strive to achieve the organic unity and coordinated progress of development quality, structure, scale, speed, benefit, and safety.

During the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, the tasks of reform, development, and stability are arduous and heavy. Leading cadres at all levels must continuously correct their cognitive perspectives, raise their political standing, and broaden their realm and pattern, always planning major matters with an overall vision, doing practical work with long-term resolve, and solving difficult problems with systematic thinking, truly answering the important proposition of “the key is what perspective one takes in looking at the problem,” and continuously creating new achievements worthy of the times and the people.

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Important Remarks

On the new journey, we must take Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as our guide, fully implement the Party's education policy, carry out the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education (立德树人), unremittingly use the Party's innovative theories to cast souls and nurture people, and cultivate socialist builders and successors who develop comprehensively in moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor education. We must follow the laws of education, implement the educational philosophy of putting health first, improve the quality of education and teaching, and promote the physical and mental health, growth, and成才 of the broad body of students. We must adapt to the new expectations of the people, advance the expansion, quality improvement, and excellence enhancement of basic education, and firmly hold the bottom line of educational equity. We must carry forward the spirit of educators, strengthen the construction of teacher ethics and professional conduct, and cultivate and build a high-quality, professional teaching force. Party committees and governments at all levels must earnestly shoulder their political responsibility, optimize the allocation of school-running resources, deepen comprehensive educational reform, promote the concerted efforts of schools, families, and society in the same direction, and continuously open up new prospects for the high-quality development of basic education.

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This Issue at a Glance

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Digital Silk Road boosts digital integration in Global South countries

By: 杨娜

The "Digital Silk Road" is a new type of cooperation platform that extends the Belt and Road Initiative into cyberspace. Relying on digital technologies such as big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence, it optimizes the regional digitalization and intelligent development landscape in an all-round way. Helping Global South countries deepen practical integration in the digital field is an important path to bridging the North-South digital divide, safeguarding the digital development rights of Global South countries, and improving the global digital governance system. At present, global digital transformation is accelerating, while problems such as imbalanced digital development, fragmented governance, and suppression by digital hegemony are becoming prominent. There is an urgent need to rely on the "Digital Silk Road" to deepen multilateral coordinated cooperation and promote the building of an inclusive and win-win new digital development pattern among Global South countries.

In recent years, relying on the pragmatic cooperation layout of the "Digital Silk Road," Global South countries have achieved fruitful results in multiple fields, injecting strong momentum into regional digital transformation and coordinated development. First, deepening digital infrastructure and industrial cooperation to consolidate the foundation for regional integrated development. New digital infrastructure such as 5G base stations, intercontinental submarine optical cables, and smart ports has been successively implemented, breaking down geographical barriers and smoothing the cross-border circulation channels of information, capital, and commodities among Global South countries. Countries have used digital tools such as cloud computing and cross-border digital payments to optimize regional resource allocation, greatly reducing cross-border trade costs, and building an efficient, interconnected, iteratively expandable all-domain digital ecosystem. At the same time, cross-border digital industrial cooperation has continued to deepen. Leading Chinese enterprises have deeply participated in local computing power and network construction, helping South Africa build more than 13,000 public wireless network access points, covering more than 2 million households. In addition, through the "Silk Road E-commerce" and the "Luban Workshop," local digital talent has been cultivated, regional digital industry supporting facilities have been improved, the endogenous driving force of the digital economy of various countries has been fully activated, and a solid technological and industrial foundation has been laid for regional industrial upgrading and joint development. Second, deepening the joint construction of institutional rules and coordination to consolidate the joint force for regional integrated development. Within the framework of the "Digital Silk Road," Global South countries have continuously narrowed differences in development concepts, institutional mechanisms, and industry standards, aligned with countries' top-level development plans, focused on key areas such as cross-border e-commerce and digital trade, promoted mutual connectivity of rules and mutual recognition of standards, and enabled digital technology to precisely empower high-quality development. China, together with the vast number of Global South countries, has used digital economy pilot zones as carriers to explore digital economy development models suited to local endowments, and promoted mature development experience from point to area. As of 2025, China has signed memorandums of understanding on digital economy cooperation with 26 countries, reached "Silk Road E-commerce" cooperation with 36 countries, precisely aligned with the development plans of Africa and Southeast Asia, absorbed the development demands of various countries through multilateral platforms, continuously enhanced the voice of Global South countries in the field of digital governance, and laid a solid institutional foundation for building a global digital rules system. Third, promoting digital people-to-people exchanges and integration to deepen the civilizational foundation of regional integration. With the help of intelligent translation, virtual reality, three-dimensional modeling, and other digital-intelligent technologies and new media platforms, cross-border language and geographical barriers have been effectively broken down, and efficient, diversified modes of communication and interaction have deepened cross-border people-to-people exchanges and integration. Public cultural projects such as smart cloud classrooms, online education, and digital restoration of ancient books have been implemented and popularized, promoting the cross-border sharing of high-quality cultural resources. As of 2025, China's foreign cultural relic assistance and transnational archaeological cooperation have covered 20 co-building countries, with 41 special projects implemented. In the 2024–2025 period, the Asian Cultural Heritage Protection Alliance Fund added 15 new transnational cultural heritage protection projects, broadly radiating to Global South countries. Digital technology has realized the digital preservation and sharing of cultural heritage, consolidated consensus on diverse coexistence in mutual learning among civilizations, and laid a profound humanistic foundation for deep regional integration.

In the process of the "Digital Silk Road" boosting the deep integration of Global South countries, constrained by multiple internal and external factors, multilateral digital coordinated development still faces many practical challenges, hindering the improvement of quality and efficiency of regional digital integration construction.

First, the structural imbalance in the allocation of digital resources is prominent, and the shortcomings in inclusive digital supply are conspicuous. Most Global South countries face basic development difficulties such as weak digital infrastructure, scarce data resources, and shortages of professional talent. The distribution of digital resources is uneven between countries and between urban and rural areas, presenting a pattern in which the global North-South digital divide and internal regional development gaps are superimposed. Relevant data for 2025 show that the 5G population coverage rate in high-income countries has reached 84 percent, while that in low-income Global South countries is only 4 percent, with an extremely wide gap in infrastructure development. Among them, the urban-rural digital divide in Africa is particularly typical: the Internet penetration rate in towns is relatively high, while rural digital coverage and access quality are generally low. The structural imbalance in the allocation of digital resources directly causes problems such as insufficient network coverage in Global South countries, weak technical operation and maintenance capacity, and obstacles to the implementation of cross-border digital cooperation projects, weakening the enabling value of the "Digital Silk Road" and constraining the endogenous driving force of regional digital transformation and coordinated development.

Second, the fragmentation of digital governance mechanisms is serious, and multiple digital security risks are intertwined and superimposed. In the field of economic and trade governance, Global South countries have relatively strong consensus on cooperation in basic areas such as cross-border e-commerce and digital trade facilitation, but their demands differ significantly in key areas such as digital identity authentication, fintech regulation, and cybersecurity rules, resulting in scattered regional digital trade rules, inconsistent industry standards, and insufficient effectiveness of institutional implementation, making it difficult to form a systematic governance system. In the field of technology application, during the implementation and popularization of digital technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence, security risks such as information leakage, algorithm abuse, and data pollution are prone to emerge. Cross-regional technology integration can easily trigger chain transmission of risks and amplify regional digital security hazards. In the field of cooperative governance, the global digital governance deficit is prominent. Global South countries have not yet established a unified risk response and coordination mechanism, and countries have significant cognitive differences on digital security, network ethics, and data norms, continuously eroding multilateral cooperation and mutual trust and hindering the steady advancement of South-South digital integration.

Finally, internal coordination capacity within the region is weak, and externally there is strong suppression by digital hegemony. From the internal dimension, Global South countries differ significantly in their digital development stages, industrial foundation conditions, and core interest demands. Compounded by the shortcoming of insufficient capacity for independent digital development, this leads to lagging regional collective coordination and makes it difficult to consolidate the joint force for integrated development. From the external dimension, some Western countries, relying on their first-mover advantages in the digital field, monopolize high-end digital infrastructure, core algorithms, massive data, and leading digital platforms, firmly control the dominant position in global digital governance, and continuously solidify the unfair and unreasonable global digital development pattern. The dual internal and external pressures are intertwined and mutually constraining, which not only hinders the integrated consolidation of the digital industries, rules systems, and market ecosystems of Global South countries, but also limits the process of Global South countries' participation in and reform of global digital governance, greatly weakening the actual effectiveness of the "Digital Silk Road" in enabling regional deep integration.

In response to the above challenges, relying on the cooperation advantages of the "Digital Silk Road," all parties need to take targeted measures and coordinate efforts to promote the building of a new pattern of digital integrated development for Global South countries.

First, take regional coordination as the core hub, build a digital interconnection pattern with multi-node linkage, and consolidate the cooperation foundation for the integrated development of Global South countries. Relying on the "Digital Silk Road" cooperation framework, coordinate the forces of government policy guidance, enterprise technology implementation, and financial resource support, build a digital cooperation system with multi-stakeholder coordinated participation, break the limitations of single-actor cooperation, and broaden the coverage of South-South digital cooperation; leverage regional organizations such as ASEAN and the African Union to break through country-to-country cooperation barriers, build regional digital cooperation platforms suited to the development needs of Global South countries, and coordinate the promotion of regional digital resource integration and linked development; rely on Global South countries with developed digital industries and prominent resource endowments to build core cooperation nodes, and through digital infrastructure interconnection, institutional rule alignment and mutual recognition, accelerate the cross-regional free flow of technology, capital, and industrial factors, realize the multiple development goals of network connectivity, industrial integration, and institutional mutual recognition, and continuously enhance the overall effectiveness of Global South countries' participation in global digital governance.

Second, take institutional creation as the key lever, improve localized governance systems, and empower joint governance and co-construction in the digital field of Global South countries. The construction of the "Digital Silk Road" not only promotes the restructuring and upgrading of the global digital value chain, but is also committed to breaking the unfair digital governance pattern dominated by the West, safeguarding the equal digital development rights and interests of Global South countries, and consolidating the foundation for inclusive and win-win cooperation; Global South countries can proactively rely on mainstream multilateral mechanisms such as the United Nations and the International Telecommunication Union, actively participate in the discussion and revision of global digital governance rules, steadily promote the optimization, adjustment, and reshaping of the existing digital governance system, and break the Western monopoly on rules; by building special small-multilateral digital cooperation platforms, based on the development shortcomings and practical needs of Global South countries, incubate localized and distinctive digital governance mechanisms, continuously enhance the participation rights and voice of Global South countries in the formulation of global digital rules, and proactively join the ranks of co-builders of global digital governance rules.

Third, take inclusive development as the fundamental orientation, consolidate consensus on digital cooperation among Global South countries, and lay a solid ideological foundation for coordinated development. Always take development as the core essence of digital cooperation among Global South countries, adhere to the basic principles of multilateralism, discard digital hegemony and zero-sum thinking, and promote the balanced sharing of digital resources, the equal and inclusive enjoyment of digital rights, and the sharing of digital achievements by all; promote the deep alignment of digital cooperation among Global South countries with the United Nations sustainable development agenda, concentrate efforts on cultivating high-quality digital industries, improve the digital industry chain, drive regional economic quality and efficiency improvement through digital transformation, and make up for the digital development shortcomings of Global South countries; rely on digital carriers such as smart government affairs, digital livelihood services, and cloud-based public services, continuously improve the modernization level of social governance in various countries, continuously enhance the autonomy and independence of digital development of Global South countries, consolidate the joint force of solidarity, collaboration, and joint governance, and inject the strength of Global South countries into improving the fair and reasonable global digital governance system.

(The author is Director of the Institute of Global Issues at Nankai University.)

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Advancing Deep China-US Collaboration to Empower Global AI Governance

By: 祁怀高

Global artificial intelligence is becoming a key variable that reshapes the global technology landscape and influences international geopolitical competition. On July 17, 2026, at the opening ceremony of the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and High-Level Meeting on Artificial Intelligence Global Governance, President Xi Jinping proposed: uphold openness and win-win cooperation to drive innovative development; strengthen risk awareness to ensure safety and controllability; encourage inclusiveness and mutual accommodation to promote mutual learning among civilizations; advocate 和衷共济 (hé zhōng gòng jì - "harmonize hearts and cross the river together," to unite in shared purpose) to improve global governance. This important exposition points the way forward for the sound development of global artificial intelligence and international practical cooperation, and provides a Chinese solution. As the two countries with the strongest comprehensive strength in the global artificial intelligence field, the interaction and competitive dynamics between China and the United States in this field profoundly affect the global artificial intelligence development landscape.

Compared with the US-Soviet science and technology competition pattern during the Cold War, which was mutually isolated and completely antagonistic, the current China-US artificial intelligence competition is built upon an era in which industrial chains are deeply intertwined, technological iteration spreads rapidly, and common global risks are increasing. Fierce competition has not completely squeezed out space for cooperation. In November 2023, when President Xi Jinping held a China-US summit meeting with US President Biden, he pointed out that China and the United States share broad common interests in many fields, including both traditional fields such as economy, trade, and agriculture, and emerging fields such as climate change and artificial intelligence. The two heads of state agreed to promote and strengthen dialogue and cooperation between the two countries in various fields, including establishing an intergovernmental dialogue on artificial intelligence. The China-US high-level meeting in May 2026 established a new bilateral relationship positioning of building a "China-US constructive strategic stability relationship," providing an overall framework for the two countries to manage differences, maintain stable interaction, and expand practical cooperation, and also opening a valuable window period for sound interaction in the artificial intelligence field between the two countries in the coming period.

First, the cooperation window at the level of strategic stability. The new bilateral relationship positioning clarifies an interaction orientation of measured competition, manageable differences, and practical collaboration, providing an important premise for incorporating artificial intelligence risk management into the bilateral strategic stability agenda. Artificial intelligence has multiple attributes spanning the economy and industry, national security, and global governance; it is an emerging field that entangles the interests of major powers and is highly prone to cognitive bias and decision-making miscalculation. Relying on existing bilateral communication mechanisms, establishing regular dialogue channels in the artificial intelligence field, regulating the order of interaction in the field, and steadily managing competitive differences can effectively reduce strategic miscalculation and accumulate interaction and mutual trust, becoming an important entry point for the two countries to maintain overall strategic stability and explore the correct way for major powers to get along.

Second, the cooperation window at the level of technical security. The various risks derived from the rapid iteration of artificial intelligence currently exhibit prominent characteristics of cross-border transmission, full-domain diffusion, and asymmetric proliferation. Risks such as autonomous agent evolution spiraling out of control, misuse of technology by non-state actors, instability in intelligent operation and maintenance of critical infrastructure, deepfakes, and automated cyberattacks continue to accumulate, gradually evolving from single technical risks into regional and global public security hazards. Such risks are not constrained by national borders or camp differences; they are realistic challenges that China and the United States must jointly face and collaboratively address. Based on aligned security interests, the two countries have broad space for collaboration in many fields, including artificial intelligence safety operation norms, risk early warning and response, cybersecurity protection, and constraints on intelligent application boundaries, and can collaboratively implement security responsibilities amid sound competition and jointly build a technical security defense line in the artificial intelligence field.

Third, the cooperation window at the level of global governance. Currently, problems of uneven global artificial intelligence development, imperfect governance systems, and inequitable development rights are prominent; the intelligence divide persists; and artificial intelligence capacity building in Global South countries lags behind. Improving an inclusive, universally beneficial, fair, and reasonable global governance system has become a universal demand of the international community. China continues to promote the building of a global artificial intelligence governance system, has put forward a series of governance propositions and cooperation initiatives, promoted the implementation of resolutions related to artificial intelligence capacity building under the United Nations framework, advanced the construction of inclusive international cooperation mechanisms, and helped form a governance consensus that balances security and development and embraces diversity. As the two most influential actors in the global artificial intelligence field, China and the United States possess governance influence and resource endowments that transcend bilateral competitive differences. Multilateral mechanisms such as the United Nations, the Group of Twenty, and the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization provide stable platforms for the two countries to carry out cross-domain governance coordination. The two countries have numerous converging interests and ample space for collaboration on governance issues such as unification of safety assessment standards, mutual recognition and alignment of industry standards, global artificial intelligence capacity building, and protection of inclusive development rights — important favorable conditions for improving the global artificial intelligence governance architecture and advancing the governance system toward fairness, reasonableness, inclusiveness, and balance.

In the future, China and the United States can collaborate deeply in the following four areas to empower global artificial intelligence governance.

First, jointly drive innovative development. As the core engine pulling global economic growth and driving industrial momentum transformation, artificial intelligence continues to deeply integrate into the real economy and empower real industries, ushering in a historic opportunity for leapfrog development. The artificial intelligence industrial chains of China and the United States are deeply nested, with interoperable and complementary technological resources, providing a solid foundation for deep collaboration and collaborative innovation. The two countries should base themselves on the common demands of bilateral innovative development, abandon closed and exclusive development models, uphold openness, open-source principles, cooperation, and sharing, and shape a bilateral interaction paradigm of measured competition, orderly collaboration, and manageable differences. The two sides can rely on technological competition to drive innovation breakthroughs, jointly advance artificial intelligence technological innovation, scenario implementation, and industrial upgrading, collaboratively empower the transformation of traditional industries, the growth of emerging industries, and the layout of future industries, so that artificial intelligence technology genuinely empowers the hundreds of industries of both countries, achieving bilateral shared innovation and mutual benefit and win-win outcomes.

Second, jointly build a bottom line for safe and controllable development. The sound development of artificial intelligence must take safety and controllability as its fundamental premise, always ensuring that technology serves humanity and is controlled by humanity. Currently, various endogenous and derivative risks from artificial intelligence iteration continue to stack up, while erroneous practices of over-securitization and camp-based fragmentation in the artificial intelligence field seriously disrupt the order of industry development. Both China and the United States face the realistic challenge of artificial intelligence safety governance and need to jointly strengthen bottom-line thinking, enhance risk prevention and control awareness, and adhere to the cooperation principles of 求同存异 (qiú tóng cún yì - "seek common ground, preserve differences," to seek common ground while reserving differences) and proceeding gradually. The two sides can avoid highly sensitive strategic competition areas, focus on deepening practical cooperation in low-sensitivity fields such as civilian intelligent applications, and simultaneously build a comprehensive prevention and control system covering regulations and norms, technical monitoring, risk early warning, and emergency response, strictly preventing technology misuse and malicious use. At the same time, they should jointly resist practices of over-generalizing national security and unilateral containment and suppression in the artificial intelligence field, and hold the bottom line of technical security and bilateral development.

Third, deepen civilizational exchange and mutual learning. The development of artificial intelligence is by no means merely the iterative upgrading of a single technology; it is even more related to civilizational inheritance and cultural development. China and the United States each have distinctive cultural foundations, industrial models, and development paths, with broad space for inclusiveness, mutual learning, complementarity, and improvement. The two countries should adhere to guiding the direction of artificial intelligence development with the common values of all humanity, break the limitation of single government-to-government dialogue, build diverse exchange platforms for universities, research institutions, and industry associations, and promote mutual learning and exchange of technological concepts, development experience, and governance approaches between the two sides. Relying on an inclusive and open bilateral exchange atmosphere and using artificial intelligence technology as a bond, they should enhance civilizational integration, dissolve cognitive bias, avoid technological development solidifying cognitive opposition and exacerbating civilizational estrangement, and cultivate a bilateral artificial intelligence cooperation ecosystem of 美美与共 (měi měi yǔ gòng - "each beauty shared with all," mutual appreciation and shared flourishing) and coordinated development.

Fourth, collaboratively improve the global governance system. Artificial intelligence is the precious common wealth of all humanity; improving global governance and promoting inclusive development are the common responsibilities of China and the United States. The two countries should practice true multilateralism, rely on mature multilateral platforms such as the United Nations and the Group of Twenty, proactively align artificial intelligence development strategies, governance rules, and technical standards, and solve the problems of fragmented rules and camp-based standards. Based on bilateral development differences and common demands of global governance, they should build a tiered and categorized precision cooperation system and deepen collaboration in areas such as basic technology sharing, joint risk prevention and control, and inclusive intelligent construction. At the same time, they should jointly assist Global South countries in artificial intelligence capacity building, effectively bridge the global digital-intelligence divide, avoid problems of inequitable development and governance imbalance in the intelligent field, and jointly build a global artificial intelligence governance system that balances security and development, inclusiveness and universal benefit, so that cutting-edge technology better benefits all humanity.

(The author is Deputy Director of the Institute of International Studies, Fudan University)

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Why India is trapped in the dilemma of telecom fraud governance

By: 钱燕娜

In recent years, as India's "Digital India" strategy has been deeply advanced, smartphones, mobile networks, and digital payments have both injected new momentum into economic and social development and become the soil for telecom network fraud to commit low-cost, high-efficiency crimes. In 2025, Indian citizens' losses from network fraud totaled approximately 2 trillion rupees, equivalent to about 23.8 billion US dollars. Among these, losses caused by the "digital arrest" scam alone accounted for 8%, approximately 158.5 billion rupees. Combined with cross-border call center fraud activities targeting European and American countries, India's telecom fraud has evolved from isolated, scattered criminal acts into a conglomerated, industrialized, cross-border composite crime form, forming a gray industry chain covering the globe. It not only destroys social trust and disrupts the digital economy order, but also poses a severe challenge to India's national governance capacity.

The typical characteristics of India's telecom fraud are mainly as follows. First, the scope of crime covers all areas. Within India, telecom fraud is gradually replacing traditional channels with encrypted, privacy-protective instant messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram, which have become the main carriers of new types of fraud. Fraud scenarios extend to various livelihood and economic fields including online social networking, e-commerce transactions, financial lending, and job recruitment. Victim groups range from ordinary citizens to small and medium-sized enterprises and even government agencies. As for cross-border fraud, on the one hand, a large number of Indian fraudsters travel to Southeast Asia to set up overseas dens, using virtual dialing devices such as VOIP and GOIP to conduct cross-border fraud against domestic Indian citizens, thereby evading domestic regulation and law enforcement crackdowns; on the other hand, relying on the mature domestic English-language call center industry, they carry out precise, large-scale fraud against users in English-speaking countries in Europe and America. Second, criminal methods are iterating and upgrading. With the rapid popularization of digital payments, fraudsters exploit financial regulatory loopholes to design new fraud schemes targeting services such as the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and online banking, inducing users to transfer money by forging payment links and impersonating financial customer service personnel, and even colluding with insiders to steal user account information. The low-cost application of artificial intelligence technology allows fraudsters to rapidly generate deepfake audio and video, forge official identity documents, and precisely imitate the voices and images of relatives, friends, and public officials, lowering victims' vigilance. At the same time, fraudsters divert illicit funds through multi-tiered "money mule" personal accounts, and jointly use underground banks and virtual currency trading channels to quickly split, transfer, and launder the funds involved in cases, achieving extremely rapid cross-border flow of stolen money, greatly increasing the difficulty of fund tracing and recovery. Third, the criminal system is mature and complete. India's telecom fraud groups have formed an enterprise-style operation model with complete architecture, refined division of labor, and standardized operations. Affected by structural social factors, India's highly skilled talent faces narrow formal employment channels and low employment quality, while the fraud industry has low barriers to entry and high returns, making it highly attractive and capable of continuously supplying stable manpower to the fraud black industry chain. The groups generally adopt a pyramid-style hierarchical management structure: top-level personnel coordinate and control fund channels, cross-border business, and overall operational rhythm; middle-level personnel are specifically responsible for supporting functions such as personnel recruitment, script training, and equipment maintenance; bottom-level personnel are assigned specialized positions in outbound calling for lead generation, psychological pressure, and precise inducement, 各司其职 (gè sī qí zhí - "each performs their own duties," each attending to their own responsibilities) and collaborating in crime. Internally, they implement single-line contact and zoned operation models. Once confronted with law enforcement investigation, they can rapidly destroy criminal data, sever criminal links, and shift operational positions, possessing strong anti-risk capability and rapid recovery capability.

Why has India's telecom fraud remained unresolved for so long? Tracing to its roots, it lies in the superimposition of India's own structural contradictions, causing governance measures to be unable to take effect and produce results. First, the construction of the legal system is lagging. The provisions of India's Information Technology Act are outdated. For new types of criminal acts such as AI deepfakes, virtual currency money laundering, and illegal use of GOIP devices, there is a lack of clear conviction standards and sufficiently severe punishment intensity. Many fraudsters, after being caught, can only be punished for minor offenses, making it difficult to form an effective deterrent. At the same time, different Indian states and union territories have differing standards in telecom crime legislation, and cross-state case handling often faces conflicts in the application of law, leaving room for fraudsters to exploit legal loopholes. Second, the allocation of law enforcement resources is insufficient. India has a total population of approximately 1.4 billion, but only slightly more than 29,000 police personnel possess professional qualifications for cybercrime investigation, creating a huge gap in professional police strength. India's fiscal investment in the anti-fraud field is seriously insufficient. Grassroots police stations lack professional investigation equipment and technical system support, making it difficult to complete the investigation of complex telecom fraud cases. Serious data barriers exist among various administrative and judicial departments, with poor information sharing and disjointed business coordination, making it extremely easy to miss the golden disposal window period for fund freezing and clue tracing, greatly reducing the case clearance rate and the rate of property loss recovery for citizens. Government-enterprise anti-fraud coordination is also deadlocked. Encrypted social platforms, using the protection of user privacy as an excuse, refuse to fully disclose important clues such as the subject information of fraudulent accounts and transaction trajectories, creating great obstacles to case investigation and evidence collection. Third, the balance between digital development and security governance is lost. Domestic telecom operators in India, in order to seize market share, have repeatedly simplified user identity verification processes, and a large number of phone cards opened with false identities have flowed into the telecom fraud market. Regulatory departments have long lacked control over fraud-related technical tools such as virtual dialing technology and number-changing software, failing to establish an effective technical tracing and interception system, and unable to block fraudulent information flows from the transmission end in a timely manner. The call center industry absorbs more than 1.2 million employed persons and is an important pillar of local employment security and fiscal revenue. Local governments, in order to stabilize people's livelihood employment and safeguard local finances, have deliberately relaxed regulatory constraints on illegal cross-border fraud conducted through call centers. In addition, domestic fintech enterprises, in order to reduce operating costs and seize market share, actively weaken transaction risk control systems, with lenient monitoring and control standards for small-amount high-frequency abnormal transfers and suspicious accounts involved in cases, providing 可乘之机 (kě chéng zhī jī - "an opportunity that can be ridden," a chance to exploit) for the flow of telecom fraud funds.

India's deep entrapment in the dilemma of telecom fraud governance sounds an alarm for countries exploring digital governance paths. First, break the binding of industrial interests and build a solid institutional regulatory defense line. To carry out digital anti-fraud governance, it is necessary to clarify through legislation the statutory responsibilities of various types of business entities in the interception of risky transactions, the reporting of clues involved in cases, and the control of fraudulent activities, establish and improve corporate accountability and punishment mechanisms, severely crack down on profit-seeking behaviors that deliberately relax risk control, evade regulation, and condone the flow of fraudulent funds, and put an end to industry private interests eroding the public security defense line. Build a government-led, multi-departmental, deeply coordinated government-enterprise real-time data sharing and risk early warning system, break through cross-industry, cross-platform, and cross-regional data barriers, achieve rapid identification of fraud clues and millisecond-level risk interception, and solve the problem of fragmented collaborative governance. Second, adhere to equal emphasis on development and security, and fill the shortcomings of digital governance. In the process of advancing digital economy innovation and deepening digital inclusive development, it is necessary to adhere to the simultaneous planning, simultaneous advancement, and simultaneous improvement of development and security. On the one hand, continuously iterate the cybersecurity and anti-fraud legal system, refine digital transaction risk control rules, fund tracing mechanisms for funds involved in cases, and cross-border data cooperation systems, and fill institutional loopholes in the process of digital transformation; on the other hand, simultaneously advance the project of improving the digital security literacy of the entire population, with focus on rural areas and the elderly, bridge the digital cognitive divide, and reduce the risk of fraud for special groups from the source. Third, resolve deep-seated social contradictions and compress the space for crime. Through industrial upgrading, business format innovation, and capacity expansion and quality improvement, broaden formal employment channels for young people, especially highly skilled talent, weaken the criminal economic incentives of the fraud industry's low threshold and high returns, and squeeze the living space of black industry manpower. Carry out regular, scenario-based science popularization education for high-risk groups, and comprehensively improve the entire population's risk identification and resistance capabilities. Continuously strengthen the manpower, technology, and resource shortcomings of grassroots law enforcement, improve supporting mechanisms such as cross-border judicial cooperation, recovery of funds involved in cases, and victim compensation, make efforts from multiple aspects including criminal supply, victim defense, and case handling, comprehensively compress the living space of telecom fraud, and build a solid foundation for the safe and stable development of the digital economy.

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Uphold and improve the organizational system that ensures full connectivity between higher and lower levels and strong execution.

By: 郑琦

The Party's strength comes from organization; organization can multiply strength. Since the day of its birth, the Marxist political party has taken rigorous organization as the foundation of its existence. Looking across the more than one hundred years of the struggle journey, our Party has endured wind and rain (栉风沐雨 (zhì fēng mù yǔ - "comb wind, bathe rain," to endure hardships and wind and rain)), stormed through passes and seized defiles, advancing all the way from victory to new victory, and has become the world's largest Marxist governing party; rigorous organization is an important guarantee from which it must never deviate even for a moment. Entering the new era, General Secretary Xi Jinping has proposed advancing the Party's organizational line for the new era with the construction of the organizational system as the focus, has made a series of important expositions and important instructions and directives on the construction of the Party's organizational system, elevating our Party's understanding of the laws of organizational system construction to a new realm, deepening and expanding the theoretical connotation and practical dimension of organizational system construction, and providing scientific guidance for forging a Party organizational system that is connected from top to bottom and strong in execution.

A rigorous organizational system is a distinctive trait of the Marxist political party. When Marx and Engels drafted the Rules of the Communist League, they drew lessons from the loose and spontaneous nature of early workers' groups, clarified the organizational structure of branches, districts, regional districts, the Central Committee, and the Congress of Delegates, and established supporting operational rules such as lower levels regularly reporting to higher levels and all League members being obliged to obey all resolutions of the League, forming an organizational system with distinct levels and clear authority and responsibility, providing a blueprint for the subsequent organizational system construction of proletarian political parties. Lenin further revealed the key role of organization in the proletarian revolutionary struggle, sharply pointing out that "the strength of the working class is organization" and that "in the struggle for power, the proletariat has no weapon other than organization," explicitly writing democratic centralism into the Party constitution of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party as the Party's organizational principle, building a centralized, unified, and strictly disciplined Party organizational system, and providing a strong organizational guarantee for the victory of the Russian revolution.

The Communist Party of China, as a Marxist political party, has inherited this advantageous gene of attaching importance to organizational system construction. In the early period of Party building, the Party clearly stated that it was neither "scholarly knowledge-mongers" nor "visionary revolutionaries," but rather "a party striving for the proletarian masses," and for this it must have "organization and training adapted to revolution," otherwise "if one only has revolutionary wishes, one cannot have the strength to carry out revolutionary movements." The first "Constitution of the Communist Party of China" adopted at the Second National Congress included "Organization" as an important chapter, constructing from bottom to top an organizational system composed of groups, local branches, district executive committees, and the Central Executive Committee, and standardizing the establishment principles and task requirements of organizations at all levels. The Fourth National Congress positioned the organizational question as "the most important question for the survival and development of our Party." Subsequently, the Sanwan reorganization (三湾改编) established the principle of "building Party branches in companies," and required that Party groups be established in platoons and Party members in squads, becoming a pioneering initiative in perfecting our Party's grassroots organizational construction, deeply planting the Party's organizational roots in the grassroots front line.

From building strong Party organizations at all levels and gathering the revolutionary torrent during the period of the new democratic revolution, to achieving full coverage of Party organizations in organs, factories, cities and countryside during the period of socialist revolution and construction, from continuously adjusting and optimizing organizational setups and perfecting various organizational systems after reform and opening up, to systematically strengthening the construction of the Party's organizational system in the new era, for more than a hundred years, our Party has always taken the rigorous Party organizational system as an important lever for governing the Party and governing the country. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized on many occasions: "Our Party was established in accordance with Marxist Party-building principles, forming a rigorous organizational system including the Party's central organizations, local organizations, and grassroots organizations. This is a powerful advantage that no other political party in the world possesses."

Unblocking organizational levels and realizing the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee. The key to a rigorous Party organizational system lies in upholding the authority of the Party Central Committee and centralized and unified leadership, and the foundation lies in achieving the "two upholds" (两个维护). The Party constitution of the Second National Congress already established that the whole Party must obey "the resolutions of the National Congress and the Central Executive Committee," and this institutional requirement has been passed down for more than a hundred years, becoming one of the core contents of the current "four obediences" (四个服从) of democratic centralism. However, for a period of time, in the implementation of the Party Central Committee's decisions and deployments, there were "roadblock tigers" in the "first kilometer," "middle blockages" in the "middle segment," and "dead-end roads" in the "last kilometer," restricting the overall effectiveness of the organization. Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Party, General Secretary Xi Jinping, in response to prominent problems in organizational operation, has clearly required Party organizations at all levels to consciously align with the Party Central Committee, ensuring that government orders are unblocked and take effect upon implementation.

The Party's central organizations occupy the brain and command center position in the organizational system, and must have the authority of being 定于一尊 (dìng yú yī zūn - "fixed in one supreme position," to have a single supreme authority) and 一锤定音 (yī chuí dìng yīn - "one hammer stroke sets the tone," to have the final say). On all major policy questions involving the whole Party and the whole country, only the Party Central Committee has the right to make decisions and interpretations. Entering the new era, the Party Central Committee has not only specially formulated and issued the "Regulations on the Work of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China," which details the leadership status, leadership system, and operational rules of the Central Committee, but has also insisted on those above leading by example and demonstrating and guiding, with various intra-Party regulations setting higher standards for central leading comrades, requiring the central level to set the benchmark and serve as an example for the whole Party. In the chain of policy implementation, central and state organs are the "first kilometer" for implementing the Party Central Committee's decisions and deployments. In 2019, the Party Central Committee held the first conference on Party building in central and state organs in the Party's history, clearly requiring central and state organs to firmly establish political organ awareness, take the lead in achieving the "two upholds," and build model organs that reassure the Party Central Committee and satisfy the people. Local Party committees, as the "middle segment" for implementing the Party Central Committee's decisions and deployments, play the leading core role of overall command of the overall situation and coordinating all parties in their regions in accordance with the "Regulations on the Work of Local Party Committees of the Communist Party of China," among which the fundamental task is to ensure the implementation of the Party Central Committee's decisions and deployments. Because the authority of local Party organizations comes from the authority of the Party Central Committee, the work of local Party organizations is in essence the concrete implementation of the Party Central Committee's strategic deployments within their regions, so they must strictly achieve resolute response to what the Party Central Committee advocates, resolute execution of what the Party Central Committee decides, and resolute non-doing of what the Party Central Committee prohibits. The Party's grassroots organizations are the "nerve endings" of the Party's body spread throughout all areas of society, the most numerous and most widely distributed in the organizational system, and are also the "last kilometer" for ensuring that the Party Central Committee's decisions and deployments reach the masses directly. Therefore, the top priority in strengthening grassroots Party organization construction is to strictly grasp implementation, and to take grasping the implementation of major tasks as the touchstone and whetstone for testing the strength or weakness of grassroots Party organizations. Grassroots Party organizations need to temper their excellent abilities and truly promote the direct reach and effective implementation of the Party Central Committee's various decisions and deployments at the grassroots level.

Building Party organizations in all fields into strong fighting fortresses for realizing the Party's leadership. In 1926, the "Resolution on the Organizational Question" proposed that branches are not sub-divisions, but are "the core of the Party in various factories, mines, schools, and certain regions" and "the organization of the Bolshevik Party is to gather together these many social cores and become one party," clearly requiring Party organizations to effectively play their role in all fields. However, for a period of time, some grassroots Party organizations had weak political functions, and the problems of weakening, virtualization, and marginalization were not solved; some systems and mechanisms were not straightened out, and there were still blockages in the Party's leadership reaching the grassroots level. Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Party, the Party Central Committee has, according to the different characteristics of various fields, researched breakthroughs field by field, continuously clarified the functional positioning of Party organizations in various fields, continuously straightened out the authority and responsibility relationships between Party organizations and other governance subjects, and further consolidated and strengthened the Party's leadership and Party building in various fields.

In the field of organs, the previous leadership system in which organ Party building was led by the organ work committee and guided by the unit's Party group (Party committee) was changed, clearly granting the Party group (Party committee) the responsibility of leading the unit's Party building work, requiring the Party group (Party committee) to fulfill the main responsibility for organ Party building, while the organ work committee carries out unified leadership over the Party work of the organs under it, straightening out the leadership system of organ Party building and providing important support for walking in the first phalanx of practicing the "two upholds" and building model organs. In the field of state-owned enterprises, General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly proposed the "two persistences" (两个一以贯之), and put forward specific requirements from multiple dimensions including Party leadership and corporate governance, leadership team building, grassroots organization construction, and leadership mechanisms, strengthening the Party's overall leadership over state-owned enterprises, and the "four-izations" (四化) problem has been systematically rectified and fundamentally improved. In the field of public institutions, colleges and universities place ideological and political education in a prominent position, deepen the content of ideological and political education, enrich the forms of ideological and political education, and continuously strengthen the political beliefs of cadres, teachers, and students. At the same time, through revising the "Regulations on the Work of Grassroots Organizations of Higher Education Institutions of the Communist Party of China," the influence and discourse power of Party organizations on key issues has been strengthened, ensuring the Party's overall leadership over colleges and universities. In the fields of public hospitals and primary and secondary schools, the "Opinions on Strengthening Party Building Work in Public Hospitals" and the "Opinions on Establishing the Principal Responsibility System Led by Party Organizations in Primary and Secondary Schools (Trial)" were respectively issued, establishing the dean responsibility system under Party committee leadership and the principal responsibility system under Party organization leadership, solving from the institutional level the prominent problems of previously vague Party organization authority and responsibility and weakened leadership, clarifying the authority and responsibility boundaries between Party organizations and administrative teams, and unequivocally strengthening the leadership position of Party organizations.

Adhering to the clear orientation of focusing on the grassroots level. At the first national organizational work conference, Liu Shaoqi emphasized that our Party is not only at the upper levels, but also closely connected with the broad masses of the people in various factories, mines, rural areas, organs and schools, and company-level units of the troops, becoming one with the masses, and emphasized that this is the source of our Party's inexhaustible and invincible strength, and is also the reason why it can lead the people of the whole country to continuously achieve victory. Party organizations go deep into the grassroots front line and closely connect with the masses, and this fine tradition has been passed down from generation to generation and continues to this day. Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Party, General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized on many occasions the need to establish a clear orientation of focusing on the grassroots level, effectively achieving full coverage of Party organizations and Party work, and promoting comprehensive progress and comprehensive excellence of grassroots Party organizations.

With the vigorous rise of the digital economy and platform economy and the rapid development of emerging fields, not only have new economic organizations and new social organizations continued to emerge, but the scale of new employment groups represented by couriers, food delivery riders, and ride-hailing drivers has continued to rise. Facing the new situation and new changes, General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly required, "Highlight the Party building work of new economic organizations, new social organizations, and new employment groups, and continuously enhance the Party's appeal, cohesion, and influence in emerging fields." All regions and departments have taken the "two coverages" (两个覆盖) concentrated attack action for Party building in emerging fields as a powerful starting point, continuously broadening the coverage of Party organizations, innovating Party member education and management methods, improving the care and service system for new employment groups, and promoting the deep extension of the Party's organizational system into new business forms and new groups.

At the same time, continuously deepen Party building leading grassroots governance and grassroots political power construction. The "Regulations on the Work of Rural Grassroots Organizations of the Communist Party of China" was revised, emphasizing the leadership position of rural grassroots Party organizations; the "one shoulder carrying both" (一肩挑) system of village (community) Party organization secretaries concurrently serving as village (residential) committee directors was comprehensively implemented, straightening out the grassroots Party organization leadership system; high standards were used to advance the standardized and normalized construction of village (community) Party-masses service centers, integrating functions such as convenience services for the people, deliberation and consultation, and Party-masses activities, creating red positions for serving the masses; continuously deepen the rectification of formalism to reduce burdens at the grassroots level, mobilizing the initiative, enthusiasm, and creativity of frontline Party members and cadres. Always adhere to leading efficient governance with high-quality Party building, unite and gather the broad masses of the people to the greatest extent, and consolidate the Party's mass foundation and governing foundation.

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Using "Big Party Building" to Activate "Micro Governance"

By: 牛君

The grassroots level is the very end of national governance, the frontline for serving the masses, and the practical field and testing stage where Party building work takes root and bears fruit. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that the most solid source of strength for the Party's work lies at the grassroots level, and the most prominent contradictions and problems in economic and social development and people's livelihoods also lie at the grassroots level; we must treat grasping the grassroots and laying a solid foundation as a long-term strategy and a fundamental plan, and we must not relax in the slightest. We must plant the Party's leadership at the grassroots level and among the masses, making grassroots Party organizations a strong core that unites people's hearts and rallies the masses.
"Neighbor" (近邻) Party building has condensed a new consensus of mutual assistance and good-neighborly governance. From 1985 to 1988, while working and living in Xiamen, Comrade Xi Jinping resided in Tuqiang Residential Community in Siming District's Shentian Community, forging deep neighborly ties with residents and leaving behind the much-told story of sending a New Year card handwritten with the words "A close neighbor is better than a distant relative" (远亲不如近邻) to his neighbors. To inherit and carry forward the precious ideological wealth, spiritual wealth, and practical achievements left by General Secretary Xi Jinping during his time working in Xiamen, in recent years, Party committees and governments at all levels in Xiamen have borne in mind General Secretary Xi Jinping's teachings and instructions, and with a high degree of political consciousness and sense of responsibility, have focused on grassroots livelihood security, innovation in grassroots social governance, and basic social services. They have proactively integrated the people-centered development philosophy into innovative practices of grassroots social governance, taken the concept of "a close neighbor is better than a distant relative" as the core element of grassroots governance, and, in the process of Party building leading grassroots governance, emphasized carrying forward the humanistic spirit and values of China's excellent traditional culture of "honoring trust and cultivating harmony, cherishing kinship and being good to neighbors, and helping one another in times of need." By using "grand Party building" to activate "micro-governance," they have realized integrated co-construction, linked co-governance, and resource sharing in a localized and convenient manner, forming the "neighbor" model of Party building leading grassroots governance. The reason "neighbor" Party building is called "neighbor" is that its core essence is to condense the value consensus of good-neighborly governance, treating neighbors as a bond, as a source of pride, and as kin, and taking neighborly relations as the starting point for innovating grassroots governance methods. "Neighbor" Party building advocates the good-neighborly culture of "regarding others' families as one's own family, and regarding others' persons as one's own person," embeds the concept of "a close neighbor is better than a distant relative" into residential community governance and into families and individuals, takes Party building leading grassroots community governance as the practical path, guides residents to step out of their homes and actively participate in residential community governance, and through befriending neighbors, being good to neighbors, trusting neighbors, harmonizing with neighbors, gathering neighbors, and benefiting neighbors, cultivates the concept of mutual help of "one big family of neighbors." This makes "distant relatives and close neighbors are all kin, helping each other as one family" a new feature of neighborly relations in the new era. At the same time, by advocating the community integration approach of "distant relatives and close neighbors, helping one another," it has promoted the effective complementarity of "Party building in place," "departments taking action," "orderly society," and "residents taking responsibility" in the grassroots governance process; through "being good to neighbors and treating neighbors as companions," it has promoted "pluralistic co-governance and supply-demand alignment" among social governance actors, facilitating the organic integration of autonomy, rule of law, and rule of virtue; through "localized and convenient, co-construction and sharing," the warmth of "neighbors" is continuously transmitted, providing theoretical support and practical reference for innovating grassroots social governance models and governance systems.
"Neighbor" Party building empowers and shapes a new pattern of the grassroots governance system. The Party's strength comes from organization; a rigorous organizational system that is connected from top to bottom and executes effectively is the advantage of Party building leading grassroots governance. "Neighbor" Party building starts from strengthening the Party's organizational construction, formulating and issuing a series of institutional norms such as the Implementation Opinions on Party Building Leading Residential Community Governance, extending organizational reach from street communities to residential communities, alleys, and building units, establishing residential community Party branches in accordance with the principle of "one residential community, one branch," and extending the Party organization chain into residential communities. At the same time, building-level Party groups are established in residential communities, with Party member building chiefs and Party member center households set up in an extended manner, forming the residential community Party building pattern of "residential community Party branch—building-level Party group—Party member building chief (center household)." To expand the coverage of Party organizations and give full play to the role of grassroots Party organizations as strong fighting fortresses, "neighbor" Party building has created the organizational framework of "street Party working committee—community grand Party committee—residential community Party branch—building-level Party group—Party member center household," forming a top-down, multi-directionally interactive, co-governed and co-managed neighbor governance pattern of "community Party committee managing the overall picture, residential community branches managing their areas, building-level Party groups leading their buildings and courtyards, branch Party members taking the lead, and all residential community members participating." To build a grassroots Party building system that consolidates foundations and strengthens fortresses, "neighbor" Party building focuses on enhancing the political functions and organizational functions of various types of grassroots Party organizations, takes street and community Party organizations as the core, takes optimizing grassroots Party building operational mechanisms as the starting point, strengthens localized and convenient interconnection and interaction between organizations, adopts the approach of "street and community leadership plus departmental下沉 (sinking to the grassroots)," endows street grand Party working committees with the primary responsibilities and main business of focusing on Party building, governance, and services, transforming street grand Party working committees from "administrative nerve endings" into "governance hubs" that serve as the backbone connecting various organizations within their jurisdictions; community grand Party committees focus on the functions of organizing and serving the masses, promoting the sinking of policies, funds, resources, and projects to communities, and committing to opening up the "last mile" of connecting with and serving the masses; various types of Party organizations in streets and communities are committed to strengthening block-and-strip coordination, project claiming, and vertical-horizontal linkage with member units and co-construction units within their jurisdictions; grassroots Party organizations in various fields are committed to integrating forces to play the "combined card," breaking through the limitations of unit and organizational affiliation, proactively integrating into local central tasks and Party building work, realizing co-construction of organizations, sharing of resources, linkage of mechanisms, and optimization of functions in systematic and holistic construction, and promoting the formation of a new pattern of grassroots governance with multi-directional efforts, pluralistic interaction, and co-governance and co-management.
"Neighbor" Party building integration releases new effects of grassroots governance capacity. "Neighbor" Party building aims to enhance grassroots governance effectiveness, takes community common spirit as its carrier, takes the implementation of basic livelihood security and basic services as its driving force, and by embedding the Party's organizational network into the nerve endings of grassroots society, implements the Party's overall leadership at the most basic level of urban and rural areas, extends Party building-led grassroots governance to the very ends of urban and rural areas, and releases the political leadership, ideological guidance, mass organization, and social appeal of grassroots Party organizations. By opening up the "last meter" among residents, organizations, Party-masses relations, and society, it promotes mutual trust and organic integration between residents and residents, residents and organizations, organizations and organizations, organizations and society, and society and residents, forming a localized and convenient pattern of co-construction, co-governance, and sharing. "Neighbor" Party building establishes branches in residential communities and grids, and by constructing the community governance model of "one core, multiple elements" and "collaborative co-governance," aggregates Party organizations from various industries and fields within the jurisdiction. Through sound community interaction, it mobilizes resources such as street grand Party working committees, member units of community grand Party committees, co-construction units, and social forces, strengthens block-and-strip coordination, builds the Party building "big family," strengthens the "basic plate," expands the "circle of friends," extends grassroots Party building work to residential communities and building units, expands the Party's organizational and work coverage, promotes the deep integration of grassroots Party building and grid governance, and realizes precise and effective Party building-led grassroots governance. "Neighbor" Party building, through implementing the Party building "neighbor" cohesion project, reshapes the "neighbor" relationship between organizations, connecting units within the jurisdiction that have no subordinate relationship to each other, differ in level, and are diverse in field, guiding Party and government organs, state-owned enterprises, units stationed in the area, and in-service Party members to fully sink into communities and residential communities; through standardizing the "dual reporting" system of unit Party organizations reporting to communities and in-service Party members reporting to residential communities, it improves mechanisms for two-way communication and coordination, two-way assessment and incentives, and two-way evaluation between unit Party organizations and communities, and between in-service Party members and residential community Party organizations, incorporates the opinions of residential community Party branches into the cadre promotion assessment and evaluation system, and makes in-service Party members' reporting and service work more proactive and more effective; through exploring and promoting "two-way cultivation and cross-appointment" between residential community Party branch members and owners' committee or property management company members, and in accordance with legal procedures pushing residential community Party branch secretaries to be elected as owners' committee directors and Party branch committee members to be elected as owners' committee members, it realizes the integration of Party building and governance and condenses the joint force of residential community autonomy; through implementing the working method of "two deliberations, two evaluations, two disclosures," opening consultation and deliberation platforms such as "democratic deliberation halls," residential community governance councils, and neighborhood self-governance groups, it widely absorbs residents' participation in public affairs, stimulates participation vitality, enhances the effectiveness of deliberation and consultation, continuously increases the vitality of grassroots governance, effectively solves the grassroots governance problems brought by contemporary social estrangement between people, organizational fragmentation, and administrativeization of community organizations, activates and releases the vitality of grassroots governance, enhances the effectiveness of grassroots governance, and creates a warm home of "good-neighborly governance and serving the masses."
(The author is a researcher at the Practice Base of the Xiamen Municipal Party Committee Propaganda Department of the Fujian Provincial Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and Deputy Director of the Xiamen Municipal Party School)

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A sound organizational system to consolidate the Party's governing foundation

By: 肖剑忠

When the organization is strong, the political party is strong; when the organization thrives, the cause thrives. Marxist political parties have always attached great importance to the Party's organizational construction. Lenin pointed out that "in the struggle for political power, the proletariat has no weapon other than organization," and emphasized strict Party organizational discipline to enhance the cohesion and combat effectiveness of Party organizations. Looking back over the journey of more than one hundred years, our Party has always placed organizational construction in a prominent position. From Mao Zedong's proposal of the important principle of "building the Party branch on the company level," laying a solid foundation for grassroots Party building, to continuously improving the Party group system, establishing temporary Party branches, and then in the new era deepening Party building work in new economic organizations, new social organizations, and new employment groups, a series of practical explorations that keep pace with the times fully demonstrate our Party's firm resolve in grasping organizational construction. To this day, our Party has built a rigorous organizational system covering the central, local, and grassroots levels. This organizational framework, which runs through all domains and is scientific and complete, is a unique advantage that no other political party possesses, and it is even more so a distinctive political hallmark that distinguishes our Party from all types of political parties.
Entering the new era, profound changes in the world situation, national conditions, and Party conditions have brought entirely new challenges to the Party's organizational construction. Standing on the new journey, we must take Xi Jinping's thought on Party building as the guide, anchor on the construction goal of being connected from top to bottom and powerful in execution, leverage strengths, shore up weaknesses, and reinforce weak links, continuously strengthen the Party's organizational system, transform institutional advantages and organizational advantages into governing advantages and development advantages, and build a solid foundation for the Party's long-term governance.
The grassroots level is the foundation of the Party's governance and the source of its strength. Since becoming the ruling party nationwide, our Party has always insisted on extending organizations downward and sinking strength to the grassroots level, continuously weaving a tighter organizational network at the urban and rural grassroots level. This construction logic runs through the entire process of the Party's governance. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "Promote the extension of Party organizations to the grassroots level and do the grassroots work well, only then can we 'sit firmly in the fishing boat regardless of wind and waves.'" Organizational construction in the new era must adhere to the principle that wherever Party members and the masses are, there Party organizations are established and work covers them, continuously promoting full coverage and full quality improvement of grassroots Party organizations across all domains. Promote the optimization of Party organization setups at the most peripheral levels such as residential communities and building corridors, consolidate the Party building foundation of the smallest governance units in urban governance, standardize the construction of Party branches in internal organs of government agencies and public institutions, open up the closed loop of Party building implementation in government agencies, promote the synchronous extension of Party organizations in state-owned enterprises with the business management structure, form an all-dimensional and three-dimensional grassroots organizational layout, greatly enhance the Party's organizational penetration, let the Party's tentacles take root in all fields of social governance, and continuously strengthen the Party organization's ability to organize the masses, mobilize the masses, and serve the masses.
The vigorous development of new business forms and new fields has put forward new requirements for full coverage of Party building work. Doing Party building work well in emerging fields is not only the basic premise for regulating the education and management of mobile Party members and ensuring their normal participation in organizational life, but also an important path for absorbing advanced elements from emerging fields and expanding the Party member ranks, and even more so a political guarantee for uniting and leading new business groups and leading the healthy development of the industry. Facing the new situation, we must focus on the weak links in Party building in emerging fields, make up for coverage shortcomings, and consolidate work responsibilities. By improving the work system of regional leadership and industry guidance, integrating multiple forces such as regional Party organizations, functional departments, industrial parks, industry associations, and leading enterprises, building a Party building pattern of joint management and coordinated linkage, continuously deepening the Party building offensive in the "three new" fields, continuously expanding organizational coverage and work coverage, enhancing the radiation power of the Party's organizational system, and elevating the Party's appeal, cohesion, and influence in emerging fields.
"Like the body directing the arm, like the arm directing the fingers" — strengthening the construction of the Party's organizational system requires efforts in both directions, addressing both symptoms and root causes, clearing bottlenecks, shoring up shortcomings, and fully activating the effectiveness of the organizational system. Carry out Party spirit education on a regular basis, temper the political loyalty of Party members and cadres, guide Party organizations at all levels and the broad masses of Party members and cadres to enhance the "four consciousnesses," strengthen the "four confidences," and achieve the "two upholds," and consolidate the ideological foundation for the whole Party to maintain unity in action and share the same orientation. Continuously strengthen political supervision, carry out inspection and tour inspection work on a regular basis, closely focus on the performance of duties by Party organizations at all levels, open up the closed loop of policy implementation, smooth the chain of transmission between levels, effectively enhance the executive capacity of Party organizations at all levels in implementing the major decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee, and safeguard the Party's cause with an organizational system that is connected from top to bottom and powerful in execution, ensuring it advances steadily and thrives.

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The Labor and Mass Views Embodied in the "May 9 Directive"

By: 王利月

The "May 9th Instruction" (五九批示) (partial) (held in the Zhejiang Provincial Archives)

The "May 9th Instruction" made by Mao Zedong on May 9, 1963 is an important document in which our Party, in the early period of comprehensive governance, distilled the Marxist view of labor and practiced the Party's mass line. This instruction was born out of the vibrant grassroots governance practice of Zhejiang, directly confronting the governance risk that Party members and cadres, under conditions of peaceful governance, became divorced from the masses and looked down on physical labor, and profoundly elucidating the fundamental political proposition of Communists of "for whom to labor, and how to take root among the masses." Studying this set of archival materials held in the Zhejiang Provincial Archives and tracing back the entire process by which the instruction took shape can clearly reveal our Party's consistent materialist conception of history: personally bending to labor is the natural bond linking cadres with the masses, and taking root among the masses is the touchstone for preserving the true character of Communists.

"These seven materials from Zhejiang are all very good"

In the early 1960s, China was at a critical stage of national economic adjustment, and grassroots Party-mass work in rural areas faced two prominent contradictions. On the one hand, after three years of difficult times, agricultural production had a hundred things waiting to be done, and the restoration of the collective economy and stable and increased grain output had become the central work of the whole Party, with grassroots governance urgently requiring Party and government cadres to go down to the front line and take the lead in tackling production difficulties. On the other hand, some rural grassroots cadres gradually developed bureaucratic tendencies; some cadres released from production at the commune and brigade level were accustomed to sitting in offices listening to reports and issuing documents, far removed from the front line of the fields. A small number of cadres even developed privileged thinking, equating their public office with special treatment, looking down on agricultural physical labor, becoming divorced from ordinary commune members, and cadre-mass relations became estranged. The Party Central Committee keenly perceived this governance risk and repeatedly stressed that rural cadres must return to the production front line, making participation in collective productive labor an important lever for rectifying grassroots work style and consolidating the people's commune collective economy.

In April 1963, while working in Hangzhou, Mao Zedong, in order to further advance the Socialist Education Movement in urban and rural areas, requested that the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee and the Hangzhou Municipal Party Committee prepare materials related to the Socialist Education Movement for reference. In accordance with the directive, the General Office of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee collected and organized seven front-line documentary materials, removing empty words and conventional formulas while retaining original material such as labor ledgers, work records, interviews with the masses, and governance results, compiling them into A Batch of Materials on Cadres Participating in Labor. These materials all originated from grassroots practical operations, with no artificial elevation and no theoretical extrapolation, truthfully reflecting the actual working conditions of Zhejiang grassroots cadres who shouldered farm tools and ate, lived, labored, and worked together with the masses. The seven typical materials span levels from county-level leading cadres in charge, Party committee work departments, commune Party and government leaders, to brigade Party branch secretaries, and cover scenarios including daily duty performance, rectification of backward leading bodies, agricultural technical tackling, and institutional system building.

The work record of Liao Xilong, secretary of the Chengxi Commune Party Committee in Pingyang County, clarified the underlying logic connecting cadre labor with mass work. He broke the customary perception among Party and government cadres at the time that "administrative work was superior to productive labor," established a system of fixed field labor for the Party committee leading body, and moved the office site to the fields and ridges. He recorded in the materials that only by personally going to the fields to till could one understand the masses' production demands, ascertain local soil, water, and fertilizer conditions, and accurately deploy agricultural production work; and that divorced from field labor, all mass work would become hollow administrative orders. This working model completely dissolved the identity barrier between cadres and the masses.

The deeds of Ying Siguan, Party branch secretary of the Yuexi Brigade in Ninghai County, set a benchmark for grassroots cadres consolidating Party-mass relations through labor. Ying Siguan participated in collective productive labor for more than 200 days per year on average. His participation in labor had three characteristics. First, he took the lead in doing — no matter what the work, he rushed to do it first. Transplanting rice seedlings, harvesting rice, carrying loads, applying fertilizer — he could do every kind of farm work, and did it quickly and well. Second, he did it regularly — whether in the busy farming season or the slack season, he persisted in participating in labor without interruption. Third, he did it deeply — he not only participated in ordinary farm work, but also went deep into the front line of production, participating in technical reform and labor in experimental fields.

The work case of Chen Shuangtian, a national model worker in agriculture and Party branch secretary of the Tangxi Brigade in Jinhua County, illustrated the exemplary and leading value of Party member labor. This grassroots cadre, called a "barefoot secretary" by the masses, had persisted in participating in collective productive labor since becoming branch secretary in 1952, maintaining his labor本色 throughout his life, and was a good cadre deeply loved by the masses. He often said: "Cadres participating in labor is a perfectly natural and right thing. If cadres do not participate in labor, they are like the water hyacinth in a pond — floating on the water without taking root. If cadres do not take root, they become divorced from the peasant masses, and it is easy to be like blind men feeling an elephant and make a fool of themselves."

In addition, the typical case of Yan Ruzhan of Tonglu County going down three times to backward production teams verified that labor is an effective vehicle for resolving grassroots governance difficulties and transforming weak leading bodies; the two area-wide survey reports from Longshan Commune in Rui'an County and Wuchang Commune in Yuhang County elevated individual labor consciousness into institutionalized norms for mass work; and the experience summarized by the Qingtian County Party Committee over five years of cadre experimental field work built, from the top down, a working system of "leading cadres taking the lead in labor and linking up with the masses at every level."

On May 9, 1963, after reviewing all the materials, Mao Zedong personally revised the title of the document, naming it Seven Good Materials from Zhejiang on Cadres Participating in Labor, and wrote a long comment of more than 1,300 characters, which opened with the praise "these seven materials from Zhejiang are all very good," emphasizing the importance of cadres directly participating in production practice for promoting economic development and drawing close cadre-mass relations, highly affirming the spirit of enduring hardship and working hard and of selfless dedication, and holding that this was conducive to improving cadre work style and drawing close Party-mass relations. This is the famous "May 9th Instruction" in the history of our Party. The instruction profoundly anticipated the risk of work-style decline and class stratification brought by separation from labor, reminded Communists that they must rely on labor and rely on the masses, elevated cadre participation in labor to the height of regime security and Party character, defined at the theoretical level the core connotations of our Party's view of labor and view of the masses, and deepened understanding of the laws of governance by the ruling Party.

Later, the "May 9th Instruction" together with the seven materials from Zhejiang was printed and distributed nationwide as "Attachment Seven" to the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Certain Questions Concerning Current Rural Work (Draft), and this concrete local practical experience was elevated into guiding materials for the whole Party in the Socialist Education Movement.

Cadre participation in labor is an "extremely major issue"

The seven good materials on cadres participating in labor are plain in language, pragmatic in measures, and intuitive in results. They step outside abstract theoretical frameworks and use vivid grassroots practice to prove: the view of labor of a Marxist party is, in essence, a people-first view of labor; and the most plain way for the Party's mass line to take root is for cadres to take root among the masses in the capacity of ordinary laborers.

With respect to the practice of cadre participation in labor, the "May 9th Instruction" made a fundamental political characterization: cadre participation in collective productive labor is not a general issue of work style, but an extremely major political issue of great revolutionary significance. In the materials submitted by Pingyang County, Liao Xilong analyzed that the situation before and after cadres participated in labor was completely different: the Party committee members "went to the fields with the commune members every day and worked together with them, becoming thoroughly familiar with the soil, water conservancy, crop growth, pests and diseases, and so on. In this way, when studying production, formulating plans, and solving problems, they could have a clear picture in mind and command appropriately, enabling the commune Party committee's decisions to fully match the masses' production needs." The vivid examples and plain language expounded the essence of "seeking truth from facts," the quintessence of Marxism and Mao Zedong Thought. The case of Rui'an County revealed that cadre participation in labor formed a reverse-pressure mechanism for rectifying the "mountains of documents and seas of meetings": it was stipulated that commune and brigade meetings should be held as rarely as possible, and moreover should be "held at night rather than during the day, held on rainy days rather than on sunny days, and held in the slack season rather than in the busy season," so that cadres would have more time to participate in labor.

Ying Siguan of Ninghai County, as the "top leader" of a grassroots Party organization, always completed his farm work assessment by the standard of an ordinary commune member. He never used his official position to exempt himself from physical labor, and while tilling and working he collected the masses' urgent difficulties and earnest expectations and resolved neighborhood disputes and production-distribution contradictions on the spot. At the front line of grassroots governance, the number of hours cadres spend in labor is often equivalent to the thickness of the masses' trust; equal labor identity is the most direct bridge for breaking down barriers between the Party and the masses. Chen Shuangtian's deeds also reflected this: he got up before dawn every day and went to the fields with the commune members, and handled work in the evenings as well. His office was at the head of the fields; he carried a hoe and a carrying pole with him at all times. Through participating in labor, he led the whole brigade to change its backward appearance, making the Tangxi Brigade an advanced unit in Jinhua County.

Mixing with the masses, supported by the masses

The spirit of the instruction further opened up the internal logic connecting labor practice with the mass line, making clear that only by going deep into the production front line and participating in labor can cadres step outside the bureaucratic circle and come into contact with the broad masses at the grassroots; and only by laboring together with the masses and sharing their hardships can they truly grasp the masses' demands and firmly stand on the people's standpoint.

The case of Yan Ruzhan going down three times to backward teams gives us a good lesson. In 1959, the Second Production Team of the Yujia Brigade in Tonglu County was a backward team that ran at a loss year after year. Yan Ruzhan took the initiative to request the brigade Party branch to allow him to move his whole family to the Second Production Team to help change its appearance. Considering that the whole family going would reduce the family's income, the branch only agreed to let him go alone, but Yan Ruzhan believed that only by taking the whole family could people be convinced. He said: "To endure hardship first and enjoy comfort last is the bounden duty of a Communist." And so, he brought his wife and children and moved to the Second Production Team. In 1960, Yan Ruzhan again led his whole family to settle in the First Production Team, the most backward in the whole brigade. After arriving, he took the lead in labor, went deep among the masses, and solved problems. After a year of effort, the First Production Team increased grain output by more than 6,000 kilograms, becoming the team with the greatest increase in output in the whole brigade. In 1961, Yan Ruzhan once again led his whole family to settle in the Resettlement Production Team. This team lacked farm tools and funds, had the most difficulties, and had the lowest output. Yan Ruzhan led the commune members and masses in working for two consecutive years, making the backward team leap at once into the ranks of advanced teams, and was praised by the masses as "a good cadre who jumps from the rice basket into the chaff basket." Another example is Wuchang Commune in Yuhang County, where, under the leadership of cadres, the whole commune formed a fine atmosphere in which everyone loved labor and everyone vied to be advanced. Because cadres participated in labor, cadre-mass relations in Wuchang Commune were very harmonious, the masses' production enthusiasm was very high, and the commune's agricultural production enjoyed bumper harvests year after year. When leading cadres in Qingtian County planted experimental fields, they often studied problems together with the commune members; the masses regarded the cadres as their own people and were willing to speak their innermost thoughts; and through planting experimental fields, the cadres came to understand the masses' demands and wishes and promptly solved many practical problems in production and daily life.

The "May 9th Instruction," born of grassroots practice in Zhejiang, points to the same grassroots governance logic: cadres personally bending to productive labor is not a simple physical task, but an essential path for going among the masses, observing popular sentiment, and rallying popular support; the Party's mass work must be carried out on the basis of equal laborer identity. More than sixty years have passed, and the conditions of the times have undergone profound changes, but the core of the "May 9th Instruction" — labor as the foundation and the people as supreme — never goes out of date. Today, as we revisit this classic Marxist commentary, it still possesses across time and space a powerful shock, penetration, and appeal.

(The author is the Director of the Zhejiang Provincial Archives)

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Early PRC livelihood construction

By: 陈东宇 张太原

In old China, the people's livelihood situation was extremely deteriorated: the broad masses could not eat their fill or wear warm clothes, lacked medical care and medicine, education was backward, and a social security system had not yet been established. From the founding of the People's Republic of China in October 1949 to the basic completion of socialist transformation in 1956, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, livelihood work in multiple fields—including grain supply, medical care and public health, education and culture, and social security—advanced in tandem, the people's livelihood situation was gradually improved, and the living standards of hundreds of millions of people rose continuously, becoming a vivid epitome of livelihood construction.
Rapidly Improving the Supply of Grain and Cotton
The grain question bears on the national economy and the people's livelihood. In 1949, the nation's total grain output was only 113.18 million tons, far below the historical peak of 1936, and famines occurred frequently. In June 1950, the Land Reform Law of the People's Republic of China was promulgated, abolishing the feudal land ownership system. By the end of 1952, approximately 300 million peasants who had no land or little land had received approximately 700 million mu of land, and were exempted from the land rent of more than 30 million tons of grain that they had previously paid to landlords every year. This was not only an adjustment of production relations, but also a revolutionary release of productive动力; peasants, farming on land that belonged to them, for the first time tilled for their own food and clothing, and their labor enthusiasm rose to unprecedented heights. In 1952, grain output reached 163.92 million tons, an increase of 44.8% over 1949; by 1956 it had reached 192.75 million tons, and per capita grain possession rose from 209 kilograms to 307 kilograms. In areas with developed agricultural production, peasants' staple food changed from coarse grains to fine grains; in relatively impoverished areas, they changed from the past practice of eating chaff and swallowing wild vegetables to mainly corn, sorghum, and other coarse grains.
Land reform solved the problem of "producing grain," while the unified purchase and sale policy solved the problem of "distributing grain." Around 1949, speculative capital successively set off four nationwide waves of sharp price rises. In 1950, the Central People's Government implemented unified fiscal and economic management, and waged the two campaigns of the "Silver Dollar Battle" and the "Rice and Cotton Battle" simultaneously, releasing 6 billion jin of public grain to stabilize market grain prices, rapidly curbing the malignant inflation that had lasted for more than a decade. Rice prices and cloth prices no longer rose several times a day, and the basic living order of hundreds of millions of households was restored. In September 1954, the unified purchase and sale policy was extended from grain to cotton cloth, and rationing by coupon was implemented in urban and rural areas across the country. The Party and the government paid attention to coordinating peasants' personal interests with national interests, and immediate interests with long-term interests. In November 1955, rationed supply of grain and grain products by coupon was rolled out in cities and towns nationwide; from then on, the unified purchase and sale of grain and edible oils and oil-bearing crops formally entered an institutionalized track, enabling the people of the whole country to solve the problem of eating and dressing at a relatively low level; it guaranteed grain supply during the initial stage of industrialization, pushed the broad peasant masses onto the path of cooperativization, organized scattered peasant households, promoted improved seed varieties, built water conservancy works, improved farming techniques, and raised grain output from the source. During the First Five-Year Plan period, the textile industry was listed as the focus of light industry construction, with cotton spinning construction reaching a scale of approximately 3 million spindles; in 1957, cotton yarn output reached 848,000 tons and cotton cloth 5.05 billion meters, an increase of 28.7% and 31.9% respectively over 1952, ranking third in the world at the time, and for the first time in Chinese history, the basic clothing needs of the entire people were guaranteed by state power. From then on, the two most basic matters of "eating one's fill" and "wearing warm clothes" were both incorporated into the state's unified allocation system. Livelihood data are the most direct proof: taking the national peasant consumption level as 100 in 1952, it was 115 in 1956, an increase of 15%, an average annual growth of 3.75%; the year-end balance of savings deposits of rural commune members nationwide increased from 0.1 billion yuan in 1953 to 4.3 billion yuan in 1956. After the implementation of the unified purchase and sale policy, it played an irreplaceable role in safeguarding economic construction, stabilizing the people's livelihood, stabilizing prices and social order, and in transferring grain for disaster relief in famine years.
"Bidding Farewell to the Plague God" and Preventing Epidemics
The health conditions of old China were extremely backward: cholera broke out frequently, smallpox was epidemic every year, and schistosomiasis spread widely in the south, threatening a population of over 100 million. Average life expectancy was less than 35 years, and the population mortality rate was as high as 25 per mille. In 1949, the country had only approximately 2,600 hospitals and more than 80,000 hospital beds, the vast majority of which were concentrated in coastal large cities, while the vast rural areas had almost no modern medical institutions.
In August 1950, the First National Health Work Conference established the three major guidelines of "serving workers, peasants, and soldiers, putting prevention first, and uniting Chinese and Western medicine," shifting the focus of medical and health services from a small number of people to workers, peasants, and soldiers—the largest population group in China—and medical care began to become a public good oriented toward the masses. In 1952, the Second National Health Work Conference put forward the principle of "combining health work with mass movements," and a nationwide Patriotic Health Campaign was immediately launched. The masses in urban and rural areas participated in actions such as eliminating the "four pests," promoting hygiene, and improving environmental sanitation. Many cities took the opportunity to clear away garbage that had accumulated for decades in the old era, urban environments were systematically improved, and the concept of public health has since penetrated urban and rural areas everywhere.
The construction of the medical and health service system proceeded in parallel. Health and epidemic prevention stations at the provincial, prefectural, municipal, and county levels were gradually established, undertaking functions such as infectious disease prevention and control, epidemic monitoring, health supervision, health education, scientific research, and personnel training, extending the tentacles of prevention and medical care to urban and rural grassroots levels that had never been covered before. By the end of 1956, the number of health and epidemic prevention stations nationwide had increased from zero in 1949 to 1,464; the number of hospital beds increased from 84,000 to 328,000, a nearly threefold increase; below the county level, rural areas began to establish district health centers and township health stations; rural joint clinics increased from 803 in 1950 to 51,000 in 1956, and for the first time peasants had doctors to see them at their doorsteps. Importance was attached to medical education and the training of health personnel; through the Chinese Medical Association, intellectuals in the health field were united to serve the people together. The spread of the health system was particularly effective in infectious disease prevention and control: smallpox was completely eradicated on the Chinese mainland by the early 1960s, more than a decade earlier than the global eradication of smallpox; cholera, which had frequently been epidemic before the founding of New China, was effectively brought under control in the early years of New China; schistosomiasis was basically eliminated in some endemic areas. Mao Zedong wrote in "Two Poems in Seven-Character Regulated Verse: Bidding Farewell to the Plague God" the lines "May I ask where the Plague God intends to go? Paper boats and bright candles burn, lighting up the sky," which was precisely a heartfelt tribute to this miracle.
By the late 1950s, average life expectancy had risen from less than 35 years to 57 years—a real change that spared countless families the pain of bereavement. This period also witnessed the first baby boom of New China, with an annual population growth rate of 2.3%. The health and epidemic prevention practices of this period were not only a public health revolution, but also a profound social mobilization; paying attention to hygiene and preventing disease began to become part of the daily life of ordinary people.
Education Oriented Toward Workers and Peasants and the Improvement of Social Atmosphere
The cultural and educational conditions of old China were extremely backward, with an illiteracy rate as high as 80%. In December 1949, the First National Education Work Conference established the guideline of "education serving workers and peasants," and explicitly proposed that "schools must open their doors to workers and peasants." While adding primary and middle schools, all localities also established accelerated middle schools for workers and peasants, cultural supplementary schools, and specialized technical training classes, adopting short-term accelerated methods to help large numbers of worker-peasant cadres, industrial workers, and People's Liberation Army commanders and fighters reach the cultural level of middle school. Large-scale literacy campaigns were also widely carried out in urban and rural areas; literacy classes, night schools, and winter schools spread throughout factories and rural areas, and working people who had been illiterate for thousands of years picked up pens for the first time to learn to write. In October 1951, the Government Administration Council promulgated the "Decision on Reforming the School System," establishing a new school system oriented mainly toward workers and peasants, and founding new-type schools such as accelerated middle schools for workers and peasants. From 1950 to 1956, institutions of higher learning enrolled a cumulative total of more than 640,000 new students and graduated more than 270,000, exceeding the total number of graduates in the 36 years from 1912 to 1947 in old China. By 1956, education expenditure had totaled 7.725 billion yuan; at a time when state finances were not ample, the state placed education in a position of priority development. Large numbers of workers' and peasants' children entered university campuses for the first time—an event that may be called 开天辟地 (kāi tiān pì dì - "split heaven and earth," epoch-making and unprecedented) in the history of Chinese education.
The social atmosphere also underwent profound changes. The ugly phenomena left over from the old society—prostitution, drugs, gambling, and the like—were rapidly eradicated: people's governments in various localities sealed up brothels, took in and reformed prostitutes, and helped them learn labor skills to gain a new life; a 声势浩大 (shēng shì hào dà - "great in momentum and scale," massive and powerful) anti-drug campaign was launched nationwide, and the opium scourge that had harmed China for more than a century was basically eliminated. The "three scourges" of the old society were uprooted completely, and the new society's values—labor is glorious, knowledge is precious, and all people are equal—began to take root in people's hearts, fostering a new social atmosphere of pursuing knowledge and striving upward. The popularization of education and the purification of the social atmosphere constituted a profound social transformation; it liberated hundreds of millions of working people from the spiritual shackles of the old society and enabled them to gain the dignity and ability of masters of the new society.
Preliminary Establishment of a Social Relief and Security System
Old China had almost no modern social security system in the modern sense: the disabled and wounded wandered the streets begging, and widowers, widows, orphans, and the childless elderly were left 无人问津 (wú rén wèn jīn - "no one asks about the ford," nobody takes any interest). In order to change this situation, the early years of New China were devoted to establishing a social relief and security system. In February 1951, the Government Administration Council promulgated the "Labor Insurance Regulations of the People's Republic of China"—the first social insurance regulation in Chinese history with relatively broad coverage—which made specific provisions for insurance benefits such as work injury, illness, old-age pension, and maternity. From 1952 to 1958, the state spent a total of 14.1 billion yuan on various items for increasing workers' income and improving workers' welfare. This was the first time in history that the Chinese working class obtained institutionalized old-age security. In cities, relief institutions established by the people's government under the Party's leadership took in and resettled vagrants and beggars and distributed relief grain and money to the poor. In 1956, the Ministry of Internal Affairs issued the "Directive on Resettling and Reforming Urban Vagrants," which stipulated that unemployed urban vagrants should no longer be given simple charity, but should receive shelter, education, labor skill training, and employment placement; unemployed persons were resettled through various means such as work-relief, vocational retraining, returning to the countryside for production, and relief distribution. In rural areas, the "Model Regulations for Advanced Agricultural Producers' Cooperatives" adopted in 1956 provided for the protection of elderly, weak, orphaned, widowed, and disabled cooperative members lacking labor capacity—this was the prototype of the far-reaching rural "Five Guarantees" system.
In the area of preferential treatment and care, the Party and the government, through legislation and institution-building, systematically guaranteed the basic rights of soldiers who had shed blood and sacrificed their lives in the revolutionary wars and of their family members: families of martyrs and families of active-duty soldiers enjoyed priority in land distribution, their children received reduced or waived school fees, disabled soldiers received lifelong pensions in grain according to their disability grade, and various provinces successively established schools for disabled veterans to help demobilized soldiers learn skills. In the area of disaster relief, in 1949, when New China had just been founded, catastrophic floods broke out simultaneously in the Yangtze River, Huai River, and Han River basins; the nation's flood-affected farmland reached 128 million mu, and 45.55 million people were affected. The Party and the government urgently allocated relief grain, dispatched large numbers of cadres deep into the disaster areas, and organized production self-rescue. During the great Yangtze River flood of 1954, huge amounts of disaster relief funds and materials were allocated, nearly 10 million disaster victims were relocated and resettled, and special living relief funds for disaster victims and loans for post-disaster replanting were issued. The social security practices of the early years of New China established a fundamental principle: the state has the responsibility to weave the most basic safety net for every citizen. The establishment of this principle was an important milestone in the history of China's social security.
The improvement of people's livelihood from 1949 to 1956 established an unprecedented direction: letting the fruits of development serve the broadest masses of the people. From grain supply to health and epidemic prevention, from the popularization of education to social security, it laid the foundation for decades of institutional construction to come, and also provided a concrete historical footnote for understanding why the Communist Party of China has been "able" to do what it has done.

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Draw strength from the Yan'an spirit for career development

By: 包丽颖

Carrying Forward and Developing the Party's Fine Revolutionary Traditions and Work Style, and Promoting the Yan'an Spirit is the main point of the important speech delivered by General Secretary Xi Jinping when he led the newly elected members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee to pay homage to the Yan'an revolutionary memorial sites on October 27, 2022. It is included in Volume V of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China. This important document, combined with the practical requirements of the new era, emphasizes vigorously promoting the Yan'an spirit, which is of profound significance for advancing the great new project of Party building and comprehensively promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-style modernization, and provides important guidance for us to inherit and carry forward the Yan'an spirit.

The Scientific Connotation of the Yan'an Spirit

Yan'an is the sacred site of the Chinese revolution. From 1935 to 1948, the Party Central Committee and Mao Zedong and other older-generation proletarian revolutionaries led the 13-year struggle for national independence and people's liberation in Yan'an. The revolutionary cause moved from a low ebb to a high tide, achieved a historic turning point, and reversed the fate of China's future, giving birth to the Yan'an spirit. The Party's Seventh National Congress, held in Yan'an from April 23 to June 11, 1945, was a milestone of great significance in the Party's history. It established the guiding position of Mao Zedong Thought, formally formed the Party's first generation of central leadership collective with Comrade Mao Zedong at its core, marked the Party's political, ideological, and organizational maturity, and pointed out the correct direction and opened up the correct path for the Party to continuously advance from victory to victory.

General Secretary Xi Jinping has deep affection for Yan'an, this sacred site of the Chinese revolution, and has personal understanding of the Yan'an spirit. "Every time I went to Yan'an in those years, my heart was filled with reverence and excitement," and "when I was sent to the countryside, every time I went to Yan'an I would come to see it, and each time I received a spiritual baptism." This important document is the main point of General Secretary Xi Jinping's fourth inspection tour speech in Yan'an. After the closing of the Party's 20th National Congress, he led the members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on a special trip to pay homage to the revolutionary sacred site, proclaiming the firm conviction of the new central leadership collective to inherit and carry forward the Party's fine revolutionary traditions and work style, promote the Yan'an spirit, and deliver an excellent answer sheet on the new road of the examination.

The Yan'an spirit is the crystallization of the ideals and convictions, ideological qualities, purpose consciousness, spiritual outlook, and work and life style embodied by Chinese Communists during the War of Resistance Against Japan and the War of Liberation, in the extremely difficult environment of Yan'an. In this important document, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that the scientific connotation of the Yan'an spirit includes "a firm and correct political direction, the ideological line of emancipating the mind and seeking truth from facts, the fundamental purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly, and the entrepreneurial spirit of self-reliance and hard struggle."

A firm and correct political direction is the essence of the Yan'an spirit. During the Yan'an period, the Party adhered to the guidance of Marxism, combined the basic principles of Marxism with China's specific realities, and developed into a major national party with more than one million members. The ideological line of emancipating the mind and seeking truth from facts is the ideological essence of the Yan'an spirit. The Yan'an Rectification Movement opposed dogmatism and empiricism, emphasized integrating theory with practice, achieving "not merely following authority, not merely following books, but only following facts," and solving the specific problems of the Chinese revolution through investigation and research. The fundamental purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly is the essential manifestation of the Yan'an spirit. During the Yan'an period, the Party proposed the fundamental purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly and wrote it into the Party Constitution, emphasizing that the Communist Party "is entirely dedicated to the liberation of the people and works thoroughly in the interests of the people." The entrepreneurial spirit of self-reliance and hard struggle is a distinctive feature of the Yan'an spirit. During the Yan'an period, material conditions were extremely difficult. The military and civilians of Yan'an actively responded to Mao Zedong's call to "get moving on our own and achieve ample food and clothing," launched a vigorous Great Production Movement, effectively supported the front line of the War of Resistance, and solved the food and clothing needs of the people in the base areas. The 359th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army turned the desolate Nanniwan into the "good southern Jiangnan of northern Shaanxi," vividly interpreting the practical power of this spirit.

The Practical Implications of the Yan'an Spirit

During the Yan'an period, the Party, relying on its powerful spiritual strength, led the people to open up a favorable situation for the Chinese revolutionary cause. In the new era, the Yan'an spirit still has extremely strong practical implications.

A firm and correct political direction is extremely important. During the Yan'an period, countless passionate young people from all over the country braved risks to go to Yan'an and join the Chinese revolution. Why? It was because the Party's political direction was firm and correct, attracting the vast number of young people. When answering the question "what should be studied at the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University," Mao Zedong pointed out, "First of all, learn a political direction," and "it is not enough to have this correct political direction; if after three or five years you discard it, would that not be in vain? Therefore, after having the correct political direction, one must also be firm in it." General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized that taking a clear-cut stand on politics is a major issue. The political direction is the primary issue for the Party's survival and development, and it concerns the Party's future and destiny and the success or failure of its cause. It is precisely because we have grasped the correct political direction that our Party has been able to always maintain historical initiative, continuously advance from victory to victory, and promote the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics to grow ever broader.

Seeking truth from facts is the worldview and methodology of Chinese Communists. One of the living souls of Mao Zedong Thought is seeking truth from facts, and his inscription for the Central Party School during the Yan'an period was "seeking truth from facts." The Yan'an Rectification Movement fully embodied the Party's Marxist ideological line of seeking truth from facts. During the Yan'an period, the Party was able to formulate and implement correct major policies, strategies, and tactics in the face of various complex situations in the revolutionary struggle, precisely by relying on seeking truth from facts. Today, in the face of the rapidly changing domestic and international situation and the arduous tasks of high-quality development, we still must rely on emancipating the mind and seeking truth from facts. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "Adhering to proceeding from reality and seeking truth from facts is not only a matter of thinking method, but also a matter of whether Party spirit is strong," emphasizing that "all formalism, dogmatism, and empiricism are unworkable."

Serving the people wholeheartedly is the Party's fundamental purpose. During the Yan'an period, Mao Zedong delivered the moving speech "Serve the People" at the memorial meeting for Comrade Zhang Side, profoundly revealing the true meaning of Party-mass relations, cadre-mass relations, and military-civilian relations. Today, under the conditions of the Party's long-term governance, maintaining the flesh-and-blood ties between the Party and the people remains a major issue that Party building must solve well.

Self-reliance and hard struggle are the foundation of our Party's founding and our country's establishment, and they are also the foundation for Party members and cadres to establish themselves and their careers. During the Yan'an period, the Party relied on the entrepreneurial spirit of self-reliance and hard struggle to overcome one difficulty after another. Now, although China has developed into the world's second largest economy, its comprehensive national strength has been continuously enhanced, and the people's living conditions have greatly improved, we must never discard the heirloom of self-reliance and hard struggle. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized, "No matter how abundant our material life becomes in the future, the spirit of self-reliance and hard struggle must never be discarded." All comrades in the Party must still be down-to-earth, work hard and do solid work, concentrate on handling our own affairs well, and base the development of the country and the nation on our own strength.

Continuing to Promote the Yan'an Spirit

The Yan'an spirit is the concentrated embodiment of the Party's nature and purpose, and it is also the concentrated embodiment of the Party's fine traditions and work style. In this important document, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized, "The Yan'an spirit is the Party's precious spiritual wealth and must be passed down from generation to generation."

To promote the Yan'an spirit, we must firmly establish the correct political direction and uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics. In today's complex and ever-changing international environment and great-power competition, we must always maintain political resolve, neither taking the old path of closed-door rigidity nor the evil path of changing flags and banners, deeply understand the decisive significance of the "Two Establishments," resolutely achieve the "Two Upholds," resolutely implement the Party's basic theory, basic line, and basic policy, resolutely implement the Party Central Committee's decisions and arrangements, and continue to advance the great cause initiated by the older-generation revolutionaries.

We must implement the ideological line of emancipating the mind and seeking truth from facts. Face the practical problems of high-quality development directly, attach great importance to investigation and research, maintain a pragmatic work style, oppose dogmatism, empiricism, formalism, and bureaucracy, and continuously solve development problems.

We must practice the fundamental purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly. Keep in mind that "the country is the people, and the people are the country," take a firm stand with the people, implement the Party's mass line, maintain the flesh-and-blood ties between the Party and the people, consciously integrate the people-centered development philosophy into all work, continuously solve the people's urgent, difficult, and anxious problems, solidly promote common prosperity, and let the fruits of modernization benefit all the people more and more fairly.

We must demonstrate the entrepreneurial spirit of self-reliance and hard struggle. Self-reliance does not mean working behind closed doors, and hard struggle does not mean returning to the conditions of material scarcity during the revolutionary period, but rather opposing "waiting, relying on, and demanding," and opposing the waste of resources. We must stimulate the spirit of struggle, continuously innovate and create, and achieve self-reliance and self-strengthening.

To promote the Yan'an spirit, we must also uphold full and rigorous Party self-governance. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "Full and rigorous Party self-governance must continue to draw strength from the Yan'an spirit." The Party's self-revolutionary spirit embodied in the Yan'an Rectification Movement provides a precious historical mirror for full and rigorous Party self-governance in the new era, to nourish the original aspiration, temper the soul, identify gaps, and calibrate direction. During the Yan'an period, the older-generation revolutionaries defeated the "Xi'an style" with the "Yan'an style," opening up a new situation for the Chinese revolution. On the new journey of the new era, we must inherit and carry forward the Party's glorious traditions and fine work style from the Yan'an period, courageously advance the Party's self-revolution, and rely on tenacious fighting spirit and superb fighting skills to open up new horizons for the cause of Chinese-style modernization.

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Achieving academic excellence in a turbulent and changing world

By: 张树华

The world today is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century. In recent years, the process of globalization has encountered setbacks, the world economy has fallen into a downturn, hegemonic acts such as exclusionism and unilateralism have grown increasingly intense, international forces have further divided and regrouped, and the world has entered a period of turbulence, transformation, and deep adjustment. Chinese scholarship in the new era needs to accurately grasp the overall characteristics and basic logic of world political evolution after the Cold War, and further identify its own historical positioning and development direction. It should keep pace with the times, respond to the people's expectations, achieve self-reliance and self-strengthening, and through its own high-quality development, realize intellectual breakthroughs and academic transcendence in a turbulent and changing world, accelerate the construction of an autonomous knowledge system for Chinese philosophy and social sciences, and effectively enhance its discourse power and influence in the international academic community.

More than 30 years ago, the Berlin Wall, symbol of the Cold War between East and West, collapsed with a crash, followed closely by the drastic changes in Eastern Europe and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The Western camp led by the United States once dominated the world. In the ideological sphere, Japanese-American scholar Fukuyama proclaimed the "end of history," recklessly asserting that Western liberal democratic systems would unify the world. Whether a country adopted political and economic systems conforming to Western standards was thereby regarded by the West as the sole yardstick for judging the quality of a country's system. Thereafter, the so-called "Western democratic monism" dominated by a few major Western powers formed a powerful or even hegemonic discourse in world politics.

In recent years, the chaos of the world has posed unprecedented challenges to the "sacred" academic halls of the West. The failure of Western-style democracy, the failure of institutions, and the failure of governance have shaken Western "textbooks" of economics, law, and other disciplines. Surveying the changes of the world and the changes of history, this is precisely the opportunity for innovation in Chinese academic principles and breakthroughs in theory. For the broad community of contemporary scholars situated amid profound changes unseen in a century, looking back, we have reason to be proud of the achievements made over more than 40 years of reform and opening up. At the same time, standing at a new historical starting point, the academic community should earnestly shoulder the responsibility of prospering and developing philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics, and bravely bear this 责无旁贷 (zé wú páng dài - "responsibility admits no shirking," duty-bound with no excuse to decline) commission of the era.

How to answer the historic question of the era and of the world posed by "the chaos of the West" and "the governance of China"? How to understand major world trends such as "the East rising and the West declining"? How to strengthen confidence and firmly believe that "time and momentum are on our side"? World Changes and Chinese Learning (《世界之变与中国之学》), set against the era background of major global transformation, focuses on a series of issues in post-Cold War world politics, including democratization and political evaluation, democratization and political development, and democratization and political decay, in order to accurately grasp the currents and direction of world political evolution and provide corresponding answers to the core question of "democratization and its development paradox." At the same time, it also demonstrates how, since the new era, the Chinese philosophy and social sciences community has transformed from a "porter" of Western theories into a "constructor" of an autonomous knowledge system, and showcases the beneficial explorations of Chinese scholars in conscious self-action and self-reliance and self-strengthening.

Contemporary China is undergoing the most extensive and profound social transformation in its history, and is also carrying out the most grand and unique practical innovation in human history. The new problems, new tasks, and new subjects that continuously emerge in the field of national governance will inevitably provide powerful impetus and broad space for theoretical innovation and academic prosperity in philosophy and social sciences. In the garden of world civilizations, we have our own history and culture, our own systems and mechanisms, our own unique national conditions. Our national governance has a particularity and complexity that other countries cannot match, as well as historical experience and notable advantages accumulated over a long period by ourselves. Therefore, in constructing an autonomous knowledge system for Chinese philosophy and social sciences, we must have vision, have confidence, and have self-assurance. Facing world development trends and situations, philosophy and social sciences research should further deepen theoretical interpretation of China's national system and governance experience, strive to put forward concepts, propositions, and solutions that embody China's position, China's wisdom, and China's values, truly use Chinese theories to explain China's institutional construction practice, use China's institutional construction practice to elevate Chinese theories, more vividly demonstrate the achievements and experience of China's governance, and tell the story of "China's development" and "China's governance" with academic discourse that is both innovative and persuasive.

From the combined perspectives of history and reality, theory and practice, how to tell the story of "China's development" and "China's governance," how to deeply research and explain adhering to the Chinese path, carrying forward the Chinese spirit, and gathering Chinese strength — this requires the joint efforts of all philosophy and social sciences workers. We must uphold the original aspiration and mission of pursuing scholarship for the people and seeking development for the era, persist in taking root in the soil of China, basing ourselves on the practice of the times, refining Chinese concepts, distilling Chinese principles, constructing Chinese learning, and promoting the Chinese way. We must profoundly perceive the laws of world transformation, soberly recognize the pattern of international competition, strengthen confidence in Chinese scholarship, and contribute to accelerating the construction of China's autonomous knowledge system, advancing Chinese modernization, and promoting the progress of human civilization.

(The author is the author of World Changes and Chinese Learning, President of the Chinese Political Science Association (中国政治学会), and Director of the Institute of Political Science at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (中国社会科学院政治学研究所).)

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Understanding the Global South Perspective on the Belt and Road Initiative

By: 沈桂龙

Argentine scholar Aníbal Carlos Zottele, serving as coordinator of the China–Veracruz Research Center at the University of Veracruz, is a Latin American sinologist who has long been deeply engaged in China–Latin America academic exchange. He has published multiple works, including China and Latin America and the Caribbean under Eurocentrism, A Preliminary Exploration of the Belt and Road, and China: The Story of a New World. In his cross-disciplinary research, he has made many objective and fair assessments of the Belt and Road Initiative for joint construction and of China–Latin America exchange, and has put forward numerous reasonable suggestions regarding China–Latin America cooperation under the Belt and Road.

The Belt and Road Initiative: China's Experience and Its Global Significance is a work of world China studies that breaks out of the Western narrative framework and is grounded in the "harmony and unity" (和合) tradition of Chinese civilization and China's indigenous development practice. The book combines a global historical perspective with firsthand experience from visits to China, examining the Belt and Road Initiative for joint construction within the dual context of the long historical tapestry of Chinese civilization and the governance exploration of the Communist Party of China. It systematically elucidates the initiative's civilizational genes, practical architecture, and global value, forcefully responding to fallacies such as the Western "geographical expansion theory" and "debt trap theory," and providing a valuable Global South perspective for understanding the Belt and Road Initiative for joint construction.

"The Belt and Road Initiative is the crystallization of cultural values formed throughout China's resplendent history." The Belt and Road Initiative for joint construction is the contemporary extension of the spirit of the ancient Silk Road. The Belt and Road is the natural crystallization of China's pacifist diplomatic culture and values formed over its resplendent history, rather than a geopolitical strategy conjured from thin air. In stark contrast to modern European colonial expansion, ancient China never imposed colonial rule over other peoples, but instead wove a civilizational network across the Asian, European, and African continents—underpinned by 和而不同 (hé ér bù tóng - "harmonious yet different," unity in diversity)—through mutual trade and intellectual exchange. As Zottele points out in the book, "it is precisely the dialogue among different civilizations spanning more than twenty centuries that has endowed China with a unique cross-cultural perspective, enabling the Chinese government to put forward a credible and feasible great initiative concerning the sustainable development of China and the world." He therefore opposes reducing the Belt and Road to mere infrastructure connectivity or a geo-economic tool, emphasizing that its cultural legitimacy is deeply rooted in China's long tradition of cross-civilizational interaction in ancient times. The historical facts recounted in the book—Zhang Qian's "cutting open the Western Regions" in the Western Han Dynasty, the flourishing of the maritime Silk Road in the Tang and Song dynasties, and Zheng He's voyages to the Western Seas in the Ming Dynasty—all powerfully support Zottele's argument.

The Belt and Road Initiative for joint construction is the reasonable continuation of historical logic. In this book, Zottele points out that for a hundred years China was unable to accomplish the task of national liberation. "Ultimately, this historical responsibility fell upon the Communist Party of China." "After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Communist Party of China continued a series of social reform measures that it had already implemented in the liberated areas before taking power, greatly improving the lives of the oppressed people who constituted the overwhelming majority of the population." "The Communist Party of China's ideas and policies of promoting social development and improving people's welfare through economic growth have been continued and implemented across generations of Chinese leaders." The Belt and Road Initiative for joint construction put forward by the Chinese government in the new era is the extension of China's development concepts and practical experience under the leadership of the Communist Party of China into the field of international cooperation, embodying a consistent historical logic. In Zottele's view, the multilateral cooperation advocated by China does not aim at exporting institutions, but rather places greater emphasis on the developmental autonomy of participating countries. That is, "the multilateral cooperation advocated by China never attaches political conditions, nor does it export institutional models; rather, it takes equality and mutual respect as its premise and mutual benefit and win-win results as its destination." At the same time, "it also demonstrates the feasibility of a path different from Western modernization within China's own borders—achieving rapid development while maintaining social cohesion and cultural continuity," particularly the fine contemporary manifestation of China's "harmony and unity" culture, which possesses strong cultural legitimacy and practical persuasiveness.

"The Belt and Road international cooperation is the practice of the Chinese government in building a community with a shared future for mankind." Global development and challenges have made the "global village" increasingly a community of shared destiny in which you are in me and I am in you. Zottele believes that all human beings live under the same sky, and that different countries and different civilizations must honor their commitments to one another, seeking common ground while shelving differences through multilateral organizations and developing together. "The core concept of the Belt and Road Initiative is the word 'shared'"; the three basic principles of "extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits" "are precisely action principles based on cross-cultural understanding." "China conducts foreign exchange on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and advances Belt and Road cooperation projects." The specialized Silk Roads—the Green Silk Road, the Peace Silk Road, the Health Silk Road, and others—all require countries to cooperate on an equal footing across a broader scope to solve the problems and challenges common to humanity. The Belt and Road Initiative for joint construction has broad inclusiveness and openness. Zottele believes that the inclusion of Latin America and the Caribbean in the Belt and Road Initiative for joint construction is good proof of this. "Under this consensus, China's position of seeking cooperation and equal relations conforms to the trend of the times. At present, China's concepts are being recognized by other countries through the Belt and Road international cooperation it advocates, and are gaining increasingly broad recognition and support."

Zottele points out that the Belt and Road Initiative for joint construction is not a replica of the "Marshall Plan." He notes that "compared with the 'Marshall Plan' led by the United States after World War II, China's initiative is clearly different in terms of historical background, coverage, and substantive significance." "The Belt and Road is not a plan belonging to China as a single country; it is a global plan built on the basis of the common destiny of mankind." The Marshall Plan was proposed in the context of the post-World War II rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union, with the primary goal of restoring postwar Europe and preventing Soviet influence from spreading across Europe, carrying obvious ideological and Cold War factors. The Belt and Road aims, through rich and multi-layered exchanges, to "improve the quality of life of people worldwide and build a 'global village' of shared destiny and coordinated development." What Zottele finds deeply troubling is that the "Eurocentric illusion" holds that "Western moral and philosophical paradigms can explain the laws of operation of the world in a way that transcends time and space," and its proponents have leveled accusations against the Belt and Road Initiative for joint construction that do not conform to reality.

"The Chinese Dream is also interconnected with the dreams of many countries in the world." Realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is the greatest dream of the Chinese people since modern times. Zottele believes that "the Chinese Dream is a medium- and long-term goal involving the common well-being of all humanity," and that "the Belt and Road Initiative, because of its core concept of a community with a shared future for mankind, has been welcomed and embraced by the vast number of developing countries." On the great journey of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, China, "no matter from which dimension one examines it, is restoring an international standing commensurate with its own historical status," becoming "a 'leader' with a global vision that transcends narrow national interests," achieving mutual benefit and win-win results with many other countries—this is an important inspiration for all developing countries.

"The reason the Chinese Dream is considered a dream with a global vision is that it has discarded a chauvinistic perspective. In this dream, humanity shares a state of well-being." "Through the community with a shared future for mankind and the Belt and Road Initiative, the Chinese Dream is also interconnected with the dreams of many countries in the world." Zottele believes that the currently rising hegemonism, protectionism, and unilateralism will ultimately not become the mainstream, and that "humanity will not cease its aspiration and pursuit of jointly building a beautiful world of peace, development, cooperation, and win-win outcomes." The Belt and Road Initiative for joint construction has even more special significance for Latin America and the Caribbean. Compared with the debt crisis and social fragmentation that the neoliberal "Washington Consensus" once brought to Latin America, China's infrastructure investment and financing, technology transfer, and personnel training—without political conditions—have activated the region's long-suppressed development potential. Ports, railways, and clean energy projects are changing the pattern of regional connectivity, and the China–Latin America civilizational dialogue mechanism is a profile of the interconnection between the Chinese Dream and the dreams of many countries.

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Upholding humanistic values to activate human-machine collaborative creativity

By: 向勇

Currently, a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is accelerating, generative artificial intelligence technology iteration continues to quicken, and human-machine collaboration is moving from localized exploration toward full-domain penetration, deeply integrating into knowledge innovation, artistic creation, scientific research, industrial design, and various other fields, becoming an important force for reshaping creative paradigms and stimulating innovative vitality. The continuous expansion of technological boundaries, while releasing enormous creative potential, has also triggered deep discussions about "whether artificial intelligence can replace human creativity" and "what is the core essence of creativity." Examining the course of human civilization, from the invention of writing, the spread of printing, to the Industrial Revolution and the rise of the internet, every technological leap has greatly extended the boundaries of human capability, yet has never shaken the humanistic essence of creative activity. As a technological crystallization of human intelligence, artificial intelligence's creativity has always been dependent on human subjective will for its release, and the realization of its value has always been rooted in the fertile soil of humanistic spirit. To promote the healthy and orderly development of human-machine collaboration and fully unleash the effectiveness of human-machine co-creation, the fundamental approach lies in upholding the source of humanistic value, always anchoring the dominant position of the human subject, nurturing creative depth through culture, calibrating the direction of development through ethics, and ensuring that technological progress always serves the comprehensive development of humanity and the continued progress of civilization.
Meaning production is the core essence of creativity, and humanistic value delineates the fundamental boundaries of creation. For a period of time, there has existed a cognitive tendency to simply equate creativity with knowledge increment, technological efficiency, and output productivity, as if the faster information is recombined and the more plans are generated, the stronger the creative ability. But tracing back through the history of human civilization, truly epoch-making creations have never been simple accumulations of knowledge volume, but rather reconstructions of cognitive frameworks and expansions of the world of meaning. When Copernicus proposed heliocentrism, what was reshaped was humanity's overall cognition of the cosmic order; the intellectual creations of the pre-Qin philosophers laid the spiritual foundation for Chinese civilization's continuation over thousands of years; even in the natural sciences, the establishment of relativity and the construction of quantum mechanics are essentially paradigm shifts in the way humanity understands the world, not products derived from existing data. Relying on massive data and deep learning algorithms, artificial intelligence possesses powerful capabilities for knowledge integration, pattern matching, and plan generation, but its operational logic is essentially statistical induction and patterned reorganization of existing knowledge; it cannot autonomously generate the intrinsic motivation for creation, nor can it answer the fundamental value propositions of "why create" and "what creation is for." Meaning is not a natural byproduct of data correlations, but rather a value relationship constructed by the subject based on life experience, cultural accumulation, and ethical consciousness — this is the most core trait of human creative activity and the humanistic boundary that algorithms find difficult to cross. The deeper human-machine collaboration advances, the more necessary it is to highlight the core position of meaning production and prevent creative activity from falling into soul-less content mass production and directionless efficiency competition.
Human subjectivity is the fundamental premise of collaboration, and a new mechanism of creativity for human-machine co-creation should be constructed. The history of human technological development repeatedly confirms that technology has always been the externalization and extension of human capability, never a replacement for humanity. From ancient stone tools extending physical strength, to printing expanding the boundaries of knowledge dissemination, from the steam engine reconstructing the social power system, to the internet reshaping global connectivity, every technological revolution has continuously liberated human productive forces, yet has never shaken humanity's dominant position in creative activity. The same applies to artificial intelligence — it possesses computing power, memory capacity, and operational speed far exceeding that of individual humans, and can efficiently complete repetitive, standardized, and high-volume work tasks, but it does not possess independent value judgment, emotional experience, or creative will. In the complete value chain of creative activity, human subjectivity is concentratedly manifested in defining core problems, determining value direction, and making final aesthetic and ethical decisions; artificial intelligence undertakes the auxiliary functions of material collection, plan deduction, and execution implementation. Increasingly mature human-machine co-creation practices have clearly confirmed this division of labor logic: artists set the creative theme and spiritual core, while artificial intelligence generates massive visual materials for screening and sublimation; life science researchers propose scientific hypotheses and research directions, while artificial intelligence completes high-intensity computational work such as protein structure prediction and candidate compound screening. This division of labor of "humans define direction, machines expand boundaries" is not a difference in capability level, but a distinction in value hierarchy. Only by always upholding the dominant position of the human subject, insisting on humans controlling machines and putting people first, can we avoid falling into the cognitive trap of technology supremacy and enable artificial intelligence to truly become an amplifier and accelerator of creativity.
Cultural roots are the fertile soil of creation, and the spiritual foundation of digital-intelligent civilization for human-machine co-creation must be deeply cultivated. The growth of creativity has never been water without a source or a tree without roots; it is deeply rooted in a nation's cultural traditions, spiritual character, and aesthetic paradigms, and is the spiritual fruit nurtured by the long-term accumulation of civilization. Artificial intelligence can master massive cultural symbols, artistic styles, and knowledge achievements through data learning, but it cannot personally experience the evolutionary course of civilization, cannot bear the collective memory of a nation, and cannot generate spiritual consciousness and identity recognition based on cultural roots. In recent years, innovative practices of artificial intelligence empowering China's excellent traditional culture have emerged in rapid succession: music generated by AI music large models has enabled the renowned painting A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains to break through visual boundaries and be reborn in the form of auditory art; digital twins and virtual reality technologies have enabled intangible cultural heritage skills and cultural relics and historic sites to break through the constraints of time and space and enter the public view in new forms. The reason these innovations possess spiritual power that moves people lies fundamentally in the profound heritage and aesthetic value of China's excellent traditional culture itself; technology merely provides new expressive carriers and dissemination pathways. Without profound cultural heritage and humanistic cultivation, the content generated by artificial intelligence is nothing more than the splicing of symbols and imitation of styles, unable to possess the weighty power of carrying spirit and transmitting value. In promoting cultural creation through human-machine collaboration, we must always take the inheritance and promotion of China's excellent traditional culture, revolutionary culture, and advanced socialist culture as the foundation, making technology a bridge for civilizational continuity and a tool for cultural innovation. We must be highly vigilant against the tendencies toward cultural homogenization and fragmentation that technological application may bring, and safeguard the spiritual roots of cultural creation.
Ethical guidance is an important guarantee for creativity to proceed steadily and far, calibrating the value development direction of human-machine collaboration. Technology itself has no value bias, but the application of technology always carries value choices and ethical consequences. While releasing enormous creative potential, artificial intelligence has also brought practical challenges such as algorithmic bias, hallucination, content distortion, intellectual property disputes, and employment structure shocks. Geoffrey Hinton, the "godfather of artificial intelligence," has issued warnings about superintelligence losing control, system black boxes, and the crisis of social truth, highlighting the urgency and necessity of delineating ethical boundaries for technology. From science fiction writer Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics to the continuous exploration of global consensus on artificial intelligence governance, the essence is always to set bottom lines for technology and calibrate development direction through humanistic ethics. In the creative practice of human-machine collaboration, ethical norms are not shackles on innovation, but rather the ballast stone for innovation to proceed steadily and far; value constraints are not limitations on efficiency, but fundamental calibration of the direction of creation. To promote the healthy development of human-machine collaboration, humanistic ethics must be threaded through the entire chain of algorithm design, model training, scenario application, and governance supervision, adhering to the fundamental orientation of technology for good, ensuring that algorithms follow the principles of fairness and justice, data bears public responsibility, and technology respects human dignity and rights. We must accelerate the construction of a people-centered artificial intelligence governance system, improve relevant institutional norms, clarify the responsibility boundaries of all parties, keep technology always operating within the value framework commonly recognized by human civilization, effectively prevent the risk of alienation of creativity, and ensure that human-machine collaboration always advances in the direction of benefiting humanity and improving people's livelihood and well-being.
The ultimate orientation of human-machine collaboration has never been to create superintelligence that comprehensively surpasses humanity, but rather to use technological power to release humanity's more abundant creative potential and shape more complete human beings who are wiser and possess greater humanistic care. The ultimate return of creativity will always be "raising questions, endowing meaning, and creating value" — this is the core essence of humanistic value and the fundamental nature of being human. Standing at the new starting point of digital-intelligent civilization, we must both actively embrace technological transformation, fully release the innovative effectiveness of human-machine collaboration, and seize the historical opportunity of the new round of technological revolution; and we must even more firmly uphold the fundamental stance of humanistic value, take the comprehensive development of humanity as the ultimate purpose, and take the continuation and elevation of civilization as the long-term direction. In the symbiosis and co-prosperity of technology and humanity, we must make human-machine collaboration a powerful engine for enhancing social productive forces, guard the original humanistic intention amid technological iteration, manifest the height of civilization in innovation and creation, and ultimately achieve the coordinated advancement of technological progress and human development.
(The author is the Dean of the Institute for Cultural Industries at Peking University)

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Actively Promote Dual Expansion of Regular High Schools and Quality Undergraduate Programs

By: 焦鹏宁

Education is the cornerstone of national rejuvenation and social progress, bearing on the expectations of 千家万户 (qiān jiā wàn hù - "a thousand homes, ten thousand households," every household) and the future of the country. At present, China's education sector has entered a new stage of high-quality development, and the people's demand for fair and quality education is becoming increasingly urgent. The "15th Five-Year Plan" outline proposes promoting the quality improvement and capacity expansion of higher education, and orderly expanding the scale of quality undergraduate enrollment with a focus on science, engineering, agriculture, and medicine majors. This points the direction for the development of higher education. At the same time, "increasing the supply of regular high school places" as an important deployment in the 2026 government work report precisely responds to the widespread public concern about the balanced allocation of basic education resources. Whether it is the increase in regular high school places or the expansion of quality undergraduate education, the core of both points to the dialectical unity of "expanding quality" and "promoting fairness," jointly constituting the key support for advancing educational equity and quality improvement, and also becoming a question of the times that education reform must answer well during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period.

Pursue both incremental increase and tapping of existing potential, and build a new pattern of regular high school resource guarantee with full coverage. In recent years, with the comprehensive popularization of compulsory education and the acceleration of urbanization, the people's demand for receiving regular high school education has continued to rise, and the appeals of "having a school to attend" and "attending a good school" are intertwined and superimposed, making the supply of regular high school places a hot topic of social concern. Advancing the expansion of regular high school resources requires establishing systematic thinking and adhering to the dual-wheel drive of incremental investment and tapping the potential of existing stock. In terms of spatial layout, precise calculation of place demand should be carried out with the county as the unit, fully considering population mobility trends and the urbanization process, scientifically planning school layout, with emphasis tilted toward population inflow areas and rural areas, gradually eliminating the phenomenon of oversized classes, letting places follow students and letting resources revolve around demand; in terms of tapping existing potential, localities should be encouraged to explore flexible and diverse paths of resource integration, seizing the opportunity of urban renewal to transform eligible idle buildings into school premises, supporting qualified complete secondary schools to implement the separation of junior high and senior high schooling to release place space, promoting vocational high schools to explore the comprehensive high school model to enhance the inclusiveness of course selection, so that existing resources radiate new vitality; in terms of incremental construction, an investment mechanism with provincial and municipal coordination and county-level primary responsibility should be established, with central finance increasing support for less developed regions through transfer payments, while innovating land supply methods, giving priority to guaranteeing education land quotas, and exploring the use of government purchase of services, entrusted management, and other forms to attract social forces to participate, forming a development pattern of diversified investment and joint construction and sharing.

Optimize resource allocation, adhere to equal emphasis on scale and quality, and consolidate the cornerstone of quality undergraduate education. The expansion of quality undergraduate education is by no means a simple stacking of enrollment numbers, but a deep transformation involving the mode of resource allocation, the model of talent cultivation, and the quality assurance system. At the level of investment guarantee, a dynamic adjustment mechanism based on the comprehensive per-student cost should be established to ensure that the incremental funding brought by enrollment expansion is fully in place, with emphasis on faculty development and improvement of teaching conditions, avoiding the decline of cultivation quality caused by resource dilution; at the level of spatial layout, the guiding role of macro-control should be fully exerted, and through policy support and tilted resource allocation, quality higher education resources should be promoted to flow toward populous provinces and the central and western regions, encouraging universities directly under central ministries to carry out in-depth cooperation with local universities, supporting local universities with strong school-running strength to gradually increase their enrollment proportion in provinces with large numbers of quality students, so that the regional layout better matches the population structure and development needs; at the level of connotative development, the expansion of quality undergraduate education must resonate at the same frequency with the adjustment of discipline and specialty structure, guiding universities to expand cultivation space in fields such as new engineering, new medicine, new agriculture, and new liberal arts oriented toward national strategic needs and regional industrial development trends, precisely investing incremental resources into urgently needed fields, and realizing effective connection between talent cultivation and social demand.

Innovate articulated cultivation, establish a collaborative education mechanism, and broaden diverse growth channels for students. At present, the connection between basic education and higher education remains mostly at the single node of the entrance examination, lacking whole-process, multi-dimensional collaborative linkage. To advance the "dual expansion" in depth, it is necessary to break out of the fixed mindset of 各自为战 (gè zì wéi zhàn - "each fights on its own," acting independently without coordination) and seek breakthroughs in articulated cultivation, so that the dividends of expansion are transformed into the driving force for students' continuous growth. Therefore, the key to building a long-term mechanism for collaborative education between regular high schools and universities lies in breaking down the barriers between school segments and building a multi-dimensional and three-dimensional growth channel. At the level of curriculum articulation, universities should be encouraged to extend their educational reach downward through laboratory openings, advanced placement courses, academic lectures, and other forms, allowing high school students with spare capacity to come into early contact with university learning methods and frontier disciplinary thinking, which both stimulates their academic interest and lays the groundwork for university-stage learning; at the level of cultivation models, comprehensive high schools, specialty high schools, and universities may explore "order-based" joint cultivation, supporting qualified regular high schools to rely on university resource advantages to open innovation experimental classes and humanities base classes, so that high school education, while consolidating the foundation, appropriately reflects the guidance of professional direction, helping students discover their potential and anchor their aspirations earlier; at the level of resource co-construction and sharing, high-quality digital course resources of universities should be promoted to be opened to high schools, establishing an online-offline integrated learning support system, so that educational resources break through the walls of the campus and benefit more students.

Reform the evaluation mechanism, deepen comprehensive admission reform, and safeguard the development rights and interests of student groups. The expansion of regular high school places and the enrollment expansion of quality undergraduate education provide more students with the possibility of receiving higher-level education, but if the "baton" of evaluation still points to a single dimension and clings to traditional standards, then the dividends released by expansion will find it difficult to truly benefit different types of talent. Therefore, deepening the reform of the evaluation mechanism is both an inevitable requirement for safeguarding students' development rights and interests and the institutional cornerstone for promoting the "dual expansion" to take effect and show results. In the reshaping of evaluation standards, the past practice of taking college entrance examination scores as the sole criterion should be changed, and students' ideological and moral character, academic level, physical and mental health, artistic literacy, social practice, and other aspects should be incorporated into the framework of comprehensive quality evaluation, so that the content of evaluation shifts from "cold scores" to "living people," guiding high school education to return to the origin of educating people; in the recording of the evaluation process, a truthful, credible, traceable, and supervisable comprehensive quality archive needs to be established, relying on information-based means to achieve factual recording of students' growth process, so that universities can see the "person" behind the scores when admitting, and can see the student's growth trajectory, interests and specialties, and development potential over the three years; in the use of evaluation results, universities should be given greater autonomy in enrollment, encouraged to formulate scientific and standardized comprehensive evaluation admission methods in light of their school-running positioning and specialty characteristics, organically combining high school academic proficiency test scores and comprehensive quality evaluation results with unified college entrance examination scores, so that the admission process both reflects the bottom line of fairness and demonstrates the characteristics of talent selection.

(The author is Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Longnan Normal University (陇南师范学院))

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AI Brings Chinese Traditional Culture to Life

By: 刘箴

The fine traditional Chinese culture is the root and soul of the Chinese nation, and the foundation on which we stand firm amid the intermingling and clashing of world cultures. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Let cultural relics collected in museums, heritage sites spread across the vast land, and writings in ancient texts all come alive." This important exposition provides the fundamental guidance for the inheritance and development of fine traditional Chinese culture. For a long time, fine traditional Chinese culture has been preserved mainly in such forms as static physical collections, documentary records, and oral accounts of intangible cultural heritage. Constrained by technological bottlenecks and barriers of time and space, it has generally faced structural difficulties including the difficulty of preserving cultural relics, the difficulty of reading and understanding ancient texts, the interruption of the transmission of craftsmanship across generations, and the rigidity of dissemination paradigms. With the iterative evolution of artificial intelligence technology, digital technology is becoming the key variable in breaking down barriers to inheritance, injecting strong momentum into the innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture.

As the core carriers of fine traditional Chinese culture, cultural relics, ancient texts, and intangible cultural heritage have generally suffered physical damage such as fading, mutilation, and surface breakage after years of erosion. Traditional manual restoration methods have practical problems such as long operation cycles, high operational thresholds, and reduced replication accuracy due to interference from subjective experience, and a large number of scarce cultural remains face the risk of irreversible damage. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized, "It is necessary to use modern scientific and technological means to strengthen the preservation, restoration, and comprehensive utilization of ancient texts in collections, deeply excavate the philosophical thought, humanistic spirit, value concepts, and moral norms contained in ancient texts, and promote the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture." At the present stage, artificial intelligence relies on cutting-edge technologies such as high-precision image computation, three-dimensional entity modeling, and multi-source big data comparison to build a standardized digital restoration system for cultural relics, effectively solving the long-standing technical shortcomings in the fields of cultural relic restoration and heritage preservation. AI algorithms can complete the automated splicing, disease removal, and detail supplementation of damaged cultural relics and incomplete ancient texts. At the same time, the system systematically retrieves large quantities of data from cultural relics unearthed in the same period, samples of traditional handicraft techniques, and visual style information from various eras to complete logical deduction, restoring the original form, color texture, and surface patterns of artifacts, so that cultural remains on the verge of disappearance are revitalized and reborn. For example, the Dunhuang Academy has applied intelligent image processing technology to mural conservation work, targeting diseases such as oxidation discoloration, surface peeling, and pattern loss in murals, and completely restoring the original artistic style of murals from the High Tang period. The damaged bronze artifacts unearthed at Sanxingdui have achieved a precious "digital twin" through heterogeneous data fusion matching and virtual restoration technology. In addition, high-precision scanning equipment paired with intelligent analysis algorithms captures data information such as the ink layering of ancient paintings, the craftsmanship details of handmade artifacts, and the mortise-and-tenon structures inside ancient buildings, building a digital cultural resource database with full traceability and full lifecycle management functions. The development of artificial intelligence technology not only realizes the permanent preservation and reversible restoration of static cultural resources, but also lays a solid resource foundation for the normalized and activated inheritance of fine traditional Chinese culture.

Whether the inheritance of fine traditional Chinese culture can continue over the long term depends on the breadth of dissemination and the degree of public acceptance. In the past, the dissemination of fine traditional Chinese culture mostly adopted the single model of static exhibit display and text panel explanation; the display forms were rigid, and the aesthetic expression could hardly match the cognitive habits of young people; the deep connotations of the culture could not be conveyed, and audiences found it difficult to form emotional resonance. Only when the content of fine traditional Chinese culture fits the rhythm of contemporary social development and integrates into the daily scenes of the people can the thread of civilization continue steadily. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "It is necessary to make the most basic cultural genes of the Chinese nation compatible with contemporary culture and coordinated with modern society, and to promote them in ways that people are happy to see and hear and that have broad participation." Artificial intelligence technology breaks the inherent limitations of static display, relies on diversified technologies integrating virtual and real elements to reconstruct cultural expression pathways, and builds an immersive, multi-level cultural experience system. Static cultural materials such as ancient paintings, ancient texts, and historical images, with the help of dynamic image generation technology, improve narrative logic and build virtual interactive scenes that transcend the barriers of time and space. Three-dimensional digital reconstruction technology restores complete pictures of ancient life scenes, folk ritual procedures, and historical allusions, transforming the cultural symbols carried by text and flat images into three-dimensional spaces that can be directly perceived. Generative artificial intelligence, with its powerful content deconstruction and recombination capabilities, deeply intervenes in the narrative fields of myths and legends, historical stories, and traditional intangible cultural heritage craftsmanship, producing derivative products such as micro-short dramas, animation, and sitcom series that conform to the instantaneous reading characteristics of the mobile internet era, precisely matching the aesthetic tastes and acceptance habits of contemporary youth groups. The innovative empowerment of various digital technologies has in essence not only broken the time-space barriers of past cultural consumption and lowered the threshold for public acceptance of fine traditional Chinese culture; it has also prompted audiences to transform from passive "viewers" in the past into active "interpreters" and "producers" of value co-creation, promoting the genuine embedding of fine traditional Chinese culture into the daily life of the masses and realizing the intergenerational continuation and living inheritance of cultural vitality.

The creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture cannot be separated from the support of the modern industrial system. At present, the traditional culture field has long-standing shortcomings such as scattered resources, weak IP influence, and low cross-industry integration, resulting in a large number of high-quality materials being difficult to transform into market-recognized consumer products. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized, "It is necessary to conform to the development trends of digital industrialization and industrial digitalization, accelerate the development of new cultural business forms, transform and upgrade traditional cultural business forms, and improve quality, efficiency, and core competitiveness." Artificial intelligence technology, through big data analysis and intelligent element extraction, can screen and integrate fragmented cultural resources, extract iconic cultural symbols from them, and derive diversified digital cultural products such as national-style cultural and creative products, digital art works, traditional adapted music, and original visual design, broadening the original audience circle of fine traditional Chinese culture and realizing mass communication across all age groups. At the same time, platforms rely on big data to analyze public aesthetic preferences, consumption demands, and dissemination preferences, carrying out segmented and precise dissemination of fine traditional Chinese culture content, so that cultural supply precisely matches market demand. More importantly, artificial intelligence technology further opens up the linkage channels between fine traditional Chinese culture and the cultural tourism, film and television, cultural and creative, and digital entertainment industries, extending the cultural industry chain, enriching the forms of the cultural industry, and transforming static cultural resources into sustainable industrial development momentum, truly realizing the all-round revitalization of fine traditional Chinese culture from mere cultural inheritance to multi-value appreciation.

The artificial intelligence era has brought new opportunities for the inheritance and development of fine traditional Chinese culture. Standing at the new journey, only by continuously deepening the deep integration of artificial intelligence and fine traditional Chinese culture can the thousand-year cultural lineage remain 生生不息 (shēng shēng bù xī - "to grow and multiply without cease," to thrive and perpetuate endlessly) and 历久弥新 (lì jiǔ mí xīn - "to grow fresher with the passage of time," to become more vital as it ages) amid the digital waves, continuously consolidate the solid foundation of cultural confidence, and inject an inexhaustible source of spiritual motivation into the building of a strong socialist culture.

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Yunnan Banlao's Return to China: A Historical Testament to Borderland People's Devotion to the Motherland

By: 张科

Banlao (班老), located in the southwestern part of Cangyuan Wa Autonomous County (沧源佤族自治县), Yunnan Province, borders Myanmar. The Awa Mountain (阿佤山) where Banlao is situated was anciently called the "Land of the Gourd King" (葫芦王地); in the Western Han it belonged to the ancient Ailao territory, in the Eastern Han to Yongchang Commandery, in the Tang to the Yinsheng Military Governorship, in the Song to Yongchang Prefecture, in the Yuan and Ming to Mengding Prefecture, and in the Qing to Zhenbian Subprefecture of Shunning Prefecture. In the Republican era it was administered by the Cangyuan Administrative Bureau (沧源设治局). Since ancient times it has been an inalienable part of Chinese territory. However, this beautiful land once suffered invasion by imperialists, and in 1941 it was even delimited into British Burma. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, under the leadership of the Party, the people of Banlao struggled unremittingly and finally returned to the embrace of the motherland in 1960. The road of Banlao's return condensed the blood, tears, and utter sincerity of countless Wa compatriots and became a glorious epitome of the Chinese nation's opposition to colonial aggression and defense of territorial integrity.

寸土不让 (cùn tǔ bù ràng - "not yielding an inch of land," refusing to surrender any territory) 抗英军

In modern times, Western colonial forces pushed eastward, and the Banlao region fell into profound calamity. After Britain occupied Burma in 1885, it began to covet the rich silver mineral resources of the Banlao region. In 1886, the Sino-British Burma Convention raised the question of the undelimited Sino-Burmese boundary; thereafter, the two sides' first boundary survey produced divergent opinions, and encountering resolute opposition from the Wa people, they were unable to conduct on-site surveying, instead producing a "Five-Color Line Map" (五色线图), with Banlao placed within the undelimited boundary area. Britain also repeatedly sent spies, missionaries, and armed personnel into the area, and attempted to bribe and entice Banlao headman Bao Weiguo (保卫国) with heavy sums. Bao Weiguo angrily rebuked: "This is China's mine. No matter how much money is offered or how many gifts are sent, without the wooden tally left by Wu Shangxian (吴尚贤) as proof, it is not permitted to open!"

Seeing that infiltration, theft, bribery, and deception were all ineffective, in January 1934 the British side brazenly occupied Lufang (炉房) by armed force. Facing a powerful enemy, the Wa people did not submit. The Banlao tribe, on the one hand, organized local self-defense armed forces, and on the other hand reported to the paramount king of the tribes, Banhong King Hu Yushan (胡玉山). Hu Yushan summoned the seventeen tribal kings of Upper Gourd Land to assemble at Banhong Great Village, swearing to "certainly drive the foreigners out of Awa Mountain, chase them across the Gunlong River (滚弄江), and wash their knives at the riverside!" Banlao King Hu Yutang (胡玉堂) and Banlao headman Bao Weiguo, upon returning to Banlao, also organized cattle-slaughtering oath ceremonies, swearing to be 同心同德 (tóng xīn tóng dé - "with one heart and one virtue," united in purpose) and to unite against external foes. From February to April 1934, the Wa armed forces fought a series of battles against the British army: the Yakou (垭口) Battle, the Nanyi River (南依河) Battle, the fierce engagement at Lower Banlao, the defense of Upper Banlao, the burning of Longtou Mountain (龙头山), and the Nangun River (南滚河) ambush. Armed with broadswords, spears, crossbows, and muzzle-loading guns, and even using stone slingshots, rolling stone baskets, and other primitive weapons, they fought a life-and-death struggle against the well-equipped British army. This was the famous "Banhong Anti-British Incident" (班洪抗英事件). When news spread, all walks of life in Yunnan voiced support. Li Xizhe (李希哲), a patriotic figure from Jinggu (景谷), sold off his family property and organized the "Southwest Frontier Defense People's Volunteer Army" (西南边防民众义勇军) to rush to the front. Han, Dai, and other ethnic fighters fought shoulder to shoulder with the Wa armed forces and once recaptured Yakou, Xincun, Banlao, and other places. However, because the Nationalist Government was weak and compromising, the volunteer army was forced to disband, and the British army reoccupied Lufang.

After the "Banhong Anti-British Incident," the whole country strongly demanded redelimitation of the boundary. In April 1935, the "Sino-British Yunnan-Burma Boundary Delimitation Commission" (中英滇缅勘界委员会) was established, and the second boundary survey began. On February 2, 1936, the seventeen tribal kings issued the "Kawa Seventeen Kings' Respectful Letter to Compatriots of the Motherland" (卡瓦十七王敬告祖国同胞书) at Gongming Mountain (公明山): "Since our distant ancestors, generation after generation we have received enfeoffment from China and have steadfastly guarded the frontier for over a thousand years... Although our Kawa land is barren and our people weak, we swear to sever our heads rather than abandon our duty of defending the territory; we swear to shed our blood rather than become slaves of British colonialism." In 1937, the War of Resistance Against Japan broke out, and the Sino-British boundary survey was interrupted, with the two sides' differences remaining. In 1941, at the most difficult period of the War of Resistance, Britain threatened to close the Yunnan-Burma Road, forcing the then Nationalist Government to accept the unilaterally drawn Sino-Burmese boundary line proposed by the British side, and Banlao and other places were delimited into British Burma. This is known in history as the "1941 Line" (1941年线). Thereafter, the people of Banlao never recognized this line. The patriotic Wa headmen of Banlao also resolutely opposed it, declaring with 旗帜鲜明 (qí zhì xiān míng - "bright and clear banners," unequivocal clarity): "We are Chinese; we do not accept Burma's jurisdiction." When British soldiers planted boundary markers by day, the Wa masses pulled them up by night. Burmese officials who came to Banlao to entice and threaten were also sternly refused and driven out.

封封来信盼回归

In 1949, the new China was founded, and the people of Banlao saw hope of returning to the motherland. To strive for Banlao's return, the Banlao headmen and the masses made unremitting efforts, contending for every inch of land. In 1953, the governments of China and Burma began consultations on the Sino-Burmese border question. The Burmese government invited Hu Yutang and Bao Weiguo to Lashio, intending to confer official titles and delimit territory upon them, but the two men refused with 义正词严 (yì zhèng cí yán - "righteous words and stern speech," speaking with justice and severity). After Bao Weiguo returned to Banlao, he immediately went to Mengdong (勐董) to call on Zhao Yanjun (赵延俊), political commissar of the Cangyuan garrison and concurrently county Party secretary, displaying the ancient seal, court robes, wooden tallies, and other material evidence, and stated solemnly: "Our ancestors for generations have been Chinese. We hope China will not abandon Banlao."

At the end of 1953, in order to create a favorable atmosphere for resolving the Sino-Burmese boundary question, the Chinese government expressed agreement to withdraw its bandit-suppression troops from the Banlao region, which aroused deep anxiety among the local Wa headmen and masses over Banlao's affiliation. The Banlao headmen quickly held a meeting and wrote a letter to the local People's Liberation Army garrison troops. The letter read: "Banlao is Banlao's land, and the silver mine of Banlao is China's silver mine. But foreign officials say: 'Chiang Kai-shek has already sold it to us. Is the silver mine yours or not?' But now Chiang Kai-shek has already fled from China, and the Banlao silver mine belongs to China. We want the silver mine to belong to Banlao, but we fear the foreigners. If you do not garrison Banlao, we are very afraid. If you want it, then send troops to guard it. We are infinitely grateful to the Liberation Army. No matter what the foreigners say, we will not listen. Whether you want us or not, please telegraph Chairman Mao for instructions."

That same year, the local headmen of Banlao also jointly wrote to Mao Zedong, earnestly requesting that the 120th Regiment's troops stationed at Nanla (南腊) forward the letter. The letter read: "There is a letter for Chairman Mao. We have no other gifts, only presenting Chairman Mao with a silver knife and a pair of ivory tusks. We ask: Banlao has always been Chinese land, but now foreign officials are still stationed there. When the boundary was surveyed before, foreign officials sent us things, but we did not accept them, and the British then attacked us, so we are afraid. Now foreigners come often. If Banlao is indeed Chinese land, please send the Liberation Army to garrison and protect us. The hearts of the Banlao people will never change. If you do not want Banlao, please also reply." The content of the letter was brief and clear, but 字里行间 (zì lǐ háng jiān - "between the lines") it was plain and urgent. The silver knife sent with the letter symbolized authority and loyalty, and was the most solemn token of the local headmen; the ivory tusks represented nobility and esteem. With the most solemn ceremony they expressed their belonging to the motherland.

Xiao Zisheng (肖子生), a member of the Cangyuan County Political Consultative Conference, also wrote to Zhou Enlai, expressing the voice of the Awa people: "The hearts of our Kawa people forever face China. Kawa Mountain will forever be Chinese territory... As for this 1941 Line, our entire Kawa Mountain people know nothing of it. This 1941 Line was the imperialists and the ruling class playing tricks and deceiving the Kawa people. We Kawa people resolutely oppose the 1941 Line and resolutely refuse to accept the 1941 Line... Our Kawa people are the same as the people of the motherland; we absolutely cannot be separated from the Communist Party and Chairman Mao. Our Kawa people must follow the Communist Party and Chairman Mao. Only thus can we attain the policy of ethnic equality and walk onto the broad road of happiness."

六年磋商终回家

After receiving the letters from Banlao, Mao Zedong and the Central People's Government attached great importance to them. On June 3, 1954, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China replied to the Banlao King and others, encouraging them to "strive for the consolidation of national defense." In 1955, Hu Yutang and others were invited to Beijing to attend the National Day celebrations and were cordially received by Zhou Enlai. Zhou Enlai said to Hu Yutang: "You have done much work there. The people of the motherland will not forget you. You are an extraordinary national hero." The cordial concern of the Party and state leaders deeply moved Hu Yutang and strengthened his determination to return to the motherland.

On June 29, 1954, the premiers of China and Burma, Zhou Enlai and U Nu, issued a joint statement in Rangoon, the capital of Burma, declaring that the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence would serve as the basic norms guiding relations between the two countries. Thereafter, the two sides set about resolving the boundary question peacefully through diplomatic channels in a spirit of friendship. During the consultations, the Burmese government expressed understanding of the Chinese people's dissatisfaction with the "1941 Line," but in view of the fact that the then responsible Sino-British governments had already exchanged notes and signed a boundary treaty, it requested the Chinese side to recognize it. The Chinese government held that, on the boundary question, claims put forward on the basis of formal treaties should be respected in accordance with general international practice, but this did not preclude the two friendly governments from seeking a solution fair and reasonable to both sides through peaceful consultation. After six years of repeated consultations, the two sides, with 互谅互让 (hù liàng hù ràng - "mutual understanding and mutual accommodation," each yielding to the other), overcame all kinds of difficulties and reached consensus. On January 28, 1960, the premiers of China and Burma signed the "Agreement Between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Union of Burma on the Boundary Question Between the Two Countries" (中华人民共和国政府和缅甸联邦政府关于两国边界问题的协定). Under the agreement, Burma's "perpetual lease" relationship over the Mengmao Triangle (猛卯三角地) was abolished; the Chinese side agreed to cede it to Burma, and in exchange, the Burmese side ceded Banlao and other areas to China. On October 1 of the same year, at the solemn moment of the National Day celebrations, the two countries formally signed the "Boundary Treaty Between the People's Republic of China and the Union of Burma" (中华人民共和国和缅甸联邦边界条约) in Beijing. Under the treaty, on June 4, 1961, the governments of China and Burma held the handover and signing ceremony at Banlao Xincun (班老新寨). When the Five-Star Red Flag slowly rose over Banlao, the Wa masses were 热泪盈眶 (rè lèi yíng kuàng - "hot tears filling the eyes," tears welling up), and cheers resounded through the valley.

After the treaty was signed, the people of Banlao also faced the key test of choosing nationality. Bao Weiguo and his son Bao Hongzhong (保洪忠) convened a mass meeting, and everyone unanimously declared: "We will never betray the oath of our ancestors. We are Chinese!" In the mid-1980s, when outside forces asked Bao Hongzhong whether he agreed to establish a so-called "Wa State," he said with righteous severity: "My grandfathers, my fathers, and my mothers taught me that there is only one China, and there is no 'Wa State.' Now I am Chinese, and I am in China. We must, under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, carry out socialist economic construction. You may come and visit, because we are neighbors and friends, but we are not one family. Only within China's fifty-six ethnic groups are we one family."

The return of Banlao, as a historical testimony of frontier people's hearts turning toward the motherland, is forever engraved in the annals of the Chinese national community. During the process of Banlao's return, the sons and daughters of all ethnic groups of the Wa Mountain, in their 百折不挠 (bǎi zhé bù náo - "a hundred setbacks without yielding," unyielding perseverance) arduous efforts, displayed a strong ethnic consciousness and national consciousness. Today, the Banlao Return Monument stands quietly in the Banlao Anti-British Patriotic Education Theme Park, telling generations to come this history written with blood and life.

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Uphold the political responsibility of governing and strengthening the Party

By: 王刚

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping, centering on the major issues of our times concerning what kind of long-term governing Marxist party to build and how to build it, has put forward a series of new concepts, new ideas, and new strategies for managing and governing the Party and for revitalizing and strengthening the Party, forming Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building. Based on the duties and mission of organizational departments, studying and implementing this important thought, we have come to understand more deeply that on the new journey, advancing Chinese-style modernization — this pioneering undertaking without precedent — hinges on the Party and hinges on people. Standing at the important historical juncture of the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan, facing a complex situation and various risks and challenges, we must align with the deployment requirements of the "Fourteen Persistences," precisely position and scientifically plan organizational work within the overall work of the Party and the state and the overall picture of Party building, concretely implement "the key lies in the Party, the key lies in people" throughout all aspects and the entire process of organizational work, and better transform organizational strength and organizational advantages into development momentum and governance effectiveness.

Focusing on "protecting the Party for the Party, revitalizing the Party and strengthening the Party," grasping the focal point of political leadership and Party-building guidance

Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building clearly states that the Party's political construction is the Party's fundamental construction, and ideological construction is the Party's foundational construction. To study and implement this major requirement, organizational departments must firmly shoulder the fundamental mission of being loyal to the Party, protecting the Party, and fully revitalizing and strengthening the Party. In recent years, we have always placed emphasis on speaking politics, studying thought, and strengthening guidance as the foremost priority, keeping in mind General Secretary Xi Jinping's earnest expectation for Henan to "strive to write a new chapter of Chinese-style modernization on the Central Plains" and the major requirements of "two highs and four focal efforts," insisting on leading high-quality development with high-quality Party building and promoting high-efficiency governance, contributing organizational strength to serving the overall work and overall situation.

Focusing on deepening theoretical arming and grasping training. We adhere to using the Party's innovative theory to forge souls and build spirit, deeply implement the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era education and training plan, continuously carry out centralized training and special training on the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Party and the spirits of its successive plenary sessions, improve the regular training mechanism, especially basic training mechanisms, and promote Party members and cadres to build a solid foundation of faith, replenish the calcium of spirit, and steady the rudder of thought, drawing Party-nature nourishment and consolidating political loyalty from the Party's innovative theory. We have strictly and practically carried out the four rounds of centralized intra-Party education since the 20th National Congress, formulated and implemented four "Ten Prohibitions" regulations on illegal eating and drinking, illegal gift-giving and receiving of gifts and money, infringing on the interests of the masses, and not assuming responsibility and not taking action, as well as the "Several Regulations on Deeply Implementing the Spirit of the Eight-Point Decision and Further Improving Work Style and Fostering New Practices," promoting effective rectification of accumulated work-style problems. We have deeply explored the precious spiritual wealth of the Jiao Yulu spirit, the Red Flag Canal spirit, and the Dabie Mountains spirit, built and made good use of Party-nature education platforms, and deepened and expanded the "Party Lectures Begin" and "Millions of Party Members Enter Party Schools" activities.

Closely focusing on advancing the "five foundations and four modernizations" to strengthen governance. We deeply understand that "adhering to a well-established organizational system that is connected from top to bottom and has strong execution" is where the Party's advantages and strength lie, seriously implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's major requirement put forward during his inspection of Henan that "social governance must be solidly strengthened," highlight grasping the grassroots, strengthening the foundation, and consolidating the fundamentals, and continuously strengthen the construction of grassroots Party organizations, grassroots governance teams, grassroots governance mechanisms, grassroots governance grids, and grassroots governance platforms. We concentrate efforts on building a Henan version, digitalized and intelligent "Fengqiao experience" for the new era, adhere to using "Party building + grid + big data" as the carrier, take tackling key matters as the breakthrough, make good use of the golden key to grassroots good governance of "four discussions and two disclosures," strive to improve the level of socialization, rule of law, intellectualization, and specialization of grassroots governance, and explore a new path of high-efficiency grassroots governance led by Party building that conforms to the spirit of the Party Central Committee and fits Henan's actual conditions. Through concentrated tackling and deepened practice, grassroots governance is achieving systematic reshaping, holistic improvement, and overall breakthrough, with key indicators such as work safety, social security, and petition stability continuing to improve.

Centering on major national strategies to cultivate talent. We conscientiously implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important exposition on "gathering talents from all over the world and using them," focus on serving and safeguarding national strategies such as accelerating the rise of the central region and ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin, rely on local characteristic industries to accelerate the construction of industrial talent agglomeration areas, actively introduce national-level leading talents, and attract more than 2 million potential talents to Henan for innovation and entrepreneurship. Centering on serving and safeguarding the strategy of building a strong agricultural province, we promote the concentrated layout of agricultural science-education and breeding-reproduction-promotion resources across the province, gathering high-level research platforms and high-end research talents. Centering on serving and safeguarding the rural revitalization strategy, we dispatch science and technology commissioners, doctoral service groups, specially recruited general practitioners, and publicly funded normal students to carry out "group-style" sinking services, and the talent ecosystem where "those near are pleased and those far come" continues to be consolidated.

Focusing on "establishing the Party for the public, creating benefits for the people," guiding and promoting Party members and cadres to remember their original aspiration and mission and correct their performance coordinates

Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building clearly states that the original aspiration and mission of Chinese Communists is to seek happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation. The fundamental orientation of a correct view of political achievements is establishing the Party for the public and creating benefits for the people, and the clear orientation is scientific decision-making and solid, down-to-earth work. This is both the value guideline of the Party's more than one hundred years of struggle and the core standard for Party members and cadres to perform their duties in the new era. We guide Party members and cadres to practice the original aspiration of serving the people through solid work and responsibility, to shoulder the mission of the times with excellent work style, and to strive to create real achievements that can withstand the test of practice, the people, and history.

Give play to the role of learning and education in forging souls and empowering. We fully implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's major requirement of "three earnestnesses and three solidities," promote the integrated advancement of learning, examination, and rectification, compile and distribute positive and negative typical cases, investigate and identify, and openly notify prominent problems of deviation in views of political achievements existing in various localities, sort out manifestations of formalism problems, and continuously improve the coverage and penetrating power of education on views of political achievements.

Give play to the correct guiding role of selecting and appointing personnel. Seizing the decisive factor of cadres, taking the opportunity of the leadership team changes at the city, county, and township levels, we implement the standards for good cadres in the new era, refine the correct view of political achievements into observable, evaluable, and testable behavioral characteristics of cadres, establish a yardstick for selecting and appointing personnel, and effectively select and use good cadres with correct views of political achievements, who create benefits for the people, and who assume responsibility and act, stimulating the internal motivation and overall vitality of the cadre contingent.

Give play to the incentive and spurring role of performance assessment. We fully align with the national high-quality development evaluation indicators, promptly revise the annual comprehensive assessment and performance evaluation measures for high-quality development of leadership teams, improve special assessments for safe construction, air pollution control, and high-standard farmland construction, precisely set key and leading indicators, and guide cadres to pay more attention to development quality, people's livelihood improvement, grassroots experience, and long-term stamina in their performance of duties. We establish a scheduling mechanism for improving the comprehensive quality and efficiency of high-quality development, conduct dynamic monitoring once each quarter and comprehensive scheduling once every six months, helping the comprehensive quality and efficiency of high-quality development to continuously improve.

Give play to the rigid constraint role of management and supervision. Keeping a close eye on the main problem list of deviations in views of political achievements of local leadership teams and leading cadres, we carry out special rectification of problems of deviation in views of political achievements such as "new officials ignoring old accounts," seeking quick success and instant benefits, fraud and deception, reckless blind action, making unrealistic decisions against the will of the masses, and "flipping the pancake" of policy planning, and promptly conduct interviews and reminders, correct and rectify tendencies and budding problems. We implement the tenure system for leading cadres, formulate measures for handover of outgoing leading cadres, implement a handover list system, improve post-evaluation and long-term tracking mechanisms for major policies and major projects, formulate specific measures for "settling old accounts" and solving difficult problems, and build a solid dike against the "impulse for political achievement."

Focusing on "being responsible for the territory, fully performing duties within the territory," firmly shouldering the responsibility of high-quality development of organizational work

Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building clearly states that the responsibility for managing and governing the Party is the most fundamental political responsibility. In the responsibility system and responsibility chain of managing and governing the Party, organizational departments must not only manage organizations, cadres, and talents, but also manage responsibilities, systems, and ecology, embody responsibility and commitment in action and implement it in work, always knowing responsibility in the heart, bearing responsibility on the shoulders, and fulfilling responsibility in action.

Adhere to establishing orientation and promoting standardization. Establish a good political orientation, do solid and deep work in the political quality inspection of cadres, and adhere to precise and scientific selection and appointment of personnel. Establish a standardized full-process cadre work mechanism covering policy study, special research, comprehensive research and judgment, plan formation, adjustment and deployment, and daily management, formulate trial measures for the political construction of leadership teams and the political quality inspection and assessment of leading cadres, make good use of the political quality inspection list, carry out differentiated and full-coverage political quality research on leadership teams and leading cadres by field, dynamically grasp the operation of leadership teams and the performance of cadres in performing their duties, conduct analysis and research and judgment on each leadership team, and effectively improve the quality and level of cadre selection and use. Strengthen the incentive orientation, and drive cadre responsibility with organizational responsibility. Adhere to political encouragement, work support, treatment guarantee, and psychological care, innovate the training model for young cadres to enhance the "three forces" and strengthen the "four trainings (exercises)," implement the "cultivation and empowerment" plan, regularly select cadres for special financial and high-quality development temporary posts, and study and learn from advanced regions. Implement well the policy on promotion of civil servant positions and ranks, normalize cadre heart-to-heart talks, dynamically grasp the physical and mental health status of cadres, and let cadres feel settled, secure, and content in their work through the warmth and care of the organization. Highlight the problem orientation and solidly do the "second half of the article" of inspections. Take inspection rectification as a powerful grasp and important opportunity for fulfilling the responsibility of managing and governing the Party and improving the quality and efficiency of organizational work, adhere to classified policies and moving the real and touching the hard, effectively enhance the pertinence, operability, precision, systematicness, and comprehensiveness of inspection rectification, and promote promoting rectification through inspection, promoting construction through inspection, and promoting governance through inspection. Strengthen the comprehensive application of inspection results, take advantage of the momentum to make up for shortcomings and weaknesses, crack stubborn diseases and chronic ailments, and drive the improvement of overall work level through problem rectification.

Highlight grasping the grassroots and laying a solid foundation. Deeply advance the construction of "Five-Star" Party branches, and unremittingly rectify and consolidate weak and lax grassroots Party organizations. Adhere to Party building leading rural revitalization, and implement special plans for village-level rural revitalization coordinators and community grid affairs coordinators. Issue guidance catalogs for village-level organization work affairs, improve and implement the grassroots authority and responsibility list system, reduce the number of supervision, inspection, and assessment items, and solve the prominent problem of "a small horse pulling a big cart." Do a good job in the concentrated attack on "two coverages" in emerging fields, significantly increase the coverage rate of Party organizations in "three-have" non-public enterprises and provincial-level social organizations, and continuously expand the Party's appeal, cohesion, and influence in emerging fields. Increase efforts to develop Party members in weak areas such as industrial workers, migrant workers, and new employment groups, and improve the mechanism for Party members to play their role both on and off duty, online and offline, and in normal times and emergencies.

Pay attention to preventing risks and holding the bottom line. With high political acuity and sense of responsibility, prevent and resolve risks and hidden dangers in organizational work, incorporate them into the "big system" of public opinion monitoring, the "big pattern" of petition handling, and the "big picture" of social stability, improve and perfect the mechanism for responding to and handling online public opinion involving organizations and cadres, promptly plug institutional loopholes and unblock mechanism "blockages." Carry out the action of "going to the grassroots at four levels" to solve prominent problems, promote the province's organizational system to focus on Party building, laying foundations, and consolidating fundamentals, sink to the grassroots frontline, and effectively propagate policies downward, collect problems upward, and resolve conflicts at the grassroots level.

Focusing on "being fair and upright, honest and clean," polishing the distinctive foundation of model departments and an excellent contingent

Organizational departments shoulder the important responsibility of serving Party members, serving cadres, and serving talents, and bear the primary responsibility and heavy task in studying and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building. It is necessary to carry through the entire process of self-construction General Secretary Xi Jinping's important requirements for organizational departments and organizational work cadres of being "absolutely reliable politically, absolutely loyal to the Party" and "speaking politics, valuing fairness, being professional, and having good work style," develop in alignment, be strict in standardization, and break through in quality improvement, effectively making the Party reassured and cadres and the masses satisfied.

With self-uprightness, be a model of strictly observing discipline and rules. "Adhering to managing and governing the entire Party with strict discipline" is the fundamental strategy for comprehensively governing the Party strictly. Every word and action of organizational work cadres concerns the Party's image and prestige. They must take the lead in observing rules, regard organizational supervision as the greatest care for themselves, remember that power has boundaries and actions have prohibitions, strictly abide by the Party's policies, systems, procedures, and rules, and be a good "goalkeeper" of the Party's organizational principles and disciplinary bottom line. They must establish rules in work, do all work, handle all matters, and deal with all relationships according to Party principles, achieving no wavering in adhering to principles, no deviation in implementing standards, no alteration in performing procedures, and no relaxation in observing discipline, driving other Party members and cadres to use power fairly, use power according to law, and use power with integrity.

With self-competence, be a practitioner of organizational work policies and regulations. "Adhering to governing the Party with institutions and regulating the Party with rules" is the long-term and fundamental strategy for comprehensively governing the Party strictly. Organizational work cadres must not only have a sense of crisis about capability panic and a sense of urgency about insufficient ability, continuously strengthening learning and practice without pause, but also influence and drive the broad masses of Party members and cadres to learn and use relevant policies and regulations well. Continuously strengthen the "two absolutes" political loyalty education, the education of core values of fairness and uprightness, and the education of the Party organization's fine traditions, hold "Organizational Work Forums" around studying and implementing the Party Central Committee's major deployments and important organizational personnel policies and regulations, and have organizational work cadres at the four levels of province, city, county, and township "attend the same class," effectively improving the capability quality and work standardization level of organizational work cadres. Continuously carry out large-scale study and training on organizational personnel work policies and business, and promote Party organization leaders at all levels, leadership team members, and the broad masses of Party members and cadres to learn policies, understand policies, and strictly implement policies.

With self-purity, be a defender of a good political ecosystem. "Adhering to promoting the normalization and long-term effectiveness of work style construction" is an effective way to maintain the flesh-and-blood connection between the Party and the masses. Organizational work cadres must not only be pure themselves and clean around them, achieving "equal distance" and "zero material exchange" in interactions with management and service targets, but also be "guardians" of Party principles and "cleaners" of the political ecosystem, resolutely resisting all kinds of unhealthy tendencies. Formulate and issue measures for strictly observing discipline and rules, strictly managing supervision, improving work style, and closely connecting with the masses, educate and guide organizational work cadres to always adhere to Party principles first, the Party's cause first, and the people's interests first, dare to draw the sword against people and matters that violate Party principles and Party discipline and rules, and gather strong positive energy to jointly create a clean and upright political ecosystem through purifying thought and purifying organizations.

(The author is a member of the Standing Committee of the Henan Provincial Party Committee and Director of the Organization Department)

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Promote full-chain, scaled development of emerging pillar industries.

By: 盛朝迅

Industry is the foundation of development, and emerging pillar industries represent the direction of the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation. They are key vehicles for cultivating new quality productive forces, building a modern industrial system, and activating new drivers of economic growth. General Secretary Xi Jinping has explicitly called for accelerating the cultivation of emerging pillar industries with international competitiveness and promoting the deep integrated development of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation. At present, the global industrial landscape is undergoing profound restructuring, the technological revolution is accelerating, and the domestic economy has entered the stage of high-quality development. The fragmented, piecemeal model of industrial development can no longer meet the needs of the times. We must deeply grasp the internal logic and essential meaning of promoting the full-chain, large-scale development of emerging pillar industries, systematically explore pathways for scaled cultivation, and promote a number of emerging industries to grow and strengthen into pillar industries, so as to consolidate and strengthen the foundation of the real economy and provide strong support for the construction of a modern industrial system.

The Main Characteristics and Development Logic of Emerging Pillar Industries

Emerging pillar industries, centered on new technologies, new models, and new business forms, cover key fields such as integrated circuits, aerospace, biomedicine, the low-altitude economy, new-type energy storage, and intelligent robotics. They are characterized by innovativeness, growth potential, strategic significance, and driving force, and serve as an important pillar force replacing traditional growth drivers and supporting sustained economic growth. In the new era, promoting the full-chain, large-scale development of emerging pillar industries has profound historical, theoretical, and practical logic.

From the perspective of historical logic, full-chain, large-scale development is an inevitable requirement for gaining the initiative in the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation. Every technological revolution has given rise to a number of emerging pillar industries, driving the "metabolism" of the industrial system. Countries that seized the opportunity successfully modernized their industrial systems and entered the ranks of developed countries, while those that failed lost their international competitiveness, and some even fell into the "middle-income trap." History has repeatedly proven that whether a country can accelerate breakthroughs in the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation and cultivate emerging pillar industries that lead the adjustment of the global industrial structure is the key to realizing the conversion of old and new growth drivers and supporting the building of a modern socialist country. Through full-chain, scaled cultivation, we can continuously expand the scale of emerging industries, improve the quality and efficiency of industrial development, form trillion-yuan and ten-trillion-yuan industrial clusters, and build a new industrial landscape with multiple pillars and diversified development. This will help China gain the initiative in the accelerating new round of technological revolution and the increasingly fierce global industrial restructuring and layout adjustment.

From the perspective of theoretical logic, full-chain, large-scale development is an important lever for breaking through the traditional path of industrial evolution. Adapted to the gradual iteration model of traditional manufacturing, classical industrial life-cycle theory divides industrial development into stages of initiation, growth, maturity, and decline. Emerging pillar industries, with their high strategic value, rapid growth, and deep cross-sector integration, exhibit nonlinear, leapfrog growth characteristics and have significant industrial multiplier effects. They can give rise to new industries and new business forms through cross-sector integration, greatly extend the industrial life cycle, and change the iteration and upgrading model, underlying logic, and evolutionary path of industries. Through full-chain, large-scale development, we can grasp the characteristics and patterns of the scaled growth of emerging pillar industries, and through the two-way coordination of policy guidance and market drivers, enable emerging pillar industries to achieve scale expansion, industrial iteration, and competitiveness enhancement more quickly, building a modern industrial system suited to the development of new quality productive forces.

From the perspective of practical logic, full-chain, large-scale development is an urgent need for breaking through industrial development bottlenecks and activating growth drivers. In recent years, China's emerging industries have developed rapidly and continued to expand in scale, with some fields achieving a leading position and becoming an important increment of economic growth. However, objectively speaking, most emerging pillar industries still face problems such as incomplete chains, unbalanced structures, and insufficient coordination. Some have shortcomings in upstream core technologies, key components, and high-end equipment, posing risks of being "strangled" (kǎ bó zi - "stuck at the neck," being choked off by external restrictions). Some have imbalanced and differentiated midstream manufacturing links, with insufficient high-end supply and excess low-end capacity. Some have lagging cultivation of downstream application scenarios, making it difficult to commercialize technological achievements. Some have insufficient industrial chain coordination mechanisms, weak supporting capabilities of small and medium-sized enterprises, and failure of leading enterprises to fully play their guiding and driving role, making it difficult to form scale effects and cluster advantages. Through full-chain, large-scale development, we can help solve the above development problems, promote the deep integration of the innovation chain, industrial chain, capital chain, and talent chain, and drive emerging pillar industries to transform from "point breakthroughs" to "chain-based rise."

The Main Connotations of Full-Chain, Large-Scale Development

Promoting the scaling of emerging pillar industries with a full-chain mindset requires basing ourselves on the entire industrial life cycle, connecting all links of technology research and development, achievement transformation, production and manufacturing, supporting infrastructure, market application, and iteration and upgrading. Through the coordinated发力 of the full industrial chain, full value chain, full factor chain, full support chain, and full policy chain, we can solve the pain points of emerging industry development and achieve a systematic leap from single-point breakthroughs to cluster rise, and from fragmented development to scale and quality improvement.

Full Industrial Chain Development. The full industrial chain is the objective carrier of industrial scaling, covering multiple links such as raw material procurement, research and development and design, production and manufacturing, and market sales. At present, global geopolitical conflicts are intensifying, trade protectionism is rising, and the global industrial chain and supply chain are undergoing accelerated restructuring. External technological blockade and industrial containment pressure continue to increase, and the external uncertainty facing China's industrial development has risen significantly. Emerging pillar industries bear on national scientific and technological security, industrial security, and economic security, and are the core track of competition among major powers. Only through full industrial chain development, making up for shortcomings and weaknesses, and building an independent, controllable, safe, efficient, complete, and unimpeded full industrial chain can we effectively avoid the impact of external risks and enhance the resilience and core competitiveness of the industrial chain and supply chain.

Full Value Chain Ascension. The full value chain focuses on industrial profit distribution and promotes the extension of industries from low-value-added processing links to high-value links such as research and development and branding. Promoting the full-chain, large-scale development of emerging pillar industries, actively expanding high-value-added links such as R&D, manufacturing, and services, strengthening basic research and original technology patent layout, building independent brands, and expanding value-added services will help industries ascend to the core links of the value chain and feed back into industrial upgrading through high value added.

Full Factor Chain Coordination. The full factor chain is the basic supply for industrial development. For emerging pillar industries, industrial development requires not only the support of traditional factors such as land, capital, and labor, but also the加持 of new production factors such as technology, talent, capital, and data. We must strengthen the coordination of the full factor chain, open up the transformation channel of scientific and technological achievements from the laboratory to the production line, build a multi-level investment and financing system, promote the cultivation of various types of talent, promote the compliant circulation of data to empower production, remove barriers to the flow of various factors, and build a factor supply system suited to the entire life cycle of emerging industries, providing a continuous source of factor support for sustained industrial expansion.

Full Support Chain Matching. The full support chain is the hardware and public service guarantee for industrial operation, including support systems such as new-type infrastructure, public service platforms, and industrial space carriers. Among them, the construction of new-type infrastructure such as computing power centers, the Industrial Internet, and new energy supporting facilities can meet the production needs of intelligent and green emerging industries. The establishment of public service platforms such as inspection and testing, standards certification, intellectual property protection, and supply chain logistics platforms can help reduce the operating costs of small and medium-sized enterprises. The coordinated planning of industrial spaces such as high-tech zones, industrial agglomeration areas, and specialized industrial parks can help centralize the allocation of utilities, environmental protection, and warehousing infrastructure. A complete support chain can greatly reduce the costs of enterprise establishment and capacity expansion, attract enterprise clustering, accelerate industrial scale expansion, and is an important support for the scaled and clustered development of emerging industries.

Full Policy Chain Support. The full policy chain covers multi-dimensional policies in industry, fiscal taxation, finance, land, talent, and opening up, providing enterprises with full-life-cycle policy support. For example, in the front-end R&D stage, enterprises are mainly supported in expanding R&D through additional deductions for R&D expenses, major technological tackling, and strengthened intellectual property protection. In the industrialization stage, enterprises are mainly supported in mass production and capacity expansion through land guarantees, technological transformation funds, and tax reductions and exemptions. In the market expansion stage, domestic and international markets are expanded through the introduction of government procurement, scenario opening, and export support policies. At the same time, by promoting policy coordination between the central government, provinces, municipalities, and parks, policy fragmentation is avoided and policy synergy is formed. The full policy chain coordinates the industrial chain, value chain, factor chain, and support chain, providing a stable and predictable institutional environment for industrial scaling.

Comprehensively Promoting the Scaled, High-End, and Clustered Development of Emerging Pillar Industries

To promote the full-chain, large-scale development of emerging pillar industries, we must thoroughly implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions on the modern industrial system, new quality productive forces, and industrial chain and supply chain construction, adhere to a systems approach, base ourselves on the entire industrial life cycle, focus on strengthening, supplementing, extending, and consolidating the chain, coordinate innovation breakthroughs, entity cultivation, factor guarantees, scenario empowerment, and institutional reform, remove bottlenecks and difficulties in all links, and build a new industrial development pattern featuring innovation leadership, complete chains, active entities, scale agglomeration, and safety and controllability.

Promoting Innovation Breakthroughs. Scientific and technological innovation is the core driving force for the development of emerging pillar industries and the source of vitality for the quality upgrading of the entire chain. We must adhere to the innovation-driven development strategy, open up the innovation closed loop of "basic research—technological tackling—achievement transformation," and support industrial scaling with technological self-reliance and self-strengthening. We should accelerate the implementation of the industrial foundation reengineering project and the major technical equipment tackling project, establish industry-university-research-application collaborative innovation consortia, concentrate superior resources on targeted tackling, break through a number of key core technologies, and make up for shortcomings and weaknesses in the industrial chain. It should also be noted that technological breakthroughs in emerging pillar industries are often not linear progressions of a single technology, but rather integrated innovations of cross-domain technologies. We must adhere to a systems approach, support the layout of multiple technology routes, promote the systematic integration of cross-domain technologies such as new-generation information technology, high-end equipment technology, new materials technology, and new energy technology, and promote the shift of development focus from single-point technological breakthroughs to systemic capability improvement. We should make forward-looking arrangements for basic research and frontier technologies, accumulate original and leading scientific and technological achievements, provide source support for continuous industrial iteration and upgrading, and promote the leap from "following and running alongside" to "leading and running ahead."

Strengthening Entity Cultivation. Enterprises are the core entities of industrial development, and scaled industrial development cannot be separated from the support of a echeloned enterprise cluster. We must build a hierarchical, classified, and gradient enterprise growth system to activate the endogenous driving force of industrial development. Focusing on key emerging industries, we should select a number of backbone enterprises with strong innovation capabilities, large market potential, and prominent driving effects, and support them in growing bigger and stronger through policy support, resource tilting, and project support, cultivating a number of industrial chain leading enterprises and industry benchmark enterprises. Focusing on segmented fields of the industrial chain, we should vigorously cultivate specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative small and medium-sized enterprises and single-champion enterprises that focus on their main business, deeply cultivate segmented markets, and excel in innovation, forming a sound pattern of "leading enterprises providing guidance, small and medium-sized enterprises providing support, and large, medium, and small enterprises developing in an integrated manner."

Strengthening Factor Guarantees. High-quality and efficient factor supply is an important support for the scaled development of emerging pillar industries. We must coordinate various factors such as talent, capital, land, and data, and promote the agglomeration of innovation factor resources toward enterprises. Centering on the development needs of emerging industries, we should precisely cultivate and introduce high-level innovative talents, industrial leading talents, and high-skilled applied talents. We should build a diversified investment and financing system and increase credit support for technology-based, innovation-based, and growth-oriented enterprises. We should give play to the guiding role of industrial investment funds, focusing investment on key links of the industrial chain, key projects, and high-quality enterprises. We should promote the market-based allocation of data factors, open up data sharing channels between industries and enterprises, and empower the digital upgrading of the entire process of industrial R&D, production, management, and marketing. We should optimize the allocation of factors such as land and energy consumption to provide solid guarantees for the scaled expansion of emerging industries.

Promoting Scenario Empowerment. The growth and strengthening of emerging pillar industries cannot be separated from rich and diverse application scenarios. We should adhere to cultivating industries through scenarios and promoting iteration through application, focus on key fields such as intelligent manufacturing, urban renewal, green and low-carbon development, and smart livelihood, continuously open up government scenarios, urban scenarios, and industry scenarios, provide testing, demonstration, and landing platforms for new technologies, new products, and new models, and promote the rapid maturity of technologies and rapid iteration of products. We should guide enterprises to innovate products and services based on market demand, explore new scenarios and new demands in consumption upgrading and industrial transformation, promote the transformation of emerging pillar industry products from demonstration applications to large-scale popularization, and use strong market demand to force industrial quality improvement and capacity expansion.

Promoting Institutional Improvement. Emerging pillar industries are advancing from pilot exploration to the stage of scaled development, and urgently need a sound institutional system for regulation and guarantee. We should deepen institutional and mechanism reform, gradually remove institutional obstacles, and build governance mechanisms suited to the scaled development of emerging pillar industries. Based on the development laws of emerging industries, we should precisely introduce policies on industrial chain cultivation, innovative R&D, and international development, build a precise, systematic, and normalized policy support system, and guide the agglomerated and scaled development of industries. We should strictly implement the intellectual property protection system, strengthen the protection of innovation achievements, and fully stimulate the innovation and creation vitality of enterprises.

(The author is Deputy Director of the Xi Jinping Economic Thought Research Center)

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