Summary: General Secretary Xi Jinping issued important instructions on overseas Chinese affairs work in July 2026, commending the contributions of overseas Chinese and returned overseas Chinese and their relatives and calling for uniting their hearts and strength to serve national rejuvenation through Chinese modernization. The article stresses that strengthening this work is essential for advancing Chinese modernization, safeguarding national core interests—including opposing "Taiwan independence" separatist forces—enhancing cultural soft power, and promoting a community with a shared future for mankind. It outlines new tasks arising from international turbulence, domestic economic challenges, and shifts in overseas Chinese demographics, including generational changes and declining ancestral ties among newer generations. The piece calls for comprehensive Party leadership, improved coordination, legal protection of overseas Chinese rights, and greater efforts in talent introduction, cultural exchange, and anti-"independence" pro-reunification activities.
Summary: The article argues that the global trend is defined by three irreversible developments: a multipolar world, the growing autonomy of development paths, and the democratization of international relations. It cites General Secretary Xi Jinping's assertion that "world history is jointly written by the people of all countries; multipolarity, the autonomy of development paths, and the democratization of international relations are the right path for humanity." The piece highlights the rise of the Global South and China's role as a key pole in promoting an "equal and orderly multipolar world." It also discusses the contrast between capitalism's deepening problems and the growing influence of socialism, exemplified by Chinese modernization. The author is the Dean of the Graduate School of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance).
Summary: The article addresses the upcoming transitions of leadership teams at provincial, municipal, county, and township levels, emphasizing that cadres must correctly view personal promotions, demotions, retentions, and transfers. It cites General Secretary Xi Jinping's call for Party members and cadres to uphold political integrity, bear the overall situation in mind, abide by discipline, and correctly view adjustments to their advancement, retention, or transfer. The piece stresses that advancement, retention, or transfer tests cadres' political consciousness, Party spirit cultivation, and breadth of mind, and that all such changes are needs of the development of the cause of the Party and the people. It outlines proper attitudes for each scenario—advancement as recognition and a new starting point, stepping down as passing the torch, staying as maintaining stability, and transferring as optimizing cadre resources—while warning against slackness and perfunctory attitudes. Party committees and organization departments are urged to uphold the principle of the Party managing cadres, strictly enforce transition discipline, and conduct thorough ideological and political work to guide cadres in correctly viewing their personal changes.
Summary: The article emphasizes that basic research requires long-term vision and responsibility, avoiding both quick gains and passivity. It stresses the need to correct deviations in how scientific achievements are assessed. All levels and relevant parties must prioritize basic research according to actual conditions and pursue it with sustained commitment.
Summary: The article analyzes the global development of future industries, highlighting their rapid growth and strategic importance, with major economies like the U.S., EU, and Germany intensifying deployments in key tracks such as AI, quantum technology, and biotech. It notes accelerated investment in frontier R&D and the transition of technologies like embodied intelligence and quantum computing from concept to commercial application. Challenges include prominent development gaps, path lock-in for latecomers, and bottlenecks in industrializing frontier technologies. The piece criticizes unilateral protectionist policies, such as the U.S. "small, high-walled yard" approach and the 2026 "National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act," for fracturing global innovation cooperation and impeding coordinated development. Long-term trends include AI empowerment reshaping innovation paradigms, new-type R&D institutions becoming incubation carriers, and competition shifting toward dominance of entire industrial ecosystems.
Summary: The article examines how the United States has used judicial mechanisms to address teenage social media addiction, highlighting platform design flaws, data privacy violations, and regulatory gaps. It details a 2026 class action settlement involving 29 states and Meta, which imposed $18 billion in compensation and forced account controls like nighttime restrictions and daily usage limits. The piece notes this judicial approach contrasts with outright bans, preserving teens' digital access while reshaping platform ethics. However, it acknowledges limitations, including narrow applicability to Meta alone, evasion by users, and unresolved family and social governance gaps. It concludes that lasting solutions require coordinated efforts across platforms, families, schools, society, and government.
Summary: The article examines how Rotterdam addresses "big-city diseases" such as spatial strain, ecological pressure, and social fragmentation through systematic urban renewal and holistic governance reform. Key measures include renovating existing spatial stock, building blue-green infrastructure for ecological resilience, and establishing a multi-stakeholder collaborative governance model. The city's efforts have yielded comprehensive results, offering insights for large cities facing similar challenges. The piece concludes with lessons on improving quality from existing stock, constructing functionally composite infrastructure, and fostering collaborative operational mechanisms with multi-stakeholder participation.
Summary: The article discusses "adhering to institutional governance of the Party and rule-based governance of the Party" as a core connotation of Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, emphasizing its role as a long-term strategy for full and rigorous self-governance. It traces the Party's century-long evolution of institutional construction, from the First Program and first Party Constitution to the new era's establishment of a relatively complete system of intra-Party regulations by the Party's 100th anniversary. The piece outlines regularity-based understanding formed in new-era practice, including anchoring correct political direction, adhering to the Party Constitution and democratic centralism, and upholding the organic unity of law-based governance and rule-based governance of the Party. It calls for coordinated advancement of intra-Party regulations construction and reform of the Party building system, focusing on systematic rule-making, study of Party regulations, and compacting responsibility for regulation enforcement.
Summary: The article discusses Party disciplinary actions against cadres for illegally distributing allowances, subsidies, or benefits, citing cases such as Huang Xinping of Tarim University and Hu Dongmei of Zhashui County Tourism Company. It defines such illegal distribution as violating regulations on salary standards, subjective intent, and collective decision-making, and notes new trends of concealed methods and complex funding sources. The piece emphasizes that this practice violates the Eight-Point Regulation, reflects hedonism, and damages state assets and fair distribution. It attributes persistence of the problem to incomplete institutional frameworks and ideological deviations among leading cadres. The article calls for "zero tolerance," stronger rule-making, and focusing on leading cadres and specific executors to curb the issue.
Summary: The article emphasizes that the life of institutions lies in their implementation, citing Xi Jinping's call for equality before laws and regulations and for institutional provisions to become a "high-voltage line." It stresses that strict adherence to institutions is the Party's fine tradition and political advantage, and that advancing full and rigorous self-governance requires eliminating privileged thinking and consolidating institutional rigidity. The piece urges strengthening institutional awareness among Party members and leading cadres, warning that privileged thinking and fluke mentality undermine the authority of laws and regulations. It highlights the need for leading cadres, as the "key minority," to take the lead in observing institutions and set an example for others. Finally, it calls for zero tolerance for privileged behavior, insisting on investigating violations as discovered to safeguard the seriousness and authority of laws and regulations.
Summary: The article commemorates the 90th anniversary of the Long March's victory, arguing that the Party's strong leadership during the march stemmed from robust self-construction across political, ideological, organizational, work style, and discipline dimensions. It highlights the Zunyi Conference as a life-and-death turning point that established Mao Zedong's leadership and ended "Left" dogmatism, enabling the Red Army to defeat Zhang Guotao's splittism and complete the march. The piece details how the Party strengthened political construction by correcting erroneous lines, ideological construction by establishing the line of seeking truth from facts and firming up ideals and convictions, and organizational construction by perfecting Party committees and branches. It also emphasizes work style construction through the mass line and officer-soldier equality, and discipline construction through strict regulations and enforcement, which won popular support and shaped the Red Army's image. The author, a former Political Commissar of the National Defense University and Lieutenant General, concludes that this historical practice still offers reference significance for building the Party into a strong leadership core for national rejuvenation.
Summary: The article recounts the Liping Meeting of December 18, 1934, where the CPC Central Political Bureau adopted a decision to change the Red Army's strategic direction, abandoning the plan to join the Second and Sixth Red Army Corps in western Hunan and instead advancing toward Zunyi in Guizhou. Mao Zedong's proposal, supported by Wang Jiaxiang, Zhang Wentian, and Zhu De, prevailed over the objections of Bo Gu and Li De, who favored the Comintern-approved route. The decision was seen as crucial in avoiding a disastrous confrontation with Chiang Kai-shek's forces and marked the "starting point of the great turning point" leading to the Zunyi Meeting. The article highlights the meeting's political, military, and organizational significance, including restoring collective decision-making and laying groundwork for Mao's leadership.
Summary: The article discusses General Secretary Xi Jinping's metaphor of the adolescent stage as the "jointing and booting stage" of life, a critical growth phase requiring careful guidance and cultivation. It elaborates on the physical, psychological, intellectual, and value-related changes adolescents undergo, noting both development opportunities and growth risks. The piece emphasizes the need for ideological and political work, with schools, families, and society jointly providing positive guidance and using "grand ideological and political courses." It calls for strengthening the foundation of ideals, beliefs, and values, and improving the coordinated support system of family, school, and society. The article concludes by urging the whole society to purify the social environment and provide better support for adolescents' rights, mental health, and rule-of-law education.
Summary: The article analyzes General Secretary Xi Jinping's speech at the meeting celebrating the 75th anniversary of the CPPCC's founding, included in Volume V of *Xi Jinping: The Governance of China*. It summarizes the speech's "ten adherences" as fundamental guidelines for CPPCC work, five requirements for promoting the broad, multi-level, and institutionalized development of consultative democracy, and five key tasks for the CPPCC to serve Chinese modernization. The analysis emphasizes how consultative democracy embeds itself in the socialist political system, linking political consultation, democratic supervision, and participation in state affairs under Party leadership. It stresses the importance of transforming institutional advantages into governance effectiveness through mechanisms, platforms, and a high-quality committee member team. The article concludes that these elements collectively aim to pool wisdom and strength for advancing Chinese modernization.
Summary: General Secretary Xi Jinping issued important instructions on overseas Chinese affairs work in July 2026, commending the contributions of overseas Chinese and returned overseas Chinese and their relatives and calling for uniting their hearts and strength to serve national rejuvenation through Chinese modernization. The article stresses that strengthening this work is essential for advancing Chinese modernization, safeguarding national core interests—including opposing "Taiwan independence" separatist forces—enhancing cultural soft power, and promoting a community with a shared future for mankind. It outlines new tasks arising from international turbulence, domestic economic challenges, and shifts in overseas Chinese demographics, including generational changes and declining ancestral ties among newer generations. The piece calls for comprehensive Party leadership, improved coordination, legal protection of overseas Chinese rights, and greater efforts in talent introduction, cultural exchange, and anti-"independence" pro-reunification activities.
Summary: The article explores the rising popularity of immersive cultural tourism in China, exemplified by sites like "Only Henan · Dramatic Fantasy City" and Luoyi Ancient City, where tourists shift from passive viewing to active participation in cultural experiences. It attributes this trend to the experience economy, technological integration such as AI and virtual reality, and a focus on emotional value that drives consumption. The piece cites data from the "15th Five-Year Plan" for Cultural and Tourism Development, which promotes AI plus culture and tourism and smart tourism immersive spaces. It warns against homogenization, technology-culture disconnect, and investment risks, urging deep cultural cultivation, technological adaptation, and talent development. The article concludes that immersive cultural tourism can become a lasting engine for consumption and cultural storytelling if it prioritizes cultural soul, technological wings, and a people-centered approach.
Summary: The article, authored by an executive director at Soochow University's New Education Research Institute, reflects on the China-U.S. youth pickleball exchange program, which the author co-initiated, as a vehicle for people-to-people diplomacy. It cites President Xi Jinping's announcements inviting 50,000 and then 100,000 American youths to China for exchange, noting the first goal was met ahead of schedule. The piece highlights pickleball's inclusive nature and describes an exchange model combining sports, culture, education, and emotion, citing testimonials from American participants and educators. It also recounts a Chinese student's journey to keep a pickleball appointment and a return visit by Chinese teachers and students to the United States, alongside the launch of a "Pickleball International Exchange Hundred Cities Program." The author concludes that such grassroots exchanges lay a foundation for a constructive and stable China-U.S. strategic relationship.
Summary: The article discusses the need to enrich cultural life at the grassroots level as part of Chinese modernization, citing directives from the 20th Party Congress, the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee, and the 15th Five-Year Plan outline. It identifies shortcomings in grassroots cultural services, including mismatches between supply and demand, poorly maintained venues, and insufficient involvement of social forces. It calls for implementing an action to improve the quality and efficiency of public cultural services, with coordinated efforts on supply-demand matching, resource coordination, long-term operation, talent cultivation, and digital empowerment. The piece emphasizes making services more down-to-earth, people-gathering, and vibrant, including developing new types of public cultural spaces and supporting mass cultural activities. It concludes that cultural benefits for the people are essential for building a culturally strong country and advancing Chinese modernization.
Summary: The Manila Trials, held by the United States from October 1945 to April 1947, prosecuted Japanese Class B and Class C war criminals for atrocities including the "Bataan Death March" and the Manila Massacre, which killed over 100,000 Filipino civilians. Yamashita Tomoyuki, the highest-ranking Japanese commander in the Philippines, became the first senior Japanese officer executed under the "command responsibility" principle, while Homma Masaharu was also tried and executed for the "Bataan Death March." The tribunals, convened by Lieutenant General Walter Krueger, heard 87 cases and indicted 237 war criminals, with 91 death sentences and 69 executions, featuring a high death-sentence rate and low commutation rate. The trials applied the "superior orders do not exempt" principle to hold junior officers accountable for civilian massacres, as exemplified by the "Ogino case." The Manila Trials advanced the "command responsibility" principle in international criminal law and comprehensively prosecuted Japanese atrocities against Filipino civilians, including overseas Chinese, embodying the postwar Allied spirit of punishing fascist crimes.
Summary: This article profiles the French sinologist Jacques Gernet, highlighting his holistic approach to Chinese history and his influence in Western academia. It details how Gernet merged French sinological traditions with the Annales School's methods, notably in works like *Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion* and *A History of Chinese Civilization*. The latter, praised as the best general history of China, divided Chinese history into five stages and emphasized technology's role in civilizational development. Gernet also criticized Western biases, countering theories of Chinese stagnation, isolation, and Western superiority by citing China's dynamic history and cultural exchanges. His legacy underscores the value of equal civilizational exchange and mutual learning.
Summary: The article argues that the global trend is defined by three irreversible developments: a multipolar world, the growing autonomy of development paths, and the democratization of international relations. It cites General Secretary Xi Jinping's assertion that "world history is jointly written by the people of all countries; multipolarity, the autonomy of development paths, and the democratization of international relations are the right path for humanity." The piece highlights the rise of the Global South and China's role as a key pole in promoting an "equal and orderly multipolar world." It also discusses the contrast between capitalism's deepening problems and the growing influence of socialism, exemplified by Chinese modernization. The author is the Dean of the Graduate School of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance).
Summary: The 2026 Global South Modernization Forum was held in Cairo, Egypt, on September 30, co-hosted by the State Council Information Office, the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance), and other institutions, with the Party School releasing the "Top Ten Hot Topics in Global South Modernization Research · 2026." Parallel Forum II, led by the Party School and themed "Using Artificial Intelligence to Improve People's Livelihood and Well-Being," brought together experts from China, Egypt, Algeria, Yemen, the United Kingdom, and other countries for cross-disciplinary dialogue. The forum featured two sessions, one on a global framework for inclusive AI development and another on Global South practical explorations in using AI to enhance livelihoods, with dignitaries such as Khaled Rashid and Mezouda Abdelmalek participating. Experts agreed that improving wellbeing through AI requires an inclusive global governance system and practical implementation plans. They urged Global South countries to adhere to a people-centered technological orientation, respect civilizational diversity, and contribute "Southern wisdom" to global AI governance.
Summary: The Fujian Provincial Party School held a summary meeting on September 18 to consolidate and expand the achievements of the study and education on establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements, studying General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions and implementing the spirit of relevant central and provincial meetings. The meeting reviewed the school's progress in integrating learning, examination, and rectification, achieving positive results in consolidating the ideological foundation and addressing key problems. It emphasized deepening ideological understanding, strengthening the armed force of the Party's innovative theory, and educating cadres to strengthen ideals and convictions, loyalty to the Party, and integrity. The meeting also stressed continuous problem rectification, improving long-term mechanisms, and promoting practical results to advance the construction of a "first-class Party school" and support Fujian's leading role in Chinese modernization. Members of the school committee and Party branch secretaries attended the meeting.
Summary: The article describes the "Shanghai Reform and Opening Up" themed classroom developed by the Shanghai Municipal Party School, which has trained tens of thousands of cadres over ten years. Its success is attributed to content grounded in Shanghai's reform history, innovative interactive teaching methods, a spiritual core of "mission, responsibility, and wisdom," and continuous iterative upgrades. The course has been selected as a national excellent course and has expanded to multilingual versions, while also serving central and provincial leaders. The author, a deputy director at the school, concludes that the classroom will keep updating its content to align with Xi Jinping's thought on Party building and the latest reform expositions.
Summary: The Party School of the CPC Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Regional Committee has implemented a visiting scholar system to address weaknesses in grassroots party school teaching staff, focusing on "selection and deployment—visiting scholar cultivation—follow-up return visits." Since the autumn semester of 2024, it has received 38 visiting scholars in 5 batches, assigning mentors and formulating individual plans. The program targets shortcomings in theory, teaching, and research, with visiting scholars auditing over 60 courses and more than 20 teachers publishing articles in journals. After returning to their posts, scholars share achievements, while a long-term tracking mechanism and return exchange cycle sustain mentorship and course sharing. The system aims to build an academic community with upper and lower linkage, achieving mutual progress and coordinated development across party schools in the region.
Summary: The Party School of the Hainan Provincial Party Committee held a symposium for its capacity-building action learning class for newly recruited teachers, with Executive Vice President Wang Shaowen attending and delivering a speech, alongside Vice Presidents Liu Libo, Bi Puyun, and Xu Ping. The meeting studied General Secretary Xi Jinping's speech at the Central Party School's 90th anniversary celebration, heard reports on the action learning class, and discussed next steps. It noted that newly recruited teachers are a vital new force for the Party School's development and the talent foundation for building "dual characteristics, dual first-class," with their teaching capacity preliminarily tested and research work gradually emerging. The meeting emphasized upholding the action learning philosophy of "unity of knowledge and action," maintaining the "on-duty training" model, and supporting new teachers' growth across the entire chain. Newly recruited teachers were urged to practice the "three questions upon entering the school," maintain determination and perseverance, and contribute to the high-quality development of the Party School and the Hainan Free Trade Port.
Summary: The Guizhou Provincial Conference of Presidents (Deans) of Party Schools (Academies of Administration) was held in Guiyang on September 23, conveying the spirit of the national conference and summarizing work. Xu Lin, Secretary of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee, made written instructions, which were fully affirmed by the conference. Qu Lin, member of the Standing Committee of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee, head of the Provincial Party Committee Organization Department, and President (Dean) of the Guizhou Provincial Party School (Academy of Administration), attended and delivered a speech. Xu Lin emphasized thoroughly studying and implementing Xi Jinping's thought on Party building and his important expositions on Party school work, adhering to the principle that Party schools are run by the Party, and promoting high-quality development of Party schools across the province. The conference stressed grasping fundamental guidelines, strengthening three-level linkage, and advancing strict governance of schools to improve school operation and governance levels.
Summary: The Jiangxi Provincial Party School’s autumn semester main training classes have integrated four red education readers into their curriculum to build a full-chain red education model. They innovated learning formats, including a "Ten-Minute Red Micro-Party Lesson Before Class" and activities such as on-site teaching in Jinggangshan, red song learning, and film discussions. Trainees revisited the contemporary value of the Jinggangshan and Soviet Area spirits and studied the spirit and demeanor of Fang Zhimin and Gan Zuchang. Participants stated they will draw strength from Jiangxi’s red bloodline to strengthen convictions and serve the people. The report was written by Qiu Yue.
Summary: The Party School of the CPC Tibet Regional Committee held a plaque-unveiling ceremony on September 22 for its designation as a National Demonstration Base for Patriotic Education, with Taniya, Deputy Director of the Regional Party Committee's Publicity Department, attending and unveiling the plaque, and Cui Luchun, Executive Vice President, delivering a speech. The base, located at the building of the Representative of the Central People's Government in Tibet and the former office site of the Tibet Work Committee, was designated by the Central Publicity Department to honor Tibet's peaceful liberation, democratic reform, and stable development. The school will use the designation to deepen patriotic education, forge a sense of community for the Chinese nation, and advance ethnic unity, building the base into a live classroom for Party spirit education. It plans to strengthen base-based teaching with interactive methods, provide tailored visiting services for all ethnic groups and youth, and ensure long-term protection and management of the site.
Summary: The Shaanxi Provincial Party School held a promotion meeting on autumn semester course development and the recommendation of "good courses" for the province-wide cadre education and training program, with Fan Yongbin, Executive Vice President, attending and delivering a speech. Fan affirmed earlier work results, stressing that course development is an important support for the Party School's mission and that it must firmly grasp the principle that the Party School is surnamed the Party, coordinate course development, and create high-quality, premium courses. He required strengthened coordination, alignment with national strategic deployments, careful topic selection, and a push toward refinement, distinctiveness, and systematization in course development. He also called for improving incentive systems, breaking away from conventional thinking, raising strategic research and judgment, mobilizing teachers' enthusiasm, strengthening cross-department cooperation, and promoting high-level course development to improve quality and effectiveness.
Summary: The article reports on Eryuan County in Yunnan Province's efforts to strengthen township party schools as a key lever for party member education and training. It details measures to standardize training bases, diversify the training system through a faculty pool of over 90 people and targeted courses, and normalize training by combining study with practical application. Since 2024, 151 sessions of basic training have been conducted, covering 18,100 person-times. The county has also organized party member teams to resolve over 600 livelihood issues, such as environmental sanitation and conflict mediation. The piece does not mention the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: A symposium marking the 40th anniversary of the *Journal of the Ningxia Party School* and its high-quality development was held in Yinchuan on September 18, with Hao Tong, Executive Vice President of the Party School (Academy of Governance) of the CPC Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Committee, attending and delivering a speech. Keynote speeches were given by comrades from the Newspaper and Periodical Agency of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance) and the Party School (Academy of Governance) of the Anhui Provincial Committee, while experts from several universities participated online to discuss the journal's future. The journal, first published in 1986 and selected as a core journal in the AMI Comprehensive Evaluation in 2022, has upheld the principle that the Party school is run by the Party and adhered to correct political, academic, and value orientations. It has run regular and distinctive columns, combining the interpretation of the Party's innovative theories with Ningxia's practices, including the construction of a demonstration zone for fostering a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation. The symposium aimed to review the journal's history and plan its future, with plans to optimize columns, strengthen topic selection, cultivate authors, and enhance communication effectiveness.
Summary: The article describes the "Shanghai Reform and Opening Up" themed classroom developed by the Shanghai Municipal Party School, which has trained tens of thousands of cadres over ten years. Its success is attributed to content grounded in Shanghai's reform history, innovative interactive teaching methods, a spiritual core of "mission, responsibility, and wisdom," and continuous iterative upgrades. The course has been selected as a national excellent course and has expanded to multilingual versions, while also serving central and provincial leaders. The author, a deputy director at the school, concludes that the classroom will keep updating its content to align with Xi Jinping's thought on Party building and the latest reform expositions.
Summary: The author, deputy principal of the Jinan Municipal Party School, outlines the school's organized research approach to cultivating high-quality research outputs, built on a four-dimensional mechanism of "talent—process—institution—ecology." Efforts include attracting doctoral talent, implementing cultivation projects, and promoting practice-based tempering to consolidate the talent foundation. The school also focuses on full-chain problem tackling, strengthening major topic traction, academic treatise support, and consultation service effectiveness. Institutional effectiveness is enhanced through the trinity of teaching-research-consultation integration, systematized institutions, and standardized management. Finally, the school pools wisdom across platforms to build an academic ecology, expanding cooperation and strengthening theoretical publicity.
Summary: The article, authored by the executive vice principal of the Party School of the Daxing District Committee of Beijing, outlines how the school advances basic training for cadres through top-level design, mechanism innovation, and rigorous faculty management. It details the implementation of a "five overall plans" working mechanism, a "4+4+X" class system, and the establishment of 27 branch schools to ensure full coverage of training. The piece also describes innovations such as a "four-stage" training model, a "three-level lesson preparation" course generation mechanism, and a "renewal of appointment every three years" system for teachers. The school emphasizes studying and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era within its curriculum. The article does not mention the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: The article describes how the Party School (Academy of Governance) of the Wuhan Municipal Committee of the CPC has implemented high-quality management and services to support high-quality development in teaching, research, and consultation, citing the newly revised "Regulations on the Work of Party Schools (Academies of Governance) of the Communist Party of China." It outlines three functions—serving development, decision-making, and implementation—including refining the goal of becoming a national first-class Party school into 5 categories and 27 key indicators. It details three dimensions of resource allocation, such as developing 17 Wuhan-characteristic courses, receiving approvals for 37 decision-making consultation reports, and streamlining 56 work processes via a smart campus. It also describes three measures, including a "Action to Strengthen the Foundation and Consolidate the Basics," institutional innovations around research teams and long-cycle projects, and expanded business guidance for district-level Party schools. The article does not mention the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: The Party School of the Shangrao Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China in Jiangxi Province has innovated teaching methods to improve cadre training effectiveness, as required by the newly revised *Regulations on the Work of Party Schools (Schools of Administration) of the Communist Party of China*. It established the "Xinjiang Forum" for trainee-led discussions, promoted the "flipped classroom" to enable teachers and students to learn from each other, and extended on-site teaching to transform learning into application. The school also improved its lesson-preparation mechanism, including a "five-step process" and teacher capacity building, to guarantee teaching quality. These efforts have yielded notable results, including two courses rated as "Excellent Courses for National Cadre Education and Training" and an overall teaching quality excellent rate above 98%.
Summary: The article recounts the Red Army's 1936 passage through Zhongdian, Yunnan, during the Long March, focusing on how He Long, Ren Bishi, and other leaders won over local Tibetans and the Guihua Temple through strict discipline and respect for religious beliefs. He Long presented a red silk banner inscribed "Prosper and Flourish the Tibetan People" to the temple, symbolizing ethnic unity and the Party's ethnic policies. The temple and Tibetans aided the Red Army by selling grain and providing guides, interpreters, and escorts, facilitating the army's continued march north. The article highlights the Zhongdian Conference, which set disciplinary rules for Tibetan areas, and concludes that the episode demonstrates how winning people's hearts and ethnic unity are essential to victory.
Summary: The article celebrates Yu opera, a major Chinese opera genre rooted in the Central Plains, tracing its origins to the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty and its evolution into four regional vocal schools. It highlights classic repertoire such as *Mu Guiying Takes Command* and *Hua Mulan* as vehicles for moral edification and patriotic spirit, including its role during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. The piece notes the contributions of masters like Chang Xiangyu and Ma Jinfeng in modernizing the art, and its contemporary revival through modern works such as *Jiao Yulu* and *The Great River in Peace*. It emphasizes Yu opera's enduring cultural significance as a national intangible heritage, blending tradition with innovation to attract new audiences. The article does not mention the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: The article is a reflective travelogue on Poyang Lake in summer, portraying it as a vibrant, life-filled wetland and a vessel of Jiangxi's cultural memory. It recounts the author's observations of waterbirds, a conversation with a patrol worker, and childhood memories of picking lìhāo, emphasizing the lake's enduring bond with local people. The piece highlights Poyang Lake's historical significance, from ancient records to its role in Jiangxi's geography and culture, and notes recent ecological protection measures such as the Yangtze fishing ban and wetland restoration. It concludes with the author's deepened understanding of the saying that the lake's grass is "the treasure of Nanchang's people," symbolizing the land's gift to generations. The article does not mention the United States or U.S.-China relations.
By: 中央统战部副部长、国务院侨办主任 陈旭
In July 2026, General Secretary Xi Jinping made important instructions on overseas Chinese affairs work, highly commending the positive contributions made by the vast number of overseas Chinese and returned overseas Chinese and their relatives in promoting national economic and social development, inheriting and carrying forward Chinese culture, and enhancing exchanges and cooperation between China and foreign countries. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that on the new journey, we must take Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guide, fully implement the Party's policies on overseas Chinese affairs, closely focus on the overall work of the Party and the state, better unite the hearts and strength of overseas Chinese, guide the vast number of overseas Chinese and returned overseas Chinese and their relatives to uphold fine traditions, cultivate deep feelings for the motherland, give play to their unique advantages, show greater achievements, actively serve the great cause of national reunification, promote the united struggle of Chinese people at home and abroad, and gather mighty strength for comprehensively advancing the building of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation through Chinese modernization. General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions are possessing a far-reaching view (高屋建瓴, gao wu jian ling - "high roof, build瓴"), rich in content, and far-reaching in conception, with strong political, ideological, targeted, and guiding significance. They are both encouragement and spur to the overseas Chinese affairs front, and also mobilization and orders, pointing out the direction of progress and providing important guidelines for doing overseas Chinese affairs work well on the new journey of the new era. We must earnestly study and understand, consciously use General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions and important instructions on overseas Chinese affairs work to unify thinking and guide work, actively adapt to changes and developments in the world situation, national conditions, and overseas Chinese conditions, continuously strengthen and improve overseas Chinese affairs work, and gather mighty strength for comprehensively advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese modernization.
Deeply Understand the Important Significance of Strengthening and Improving Overseas Chinese Affairs Work in the New Era
Overseas Chinese affairs work shoulders the important historical mission of closely uniting the vast number of overseas Chinese and returned overseas Chinese and their relatives and giving play to their positive role in the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. It is a long-term and strategic work of the Party and the state. In the great practice of China's revolution, construction, reform, and the new era, overseas Chinese affairs work has played an irreplaceable role. The period of the 15th Five-Year Plan occupies an important position of linking the past and the future in the process of basically realizing socialist modernization, and is a critical period for consolidating foundations and making comprehensive efforts. Strengthening and improving overseas Chinese affairs work is of great significance for better uniting the hearts and strength of overseas Chinese and jointly realizing the Chinese Dream.
Strengthening and improving overseas Chinese affairs work is an inevitable requirement for assisting in advancing Chinese modernization. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that China's reform and opening up, China's development and construction are inseparable from such a large number of overseas Chinese who care deeply about their hometowns and the motherland. Overseas Chinese have sincere patriotic feelings, strong economic strength, rich intellectual resources, and extensive overseas connections. They are an important channel for us to attract talent and investment, an important bridge for promoting international cooperation in industrial and supply chains, and an important force for promoting high-level opening up and strengthening international exchanges and cooperation. The current and coming period is a critical period for China to transform its development model, optimize its economic structure, and shift growth drivers, and also a period of strategic opportunity for responding to risks and challenges, grasping the initiative in development, and shaping new competitive advantages. Strengthening and improving overseas Chinese affairs work, fully giving play to the unique advantages of overseas Chinese in capital, technology, management, connections, and other aspects, guiding and supporting them to actively participate in Chinese modernization, deeply integrate into major national strategies, and play a role in cultivating and expanding new growth drivers, optimizing domestic and international dual circulation, and enhancing the momentum and vitality of high-quality development, is conducive to gathering the strong joint force of Chinese people at home and abroad in advancing Chinese modernization.
Strengthening and improving overseas Chinese affairs work is an inevitable requirement for safeguarding national core interests. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that we should guide the vast number of overseas Chinese and returned overseas Chinese and their relatives to actively serve the great cause of national reunification and promote the united struggle of Chinese people at home and abroad. More than 60 million overseas Chinese and more than 40 million returned overseas Chinese and their relatives are important members of the big family of the Chinese nation. Realizing national reunification and safeguarding national unity are the common aspirations of Chinese people at home and abroad. For a long time, in the face of matters of principle or fundamental right and wrong (大是大非, da shi da fei - "big, is, big, wrong") involving national sovereignty, security, and development interests, the vast number of overseas Chinese have always put the greater national interest first, given play to their advantage of close relations with all sectors of society in their countries of residence, and independently carried out various forms of propaganda, support, protest, and other anti-"independence" and pro-reunification activities overseas, playing a unique role in safeguarding China's sovereignty, security, and development interests. At present, separatist forces such as "Taiwan independence" are relying on foreign forces to bolster one's own position (挟洋自重, xie yang zi zhong - "carry, ocean, self, heavy"), colluding and converging, and the task of safeguarding and promoting national reunification is more arduous and heavy. Adhering to the main line of forging a sense of community for the Chinese nation, holding high the banner of great unity of the Chinese nation, using both the means of unity and struggle, and enhancing the national identity of overseas Chinese are conducive to continuously squeezing the space for hostile separatist forces to operate overseas, expanding the righteous force of anti-"independence" and pro-reunification on a global scale, and better safeguarding national core interests.
Strengthening and improving overseas Chinese affairs work is an inevitable requirement for enhancing national cultural soft power and the influence of Chinese culture. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "cultural soft power and influence are important components of comprehensive national strength" and that "the broad and profound (博大精深, bo da jing shen - "wide, big; profound, deep") Chinese culture is the common soul of Chinese people at home and abroad." Overseas Chinese live in all parts of the world and are important carriers and disseminators of Chinese culture. They spontaneously build "Chinatowns" and "China Cities" in their countries of residence, run Chinese language education, hold traditional Chinese festival activities such as the Spring Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival, and spread Chinese culture overseas, which is widely welcomed by all sectors of society in their countries of residence. At present, competition in national cultural influence is becoming increasingly fierce. Under the guidance of Xi Jinping's cultural thought, China's cultural undertakings have entered a brand-new historical stage, and the common challenges facing global development require Chinese culture to continue contributing its strength. Encouraging overseas Chinese to promote the high-quality development of Chinese language education and supporting various forms of Sino-foreign people-to-people and cultural exchange activities are conducive to expanding the spread of Chinese culture worldwide, deepening exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, and promoting the international community's better understanding of Chinese civilization and contemporary China.
Strengthening and improving overseas Chinese affairs work is an inevitable requirement for promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "the vast number of overseas Chinese should use their own advantages and conditions to actively act as an intermediary or matchmaker (牵线搭桥, qian xian da qiao - "pull thread, build bridge") for exchanges and cooperation between their countries of residence and China in various fields, better integrate into and give back to local society, and continuously make new contributions to promoting world peace and development." Overseas Chinese have the unique advantage of connecting China and foreign countries. They are familiar with the Chinese nation and China's national conditions, and at the same time have integrated well and deeply into local society, familiar with the political and social environment, the thinking patterns of the people, language habits, and cultural backgrounds of their countries of residence. They generally hope that their countries of residence maintain friendly relations with China and are willing to contribute their strength. For a long time, overseas Chinese have played an important role in promoting bilateral and multilateral cooperation between China and their countries of residence and in helping build the Belt and Road Initiative with high quality. Strengthening and improving overseas Chinese affairs work, adhering to the guidance of the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind, and guiding overseas Chinese to strive to be the golden ribbon and bridge of friendship for Sino-foreign friendly cooperation are conducive to advocating an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, further deepening international exchanges and cooperation, and promoting the building of a world of lasting peace, universal security, common prosperity, openness, inclusiveness, cleanliness, and beauty.
Accurately Grasp the New Situation and New Tasks Facing Overseas Chinese Affairs Work
Overseas Chinese affairs work has always been closely related or intimately connected (息息相关, xi xi xiang guan - "breath, breath, mutually related") to the development of the world situation and national conditions, and closely linked to changes in overseas Chinese conditions. On the new journey of the new era, the correlation between overseas Chinese affairs work and the overall domestic and international situation has further increased. We must establish a world vision, strengthen strategic thinking, and from a strategic and overall height, scientifically analyze the new opportunities and new challenges facing the high-quality development of overseas Chinese affairs work, and deeply grasp the new situation and new requirements facing us.
Accurately grasp the new requirements put forward by the profound and complex changes in the international situation for overseas Chinese affairs work. At present, the world is undergoing accelerated changes unseen in a century, the international balance of power is undergoing profound adjustment, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is accelerating breakthroughs, and China has many favorable factors for actively managing international space and shaping the external environment. The concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind and the four major global initiatives proposed by General Secretary Xi Jinping represent the direction of progress of human civilization, conform to the common aspirations of the people of all countries, are increasingly gaining popular support, and have become the greatest common denominator for uniting and rallying all countries in the world. At the same time, we must also see that the world is intertwined with chaos and change, turbulence is intensifying, and geopolitical conflicts are prone to occur frequently; unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise, the threat of hegemonism and power politics is increasing, the international economic and trade order is facing severe challenges, and the momentum of world economic growth is insufficient. To strengthen and improve overseas Chinese affairs work, we must accurately grasp the intricate and complex (错综复杂, cuo zong fu za - "intertwined, complex; many, complicated") international situation, maintain strategic focus, enhance confidence in victory, find the right positioning, be proactive, establish a sense of urgency, enhance historical initiative, better mobilize and give play to the advantages of overseas Chinese affairs resources to serve the overall work of foreign affairs, and create a favorable external environment for Chinese modernization.
Accurately grasp the new tasks put forward by domestic economic and social development for overseas Chinese affairs work. At present, China has successfully completed all the main goals and tasks of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, economic strength, scientific and technological strength, and comprehensive national strength have leaped to a new level, Chinese modernization has taken new solid steps, and the new journey of the Second Centenary Goal has achieved a good start. China's economic foundation is stable, with many advantages, strong resilience, and great potential. The supporting conditions and basic trend of long-term improvement have not changed, and the trend of development momentum turning new and superior is further emerging. The advantages of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, the advantages of the super-large market, the advantages of the complete industrial system, and the advantages of rich talent resources are more prominent. At the same time, we must also see that the problem of unbalanced and inadequate development in China is still prominent; effective demand is insufficient, and there are bottlenecks and blockages in the domestic economic cycle; the task of transforming old and new growth drivers is arduous; agricultural and rural modernization is relatively lagging behind; and there is greater pressure on employment and resident income growth. This requires us to make breakthrough progress in optimizing structure, enhancing momentum, resolving contradictions, and making up for shortcomings. To strengthen and improve overseas Chinese affairs work, we must accurately grasp the overall situation and trends, fully, accurately, and comprehensively implement the new development philosophy, closely combine the strengths of overseas Chinese affairs work with the needs of national economic and social development, fully explore resource endowments, find the right entry points and focal points for work, make precise efforts around major national development strategies, and achieve new results in assisting high-quality development and promoting high-level opening up.
Accurately grasp the new topics put forward by the profound changes in overseas Chinese conditions at home and abroad for overseas Chinese affairs work. At present, overseas Chinese conditions at home and abroad are showing a series of new changes. On the one hand, the number of overseas Chinese continues to increase, their economic strength, overall quality, and social status continue to improve, their ties, exchanges, and cooperation with China are closer, and their national pride and identity continue to strengthen; the total number of returned overseas Chinese and their relatives in China is growing rapidly, and their overall quality has improved considerably. On the other hand, the structure of overseas Chinese communities is becoming increasingly complex, the replacement of old and new generations is accelerating, differences between regions, countries, and groups are increasing, the new generation of ethnic Chinese is increasingly becoming the main body of overseas Chinese communities, and the phenomenon of some new generations' feelings for their ancestral (home) country declining generationally is prominent; the phenomenon of overseas Chinese organizations developing without unity and standardization still exists, the integration of old and new overseas Chinese organizations in some countries is insufficient, and cohesion within overseas Chinese communities is weak; the demand for overseas Chinese to participate in domestic political, economic, cultural, and social life is growing day by day, the interest demands of the vast number of overseas Chinese and returned overseas Chinese and their relatives are more diverse, and it is more difficult for overseas Chinese affairs work to build consensus. To strengthen and improve overseas Chinese affairs work, we must accurately grasp the profound changes in overseas Chinese conditions, focus on researching and solving the problems and bottlenecks restricting the development of overseas Chinese affairs work, focus on the needs and expectations of overseas Chinese compatriots, continuously reform, innovate, forge ahead, improve the ability and level of serving overseas Chinese, and better cultivate and expand overseas patriotic forces and forces that understand and are friendly to China.
Comprehensively Strengthen the Party's Leadership and Open Up a New Situation in Overseas Chinese Affairs Work
Facing the new situation, new tasks, and new requirements of overseas Chinese affairs work, we must adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, implement the Party Central Committee's decisions and arrangements on strengthening and improving overseas Chinese affairs work, closely focus on the overall work of the Party and the state, adhere to the theme of uniting people's hearts and efforts (凝心聚力, ning xin ju li - "condense, heart; gather, strength") to jointly realize the Chinese Dream, adhere to the unity of serving the overall situation and serving overseas Chinese, the coordination of domestic overseas Chinese affairs work and foreign overseas Chinese affairs work, and the overall planning of cultivating resources and giving play to their role, promote the high-quality development of overseas Chinese affairs work in the new era, better closely unite the vast number of overseas Chinese and returned overseas Chinese and their relatives, and gather mighty strength for comprehensively advancing the building of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation through Chinese modernization.
Strengthen overall coordination and comprehensively gather joint force for work. Conscientiously implement the Party Central Committee's major policies and decisions and arrangements on overseas Chinese affairs work, further improve top-level design, strengthen strategic planning, strengthen overall coordination, focus on enhancing the integrity, systematicness, and synergy of the work of all regions and relevant departments, and ensure that the Party's overall leadership, especially the centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, runs through all aspects and the entire process of overseas Chinese affairs work. United front work departments at all levels should give play to the advantages of the grand united front work pattern, perform their overall coordination functions, fully mobilize the initiative and enthusiasm of all parties, vigorously support all overseas Chinese affairs-related departments, social organizations, relevant universities, relevant financial institutions, and enterprises in carrying out relevant overseas Chinese affairs work, and further promote the formation of a good situation in which Party committees provide unified leadership, united front work departments take the lead in coordination, and relevant departments and social organizations each performing their own respective duties (各司其职, ge si qi zhi - "each, undertake, its, duty") and fulfilling their respective responsibilities.
Strengthen friendship and contacts and consolidate the foundation for united struggle. Make full use of important time nodes such as the National Day and major activity platforms such as the World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention and the World Overseas Chinese Community Friendship Conference, strengthen friendship and contacts with representative figures in the overseas Chinese community, deepen their profound understanding of the great changes of the new era and their broad recognition of the missions and tasks of the new journey of the new era. Extensively publicize to overseas Chinese groups the rich connotation and practical requirements of Chinese modernization, guide them to give play to their own advantages and contribute wisdom and strength in the process of comprehensively advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese modernization. Encourage and guide overseas Chinese and returned overseas Chinese and their relatives to actively participate in whole-process people's democracy, and support deputies to people's congresses and members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference among returned overseas Chinese and their relatives in performing their duties.
Safeguard the rights and interests of overseas Chinese in accordance with the law and improve the level of service for overseas Chinese. Implement the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Returned Overseas Chinese and the Relatives of Overseas Chinese and its implementing rules and other overseas Chinese affairs-related laws and regulations, improve policies and measures such as the system for identifying overseas Chinese status and promoting the convenient application of overseas Chinese identity documents, and actively respond to the reasonable interest demands of overseas Chinese and returned overseas Chinese and their relatives. Strengthen the construction of the public service system for overseas Chinese, incorporate services for overseas Chinese into the national public service plan, actively promote "Internet + overseas Chinese affairs work," and provide inclusive public services for overseas Chinese and returned overseas Chinese and their relatives. Innovate the overseas service work system for overseas Chinese, establish an emergency response mechanism for overseas Chinese-related emergencies, guide overseas Chinese organizations to strengthen unity and mutual assistance, and build a safety protection barrier for overseas Chinese.
Focus on serving the overall situation and give play to resource advantages. Do a good job in overseas Chinese-related talent introduction and investment attraction, promote the effective docking and deep integration of overseas Chinese talent and capital with the needs of major national development strategies, and play an active role in promoting high-quality development, high-level opening up, and high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. In particular, place the introduction of high-level overseas talent in a more important position, promote the improvement of policies and measures to facilitate the return (coming to China) of high-level overseas Chinese talent for innovation and entrepreneurship, and form an efficient mechanism for introduction, use, management, and service. Guide overseas Chinese to jointly shoulder the great cause of the nation, resolutely oppose separatist forces such as "Taiwan independence," firmly support the one-China principle and the 1992 Consensus, promote the in-depth, sustained, and healthy development of the anti-"independence" and pro-reunification movement, expand the overseas anti-"independence" and pro-reunification force, and safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests.
Carry forward Chinese culture and promote Sino-foreign friendly exchanges. Promote overseas Chinese affairs-related cultural exchanges, support overseas Chinese in carrying out rich and colorful Sino-foreign people-to-people and cultural exchange activities, provide overseas Chinese with richer cultural products and services, enhance the affinity and appeal of Chinese culture, and promote exchanges and mutual learning among Chinese and foreign civilizations. Enrich the supply of digital and intelligent resources for Chinese language education, improve the Chinese language textbook system, guide resources from all parties to help overseas Chinese schools improve the quality of schooling, and continuously promote the improvement of quality and efficiency of Chinese language education. Educate and guide overseas Chinese to abide by the laws of their countries of residence, better integrate into local society, contribute wisdom and strength to the economic and social development of their countries of residence, and fully demonstrate a good image of law-abiding, integrity, civilized behavior, caring for society, unity, and harmony.
Return to TopBy: 高祖贵
Those who discern the trend are wise; those who ride the trend prevail. At present, the once-in-a-century transformation of the world is accelerating, with fierce competition between dialogue and confrontation, win-win and zero-sum, multilateralism and unilateralism, and the shadow of war has not receded. Faced with the turbulent international situation, only by being adept at observing the general trend and understanding the general trend can one see through the clouds in a complex situation and discern the inevitable direction of world development. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "Understanding the general trend of world development and keeping pace with the tide of the times is an extremely important topic that requires constant renewal." Standing at a crossroads concerning the future and destiny of humanity, he emphasized at the "Shanghai Cooperation Organization Plus" meeting that "world history is jointly written by the people of all countries; multipolarity, the autonomy of development paths, and the democratization of international relations are the right path for humanity." This important assertion points to the surging general trend of world development and provides direction and navigation for the progress of human civilization.
The general trend toward a multipolar world is irreversible
More than 80 years ago, the founding of the United Nations established a multilateral cooperation platform for countries to discuss and handle international affairs through dialogue and consultation, established the rules of international rule of law, and initiated new practice in global governance. After the end of the Cold War, the process of world multipolarity and economic globalization accelerated, and the concept of global governance based on coordination and cooperation has increasingly taken root in people's hearts. In recent years, the Global South has grown remarkably, driving profound adjustments in the balance of international forces, and the general trend toward a multipolar world is irreversible.
World multipolarity is the general trend of historical development, a realistic choice for human society to move toward progress, and also the direction of historical progress. In the 1950s and 1960s, developing countries began to seek independence and self-reliance, and the Non-Aligned Movement, the Group of 77, and others emerged as the times required, advocating the establishment of a new international political and economic order. In the early 1990s, the end of the Cold War announced the collapse of the bipolar structure. With the rise and fall of international forces, the trend toward world multipolarity became increasingly clear. The United States, having experienced a series of major shocks including the September 11 attacks, the Afghanistan War, the Iraq War, and the financial crisis, and under the dual effects of continuously intensifying domestic contradictions and significantly damaged international credibility, has gradually declined from the world's sole superpower after the Cold War to the strongest force in a multipolar structure, with strategic weaknesses exposed in many places. Its strategic layout has contracted from the Middle East, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific, focusing on building a "Western Hemisphere fortress," and it has further weakened amid multiple drains such as deepening frictions with allies and sustained military games with Iran. At the same time, since the end of the Cold War, a number of developing countries have seized historical opportunities to achieve rapid development, with their comprehensive national strength and international influence significantly enhanced. Multiple forces such as the European Union, Russia, and China have continued to grow stronger and have become important participants in global affairs. Regional cooperation organizations such as ASEAN have continued to emerge and develop, rapidly increasing their influence on the international stage and promoting the process of multipolarity. In recent years, the changes unseen in a century have accelerated, and the Global South has grown in momentum. Global South countries have continuously enhanced their voice and influence in international affairs, becoming a powerful force driving world multipolarity forward in the right direction. All countries and regions in the world hope to secure a place in the international landscape through their own development and to play a greater role independently in international affairs. At present, the majority of members of the international community advocate that the world should be multipolar, do not endorse unilateralism and power politics, and all believe that the old path of bloc confrontation and zero-sum games must not be retaken.
China is not only an important pole in the trend toward world multipolarity, but has also always actively adapted to, accurately grasped, and vigorously promoted the forward development of this important trend. The report of the 14th National Congress of the Party pointed out, "The world today is in a historical period of great change. The bipolar structure has come to an end, various forces are re-dividing and re-combining, and the world is developing toward multipolarity." The report of the 15th National Congress of the Party clearly stated, "Peace and development remain the themes of our times. The trend toward multipolarity has seen new developments globally and regionally, in political, economic, and other fields, and various forces in the world have undergone new divisions and combinations." The report of the 16th National Congress of the Party solemnly declared, "We advocate following the historical trend and safeguarding the common interests of all humanity. We are willing to work together with the international community to actively promote world multipolarity, promote the harmonious coexistence of multiple forces, and maintain the stability of the international community." Conforming to and advocating world multipolarity has gradually become a distinctive hallmark of China's foreign strategy; it is precisely because of China's vigorous promotion that the evolution of the trend toward world multipolarity has become increasingly strong. Since the beginning of the new era, China has been in the best period of development since modern times, with economic strength, scientific and technological strength, national defense strength, and comprehensive national power reaching new heights, and its international status and influence greatly enhanced. Major powers in the world increasingly value the development of relations with China, and more and more people in various countries have rising favorable impressions of China. The "time" and "momentum" of the century-old transformation are on our side. As a responsible major power that promotes world progress and maintains international strategic stability, China firmly stands on the correct side of history, actively advocates an equal and orderly multipolar world, emphasizes that sovereign equality and mutual respect are fundamental principles, that balance, order, and the rule of law are inevitable requirements, that multilateralism and dialogue and consultation are key paths, and that mutual benefit and win-win, inclusiveness and shared benefit are the direction of development, driving the general trend of multipolarity to continue to evolve forward.
The autonomy of development paths is becoming increasingly prominent
A country's development path is determined by factors such as its historical and cultural traditions, level of economic and social development, and the choices of its people. The choices of development paths by various countries are bound to be diverse, and the trend of countries independently choosing their own development paths is becoming increasingly prominent.
From an overall institutional perspective, the world is in a pattern where the two systems of socialism and capitalism coexist. The problems faced by capitalism are increasing, while the influence of socialism continues to grow—this is a major historical change. As a series of deep-seated problems under the capitalist system become prominent, including the aggravation of oligarchic politics and democratic decline, the widening gap between rich and poor and the shrinking middle class, rising immigration issues and ethnic contradictions, the rise of nationalism and the proliferation of populism, these not only pose political challenges and economic security risks to established capitalist countries, but also affect the political ecology and adjustments in domestic and foreign policies of some transitioning countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Capitalist countries are seeking "re-industrialization" to solve various difficulties, and even attempting to create a "new capitalism" to regulate social contradictions and enhance economic resilience and security resilience. These changes have deepened people's understanding of the inherent contradictions of capitalism, and some capitalist countries are borrowing elements of socialism to varying degrees in the process of solving their own shortcomings.
Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, China has risen to become the world's second-largest economy, creating the two miracles of rapid economic development and long-term social stability. Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered the new era, which means that the Chinese nation, which has endured so much hardship since modern times, has ushered in a bright prospect of achieving great rejuvenation; it means that scientific socialism has radiated strong vitality in 21st-century China and has held high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the world; it means that the path, theory, system, and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics have continued to develop, bursting with full of vigorous life and vitality (勃勃生机, bo bo sheng ji - "vigorous, life, vitality"). The Marxism of 21st-century China has demonstrated more powerful and more convincing truth. At the same time, socialist countries such as Vietnam, Laos, North Korea, and Cuba are actively exploring development paths suited to their national conditions. Young people in developed capitalist countries have significantly increased their rational understanding, especially positive understanding, of socialism and communism. These manifestations demonstrate from different angles the strong vitality and broad development prospects of socialism in today's world.
From the perspective of the choice of modernization paths, modernization, as a major world trend and process that has formed since modern times and continues to evolve and strengthen, uses modern science and technological revolution, industrial development and transformation as driving forces to transform traditional agricultural societies into modern industrial societies, causing profound changes in forms of social organization and social behavior, and prompting the modernization of national governance systems and governance capabilities, whether actively or passively. Overall, the modernization process of European and American countries began roughly in the 15th and 16th centuries and has evolved over more than 500 years; it is an endogenous type of modernization that gradually grew out of traditional agricultural societies. The modernization of countries and regions outside Europe and America, however, occurred under historical conditions where local internal forces for change were insufficient to initiate the modernization process. Subjected to the strong impact of Western aggression and expansion, and in the process of being colonized and semi-colonized, they launched anti-traditional ideological revolutions, commercial revolutions, industrial revolutions, and social revolutions to resist or respond to external aggression and expansion. These changes or revolutions were, to a considerable extent, exogenous types transmitted from the outside, usually accompanied by intense conflicts with both local traditions and the external world, presenting various different characteristics. Today, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is accelerating breakthroughs, and its role in reshaping the global innovation landscape and restructuring the global economic structure has become more prominent. It will drive profound changes from theory to practice in various fields such as economic growth, political operations, social structure, and national governance in more and more countries and regions, as they explore modernization paths and models with their own characteristics. Developed countries in Europe and America are generally facing problems of varying degrees such as industrial hollowing-out, political polarization, and social populism. The urgency and pressure of "re-modernization" are growing, and the deep-seated ills of their modernization paths and models are increasingly exposed. In the process of comprehensive rise, Global South countries are more independently exploring development paths suited to their national conditions, and are increasingly deeply aware that the more closely modernization paths and models fit their own realities, the more likely they are to succeed.
Chinese modernization has been initiated and evolved within the grand historical process of world modernization. While learning and adapting to the general laws of world modernization, we have actively explored and revealed our own specific laws. Especially since entering the new era, the Communist Party of China, drawing on the successful experiences and lessons of modernization in various countries, regions, and nations, and building on the long-term exploration and practice since the founding of New China, especially since reform and opening up, has further deepened its understanding of the connotation and essence of Chinese modernization through continuous innovation and breakthroughs in theory and practice, and has systematically summarized and proposed the theory of Chinese modernization. Chinese modernization not only has the common characteristics of modernization in all countries, but also has Chinese characteristics based on its own national conditions. It embodies a unique worldview, values, view of history, view of civilization, view of democracy, view of ecology, and their great practice. It has created a new form of human civilization, broken the myth of "modernization equals Westernization," presented another picture of modernization, expanded the path for developing countries to achieve modernization, set an example and provided entirely new choices for developing countries to independently move toward modernization, and provided Chinese solutions for humanity's exploration of better social systems. It is a major innovation in the theory and practice of world modernization. The successful practice of Chinese modernization fully demonstrates that developing countries can and will find modernization paths and models suited to their national conditions. China respects and firmly supports such efforts, driving the general trend toward the autonomy of world development paths forward surgingly.
The democratization of international relations cannot be stopped
Today's world has formed an international system composed of more than 200 countries and regions. Among them, there are 193 member states of the United Nations, and every country enjoys independent and equal sovereignty and should be respected. At present, the changes unseen in a century are accelerating, and hegemonism, unilateralism, and protectionism are moving against the current. However, the vast majority of countries do not endorse power politics, do not want conflict and confrontation, and do not want to be closed and backward. They look forward to having an equal place on the world stage through their own development and international cooperation, properly handling their differences through dialogue and consultation in accordance with recognized basic norms of international relations, and jointly discussing and handling world affairs. This has driven the formation of the trend toward the democratization of international relations. After World War II, especially after the Cold War, along with the waves of multipolarity in the world pattern, economic globalization, and the autonomy of development paths, the general trend toward the democratization of international relations has continued to develop.
Politically, the vast majority of countries emphasize sovereign equality and mutual respect, insist that countries, regardless of size, strength, or wealth, should enjoy equal rights, equal opportunities, and equal rules, oppose the big bullying the small, the strong bullying the weak, and the rich bullying the poor, oppose a few countries dominating international affairs, and oppose one country dominating, several powers co-governing, or bloc politics. They advocate abiding by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, safeguarding and revitalizing the authority and vitality of the United Nations, discarding double standards, exceptionalism, interference, bullying, and the law of the jungle, opposing withdrawal from groups and destruction of agreements and starting anew, promoting the building of a more just and reasonable global governance system, and promoting more coordinated and efficient global and regional multilateral mechanisms. Economically, the vast majority of countries look forward to mutual benefit and win-win, inclusiveness and shared benefit, emphasize focusing on development issues and adhering to openness and cooperation, support the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at its core, promote WTO reform, oppose protectionism, decoupling and severing supply chains, and the abusive imposition of tariffs, and resist all forms of protectionist measures. In security, the vast majority of countries clearly oppose Cold War mentality and bloc confrontation, oppose violating other countries' sovereignty, interfering in other countries' internal affairs, and damaging other countries' territorial integrity, emphasize constructive participation in resolving hotspot issues, and seek solutions that address both symptoms and root causes.
China, as a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, and a defender of the international order, conforms to the mainstream trend of the world opposing hegemonism and power politics, took the lead in proposing and actively supports the democratization of international relations, firmly advocates that world history is jointly written by the people of all countries, that world affairs should be discussed by all countries, that international rules should be jointly formulated by all countries, that all countries should abide by the rule of law, uphold fairness and justice, and practice true multilateralism, actively promotes the legalization and rationalization of international relations, enhances the representation and voice of developing countries, and makes the reform of the global governance system better adapt to new changes in the balance of international forces. China has proposed building a community with a shared future for mankind, promoting the building of a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness and justice, and win-win cooperation, taking a new path of state-to-state relations featuring dialogue over confrontation and partnership over alliance, building a global network of partnerships, and proposing the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative, and the Global Governance Initiative and taking the lead in actively implementing them, playing a strategic leading role. China has proposed and upheld the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security, and actively leads global governance in new domains such as cyberspace, data, artificial intelligence, outer space, and the deep sea; it emphasizes that major powers in particular should take the lead in abiding by rules and the rule of law and cooperate to address global issues. China firmly supports and promotes inclusive economic globalization that benefits all, advocates that countries aim for mutual benefit and win-win, achieve win-win, all-win, and multi-win outcomes, discard the old mindset of zero-sum and winner-takes-all, and promote high-quality Belt and Road Initiative cooperation based on the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits. In particular, in relations among civilizations, China has proposed upholding the view of civilizations featuring equality, mutual learning, dialogue, and inclusiveness and promoting the common values of all humanity, emphasizing replacing estrangement between civilizations with exchanges, replacing clashes between civilizations with mutual learning, and replacing superiority of one civilization over another with coexistence of civilizations, promoting dialogue among different civilizations and different development models, making exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations a bridge to enhance friendship among peoples and a bond to maintain world peace, and injecting strong positive energy into the evolution of human civilization to clarify the source and purify the flow. China solemnly declares to the world that building a community with a shared future for mankind does not mean replacing one system with another, nor replacing one civilization with another, but rather that countries with different social systems, different ideologies, different histories and cultures, and different levels of development share interests, rights, and responsibilities in international affairs, forming the greatest common denominator for building a better world. China does not engage in cultural hegemony and will not impose its values and political system on others. As a responsible major power, China adheres to the unity of knowledge and action. These important ideas and concepts and firm measures and practices have led and will continue to lead the general trend toward the democratization of international relations rolling forward.
[The author is the Dean of the Graduate School of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance)]
Return to TopBy: 艾风
This year, the leadership teams at the provincial, municipal, county, and township levels will undergo successive transitions, a major event in the political life of the Party and the state. Transitions are a period of concentrated adjustment for cadres, involving a large number of cadres moving up, stepping down, staying in place, or transferring to other posts. General Secretary Xi Jinping has stressed that "we must guide Party members and cadres to uphold political integrity, bear the overall situation in mind, abide by discipline, and correctly view adjustments to the pattern of interests and their own advancement, retention, or transfer." This profoundly elucidates the political integrity, ideological realm, and standards of conduct that Party members and cadres should uphold in dealing with advancement, retention, or transfer. The vast majority of Party members and cadres, especially leading cadres, are the parties directly involved in the transitions. They must deeply understand the great significance of the transitions, establish a correct view of power, a correct view of political achievements, and a correct view of their careers, consciously submit to organizational arrangements, and correctly view their own advancement, retention, or transfer.
Advancement, retention, or transfer tests the political consciousness, Party spirit cultivation, and breadth of mind of cadres. This round of transitions comes precisely at a critical period when China's development has entered the stage of consolidating the foundation and making an all-out push toward basically realizing socialist modernization. It bears on the overall situation of Chinese modernization and on the well-being of hundreds of millions of people, and is of great significance and far-reaching influence. The vast majority of Party members and cadres must, from a political, overall, and strategic height, deeply understand that the selection and appointment of cadres and the advancement, retention, or transfer of individuals are, in essence, all needs of the development of the cause of the Party and the people, and are the results of the examination and choice of the Party and the people. They must deeply understand that posts and responsibilities are established by the Party and the state according to the needs of the development of the cause, and that the power in the hands of cadres is entrusted by the Party and the people. No matter what post one holds, how much power one possesses, or how many resources one commands, one has only the obligation and responsibility to work diligently for the Party and the people and to seek well-being for the people — there is absolutely no possibility of stretching out one's hand to the Party and the people or bargaining with the organization. They must deeply understand that our Party has strict standards and procedures for selecting and appointing people, that the requirements for leadership teams differ across different localities and fields and at different historical stages of tasks, and that in selecting cadres and forming teams, what is needed is not only strong individuals but also an excellent overall composition, with comprehensive consideration given to all factors of the team, including age, gender, specialty, experience, structure, and function. Once these principles are understood, no matter whether one advances, steps down, stays, or transfers, one can consciously submit to organizational arrangements with a high degree of Party spirit consciousness and devote oneself wholeheartedly to work.
For every Party member and cadre, the circumstances of advancement, retention, or transfer differ, but there is only one standard: one must always put the cause of the Party and the people first. When a cadre advances, it is the recognition and trust of the organization and a new starting point for undertaking work and building achievements, not personal capital or grounds for pride. One should be grateful for the trust of the Party and the people and for the heavy entrustment of the organization, treat the elevation of one's post and responsibilities as the driving force for taking on responsibility and acting, quickly enter the new role, and strive with a more enterprising spirit and full enthusiasm to repay the Party and the people with first-class work. When a cadre steps down, it is the need for the torch of the cause to be passed on from generation to generation. One should face personal changes in position with equanimity, consciously discard negative mindsets, responsibly hand the historical baton to one's successor, give full play to the role of "passing on experience, helping, and leading," and continue to contribute to the development of the cause. When a cadre stays in place, it is the need to maintain team stability and continuity of work, and is an affirmation of past work, not "standing still." One must guard against the slacking-off mentality of "being content with the status quo and lacking the drive to make progress," put an end to the slack attitude of getting by with a careless attitude (得过且过, de guo qie guo - "obtain, pass, and, pass") and being perfunctory and shirking responsibility (敷衍塞责, fu yan sai ze - "perfunctory, stuff, fulfill, responsibility"), and consciously anchor oneself in one's own post, be content and self-reflective, settle down and accumulate, build on achievements and overcome shortcomings, take on responsibility and work solidly, so as to better fulfill one's duties for the Party and seek well-being for the people. When a cadre transfers, it is the need to optimize the allocation of cadre resources and to cultivate and train cadres. One should cherish the good opportunity of exchange and rotation, actively seize new opportunities, overcome fear of difficulty and resistance psychology, be brave in accepting new challenges, quickly transform one's role, familiarize oneself with new business, adapt to new environments, humbly learn from the cadres and the masses of the new unit, roll up one's sleeves and do practical things and seek practical results, and strive to create new achievements and make new contributions in the new post.
Correctly viewing advancement, retention, or transfer is not merely a personal matter for Party members and cadres; Party committees at all levels and their organization departments bear important responsibility. For the organization, it is necessary to uphold the principle of the Party managing cadres, strictly implement the standards for good cadres in the new era, adhere to possessing both integrity and ability (德才兼备, de cai jian bei - "virtue, talent, both, possess"), prioritizing morality above all else (以德为先, yi de wei xian - "take, virtue, as, first"), people from all walks of life (五湖四海, wu hu si hai - "five, lakes, four, seas"), and appointing people solely on their merit (任人唯贤, ren ren wei xian - "appoint, person, only, worthy"), fully promote democracy, strictly enforce transition discipline, and guide the orientation of undertaking work and building achievements with the correct orientation for selecting and appointing people. It is necessary to do thorough and meticulous ideological and political work, extensively conduct heart-to-heart talks, do a good job of care and concern, educate and guide the vast number of cadres to correctly view advancement, retention, or transfer and the gains and losses of fame and fortune, always uphold the supremacy of the people and the supremacy of the cause, and more actively and unremittingly strive to comprehensively advance the building of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation through Chinese modernization.
Return to TopBasic research is an undertaking that lays foundations and benefits the long term. It must neither seek quick benefits without regard for long-term consequences (急功近利, ji gong jin li - "seek, fast, approach, profit") nor be passive and inactive (消极无为, xiao ji wu wei - "passive, negative, not, do"); it requires the vision and sense of responsibility of "the predecessors planting trees so that later generations may enjoy the shade," and the perseverance and resolve of persistent effort over a long period of time (十年磨一剑, shi nian mo yi jian - "ten, years, grind, one, sword"). This is not merely a question of how scientific research is approached; it is even more a question of overall perspective and of how achievements are assessed. We must seriously examine and rectify deviations in the view of achievements in scientific research work, and impel all levels and relevant parties to, in light of actual conditions, truly place basic research on the important agenda, pursue it with full effort and sustained commitment, and continuously achieve new results.
Return to TopBy: 王昶
Future industries are pioneering industries in the stage of gestation and breakthrough, combining frontier nature with disruptive nature, not yet fully mature but possessing significant growth potential. They are key business forms capable of iteratively upgrading existing industries and reshaping the future industrial landscape, and are also an important strategic component of the modern industrial system. Future industries as a whole exhibit distinctive characteristics such as technological disruptiveness, developmental foresight, strategic competitiveness, spatial non-equilibrium, and ecological dependence, and belong to frontier tracks that can be cultivated and grown into a new round of strategic emerging industries. According to a 2026 report released by McKinsey, "A New Round of Core Competitive Tracks: The Global Competition Officially Begins," the compound annual growth rate of the market value of the world's 18 major future industry competitive tracks from 2022 to 2025 reached 29%, nearly four times that of traditional industry sectors. Future industries are becoming a new engine of global economic growth.
Global future industries have entered the fast track of development. Major powers are intensively deploying strategies, and competition across tracks is unfolding in an all-round manner. Major world economies are strengthening strategic deployment in key tracks, attempting to seize the commanding heights of future development by mastering "root technologies" and "root industries." In August 2026, the U.S. "National Security Science and Technology Strategy" explicitly laid out 14 key tracks serving national security needs; in January 2025, the EU's "Competitiveness Compass," aimed at reshaping European competitiveness and security, formulated special action plans for 6 key tracks; in July 2025, Germany's "High-Tech Agenda," in order to ensure Germany's future technological sovereignty, designed technology roadmaps for 6 key tracks. Artificial intelligence, quantum technology, biotechnology, space technology, nuclear fusion, and hydrogen energy have become the focal points of future industry strategic deployment in various countries.
Investment in frontier research and development has increased, and innovation resources are accelerating their concentration. The U.S. "CHIPS and Science Act" appropriates approximately 200 billion U.S. dollars for basic frontier research such as quantum technology; the EU's "Horizon Europe 2021–2027" has an innovation funding budget of 95.5 billion euros for 9 tracks including brain health; France's "France 2030 Investment Plan" explicitly promotes disruptive innovation, planning to invest 54 billion euros in key technology R&D for 10 tracks including hydrogen energy. Global future technology innovation has entered a period of intensive activity.
The pace of technology implementation is accelerating, moving from concept to commercial demonstration. Future industries are undergoing a critical transition from technological breakthroughs to commercial application. Embodied intelligence has entered the stage of large-scale validation; in 2026, the Leipzig plant in Germany deployed HexagonAEON humanoid robots for battery assembly operations, achieving routine operation of embodied intelligence on industrial production lines. Biomanufacturing has entered the pilot-scale amplification stage; in 2025, the U.S. company Geno completed a 10,000-tonne green production line for bio-based BDO. Quantum technology has achieved demonstration and implementation of specialized products; in 2026, China's "Origin Wukong-180" went online, completing the commercial deployment of 180 superconducting qubits. Brain-computer interfaces have achieved breakthroughs in clinical pilot projects; in 2026, the PRIMA visual brain-computer interface device of the U.S. medical device company Science Corporation obtained EU certification. Future industries are moving from concept to application.
Global future industry development still faces multiple challenges. The development gap in future industries is prominent, and resistance to industrial upgrading breakthroughs is enormous. Currently, global future industry development mainly advances along two paths: "futurization of existing industries" and "industrialization of future technologies." On the one hand, "futurization of existing industries" is deeply mired in development constraints. Latecomer countries have long relied on catch-up-style innovation, with prominent shortcomings in original innovation capability and industrial foundation, making it difficult to seize the window of opportunity for technological change; at the same time, traditional techno-economic paradigms have formed path lock-in, and the application scenarios of disruptive technologies are vague and insufficiently adaptable, making it impossible to effectively integrate them into the existing industrial system, with technology transformation and implementation being obstructed. On the other hand, the bottleneck problems of "industrialization of future technologies" are becoming prominent. The incomplete basic theoretical systems in frontier fields, insufficient support for core research, compounded by errors in technology route assessment and shortages of supporting technologies and industrial chain resources, make it difficult for frontier technologies to achieve large-scale and commercial implementation, greatly delaying the overall development process of future industries.
The continuous escalation of major-power games is intensifying camp confrontation and development barriers in global future industries. The proliferation of anti-globalization sentiment and the intensification of geopolitical games have led some countries to uphold the exclusionary mindset of maintaining a small, high-walled yard to protect core technologies while restricting others (小院高墙, xiao yuan gao qiang - "small, courtyard; high, wall"), politicizing competition over technology and resources in future industry fields, and implementing targeted blockades and monopolies on innovation resources such as key technologies, high-end components, and top talent through various barrier means including legislative controls, export restrictions, and investment reviews. For example, the 2026 U.S. "National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act" explicitly restricts relevant enterprises from exporting key quantum components and providing wafer foundry services, specifically curbing the development of other countries' quantum industries. Such unilateral protectionist policies have caused fractures in global future industry innovation cooperation, waste of R&D resources, serious duplicate construction, and obstruction of technology iteration, undermining the pattern of coordinated global future industry development.
The global governance system has notable shortcomings, and risk management and control in future industry development are disordered. At present, future industries are still in the gestation and exploration stage, with multiple technology routes advancing in parallel and industry standards not yet unified, and global governance has fallen into a structural dilemma. If regulatory standards are too stringent and preemptive controls are excessive, this will greatly suppress the vitality of technological innovation and the space for industrial trial and error, hindering the cultivation and breakthrough of frontier technologies; if regulation lags behind or is absent and controls are lax, this will lead to a series of risk problems such as technology abuse, ethical anomie, and accumulation of safety hazards. At present, major world countries have formed differentiated governance models based on their own development needs. The United States upholds "technological accelerationism," using deregulation to facilitate rapid technology iteration; the EU focuses on ethical control of technology, establishing rigid compliance constraints for high-risk frontier industries; China adheres to the concept of technology for good and implements the governance principle of inclusive and prudent regulation. The world has not yet formed a unified governance consensus and common standards, which constrains the standardized, orderly, and globalized development of future industries.
Long-term trends in global future industry development. Artificial intelligence empowerment across the entire chain is reshaping the iteration paradigm of future industries. As the foundational technology of the future industry system, artificial intelligence will comprehensively reshape the innovation paradigm, transformation paths, and industrialization forms of future industries, becoming an important engine driving group breakthroughs in future industries. Compared with traditional industries, future industries rely on frontier disruptive technologies, with high innovation uncertainty and high R&D trial-and-error costs, while artificial intelligence can drive basic research in future industries to shift from traditional hypothesis-driven to data-intelligence-driven approaches, significantly shortening the exploration cycle of frontier technologies and improving the efficiency of original innovation tackling. In the stages of technology application and industrial cultivation, artificial intelligence will be deeply embedded in all links of future industry solution design, parameter iteration, defect assessment, pilot-scale amplification, and full-chain management and control, effectively solving the difficult problem of engineering implementation of disruptive technologies. Artificial intelligence empowerment will break the pattern of single-point technological breakthroughs in future industries, promote cross-integration and coordinated upgrading across numerous frontier fields such as quantum, biology, aerospace, and hydrogen energy, and lead global future industries to achieve systematic and group leaps.
New-type R&D institutions are becoming incubation carriers for future industries. Adapted to the development characteristics of future industries—high frontier, high cross-disciplinary, high risk, and long cycle—new-type R&D institutions will become the mainstream carriers for cultivating future industries globally. Future industries depend on frontier basic science, and the innovation chain spans the entire process from basic research, concept validation, pilot-scale maturation, to commercial application. Traditional innovation systems in which research subjects are mutually fragmented and industry-university-research are disconnected cannot meet the needs of nurturing disruptive technologies. Major world economies are all accelerating the deployment of new-type R&D institutions with flexible institutional mechanisms, reconstructing the innovation cultivation system for future industries. New-type R&D institutions can connect the innovation chain, industrial chain, capital chain, and talent chain of future industries, fill the transformation gap from scientific research achievements to large-scale industrialization, solve the difficulty of "strong basic research but weak industrial implementation," and become key supporting platforms for countries to seize first-mover advantages in future industries.
Competition for ecological dominance is becoming the key focus of future industry games. The competitive logic of global future industries will undergo fundamental reconstruction, shifting from competition over individual technologies to strategic games over dominance of the entire ecosystem, becoming the general trend of long-term competition. Future industries have extremely strong technological interconnectedness, ecological dependence, and standard exclusivity. Single technological breakthroughs are difficult to form sustained competitive advantages; only a complete industrial ecosystem can build effective barriers. In the process of mature evolution of future industries, key elements such as underlying technology architecture, common industry standards, supporting systems, and application scenario norms will constitute the core discourse power of the future industry ecosystem. Games among major powers over future industries will continue to intensify, and the country that first builds a future industry ecosystem with technological autonomy, standard leadership, rich scenarios, and complete supporting systems will grasp the right to define industry rules and the initiative in development, dominating the overall development pattern of global future industries.
(The author is Dean of the "Three Highlands and Four New" Strategic Research Institute of Central South University)
Return to TopBy: 肖忠意
At present, the physical and mental health risks posed by teenagers' addiction to social media platforms have become a public issue of high concern in the field of global digital governance. Over a period of time, the situation of social media addiction among American teenagers has continued to deteriorate, with multiple hidden practical dangers and governance shortcomings gradually being exposed. How to improve regulatory and restrictive policies to limit minors' excessive use of social media has become a common challenge faced by many countries in social governance.
First, platforms deliberately design addictive mechanisms that harm teenagers' physical and mental health. Technology companies such as Meta create user dependence through product logics such as infinite scrolling feeds and continuous nighttime push notifications, exploiting the characteristics of teenagers whose prefrontal cortexes are not yet fully developed and whose self-regulation abilities are weak. From the product's foundation, they continuously activate the brain's dopamine reward circuits, inducing immersive "flow" experiences that are difficult to control. A large number of minors spend long periods immersed in social networks, leading to high incidence of psychological and physiological problems such as emotional anxiety and sleep disorders. Numerous parents and school districts have successively filed personal injury claims, and social complaints and rights-protection cases continue to accumulate.
Second, companies disregard their obligations to protect minors' data and illegally collect the private information of young children. Platforms bypass compliance reviews to illegally obtain the personal data and browsing traces of children under 13, completing data collection without guardian authorization. The risk of children's personal information leakage has long remained unresolved (悬而未决, xuan er wei jue - "suspend, and, not, decided"), and corporate self-discipline rectification efforts are a mere formality (流于形式, liu yu xing shi - "flow, into, form, pattern").
Finally, traditional industry regulatory models have obvious shortcomings, and the effectiveness of ex-ante constraints is seriously insufficient. Previously, governance relied mainly on voluntary corporate commitments and industry self-discipline agreements. Internet giants hold the power to formulate product rules, platform rectification lacks rigid binding force, and management policies issued separately by individual states are severely fragmented. Cross-regional collaborative governance mechanisms are absent. Relying solely on administrative persuasion cannot force companies to substantially modify addictive product features, and public governance has fallen into a vicious cycle (恶性循环, e xing xun huan - "evil, vicious, cycle, loop") of lax regulation, platform inaction, and teenage harm. At the root of this, unified legislation at the U.S. federal level has long been absent, compounded by two-party political games and platform capital lobbying. Rigid regulation has been slow to materialize, making judicial litigation a second-best option to force platform rectification.
Faced with the above severe challenges, the U.S. judiciary has taken action to pursue legal accountability against internet giants, extending from compensation accountability to the improvement of underlying product rules. In August 2026, a class action lawsuit jointly filed by 29 U.S. states against Meta reached a judicial settlement. The company involved paid a total of approximately $18 billion in compensation and was forced to introduce a series of mandatory account control rules for teenagers, thereby settling legal charges of inducing minors' internet addiction and illegally collecting children's personal data. This high-value judicial settlement has become a beneficial practice in the United States' use of judicial tools to regulate internet platforms and prevent teenage social media addiction.
First, substantial financial penalties were implemented, creating a strong legal deterrent effect. The settlement ultimately reached a compensation plan totaling approximately $18 billion. Unlike previous small administrative fines, the high-value compensation directly exerts economic pressure on internet companies, changing the interest-game pattern in which "the cost of violating the law is lower than the cost of rectification" for technology companies. At the same time, it preserves channels for claims by victim groups and public health rights advocates, and thousands of school district and individual injury lawsuits have been handled in stages.
Second, through the judicial agreement, platforms were forced to modify addictive product designs and set usage boundaries. The settlement documents force Meta to implement special account control rules for teenagers, adding an automatic nighttime interception mechanism from midnight to 6 a.m. to cut off minors' access to social platforms during the night; and setting a default daily usage limit of two hours for teenage accounts, artificially breaking the addictive pattern of unlimited browsing at the product level and directly intervening in the algorithmic logic the platform originally used to retain users. This is, in essence, using judicial coercive force to reshape the platform's algorithmic ethics and promote the turn of capital-dominated technology toward good.
Third, a long-term compliance obligation backed by judicial endorsement was established, consolidating companies' ongoing supervisory responsibilities. This settlement agreement has judicial coercive effect, distinguishing it from voluntary corporate public-interest commitments. All subsequent adjustments to platform product features for teenagers must accept judicial oversight; at the same time, it preserves space for independent accountability by individual states. Texas separately added settlement terms, forming a governance model combining a nationwide joint settlement with supplementary state-level constraints, continuously urging companies to fulfill child protection responsibilities and promoting the establishment of routine cybersecurity assessment mechanisms for minors.
After the governance model of using judicial litigation to drive platform rectification took root in the United States, it has achieved phased results.
First, the high-value judicial settlement reshaped the value orientation of internet platforms, forcing companies to incorporate the rights and interests of teenagers into the front-end considerations of product design. Meta has had to carry out functional restructuring of its two core products, Facebook and Instagram, proactively reducing product designs that easily induce addiction, changing the long-standing business model that took users' online time as the core profit target. The platform's responsibility for minor protection has shifted from a moral initiative to a legal obligation.
Second, the judicial precedent opened up space for state-level governance and activated local governments' governance momentum for protecting teenagers' digital rights. The success of this joint rights-protection action by 29 states proves that states have the ability to check and balance large multinational internet companies through collective judicial action, breaking the limitation of power asymmetry when a single state government faces technology giants, and providing replicable rights-protection references for local governments dealing with ultra-large digital platforms.
Third, this judicial practice has driven the formation of a governance consensus across society, promoting the joint participation of parents and school districts in teenage online protection. During the case proceedings, internal evidence of platforms' inducement of addiction was fully disclosed, allowing society as a whole to see the potential harm of social platforms to minors. Public demand for social media regulation has continued to rise, and parental guardianship, campus education, and legal regulation have begun to form a combined governance force. Society's overall attention to the digital protection of minors has significantly increased.
Fourth, the essence of teenage social media addiction is a systemic problem formed by the superposition of multiple factors such as product algorithms, psychological mechanisms, family education, and the social environment. The maintenance of the effectiveness of judicial punishment also depends heavily on the demonstration effect of precedents and sustained external pressure. The endogenous motivation for platform self-restraint is clearly insufficient. Once supporting legislative, administrative, and social coordination mechanisms lag behind in development, existing achievements can easily loosen or even reverse.
The U.S. governance model of using judicial litigation to control social media addiction provides a governance path distinct from administrative bans. Unlike some countries that directly impose a one-size-fits-all ban on minors using social software, the United States chooses to rely on judicial power to constrain corporate product design, controlling addiction risks while preserving teenagers' right to normal use of digital services, offering countries around the world a new approach to balancing digital openness and minor protection. At the same time, it should be noted that this judiciary-led governance plan still has shortcomings that are difficult to avoid.
First, the targets of judicial control are relatively limited; its effect in principle extends only to the litigants and cannot form universal binding force like unified legislation, which means a single settlement cannot cover the entire industry. The effect of this settlement agreement covers only Meta alone. A large number of emerging niche social platforms and foreign social software are not bound by these judicial terms, and its pace of advancement is naturally slower than the emerging in an endless stream (层出不穷, ceng chu bu qiong - "layer, emerge, not, exhausted") of new platforms and technological forms, making it easy to fall into the passive chase of "cracking down on one, only to see another batch emerge." Moreover, since U.S. states have inconsistent legislative and judicial standards, lacking both a unified content classification and terminal categorization system and cross-platform, cross-terminal coordinated constraints, teenagers can often easily bypass controls simply by switching applications or changing devices. The existence of control gaps makes it easy for teenagers to turn to other unconstrained online products, and the rectification of a single company ultimately cannot change the addictive ecosystem of the entire industry.
Second, judicial rectification cannot completely cure the underlying causes of internet addiction. Even if platforms add hard limits such as time caps and nighttime access restrictions, minors can still evade regulation through technical means such as lying about their age, changing accounts, or using circumvention tools. Technical controls inherently have loopholes and cannot achieve gap-free constraints. Judicial rectification can at most dismantle some addictive product designs, which is "treating the symptoms," but it cannot eliminate the motivations that give rise to addiction. Once the underlying causes are not addressed, hard limits are not only easily circumvented by technical means but may also push teenagers toward other platforms with looser regulation where they continue their addiction.
Third, judicial means can only constrain corporate business conduct and cannot fill the governance gaps at the family and social levels. Teenage social media addiction is a complex problem formed by the superposition of multiple factors including product algorithms, family education, and the social environment. Judicial punishment can only force platforms to optimize product rules but cannot replace family guardianship, campus guidance, and social education. Relying solely on judicial litigation makes it difficult to build a complete and long-term governance loop, and the sustainability of governance effectiveness still requires long-term observation. It is thus clear that only by promoting coordinated efforts among platforms, families, schools, society, and government, and organically linking rigid legal regulation with family guardianship, campus education, and social support, can a governance loop that is treating both the symptoms and the root cause (标本兼治, biao ben jian zhi - "symptom, root, both, treat") and is complete and long-term be truly established, and only then can the sustainability of its governance effectiveness withstand long-term testing.
Return to TopBy: 胡兵
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and Europe's largest port city. It is located in the province of South Holland in the western Netherlands, with a municipal area of 218.4 square kilometers and a permanent population of 673,800 as of the end of 2025. Accompanying the rapid advancement of industrialization and urbanization (伴随工业化与城市化快速推进, ban sui gong ye hua yu cheng shi hua kuai su tui jin - "accompany, industry, and, urbanization, fast, advance"), Rotterdam has gradually developed "big-city diseases" such as spatial strain, ecological pressure, and social fragmentation. In response, Rotterdam has actively resolved various contradictions arising from urbanization through systematic urban renewal and holistic governance reform. In 2024, Rotterdam ranked second in the Sustainable Cities Index, and its urban resilience governance model has gained international recognition, offering governance practices for large cities that may serve as a reference.
Over a long period, the industrial port development model has caused Rotterdam to accumulate multiple structural urban problems that constrain sustainable urban development. First, urban safety and spatial contradictions have become prominent: sustained population growth has caused land scarcity in the central urban area, high-density urban layouts have intensified the heat island effect, and the city's low elevation, combined with sea level rise and flooding risks from extreme rainfall, continuously threatens urban operations, constraining urban function upgrades and quality improvement. Second, ecological and environmental pressures are pronounced: the traditional port-adjacent industrial system has relatively high emission intensity, old port areas have experienced industrial decline followed by idle land and low resource utilization efficiency, and the city's ecological carrying pressure continues to rise. Third, the social governance structure is complex: the city has a relatively large immigrant population, a culturally diverse demographic structure, insufficient integration among different groups, uneven community development, and long-standing pressure on housing security for low-income groups. To coordinate and overcome (统筹破解, tong chou po jie - "coordinate, break, solve") these prominent contradictions, Rotterdam has adopted the following key measures.
Renovating existing spatial stock to enhance urban carrying capacity. Since the 1970s, Rotterdam has advanced regularized (常态化, chang tai hua - "normal, state, make into") community renewal work, with the government uniformly reclaiming old privately owned housing, entrusting non-profit housing management organizations with operation and management, incorporating these units into the affordable housing system, uniformly controlling land resources, regulating housing market order, curbing real estate speculation, and effectively safeguarding the basic housing rights of low-income groups. The city has persisted in digging into existing resources (向内挖掘, xiang nei wa jue - "towards, inside, dig, excavate") by promoting district-level renovation through small-scale, incremental renewal models. In conjunction with industrial transformation, it has carried out functional restructuring (功能重构, gong neng chong gou - "function, reconstruct") of old port areas, abandoned docks, and warehouses along the Meuse River, converting idle space in the M4H port district into creative office clusters and supporting workshops, while simultaneously converting idle land into ecological landscape spaces and community farms, effectively improving the efficiency of mixed land use. At the same time, the city has actively developed rooftop space, advancing large-scale (规模化, gui mo hua - "scale, make into") green roof construction to further unlock the potential of the city's existing stock resources.
Enhancing urban ecological resilience through blue-green infrastructure development. In response to water environment management and climate adaptation needs, Rotterdam has issued a water city development plan, establishing a stormwater management system adapted to local hydrological conditions and strengthening the city's flood control and drainage capacity. The city has built underground water storage facilities with a total storage capacity of 1,700 cubic meters, capable of bearing more than 40 percent of the drainage pressure of surrounding areas, and available for public activities during non-rainfall periods. It has implemented water system ecological restoration projects, completing the renovation of 12 kilometers of riverbank shoreline, planting native aquatic vegetation, and increasing regional fish populations by 25 percent and bird diversity by 15 percent over five years. More than 50,000 trees have been added in the southeastern part of the city, which can lower summer surface temperatures by 3 to 5 degrees Celsius. The city has built 300,000 square meters of ecological rooftops, with rainwater recovery systems installed in older districts that recover and reuse 3,000 cubic meters of rainwater annually for green space maintenance. Linear green spaces converted along elevated road corridors absorb 160,000 cubic meters of rainwater annually, and low-temperature public spaces are distributed across the city, effectively mitigating the urban heat island effect.
Building a multi-stakeholder collaborative participation (协同参与, xie tong can yu - "coordinate, participate") governance model to resolve social integration challenges. Rotterdam has transformed its traditional single-actor urban construction model, building a governance system with multi-stakeholder collaborative participation and promoting deep involvement (深度参与, shen du can yu - "deep, participate") of social forces in urban construction and community governance. For idle land in old port areas, the government has implemented a flexible land use system, transferring idle spaces to community-coordinated operation and creating open public planting areas open to all citizens. Citizens of different occupations and household registration backgrounds jointly participate in site maintenance and daily labor, establishing a regularized communication and collaboration platform. Enterprises in the jurisdiction actively participate in community co-construction, returning food waste resources to farmland as fertilizer, while community-produced goods are linked to the public assistance system, forming a sustainable community resource circulation model. Throughout the entire process of spatial planning and community renovation, the city has brought residents, professional designers, and market actors into joint decision-making, optimizing site functional layouts, lowering barriers to public participation, and continuously strengthening internal community linkages and collaboration. By reconstructing social interaction scenarios through public spaces, the city has effectively dissolved barriers and differences among different groups, comprehensively enhancing urban social integration and inclusive development capacity.
Through years of practical exploration, Rotterdam's urban governance has achieved comprehensive results, offering useful insights for cities facing similar challenges in addressing "big-city diseases."
Urban spatial governance requires establishing a development philosophy of improving quality from existing stock. Rotterdam has carried out systematized (系统化, xi tong hua - "system, make into") renewal and renovation based on the city's existing stock resources, targeting problems such as low utilization efficiency, single functions, and inadequate supporting facilities in old residential areas, abandoned port districts, and industrial land. With coordinated leadership (统筹为主导, tong chou wei zhu dao - "coordinate, as, lead") from the government and community collaborative participation as support, it has implemented functional restructuring and quality upgrading of existing spaces. By revitalizing idle and inefficient land, optimizing land functional layouts, filling gaps in housing, industry, and public services, and improving the housing security system and grassroots participation mechanisms, the city has effectively enhanced urban spatial carrying capacity and land use efficiency without adding new construction land or undertaking large-scale demolition and renovation. This demonstrates that urban spatial supply-demand contradictions often arise from imbalanced allocation and extensive use of existing stock resources. Urban development should be grounded in the core approach of improving quality from existing stock, shifting urban renewal from incremental expansion to stock optimization, and activating inefficient resources through refined renovation. Spatial governance needs to balance functional upgrading with social continuity, preserving the city's original character through incremental renewal, consolidating the foundation of people's livelihoods, balancing development and equity, and driving the city's shift from scale growth to quality improvement.
Urban ecological governance requires building a functionally composite infrastructure system. In response to prominent urban climate risks, weak ecological environments, and inadequate living quality, Rotterdam has built a multi-functional, integrated urban infrastructure system. The city coordinates multiple needs including flood control and drainage, ecological restoration, environmental cooling, and public services, advancing water system management, green space construction, and spatial renovation as a whole. Through the construction of water storage facilities, ecological revetments, urban green spaces, ecological rooftops, and linear parks, it simultaneously achieves stormwater storage and regulation, water and soil conservation, biodiversity protection, and temperature regulation functions. These related infrastructure facilities also assume multiple functions including urban safety assurance, ecological restoration, and public activities for citizens, comprehensively enhancing the city's climate adaptation capacity and environmental carrying capacity. This demonstrates that modern urban ecological governance should adhere to systematic governance thinking, and urban ecological infrastructure construction needs to balance the multiple values of safety protection, ecological restoration, and residential services, promoting the functional compounding and efficient utilization of facilities. By integrating various ecological governance objectives, organically combining risk prevention and control, environmental improvement, and urban quality enhancement, ecological construction is used to resolve environmental problems and climate risks arising from urbanization. Through the construction of an integrated, composite ecological system, the urban ecological pattern is continuously optimized, the city's natural regulation capacity is enhanced, and coordinated improvement of urban ecological security, living environments, and public services is achieved.
Urban social governance requires establishing a collaborative operational mechanism with multi-stakeholder participation. Facing urban social problems such as a diverse demographic structure, insufficient group integration, and weak community cohesion, Rotterdam has established an urban operational mechanism with collaborative participation of multiple stakeholders. The city has built community co-governance platforms on idle public spaces, opened grassroots planning and decision-making channels, and guided citizens, enterprises, and professional institutions to jointly participate in community renovation and public space operation. By improving the flexible land use system, building community collaboration scenarios, and establishing a regional resource circulation system, it has opened interaction channels among different social groups, activated community endogenous momentum through grassroots co-construction, and enhanced the social service value of public spaces. This demonstrates that modern large-city social governance cannot rely solely on administrative means to advance management work; it should also appropriately delegate grassroots governance authority, build regularized public participation platforms, and enable social actors to deeply participate in urban construction and community operation. By using physical public spaces to carry social interaction, reshaping urban social relationship structures, and alleviating the social alienation problems brought by urbanization, a sound operational mechanism of multi-stakeholder participation, co-construction, and shared benefits should be established to continuously enhance urban social resilience and form a stable, integrated, coordinated, and orderly modern urban social governance pattern.
Return to TopBy: 吕品
To govern the country, one must first govern the Party; to govern the Party, one must be rigorous; and to be rigorous, one must rely on rules and laws. "Adhering to institutional governance of the Party and rule-based governance of the Party" is one of the core connotations of Xi Jinping's thought on Party building. To study, implement, and put into practice Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, one must accurately grasp this long-term and fundamental strategy for full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, continuously deepen the construction of the Party's internal rules and regulations system, carry institutional construction through the entire process of all Party building efforts, and raise the level of scientific, institutionalized, and standardized governance of the Party.
The Evolutionary Trajectory of a Century of Institutional Construction
To govern the state and order the people, one must rectify its institutions. Looking back on the Party's more than one hundred years of struggle, the institutionalization of Party governance and Party management has run through the entire process of the Party's development. Our Party has always relied on internal Party rules and regulations to regulate its own construction and continuously enhance its governing and leadership capabilities. Entering the new era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has coordinated the integrated deployment of comprehensive law-based governance and rule-based governance of the Party, creatively proposed the major strategy of institutional governance of the Party and rule-based governance of the Party, and achieved all-round breakthroughs and historic landmark achievements in the construction of the Party's internal rules and regulations system.
Relying on institutions to regulate one's own construction is the practical choice that our Party has consistently adhered to from beginning to end (一以贯之, yi yi guan zhi - "one, throughout a process or consistent from beginning to end") in more than one hundred years of Party governance and Party management. During the period of the new-democratic revolution, the Party's First Program opened the precedent of establishing the Party on the basis of rules; in 1922, the Party's Second National Congress formulated the first Party Constitution, laying the fundamental legal and theoretical foundation for rule-based governance of the Party; in 1938, Mao Zedong, at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee, for the first time explicitly put forward the concept of "intra-Party regulations," and the session simultaneously issued three special institutions regulating the operation of central and local organizations, achieving the simultaneous implementation of theoretical concepts and practical norms. In the new period of reform, opening up, and socialist modernization, Deng Xiaoping pointed out that "issues of the leadership system and organizational system are more fundamental, overall, stable, and long-term in nature," and made the important judgment that "a country must have national laws, and a party must have party rules and party regulations"; in 1990, the Interim Regulations on the Procedures for the Formulation of Intra-Party Regulations of the Communist Party of China were issued, for the first time defining the legal connotation of "intra-Party regulations," and rule-making work has since entered a standardized and proceduralized track. Entering the new era, the Party Central Committee, based on the strategic overall situation of long-term governance, established the strategy of institutional governance of the Party and rule-based governance of the Party, used the Central Eight-Point Regulation as a breakthrough to advance full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, convened two national conferences on intra-Party regulations work, implemented three five-year plans for the formulation of central intra-Party regulations, completed the establishment of a relatively complete system of intra-Party regulations by the 100th anniversary of the Party's founding, achieved the historic leap from scattered provisions to systematic integration, from passive gap-filling to proactive planning, and realized a qualitative leap in the practice of institutional governance of the Party and rule-based governance of the Party.
Sorting through the Party's more than one hundred years of institutional evolution enables a clear grasp of the irreplaceable contemporary value and inherent practical logic of institutional governance of the Party and rule-based governance of the Party, and fully confirms their fundamental nature of consolidating foundations, stabilizing expectations, and benefiting the long term. First, this is the crystallization of historical experience accumulated in the Party's more than one hundred years of Party governance and Party management practice. Laws, regulations, and institutions possess the distinctive qualities of being fundamental, overall, stable, and long-term. The Party's more than one hundred years of practice has repeatedly proven: when institutions are complete and enforcement is rigid, the whole Party is united and unified, and the organization is strong and effective; when institutions are lax and constraints are weakened, the organization becomes lax, power falls out of control, and various risks breed. Relying on institutions to advance normal, long-term, and effective governance profoundly reveals the inherent laws of Party governance and Party management, and is the precious experience of Party governance formed throughout the historical periods of revolution, construction, and reform. Second, this is the long-term and fundamental strategy for full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. Full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is highly political and principled in nature, and must be regulated by a scientific and complete set of institutions. From the perspective of governance logic, for full and rigorous self-governance of the Party to truly achieve the leap from "treating symptoms" to "treating the root cause," the core is to complete the transformation from campaign-style governance that relies on human impetus to institutionalized governance that relies on rules and procedures. Short-term concentrated rectification relies on administrative force to form immediate deterrence, but problems can easily rebound; institutional governance of the Party and rule-based governance of the Party use unified norms to delineate the standard of conduct for all Party members, rely on stable and fixed mechanisms to straighten out the work requirements of the Party's leadership and Party building, solidify rigorous requirements into long-term standards, fundamentally solve the problem of lax, soft, and loose Party governance and Party management that existed in a certain period, and provide stable institutional support for continuously deepening full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. Third, this is the key guarantee supporting the Party's long-term governance and ensuring the country's lasting peace and stability. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that institutional advantage is the greatest advantage of a country; when institutions are stable, the country is stable, and when institutions are strong, the country is strong. Rule-based governance of the Party and law-based governance are integrated and organically unified as a whole; by improving Party regulations to regulate the operation of power and purify the Party's internal political ecology, they continuously consolidate the Party's governing foundation, provide solid support for advancing the modernization of national governance, and at the same time contribute Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to the governance of political parties in various countries and the development of world political civilization.
Regularity-Based Understanding Formed in the Practice of Institutional Governance of the Party and Rule-Based Governance of the Party in the New Era
Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has coordinated the advancement of the entire chain of work on intra-Party regulations—establishment, revision, abolition, interpretation, and clarification—achieved historic accomplishments in the field of institutional governance of the Party and rule-based governance of the Party, and provided fundamental guidance for action for deepening rule-based governance of the Party on the new journey.
Firmly anchoring the correct political direction. Speaking politics with a clear-cut stance is the fundamental requirement of a Marxist political party, and adhering to the correct political direction is the primary prerequisite for advancing the construction of the Party's internal rules and regulations system. Intra-Party regulations are, in essence, the institutionalized carrier of the Party's will and political propositions; all rule-making work must take deeply comprehending the decisive significance of the Two Establishments (两个确立) and resolutely achieving the Two Upholds (两个维护) as the fundamental political yardstick, and be planned and deployed around upholding and strengthening the Party's overall leadership. Practice has proven that once the correct political direction is departed from, institutional design easily deviates from the original aspiration and founding mission and detaches from the central overall situation. The entire process of initiating, drafting, deliberating, and implementing intra-Party regulations must take Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the fundamental guide, take implementing the Party Central Committee's major decisions and deployments as the core goal, embed political standards and political requirements into every provision of every regulation, use rigid institutional mechanisms to compact the political responsibilities of Party organizations at all levels, and prevent at the source all kinds of problems that weaken or hollow out the Party's leadership.
Adhering to the Party Constitution as the foundation and democratic centralism as the core. The report of the 20th National Congress of the Party clearly points out that we must adhere to institutional governance of the Party and rule-based governance of the Party, take the Party Constitution as the foundation and democratic centralism as the core, and improve the system of intra-Party regulations. The Party Constitution is the Party's fundamental law, the general charter for establishing, governing, and managing the Party, and is also the general guideline and general basis for advancing institutional governance of the Party and rule-based governance of the Party. The foundation for the whole Party to achieve a high degree of unity at the ideological level lies in all Party members forming a unified understanding of the spirit and provisions of the Party Constitution; the key to the whole Party achieving unity in action and pace lies in all Party organizations and all Party members strictly performing their duties in accordance with the Party Constitution. Democratic centralism is the fundamental organizational principle and leadership system of our Party, a fine tradition our Party has long upheld, and moreover the core logical thread running through the entire process of institutional governance of the Party and rule-based governance of the Party. That the system of intra-Party regulations takes democratic centralism as its core means not only that democratic centralism is an important content of intra-Party regulations, but also that it is the soul and main thread governing the entire system of intra-Party regulations. Perfecting the system of intra-Party regulations with democratic centralism as the core means that the formulation, implementation, and supervision of all intra-Party regulations and institutions must embody the basic principles and spirit of democratic centralism.
Ideological Party building and institutional governance of the Party work in the same direction. Strict Party governance relies on education as well as institutions; the two are one soft and one hard, combining firmness with flexibility (刚柔相济, gang rou xiang ji - "hard, soft, mutually assist"), and must work in the same direction and at the same time. Ideological Party building is rooted in our Party's more than one hundred years of construction tradition, focuses on transforming Party members' value positions from the subjective cognitive level, solves deep-level cognitive problems such as ideals and convictions, purpose consciousness, and political identity, and provides value guidance, ideological consciousness, and spiritual support for institutional construction; institutional governance of the Party is the practical innovation of Party governance and Party management in the new era, delineating behavioral boundaries from the objective rule level and forming stable rigid constraints that can be referenced, supervised, and held accountable. Since the new era, centralized education within the Party and the construction of the institutional system have been deployed simultaneously and advanced in an integrated manner—from the Party's mass line education and practice activities to the study and education on establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements—each centralized education has both solved prominent problems at the ideological level and promoted the establishment of rules and systems (建章立制, jian zhang li zhi - "build, chapter, establish, system"), advancing the transformation of ideological achievements into institutional achievements, and realizing the organic unity of ideological Party building and institutional governance of the Party.
We must uphold the organic unity of law-based governance and rule-based governance of the Party. Law-based governance is the basic strategy by which the Party leads the people in governing the country, and rule-based governance of the Party is the basic method of Party governance and Party management; the two together constitute the two pillars of the socialist rule-of-law system with Chinese characteristics, unified in the complete practice of the Party's governance of the country. From the deep structure of governance logic, the unified relationship between rule-based governance of the Party and law-based governance is rooted in the dual role positioning of the Communist Party of China, which is both at the core of leadership in national governance and must operate within the framework of the Constitution and laws. Law-based governance and rule-based governance of the Party promote and guarantee each other. On the one hand, the Party governs the country in accordance with the Constitution and laws, transforming the Party's propositions into the will of the state through legal procedures, enabling the Party's leadership to operate in an orderly manner on the track of the rule of law; on the other hand, the Party governs and manages the Party in accordance with intra-Party regulations, constraining Party organizations and Party members with stricter standards, ensuring that the Party always remains a strong leading core. Since the new era, the Party Central Committee has paid attention to the articulation and coordination between intra-Party regulations and national laws, ensuring that the two are consistent in value orientation and articulated in institutional arrangements, forming a sound pattern of coordinated advancement and integrated construction of law-based governance and rule-based governance of the Party.
We must uphold the integrated advancement of institutional formulation and institutional implementation. Institutional governance of the Party and rule-based governance of the Party comprise two key links—institutional creation and institutional implementation—which support each other, are dialectically unified, and cannot be neglected one for the other. Emphasizing rule-making while neglecting implementation, or emphasizing implementation while neglecting institution-building, will both weaken the overall governance effectiveness of rule-based governance of the Party. Scientific, complete, effective, and usable institutional norms are the fundamental basis for Party governance and Party management, and can provide a clear yardstick for institutional implementation; rigid and efficient institutional implementation is the only path for institutional value to land on the ground—if institutions are only written on paper, hung on walls, and spoken of by mouth, no matter how complete the institutional system, it will be difficult to play a governance role. The Party Central Committee adheres to the integrated advancement of establishing rules and systems and strictly enforcing regulations, continuously raising the scientific and standardized level of institutional formulation and consolidating the institutional foundation of rule-based governance of the Party; at the same time, it increases the intensity of institutional implementation, resolutely corrects problems such as orders not being carried out and prohibitions not being observed, and truly realizes making iron rules exert force and prohibitions carry authority.
Coordinated Advancement of Intra-Party Regulations Construction and Reform of the Party Building System
The comprehensive construction of a modern socialist country has entered a brand-new historical stage, and the construction of the Party's internal rules and regulations system has entered a new stage of high-quality development. It is necessary to take regularity-based understanding as the guide, coordinate as a whole the improvement of the regulations system and the reform of the Party building system, and focus on key points to advance various tasks.
Adhere to systematic, coordinated, and scientific rule-making. Benchmark against the Outline of the Plan for the Formulation of Central Intra-Party Regulations (2023–2027) to implement various tasks well, strengthen the supply-side structural reform of intra-Party regulations, enhance the targeting, synergy, and effectiveness of institutional supply, build an intra-Party regulations system with scientific content, rigorous procedures, complete supporting measures, and effective operation, and promote better articulation, coordination, same-direction effort, and integrated implementation of Party regulations and national laws.
Solidly carry out the study of Party regulations and demonstration and leadership. Normalize the study and education of the Party Constitution, Party regulations, and Party discipline, implement the list system of knowledge that leading cadres should know and should be able to do, give play to the leading role of the "key minority," promote all Party members to firmly establish institutional consciousness and disciplinary consciousness, consciously abide by, study, observe, and use regulations, and create a sound atmosphere in which everyone respects institutions, everything is based on institutions, and institutions are upheld everywhere.
Compact the responsibility for regulation enforcement and strengthen rigid implementation. In accordance with the requirements of the Regulations of the Communist Party of China on the Responsibility System for the Enforcement of Intra-Party Regulations (Trial), strictly implement the responsibility system for regulation enforcement, coordinate the closed-loop management of supervision, assessment, and accountability, continuously strengthen the authority and enforcement capacity of intra-Party regulations, and promote the effective transformation of intra-Party regulations from institutional texts into rigid constraints for Party governance and Party management.
Return to TopBy: 霍沛
Case Studies
In recent years, multiple Party members and cadres have received Party disciplinary sanctions for illegally distributing allowances, subsidies, or benefits during holidays. Between 2012 and 2016, Huang Xinping, Secretary of the Party General Branch and Dean of the School of Continuing Education at Tarim University, illegally distributed various holiday fees and benefits totaling 225,000 yuan in the form of National Day, Mid-Autumn Festival, and other holiday subsidies; illegally distributed allowances and subsidies totaling over 1.37 million yuan under the names of examination invigilation and make-up examination fees, high-temperature subsidies, telephone fees, and other items; distributed travel subsidies exceeding the standard by 77,600 yuan; and illegally reimbursed business trip meal expenses of over 90,000 yuan; totaling over 1.77 million yuan. In July 2017, Huang Xinping received a serious warning within the Party. The website of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission reported the issue of Hu Dongmei, Director of the Office of Zhashui County Tourism Company in Shangluo City, Shaanxi Province, illegally distributing allowances and subsidies. During the "May Day" and "National Day" holiday periods from 2016 to 2018, Hu Dongmei, Director of the Office of Zhashui County Tourism Company, violated regulations on five occasions by distributing subsidies totaling 78,500 yuan to relevant staff. In March 2020, Hu Dongmei received a warning within the Party, and the disciplinary funds were confiscated.
Allowances, subsidies, or benefits mainly refer to the allowances and subsidies distributed to civil servants in accordance with unified standards, standardized funding sources, and distribution methods; welfare funds distributed to both active on-staff personnel and non-established hired personnel under overall control based on the total budget; and grassroots trade union funds distributed in strict accordance with relevant revenue and expenditure management measures. Strictly prohibiting the illegal self-determination of salaries, and cleaning up and standardizing subsidies, allowances, bonuses, and welfare, is an important measure for reforming the wage system and standardizing the income distribution order, and is also an inevitable requirement for promoting the construction of a clean and honest Party and government and preventing and governing corruption at its source. In recent years, the Party Central Committee has seriously investigated and dealt with acts such as the illegal and indiscriminate distribution of allowances and subsidies, and related problems have been effectively corrected. However, as can also be seen from the relevant cases, there are still some Party members and cadres who, driven by selfish motives and personal interests, are knowingly committing an offense (明知故犯, ming zhi gu fan - "clearly know, then commit"), illegally self-determining salaries or indiscriminately distributing property such as allowances, subsidies, bonuses, and welfare, and ultimately being seriously held accountable and dealt with.
Whether it is salary, or the allowances, subsidies, bonuses, and welfare within salary, there are clear regulations on the scope of distribution, standards, and funding sources. Illegally self-determining salaries or indiscriminately distributing allowances, subsidies, bonuses, and welfare constitutes a violation of Party discipline and is subject to Party disciplinary sanctions. Determining whether the relevant conduct constitutes the illegal distribution of allowances, subsidies, or welfare is mainly judged from three aspects. First, it violates relevant regulations by self-determining salaries and indiscriminately distributing property, that is, acts that violate the clear standards for salary distribution in Party internal regulations, national laws and regulations, departmental rules, and relevant normative documents on standardizing the distribution of subsidies, allowances, bonuses, or welfare, or that determine and distribute salary treatment on one's own without review and approval through legal and compliant procedures. Second, it involves subjective intent, that is, clearly knowing or should have known that it is a violation of regulations to self-determine salaries and indiscriminately distribute property, yet still intentionally carrying it out, and it does not fall under circumstances such as mistakes and errors arising from lack of experience and pilot-first experimentation in advancing reforms, mistakes and errors in exploratory trials where superiors have not yet imposed explicit restrictions, or unintentional faults committed in promoting development. Third, the illegal distribution of allowances, subsidies, or welfare is generally manifested as a relatively open unit-level act, usually decided collectively by the unit, reflecting collective will. In practice, in addition to several more common situations such as expanding the scope of distribution, exceeding prescribed standards, illegally establishing new items on one's own, covertly distributing money or goods on the occasion of major event preparations or festival celebrations, and illegally using funds, the illegal distribution of allowances, subsidies, or welfare also shows new trends of invisible mutation, such as concealed and veiled distribution methods, complex and diverse funding sources, and extended distribution cycles, presenting a relatively complex relationship between discipline and law, which further increases the difficulty of detection and investigation.
The illegal distribution of allowances, subsidies, or welfare seriously violates the spirit of the the Eight-Point Regulation (八项规定), is a typical manifestation of hedonism and extravagance, greatly affects the image of the Party and government in the hearts of the people, and must be seriously rectified. The illegal distribution of allowances, subsidies, or welfare, on the surface, shows care and concern for cadres and staff, but in reality, it is being generous with the unit's resources and squandering collective property. It not only seriously violates financial discipline, causes great loss and waste to state assets, and indirectly damages the vital interests of the people, but also, due to the problem of setting up "private coffers," creates imbalances in revenue and expenditure between units and between employees, violating the principle of fair and just distribution. At present, the reasons why the illegal distribution of allowances, subsidies, or welfare keeps changing in form and remains repeatedly prohibited despite bans are: on the one hand, the institutional cage is not tightly woven, and the relevant rules and regulations on the distribution of allowances, subsidies, or welfare, especially the financial system, are not yet complete. For example, some standards for the distribution of allowances, subsidies, or welfare seriously lag behind and are divorced from reality; some distribution contents are not clearly defined and the scope is too broad; some financial supervision is misplaced or absent, and the corresponding management mechanisms are difficult to implement. On the other hand, there are deviations in ideological understanding. Some leading cadres have discounted their Party spirit cultivation, and their views on political achievements have been distorted, to the point where they cannot distinguish between public and private interests and put profit first. For example, some leading cadres advocate the theory of minor matters and small details, believing that main energy should be focused on producing "political achievements," that the distribution of allowances, subsidies, or welfare is a trivial detail unrelated to the overall situation, and they are turning a blind eye to something (睁一只眼闭一只眼, zheng yi zhi yan bi yi zhi yan - "open one eye, close one eye") regarding violations; some leading cadres believe in vulgar relationship-building, holding that personal connections are greater than right and wrong, advocating that sharing joy with others is better than enjoying it alone (独乐乐不如众乐乐, du le le bu ru zhong le le - "alone enjoy joy, not as equal to crowd enjoy joy"), and treating the distribution of allowances, subsidies, or welfare as a "hard currency" for buying loyalty and maintaining popular support; some leading cadres are relying on luck or taking chances (心存侥幸, xin cun jiao xing - "heart harbor, fluke luck") and deceiving oneself and others (自欺欺人, zi qi qi ren - "self deceive, deceive others"), believing that as long as the amount is small and the matter is minor, "heaven knows, earth knows, you know, and I know," and thus calculating on deceiving the public to achieve a goal (瞒天过海, man tian guo hai - "cover heaven, cross sea").
The illegal and indiscriminate distribution of allowances, subsidies, or welfare is an area where the the Four Malfeasances (四风) problems are prone to occur, occur frequently, and recur often. It must be struck at the first sign and repeatedly hammered, putting an end to "sloppy fighting," and must be met with persistent and unremitting effort (常抓不懈, chang zhua bu xie - "always grasp, not slack") and sustained, long-term effort. First, adhere to "zero tolerance." Work style embodies the nature of the Party, represents the image of the Party, and concerns the rise and fall and success or failure of the cause of the Party and the state. It is necessary to apply strong medicine and take decisive action. At present, Party regulations and national laws such as the Regulations of the Communist Party of China on Disciplinary Actions, the Regulations of Party and Government Organs on Practicing Thrift and Opposing Waste, the Provisions on Punishment for Acts of Illegally Distributing Allowances and Subsidies, and the Law of the People's Republic of China on Administrative Sanctions for Public Officials all contain corresponding provisions on the acts of illegally self-determining salaries and indiscriminately distributing property and the types and ranges of sanctions applicable, and impose corresponding punishments according to the severity of circumstances such as the number of people involved, the scope, the amount, the frequency, and the duration. It is necessary to continue to strictly follow the relevant regulations, correct and deal with the problem of the illegal and indiscriminate distribution of allowances, subsidies, or welfare in accordance with regulations, discipline, and law, especially to seriously investigate and deal with those who still do not restrain themselves or stop their actions after the 18th National Congress of the Party, resolutely eliminate privileged thinking and fluke mentality, and use strong measures and effective methods to examine its roots and cut off its source. Second, achieve "establishing rules." On the one hand, it is necessary to "open the front door and block the back door," and strengthen the establishment, amendment, abolition, and interpretation of rules. It is necessary to continuously improve and perfect institutional norms, especially relevant financial institutional norms, and implement the specific requirements of work style construction throughout the entire process and all aspects of the distribution of allowances, subsidies, or welfare. On the other hand, it is necessary to establish a sense of rules, and adhere to grasping Party spirit, Party conduct, and Party discipline together. Always use Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to consolidate the soul and guide the spirit, continuously correct ideological deviations, solve ideological problems, and establish a correct orientation for views on political achievements, internalize the requirements of Party discipline into daily words and deeds that are followed without conscious thought, always engrave them on one's heart, and handle work properly and according to the rules. Third, focus on "grasping the key." "When the net is lifted by its main rope, all the meshes open." On the one hand, it is necessary to grasp the key of leading cadres who "bear leadership responsibility." Leading cadres, as the "key minority" in the development of the cause of the Party and the state, play a leading and driving role for the entire Party and the whole society. On the issue of distributing allowances, subsidies, or welfare, if the supervision mechanism is not sound, the "top leader" can easily abuse power, make decisions in violation of regulations, and even skirt the edges of discipline and law. Only when leading cadres take the lead in abiding by laws and discipline and practicing integrity and self-discipline, forming a positive effect of superiors setting an example for subordinates, can we avoid work style problems returning to old, bad habits (故态复萌, gu tai fu meng - "old state, again sprout") and becoming difficult to eradicate. On the other hand, it is necessary to grasp the key of the specific executors who "bear direct responsibility." It is necessary to make good use of warning education methods and means, so that specific executors deeply understand the high cost, deep harm, and great price of violating discipline and law, harbor reverence and restraint in their hearts, and only then can they avoid repeating the same mistakes and do their work properly and according to the rules.
Return to TopBy: 李哲
The life of institutions lies in their implementation. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized that everyone must be equal before laws and regulations, that there are no privileges in observing laws and regulations, and that there are no exceptions in enforcing laws and regulations, ensuring that institutional provisions truly become a high-voltage line that carries current. This important exposition has drawn the bottom line and set the yardstick for all Party members and leading cadres to strictly observe laws and regulations. Governing the Party in accordance with regulations is the long-term strategy and fundamental strategy of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. To advance full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in depth, it is necessary to place the elimination of privileged thinking and the consolidation of institutional rigidity in a prominent position, so that observing laws and regulations becomes the conscious thought and conscious action of every Party member and leading cadre.
Strict institutions and adherence to rules are the Party's fine tradition and political advantage. Our Party is a Marxist party organized with revolutionary ideals and iron discipline. For more than a hundred years, our Party has always attached great importance to institutional development and strictly enforced institutions, providing a strong guarantee for promoting the Party's unity and solidarity, maintaining the Party's advanced nature and purity, and continuously advancing from victory to new victory. Entering the new era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has profoundly grasped the important role of institutional development in comprehensively strengthening Party building, and has used centralized education within the Party, strengthened supervision, discipline enforcement, and accountability, and other measures to strengthen institutional development and ideological education, effectively enhancing Party members and cadres' awareness of institutions and rules, and continuously strengthening the Party's creativity, cohesion, and combat effectiveness. Forging ahead on the new journey and undertaking new missions, it is necessary to further improve the enforcement capacity of laws and regulations, make Party regulations exert their force and prohibitions carry authority, and advance full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in depth with the Party's highly conscious discipline.
To implement institutions unswervingly and thoroughly (不折不扣, bu zhe bu kou - "not fold, not subtract"), one must first strengthen institutional awareness. Judging from the cases of discipline and law violations investigated in recent years, a small number of Party members and leading cadres slid into the abyss of corruption, often starting with disregarding laws and regulations and seeking special treatment. This kind of privileged thinking and fluke mentality will not only corrode the individual's ideological defense line, but also seriously undermine the authority of laws and regulations and damage the credibility of the Party and the government. Thought is the forerunner of action. It is necessary to consolidate the ideological foundation of Party members and leading cadres, carry out regular study and education on the Party Constitution, Party regulations, and Party discipline, guide Party members and leading cadres to correctly position the relationship between the individual and the organization, and between power and institutions from the ideological root, and clearly recognize that the red line of discipline cannot be crossed and the bottom line of institutions cannot be touched, that there are no special Party members who are not subject to restraint, and still less is there any special power that can be acting willfully and recklessly (任性妄为, ren xing wang wei - "allow self, act recklessly"). Education should guide Party members and leading cadres to resolutely break the thinking of "institutional privilege," actively abandon the privileged thinking of feeling superior to others (高人一等, gao ren yi deng - "high, person, one, level"), dispel the fluke mentality of "the law cannot punish the many" and "no next time," identify with and revere institutions from the depths of their hearts, and consciously bring one's words and actions (一言一行, yi yan yi xing - "one, word, one, act") within the framework of laws and regulations.
Consolidate the responsibility of demonstration and leadership, and grasp the "key minority" of leading cadres. Leading cadres are the "key minority" in the development of the Party and the state's cause, and their words and deeds have an important exemplary and guiding role. Only when leading cadres take the lead in observing laws and regulations, do not seek special treatment, and do not exceed the permitted limits (越雷池, yue lei chi - "cross, thunder, pool"), can they drive the broad masses of Party members and cadres to jointly strictly observe the bottom line of discipline. Supervise leading cadres at all levels to take the lead in observing institutions and take the lead in implementing institutions. What ordinary Party members are required to do, they must first do themselves; what ordinary Party members are required not to do, they must resolutely not do themselves, and set an example for the broad masses of Party members and cadres through their own exemplary actions, forming a good demonstration pattern of one level driving the next and one level supervising the next, and promoting the observance of laws and regulations throughout the Party and society to become an established custom or trend (蔚然成风, wei ran cheng feng - "flourishing, become, custom, wind"). Privilege is a highly harmful corrosive agent that directly erodes the institutional foundation of the Party and the state. Privileged thinking and privileged phenomena are not allowed to exist within the Party, and still less are interest groups, power blocs, or privileged strata allowed to emerge. No matter how high their positions, how deep their seniority, or how great their contributions, leading cadres must strictly act in accordance with laws and regulations. It is necessary to uphold equality before laws and regulations for everyone, truly let power operate in the sunlight, and make hidden rules lose their market. Through effective supervision, ensure that leading cadres, especially "top leaders," play an exemplary and leading role, with subordinates imitating the actions of superiors (上行下效, shang xing xia xiao - "upper, act, lower, imitate") and superiors leading by example for subordinates, so that observing laws and regulations becomes an established custom and governing the Party in accordance with regulations takes deep root in the hearts of Party members.
Strengthen the rigid constraint of institutional enforcement and maintain zero tolerance for privileged behavior. The life of institutions lies in their implementation. Open up the "last kilometer" for the implementation of laws and regulations, strengthen daily supervision and special inspections of institutional implementation, keep a close eye on prominent problems of privileged thinking and privileged behavior, detect and warn early against budding and tendency problems, and for acts that break the red line of laws and regulations and seek privileged treatment, insist on investigating and punishing each case as it is discovered, never tolerate or condone, resolutely break the "web of personal connections" and dismantle the "network of relationships," truly make laws and regulations grow teeth and carry current, effectively safeguard the seriousness and authority of laws and regulations, and promote the formation throughout the Party of a sound political ecosystem in which everyone observes laws and regulations and everyone upholds institutional rigidity.
Return to TopBy: 吴杰明
This year marks the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March. When summarizing the reasons for the victory of the Long March, Mao Zedong pointed out: "Who made the victory of the Long March possible? It was the Communist Party. Without the Communist Party, such a Long March would have been inconceivable." During the Long March, the Party exercised strong and effective leadership over the Red Army, leading the revolutionary forces to defeat ferocious enemies and countless difficulties and dangers. And this powerful leadership force came from the Party's strong self-construction. The Long March and Party building were closely linked and mutually reinforcing. The Long March was a critical period in which the Party strengthened its own construction under extremely difficult and harsh circumstances, underwent revolutionary tempering, and moved toward maturity; and the successful practice of Party building, in turn, made the Party the irreplaceable strong leadership core of the Chinese revolution, fundamentally guaranteeing the victory of the Long March. In the face of the severe test of survival or extinction, and in unprecedentedly arduous circumstances, the Party achieved a great transformation from youth to maturity through creative strengthening of construction in all aspects, making an indelible historical contribution to comprehensively enhancing the Party's cohesion and combat effectiveness and giving full play to its role as the leadership core.
Strengthening political construction, in effect establishing Comrade Mao Zedong's leadership position in the Party Central Committee and the Red Army, scientifically formulating and resolutely implementing the Party's political propositions and military line, and effectively safeguarding the authority of the Party Central Committee's collective leadership and the unity and solidarity of the entire army.
Political construction is the Party's fundamental construction and occupies a leading position among all aspects of the Party's construction. Strengthening the Party's political construction was the focus and key of Party building during the Long March, and it was also the most fundamental reason why the Red Army created miracles and achieved victory.
After the Long March began, the extremely important and urgent problem facing the Party and the Red Army was to correct the errors of the "Left" line and establish correct leadership of the Party Central Committee. Mao Zedong had long ago pointed out: "A revolutionary party is the guide of the masses, and in revolution there has never been a case where a revolutionary party led the way wrongly and the revolution did not fail." From the 1930s onward, Wang Ming's "Left" adventurism gradually occupied a dominant position within the Party, causing major harm to the Chinese revolution and also inflicting severe losses on the Red Army in the early stages of the Long March. From December 12, 1934, to January 1, 1935, the Party Central Committee successively convened the Tongdao Conference, the Liping Conference, and the Hochang Conference within a period of just over half a month, curbing the erroneous "Left" line and achieving an initial adjustment in the direction of the Red Army's strategic shift. The Zunyi Conference, held from January 15 to 17, 1935, adopted four historic resolutions in accordance with the principle of democratic centralism, in effect establishing Comrade Mao Zedong's leadership position in the Party Central Committee and the Red Army, and beginning the formation of the Party's first generation of central leadership collective with Comrade Mao Zedong at its core. The meeting of the Political Bureau Standing Committee and the Zhaxi Conference held after the Zunyi Conference completely ended the four-year dominance of "Left" dogmatism within the Party Central Committee. This was a major achievement of our Party's strengthening of political construction during the Long March and has milestone significance that will shine in the annals of history. As the "Resolution on Certain Historical Issues of the Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China" pointed out, the Zunyi Conference "enabled the Red Army and the Party Central Committee to survive under extremely critical circumstances, and thereafter to defeat Zhang Guotao's splittism, successfully complete the Long March, and open up a new situation in the Chinese revolution. This was a matter of life and death (生死攸关, sheng si you guan - "life, death, have, concern") turning point in the Party's history."
After the Zunyi Conference, Mao Zedong, Zhang Wentian, Chen Yun, and others personally went to the Military Commission columns and various army corps to convey the spirit of the conference. The Party formulated the political strategy of marching north to resist Japan and a new military line, and led the entire army to resolutely implement them. After the First and Fourth Front Armies of the Red Army joined forces, in response to Zhang Guotao's splittism and erroneous "go south" proposition, the Party Central Committee successively convened a series of conferences at Lianghekou, Shawo, and Maoergai, correctly carrying out principled and strategic inner-Party struggle, thwarting his splittist schemes, and safeguarding and enhancing the unity of the Party and the Red Army. In this process, Party organizations at all levels of the Red Army frequently held meetings to study and discuss how to implement the major policies of the Party Central Committee, turning the Party's will into the conscious action of the broad masses of commanders and fighters, enabling the Red Army to unite closely under the Party's banner and strive to accomplish the tasks assigned by the Party. The Party's political construction played a key role and demonstrated enormous power at important historical junctures.
Strengthening ideological construction, establishing the ideological line of seeking truth from facts, carrying out ideological and political education centered on firming up ideals and convictions for all Party members and the broad masses of officers and soldiers, and forging a powerful spiritual pillar. Ideological construction is the Party's foundational construction and refers to the theoretical innovation, theoretical arming, and ideological and political education work carried out by the Party in the ideological and theoretical sphere to maintain its advanced nature and purity.
During the arduous and extraordinary Long March, our Party attached great importance to strengthening ideological construction, for the first time establishing the ideological line of seeking truth from facts throughout the Party, and carrying out education on ideals and convictions and other education within the Party and the Red Army, enabling Party cadres and members and the broad masses of officers and soldiers to forge a firm political soul and generate powerful spiritual motivation, laying a solid ideological foundation for winning the victory of the Long March.
A correct ideological line is the foundation of the Party's ideological construction. Our Party's ideological line is to proceed from reality in all things, link theory with practice, seek truth from facts, and test and develop truth in practice. Its core and essence is seeking truth from facts. Before the Long March, because the Party had not been established for long and its theoretical preparation was insufficient, many comrades within the Party regarded the principles of Marxism as unchanging and inflexible (一成不变, yi cheng bu bian - "one, become, not, change") dogmas that could be copied and applied mechanically, and harbored a mentality of blind obedience toward the Communist International, thus forming a metaphysical mindset of doing whatever the Marxist "textbooks" said and acting however the Communist International instructed, which gave "Left" dogmatism a market and allowed it to run rampant. The forced Long March and the serious crises encountered in its early stages powerfully shook this mindset, creating conditions and opportunities for the Party to set things right and establish the ideological line of seeking truth from facts. After the Xiangjiang River Battle, Mao Zedong did a great deal of deep and meticulous ideological work on comrades who had implemented the erroneous "Left" line, helping them change their way of thinking, while at important conferences such as the Zunyi Conference he profoundly expounded the extreme importance of determining lines, principles, and policies from the actual conditions of the Chinese revolution. He pointed out that the main cause of the failure of the Fifth Counter-Encirclement Campaign and the severe losses of the great shift was mainly the purely defensive line in military affairs, manifested as adventurism in attack, conservatism in defense, and flightism in breaking out of encirclement, which markedly raised the understanding of the entire Party on this matter. Our Party, first of all the central leadership collective, began to realize that only by combining the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism with China's concrete reality and independently solving the major problems of the Chinese revolution could the revolutionary cause be led to victory. This was an important sign of our Party's maturation theoretically and politically. From then on, the development of the Chinese revolution opened up a new situation. As Mao Zedong said when meeting foreign guests in 1963: our Party "truly understood independence and self-reliance beginning with the Zunyi Conference; this conference criticized dogmatism."
Firm ideals and convictions are the spiritual pillar of Communists. Strengthening ideals and convictions is the fundamental task of the Party's ideological construction and was also an important piece of work that the Party carried out with great effort during the Long March. The ideals and convictions of the Red Army officers and soldiers were not formed overnight but were the accumulated result of long-term political education and the awakening of class consciousness. During the Long March, all units of the Red Army issued a series of political education orders and directives, emphasizing the use of all methods to carry out broad and deep education on ideals and convictions, maximizing the stimulation of officers' and soldiers' revolutionary enthusiasm and fighting will. The Central Revolutionary Military Commission and the General Political Department alone issued more than 30 types of political work directives and orders, and the Red Star News published 28 special Long March issues, ensuring that political education achieved remarkable results.
Strengthening organizational construction, perfecting Party organizations at all levels and training cadre backbones, fully giving play to the role of Party committees as leadership pivots, Party branches as fighting fortresses, and Communist Party members as vanguards and models, forming an unbreakable leadership force.
Organizational construction is the support of Party building. The Party's leadership and all its work must ultimately be realized through the Party's strong organizational system. Attaching great importance to the Party's organizational construction is a fine tradition and political advantage of our Party and our army. This traditional advantage was particularly prominent during the Long March.
First, perfecting and improving the Party's organizational system. Affected by the interference of the erroneous "Left" line and the expansion of the suppression of counter-revolutionaries, before the Long March the Party organizations in various units were generally not well established and the number of Party members was relatively small. In February 1935, the General Political Department issued a directive on political work during the Central Red Army's advance into Guizhou, requiring all units to "establish model Party branches and develop Party and League members" and "with the greatest effort, in the shortest time, establish Party branch work in companies." In May of the same year, the General Political Department again issued the "Directive on Branch Work," emphasizing that all units should rapidly establish and improve Party and League organizations, and making clear provisions on the personnel composition, work responsibilities, and activity content of Party and League branches, to ensure "the highest possible elevation of the branch's leading role in the company." The Second and Sixth Army Corps of the Red Army promptly absorbed fighters who had distinguished themselves in marching and combat into the Party and the League, markedly raising the proportion of Party and League members. Before the two armies joined forces at Muhuang, "there were only 213 Party and League members; now, apart from the 11th and 17th regiments, there are 703 Party members and 413 League members, a fourfold increase in Party and League members in three months. Now every mess unit has a Party branch organization." Party organizations at all levels persisted in carrying out serious and rigorous inner-Party political life; all Party members, including senior cadre Party members, were organized into ordinary Party groups, and no matter how urgent the situation or how fatigued the troops, organizational activities never ceased.
Second, restoring and strengthening the Party's collective leadership. During the Fifth Counter-Encirclement Campaign, "Left" dogmatism abolished the Party committee system, which was the Party's fundamental leadership system over the Red Army, and the Gannan Conference in November 1931 further adopted a resolution implementing a system of full authority for individual political commissars, seriously weakening the Party's leadership over the Red Army. After the Zunyi Conference, the Party Central Committee promptly corrected this. The Party Central Committee and the Central Revolutionary Military Commission sent telegrams to the Ruijin Central Sub-Bureau and the Second and Sixth Army Corps of the Red Army, requiring them to establish revolutionary military commission sub-committees, establish collective military leadership, and discuss questions of principle in strategy and tactics and the guidelines for Red Army operations; requiring the Central Red Army to take the lead in establishing Party committees at the army corps level, and to adopt various forms at and above the regimental level to gradually restore the Party's system of collective leadership; and requiring Party organizations at the grassroots level to strengthen discussion of the Party's guidelines and implement the Party's will and propositions down to the companies and officers and soldiers, thereby upholding and strengthening the Party's absolute leadership over the people's army and ensuring that the gun barrel was firmly held in the Party's hands.
Third, fully giving play to the role of Party organizations and Party cadres and members. During the Long March, the broad masses of Party cadres and members took the lead and set examples; wherever it was most arduous and most dangerous, there were Communist Party members. Red Army soldier Liu Yuesheng recalled: "In the company, Party and League members all charged to the front and retreated to the rear. In marching, the vanguard company's point men were Party and League members, and the rearguard company's rear point men and those doing collection work were Party and League members. In the main body, those helping the wounded, sick, and weak comrades carry guns and packs were also Party and League members." During the Long March, 422 cadres at and above the battalion level sacrificed their lives, including more than 80 cadres at and above the division level and 8 cadres at and above the army corps level. After every battle, the number of wounded Party and League members often accounted for 25 percent or even 50 percent of the total casualties of the unit, while the proportion of Party and League members among Red Army officers and soldiers at the time was far lower than this.
Strengthening work style construction, closely linking the Party with the flesh-and-blood ties of the masses, going deep into the grassroots and frontline to become one with officers and soldiers, and winning the support of the people and the genuine recognition of the broad masses of officers and soldiers.
Work style construction is the construction system formed by our Party in long-term practice concerning the consistent attitudes and behavior of Party organizations and Party members, and is an important component of Party building. During the Long March, the Party placed work style construction in an important position and adopted a series of powerful measures, making important contributions to ensuring the victory of the Long March and to the subsequent systematic formation of the Party's fine work style.
During the Long March, the Party conscientiously implemented the mass line, carried forward the fine work style of maintaining close ties with the masses, did everything for the masses and relied on the masses in everything, actively carried out distinctive mass work, and established a deep affection with the masses along the way like that of one family. In response to the characteristics of different regions and different ethnic groups, the Party and the Red Army actively publicized to the masses the Party's nature, purpose, and policy propositions, and exposed the ugly face of the Kuomintang reactionaries. At the same time, they sincerely cared for and helped the masses, and through actions such as attacking local tyrants, distributing land, and giving away supplies, they solved difficulties for the toiling masses who were exploited and oppressed. In November 1934, three female Red Army soldiers on the Long March cut half of their only quilt and left it for a local villager before departing, earning the sincere praise of the masses. The Party actively carried out ethnic work in more than 10 ethnic minority areas through which the Long March passed. In August 1935, the Party Central Committee formally established the Ethnic Minorities Committee, the first working body specially established to handle ethnic affairs in the history of our Party. It issued the "Directive on Principles for Work among the Yao and Miao Peoples" and the "Directive on Work among the Hui People," formulated ethnic policies, advocated ethnic equality, respected the languages, scripts, religious beliefs, and customs of all ethnic groups, and helped ethnic minorities establish autonomous political power and revolutionary armed forces. Liu Bocheng's blood oath alliance with Xiao Yedan became a widely circulated story of ethnic unity. It was precisely because of this kind of Party-mass relationship that the masses from the bottom of their hearts regarded the Red Army as their own contingent, not only actively joining the army and participating in battle, but also giving support and help from all aspects. During the Long March, the Red Army collected a total of more than 10,000 tons of grain and recruited approximately 20,000 soldiers. At the Jiaoping Ferry crossing, 36 boatmen ferried the troops day and night for seven days, enabling the Red Army to cross the Jinsha River successfully. The facts show that the victory of the Long March was not only a victory of strategic shift, but also a victory of our Party's adherence to the mass line.
Upholding equality between officers and soldiers is not only a notable mark distinguishing the people's army from old armies, but also a vivid embodiment of the Party's mass line within the military and an inherent requirement of the Party's work style construction. During the Long March, whether senior generals or ordinary soldiers, all shared hardships and were bound together in life and death, made no special demands in daily life, and sacrificed themselves for others in times of danger. Xu Haidong gave fine grain to the wounded and sick, He Long poured his salted dish into the big pot, Peng Dehuai killed his mount to feed the soldiers, and the quartermaster chief gave his cotton coat to a soldier and froze to death on the road — all these were true portrayals of this spirit of solidarity and fraternity and the fine traditional work style. As Chen Yun pointed out in "Notes on the Journey West with the Army": "The unity of the Red Army's morale and the vigor of its troops are unmatched by any other army in the country."
Strengthening discipline construction, perfecting, improving, and strictly implementing the discipline regulations of the Party and the Red Army, carrying out in-depth discipline education and supervision and inspection, and shaping the image of a civilized force with strict discipline and no encroachment on the people's interests whatsoever.
Discipline construction is an important component of Party building and is a systematic project through which the Party regulates the behavior of Party organizations and Party members by formulating and enforcing discipline. Our Party has always attached importance to discipline construction, and during the Long March it elevated it to the height of a matter of life and death for the Red Army, doing a great deal of deep and meticulous work from discipline formulation and discipline rectification to discipline education and discipline enforcement, effectively enhancing the Party's image and strengthening the Red Army's combat effectiveness.
Strictly formulating discipline regulations and carrying out discipline rectification. During the Long March, the Party Central Committee and the Central Revolutionary Military Commission promptly formulated relevant discipline in accordance with changes in the situation and tasks and put forward clear requirements. On December 23 and 24, 1934, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission and the General Political Department successively issued three directives concerning "rectifying discipline," seriously criticizing the violations of discipline that had appeared in the units and requiring immediate rectification. In response to the discipline situation of the units, they dynamically organized rectification and consolidation. After the Red Army entered Zunyi in January 1935, it immediately issued the "Order on Slogans for Entering Zunyi City and Eight Points of Attention." The Red Star News also specially issued an extra edition and published articles pointing out the problem of a small number of people not paying attention to their own image and their influence on the masses during marching and billeting, and proposing methods for solving this problem to each company.
Continuously carrying out discipline education. In October 1934, the General Political Department of the Red Army emphasized in the "Political Directive on Preparing for Long-Distance Marching and Combat" that it was necessary to "strengthen education in the units on Soviet policy and mass work (the department has separately issued political course materials), carry out propaganda upon entering and leaving and discipline inspections, and resolutely struggle against phenomena of separating from the masses and violating discipline." The Red Star News published multiple articles including "Eliminate Acts That Recklessly Violate Red Army Discipline" and "When Gathering Straw and Torches, Do Not Infringe on the Masses," calling on Party cadres, Party members, and officers and soldiers to "raise the observance of discipline to the highest position in life." All units persisted in carrying out deep and solid discipline education, effectively raising the broad masses of officers' and soldiers' awareness of observing rules and discipline, and turning iron discipline into conscious discipline. When reporting to the Communist International, Chen Yun said that during the Long March "every Red Army soldier knew the Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention. These regulations contain our fine traditions; therefore, we require every soldier to observe them."
Strictly supervising and enforcing discipline. Before the Long March set out, the General Political Department of the Red Army had already explicitly stipulated that bad elements who destroyed discipline and could not be reformed through education should be punished, and could even be publicly tried and executed before the masses. During the Long March, all units organized discipline inspection teams that inspected the implementation of discipline before setting out each day, and publicly announced that if any act infringing on the interests of the masses was discovered, any member of the masses could come to the Red Army political organs to lodge a complaint. Those who violated discipline were all seriously investigated and dealt with according to the seriousness of the circumstances, with absolutely no leniency or indulgence. Before the Red Army arrived in Zunyi, Zhu De and Zhou Enlai personally inspected the implementation of mass discipline by the First, Third, and Ninth Army Corps of the Red Army. All of this effectively guaranteed the purity, stability, and centralized unity of the troops.
The vivid practice of strengthening Party building during the Long March left a glorious page in the history of our Party's construction, made special contributions to the Party's transition from youth to maturity and its ability to shoulder the heavy responsibility of leading the Chinese revolution, and still has reference significance for our efforts to vigorously advance the Party's new great project of construction and build the Party into a strong leadership core for the great cause of national rejuvenation.
(The author is a former Political Commissar of the National Defense University, Lieutenant General, and Vice President of the Chinese Society for the History of the CPC.)
Return to TopBy: 孙肖
On December 18, 1934, the CPC Central Committee's "Political Bureau Decision on Strategic Guidelines" (held in the Central Archives)
On Qiaojie Street in Liping County, Guizhou, stands a Hui-style building of green brick, small tiles, and horse-head walls. Ascending the steps, the first thing that catches the eye is the line of bright red characters, "The Starting Point of the Great Turning Point." More than 90 years ago, here, a meeting of the Central Political Bureau produced a fierce debate over the question of "which way to go." In the end, the opinion of the majority was adopted, and the meeting formed a formal decision that changed the fate of the Red Army, enabling the Central Red Army, then on the brink of extinction, to avoid the enormous risk of falling into a heavy enemy encirclement, and thereby turning it toward advancing into northern Guizhou. This yellowed decision now lies quietly in the Central Archives.
After Tongdao, the Divergence Remained Unresolved
After setting out on the Long March, the Central Red Army successively broke through three enemy blockade lines, but when it broke through the fourth blockade line, the bloody Battle of the Xiang River occurred, and the Red Army paid an extremely heavy price for it. At the critical moment, some leading members of the CPC Central Committee held an emergency meeting on December 12, 1934, in Tongdao County, Hunan, namely the Tongdao Meeting, which focused on discussing the question of the direction of advance for the Central Red Army's strategic shift. Mao Zedong suggested fundamentally changing the direction of the strategic advance, abandoning the original marching route of joining forces with the Second and Sixth Red Army Corps, and instead advancing into Guizhou, where enemy forces were weak, so as to shake off the passive situation of being pursued and intercepted by superior enemy forces and seize the initiative. This proposal won the approval of most of those present at the meeting, but due to the interference of Bo Gu, Li De, and others, Mao Zedong's correct proposal was not adopted by the meeting; only some adjustments were made to the marching route, changing the route of going north from Tongdao into western Hunan to join the Second and Sixth Red Army Corps, and deciding instead to detour through Liping and Jinping in Guizhou before heading north to join the Second and Sixth Red Army Corps.
The Tongdao Meeting did not produce a written resolution and did not change the Central Committee's established strategic guidelines. In other words, the Tongdao Meeting only made a decision to "divert the troops" but did not complete the procedure of "fixing the strategy." If the divergence were not brought to a higher-level meeting for resolution, the troops could at any time be pulled back to their original direction. Therefore, to fundamentally carry out a strategic diversion of troops, it was necessary to go through discussion and decision by a meeting of the Central Political Bureau.
To this end, after the Tongdao Meeting, Zhou Enlai moved with the vanguard troops of the First Division of the First Red Army Corps, seeking a suitable place to hold a meeting. At the same time, in order to thoroughly save the future and fate of the Party and the Red Army, Mao Zedong also continued to struggle against the errors of Bo Gu, Li De, and others, striving for support.
On December 15, the Red Army captured Liping County. From Tongdao to Liping, in six days, an unresolved question was brought to that building at No. 52 Erlang Slope on Qiaojie Street in Liping, the Hu Rongshun trading firm.
A Debate, a Piece of Paper with a Decision
On December 18, in this street-front shop on Qiaojie Street, the CPC Central Committee held its first Central Political Bureau meeting since the start of the Long March. Those attending included Bo Gu, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Mao Zedong, Zhang Wentian, Wang Jiaxiang, and others. Li De did not attend the meeting because he was unwell, but he brought his opinion to the meeting — that it was necessary to go north into western Hunan to join the Second and Sixth Red Army Corps.
At the meeting, Bo Gu spoke, emphasizing that for the Central Red Army to follow the route of advance of the Sixth Red Army Corps into western Hunan and join the Second and Sixth Red Army Corps was a strategic plan approved by the Comintern, and that the Central Red Army must carry it out and could not overstep the line by even one step. Mao Zedong again systematically analyzed the situation of the enemy and ourselves, still insisting on proceeding from the actual situation: Chiang Kai-shek had already deployed heavy forces in western Hunan and was concentrating troops toward northeastern Guizhou; if the Central Red Army continued north into western Hunan, it would inevitably fight a decisive battle with the enemy's main forces, which was extremely dangerous for the Red Army, already exhausted and severely reduced in numbers. Therefore, he strongly advocated turning to advance into northwestern Guizhou, establishing a new base area in the Sichuan-Guizhou border region centered on Zunyi, and, if possible, entering Sichuan to join the Fourth Front Army. Wang Jiaxiang, Zhang Wentian, and Zhu De spoke in succession, unanimously endorsing Mao Zedong's proposal and criticizing the erroneous military line since the Fifth Counter-Encirclement Campaign. According to the "Chronicle of Zhang Wentian," at this meeting he "firmly stood on Mao Zedong's side and endorsed Mao Zedong's opinion." The debate lasted from daytime until late at night, and in the end, through democratic voting, the majority of comrades present accepted Mao Zedong's proposal.
The meeting adopted the CPC Central Committee's "Political Bureau Decision on Strategic Guidelines." The decision pointed out: "In view of the situation that has now taken shape, the Political Bureau considers that the previous decision to establish a new Soviet base area in western Hunan is now impossible and is also inappropriate." "Impossible" refers to objective conditions; "inappropriate" refers to subjective judgment. The two layers of judgment superimposed formed a complete negation of the original plan. The decision further clarified the new strategic direction: "The Political Bureau considers that the new base area should be the Sichuan-Guizhou border region, initially with the area centered on Zunyi, and under unfavorable conditions it should shift to the area northwest of Zunyi." The decision also stipulated that "when advancing in the direction of Zunyi, the field army's operations should resolutely annihilate the Guizhou enemy troops that block our way. As for the Chiang, Hunan, and Guangxi enemies, every effort should be made to avoid major battles." The fourth article of the decision has special significance: "The Political Bureau considers that, in order to guarantee the implementation of this strategic decision, it is necessary to oppose the pessimistic and despairing mood of failure that underestimates one's own strength and the growing danger of guerrilla-ism." This shows that the decision accurately grasped the morale situation of the troops at the time — after three months of continuous marching and fighting, especially the losses of more than half in the Battle of the Xiang River, negative sentiment was spreading.
After the meeting, the Central Secretariat immediately transmitted the Central Political Bureau's decision and required that it be communicated to cadres at the division level and above. When everyone received the Political Bureau's decision, all expressed satisfaction. The day after the meeting, the Central Red Army carried out a military reorganization: the Eighth Red Army Corps was abolished, with its remaining forces merged into the Fifth Red Army Corps; the First and Second Columns of the Military Commission were merged into the Military Commission Column, with Liu Bocheng as commander. After the Liping Meeting, the Central Red Army advanced through the interior of Guizhou toward northern Guizhou, successively capturing seven county towns including Jinping, and at the end of December occupied Hochang on the south bank of the Wujiang River.
After the Decision, Toward Zunyi
The Liping Meeting holds great significance in the history of the Red Army's Long March and is called "the beginning of the great historical turning point of the Chinese revolution"; it was the starting point of the Red Army's march to victory. Liu Bocheng, then chief of the general staff of the Red Army, recalled: "At that time, if Chairman Mao had not firmly insisted on changing the guidelines, the only future for the more than 30,000 Red Army soldiers that remained was destruction." Yang Shangkun, then political commissar of the Third Army Corps of the Central Red Army, also recalled: "Comrade Dehuai and I did not attend the Tongdao Meeting or the Liping Meeting; the decision of the Liping Meeting was telegraphed to us by the Military Commission during the march. We immediately communicated it to cadres at the division level and above, and everyone was very happy to hear it." "Comrade Dehuai and I immediately sent a joint telegram to the Military Commission, firmly supporting the new strategic guidelines." It can be seen that the Liping Meeting was a very important meeting.
Politically, Mao Zedong's correct proposal was confirmed in the form of a Central Committee document. The erroneous proposals of Bo Gu and Li De were negated, fundamentally changing the strategic direction of the Central Red Army, and also laying the foundation for later correcting the military errors of the "Left" dogmatism represented by Wang Ming and for establishing Mao Zedong's leading position in the Party and the Red Army.
Militarily, the meeting meant that the Red Army no longer advanced toward the encirclement that Chiang Kai-shek had preset, avoiding falling into a desperate situation. Nie Rongzhen, then political commissar of the First Red Army Corps, later recalled: "This was a very important resolution; it was the beginning of our strategic turn. The most important thing in it was pointing out that going to western Hunan was no longer possible and was also inappropriate, and deciding to advance toward Zunyi. In this way, more than 100,000 enemy troops were left behind in western Hunan at once, and we seized the initiative."
Organizationally, the procedure of collective decision-making within the Party was restored. The decision emphasized: "The Military Commission is charged, in accordance with this decision, with formulating military action plans by stage, and the Secretariat should, together with the General Political Department, carry out strengthened political work to guarantee the realization of this decision and the military operational deployment." In this way, the functional roles of the Military Commission, the Secretariat, and the General Political Department were brought into play, and acting arbitrarily without consulting others (独断专行, du duan zhuan xing - "alone, decide, specialize, act") by individuals was restricted.
The Liping Meeting also made another decision: to convene, at an appropriate time, an enlarged meeting of the Central Political Bureau to sum up the experience and lessons of military command since the Fifth Counter-Encirclement Campaign and the Long March. On January 1, 1935, the Central Political Bureau held another meeting at Hochang on the south bank of the Wujiang River, reaffirming the strategic guidelines established at the Liping Meeting. On January 7, Zunyi was occupied, and soon after the Zunyi Meeting was held, realizing the great turning point in the history of the Party.
Return to TopBy: 邓希泉
On March 18, 2019, at the symposium for teachers of ideological and political theory courses in schools, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The adolescent stage is the 'jointing and booting stage' of life. During this period, the mind and body gradually mature, and thinking enters its most active state, requiring the most careful guidance and cultivation."
The "jointing and booting stage" refers to the critical growth phase in cereal crops when the stem elongates rapidly until the young panicle differentiates. General Secretary Xi Jinping used the "jointing and booting stage" as a metaphor for the adolescent stage, vividly pointing out that the adolescent stage is a critical window for physical development, mental growth, value formation, and character refinement. The direction of growth and the quality of development during this stage exert a decisive influence and foundational role on one's entire life, and it most requires careful guidance and cultivation.
Adolescents in the "jointing and booting stage" of life undergo rapid physical and mental changes, and their growth is highly malleable. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that contemporary youth are active in thought and quick in thinking, hold novel ideas and broad interests, have strong drive to explore the unknown, are quick to accept new things, have a strong sense of agency and participation, and harbor a strong desire to realize their life development. From the perspective of physical development, the rapid rise in hormone levels in adolescents brings about rapid physical growth, but the acceleration of physical development coupled with the slowing of psychological development can easily lead to an imbalance between physical and mental development. From the perspective of psychological development, adolescents experience a strengthening of self-awareness, an increase in subjective demands, and a gradual maturation of the mind, but their emotions fluctuate considerably, making psychological problems more likely to occur. From the perspective of intellectual development, adolescents are highly curious, quick to accept new things, and full of mental vitality, but they tend to view issues one-sidedly and emotionally. From the perspective of the development of abilities and competencies, adolescents' knowledge systems are increasingly enriched and perfected, and their cognitive and applied abilities continue to improve, but they lack social experience, and their ability to discern complex social phenomena still needs improvement. From the perspective of the development of values, the adolescent stage is the stage in which values and ideals and beliefs are shaped and finalized, especially the critical period for the formation of one's worldview, outlook on life, and values. The "upward jointing" of adolescents' spiritual world and the "booting and formation" of their value core directly lay the foundation for the character undertone, value stance, thinking and cognition, and political judgment of one's entire life, with development opportunities and growth risks coexisting.
Contemporary youth grow up in an era of relative material abundance, which provides adolescents with better conditions but also makes it easy to breed bad habits such as seeking comfort and ease. The youth group has relatively little social experience and tends to understand and perceive the world from their own perspective and from an ideal state. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that the youth group is very perceptive in sensing social development and particularly sensitive to various real social problems, and is more susceptible to the influence of the outside world and erroneous things. Young people will inevitably encounter ideological confusion in areas such as ideal versus reality, doctrine versus problems, self-interest versus altruism, the small self versus the greater self, and the nation versus the world. Therefore, the importance of ideological and political work and ideological and political courses is increasingly prominent. Schools, families, and society should jointly carry out ideological guidance, and provide sustained, positive guidance and cultivation for the shaping of adolescents' values in accordance with the mainstream ideology of society. It is necessary to make good use of the "grand ideological and political courses," guiding the broad masses of youth to observe society with keen eyes, to think about life with a sober mind, and to create the future with the power of wisdom.
Caring for and supporting adolescents is the common responsibility of the whole society. To safeguard and advance the "jointing and booting" of adolescents, the whole society must provide adolescents with increasingly abundant nourishment, strengthening the foundation and nurturing the essence (固本培元, gu ben pei yuan - "solidify foundation, nourish origin") in such aspects as ideals, beliefs, and values, and continuously advance and improve the coordinated and linked support system of family, school, and society. Schools must firmly establish the fundamental educational purpose of fostering virtue through education, consolidate and strengthen the positive role of the front-line position of ideological work, and strengthen education in the core socialist values. Teachers must fully implement the Party's educational policy, fulfill the responsibility of imparting knowledge, educating people, and fostering virtue through education, and cultivate positive emotions and deepen value concepts through such means as exemplary role modeling, knowledge cultivation, and emotional edification. Families must actively cultivate good family education and family traditions, continuously improve parent-child relationships and family atmosphere, and provide the best possible family atmosphere and psychological support for the high-quality development of adolescents. At the same time, the "jointing and booting" of adolescents is, in the final analysis, an inherent part of their own lives; it is both their own obligation and their own right. It is necessary to stimulate the endogenous driving force for "jointing and booting," make full use of existing social resources, policy resources, and family resources, set aspirations early and set great aspirations, and from the depths of the heart cultivate trust in the Party, confidence in socialism with Chinese characteristics, and faith in Marxism. Party and government organs, mass organizations, enterprises and public institutions, and grassroots self-governing organizations in urban and rural areas must also work in coordination, purify the cyberspace and social-cultural environment, improve supporting measures such as the protection of adolescents' rights and interests, mental health services, and rule-of-law education, and provide adolescents with an increasingly better and stronger social environment.
Return to TopBy: 张贤明
Chinese modernization is the common cause of all the people, and it is also a systematic project that requires broadly uniting people's hearts, building consensus, pooling wisdom, and gathering strength. "Broadly Uniting Strength to Advance Chinese Modernization" is an important part of the speech delivered by General Secretary Xi Jinping at the meeting celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) on September 20, 2024, and is included in Volume V of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China. This important document, grounded in the development of the CPPCC's cause and the practice of whole-process people's democracy in the new era, systematically summarizes ten points of regular understanding, puts forward five requirements for promoting the broad, multi-level, and institutionalized development of consultative democracy, and makes five key arrangements for the CPPCC to better serve Chinese modernization. An in-depth study of this important document helps to further understand how consultative democracy can pool the wisdom and strength of all parties into the common cause and transform institutional advantages into governance effectiveness for advancing Chinese modernization.
Grasping the Core Essence of China's Consultative Democracy from the Ten Points of Regular Understanding
In this important document, General Secretary Xi Jinping summarized the regular understanding of the CPPCC's theoretical and practical innovation since the new era as "ten adherences": adhering to the Party's overall leadership over the CPPCC, adhering to the nature and positioning of the CPPCC, adhering to giving play to the role of the CPPCC as a specialized consultative body, adhering to and improving China's socialist new type of party system, adhering to great unity and great solidarity, adhering to taking strengthening political and ideological guidance and broadly building consensus as the central link, adhering to focusing on the central tasks of the Party and the state in performing duties, adhering to the CPPCC serving the people, adhering to strengthening the responsibility of committee members in fulfilling their duties, and adhering to promoting the building of duty-performing capacity in the spirit of reform and innovation. These ten points are the fundamental guidelines for doing the work of the CPPCC well on the new journey of the new era.
The "ten adherences" answer the questions of in what direction the CPPCC and consultative democracy develop and on what system their operation relies. Adhering to the Party's overall leadership defines the fundamental political direction of the development of the CPPCC's cause; adhering to the nature and positioning of the CPPCC, giving play to the role of the specialized consultative body, and adhering to and improving China's socialist new type of party system further clarify the institutional position of CPPCC consultation within whole-process people's democracy and the national governance system. Consultative democracy is not an isolated way of deliberation but is embedded in the socialist political system with Chinese characteristics and the process of national governance. Under the Party's leadership, it links political consultation, democratic supervision, and participation in the administration and discussion of state affairs, providing institutionalized channels for all political parties, groups, and people of all ethnic groups and from all walks of life to participate in an orderly manner and fully express themselves.
The "ten adherences" centrally embody the value orientation of consultative democracy in building consensus and serving the people. Adhering to great unity and great solidarity, taking strengthening political and ideological guidance and broadly building consensus as the central link, and emphasizing increasing consensus in the unity of consistency and diversity; adhering to focusing on the central tasks of the Party and the state in performing duties and adhering to the CPPCC serving the people connect consultation and deliberation on state affairs with the needs of development, the expectations of the grassroots, and the aspirations of the people. The value of consultation is reflected not only in fully expressing opinions and pooling the wisdom of all parties, but also in enhancing understanding, coordinating relations, and forming consensus through communication and exchange, so that "the affairs of the many are discussed by the many" is implemented in the concrete process of decision-making and governance.
The "ten adherences" ultimately place the operation of the system on the responsibility of people and the capacity to perform duties. Strengthening the responsibility of committee members in fulfilling their duties and promoting the building of duty-performing capacity in the spirit of reform and innovation require transforming institutional arrangements into real, effective, and high-quality consultative practice. At the same time, General Secretary Xi Jinping places the CPPCC in the historical process of combining the basic principles of Marxism with China's specific realities and with the excellent traditional Chinese culture, pointing out that the CPPCC has a profound cultural foundation, theoretical foundation, and practical foundation. In Chinese civilization, intellectual resources such as the whole world belongs to the public (天下为公, tian xia wei gong - "world, be, for, public"), being inclusive and absorbing diverse things (兼容并蓄, jian rong bing xu - "accommodate, tolerate, combine, absorb"), and seeking common ground while reserving differences (求同存异, qiu tong cun yi - "seek, same, preserve, difference") are interconnected with the institutional practice of consultative democracy in the new era, giving consultation both distinct institutional norms and a profound social and cultural foundation.
Promoting the Broad, Multi-Level, and Institutionalized Development of Consultative Democracy with Five Requirements
Institutions are the cornerstone of governance, and norms are the guarantee of operation. The vitality of consultative democracy depends on institutionalization, standardization, and proceduralization. In this important document, General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly pointed out that on the new journey of the new era, it is necessary to continuously promote the broad, multi-level, and institutionalized development of consultative democracy, and put forward requirements in five aspects: "always adhere to the correct political direction," "coordinate and improve the consultative democracy system," "strive to improve the mechanisms of consultative democracy," "continuously expand consultation methods and platforms," and "actively create a favorable atmosphere and conditions." These five aspects connect the political direction, institutional system, operational mechanisms, participation carriers, and consultative culture, providing a complete path for consultative democracy to transform institutional advantages into governance effectiveness.
Always adhering to the correct political direction is the primary prerequisite for comprehensively developing consultative democracy; coordinating and improving the consultative democracy system is an important foundation for transforming institutional advantages into overall effectiveness. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that it is necessary to adhere to the Party's overall leadership, unswervingly follow the path of socialist political development with Chinese characteristics, respect the people's pioneering spirit, firmly rely on the people to advance, and adhere to the unity of centralism on the basis of democracy and democracy under the guidance of centralism. Consultation between political parties, consultation by people's congresses, consultation by governments, consultation by CPPCC committees, consultation by people's organizations, grassroots consultation, and consultation by social organizations should form an organic whole. Different channels should give play to their roles based on their own characteristics and rules, strengthen coordination and cooperation, and form an overall synergy with consistent goals and complementary advantages.
Striving to improve the mechanisms of consultative democracy and continuously expanding consultation methods and platforms are directly related to whether consultation can truly enter the decision-making and governance process. General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed that it is necessary to adhere to consultation before decision-making and during the implementation of decisions, and for different consultation channels, form institutional norms and work rules by category, clarify what to consult on, with whom to consult, how to consult, and how to use the results of consultation, and improve the mechanisms for adopting, implementing, and feeding back on consultation results. In coordination with this, improve methods such as proposals, research, inspection, meetings, argumentation, hearings, public announcements, evaluation, consultation, the internet, public opinion surveys, and democratic supervision, broaden channels for reflecting social conditions and public opinion, and improve ways for the public to participate in policy evaluation. Only when mechanisms and platforms support each other can opinion expression have channels, consultation and interaction have rules, and the transformation of results have a closed loop.
Actively creating a favorable atmosphere and conditions provides a sustained social foundation for the operation of the system. It is necessary to carry forward fine traditions such as being inclusive and absorbing diverse things and seeking common ground while reserving differences, advocate consulting more on matters, consulting more when encountering matters, and consulting more when doing things, actively cultivate a culture of consultative democracy, and form a good consultative atmosphere in which people are both speaking their minds freely (畅所欲言, chang suo yu yan - "smoothly, whatever, desire, speak, words") and each expressing their own views (各抒己见, ge shu ji jian - "each, express, self, opinion"), while also being rational, measured, lawful, and rule-abiding. To promote the broad, multi-level, and institutionalized development of consultative democracy, "broad" focuses on expanding orderly participation and interest expression, "multi-level" focuses on connecting different governance levels and consultation channels, and "institutionalized" focuses on ensuring the quality of consultation with stable rules. All three point to one goal — enabling consultation to continuously enter public decision-making and national governance, and enhancing governance effectiveness through full expression, in-depth interaction, and effective transformation.
Uniting People's Hearts and Efforts for Chinese Modernization with Five Key Tasks
This important document ultimately focuses on how the CPPCC can better perform its duties on the new journey. Around "broadly uniting people's hearts, building consensus, pooling wisdom, and gathering strength for advancing Chinese modernization," General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward five key tasks: continuously consolidate the common ideological and political foundation for unity and struggle, closely focus on advancing Chinese modernization in offering suggestions and proposals, strive to draw the largest concentric circle for building a strong country and national rejuvenation, actively improve the CPPCC's work systems and mechanisms, and effectively strengthen the building of the CPPCC committee member team. These five tasks organically connect ideological guidance, offering suggestions and proposals, unity and friendship, institutional building, and the capacity of the main body, and also mark out the specific focus points for consultative democracy to serve Chinese modernization.
First, it is necessary to make simultaneous efforts in consolidating the common ideological and political foundation and improving the quality of offering suggestions and proposals. Adhering to and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics is the main axis for consolidating the common ideological and political foundation. It is necessary to strengthen theoretical study and transform the results of learning into the ability and capacity for political consultation, democratic supervision, and participation in the administration and discussion of state affairs. On this basis, the CPPCC should closely focus on key issues such as advancing Chinese modernization, further deepening reform comprehensively, promoting high-quality development, and maintaining social harmony and stability in conducting in-depth consultation and deliberation on state affairs, understand the actual operational situation and the urgent concerns and expectations of the masses through in-depth research, put forward forward-looking, targeted, and operable opinions and suggestions, and give play to the advantages of consultative supervision to promote the implementation and effectiveness of major decisions and arrangements.
Second, it is necessary to run building consensus and improving systems and mechanisms through the entire process of performing duties. The CPPCC should improve the working mechanisms for giving play to the role of the united front in uniting people's hearts and pooling strength, correctly handle the relationship between consistency and diversity, continuously expand the scope of unity, and enhance the degree of consensus; improve the mechanisms for in-depth consultation and interaction, full expression of opinions, and broad building of consensus, improve the rules for consultation work, and strengthen the building of mechanisms for reflecting social conditions and public opinion, connecting with the masses, and serving the people. In this way, different opinions can be fully expressed and deeply exchanged, and understanding can be enhanced and consensus sought in consultation.
Finally, it is necessary to guarantee the high-quality operation of consultative democracy with a high-quality committee member team. General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed building a CPPCC committee member team that "understands the CPPCC, is good at consultation, and is skilled in deliberation, and that observes discipline, follows rules, and values conduct," requiring all CPPCC committee members to strengthen their sense of mission and responsibility, and consciously devote themselves to the concrete practice on the front line of uniting people's hearts and efforts, decision-making consultation, consultative democracy, and national governance.
The effectiveness of the system must ultimately be reflected through the practice of performing duties. It is necessary to run the ten points of regular understanding through the entire process of CPPCC work, transform the five requirements for promoting the broad, multi-level, and institutionalized development of consultative democracy into stable mechanisms, implement the five key tasks in the concrete actions of offering suggestions and proposals, building consensus, and connecting with and serving the masses, give fuller play to the role of the CPPCC as a specialized consultative body, and pool broad and lasting wisdom and strength for advancing Chinese modernization.
Return to TopBy: 中央统战部副部长、国务院侨办主任 陈旭
In July 2026, General Secretary Xi Jinping made important instructions on overseas Chinese affairs work, highly commending the positive contributions made by the vast number of overseas Chinese and returned overseas Chinese and their relatives in promoting national economic and social development, inheriting and carrying forward Chinese culture, and enhancing exchanges and cooperation between China and foreign countries. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that on the new journey, we must take Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guide, fully implement the Party's policies on overseas Chinese affairs, closely focus on the overall work of the Party and the state, better unite the hearts and strength of overseas Chinese, guide the vast number of overseas Chinese and returned overseas Chinese and their relatives to uphold fine traditions, cultivate deep feelings for the motherland, give play to their unique advantages, show greater achievements, actively serve the great cause of national reunification, promote the united struggle of Chinese people at home and abroad, and gather mighty strength for comprehensively advancing the building of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation through Chinese modernization. General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions are possessing a far-reaching view (高屋建瓴, gao wu jian ling - "high roof, build瓴"), rich in content, and far-reaching in conception, with strong political, ideological, targeted, and guiding significance. They are both encouragement and spur to the overseas Chinese affairs front, and also mobilization and orders, pointing out the direction of progress and providing important guidelines for doing overseas Chinese affairs work well on the new journey of the new era. We must earnestly study and understand, consciously use General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions and important instructions on overseas Chinese affairs work to unify thinking and guide work, actively adapt to changes and developments in the world situation, national conditions, and overseas Chinese conditions, continuously strengthen and improve overseas Chinese affairs work, and gather mighty strength for comprehensively advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese modernization.
Deeply Understand the Important Significance of Strengthening and Improving Overseas Chinese Affairs Work in the New Era
Overseas Chinese affairs work shoulders the important historical mission of closely uniting the vast number of overseas Chinese and returned overseas Chinese and their relatives and giving play to their positive role in the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. It is a long-term and strategic work of the Party and the state. In the great practice of China's revolution, construction, reform, and the new era, overseas Chinese affairs work has played an irreplaceable role. The period of the 15th Five-Year Plan occupies an important position of linking the past and the future in the process of basically realizing socialist modernization, and is a critical period for consolidating foundations and making comprehensive efforts. Strengthening and improving overseas Chinese affairs work is of great significance for better uniting the hearts and strength of overseas Chinese and jointly realizing the Chinese Dream.
Strengthening and improving overseas Chinese affairs work is an inevitable requirement for assisting in advancing Chinese modernization. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that China's reform and opening up, China's development and construction are inseparable from such a large number of overseas Chinese who care deeply about their hometowns and the motherland. Overseas Chinese have sincere patriotic feelings, strong economic strength, rich intellectual resources, and extensive overseas connections. They are an important channel for us to attract talent and investment, an important bridge for promoting international cooperation in industrial and supply chains, and an important force for promoting high-level opening up and strengthening international exchanges and cooperation. The current and coming period is a critical period for China to transform its development model, optimize its economic structure, and shift growth drivers, and also a period of strategic opportunity for responding to risks and challenges, grasping the initiative in development, and shaping new competitive advantages. Strengthening and improving overseas Chinese affairs work, fully giving play to the unique advantages of overseas Chinese in capital, technology, management, connections, and other aspects, guiding and supporting them to actively participate in Chinese modernization, deeply integrate into major national strategies, and play a role in cultivating and expanding new growth drivers, optimizing domestic and international dual circulation, and enhancing the momentum and vitality of high-quality development, is conducive to gathering the strong joint force of Chinese people at home and abroad in advancing Chinese modernization.
Strengthening and improving overseas Chinese affairs work is an inevitable requirement for safeguarding national core interests. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that we should guide the vast number of overseas Chinese and returned overseas Chinese and their relatives to actively serve the great cause of national reunification and promote the united struggle of Chinese people at home and abroad. More than 60 million overseas Chinese and more than 40 million returned overseas Chinese and their relatives are important members of the big family of the Chinese nation. Realizing national reunification and safeguarding national unity are the common aspirations of Chinese people at home and abroad. For a long time, in the face of matters of principle or fundamental right and wrong (大是大非, da shi da fei - "big, is, big, wrong") involving national sovereignty, security, and development interests, the vast number of overseas Chinese have always put the greater national interest first, given play to their advantage of close relations with all sectors of society in their countries of residence, and independently carried out various forms of propaganda, support, protest, and other anti-"independence" and pro-reunification activities overseas, playing a unique role in safeguarding China's sovereignty, security, and development interests. At present, separatist forces such as "Taiwan independence" are relying on foreign forces to bolster one's own position (挟洋自重, xie yang zi zhong - "carry, ocean, self, heavy"), colluding and converging, and the task of safeguarding and promoting national reunification is more arduous and heavy. Adhering to the main line of forging a sense of community for the Chinese nation, holding high the banner of great unity of the Chinese nation, using both the means of unity and struggle, and enhancing the national identity of overseas Chinese are conducive to continuously squeezing the space for hostile separatist forces to operate overseas, expanding the righteous force of anti-"independence" and pro-reunification on a global scale, and better safeguarding national core interests.
Strengthening and improving overseas Chinese affairs work is an inevitable requirement for enhancing national cultural soft power and the influence of Chinese culture. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "cultural soft power and influence are important components of comprehensive national strength" and that "the broad and profound (博大精深, bo da jing shen - "wide, big; profound, deep") Chinese culture is the common soul of Chinese people at home and abroad." Overseas Chinese live in all parts of the world and are important carriers and disseminators of Chinese culture. They spontaneously build "Chinatowns" and "China Cities" in their countries of residence, run Chinese language education, hold traditional Chinese festival activities such as the Spring Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival, and spread Chinese culture overseas, which is widely welcomed by all sectors of society in their countries of residence. At present, competition in national cultural influence is becoming increasingly fierce. Under the guidance of Xi Jinping's cultural thought, China's cultural undertakings have entered a brand-new historical stage, and the common challenges facing global development require Chinese culture to continue contributing its strength. Encouraging overseas Chinese to promote the high-quality development of Chinese language education and supporting various forms of Sino-foreign people-to-people and cultural exchange activities are conducive to expanding the spread of Chinese culture worldwide, deepening exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, and promoting the international community's better understanding of Chinese civilization and contemporary China.
Strengthening and improving overseas Chinese affairs work is an inevitable requirement for promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "the vast number of overseas Chinese should use their own advantages and conditions to actively act as an intermediary or matchmaker (牵线搭桥, qian xian da qiao - "pull thread, build bridge") for exchanges and cooperation between their countries of residence and China in various fields, better integrate into and give back to local society, and continuously make new contributions to promoting world peace and development." Overseas Chinese have the unique advantage of connecting China and foreign countries. They are familiar with the Chinese nation and China's national conditions, and at the same time have integrated well and deeply into local society, familiar with the political and social environment, the thinking patterns of the people, language habits, and cultural backgrounds of their countries of residence. They generally hope that their countries of residence maintain friendly relations with China and are willing to contribute their strength. For a long time, overseas Chinese have played an important role in promoting bilateral and multilateral cooperation between China and their countries of residence and in helping build the Belt and Road Initiative with high quality. Strengthening and improving overseas Chinese affairs work, adhering to the guidance of the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind, and guiding overseas Chinese to strive to be the golden ribbon and bridge of friendship for Sino-foreign friendly cooperation are conducive to advocating an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, further deepening international exchanges and cooperation, and promoting the building of a world of lasting peace, universal security, common prosperity, openness, inclusiveness, cleanliness, and beauty.
Accurately Grasp the New Situation and New Tasks Facing Overseas Chinese Affairs Work
Overseas Chinese affairs work has always been closely related or intimately connected (息息相关, xi xi xiang guan - "breath, breath, mutually related") to the development of the world situation and national conditions, and closely linked to changes in overseas Chinese conditions. On the new journey of the new era, the correlation between overseas Chinese affairs work and the overall domestic and international situation has further increased. We must establish a world vision, strengthen strategic thinking, and from a strategic and overall height, scientifically analyze the new opportunities and new challenges facing the high-quality development of overseas Chinese affairs work, and deeply grasp the new situation and new requirements facing us.
Accurately grasp the new requirements put forward by the profound and complex changes in the international situation for overseas Chinese affairs work. At present, the world is undergoing accelerated changes unseen in a century, the international balance of power is undergoing profound adjustment, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is accelerating breakthroughs, and China has many favorable factors for actively managing international space and shaping the external environment. The concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind and the four major global initiatives proposed by General Secretary Xi Jinping represent the direction of progress of human civilization, conform to the common aspirations of the people of all countries, are increasingly gaining popular support, and have become the greatest common denominator for uniting and rallying all countries in the world. At the same time, we must also see that the world is intertwined with chaos and change, turbulence is intensifying, and geopolitical conflicts are prone to occur frequently; unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise, the threat of hegemonism and power politics is increasing, the international economic and trade order is facing severe challenges, and the momentum of world economic growth is insufficient. To strengthen and improve overseas Chinese affairs work, we must accurately grasp the intricate and complex (错综复杂, cuo zong fu za - "intertwined, complex; many, complicated") international situation, maintain strategic focus, enhance confidence in victory, find the right positioning, be proactive, establish a sense of urgency, enhance historical initiative, better mobilize and give play to the advantages of overseas Chinese affairs resources to serve the overall work of foreign affairs, and create a favorable external environment for Chinese modernization.
Accurately grasp the new tasks put forward by domestic economic and social development for overseas Chinese affairs work. At present, China has successfully completed all the main goals and tasks of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, economic strength, scientific and technological strength, and comprehensive national strength have leaped to a new level, Chinese modernization has taken new solid steps, and the new journey of the Second Centenary Goal has achieved a good start. China's economic foundation is stable, with many advantages, strong resilience, and great potential. The supporting conditions and basic trend of long-term improvement have not changed, and the trend of development momentum turning new and superior is further emerging. The advantages of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, the advantages of the super-large market, the advantages of the complete industrial system, and the advantages of rich talent resources are more prominent. At the same time, we must also see that the problem of unbalanced and inadequate development in China is still prominent; effective demand is insufficient, and there are bottlenecks and blockages in the domestic economic cycle; the task of transforming old and new growth drivers is arduous; agricultural and rural modernization is relatively lagging behind; and there is greater pressure on employment and resident income growth. This requires us to make breakthrough progress in optimizing structure, enhancing momentum, resolving contradictions, and making up for shortcomings. To strengthen and improve overseas Chinese affairs work, we must accurately grasp the overall situation and trends, fully, accurately, and comprehensively implement the new development philosophy, closely combine the strengths of overseas Chinese affairs work with the needs of national economic and social development, fully explore resource endowments, find the right entry points and focal points for work, make precise efforts around major national development strategies, and achieve new results in assisting high-quality development and promoting high-level opening up.
Accurately grasp the new topics put forward by the profound changes in overseas Chinese conditions at home and abroad for overseas Chinese affairs work. At present, overseas Chinese conditions at home and abroad are showing a series of new changes. On the one hand, the number of overseas Chinese continues to increase, their economic strength, overall quality, and social status continue to improve, their ties, exchanges, and cooperation with China are closer, and their national pride and identity continue to strengthen; the total number of returned overseas Chinese and their relatives in China is growing rapidly, and their overall quality has improved considerably. On the other hand, the structure of overseas Chinese communities is becoming increasingly complex, the replacement of old and new generations is accelerating, differences between regions, countries, and groups are increasing, the new generation of ethnic Chinese is increasingly becoming the main body of overseas Chinese communities, and the phenomenon of some new generations' feelings for their ancestral (home) country declining generationally is prominent; the phenomenon of overseas Chinese organizations developing without unity and standardization still exists, the integration of old and new overseas Chinese organizations in some countries is insufficient, and cohesion within overseas Chinese communities is weak; the demand for overseas Chinese to participate in domestic political, economic, cultural, and social life is growing day by day, the interest demands of the vast number of overseas Chinese and returned overseas Chinese and their relatives are more diverse, and it is more difficult for overseas Chinese affairs work to build consensus. To strengthen and improve overseas Chinese affairs work, we must accurately grasp the profound changes in overseas Chinese conditions, focus on researching and solving the problems and bottlenecks restricting the development of overseas Chinese affairs work, focus on the needs and expectations of overseas Chinese compatriots, continuously reform, innovate, forge ahead, improve the ability and level of serving overseas Chinese, and better cultivate and expand overseas patriotic forces and forces that understand and are friendly to China.
Comprehensively Strengthen the Party's Leadership and Open Up a New Situation in Overseas Chinese Affairs Work
Facing the new situation, new tasks, and new requirements of overseas Chinese affairs work, we must adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, implement the Party Central Committee's decisions and arrangements on strengthening and improving overseas Chinese affairs work, closely focus on the overall work of the Party and the state, adhere to the theme of uniting people's hearts and efforts (凝心聚力, ning xin ju li - "condense, heart; gather, strength") to jointly realize the Chinese Dream, adhere to the unity of serving the overall situation and serving overseas Chinese, the coordination of domestic overseas Chinese affairs work and foreign overseas Chinese affairs work, and the overall planning of cultivating resources and giving play to their role, promote the high-quality development of overseas Chinese affairs work in the new era, better closely unite the vast number of overseas Chinese and returned overseas Chinese and their relatives, and gather mighty strength for comprehensively advancing the building of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation through Chinese modernization.
Strengthen overall coordination and comprehensively gather joint force for work. Conscientiously implement the Party Central Committee's major policies and decisions and arrangements on overseas Chinese affairs work, further improve top-level design, strengthen strategic planning, strengthen overall coordination, focus on enhancing the integrity, systematicness, and synergy of the work of all regions and relevant departments, and ensure that the Party's overall leadership, especially the centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, runs through all aspects and the entire process of overseas Chinese affairs work. United front work departments at all levels should give play to the advantages of the grand united front work pattern, perform their overall coordination functions, fully mobilize the initiative and enthusiasm of all parties, vigorously support all overseas Chinese affairs-related departments, social organizations, relevant universities, relevant financial institutions, and enterprises in carrying out relevant overseas Chinese affairs work, and further promote the formation of a good situation in which Party committees provide unified leadership, united front work departments take the lead in coordination, and relevant departments and social organizations each performing their own respective duties (各司其职, ge si qi zhi - "each, undertake, its, duty") and fulfilling their respective responsibilities.
Strengthen friendship and contacts and consolidate the foundation for united struggle. Make full use of important time nodes such as the National Day and major activity platforms such as the World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention and the World Overseas Chinese Community Friendship Conference, strengthen friendship and contacts with representative figures in the overseas Chinese community, deepen their profound understanding of the great changes of the new era and their broad recognition of the missions and tasks of the new journey of the new era. Extensively publicize to overseas Chinese groups the rich connotation and practical requirements of Chinese modernization, guide them to give play to their own advantages and contribute wisdom and strength in the process of comprehensively advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese modernization. Encourage and guide overseas Chinese and returned overseas Chinese and their relatives to actively participate in whole-process people's democracy, and support deputies to people's congresses and members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference among returned overseas Chinese and their relatives in performing their duties.
Safeguard the rights and interests of overseas Chinese in accordance with the law and improve the level of service for overseas Chinese. Implement the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Returned Overseas Chinese and the Relatives of Overseas Chinese and its implementing rules and other overseas Chinese affairs-related laws and regulations, improve policies and measures such as the system for identifying overseas Chinese status and promoting the convenient application of overseas Chinese identity documents, and actively respond to the reasonable interest demands of overseas Chinese and returned overseas Chinese and their relatives. Strengthen the construction of the public service system for overseas Chinese, incorporate services for overseas Chinese into the national public service plan, actively promote "Internet + overseas Chinese affairs work," and provide inclusive public services for overseas Chinese and returned overseas Chinese and their relatives. Innovate the overseas service work system for overseas Chinese, establish an emergency response mechanism for overseas Chinese-related emergencies, guide overseas Chinese organizations to strengthen unity and mutual assistance, and build a safety protection barrier for overseas Chinese.
Focus on serving the overall situation and give play to resource advantages. Do a good job in overseas Chinese-related talent introduction and investment attraction, promote the effective docking and deep integration of overseas Chinese talent and capital with the needs of major national development strategies, and play an active role in promoting high-quality development, high-level opening up, and high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. In particular, place the introduction of high-level overseas talent in a more important position, promote the improvement of policies and measures to facilitate the return (coming to China) of high-level overseas Chinese talent for innovation and entrepreneurship, and form an efficient mechanism for introduction, use, management, and service. Guide overseas Chinese to jointly shoulder the great cause of the nation, resolutely oppose separatist forces such as "Taiwan independence," firmly support the one-China principle and the 1992 Consensus, promote the in-depth, sustained, and healthy development of the anti-"independence" and pro-reunification movement, expand the overseas anti-"independence" and pro-reunification force, and safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests.
Carry forward Chinese culture and promote Sino-foreign friendly exchanges. Promote overseas Chinese affairs-related cultural exchanges, support overseas Chinese in carrying out rich and colorful Sino-foreign people-to-people and cultural exchange activities, provide overseas Chinese with richer cultural products and services, enhance the affinity and appeal of Chinese culture, and promote exchanges and mutual learning among Chinese and foreign civilizations. Enrich the supply of digital and intelligent resources for Chinese language education, improve the Chinese language textbook system, guide resources from all parties to help overseas Chinese schools improve the quality of schooling, and continuously promote the improvement of quality and efficiency of Chinese language education. Educate and guide overseas Chinese to abide by the laws of their countries of residence, better integrate into local society, contribute wisdom and strength to the economic and social development of their countries of residence, and fully demonstrate a good image of law-abiding, integrity, civilized behavior, caring for society, unity, and harmony.
Return to TopBy: 王秀伟
The "Only Henan · Dramatic Fantasy City" scenic area
In Luoyi Ancient City in Luoyang, tourists dressed in Hanfu and adorned with floral hairpins step into the alleys and feel as if they have "time-traveled" a thousand years. At the "Only Henan · Dramatic Fantasy City" scenic area in Zhengzhou, audiences are no longer mere spectators but "walk" through the drama itself, sharing joy and sorrow with the performers. In the "Twelve Hours of Chang'an" themed block in Xi'an, people recite poetry with Li Bai and bargain with peddlers, feeling as if returning to a past era (恍若梦回, huang ruo meng hui - "as if, through, dream, return") of the High Tang. In recent years, immersive performances, immersive night tours, and immersive blocks have emerged across the country, even giving rise to the phenomenon of "no immersion, no cultural tourism." From viewing scenery to entering the drama, from checking in to emotional engagement, what exactly is the appeal of immersive cultural tourism?
Making culture perceptible and accessible, turning tourists into participants
In traditional tourism, an invisible boundary separates tourists from the landscape. You can see it, but cannot touch it, and do not remember it deeply. Immersive cultural tourism breaks this boundary, taking culture as its core and scenes as its carrier, allowing tourists to gain firsthand experience through role immersion, achieving physical presence, emotional awakening, and memory recall. Cultural transmission shifts from one-way indoctrination to two-way engagement.
This transformation aligns with the laws of the experience economy. When goods and services approach saturation, experience becomes a new source of value. The tourist's walking, viewing, conversing, and even role-playing are themselves the content of experience and the way meaning is generated. The essence of tourism is the search for difference and resonance. Immersive experience unifies technical immersion and psychological immersion, enabling tourists to complete an emotional dialogue with history and local culture through entering the drama. Henan, represented by "Only Henan · Dramatic Fantasy City," uses its theaters to carry the theme of "land, grain, and inheritance," achieving a paradigm leap from watching to participating, from aesthetics to empathy. Chenzhou draws on the traditional opera genre of "Xiang Kun" to create immersive performances, allowing audiences to understand within the stories the perseverance and transformation of a century of opera art. Culture is no longer an exhibit in a display case, but a life that can be touched, experienced, and empathized with. Bringing dormant cultural resources "to life" and making them perceptible and accessible to tourists is precisely what is most moving about immersive cultural tourism.
Empowering scenes with technology, reshaping the boundaries of experience
Immersive cultural tourism is the product of deep integration between technology and cultural tourism. Digital technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and holographic imaging create an environment that is both real and illusory (亦真亦幻, yi zhen yi huan - "also, real, also, illusion"), expanding the connotation and boundaries of tourism. The construction of immersive experience, on the one hand, must create a strong sense of substitution that draws tourists into the scenario. On the other hand, it maintains a subtle distancing effect: tourists know it is an illusion, yet willingly enter the drama, freely switching between illusion and reality to obtain a unique aesthetic pleasure. This dialectical unity of substitution and distancing is precisely what makes the immersive cultural tourism experience unique.
The empowerment of artificial intelligence is pushing immersive cultural tourism to a new level. During this year's "May Day" holiday, AI tour guides entered multiple scenic areas. In Guizhou, the AI tour of Xijiang reached 1.3 million annual visits; in Xi'an, AI travel photography drove a 25% increase in related consumption; in Hangzhou, the AI travel agent "Hang Xiaoyi" pushed the share of secondary consumption by tourists up to 40%. With their capabilities in autonomous decision-making, scenario interaction, and full-process service, intelligent agents are driving cultural tourism consumption from standardized supply toward personalized experience. The "15th Five-Year Plan" for Cultural and Tourism Development explicitly proposes implementing the national cultural digitization strategy, advancing the integration of AI plus culture and tourism, expanding AI application scenarios, and cultivating smart tourism immersive experience spaces. This points the direction for the development of immersive cultural tourism. It must be emphasized that technology is not the end; good technological applications always serve human experience and cultural expression.
Supplying emotional value, activating new drivers of consumption
The deeper reason for the popularity of immersive cultural tourism is its precise response to the psychological needs of current consumers. The deep integration of ritual, immersion, and participation is reshaping the form of cultural tourism consumption. The highest level of marketing is selling emotions. Tourists pay for a moment of moving engagement in the drama, pay for a memory of "time travel," and consumption thereby leaps from the functional level to the emotional level. This emotion-driven consumption has a powerful multiplier effect. Emotional resonance generates word-of-mouth communication, word-of-mouth communication brings increases in visitors, and increases in visitors in turn drive related consumption in accommodation, dining, cultural creativity, and performances, ultimately turning traffic into retention and one-time passersby into repeat customers.
Practice has already confirmed this logic. Zhongmu New District in Henan, relying on its cluster of immersive cultural tourism projects, has released new consumption vitality, growing from an economic depression into a cultural tourism highland; Luoyi Ancient City in Luoyang, driven by Hanfu experiences, has restructured the citywide consumption scenario and been selected as a national typical case of new consumption scenarios; Chibi in Hubei, centering on the culture of the Three Kingdoms, has developed the entire industrial chain, reconstructing immersive cultural tourism scenes and turning a county-level city into an internet-famous destination. From a macro perspective, the "15th Five-Year Plan" for Building a Strong Tourism Country proposes that by 2030, domestic residents' travel trips will reach 8.3 billion, total domestic travel spending will reach 7.7 trillion yuan, inbound tourism trips will reach 190 million with total spending exceeding 150 billion US dollars, and explicitly requires adapting to the trend of growing demand for experience-based consumption, creating diversified immersive and interactive new consumption scenarios, and developing the performance economy, night economy, and ticket-stub economy. Placing this goal within the overall strategy of expanding domestic demand, immersive cultural tourism is becoming an important engine for stimulating consumption and smoothing the domestic circulation, as well as an important window for telling China's story well and attracting inbound tourists.
Making the appeal of immersive cultural tourism enduring
Amid the boom in immersive cultural tourism development, sober reflection is needed. First, there is the homogenization of immersive cultural tourism content. Some places blindly follow trends, and copy-paste style immersive cultural tourism development leads to a thousand cities looking the same, with immersive experiences becoming superficial "scene changes" and cultural tourism projects lacking narratives that move people. Second, there is the disconnect between technology and culture in immersive cultural tourism. The illusions created by technology can provide immediate sensory stimulation, but they are difficult to replace deep cultural understanding. If technological logic overwhelms cultural logic, immersive cultural tourism degenerates into shallow showing off of skills, with much excitement but little aftertaste. Third, the investment and operational risks of immersive cultural tourism cannot be ignored. Investment in large immersive cultural tourism projects often amounts to hundreds of millions of yuan; without sustained content updates and professional operations, they easily fall into the predicament of peaking at opening and declining right after the peak. In this regard, the "15th Five-Year Plan" for Cultural and Tourism Development emphasizes adhering to both development and regulation, guiding all localities to follow market laws and highlight distinctive advantages, and avoiding inefficient and ineffective investment and idle waste. This is a clear warning against the development model of rushing in all at once.
To make the appeal of immersive cultural tourism enduring, sustained efforts are needed in three areas.
First, deeply cultivate the cultural core. Immersion is only the form; culture is the soul. The deep integration of culture and tourism should be taken as the main thread, deeply excavating the value of fine traditional Chinese culture, revolutionary culture, and advanced socialist culture, promoting the integration of quality cultural content into tourism development, and enhancing deep experience and emotional resonance. All localities should adhere to regional distinctiveness, deeply develop cultural IPs, and tell unique local stories well, avoiding "shell-copying" development.
Second, promote technological adaptation. The application of technology should be just right, serving cultural narrative and cultural tourism experience, and avoiding the secondary element overshadowing the main one (喧宾夺主, xuan bin duo zhu - "noisy, guest, seize, host"). The "15th Five-Year Plan" for Cultural and Tourism Development proposes implementing the national cultural science and technology innovation project, strengthening research and development and integrated innovation of technologies such as extended reality, intelligent interaction, and digital twin engines, and supporting demonstration applications of new technologies, new products, and new scenarios. The cultural tourism industry should seize this favorable opportunity, turning every technological advance into an upgrade of the cultural tourism experience.
Third, strengthen talent and operations. Immersive cultural tourism is a composite of cultural creativity, digital technology, and commercial operations, and the scarcest resource is cross-disciplinary talent. It is necessary to strengthen the cultivation of urgently needed and scarce talent for immersive cultural tourism development, including creative design, business management, and technological innovation, and to implement cultural and tourism talent cultivation programs. At the same time, it is necessary to establish a full-cycle mindset from creative planning to sustained operations, improve project necessity and feasibility assessment and full-process supervision, revitalize idle and inefficient projects by category, and promote the leap of projects from being a temporary "internet sensation" to long-term "sustained popularity."
The 15th Five-Year Plan period is a critical period for building China into a culturally strong country and a strong tourism country. As a typical business form of new quality productive forces in the cultural tourism field, immersive cultural tourism is upgrading from an innovation at the experiential level to a driving force for industrial upgrading. The true appeal of immersive cultural tourism lies not in the dazzling lights, sounds, and effects, but in the encounter between culture and people; not in momentary traffic, but in enduring resonance. By preserving the soul of culture, making good use of the wings of technology, and upholding a people-centered heart, immersive cultural tourism can achieve making steady progress to achieve long-term success (行稳致远, xing wen zhi yuan - "walk, steady, reach, far"), injecting surging momentum into enriching the people's spiritual life, stimulating consumption potential, and building a culturally strong country and a strong tourism country.
Return to TopBy: 王鹏飞
President Xi Jinping has profoundly pointed out: "The hope of China-U.S. relations lies in the people, the foundation lies in the grassroots, the future lies in the youth, and the vitality lies in the localities." As one of the initiators of the China-U.S. youth pickleball people-to-people exchange activity, over the past two years I have personally witnessed how a small pickleball has crossed the Pacific Ocean, closely linking the hearts of young people from both countries, and I have become increasingly convinced: when the youth know each other, the people's hearts connect; when the people's hearts connect, the nation's fortunes can be anticipated.
More than half a century ago, a small ping-pong ball turned the big ball, opening the door to China-U.S. exchanges. The sincere interactions between peoples always add warmth and inject resilience into bilateral relations. In November 2023, President Xi Jinping announced in San Francisco that China would invite 50,000 American youths to China for exchange and study over the next five years. In September this year, President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to the United States and announced at the White House welcome ceremony: "Over the next five years, China will invite 100,000 American youths to China for exchange and study." The "50,000 in five years" has already borne fruit: as of May 2026, more than 50,000 American youths have visited China, achieving the expected goal two and a half years ahead of schedule. From "50,000 in five years" to "100,000 in five years" is not a simple doubling of numbers, but rather entrusting the deepest foundation of bilateral relations to generation after generation of young people to continuously consolidate — this is strategic foresight oriented toward the future, and even more so a solemn trust placed in the younger generation.
Why choose pickleball? Years of educational and international exchange practice have led us to appreciate that this sport possesses a rare "three lows, one high, one strong" character: low threshold, low risk, low venue requirements, high inclusiveness, and strong teamwork. It is easy to pick up, features light physical confrontation, and emphasizes cooperation. It is precisely for this reason that Montgomery County took the lead in the United States in incorporating pickleball into its district-wide interscholastic league. When teenagers from different countries become teammates in mixed doubles, the sport itself becomes a "common mother tongue" that transcends language, and the most vivid sporting interpretation of "win-win cooperation."
But pickleball is not only a sport; it is also a carrier with an inherent "culture+" attribute, gradually forming an exchange model of "sports setting the stage, culture providing immersion, education deepening engagement, and emotion forging connections": sports are the core engine — friendship matches insist on mixed China-U.S. team formation, so that from the very first moment of meeting, the children are no longer "you" and "us," but "we"; culture is the soul — this Spring Festival, the visiting delegation's teachers and students wrote Spring Festival couplets, wrapped dumplings, picked spring tea, jointly planted a friendship forest, and enjoyed traditional folk performances, transforming from onlookers into participants during the most emotionally resonant holiday; education is the elevation of values — Chinese youths confidently tell China's story as "cultural envoys," while American youths reshape their perceptions of China based on personal experience — "the people here are just like us" — this simple empathy is the most solid foundation for cross-cultural communication; emotion is the long-term guarantee — we rely on digital platforms to help students form partnerships and promote the construction of a youth pickleball international people-to-people exchange base, turning the friendship of one trip into a lifelong connection.
Relations between countries begin with exchanges between individuals. A remark by Dr. Jeffrey Sullivan — Director of Athletics for Montgomery County Public Schools and an old friend who has led delegations to China twice — captures the true essence of people-to-people exchange. He said that every high-five on the court, every hands-on experience in the intangible cultural heritage workshops, and every stop at high-tech enterprises deepens American youths' genuine perception of China's development. American student Hayley, on her second visit to China, remarked that China feels like her "second home"; University of Maryland student Ryan, who has come to China three times since April 2025, said his third trip to China was "completely spontaneous": "I went to Europe, and on the way back I thought, either I turn around and fly back to America, or I fly to my other home — China. So I just went, and I spent three weeks in China, and the experience was fantastic." These seemingly small moments are precisely the most solid cells of bilateral relations.
Stories of friendship are also written on this side of the Pacific. On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, when countless families and households (千家万户, qian jia wan hu - "thousand, families, ten thousand, households") were heading home, Shenzhen middle school student Li Haozhen alone "traveled against the tide" 300 kilometers back to Shenzhen, only to keep a pickleball appointment with an American peer. On the court, he taught his partner from Maryland to say "jiayou" (come on); a phrase — "China's Spring Festival is just like your Christmas, a time for family reunion" — enabled two teenagers separated by ten thousand miles to understand the shared "home" in each other's hearts.
Friendship has never been one-way. Last August, Chinese teachers and students paid a return visit to the United States and once again high-fived their American partners on the courts of Montgomery County; this June, I shared the stage with Dr. Sullivan at the Eighth China-U.S. Sister Cities Conference in San Francisco, jointly launching the "Pickleball International Exchange Hundred Cities Program." From one-way visits to China to two-way exchanges, from a one-off activity to institutionalized arrangements, a "new bond" woven from the personal friendships of countless Chinese and American youths is taking shape, endowing China-U.S. relations, beyond grand narratives, with countless vivid, warm, and concrete human stories and a unique resilience against wind and rain.
President Xi Jinping once used the character "person" as a metaphor:"In Chinese characters, the character 'person' is a shape of mutual support.The foundation of China-U.S. friendship lies in the people, and the hope lies in the youth." As educators, we deeply appreciate that every cross-border exchange is a walking lesson in national conditions, ideological education, and friendship, and that the understanding and goodwill cultivated through people-to-people exchange are precisely the deepest confidence of national diplomacy. We will continue to use pickleball as a medium, promoting the participation of more cities, schools, and young people, and cultivating a new generation of envoys of China-U.S. friendship. We firmly believe that every swing of the paddle is the starting point of friendship; the mutual understanding and affinity of every generation of youth is laying a solid foundation (夯基垒土, hang ji lei tu - "consolidate, foundation, pile, earth") and sowing the future for a constructive and stable strategic relationship between China and the United States. The story of a small ball turning the big ball will surely write a new chapter in the new era.
(The author is Executive Director of the Labor Education Research Institute of the New Education Research Institute, Soochow University)
Return to TopBy: 王维
Shenzhen Pingshan Urban Study Room
Chinese modernization is a modernization in which material civilization and spiritual civilization develop in coordination, and material abundance and spiritual enrichment are both indispensable. From the report of the 20th Party Congress proposing to "improve the modern public cultural service system and innovatively implement cultural benefit projects for the people," to the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee proposing to "establish a mechanism for delivering high-quality cultural resources directly to the grassroots," and further to the 15th Five-Year Plan outline explicitly stating that "new types of public cultural spaces should be developed on the basis of urban study rooms, community cultural stations, cultural corridors, and the like, so as to provide more cultural services at the people's doorstep," the building of a culturally strong country has pressed the "fast-forward button." The people's aspiration for a better life lies both in bulging wallets and in an increasingly enriched spiritual world; making cultural life at one's doorstep rich and fulfilling is precisely a vivid footnote to spreading the grand blueprint to "streets and alleyways," and is also a question of the times that must be answered well on the new journey.
In recent years, various localities have actively explored and implemented cultural benefit projects for the people. A facility network consisting of public libraries, cultural centers, township comprehensive cultural stations, and village-level comprehensive cultural service centers has generally taken shape, and cultural benefits for the people have achieved fairly notable results. However, in the face of the people's growing spiritual and cultural needs, cultural benefit projects are also confronting a shift from "whether they exist" to "whether they are good," and some shortcomings and weaknesses have gradually begun to emerge. First, there is a mismatch between grassroots cultural supply and actual demand. In some areas, cultural services are still simply understood as "holding an event" or "sending a performance," with a habitual approach of uniformly formulating menus and uniformly dispatching programs, while neglecting what the masses actually like, what times are convenient for them to participate, and what the differentiated needs of different age groups are. Second, the operation and maintenance of activity venues are not sufficiently meticulous. Some new types of cultural spaces are built very beautifully yet are having only a good appearance without substance (空有其表, kong you qi biao - "empty, only, have, its, surface"), lacking sustained excavation of local distinctive culture, and later-stage content development and operational management also lack overall consideration; the phenomena of positions being "built but not used" and "used but not activated" are fairly prominent. Third, it is difficult for social forces and the principal role of the masses to be brought into play. Some cultural benefit projects are mainly led by government departments, and folk cultural teams are mostly mobilized on an ad hoc basis, lacking sustained support for them in terms of venues, instructors, funding, and the like, resulting in insufficient depth of participation by social organizations, cultural enterprises, folk artists, inheritors of intangible cultural heritage, and mass literary and artistic teams, and a lack of sustained endogenous momentum for cultural benefits for the people.
General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized, "Focus on meeting the people's diversified, multi-level, and multifaceted spiritual and cultural needs, enhance the capacity to supply cultural services and cultural products, and strengthen the people's sense of cultural gain and happiness." During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, cultural benefits for the people must not remain merely in the conventional playbook of "increasing investment, improving facilities, and enriching activities." It is necessary to implement an action to improve the quality and efficiency of public cultural services, make coordinated efforts around matching supply and demand, overall resource coordination, long-term operation, talent cultivation, and digital and intelligent empowerment, develop new types of public cultural spaces, promote the direct delivery of high-quality cultural resources to the grassroots, and let high-quality cultural resources permeate every corner of society.
Be more down-to-earth, so that high-quality cultural resources are precisely aligned with the people's lives. Cultural services involve a huge number of complicated issues (千头万绪, qian tou wan xu - "thousand, heads, ten thousand, threads"); first, it is necessary to find out what the masses need, what they want, and when they have free time. Demand surveys can be conducted regularly on a village- and community-level basis, and demand files can be established with one file per village and one strategy per group, recording in the accounts the preferences and available time of groups such as the elderly, persons with disabilities, left-behind children, and migrant workers. Relevant business departments issue service menus quarterly, implement a closed-loop process of "the masses order, the platform dispatches, institutions accept, and the masses evaluate," respond to routine needs within a set time limit, and use joint orders among neighboring villages or mobile services to provide a safety net for remote villages, so that services follow demand. Relying on existing government service platforms to integrate booking, ordering, and evaluation functions, while retaining offline methods such as telephone, on-site, and agency services, expands channels for communication between supply and demand. At the same time, taking the opportunity of deepening nationwide reading and advancing the building of a book-loving society, reading is brought to the people's doorsteps: books are delivered to the elderly at home, large-print books and audio books are provided, holiday classes are opened for left-behind children, and late-night study rooms are created for new employment groups, so that every group can enjoy a "customized" cultural feast.
Be more people-gathering, so that high-quality cultural resources resonate with the people's spirit. Cultural benefits for the people must not be satisfied with delivering programs; rather, the stage should be handed over to the masses, making them the protagonists of activities. Adhere to the people-centered creative orientation, prosper new mass literature and art under internet conditions, extensively carry out mass cultural activities, and strengthen the building of mass literary and artistic teams. When professional teams go down to the grassroots, they should not only perform but also train backbone members, incubate teams, and leave behind scripts, changing service contracts from purchasing a single performance to sustainable, after-sales, full-cycle supporting services, and pairing with grassroots units for two to three years of continuous guidance and assistance, turning blood transfusion into blood production. Explore the establishment of small cultural funds to support mass creations such as village histories and village songs, community drama, and peasant paintings, cultivate brands such as village galas and village super leagues, and let new mass literature and art such as short videos and online literature take root and sprout in communities. At the same time, cultivate cultural stewards, selecting one or two in each village and community, providing basic subsidies and performance-based rewards, so that the masses change from audience members in the stands to protagonists on the stage, and cultural activities truly gather popularity and retain people's hearts.
Be more vibrant, so that high-quality cultural resources are organically embedded in the people's living spaces. Cultural activity positions must not only be built but also used and activated. Relying on urban study rooms, community cultural stations, cultural corridors, and the like to develop new types of public cultural spaces, cultivate new scenarios for experiencing intangible cultural heritage inheritance, and let cultural facilities be embedded in streets and alleys and integrated into life. Grassroots venues should not be monotonous and unvarying (千篇一律, qian pian yi lv - "thousand, pieces, one, pattern"); first, conduct operational diagnosis to clarify whom they serve, how long they are open, and where they are idle, then configure them by category according to the characteristics of the population: elderly communities are provided with more opera and calligraphy spaces, youth communities develop music and evening school courses, and child-friendly communities set up childcare and early education services. Implement staggered and extended opening hours, with services continuing normally in the evenings and on weekends; in rural areas, avoid busy farming seasons and market days; and set up mobile cultural points in industrial parks, commercial districts, and construction sites. For spaces with insufficient operational capacity, introduce social forces through government purchase of services or public welfare commissioning, clearly stipulating that property rights remain unchanged, public welfare and free access are maintained, and opening hours are not reduced, with contract renewal linked to satisfaction. Fiscal investment shifts from construction budgets to full life-cycle budgets, newly built facilities simultaneously implement operating funds, and the reform of separating ownership rights from usage rights is steadily advanced, so that idle positions are truly put to use and cultural services are available at the push of a window and within a step's reach.
Cultural life at one's doorstep is, for the masses, an everyday necessity, responding to the people's expectation of moving from "whether it exists" to "whether it is good"; services that are easily accessible or within reach (触手可及, chu shou ke ji - "touch, hand, can, reach") are precisely a vivid response to the aspiration for a better life. For society, it is a spiritual bond: cultural activities enhance neighborly exchanges, nurture an upward and good-hearted atmosphere, unite people's hearts in the countryside, and make cities warmer. For a strong country, it is the foundation: the grassroots are the source of cultural innovation and creation and the driving force of cultural inheritance and development; only by building communities and villages into "living sources of flowing water" can a culturally strong country proceed steadily and far. Cultural benefits for the people exert a subtle and silent influence that benefits all (润物无声, run wu wu sheng - "moisten, things, without, sound"), yet they carry the mission and responsibility of building a culturally strong country. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, it is all the more necessary to uphold the original aspiration of cultural benefits for the people, solidly advance the improvement of the quality and efficiency of public cultural services, let the flower of culture bloom throughout "streets and alleyways," and gather even stronger spiritual strength for comprehensively advancing Chinese modernization.
Return to TopBy: 储欣予
After World War II, the Allied powers established military tribunals throughout the Asia-Pacific region to try Class B and Class C war criminals who had committed atrocities such as massacres and prisoner abuse. Among these, from October 1945 to April 1947, the trials conducted by the United States in Manila, the Philippines, became known for their involvement in major atrocities including the "Bataan Death March" and the Manila Massacre, and are historically referred to as the Manila Trials. Yamashita Tomoyuki, the highest-ranking Japanese commander in the Philippines, thereby became the first senior Japanese military officer executed after the war under the principle of "command responsibility."
The principal crimes of the Japanese military: atrocities against American prisoners of war and Filipino civilians. The Philippines had been under American colonial rule since the Spanish-American War of 1898. In December 1941, after launching the Pacific War, Japan immediately attacked the Philippines and occupied the entire archipelago by May 1942. The Japanese occupation disrupted the Philippines' original economic order, stirring intense anti-Japanese sentiment, and local residents joined with remnant American forces to conduct anti-Japanese guerrilla activities, exploiting the geographical advantages of the terrain. In order to suppress the anti-Japanese guerrillas, the Japanese military carried out large-scale massacres of civilians and implemented retaliatory repression, resulting in numerous war atrocities against civilians. During the Battle of Manila in February 1945, the Japanese military committed outrageous and atrocious (令人发指, ling ren fa zhi - "allow, people, feel, hair, stand up") crimes, carrying out systematic massacre, rape, and arson against civilians, and deliberately destroying hospitals, schools, religious sites, and other civilian facilities, seriously violating the laws of war and international humanitarian law. According to postwar investigations, more than 100,000 Filipino civilians perished in the massacres.
As early as the Battle of Leyte Gulf landings, the U.S. military had already begun investigating Japanese war atrocities against Americans and Filipino local residents in the Philippines, and the findings were submitted to general headquarters in the form of reports by investigators of the war crimes investigation detachment. After the Japanese surrender, the U.S. military conducted arrest operations against war criminals in various locations, and more than 140,000 surrendered Japanese troops were held in prisoner-of-war camps where local residents identified suspects; officers and soldiers designated as war criminal suspects were concentrated at the First Prisoner-of-War Camp on Luzon for interrogation.
In accordance with the "Regulations Governing the Trial of War Criminals" formulated by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers in Japan, the Manila Trials were convened by Lieutenant General Walter Krueger, commander of the Sixth United States Army, who constituted military commissions. Defendants had the right to select their own defense counsel or have counsel appointed by the military commission. The military tribunals had no appellate stage; the commanding general determined whether the judgment was appropriate based on a post-trial review prepared by the staff judge advocate, commuting sentences that were excessively severe, while death sentences required the personal approval of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, General Douglas MacArthur, before they could be carried out.
The trials ran from October 1945 to April 1947, hearing a total of 87 cases and indicting 237 war criminals. The charges could broadly be divided into two categories: atrocities against American prisoners of war and atrocities against Filipino local civilians, with atrocities against local civilians accounting for 70 percent. Such charges often went beyond mere assault and abuse; most defendants were suspected of participating in or ordering subordinates to kill multiple people, with victims often numbering in the dozens or even hundreds, and convictions generally resulted in relatively heavy sentences. Accordingly, viewed from the overall sentencing outcomes, the Manila Trials, compared with American trials in Yokohama, Shanghai, and elsewhere, exhibited two distinctive features: a high death-sentence rate and a low rate of commutation of death sentences. Of the 237 defendants, 195 were convicted, of whom 91 received death sentences, and 69 were executed.
The trials of Yamashita Tomoyuki and Homma Masaharu: application of the "command responsibility" principle. On October 8, 1945, the U.S. military established a military tribunal in Manila, the Philippines, and brought charges against Yamashita Tomoyuki, former commander of the Japanese Fourteenth Area Army; this was also the first public trial conducted by the Allied powers against a Japanese war criminal after the war. The prosecution charged that Yamashita, as area army commander during the Philippine campaign of 1944 to 1945, had failed to effectively restrain his subordinate forces, resulting in large-scale massacres of civilians, abuse of prisoners of war, and looting and destruction and other acts seriously violating the laws of war by Japanese forces in Manila and other parts of the Philippines. Faced with extensive witness and physical evidence, Yamashita argued in his defense that with the collapse of the battle situation and severed communications, he had been unable to actually command his various units, had no knowledge of the crimes committed by his subordinates, and had issued no orders for them. The tribunal rejected the defense's objections and ultimately found that Yamashita, as the highest-ranking army commander in the Philippines, bore a duty to prevent and stop war crimes by his forces, and that even without direct participation in the crimes, he bore criminal responsibility for the atrocities committed by his troops. On December 7, 1945, the tribunal sentenced Yamashita to death by hanging.
In February 1946, in response to the various divergent opinions on the Yamashita case, Supreme Commander MacArthur stated that "the proceedings in this case were conducted in strict accordance with the basic principles and concepts of the judicial system" and that "no fact can be found warranting any mitigation of the sentence," approving the findings of the military commission and the death sentence. Thereafter, Yamashita's defense counsel submitted a clemency petition to the White House, but it was rejected by U.S. President Harry S. Truman. In the early morning of February 23, 1946, Yamashita was executed by hanging at Los Baños Prison, 30 kilometers south of Manila.
The other senior Japanese military officer tried by the Manila military tribunal was Homma Masaharu, former commander of the Japanese Fourteenth Army, whom the tribunal charged with responsibility for the shocking and sensational (骇人听闻, hai ren ting wen - "fright, person, listen, hear") "Bataan Death March" carried out by forces under his command. In April 1942, after nearly 80,000 officers and men of the combined American-Filipino forces on the Bataan Peninsula surrendered to the Japanese, they were forced to march approximately 120 kilometers on foot to the O'Donnell prisoner-of-war camp in central Luzon; along the way, approximately 10,000 died from starvation, disease, beatings, shootings, and extreme heat, and the "Bataan Death March" became one of the most severe prisoner-of-war abuse incidents of the Pacific War. In his trial, Homma argued in his defense that the specific handling of the prisoner transfer was the responsibility of subordinate units, that he had issued no orders to abuse the prisoners, and that he had not foreseen that such serious casualties would occur during the transfer. However, extensive evidence showed that Homma knew of the atrocities but failed to stop them; for example, one witness testified that while transporting the bodies of prisoners who had been abused to death, he had seen Homma at the scene conversing with Japanese officers. The prosecution maintained that Homma, as army commander, bore irrefutable and unavoidable (不可推卸, bu ke tui xie - "not, can, push, avoid") responsibility for the internment, transport, and management of prisoners of war, and that his failure to take effective measures to prevent atrocities by his subordinates constituted serious dereliction of duty. On February 11, 1946, the tribunal sentenced Homma to death, and he was executed by firing squad at Los Baños in the Philippines on April 3 of the same year.
"Superior orders do not exempt": accountability for lower-ranking Japanese officers and soldiers. "Superior orders do not exempt" means that a defendant cannot be absolved of criminal responsibility on the grounds that the crimes were committed pursuant to orders from a superior; the significance of this principle in the Manila Trials was particularly great. More than half of the cases heard by the Manila military tribunal involved atrocities by Japanese forces against local civilians, but because Japan had suffered military reverses in the late Pacific War and anti-Japanese guerrilla activity in the Philippines was intense, many mid- and senior-ranking officers who had served as on-site commanders were killed in combat, with the result that those who stood trial after the war were mostly junior officers and non-commissioned officers of infantry units. To escape responsibility, these defendants raised the defense of "obedience to superior orders," shifting all blame onto superior officers who had already died in battle. If such crimes had gone unpunished, or if offenders had received lenient treatment merely through sophistry and perjury, then the significance of the war crimes trials would have been significantly diminished or reduced (大打折扣, da da zhe kou - "big, hit, discount, mouth"). The tribunal invoked the "superior orders do not exempt" principle in the Regulations Governing the Trial of War Criminals, and large numbers of officers below the rank of lieutenant and non-commissioned officers were sentenced to terms ranging from five years' imprisonment to death for actual participation in or assistance with atrocities against civilians, with a rate of heavy sentencing no lower than that for mid- and senior-ranking officers held accountable under command responsibility.
In the trials of civilian massacre cases, defense counsel generally made "obedience to superior orders" the focus of their defense. For example, in the "Ogino case," in which nearly 500 Filipino civilians were brutally killed, the Ichimura Battalion, subordinate to the Fujigane Brigade of the Japanese Fourteenth Army, carried out large-scale massacres of local residents in Laguna Province on Luzon on the pretext of suppressing anti-Japanese guerrillas; after the war, a total of nine persons involved were indicted by the Manila military tribunal, and the principal offender, Army Second Lieutenant Ogino Junpei, was sentenced to death. In court, the defendants and their defense counsel attempted to fabricate a "field commander," Captain Takemoto, whose whereabouts were unknown, insinuating that all actions had been directed by this captain and that Ogino and the others had merely obeyed superior orders. In response to the defense strategy, the prosecution shifted the focus of questioning from "who was the on-site commander" to "what Ogino actually did," demonstrating through exhaustive interrogation that even if the defendant had not been the one issuing orders, he had been active throughout the massacre operation, actually participating in and driving the commission of atrocities, and had shown not the slightest moral struggle in the process. This approach verified the defendant's individual role in the civilian massacre case and his attitude toward the atrocities, negated any grounds for mitigating punishment on the basis of "obedience to superior orders," and ultimately led the tribunal to render a severe yet fair judgment.
The far-reaching influence of the Manila Trials. Compared with the Tokyo Trial, which punished Class A war criminals, the Manila Trials have long received relatively limited attention and are generally known only for the famous Yamashita trial, yet they hold significant importance in the history of the development of international criminal law and in the reshaping of the postwar international order.
First, they advanced the formation of the "command responsibility" principle. The Yamashita trial not only opened the curtain on the Allied postwar trials of Class B and Class C war criminals, but also served as an important precedent for the application of the "command responsibility" principle in modern international judicial practice — namely, that senior military commanders bear criminal responsibility for atrocities committed by their subordinates when they fail to effectively supervise and control their forces. This principle was later widely inherited and developed by the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions and by international judicial bodies such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and the International Criminal Court, becoming an important component of modern international criminal law.
Second, the application of the "superior orders do not exempt" principle in civilian massacre atrocities. In massacre cases where the chain of command and responsibility was unclear, defendants often used "execution of superior orders" as a pretext, attempting to subsume their individual conduct within the military organizational system so as to mitigate or eliminate their own responsibility. The prosecution, by contrast, broke out of the binary mindset of order-giver and order-obeyer, treating the defendant as an independent criminal subject and examining his conduct and role in the civilian massacre incidents. This principle and the "command responsibility" principle complement each other and work together (相辅相成, xiang fu xiang cheng - "mutually, complement, mutually, complete"), achieving both accountability for commanders at every level and clarification of the individual criminal responsibility of those who directly perpetrated the atrocities.
Third, they punished a large number of Japanese war atrocities against Filipino local civilians. After the war, many Allied trials placed greater emphasis on Japanese atrocities against European and American prisoners of war, and some trials led by colonial metropolitan powers exhibited a pronounced self-interested bias, giving priority to seeking justice for their own nationals as victims while ignoring the suffering and sacrifice of indigenous civilians in the colonies. The Manila Trials, by contrast, while ensuring procedural fairness, comprehensively prosecuted Japanese war atrocities against Filipino local residents, including overseas Chinese and ethnic Chinese, embodying the postwar Allied spirit of severely punishing fascist crimes, upholding international humanitarian principles, and pursuing the common peace of humanity.
Return to TopBy: 田语
Jacques Gernet was called by the renowned Chinese scholar Geng Sheng "the most famous contemporary French sinologist." He served as professor of Sinology at Paris VII University and professor of Sinology at the Collège de France, and enjoyed a having a decisive or highly influential position (举足轻重, ju zu qing zhong - "lift, foot, heavy, important") in European and American sinological circles. Gernet's research covered fields such as Chinese history, comparative studies of Chinese and Western culture, and Dunhuang studies. Through sinological research methods that merged the new into the old, profound and comprehensive in thought and scope (体大思深, ti da si shen - "body, large, thought, deep") writing of a general history of China, and the profound and penetrating insights (真知灼见, zhen zhi zhuo jian - "true, knowledge, burning, insight") brought by cultural comparison, the holistic view of history and research that Gernet advocated brought new vitality to the long-established French sinology and also opened a window for the West to objectively understand Chinese civilization.
Merging the French sinological tradition with the scholarly style of the Annales School. Gernet's academic starting point was deeply rooted in the fertile soil of French sinology. His mentor Paul Demiéville was the leader of French sinology at the time, renowned worldwide for his meticulous study of Dunhuang manuscripts. From his mentor, Gernet inherited the true skills of French sinology that valued primary sources, close reading of texts, and textual criticism of names and objects.
If Demiéville taught Gernet extremely detailed and meticulous (细致入微, xi zhi ru wei - "fine, detailed, enter, tiny") philological skills, then Fernand Braudel, a representative figure of the Annales School, taught him how to understand macroscopic history. Braudel advocated a long-duration, macroscopic, and holistic approach to historical research, encouraging the breaking of the limitations of political history and presenting the full picture of history through a "total history" encompassing all aspects of human life, including economy, daily life, customs, climate, and geography. Gernet and Braudel having a very close personal friendship (私交甚笃, si jiao shen du - "private, friendship, very, deep") and was deeply influenced by him.
In 1959, Gernet published his monograph Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion. The book conducted solid textual research based on Song dynasty documents such as Mengliang Lu (Dreams of the Splendor of the Eastern Capital) and Wulin Jiushi (Old Stories of Wulin), while also bringing the urban layout of Lin'an in the Southern Song, its myriad forms of entertainment, and clothing, food, housing, and transportation into the perspective of a panoramic examination. Reading this book, readers seem to travel through time and space, glimpsing the wine shops and tea houses by West Lake, the crowded with people brushing shoulders and heels (摩肩接踵, mo qian jie zong - "rub, shoulder, connect, heel") at the Lantern Festival night market, and the storytellers performing in the entertainment quarters. This work enjoys considerable renown in academic circles both at home and abroad, and is praised as "a pioneering, high-standard popular work on the social history of China's Song dynasty," also reflecting Gernet's growing mastery in merging the French sinological tradition with the scholarly style of the Annales School.
Writing the a masterpiece of great importance (扛鼎之作, kang ding zhi zuo - "carry, tripod, of, work") of general Chinese history in Western sinology. In the mid-1960s, Braudel commissioned Gernet to write a general history of China for French readers. At that time, the Western world was full of prejudice against and estrangement from China, and Gernet felt a deep responsibility to vindicate this ancient civilization that was misunderstood. In 1972, the magnum opus praised by sinologist Demiéville as "the best general history of China currently written in any language" — A History of Chinese Civilization — was published.
In more than 750 pages, Gernet's pen moves from the dawn of civilization to the founding of New China, fusing into a single furnace, over a long-duration examination, questions in such fields as society, political institutions, economy, technology, daily life, and China's relations with other civilizations of the Eurasian continent. Proceeding from this holistic view of history, he discarded the customary practice in general histories of China of dividing historical periods by dynastic succession, instead dividing Chinese history into five stages — "ancient era," "era of the military empires," "the bureaucratic empire," "modern era," and "contemporary era" — highlighting the deep transformations of civilizational forms. In exploring the driving forces of the development of Chinese civilization, Gernet emphasized that technology plays an important role in "changing history," calling Chinese civilization first and foremost a "technological civilization" that possessed superb advanced skills in silk reeling, pottery making, iron smelting, lacquer making, and agricultural irrigation, and that the creation and innovation of these skills propelled the evolution of Chinese civilization. In addition, Gernet did not view China in isolation but placed it within the overall perspective of the Eurasian continent, paying attention to China's interactions and influences with other civilizations at the levels of trade, military affairs, and culture, displaying a broad vision of world history.
A History of Chinese Civilization won France's top academic award — the Prix Saintour — for its rich content, original ideas, and fluent, readable style, while translations into Chinese, English, German, Spanish, Korean, and other languages demonstrate the book's popularity in the international academic world and highlight its status as a classic of Western sinology. The sinologist René Étiemble believed that the publication of A History of Chinese Civilization proved that Gernet was a scholar who could stand shoulder to shoulder with such great masters of sinology as Paul Pelliot and Henri Maspero, and that he was "a scholar who could express views with authority and erudition not only on his specialized field of research but on virtually all aspects of Chinese history and culture."
Criticizing Western academia's cognitive biases toward China. A main thread runs through Gernet's works such as A History of Chinese Civilization, L'intelligence de la Chine, and La raison des choses: essai sur la philosophie de Wang Fuzhi — namely, seeking the distinctive qualities of Chinese civilization from the perspective of Sino-Western comparison, and criticizing Western academia's cognitive biases toward China.
Gernet began with the most fundamental element, language, pointing out that Chinese differs from Indo-European languages, which emphasize complex morphological inflection, and that it relies on word order and function words to convey meaning. This linguistic characteristic shaped the Chinese mode of thinking that values relationships, process, and context, forming a sharp contrast with the Western mode of thinking that emphasizes the dichotomy of subject and object and logical analysis.
At the level of worldview, the universe in the eyes of the Chinese is an organic whole that generates and transforms itself, its changes arising from the interaction of yin and yang forces, rather than a world created by a creator and evolving toward a linear goal as in the Western tradition. In terms of social ethics, unlike Western individual ethics, China formed a patriarchal ethical system centered on the family, emphasizing responsibility, obligation, and collective interests. Through a series of studies, Gernet concluded that Chinese civilization possesses a logic of development and endogenous driving forces independent of the West.
Based on this cultural understanding, Gernet specifically criticized the biases against China in Western academia. Against the "theory of Chinese stagnation," he cited the economic revolution of the Song dynasty and the development of the commodity economy in the Ming and Qing dynasties as evidence that Chinese history has always been in a state of dynamic change; against the "theory of Chinese isolation," he confirmed, by sorting through the historical facts of the Silk Road, the westward transmission of the Four Great Inventions, and Sino-foreign cultural exchanges, that China's connections with other civilizations of the Eurasian continent were never interrupted; against the "theory of Western cultural superiority," he clearly stated that Chinese civilization "is vast in scope and profound in depth (博大精深, bo da jing shen - "broad, large, exquisite, profound") and magnificent and colorful (瑰丽多彩, gui li duo cai - "magnificent, beautiful, many, colorful") in all fields" and possesses value equal to that of the West. It "has inspired vast numbers of humanity; it has brought humanity writing, technology, worldviews, religious institutions, and political institutions... The West does not understand the benefits it has received from China; without this borrowing, the West would not have its present situation." In the final analysis, "humanity in its entire development has always been interconnected." These views demonstrate Gernet's breakthrough beyond Western superiority theories and his emphasis on civilizational exchanges and mutual learning (文明交流互鉴, wen ming jiao liu hu jian - "civilization, exchange, mutual, learn from each other").
Throughout his life, Gernet remained convinced that "the path China has taken is always Sinicized" and that Chinese civilization possesses a unique and powerful vitality. Using his holistic view of history and solid documentary research as his path, he restored for the Western world a "Chinese world" of profound heritage, brilliant color, and unlimited potential. His academic legacy of viewing Chinese and Western civilizations with an equal heart still radiates enduring light today, against the contemporary background of strengthening cultural confidence and advancing civilizational exchanges and mutual learning.
Return to TopBy: 高祖贵
Those who discern the trend are wise; those who ride the trend prevail. At present, the once-in-a-century transformation of the world is accelerating, with fierce competition between dialogue and confrontation, win-win and zero-sum, multilateralism and unilateralism, and the shadow of war has not receded. Faced with the turbulent international situation, only by being adept at observing the general trend and understanding the general trend can one see through the clouds in a complex situation and discern the inevitable direction of world development. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "Understanding the general trend of world development and keeping pace with the tide of the times is an extremely important topic that requires constant renewal." Standing at a crossroads concerning the future and destiny of humanity, he emphasized at the "Shanghai Cooperation Organization Plus" meeting that "world history is jointly written by the people of all countries; multipolarity, the autonomy of development paths, and the democratization of international relations are the right path for humanity." This important assertion points to the surging general trend of world development and provides direction and navigation for the progress of human civilization.
The general trend toward a multipolar world is irreversible
More than 80 years ago, the founding of the United Nations established a multilateral cooperation platform for countries to discuss and handle international affairs through dialogue and consultation, established the rules of international rule of law, and initiated new practice in global governance. After the end of the Cold War, the process of world multipolarity and economic globalization accelerated, and the concept of global governance based on coordination and cooperation has increasingly taken root in people's hearts. In recent years, the Global South has grown remarkably, driving profound adjustments in the balance of international forces, and the general trend toward a multipolar world is irreversible.
World multipolarity is the general trend of historical development, a realistic choice for human society to move toward progress, and also the direction of historical progress. In the 1950s and 1960s, developing countries began to seek independence and self-reliance, and the Non-Aligned Movement, the Group of 77, and others emerged as the times required, advocating the establishment of a new international political and economic order. In the early 1990s, the end of the Cold War announced the collapse of the bipolar structure. With the rise and fall of international forces, the trend toward world multipolarity became increasingly clear. The United States, having experienced a series of major shocks including the September 11 attacks, the Afghanistan War, the Iraq War, and the financial crisis, and under the dual effects of continuously intensifying domestic contradictions and significantly damaged international credibility, has gradually declined from the world's sole superpower after the Cold War to the strongest force in a multipolar structure, with strategic weaknesses exposed in many places. Its strategic layout has contracted from the Middle East, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific, focusing on building a "Western Hemisphere fortress," and it has further weakened amid multiple drains such as deepening frictions with allies and sustained military games with Iran. At the same time, since the end of the Cold War, a number of developing countries have seized historical opportunities to achieve rapid development, with their comprehensive national strength and international influence significantly enhanced. Multiple forces such as the European Union, Russia, and China have continued to grow stronger and have become important participants in global affairs. Regional cooperation organizations such as ASEAN have continued to emerge and develop, rapidly increasing their influence on the international stage and promoting the process of multipolarity. In recent years, the changes unseen in a century have accelerated, and the Global South has grown in momentum. Global South countries have continuously enhanced their voice and influence in international affairs, becoming a powerful force driving world multipolarity forward in the right direction. All countries and regions in the world hope to secure a place in the international landscape through their own development and to play a greater role independently in international affairs. At present, the majority of members of the international community advocate that the world should be multipolar, do not endorse unilateralism and power politics, and all believe that the old path of bloc confrontation and zero-sum games must not be retaken.
China is not only an important pole in the trend toward world multipolarity, but has also always actively adapted to, accurately grasped, and vigorously promoted the forward development of this important trend. The report of the 14th National Congress of the Party pointed out, "The world today is in a historical period of great change. The bipolar structure has come to an end, various forces are re-dividing and re-combining, and the world is developing toward multipolarity." The report of the 15th National Congress of the Party clearly stated, "Peace and development remain the themes of our times. The trend toward multipolarity has seen new developments globally and regionally, in political, economic, and other fields, and various forces in the world have undergone new divisions and combinations." The report of the 16th National Congress of the Party solemnly declared, "We advocate following the historical trend and safeguarding the common interests of all humanity. We are willing to work together with the international community to actively promote world multipolarity, promote the harmonious coexistence of multiple forces, and maintain the stability of the international community." Conforming to and advocating world multipolarity has gradually become a distinctive hallmark of China's foreign strategy; it is precisely because of China's vigorous promotion that the evolution of the trend toward world multipolarity has become increasingly strong. Since the beginning of the new era, China has been in the best period of development since modern times, with economic strength, scientific and technological strength, national defense strength, and comprehensive national power reaching new heights, and its international status and influence greatly enhanced. Major powers in the world increasingly value the development of relations with China, and more and more people in various countries have rising favorable impressions of China. The "time" and "momentum" of the century-old transformation are on our side. As a responsible major power that promotes world progress and maintains international strategic stability, China firmly stands on the correct side of history, actively advocates an equal and orderly multipolar world, emphasizes that sovereign equality and mutual respect are fundamental principles, that balance, order, and the rule of law are inevitable requirements, that multilateralism and dialogue and consultation are key paths, and that mutual benefit and win-win, inclusiveness and shared benefit are the direction of development, driving the general trend of multipolarity to continue to evolve forward.
The autonomy of development paths is becoming increasingly prominent
A country's development path is determined by factors such as its historical and cultural traditions, level of economic and social development, and the choices of its people. The choices of development paths by various countries are bound to be diverse, and the trend of countries independently choosing their own development paths is becoming increasingly prominent.
From an overall institutional perspective, the world is in a pattern where the two systems of socialism and capitalism coexist. The problems faced by capitalism are increasing, while the influence of socialism continues to grow—this is a major historical change. As a series of deep-seated problems under the capitalist system become prominent, including the aggravation of oligarchic politics and democratic decline, the widening gap between rich and poor and the shrinking middle class, rising immigration issues and ethnic contradictions, the rise of nationalism and the proliferation of populism, these not only pose political challenges and economic security risks to established capitalist countries, but also affect the political ecology and adjustments in domestic and foreign policies of some transitioning countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Capitalist countries are seeking "re-industrialization" to solve various difficulties, and even attempting to create a "new capitalism" to regulate social contradictions and enhance economic resilience and security resilience. These changes have deepened people's understanding of the inherent contradictions of capitalism, and some capitalist countries are borrowing elements of socialism to varying degrees in the process of solving their own shortcomings.
Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, China has risen to become the world's second-largest economy, creating the two miracles of rapid economic development and long-term social stability. Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered the new era, which means that the Chinese nation, which has endured so much hardship since modern times, has ushered in a bright prospect of achieving great rejuvenation; it means that scientific socialism has radiated strong vitality in 21st-century China and has held high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the world; it means that the path, theory, system, and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics have continued to develop, bursting with full of vigorous life and vitality (勃勃生机, bo bo sheng ji - "vigorous, life, vitality"). The Marxism of 21st-century China has demonstrated more powerful and more convincing truth. At the same time, socialist countries such as Vietnam, Laos, North Korea, and Cuba are actively exploring development paths suited to their national conditions. Young people in developed capitalist countries have significantly increased their rational understanding, especially positive understanding, of socialism and communism. These manifestations demonstrate from different angles the strong vitality and broad development prospects of socialism in today's world.
From the perspective of the choice of modernization paths, modernization, as a major world trend and process that has formed since modern times and continues to evolve and strengthen, uses modern science and technological revolution, industrial development and transformation as driving forces to transform traditional agricultural societies into modern industrial societies, causing profound changes in forms of social organization and social behavior, and prompting the modernization of national governance systems and governance capabilities, whether actively or passively. Overall, the modernization process of European and American countries began roughly in the 15th and 16th centuries and has evolved over more than 500 years; it is an endogenous type of modernization that gradually grew out of traditional agricultural societies. The modernization of countries and regions outside Europe and America, however, occurred under historical conditions where local internal forces for change were insufficient to initiate the modernization process. Subjected to the strong impact of Western aggression and expansion, and in the process of being colonized and semi-colonized, they launched anti-traditional ideological revolutions, commercial revolutions, industrial revolutions, and social revolutions to resist or respond to external aggression and expansion. These changes or revolutions were, to a considerable extent, exogenous types transmitted from the outside, usually accompanied by intense conflicts with both local traditions and the external world, presenting various different characteristics. Today, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is accelerating breakthroughs, and its role in reshaping the global innovation landscape and restructuring the global economic structure has become more prominent. It will drive profound changes from theory to practice in various fields such as economic growth, political operations, social structure, and national governance in more and more countries and regions, as they explore modernization paths and models with their own characteristics. Developed countries in Europe and America are generally facing problems of varying degrees such as industrial hollowing-out, political polarization, and social populism. The urgency and pressure of "re-modernization" are growing, and the deep-seated ills of their modernization paths and models are increasingly exposed. In the process of comprehensive rise, Global South countries are more independently exploring development paths suited to their national conditions, and are increasingly deeply aware that the more closely modernization paths and models fit their own realities, the more likely they are to succeed.
Chinese modernization has been initiated and evolved within the grand historical process of world modernization. While learning and adapting to the general laws of world modernization, we have actively explored and revealed our own specific laws. Especially since entering the new era, the Communist Party of China, drawing on the successful experiences and lessons of modernization in various countries, regions, and nations, and building on the long-term exploration and practice since the founding of New China, especially since reform and opening up, has further deepened its understanding of the connotation and essence of Chinese modernization through continuous innovation and breakthroughs in theory and practice, and has systematically summarized and proposed the theory of Chinese modernization. Chinese modernization not only has the common characteristics of modernization in all countries, but also has Chinese characteristics based on its own national conditions. It embodies a unique worldview, values, view of history, view of civilization, view of democracy, view of ecology, and their great practice. It has created a new form of human civilization, broken the myth of "modernization equals Westernization," presented another picture of modernization, expanded the path for developing countries to achieve modernization, set an example and provided entirely new choices for developing countries to independently move toward modernization, and provided Chinese solutions for humanity's exploration of better social systems. It is a major innovation in the theory and practice of world modernization. The successful practice of Chinese modernization fully demonstrates that developing countries can and will find modernization paths and models suited to their national conditions. China respects and firmly supports such efforts, driving the general trend toward the autonomy of world development paths forward surgingly.
The democratization of international relations cannot be stopped
Today's world has formed an international system composed of more than 200 countries and regions. Among them, there are 193 member states of the United Nations, and every country enjoys independent and equal sovereignty and should be respected. At present, the changes unseen in a century are accelerating, and hegemonism, unilateralism, and protectionism are moving against the current. However, the vast majority of countries do not endorse power politics, do not want conflict and confrontation, and do not want to be closed and backward. They look forward to having an equal place on the world stage through their own development and international cooperation, properly handling their differences through dialogue and consultation in accordance with recognized basic norms of international relations, and jointly discussing and handling world affairs. This has driven the formation of the trend toward the democratization of international relations. After World War II, especially after the Cold War, along with the waves of multipolarity in the world pattern, economic globalization, and the autonomy of development paths, the general trend toward the democratization of international relations has continued to develop.
Politically, the vast majority of countries emphasize sovereign equality and mutual respect, insist that countries, regardless of size, strength, or wealth, should enjoy equal rights, equal opportunities, and equal rules, oppose the big bullying the small, the strong bullying the weak, and the rich bullying the poor, oppose a few countries dominating international affairs, and oppose one country dominating, several powers co-governing, or bloc politics. They advocate abiding by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, safeguarding and revitalizing the authority and vitality of the United Nations, discarding double standards, exceptionalism, interference, bullying, and the law of the jungle, opposing withdrawal from groups and destruction of agreements and starting anew, promoting the building of a more just and reasonable global governance system, and promoting more coordinated and efficient global and regional multilateral mechanisms. Economically, the vast majority of countries look forward to mutual benefit and win-win, inclusiveness and shared benefit, emphasize focusing on development issues and adhering to openness and cooperation, support the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at its core, promote WTO reform, oppose protectionism, decoupling and severing supply chains, and the abusive imposition of tariffs, and resist all forms of protectionist measures. In security, the vast majority of countries clearly oppose Cold War mentality and bloc confrontation, oppose violating other countries' sovereignty, interfering in other countries' internal affairs, and damaging other countries' territorial integrity, emphasize constructive participation in resolving hotspot issues, and seek solutions that address both symptoms and root causes.
China, as a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, and a defender of the international order, conforms to the mainstream trend of the world opposing hegemonism and power politics, took the lead in proposing and actively supports the democratization of international relations, firmly advocates that world history is jointly written by the people of all countries, that world affairs should be discussed by all countries, that international rules should be jointly formulated by all countries, that all countries should abide by the rule of law, uphold fairness and justice, and practice true multilateralism, actively promotes the legalization and rationalization of international relations, enhances the representation and voice of developing countries, and makes the reform of the global governance system better adapt to new changes in the balance of international forces. China has proposed building a community with a shared future for mankind, promoting the building of a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness and justice, and win-win cooperation, taking a new path of state-to-state relations featuring dialogue over confrontation and partnership over alliance, building a global network of partnerships, and proposing the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative, and the Global Governance Initiative and taking the lead in actively implementing them, playing a strategic leading role. China has proposed and upheld the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security, and actively leads global governance in new domains such as cyberspace, data, artificial intelligence, outer space, and the deep sea; it emphasizes that major powers in particular should take the lead in abiding by rules and the rule of law and cooperate to address global issues. China firmly supports and promotes inclusive economic globalization that benefits all, advocates that countries aim for mutual benefit and win-win, achieve win-win, all-win, and multi-win outcomes, discard the old mindset of zero-sum and winner-takes-all, and promote high-quality Belt and Road Initiative cooperation based on the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits. In particular, in relations among civilizations, China has proposed upholding the view of civilizations featuring equality, mutual learning, dialogue, and inclusiveness and promoting the common values of all humanity, emphasizing replacing estrangement between civilizations with exchanges, replacing clashes between civilizations with mutual learning, and replacing superiority of one civilization over another with coexistence of civilizations, promoting dialogue among different civilizations and different development models, making exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations a bridge to enhance friendship among peoples and a bond to maintain world peace, and injecting strong positive energy into the evolution of human civilization to clarify the source and purify the flow. China solemnly declares to the world that building a community with a shared future for mankind does not mean replacing one system with another, nor replacing one civilization with another, but rather that countries with different social systems, different ideologies, different histories and cultures, and different levels of development share interests, rights, and responsibilities in international affairs, forming the greatest common denominator for building a better world. China does not engage in cultural hegemony and will not impose its values and political system on others. As a responsible major power, China adheres to the unity of knowledge and action. These important ideas and concepts and firm measures and practices have led and will continue to lead the general trend toward the democratization of international relations rolling forward.
[The author is the Dean of the Graduate School of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance)]
Return to Top(Study Times report)
On September 30, the 2026 Global South Modernization Forum was held in Cairo, Egypt, under the theme "The Wave of Artificial Intelligence: Opportunities and Challenges for Modernization in the Global South." The forum was co-hosted by the State Council Information Office, the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance), the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Peking University, Renmin University of China, and Cairo University. The forum comprised a main forum and four parallel forums. At the main forum, the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance) released the "Top Ten Hot Topics in Global South Modernization Research · 2026."
On the afternoon of the 30th, the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance) took the lead in hosting Parallel Forum II, themed "Using Artificial Intelligence to Improve People's Livelihood and Well-Being," co-organized by the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Xiamen University. Experts and scholars from universities, think tanks, and industry institutions in China, Egypt, Algeria, Yemen, the United Kingdom, and other countries engaged in cross-civilizational, cross-disciplinary dialogue on topics such as the inclusive development of artificial intelligence and AI practices in the Global South, exchanging ideas (交流思想, jiaoliu sixiang - "exchange, thought") and building consensus (凝聚共识, ningju gongshi - "condense, consensus"), exploring viable pathways for AI technology to serve the public good and benefit people's livelihoods.
The parallel forum was divided into two sessions. The first session was themed "A Global Framework for the Inclusive Development of Artificial Intelligence." During the discussion, dignitaries including Khaled Rashid, Vice Chairman of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, and Mezouda Abdelmalek, Director of the Algerian National School of Administration, along with numerous domestic and international experts, analyzed the opportunities and challenges facing the inclusive development of AI from the perspectives of institutional frameworks, national governance, digital infrastructure, knowledge dissemination, educational inclusivity, cybersecurity, technological ethics, and capacity building, exploring how to construct a global AI governance framework that balances fairness, inclusivity, and universality. The second session was themed "Global South Practical Explorations in Using Artificial Intelligence to Enhance People's Livelihood and Well-Being." During the discussion, experts, grounded in the actual national conditions of Global South countries, focused on scenarios such as digital government construction, public-sector governance, AI industry deployment, and media communication, sharing practical explorations in using AI to improve people's livelihoods and analyzing the specific challenges and countermeasures facing Global South countries in advancing AI development.
Participating experts unanimously agreed that enhancing people's livelihood and well-being through AI is inseparable from an inclusive and universally beneficial global governance system, and even more so requires practical and feasible implementation plans. Global South countries possess rich practical scenarios and unique development needs. They should adhere to a people-centered technological orientation, respect civilizational diversity and differences in development stages, promote the fair and accessible distribution of AI's technological dividends, jointly seek AI development paths suited to local national conditions, and contribute "Southern wisdom" to improving global AI governance.
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On September 18, the Fujian Provincial Party School (School of Administration) held a summary meeting on the study and education on establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements, earnestly studying General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions on consolidating and expanding the achievements of the study and education on establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements, implementing the spirit of the Central Party Building Work Leading Group meeting, the summary meeting of the Central Guidance Group and Central-Level Work Special Class for the study and education on establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements, and the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Fujian Provincial Party Committee, summarizing the achievements of the school's (academy's) study and education, and deploying next steps.
The meeting pointed out that since the study and education was carried out, the school (academy) has thoroughly studied and implemented General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions on establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements, and in accordance with the central deployment and the provincial party committee's requirements, has promoted the integration of learning, examination, and rectification with a strict spirit and practical measures, continuously consolidating the ideological foundation, deeply examining key problems, precisely and pragmatically rectifying and remediating, focusing on tackling prominent problems, and improving and perfecting institutional mechanisms, achieving positive results. Next, the school (academy) should thoroughly study and implement Xi Jinping's thought on Party building and General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions, consolidate and expand the achievements of the study and education, promote the normalization and long-term effectiveness of establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements, and contribute the strength of the Party school to Fujian's striving to take the lead in Chinese modernization.
The meeting emphasized that it is necessary to continuously deepen ideological understanding, continuously strengthen the armed force of the Party's innovative theory, continuously promote education on the view of political achievements, deeply excavate and make good use of the "rich mine" of theory and practice, deeply understand and comprehend General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions on establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements from the theoretical source and practical starting point, and educate and guide Party members and cadres to further strengthen their ideals and convictions, firmly establish loyalty to the Party, deeply cultivate feelings for the people, purify moral character, and maintain integrity and honesty. It is necessary to continuously grasp problem rectification, strictly promote problem handling by category, closely track difficult problems and strengthen follow-up on effectiveness, base on seeking truth from facts and precise policy implementation, enhance the pertinence and penetration of rectification work, and continuously consolidate the results of rectification. It is necessary to continuously improve long-term mechanisms, adhere to the combination of "immediate rectification" and "long-term establishment," refine the good experiences and good practices of study and education, form effective institutional mechanisms, strengthen management and supervision of the practice of the view of political achievements, carry out regular talks and reminders for leading cadres, promptly discover and correct problems of a budding or tendency nature, and effectively use institutions to manage people, manage affairs, and manage power. It is necessary to continuously seek practical results and actual effectiveness, vigorously promote the fine work style of "handling matters immediately and doing real work with real effort," adhere to high-quality talent cultivation and high-level advice offering, make persistent and unremitting effort (持之以恒, chi zhi yi heng - "hold, continue, with, perseverance") to promote full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, deeply advance the construction of a "first-class Party school," and lead the high-quality development of the school's (academy's) cause with a correct view of political achievements.
Members of the school (academy) committee and secretaries of various Party branches attended the meeting.
Return to TopBy: 王瑶
In September 2016, the "Shanghai Reform and Opening Up" themed classroom, meticulously developed by the Shanghai Municipal Party School (Academy of Governance), was officially opened for use. As a themed classroom for special Party spirit education with reform and opening up as its theme among Party schools (academies of governance) nationwide, over the past ten years it has successively undertaken teaching work for more than 600 cadre training classes from Shanghai itself and more than 10 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) as well as the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, training tens of thousands of trainees and achieving good results. The supporting course, "Mission, Responsibility, Wisdom — The Spiritual Quality of Shanghai's Reform and Opening Up," was successfully selected for the first batch of "National Excellent Courses for Cadre Education and Training" by the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee and was included in the "National Elite Course Library for Cadre Education and Training." Having been cultivated intensively for ten years, how has the themed classroom managed to maintain its popularity over such a long period and continue to receive high praise? Its "secret" lies in the content foundation, innovative methods, spiritual core, and development logic of the themed classroom's construction.
Content lays the foundation, interpreting the rich connotations of Party spirit education through the vivid history of reform and opening up. When the school (academy) first began building the themed classroom, it set a basic direction: to use the real history of Shanghai's reform and opening up to teach cadres, enhancing the pertinence and effectiveness of Party spirit education. The themed classroom's curriculum is divided into three parts: the special film "The Great Tide Is Like a Song — A Review of the Course of Shanghai's Reform and Opening Up," the special lecture "Mission, Responsibility, Wisdom — The Spiritual Quality of Shanghai's Reform and Opening Up," and the special exhibition "Vanguard, Pioneer — The Course of Shanghai's Reform and Opening Up." The three parts complement each other and deepen layer by layer: the special film uses images to recreate the historical scenes of those years, the exhibition uses text and graphics to clearly explain the process of development, and the special lecture extracts the spiritual quality behind it from the theoretical level. The outstanding feature of the course is its adoption of the interview format; the course team interviewed multiple witnesses and participants in Shanghai's reform and opening up and collected and organized a large amount of literature, photographs, and a batch of precious historical video materials. Every historical node is personally narrated by those who experienced it, and every reform decision is supported by living case examples. What trainees see in the themed classroom is not abstract, empty grand principles, but substantial and full content that "shows people, shows events, shows principles, and shows emotions."
Method innovation activates the classroom experience of Party spirit education through diverse interactive means. The reason the themed classroom can leave trainees with feelings of "deep impression" and "most profound shock" is that it innovates teaching methods. In terms of spatial design, the three walls of the themed classroom are all hung with display boards related to Shanghai's reform and opening up, and on every table are placed tablet computers for study and interaction. This immersive spatial arrangement makes trainees feel, as soon as they enter the classroom, as if they are in the relevant historical scenes of reform and opening up. In terms of teaching methods, the themed classroom course adopts a composite model of "teacher explanation + video materials + themed interview videos + themed classroom scenes + multimedia interaction." The course uses reform and opening up as the main thread running through Shanghai's development process since the 1980s, and through precious historical materials such as leaders' speeches, leaders' interviews, news reports, participants' recollections, and case stories, it gives people a strong visual impact, shock, and appeal. In particular, after many young Shanghai cadre trainees gained an in-depth understanding of the urban problems Shanghai faced in the early period of reform and opening up — crowded housing, traffic congestion, and environmental pollution — they one after another used the word "shocking" to express their feelings and gained a deeper understanding of Shanghai's reform and opening up.
Spirit forges the soul, condensing the core values of Party spirit education through "mission, responsibility, and wisdom." A single course, a single classroom, has been able to attract trainees for a full ten years; the fundamental reason lies in its extraction and transmission of a spiritual force that can move people's hearts. This course, from the three dimensions of "strong sense of responsibility and mission," "pioneering spirit of daring to be first in the world," and "courage and wisdom in overcoming all kinds of difficulties" (攻坚克难, gong jian ke nan - "attack, fort, overcome, difficulty"), precisely summarizes the spiritual quality of Shanghai's reform and opening up. From the strong sense of urgency of "revitalizing the prestige of Greater Shanghai," to the proactive action of "self-funded reform, independent reform" in the development and opening up of Pudong; from the first stock in the true sense since the founding of New China, to the "zero breakthrough" in land leasing; from the difficult exploration of reemployment for one million laid-off workers, to the long-term planning of "persistent effort over a long period to achieve perfection" (十年磨一剑, shi nian mo yi jian - "ten, years, polish, one, sword") for the Yangshan Deep-Water Port — behind every spiritual quality there is real, vivid, and splendid practical case support. What trainees feel in the themed classroom is not only the process of Shanghai's step-by-step development and change as a city, but also the distinct spiritual character carried by Shanghai's cadre community. As one trainee said: "My understanding of Shanghai has become more vivid, and my feelings for Shanghai have also become deeper." This "vividness" and "depth" are the key code for Party spirit education to truly enter people's hearts.
Development opens the way, maintaining the contemporary vitality of Party spirit education through continuous iterative upgrading. Over the past ten years, the themed classroom has by no means remained unchanged; rather, it has maintained its vitality through repeated updates and adjustments. In terms of curriculum system construction, the course team has continuously developed corresponding series of courses around the themed classroom; in addition to the standard course, it has also developed multilingual course versions in English, French, and other languages. In 2020, with the development of the "Four Histories" study and education, the themed classroom became an important vehicle for Party history study and education. After the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee was held in 2024, the course also promptly updated the relevant expressions and latest materials. In terms of team building, this course has condensed the tremendous efforts of several teachers; the course development work received support from the Organization Department of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and was carried out in cooperation with the Shanghai Municipal Archives. Through team collaboration, the stable quality of the course is ensured. In terms of scope of reach, the themed classroom not only serves the main training classes of the Shanghai Municipal Party School, but over the past ten years has also successfully completed the reception and study visit tasks of dozens of batches of leaders and peers from leading comrades of the CPC Central Committee, the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance), and various provinces and municipalities. "Party spirit theme, Shanghai characteristics, modern methods, diverse interaction" are the distinctive features of the themed classroom; they represent a major expansion of the content of traditional Party spirit education and a bold innovation in educational forms. The construction experience of the themed classroom has already been referenced and borrowed by Party schools (academies of governance) in many places across the country.
Ten years is both a development milestone and a brand-new starting point. The process of building and exploring the "Shanghai Reform and Opening Up" themed classroom tells us: for Party spirit education to truly enter the hearts of trainees, it must use profound historical content as its foundation, innovative teaching methods as its vehicle, distilled spiritual quality as its core, and continuous updating and optimization as its driving force. The building and continuous improvement of the themed classroom has only a present progressive tense, no perfect tense. In the next step, the Shanghai Municipal Party School (Academy of Governance) will continue to deepen content construction, keep pace with the Party's steps of theoretical innovation, promptly integrate Xi Jinping's thought on Party building and General Secretary Xi Jinping's latest expositions on comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese modernization into the course, continuously enrich the historical details and typical cases of Shanghai's reform and opening up, and keep the course always in sync with the times and in resonance with practice. Party spirit education has no endpoint, and education on the spirit of reform and opening up likewise has no endpoint. Taking ten years as the preface and the future as the chapter, the "Shanghai Reform and Opening Up" themed classroom will continue to forge ahead on the road of telling the story of reform well, inheriting the spirit of reform, and cultivating pioneers of reform, contributing greater strength to the cause of cadre education and training in the new era.
(The author is Deputy Director of the Department of Party History and Party Building Research of the Shanghai Municipal Party School)
Return to TopThe Party School (School of Administration) of the Party Committee of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, focusing on the difficulties and bottlenecks of the relatively weak theoretical foundation of the teaching staff of grassroots party schools at the city and county levels, the relative scarcity of high-quality local courses, and insufficient scientific research capacity, actively implements a visiting scholar system for teachers of city and county party schools, adheres to the whole-chain cultivation of "selection and deployment—visiting scholar cultivation—follow-up return visits," promotes the sinking of high-quality teaching and research resources, and promotes the overall improvement of the school-running capacity of the Party School (School of Administration) of the autonomous region.
Carefully plan and deploy, and consolidate the foundation of the visiting scholar work. Adhere to taking the visiting scholar work as an important lever for improving the discipline construction and teaching staff construction of party schools throughout the region, plan ahead, standardize procedures, and implement all safeguards. First, clarify the standards for visiting scholars. Issue the "Measures for the Work of Visiting Scholars," select a group of young and middle-aged backbone teachers from city and county party schools who have firm political stances, love the cause of party schools, have solid theoretical foundations, and possess development potential, ensuring that the selected targets have learning needs and room for improvement. Since the autumn semester of 2024, a total of 38 visiting scholars from city and county party schools in 5 batches have been received. Second, scientifically formulate visiting scholar plans. Carefully sort out the professional backgrounds and research directions of visiting scholars, match them with corresponding teaching and research departments, require visiting scholars to visit with lecture topics, assign each visiting scholar a mentor with the title of associate professor or above, and formulate individual visiting scholar plans with a "one person, one policy" approach. Third, strengthen safeguards for visiting scholars. The organizational and personnel departments take the lead in organizing, with departments such as student management and logistics services coordinating and cooperating, providing full-process follow-up support from accommodation and meals to study and training. Open up school-wide resources such as class auditing, library materials, and teaching and research activities, arrange for visiting scholars to follow the full course of study of the First and Second Classes of the Young and Middle-Aged Cadres Class, and receive systematic and comprehensive basic training. Fourth, implement full-process management of visiting scholar work. Issue the "Guide to Visiting Scholar Work," establish mechanisms for daily communication, mid-term seminars, and end-of-semester summaries, grasp learning progress every month, and after each semester's visiting scholar work concludes, specifically hold a work summary and exchange meeting, listen to the speeches of visiting scholars and mentor representatives, collect opinions and suggestions, and dynamically optimize the measures for visiting scholar work.
Focus on capacity shortcomings and promote the visiting scholar cultivation to go deeper and be more practical. Adhere to the working principle that "visiting scholars are the protagonists, teaching and research departments are the main bodies, and visiting scholar mentors bear the main responsibility," fully mobilize teaching and research forces, precisely target the knowledge weaknesses and capacity shortcomings of visiting scholars, provide whole-process guidance from theoretical study, course polishing to scientific research and policy consultation, and promote visiting scholars to make up for capacity shortcomings and achieve growth and progress in learning and practice. First, make up for theoretical shortcomings and drive the improvement of theoretical literacy. Arrange for visiting scholars to systematically study basic literature, participate in thematic reading sessions, theoretical seminars and other research and study activities, further consolidate their theoretical foundations, and strengthen their ideological foundations. Second, make up for teaching shortcomings and drive the improvement of teaching ability. Arrange for visiting scholars to audit more than 60 courses in the Young and Middle-Aged Cadres Class, and in the course of auditing, engage in learning from others to make up for one's own deficiencies (取长补短, qu chang bu duan - "take, long, supplement, short"). The teaching and research departments where the visiting scholars are stationed implement whole-process teaching cultivation, through individual conversations and "one-on-one" mentoring, identify the entry points for improving teaching ability; carry out normalized collective lesson preparation, conduct in-depth discussions on course architecture, case selection, and classroom interaction, provide "hand-in-hand" guidance in developing new courses, organize internal trial lectures and evaluations, repeatedly polish and improve the teaching content until passing the trial lecture of the teaching and research department, and complete the lesson preparation task for one course. Third, make up for scientific research shortcomings and drive the improvement of scientific research ability. Arrange for visiting scholar mentors to provide full-process assistance and guidance, help visiting scholars reshape academic thinking, standardize scientific research paradigms, determine research directions based on local development realities, and deeply participate in project applications, academic seminars, and thesis revisions. Many visiting scholars have successfully completed ongoing research projects, more than 20 teachers have published theoretical articles in journals at various levels, and the scientific research achievements of more than 10 teachers have won awards in theoretical seminar activities of the party school system, promoting the mutual promotion and common progress of teaching and scientific research. Adhere to the integration of teaching, research, and consultation, strengthen guidance on decision-making consultation, guide visiting scholars to master the writing logic of decision-making consultation reports, promote the transformation of academic language into countermeasure language, write research reports focusing on key areas such as industrial development, grassroots governance, ethnic unity, and border stability, and the consultation reports of 5 teachers have been adopted by local functional departments, earnestly practicing "offering counsel to the Party."
Improve the long-term mechanism and continuously amplify the effectiveness of the visiting scholar system. Focus on opening up the complete closed loop of "visiting—transformation—improvement" and promote the implementation and effectiveness of visiting scholar achievements. First, grasp the transformation of achievements after returning to posts. Visiting scholars, immediately after returning to their posts, carry out learning reports, share theoretical viewpoints, teaching methods, and course achievements with their own school's teaching and research departments, transform personal learning into collective resources, put polished thematic courses into classroom teaching, apply the learned teaching methods to city and county party school classrooms and grassroots propaganda, effectively enhance the attractiveness and appeal of cadre education and training, and fully give play to the exemplary and leading role of visiting scholars. Second, establish a long-term tracking and guidance mechanism. Build an online teaching and research exchange platform, through cloud seminars, project cooperation, remote guidance of lesson plans and papers, and other forms, maintain normalized contact between mentors and visiting scholars, and expand short-term visits into long-term cultivation. Third, improve the return exchange cycle mechanism. Encourage outstanding visiting scholars to return to the school (academy) at appropriate times to exchange and share, introduce new practices and new cases of grassroots party school teaching and research, and promote the flow and sharing of courses, cases, and teaching and research experience among party schools (schools of administration) at all levels in the autonomous region. Fourth, two-way interaction activates the vitality of the system. The visiting scholar system is not only a one-way empowerment of grassroots teachers, but also strives to build an academic community with upper and lower linkage within the party school system. Visiting scholars bring real problems from the grassroots frontline and vivid experience in governance into on-campus teaching and research seminars, forcing on-campus teaching and research personnel to update their research perspectives, identify teaching and research shortcomings, stimulate a sense of urgency for continuous learning and improvement, achieve the organic unity of "blood transfusion" and "hematopoiesis," and truly achieve the goals of co-visiting and co-learning, complementary advantages, and coordinated development.
(Huang Linhui, Long Dianfang)
Return to Top(Study Times report) On September 18, the Party School (School of Administration) of the Hainan Provincial Party Committee held a symposium for the capacity-building action learning class for newly recruited teachers. Wang Shaowen (王绍文), Executive Vice President (Executive Vice Dean), attended the meeting and delivered a speech. Vice Presidents (Vice Deans) Liu Libo (刘利波), Bi Puyun (毕普云), and Xu Ping (许平) attended the meeting. The symposium was presided over by Liu Libo. Newly recruited teachers and heads of relevant departments attended the symposium.
The meeting collectively studied the important spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's speech at the celebration of the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Central Party School and the opening ceremony of the 2023 spring semester, heard reports on the work of the action learning class, and participants engaged in extensive exchanges on deepening the next steps of action learning.
The meeting pointed out that newly recruited teachers are the vital new force for the future development of the Party School and the talent foundation for the construction of "dual characteristics, dual first-class." Centering on serving "basic training" as its core, and in accordance with the objectives and tasks set forth in the school's (academy's) "Measures for Deepening the Cultivation of Teaching Capacity of Newly Recruited Teachers (Trial)," the action learning class promotes newly recruited teachers to complete their role transition as soon as possible, master the working methods of teaching, research, and consultation, and enhance their capacity to perform their duties, achieving the transformation from a "knowledge-based" orientation to a "competence-based" orientation, with solid results and the intended purposes attained. The teaching capacity of newly recruited teachers has been preliminarily tested, their scientific research and policy consultation work is gradually emerging and showing talent (崭露头角, zhan lu tou jue - "show, expose, head, appear"), and their ability to adapt to their posts has improved rapidly.
The meeting emphasized that it is necessary to continue to uphold the action learning philosophy of "unity of knowledge and action (知行合一, zhi xing he yi - "knowledge, practice, combine, one"), using knowledge to promote action, and using action to seek knowledge," maintain the good practices in action learning, adhere to the "on-duty training" model, adhere to the practice of "integration of teaching, research, and consultation," adhere to "both applying pressure and building platforms," adhere to the integration of learning and work and practical training, support the rapid growth and development of new teachers across the entire chain, and further promote the quality improvement and upgrading of action learning.
The meeting required that newly recruited teachers should deeply think about and practice the "three questions upon entering the school," have a little more confidence, a little more determination, a little more perseverance, and a little more craftsmanship, always maintain the drive to build the free trade port, the determination to actively learn, the tenacity to study deeply and practice earnestly, and the striving for perfection (精益求精, jing yi qiu jing - "improve, more, seek, excellence") in their work, persevering with constancy (持之以恒, chi zhi yi heng - "hold, that, with, perseverance"), making sustained, long-term effort, growing as soon as possible through action learning, and becoming competent as soon as possible through practical tempering, striving to contribute to promoting the high-quality development of the Party School's cause and serving the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port. Relevant departments should, in accordance with their division of responsibilities, make every effort to provide service and support for the action learning class and create better conditions for newly recruited teachers to establish a solid foundation and devote themselves to scholarship.
Return to Top(Study Times report) On September 23, the Guizhou Provincial Conference of Presidents (Deans) of Party Schools (Academies of Administration) was held in Guiyang. The conference conveyed and studied the spirit of the National Conference of Presidents (Deans) of Party Schools (Academies of Administration), and summarized and arranged work. Xu Lin, Secretary of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee, made written instructions. Qu Lin, member of the Standing Committee of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee, head of the Provincial Party Committee Organization Department, and President (Dean) of the Guizhou Provincial Party School (Academy of Administration), attended and delivered a speech.
In his instructions, Xu Lin fully affirmed the work achievements made by Party schools (academies of administration) at all levels across the province in recent years. He emphasized that it is necessary to thoroughly study and implement Xi Jinping's thought on Party building and Xi Jinping's important expositions on the work of Party schools, adhere to the principle that Party schools are run by the Party, continue to deliver the "first lesson at the opening of a class" well, do solid work in education on the Party's innovative theories, education on Party spirit, and training in performance capabilities, raise the level of theoretical research and decision-making, promote the high-quality development of the cause of Party schools (academies of administration) across the province in the new era, and make new and greater contributions to helping the province "take a new path and display new brilliance."
The conference emphasized that it is necessary to grasp the fundamental guidelines, thoroughly study and implement Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, make sustained efforts in studying and understanding something thoroughly (学深悟透, xue shen wu tou - "study deep, comprehend thoroughly"), do solid work in systematic curriculum development, and closely follow Guizhou's practice and base on resource endowments to strengthen research and interpretation. It is necessary to practice the original aspiration of Party schools, and promote new improvements in education and training, theoretical research, and decision-making consultation. It is necessary to strengthen three-level linkage, promote the co-construction and sharing of curricula and faculty, improve incentive and guarantee mechanisms, strengthen the building of county-level Party schools, and comprehensively raise the overall quality of school operation of the Party school system. It is necessary to firmly shoulder responsibilities, further keep the political direction firmly in hand, clarify the definition of duties and positioning, advance strict governance of the schools in an all-round way, and take the opportunity of inspection and rectification to comprehensively improve the level of school operation and governance.
(You Zhenglan)
Return to Top(Study Times report) To thoroughly implement the "Implementation Measures for Party Members and Cadres of Jiangxi Province Taking the Lead in Inheriting the Red Gene," and to promote the deep integration of the red gene into the entire process of trainees' Party spirit training, study, and work, the autumn semester main training classes of the Jiangxi Provincial Party School (School of Administration) have included four red education readers — "The Jinggangshan Spirit," "The Soviet Area Spirit," "The Spirit and Demeanor of Fang Zhimin," and "The Spirit and Demeanor of Gan Zuchang" — in their study bibliography, building a full-chain red education model to make red learning systematic, Party spirit tempering regular, and spiritual inheritance long-term.
The main training classes have innovated learning carriers and activated educational forms, routinely creating the distinctive "Ten-Minute Red Micro-Party Lesson Before Class" classroom, opening a new classroom with a red recitation, a story of a martyr, and a reflection on original aspirations, changing the previous one-way indoctrination learning model, bringing red teaching materials from the desk to the classroom and red spirit from theory to perception. At the same time, combined with the four red education textbooks, the middle-aged and young cadres class went to Jinggangshan to carry out red gene inheritance and national defense education, and each main training class carried out on-site teaching, immersive study tours, learning and singing red songs, red reading sharing sessions, "watching red films + discussion and exchange," and more, so that everyone changed from "passively listening to lectures" to "mutual learning and joint progress," subtle, imperceptible influence (潜移默化, qian yi mo hua - "subtly, influence, silent, transform") building a solid foundation of faith, replenishing the calcium of the spirit, and steadying the rudder of thought.
These activities have stimulated new vitality in red education. The trainees revisited the timeless contemporary value of the Jinggangshan spirit and deeply understood the original path of the Chinese revolution from a tiny spark that can start a great fire (星星之火, xing xing zhi huo - "star, tiny, particle, fire") to an unstoppable force like a prairie fire (燎原之势, liao yuan zhi shi - "burn, prairie, particle, momentum"); they deeply studied the Soviet Area spirit, looked back on the eventful years of the Central Soviet Area, and deeply understood our Party's fundamental stance of putting the people first. Centering on the spirit and demeanor of Fang Zhimin, they vividly reproduced the lofty integrity of the revolutionary predecessors of "patriotism, creativity, frugality, and dedication"; focusing on the spirit and demeanor of Gan Zuchang, they learned from his pure original aspiration of not forgetting his original intention, always maintaining his true character, resigning from office and returning to the fields, and personally serving the people, highlighting the simple and pure spiritual foundation of Communists.
Everyone unanimously stated that they will draw the strength to forge ahead from the red bloodline of Jiangxi, firmly strengthen their ideals and convictions, temper a fine work style, and be courageous in taking responsibility and doing solid work, turning the results of red learning into practical actions to promote high-quality development and serve the people, interpreting the mission and responsibility of Party members and cadres in the new era with solid work and real achievements, and striving to write a new chapter in Jiangxi's practice of Chinese modernization.
(Qiu Yue)
Return to Top(Study Times report)
Recently, the building of the Representative of the Central People's Government in Tibet and the former office site of the Tibet Work Committee, located at the Party School (Administrative College) of the CPC Tibet Autonomous Region Committee, were designated by the Central Publicity Department as a National Demonstration Base for Patriotic Education. On the morning of September 22, the school (college), jointly with the Publicity Department of the Regional Party Committee, held a plaque-unveiling ceremony. Taniya, Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of the Regional Party Committee and Director of the Information Office of the Regional Government, attended and unveiled the plaque; Cui Luchun, Executive Vice President (Vice Dean), delivered a speech; Yongkang, Vice President (Vice Dean), presided over the ceremony. Leaders of the school (college), all faculty and staff, and student representatives participated in the event.
The building of the Representative of the Central People's Government in Tibet and the former office site of the Tibet Work Committee carry the glorious history of Tibet's peaceful liberation, democratic reform, and stable development. The designation as a National Demonstration Base for Patriotic Education is a vivid practice of thoroughly studying and implementing General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions on patriotic education, an important vehicle for inheriting and carrying forward the Old Tibet Spirit, and an important lever for deepening patriotic education in the new era, forging a sense of community for the Chinese nation, and advancing the cause of ethnic unity and progress.
The school (college) will take this designation as an opportunity to accurately grasp the functional positioning of the base, deeply explore its historical threads, revolutionary deeds, and spiritual connotations, and build the base into a live classroom for Party spirit education and a frontline position for patriotic education. It will strengthen base-based teaching, further optimize the construction of on-site teaching points, and enrich interactive teaching methods such as case-based, simulation-based, and experiential approaches, so that the broad body of trainees can experience the revolutionary years firsthand (身临其境, shen lin qi jing - "body, enter, its, realm"), relive the original aspiration and founding mission, and carry forward the spirit of struggle. It will provide good visiting services, design differentiated and targeted commentary content and visiting routes, actively carry out diverse and educationally meaningful mass activities for people of all ethnic groups across the region, especially young people, and tell well the stories of Tibet's red history and ethnic unity. It will strengthen base protection, strictly follow the principle of "protection first, inheritance prioritized, rational utilization, and standardized management," routinely carry out facility maintenance and historical materials collection, and improve the long-term management, protection, and operation mechanism.
Return to Top(Study Times report)
On September 21, the Party School (School of Administration) of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee held a promotion meeting on autumn semester course development and the recommendation of good courses for the province-wide cadre education and training program. Fan Yongbin, Executive Vice President (Executive Vice Dean), attended and delivered a speech.
The meeting heard reports on the autumn semester course development and the preparation of lessons, selection and polishing, and supervision and evaluation of "good courses," and participants exchanged views and discussed matters related to course optimization and organizational recommendation.
Fan Yongbin fully affirmed the work results of all departments in the earlier period. He pointed out that course development is an important support for the Party School in fulfilling its mission and responsibilities and playing its role as the main venue for cadre education and training. It is necessary to continuously raise political positioning, firmly grasp the fundamental principle that the Party School is surnamed the Party, closely follow the work deployment for the selection of "good courses," coordinate and advance autumn semester course development in an integrated manner, continuously consolidate the teaching foundation, and make every effort to create a batch of high-quality, premium courses.
Fan Yongbin required that coordination and overall planning be strengthened, that teachers' research directions and teaching characteristics be combined, that major macro-level topics be closely followed for comprehensive research and judgment, that alignment with national strategic deployments be maintained, that topics be carefully selected and lessons polished, and that course development be pushed toward refinement, distinctiveness, and systematization. Efforts must be concentrated on creating premium courses, with strengthened support for key priorities, increased resource allocation to topics with cultivation potential, and coordinated strength concentrated on tackling key tasks, so as to create premium courses eligible for evaluation. It is necessary to improve the incentive and guarantee system, press and tighten responsibilities, break away from conventional thinking (破除思维定式, po chu si wei ding shi - "break, remove; thought, pattern, fixed; way"), raise the level of strategic research and judgment and tactical implementation, coordinate with relevant functional departments to work in synergy, fully mobilize teachers' enthusiasm and initiative in preparing and researching lessons, and promote course development at a high level to improve quality and efficiency. Results must be measured by actual effectiveness, with an outcome orientation, strengthened cross-teaching-and-research-department coordination and cooperation, deepened exchanges and cooperation inside and outside the school (academy), consolidated the teaching and research foundation, and pushed the level of course development to a new stage, so as to continuously improve the quality and effectiveness of cadre education and training.
(He Lu)
Return to TopIn recent years, Eryuan County of the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province has persisted in making the construction of township party schools an important lever for party member education and training work, continuously making efforts to strengthen the base, optimize the system, and combine study with practical application, promoting the enhancement of township party school functions and the exertion of their role, and opening up the "last kilometer" of grassroots party member education and training.
Persist in overall coordination and promote the "standardization" of training bases. First, build in light of local conditions. In accordance with the principle of "in light of local conditions, standardization and frugality, functional integration, and one school with multiple uses," existing venues such as meeting rooms, party member activity rooms, and new era civilization practice centers are uniformly built according to the "seven have" standard, forming a "1+9+N" main front for party member education and training with the county party committee party school (administrative school) at the center, 9 township party schools as extensions, and a number of grassroots party member education and training bases as the foundation. Second, systematically plan and manage. Consolidate the primary responsibility of township party committees, and establish an organizational leadership structure in which the township party committee secretary concurrently serves as the principal of the township party school, the deputy secretary concurrently serves as the vice principal of the township party school, and the organization committee member and propaganda committee member concurrently serve as staff of the township party school. Improve the various management systems of township party schools, post management systems on walls in a standardized manner, and overall form a party school work pattern that is complete and standardized, well-managed and orderly, strictly disciplined, and pragmatic and efficient. Third, use based on needs. In accordance with the principle of "supplement whatever is lacking," focus on class-hour requirements and rotation training tasks, accurately grasp party member needs through questionnaire surveys, symposium exchanges, and other means, scientifically formulate annual party member education and training plans, list timetables and roadmaps, and orderly achieve full coverage of party member education and training.
Focus on resource integration and promote the "diversification" of the training system. First, strengthen the teaching faculty through both full-time and part-time arrangements. In accordance with the requirements of good ideological and political quality, high theoretical level, and rich practical experience, establish a faculty pool of more than 90 people including party member leading cadres, secretaries of grassroots party organizations, advanced models, exemplary role models, business backbone personnel, and practical technical talents, forming a teaching system in which leading cadres lecture on policies, experts and scholars lecture on theory, business backbone personnel lecture on skills, and grassroots cadres lecture on cases. Second, optimize courses through dual-wheel drive. Implement the model of "party spirit training + theoretical study + practical operation training," make the study and implementation of the Party's innovative theories the first lesson of all types of classes at township party schools, and in combination with local development realities and the individualized needs of party members, offer "targeted courses" around Erhai Lake protection, rural revitalization, grassroots governance, industrial development, emergency response and handling, and other topics, ensuring the pertinence and practicality of course content. Third, create models through diverse forms. For party organizations in government organs, carry out training around deepening the reform of the Party's institutional construction to promote high-quality development of party building in government organs and model government organs; for party organizations in villages (communities), carry out training around learning and applying the experience of the Thousand-Village Demonstration and Ten-Thousand-Village Improvement Project and promoting comprehensive rural revitalization; for party organizations in public hospitals, carry out training around implementing the health and wellness work policy for the new era, comprehensively advancing the building of a Healthy China, and deepening the reform of the medical and health system. Since 2024, 151 sessions of basic training for party members have been conducted, covering 18,100 person-times.
Highlight combining study with practical application and promote the "normalization" of training and education. First, serve the overall development situation. Break the limitation of training for the sake of training, focus on a practice-oriented approach, use township party schools as platforms for deploying work and exchanging experience, organize town and village cadres to conduct exchanges and discussions around the central work of party committees and governments and local difficult problems, learn with research topics in mind, return to their posts to put them into practice, and test and deepen learning outcomes in practice. Second, empower rural revitalization. Focus on the development needs of rural revitalization, carry out training on planting and breeding techniques, agricultural product processing, and other topics, encourage party members to take the lead in establishing cooperatives and developing characteristic industries, transform learning outcomes into practical actions that lead the masses to prosperity, and truly empower rural revitalization. Third, deepen service for the people. Organize party member commando teams and volunteer service teams, regularly carry out practical activities of "doing practical things for the masses," promote rural party members to show their identity, fulfill their commitments, and set an example, resolve more than 600 livelihood issues such as environmental sanitation improvement and mediation of conflicts and disputes, practice the original aspiration and founding mission in serving the masses, and demonstrate the effectiveness of education and training with practical work and tangible results.
(Yang Xuekun)
Return to Top(Study Times report)
On September 18, the symposium marking the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Journal of the Ningxia Party School and its high-quality development was held in Yinchuan. Hao Tong (郝彤), Executive Vice President of the Party School (Academy of Governance) of the CPC Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Committee, attended the meeting and delivered a speech. Comrades from the Newspaper and Periodical Agency of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance) and the Party School (Academy of Governance) of the Anhui Provincial Committee delivered keynote speeches. Experts and scholars from the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, East China University of Political Science and Law, and Jilin University participated online and delivered exchange speeches, formulating ideas and strategies (出谋划策, chu mou hua ce - "emerge, plan, draw, strategy") for the high-quality development of the Journal of the Ningxia Party School, jointly discussing the future development of academic journals.
The Journal of the Ningxia Party School was first published in 1986 and was selected as a core journal in the AMI Comprehensive Evaluation of Chinese Humanities and Social Science Journals in 2022. Over the past three years, it has published an average of 82 articles annually, with fund-supported papers accounting for more than 80 percent, and multiple works have been reprinted by Xinhua Digest and the Renmin University of China's Information Center for Social Sciences periodical reprints, among others. Over the past 40 years, under the leadership of the school (institute) committee, the Journal of the Ningxia Party School has consistently upheld the principle that the Party school is run by the Party, adhered to the correct political direction, academic orientation, and value orientation, made the study, publicity, research, and interpretation of the Party's innovative theories its primary task, strictly implemented the responsibility system for ideological work, improved systems such as topic selection and review and the three-review, three-proofreading process, innovatively implemented the "three reviews, three proofreadings, two reviews, and one reading" procedure, and strictly enforced the political, academic, and textual standards. It has adhered to basing itself in Ningxia while facing the whole country, run regular columns such as "Forum of Distinguished Scholars," "Marxism Research," and "Party Building Research" well, created distinctive columns such as "Theoretical Hotspots," "Ningxia Perspectives," and "Fujian-Ningxia Cooperation," and combined the interpretation of the Party's innovative theories with Ningxia's practices such as the construction of a demonstration zone for fostering a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation and the construction of a pioneer zone for ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River basin, striving to write papers on the land of the motherland.
This symposium is both a review and summary of the 40-year history of running the journal and a concentrated planning of the journal's future development path. The Journal of the Ningxia Party School will carefully sort out and absorb the opinions and suggestions of the attending experts and transform the results of the symposium into concrete measures for running the journal. First, optimize column settings and create special columns that are close to local development practices and have distinct contemporary and regional characteristics. Second, strengthen topic selection and planning, rely on the school's (institute's) advantageous disciplines such as Marxist theory and Party building, and organize research focused on difficult and hot issues in the great cause of national rejuvenation. Third, cultivate the author team, improve the systems for specially invited editorial board members and column hosts, and increase efforts to train young teaching and research personnel and emerging academic talents. Fourth, enhance communication effectiveness, run the "Journal of the Ningxia Party School" WeChat public account well, make good use of database platforms such as CNKI and Wanfang, and expand the coverage of high-quality content.
(Zhang Bi)
Return to TopBy: 王瑶
In September 2016, the "Shanghai Reform and Opening Up" themed classroom, meticulously developed by the Shanghai Municipal Party School (Academy of Governance), was officially opened for use. As a themed classroom for special Party spirit education with reform and opening up as its theme among Party schools (academies of governance) nationwide, over the past ten years it has successively undertaken teaching work for more than 600 cadre training classes from Shanghai itself and more than 10 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) as well as the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, training tens of thousands of trainees and achieving good results. The supporting course, "Mission, Responsibility, Wisdom — The Spiritual Quality of Shanghai's Reform and Opening Up," was successfully selected for the first batch of "National Excellent Courses for Cadre Education and Training" by the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee and was included in the "National Elite Course Library for Cadre Education and Training." Having been cultivated intensively for ten years, how has the themed classroom managed to maintain its popularity over such a long period and continue to receive high praise? Its "secret" lies in the content foundation, innovative methods, spiritual core, and development logic of the themed classroom's construction.
Content lays the foundation, interpreting the rich connotations of Party spirit education through the vivid history of reform and opening up. When the school (academy) first began building the themed classroom, it set a basic direction: to use the real history of Shanghai's reform and opening up to teach cadres, enhancing the pertinence and effectiveness of Party spirit education. The themed classroom's curriculum is divided into three parts: the special film "The Great Tide Is Like a Song — A Review of the Course of Shanghai's Reform and Opening Up," the special lecture "Mission, Responsibility, Wisdom — The Spiritual Quality of Shanghai's Reform and Opening Up," and the special exhibition "Vanguard, Pioneer — The Course of Shanghai's Reform and Opening Up." The three parts complement each other and deepen layer by layer: the special film uses images to recreate the historical scenes of those years, the exhibition uses text and graphics to clearly explain the process of development, and the special lecture extracts the spiritual quality behind it from the theoretical level. The outstanding feature of the course is its adoption of the interview format; the course team interviewed multiple witnesses and participants in Shanghai's reform and opening up and collected and organized a large amount of literature, photographs, and a batch of precious historical video materials. Every historical node is personally narrated by those who experienced it, and every reform decision is supported by living case examples. What trainees see in the themed classroom is not abstract, empty grand principles, but substantial and full content that "shows people, shows events, shows principles, and shows emotions."
Method innovation activates the classroom experience of Party spirit education through diverse interactive means. The reason the themed classroom can leave trainees with feelings of "deep impression" and "most profound shock" is that it innovates teaching methods. In terms of spatial design, the three walls of the themed classroom are all hung with display boards related to Shanghai's reform and opening up, and on every table are placed tablet computers for study and interaction. This immersive spatial arrangement makes trainees feel, as soon as they enter the classroom, as if they are in the relevant historical scenes of reform and opening up. In terms of teaching methods, the themed classroom course adopts a composite model of "teacher explanation + video materials + themed interview videos + themed classroom scenes + multimedia interaction." The course uses reform and opening up as the main thread running through Shanghai's development process since the 1980s, and through precious historical materials such as leaders' speeches, leaders' interviews, news reports, participants' recollections, and case stories, it gives people a strong visual impact, shock, and appeal. In particular, after many young Shanghai cadre trainees gained an in-depth understanding of the urban problems Shanghai faced in the early period of reform and opening up — crowded housing, traffic congestion, and environmental pollution — they one after another used the word "shocking" to express their feelings and gained a deeper understanding of Shanghai's reform and opening up.
Spirit forges the soul, condensing the core values of Party spirit education through "mission, responsibility, and wisdom." A single course, a single classroom, has been able to attract trainees for a full ten years; the fundamental reason lies in its extraction and transmission of a spiritual force that can move people's hearts. This course, from the three dimensions of "strong sense of responsibility and mission," "pioneering spirit of daring to be first in the world," and "courage and wisdom in overcoming all kinds of difficulties" (攻坚克难, gong jian ke nan - "attack, fort, overcome, difficulty"), precisely summarizes the spiritual quality of Shanghai's reform and opening up. From the strong sense of urgency of "revitalizing the prestige of Greater Shanghai," to the proactive action of "self-funded reform, independent reform" in the development and opening up of Pudong; from the first stock in the true sense since the founding of New China, to the "zero breakthrough" in land leasing; from the difficult exploration of reemployment for one million laid-off workers, to the long-term planning of "persistent effort over a long period to achieve perfection" (十年磨一剑, shi nian mo yi jian - "ten, years, polish, one, sword") for the Yangshan Deep-Water Port — behind every spiritual quality there is real, vivid, and splendid practical case support. What trainees feel in the themed classroom is not only the process of Shanghai's step-by-step development and change as a city, but also the distinct spiritual character carried by Shanghai's cadre community. As one trainee said: "My understanding of Shanghai has become more vivid, and my feelings for Shanghai have also become deeper." This "vividness" and "depth" are the key code for Party spirit education to truly enter people's hearts.
Development opens the way, maintaining the contemporary vitality of Party spirit education through continuous iterative upgrading. Over the past ten years, the themed classroom has by no means remained unchanged; rather, it has maintained its vitality through repeated updates and adjustments. In terms of curriculum system construction, the course team has continuously developed corresponding series of courses around the themed classroom; in addition to the standard course, it has also developed multilingual course versions in English, French, and other languages. In 2020, with the development of the "Four Histories" study and education, the themed classroom became an important vehicle for Party history study and education. After the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee was held in 2024, the course also promptly updated the relevant expressions and latest materials. In terms of team building, this course has condensed the tremendous efforts of several teachers; the course development work received support from the Organization Department of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and was carried out in cooperation with the Shanghai Municipal Archives. Through team collaboration, the stable quality of the course is ensured. In terms of scope of reach, the themed classroom not only serves the main training classes of the Shanghai Municipal Party School, but over the past ten years has also successfully completed the reception and study visit tasks of dozens of batches of leaders and peers from leading comrades of the CPC Central Committee, the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance), and various provinces and municipalities. "Party spirit theme, Shanghai characteristics, modern methods, diverse interaction" are the distinctive features of the themed classroom; they represent a major expansion of the content of traditional Party spirit education and a bold innovation in educational forms. The construction experience of the themed classroom has already been referenced and borrowed by Party schools (academies of governance) in many places across the country.
Ten years is both a development milestone and a brand-new starting point. The process of building and exploring the "Shanghai Reform and Opening Up" themed classroom tells us: for Party spirit education to truly enter the hearts of trainees, it must use profound historical content as its foundation, innovative teaching methods as its vehicle, distilled spiritual quality as its core, and continuous updating and optimization as its driving force. The building and continuous improvement of the themed classroom has only a present progressive tense, no perfect tense. In the next step, the Shanghai Municipal Party School (Academy of Governance) will continue to deepen content construction, keep pace with the Party's steps of theoretical innovation, promptly integrate Xi Jinping's thought on Party building and General Secretary Xi Jinping's latest expositions on comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese modernization into the course, continuously enrich the historical details and typical cases of Shanghai's reform and opening up, and keep the course always in sync with the times and in resonance with practice. Party spirit education has no endpoint, and education on the spirit of reform and opening up likewise has no endpoint. Taking ten years as the preface and the future as the chapter, the "Shanghai Reform and Opening Up" themed classroom will continue to forge ahead on the road of telling the story of reform well, inheriting the spirit of reform, and cultivating pioneers of reform, contributing greater strength to the cause of cadre education and training in the new era.
(The author is Deputy Director of the Department of Party History and Party Building Research of the Shanghai Municipal Party School)
Return to TopBy: 扈书乘
Quality-based school governance is an important guideline for Party school work and a key lever for comprehensively raising the level of Party school operation. The Jinan Municipal Party School (School of Administration) adheres to the principle of quality-based school governance, firmly shoulders the responsibility of offering counsel to the Party, and, centering on the core goal of cultivating high-quality research outputs, builds a four-dimensional cultivation mechanism of "talent—process—institution—ecology," continuously advancing the connotative high-quality development of Party school research work.
Make every effort to cultivate talent in all dimensions and consolidate the talent foundation for cultivating high-quality research outputs. Deeply implement the strategy of strengthening the school with talent, respect the laws of teacher growth and development, and effectively transform talent, the "primary resource," into momentum for research innovation. First, do a good job of attracting talent at the source. Actively make good use of the city's "Haiyou Talent" series of policies, issue the school's (academy's) measures for introducing high-level talent, focus on young doctors, and continuously intensify efforts to introduce high-level talent, enriching and strengthening the teaching staff. In the past three years, 18 doctoral personnel have been continuously introduced, and the proportion of teachers under 40 years old at the school (academy) holding doctoral degrees has reached 62.5%, making the structure of the teaching staff more rational. Second, do solid work in building talent through research. Systematically implement the three major projects and 15 plans of "Green Sprout Incubation," "Refinement and Flight Assistance," and "Leading Goose Navigation," improving the quality and effectiveness of organized talent cultivation throughout the entire process of "incubation—growth—leadership." Focus on doing a good job of building the research foundation and incubating newly introduced doctoral talent, and rely on carriers such as doctoral salons and mentor guidance to help young teachers quickly integrate into Party school research work, identify their main research directions, and increase their contribution to high-quality outputs. Third, strengthen the tempering of talent through practice. Promote the integration of teaching, research, and practice, and adopt various methods such as class attachment training, visiting study and research, upward secondment for training, and station-based research to guide teachers out of the "small classroom" of the lecture hall and into the "big classroom" of society, broadening research horizons, enriching practical experience, and building a solid practical foundation for cultivating high-quality outputs.
Make every effort to tackle key problems across the entire chain and optimize the work process for cultivating high-quality research outputs. Keep a close eye on high-level topics, high-level treatises, and high-quality signed-and-approved outputs, improve the full-cycle closed-loop cultivation system of topic discovery, expert guidance, collective polishing, and echelon transformation, and promote the continuous emergence of high-quality research outputs. First, strengthen the traction of major topics. Deepen the closed-loop management and service of the entire topic chain, lay out forward-looking research in advance, actively seek expert resources from various disciplines, and precisely align with academic frontiers and decision-making needs. Every year, organize backbone teachers to polish research reports on major topics, drive the incubation of a series of outputs such as related topics, core journal papers, and academic monographs, and form a virtuous cycle of echelon transformation in the cultivation of major topics. Second, strengthen the support of academic treatises. Innovate the forms of organized research, regularly hold "paper workshops," focus on "the systematic and scholarly research and interpretation of the Party's innovative theory" to carry out the first youth theory essay solicitation activity, invite journal editors and other experts and scholars to provide guidance, and precisely incubate high-level papers. Strengthen full-cycle service guarantees for monograph-type outputs, and make every effort to forge high-quality, influential academic achievements. Third, improve the effectiveness of consultation services. Closely follow major national strategies and local development practices, increase efforts in topic planning, improve the diversified topic selection mechanism, and raise the precision and effectiveness of topic selection. Deepen the "Party school +" joint research model, rely on Party school research teams, and link up with research forces such as Party and government departments, district and county Party schools, and trainees to actively carry out forward-looking, policy-oriented, and applied research, precisely serving the decision-making needs of Party committees and governments.
Make every effort to drive all elements and enhance the institutional effectiveness of cultivating high-quality research outputs. Coordinate the trinity of "integration of teaching, research, and consultation, systematization of institutions, and standardization of management," promote the integrated linkage of various elements, run organized research through the entire process of cultivating high-quality outputs, fully mobilize teachers' initiative, enthusiasm, and creativity, and activate the endogenous driving force of research. First, adhere to the guidance of the integration of teaching, research, and consultation. Closely follow the integration of direction, process, and results in teaching, research, and consultation, take integrated teaching-research-consultation projects as the starting point, implement a differentiated promotion model by level and category, promote the transformation of various high-quality courses into high-quality research outputs, and realize the deep integrated development of teaching, research, and decision-making consultation. Second, improve the guarantee of institutional systematization. Adhere to releasing research productivity through institutional construction, and, in accordance with the principles of respecting academic laws, strengthening academic orientation, reflecting Party school characteristics, and stimulating academic motivation, build a research management institutional system of "demand traction + process control + effectiveness evaluation," increase the weight of high-level output evaluation, explore the organized research evaluation of teaching and research departments, and encourage teachers to produce more high-quality research outputs. Third, promote the upgrading of management standardization. Based on the overall framework of school-wide standardization construction, deepen the implementation of 28 work procedures in the six major systems of "research planning, organizational management, evaluation and assessment, think tank construction, journal publication, and consultation implementation" as well as 11 post standards, achieve full coverage of all processes and links in research management services, and provide precise and efficient support for building "first-class research."
Make every effort to pool wisdom across all platforms and cultivate an academic ecology for high-quality research outputs. Adhere to treating the creation of an academic atmosphere and the cultivation of a research ecology as a long-term guarantee for cultivating high-quality research outputs, and build an open, inclusive, and multi-collaborative development environment. First, strengthen academic carriers. Optimize the "1+5+N" academic exchange system, strengthen regular academic carriers such as think tank forums and academic salons, coordinate the academic activities of various societies and research centers, support teaching and research departments in carrying out academic exchanges as needed, and make platforms truly used and activated, creating a strong atmosphere of devoting oneself to academic studies (潜心治学, qian xin zhi xue - "submerge, heart, govern, study"). Actively build high-end academic exchange platforms, successfully hold academic exchange conferences such as the "Sixth Frontier Forum for Young Marxist Scholars" and "Humanistic Economics and Chinese Modernization," and contribute Party school strength to building an independent knowledge system for Chinese philosophy and social sciences. Second, expand cooperation and exchange. Carry out cross-regional and cross-field academic exchanges, strengthen docking and cooperation with Party and government departments, renowned universities, and research institutes, actively organize teachers to deeply participate in national high-end academic activities, keep up with academic frontiers, and maintain academic acuity. Deepen systematic coordination and linkage, strengthen research collaboration among provincial, municipal, and county-level Party schools, promote joint research on open-competition topics and joint polishing of joint research reports, and drive the overall improvement of the research capacity of the city's Party school system. Third, strengthen publicity and interpretation. Keep pace with the Party's theoretical innovation, focus on major themes such as the learning and education on establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements, continuously plan and launch theoretical special pages, publish in-depth interpretive articles, organize the compilation and publication of the "Jinan Urban Civilization Construction" case textbook, fully play the role of the Party school as a theoretical publicity front, and summarize and interpret the vivid local practice of the Party's innovative theory.
[The author is the deputy principal (deputy dean) in charge of daily work and first-level inspector of the Jinan Municipal Party School (School of Administration)]
Return to TopBy: 齐静
Basic training refers to training tasks that are foundational, principal, and leading in cadre education and training, and constitutes the most important training tasks that education and training institutions, especially Party schools, must complete. In recent years, the Party School of the Daxing District Committee of Beijing has focused on three dimensions—building the framework for basic training, strengthening safeguards for basic training, and consolidating support for basic training—and has exerted efforts in three aspects: ensuring sound top-level design, ensuring innovation in mechanisms, and ensuring rigorous faculty management, thereby advancing basic training in depth and in practice and achieving notable results.
Ensuring sound top-level design to build the framework for basic training. First, emphasis is placed on overall planning and coordination. An innovative "five overall plans" working mechanism has been implemented to strengthen macro-level management of cadre education and training, ensuring that basic training is led and coordinated by the organization department, that key training programs are made more prominent, that all training targets receive the training they should, and that training resources and funds are utilized intensively and efficiently, so as to promote the implementation and effectiveness of basic training through strong planning and design. Second, a demand-oriented approach is upheld. By comprehensively employing the methods of "questionnaire surveys + regular symposiums + training effectiveness evaluation," the training needs of Party members and cadres at different levels and in different fields are accurately identified, and teaching plans, curriculum systems, and teaching priorities are dynamically optimized, with an adoption rate of optimization suggestions reaching 95%, continuously enhancing the pertinence and effectiveness of cadre education and training. Third, class design is optimized. A "4+4+X" class system has been established, specifically comprising four types of main classes—rotation training classes, advanced study classes, appointment training classes, and young and middle-aged cadre classes; four types of special-topic seminar classes—on industrial development, scientific and technological innovation, ecological civilization, and rural revitalization; and various types of classes for enhancing performance capability. In addition, advanced study classes for division-level and section-level cadres and demonstration classes for secretaries of grassroots Party organizations have been added. On average, 70 classes of various types are held annually, training nearly 8,000 person-times, achieving a class design that is reasonable and standardized and operation that is efficient and orderly. Fourth, comprehensive coverage is promoted. Twenty-seven branch schools have been established in all towns and streets and key industries across the district, and by guiding the formulation of training plans, organizing training for trainers, and dispatching faculty to deliver teaching at the grassroots level, problems such as low training quality and insufficient faculty in grassroots branch schools have been effectively addressed. Vigorous implementation of the "Project for Grassroots Party Members Entering the Party School" has been carried out, adhering to the use of the digital Party school system to deliver high-quality training resources, and through the combination of "main classroom + branch classroom" and online-offline methods, in the past two years teachers have been dispatched to branch schools to deliver over a thousand lectures, sharing high-quality training resources with branch schools in more than a hundred sessions, with a cumulative audience of over 200,000 person-times, promoting the full coverage of basic training.
Ensuring innovation in mechanisms to strengthen safeguards for basic training. First, curricula and faculty keep pace with the times (与时俱进, yu shi ju jin - "with, time, follow, advance"). Highlighting the main theme and main line of studying and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, seven modules including theoretical education, Party spirit education, performance capability enhancement, and regional development, comprising over a hundred courses, have been organized to form a basic training curriculum system. A faculty evaluation system with elimination of the lowest performers has been implemented, while the faculty pool is regularly supplemented with Party and government cadres, industry experts, and grassroots backbone personnel, with the annual faculty renewal rate maintained above 15%, continuously optimizing the faculty structure. Second, training models are optimized and improved. A "four-stage" training model of "centralized lectures at the Party school + Party spirit training in other localities + on-the-job field research + exchange of insights and results" has been implemented, introducing distinctive teaching forms such as red sand table simulations, immersive music Party lectures, and situational red lecture halls, promoting the mutual integration and coordinated advancement of theoretical education, Party spirit education, and practical training. Adhering to the principle that "wherever the district committee's central work advances, student policy advisory work follows," on-the-ground research of "comparing experiences in frontline tempering" has been carried out, with the rate of directives and conversion of student policy advisory results rising year by year, achieving resonating in sync with (同频共振, tong pin gong zhen - "same, frequency, together, vibrate") regional development in basic training. Third, student management is comprehensively strict. A mechanism of "pre-training research + in-training management + post-training evaluation + results transformation" has been established, long-term classes implement a collaborative management mechanism, systems such as discipline commitment letters and digital attendance are strictly implemented, 19 evaluation indicators are scientifically set, and quantitative results are fed back to the organization department, creating a management model integrating "teaching, learning, research, advisory, management, and identification," achieving the overcoming of work-study conflicts through rigid systems and the promotion of learning from each other to promote mutual progress (学学相长, xue xue xiang zhang - "learn, learn, mutually, grow") through excellent study style.
Ensuring rigorous faculty management to consolidate support for basic training. First, teaching quality is tracked. An innovative course generation mechanism of "three-level lesson preparation, full-process trial lectures, and external expert lesson evaluation" has been implemented, strictly implementing the requirements of the "Seven Prohibitions" for staff of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance), strictly controlling the quality of teachers' lectures, and achieving closed-loop management throughout the entire process from teaching qualification review, content review, to effectiveness evaluation, forcing the effective improvement of teachers' teaching capabilities. Second, distinctive courses are developed. Focusing closely on the overall situation of the district, distinctive courses such as the case course "Daxing's Answer to Rapid Handling of 'Public Voices'," the interview course "The 'Examination Takers' in the Lamplight—Face to Face with Community Secretaries," and the on-site course on the concept of the "four reservoirs" of forests have been developed, research and study routes have been developed around themes such as airport economy and ecological civilization construction, 26 on-site teaching bases under 6 major themes including Party building innovation, economic development, and grassroots governance have been established, the district conditions textbook "Daxing · Daxing" has been published, and the continuous emergence of teachers' excellent works has been promoted. Third, evaluation and appointment management are strengthened. A "renewal of appointment every three years" system has been implemented, renewal assessment indicators are dynamically optimized, teachers' implementation of indicators is counted every six months, and teachers' work progress is comprehensively grasped, which not only promotes the integration of teaching, research, and advisory work at the institutional level, but also firmly establishes the practical orientation of "only those who achieve are positioned," continuously stimulating teachers' intrinsic motivation to improve and innovate. Fourth, attention is paid to the growth of young teachers. The work of "building platforms and passing on experience, helping, and guiding" is carried out well: "building platforms" means making good use of the opportunities for visiting study and faculty training organized by the municipal Party school, building a cooperation platform with the municipal Academy of Social Sciences, promoting resource sharing, academic integration, and joint talent cultivation, and actively pushing young teachers out to grow and train on higher platforms. "Passing on experience, helping, and guiding" means establishing a "one-on-one" assistance mechanism in course development, project application, advisory report writing, and theoretical article writing, requiring young teachers to go deep into practical research, to stand out from the crowd (脱颖而出, tuo ying er chu - "shed, excellence, emerge") as soon as possible and step onto the podium, achieving the growth leap of "competent in one year, mature in two years, and a backbone in three years."
(The author is the executive vice principal of the Party School of the Daxing District Committee of Beijing.)
Return to TopBy: 密启慧
The newly revised "Regulations on the Work of Party Schools (Academies of Governance) of the Communist Party of China" states that administrative management and logistical services are important guarantees for the smooth operation of all work in Party schools (academies of governance). In recent years, the Party School (Academy of Governance) of the Wuhan Municipal Committee of the CPC has closely focused on the goal of high-quality development in teaching, research, and consultation, planned management and service work with systematic thinking, deepened and solidified efforts with sustained momentum, and strived to build a solid guarantee for high-quality development in teaching, research, and consultation through high-quality management and services.
Anchor three functions to keep management services closely aligned with the central work and benchmarked against first-class standards. Scientifically summarize and apply the laws of school management and operation, clarify first-class work standards, and strive to promote management services that closely follow the central work, teaching layouts that keep pace with the overall development situation, research topics that target the focal points of problems, and consultation directions that match the rhythm of decision-making, effectively giving play to the three functions of serving development, serving decision-making, and serving implementation. For example, in the process of compiling the school's (academy's) development plan for the 15th Five-Year Plan and the work plan for striving to become a national first-class Party school, the school (academy) committee systematically investigated the work of provincial-level and sub-provincial-level city Party schools nationwide, extensively solicited opinions and suggestions from various departments and the front line of teaching and research, and refined the goal of striving to become a national first-class Party school into 5 categories and 27 key indicators that are measurable, executable, and assessable, turning "first-class" from a slogan into a workable construction blueprint.
Focus on three dimensions to allocate resources to the most demanding areas of teaching, research, and consultation. Serving the central work of the municipal committee, serving the main responsibilities and core business, and serving faculty, staff, and trainees are the three dimensions of the school's (academy's) management and service work. First, identify the direction of effort in "what the municipal committee requires to be done, what one can do, and where the completion standards lie," highlight Wuhan's distinctiveness in cadre education and training, tell Wuhan's stories well in theoretical interpretation, and enhance precision in consultation and policy recommendations. Since 2026, 17 courses with Wuhan characteristics and case-based courses have been developed, and 10 on-site teaching points with themes such as "Wuhan's Practice in the Renewal of Megacities" have been newly developed. Persist in producing a batch of high-quality consultation achievements with solid research, truthful situations, accurate data, and clear measures, actively expand reporting channels, and build a higher-level platform for disseminating achievements. In recent years, 37 decision-making consultation reports have received approvals or adoptions by leaders at or above the provincial and ministerial level or by relevant departments. Second, strengthen the construction of the teaching, research, and consultation team, formulate a series of systems such as the cultivation of academic leaders and the "Young Seedling Plan" for newly recruited teachers, implement actions to cultivate intermediate and senior professional titles, continuously introduce high-level talents, and break through the bottlenecks in the development of the teaching, research, and consultation team. Since 2026, a batch of high-level talents has been introduced, the faculty structure has been continuously optimized, providing strong talent support for the development of the school's (academy's) teaching, research, and consultation. Third, take the opportunity of building a smart campus to streamline 56 work processes, build a convenient and efficient information system, simplify approval procedures, and more precisely design and implement assessment and evaluation for trainees and faculty and staff, using the "subtraction" of management services to "add value" to the quality and efficiency of teaching, research, and consultation.
Implement three measures to make management services more standardized and more effective. Carry out the "Action to Strengthen the Foundation and Consolidate the Basics" to consolidate the foundation of management services. First, improve the system of work norms. In the first half of 2026, the school (academy), focusing on serving the key business work of teaching, research, and consultation, sorted out lists of "responsibilities, problems, and measures," formed a negative list, clarified the bottom lines, and straightened out responsibilities. Second, promote innovation in work systems. Encourage faculty and staff to delve deeply into their professional work, grasp the laws of work, and launch a series of "micro-innovations" and "micro-improvements." At the same time, place greater emphasis on institutional innovation. Around the construction of research teams, management departments such as the Scientific Research Office conducted in-depth research on key issues such as "who builds, how to build, and how to assess," and studied and formulated access standards, operational mechanisms, and evaluation systems; around the cultivation of long-cycle scientific research projects, through institutional design, clarify topic selection directions, tracking mechanisms, and achievement evaluation standards, so that teaching and research personnel have clearer research fields and more specific goals, better pooling research strength. Third, improve the mechanism for business guidance. In response to the shortcomings in business guidance in management services, administrative logistics, and other areas, expand the themes of the city-wide Party school exchange days from teaching, research, and consultation work to multiple fields such as management services, administrative logistics, and talent teams, and transform the results of each exchange and each opinion and suggestion into lists of measures, optimizing and improving them item by item. For example, in response to problems such as the weak informatization foundation of district-level Party schools, formulate informatization support lists and library service lists to provide tangible resource support for district-level Party schools, helping to improve the overall level of teaching, research, and consultation in Party schools across the city.
[Author affiliation: Party School (Academy of Governance) of the Wuhan Municipal Committee of the CPC]
Return to TopBy: 王利平 刘小亮
"We should strive to innovate teaching methods" is the explicit requirement set forth for the teaching work of Party schools (schools of administration) in the newly revised Regulations on the Work of Party Schools (Schools of Administration) of the Communist Party of China. In recent years, the Party School of the Shangrao Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China in Jiangxi Province has taken innovating teaching methods as an important lever for improving the effectiveness of cadre training, actively exploring and implementing interactive teaching, establishing the "Xinjiang Forum" to strengthen exchange and interaction, promoting the "flipped classroom" to achieve teachers and students learning from each other (教学相长, jiao xue xiang zhang - "teach, learn, mutually, grow"), extending on-site teaching to promote the transformation of learning into application, and improving the lesson-preparation mechanism to guarantee teaching quality, all of which have yielded notable results.
Establish the "Xinjiang Forum" to deepen understanding through exchange. The "Xinjiang Forum" is made a fixed teaching segment of the main training classes, achieving full coverage in main class categories such as the young and middle-aged cadre class and the division-level cadre class, with trainees organized for discussion and exchange every Wednesday evening. First, trainees are organized to set the topics. Teachers do not preset topics; instead, trainees raise questions and share experiences in light of their own units' actual work. Trainees from different industries and fields share insights, discuss approaches, and exchange experiences and practices based on their own posts, with discussions always revolving around real problems. Second, interaction between teachers and students is promoted. Trainees engage in dialogue among equals and build consensus, while teachers participate at appropriate times and provide precise commentary, forming a positive interaction of "trainees engaging in in-depth discussion, teachers providing commentary and elevation." Third, the space and time of teaching are expanded. Teachers capture teaching feedback and optimize course content, extending teaching from "speaking from the podium" to "discussing below the podium," and from "learning by day" to "researching by night," enabling trainees to elevate their ideological understanding and strengthen their work capabilities through exchange and interaction.
Promote the "flipped classroom" to achieve mutual growth through mutual learning. The "flipped classroom" is promoted in the main class categories, breaking the model of one-sided lecturing without interaction (满堂灌, man tang guan - "full, hall, pour"), handing the podium over to the trainees, and prompting trainees to shift from "passively listening" to "actively thinking," and from "receiving knowledge" to "generating capabilities." First, independent study and research before class. Trainees are organized to gather materials and draft lecture notes around their own work, making full preparation for "taking the podium." Second, trainees take the lead in lecturing during class. Trainees step onto the podium to share their units' experiences and practices and explain policies and professional matters in their fields, achieving the effect of "one person lecturing, the whole class researching together." Third, summary and elevation after class. Other trainees raise questions, challenge, supplement, and improve around the content, and the teacher finally summarizes, elevates, and distills patterns, promoting "collective improvement." The vivid cases and grassroots experiences brought by trainees in turn enrich teachers' teaching materials, drive the updating of course content, and realize a two-way empowerment of teaching and learning. In recent years, two courses have been rated by the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee as "Excellent Courses for National Cadre Education and Training," and the overall excellent rate of teaching quality has remained above 98%.
Extend on-site teaching to transform learning into application through research. Interactive teaching is extended to the front line of reform and development. First, deepen base-based study and research. Relying on 7 on-site teaching bases to develop thematic courses, trainees are organized to enter the teaching bases with the questions raised in classroom discussions. Trainees no longer passively listen to explanations or look at display boards, but instead raise questions on the spot and engage in comparative thinking in light of their actual work, while teachers respond to confusion in a timely manner and provide on-site answers, achieving "walking while observing, researching while comprehending." Second, organize group-based research. In light of trainees' actual posts, first-hand materials are collected in depth from townships (subdistricts), villages (communities), and enterprises. In the fall semester of 2025, 9 main class categories established 62 research groups, produced more than 60 research reports, and selected 32 outstanding results for compilation into the school journal Learning, Thinking, Practicing, and Comprehending, of which 1 received an approving instruction from a principal leader of the provincial party committee and 6 received instructions from principal leaders of the municipal party committee and municipal government. Through on-site experience and research practice, teaching moves from "classroom discussion" to "on-site verification," helping trainees improve their work capabilities and temper a pragmatic work style in solving concrete problems.
Improve the lesson-preparation mechanism to guarantee teaching quality. The building of a teaching brand is a long-term process that requires institutionalized and organized long-term mechanisms for support. Interactive teaching places higher demands on teachers' ability to guide on the spot, so it is necessary to start from the source of lesson preparation and use institutional rigidity to guarantee the effectiveness of interactive teaching. First, improve the collective lesson-preparation process. A "five-step process" for collective lesson preparation is established, namely "individual initial preparation—in-depth research by the teaching and research office—exchange within the subject group—school-wide trial lecture—review by the academic committee," with a special review checkpoint for "interactive segment design" added in lesson preparation, scrutinizing and reviewing everything from topic return, on-the-spot guidance, to commentary and elevation. Second, strengthen teacher capacity building. A special training system for teachers' on-the-spot guidance ability is established, with regular organization of specialized drills; the ability to organize interactive teaching is incorporated into teacher performance assessment, linked to professional title evaluation and appointment and to the selection of outstanding teachers, forming a work orientation of "everyone willing to interact, every class featuring interaction." Third, build a resource support system. At present, 197 interactive teaching courses have been stocked, a course and faculty resource pool shared by party schools at the municipal and county levels has been established, and backbone teachers of the school (academy) have been dispatched to teach at county-level party schools on more than 60 person-times, providing solid support for the sustained operation of interactive teaching.
(Author's affiliation: Party School of the Shangrao Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, Jiangxi Province)
Return to TopBy: 彭红波
In the Chinese People's Revolutionary Military Museum, there is displayed a red silk banner 2.85 meters long and 0.64 meters wide, bearing the four large characters "Prosper and Flourish the Tibetan People", each character about 40 centimeters square, with the vertical inscription "Deposited at Zhongdian Guihua Temple" on the right end and the signature "He Long" in the lower left corner.Though this silk banner has faded from the passage of time, it has been preserved intact to this day, silently telling the moving story of ethnic unity and deep affection between the army and the people during the Red Army's Long March through Zhongdian, Yunnan (today's Shangri-La City, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture) in 1936.
In November 1935, He Long, Ren Bishi, and others led the Second and Sixth Army Groups of the Red Army to leave the Hunan-Hubei-Sichuan-Guizhou Revolutionary Base Area and begin the Long March. From April 25 to 28, 1936, the Red Army crossed the Jinsha River, climbed over Haba Snow Mountain at an elevation of more than 5,300 meters, and entered the Zhongdian region of northwestern Yunnan.
Zhongdian is located on the southern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with an average elevation of over 3,000 meters. The residents were mostly Tibetan compatriots, the economy was backward, and society was still in a feudal serf system. Outside the city, built against the mountain, stood the Guihua Temple (i.e., Ganden Sumtseling Monastery), the largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Yunnan and the actual ruling center of Zhongdian. It housed many monks, with Living Buddha Songben and the eight senior monks who led the monastery residing there permanently with numerous monks. The temple had ample grain and fine weapons.
Before the Red Army arrived, the Kuomintang forces had spread many rumors in the area, intimidating the masses by claiming that "the Red Army are all plague gods, with green faces and fangs, killing people and setting fires," and explicitly ordered that no one was allowed to leave grain and livestock in the villages, nor to guide the Red Army or serve as their interpreters (tongsi). Moreover, since Kuomintang troops had previously engaged in forced buying and selling, killed people, and seized cattle in this area, the local Tibetans were full of suspicion and fear toward the Red Army, whom they had never encountered. When the Red Army arrived, most of the Tibetans had already hidden in the mountains and forests, and the Guihua Temple had also closed its gates tightly and taken strict precautions.
Facing this grave situation, the leaders of the Second and Sixth Army Groups of the Red Army — He Long, Ren Bishi, Guan Xiangying, and others — deeply recognized that they must extensively carry out work to win over the Tibetan masses and monks. They assembled the troops, introduced the local situation to the officers and soldiers, emphasized the need to implement the Party's ethnic policies well, strictly enforce the "Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention," and respect the living habits and religious beliefs of the Tibetan people.
On April 30, He Long issued the "Proclamation of the Hunan-Hubei-Sichuan-Guizhou-Yunnan-Xikang Sub-Committee of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission of the Chinese Soviet Republic," explaining the Red Army's nature, discipline, and policies: "This army, with the purpose of assisting the Tibetan people, relieving the Tibetan people's suffering, prospering the Tibetans and destroying Chiang Kai-shek, and seeking benefits for the people, will pass through Daocheng and Lihua and enter Sichuan and Xikang. Wherever the army goes, discipline is strict, and we do not take a single thing from the people. We earnestly hope that the Tibetan masses and the lamas and monks along the way will each live in peace and prosperity and not flee in panic. We especially hope that you will do your utmost to help purchase grain and fodder for this army, and this army will pay in cash at the proper price in all cases, and will never use force."
At the same time, the Red Army soldiers fulfilled their promises through action. Wherever they went, buying and selling was fair, and all supplies procured were transacted in cash. When they took grain and salt from the Tibetans, they left silver dollars and notes at a discounted price. At night, when the cold wind on the plateau was biting, the Red Army insisted on sleeping in the streets and did not enter civilian homes. The general headquarters of the Second and Sixth Army Groups of the Red Army was set up in the side rooms on both sides of the scripture hall in the county seat. Commander-in-Chief He Long and the army group leaders did not enter the main hall, taking the lead in respecting Tibetan religious beliefs. The Red Army also issued a special notice "strictly prohibiting entry into temples" and posted guards at the temple gates. This was just as the saying circulating among the Red Army at the time demanded: "Horses must not trample the highland barley, people must not enter the scripture hall, sweep clean when leaving, and return what is borrowed."
The Tibetans and the monks of the Guihua Temple saw every word and deed of the Red Army. Gradually, their misgivings were dispelled and their anxieties eased. Xianagua, a lama of the Guihua Temple, seeing that the Red Army was friendly, did not disturb the people, and did not seize goods — not at all as the Kuomintang had described — voluntarily offered to represent the temple in contacting the Red Army.
On May 1, Xianagua came to the Red Army's station. He Long warmly received him and the other representatives, conversed with them cordially, patiently explained the Red Army's purpose and its determination to go north to resist Japan, set forth our Party's ethnic policies, and resolved their doubts one by one. Before parting, He Long asked Xianagua to deliver a letter written in his personal name to the Living Buddha and the eight senior monks of the Guihua Temple. The letter solemnly stated: First, we are extremely gratified by the arrival of your representative. Second, the Red Army permits the people freedom of religious belief, and therefore will absolutely not infringe upon the lives or property of all the monks of your temple, and will be responsible for their protection. Third, you must immediately return to the temple and resume your normal livelihood, and must have all the people return home as well; do not lightly believe rumors and create panic on your own. Fourth, please help arrange for the procurement of this army's grain and fodder, and we will definitely pay in cash at the proper price. Fifth, please immediately send representatives to come and negotiate. After the Living Buddha and the eight senior monks of the Guihua Temple read this letter, seeing that the Red Army was strictly disciplined and acted in accordance with one's words, they were all extremely joyful, and immediately arranged for Xianagua to lead people holding white hadas, leading cattle and sheep, carrying highland barley wine, and loading butter, milk dregs, and other gifts to the general headquarters of the Red Army to express their regards. He Long, Ren Bishi, and other leaders personally received them and held talks with the representatives. Xianagua conveyed the invitation of the eight senior monks, asking He Long and other leaders to visit the Guihua Temple. He Long readily agreed: "I'll go tomorrow!"
On May 2, He Long led some Red Army representatives to the Guihua Temple at the invitation. At the Guihua Temple, He Long delivered a speech, explaining that the Red Army was a revolutionary force led by the Communist Party, that it had come to the Zhongdian region for the liberation of all ethnic peoples, and that it would continue its march north to resist Japan. He expressed gratitude for the support and assistance the Guihua Temple had given the Red Army. Subsequently, He Long solemnly presented a large red silk banner to the Guihua Temple, on which were written the four characters "Prosper and Flourish the Tibetan People", expressing good wishes for the Tibetan compatriots.The Living Buddha and senior monks of the Guihua Temple received the banner, deeply thanked the Red Army, expressed firm support for the Red Army, and pledged to do their utmost to provide help.
The four characters "prosperous barbarian race" are simple yet weighty in meaning.They are not only the Red Army leaders' heartfelt blessing to the Tibetan people, but also a vivid embodiment of the Chinese Communist Party's ethnic policies.
From May 2 to 3, under the chairmanship of He Long and Ren Bishi, the 16th Division of the Second Army Group and the Sixth Army Group of the Red Army convened a meeting of Party activists at or above the company-leader level in Zhongdian county town (i.e., the Zhongdian Conference). The meeting further clarified the strategic policy of marching north, focused on studying the policies and tactics for work in Tibetan-populated areas, and summarized and stipulated seven disciplinary rules, including strictly prohibiting entry into lamaseries, respecting the freedom of religious belief and customs of the Tibetan people, not attacking local tyrants in Tibetan areas, and fair buying and selling, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent passage through the Kham-Tibet region.
With the giving great assistance of the eight senior monks and the Tibetans, the monastery sold more than 60,000 jin of highland barley and large quantities of brown sugar and salt to the Red Army, providing an important material supplement for the Red Army's crossing of the great snow mountains. The Tibetans also voluntarily served as guides and interpreters for the Red Army; some helped find lodging, buy vegetables, boil water, and mend clothes; some even gave grain, oil, meat, and butter from their own homes to the Red Army free of charge. Some Tibetans also provided yaks for guiding the way and the chili water essential for crossing the snow mountains.
On May 3, He Long wrote a letter asking the Guihua Temple to dispatch two cavalry teams to escort the Red Army through the Tibetan-populated areas. The letter stated: This army will pass through Derong and Dingxiang (today's Xiangcheng) to enter Kangchuan, in order to prosper the Tibetans and destroy Chiang Kai-shek, assist the Tibetan people's independence, and relieve the Tibetan people's suffering. We request that the eight senior monks mobilize two cavalry teams immediately, each with thirty to forty men and horses, each carrying arms, to serve as the vanguard for this army and to negotiate with the Tibetan people along the way regarding the passage of the main force. After this army reaches Derong and Dingxiang, we will reward the riders of these two teams handsomely and send them back. Please comply accordingly.
On May 5, the Second Army Group of the Red Army, as the left-column route, departed from Zhongdian and advanced along the line through Derong, Ba'an, and Baiyu. On May 9, the Sixth Army Group of the Red Army, as the right-column route, advanced along the line through Dingxiang, Daocheng, Lihua, and Zhanhua. Along the way, the Second Army Group continuously crossed three snow mountains, and the Sixth Army Group crossed two snow mountains. On May 14, the Red Army completely left Yunnan territory and entered Xikang.
From 1934 to 1936, the Long March routes of the three main Red Army forces and the 25th Army of the Red Army were concentrated in the areas inhabited by more than ten ethnic minorities — including the Miao, Yao, Dong, Zhuang, Yi, Tibetan, Qiang, and Hui peoples — in southwestern and northwestern China. The First Army Group of the First Front Army and the Second and Sixth Army Groups of the Second Front Army spent one-third of their entire Long March time traveling through minority areas. During the brief twenty days in the Tibetan-populated area of Zhongdian, the Red Army, with strict discipline, sincere attitude, and exemplary conduct, conscientiously implemented the Party's ethnic policies, won the trust and support of the Tibetan compatriots, and sowed the revolutionary seeds of ethnic unity.
Today, this "Prosperous Foreign Tribes" silk banner still lies quietly on display in the Military Museum, telling every visitor the story of the army and the people united in heart during the Long March more than ninety years ago.What it bears witness to is not only a moving tale of ethnic unity during the Red Army's Long March, but also an irrefutable truth: only by winning the people's hearts can one win victory; only through ethnic unity can one gather together an indestructible and powerful force.
Return to TopBy: 刘晓玉
Have you ever heard the Yu opera singing that pierces through the years? On the soil of the Central Plains, a single stage, a single set of stage costume, a single strain of Yu opera melody, can sing out the mountains and rivers of the ages, the loyalty of family and country. That sonorous and powerful singing echoes through the streets and lanes, the performances of the sheng, dan, jing, and chou roles take the stage in turn, the techniques of singing, reciting, acting, and acrobatics perform the drama of life, and every movement, every thought, every note, every rhyme, all display the fierce intensity and richness of the Central Plains cultural lineage accumulated over a thousand years, moving all who listen.
Yu opera, formerly known as Henan Bangzi, Henan Ou, Henan Gaodiao, and colloquially called "Kaoshan Hou" (leaning on the mountain and roaring), is one of the five major opera genres in China, mainly popular in the Henan, Hebei, and Shandong areas. As an ancient opera genre rooted in the fertile soil of the Central Plains, the cultural lineage of Yu opera can be traced back to the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, when rustic folk tunes and marketplace storytelling flourished vigorously, merging with the rhythms of northern Bangzi opera, absorbing the cadence of local wind and percussion music, and gradually refining a unique vocal tradition bearing the temperament of the Central Plains. After the entry into the Qing Dynasty, Bangzi opera spread widely in the cities and countryside of Henan. According to the Qixian County Gazetteer of the Qianlong era, at that time the local area already had "luoluo, bang, xian, and other such genres" in circulation. The "bang" here was the early form of Henan Bangzi. At that time, Bangzi opera had already penetrated deeply into the folk sphere, becoming one of the most influential opera forms performed at temple fairs, rites of thanksgiving to the gods, and village gatherings.
Through the development of the Qianlong and Jiaqing periods, Yu opera gradually differentiated into four major regional vocal schools: Xiangfu tune, Yuxi tune, Yudong tune, and Shahe tune. Among them, Kaifeng's Xiangfu tune is agile and expansive, and is the original mother tune of Yu opera; the Yuxi tune of the Luoyang area is somber and lingering, skilled at telling bleak tales of the heart; the Yudong tune of the Shangqiu region is bold and spirited, naturally carrying an open and broad bearing; the Shahe tune of the Shahe river basin is melodious and vivid, full of the bustle of the marketplace. Each of the four vocal styles has its own character, and every word, every note, is the unadorned frankness of the Central Plains common folk.
In its early years, Yu opera was born in the fields, at village markets, serving as spiritual solace for farmers after their labors, and also as a vehicle for transmitting standards of good and evil and for moral edification among the folk. Generations of Central Plains people have made their living by farming and study, forming moral qualities that value loyalty and filial piety and uphold faithfulness and righteousness. The repertoire of Yu opera fits the plain value pursuits of the common people, and most of its stories tell of loyalty, filial piety, integrity, righteousness, sacrificing oneself to serve the country, and being upright and serving the people. For example, the well-known classic play Mu Guiying Takes Command, with its line "Three cannon blasts outside the camp gate are like thunder, from the Tianbo Mansion comes I, a minister defending the country," fully displays a woman's ambition to guard the family and the nation; Hua Mulan, which everyone can hum, sings of a woman's responsibility for family and country with "Who says women are inferior to men"; the witty and humorous The Seventh-Rank Sesame Official uses the jest "If an official does not act for the people, he might as well go home and sell sweet potatoes" to state plainly the bottom-line principle that officials should keep the people in their hearts. Scene after classic scene like these sings the backbone and integrity, the loyalty, filial piety, and bravery of the Central Plains people into countless households and engraves them deep in people's hearts. As the older generation often says, "Listen to a stretch of Yu bangzi, and you understand a measure of human feeling." Yu opera has long ceased to be a mere opera; it is the silent and subtle influence that benefits others (润物无声, run wu wu sheng - "moisten, things, without, sound") of moral edification and inheritance among the Central Plains common folk.
In the years of upheaval for the mountains and rivers, the Yu opera voice also carved a profound imprint of the spirit of patriotism. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, opera artists of the Central Plains traveled in all directions, using opera as a blade and voice to transmit their aspirations, composing red-themed plays, spreading the voice of saving the nation and striving for strength, and using their high-pitched singing to awaken the fighting will of the people and convey feelings of family and country. After the founding of New China, a generation of great Yu opera masters such as Chang Xiangyu and Ma Jinfeng took up the banner of inheritance and innovation, upholding the original aspiration that "the opera is greater than heaven," deepening their mastery of operatic skills, reforming performance forms, and leading Yu opera out of the countryside and onto the national stage. During the period of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, Chang Xiangyu led her troupe on tours of performances and charity performances to raise funds, gathering great love for family and country through a single Yu opera voice, and using the power of opera to support the front lines.
As the times change and flow on, the Yu opera voice sounds on without cease. Along with the country's rapid development, Yu opera has step by step ascended to the national and international stage. From classic performances on the opera stage, to stunning appearances at major national cultural and artistic galas; from the fiery popularity of Henan cultural-tourism live performances, to splendid displays in overseas cultural exchanges, Yu opera, with its unique singing, vivid performances, and profound connotations, has shown in one carefully staged performance after another the unique charm of Chinese opera and the deep heritage of Central Plains culture, enabling more and more audiences from all directions and Chinese and foreign tourists to understand the Central Plains cultural lineage and see the backbone of China.
The stage changes and is renewed, but what remains unchanged is Yu opera's true character of being rooted in the native soil and deeply cultivating the hearts of the people. Artists of literature and art in the new era, standing on reality, have created a large number of excellent modern Yu operas such as Jiao Yulu, Chongdugou, and The Great River in Peace. These plays step out of the traditional narrative framework of ancient courts and battlefields, turning their lens on the pursuits and dedication of ordinary laborers in the battle against poverty and grassroots governance, using down-to-earth Central Plains singing to tell the joys and sorrows and striving stories of the people in the new era, enabling the ancient opera to keep pace with the times and remain close to life. On the road of opera inheritance, old and new artists each keep to their own duties and move toward each other: the older generation of opera artists hold fast to the traditional foundation, deepening their basic skills over decades, observing traditional performance conventions in every move and gesture, polishing authentic Yu opera flavor in every word and note, firmly guarding the unique roots and true colors of Yu opera, and wholeheartedly passing on exquisite skills to the younger generation; young opera practitioners are good at learning and courageous in innovation, and on the basis of preserving the essence of the singing and traditional body movements, they incorporate modern stage aesthetics and popular arrangement elements, adapting to the aesthetics of the new era, attracting large numbers of young audiences into the theater and to fall in love with Yu opera, giving the ancient Yu opera voice a new vitality.
As a national-level intangible cultural heritage, Yu opera has long been deeply integrated into the very blood and sinew of the Central Plains land. The backbone of Yu opera is precisely the spiritual portrait of the sons and daughters of the Central Plains. It does not pursue restraint and inwardness; when sorrowful it wails aloud, when heroic it sings out at the top of its voice. It can perform the impassioned fervor of battle on the battlefield, and it can also depict the joys, sorrows, and vicissitudes of daily life, possessing uniquely the simplicity, tenacity, and generosity bestowed by the Central Plains land. It is precisely for this reason that it has become the deep homesickness engraved in the hearts of Central Plains wanderers far from home, a precious cultural lineage that the sons and daughters of the Central Plains in the new era continue to guard, and one of the most vivid, warmest, and most people-close forms of artistic expression in Central Plains culture.
The ancient Yu opera voice, the older it grows, the more it renews itself; the Central Plains cultural lineage, generation after generation, lives on without end. From rustic village stages to the stage of the times, from traditional singing to innovative interpretation, Yu opera has spanned several hundred years, always rooted in the native soil, keeping pace with the times, and conveying true feeling. This Central Plains Yu opera charm that transcends time and space will, in the end, carry the profound confidence of a thousand years of civilization, and in the river of the new era, resound for a long time and moisten countless households.
Return to TopBy: 潘丽文
In summer, Poyang Lake is a lake that breathes.
A little after 9 a.m., I drove from Nanchang to the shore of Poyang Lake. Standing on the lake embankment at Wucheng Town, sunlight already spilled across the water's surface, shimmering with reflected light (波光粼粼, boguang linlin - "wave, light, shimmering"), and in the distance the water and sky merged into a pale blue. In the high-water season of high summer, the Gan River, Fu River, Xin River, Rao River, and Xiu River all bring their waters here, and the lake surface grows ever fuller. Gazing out, the view is a vast and misty expanse of water (烟波浩渺, yanbo haomiao - "smoke, wave, vast, boundless"), and one can hardly tell where the sky ends and the water begins. When the wind blows, fine ripples rise on the lake, layer upon layer, rolling all the way to the distance. A few egrets skim low over the water, now darting past the reeds, now settling into the shallows, and the world between heaven and earth feels extraordinarily still.
Many people come to know Poyang Lake through winter. The Siberian cranes arrive, the Oriental white storks arrive, and tens of thousands of migratory birds fly from distant Siberia to spend the winter here.
But those who truly draw close to Poyang Lake know that the lake in summer is equally full of life. Little egrets, grey herons, night herons, and pond herons perch and forage along the shore, kingfishers skim across the water, wild ducks drift idly by, and now and then one can spot large waterbirds that did not return north, resting quietly at the lake's center. Though they are not as spectacular as the winter flocks, they keep this wetland pulsing with the rhythm of life.
There is another reason I like to come see Poyang Lake in summer. At this time there is no winter crowd, and the surroundings feel tranquil. Walking slowly along the lake embankment, listening to the wind pass through the reeds and the water lap against the shore, I happened to meet a worker patrolling the wetland on an electric bike, and I stepped up to strike up a conversation: "Master, are there a lot fewer tourists coming to see the waterbirds in summer?"
He squeezed the brake, brought the bike to a stop, and waved his hand with a smile: "In winter there are lots of people, all hustle and bustle; in summer there are few people and it's quiet, but the waterbirds have never left this lake." With that, he continued slowly patrolling along the embankment, leaving only the fading sound of the electric bike. The people by the lake all seem unhurried. They know this lake changes every day, yet it is always there.
In fact, Poyang Lake has never been merely a lake; it is also a vessel of culture.
Opening the pages of Chinese history, the earliest record of "Pengli" appears in the "Tribute of Yu" chapter of the Book of Documents. For thousands of years it has been an important body of water in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and it has also been endowed with the deepest cultural foundation of Jiangxi. The Gan River flows from south to north into Poyang Lake, and the lake's waters then pass through Hukou into the Yangtze. River and lake depend on each other, water and city accompany each other, and it is thus that Jiangxi's landscape and humanistic fabric have gradually unfolded.
Many people say that Jiangxi is a land "with mountains and with water." But what truly binds Jiangxi together is this one lake. Traveling north from Ganzhou, whether the Zhang River, the Gong River, the Fu River, the Xin River, or the Rao River, all eventually arrive here. They carry the stories, customs, and human warmth along their routes into the lake, and then with the lake's waters rush onward to the Yangtze. Poyang Lake is like a serene elder, quietly gathering up the mountains and waters, the humanity, and the history of the Gan-Po land.
This gathering is not static. It holds the far-reaching resonance of "fishing boats singing in the evening, the sound ringing to the shores of Pengli" from the Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng, and it holds the figure of Su Shi seeking truth and questioning doubt when he visited Stone Bell Mountain; it holds the creak of oars and the glimmer of lanterns from merchant boats plying these waters over the centuries, and it holds the everyday bustle of generations of lake-region people living by the water and thriving because of the lake.For the people of Jiangxi, Poyang Lake is not merely a geographic coordinate; it is a shared cultural memory.
Walking slowly along the lakeside trail toward the water, the view suddenly opens wide, and a lotus pond spreads quietly across the blue water. The lotus leaves spread in layers, and a gentle breeze carries the fragrance of lotus mixed with water vapor to one's face. A few children huddled together, raising binoculars to search carefully among the reed thickets for egrets resting there, now and then bursting into delighted laughter, while the adults held up their phones to take pictures of the children.
Suddenly I recalled that as a child, every spring I would follow the adults to the shore of Poyang Lake to pick lìhāo (seleng wormwood). At the time I did not know what was so special about it; I only heard the adults say, "The grass of Poyang Lake is the treasure of Nanchang's people," and watched them pinch off handful after handful of tender green lìhāo stems, which did indeed seem like picking up treasure. While the adults picked lìhāo, my playmates and I would chase dragonflies and catch small fish beside them. When the sun was high and the woven bags were full, everyone would sit on the embankment to rest, and the wind blowing off the lake carried the fresh scent of water plants, bringing great contentment. On the way home, someone would always say happily, "Today was great, enough to stir-fry with cured meat for several meals!"
Only as I grew up did I gradually come to understand that the lake shoal covered in lìhāo, those afternoons in the lake wind, and those days of following the adults to pick lìhāo had long become the most vivid part of memory. It was precisely then that I truly understood that "a lake is the eye of a land."
If Jiangxi's beautiful scenery were compared to a long scroll of mountains and waters, then Poyang Lake would be its brightest stroke. It reflects the mountains and rivers, and it reflects the passage of years; it reflects history, and it reflects the present day.
In recent years, as a series of ecological protection measures have been steadily advanced — the fishing ban in key waters of the Yangtze River basin, wetland restoration, migratory bird protection — Poyang Lake is undergoing new changes. Fish stocks are gradually increasing, summer resident birds are more active, and more and more people come here, no longer merely to admire the scenery but willing to slow their pace and feel the tranquility of humans living in harmony with nature.
On the way back, the setting sun was slowly sinking toward the western hills, and the lake surface was gilded with scattered gold. A few egrets flew toward the lake's center against the evening glow, gradually turning into small white dots. Rolling down the car window, the lake wind still blew in one's face, cool with the fragrance of lotus, intoxicating. Suddenly that saying came to mind again: "The grass of Poyang Lake is the treasure of Nanchang's people." In my youth, I only knew it meant a plate of fragrant lìhāo stir-fried with cured meat. Only after growing up did I slowly come to understand that it is in fact the gift of a land and its waters to a city, to generation after generation of Jiangxi's people. The lake's waters rise and fall year after year, the grassy shoals emerge and submerge season after season, the migratory birds come and go, yet the bond between people and lake, like the lake's own waters, is long and deep.
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