Summary: The article outlines State Grid's commitment to implementing Xi Jinping's thought on Party building to lead high-quality development, emphasizing Party leadership, ideological work, grassroots organization, cadre training, and anti-corruption efforts. It details mechanisms like the "Five Ones" working mechanism and the "Four Learnings" to ensure alignment with the Party Central Committee and General Secretary Xi Jinping's directives. State Grid aims to support national strategies, including the 15th Five-Year Plan, energy security, and the "dual carbon" goals, while advancing reforms and building a new type of power system. The piece stresses strengthening Party organizations, improving cadre and talent teams, and deepening strict Party governance to foster a clean political ecology. It concludes by tying these efforts to making State Grid stronger, better, and bigger, serving economic and social development, and achieving technological self-reliance.
Summary: The article argues that Chinese modernization, led by the Communist Party of China, has created a new form of human civilization and expanded the path for developing countries to achieve modernization. It contrasts Chinese modernization's five distinctive features—huge population scale, common prosperity, coordinated material and spiritual civilization, harmony with nature, and peaceful development—against the drawbacks of Western modernization, including polarization, materialism, ecological destruction, and colonial plunder. The piece asserts that Chinese modernization breaks the "unilinear view of history" and the myth that "modernization = Westernization," offering an alternative development experience for Global South countries. It emphasizes that this new form of civilization, rooted in socialism with Chinese characteristics and traditional culture, provides Chinese solutions for humanity's exploration of a better social system. The author is identified as the Dean of the Institute of Chinese Modernization, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Summary: The article recounts the "Lotus Tree Dialogue" of 1927, when Mao Zedong, during a grain-carrying campaign in the Jinggang Mountains, told soldiers that revolutionaries must "stand high and see far," seeing not only Jiangxi and Hunan but the whole of China and the world. It draws lessons from this dialogue for today's leading cadres, emphasizing the need for overall-situation awareness, strategic vision, and historical initiative. The piece cites General Secretary Xi Jinping on bearing in mind the two overall situations—the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the changes unseen in a century in the world—as the basic starting points for planning work. It also quotes Xi on the importance of accurate strategic judgments and on grasping historical laws to act in accordance with the prevailing trend and strive for achievement. The article concludes that on the new journey of Chinese modernization, leading cadres must carry forward the spirit of historical initiative to create new glories.
Summary: The disciplinary system is an important foundation for basic research, and it is necessary to improve the mechanism for adjusting disciplinary offerings in response to expanding disciplinary boundaries. Efforts should strengthen basic disciplines such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, and earth sciences, while promoting coordinated development of applied and basic disciplines. Attention and support should be given to less popular and weak disciplines, with cultivation of emerging disciplines and encouragement of multidisciplinary crossover and interdisciplinary research.
Summary: The article explains that new quality productive forces, a signature concept of Xi Jinping's economic thought, embody the innovative development of Marxist productive forces theory and guide high-quality development, following the recent issuance of the *Opinions on Developing New Quality Productive Forces* by the Central Committee and State Council. It traces the concept's theoretical origins to Marxism and its practical conditions to China's shift to high-quality development amid technological revolution and intensified international competition. The scientific connotation of new quality productive forces is defined by a leap in laborers, means of labor, objects of labor, and their optimized combination, with a substantial increase in total factor productivity as the core indicator, innovation as its characteristic, superior quality as its key, and advanced productive forces as its essence. To lead high-quality development, the article advocates promoting deep integration of scientific and technological innovation with industrial innovation, prioritizing self-reliance in science and technology, and combining investment in things with investment in people. The author is a specially appointed researcher at the Shanghai Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and a chair professor at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.
Summary: The article argues that narrative expression is key to disseminating the Party's innovative theory, citing General Secretary Xi Jinping's assertion that stories convey facts, images, emotions, and reasoning. It outlines four methods: telling facts well with truthful, complete, and typical examples; telling images well through concrete narration of people, scenes, and details; telling emotions well via empathetic, audience-oriented expression; and telling reasoning well through scholarly interpretation that unifies theory with practice. The author, identified as the Secretary of the Party Committee of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Academy of Social Sciences, emphasizes that this approach makes theory persuasive, attractive, appealing, and guiding.
Summary: The article outlines State Grid's commitment to implementing Xi Jinping's thought on Party building to lead high-quality development, emphasizing Party leadership, ideological work, grassroots organization, cadre training, and anti-corruption efforts. It details mechanisms like the "Five Ones" working mechanism and the "Four Learnings" to ensure alignment with the Party Central Committee and General Secretary Xi Jinping's directives. State Grid aims to support national strategies, including the 15th Five-Year Plan, energy security, and the "dual carbon" goals, while advancing reforms and building a new type of power system. The piece stresses strengthening Party organizations, improving cadre and talent teams, and deepening strict Party governance to foster a clean political ecology. It concludes by tying these efforts to making State Grid stronger, better, and bigger, serving economic and social development, and achieving technological self-reliance.
Summary: General Secretary Xi Jinping has stressed that adhering to seeking truth from facts is not something that can be achieved once and for all, as objective reality is constantly changing and human cognition is inherently limited. Zhang Yan, Deputy Dean of the School of Marxism at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, explains that this principle faces challenges from the complexity of the objective world, subjective cognitive limitations such as dogmatism and empiricism, selfish considerations that undermine Party spirit, and the need for sound institutional safeguards. She notes that past experience and methods may no longer apply when conditions shift, and that overcoming one-sidedness requires deep investigation and repeated examination. The article emphasizes that seeking truth from facts demands selfless courage to confront contradictions and uphold truth for the people's interests, supported by a healthy political atmosphere and robust institutions. Ultimately, it is an endless process requiring continuous recalibration, not a task achievable in a single step or overnight.
Summary: The article argues that Chinese modernization, led by the Communist Party of China, has created a new form of human civilization and expanded the path for developing countries to achieve modernization. It contrasts Chinese modernization's five distinctive features—huge population scale, common prosperity, coordinated material and spiritual civilization, harmony with nature, and peaceful development—against the drawbacks of Western modernization, including polarization, materialism, ecological destruction, and colonial plunder. The piece asserts that Chinese modernization breaks the "unilinear view of history" and the myth that "modernization = Westernization," offering an alternative development experience for Global South countries. It emphasizes that this new form of civilization, rooted in socialism with Chinese characteristics and traditional culture, provides Chinese solutions for humanity's exploration of a better social system. The author is identified as the Dean of the Institute of Chinese Modernization, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Summary: The Party Committee of China National Chemical Engineering Group Corporation has implemented a "1366" Party building work system, coordinating the "Six Major Projects" to use high-quality Party building to lead high-quality development, achieving "seven consecutive A ratings" in central enterprise Party building assessments. The Group has deepened the Navigation Project by implementing the "135" development strategy, advancing SOE reform, and serving Belt and Road construction through "T+EPC" and "T+Industry" model innovations. Under the Talent Cultivation Project, it has optimized cadre structures, with promoted cadres under 45 and those with professional backgrounds accounting for 51% and 75% respectively. The Foundation-Strengthening Project has established over 1,100 Party organizations across project sites and broken through key technologies such as adiponitrile and POE elastomers. The Group has also advanced the Brand, Integrity, and Cohesion Projects, including anti-corruption efforts, rural revitalization support, and youth development initiatives, while accelerating construction of a world-class innovative engineering company.
Summary: The article, authored by the Party Committee of Huadian Shuozhou Thermal Power, outlines the enterprise's strategy for serving local development in Shanxi during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. It emphasizes the role of high-quality Party building as the "root" and "soul" of the state-owned enterprise, guiding its steady progress. The piece details the company's efforts to ensure energy security, including completing a 202-day heating task and maintaining over 3,900 days of safe unit operation. It also highlights technological innovations, such as the nation's first "20 MWh new-type packed bed thermal storage system" for auxiliary peak shaving, and lean management practices to improve efficiency. The article concludes by reaffirming the enterprise's commitment to its main responsibilities in supporting the construction of a major energy country and local economic development.
Summary: The article describes Heze Vocational College's construction of a "three-dimensional integration" grand ideological and political education system, integrating fine traditional Chinese culture, intangible cultural heritage, and social practice into talent cultivation. The college has built an intangible cultural heritage inheritance hall, introduced 40 national-level and provincial-level inheritors, and developed courses such as "Caozhou Dough Figurines" and "Yellow River Clay Sculpture." It also polishes the "Heze Beauty" volunteer service brand and advances project-based social research, with over 2,500 students participating in community activities since 2024. The author, the Party Committee Secretary of Heze Vocational College, emphasizes transforming ideological and political education from knowledge indoctrination to cultural infiltration and practical cultivation. The piece concludes by affirming the college's commitment to cultivating high-quality technical and skilled talents with both virtue and skill for regional economic and social development.
Summary: The article discusses China's efforts to promote the low-altitude economy, which has been incorporated into emerging pillar industries with systematic arrangements at both top-level design and local exploration levels. The "Opinions on Developing New Quality Productive Forces" issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council proposes promoting the healthy and orderly development of the low-altitude economy and commercial aerospace on the premise of ensuring safety. The high-end think tank edition of Study Times has launched an in-depth discussion on this topic.
Summary: The article argues that the low-altitude economy is a strategic emerging industry requiring coordinated advancement of top-level design and grassroots exploration to achieve steady development. It outlines the sector's strategic value, distinctive characteristics, and current progress in institutions, industrial operations, scenario expansion, and local pilots, while identifying constraints such as insufficient application promotion, unclear development paths, and unsmooth regional coordination. The author, identified as the President of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, proposes measures including strengthening top-level coordination, building a whole-chain resilient governance system, deepening scenario traction, advancing integrated infrastructure construction, and optimizing regional differentiated development. The piece notes global competition among major economies in the low-altitude field, including around electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft and drone systems.
Summary: The article argues that China's low-altitude economy has expanded rapidly—from 23 to 257 prefecture-level cities incorporating it into their plans—but warns that this "heat" must be matched by stable, rule-based development. It notes key technological bottlenecks, including over 70% foreign dependence on high-performance aviation motors and electronic control systems, and a domestic localization rate under 30% for core components. The piece highlights recent institutional steps, such as the revised Civil Aviation Law adding a chapter on "development promotion" and the establishment of dedicated departments by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Civil Aviation Administration. It calls for a "three-pronged approach" encompassing accelerated rule-making, integrated low-altitude intelligent infrastructure, and risk governance, alongside using scale applications to form a commercial closed loop. The author, a researcher at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, also stresses the need for a comprehensive talent cultivation system to secure long-term competitiveness.
Summary: The article analyzes the global shift toward low-cost military equipment, driven by the evolution of warfare forms, diffusion of military-civilian technology, and the pull of system-of-systems confrontation. It outlines three national paths: the U.S. "commercial innovation" model, Russia's "fortress economy" inventory refurbishment, and Europe's "collective defense" joint procurement. The U.S. approach, highlighted by a 2025 executive order and the integration of the Defense Innovation Unit into an innovation ecosystem, leverages commercial technology and acquisition reform. Russia reuses Soviet-era stockpiles, while Europe aggregates demand and financing, exemplified by a NATO ammunition partnership saving over 11.5 million euros. The article concludes that no single model achieves full cost-effectiveness balance across the value, supply, and kill chains, and future competition hinges on sustaining attrition and intelligent warfare with a low-cost, mass-producible, and replenishable equipment system.
Summary: The article examines the evolution and design principles of trainer aircraft, highlighting their role in cultivating pilots through staged training from screening to tactical engagement. It traces the development from piston-engine trainers in World War I to digital platforms in the 21st century, emphasizing three core design principles: high safety, low cost, and performance adaptability. The piece notes that modern trainer aircraft, such as the U.S. T-7A "Red Hawk" and Italy's M-346, incorporate digital fly-by-wire and embedded training systems for virtual-real air combat simulation. It also discusses the shift toward a comprehensive training ecosystem integrating simulators, in-air aircraft, and digital fighters, as well as the multi-role capability of trainer attack aircraft like Brazil's "Super Tucano" in counterterrorism missions. The article concludes that trainer aircraft development reflects the coordinated evolution of talent cultivation concepts and aviation engineering technology in the context of intelligent warfare.
Summary: The article examines how the Red Army creatively applied mobile warfare during the Long March, abandoning rigid positional defense in favor of flexible tactics to survive against overwhelming Nationalist forces. It highlights the principle of "fight when you can win, move on when you cannot," citing battles like Loushan Pass and Tucheng as examples of striking weak enemies and avoiding strong ones. The piece stresses that mobile warfare did not exclude necessary positional warfare, as seen in operations like seizing the Luding Bridge, and details a comprehensive tactical system including feinting, ambushes, and continuous maneuvering. The summary focuses on the Red Army's strategic adaptations and operational methods without referencing the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: The article explores the "threefold not-taking" framework from Ming dynasty official Xue Xuan's *Record of Governance*, which categorizes the incorruptible into three grades: those who see principle clearly and do not take improperly, those who esteem reputation and integrity and do not take carelessly, and those who fear the law and protect rank and salary and dare not take. It elaborates on the philosophical foundations of each grade, drawing on classical texts such as the *Book of Documents*, *Doctrine of the Mean*, *Mencius*, and *Zuo Commentary* to discuss reverence, sincerity, shame, and legal deterrence as grounds for integrity. The article concludes that these three levels—from external punishment to internal moral self-consciousness—can be mutually referenced with the contemporary integrated advancement of the approach of not daring to be corrupt, not being able to be corrupt, and not wanting to be corrupt, offering reference significance for building today's three defense lines of punishment, institutions, and ideological morality.
Summary: The article traces the history and naming of Mochou Lake in Nanjing, explaining that its name first appeared in the *Zhengde Jiangning County Gazetteer* of the Ming dynasty, though the water body existed earlier without that name. The name derives from the legend of the Mochou woman, originally associated with the Han River basin in Zhongxiang, Hubei, and was transplanted to Nanjing through a misreading by Song-dynasty poet Zhou Bangyan of the yuefu line "Mochou is west of Stone City." The author argues that this contingent error resonated with Nanjing's cultural identity, as a city with a history of rise and fall naturally values the consolation of "Mochou." The piece concludes that the naming reflects the collective mentality of literati and Nanjing's urban character, turning sorrow into no sorrow.
Summary: The article examines the "Imperial Instructions on the Essentials for Assumption of Office," a document personally formulated by Ming Taizu, Zhu Yuanzhang, in 1393 to guide newly appointed local officials. It details how the text reduced complex governance to a thirty-one-item checklist covering affairs, assets, and people, requiring "specific numbers" and "separate reporting" for verification. The piece highlights the governance philosophy of "putting the people at ease as the foundation," with priority given to sacrifices, relief, and prisoner review, alongside the use of village elders and filial exemplars for positive guidance. It also stresses the importance of managing subordinates, controlling clerk appointments, and ensuring clear handovers between outgoing and incoming officials to prevent "ignoring previous commitments upon taking office." The article concludes that while era-specific elements have passed, the document's insights on investigation, checklist thinking, and team building retain enduring governance wisdom.
Summary: The article reports on Daguan County in Zhaotong City, Yunnan Province, which uses Party building as a guide to develop its Qiongzhu bamboo industry, establishing Party organizations on the industrial chain to reshape its organizational form. The county has built a whole-industrial-chain development pattern and implemented benefit linkage mechanisms, with the bamboo area reaching 1.06 million mu and a 2025 comprehensive output value of 3.111 billion yuan benefiting 190,000 people. It details measures such as establishing 12 industrial chain Party branches, a "Party branch + leading enterprise + cooperative + farmer" model, and "Qiongzhu Loan" banking products. The county also strengthens organizational guarantees through technical training, Party member technical assistance groups, and cultivating new Party members from industrial backbone personnel. The article concludes that the key lies in transforming the Party's organizational advantages into industrial development advantages, turning lucid waters and lush mountains into mountains of gold and silver.
Summary: The Suzhou Municipal Tobacco Monopoly Bureau (Company) of Anhui Province has implemented heart-to-heart talks with employees as part of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, reporting declines in discipline violations, petitions, and complaints alongside improved employee satisfaction. The bureau introduced the concept of "treating disease before it occurs," established a talk mechanism, and adhered to principles of prevention first and grasping problems early to promptly understand employees' ideological trends. It applies a "three resolutions" principle—resolve problems, explain reasons, and untie inner knots—while building a "Public Opinion Gathering" platform to smooth feedback channels and address management shortcomings. The bureau focuses on four "must-talk" occasions—position adjustments, ideological fluctuations, life difficulties, and emerging problems—and has explored a complete chain from research and baseline surveys to follow-up implementation to improve talk methods. It has also established a feedback mechanism for rationalization suggestions and continues to improve the long-term mechanism for heart-to-heart talks, promoting normalization and full coverage of employees.
Summary: State Grid Shandong Electric Power Company's Changqing District Power Supply Company in Jinan has been rated as a Jinan all-staff innovation enterprise for pooling all-staff innovation to support high-quality development. It built a Shandong Province model worker and artisan innovation studio and linked with local universities and high-tech enterprises, earning the "High-Value Innovation Platform for the Incubation of Scientific and Technological Achievements" title from the China Energy Research Society. The company has won four awards at the same level, including the "First-Class Achievement" for employee technological innovation from the China Workers' Technical Association, plus multiple provincial-level management innovation awards. These efforts drive the high-quality development of the company and the power grid through strengthened scientific and technological innovation momentum.
By: 国家电网有限公司党组
Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has, centering on the major issues of the era concerning what kind of long-term governing Marxist party to build and how to build it, put forward a series of new concepts, new ideas, and new strategies for governing the Party, strengthening the Party, and invigorating the Party, thereby forming Xi Jinping's thought on Party building. This marks that our Party's understanding of the laws of governance by communist parties and the laws of building Marxist parties has reached a new height, opening up a new realm in the Sinicization and modernization of Marxist party-building theory, and providing fundamental guidance and a guide to action for deeply advancing the great new project of Party building in the new era. As a key state-owned enterprise fulfilling national strategic missions, a backbone electric power enterprise safeguarding national energy security, and a public utility enterprise serving the national economy and people's livelihoods, State Grid must thoroughly study and implement Xi Jinping's thought on Party building and the important exposition and instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping on the reform and development of state-owned enterprises and Party building, deeply implement the new era high-quality Party building project, effectively transform the Party's political and organizational advantages into advantages for enterprise development and victory, and lead the high-quality development of the company and the power grid with high-quality Party building.
Uphold and strengthen the Party's overall leadership, and always advance courageously in the direction charted by General Secretary Xi Jinping
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that socialism with Chinese characteristics has many characteristics and features, but its most essential feature is upholding the leadership of the Communist Party of China. Practice has fully proven that upholding and strengthening the Party's overall leadership is the "stabilizing anchor" for the continuous development of the Party and the country's cause. As an important material and political foundation of socialism with Chinese characteristics, state-owned enterprises must profoundly understand the decisive significance of the Two Establishments (两个确立), strengthen the Four Consciousnesses (四个意识), firm up the Four Confidences (四个自信), and achieve the Two Upholds (两个维护). On the new journey, State Grid will firmly grasp the highest political principle of upholding the centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, take the Party's political construction as the guide, and ensure that the entire company remains highly consistent with the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core in ideology, politics, and action.
Resolutely achieve the Two Upholds. Deepen the "Five Ones" working mechanism, making the implementation of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions and directives the "first driving force" for high-quality development, the "first agenda item" of Party group (Party committee) meetings, the "first task" of supervision and urging, the "first content" of requests for instructions and reports, and the "first indicator" of supervision and assessment, so that when General Secretary Xi Jinping issues orders, when the Party Central Committee makes deployments, State Grid takes action.
Always bear in mind the "great affairs of the nation." Place the company's work within the overall framework of the Party and the country's work to think about, plan, and advance it, fully implement the outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan, improve the strategic control system that integrates strategy, planning, plans, budgets, and assessment, and ensure the effective implementation of national strategies. Resolutely shoulder the primary responsibility for electricity supply security, adhere to government-enterprise coordination and united grid governance, increase the intensity of surplus-deficit mutual assistance, strengthen refined load management, and provide a strong power supply guarantee for high-quality economic and social development.
Unswervingly deepen reform in an all-round way. Adhere to the "Two Consistent Adherences," conscientiously implement the new round of plans for deepening the reform of state-owned assets and state-owned enterprises, continuously improve the modern enterprise system with Chinese characteristics, and advance the modernization of the company's governance system and governance capacity. Steadily advance the reform of former collective enterprises, continuously optimize the business layout, accelerate the exit from non-core businesses, strengthen supporting businesses, and strive to basically complete the transition period tasks during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. Adhere to the direction of market-oriented reform, accelerate the construction of a unified national electricity market, better leverage the market's role in allocating electric power resources, and serve the construction of the new development pattern.
Persist in forging the soul and consolidating the heart, and consciously become firm believers and faithful practitioners of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that ideological construction is the foundational construction of the Party. Only with strong theory can there be clear direction, united hearts, and sufficient confidence. At present, changes unseen in a century are accelerating their evolution. The more arduous the tasks, the more we need to firmly grasp the "master switch" of ideals and convictions, continuously build a solid foundation of faith, replenish the calcium of the spirit, and steady the rudder of thought. On the new journey, State Grid will highlight the main theme and main line of studying and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, make efforts in understanding, mastering, and applying it, show real results in deepening, internalizing, and transforming it, and turn the results of learning into a powerful force for firming up ideals, tempering Party spirit, guiding practice, and promoting work.
Implement the primary task of "learning thought." Improve the long-term mechanism for the "Four Learnings," strengthen the closed-loop management of "learning, thinking, researching, and applying" in central groups, strictly implement systems such as the "Three Meetings and One Lesson" for Party branches, and achieve the goal of entering the mind and heart and mastering a subject thoroughly or integrating different ideas (融会贯通, rong hui guan tong - "melt, combine, penetrate, through"). Implement the basic training mechanism, carry out systematic training on the Party's innovative theory, give full play to the role of Party schools at all levels of the company, and achieve full coverage of theoretical training. Adhere to applying what is learned, consciously seek ideas, methods, and answers from the Party's innovative theory, and use the "golden key" of great thought to solve the difficulties in the company's reform and development.
Establish and practice a correct view of political achievements. Adhere to the people-centered development thought, deepen the construction of an excellent power supply service system, formulate and implement ten measures for building a modern electricity consumption business environment that empowers high-quality economic and social development, continuously improve the level of "access to electricity" services, and meet the needs of the transition from "having electricity" to "using electricity well." Adhere to doing more things that lay foundations and benefit the long term, strive to improve the working mechanism for effectively preventing and correcting deviations in the view of political achievements, and strive to create achievements that stand the test of practice, the people, and history.
Make good use of the "family heirloom" of ideological and political work. Thoroughly implement the "Regulations of the Communist Party of China on Ideological and Political Work," adhere to the "three combinations" of explicit education and implicit education, solving ideological problems and solving practical problems, and broad coverage and classified guidance, and run ideological and political work through all work of the Party. Strengthen education on ideals and convictions, deepen the characteristic theme practice of "red genes, electric power inheritance," build the State Grid pioneering culture system, and better unify thought, consolidate consensus, and gather strength.
Firmly establish a clear orientation of focusing on the grassroots, and strive to build strong and powerful fighting fortresses
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that a rigorous organizational system is the advantage and strength of a Marxist party. Only when all Party organizations at all levels are sound and excellent, forming a rigorous organizational system that is connected from top to bottom and executes effectively, can the Party's leadership be "like the body commanding the arms, like the arms commanding the fingers." State Grid has more than 50,000 Party organizations and nearly 600,000 Party members, which is our greatest organizational advantage in doing all work well. On the new journey, State Grid will always regard grasping the grassroots and laying a solid foundation as a long-term plan and a fundamental strategy, adhere to the principle of grasping each level and leading the next level through the current level, continuously enhance the political and organizational functions of Party organizations, and make every Party branch a fighting fortress where the Party flag flies high.
Build a strong grassroots organizational system. Keep pace with the pace of enterprise reform and development, dynamically adjust and optimize the establishment of grassroots Party organizations according to changes in organizational structure, business models, and employment methods, and promote the principle that where they should be established, they must be established, and where they should be replaced, they must be replaced. Implement an action to improve the quality of organizational construction, continuously and comprehensively strengthen Party building in former collective enterprises, strengthen Party building work in key areas such as mixed-ownership enterprises and financial institutions in a targeted manner, and promote the comprehensive progress and comprehensive excellence of Party organizations.
Deepen joint Party building and co-construction. Vigorously carry forward the glorious tradition of "building Party branches at the company level," focus on the main battlefields of power supply security and power grid construction, promote the "project department + Party branch" model, deepen the construction and management of temporary Party organizations, and build a solid red fortress for overcoming difficulties. Deeply implement the Party building empowerment projects for the industrial chain and innovation chain, promote joint organizational construction, joint problem solving, shared resources, joint quality assurance, joint talent cultivation, and joint integrity building, work hand in hand with upstream and downstream of the industrial chain to break through "bottleneck" problems, and achieve overall self-reliance and controllability of key technologies and equipment during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
Actively integrate into grassroots governance. Give full play to the natural advantage of the power grid connecting thousands of households, deepen the co-construction of "community-grid," "village-grid," and "park-grid," carry out the electric power practice of the Fengqiao model, and continuously consolidate the foundation of grassroots grid governance. Promote the normalization and institutionalization of the construction of Communist Party member service teams, respond to every call and help whenever there is difficulty, improve the grassroots co-governance pattern of industries such as water, electricity, gas, and telecommunications, promote the coordinated development of power supply services and territorial governance, be a good vanguard of electric power, and build a bridge connecting the Party and the people.
Implement the Party's organizational line for the new era, and strive to build an excellent team for governing the enterprise and revitalizing the enterprise
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that leading personnel of state-owned enterprises are the Party's backbone cadres in the economic field, an important source of composite talents for governing the country, and shoulder the important responsibility of managing state-owned assets and achieving preservation and appreciation of value. This important assertion profoundly elucidates the important mission of leading personnel of state-owned enterprises. On the new journey, State Grid will adhere to the standards for good cadres in the new era and the "20-character" requirements for leading personnel of state-owned enterprises, centering on the needs of building a new type of power system and building a world-class enterprise, select good cadres, strengthen teams, and gather talents, and lead the orientation of entrepreneurship and work with the correct orientation for selecting and employing people.
Build a strong team of leading personnel. Adhere to the principles of having both moral integrity and professional competence, putting morality first, and appointing people on their merits, deepen the investigation of political quality, and vigorously select cadres who have been tested and achieved outstanding results in major tasks and critical moments such as power supply security and emergency rescue and disaster relief. Deepen the "Double Thousand Project," increase the intensity of training and using young cadres, and make overall use of cadres of all age groups. Strengthen the management and supervision of "top leaders" and leading teams at all levels, improve the evaluation system for leading teams and leading personnel, and promote the formation of a good situation in which the capable are promoted, the excellent are rewarded, the mediocre are demoted, and the inferior are eliminated.
Strengthen the role of Party members. Improve and implement the management and supervision mechanism for Party members, deepen the "Double Cultivation and One Delivery," implement the "One Leads Two" for Party members, strengthen the education and management of Party members under various forms of employment and mobile Party members, and bring every Party member into effective management. Deepen the creation of power grid vanguard Party branches and Party member responsibility zones, demonstration posts, and commando teams, and encourage the majority of Party members to be pioneers and set examples in their own positions. Improve the mechanism for Party members to be mobilized in emergency response and play their role, organize the majority of Party members to charge ahead and shoulder heavy burdens in doing emergency rescue and disaster relief work well, build a solid line of defense for light, and guard the lights of thousands of households.
Strengthen talent support and incentives. Deeply implement the "Double Cultivation Plan" for leading scientific and technological talents and leading technical and skilled talents, increase support for leading talents, integrate the allocation of projects, platforms, and funds, deepen the reform of empowering the transformation of scientific and technological achievements from official positions, and achieve the policy of "giving all that should be given, giving all that can be given." Treat the building of a team of young scientific and technological talents as a strategic project, make good use of the project chief engineer and young chief engineer systems, deeply implement the youth talent support project and the special support plan for young scientific and technological talents, and let more and more young scientific and technological talents stand out.
Persist in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, and continuously consolidate a clean and upright political ecology
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that we must adhere to grasping Party spirit, Party conduct, and Party discipline together, connect the rectification of conduct, the enforcement of discipline, and the fight against corruption, and make unremitting efforts to eradicate the soil and conditions for corruption. Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, the Party Central Committee has started with the formulation and implementation of the Central Eight-Point Regulation, established iron rules and strong constraints, and promoted a completely new look in Party conduct and government conduct. On the new journey, State Grid will thoroughly implement the Party's self-revolution "five further implementations in place" and "three more" important requirements, resolutely shoulder the primary responsibility, take cases as a mirror, keep the alarm bell ringing, and promote the deepening of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party.
Continuously deepen political supervision. Focus on General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speeches and important instructions and directives on central enterprises, energy and electric power, Party building, as well as in fields such as safety in production and flood prevention and disaster relief, strengthen supervision over the implementation of strategic tasks such as building a strong energy country and building a new type of power system, and promote the effective implementation of the Party Central Committee's major policies and guidelines. Keep a close eye on the company's 15th Five-Year Plan, focus on important tasks such as energy transformation, scientific and technological innovation, and deepening reform, strengthen ledger-based management, list-based supervision, and project-based advancement, promptly discover problems and correct deviations, and fully guarantee the implementation and landing of major decisions and deployments.
Persevere in rectifying the Four Malfeasances. Adhere to taking the Central Eight-Point Regulation as an iron rule and a hard benchmark, improve the mechanism for regularly discovering and solving problems of work style, deepen the simultaneous investigation and treatment of malfeasance and corruption, and promote the normalization and long-term effectiveness of work style construction. Strictly implement the "Several Provisions on Rectifying Formalism and Reducing Burdens on the Grassroots," continuously streamline documents and meetings, coordinate and standardize supervision, inspection, and assessment, and let the grassroots have more time and energy to implement.
Continuously strengthen discipline construction. Adhere to the combination of regular education and centralized education, promote the integration of Party discipline construction into daily life and regular work, and comprehensively give play to the role of Party discipline education in restraint, guarantee, and incentive. Strengthen special training on discipline education, focus on the "key minority" and key areas, and promote discipline education throughout the entire cycle of cadre growth and the entire process of organizational management. Strengthen warning education, use things around us to educate people around us, and let the majority of Party members and cadres know awe, maintain fear, and hold the bottom line.
Integrate the promotion of not daring to be corrupt, not being able to be corrupt, and not wanting to be corrupt. Take intra-Party supervision as the leading force, promote the coordination and synergy of disciplinary inspection, inspection and patrol, audit, and financial and accounting supervision forces. Always maintain a high-pressure stance against corruption, strengthen control over key areas, and resolutely investigate new types of corruption and hidden corruption. Deeply advance the centralized rectification of unhealthy tendencies and corruption problems around the people, adhere to the "Three Focuses," strictly investigate "fly corruption and ant corruption" in the process of the people's electricity application and use, and practice the enterprise purpose of the people's electric power industry serving the people. Improve the mechanism for the allocation of power and the restriction of its operation, improve the institutional mechanism that unifies authorization, power use, and power control, and is clear, transparent, and traceable, and promote the better transformation of institutional advantages into enterprise governance efficiency. Implement a three-year action plan for the construction of a clean culture in the new era, so that a clean culture prevails. Deepen the rectification of central inspections, promote the integrated advancement of rectification of problems found by internal and external inspections and audits, and promote high-quality development through high-quality rectification.
Resolutely fulfill the strategic mission, and strive to promote State Grid to become stronger, better, and bigger
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that state-owned enterprises are an important force for strengthening the country's overall strength and safeguarding the common interests of the people, and must be made stronger, better, and bigger with full confidence. Practice has fully proven that upholding the Party's leadership and strengthening Party building are the glorious tradition and unique advantage of China's state-owned enterprises. Party building work, when done solidly, is productivity; when done strongly, is competitiveness; when done meticulously, is cohesion. On the new journey, State Grid will adhere to the original aspiration and founding mission entrusted by the Party and the state, better serve the overall work of the Party and the state, serve high-quality economic and social development, serve to safeguard and improve people's livelihoods, and give full play to the role of scientific and technological innovation, industrial control, and security support.
Promote the construction of a new type of power system. Major infrastructure such as the power grid is the foundation for the operation of the economy and society. State Grid will deeply practice the new energy security strategy of "Four Revolutions and One Cooperation," centering on the goal of initially building a new type of power system by 2030, and encourage the majority of Party members and cadres to take the initiative and shoulder responsibility in advancing the high-quality construction of UHV, serving the green transformation of energy production and consumption, and supporting the grid connection and consumption of new energy and the construction of new energy storage. Conscientiously implement the Party Central Committee's "dual carbon" work deployment, formulate and implement several measures to help the country achieve the 15th Five-Year Plan carbon peak goal, strive to build a "4+2" work system serving the "dual carbon" goals, support the implementation of the dual control system for carbon emissions, and help promote the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development.
Strengthen the integrated development of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation. Implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's inspection of NARI Group, strengthen the Party organization construction of national key laboratories, directly affiliated scientific research units, and provincial electric power research institutes, organize Party member backbone to "take the lead in tackling key problems," and strengthen applied basic research and key core technology research. Strengthen the "dual leadership" model of chain-leading enterprises and equipment enterprises, and help electrical equipment manufacturing enterprises improve equipment performance and quality. Support the development of strategic emerging industries and the cultivation of future industries, actively participate in the construction of national-level and industry-level innovation consortia and industrial technology alliances, and collaborate to tackle key problems to empower the upgrading of the industrial chain.
Accelerate the construction of a world-class enterprise. Adhere to long-termism and value orientation, promote value creation actions on a regular and long-term basis, organize the majority of Party members to strengthen centralized research on management difficulties and efficiency bottlenecks, and achieve steady progress in the "one profit and five rates," growth in added value matching GDP growth, and maintaining a stable and resilient financial structure. Continuously improve and perfect the strategic control mechanism, power grid management mechanism, and enterprise governance mechanism, advance the construction of a rule-of-law State Grid, continuously enhance core functions, improve core competitiveness, and promote the quality improvement and leap of the company and the power grid's high-quality development.
Return to TopBy: 张冠梓
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that "the Party has led the people in advancing Chinese modernization, creating a new form of human civilization and expanding the path for developing countries to achieve modernization." Placed within the historical process of world modernization, Chinese modernization both suits China's actual conditions and embodies the laws of socialist construction as well as the laws of human social development, demonstrating distinct and unique practical achievements. Chinese modernization has profoundly changed China's own development landscape, and through its own development it continues to influence the world, forming new path exploration and civilizational creation within the process of world modernization. Examined from a broader world perspective and a longer historical scale, the significance of Chinese modernization for world development will become even clearer.
Creating a Unique Practice of World Modernization
Chinese modernization has been gradually formed through long-term development exploration since the founding of New China, especially since reform and opening up. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era has continuously achieved new theoretical and practical results, further promoting the growing maturity of the path of Chinese modernization. The extraordinary modernization practice carried out by the Chinese Communist Party leading the people, based on the country's own national conditions, has provided new experience for world modernization and demonstrated distinct and unique political and institutional advantages.
Always upholding the Party's leadership, the greatest political advantage. Chinese modernization is socialist modernization led by the Chinese Communist Party, possessing both the common features of modernization in all countries and Chinese characteristics based on its own national conditions. In his report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly elucidated the essential requirements of Chinese modernization, the first of which is "upholding the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party"; he clearly proposed the "five major principles" that must be firmly grasped on the road forward, the first of which is "upholding and strengthening the Party's overall leadership." In the process of Chinese modernization, the Chinese Communist Party plays the leading core role of having a bird's-eye view and overall control (总揽全局, zong lan ju ju - "total, grasp, whole, situation") and coordinating all parties. A firm political stance, long-term-oriented strategic planning, a broad world perspective, outstanding governance capacity, and a political character of continuous self-renewal enable our Party, the largest Marxist governing party in the world, to grasp the overall direction of modernization construction and continuously improve its ability to respond to complex tasks and risks and challenges.
Fully leveraging the institutional advantage of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. After the Opium War, various strata of Chinese society carried out striving for national survival (救亡图存, jiu wang tu cun - "seek ways to save the nation and survive") and making extraordinary efforts through extreme hardships (艰苦卓绝, jian ku zhuo jue - "hardship, extremely, great") in institutional exploration. Various plans to save the nation successively appeared on China's stage and then faded away in obscurity. This demonstrates to people that the approach of applying something mechanically without considering circumstances (生搬硬套, sheng ban ying tao - "live, copy, rigid, apply") to the institutional models of other countries, disregarding one's own national conditions, was doomed to fail in China. After the birth of the Chinese Communist Party, it accumulated rich experience in modernization construction through making hard beginnings through arduous toil (筚路蓝缕, bi lu lan lu - "brush, path, blue, silk") in revolutionary practice. The founding of New China marked the entry of the construction of China's modern state system into a completely new stage. The Party combined Marxist state theory with China's specific realities and established a complete set of national institutional systems rooted in local conditions and suited to actual circumstances, with the socialist system as the main symbol. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has demonstrated extraordinary political courage, actively breaking through ideological barriers, daring to touch solidified interests, resolutely removing institutional and mechanistic maladies constraining development, and promoting systematic and holistic deep-seated changes in many fields, continuously consolidating the institutional guarantee for Chinese modernization.
Effectively making good use of the important magic weapon of concentrating resources to accomplish major undertakings. Concentrating resources to accomplish major undertakings, as a distinctive feature of China's national system and national governance system, is reflected both in the effective coordination of resources from all aspects in the face of major tasks and in the coordinated actions formed by different regions and departments around common goals. Winning the battle against poverty vividly demonstrated this institutional advantage. Through mechanisms such as east-west poverty alleviation cooperation and paired assistance, various regions and departments continuously channeled resources such as talent, funds, and technology to poverty-stricken areas, while also drawing in broad participation from all sectors of society. Modernization places relatively high demands on both the resource base and organizational capacity. Whether long-term goals can be transformed into sustained cross-level, cross-regional action, and whether effective coordination can be formed in major tasks, will both affect the actual advancement of the modernization process. Through concentrating resources to accomplish major undertakings, China's practice has thus taken on the characteristic of organizational capacity adapting to the scale of development.
Making a Systematic Response to the Predicament of Western Modernization
Chinese modernization follows the general laws of modernization development, such as industrialization, urbanization, scientific and technological innovation, and institutional construction, but it is not a simple imitation of or opposition to Western modernization. Rather, it is a creative transcendence based on absorbing the achievements of human civilization, contributing Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to humanity's exploration of a better social system. Looking at the five distinctive features of Chinese modernization summarized at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, each feature corresponds to the deep-seated drawbacks and predicaments of Western modernization.
The distinctive feature of a huge population scale forms a sharp contrast between Chinese modernization and the limited population benefited by Western modernization. In terms of population scale, fewer than 30 countries in the world have achieved industrialization, with a combined population of less than 1 billion. China's population of more than 1.4 billion is a realistic condition that must be faced in achieving Chinese modernization, and it also gives this process a distinct characteristic of scale. As China as a whole enters modernization, the balance of forces and the landscape of world modernization will undergo profound changes, effectively breaking the world map of modernization framed by some Western countries attempting to impose a Western-centric worldview, and expanding the development space of world modernization in the process of contributing momentum and opportunities to global development, providing stronger impetus for world modernization.
The essential feature of common prosperity for all the people forms a contrast between Chinese modernization and the severe polarization caused by the capital-centered nature of Western modernization. Western modernization proceeds under the dominance of "capital logic," centered on capital, with all its starting points and ultimate goals being the maximization of capital interests, inevitably leading to the gap between rich and poor and extreme inequality in economy and society, and even social tearing and human alienation. Marx pointed out in Das Kapital that "capital comes into the world dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt," profoundly revealing the cruelty and evil accompanying the primitive accumulation of capital. The goal of common prosperity pursued by Chinese modernization requires that development results be reflected more in the improvement of people's lives and the sharing of development achievements, so that the people's interests run through the entire process of modernization construction. Adhering to putting the people first and continuously advancing toward common prosperity embodies the transcendence of Chinese modernization over the development logic of capital supremacy.
The lofty pursuit of coordinating material civilization and spiritual civilization forms a contrast between Chinese modernization and Western modernization, where the expansion of materialism leads to emptiness in the spiritual world. Western modernization takes industrialization as its core standard and one-sidedly pursues economic growth, unable to take into account the coordinated development of political, cultural, ecological, and other fields. Under the capitalist system, the profit-seeking nature of capital leads to the proliferation of productionism and consumerism, with instrumental rationality replacing humanistic values, forming a vicious cycle of "materialism-ecological destruction." The expansion of materialism is an inevitable product of the Western modernization model, rooted in its historical path and institutional defects, and its result inevitably leads to worsening wealth disparity and spiritual emptiness.
The distinctive feature of harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature forms a contrast between Chinese modernization and the ecological destruction caused by the Western modernization approach of polluting first and treating later. The anthropocentrism of Western modernization advocates using human interests as the value starting point for moral judgment, holding that nature has only instrumental value, leading to the alienation of the relationship between humanity and nature. While creating abundant material wealth, it also causes excessive consumption of natural resources and unhealable environmental trauma. Engels pointed out that "let us not, however, flatter ourselves overmuch on account of our human victories over nature. For each such victory nature takes its revenge on us." Some development models of Western modernization tolerated environmental pollution in the early stages of economic development, only treating the environment after economic levels improved, causing Western modernization to pay a high price. While advancing industrial civilization, Chinese modernization adheres to harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature, emphasizes ecological civilization construction, avoids taking the old path of "pollute first, treat later," and has forged a new path of "win-win" development and environmental protection.
The prominent feature of taking the path of peaceful development forms a contrast between Chinese modernization and the Western modernization practice of plundering colonial wealth and sacrificing the interests of the people of other countries and regions. Early Western capitalist modernization was accompanied by external expansion over a long period, with capital's profit-seeking intertwined with colonial plunder, forming a historical path of continuously extracting resources and markets from abroad, causing devastating damage to colonial societies, economies, and cultures. Its modernization process can be said to have been "written into the annals of human history in letters of blood and fire." Marx pointed out that "when we turn our gaze from the homeland of bourgeois civilization to the colonies, the extreme hypocrisy of bourgeois civilization and its barbaric nature stand nakedly before us," profoundly revealing the duality and hypocrisy of bourgeois civilization carrying out plunder in the name of progress. Chinese modernization abandons zero-sum game thinking, adheres to peaceful development and mutually beneficial win-win cooperation, transcends harming others to benefit oneself through harmony and coexistence, and has forged a new path of modernization different from Western hegemonic expansion. Chinese modernization transcends exclusion and closure through openness and inclusiveness, does not engage in exclusive "small circles," but rather promotes inclusive and beneficial economic globalization through platforms such as the Belt and Road Initiative, helping Global South countries achieve common development.
The above five features are not abstract theoretical generalizations, but practical plans rooted in China's soil and responding to the questions of the times. These features respond from different aspects to various real problems in traditional modernization processes, such as capital dominance, development imbalance, ecological depletion, and external expansion, achieving a major theoretical transcendence over the Western modernization paradigm and promoting the development of modernization theory from the "singular" to the "plural." The five aspects together constitute the overall features of Chinese modernization, and their differences run through multiple levels including development goals, interest relations, civilizational structure, ecological orientation, and ways of external engagement. Different value orientations, institutional arrangements, and their combinations also make modernization present more diverse practical forms. It can be said that Chinese modernization has thereby expanded the practical forms of world modernization and further enriched people's understanding of the diversity of modernization paths.
Breaking the "Unilinear View of History"
Since the Industrial Revolution, Western countries took the lead in embarking on the path of modernization, achieving endogenous modernization, and for a considerable period monopolized the discourse power of "modernization." "Modernization = Westernization" has been described by some Western-centrists as a "universal truth of the world," and the liberal democracy and capitalist model they advocate has been regarded as the only "template" for modernization, using Western capitalist systems, value systems, and ideologies as the yardstick for measuring modernization. According to this single narrative, human society is understood as continuously evolving along a single path, with capitalism placed at the highest stage of civilizational development. However, Western modernization has long been dominated by capital logic, accompanied by polarization, materialist expansion, and external plunder, causing a series of deep-seated problems such as wealth disparity, social disorder, and ecological crisis. Directly transplanting the Western model to late-developing countries makes it difficult for foreign institutional arrangements to connect with original social structures, and the continuity between tradition and modernity is also impacted.
China's development practice shows that Westernization is not the only direction of modernization; modernization can unfold along different institutional arrangements and historical paths. Different countries can entirely proceed from their own historical traditions, realistic conditions, and development needs to explore modernization methods suited to their own realities. The modernization path moving from the "singular" to the "plural" also means that the same modernization tasks can be achieved through different methods. In short, industrialization, urbanization, and scientific and technological progress have a certain commonality, but how to arrange the order of development, how to coordinate social relations, and how to handle the tension between tradition and modernity still require choices based on the specific conditions of different countries. On the one hand, Chinese modernization proves that late-developing countries do not need to follow someone's footsteps blindly (亦步亦趋, yi bu yi qu - "also, step, also, follow") the Western path, nor do they need to sacrifice sovereignty and independence in exchange for development. For those countries and nations that "both hope to accelerate development and hope to maintain their own independence," China's practice provides another development experience. On the other hand, China deepens exchanges and cooperation with countries around the world and promotes the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, creating conditions for countries to board China's express train of development and share development opportunities, providing important opportunities for Global South countries to break through development bottlenecks and enhance their voice in global affairs, and will promote all countries to advance hand in hand in the process of world modernization, reaching new heights of human civilization.
Creating a New Form of Human Civilization
Human civilization has always evolved through changes in social structure, modes of production and life, and institutional forms. When social forms change, civilizational forms are also renewed accordingly. Entering the modern era, modernization gradually became an important historical process running through global social change, and also became a basic category for summarizing social transformation and civilizational development. In this regard, Chinese modernization presents development characteristics that are refreshing one's eyes and ears (耳目一新, er mu yi xin - "ear, eye, one, new").
Differences in modernization paths contain differences in civilizational genes, containing the redefinition of modern civilization by Chinese modernization. Why the new form of human civilization is called "new" can be understood from several levels. Material civilization, political civilization, spiritual civilization, social civilization, and ecological civilization develop in coordination in the modernization process, jointly constituting the overall form of civilizational construction. At the same time, this creation runs through different aspects such as ideological concepts, institutional systems, development paths, humanistic spirit, and social practice, and is therefore neither a simple replication of existing civilizational models nor a partial patch to traditional civilizational forms. The new form of human civilization based on socialism with Chinese characteristics is first and foremost socialist civilization, not any other civilization. Socialist civilization is a new type of civilization built on the basis of all the achievements of human civilization and transcending capitalist civilization. Its cultural foundation takes advanced socialist culture as its substance, while also absorbing revolutionary culture, the excellent traditional culture of the Chinese nation, and the outstanding achievements of human civilization, and continuously developing in the practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Socialist principles run through the process of Chinese modernization. China's modernization is modernization of common prosperity for all the people, and it will not and cannot take the path of polarization, because the history of the Chinese nation contains the pursuit of a moderately prosperous society and great harmony; it is modernization of harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature, and it will not and cannot take the path of high energy consumption and high pollution, because the history of the Chinese nation contains the wisdom of reverence for nature; it is modernization taking the path of peaceful development, and it will not and cannot take the path of external colonization and internal oppression, because the Chinese nation has no genes for invading others or seeking hegemony. Chinese modernization has thereby formed new civilizational creation, further expanding the connotation of human civilization.
The new form of human civilization created by the Chinese Communist Party leading the people has broken through the centrist narrative that takes Western civilization as the sole reference, and has also provided new inspiration for the realization of the common values of all mankind. It runs development for the people, development relying on the people, and development achievements shared by the people throughout the entire process of civilizational construction, highlighting the principal position of the masses of the people in historical development and social progress, forming a development logic different from the separation between the ruling class and the masses of the people; it emphasizes harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature, responding to global ecological and environmental challenges with the concept of a community of life for humanity and nature; it promotes the excellent traditional Chinese culture of benefiting the whole world (兼济天下, jian ji tian xia - "combine, benefit, all, world"), promoting harmony among all nations (协和万邦, xie he wan bang - "harmonize, unite, ten thousand, states"), and seeking harmony without conformity (和而不同, he er bu tong - "harmony, but, not, same"), providing new ideas for addressing and resolving the governance deficit, trust deficit, development deficit, and peace deficit. These concepts and practices together shape contemporary Chinese civilization. On the one hand, it has become an important civilizational foundation for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation; on the other hand, it also brings new value content into the development process of human civilization.
Humanity has formed many common values in its long exploration of pursuing civilizational progress. The new form of human civilization is a great achievement formed through practice by combining the basic principles of Marxism with China's specific realities and with the excellent traditional Chinese culture, opening up a new realm of scientific socialism. On the basis of making scientific judgments about the basic contradictions of human society, Marx made profound analyses of the future direction of civilizational development, proposing the eventual establishment of an ideal society without oppression, without exploitation, with equality for all and freedom for all, inspiring and motivating people around the world who pursue a better future. After Marxism was introduced into China, whether world socialism was at its peak or trough, whether the Party's cause was in favorable or adverse circumstances, the Chinese Communist Party has always adhered to its ideals and convictions with unwavering determination, has always upheld its original aspiration and founding mission of seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation, and has advanced unhesitatingly toward this goal, winning the heartfelt support and firm endorsement of all the people.
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that "Chinese modernization has broken the myth that 'modernization = Westernization,' presented another picture of modernization, expanded the path choices for developing countries to achieve modernization, and provided China's solutions for humanity's exploration of a better social system." Chinese modernization is deeply rooted in the excellent traditional Chinese culture, embodies the advanced nature of scientific socialism, draws on and absorbs all the outstanding achievements of human civilization, represents the direction of progress of human civilization, presents a new picture completely different from the Western modernization model, and is a completely new form of human civilization.
(The author is the Dean of the Institute of Chinese Modernization, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)
Return to TopBy: 本报评论员 何忠国
In 1927, Mao Zedong led the Autumn Harvest Uprising forces from the Hunan-Jiangxi border to establish the first rural revolutionary base in the Jinggang Mountains. In order to smash the enemy's military attacks and economic blockade, it was necessary to stockpile sufficient grain, and the Red Army launched a vigorous grain-carrying campaign, with Mao Zedong and Zhu De also joining the ranks of the grain carriers. There was a small path leading from the Jinggang Mountains down to Ninggang and Maoping at the foot of the mountain, and at the Huangyangjie sentry post along this path stood a lotus tree, where everyone often rested whenever they carried grain up the mountain. One day, while resting there, Mao Zedong asked the soldiers beside him: Tell me, standing here, how far can you see? Some soldiers said: Standing here, you can see Jiangxi. Others said: You can also see Hunan. Mao Zedong picked up on what they said: Right, we revolutionaries must stand high and see far. Standing on the Jinggang Mountains, we must see not only Jiangxi and Hunan, but also the whole of China and the whole world. This is the famous "Lotus Tree Dialogue" in the history of the Party.
Under the extremely arduous struggle conditions in the Jinggang Mountains, the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, were not limited by temporary and local difficulties (一时一隅, yi shi yi yu - "one time, one corner"), nor were they discouraged by the temporary weakness of their own forces. This seemingly ordinary conversation under the lotus tree reflected the Chinese Communists' firm confidence in the Chinese revolution and their broad vision of embracing the world. "We fear not the drifting clouds obscuring our view, for we stand at the highest level." The dialogue under the lotus tree on the Jinggang Mountains has been engraved into the rings of time. Today, as we revisit this dialogue, the greatest inspiration it gives us is this: when facing difficulties in reform and development, only by standing high can one see far, can one see through the fog of the times, and can one push our cause ever forward.
From the "Lotus Tree Dialogue," we gain insight into the overall-situation awareness of embracing the world. To plan great affairs, one must observe the general trend; to open up new prospects, one must bear the overall situation in mind. The world today is undergoing changes unseen in a century, and our country is at a critical juncture in realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The speed of change in the situation and environment, the weight of the tasks of reform, development, and stability, the number of contradictions, risks, and challenges, and the magnitude of the tests facing our Party's governance are all unprecedented. To this end, General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized that "leading cadres must bear in mind two overall situations: one is the strategic overall situation of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and the other is the changes unseen in a century in the world — these are the basic starting points for our planning of work." When leading cadres think about problems and make decisions, they must have a clear picture of the "great affairs of the nation," pay attention to what the Party Central Committee cares about and emphasizes, deeply understand what the most important interests of the Party and the country are and what positions most need to be firmly upheld, think more in terms of the big picture and calculate the big accounts, and think less in terms of narrow interests and calculate small accounts, being adept at integrating the work of their regions and departments into the great chessboard of the Party and the country's cause, so as to win glory for their own domain and, even more, add luster to the whole.
From the "Lotus Tree Dialogue," we appreciate the strategic vision of looking far ahead and seeing broadly. Strategy is the making of judgments and decisions from the overall, long-term, and general-trend perspective. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that "strategic issues are fundamental issues for a political party and a country. If strategic judgments are accurate, strategic planning is sound, and strategic initiative is won, then the cause of the Party and the people will have great hope." Without sufficient strategic resolve and tactical vitality, problems of being overly concerned about gains and losses (患得患失, huan de huan shi - "gain, lose; worry, lose"), wavering and indecisive (摇摆不定, yao bai bu ding - "sway, shake; not, fixed"), and being in a dilemma and unable to act (进退失据, jin tui shi ju - "advance, retreat; lose, basis") are likely to arise, and development opportunities will be missed. The more complex and volatile the situation and the more arduous and heavy the tasks, the more necessary it is to view and think about problems from a strategic perspective, accurately grasp the inevitable trends in the development of things, keenly discern the opportunities and challenges that may arise on the road ahead, and use scientific strategy to foresee and lead the future. Leading cadres must possess the strategic thinking of "looking at the world, looking at the future, and also looking at the present, looking at all aspects," observe and think about problems from the forefront of the times, master the methods of thought and work that seize the key and achieve a clear, well-organized plan that brings everything else into place (纲举目张, gang ju mu zhang - "net, lift; eye, open"), achieve strategic breakthroughs in solving prominent problems, advance all work while grasping the strategic overall situation, and thus foster new opportunities amid crises and open up new prospects amid changes.
From the "Lotus Tree Dialogue," we learn the historical initiative of striving for achievement. Historical initiative embodies the theoretical logic of the dialectical unity of respecting the objective laws of history and bringing into play people's subjective initiative. General Secretary Xi Jinping has profoundly pointed out that "historical development has its laws, but people are not entirely passive within it. As long as we grasp the laws and general trends of historical development, seize the moments of historical change, act in accordance with the prevailing trend (顺势而为, shun shi er wei - "follow, trend; and, act"), and strive for achievement, we will be able to advance better." Since the advent of the new era, our Party has adhered to the spirit of historical initiative in overcoming difficulties, confronting risks, and meeting challenges, relying on tenacious struggle to continuously open up new horizons for the development of the cause. On the new journey of Chinese modernization, in the face of major opportunities and risks and challenges in reform and development, leading cadres must consciously carry forward the spirit of historical initiative, deeply study the laws and general trends of historical development, correctly understand and grasp the major issues in economic and social development, firmly grasp the initiative in historical progress, unite all forces that can be united, mobilize all positive factors that can be mobilized, advance in the logic of historical progress, develop in the currents of the times, and continuously create new historical glories.
Return to TopThe disciplinary system is an important foundation for basic research. Facing the new situation of continuously expanding disciplinary boundaries, it is necessary to improve the mechanism for adjusting disciplinary offerings. Strengthen the development of basic disciplines such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, and earth sciences, promote coordinated development (协调发展, xie tiao fa zhan - "coordinate, develop") of applied disciplines and basic disciplines, pay attention to and support less popular disciplines and weak disciplines, cultivate emerging disciplines, and encourage multidisciplinary crossover and integration as well as interdisciplinary research.
Return to TopBy: 丁晓钦
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "High-quality development requires new theories of productive forces to guide it, and new quality productive forces have already taken shape in practice and demonstrated a powerful driving and supporting force for high-quality development, requiring us to summarize and generalize them theoretically so as to guide new development practice." As an important signature concept of Xi Jinping's economic thought, new quality productive forces embody the innovative development of the Marxist theory of productive forces. To accelerate the development of new quality productive forces, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council recently issued the Opinions on Developing New Quality Productive Forces, deploying 19 key measures. Accurately understanding the scientific connotation and practical orientation of new quality productive forces helps to deeply grasp the essence and core tenets of Xi Jinping's economic thought and better understand the inherent requirements of high-quality development.
The Theoretical Origins and Conditions of the Times for the Proposal of New Quality Productive Forces
The proposal of new quality productive forces is rooted in the Marxist theory of productive forces and responds to the practical requirements of transforming the mode of productive forces development after China's economy has turned to the stage of high-quality development.
The Marxist theory of productive forces provides the theoretical basis for the proposal of new quality productive forces. Productive forces are the capacity of humanity to utilize and transform nature and produce material goods through labor, with the basic elements including laborers, means of labor, and objects of labor. The development of productive forces is influenced by natural conditions and is also closely related to the proficiency of laborers, the efficacy of the means of production, and the social organizational forms of production. Marx regarded the level of development of science and technology and the degree of their application in production as important conditions affecting labor productivity. When scientific knowledge is mastered by laborers and applied to production, it can improve production tools and techniques, raise labor efficiency, and promote the development of productive forces. New quality productive forces emphasize the role of innovation in the transformation of productive forces, inheriting the Marxist theoretical understanding that scientific and technological progress drives the development of productive forces.
The Communist Party of China's exploration of the laws of productive forces development has spanned the entire process (贯穿全过程, guanchuan quan ge cheng - "pierce through, pass through, whole, process") of socialist modernization. After the founding of New China, the Party consistently attached importance to developing science and technology in industrial construction and strove to raise social productive capacity. Since reform and opening up, the thesis that science and technology constitute the primary productive force has highlighted the driving role of scientific and technological progress, and enhancing the capacity for independent innovation has gradually become an important focal point for transforming the mode of development. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized upholding the core position of innovation in the overall situation of China's modernization drive and taking self-reliance and strength in science and technology as the strategic support for national development. The concept of new quality productive forces, based on China's development practice, explains the mechanism of innovation-driven development from the level of the leap in production factors and their optimized combination, forming an original understanding of the qualitative state of advanced productive forces.
The deepening development of the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is an important background of the times for the proposal of new quality productive forces. New technologies such as artificial intelligence are continuously integrated into production processes, driving changes in production tools and organizational forms and promoting the formation of new industries and the upgrading of traditional industries. The industrial foundation accumulated through China's industrialization and its super-large market provide support for the application and industrialization of scientific and technological achievements. At the same time, China's economy has turned to the stage of high-quality development, resource and environmental constraints have continued to intensify, and the people's requirements for the quality of products and services have been rising day by day, making the growth model that relies on expanding factor inputs unable to adapt to the new development requirements. International scientific and technological competition has intensified, and bottlenecks remain in some key core technologies, further highlighting the necessity of enhancing the capacity for independent innovation. Therefore, it is necessary to use scientific and technological innovation to drive the transformation of the mode of productive forces development, accelerate the development of new quality productive forces, and provide sustained impetus for high-quality development.
The Scientific Connotation of the Leap in Productive Forces Revealed by New Quality Productive Forces
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that new quality productive forces "take the leap in laborers, means of labor, objects of labor, and their optimized combination as the basic connotation, and the substantial increase in total factor productivity as the core indicator; their characteristic is innovation, their key lies in superior quality, and their essence is advanced productive forces." New quality productive forces unify the transformation of production factors and their combination with the improvement of the comprehensive efficiency and overall quality of the production system, revealing the basic characteristics of the qualitative leap in productive forces under the leadership of innovation.
The basic connotation of new quality productive forces is embodied in the leap in laborers, means of labor, objects of labor, and their optimized combination. Laborers enhance their ability to master advanced technologies and engage in creative labor through the updating of knowledge structures and the improvement of professional skills. Means of labor are developing toward digitalization and intellectualization, and the functions of production tools are continuously enriched, enabling more precise control over production processes. Scientific and technological progress continuously expands the scope of objects of labor, with various new materials gradually entering the production field and data becoming a new type of object of labor that can be processed, analyzed, and utilized. Changes in the factors themselves must also be combined with the structural adjustment of combination relations, so that the abilities of laborers are adapted to advanced production tools and effective linkages are formed among production links, thereby transforming changes at the factor level into an overall leap in productive forces.
The substantial increase in total factor productivity is the core indicator of new quality productive forces. Total factor productivity reflects the comprehensive use efficiency of production factors and embodies the contribution of technological progress and improved resource allocation to output growth. The application of advanced technologies can improve production techniques, enhance equipment efficacy, and reduce resource losses in production processes. Improved resource allocation promotes the flow of labor, capital, and other factors toward production links with higher factor use efficiency, reducing losses caused by idle and misallocated resources. Under the combined effect of technological progress and improved allocation methods, the production system can achieve more output under given input scale conditions.
Innovation is the distinctive characteristic of new quality productive forces. Revolutionary technological breakthroughs create conditions for the development of new industries, and new business forms and models expand the application scenarios of technology, promoting the transformation of innovation achievements into new growth momentum. Innovation spans the entire process from knowledge creation to industrial application, embodied both in the progress of production technology and in the transformation of industrial organizational forms and value creation methods. Production practice in turn provides demand traction and application conditions for innovation, promoting mutual reinforcement between technological research and development and the transformation of production methods. New momentum continues to grow in this process, making economic development more reliant on knowledge creation and scientific and technological progress and promoting the qualitative leap in productive forces.
Superior quality is the key to new quality productive forces. The quality advantage of new quality productive forces is embodied in the unity of high technology, high efficiency, and high quality. High technology provides an advanced technological foundation for production activities, expanding productive capacity through technological breakthroughs and process innovation. High efficiency emphasizes the effective application of advanced technologies, requiring that laborers' abilities match advanced production tools and that production organizational forms adapt to technological application, so that technological advantages are fully transformed into actual production efficiency. High quality is manifested in products and services better meeting social needs, requiring strict implementation of standards and strengthened quality control throughout the entire production process to ensure the reliability of product performance and the stability of service supply.
Advanced productive forces are the essential determination of new quality productive forces. Conforming to the new development philosophy is the inherent requirement of the advanced nature of new quality productive forces, meaning that the enhancement of productive capacity should be unified with development purposes and development modes. Specifically, developing new quality productive forces should drive the transformation of production methods through innovation, promote coordinated development among industries and regions, integrate green development requirements into production processes, promote the exchange and application of knowledge and technology through open cooperation, and enable all the people to share the fruits of productive forces development.
The Innovative Practice of New Quality Productive Forces Leading High-Quality Development
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Developing new quality productive forces is the inherent requirement and important focal point for promoting high-quality development." For new quality productive forces to lead high-quality development, it is necessary to promote industrial transformation and upgrading through scientific and technological innovation, so that technological progress is transformed into improvements in production efficiency and supply quality, and to promote mutual support between material inputs and the development of human capabilities, fully releasing the efficacy of new quality productive forces.
Promoting the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation is an important path for new quality productive forces to lead high-quality development. First, take self-reliance and strength in science and technology as the core support for the development of new quality productive forces. The state should strengthen long-term and stable support for basic research, improve mechanisms encouraging original exploration, and provide scientific support for breakthroughs in key core technologies. Second, build new advantages for the modern industrial system through the overall efficacy of industrial innovation. Scientific and technological innovation needs to be systematically integrated into the entire process of industrial upgrading, promoting the coordinated evolution of industries in the directions of high-end, intelligent, and green development, and promoting the transformation of industrial competitive advantages from advantages in a single technology or link to the improvement of the overall efficacy and risk-resistance capacity of the industrial system. Third, stimulate the endogenous driving force of high-quality development through new mechanisms of deep integration. The relationship between scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation is shifting from factor superposition to mechanism integration, requiring the removal of institutional obstacles that constrain the transformation of scientific and technological achievements and their industrial application, and the formation of an innovation ecosystem led by enterprises, driven by the market, and featuring efficient collaboration among industry, academia, and research.
The deepening advancement of industrial upgrading and technological application requires the close combination of investment in things and investment in people. The state should optimize the structure of public investment, strengthening education, training, and health security while supporting the updating of production equipment and the construction of new infrastructure. Enterprises should incorporate skills training into technological transformation and equipment updating plans, so that laborers can master and effectively use advanced production tools and fully unleash the efficacy of material inputs. The mutual reinforcement of material capital accumulation and the development of human capabilities helps to raise total factor productivity, consolidate the factor foundation for the development of new quality productive forces, and promote the formation of a virtuous cycle between economic development and the improvement of people's livelihoods.
The concept of new quality productive forces is an original generalization of the qualitative leap in productive forces under the leadership of innovation, providing theoretical guidance for driving the transformation of the engine of economic development and demonstrating the theoretical creativity and practical leading power of Xi Jinping's economic thought. To develop new quality productive forces, it is necessary to adhere to a people-centered approach, unify the enhancement of productive capacity with human development, continuously strengthen the endogenous driving force of high-quality development, and consolidate the material and technological foundation for comprehensively advancing the building of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation through Chinese modernization.
(The author is a specially appointed researcher at the Shanghai Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and a chair professor at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics)
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Being adept at using narrative expression to elucidate ideas, articulate propositions, and disseminate theory is an important experience of our Party in advancing theoretical dissemination. Narrative expression can integrate abstract theory into specific figures, vivid events, and lively scenes, making theory easier to understand, more capable of resonating, and more convenient to spread, thereby providing an important pathway for promoting the Party's innovative theory to enter the mind and heart. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Telling stories means telling facts, telling images, telling emotions, and telling reasoning; only facts can persuade people, only images can move people, only emotions can infect people, and only reasoning can influence people." This important assertion profoundly reveals the internal logic of narrative expression, which takes facts as its foundation, images as its vehicle, emotions as its bond, and reasoning as its ultimate purpose, providing an important methodological guide for doing well the dissemination of the Party's innovative theory in the new era.
Tell facts well, enhancing the persuasiveness of theory with vivid examples. Narrative expression must first tell facts well, and be adept at fully presenting facts through vivid examples. The change in one person's life, the advancement of one reform, and the unfolding of one grassroots exploration are all specific facets of practice in the new era. Explaining clearly these real, verifiable examples is to place the Party's innovative theory back into the fertile soil of practice from which it emerged and developed, enabling abstract theoretical viewpoints to gain perceptible and comprehensible support from reality, and allowing audiences to see the development and changes of practice from specific facts and understand the practical concerns of theory.
Telling facts well does not mean simply listing facts, but rather transforming facts into perceptible, knowable, and illustrative vivid examples, fully presenting the practical connotations carried by the facts. The reason examples are "vivid" lies not in pursuing novel plots or fresh forms, but in presenting practice with truthful, complete, and typical facts, providing credible and verifiable practical evidence for theory. First, truthfulness is the premise, with the focus on ensuring facts are credible and verifiable. Whether figures, events, data, or details, all should withstand scrutiny; one must not fabricate, exaggerate, or transplant facts for the sake of communication effect. Second, completeness is the requirement, with the focus on presenting the true trajectory of practical development. One should not only present the results achieved in practice, but also explain the background, conditions, and process in which the facts occurred, enabling audiences to know not only what happened but also why it happened. Finally, typicality is the key, with the focus on reflecting the general through the individual and mirroring the macro through the micro. One should select from the rich and diverse practices of the new era examples that are representative and capable of reflecting a category of phenomena and changes of the times, avoiding substituting the individual for the general or obscuring the whole with the partial, so that micro facts are linked with macro processes and individual experiences are connected with the development of the times. Thus, vivid examples are not only concrete presentations of facts, but also important vehicles connecting micro facts with macro practice, and real changes with theoretical interpretation.
Tell images well, enhancing the attractiveness of theory with concrete narration. The advantage of narrative expression lies in its ability to employ concrete narrative methods such as figures, scenes, and details to integrate grand themes of the times and profound ideological connotations into specific people and events, avoiding leaving theory at the level of abstract concepts and macro assertions, and enabling audiences to feel the changes of the times and understand the implications of theory through vivid images. Telling images well means transforming the "spoken" reasoning of theory into "visible" pictures through concrete narration, making abstract theory closer to audiences' cognition and more capable of evoking emotional resonance.
Concrete narration is not a simple depiction of reality, but rather the discovery and shaping, from the great practice of the new era, of typical images capable of carrying theoretical connotations and embodying the spirit of the times. First, one should tell the images of people well. People are the concrete bearers of theoretical values and spiritual strength; one should be adept at selecting from the great practice of the new era representative ordinary workers, grassroots cadres, scientific and technological workers, and other subjects of practice, and through their action choices, struggles, and life changes, transform the grand process of the times into specific, perceptible life stories, enabling audiences to feel a spirit and understand a value through one person. Second, one should tell the images of scenes well. Scenes are important spaces where theory enters real life; one should place grand themes such as rural revitalization, grassroots governance, scientific and technological innovation, and public services within specific practical scenes, and through observable life changes, demonstrate the real power of theory in guiding practice and promoting development. Finally, one should tell the images of details well. Details are important support for enhancing the appeal of images; one should be adept at capturing expressive key moments, typical fragments, and life details, seeing the big from the small and perceiving the profound from the subtle, so that abstract ideas gain more distinct expression through specific pictures. It should be noted that image-based expression does not pursue superficial vividness and formal novelty, but rather makes images serve ideological expression and forms carry theoretical connotations, further enhancing the attractiveness of the dissemination of the Party's innovative theory in the unity of form and reasoning.
Tell emotions well, enhancing the appeal of theory with empathetic expression. The epochal questions answered by the Party's innovative theory are not abstract academic propositions, but rather the real life circumstances faced by millions upon millions of people and their genuine expectations for a better future. This requires narrative expression to be adept at finding the intersection of theoretical concerns and the concerns of the masses, enabling audiences to truly feel in stories the theory's profound response to their own situations, and achieving the transformation from "irrelevant to me" to "closely related to me." The key pathway to realizing this transformation lies in empathetic expression.
Empathetic expression is not simple emotional embellishment, but rather an audience-oriented narrative method that runs through the entire process of story entry, organization, and presentation. First, find entry points from common feelings. People's life experiences are not all the same, but the longing for a better life, the expectation for fairness and justice, the pursuit of growth and development, and the persistence in the face of difficulties all constitute an emotional foundation for mutual understanding. Telling stories should be adept at entering from these common feelings, enabling audiences to associate "others' stories" with "their own lives," forming psychological closeness through emotional resonance. Second, organize stories from the audience's perspective. Theory disseminators should proactively enter the audience's experiential world, standing in the audience's position to feel problems, recognize needs, and respond to concerns. When audiences feel not "someone is telling me reasoning," but rather "someone is talking about my affairs, understanding my difficulties, and responding to my hopes," theory gains emotional identification that transcends logical persuasion. Finally, grasp the measure of emotional expression. Truly powerful stories often do not win by intense emotional embellishment, but rather value sincerity, naturalness, and restraint. Telling emotions well should avoid deliberately elevating figures or excessively embellishing emotions, and certainly cannot treat being moved as a preset communication effect. One should trust the power of facts themselves, leave room for audiences to understand and experience, and let emotions reach people's hearts in the natural flow of truthful narration.
Tell reasoning well, enhancing the guiding power of theory with scholarly interpretation. The ultimate purpose of narrative expression is not to stop at the presentation of facts, the shaping of images, and the touching of emotions, but rather to explain reasoning thoroughly and profoundly through stories. The key to explaining reasoning clearly lies in being adept at using scholarly interpretation, explaining clearly the internal logic of theory in the narrative unfolding of stories and explaining well the laws behind practice, thereby enhancing the guiding power of theory.
Scholarly interpretation does not mean starting a separate theoretical sermon outside the story, but rather achieving the unity of reasoning governing events, entering reasoning through events, and guiding step by step. First, using reasoning to govern events means endowing stories with direction and depth through theoretical logic. Narrative expression does not mean casually selecting an example and elaborating on it, but rather examining practice from a theoretical perspective and organizing material within a theoretical framework. For the same story of grassroots governance, without the governance of theory, what is presented may only be a specific work experience; but once examined within the theoretical perspective of Chinese modernization, individual experience can refract universal laws, and specific exploration can mirror deep logic. Second, entering reasoning through events means eliciting reasoning in the natural unfolding of the story. Scholarly interpretation does not mean rigidly attaching a theoretical label at the end of a story, but rather allowing reasoning to grow naturally from the developmental thread of facts. Finally, guiding step by step means leading audiences toward deep identification in a gradual manner. The acceptance of reasoning is a process of cognitive progression; one cannot expect a single story or a single telling to enable audiences to complete the entire leap from understanding to identification. One should respect the audience's cognitive pace, be adept at moving from the shallow to the deep, from the near to the far, and from the concrete to the abstract, guiding audiences to start from understanding one example, gradually appreciate the practical laws behind it, and then identify with the value judgments and directional guidance of theory.
(The author is Secretary of the Party Committee of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Academy of Social Sciences)
Return to TopBy: 国家电网有限公司党组
Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has, centering on the major issues of the era concerning what kind of long-term governing Marxist party to build and how to build it, put forward a series of new concepts, new ideas, and new strategies for governing the Party, strengthening the Party, and invigorating the Party, thereby forming Xi Jinping's thought on Party building. This marks that our Party's understanding of the laws of governance by communist parties and the laws of building Marxist parties has reached a new height, opening up a new realm in the Sinicization and modernization of Marxist party-building theory, and providing fundamental guidance and a guide to action for deeply advancing the great new project of Party building in the new era. As a key state-owned enterprise fulfilling national strategic missions, a backbone electric power enterprise safeguarding national energy security, and a public utility enterprise serving the national economy and people's livelihoods, State Grid must thoroughly study and implement Xi Jinping's thought on Party building and the important exposition and instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping on the reform and development of state-owned enterprises and Party building, deeply implement the new era high-quality Party building project, effectively transform the Party's political and organizational advantages into advantages for enterprise development and victory, and lead the high-quality development of the company and the power grid with high-quality Party building.
Uphold and strengthen the Party's overall leadership, and always advance courageously in the direction charted by General Secretary Xi Jinping
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that socialism with Chinese characteristics has many characteristics and features, but its most essential feature is upholding the leadership of the Communist Party of China. Practice has fully proven that upholding and strengthening the Party's overall leadership is the "stabilizing anchor" for the continuous development of the Party and the country's cause. As an important material and political foundation of socialism with Chinese characteristics, state-owned enterprises must profoundly understand the decisive significance of the Two Establishments (两个确立), strengthen the Four Consciousnesses (四个意识), firm up the Four Confidences (四个自信), and achieve the Two Upholds (两个维护). On the new journey, State Grid will firmly grasp the highest political principle of upholding the centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, take the Party's political construction as the guide, and ensure that the entire company remains highly consistent with the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core in ideology, politics, and action.
Resolutely achieve the Two Upholds. Deepen the "Five Ones" working mechanism, making the implementation of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions and directives the "first driving force" for high-quality development, the "first agenda item" of Party group (Party committee) meetings, the "first task" of supervision and urging, the "first content" of requests for instructions and reports, and the "first indicator" of supervision and assessment, so that when General Secretary Xi Jinping issues orders, when the Party Central Committee makes deployments, State Grid takes action.
Always bear in mind the "great affairs of the nation." Place the company's work within the overall framework of the Party and the country's work to think about, plan, and advance it, fully implement the outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan, improve the strategic control system that integrates strategy, planning, plans, budgets, and assessment, and ensure the effective implementation of national strategies. Resolutely shoulder the primary responsibility for electricity supply security, adhere to government-enterprise coordination and united grid governance, increase the intensity of surplus-deficit mutual assistance, strengthen refined load management, and provide a strong power supply guarantee for high-quality economic and social development.
Unswervingly deepen reform in an all-round way. Adhere to the "Two Consistent Adherences," conscientiously implement the new round of plans for deepening the reform of state-owned assets and state-owned enterprises, continuously improve the modern enterprise system with Chinese characteristics, and advance the modernization of the company's governance system and governance capacity. Steadily advance the reform of former collective enterprises, continuously optimize the business layout, accelerate the exit from non-core businesses, strengthen supporting businesses, and strive to basically complete the transition period tasks during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. Adhere to the direction of market-oriented reform, accelerate the construction of a unified national electricity market, better leverage the market's role in allocating electric power resources, and serve the construction of the new development pattern.
Persist in forging the soul and consolidating the heart, and consciously become firm believers and faithful practitioners of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that ideological construction is the foundational construction of the Party. Only with strong theory can there be clear direction, united hearts, and sufficient confidence. At present, changes unseen in a century are accelerating their evolution. The more arduous the tasks, the more we need to firmly grasp the "master switch" of ideals and convictions, continuously build a solid foundation of faith, replenish the calcium of the spirit, and steady the rudder of thought. On the new journey, State Grid will highlight the main theme and main line of studying and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, make efforts in understanding, mastering, and applying it, show real results in deepening, internalizing, and transforming it, and turn the results of learning into a powerful force for firming up ideals, tempering Party spirit, guiding practice, and promoting work.
Implement the primary task of "learning thought." Improve the long-term mechanism for the "Four Learnings," strengthen the closed-loop management of "learning, thinking, researching, and applying" in central groups, strictly implement systems such as the "Three Meetings and One Lesson" for Party branches, and achieve the goal of entering the mind and heart and mastering a subject thoroughly or integrating different ideas (融会贯通, rong hui guan tong - "melt, combine, penetrate, through"). Implement the basic training mechanism, carry out systematic training on the Party's innovative theory, give full play to the role of Party schools at all levels of the company, and achieve full coverage of theoretical training. Adhere to applying what is learned, consciously seek ideas, methods, and answers from the Party's innovative theory, and use the "golden key" of great thought to solve the difficulties in the company's reform and development.
Establish and practice a correct view of political achievements. Adhere to the people-centered development thought, deepen the construction of an excellent power supply service system, formulate and implement ten measures for building a modern electricity consumption business environment that empowers high-quality economic and social development, continuously improve the level of "access to electricity" services, and meet the needs of the transition from "having electricity" to "using electricity well." Adhere to doing more things that lay foundations and benefit the long term, strive to improve the working mechanism for effectively preventing and correcting deviations in the view of political achievements, and strive to create achievements that stand the test of practice, the people, and history.
Make good use of the "family heirloom" of ideological and political work. Thoroughly implement the "Regulations of the Communist Party of China on Ideological and Political Work," adhere to the "three combinations" of explicit education and implicit education, solving ideological problems and solving practical problems, and broad coverage and classified guidance, and run ideological and political work through all work of the Party. Strengthen education on ideals and convictions, deepen the characteristic theme practice of "red genes, electric power inheritance," build the State Grid pioneering culture system, and better unify thought, consolidate consensus, and gather strength.
Firmly establish a clear orientation of focusing on the grassroots, and strive to build strong and powerful fighting fortresses
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that a rigorous organizational system is the advantage and strength of a Marxist party. Only when all Party organizations at all levels are sound and excellent, forming a rigorous organizational system that is connected from top to bottom and executes effectively, can the Party's leadership be "like the body commanding the arms, like the arms commanding the fingers." State Grid has more than 50,000 Party organizations and nearly 600,000 Party members, which is our greatest organizational advantage in doing all work well. On the new journey, State Grid will always regard grasping the grassroots and laying a solid foundation as a long-term plan and a fundamental strategy, adhere to the principle of grasping each level and leading the next level through the current level, continuously enhance the political and organizational functions of Party organizations, and make every Party branch a fighting fortress where the Party flag flies high.
Build a strong grassroots organizational system. Keep pace with the pace of enterprise reform and development, dynamically adjust and optimize the establishment of grassroots Party organizations according to changes in organizational structure, business models, and employment methods, and promote the principle that where they should be established, they must be established, and where they should be replaced, they must be replaced. Implement an action to improve the quality of organizational construction, continuously and comprehensively strengthen Party building in former collective enterprises, strengthen Party building work in key areas such as mixed-ownership enterprises and financial institutions in a targeted manner, and promote the comprehensive progress and comprehensive excellence of Party organizations.
Deepen joint Party building and co-construction. Vigorously carry forward the glorious tradition of "building Party branches at the company level," focus on the main battlefields of power supply security and power grid construction, promote the "project department + Party branch" model, deepen the construction and management of temporary Party organizations, and build a solid red fortress for overcoming difficulties. Deeply implement the Party building empowerment projects for the industrial chain and innovation chain, promote joint organizational construction, joint problem solving, shared resources, joint quality assurance, joint talent cultivation, and joint integrity building, work hand in hand with upstream and downstream of the industrial chain to break through "bottleneck" problems, and achieve overall self-reliance and controllability of key technologies and equipment during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
Actively integrate into grassroots governance. Give full play to the natural advantage of the power grid connecting thousands of households, deepen the co-construction of "community-grid," "village-grid," and "park-grid," carry out the electric power practice of the Fengqiao model, and continuously consolidate the foundation of grassroots grid governance. Promote the normalization and institutionalization of the construction of Communist Party member service teams, respond to every call and help whenever there is difficulty, improve the grassroots co-governance pattern of industries such as water, electricity, gas, and telecommunications, promote the coordinated development of power supply services and territorial governance, be a good vanguard of electric power, and build a bridge connecting the Party and the people.
Implement the Party's organizational line for the new era, and strive to build an excellent team for governing the enterprise and revitalizing the enterprise
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that leading personnel of state-owned enterprises are the Party's backbone cadres in the economic field, an important source of composite talents for governing the country, and shoulder the important responsibility of managing state-owned assets and achieving preservation and appreciation of value. This important assertion profoundly elucidates the important mission of leading personnel of state-owned enterprises. On the new journey, State Grid will adhere to the standards for good cadres in the new era and the "20-character" requirements for leading personnel of state-owned enterprises, centering on the needs of building a new type of power system and building a world-class enterprise, select good cadres, strengthen teams, and gather talents, and lead the orientation of entrepreneurship and work with the correct orientation for selecting and employing people.
Build a strong team of leading personnel. Adhere to the principles of having both moral integrity and professional competence, putting morality first, and appointing people on their merits, deepen the investigation of political quality, and vigorously select cadres who have been tested and achieved outstanding results in major tasks and critical moments such as power supply security and emergency rescue and disaster relief. Deepen the "Double Thousand Project," increase the intensity of training and using young cadres, and make overall use of cadres of all age groups. Strengthen the management and supervision of "top leaders" and leading teams at all levels, improve the evaluation system for leading teams and leading personnel, and promote the formation of a good situation in which the capable are promoted, the excellent are rewarded, the mediocre are demoted, and the inferior are eliminated.
Strengthen the role of Party members. Improve and implement the management and supervision mechanism for Party members, deepen the "Double Cultivation and One Delivery," implement the "One Leads Two" for Party members, strengthen the education and management of Party members under various forms of employment and mobile Party members, and bring every Party member into effective management. Deepen the creation of power grid vanguard Party branches and Party member responsibility zones, demonstration posts, and commando teams, and encourage the majority of Party members to be pioneers and set examples in their own positions. Improve the mechanism for Party members to be mobilized in emergency response and play their role, organize the majority of Party members to charge ahead and shoulder heavy burdens in doing emergency rescue and disaster relief work well, build a solid line of defense for light, and guard the lights of thousands of households.
Strengthen talent support and incentives. Deeply implement the "Double Cultivation Plan" for leading scientific and technological talents and leading technical and skilled talents, increase support for leading talents, integrate the allocation of projects, platforms, and funds, deepen the reform of empowering the transformation of scientific and technological achievements from official positions, and achieve the policy of "giving all that should be given, giving all that can be given." Treat the building of a team of young scientific and technological talents as a strategic project, make good use of the project chief engineer and young chief engineer systems, deeply implement the youth talent support project and the special support plan for young scientific and technological talents, and let more and more young scientific and technological talents stand out.
Persist in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, and continuously consolidate a clean and upright political ecology
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that we must adhere to grasping Party spirit, Party conduct, and Party discipline together, connect the rectification of conduct, the enforcement of discipline, and the fight against corruption, and make unremitting efforts to eradicate the soil and conditions for corruption. Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, the Party Central Committee has started with the formulation and implementation of the Central Eight-Point Regulation, established iron rules and strong constraints, and promoted a completely new look in Party conduct and government conduct. On the new journey, State Grid will thoroughly implement the Party's self-revolution "five further implementations in place" and "three more" important requirements, resolutely shoulder the primary responsibility, take cases as a mirror, keep the alarm bell ringing, and promote the deepening of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party.
Continuously deepen political supervision. Focus on General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speeches and important instructions and directives on central enterprises, energy and electric power, Party building, as well as in fields such as safety in production and flood prevention and disaster relief, strengthen supervision over the implementation of strategic tasks such as building a strong energy country and building a new type of power system, and promote the effective implementation of the Party Central Committee's major policies and guidelines. Keep a close eye on the company's 15th Five-Year Plan, focus on important tasks such as energy transformation, scientific and technological innovation, and deepening reform, strengthen ledger-based management, list-based supervision, and project-based advancement, promptly discover problems and correct deviations, and fully guarantee the implementation and landing of major decisions and deployments.
Persevere in rectifying the Four Malfeasances. Adhere to taking the Central Eight-Point Regulation as an iron rule and a hard benchmark, improve the mechanism for regularly discovering and solving problems of work style, deepen the simultaneous investigation and treatment of malfeasance and corruption, and promote the normalization and long-term effectiveness of work style construction. Strictly implement the "Several Provisions on Rectifying Formalism and Reducing Burdens on the Grassroots," continuously streamline documents and meetings, coordinate and standardize supervision, inspection, and assessment, and let the grassroots have more time and energy to implement.
Continuously strengthen discipline construction. Adhere to the combination of regular education and centralized education, promote the integration of Party discipline construction into daily life and regular work, and comprehensively give play to the role of Party discipline education in restraint, guarantee, and incentive. Strengthen special training on discipline education, focus on the "key minority" and key areas, and promote discipline education throughout the entire cycle of cadre growth and the entire process of organizational management. Strengthen warning education, use things around us to educate people around us, and let the majority of Party members and cadres know awe, maintain fear, and hold the bottom line.
Integrate the promotion of not daring to be corrupt, not being able to be corrupt, and not wanting to be corrupt. Take intra-Party supervision as the leading force, promote the coordination and synergy of disciplinary inspection, inspection and patrol, audit, and financial and accounting supervision forces. Always maintain a high-pressure stance against corruption, strengthen control over key areas, and resolutely investigate new types of corruption and hidden corruption. Deeply advance the centralized rectification of unhealthy tendencies and corruption problems around the people, adhere to the "Three Focuses," strictly investigate "fly corruption and ant corruption" in the process of the people's electricity application and use, and practice the enterprise purpose of the people's electric power industry serving the people. Improve the mechanism for the allocation of power and the restriction of its operation, improve the institutional mechanism that unifies authorization, power use, and power control, and is clear, transparent, and traceable, and promote the better transformation of institutional advantages into enterprise governance efficiency. Implement a three-year action plan for the construction of a clean culture in the new era, so that a clean culture prevails. Deepen the rectification of central inspections, promote the integrated advancement of rectification of problems found by internal and external inspections and audits, and promote high-quality development through high-quality rectification.
Resolutely fulfill the strategic mission, and strive to promote State Grid to become stronger, better, and bigger
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that state-owned enterprises are an important force for strengthening the country's overall strength and safeguarding the common interests of the people, and must be made stronger, better, and bigger with full confidence. Practice has fully proven that upholding the Party's leadership and strengthening Party building are the glorious tradition and unique advantage of China's state-owned enterprises. Party building work, when done solidly, is productivity; when done strongly, is competitiveness; when done meticulously, is cohesion. On the new journey, State Grid will adhere to the original aspiration and founding mission entrusted by the Party and the state, better serve the overall work of the Party and the state, serve high-quality economic and social development, serve to safeguard and improve people's livelihoods, and give full play to the role of scientific and technological innovation, industrial control, and security support.
Promote the construction of a new type of power system. Major infrastructure such as the power grid is the foundation for the operation of the economy and society. State Grid will deeply practice the new energy security strategy of "Four Revolutions and One Cooperation," centering on the goal of initially building a new type of power system by 2030, and encourage the majority of Party members and cadres to take the initiative and shoulder responsibility in advancing the high-quality construction of UHV, serving the green transformation of energy production and consumption, and supporting the grid connection and consumption of new energy and the construction of new energy storage. Conscientiously implement the Party Central Committee's "dual carbon" work deployment, formulate and implement several measures to help the country achieve the 15th Five-Year Plan carbon peak goal, strive to build a "4+2" work system serving the "dual carbon" goals, support the implementation of the dual control system for carbon emissions, and help promote the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development.
Strengthen the integrated development of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation. Implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's inspection of NARI Group, strengthen the Party organization construction of national key laboratories, directly affiliated scientific research units, and provincial electric power research institutes, organize Party member backbone to "take the lead in tackling key problems," and strengthen applied basic research and key core technology research. Strengthen the "dual leadership" model of chain-leading enterprises and equipment enterprises, and help electrical equipment manufacturing enterprises improve equipment performance and quality. Support the development of strategic emerging industries and the cultivation of future industries, actively participate in the construction of national-level and industry-level innovation consortia and industrial technology alliances, and collaborate to tackle key problems to empower the upgrading of the industrial chain.
Accelerate the construction of a world-class enterprise. Adhere to long-termism and value orientation, promote value creation actions on a regular and long-term basis, organize the majority of Party members to strengthen centralized research on management difficulties and efficiency bottlenecks, and achieve steady progress in the "one profit and five rates," growth in added value matching GDP growth, and maintaining a stable and resilient financial structure. Continuously improve and perfect the strategic control mechanism, power grid management mechanism, and enterprise governance mechanism, advance the construction of a rule-of-law State Grid, continuously enhance core functions, improve core competitiveness, and promote the quality improvement and leap of the company and the power grid's high-quality development.
Return to TopQuestion: Chen Zhixiong, Deputy District Head of Jimei District, Xiamen City
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that adhering to seeking truth from facts is not something that can be achieved once and for all; having achieved seeking truth from facts at one time and in one place does not mean that one can also achieve it at another time and in another place. May I ask, why is it said that adhering to seeking truth from facts is not something that can be achieved once and for all?
Interpretation: Zhang Yan, Deputy Dean of the School of Marxism, the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance)
Seeking truth from facts is Mao Zedong's highly condensed summation of the Marxist worldview and methodology, and it is the essence of Marxism. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping has on many occasions delivered profound expositions on the question of seeking truth from facts. He pointed out that "seeking truth from facts is the fundamental viewpoint of Marxism, the fundamental requirement for Chinese Communists to understand and transform the world, and the basic method of thinking, working, and leading of our Party," and that "practice has repeatedly proven that whether one can achieve seeking truth from facts is the key to the success or failure of all work of the Party and the state." The ideological line of seeking truth from facts runs through the Party's course of struggle and is the Party's ideological weapon and recipe for success. The principle of seeking truth from facts is simple, yet in concrete work, achieving it at all times and in all places, consistently and unswervingly, is by no means easy. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that adhering to seeking truth from facts is not something that can be achieved once and for all; having achieved it at one time and in one place does not mean that one can also achieve it at another time and in another place. Seeking truth from facts is not merely a simple question of attitude, but a complex practical subject in which multiple factors — objective reality, cognitive ability, interests and positions, Party spirit cultivation, and the institutional environment — are interwoven.
The complexity, motion, and changeability of the objective world itself
Objective reality is forever in a state of development and change; there is no "standard answer" that is unchanging or static. The core essence of seeking truth from facts is to explore, from the "facts" that objectively exist, the internal connections of things, that is, the regularity of the "truth," and then use it to guide practice. But objective things do not lay their essence and laws directly before people; phenomena and false appearances are interwoven, the partial and the whole are entangled, and the accidental is mixed with the necessary, with laws often hidden behind the multifarious surface. Many contradictions are not all exposed at once, but gradually emerge as practice advances; just as old contradictions are resolved, new problems arise. Past experience and methods that proved effective were suited to the objective conditions of that time and place; once time, place, and environment shift, they may no longer apply. The actual conditions ascertained and the laws summarized under specific circumstances are only stage-by-stage, partial results of understanding, not eternal formulas that can be copied and applied mechanically. The world today is undergoing changes unseen in a century, the international situation is complex and volatile, domestic reform and development have entered a period of tackling tough problems, and the social structure, interest patterns, and popular demands are in constant flux — the complexity of the "facts" themselves has risen markedly, and one cannot expect a single investigation or a single decision to grasp the full reality and solve all problems. The infinite development of objective reality requires that understanding must continuously keep pace and be continuously recalibrated; one must neither overreach reality and the current stage, hastily seeking quick success (急于求成, ji yu qiu cheng - "urgent, desire, seek, success"), nor lag behind reality, clinging to old ways and resisting change (因循守旧, yin xun shou jiu - "follow, circle, keep, old") or staying within one's narrow limits and refusing to progress (固步自封, gu bu zi feng - "fix, step, self, seal"). This is the objective difficulty that must first be faced in adhering to seeking truth from facts. The objective world does not automatically cater to people's subjective wishes, which determines from the very source that seeking truth from facts is an endless process of continuous pursuit, not a task that can be achieved in a single step or overnight (一蹴而就, yi cu er jiu - "one, kick, and, achieve").
Inherent limitations in human subjective cognition
Achieving complete unity between subjective understanding and objective reality requires overcoming the heavy shackles of empiricism, dogmatism, and one-sided thinking. Human understanding is always constrained by knowledge reserves, practical experience, habits of thought, and breadth of vision, and it is difficult to naturally grasp the full picture of things in a comprehensive, objective, and complete manner. Chen Yun once used the example of observing a teacup to vividly illustrate the source of one-sidedness: two people look at the same teacup, one sees the side with a handle, the other sees the side with a pattern; if they do not exchange views, what each obtains is one-sided understanding, and only by exchanging views can they form a complete cognition. This enlightens us that in many cases what we grasp is only part of the facts and partial circumstances; if we do not discriminate and analyze, we easily mistake the partial for the whole and the individual for the universal. In actual work, there are mainly two kinds of subjectivist tendencies that interfere with seeking truth from facts. One is dogmatism, that is, "only books, only superiors," treating theory as a label to be applied everywhere, treating document provisions and superior instructions as an unchanging or static universal template, simply copying and mechanically executing them, ignoring the concrete reality of one's own region and unit, not understanding how to transform and implement them in light of actual conditions — "do whatever the superior says," regardless of actual results. "Not only superiors" does not mean not listening to superior instructions, and "not only books" does not mean not studying theory and documents; rather, it means opposing blind copying divorced from reality. Deployments from superiors are often based on the overall situation and the universal, and cannot cover the special circumstances of every locality; theory and knowledge are the summation of predecessors' practice and must also be continuously enriched and developed in light of new practice. The other is empiricism, absolutizing past successful practical experience, habitually viewing new things with old eyes and solving new problems with old methods. Methods that once worked, when the environment and conditions have changed, if blindly continued, amount to clinging to obsolete methods in a changing situation (刻舟求剑, ke zhou qiu jian - "carve, boat, seek, sword") and falling into path dependence. Moreover, "seeking truth" itself is an arduous process of proceeding from the surface to the interior and discarding the dross to keep the essential; it is by no means accomplished by simply looking and listening. To penetrate the multifarious surface and grasp the essence, one cannot do without deep and solid investigation and research. But in reality, the investigation and research conducted by many people remains only on the surface — they engage in making a superficial inspection without depth (走马观花, zou ma guan hua - "walk, horse, observe, flower") and bonsai-style research, content with listening to briefings and reading materials, making judgments based on second-hand or third-hand information. Research that stops after only a superficial attempt (浅尝辄止, qian shang ze zhi - "shallow, taste, then, stop") yields information that has been processed and filtered, and the understanding formed on that basis is bound to contain deviations. There are also those who conduct research with predetermined conclusions, not to ascertain the real situation but to find supporting evidence for their own fixed ideas — setting the tone first and then looking for examples, which inverts the relationship between understanding and facts. Correct understanding is not reached at one stroke; it requires exchanging views, multi-faceted comparison, and repeated examination before one can continuously approach the truth. One-sidedness often comes from rushing to make decisions without seriously studying the actual situation. Overcoming subjectivity and one-sidedness in cognition is a test of one's ability to seek truth from facts.
The real test of selfish thoughts and considerations of personal interest
The question of seeking truth from facts is not only a question of methods of thinking and cognitive ability, but also a question of Party spirit and stance; to overcome the real test of selfish thoughts and considerations of personal interest requires selfless and fearless courage and responsibility. "Adhering to proceeding from reality and seeking truth from facts is not only a question of methods of thinking, but also a question of whether one's Party spirit is strong. Judging from the actual conditions of the current cadre contingent, the most needed thing in adhering to seeking truth from facts is to solve the question of Party spirit." In many cases, it is not that one cannot see the facts clearly, but whether one dares to face the facts directly and is willing to uphold the truth. Adhering to seeking truth from facts means daring to confront contradictions directly, face shortcomings and deficiencies squarely, have the courage to admit mistakes, and even overturn one's own judgments and decisions and negate existing work approaches — this inevitably entails bearing real pressure. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized, "To adhere to seeking truth from facts, one must adhere to upholding truth and correcting errors for the interests of the people. One must have the courage and integrity to be open and aboveboard, selfless and fearless, to base oneself on facts, and to dare to speak out the truth of the facts, to promptly discover and correct deviations in ideological understanding, mistakes in decision-making, and shortcomings in work, and to promptly discover and resolve various existing contradictions and problems, so that our thinking and actions better conform to objective laws, the requirements of the times, and the aspirations of the people." In real work, "unwilling, daring not, and unable" to seek truth from facts often stems from stance and selfishness. Some people have deviations in their view of political achievements, eager to produce results and highlights, keen on image projects and short-term effects, unwilling to settle down to ascertain the real situation and lay foundations, favoring a glossy surface and avoiding deep-seated contradictions; some are fettered by personal gains and losses and the ways of the world, first considering their own position, face, and prospects when things happen, worried about offending people and fearing criticism, playing the "good old fellow" in the face of problems, reporting only the good and not the bad, daring not to speak the truth or state the facts; some are confined by partial interests and small-group interests, viewing problems selectively, magnifying what is favorable to themselves, deliberately shielding information that exposes problems, and even resorting to fraud and beautifying data. Only the selfless can be fearless; once considerations of personal interest are mixed in, one views problems through a subjective filter and finds it difficult to stand on an objective and fair ground in viewing things. If one's mind is full of calculations of personal gains and losses, one will not dare to take responsibility, will not dare to face reality directly, and still less will dare to struggle against acts that violate objective laws and the interests of the masses. To adhere to seeking truth from facts, one must "speak truth, not face," not fear losing face, not fear being wronged, and proceed in everything from the fundamental interests of the people, not from personal honor, disgrace, gains, and losses. When truth conflicts with personal interests, whether one can hold fast to truth tests the purity of one's Party spirit. In history, many Communists, precisely by virtue of their Party-spirit character of disregarding personal gains and losses, were able to withstand pressure and dare to adhere to seeking truth from facts; there are also many lessons warning us that the heavier one's selfishness, the farther one is from seeking truth from facts.
The need for a sound atmosphere, environment, and institutional safeguards
Seeking truth from facts is not an isolated act of the individual; it is always carried out under certain organizational environments and institutional conditions, and the environment and atmosphere have a major influence on practicing seeking truth from facts. If political life in a place is not healthy enough, if different opinions cannot be heard, if criticism and self-criticism become mere formality, if people dare not express different views, and if truthful words and honest statements have no room to survive, then even if individuals subjectively want to seek truth from facts, they will be constrained by reality. Conversely, if a good atmosphere can be formed that has both centralism and democracy, both discipline and freedom, both unified will and personal ease of mind, people will dare to open their hearts and report the true situation. If scientific decision-making procedures are lacking, and major issues are not fully investigated or collectively studied and judged, decisions made on impulse are likely; if the assessment and evaluation system is oversimplified, looking only at visible indicators and ignoring actual results, it will induce some cadres to value numbers over actual effectiveness; if the fault-tolerance and error-correction mechanism is not sound, and mistakes in exploratory practice cannot be objectively distinguished, it will make cadres worry that doing more means making more mistakes, seeking stability and fearing errors in everything, and unwilling to face real contradictions directly. Adhering to seeking truth from facts cannot rely solely on the individual consciousness of Party members and cadres; it also requires sound institutions to provide protection. A good atmosphere and institutional safeguards will not be generated automatically, nor will they be achieved once and for all; they require continuous maintenance. Only by improving the investigation and research system, democratic centralism, decision-making demonstration and evaluation mechanisms, and fault-tolerance and error-correction mechanisms, and by fostering an atmosphere and ecology that encourage speaking the truth, can solid support be provided for continuously achieving seeking truth from facts. Only by readily accepting good advice, taking responsibility for those who take responsibility, protecting those who dare to adhere to seeking truth from facts, and restraining acts of fraud and detachment from reality can seeking truth from facts truly take firm root or become well-established (落地生根, luo di sheng gen - "fall, ground, grow, root").
Seeking truth from facts has no endpoint; there are only continuous new starting points. Recognizing the principle that adhering to seeking truth from facts is not something that can be achieved once and for all is not to find excuses for deviating from objective reality, but to identify the direction for sustained effort. To always achieve seeking truth from facts, one must uphold the stance of "not only superiors, not only books, only reality," make good use of the method of "exchange, comparison, repetition," take investigation and research as the foundation of planning affairs and the way of accomplishing things, adhere to the unity of being responsible to superiors and being responsible to subordinates, and properly handle the relationships between book theory and objective practice, and between partial reality and the overall situation. Discard inertia in thinking, reject the illusion of achieving something once and for all, and in the cyclical repetition of understanding and practice, continuously correct the gap between the subjective and the objective, carry the spirit of seeking truth and being pragmatic through the entire process of undertaking work and starting undertakings, truly proceed from reality in everything, act according to objective laws, and implement the Party's ideological line into every concrete task of reform and development. Continuously temper Party spirit cultivation, discard selfish thoughts, establish a correct view of political achievements, truly overcome dogmatism and empiricism, adhere to proceeding from the interests of the people in everything, go deep into the front lines at the grassroots to grasp first-hand information, be good at listening to different opinions, repeatedly study and judge situations, and at the same time consciously safeguard a clean and upright political ecology.
Return to TopBy: 张冠梓
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that "the Party has led the people in advancing Chinese modernization, creating a new form of human civilization and expanding the path for developing countries to achieve modernization." Placed within the historical process of world modernization, Chinese modernization both suits China's actual conditions and embodies the laws of socialist construction as well as the laws of human social development, demonstrating distinct and unique practical achievements. Chinese modernization has profoundly changed China's own development landscape, and through its own development it continues to influence the world, forming new path exploration and civilizational creation within the process of world modernization. Examined from a broader world perspective and a longer historical scale, the significance of Chinese modernization for world development will become even clearer.
Creating a Unique Practice of World Modernization
Chinese modernization has been gradually formed through long-term development exploration since the founding of New China, especially since reform and opening up. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era has continuously achieved new theoretical and practical results, further promoting the growing maturity of the path of Chinese modernization. The extraordinary modernization practice carried out by the Chinese Communist Party leading the people, based on the country's own national conditions, has provided new experience for world modernization and demonstrated distinct and unique political and institutional advantages.
Always upholding the Party's leadership, the greatest political advantage. Chinese modernization is socialist modernization led by the Chinese Communist Party, possessing both the common features of modernization in all countries and Chinese characteristics based on its own national conditions. In his report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly elucidated the essential requirements of Chinese modernization, the first of which is "upholding the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party"; he clearly proposed the "five major principles" that must be firmly grasped on the road forward, the first of which is "upholding and strengthening the Party's overall leadership." In the process of Chinese modernization, the Chinese Communist Party plays the leading core role of having a bird's-eye view and overall control (总揽全局, zong lan ju ju - "total, grasp, whole, situation") and coordinating all parties. A firm political stance, long-term-oriented strategic planning, a broad world perspective, outstanding governance capacity, and a political character of continuous self-renewal enable our Party, the largest Marxist governing party in the world, to grasp the overall direction of modernization construction and continuously improve its ability to respond to complex tasks and risks and challenges.
Fully leveraging the institutional advantage of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. After the Opium War, various strata of Chinese society carried out striving for national survival (救亡图存, jiu wang tu cun - "seek ways to save the nation and survive") and making extraordinary efforts through extreme hardships (艰苦卓绝, jian ku zhuo jue - "hardship, extremely, great") in institutional exploration. Various plans to save the nation successively appeared on China's stage and then faded away in obscurity. This demonstrates to people that the approach of applying something mechanically without considering circumstances (生搬硬套, sheng ban ying tao - "live, copy, rigid, apply") to the institutional models of other countries, disregarding one's own national conditions, was doomed to fail in China. After the birth of the Chinese Communist Party, it accumulated rich experience in modernization construction through making hard beginnings through arduous toil (筚路蓝缕, bi lu lan lu - "brush, path, blue, silk") in revolutionary practice. The founding of New China marked the entry of the construction of China's modern state system into a completely new stage. The Party combined Marxist state theory with China's specific realities and established a complete set of national institutional systems rooted in local conditions and suited to actual circumstances, with the socialist system as the main symbol. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has demonstrated extraordinary political courage, actively breaking through ideological barriers, daring to touch solidified interests, resolutely removing institutional and mechanistic maladies constraining development, and promoting systematic and holistic deep-seated changes in many fields, continuously consolidating the institutional guarantee for Chinese modernization.
Effectively making good use of the important magic weapon of concentrating resources to accomplish major undertakings. Concentrating resources to accomplish major undertakings, as a distinctive feature of China's national system and national governance system, is reflected both in the effective coordination of resources from all aspects in the face of major tasks and in the coordinated actions formed by different regions and departments around common goals. Winning the battle against poverty vividly demonstrated this institutional advantage. Through mechanisms such as east-west poverty alleviation cooperation and paired assistance, various regions and departments continuously channeled resources such as talent, funds, and technology to poverty-stricken areas, while also drawing in broad participation from all sectors of society. Modernization places relatively high demands on both the resource base and organizational capacity. Whether long-term goals can be transformed into sustained cross-level, cross-regional action, and whether effective coordination can be formed in major tasks, will both affect the actual advancement of the modernization process. Through concentrating resources to accomplish major undertakings, China's practice has thus taken on the characteristic of organizational capacity adapting to the scale of development.
Making a Systematic Response to the Predicament of Western Modernization
Chinese modernization follows the general laws of modernization development, such as industrialization, urbanization, scientific and technological innovation, and institutional construction, but it is not a simple imitation of or opposition to Western modernization. Rather, it is a creative transcendence based on absorbing the achievements of human civilization, contributing Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to humanity's exploration of a better social system. Looking at the five distinctive features of Chinese modernization summarized at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, each feature corresponds to the deep-seated drawbacks and predicaments of Western modernization.
The distinctive feature of a huge population scale forms a sharp contrast between Chinese modernization and the limited population benefited by Western modernization. In terms of population scale, fewer than 30 countries in the world have achieved industrialization, with a combined population of less than 1 billion. China's population of more than 1.4 billion is a realistic condition that must be faced in achieving Chinese modernization, and it also gives this process a distinct characteristic of scale. As China as a whole enters modernization, the balance of forces and the landscape of world modernization will undergo profound changes, effectively breaking the world map of modernization framed by some Western countries attempting to impose a Western-centric worldview, and expanding the development space of world modernization in the process of contributing momentum and opportunities to global development, providing stronger impetus for world modernization.
The essential feature of common prosperity for all the people forms a contrast between Chinese modernization and the severe polarization caused by the capital-centered nature of Western modernization. Western modernization proceeds under the dominance of "capital logic," centered on capital, with all its starting points and ultimate goals being the maximization of capital interests, inevitably leading to the gap between rich and poor and extreme inequality in economy and society, and even social tearing and human alienation. Marx pointed out in Das Kapital that "capital comes into the world dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt," profoundly revealing the cruelty and evil accompanying the primitive accumulation of capital. The goal of common prosperity pursued by Chinese modernization requires that development results be reflected more in the improvement of people's lives and the sharing of development achievements, so that the people's interests run through the entire process of modernization construction. Adhering to putting the people first and continuously advancing toward common prosperity embodies the transcendence of Chinese modernization over the development logic of capital supremacy.
The lofty pursuit of coordinating material civilization and spiritual civilization forms a contrast between Chinese modernization and Western modernization, where the expansion of materialism leads to emptiness in the spiritual world. Western modernization takes industrialization as its core standard and one-sidedly pursues economic growth, unable to take into account the coordinated development of political, cultural, ecological, and other fields. Under the capitalist system, the profit-seeking nature of capital leads to the proliferation of productionism and consumerism, with instrumental rationality replacing humanistic values, forming a vicious cycle of "materialism-ecological destruction." The expansion of materialism is an inevitable product of the Western modernization model, rooted in its historical path and institutional defects, and its result inevitably leads to worsening wealth disparity and spiritual emptiness.
The distinctive feature of harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature forms a contrast between Chinese modernization and the ecological destruction caused by the Western modernization approach of polluting first and treating later. The anthropocentrism of Western modernization advocates using human interests as the value starting point for moral judgment, holding that nature has only instrumental value, leading to the alienation of the relationship between humanity and nature. While creating abundant material wealth, it also causes excessive consumption of natural resources and unhealable environmental trauma. Engels pointed out that "let us not, however, flatter ourselves overmuch on account of our human victories over nature. For each such victory nature takes its revenge on us." Some development models of Western modernization tolerated environmental pollution in the early stages of economic development, only treating the environment after economic levels improved, causing Western modernization to pay a high price. While advancing industrial civilization, Chinese modernization adheres to harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature, emphasizes ecological civilization construction, avoids taking the old path of "pollute first, treat later," and has forged a new path of "win-win" development and environmental protection.
The prominent feature of taking the path of peaceful development forms a contrast between Chinese modernization and the Western modernization practice of plundering colonial wealth and sacrificing the interests of the people of other countries and regions. Early Western capitalist modernization was accompanied by external expansion over a long period, with capital's profit-seeking intertwined with colonial plunder, forming a historical path of continuously extracting resources and markets from abroad, causing devastating damage to colonial societies, economies, and cultures. Its modernization process can be said to have been "written into the annals of human history in letters of blood and fire." Marx pointed out that "when we turn our gaze from the homeland of bourgeois civilization to the colonies, the extreme hypocrisy of bourgeois civilization and its barbaric nature stand nakedly before us," profoundly revealing the duality and hypocrisy of bourgeois civilization carrying out plunder in the name of progress. Chinese modernization abandons zero-sum game thinking, adheres to peaceful development and mutually beneficial win-win cooperation, transcends harming others to benefit oneself through harmony and coexistence, and has forged a new path of modernization different from Western hegemonic expansion. Chinese modernization transcends exclusion and closure through openness and inclusiveness, does not engage in exclusive "small circles," but rather promotes inclusive and beneficial economic globalization through platforms such as the Belt and Road Initiative, helping Global South countries achieve common development.
The above five features are not abstract theoretical generalizations, but practical plans rooted in China's soil and responding to the questions of the times. These features respond from different aspects to various real problems in traditional modernization processes, such as capital dominance, development imbalance, ecological depletion, and external expansion, achieving a major theoretical transcendence over the Western modernization paradigm and promoting the development of modernization theory from the "singular" to the "plural." The five aspects together constitute the overall features of Chinese modernization, and their differences run through multiple levels including development goals, interest relations, civilizational structure, ecological orientation, and ways of external engagement. Different value orientations, institutional arrangements, and their combinations also make modernization present more diverse practical forms. It can be said that Chinese modernization has thereby expanded the practical forms of world modernization and further enriched people's understanding of the diversity of modernization paths.
Breaking the "Unilinear View of History"
Since the Industrial Revolution, Western countries took the lead in embarking on the path of modernization, achieving endogenous modernization, and for a considerable period monopolized the discourse power of "modernization." "Modernization = Westernization" has been described by some Western-centrists as a "universal truth of the world," and the liberal democracy and capitalist model they advocate has been regarded as the only "template" for modernization, using Western capitalist systems, value systems, and ideologies as the yardstick for measuring modernization. According to this single narrative, human society is understood as continuously evolving along a single path, with capitalism placed at the highest stage of civilizational development. However, Western modernization has long been dominated by capital logic, accompanied by polarization, materialist expansion, and external plunder, causing a series of deep-seated problems such as wealth disparity, social disorder, and ecological crisis. Directly transplanting the Western model to late-developing countries makes it difficult for foreign institutional arrangements to connect with original social structures, and the continuity between tradition and modernity is also impacted.
China's development practice shows that Westernization is not the only direction of modernization; modernization can unfold along different institutional arrangements and historical paths. Different countries can entirely proceed from their own historical traditions, realistic conditions, and development needs to explore modernization methods suited to their own realities. The modernization path moving from the "singular" to the "plural" also means that the same modernization tasks can be achieved through different methods. In short, industrialization, urbanization, and scientific and technological progress have a certain commonality, but how to arrange the order of development, how to coordinate social relations, and how to handle the tension between tradition and modernity still require choices based on the specific conditions of different countries. On the one hand, Chinese modernization proves that late-developing countries do not need to follow someone's footsteps blindly (亦步亦趋, yi bu yi qu - "also, step, also, follow") the Western path, nor do they need to sacrifice sovereignty and independence in exchange for development. For those countries and nations that "both hope to accelerate development and hope to maintain their own independence," China's practice provides another development experience. On the other hand, China deepens exchanges and cooperation with countries around the world and promotes the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, creating conditions for countries to board China's express train of development and share development opportunities, providing important opportunities for Global South countries to break through development bottlenecks and enhance their voice in global affairs, and will promote all countries to advance hand in hand in the process of world modernization, reaching new heights of human civilization.
Creating a New Form of Human Civilization
Human civilization has always evolved through changes in social structure, modes of production and life, and institutional forms. When social forms change, civilizational forms are also renewed accordingly. Entering the modern era, modernization gradually became an important historical process running through global social change, and also became a basic category for summarizing social transformation and civilizational development. In this regard, Chinese modernization presents development characteristics that are refreshing one's eyes and ears (耳目一新, er mu yi xin - "ear, eye, one, new").
Differences in modernization paths contain differences in civilizational genes, containing the redefinition of modern civilization by Chinese modernization. Why the new form of human civilization is called "new" can be understood from several levels. Material civilization, political civilization, spiritual civilization, social civilization, and ecological civilization develop in coordination in the modernization process, jointly constituting the overall form of civilizational construction. At the same time, this creation runs through different aspects such as ideological concepts, institutional systems, development paths, humanistic spirit, and social practice, and is therefore neither a simple replication of existing civilizational models nor a partial patch to traditional civilizational forms. The new form of human civilization based on socialism with Chinese characteristics is first and foremost socialist civilization, not any other civilization. Socialist civilization is a new type of civilization built on the basis of all the achievements of human civilization and transcending capitalist civilization. Its cultural foundation takes advanced socialist culture as its substance, while also absorbing revolutionary culture, the excellent traditional culture of the Chinese nation, and the outstanding achievements of human civilization, and continuously developing in the practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Socialist principles run through the process of Chinese modernization. China's modernization is modernization of common prosperity for all the people, and it will not and cannot take the path of polarization, because the history of the Chinese nation contains the pursuit of a moderately prosperous society and great harmony; it is modernization of harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature, and it will not and cannot take the path of high energy consumption and high pollution, because the history of the Chinese nation contains the wisdom of reverence for nature; it is modernization taking the path of peaceful development, and it will not and cannot take the path of external colonization and internal oppression, because the Chinese nation has no genes for invading others or seeking hegemony. Chinese modernization has thereby formed new civilizational creation, further expanding the connotation of human civilization.
The new form of human civilization created by the Chinese Communist Party leading the people has broken through the centrist narrative that takes Western civilization as the sole reference, and has also provided new inspiration for the realization of the common values of all mankind. It runs development for the people, development relying on the people, and development achievements shared by the people throughout the entire process of civilizational construction, highlighting the principal position of the masses of the people in historical development and social progress, forming a development logic different from the separation between the ruling class and the masses of the people; it emphasizes harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature, responding to global ecological and environmental challenges with the concept of a community of life for humanity and nature; it promotes the excellent traditional Chinese culture of benefiting the whole world (兼济天下, jian ji tian xia - "combine, benefit, all, world"), promoting harmony among all nations (协和万邦, xie he wan bang - "harmonize, unite, ten thousand, states"), and seeking harmony without conformity (和而不同, he er bu tong - "harmony, but, not, same"), providing new ideas for addressing and resolving the governance deficit, trust deficit, development deficit, and peace deficit. These concepts and practices together shape contemporary Chinese civilization. On the one hand, it has become an important civilizational foundation for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation; on the other hand, it also brings new value content into the development process of human civilization.
Humanity has formed many common values in its long exploration of pursuing civilizational progress. The new form of human civilization is a great achievement formed through practice by combining the basic principles of Marxism with China's specific realities and with the excellent traditional Chinese culture, opening up a new realm of scientific socialism. On the basis of making scientific judgments about the basic contradictions of human society, Marx made profound analyses of the future direction of civilizational development, proposing the eventual establishment of an ideal society without oppression, without exploitation, with equality for all and freedom for all, inspiring and motivating people around the world who pursue a better future. After Marxism was introduced into China, whether world socialism was at its peak or trough, whether the Party's cause was in favorable or adverse circumstances, the Chinese Communist Party has always adhered to its ideals and convictions with unwavering determination, has always upheld its original aspiration and founding mission of seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation, and has advanced unhesitatingly toward this goal, winning the heartfelt support and firm endorsement of all the people.
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that "Chinese modernization has broken the myth that 'modernization = Westernization,' presented another picture of modernization, expanded the path choices for developing countries to achieve modernization, and provided China's solutions for humanity's exploration of a better social system." Chinese modernization is deeply rooted in the excellent traditional Chinese culture, embodies the advanced nature of scientific socialism, draws on and absorbs all the outstanding achievements of human civilization, represents the direction of progress of human civilization, presents a new picture completely different from the Western modernization model, and is a completely new form of human civilization.
(The author is the Dean of the Institute of Chinese Modernization, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)
Return to TopBy: 中国化学工程集团有限公司党委书记、董事长 莫鼎革
Since the convening of the National Conference on Party Building in State-Owned Enterprises, the Party Committee of China National Chemical Engineering Group Corporation (hereinafter referred to as China Chemical Engineering) has resolutely implemented the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the work requirements of the Party Committee of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, comprehensively strengthened the Party's leadership and Party building, established a "1366" Party building work system, coordinated the promotion of the "Six Major Projects," and achieved remarkable results in using high-quality Party building to lead and guarantee high-quality development. The Group's operating indicators have repeatedly set new records, and it has achieved "seven consecutive A ratings" in the assessment of Party building work responsibility for central enterprises. In particular, in the 2025 series of assessment and evaluation for central enterprises, it received the highest grade of "A" or "excellent" in operating performance, deepening reform, and other areas. Its practices of using high-quality Party building to lead and guarantee high-quality development were presented as on-site experience exchange at the seminar for heads of central enterprises. The strategic positioning of China Chemical Engineering as the "national team" of China's chemical industry and the "vanguard" of global chemical engineering has been fully realized and widely recognized, and the construction of a world-class innovative engineering company has been accelerated.
Deeply implement the Navigation Project and resolutely implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee. The Party Committee of China Chemical Engineering has always placed the Party's political construction first. Continuously strengthen political leadership. Deeply study and implement Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, adhere to using the Party's innovative theories for strengthening people's resolve and soul (凝心铸魂, ning xin zhu hun - "freeze, heart; cast, soul"), formulate and implement the "135" development strategy, put forward the "Question of China Chemical Engineering" of (1+X)n≥2, and rebuild a higher-quality China Chemical Engineering. Fully give play to the leading role of the Party Committee, improve corporate governance, improve the rules of procedure for the Party Committee (Standing Committee) meeting, the board of directors, and the general manager's office meeting, and clarify the boundaries of rights and responsibilities of each governance entity. Comprehensively deepen enterprise reform. Continue to advance the three-year action for SOE reform and the action to deepen and enhance SOE reform, adhere to the "dual-wheel drive" of scientific and technological innovation and management innovation, innovatively implement the "three plan sheets" and a series of special actions, and strengthen integrated control and penetrating supervision. Focus on the main responsibility and main business, deeply implement the "T+EPC" and "T+Industry" model innovations, adhere to leading the way in going global, serve the high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, and continue to polish the "three important windows and one golden business card." Proactively align with national strategies such as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Yangtze River Protection, and deeply participate in the construction of national-level energy bases such as petrochemical and coal chemical industries. Efficiently coordinate development and security, and firmly hold the bottom line of not having systemic risks.
Deeply implement the Talent Cultivation Project and forge a high-quality, professional cadre and talent team. The Party Committee of China Chemical Engineering has always adhered to the principles of the Party managing cadres and the Party managing talent, and strived to build a talent cultivation system that meets the needs of building a world-class innovative engineering company. Continuously strengthen the construction of leading bodies. In accordance with the "young + professional" approach, select and strengthen leading bodies at all levels. Continuously optimize the structure of the cadre team, promote the normalization of cadre exchanges. Among the cadres managed by the Group's Party Committee promoted in the past two years, those under 45 years old and those with professional backgrounds account for 51% and 75% respectively; those promoted through exchange positions account for 49%, completely breaking down the barriers to "difficult exchanges" between the headquarters and grassroots units, different sectors, and different subsidiary enterprises. Continue to advance the strategy of strengthening the enterprise with talent. Centering on the "135" development strategy and industrial development needs, coordinate the building of the "three teams" of management, science and technology, and skilled personnel. Vigorously promote the construction of the "coach" grid system, with a total of 7,092 people in the "chief coach + head coach + assistant coach + master" system, and 4,445 pairs of master-apprentice pairings, achieving a 100% apprenticeship rate for young employees, so that the vast number of employees deeply feel that "working at China Chemical Engineering adds points to your career." Hold high-quality special training such as training classes for improving the political capabilities of leading cadres and training classes for newly appointed leading cadres, promoting the transformation of talent cultivation from "single-point efforts" to "systematic empowerment."
Deeply implement the Foundation-Strengthening Project and promote the deep integration of Party building with production and operation. The Party Committee of China Chemical Engineering has always focused on the grassroots level for Party building, built a strong grassroots level to promote development, and successively carried out thematic activities such as the demonstration year, improvement year, and deepening year for the construction of grassroots Party organizations. The grassroots foundation continues to be consolidated. Promote the establishment of Party organizations wherever they should be established, build them well and strengthen them, construct a rigorous organizational system, with more than 1,100 Party organizations covering all project sites, industrial workshops, business institutions, etc., achieving effective coverage of Party organizations and Party work. Innovate the "six studies, six breakthroughs, six improvements" model and deeply carry out basic training for grassroots Party organizations. Compile and promote the "one guideline, four manuals," continuously strengthen Party building work in mixed-ownership reform enterprises and overseas institutions, and continuously improve the institutionalized, standardized, and normalized level of Party building work. Integration and mutual promotion are practical and effective. Deepen the implementation of the "Three Leadership Actions" of Party building leading, secretaries leading, and Party members taking the lead, mobilize grassroots Party organizations and the vast number of Party members to fully play the role of fighting fortresses and vanguard models, and break through a number of "bottleneck" key core technologies such as adiponitrile, cold hydrogenation polysilicon, and POE elastomers. Carry out the selection of "Two Excellences and One Advanced," promote in an integrated manner the creation of star project Party branches and star standardized construction sites, set up "posts, zones, and teams" focusing on major scientific and technological research and project construction, extensively carry out joint building and co-construction activities, and drive the integrated development of the industrial chain, supply chain, and innovation chain through Party building joint construction.
Deeply implement the Brand Project and enhance the visibility and influence of China Chemical Engineering. The Party Committee of China Chemical Engineering adheres to centering on the overall situation and serving the overall situation, and consciously integrates the mission of "uniting people internally and establishing an image externally" into the vivid practice of enterprise reform and development. The propaganda and ideological work methods are more innovative and dynamic. Hold a special report meeting on the tenth anniversary of practicing the great call that "socialism is built through hard work," and gather the strength to strive forward. Manage and use well the "three ones" positions of one network, one account, and one screen, and build an integrated communication matrix from top to bottom. Plan and produce series such as "Following Chemistry to See the World" and "Green Development, Let TA Tell You," creating a pragmatic atmosphere. Strengthen public opinion management and training and practical exercises for online commentators, and effectively prevent and control ideological risks. The brand culture image is more distinctive. Summarize and form the corporate spirit of "united struggle, pragmatic and striving for excellence," the corporate mission of "building a colorful world and creating a better life," publish the "Brand Culture Manual" and "On-site Standardization Manual," hold brand culture on-site meetings, organize a series of brand culture construction activities such as the "China Chemical Engineering Story Meeting," and firmly establish the image consensus of "One China Chemical Engineering." In 2025, the ranking in the brand construction benchmarking of central enterprises jumped significantly. Actively participate in rural revitalization, and for five consecutive years have been rated as "good," the highest grade in the assessment of targeted assistance by central units, with national models such as Qiu Jun, "Model of the Times," emerging.
Deeply implement the Integrity Project and strive to create a clean and upright political atmosphere (风清气正, feng qing qi zheng - "wind, clear; air, upright"). The Party Committee of China Chemical Engineering firmly shoulders the responsibility of managing the Party and governing the Party, and promotes the full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in depth. Continuously strengthen political supervision. Build a digital management system for the "first agenda item," and improve the closed-loop working mechanism of study and implementation, research and deployment, supervision and implementation, and evaluation and effectiveness. Centering on the effective implementation of major decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee, precisely carry out supervision and inspection of major tasks such as scientific and technological innovation, deepening reform, and ecological and environmental protection. Integrate the promotion of "not daring to be corrupt, not being able to be corrupt, and not wanting to be corrupt." The Group's Party Committee and Discipline Inspection Commission adhere to answering the same questions together and working in the same direction, maintain a high-pressure anti-corruption posture, resolutely investigate and deal with violations of the spirit of the Eight-Point Regulation, illegal business operations by cadres, and other disciplinary and legal violations, and severely punish corruption in engineering construction and bidding and tendering. Continuously improve the internal control system and continuously improve the mechanism for restricting and supervising the exercise of power. Carry out anti-corruption propaganda and education month activities, select typical cases to film warning education videos, and do solid and detailed work on the "second half of the article" of case investigation and handling. Fully give play to the role of discipline inspection and supervision, inspections and patrols, and audit supervision. Carry out routine inspections, special inspections, and "look back" at inspection rectification, and successfully complete the task of full coverage of inspections in all rounds. Implement the "ten must-audits" requirements and do a good job in auditing key projects and key areas. Establish and improve the "major supervision" mechanism and continuously carry out supervision work on business management and overseas business.
Deeply implement the Cohesion Project and gather a strong joint force for the high-quality development of the enterprise. The Party Committee of China Chemical Engineering has always strengthened its leadership over mass organization work, achieving "development for employees, development relying on employees, and development results shared by employees." Lead the vast number of employees in achieving great accomplishments and establishing a career (建功立业, jian gong li ye - "build, merit; establish, enterprise"). Host the symposium held by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council on deepening industrial reform to boost the construction of the self-owned industrial worker team of construction central enterprises, and accelerate the cultivation of the self-owned skilled worker team with three types of work such as special material welders as key priority directions. Jointly with the superior trade union and the owner unit, hold the leading labor competition for the China-Saudi Gulei ethylene project, effectively promoting project construction. Select and publicize models, with a number of collectives and individuals receiving honors such as "National Model Workers." Normalize the implementation of "sending coolness in summer and warmth in winter," and establish a special assistance mechanism for employees in difficulty. Fully give play to the role of youth as the main force. Hold activities such as the Youth English Talent Competition and promote the "Young Marxist Training Project" to a high standard. Build a track for youth to make contributions, and give play to the role of youth commando teams in major projects, scientific research frontlines, and overseas projects. Hold special training for league cadres by level and category, and continuously improve the ability of league organizations to contact and serve youth and to unite and mobilize youth.
The Party Committee of China Chemical Engineering will continue to consolidate the achievements in implementing the National Conference on Party Building in State-Owned Enterprises, adhere to using high-quality Party building to lead and guarantee the high-quality development of the enterprise, strive to promote the implementation of the "135" development strategy and the 15th Five-Year Plan, accelerate the construction of a world-class innovative engineering company, and contribute greater strength to the great cause of building a strong country and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Return to TopDuring the period of the 15th Five-Year Plan, China is in a critical stage of accelerating the construction of a new energy system and advancing the building of a major energy country. Rooted in the land of Shanxi, which is undertaking comprehensive reform of the energy revolution, Huadian International Power Co., Ltd. Shuozhou Thermal Power Branch (hereinafter referred to as Huadian Shuozhou Thermal Power) firmly grasps the historical positioning of the transformation and development of traditional thermal power enterprises, coordinates energy supply security, scientific and technological innovation, operational efficiency, and Party building leadership, explores distinctive paths in the practice of transforming thermal power into basic safeguard and system-regulating power sources, and writes a solid answer sheet on the land of Shanxi for central energy enterprises serving local development.
Consolidate the "root" and "soul" of state-owned enterprises, and lead and guarantee the enterprise's moving steadily and far into the future (行稳致远, xing wen zhi yuan - "walk, steady; reach, far") with high-quality Party building. Upholding the Party's leadership and strengthening Party building are the "root" and "soul" of state-owned enterprises. To promote the enterprise's steady and long-term development, it is necessary to continuously transform the Party's political and organizational advantages into the enterprise's competitive and developmental advantages, promote the deep integration of Party building work with production and operation, technological breakthroughs, and team building, and build the Party organization's fighting fortresses at maintenance sites and on the front lines of tackling key difficulties.
Upholding the Party's leadership is the unique advantage of state-owned enterprises. Huadian Shuozhou Thermal Power has always placed Party building in a prominent position, continuously consolidating and deepening the achievements of the implementation of the National Conference on Party Building Work of State-Owned Enterprises, and leading and guaranteeing high-quality development with high-quality Party building. Deepen ideological and political construction, solidly carry out learning and education on establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements, and use the Party's innovative theories of the new era to unify thinking. Carry out the "Two Transformations, Three Emphases" work style improvement year action, examine and identify problems item by item, promote the implementation of rectification, and guide Party members and cadres to establish a practical orientation and temper a solid work style. Deeply implement the "Four Forces, Four Promotions" Party building project, implement a list-based management model, and promote the simultaneous deployment, implementation, and assessment of Party building work and central work. Practice the purpose of serving the people, deepen the "Three Alls" working mechanism, carry out the "Condensing Hearts, Casting Souls, Handling Practical Matters" activity for 44 consecutive years, and have cumulatively solved nearly 100 urgent, difficult, and anxious problems of employees, with employees' sense of gain and happiness continuously improving.
Strengthen the building of the cadre and talent team, deepen the "youth talent pool" training mechanism, advance the reform of the construction of the industrial worker force, and forge a high-quality and professional team through skill competitions, mentor-apprentice pairings, and project-based research, accumulating talent strength for the enterprise's long-term development. Organize practical skill competitions, promote learning through competition and training through competition, and forge professional backbone forces on the production, technology, and marketing fronts. Tighten and consolidate the political responsibility for full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, carry out warning education on a regular basis, advance the construction of a clean enterprise, improve the pattern of comprehensive supervision, persevering without giving up (锲而不舍, qie er bu she - "drill, and, not, abandon") in rectifying the Four Malfeasances, promote in an integrated manner the deterrence of corruption, the prevention of corruption, and the cultivation of a mindset against corruption, and continuously foster a clean and upright political atmosphere (风清气正, feng qing qi zheng - "wind, clear; air, upright") and a sound political ecosystem for undertaking work.
Bear in mind the "great affairs of the nation," and fulfill the mission of central enterprises in ensuring energy security and serving people's livelihoods. A combined heat and power enterprise is connected on one end to the stable operation of the power grid and on the other end to the warmth and livelihood of the people. Facing the profound changes in the operation pattern of the power system brought about by the large-scale grid connection of new energy, the value of traditional coal power is no longer limited to power generation; its strategic functions of guaranteeing supply at the bottom line, deep peak shaving, and providing heat for people's livelihoods are becoming increasingly prominent.
As an important regional combined heat and power enterprise, Huadian Shuozhou Thermal Power has always adhered to putting the people first and life first, treating energy supply security as the primary political task, coordinating development and security with a bottom-line mindset, implementing the principle of "always being concerned and vigilant" in every detail of production, operation, and maintenance, continuously consolidating safe production and supply capacity, with the safe operation days of units exceeding 3,900 days, completing the ultra-long heating task of 202 days to a high standard, and delivering a steady stream of warmth to thousands of households. Systematically implement special actions for equipment upgrading, orderly advance technical transformation projects such as unit maintenance, equipment renewal, and defect treatment, and continuously refresh the record for long-cycle safe operation of units. Unit No. 2 was rated as a 4A-level energy-efficient unit by the China Electricity Council, and the enterprise has maintained a 3A-level credit rating from the China Electricity Council, with its hardware strength and management level recognized by the industry.
Keep pace with the construction of the new power system, balance the dual tasks of peak power generation and deep peak shaving, scientifically respond to grid dispatch, and flexibly adjust unit operation strategies. On the one hand, serve as the "ballast stone" for regional power supply and heating, proactively undertaking the task of guaranteeing supply at the bottom line; on the other hand, act as the "stabilizer" for system regulation, relying on the unit's own endowments to participate in auxiliary services such as deep peak shaving and frequency regulation, providing strong support for the consumption of new energy.
Activate the primary driving force of innovation, and consolidate the hard-core support for high-quality development through technological breakthroughs. The cultivation and growth of new quality productive forces is an important lever for traditional energy enterprises to break through and make a leap. Huadian Shuozhou Thermal Power focuses on innovation at the production site, and with hard-core research and tangible project results, has accelerated on the track of iteration of key thermal power technologies. The enterprise focuses on efficient unit operation, flexible peak shaving, and energy conservation and consumption reduction, solving a number of practical problems facing the industry.
Concentrate efforts on tackling key national-level scientific research projects, solidly advance the research on key technologies for flexible peak shaving of circulating fluidized bed units under the national key research and development program, implement multiple projects such as separator efficiency improvement renovation and secondary air system optimization, and strive to break through the technical bottlenecks of stable operation under wide-load conditions. The nation's first "20 MWh new-type packed bed thermal storage system" auxiliary peak shaving project has completed commissioning and been put into operation, effectively breaking the constraint of "determining power by heat" in traditional combined heat and power, forming unique technical competitiveness in the fields of deep peak shaving, combined heat and power supply, and intraday start-stop peak shaving, providing hard-core support for units to participate in the power market and expand revenue channels. A number of key technical transformation projects have been implemented and delivered results, targeting the treatment of equipment chronic problems and promoting the simultaneous improvement of equipment reliability and operational economy.
The bursting forth of innovation vitality cannot be separated from institutional support and talent support. The enterprise implements the requirements for building a "pagoda-type" scientific and technological innovation system, improves and perfects innovation incentive mechanisms, and increases rewards for innovation achievements and backbone personnel in technological breakthroughs. Relying on carriers such as project-based research, mentor-apprentice pairings, and skill competitions, it builds a platform for young talents to gain experience. Encourage frontline employees to carry out small innovations and small transformations based on their positions, open up the complete chain of "technological breakthrough - on-site application - efficiency transformation," and truly transform scientific and technological innovation into real productive forces with more stable equipment, lower energy consumption, and better benefits.
Adhere to giving priority to quality and efficiency, and shape competitive advantages in value creation through lean management. Shifting from pursuing scale and speed to pursuing quality and efficiency is the inherent requirement for the high-quality development of state-owned enterprises in the new era. Facing external tests such as coal price fluctuations and intensified competition in the power market, Huadian Shuozhou Thermal Power insists on digging deep into internal potential, runs lean management through the entire process of production and operation, insists on making efforts in both directions of increasing revenue and reducing expenditure, and instead of relying on extensive expansion, relies on management improvement to tap the value of existing assets, blazing a practical path of improving quality and increasing efficiency.
Improve the market-oriented operation and dispatch mechanism, and establish a working model of weekly market dispatch and monthly benefit dispatch. Strengthen market research and judgment, coordinate the synergy of volume and price, dynamically optimize various trading strategies for medium and long-term, spot, and frequency regulation markets, scientifically organize unit shutdown for maintenance and defect elimination, seize benefit-generating electricity, consolidate the competitive advantage of electricity prices, and ensure the full collection of capacity electricity charges. Deeply tap the potential of comprehensive utilization of solid waste resources, establish a monthly consultation and sales mechanism for fly ash, promote the turning of waste into something valuable (变废为宝, bian fei wei bao - "change, waste, into, treasure"), and transform the past disposal burden into tangible operational revenue.
Facing the 15th Five-Year Plan, the construction of a new energy system places higher requirements on thermal power enterprises. Huadian Shuozhou Thermal Power will firmly adhere to its main responsibilities and main business without wavering, firmly hold onto the responsibility of energy supply security, continuously strengthen the empowerment of science and technology, give full play to the leading and guaranteeing role of Party building, move forward with courage and determination (勇毅前行, yong yi qian xing - "brave, resolute, move, forward") on the new journey of serving the building of a major energy country and supporting local economic and social development, and strive to write a new chapter in the high-quality development of energy enterprises.
(Party Committee of Huadian International Power Co., Ltd. Shuozhou Thermal Power Branch)
Return to TopBy: 张庆国
Fostering virtue through education is the fundamental task of education, and ideological and political work is the lifeline of all school work. Vocational education shoulders the important responsibility of cultivating diverse talents, passing on technical skills, and promoting employment and entrepreneurship. Heze Vocational College closely adheres to the fundamental questions of "what kind of people to cultivate, how to cultivate them, and for whom to cultivate them," and, based on regional cultural resources and its educational advantages, has constructed a "three-dimensional integration" grand ideological and political education system, striving to cultivate new generations of the era capable of shouldering the great task of national rejuvenation.
Integrate fine traditional Chinese culture into the entire process of talent cultivation. Fine traditional Chinese culture is the cultural root of the Chinese nation and the necessary moral quality for vocational talents; its function of forging the soul and nurturing people through culture must be fully brought into play. The school adheres to "educating people through culture and transforming people through culture," constructs a closed-loop cultivation chain, and realizes the process of subtle, gradual influence (潜移默化, qian yi mo hua - "subtle, move, silent, transform") of fine traditional Chinese culture.
Strengthen cultural edification. Using ideological and political courses as the vehicle, systematically sort out the ideological essence and humanistic spirit within fine traditional Chinese culture, revolutionary culture, and advanced socialist culture, deeply explore local historical and cultural allusions of Heze, and promote the extension of traditional culture education into professional courses. Offer elective courses such as "Sinology Lectures" and "Classic Recitation," closely align with industry professional ethics norms, and analyze cases of traditional craftsmen's pursuit of excellence to carry out precise teaching.
Highlight integrity culture. With the "Youth · Clear Heze Charm" integrity culture hall as the core position, construct a three-level practice system of "on-campus practice—school-enterprise linkage—social radiation," enabling students to practice integrity during Integrity Culture Month, volunteer explanations, post internships, and community lectures, achieving a transformation from "passive participation" to "active practice." Strengthen digital empowerment. Relying on VR sand tables and AR interactive equipment, develop nearly 200 minutes of VR experience courses such as "Stories of a Great Nation" and the "Clear Breeze Heze Vocational" smart system, reproducing vocational integrity risk points and restoring typical cases through virtual scenes, realizing integrity education that can be "learned at any time and practiced anywhere."
Temper the spirit of craftsmanship through intangible cultural heritage inheritance and practice. Intangible cultural heritage carries the craftsmanship spirit of pursuing excellence and upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground, which is highly consistent with the goal of vocational education to cultivate high-quality technical and skilled talents. The number of national-level and provincial-level intangible cultural heritage projects and representative inheritors in Heze has ranked first in the province for many consecutive years. The school deeply integrates intangible cultural heritage into ideological and political education and vocational education, realizing two-way empowerment of inheritance and innovation and talent cultivation.
Build an intangible cultural heritage inheritance hall and construct a display and experience platform. Based on Heze's intangible cultural heritage resource endowment, the school has built an intangible cultural heritage inheritance hall integrating display, study tours, master studios, and cultural and creative product livestreaming, exhibiting more than 110 intangible cultural heritage projects at various levels and collecting more than 2,000 fine intangible cultural heritage items. Explore the new trinity model of "master on-site handcrafting + AI intelligent interaction + online livestreaming." Adhere to the dual-engine drive of "cultural creativity + technological innovation," build an urban reception hall integrating cultural display, academic research, talent cultivation, and industrial incubation, host more than 270 events including inspections at various levels, group observations, and foreign exchange activities, undertake more than 200 exhibitions and festival activities at or above the municipal level, attract nearly 100,000 visits for tours and experiences, and become an important position for Heze to display its distinctive culture.
Build an intangible cultural heritage "grand classroom" and cultivate inheritance and innovation talents. The school implements the model of "master introduction and cultivation + master-apprentice inheritance," introduces 40 national-level and provincial-level intangible cultural heritage inheritors, establishes master studios and study classrooms, and develops 16 boutique courses. Incorporate 8 intangible cultural heritage courses including "Caozhou Dough Figurines," "Yellow River Clay Sculpture," and "Peony Fine Brush Painting" into the public elective course system, attracting more than 1,000 students to take them each semester. Carry out the "Intangible Cultural Heritage Masters Enter Campus" activity, benefiting more than 80,000 students. Closely following the ecological protection and high-quality development strategy of the Yellow River Basin, jointly with nine cities along the Yellow River in Shandong, build intangible cultural heritage study tour routes, serve the integrated construction of ideological and political courses in universities, middle schools, and primary schools, and benefit more than 8,600 primary and secondary school students.
Build an intangible cultural heritage "grand platform" to drive practical training, entrepreneurship, and employment. Relying on platforms such as the industry-education integration practical training base of the university science and technology park and the cultural and creative technology industry incubation platform, jointly with the government, universities, and enterprises, establish the Heze City College Student Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Employment Alliance, and build a full-chain platform for intangible cultural heritage cultural and creative research and development, design, production, and sales. Support students in building online sales channels, construct a college student innovation and entrepreneurship incubation base, and provide services and guidance. In 2023, the university science and technology park was approved as a provincial-level maker space, and a large number of intangible cultural heritage cultural and creative enterprises and entrepreneurial teams settled in the park, driving student employment and entrepreneurship and achieving a win-win situation for intangible cultural heritage inheritance and innovation and student career development.
Temper solid skills through social practice. Social practice is a key link in testing the effectiveness of ideological and political education and cultivating students' sense of responsibility. The school regards social practice as an important vehicle for ideological and political education, and through branded volunteer services, professional internship and practical training, and project-based social research, enables students to receive education, grow their abilities, and make contributions in practice.
Polish the volunteer service brand. The school continues to polish the "Heze Beauty" volunteer service brand, constructs a three-level volunteer service system of "school-level coordination, college linkage, and class participation," organizes students to go deep into communities, villages, and enterprises, and regularly carries out services such as policy publicity, science and technology support for agriculture, respect for the elderly and assistance for the disabled, and voluntary repairs. The "One Little Red Flower" volunteer publicity team was selected as one of the top 100 outstanding teams in the national college student "Two Bombs, One Satellite" spirit volunteer publicity project, becoming a shining calling card of the school's ideological and political education and social service.
Deepen professional internship and practical training. Relying on the school-enterprise cooperation platform, the school arranges students for on-the-job internships and follow-up practical training in accordance with the principles of "professional matching and position matching." Adhere to the "school-enterprise dual mentor" system, with school mentors responsible for academic guidance and ideological and political education, and enterprise mentors responsible for guidance on post skills and professional norms, guiding students to establish a rigorous and pragmatic attitude and realize the organic unity of knowledge learning, skill training, and moral character development.
Advance project-based social research. Deeply implement the "one department, one brand" practical brand creation plan, focus on national strategies, local development, and social hot spots, and encourage students to carry out social research in combination with their professional strengths. Since 2024, more than 2,500 students have participated in the "One Million College Students Enter Communities" activity, carrying out 260 project-based research sessions and winning 17 provincial-level awards in the 2025 Shandong Province summer "Three Trips to the Countryside" social practice for culture, technology, and health for college and secondary vocational students.
Heze Vocational College will always adhere to the original aspiration and founding mission of educating people for the Party and cultivating talents for the country, continuously promote ideological and political education to break out of the single classroom, and realize the transformation from knowledge indoctrination to cultural infiltration and from theoretical education to practical cultivation. In practical scenarios, thicken the integrity foundation; in intangible cultural heritage inheritance and practice, temper the spirit of craftsmanship; in social services, demonstrate cultural responsibility; construct a grand ideological and political education pattern of all-staff, whole-process, all-round, and all-field education; cultivate more high-quality technical and skilled talents who possess both virtue and skill and unify knowledge and action; and contribute vocational education strength to the high-quality development of the regional economy and society. (The author is the Party Committee Secretary of Heze Vocational College)
Return to TopIn recent years, China has made dedicated efforts to promote the development of the low-altitude economy, explicitly incorporating it into emerging pillar industries for cultivation, and has made systematic arrangements at both the top-level design level and the local exploration level. The "Opinions on Developing New Quality Productive Forces" issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council proposes promoting the healthy and orderly development of the low-altitude economy and commercial aerospace on the premise of ensuring safety. Focusing on the healthy and orderly development of the low-altitude economy, the high-end think tank edition of Study Times has launched an in-depth discussion.
Return to TopBy: 张立
The low-altitude economy is an important lever for cultivating new quality productive forces, building a modern industrial system, and expanding the space for economic and social development. The 2023 Central Economic Work Conference listed the low-altitude economy as a strategic emerging industry; the 2024 Government Work Report proposed actively creating new growth engines such as the low-altitude economy; the 2025 Government Work Report further emphasized promoting the safe and healthy development of emerging industries such as the low-altitude economy; and the 2026 Government Work Report designated the low-altitude economy as an emerging pillar industry. Its strategic positioning has continued to rise, and its policy direction has become increasingly clear. At present, the low-altitude economy is at a critical stage of transitioning from rapid cultivation to systematic advancement and scaled development. How to coordinate top-level design with grassroots exploration to form a development pattern featuring linkage between upper and lower levels, central-local coordination, safety and order, and vitality has become a key issue that must be properly resolved for the low-altitude economy to achieve steady and long-term development.
The strategic value and synergistic effects of low-altitude economic development. The low-altitude economy is a comprehensive economic form centered on low-altitude flight activities, supported by technologies such as unmanned aerial flight and low-altitude intelligent networking, and driving the coordinated development of low-altitude manufacturing, infrastructure, operational services, and flight support. To accurately grasp the connotation of the low-altitude economy, two cognitive deviations need to be clarified: the low-altitude economy is not synonymous with the drone industry—drones are merely an important carrier of low-altitude flight activities, not the entirety of its content; nor is the low-altitude economy a simple repetition of traditional general aviation, but rather a form of industrial leap of general aviation under conditions of electrification, digitalization, and intelligence, in which its power systems, operational modes, regulatory models, and application boundaries have all undergone profound changes. Only by planning policies and allocating resources on this cognitive foundation can we avoid turning emerging industries into replicas of traditional industries.
From the perspective of strategic value, the low-altitude economy has opened up a three-dimensional space for economic and social development. For a long time, China's economic and social development has mainly relied on ground space, and low-altitude airspace, as a strategic resource not yet fully developed, contains enormous economic value and development potential. The low-altitude economy expands the space of human activity from the two-dimensional ground to the three-dimensional low altitude, giving rise to new modes of production, lifestyles, and governance methods. It is another economic form with overall and long-term influence after the digital economy. From a global perspective, major economies are accelerating their strategic layout in the low-altitude field, engaging in fierce competition around electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, drone systems, and low-altitude operational rules.Whoever can take the lead in forming systematic advantages in technology, scenarios, and rules will seize the initiative in future industrial competition. Developing the low-altitude economy is both a practical need for cultivating new domestic growth engines and a strategic choice for shaping new advantages in international competition.
Taken together, the low-altitude economy exhibits several distinctive characteristics. First, it is strategic. The low-altitude economy is related to the cultivation of new quality productive forces, the upgrading of industrial and supply chains, and the shaping of national competitive advantages, and it is a frontier field in which major powers are competing to position themselves. Second, it is integrative. The low-altitude economy spans manufacturing, services, transportation, agriculture, culture and tourism, emergency rescue, and urban governance, and has a significant enabling and driving role for all walks of life and various industries (千行百业, qian hang bai ye - "thousand, industry; hundred, occupation"). Third, it is scenario-based. The value of the low-altitude economy is ultimately realized through specific scenarios such as public services, production operations, cultural and sports consumption, and transportation; scenarios are the connecting hub of technology, market, and institutions, and industrial prosperity divorced from real scenarios cannot be sustained. Fourth, it is safety-sensitive. Low-altitude flight activities involve public safety, air defense safety, data security, and personal privacy, and it is necessary to insist on safety first and make safety capabilities the foundation of industrial development. Fifth, it is regionally differentiated. Different regions differ significantly in airspace conditions, industrial foundations, consumption capacity, and application demand, and development paths cannot be simply replicated or promoted in a homogenized manner.
The above characteristics determine that developing the low-altitude economy must adhere to the coordinated advancement of top-level design and grassroots exploration. Top-level design addresses the questions of "where to go, by what rules to go, and how to go safely," with the focus on setting direction, delineating boundaries, establishing rules, and building platforms, so as to provide stable expectations and unified order for industrial development. Grassroots exploration answers the questions of "where to fly first, for whom to fly, and how to fly with value," with the focus on finding scenarios, verifying technology, nurturing markets, and accumulating experience, so as to provide first-hand data and practical samples for institutional innovation. The two are not a one-way relationship of command and execution, but a two-way cycle of "institutional supply—practical feedback": top-level design draws the runway and leaves sufficient space for grassroots exploration, while grassroots exploration feeds back the problems discovered in practice and mature experience, driving the improvement of rules and institutional iteration at the national level. Only by forming this virtuous cycle can the low-altitude economy avoid both the risk of disorderly development and the rigidity of over-management, achieving healthy development in the dynamic balance between safety and vitality.
The low-altitude economy is moving from rapid cultivation to a new stage of systematic advancement. In recent years, under the guidance of the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, the policy and regulatory system for the low-altitude economy has been continuously improved, the vitality of industrial operations has continued to rise, application scenarios have expanded in a tiered manner, grassroots exploration has blossomed in multiple places, and overall a vigorous development trend has emerged.
From the perspective of institutional development, the legal foundation for the development of the low-altitude economy is being gradually consolidated. The Interim Regulations on the Administration of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Flight have been formally implemented, bringing the administration of unmanned aerial vehicle flight onto a track of rule of law. The Implementation Plan for Innovation and Application of General Aviation Equipment (2024–2030) has been issued and implemented, proposing that by 2030, general aviation equipment will be fully integrated into all areas of people's production and life, become a powerful driving force for the growth of the low-altitude economy, and form a market on the scale of trillions of yuan. The newly revised Civil Aviation Law of the People's Republic of China clarifies the optimization of the allocation of low-altitude airspace resources, promotes the construction of regulatory and service platforms related to civil low-altitude flight and applications, and establishes and improves systems and standards for airworthiness certification, flight management, and other matters adapted to the requirements of low-altitude economic development, marking the entry of the low-altitude economy into a new stage of rule-of-law advancement.
From the perspective of industrial operations, the scale of low-altitude economic activities is expanding rapidly. According to data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, as of the end of 2025, the total number of registered aircraft in general aviation nationwide was 3,140, the number of registered general aviation airports under management was 513, and general aviation completed a total of 1.219 million flight hours for the year; the number of registered drones across the industry was 3.287 million, an increase of 51.0% over the end of the previous year; and cumulative drone flight time for the year reached 45.3029 million hours, a year-on-year increase of 69.89%. As of the end of March 2026, the number of nationally registered real-name drones exceeded 3.8 million, and the number of operators exceeded 430,000. As of the end of May, there were approximately 1,200 large and medium-sized drone manufacturing enterprises in China, more than 40,000 drone operating enterprises, and more than 300,000 agricultural drones in service, serving 460 million mu of cultivated land. From this it can be seen that the principal contradiction of the low-altitude economy is shifting from "whether there is technology" to "whether systematic operation is possible," placing higher demands on rules, facilities, and governance capacity.
From the perspective of scenario expansion, low-altitude applications are moving from "tool substitution" to "process reengineering," and from point-based demonstrations to networked exploration. Rigid-demand scenarios such as agricultural plant protection, power line inspection, and emergency rescue have matured first; emerging scenarios such as logistics and delivery, low-altitude cultural tourism, and urban air mobility continue to expand; low-altitude flight is increasingly integrated into public governance and people's production and life. Scenario verification generates data, data drives technological iteration, real demand tests business models, regulatory practice accumulates rule experience through scenarios, and the application end, technology end, and institutional end thus form a mutually reinforcing positive cycle.
From the perspective of grassroots exploration, pioneering regions have formed diversified practical paths. Shenzhen has taken the lead in regulating flight activity management, infrastructure construction, and industrial development through local legislation, and is accelerating the construction of low-altitude intelligent integrated infrastructure and flight service support systems covering the entire city; Hunan is exploring flexible conversion and efficient use of low-altitude airspace and the planning and construction of a provincial low-altitude route network; Anhui and other places, taking scenario opening as the starting point, are relying on key cities to carry out application demonstrations such as drone logistics and delivery and intercity low-altitude travel, driving the agglomeration of manufacturing, operations, and services. At the end of 2024, the Central Air Traffic Management Commission launched electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft pilot projects in six cities—Hefei, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Suzhou, Chengdu, and Chongqing—delegating the management authority over low-altitude airspace below 600 meters to local governments, marking a substantial step in the central-local coordinated advancement of the reform of streamlining administration, delegating power, and improving services (放管服) in low-altitude airspace. These explorations each have their own characteristics and emphases, and together they constitute the practical foundation and sample source for the improvement of institutions at the national level.
On the whole, the low-altitude economy has enormous development potential and broad prospects, but in measuring the quality of its development, one cannot look only at the number of aircraft and the heat of financing; one must also look at whether stable paying real demand, replicable application scenarios, affordable operating costs, and traceable safety records have been formed. Therefore, the evaluation system for the low-altitude economy should shift from flight volume to a comprehensive yardstick of "value creation—cost reduction—rule maturity," testing the quality of development by safety levels, facility utilization rates, commercial sustainability, scenario replication rates, and cross-regional connectivity, and guiding all localities to shift the focus of development from "spreading out projects and launching initiatives" to "building systems and nurturing ecosystems."
Coordinated advancement still faces deep-seated constraints. While affirming achievements, it is also necessary to clearly recognize that in the process of moving from pilot exploration to scaled development, China's low-altitude economy still faces problems such as insufficient application promotion, unclear development paths, and unsmooth regional coordination. Behind these problems lie not only constraints from industrial development conditions such as technological maturity and business models, but also the reflection that a smooth and efficient linkage mechanism has not yet been formed among policy supply, market demand, and local practice.
Application promotion remains insufficient, and the foundation for scaled development needs to be consolidated. At the technological level, performance bottlenecks such as endurance, adaptability to complex weather, communication coverage, group coordination, and safety and reliability constrain the deepening of application scenarios to a broader scope and higher frequency. At the cost level, some projects have relatively high operating costs, weak profitability, and have not yet formed network economies of scale, making it easy to fall into a negative cycle of "high cost—small scale—higher cost," making it difficult to form a sustainable commercial closed loop. At the supporting level, takeoff and landing facilities, energy supply, maintenance support, and flight services remain insufficient, some members of the public have concerns about flight safety, noise disturbance, and privacy protection, and the infrastructure and social environment supporting routine operations still need further improvement.
Development paths remain unclear, and industrial boundaries, technological routes, and business models are still in the exploration stage. At the conceptual level, the relevant departments have clarified the concepts and scope of the low-altitude economy and its core industries, but the relevant industrial boundaries still need to be further clarified, the implementation and caliber alignment of statistical classification across localities still need to be strengthened, and some business entities still hold the understanding that the low-altitude economy is simply equivalent to drone manufacturing and sales, with a tendency for the industrial connotation to be narrowed. At the technological level, power routes, aircraft configurations, communication protocols, data interfaces, and charging and battery-swapping standards are still being explored, and key technological routes have not yet fully converged; it is necessary both to prevent prematurely locking in a single technological path and to avoid long-term dispersed development raising the cost of industrial coordination. At the commercial level, some application scenarios still mainly rely on policy guidance and capital investment, stable paying entities and sustainable profit models have not yet been formed, and the pulling role of market demand on industrial development still needs to be strengthened.
Regional coordination remains unsmooth, and cross-departmental and cross-regional coordination mechanisms need to be improved. The low-altitude economy involves multiple departments including airspace, civil aviation, industry and information technology, transportation, public security, and market regulation, and some links still have problems such as overlapping responsibilities, duplicate approvals, and inconsistent standards. The experience formed by local pilots lacks systematic summarization and institutional distillation, and some regions repeatedly explore similar issues, increasing the cost of reform. Cross-regional airspace coordination, flight data sharing, qualification mutual recognition, and platform interconnection remain unsmooth, constraining the cross-regional and networked development of the low-altitude economy. At the same time, some localities have tendencies such as rushing in all at once, homogenized layout, emphasizing construction over operation, and emphasizing hardware over software; without coordinated guidance, this can easily lead to dispersed resources and low-level duplicate construction, which is not conducive to forming a regional pattern of complementary advantages and coordinated development.
The causes of the above problems are multifaceted. From the perspective of institutional mechanisms, the low-altitude economy has cross-field, cross-departmental, and cross-regional characteristics, and the existing airspace resource management and coordination mechanisms still need to improve their adaptability to high-frequency, networked, multi-actor low-altitude activities. On the one hand, some institutional rules do not yet respond promptly enough to new situations and new problems emerging in grassroots practice, and the institutional supply in areas such as airspace use, airworthiness certification, and operational management still needs to be further adapted to industrial development needs. On the other hand, the mechanism for transforming mature experience formed by grassroots exploration into higher-level institutions is not yet complete, and the linkage of pilot results in the links of evaluation, distillation, and promotion is not smooth enough. From the perspective of market mechanisms, mechanisms such as real demand, commercial closed loops, and insurance, finance, and risk-sharing are still being cultivated, and in some fields a development mechanism in which market demand continuously drives technological innovation and resource allocation has not yet been formed. From the perspective of development stage, the low-altitude economy is at a critical period of advancing from pilot demonstration to scaled and systematic development, and there is a stage-based mismatch among technological capability, market maturity, and institutional supply. The key to resolving these deep-seated constraints lies in further strengthening the positive interaction between top-level design and grassroots exploration, enabling policy-making to absorb practical experience more promptly, enabling grassroots innovation to obtain institutional support more effectively, and continuously improving the development mechanism of the low-altitude economy in the cycle of "practice—cognition—rules."
Promote the steady and long-term development of the low-altitude economy through positive interaction between top-level design and grassroots exploration. Strengthen top-level coordination and improve the legal planning and standards system. The more vigorously the low-altitude economy develops, the more it needs top-level design to set the direction, manage the overall situation, and ensure safety. It is necessary to improve the cross-departmental coordination mechanism, clarify the authority and responsibility boundaries of the lead department, coordinating departments, and localities, form a governance structure with clear authority and responsibility and efficient operation, and change the fragmented management pattern in some fields. Taking the implementation of the newly revised Civil Aviation Law of the People's Republic of China as an opportunity, refine supporting rules for low-altitude airspace classification, flight activity management, airworthiness certification, operational access, data security, and personal privacy protection, and transform legal principles into operable management systems. Formulate a special plan for low-altitude economic development and an airspace reform roadmap, promote the implementation of statistical classification standards for the low-altitude economy and its core industries, improve statistical monitoring, standards systems, and policy evaluation mechanisms, maintain strategic focus and policy continuity, provide stable expectations for grassroots exploration, and allow the effects of institutional supply to accumulate and be released gradually.
Coordinate development and safety and build a whole-chain resilient governance system. Safety is the bottom line of the low-altitude economy and also its competitiveness; safety records, standards systems, insurance mechanisms, and public trust together determine the upper limit of industrial scale. It is necessary to adhere to "only what can be managed well can be opened up," and run safety through the entire process of planning, construction, operation, supervision, and emergency response. Establish a graded and classified supervision mechanism, optimizing procedures and facilitating flight for low-risk scenarios, strictly controlling access and managing strictly for high-risk scenarios, and precisely governing illegal flight. Build a resilient system unifying technological safety, operational safety, public safety, cybersecurity, and data security, shift from passively managing risks to actively building resilience, and enhance the ability for safety degradation and rapid recovery in the event of single-point failure. At the same time, cultivate public trust through transparent communication, insurance protection, accident investigation, and science popularization, and transform safety capabilities into long-term industrial competitiveness.
Deepen scenario traction and improve pilot demonstration and experience transformation mechanisms. Scenarios are the connecting hub of technology, market, and institutions, and also the main carrier for grassroots exploration to feed back upward. It is necessary to focus on demand scenarios such as emergency rescue, medical transport, agriculture and forestry operations, energy inspection, and logistics and delivery, publish national and local scenario lists, and guide resources to concentrate on real demand. Establish a closed-loop mechanism of "authorized pilot—regulatory sandbox—data evaluation—experience distillation—replication and promotion," and within limited regions and time periods, allow trial and error and tolerate failure through inclusive and prudent regulatory arrangements, promptly transform mature grassroots practices into standards, norms, and policy systems, and let pilot experience leave the experimental field and become a public good. At the same time, improve the mechanisms for fault tolerance and correction and pilot exit, clarify the duration, boundaries, and evaluation criteria of pilots, and prevent pilots from becoming "bonsai projects" that rely on special policies for a long time.
Advance integrated hardware and software construction and form an interconnected low-altitude infrastructure network. The infrastructure of the low-altitude economy is not a simple extension of traditional transportation infrastructure, but a composite of physical networks, digital networks, and institutional networks. It is necessary to coordinate the construction of air routes and flight paths, low-altitude intelligent networking, takeoff and landing facilities, energy supply, testing and certification, meteorological services, and flight service stations, adhere to the integration of hardware and software, air-ground coordination, and "combination of routine and emergency use," and prevent the emphasis on hardware over software and on sites over networks from leading to idle facilities and data silos. Unify key standards such as identity recognition, communication protocols, data formats, charging and battery-swapping interfaces, and takeoff and landing facilities, and promote the interconnection of regulatory and service platforms at all levels. Promote the integration of low-altitude infrastructure into urban renewal, comprehensive transportation, and public service systems, explore models of government-social capital co-construction and sharing and market-based operation, and improve facility utilization efficiency and investment sustainability.
Adhere to the combination of an effective market and a well-functioning government and optimize the pattern of regional differentiated and coordinated development. The government should focus on providing legal rules, public safety, basic platforms, and initial demonstrations, while the market should focus on undertaking technological route selection, business model innovation, and operational efficiency improvement; the two should each play their proper roles and complement each other. The focus of policy should shift from providing subsidies to optimizing the environment, creating a fair and orderly market order, improving financial instruments such as financial leasing, insurance, and industrial funds, and developing specialized services such as testing and certification, operational training, and consulting and evaluation. Guide all localities to make differentiated layouts based on comparative advantages, forming a division-of-labor pattern in which the eastern region strengthens innovation sourcing and high-end applications, the central and western regions strengthen characteristic operations and broad scenarios, and key regions take the lead in demonstration, promote cross-regional qualification mutual recognition, data sharing, route connection, and joint supervision, resolutely break down local protectionism and market segmentation, and accelerate the formation of a unified national low-altitude market.
(The author is the President of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology)
Return to TopBy: 梁云凤
The low-altitude economy is a typical representative of new quality productive forces, and holds important strategic significance for cultivating new competitive advantages and creating new growth engines. At present, 257 cities at the prefecture level and above have incorporated the low-altitude economy into their 15th Five-Year Plan, whereas at the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, that number was still 23. The low-altitude economy has risen from local experimentation to a national emerging pillar industry. In 2025, the market size of China's low-altitude economy has already reached 1.5 trillion yuan, and it is expected to exceed 3.5 trillion yuan by 2035. From 23 to 257, the "heat" of the low-altitude economy is an indisputable fact.
Where does the "heat" of the low-altitude economy come from? At present, key technologies such as new energy, high-end manufacturing, artificial intelligence, 5G-A communication networks, intelligent flight control, and high-energy-density batteries are becoming increasingly mature, and the low-altitude economy is precisely the best integrated application scenario, becoming a natural extension of scientific and technological innovation. Moreover, the industrial chain of the low-altitude economy is extremely long, covering aircraft research and development and manufacturing, infrastructure construction, and flight service support, and it also penetrates many fields such as industry, agriculture, and the service industry. New demands and new scenarios such as logistics and distribution, medical rescue, urban governance, and agricultural and forestry plant protection are constantly emerging new things (层出不穷, ceng chu bu qiong - "layer, emerge, not, stop"), adapting to the practical needs of the market and economic transformation. What is particularly noteworthy is that major economies around the world are competitively vying for this new track, and in this competition concerning the discourse power of future industries, China absolutely cannot be absent.
However, heat itself does not mean that the industry has matured, and one must be vigilant against phenomena such as "overheating" and "being unable to fly." The "heat" of the low-altitude economy is a fact, but not all places possess the corresponding industrial foundation. Blindly following the trend to launch projects can easily lead to duplicate construction and waste of resources. Data shows that China's dependence on foreign sources for key links such as high-performance aviation motors and electronic control systems is above 70%, and the overall domestic localization rate of core components of low-altitude aircraft is less than 30%, indicating that the resilience of China's low-altitude economy industrial chain is insufficient, especially in core links concerning long-term competitiveness where there are still shortcomings. From the perspective of the actual situation, some fields can achieve product innovation, but have not yet achieved stable production and long-term operation according to aviation standards. Moreover, low-altitude technology applications are evolving rapidly, with new forms such as electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, flying cars, and beyond-visual-line-of-sight flight constantly emerging, while existing laws and regulations mostly target traditional civil aircraft or specific types of drones. Some new types of aircraft lack clear legal basis in terms of access approval, operational management, and accident liability determination, easily forming gray areas in regulation.
Therefore, the development of the low-altitude economy should be based on reality and practical results. At present, the pace of institutional construction related to the low-altitude economy is accelerating. The newly revised "Public Security Administration Punishments Law of the People's Republic of China" includes drone "black flights" in the category of "acts endangering public safety." The newly revised "Civil Aviation Law of the People's Republic of China" adds the expression "low-altitude economy" at the level of national law, and adds a special chapter on "development promotion" and special provisions on the low-altitude economy. Previously, the National Development and Reform Commission established the "Low-Altitude Economy Development Department," and the Civil Aviation Administration of China established the "Low-Altitude Safety Department." One coordinates "development," the other emphasizes "safety," reflecting a clear governance logic: only when it can be managed can it be opened up; only when the system is stable can the industry "fly far."
In addition, converting the "heat" of the low-altitude economy into healthy and orderly industrial development momentum also requires a "three-pronged approach."
On the basis of the basic legal framework for the low-altitude economy, accelerate the introduction of supporting administrative regulations and departmental rules, forming an operable rule system in areas such as classified airspace management, flight plan approval procedures, airworthiness standards for new types of aircraft, pilot qualification certification, accident liability determination and compensation mechanisms. Accelerate the construction of an integrated low-altitude intelligent networked infrastructure with integrated sensing, communication, and computing, using digital means to achieve "seeing clearly, responding promptly, and managing effectively." Establish evaluation and early warning mechanisms, promptly issue reminders to regions with weak industrial foundations that blindly launch projects, and guide all localities to develop the low-altitude economy in light of local conditions. Build a risk governance framework covering the entire life cycle of aircraft design and manufacturing, operation and use, and accident handling, and support it with supporting systems such as insurance, finance, and emergency rescue. By improving relevant laws and regulations, provide full protection and support (保驾护航, bao jia hu hang - "protect, carriage, guard, sail") for the high-quality development of the low-altitude economy.
Use scale applications to drive industrial maturity and form a commercial closed loop of self-circulation in the industrial chain. At present, the demand side of the low-altitude economy shows an uneven pattern of hot and cold: the G-end (public services) is stable but has limited market space, the B-end (inspection, agriculture and forestry) has wide applications but incipient involution is emerging, and the C-end (low-altitude tourism, commuting) has broad prospects but consumption habits have not yet formed. Policy design and scenario innovation are urgently needed to activate diversified demand. It is suggested that in areas such as urban governance, emergency rescue, and medical transport, stable large-scale orders should first be formed through government procurement of services, providing initial market traction for the industrial chain. At the same time, orderly open up consumer-end applications such as low-altitude tourism and short-distance commuting, so that ordinary people have the opportunity to access and experience low-altitude flight services, gradually cultivating consumer awareness and market soil.
The competitiveness of the low-altitude economy ultimately depends on talent, requiring not only research and development personnel in fields such as aerodynamics, automatic control, and avionics, but also a large number of licensed drone pilots, aircraft maintenance engineers, and airspace management personnel. At present, the talent gap in the low-altitude economy is enormous. The construction of an integrated talent cultivation system combining industry, academia, research, and application should be accelerated, to reserve sufficient human capital for the long-term development of the low-altitude economy industry and forge lasting competitiveness for the low-altitude economy.
(The author is a researcher at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges)
Return to TopBy: 薛紫臣
In recent years, as the technological iteration of the new military revolution has coupled with the consumption demands of local conflicts, the global military equipment sector is undergoing a low-cost transformation, which is gradually reshaping the underlying rules and competitive dynamics of global military competition. Examining the historical logic, implementation paths, and cost-effectiveness boundaries behind this trend helps clarify the basic trajectory of the low-cost transformation of equipment.
Driving Factors
Low cost, as an important direction in the current transformation of military equipment development, is the result of the combined effects of the evolution of warfare forms, the diffusion of military-civilian technology, and the pull of system-of-systems confrontation.
First, the evolution of warfare forms. Low-cost equipment is the result of actively adapting to different forms of warfare. Every time the form of warfare evolves, the cost structure, production methods, and consumption logic of equipment are reconstituted anew. During the era of cold weapons, the popularization of smelting technology became the main means of reducing weapon costs; during the era of firearms, large-scale ammunition supply was an important prerequisite for large-formation operations; during the era of mechanized warfare, standardized assembly-line production and the simplification of processes for conventional equipment such as armored trucks replaced large-formation operations with low-cost firepower density; during the era of information warfare, equipment was fielded in batches, and network-centric warfare changed the demand characteristics of weapons, driving industrial transformation and alleviating the cost dilemma between limited resources and wartime consumption; during the era of intelligent warfare, asymmetric attrition warfare represented by "swarm" tactics has taken the stage of history, and low-cost equipment has gradually become a tactical necessity. However, while the evolution of warfare forms drives the low-cost transformation of equipment, it also depends on whether technological maturity, flexible production capacity, and modular design can keep pace with supply.
Second, the diffusion of military-civilian technology. The diffusion of technology from high-precision, cutting-edge equipment is a natural trend. If the evolution of warfare forms provides the transformation demand, then technology spillover and diffusion constitute the technology supply for low-cost equipment. Great-power competition accelerates change, and the integration of mature technologies, optimization of manufacturing processes, and reuse of military-civilian production capacity are gradually eroding the equipment generation gap among countries, weakening the premium advantage of high-end equipment technology. This is manifested in three aspects. First, digitally driven flexible and agile acquisition promotes innovation in production models, opening up the key link from technological feasibility to low-cost mass production. Second, advanced civilian technologies are penetrating the military domain, promoting the integration of industry and finance for dual-use technologies, raising the application ratio of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) items, and diluting military costs through the scale of civilian products. Third, the distributed and modular design of equipment systems creates economies of scale in mass production based on specialized division of labor, spreading production costs through capacity sharing. It is worth noting that the diffusion of military-civilian technology must be effectively absorbed by the operational system before it can truly be converted into a sustainable low-cost advantage.
Third, the pull of system-of-systems confrontation. The matching of supply and demand for low-cost equipment does not automatically equate to an operational advantage. What truly converts low-cost equipment into strategic effectiveness is the pull of the concept of system-of-systems confrontation; a single piece of low-cost equipment, once integrated into the system, may produce a leverage effect of "1+1>2." The U.S. Third Offset Strategy emphasizes the development of disruptive technologies capable of "changing the rules of the game" and forming asymmetric military advantages in a short period. The "Barracuda" series of cruise missiles has been listed by the U.S. Navy and Air Force as a major procurement target because it "possesses a certain comprehensive capability," namely strong performance, rapid production, and low cost, enabling an asymmetric operational effect of using smaller forces to overcome larger ones (以小搏大, yi xiao bo da - "take small, fight large"), and accelerating mass production under the catalysis of geopolitical competition. Thus, military equipment has shifted from passively cutting expenditures to actively reducing costs and improving efficiency, gradually becoming an important choice for shaping systemic operational advantages.
Cost-Reduction Paths
Historical evolution reveals the "why," while country-specific paths answer the "how." Because security threats, strategic objectives, industrial bases, and defense budgets differ greatly, countries have explored paths of commercialization, practicalization, and scaling, forming different institutional carriers and industrial models.
The U.S. defense acquisition model based on "commercial innovation." The United States, adhering to the principle of "commercial first," leverages mature technologies from the civilian market, expands supplier competition, simplifies acquisition compliance processes, and drives down unit procurement costs of equipment. In April 2025, the White House issued an executive order requiring the Department of Defense to prioritize commercial mature solutions in equipment procurement and to prioritize the use of Other Transaction Authority (OTA), the Rapid Capability Office policy (RCO), and the Adaptive Acquisition Framework (AAF), thereby cutting redundant approval procedures and reducing management costs from repeated reviews. In January 2026, the U.S. Department of War designated the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) as a "Field Activity" and incorporated it, along with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Office of Strategic Capital (OSC), the Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO), the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO), and the Test Resource Management Center (TRMC), among other departments, into an innovation ecosystem led by the Chief Technology Officer (CTO). The United States fully exploits its commercial technology advantages, relies on dual-use technology supply, and uses defense acquisition system reform to open up the R&D-to-mass-production chain for low-cost equipment, charting a commercialization-driven path of low-cost transformation.
Russia's inventory refurbishment model based on the "fortress economy." The inventory refurbishment model is precisely the concrete manifestation of the "fortress economy" in the military equipment domain: equipment reserves left over from the Soviet era are systematically reused, maintaining the equipment numbers of frontline forces at a cost far below that of newly manufactured equipment, and even T-54/55 and T-62 old tanks from the 1960s have been put back into service after simple refurbishment. Russian armored forces have effectively become a "circular inventory": damaged vehicles are towed back to the rear, dismantled, repaired, and then returned to the front line, undergoing multiple cycles. Unlike the United States, which relies on commercial innovation to develop entirely new equipment, Russia's low-cost equipment path is more suited to its own defense industrial base and real security needs—that is, relying on the Cold War-era ammunition technology base and equipment stockpiles, using refurbishment and reuse to convert inventory equipment into low-cost equipment with actual combat capability, rapidly filling battlefield capability gaps. This is a pragmatic choice under Russia's limited defense budget.
Europe's joint procurement model based on "collective defense." Europe can neither fully replicate the U.S. "commercial innovation" model nor simply adopt Russia's inventory refurbishment model; it can only take a "middle path" between the United States and Russia to achieve EU strategic autonomy. Over a long period, against the backdrop of multiple interwoven strategies—"European reindustrialization" and "Rearm Europe," "collective defense" and "defense integration," the European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP) and the "European Defence Technological and Industrial Base" (EDTIB)—Europe, relying on the goal of collective defense, has attempted to overcome the fragmentation of the European defense market through joint procurement, industrial integration, and fiscal instruments, aggregating the dispersed defense demands of member states into a unified market and joint procurement, and spreading equipment costs through institutionalized cooperation. Specifically, this is advanced through two paths—demand aggregation and collective financing—converting collective defense from a political commitment into a cost-saving mechanism, replacing decentralized decision-making with collective action, internalizing externalities, and reducing equipment procurement costs. In February 2024, the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), through the Ammunition Support Partnership (ASP), integrated the AT4 anti-armor weapon procurement demands of three NATO countries, saving more than 11.5 million euros. The European model demonstrates that when collective defense and strategic autonomy proceed in parallel, scale procurement and unified standards are themselves cost-reduction tools.
Cost-Effectiveness Balance
In modern warfare, technology and cost are often a unity of opposites. While countries explore differentiated cost-reduction paths based on their own national conditions, they must also control the "cost-effectiveness" boundary, ultimately releasing the practical combat value of low-cost equipment in system-of-systems confrontation. The essence is the pursuit of cost-effectiveness balance under the "integration of the three chains"—the military industry value chain, the equipment supply chain, and the operational kill chain. In other words, low cost must withstand the simultaneous test of the value chain, the supply chain, and the kill chain.
Specifically, the U.S. "commercial innovation" model is driven by value chain competition and maintains an advantage in kill chain informatization, but supply chain resilience still faces tests. Russia's "fortress economy" model is anchored on supply chain resilience, but the effective closure of the kill chain still has structural shortcomings. Europe's "collective defense" model takes value chain aggregation and supply chain economies of scale as its path, but the practical validation of the kill chain in combat has yet to be completed. Each of the three models has its own emphasis, but at present no single model can simultaneously achieve cost-effectiveness balance under the "integration of the three chains."
The key to future military competition lies not only in possessing high-end equipment, but also in whether one can continuously sustain attrition warfare and intelligent warfare with a low-cost, mass-producible, and replenishable equipment system, and form an asymmetric advantage in the "cost-effectiveness" balance. Low-cost equipment that can simultaneously withstand the "test of the three chains" is "low" not in unit price but in the system—that is, using value chain iterative upgrading to spread R&D costs, using supply chain resilience to absorb risk and attrition costs, and using kill chain closure efficiency to test full-lifecycle costs. For the low-cost transformation of equipment, the real challenge may not lie in lowering the procurement unit price of a particular equipment model, but in building an institutional framework and industrial ecosystem that makes the value chain sustainable, the supply chain resilient, and the kill chain closable.
Return to TopBy: 简侨
Unlike fighter jets and bombers that are directly thrown into frontline combat, the core mission of trainer aircraft is to complete, in stages, the full-process training of flight cadets—screening, basic piloting, instrument flying, tactical engagement, and so on—so as to cultivate qualified pilots at lower cost and with higher safety, and to continuously supply backbone personnel to the air combat system. The development history of trainer aircraft is both a microcosm of the continuous breakthroughs in aviation engineering technology and a vivid reflection of the ongoing optimization of the modern air force talent cultivation system.
First, trainer aircraft have undergone a century-long evolution from simple instructional aircraft models to digital training platforms.
The period from World War I to the end of World War II was the initial embryonic stage, in which piston-engine trainer aircraft laid the foundation for flight instruction. During World War I, military aircraft were deployed to the battlefield on a large scale, the shortfall of pilots expanded sharply, and trainer aircraft dedicated specifically to instruction emerged as the need arises (应运而生, ying yun er sheng - "respond to, happen, arise"). Early trainer aircraft were mostly converted from combat aircraft through simplification, adopted a biplane layout with piston engines, and were mainly used for basic takeoff and landing and visual flight training, while also completing the preliminary screening of flight cadets. After the outbreak of World War II, the intensity of air combat surged sharply, and various countries began to develop dedicated piston-engine trainers in batches, with training subjects expanded to include formation flying and instrument flying.
The period from the late 1940s to the 1960s belonged to the jet transition phase, in which the jet age forced a restructuring of the trainer aircraft system. After jet fighters were fielded on a large scale, flight speed, overload, and handling characteristics underwent fundamental changes, and traditional piston-engine trainers could no longer bridge the training gap for high-speed fighters. Early jet trainers were mostly converted from active-duty fighters into two-seat versions—for example, the U.S. T-33 was converted from the F-80 fighter. The advantage was that flight performance was close to that of combat aircraft, but procurement and operating costs were high, and the fighter airframe structure was not suited to high-frequency instructional flying, resulting in heavy wear and troublesome maintenance. As flight accidents and training cost pressures rose, various countries began to independently develop dedicated jet trainers. Aircraft such as Czechoslovakia's L-29 came into being, initially establishing a two-tier training framework of "piston-engine primary trainer + jet advanced trainer," solving the problem of transitioning from low-speed propeller aircraft to high-speed jets.
The period from the 1970s to the early 21st century belonged to the professionalization and standardization phase, in which the tiered training system matured. After the emergence of third-generation fighters, new technologies such as fly-by-wire flight control, integrated avionics, and high-angle-of-attack maneuvering became widespread, placing higher demands on pilots' situational awareness and multi-task processing capabilities. The trainer aircraft system differentiated into a three-tier training chain of primary, intermediate, and advanced levels, forming a complete talent cultivation pipeline. This stage produced a number of classic professional trainer aircraft, such as the British "Hawk" and Russia's Yak-130. Advanced trainers began to adopt side air intakes and large leading-edge extension aerodynamic layouts, enabling training in complex-weather flying, formation tactics, and basic air combat.
After entering the 21st century, the digital upgrade phase arrived, in which the fusion of virtual and real elements reshaped the flight training model. The fielding of fifth-generation aircraft brought entirely new challenges: supersonic cruise, stealth operations, active electronically scanned array radar, and networked cooperative operations placed an unprecedented (前所未有, qian suo wei you - "before, what, not, have") test on pilots' cognitive abilities. Traditional trainers find it difficult to simulate the operational environment of stealth fighters, and mainline fighters are extremely expensive; if large numbers were used for basic training of new pilots, it would cause severe wear and tear on precious combat equipment. Against this backdrop, a new generation of advanced trainers has shifted toward digital and embedded training directions, no longer being merely a flight platform but a comprehensive airborne training system.
Second, trainer aircraft differ from combat aircraft and have three core design principles.
High safety and high fault tolerance. Trainer aircraft long undertake high-frequency takeoffs and landings, repeated aerobatic flying, and cadet supervised-flight training and other basic subjects. The flight conditions are complex and highly uncertain, and the pilots are mostly cadets whose skills are not yet mature, so the probability of operational error is far higher than that of active-duty pilots. Therefore, trainer aircraft reserve ample safety margins in aerodynamic layout, flight control systems, and structural strength, optimize low-speed handling characteristics and stall recovery performance, and can quickly correct and smoothly handle sudden situations such as cadet misoperation or minor mechanical faults, minimizing flight accidents to the greatest extent and providing safety guarantees for cadets' trial-and-error training.
Low cost and maintainability. As the most frequently used aircraft in the air force, trainer aircraft accumulate far more annual flight hours than frontline main battle fighters, and long-term high-frequency service places extremely high demands on equipment reliability and economy. In design and development, trainer aircraft generally adopt mature, common components and lightweight structures, simplify maintenance procedures, reduce maintenance difficulty, and effectively compress the full-lifecycle costs of procurement, fuel, and logistical upkeep. While ensuring routine instructional training and the batch cultivation of flight personnel, they also greatly reduce the wear and tear on main battle equipment, achieving a two-way improvement in training effectiveness and funding efficiency.
Performance adaptability. The performance span must not be too large, so as to avoid an operational discontinuity that cadets find difficult to adapt to, thereby achieving a "smooth transition." New advanced trainers such as the U.S. T-7A "Red Hawk" and Italy's M-346 are equipped with all-glass cockpits, programmable digital fly-by-wire flight controls, and onboard embedded training systems, enabling the virtual generation of radar signals, enemy targets, and data-link engagement environments in the air, achieving a combination of virtual and real air combat simulation, greatly compressing the training cycle and reducing the costs of live ammunition and range use.
In terms of practical application, trainer aircraft are not limited solely to flight school instruction. In low-intensity conflicts, counterterrorism, and border stability maintenance missions, trainer attack aircraft with payload capability can perform ground support and close air strike missions. For example, Brazil's "Super Tucano" trainer aircraft has been used extensively in counterterrorism operations in South America, demonstrating the multi-role potential of trainer aircraft. In peacetime, trainer aircraft also undertake tasks such as flight demonstrations and aviation science popularization, showcasing the strength of the aviation industry.
Third, against the backdrop of intelligent warfare, through digital and intelligent empowerment, a virtual-real integrated training system is being constructed.
Without an advanced trainer aircraft system, no matter how advanced the fighter jets, it is difficult to fully bring their combat effectiveness into play. The development of trainer aircraft is, in essence, a process of the coordinated evolution of talent cultivation concepts and aviation engineering technology. With the rapid development of fifth-generation aircraft, unmanned combat platforms, and networked air combat, modern air operations have shifted to system-of-systems confrontation. Pilot training is no longer merely about learning to fly an aircraft, but about cultivating comprehensive capabilities in complex battlefield situational awareness, multi-platform coordination, and rapid decision-making. The development direction of trainer aircraft has shifted from a single flight platform to an integrated training system of "aircraft + simulator + ground training center," presenting four major trends: digitalization, virtual-real fusion, multi-role capability, and low cost.
The proliferation of embedded onboard training systems enables virtual air-to-air engagement in the air. Traditional tactical training relies heavily on ranges, live ammunition, and external target drones, which is complex to organize and costly. Embedded training relies on onboard computers to virtually generate radar echoes, air targets, air defense threats, and data-link information during flight. Multiple trainer aircraft network in the air to conduct free air combat engagement, with tactical results automatically assessed after training. This technology breaks through the limitations of range environments, can simulate high-threat targets such as stealth fighters and long-range missiles, completes high-end tactical subject training at relatively low cost, and greatly reduces the consumption of mainline fighters.
Programmable flight control technology enables one aircraft to simulate multiple modes. The digital fly-by-wire flight control parameters of new-generation advanced trainers can be modified online, adjusting flight characteristics through software to simulate the handling feel of different fighter models—capable of simulating both the agility characteristics of light aircraft and the flight response of heavy fighters, and even serving as an aggressor platform. This technology greatly reduces the procurement demand for dedicated aggressor fighters, completes transition training across multiple aircraft types on the same aircraft, shortens conversion cycles, and improves training effectiveness.
A comprehensive training ecosystem combining virtual and real elements and connecting ground and air. Modern flight training is no longer confined to actual in-air flying, but constructs a hybrid training environment in which ground simulators, in-air trainer aircraft, and digital virtual fighters are networked. Digital fighters in ground simulators can conduct engagement drills with real trainer aircraft in the air, achieving cross-site networking and cross-platform coordinated training. Virtual-real integrated training allows high-risk tactical subjects to be repeatedly drilled without taking off, reducing flight safety risks while expanding training scale and increasing training frequency. Digital engineering technology is also widely applied to trainer aircraft development—for example, the U.S. T-7A relied on digital models to rapidly complete design and manufacturing, shortening the development cycle and improving assembly efficiency.
One aircraft, multiple functions, balancing training and low-intensity operations. New-generation advanced trainers generally retain weapon hardpoints and can carry gun pods, guided bombs, and air-to-air missiles, converting into light attack aircraft in wartime to perform ground support, close air support, homeland patrol, and other missions. For the air forces of small and medium-sized countries, trainer attack aircraft can serve both talent cultivation and combat readiness duties, maintaining the scale of air power with limited funding. At the same time, the trainer aircraft platform can also be derived into an unmanned verification platform for testing cutting-edge aviation technologies such as onboard avionics and autonomous coordination.
Return to TopBy: 汪红伟
The 25,000-li Long March was a great strategic expedition in which the Chinese revolution turned a crisis into an opportunity (转危为安, zhuan wei an - "turn; danger; become; peace"), and it was also a critical historical period in which the military thinking of the people's army matured and the tactical system of mobile warfare was fully formed. Facing the advantage of several hundred thousand Nationalist troops with superior equipment and dense fortifications, the Red Army completely abandoned the rigid and mechanical positional-defense thinking of "Left" dogmatism, and, based on the extreme battlefield reality of a weak enemy and a strong enemy, encirclement on all sides, and no fixed rear area, creatively applied flexible and mobile mobile-warfare tactics that interweave the real and the unreal (虚实相生, xu shi xiang sheng - "void, solid, mutually; generate") and allow moving freely and flexibly (进退自如, jin tui zi ru - "advance, retreat, self, as one wishes").
First, mobile warfare was an inevitable choice for changing in accordance with the situation (顺势而变, shun shi er bian - "follow, trend, and; change") and breaking the deadlock to survive.
The full establishment of mobile warfare during the Long March was not an accident of tactical choice, but an inevitable military choice forced by the extremely disadvantaged battlefield environment. Before the Long March, the Red Army had long relied on the Central Revolutionary Base Area to conduct relatively fixed defensive operations, with stable front lines, fixed battlefields, and a secure rear area, and its operational model was mainly positional defense and annihilation of the enemy within a region. But after the failure of the Fifth Counter-Encirclement and Suppression Campaign, the drawbacks of rigid positional warfare were completely exposed. The Nationalist army implemented "fortress doctrine" tactics, advancing step by step and compressing layer by layer, fighting the Red Army in positional attrition and competing in the consumption of manpower. Under the guidance of dogmatic thinking, the Red Army held fast to its positions, fighting for every inch of territory (寸土必争, cun tu bi zheng - "inch, soil, must, fight"), and fought head-on with brute force, ultimately leading to the complete loss of the base area and forcing the Red Army to begin a great strategic shift.
After the Long March began, the battlefield environment underwent a fundamental reversal. The Red Army completely lost its fixed base area, stable rear area, supply base, and pre-set battlefield, and fell entirely into a desperate situation with no support, no supplies, no fixed front line, and pursuit and interception on all sides. At that time, the Nationalists mobilized the Central Army and the local warlords of Hunan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Yunnan, totaling more than 400,000 troops, and set up multiple blockade lines relying on highways, railways, natural river barriers, and town fortifications. It was precisely against this background of an extreme disparity in strength between the enemy and ourselves, a battlefield situation changing rapidly in an instant (瞬息万变, shun xi wan bian - "instant, ten thousand, many, change"), and a powerful enemy laying ambushes and blockades everywhere that rigid positional warfare completely lost its room for survival, and flexible and mobile mobile warfare became the only operational method by which the Red Army could survive, could win, and could break out of encirclement.
Second, "fight when you can win, move on when you cannot" ran through the entire course.
This principle was by no means passive avoidance of battle or fear of the enemy; rather, it was a superb military dialectic that took preserving effective strength as its foundation, creating opportunities for battle as its core, and strategic victory as its goal, and it ran through the entire course of the Long March's fighting and maneuvering.
The so-called fight when you can win means choosing the right moment to annihilate the enemy, striking when the opportunity arises (见势出击, jian shi chu ji - "see, trend, go out, strike"), and accumulating small victories to achieve a great victory (积小胜为大胜, ji xiao sheng wei da sheng - "accumulate, small, victory, become, big, victory"). Under absolute disadvantage, the Red Army never blindly fought, never fought a battle without certainty of victory, and never fought a battle of attrition and exhaustion; it always insisted on picking the weak enemy to fight, attacking when the enemy is vulnerable (趁虚而打, chen xu er da - "take advantage of, emptiness, and; strike"), and choosing the moment to fight, actively creating local initiative amid overall passivity and building local superiority amid overall inferiority. The Battle of Loushan Pass and the Zunyi Campaign were classic examples of "fight when you can win." After the second crossing of the Chishui River, the Red Army accurately assessed the battlefield situation, found that the Guizhou army was weak in combat effectiveness, scattered in deployment, and not yet firmly established, and that this was an excellent window for annihilating the enemy. The Red Army decisively concentrated its main forces, launched a rapid offensive, stormed Loushan Pass, then retook Zunyi City, successively routing and annihilating two divisions and eight regiments of the enemy, capturing several thousand prisoners and large quantities of guns, ammunition, and supplies, and winning its biggest victory since the start of the Long March.
The so-called move on when you cannot win means avoiding the enemy's strength (避敌锋芒, bi di feng mang - "avoid, enemy, blade, edge"), decisively cutting losses, actively maneuvering, and preserving strength. Facing an unfavorable battle situation with a great disparity in strength between the enemy and ourselves, the Red Army resolutely discarded the dogmatic and erroneous thinking of "stubbornly holding on and fighting to the death," and did not linger in battle, did not hold a stalemate, and did not engage in attrition. The Battle of Tucheng perfectly demonstrated the great wisdom of "move on when you cannot win." In January 1935, the Red Army planned to encircle and annihilate the pursuing enemy in the Tucheng area. The initial battle situation went smoothly, but battlefield reconnaissance immediately revealed that enemy strength far exceeded expectations and that reinforcements were arriving extremely quickly, and the battlefield situation deteriorated sharply. If it had continued to fight head-on, the Red Army's main forces would inevitably have fallen into enormous attrition and might even have faced the risk of overall passivity. At the critical moment, the Red Army's command echelon made an immediate decision, decisively stopped the attack, terminated the battle, and withdrew from the battlefield in an orderly manner overnight, then rapidly maneuvered and shifted through the four crossings of the Chishui River. On the surface this appeared to be "abandoning the battle," but in reality it was a brilliant tactical choice that preserved the main forces to the greatest extent, avoided needless sacrifice, and seized subsequent initiative.
Viewed across the entire course of the Long March, the Red Army always fought with method, moved with purpose, combined fighting and moving, and moved freely and flexibly. "Fighting" was for annihilating weak enemies, replenishing combat strength, and clearing obstacles; "moving" was for avoiding strong enemies, breaking out of encirclement, and seeking new opportunities for battle. Fighting was a means, and moving was also a means; everything served the overall goal of strategic shift, preserving oneself, and final victory.
Third, in mobile warfare, the Red Army employed troops dialectically and was inclusive and eclectic, and it did not exclude necessary positional warfare.
Mobile warfare during the Long March took mobile annihilation of the enemy and flexible maneuvering as its main operational methods, but the people's army's operational thinking was never rigid or one-sided; it always insisted on seeking truth from facts and employing troops dialectically. The Red Army made clear that mobile warfare was not "only running and not fighting," and that mobile maneuvering was not "abandoning steadfast defense"; when faced with key nodes, key natural barriers, and key blocking missions, mobile warfare had to be coordinated with necessary, brief, and critical positional warfare, assault warfare, and blocking warfare, with mobility as the main method and positional warfare as the supplement, the two complementing and supporting each other.
In the course of breaking out of encirclement during the Long March, whenever there was a critical moment requiring a rapid breakthrough of a natural barrier or ferry crossing, seizure of a strategic thoroughfare, or blocking of pursuing troops to cover the main forces, the Red Army would actively shift from a mobile state to a brief state of positional offense and defense. The battles of seizing the Luding Bridge and forcibly crossing the Dadu River were even more classic examples of the perfect combination of mobile maneuvering and positional assault. The Red Army's long-distance rapid march and day-and-night forced march were typical high-speed mobile maneuvering; after arriving at the battlefield, the Red Army's assault teams, facing the enemy's solid bridgehead positions and dense firepower blockade, decisively launched a frontal assault and a brief positional breakthrough, breaking through the natural-barrier blockade with precise and fierce positional assault. This fully proved that mobile warfare was the main operational method, necessary positional warfare was a key supplement, and neither could be dispensed with.
Fourth, in mobile warfare, the Red Army adopted multiple measures and formed a complete set of flexible and diverse tactics and operational methods.
Over two years of arduous fighting and maneuvering, the Red Army, based on the battlefield reality of a weak self and a strong enemy, complex terrain, and rapidly changing enemy situations, summarized and formed a systematic, mature, flexible, and combat-realistic mobile-warfare tactical system, comprehensively employing multiple operational methods to break through layer by layer and fight out of encirclement step by step.
Avoiding the strong and striking the weak, and choosing the vulnerable to annihilate. The Red Army always accurately distinguished between strong and weak enemy forces, avoided the main forces of the Nationalist Central Army, heavy troop concentrations, and solid defense lines, and specifically struck at local warlord troops and miscellaneous garrison forces that were poorly equipped, weak in combat effectiveness, isolated and rashly advancing, and exhausted and lax. During the four crossings of the Chishui River, the Red Army bypassed Chiang Kai-shek's crack main forces and specifically struck at the weak links of the Guizhou and Yunnan armies, continuously creating local victories amid overall inferiority.
Mobile operations without a rear area, and full-domain mobile operations. The Long March was a typical ultra-large-scale mobile operation with no fixed rear area, no supply support, and no base-area support. Unlike the Nationalists' fixed logistics relying on urban warehouses, arsenals, and transportation arteries, the Red Army throughout the entire journey fought, moved, and resupplied simultaneously, relying on the masses along the route, the terrain of deep mountains, and temporary procurement to sustain continuous operations. The broad masses along the route voluntarily delivered grain, guided the way, passed on intelligence, and protected the wounded, forming an invisible people's rear area that supported the Red Army's tens of thousands of li of uninterrupted mobile operations.
Continuous maneuvering, continuous fighting, and quick decision and quick victory. The core of the Red Army's operational methods was not to delay, not to hold a stalemate, and not to engage in attrition. From the skillful crossing of the Jinsha River to the crossing of Mount Jiajin, from the circling and maneuvering battles in the Wumeng Mountains to maneuvering on the western Sichuan plateau, the Red Army always maintained the operational rhythm of high-speed marching, rapid contact with the enemy, brief assaults, and withdrawal immediately after fighting, exhausting the enemy through continuous maneuvering and annihilating weak enemies through quick-decision operations.
Besieging a city to strike at reinforcements, and mobile ambushes. The Red Army was skilled at using local encirclement of a point to draw out enemy forces, setting ambushes along the enemy's reinforcement route to annihilate them, disrupting the enemy's reinforcement system and "encirclement and suppression" rhythm, and on many occasions successfully annihilated reinforcing pursuers in the course of movement, effectively reducing the pressure on the main forces to break out of encirclement.
Feinting to lure the enemy, creating momentum through the interplay of the real and the unreal, and making a feint to the east while attacking to the west — these were the core trump cards of the Long March's mobile warfare in breaking the deadlock and escaping encirclement. The Red Army frequently created false strategic intentions through feigned marches, feigned attacks on positions, and feigned river crossings, thoroughly confusing the enemy's command and judgment. The third crossing of the Chishui River feigned a northward advance to cross the Yangtze River, drawing 400,000 enemy troops to move fully westward; it then secretly turned back, crossed the Chishui River a fourth time, and crossed the Wujiang River southward, completely leaping out of the encirclement, using extreme feinting tactics to break the strong with the weak and to break the heavy with the skillful.
Return to TopBy: 孔新峰 张馨蕊
Integrity is the foundation of governance, and between taking and not taking one's conduct is most clearly revealed. Xue Xuan of the Ming dynasty, in his Record of Governance (《从政录》), divided the incorruptible into three grades: "There are those who, seeing principle clearly, do not take improperly; there are those who, esteeming reputation and integrity, do not take carelessly; and there are those who, fearing the law and protecting their rank and salary, dare not take." This is the so-called "threefold not-taking." With the single character "take," Xue Xuan examined the conduct of those in power, and from conduct delved into their inner intentions, distinguishing the different grounds and levels upon which integrity is established.
Seeing principle clearly, one does not take improperly
"Those who, seeing principle clearly, do not take improperly" — these are the highest among the incorruptible. "Improperly" (妄) means losing one's basis and overstepping proper measure; the key to "not taking improperly" lies in understanding principle, requiring one to comprehend the principle of establishing oneself and to practice moral principles such as benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness in concrete affairs. The principle one understands must be constantly preserved in the mind and manifested in action, which requires the effort of reverence (敬). Reverence was an important value in Zhou dynasty political ethics; the Zhou people regarded reverence for Heaven and reverence for virtue as essential to political life, and the Book of Documents (《尚书》) and the Book of Odes (《诗经》) abound in words of reverent caution. The Zuo Commentary (《左传》) states, "Reverence is where virtue gathers." Reverence gives the mind something to anchor it, so that it does not drift into dissipation because of external temptations. Later generations further applied this consciousness of "reverence" to undertaking affairs and governing the people: when one in power reveres the position he occupies, he will take seriously the responsibilities attached to that position; when he reveres the affairs he undertakes, he will exercise his authority with prudence, avoiding harm to the public office through private self-interest. Understanding principle enables one to know how to choose and refuse; maintaining reverence enables this understanding to remain present and undiminished when faced with interests.
Maintaining reverence keeps principle constantly present; sincerity (诚) makes the principle one understands truly become one's own virtue. Xue Xuan said in his Record of Reading (《读书录》): "Sincerity is the actual principle of the five constant virtues; it is not that there is a separate sincerity apart from the five constant virtues." Sincerity is not another item of virtue alongside benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness; rather, it indicates precisely that these five constant virtues truly and without falsity reside in the mind and appear in conduct. If one understands benevolence and righteousness but fails to practice them genuinely, what one knows may still be obscured by selfish desires; sincerity enables one not to deceive oneself and not to dissemble, so that what one knows and what one does truly correspond. The Doctrine of the Mean (《中庸》) elevates sincerity to the realm of "utmost sincerity without ceasing." "Sincerity is the Way of Heaven; attaining sincerity is the Way of man." The Doctrine of the Mean takes sincerity as "the Way of Heaven" and the attainment of sincerity as "the Way of man," placing human virtuous practice within the vast order in which Heaven and man are interpenetrated. The Way of Heaven is true and without falsity; man, through the effort of "attaining sincerity," makes righteousness and principle truly take root in himself — this is "utmost sincerity without ceasing." The Doctrine of the Mean proceeds from "without ceasing" to speak of "endurance," from "endurance" to speak of "far-reaching vastness," and then extends to "broad and thick, matching Earth; lofty and bright, matching Heaven; enduring and vast, without limit." Utmost sincerity manifests in daily life without ceasing; over time it accumulates in depth, gradually reaching far-reaching vastness, and one's virtuous practice extends from self-cultivation into human affairs, continuing and spreading through undertakings, moral transformation, and the transmission of cultural life. Human political life and natural life alike have their beginnings and ends, yet virtue and achievement, through the ceaselessness of sincerity, can stand alongside Heaven and Earth.
Not taking improperly is "done without ulterior motive," which can be understood precisely in terms of reverence and sincerity. "Without ulterior motive" means that in the mind there is no extra calculation or dissembling; one acts only because righteousness and principle are inherently so. The Mencius, Wan Zhang I (《孟子·万章上》), discussing Yi Yin, says "not giving to others a single straw, not taking from others a single straw"; the Zuo Commentary, Duke Xiang, 15th Year (《左传·襄公十五年》), records Zi Han "regarding non-covetousness as a treasure." What both emphasize is settling matters of taking and refusing through righteousness and principle: reverence gives the mind something to anchor it, sincerity makes the principle one understands true and without falsity; once principle is clear in the mind, when faced with what is not one's due, no additional calculation of gain and loss is needed — not coveting and not taking are naturally the expression of acting according to principle. For those in power, understanding principle, maintaining reverence, and preserving sincerity are united in one person; revering oneself, taking one's position seriously, recognizing that public instruments cannot be used for private ends and that what is not one's due cannot be improperly sought — these become genuine and enduring requirements of virtue. This state of being calm and unhurried (从容不迫, cong rong bu po - "from, calm, not, hurried"), acting according to principle, and free of calculation is the "highest" grade of the incorruptible.
Esteeming reputation and integrity, one does not take carelessly
"Those who, esteeming reputation and integrity, do not take carelessly" — the emphasis lies on the character "carelessly" (苟). To be careless is to be rash and casual, seeing profit and forgetting what one upholds; not taking carelessly is to maintain proper measure between taking and refusing, not harming one's lifelong integrity for the sake of momentary gain. This grade of the incorruptible that Xue Xuan discusses is close to what Confucius called the "narrow-minded" (狷者). Confucius said, "The narrow-minded have things they will not do." The narrow-minded may not have attained the middle way, yet they can hold fast to their aspirations and integrity, understanding that in life there are things that must not be done. The "reputation" (名) in "reputation and integrity" is established through integrity. The gain of a single thing cannot compensate for the loss of a single point of integrity; what one takes may be slight, yet it will damage what one has upheld all one's life.
Cherishing reputation and integrity originates from the cultivation of a sense of shame. The Analects, Wei Zheng (《论语·为政》), says: "Guide them with government orders and regulate them with punishments, and the people will evade them and have no sense of shame; guide them with virtue and regulate them with propriety, and they will have a sense of shame and will correct themselves." Government and punishments set forth prohibitions so that conduct has something to follow; virtue and propriety nurture the sense of shame so that norms gain internal support. Traditional Chinese political thought often uses "punishment" and "virtue" to summarize the two ways of governance, prohibition and moral transformation: punishment serves to set forth prohibitions, virtue serves to nurture the human heart. Xue Xuan's discussion of "not taking carelessly" is deeply rooted in the essential meaning of punishment and virtue, embodying the role of moral transformation through virtue and propriety in nurturing the sense of shame: the fear of law corresponds to the level of "the people will evade them and have no sense of shame," while self-restraint through reputation and integrity leads toward the realm of "having a sense of shame and correcting oneself." The case recorded in the History of the Later Han (《后汉书》) of Yang Zhen "declining gold in the dead of night" precisely illustrates this point. Reputation and integrity can constrain taking and refusing because they have become part of the identity of the one in power; "not taking carelessly" is thus manifested as the conduct of one who knows shame and respects himself.
Conduct of integrity may arise from the fear of law and the protection of rank, or it may be rooted in the self-consciousness of cherishing reputation and integrity. If one in power stops only at fearing the law, then once the legal net has gaps or rank and salary are secure, the virtue of integrity may waver; if one can esteem reputation and integrity, then "not taking" becomes a matter of personal self-respect and value identification, and integrity can be stable and enduring. When a person takes the public office as paramount and the affairs he undertakes as his responsibility, he will regard using power for private gain as an act that demeans his character and betrays his office. This kind of "not taking" is no longer merely "not daring" out of fear of punishment, but approaches "disdaining" at the level of moral self-consciousness. Thus shame can replace fear, manifesting as the self-respect of a moral person and the self-consciousness of a political identity, and further leading one to examine one's words and deeds with a longer view that transcends political life and even individual life. The deeper significance of "not taking carelessly" lies in elevating integrity from a one-way legal command into a comprehensive process in which behavioral restraint and the cultivation of virtue mutually accomplish each other. Revering one's position and esteeming one's virtue, one can hold the bottom line of integrity beyond momentary gain and loss.
Fearing the law and protecting rank and salary, one dares not take
What "those who, fearing the law and protecting rank and salary, dare not take" reveals is the constraint that law and discipline impose on improper desires. Law and discipline enable people to know what to avoid, first of all by drawing clear boundaries for taking and refusing. The Guanzi, Explanation of Clear Laws (《管子·明法解》), says: "Law is the standard measure of the world and the model for all affairs." Law is like the compass, square, plumb line, and marking cord, enabling those in power to know what may be done and what may not be done, and giving the exercise of power something to follow. Once the boundaries are clear, rewards and punishments must establish authority. The Book of Lord Shang, Rewards and Punishments (《商君书·赏刑》), says: "If punishments are heavy and certain to be applied, the people will not dare to test them, and so the state will have no punished people." What punishment seeks is to make people, knowing it will certainly come, not dare to violate prohibitions; when orders are carried out and prohibitions are observed, thoughts of relying on luck have no chance to arise; when law enforcement is strict, opportunistic conduct can be eliminated. The establishment of "not daring to take" lies in the certainty that law-breaking will be pursued and that crossing the line will have consequences.
The function of punishment lies not only in punishing violations of the law, but also in making people foresee the consequences in advance and not dare to test them lightly. Only when law and discipline possess such deterrence can external prohibitions be transformed into caution at the moment of decision. Faced with improper profit, those in power may still harbor desire in their hearts, but because they fear law and discipline and cherish their rank and salary, they forcibly restrain themselves — hence Xue Xuan calls this "done through compulsion" (勉强而然). The case recorded in the Han Feizi of Gongyi Xiu, who loved fish yet would not accept fish, precisely illustrates this caution. Gongyi Xiu was chancellor of Lu; people throughout the state vied to present him fish, yet he refused them all, explaining: "It is precisely because I love fish that I do not accept them." If one accepts another's fish, one may come under that person's control, and subsequently pervert the law and lose one's position. Gongyi Xiu did not conceal that he loved fish, but he knew well the consequences that accepting a single fish might bring. Desiring something yet not daring to take it, basing oneself on considerations of gain and loss — this is nonetheless sufficient to restrain desire and constrain conduct, keeping one from overstepping the bounds.
The use of law and discipline lies precisely in making those who have desires not dare to act recklessly and making those who harbor hopes of luck not dare to test lightly. Law and discipline implement the requirement of "not taking" as rules to be jointly observed and whose violation will certainly be pursued, so that personal desires are restricted and power is prevented from being abused for momentary private interest.
The "threefold not-taking," according to the intentions behind it, can be distinguished into three levels: fearing the law and protecting rank and salary so as not to dare to take relies on restraint formed by external punishment, with emphasis on stopping wrongdoing and avoiding error; esteeming reputation and integrity so as not to take carelessly has already entered into cherishing one's own reputation and character; seeing principle clearly so as not to take improperly is a thorough recognition of righteousness and principle, making not-taking a natural choice. These three, from external to internal, from fear to reverence, from reputation to principle, constitute the multi-layered grounds of incorruptible conduct.
What the Record of Music (《礼记·乐记》) says — "Propriety guides the will, music harmonizes the voice, government unifies conduct, punishment prevents wickedness" — complements this well. Propriety, music, government, and punishment, though each has its specific function, all belong to the unity of the way of governance; if those in power can employ them in combination according to the times and circumstances, then moral transformation does not lapse into emptiness, clear discernment does not fall into pettiness, and government orders do not tend toward harshness — the three work together and governance is achieved. From the comprehensive application of external governance measures, to the self-conscious cultivation of incorruptible conduct, and further to moral conviction that transcends any single era, the three together outline the complete vision of traditional political virtue. The integrity realm of the "threefold not-taking" can also be mutually referenced with the contemporary integrated advancement of the approach of not daring to be corrupt, not being able to be corrupt, and not wanting to be corrupt. The ancients respectively considered the cultivation of integrity from the three dimensions of deterrent punishment, self-restraint through reputation and integrity, and self-consciousness of righteousness and principle; their thought of valuing law and discipline, esteeming moral conduct, and clarifying righteousness and principle still holds important reference significance for building today's three defense lines of punishment, institutions, and ideological morality.
Return to TopBy: 胡箫白
In Nanjing, renowned for its "mountains, waters, city, and forests," Mochou Lake is undoubtedly a dazzling pearl. Today, Mochou Lake is located in the southwest of Nanjing's main urban area, and is the second-largest body of water in the main urban area after Xuanwu Lake. Pavilions, terraces, towers, and pavilions around the lakeshore are neatly and artistically arranged (错落有致, cuo luo you zhi - "scatter, fall, have, order"), willows droop gracefully along the embankments, and the scenery is uniquely charming. A review of Nanjing's local historical records shows that, at least since the Ming and Qing dynasties, Mochou Lake has always been deeply involved in urban life. During the Ming dynasty, the lake belonged exclusively to the family of Wei Duke Xu Da, serving as their private estate. After the Ming-Qing transition, the lake area was opened to the public, becoming a high-quality leisure spot on the outskirts of Nanjing. After Emperor Qianlong's southern tours, Li Yaodong, a Qing court official observing mourning in Nanjing, donated his salary to repair the lakeside buildings and composed twenty boating songs, which prompted famous Jinling figures of the time such as Yuan Mei and Yao Nai to compose responsive verses, celebrated as a grand event of the era. Mochou Lake thereby gained the reputation of being "the number one scenic spot in Jinling." After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Mochou Lake, in the process of urban reconstruction, consolidated local identity, rose to become a carrier of the collective mentality of Nanjing's literati, and became an extremely representative symbol of urban culture.
What was Mochou Lake like before the Ming dynasty? Interestingly, for a long time people knew nothing about it at all. The fact that Mochou Lake before the Ming dynasty is difficult to verify in historical records was actually discovered as early as the Qing dynasty—Jin Ao, a Qing scholar, pointed out in his Jinling Records Awaiting Verification: "As for Mochou Lake, the Song and Yuan gazetteers say nothing of Mochou Lake; mention of it begins with the Yingtian Gazetteer." Of course, Jin Ao's argument was only half right and half wrong. The right half is that the Song and Yuan local gazetteers indeed contain no trace of "Mochou Lake"; the wrong half is that the name Mochou Lake first appeared in literature not in the Yingtian Gazetteer of the Wanli reign. An examination of Nanjing's successive local gazetteers shows that it was in the second volume of the Zhengde Jiangning County Gazetteer, completed in the fifteenth year of the Zhengde reign, in the "Lakes and Dams" appendix to "Rivers and Marshes," that the three characters "Mochou Lake" finally appeared, along with a brief introduction. Apart from local gazetteers, among the earlier literary works mentioning Mochou Lake is Appreciating Lotuses by Shi Zhong, a Ming-dynasty Nanjing painter, which contains the lines: "Seeking the shore of the Huai River by Sun Chu Tower, Mochou Lake lies west of Stone City." Shi Zhong was born during the Zhengtong reign and was still alive in the mid-to-late Zhengde period. It is evident that in the early Ming dynasty, the name Mochou Lake had indeed not yet been recorded in historical books. In other words, the time when the name Mochou Lake received official recognition cannot be later than the fifteenth year of the Zhengde reign of the Ming dynasty.
How Mochou Lake Got Its Name
Had Mochou Lake simply not yet formed before the Ming dynasty? In fact, this was not the case. Before the Ming dynasty, the water body of Mochou Lake had already formed, but it simply had not yet acquired the name "Mochou Lake." With this, the approach to solving the problem shifted to the reasons for Mochou Lake's "naming"—how exactly did Nanjing's Mochou Lake get its name, and when?
In the Gazetteer of Mochou Lake compiled by Gan Yuankai in the late Qing dynasty, a special section on "The Lake's Name" was established, listing various views on this question from the Old Book of Tang: Treatise on Music of the Five Dynasties period down to Jin Ao's Jinling Records Awaiting Verification in the Qing dynasty, though a wide variety of opinions and views (众说纷纭, zhong shuo fen yun - "many, say, diverge, confused") made the matter quite muddled. Yet one thing is certain: the naming of Mochou Lake is closely connected to the legend of the Mochou woman. However, "Mochou" in historical records and literature mostly refers to the Mochou woman as a character, not to the natural landscape of Mochou Lake. At the same time, even when literature mentions Mochou Lake, it has nothing to do with Nanjing, but rather refers to Mochou Lake in Zhongxiang, Hubei, located in the Han River basin, and its name also derives from the local legend of the Mochou woman.
So what is the story behind the Mochou woman and Mochou Lake in the Han River basin? In fact, they constitute the origin of the "Mochou" symbol. First, the two characters "Mochou" had already appeared in folk songs of the Han and Wei dynasties. In the Southern Dynasties yuefu song Music of Mochou, there are the lines "Where is Mochou? Mochou is west of Stone City," depicting a scene of young men and women in clinging love, whose heroine is a woman named "Mochou" who was quite skilled at singing.
Because of the widespread popularity of yuefu folk songs, the Mochou woman gradually gained a reputation spreading far and wide (声名远播, sheng ming yuan bo - "name, reputation, far, spread"), and Li He, Li Shangyin, Liu Yuxi, and others all drew her image into their own works. In this way, when literati invoked the "Mochou" image, they often developed it from the line "Mochou is west of Stone City" in the yuefu poem, calling this Mochou woman, originally from the Han River basin in Zhongxiang, Hubei, "Stone City Mochou." Finally, in the Song dynasty, under the pen of Zhou Bangyan, the character of the Mochou woman became increasingly full-bodied, even undergoing a transformation. Consider Zhou Bangyan's West River: Recalling Jinling: "A land of beauty, who remembers the glories of the Southern Dynasties? Mountains surround the old capital, embracing the clear river, hair buns rising opposite. Angry waves beat the lonely city in silence, wind-borne masts cross the horizon. On the cliff trees still lean upside down, where Mochou's skiff was once moored. Only old traces remain, lush and dark, mist sinking over half the ramparts. Deep in the night the moon passes over the parapet, sadly gazing east at the Huai River. Where is the market of wine flags and theatrical drums? I imagine dimly, the neighbors of Wang and Xie. The swallows know not what age it is, entering ordinary lanes and households, facing each other as if speaking of rise and fall, in the setting sun."
It can be seen that this ci poem draws on many allusions. In particular, the line "On the cliff trees still lean upside down, where Mochou's skiff was once moored" is a direct lament for the Mochou woman. Compared to the many allusions drawn from Tang poetry, the original source of this line is earlier: it is a rewriting of "The boatman plies two oars, hastening to send Mochou over." However, the yuefu poem Music of Mochou reflects the social landscape of the Han River basin in the medieval era, and Hong Mai, a Song-dynasty scholar, directly judged in his Rongzhai Essays: Rongzhai Third Collection that "Mochou was a person of Stone City in Yingzhou." So how did the Mochou woman by the Han River become associated with Nanjing?
The Contingency and Necessity of "Mochou" Settling in Jinling
The reason Zhou Bangyan linked the Mochou woman to Nanjing is simple and direct. The first two lines of the yuefu poem Music of Mochou are "Where is Mochou? Mochou is west of Stone City," and one of Nanjing's alternative names is precisely Stone City, derived from Stone City. In this way, Zhou Bangyan, without understanding the background of the Music of Mochou poem, interpreted the yuefu poem purely on its literal meaning, yet in a flash of thought transplanted the cultural elements of the Han River basin into Nanjing's cultural field. It can even be considered that Wen Tingyun's Song of Xizhou from the Tang dynasty also contributed to Zhou Bangyan's misjudgment—its lines "Long and long, yesterday I went down to Xizhou. The scenery of Xizhou is fine, from afar I see the Wuchang tower... The boatman shakes two oars, hastening to pass Stone City" are clearly derived from Music of Mochou, and the term "Stone City" indeed easily causes misunderstanding. In any case, Zhou Bangyan's work can truly be described as a series of coincidences or errors leading to an unexpected result (阴差阳错, yin cha yang cuo - "yin, error; yang, mistake") in its combination, and Hong Mai explicitly stated on this point, "In recent times, Zhou Meicheng's yuefu West River, a single piece devoted to chanting Jinling, contains the phrase 'where Mochou's skiff was once moored'—is this not mistakenly taking Stone City for Stone City?" Wang Mao also said, "There are two Stone Cities, one in Jinling and one in Jingling. The one in Jinling is the Stone City where Zuo Si said war chariots halted. The one in Jingling is the city where Mochou lived. Yet Zhou Meicheng's ci uses the Stone City of Jinling for the matter of Mochou—is this not an error!" Of course, the Song people who made mistakes were not limited to Zhou Bangyan. Zhang Lei, one of the "Four Scholars of the Su School," also lamented in a poem chanting about Nanjing's famous scenic spot Shangxin Pavilion, "Where is the home of Tao Ye whom the oars greet? The oars that sent Mochou off—the person is already gone," clearly pairing the Mochou woman with Tao Ye, another beauty of Six Dynasties Nanjing.
It can thus be seen that the association of the Mochou image with Nanjing was quite coincidental: the emergence of "Jinling Mochou" originated entirely from a single ci poem by Zhou Bangyan, and even from Zhou Bangyan's misreading of a literary allusion. However, if one were to make the best of a bad situation or follow an error through (将错就错, jiang cuo jiu cuo - "take, error, then, error") and savor it carefully, it is not difficult to discover that naming the beautiful small lake west of Nanjing's city as Mochou Lake indeed accords with the collective mentality of the literati and the cultural heritage of Nanjing as a city. The key to why "Mochou" could serve as a link between landscape and region, interpreting Nanjing's urban character and regional temperament, lies in the fact that Nanjing, a city that rose and fell repeatedly throughout history and whose political fortunes were full of vicissitudes, was not without sorrow, but rather had too much sorrow. A place without "sorrow" would not so value and cherish the consolation of "Mochou." In other words, people living in a city like Nanjing naturally ought to "have sorrow but not sorrow" and "turn sorrow into no sorrow," and this became the key to Mochou's final positioning in Nanjing.
(The author is a professor at the School of History, Nanjing University)
Return to TopBy: 郭壮
In the 26th year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty (1393), the "Functions of the Various Offices" (《诸司职掌》), which stipulated the duties of officials in each department, was promulgated throughout the realm. Among its contents was a document personally formulated by Ming Taizu, Zhu Yuanzhang — the "Imperial Instructions on the Essentials for Assumption of Office" (《敕谕授职到任须知》, abbreviated as the "Essentials for Assumption of Office"). Zhu Yuanzhang positioned this text as the "method for entering office," listing a total of thirty-one items of business, requiring newly appointed prefectural, subprefectural, and county officials to read and comprehend it before assuming their posts, and on the day of arrival to consult item by item with the outgoing officials, principal subordinates, and chief clerks of subordinate units, so as to achieve "clarity on the number and particulars of all matters and things," while admonishing them to strictly comply and not to regard it as a mere scrap of paper. The "Essentials for Assumption of Office" was both an institutional design for rectifying official governance in the early Ming and an extremely operational grassroots work guide. The Ming history expert Fang Zhiyuan points out that officials who entered office through the imperial examinations excelled in classical exegesis but were deficient in administrative affairs, and when faced with grassroots governance they were often completely ignorant of the matter (一窍不通, yi qiao bu tong - "one, hole, not, penetrate"). The "Essentials for Assumption of Office" was precisely written to remedy this deficiency, and can be called "a major advance in the exercise of state power in the Ming Dynasty."
Checklist thinking. The most distinctive feature of the "Essentials for Assumption of Office" is that it reduces the complex and multifarious task of local governance to a checklist with clear items that can be implemented one by one. The thirty-one items can be roughly classified into three categories: examining affairs, examining things, and examining people. Examining affairs means becoming familiar with the operation of government business, including sacrifices, relief, justice, land and grain, administrative documents, subordinate officials, and subordinate units. Examining things means grasping the state of assets and local products, including warehouse inventories, livestock and grain reserves, various types of taxation, workshops and mines, and public buildings and property. Examining people means understanding the various conditions of the local populace, including Confucian scholars and students, venerable elders, exemplars of filial piety and fraternal duty, officials of local origin, as well as such categories as bullies and litigation mongers, vagrants and charlatans, and criminals. Zhu Yuanzhang pointed out: "If one grasps this outline and raises this general idea to extend it, there is no matter of which one will not know whether it has been handled or not." Handling each item listed in the "Essentials for Assumption of Office" in turn, and drawing inferences from a single instance (举一反三, ju yi fan san - "lift, one, reverse, three") in accordance with its spirit, could help newly appointed officials quickly grasp the local conditions, circumstances, and popular sentiment, and obtain a reliable basis for governance.
Running through the thirty-one items are two work requirements: "specific numbers" and "separate reporting." The former requires grasping concrete quantities; the latter requires classifying by category and reporting each item separately. For example, the fifteenth item, "aquatic product taxation," requires listing how many lakes in the territory produce fish, where each fish lake is located, and how much tax revenue each fish lake yields annually, linking tax data with the location where the tax is generated to enhance the credibility of the data. Another example is the nineteenth item, "public property," which requires listing office premises, lodging quarters, and public utensils, specifying the exact number of rooms in the main hall, side chambers, gate houses, and rear halls, as well as the exact number of items such as tables, chairs, and cushions. If there are shortages or damage, timely repairs are required; if there is deliberate destruction, responsibility must be pursued. In addition, at the time of handover, attention must be paid to cleaning thoroughly and making the transfer clear, and during use, care must be taken to avoid adding to the burden on the people. Although some of these provisions are somewhat trivial, and even somewhat "vulgar," they are rich in practical sense and operability. In essence, they require newly appointed officials to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the situation before taking office — relying not on hearsay, but on item-by-item verification and letting numbers speak.
Putting the people at ease as the foundation. The ordering and content of the "Essentials for Assumption of Office" run through a governance philosophy that takes putting the people at ease as its ultimate purpose. In the tenth year of the Hongwu reign, when Zhu Yuanzhang dispatched censorial inspectors to tour the prefectures and counties, he pointed out: "In all governance, putting the people at ease is the foundation; when the people are at ease, the state is secure." Occupying the first three items are respectively "sacrifice," "relief," and "review of prisoners." "Sacrifice is a great affair of state, performed to pray for blessings for the people," requiring newly appointed officials to know the dates and venues of sacrifices, prepare the utensils, maintain cleanliness, and conduct them on time with a sincere and reverent attitude, so as to achieve the purpose of praying for blessings and putting the people at ease. "Relief" requires grasping the basic situation of the Support-the-Aged Institute, the official charitable institution, knowing the specific number of orphans, widows, the aged, and the weak taken in, and the specific expenditures for food, clothing, and supplies, and requires newly appointed officials to personally verify and inspect each item and offer condolences, fully manifesting the state's original intent of consolation and relief. Because criminal justice concerns life and death, after reporting on sacrifices, the next step is the "review of prisoners," that is, taking stock of the number of prisoners in custody and sorting out the status of case adjudication, requiring careful examination of decided cases and close scrutiny of undecided prisoners, ensuring that matters are logically coherent and judgments are fair, and avoiding such situations as wrongful convictions, erroneous judgments, and prolonged non-resolution.
The "Essentials for Assumption of Office" places great importance on the exemplary and guiding role of village elders and exemplars of filial piety and fraternal duty. The twenty-second item, "elders," requires ascertaining how many elders there are locally and whether they are virtuous, and engaging those who are "advanced in years, of high virtue, familiar with local customs, and well-versed in precedents and traditions" to serve in the position of venerable elder, consulting them on the hardships of the people and measures of governance. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang changed the venerable elder system to the village elder system, which undertook grassroots affairs such as handling civil disputes. The twenty-third item, "filial piety and fraternal duty," stipulates that if the outgoing official failed to make clear investigations, then the newly appointed official, on the day of arrival, must seek out "filial sons and obedient grandsons, righteous husbands and chaste wives" and conduct a detailed enumeration. For those who have not yet received government commendation, he must personally investigate and verify the facts, report them level by level, and apply for official commendation, so as to achieve the effect of transforming customs and encouraging the good.
Apart from positive guidance, the "Essentials for Assumption of Office" is also unambiguous in eliminating the wicked and removing the evil. In the final six items, it successively requires enumerating "bullies and litigation mongers" who monopolize public and private affairs, stir up litigation and disputes, and defraud and oppress the good; "vagrants and charlatans" who engage in nefarious activities (为非作歹, wei fei zuo dai - "act, non, do, evil"), delude the people, and have such vices as drunkenness and gambling; criminals and dismissed officials of local origin; locally executed death-row criminals; and locally registered "watch-register persons" with criminal records — six categories of people in all. For the above persons, they are to be registered by category and entered into the registers, so that "the wicked, knowing fear, dare not do wrong." At the same time, the "Essentials for Assumption of Office" also reminds officials to be sure to verify in detail the actual circumstances of missing persons, so as to avoid the malady of harassing the people through repeated investigations.
The essentials of taking office. As a guide for newly appointed officials, managing subordinates is an important part of the "Essentials for Assumption of Office." First, one must "inspect the clerks," grasping the total number of subordinate clerks, ascertaining one by one, according to the six internal sections, the number of clerks in charge and assistant clerks, and examining their competence and work attitude, "so as to show reward and punishment." When a new official takes office, he must first figure out who is in what post and how they are performing. Second, one must "manage the clerks," maintaining stability in the appointments of clerks in each department, so that those who have long handled a specific matter "know the beginning and end of the matter and can handle it easily." Frequent changes in clerk appointments are prohibited, so as to avoid problems such as work difficulties arising from unfamiliarity with business and favoritism and corruption brought about by requests for transfers. Third, one must control the number of "various yamen servants," that is, enumerating the numbers of attendants, prison guards, and grassroots security personnel, so as to avoid the maladministration of excessive and redundant establishment. Finally, one must attach importance to the selection and training of the reserve ranks, paying attention to local Confucian scholars and examining whether they have talents in mastering the classics, writing essays, managing the people, and handling concrete affairs, so that they can be consulted for advice or recommended for appointment.
Doing a good job of the handover between the outgoing and incoming officials is a point to which the "Essentials for Assumption of Office" pays particular attention. The fifth item, "court policies," requires handling the handover of documents, sorting out previously received imperial edicts and decrees, as well as the placards and proclamations formulated in accordance with them. For those that are damaged or incomplete, one must find ways to seek them out and copy them, and preserve them properly in accordance with regulations. One must carefully study and comprehend the core meaning of each provision, and sort out the higher-level requirements that have already been implemented and those that have not yet been implemented. The eighth item, "handling affairs," requires handling the handover of business, dividing the work assigned by higher-level documents and the routine work of the unit itself into three major categories: already completed, already implemented but not yet completed, and not yet implemented, requiring classified enumeration and separate reporting for each. For work not yet completed, one must prioritize it by urgency and importance and urge its completion in sequence; for work not yet implemented, one must implement it immediately, so as to avoid "concealment and delay" and the hindrance of public business. This is a very clear system for the handover between old and new officials — it is not permitted to "hang the edict on the wall," and it is not permitted to ignore previous commitments upon taking office (新官不理旧账, xin guan bu li jiu zhang - "new, official, not, manage, old, account"). The unfinished responsibilities of the outgoing official must be taken up and continued by the successor.
The "Essentials for Assumption of Office" is one corner of the vast and meticulous administrative rules formulated by Zhu Yuanzhang in the early Ming. Together with such documents as the "Essentials for Reporting" (《供报须知》) and the "Placard for Instructing the People" (《教民榜文》), and with such institutions as the lijia, the shenming pavilion, and the jingshan pavilion, it constituted a complete framework for grassroots governance. Among its contents, such elements bearing the imprint of the era as governing through severe punishment and the separation of official and clerical careers have long since passed away, but such contents as understanding the situation before governing, checklist thinking, putting the people at ease as the foundation, attaching importance to team building, and the handover between outgoing and incoming officials still embody important governance wisdom. The way of governance involves a vast multitude of complex issues (千头万绪, qian tou wan xu - "thousand, head, ten thousand, thread"), yet doing investigation and research well remains to this day the prerequisite for accomplishing things.
Return to TopDaguan County, Zhaotong City, Yunnan Province, is located deep in the Wumeng Mountain area and possesses abundant Qiongzhu bamboo resources, earning it the reputation of "the hometown of Qiongzhu bamboo in China." However, for a long time, the bamboo industry's business entities were "small, scattered, and weak," with a short industrial chain and low added value, and the predicament of living in poverty while sitting on a "treasure mountain" was once difficult to break. In recent years, Daguan County has adhered to Party building as the guide, deeply implemented the "Party Building Alliance Action on the Industrial Chain," established Party organizations on the industrial chain, gathered Party members on the industrial chain, and enriched the people on the industrial chain, building a Qiongzhu bamboo whole-industrial-chain development pattern of "base cultivation + processing park + new-type entities + farmers + commerce, tourism, and culture," and blazing a new path of revitalization featuring park-village linkage and enriching farmers through bamboo. At present, the county's Qiongzhu bamboo area has reached 1.06 million mu, and in 2025 the comprehensive output value of the bamboo industry reached 3.111 billion yuan, directly benefiting 190,000 people.
Establishing Party Organizations on the Industrial Chain to Reshape the Industrial Organizational Form
The root of the industry being "small, scattered, and weak" lies in the low degree of organization. Daguan County started from the organizational system to solve the problem, establishing a bamboo industry development leading group with the county Party secretary and county magistrate as co-group leaders, establishing and improving the mechanism of Party secretaries at the county, township, and village levels grasping the bamboo industry, and uniting people in a single concerted effort (拧成一股绳, ning cheng yi gu sheng - "twist, into, one, strand, rope") of all forces. The county Party committee organization department, in accordance with the principles of "adjacent regions, similar industries, and complementary advantages," established 12 industrial chain Party branches, covering 36 leading enterprises, 78 cooperatives, and 210 Party member demonstration households, implementing mechanisms of joint organizational building, shared resources, joint deliberation of affairs, and joint brand creation, and precisely addressing problems such as technology, financing, and sales.
Establishing Party organizations on the industrial chain brings not only organizational coverage, but also a reshaping of the industrial organizational form. After the Xisha Village Qiongzhu bamboo industrial chain Party branch was established, it integrated the forces of 6 cooperatives and 2 processing enterprises, unified harvesting standards and market connections, and the price of dried bamboo shoots rose from 40 yuan per kilogram to 60 yuan. In 2025, the village's bamboo industry output value exceeded 20 million yuan, with an average household income increase of 12,000 yuan. In Muge Town, the town built 102 contiguous Qiongzhu bamboo bases, attracted and cultivated 11 bamboo-related enterprises, with an annual output value exceeding 200 million yuan. Practice has proven that establishing Party organizations on the industrial chain not only solves the problem of individual business entities being "unable to do it or unable to do it well," but also builds a bridge between scattered farmers and the market.
Establishing Benefit Linkage Mechanisms to Activate the Momentum for Common Prosperity
Daguan County implements the model of "Party branch + leading enterprise + cooperative + farmer," building a diversified income increase pattern of rent, wages, and share dividends. The general Party branch of Xinglong Village, Cuihua Town, revitalized 9,550 mu of natural Qiongzhu bamboo forest resources, and through introducing a professional operation team to implement scientific contracting and cooperative management, promoted the village collective economic annual income to exceed 500,000 yuan, with villagers simultaneously obtaining "three incomes" of rent, wages, and share dividends. The Xuhong Professional Cooperative in Muge Town innovatively established a "family micro-factory" model, dispersing part of the bamboo primary processing links to farmers' homes, effectively absorbing flexible employment for groups such as left-behind women. One villager with limited mobility stably increased his monthly income by more than 5,000 yuan through this model.
The value-added effect brought by the extension of the industrial chain is continuously being released. A returning entrepreneur, with the support of the town Party committee, founded a bamboo culture technology company, led a team to develop more than 100 kinds of purely handmade bamboo products, promoted new "bamboo instead of plastic" products, with an annual output value exceeding 20 million yuan, driving more than 150 people to find employment nearby. From selling raw bamboo and fresh bamboo shoots to selling bamboo products and bamboo culture, the value chain of a single bamboo stalk is being continuously lengthened. At present, the county has built 23 "one village, one product" demonstration villages, cultivated 15 leading enterprises at or above the municipal level, and the operating income of each village's collective economy exceeds 100,000 yuan, of which 12 villages have incomes exceeding 500,000 yuan.
Strengthening Organizational Guarantees to Enhance Industrial Resilience
An industry must not only run fast, but also run steadily. Daguan County embeds services into every link of the industrial chain, does a good job of "escorting," and enables bamboo farmers and enterprises to set out with a light load or without heavy burdens (轻装上阵, qing zhuang shang zhen - "light, equipment, board, battlefield").
With village collective economic organizations implementing protective-price floor purchases of Qiongzhu bamboo shoots, the price of Qiongzhu bamboo shoots in Daguan County has steadily risen from 4 to 6 yuan per kilogram in 2018 to 14 yuan per kilogram. Under the coordination of grassroots Party organizations, three banks in the county developed the "Qiongzhu Loan" business, adopted the model of "Party organization + collective economy + leading enterprise + farmer," and carried out pilot reforms of mixed shareholding systems for bamboo-related business entities, effectively solving problems such as uneven resources, insufficient capital, and poor channels.
Optimize technical services and consolidate talent support. Daguan County invited bamboo industry experts to conduct more than 200 technical lectures, trained more than 19,000 person-times, established Party member technical assistance groups, and provided on-site guidance on planting and management. The county's industrial chain has gathered more than 180 Party member technical backbone personnel, driven the cultivation of more than 500 "local experts" and "field scholars," and Party member demonstration households drive an average of 15 farmer households to prosperity. Daguan County also incorporates industrial chain Party building into performance evaluation and assessment, selects 35 young cadres familiar with industrial development to serve as "first secretaries," establishes a "dual-wheel drive" mechanism of Party building alliances and local talent workstations, cultivates Party members from among industrial backbone personnel, and cultivates leaders from among Party members. Since 2025, 46 new Party members have been developed on the industrial chain, more than 80 percent of whom are industrial backbone personnel.
After sustained efforts, Daguan County's Qiongzhu bamboo has transformed from a "firewood stick" into a "golden chain." Daguan County has deeply realized that the key to linking the industrial chain and the wealth chain with the Party building chain lies in transforming the Party's organizational advantages into industrial development advantages, using organizational strength to gather scattered resources, connect broken chains, and fill missing services, truly turning lucid waters and lush mountains into mountains of gold and silver.
(Qin Wanjun, Xiang Deqiang)
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Heart-to-heart talks are a fine tradition and political strength of our Party. For state-owned enterprises, heart-to-heart talks are both an important part of implementing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party and a bridge and bond for maintaining close ties with employees. The Suzhou Municipal Tobacco Monopoly Bureau (Company) of Anhui Province (hereinafter referred to as the Suzhou Municipal Bureau) has carried out heart-to-heart talks with sincerity and genuine feeling. Through unremitting efforts, the number of cases of violations of discipline and law has continued to decline, petitioning issues have been resolved, complaints and reports have continued to decrease, and employee satisfaction has improved significantly.
Promptly Understanding Employees' Ideological Trends
Ideological problems are often subtle and hidden at the outset; if they are not discovered and channeled in a timely manner, they may trigger systemic risks. Heart-to-heart talks are an important means of resolving such ideological problems. To do heart-to-heart talks well, it is necessary to promptly understand the ideological trends of cadres and discover problems of an emerging nature. Managers cannot sit in their offices waiting for employees to come to them; they must take the initiative to go to the employees' side. The Suzhou Municipal Bureau has introduced the concept of "treating disease before it occurs" into its heart-to-heart talk work, established a heart-to-heart talk mechanism, adhered to the principles of prevention first and grasping problems early and when they are small, and through frequent caring greetings and routine communication and exchange, promptly understood employees' ideological trends, helped employees resolve inner conflicts and relieve stress, and enabled every employee to feel warmth.
Addressing Management Shortcomings in Responding to Demands
In response to the various demands raised by employees during heart-to-heart talks, the Suzhou Municipal Bureau adheres to the "three resolutions" principle in practice. First, "resolve problems" — problems that can be solved are solved immediately, without letting problems linger overnight; second, "explain reasons" — patient explanations are given, making the reasoning clear, the policies thoroughly explained, and care delivered; third, "untie inner knots" — listening to employees' voices, humbly accepting criticism, and helping employees release emotions and untie inner knots.
Heart-to-heart talk work cannot stop at explanation and persuasion; it must also identify management shortcomings during the talks and optimize management services. Through a sincere heart-to-heart talk, institutional loopholes and management deficiencies are discovered, achieving a virtuous cycle of "solving one problem and improving one system." The Suzhou Municipal Bureau has built a "Public Opinion Gathering" (民意荟) platform for feedback on opinions and suggestions, smoothed channels for expressing demands, and conducted research at the front line in the "four no's and two direct" manner, extensively listening to employees' opinions and suggestions, so that responses to demands are fast, warm, and high-quality.
Conducting Heart-to-Heart Talks at Key Junctures
Ideological problems often occur concentratedly at key junctures; only by seizing the right moment to intervene can achieving twice the result with half the effort (事半功倍, shi ban guo bei - "matter, half, result, double") be achieved. The Suzhou Municipal Bureau focuses on four "must-talk" occasions: when positions are adjusted, talks must be held to help employees clarify their responsibilities and positioning, define their direction of effort, and guard against integrity risks; when ideological fluctuations occur, talks must be held to identify the root causes, answer questions and resolve doubts, and promptly channel employees' emotions; when employees face difficulties in life, talks must be held to help them overcome difficulties and proactively convey organizational care; when problems of an emerging or tendency nature appear, talks must be held to remind and correct them at the first opportunity.
Implementing heart-to-heart talks cannot focus only on key positions and key groups; it must cover all employees. Grassroots employees have active minds, and emerging problems are not easy to detect, so it is necessary to talk early, discover early, and correct early, taking precautions to prevent trouble before it occurs (防患于未然, fang huan yu wei ran - "prevent, disaster, at, not yet"). At the same time, it is also necessary to reduce repetitive, content-free, and unnecessary talks to avoid employees developing a passive and perfunctory attitude.
Improving the Methods and Approaches of Heart-to-Heart Talks
Heart-to-heart talks cannot be judged by frequency; the key is whether there is genuine heart-to-heart exchange. The purpose of heart-to-heart talks is to grasp employees' true thoughts and ideological confusions. The Suzhou Municipal Bureau has explored establishing a complete chain of "research and baseline survey — content design — scene creation — communication and guidance — follow-up and implementation," putting the effort before the talk itself. Solid preliminary research and baseline surveys are conducted to grasp in advance the work status and family situation of the person being talked to, and to find the right entry point for communication. Talk content is carefully designed, with topics set around the theme, avoiding talking about irrelevant or rambling subjects (东拉西扯, dong la xi che - "east, pull, west, drag") and aimlessness. Appropriate forms and venues for talks are chosen; for situations such as cadre appointments and dismissals and warning education, a serious form of talk is adopted; informal rambling talks are not constrained by venue, striving to create a relaxed talking environment. Attention is paid to communication methods — listen more and speak less, listen first and speak later, with a sincere attitude and combining toughness with flexibility (刚柔并济, gang rou bing ji - "hard, soft, together, combine"), so that every talk is a communication of hearts.
The Suzhou Municipal Bureau places emphasis on strengthening training and continuously improving Party members and cadres' competence in heart-to-heart talks, enabling Party members and cadres to fully recognize the importance of heart-to-heart talks, possess solid theoretical foundations, master certain psychological knowledge and communication skills, and achieve persuading others through logic and reason (以理服人, yi li fu ren - "use, reason, persuade, people"), moving others with emotion, and treating others with sincerity, so that the subjects of the talks can set aside their concerns, open their hearts, and be completely frank and sincere with one another (坦诚相见, tan cheng xiang jian - "frank, sincere, mutually, meet").
Gathering Wisdom and Strength in Heart-to-Heart Talks
Heart-to-heart talks are an important process of seeking advice and strategies from the grassroots. Front-line employees have accumulated rich practical experience and know best about market changes and customers' real needs; they are an important source of information for enterprises in formulating policies, planning development, and making decisions.
The Suzhou Municipal Bureau has established a feedback mechanism for rationalization suggestions. For opinions and suggestions that can be rectified immediately, the responsible department, implementing position, and completion deadline are clearly defined, with the office tracking and supervising implementation and the information system reminding and urging progress; the handling process is becoming clear at a single glance (一目了然, yi mu le ran - "one, eye, understand, clearly") on the information-based assignment platform. For important development issues that require organizational study, they are summarized quarterly and annually and submitted to the Party group meeting for deliberation, providing ideas and decision-making references for future development.
Improving the Long-Term Mechanism for Heart-to-Heart Talks
The Suzhou Municipal Bureau continues to improve the long-term mechanism for heart-to-heart talks, promoting the normalization and long-term effectiveness of the work. It clarifies key questions such as what to talk about, how to talk, when to talk, and where to talk, defines the heart-to-heart talk responsibilities of cadres at all levels, sorts out various talk scenarios, and achieves full coverage of employees. Through timely follow-up handling, systematic review and summarization, and continuous optimization and improvement, the heart-to-heart talk mechanism has gradually matured, with relatively obvious results: the ideological level of the team has been raised, the work style of cadres has been effectively improved, and the atmosphere for undertaking work and starting businesses has become stronger.
The Suzhou Municipal Bureau will persist in exchanging truth for truth with sincerity and untangling inner knots with genuine feeling, integrating ideological guidance, policy publicity, humanistic care, and supervision and reminders into one, and pooling the joint forces of high-quality development.
〔Author's affiliation: Suzhou Municipal Tobacco Monopoly Bureau (Company) of Anhui Province〕
Return to TopState Grid Shandong Electric Power Company's Changqing District Power Supply Company in Jinan focuses on various difficult problems in the development of the company and the power grid, pooling the strength of all-staff innovation to build momentum for high-quality development, and has been rated as a Jinan all-staff innovation enterprise. It has built and put into operation a Shandong Province model worker and artisan innovation studio, linking up with local universities and high-tech enterprises to improve innovation efficiency, and has been awarded the title of "High-Value Innovation Platform for the Incubation of Scientific and Technological Achievements" by the China Energy Research Society. Over years of innovation and tackling-key-problems practice, it has successively won four awards at the same level, including the "First-Class Achievement" for employee technological innovation achievements from the China Workers' Technical Association, as well as multiple provincial-level management innovation achievement awards, driving the high-quality development of the company and the power grid with continuously strengthened scientific and technological innovation momentum.
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