Study Times - October 16, 2026

Handle Good Deeds and Real Services Well to Win the Hearts of People in Difficulty

By: 民政部党组书记、部长 李常官

People in difficulty are the people General Secretary Xi Jinping cares about most. General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches great importance to the work of providing assistance and support to people in difficulty. He has repeatedly entered villages and households to visit people in difficulty, and his footsteps of visiting the poor and inquiring about their hardships have traversed the whole country. He has made a series of important instructions on doing well the work of providing assistance and support to people in difficulty, pointing out that "toward people in difficulty, we must pay special attention, give special care, and show special concern, and do everything possible to help them (千方百计, qian fang bai ji - "thousand ways, hundred plans") solve their difficulties and relieve their worries," emphasizing that "leading cadres at all levels must always keep the safety and well-being of the people in their hearts," and requiring that "we establish and improve the working mechanism for assisting and supporting people in difficulty, deliver the care of the Party and the government to the hearts of people in difficulty, and let them feel the warmth of the socialist family," providing the fundamental guidance for doing well the work of providing assistance and support to people in difficulty.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has responded to the people's yearning for a better life, and, based on common prosperity for all the people and the all-round development of the individual, has promoted major achievements in "support for the weak." However, it must also be recognized that at present and for some time to come, China's assistance and support for people in difficulty still faces many challenges. China has already completed the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, but affected by employment and income, natural disasters, illness and disability, there still exist some low-income groups and special groups requiring government protection, and there are also some people facing sudden and temporary difficulties. In the face of the new situation and new challenges, the outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan has made a series of important arrangements for strengthening public-welfare, basic, and bottom-line livelihood construction, adhering to targeted assistance, and improving bottom-line guarantees. The "15th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Civil Affairs Undertakings" has made specific arrangements for improving the social assistance system, strengthening care services for children in difficulty, improving the social security system and care service system for persons with disabilities, and strengthening care services for disabled and demented elderly people. We must adapt to changes in the situation, adhere to a problem-oriented approach, apply systematic measures and comprehensive governance, and proactively do good things, practical things, and difficult-solving things for people in difficulty.

Focus on key groups and ensure the "bottom line is held"

Anchoring on the special difficulties of specific groups, with a sense of responsibility and mission to "see" the suffering of the people that "cannot be unseen," scientifically identifying the targets of assistance and support, implementing assistance measures in a targeted manner, and guaranteeing their basic livelihood are the important foundation for ensuring the "bottom line is held."

Do well the assistance and support for persons in extreme difficulty, minimum livelihood guarantee households, and others. Persons in extreme difficulty are the most difficult and most vulnerable group, urban and rural minimum livelihood guarantee recipients are people who rely on their own conditions and find it difficult to maintain a basic livelihood, and displaced persons with no means of livelihood are also among the most vulnerable groups in society; they are the key targets of assistance and support for people in difficulty. After years of sustained effort, China has established a relatively complete guarantee system for persons in extreme difficulty, improved the urban and rural minimum livelihood guarantee system, and formed a service system for the assistance, management, and services for displaced persons with no means of livelihood. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, an annual average of 4.88 million persons in extreme difficulty and 39.36 million urban and rural minimum livelihood guarantee recipients were guaranteed. However, some families on the margins of the minimum livelihood guarantee and families with difficulties due to rigid expenditures enjoy limited assistance and support policies because they do not meet the minimum livelihood guarantee conditions. Among the more than 200 million flexible-employment personnel and the 2.562 million people targeted for preventing return to poverty and prevention of new poverty, there will still be some facing difficulties in basic livelihood. The newly promulgated and implemented Social Assistance Law extends assistance and support policies to more groups in need, makes provisions for assistance and support for disaster-affected persons, persons whose basic livelihood temporarily falls into serious difficulty, and persons in need of emergency medical assistance, and puts forward requirements for providing assistance to all kinds of persons encountering temporary difficulties. We must accelerate the improvement of a comprehensive, tiered and classified, comprehensive and efficient social assistance pattern, and legally guarantee their right to receive material assistance and assistance services.

Do well the assistance and support for elderly people with special difficulties. The degree of China's population aging is deepening. By the end of 2025, the number of elderly people over 60 years old exceeded 323 million, among whom some advanced-age elderly people are in empty-nest, living-alone, or left-behind situations, and in particular some disabled elderly people in rural areas face care difficulties. In recent years, various localities have guaranteed the basic livelihood of 19 million elderly people by including them in extreme-poverty support, urban and rural minimum livelihood guarantees, and other measures; and by establishing and improving the urban and rural three-tier elderly care service network and improving the visit-and-care system for elderly people with special difficulties, they have continuously expanded the service coverage for empty-nest, living-alone, and left-behind elderly people and raised the level of care services for disabled and demented elderly people. However, on the whole, visit-and-care for empty-nest, living-alone, and left-behind elderly people still needs to be expanded in scope and improved in quality, and the supply of care services for disabled and demented elderly people, especially professional support for their family caregivers, is still insufficient. Targeted measures must be taken to resolve these problems.

Do well the assistance, guarantee, care, and protection for children in difficulty. Letting all children have a happy and beautiful childhood is the gentlest concern in General Secretary Xi Jinping's heart. In recent years, orphans and children de facto without guardianship in China have received effective guarantees. By the end of 2025, 570,000 orphans and children de facto without guardianship were included in the scope of assistance and guarantee, and the standards of assistance and guarantee have been steadily raised. However, with the continued advancement of new urbanization and population mobility, care services for migrant children, left-behind children, and others still need to be strengthened. Some migrant children do not yet enjoy sufficient services at their places of residence, and effective guardianship for some rural left-behind children still needs to be improved. In this regard, we must actively adapt to the new changes in child welfare and care targets, and bring all children in difficulty in need of assistance and support into the scope of service guarantee.

Do well the assistance and support for persons with disabilities in difficulty. Letting persons with disabilities live a happy and beautiful life is an important part of basic livelihood guarantees. China has more than 38 million persons with disabilities holding certificates, among whom some persons with mental disabilities still have insufficient community rehabilitation services, the needs of some persons with severe disabilities for custodial care and other services have not yet been effectively met, and families such as "elderly parents + disabled children" and families with multiple disabled members have weak care capacity and need multi-party support to effectively reduce the burden of family care.

Improve institutions and mechanisms to ensure the "bottom line is held accurately"

"In livelihood matters there are no small things; every leaf and branch is connected to deep feeling." Doing well the assistance and support for people in difficulty is the most bottom-line livelihood guarantee task. We must adhere to the principles and requirements of accurate targets, accurate standards, and accurate measures, and improve institutional mechanisms such as proactive discovery, accurate identification, rapid response, and assistance according to need.

Improve the mechanisms for dynamic monitoring and proactive discovery. Dynamic monitoring and proactive discovery are the primary link in assistance and support for people in difficulty. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, various localities established and improved dynamic monitoring platforms for the low-income population, improved the information verification system for the economic conditions of social assistance families, strengthened the application of big data, artificial intelligence, and other technologies, and promoted the combination of "people seeking policies" and "policies seeking people" in assistance and support work. Data comparison and dynamic re-verification have been strengthened, and, relying on the visit-and-care mechanism, the ability to identify elderly people and persons with disabilities with special difficulties has been enhanced. The proactive discovery mechanism for children in difficulty has been improved, and precise screening, precise filing, and refined services for migrant children and left-behind children have been strengthened. However, looking at the actual work, problems such as missed guarantees and mistaken guarantees still occur, the timely response to the needs of some elderly people and persons with disabilities in difficulty for spiritual comfort, social integration, and professional care is still insufficient, and some children in difficulty are not discovered in a timely manner. To solve these problems in a targeted manner, we must adhere to the combination of "big data comparison + iron-feet screening" and "key-to-key and face-to-face," further open up the channels for data sharing among departments, and strengthen cross-comparison of information and intelligent early warning. We must improve mechanisms such as dynamic screening, regular visits, and street patrols, and enter villages and households to discover difficult situations in a timely manner. We must keep government service hotlines and petition channels unimpeded, encourage people in difficulty, urban and rural residents, social work organizations, volunteers, and others to promptly report all kinds of difficulty information, and ensure early discovery, early intervention, and early assistance.

Scientifically and accurately determine assistance standards. Economic development and social security are related like a rising tide lifting all boats; we must both respond to the expectations of the people and conform to objective reality. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, we adhered to doing our best according to our capabilities and acting within our means, and steadily raised the levels of all kinds of assistance and guarantee. However, in a few regions there still exist problems such as unscientific and unreasonable standard-setting, and the dynamic adjustment mechanism for relevant standards needs to be optimized. To solve these problems, we must establish and improve mechanisms for the scientific determination and dynamic adjustment of all kinds of assistance standards in light of local conditions. We must fully consider factors such as per capita consumption expenditure of residents, per capita disposable income, price levels, and fiscal affordability, scientifically adjust minimum livelihood guarantee and extreme-poverty support standards, and establish a filing system for relevant guarantee standards. We must strengthen the overall coordination and linkage between basic livelihood guarantee standards for children in difficulty and minimum livelihood guarantee standards, implement the dynamic adjustment mechanism for the two subsidies for persons with disabilities in light of the basic livelihood and long-term care expenditure costs of persons with disabilities, and scientifically set standards for centralized care services and subsidies for elderly people with disabilities in economic difficulty.

Improve the closed-loop operation and precise implementation mechanism. Only by advancing assistance and support to run through to the end and be implemented and carried out can the people truly enjoy benefit-conferring policies. In recent years, various localities have improved the coordination mechanism for guaranteeing the basic livelihood of people in difficulty, established and improved the work chain of discovery, identification, assistance, feedback, and exit, and compacted the assistance and support responsibilities of all departments and all parties, and the quality and effectiveness of assistance and support have improved markedly. At the same time, there still exist blocking points and stuck points such as insufficient inter-departmental coordination and weak grassroots service capacity. In the coming period, we must strengthen the responsibilities of overall planning, coordination, guidance, and supervision of relevant working mechanisms in the fields of social assistance and social welfare, improve unified identification and tiered information management, dynamic monitoring and need-based push, joint departmental assistance, and closed-loop result feedback. We must improve the social participation system, strengthen grassroots work forces, and achieve the organic unity of policy formulation, implementation, and optimization, so that people in difficulty receive tangible benefits.

Promote fair and just implementation. Ensuring that assistance and support are open, fair, and just is a matter of high social concern. In recent years, through sustained comprehensive governance, violations of discipline and regulations in bottom-line guarantee and assistance and support work have been effectively curbed, and public recognition has improved markedly. However, it must also be recognized that phenomena such as favoring relatives and friends have not yet been completely eliminated, and unhealthy tendencies and corruption problems such as embezzling and diverting assistance funds still exist. We must consolidate the achievements of study and education on establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements, take benefiting the people as the greatest political achievement, and, with deep feeling for people in difficulty and a meticulous and careful work style, precisely implement benefit-conferring policies. We must adhere to fairness and justice and promote openness and transparency in the policies, procedures, targets, and use of funds of assistance and support in all fields. We must both grasp the rigidity of various policies and attach importance to the flexibility of methods and approaches, and respond well to the demands of the people through patient explanation, persuasion and education, resource linkage, and other means. We must focus on solving the people's vexing matters, worrying matters, and troubling matters to optimize assessment and evaluation indicators, give play to the guiding role of assessment, carry out surveys of public satisfaction, and promptly improve policies and measures.

Improve the quality and effectiveness of assistance and support to ensure the "bottom line is held well"

In doing well the work of providing assistance and support to people in difficulty, we must hold the bottom line without rigidly clinging to the bottom line. We must both guarantee basic livelihood and adapt to economic and social development, and, in accordance with the requirement of paying more attention to "investing in people," promote the transformation of assistance and support from "whether it exists" to "whether it is good."

Meet developmental needs. At present, the basic livelihood of people in difficulty in China is relatively well guaranteed, but some developmental needs still need to be better met, and there are gaps in the supply of services for some people in difficulty in areas such as rehabilitation nursing, psychological care, and social integration. We must implement policies by category, and, based on the all-round development of the individual, build a "material + service" pattern of assistance and support. For urban and rural minimum livelihood guarantee recipients, persons in extreme difficulty, and others, we must strengthen psychological comfort, carry out skills training, and link employment resources by introducing professional social forces, and solve the problems of social integration and income increase and empowerment. For special groups of elderly people in difficulty, we must solve the problems of healthy aging, smart adaptation, and social participation by advancing the building of an age-friendly society and carrying out actions to improve the health literacy and digital literacy and skills of elderly people. For children in difficulty and persons with disabilities, we must focus on improving abilities in learning, psychological adjustment, and social interaction. At the same time, focusing on the spiritual and cultural needs of people in difficulty, we must expand the supply of cultural services and products and promote the extension of high-quality public cultural resources to the side of people in difficulty.

Strengthen policy linkage. Breaking through fighting separately and business barriers and strengthening policy linkage is an inherent requirement for improving the quality and effectiveness of assistance and support for people in difficulty. In the coming period, we must make efforts to promote the linkage between social assistance and social welfare and social insurance policies for "the elderly, persons with disabilities, and children." For some seriously ill or severely disabled children in families on the margins of the minimum livelihood guarantee, they may be included in the scope of the minimum livelihood guarantee by reference to the single-person household. We must coordinate the nursing subsidy for persons with severe disabilities and the nursing subsidy for elderly people, and eligible disabled elderly people may apply for one type of nursing subsidy at the higher standard. We must coordinate the two subsidies for persons with disabilities, elderly care service subsidies, and old-age allowances to better protect the rights and interests of disabled elderly people. We must strengthen the linkage between subsidies for advanced-age and disabled elderly people in economic difficulty and nursing subsidies for persons with severe disabilities and long-term care insurance policies, and improve the payment capacity of eligible people in difficulty. We must attach importance to giving play to the supplementary role of charitable forces, establish and improve the linkage mechanism between government assistance and charitable assistance, promote the matching and docking of assistance needs with charitable supply, and provide diversified assistance and support for people in difficulty.

Improve the service network. A sound and complete service network is the basic support for doing well the work of providing assistance and support to people in difficulty. In recent years, various localities have basically established a comprehensive service network with the township (subdistrict) "one-window acceptance, coordinated handling" service desk as the main application channel, and with elderly care service institutions and facilities, city- and county-level mental health welfare institutions and community rehabilitation sites for mental disorders, and children's welfare institutions and minors protection institutions at all levels advancing in coordination.However, there are also some weak links in services that must be addressed by filling shortcomings and weaknesses. In social assistance, we must make good use of the civil affairs service stations in townships (subdistricts) spread across urban and rural areas, and increase training and care for grassroots forces such as social assistance coordinators. In elderly care services, we must improve and perfect the urban and rural three-tier elderly care service network, strengthen coordinated linkage and role performance, do solid visit-and-care work, and increase care support for disabled elderly people in difficulty. In services for persons with disabilities, we must improve the custodial care service system for persons with severe disabilities and fill the shortcomings in the construction of mental health welfare institutions. In child welfare, we must promote children's welfare institutions "opening their doors to run institutions" and minors' protection institutions "expanding coverage and improving effectiveness" to meet the assistance and support needs of children in difficulty in society.In response to situations such as the scattered residence of people in difficulty in some remote areas, we must develop itinerant and mobile services and online remote services to achieve effective service coverage.

Improve convenience and accessibility. Whether the handling process of assistance and support is convenient and accessible directly affects the sense of gain, happiness, and security of people in difficulty. In recent years, various localities have seized the trend of digital and intelligent development and promoted the online handling and "fingertip handling" of assistance and support matters, achieving marked results. In the coming period, population mobility will continue, and digital intelligence will become more deeply embedded in human life. In the face of the new situation, we must implement the arrangements in the outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan on accelerating the equal enjoyment of basic public services by the permanent-resident population, focus on the equalization and accessibility of basic public services in the civil affairs field, and steadily promote the inclusion of the unregistered permanent-resident population in the scope of basic public services in the place of permanent residence such as child care, elderly care and assistance, social assistance, and assistance and support for persons with disabilities. We must continue to deepen the cross-provincial handling and nationwide handling of matters such as the two subsidies for persons with disabilities and the determination of children de facto without guardianship. We must deepen the reform of "efficiently handling one matter" in assistance for people in difficulty, optimize the application and approval process, and implement "one-form application, one-window acceptance, one-network handling" to ensure timely assistance.

Adhere to systematic measures and strengthen guidance and guarantee

Assistance and support for people in difficulty is a common cause of the whole society. We must give play to the advantages of our socialist system, adhere to the Party's leadership, improve policies and institutions, and consolidate the grassroots foundation, and promote assistance and support to better convey the warmth of the Party and the government.

Improve the mechanism for Party building leadership. Adhering to the Party's overall leadership is the fundamental guarantee for doing well the work of providing assistance and support to people in difficulty. In recent years, various localities have actively explored "Party building + social assistance" and other models, forming some useful experiences and practices. In the next step, on the basis of summarizing local explorations, we must promote the institutionalized development of Party building leading assistance and support for people in difficulty. We must benchmark against the major decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee, make practical and good use of relevant working mechanisms for assistance and support for people in difficulty, children in difficulty, migrant children, and left-behind children, and implement them fully and without discount. We must give play to the advantages of the Party's leadership, improve the working mechanism of Party committee leadership, government responsibility, civil affairs department leadership, departmental coordination, and social participation, and promote the inclusion of assistance and support for people in difficulty in grassroots grid-based governance. We must strengthen ideological and political guidance, combine the concept of assistance and support with the core socialist values, strengthen the ideological concept that "happiness is achieved through hard work," guide people in difficulty to feel gratitude to the Party, listen to the Party, and follow the Party, and build up their confidence and determination to shake off difficulties and pursue a better life.

Strengthen legal guarantees. Adhering to the combination of "large-scale legislation" and "small, fast, and flexible legislation," and focusing on the expectations of the people and urgent development needs, we must improve the policy and institutional system for assistance and support. We must promote the introduction of policy documents such as those on high-quality development of social assistance and improve top-level design. We must promote the formulation and revision of important laws such as the Elderly Care Law, the Child Welfare Law, the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly, and the Law on the Protection of Persons with Disabilities, to better guarantee the development of assistance and support work. We must implement the relevant provisions of the Civil Code, and study and formulate implementation measures for agreed guardianship of elderly people, state guardianship of minors, and guardianship of adult persons with disabilities, to protect their lawful rights and interests.

Improve grassroots service capacity. The focus of the work of providing assistance and support to people in difficulty is at the grassroots level. We must think of ways and means, innovate methods, and strengthen the grassroots foundation. Together with relevant departments, we must optimize the transfer payment allocation mechanism in the civil affairs field, improve the management and use system for welfare lottery public welfare funds, and promote the tilt of all kinds of funds, projects, and resources toward the grassroots. Through multiple means such as building and making good use of township (subdistrict) civil affairs service stations, setting up public welfare posts such as rural elderly care assistants, developing civil affairs social workers, fully equipping social assistance coordinators and village (neighborhood) children's directors, and organizing and mobilizing volunteer service forces, we must ensure that there are people at the grassroots level to do the work. We must increase training efforts, make good use of scientific and technological means such as artificial intelligence, and empower and increase efficiency at the grassroots level. We must improve the fault-tolerance and error-correction mechanism and encourage grassroots cadres to take responsibility and act, and serve the people.

Create a good atmosphere. The work of providing assistance and support to people in difficulty shines with the brilliance of humanity and manifests social conscience. Embarking on the new journey, we must do this good and practical matter that concerns people's livelihood and connects with people's hearts in a good environment and atmosphere. We must vigorously promote the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation such as respecting the elderly and loving the young, helping the weak and relieving those in difficulty, and mutual assistance and neighborly support, create a good atmosphere of caring for and helping people in difficulty, and encourage people in difficulty to be self-reliant and self-supporting. Through the integration of traditional media and modern media, we must increase the publicity of policies on assistance and support for people in difficulty and promote their direct reach to the grassroots. We must summarize innovative practices, typical cases, and touching stories from various localities and give play to their demonstration effect. We must encourage social participation, cultivate and develop professional social organizations, support the provision of professional services in spiritual comfort, capacity improvement, social integration, resource linkage, and other areas, encourage willing and capable caring enterprises, social organizations, and individuals to pair up and form partnerships with people in difficulty, and pool the joint force of assistance and support.

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Accelerate Building a Modern Industrial System with Advanced Manufacturing as Its Backbone

By: 盛朝迅

General Secretary Xi Jinping has issued important instructions on developing advanced manufacturing, emphasizing adherence to the directions of intelligent, green, and integrated development, continuously strengthening and expanding advanced manufacturing, raising the level of independent and controllable industrial chains, accelerating the construction of a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as its backbone, consolidating and strengthening the foundation of the real economy, and providing strong support for advancing Chinese modernization. This important exposition profoundly clarifies the backbone position, core functions, and development path of advanced manufacturing within the modern industrial system, precisely anchors the main direction of high-quality industrial development in the new era, and provides fundamental guidance and a course of action for building a manufacturing power and constructing a modern industrial system.

Fully understand the important significance of developing advanced manufacturing

The modern industrial system is the material and technological foundation of Chinese modernization, an organic system supported by the real economy, characterized by multi-industry coordination and linkage, dynamic supply-demand balance, and both security and resilience. Advanced manufacturing represents the direction of industrial upgrading, possessing advanced qualities in production methods, product supply, industrial organization, and development models. It is a new form of manufacturing that adapts to the requirements of the new round of technological revolution, aligns with the concepts of Chinese modernization, and embodies the laws of modern production. It is necessary to base ourselves on the foundation of the real economy, strengthen and expand advanced manufacturing, and accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system that is innovation-led, independent and controllable, safe and efficient, and highly competitive.

An important foundation of the real economy. Both history and practice show that without a strong real economy as support, so-called prosperity is nothing but a seemingly splendid bubble, a tall building built on sand. Unlike traditional manufacturing, advanced manufacturing is mainly characterized by technology intensity, innovation-driven growth, intensive efficiency, green and low-carbon practices, and high added value, covering key fields such as high-end equipment, new materials, new-generation information technology, new energy, intelligent connected vehicles, and biomedicine. It can not only provide green and high-quality products through technological innovation and promote innovation in production methods, but also promote the digitalization and intelligentization of production organization, make production processes perceptible and controllable, and ensure the green, low-carbon, and sustainable nature of the entire product life cycle, achieving flexible production, lean production, and green production. Moreover, it can create high-quality employment, increase product added value, form core competitiveness through technology, processes, and patents, effectively offset downward pressure on the economy, stabilize the overall macroeconomic situation, and consolidate the real economy foundation for high-quality development.

The main front of scientific and technological innovation. Scientific and technological innovation is not a purely theoretical breakthrough; it must be grounded in industrial application and transformed into real productive forces. Advanced manufacturing gathers high-quality innovation resources, features high R&D investment intensity and obvious technology- and knowledge-intensive characteristics, carries a large number of key core technology research tasks, and can create new technological innovation paradigms. It is the best carrier for the deep integration of the innovation chain, industrial chain, capital chain, and talent chain, helping to translate scientific and technological innovation achievements into engineering and industrial applications, and to convert technological advantages into industrial and economic advantages. Whether it is basic research, original innovation, or applied technology integration innovation, or engineering and industrialization innovation, all must achieve practical results or coming to fruition (落地见效, luo di jian xiao - "land, see effect") through a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as its backbone, realizing the leap from technological breakthroughs to industrial breakthroughs, and from technological advantages to competitive advantages.

A stabilizer for ensuring the security of industrial and supply chains. Currently, the global industrial landscape is undergoing deep restructuring, with major-power industrial competition, technological barriers, and supply chain fragmentation intensifying. Global competition has shifted from product competition and market competition to systemic competition in underlying technologies, industrial foundations, industrial rules, and supply chain resilience. Advanced manufacturing covers underlying foundational fields such as industrial foundations, high-end equipment, core components, key materials, and industrial software. It is an important shield for safeguarding national industrial security, technological security, and economic security. Strengthening advanced manufacturing and raising the level of independent and controllable industrial chains can consolidate our country's important position in the global industrial division of labor and competition, continuously shape new advantages, and firmly hold the bottom line of industrial security.

The material and technological foundation of a modernized country. Chinese modernization is a modernization in which material civilization and spiritual civilization are coordinated, and it must rely on a strong real economy for support. The continuous iterative upgrading of advanced manufacturing can create new products, new functions, and new scenarios, generate effective new demand through high-quality new supply, and meet the needs of industrial upgrading and the people's aspirations for a better life. It can continuously raise the level of social productive forces, optimize the supply structure, create new types of consumer demand, drive coordinated development between urban and rural areas and among regions, promote the modernization of the industrial system and the advancement of the economic structure, provide solid industrial support for the construction of new industrialization, new urbanization, Digital China, and a Beautiful China, and also carry multi-dimensional modernization values such as economic development, scientific and technological innovation, industrial security, livelihood security, ecological sustainability, and common prosperity, providing multiple strategic functions for Chinese modernization.

Accurately grasp the development directions of intelligent, green, and integrated development

General Secretary Xi Jinping has clearly put forward the three major development directions of intelligent, green, and integrated development, precisely revealing the inherent laws of the transformation and upgrading of advanced manufacturing in the new era. These are important paths for constructing a modern industrial system. The three are complementing each other or working in harmony (相辅相成, xiang xiang xiang cheng - "mutually aid; complement each other"), organically unified, jointly promoting the leap of manufacturing from scale expansion to quality and efficiency improvement, and from factor-driven to innovation-driven transformation.

Reshape the production paradigm through intelligent development. Intelligent development is an important direction for manufacturing development and also a key force driving it. Traditional manufacturing relies on a production model based on manpower, equipment, and experience, which has shortcomings such as relatively low efficiency, insufficient precision, inadequate flexibility, and lagging management and control. Intelligent development relies on new technologies such as artificial intelligence, the industrial internet, big data, computing clusters, and digital twins, promoting the iteration of labor instruments from traditional mechanical equipment to computing power, algorithms, industrial software, and intelligent production lines, achieving a qualitative change from extending physical strength to replacing mental labor. Labor objects expand from traditional minerals and raw materials to industrial data, model parameters, simulation scenarios, and new functional materials. Workers upgrade from skilled workers to digitally skilled and innovative compound talents, achieving intelligent transformation of the entire process of production, management, R&D, quality control, logistics, and services. First, intelligent upgrading at the production end, promoting the construction of intelligent factories and digital workshops, popularizing flexible manufacturing, lean manufacturing, and intelligent manufacturing models, and greatly improving production efficiency, product precision, and capacity adaptation capability. Second, intelligent empowerment across the entire chain, relying on the industrial internet to break down data barriers between upstream and downstream, achieving collaborative design, collaborative production, and collaborative distribution across the industrial chain, and improving the overall operational efficiency of the industrial chain. Third, intelligent improvement of new growth drivers, by cultivating new growth points such as intelligent manufacturing, intelligent equipment, and industrial software, enabling advanced manufacturing to shift from factor-input-driven growth to efficiency-improvement-driven growth, and continuously raising total factor productivity.

Build a sustainable production system through green development. The modern industrial system is a sustainable industrial system that is green, low-carbon, intensive, efficient, and based on circular utilization. Green development is an inherent requirement for the high-quality development of advanced manufacturing and also the distinctive background of the modern industrial system. The period of the 15th Five-Year Plan is a critical period for green technology transformation, rule competition, and the hard battle for carbon peak. Promoting the green transformation of manufacturing requires integrated advancement of green transformation, technological innovation, and industrial upgrading, promoting industrial green transformation in an all-round manner from the source, the process, and the end. At the source end, vigorously promote green design, low-carbon materials, and energy-saving equipment, continuously eliminate backward production capacity, and optimize the energy consumption structure and product structure of manufacturing. At the production end, comprehensively implement energy-saving and carbon-reduction transformation, cleaner production transformation, and circular transformation, promote the utilization of waste heat and residual pressure, resource utilization of solid waste, and water recycling models, and reduce energy consumption, material consumption, and carbon emissions per unit of output. At the industrial end, cultivate green advanced manufacturing clusters such as new energy equipment, green new materials, energy-saving and environmental protection equipment, and energy storage industries, build green supply chains, green industrial parks, and green industrial ecosystems, and achieve the coordinated unity of economic, social, and ecological benefits.

Expand development boundaries through integrated development. Integrated development is an important path for advanced manufacturing to expand capacity, improve quality, and undergo iterative upgrading, capable of breaking industrial boundaries, reshaping industrial forms, and cultivating new growth points. Currently, industrial development has bid farewell to the traditional model of single industries developing independently. Cross-industry integration of digital and physical, manufacturing and services, and various other industries has become the mainstream trend. It is necessary to grasp the general trend of industrial development, vigorously develop service-oriented manufacturing, cultivate full-process solution providers, and promote the deep integrated development of modern industries. Promote the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy, actively use digital technology to transform the real economy, give rise to new tracks such as intelligent equipment, industrial software, and industrial digitalization services, and achieve two-way empowerment between digital industrialization and industrial digitalization. Promote the deep integration of advanced manufacturing and modern service industries, facilitate the deep embedding of producer services such as R&D and design, inspection and testing, industrial operation and maintenance, intelligent logistics, brand operations, and industrial consulting into the entire manufacturing process, achieve integrated development of "manufacturing + services," and promote the leap of the value chain from the middle and low end to the high end.

Adhere to a systematic approach and solidly advance the development of advanced manufacturing

The systematic approach is an important category of Marxist epistemology and methodology. Adhering to the systematic approach is a principle that economic and social development must follow, and also a scientific method for doing economic work well. A modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as its backbone does not ignore or belittle the role of agriculture, traditional manufacturing, modern service industries, infrastructure, and other industries. On the contrary, it needs to give play to the backbone support and related leading role of advanced manufacturing, undertake scientific and technological innovation, provide modern means of production, lead the coordinated development of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries, and expand space for the high-quality development of related industries. It is necessary to adhere to the systematic approach, coordinate scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, tradition and emergence, government and market, and development and security, continuously strengthen and expand advanced manufacturing, and build a modern industrial system with completeness, advanced nature, and security.

Coordinate scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation. The development of advanced manufacturing depends on innovation. Taking the first-mover step of innovation well can seize the lead and win advantages. Fully give play to the role of national strategic scientific and technological forces, relying on national laboratories, key laboratories, high-level research universities, central research institutes, leading technology enterprises, and new-type R&D institutions to build a multi-level, full-chain innovation system. Adhere to the principal role of enterprises, focus on "bottleneck" fields such as high-end equipment, core chips, industrial software, key materials, and precision instruments, concentrate superior resources to carry out key core technology research, strengthen forward-looking layout of basic research, and fill the shortcomings of the industrial foundation. Improve the collaborative innovation mechanism of industry, academia, and research, open up the entire chain of basic research, applied research, pilot-scale transformation, and industrialization, and accelerate the transformation of innovation achievements into real productive forces.

Coordinate the upgrading of traditional industries, the growth of emerging industries, and the forward-looking layout of future industries. Traditional industries are not backward industries and cannot be simply shutting something down to resolve the issue (一关了之, yi guan le zhi - "one close, finish it"). They should be promoted to undergo iterative upgrading through intelligent and green technologies, releasing new vitality for industrial development. Emerging industries such as artificial intelligence, aerospace, biomedicine, high-end equipment, and new energy are at a critical stage from cultivation to growth. It is necessary to make systematic efforts from multiple dimensions such as technological research, entity cultivation, industrial ecology, factor guarantee, and institutional reform, fill shortcomings, extend chains, and raise capability levels, creating new engines for industrial growth. Future industries are the key increment of the modern industrial system. It is necessary to seize new opportunities for industrial development, make forward-looking layouts in future industries such as quantum technology, biomanufacturing, hydrogen energy and nuclear fusion energy, brain-computer interfaces, embodied intelligence, and sixth-generation mobile communications, and seize the commanding heights of industrial development.

Coordinate an effective market and a proactive government. Handling the relationship between the government and the market well is the core issue for the effective operation of the market economy, and also a question that must be answered well in the process of advanced manufacturing growing from big to strong. Practice tells us that the market is the most effective form of resource allocation, but the market itself can also fail. To give play to the decisive role of the market in resource allocation, it is necessary to better give play to the role of the government. It is necessary to both stimulate the vitality of various business entities, cultivate chain-leading enterprises, specialized and sophisticated "little giant" enterprises that produce novel and unique products, and single-product champions, and improve industrial governance, curb low-level redundant construction and characterized by intense, irrational competition or involution (内卷式, nei juan shi - "inner, roll, style") vicious competition, improve mechanisms for standards, production capacity early warning, and elimination of backward production capacity, and achieve the unity of liberalization and sound management.

Coordinate high-quality development and high-level security. Development and security are like two sides of a coin, mutually supporting, mutually promoting, and highly integrated. It is necessary to consolidate security in development and seek development in security. Improve mechanisms for industrial and supply chain security monitoring, risk early warning, and emergency supply guarantee, establish risk lists, shortcoming lists, and research lists for key industrial chains, and implement differentiated policies to resolve chain-breaking risks. Promote the domestic substitution of key core products, basic materials, and core components, and build a diversified and resilient supply chain system. Deeply advance the industrial foundation reengineering project and the major technical equipment research project, fill shortcomings and weaknesses, enhance the ability of industrial chains to withstand shocks, resist risks, and stabilize supply, and firmly hold the bottom line of industrial security.

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

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Seeking truth from facts to make fewer mistakes

By: 本报评论员 李曼青

In Zaoyuan, Yan'an, there is a cave dwelling once occupied by Mao Zedong, surrounded by green trees, simple and tranquil. In 1943, Chen Yun suffered from heart disease due to overwork, and Mao Zedong had him move there to recuperate. During nearly a year of convalescence, Chen Yun repeatedly pondered a question: how can we make fewer mistakes, or avoid making major mistakes? He sought advice from Mao Zedong three times, and Mao's answers were similar each time: making mistakes is not due to lack of experience, but because one's method of thinking is incorrect. This is the famous "Zaoyuan Dialogue" in the history of the Party.

Following this guidance, Chen Yun repeatedly studied Mao Zedong's works and telegrams written from the Jinggangshan period to the Yan'an period, and came to realize that the basic guiding ideology running through them was seeking truth from facts, and he transformed this method of thinking into an operational work principle, summarizing it into the "fifteen-character formula" for practice: do not merely defer to superiors, do not merely defer to books, only defer to facts; exchange, compare, and repeat. Looking back on the Party's struggle, it is precisely because of "relying on seeking truth from facts to get things done" and being "the faction of seeking truth from facts" that our Party has continuously explored successful paths for China's revolution, construction, and reform, leading the Chinese people to write glorious achievements. General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out: "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. Whether in the past, present, or future, we must adhere to proceeding from reality in everything, integrating theory with practice, and testing and developing truth in practice." From the "fifteen-character formula" to this important thesis, what has been consistently maintained is precisely a systematic answer to the three levels of questions: "how to view, how to act, and how to lead."

From the perspective of method of thinking, seeking truth from facts requires always taking "facts" as the starting point of understanding. Mao Zedong once explained this in the most plain language: "'Facts' are all things that exist objectively, 'truth' is the internal connection of objective things, that is, their regularity, and 'seeking' means our act of studying them." This explanation makes the process of understanding very clear: only with "facts" first can there be "seeking truth"; without "facts," the so-called "truth" becomes something that lacks a foundation or origin (无源之水, wu yuan zhi shui - "no, source, of, water") and something that lacks a foundation or basis (无本之木, wu ben zhi mu - "no, root, of, tree"). Dogmatism puts texts above all else, empiricism is clinging to old habits and outdated ways (因循守旧, yin xun shou jiu - "follow, conform, keep, old"), and formalism looks only at "leaving traces" rather than actual results. Tracing their roots, all stem from subjectivity being divorced from objectivity and understanding deviating from reality. Only by thinking about problems and making decisions based on objective reality rather than subjective wishes, texts, and dogmas can subjectivity conform to objectivity and understanding approach truth.

From the perspective of working method, seeking truth from facts requires that decisions and actions be built on the foundation of going deep into reality. Once understanding is clear, to move from "facts" to "truth," one must pass through the three passes of "exchange, comparison, and repetition." Exchange means exchanging opinions with each other, especially opposing opinions; comparison means comparing up and down, left and right, weighing pros and cons and distinguishing the good from the bad; repetition means not being too hasty in deciding matters, but leaving time for repeated consideration. This reminds us that the scientific nature of decision-making depends not only on how much information one grasps, but also on whether the channels for understanding the situation are unimpeded and whether the attitude is sincere. Whether one can sink down to the grassroots, listen to the truth, observe the real situation, and study real problems remains the irreplaceable basic skill of "seeking truth." Only by truly making investigation and research a necessary procedure for decision-making, and by ensuring that different opinions have a place to be voiced and that those who voice them are heard, can we maximize the avoidance of "shooting from the hip" decision-making, and make policies and measures more grounded, more gathering of the people's wisdom, and more winning of the people's hearts.

From the perspective of leadership method, seeking truth from facts must ultimately be demonstrated and practiced by leading cadres. Adhering to proceeding from reality and seeking truth from facts is not only a matter of method of thinking, but also a matter of the strength of Party spirit. Whether one is seeking quick success and immediate benefits (急功近利, ji gong jin li - "hurry, merit, near, profit") and pursuing superficial brilliance, or respecting laws and being willing to do things that lay the foundation and benefit the long term; whether one uses the power entrusted by the Party and the people to benefit the people, or treats it as a bargaining chip for personal advancement; whether one values the cause more heavily or personal gains and losses more heavily — if these problems are not resolved, seeking truth from facts will find it difficult to truly become a matter of self-awareness. If leading cadres are honest about what is one and what is two, dare to reveal their bottom line, report the real situation, and speak the truth, then the grassroots will not need to create "bonsai" or set up "models." Only when the "key minority" leads by example can seeking truth from facts transform from ideological self-awareness into a normal state of work and become the distinctive foundation for undertaking endeavors.

More than 80 years have passed, and the truth of the "Zaoyuan Dialogue" has become more fresh and relevant over time (历久弥新, li jiu mi xin - "pass, long, even, new"). At present, the tasks of reform, development, and maintaining stability are arduous and heavy. The more severe and complex the situation, the more necessary it is to prevent using old ways of thinking and old experience to solve practical problems. From vigorously promoting investigation and research throughout the Party and rectifying formalism to reduce burdens at the grassroots, to preventing "one-size-fits-all" policies and excessive layer-by-layer escalation, and then to establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements, adhering to seeking truth from facts means returning to that simple and fundamental starting point: proceeding from reality and acting according to laws. Grasping this key to thinking, there is no mountain that cannot be taken, no dangerous shoal that cannot be crossed, and we will surely be able to hand over an excellent answer sheet to history and the people on the new road of the examination.

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Guiding China-U.S. Relations Toward a Constructive and Strategically Stable Direction

By: 傅小强

The world today is undergoing changes unseen in a century, with the geopolitical landscape undergoing accelerated adjustment, scientific and technological revolutions evolving in succession, and various global challenges interweaving and stacking upon one another, as the world enters a new period of turbulence and transformation. Major-power relations affect the international situation, and among them, China-U.S. relations transcend the bilateral sphere to become the most critical variable bearing on the future and destiny of the world, and affecting peace, stability, development, and global governance. From the Beijing meeting in May to the Washington meeting in September, the heads of state of the two countries achieved mutual visits within half a year, creating a history of China-U.S. interactions, opening a new voyage for bilateral relations, and carrying milestone significance. The heads of state of China and the United States jointly established the new positioning of a constructive strategic and stable relationship and expanded its connotation, the essence of which is to explore the correct way for major powers to get along in the new era. This is both the responsibility of China and the United States and the common expectation of the international community.

Top-level consensus further consolidated

Looking at history, strategic miscalculation is often an important inducement of major-power conflict and confrontation. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that the issue of strategic perception is always the "first button" that must be fastened properly in China-U.S. relations. The mode of getting along formed by the two heads of state—mutual respect and sincere treatment of each other—has become the most precious strategic asset of China-U.S. relations, the most authoritative institutional arrangement for calibrating strategic direction, resolving major miscalculations, and managing differences and contradictions, and the anchor of China-U.S. relations. In May 2026, President Trump's visit to China and in September, President Xi Jinping's visit to the United States completed the two-way confirmation of the strategic consensus of building a constructive strategic and stable China-U.S. relationship, forming a new framework for major powers to get along with complete logic and clear connotation: adhering to mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation, practicing the principles of respect, fairness, and reciprocity, and promoting China-U.S. relations toward a new normal of "cooperation as the main theme, competition with limits, differences manageable, and peace achievable."

The two rounds of China-U.S. heads-of-state meetings in 2026 promoted a strategic recalibration of bilateral relations from the top level, forcefully dispelling the perception problems that had long plagued bilateral relations and anchoring the correct direction for the stable development of the relationship. This highest-level political commitment fundamentally rejected the erroneous binary narrative of "friend or foe," and on the basis of acknowledging the differences in social systems, history, culture, and development stages between China and the United States, clearly established the core essence that "differences do not equal threats, and competition does not equal confrontation," precisely answering the fundamental and overarching question of "whether China and the United States are rivals or partners," and effectively clearing the fog of positioning that had shrouded bilateral relations for many years. This major strategic recalibration precisely responded to the long-standing cognitive bias toward China within the United States. For a long time, strategic perceptions of China within the United States have remained divided, opposed, and locked in contention: one camp is deeply mired in the shackles of Cold War thinking, unilaterally defining China as the "number one rival" or even "strategic adversary," entrenching the extreme narrative of "friend or foe," and continuously advocating major-power confrontation and camp opposition; the other camp, consisting of pragmatic forces, bases itself on the objective reality of the broad and comprehensive interactions and deeply intertwined interests between China and the United States, recognizes the enormous costs of conflict and confrontation, and advocates managing the risks of differences and promoting pragmatic cooperation. The sustained contention between these two forces has made U.S. policy toward China lack stability and has caused China-U.S. relations to rise and fall several times. In particular, many observers in the United States and other Western countries, using the "Thucydides Trap" theory that major-power power transitions often trigger major conflicts, pessimistically extrapolate that China and the United States are bound to move toward confrontation. However, the two successful heads-of-state meetings this year have built a bridge across the "Thucydides Trap" through a constructive strategic and stable relationship, proving through action that human history has never been a simple cycle of fate, and that the progress of civilization is precisely reflected in humanity's ability to restrain conflict with reason and seek win-win outcomes with wisdom. The two heads-of-state meetings have shown the world that China and the United States can fully achieve mutual benefit and win-win results in pragmatic cooperation, achieve mutual success in benign competition, properly handle differences in seeking common ground while reserving differences (求同存异, qiu tong cun yi - "seek, same, exist, different"), and build peace through accumulating mutual trust, blazing a correct path for getting along.

Looking back at the course of more than half a century since the normalization of China-U.S. relations, the two countries have experienced isolation and confrontation, and have also joined hands in cooperation, while in recent years they have undergone repeated tests including economic and trade frictions, scientific and technological competition, and geopolitical differences. At the September meeting, the two heads of state recalled, from an even broader perspective, the important history of China and the United States fighting side by side (并肩作战, bing jian zuo zhan - "side, shoulder, fight, battle") as allies in World War II to win victory in the war. This fully proves that the journey of China-U.S. relations has historical uniqueness, is by no means a simple binary opposition, and does not entail "fatalism." The two heads-of-state meetings distilled a clear and complete logical chain for the correct way for China and the United States to get along: mutual respect is the fundamental premise, no conflict and no confrontation is the bottom-line red line, and win-win cooperation is the common goal. On the basis of respect, fairness, and reciprocity, China and the United States can fully avoid evading competition, avoid magnifying differences, and avoid moving toward confrontation; on the premise of safeguarding each other's core interests, they can expand common interests, manage risks and contradictions, stabilize bilateral relations, and benefit the peoples of both countries and the world.

Four major conditions gradually in place

Judging from the concrete outcomes of the two China-U.S. heads-of-state meetings, a constructive strategic and stable China-U.S. relationship has initially formed a consensus foundation in four aspects. In the turbulent and transformative period of a complex and changing international situation, China-U.S. relations already possess favorable conditions for stabilizing and looking forward.

First, achieving a strategic repositioning of China-U.S. relations and reshaping the foundation of bilateral perception. For a long period in the past, some forces were accustomed to applying the old script of major-power confrontation to China-U.S. interactions. The constructive strategic and stable relationship established by the two heads-of-state meetings does not shy away from the basic fact that the two sides have competition, but emphasizes that competition should be benign and bounded; it faces squarely the existence of differences between the two sides, but refuses to let differences dominate the overall bilateral situation. The earth is big enough to accommodate the common development of China and the United States; achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again can fully proceed in parallel without conflict, achieve mutual success, and benefit the world. The re-clarification and re-consolidation of this cognitive foundation has given the stabilization and development of China-U.S. relations a more solid strategic support.

Second, rebuilding multi-level and normalized communication mechanisms and building solid guardrails for managing the relationship. The key risk in major-power relations is often not the interest differences themselves, but the interruption of communication channels at moments of crisis, the lack of buffer space after situations escalate, and the escalation of local accidental frictions into overall confrontation. Many major-power conflicts in history were not directly triggered by the eruption of irreconcilable fundamental contradictions, but rather by the spiral escalation of crises resulting from the lack of effective management. The two heads-of-state meetings made systematic arrangements in this regard: maintaining the continuous unimpeded channels of heads-of-state meetings, phone calls, and correspondence; improving specialized communication mechanisms in areas such as economy and trade, military affairs, and artificial intelligence to prevent misunderstanding and miscalculation. The strategic value of these institutional arrangements lies in front-loading risk prevention, establishing a "circuit breaker mechanism" for conflicts, avoiding single events hijacking the overall relationship, and preventing local frictions from accidentally sliding into uncontrollable situations. China and the United States have different national conditions, and it is normal for differences to exist; some differences are quite sharp, and many contradictions are quite complex. But properly handling differences and contradictions in seeking common ground while reserving differences is the proper meaning of a constructive strategic and stable China-U.S. relationship.

Third, reaching a batch of substantive and weighty pragmatic cooperation outcomes and further strengthening the bond of common interests. Pragmatic cooperation between major powers is an important bond sustaining the continued development of bilateral relations. During President Xi Jinping's visit to the United States, the two countries reached a series of important cooperation outcomes: in the economic and trade field, establishing and advancing mechanisms such as the Trade Council, reaching the "30 billion U.S. dollars" reciprocal tariff reduction arrangement, and extending the outcomes of the Kuala Lumpur economic and trade consultations. In the frontier governance field, establishing a China-U.S. artificial intelligence dialogue mechanism and establishing communication channels for artificial intelligence emergencies. In the security and law enforcement field, anti-drug cooperation has achieved visible results, with the joint cracking of multiple cases involving new psychoactive substances; the two militaries signed a memorandum of understanding on crisis communication and prevention, and advanced cooperation on searching for the remains of U.S. military personnel missing in China. At the multilateral level, the two sides confirmed mutual support for successfully hosting the 2026 APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting and the G20 Leaders' Summit. The series of pragmatic cooperation reached this time between China and the United States extends from the traditional economic and trade field to the frontiers of digital technology, public security, and global governance, continuously expanding the intersection of interests, which not only benefits the peoples of both countries and all countries of the world, but also reinforces the interest bond for a constructive strategic and stable China-U.S. relationship.

Fourth, firmly declaring principled positions and marking the bottom-line red lines for correct coexistence. The important principle of respecting national sovereignty and territorial integrity is the cornerstone of modern international law and international relations. For the Chinese side, the Taiwan question, democracy and human rights, the path and system, and the right to development are bottom-line red lines that cannot be challenged. During his visit to the United States, President Xi Jinping emphasized that China's position on safeguarding national unification and territorial integrity is very clear, and expressed the hope that the U.S. side will adhere to the correct position of opposing "Taiwan independence," handle the Taiwan question with prudence, and lay a solid foundation for China-U.S. strategic cooperation and the development of bilateral relations. President Xi Jinping's firm declaration demonstrated China's firm determination to safeguard sovereignty and territorial integrity, and also clearly conveyed to the U.S. side the primary principle of "respect" in handling bilateral relations, helping the U.S. side further understand where China's bottom lines lie, handle sensitive and complex issues with a prudent attitude, and enhance the stability of bilateral relations.

In summary, the China-U.S. heads-of-state meetings have consolidated four key points of strategic consensus. First, China and the United States both benefit from cooperation and both suffer from conflict. The economies of the two countries are deeply nested and intertwined, and global challenges are numerous and complex; no single country can resolve them independently, and the outcome of confrontation will only harm the well-being of the peoples of both countries and disrupt the global order. Second, competition is objective, but it must have boundaries. It is normal for major powers to have competition in certain areas, but competition cannot be generalized into all-around confrontation, cannot break through the fundamental red line of sovereignty and security, and should pursue benign competition. Third, differences exist over the long term, but differences can be fully managed. The differences in history, culture, and social systems between China and the United States cannot be dissolved overnight; the key lies in managing the intensity of differences and contradictions and preventing individual case disputes from escalating into all-around confrontation. Fourth, both China and the United States bear important major-power responsibilities. A stable and healthy China-U.S. relationship is itself an important global public good, and all countries of the world expect China and the United States to play the role of stabilizers rather than creating new confrontation.

Moving toward each other and looking forward

"Though the road is near, one cannot reach it without walking; though the task is small, one cannot accomplish it without doing." Building a constructive strategic and stable China-U.S. relationship depends on implementation and requires action. The top-level consensus drawn by heads-of-state diplomacy ultimately needs to be transformed into systematic, complete, and practical concrete measures, from boundary definition, bottom-line adherence, interest interweaving, to people-to-people connectivity, layer by layer consolidating the realistic foundation of bilateral relations. Advancing a constructive strategic and stable China-U.S. relationship requires focusing on four major directions with coordinated efforts—defining boundaries with clear limits, preventing risks with bottom-line thinking, increasing momentum with pragmatic cooperation, and accumulating stamina with people-to-people mutual trust—to promote bilateral relations moving steadily and steadily toward a long-term goal (行稳致远, xing wen zhi yuan - "walk, steady, reach, far") on the correct track.

First, it is necessary to clarify the boundaries of national security and build a solid benchmark of mutual respect for getting along. Mutual respect is the primary principle of a constructive strategic and stable relationship, specifically meaning respecting each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity, respecting the social systems and development paths each has chosen, and respecting the other's core interests and major concerns. For China and the United States, the implementation of mutual respect especially requires more clearly defined national security boundaries. For a long time, many frictions and disputes troubling China-U.S. relations have largely stemmed from blurred national security boundaries, with over-securitization and over-politicization intensifying, which both interferes with mutually beneficial exchanges and exacerbates strategic suspicion. On the one hand, for core sensitive areas directly involving national sovereignty, security, and development interests, clear principled red lines should be established, and one's own core interests should be resolutely safeguarded. Clear boundaries do not mean isolation and confrontation, but rather clarifying the areas where action is "not permissible," reducing miscalculation through clear rules and boundaries, and defining the basic measure for correct coexistence. On the other hand, in non-sensitive areas with high industrial interdependence and deep mutual benefit, de-politicization and de-securitization should be continuously advanced, stripping away security narratives and political manipulation; expanding the scope of mutually beneficial bilateral trade, stabilizing expectations for bilateral trade policy, and allowing economic and trade exchanges to continue serving as the "ballast stone" of bilateral relations.

Second, adhere to the bottom line of no conflict and no confrontation and uphold the fundamental principle of major-power coexistence. Competition among major powers is an objective reality, but competition does not equal confrontation; benign competition stimulates development vitality, while malignant confrontation will only result in both sides suffer losses in a conflict (两败俱伤, liang bai ju shang - "two, defeat, together, suffer injury"). Consolidating a constructive strategic and stable relationship requires adhering to the bottom line of no conflict and no confrontation and strictly confining competition to a benign and controllable track. Maintaining normalized strategic communication is the foundation. Keep unimpeded communication channels in multiple fields, maintain the continuous operation of regular dialogue mechanisms at all levels, clearly convey each side's strategic intentions through normalized communication, resolve the problem of information asymmetry, and reduce the possibility of strategic miscalculation at its source. Make good use of and effectively implement existing mechanisms such as the two militaries' hotline, rules of behavior for air and maritime encounters, and military security consultations, further refine direct communication procedures and response plans for major emergencies, establish rapid de-escalation mechanisms after frictions occur, and prevent local accidental incidents from fermenting and escalating into overall confrontation. Institutionalized crisis management is an indispensable "safety valve" for major-power relations. Relevant management mechanisms should also extend to emerging security areas such as cyberspace and outer space where international rules are insufficiently supplied and security confrontation trends are intensifying. China and the United States are both globally leading science and technology powers and have the responsibility to jointly promote rule-building in emerging fields, coordinate the prevention and control of security risks, and promote emerging fields to become a "new blue ocean" of win-win cooperation rather than an "arena" of zero-sum games.

Third, expand pragmatic mutually beneficial cooperation and enlarge the basic plate of common interests between the two sides. The resilience of China-U.S. relations is rooted in broad and deep common interests. Consolidating a constructive strategic and stable relationship requires both doing "subtraction" on differences and doing "addition" on common interests. Enlarge the increment of economic and trade cooperation and consolidate the core bond. Relying on the complementary advantages of the two economies, tap new points of interest convergence in traditional fields such as trade, agriculture, finance, and energy, fully leverage the role of new mechanisms such as the Trade Council and the Investment Council, lower market access barriers and policy uncertainty, consolidate the business community as the backbone force for stabilizing bilateral relations, and let economic and trade cooperation continue to benefit the livelihoods of the peoples of both countries. Continue to advance cooperation in areas such as anti-drug efforts and combating transnational crime, and continuously accumulate bilateral mutual trust in a step-by-step manner. Explore frontier governance cooperation and jointly meet new challenges. Strengthen exchanges on topics such as artificial intelligence risk assessment, emergency communication, prevention of technology abuse, and security standard formulation, and explore institutionalized and concrete cooperation paths for governance challenges. Strengthen coordination on global issues and jointly shoulder major-power responsibilities. Maintain communication and coordination on issues such as public health, climate change, food security, and regional hotspots, jointly provide more public goods to the world, and demonstrate the responsibility and commitment of major powers.

Fourth, cultivate goodwill and mutual trust among the people and build a thick social foundation for bilateral relations. The relationship between countries lies in the affinity between their peoples. The hope of China-U.S. relations lies in the people, the foundation in the grassroots, the future in the youth, and the vitality in localities. Consolidating a constructive strategic and stable relationship requires deep cultivation of people-to-people exchanges, building a thick social soil for long-term mutual trust between the two countries, and giving bilateral relations deeper public support. Focus on the youth group and consolidate the foundation for the future. Seize the positive trend of the U.S. youth group's perception of China turning positive, expand the scale, breadth, and depth of exchanges among the youth group, let the younger generation enhance understanding and eliminate prejudice through high-quality exchanges, and become inheritors and promoters of China-U.S. friendship. Focus on local exchanges and activate grassroots vitality. Relying on the sister-city relationships and counterpart province-state cooperation networks between the two countries, promote the implementation and effectiveness of "small but real" projects in agriculture, education, culture, and other fields, and build a multi-level and three-dimensional relationship support network through pragmatic cooperation at the local level. Focus on people-to-people interaction and enhance the well-being of the people. Broaden diversified interaction channels such as direct flights, cultural tourism, and academic exchanges between the two countries, let more ordinary people become participants in and beneficiaries of China-U.S. exchanges, and inject lasting resilience and vitality into bilateral relations with the warmth of people-to-people and cultural exchanges.

The diplomatic wisdom of Chinese civilization accumulated over thousands of years provides a completely different philosophy for major powers to get along. Major powers should maintain a humble and inclusive posture rather than bullying the weak by relying on one's strength (恃强凌弱, shi qiang ling ruo - "rely, strong, bully, weak") and seeking hegemony. "Being kind to neighbors and friendly to others (亲仁善邻, qin ren shan lin - "close, benevolent, kind, neighbor") is the treasure of a state." State-to-state interactions are based on good faith and characterized by inclusiveness. Traditional Chinese thought does not deny the existence of contradictions and competition; what it opposes is the alienation of competition into a life-and-death confrontation. The constructive strategic and stable relationship based on respect, fairness, and reciprocity established by the two China-U.S. heads-of-state meetings demonstrates the historical courage and responsibility of the two heads of state, transcends the old paradigm of major-power games since modern times, and is a powerful answer to how to cross the "Thucydides Trap." Advancing this process requires both sides to continue to maintain strategic resolve, abandon zero-sum thinking, and continuously translate the heads-of-state consensus into tangible and tangible cooperation outcomes through concrete actions, blazing a correct path for major powers to get along in the new era, which both benefits the peoples of the two countries and injects certainty and positive energy into a turbulent and changing world.

(The author is the President of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations)

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France’s Museums and Their “Cultural Interpretation”

By: 代建鹏

At present, global cultural competition and dialogue among civilizations are becoming increasingly frequent. Museums, by virtue of their ability to narrate and interpret the remains of civilizations, have become a focus of attention for countries seeking to compete for the right to cultural interpretation and to empower the enhancement of national soft power. Relying on renowned cultural and museum institutions such as the Louvre, the Guimet Museum, and the Musée du Quai Branly, France has built a cultural and museum communication system that radiates across the globe. According to statistics, the Louvre received 9 million visitors in 2025, 73 percent of whom were foreign visitors, and it maintains in-depth cooperation with cultural and museum institutions in 75 countries around the world. In this process, France has achieved a steady rise in cultural influence and national soft power by continuously optimizing its logic of cultural interpretation and innovating its methods of narrative communication.

Modern overseas expeditions and colonial expansion accumulated a considerable number of artifacts from foreign civilizations for France's major museums, laying the material foundation for exercising the right to cultural interpretation. In the early period, French museums displayed foreign cultural relics as rare and precious treasures (奇珍异宝, qi zhen yi bao - "strange, precious, unusual, treasure"), focusing on the collection and display of objects while lacking systematic cultural interpretation and value analysis. Entering the 20th century, with the vigorous development of anthropology and art history as disciplines, professional scholars became deeply involved in curatorial work, and French museums began to construct a complete logical framework for cultural interpretation. After the end of World War II, France incorporated museums into the overall layout of national cultural diplomacy. Curatorial practice transcended in-house display itself, actively serving the shaping of the nation's international image, and the diplomatic value of the right to interpretation gradually became apparent. Entering the 21st century, in the face of the pattern of dialogue among diverse civilizations under globalization, France further clarified the practical path for exercising the right to cultural interpretation, integrated its collections, academic research strength, and transnational cooperation networks, and realized the transformation of its identity from custodian of cultural relics to interpreter of culture. Its main key measures are as follows.

Building a disciplinary interpretation system and embedding the core of French values. Relying on its mature systems of art history, anthropology, and archaeology, France has established a systematic paradigm of cultural interpretation, breaking through the simple display model of basic information about cultural relics. Supported by a rigorous academic system, the French academic community conducts professional and systematic interpretation of collections, building an inclusive and interconnected narrative framework for global civilizations. Through standardized exhibition logic, academic annotations, and public guided tours, France orderly conveys its value concepts of advocating humanism, respecting art, and championing the exchange of civilizations, establishing its important position in global cultural interpretation through authoritative academic discourse and forming a stable advantage in cultural interpretation. The Guimet Museum has developed research on South Asian culture, taking the exchange and mutual learning between French and Indian civilizations as its main narrative thread, and systematically displaying ancient Indian sculpture, grotto art, and traditional crafts. Relying on France's accumulation of Oriental studies, the museum interprets the artistic value of South Asia from the perspectives of artistic aesthetics, humanistic connotations, and the inheritance of civilization, fully demonstrating France's capacity for in-depth research, respect, and absorption of foreign civilizations, and manifesting France's being inclusive and absorbing diverse elements (兼容并蓄, jian rong bing xu - "combine, tolerate, and, absorb") international cultural pattern.

Relying on transnational cultural and museum cooperation to export the French narrative paradigm of civilization. Taking its top-tier national museums as important vehicles, France has built a cultural and museum exchange network covering the globe, and through forms such as transnational joint exhibitions, joint research, and mutual lending of collections, it deeply participates in shaping global cultural rules. In international cooperative exhibitions, France, by virtue of its mature curatorial system and artistic narrative logic, dominates the construction of exhibition themes and interpretive perspectives, disseminating French artistic aesthetics and concepts of dialogue among civilizations. Through flexible cultural export methods, it unifies and standardizes display and interpretation paradigms, continuously expanding its own international cultural influence and discursive radiation. The special exhibition on dialogue in European classical art jointly held by the Louvre and the National Museum of Spain had its curatorial framework and narrative system led by France. Taking the symbiotic development of European civilization as its core, the exhibition integrates Spanish classical art collections with French art research achievements, sorts out the evolutionary thread of European art through the French narrative system, and conveys to global audiences France's positive image of promoting the integration of European civilizations and inheriting classical art.

Incorporating museums into the national diplomatic strategy and building official cultural communication vehicles. France has incorporated its museum system into the overall strategic layout of national cultural diplomacy, making cultural and museum communication a key lever for enhancing national soft power. Through top-level planning, resource coordination, and policy support, the state promotes national museums as windows for cultural exchange. Relying on its rich collection resources of global civilizations, the government has created a series of high-quality international cultural exhibitions, taking equal exchange and mutual learning among civilizations as the narrative orientation, and shaping France's international cultural identity as open, inclusive, and championing dialogue among diverse civilizations. The Musée du Quai Branly focuses on the indigenous civilizations of Africa and Oceania and the folk art of the Americas, and, relying on the national cultural diplomacy plan, has launched a permanent exhibition themed on the coexistence of diverse civilizations. With cultural protection, cultural inheritance, and cross-civilizational dialogue as its core narrative, the exhibition displays France's achievements in collecting, researching, and disseminating the world's small civilizations and distinctive foreign cultures, demonstrating France's positive role in supporting the survival and development of global diverse civilizations.

After years of practice, France has effectively achieved a systematic enhancement of national soft power by tapping into the right of cultural interpretation of museums. At the international level, it relies on mature interpretation models to lead the narrative and consolidate France's discursive advantage and influence in the global cultural field; at the level of cultural communication, it uses standardized, academic French interpretive logic to export its humanistic values and cultural concepts, shaping the cultural image of a major country that is inclusive and open; at the level of national identity, it uses authoritative interpretive capacity to consolidate national cultural confidence, providing useful reference for countries seeking to empower national soft power construction through cultural and museum vehicles.

Relying on the accumulation of humanities and social sciences to shape narrative capacity and build the underlying support for cultural interpretation. France has long promoted the deep integration of disciplines such as art history, anthropology, and Oriental studies with museum curatorship, continuously polishing a set of implementable exhibition narrative systems. The academic community participates throughout the entire process in writing exhibition texts, designing themes, and constructing public guided tour content, embedding collections in coherent narratives of civilizational evolution, and, with the credibility of academic research, allowing value concepts to naturally integrate into the visiting experience. Relying on sustained disciplinary development, France transforms static cultural relic resources into cultural discourse that can be communicated externally, using professional research results to continuously maintain the influence of museums in cross-civilizational interpretation scenarios, avoiding cultural communication remaining at the level of simple artifact display. This shows that accumulated research in the humanities can continuously empower cultural and museum communication. External cultural communication needs to attach importance to the front-loaded involvement of humanities research forces and promote the transformation of academic achievements into public narratives. Cultural and museum institutions can link up with research forces to jointly refine the interpretation framework, enrich the dimensions of interpretation behind cultural relics, enhance narrative persuasiveness on the basis of rigorous research foundations, give cultural communication a content foundation for sustained growth, improve the acceptability of narratives in cross-cultural scenarios, and provide support for the long-term expansion of cultural influence.

Using transnational cultural and museum collaboration to promote narrative frameworks outward and extend the radiation range of cultural interpretation. France makes full use of museums' global cooperation networks, taking joint exhibitions, mutual lending of collections, and joint academic seminars as channels for transmitting cultural narratives outward. In the process of advancing transnational exhibition projects, France brings mature curatorial thinking into overseas cooperation scenarios, leads the narrative thread of exhibitions on the basis of respecting partners, and, under the theme of cross-civilizational artistic dialogue, transmits its own artistic aesthetics and concepts of civilizational exchange. Touring exhibitions are not merely the relocation of cultural relics to other places, but the cross-regional migration of narrative frameworks, continuously transmitting France's understanding of diverse civilizations in viewing scenarios across multiple locations around the world and constantly expanding the boundaries of influence of cultural interpretation. This shows that cross-cultural exchange can rely on vehicles such as cultural and museum cooperation to expand cultural narratives outward. International cultural exchange need not be limited to one-way propaganda; it can rely on cooperation projects such as collection exchange and joint curatorship to transmit mature interpretive thinking in the process of jointly building exhibitions. With the diverse audience scenarios brought by transnational cooperation, it continuously tests and optimizes narrative expression, influencing audiences imperceptibly over time (潜移默化, qian yi mo hua - "subtle, move, silent, transform") in the atmosphere of civilizational dialogue, continuously expanding the reach of cultural narratives among audiences worldwide, and amplifying the external impact brought by cultural interpretation.

Incorporating museum communication into the overall diplomatic layout and coordinating resources to amplify the comprehensive effectiveness of interpretation. France regards its national museum system as a component of cultural diplomacy, and, relying on coordination and allocation at the national level, integrates collection resources, academic teams, and international cooperation channels, guiding museum curatorship to serve civilizational dialogue and the shaping of the national image. Relying on top-level planning, various museums can collaboratively carry out themed major exhibitions, international academic forums, and digital communication projects, jointly participating in global exchange among diverse civilizations. Under a unified strategic orientation, different museums form a communication synergy, fully releasing the cultural value of collection resources, and converging scattered cultural and museum forces into sustained momentum for shaping the international cultural image. This shows that enhancing cultural influence requires cross-subject resource coordination and advancement. The communication potential of cultural and museum resources can only be fully released through systematic top-level coordination. Through policy and resource coordination, the linkage channels among research institutions, museums, and international cultural exchange projects are opened up, cultural and museum narratives and cross-civilizational exchange activities are designed in an integrated manner, and scattered cultural vehicles form a synergistic effect. Relying on integrated layout, the communication value of cultural interpretation can be maximized, a stable and coherent international cultural image can be continuously shaped, and cultural resources can be transformed into sustainable external appeal.

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Persisting in Implementing the Political Responsibility for Managing and Governing the Party

By: 张超

General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "To govern the Party strictly, we must strengthen the awareness of managing and governing the Party and implement the responsibility for managing and governing the Party." Persisting in implementing the political responsibility for managing and governing the Party is the "ox nose" that must be grasped in full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. The Fourteen Commitments (十四个坚持) begin with the Party's leadership and conclude with the implementation of the political responsibility for managing and governing the Party, reflecting the high degree of unity between power and responsibility and revealing the internal mechanism of the practical operation of Party building.

Persisting in implementing the political responsibility for managing and governing the Party is of great significance

General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized that Party committees (Party leading groups) at all levels and in all departments must establish a correct view of political achievements, persist in viewing problems from the overall situation of consolidating the Party's ruling position, and properly undertake and implement the responsibility for strict Party governance. We must raise our political positioning and deeply understand the great significance of implementing the political responsibility for managing and governing the Party.

This is something that is inherently implied or necessary within a given context (题中应有之义, ti zhong ying you zhi yi - "topic, within; should, have, meaning") of upholding and strengthening the Party's overall leadership. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "The Party's leadership must be comprehensive, systematic, and holistic, and must be embodied in all aspects including economic construction, political construction, cultural construction, social construction, ecological civilization construction, national defense and the military, national reunification, diplomatic work, and Party building." The Party's overall leadership includes not only leading the great cause undertaken by the Party but also leading the Party's own construction. History and practice have proven that if the Party does not lead its own construction, does not promptly discover and solve its own problems, there will be "laxity, weakness, and softness" in managing and governing the Party, affecting the Party's combat effectiveness and ultimately affecting the Party's governing capacity and leadership level. Strengthening the Party's overall leadership requires incorporating Party building, supervision, and other matters as important content into it.

This is the duty of Party organizations at all levels and all Party members. The Party managing the Party and governing the Party strictly is the fundamental policy of Party building that our Party has consistently upheld and an important responsibility of Party organizations at all levels. The General Program of the Party Constitution clearly states "uphold the Party's self-governance and full and rigorous self-governance of the Party," Article 3, Item 4 stipulates that Party members must "consciously abide by Party discipline," and Article 39 stipulates that "Party organizations must strictly implement and maintain Party discipline." These provisions clarify to Party organizations at all levels and all Party members the requirements for implementing the responsibility for managing and governing the Party and provide the fundamental basis for fulfilling this responsibility. However, some Party members and cadres only attach importance to professional work, lack awareness of Party building and Party membership, and fail to fully play their vanguard and exemplary role. To implement the requirements of the Party Constitution, Party committees (Party leading groups) at all levels must firmly establish the concept that doing Party building well is one's proper duty, not doing Party building is dereliction of duty, and doing Party building poorly is incompetence, and should carry Party building as the primary responsibility and main business on their shoulders and in their hands. All Party members must always remember that their first identity is that of a Communist Party member, their first duty is to work for the Party, never forget their due obligations and responsibilities, strictly abide by all Party discipline, and at all times be sharing the same goals and values (同心同德, tong xin tong de - "same, heart, same, virtue") with the Party.

This is an important requirement for improving the system for full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. The system for full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is a dynamic system with rich connotations, complete functions, scientific standards, and efficient operation, and implementing the responsibility for managing and governing the Party is an important component of it. In terms of connotation, the core of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is strengthening the Party's leadership, the foundation lies in comprehensiveness, the key lies in strictness, and the crux lies in governance. The "governance" here means implementing the political responsibility for managing and governing the Party, which occupies the "crux" position in full and rigorous self-governance of the Party and is the "ox nose" of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. Improving the system for full and rigorous self-governance of the Party includes requirements in five aspects: improving the organizational system, the education system, the supervision system, the institutional system, and the responsibility system. In this system, improving the responsibility system means solving the problems of "who manages" and "how to govern" through scientifically dividing responsibilities, strictly implementing responsibilities, and seriously pursuing accountability, forming a Party building work responsibility system in which each level grasps the next level and each level implements tasks layer by layer, and promoting the implementation of all tasks and requirements of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party through the implementation of responsibilities.

The responsibility for managing and governing the Party is a complete chain of responsibility

General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "The responsibility for managing and governing the Party includes primary responsibility, supervision responsibility, the responsibility of the first responsible person, and the 'dual responsibility for one post,' among others. These constitute a complete chain of responsibility. Every kind of responsibility is important and must be strictly implemented; none can be dealt with perfunctorily." This important exposition clarifies the responsible subjects for managing and governing the Party and their respective positions and roles, and clarifies the requirements for establishing a responsibility system with clear subjects and clear requirements.

Party committees (Party leading groups) bear the primary responsibility for managing and governing the Party. Primary responsibility occupies a dominant position in the chain of responsibility for managing and governing the Party, and whether primary responsibility can be properly implemented directly affects the effectiveness of managing and governing the Party. General Secretary Xi Jinping has given a clear exposition on primary responsibility: "What is the primary responsibility of the Party committee? It is mainly to strengthen leadership, select and use good cadres, and prevent improper practices in personnel selection and appointment and corruption; resolutely correct acts that harm the interests of the masses; strengthen the restriction and supervision of the exercise of power and prevent corruption from the source; lead and support discipline inspection and law enforcement organs in investigating and dealing with violations of discipline and law; and the principal responsible comrades of Party committees must manage the leading group well, lead the team well, manage themselves well, and set a good example of clean governance. Party committees at all levels, especially their principal responsible comrades, must establish the awareness that not grasping the construction of Party conduct and clean governance is a serious dereliction of duty, regularly study and deploy it, grasp leadership and have leaders grasp it, grasp specifics and grasp them specifically, and cultivate their own responsibility fields." It can be seen that primary responsibility is the comprehensive responsibility for managing and governing the Party, covering all aspects of Party building. Wherever Party building advances, the responsibility for managing and governing the Party must follow. In practice, the responsibility for managing and governing the Party cannot be simply equated with the responsibility for the construction of Party conduct and clean governance, and full and rigorous self-governance of the Party cannot be limited solely to rectifying conduct, enforcing discipline, and combating corruption; all aspects of Party building must implement the strategic policy of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party.

Discipline inspection commissions bear supervision responsibility. Discipline inspection commissions are the specialized organs for intra-Party supervision, and their main duties are supervision, discipline enforcement, and accountability. According to the provisions of the Party Constitution, the main tasks of discipline inspection commissions at all levels are to uphold the Party Constitution and other intra-Party regulations, inspect the implementation of the Party's line, principles, policies, and resolutions, assist Party committees in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, strengthening the construction of Party conduct and organizing and coordinating the fight against corruption, and promote the improvement of the Party and state supervision systems. This is in fact the main content of the supervision responsibility undertaken by discipline inspection commissions. Discipline inspection commissions must, in accordance with their functional positioning, pay attention to grasping and handling the relationship with primary responsibility, focus on the main responsibilities and main business of efficient supervision, strict discipline enforcement, and precise accountability in their work, and must neither be absent in function nor overstep their functions.

Secretaries of Party committees (Party leading groups) bear the responsibility of the first responsible person. The position of the secretary of a Party committee (Party leading group) is important; they are the key among the "key minority." Whether they can properly serve as the first responsible person for managing and governing the Party concerns the Party's overall leadership and the political ecology and atmosphere of a locality or unit. Secretaries of Party committees (Party leading groups) must uphold the Party's principles first, the Party's cause first, and the people's interests first, be responsible to the Party, be responsible for the political ecology of their region or unit, and be responsible for the healthy growth of cadres. Not only must they bear responsibility themselves, but they must also press responsibility onto members of the leading group, forming a situation of coordination between upper and lower levels. In implementing responsibility, secretaries of Party committees (Party leading groups) must both take command and go into battle personally, personally deploy important work, personally inquire into major issues, personally coordinate important links, and personally supervise important cases, leading by example and promoting the implementation of responsibility at every level.

Other members of the leading groups of Party committees (Party leading groups) bear the "dual responsibility for one post." Members of leading groups bear the important responsibility of grasping Party building work in every front and every field concretely and deeply. Each member of a leading group must, in light of their division of duties and responsibilities, lead, inspect, and supervise the full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the departments and units under their charge, strictly educate, manage, and supervise Party members and cadres in the departments and units under their charge, and earnestly fulfill the requirements of the "dual responsibility for one post."

Party members and cadres bear specific responsibilities. Managing and governing the Party is the common responsibility of the entire Party, and every Party member and cadre bears responsibility. It is necessary to clarify the specific responsibilities of Party members and cadres around strict self-discipline and mutual supervision, mutual reminder, and mutual help, in light of the characteristics of their posts and actual work, and to implement responsibilities in detail and concretely.

There is strong interconnectedness among the various responsible subjects, and it is necessary to have a clear division of labor, coordinated advancement, and synergistic linkage, forming a pattern of responsibility in which each bears their own responsibility and all are unified and coordinated. At present, some Party committees (Party leading groups) have the problem of a disconnect between two related aspects or tasks (两张皮, liang zhang pi - "two, sheets, skin") between grasping economic development and grasping Party building, some members of leading groups "emphasize professional work and neglect supervision," and some Party members and cadres are not strict in their self-requirements, among other problems. The implementation of the responsibility for managing and governing the Party cannot be uneven, cannot be tight in one link and loose in another; it is necessary to establish and improve the responsibility system by layer and by category, so that Party organizations at all levels and the broad masses of Party members and cadres can all know their responsibilities, understand their responsibilities, and guard their posts and fulfill their duties, promoting all subjects to act in acting in synchronized resonance or harmony (同频共振, tong pin gong zhen - "same, frequency, together, vibrate") and exert effort in the same direction.

Promote the implementation of the responsibility for managing and governing the Party through precise and scientific accountability

General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized that we must truly regard the implementation of the political responsibility for managing and governing the Party as the most fundamental political commitment, firmly grasp the word "responsibility," and seize the crux of "accountability."

Make accountability a sharp weapon for full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. Accountability is the key to promoting Party members and cadres to know their responsibilities, bear their responsibilities, and fulfill their responsibilities. Without accountability as a guarantee, many measures for managing and governing the Party can easily be raised high and put down lightly, and the implementation of responsibility will fall into perfunctoriness and superficiality. Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, the Party Central Committee has persisted in making accountability a sharp weapon for full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, formulated the Regulations of the Communist Party of China on Accountability, promoted the normalization of accountability through rigorous institutions, promoted the rigidity of responsibility through serious accountability, established the clear orientation that those with power must bear responsibility, those with responsibility must demonstrate commitment, and those who lose responsibility must be pursued, and promoted the transformation of managing and governing the Party from laxity, weakness, and softness to strictness, firmness, and hardness.

Persist in the principle that dereliction of duty must be questioned and accountability must be strict. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that without clarifying responsibility, without implementing responsibility, and without pursuing accountability, strict Party governance cannot be achieved. In a certain period in the past, there was little accountability in managing and governing the Party, which became an important reason for the ineffective implementation of the responsibility for managing and governing the Party. The Regulations of the Communist Party of China on Accountability makes clear provisions on the subjects, targets, circumstances, procedures, and methods of accountability and is the fundamental institutional basis for carrying out accountability work. Party organizations at all levels and leading cadres must dare to uphold principles, strictly implement the provisions of the Regulations, improve supporting measures, seriously pursue accountability for problems such as lack of commitment, lack of responsibility, inaction, and arbitrary action in the process of managing and governing the Party, and for those responsible, issue circulars where circulars should be issued, offer admonishments where admonishments should be offered, and impose punishments where punishments should be imposed. It is necessary to improve the accountability mechanism, combine accountability with clarifying responsibility, supervising responsibility, and evaluating responsibility, through clarifying responsibilities, doing a good job of supervision and inspection, optimizing assessment and evaluation methods, strengthening and improving Party building assessment work, and constructing an integrated operational mechanism of "clarifying responsibility—supervising responsibility—evaluating responsibility—pursuing accountability," so as to ultimately achieve the implementation of the responsibility for managing and governing the Party through the proper positioning of responsible subjects, the proper implementation of responsibility requirements, and the proper implementation of assessment and accountability.

Precise and scientific accountability. The ultimate purpose of accountability is to urge Party organizations and leading cadres to strengthen their sense of responsibility and stimulate their spirit of commitment, not to tie the hands of cadres. In practice, it is necessary to prevent both the problem of responsibility not being implemented or not being implemented properly due to weak accountability and the problem of dampening the enthusiasm of cadres for undertaking work and starting businesses due to the generalization and simplification of accountability. The Regulations of the Communist Party of China on Disciplinary Actions has made special provisions on the abuse of accountability or acts of serious irresponsibility in accountability work, guiding the formation of precise accountability. The Regulations of the Communist Party of China on Accountability, revised in 2019, further refined the division of responsibility, enriched and improved the circumstances for accountability, and improved and perfected accountability procedures, providing institutional guarantees for standardizing accountability work. It is necessary to adhere to the principles of acting in accordance with regulations and discipline and seeking truth from facts, in the spirit of using punishment of past mistakes to prevent future ones (惩前毖后, cheng qian bi hou - "punish, before, contemplate, after") and "curing the disease to save the patient," further improve the political nature, precision, and effectiveness of accountability, and achieve precise and scientific accountability.

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Institutional Norms to Fortify Grassroots Fighting Fortresses

By: 王冰

The Party branch is the Party's basic organization, the basic unit of the Party's organizational system, the Party's fighting fortress in grassroots social organizations, and the foundation of all the Party's work and combat effectiveness. The Communist Party of China has always attached great importance to the building of Party branches, paid attention to promptly elevating successful experience and effective practices in branch building into institutional norms, continuously promoted the standardized and regularized building of Party branches, and constantly consolidated the organizational foundation for the Party's long-term governance. As the first foundational and backbone regulation concerning Party branch work in the Party's history, the Regulations on the Work of Party Branches of the Communist Party of China (Trial Implementation) (hereinafter referred to as the Regulations) systematically summarizes the practical experience of our Party in grasping branch building over a long period, especially since the 18th National Congress of the Party, clarifies the basic norms for branch building in the new era, and provides basic guidance and institutional guarantees for comprehensively strengthening Party branch building and fully giving play to the role of grassroots fighting fortresses.

The Party's exploration of institutionalizing branch work has a long history. From the Party's first Program to the Party Constitution adopted at the 20th National Congress, the Party has always taken the Party's fundamental law as its institutional basis, continuously improving and perfecting relevant provisions on branch organizational setup, duties and tasks, and working systems. As early as 1922, the Party Constitution adopted at the Second National Congress proposed that "wherever there are three to five Party members, a group may be formed" and that such groups "shall be subordinate to the local branch." In 1925, the Party Constitution adopted at the Fourth National Congress stipulated that "wherever there are more than three Party members, a branch may be established," for the first time formally calling the Party's basic organization a Party branch, while also clarifying the branch's specific scope of work and methods of leadership. In 1927, the Party Constitution adopted at the Fifth National Congress for the first time listed "Party branches" as a separate chapter, emphasizing that "the branch is the Party's basic organization" and "the branch is the organization through which the Party comes into direct contact with the masses." Shortly thereafter, Mao Zedong put forward the principle of "building the Party branch on the company" during the Sanwan Reorganization, advancing branch building to a new stage. In 1945, the Party Constitution adopted at the Seventh National Congress established a special chapter on "the Party's basic organizations," clarifying that "the Party's basic organizations are the Party's branches," and systematically summarizing the status and tasks of branches. In 1977, the Party Constitution adopted at the Eleventh National Congress proposed that "Party grassroots organizations should give play to their role as fighting fortresses" and specifically stipulated the six basic tasks of Party grassroots organizations, laying an important ideological foundation for subsequent Party Constitutions to clarify the fighting fortress positioning of grassroots Party organizations. In 1992, the Party Constitution adopted at the Fourteenth National Congress classified and assigned responsibilities to Party grassroots organizations in different fields, explicitly stipulating that "the Party grassroots committees in subdistricts, townships, and towns, and village Party branches, lead the work of their respective localities," establishing the leadership position of rural grassroots Party organizations among various types of organizations and straightening out the relationship between Party organizations and other grassroots organizations. In 2017, the Party Constitution adopted at the Nineteenth National Congress added a provision on the duties of Party branches, clarifying that Party branches "bear the duties of directly educating Party members, managing Party members, supervising Party members, and organizing the masses, publicizing the masses, uniting the masses, and serving the masses," fully establishing the functional positioning and duties and tasks of Party branches at the level of the Party Constitution.

As the Party's fundamental law, the Party Constitution occupies the highest position in the Party's institutional normative system and can provide principled and directional norms for all the Party's work. However, with regard to branch work, although there are principled provisions in the Party Constitution and norms in relevant regulations, there has always been a lack of a dedicated regulation that manages the overall situation and serves as the foundational and backbone instrument, resulting in problems in practice such as non-standard branch setup, insufficiently unified operation, and uneven performance of functions. In 2018, the Party Central Committee solidified the successful experience of vigorously grasping grassroots work and vigorously grasping branch work into institutional achievements and formulated and issued the Regulations. The Regulations are of milestone significance in the history of Party branch building. They are not only an inheritance and development of the Party's fine tradition of attaching importance to Party branch building, but also a comprehensive institutional norm for Party branch work, marking the entry of Party branch building into a new stage of institutionalization and regularization.

With the General Provisions as the overarching framework, the Regulations clarify the functional positioning and working principles of Party branches, and then successively regulate organizational setup, basic tasks, working mechanisms, organizational life, and the building of Party branch committees, finally landing on leadership and guarantees, forming an interlocking and interconnected (环环相扣, huan huan xiang kou - "ring, ring, interlock; link") institutional chain. Viewed from its internal logic, organizational setup solves the question of "where to build," aiming to promote full coverage of Party organizations and Party work; basic tasks solve the question of "what to do," clarifying the 8 basic tasks of Party branches and the key tasks of Party branches in 10 different fields; working mechanisms and organizational life solve the question of "how to operate," regulating the functions and powers and methods of deliberation and decision-making of the Party branch general membership meeting, the Party branch committee, and the Party group, as well as Party organizational life systems such as the "three meetings and one lesson"; the building of the Party branch committee solves the question of "who takes the lead," implementing the selection and strengthening of branch secretaries, regular reelection, training and assessment, and other matters; leadership and guarantees solve the question of "who grasps the work," compacting the primary responsibility of Party committees (Party groups) at all levels for grasping branch building. This institutional design links together all links of branch building, both clarifying tasks and pressing burdens, and establishing rules and setting standards, so that Party branch work has rules to follow and regulations to rely on.

The value of institutions lies in implementation, and the vitality of institutions lies in enforcement. To build a solid grassroots fighting fortress through institutional norms, it is necessary not only to establish rules and clarify standards, but also to promote the effective implementation of institutions.

Strengthen institutional identification and consolidate the ideological foundation by respecting institutions. Only when institutions are identified with from the bottom of one's heart can they be transformed from "textual provisions" into "action compliance," and from external constraints into internal self-consciousness. The Regulations condense the historical experience of our Party in strengthening branch building over a long period and condense the practical achievements of vigorously grasping grassroots work and vigorously grasping branch work in the new era. It is necessary to make respecting and implementing institutions a basic quality of Party members, especially Party branch secretaries, effectively enhance the political consciousness, ideological consciousness, and action consciousness of implementing the Regulations, consciously uphold the authority of institutions, and lay a solid ideological foundation for building a solid grassroots fighting fortress.

Strictly enforce institutions and prevent institutional idling through rigid constraints. There is often a "gap" between institutional texts and institutional enforcement. Once institutions are not strictly enforced, they will degenerate into "scarecrows" and lose their due binding force and credibility. It is necessary to resolutely uphold the seriousness and authority of the Regulations, adhere to the principle that everyone is equal before institutions and that there are no exceptions in enforcing institutions, and resolutely prevent selective enforcement, flexible enforcement, and discounted enforcement. Acts of ineffective implementation of the Regulations or violation of the provisions of the Regulations should be seriously dealt with in accordance with rules and discipline, so that iron rules take effect and prohibitions carry authority, and the rigid constraints of institutions ensure that Party branch work always operates on the track of regularization.

Give play to the functions of institutions and release practical effectiveness through organizational operation. The Party branch is the basic unit of the Party's organizational system. Transforming the duty positioning and operating rules established by the Regulations into the actual actions of branches is the fundamental path for giving play to institutional effectiveness. Through the effective operation of institutions, the Party's line, principles, and policies and the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee are transmitted to the "nerve endings" of the grassroots, Party members are organized, and the masses are united, so that Party branches fully give play to their role as fighting fortresses in implementing the Party's propositions, contacting and serving the masses, and promoting grassroots governance, transforming the power of institutional norms into practical results in consolidating the organizational foundation for the Party's long-term governance.

Optimize the institutional ecology and enhance overall synergy through articulation and coordination. The functioning of any intra-Party regulation cannot be separated from the support and coordination of the institutional system. The overall effectiveness of institutions depends on the articulation, coordination, and concerted efforts among various institutions. The Regulations and the Party Constitution and related intra-Party regulations are interconnected and echo each other, jointly constituting the institutional system for Party branch building. It is necessary to adhere to the Party Constitution as the fundamental basis, promote the organic articulation and coordinated efforts of the Regulations with related intra-Party regulations, promptly elevate mature experience and practices in practice into institutional norms, test and improve institutions in practice, and use the overall effectiveness of the intra-Party regulations and institutional system to provide solid institutional guarantees for building strong grassroots fighting fortresses.

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牢牢扭住全面从严治党的“牛鼻子”

By: 张加华

To govern the country, one must first govern the Party; only when the Party thrives can the country grow strong. The key to full and rigorous self-governance of the Party lies in governance. General Secretary Xi Jinping has profoundly pointed out, "To govern the Party strictly, we must strengthen the awareness of managing and governing the Party and fulfill the responsibility for managing and governing the Party," and "without clarifying responsibility, without fulfilling responsibility, and without holding people accountable, strict Party governance cannot be achieved." In fulfilling the political responsibility for managing and governing the Party, knowing responsibility is the premise, clarifying responsibility is the foundation, and fulfilling responsibility is the key. The three form interlocking links that are closely connected (环环相扣, huan huan xiang kou - "ring, ring, interlock; link") and a progressive process that advances level by level (层层递进, ceng ceng di jin - "layer, layer, advance; step, step, progress"), together constituting the core support of the responsibility chain for full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era.

Knowing responsibility first requires knowing where responsibility lies, to whom it belongs, and what it emphasizes. General Secretary Xi Jinping has stressed, "We must firmly establish the concept that 'doing Party building well is one's duty, not doing Party building is dereliction of duty, and doing Party building poorly is incompetence,'" further strengthening the whole Party's deep understanding of the responsibility for managing and governing the Party. To know responsibility in the heart, one must deeply recognize that the responsibility for managing and governing the Party is by no means a "soft task" or a "sideline," but rather the most fundamental political commitment concerning the Party's governing foundation. Fulfilling the responsibility for managing and governing the Party is an inevitable requirement for the Party to purify the political ecosystem and maintain its advanced nature and purity, and it is also a key link in improving the Party's long-term governance capacity and consolidating its governing position. One must deeply recognize that the responsibility for managing and governing the Party is weighty, and no Party organization or leading cadre can remain aloof from a matter or stay uninvolved (置身事外, zhi shen shi wai - "place, body, matter, outside"). Every responsible subject must know, shoulder, and fulfill responsibility, and must not act as a "nice guy," allowing the Party's image and the people's interests to be harmed for the sake of so-called personal image. One must deeply recognize that fulfilling the political responsibility for managing and governing the Party is a concrete test of strengthening the Four Consciousnesses (四个意识) and resolutely achieving the Two Upholds (两个维护), politically clarifying "for whom one is responsible and for what one is responsible," thoroughly discarding the narrow perception that "managing and governing the Party is solely the affair of the discipline inspection commission," and fundamentally solving the problem of "absence of awareness."

Clarifying responsibility means transforming political responsibility into an institutional blueprint that is definable, operable, and assessable. If responsibility remains at the level of principled statements, it will inevitably fall into the vacuum of "everyone is responsible, yet no one is responsible." General Secretary Xi Jinping has stressed, "Improve the responsibility system with clear subjects and clear requirements," using clarified responsibility and consolidated responsibility to drive Party organizations at all levels and the broad ranks of Party members and cadres to know, shoulder, and fulfill responsibility. Clarifying responsibility in detail focuses on defining boundaries by level and category. Centering on strengthening the Party's leadership over managing and governing the Party, selecting and using cadres well, strengthening oversight and restraint on the exercise of power, and safeguarding the interests of the masses, clarify the primary responsibility of Party committees (Party groups) for full and rigorous self-governance of the Party; centering on efficient oversight, strict discipline enforcement, and precise accountability, clarify the oversight responsibility of discipline inspection commissions at all levels; centering on leading the team well, guiding the ranks well, and promoting implementation, clarify the responsibility of the first responsible person, namely the secretary of Party committees (Party groups); in accordance with the division of duties and tasks, and following the requirement of "one post, dual responsibilities," clarify the responsibility for managing and governing the Party of other members of leading bodies; centering on strict self-discipline and mutual oversight, mutual reminders, and mutual assistance, and in light of the post characteristics and work realities of Party members and cadres, clarify the specific responsibilities of Party members and cadres. From the Party Central Committee to grassroots branches, from "top leaders" to ordinary Party members, the content of responsibility, the manner of performing duties, and the standards of work should all be itemized and listed, achieving "whoever is in charge is responsible, and whoever manages business must also manage Party building." Only with clear boundaries, clear tasks, and clear standards can responsibility avoid attenuation in transmission and avoidance of blame in collaboration, truly forming a closed-loop system that extends horizontally to the edges and vertically to the bottom, with interlocking links.

Fulfilling responsibility is the ultimate goal of knowing and clarifying responsibility. No matter how clear the responsibility, if it hangs in the air and is not implemented, managing and governing the Party remains a dead letter. Fulfilling responsibility through action requires Party organizations at all levels to shoulder primary responsibility, grasp the primary business, and play the leading role, making Party building work on every front, in every field, and at every link concrete and in-depth. It requires taking decisive action and dealing with difficulties head-on (动真碰硬, dong zhen peng ying - "move, real, encounter, hard"), daring to struggle and draw the sword. Managing and governing the Party often involves work that "offends people"; pulling ears and tugging sleeves, experiencing embarrassment or intense pressure during self-criticism (红脸出汗, hong lian chu han - "red, face, emit, sweat"), and rectifying conduct and curbing disorder all require the spirit of struggle. Strike as soon as the stubborn problems of the Four Malfeasances (四风) surface, thoroughly investigate and punish corruption problems, and address budding tendencies early and small matters early, persisting in the strict tone, strict measures, and strict atmosphere over the long term. It requires improving institutions and strengthening rigid constraints. Firmly grasp the word "responsibility," seize the key point of "accountability," and achieve parity between power and responsibility and certain accountability for dereliction of duty. Optimize the assessment mechanism for responsibility implementation; in assessing the persons in charge of Party organizations at all levels and in all departments, especially secretaries of Party committees (Party groups), the first thing to examine is the actual effectiveness of Party building, and in assessing other Party member leading cadres, the weight of this aspect should also be increased. Improve the precise and scientific accountability mechanism, and through the presence of responsible subjects, the presence of responsibility requirements, and the presence of assessment and accountability, promote the implementation of the responsibility for managing and governing the Party.

Only by knowing responsibility can one set the direction; only by clarifying responsibility can one gather strength; only by fulfilling responsibility can one accomplish things. On the new journey, in the face of the long-term existence of the "four tests" and "four dangers," and in the face of the arduous and heavy tasks of Chinese modernization, the fulfillment of the political responsibility for managing and governing the Party can only be strengthened, not relaxed. Every Party organization at every level and every Party member and cadre should integrate the sobriety of knowing responsibility, the meticulousness of clarifying responsibility, and the resoluteness of fulfilling responsibility into one, with each level grasping the next and each level implementing concretely, consolidating and developing the good situation in which the whole Party works together. When every link of the responsibility chain is taut and forceful, our Party will surely continue to radiate vigorous vitality through self-revolution and always remain the strong leading core of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

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Gain a Profound Understanding of the Historical Contributions of the Zunyi Conference

By: 李君如

In the days commemorating the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, we often ponder a question: on what basis was the Long March able to triumph? The valiant Red Army soldiers, on foot, traversed 15 provinces during the Long March, crossing places where few people go (人迹罕至, ren ji han zhi - "person, trace, rare, arrive"). The First Front Army (the Central Red Army), the Second Front Army, the Fourth Front Army, and the Twenty-Fifth Red Army — these four Red Army routes covered a total distance of approximately 65,000 li. As Mao Zedong exclaimed: "Since Pangu created heaven and earth, from the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors to the present, has history ever seen a Long March like ours?" The reason the Long March was able to triumph is inseparable from the great Long March spirit shining forth from the Red Army commanders and fighters.

And the reason the Long March spirit was able to bear the fruit of victory is that the Zunyi Meeting, convened in January 1935, accepted Mao Zedong's correct propositions, reversed the passive situation of the Central Red Army, and ultimately won the great victory of the Red Army's Long March. Therefore, we often say that it was the Zunyi Meeting that began to establish the leadership position in the Party Central Committee of the correct Marxist line with Comrade Mao Zedong as its principal representative, and at the most critical juncture saved the Party, saved the Red Army, and saved the Chinese revolution.

The Zunyi Meeting has become a major subject in the study of the history of the Long March and the history of the Communist Party of China, and has accumulated rich research results. On the occasion of commemorating the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March, it is necessary to conduct further research on the Zunyi Meeting.

The greatest contribution of the Zunyi Meeting was the beginning of the formation of the Party's first generation of central leadership collective with Comrade Mao Zedong at its core

The first historical resolution in the Party's history, adopted at the Seventh Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Party, evaluated the Zunyi Meeting as follows: "At the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee held in Zunyi City, Guizhou Province, under the leadership of Comrade Mao Zedong, the rule of the 'Left' line in the Party Central Committee was victoriously brought to an end, and the Party was saved at the most critical juncture," and "this meeting began the new leadership of the Central Committee headed by Comrade Mao Zedong, and was the most historically significant turning point within the Chinese Party. It was precisely because of this turn that our Party was able to victoriously conclude the Long March, preserve and temper the backbone of the Party and the Red Army under the extremely arduous conditions of the Long March, victoriously overcome the Zhang Guotao line which insisted on retreat, flight, and the establishment of a second Party, and save the crisis of the revolutionary base in northern Shaanxi caused by the 'Left' line."

The second historical resolution in the Party's history, adopted at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Party, pointed out: "The Zunyi Meeting held by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee in January 1935 during the Long March established Comrade Mao Zedong's leadership position in the Red Army and the Party Central Committee, enabling the Red Army and the Party Central Committee to survive under extremely perilous circumstances, and thereafter to defeat Zhang Guotao's splittism, victoriously complete the Long March, and open up a new situation in the Chinese revolution. This was a matter of life and death (生死攸关, sheng si you guan - "life, death, have, relation") turning point in the Party's history."

The third historical resolution in the Party's history, adopted at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Nineteenth Central Committee of the Party, pointed out: The Zunyi Meeting "in fact established Comrade Mao Zedong's leadership position in the Party Central Committee and the Red Army, began to establish the leadership position in the Party Central Committee of the correct Marxist line with Comrade Mao Zedong as its principal representative, began to form the Party's first generation of central leadership collective with Comrade Mao Zedong at its core, opened a new stage in which the Party independently and autonomously solved the practical problems of the Chinese revolution, and at the most critical juncture saved the Party, saved the Red Army, and saved the Chinese revolution, and thereafter enabled the Party to defeat Zhang Guotao's splittism, victoriously complete the Long March, and open up a new situation in the Chinese revolution. This was a matter of life and death turning point in the Party's history."

The common points of these three evaluations are: first, they emphasize that this was a matter of life and death turning point in the Party's history; second, they emphasize that the Zunyi Meeting ended the rule of the "Left" line in the Party Central Committee and saved the Party at the most critical juncture; third, they emphasize that the Zunyi Meeting established Comrade Mao Zedong's leadership position in the Red Army and the Party Central Committee, enabling the Red Army and the Party Central Committee to survive under extremely perilous circumstances; fourth, they emphasize that the Zunyi Meeting opened up a new situation in the Chinese revolution for defeating Zhang Guotao's splittism and victoriously completing the Long March. Of course, in these three historical resolutions and three evaluations, the wording of each evaluation has subtle differences. But one important conclusion in the third evaluation cannot be regarded as a subtle difference. This conclusion is: "began to form the Party's first generation of central leadership collective with Comrade Mao Zedong at its core, and opened a new stage in which the Party independently and autonomously solved the practical problems of the Chinese revolution."

In what aspects was Mao Zedong's "core" status reflected? According to what Chen Yun stated in the "Outline of the Report on the Enlarged Meeting of the Political Bureau in Zunyi," the first decision adopted at the Zunyi Meeting was that "Comrade Mao Zedong was elected as a member of the Standing Committee." After the Zunyi Meeting, when dividing responsibilities among the Standing Committee members, it was explicitly stipulated that Mao Zedong would assist Zhou Enlai in military command. Since the Party's leadership at that time was primarily leadership of military struggle, Mao Zedong thereby entered the central leadership collective and assumed the leadership task of military command. After the Zunyi Meeting, major military decisions were all made by Mao Zedong leading everyone, and soon the passive situation of the Central Red Army was reversed, ultimately winning the great victory of the Red Army's Long March.

That the Zunyi Meeting began to form the Party's first generation of central leadership collective with Comrade Mao Zedong at its core was proposed and repeatedly emphasized by Deng Xiaoping in May and June 1989. Of course, this does not mean that we had never used the concept of "core" before. For example, at the Seven Thousand Cadres Conference convened by the Central Committee in 1962, Deng Xiaoping said: "In our Party, during a certain period in the past, the Central Committee and Comrade Mao Zedong both particularly emphasized establishing a core; later, once the core was generally established, they particularly emphasized how to be a good 'squad leader.' That is to say, a core must be established. Without establishing a core, being in a state of laxity, the work of this Party committee cannot be done well." It should be said that the "core" Deng Xiaoping spoke of here referred to the "squad leader" of the Party committee, which is not exactly the same as the "core of the Party Central Committee" he later emphasized, but there is a connection, because the Party Central Committee, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, and the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee also have a "core" in the sense of a "squad leader."

The formation of Comrade Mao Zedong's core position was a process, and the "beginning of the formation" of Comrade Mao Zedong's core position at the Zunyi Meeting was also a process

As everyone knows (众所周知, zhong suo zhou zhi - "public, what, know, know"), the core of the Party's first generation of central leadership collective was Mao Zedong. However, the formation and establishment of this core position was a process. Comrade Mao Zedong's core position "began to form" at the Zunyi Meeting; the enlarged Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Party held in 1938 established Comrade Mao Zedong's core position in the Party Central Committee politically and ideologically; after the Yan'an Rectification Movement, in March 1943, during the process of adjusting the central leadership organs, Mao Zedong was formally confirmed as Chairman of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and Chairman of the Secretariat of the Central Committee, and it was stipulated that "the Chairman has the power of final decision"; the Seventh Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee further, in the form of a historical resolution, fully affirmed Comrade Mao Zedong's leadership position in the whole Party; the Seventh National Congress of the Party held in 1945 was the marker of the establishment of Comrade Mao Zedong's core position and the formation of the Party's first generation of central leadership collective with Comrade Mao Zedong at its core.

The greatest contribution of the Zunyi Meeting was precisely "beginning to form the Party's first generation of central leadership collective with Comrade Mao Zedong at its core." Using this to characterize the greatest contribution of the Zunyi Meeting, we can note that the "beginning of the formation" of Comrade Mao Zedong's core position was a process, which determined that the Zunyi Meeting was likewise a process.

The fundamental reason the Zunyi Meeting was able to end the rule of the "Left" line in the Party Central Committee and establish Comrade Mao Zedong's leadership position in the Red Army and the Party Central Committee was that the Party Central Committee accepted Mao Zedong's strategy and tactics. This was related to Mao Zedong's candid exchanges and communication with central leaders such as Wang Jiaxiang and Zhang Wentian on the road of the Long March, and to the strong calls of the frontline commanders and fighters of the Red Army, but most importantly it was directly related to the three meetings successively held by the leaders of the Party Central Committee at the critical juncture: the Tongdao Meeting, the Liping Meeting, and the Houchang Meeting. The Tongdao Meeting and the Liping Meeting resolved the question of the strategic policy of the Central Red Army; Mao Zedong's proposals received the endorsement of the majority of comrades present, and the "Decision of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee on Strategic Policy" was adopted. The meeting of the Political Bureau held at Houchang after crossing the Wujiang River not only decided to first create a new base area in the northern Guizhou region centered on Zunyi, and then in southern Sichuan, but also decided that regarding the choice of operational policy, operational timing, and operational locations, the Military Commission must report to the meeting of the Political Bureau, so as to strengthen the Political Bureau's leadership over the Military Commission. This decision in effect stripped Bo Gu and Li De of their military command authority. Therefore, the three meetings held before the Zunyi Meeting and the Zunyi Meeting itself have an inseparable internal connection; they were the preparatory stage of the Zunyi Meeting.

The Zunyi Meeting was the decisive stage of the struggle between the correct line and the erroneous line, and at the same time the decisive stage of the "beginning of the formation" of Comrade Mao Zedong's core position. At the three-day Zunyi Meeting held from January 15 to 17, 1935, after full democratic discussion among the high-level Party leadership, Mao Zedong's lengthy speech subjected the errors of Bo Gu and Li De in military command to penetrating and insightful analysis (鞭辟入里, bian pi ru li - "whip, pierce, enter, inside") and criticism, expounding on the strategic and tactical questions of the Chinese revolutionary war and the policies that should be adopted militarily thereafter. Mao Zedong's speech received the support of the overwhelming majority of leading comrades present. At the same time, the meeting decided to reorganize the central leadership organs, electing Mao Zedong as a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee; decided to make appropriate division of responsibilities among the Standing Committee members; and abolished the "Three-Person Group" established before the Long March, composed of Bo Gu, Li De, and Zhou Enlai, with the supreme military commanders Zhu De and Zhou Enlai as military commanders, and Zhou Enlai as the person entrusted by the Party with the responsibility for making the final decision on military command. The meeting finally designated Zhang Wentian to draft the resolution, entrusted the Standing Committee to review it, and then distributed it to the Party branches for discussion. Mao Zedong's becoming a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee meant that he had entered the Party's highest decision-making level for the first time.

A series of meetings after the Zunyi Meeting, from the Zhaxi Meeting to the Gouba Meeting, constituted the subsequent stage in which Mao Zedong began to become the core of the Party Central Committee. The emergency meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee held in Tucheng on January 28, 1935, decided to cross the Chishui River westward in order to preserve the strength of the Central Red Army. The Zhaxi Meeting held in early February formally adopted the resolution of the Zunyi Meeting drafted by Zhang Wentian, namely the "Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Summary of the Counter-Campaign against the Enemy's Fifth 'Encirclement and Suppression,'" and at the same time divided responsibilities among the members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, deciding that Zhang Wentian would replace Bo Gu in assuming overall responsibility for the Central Committee, deciding that Mao Zedong would assist Zhou Enlai in military command, and that Bo Gu would serve as acting director of the General Political Department. The Zhaxi Meeting also, on Mao Zedong's proposal, crossed the Chishui River a second time and returned to Zunyi. On March 4, after the Second Front Army's second entry into Zunyi, the Central Military Commission established the Frontline Command Headquarters, with Zhu De as commander-in-chief and Mao Zedong as political commissar. However, at the subsequently held Gouba Meeting, everyone except Mao Zedong advocated attacking Daguxin Field, which was occupied by the Guizhou Army, and so the story occurred of Mao Zedong carrying a kerosene lamp in the middle of the night to persuade Zhou Enlai. It was later proven that Mao Zedong was right, and so it was decided to establish a "New Three-Person Group" composed of Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Wang Jiaxiang to command the military operations of the entire army. Then came the third crossing of the Chishui River and the fourth crossing of the Chishui River; the Red Army turned from passivity to initiative and embarked on the road to victory. Therefore, from the Zunyi Meeting to the Gouba Meeting constitutes the final stage of what we call the "beginning of the formation" at the Zunyi Meeting of the Party's first generation of central leadership collective with Comrade Mao Zedong at its core.

The Zunyi Meeting at which Comrade Mao Zedong's core position "began to form" can be distinguished into a narrow-sense Zunyi Meeting and a broad-sense Zunyi Meeting

In summary, what we often call the "beginning of the formation" at the Zunyi Meeting of the Party's first generation of central leadership collective with Comrade Mao Zedong at its core is a complete process composed of the "preparatory stage" before the Zunyi Meeting, the "decisive stage" of the Zunyi Meeting, and the "subsequent stage" after the Zunyi Meeting. Upon further examination, we can note that although the "preparatory stage" before the Zunyi Meeting was of great significance to the Zunyi Meeting, it did not yet equal the Zunyi Meeting. But the "subsequent stage" of the Zunyi Meeting is different; this stage should be an inseparable component of the Zunyi Meeting.

This is because, at that time, the war was in a state of intense progress, and it was impossible for the entire agenda of the Zunyi Meeting to be completed within the limited time. In fact, some leaders at the time did not finish the meeting before rushing back to the front lines to command operations. The resolution of the Zunyi Meeting could only be adopted at the Zhaxi Meeting after the Zunyi Meeting. The establishment of the "New Three-Person Group" to command the military operations of the entire army and the complete establishment of Mao Zedong's leadership position could only be completed at the Gouba Meeting. That is to say, in the historical process of the "beginning of the formation" at the Zunyi Meeting of the Party's first generation of central leadership collective with Comrade Mao Zedong at its core, important meetings such as the Zhaxi Meeting and the Gouba Meeting were included. From this it can be seen that there is a distinction between the narrow-sense Zunyi Meeting and the broad-sense Zunyi Meeting. The narrow-sense Zunyi Meeting is the three-day Zunyi Meeting held from January 15 to 17, 1935; the broad-sense Zunyi Meeting also includes the Zhaxi Meeting and the Gouba Meeting.

Using history as a mirror for the present (以史鉴今, yi shi jian jin - "use, history, examine, today"), deeply comprehend the decisive significance of the Two Establishments (两个确立)

The history of Party building in the new era likewise tells us that from the First Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee of the Party proposing "taking the lead in upholding the authority of the Central Committee," to 2015 proposing that there must be a strong consciousness of aligning, regularly and proactively aligning with the Party Central Committee, until the formation of the Four Consciousnesses, the Two Upholds, and the Two Establishments, this process of cognitive formation was both a requirement put forward by the development of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era and an inheritance of the historical experience of the Communist Party of China.

Just as the lofty spirit of the Red Army soldiers in the Long March who were unafraid of sacrifice and fought heroically, and because of the beginning of the formation of the Party's first generation of central leadership collective with Comrade Mao Zedong at its core and its correct leadership that turned the tide, these struggles and these sacrifices were exchanged for the fruit of the victory of the Long March, so today we must give full play to the creative power of hundreds of millions of people through reform and opening up, and transform the creative power of hundreds of millions of people into a better life that benefits hundreds of millions of people. This also depends on the entire Party and the people of all ethnic groups across the country strengthening the Four Consciousnesses, consolidating the Four Confidences, and achieving the Two Upholds, and only then can we create new miracles of the new era under the centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee.

On the occasion of commemorating the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March, conducting in-depth further research on the Zunyi Meeting can not only enable us to more deeply understand the practical significance of Deng Xiaoping's important thought that "the key lies in the leadership core," but also enable us to more consciously and deeply comprehend the decisive significance of the Two Establishments, and more closely unite around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, united as one with all people (万众一心, wan zhong yi xin - "ten thousand, masses, one, heart"), overcoming difficulties and tackling tough problems (攻坚克难, gong jian ke nan - "attack, stronghold, overcome, difficulty"), and accomplish the sacred mission entrusted to us by history and the era of building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation.

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Party Governance Practices During the New Democratic Revolution

By: 祝彦

As early as 1939, during the war years, Liu Shaoqi stated in On the Cultivation of Communist Party Members that the Communist Party of China is one of the best communist parties in the world. Where does this "best" lie? Apart from possessing the other advantages of a Marxist party, it is also because the Communist Party of China has always attached importance to managing and governing the Party and governing it strictly, thereby ensuring the Party's quality of advancedness and purity. During the period of the New Democratic Revolution, our Party's active exploration of managing and governing the Party still holds enlightening significance today.

Regarding Party discipline as the "first and most important obligation." The Communist Party of China was born in a semi-colonial and semi-feudal social state where civilization was sullied and mud was everywhere. How to remain pure despite a corrupt environment (出淤泥而不染, chu yu ni er bu ran - "exit, mud, but, not, stain") and maintain the advancedness and purity of a Marxist party — reality cruelly tested the cultivation and quality of Communists.

Putting discipline first was an important measure in exploring how to manage and govern the Party. At the Party's founding and during the Great Revolution period, discipline was particularly emphasized. The First Program of the Communist Party of China contained strict disciplinary provisions: "Unless compelled by law, Party members may not serve as government officials or members of parliament without the Party's special permission. Soldiers, police, and staff are not subject to this restriction." Bound by this discipline, many revolutionary pioneers gave up the respectable, well-paid jobs they originally held and became professional revolutionaries. As the revolutionary cause developed, the Party's emphasis on discipline became even stricter. The first Constitution of the Communist Party of China, adopted at the Party's Second National Congress, devoted a separate chapter to "Discipline" (namely Chapter Four), listing nine disciplinary requirements in total, including expulsion for being absent from meetings twice consecutively without reason, failing to pay Party dues for three months, failing to serve the Party for four consecutive weeks without reason, and divulging Party secrets. Before the strict discipline of managing and governing the Party, some weak-willed individuals left the organization or even defected to reactionary groups; the prominent negative examples were Chen Gongbo and Zhou Fohai, who were expelled from the Party for violating Party discipline. As the Party Constitution of the Fifth National Congress emphasized, "Strict Party discipline is the first and most important obligation of all Party members and all Party organs."

Another important avenue and measure actively explored for managing and governing the Party was beginning to focus on the fight against corruption and establishing the Party's discipline inspection organs. From 1926 to early 1927, with the arrival of the climax of the Great Revolution, the number of Party members surged sharply. Speculators in society, and even reactionary politicians, "also came to knock on the door of the CP (i.e., the Chinese Communist Party)," and "some among our comrades became corrupt officials (that is, with unclear finances, embezzlement, and other malpractices)." To ensure the Party's purity, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued on August 4, 1926, the Party's first document in its history on punishing corruption and embezzlement, the Circular on Resolutely Cleaning Out Corrupt and Degenerate Elements; at the same time, the Party's Fifth National Congress established the first Central Supervisory Commission, providing a strong organizational guarantee for managing and governing the Party. Due to the White Terror before and after the failure of the Great Revolution, the fight against corruption did not have time to be widely carried out at the practical level, but the exploration of managing and governing the Party accumulated valuable historical experience for the Party's subsequent self-construction.

Fostering the "fine work style of Soviet area cadres." After the failure of the Great Revolution, Chinese Communists combined the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism with the concrete practice of the Chinese revolution, forming a prairie fire of revolution, establishing rural revolutionary base areas, and setting up Soviet political power. As the focus of the revolution shifted to the countryside, the sources of Party members and Red Army troops naturally became predominantly peasants. As Mao Zedong analyzed and pointed out, "because the largest part of the Party's organizational base is composed of elements of peasant and other petty-bourgeois origin." As a result, various non-proletarian ideas existed to varying degrees within the Party, government, and military of the base areas, manifested concretely as rejecting the Party's leadership, resisting ideological and political work, being unwilling to do arduous mass work, lacking organization and discipline, and liking to be wayward or inefficient in administration (走州过府, zou zhou guo fu - "walk, state, pass, government"). How to shape a proletarian party armed with Marxist theory — Communists made unremitting efforts to this end.

Managing and governing the Party started from the source, strictly enforcing the conditions for Party membership. The principles of building the Party ideologically and building the army politically, established at the Gutian Conference held in December 1929, provided the fundamental guidance for managing and governing the Party and the army. The conference also pointed out that developing new Party members should emphasize quality, stipulating that new elements joining the Party must meet the following requirements: (1) No errors in political views (including class consciousness). (2) Loyalty. (3) A spirit of sacrifice and the ability to work actively. (4) No idea of getting rich. (5) No opium smoking, no gambling.

By establishing institutions and perfecting systems, organizational and institutional guarantees were provided for managing and governing the Party. The Central Soviet Area successively established the Central Party Affairs Committee, provincial and county supervisory commissions of the Central Soviet Area, and the Workers' and Peasants' Inspection Department, among other organs, and required "maintaining the iron discipline of the proletarian party, correctly executing iron discipline... inspecting various incorrect tendencies that violate the Party's general line, bureaucratism, and corruption, and waging a relentless struggle against them." At the same time, systems for financial budgets, final accounts, revenues, expenditures, and use were successively established, financial accounting systems were improved, and special audit systems were established.

Formulating anti-corruption documents and severely punishing corrupt elements according to law. On December 15, 1933, the Central Executive Committee of the Chinese Soviet Republic issued Order No. 26, the Regulations on Punishing Corruption and Waste, stipulating that staff of Soviet organs, state enterprises, and public organizations who used their positions to embezzle public funds of 500 yuan or more would be sentenced to death; those embezzling 300 to 500 yuan would be sentenced to imprisonment of 2 to 5 years; and those embezzling 100 to 300 yuan would be sentenced to imprisonment of 6 months to 2 years. In accordance with these regulations, Soviet governments at all levels seriously investigated and dealt with corruption cases, winning broad popular support. During the Agrarian Revolutionary War period, the management and governance of the Party achieved notable results, fostering the "fine work style of Soviet area cadres."

Forming the vivid situation of "seeing only public servants, not officials." The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was the longest period of local governance by the Communist Party of China in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region centered on Yan'an, testing the Party's level of governance, ability, cultivation, and work style. This was because: first, the class composition within the anti-Japanese national united front was complex, and it was inevitable that remnants of old feudal forces contended with the Communist Party's proletarian ideology. In particular, corruption within the Kuomintang and the Kuomintang's wooing and corroding of Communist Party members placed our Party under the serious danger of being corroded and bureaucratized. Second, the New Democratic policy economically permitted the development of private capitalism and national capitalism, which provided the possibility for decadent capitalist ideas to invade the Party's body. Third, the quality of the Communist Party's local governance directly affected popular support. During this period, the exploration and practice of managing and governing the Party was very successful and produced a qualified answer sheet. The reputation of "seeing only public servants, not officials" was a high affirmation of Communist Party governance.

Based on a sober understanding of the situation faced, the Communist Party of China openly proposed the political program of building a clean government, making the construction of Party management and governance more programmatic, institutionalized, and legalized. In August 1937, the Ten-Point Program for Resisting Japan and Saving the Nation, formulated at the Luochuan Conference, proposed "eliminating corrupt officials and establishing a clean government." In early 1939, the Program of Government During the War of Resistance in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, formulated by the First Senate of the Border Region, stipulated "carrying forward the style of hard work, strictly practicing clean politics, and eliminating corruption and degeneration." On May 1, 1941, the Program of Government of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, proposed by the Border Region Party Central Bureau and approved and published by the Central Political Bureau, stipulated: "Strictly practice clean politics, severely punish corruption by public servants, prohibit any public servant from using public office for private gain (假公济私, jia gong ji si - "false, public, aid, private"), and Communist Party members who break the law shall be punished more severely." The promulgation of these governing programs clearly demonstrated the Communist Party of China's governing stance.

In order to build a clean government, on August 15, 1938, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region government published the Interim Regulations of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region on Punishing Corruption, and launched a vigorous anti-corruption struggle. From 1939 to 1940, the Border Region government successively investigated and dealt with 150 corrupt elements among township-level cadres and 27 at the district level and above, expelling them one by one from the organs of political power and bringing those who had committed heinous crimes (罪大恶极, zui da e ji - "crime, great, evil, extreme") to justice. At the end of 1941, Xiao Yubi was executed for embezzling 3,050 yuan of public funds. The Liberation Daily published an editorial commentary saying: "We must ensure that on the ground of 'clean politics,' not a single weed of the 'Xiao Yubi' type is allowed to grow! If there is one, pull it out!"

Realizing that "the sky over the liberated areas is a bright sky." The War of Liberation was a period of decisive battle between two destinies and two futures for China, a period in which the New Democratic Revolution moved from partial victory to nationwide victory. At a time when the revolutionary situation was developing rapidly and military struggles were winning successive victories, against the backdrop of "a world-shaking change or upheaval (天翻地覆, tian fan di fu - "sky, overturn, earth, overturn") inspiring heroic song," how to ensure the Party's advancedness and purity was a difficult hurdle the Communist Party of China faced on the eve of victory. The Party led the people's armed forces in beginning to enter the cities from the countryside; the working environment and living conditions improved, and managing and governing the Party and governing it strictly faced new challenges.

During this period, managing and governing the Party was prominently reflected in strengthening disciplinary awareness and upholding the centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee. This was because, with the development of the revolutionary situation, it was necessary to overcome certain states of indiscipline and anarchy, as well as localism and guerrilla-ism, that had arisen from the long-term environment of guerrilla warfare in which the Party had been separated and surrounded by the enemy, and to concentrate all power that could and must be centralized in the Central Committee and its representative organs. To this end, the Party Central Committee successively issued a series of fundamental systems regulating inner-Party life, including the Instruction on Establishing the Reporting System, the Decision on the System of Requesting Instructions and Reporting in Propaganda Work, the Instruction on Strictly Implementing the Reporting System, the Notice on the Business of Organization Departments and the System of Reporting and Requesting Instructions, and Methods of Work of Party Committees. The establishment of these systems played a major role in strengthening the Party's centralized, unified leadership, further unifying the Party's will and discipline, enlivening inner-Party democratic life, and ensuring the correct implementation of the Party's line, principles, and policies, and made important political, ideological, and organizational preparations for the Party to seize and hold nationwide political power.

Carrying out the Party consolidation and army consolidation movements. Since the victory of the War of Resistance, the Party's organization had developed greatly, and by 1948 Party membership had grown to 3 million. In order to overcome non-proletarian ideas and bureaucratic work styles within the Party, grassroots Party organizations in the various liberated areas, beginning in the winter of 1947, carried out a Party consolidation movement in conjunction with land reform, with the basic content of the "three investigations" (investigating class, investigating ideology, investigating work style) and the "three consolidations" (consolidating organization, consolidating ideology, consolidating work style). Through the Party consolidation, grassroots Party organizations in the countryside made great progress ideologically, politically, and organizationally, and the Party's ties with the masses became closer.

Formulating regulations for punishing corruption and cracking down on corrupt practices. The Northeast Administrative Committee, the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Border Region, the Huaihai Liberated Area, and the Northern Jiangsu Liberated Area successively promulgated the Interim Regulations of the Northeast Liberated Area on Punishing Corruption, the Regulations of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Border Region on Punishing Corruption, the Amended Interim Regulations of the Huaihai Area on Punishing Corruption, and the Interim Regulations of the Northern Jiangsu Area on Rewarding Thrift and Punishing Corruption. In accordance with these regulations, corrupt practices were effectively cracked down upon, the ranks of Party members and cadres were purified, and the role of Party organizations as fighting bastions was consolidated. Through managing and governing the Party and governing it strictly, the masses in the liberated areas saw the Communist Party's quality and work style and sang from the bottom of their hearts: "The sky over the liberated areas is a bright sky, the people of the liberated areas are so happy, the democratic government loves the people, and the Communist Party's kindness is beyond words!"

The exploration of managing and governing the Party and governing it strictly during the New Democratic Revolution successfully forged a force whose largest part of the Party's organizational base was composed of elements of peasant and other petty-bourgeois origin into a party organization that serves the people wholeheartedly, undergoing a transformative rebirth through suffering (凤凰涅槃, feng huang nie pan - "phoenix, nirvana, pass"), winning the broadest support of the masses of the people, and achieving the great victory of the New Democratic Revolution. Its experience still holds important enlightenment today.

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Consolidating the "Root" and "Soul" of State-Owned Enterprises

By: 连轶源

On October 10, 2016, the National Conference on Party Building in State-Owned Enterprises was held, at which General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech. The key points of the speech, under the title "Upholding the Party's Leadership and Strengthening Party Building Are the Unique Advantages of State-Owned Enterprises," were included in the first volume of Selected Works of Xi Jinping on Party Building. This important document, from the height of upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics and consolidating the Party's governing foundation, profoundly answers a series of major questions concerning the reform and development of state-owned enterprises and Party building, makes comprehensive arrangements for how state-owned enterprises should uphold the Party's leadership and strengthen Party building, provides scientific guidance for the reform and development of state-owned enterprises and Party building in the new era, and is an important document for studying and implementing Xi Jinping's thought on Party building.

State-owned enterprises are an important pillar and supporting force for the Party's governance and rejuvenation of the country

Since the reform and opening up, under the Party's leadership, state-owned enterprises have achieved accomplishments drawing worldwide attention (举世瞩目, jushi zhumu - "raise, world, gaze"). As the pillar of the national economy, state-owned enterprises occupy a dominant position in important industries and key fields related to national security and the economic lifeline, making historic contributions to China's economic and social development, scientific and technological progress, national defense construction, and improvement of people's livelihoods. However, for a period of time, there have been some vague understandings in society regarding the status and role of state-owned enterprises, and regarding issues such as state-owned enterprises upholding the Party's leadership and strengthening Party building. General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches great importance to state-owned enterprises. In this important document, he emphatically pointed out that "state-owned enterprises are an important material and political foundation of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and are an important pillar and supporting force for our Party's governance and rejuvenation of the country," profoundly revealing the extreme importance of state-owned enterprises in consolidating the socialist system and cementing the Party's governing position. General Secretary Xi Jinping also emphasized that "upholding the Party's leadership and strengthening Party building are the glorious tradition of China's state-owned enterprises, the 'root' and 'soul' of state-owned enterprises, and the unique advantages of China's state-owned enterprises," revealing the historical inevitability and political logic of state-owned enterprises upholding the Party's leadership and strengthening Party building, elevating the Party's leadership and Party building to a height related to the direction of state-owned enterprise reform and development, and clarifying the political character of state-owned enterprises in the new era.

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "upholding the Party's leadership over state-owned enterprises is a major political principle that must be consistent from beginning to end (一以贯之, yi yi guan zhi - "one, continuously, pass through"); establishing a modern enterprise system is the direction of state-owned enterprise reform and must also be consistent from beginning to end," emphasizing that "what makes the modern enterprise system with Chinese characteristics special is precisely the integration of the Party's leadership into all aspects of corporate governance, embedding Party organizations within enterprises into the corporate governance structure." This important exposition clarifies the fundamental principle of the organic unity of the basic laws of corporate governance and the special attributes of state-owned enterprises, enriching and developing our Party's understanding of the laws of leadership over state-owned enterprises. General Secretary Xi Jinping also emphasized that "the Party organizations of state-owned enterprises play the role of leadership core and political core, which boils down to one point: setting the direction, managing the overall situation, and ensuring implementation," requiring "clarifying the powers, responsibilities, and working methods of Party organizations in the links of decision-making, execution, and supervision, so that the role of Party organizations is exercised in an organized, institutionalized, and concrete manner," profoundly clarifying the status and role of Party organizations and the basic path for integrating the Party's leadership into corporate governance.

Unswervingly uphold the Party's leadership over state-owned enterprises

This important document clearly puts forward the "general requirements" for state-owned enterprises to uphold the Party's leadership and strengthen Party building under the new situation. It is highly strategic, ideological, and targeted, is a programmatic document for strengthening Party building in state-owned enterprises under the new situation, and has important guiding significance for making state-owned enterprises stronger, better, and larger and for advancing the development of the Party's and the country's undertakings. Over the past ten years, the principles and requirements set forth in this important document have been fully implemented, the corporate governance structure of state-owned enterprises has been systematically reshaped, Party building in enterprises has undergone historic changes, and the problems of weakened, diluted, virtualized, and marginalized Party leadership and Party building in state-owned enterprises have been fundamentally reversed. On the one hand, the construction of the Party leadership system has completed the leap from principled requirements to systematic norms. The Party Constitution adopted at the 19th National Congress of the Party clearly stipulates that "the Party committee (Party leading group) of a state-owned enterprise plays a leadership role"; intra-Party regulations such as the Regulations on the Work of Primary-Level Party Organizations in State-Owned Enterprises of the Communist Party of China (Trial) and the newly revised Company Law clarify the statutory status of Party organizations in enterprises; at the enterprise level, "Party building incorporated into the articles of association" has been fully realized, lists of major operational and management matters for prior research and discussion have been generally formulated, "two-way entry and cross-appointment" has been fully implemented, and a corporate governance mechanism with statutory powers and responsibilities, transparent powers and responsibilities, coordinated operation, and effective checks and balances is being rapidly formed. On the other hand, under the strong leadership of the Party, the reform and development of state-owned enterprises have achieved remarkable accomplishments. As of the end of 2025, the total assets of central enterprises exceeded 95 trillion yuan, with an average annual growth rate of 6.9% during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, fully demonstrating the strategic supporting role of the state-owned economy and consolidating the material foundation for the Party's governance and rejuvenation of the country.

Adhering to a problem-oriented approach and solving prominent problems is a distinctive feature of this important document. Measured against the principled yardstick established by this important document, we must also soberly recognize that there are still some gaps and deficiencies in the current reform and development of state-owned enterprises. Some involve a tendency toward formalization in decision-making gatekeeping, with problems such as prior research and discussion being "going through the motions," lists being "the same thickness from top to bottom," and unclear boundaries between "deliberation" and "decision" existing to varying degrees. The Opinions on Improving the Modern Enterprise System with Chinese Characteristics issued by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council deploys "improving the quality and efficiency of prior research and discussion," and the target is precisely this. Some involve shortcomings in organizational coverage. Under the trends of platform-based enterprise organizational forms and diversified employment methods, questions urgently need to be answered: how organizational coverage should follow up to mixed-ownership enterprises, overseas institutions, and newly established units; how management of mobile Party members should be made solid; and how organizational functions should avoid being "visible but ineffective." Some involve insufficient adaptation in ideological guidance. Facing situations such as intergenerational replacement of employees and fragmented information reception, the working methods of reading mechanically from a script without understanding (照本宣科, zhao ben xuan ke - "follow, book, recite, 科") and indiscriminate flooding are difficult to achieve entering the ears, entering the mind, and entering the heart. Some involve challenges from new types of corruption and hidden corruption, with problems such as "shadow shareholders" and "option corruption" appearing from time to time. General Secretary Xi Jinping successively required at the Third and Fourth Plenary Sessions of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection to "strengthen rapid handling of new types of corruption and hidden corruption" and "enrich effective methods for preventing and combating new types of corruption and hidden corruption," which is of great significance. Some of these problems are remnants of the problems of "weakened, diluted, virtualized, and marginalized" Party leadership and Party building, while others are new manifestations under the profound changes in enterprise forms, employment methods, and market environment. This shows that upholding the Party's leadership and strengthening Party building has only a present continuous tense, not a perfect tense.

Leading and guaranteeing high-quality development of state-owned enterprises with high-quality Party building

On the new journey, we must deeply study and implement Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, continue to follow the requirements set forth in this important document, and lead and guarantee high-quality development of state-owned enterprises with high-quality Party building.

Further improve the quality of decision-making. Implement the requirements of "setting the direction, managing the overall situation, and ensuring implementation," optimize the list of matters for prior research and discussion, clarify boundaries and improve quality and efficiency, and promote decision-making gatekeeping from "procedural review" toward "strategic orientation"; forge the decision-making capacity of leadership teams with political judgment, political understanding, and political execution, guide leading personnel to establish and practice a correct view of political achievements, achieve political achievements for the people and through practical work; strictly implement democratic centralism, implement the systems of final-position statement and post-decision evaluation, so that major decisions can withstand the test of practice, the people, and history.

Further strengthen organizational support. In accordance with the requirement that "full and rigorous self-governance of the Party must be implemented and landed in state-owned enterprises, and must start strictly from basic organizations, basic teams, and basic systems," adhere to setting up Party organizations following projects, industrial chains, and innovation chains, and promote the coverage of Party organizations in mixed-ownership enterprises, overseas institutions, and newly established units; adhere to the Party managing cadres and the Party managing talent, and in accordance with the standards for leading personnel of state-owned enterprises of "loyal to the Party, courageous in innovation, skilled in enterprise management, effective in revitalizing the enterprise, and honest and upright," identify cadres and use key personnel in urgent, difficult, dangerous, and heavy tasks; promote the transformation of organizational functions from "carrying out activities" to "solving difficult problems," and transform the political advantages and organizational advantages of Party organizations into the innovation advantages, development advantages, and competitive advantages of enterprises.

Further consolidate spiritual strength. Practice the policy of "wholeheartedly relying on the working class," unremittingly use the Party's innovative theories to unite people's hearts and strength (凝心聚力, ning xin ju li - "congeal, heart, gather, strength"), promote the extension of theoretical arming from the "key minority" to the "overwhelming majority," combine solving ideological problems with solving practical problems, and enhance political identity, ideological identity, theoretical identity, and emotional identity; vigorously promote the advanced spirit of state-owned enterprises, make good use of red resources and industrial heritage, and transform red genes from historical memory into motivation for serving the country through industry; implement the responsibility system for ideological work, promote the deep integration of ideological and political work with corporate culture building, and gather surging strength for reform and development.

Further cultivate the political ecology. Shoulder the political responsibility for full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, adhere to grasping Party spirit, Party conduct, and Party discipline together, persevering and never giving up (锲而不舍, qie er bu she - "carve, and, not, abandon") in implementing the spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulation, striking at hedonistic and extravagant unhealthy tendencies as soon as they emerge, and carrying out targeted rectification of formalism and bureaucracy; promote in an integrated manner the deterrence of not daring to be corrupt, the cage of not being able to be corrupt, and the conscience of not wanting to be corrupt, keep a close eye on the "key minority," and deepen the use of cases to promote reform and governance; improve the grand supervision pattern of coordinated and interconnected intra-Party supervision and internal enterprise supervision, so that cadres can work and start businesses under the premise of integrity, and use the "lucid waters and lush mountains" of the political ecology to safeguard the "gold and silver mountains" of enterprise development.

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“Scholarship must be carried forward, not merely copied”

By: 赵建永

Rao Zongyi (1917–2018), courtesy name Xuantang, was a native of Chaozhou, Guangdong, and a renowned contemporary master of Chinese studies celebrated both at home and abroad. He served successively as professor at the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and concurrently held posts including member of the Central Research Institute of Culture and History, president of the Xiling Seal Art Society, academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences, and foreign academician of the Institut de France. Alongside Qian Zhongshu and Ji Xianlin, Rao Zongyi was hailed as "Southern Rao, Northern Qian" and "Southern Rao, Northern Ji." Integrating self-cultivation and scholarship with applying knowledge to practical social needs (经世致用, jing shi zhi yong - "manage the world, apply to practical use"), Rao Zongyi forged an academic path between upholding orthodoxy and blazing new trails, one that bridges past and present and synthesizes Chinese and Western learning.

"Stand upright in conduct, work wonders in scholarship." Rao Zongyi's scholarship was marked by exceptional breadth and mastering various fields through integration (融会贯通, rong hui guan tong - "melt, combine; connect, penetrate"). His research scope was vast: in his early years he expanded from local studies to national literature and history, in mid-career he set his sights on Sino-foreign relations and the history of human civilization, and in his later years he turned to exploring the spiritual core of Chinese culture. Methodologically, he built on the foundation of "seeking truth, seeking authenticity, seeking righteousness," distilling the dialectical principle of "standing upright in conduct, working wonders in scholarship," so that self-cultivation and scholarly pursuit reinforced each other. He held that in life one should promote righteous spirit, uphold integrity, and insist on justice, cementing the foundation of one's standing through illuminating virtue and carrying forward the Way; in scholarship, one should break new ground through originality, daring to venture into realms predecessors had not explored, breaking free from the confines of conventional thinking, and boldly pioneering innovation.

According to statistics, Rao Zongyi produced as many as 50 pioneering academic achievements, such as compiling the first complete collection of Ming dynasty ci poetry, Quan Ming Ci, and the first study of ci poetry through textual criticism and other methods, Ciji Kao (A Study of Ci Collections). He was also the first to systematically expound the historical connotations of the "Maritime Silk Road." Drawing on his profound learning and keen insight, whenever he encountered a piece of material, he would connect it to the broader scholarly context and draw analogies from related subjects, often transforming ordinary historical sources into entirely new insights.

In terms of empirical methodology, building on Wang Guowei's "double evidence method," he developed a "fivefold evidence method," cross-referencing transmitted texts, excavated artifacts, field archaeology, ethnographic sources, and ancient histories of foreign lands. Whenever a major archaeological discovery was announced, he would immediately follow up with research, extracting solid arguments from scattered artifacts to supplement and correct historical records. To collect lost oracle bones, he traveled to Japan and Europe, writing Yindai Zhenbu Renwu Tongkao (A Comprehensive Study of Diviners in the Shang Dynasty), which earned him the "Prix Stanislas Julien," the highest honor in international Sinology. He systematically organized Dunhuang manuscripts, published for the first time the precious manuscript Wenxin Diaolong, edited the Dunhuang Shufa Congkan (Collected Works of Dunhuang Calligraphy), and authored works such as Dunhuang Laozi Xiang'er Zhu Jiaojian (An Annotated Collation of the Dunhuang Commentary on the Laozi by Xiang'er) and Dunhuang Qu (Dunhuang Songs), filling a series of research gaps and earning the Special Contribution Award for Dunhuang Cultural Relics Protection and Research.

He broke through the classificatory barriers of the "classics, history, philosophy, and belles-lettres" system, bridging literature, history, philosophy, and the arts, and delving deeply into more than a dozen specialized fields including oracle bone studies, Dunhuang studies, archaeology, bibliography, ci poetry studies, phonology, and epigraphy, calligraphy, and painting. He was proficient in English, French, German, Japanese, as well as Sanskrit and cuneiform and other ancient scripts, breaking down barriers between Chinese and foreign sources and becoming a benchmark for cross-cultural, interdisciplinary research. His scholarship was not confined to any single school; he synthesized the best of various traditions. Ji Xianlin once summarized four distinctive features of his scholarship: exceptionally broad coverage, abundant citations, skillful use of archaeological materials, and a wealth of original achievements.

Advancing the revival of Chinese culture through new classical studies. Rao Zongyi advocated that "scholarship must be carried forward, not merely imitated." Perceiving the trend of academic transformation in the 20th century, Rao Zongyi made a forward-looking judgment as early as 1997: the 21st century would usher in a revival of Chinese culture. He also stressed that revival was not restoration of the old, but rather, relying on new archaeological findings, activating the contemporary value of the classics of Chinese learning and promoting Eastern wisdom to the world.

To this end, he took the lead in championing the construction of "new classical studies," continuing the classical tradition without blindly following old models, and endowing the classics with entirely new contemporary significance through new materials and new perspectives. In his view, the classics carry the thinking paradigms and life wisdom of the Chinese nation, embodying a "constant Way" that is remaining fresh and relevant over time (历久弥新, li jiu mi xin - "last a long time, become even newer"). The large number of bamboo and silk manuscripts unearthed in the 20th century restored the original form of the classics, creating a historical opportunity for reconstructing classical studies. The new classical studies Rao Zongyi advocated integrated multiple resources—transmitted texts, excavated bamboo and silk manuscripts, and overseas Chinese texts—to build an interpretive system of the classics suited to the contemporary era, providing Chinese wisdom for solving modern problems. For example, building on new classical studies research, Rao Zongyi, drawing on the concept of the unity of nature and humanity (天人合一, tian ren he yi - "heaven, human, combine as one") and borrowing from the "Yi" hexagram of the Zhouyi (Book of Changes), proposed the new thesis of "mutual benefit between nature and humanity." This idea transcends the limitation of the old view of the nature-human relationship as one-way submission to nature, advocating mutual benefit, symbiosis, and coordinated evolution between humanity and nature, while elevating the active role of the human subject. This viewpoint originates from the classical wisdom of mastering the classics and applying them to practical affairs, and also echoes the theoretical achievements of green development—precisely a demonstration of the living vitality of new classical studies.

To promote the implementation of new classical studies, Rao Zongyi gave full support to the Ruzang (Confucian Canon) project and was appointed as an advisor, regarding the compilation of Confucian classics as a key lever for reconstructing new classical studies and advancing cultural revival. He wrote articles systematically expounding the contemporary value of the Ruzang and its relationship to new classical studies, which Tang Yijie used to guide the compilation of the Ruzang. Rao Zongyi specially composed a couplet—"Adding new classics to the three treasuries, harmonizing the timely mean with great harmony"—to express mutual encouragement. He pointed out that both Buddhism and Daoism had complete canonical collections, and that Confucianism, as the main thread of the Chinese cultural lineage, urgently needed a complete canonical system; the Ruzang precisely filled this gap.

Cultivating both moral character and academic knowledge (德学兼修, de xue jian xiu - "virtue, learning, both cultivate"), advancing knowledge and action in tandem. Rao Zongyi insisted on self-cultivation as the foundation, advancing virtue and learning together, and regarded the nurturing of the mind as the root of scholarship. He held that scholarship must begin with calming the mind and cultivating oneself, casting off utilitarianism and impetuosity, viewing fame and gain with equanimity, and honing one's scholarly resolve through sustained self-reflection. He practiced what he preached, advocating that scholarship requires two kinds of effort: "Without 'patient endurance,' one cannot make progress; without 'a clarified mind,' one cannot concentrate on learning." The pursuit of scholarship values maintaining a proper balance between tension and relaxation (张弛有度, zhang chi you du - "stretch, relax, have measure"), persisting in something with constancy (持之以恒, chi zhi yi heng - "hold onto it, with perseverance"), learning through thinking, practicing, and reflecting (学思践悟, xue si jian wu - "learn, think, practice, realize"), advancing in coordination, and cultivating both internal character and external skills (内外兼修, nei wai jian xiu - "inner, outer, both cultivate").

Even in his later years, Rao Zongyi still worked at his desk more than ten hours a day. At the age of ninety, he was still innovating in his painting of lotus flowers; his "Rao lotus" style was uniquely his own, symbolizing both noble character and the responsibility of carrying forward cultural heritage. Approaching one hundred, he frankly admitted, "I have practiced calligraphy for over ninety years, and I still feel I need a teacher." At the age of one hundred, he remained clear-minded and continued to produce new works. This vigorous creative energy was the reward of lifelong self-cultivation and a proper balance between work and rest. Many of his academic achievements were completed after retirement, fully confirming that only through quiet accumulation and sustained, long-term effort can one go far and steadily.

Rao Zongyi always maintained a strong curiosity and desire for exploration, frequently traveling for academic visits, organically combining study in his study with fieldwork. Wherever he went, he would verify what was recorded in books and use his on-site observations to inspire new knowledge. He said: "The greatest joy of traveling the world is that what I have learned from books, I personally verify in the places I visit... Perhaps because my thirst for knowledge is too strong, I often walk forgetfully, think forgetfully, read forgetfully, and pursue forgetfully..." For him, travel was immersive academic investigation—broadening his horizons, breaking the limits of the study, strengthening his body, nurturing his mind, and stimulating innovative thinking.

Behind his vision of bridging East and West lay Rao Zongyi's consistent devotion to his country and cultural responsibility. As a representative figure of the contemporary "eastward transmission of Chinese learning to the West," when foreign scholars misinterpreted Chinese ancient texts, he used meticulous textual research to clarify and correct academic errors, safeguarding the international academic discourse power of Chinese culture and establishing cultural confidence and self-awareness. Leveraging Hong Kong and Macao's geographical advantage as a bridge between China and the outside world, he took on the role of a bridge: frequently traveling to the mainland to participate in the collation of cultural relics and ancient texts and academic seminars, and introducing overseas research resources. At the same time, he long taught Chinese studies at prestigious European and American universities, took the lead in founding journals such as Huaxue (Chinese Studies), and built a regular platform for Sinological exchange. He actively promoted Chinese learning to the world while also reflecting on local culture from a global perspective. He also translated his academic influence into social responsibility, holding charity auctions of his paintings and calligraphy and donating collections year after year to support disaster relief and cultural and educational causes at home.

Rao Zongyi's poetic lines "The meaning that never wears away through ten thousand ages; the mind that is free and at ease in the midst of the current" highly distill his scholarly purpose and realm of life. The confidence of being "at ease" comes from the value coordinates anchored by "never wearing away," enabling him to steady his mind amid turbulent waves, uphold the right path, and maintain his moral backbone.

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Handle Good Deeds and Real Services Well to Win the Hearts of People in Difficulty

By: 民政部党组书记、部长 李常官

People in difficulty are the people General Secretary Xi Jinping cares about most. General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches great importance to the work of providing assistance and support to people in difficulty. He has repeatedly entered villages and households to visit people in difficulty, and his footsteps of visiting the poor and inquiring about their hardships have traversed the whole country. He has made a series of important instructions on doing well the work of providing assistance and support to people in difficulty, pointing out that "toward people in difficulty, we must pay special attention, give special care, and show special concern, and do everything possible to help them (千方百计, qian fang bai ji - "thousand ways, hundred plans") solve their difficulties and relieve their worries," emphasizing that "leading cadres at all levels must always keep the safety and well-being of the people in their hearts," and requiring that "we establish and improve the working mechanism for assisting and supporting people in difficulty, deliver the care of the Party and the government to the hearts of people in difficulty, and let them feel the warmth of the socialist family," providing the fundamental guidance for doing well the work of providing assistance and support to people in difficulty.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has responded to the people's yearning for a better life, and, based on common prosperity for all the people and the all-round development of the individual, has promoted major achievements in "support for the weak." However, it must also be recognized that at present and for some time to come, China's assistance and support for people in difficulty still faces many challenges. China has already completed the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, but affected by employment and income, natural disasters, illness and disability, there still exist some low-income groups and special groups requiring government protection, and there are also some people facing sudden and temporary difficulties. In the face of the new situation and new challenges, the outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan has made a series of important arrangements for strengthening public-welfare, basic, and bottom-line livelihood construction, adhering to targeted assistance, and improving bottom-line guarantees. The "15th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Civil Affairs Undertakings" has made specific arrangements for improving the social assistance system, strengthening care services for children in difficulty, improving the social security system and care service system for persons with disabilities, and strengthening care services for disabled and demented elderly people. We must adapt to changes in the situation, adhere to a problem-oriented approach, apply systematic measures and comprehensive governance, and proactively do good things, practical things, and difficult-solving things for people in difficulty.

Focus on key groups and ensure the "bottom line is held"

Anchoring on the special difficulties of specific groups, with a sense of responsibility and mission to "see" the suffering of the people that "cannot be unseen," scientifically identifying the targets of assistance and support, implementing assistance measures in a targeted manner, and guaranteeing their basic livelihood are the important foundation for ensuring the "bottom line is held."

Do well the assistance and support for persons in extreme difficulty, minimum livelihood guarantee households, and others. Persons in extreme difficulty are the most difficult and most vulnerable group, urban and rural minimum livelihood guarantee recipients are people who rely on their own conditions and find it difficult to maintain a basic livelihood, and displaced persons with no means of livelihood are also among the most vulnerable groups in society; they are the key targets of assistance and support for people in difficulty. After years of sustained effort, China has established a relatively complete guarantee system for persons in extreme difficulty, improved the urban and rural minimum livelihood guarantee system, and formed a service system for the assistance, management, and services for displaced persons with no means of livelihood. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, an annual average of 4.88 million persons in extreme difficulty and 39.36 million urban and rural minimum livelihood guarantee recipients were guaranteed. However, some families on the margins of the minimum livelihood guarantee and families with difficulties due to rigid expenditures enjoy limited assistance and support policies because they do not meet the minimum livelihood guarantee conditions. Among the more than 200 million flexible-employment personnel and the 2.562 million people targeted for preventing return to poverty and prevention of new poverty, there will still be some facing difficulties in basic livelihood. The newly promulgated and implemented Social Assistance Law extends assistance and support policies to more groups in need, makes provisions for assistance and support for disaster-affected persons, persons whose basic livelihood temporarily falls into serious difficulty, and persons in need of emergency medical assistance, and puts forward requirements for providing assistance to all kinds of persons encountering temporary difficulties. We must accelerate the improvement of a comprehensive, tiered and classified, comprehensive and efficient social assistance pattern, and legally guarantee their right to receive material assistance and assistance services.

Do well the assistance and support for elderly people with special difficulties. The degree of China's population aging is deepening. By the end of 2025, the number of elderly people over 60 years old exceeded 323 million, among whom some advanced-age elderly people are in empty-nest, living-alone, or left-behind situations, and in particular some disabled elderly people in rural areas face care difficulties. In recent years, various localities have guaranteed the basic livelihood of 19 million elderly people by including them in extreme-poverty support, urban and rural minimum livelihood guarantees, and other measures; and by establishing and improving the urban and rural three-tier elderly care service network and improving the visit-and-care system for elderly people with special difficulties, they have continuously expanded the service coverage for empty-nest, living-alone, and left-behind elderly people and raised the level of care services for disabled and demented elderly people. However, on the whole, visit-and-care for empty-nest, living-alone, and left-behind elderly people still needs to be expanded in scope and improved in quality, and the supply of care services for disabled and demented elderly people, especially professional support for their family caregivers, is still insufficient. Targeted measures must be taken to resolve these problems.

Do well the assistance, guarantee, care, and protection for children in difficulty. Letting all children have a happy and beautiful childhood is the gentlest concern in General Secretary Xi Jinping's heart. In recent years, orphans and children de facto without guardianship in China have received effective guarantees. By the end of 2025, 570,000 orphans and children de facto without guardianship were included in the scope of assistance and guarantee, and the standards of assistance and guarantee have been steadily raised. However, with the continued advancement of new urbanization and population mobility, care services for migrant children, left-behind children, and others still need to be strengthened. Some migrant children do not yet enjoy sufficient services at their places of residence, and effective guardianship for some rural left-behind children still needs to be improved. In this regard, we must actively adapt to the new changes in child welfare and care targets, and bring all children in difficulty in need of assistance and support into the scope of service guarantee.

Do well the assistance and support for persons with disabilities in difficulty. Letting persons with disabilities live a happy and beautiful life is an important part of basic livelihood guarantees. China has more than 38 million persons with disabilities holding certificates, among whom some persons with mental disabilities still have insufficient community rehabilitation services, the needs of some persons with severe disabilities for custodial care and other services have not yet been effectively met, and families such as "elderly parents + disabled children" and families with multiple disabled members have weak care capacity and need multi-party support to effectively reduce the burden of family care.

Improve institutions and mechanisms to ensure the "bottom line is held accurately"

"In livelihood matters there are no small things; every leaf and branch is connected to deep feeling." Doing well the assistance and support for people in difficulty is the most bottom-line livelihood guarantee task. We must adhere to the principles and requirements of accurate targets, accurate standards, and accurate measures, and improve institutional mechanisms such as proactive discovery, accurate identification, rapid response, and assistance according to need.

Improve the mechanisms for dynamic monitoring and proactive discovery. Dynamic monitoring and proactive discovery are the primary link in assistance and support for people in difficulty. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, various localities established and improved dynamic monitoring platforms for the low-income population, improved the information verification system for the economic conditions of social assistance families, strengthened the application of big data, artificial intelligence, and other technologies, and promoted the combination of "people seeking policies" and "policies seeking people" in assistance and support work. Data comparison and dynamic re-verification have been strengthened, and, relying on the visit-and-care mechanism, the ability to identify elderly people and persons with disabilities with special difficulties has been enhanced. The proactive discovery mechanism for children in difficulty has been improved, and precise screening, precise filing, and refined services for migrant children and left-behind children have been strengthened. However, looking at the actual work, problems such as missed guarantees and mistaken guarantees still occur, the timely response to the needs of some elderly people and persons with disabilities in difficulty for spiritual comfort, social integration, and professional care is still insufficient, and some children in difficulty are not discovered in a timely manner. To solve these problems in a targeted manner, we must adhere to the combination of "big data comparison + iron-feet screening" and "key-to-key and face-to-face," further open up the channels for data sharing among departments, and strengthen cross-comparison of information and intelligent early warning. We must improve mechanisms such as dynamic screening, regular visits, and street patrols, and enter villages and households to discover difficult situations in a timely manner. We must keep government service hotlines and petition channels unimpeded, encourage people in difficulty, urban and rural residents, social work organizations, volunteers, and others to promptly report all kinds of difficulty information, and ensure early discovery, early intervention, and early assistance.

Scientifically and accurately determine assistance standards. Economic development and social security are related like a rising tide lifting all boats; we must both respond to the expectations of the people and conform to objective reality. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, we adhered to doing our best according to our capabilities and acting within our means, and steadily raised the levels of all kinds of assistance and guarantee. However, in a few regions there still exist problems such as unscientific and unreasonable standard-setting, and the dynamic adjustment mechanism for relevant standards needs to be optimized. To solve these problems, we must establish and improve mechanisms for the scientific determination and dynamic adjustment of all kinds of assistance standards in light of local conditions. We must fully consider factors such as per capita consumption expenditure of residents, per capita disposable income, price levels, and fiscal affordability, scientifically adjust minimum livelihood guarantee and extreme-poverty support standards, and establish a filing system for relevant guarantee standards. We must strengthen the overall coordination and linkage between basic livelihood guarantee standards for children in difficulty and minimum livelihood guarantee standards, implement the dynamic adjustment mechanism for the two subsidies for persons with disabilities in light of the basic livelihood and long-term care expenditure costs of persons with disabilities, and scientifically set standards for centralized care services and subsidies for elderly people with disabilities in economic difficulty.

Improve the closed-loop operation and precise implementation mechanism. Only by advancing assistance and support to run through to the end and be implemented and carried out can the people truly enjoy benefit-conferring policies. In recent years, various localities have improved the coordination mechanism for guaranteeing the basic livelihood of people in difficulty, established and improved the work chain of discovery, identification, assistance, feedback, and exit, and compacted the assistance and support responsibilities of all departments and all parties, and the quality and effectiveness of assistance and support have improved markedly. At the same time, there still exist blocking points and stuck points such as insufficient inter-departmental coordination and weak grassroots service capacity. In the coming period, we must strengthen the responsibilities of overall planning, coordination, guidance, and supervision of relevant working mechanisms in the fields of social assistance and social welfare, improve unified identification and tiered information management, dynamic monitoring and need-based push, joint departmental assistance, and closed-loop result feedback. We must improve the social participation system, strengthen grassroots work forces, and achieve the organic unity of policy formulation, implementation, and optimization, so that people in difficulty receive tangible benefits.

Promote fair and just implementation. Ensuring that assistance and support are open, fair, and just is a matter of high social concern. In recent years, through sustained comprehensive governance, violations of discipline and regulations in bottom-line guarantee and assistance and support work have been effectively curbed, and public recognition has improved markedly. However, it must also be recognized that phenomena such as favoring relatives and friends have not yet been completely eliminated, and unhealthy tendencies and corruption problems such as embezzling and diverting assistance funds still exist. We must consolidate the achievements of study and education on establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements, take benefiting the people as the greatest political achievement, and, with deep feeling for people in difficulty and a meticulous and careful work style, precisely implement benefit-conferring policies. We must adhere to fairness and justice and promote openness and transparency in the policies, procedures, targets, and use of funds of assistance and support in all fields. We must both grasp the rigidity of various policies and attach importance to the flexibility of methods and approaches, and respond well to the demands of the people through patient explanation, persuasion and education, resource linkage, and other means. We must focus on solving the people's vexing matters, worrying matters, and troubling matters to optimize assessment and evaluation indicators, give play to the guiding role of assessment, carry out surveys of public satisfaction, and promptly improve policies and measures.

Improve the quality and effectiveness of assistance and support to ensure the "bottom line is held well"

In doing well the work of providing assistance and support to people in difficulty, we must hold the bottom line without rigidly clinging to the bottom line. We must both guarantee basic livelihood and adapt to economic and social development, and, in accordance with the requirement of paying more attention to "investing in people," promote the transformation of assistance and support from "whether it exists" to "whether it is good."

Meet developmental needs. At present, the basic livelihood of people in difficulty in China is relatively well guaranteed, but some developmental needs still need to be better met, and there are gaps in the supply of services for some people in difficulty in areas such as rehabilitation nursing, psychological care, and social integration. We must implement policies by category, and, based on the all-round development of the individual, build a "material + service" pattern of assistance and support. For urban and rural minimum livelihood guarantee recipients, persons in extreme difficulty, and others, we must strengthen psychological comfort, carry out skills training, and link employment resources by introducing professional social forces, and solve the problems of social integration and income increase and empowerment. For special groups of elderly people in difficulty, we must solve the problems of healthy aging, smart adaptation, and social participation by advancing the building of an age-friendly society and carrying out actions to improve the health literacy and digital literacy and skills of elderly people. For children in difficulty and persons with disabilities, we must focus on improving abilities in learning, psychological adjustment, and social interaction. At the same time, focusing on the spiritual and cultural needs of people in difficulty, we must expand the supply of cultural services and products and promote the extension of high-quality public cultural resources to the side of people in difficulty.

Strengthen policy linkage. Breaking through fighting separately and business barriers and strengthening policy linkage is an inherent requirement for improving the quality and effectiveness of assistance and support for people in difficulty. In the coming period, we must make efforts to promote the linkage between social assistance and social welfare and social insurance policies for "the elderly, persons with disabilities, and children." For some seriously ill or severely disabled children in families on the margins of the minimum livelihood guarantee, they may be included in the scope of the minimum livelihood guarantee by reference to the single-person household. We must coordinate the nursing subsidy for persons with severe disabilities and the nursing subsidy for elderly people, and eligible disabled elderly people may apply for one type of nursing subsidy at the higher standard. We must coordinate the two subsidies for persons with disabilities, elderly care service subsidies, and old-age allowances to better protect the rights and interests of disabled elderly people. We must strengthen the linkage between subsidies for advanced-age and disabled elderly people in economic difficulty and nursing subsidies for persons with severe disabilities and long-term care insurance policies, and improve the payment capacity of eligible people in difficulty. We must attach importance to giving play to the supplementary role of charitable forces, establish and improve the linkage mechanism between government assistance and charitable assistance, promote the matching and docking of assistance needs with charitable supply, and provide diversified assistance and support for people in difficulty.

Improve the service network. A sound and complete service network is the basic support for doing well the work of providing assistance and support to people in difficulty. In recent years, various localities have basically established a comprehensive service network with the township (subdistrict) "one-window acceptance, coordinated handling" service desk as the main application channel, and with elderly care service institutions and facilities, city- and county-level mental health welfare institutions and community rehabilitation sites for mental disorders, and children's welfare institutions and minors protection institutions at all levels advancing in coordination.However, there are also some weak links in services that must be addressed by filling shortcomings and weaknesses. In social assistance, we must make good use of the civil affairs service stations in townships (subdistricts) spread across urban and rural areas, and increase training and care for grassroots forces such as social assistance coordinators. In elderly care services, we must improve and perfect the urban and rural three-tier elderly care service network, strengthen coordinated linkage and role performance, do solid visit-and-care work, and increase care support for disabled elderly people in difficulty. In services for persons with disabilities, we must improve the custodial care service system for persons with severe disabilities and fill the shortcomings in the construction of mental health welfare institutions. In child welfare, we must promote children's welfare institutions "opening their doors to run institutions" and minors' protection institutions "expanding coverage and improving effectiveness" to meet the assistance and support needs of children in difficulty in society.In response to situations such as the scattered residence of people in difficulty in some remote areas, we must develop itinerant and mobile services and online remote services to achieve effective service coverage.

Improve convenience and accessibility. Whether the handling process of assistance and support is convenient and accessible directly affects the sense of gain, happiness, and security of people in difficulty. In recent years, various localities have seized the trend of digital and intelligent development and promoted the online handling and "fingertip handling" of assistance and support matters, achieving marked results. In the coming period, population mobility will continue, and digital intelligence will become more deeply embedded in human life. In the face of the new situation, we must implement the arrangements in the outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan on accelerating the equal enjoyment of basic public services by the permanent-resident population, focus on the equalization and accessibility of basic public services in the civil affairs field, and steadily promote the inclusion of the unregistered permanent-resident population in the scope of basic public services in the place of permanent residence such as child care, elderly care and assistance, social assistance, and assistance and support for persons with disabilities. We must continue to deepen the cross-provincial handling and nationwide handling of matters such as the two subsidies for persons with disabilities and the determination of children de facto without guardianship. We must deepen the reform of "efficiently handling one matter" in assistance for people in difficulty, optimize the application and approval process, and implement "one-form application, one-window acceptance, one-network handling" to ensure timely assistance.

Adhere to systematic measures and strengthen guidance and guarantee

Assistance and support for people in difficulty is a common cause of the whole society. We must give play to the advantages of our socialist system, adhere to the Party's leadership, improve policies and institutions, and consolidate the grassroots foundation, and promote assistance and support to better convey the warmth of the Party and the government.

Improve the mechanism for Party building leadership. Adhering to the Party's overall leadership is the fundamental guarantee for doing well the work of providing assistance and support to people in difficulty. In recent years, various localities have actively explored "Party building + social assistance" and other models, forming some useful experiences and practices. In the next step, on the basis of summarizing local explorations, we must promote the institutionalized development of Party building leading assistance and support for people in difficulty. We must benchmark against the major decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee, make practical and good use of relevant working mechanisms for assistance and support for people in difficulty, children in difficulty, migrant children, and left-behind children, and implement them fully and without discount. We must give play to the advantages of the Party's leadership, improve the working mechanism of Party committee leadership, government responsibility, civil affairs department leadership, departmental coordination, and social participation, and promote the inclusion of assistance and support for people in difficulty in grassroots grid-based governance. We must strengthen ideological and political guidance, combine the concept of assistance and support with the core socialist values, strengthen the ideological concept that "happiness is achieved through hard work," guide people in difficulty to feel gratitude to the Party, listen to the Party, and follow the Party, and build up their confidence and determination to shake off difficulties and pursue a better life.

Strengthen legal guarantees. Adhering to the combination of "large-scale legislation" and "small, fast, and flexible legislation," and focusing on the expectations of the people and urgent development needs, we must improve the policy and institutional system for assistance and support. We must promote the introduction of policy documents such as those on high-quality development of social assistance and improve top-level design. We must promote the formulation and revision of important laws such as the Elderly Care Law, the Child Welfare Law, the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly, and the Law on the Protection of Persons with Disabilities, to better guarantee the development of assistance and support work. We must implement the relevant provisions of the Civil Code, and study and formulate implementation measures for agreed guardianship of elderly people, state guardianship of minors, and guardianship of adult persons with disabilities, to protect their lawful rights and interests.

Improve grassroots service capacity. The focus of the work of providing assistance and support to people in difficulty is at the grassroots level. We must think of ways and means, innovate methods, and strengthen the grassroots foundation. Together with relevant departments, we must optimize the transfer payment allocation mechanism in the civil affairs field, improve the management and use system for welfare lottery public welfare funds, and promote the tilt of all kinds of funds, projects, and resources toward the grassroots. Through multiple means such as building and making good use of township (subdistrict) civil affairs service stations, setting up public welfare posts such as rural elderly care assistants, developing civil affairs social workers, fully equipping social assistance coordinators and village (neighborhood) children's directors, and organizing and mobilizing volunteer service forces, we must ensure that there are people at the grassroots level to do the work. We must increase training efforts, make good use of scientific and technological means such as artificial intelligence, and empower and increase efficiency at the grassroots level. We must improve the fault-tolerance and error-correction mechanism and encourage grassroots cadres to take responsibility and act, and serve the people.

Create a good atmosphere. The work of providing assistance and support to people in difficulty shines with the brilliance of humanity and manifests social conscience. Embarking on the new journey, we must do this good and practical matter that concerns people's livelihood and connects with people's hearts in a good environment and atmosphere. We must vigorously promote the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation such as respecting the elderly and loving the young, helping the weak and relieving those in difficulty, and mutual assistance and neighborly support, create a good atmosphere of caring for and helping people in difficulty, and encourage people in difficulty to be self-reliant and self-supporting. Through the integration of traditional media and modern media, we must increase the publicity of policies on assistance and support for people in difficulty and promote their direct reach to the grassroots. We must summarize innovative practices, typical cases, and touching stories from various localities and give play to their demonstration effect. We must encourage social participation, cultivate and develop professional social organizations, support the provision of professional services in spiritual comfort, capacity improvement, social integration, resource linkage, and other areas, encourage willing and capable caring enterprises, social organizations, and individuals to pair up and form partnerships with people in difficulty, and pool the joint force of assistance and support.

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How Local Application-Oriented Universities Can Cultivate Innovative Talent to Serve Regional High-Quality Development

By: 吴惠

General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that education, science and technology, and talent are the foundational and strategic underpinnings for building a modern socialist country in all respects, and that it is necessary to coordinate the implementation of the strategies of invigorating China through science and education, strengthening the nation through talent development, and pursuing innovation-driven development, and to advance educational development, scientific and technological innovation, and talent cultivation as an integrated whole. As the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation deepens, and the integrated development of education, science and technology, and talent continues to accelerate, against this backdrop, the classified development of higher education is an important path for building a strong educational nation. Different types of institutions of higher learning bear differentiated missions. Among them, "Double First-Class" universities and high-level research universities focus on basic and frontier research and cultivate top-tier talent in basic research, while local application-oriented universities must coordinate efforts in application-oriented research, regional development services, and application-oriented talent cultivation, and promote the integrated linkage of scientific research innovation, social services, and talent cultivation. This is the proposition of the times that local application-oriented universities must respond to.

Grounded in industrial application-oriented research, calibrate the strategic orientation of scientific research services

Under the diversified and coordinated pattern of the national innovation system, all types of innovation actors each perform their own duty (各司其职, ge si qi zhi - "each, undertake, its, duty"). Enterprises are the main actors in scientific and technological innovation; high-level research universities and national-level research institutes focus on basic and frontier exploration and produce original innovative knowledge, undertaking the main task of basic research. The large number of practical problems at the industrial frontline, such as technological improvement, management optimization, business model iteration, and system integration, fall within the category of application-oriented research and are important arenas for local application-oriented universities to serve regional development. The continuous upgrading of regional industrial chains is not only about equipment renewal and technology introduction, but also a process of continuously solving a large number of non-standardized on-site technical problems. Such problems often do not possess the theoretical breakthrough nature of basic research, yet they directly determine enterprise production efficiency, product stability, and market competitiveness, and objectively require scientific research forces rooted in the locality and close to enterprises to provide continuous follow-up.

From a practical perspective, many local application-oriented universities have not yet established a scientific research operation system compatible with application-oriented research. Some schools still unconsciously follow the evaluation yardstick of basic research, selecting topics mostly from existing literature and academic lineages rather than from the real pain points of enterprises; scientific research organization is relatively fragmented, and cross-disciplinary collaborative tackling of key problems is insufficient, making it difficult to cope with complex systemic problems in the industrial chain. This results in a mismatch between scientific research output and industrial demand, with some achievements remaining at the level of papers and failing to be effectively transformed into solutions that can be implemented in industry, and the integration of science and education also lacks substantive carriers.

The conduct of application-oriented research by local application-oriented universities lies not merely in the expansion of the number of horizontal projects, but in truly adapting the organizational mode of scientific research, topic selection mechanisms, and evaluation standards to the logic of solving industrial problems, condensing tasks oriented toward the industrial frontline, using enterprise technological needs to guide research directions, relying on innovation platforms such as industry-university-research collaborative platforms, engineering technology centers, and joint laboratories to carry out organized scientific research, transforming the process of tackling industrial problems into real scenarios for talent cultivation, and taking the effectiveness of technology implementation and actual industrial contributions as important yardsticks for evaluating scientific research, thereby realizing the two-way connection of scientific research empowering industry and feeding back into talent cultivation.

Aligning with the regional innovation system, build a two-way empowerment and symbiotic pattern

The relationship between local application-oriented universities and regional development is not a simple one-way service relationship, but a symbiotic relationship of deep integration into the regional innovation system. The regional industrial base, resource endowment, and stage of development determine the disciplinary layout and service direction of local application-oriented universities. The talent, technology, and intellectual achievements exported by local application-oriented universities can enhance regional innovation capacity and industrial competitiveness. The construction of a regional innovation system requires not only science and technology leading enterprises to play the role of guiding market demand and relying on scientific research institutions to provide frontier innovation supply, but also local application-oriented universities to provide stable and continuous knowledge services and talent support to the broad market entities.

At the current stage, there is still room for university-local cooperation to upgrade from shallow-level collaboration to deep integration. Some cooperation remains at the level of project signing, short-term training, and delivery of phased results, and has not yet formed a long-term mechanism running through the entire process of industrial development. The root cause lies in the fact that the resource docking mechanism between universities and localities remains fragmented. Universities mostly produce achievements according to the disciplinary system, while localities and enterprises put forward demands around phased tasks, and cooperation mostly relies on one-off projects, lacking an institutional framework and stable carriers for long-term collaboration, making it difficult to form sustained linkage.

The focus of university-local collaboration is not simply to expand the number of cooperation projects, but to promote the deeper integration of local application-oriented universities into the regional innovation system. Build normalized docking channels around key regional industrial chains, carry out collaborative tackling of technical problems and intellectual services oriented toward market entities, promote talent cultivation and capacity enhancement based on industrial demand, and continuously transform the disciplinary advantages, scientific research capabilities, and talent reserves of universities into momentum for regional development. Universities within the region should strengthen the joint construction and sharing of science and education resources, release the efficiency of cluster-based schooling through resource restructuring, pool regional science and education resources to jointly support industrial development, and form a two-way empowerment pattern in which university development relies on the fertile soil of the region and regional development benefits from the intellectual support of universities.

Closely following industrial talent demand, consolidate the foundation of regional talent cultivation

The classified positioning of the higher education system determines the division of labor boundaries of different types of universities in regional talent supply. "Double First-Class" universities and high-level research universities focus on serving major national strategies and cultivating top-tier talent capable of carrying out basic innovation and frontier exploration. The regional industrial system requires a large number of application-oriented talents who can take root in the local industrial chain, transform theoretical knowledge into engineering practice, and solve complex on-site problems. Such talents have distinct characteristics of regional adaptability, job specificity, and practical applicability, and are difficult to rely solely on long-distance supply from universities outside the region. This objectively requires local application-oriented universities to undertake the primary responsibility for the independent cultivation of regional talent.

At present, industrial transformation and upgrading have put forward systematic restructuring requirements for the structure of talent capabilities. Changes such as intelligent manufacturing, digital transformation, and green development are forcing the demand for talent capabilities to upgrade from single skills to cross-domain integration capabilities, engineering implementation capabilities, and continuous learning capabilities. However, in some local application-oriented universities, talent cultivation still largely follows traditional disciplinary logic, with professional offerings not closely connected to the needs of the industrial chain, curricula overemphasizing theoretical instruction, and practical segments insufficiently integrated with real industrial scenarios. This mismatch between supply and demand objectively creates a structural gap between talent supply and industrial demand. On the one hand, students' practical ability cultivation is insufficient; on the other hand, enterprises find it difficult to find application-oriented talents that match job requirements. Even new explorations oriented toward industrial demand such as micro-majors also face common problems including insufficient enterprise participation and weak connotation construction, making it difficult for enterprises to deeply intervene in the entire process of talent cultivation, and there are bottlenecks in the transformation of industrial resources into teaching resources.

Application-oriented talent cultivation cannot stop at practical teaching improvement in the general sense, but requires systematic adjustment at the level of the educational paradigm. Reforms such as professional clusters, modern industry colleges, cross-disciplinary modular courses, and project-based teaching are essentially practical responses to changes in industrial talent demand. Local application-oriented universities should take real industrial scenarios as important classrooms for education, lay out micro-majors based on industrial demand, promote deep enterprise participation in the design of cultivation plans, curriculum development, and practical teaching, hire industry mentors to participate in course teaching and assessment and evaluation, transform industrial projects, technical tackling, and job demand into teaching resources, enable students to form cross-disciplinary thinking, engineering practical ability, and innovation awareness in the process of solving practical problems, keep pace with industrial iteration trends, dynamically improve cultivation plans, optimize curriculum systems, continuously narrow the structural gap between talent supply and industrial demand, and consolidate the foundation for the independent cultivation of regional talent.

In the pattern of classified development of higher education, local application-oriented universities have development tracks suited to their own type and should proactively integrate into the national innovation system and the regional industrial ecology. Use application-oriented research to unblock bottlenecks in industrial technology, use university-local integration to activate regional innovation factors, use application-oriented talent cultivation to consolidate the foundation of industrial development, and promote the closed-loop linkage and mutual promotion and symbiosis of scientific research innovation, social services, and talent cultivation. Take root in the region, cultivate the locality deeply, continuously transform schooling advantages into endogenous momentum for regional industrial upgrading, blaze a distinctive path of application-oriented high-quality development, and fulfill the mission of the times of local universities in the process of building a strong educational nation.

(The author is Secretary of the Party Committee of Beijing Union University)

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Empowering the Green Energy Transition through Green Skills Talent Development

By: 毕乐

At the 11th collective study session of the Political Bureau of the 20th CPC Central Committee, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Green development is the defining feature of high-quality development, and new quality productive forces are themselves green productive forces." Data on the grid connection and operation of renewable energy in 2025 released by the National Energy Administration shows that by the end of 2025, China's installed renewable energy capacity reached 2.34 billion kilowatts, accounting for approximately 60 percent of the country's total installed power capacity. Against the backdrop of accelerated adjustment of the energy structure, the tasks of positions such as equipment installation, operation and maintenance, energy efficiency management, and safety management have been correspondingly updated, and the demand for green skills has become increasingly prominent. The technological transformation and structural reshaping of the energy sector have profoundly changed job profiles and skill standards. Vocational education is the main channel for supplying skilled talent and must proactively align with the national energy transition strategy, systematically optimize the green-skilled talent cultivation system, resolve the structural contradiction between talent supply and demand, and consolidate the talent foundation for building a new energy system through the supply of high-quality skilled talent.

Based on the trend of industrial transformation, build a precise talent demand matching system. The new round of energy revolution is driving an all-round upgrade of the industrial job system, and green, digital, and composite have become the core characteristics of skill-based positions in the new era. The Occupational Classification Code of the People's Republic of China (2022 Edition) includes 134 green occupations, of which 23 are also included in the digital occupation category, fully demonstrating that a single skill structure can no longer meet the development needs of the modern energy industry, and composite skilled talent possessing green literacy, digital capabilities, and practical skills has become a scarce resource in the market. At present, new business forms such as wind and solar power generation, pumped-storage hydropower, virtual power plants, and smart microgrids are experiencing flourishing and vigorous development (蓬勃发展, peng bo fa zhan - "flourishing, vigorous"), the entire chain of traditional energy production, processing, and utilization is accelerating its green upgrade, and job technical standards, operating procedures, and safety systems are being continuously updated, making the structural problems of lagging vocational education program layouts and inadequate talent cultivation adaptation increasingly prominent.

The key to resolving the mismatch between talent supply and demand in the energy sector lies in establishing a dynamically iterative, multi-party collaborative talent demand response mechanism. In accordance with the deployment of vocational education teaching reform, relying on municipal industry-education consortia and industry industry-education integration communities, build a cross-departmental, cross-industry, cross-regional talent research and assessment platform, integrate multi-source data such as major energy project layouts, enterprise technological transformation, market job demand, skill level evaluation, and graduate employment flows, accurately identify emerging green occupations, scarce skilled job categories, and the green upgrade tasks of traditional positions, and refine the skill standards, equipment specifications, and safety requirements for positions at all levels. Improve the normalized consultation mechanism among multiple departments including development and reform, industry and information technology, energy, human resources and social security, and education, dynamically release guidance catalogs for adjustment of vocational programs, accurately delineate the types of programs to be supported due to scarcity, upgraded and transformed, and restricted or abolished, and promote the precise matching of vocational education program layouts, talent scale, and cultivation structure with the pace of energy industry transformation, achieving alignment and synchronization between industrial development, technological iteration, and talent cultivation.

Focusing on improving the quality of cultivation supply, build a tiered skill cultivation support system. The tiered and categorized school-running system of modern vocational education can precisely adapt to the gradient job demands of the energy industry and is an important vehicle supporting the green transformation of the entire energy industry chain. In 2025, the Ministry of Education released in a centralized manner 758 newly revised (formulated) vocational education professional teaching standards, including 223 for secondary vocational education, 471 for higher vocational junior college programs, and 64 for vocational undergraduate programs, providing a national benchmark for program development. Based on the differences in job levels in the energy industry, it is necessary to build a cultivation system with clear positioning, orderly articulation, and distinct emphases, eliminate problems such as homogenized curricula, shallow cultivation, and overlapping competencies, and achieve precise empowerment of talent at different educational stages for different job chains in the industry.

Tiered cultivation must closely align with core job competency requirements and progressively raise cultivation standards. Secondary vocational education focuses on basic practical operations and standard implementation, with emphasis on cultivating basic competencies such as basic operation of energy equipment, routine operation and maintenance, and safety control, consolidating the foundation of the front-line practical talent team in the industry; higher vocational junior college programs focus on comprehensive operations and fault handling, with emphasis on strengthening professional competencies such as equipment commissioning, system operation and maintenance, energy efficiency optimization, and hidden danger investigation, adapting to the needs of mid-stream technical positions in the industry; vocational undergraduate programs focus on process innovation and system optimization, with emphasis on cultivating innovation capabilities such as handling complex working conditions, technological iteration and upgrading, and green process improvement, serving the high-end breakthroughs and transformation and upgrading of the energy industry.

Relying on the tiered cultivation positioning, systematically restructure the curriculum system and teaching content. Promote the comprehensive integration of core content on green and low-carbon development and intelligent transformation into energy, equipment manufacturing, and resources and environment programs nationwide, add course modules such as intelligent inspection, energy consumption control, green mining, and carbon asset management to traditional energy programs, and improve core teaching content such as equipment installation and commissioning, power forecasting, energy storage safety, and intelligent station operation and maintenance in new energy programs. Taking real job work tasks as the carrier, refine teaching implementation processes, tool specifications, quality standards, and safety requirements, and promote seamless connection between classroom teaching and industrial practice. Relying on industry industry-education integration communities to establish school-enterprise joint teaching and research mechanisms, dynamically iterate curricula, textbooks, teaching cases, and practical training projects, keep pace with new technologies, new equipment, and new processes in the energy industry, and fundamentally solve the prominent problem of teaching content lagging behind industrial development.

Deepen industry-education collaborative empowerment and build a full-chain closed-loop cultivation ecosystem. Green skills are highly practical, scenario-based, and iterative; classroom teaching in schools alone is difficult to meet the practical operational needs of the industry, and it is necessary to take deep industry-education integration as the starting point to build a whole-process, normalized, closed-loop collaborative cultivation system. Based on the overall layout of the national energy industry, continue to deepen the construction of industry-education integration communities, promote leading industry enterprises to participate deeply in the entire process of talent cultivation, realize the co-construction and sharing of industrial technology, practical training scenarios, faculty resources, and R&D resources, and open up the through-chain of talent cultivation, practical training, and employment.

Coordinate the construction of virtual and real scenarios and consolidate the carrier of practical cultivation. In view of the characteristics of high-risk operations, restricted scenarios, and great practical difficulty in the energy industry, comprehensively promote virtual simulation teaching for high-risk scenarios such as intelligent underground mining and high-voltage operation and maintenance of new energy stations, achieving safe and efficient practical training; for routine job tasks such as equipment maintenance, data monitoring, and energy efficiency commissioning, fully open enterprise production sites, promote the integration of posts and courses, on-site teaching, and project-based practice, and enable students to hone green practical skills in real production scenarios. Improve the community operation and management system, clarify the rights and responsibility boundaries of both schools and enterprises in equipment sharing, data opening, safety control, and joint use of results, standardize the collaborative cultivation process, and ensure that cooperation is carried out in a normalized and standardized manner.

Build a strong two-way exchange faculty team and consolidate the core support for cultivation. Strictly implement the "dual-qualified teacher" identification, cultivation, and assessment system, promote the normalized entry of vocational college teachers into energy enterprises to participate in technological transformation, project R&D, and process optimization, accumulate front-line practical experience, and transform real industry cases and cutting-edge technologies into classroom teaching resources. Improve the mechanism for industry craftsmen, skill masters, and enterprise technical backbones to enter schools to teach, enrich the part-time faculty team, carry out precise practical guidance, and explain job operation boundaries, quality control standards, and risk handling specifications. Relying on national vocational education collaborative resources, co-build and share a green skills case library and practical training project library, dynamically update teaching resources, and ensure that talent cultivation continuously adapts to the latest needs of energy industry transformation.

Talent is the core support for the green transformation of energy, and the quality of the skilled talent team directly determines the effectiveness of cultivating new quality productive forces and the level of building the new energy system. Based on the overall situation of the "dual carbon" strategy, vocational education must adhere to an industry-oriented, demand-driven approach, set the direction through precise demand research and assessment, improve quality through a tiered cultivation system, and strengthen effectiveness through full-chain industry-education integration, continuously optimize program layouts, improve cultivation standards, innovate teaching models, and improve the cultivation ecosystem, form a closed-loop cultivation mechanism of demand forecasting, tiered cultivation, scenario-based practical training, and evaluation feedback, continuously cultivate high-quality green skilled talent, and provide solid talent guarantees and intellectual support for the green and low-carbon transformation of China's energy industry and high-quality economic and social development.

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Who Should Get the City's Prime Spot

By: 刘妍

Around the National Day holiday, a warm and solemn new urban trend swept across many cities nationwide. Prime advertising spaces in commercial districts, transportation hubs, and core streets in multiple cities took on a fresh look. The urban screens, outdoor light boxes, and supermarket displays that previously cycled through commercial advertisements and celebrity endorsements gave way to meritorious scientists such as Qian Xuesen, Deng Jiaxian, Yuan Longping, Huang Xuhua, Tu Youyou, and Nan Rendong. This initiative first began in Heze and Zibo, Shandong Province, and was subsequently extended to numerous cities including Shanghai, Dalian, Hangzhou, and Hulunbuir. Large-scale portraits, inspirational mottos, and displays of scientific research achievements were showcased in the most prominent public spaces with the heaviest foot traffic, drawing passing residents to stop and gaze, take photos, and check in.

Prime urban advertising spaces are high-value, wide-reach public communication carriers under the market economy, and gathering places of traffic and attention. Shifting the most precious urban public communication resources from commercial traffic to national heroes and meritorious statesmen, from entertainment hotspots to the backbone of the nation, appears at first glance to be a simple change of scene and replacement of imagery, but is in fact a profound reshaping of values, a transmission of spirit, and a renewal of social atmosphere.

Leaving the city's C-position to the pillars of the state is an expansion and innovation of ideological and political education carriers, and is conducive to advancing the construction of a grand ideological and political education work pattern. The "Work Plan for Comprehensively Advancing the Construction of 'Grand Ideological and Political Courses'" issued by the Ministry of Education and nine other departments explicitly calls for "fully mobilizing the strength and resources of the whole society" and "promoting the integration of small ideological and political classrooms with the great classroom of society." This requirement profoundly reveals that ideological and political education in the new era must step out of enclosed spaces and integrate into broad social practice. Making good use of the great classroom of society means breaking down the barriers between the classroom and society, connecting the education chain of campus, society, and family, and enabling ideological and political education to step out of books and classrooms, integrate into the everyday life of the people, and enter every moment of public life. The outdoor screens in bustling commercial areas constitute a mobile social classroom, the most intuitive and vivid carrier of value transmission in urban public spaces. The general public, especially young people, can see exemplary figures at a glance during their daily commutes and feel the power of their original aspirations at any time. This day-after-day visual immersion and emotional resonance can help them continuously deepen their understanding of spiritual connotations such as responsibility for the nation, original aspiration and founding mission, and steadfast dedication, transforming abstract value concepts into concrete and perceptible exemplary guidance. This practice of extending ideological and political scenarios into urban public spaces not only enriches the expressive forms of ideological and political education and expands the educational front, but also bridges the boundary between on-campus classrooms and social education, achieving organic integration and coordinated synergy of educational resources. Urban public spaces become the off-campus extension of ideological and political education, and the educational forces inside and outside the classroom converge and merge in real scenarios, powerfully advancing value guidance from stage-by-stage classroom learning to normalized cultivation, from knowledge transmission to behavioral self-awareness, enabling ideological and political education to enter the mind and heart and show results in action through a gentle and subtle way of influencing people (春风化雨, chun feng hua yu - "spring, wind, transform, rain").

Leaving the city's C-position to the pillars of the state is a pragmatic move to lead social trends, and is conducive to promoting the socialist core values of patriotism and dedication. At present, the information dissemination pattern of the traffic era is profoundly reshaping the distribution of public attention. The public sphere is frequently occupied by various entertainment hotspots, and public attention is easily swept along by short, fast-paced entertainment topics, exhibiting characteristics of fragmentation, superficiality, and instantaneity. Consequently, public communication resources such as urban screens, outdoor light boxes, and supermarket displays, driven by commercial interests, lean more toward entertainment hotspots and traffic celebrities in pursuit of short-term attention and communication effects. In contrast, weighty, low-key stories such as serving the country through scientific research and devoting oneself to education often lack exposure opportunities and find it difficult to receive adequate display in the noisy communication environment. Scientists quietly tackling key problems and educators deeply engaged at the lectern, though making long-term silent contributions and laying solid foundations for social development, rarely enter the public eye, and their spiritual value and practical contributions have not received commensurate social attention. This situation has, to a certain extent, weakened the value-guidance function of public communication spaces. Giving the city's C-position to the pillars of the state is to transmit a clear value orientation to society: what truly deserves admiration is not the flashy halo of celebrity, but down-to-earth hard work and dedication. This is both a solemn tribute to those who toil in obscurity and a powerful correction of society's value coordinates. When the hustle and bustle of everyday life is filled with respect for the noble, society's value pursuits will also undergo subtle transformation, thereby cultivating a fine social atmosphere that upholds science, respects hard work, and celebrates dedication.

Leaving the city's C-position to the pillars of the state is a vivid practice of cultivating deep feelings for the family and the country, and is conducive to pooling a powerful joint force for serving the country through practical work and striving to be first. The feeling for family and country is the deepest spiritual foundation of the Chinese nation. This feeling is deeply rooted in our national bloodline, runs through the historical process of the continuous development of Chinese civilization, and has become a powerful internal driving force for generations of Chinese sons and daughters to dedicate themselves to serving the country. Using the city's finest communication resources to display the deeds and bearing of meritorious scientists and to pay tribute to the era's most worthy role models is a powerful promotion of the feeling for family and country in the new era, and moreover a conscious inheritance and contemporary elevation of the nation's spiritual roots. At present, China is at a critical stage of self-reliance and strength in science and technology, building a strong education nation, and national rejuvenation. Strategic opportunities and risks and challenges coexist, and uncertain and unpredictable factors are increasing. It is all the more necessary to pool the consensus of the whole people, boost the national spirit, and gather the strength to strive forward, so as to respond to risks and challenges and open up new prospects for development with firm cultural confidence and value identification. When the figures of these pillars of the state light up the city, the seeds of upholding science and daring to innovate are quietly sown — Qian Xuesen's sincerity in "forging heavy weapons for the country," Yuan Longping's steadfastness in the "dream of resting in the shade under rice plants," Huang Xuhua's dedication in "safeguarding the maritime frontier under an assumed name," Tu Youyou's persistence in "devoted research to relieve the suffering of the people," and Nan Rendong's resolute practice in "gazing at the heavens to explore deep space." Like spiritual lighthouses illuminating people's hearts, they become spiritual bonds that unite strength and forge ahead, inspiring people to continuously cultivate patriotic feeling, sharpen the ambition to strengthen the country, and practice the act of serving the country through inheritance and promotion.

As an attention resource in the core public spaces of the city, prime urban advertising spaces should not have their value limited to obtaining commercial traffic and economic benefits; they should more actively assume the important social responsibility of transmitting mainstream values, nurturing social atmosphere, and promoting the spirit of the era. This action of yielding the city's C-position and paying tribute to the backbone of the nation is an ideological and political lesson in coordinated education, a value transmission that reaches deep into people's hearts, and a spiritual baptism that moistens things silently. It is hoped that this new trend of urban tribute will continue to spread, allowing the spiritual radiance of the nation's backbone to integrate into daily life and permeate people's hearts, so that respecting scientific research, honoring dedication, upholding practical work, and cherishing the family and country become the prevailing trend, guiding generation after generation to stay true to their original aspirations, bravely shoulder their missions, work diligently and practically, and strive to be first, and, with an uplifting and enterprising posture of the era, to make unremitting efforts to comprehensively advance the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

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New achievements in full and rigorous self-governance of the Party drive enterprises to make new contributions to high-quality development

By: 杨慧 李晓明

Bao'an District of Shenzhen is situated at the core of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. It is an important node on the golden corridor of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong development axis, a bridge connecting Guangdong and Hong Kong, and a passage radiating to the inland. Its comprehensive three-dimensional transportation system of sea, air, and rail, along with its infrastructure, is well developed. The distinctive market environment and industrial realities impose higher requirements on industry governance and on the construction of Party conduct and clean government. The Bao'an District Tobacco Monopoly Bureau (Company) of Shenzhen (hereinafter referred to as the Bao'an District Bureau (Company)) has always kept in mind the mission and responsibility of a state-owned enterprise, conscientiously implemented the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee, and adhered to handling its principal responsibilities and core business on the one hand while advancing the construction of Party conduct and clean government on the other. It has integrated full and rigorous self-governance of the Party into all fields and every link of market supervision, production and operation, and corporate governance. In practice, it has established a "Clean Breeze Escort" integrity risk prevention and control system, continuously improved corporate supervision and governance mechanisms, and effectively used new achievements in full and rigorous self-governance of the Party to make new contributions to high-quality development.

Taking political construction as the guide, anchoring the "stabilizing compass" of strict Party governance

Thought is the precursor of action; only with theoretical clarity can one achieve political firmness. In building the "Clean Breeze Escort" integrity risk prevention and control system, the foremost task is to persist in arming the mind with the Party's innovative theories, guiding practice, and leading all work of discipline inspection and supervision, so as to impel Party members, cadres, and discipline inspection and supervision cadres to continuously improve their political judgment, political understanding, and political execution, and to build a solid ideological dam against corruption and degeneration.

Persist in deep study and thorough understanding to forge the soul, and consolidate the ideological foundation through studying the original texts in full. The Bao'an District Bureau (Company) strictly implements the "First Agenda Item" system, forming a four-tier system of "Party group leading study, discipline inspection promoting study, Party branches conducting research-based study, and Party members engaging in self-study." It has carried out a series of distinctive themed activities such as "Striving in the Spring Light to Learn from the Two Sessions, Acting with Determination and Perseverance to Rectify Political Achievements" and "Admonishing the Heart with Cases to Uphold the Original Aspiration, Correcting the Foundation of Political Achievements." Discipline inspection and supervision cadres have always maintained the approach of learning one step earlier and delving one level deeper, profoundly grasping the responsibility positioning of discipline inspection and supervision work in the new era, using the Party's innovative theories to calibrate supervision concepts and clarify the boundaries of duty performance, and continuously transforming the results of learning into the ideological consciousness of daring to supervise and being good at supervising.

Persist in combining learning with application to promote action, and enhance practical effectiveness through the integration of learning, investigation, and rectification. The ultimate goal of theoretical study lies in practice. In the learning and education activities on establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements carried out this year, the Bao'an District Bureau (Company), in light of the prominent manifestations of deviations in the view of political achievements, comprehensively used methods such as symposium research, opinion solicitation, and heart-to-heart talks to sort out and form problem lists from multiple levels including the leadership team, departments, and Party member cadres, and to implement rectification item by item with closure. The discipline inspection and supervision institution, based on its specialized supervision responsibility, proactively participated in problem review and research, closely focused on the integrity risks hidden behind deviations in the view of political achievements, ran the supervision perspective through the entire process of problem identification, rectification, and closure, and urged that rectification not be going through the motions without substance (走过场, zou guo chang - "walk, pass, field") and not be discounted. At present, the results of rectification have been successfully embedded in key work such as monopoly supervision, customer service, and "I Do Practical Things for the Masses," effectively solving the urgent difficulties and concerns of grassroots employees and retail customers, and vividly practicing the concept of putting the people first.

Taking targeted supervision as the starting point, weaving a tight "network of responsibility" for Party management and governance

Wherever power operates, supervision must follow. For state-owned enterprises to advance full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, they must closely focus on the "key minority" and key areas where power is concentrated and risks are high, improve institutional mechanisms, innovate supervision models, and effectively confine power within the cage of institutions.

Closely focus on the "key minority" and firmly press and compact the supervision responsibility for Party management and governance. The Bao'an District Bureau (Company) firmly grasps the core links of power operation, solidly implements political supervision over the "top leader" and the leadership team, and has issued the "Implementation Plan for Strengthening Supervision over the 'Top Leader' and the Leadership Team" and the "Implementation Plan for Strengthening Political Supervision," urging Party organizations and leading Party member cadres to strengthen their political responsibility, ensuring whole-process supervision of decisions on the "Three Major and One Large" matters, and ensuring compliance in decision-making on key links such as personnel appointments and removals, the use of large amounts of funds, and project approval. At the same time, it makes good use of supervision tools such as heart-to-heart talks, reports on work and integrity, and democratic life meetings, presses the "dual responsibility for one post" into practice, improves the two-way heart-to-heart talk mechanism between the principal responsible person and team members and between the Party group discipline inspection group and team members, carries out point-to-point early warning reminders regarding hidden dangers in work style and integrity risks in the areas under their respective charge, publicly discloses the reports on duty performance, responsibility performance, and integrity performance of team members to all cadres and employees every year, proactively accepts supervision, and promotes the simultaneous deployment, simultaneous implementation, and simultaneous assessment of the construction of Party conduct and clean government and business work, so that the chain of responsibility for Party management and governance is transmitted layer by layer and implemented in detail.

Closely focus on key business and build a "full-chain + embedded" integrity risk prevention and control system. Focusing on the characteristics of numerous supervision links, a large number of market entities, and concentrated integrity risk points, the Bao'an District Bureau (Company) adheres to the forward-looking governance of risks and has built a four-dimensional prevention and control pattern of "point-line-surface-network": it timely updates the prevention and control list of integrity risk points in the supervision field, precisely locks onto hidden integrity risks, and continuously investigates "integrity risk points"; law enforcement personnel, through signing "Integrity Self-Discipline Commitment Letters," special deployment, and discipline and law training, establish the rigid discipline of "not taking a bottle of water from an enterprise" and "not leaving the lens of the recorder," continuously tightening the "discipline warning line"; relying on the industrial supervision joint conference system led by the district government, led by the district bureau, and participated in by 23 functional departments, it consolidates the joint force of cross-departmental integrity co-governance and continuously expands the "comprehensive governance surface"; it organizes relevant enterprises to sign "Integrity Co-construction Agreements" in full coverage, and at key time nodes pushes integrity reminder posters and clean-breeze initiative letters one by one through the enterprise management service platform, continuously weaving a tight "external supervision network." During the critical window period for production enterprise license renewal, it specifically formulated a work plan for integrity risk prevention and control in license renewal, established a special supervision leading group, simultaneously set up a supervision and reporting mailbox, carried out on-site verification supervision and enterprise questionnaire surveys, and realized whole-cycle supervision of "before, during, and after," promoting the law-based and standardized development of the industry through "early risk identification, controllable process management, and assessable results."

Taking systematic coordination as the path, making a good move in the "one chess game" of integrated governance

Full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is a systematic project. It is difficult to maximize governance effectiveness by relying solely on discipline inspection and supervision institutions fighting alone without support or cooperation (单打独斗, dandan dudou - "single, hit, fight"). It is necessary to adhere to systematic thinking, promote the interconnection of internal supervision and the linkage of external supervision to exert force in the same direction and resonate at the same frequency, and continuously expand the governance effectiveness of the "Clean Breeze Escort" system.

Open up the internal supervision chain and improve the "internal network" of departmental linkage and coordination. The Bao'an District Bureau (Company) continuously improves the internal interconnected and coordinated supervision system of "Party group overall planning, discipline inspection taking the lead, and departmental linkage," deeply implements the "four responsibilities coordination" mechanism, issues the "Implementation Measures for Strengthening Daily Supervision," fully leverages the frontline probe role of specially invited discipline inspection and supervision personnel, effectively solves the past governance difficulties of dispersed supervision forces and fragmented barriers between departments and blocks, and improves the overall effectiveness of internal supervision. The discipline inspection and supervision institution precisely anchors its functional positioning of "re-supervision," routinely focuses on key risk areas such as sample management, the storage of large amounts of funds, and personnel entry-exit management, links with business departments to carry out targeted special supervision and verification, and through the deep integration of various internal supervision resources, builds an internal supervision pattern that is connected from top to bottom and exerts force in an integrated manner.

Open up external cooperation channels and improve the "external network" of "internal-local" linkage and cooperation. It proactively strengthens communication, docking, and exchange forums with local public security organs and discipline inspection commissions and supervision commissions, focusing on business discussions around the prevention of duty crimes, the handling of non-duty-related disciplinary and illegal acts, and the prevention and control of integrity risks in supervision, forming a trinity coordination and linkage mechanism of "information sharing, early warning linkage, and clue transfer," and continuously strengthening disciplinary and legal supervision over the "social circle and life circle beyond working hours" of cadres and employees. Relying on the platform of the local discipline inspection commission and supervision commission, it selects young backbone personnel to participate in joint case-handling practice, honing disciplinary and legal skills in clue verification, evidence fixation, and document writing, and reserving professional strength for discipline inspection work. At the same time, it actively expands channels for co-construction with think tanks and media, jointly carrying out special work exchanges with Shenzhen Press Group and the Shenzhen Research Institute of Renmin University of China on the construction of a supervision integrity system, exploring the "three co-constructions and three promotions" mechanism for joint Party building and integrity learning, introducing external intellectual resources into integrity risk assessment and institutional improvement work, and amplifying the effectiveness of diversified co-governance.

Taking the building of an iron army as the guarantee, forging the "main force" skilled in struggle

The key to the effective implementation of institutions lies in people. In building an integrity risk prevention and control system, it is necessary to make overall plans for both team capacity building and the cultivation of an integrity culture, and to continuously nourish the enterprise's good political ecology with a discipline inspection backbone team that dares to fight and is good at fighting, and a clean culture soil that upholds fundamental principles and breaks new ground.

Build a strong discipline inspection and supervision iron army and forge "hard backbone" personnel who fulfill their duties. Taking the "Year of Standardization, Rule-of-Law, and Regularization of Discipline Inspection and Supervision Work" campaign as an opportunity, the Bao'an District Bureau (Company) benchmarks against the standards of political excellence, capability excellence, work style excellence, and integrity excellence, and uses methods such as the "Clean Breeze Classroom," professional training courses, and cross-unit disciplinary and legal exchanges to organize discipline inspection and supervision cadres to systematically study institutional norms such as case-handling safety and supervision and discipline enforcement, continuously strengthening team building. At the same time, it adheres to conducting self-criticism and internal reform (刀刃向内, daoren xiangnei - "blade, towards, inside") and strengthens self-restraint, strictly implements the systems of registering case inquiries and case-handling safety responsibility, urges discipline inspection and supervision cadres to strictly guard against "lamp blackout" and not to be "black sheep," consciously accepts supervision by Party organizations and the masses, and achieves loyalty, integrity, responsibility, and the courage and skill to struggle.

Build a strong integrity culture brand and tighten the "safety valve" of rectifying work style and enforcing discipline. It expands the cultural connotation of "Clean Breeze Escort," organizes integrity-themed cartoon competitions, and arranges the supervision integrity education skit "The 'Honored Guest' Arrives," using artistic performance to promote warning education that is vivid and effective and integrity concepts that enter the mind and heart. It carries out targeted integrity education for young cadres, and through methods such as the notification of typical cases and collective integrity talks, helps young cadres fasten the "first button" of clean employment, creating a strong atmosphere of knowing integrity, upholding integrity, and respecting integrity, and continuously consolidating the ideological foundation of not daring to be corrupt, not being able to be corrupt, and not wanting to be corrupt.

On the new journey of the new era, state-owned enterprises bear a heavy responsibility and a glorious mission in full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. The Bao'an District Bureau (Company) will take the discipline inspection and supervision institution as an important force for advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, consolidate and expand the achievements of the learning and education on establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements, persist in the long term with the strict tone, strict measures, and strict atmosphere, further improve prevention and control in key areas, deepen the interconnection and coordination of supervision, advance in an integrated manner the construction of "not daring to be corrupt, not being able to be corrupt, and not wanting to be corrupt," persistently advance full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, and safeguard the high-quality development of the enterprise with high-quality supervision.

[The authors are respectively the Secretary of the Party Group, Director, and Manager of the Bao'an District Tobacco Monopoly Bureau (Company) of Shenzhen; and the member of the Party Group and Leader of the Party Group Discipline Inspection Group.]

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Vigorously Advance Digital-Intelligent Transformation of New Industrialization

By: 陈庆

At present, a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is developing in depth, and the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy has become a key force driving high-quality development. The outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan clearly proposes building a modern industrial system. Sichuan China Tobacco Industrial Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the Company) closely follows the three major strategic tasks, regards digital-intelligent transformation as a key variable in building core competitiveness, adheres to combining top-level design with grassroots exploration and promoting the mutual reinforcement of technology-driven and management reform, systematically advances the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy, and actively explores a distinctive practical path for a new type of industrialization.

Adhere to strategic guidance and build a new pattern of top-level design for digital-intelligent transformation

Those who do not plan for eternity cannot plan for a moment; those who do not plan for the whole cannot plan for a part (不谋万世者，不足谋一时, bu mou wan shi zhe, bu zu mou yi shi - "not, plan, ten thousand, generations, person, not, sufficient, plan, one, moment"; 不谋全局者，不足谋一域, bu mou quan ju zhe, bu zu mou yi yu - "not, plan, whole, situation, person, not, sufficient, plan, one, region"). The Party Group of the Company deeply grasps the important transformation of the industry from scale- and speed-oriented growth to quality- and efficiency-oriented upgrading, and upgrades and expands the Company's "three major strategies" tasks, endowing the Company's digital-intelligent development with entirely new missions and tasks.

In terms of strategic positioning, focus precisely on the "three major strategies." Centering on "strengthening high-end leadership and promoting structural upgrading," use digital-intelligent means to drive R&D innovation, process upgrading, product quality improvement, and manufacturing efficiency enhancement, help shape the value of high-end brands, and promote the ascent of product structure and brand influence to a higher position in the value chain; give full play to the enabling role of digital-intelligence for distinctive product categories, and through digital traceability and digitalized process control, safeguard the quality characteristics of Chinese-style products, making the cultural connotation and quality value of Chinese-style brands perceivable, verifiable, and communicable; centering on "striving to advance and rank higher and enhance competitive capability," deepen the gradient cultivation of intelligent factories and build the core competitiveness of "intelligent manufacturing"; transform digital-intelligent elements across the entire domain into development momentum, driving all business areas of the Company to achieve continuous leaps in competitive capability on the new journey of "second entrepreneurship."

In terms of top-level design, guided by the industry's cybersecurity and informatization work deployment, build the Company's "1134" cybersecurity and informatization blueprint for the 15th Five-Year Plan. Establish a new-type digital infrastructure system and a data resource system as the two foundations, build three collaborative application platforms for intelligent strategic management and control, digital-intelligent business operations, and digitalized comprehensive management, and support them with four supporting systems: AI innovation-driven, cybersecurity protection, cybersecurity and informatization governance assurance, and organizational talent cultivation. For the two key tasks of intelligent manufacturing and cybersecurity, formulate special sub-plans respectively, forming a top-down "1+2" overall planning system to ensure that digital-intelligent transformation has rules to follow and proceeds in an orderly manner.

In terms of promotion mechanisms, strengthen the unified, coordinated effort or plan (一盘棋, yi pan qi - "one, board, chess") coordination of the entire Company. Adhere to unified planning, differentiated implementation by category, gradient advancement, and overall leaps; while encouraging subordinate factories to carry out distinctive explorations based on their resource endowments, resolutely prevent scattered construction and duplicate investment. By establishing cross-departmental coordination mechanisms and standardized promotion models, promote the rapid reuse of mature experience, form a sound situation of upper-lower linkage, left-right coordination, and overall advancement, and ensure that digital-intelligent transformation always anchors on the core goal of serving the strategy.

Adhere to building the foundation through intelligent manufacturing and create new advantages in the gradient cultivation of intelligent factories

Intelligent manufacturing is the main direction of attack for the new type of industrialization. The Company adheres to "benchmark leadership, echelon advancement, and overall leaps," takes intelligent factory construction as the carrier, promotes the high-end, intelligent, green, and integrated development of the manufacturing industry, and consolidates the foundation of the real economy.

Set up benchmarks and create demonstration models. Shifang Factory deeply cultivates full-scenario intelligence, implements more than 50 intelligent scenarios and 9 distinctive applications, builds the industry's first CMMM Level 4 factory and one of the first batch of advanced-level intelligent factories, is included in the MIIT 5G Factory List, and its energy consumption indicators reach the national first-class standard, establishing a benchmark for the Company's intelligent factory construction. Chengdu Factory deepens the integrated application of CPS, builds a digital-intelligent "national treasure special line," is rated as an industry advanced-level intelligent factory and a Chengdu municipal intelligent factory, passes CMMM Level 3 certification, and benchmarks against and advances toward higher maturity levels, achieving continuous upgrading of core intelligent manufacturing capabilities.

Replicate and promote to form a cluster effect. Relying on the industry's unified technical system for the industrial internet, promote the rapid replication of the mature experience of the Shifang and Chengdu factories throughout the entire Company. Great Wall Cigar Factory draws on the experience of digitalized workshop construction, combines the characteristics of handmade products, advances the construction of 5G+ digital workshops, independently develops intelligent color-selection and full quality inspection equipment, achieves the digitalized upgrading of traditional craftsmanship, is rated as a Sichuan provincial advanced-level intelligent factory, and is included in the MIIT 5G Factory List. Factories such as Mianyang and Xichang, by reusing mature scenario solutions, accelerate the implementation of equipment networking, data collection, and intelligent applications, and make up for shortcomings in basic capabilities. At present, the entire Company has formed a pattern of intelligent manufacturing development featuring benchmark leadership, multi-point follow-up, and gradient advancement, with the overall manufacturing capability continuously improving.

Adhere to data empowerment and activate new momentum for value creation across the entire chain

Data is a new factor of production, and artificial intelligence is a new production tool. The Company opens up the entire chain of data collection, governance, and application, promotes the transformation of data resources into data assets, and reshapes the entire process of production and operation with the dual drive of AI and data.

Consolidate the data foundation and break down information silos. Relying on the industry's CPS intelligent factory and industrial internet system pilot projects, carry out systematic data governance, complete the collection of more than 100,000 data points, establish several hundred data models and rules, and achieve a single source of data and unified calibers. Build a new data infrastructure architecture of "cloud + middle platform + industrial internet," construct a coordinated computing power system of "cloud-edge-end," achieve unified scheduling and elastic expansion of computing power resources, and effectively meet the multi-scenario computing power needs at both the Company and factory levels. The digital middle platform aggregates more than 180 billion data assets, and the industrial internet platform accumulates nearly 100 reusable digital assets, providing solid data support for business innovation.

Deepen scenario applications and improve operational efficiency. Focus on production pain points and carry out integrated scenario innovation. In the production scheduling link, the intelligent scheduling model achieves second-level production scheduling, improving efficiency by 5 times; in the silk-making link, a moisture control model based on deep learning is put into application, with batch CPK improving by 80%, moisture standard deviation decreasing by 40%, and non-steady-state time in key processes compressed by 50%; in the cigarette packet quality inspection link, applications such as the FMEA library promote the shift of quality control from post-hoc rectification to pre-emptive prevention, and relevant cases are selected as typical cases of the MIIT's 2025 "Digital Three Products"; in the equipment operation and maintenance link, health models promote the transformation from periodic maintenance models to condition-driven precision maintenance; in the quality management link, the Company takes the lead in implementing the industry's first quality traceability application based on the identification resolution system, with main product specifications achieving single-pack QR code traceability, "one-click penetration" of all elements of raw and auxiliary materials and the entire chain of production and logistics, compressing quality issue response time from several hours to 30 minutes. The Company independently develops the country's first intelligent color-selection equipment and appearance quality full-inspection equipment for handmade cigars, with inspection efficiency improved by more than 5 times compared with traditional manual methods, core inspection personnel reduced from 10 to 2, and effectively improving inspection consistency and product homogenization levels.

Tap the value of data and drive scientific decision-making. Build a smart decision-making operations center, construct a multi-dimensional data analysis system, support intelligent calculation and automatic reporting, and promote the transformation of management decision-making from experience-driven to data-driven. Implement the "six precise" management and control model for product raw materials, effectively optimizing supply chain coordination. Facing the business frontline, rely on the low-code platform to cultivate more than 300 business "folk developers," cumulatively develop more than 2,000 micro-applications covering more than 100 scenarios, and reduce costs and increase efficiency by more than 12 million yuan. At the same time, actively explore the application of AI large models in scenarios such as education and training and standard querying, forming a sound ecosystem of all-staff innovation and two-way interaction.

Adhere to ecosystem safeguarding and build new guarantees for sustained advancement and development

Digital-intelligent transformation is a systematic project that requires multi-dimensional support from technology, management, talent, and security. The Company adheres to a systematic approach, coordinates resources from all parties, and builds a complete transformation ecosystem to provide solid guarantees for the steady and long-term progress of digital-intelligent transformation.

Strengthen talent support and accumulate endogenous momentum. Implement the digital-intelligent "five teams" talent cultivation plan, build two-level data innovation studios and industry-university-research-application platforms, and form a professional echelon of more than 100 people covering young backbone personnel and senior experts. Regularly hold digital-intelligence lectures to continuously improve the digital literacy of all staff; carry out project and topic discussions, practical drills, and innovation competitions, using competitions as training and competitions to promote innovation, creating a sound atmosphere of all-staff participation and all-staff innovation.

Strengthen standardized governance and improve investment quality and efficiency. Promote the transformation of the cybersecurity and informatization management and control model from "combining unified and decentralized management" to "unified planning and coordinated advancement," establish a full life-cycle management mechanism for projects, and form a closed loop of "planning, implementation, evaluation, and optimization." Build two core platforms for IT operation management and control and IT intelligent operation and maintenance, achieving full-process digitalization of core businesses such as cybersecurity and informatization planning, projects, funds, talent, archives, and operation and maintenance. Compile more than 30 standards and specifications in the cybersecurity and informatization field, promote the standardized operation of cybersecurity and informatization work, and transform institutional advantages into governance effectiveness.

Strengthen security protection and firmly guard the bottom line of development. Coordinate development and security, regularly carry out publicity and training on cybersecurity knowledge and skills, and enhance the cybersecurity awareness and capabilities of all staff; build a cybersecurity protection system of "one line for management, one map for technology, and one center for operations," strive to ensure "no business interruption and no data loss," and build a solid security barrier for the Company's digital-intelligent transformation.

The tide is calm and the banks on both sides are wide; the wind is fair and a single sail hangs high. Standing at the threshold of the era of advancing the new type of industrialization and cultivating new quality productive forces, the Company will thoroughly implement the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee, closely follow the development requirements of the industry, with firmer determination and more pragmatic measures, continue to deepen digital-intelligent transformation, empower strategy implementation through digital-intelligent change, promote high-quality development with an attitude of striving to advance and rank higher, strive to be at the forefront of the industry's digital-intelligent track, and contribute more strength to building a modern industrial system.

(The author is the Director of the Information Center of Sichuan China Tobacco Industrial Co., Ltd.)

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“开拓团”：日本妄图永久吞并中国东北的侵略工具

By: 孟月明

Since modern times, Japan's aggression against China has been a comprehensive war of aggression planned for a long time (蓄谋已久, xu mu yi jiu - "accumulate, scheme, already, long") and proceeding cautiously and steadily (步步为营, bu bu wei ying - "step, step, for, camp"), expressed not only directly as military occupation on the battlefield, but also through a long-term, systematic, and covert plan of colonial assimilation. The Manchuria-Mongolia "pioneer settlement" (开拓团) immigration policy promoted at the Japanese national level was a strategic component of Japanese militarism's attempt to permanently annex northeast China and then launch a full-scale invasion of China, and was an important instrument of aggression for implementing population replacement and plundering land and strategic resources. To this end, the Japanese government launched a massive immigration plan that went through three stages — pilot immigration, armed immigration, and national-policy immigration — lasting as long as 40 years. The so-called "pioneering" was not simply population migration and agricultural reclamation and development, but rather an organized, planned, and phased act of colonial aggression that brought severe disaster to the Chinese nation, especially to the northeast region.

The long-premeditated Japanese immigration aggression plan. In modern times, due to its narrow territory and growing population, Japan was anxious to resolve the contradiction between its rural "surplus population" and "land hunger," and had long coveted the vast and fertile black soil of northeast China, making it the primary target for colonial immigration. In 1904, Japan launched the Russo-Japanese War, seized Tsarist Russia's colonial rights and interests in Dalian and Lüshun, established the Kwantung Leased Territory, and took control of the South Manchuria Railway. Gotō Shinpei, the first president of the South Manchuria Railway Company (abbreviated as "SMR"), proposed at the time: "Whether Japan can remain in an unassailable position of superiority must be made contingent on immigration as the top priority." In 1913, the SMR began selecting retired Japanese soldiers with agricultural experience from the railway line garrison troops to conduct immigration experiments, namely the "discharged soldier" immigration. In March 1915, Fukushima Yasumasa, the governor of the Kwantung Leased Territory, established the first immigration pilot village — "Aikawa Village" — in Jinzhou, Dalian. In April 1928, the SMR organized the Dalian Agricultural Company to conduct pilot immigration.

After the September 18 Incident in 1931, northeast China fell to enemy occupation, and the puppet state of Manchukuo was established, clearing the political and military obstacles to large-scale Japanese immigration and colonization. Under the leadership of the Kwantung Army, the Japanese ruling bloc reached a consensus: relying solely on military occupation could not sustain rule for long; only large-scale immigration and settlement to change the population structure, land ownership, and grassroots social forms of northeast China could achieve the goal of permanent rule and complete annexation of the northeast. In 1932, the Kwantung Army's governing department formulated the "Immigration Policy Proposal," the "Outline of the Japanese Immigration Plan," and the "Outline of the Military Agricultural Settlement Immigration Plan," and the Japanese Ministry of Colonial Affairs also produced the "Manchuria Immigration Plan Proposal." The basic spirit of these plans was to move, within a period of 10 to 15 years, 10,000 people under the "military agricultural settlement immigration" plan and 100,000 households under the "national defense immigration" plan into northeast China respectively.

In 1936, Hirota Kōki became prime minister and established a militarist fascist regime with the military at its core, listing immigration aggression against northeast China as one of the seven "fundamental national policies," and issuing the "Plan for the Migration of One Million Households of Agricultural Immigrants to Manchuria," which proposed a massive immigration aggression plan to move one million households and five million people to northeast China within 20 years. The strategic purposes of this plan were to plunder high-quality land and strategic materials from the northeast to support Japan's domestic development and foreign wars; to change the local ethnic composition through population replacement and promote the colonial assimilation of "Japan-Manchukuo unity"; and to build a colonial defense line in border areas to counter the Soviet Union, consolidate the occupied zone, and establish a stable rear area for the continued invasion of China and expansion in the Asia-Pacific.

Gradually encroaching on northeast China. From 1932 to 1935 was the experimental stage of Japan's "armed immigration." The recruitment targets for immigrants were mainly Japanese "reservists" (在乡军人), organized along military lines, issued weapons, and operating under a model of combining farming with soldiering and military agricultural settlement and garrison. In October 1932, the first batch of 492 armed immigrants arrived in Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province, and in the spring of the following year moved into Yongfeng Town, later renamed "Miron Village." Between 1932 and 1936, Japan successively carried out five rounds of "armed immigration," moving 2,785 households of Japanese immigrants to Huachuan, Yilan, Suileng, Mishan, and other places. The immigrants were equipped with firearms and placed under semi-military management, engaging in agricultural production in peacetime and cooperating with the Japanese army in mopping up anti-Japanese armed forces in wartime — an initial pilot of Japanese armed colonization.

From 1936 to 1941 was the stage of massive expansion of Japan's "national-policy immigration." Relying on the "one-million-household immigration national policy," Japan promoted three models: group immigration, "village-splitting and township-splitting" (分村分乡) immigration, and youth volunteer corps immigration. "Village-splitting immigration" was mainly an immigration plan that used deception, coercion, and other means to send Japan's "surplus farm households" to northeast China. At the same time, large numbers of youths aged 15 to 19 were recruited to form volunteer corps, given short-term military training, and dispatched to northeast China as reserve colonial forces. In December 1939, as the scale of immigration expanded, in order to conceal the nature of its war of aggression, ease the resistance of the Chinese people, and also to deceive the Japanese people into actively participating in immigration aggression, Japan promulgated the "Basic Outline of the Manchuria Pioneer Policy," renaming all Japanese immigration to northeast China as "pioneering." By 1941, several hundred "pioneer settlements" had been established in the northeast, distributed across the main agricultural areas of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning and along border thoroughfares.

From 1942 to 1945, Japanese immigration to the northeast entered a stage of wartime contraction but still forced advancement. After the outbreak of the Pacific War, Japan's national strength was severely depleted, and the original target of one million immigrant households could not be met, but the policy of land plunder did not stop. The Kwantung Army formulated the "wartime emergency pioneering" policy, and the Japanese authorities continued to forcibly conscript lower-class people and underage youths to supplement the immigrant population, continuously seizing land and expanding colonial strongholds. From October 1932 to May 1945, Japan established more than 860 immigrant settlements in northeast China, with the total number of immigrants reaching 106,000 households and 323,000 people, and colonial strongholds spread across the northeast's core grain-producing areas and strategic corridors.

The dual crimes of harming the people of the northeast and serving the war of aggression. The Japanese "pioneer settlements," settling down and taking root (落地生根, luo di sheng gen - "land, ground, grow, root"), were built entirely on the foundation of plundering land, expelling local farmers, and harming the common people, bringing profound disaster to the people of the northeast and leaving behind a large body of historical facts written in blood and tears. Under the names of "land consolidation" and "reclamation of wasteland," the Japanese and puppet authorities forcibly requisitioned the cultivated land that northeast farmers had tilled for generations, yet paid only extremely low compensation prices. In the later period, they even used armed force to seize land directly, confiscating farmers' land under the banner of "maintaining public order," or expelling the original resident farmers on the pretext of "danger zones." These measures destroyed the sound development model of the northeast's agricultural economy and greatly affected the development of rural productive forces. By 1945, Japan had plundered a total of more than 26 million hectares of immigrant land in northeast China.

To accommodate the "pioneer settlements," the Japanese army implemented "village consolidation and household merging" (归屯并户), burning down original villages and creating vast no-man's lands. On December 3, 1934, the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the puppet Manchukuo issued Instruction No. 969, "On the Construction of Collective Villages," forcing all provinces within the puppet Manchukuo to universally implement "village consolidation and household merging," compelling farmers living in remote mountain areas to leave the homes where they and their ancestors had lived for generations and move to designated "collective villages." To accommodate the Japanese "pioneer settlements," more than 2,000 local households in Yihantong Township, Fangzheng County, Heilongjiang Province, were forcibly driven to cold, barren mountain areas. In the depths of winter, the people had no houses to keep out the cold and lacked food and firewood, and could only take shelter in dugout dwellings. Epidemics and famine spread, and in some villages the death rate exceeded half the population — a historical testimony to the crime of land plunder by the "pioneer settlements."

Japan's "pioneer settlements" never engaged in any so-called "pioneering" of land; in reality they became tools of Japanese militarism for colonial rule over the Chinese people. Over more than ten years, more than five million farmers in the northeast lost their land and homes. Some were reduced to tenant farmers of the "pioneer settlements," subjected to the exploitation of exorbitant land rents, while others were displaced and homeless (流离失所, liu li shi suo - "drift, wander, lose, place"), losing their basic means of survival. Under colonial oppression, the basic rights of the people of the northeast were trampled upon and deprived. The puppet Manchukuo regime, in coordination with the "pioneer settlements," implemented ethnic discrimination policies, stipulating that Chinese people eating rice constituted a so-called "economic crime," with grain given priority to the "pioneer settlements" and the Japanese Kwantung Army. Chinese people could only eat coarse grains, chaff, and wild vegetables, and any slight resistance resulted in arrest, torture, and imprisonment.

The "pioneer settlements" were not an ordinary agricultural immigrant group, but rather the grassroots support force of Japan's war of aggression against China, deeply embedded in the war machine and bearing multiple functions of military, logistics, and public security. About half of the "pioneer settlements" were deployed in the "first-line pioneering zone," directly facing the Soviet border. From the Changbai Mountains, Harbaling, Laoyeling, and the inner sides of the Greater and Lesser Khingan ranges to the outer edge of the Songliao Plain, this was called the "second-line pioneering zone," where immigrants exceeded 40 percent of the total. The grid-patterned colonial villages divided and isolated the anti-Japanese base areas, severed the connection between the people and the anti-Japanese armed forces, suppressed the anti-Japanese movement in the northeast, and maintained the colonial ruling order of the puppet Manchukuo, becoming an important tool for consolidating the fruits of occupation and continuously advancing external expansion.

After the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941, the "pioneer settlements" became the main source of troops for Japan's expansion of its war of aggression, and the youth volunteer corps in particular were an important reserve source of soldiers for Japan, continuously supplying manpower to the front lines. By the time of Japan's defeat in 1945, more than 86,000 members of the "Japanese youth volunteer corps," aged 15 to 18, had been placed in the China-Soviet border region. In terms of material plunder, the "pioneer settlements" occupied the fertile black soil of the northeast, produced grain on a large scale, with output given priority to the Kwantung Army and military reserves and large quantities shipped to the Japanese home islands, achieving the goal of supporting the war through agriculture and continuously supplying materials for the war of aggression against China.

In August 1945, with Japan's announcement of unconditional surrender and the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War, Japan's one-million-household immigration plan, carried out mainly through the "pioneer settlements," ultimately came to nothing. The colonial fantasy of Japanese militarism to permanently occupy the northeast was completely shattered. At that time, the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters conveyed to the Kwantung Army the order that "all of Manchuria may be abandoned," giving priority only to repatriating Japanese soldiers, military civilian personnel, and their families to Japan. The remaining elderly, sick, disabled, women, and children of the "pioneer settlements" were abandoned, becoming the discarded pawns of Japanese militarism and the victims of foreign aggression. More than 4,000 "Japanese war orphans" were abandoned in northeast China and were later raised to adulthood by kind Chinese parents.

From this heavy colonial history on the black soil, it can be clearly seen that Japan's "pioneer settlements" were by nature colonial expansion settlements, and their aggressive attributes and historical crimes must not be beautified, tampered with, or downplayed. It also serves as a warning to the world: Japan's war of aggression against China was never merely the hail of bullets on the battlefield; population replacement and social assimilation built on the seizure of land were the more covert and more long-term despicable means of Japanese militarism's foreign aggression. Only by always using history as a warning (以史为鉴, yi shi wei jian - "use, history, as, mirror") and keeping the alarm bells ringing, deeply recognizing the comprehensive expansionist nature of militarism, and safeguarding the nation's collective memory, can we build a solid ideological defense line, firmly safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests, and ensure that the tragedy of history never repeats itself.

(The author is the director of the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies of the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences.)

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Telling the Long March Story from a Cross-Cultural Perspective

By: 张德明

Harold Weldon (魏华德), an Australian sinologist and publisher, has long been committed to cultural exchange between China and Australia. In 1985 and 2011, he twice retraced the Long March, telling its story from a cross-cultural perspective, using Long March-themed visual publications as the core vehicle, and employing visual narratives readily accepted by overseas audiences to communicate China's history and contemporary development to Western societies. In 2017, Weldon received the 11th Special Book Award of China, the highest award in China's publishing industry oriented toward overseas audiences, which was precisely recognition of his decades of deep engagement in spreading China's stories and promoting cultural exchange between China and foreign countries.

The First Journey: Gaining Insight into This Eastern Legend of the Long March. In 1985, 19-year-old Weldon set foot on Chinese soil for the first time, embarking on a journey to retrace the Long March. Starting from Ruijin, Jiangxi, he passed through Zunyi, Jiaopingdu, the Dadu River, and Mount Jiajin, finally arriving at Wuqi Town, Shaanxi. Together with a team of Chinese and foreign photographers, Weldon spent several months recording the mountains, rivers, landscapes, and local customs along the way on foot, by vehicle, and through the lens. This journey left a deeply etched in one's memory (刻骨铭心, kè gǔ míng xīn - "carve, bone, remember, heart") impression on him: at Jiaopingdu, he fainted from heatstroke, and local villagers saved him with clear water and watermelon; on the grasslands of Tibetan areas, herders entertained the unfamiliar Western visitors with yak milk and hot meals; in remote villages, simple and honest common people, even in poverty, were willing to share their best food. Recalling the journey, Weldon said: "Although the Long March is a story about the Red Army, we discovered that it can show the beautiful China to the whole world. China has not only rice paddies, but also continuous mountain ranges, distinctive ethnic groups, beautiful geographical environments, and rich culture."

Weldon discovered that the Red Army had always treated the people kindly and protected them along the way, winning popular support with sincerity. This belief in "putting the people first" was precisely the core code that enabled the Long March to overcome hardships and dangers. Moreover, the kindness and resilience of the people along the route shattered his stereotypes about China and let him understand the unity and friendliness etched into the bones of the Chinese people. He remarked: "The Long March was a great journey of overcoming adversity, of being unwavering and tenacious (坚韧不拔, jiān rèn bù bá - "firm, resilient, not, pull"), and of striving forward in unity. Retracing the Long March taught me to be fearless, to always face challenges with unswerving and steadfast (坚定不移, jiān dìng bù yí - "firm, steady, not, move") determination, and to have good adaptability—accepting new strategies, exploring unknown routes, embracing new ideas, and accepting the kindness of strangers."

After this journey, in 1986 Weldon led the publication of the large-format pictorial album China—The Long March, which was published in seven languages—Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Italian, and Spanish—and sold 150,000 copies in fifty to sixty countries worldwide, achieving great success. This album did not deliberately play up grand narratives; instead, it used authentic images and delicate prose to present the natural scenery, ethnic cultures, and ordinary people's lives along the Long March route, allowing Western readers to see for the first time that the Long March was not only a military expedition but also an Eastern legend full of human warmth and civilizational charm. Weldon said: "This book is not just about history; it uses the Long March route to showcase China's vast territory, diverse ethnic groups, and magnificent mountains and rivers, letting overseas readers see a complete China beyond the textbooks."

The Second Journey: Witnessing the Great Changes Along the Long March Route. In 2011, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the victory of the Red Army's Long March, Weldon decided to organize Chinese and foreign photographers to retrace the Long March a second time, to observe anew the changes along the route, and planned to produce another themed pictorial album. Weldon explained his creative concept this way: "Simply telling the war history of more than eighty years ago would create a sense of distance for young overseas readers; by placing the Long March history and the beautiful lives of today's people in the same book, readers can understand—the ideals for which the Red Army fought back then are becoming reality on this land." As for the second retracing of the Long March, he believed its core significance lay in revisiting the historical sites they had visited last time, recording the social and economic changes that had taken place in these places, and documenting the daily lives of ordinary people.

Two journeys, with the passage of time, the tremendous changes along the Long March route amazed him, and people's lives were changing with each passing day. But what moved him even more was that while the face of the times had changed, the Long March spirit and human warmth remained unchanged. The villagers who had helped him back then were still warm and hospitable today; the red heritage sites along the Long March route had become important vehicles for carrying forward the spirit; and the Chinese people's quality of never giving up in the face of difficulties and striving forward in unity had never changed. On the second retracing of the Long March, Weldon personally experienced many changes: by then, infrastructure had already been upgraded—when passing the Dadu River along the Long March route, many dams had been newly built there. In 1985, fruits and vegetables were hard to buy in western Sichuan, but upon revisiting, he found that beautiful markets and shops were full of agricultural products from all over China. Another major change was the astonishing development of transportation infrastructure. Highways, railway stations, high-speed rail, and airports were interconnected and crisscrossed, leaving people in awe.

Weldon named the pictorial album published after his second Long March journey China—The New Long March. The album was published in multiple languages, including Chinese, English, German, French, Spanish, Russian, and Japanese, and was released worldwide in 2012. Taking the Long March as its main thread, the album records and reports on the "New Long March" that began with reform and opening up, using multiple forms such as photographs and text, documentaries, and digital and online publishing to introduce to the world the great achievements made by the people along the Long March route under the leadership of the Party and government in economic development, cultural development, ecological environment, and people's livelihoods since reform and opening up. The album had a positive impact in the international community and was hailed by overseas publishers as "a window into the social conditions of western China and the spiritual world of the Chinese people."

The Long March is a bond for understanding contemporary China. Having delved deeply into Chinese studies for four decades, Weldon has always been committed to "telling China's stories well in the world's languages," breaking down the barriers of cross-cultural communication. He knows well that Western audiences have limited receptivity to grand narratives, and that authentic details, vivid characters, and empathetic emotions are the keys to bridging cultural divides. The story of the Red Army's Long March is undoubtedly an important vehicle for understanding contemporary China.

At international exchange platforms such as the World Conference on China Studies and the Beijing Culture Forum, he shared his insights on the Long March from personal experience, calling on the international community to abandon ideological prejudice, view China from an objective and rational perspective, and, through classic stories like the Long March, seek the spiritual code of China's development and understand the path and values China has chosen. At the same time, he also encouraged Chinese cultural communicators to persist in polishing stories from a cross-cultural perspective, so that more Chinese stories, like the Long March, can enter the hearts of Western readers.

In Weldon's view, the Long March spirit belongs not only to China but also to the world, and he is pleased to see the epic story of the Long March—one that embodies human perseverance, leadership, and strategic wisdom—told to the world. Regarding Western society's misunderstandings and prejudices about China, he said: "Today's China is full of confidence in its own path of modernization. The West needs to understand that this confidence comes from the 'Long March' in China's development journey, which was not achieving success overnight (一蹴而就, yī cù ér jiù - "one, step, and, achieve"). I believe that a confident country will both embrace its own identity and values and, at the same time, actively cooperate with other countries, on the basis of mutual respect, to jointly address global challenges."

Having retraced the Long March twice, Weldon measured China's land with his own feet and felt China's warmth with his heart. The pictorial albums he published let the world see a true, multi-dimensional, and comprehensive China; the cultural bridge he built brought the hearts of the Chinese and Australian peoples closer together. In the tide of the times of exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, Weldon is like a persistent traveler, using the story of the Long March as a bond, letting the world see China's spirit and strength, and letting China's voice spread across the globe.

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Accelerate Building a Modern Industrial System with Advanced Manufacturing as Its Backbone

By: 盛朝迅

General Secretary Xi Jinping has issued important instructions on developing advanced manufacturing, emphasizing adherence to the directions of intelligent, green, and integrated development, continuously strengthening and expanding advanced manufacturing, raising the level of independent and controllable industrial chains, accelerating the construction of a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as its backbone, consolidating and strengthening the foundation of the real economy, and providing strong support for advancing Chinese modernization. This important exposition profoundly clarifies the backbone position, core functions, and development path of advanced manufacturing within the modern industrial system, precisely anchors the main direction of high-quality industrial development in the new era, and provides fundamental guidance and a course of action for building a manufacturing power and constructing a modern industrial system.

Fully understand the important significance of developing advanced manufacturing

The modern industrial system is the material and technological foundation of Chinese modernization, an organic system supported by the real economy, characterized by multi-industry coordination and linkage, dynamic supply-demand balance, and both security and resilience. Advanced manufacturing represents the direction of industrial upgrading, possessing advanced qualities in production methods, product supply, industrial organization, and development models. It is a new form of manufacturing that adapts to the requirements of the new round of technological revolution, aligns with the concepts of Chinese modernization, and embodies the laws of modern production. It is necessary to base ourselves on the foundation of the real economy, strengthen and expand advanced manufacturing, and accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system that is innovation-led, independent and controllable, safe and efficient, and highly competitive.

An important foundation of the real economy. Both history and practice show that without a strong real economy as support, so-called prosperity is nothing but a seemingly splendid bubble, a tall building built on sand. Unlike traditional manufacturing, advanced manufacturing is mainly characterized by technology intensity, innovation-driven growth, intensive efficiency, green and low-carbon practices, and high added value, covering key fields such as high-end equipment, new materials, new-generation information technology, new energy, intelligent connected vehicles, and biomedicine. It can not only provide green and high-quality products through technological innovation and promote innovation in production methods, but also promote the digitalization and intelligentization of production organization, make production processes perceptible and controllable, and ensure the green, low-carbon, and sustainable nature of the entire product life cycle, achieving flexible production, lean production, and green production. Moreover, it can create high-quality employment, increase product added value, form core competitiveness through technology, processes, and patents, effectively offset downward pressure on the economy, stabilize the overall macroeconomic situation, and consolidate the real economy foundation for high-quality development.

The main front of scientific and technological innovation. Scientific and technological innovation is not a purely theoretical breakthrough; it must be grounded in industrial application and transformed into real productive forces. Advanced manufacturing gathers high-quality innovation resources, features high R&D investment intensity and obvious technology- and knowledge-intensive characteristics, carries a large number of key core technology research tasks, and can create new technological innovation paradigms. It is the best carrier for the deep integration of the innovation chain, industrial chain, capital chain, and talent chain, helping to translate scientific and technological innovation achievements into engineering and industrial applications, and to convert technological advantages into industrial and economic advantages. Whether it is basic research, original innovation, or applied technology integration innovation, or engineering and industrialization innovation, all must achieve practical results or coming to fruition (落地见效, luo di jian xiao - "land, see effect") through a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as its backbone, realizing the leap from technological breakthroughs to industrial breakthroughs, and from technological advantages to competitive advantages.

A stabilizer for ensuring the security of industrial and supply chains. Currently, the global industrial landscape is undergoing deep restructuring, with major-power industrial competition, technological barriers, and supply chain fragmentation intensifying. Global competition has shifted from product competition and market competition to systemic competition in underlying technologies, industrial foundations, industrial rules, and supply chain resilience. Advanced manufacturing covers underlying foundational fields such as industrial foundations, high-end equipment, core components, key materials, and industrial software. It is an important shield for safeguarding national industrial security, technological security, and economic security. Strengthening advanced manufacturing and raising the level of independent and controllable industrial chains can consolidate our country's important position in the global industrial division of labor and competition, continuously shape new advantages, and firmly hold the bottom line of industrial security.

The material and technological foundation of a modernized country. Chinese modernization is a modernization in which material civilization and spiritual civilization are coordinated, and it must rely on a strong real economy for support. The continuous iterative upgrading of advanced manufacturing can create new products, new functions, and new scenarios, generate effective new demand through high-quality new supply, and meet the needs of industrial upgrading and the people's aspirations for a better life. It can continuously raise the level of social productive forces, optimize the supply structure, create new types of consumer demand, drive coordinated development between urban and rural areas and among regions, promote the modernization of the industrial system and the advancement of the economic structure, provide solid industrial support for the construction of new industrialization, new urbanization, Digital China, and a Beautiful China, and also carry multi-dimensional modernization values such as economic development, scientific and technological innovation, industrial security, livelihood security, ecological sustainability, and common prosperity, providing multiple strategic functions for Chinese modernization.

Accurately grasp the development directions of intelligent, green, and integrated development

General Secretary Xi Jinping has clearly put forward the three major development directions of intelligent, green, and integrated development, precisely revealing the inherent laws of the transformation and upgrading of advanced manufacturing in the new era. These are important paths for constructing a modern industrial system. The three are complementing each other or working in harmony (相辅相成, xiang xiang xiang cheng - "mutually aid; complement each other"), organically unified, jointly promoting the leap of manufacturing from scale expansion to quality and efficiency improvement, and from factor-driven to innovation-driven transformation.

Reshape the production paradigm through intelligent development. Intelligent development is an important direction for manufacturing development and also a key force driving it. Traditional manufacturing relies on a production model based on manpower, equipment, and experience, which has shortcomings such as relatively low efficiency, insufficient precision, inadequate flexibility, and lagging management and control. Intelligent development relies on new technologies such as artificial intelligence, the industrial internet, big data, computing clusters, and digital twins, promoting the iteration of labor instruments from traditional mechanical equipment to computing power, algorithms, industrial software, and intelligent production lines, achieving a qualitative change from extending physical strength to replacing mental labor. Labor objects expand from traditional minerals and raw materials to industrial data, model parameters, simulation scenarios, and new functional materials. Workers upgrade from skilled workers to digitally skilled and innovative compound talents, achieving intelligent transformation of the entire process of production, management, R&D, quality control, logistics, and services. First, intelligent upgrading at the production end, promoting the construction of intelligent factories and digital workshops, popularizing flexible manufacturing, lean manufacturing, and intelligent manufacturing models, and greatly improving production efficiency, product precision, and capacity adaptation capability. Second, intelligent empowerment across the entire chain, relying on the industrial internet to break down data barriers between upstream and downstream, achieving collaborative design, collaborative production, and collaborative distribution across the industrial chain, and improving the overall operational efficiency of the industrial chain. Third, intelligent improvement of new growth drivers, by cultivating new growth points such as intelligent manufacturing, intelligent equipment, and industrial software, enabling advanced manufacturing to shift from factor-input-driven growth to efficiency-improvement-driven growth, and continuously raising total factor productivity.

Build a sustainable production system through green development. The modern industrial system is a sustainable industrial system that is green, low-carbon, intensive, efficient, and based on circular utilization. Green development is an inherent requirement for the high-quality development of advanced manufacturing and also the distinctive background of the modern industrial system. The period of the 15th Five-Year Plan is a critical period for green technology transformation, rule competition, and the hard battle for carbon peak. Promoting the green transformation of manufacturing requires integrated advancement of green transformation, technological innovation, and industrial upgrading, promoting industrial green transformation in an all-round manner from the source, the process, and the end. At the source end, vigorously promote green design, low-carbon materials, and energy-saving equipment, continuously eliminate backward production capacity, and optimize the energy consumption structure and product structure of manufacturing. At the production end, comprehensively implement energy-saving and carbon-reduction transformation, cleaner production transformation, and circular transformation, promote the utilization of waste heat and residual pressure, resource utilization of solid waste, and water recycling models, and reduce energy consumption, material consumption, and carbon emissions per unit of output. At the industrial end, cultivate green advanced manufacturing clusters such as new energy equipment, green new materials, energy-saving and environmental protection equipment, and energy storage industries, build green supply chains, green industrial parks, and green industrial ecosystems, and achieve the coordinated unity of economic, social, and ecological benefits.

Expand development boundaries through integrated development. Integrated development is an important path for advanced manufacturing to expand capacity, improve quality, and undergo iterative upgrading, capable of breaking industrial boundaries, reshaping industrial forms, and cultivating new growth points. Currently, industrial development has bid farewell to the traditional model of single industries developing independently. Cross-industry integration of digital and physical, manufacturing and services, and various other industries has become the mainstream trend. It is necessary to grasp the general trend of industrial development, vigorously develop service-oriented manufacturing, cultivate full-process solution providers, and promote the deep integrated development of modern industries. Promote the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy, actively use digital technology to transform the real economy, give rise to new tracks such as intelligent equipment, industrial software, and industrial digitalization services, and achieve two-way empowerment between digital industrialization and industrial digitalization. Promote the deep integration of advanced manufacturing and modern service industries, facilitate the deep embedding of producer services such as R&D and design, inspection and testing, industrial operation and maintenance, intelligent logistics, brand operations, and industrial consulting into the entire manufacturing process, achieve integrated development of "manufacturing + services," and promote the leap of the value chain from the middle and low end to the high end.

Adhere to a systematic approach and solidly advance the development of advanced manufacturing

The systematic approach is an important category of Marxist epistemology and methodology. Adhering to the systematic approach is a principle that economic and social development must follow, and also a scientific method for doing economic work well. A modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as its backbone does not ignore or belittle the role of agriculture, traditional manufacturing, modern service industries, infrastructure, and other industries. On the contrary, it needs to give play to the backbone support and related leading role of advanced manufacturing, undertake scientific and technological innovation, provide modern means of production, lead the coordinated development of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries, and expand space for the high-quality development of related industries. It is necessary to adhere to the systematic approach, coordinate scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, tradition and emergence, government and market, and development and security, continuously strengthen and expand advanced manufacturing, and build a modern industrial system with completeness, advanced nature, and security.

Coordinate scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation. The development of advanced manufacturing depends on innovation. Taking the first-mover step of innovation well can seize the lead and win advantages. Fully give play to the role of national strategic scientific and technological forces, relying on national laboratories, key laboratories, high-level research universities, central research institutes, leading technology enterprises, and new-type R&D institutions to build a multi-level, full-chain innovation system. Adhere to the principal role of enterprises, focus on "bottleneck" fields such as high-end equipment, core chips, industrial software, key materials, and precision instruments, concentrate superior resources to carry out key core technology research, strengthen forward-looking layout of basic research, and fill the shortcomings of the industrial foundation. Improve the collaborative innovation mechanism of industry, academia, and research, open up the entire chain of basic research, applied research, pilot-scale transformation, and industrialization, and accelerate the transformation of innovation achievements into real productive forces.

Coordinate the upgrading of traditional industries, the growth of emerging industries, and the forward-looking layout of future industries. Traditional industries are not backward industries and cannot be simply shutting something down to resolve the issue (一关了之, yi guan le zhi - "one close, finish it"). They should be promoted to undergo iterative upgrading through intelligent and green technologies, releasing new vitality for industrial development. Emerging industries such as artificial intelligence, aerospace, biomedicine, high-end equipment, and new energy are at a critical stage from cultivation to growth. It is necessary to make systematic efforts from multiple dimensions such as technological research, entity cultivation, industrial ecology, factor guarantee, and institutional reform, fill shortcomings, extend chains, and raise capability levels, creating new engines for industrial growth. Future industries are the key increment of the modern industrial system. It is necessary to seize new opportunities for industrial development, make forward-looking layouts in future industries such as quantum technology, biomanufacturing, hydrogen energy and nuclear fusion energy, brain-computer interfaces, embodied intelligence, and sixth-generation mobile communications, and seize the commanding heights of industrial development.

Coordinate an effective market and a proactive government. Handling the relationship between the government and the market well is the core issue for the effective operation of the market economy, and also a question that must be answered well in the process of advanced manufacturing growing from big to strong. Practice tells us that the market is the most effective form of resource allocation, but the market itself can also fail. To give play to the decisive role of the market in resource allocation, it is necessary to better give play to the role of the government. It is necessary to both stimulate the vitality of various business entities, cultivate chain-leading enterprises, specialized and sophisticated "little giant" enterprises that produce novel and unique products, and single-product champions, and improve industrial governance, curb low-level redundant construction and characterized by intense, irrational competition or involution (内卷式, nei juan shi - "inner, roll, style") vicious competition, improve mechanisms for standards, production capacity early warning, and elimination of backward production capacity, and achieve the unity of liberalization and sound management.

Coordinate high-quality development and high-level security. Development and security are like two sides of a coin, mutually supporting, mutually promoting, and highly integrated. It is necessary to consolidate security in development and seek development in security. Improve mechanisms for industrial and supply chain security monitoring, risk early warning, and emergency supply guarantee, establish risk lists, shortcoming lists, and research lists for key industrial chains, and implement differentiated policies to resolve chain-breaking risks. Promote the domestic substitution of key core products, basic materials, and core components, and build a diversified and resilient supply chain system. Deeply advance the industrial foundation reengineering project and the major technical equipment research project, fill shortcomings and weaknesses, enhance the ability of industrial chains to withstand shocks, resist risks, and stabilize supply, and firmly hold the bottom line of industrial security.

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

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Theoretical Seminar on Xi Jinping's Party Building Thought Leading High-Standard Construction of Hainan Free Trade Port Held at Party School of Hainan Provincial Committee

(Study Times report)
  On October 10, the theoretical seminar on Xi Jinping's Party building thought leading the high-standard construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port was held at the Party School of the Hainan Provincial Committee of the CPC (Hainan Academy of Governance). Na Yunde, member of the Standing Committee of the Hainan Provincial Committee and head of its Organization Department, Wang Weiguang, president of the 21st Century Marxism Research Institute, and Wu Yuliang, vice president of the National Party Building Research Association, attended and addressed the meeting.

The meeting thoroughly studied and implemented Xi Jinping's Party building thought, as well as General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions on grassroots work methods and his series of important speeches and instructions on Hainan's work. It was divided into keynote speeches, parallel forums, and other segments, focusing on discussions in areas such as upholding and strengthening the Party's overall leadership, grassroots Party building, risk prevention and control, and new quality productive forces, with the aim of exploring practical paths and providing theoretical support for leading the high-standard construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port with high-quality Party building.

In the keynote speech segment, participating experts focused on topics such as the systematization and theorization of Xi Jinping's Party building thought, how to effectively strengthen Party building during the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port, Xi Jinping's Party building thought leading Hainan's ideological and cultural development, persistently using the Party's innovative theories to unite hearts and forge souls, and the dissemination of the Party's innovative theories under the conditions of generative artificial intelligence, conducting multi-dimensional and in-depth discussions.

In the parallel forum segment, participating guests focused on six themes: upholding and strengthening the Party's overall leadership to promote steady and sustained progress (行稳致远, xing wen zhi yuan - "walk, steady; arrive, far") in the construction of the free trade port; deepening full and rigorous self-governance of the Party to build a solid safety barrier for the high-quality development of the free trade port; persistently tempering strong Party spirit to gather surging and vigorous strength for the construction of the free trade port; improving the organizational system that is connected from top to bottom and effective in execution to consolidate the organizational foundation and talent support for the construction of the free trade port; accelerating the high-quality development of the free trade port under the guidance of the new development philosophy; and deepening the research, publicity, and interpretation of the systematization and theorization of Xi Jinping's Party building thought to help lead the high-standard construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port with high-quality Party building. They analyzed problems in light of actual conditions and deepened theoretical thinking.

The meeting unanimously agreed that it is necessary to adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping's Party building thought, carry the strengthening of the Party's overall leadership through the entire process of the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port, focus on the new situations, new problems, and new topics facing Party building in the free trade port, fully leverage the role of experts and scholars, conduct in-depth discussions, offer more profound and penetrating insights (真知灼见, zhen zhi zhuo jian - "true, knowledge; burning, insight"), answer questions and clear up doubts (答疑解惑, da yi jie huo - "answer, doubt; untie, confusion") for Hainan's Party building work, and help solve practical difficulties; it is necessary to base oneself on the academic frontier, give full play to theoretical advantages, deeply explore and systematically distill the innovative practices of Party building in the Hainan Free Trade Port, form more replicable and promotable Party building experiences and theoretical achievements, and contribute vivid practical samples from the front line of Hainan's opening up to the enrichment and development of Xi Jinping's Party building thought.

This seminar was guided by the Organization Department of the Hainan Provincial Committee and the Publicity Department of the Hainan Provincial Committee, hosted by the Party School of the Hainan Provincial Committee of the CPC (Hainan Academy of Governance), the Hainan Provincial Federation of Social Sciences, and the Hainan Provincial Party Building Research Association, and organized by the Hainan Research Base of the 21st Century Marxism Research Institute, the Hainan Provincial Federation of Philosophy and Social Scientists Residing in Hainan, the Hainan Provincial Research Base for Party Building Leading Free Trade Port Construction, and the Hainan Provincial Collaborative Innovation Center for Philosophy and Political Science Disciplines. A total of more than 150 people attended the meeting, including experts and scholars from universities and research institutes inside and outside the province, all faculty members of the Provincial Party School, and teacher representatives from the branch schools of the Provincial Party School and Party schools (academies of governance) across the province.

(Lin Shihao)

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Jiangsu Provincial Party School Holds Mid-Term Sharing Meeting of Classic Reading Project for Young Teachers

(Study Times report)
  Recently, the Party School (School of Administration) of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee held the 29th session of the "Joint Study" theoretical workshop and the mid-term sharing meeting of the Classic Reading Project for Young Teachers. Vice President (Vice Dean) Li Lifeng attended and delivered a speech.

The meeting pointed out that implementing the Classic Reading Project for Young Teachers is an important work arrangement made by the school (academy) with a view to consolidating the theoretical foundation of young teachers and boosting the foundation and peak-climbing of scientific research and policy consultation. The majority of young teachers should make efforts to strengthen the foundation of theoretical research, comprehensively, systematically, and deeply study and read the relevant works and documents of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and build a solid theoretical support for strengthening the systematic and theoretical research and interpretation of the Party's innovative theory; they should strengthen the foundation of academic research, clarify their own main scientific research fields based on the key directions of the Party school's discipline construction, and closely focus on the key tasks of the Party school's scientific research to carry out research; they should practice the basic skill of investigation and research, go deep into the front line of Jiangsu's economic and social development to conduct research, and lay a solid foundation for in-depth research on new situations and solving new problems.

The meeting emphasized that carrying out classic reading is a long-term foundational and systematic project, and should be carried out with persevering with constancy (持之以恒, chi zhi yi heng - "hold, continue, with, constant") and sustained, long-term effort. Young teachers should take the reading of classics as a guide, strengthen the systematic and holistic research on Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, carry out research by field and by topic, deepen research focusing on iconic major concepts, strengthen research on the new practice of Chinese modernization in Jiangsu, and form a batch of landmark achievements; they should strengthen countermeasure research, closely focus on the major practical issues of Jiangsu's economic and social development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period and the construction of the Party in Jiangsu, and form research achievements that are well-founded and well-known; they should highlight the transformation of achievements, effectively connect all links from classic reading to teaching, scientific research, and decision-making consultation, and promote the coordinated development of teaching, research, and consultation.

At the meeting, 8 representatives of young teachers shared their reading gains and experiences based on their respective disciplinary backgrounds and research directions. Everyone unanimously expressed that in the subsequent reading, they should further highlight the problem orientation, truly achieve combining study, reflection, and practical application (学思用结合, xue si yong jie he - "learn, think, use, combine"), and transform the reading achievements into teaching effectiveness, scientific research results, and policy consultation suggestions.

More than 120 people attended the meeting, including comrades in charge of various teaching and research departments, young teachers under 40 years old, and comrades in charge and staff of the Scientific Research Office, the Graduate Student Office, and the Decision Consultation Department.

(Su Xiaoxuan)

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Chongqing Municipal Party Committee Party School Holds Teaching Work Conference for 2026 Autumn Semester

(Study Times report) On September 24, the Party School (School of Administration) of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee held its teaching work conference for the 2026 autumn semester. Executive Vice President (Executive Vice Dean) Liu Xiaowu attended and delivered a speech. He emphasized the need to thoroughly study and implement Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, fully implement the spirit of the National Conference of Presidents (Deans) of Party Schools (Schools of Administration), uphold the principle that the Party school is run by the Party, remain true to the original aspiration of the Party school, strengthen the sense of mission, responsibility, and reverence in carrying out Party school work, firmly establish the clear orientation of "everything revolves around training, everything revolves around trainees," focus on the primary responsibilities and main tasks, concentrate efforts on improving quality and efficiency, and serve the building of a modern new Chongqing through high-quality talent cultivation.

Liu Xiaowu pointed out that during the spring semester, the school (academy) adhered to serving the overall situation and empowering cadres, coordinated the advancement of key tasks such as basic training, development of renowned courses, building of teaching brands, reshaping of the teaching system, and coordinated development of teaching, research, and consultation. The effectiveness of cadre education and training and trainee satisfaction continued to improve. To do a good job in autumn semester teaching work, first, it is necessary to achieve thoroughly studying and understanding (学深悟透, xue shen wu tou - "study deeply, understand thoroughly") Xi Jinping's important discourses on Party school work. This requires continuous and universal learning across all times, matters, and people (时时学、事事学、人人学, shi shi xue, shi shi xue, ren ren xue - "study at all times, study in all matters, everyone studies"), continuously raising political positioning, and transforming learning outcomes into ideological consensus, work handles, and action guidelines. Second, it is necessary to deeply implement the action of developing renowned courses. Strictly implement the working mechanism of "daily updates, weekly polishing, monthly lesson preparation, quarterly review," accelerate the development of urgently needed, scarce, classic, and cutting-edge courses, increase case-based teaching, and make every effort to tackle the application and recommendation of national excellent courses for cadre education and training. Third, it is necessary to accelerate the deployment of distinctive teaching materials. Coordinate the compilation of a series of distinctive teaching materials, adhere to the integrated planning and synchronized advancement of textbook compilation and course development, and promote the timely entry of results into the classroom. Fourth, it is necessary to continue to optimize the Qiushi Grand Classroom brand. Closely follow the central overall situation to optimize theme planning, strengthen communication and coordination, coordinate course scheduling and resource sharing, and build a teaching brand with national influence. Fifth, it is necessary to accelerate the building of Party spirit education bases. Advance the construction of the "Chongqing Practice of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era" themed classroom and the themed classroom of the Chongqing Municipal Grassroots Governance Research Center (Minzhu Village), while simultaneously strengthening the team of docents and developing supporting thematic courses. Sixth, it is necessary to iteratively upgrade high-quality teaching routes. Optimize and improve the high-quality route of "implementing General Secretary Xi Jinping's earnest instructions," continue to build distinctive teaching sites, and raise the level of standardization of on-site teaching across the city. Seventh, it is necessary to strictly and practically manage trainees. Improve the ten major management systems, strictly implement closed management, deepen research-based teaching, connect the training chain of "three things brought in, three things brought out," and actively respond to trainees' concerns.

Liu Xiaowu emphasized the need to strengthen organized teaching, fully leverage the role of the school (academy) committee in leadership and gatekeeping, strictly consolidate the overall coordination responsibility of the academic affairs office, the primary responsibility of teaching and research departments, and the guarantee responsibility of various functional departments, and systematically build a high-quality talent cultivation work pattern. All teachers should cultivate professional ethics and conduct, hold trainees, classrooms, and theory in reverence, elevate their positioning, grasp their orientation, and identify their role, treating the podium as a stage and the profession as a career.

Leaders of the school (academy), heads of various departments, teacher representatives, and teachers newly recruited in recent years attended the meeting.

(Liu Jiangyang)

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Beijing and Shanghai Party School Bureau-Level Main Classes Hold Joint Learning and Mutual Exchange Activity

(Study Times report)
  On September 15, the 31st session of the bureau-level research and study class at the Beijing Municipal Party School (School of Administration) and the 153rd session of the bureau-level advanced study class at the Shanghai Municipal Party School (School of Administration), which had come to the Beijing Municipal Party School (School of Administration) for off-site teaching, held a discussion on learning from each other through joint study (联学互鉴, lian xue hu jian - "jointly study, mutually learn"). Fifty-four trainees from Beijing and Shanghai conducted seminar-style exchanges and discussions on hot and difficult issues in the reform and development of the two cities.

With "mutual learning from the practices of the two cities, joint research on reform challenges" as the main theme, trainee representatives from both cities, each drawing on the vivid practices of their respective cities, shared experiences and conducted in-depth exchanges and interactions in four areas: new quality productive forces and scientific and technological innovation, digital economy development and planning, regional coordination and industrial integration, and rule-of-law construction and social governance. Beijing trainees focused on introducing measures for building a global benchmark city for the digital economy and for coordinating data security, and, centering on the construction of an international center for scientific and technological innovation, shared the mechanism of "enterprises pose the questions, universities and research institutes provide the answers" to open up the channel between industry, academia, and research, as well as a series of action plans for establishing branch centers in Binhai and Xiong'an relying on the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei National Technology Innovation Center. Shanghai trainees mainly introduced the municipal-district coordination mechanism for the science and technology service industry of "municipal-level overall planning, district-level implementation," and shared the experience of the Yangtze River Delta region in promoting the cross-regional flow of innovation factors such as talent, capital, and data through joint research programs and innovation consortia, and in achieving shared benefits for people's livelihoods in areas such as mutual recognition of qualifications, a "one-card" social security system, and mutual recognition of medical examination and test results.

The atmosphere of the discussion was very lively. Trainees unanimously expressed that Beijing and Shanghai, both being megacities, share similar missions and common topics in serving major national strategies and promoting high-quality development. The Party schools' holding of the discussion on learning from each other through joint study built a cross-regional, cross-field learning and exchange platform for trainees from the two cities, helping cadres from both cities broaden their horizons, inspire their thinking, and enhance their capabilities. Trainees also had multiple questions they agreed to exchange on after the meeting, and stated that they would take this exchange as an opportunity to turn the results of the discussion into ideas and measures for doing their own work well, and effectively strengthen their political capacity to serve national strategies and their performance capacity to promote high-quality development.

(Yin Mingyi, Chen Sinuo)

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Shandong Provincial Party School Innovates to Advance High-Quality Development of Publicity Work

In recent years, the Party School (School of Administration) of the Shandong Provincial Committee of the CPC has actively adapted to the changing trends in the media landscape and modes of communication, fully leveraged its role in ideological guidance and publicity and outreach, concentrated efforts on innovating and improving the quality and effectiveness of publicity work, and helped advance the high-quality development of the cause of the Party School (School of Administration).

Adhere to the principle that the Party School is run under the banner of the Party, and integrate distinct and outspoken in stance (旗帜鲜明, qi zhi xian ming - "flag, bright, clear") political work into the entire process and all aspects of publicity work. Take the in-depth publicity and interpretation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the primary task, organize experts to strengthen the research and interpretation of the Party's innovative theories, and promptly provide interpretation of the spirit of major Party meetings and the Party's decisions and deployments. Focus on the work pattern, ideas, and concepts of the school (academy) committee regarding running the school and governance, carry out planned, all-round, and multi-dimensional publicity and guidance, promote consensus on the "15th Five-Year Plan" development plan of the Party School (School of Administration) of Shandong Province and the construction of an innovative campus, and pool strength for advancing the integrated, connotative, high-quality development of the Party schools (schools of administration) across the province. Fully implement the responsibility system for ideological work, adhere to the strictest political, academic, teaching, and management standards, issue the "Measures on Strengthening Education, Management, and Supervision of Faculty and Staff" and the 30-item "Negative List of Teacher Ethics and Conduct," and firmly uphold the bottom-line principles of ideology and academia. The review of publicity content strictly implements the "three reviews and three proofreadings" system, strengthens responsibility implementation, personnel management, and position control, regularly holds training classes for information and publicity staff of the Party school (school of administration) system across the province, strengthens monitoring of online public opinion, provides proper guidance of public opinion, and enhances the capability and level of responding to public opinion.

Strengthen platform construction and produce high-level publicity and interpretation results. Build and make good use of six provincial-level key research bases, including the Research Base for the Study and Practice of Party Building Theory, six provincial-level academic societies, including the Shandong Province Marxist Research Association, and platforms such as the provincial and municipal research centers. Focus on the main responsibilities and core business, clarify the differentiated development direction of the school (academy) newspapers and journals. The Theoretical Journal focuses on publicizing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and new achievements in Party history, Party building, and political science; the Journal of Shandong Academy of Governance focuses on publicizing new achievements in administrative science and management science; the Journal of Yimeng Cadre Academy focuses on publicizing and promoting new achievements in the Yimeng spirit and red culture; and the Shandong Party School News focuses on reporting on the work experience, practices, and advanced models of the Party school (school of administration) system across the province. Redesign the campus official website to enhance communication power, influence, and user convenience. Optimize column settings, streamline homogeneous publicity content, and add personalized and distinctive columns. Adopt forms of expression and language that are pleasing to the public (喜闻乐见, xi wen le jian - "happy, hear, enjoy, see"), such as graphic posters and short videos, to enhance the influence of the official WeChat account, and launch columns including "Study and Education on Establishing and Practicing a Correct View of Political Achievements," "Study and Implementation of the Regulations on the Work of Party Schools (Schools of Administration) of the Communist Party of China," "Vigorously Promote the Yimeng Spirit," "Strong Province Grand Classroom," "Party School Excellent Courses," "Party School Voice," and "Party School Book Garden." The number of followers of the WeChat official account of the Party School (Shandong Academy of Governance) of the Shandong Provincial Committee of the CPC has exceeded 70,000, and it has been awarded the title of "Outstanding Account for Following the Online Mass Line" in Shandong Province.

Inherit the red gene and vigorously promote the Yimeng spirit. Undertake the "Yimeng Spirit Passed Down Through Generations" seminar, jointly produce with Shandong Digital Culture Group and others the online audio program "Yimeng in Stories," which has received over ten million plays across the internet, was selected for the Shandong Province Online Audiovisual Quality Project, and selected high-quality program content was compiled and published as learning materials for trainees. Actively participate in the compilation and publication of the "Qilu Library · Red Documents Volume" of Shandong's major "Shandong Cultural Lineage" project, and publish the Yimeng Spirit Revolutionary Documents Series, Shandong Red Documents Series (First Compilation), Selected Catalogue of Fine Red Documents in the Collection, Red Memories, and others. Deeply explore the Qilu cultural genes of the Yimeng spirit, focus on implementing the "two creations" requirements for culture, and plan and publish the Qilu Culture and Governance of the Country series. Vigorously advance the construction of a culture of integrity, select 24 stories of incorruptible officials from ancient sages, and compile and engrave the Ancient Models of Clean Governance.

Strengthen exchanges and cooperation and build a new pattern of publicity work. Strengthen contact with mainstream media, and organize experts and scholars to publish theoretical articles and accept media interviews. From 2023 to the present, experts and professors have published more than 580 theoretical articles in Qiushi magazine, People's Daily, Guangming Daily, Economic Daily, Study Times, Dazhong Daily, and CSSCI-source journals, and have accepted more than 500 interviews with mainstream media such as Xinhua News Agency and Shandong Satellite TV. Strengthen communication and contact with new media such as Xuexi Qiangguo, the Dazhong Daily client, Shandong Flash News, and Qilu Yidian, do a good job of multi-channel distribution of publicity materials, and amplify the publicity effect. Explore the construction of a "publicity media convergence linkage" model for Party schools across the province, carry out joint planning, content coordination, and synchronized promotion around basic training for Party members and cadres in villages (communities) and the display of teaching achievements of teachers at municipal Party schools, and build a three-dimensional integrated media matrix.

(Lu Xiaoxuan)

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Yunnan Provincial Party School Empowers Course Development with Artificial Intelligence

In recent years, the Party School of the Yunnan Provincial Committee of the CPC (Yunnan Academy of Governance) has been committed to improving the digitalization level of cadre education and training teaching and management, making good use of technical means such as big data and artificial intelligence. Taking AI-empowered course development as the breakthrough point, it has explored a new path of teaching reform characterized by "data support and precise instruction," promoting the transformation and upgrading of Party school classrooms in the digital era.

Under the guidance of scientific and professional content, the school (academy) has innovatively carried out a teaching model of "guided learning + legal principles + AI analysis," combining classroom instruction with AI analysis models. The teaching scope has expanded from 150 students in the spring semester to four main training classes in the autumn semester, making the course applicable to a wider range of audiences.

The course design is indexed by 27 questions. In class, students are required to make three-fold choices on an AI practical training questionnaire, namely the plan they believe to be correct, the plan actually adopted in reality, and the main reasons for the gap between the two, thereby analyzing students' rule-of-law capabilities through different options. After students complete the questionnaire, the data is immediately aggregated into an AI analysis system for rule-of-law thinking and rule-of-law approaches, independently developed by the teaching team and running only locally. The system conducts three-dimensional cross-analysis of each student's "practical operation," "ought-to-be choice," and "attribution choice," automatically identifying the types of cognitive biases and the structure of their causes across different rule-of-law dimensions, and generates individual analysis reports. Teachers can use the system to generate a class-wide diagnostic map, adjust subsequent teaching priorities in a targeted manner, and reasonably arrange teaching content according to the needs of different dimensions.

Under the traditional course model, participation enthusiasm was a wide variety of different levels or qualities (参差不齐, can ci bu qi - "uneven, not equal, not level"), after-class feedback mostly remained at the level of general evaluation, and what was learned in class was difficult to apply to work; after the introduction of AI practical training teaching, the frequency of in-class interaction has increased significantly, after-class feedback has become more specific and in-depth, and the main training classes have scored above 99 points. The questionnaire version has gone from two rounds of practical training for graduate classes, to re-optimization in the spring semester based on student feedback, to refinement of the questionnaire and adjustment of analysis conclusions in the autumn semester based on student feedback. The questionnaire content increasingly "understands" the students, and the course content directly responds to students' confusions and shortcomings. "Strongly targeted" and "cases close to reality" have become high-frequency phrases in after-class feedback, and students' understanding and application of rule-of-law thinking and rule-of-law approaches have become more solid. This iterative process itself reflects the Party school's continuously deepening understanding of AI-empowered course development.

Taking the questionnaire as the entry point, supported by artificial intelligence technology, and using course development as the starting point, the school (academy) has initially explored a new path of "precise identification of needs, precise supply of content, and precise evaluation of effects." At the same time, the large amount of scenario-based data accumulated by AI practical training courses has pointed out the differentiation in the performance needs of cadres at different levels, and has also provided a referable direction for long-term training of Yunnan cadres' performance capabilities.

In the next step, the school (academy) will continue to deepen the application of artificial intelligence technology, improve the linkage mechanism between the questionnaire system and course design, explore more intelligent teaching scenarios, strive to form replicable and promotable experience and practices, provide a "Yunnan sample" for the course development of the Party school system, and inject new momentum into the high-quality development of Party school undertakings in the new era.

(Zhu Hongli, Wang Jing)

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Party School of CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee Holds Seminar on Strengthening Marine Development, Utilization, and Protection to Build a New Maritime Guangdong

(Study Times report) On September 29, the seminar "Strengthening Marine Development, Utilization, and Protection, Building a New Maritime Guangdong" was held in Zhuhai by the Party School of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee (School of Administration). Zhou Feng, member of the School (Academy) Committee and Director of Education, and Luo Hong, Executive Vice President (Vice Dean) of the Party School of the CPC Zhuhai Municipal Committee (School of Administration), attended the seminar and delivered speeches. The meeting was hosted by the Teaching and Research Department of Society and Ecological Civilization of the Party School of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee (School of Administration) and organized by the Party School of the CPC Zhuhai Municipal Committee (School of Administration).

The meeting pointed out that it is necessary to deepen the systematic and theoretical research and interpretation of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions on building a maritime power, promote interdisciplinary integration, and, based on accelerating the construction of China's independent knowledge system, contribute the strength of Party schools to accelerating the building of a maritime power. It is necessary to take the outline of Guangdong Province's 15th Five-Year Plan as the blueprint, continuously expand, strengthen, and optimize marine characteristic industries, deeply cultivate advantageous fields such as modern marine ranches, offshore wind power, and marine engineering equipment, and achieve new breakthroughs in building a new maritime Guangdong. It is necessary to uphold the original aspiration of Party schools of "cultivating talents for the Party and offering counsel for the Party," improving quality and efficiency (提质增效, ti zhi zeng xiao - "raise quality, increase efficiency") in cadre training, contributing wisdom in policy consultation and advice, forming synergy in system coordination, and injecting strong momentum into accelerating the building of a new maritime Guangdong.

At the meeting, Wang Manchuan, Professor of the Teaching and Research Department of Society and Ecological Civilization of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance); Huan Qingzhi, Director of the Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization at Peking University; Li Hongwei, Professor of the Teaching and Research Department of Society and Ecological Civilization of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance); Wei Chunlei, Director of the South China Sea Ecological Center of the Ministry of Natural Resources; and Yang Deqian, Director of the Marine Planning and Economy Division of the Department of Natural Resources of Guangdong Province (Guangdong Provincial Oceanic Administration), respectively delivered keynote speeches on such topics as "The World Significance of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization," "The Enrichment and Development of the Basic Principles of Marxism by Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization," "Practice and Reflections on the Construction of a Beautiful Ocean in the 15th Five-Year Plan," "Spreading the Path of Ecological Civilization Construction with the Power of Marine Ecological Protection," and "Practice of Building Guangdong into a Strong Maritime Province."

Six experts and scholars from the Party School of the CPC Tianjin Municipal Committee (School of Administration), the Party School of the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee (School of Administration), the Party School of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee (School of Administration), Guangdong Planning Institute Bay Area (Guangzhou) Planning and Design Co., Ltd., the Party School of the CPC Shenzhen Municipal Committee (School of Administration), and the Party School of the CPC Zhuhai Municipal Committee (School of Administration) exchanged research findings.

Nearly 80 people attended the seminar, including responsible comrades from the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance), Peking University, the South China Sea Ecological Center of the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Provincial Department of Natural Resources (Provincial Oceanic Administration), some Party schools (Schools of Administration), as well as departments and enterprises engaged in the front line of marine development, utilization, and protection practice.

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Party School of CPC Tibet Regional Committee Holds Seminar on "Practice and Theoretical Innovation of Building a Community of the Chinese Nation in Tibet"

(Study Times report)
On October 9, the Party School (School of Administration) of the CPC Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee held a theoretical seminar on "The Practice and Theoretical Innovation of Building a Community of the Chinese Nation in Tibet." Cui Luchun (崔禄春), Executive Vice President (Executive Vice Dean), and Li Xuefeng (李学锋), member of the Party Leadership Group, Deputy Director, and First-Level Inspector of the Regional Ethnic Affairs Commission, delivered speeches respectively; Luo Jun (罗军), Deputy Director of the Regional Party Committee's Publicity Department, attended. More than 80 people participated, including leaders of the school (academy), heads of various departments, as well as experts and scholars from the Regional Academy of Social Sciences, Tibet University, and Party schools across the region.

The meeting noted that General Secretary Xi Jinping's important thought on strengthening and improving ethnic work has pointed out the direction for the Party's ethnic work in the new era. Forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation and advancing the building of a community of the Chinese nation bear on national security, ethnic unity, and social stability, and bear on the overall situation of Tibet's long-term peace and order and high-quality development. The Party school should base itself on Tibet's regional conditions, uphold the original aspiration of "cultivating talents for the Party and offering counsel for the Party," run the forging of a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation through the entire process of cadre education and training and theoretical research, strengthen the theoretical interpretation of the history of relations between the Tibet region and the motherland, the history of exchanges, interactions, and integration among all ethnic groups, and the historic achievements of the cause of ethnic unity and progress in the new era, and provide theoretical support and intellectual support for the decision-making of the regional Party committee and regional government. It is necessary to adhere to maintaining integrity and strengthening the foundation (守正固本, shou zheng gu ben - "guard correctness, consolidate foundation"), telling Tibet's story of the community of the Chinese nation from the historical standpoint; adhere to empowering through the rule of law, consolidating the institutional support for community building by relying on the Law of the People's Republic of China on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress; adhere to combining research with application, focusing on practical issues to promote the transformation of theoretical achievements into governance effectiveness. The Regional Ethnic Affairs Commission will give play to its functional advantages in policies, regulations, and theoretical research, provide good service and support, and work together with the Party school and experts to promote research on the theory and practice of the community of the Chinese nation, contributing theoretical strength to "jointly building a community of the Chinese nation and writing a new chapter of a beautiful Tibet."

In the keynote speeches and expert exchanges, participating experts and Party school teacher representatives conducted exchanges and discussions centering on the practical logic of building a community of the Chinese nation, paths for local theoretical innovation, practices of exchanges, interactions, and integration among all ethnic groups, and capacity building of ethnic work cadres. Through sharing achievements, analyzing shortcomings, and proposing countermeasures, they deepened their understanding of the inherent laws of the Party's ethnic work in the new era.

Participating representatives held that this seminar both systematically summarized Tibet's practical experience in advancing the building of a community of the Chinese nation and jointly tackled local theoretical research. Everyone expressed that they would take the seminar as a new starting point, give play to the advantages of the Party school in cadre training, theoretical research, and decision-making consultation, rely on the research base platform for forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation, deepen field research, case analysis, and theoretical interpretation, promote the integrated development of teaching, research, and consultation, and transform the seminar's achievements into teaching topics, research reports, and decision-making suggestions, contributing strength to Tibet's cause of ethnic unity and progress and to writing the Tibet chapter of Chinese modernization.

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Changchun Municipal Party School Holds Joint Symposium on Distinguished-Teacher Studios

(Study Times report)
  To further advance the work of cultivating distinguished teachers and fully leverage the demonstrative, leading, and radiating role of distinguished-teacher studios, on September 29, the Party School of the Changchun Municipal Committee of the CPC (School of Administration) convened a joint symposium on distinguished-teacher studios. Executive Vice President (Executive Vice Dean) Duan Yucai attended the meeting, Vice President (Vice Dean) Cui Dongchu presided, and members of the school (academy) committee, distinguished teachers of the school (academy), and heads of relevant departments participated in the meeting.

At the meeting, the person in charge of the distinguished-teacher studio systematically reported on the studio's operation over the past year, its main achievements, and its future development goals. Over the past year, the studio has carried out research around the Two Integrations (两个结合) and the Party's self-revolution, using the "Red Furnace, Wise Sharing" series of academic activities as a vehicle, focusing on the goal of high-end research, consultation, and achievement output, and has achieved phased results in theoretical research, decision-making consultation, and team building: high-end achievements have surpassed half of the target, a progressive cultivation model of mentoring younger generations through experienced seniors (以老带新, yi lao dai xin - "use old, lead new"), promoting teaching through research, and honing skills through practice has initially taken shape, and the team's overall research, consultation, and teaching capabilities have improved significantly.

During the free-exchange session, participants engaged in lively discussion around the theme of "further advancing the construction of distinguished-teacher studios," focusing on the school's (academy's) high-quality development. It was generally agreed that the studio's progressive cultivation model, its mechanism for regularized reading of classic texts, and its collective polishing mechanism are practices of significant promotional value that deserve broad reference by all teaching and research departments. Participants also offered suggestions on joint tackling of key issues, dynamic management, and mentor cultivation and team leadership: internally, break down departmental barriers and disciplinary limitations; externally, connect Party schools with universities, research institutes, government agencies, and other resources, jointly tackling key issues around the same theme to produce combined results; establish a dynamic access-and-exit mechanism, with regular assessment and a process of selecting the best and removing the weak (优进劣汰, you jin lie tai - "favor the excellent, eliminate the inferior"), to ensure the team always maintains vitality and combat effectiveness; establish a mentor cultivation and team leadership mechanism, giving play to the role of distinguished teachers in mentoring and guiding subordinates or juniors (传帮带, chuan bang dai - "pass on, help, lead"), to help young teachers grow and mature as quickly as possible.

In his speech, Duan Yucai pointed out that this symposium was intended to summarize the experience and practices of the first distinguished-teacher studio, listen to opinions and suggestions from all sides, and promote the construction of distinguished-teacher studios to go deeper and be more substantive. He emphasized that distinguished-teacher studios should concentrate their advantages on tackling key breakthroughs and effectively play their demonstrative, leading, and radiating role. He stated that the school (academy) is a strong backing for all teachers and will actively foster a favorable atmosphere of pooling strength and unity and collaboration; as long as it is conducive to the construction and development of distinguished-teacher studios, conducive to the growth of teachers, and conducive to achieving the goal of "four highs and first-class," the school (academy) will provide strong support in policy, funding, safeguards, and other aspects. He pointed out that all departments should strengthen communication, cooperate closely, and form synergy, truly building distinguished-teacher studios into an important platform for producing achievements and producing talent.

In the next step, the school (academy) will continue to deepen the distinguished-teacher cultivation project, following the principle of establishing a new batch once a batch matures, exploring and establishing new distinguished-teacher studios, building a echelon-connected team of distinguished teachers with complementing each other's strengths (优势互补, you shi hu bu - "advantage, mutually supplement"), achieving the effect of using a single example to influence the whole area (以点带面, yi dian dai mian - "use point, lead surface"), gradually forming a demonstration cluster of distinguished teachers, and injecting sustained momentum into the construction of the teaching faculty and the high-quality development of the Party school. (Huang Siyu)

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Hold the ideological security bottom line for AI applications in Party schools

By: 薛华寅

The "Regulations on the Work of Party Schools (Academies of Administration) of the Communist Party of China" require that Party schools (academies of administration) do a good job of cybersecurity and informatization work, and raise the level of digitalization in teaching, research, management, and services. At present, artificial intelligence applications are accelerating their entry into all aspects of lesson preparation, teaching, research, and policy consultation at Party schools at all levels. While technology empowers, ideological security risks such as value infiltration, corpus contamination, and hallucination-induced misinformation also follow. Algorithmic bias and the weakening of subjectivity may likewise erode the theoretical thinking capacity of faculty, staff, and trainees. Party schools (academies of administration) are an important forward position in the Party's ideological work. To make AI applications better serve Party school teaching and research, we must not only pay attention to whether they "can be used and are easy to use," but also to "whose models are used, what corpora are trained, and whose values are aligned with," firmly holding the bottom line of ideological security.

First, firmly grasp the political direction and pay attention to "whose models are used." Break the cognitive misconception that "large models are value-neutral." Large models appear objective, but in reality their corpus selection, algorithm design, and parameter adjustment all embody specific value judgments. Whoever holds the right to collect, annotate, and set weights for corpora, to a considerable extent, holds the power to define "what is fact" and "what is correct." In the selection of AI applications, adhere to the principle of prioritizing independent and controllable models with prudent classified management. Rely on the domestic independent and controllable model foundation to carry out professional alignment and domain fine-tuning; anything involving political direction, ideology, and sensitive data must uniformly use domestic models that have passed security assessment, to prevent the value underpinnings of foreign models from seeping into cadre education through market transmission. In management, establish "three lists" — a positive list, a negative list, and a responsibility list — and make clear that "classified matters are not put online, and online matters are not classified; sensitive matters are not used for training, and training matters are not sensitive." For all core links involving political direction, theoretical interpretation, and historical evaluation, uphold human leadership and final review, letting technology serve as an "assistant" rather than a "supervisor." In iteration, given the rapid pace of model version updates, establish a closed-loop mechanism of "periodic retesting, problem circuit-breaking, and timely withdrawal"; once value deviation, loss of narrative control, or data leakage occurs, immediately withdraw and replace the foundation model, forming whole-chain management covering admission, use, review, assessment, and withdrawal.

Second, strictly guard the content gate and pay attention to "what corpora are trained." The risk lies not only in the model, but is even more hidden in the corpus. AI has a "hallucination" problem; when generating content related to theory, it may produce situations such as deviations in concept interpretation or fabricated citation sources; if used directly for lesson preparation and teaching without strict review, errors may be brought into the classroom and into written materials. On the one hand, correct the value distribution from the source. Systematically advance the high-quality digitalization of Marxist classics and the Party's authoritative documents, build an authoritative corpus covering the Party's innovative theories, Party history, the Party Constitution, and Party regulations, provide the model with a correct "knowledge foundation," and ensure that authoritative corpora can enter, be managed, and be used well. Make clear that AI-generated content must not directly enter the classroom or written materials, and may only be used after manual review. On the other hand, coordinate joint construction and pluralistic co-governance. Establish linkage mechanisms for filing assessment, risk monitoring, and emergency response with departments such as cyberspace affairs, secrecy, and data management; guide platform enterprises to uphold the bottom line of data not leaving the domain, customized alignment, and third-party security audits; join with research institutions to tackle key technologies such as value alignment, fact-checking, and traceable annotation, forming a governance pattern in which Party schools bear primary responsibility and all parties coordinate.

Third, grasp the foundation of the subject and pay attention to "whose values are aligned with." Take the Party's positions, viewpoints, and methods as the yardstick, the Party Central Committee's decisions and deployments as the benchmark, and the core socialist values as the foundation, ensuring that model output always maintains a high degree of consistency with the Party Central Committee in political direction, theoretical interpretation, and historical evaluation. Technical alignment must be subordinate to political alignment — this is the fundamental principle of Party school digital-intelligent construction. It must be recognized that aligning values is, on the surface, a matter of technical value alignment, but at a deeper level, it is the cultivation of people's cultural subjectivity; the former relies on algorithmic correction to solve "whether the machine speaks correctly," while the latter relies on human cultivation to solve "whether people can still think independently." The deep risk of AI lies in anthropomorphic interaction eroding cadres' cultural subjectivity — when encountering matters, they habitually ask the machine first, handing over "whether it is right," "what it is," and "how to say it" to the machine, and over a long period of time (久而久之, jiu er jiu zhi - "long, long, long, long"), theoretical thinking capacity will inevitably degenerate. Holding the bottom line of ideological security fundamentally depends on people.

In teaching, the "human-machine comparative reading" method may be explored: first, trainees independently study classic original texts and form their own understanding, then use the large model's interpretation as a comparison. Guide trainees to compare paragraph by paragraph, analyze differences, and see where the machine grasps the key points and where it simplifies logic, evades positions, and dilutes sharpness, intuitively perceiving the boundaries of machine discourse through comparison — using tools without blindly following them. Discussion sessions on "whether the machine speaks correctly" and "where the differences lie" may be set up, with teachers leading trainees to analyze each point, turning the differences themselves into teaching resources. At the same time, incorporate AI literacy education into the teaching layout of main training programs, explaining clearly the capability boundaries and risk mechanisms of large models.

In research and policy consultation, vigilance must likewise not be relaxed. In recent years, there have been multiple cases in which university faculty and students were found to have committed academic misconduct because they trusted AI search results and lacked due vigilance toward generated content — lessons that are profound. To this end, whole-process norms should be established: in the lesson preparation stage, establish review forms for AI-generated content, with dual-person review for content involving political conclusions; in the teaching stage, prohibit AI from directly generating political conclusions, with teachers bearing primary responsibility for classroom content; in the research stage, annotate the use of AI to ensure academic integrity; in the policy consultation stage, uphold human-machine collaboration, expert deliberation, and manual final review, ensuring the political direction and theoretical accuracy of policy consultation reports.

〔The author is Deputy Director of the Information Technology Center of the Party School (Academy of Administration) of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee〕

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Zhejiang Red Boat Executive Leadership Academy and Jiaxing Municipal Party School Party School Work to Build a Coordinated Mechanism for Cadre Education and Training in the Yangtze River Delta Region

By: 彭林军

Zhejiang Red Boat Executive Leadership Academy and the Party School of the Jiaxing Municipal Party Committee fully leverage their locational advantages, anchor themselves in their primary responsibilities and main tasks, and take regional joint training, coordinated research, and resource integration as their starting points, striving to build a cross-regional cadre education and training coordination mechanism and effectively serving the national strategy of integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta. In the past three years, they have organized 331 sessions of exchange training for cadres from the Yangtze River Delta region involving 19,000 person-times, established close cooperative relationships with more than 50 departments and units in the Yangtze River Delta region, and promoted the formation of more than 40 co-construction achievements in teaching and training, scientific research and policy consultation, and talent team building.

Highlighting regional joint training to help cadres improve their capabilities and increase their wisdom. Based on the talent support needs of the coordinated development of the Yangtze River Delta, they explore joint group training models, guide the broad body of cadres to break through territorial limitations and discard department-based thinking, and strive to enhance their comprehensive abilities in cross-regional coordination and coordinated performance of duties. They implement a multi-level regional joint training model, carry out normalized cooperative education with party schools of prefecture-level cities in Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Anhui, and have conducted joint education for classes such as the middle-aged and young cadre training class with the Party School of the Nantong Municipal Party Committee of Jiangsu Province for 12 consecutive years, promoting learning, exchange, and mutual reference among cadres in the Yangtze River Delta through forms such as mixed class grouping, studying together in the same classroom, and joint practical training. They guide Jiashan County to build a cadre education and training community for the demonstration zone with Qingpu District of Shanghai and Wujiang District of Suzhou, and promote the regular joint training of the "Five Towns of the Countryside" in the Yangtze River Delta between adjacent towns of Pinghu City and Jinshan District of Shanghai, further forging a high-quality and professional cadre team suited to the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta. They fully tap into the vivid practice of Jiaxing's linkage with Shanghai and Suzhou in jointly building the demonstration zone for green and ecological integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, transform relevant achievements into teaching cases, and promote cadres' improvement of macro-strategic thinking and overall planning capabilities in real scenarios.

Highlighting coordinated research to empower regional linkage development. They focus on opening up to gather wisdom and coordinated tackling of key problems, proactively connect with party schools, cadre academies, and university think tank resources in the Yangtze River Delta region, carry out joint research on topics, and strive to solve problems such as acting in isolation without coordination (单兵作战, dan bing zuo zhan - "single soldier, fight") in regional research and the disconnection between research and application. Relying on platforms such as the Taihu Rim Development Research Center, they extensively collect difficult problems in cross-regional coordinated development, form topic selection lists, determine research directions, regularly hold academic forums and achievement exchanges, and promote joint research on major issues and joint discussion of countermeasure plans. Closely focusing on major topics such as cross-provincial industrial complementarity and coordination and the integrated development of education, science and technology, and talent across regions, they organize teaching and research backbone members of party schools in the Yangtze River Delta region and frontline cadre trainees to carry out joint research, and launch a series of research reports on "integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta." They strengthen "benchmarking and quality-improvement" style research, improve the full-chain model of "theoretical lectures laying the foundation, local research identifying gaps, learning from advanced regions, and benchmarking to formulate measures and transform results," organize trainees to conduct research in Shanghai, Suzhou, Hefei, and other places, conduct in-depth exchanges with business backbone personnel and grassroots cadres in benchmark locations, and invite think tank experts from benchmark locations to participate in guidance, effectively promoting the local transformation of advanced experience. In the past three years, they have taken the lead in submitting 57 policy consultation reports and trainee briefings, published more than 20 theoretical articles, and compiled 2 books.

Highlighting resource integration to promote the integration and sharing of factors. They adhere to breaking regional barriers through cooperation and sharing high-quality resources, further consolidating the foundation for coordinated support for cadre education and training in the Yangtze River Delta region. They take the lead in building the "1+10" cooperation and co-construction mechanism for party spirit education cadre academies in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui, realizing the co-construction, co-use, mutual complementarity, and mutual sharing of high-quality factor resources in the Yangtze River Delta. They deepen the cross-regional "jointly preparing the same lesson" mechanism, carry out normalized collaborative lesson preparation with China Executive Leadership Academy Pudong, the Party School of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee, and others, jointly develop a batch of special courses such as "Correctly Understanding and Vigorously Promoting Chinese modernization" and "The Strategic Mission and Path Choices of Integrated Development of the Yangtze River Delta in the New Era," among which 1 course was rated as a national cadre education and training excellent course by the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee and 1 course was rated as an excellent course by the Cadre Education Bureau of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee. They systematically sort out and integrate the characteristic practical resources of the Yangtze River Delta, jointly develop on-site inspection routes integrating special topic introductions, enterprise connections, cultural exchanges, and experiential teaching, tell the story of the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta well, and externally showcase the achievements of regional practice of Chinese modernization. These inspection routes have been used in international political party inspection delegations, Hong Kong and Macao delegations, and commissioned training classes, and have received wide acclaim. They continue to deepen the two-way exchange of teachers "going out and bringing in," promoting the overall improvement of training quality. In the past three years, faculty members of the academy have been invited to give lectures at departments (units) in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Anhui, and other places more than 120 times; at the same time, they precisely connect with high-quality external teachers and invite well-known experts and scholars from the Yangtze River Delta region to the academy to give lectures to trainees more than 200 times.

(The author is Executive Vice President of Zhejiang Red Boat Executive Leadership Academy and Executive Vice President of the Party School of the Jiaxing Municipal Party Committee)

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Empowering the Development of Young Faculty Teams at Party Schools through "Recruitment, Cultivation, Management, Utilization, and Incentives"

By: 刘庆华

The Party School of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee (Zhejiang Provincial Academy of Governance) has been thoroughly studying and implementing General Secretary Xi Jinping's important discourses on the work of Party schools, treating the strengthening of the young faculty team as a foundational and strategic project to be grasped firmly and effectively, continuously improving the full-chain work system covering recruitment, cultivation, management, utilization, and incentives, and striving to forge a high-caliber, professional young faculty team with strong politics, firm convictions, solid professional competence, and upright conduct. At present, young faculty members under the age of 40 account for 63.2 percent of the total faculty at the school (academy), all of whom hold doctoral degrees. A talent echelon with high academic credentials and a younger age profile has basically taken shape, and they are gradually growing into an important new force for building a high-level, modernized "red academy" and model Party school.

Cast a wide net to vigorously "recruit" and continuously optimize the structure of the faculty team. Based on the needs of the school's (academy's) high-quality development and the overall layout of disciplinary development, we adhere to focusing on the main courses and primary responsibilities, strictly enforce admission review, optimize the support system, and integrate political-quality assessment throughout the entire talent recruitment process, strictly guarding the entry gate for young faculty members. Over the past five years, the school (academy) has cumulatively recruited more than 100 outstanding young doctors. First, improve the talent recruitment policies. Guided by the team-building plan, we have revised and issued regulations on the recruitment of full-time faculty, refining admission criteria, assessment standards, and supporting benefits at different levels, and implementing comprehensive political-performance review requirements; we have innovatively established a performance-oriented benefit differential mechanism, implementing a benefit upgrade incentive system for young faculty members who achieve higher-level outcomes within a specified period, and building a closed-loop recruitment mechanism featuring "standards for admission, support for growth, and incentives for advancement." Second, innovate recruitment methods. Actively seeking support from higher-level supervisory authorities, we have implemented flexible recruitment through "one-time application, dynamic interviews, and rolling onboarding," effectively shortening the recruitment and onboarding cycle. Focusing on the needs of scarce disciplines related to "Marxism" and "Party building," we have carried out targeted promotional activities at renowned universities to precisely select high-level talent. Third, build recruitment platforms. We have jointly established a postdoctoral workstation with Renmin University of China, creating an important vehicle for high-level talent to conduct scientific research innovation and pursue growth and development, jointly recruiting postdoctoral researchers, collaboratively carrying out talent cultivation and project research, and continuously expanding the reservoir of high-level talent, with 21 people now having entered the workstation cumulatively. In July 2026, the school (academy) successfully obtained approval for a national-level postdoctoral scientific research workstation.

Cultivate comprehensively in a balanced and echelon-based manner to "nurture" and build a solid foundation for young faculty members' capabilities and qualities. We firmly establish the concept of cultivating all personnel, throughout the entire process, and in all respects, and build a young faculty cultivation model featuring "overall planning at the macro level, empowerment through special actions, and precision through individual plans." First, systematic planning. We have issued systems for strengthening the cultivation of young faculty and staff, built a three-stage cultivation system of "onboarding excellence cultivation, backbone takeoff, and famous-teacher guidance," implemented a personalized cultivation mechanism of "one plan for each person," and promoted all young faculty members to formulate five-year personal development plans, achieving an organic unity of common cultivation and individualized empowerment. Second, professional empowerment. We carry out training for newly recruited faculty, special capability training, and visiting study and further education in a classified, tiered, and phased manner, and implement a classic literature reading project for young faculty; we deepen the cultivation approach of "research within teaching and teaching within research," incorporating all newly recruited young faculty into the Young Doctoral Lecturers' Group for the Party's Innovative Theory, forming a closed-loop cultivation chain of "promoting lecturing through learning, training through lecturing, research through training, and publicity through research." In the past three years, an average of more than 100 person-times per year have been selected to visit and study at renowned institutions such as the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance) and to participate in training. Third, practical tempering. We have improved the capability enhancement mechanism of "learning through doing and doing through learning" and the normalized practical exercise mechanism, precisely addressing the problems of "innate deficiency" and "capability inversion" among young faculty. We make overall arrangements for young faculty to take temporary posts in comprehensive departments within the school, serve as second organizers for main training classes, and make good use of multiple channels such as "connecting upward to the antenna" to broaden policy perspectives and "going down to the grassroots to stay grounded" to deepen practical understanding. In the past three years, an average of more than 90 person-times per year have been selected to undertake on-the-job practice and temporary posts in central Party and state organs, provincial-level units, and grassroots units.

Manage strictly, routinely, and effectively to "manage" and cultivate a clean and upright atmosphere among young faculty. Adhering to the strictest political, academic, teaching, and management standards, we draw clear behavioral bottom lines and build a firm disciplinary red line for young faculty. First, emphasize routine and sustained management. We have issued systems for the education and management of young cadres, improved the regular political-ecology analysis and research mechanism and the "weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual" regular education, implemented the heart-to-heart talk system of "5 full coverages, 6 mandatory talks, and 4 mandatory visits," continuously strengthened ideological tempering and Party-spirit cultivation, and guided young faculty to fasten the "first button" when starting their teaching careers. Second, keep a close eye on key links. Focusing on key risks such as ideological security, the construction of teacher ethics and conduct, and the reporting of off-campus lectures, we regularly organize special supervision and inspection; we carry out embedded supervision over key internal control positions, and promote young faculty to sign integrity and self-discipline commitment letters and confidentiality responsibility letters; seizing important time nodes, we rely on warning education bases and typical cases to carry out immersive warning education, effectively drawing lessons from past examples (以案为鉴, yi an wei jian - "use, case, as, mirror") and clarifying discipline through cases. Third, strengthen assessment and constraints. We implement systems for determining post levels, workload, and assessment cycles, deepen the mechanism of competition for posts among all personnel, and innovatively establish an assessment system for the first employment period of newly recruited young faculty. We connect the assessment chain of routine assessment, annual assessment, and employment-period assessment, strengthen the rigid application of assessment results, and carry out criticism and education, post-level reduction, and other measures in accordance with regulations for those rated as basically qualified or unqualified, fully leveraging the corrective and constraining functions of assessment and evaluation.

Use boldly with a clear orientation to "utilize" and stimulate the internal driving force of young faculty to start businesses and pursue achievements. We deeply practice the requirements of "three looks," "three breaks," and "three arrivals" in cadre selection and appointment, break down barriers of identity and seniority, and effectively create a political ecology of taking responsibility, taking action, and striving for excellence. First, comprehensively assess and select the best for appointment. We regularly conduct analyses of the development status of young faculty, coordinate the two-way exchange of posts between public-administration and public-institution positions, and orderly promote outstanding young faculty with good qualities and potential to management positions in teaching and research departments and comprehensive departments. Second, identify talent through tempering in major tests. Centering on key reforms and major projects such as the annual assessment of the implementation of the "Eight-Eight Strategy," the construction of teaching and research centers, the polishing of quality courses, and the application for national-level projects, we treat major tasks as an arena for identifying and distinguishing talent, promoting young faculty to take on major roles and serve as the main force, and testing their sense of responsibility and examining their actual performance in the practice of competition. In 2024, the school (academy) was awarded 6 national-level good courses for cadre education and training, of which 3 were taught by young faculty; in 2025, 24 projects were approved under the National Social Science Fund, of which 22 were led by young faculty. Third, enrich platforms and vehicles to empower and make good use of talent. We have optimized and adjusted the 16 academic research teams of the school (academy), promoting young faculty to shoulder the responsibility for construction, with more than half of the team leaders being young faculty; we have built and strengthened special platforms such as the New Youth Promotion Association, with young faculty taking the lead and managing organizations; we actively recommend young faculty to lead provincial-level innovation teams, apply for and participate in the evaluation of talent projects at or above the provincial level, and support them in holding relevant positions in academic organizations at or above the provincial level, comprehensively enhancing the academic level and influence of young faculty.

Optimize mechanisms and wholeheartedly "encourage" to create a strong atmosphere of caring for and supporting young faculty. Adhering to the concept that "talent is the first resource," we effectively enhance young faculty members' sense of gain and happiness through institutional guarantees, precise care, and other measures. First, focus on rallying hearts and minds. We vigorously promote the common values of Party school personnel of "loyalty and dedication, profound learning, unity of knowledge and action (知行合一, zhi xing he yi - "know, do, together, one"), and broad-mindedness and inclusiveness," iteratively implement the action of "striving to be pioneers in six undertakings and striving to build model organs" along with the capability and work-style improvement action, guide young faculty to adhere to the principle that the Party school is run by the Party, and gather the strength for hard work and practical action. Second, make full use of internal and external incentive policies. We coordinate the use of resources such as positions, professional titles, ranks, and post levels, carry out post-level competition every year, and open up channels for young faculty to advance in post levels; following the laws of talent growth, we implement long-cycle assessment for newly recruited young faculty, abandoning simplistic short-term evaluation; we give young faculty a certain number of places in annual excellence evaluations and in the selection of outstanding teaching and research achievements. We actively connect with talent management authorities at all levels, seize the dividends of talent policies, increase the number of recommended indicators for youth talent projects at or above the provincial level each year, and implement same-city treatment for high-level talent, effectively motivating young faculty to focus deeply on their main work and devote themselves to scholarship. Third, implement warm and thoughtful services. Through special symposiums and field visits by school (academy) leaders, we regularly listen to the ideological dynamics and practical demands of young faculty; we build cross-unit exchange platforms and regularly organize friendship activities jointly with provincial-level Party and government organs and universities; we proactively connect with education, health, and other departments to coordinate the resolution of difficulties and problems in the daily lives of young faculty, relieving their worries through organizational care with warmth.

[The author is a vice president of the Party School of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee (Zhejiang Provincial Academy of Governance).]

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Build a Full-Chain Party Spirit Education Working Mechanism to Better Leverage the Role of Party Spirit Training as a "Crucible"

By: 李运军

General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized the need to conduct in-depth research into the intrinsic laws of Party spirit education and to explore a full-cycle, full-chain education model. In recent years, the Party School (School of Administration) of the Liaocheng Municipal Party Committee of Shandong Province has consistently made Party spirit education an important part of its teaching, deeply cultivating the red fertile soil of the old revolutionary base areas, making full use of the distinctive cultural resources of the "Two Rivers" — the Yellow River and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal — and deeply mining the spiritual treasure trove of Kong Fansen's spirit. Through systematic planning and holistic advancement, supported by seven dimensions, it has built a Party spirit education working mechanism featuring full-chain connectivity, full-link cohesion, and full-cycle management, fully leveraging the role of Party spirit tempering as a "great crucible" to make Party spirit education more vivid, profound, vivid and substantial (有血有肉, you xue you rou - "have blood, have flesh").

Deepening understanding of the laws, and grasping the steering wheel of the full-chain education model. The school (academy) committee has deepened its research into the intrinsic laws of Party spirit education, exploring a top-level design path that coordinates the seven dimensions of "theoretical arming, on-site teaching, practical tempering, exemplary guidance, mirror-like warnings, cultural immersion, and whole-process management," and building a working system covering the full chain of "learning, thinking, practicing, comprehending, and managing." In light of teaching practice and needs, it has effectively strengthened teaching organization and management, bringing teaching plans, curriculum design, teacher selection, and teaching evaluation onto a standardized and institutionalized track, and establishing and improving working mechanisms for topic generation, teacher training, teaching organization, teaching evaluation, and teaching feedback. It has deepened the three-level lesson preparation mechanism of internal trial lectures and lesson polishing in teaching and research offices, guidance and commentary by teaching expert groups, and strict review by school (academy) leaders. All new courses and key special topics can only be delivered to the podium after three rounds of polishing, and using this as a lever, a batch of high-quality courses that are well-reputed, well-established, and widely disseminated has been launched.

Adhering to refined development, and consolidating the ballast stone of theoretical soul-casting. Taking the in-depth study and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the main theme and main line, and unremittingly using the Party's innovative theories to unifying people's will and strengthening their convictions (凝心铸魂, ning xin zhu hun - "condense heart, cast soul") and strengthening the foundation and consolidating the basis (强基固本, qiang ji gu ben - "strengthen foundation, consolidate roots"). A curriculum system has been built around Party spirit education, with a focus on covering ideals and convictions, the Party's purpose, revolutionary traditions, and Party conduct and clean governance education, strengthening political training and consolidating the theoretical foundation. At the same time, in conjunction with the practice of Chinese modernization in Liaocheng, locally distinctive case-based courses have been developed, incorporating vivid cases such as the "small gourds" of Dongchangfu District leveraging the "big industry" of rural revitalization and the talent attraction in Gengdian Village, Chiping District, into teaching, forming a teaching resource system in which "theoretical courses + case-based courses" support each other, guiding students to strengthen their Party spirit awareness, enhance their Party spirit cultivation, and consolidate their foundation of faith through truly understanding, grasping, and practicing.

Strengthening immersive experiences, and activating the strong magnetic field of emotional resonance. Deeply developing red educational resources, coordinating on-site teaching resources across the city, and building six major teaching routes — "Soul-Casting," "Inheriting the Legacy," "Rectifying the Heart," "Fertile Soil," "Peaceful Waters," and "Good Governance" — forming an on-site teaching matrix for Party spirit education with broad route coverage, clear module logic, and mutual vertical and horizontal support. On this basis, focusing on the three major series of red revolutionary resources, Kong Fansen's spirit, and the "Two Rivers" culture, a variety of courses have been developed, including special topic courses, micro Party courses, and on-bus Party courses, forming a teaching resource system in which "on-site teaching points + series courses" support each other. Focusing on red revolutionary resources, seminar-style teaching courses have been developed, such as "Plainland Predicament and the Great Wall of Flesh and Blood — The Anti-Japanese War and Its Lessons in the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Border Region (1941–1943)" and "From 'Old Military Officer' to 'Warrior of Our Party' — The Course and Lessons of Ma Benzhai's Establishment of Faith"; micro Party courses such as "The Great Wall of the Plains" and "The Spirit of the Sixty-Two Martyrs Who Are Immortal in the Flames"; and on-bus Party courses such as "The Power of Faith." Focusing on Kong Fansen's spirit, carefully crafted immersive Party courses such as "The Highest Realm of Love — Approaching Kong Fansen to Elevate the Sense of Realm," music Party courses such as "The Spirit of Heroes and Models 'Resonates' — Comprehending Comrade Kong Fansen's Feelings for Family and Country Through Song," situational Party courses such as "Writing Achievements in the Hearts of the People," the red stage drama The Power of Models, and on-bus Party courses such as "Kong Fansen's Sense of Realm" have been developed; focusing on the "Two Rivers" culture, special topic courses such as "The Historical Value and Lessons of Liaocheng's 'Two Rivers' Culture" and "The Spiritual Characteristics of China's Grand Canal Culture and Its Inheritance Through the Times," micro Party courses such as "Drawing on Fine Traditional Chinese Culture to Advance Political Ethics Education in the New Era," and on-bus Party courses such as "A Bright Pearl on the Canal — Linqing" have been developed. Through the coordinated efforts of "on-site teaching points + series courses," a Party spirit education teaching resource system with connected content, diverse forms, and progressive emotions has been built, allowing students to comprehend through walking, be moved through experience, and be elevated through resonance, effectively enhancing the penetrative power and effectiveness of Party spirit education.

Adhering to the integration of positive and negative examples, and making good use of the "purifier" for radical reform. Deeply mining local advanced model resources, inviting some National People's Congress deputies and advanced models stationed in Liaocheng into the classroom for face-to-face exchanges and interviews with students, using the power of role models to stimulate the internal driving force for undertaking work and creating achievements; jointly with organizational departments, running the "Striving and Leading Lecture Hall" and the "Duty Performance Practice Lecture Hall," letting those who understand policies explain policies, those with experience share experience, and those with methods teach methods, guiding students to emulate people of virtue (见贤思齐, jian xian si qi - "see worthy, think of equaling"), benchmark against advanced models, and take on responsibility and act. At the same time, in conjunction with typical cases investigated and dealt with locally, making good use of vivid teaching materials such as "people in the cases" and "matters around us," and conducting in-depth warning education through Party conduct and clean governance Party courses, watching warning education films, and visiting clean governance education bases, guiding students to be alerted, understand bottom lines, and know reverence through reflection and comparison, enhancing their awareness of discipline and rules, and consolidating the ideological defense line against corruption and degeneration. Through the coordinated efforts of positive guidance and negative warning, an educational pattern in which "model encouragement + warning constraints" are interconnected has been formed, promoting students to transform the power of role models into practical actions for performing duties and undertaking work, and to transform discipline and rules into an internal consciousness of valuing integrity and purity (崇廉尚洁, chong lian shang jie - "admire integrity, value cleanliness") and a clean and wholesome atmosphere (风清气正, feng qing qi zheng - "wind clear, air upright").

Implementing connected management, and tightening the "safety valve" of work style construction. Adhering to the principle of "better strict than lax, better tight than loose," strict learning management runs through the entire process of student management, integrating Party spirit tempering into the details of daily management. Improving the student management system, implementing the three-stage progressive model of "entry education to clarify rules, first class meeting to consolidate consensus, daily management to strictly enforce discipline," making Party spirit education the first lesson upon entry, and building a defense line from the ideological source. Fully leveraging the role of student temporary Party branches as fighting fortresses and the exemplary and vanguard role of student Party members, strictly implementing the "six ones" management mechanism, and promoting students' self-education, self-management, self-service, and self-supervision. Building a three-dimensional supervision system combining joint inspections by the Discipline Inspection Commission, the Organization Department, and the Party School, daily inspections by the Student Affairs Office, and self-inspections by student Party branches, forming a study style and discipline supervision pattern that is connected from top to bottom and coordinated from left to right. Establishing work style record files, achieving all-time, all-round dynamic control, improving quantitative assessment and merit evaluation mechanisms, clarifying behavioral boundaries with rigid systems, and forcing students to improve their Party spirit through strict management, truly achieving the resonance of strict learning management and Party spirit tempering, and promoting the learning style, plain style, and clear style to take root and become established (落地生根, luo di sheng gen - "land on ground, grow roots") on campus.

[The author is the deputy president (vice president) in charge of daily work of the Party School (School of Administration) of the Liaocheng Municipal Party Committee of Shandong Province.]

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Innovate Integrated School-Running Models to Improve Quality of County-Level Party Schools

By: 贺殷

In recent years, Hengyang City, Hunan Province, has actively explored new models for running urban district party schools, focusing on the three dimensions of tackling problems and resolving difficulties, empowering key elements, and building mechanisms, so as to construct an integrated school-running system featuring coordinated linkage, joint contribution and shared benefit, and standardized efficiency, effectively resolving the pain points and difficulties in urban district cadre education, and promoting an overall leap in the quality and effectiveness of party school operations throughout the city.

Focusing on tackling problems and resolving difficulties, exploring coordinated linkage, and activating new momentum for integrated construction. Hengyang City administers five urban districts. Except for Nanyue District Party School, which has maintained independent operation, the party schools of the four districts of Yanfeng, Shigu, Zhuhui, and Zhengxiang have, since their abolition in 2009, long suffered from problems such as the absence of school-running venues, weak teaching resources, and incomplete training coverage. The Hengyang Municipal Party Committee attaches great importance to the development of the party school cause and cadre education and training work, strictly aligns itself with the work requirements of the Provincial Party Committee Organization Department and the Provincial Party School, and constructs a coordinated work pattern in which the Municipal Party Committee Organization Department takes the lead in overall coordination, the Municipal Party School provides professional guidance, the Municipal Commission Office of the Party Committee provides policy support, and all urban districts implement in coordination, striving to resolve prominent problems constraining the long-term development of the party school cause. Adhering to the intensive and efficient principle of "no new staffing quotas, no new venues, no duplicate investment," it has innovatively created an integrated school-running model of "municipal-level coordination, listed entities, resource sharing, and joint school-running," and by March 2026 achieved the listing and operation of party schools in all four urban districts, laying a solid foundation for improving the quality of grassroots cadre education and training.

Focusing on empowering key elements, promoting joint contribution and shared benefit, and consolidating new support for teaching of equivalent quality and effectiveness. Adhering to taking both destructive and constructive actions simultaneously (破立并举, po li bing ju - "break, establish, together, act") and to joint contribution and shared benefit, it systematically builds a citywide sharing system of "four-in-one" integration covering class sessions, teaching staff, courses, and venues, promoting the same quality standards in school-running between municipal and district party schools, equivalent teaching quality and effectiveness, and synchronized development pace.

Coordinating class session scheduling and training to achieve full coverage. The organization departments of the district party committees of each urban district accurately survey the baseline of the urban district cadre contingent and training needs, and the Municipal Party Committee Organization Department uniformly establishes training ledgers and clarifies training tasks. It innovatively implements the method of "rotating leadership among urban districts, with coordinated management" for jointly running class sessions, with the Municipal Party School guiding the formulation of training scheduling plans and teaching plans, coordinating and controlling the pace of training, eliminating training gaps, preventing idle resources, and ensuring that urban district cadres receive "training for all who should be trained, with full coverage."

Coordinating the joint building of the teaching staff to strengthen the lecturing team. Upholding the concept of "no increase in staffing, improve quality," it integrates the city's high-quality teaching and research forces, builds a municipal-level shared teaching staff pool, selects and absorbs backbone teaching and research personnel from party schools across the city, experts and scholars from universities, leading party and government cadres, and advanced models from the front line to form a composite teaching team, achieving the citywide flow and on-demand allocation of high-quality teaching staff.

Coordinating course sharing to fit grassroots practice. The Municipal Party School adheres to targeted teaching and precise empowerment, strictly reviews and checks courses, and builds a three-dimensional course system of "online + offline." Online, it relies on platforms such as the "Online Party School" and "Shared Classroom" to push high-quality teaching resources, breaking through the limitations of time and space; offline, the Municipal Party School takes the lead in developing special courses that fit grassroots reality and match post needs, focusing on key areas such as grassroots governance, industrial development, livelihood services, and party building leadership, and builds a municipal-level course resource library for sharing among urban district party schools, avoiding duplicate construction.

Coordinating the shared use of venues to improve school-running effectiveness. It promotes the model of "municipal-level venues, shared use by multiple schools, integrated operation." Urban district party schools, relying on the Municipal Party School for listed school-running, share high-quality hardware facilities, teaching resources, and school-running platforms, achieving intensive use and efficient allocation of resources, and blazing a new path for grassroots party school operation that is low-cost, high-quality, and sustainable.

Focusing on mechanism building, strengthening standardization and efficiency, and constructing a new pattern of all-round school-running. It improves the three-level linkage work system of the Municipal Party School, the urban district party committees, and the urban district party schools, compacts the primary responsibility of all parties, and constructs a school-running management pattern with clear powers and responsibilities, coordinated efficiency, and standardized order. First, it firmly compacts territorial responsibility. The party committees of each urban district resolutely shoulder the primary responsibility for running, managing, and building party schools, always adhere to the fundamental principle that party schools are of the party, strengthen the political guidance of cadre training, equip themselves with complete and strong work forces, and improve various safeguard mechanisms, ensuring that the political direction of cadre education and training does not deviate and that standards and intensity are not reduced. Second, it comprehensively strengthens municipal-level empowerment. The Municipal Party School follows up throughout the entire process and provides comprehensive support, empowering all aspects including professional guidance, teaching staff selection and dispatch, teaching coordination, and daily management. It strictly implements the requirements of strictly running schools, strictly governing teaching, and strictly managing study. When the first training class of the urban district party schools opened, a special work meeting on strictly running schools was held, and during the training period, a symposium of student representatives was held, promoting the rapid and standardized operation of urban district party schools and their steady improvement and upgrading. Third, it improves the coordinated management mechanism. Each urban district party school establishes a student management mechanism of "rotating lead, coordinated cooperation, and shared responsibility." The lead party school is responsible for the daily management of joint class sessions, while the other urban district party schools perform their duties in full coordination throughout the process, pooling a strong joint force of coordinated management, continuously standardizing training order, and improving training effectiveness.

〔The author is the Executive Vice President (Vice Dean) of the Party School (School of Administration) of the Hengyang Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, Hunan Province〕

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Adhere to Cooperative School-Running to Pool Wisdom and Strength, Comprehensively Enhance the Quality and Effectiveness of Party Spirit Education

By: 贾关青

The newly revised Regulations on Cadre Education and Training explicitly require that all types of cadre education and training institutions strengthen exchange and cooperation, and promote the optimal allocation of resources through means such as joint school-running. In recent years, the Henan Jiao Yulu Cadre Academy, grounded in the unique spiritual treasure trove of the Jiao Yulu spirit, has made systematic efforts in such areas as the joint building of faculty, the joint research of curricula, and the sharing of lectures, striving to build a new pattern of cooperative school-running featuring internal-external linkage and two-way empowerment, and comprehensively enhancing the quality and effectiveness of Party spirit education.

Joint building of faculty, consolidating the talent support for cooperative school-running. Adhering to "internal cultivation and external introduction, two-way convergence of strength," the Academy activates internal endogenous potential internally, gathers wisdom from all directions externally, and explores a faculty-building path that integrates full-time and part-time members. First, on the basis of earnestly strengthening the introduction of high-level talent and implementing open recruitment by public institutions, it has innovated the market-based employment mechanism, cumulatively gathering more than 210 people of various types of talent. Second, it has smoothed the growth channels for teachers, and through measures such as carrying out two-way job selection, broadening the channels for professional title evaluation, and improving class-hour remuneration incentives, it encourages young teachers to engage in research and take to the podium, and routinely organizes using competitions as a means of training (以赛代训, yi sai dai xun - "use, competition, substitute, training") activities, with more than 400 person-times having won awards in various teaching competitions. Third, it has proactively connected with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance), Peking University, Renmin University of China, and other units, selected and employed more than 600 part-time professors, established 13 expert studios, and invited relevant field experts to deeply participate in tackling key topics, polishing curricula, and commenting on teaching, transforming external intellectual resources into school-running strength, and striving to forge a composite team of teachers that can be brought in, retained, and effectively used, effectively breaking through the real bottleneck of the shortage of high-level teachers in local Party spirit education institutions.

Joint research of curricula, realizing the full utilization of teaching resources. Adhering to an open mindset in advancing curriculum development, the Academy gathers teaching and research strength from the whole society and promotes the development and utilization of teaching resources. On the one hand, it has innovatively carried out "posting tasks and accepting challenges" curriculum bidding activities, publishing topic lists to the whole country, setting up tiered topic funding, gathering teaching and research strength for coordinated tackling of key issues, and carefully polishing and launching a large number of distinctive high-quality courses such as "Hello, Jiao Yulu" and "Learn from Jiao Yulu, Integrate Learning and Doing, Establish a Correct View of Political Achievements, and Be a Pioneer of Practical Action with the 'Four Haves'", among which 4 courses were rated by the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee as "National Good Courses for Cadre Education and Training," and 2 courses were rated by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee as "Excellent Theoretical Publicity Reports." It has drafted and released two national association standards, the Service Specification for Immersive Teaching in Cadre Education and Training and the Service Specification for Structured and Systematic Teaching in Cadre Education and Training, providing a referable industry paradigm for the standardized development of Party spirit education and teaching. On the other hand, it has planned and built the Yellow River On-site Teaching Center, the Kaifeng On-site Teaching Center, the Xinjiang Teaching Research Center, and the Yangtze River Delta Teaching Research Center, assisted in polishing on-site teaching points, optimized training and study routes, sorted out and improved the curriculum system, standardized the school-running operation process, jointly built more than 170 on-site teaching points, and jointly opened more than 2,100 courses of various types, realizing the co-construction, sharing, and coordinated development of high-quality resources.

Sharing of lectures, amplifying the radiating effect of Party spirit education. The Academy strives to build a three-dimensional lecture system of "delivering courses to the door + off-site teaching + cloud dissemination," realizing same-frequency resonance inside and outside the position and linkage between online and offline. First, it routinely carries out the "Remembering Jiao Yulu, Eulogizing the New Era — National 'Theoretical Publicity' for All-People Ideological and Political Education" activity, organizing teachers to carry out more than 200 sessions of off-site teaching in central Party and state organs and various provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities, with audiences online and offline reaching more than 6.5 million person-times. Second, it has innovatively carried out systematic "delivering courses to the door" training, successively going to the Party School of China Huadian Corporation Ltd. and to Hami, Xinjiang, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, and other places to organize one-week special study and training sessions on Party spirit education, with audiences online and offline reaching more than 80,000 person-times. Third, it has carefully built Party spirit education lecture brands such as the "Chengbi Lecture Hall," successively inviting more than 20 experts and scholars from the Ministry of Commerce, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Military Sciences, the China Executive Leadership Academy Jinggangshan, and other departments and units to give live-streamed lectures in the hall, with audiences exceeding 2 million person-times, continuously expanding the influence of the school.

(Author affiliation: Henan Jiao Yulu Cadre Academy)

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From the Dabie Mountains to Pagoda Mountain: The Vanguard Path of the 25th Red Army on the Long March

By: 胡珺

On September 15, 1935, Yongping Town, Yanchuan County, northern Shaanxi, welcomed a contingent whose clothes were worn but whose spirits were high. After ten months of fighting and marching, the 25th Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army finally reached its destination, becoming the first Red Army unit to arrive in the Shaanxi-Gansu Soviet Area during the Long March. Mao Zedong praised the 25th Red Army as the "guide of the Central Red Army."

The story of this contingent must begin deep in the Dabie Mountains.

The Flames of War in the Dabie Mountains Forge the Soul of the Army

In November 1927, the Huangma Uprising fired the first shot of armed struggle in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui region. Thereafter, the Shangnan Uprising and the Liu-Huo Uprising broke out in succession. The sparks of the three uprising armed forces converged in the rolling Dabie Mountains. On October 25, 1931, in accordance with the decision of the Central Sub-Bureau of the CPC in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Region and the Military Commission, the 25th Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was formally established in Mabu, Lu'an, western Anhui (now part of Jinzhai County), based on a portion of the workers' and peasants' armed forces from the three major uprisings. Kuang Jixun served as its first army commander, with Wang Pingzhang as political commissar. In November, the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army was established in Qiliping, Huang'an, Hubei, and the 25th Red Army was immediately incorporated into its combat sequence.

During its years in Anhui, this young contingent underwent the tempering of blood and fire. In March 1932, the Battle of Sujiabu began, and the 25th Red Army put up tenacious resistance against the enemy in the Doupo River area, playing an important role in achieving an unprecedented great victory in the battle. In October, the main force of the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army withdrew westward to Sichuan-Shaanxi, while a portion of the 25th Red Army, ordered to remain behind, held on under extremely perilous conditions. In November, the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Provincial Committee decided to rebuild the 25th Red Army in eastern Hubei, with Wu Huanxian as army commander and Wang Pingzhang as political commissar. Over the following two years, this contingent fought bloody battles amid repeated "suppression campaigns" by enemy forces several times its size, preserving the revolutionary flame of the Dabie Mountains.

In April 1934, the 25th Red Army joined forces with the 28th Red Army at Baozili, Shangcheng, and were merged into a new 25th Red Army, with Xu Haidong as army commander and Wu Huanxian as political commissar. This merger made organizational preparations for the long expedition that was about to begin.

Anhui was not only the birthplace of this army, but also its most solid backing. The people of western Anhui, living frugally to save resources (节衣缩食, jie yi suo shi - "save, clothes, reduce, food"), continuously sent grain and clothing to the front lines. Instances of "father-son soldiers" and "brother soldiers" were ubiquitous or very common (比比皆是, bi bi jie shi - "compare, compare, all, are"), and countless young people of western Anhui, cherishing revolutionary ideals, joined the ranks, constituting the most unadorned source of soldiers for this contingent. The spirit of the Dabie Mountains of being unwavering and persistent (坚韧不拔, jian ren bu ba - "firm, tough, not, pull") and undaunted by setbacks (百折不挠, bai zhe bu nao - "hundred, bend, not, yield") was deeply integrated into the bloodline of the 25th Red Army.

A Legend Written Across a Ten-Thousand-Li Journey

On November 11, 1934, the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Provincial Committee held its 14th Standing Committee meeting at Huashanzhai, Guangshan County. In accordance with the instructions of the Party Central Committee, the meeting decided that the 25th Red Army would carry out a strategic shift under the name of the "Second Advance Detachment of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army Marching North to Resist Japan." The troops were reorganized once again, with Cheng Zihua as army commander, Wu Huanxian as political commissar, and Xu Haidong as deputy army commander.

After the meeting, the troops moved westward to the Hejiachong area of Luoshan County to carry out reorganization and various preparations before departure. The division-level organizational structure was abolished, and the entire army was directly under four regiments. On November 16, more than 2,980 officers and soldiers set out from Hejiachong, embarking on the long journey. On the day of departure, the troops issued the "Declaration of Departure of the Second Advance Detachment of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army Marching North to Resist Japan." On November 17, the troops secretly crossed the Beijing-Hankou Railway south of Xinyang city and entered the Tongbai Mountain area. Because the enemy had massed troops to pursue and intercept them, making it difficult to gain a foothold, the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Provincial Committee judged that the area was not suitable for establishing a base area and decided to continue advancing toward the Funiu Mountain area.

The most dangerous moment came on November 26. When the troops reached Dushu Town, Fangcheng County, the 25th Red Army, numbering fewer than 3,000 men, suddenly came under fierce attack by nearly 10,000 Kuomintang infantry and cavalry. That day a sudden cold snap struck, with rain and snow mixed together, and the soldiers' hands were frozen stiff, unable to pull back their rifle bolts. Army Political Commissar Wu Huanxian rushed to the very front. He pulled a broadsword from a courier and shouted: "Comrades, this is a matter of life and death (生死存亡, sheng si cun wang - "life, death, exist, perish") moment — we must not retreat! Communist Party members, follow me!" The 25th Red Army engaged the enemy in fierce hand-to-hand combat, fighting a bloody battle until dusk before breaking out of the encirclement. Xu Haidong later recalled that this battle "carried the danger of the entire army being wiped out."

After breaking out of the encirclement, the 25th Red Army entered the Funiu Mountain area. Here the population was sparse and supplies were scarce, fortified villages of landlords stood everywhere, and the masses were deeply controlled by reactionary rule, making it difficult for the Red Army to make contact with and mobilize the people. Moreover, with the enemy pursuing relentlessly without letting go (尾追不舍, wei zhui bu she - "tail, chase, not, let go"), the troops could not gain a foothold there. After deliberation, the provincial committee and army leadership decided to head west to southern Shaanxi.

On December 8, the troops routed the defending militia at Tiesuoguan on the Henan-Shaanxi border and victoriously entered southern Shaanxi. At this point, the 25th Red Army had fought and marched over a thousand li, finally breaking through the pursuit and interception of enemy forces several times its size.

The real turning point came after entering Shaanxi. On December 9, 1934, the 25th Red Army arrived at Yujiahe, Luonan County, Shaanxi (now part of Danfeng County) to bivouac. This area lay within the sphere of influence of Yang Hucheng, who was then busy dealing with the Red Army in northern Shaanxi and the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army on the Sichuan-Shaanxi border, and for the moment had no strength to attend to southeastern Shaanxi. The 25th Red Army keenly seized this favorable opportunity. On December 10, the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Provincial Committee held its 18th Standing Committee meeting and decided not to exhaust its strength in mobile warfare, but instead to create the Hubei-Henan-Shaanxi Revolutionary Base Area on the spot, and changed the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Provincial Committee into the Hubei-Henan-Shaanxi Provincial Committee. Over the following half year and more, the 25th Red Army successively established four revolutionary base areas in the Hubei-Henan-Shaanxi border region. By May 1935, the Hubei-Henan-Shaanxi Revolutionary Base Area had been initially completed, governing the Soviet government of the E-Shaan border region and Soviet regimes in 2 counties, 13 districts, 48 townships, and 314 villages, with a Soviet area population of nearly 500,000.

The command and completion of this series of pioneering feats was carried out by a group of young people. When the Long March set out, Army Commander Cheng Zihua was 29, Political Commissar Wu Huanxian was 27, and Deputy Army Commander Xu Haidong was 34. Most battalion and regiment cadres were in their early twenties, and among company and platoon cadres and soldiers, "little red devils" of thirteen or fourteen were everywhere to be seen. In 1936, the magazine Communist International published an article titled "The Long March of the 25th Army of the Chinese Red Army," which stated: The honor of the 25th Army of the Chinese Red Army is like a newly appearing star, shining brilliantly, its light reaching in all directions; in the former Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Area, which suffered exceptionally cruel white terror, the orphans of those who died in battle and the children of Red Army fighters who had marched with the Fourth Front Army to Sichuan in 1932 established guerrilla units under such terror, and from guerrilla units became the 25th Red Army now famous as the "Children's Army"; still tender children, they understood things as adults do, they had witnessed with their own eyes all the horrors of the white terror, and in their childhood years they had absorbed all political knowledge... The majority of the fighters in this army were between 13 and 18 years old. It was precisely such a contingent, composed mainly of youths and adolescents, that was tempered into steel amid the flames of war, and later produced 97 founding generals, earning the reputation of an "army of a hundred generals."

An Isolated Army Marches North to Achieve Distinguished Feats

In July 1935, the 25th Red Army emerged north from the Zhongnan Mountains and pressed directly toward Xi'an. From newspapers captured from the enemy, the troops learned that the Central Red Army and the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army had already joined forces in western Sichuan and showed signs of moving north. On July 15, the Hubei-Henan-Shaanxi Provincial Committee held an emergency meeting at Fengyukou, Chang'an County, and decided that the 25th Red Army would march west and then north to coordinate with the actions of the main Red Army forces in the northwest. The next day, the troops once again set out on the march.

During the westward march, the 25th Red Army captured the northern gate of Tianshui and cut the Xi'an-Lanzhou Highway for several days, directly threatening the enemy's rear. The Kuomintang authorities were forced to pull back troops from the front lines for defense, and this contingent pinned down large numbers of enemy forces in eastern Gansu, reducing pressure on the Central Red Army for a certain period.

In August, the troops entered the Hui ethnic area of Xinglong Town, Jingning County, Gansu Province. Before setting out, Wu Huanxian had specifically formulated the "Three Prohibitions and Four Points of Attention," taking care to respect the customs and habits of the Hui people, and won the heartfelt support of the Hui masses. Later, when the Central Red Army passed through this area, it too received a warm welcome. When Mao Zedong learned of this, he praised the 25th Red Army for its high level of policy and its excellent implementation of ethnic policy.

On August 21, when the 25th Red Army reached Sipo Village, Jingchuan County, Gansu Province, it was suddenly attacked by the enemy, and Wu Huanxian was unfortunately hit by a bullet and sacrificed, aged only 28. After a hard-fought battle, the troops annihilated the enemy force in full.

On September 7, the Hubei-Henan-Shaanxi Provincial Committee held a meeting at Baozichuan and decided that Xu Haidong would serve as army commander and Cheng Zihua as political commissar. On September 15, the 25th Red Army arrived at Yongping Town, victoriously completing the Long March. The next day, the 25th Red Army joined forces with the 26th and 27th Red Armies of northern Shaanxi, and were later merged into the 15th Army Corps, with Xu Haidong as corps commander.

When the Central Red Army arrived in northern Shaanxi, it was already late autumn. The troops were short of clothing and food, and supplies were extremely scarce. Mao Zedong wrote to Xu Haidong to borrow 2,500 silver dollars. The 15th Army Corps had only 7,000 silver dollars in total, yet Xu Haidong unhesitatingly took out 5,000 silver dollars and gave them to the Central Committee, firmly stating, "This is a gift, not a loan." At the same time, he also selected and sent large quantities of captured weapons, ammunition, and cotton-padded clothing. These 5,000 silver dollars were described by the Central Red Army as providing timely assistance in times of need (雪里送炭, xue li song tan - "snow, inside, send, charcoal"). Mao Zedong later praised Xu Haidong for rendering great service to the revolution.

When the main force of the 25th Red Army arrived in northern Shaanxi, it numbered more than 3,400 men, and more than 2,000 others continued to persist in struggle in the Hubei-Henan-Shaanxi Base Area. Together, the total was nearly double the number at departure, creating the miracle of the ranks increasing rather than decreasing.

From the difficult early days of founding in the Dabie Mountains to the steadfast composure at Pagoda Mountain, the 25th Red Army completed a youthful expedition. This "Children's Army," with blood and life, made outstanding contributions to the Chinese revolution and forged an immortal monument of vanguard heroism. Their story has never faded away.

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Autumn Whispers of the Land

By: 王建江

In Aksu in autumn, a thin mist gently shrouds the entire open field. The sky is just beginning to lighten, and a thin veil hangs between heaven and earth. All things are still dormant in the morning's languor, yet the vast fields have already shaken off the night and quietly awakened. Strolling along the field ridges, the soil beneath one's feet is warm, moist, and soft, carrying the fresh, crisp breath of autumn rain that surges toward the face. On the tips of the green rice leaves, crystal-clear dewdrops gather, each one condensing at the leaf tip; when a gentle breeze passes, they tremble lightly and patter down into the soil, silent and unnoticed.

The autumn wind drifts slowly across the crisscrossing paths and fields, carrying layers upon layers of fragrance. The clear, mellow aroma of new rice, the warm, woody scent of walnuts, and the sweet, delicate fragrance of apples — these several scents intertwine and permeate the air. Standing in this vast field, one's heart is filled with tranquility and a sense of solidity.

The rice paddies before one's eyes are the most magnificent scenery of autumn. The morning sun pierces through the thin mist and slowly spills across the fields. Unbroken waves of rice roll with golden, shimmering light, stretching as far as the eye can see, radiant and gleaming. In the fields, combine harvesters rumble forward, steadily shuttling through the golden sea of rice. I stop to watch: wherever the machines pass, the rice stalks fall in neat rows, and plump grains pour ceaselessly into the grain storage bins. The rustling sound of harvesting is continuous, occurring in succession or waves (此起彼伏, cǐ qǐ bǐ fú - "rising and falling, one after another"), converging into autumn's liveliest and most moving harvest symphony.

Brother Yimingjiang, who drives the harvester, wears a calm yet focused expression. The morning sun falls upon his swarthy face, tracing out a simple, honest contour. The complexion weathered by years of wind and sun is the most unpretentious medal of a farmer. In a pause from his work, he lifts his head to look at the entire expanse of ripe rice paddies, and the smile in his eyes and brows cannot be hidden. I can truly feel the certainty and joy in his heart. Sow in spring, reap in autumn — after working hard for most of the year, he has finally waited for a full field of harvest. This sense of solidity is something nothing else can replace.

Following the field ridge onward, I pass through a stretch of tall, verdant poplar trees, and the luxuriant vegetation (郁郁葱葱, yù yù cōng cōng - "lush, green, luxuriant") walnut grove suddenly comes into view (豁然映入眼帘, huò rán yìng rù yǎn lián - "suddenly, unexpectedly, appear in sight"). Dense, dark-green canopies support continuous stretches of shade, and the branches are laden with plump green walnuts, their weight bending the boughs low. A modified tractor dragging a vibrating frame slowly threads through the grove; as the low rumble of the engine sounds, ripe walnuts fall one after another, their crackling sounds rising and falling in succession, like fine, urgent rain pounding the ground — lively, vibrant, and soothing to the heart. Young men and women carry buckets, moving beneath the walnut trees, busily picking up the fallen nuts, and their crisp laughter echoes across the fields.

Stepping out of the walnut grove and looking up, one sees continuous apple orchards, warm and radiant, with red fruits hanging thick from the branches. Fruit farmers, baskets slung over their arms, move through the groves, picking, sorting, and boxing with deft, practiced, unhurried ease. A young woman named Aziguli stands on tiptoe, lightly plucking red apples from the branches; as her fingertips gently turn, the round, plump fruits settle steadily into the woven rattan basket. The warm sunlight filtering through the gaps in the leaves lights up her colorful skirt embroidered with pomegranate blossoms, and also gilds the bright red apples with a soft golden glow.

Continuing deeper into the orchard, I encounter Aksu's unique specialty fruit — the plumcot, which the locals affectionately call the "dinosaur egg." The plumcot combines the soft, fine texture of the apricot with the crisp, refreshing sweetness of the plum, with a distinctive flavor that lingers on the palate. Under the sunlight, each plumcot is round and plump, its fine-skinned texture refracting tiny flecks of light, warm and pleasing to the eye. The fruit farmers do things in an orderly fashion (有条不紊, yǒu tiáo bù wěn - "orderly, methodically, in an organized manner") through every step of picking, bagging, and loading into baskets, tending each portion of the harvest with care. Children run and laugh around the fruit trees, holding fresh fruit and cheering with joy.

The afternoon sun sheds its heat and becomes gentle and mild, casting a warm, soft orange glow over the whole earth. On the drying ground at the village entrance, a simple, moving picture of autumn's everyday life unfolds. Strings of fiery red chili peppers are threaded into strips of red silk, vivid and bright; golden corn is spread out in neat rows, dazzling and eye-catching; dark red jujubes are laid out in continuous swaths, like rosy clouds and sunset hues covering the entire yard — a riot of colors (五彩斑斓, wǔ cǎi bān lán - "multicolored, colorful, variegated"), with the warm haze of daily life rising, fully displaying the abundance of the autumn harvest.

Women of various ethnic groups, wearing bright headscarves, squat on the drying ground, carefully turning over the various crops with movements that are gentle yet practiced. They tend each portion of the harvest with care, as if cherishing precious treasures — gentle and focused. On a small table at the edge of the ground, a copper kettle brews rich brick tea, and wisps of steam rise slowly together with the fresh fragrance of melons and fruits — gentle and soothing. As dusk approaches, the villagers, having worked all day, drive their electric vehicles slowly homeward; the crisp sound of horns cuts through the quiet of the countryside, and the peace and calm after the bustle is the most comforting thing of all.

The setting sun slowly sinks westward, and the evening glow of the sky dyes the horizon; the gentle twilight envelops the surrounding fields. The lively, busy fields of the day gradually return to stillness. I stand alone on the field ridge, listening to the wind rustling through the stubble of the harvested rice fields. In the distance, the bells of cattle and sheep returning to their pens drift over, crisp and pleasant to the ear.

As dusk deepens, the village lights come on one after another, and soft light scatters through the lanes and alleys. Wisps of cooking smoke rise slowly, carrying the rich aroma of food and spreading across the fields and paths. On the dining tables of every household are laid out the freshest ingredients of autumn: steaming lamb pilaf, fragrant walnut kernels, honey-hearted crystal-sugar apples, and clear, sweet plumcots — a table full of everyday warmth, an abundance before the eyes. The villagers sit together beneath the lamplight, chatting about the year's harvest, talking freely of hopes for the coming year, their laughter and conversation gentle and lingering. The most secure happiness in the human world is often not found amid bustle and clamor, but hidden in the everyday rhythm of spring plowing and autumn harvest. Year after year, unceasing cultivation and long-lasting life's bustle — this is the finest scene the world has to offer.

In the deep of night, all is quiet, and the starry river shines brilliantly. In the gentle evening breeze, I stand in the empty grain-drying ground, gazing up at the vast starry sky. Standing on this quiet land, one can feel all the more clearly the living pulse of the soil: it silently gathers vitality in the earth; it settles the strength of the four seasons within the trunks and branches of plants; and in the hands of every frontier laborer, it passes on an unending cycle of life or growth (生生不息, shēng shēng bù xī - "endless, continuous, unceasing") hope... Generation after generation, the sons and daughters of Aksu take root in this fertile soil, watering the years with their sweat, guarding their homeland through cultivation, so that this frontier land of warmth is abundant year after year and prosperous every season.

Autumn in Aksu has never been about bleakness or desolation; it writes only of the land's generosity and sincerity, and pays tribute to the fiery, searing heat of labor. Walking through the golden autumn fields, I have at last come to understand the most moving autumnal message of the earth. This autumn harvest hidden within the mountains, rivers, and everyday life confirms the most simple philosophy of nature; it is the most vivid contemporary footnote to the truth that labor creates happiness; and it is, moreover, the affectionate declaration of the sons and daughters of all ethnic groups on the frontier land who stand by one another and thrive together. The four seasons turn, wind and rain change; all the spring breezes and summer rains, autumn frosts and winter snows will ultimately settle into full granaries, fruit-laden branches, and the lights of ten thousand households, nourishing this frontier land and warming this corner of the world. The earth is silent, yet it returns the purest love to every person who diligently guards it. This simple, abundant autumn scene is a hymn to the unending cycle of life, a tribute to acting in a practical and realistic manner (脚踏实地, jiǎo tà shí dì - "down-to-earth, steady, practical") labor, and the warmest, most steadfast, and most powerful light of hope in rural China.

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The Economic Proposals of Ming Dynasty Scholar Qiu Jun

By: 王艳

On the political stage of the mid-Ming dynasty, Qiu Jun was an important figure. With a steadfast commitment to learning he cultivated his person, with a heart set on benefiting the world he engaged in governance, and with pragmatic scholarship he established his theories, leaving a fresh and original approach (别开生面, bie kai sheng mian - "another, open, new, face") in the history of ancient Chinese economic thought. Qiu Jun served as an official for forty years, spanning the four reigns of Jingtai, Tianshun, Chenghua, and Hongzhi, rising to the positions of Grand Secretary of the Hall of Military Eminence and Minister of Revenue. He was posthumously honored by Emperor Xiaozong of the Ming with the title "Distinguished Official of Neo-Confucian Learning," and the History of the Ming records that "having served in the Hanlin Academy, his knowledge and experience grew ever broader, and he was especially versed in the precedents and institutions of the state, taking pride in his mastery of statecraft." Qiu Jun's Supplement to the Extended Meaning of the Great Learning covers such fields as economic governance, market circulation, currency and public finance, taxation and people's livelihoods, and centrally embodies his economic propositions, holding significant value.

Affirming the value of labor. In the Supplement to the Extended Meaning of the Great Learning, Qiu Jun explicitly states, "Though the things of this world are born of heaven and earth, they all must rely on human labor before they can fulfill their use." Though all things in the world are born of heaven and earth, they must pass through human toil before they can achieve their actual function. On this basis, Qiu Jun further proposes, "Their forms vary in size and refinement, their labor input varies in depth, and their prices vary in amount." Here "labor input" also refers to labor, meaning that as the forms of all things differ, the labor expended differs, and the value also differs. Putting forward the view that labor determines the value of commodities (the things of this world) reflects Qiu Jun's forward-looking consciousness in economic matters.

Opposing the "monopoly" system. Facing the rigid "monopoly" system of the Ming dynasty, Qiu Jun expressed a clear attitude of opposition. Qiu Jun held that "the market is the affair of merchants"; the buying and selling of commodities is formed through transactions among merchants, and "when the people conduct trade among themselves, the quality of goods and the amount of money can easily be balanced, discounted, and selected." If "the government conducts trade with the people," then "to carry it out with benefit and without harm is difficult." He further pointed out, "For a ruler of men to contend with merchants for profit is a most shameful thing." Qiu Jun opposed government control over industry and commerce, but he also perceived the drawbacks of leaving the market entirely to the discretion of merchants. He held that the government should fulfill the duty of guidance, supervision, and regulation. With regard to the maritime prohibition policy long implemented by the Ming dynasty, Qiu Jun considered it futile, because "though the law has explicit prohibitions, where profit lies, the people do not fear death." He recommended opening the maritime prohibition, allowing private overseas trade, with the government levying a share of the proceeds as tax. This would neither require imposing additional levies on the domestic populace nor increase state fiscal revenue, achieving "without disturbing the people of China, yet obtaining the assistance of foreign states—this too is one means of sufficing for the state's needs." Qiu Jun's inclusive and open-minded governance insights were especially rare and valuable at the time.

Emphasizing the role of currency. In the mid-Ming period, precious paper notes (paper currency) depreciated, copper coins became debased and heterogeneous, and silver circulated privately, with the "parallel circulation of three currencies" causing market chaos. Qiu Jun stated bluntly that "the defect of paper notes lies in their excess." The fundamental reason for the failure of precious paper notes was that the court issued them without limit, leading to a severe disconnect between paper notes and actual wealth. Based on this understanding, Qiu Jun proposed the "three-currency plan": silver as the superior currency, paper notes as the middle currency, and copper coins as the inferior currency. Silver would serve as the value benchmark, performing the function of "weighing the relative value," with one fen of silver equivalent to ten wen of copper coins or one guan of paper notes—a ratio that, once fixed, "would remain constant and never change." Copper coins and precious paper notes would serve as the currency for daily transactions between the court and the people. Qiu Jun also proposed that the court should regulate the injection and withdrawal of currency according to the actual needs of market circulation: "when coins are abundant, issue paper notes to collect in the coins; when paper notes are abundant, issue coins to collect in the paper notes," striving to achieve "a due equivalence between goods and currency."

Advocating light corvée and low taxation. On the question of tax levies, Qiu Jun inherited the Confucian tradition of "light corvée and low taxation," but endowed it with new insights. He held that "wealth is the heart of the people; if one takes their wealth, one loses their hearts. If one can win the people's hearts, then even if one does not obtain their wealth, what one gains is ten thousand times greater than wealth." This concept constituted the value foundation of Qiu Jun's tax propositions. He held that state taxation should follow proper principles: "A ruler who governs the state cannot avoid taking from the people, but neither can he take from the people excessively." He compared taxing the people to "taking fish from a marsh," holding that one must never go too far, must not drain the pond to catch the fish, and must "take lightly" and "levy gently." Light corvée and low taxation can make the people rejoice in their livelihoods, with settled residents content in their fields and the displaced gathering back, and as production develops, fiscal revenue naturally increases. In tax system design, Qiu Jun held that "land endures for ten thousand generations without change, while registered households and adult males sometimes flourish and sometimes decline. Fixing taxes by adult male is difficult to verify; fixing taxes by land area is easy to inspect and check." He advocated a system taking land as the tax base, opposing the taking of households and adult males as the tax base. In response to the increasingly severe land annexation chaos of the mid-Ming period, he proposed the "method of matching adult males with land allotments," implementing land limitation starting from a specific year, from which point "each adult male is permitted to occupy only one qing of land." Any amount exceeding one qing would be confiscated by the state and sold by the authorities to landless peasants. Those purchasing land could also buy only one qing and no more, thereby restricting imperial relatives, nobles, and interest groups from occupying excessive land.

Surveying Qiu Jun's economic propositions as a whole, though constrained by the limitations of his era they also contain certain shortcomings—for example, he was fixated on the concept of metallic currency, holding that paper notes were "exchanging useful things for useless things," and failed to fully recognize the essence of credit currency as a symbol of value. But on the whole, his economic propositions were rooted in the deep soil of traditional Chinese culture, possessing both the practicality of being grounded in his era and the foresight of transcending it, providing valuable reference for economic governance in later generations.

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