Summary: President Xi Jinping visited the Army headquarters on July 27, 2016, delivering an important speech that outlined the blueprint for the Army's transformation and modernization. The article emphasizes the Army's unwavering loyalty to the Party, its focus on combat readiness and military training, and its commitment to reform and innovation. It highlights the Army's efforts to strengthen political loyalty, enhance combat capabilities, and modernize its structure and equipment. The piece also underscores the Army's adherence to rule of law and strict discipline in its operations.
Summary: The article, authored by a deputy director of the NDRC's Academy of Macroeconomic Research, argues that for the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China must improve coordination mechanisms to implement policies supporting the private economy, which is deemed vital for Chinese modernization. It proposes a "three-in-one" support system focusing on ideological guidance, precise institutional design, and enhanced implementation capacity to unify policy efforts across departments. The piece identifies key challenges requiring coordinated action, including resolving overdue payments owed to private firms, ensuring fair access to public procurement bidding, and boosting private-sector innovation by opening up major research infrastructure. It also calls for regulating law enforcement related to enterprises to curb abusive practices like cross-regional and profit-driven inspections, and for building a system to protect Chinese private firms' overseas interests against foreign regulatory risks. The author emphasizes that these coordinated efforts are essential to stabilize market expectations and maintain macroeconomic stability amid weak domestic demand.
Summary: The article discusses the importance of maintaining the integrity and先进性 of China's cadre队伍 through the dual approach of individual self-discipline and organizational oversight, citing Xi Jinping's emphasis that young cadres require both strict self-restraint and rigorous management by party organizations. It argues that corruption cases typically begin with minor lapses in self-control, which then escalate, highlighting that self-discipline alone is insufficient without institutional constraints and regular supervision. The piece stresses that organizational management should focus on early intervention, ideological education, and institutional tightening to prevent misconduct before it occurs. It concludes that the combination of internal self-discipline and external organizational management is essential for building a clean and capable cadre force to support China's modernization goals. No mention is made of the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: The statement reiterates the core principle of people-centered development, emphasizing that "the nation is the people, and the people are the nation." It calls for establishing a correct view of political achievements and strengthening the sense of public service. The directive urges adherence to the Party's mass line in the new era. The ultimate goal is to rely on the people to create historical achievements and make solid progress toward comprehensive human development and common prosperity.
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Summary: The article analyzes the rising influence of BRICS nations in global governance, highlighting their economic growth (4% in 2024, above the global average), expanded membership, and mature cooperation mechanisms that consolidate Global South consensus. It attributes BRICS' ascent to structural shifts in global power, shortcomings in existing governance institutions like the IMF and World Bank, and disruptive unilateral actions that heighten demand for multilateral collaboration. The piece emphasizes BRICS' commitment to open, inclusive cooperation that complements—rather than overturns—the current international order, focusing on industrial chain coordination, financial system improvements, and South-South cooperation to address governance gaps. It concludes by positioning BRICS as a stabilizing force for global development amid geopolitical risks and governance disorder. The author is identified as a deputy director at the Institute of World Economics and Politics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Summary: Global copper demand is surging due to the energy transition and digital economy, with applications expanding into EVs, AI data centers, and renewable energy systems, while supply faces rigid constraints from declining ore grades, project delays, and geopolitical disruptions, creating a projected 10.1 million ton supply gap by 2040. Copper prices have hit record highs, raising energy transition costs and threatening semiconductor production, with PwC warning that 32% of global semiconductor output could be severely impacted by copper supply disruptions by 2035. Major economies are competing for copper resources, with the United States using mechanisms like FORGE to build exclusive supply chains with allies, while the EU and producer countries like Chile and Peru tighten resource controls. China is coordinating domestic mining exploration and international cooperation, while Japan and South Korea secure overseas resources through equity stakes. The article argues that global copper supply chain fragmentation threatens collective low-carbon development and calls for international cooperation to build a more resilient supply system.
Summary: The article analyzes Germany's multi-tiered system for child and adolescent mental health services, driven by rising psychological issues, digital risks, and post-pandemic challenges. It details Germany's approach of establishing local socio-educational services, engaging social organizations, and fostering multi-departmental collaboration to support families. The piece highlights positive outcomes such as improved grassroots service capacity and more diversified support offerings. Finally, it draws three lessons for China: extending mental health services to the grassroots level, leveraging social forces, and integrating mental health care into daily life. The article does not mention the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: The article, authored by the associate dean of Peking University's School of Government, argues that AI applications in Chinese government affairs must prioritize practical governance outcomes over technological buzzwords. It warns against盲目 investments in computing hardware and models that fail to improve efficiency, urging officials to match AI capabilities with specific real-world needs. Distinguishing among generative AI, discriminative AI, agents, and world models, it emphasizes that each has limited roles and must not replace legal procedures or human judgment. The piece calls for integrated planning within digital government frameworks, shared infrastructure, better data governance, and clear rules to ensure sustainable, accountable AI use.
Summary: President Xi Jinping was quoted as urging efforts to close technological gaps, advance AI innovation and industrial application, and strengthen regulatory systems to maintain initiative in AI development. The article defines "sovereign AI" as a system where a nation controls core technologies, infrastructure, and development paths to ensure security and align with national values, emphasizing autonomy, comprehensiveness, security, and cultural grounding. It attributes the concept's rise to risks of technological dependence, ecosystem vulnerability, and cultural influence from foreign AI systems. The piece cautions against over-isolation, advocating balanced approaches between self-reliance and openness, focused versus comprehensive development, security and growth, and cultural identity with global exchange. It concludes by reaffirming China's commitment to international cooperation in AI governance while building a domestically rooted sovereign AI system to support Chinese modernization.
Summary: The article recounts the Communist Party leadership's 181-day stay in Xiangshan in 1949, where Mao Zedong and the Central Committee directed the final phase of the civil war and laid the groundwork for the new state. Mao is reported to have told democratic figure Liu Yazi that "the people's support is the greatest stratagem" for the successful Yangtze crossing, emphasizing the role of popular backing. The leadership upheld the "two musts" and "six regulations," maintaining austerity and rejecting personal gifts or birthday celebrations, while Mao wore patched clothing during meetings. The piece also details the drafting of the "Common Program" and the convening of the CPPCC, establishing the PRC's institutional framework. On foreign affairs, it highlights the PLA's armed response to the British warship HMS Amethyst and Mao's articles denouncing U.S. support for the Kuomintang as imperialist interference.
Summary: The article details four nationally designated first-class cultural relics housed in the Central Soviet Area (Western Fujian) History Museum: records chronicling the final days of Dr. Norman Bethune, including his death record, medical logs, temperature charts, and death certificate. These documents, kept by General Ye Qingshan and donated by his son, describe Bethune's service in the Jin-Cha-Ji base area, his decision to postpone his return to Canada to inspect medical facilities, and his contraction of a fatal infection after injuring his finger during surgery. The logs trace his deteriorating condition from November 1-12, 1939, as he continued working despite high fever and severe illness, eventually succumbing on November 12. In his final letter to Commander Nie Rongzhen, Bethune declared his time in China his happiest and most meaningful, bequeathing his belongings to his Western Fujian comrades. The relics form a complete documentary chain highlighting Bethune's selfless dedication and the medical team's efforts to save him, with no mention of the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: At a December 2022 Politburo meeting, Xi Jinping stressed unwavering adherence to the Party Central Committee's centralized, unified leadership, using a musical metaphor to warn against any discordant or off-key actions that would disrupt the collective performance. He emphasized that without strong central leadership, the party and nation would descend into fragmentation and fail to accomplish anything, invoking democratic centralism as the proven organizational principle. The article frames this as part of the broader "comprehensive strict party governance" drive since the 18th Party Congress, which has eliminated hidden dangers and strengthened the party's overall authority. It elevates the "two establishments" — Xi's core status and the guiding role of his Thought — as the greatest political achievement and the ultimate guarantee against uncertainty. Finally, it calls on party members to enhance political judgment and implement party leadership across all domains to advance national rejuvenation, with no mention of the United States or bilateral relations.
Summary: This article summarizes Xi Jinping's January 2025 speech on party governance, published in his selected works on party building, which argues that governing the Party requires both a spirit of reform and strict standards. Xi reportedly addressed specific problems including inconsistent behavior among officials, weak discipline awareness, the intertwining of misconduct and corruption, and the uneven implementation of anti-corruption efforts at the grassroots level. He called for systemic approaches to political supervision, lifelong disciplinary education, integrated efforts to address corruption and work styles, clearer accountability for Party committees and discipline inspection commissions, and the use of technological means to strengthen grassroots oversight. The piece frames this as deepening the Party's self-revolution with a "systematic, scientific" methodology, building on the reform agenda set at the Third Plenum. The article does not mention the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: A deputy director from the NDRC Academy of Macroeconomic Research authored an article arguing that China must improve coordination mechanisms for the private economy during the 15th Five-Year Plan period to ensure top-level policies are effectively implemented. The proposed system integrates ideological guidance, institutional design, and capacity building to break departmental barriers and provide precise support. Specific focus areas include resolving payment arrears, dismantling barriers in bidding, expanding access to innovation resources like state labs and AI vouchers, and regulating law enforcement. The article emphasizes that private enterprises are vital for innovation and global supply chain competitiveness amid intense international rivalry, necessitating stronger overseas rights protection. It also recommends embedding private economy metrics into local government performance evaluations and using digital platforms to proactively match policies with enterprises.
Summary: The article discusses using digital and intelligent technologies to build a shared spiritual homeland for the Chinese nation, citing Xi Jinping's 2026 New Year address and the 2026 Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress. It outlines benefits including expanded cultural resource access, activation of cultural heritage, and improved communication of Chinese identity, alongside challenges such as digital divides, algorithmic biases, and fragmented application. Proposed pathways include standardized digitalization, culture-tech integration, value-guided algorithms, and institutional safeguards. The piece emphasizes cultural identity as foundational to ethnic unity and stresses legal and value-based frameworks for technology use.
Summary: This article examines how Chinese museums can strengthen their role in ideological and political education ("思政引领力") amid the current "museum fever" phenomenon. It argues that museums must shift from an object-oriented to a people-oriented approach, focusing on youth as a key audience while integrating museum resources with school curricula. The piece emphasizes innovative exhibition methods, digital technology, and immersive experiences to convey values such as patriotism and scientific spirit in subtle, non-didactic ways. It calls for museums to serve as "universities" that combine academic research with public education, aligning with the 2024 International Museum Day theme "Museums for Education and Research." The article also advocates for expanding museums beyond physical spaces into communities and developing creative cultural products to meet diverse public needs.
Summary: In July 2016, President Xi Jinping inspected the PLA Ground Force headquarters and issued a major speech outlining a blueprint for the Army's transformation, emphasizing political loyalty to the Party, enhanced combat readiness, deepened reform and innovation, and strict rule-of-law governance. The article details how the Ground Force has since pursued modernization under Xi's leadership, focusing on strengthening ideological indoctrination, improving combat capabilities through realistic training, advancing structural reforms, and institutionalizing legal compliance. It highlights the Army's commitment to following the Party's command and Xi's guidance as it approaches the centennial goal of building a strong military. No mention is made of the United States or U.S.-China relations in the article.
Summary: The article analyzes how the Jiangnan region rose to become China's economic heartland during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, contrasting its stability and development with the chaos of the war-torn Central Plains. It attributes this transformation to large-scale north-to-south migration bringing labor and technology, agricultural innovations like polder field systems and crop diversification, and the flourishing of handicraft industries and commerce. The author highlights that regimes such as Wu-Yue and Southern Tang pursued policies of territorial defense, tax relief, and infrastructure investment, which provided the institutional foundation for sustained growth. The piece concludes that by the late Five Dynasties period, Jiangnan had fully replaced the north as the nation's center for grain production, fiscal revenue, and manufacturing, fundamentally shifting China's economic geography. This historical development established the pattern that would make the southeast the fiscal backbone of the Northern Song state.
Summary: The article traces the evolution of U.S. maritime strategy from the late 19th century to the present, arguing it has consistently served hegemonic ambitions through military expansion, rule manipulation, and alliance-building. It highlights key phases, including the shift to global naval power under Alfred Thayer Mahan's "sea power" theory, the use of "freedom of the seas" rhetoric to challenge British dominance, and Cold War-era "rimland" strategies to encircle rivals. The piece criticizes Washington's selective application of international law, such as rejecting the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea while exploiting its provisions, as a hallmark of its "institutional hegemony." It concludes by contrasting this with China's proposed "maritime community with a shared future," which it presents as a cooperative alternative to zero-sum great-power competition.
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By: 陆军党委
On July 27, 2016, Chairman Xi personally visited the Army headquarters and delivered an important speech, profoundly mapping out the grand blueprint for Army transformation and construction, deeply revealing a series of fundamental and directional questions such as what kind of modern new-type Army to build and how to build a modern new-type Army, and pointing the direction and providing the guidance for accelerating Army construction and development in the new era. This heroic force that has marched all the way from the city walls of Nanchang has opened a new epoch of transformation and construction.
The vast number of Army officers and soldiers bear in mind the commander-in-chief's entrustment. Under the guidance of Xi Jinping's Thought on Strengthening the Military (习近平强军思想), they concentrate on being able to fight and win battles, concentrate on planning reform and implementing reform, concentrate on thinking about innovation and pursuing innovation, concentrate on practicing the rule of law and adhering to strict governance, continuously strengthening the political guarantee for Army transformation and construction, and have traversed an extraordinary journey. Standing at the historical juncture of achieving the goal of building the military into a first-class force by the centenary of the Army's founding, the People's Army in the new era firmly holds high the banner, resolutely upholds the core, does not forget its original aspiration, bravely undertakes its mission, unites hearts and gathers strength, forges ahead with determination, opens a new path of transformation and development, and wins the initiative in marching toward first-class status.
Holding High the Banner, Forging the Soul, and Consolidating the Foundation
The Army is the armed force earliest established and led by the Party. In its 99-year glorious course, the People's Army has resolutely obeyed the Party's orders, forging with blood and life the absolute loyalty of the military flag forever following the Party flag and a loyal heart forever toward the Party, and has established 彪炳史册 (biāo bǐng shǐ cè - "shining brilliantly in the historical records," to leave an indelible mark in history) meritorious achievements for the Party and the people. Army officers and soldiers adhere to doing whatever the Party tells them to do and fighting wherever the Party points, and with the great-power Army image of a mighty force, a civilized force, and a victorious force, they have won the trust and praise of the Party and the people.
Hold high the great banner and firmly uphold the core. Chairman Xi emphasized, "We must strengthen the political guarantee for Army transformation and construction. Unswervingly uphold the Party's absolute leadership over the military, and resolutely obey the command of the Party Central Committee and the Central Military Commission." The leader's earnest entrustment has pointed out a firm and correct political direction for Army transformation and construction. All levels adhere to placing ideological and political construction first among all aspects of troop construction, take Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guide, deeply implement Xi Jinping's Thought on Strengthening the Military, deeply comprehend the decisive significance of the "Two Establishments" (两个确立), strengthen the "Four Consciousnesses" (四个意识), firm up the "Four Confidences" (四个自信), achieve the "Two Upholds" (两个维护), implement the CMC Chairman Responsibility System (军委主席负责制), strengthen political guidance, deepen rectification and forging, and continuously consolidate the ideological foundation of officers and soldiers in listening to the Party and following the Party. The vast number of officers and soldiers take the Party's banner as their banner, the Party's direction as their direction, and the Party's will as their will, strengthen their sense of mission and responsibility, dare to tackle difficulties and act, and welcome the centenary of the Army's founding with a new political outlook.
To strengthen the military, one must first be strong politically; political strength is the most fundamental strength. At present, the world situation, national conditions, Party conditions, and military conditions are all undergoing complex and profound changes. The tests our military faces politically are intricate and complex. We must unceasingly advance political building of the military and continuously enhance our military's political advantages under new-era conditions. All levels of the Army uphold, apply, and develop this important magic weapon of political building of the military, unremittingly use Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to unite hearts and forge souls, inject the faith and conviction of obeying Party command into the souls and blood of officers and soldiers, firmly and courageously advance along the direction pointed out by Chairman Xi, and provide a strong political guarantee for transformation and construction. Deepen theoretical arming. Strengthen and improve the study of Party committee theoretical learning center groups, earnestly and carefully read original works, study original texts, and comprehend principles, organize theoretical training and rotation for officers at the rank of lieutenant colonel and above, regularly carry out theoretical services going to the grassroots, promote the improvement of quality and efficiency of ideological and political education, and the vast number of officers and soldiers are closely united under the Party's banner to strive for a strong military. Strengthen rectification and forging. Solidly do a good job of the "second half of the article" of implementing the spirit of the Central Military Commission Political Work Conference, place political rectification in a prominent position in overall work, carry forward the spirit of thorough self-revolution to conduct ideological rectification, focus on solving practical problems such as what to do upon joining the Party, what to do upon becoming a soldier, and what to do upon becoming a general, integrate political rectification to comprehensively rectify political work, coordinate the promotion of rectification and governance in various fields, simultaneously correct and establish to improve institutional mechanisms, and tackle and advance with strong political responsibility and the spirit of hammering nails. Resolutely obey orders and follow commands. Implement the CMC Chairman Responsibility System with higher standards and stricter requirements, advance the implementation of the CMC Chairman Responsibility System study and education planning tasks by category and level, comprehensively use supervision and inspection, inspection tours, and special supervision to ensure that the CMC Chairman Responsibility System is resolutely, comprehensively, concretely, and unconditionally implemented, and "resolutely obey Chairman Xi's command, be responsible to Chairman Xi, and let Chairman Xi rest assured" has become the conscious action of Army officers and soldiers. Build strong Party organizations. Deeply study and implement Xi Jinping's Thought on Party Building, carry Party leadership through all fields and the entire process of troop construction, adhere to placing all work under the unified leadership of Party committees, have all important issues studied and decided by Party committees, transform the Party's leadership advantages into governance advantages and victory advantages, and the level of Party organization construction in troops continues to leap, with cohesion, centripetal force, and combat effectiveness continuously strengthened. Carry forward fine traditions. Pay attention to integrating red genes into the blood of officers and soldiers, vigorously promote the "Red Genes Passed from Generation to Generation" (红色基因代代传) project, solidly carry out Party history and military history study and education, compile and distribute the "Collection of Stories of Red Army Battalions and Companies" (红军营连故事集), produce and distribute the traditional education special film "Glory of the Passing Torch" (薪火荣光), restage the red classic "The Long March Suite" (长征组歌), launch the Army heroes and models series AI micro-drama "War Soul" (战魂) and the literary situational drama "War Banner" (战旗), promote the construction of military history venues, promote the compilation of military history classics, and guide the vast number of officers and soldiers to be determined to carry forward fine traditions and be worthy successors of the Red Army.
If one acts with constancy, fragrance will naturally linger over time. Under the guidance of Xi Jinping's Thought on Strengthening the Military, Army officers and soldiers have received spiritual baptism in the depths of their thoughts, built a Great Wall of faith in the depths of their souls, with loyal hearts forever toward the Party, and forged through fire toward first-class status. The recipients of the "July 1 Medal" (七一勋章) and the "August 1 Medal" (八一勋章) shine on the journey of strengthening the military, the "Models of the Times" (时代楷模) and the "Most Beautiful Revolutionary Soldiers of the New Era" (最美新时代革命军人) lead the charge in tackling difficulties, and the Army's "Four Haves" (四有) new-era revolutionary soldier pacesetters and "Army Vanguard" (陆军先锋) — one flower blooming leads a hundred flowers blooming... The vast number of officers and soldiers prove with their firm belief, resolute action, courage, and decisiveness: the People's Army is always a heroic force that the Party and the people can fully trust.
Strengthening the Military, Preparing for Combat, Seeking Victory
A strong country must have a strong military; only with a strong military can the country be secure. Chairman Xi emphasized, "Strengthen realistic military training, improve the Army's combat effectiveness and actual-combat level, and increase the Army's contribution rate to the entire military's system-of-systems combat capability building." This important instruction, focusing on the overall situation of the military's system-of-systems combat capability building, reveals the internal laws of Army combat effectiveness generation, and points the direction for building a strong Army capable of fighting well. All levels of the Army resolutely implement Chairman Xi's order to comprehensively strengthen military training and combat readiness, bear in mind that "the People's Army is forever a combat force, and the vitality of the People's Army lies in combat effectiveness," temper their hard skills for winning in realistic training, open up system-of-systems links in joint operations and joint training, empower training upgrades through science and technology, and improve training quality and efficiency through law-based training. The vast number of officers and soldiers go to plateaus, brave the Gobi Desert, and wade through dangerous shoals; scenes of three-dimensional offense and defense and field exercises with real troops paint a fervent picture of military exercises.
Make combat readiness and war fighting the first priority. Firmly establish combat effectiveness as the sole and fundamental standard, truly think about war-fighting matters, truly study war-fighting problems, truly grasp war-fighting preparations, research and solve major problems constraining combat effectiveness generation, adhere to using whether it is conducive to improving combat effectiveness to measure and test all work, strictly supervise training and hold accountability, vigorously rectify falsehood and fraud in combat effectiveness, correct stubborn and chronic diseases in combat readiness and war fighting with the spirit of rectification, resolutely eliminate flashy displays and fake moves in exercises and training, promote combat readiness and training to become strict and solid, and make troops' minds and energy more focused on planning for war, engaging in war, and preparing for war. Lead construction with war and consolidate the foundation of combat readiness. Closely focus on the functional mission of building for war as the primary task, fully leverage the advantages of unified construction and unified management, build a combat effectiveness standard system covering all types of troops, organize the construction of training ground systems, revise and improve combat readiness work laws and regulations, strengthen the standardized management of military facility construction, promote the joint training of three-level medical service forces, increase the construction of public warehouses, and support troops' training and combat readiness through the transformation of support models. Train soldiers the way wars are fought. Closely track changes in science and technology, changes in warfare, and changes in adversaries, focus on advanced combat effectiveness to think about transformation and make preparations, innovate operational theories, tactics, and training methods, deepen the coupling of war and training and integrated operation, accelerate the expansion of realistic training to all dimensions, the leap to new quality, and the advancement to system-of-systems, with series of exercises implemented in multiple regions and covering all elements, further releasing new effectiveness and forming new combat power. Strengthen the cultivation of fighting spirit. Pay attention to using difficult situations, defeat situations, and crisis situations to temper character, use predicaments, dangers, and desperate situations to forge courage, take mass military training and competition as the starting point, integrate the cultivation of the "fear neither hardship nor death" (一不怕苦、二不怕死) fighting spirit into all aspects of realistic military training, and temper and hone troops in arduous and strict training, in environments approximating real combat, and in severe and complex military struggles. The heroic group defending the country's borders, with their bold oath of "even if advancing one step means death, we will never retreat half a step to live," has become a vivid portrayal of the new-era Army officers and soldiers' courage to fight.
Under the blue sky, above the blue waves, beyond visual range, fierce battles are 如火如荼 (rú huǒ rú tú - "like fire and like the flowering reed," raging with great momentum), rounds of offense and defense are 惊心动魄 (jīng xīn dòng pò - "startling the heart and moving the soul," soul-stirring), and assaults are 雷霆万钧 (léi tíng wàn jūn - "thunderbolt of ten thousand jun," as powerful as a thunderbolt). Army troops draw their swords in struggle and sharpen their swords by drawing them; their capabilities for mobile operations and three-dimensional offense and defense have been effectively enhanced, and their abilities to perform missions and tasks have been comprehensively improved. The vast number of officers and soldiers charge at the front line of non-war military operations such as flood fighting, earthquake relief, and epidemic response, demonstrate their might at international military competitions such as "Clear Sky" (晴空), "Suvorov Assault" (苏沃洛夫突击), and "Tank Biathlon" (坦克两项), go abroad to undertake diversified peacekeeping missions such as security patrols, armed escort, and mine clearance and explosive ordnance disposal, face danger head-on while shouldering heavy responsibilities, and temper their courage with real swords and real guns. The People's Army, with its outstanding war record, sets out again on the journey of being able to fight and win battles, forging a crack force that can be summoned at any time, fight when called, and win when fighting.
Reform and Innovation to Promote Development
The development history of the People's Army is a history of reform and innovation. An important reason why the People's Army has been able to grow from small to large, from weak to strong, and continuously move from victory to victory is that it has dared to reform and strived for transformation in constantly adapting to the requirements of the situation and tasks. Chairman Xi emphasized, "Adhere to planning reform and implementing reform, accelerate the improvement of Army construction, management, and operation mechanisms compatible with the new system, deepen reforms in the Army's scale, structure, and combat force system, and inject strong momentum into transformation and construction." All levels of the Army shoulder their mission and responsibility, strive and act, and actively devote themselves to transformation and construction.
Racing against the times, every unit must undergo the transformation of 浴火重生 (yù huǒ chóng shēng - "rebirth through fire," to be reborn from the flames), and every soldier must complete the metamorphosis of 破茧成蝶 (pò jiǎn chéng dié - "breaking the cocoon to become a butterfly," to undergo a transformative emergence). The vast number of officers and soldiers run into their combat positions, propelling the People's Army to advance 蹄疾步稳 (tí jí bù wěn - "swift hooves, steady steps," to advance rapidly yet steadily) in "new system time." The concept of system-of-systems is more deeply rooted. Consciously liberate from all outdated mindsets and work patterns, renew thinking and concepts, seek "integration" in strength, "linkage" in action, and "optimization" in effectiveness, transform the concept of system-of-systems victory from top-level design into the conscious action of the vast number of officers and soldiers, and from theoretical consensus into vivid practice of training and combat readiness. Structure and functions are more optimized. Various types of units including headquarters, troops, academies, and research institutes are linked as a whole; work in all aspects such as troop reorganization, personnel deployment, institutional improvement, equipment renewal, and resource restructuring is precisely implemented; Army construction accelerates toward the direction of being lean, efficient, multi-dimensional, and mobile; and Army organization accelerates its transformation toward being substantial, combined, multi-capable, and flexible. Operating mechanisms are smoother. The Army headquarters of the five theater commands operate from a high starting point, the 13 group armies make a brand-new appearance, new-domain and new-quality forces are adjusted and established, and reforms of Army academies are deepened. The "great-power military formation" has a new system, a new structure, a new pattern, and a new appearance, and the accelerating transformation of Army units bursts with vitality and highlights.
Grasping innovation is grasping development; planning innovation is planning the future. All levels of the Army adhere to advancing transformation and construction with bold innovation, deeply implement the innovation-driven development strategy, strengthen innovation awareness, improve innovation capabilities, advance into "unmanned zones," open up new tracks, and cultivate new growth points for combat effectiveness. Closely follow demands to strengthen top-level design. Adhere to conducting strategic planning and accelerating system construction with forward-looking vision, open perspective, and innovative concepts, closely follow the world's scientific and technological frontiers, focus on being able to fight and win battles, accelerate the building of new-type combat forces, step up the research and development of high-tech weapons and equipment, and strengthen research and tackling of major core technologies. Increase the proportion of new-quality combat effectiveness. Closely follow the requirements for generating new-quality combat effectiveness, firmly grasp the network information system as the starting point, increase the technological content of troops, develop elite combat forces, focus on building a new-type Army combat force system characterized by intelligence, and promote the informatization and intelligent transformation of traditional forces. Accelerate the cultivation of innovative talents. Treat improving officers and soldiers' scientific and technological literacy as a basic task, create an atmosphere in which everyone advocates innovation, everyone devotes themselves to innovation, and everyone can innovate. The vast number of officers and soldiers regard seeking combat effectiveness from science and technology as a necessity for their posts, a necessity for their combat positions, and a necessity for their capabilities. One after another, "maker rooms" (创客室) named after officers and soldiers are established, and batches of "Army Craftsmen" (陆军工匠) tackle key fields, becoming the new force for the Army's innovative development.
Only reformers advance, only innovators are strong, and only reform-and-innovation pioneers win. In 2017, air assault troops entered the People's Army's combat sequence, adding wings of flight to the new-type Army; in 2022, at the 14th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, multiple types of Army aviation helicopters stunned the audience; in 2025, the Army's aerial "swarm" and ground "wolf pack" coordination is accelerating the improvement of Army combat capabilities; at the military parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, the ground assault formation passed in review in an arrow-shaped formation before the Party and the people... The People's Army, striving forward at the forefront, is determined to reform, develop, and innovate, writing an even more 波澜壮阔 (bō lán zhuàng kuò - "vast waves," magnificent and sweeping) and blood-surging new chapter of strengthening the military.
Strictly Implementing the Rule of Law and Adhering to Strict Governance
The rule of law is an important symbol of a country's civilized progress and also a distinctive feature of a modern military. Chairman Xi emphasized, "Adhere to practicing the rule of law and strict governance, accelerate the construction of a scientific, practical, systematic, and complete system of regulations, rules, and institutional provisions, strengthen the authority and execution of laws and regulations, transform work guidance methods in accordance with the requirements of the rule of law, and ensure that Army transformation and construction advance on the track of the rule of law." All levels of the Army deeply study the characteristics and laws of military governance, firmly and consciously advance governing the military according to law and strictly governing the military, laying the foundation of the rule of law and paving the track of the rule of law for Army transformation and construction.
Only the rule of law engraved in the hearts of officers and soldiers is an unbreakable rule of law. Deeply plant the concept of the rule of law and correct the ideological front sight. Adhere to integrating rule-of-law education into daily life, grasping it regularly, and being strict in ordinary times; deeply carry out rule-of-law publicity; strengthen basic rule-of-law education and training; cover all personnel and persist for the long term; explore the characteristics and laws of building and governing the military; focus on cultivating the spirit of the rule of law and strengthening the authority of the rule of law; enhance officers and soldiers' faith, reverence, and consciousness of practicing the rule of law; resolutely overcome rule-by-person thinking and methods; strive to promote the "three fundamental transformations" in the way of governing the military; acting according to law in handling affairs, seeking law when encountering problems, using law to solve problems, and relying on law to resolve conflicts become conscious; and form a good situation in which Party committees make decisions according to law, headquarters provide guidance according to law, troops act according to law, and officers and soldiers perform their duties according to law. Transform the mode of military governance and discard empirical routines. Actively adapt to the new system, new functions, and new requirements; focus on starting from resolving prominent contradictions constraining military struggle preparation, from solving problems strongly reflected by officers and soldiers, and from fields where corruption is prone to occur; grasp the key links of governing the military according to law and strictly governing the military to strengthen execution; make precise efforts and hit the acupoints; vigorously grasp the implementation of regulations, rules, and institutional provisions; and troop combat readiness training and construction management are increasingly standardized, normalized, and refined, with the rectification of the "five excesses" (五多) problem vigorously advanced. Standardize grassroots operations and correct the yardstick for building and grasping. Adhere to placing the focus of work at the grassroots level, adhere to building according to guidelines and building according to law, actively explore the characteristics and laws of grassroots construction under the new situation, break down construction concepts incompatible with the new era, improve operational models incompatible with the new system, rectify work routines incompatible with new functions, solidly do the work of helping brigades, strengthening battalions, and leading companies, research and solve new situations and new problems emerging in grassroots construction, precisely help build grassroots units that have not been evaluated as advanced for many years, comprehensively forge excellent grassroots units that listen to the Party and follow the Party, excellent grassroots units that can fight and win battles, and excellent grassroots units with strict discipline and upright atmosphere, and launch a package of measures including fertility care, legal services, and station benefits for the military, effectively stimulating officers and soldiers' enthusiasm and motivation to root themselves in the barracks and start businesses.
Each generation has its own Long March. The resounding steps of striving to strengthen the military are the echo of history and the herald of the future. On the new journey of the new era, the vast number of Army officers and soldiers strengthen their confidence, continue to strive, work hard and diligently, and advance toward building a powerful modern new-type Army.
Return to TopBy: 黄卫挺
The private economy is a new force (生力军 - "fresh force," a vital driving force) in advancing Chinese-style modernization. The outline of the "15th Five-Year Plan" makes arrangements for "developing and strengthening the private economy." Looking toward the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, it is imperative to improve and perfect the overall coordination mechanisms for promoting private economic development, ensure that various systems and policies for promoting private economic development are implemented, properly resolve the major strategic and policy issues encountered in private economic development on the new journey, effectively stimulate the vitality and momentum of private economic development, and make every effort to safeguard the private economy in shouldering greater responsibilities of the era.
Based on the needs of the times, deeply grasp the strategic significance of improving the overall coordination mechanisms
Standing at the new starting point of the opening year of the "15th Five-Year Plan," improving and perfecting the overall coordination mechanisms for promoting private economic development is a strategic choice that conforms to the trend of the times and responds to the expectations of the private economy. It bears on the quality of implementation of top-level design, bears on the fulfillment of the mission on the new journey, and also bears on the stability of the overall macroeconomic picture. It is necessary to deeply understand the strategic considerations and practical significance behind it from a political and overall perspective.
A key lever for ensuring top-level design is implemented and delivers results. In recent years, various policies for promoting the development and growth of the private economy have been issued intensively, and the policy system has gradually matured, completing the "first kilometer" of policy formulation. In practice, these policies involve multiple departments such as finance, taxation, financial regulation, and market supervision. Whether they can be implemented effectively and exert maximum efficacy depends on breaking down departmental barriers, effectively integrating policy resources scattered across various departments, and ensuring that various enterprise-benefiting policies are consistent in direction, cumulative in intensity, and coordinated in pace. To this end, it is necessary to improve the overall coordination mechanisms, effectively connect the "last kilometer" of policy implementation, truly transform the "construction drawing" into a "real-life view," and truly translate various supporting policies into tangible gains for private enterprises.
An important support for forging ahead on the new journey of the "15th Five-Year Plan." The "15th Five-Year Plan" period is a critical period for consolidating the foundation and making comprehensive efforts to basically realize socialist modernization. With the theme of promoting high-quality development, the private economy must play a key role in leading innovative development, participating in major national strategies, and enhancing international competitiveness. This is both a new mission for private economic development and a systematic project. Improving the overall coordination mechanisms is the inherent requirement and institutional support for adapting to the new tasks of the "15th Five-Year Plan" and supporting the private economy in demonstrating greater achievements in Chinese-style modernization. In particular, against the backdrop of deep integration of scientific and technological innovation with industrial innovation and increasingly fierce international competition, only by strengthening mechanism design and comprehensive coordination, guiding and supporting private enterprises to deeply participate in major national scientific and technological research projects and to participate in building a globalized industrial chain and supply chain system, can we better support the private economy in achieving innovative development, better participate in international frontier competition, and contribute stronger private economic strength to winning fierce international competition for our country.
A realistic guarantee for maintaining stable economic growth. At present, insufficient effective demand and weak social expectations remain important contradictions in economic operation, but the supporting conditions and basic trend of our country's economy improving in the long run have not changed. The private economy plays a ballast-stone role in stabilizing growth, expanding employment, and ensuring people's livelihood, and plays a pivotal role in stabilizing the overall economic picture. Only by improving the overall coordination mechanisms and releasing greater policy synergy and reform momentum can we effectively resolve the deep-seated contradictions behind problems such as slowing growth in private investment and weak willingness of enterprises to invest, effectively stabilize and guide market expectations, maximize the stimulation of the endogenous momentum and vitality of the private economy, and provide a micro-foundation for maintaining the smooth operation of the national economy.
Consolidating the foundation of operation, building a "trinity" support system
Improving and perfecting the overall coordination mechanisms for promoting private economic development must focus on the three major elements of ideological guidance, mechanism design, and capacity building, strive to solve the problems of understanding, rules, and implementation, and form a trinity of mutually reinforcing support systems.
Forming a conscious action of seeking common development. Ideological guidance is not only the cornerstone of the support system, but also the action guide that runs through the entire process. It is necessary to make ideological guidance concrete and normalized, and promote governments at all levels to truly regard supporting private economic development as their own duty and responsibility. We must deeply study and implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions on private economic development, earnestly follow the spirit of important speeches such as "the private economy is an inherent element of our country's economic system, and private enterprises and private entrepreneurs are our own people," resolutely break the conceptual inertia of "valuing the state-owned over the private" and the management mindset of "officialdom standard," and truly transform the "two unswerving principles" (两个毫不动摇 - "two unswerving," i.e., unswervingly consolidating and developing the public economy and unswervingly encouraging, supporting, and guiding the development of the non-public economy) from political requirements into conscious action of actively serving the private economy. We must create a social atmosphere that respects private enterprises and private entrepreneurs, and publicize well the important position and role of the private economy in socialist modernization, especially its contributions in scientific and technological innovation, rural revitalization, and common prosperity. At the same time, we must improve the mechanisms for collecting, analyzing, and handling public opinion related to the private economy, and dare to draw the sword, promptly clarify, and crack down according to law against erroneous remarks that question the basic socialist economic system and online rumors that maliciously defame private enterprises and private entrepreneurs, so that private entrepreneurs can feel at ease in starting businesses and confident in investing. We must vigorously promote the spirit of outstanding entrepreneurs, guide entrepreneurs to strive to become models of patriotism and dedication, lawful operation, entrepreneurship and innovation, and giving back to society, and promote the healthy growth of the younger generation of private economic personnel.
Establishing precise and efficient overall coordination mechanisms. The core of improving the overall coordination mechanisms lies in taking the promotion of high-quality development of the private economy as the orientation, forming a comprehensive coordination system that covers the entire process of policy formulation, implementation, and evaluation feedback, runs through the entire life cycle of enterprise start-up, growth, maturity, and transformation, and realizes the transformation from multi-head management to collaborative governance. In terms of policy formulation, we should coordinate and optimize the pre-review conditions for policy issuance, formulate unified and standardized review measures, and effectively embed fair competition review and consistency assessment of macro-policy orientations into the front end of decision-making. Policy adjustments must set a reasonable buffer period, try to avoid unnecessary impact on the normal operation of enterprises, strive to maintain policy continuity and stability, and strengthen the connection and coordination between short-term policies and long-term policies. According to enterprise size, industry, and regional distribution, we should provide precise services and policy support by layer and by category. In terms of policy implementation, matters supporting the private economy should be incorporated into the key supervision lists of Party committees and governments at all levels, establish ledgers and cancellation management for agreed matters and enterprise-benefiting policies, incorporate key indicators and tasks of private economic development into local high-quality development assessments, and strengthen the "baton" orientation. In terms of comprehensive safeguards, we should improve the normalized communication and exchange mechanisms with private enterprises, the rapid response mechanisms for private enterprise demands, and closed-loop processing procedures, encourage local governments to explore the establishment of grassroots contact points for high-quality development of the private economy, promptly perceive the conditions at the front line, and effectively solve practical problems.
Enhancing the practical effectiveness of overall coordination. Capacity building is the key to transforming institutional advantages into governance effectiveness. We must comprehensively enhance the overall coordination capacity for promoting private economic development from the three dimensions of institutional construction, technological empowerment, and external support. In terms of institutional construction, in addition to strengthening and optimizing cadres, it is necessary to promote relevant departments to perform their duties well, and on that basis, form special work teams as circumstances require around major problems encountered in private economic development, clarify the lead and responsible departments, strengthen implementation, and avoid situations where there are people to discuss matters but no one to handle them, and where there is multi-head management but no one is responsible. In terms of technological empowerment, relying on the integrated government service platform, we should break down data barriers between departments, build a comprehensive service and operation monitoring platform for the private economy, use big data to accurately match enterprise profiles, change from "enterprises looking for policies" to "policies looking for enterprises," and vigorously promote "automatic qualification without application, one-click direct access." At the same time, we should dynamically monitor the operational indicators of the private economy, especially issues such as private investment, arrears of accounts, and law enforcement complaints, achieve early identification and early warning of risks, and enhance the precision of overall coordination. In terms of external support, we should actively absorb opinions and suggestions from experts, scholars, business associations, and outstanding representatives of private entrepreneurs, fully consult public opinion before the formulation of major plans and the issuance of policies, and enhance the scientific and democratic level of decision-making.
Grasping the measures for implementation, strengthening overall coordination around key issues in practice
Adhering to a problem-oriented approach and vigorously grasping implementation is the fundamental requirement for giving play to the role of overall coordination mechanisms. In practice, solving problems is the hard truth. It is necessary to increase the intensity of overall coordination around the key and difficult problems currently encountered in private economic development, and effectively transform institutional advantages into development dividends that private enterprises can feel and obtain.
Addressing both symptoms and root causes, properly solving the difficult problem of arrears in enterprise accounts. Arrears in enterprise accounts are a prominent risk affecting the normal operation of private enterprises. Solving this problem has important practical significance for safeguarding enterprise rights and interests, stabilizing enterprise expectations, and enhancing enterprise confidence. We must effectively strengthen departmental coordination, compact the responsibilities of local governments and core enterprises, establish a cross-departmental information sharing and joint supervision mechanism, form a joint force for clearing old arrears and preventing new arrears, and ensure that the work of clearing arrears is implemented. At the same time, we should improve the legal and regulatory system and judicial mechanisms for clearing arrears in enterprise accounts, and cut off the increment from the institutional level. We should strengthen supervision over government-invested projects and project funds, strengthen supervision over government procurement payments, and improve the institutional mechanisms for preventing and resolving arrears owed by large enterprises to small and medium-sized enterprises. We should optimize the complaint management and operation mechanism for arrears owed to small and medium-sized enterprises, improve the complaint supervision and constraint mechanism, and improve the disciplinary mechanism for breach of trust.
Creating a fair competition environment, breaking down walls and clearing obstacles for private enterprises to participate in bidding and tendering. The principle of fair competition has been implemented throughout the entire process of policy formulation, but in specific practices such as bidding and tendering, there are still some "glass doors" that require greater overall coordination efforts to more effectively break down walls and clear obstacles for enterprises. We should strengthen the construction of corresponding mechanisms, guide tenderers to establish mechanisms such as compliance review of tender documents and self-inspection of fairness throughout the bidding process, clarify the list of administrative supervision responsibilities and division of duties for bidding and tendering, improve the complaint handling mechanism, and ensure that private enterprises have smooth channels for reporting and solving problems. We should strengthen the application of digital and intelligent technologies, improve the accuracy and efficiency of identifying various unreasonable restrictions, and ensure that relevant systems and regulations are strictly implemented.
Strengthening the supply of innovation resources, activating the innovation momentum of private enterprises. Private enterprises are the new force of technological innovation, but they face constraints such as shortage of pilot-scale testing resources, insufficient opening of major scientific research facilities, and high computing power costs. Asset-light technology-based enterprises also have financing pain points in pledging scientific and technological innovation achievements. We should increase overall coordination efforts, focus on solving practical difficulties such as operating cost standards, confidentiality and safety risks, and further promote the opening of major national scientific research infrastructure to private enterprises; establish application conditions and acceptance standards that conform to the reality of private economic development, and effectively support capable private enterprises to take the lead in undertaking major national technological research. We should research and promote policy tools such as "artificial intelligence vouchers" to reduce the cost of using public computing power for private enterprises; increase financial innovation efforts, coordinate policy-based financial resources and market financing channels, and better meet the financing needs of small and medium-sized enterprises in the field of scientific and technological innovation.
Standardizing law enforcement and supervision behaviors involving enterprises, creating a law-based environment that reassures businesses and benefits enterprises. In response to problems strongly reflected by private enterprises such as illegal cross-regional law enforcement, profit-driven law enforcement, and repeated inspections, we should increase overall coordination and supervision efforts, and effectively standardize law enforcement behaviors involving enterprises. We should focus on promoting the establishment and improvement of communication mechanisms for administrative law enforcement demands involving enterprises, strictly implement the list-based management of administrative inspection items, vigorously promote models such as "scanning codes to enter enterprises" and off-site supervision, and resolutely curb repeated inspections and multi-head inspections. We should deepen the reform of "one comprehensive inspection," reasonably coordinate administrative inspection plans at the provincial, municipal, and county levels, strictly control the scope, content, and time limit of special inspections, and resolutely eliminate selective law enforcement and the chaos of making enterprises "prove their own innocence."
Improving the overseas rights and interests protection system, supporting private enterprises in going global in an orderly manner. As private enterprises accelerate their pace of "going global," the number of cases encountering antitrust investigations, intellectual property disputes, and compliance reviews overseas has increased, and individual enterprises have insufficient capacity to respond. We should coordinate the resources of relevant domestic departments and overseas institutions, make good use of non-governmental forces, build a three-dimensional escort system, and support private enterprises in "going out and standing firm." We should focus on coordinating relevant forces and resources, promptly issuing and updating compliance guides for investment destinations, information on foreign investment security review trends, and other information, and promoting private enterprises to build overseas compliance systems in advance. We should coordinate resources such as consular services and legal support to help private enterprises properly respond to foreign antitrust reviews, guide industries to respond to lawsuits collectively; expand the pilot of cross-border financing facilitation for high-tech and "specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative" (专精特新 - "specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative," referring to small and medium-sized enterprises that are specialized in a niche market, refined in management, distinctive in products or services, and innovative) enterprises, expand the coverage of export credit insurance for private enterprises, and reduce the risks of going global.
(The author is Deputy Director of the Department of Decision-making Consultation, Academy of Macroeconomic Research, National Development and Reform Commission)
Return to TopBy: 叶子鹏
The advanced nature and purity of the cadre ranks originate not only from the self-tempering and self-restraint of Party member cadres, but also benefit from the strict management, deep care, and regular education of Party organizations. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized, "To resist corruption and prevent degeneration, we must rely not only on the strict self-discipline of young cadres, but also on the strict education and management of organizations. The more a cadre is selected with emphasis, the more they must be managed with emphasis; the more potential a cadre has for cultivation, the more strictly they must be required. It can never be a matter of merely selecting and being done with it." This important exposition profoundly demonstrates that managing the Party and governing officials has never been a single-dimensional self-requirement, but rather an organic unity of internal self-discipline and external management restraint. Only by insisting that cadre strict self-discipline and organizational strict education and management exert force in both directions and advance in tandem can we build a dual line of defense for cadres against corruption and degeneration, and forge a high-quality cadre contingent that is loyal, clean, responsible, and worthy of shouldering the great task of national rejuvenation.
Power is a double-edged sword. Once those who hold power relax their self-requirements and indulge their personal desires, they easily lose their bearings and breach their bottom line amid temptations of every kind. Looking at the various cases of discipline and law violations investigated and punished in recent years, the vast majority of cadres' degeneration began with the loosening of small matters and minor details and the failure of self-control. First, they let down their guard against a dinner invitation, a bottle of liquor, or a gift card; then they bred a fluke mentality and allowed private desires to expand unchecked, gradually crossing the red line of discipline and rules, until they ended up in prison. "Those skilled at prohibition first prohibit themselves, and then prohibit others." Strict self-discipline is the cornerstone of a cadre's standing and career, and the first gateway to resisting corruption and preventing degeneration. For Party member cadres, strict self-discipline is not a temporary measure but a lifelong subject. In the new era and on the new journey, temptations of all kinds have become more concealed and risks more complex, and the tests facing cadres have become more severe. This requires every Party member cadre to maintain a sober mind at all times, constantly cherish a sense of reverence, constantly reflect on the harm of greed, and constantly cultivate the virtue of governance. Always strictly observe political discipline and political rules; 固本培元 (gù běn péi yuán - "consolidate the root, cultivate the origin," to strengthen the foundation) in thought and firmly establish ideals and convictions; be cautious when alone and in small matters in action, and manage oneself, one's family, and those around one; be strict with oneself in work style, consciously purify one's social circle, life circle, and circle of friends, achieving reverence in the heart, restraint in speech, and limits in conduct, and hold fast to the original aspiration of governance through excellent self-cultivation.
Self-discipline originates from internal consciousness, but individual consciousness cannot replace organizational supervision, and self-restraint must be supplemented by rigid institutional management. Extensive practice shows that a loose, soft management environment easily breeds work-style problems and hidden dangers of corruption; while strict management, strict governance, and regular supervision are not only strict requirements for cadres, but also the greatest care for cadres. Strict education and management is the lever of comprehensively strict Party governance and the guarantee of cadres' healthy growth. The strict education and management of organizations focuses on catching problems early and small, and 防微杜渐 (fáng wēi dù jiàn - "prevent the tiny, stop the gradual," to nip problems in the bud); the key lies in long-term effectiveness and persistent effort. On the one hand, we must consolidate the foundation of ideological education, tighten the "master switch" of thought, regularly carry out Party spirit education, discipline education, and warning education, organize cadres to deeply study and thoroughly understand the Party Constitution, Party regulations, and Party discipline, use cases as warnings, use cases to clarify discipline, and use cases to promote reform, guide cadres to know reverence, maintain fear, and hold the bottom line, eradicate privileged thinking and fluke mentality from the ideological root, and make compliance with discipline and rules a conscious action. On the other hand, we must tighten the institutional cage, make institutions a live high-voltage line, abandon "good-old-boyism," strictly implement systems such as daily supervision, heart-to-heart talks, reminder letters, inquiry letters, and admonishment, precisely apply the "four forms" of supervision and discipline enforcement, promptly correct and rectify problems of a budding or tendency nature, seriously handle minor disciplinary violations, and truly achieve real management and strict management, daring management and strict management, and long-term management and strict management, so that cadres are always under disciplinary constraints and organizational supervision.
If we only emphasize cadre self-discipline and lack the rigid constraints and regular education of organizations, then in the face of sustained and continuous interest temptations over the long term, the individual self-discipline line of defense easily loosens and softens; if we rely solely on organizational management and neglect the internal ideological tempering of cadres, cadres will passively cope and actively resist, and education, management, and supervision will float on the surface and treat symptoms without curing the root cause, making it difficult to eradicate the soil that breeds corruption from the source. Strict self-discipline and organizational strict education and management 相辅相成 (xiāng fǔ xiāng chéng - "mutually assist, mutually complete," to complement each other) and are dialectically unified; neither can be absent, and neither can be neglected. Self-discipline exerts force internally, solves the ideological root, and achieves 正本清源 (zhèng běn qīng yuán - "correct the root, clear the source," to address the root cause); education and management exert force externally, strengthen institutional constraints, and achieve correction and loss prevention. Self-discipline is the internal cause, determining the initiative of cadres in resisting corruption and preventing degeneration; education and management is the external cause, escorting the growth of cadres. To advance the comprehensive strict governance of the Party in depth, we must always persist in maintaining the strict tone, strict measures, and strict atmosphere over the long term. The broad masses of Party member cadres must earnestly fulfill the responsibility of strict self-discipline, integrate strict self-requirements into daily life and regular practice, consciously temper Party spirit, cultivate work style, and hold the bottom line, achieving constant self-respect, self-reflection, self-warning, and self-encouragement. Party organizations at all levels must earnestly shoulder the main responsibility for managing the Party and governing officials, tighten and consolidate the chain of responsibility, consolidate the foundation and cultivate the origin through regular education, constrain behavior through institutionalized management, and prevent risks through regular supervision. Through systematic governance and robust measures that achieve 标本兼治 (biāo běn jiān zhì - "treat both symptoms and root causes," to address both surface manifestations and underlying causes), forge an excellent cadre contingent, continuously cultivate a clean and upright political ecology within the Party, and provide strong organizational guarantees for comprehensively advancing the building of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation through Chinese-style modernization.
Return to TopOn the new journey, we must bear in mind that the country is the people and the people are the country, adhere to the people-centered development philosophy, establish and practice a correct view of political achievements, stand firmly on the people's side, strengthen our consciousness of serving as public servants, follow the Party's mass line in the new era, rely on the people to create historic achievements, and make solid progress in promoting the well-rounded development of the people and common prosperity for all.
Return to TopBy: 任琳
The profound transformation of the world unseen in a century is accelerating, and the balance of international forces is undergoing deep adjustment. As the leading echelon of the Global South, the BRICS countries, through years of development and steady expansion, have continuously consolidated the foundation of multilateral cooperation and are increasingly becoming an indispensable backbone force in the global governance landscape.
In recent years, leveraging multi-dimensional efforts in economic size, cooperation mechanisms, and global governance, the comprehensive strength of the BRICS countries has continued to rise, gradually breaking the Western monopoly over international discourse and injecting critical momentum into building a more balanced and inclusive global governance architecture.
First, economic size continues to be consolidated, and discourse power in the global economy is steadily rising. In 2024, the overall economic growth rate of the expanded BRICS reached 4%, significantly higher than the global average of 3.3%. After expansion, the total population of the BRICS family accounts for more than half of the global total, and its combined economic output accounts for nearly 30 percent of the world total. The resilience of macroeconomic performance is outstanding, with economic size firmly ranking first among global emerging economies, continuously driving world economic recovery and growth. At the current stage, the BRICS multilateral economic and trade cooperation system is increasingly complete. The scale of intra-BRICS trade in goods has grown more than 13-fold in over a decade, and the efficiency of economic and trade linkages continues to be unleashed. Relying on the New Development Bank to build a specialized and independent investment and financing platform, improving supporting mechanisms for cross-border economic and trade settlement, unblocking multilateral investment and financing channels, and continuously strengthening bargaining power in bulk commodity trade, the BRICS countries hold the initiative in consultation and cooperation in global energy, minerals, and food trade, thereby consolidating the foundation of BRICS global economic governance.
Second, cooperation mechanisms are increasingly mature, broadly consolidating consensus within the Global South. The BRICS continues to optimize its internal cooperation and governance charter, steadily advances the expansion process, and builds an inclusive "BRICS+" cooperation system. As of now, the BRICS cooperation mechanism has absorbed more than ten emerging economies from within and outside the grouping into the cooperation system, routinely linking up with the vast number of developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America for practical collaboration. It has always upheld the cooperation principles of equal consultation, mutual benefit, and win-win outcomes, adhered to the cooperation orientation of openness, connectivity, inclusiveness, and shared progress, and practiced the multilateral cooperation concept of mutual assistance and solidarity. Distinct from the Western logic of bloc-based, exclusionary competition, it has consolidated the positioning of the South-South cooperation platform, gathered the development consensus of the Global South, and continuously enhanced its political cohesion and international appeal.
Third, participation in governance is deepening and becoming more substantive, with effective fulfillment of global public responsibilities. The BRICS has engaged deeply in all topics of global governance across the board, delivering multiple practical cooperation outcomes in food security, industrial chain stability, international financial governance, and energy coordination. Relying on the BRICS multilateral food cooperation framework, it has coordinated reserve emergency food supplies among multiple countries and shared agricultural materials and technologies, effectively responding to global food inflation risks. It has advanced cross-border settlement in local currencies in an orderly manner, improved the multilateral financial coordination system, and consolidated the foundation of global financial operations. It has coordinated the collaborative governance of key strategic minerals, stabilized the supply base of the new energy industrial chain, safeguarded the smooth operation of global industrial and supply chains, and filled gaps in global governance supply, becoming a key force in maintaining international order and stability and promoting common global development.
The steady rise in the global influence of the BRICS countries and the continuous delivery of cooperation outcomes are the inevitable result of multiple driving factors.
First, structural changes in the global landscape have reshaped the configuration of international forces. Along with the deepening advancement of multipolarity, the center of gravity of the global economy has continued to shift from West to East, and the development momentum of emerging economies has been fully unleashed. Over the past decade, the average annual economic growth rate of emerging economies has far exceeded that of developed economies, with developing countries contributing more than 60 percent of global economic growth. The traditional pattern in which the West monopolizes global affairs has gradually loosened, objectively laying a solid foundation of the times for the BRICS to deepen multilateral cooperation, strive for international discourse power, and expand cooperation space.
Second, the shortcomings of the global governance system are increasingly prominent, and calls for reform continue to heat up. The existing global governance architecture was established long ago. The governance mechanisms of multilateral institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank are rigid, with rules of procedure and quota allocations having been frozen for a long time. Developed countries hold core decision-making power, and the economic contributions of Global South economies are severely imbalanced with their governance rights. Global governance rules are increasingly unable to adapt to the changes in the current world economic landscape, and the mismatch between governance supply and the needs of the times is intensifying, giving rise to the endogenous impetus for the BRICS to unite for self-strengthening, fill governance gaps, and improve the supply of global public goods.
Third, unilateral hegemonic actions continue to disrupt the global governance order, raising the demand for multilateral coordination as a hedge against risk. In recent years, unilateralism, economic coercion, and the politicization of financial instruments have continued to disturb the global order. Acts such as raising trade barriers, cross-border asset sanctions, and the artificial fragmentation of industrial chains have occurred frequently. Compounded by food, energy, and financial chain risks derived from geopolitical conflicts, the governance effectiveness of Western-led multilateral cooperation frameworks has continued to weaken. The vast number of emerging economies urgently needs to build neutral, fair, mutually beneficial, and inclusive cooperation platforms to hedge against cross-border development risks, which objectively promotes the quality and efficiency of BRICS cooperation.
Fourth, highly compatible multilateral values have consolidated the foundation for solidarity and cooperation. The BRICS countries have always adhered to the core positions of multilateralism and mutual benefit and win-win outcomes, upheld the global governance vision of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, and rejected the zero-sum thinking of geopolitical gaming and bloc confrontation. Their development philosophy is highly aligned with the common aspiration of Global South countries for independent development and equal participation in governance. All parties share the same development vision, compatible interest demands, and similar diplomatic positions,凝聚长期稳定的合作共识，保障金砖合作行稳致远，实现国际影响力稳步扩容。
In a turbulent and complex international environment, facing multiple challenges such as global governance disorder, intensifying geopolitical risks, and a widening development gap, the BRICS countries adhere to the position of multilateralism, always stand on the correct side of history, and follow the trend of the times. Continuously expanding and upgrading, and building an open and inclusive "BRICS+" cooperation mechanism, is both a strategic choice for the BRICS to respond to external uncertainties and seize development opportunities, and a common aspiration of the vast number of emerging economies and developing countries to enhance collective discourse power and pursue common development. BRICS cooperation will continue to advance steadily in the future.
Adhere to openness and safeguard the multilateral cooperation order. As anti-globalization sentiment continues to spread and bloc-based confrontation keeps rising, the BRICS has always been a staunch defender of the open world economy. BRICS cooperation upholds the core principle of inclusiveness and shared progress, positioning itself as a multilateral cooperation platform for mutual assistance and common advancement, and rejecting cooperation models characterized by closed operation and exclusionary competition. It steadily advances the expansion process, improves the "BRICS+" cooperation framework, broadly connects Global South economies to pool cooperation strength, upholds the basic norms of the multilateral trading system, and ensures the smooth operation of the global economic and trade system. This mechanism does not aim to subvert the existing international order. Instead, it relies on institutional innovation to optimize cooperation models, builds a diverse and pragmatic cooperation network, and promotes the evolution of the global governance system in a more just and reasonable direction.
Coordinate industrial chain collaboration and consolidate the foundation for independent development. Global economic and trade frictions and geopolitical disturbances continue to impact the stability of global industrial and supply chains. Countries are generally strengthening the building of development autonomy to avoid the risk of over-reliance on a single external source. The right to development encompasses multiple elements, including the independent choice of development paths, equal access to development opportunities, and the inclusive sharing of development fruits, and is also the core demand of Global South countries. Relying on the resource endowment advantages of "BRICS+," all parties coordinate policy synergy on green strategic minerals, unblock upstream and downstream industrial collaboration links, activate regional resources and production capacity across the board, promote the orderly transformation of resource endowments into industrial competitiveness and rule-making discourse power, avoid development dilemmas caused by resource misallocation, and rely on the new round of industrial transformation to make up for the shortcomings of industrialization and consolidate the foundation for common development.
Improve the financial cooperation system and enhance global financial resilience. Against the backdrop of continuously declining stability in global financial governance, countries rationally optimizing cross-border settlement arrangements and diversifying currency risks constitute normal defensive governance behavior. The BRICS advancement of cross-border payment system construction, expansion of multilateral local currency settlement, and implementation of multilateral investment and financing business is positioned as a supplement to the existing international financial mechanism, not as a restructuring of the global currency landscape or a replacement of the mainstream cross-border clearing system. This can optimize the layout of global financial infrastructure, break the drawbacks of monopoly by a single financial mechanism, promote the iterative optimization of international financial governance, and build a solid global financial security barrier.
Promote South-South cooperation and participate in global governance in an orderly manner. Along with the steady growth of comprehensive strength, the capacity and willingness of emerging economies to participate in global governance have improved simultaneously. The BRICS pursues governance reform through the dual paths of reforming the existing stock and innovating the incremental. On the one hand, it steadily promotes the reform of mainstream international institutions, optimizes quota ratios and rules of procedure, fills the gap of insufficient representation of the Global South, and consolidates the governance effectiveness of multilateral institutions. On the other hand, it relies on multilateral mechanisms to凝聚发展共识，统一全球南方治理立场，放大发展中国家集体诉求，拓宽多边治理参与渠道。Reforming existing mechanisms and innovating cooperation platforms in tandem is essentially about filling the gaps in the supply of global public goods, maintaining the smooth operation of international order, and promoting the modernization of the global governance system.
(The author is Deputy Director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)
By: 黄霞
The current global energy revolution and industrial technological transformation are accelerating, and the green, low-carbon transition is deeply interweaving with the digital economy. Copper, with its outstanding electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and ductility, is an indispensable basic raw material for the modern industrial system. Today, copper has gradually transcended its traditional role as an industrial metal and has become a key benchmark for assessing the effectiveness of green transition and technological innovation. With technological iteration, copper's application scenarios continue to expand, covering new energy vehicles, computing infrastructure, data centers, smart grids, and many other fields, making it an important strategic resource for ensuring energy transition and the implementation of cutting-edge technologies. Over a period of time, copper market demand has expanded rapidly, while the supply side faces rigid constraints; short-term price fluctuations coexist with long-term supply risks, and the global copper supply-demand system is undergoing restructuring.
Copper is an important raw material supporting the energy transition and the digital revolution. Its strategic value rests on its irreplaceable material properties. Copper is the material foundation of the new round of industrial technological transformation, with its application fields spanning the two major tracks of energy transition and the digital economy.
The energy transition has become a key driver of copper demand growth, with copper intensity in related scenarios significantly higher than in traditional fields. The entire chain of renewable energy—power generation, transmission, and storage—requires substantial copper materials. Research by the International Energy Agency (IEA) shows that the average copper usage in renewable energy systems is 8–12 times that of traditional power generation systems. Among these, wind turbine generators use 2.5–6 tonnes of copper per megawatt, and solar photovoltaic power generation uses about 4 tonnes of copper per megawatt. In the electric vehicle sector, key components such as drive motors, batteries, and high-voltage wiring harnesses all use copper as the preferred material; a pure electric vehicle uses about 80 kilograms of copper per vehicle, four times that of a fuel-powered vehicle. According to estimates, for every 1 percentage point increase in the global penetration rate of new energy vehicles, copper demand will increase by hundreds of thousands of tonnes. In the decarbonization process of the energy system, the capacity to secure copper resources directly determines the scale of clean energy deployment and the efficiency of its implementation.
The digital economy and high-end manufacturing are further expanding copper applications, becoming new pillars of copper demand growth. High-tech industries such as artificial intelligence computing infrastructure, data centers, semiconductor chips, and 5G communication networks have large demand for high-precision copper materials and copper alloys; a single megawatt of AI data center consumes 27–33 tonnes of copper, more than twice that of a traditional data center. As global digital technology iterates and high-end manufacturing upgrades, the degree of binding between copper and cutting-edge technology continues to deepen, making copper a key mineral carrier supporting the stable operation of the digital economy.
The medium- and long-term global copper resource gap is widening. Copper demand has entered a long-term expansion phase driven by the energy transition and the AI industry. The continuously expanding installed capacity of renewable energy, the steadily rising penetration rate of new energy vehicles, and the batch construction of AI computing infrastructure together drive copper demand ever higher. According to S&P Global research data, global copper demand is expected to increase from 28 million tonnes in 2025 to 42 million tonnes in 2040, an increase of 50%, and the long-term trend of demand growth is difficult to reverse.
Copper supply is constrained by multiple rigid factors superimposed on one another, leaving overall elasticity insufficient. In terms of resource endowment, global copper ore resources are highly concentrated; the three major copper-producing countries—Chile, Peru, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)—together have long accounted for about 50% of global copper mine output. Geopolitical volatility and resource policy adjustments can easily cause systemic shocks to global supply. In terms of mining cycles, major global mines have generally entered the middle-to-late stages of extraction, with mining depths continuously increasing and ore grades steadily declining. The average ore grade in major copper-producing countries such as Chile and Peru has fallen from about 0.7% to about 0.5% over the past decade, while mining costs and operational difficulty continue to rise. At the same time, new copper mine projects take an average of 15–17 years to develop and face multiple pressures including high investment thresholds, complex approval processes, and stringent environmental constraints, making it difficult for new production capacity to come online quickly in the short term.
Short-term disturbance factors are widening the supply gap, and the copper supply-demand contradiction is becoming prominent. In recent years, tightening environmental policies in some major copper-producing countries, labor disputes, community conflicts, and frequent extreme weather events, compounded by production accidents at some mines, have increased volatility in global copper mine capacity utilization and restricted the release of mining and smelting capacity. Since 2025, disturbance factors in major global copper-producing regions have continued to ferment. Among them, output at Peru's Antamina mine plunged 26%; the Kamoa-Kakula copper project in the DRC cut its 2025 production guidance by 28%; and Indonesia's Grasberg copper mine suspended operations due to a mudslide accident, losing approximately 250,000 tonnes of output for the year, with full resumption of production not expected until 2027. According to S&P Global research, absent major supply changes, global copper production is expected to peak at 33 million tonnes in 2030 and then enter a declining trajectory, with the supply-demand gap reaching as much as 10.1 million tonnes by 2040.
Competition for resources is intensifying. The overall level of copper prices has risen sharply, impacting the global energy transition process. Driven by supply tightness expectations and market speculative sentiment, international copper prices have continued to rise and hit record highs. Recently, copper on the London Metal Exchange broke through US$14,000 per tonne, and the main Shanghai copper futures contract stood above the 100,000 yuan per tonne mark, both setting new cyclical highs. Rising raw material costs directly push up the construction costs of energy infrastructure such as photovoltaics, wind power, energy storage, and ultra-high-voltage transmission, lengthening the payback period of some projects and even rendering them economically unviable. High copper prices increase the cost of the global energy transition, delaying the pace of global clean energy deployment and the advancement of carbon neutrality goals.
Supply constraints are transmitting down the industrial chain, constraining the vitality of global high-end manufacturing and technological innovation. Copper is an important raw material for industries such as semiconductors, communications equipment, and high-end equipment, and supply stability directly affects the production pace and technological iteration of downstream industries. If copper supply remains tight, the implementation and industrialization of cutting-edge fields such as chip manufacturing and computing infrastructure construction will slow, weakening the overall vitality of global industrial innovation. A report by the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, "Climate change threatens the world's most critical technologies," points out that by 2035, about 32% of global semiconductor production could be severely affected by copper supply disruptions; under a high-emissions scenario, this proportion would rise to 58% by 2050.
Multiple actors are accelerating strategic positioning, and competition in the global copper supply chain is becoming increasingly fierce. Facing structural tightness in copper resource supply, major global economies have incorporated copper into their critical minerals strategies and accelerated the diversification of supply chain layouts. Developed economies are leading the construction of alliance-based supply networks. The United States supports overseas copper mine development through special funding and, relying on multilateral mechanisms such as the Foundational Resources for Growth and Energy (FORGE) initiative, is building an exclusive copper supply chain collaboration system with allies to reduce dependence on traditional production regions. The European Union, in its Critical Raw Materials Act, has set quantitative targets for domestic processing and recycling and is deepening cooperation with major copper-producing countries to diversify supply sources. Major copper-producing countries are strengthening sovereign control over resources. Chile and Peru are enhancing resource revenue capture through tax reform and tightened environmental approvals; the DRC is raising local equity participation requirements and restricting exports of raw copper concentrate, forcing smelting capacity to be established locally. Manufacturing economies are building resource security systems through multiple dimensions. China is coordinating domestic copper exploration and smelting technology upgrades while expanding international mining cooperation; Japan and South Korea are securing overseas copper resources through equity participation while advancing material efficiency and substitution technology research. In the future, competition over investment access, trade rules, and technical standards for copper resources will continue to heat up, and a pattern of multi-actor contention has already taken shape.
The risk of structural fragmentation in the copper industry chain is increasing, and the balanced development of the global resource industry faces new challenges. There is a natural spatial mismatch between copper resource endowment, mining, smelting, and consumption. Combined with multiple competitive factors such as geopolitical rivalry and resource nationalism, this is pushing the global copper supply chain toward regional fragmentation and bloc-based restructuring. Economies highly dependent on copper resource imports face significantly heightened supply chain security vulnerabilities, and their ability to independently control key technologies for energy transition and high-end manufacturing continues to come under pressure. Developing economies will bear heavier resource costs in the process of green energy substitution and new-type industrial upgrading, with higher thresholds for green transition investment and a slower pace of advancement. The global system of division of labor and cooperation across the industrial chain is being damaged, hindering the long-term goal of all countries jointly achieving low-carbon development and shared prosperity.
The reshaping of the global copper resource supply-demand landscape is a concentrated manifestation of the contradiction between resource allocation and the energy transition and industrial technological transformation. The copper resource issue is distinctly global and systemic in nature, and no single country or market can resolve it independently. It is urgent for all countries to build consensus, seek space for cooperation amid competition, coordinate supply security, technological innovation, and industrial collaboration, and jointly build a more resilient global copper supply chain system. Only then can the challenges posed by copper supply be effectively addressed, providing solid resource support for the global energy transition and technological revolution, and jointly advancing human society toward a new stage of green, low-carbon, innovation-driven development.
(The author is Director of the Global Resources and Environment Research Office at the Development Research Center of the China Geological Survey)
By: 王越
In recent years, the mental health problems of children and adolescents have become a focus of attention in countries around the world. Germany, based on the characteristics of children's and adolescents' growth and development, has woven mental health services throughout multiple scenarios including families, schools, communities, and medical care, gradually forming a work pattern of multi-party participation and coordinated advancement. Its approach of emphasizing early prevention, resource integration, and social coordination has reference significance for improving the mental health service system for children and adolescents.
Germany's promotion of mental health services for children and adolescents stems from multiple real-world pressures. First, mental health problems among children and adolescents are becoming increasingly serious. Data from Germany's Federal Statistical Office shows that in 2024, among inpatient cases aged 10 to 19, mental illness and behavioral disorders accounted for 18.9%, becoming the primary cause of hospitalization for this age group, with the number increasing by 3.4% compared to 2023 and by 36.5% compared to 2004. Mental illnesses such as depression, eating disorders, and self-harm have become major threats to the health of children and adolescents. Second, rapid digital development has brought new mental health risks. Social media, algorithmic recommendations, and artificial intelligence, while reshaping learning and social interaction methods, have also exacerbated problems such as cyberbullying, social comparison, the spread of false information, and emotional dependence, posing new challenges to traditional psychological service models. Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic amplified existing shortcomings. A 2023 report by Germany's Federal Interministerial Working Group showed that due to school closures during the pandemic, the incidence of depressive symptoms among children and adolescents increased by 75% compared to before the pandemic, also exposing problems such as insufficient coordination among the fields of education, medical care, and welfare, and strained professional resources. Faced with the above challenges, Germany has actively built a defense line for the mental health of children and adolescents, mainly taking the following measures.
The government has established regional social education service institutions. Germany, relying on local youth welfare offices, has established regional social education service institutions that provide consultation and support on educational and family issues to parents, children, and adolescents, helping families resolve difficulties encountered in the parenting process, and providing timely crisis assistance and child protection. Currently, there are approximately 560 local youth welfare offices across Germany, which not only provide families with information on rights, assistance, and public services, but also intervene promptly in the event of serious crises, and refer cases to courts when necessary. Taking the city of Bonn as an example, the Social Services Department of the Office for Children, Youth and Families has specialized services for family and educational support, providing families with consultation, educational assistance, and protection services, with a focus on preventing neglect and physical, psychological, and sexual violence against children and adolescents.
Social organizations provide mental health services to families. Multiple types of social organizations in Germany actively participate in mental health services for children and adolescents, playing a bridging role between the government and families. The "Help Telephone Against Grief" was established in 1980 and by 2024 had 87 member organizations, 77 children's and adolescents' telephone stations, and 3,992 counselors, providing approximately 118,000 consultations throughout the year, with psychological problems, self-harm, and family relationships being the main consultation topics. The German Depression Aid Foundation provides hotlines, online self-help programs, and blogs, and coordinates more than 90 regional "Anti-Depression Alliances." The German Child Protection Association is composed of a federal association, 16 state associations, and more than 400 local associations, enhancing families' scientific parenting capabilities through programs such as "Strong Parents, Strong Children." At the same time, the Robert Koch Institute and the German Psychological Association continuously carry out psychological monitoring research and professional training, providing a basis for government policy-making and families' scientific responses.
Multi-party coordination strengthens support for families. Germany regards family support as an important lever for addressing mental health problems among children and adolescents, promoting the joint participation of forces from education, medical care, welfare, and other fields. In 2022, the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth funded the launch of the "Parental Opportunity N: Empowering Families with Parental Support" project, establishing community networks for families in difficulty, and linking day-care centers, primary schools, family education centers, and other institutions to provide low-threshold consultation and educational support. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the above departments jointly established an interministerial working group to promote online training for personnel in schools, day-care institutions, and the youth welfare field, enhancing the ability to identify stress risks early. At the same time, Germany has strengthened early prevention services, providing home visits to families facing stress after a child's birth, and providing approximately 4 billion euros to the states in 2023 and 2024 for implementing actions in the fields of health, nutrition, and physical activity.
Germany's mental health services for children and adolescents have achieved positive results. First, grassroots service capacity has continued to improve. Relying on local youth welfare institutions, families can more conveniently obtain support in areas such as parenting difficulties, child protection, and crisis assistance. Second, service provision has become more diversified. With the broad participation of social organizations, low-threshold and professional services effectively meet the diverse needs of families. Third, multi-party coordination has deepened. The federal government has promoted the joint participation of schools, day-care institutions, communities, welfare institutions, and others, helping to reduce family pressure and enhance the effectiveness of early intervention. Germany's practice provides useful reference for countries to improve their mental health service systems for children and adolescents.
Extending mental health services to the grassroots level. Germany regards regional social education service institutions as an important foundation for mental health services for children and adolescents, with the focus on promptly identifying problems and providing support during family parenting and children's growth. By integrating mental health services with grassroots public services such as family support, child protection, and educational assistance, this not only lowers the threshold for families to seek help and improves risk identification and rapid response capabilities, but also enables tiered intervention according to the severity of problems, preventing ordinary problems from developing into serious crises, and forming a grassroots service pattern of prevention first, timely intervention, and strong protection. This suggests that to improve the mental health service system for children and adolescents, the focus should be shifted downward, relying on grassroots forces such as local child welfare, family services, and educational support, strengthening basic services such as family parenting guidance, child protection, and crisis assistance, providing timely guidance for ordinary problems, early intervention for key risks, and handling serious crises according to law, so as to better safeguard the healthy growth of children and adolescents.
Better leveraging the role of social forces in mental health services. Germany fully utilizes the advantages of social organizations in being close to families, flexible in form, and highly accessible, fully mobilizing the social resources of various non-profit organizations, foundations, scientific research institutions, and related associations, and providing families with more convenient and more needs-oriented psychological support through hotline consultation, professional support, and parent courses. The broad participation of social forces has expanded the coverage of mental health services and also enhanced families' willingness to proactively seek help. This suggests that to improve the mental health service system for children and adolescents, the participation of social forces should be fully mobilized, and social organizations should be supported in leveraging their professional expertise and advantages of being close to the masses. The government should strengthen policy guidance, funding support, and standardized management, enhance the professionalism and stability of social services, and form a service pattern of government leadership, social participation, and professional support, so as to better meet the multi-level and diversified mental health service needs of children, adolescents, and families.
Integrating mental health services into the daily lives of children and adolescents. The psychological problems of children and adolescents are often intertwined with factors such as academic pressure, family relationships, school adaptation, and violent harm, and it is difficult for medical institutions alone to promptly identify and effectively intervene. To this end, Germany coordinates the forces of medical care, family, education, welfare institutions, and local governments, and delivers services to the daily life and learning scenarios of children and adolescents through early prevention and intervention, online help-seeking consultation, community network support, popularization of professional knowledge, and improvement of day-care quality. This suggests that to improve the mental health service system for children and adolescents, more resources should be allocated to places where children and adolescents frequently come into contact, with priority support for families in difficulty and high-risk children and adolescents. At the same time, continuous monitoring and evaluation mechanisms should be established to promptly identify problems and optimize resource allocation, enabling the service system to both respond to the impact of sudden incidents and adapt to long-term social changes.
Return to TopBy: 黄璜
Currently, artificial intelligence is accelerating in its evolution, and new technologies and applications such as large models and intelligent agents are profoundly influencing economic and social development, providing important support for cultivating new quality productive forces (新质生产力) and advancing the construction of Digital China (数字中国). From government services and regulatory enforcement to grassroots governance and emergency management, artificial intelligence is also entering the government affairs domain, bringing new possibilities for scientific decision-making, administrative execution, and collaborative governance. At the same time, it must also be recognized that in the face of the wave of technological change, some localities and departments have developed an anxiety of "falling behind if not adopting AI," with varying degrees of tendency to emphasize concepts, emphasize investment, and emphasize display, treating the procurement of computing equipment, the integration of large models, and the construction of platforms as work achievements in themselves. This kind of approach can easily lead to investments that are difficult to convert into actual governance effectiveness, resulting in resource waste and security risks. The more technology iterates rapidly and social expectations rise, the more necessary it is to use governance effectiveness to guide the direction of application. For artificial intelligence to truly play a role, it depends not only on the sophistication of the technology itself, but more on the depth of matching between technology and scenarios. It must respond to real needs, solve practical problems, and withstand the test of institutional rules and responsibility requirements, transforming artificial intelligence from technological heat into tangible governance effectiveness.
Examining application premises, advancing capability adaptation based on actual needs
The introduction of artificial intelligence into the government affairs domain must be grounded in real needs, technical capabilities, and actual conditions. Objectively speaking, work in the government affairs domain such as information aggregation, text processing, knowledge retrieval, risk alerts, and business coordination has a relatively high degree of fit with the capability characteristics of current artificial intelligence, which indeed provides important space for its application. But this does not mean that any government work requires the introduction of artificial intelligence. The business nature, risk bottom lines, data foundations, and responsibility requirements of different matters vary, which determines that the applicable boundaries and actual effectiveness of artificial intelligence will necessarily vary by scenario. In advancing artificial intelligence applications, one must not deduce application scenarios from technological concepts in reverse, but should start from real problems and rationally understand the boundaries of technological capabilities and implementation conditions.
The technological potential of artificial intelligence can only be converted into practical application capability when it enters real government affairs scenarios. Government affairs activities differ from general information processing, often involving policy application, procedure execution, interest balancing, and responsibility bearing. Especially in matters such as administrative approval, regulatory enforcement, qualification determination, and fund allocation, artificial intelligence can be used for auxiliary retrieval, risk alerts, material organization, and decision-making reference, but it cannot replace statutory procedures, administrative discretion, and necessary human judgment, and still less can it replace administrative subjects in bearing responsibility according to law. Only by accurately grasping the boundaries of technological capabilities can artificial intelligence be made to play an appropriate role in suitable scenarios and key links.
Improving administrative efficiency, optimizing public services, and strengthening regulatory capacity are long-term tasks of government operations and important drivers for advancing artificial intelligence applications. The rationality of an artificial intelligence application lies in whether it has comparative advantage, that is, whether it can provide more effective, more stable, and more economical support than existing working methods and information-based means. For problems that can already be well solved using traditional information systems, it is inadvisable to blindly carry out transformation or reconstruction through artificial intelligence methods; for matters where the introduction of artificial intelligence is truly necessary, the application method and depth of involvement should also be reasonably determined according to scenario characteristics, task nature, and risk requirements, preventing technological application from degenerating into system stacking and resource waste.
Clarifying the scope of action, matching technological paths around scenario characteristics
The strength of generative artificial intelligence lies in content generation, language processing, and interactive response. There is a large amount of work related to text processing and communication interaction in government affairs work, where generative artificial intelligence can play a role, such as assisting in completing material drafting, information summarization, and responding to public inquiries. But it must also be recognized that this type of technology mainly generates content based on probability prediction, and its output does not equate to factual conclusions or policy basis. Therefore, in application, human review must be upheld, and model-generated content cannot be directly used as the final basis for decision-making.
Different from generative artificial intelligence, the advantage of discriminative artificial intelligence lies in information recognition, such as classification and aggregation, risk discovery, and anomaly alerts. Much government work requires identifying differences and discovering clues from large numbers of subjects or data. For example, in market regulation, public security, and fund auditing, identifying abnormal subjects and risk trends is a relatively typical need. For such tasks with clear objectives and clear rules, discriminative artificial intelligence can provide stable technological support. Among the government affairs intelligent applications already implemented, applications with information recognition as their main function are a relatively mature and common application form.
Artificial intelligence agents embody another application approach. They can, within clear objectives, rules, and authorization scope, decompose tasks into several steps, automatically retrieve required materials, call relevant systems or tools, and promote the connection of preceding and succeeding links. In the past, when handling complex business, staff often had to switch back and forth between different systems and make manual judgments about next steps; the role of artificial intelligence agents is to automatically connect this process that relied on manual scheduling within the framework of rules. This means that the role of artificial intelligence extends from single-point assistance to business process collaboration. But for this collaboration to be truly realized, the premise is that business processes are relatively clear, relevant systems can be connected, and authority and responsibility boundaries are relatively well-defined; otherwise, it can easily bring about risks of unauthorized use, unclear responsibility, and security management problems.
In addition, more cutting-edge world models further expand the space for exploring artificial intelligence applications. Their characteristic lies in simulation and deduction of environmental changes and action consequences, which provides possibilities for scenario simulation and auxiliary assessment in contexts such as urban operation, emergency response, and traffic dispatch. However, real-world governance often interweaves complex organizational and institutional factors, and simulated deduction cannot simply be equated with real-world judgment, and still less can it directly replace policy judgment and emergency decision-making. For such forward-looking directions, prudent exploration is still required.
It can be seen from this that different technological paths each have their own characteristics, and their scope of action and implementation conditions also differ. In advancing the application of artificial intelligence in the government affairs domain, one cannot simply equate intelligentization with large-model adoption, and still less can one apply a single technological mindset to all types of tasks. The key is to return to government operations themselves, and based on specific work needs and actual conditions, promote corresponding technological capabilities to produce practical results in suitable scenarios.
Innovating coordination mechanisms, supporting the normal and long-term operation of scenario applications
For artificial intelligence to play a role in the government affairs domain, it cannot remain at the level of dispersed exploration within individual departments and individual systems. Advancing the application of artificial intelligence in the government affairs domain should incorporate it into the overall framework of digital government construction for coordinated planning.
Strengthening coordination lies first and foremost in the coordinated layout of project advancement. In the face of a technological wave, one must not 一哄而上 (yī hōng ér shàng - "all rush up at once," to act impetuously without coordination), and a scientific evaluation and gatekeeping mechanism must be established. According to the urgency of business needs, the solidity of data foundations, and the degree of risk controllability, the construction sequence of artificial intelligence applications should be coordinated. For scenarios with relatively mature conditions and relatively clear boundaries, priority should be given to arrangement and breakthroughs; for matters where conditions are not yet available and timing is not ripe, advancement should be postponed. Through coordinated gatekeeping, it is ensured that limited resources are concentrated where practical problems can be solved, avoiding following trends and creating a stir, which causes resource waste.
Alongside coordinated layout, attention should be paid to the coordinated supply of foundational resources. Artificial intelligence has strong dependence on foundational conditions such as computing infrastructure and general-purpose models, and it is inadvisable for every department to build from scratch and configure redundantly. It should rely on the existing foundation of digital government to strengthen public support and intensive supply. On this basis, each department, combined with its own responsibilities and business characteristics, should 因地制宜 (yīn dì zhì yí - "adapt measures to local conditions," to adjust approaches according to specific circumstances) explore specific applications. This mechanism of integrating resources and opening up applications can both uphold the requirement of intensiveness and grant departments flexibility for business innovation.
The data foundation is the key to the effective operation of coordination mechanisms. Artificial intelligence cannot produce high-quality governance capability out of thin air. If the underlying data is inaccurate, incomplete, or untimely, no matter how strong the computing power and models, it will be difficult to support actual work. Government affairs data is dispersed across different levels and departments, and advancing artificial intelligence applications cannot bypass data governance. Under the coordination mechanism, data governance should adhere to promoting construction through use. Driven by real, necessary, and mature application scenarios, data quality improvement and sharing and collaboration should be forced forward, enabling artificial intelligence applications and government affairs data governance to promote each other.
While encouraging departments to explore according to local conditions, institutional rules must serve as safeguards. The scope within which artificial intelligence systems can be used, how results are used, how processes are recorded, and how responsibilities are borne all require clear boundaries. Especially in cross-departmental applications, it is even more necessary to prevent systems from being unusable due to unclear rules or from losing standards of use. The significance of rule supply is not to limit innovation, but to delineate safety bottom lines for application exploration and clarify the space for fault tolerance. Only by establishing an institutional system with equal rights and responsibilities and clear boundaries can staff dare to act within the framework, and can artificial intelligence be used steadily and managed properly in government affairs processes.
Coordination mechanisms must also cover long-term operation. Artificial intelligence applications are not completed once the system goes online; their capability development depends on whether they can be continuously used and continuously corrected in daily business. The inertial mindset of "emphasizing construction, neglecting operation" must be abandoned, and a continuous operation mechanism adapted to the characteristics of the application must be established. Whether an application is effective cannot be judged only by the display effect at the initial stage of construction, but more by whether it can truly improve work processes and enhance government affairs effectiveness. Applications with stable results should be gradually expanded, and those with unclear results and high maintenance costs should be adjusted in a timely manner, ensuring that practical results are continuously delivered.
For artificial intelligence applications in the government affairs domain to achieve practical results, the key lies in moving from dispersed exploration to organized advancement. This "organized" character is reflected in project gatekeeping and coordinated scheduling, and also in mechanism innovation that combines unified and decentralized approaches and is safeguarded by rules. In advancing artificial intelligence applications, one should not one-sidedly pursue novelty in technological form or speed in project construction, but should place greater emphasis on whether practical problems are truly solved, government operations are improved, and governance effectiveness is enhanced. Only by combining mechanism innovation with governance operations can artificial intelligence avoid remaining at the level of partial applications and truly transform into a practical force for enhancing government governance capability.
(The author is Vice Dean of the School of Government at Peking University)
Return to TopBy: 刘典
General Secretary Xi Jinping has stressed: "We must face up to the gap, redouble our efforts, comprehensively advance scientific and technological innovation, industrial development, and enabling applications in artificial intelligence, improve the institutions and mechanisms for AI regulation, and firmly grasp the initiative in AI development and governance." At present, intelligent technologies are accelerating the reshaping of the global development landscape, and competition in areas such as computing power, data, and models is becoming increasingly fierce. Building an independent and controllable artificial intelligence capability system has become a common choice for countries seeking to seize the opportunities of the era. It is against this backdrop that the concept of "sovereign AI" has been put forward. Based on this major trend, deeply grasping its connotations, characteristics, and the logic of its rise, soberly recognizing the potential risks in its advancement, and exploring a development path suited to China's national conditions are the keys to winning the initiative in the intelligent era.
Accurately grasping the connotations and characteristics of sovereign AI
The sovereign AI proposed at the World Governments Summit advocates that countries should build independent and controllable AI infrastructure and integrate local culture, common sense, and historical heritage into the technological system, so as to safeguard national cultural and economic security. This view quickly attracted global attention and also reflected that AI competition is expanding from competition in a single technology to comprehensive competition in infrastructure, industrial ecology, and governance capacity. In recent years, countries around the world have also made deployments around local models, computing power facilities, public sector applications, and digital sovereignty. This shows that enhancing one's own AI capabilities and strengthening control over key links has become a common choice for many countries in responding to competition in the intelligent era.
So-called sovereign AI refers to an artificial intelligence system in which a sovereign state independently controls the technological path, development direction, and core resources, holds independent intellectual property rights over key core technologies, promotes the security and stability of the industrial and supply chains, and always serves the national development strategy and public interests. It means firmly grasping the leading role in development amid open cooperation and ensuring the security of development in the AI field. Specifically, the core characteristics of sovereign AI are concentrated in four aspects.
Autonomy is the fundamental prerequisite. Autonomy in infrastructure, autonomy in core technology, and autonomy in the development path are all indispensable. Without technological sovereignty, the initiative in development lacks solid support. Autonomy answers the question of "whether it can be done" — that is, whether necessary capabilities can be maintained at critical moments and whether the system can continue to operate stably when the external environment changes.
Comprehensiveness is the systemic support. Computing power, data, models, applications, and governance — every link needs to be incorporated into coordinated planning. A breakthrough in a single link is not enough to support overall initiative, and partial advantages cannot fully compensate for systemic shortcomings. Comprehensiveness answers the question of "whether it is complete," pointing toward building a relatively complete local ecosystem and preventing a situation of "strong in parts, constrained as a whole."
Security is the firm bottom line. The lawful flow of data, effective governance of models, and timely early warning and control of risks bear on national security, public security, and social stability. What sovereign AI pursues is security under open conditions — being preventable, controllable, and traceable in cross-border flows and international cooperation. Security answers the question of "whether it is stable." Without security as a foundation, the initiative is difficult to take root.
Cultural identity is the foundation of values. The training materials, value alignment, and output content of a technological system need to be rooted in the country's own language system, social common sense, historical traditions, and core values. The more advanced the technology, the more important value guidance becomes. Cultural identity answers the question of "whether it is right," ensuring that the initiative is always maintained on the correct track of values.
These four aspects each have their own emphasis while supporting one another. Autonomy lays the material foundation, comprehensiveness builds the systemic framework, security defines the boundaries of operation, and cultural identity anchors the direction of values. The four are dialectically unified and indispensable. Grasping these four points means grasping the essence of sovereign AI in theory and grasping the strategic fulcrum for winning the initiative in the intelligent era in cognition.
Deeply understanding the logic of its rise
The rise of sovereign AI has a profound background, behind which lie great-power technological competition, industrial restructuring, and changes in the security landscape. These changes reveal from multiple levels the internal logic by which sovereign AI moves from concept to practice.
First, there is the risk that core AI technologies are controlled by others. High-end chips are the foundation of computing power, core algorithms determine model capabilities, and basic frameworks support R&D efficiency. These links are still relatively concentrated in a few technologically advanced countries. Uncertainties in technology supply, ecosystem compatibility, and standard interfaces remind us that without an independent AI technology foundation, industrial development can easily be affected by the external environment. The more complex the situation, the more firmly we must follow the path of independent innovation and hold the initiative in AI development firmly in our own hands.
Second, at a deeper level, there is the systemic dependence of the AI industrial ecology. AI competition is essentially systemic competition. Some countries have advanced relatively quickly at the application level, but their computing power depends on external cloud services, their foundation models depend on external ecosystems, and their training data depends on one-way flows. Once external conditions change, application advantages may be constrained. Without independent and controllable coverage of the entire chain of computing power, data, models, and applications, it is difficult to form a solid and lasting strategic initiative in the AI field.
Finally, in addition to the dual pressures of technology and ecology, AI security risks and cultural impacts are also rising simultaneously. The large-scale cross-border flow of training data may bring challenges in privacy protection, data security, and national security. The opacity of algorithmic models may also create new governance difficulties in areas such as public opinion guidance, information identification, and risk handling. At the same time, the output content of large models is essentially a reorganization and amplification of the knowledge structures and value orientations in massive amounts of training data. Long-term reliance on others' data, language systems, and value systems to train AI may subtly influence users' ways of thinking and value judgments.
These several pressures are intertwined and mutually reinforcing. Technological subordination is a realistic pressure, ecological dependence is a deep-seated challenge, and security risks and cultural impacts further expand the boundaries of the problem. It is precisely under the impetus of these profound changes that sovereign AI has gradually moved from a theoretical proposition into the policy agendas of various countries, and grasping the initiative in the intelligent era has been transformed from a strategic foresight into an urgent practical task.
Dialectically viewing potential risks
In advancing any major strategy, it is necessary to handle well the relationships between goal orientation and actual conditions, and between long-term planning and stage-by-stage tasks.
Handle well the relationship between autonomy and openness. If "autonomy" in the AI field is understood as relying entirely on one's own strength and actively cutting off ties with the international innovation network, it may lead to lagging algorithm iteration, widening model performance gaps, and ultimately weaken the ability to participate in global AI competition. The initiative pursued by sovereign AI is one of honing technological competitiveness in openness and enhancing irreplaceability in cooperation. Open cooperation remains an important path to enhancing the technological sovereignty of AI.
Handle well the relationship between comprehensiveness and priorities. Building a complete closed-loop AI industrial chain cannot be simply understood as advancing computing power, data, models, applications, and other links simultaneously and evenly. Resources are limited, and strategic choices must involve trade-offs. If resources are evenly distributed for the sake of "full coverage," or even long-term protection is provided to uncompetitive technology products, the result may ultimately be a low-level equilibrium that affects the overall effectiveness of AI development.
Handle well the relationship between security and development. Security is the prerequisite for AI development, and development is the guarantee of AI security. If the definition of AI security is too broad, if management measures lack necessary differentiation, then normal channels for cross-border flows of training data, open-source model cooperation, and academic exchanges may be affected. The security pursued by sovereign AI should provide a foundation for AI development and guarantee high-level openness. Building defenses in openness and maintaining balance in dynamics is the correct way to safeguard the initiative in the AI field.
Handle well the relationship between cultural subjectivity and mutual learning among civilizations. Upholding the cultural subjectivity of AI requires actively absorbing the outstanding achievements of human civilization. If, in the name of protecting culture, pluralistic perspectives are excluded from training data and model outputs, AI systems may fall into a closed loop. The cultural confidence pursued by sovereign AI lies in the ability to digest and absorb the achievements of all civilizations and carry out creative transformation. The more open and inclusive, the more one can win respect and grasp the initiative in the exchange and mutual learning of civilizations.
Grasping the initiative in the intelligent era is fundamentally an ability to maintain dynamic balance. Autonomy and openness, comprehensiveness and priorities, security and development, inheritance and borrowing — each pair of relationships tests strategic wisdom. Only by handling the proportions well and grasping the rhythm can we always maintain the initiative and achieve steady and lasting progress.
Firmly grasping the initiative in AI development and governance
Consolidate the foundation of autonomy and follow the path where independent innovation and open cooperation complement each other. Concentrate efforts on breaking through key bottlenecks such as high-end chips, core algorithms, and basic frameworks, and accelerate the building of an independent and controllable technology foundation. At the same time, firmly maintain and expand international channels for scientific and technological cooperation, deeply participate in the global innovation network, and enhance independent capabilities through open competition.
Strengthen overall coordination and follow the path where systemic layout and key breakthroughs are organically unified. Strengthen top-level design, coordinate the construction of computing power infrastructure, the building of data resource systems, the R&D of foundation models, and the implementation of industry applications, forming a combined force for coordinated advancement. Adhere to doing some things and not doing others, concentrate resources in key fields to forge long boards, drive overall improvement through key breakthroughs, and win overall initiative in systemic competition.
Strictly uphold the security bottom line and follow the path of dynamic balance between development vitality and security protection. Establish and improve a data classification and grading management system, clarify the boundaries of security management, and ensure clear bottom lines and transparent rules. Promote innovation in algorithm governance to achieve systems that are explainable, auditable, and traceable. On the premise of holding the security bottom line, actively promote the lawful and orderly cross-border flow of data and participate in the formulation of international intelligent governance rules. Security is an important guarantee for high-level openness.
Cultivate the cultural roots and follow the path of combining adherence to cultural subjectivity with absorbing the achievements of human civilization. Systematically build a high-quality Chinese language corpus, integrate fine traditional Chinese culture, revolutionary culture, and advanced socialist culture into the entire process of technology R&D and application, and ensure that technological products carry Chinese values and embody Chinese wisdom. Absorb the outstanding cultural achievements of the world with an open and confident posture, make intelligent technology a bridge for the exchange and mutual learning of civilizations, and win the initiative at the level of values in telling China's story well and spreading China's ideas.
Advancing China's sovereign AI development hinges on seeking truth from facts and maintaining strategic resolve. We must fully recognize external pressures and the real gaps, while also seeing China's advantages of its super-large market, complete industrial system, rich application scenarios, and institutional and organizational strengths. Maintain openness in autonomy, highlight priorities in systemic layout, stimulate vitality while holding the bottom line, and embrace the world while adhering to cultural roots. Only in this way can we advance steadily in the building of sovereign AI and firmly hold the initiative in the intelligent era in our own hands.
General Secretary Xi Jinping has stressed that China is willing to work with countries around the world to seize the development opportunities of digitalization, networking, and intellectualization, deepen international cooperation in AI development and governance, and strive to promote the healthy development of AI, boost world economic growth, and enhance the well-being of people in all countries. Grasping the initiative in the building of sovereign AI is a far-reaching undertaking that bears on the destiny of development, the lifeline of security, and the future of civilization. We have the confidence and the ability to walk this path steadily and solidly. A sovereign AI system rooted in Chinese soil, safeguarding national security, inheriting the Chinese cultural lineage, and benefiting hundreds of millions of people will surely provide strong support for Chinese modernization and enable us to always maintain the initiative and win the future in the tide of the intelligent era.
Return to TopBy: 欧阳敏
On March 25, 1949, Mao Zedong led the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the headquarters of the Chinese People's Liberation Army to take up residence in Fragrant Hills. In the following half year (181 days), the Party Central Committee embarked on the great journey in Fragrant Hills of commanding the liberation of all China, preparing for the new CPPCC, and preparing for the founding of New China. This was the general command post where our Party led the War of Liberation to nationwide victory and the New Democratic Revolution to its great triumph. Facing major tests such as "how to govern" and "how to break out of the historical cycle," the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, maintained the sobriety and resolve of "sitting for the examination" throughout their revolutionary practice in Fragrant Hills, striving to create correct political achievements that conformed to the Party's purpose, answered the people's expectations, and followed the laws of historical development.
"The people's support is the greatest clever stratagem"
On May 1, 1949, coinciding with Labor Day, the city of Beiping presented a scene of peace. Mao Zedong made a special trip from Fragrant Hills to the Hall of Nourishing Longevity in the Summer Palace to visit the democratic personage Liu Yazi. While boating on Kunming Lake, Liu Yazi asked Mao Zedong: the People's Liberation Army soon crossed the Yangtze successfully and occupied Nanjing; we do not know what clever stratagem Chairman Mao used. Mao Zedong said: There is no clever stratagem in fighting a war; if there is any clever stratagem, it is to know the enemy and know yourself, and to make correct decisions based on actual circumstances. Also, as you said, sir, the people's support is the greatest clever stratagem. We had one million troops crossing the Yangtze; without the people's strong support, it could not have succeeded. According to incomplete statistics, in the Yangtze River Crossing Campaign, the civilian laborers who helped the PLA clear waterways and guarantee logistics numbered as many as 3.2 million. The victory of the Yangtze River Crossing Campaign can be said to have been rowed out by the common people with small boat oars.
During the Fragrant Hills period, Mao Zedong repeatedly used the core crux of the final failure of the peasant uprising led by Li Zicheng in the article "The 300th Anniversary of the Fall of the Ming Dynasty" (Jiashen Sanbai Nian Ji) to admonish all Party comrades to take it as a warning, draw painful lessons, break out of the historical cycle of feudal dynasties in which "their rise is sudden, and their fall is sudden," emphasize that "we must never become Li Zicheng," warn the whole Party that after victory it must not degenerate, must not detach itself from the masses, must not deviate from the people's fundamental interests, reaffirm the major proposition of "sitting for the examination in Beijing," and consciously accept the judgment of the people and of history.
When entering Beiping, in order not to disturb the masses, the Party Central Committee simplified the ceremony for entering the city, holding only a small military review at Xiyuan Airport to meet with representatives from all walks of life. It promulgated the "Three Great Covenants and Ten Rules for Entering the City." Even when housing for the troops entering the city was tight, the PLA officers and soldiers preferred to sleep in the streets rather than enter private homes without permission, occupy civilian houses, or disturb the common people; they did not take a single needle or thread from the masses and did not arbitrarily requisition the people's furniture and supplies. The PLA was absolutely forbidden to buy things in the urban areas; the troops' mules and horses, vehicles, and mess squads were not allowed to enter the city; the food, vegetables, and drinking water for the troops were all carried into the urban areas from the suburbs dozens of li away.
After taking up residence in Fragrant Hills, the Party Central Committee introduced a series of practical measures concerning the masses' food, clothing, housing, transportation, survival, and development, such as stabilizing prices and guaranteeing rations to solve the common people's problem of "difficulty in getting food." In the early days of liberation, in the large southern cities of Shanghai, Nanjing, and Wuhan, profiteering merchants hoarded grain and jacked up rice prices, so ordinary citizens could not afford rations. The Party Central Committee, coordinating from Fragrant Hills, transferred grain reserves from the old liberated areas in the Northeast and North China and sold it openly at fair prices, directly smashing the grain merchants' attempts to hoard for profit; ordinary wage-earning families and lower-level urban residents were no longer troubled by sky-high rice and flour prices. It abolished the exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous levies of the Kuomintang and reduced the burden on peasants. In the newly liberated countryside, all kinds of exorbitant levies, apportionments, and conscription fees were immediately abolished, retaining only reasonable agricultural tax burdens. Peasants no longer had to hand over large portions of their harvests, retained more grain for themselves, and completely escaped the old regime's layers of exploitation. It rushed to repair infrastructure and restore the basic functioning of urban life. In parts of Beiping after the war, water and electricity were cut off and public transportation halted; the PLA and local work teams hurriedly repaired pipelines and tram lines, and residents gradually had household water and electricity restored and transportation convenience resumed.
Resolutely implementing the "Two Musts" and the "Six Regulations"
On the eve of taking up residence in Fragrant Hills, Mao Zedong put forward the "Two Musts" at the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee, requiring the whole Party to maintain the style of being modest, prudent, free from arrogance and rashness, and to maintain the style of hard struggle. At the same time, he formulated the "Six Regulations," explicitly stipulating: no birthday celebrations, no gift-giving, fewer toasts, less applause, no naming places after persons, and no placing Chinese comrades on a par with Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin. After taking up residence in Fragrant Hills, Mao Zedong and other central leaders took the lead in setting an example, resolutely implementing the "Two Musts" and the "Six Regulations," and putting an end to arrogance, corruption, personality cults, extravagance, and pleasure-seeking after victory.
In Fragrant Hills, the central leaders led by example, always maintaining the revolutionary character of hard struggle and freedom from arrogance and rashness. The Double Clear Villa and Laiqing Pavilion, where Mao Zedong and others lived, were single-story old dwellings; the office and living spaces were cramped and the furnishings simple. When Mao Zedong met with the democratic personage Zhang Lan, among his very few clothes he could not find a single one without patches, and in the end he could only receive the guest in patched clothing. Because of the needs of the founding ceremony, the staff asked Mao Zedong for approval several times before they could prepare for him a Sun Yat-sen suit and a pair of new leather shoes. The leaders worked day and night at their desks in the Double Clear Villa and Laiqing Pavilion; in only half a year, Mao Zedong personally wrote or personally revised as many as 202 telegrams to direct the nationwide military operations and land reform. During the Fragrant Hills period, the Party Central Committee actively united with democratic parties and patriotic personages, frequently meeting with Li Jishen, Zhang Lan, Shen Junru, Huang Yanpei, Liu Yazi, Chen Jiageng, and others, consulting with them as equals on the great plan of founding the state and humbly listening to opinions from all sides.
During the Fragrant Hills period, the entire Party and the entire army strictly implemented the "Six Regulations." When birthdays came around, the staff several times proposed a simple extra meal or a small celebration, but Mao Zedong sternly refused every time. The General Office of the Central Committee issued discipline to all organs, guard units, and local cadres coming to Beiping: it was forbidden to give gifts, hold dinners, or pay respects in the name of birthdays, explicitly stating that "holding birthday celebrations is of no benefit to work and easily breeds bureaucratic tendencies," making the non-celebration of birthdays a hard rule for all organs. After various places were liberated, many local Party and government organs, troops, and democratic personages sent local specialty products, supplies, and daily necessities; Mao Zedong set an iron rule: public gifts were all to be returned, and private local specialties were either to be sent back in full or paid for at market prices out of one's own pocket. It was explicitly stipulated that between superiors and subordinates within the Party, gift-giving with public funds and personal favor exchanges were forbidden, and that it was forbidden to smuggle gifts in when reporting on work or requesting instructions. At the same time, military discipline was imposed on the troops entering the cities, requiring the entire army not to hold banquets or feasts to celebrate entering the cities, extending the style of frugality to the entire army. The Party Central Committee issued a circular: in all newly liberated cities, towns, villages, streets, and factory areas across the country, it was absolutely forbidden to rename or name places after leaders.
"Carry the revolution through to the end"
As the People's Liberation Army reported one victory after another on various battlefields, the reactionary Kuomintang government, on the one hand, released a smokescreen of "peace talks" and, on the other hand, stepped up the deployment of the Yangtze River defense line. Some people in China again raised the "middle road," and Western countries led by the United States also intervened to prevent the People's Liberation Army from crossing the Yangtze. Facing the various complex risks caused by interference from internal and external forces, at this critical juncture of where China should go, Mao Zedong sized up the situation and issued the great call to "carry the revolution through to the end," proposing to "use revolutionary methods to resolutely, thoroughly, completely, and wholly eliminate all reactionary forces." The Party Central Committee admonished the broad ranks of commanders and fighters to heighten vigilance, make preparations for crossing the Yangtze, and "strive to succeed in one stroke."
On the eve of the Yangtze River Crossing Campaign, the British frigate HMS Amethyst intruded into the Yangtze River to provoke. Facing armed interference by imperialist countries, the Central Committee of the CPC and Mao Zedong solemnly pointed out that "China's territorial sovereignty must be defended by the Chinese people and absolutely must not be violated by foreign governments." The People's Liberation Army resolutely returned fire, defending sovereignty and winning dignity. On April 20, 1949, the reactionary Kuomintang government refused to sign the "Domestic Peace Agreement (Final Revised Draft)," and the negotiations broke down. Mao Zedong and Zhu De immediately issued the order to advance on the whole country, and the People's Liberation Army launched the Yangtze River Crossing Campaign; a million mighty troops crossed the Yangtze. On April 23, the People's Liberation Army quickly occupied Nanjing, proclaiming the destruction of the reactionary Kuomintang rule that had lasted 22 years. When Mao Zedong, in Fragrant Hills in Beiping, learned the news of the liberation of Nanjing, he wrote in brush the poem "The PLA Captures Nanjing" (Qilü: Renmin Jiefangjun Zhanyong Nanjing), using the historical lesson of the failure of the Hegemon-King of Western Chu as a mirror to admonish the whole Party, expressing the determination to "pursue the cornered foe with the remaining courage, and not seek the empty fame of the Hegemon-King." In order to accomplish the task of liberating all China, the People's Liberation Army continued its victorious advance into the Southeast, Central-South, Northwest, and Southwest, whether by war or by peaceful means, to "resolutely, thoroughly, completely, and wholly annihilate all Kuomintang reactionaries within China who dare to resist, liberate the people of the whole country, and defend the independence and integrity of China's territorial sovereignty." At the same time, in response to the White Paper "United States Relations with China" released by the U.S. State Department on August 5, 1949, Mao Zedong published on August 18 of the same year articles including "Farewell, Leighton Stuart" (Biele, Situ Leideng), which pointedly exposed the hegemonic nature of the U.S. government in supporting the Kuomintang's civil war with money and guns in an attempt to control China, and established a foreign policy of independence and self-reliance, neither attaching itself to others nor compromising.
Erecting the "four beams and eight pillars" for the birth of New China
During the Fragrant Hills period, the Party Central Committee, on the one hand, accelerated the liberation of the whole country and consolidated the foundation of the national territory, and on the other hand, advanced the design of institutions and pooled the strength of the whole people, systematically erecting the "four beams and eight pillars" of New China.
In organizing and preparing the new Political Consultative Conference and establishing the Central People's Government, many people inside and outside the Party were still unclear or not entirely clear about some major questions concerning the soon-to-be-born New China, such as the nature of the state and the position and role of each class in the state; it was necessary to give theoretical answers in order to resolve the ideological questions of people inside and outside the Party. Mao Zedong set about writing it himself. He shut himself up in the small courtyard of the Double Clear Villa, barely leaving the house for two days, and finally wrote a long article of more than 8,000 characters — this was the famous "On the People's Democratic Dictatorship" (Lun Renmin Minzhu Zhuanzheng). The article systematically explained that the state system of New China was a people's democratic dictatorship led by the working class and based on the alliance of workers and peasants, clearly answering for the whole society and all democratic parties "what kind of New China to build, whom to rely on, and for whom," dispelling some people's concerns about the model of political power, and laying the theoretical cornerstone for the consultative founding of the state.
In order to pool broad consensus from all sides, the Party Central Committee safely escorted democratic personages from various places to gather in Beiping and properly arranged their living conditions. At the same time, central Party leaders frequently called on democratic personages in person or sincerely invited democratic personages to Fragrant Hills for frank talks, sincerely uniting all forces. On this basis, in mid-June 1949, our Party took the lead in convening the preparatory meeting for the new CPPCC, bringing democratic personages into six special working groups and fully launching substantive work for founding the state, including the drafting of the "Common Program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference" (hereinafter referred to as the "Common Program"), the design of the government structure, deliberations on the national flag, national anthem, capital, and calendar, and the selection of CPPCC delegates.
Drafting the "Common Program" was the top priority in the preparatory work of the new Political Consultative Conference for founding New China. The Party Central Committee attached great importance to it, with Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai directly participating in and leading the work. Zhou Enlai served as the leader of the third group of the working groups for preparing the new CPPCC, whose task was to draft the "Common Program." He spent about a week behind closed doors, revising day and night. After Zhou Enlai revised it, Mao Zedong personally reviewed it in the Double Clear Villa and made further revisions, and organized repeated discussions among the democratic parties, absorbing opinions from all sides, completing several rounds of revision. It was not until September that the draft, after several revisions, finally won recognition from all parties. Thanks to our Party's careful preparation, from September 21 to 30, the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference was held. The session fully completed all the agenda items for founding the state, adopted this epoch-making "Common Program," confirmed the state system of the people's democratic dictatorship and the governmental system of the people's congresses for New China, and erected the institutional foundation for New China's long-term operation. This session was the landmark event in which the "four beams and eight pillars" of New China, built during the Fragrant Hills period, were finally put in place. On October 1, the People's Republic of China was formally established.
Return to TopBy: 朱廷水 杨易凌
In the exhibition hall of the Central Soviet Area (Western Fujian) History Museum, four (sets of) national first-class cultural relics are on display, namely the Record of Comrade Bethune's Death, the Sickbed Log, the Temperature Record, and the Death Certificate. This set of relics was treasured by Ye Qingshan, then Director of the Health Department of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region and a founding major general of the People's Republic of China from Changting, Fujian, and was donated free of charge by his son Ye Jun in 2013. It records in detail the more than ten days from Bethune's injury and infection to his sacrifice, and is important historical material for recreating the final years of his life.
Traveling ten thousand li to aid China, taking root behind enemy lines to practice medicine
In January 1938, Bethune led the Canada-U.S. Medical Unit for Aid to China, setting out from Vancouver, Canada, to travel far to China to support the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. After arriving in Yan'an, he volunteered to go to the front line of the anti-Japanese war, and in June of the same year took up position at Jingangkou Village, Wutai County, Shanxi, where the headquarters of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region was stationed, thereby beginning his medical career behind enemy lines.
At that time, conditions in the anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines were difficult: there was a shortage of medicine, a lack of medical equipment, and backward rescue techniques, and a large number of wounded soldiers became disabled or even sacrificed their lives because treatment was not timely. Faced with these difficulties, Bethune used his professional knowledge to guide the military region in integrating medical resources, building a model hospital, running medical training classes, compiling medical teaching materials, improving rescue equipment, and optimizing emergency procedures. Through multiple measures, he raised the level of battlefield rescue in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, greatly reduced the mortality rate of the wounded, and provided strong medical support for the war of resistance behind enemy lines.
During his work in China, Bethune always remained on the front line of treatment. In November 1938, during the ambush battle on the Guangling-Lingshou highway, he set up his emergency station on the forward position less than 5 kilometers from the front line, working continuously for 40 hours and completing 71 operations. In February of the following year, he led the Eastern Expedition Medical Unit to advance into central Hebei in support of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army, covering more than 750 kilometers in 4 months and performing a total of 315 operations. With superb medical skill, he guarded the lives of the soldiers on the front line.
In July 1939, Bethune was originally scheduled to depart for Canada in November. But during his visits to grassroots units, he discovered that basic battlefield rescue techniques had not yet been fully popularized in the military region, and there were still deficiencies in the treatment of the wounded. In order to promote the development of medical and health work and rescue work throughout the military region, he decided to spend two months, from October to the end of November, inspecting the medical and health organs of the front and rear areas of the entire military region. This trip also became the final journey of his life.
Sustaining an injury while going against the current, inspecting grassroots units despite illness
During this inspection, on October 28, while participating in battlefield treatment at Sunjiazhuang, Bethune accidentally pricked the middle finger of his left hand with a small scalpel. On the 29th, the local inflammation worsened and the pain was severe, but he only changed the bandage himself and, enduring the pain, continued working. On November 1, Bethune received a wounded soldier suffering from an infectious surgical disease (cervical erysipelas complicated by cellulitis of the head). During the operation, because the original wound on Bethune's finger had not yet healed, and because he did not take care to wear gloves, the broken wound unfortunately became invaded by bacteria. At 2 p.m. that day, Bethune set out from Ganhejing, passing through Dapingdi and Yangjiatai. Along the way, the mountain roads were rugged, crossing ridges and fording streams, extremely difficult. Within half a day, he trekked more than 70 li, and then hurried on for another 3 hours by night, without a moment's rest throughout the journey, and without taking any food or drink for 12 hours. During the night march, exposed to the cold wind, Bethune subsequently developed symptoms resembling a cold, such as headache, dizziness, general fatigue, nasal discharge, and hoarseness of voice. Even as his illness grew increasingly severe, Bethune never stopped his treatment work. On November 2, he went from one field hospital to another, examining more than 200 sick and wounded soldiers in a single day and performing operations on 12 patients. On November 3, despite illness, he remained at his post and continued to perform operations for the wounded. Although his condition continued to develop, he barely held on with only simple medications such as oral aspirin and coolants. By November 4, Bethune's condition had deteriorated, and he could only rest in bed.
This course of holding his post despite illness is recorded in detail in the museum's cultural relic, the Record of Comrade Bethune's Death, which was written by Ye Qingshan, then Director of the Health Department of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, and personally signed by Lin Jinliang, Director of Medical Affairs of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region. The text records his persistence in holding his post despite injury—after pricking his finger, he only bandaged it simply and insisted on making his rounds; his tenacious perseverance in trekking more than 70 li on foot in half a day and hurrying through the night; and his hard work in enduring pain to receive more than a hundred wounded in a single day. It also shows from the side that battlefield rescue conditions were limited at the time, yet the medical staff still took meticulous care of Bethune after he fell ill. This authentic historical material from a companion who witnessed the events firsthand, in documentary style, sorts out the causes and course of Bethune's postponement of his return to China, his battlefield rescue work, his accidental injury, secondary infection, and eventual unfortunate death, recreating in every detail his selfless dedication in the final stage of his life. It is the core historical material with the most complete narrative thread in the entire archive.
Another supporting historical document, the Sickbed Log, in the form of a medical ledger, details day by day over the more than ten days from November 1 to 12, 1939, the various signs and symptoms of Bethune's illness, the treatment plans, and the medications used, preserving the actual record of Ye Qingshan leading the base area medical team in making every effort to rescue him. For example, on November 4, the log records that Bethune developed many symptoms including headache, pain in the limbs, listlessness, and insomnia, whereupon the medical staff immediately prescribed morphine hydrochloride for emergency pain relief. By November 10, his condition was critical: Bethune's breathing was shallow, his face was pale, his limbs were cold, his pulse was thready, and he was unconscious, whereupon the medical staff immediately administered intravenous injections of camphor oil and sodium chloride solution in a full-scale rescue effort. This detailed diagnosis and treatment archive restores the course of Bethune's illness gradually worsening and his struggle against the pain, reflecting the profound friendship of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region medical team in devoting every effort to rescuing their international friend.
Letters as testimony, a loyal heart forever casting a monument
Long-term overwork combined with severe wound infection caused Bethune's bodily functions to decline, and his condition rapidly became critical. On November 5, hearing that the enemy situation at the front was tense, he, burning with high fever, rushed to the front line to carry out treatment. Days of rushing about caused his injuries to worsen continuously, and by November 6, on the way to the front line, he could no longer ride a horse and could only be transported by stretcher. Accompanied by severe reactions such as nausea, vomiting, and inability to eat, his body temperature rose to 40°C, showing remittent fever characteristics, with repeated chills and shivering. In the following two days, Bethune's local symptoms worsened, and a large amount of pus was secreted from the wound surface. Although the inflammation subsided somewhat, a metastatic abscess still formed below the elbow joint of his left upper limb, and severe pain arose in the left armpit, whereupon the medical staff took various emergency treatment measures. On the morning of the 9th, because the local abscess was fluctuating, a minor operation was performed (cruciate incision for drainage of pus, and necrotic-tissue gauze packing of the wound), and analgesics were given orally. However, even after high-intensity medical intervention, his condition still did not improve. On the afternoon of the 10th, Bethune fell into a coma while being transferred to a rear hospital, and only gradually regained consciousness after 20 minutes of emergency rescue. When he was sent to the rear hospital on the 11th, he had already developed signs resembling hemolytic jaundice, accompanied by subcutaneous ecchymosis on the left half of his body, and the medical team immediately injected calcium agents, cardiac stimulants, glucose, and other medications in a desperate effort to save him. At the moment of his last breath, Bethune took up his pen and wrote to Commander Nie Rongzhen, frankly stating that his nearly two years in China had been "the happiest and most meaningful days" of his life, and gave all his personal belongings to Ye Qingshan, Lin Jinliang, Jiang Yizhen—three comrades from western Fujian—and his colleagues around him. This final letter was filled with his profound feelings for China's anti-Japanese fighters and for the Chinese people.
In the last stage of his life, Bethune had a continuous high fever for more than ten days. In the museum's cultural relic, the Temperature Record, the horizontal axis of the table is arranged in sequence with date cells from November 1 to 12; the left vertical axis, from top to bottom, synchronously marks three groups of observation scales: Fahrenheit body temperature, pulse, and respiration. The right vertical axis is marked with Celsius temperature scales. In the central plotting area of the chart, the battlefield medical staff drew red temperature polyline at 8:00 and 18:00 each day as scheduled; in the lower left corner of the table there are auxiliary registration columns for blood pressure, body weight, and diet, but under the urgent battlefield conditions of the time, none were filled in. The hand-drawn red polyline on the table rose and fell with the daily temperature data, repeatedly surging upward, visually presenting his state of days of continuous high fever and struggle against the pain. The red polyline abruptly stops on the 11th, and the remaining blank columns of the table mark the end of this hero's life.
With Bethune's passing, this Death Certificate, as the concluding official document of the entire set of medical archives, became the final voucher of wartime medical archival records. This handwritten bilingual document uses the medical term "Pyämie" (sepsis) to designate the illness, and was signed into effect jointly by Ye Qingshan, then Director of the Health Department of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, Li Dengsong, Political Commissar, and Lin Jinliang, Director of Medical Affairs. The header of the document details Bethune's position, age, sex, native place, and date of admission; the "Treatment Course" column records the entire process of diagnosis and treatment during the rescue period; the "Cause of Death" column lists the cause of death in two items, clearly stating that because of an unremitting remittent high fever of 41.5°C, bacterial toxins mixed in the blood stimulated the heart, and he ultimately sacrificed his life due to cardiac paralysis; the "Date of Death" column marks the precise time of his passing. This document records the evolution of his illness, the main signs and symptoms, and the treatment information, and is a precious physical testimony for studying the medical history of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei border region and the history of international aid to China's War of Resistance.
At 5 o'clock in the morning of November 12, 1939, despite the many efforts of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region medical staff to rescue him, Bethune unfortunately passed away at Huangshikou Village, Tang County, Hebei, at the age of only 49. He devoted his life to the cause of the Chinese people's anti-Japanese liberation. Four documents preserve the years; one loyal heart illuminates the mountains and rivers. This set of museum cultural relics, mutually corroborating each other, forms a complete chain of historical materials through documentary manuscripts, illness ledgers, sign and symptom records, and official diagnosis, truthfully recording the real experiences of the more than ten days at the end of Bethune's life. They fully display the lofty character of an internationalist fighter's boundless great love, causing the Bethune spirit of "utter devotion to others without any thought of self" to shine together with the loyal hearts of the western Fujian red doctors, passing from generation to generation on this red land.
Return to TopBy: 李俊伟
In December 2022, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on democratic life that at all times and under all circumstances, we must uphold a high degree of unity with the Party Central Committee, forming harmony within the ensemble conducted by the Party Central Committee, and must never strike a false note, go off-key, or change tune.
"Striking a false note, going off-key, or changing tune" describes the phenomenon of discordant and uncoordinated elements appearing within an orchestra, affecting the overall listening experience and undermining the overall effect. General Secretary Xi Jinping used this metaphor to vividly and graphically point out the importance and necessity of upholding the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee on the new journey of the new era, emphasizing that organizations at all levels must fulfill their own missions and responsibilities in upholding the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee.
Marx once vividly pointed out: "A single violin player is his own conductor; an orchestra requires a conductor." A Marxist political party is an organization with unified thought, rigorous organization, and strict discipline. Its thought is the crystallization of the collective wisdom of the whole Party, the theoretical foundation and guide to action formed by pooling the consensus of the whole Party; its organization is an organizational system formed by the central, local, and grassroots levels, "like the body commanding the arms, like the arms commanding the fingers"; its discipline is the rules and discipline for safeguarding and executing the decisions of the Party Central Committee. In the efficient and harmonious operation of Party organizations at all levels, the highest principle embodying organizational nature and discipline is upholding the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "With such a large Party and such a large country, if the Party Central Committee cannot exercise strong and effective centralized and unified leadership, there will be a situation of each going his own way and acting on his own judgment, and then nothing can be accomplished." Only by upholding the leadership of the Communist Party of China can we give play to the advantage of the whole country as one chessboard, concentrating strength to accomplish major tasks, ensuring that the whole country moves in unison, concentrates its strength, and coordinates efforts to tackle problems, forming a common will and common action for realizing modernization.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, General Secretary Xi Jinping has clearly proposed "exercising full and rigorous governance over the Party." In response to the problems of weakened, hollowed-out, and diluted Party leadership that once existed, he clearly stated that "upholding the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee is the highest political principle," making the whole Party more unified in thought, more united politically, and more consistent in action. In the face of the once lax, soft, and loose state of Party governance, the strict requirements were applied to all aspects and links of Party governance, and with unprecedented courage and resolve, the fight against corruption and the construction of a clean and honest government were advanced, eliminating serious hidden dangers within the Party, resolving the serious political risks facing the Party, ensuring that the Party's overall leadership became stronger and more effective, and promoting all-round, pioneering achievements in the cause of the Party and the state, and deep-seated, fundamental changes. Establishing Comrade Xi Jinping's core position on the Party Central Committee and in the whole Party, and establishing the guiding position of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, are the most significant political achievement, the most valuable historical experience, and the most objective practical conclusion of the new era, and are the greatest certainty, the greatest confidence, and the greatest guarantee for the Party and the people in responding to all uncertainties.
Upholding the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee is the concrete application of democratic centralism, which is an organizational principle and leadership system that has been repeatedly proven effective through practice. To govern well the world's largest political party and a country with a huge population, we must uphold the Party's overall leadership, especially the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, uphold democratic centralism, and ensure that the Party always commands the overall situation and coordinates all parties. Through sound organizational systems, institutional systems, and working mechanisms, we must effectively implement Party leadership in all fields, aspects, and links of reform, development, and stability, domestic and foreign affairs, national defense, and Party, government, military, and civilian governance. By improving the leadership system of the Party Central Committee over major work, improving the system by which the Party Central Committee leads organizations at all levels, and perfecting the mechanism for implementing the Party Central Committee's major decisions and arrangements, we ensure that the Party is centralized, unified, and strong. In this coordinated, smooth, and efficient leadership system, the Party Central Committee has the authority to make the final decision and to be the sole authority.
Party leadership and Party building have always been closely linked to accomplishing the Party's central tasks. The purpose of upholding the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee is to embody the wisdom and strength of all Party members in the entire process of fulfilling the Party's governing mission. Party members and cadres should be guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, fully implement Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, deeply understand the decisive significance of the "Two Establishments," strengthen the "Four Consciousnesses," firm up the "Four Confidences," and achieve the "Two Upholds," and unite more closely around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core. We must continuously improve political judgment, political understanding, and political execution, implement Party leadership in all fields, aspects, and links of the cause of the Party and the state, and jointly write a new chapter in building a strong country and realizing national rejuvenation.
Return to TopBy: 孟庆云
"Persist in Governing the Party with the Spirit of Reform and Strict Standards" is an important part of the speech delivered by General Secretary Xi Jinping at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection on January 6, 2025, and is included in Volume II of the Selected Works of Xi Jinping on Party Building. This important document scientifically answers the major questions of the new era and new journey — with what kind of mental state and attitude to govern the Party, and with what kind of standards to govern the Party. It points the direction for our Party to advance comprehensive and strict Party self-governance in depth, is an important component of Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, and is also an important document for studying Xi Jinping's thought on Party building.
The spirit of reform and strict standards are two sides of one body, complementing each other.
Advancing self-revolution with a scientific attitude and systematic methods with a high degree of consciousness is our Party's notable advantage and also the winning way to lead the times. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the very beginning of this important document, "On the new journey of the new era, we must persist in governing the Party with the spirit of reform and strict standards, and strive to achieve greater results," elevating our Party's understanding of comprehensive and strict Party self-governance to a new theoretical height.
From the dimension of the spirit of reform, this is a major innovation in the methodology of comprehensive and strict Party self-governance. For a long time, reform was more often regarded as an important measure for advancing development in the economic and social fields. This important document introduces the spirit of reform into the field of Party governance, endowing the Party's self-revolution with the spiritual temperament of forging ahead with determination and breaking the old to establish the new. This means that Party governance cannot be satisfied with the status quo; it must use reform methods to remove institutional and mechanistic obstacles, and use innovative thinking to crack difficult problems. As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "Looking at the whole world, no political party can treat its own construction as seriously and conscientiously as the Communist Party of China, or advance self-revolution with such a high degree of consciousness, with a scientific attitude and systematic methods." The spirit of reform is precisely the concentrated embodiment of the scientific attitude and systematic methods.
From the dimension of strict standards, this is a re-emphasis and deepening of the main tone of comprehensive and strict Party self-governance. On November 15, 2012, when meeting with Chinese and foreign journalists, members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the 18th Central Committee, General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly proposed "persisting in the Party managing the Party and governing the Party strictly." In October 2014, at the concluding meeting of the Party's mass line education and practice activities, he first proposed the major proposition of "comprehensively advancing strict Party governance," and subsequently incorporated "comprehensive and strict Party self-governance" into the "Four Comprehensives" strategic layout. From "strict Party governance" to "comprehensive and strict Party self-governance," and then to "governing the Party with strict standards," a clear main line runs through: the standards for Party governance will only get higher and higher, and the requirements will only get stricter and stricter. General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out that for comprehensive and strict Party self-governance, the foundation lies in comprehensiveness, the key lies in strictness, and the crux lies in governance. This important document further systematizes and concretizes "strict standards," making them a rigid yardstick that can be referenced, tested, and held accountable.
The spirit of reform and strict standards are two sides of one body, complementing each other. The spirit of reform points to the endogenous driving force of self-revolution, answering the question of with what kind of mental state and attitude to govern the Party; strict standards point to the external yardstick of Party governance, answering the question of with what kind of standards to govern the Party. The two are organically unified, jointly constituting an important concept for Party governance in the new era, deepening our Party's understanding of the laws of Communist Party governance, enriching and developing Marxist party-building theory, and manifesting the Chinese style and Chinese boldness of Xi Jinping's thought on Party building.
Based on achieving greater results in Party building, focusing on resolving prominent contradictions within the Party.
Problems are the voice of the times, and answering and guiding the resolution of problems is the fundamental task of theory. Since the 18th Party Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has governed the Party comprehensively and strictly with unprecedented courage and resolve, delivered a "combination punch" of self-revolution, insisted on building the institutional normative system for the Party's self-purification, self-improvement, self-renewal, and self-enhancement, and the Party's conduct and government conduct have taken on a completely new look. However, we must also clearly recognize that the governing environment our Party faces is complex, the factors affecting the Party's advanced nature and weakening its purity are also complex, and prominent problems within the Party such as impure thinking, impure organization, and impure conduct have not yet been fundamentally resolved. This important document embodies a strong sense of problem-awareness, directly targeting stubborn and chronic diseases in Party governance, and puts forward targeted important measures.
First, the political deviation of inconsistency between words and deeds. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that maintaining a high degree of consistency with the Party Central Committee "cannot simply be treated as a political statement; it must be practiced as promised." We must resolutely rectify phenomena such as the "seven types of misconduct" (七个有之), "low-level red," and "high-level black" (低级红、高级黑). Second, the prominent shortcoming of weak disciplinary awareness. Some Party members and cadres "know nothing about Party discipline when asked." We must focus on consolidating and deepening the achievements of Party discipline learning and education, establish a normalized and long-term disciplinary education mechanism, and run disciplinary education through the entire cycle of cadre growth. Third, the stage-specific feature of the interweaving of misconduct and corruption. General Secretary Xi Jinping deeply assessed the situation of the anti-corruption struggle and clearly pointed out that "the interweaving of unhealthy tendencies and corruption problems is a prominent problem that must be addressed with focused efforts in the current stage of Party conduct and clean government building and the anti-corruption struggle," creatively proposing the targeted therapy of simultaneous investigation and simultaneous governance of misconduct and corruption. Fourth, the phenomenon of suspended responsibility in Party governance. General Secretary Xi Jinping severely criticized some leading cadres who "express support for comprehensive and strict Party self-governance verbally but take little initiative to act on it, and who know some problems perfectly well but pretend to be deaf and mute," and some members of leadership teams who believe that "the 'Two Responsibilities' (两个责任) are just the business of the Party committee secretary and the discipline inspection commission secretary, so it is none of their business and they hold their heads high," revealing the problem of responsibility hollowing within the Party. Fifth, the temperature difference in grassroots anti-corruption. General Secretary Xi Jinping hit the nail on the head: "If there are nine-level winds and waves above but everything remains perfectly still below, how can we win the heartfelt support of the people?" He once again emphasized that the anti-corruption struggle concerns the people's hearts, which is the biggest political issue, and we must continue to push comprehensive and strict Party self-governance to extend to the grassroots.
Systematically advancing Party governance with systematic thinking and scientific methods.
The Resolution of the CPC Central Committee on Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively to Advance Chinese Modernization makes major arrangements for deepening the reform of the Party's building system. General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly pointed out at the 15th collective study session of the Political Bureau of the 20th Central Committee that we must "use systematic thinking and scientific methods to advance Party governance with full coverage of content, full coverage of objects, full chain of responsibility, and full connectivity of institutions, and further improve a comprehensive and strict Party self-governance system with complete elements, complete functions, scientific norms, and efficient operation." This important document centrally embodies the need to advance the Party's self-revolution in a systematic manner, constructing a practical layout of systematic policy implementation from five aspects.
Systematization of political supervision. General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly proposed "advancing the concretization, precision, and normalization of political supervision," putting forward requirements from the three dimensions of thought, politics, and action, emphasizing the need to coordinate the arrangements for the "two offices" supervision of the Party committee and government, discipline inspection and supervision, inspection and tour supervision, and functional department supervision, constructing a work pattern of interconnected and coordinated supervision among all types of supervision, effectively promoting reform and tackling difficulties and promoting high-quality development.
Full-cycle disciplinary education. It is necessary to establish a normalized and long-term disciplinary education mechanism, do a good job of disciplinary education for Party members and cadres at all important nodes from joining the Party and entering service to retirement, and do a good job of disciplinary training for key targets such as newly promoted cadres, young cadres, and cadres in key positions. These requirements realize the transformation of discipline building from post-hoc punishment to full-cycle connectivity, emphasizing the transformation of heteronomy into self-discipline and the internalization of discipline into daily behavioral norms that are used without conscious awareness, enabling Party members and cadres to reform, innovate, and start businesses while observing rules and discipline.
Full-chain rectification of conduct, discipline, and corruption. It is necessary to adhere to the interconnection of rectifying conduct, enforcing discipline, and fighting corruption, severely punish problems of interwoven misconduct and corruption through "simultaneous investigation," and eradicate the common roots of misconduct and corruption through "simultaneous governance." This deployment breaks the previous work pattern in which conduct building and the anti-corruption struggle were relatively separate, forming a full-chain closed loop of punishment. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that it is necessary to enhance the effectiveness of promoting reform and governance through case analysis, promote the improvement of the restraint and supervision mechanism for the allocation and operation of power, and enrich effective methods for preventing and combating new types of corruption and hidden corruption.
Precision of responsibility implementation. This important document clearly delineates the boundaries between the Party committee's main responsibility and the discipline inspection commission's supervisory responsibility, emphasizing that "the Party committee must take the initiative to grasp and manage, and cannot use the discipline inspection commission's supervisory responsibility to replace its own main responsibility, let alone abandon responsibility and push it all away." It requires all responsible subjects to know their responsibilities, shoulder their responsibilities, and fulfill their responsibilities, "cannot be 'good old fellows,'" and it is necessary to optimize the responsibility implementation assessment mechanism and carry out precise and scientific accountability for dereliction of duty.
Normalization of grassroots anti-corruption. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that Party committees at all levels, especially city and county Party committees, should make the rectification of unhealthy tendencies and corruption problems around the people an important task to be carried out on a normalized basis, so that the common people can feel and access the results. He proposed using scientific and technological means to strengthen supervision and solve the supervision problem of the "acquaintance society"; implementing the long-term mechanism of rectifying formalism to reduce burdens at the grassroots, coordinating burden reduction and empowerment. This provides a clear path and method support for extending comprehensive and strict Party self-governance to the grassroots.
Return to TopBy: 黄卫挺
The private economy is a new force (生力军) in advancing Chinese-style modernization. The outline of the "15th Five-Year Plan" makes arrangements for "developing and strengthening the private economy." Looking toward the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, it is imperative to improve and perfect the overall coordination mechanism for promoting the development of the private economy, ensure that various systems and policies for promoting private economic development are implemented, properly resolve the major strategic and policy issues encountered in the development of the private economy on the new journey, effectively stimulate the vitality and momentum of private economic development, and make every effort to safeguard the private economy in shouldering greater responsibilities of the era.
Grounded in the needs of the times, deeply grasp the strategic significance of improving the overall coordination mechanism
Standing at the new starting point of the opening year of the "15th Five-Year Plan," improving and perfecting the overall coordination mechanism for promoting the development of the private economy is a strategic choice that conforms to the trend of the times and responds to the expectations of the private economy. It bears on the quality of implementation of top-level design, bears on the fulfillment of the mission of the new journey, and also bears on the stability of the overall macroeconomic picture. It is necessary to deeply understand the strategic considerations and practical significance behind it from a political and overall perspective.
A key lever for ensuring that top-level design is implemented and produces results. In recent years, various policies for promoting the development and growth of the private economy have been issued intensively, and the policy system has gradually matured, completing the "first mile" of policy formulation. In practice, these policies involve multiple departments such as finance, taxation, financial regulation, and market supervision. Whether they can be implemented and produce maximum effectiveness depends on breaking down departmental barriers, effectively integrating policy resources scattered across various departments, and ensuring that various enterprise-benefiting policies are consistent in direction, cumulative in intensity, and coordinated in pace. To this end, it is necessary to improve the overall coordination mechanism, effectively connect the "last mile" of policy implementation, truly transform the "construction drawing" into a "real-world view," and truly translate various supporting policies into tangible gains for private enterprises.
An important support for forging ahead on the new journey of the "15th Five-Year Plan." The "15th Five-Year Plan" period is a critical period for consolidating the foundation and comprehensively exerting efforts toward basically realizing socialist modernization. With promoting high-quality development as the theme, the private economy must play a key role in leading innovative development, participating in major national strategies, and enhancing international competitiveness. This is both a new mission for the development of the private economy and a systematic project. Improving the overall coordination mechanism is the inherent requirement and institutional support for adapting to the new tasks of the "15th Five-Year Plan" and supporting the private economy in demonstrating greater achievements in Chinese-style modernization. In particular, against the backdrop of deep integration of scientific and technological innovation with industrial innovation and increasingly fierce international competition, only by strengthening mechanism design and comprehensive coordination, guiding and supporting private enterprises to deeply participate in major national scientific and technological research projects and to participate in building a globalized industrial chain and supply chain system, can we better support the private economy in achieving innovative development, better participate in international frontier competition, and contribute stronger private economic strength to China's victory in fierce international competition.
A realistic guarantee for maintaining stable economic growth. At present, insufficient effective demand and weak social expectations remain important contradictions in economic operations, but the supporting conditions and basic trend of China's economy improving over the long term have not changed. The private economy plays a ballast-stone role in stabilizing growth, expanding employment, and safeguarding people's livelihoods, and holds a pivotal position in stabilizing the overall economic picture. Only by improving the overall coordination mechanism and releasing greater policy synergy and reform momentum can we effectively resolve the deep-seated contradictions behind problems such as slowing growth in private investment and weak willingness of enterprises to invest, effectively stabilize and guide market expectations, maximize the stimulation of the endogenous momentum and vitality of the private economy, and provide a micro-foundation for maintaining the smooth operation of the national economy.
Consolidating the foundation of operation, building a "trinity" support system
Improving and perfecting the overall coordination mechanism for promoting the development of the private economy must focus on the three major elements of ideological guidance, mechanism design, and capacity building, strive to solve the problems of understanding, rules, and implementation, and form a trinity of mutually reinforcing support systems.
Forming a conscious action of jointly seeking development. Ideological guidance is not only the cornerstone of the support system but also the action guide that runs through the entire process. It is necessary to make ideological guidance concrete and normalized, and promote governments at all levels to truly treat supporting the development of the private economy as their own duty and responsibility. We must deeply study the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions on the development of the private economy, earnestly follow the spirit of important speeches such as "the private economy is an intrinsic element of China's economic system, and private enterprises and private entrepreneurs are our own people," resolutely break the conceptual inertia of "valuing the state-owned over the private" and the management mindset of "officialdom standard," and truly transform the "two unswerving commitments" (两个毫不动摇) from a political requirement into a conscious action of actively serving the private economy. We must foster a social atmosphere that respects private enterprises and private entrepreneurs, and publicize well the important position and role of the private economy in socialist modernization, especially its contributions in scientific and technological innovation, rural revitalization, and common prosperity. At the same time, we must improve the mechanisms for collecting, analyzing, and handling public opinion related to the private economy, and for erroneous remarks that question the basic socialist economic system and online rumors that maliciously defame private enterprises and private entrepreneurs, we must dare to draw the sword, clarify in a timely manner, and crack down in accordance with the law, so that private entrepreneurs can feel at ease in starting businesses and confident in making investments. We must vigorously promote the spirit of outstanding entrepreneurs, guide entrepreneurs to strive to become models of patriotism and dedication, lawful operation, entrepreneurship and innovation, and giving back to society, and promote the healthy growth of the younger generation of private economic personnel.
Establishing a precise and efficient overall coordination mechanism. The core of improving the overall coordination mechanism lies in taking the promotion of high-quality development of the private economy as the orientation, forming a comprehensive coordination system that covers the entire process of policy formulation, implementation, and evaluation feedback, runs through the entire life cycle of enterprises from start-up, growth, maturity, to transformation, and realizes the transformation from fragmented management to collaborative governance. In terms of policy formulation, we should coordinate and optimize the pre-review conditions for policy issuance, formulate unified and standardized review measures, and effectively embed fair competition review and consistency assessment of macro-policy orientation into the front end of decision-making. Policy adjustments must set a reasonable transition period, try to avoid unnecessary impact on the normal operation of enterprises, strive to maintain policy continuity and stability, and strengthen the connection and coordination between short-term policies and long-term policies. In light of enterprise size, industry, and regional distribution, we should provide precise services and policy support by tier and by category. In terms of policy implementation, matters supporting the private economy should be incorporated into the key supervision lists of Party committees and governments at all levels, ledgers and cancellation management should be established for agreed matters and enterprise-benefiting policies, and key indicators and tasks of private economic development should be incorporated into local high-quality development assessments to strengthen the "baton" orientation. In terms of comprehensive safeguards, we should improve the normalized communication and exchange mechanism with private enterprises, the rapid response mechanism for private enterprise demands, and the closed-loop handling process, encourage local governments to explore the establishment of grassroots contact points for high-quality development of the private economy, promptly perceive the conditions at the front line, and effectively solve practical problems.
Enhancing the practical effectiveness of overall coordination. Capacity building is the key to transforming institutional advantages into governance effectiveness. It is necessary to comprehensively enhance the overall coordination capacity for promoting the development of the private economy from the three dimensions of institutional construction, technological empowerment, and external support. In terms of institutional construction, in addition to strengthening and optimizing the allocation of cadres, on the basis of promoting relevant departments to perform their duties well, work teams should be formed as circumstances require around major issues encountered in the development of the private economy, leading and responsible departments should be clearly designated, implementation should be strengthened, and situations where some people deliberate but no one executes, or where there is multiple management but no one is responsible, should be avoided. In terms of technological empowerment, relying on the integrated government service platform, we should break through data barriers between departments, build a comprehensive service and operation monitoring platform for the private economy, use big data to accurately match enterprise profiles, transform from "enterprises seeking policies" to "policies seeking enterprises," and vigorously promote "enjoyment without application, one-click direct delivery" (免申即享、一键直达). At the same time, we should dynamically monitor the operational indicators of the private economy, especially issues such as private investment, arrears of accounts, and law enforcement complaints, achieve early identification and early warning of risks, and enhance the precision of overall coordination. In terms of external support, we should actively absorb opinions and suggestions from experts and scholars, business associations, and outstanding representatives of private entrepreneurs, fully solicit public opinions before the formulation of major plans and the issuance of policies, and enhance the scientific and democratic level of decision-making.
Grasping the measures for implementation, focusing on key issues in practice to strengthen overall coordination
Adhering to a problem-oriented approach and firmly grasping implementation is the fundamental requirement for giving play to the role of the overall coordination mechanism. In practice, solving problems is the hard truth. It is necessary to increase the intensity of overall coordination around the key and difficult issues currently encountered in the development of the private economy, and truly transform institutional advantages into development dividends that private enterprises can feel and obtain.
Treating both symptoms and root causes (标本兼治), properly solving the difficult problem of arrears owed to enterprises. Arrears owed to enterprises are a prominent risk affecting the normal operation of private enterprises. Solving this problem has important practical significance for safeguarding enterprise rights and interests, stabilizing enterprise expectations, and enhancing enterprise confidence. We must effectively strengthen departmental coordination, compact the responsibilities of local governments and core enterprises, establish a cross-departmental information sharing and joint supervision mechanism, form a joint force for clearing old arrears and preventing new arrears, and ensure that the work of clearing arrears is implemented. At the same time, we should improve the legal and regulatory system and judicial mechanism for clearing arrears owed to enterprises, and cut off the increment at the institutional level. We should strengthen supervision over government-invested projects and project funds, strengthen supervision over government procurement payments, and improve the institutional mechanism for preventing and resolving arrears owed by large enterprises to small and medium-sized enterprises. We should optimize the complaint management and operation mechanism for arrears owed to small and medium-sized enterprises, improve the complaint supervision and constraint mechanism, and improve the disciplinary mechanism for breach of trust.
Creating a fair competition environment, breaking down walls and clearing obstacles (破壁清障) for private enterprises to participate in bidding and tendering. The principle of fair competition has already been implemented throughout the entire process of policy formulation, but in specific practices such as bidding and tendering, there are still some "glass doors" (玻璃门) that require greater overall coordination efforts to more effectively break down walls and clear obstacles for enterprises. We should strengthen the construction of corresponding mechanisms, guide tenderers to establish mechanisms such as compliance review of tender documents and self-inspection of fairness throughout the bidding process, clarify the list of administrative supervision responsibilities and division of duties for bidding and tendering, improve the complaint handling mechanism, and ensure that private enterprises have smooth channels for reporting problems and resolving them. We should strengthen the application of digital and intelligent technologies, improve the precision and efficiency of identifying various types of unreasonable restrictions, and ensure that relevant institutional provisions are strictly implemented.
Strengthening the supply of innovation resources, activating the innovation momentum of private enterprises. Private enterprises are a new force in technological innovation, but they face constraints such as shortages of pilot-scale testing resources, insufficient opening of major scientific research facilities, and high computing power costs. Asset-light technology-based enterprises also face the financing pain point of difficulty in pledging scientific and technological innovation achievements. We should increase the intensity of overall coordination, focus on solving practical difficulties such as operating cost standards, confidentiality and safety risks, further promote the opening of major national scientific research infrastructure to private enterprises; establish application conditions and acceptance standards that conform to the reality of private economic development, and effectively support capable private enterprises in taking the lead in undertaking major national technological breakthroughs. We should research and promote policy tools such as "artificial intelligence vouchers" to reduce the cost of using public computing power for private enterprises; increase financial innovation efforts, coordinate policy-based financial resources and market financing channels, and better meet the financing needs of small and medium-sized enterprises in the field of scientific and technological innovation.
Standardizing law enforcement and supervision conduct involving enterprises, creating a rule-of-law environment that reassures businesses and benefits enterprises. In response to problems strongly reflected by private enterprises such as illegal cross-regional law enforcement, profit-driven law enforcement, and repeated inspections, we should increase the intensity of overall coordination and supervision, and effectively standardize law enforcement conduct involving enterprises. The focus should be on promoting the establishment and improvement of communication mechanisms for administrative law enforcement demands involving enterprises, strictly implementing the list-based management of administrative inspection matters, vigorously promoting models such as "scan-code entry to enterprises" (扫码入企) and non-site supervision, and resolutely curbing repeated inspections and multi-department inspections. We should deepen the reform of "one comprehensive inspection" (综合查一次), reasonably coordinate administrative inspection plans at the provincial, municipal, and county levels, strictly control the scope, content, and time limit of special inspections, and resolutely eliminate selective law enforcement and the chaos of forcing enterprises to "prove their own innocence."
Improving the overseas rights and interests protection system, supporting private enterprises in going global in an orderly manner. As private enterprises accelerate their pace of "going global," the number of cases encountering antitrust investigations, intellectual property disputes, and compliance reviews overseas has increased, and the ability of individual enterprises to respond is insufficient. We should coordinate the resources of relevant domestic departments and overseas institutions, make good use of non-governmental forces, build a three-dimensional escort system, and support private enterprises in "going out and standing firm." The focus should be on coordinating relevant forces and resources, promptly issuing and updating information such as compliance guides for investment destinations and foreign investment security review trends, and promoting private enterprises to build overseas compliance systems in advance. We should coordinate resources such as consular services and legal support, help private enterprises properly respond to foreign antitrust reviews, guide industries to respond to lawsuits collectively; expand the pilot of cross-border financing facilitation for high-tech and "specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative" (专精特新) enterprises, expand the coverage of export credit insurance for private enterprises, and reduce the risks of going global.
(The author is Deputy Director of the Department of Decision-making Advisory Research, Macroeconomic Research Institute, National Development and Reform Commission)
Return to TopBy: 段威 郑骄阳
In his 2026 New Year message, General Secretary Xi Jinping's important statement that "we nourish our spiritual home with culture" reveals the core position of culture in building the common spiritual home of the Chinese nation. Article 31 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress, adopted on March 12, 2026, clearly states: "The state supports the use of modern technical means such as the Internet, big data, and artificial intelligence to carry out exchange activities, encourages and guides providers of online products and services to produce and disseminate works and information reflecting the great unity of the Chinese nation, and fosters a harmonious online environment conducive to forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation." At present, digital-intelligent technology, whose core feature is the deep integration of digitalization and intelligentization, has enabled the spatiotemporal domain for building the common spiritual home of the Chinese nation to extend and expand from traditional media to a cyberspace interwoven with data, algorithms, and the cloud, providing important technical support for building the common spiritual home of the Chinese nation.
The Implications of Using Digital-Intelligent Technology to Build the Common Spiritual Home of the Chinese Nation
The deep application of digital-intelligent technology has expanded new dimensions and spaces for building the common spiritual home of the Chinese nation, mainly reflected in the following aspects.
Expanding the dimension of construction and realizing the inclusive sharing of cultural resources. Digital-intelligent technology has broken through the physical distance limitations of cultural dissemination, greatly promoting the extension of cultural space from the physical domain to the digital domain. Through new formats such as digital museums and cloud exhibitions, high-quality cultural resources can cover border and ethnic minority regions, providing a new path for people of all ethnic groups to enjoy cultural resources equally and to enhance their identification with Chinese culture.
Activating cultural genes and supporting the creative transformation and innovative development of culture. Article 13 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress emphasizes: "The state develops advanced socialist culture, promotes revolutionary culture, inherits fine traditional Chinese culture, and guides people of all ethnic groups to enhance their identification with Chinese culture and strengthen their confidence in Chinese culture." Fine traditional Chinese culture is the root, revolutionary culture is the backbone, and advanced socialist culture is the guide — the three are mutually integrated and organically unified. Practices such as the Palace Museum's 8K ultra-high-definition technology restoration of "A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains" and the Dunhuang Research Academy's artificial intelligence restoration of murals provide vivid annotations for the coordinated exertion and living inheritance of the "three cultures."
Optimizing communication effectiveness and enhancing the precision of cultivating a sense of community for the Chinese nation. Digital-intelligent technology breaks through the previous "flood irrigation" limitations of cultural dissemination, relying on big data and algorithm recommendation to achieve precise delivery. Immersive technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality enable audiences to shift from passive acceptance to deep participation, promoting the sense of community for the Chinese nation to deepen from the cognitive level to emotional identification.
Consolidating the public opinion front and building a solid defense line for online ideological security. Build a comprehensive all-media intelligent communication system to strengthen the dissemination power, guiding power, influence, and credibility of mainstream ideological public opinion; rely on technologies such as natural language processing and sentiment analysis to enhance the perception, early warning, and handling capabilities for ethnic-related online public opinion, and maintain the dominant position of mainstream values in online dissemination.
Cultural identification is the deepest form of identification, the root of ethnic unity, and the soul of ethnic harmony. Digital-intelligent technology has expanded dimensions, activated genes, optimized effectiveness, and consolidated positions. The effectiveness of technological empowerment ultimately depends on the cultural content and value orientation it carries. Only by continuously enhancing identification with the great motherland, the Chinese nation, Chinese culture, the Communist Party of China, and socialism with Chinese characteristics can the foundation of the spiritual home become more solid.
The Challenges of Using Digital-Intelligent Technology to Build the Common Spiritual Home of the Chinese Nation
While fully affirming the positive role of digital-intelligent technology, we should clearly recognize that the digital-intelligent-led construction of the common spiritual home of the Chinese nation still faces some practical challenges.
There are problems of fragmentation and insufficiency in technological application. The collection, integration, and utilization of cultural digital resources exhibit fragmented characteristics, with a lack of unified standard systems and interconnection mechanisms among various systems and regions, resulting in a prominent "information island" effect. The digital divide between urban and rural areas, regions, and groups constrains the inclusive sharing of digital dividends.
There is a mismatch between cultural supply and identification needs. Some digital cultural products remain at the level of technical display, showing tendencies toward hollowing-out and superficiality; some ethnic culture digitalization projects have problems of homogenization and entertainment-oriented tendencies, failing to effectively preserve the authenticity and uniqueness of culture.
The digital divide and algorithmic bias coexist. Digital infrastructure in some regions is weak, and commercial platform algorithm recommendations based on traffic maximization logic reinforce "information cocoons," lacking effective mainstream value guidance in the content distribution of ethnic-related topics, which can easily lead to cognitive rigidity and opinion polarization.
Network governance and value guidance are not yet sound. Erroneous trends of thought such as narrow nationalism and historical nihilism spread in covert ways, with a particularly prominent impact on young people. The Law of the People's Republic of China on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress clearly stipulates that no organization or individual may produce or disseminate information containing content that undermines ethnic unity and progress in any way. The perception and early warning capabilities for public opinion involving ethnic factors need to be improved, and the guidance mechanism of mainstream values over algorithm recommendations still needs to be strengthened.
The Paths for Using Digital-Intelligent Technology to Build the Common Spiritual Home of the Chinese Nation
In the face of the above challenges, systematic advancement is needed to form effective paths for digital-intelligent-led construction of the common spiritual home of the Chinese nation.
Promote the standardized digitalization of cultural resources and build a solid data foundation. Establish and improve national standards systems for cultural digitalization, build a national cultural big data system, and break through data barriers. Focus on improving digital archives of fine traditional cultural resources of all ethnic groups, explore the construction of a "Digital-Intelligent Archive of the History of the Chinese National Community," and use visualized data to demonstrate that China's vast territory was jointly developed by all ethnic groups, the unified multi-ethnic country was jointly established by all ethnic groups, Chinese history was jointly written by all ethnic groups, Chinese culture was jointly created by all ethnic groups, and the great spirit was jointly cultivated by all ethnic groups.
Promote the deep integration of culture and technology and innovate digital cultural supply. Deepen the "culture + technology" integrated development, create immersive digital cultural experience spaces relying on technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality, and focus on creating digital cultural masterpieces that reflect the exchanges, interactions, and integration among ethnic groups and highlight the sense of community for the Chinese nation. Promote language interoperability, develop artificial intelligence translation technology, and use technical means to eliminate cultural barriers and enhance psychological identification.
Strengthen whole-chain value guidance and build a clear and positive discourse ecology. Integrate core socialist values into the entire process of digital-intelligent technology application, establish algorithm recommendation mechanisms oriented by mainstream values, and break "information cocoons." Explore the establishment of an "evaluation index system for forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation," and increase the dissemination of content showcasing fine traditional Chinese culture, revolutionary culture, and advanced socialist culture. Improve ethical norms and regulatory mechanisms for new technologies such as generative artificial intelligence, and lawfully combat illegal acts that use the Internet to disseminate content undermining ethnic unity.
Improve the digital cultural ecology and stimulate the vitality of whole-people co-construction. Build a digital cultural ecology featuring government guidance, social co-creation, and public participation, establish open digital cultural creation platforms, and encourage people of all ethnic groups to create works reflecting stories of exchanges, interactions, and integration. Strengthen digital literacy education for the whole people, incorporate forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation into the core content of digital literacy education, and increase investment in digital infrastructure in remote areas.
Improve the institutional guarantee system and achieve sustainable development. With the Law of the People's Republic of China on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress as the core, improve laws, regulations, and policy systems compatible with the digital-intelligent era, clarify the ownership and usage rules of cultural data, and strengthen intellectual property protection. Build a cultural data security guarantee system, increase financial investment and the cultivation of composite talents, establish cross-departmental and cross-regional collaborative working mechanisms, and form long-term joint working forces for building the common spiritual home.
Digital-intelligent technology is both a tool for cultural protection and inheritance and an engine for cultural innovation and development; the rule of law is the fundamental compliance for technological application, and values are the fundamental orientation for technological development. To advance digital-intelligent construction, we must always adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, firmly grasp the main line of forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation, deeply integrate technological development with the cultivation of cultural confidence and ethnic unity and progress, and build a common spiritual home of the Chinese nation that can unite the spiritual strength of all Chinese people, providing solid cultural support and spiritual motivation for realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Return to TopBy: 汪长明
“A museum is a large-scale school.” As a gathering place for red resources and an important carrier of public culture, museums, by virtue of their unique cultural heritage, rich collection resources, and intuitive educational settings, have become important battlegrounds and "second classrooms" for strengthening the ideological and political education of adolescents, playing an irreplaceable role in ideological and political guidance, shaping and forging the soul, and cultivating people through culture.
Currently, the construction of a strong cultural nation is being deeply advanced, and China's cultural relics and museum undertakings are presenting a 蔚然勃兴 (wèi rán bó xīng - "flourishing and rising," a state of vigorous development) trend of good momentum. The connection between museums and society and the public is becoming increasingly close, and "museum fever" has become a public cultural phenomenon with distinct characteristics of the era. This craze has not only facilitated a "two-way approach" between the public and culture, and between society and venues—expanding diverse paths for museum cultural narratives, cultural dissemination, and cultural cultivation—but has also placed higher requirements on the development of museums themselves. As information technology iterates rapidly, public demand for public culture continues to upgrade, and museum exhibition concepts keep pace with the times, "museum fever," while empowering museum work with increased traffic and expanding social influence, also faces many practical challenges in terms of management concepts, exhibition quality, service levels, and educational effectiveness. To solve these problems and achieve the improvement of quality and efficiency in the ideological and political guidance of museums, it is necessary for museums to break away from traditional development models, continuously promote spatial expansion and functional optimization, and effectively demonstrate their social value and educational mission as public cultural institutions.
To enhance the ideological and political guidance of museums, the first requirement is to achieve a transformation and upgrading of concepts. When examining a museum's positioning and actions within "museum fever," the key lies in grasping the "conductor's baton" of management concepts. The theme of International Museum Day 2024 is "Museums are dedicated to education and research." This theme closely aligns with museum work concepts, not only emphasizing the key role of museums in providing comprehensive educational experiences, but also highlighting the consolidation of the museum's "inward-pointing" function (academic research) and the strengthening of its "outward-pointing" function (social education). Regarding the "inward-pointing" function, it requires museums to persist in establishing institutions through scholarship, enhancing the professionalism and scientific nature of exhibition, teaching, and dissemination work; regarding the "outward-pointing" function, it requires museums to persist in a people-oriented approach, achieving an organic unity of facing society and serving society, and transforming education and research results into public cultural services to realize educational value.
In the traditional sense, museum work has mostly persisted in an "object-oriented" approach, namely centering on collections and exhibits to carry out collection, protection, display, and educational activities. This working method seriously constrains the full发挥 (fā huī - "play/exert") of the ideological and political guidance function of museums and also violates the fundamental attributes of museums—publicness and serviceability. Under the background of "museum fever," public demand for museums has shifted from "viewing cultural relics" to "learning knowledge, receiving education, and gaining experiences." This requires museums to abandon the traditional concept centered on "objects" (collections) and establish a value concept centered on "people" (the audience), achieving a transformation from "object-oriented" to "people-oriented," innovating working methods, and enhancing the initiative and effectiveness of ideological and political guidance. Achieving this transformation requires doing well in three aspects: first, promoting the innovation of the "basic display + themed exhibition + integration of exhibition and teaching" model, combining static cultural relic displays with dynamic social education activities through unified planning and holistic design to enhance the interactivity and sense of experience of ideological and political education; second, promoting the people-oriented transformation of "exhibition communitization, social education curriculumization, and venue socialization," promoting exhibitions to move out of venues and into communities, developing customized and systematic social education activity curricula, allowing venues to become ideological and political education platforms shared by society, and better promoting interaction between museums and society, schools, and families; third, focusing on adolescents as the "key audience group," combining the characteristics of adolescent physical and mental development, cognitive laws, and ideological and political education needs to design ideological and political education projects and activities that are both targeted and attractive, such as adolescent study tours, red summer camps, training for young cultural relic commentators, immersive classrooms, etc., to enhance their participation and their status as subjects in museum educational activities, making museums an important battleground for ideological and political education.
At the same time, attention must be paid to the precision and diversification of ideological and political guidance methods, abandoning rigid, preaching-style expressions and adopting methods that are popular among the public, integrating ideological and political values into cultural relic interpretation, cultural activities, and digital dissemination, allowing ideological and political education to 润物细无声 (rùn wù xì wú shēng - "moistening things silently," to influence people subtly and imperceptibly) and "follow the wind into the night." Taking scientist memorial halls as an example, one can convey patriotism and the spirit of innovation by telling the unknown stories of scientists serving the country behind the cultural relics; by carrying out activities such as technological innovation situational reenactments and interactive experiences, one can allow the public to perceive the ideological and political values contained within, such as seeking truth and innovation, collectivism, and selfless dedication, through participation; by using digital technology to create immersive science popularization scenes, one can enhance the narrative attractiveness, the infectiousness of deeds, and the emotional impact of ideological and political education regarding the scientist spirit.
Museum collection cultural relics are cultural wealth and civilizational witnesses that "exist in the world" and "reveal the future" of history; they are also important media for "contemporary people" to understand their own development process and establish time-space connections with "ancient people," and are even more important sources for stimulating cultural innovation, artistic creation, and technological invention. This is both the foundation upon which the historical, artistic, and scientific values of museum collections are released, and the primary resource for museums to carry out ideological and political education and enhance ideological and political guidance. As the form through which museum collection cultural resources are activated and face the public directly, the narrative function of exhibitions is directly determined by their representativeness within the museum's own collection system. Specifically, curators should adhere to a "dual-center" positioning: using the venue as the "physical center" to solidify the basic scenes of ideological and political education; and using society as the "value center," focusing on the public's public cultural needs, allowing museum education to better align with social realities on the basis of adhering to a public-centered approach.
To this end, first, strengthen academic research, deeply excavate the ideological and political connotations, spiritual meanings, and era values of collection cultural relics, and promote the knowledge transformation of collection resources, allowing information and knowledge with cultural value and educational significance to "flow" and enter the hearts of the broad public, especially adolescent students; second, on the basis of constructing panoramic educational scenes, launch more exhibitions and educational projects with profound concepts, rich connotations, and diverse forms toward society, breaking through physical space limitations and breaking "information cocoons," changing the solidified cognition and stereotyped image of museums in the minds of the public, and making museums into halls of ideological and political education that possess emotional warmth, cultural connotation, value tension, and spiritual strength; third, strengthen the "dual education" integration and effective connection between museum social education and classroom education, especially between ideological and political courses in primary, secondary, and higher education institutions, combining museum ideological and political resources with school ideological and political teaching, and combining the cultural and resource advantages of museums with the disciplinary and professional advantages of schools, to develop school-based curricula and study tour curricula, achieving joint construction between museums and schools to enhance the ideological and political guidance of museums; finally, pay attention to the innovation of the supply of cultural products and knowledge services, developing cultural and creative products, online courses, and study tour projects with ideological and political connotations to meet the diversified cultural needs of adolescents, integrating ideological and political guidance into their daily learning and living.
As public cultural institutions and important battlegrounds for ideological and political education, enhancing the ideological and political guidance of museums has important epochal significance and practical value. Achieving the transformation of a panoramic educational system, constructing diverse educational scenes, and promoting the functional complementarity and concerted effort of different educational spaces is, for museums, both an effective path to breaking through development bottlenecks and enhancing ideological and political guidance, and a fundamental requirement for achieving high-quality development. Only when museums deeply excavate the cultural connotations, educational values, and dissemination functions of collection resources, and innovate the forms, content, and methods of museum "large-scale ideological and political classes," can their educational function as a "large-scale school" be increasingly demonstrated, allowing them to become cultural classrooms and important battlegrounds for inheriting red genes, promoting mainstream values, and cultivating new people of the era.
Return to TopBy: 陆军党委
On July 27, 2016, Chairman Xi personally inspected the Army organs and delivered an important speech, profoundly laying out the grand blueprint for Army transformation and construction, profoundly revealing a series of fundamental and directional questions such as what kind of modern new-type Army to build and how to build a modern new-type Army, pointing the direction and providing the guidance for accelerating Army construction and development in the new era. This heroic force that has marched all the way from the head of Nanchang has opened a new epoch of transformation and construction.
The vast body of Army officers and soldiers bears in mind the commander-in-chief's entrustment; under the guidance of Xi Jinping's Thought on Strengthening the Military, they concentrate strength on being able to fight and win battles, concentrate strength on planning reform and carrying out reform, concentrate strength on thinking about innovation and grasping innovation, concentrate strength on practicing the rule of law and grasping strictness, and continuously strengthen the political guarantee for Army transformation and construction, having traversed an extraordinary course. Standing at the historical juncture of realizing the centenary goal of building the military, the People's Army in the new era firmly holds high the banner, resolutely upholds the core, does not forget the original aspiration, bravely shoulders the mission, unites hearts and gathers strength, forges ahead with keen determination, opens a new path of transformation and development, and wins the initiative toward first-class status.
Raise the banner, forge the soul, consolidate the foundation
The Army is the armed force earliest established and led by the Party. In the 99-year glorious course, the People's Army has resolutely obeyed the Party's orders, casting with blood and life the absolute loyalty of the military flag forever following the Party flag and a red heart forever toward the Party, and has established historical merits recorded in annals for the Party and the people. Army officers and soldiers persist in doing whatever the Party tells them to do and fighting wherever the Party points, and with the great-power Army image of a mighty division, a civilized division, and a victorious division, have won the trust and praise of the Party and the people.
Hold high the great banner, resolutely uphold the core. Chairman Xi emphasized, "It is necessary to strengthen the political guarantee for Army transformation and construction. Unswervingly uphold the Party's absolute leadership over the military, and resolutely obey the command of the Party Central Committee and the Central Military Commission." The leader's earnest entrustment has pointed out the firm and correct political direction for Army transformation and construction. All levels persist in placing ideological and political construction first among all aspects of troop construction; under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, they deeply implement Xi Jinping's Thought on Strengthening the Military, deeply comprehend the decisive significance of the "Two Establishments," strengthen the "Four Consciousnesses," firm up the "Four Confidences," achieve the "Two Upholds," implement the CMC Chairman responsibility system, strengthen political leadership, deepen rectification and forging, and continuously consolidate the ideological foundation of officers and soldiers in listening to the Party and following the Party. The vast body of officers and soldiers takes the Party's banner as their banner, takes the Party's direction as their direction, takes the Party's will as their will, strengthens mission responsibility, dares to tackle difficulties and make achievements, and welcomes the centenary of the founding of the military with a new political outlook.
To strengthen the military, one must first be strong politically; political strength is the most fundamental strength. At present, the world situation, national conditions, Party conditions, and military conditions are all undergoing complex and profound changes, and the tests our military faces politically are intricate and complex. It is necessary to advance political military-building without a moment's pause and continuously strengthen our military's political superiority under new-era conditions. All levels of the Army uphold, apply, and develop well the important magic weapon of political military-building, unswervingly use Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to unite hearts and forge souls, inject the faith and conviction of obeying the Party's command into the souls and blood of officers and soldiers, firmly advance bravely along the direction pointed out by Chairman Xi, and provide a strong political guarantee for transformation and construction. Deepen theoretical arming. Strengthen and improve the study of Party committee theoretical learning center groups, earnestly read original works, study original texts, and comprehend principles, organize theoretical training and rotation for officers at the regimental level and above, normalize theoretical services going to the grassroots, promote the improvement of quality and effectiveness in ideological and political education, and the vast body of officers and soldiers is closely united under the Party's banner in striving to strengthen the military. Strengthen rectification and forging. Solidly do the "follow-up article" of implementing the spirit of the Central Military Commission political work conference, place political rectification in a prominent position in overall work, carry forward the spirit of thorough self-revolution to conduct ideological rectification, strive to solve practical problems such as what one joined the Party for, what one serves as a soldier for, and what one serves as a general for, integrate political rectification to comprehensively rectify and purify political work, coordinate the promotion of rectification and governance in various fields, correct and establish simultaneously to improve systems and mechanisms, and advance with strong political responsibility and the spirit of hammering nails. Resolutely obey orders and follow commands. Implement the CMC Chairman responsibility system with higher standards and stricter requirements, advance the implementation of the learning and education plan for the CMC Chairman responsibility system by category and level, comprehensively use supervision and inspection, inspection tours, and special supervision to ensure the resolute, comprehensive, concrete, and unconditional implementation of the CMC Chairman responsibility system, and "resolutely obey Chairman Xi's command, be responsible to Chairman Xi, and reassure Chairman Xi" has become the conscious action of Army officers and soldiers. Build the Party's organizations strong. Deeply study and implement Xi Jinping's Thought on Party Building, carry Party leadership through all fields and the entire process of troop construction, persist in placing all work under the unified leadership of Party committees, and all important questions decided by Party committees through study, transform the Party's leadership advantage into governance advantage and victory advantage, and the level of Party organization construction in troops has continuously leaped upward, with cohesion, centripetal force, and combat effectiveness continuously strengthened. Carry forward fine traditions. Pay attention to integrating red genes into the blood of officers and soldiers, vigorously advance the "red genes passed down generation to generation" project, solidly carry out Party history and military history study and education, compile and distribute the Collection of Stories of Red Army Companies and Battalions, produce the traditional education special program Torch and Glory, restage the red classic The Long March Suite, launch the Army heroes and models series AI micro-drama Soul of Battle and the literary and artistic tableau drama Battle Flag, advance the construction of military history venues, promote the compilation of military history classics, and guide the vast body of officers and soldiers to vow to carry forward fine traditions and be worthy successors of the Red Army.
If one acts with constancy, fragrance will naturally endure. Under the guidance of Xi Jinping's Thought on Strengthening the Military, Army officers and soldiers have received spiritual baptism in the depths of their thoughts, built a Great Wall of faith in the depths of their souls, with red hearts forever toward the Party, and forged through fire toward first-class status. The winners of the "July 1 Medal" and the "August 1 Medal" shine on the journey of strengthening the military; "Models of the Times" and "Most Beautiful Revolutionary Soldiers of the New Era" lead the charge in tackling difficulties; the Army's "Four-Haves" new-era revolutionary soldier models and "Army Vanguards" — one flower blooming draws a hundred flowers... The vast body of officers and soldiers proves with firm belief, faithful practice, courage, and decisive action: the People's Army is always a heroic force that the Party and the people can fully trust.
Strengthen the military, prepare for war, seek victory
A strong country must have a strong military; only when the military is strong can the country be secure. Chairman Xi emphasized, "Strengthen realistic military training, improve the Army's combat effectiveness and actual-combat level, and improve the Army's contribution rate to the construction of the military's system-of-systems combat capability." This important instruction, focusing on the overall situation of the military's system-of-systems combat capability construction, reveals the inherent laws of the generation of Army combat effectiveness, and points the direction for building a strong Army capable of fighting well. All levels of the Army resolutely implement Chairman Xi's order to comprehensively strengthen military training and war preparedness, bear in mind that "the people's military is forever a combat force, and the lifeblood of the people's military lies in combat effectiveness," tempering the hard skill of winning in realistic training and actual exercises, opening up system-of-systems links in joint operations and joint training, empowering training upgrades through science-and-technology-strengthened training, and improving training quality and effectiveness through law-based training. The vast body of officers and soldiers goes to plateaus, charges into the Gobi, and wades through dangerous shoals; scene after scene of three-dimensional offense and defense, exercise after exercise of live-force maneuvers, paint a fiery picture of military exercises.
Make war preparation and combat the first priority. Firmly establish the sole and fundamental standard of combat effectiveness, truly think about matters of war, truly plan for the problems of war, truly grasp the preparations for war, research and resolve major problems restricting the generation of combat effectiveness, persist in using whether it is conducive to improving combat effectiveness to measure and test all work, strictly supervise and hold accountable in training, vigorously attack falsification in combat effectiveness, rectify stubborn diseases and chronic ills in war preparation and combat with the spirit of rectification, resolutely break down flower-showing tricks and false moves in exercises and training, promote war preparation and training to become strict and real, and the minds and energy of troops in planning for war, preparing for war, and engaging in war are more concentrated. Lead construction with war and consolidate the foundation of war preparedness. Closely focus on the functional mission of building for war, fully leverage the advantages of unified construction and unified management, construct a combat effectiveness standard system covering all types of troops, organize the construction of training site systems, revise and improve laws, regulations, and systems for war preparedness work, strengthen the standardized management of military facility construction, launch three-level joint training of medical service forces, increase the construction of public material warehouses, and support troop training and war preparedness through the transformation of support models. Train troops the way wars are fought. Closely track changes in science and technology, changes in warfare, and changes in adversaries, focus on advanced combat effectiveness to think about transformation and make preparations, innovate operational theories, tactics, and training methods, deepen the coupling of war and training and integrated operation, accelerate the expansion of realistic training to all dimensions, its leap to new quality, and its advance toward system-of-systems, with series of exercises implemented in multiple regions and covering all elements, further releasing new effectiveness and forming new combat power. Strengthen the cultivation of fighting spirit. Pay attention to using difficult situations, defeat situations, and dangerous situations to temper character, using predicaments, perils, and desperate situations to temper courage, take mass military training and competition as the starting point, integrate the cultivation of the fighting spirit of "not fearing hardship, not fearing death" into all aspects of realistic military training, and temper and hone troops in arduous and strict training, in environments approximating actual combat, and in severe and complex military struggles. The heroic vow of the heroes of border defense and national territory — "even if advancing one step means death, never retreating half a step to live" — has become a vivid portrayal of the blood and courage of new-era Army officers and soldiers in daring to fight.
Beneath the blue sky, above the blue waves, beyond visual range, round after round of fierce fighting is in full swing, wave after wave of offense and defense is breathtaking, assault after assault is thunderous. Army troops draw their swords in struggle and sharpen their swords in drawing them; mobile operations and three-dimensional offense and defense capabilities have been effectively enhanced, and the ability to perform missions has been comprehensively improved. The vast body of officers and soldiers charges to the front lines of non-war military operations such as flood relief, earthquake relief, and epidemic response, displays prowess at international military competitions such as "Clear Sky," "Suvorov Assault," and "Tank Biathlon," goes abroad to undertake diversified peacekeeping missions such as alert patrols, armed escort, and mine clearance and explosive ordnance disposal, faces danger head-on to shoulder heavy responsibilities, and tempers courage with real swords and real guns. The People's Army, with outstanding military achievements, sets out again on the journey of being able to fight and win battles, forging a crack force that comes when summoned, fights when it comes, and is certain to win when it fights.
Reform and innovation promote development
The development history of the people's military is a history of reform and innovation. An important reason the People's Army has been able to grow from small to large, from weak to strong, and continuously advance from victory to victory is that it has dared to reform and strived to transform in constantly adapting to the requirements of the situation and tasks. Chairman Xi emphasized, "Persist in planning reform and grasping reform, accelerate the improvement of the Army construction and management operation mechanism compatible with the new system, deepen reforms in the Army's scale, structure, and operational force system, and inject strong momentum into transformation and construction." All levels of the Army shoulder the mission responsibility, strive and act, and actively devote themselves to transformation and construction.
Racing against the times, every unit must undergo the transformation of "rebirth through fire," and every serviceman must complete the metamorphosis of "breaking the cocoon to become a butterfly." The vast body of officers and soldiers runs into their combat positions, pushing the People's Army to advance steadily and swiftly in "new system time." The concept of system-of-systems is more deeply rooted. Consciously liberate oneself from all outdated mindsets and work patterns, renew thinking and concepts, seek "integration" in forces, "linkage" in actions, and "optimization" in effectiveness, turn the concept of system-of-systems victory from top-level design into the conscious action of the vast body of officers and soldiers, and from theoretical consensus into vivid practice in training and war preparation. Structure and functions are more optimized. Organs, troops, academies, and research institutes and other types of units are linked as a whole; unit reorganization, personnel deployment, institutional improvement, equipment renewal, and resource restructuring and other aspects of work are precisely implemented; Army construction is accelerating toward a lean, efficient, multi-dimensional, and mobile direction; and the Army's organization is accelerating its transformation toward a full, combined, multi-capable, and flexible direction. Operational mechanisms are smoother. The five theater command Army organs operate at a high starting point, the 13 group armies make a brand-new appearance, new-domain new-quality forces are adjusted and established, and Army academy reform is deepened. The "great-power military formation" has a new system, a new structure, a new pattern, and a new appearance, and the accelerating transformation of Army troops is bursting with vitality and highlights.
Grasping innovation is grasping development; planning innovation is planning the future. All levels of the Army persist in advancing transformation and construction with bold innovation, deeply implement the innovation-driven development strategy, strengthen innovation awareness, improve innovation capability, advance into "unmanned zones," open up new tracks, and cultivate new growth points for combat effectiveness. Closely follow needs to strengthen top-level design. Persist in conducting strategic planning with forward-looking vision, open horizons, and innovative concepts, accelerate system construction, closely follow the world's scientific and technological frontiers, focus on being able to fight and win battles, accelerate the construction of new-type combat forces, step up the development of high-tech weapons and equipment, and strengthen research and tackling of major core technologies. Increase the proportion of new-quality combat effectiveness. Closely follow the requirements for generating new-quality combat effectiveness, grasp the network information system as the starting point, increase the technological content of troops, develop elite combat forces, focus on building a new-type Army combat force system characterized by intelligentization, and promote the informatization and intelligent transformation of traditional forces. Accelerate the cultivation of innovative talents. Treat improving the scientific and technological literacy of officers and soldiers as a basic task, create an atmosphere in which everyone advocates innovation, everyone devotes themselves to innovation, and everyone can innovate, and the vast body of officers and soldiers regards seeking combat effectiveness from science and technology as a necessity of their posts, a necessity of their combat positions, and a necessity of their capabilities. One after another, "innovation studios" named after officers and soldiers are inaugurated, and batch after batch of "Army craftsmen" tackle key fields, becoming the new force for the Army's innovative development.
Only reformers advance; only innovators are strong; only reform and innovation win. In 2017, air assault forces entered the people's military's combat sequence, adding wings of flight to the new-type Army; in 2022, at the 14th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, multiple types of Army aviation helicopters stunned the audience; in 2025, the Army's aerial "bee swarm" and ground "wolf pack" coordination is accelerating the improvement of Army combat capability; at the military parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, the ground assault formation passed in review in an arrow formation before the Party and the people... The People's Army, striving for first-class status with determination, is keen on reform and pioneering innovation, composing an even more magnificent and blood-boiling new chapter of strengthening the military.
Strictly enforce the rule of law, grasp strictness
The rule of law is an important marker of a country's civilization and progress, and it is also a distinctive feature of a modernized military. Chairman Xi emphasized, "Persist in practicing the rule of law and grasping strictness, accelerate the construction of a scientific, effective, systematic, and complete system of regulations, rules, and institutional systems, strengthen the authority and enforcement of laws and regulations, transform the way of work guidance in accordance with the requirements of the rule of law, and ensure that Army transformation and construction advances on the track of the rule of law." All levels of the Army deeply study the characteristics and laws of military governance, firmly and consciously advance governing the military according to law and strictly governing the military, laying the foundation of the rule of law and paving the track of the rule of law for Army transformation and construction.
The rule of law engraved in the hearts of officers and soldiers is the unbreakable rule of law. Deeply plant the concept of the rule of law and correct the sights of thought. Persist in integrating rule-of-law education into daily life, grasping it regularly, and being strict in ordinary times, deeply carry out rule-of-law publicity, strengthen basic rule-of-law education and training, cover all personnel, and achieve lasting results through long-term effort; explore the characteristics and laws of military building and governance, strive to cultivate the spirit of the rule of law and strengthen the authority of the rule of law, enhance officers' and soldiers' faith, reverence, and consciousness of practicing the rule of law; resolutely overcome rule-by-person thinking and methods, strive to promote the "three fundamental transformations" in the way of governing the military, and acting according to law, seeking the law when encountering problems, using the law to solve problems, and relying on the law to resolve conflicts become conscious, forming a good situation in which Party committees make decisions according to law, organs provide guidance according to law, troops act according to law, and officers and soldiers perform their duties according to law. Transform the mode of military governance and discard experience-based routines. Actively adapt to the new system, new functions, and new requirements, focus on starting from resolving prominent contradictions restricting military struggle preparation, from resolving problems strongly reflected by officers and soldiers, and from fields where corruption is prone to occur, grasp the key links of governing the military according to law and strictly governing the military to strengthen enforcement, make precise efforts, hit acupoints with moves, vigorously grasp the implementation of regulations, rules, and institutional systems, and troop combat readiness training and construction management are increasingly standardized, normalized, and refined, with the rectification of the "five excesses" problems vigorously advanced. Standardize grassroots operations and correct the yardstick for building and grasping. Persist in placing the focus of work at the grassroots level, persist in building according to the outline and grasping according to law, actively explore the characteristics and laws of grassroots construction under new circumstances, break down construction concepts incompatible with the new era, improve operational models incompatible with the new system, rectify work routines incompatible with new functions, solidly do the work of helping brigades, strengthening battalions, and leading companies, research and solve new situations and new problems emerging in grassroots construction, precisely help build grassroots units that have not been evaluated as advanced for many years, comprehensively forge grassroots units that are excellent in listening to the Party and following the Party, grassroots units that are excellent in being able to fight and win battles, and grassroots units that are excellent in strict discipline and upright atmosphere, and launch a package of measures such as fertility care, legal services, and post-station benefits for the military, effectively stimulating the enthusiasm and motivation of officers and soldiers to take root in the military and start businesses and make contributions.
Each generation has its own Long March. The resounding steps of striving to strengthen the military are the echo of history and the herald of the future. On the new journey of the new era, the vast body of Army officers and soldiers strengthens confidence, continues the struggle, genuinely grasps and solidly does, buries their heads in hard work, and advances with determination toward building a strong modern new-type Army.
Return to TopBy: 耿元骊
The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period was an era of great division and great upheaval in Chinese history. The Central Plains region was wracked by incessant warfare, with rapid regime changes, repeated devastation of social production, and sharp decline of the economy and culture. In sharp contrast, the separatist regimes of Wu, Southern Tang, and Wuyue that successively emerged around the Taihu Plain in the south mostly adopted governing strategies of protecting borders and pacifying the people, encouraging agriculture and sericulture, light corvée and low taxes, building water conservancy works, and promoting trade. This enabled the Jiangnan region, under long-term relative stability, to achieve population growth across the entire region, stable agriculture, flourishing handicraft industries, prosperous commerce, and rising cities.
After nearly a century of sustained deep regional development, building on the foundation that the Jiangnan plain's development level already led the nation, most surrounding mountainous areas were also integrated into the Jiangnan region. Nearly the entire region escaped its uncultivated state. In the national economic landscape, Jiangnan basically completed its historic transformation from a subsidiary economic zone to a core economic zone, laying a solid foundation for the economic pattern after the Northern Song unification in which "the nation's foundation depended on the southeast."
Northern warfare and southward population migration: the human and technical foundation of Jiangnan development
After the An Lushan Rebellion, the northern economy had already suffered heavy damage, and the continuous warfare in the Central Plains during the late Tang, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period further drove another large-scale wave of northerners migrating south in Chinese history. At the juncture of regime changes, warfare did not cease, corvée was heavy, and taxes were harsh. Large numbers of refugees, fleeing the chaos of war, migrated south with their entire clans and flooded into the areas around the Taihu Plain.
This southward migrant population mainly comprised three categories: first, ordinary peasants and artisans, who brought farming techniques, textile skills, ceramic firing, and metal smelting experience. Second, scholar-officials and clan magnates, who brought organizational and management ability, cultural customs, and accumulated capital. Third, defeated soldiers and refugees, who became important labor for land reclamation and colonization. Of course, the important role of native Jiangnan people cannot be ignored at all; it was precisely by integrating into the Jiangnan environment that the southward migrants radiated vibrant vitality.
The continuous inflow of population directly changed the population-to-land ratio in Jiangnan. Although the Tang Dynasty had gradually developed Jiangnan, many areas, especially mountainous regions, remained uncultivated, and labor shortages long constrained the depth of development. By the late Five Dynasties period, household registrations in Wuyue, Southern Tang, and other areas had grown significantly compared to the mid-to-late Tang. In Liangzhe, Jiangxi, and other areas, "the population grew ever more numerous, and the fields expanded day by day." Population growth provided an abundant labor supply, making large-scale land reclamation, reclaiming land from lakes, building dikes and ponds, and 精耕细作 (jīng gēng xì zuò - "fine plowing and careful weeding," intensive cultivation) possible. More importantly, because many southward migrants could no longer find a foothold on the plains, they developed on a large scale into the mountainous areas of southern Anhui and Jiangxi.
Thus, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the continuous southward migration of northerners was both the precondition for Jiangnan's rapid development and the core driving force for technological diffusion and productivity leaps.
Agricultural and water conservancy development: polder field expansion and crop structure innovation
With abundant labor and advanced technology, the Jiangnan states generally made cultivating fields and planting grain, and encouraging agriculture and sericulture, the foundation of the state. Agricultural development shifted from the shallow development of the Tang Dynasty to deep intensive cultivation, with strengthening water conservancy as a priority, initially entering the stage of intensive planting. The core achievements were concentrated in the large-scale promotion of polder fields (圩田) and the extensive cultivation of cash crops.
Jiangnan's terrain is low-lying, with dense rivers and lakes; the water is high and the land low, making it prone to both flooding and drought. Traditional agriculture had long been constrained by water disasters. During the Five Dynasties period, the Jiangnan regimes represented by Wuyue and Southern Tang promoted polder fields on a large scale. Fan Zhongyan once mentioned that the polder fields of the Five Dynasties Jiangnan, each covering dozens of li in area, were like great cities, with canals inside and sluice gates outside, immune to drought and flood—a great benefit to farmers. Wuyue constructed a network of horizontal ponds and vertical channels for polder fields in the Taihu basin, with a vertical channel every five or seven li and a horizontal pond every seven or ten li, with 阡陌纵横 (qiān mò zòng héng - "crisscrossing field paths," paths and ridges running in all directions) and interconnected ponds and channels, transforming former swamps and wastelands into granaries yielding bountiful harvests each year. Southern Tang also carried out large-scale restoration and construction of polder fields in southern Anhui and southern Jiangsu; between the Yangtze and Huai rivers, dwellings were visible to one another, and mulberry and hemp covered the fields. The spread of polder fields greatly expanded arable land area, raised land utilization rates, and made Jiangnan the nation's most important grain-producing region.
Wuyue achieved outstanding water conservancy accomplishments, establishing dedicated personnel to manage water affairs and forming the Liaoqing Army (撩清军), devoted specifically to dredging lakes, building dikes, clearing channels, and repairing sluices to maintain water facilities. Its most representative project was the Qiantang River sea-defense stone dike. Mobilizing large numbers of laborers and employing advanced techniques of bamboo cages filled with stones and wooden piles to secure the banks, it built a stone sea dike stretching a hundred li, effectively resisting tidal erosion, and large tracts of coastal tidal flats were turned into fertile fields. Southern Tang inherited the Tang Dynasty's water conservancy foundation and carried out large-scale restoration and expansion of reservoirs, ponds, canals, and weirs. During the Sheng Yuan era, it rebuilt Danyang's Lianhu Lake, irrigating ten thousand qing of farmland in Danyang, Jintan, and Yanling; restored Shouzhou's Quebei, expanding the irrigated area and making Huainan a grain base for Southern Tang; and restored Mengdu in Wujin, installing water gates to benefit irrigation.
In terms of farming systems, the rice-wheat rotation multiple-cropping system was comprehensively promoted in Jiangnan, doubling and redoubling land utilization rates and grain output. At the same time, rulers generally encouraged the planting of cash crops such as mulberry, hemp, tea, cotton, fruit, and vegetables, forming an agricultural structure that gave equal weight to grain crops and cash crops. Southern Tang encouraged agriculture and sericulture and extensive cultivation, driving the rapid prosperity of the sericulture industry. Wuyue extensively planted citrus, with an extremely high degree of commercialization.
Another important manifestation of agricultural development was the rise of terraced fields in the hilly mountainous areas of southern Anhui. Following mountain contours, stepped fields were built and irrigated by channeling mountain springs, as Jiangnan agricultural development gradually expanded deep into hilly and mountainous areas, with land use space expanding unprecedentedly. By the late Five Dynasties period, the Jiangnan states were generally prosperous, and agricultural production levels comprehensively surpassed those of the north.
Comprehensive flourishing of handicraft industry and commerce: technological refinement and regional market formation
Agricultural prosperity and population growth drove the Jiangnan handicraft industry into a new stage of comprehensive prosperity. Technological refinement, fine division of labor, and a high degree of commercialization became notable characteristics. The silk weaving, porcelain making, tea making, shipbuilding, mining and metallurgy, papermaking, and printing industries all achieved breakthrough accomplishments, forming distinct regional characteristics and industrial advantages, and initiating overseas trade.
The silk weaving industry ranked first among all industries. Both Wuyue and Southern Tang were silk weaving centers. Wu silk and Yue gauze were exquisite in craftsmanship, treasured items for imperial use and export. Southern Tang established government-run weaving workshops in Jinling and Yangzhou, producing brocades of such beauty that they were unmatched in the world. Silk products were not only taxes and tributes but also important export goods. The porcelain industry reached its peak; Yue kiln secret-color porcelain (越窑秘色瓷) represented the highest level of porcelain making at the time. It is said that during the Qian family's rule, Yuezhou fired it as tribute items that officials and commoners were not permitted to use. Subsequently, Wuyue and Southern Tang porcelain was exported far to Japan, Korea, and other places, becoming a major commodity in foreign trade. The tea industry was a newly emerging pillar industry, and tea became a fiscal pillar of Jiangnan. Wuyue and Southern Tang extensively planted tea bushes, producing large quantities of high-quality tea, with tea marketing more extensive than in the Tang Dynasty. For the needs of grain transport, trade, and coastal defense, the Jiangnan states built grain ships, merchant ships, ocean-going ships, and warships on a large scale. Hangzhou and Mingzhou could both build relatively large vessels capable of long-distance voyages to Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia, directly promoting the prosperity of domestic and foreign trade. By the end of the Five Dynasties period, the Jiangnan handicraft industry comprehensively led the north in scale, technology, quality, and market, becoming the nation's handicraft center.
The explosive growth of agriculture and handicraft industry drove Jiangnan commerce to unprecedented vitality, forming a pattern of regional market integration, urban-rural commercial connectivity, and parallel domestic and foreign trade. A group of commercial metropolises rose rapidly, fundamentally changing the urban and economic geography of ancient China. Southern Tang and Wuyue generally implemented policies of low tariffs and facilitating trade. Wuyue imposed no harsh taxes at passes and markets; Southern Tang relaxed salt bans and benefited merchants and the people, doing its utmost to stimulate commercial vitality. Commodity circulation broke through regional boundaries, with bulk commodities beginning to be transported and traded across regions, forming a regional market network centered on Hangzhou, Jinling, Yangzhou, and Mingzhou. The regimes of Wuyue and Southern Tang actively expanded maritime trade, with Mingzhou and Hangzhou becoming international ports. The import of overseas goods and the export of Jiangnan goods pushed coastal cities toward internationalization. The functions of these cities were also transforming: cities traditionally dominated by political and military functions became industrial and commercial centers, consumption centers, and transportation hubs. Hangzhou, as the capital of Wuyue, had prosperous urban dwellings; Jinling, as the capital of Southern Tang, had concentrated industry and commerce and was the 首屈一指 (shǒu qū yī zhǐ - "bend the first finger," second to none, the very best) metropolis of Jiangnan. A group of cities including Suzhou, Yangzhou, Yuezhou, and Mingzhou continued to show prosperity, densely populated, forming the embryonic form of an urban cluster.
By the late Five Dynasties period, Jiangnan had formed a commercialized, marketized, and export-oriented economic form, with commercial tax revenue becoming an important source of fiscal income for the various states.
Protecting borders and pacifying the people, light corvée and low taxes: the institutional guarantee of Jiangnan's rapid development
The fundamental reason Jiangnan's economy could rise against the trend in a turbulent era lay in its relatively stable political environment and pragmatic, people-benefiting economic policies. Unlike the survival environment of endless warfare and harsh taxes and corvée in the Central Plains, both Southern Tang and Wuyue adhered to protecting borders and pacifying the people, avoiding initiating campaigns as much as possible, and emphasizing 与民休息 (yǔ mín xiū xī - "rest together with the people," to reduce burdens and let the people recover). King Qian Liu of Wuyue respected the Central Plains but protected his borders and pacified his people, avoiding participation in large-scale wars. Emperor Li Bian of Southern Tang rested his troops and people, advocating light corvée and low taxes.
The Southern Tang and Wuyue regimes deeply understood that national wealth and strength fundamentally lie in the people's labor. They generally recruited refugees and encouraged land reclamation. They implemented light corvée and low taxes, reducing land rent, household tax, and commercial tax as much as possible, maintaining a normal production and living environment. In terms of bureaucratic incentive mechanisms, they evaluated officials by agricultural achievements and minimized harassment of the people. At the same time, they did their utmost to build water conservancy, repair roads, and open grain transport routes, improving production and transportation conditions. Although in the later periods of each regime harsh governance frequently occurred and social governance often failed, overall they maintained long-term social stability and a policy environment encouraging production, providing the most reliable institutional guarantee for sustained economic development.
In sum, the rapid development of Jiangnan during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period was of epoch-making significance in Chinese economic history. It marked the basic shift of the center of gravity of the ancient Chinese economy from the Yellow River basin to the Taihu Plain basin—that is, the so-called Jiangnan region—and even to the mountainous areas within Jiangnan, completing the historic turning point that had been long brewing since the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. Jiangnan comprehensively replaced the north as the national base for grain, fiscal revenue, and handicraft industry, later becoming an important source for Northern Song central finance and national supply. Jiangnan development gradually expanded from the plains to the hills, coasts, and mountains; land use and agricultural technology reached new heights, and the intensive cultivation model was finalized. Agriculture and commerce advanced in parallel, overseas trade became an important component of the economic structure, and the degree of commercialization and marketization led the nation, laying the foundation for the prosperity of the commodity economy in the Song Dynasty. Urban culture flourished and talent gathered, making Jiangnan the most economically and culturally developed region of later Chinese history.
Although the late Tang, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period was a turbulent era, it was the crucial century for the rise of the entire Jiangnan region. Against the backdrop of sustained turmoil in the north, Jiangnan achieved comprehensive, leapfrog development, basically establishing its status as the national economic center of gravity, and setting the pattern for China's economic and social development for the following millennium.
(The author is the director of the Henan Provincial Song Culture Research Institute (河南省宋文化研究院) and a professor at the School of History and Culture, Henan University.)
Return to TopBy: 魏鹤鸣
Maritime strategy is an important component of the U.S. national strategy system. Entering the 19th century, with the deepening of the Industrial Revolution and the gradual formation of the world market, competition among major global powers continuously extended from land to sea, and the oceans increasingly became an important space for national power projection, resource allocation, and the shaping of international order. Since the late 19th century, in order to seek and consolidate maritime hegemony, the United States has adjusted its maritime strategy several times. A history of the evolution of U.S. maritime strategy is a history of rule manipulation that uses "freedom of navigation" to package hegemonic politics and establish exclusive maritime alliances.
Turning to maritime competition, seeking global maritime hegemony
From the early days of the founding of the United States to the mid-19th century, constrained by national strength, the maritime strategy of the time mainly served U.S. independence, domestic economic development, and its own territorial expansion on the North American continent. During this period, the United States followed to a certain extent the foreign policy principles of President Washington's Farewell Address, deliberately avoiding the disputes of the Old Continent, and implemented a "using land to control the sea" coastal defense strategy in maritime security.
By the "Gilded Age" at the end of the 19th century, the rapid expansion of the U.S. economy led to severe overcapacity in domestic production. Under the dual pressure of the "closing frontier" and economic crises, there was an urgent need to expand external markets for goods and space for investment. Against this backdrop, U.S. maritime strategy scholar Mahan published works such as The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660–1783, and his "theory of sea power" provided a theoretical basis for U.S. overseas expansion. He argued that sea power had a tremendous impact on the rise and fall of nations, and that its operation depended on three pillars: strong productive capacity, a large merchant fleet, and a powerful navy with overseas bases. Influenced by this theory, the United States implemented a shift in its maritime strategy.
In 1890, the United States passed the Naval Act, initiating the construction of a large blue-water offensive navy and beginning global competition through "using the sea to control the sea." The Spanish–American War that broke out in 1898 marked the application of the U.S. "using the sea to control the sea" strategy in actual military combat. Taking advantage of its victory over the old imperial power Spain, the United States brought Cuba and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean into its sphere of influence, seized Guam and the Philippines, and annexed Hawaii in the same year. From a geopolitical perspective, this was a carefully planned military operation to occupy "stepping stones." To advance this strategic shift, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt instigated Panama's independence and the digging of the canal, and seized long-term control over the Canal Zone. From 1907 to 1909, the United States formed the "Great White Fleet" with 16 new battleships, completing the first large-scale circumnavigation of the globe in world naval history. The show of force was a form of strategic deterrence; this circumnavigation let the traditional European powers and Japan, which had won the Russo-Japanese War, see that the United States possessed the powerful capability to deploy across oceans and continuously project military force. The implementation of the "using the sea to control the sea" strategy echoed Mahan's "theory of sea power," marking that the United States had embarked on the path of seeking global maritime hegemony.
Proposing "freedom of the seas," establishing maritime hegemony
After the outbreak of World War I, the United States proposed "freedom of the seas" and used it as political packaging to vigorously expand its naval strength, attempting to break Britain's maritime hegemony.
In 1917, U.S. President Wilson, in order to protect the unimpeded flow of its commercial shipping lanes, put forward the "freedom of the seas" proposition, which was later included in the "Fourteen Points" peace principles for reshaping the postwar world order. At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, the United States proposed writing "freedom of the seas" into the Treaty of Versailles, but this was vetoed by Britain, the global maritime hegemon. This is because the "freedom of the seas" proposed by the United States was not, as it claimed, a political declaration opposing power politics and pursuing justice. In fact, Wilson pushed Congress to pass the Naval Act of 1916, aimed at building a powerful fleet that would "never rank second in the world," which already exposed the hegemonic nature of U.S. maritime strategy. During World War I, the United States established a vast transatlantic convoy system. In 1922, at the Washington Conference, the greatly strengthened United States used the cessation of the warship-building race as a bargaining chip, through the Washington Naval Treaty forcing Britain to abandon its long-held "two-power standard," and through the Four-Power Treaty dismantling the "Anglo-Japanese Alliance," gradually establishing a naval power structure in which the United States and Britain had equal capital ship tonnage.
World War II accelerated the process of the United States seizing absolute maritime hegemony. During World War II, facing the threat of Axis expansion on two oceans, the United States passed the Two-Ocean Navy Act in July 1940, rapidly expanding the size of its navy and accelerating the pace of ship construction. In the Atlantic theater, the United States fought alongside Britain to defeat the German submarine force, enabling the Allies to gain control of the Atlantic sea lanes; the subsequent Normandy landing greatly enhanced U.S. capabilities in amphibious operations, blue-water power projection, and two-ocean force management. In the Pacific theater, the U.S. Navy, through battles such as Midway and Leyte Gulf, crushed the Japanese Combined Fleet and seized control of the Pacific sea lanes. World War II not only destroyed the maritime forces of Germany and Japan, but also severely weakened the navies of Britain and France. By the end of World War II in 1945, the total tonnage of U.S. Navy vessels exceeded the combined total of all other navies in the world. At the same time, the United States, relying on key strongpoints in the Pacific, the Atlantic, and the Mediterranean, established a global network of military bases. In the postwar Yalta system, the United States, by virtue of its military and political strength, formally established its global maritime hegemony.
At this point, from the late 19th century to the end of World War II, the United States, through three major wars — the Spanish–American War, World War I, and World War II — achieved several leaps from the Caribbean to the Atlantic and then to the Pacific, controlling the world's oceans and ultimately becoming the world's maritime hegemon.
Constructing the "Rimland," expanding maritime hegemonic power
After the start of the Cold War, against the backdrop of U.S.–Soviet rivalry and in order to gain dominance over the Eurasian continent, the United States deeply embedded its maritime strategy with geopolitical theory, consolidating its global maritime hegemony in both the spatial dimension and the alliance system.
In the 1940s, U.S. geopolitical strategist Spykman, on the basis of revising Mackinder's "Heartland" theory, proposed the "Rimland" theory, asserting that "whoever controls the rimland rules Eurasia." In order to contain the rise of great powers in the Eurasian hinterland, the United States strove to control the coastal rim arc surrounding Eurasia. In the European Atlantic direction, the United States took the lead in establishing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, advancing its maritime defense and deterrence front line to the shores of the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, and the Mediterranean. In the Asia-Pacific direction, U.S. State Department consultant Dulles, based on this theory, put forward the strategic concept of the "island chain." Through a series of bilateral treaties such as the U.S.–Japan Security Treaty and the Mutual Defense Treaty Between the United States and the Republic of Korea, the United States wove together the "San Francisco system." Through NATO and the island chains echoing each other at the eastern and western ends of Eurasia, the United States wove an arc-shaped encirclement to blockade potential competitors at sea.
Following the "Rimland" theory, the United States also carried out a blue enclosure movement, conducting a deep encirclement of the Soviet Union in the dimensions of resources and legal principles. In 1945, President Truman issued the Proclamation on the Continental Shelf, unilaterally declaring that the United States had exclusive jurisdiction over the natural resources of the seabed of the continental shelf adjacent to its coasts, thereby triggering a worldwide blue enclosure movement. In terms of strategic essence, this U.S. move extended its control over the "Rimland" from the sea surface to the seabed, expanding from purely military defense to three-dimensional resource grabbing. Through this, the United States guided the Western camp to delimit exclusive jurisdictional zones in the waters surrounding Eurasia, greatly compressing the space for the Soviet Union to obtain strategic maritime materials and project influence into the open oceans.
In 1982, in order to achieve the goal of the U.S. military-industrial complex exclusively monopolizing deep-sea mineral resources, the Reagan administration refused to sign the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, but subsequently adopted in domestic law form the provisions of the Convention that were favorable to itself — establishing a 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. This U.S. practice of selectively reaping the dividends of the Convention while refusing to undertake multilateral obligations, placing domestic law above international law, is a typical manifestation of "use it when it suits, discard it when it does not," fully displaying its hegemonic arrogance.
Containing the development of maritime rights of developing countries, maintaining maritime institutional hegemony
After the end of the Cold War, the U.S. Navy formally proposed the "from the sea" strategy in 1992, explicitly projecting power and influence onto land. However, with the increasing development of the legitimate maritime rights of the vast number of developing countries, the absolute command of the seas of the United States is facing reshaping, and it is reverting to a "using the sea to control the sea" maritime hegemonic strategy.
Under this new change, the United States implements maritime institutional hegemony characterized by military deterrence, rule monopoly, discourse packaging, and bloc confrontation, using regional maritime issues to contain the development of maritime rights of developing countries. On the one hand, the United States arbitrarily defines "freedom of navigation," using it as a military justification tool for maintaining maritime institutional hegemony, and fabricates so-called "excessive maritime claims" theories and concepts such as "international waters," stigmatizing other countries' legitimate territorial sea baselines and exclusive economic zone security jurisdiction.
On the other hand, the United States uses the "rules-based international order" as the core narrative for maintaining its maritime institutional hegemony. But its so-called "rules" and "order" are not the international legal system centered on the Charter of the United Nations and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, but rather an order discourse constructed by the United States and its allies based on their own interests, packaging unilateral interpretations of maritime rules as international rules to provide a legal cloak for a series of military operations. This practice of disregarding international law and alienating domestic law into a political tool for implementing "long-arm jurisdiction" is a direct manifestation of its maintenance of maritime institutional hegemony.
Looking at the more than one hundred years of history since the late 19th century, the U.S. maritime strategy has undergone a complex evolution from the proposal of the "sea power" concept, to the rapid enhancement of naval strength, and then to the establishment and maintenance of comprehensive institutional hegemony. In today's world, the once-in-a-century changes are accelerating, and economic globalization is highly dependent on maritime security order. That outdated hegemonic mindset of relying on gunboats to monopolize the oceans and treating the seas as an arena for great power competition will only lead to disaster. Faced with common challenges, no country can stand aloof; humanity has no choice but to work together in solidarity and pursue harmonious coexistence. The initiative of building a maritime community with a shared future for mankind proposed by China conforms to the spirit of international law, rejects zero-sum games and the logic of maritime power politics, and undoubtedly points a new path for achieving lasting peace of the oceans and the sustainable development of humanity.
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