Summary: The article asserts that Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building serves as the fundamental ideological guide for the "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues Concerning Perseveringly Advancing Full and Rigorous Self-Governance of the Party." It emphasizes that this thought provides the scientific methods and theoretical framework necessary to implement the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party. The text highlights that the "Decision" integrates the principles of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building into its structure, specifically regarding the summary of achievements, the analysis of governance challenges, and the establishment of policy measures. Furthermore, the article calls for the continuous study of this thought to ensure the effective implementation of institutional regulations, responsibility, and accountability within the Party.
Summary: The Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party established the "Seven Upholds" as the major principles for advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. These principles, which include upholding serving the mission and tasks, taking the Party's political building as the guide, and upholding comprehensive strictness, serve as a scientific summation of the experience of Party discipline and governance in the new era. The article asserts that these principles constitute an organic whole that must be implemented in an integrated manner rather than through selective execution. To ensure long-term effectiveness, the principles must be incorporated into a responsibility system where Party organizations and leading cadres are held accountable for implementation. Ultimately, these principles aim to provide a political guarantee for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics and national rejuvenation.
Summary: The article states that the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee made unremitting effort in rectifying conduct and enforcing discipline a strategic task and emphasized integrating work style building into daily life and grasping it regularly, to correct the Four Malfeasances with the spirit of driving a nail. It cites General Secretary Xi Jinping’s call to take stopping the Four Malfeasances as an important way to consolidate the hearts of the Party and the people, prevent “fatigue syndrome,” and never allow them to resurface like dead ashes rekindling or old abuses to remain while new ones arise. It urges striking as soon as problems raise their heads, keeping a close eye on hidden mutations and trends such as underground eating and drinking and gifts sent by express delivery, and achieving sustained, long-term effort through the regular, detailed, and long-term. Leading cadres at all levels are described as the “lead geese” who must lead by example in implementing the spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulation.
Summary: The article stresses that doing China's own affairs well depends on the Party and on full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. It says that amid an intricate and complex international and domestic situation and arduous tasks of reform, development, and stability, advancing Chinese modernization so that it moves steadily toward long-term goals requires carrying forward the great founding spirit of the Party and always keeping firmly in mind the "Three Musts." It calls for continuously carrying forward the Party's outstanding qualities and persevering in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. The aim is to build the Party better and stronger and provide a strong guarantee for comprehensively building a great modern socialist country and comprehensively advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese modernization.
Summary: The article traces Mao Zedong's ties to Yuelu Academy, noting that he and classmates such as Cai Hesen, Xiao Zisheng and Zhang Kundi often visited it while at Hunan First Normal School, and that he admired its educational methods of free discussion, brief courses and emphasis on self-study. It recounts that Mao resided at the academy's Banxue Studio in 1918–1919, where he established the "Work-Study Comrades Association" and pursued the "Yuelu New Village Plan," and that he later founded the Hunan Self-Study University along Yuelu's model. It credits his teacher Yang Changji, a Yuelu student and teacher, with enabling his residence there, and describes the edification Mao drew from the academy's motto "seeking truth from facts." It cites Xi Jinping's September 2020 remark during his inspection of Yuelu Academy that Chairman Mao was edified there and that seeking truth from facts originates from here. It also notes that after 1949 Li Da became Hunan University's first president and that Mao inscribed the university's name in 1950.
Summary: At a March 10, 1935 meeting of central leaders in Gouba Village, Zunyi, Guizhou, most comrades favored attacking Daguxinchang while Mao Zedong strongly insisted on not attacking; the meeting voted by the principle of the minority obeying the majority, removed Mao Zedong from the post of political commissar of the front-line headquarters, and made a plan to attack. That evening Mao Zedong, carrying a lantern, went to Zhou Enlai's residence to explain the stakes and suggest delaying the issuance of the combat order, and Zhou Enlai recalled that he accepted Chairman Mao's opinion, held a meeting again first thing in the morning, and persuaded everyone. On March 11 the meeting reached consensus to abandon the attack, and at 1:30 a.m. the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, in the name of Zhu De, issued the "Directive Concerning Our Army's Not Attacking Xinchang," citing the Yunnan army's Lu brigade reaching Qianxi and the loss of the opportunity to attack Xinchang. The article presents the episode as reflecting how the Party corrected decisions and achieved correct centralization on a democratic basis, and notes that Mao Zedong later proposed the new "three-person group" of Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Wang Jiaxiang to command military affairs, which was adopted.
Summary: The Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party established the "Seven Upholds" as the major principles for advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. These principles, which include upholding serving the mission and tasks, taking the Party's political building as the guide, and upholding comprehensive strictness, serve as a scientific summation of the experience of Party discipline and governance in the new era. The article asserts that these principles constitute an organic whole that must be implemented in an integrated manner rather than through selective execution. To ensure long-term effectiveness, the principles must be incorporated into a responsibility system where Party organizations and leading cadres are held accountable for implementation. Ultimately, these principles aim to provide a political guarantee for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics and national rejuvenation.
Summary: The article argues that upholding the Party's political building as the guiding principle is the hallmark concept and original theory of Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, tracing it to Xi's local work and to the 19th Party Congress, which wrote it into the Party Constitution, with further elaboration in 2018 and the 2019 Central Committee Opinions. It stresses that political direction is the first-order question of the Party's survival and development, calling on the whole Party to uphold the Two Establishments, enhance the Four Consciousnesses, strengthen the Four Confidences, and uphold the Two Upholds around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core. It presents Chinese modernization as the greatest politics and urges guarding against political risks and improving political judgment, comprehension, and execution. It concludes that political building must guide organizational, discipline, institutional, and style building and the anti-corruption struggle, including correcting the view of political achievements in treating the Four Malfeasances.
Summary: The article reviews cases of irregular reception exposed by the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission, including a national association department head who accepted layer-by-layer accompaniment and received a Party disciplinary warning, and Yunnan Honghe Vocational and Technical College former president Zhang Bing, who was expelled from the Party and public office in December 2025 and transferred to judicial authorities on suspicion of embezzlement and bribery. It identifies four forms of irregular reception—exceeding standards and scope, new tricks in "eating official letters," extravagant eating and drinking on official business, and accepting banquets that may affect the impartial execution of official duties—and cites Article 116 and Article 101 of the Regulations on Disciplinary Action of the Communist Party of China and the 2013 Provisions on the Administration of Domestic Official Receptions by Party and Government Organs. It attributes the persistence of the problem to deviations in ideological understanding, lax institutional implementation, and weak supervision and accountability, and calls for coordinated efforts across ideology, institutions, supervision, accountability, and self-cultivation, as required by the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
Summary: The article explains that the "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues Concerning Persevering in Promoting Full and Rigorous Self-Governance of the Party" calls on Party members and cadres to examine themselves against the Party Constitution, Party rules and Party discipline, and the oath of admission to the Party, which it describes as a vivid reflection of strong Party spirit. It traces the oath's history from early Party building through the Agrarian Revolutionary War, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and the early period of reform and opening up, when Deng Xiaoping affirmed the significance of writing the oath into the Party Constitution. It cites General Secretary Xi Jinping's instruction that every Communist Party member, especially leading cadres, must firmly establish awareness of the Party Constitution and use the oath of admission to the Party to restrain themselves. The article stresses that loyalty to the Party and never betraying the Party are written in the oath, urging members to enhance the Four Consciousnesses, strengthen the Four Confidences, and uphold the Two Upholds. It also calls for revisiting the oath to be incorporated into intra-Party political life and for resisting decadent ideas such as circle culture, wharf culture, and feudal bureaucratic culture.
Summary: Sichuan China Tobacco Industrial Co., Ltd. is marking its eleventh anniversary by reviewing its development through five strategic dimensions: Party self-governance, cultural self-awareness, planning guidance, digital intelligence transformation, and talent cultivation. The Company emphasizes full and rigorous Party self-governance to transform political and organizational advantages into competitive advantages, specifically highlighting the implementation of the Two Establishments and the Two Upholds. Strategic planning efforts have focused on brand building, innovation-driven development, and green transformation, resulting in significant increases in tax, profit, and industrial output value. Furthermore, the Company is advancing digital intelligence to reshape production and operation through intelligent manufacturing and data-driven processes. To ensure long-term vitality, the enterprise is implementing a "strengthening the enterprise through talent" strategy to attract, cultivate, and retain high-skilled professionals.
Summary: At the 18th BRICS Leaders' Meeting on September 13, 2026, General Secretary Xi Jinping said a world without rules is like an intersection without traffic lights, that fairness and justice are what the hearts of the people aspire to, and that international rules should be written jointly by all countries. The article elaborates this metaphor, arguing that international rules are the foundation of international order and that the logic of "might makes right" does not work and should long ago have been abandoned. It criticizes a small number of countries for placing their unilateral will above international law and "running the red light" when it suits them, and says certain major powers have paralyzed the WTO dispute settlement mechanism, violated the most-favored-nation principle, and abused the security exception clause. It calls for rules that uphold fairness and justice, are applied equally without double standards, and are written with equal participation of all countries, including enhanced representation of the Global South. It presents China as upholding extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits and working with Global South countries to reform the global governance system.
Summary: Reviewing Xie Maosong's *Why Is a Civilization of All Under Heaven Possible: The Communist Party of China and the Chinese Civilizational Tradition*, the author argues that the book answers, within the deep structure of civilizational history, why a civilization of all under heaven is possible, and credits its treatment of the Chinese path, Chinese civilization, and a new form of human civilization. The reviewer, identified as former deputy director of the former Party Literature Research Center of the CPC Central Committee and president of the Chinese Mao Zedong Poetry Research Association, writes from the perspective of Party history research. He endorses the book's judgment that the Communist Party of China is a "civilization-type political party," its trinity of "new system of governance, new system of the Way, and new system of learning," and its linking of the "Question of Zizhang" with the "Question of Huang Yanpei" to root the two answers to escaping the historical cycle of dynastic rise and fall — supervision by the people and self-revolution — in the tradition of the politics of virtue and society of virtue. Quoting Xi Jinping's statement that "the power of Marxist truth has activated the great civilization created by the Chinese nation over several thousand years," the review reads "the Two Integrations" as mutual awakening between the power of truth and the civilizational tradition rather than external splicing. It concludes that the Chinese path is an inheritance and innovation of the "way of being great and enduring" and that Chinese modernization is a new civilizational form rooted in five thousand years of civilization, moving from "substantial" toward "glorious."
Summary: Lou Yulie (1934–2026), a philosopher and educator who taught for 66 years, was described as a sincere and steadfast guardian and practitioner of traditional Chinese culture, and the article summarizes his approach to scholarship as a spiritual legacy on "how to do scholarship and how to conduct oneself." His scholarly methodology rested on an awareness of the subjectivity of traditional Chinese culture, as set out in his widely circulated article "The Subjectivity of Chinese Culture Must Not Be Lost," which held that while learning from foreign cultures one must never lose one's own cultural subjectivity. He argued that interpreting Chinese philosophy by the standard of Western philosophy makes it impossible to understand Chinese philosophy's own characteristics, that modern Chinese scholars' greatest error was cutting China's intellectual tradition to fit Western conceptual frameworks—"leaving the master's house and entering the slave's"—and that all cultural exchange must take native culture as the subject, opposing both wholesale negation of tradition and blind worship of the West as well as narrow arrogance toward foreign civilizations. The article also credits him with reestablishing the Eastern Philosophy Teaching and Research Section in Peking University's Department of Philosophy in 1986, with deep cultivation of documents including the Collated and Annotated Collected Works of Wang Bi, and with stressing a holistic, "thorough" research approach and a "transparent reasoning" style. It further presents his judgment that "putting people first" is the fundamental spirit of Chinese culture, his sixteen-character formulation and his emphasis on "sincerity and reverence," and his "three principles theory" of physical, psychological, and philosophical health cultivation.
Summary: The article, by the Party Committee Secretary of the Central Academy of Drama, argues that red drama culture—from the Red Army's living-newspaper and street plays during the Long March to later revolutionary-themed works—should empower ideological and political education. It cites Xi Jinping's statement that red resources are the Party's most precious spiritual wealth and must be protected, managed, and used well, and calls for rescuing and digitizing red drama historical materials. It proposes contextualized, participatory teaching through watching and performing plays, emotional resonance, and building a graded case database tied to the "great ideological and political course" practical teaching bases. It urges incorporating red drama into ideological and political courses and school aesthetic education as a permanent course rather than a temporary activity.
Summary: This article explicates the Confucian category of righteousness as one of the important qualities of the junzi, drawing on the Analects chapter "Li Ren" and Zhu Xi's gloss that "yu means to understand." It presents righteousness as the principles of things, developed through three meanings: taking righteousness as the foundation, acting courageously for the sake of justice, and considering righteousness when seeing profit. It cites Confucius and the two Cheng brothers on taking righteousness as the substance and trunk, warns against speech that does not reach righteousness, and praises Zichan as a model junzi who governed by taking righteousness as the foundation. It closes by asserting that "the junzi understands righteousness" retains cultural significance and practical value today, cautioning against corruption, bribery, swindling, cheating, fraud, and falsification.
Summary: The article asserts that Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building serves as the fundamental ideological guide for the "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues Concerning Perseveringly Advancing Full and Rigorous Self-Governance of the Party." It emphasizes that this thought provides the scientific methods and theoretical framework necessary to implement the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party. The text highlights that the "Decision" integrates the principles of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building into its structure, specifically regarding the summary of achievements, the analysis of governance challenges, and the establishment of policy measures. Furthermore, the article calls for the continuous study of this thought to ensure the effective implementation of institutional regulations, responsibility, and accountability within the Party.
Summary: The article argues that China's world history discipline must clarify its purpose, upholding the tradition of making knowledge useful for governing the state and serving society and applying what has been learned to practical work, as seen in reform-era modernization studies and research on foreign welfare and environmental governance. It warns against the international trend of "fragmentation" in historiography, which denies systems and historiography's social function, and calls for clear opposition to it. It distinguishes world history as a research-oriented discipline from area and country studies as an applied discipline, arguing they complement rather than contradict each other, with world history providing linguistic, historical, and local-knowledge foundations for area studies. It cites General Secretary Xi Jinping's call to accelerate construction of an independent knowledge system for Chinese philosophy and social sciences and to answer "the questions of the world," which it says both disciplines must undertake to advance Chinese modernization. The author is a Boya Chair Professor at Peking University and founding dean of the Institute of Area and Country Studies.
Summary: The article recounts the origins of the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives movement, recalling how New Zealand friend Rewi Alley, together with American journalists Edgar Snow and Helen Snow, proposed organizing rear-area production through industrial cooperatives after 1937, with Alley's plan winning support from Zhou Enlai and other CPC leaders before the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives Association was formally established in Hankou on August 5, 1938, later moving to Chongqing with a board including Lin Boqu, Dong Biwu, Deng Yingchao, Shen Junru, and Huang Yanpei. It describes the movement's rapid growth from the first Baoji Blacksmith Cooperative in August 1938 to nearly 3,000 cooperatives with 250,000 members across 18 provinces at its peak, and the 1939 Hong Kong founding by Song Qingling and Chen Hansheng of the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives International Committee to channel international aid. It also covers the movement in the anti-Japanese base areas, including the Yan'an office and Ye Ting's 1939 letter to the International Committee on the Southern Anhui Industrial Cooperation Center. On U.S.-China ties, it credits Evans Carlson of the United States Marine Corps with carrying the "Gung Ho spirit" to the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, the "Gung Ho Battalion," whose Makin Island raid and Guadalcanal campaigns spread the term through the U.S. military and into American everyday language as a common English adjective.
Summary: The article traces how Qing border governance, including the Kangxi Emperor’s edict that “This dynasty does not establish border defenses; it uses the Mongol tribes as its screen and vassals,” created conditions for ethnic integration in the northern borderlands. It argues that Ulanqab, as an important node of the Ten-Thousand-Li Tea Road, became an important field for interaction, exchange, and integration among farming and pastoral ethnic groups, with commercial towns such as Zhanggao Town and routes through Siziwang Banner sustaining cross-regional population movement. It cites Fei Xiaotong and the Qing-era man Qian Liangze, along with the American William Woodville Rockhill’s observations that local Mongols’ mode of life was “more like that of the Chinese” and that they spoke Chinese fluently. The article concludes that integration deepened from production and daily life into culture, customs, and blood relationships, advancing the community of the Chinese nation. The author is identified as deputy director of the Research Base for Forging the Sense of Community for the Chinese Nation of the Four National Commissions at Inner Mongolia University.
Summary: On October 31 the third session of the Academic Salon on Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, jointly hosted by the Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Department of Philosophy of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance), was held at the Party School, aiming to study and implement the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee and deepen research on upholding and strengthening the Party's overall leadership over ecological civilization construction. Zhang Yongsheng, Director of the Research Center and of the Institute of Ecological Civilization Studies, and Han Donghui, Director of the Department of Philosophy, delivered speeches, while Han Qingxiang, former member of the School Affairs Committee of the former Central Party School and a first-tier professor of the National Philosophy and Social Sciences, and Lin Jianhua, Party Committee Secretary of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Research Institute of Chinese Modernization, delivered keynote speeches. Experts and scholars from the host departments, the Environmental and Economic Policy Research Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Peking University, the University of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing Forestry University, the Hebei Academy of Social Sciences, and Hebei Normal University for Nationalities gave exchange speeches. Participants unanimously stated that the salon, held as the plenum closed, was of great significance, with the plenum's requirement to uphold the use of the Party's innovative theory to consolidate the heart and forge the soul providing an important theoretical entry point for understanding the interconnection between Xi Jinping's thought on Party building and Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization. They unanimously held that the "Ten Persistences" are the essential framework for building a Beautiful China and a Beautiful World, that upholding the Party's overall leadership is the fundamental guarantee of China's ecological civilization construction, and that the Party's role of taking overall responsibility and coordinating all sides must be given full play throughout all fields and links of ecological civilization construction.
Summary: The Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance) held its 26th Young Scholars Forum and 4th "Young Voices on National Governance" Academic Forum on October 23 under the theme "Modernization of National Governance in the Digital-Intelligent Era," hosted by its Research Department and organized by the Department of National Governance Teaching and Research. Gong Weibin, Vice President (Vice Minister-level) of the school and concurrently Director of the Department of National Governance Teaching and Research, attended and delivered a speech, while Song Shiming, Deputy Director of the Department of National Governance Teaching and Research, chaired the forum and Hong Xianghua, Deputy Director of the Research Department, delivered remarks. Invited to attend and provide comments were Bai Jingwei, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Management World magazine; Cao Sheng, Deputy Director of the Chinese Public Administration magazine; Wei Lei, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Beijing Administration Institute; and Liu Cuixia, Editorial Reviewer of the Administrative Management Reform editorial department. Ten young teachers shared their latest research results, and participating experts offered detailed comments on topic selection, research content, and research methods. In his concluding speech, Gong Weibin said the forum reflected young teachers' self-awareness and initiative in advancing disciplinary transformation and expressed the hope they would make good use of the academic exchange platform, heed experts' opinions and suggestions, polish their work earnestly, and strive to produce high-quality research results.
Summary: The Shanghai Municipal Party School (Shanghai Municipal School of Administration) has explored a full-cycle, full-chain Party spirit education model centered on "whole-process management, all-round reshaping, and all-factor guarantee." Under whole-process management, it issued "Opinions on Further Strengthening Students' Party Spirit Education" and built a "three-dimensional classroom" system extending Party spirit education to the first, second, and third classrooms, including courses titled "The General Secretary Talks About Shanghai" that follow General Secretary Xi Jinping's footsteps in, visits to, and talks about Shanghai. Under all-round reshaping, it introduced a "four-step" teaching method for Marxist classic works and a "three reviews and one report" system, backed by "Party spirit analysts" who give "one-on-one" guidance on students' Party spirit analysis reports. Under all-factor guarantee, it forged a teaching management team of the "three carriages" — class supervisors, teaching group leaders, and teaching coordinators. The article is by Bo Qijun and Liu Changbo.
Summary: Party schools (academies of governance) in Heilongjiang, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Shandong, Hainan, Chongqing, Sichuan, and Shaanxi held meetings of their school (academy) committees or expanded meetings between October 30 and November 2 to convey and study the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party and arrange its study, publicity, and implementation. They called the plenary session a very important meeting and described the "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues Concerning Perseveringly Advancing Full and Rigorous Self-Governance of the Party" as a programmatic document, urging study one step ahead and going one level deeper and rapid creation of an upsurge of studying, publicizing, and implementing. The schools pledged to integrate the spirit into cadre education and training, develop special courses, bring it into teaching materials, into classrooms, and into minds, and conduct research and interpretation around Xi Jinping's thought on Party building. They also committed to perseveringly advancing comprehensive and rigorous governance of the school under the strictest political, academic, teaching, and management standards, and to achieving the Two Upholds, enhancing the Four Consciousnesses, strengthening the Four Confidences, and comprehending the decisive significance of the Two Establishments.
Summary: The Party School of the Yunnan Provincial Committee of the CPC has built a tiered, categorized teaching system to deepen study and implementation of Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, incorporating it as a required course in all main and special-topic classes and forming a "1+14+1" premium course system of one core general-introduction course, 14 sub-topic special courses, and one guided-reading course of original texts. It promotes a "Party building leadership +" integrated teaching model and a diversified guided-reading mechanism for the *Selected Works of Xi Jinping on Party Building*, with relevant courses covering 21 main class sessions and training 928 trainee-person-times. The school has improved its 2026–2027 discipline construction plan, compiled 10 special-topic textbooks, formed a special teaching team, and added a special-topic course on General Secretary Xi Jinping's speech at the meeting celebrating the 105th anniversary of the Party's founding; it has applied for 9 items under the provincial social science planning special project and completed a research project commissioned by the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision. It has published 14 interpretive articles and academic papers and plans a special-topic exchange symposium for the provincial Party school system in conjunction with studying the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, linking research forces of the Provincial Party Committee Organization Department, the Provincial Party Committee Publicity Department, and the Provincial Academy of Social Sciences. A three-level linkage guidance mechanism for provincial, municipal, and county Party schools has been established, with 4 collective lesson preparations held covering more than a thousand teachers.
Summary: On October 23 the Party School of the CPC Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Committee hosted an academic seminar on "Chinese Civilization and the Building of the Community for the Chinese Nation," with Vice President (Vice Director) Zhang Weibing delivering a speech and Vice President (Vice Director) Li Yan presiding. Keynote reports were given by Pu Changchun, Lan Hanlin, Xu Ping, Yu Shangping, and Peng Wuqing, among others, covering topics such as the theoretical logic of building the community for the Chinese nation, strengthening the national common spoken and written language, Urumqi's Guyuan Alley, and the Sinicization of religion in Xinjiang. More than 70 experts and scholars from inside and outside Xinjiang, along with leading cadres and teaching and research backbone personnel from Party schools (academies of governance) at all levels throughout Xinjiang, participated. The seminar aimed to deepen understanding of related theoretical issues and support Xinjiang's ethnic unity and progress work and the building of the community for the Chinese nation in the new era.
Summary: The article outlines how Party schools should use the "four prominences" to strengthen intra-Party political life for trainees, citing the Regulations on the Work of Party Schools (Schools of Administration) on student management and temporary student Party branches. It calls for giving prominence to political character by making study of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era the central content of teaching and branch organizational life, and by following up on the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speeches and instructions. It urges prominence to principle through Party Constitution, rules, discipline, and regulations education and strict organizational life systems, to practical effectiveness through accurate problem identification, deep criticism and self-criticism, and substantive rectification, and to regularity through full-cycle connection, normalized institutional mechanisms, and a closed-loop evaluation mechanism. The author is identified as secretary of the student Party general branch of the First Advanced Study Department of the Party School (School of Administration) of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee.
Summary: Zhejiang Provincial Party School held its Eleventh Party Members' Congress of its organs on October 27, hearing and deliberating work reports and electing a new Organ Party Committee and Organ Discipline Inspection Commission. Executive Vice President Chen Liuyu attended and spoke, while Yu Zhongqin of the Work Committee for Provincial Departments Directly Under the Provincial Party Committee provided guidance and also spoke; Liu Qinghua presented the work report, and Lü Qingmin, Liu Jinqiang, Lan Hanlin, Duan Falei, and Wang Minfei attended. The meeting credited the outgoing bodies with upholding the principle that the Party school takes the Party's surname and the original aspiration of "cultivating talent for the Party and offering advice for the Party," studying and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, and advancing the "Dual Building and Striving for Excellence" project. Chen affirmed their work and called for deeper study of Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, implementation of the "Dual Building and Striving for Excellence" project, and the "Red Academy of Learning · Original Aspiration Pilots the Way" project as the overall driving force, to build highlands of Party building and clean governance and support the "Four Benchmarks" and a high-level modernized demonstration Party school. He required the new bodies to raise their political positioning, forge firm political loyalty, strengthen political responsibility and capability, hold fast to political rules, and tighten political responsibility so that organ Party building and the Party school cause act in synchronized harmony.
Summary: The Shanghai Municipal Party School (Shanghai Municipal School of Administration) has explored a full-cycle, full-chain Party spirit education model centered on "whole-process management, all-round reshaping, and all-factor guarantee." Under whole-process management, it issued "Opinions on Further Strengthening Students' Party Spirit Education" and built a "three-dimensional classroom" system extending Party spirit education to the first, second, and third classrooms, including courses titled "The General Secretary Talks About Shanghai" that follow General Secretary Xi Jinping's footsteps in, visits to, and talks about Shanghai. Under all-round reshaping, it introduced a "four-step" teaching method for Marxist classic works and a "three reviews and one report" system, backed by "Party spirit analysts" who give "one-on-one" guidance on students' Party spirit analysis reports. Under all-factor guarantee, it forged a teaching management team of the "three carriages" — class supervisors, teaching group leaders, and teaching coordinators. The article is by Bo Qijun and Liu Changbo.
Summary: The Tianjin Municipal Party School held a school-wide scientific research work conference on October 27, addressed by Xu Ying, vice president (vice director) in charge of daily work, and presided over by Cong Yi, vice president (vice director). The conference set requirements around "how to view scientific research, how to do scientific research, and how to guarantee scientific research," calling scientific research an inevitable requirement for practicing the Party school's original aspiration and a duty under the "Work Regulations of the Party Schools of the Communist Party of China (Administration Institutes)." It urged teaching and research personnel to seek truth from facts and devote themselves wholeheartedly, and called on departments to carry out organized scientific research and promote the model in which "teaching sets the topic, scientific research writes the article, policy consultation offers good advice, and results enter the classroom." A briefing noted continued improvement in key indicator data over the past three years, and representatives gave exchange speeches on policy consultation reports, theoretical publicity articles, core journal articles, National Social Science Fund project applications, and team building. Responsible comrades of teaching and research departments, principal responsible comrades of relevant functional departments, and approximately 180 teachers attended.
Summary: The Party School of the Changchun Municipal Party Committee implements the Regulations on the Work of Party Schools (Academies of Governance) and the spirit of the national conference of presidents (deans), pursuing integrated advancement of forging souls through politics, sharpening capabilities through actual combat, combining recruitment with cultivation, and guaranteeing through mechanisms. It forges loyal character through political direction, theoretical arming, and political tempering in urgent, difficult, dangerous, and heavy tasks, and sharpens teaching and research skills through collective lesson preparation, a special-topic polishing mechanism, teaching competitions, project applications, and collaboration with units such as the General Office of the Changchun Municipal Party Committee and the Policy Research Office. It recruits doctoral talents in scarce specialties, carries out full-chain through-type cultivation with a "dual mentor system," and builds a "dual-post" training mechanism and "Famous Teacher Project." It strengthens positive incentives, normalized constraints on teacher ethics and professional conduct, and organizational care. Since 2026, young teachers have completed 2 provincial and ministerial-level projects, published 2 articles in central-level newspapers and periodicals, and had decision-making consultation results signed and approved by leaders at or above the deputy municipal level 17 times and adopted by departments 15 times.
Summary: The Party School of the Weifang Municipal Party Committee in Shandong Province has implemented teaching reforms to address resource dispersion and unbalanced development among municipal and county-level Party schools. By establishing a "course leader" system, the school has organized teaching and research teams to transition from uncoordinated efforts to systematic integration and regional mutual benefit. These reforms include standardized basic training, collective lesson preparation to study the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's instructions, and the use of famous teachers to set benchmarks. The initiative also promotes the joint cultivation of teaching staff through a model where higher-level and senior teachers guide lower-level and younger instructors. Additionally, the integration of teaching, research, and consultation has resulted in numerous consultation reports being approved by municipal and provincial leaders.
Summary: Xi Jinping stressed that "the development of Party schools must have an overall awareness" and that Party schools at all levels must adhere to a systematic perspective and focus on coordinated planning and coordinated efforts, principles the newly revised Regulations on the Work of Party Schools (Academies of Governance) of the Communist Party of China also enshrine. The article argues that promoting the integration of provincial-level Party school resources and complementing each other's strengths through systematic coordination is both an inherent requirement for implementing Xi's expositions and instructions on Party school work and a practical path for transforming institutional strengths into effectiveness in running and governing schools. It calls for improving systems and mechanisms, with higher-level Party schools strengthening business guidance to lower-level ones and Party schools at or above the municipal (prefectural) level taking the lead in formulating business work plans for their administrative regions, and for focusing on the primary responsibilities and main business of "cultivating talent for the Party and offering advice for the Party" rather than being uniform and consistent in form. It further urges strengthened team building, citing the requirement that the proportion of full-time teachers in the total number of school (academy) staff is generally no less than 40 percent, and technological empowerment through modern information technology, combining online and offline and combining live broadcast and recorded broadcast to extend high-quality training resources to the grassroots. The author is Director of the Research Office of the Party School of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee.
Summary: The Party School (School of Administration) of the Shangrao Municipal Party Committee of Jiangxi Province has established a teacher-student decision-making consultation mechanism that pairs teachers' theoretical strengths with students' practical experience, moving consultation from scattered efforts to systematic advancement. It builds exchange platforms through a "student discussion + teacher question-and-answer" mechanism, creates "scientific research profiles" to match students' topic groups with suitable guiding teachers, and differentiates roles for young backbone versus senior teachers. Major research topics serve as the traction, with topic groups formed by students' professional backgrounds—more than 60 in main classes in 2026—covering themes such as traditional industry upgrading, emerging industry cultivation, grassroots social governance, and public resource allocation, each guided by teachers and refined through leadership comment and departmental feedback. A "four-level review" mechanism and the internal publication Study, Thought, Practice, and Realization support quality control; since 2025 the publication has released 53 policy-consulting reports, 30 of which received affirmative instructions from municipal leaders and 2 of which were adopted by relevant departments.
Summary: Guizhou's bridge culture is defined by a philosophy of overcoming geographic isolation through continuous construction, evolving from ancient stone structures to modern steel and concrete marvels. The article highlights historical landmarks such as the Gejing Bridge and the Huajiang Iron Chain Bridge, noting how these structures served vital roles in local life and during the Long March. Modern engineering feats, including the Baling River Bridge and the Huayudong Bridge, demonstrate advancements in scale and ecological bridge-building. These developments have transformed Guizhou from a region of mountainous separation into a plateau of expressways. Ultimately, the province's bridges represent a history of human persistence and the urgent need to connect isolated communities.
Summary: This article examines how Du Fu, though not known for frontier poetry, repeatedly referenced Anxi in his poems, depicting it as remote and harshly cold at Jiaohé and praising the Anxi army as an unstoppable force loyal to the Tang and strict in discipline. It cites his poems on Gao Xianzhi's piebald horse and on watching the Anxi troops pass through Guanzhong, and notes his accurate observation that the Anxi reinforcement numbered only about ten thousand, calling him worthy of the name "poet-historian." The article contrasts Du Fu with Cen Shen and Gao Shi, who had held military posts, and describes his aspiration to assist the ruler in Chang'an, as expressed in poems such as "Sending My Cousin Ya to Anxi as Judicial Officer." It concludes that his precise records preserved vivid historical details of Anxi.
Summary: The article is a personal essay on the author's grandmother's making of fried flour in rural southern Liaoning, a Manchu folk food whose craft was passed down from generation to generation. It recalls the author's childhood helping at the stove and the cloth bags of fried flour her grandmother packed for her studies and later work away from home. The author, a Party school teacher, describes visiting the Memorial Hall of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea in Dandong, where she learned that fried flour served as the Volunteer Army's military ration of first choice and that soldiers ate a mouthful of fried flour and a mouthful of snow, winning the great victory of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea under arduous conditions. A display-case cloth bag resembling her grandmother's moved her, and returning home this Mid-Autumn she took over the frying herself while her daughter and niece imitated her.
By: 国防大学习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想研究中心
Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building is a major theoretical innovation achievement formed in the historical process of strengthening the Party and the country in the new era, and it provides the fundamental compliance and guide to action for deeply advancing the great new project of Party building in the new era. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in the "Explanations on the 'Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues Concerning Perseveringly Advancing Full and Rigorous Self-Governance of the Party'" that "the drafting of the 'Decision' draft adhered to taking the new era Party building thought as guidance," and placed "fully implementing the new era Party building thought" first among the 5 key points to be grasped in the drafting of the "Decision," highlighting the important guiding position of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building in the formulation and formation of the "Decision," and providing ideological guidance for studying and understanding the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party. Only by firmly grasping Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building as this ideological mainline that runs throughout can one profoundly comprehend the essence and core meaning of the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party, and play the important role of a clear, well-organized plan that brings everything else into place (纲举目张, gang ju mu zhang - "net, lift; eye, open"), grasping the main purport, and carrying out implementation throughout.
Why the "Decision" Must Run Through the Mainline of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building
Using the important forms of the Party's national congress and the plenary sessions of the Central Committee to study major issues in the development of the cause of the Party and the country, confirm the Party's major theoretical and practical innovation achievements, and coalesce the common ideological will and striving strength of the whole Party is an important institutional arrangement of our Party for decision-making and deliberation and governance of the country, is the political advantage and institutional advantage of the Party and the country, and is an important experience of a Marxist party in maintaining vigorous innovative vitality. Every important meeting of the Party runs through a distinct mainline; for example, the Sixth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee focused on the mainline of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in deliberating issues of strengthening and standardizing intra-Party political life and strengthening intra-Party supervision under new circumstances, and the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee focused on the mainline of comprehensively summarizing the Party's major achievements and historical experience in a century of struggle in studying and formulating the Party's third historical resolution, and so on. These meeting mainlines reflect the latest achievements of our Party's understanding of the laws of Communist Party governance, the laws of socialist construction, and the laws of human social development; they are the ideological engine that lays the political tone, reflects political will, and leads the political direction; they are both the criterion for ensuring the quality of the topics, ideological content, and theoretical increment of these important meetings, and the entry point for understanding and grasping the spirit of the plenary sessions.
The "Decision" points out that "in the great practice of governing the Party, rejuvenating the Party, and strengthening the Party in the new era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, centering on the major era question of what kind of Marxist party in long-term governance to build and how to build a Marxist party in long-term governance, put forward a series of new concepts, new ideas, and new strategies, and formed Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building." Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building is the latest achievement in upholding the Two Integrations (两个结合) to advance the Party's theoretical innovation, embodies the rich historical experience of a century-old major party in strengthening Party building, is the crystallization of the practical wisdom of governing the Party, rejuvenating the Party, and strengthening the Party in the new era, centrally reflects the achievements of theoretical innovation, practical innovation, and institutional innovation in Party building in the new era, and is an important component of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. This thought is the concentrated summary and theoretical sublimation of the experience of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era; it has rich political implications and weighty political bearing, centrally embodies our Party's political direction, political program, political line, and political stance, answers the fundamental question of "what the Communist Party of China is and what it wants to do," expounds the major issues of right and wrong that concern the Party's survival and future destiny, and fully demonstrates the advanced attributes, lofty mission, value pursuits, and construction goals of the world's largest Marxist governing party.
Perseveringly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is a major strategic decision made by our Party on the basis of a scientific judgment of the new changes and new challenges facing the world, the country, and the Party, grasping the historical orientation of the development of the cause of the Party and the country, focusing on the overall situation of Chinese modernization, better carrying forward our Party's historical experience of more than a hundred years of strengthening its own construction, upholding and applying well the valuable experience of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era with higher standards and more solid measures, rectifying and resolving well the prominent problems facing Party building, and consolidating and developing well the favorable political situation formed in governing the Party; it is an important practice of Party building and the cause in the new journey, and a major strategic decision on how to continue advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party on the new journey and walk well the new road of examination. Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building is the scientific guide and program of action for the great new project of Party building in the new era; in practice it has promoted the great achievements of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era and opened up a new situation for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and in institutional terms it has promoted the improvement of the system of intra-Party regulations and institutions and enhanced the overall effectiveness of governing the Party, demonstrating powerful theoretical might and practical strength. Only by running Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building throughout can one accurately and correctly grasp the main purport and core meaning of the "Decision," truly implement this thought in the entire process of perseveringly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party on the new journey, ensure that the practice of governing the Party, rejuvenating the Party, and strengthening the Party on the new journey always advances in the correct direction, and truly implement in place the major decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee on strengthening Party building.
The Mainline Role Played by Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building in the "Decision"
The "Explanations on the 'Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues Concerning Perseveringly Advancing Full and Rigorous Self-Governance of the Party'" emphasized the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building and made clear "the requirement to fully implement this thought in the framework arrangement of the document, in summarizing achievements and experience, in analyzing the situation and tasks, in clarifying the guiding ideology and principles, and in putting forward policy measures." Looking at the entire process of the convening of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party, whether in the ideological and theoretical preparation before the session or in the formal formation of major decisions at the plenary session, Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building was fully implemented, run throughout, and organically integrated, vividly reflecting the tremendous theoretical charm and great practical guiding power of this thought. To truly study deeply and comprehend thoroughly the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party, one must start from the mainline of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building, pull up the "net" of studying the spirit of the plenary session, grasp the "pulse" of comprehending the spirit of the plenary session, and through studying the mechanism and analyzing the principles comprehend the essential meaning and grasp the key to refine the essence.
The extensive, in-depth study and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building made full ideological and theoretical preparations for the introduction of the "Decision." On June 15 this year, the National Party Building Work Symposium made work arrangements for studying and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building. This thought is rooted in the deep fertile soil of Marxist party-building theory and draws spiritual nourishment from fine traditional Chinese culture. Its process of brewing and formation is precisely the development process in which full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era accumulated rich ideological achievements and practical experience and continuously advanced in depth. At the same time, the new situations, new problems, and new challenges facing Party governance also gradually became clear, and understanding of the importance and urgency of perseveringly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party became clearer. As the study and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building unfolded comprehensively throughout the Party, the latest achievements of Party building theory continuously renewed minds, activated thinking, and went deep into hearts and minds in the practice of Party governance. In particular, the scientific thinking methods contained in Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building demonstrated unique power in practice. This thought upholds the dialectical materialist theory of knowledge and profoundly expounds the major issues of the Communist Party of China's original aspiration and founding mission and value pursuits; upholds the historical materialist view of the masses as the makers of history and endows the practice of the Party's fundamental purpose with new era connotations and requirements; upholds the dialectical materialist method of contradiction analysis and profoundly discerns the dialectical unity of the Party relying on its own strength and the people's support to solve its own problems, successfully finding the "second answer"; upholds the dialectical materialist principle of universal connection and the systemic concept, coordinates the Party's leadership and Party building, and scientifically puts forward the goal requirements and key tasks of Party building in all aspects. These important theoretical achievements and scientific thinking methods provided a powerful ideological weapon for profoundly summarizing the successful experience of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era and for diagnosing and taking the pulse of the contradictions and problems existing in Party governance. This process of arming with theory and unifying thinking, and of using theory to observe and analyze the practice of Party building, was precisely in the key period when the "Decision" was being condensed and enriched in viewpoints, integrated and connected in context, and erected with pillars and beams in system; Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building became the light of theory leading this programmatic document to emerge and mature.
The "Decision" runs throughout with the theoretical essence and practical requirements of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building. In the process of research and formulation, the "Decision" implemented the principles, work layout, methods, and paths of Party governance explored and formed by the Party under new era conditions into the overall requirements and ideas and measures for perseveringly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, and embodied them in the framework arrangement of the document, in summarizing achievements and experience, in analyzing the situation and tasks, and in all other aspects. From the careful selection of the topic of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, having a far-sighted and strategic vision (高瞻远瞩, gao zhan yuan zhu - "high, look; far, view") and sizing up the situation, determined perseveringly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party as the topic of the plenary session. "Upholding full and rigorous self-governance of the Party" is an important content of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building and is the strategic principle of Party building in the new era. Full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is the distinctive theme of Party building in the new era; grasping full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is grasping the main principle and mainline of Party building in the new era. "Perseveringly" both expresses the unswerving and determined (坚定不移, jian ding bu yi - "firm, steady; not, move") political stance on this strategic principle and expresses the clear attitude of establishing a new starting point and solving new problems in governing the Party on the new journey.
From the perspective of framework arrangement and work layout, the full text of the "Decision" is divided into three major sections, forming a structure of "general exposition + separate expositions + guarantees," which is consistent in formal style with the "general exposition + separate expositions + guarantees" structure of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building. The general exposition part of the "Decision" both carries on the same lineage as many major judgments, important theses, and important viewpoints of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building, and, in combination with new practice, puts forward new theoretical growth points and practical innovation points. For example, it proposes that the "two answers" are "the unique creation of the Communist Party of China, forever recorded in the history of Marxist party building," deepening our Party's understanding of the historic contribution of the "two answers"; it makes a comprehensive and scientific summary of the achievements of governing the Party, rejuvenating the Party, and strengthening the Party in the new era from eight aspects, points out the fundamental reasons for the great achievements, and expounds the major significance of the formation of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building, which helps the whole Party further firm up confidence, coalesce will, and continue striving. The separate expositions part of the "Decision" makes strategic arrangements for strengthening the Party spirit of Communists, strictly implementing democratic centralism, forging a high-quality cadre team capable of shouldering the heavy task of national rejuvenation, building a rigorous organizational system that is connected from top to bottom and effective in execution, ceaselessly rectifying conduct and enforcing discipline, unswervingly promoting integrated advancement of not daring to be corrupt, not being able to be corrupt, and not wanting to be corrupt, and upholding governing the Party by institutions and by regulations, and so on; these are all important contents involved in and covered by the scientific connotations of the Fourteen Commitments (十四个坚持) of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building, and at the same time they closely combine with the development of practice and understanding, analyze new situations, put forward new ideas, and clarify new measures on the basis of original achievements, further enriching Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building and demonstrating the tremendous charm of this open theoretical system.
From the perspective of methods and paths, the "Decision" fully applies the scientific methods of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building, upholds the unity of mission guidance and problem orientation, grasps the key and crucial points, focuses on prominent problems, upholds simultaneous governance and construction and promoting construction through governance, conducts in-depth analysis of the contradictions and problems facing Party governance, and puts forward scientific conclusions including the "three more arduous" regarding the situation and tasks and the "four major challenges" of governing capacity, leadership level, team quality, and resisting corruption and preventing degeneration; upholds the unity of grasping the "key minority" and managing the "vast majority," and on the basis of tightening the chain of responsibility for Party governance at all levels, puts forward new requirements such as tightening and compacting the specific responsibilities of Party members and cadres, and forms new ideas for activating the "cell function" of Party organizations; upholds the unity of exercising power and taking on responsibility, and puts forward new requirements such as improving the institutional mechanisms for unifying authorization, use of power, and control of power that are clear, transparent, and traceable, establishing power lists for key industries and lists of small and micro powers at the grassroots level, and optimizing the evaluation mechanisms for responsibility implementation. These important measures are of great significance for enhancing the systematicness, creativity, and effectiveness of Party governance.
Grasping the Mainline of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building in Implementing the Spirit of the Plenary Session
Having the guidance of scientific theory is the fundamental basis for our Party to grasp historical initiative. In implementing the spirit of the plenary session, it is necessary to implement Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building in all aspects and the entire process of perseveringly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. Viewed from Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building, this thought has the characteristics of illuminating the substance and achieving application, with substance and application running through; it has both epistemology and methodology, both deploying the task of "crossing the river" and guiding the solution of the problem of the "bridge or boat"; whether for governing and strengthening the Party or for governing and strengthening the country, it has major and far-reaching guiding significance. From the dimension of the great new project of Party building in the new era, this thought provides a guide to action for guiding the whole Party in thinking about and grasping the new situations, new problems, and new challenges facing Party building, perseveringly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, maintaining the Party's advanced nature and purity, and consolidating the Party's long-term governing position. From the dimension of leading the strengthening of the country through strengthening the Party, this thought profoundly grasps the internal connection between governing the Party, rejuvenating the Party, and strengthening the Party and national rejuvenation, and provides a guide to action for further enhancing the Party's political leadership, ideological leading power, mass organizing power, and social appeal, more powerfully implementing the major decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee, and continuously transforming the Party's political and organizational advantages into advantages for promoting high-quality development of Chinese modernization.
Grasp well the study and comprehension of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building. The "Decision" is a programmatic document that concentrates the wisdom of the whole Party and embodies the will of the whole Party, and it makes arrangements for the overall requirements, major tasks, and major measures of perseveringly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. The formulation and formation of the "Decision" cannot be separated from the scientific guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building, and implementing the "Decision" likewise cannot be separated from the study and comprehension of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building. The more profoundly one understands and the more accurately one grasps the essential meaning and practical requirements of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building, the more accurately one will comprehend and the more effectively one will implement the distinctive theme, ideological context, and practical requirements of the "Decision." It is necessary to continuously grasp well the study of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building, study it in its original form and continuously follow up in study, take Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building as the key content of collective study and concentrated training, achieve constant study and constant cultivation, constant study and constant renewal, and at the same time carry forward the fine style of study of integrating theory with practice, consciously use Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building to plan ideas, improve measures, and perfect institutions, and continuously raise the scientific level of Party governance and Party building.
Uphold a clear problem orientation. A clear problem orientation is an important theoretical character contained in Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building. From the layout of the "Decision," it upholds the problem orientation throughout and is formulated to solve prominent problems within the Party, insisting that whatever problems exist, those problems are studied and solved, and whatever problems are prominent, those problems are focused on and solved, highlighting the key points and striking directly at the vital points. For example, from the perspective of word frequency, the word "problem" is mentioned 57 times in the "Decision," and there are 90 places emphasizing breaking, rectifying, preventing, and correcting problems. From the perspective of problem manifestations, Part Two of the "Decision," "Strengthening the Party Spirit of Communists," proposes struggling against the "three kinds of bad words and deeds," absolutely not permitting the "seven kinds of having," and resolutely opposing the "five isms," and so on; Part Three, "Strictly Implementing Democratic Centralism," proposes the "two must nots" for leading cadres and the "three resolute oppositions" in decision-making and deliberation, and so on; Part Four, "Forging a High-Quality Cadre Team Capable of Shouldering the Heavy Task of National Rejuvenation," proposes that precise and scientific selection and appointment of personnel must achieve the "two preventions," and that establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements must achieve the "nine rectifications," and so on. To implement the spirit of the plenary session and solve prominent problems, it is necessary to uphold seeking truth from facts and seeking truth and being pragmatic, go deep into the front line to investigate and find problems accurately, and at the same time strengthen the fighting spirit, not evade contradictions, and achieve taking a hard line and tackling problems left over from history, promptly following up and solving newly emerging problems, and solving problems with complex root causes through the concerted efforts of higher and lower levels, not stopping until the goal is reached, and upholding the combination of "immediate correction" and "long-term establishment" to continuously consolidate the effectiveness of solving problems.
Make good use of governing the Party by institutions, this long-term and fundamental policy of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. "Upholding governing the Party by institutions and by regulations" is an important content of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building and is the "ox's nose" that must be firmly grasped in full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. The "Decision" both highlights "upholding governing the Party by regulations" as one of the seven principles in the guiding principles, and makes arrangements in a dedicated chapter, Chapter Eight, of the main body on "upholding governing the Party by institutions and by regulations," highlighting the important institutional safeguard role of governing the Party by institutions for perseveringly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. It is necessary to earnestly strengthen awareness of institutions, the rule of law, and rules, pay attention to using institutions to manage power, affairs, and people, strictly implement the Party Constitution, Party regulations, and Party discipline, improve the system of intra-Party regulations and institutions, enhance the execution of institutions, vigorously break hidden rules, and enhance work effectiveness with an intra-Party regulations and institutions system that is systematically complete, scientifically standardized, and effectively operating.
Strengthen responsibility and accountability."Upholding the implementation of the political responsibility of governing the Party" is an important content of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building. Only by forming the overall synergy of governing the Party, rejuvenating the Party, and strengthening the Party, and promoting the grasping of Party building work in every front, every field, and every link in a concrete and in-depth manner, can the high quality of Party building be ensured. In implementing the spirit of the plenary session, the broad masses of Party members and cadres have no outsiders and no bystanders; it is necessary to make efforts to solve problems such as some Party organizations and leading cadres not fully understanding the primary responsibility for full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, not implementing responsibilities, not working effectively, and not strictly executing institutions, consciously place themselves in it and place their thinking and work in it, clarify the direction of effort, calibrate the yardstick of action, and strengthen responsibility and accountability.Party organizations at all levels must take the initiative to grasp and manage with heart, achieve compacting responsibilities and transmitting pressure at every level, and in particular shoulder the responsibility for governing the political ecology, establish clear rules, break hidden rules, use the upright to suppress the evil, eliminate the turbid and promote the clear, and through creating one good small environment after another promote the consolidation and development of the great climate of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. The "key minority" at all levels, especially secretaries, must earnestly perform the responsibility of the first responsible person, grasp firmly the supervision responsibility, "one post, two responsibilities," and industry supervisory responsibility, and so on, promote Party members and cadres to implement specific responsibilities in light of their post realities, continuously strengthen and invigorate the chain of responsibility for governing the Party, and promote the implementation of Party governance tasks in place through responsibilities being in place.
(Written by: Tang Junfeng)
Return to TopBy: 崔禄春
The Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party clearly established that the principles to be followed in persevering in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party are: uphold serving the mission and tasks; uphold taking the Party's political building as the guide; uphold comprehensive strictness; uphold a problem orientation; uphold fundamental principles and break new ground; uphold leading by example from above; and uphold governing the Party in accordance with regulations. The major principles of the "Seven Upholds" are a scientific summation of the experience of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era; they are a closely connected, mutually interpenetrating organic whole, serving as both epistemology and methodology, and must be upheld over the long term and continuously enriched and developed.
A Scientific Summation of the Experience of Full and Rigorous Self-Governance of the Party in the New Era
The great achievements made in full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era have provided a solid practical foundation for distilling the major principles of the "Seven Upholds." Since the 18th Party Congress, the Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has broken ground with the Eight-Point Regulation (八项规定), turning the blade inward and applying severe measures to bring order, fundamentally reversing the situation of lax and soft Party discipline and governance, and making the Party stronger and more capable through revolutionary tempering. It is precisely in this great process that the questions of "what to govern, how to govern, and by what means to govern" in Party discipline and governance have gradually received systematic answers, enabling the Plenary Session's "Decision" to condense and elevate the valuable experience accumulated in full and rigorous self-governance of the Party since the new era into the major principles of the "Seven Upholds."
The great practice and historic achievements of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era have provided the practical foundation. The achievements of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era are historic, and their deeper significance lies in the systematic nature of this process; it is not piecemeal patching, but rather, in resolving one prominent problem after another, a systematic understanding of Party discipline and governance has gradually taken shape. From incorporating full and rigorous self-governance of the Party into the Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy (四个全面), to improving the system of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party; from persevering in rectifying conduct and enforcing discipline, to promoting in an integrated manner the deterrence of not daring to be corrupt, the constraint of not being able to be corrupt, and the disinclination to be corrupt; from realizing full central inspection coverage within a single term for the first time in the Party's history, to improving a supervision system under the Party's unified leadership that is fully covering, authoritative, and efficient — breakthroughs were made in key areas one by one, each linked to the others and systematically integrated, providing a complete practical sample for distilling principles as a whole. The major principles of the "Seven Upholds" are not abstract dogmas conjured out of thin air, but rather regularities of understanding grown from this complete practical sample. Without the profound transformation "from lax and soft to strict and hard," it would have been impossible to form a complete grasp of the laws of Party discipline and governance, and thus impossible to have the scientific distillation of the major principles of the "Seven Upholds."
The "Seven Upholds" have achieved a theoretical elevation from practical experience to major principles. Experience can be effective at a particular stage and in a particular field, but principles are basic guidelines that must not be deviated from at any time or under any circumstances. The major principles of the "Seven Upholds" elevate the good experience and good practices proven effective in the practice of Party discipline and governance in the new era to regularities of understanding and institutional requirements that must be upheld over the long term, achieving a theoretical elevation from "how to do it" to "why do it this way and what must be upheld." Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, with its distinctive theoretical character and rigorous scientific system, distills scattered experience into a systematic system of principles. Without this main thread of thought, the seven principles might be merely seven scattered effective practices; with this main thread, they can become major principles to be followed as one. The Plenary Session's emphasis that these major principles "must be upheld over the long term and continuously enriched and developed" is precisely a profound revelation of their scientific nature, stability, and openness — being consistent from beginning to end (一以贯之, yi yi guan zhi - "one, through, connect") as iron principles, while being continuously enriched and perfected in practice, embodying the organic unity of the firmness of principles and the openness of development.
The "Seven Upholds" crystallize a profound grasp of the laws of building a Marxist political party. The advanced nature and purity of a Marxist political party are not naturally maintained as time passes. If Party discipline and governance remain at the level of "solving problems after they arise," they can only respond passively; only by transforming experience proven effective in practice into long-term effective norms of action can one be unswerving and resolute (坚定不移, jian ding bu yi - "firm, not, move") and carry through from beginning to end, without the slightest wavering due to changes in time, conditions, and environment, and without making fundamental changes to a policy or system (改弦更张, gai xian geng zhang - "change strings, change bow") because of clamor and noise. The major principles of the "Seven Upholds" answer precisely this requirement of regularity: serving the mission and tasks addresses the directional continuity of Party discipline and governance; the guide of political building addresses the certainty of political direction; comprehensive strictness addresses the non-decay of intensity; the problem orientation addresses the targetedness of governance; upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground addresses adaptability; leading by example from above addresses the transmission of momentum; and governing the Party in accordance with regulations addresses the form of rules. Together, the major principles of the "Seven Upholds" constitute a principled answer to the major question of the era: "What kind of long-ruling Marxist political party to build, and how to build a long-ruling Marxist political party." Xi Jinping's thought on Party building takes self-revolution as the internal driving force of Party discipline and governance, enabling the "Seven Upholds" to answer not only "what to be strict about and how to be strict," but also "by what means to maintain the lasting driving force of strictness," thereby enriching and developing Marxist party-building theory and raising our Party's understanding of the laws of building a Marxist political party to a new height.
Deeply Grasp the Scientific Connotations of the "Seven Upholds"
The "Seven Upholds" are a dialectically unified, mutually supporting organic whole. In terms of their internal logic, serving the mission and tasks and the guide of political building answer the question of the fundamental direction of Party discipline and governance; comprehensive strictness, the problem orientation, and upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground answer the question of the practical methods of Party discipline and governance; and leading by example from above and governing the Party in accordance with regulations answer the question of how to enable the principles to obtain subject guarantees and institutional norms in organizational operation. The three levels each have their own emphasis and promote each other, jointly constituting an organic system.
Taking serving the mission and tasks and political building as the guide anchors the fundamental direction of Party discipline and governance. The question of direction is the foremost question of Party discipline and governance. Upholding serving the mission and tasks answers "what for" in full and rigorous self-governance of the Party; the fundamental orientation of Party discipline and governance is to provide a strong political guarantee for accomplishing the Party's central tasks. All efforts in Party discipline and governance are to impel the whole Party to stay true to the Party's original aspiration and founding mission, to plan and advance full and rigorous self-governance of the Party from the overall situation of upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics, to closely integrate Party building with the cause of the Party and the state, and to ensure that it always centers on the center and serves the overall situation. To speak of strictness apart from the mission and tasks is for strictness to lose its direction and goals; to conduct Party building divorced from the central work is for Party building to lose its foundation and guidance. Upholding taking the Party's political building as the guide answers "led by what" in Party discipline and governance. The Party's political building is the Party's fundamental building and determines the direction and effect of Party building; without grasping the Party's political building or deviating from the direction it guides, it is difficult for the Party's building in other respects to achieve the expected results. The essence of the guide of political building lies in ensuring that the whole Party obeys the Central Committee, upholding the authority of the Party Central Committee and its centralized and unified leadership, impelling all aspects of Party building to keep to the correct political direction and implement political requirements, enhancing the political capacity of Party organizations at all levels and of Party members and cadres, ensuring that the whole Party maintains a high degree of consistency with the Central Committee, and consolidating the Party's unity and solidarity. Serving the mission and tasks establishes the goal orientation, and the guide of political building establishes the political direction; together they constitute the directional certainty of "persevering."
Establishing the practical methods of Party discipline and governance through comprehensive strictness, the problem orientation, and upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground. Once the direction is determined, the tone from which to advance, where to cut in, and how to maintain adaptability become the key to determining the effectiveness of Party discipline and governance. Upholding comprehensive strictness establishes the tone. The tone of strictness is not a tactical choice of one time and one place, but a long-term policy of Party discipline and governance; its core lies in truly governing and truly being strict, daring to govern and daring to be strict, and governing long and being strict long, so that the requirements of strictness run through all processes and all aspects of Party discipline and governance, not loosening due to changes in the situation, and not diminishing due to phased achievements. Upholding the problem orientation establishes the point of entry. The continuity of Party discipline and governance relies not on applying force evenly, but on aiming at prominent problems and advancing through resolving one specific problem after another, not evading contradictions, not avoiding addressing problems for fear of consequences (讳疾忌医, hui ji ji yi - "hide illness, avoid doctor"), and raising the level of work in correcting deviations and bringing order, in washing away the muddy and clearing the turbid. Upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground establishes the adaptive mechanism. Only by upholding fundamental principles can one not lose direction; only by breaking new ground can one keep up with the times. The upholding of principles cannot rely on clinging to old methods, but must, on the premise of safeguarding the fundamentals, closely follow the times and conform to practice. It is necessary to uphold the Party's basic theory, basic line, and basic strategy without wavering, follow the laws of building a Marxist ruling party, apply the historical experience of Party building, and continuously put forward new measures and new methods in accordance with the development and changes of the situation and tasks. Comprehensive strictness provides intensity, the problem orientation provides accuracy, and upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground provides adaptability; together the three constitute the complete support at the methodological level for "persevering."
Leading by example from above and governing the Party in accordance with regulations solidify the subject guarantee and institutional norms of Party discipline and governance. The implementation of any principle must ultimately land on the two fulcrums of people and institutions. Upholding leading by example from above addresses demonstration, guidance, and the transmission of responsibility. Whether the intensity of Party discipline and governance will diminish level by level depends crucially on whether leading cadres, especially the "top leaders," can lead level by level and do level by level for others to see, using the "key minority" to demonstrate and drive the "overwhelming majority." The Plenary Session's clear deployment for regulating the "top leaders'" performance of duties and exercise of power is precisely to transform leading by example from above from a requirement of conduct into a constrainable, testable responsibility mechanism. Only when superiors truly govern and are truly strict will subordinates not go through the motions; only when leading cadres take the lead and set an example can the authority of principles truly be established within the organization. Upholding governing the Party in accordance with regulations addresses the form of rules. Governing the Party in accordance with regulations is the long-term policy and fundamental policy of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party; attention must be paid to using institutions to govern power, manage affairs, and manage people, strictly implementing the Party Constitution, Party regulations, and Party discipline, and enhancing work effectiveness with a systematically complete, scientifically standardized, and effectively operating system of intra-Party regulations and institutions. Leading by example from above gives the principles someone to carry them, and governing the Party in accordance with regulations gives the principles rules to rely on; together the two constitute the subject conditions and institutional conditions for the major principles of the "Seven Upholds" to be implemented and put into effect.
Uphold and Make Good Use of the Major Principles of the "Seven Upholds"
The purpose of deeply understanding and grasping the major principles of the "Seven Upholds" lies entirely in application. Only when the major principles of the "Seven Upholds" are transformed into actual actions of Party discipline and governance can they truly exert the power to guide practice and advance work.
Uphold the integrated implementation of the major principles of the "Seven Upholds," and prevent selective execution and fragmented implementation. The major principles of the "Seven Upholds" are an organic whole, and each can fully play its role only with the support of the other principles. The "Seven Upholds" must be "implemented in an integrated manner"; their essence lies in that the effectiveness of the principles does not depend on the strength of a single principle, but on the interconnection and complementarity among the seven principles. Preventing selective execution means preventing the system of principles from being broken apart into a "menu" from which each takes what it needs; preventing fragmented implementation means preventing ruptures of "each minding its own section" in different fields and at different levels. It is necessary to uphold systematic thinking, handle well the relationships between the comprehensive and the key, the current and the long term, and treating the symptoms and treating the root, so that Party discipline and governance covers all content, all objects, the entire chain of responsibility, and all institutions, with requirements in all aspects interconnected and striving in the same direction, truly giving play to the systematic integration effect of the major principles of the "Seven Upholds."
Uphold linking up with systematic deployment, and transform the requirements of the major principles of the "Seven Upholds" into actual results of Party discipline and governance. Principles are not suspended in midair. The Plenary Session's "Decision" makes a systematic deployment for persevering in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, putting forward tasks such as strengthening Party spirit, implementing and carrying out democratic centralism, strictly governing officials, the organizational system, rectifying conduct and enforcing discipline, promoting in an integrated manner the deterrence of not daring to be corrupt, the constraint of not being able to be corrupt, and the disinclination to be corrupt, and governing the Party by institutions — precisely the concrete carriers through which the major principles of the "Seven Upholds" obtain their practical form. Serving the mission and tasks is implemented by strengthening political supervision around the central tasks; the guide of political building is embodied by strictly clarifying political discipline and political rules; comprehensive strictness is tested by the sustained intensity of rectifying conduct, enforcing discipline, and combating corruption; governing the Party in accordance with regulations is guaranteed by the improvement and execution of the system of intra-Party regulations and institutions. Principles and deployment are not an external "corresponding relationship," but an internal relationship of interconnection: principles provide direction and standards for deployment, and deployment provides the foothold and testing yardstick for principles. The key to transforming the requirements of principles into actual results lies in not letting principles remain at the level of document formulations, but making them enter into the planning, execution, and evaluation of every deployment, and transforming the political advantage of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party into actual results that advance the cause of development.
Uphold the implementation of responsibility, and incorporate the upholding and application of the major principles of the "Seven Upholds" into the responsibility system of Party discipline and governance. Whether the major principles of the "Seven Upholds" can be upheld over the long term ultimately depends on whether there is someone responsible and whether there is a mechanism for accountability. The Plenary Session's "Decision" emphasizes that persevering in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is the common political responsibility of the whole Party. It is necessary to grasp firmly the "bull's nose" of the responsibility system of Party discipline and governance, and improve a responsibility system in which each takes their own responsibility (各负其责, ge fu qi ze - "each, bear, their, responsibility") with unified coordination. If responsibility is not implemented and accountability is not in place, the upholding of principles easily degenerates into slogans, and selective execution and fragmented implementation cannot be corrected. Incorporating the application of the major principles of the "Seven Upholds" into the responsibility system means that Party organizations at all levels and leading cadres must not only "know the principles," but also be responsible for the implementation status of the major principles of the "Seven Upholds" in their own region and department. Party committees (Party groups) must earnestly shoulder the primary responsibility, discipline inspection commissions must perform the supervision responsibility, secretaries of Party committees (Party groups) must earnestly perform the responsibility of the first responsible person, and members of the leading bodies must implement "one post, two responsibilities"; through knowing responsibility, bearing responsibility, and performing responsibility, achieve the transmission of pressure level by level and the interlinking of responsibility link by link, earnestly transform the regularities of understanding of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era into actual results of Party discipline and governance, ensure that the Party always becomes the strong leading core of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and provide a fundamental political guarantee for building a strong country and national rejuvenation.
(The author is Executive Vice President (Vice Director) of the Party School of the Tibet Autonomous Region Party Committee (Administrative College))
Return to TopBy: 陈睿
Rectifying conduct and enforcing discipline is a powerful measure for the full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. The Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party made unremitting effort in rectifying conduct and enforcing discipline one of the strategic tasks and major measures for persistently advancing the full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, and particularly emphasized the need to integrate the building of work style into daily life and grasp it regularly, to prevent passive perfunctoriness and fatigue and war-weariness, and to correct the "minor-matter theory" and "special-case theory" regarding work style problems. This provides the fundamental guidance and guide to action for advancing the normalization and long-term effectiveness of work style building and for correcting the Four Malfeasances (四风) with the spirit of driving a nail.
The Four Malfeasances are the concentrated manifestation of work style problems, the problems that the masses detest most deeply and reflect on most strongly, and also an important source of damage to the relations between the Party and the masses and between cadres and the masses. At the same time, the Four Malfeasances have a stubborn and recurring nature; correcting the Four Malfeasances cannot stop, and we must firmly carry it through with the perseverance and tenacity of always being on the road. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "We must take stopping the Four Malfeasances as an important way to consolidate the hearts of the Party and the people, resolutely prevent the emergence of 'fatigue syndrome,' strike at hedonism, extravagance and other unhealthy trends and bad habits as soon as they raise their heads, and constantly guard against new trends in the Four Malfeasances' hidden mutations—never allow them to resurface like dead ashes rekindling (死灰复燃, si hui fu ran - "dead, ash, return, burn")! Never allow old abuses to remain uncorrected while new abuses arise again!" The "fatigue syndrome" in work style building does not mean doing nothing at all, but rather not being conscientious, not being pragmatic, and not exerting full effort when doing things. Some are full of vigor at the beginning but before long slacken the strings and halt their steps; some make many statements and set a high tone but take little action and implement poorly, appearing on the surface to act with swift and vigorous efficiency (雷厉风行, lei li feng xing - "thunder, fierce, wind, walk") and extremely powerful and decisive action (雷霆万钧, lei ting wan jun - "thunder, ten thousand, weight"), while in reality it is a gentle breeze and "the rain passes and only the surface of the earth is wet"; some, when the Four Malfeasances have already been adapted and mutated, fix their eyes only on old problems and ignore new trends; some, even for the smallest matter, must wait for instructions from superiors and watch what others do, appearing to observe the rules but in fact failing to take responsibility. These ideas and behaviors will make it difficult to implement the Party's lines, principles and policies, and the ardent expectations of the masses will come to nothing as a result; they need to be addressed in a targeted way from the aspects of ideals and convictions, work procedures, and systems and mechanisms.
Persist in striking as soon as they raise their heads and yielding not an inch. The Four Malfeasances are deeply entrenched habits, and correcting them cannot be achieved overnight (一蹴而就, yi cu er jiu - "one, kick, and, achieve"). Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, from taking public funds used to send mooncakes as the first target, to strictly prohibiting the use of public funds to send greeting cards and New Year goods, to the concentrated rectification of such problems as using public funds for eating and drinking, using public funds for tourism, private use of public vehicles, unauthorized construction of office buildings and halls, lavish holding of weddings and funerals and celebratory events, and unauthorized playing of golf, one after another unhealthy phenomena such as "waste on the tip of the tongue," "corruption on the wheels," "unhealthy trends in clubs," and "privilege under the eaves" have been forcefully eradicated. Practice has proven that correcting the Four Malfeasances must maintain a high-pressure posture; in response to the various manifestations of the Four Malfeasances on the surface, discover one and investigate and punish one, solve one problem after another, hold firm at one node after another, avoid letting small matters drag into big ones and big ones drag into explosions, and accumulate small victories into a big victory.
Keep a close eye on hidden mutations and trends. The Four Malfeasances have a strong mutability and contagiousness; when such problems disappear, those problems will appear again. Especially under the sustained high-pressure posture, some localities and departments may engage in devious tricks, cut corners, and play with adaptations, causing the Four Malfeasances to change their appearance and renew their tricks. For example, unauthorized eating and drinking retreat "underground," put on an "invisibility cloak," and hide in the "green gauze tent"; gifts and cash are received and sent by express delivery; public funds are used for tourism under the pretext of research inspections, training and study tours, and Party-building activities; and so on. The forms of manifestation are different, but the work style problems remain prominent. If the response to correcting the Four Malfeasances lags, it may become a "game of whack-a-mole," with the hammer in hand always half a beat too slow. We must always maintain a high degree of vigilance, keep a close eye on the new trends and new manifestations of unhealthy conduct, keenly discover and promptly respond to them, and achieve prevention before trouble occurs and stopping them at the first sprouting.
Achieve sustained exertion of effort and sustained, long-term effort. Work style building is both a tough battle and a protracted war; the key lies in exerting effort in grasping the regular, the detailed, and the long-term. See the regular: grasp the Four Malfeasances without slackening, always keep them on the agenda, and organically integrate them into daily work, preventing tightness at one moment and looseness at the next. See real measures: genuinely solve the work style problems reflected by cadres and the masses, especially the grassroots masses, and while solving individual specific problems, focus on solving the universal problems on the surface, preventing shunning the important and focusing on the trivial (避重就轻, bi zhong jiu qing - "avoid, heavy, take, light") and avoiding the real issues to focus on the superficial (避实就虚, bi shi jiu xu - "avoid, solid, take, hollow"). See long-term effectiveness: further break through problems at the level of systems and mechanisms, and with rigid institutional provisions and strict institutional enforcement, form a long-term guarantee for work style building, and effectively prevent the Four Malfeasances from rebounding. Only in this way can the intensity of correcting the Four Malfeasances not diminish, the rhythm not change, and the standard not loosen, so that a qualitative transformation is achieved through quantitative accumulation, and fine work style becomes a habit and is transformed into conscious action.
The full and rigorous self-governance of the Party has no terminus, only ever-new starting points that continue without end. Leading cadres at all levels are the "lead geese" of work style building; they must act personally and lead by example, persevere with unremitting effort (锲而不舍, qie er bu she - "carve, and, not, abandon") in implementing the spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulation (八项规定), advance the normalization and long-term effectiveness of work style building, and with fine work style unite people's hearts and efforts (凝心聚力, ning xin ju li - "congeal, heart, gather, strength") and truly work hard, constantly opening up new prospects for the cause of development.
Return to TopTo do China's own affairs well, the key lies with the Party, and the key lies in full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. In the face of the intricate and complex international and domestic situation and the arduous and heavy tasks of reform, development, and stability, to advance Chinese modernization so that it moves steadily toward long-term goals (行稳致远, xing wen zhi yuan - "walk, steady; arrive, far"), we must vigorously carry forward the great founding spirit of the Party, always keep firmly in mind the "Three Musts," and continuously carry forward the Party's outstanding qualities, persevere in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, and build our Party to be better and stronger, so as to provide a strong guarantee for comprehensively building a great modern socialist country and comprehensively advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese modernization.
Return to TopBy: 唐珍名
Yuelu Academy is one of the four most famous academies of ancient China. Since its founding in the ninth year of the Kaibao era of the Northern Song Dynasty (976 AD), it has maintained uninterrupted operation for a thousand years and has long been known as a "millennium-old seat of learning." In 1903, Yuelu Academy was reorganized into the Hunan Higher School, and afterwards, through several stages of development on its original site, it became the Hunan Public Industrial Specialized School. In 1926 it merged with the Hunan Public Commercial Specialized School and the Hunan Public Law and Politics Specialized School, and was named Hunan University. Mao Zedong, deeply influenced by the cultural lineage of the thousand-year academy, formed an indissoluble bond with Yuelu Academy and the later Hunan University.
Admiring Yuelu Academy's Educational and Teaching Methods
Mao Zedong may be said to have been constantly influenced by what he saw and heard (耳濡目染, er ru mu ran - "ear, moisten; eye, dye") of China's traditional academy education. In 1910, the Xiangxiang County Dongshan Higher Elementary School that Mao Zedong attended originated from Dongshan Academy. After going to Changsha to study, Yuelu Academy, as the benchmark of ancient academy education and the center of Hunan's academies, was held in great esteem and favor by Mao Zedong.
While studying at Hunan First Normal School, on weekends one of the main places Mao Zedong and his classmates Cai Hesen, Xiao Zisheng, Zhang Kundi and others went was Yuelu Academy. Zhang Kundi wrote in his diary on September 23, 1917: "Today I rose early, and together with the two gentlemen Cai and Mao went up Yuelu from the side of our residence, walked along the mountain ridge, and descended the mountain after reaching the academy. A great cool wind arose, and the air was crisp and refreshing."
Mao Zedong greatly admired Yuelu Academy's educational and teaching methods, such as freedom of discussion, brief courses, and emphasis on self-study. In 1912, Yuelu Academy developed into the Hunan Higher Normal School. On June 25, 1915, after seeing the admissions notice of the Hunan Higher Normal School, Mao Zedong sent out the notice and wrote to friends inviting them to apply together, saying freely in "A Letter to Xiangsheng": "I have just received word from the Higher Normal School that next term it will establish both literature and history departments, all in order to correct the present malady of learning cut off and the Way lost. Its system is greatly similar to that of the academy: it emphasizes self-study, does not require frequent lectures in the classroom—truly a good place for the deep study of antiquity... I believe it accords with your aims, sir; can you come to take the examination?" Although Mao Zedong ultimately did not enroll at the Hunan Higher Normal School, inspired by the signal of Mao Zedong's recommendation, Deng Zhongxia and Cai Hesen that year were admitted to the Class B of the Literature and History Specialized Course of the Hunan Higher Normal School.
Not only that, in August 1917, in a letter to Li Jinxi, Mao Zedong also expressed the intention to organize a lecture-and-study institution similar to the ancient academies: "For a long time I have thought of organizing a private school, adopting the strengths of both ancient lecturing and modern schools... After this I must go abroad to study, to seek the essentials of Western learning, and on returning still return to the life of the private school, so as to approach its depths." Four years later, in August 1921, Mao Zedong founded the Hunan Self-Study University along the lines of Yuelu Academy's educational and teaching model, and in July 1922 invited Li Da to serve as its president. In the "Declaration on the Founding of the Hunan Self-Study University," Mao Zedong enumerated in detail the strengths of the ancient academies—deep affection between teachers and students, free research, brief courses yet thorough discussion—and positioned the Hunan Self-Study University as "adopting the form of the ancient academy, incorporating the content of the modern school, and constituting a special organization suited to human nature and convenient for research."
After the founding of New China, Li Da became the first president of Hunan University. On August 20, 1950, Mao Zedong personally inscribed the name of the university for Hunan University, fully expressing his care and affection for Hunan University, which had developed from Yuelu Academy. On New Year's Day 1951, Hunan University held a grand ceremony at Yuelu Academy for the raising and hanging of the school plaque.
Early Revolutionary Activities at Yuelu Academy
Between 1916 and 1919, Mao Zedong several times resided at Yuelu Academy, engaging in early revolutionary activities and exploring the truth of saving the nation and the people. That Mao Zedong was able to reside at Yuelu Academy was mainly thanks to the help of his teacher Yang Changji. Yang Changji was both a student of Yuelu Academy and a teacher at the Hunan Higher Normal School that developed from Yuelu Academy; teaching at Hunan First Normal School was his concurrent post. From 1916, Yang Changji was responsible for directing the preparatory work for the establishment of Hunan University, and the Hunan University Preparatory Office was located in the Banxue Studio of Yuelu Academy.
Mao Zedong's residence at Yuelu Academy was relatively concentrated in two periods: one from June to August 1918, and the other from August to November 1919. In June 1918, after Mao Zedong and his classmates graduated from Hunan First Normal School, some had not yet found satisfactory work; everyone resided in the Banxue Studio of Yuelu Academy, established the "Work-Study Comrades Association," and implemented the "Yuelu New Village Plan." Li Rui, in his book "Mao Zedong's Early Revolutionary Activities," depicted the scene at the time: while reading books, they made plans for the future, pondering the many complex questions of where they themselves were going, where Hunan was going, and where China was going. "Mao Zedong's mood was the least calm; an old couplet handed down among the historic sites of Yuelu Mountain—'Clouds and mountains on four sides come before the eyes, ten thousand homes' sorrows and joys arrive at the heart'—served precisely as a portrayal of his mood at the time."
In August 1919, the Hunan Students' Union journal "Xiangjiang Review," edited by Mao Zedong, was banned; Mao Zedong, together with the banned Hunan Students' Union, moved from the Hunan Public Commercial Specialized School to the Banxue Studio of Yuelu Academy, took over as editor of the magazine "New Hunan," and shuttled between Yuelu Academy and the Changsha Xiuye School where he served as a history teacher. Jiang Zhuru, Mao Zedong's classmate at Hunan First Normal School, recalled: "Comrade Mao Zedong and other leaders of the students' union moved to the Hunan University Preparatory Office and continued to carry out revolutionary activities, exposing and attacking Zhang Jingyao's dark rule."
More than thirty years later, on June 20, 1955, Mao Zedong, having returned to Hunan, after revisiting the Xiang River and again climbing Yuelu Mountain, went straight to Yuelu Academy and wrote the seven-character regulated verse now inscribed on the Hexi Terrace of Yuelu Academy: "The spring river rolls vast, I linger a while; again I tread the layered peaks, my gaze opens wide. Wind rises from the green islets, blowing the waves away; rain comes from the green fields, climbing up the mountain. Before the cup we talk and laugh, the people are as before; beyond the realm, chicken-and-insect affairs are pitiable. Do not sigh that youth's years pass easily; after thirty years I still come to the Hexi Terrace." This regulated verse is both a portrayal of Mao Zedong's mood upon returning to Yuelu Academy at the time and brimming with his indissoluble bond with Yuelu Academy.
The Edification of Yuelu Academy's Style of Seeking Truth from Facts
Seeking truth from facts is the fine style of learning that Yuelu Academy has transmitted for a thousand years, and Mao Zedong was deeply edified by it. During his residence at Yuelu Academy, Mao Zedong and the school motto "seeking truth from facts" hung high in the lecture hall of Yuelu Academy may be said to have been together morning and night, seeing it whenever he lowered his head and whenever he raised it, and he came to think more deeply about this ancient proposition of "seeking truth from facts," which provided the most intuitive edification for the gestation and formation of his thought of seeking truth from facts. Just as General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out during his inspection of Yuelu Academy in September 2020, Chairman Mao was edified right here in those years, and seeking truth from facts originates from here.
Mao Zedong spent the first 30 years of his life mainly in Hunan, and during this period the Hunan social and popular customs of seeking truth from facts edified and influenced him in a way that may be called innate (与生俱来, yu sheng ju lai - "with, birth, possess, come"). While studying in Changsha, many of Mao Zedong's teachers—Yang Changji, Li Jinxi, Fang Weixia and others—were graduates of Yuelu Academy. The "Dahua Studio Diary" records that Yang Changji actively taught Mao Zedong the learning of practical statecraft and seeking truth from facts of Yuelu Academy worthies such as Wang Fuzhi, Wei Yuan, Zeng Guofan, and Zuo Zongtang. In the "Lecture Hall Records," Mao Zedong copied out many maxims and aphorisms of Yuelu Academy worthies, frequently reviewed them, and wrote down many related reflections, such as "Di Sheng's diary... does not speak big words, does not crave empty fame, does not undertake hollow things"; "Wang Chuanshan: there are heroes who are not sages, but there has never been a sage who is not a hero"; and so on. Mao Zedong's classmate Xiao San once recalled: "In Changsha there were people who organized a 'Chuanshan Study Society'... Comrade Zedong invited a few of us to go and listen to lectures; he extremely admired Wang Chuanshan's plain materialism and national consciousness."
In the Changsha years of pointing at the rivers and mountains and stirring up words, many of Mao Zedong's classmates and peers—Cai Hesen, Deng Zhongxia, Xie Juezai, Yi Lirong, Peng Huang, Wang Erzhuo and others—had studied at Yuelu Academy or were students of Yang Changji. With them Mao Zedong not only formed deep friendships, but also, in traveling to study, organizing study societies, and participating in social movements, clashed ideas and was deeply influenced. Mao Zedong, together with Xiao Zisheng, Cai Hesen and other classmates, traveled through nine counties of Hunan in the summer of 1917 and the spring of 1918 respectively. Peng Huang was then the head of the Hunan Students' Union and vigorously supported Mao Zedong in editing the "Xiangjiang Review" and "New Hunan," launching the Hunan student movement, and organizing social activities such as the "Expel Zhang" campaign. Xie Juezai assisted Mao Zedong in founding the common people's night school and the workers' night school at Hunan First Normal School, and Yi Lirong once collaborated with Mao Zedong in founding the Changsha Cultural Book Society. Although the "Problems Research Society" organized by Mao Zedong and his classmates was ultimately not established, in the "Regulations of the Problems Research Society" that he wrote, he not only clearly put forward the 144 problems that China at that time needed to research, but also carried out relatively deep practical exploration of many of these problems together with his classmates, including the building of the "Yuelu New Village" in the Yuelu Academy area described above.
Return to TopBy: 娄亚丽
Zhu De, "Directive Concerning Our Army's Not Attacking Xinchang" (held in the Central Archives)
On March 10, 1935, a meeting of central leaders was held in Gouba Village, Zunyi, Guizhou, to discuss whether to attack Daguxinchang (present-day Jinsha County seat); the majority of comrades favored attacking, while Mao Zedong strongly insisted on not attacking. In accordance with the principle of the minority obeying the majority, the meeting made a plan to attack. Late that night after the meeting, Mao Zedong, carrying a lantern, went along a small path to Zhou Enlai's residence to explain the stakes and suggest delaying the issuance of the combat order. The next day, the meeting of central leaders discussed the matter again and finally issued the "Directive Concerning Our Army's Not Attacking Xinchang." A single "no attack" telegram order reflects the fine tradition of how the Chinese Communist Party, at the turning point of the Long March, dealt with differences of opinion, how it corrected decisions, and how it achieved correct centralization on a democratic basis.
The origins of the debate over attacking Daguxinchang
In late February 1935, after crossing the Chishui River for the second time, the Central Red Army retook Zunyi city and controlled the high ground along the Honghuagang and Laoyashan line south of the city. At this time, enemy reinforcements arrived, attempting to counterattack Zunyi. On the afternoon of the 28th, the reinforcing column of Wu Qiwei of the Kuomintang Central Army, after one regiment's attack on the Honghuagang position was repulsed, turned its main force toward Laoyashan and, after fierce fighting, captured the commanding height of that mountain. But the Guizhou army, having repeatedly suffered blows from the Red Army, shrank back and refused to advance (畏缩不前, wei suo bu qian - "fear, shrink, not, advance"), causing Wu Qiwei's forces to advance recklessly with isolated forces (孤军冒进, gu jun mao jin - "lone, army, venture, advance"). The Central Revolutionary Military Commission ordered the main force of the First Army Corps to break through the Guizhou army positions from Shuishiba and drive straight at Wu Qiwei's command post at Zhongzhuangpu. This unexpected blow sent Wang Jialie's Guizhou army fleeing in a sorry state (狼狈不堪, lang bei bu kan - "wolf, 狈, not, bear") toward Daguxinchang, while Wu Qiwei hastily fled with about one regiment of remnants. At dusk, the Red Army cadre regiment entered the battle and, cooperating with the Third Army Corps, recaptured the commanding height of Laoyashan and annihilated most of the enemy. The second capture of Zunyi was the greatest victory since the start of the Long March, won under the command of Mao Zedong and others by giving play to the Red Army's superiority in mobile warfare; it greatly inspired the morale of the whole army and dealt a severe blow to the arrogance of the enemy, especially Chiang Kai-shek's own direct troops.
After the Zunyi campaign, Chiang Kai-shek judged that the Central Red Army "would surely turn eastward" to join forces with the Second and Sixth Army Corps. On March 2, he flew to Chongqing to "supervise the suppression." On the 3rd, he telegraphed orders to the armies stationed in Sichuan and Guizhou to set up defenses along the Wu River, in an attempt to annihilate the Central Red Army in the Zunyi and Yaxi area.
In order to respond to Chiang Kai-shek's new encirclement and suppression and strengthen combat command, on March 4 the Central Revolutionary Military Commission issued an order: "Comrade Zhu De is to be front-line commander, Comrade Mao Zedong front-line political commissar." Thus Mao Zedong, whose leading post in the Red Army had been removed at the Ningdu Conference in 1932, was formally given direct leadership over the Central Red Army. On March 9, the central column arrived at Gouba, more than a hundred li from both Zunyi and Daguxinchang. At that time, one division of the Kuomintang army was in the Daguxinchang area west of Zunyi.
After the great victory at Zunyi, the Red Army troops' desire to fight ran high. At 1 a.m. on March 10, Lin Biao and Nie Rongzhen telegraphed the Military Commission, suggesting an attack on Daguxinchang. The telegram proposed: "Regarding current action, it is suggested that the field army advance toward Daguxinchang and Sanzhongyan and annihilate the enemy at Xi'an Zhai, Xinchang, and Sanzhongyan. The method is as follows: ... set out from the present position tomorrow and advance toward Daguxinchang, to arrive by the 11th." Thus a debate over attacking Daguxinchang unfolded.
Attack or not: fierce debate at the meeting
After daybreak, Zhang Wentian presided over a meeting of central leaders at Gouba, attended by Zhou Enlai, Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Chen Yun, Wang Jiaxiang, and others, to discuss the plan to attack Daguxinchang. Fierce debate broke out at the meeting over whether to attack; the majority of comrades favored attacking Daguxinchang, but Mao Zedong held the opposing view. He had three considerations: first, the main force of the Red Army could not reach Daguxinchang until the 12th; second, the Yunnan army would also reach Daguxinchang to join forces with the Guizhou army; third, the Sichuan army could also strike the Red Army from the flank. He therefore strongly insisted on not attacking, and contended by offering to resign as political commissar of the front-line headquarters. But at this time, "Chairman Mao did not yet have the absolute authority he later had, and everyone had not yet fully grasped Chairman Mao's strategic thinking." Someone said, "The minority should obey the majority; if we're not doing it, we're not doing it." The meeting voted according to the principle of the minority obeying the majority, removed Mao Zedong from the post of political commissar of the front-line headquarters, and made a plan to attack. Mao Zedong's correct proposition was once again ignored, and the fate of the Red Army once again came to a critical juncture.
In the evening, Mao Zedong, carrying a lantern, went to Zhou Enlai's residence and suggested delaying the issuance of the combat order. Mao Zedong recalled the scene: "After the meeting broke up, I talked with Enlai. I said, no, it's dangerous. He wavered, slept on it for a night, and the next day there was another meeting, and he listened to me." Zhou Enlai also recalled the situation at the time: Mao Zedong "came to me again in the middle of the night carrying a lantern, asking me to hold the order back a little and think it over again. I accepted Chairman Mao's opinion, held a meeting again first thing in the morning, and persuaded everyone."
The formal issuance of the "no attack" directive
In the early hours of March 11, Zhang Wentian again convened a meeting of central leaders at Gouba to reopen discussion; after Zhou Enlai's persuasion, the participants finally reached a consensus and decided to abandon the attack on Daguxinchang. At 1:30 a.m., the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, in the name of Zhu De, issued the "Directive Concerning Our Army's Not Attacking Xinchang." As to why Daguxinchang was not to be attacked, the telegram stated: "The Yunnan army's Lu brigade has already reached Qianxi and can reach Xinchang by the 12th, with the An and Gong brigades following up. Accordingly, our main force has already lost the opportunity to attack Xinchang ... Therefore the Military Commission issued at 21:00 yesterday, the 10th, a telegram order to concentrate in the Pingjiazhai, Fengxiangba, and Huamiaotian areas, in order to seek new maneuver; all are expected to act accordingly."
On the same day, three brigades of Pan Wenhua's Sichuan army occupied Zunyi; the main force of Zhou Hunyuan's column concentrated in the Lubanchang area; and part of Wu Qiwei's column had crossed the Wu River northward, advancing toward Yaxi and Zunyi. In light of the above changes in the enemy situation, the Central Politburo decided: "The strategic guideline of our field army should still be to take northern Guizhou as the main area of activity, and it should control the upper reaches of the Chishui River as a pivot for transfer, with the annihilation of Xue Yue's army group and Wang Jialie's troops as the main combat objective; against the Sichuan and Yunnan enemies, we should fight only under favorable and urgently necessary conditions, seeking to annihilate part of them." On the 13th, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission formally notified the various army corps of this decision. That evening, the Third Army Corps routed the Third Brigade of the Guizhou army in the Pingqiao and Panshui area, and the remnants fled toward Daguxinchang. The facts confirmed the correctness of Mao Zedong's proposal not to attack Daguxinchang.
The Gouba meeting, on the basis of full discussion and individual deliberation, both embodied the principle of the minority obeying the majority and fully respected the views of the minority, forming a concentrated will that truly conformed to reality, and provided precious experience for the Party thereafter in correctly handling the relationship between democracy and centralization in complex environments. The "Directive Concerning Our Army's Not Attacking Xinchang" adopted at the meeting avoided an imminent major loss, and was of great significance for the Central Red Army in escaping the pursuit, interception, and blocking of a superior enemy, smashing Chiang Kai-shek's plan to encircle and annihilate the Red Army, and winning victory in the strategic transfer. Thereafter, in view of the fact that combat situations change rapidly in a heartbeat (瞬息万变, shun xi wan bian - "instant, breath, ten thousand, change") and that command needed to be centralized, Mao Zedong proposed forming a three-person group with full authority to command military affairs. This suggestion was adopted. The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party decided to form a new "three-person group" composed of Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Wang Jiaxiang, responsible for the military operations of the whole army. In the wartime environment, this was the most important leading body of the Central Committee, and it played an important role in winning victory in the Long March. From March 16 to 17, the Central Red Army crossed the Chishui River westward from Maotai and its vicinity (the third crossing of the Chishui), advancing toward Gulin and Xuyong, assuming the posture of crossing the Yangtze River northward, and drawing the Kuomintang main force to the area west of the Chishui River. From March 21 to 22, the troops crossed the Chishui River for the fourth time from Erlangtan, Taipingdu, and other places. Then, the Central Red Army quickly crossed the Wu River southward via three points—Jiangkou, Datang, and Tiziyan—cleverly crossed the Jinsha River, broke out of the encirclement of several hundred thousand enemy troops, and set foot on a new Long March route.
Return to TopBy: 崔禄春
The Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party clearly established that the principles to be followed in persevering in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party are: uphold serving the mission and tasks; uphold taking the Party's political building as the guide; uphold comprehensive strictness; uphold a problem orientation; uphold fundamental principles and break new ground; uphold leading by example from above; and uphold governing the Party in accordance with regulations. The major principles of the "Seven Upholds" are a scientific summation of the experience of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era; they are a closely connected, mutually interpenetrating organic whole, serving as both epistemology and methodology, and must be upheld over the long term and continuously enriched and developed.
A Scientific Summation of the Experience of Full and Rigorous Self-Governance of the Party in the New Era
The great achievements made in full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era have provided a solid practical foundation for distilling the major principles of the "Seven Upholds." Since the 18th Party Congress, the Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has broken ground with the Eight-Point Regulation (八项规定), turning the blade inward and applying severe measures to bring order, fundamentally reversing the situation of lax and soft Party discipline and governance, and making the Party stronger and more capable through revolutionary tempering. It is precisely in this great process that the questions of "what to govern, how to govern, and by what means to govern" in Party discipline and governance have gradually received systematic answers, enabling the Plenary Session's "Decision" to condense and elevate the valuable experience accumulated in full and rigorous self-governance of the Party since the new era into the major principles of the "Seven Upholds."
The great practice and historic achievements of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era have provided the practical foundation. The achievements of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era are historic, and their deeper significance lies in the systematic nature of this process; it is not piecemeal patching, but rather, in resolving one prominent problem after another, a systematic understanding of Party discipline and governance has gradually taken shape. From incorporating full and rigorous self-governance of the Party into the Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy (四个全面), to improving the system of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party; from persevering in rectifying conduct and enforcing discipline, to promoting in an integrated manner the deterrence of not daring to be corrupt, the constraint of not being able to be corrupt, and the disinclination to be corrupt; from realizing full central inspection coverage within a single term for the first time in the Party's history, to improving a supervision system under the Party's unified leadership that is fully covering, authoritative, and efficient — breakthroughs were made in key areas one by one, each linked to the others and systematically integrated, providing a complete practical sample for distilling principles as a whole. The major principles of the "Seven Upholds" are not abstract dogmas conjured out of thin air, but rather regularities of understanding grown from this complete practical sample. Without the profound transformation "from lax and soft to strict and hard," it would have been impossible to form a complete grasp of the laws of Party discipline and governance, and thus impossible to have the scientific distillation of the major principles of the "Seven Upholds."
The "Seven Upholds" have achieved a theoretical elevation from practical experience to major principles. Experience can be effective at a particular stage and in a particular field, but principles are basic guidelines that must not be deviated from at any time or under any circumstances. The major principles of the "Seven Upholds" elevate the good experience and good practices proven effective in the practice of Party discipline and governance in the new era to regularities of understanding and institutional requirements that must be upheld over the long term, achieving a theoretical elevation from "how to do it" to "why do it this way and what must be upheld." Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, with its distinctive theoretical character and rigorous scientific system, distills scattered experience into a systematic system of principles. Without this main thread of thought, the seven principles might be merely seven scattered effective practices; with this main thread, they can become major principles to be followed as one. The Plenary Session's emphasis that these major principles "must be upheld over the long term and continuously enriched and developed" is precisely a profound revelation of their scientific nature, stability, and openness — being consistent from beginning to end (一以贯之, yi yi guan zhi - "one, through, connect") as iron principles, while being continuously enriched and perfected in practice, embodying the organic unity of the firmness of principles and the openness of development.
The "Seven Upholds" crystallize a profound grasp of the laws of building a Marxist political party. The advanced nature and purity of a Marxist political party are not naturally maintained as time passes. If Party discipline and governance remain at the level of "solving problems after they arise," they can only respond passively; only by transforming experience proven effective in practice into long-term effective norms of action can one be unswerving and resolute (坚定不移, jian ding bu yi - "firm, not, move") and carry through from beginning to end, without the slightest wavering due to changes in time, conditions, and environment, and without making fundamental changes to a policy or system (改弦更张, gai xian geng zhang - "change strings, change bow") because of clamor and noise. The major principles of the "Seven Upholds" answer precisely this requirement of regularity: serving the mission and tasks addresses the directional continuity of Party discipline and governance; the guide of political building addresses the certainty of political direction; comprehensive strictness addresses the non-decay of intensity; the problem orientation addresses the targetedness of governance; upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground addresses adaptability; leading by example from above addresses the transmission of momentum; and governing the Party in accordance with regulations addresses the form of rules. Together, the major principles of the "Seven Upholds" constitute a principled answer to the major question of the era: "What kind of long-ruling Marxist political party to build, and how to build a long-ruling Marxist political party." Xi Jinping's thought on Party building takes self-revolution as the internal driving force of Party discipline and governance, enabling the "Seven Upholds" to answer not only "what to be strict about and how to be strict," but also "by what means to maintain the lasting driving force of strictness," thereby enriching and developing Marxist party-building theory and raising our Party's understanding of the laws of building a Marxist political party to a new height.
Deeply Grasp the Scientific Connotations of the "Seven Upholds"
The "Seven Upholds" are a dialectically unified, mutually supporting organic whole. In terms of their internal logic, serving the mission and tasks and the guide of political building answer the question of the fundamental direction of Party discipline and governance; comprehensive strictness, the problem orientation, and upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground answer the question of the practical methods of Party discipline and governance; and leading by example from above and governing the Party in accordance with regulations answer the question of how to enable the principles to obtain subject guarantees and institutional norms in organizational operation. The three levels each have their own emphasis and promote each other, jointly constituting an organic system.
Taking serving the mission and tasks and political building as the guide anchors the fundamental direction of Party discipline and governance. The question of direction is the foremost question of Party discipline and governance. Upholding serving the mission and tasks answers "what for" in full and rigorous self-governance of the Party; the fundamental orientation of Party discipline and governance is to provide a strong political guarantee for accomplishing the Party's central tasks. All efforts in Party discipline and governance are to impel the whole Party to stay true to the Party's original aspiration and founding mission, to plan and advance full and rigorous self-governance of the Party from the overall situation of upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics, to closely integrate Party building with the cause of the Party and the state, and to ensure that it always centers on the center and serves the overall situation. To speak of strictness apart from the mission and tasks is for strictness to lose its direction and goals; to conduct Party building divorced from the central work is for Party building to lose its foundation and guidance. Upholding taking the Party's political building as the guide answers "led by what" in Party discipline and governance. The Party's political building is the Party's fundamental building and determines the direction and effect of Party building; without grasping the Party's political building or deviating from the direction it guides, it is difficult for the Party's building in other respects to achieve the expected results. The essence of the guide of political building lies in ensuring that the whole Party obeys the Central Committee, upholding the authority of the Party Central Committee and its centralized and unified leadership, impelling all aspects of Party building to keep to the correct political direction and implement political requirements, enhancing the political capacity of Party organizations at all levels and of Party members and cadres, ensuring that the whole Party maintains a high degree of consistency with the Central Committee, and consolidating the Party's unity and solidarity. Serving the mission and tasks establishes the goal orientation, and the guide of political building establishes the political direction; together they constitute the directional certainty of "persevering."
Establishing the practical methods of Party discipline and governance through comprehensive strictness, the problem orientation, and upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground. Once the direction is determined, the tone from which to advance, where to cut in, and how to maintain adaptability become the key to determining the effectiveness of Party discipline and governance. Upholding comprehensive strictness establishes the tone. The tone of strictness is not a tactical choice of one time and one place, but a long-term policy of Party discipline and governance; its core lies in truly governing and truly being strict, daring to govern and daring to be strict, and governing long and being strict long, so that the requirements of strictness run through all processes and all aspects of Party discipline and governance, not loosening due to changes in the situation, and not diminishing due to phased achievements. Upholding the problem orientation establishes the point of entry. The continuity of Party discipline and governance relies not on applying force evenly, but on aiming at prominent problems and advancing through resolving one specific problem after another, not evading contradictions, not avoiding addressing problems for fear of consequences (讳疾忌医, hui ji ji yi - "hide illness, avoid doctor"), and raising the level of work in correcting deviations and bringing order, in washing away the muddy and clearing the turbid. Upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground establishes the adaptive mechanism. Only by upholding fundamental principles can one not lose direction; only by breaking new ground can one keep up with the times. The upholding of principles cannot rely on clinging to old methods, but must, on the premise of safeguarding the fundamentals, closely follow the times and conform to practice. It is necessary to uphold the Party's basic theory, basic line, and basic strategy without wavering, follow the laws of building a Marxist ruling party, apply the historical experience of Party building, and continuously put forward new measures and new methods in accordance with the development and changes of the situation and tasks. Comprehensive strictness provides intensity, the problem orientation provides accuracy, and upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground provides adaptability; together the three constitute the complete support at the methodological level for "persevering."
Leading by example from above and governing the Party in accordance with regulations solidify the subject guarantee and institutional norms of Party discipline and governance. The implementation of any principle must ultimately land on the two fulcrums of people and institutions. Upholding leading by example from above addresses demonstration, guidance, and the transmission of responsibility. Whether the intensity of Party discipline and governance will diminish level by level depends crucially on whether leading cadres, especially the "top leaders," can lead level by level and do level by level for others to see, using the "key minority" to demonstrate and drive the "overwhelming majority." The Plenary Session's clear deployment for regulating the "top leaders'" performance of duties and exercise of power is precisely to transform leading by example from above from a requirement of conduct into a constrainable, testable responsibility mechanism. Only when superiors truly govern and are truly strict will subordinates not go through the motions; only when leading cadres take the lead and set an example can the authority of principles truly be established within the organization. Upholding governing the Party in accordance with regulations addresses the form of rules. Governing the Party in accordance with regulations is the long-term policy and fundamental policy of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party; attention must be paid to using institutions to govern power, manage affairs, and manage people, strictly implementing the Party Constitution, Party regulations, and Party discipline, and enhancing work effectiveness with a systematically complete, scientifically standardized, and effectively operating system of intra-Party regulations and institutions. Leading by example from above gives the principles someone to carry them, and governing the Party in accordance with regulations gives the principles rules to rely on; together the two constitute the subject conditions and institutional conditions for the major principles of the "Seven Upholds" to be implemented and put into effect.
Uphold and Make Good Use of the Major Principles of the "Seven Upholds"
The purpose of deeply understanding and grasping the major principles of the "Seven Upholds" lies entirely in application. Only when the major principles of the "Seven Upholds" are transformed into actual actions of Party discipline and governance can they truly exert the power to guide practice and advance work.
Uphold the integrated implementation of the major principles of the "Seven Upholds," and prevent selective execution and fragmented implementation. The major principles of the "Seven Upholds" are an organic whole, and each can fully play its role only with the support of the other principles. The "Seven Upholds" must be "implemented in an integrated manner"; their essence lies in that the effectiveness of the principles does not depend on the strength of a single principle, but on the interconnection and complementarity among the seven principles. Preventing selective execution means preventing the system of principles from being broken apart into a "menu" from which each takes what it needs; preventing fragmented implementation means preventing ruptures of "each minding its own section" in different fields and at different levels. It is necessary to uphold systematic thinking, handle well the relationships between the comprehensive and the key, the current and the long term, and treating the symptoms and treating the root, so that Party discipline and governance covers all content, all objects, the entire chain of responsibility, and all institutions, with requirements in all aspects interconnected and striving in the same direction, truly giving play to the systematic integration effect of the major principles of the "Seven Upholds."
Uphold linking up with systematic deployment, and transform the requirements of the major principles of the "Seven Upholds" into actual results of Party discipline and governance. Principles are not suspended in midair. The Plenary Session's "Decision" makes a systematic deployment for persevering in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, putting forward tasks such as strengthening Party spirit, implementing and carrying out democratic centralism, strictly governing officials, the organizational system, rectifying conduct and enforcing discipline, promoting in an integrated manner the deterrence of not daring to be corrupt, the constraint of not being able to be corrupt, and the disinclination to be corrupt, and governing the Party by institutions — precisely the concrete carriers through which the major principles of the "Seven Upholds" obtain their practical form. Serving the mission and tasks is implemented by strengthening political supervision around the central tasks; the guide of political building is embodied by strictly clarifying political discipline and political rules; comprehensive strictness is tested by the sustained intensity of rectifying conduct, enforcing discipline, and combating corruption; governing the Party in accordance with regulations is guaranteed by the improvement and execution of the system of intra-Party regulations and institutions. Principles and deployment are not an external "corresponding relationship," but an internal relationship of interconnection: principles provide direction and standards for deployment, and deployment provides the foothold and testing yardstick for principles. The key to transforming the requirements of principles into actual results lies in not letting principles remain at the level of document formulations, but making them enter into the planning, execution, and evaluation of every deployment, and transforming the political advantage of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party into actual results that advance the cause of development.
Uphold the implementation of responsibility, and incorporate the upholding and application of the major principles of the "Seven Upholds" into the responsibility system of Party discipline and governance. Whether the major principles of the "Seven Upholds" can be upheld over the long term ultimately depends on whether there is someone responsible and whether there is a mechanism for accountability. The Plenary Session's "Decision" emphasizes that persevering in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is the common political responsibility of the whole Party. It is necessary to grasp firmly the "bull's nose" of the responsibility system of Party discipline and governance, and improve a responsibility system in which each takes their own responsibility (各负其责, ge fu qi ze - "each, bear, their, responsibility") with unified coordination. If responsibility is not implemented and accountability is not in place, the upholding of principles easily degenerates into slogans, and selective execution and fragmented implementation cannot be corrected. Incorporating the application of the major principles of the "Seven Upholds" into the responsibility system means that Party organizations at all levels and leading cadres must not only "know the principles," but also be responsible for the implementation status of the major principles of the "Seven Upholds" in their own region and department. Party committees (Party groups) must earnestly shoulder the primary responsibility, discipline inspection commissions must perform the supervision responsibility, secretaries of Party committees (Party groups) must earnestly perform the responsibility of the first responsible person, and members of the leading bodies must implement "one post, two responsibilities"; through knowing responsibility, bearing responsibility, and performing responsibility, achieve the transmission of pressure level by level and the interlinking of responsibility link by link, earnestly transform the regularities of understanding of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era into actual results of Party discipline and governance, ensure that the Party always becomes the strong leading core of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and provide a fundamental political guarantee for building a strong country and national rejuvenation.
(The author is Executive Vice President (Vice Director) of the Party School of the Tibet Autonomous Region Party Committee (Administrative College))
Return to TopBy: 何虎生 陈柏任
Political questions are at all times fundamental questions, and political building occupies a prominent and important position in the great new project of Party building in the new era. The "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues Concerning Persisting in Advancing Full and Rigorous Self-Governance of the Party" points out that in persisting in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, we must uphold taking the Party's political building as the guiding principle. To accurately grasp the connotations and essential meaning therein, it is necessary first to sort out the traceable theoretical and practical path of General Secretary Xi Jinping, and then to deeply comprehend and fully give play to the political advantage of stressing politics, which our Party has upheld consistently, to continuously strengthen and improve the Party's political building, to answer well the fundamental question of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, and thereby to promote high-quality development of Party building, leading the governance of a great country with the governance of a great party.
The theoretical source of upholding taking the Party's political building as the guiding principle
Upholding taking the Party's political building as the guiding principle is the hallmark concept and original theory of Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, and is the distilled and elevated product of General Secretary Xi Jinping's long-term thinking and work experience. To accurately grasp its generative logic and inherent requirements, one must examine the traceable path of General Secretary Xi Jinping's theoretical creations and practical achievements.
During his work in local posts, Comrade Xi Jinping carried out highly effective (卓有成效, zhuo you cheng xiao - "extraordinary, have, effective, results") exploration of advancing Party building from the political perspective. Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has emphasized the primary position of political building in the overall situation of Party building. The 19th National Congress of the Party defined the general requirements for Party building in the new era, proposing that "the Party's political building is the fundamental building of the Party and determines the direction and effect of Party building," and wrote "taking the Party's political building as the guiding principle" into the newly revised Party Constitution, stipulating the primary position of the Party's political building in the form of the Party's fundamental law. In June 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping further expounded the basic requirements of the Party's political building, pointing out that if a Marxist party loses its political advanced nature, the Party's advanced nature and purity are out of the question (无从谈起, wu cong tan qi - "no, way, talk, start"). In January 2019, the "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Strengthening the Party's Political Building" was issued; this is an important document formulated by the Party Central Committee to improve the various specific tasks of the Party's political building. The 20th National Congress of the Party further pointed out that "we must implement the general requirements for Party building in the new era and improve the system for full and rigorous self-governance of the Party" and "strengthen the Party's political building and strictly enforce political discipline and political rules," ensuring that our Party always remains the strong leading core of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
On June 15, 2026, the National Party Building Work Symposium made work arrangements for studying and implementing Xi Jinping's thought on Party building. "Upholding taking the Party's political building as the guiding principle" is an important component of the Fourteen Commitments (十四个坚持). "Upholding taking the Party's political building as the guiding principle" has a solid practical foundation. Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, General Secretary Xi Jinping has placed the Party's political building in a prominent position, guiding and advancing all aspects of Party building work, and the cause of the Party and the country has achieved historic accomplishments and undergone historic changes, fundamentally resolving certain prominent problems existing in the Party's leadership. "Upholding taking the Party's political building as the guiding principle" upholds and develops the basic tenets of Marxism. Xi Jinping's thought on Party building places the Party's political building in the guiding position, marking the continuous deepening of our Party's understanding of the political attributes of a Marxist party.
Political direction is the first-order question of the Party's survival and development
Every political party has political attributes and has its own political mission, political goals, and political pursuits. Stressing politics is concrete; we must uphold taking the Party's political building as the guide for all Party building work, ensuring that all undertakings of the Party and the country always advance in the correct direction.
Holding fast to the political direction is the foremost meaning of stressing politics. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Political direction is the first-order question of the Party's survival and development, and bears on the Party's future and destiny and the rise and fall, success and failure of its cause." The political direction we must hold fast to is the lofty ideal of communism and the common ideal of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and the Party's basic theory, basic line, and basic strategy. The Party's political building requires Party members and cadres to ensure that on major principled questions their political stance does not shift and their political direction does not deviate. Upholding the Party's political leadership is the fundamental guarantee of stressing politics. The Party's political building determines the direction and effect of Party building, and the Party's political leadership ensures that the Party's political building does not lose shape or form. The whole Party must unite more closely around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, deeply comprehend the decisive significance of the Two Establishments (两个确立), enhance the Four Consciousnesses (四个意识), strengthen the Four Confidences (四个自信), and uphold the Two Upholds (两个维护), and uphold the Party's overall leadership and the centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee. Only through sustained, long-term effort in political building can the political character of integrity and cleanness be tempered and refined.
Stressing politics means winning the hearts of the people and uniting people's hearts, anchoring the value yardstick, and gathering mighty joint forces. Only by upholding taking the Party's political building as the guiding principle and putting stressing politics first can we shape clean and upright popular customs with an excellent Party style, and win the support of the people with firm Party spirit. The people are the greatest source of confidence for our Party in governing, and we must always maintain flesh-and-blood ties with the masses and follow the Party's mass line well in the new era. Only by always thinking together with the people and working together with the people can the Party's governing foundation be as solid as a rock (坚固如磐, jian gu ru pan - "solid, firm, like, rock"), and can the Party's political building be implemented and effective. Cultivating the political ecosystem is the key to stressing politics. The political ecosystem is the comprehensive manifestation of a locality's Party style, government style, popular customs, and social customs, and is an important yardstick for testing whether governing the Party and managing the Party is strong and effective. Creating a good political ecosystem is the foundational and routine work of the Party's political building. We must both correct the direction of the political ecosystem with the correct orientation for selecting and appointing people, and optimize social life with serious intra-Party political life; and we must strengthen the building of intra-Party political culture, using the ideals and convictions, value concepts, moral concepts, and discipline-and-law awareness contained in the Party's innovative theory to cultivate the clean and honest conduct of Party members and cadres.
Stressing politics means closely centering on the central tasks of the Party and the country and comprehensively advancing Chinese modernization. Chinese modernization is the greatest politics, and the Party's political building can both empower it positively and prevent trouble before it arises (防患未然, fang huan wei ran - "prevent, trouble, not, yet"). Guarding against political risks is the security guarantee of stressing politics. We must place defending political security and guarding against political risks in the first position, thereby ensuring that the Party's long-term governing position does not waver and that socialism with Chinese characteristics does not change color. We must overcome political paralysis, prevent non-public risks from expanding into public risks and non-political risks from spreading into political risks, and also nip problems in the bud (防微杜渐, fang wei du jian - "prevent, tiny, block, gradual"), eliminating with extremely strong political acumen and political discernment the sensitive factors and nascent tendencies that easily induce political problems. Improving political capacity is the solid support of stressing politics. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "To improve political capacity, a very important point is to be good at analyzing and solving problems from the political perspective. Only by analyzing problems from the political perspective can one see the essence clearly; only by solving problems from the political perspective can one grasp the fundamentals." From the overall perspective, Chinese modernization is the socialist modernization led by the Communist Party of China; only by firmly grasping its socialist nature and upholding the most essential feature of the leadership of the Communist Party of China can we brave the waves and chop the surges (劈波斩浪, pi bo zhan lang - "split, waves, chop, waves") and make steady and far-reaching progress. From the perspective of specific work, in the face of new problems and new requirements, we must continuously improve political judgment, political comprehension, and political execution, clarify direction amid changing situations, see through the essence amid complex phenomena, summarize laws from experience and achievements, and strengthen the initiative of our cause with political initiative, and seize historical initiative with the initiative of our cause.
Upholding taking the Party's political building as the guiding principle to comprehensively advance all aspects of Party building
Political building is the fundamental building of the Party; only by taking the Party's political building as the guiding principle and answering well the fundamental question of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party can we achieve a clear plan that brings everything into place (纲举目张, gang ju mu zhang - "net, lift; eye, open") and drive the coordinated advancement of all Party building.
Through the Party's political building, answer well the fundamental question of what the Communist Party of China is and what it is to do. Political building provides the fundamental guarantee for our Party to strengthen its foundation or essence (补钙壮骨, bu gai zhuang gu - "supplement, calcium, strengthen, bone") and build up its health, and, on the premise of loyalty to the Party, consolidates faith in truth. Persistently arm the whole Party with Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and consolidate political sobriety and firmness through ideological cohesion and soul-casting. Through political building, guide organizational building, and forge a high-quality cadre contingent capable of shouldering the heavy task of national rejuvenation, one that not only dares to act but also is good at accomplishing things. The effectiveness of political building is directly manifested in the political quality and political capacity of the cadre contingent; the political standard is the primary measure for selecting and evaluating cadres. Strictly guard the political gate of selecting and appointing people, run the political standard and political requirements through the entire process of selecting, cultivating, managing, and using cadres, vigorously select and appoint cadres who are loyal to the Party, consistent between words and deeds (表里如一, biao li ru yi - "surface, inside, like, one"), take responsibility and fulfill duties, have outstanding achievements, and are clean and honest, and ensure that leadership power at all levels is firmly held in the hands of cadres loyal to the Party and loyal to the people.
Through the Party's political building, point out the strategic direction of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. The strategic question is a fundamental question of a political party and a country, and full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is an important component of the Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy (四个全面). We must uphold taking the Party's political building as the guiding principle, strictly observe political standards, enhance political effectiveness, and continuously improve the system for full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. Taking the Party's political building as the guiding principle, carry out discipline building strictly. We must carry out the Party's discipline building by taking strict political discipline and political rules as the lead and the general control, ensure that all Party disciplines are strict and pragmatic, resolutely struggle against words and deeds that harm the Party's leadership, and provide the most fundamental disciplinary guarantee for full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. Taking the Party's political building as the guiding principle, ensure that institutional building is implemented in place. Strengthening the building of intra-Party regulations and institutions is the long-term policy and fundamental policy of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. Governing the Party according to regulations bears on the Party's long-term governing position and the country's long-term stability and security, and plays a political guarantee role in the development of the cause of the Party and the country. We must integrate political standards and political requirements into the system of intra-Party regulations and institutions, ensuring that the Party's political building has rules to follow and regulations to rely on. Ensuring that the whole Party is subordinate to the Central Committee is the primary task of the Party's political building and also the inherent meaning of the Party's institutional building. We must improve the various systems for firmly safeguarding the authority of the Party Central Committee and its centralized, unified leadership, and ensure that the whole Party maintains a high degree of consistency with the Party Central Committee in political stance, political direction, political principle, and political path.
Through the Party's political building, establish and practice a correct view of political achievements. Take political building as the guide for style building, and rectify the pursuit of political achievements in correcting and treating the Four Malfeasances (四风). The style problem is in essence a Party spirit problem; what plays a decisive role in establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements is Party spirit. Take political building as the guide for the anti-corruption struggle, and eradicate the hotbed of corruption in rectifying style and enforcing discipline. A misplaced view of political achievements is closely linked to corrupt behavior; an erroneous view of political achievements often becomes the hotbed for the breeding of corruption, and corrupt behavior further aggravates the distortion of the view of political achievements. This requires, through the Party's political building, deeply digging into the deep-seated problems of weakened ideals and convictions and wavering political stance behind responsibility problems, style problems, and corruption problems. We must persist in investigating and treating style and corruption together, deepen the practice of promoting reform and governance through cases, tighten and solidify the political responsibility of governing the Party and managing the Party, ensure that power operates on the correct track, and encourage Party members and cadres to create achievements that can stand the test of history and the people.
Return to TopBy: 王昌奎
Case
In recent years, the website of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission has continuously exposed typical problems of irregular reception, covering townships, industry departments, and public institutions, with accountability reaching directly to the handling personnel, the leaders in charge, and the "top leaders." In June 2023, the head of a department of a national association conducted a grassroots research visit, accepting accompaniment at the provincial, municipal, and county levels layer by layer; the number of people accompanying meals exceeded the standard seriously on 9 occasions, with the highest single occasion reaching 16 people, and this person in charge received a Party disciplinary warning. The Animal Disease Prevention and Control Center of Wenshan Prefecture, Yunnan, from 2019 to 2022, demanded blank official letters from subordinate units, fabricated reasons for irregular receptions 49 times and receptions exceeding standards 75 times, involving 37,800 yuan, and the former director Zhao Min, deputy director Zhang Shaowei, and the handling personnel all received disciplinary action. Zhang Bing, former president of Yunnan Honghe Vocational and Technical College, long ignored the rigid constraints on official receptions, instructed the office to routinely conduct receptions without official letters, arranged for finance to purchase liquor in bulk for official banquets, with meals routinely furnished with rare ingredients and high-grade liquor, and reception standards far exceeding local regulations; in December 2025 he was expelled from the Party and from public office, and was transferred to judicial authorities on suspicion of embezzlement and bribery, while the two deputy positions in charge of logistics and the office also received corresponding handling. In 2023, the Lizifang Township Government of Zhuanghe City, Liaoning, purchased seafood exceeding standards on multiple occasions, inflated the number of diners to extract funds to offset overspending, and Township Party Secretary Ji Chuanxing, Township Head Cheng Xu, and others received Party disciplinary warnings.
Since the 18th Party Congress, through sustained rectification, the situation of irregular eating and drinking has been fundamentally reversed, but a small number of Party members and cadres remain hard to change long-standing habits (积习难改, ji xi nan gai - "accumulated, habits, difficult, change"), and irregular receptions have taken hidden and mutated forms with ever-new tricks. First, receptions exceeding standards and exceeding scope. This includes meal expenses exceeding standards, provision of high-grade dishes, cigarettes, and liquor; arranging luxury suites for accommodation and giving local specialty products; arbitrarily expanding the scope of reception; and the number of accompanying diners exceeding standards, engaging in accompaniment layer by layer, and so on. Second, new tricks in "eating official letters." This includes receptions without official letters, using one letter for multiple meals, demanding blank official letters for false reporting, and fabricating official activities to write off private gatherings, and so on. Third, taking the opportunity to eat and drink extravagantly. This includes arranging luxury banquets in the name of official business, providing high-grade cigarettes and liquor, and writing off the resulting excess expenditures through falsely listing purchases, splitting bills, and fabricating overtime meals, and so on. Fourth, accepting banquets that may affect the impartial execution of official duties. This is mainly manifested in irregularly accepting banquets from management and service targets and private business owners.
Irregular reception may appear to be a small matter or minor detail, but in reality its harm is enormous. First, it wastes state assets. Using public funds to satisfy the appetite deviates from the fine tradition of hard struggle and diligence and thrift. Second, it damages the image of the Party and the government. Irregular reception is an unhealthy tendency occurring around the masses, seriously lowering the credibility of the Party and the government and damaging Party-mass and cadre-mass relations. Third, it breeds a hotbed of corruption. Behind irregular reception often lurk deep-seated problems such as power-for-money transactions and the transfer of benefits; it is the "fuse" and "catalyst" of corruption. Fourth, it destroys the political ecosystem. Some use drinking gatherings to form cliques and factions, encouraging extravagance, seriously eroding the cadre ranks, and affecting the atmosphere of a locality.
Irregular reception is prohibited yet not eradicated; apart from objective factors such as the stubborn and recurring nature of this type of problem itself, the reasons behind it are also the result of multiple overlapping factors including ideological understanding, institutional implementation, and supervision and management. First, deviations in ideological understanding. These mainly include erroneous understandings such as the "theory that small details are harmless," the "theory that reception is about face," and the "theory of industry specialness," reflecting that some Party members and cadres have weak discipline awareness, harbor a sense of luck [translator's note:the source text here contains a typographical error; the intended term is "to rely on luck", meaning "leave things to chance"], and have not truly recognized that the essence of irregular reception is squandering and wasting public funds and deviating from the Party's fine traditions.Second, lax institutional implementation. Approval and financial review are mere formalities, with obvious loopholes in official letter control and ledger retention, and personal connections overriding institutions. Third, weak supervision and accountability. Some Party organizations fail to effectively fulfill their primary responsibility, emphasizing post-hoc investigation and punishment while neglecting prior prevention; in some units the "top leader," the first responsible person, fails to effectively implement their responsibility, and not only fails to manage internal work style but takes the lead in irregular receptions and accepting banquets; a small number of discipline inspection and supervision organs are soft in accountability and dare not take firm and decisive action, and fail to effectively implement "investigating both the case and the responsibility" to simultaneously pursue leadership responsibility, thus failing to form an effective deterrent.
Irregular reception touches multiple red lines of discipline and law, and relevant Party regulations, administrative regulations, and national laws all make clear provisions. Article 116 of the Regulations on Disciplinary Action of the Communist Party of China stipulates: "Those who violate reception management regulations, receive beyond standards or beyond scope, or take the opportunity to eat and drink extravagantly, and where the circumstances are relatively serious, shall be given a warning or serious warning; where the circumstances are serious, shall be given the sanction of removal from Party posts." Article 101 clearly stipulates that accepting or providing banquets or arrangements for tourism, fitness, entertainment, and other activities that may affect the impartial execution of official duties, where the circumstances are relatively serious, shall result in a warning or serious warning; where the circumstances are serious, shall result in the sanction of removal from Party posts or probation within the Party. The 2013 Provisions on the Administration of Domestic Official Receptions by Party and Government Organs, jointly issued by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, clearly stipulates reception standards in Article 10, strictly prohibiting accompaniment by multiple people at each level (where the number of reception targets is within 10, the number of accompanying diners shall not exceed 3; where the number of reception targets exceeds 10, the number of accompanying diners shall not exceed one-third of the number of reception targets); working meals are limited to home-style dishes, and high-grade dishes, cigarettes, and liquor must not be provided; giving local specialty products is prohibited, and luxury accommodation must not be arranged; the official-letter reception list system must be strictly implemented, and receptions without official letters shall not be provided under any circumstances; listing private consumption in reception expenses and transferring or concealing reception expenditures are prohibited; and so on. The 2025 revised Regulations on Practicing Economy and Opposing Waste in Party and Government Organs also sets strict provisions on official receptions, requiring Party and government organs at all levels to practice economy and oppose waste. In addition, the Law of the People's Republic of China on Administrative Sanctions for Public Officials, the Provisions on Sanctions for Staff of Public Institutions, the Regulations on Sanctions for Managers of State-Owned Enterprises, the Provisions on the Honest Practice of Leading Personnel of State-Owned Enterprises, and other national laws and regulations also make similar provisions on such conduct. Extracting public funds through blank official letters and falsely listed receipts, where the amount reaches the statutory standard, may also violate the Criminal Law and constitute suspected duty-related crimes such as embezzlement.
Eliminating the conditions and soil that breed corruption must start with the issue of eating and drinking. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection required special rectification of irregular reception and resolutely preventing the "theory of specialness" in official receptions. To fundamentally cure this type of stubborn chronic disease, it is necessary to address both symptoms and root causes and to make coordinated efforts from five dimensions: ideology, institutions, supervision, accountability, and self-cultivation. First, deepen ideological education. Carry out warning education on a regular basis, guide Party members and cadres to study deeply and comprehend thoroughly the spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulation, discard erroneous understandings, and enable them to know awe, fear, and keep the bottom line. Second, tighten the cage of institutions. Strictly implement "no reception without official letter, no reimbursement beyond standards," and refine approval and reimbursement procedures; establish mechanisms for unified numbering, two-way retention, and annual verification of official letters, and strictly prohibit blank official letters; promote total-amount control of funds and review of large expenditures; and make reception information public and subject to supervision. Third, integrate supervisory forces. Integrate the forces of intra-Party supervision, financial auditing, and mass supervision to weave a dense supervision network. Focus on key areas such as the grassroots, state-owned enterprises, and investment promotion, keep a close eye on the "key minority" and key nodes such as research assessments and holidays, and strictly investigate prominent problems such as accompaniment layer by layer, "eating official letters," "eating at canteens," "eating the boss," "eating subordinates," and "eating public funds"; use big-data comparison to screen abnormal receipts and improve the precision of problem discovery; and improve the mechanism of investigating work style and corruption together, dig deep into the benefit exchanges and power-for-money transactions behind dinner gatherings, and cut the chain of transformation between work style and corruption. Fourth, seriously pursue accountability. Investigate and handle according to discipline and law acts such as receptions without official letters, extracting public funds for eating and drinking, and accepting banquets from management and service targets. Strictly implement "investigating both the case and the responsibility," not only clarifying "why they ate," "with whom they ate," "where they ate," and "whose treat it was," and pursuing the responsibility of directly responsible persons, but also pursuing the primary responsibility of leading cadres. Fifth, strengthen discipline awareness. Party members and cadres must always keep the string of work style taut, internalize discipline and rules in their hearts and externalize them in their actions, and neither arrange banquets in violation of regulations nor accept receptions beyond standards or scope.
Return to TopBy: 王海鹏
The "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues Concerning Persevering in Promoting Full and Rigorous Self-Governance of the Party" points out that Party members and cadres should be prompted to strengthen their analysis of Party spirit, and to frequently examine and reflect on themselves against the Party Constitution, Party rules and Party discipline, and the oath of admission to the Party. Strengthening Party spirit is the fundamental task of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. The oath of admission to the Party carries the nature, purpose, and goals of struggle of the Communist Party of China; it is an important standard for Party members to temper strong Party spirit, and is all the more the fundamental basis for testing Party members' political loyalty. The currently effective version of the oath of admission to the Party was written into the Party Constitution in 1982; although it has only 12 sentences and 80 characters, every sentence is an important standard by which Communist Party members measure their Party spirit, vividly interpreting the high political consciousness of Communists. For Party members, the oath of admission to the Party is not a one-time swearing at the Party admission ceremony, but a political norm that must be strictly observed for life; the broad ranks of Party members and cadres must integrate the practice of the oath into the entire process of performing their duties and fulfilling their responsibilities, translate loyalty to the Party into concrete actions of implementing the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee, embody it in the practical results of doing practical things and solving difficult problems for the people, and continuously elevate their political consciousness through the tempering of persevering with constancy in strictly observing the oath.
In the course of more than a hundred years of struggle, our Party has always attached importance to giving play to the educational, restraining, and inspiring role of the oath of admission to the Party, and has treated swearing the oath as an important institutional arrangement for strengthening Party spirit and reinforcing Party members' political consciousness. At the very beginning of Party building, our Party put forward the concept that new Party members should take an oath when joining the Party, relying on the normative role of the oath to strictly guard the "entrance gate" of Party member development and to safeguard the "quality gate" of the Party member ranks. During the Agrarian Revolutionary War period, the oath of admission to the Party was applied in the cruel practice of revolutionary struggle, inspiring the broad ranks of Party members to firm up their ideals and convictions, brave all hardships and sacrifices (不畏牺牲, bu wei xi sheng - "not fear, sacrifice"), and press bravely forward. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in order to promote Party members' achievement of Bolshevikization politically, ideologically, and organizationally, the Central Organization Department unified and standardized the oath of admission to the Party, strengthening the ideological tempering and organizational forging of the whole Party. In the early period of reform and opening up, Deng Xiaoping fully affirmed the major significance of writing the oath of admission to the Party into the Party Constitution, pointing out that swearing the oath of admission to the Party is a very solemn matter that can make a person never forget it for life. Upon entering the new era, General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out that every Communist Party member, especially leading cadres, must firmly establish awareness of the Party Constitution; no matter what position they hold or what work they engage in, they must first understand that they are a Communist Party member who has sworn an oath under the Party flag, and must use the oath of admission to the Party to restrain themselves. Party members and cadres must all the more benchmark themselves against the realm and standards established by the oath, cultivate themselves strictly, exercise power prudently, and discipline themselves strictly, plan matters pragmatically, work diligently in starting undertakings, and conduct themselves uprightly, so as to achieve being clean and honest in establishing themselves and fulfilling their duties and responsibilities in performing their duties and exercising power.
"Loyalty to the Party and never betraying the Party are written in the oath of admission to the Party, and are the most fundamental requirement for Party members." The oath of admission to the Party, as the words of oath taken by Party members upon joining the Party, is the political commitment made by Party members to the Party, fully expressing the political aspirations and motives for joining the Party of those who apply to join. The broad ranks of Party members and cadres must never forget the oath of loyalty to the Party and never betraying the Party that they made when joining the Party, and must always be loyal to the Party and loyal to the Party's cause. Only by holding the oath of admission to the Party in awe and practicing it personally can one correct the faults of one's conduct and strictly maintain political integrity. Only by constantly examining oneself against the oath of admission to the Party can one stay true to the Party's original aspiration and founding mission, enhance the Four Consciousnesses (四个意识), strengthen the Four Confidences (四个自信), and uphold the Two Upholds (两个维护), and interpret loyalty to the Party through concrete actions of sharing the Party's worries, fulfilling responsibilities for the country, and making dedication to the people.
The oath of admission to the Party interprets the ideals, convictions, and value pursuits of the Communist Party of China, and carries the red genes. The solemn and serious collective oath-taking ceremony can continuously strengthen Party members' sense of identity, enhance Party members' sense of organizational belonging, and promote the internalization in the heart of Party spirit principles, discipline and rules, and post responsibilities. Revisiting the oath of admission to the Party and reviewing the application for Party membership must be incorporated into intra-Party political life, and it is imperative to resolutely prevent revisiting the oath from becoming a mere formality and stopping at the process, truly letting the oath touch the mind and temper the soul, and cultivating a positive and healthy intra-Party political culture. Resolutely resist the erosion of decadent ideas such as circle culture, wharf culture, and feudal bureaucratic culture, and resolutely oppose erroneous tendencies that violate Party spirit principles such as individualism, decentralism, liberalism, departmentalism, good-personism, and sectarianism, and continuously temper Party members and cadres' political resolve, disciplinary resolve, moral resolve, and resolve against corruption.
Forging ahead on the new journey, use the oath of admission to the Party to mirror the original aspiration and founding mission and to firmly build political faith. Guide the broad ranks of Party members to correctly handle the relationships between public and private, hardship and joy, gain and loss, and the "greater self" and the "lesser self," to clearly distinguish the boundary between public and private, to straighten out the position of interests, to persevere with constancy in tempering strong Party spirit, and to safeguard the spiritual high ground of Communists. The broad ranks of Party members and cadres must transform their faith in communism and their conviction in socialism with Chinese characteristics into a powerful driving force for undertaking work and starting businesses, practice the original aspiration and founding mission in the great practice of building a strong country and national rejuvenation, and forever preserve the political character of Communists.
Return to TopNovember 8, 2026 will mark the eleventh anniversary of the founding of Sichuan China Tobacco Industrial Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the Company). Eleven years of braving wind and rain, eleven years of forging ahead with determination—as a young industrial enterprise in the industry, the Company calibrates its direction in retrospect and opens new prospects in its advance. With full and rigorous Party self-governance and the forging of the soul and strengthening of the foundation as its political confidence; with cultural self-awareness and the cohesion of hearts as its deep-seated driving force; with planning guidance and the drawing of blueprints as its strategic foresight; with the transformation of digital intelligence and the solidifying of foundations as its key variable; and with strengthening the enterprise through talent and enriching the fertile soil as its enduring vitality. Standing at a new starting point, the Company has embarked on a new journey of "second entrepreneurship," in which these five dimensions are interconnected and mutually supporting.
Full and Rigorous Party Self-Governance Forges the Soul and Strengthens the Foundation
The Company persists in transforming the Party's political advantages and organizational advantages into development advantages, governance advantages, and competitive advantages, safeguarding the enterprise's high-quality development with a clean and upright political ecosystem.
Consciousness in action stems from maturity in thought; maturity in thought stems from firmness in politics; firmness in politics stems from clarity in theory. The Company strictly implements the "first agenda" system, relying on carriers such as theoretical study center group sessions, "three meetings and one lesson," themed Party days, and specialized training to carry out normalized theoretical study, thematic discussions, and publicity interpretation, persisting in reading the original works, studying the original texts, and comprehending the original principles, and promoting theoretical study into the workshops, into the teams, and into the mind.It has formulated the "five studies, five lectures, five integrations" work measures, with the leadership team taking the lead in discussions and exchanges and thematic lectures, guiding all Party members and cadres to deeply comprehend the decisive significance of the Two Establishments (两个确立) and resolutely achieve the Two Upholds (两个维护). It persists in combining study with application, transforming the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee into the enterprise's task books and construction blueprints; persists in applying what is learned, unifying ideological and cognitive issues with practical work issues; and persists in the unity of knowledge and action, refining the strategic map into operable practical arrangements—thus theoretical study has changed from "learning in the study" into "practice in the workshop."
Only when responsibilities are pressed down firmly can implementation be powerful; only when the chain is tightly connected can a closed loop take shape. The Company integrates the primary responsibility and the supervision responsibility as one, implements the responsibility of the first responsible person and "one post, two responsibilities" as one, and compresses the departmental supervision responsibility and the specific responsibility of Party members and cadres as one, forming a complete closed-loop chain; it builds a four-dimensional linked work pattern of "the Party group sets an example, the Party committee strengthens demonstration, the branch committee walks in front, and the masses ask about actual results," connecting the five major systems of organization, education, supervision, system, and responsibility to the production chain, supply chain, project chain, and data chain, so that strict requirements are implemented at the machine teams and teams and at specific responsible persons. It persists in the clear orientation of grasping the grassroots level firmly, deeply advancing the standardized and normalized construction of grassroots Party branches, building a smart Party building informatization platform, carrying out "a hundred secretaries solve a hundred problems," making good use of the "two posts, one zone, two teams" carriers, and letting Party members' identities shine forth, their images stand up, and their roles show forth. Multiple grassroots Party branches have been commended by the Party committees and governments of the localities where the factories are located, and were rated as provincial-level "State-owned Enterprise Demonstration Party Member Assault Teams."
Putting power into the cage of institutions is an important task of full and rigorous Party self-governance in the new era. The Company persists in governing power by institutions and using power according to regulations, strictly implementing the system of requesting instructions and reporting on major matters and the "three majors and one large" decision-making supervision system, building an internal supervision institutional system in accordance with the requirement of "dense but not cumbersome, effective and useful," establishing and improving systems and mechanisms such as cadre supervision and management, having formulated and revised 126 standardized systems over the past two years, and continuously carrying out evaluations of the effectiveness of system implementation to ensure the vitality of the systems. With political supervision as the command, it advances the concretization, precision, and normalization of political supervision, keeps a close eye on the key tasks of high-quality development and modernization, establishes the mechanism of "list-based supervision, project-based advancement, and closed-loop management," forms a closed-loop control of "deployment—implementation—supervision—rectification—review," and resolutely rectifies problems such as making choices, playing tricks, and discounting, eliminating the phenomenon of "midstream obstruction."
Only with powerful supervision can one go steadily and far; only with coordinated supervision can efficiency be amplified. The Company does a good job in rectifying problems fed back by inspections and in applying the results, improves and deepens the coordinated supervision mechanisms of "inspection-audit linkage" and "inspection + N," advances the full coverage of regular inspections in an orderly manner, focuses on key sectors such as logistics and transportation and material procurement to carry out special inspections, compresses the responsibility for rectification and governance, and systematically promotes the thorough clearing of problems. It builds a whole-process "penetrating" supervision pattern of prevention in advance, control during the process, and traceability afterward, and with digital and intelligent technology as support builds a fund early-warning indicator system, a full-level fund supervision mechanism, and a procurement transaction supervision platform, using artificial intelligence data extraction, comparison, and analysis technology to promote the early discovery, early warning, and early disposal of risk signs. It deepens "internal-local" collaboration and cooperation, carries out special governance of non-duty-related illegal and criminal acts, and promotes integrated governance through full-chain collaboration.
The view of political achievements is connected to the view of development, and the view of development embodies the view of political achievements; the two are interrelated and mutually promoting. The Company transforms the results of full and rigorous Party self-governance into development achievements that can withstand testing: deeply cultivating cost reduction and efficiency increase across the entire industrial chain, with various controllable expenses reduced by 20 million yuan in the first half of this year; grasping quality control firmly, with the comprehensive quality scores of a series of products steadily ranking in the industry's first echelon, and multiple products receiving industry-wide commendation; concentrating efforts on scientific and technological innovation breakthroughs, with the technical research system continuing to exert force and the industry's first multiple unique technologies; and building a strong talent team, with the four growth channels fully opened up, 74 high-skilled talents and 12 senior professional and technical positions appointed in 2026, and 25 people rated as industry senior professional titles, breaking through a historical high.
Cultural Self-Awareness Coheres Hearts and Gathers Strength
Many years ago, starting from the historical culture fermented in Sichuan's "Kuanzhai Alleys," the Company jointly established the Kuanzhai Philosophy Research Institute with the Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences and proposed the philosophical concept of "Kuanzhai" (broad and narrow). The two parties invited talents in the fields of philosophy and social sciences to "take the lead by open competition," deeply excavated the cultural heritage of Bashu, and opened the curtain on Kuanzhai philosophical research and cultural dissemination.
The Company has distilled the corporate cultural concept of "upright and open-minded, wise and refined," integrating Kuanzhai philosophy into the entire process of enterprise production and operation management—creating the "wild goose formation Kuanzhai" Party building culture, activating the "red engine" of the enterprise's high-quality development; consolidating quality assurance with standards of utmost refinement; carrying out market breakthroughs with the boldness of all-staff marketing, with the production and sales of a series of products running out "acceleration"; and cultivating outstanding talents who "have specialized skills in their fields," forming a talent team that dares to fight tough battles, is good at fighting big battles, and can win battles.
Since 2020, the Company has continuously appeared on the list of Sichuan's Top 100 Enterprises and Sichuan's Top 100 Manufacturing Enterprises. Some researchers believe that the Company's application of traditional Chinese philosophy and traditional culture to modern enterprise operation and management is an innovative exploration of Chinese corporate culture construction, which is also an important reason why it was rated as one of the "Top Ten Cultural Brands of Sichuan State-owned Enterprises."
For many years, the Company has persisted in cultivating people through culture and prospering the enterprise through culture; from philosophical concepts to brand culture, from enterprise spirit to brand image, the power of culture has penetrated every link of production and operation, becoming a spiritual bond that coheres hearts and an endogenous driving force that promotes development. It continuously advances the quality improvement project, realizing the historic transformation from producing "qualified products" to producing "high-quality products"; the craftsman spirit has taken root in the workshops and teams, with National Model Workers, "Sichuan Craftsmen," and industry skill masters emerging in succession, building fine products with craftsmanship and establishing brands with fine products.
In recent years, starting again from Kuanzhai Alleys, corporate cultural construction has extended to deeper places: with "the open-minded are at ease" as the spiritual core, it has completed the leap from "philosophy of dealing with the world" to "realm of life"; drawing nourishment from China's excellent traditional culture, it empowers product research and development with the Dongpo spirit, and writes a vivid footnote for dialectics with the spiritual undertone of "seeing breadth in narrowness."
Culture carries the Way, and culture cultivates people; culture prospers the enterprise, and culture coheres strength. The Company has been honored five consecutive times with the "National Civilized Unit" honor, won the title of "2025 Advanced Unit in Propaganda, Ideological and Cultural Work of the Sichuan State-owned Assets and State-owned Enterprises System," and was rated excellent in the annual assessment of industry directly affiliated units. Cultural self-awareness is transforming into a deep and enduring force that promotes high-quality development; the Company from top to bottom has condensed a high-spirited and upward spirit and gathered a mighty force of unity and endeavor.
Planning Guidance Draws the Blueprint
Those who do not plan for ten thousand generations cannot plan for one time; those who do not plan for the whole cannot plan for a part (不谋全局者，不足谋一域, bu mou ju bu zhe, bu zu mou yi yu - "not, plan, whole, person; not, enough, plan, one, region"). During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, under the leadership of the Party Group of the National Bureau and the Sichuan Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government, the Company always persisted in taking development as the first priority, carefully cultivating its own brands, deeply advancing high-efficiency governance, and continuously building a high-quality workforce; the Company from top to bottom cohered hearts and united in endeavor, and in hard work and practical action reaped the "nine news" development achievements in Party building, company development, innovation strength, manufacturing level, industrial chain development, international expansion, green transformation, corporate governance, and talent teams, and the Company is transitioning from high-speed development to a new stage of high-quality development.
Brand is the fundamental basis for establishing oneself (立身之本, li shen zhi ben - "establish, body, particle, of, root") for an enterprise; the market is the foundation for an enterprise to establish its business; and structure is the essential key for an enterprise to establish its destiny. The Company resolutely implements the industry development policy, actively integrates into the "big brands, big markets, big enterprises" strategy, and persists in taking the market as the greatest, the brand as the guiding principle, and structure as the first priority. At the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan, the Company's annual total tax and profit reached 33.134 billion yuan, with an average annual growth rate of 7.08%; it achieved an industrial output value of 41.582 billion yuan and an industrial added value of 35.705 billion yuan. The characteristic category has basically formed unique category style characteristics, and both market share and product structure have achieved substantial leaps.
Innovation is the first driving force leading development. Grasping innovation is grasping development; planning innovation is planning the future. The Company always persists in innovation-driven development, continuously building a high-quality product system, a high-level technology system, and a high-efficiency innovation system. Over the five years, multiple new products have been approved by the National Bureau, and multiple representative products have become benchmarks leading domestic mid-to-high-end characteristic categories. The key technology innovation system has initially taken shape, and the style characteristic evaluation methods and key technologies of fermentation, maintenance, and materials have overall reached the international leading level. Four new industry and provincial-level innovation platforms have been built, and a product technology research system has been created.
Manufacturing is the foundation of strength, quality is the life of the brand, and the benchmark is the ladder of ascent. The production and manufacturing process quality levels of all the Company's factories have reached the industry's first-class level; one factory took the lead in passing the fourth-level assessment of intelligent manufacturing capability maturity and was selected into the industry's first batch of advanced-level smart factories; it continuously advances the upgraded version of quality improvement and the "high-quality fine products project"—in industry spot checks, multiple products rank in the forefront of comprehensive quality scores, with 7 products ranking first in the same price category or same specification, and the comprehensive quality scores of core series entering the industry's first echelon. It improves the quality assurance system for characteristic categories, continuously consolidating the brand's leading advantage with excellent product quality.
Strength is seen on the chain, responsibility is shown on the chain, and the future is contained on the chain. The Company has newly built 11 national-level base units, completed the layout and construction of characteristic raw material bases in 17 prefecture-level cities and prefectures across 7 provinces, and the product adaptability rate of core main production areas has reached 71%. The centralized control capability of logistics operations has significantly improved, with the intactness rate and accuracy rate of finished product transportation upon arrival maintained at 100%, and the timeliness rate maintained above 99%. The investment supporting company has undertaken the independent supply of multiple supporting materials, and its comprehensive ranking in the industry's diversified operation and management evaluation ranks third.
Carbon reduction is a mandatory question, not a multiple-choice question; green is the undertone, not an embellishment. The Company has formulated the "Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality Action Plan," clarifying the "three-step" strategy for green and low-carbon transformation; at the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan, energy consumption per 10,000 yuan of industrial added value dropped to 8.03 kilograms of standard coal, a decrease of 17.89%, and carbon dioxide emissions per 10,000 yuan of industrial added value dropped to 6.39 kilograms, a decrease of 23.47%. It released the "Guidelines for Green Factory Evaluation," and the clean performance evaluations of four factories all reached the industry's highest level "AAAA," and it has won the title of "Environmental Protection Integrity Enterprise" for many consecutive years.
Reviewing the extraordinary development course of many years, the Company has summarized the valuable experience of the "five persistences": persist in Party building leadership to steady the development direction; persist in innovation-driven development to deeply excavate the source of development; persist in brand-driven development to solidify the development foundation; persist in industrial layout to build a strong development chain; and persist in forging the workforce to enrich the development guarantee. These "five persistences" are words that carry immense weight and importance (字字千钧, zi zi qian jun - "word, word, thousand, weight unit")—they are both a profound summary of the past course of struggle and an action guide for continuing to struggle toward the future; they both answer "where we came from" and point out "where we are going"; they are both a heavy report card and an inspiring task book.
The Transformation of Digital Intelligence Solidifies the Foundation
Those who observe trends are wise (察势者智, cha shi zhe zhi - "observe, trend, person, wise"); those who master trends win. At present, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is developing in depth, and realizing the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy is an important driving force for our country's high-quality economic development. The outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan clearly proposes to build a modern industrial system. The Company closely focuses on the three major strategic tasks of "strengthening high-end leadership and promoting structural upgrading; telling the industry story well and building a Chinese-style benchmark; and striving to advance and compete for the lead and enhancing the level of competitiveness," and regards digital intelligence as the key variable for building core competitiveness.
In terms of strategic positioning, the Company focuses on the three major strategic tasks and exerts precise efforts, using digital intelligence to drive research and development innovation, process upgrading, product quality improvement, and manufacturing efficiency improvement, helping to shape high-end brand value and promoting product structure and brand influence to climb to a higher position in the value chain. In terms of top-level design, guided by the industry's network and information work deployment, it builds the 15th Five-Year Plan network and information blueprint, establishes two major foundations, builds three major collaborative application platforms, supports with four major support systems, and provides special sub-plans for the two key tasks of intelligent manufacturing and network security, forming a top-down overall planning system. In terms of advancement mechanisms, it strengthens the Company-wide "a unified, coordinated plan or effort" (一盘棋, yi pan qi - "one, board, chess") coordination, persists in unified planning, classified policies, gradient advancement, and overall leap, both encouraging subordinate units to carry out characteristic exploration based on resource endowments and resolutely avoiding scattered construction and repeated investment, ensuring that the digital intelligence transformation always anchors to serving the core strategic goals.
Intelligent manufacturing is the main direction of new industrialization. The Company persists in "benchmark leadership, echelon advancement, and overall leap," using smart factory construction as the carrier to promote the high-end, intelligent, and green development of manufacturing. The Shifang Factory deeply cultivates full-scenario intelligence, landing more than 50 intelligent scenarios and 9 characteristic pioneering applications, building the industry's first fourth-level smart factory and the first batch of advanced-level smart factories, being selected into the first batch of 5G factory lists of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, with energy consumption indicators reaching the national first-class standard; the Chengdu Factory deepens integrated applications, builds a digital intelligence dedicated line, is rated as an industry advanced-level smart factory and passes third-level certification, and through benchmarking and advancing to a higher maturity level realizes the continuous upgrading of core intelligent manufacturing capabilities. When benchmarks are set up, experience is passed down, and the cluster effect is thus formed.
Data is a new factor of production, and artificial intelligence is a new tool of production. The Company opens up the entire chain of data collection, governance, and application, driven by the two wheels of AI and data, reshaping the entire process of production and operation. Relying on the industry's smart factory and industrial internet system pilots, it carries out systematic data governance, completes the collection of more than 100,000 data points, establishes hundreds of data models and rules, and realizes a single source of data and unified calibers; it builds a new digital infrastructure architecture, collects more than 180 billion data assets, and precipitates nearly 100 reusable digital assets. Focusing on production pain points, it carries out integrated scenario innovation: the intelligent scheduling model realizes second-level scheduling, with efficiency increased 5 times; the key process control model increases batch CPK by 80%, reduces standard deviation by 40%, and compresses non-steady-state time by 50%; related applications promote quality control from post-event rectification to pre-event prevention, and were selected as a typical case of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's "Digital Three Products."
Digital intelligence transformation is a systematic project that requires multi-dimensional support from technology, management, talent, and security. The Company implements the "five teams" talent cultivation plan, builds two-level data innovation studios and industry-university-research-application platforms, forms a professional echelon of more than 100 people, regularly holds lecture halls, and continuously improves the digital literacy of all staff; it promotes the transformation of the control model from "combining unification and division" to "coordinated planning and collaborative advancement," establishes a project full-life-cycle management mechanism, forms a closed loop of "planning, implementation, evaluation, and optimization," compiles more than 30 field standards and specifications, builds two core platforms, and realizes the full-process digitization of core businesses such as planning, projects, funds, talent, archives, and operation and maintenance; it builds a network security protection system of "one line of management, one map of technology, one center of operations," regularly carries out publicity and training on network security knowledge and skills, strives to ensure "business is not interrupted and data is not lost," and provides a solid guarantee for steady and far-reaching progress.
Strengthening the Enterprise Through Talent Enriches the Fertile Soil
Talent is the first resource, innovation is the first driving force, and innovation-driven development is in essence talent-driven. The Company firmly establishes the concept that talent resources are the first resource, deeply implements the "strengthening the enterprise through talent" strategy, takes the construction of the "four channels" for employee growth as the grasp, and continuously does a good job in the full-chain article of "attracting, cultivating, using, and retaining," ensuring that all kinds of talent can be attracted in, cultivated out, used well, and retained, injecting living water of talent into the enterprise's high-quality development.
The Company aims at the "first move" of "attracting talent," abandons the traditional "casting a wide net" model, and around the "three major strategic tasks" systematically sorts out the professional distribution and structural shortcomings of the existing talent team, precisely draws an "industrial talent map" subdivided down to enterprise positions, scientifically analyzes employment needs, and coordinates annual recruitment plans.
Cultivating talent is the core of talent work. The Company, keeping in view the growth laws of different types of talent, scientifically builds a gradient training system of "section-level cadres + young cadres + technical talent": for section-level cadres it focuses on professional training; for young cadres it persists in "learn whatever you do, supplement whatever you lack"; for young employees it establishes a special training system; for technical talent it establishes a normalized skill improvement mechanism, relying on the technological innovation center and through large-scale academic activities such as academician and expert lecture halls and academic forums to promote knowledge sharing and scientific research innovation. It innovatively launches training methods such as "mentor-led training + combining competition and training + integrating production and training," promoting the transformation of training methods from "one-way indoctrination" to "practical combat training."
Using talent is the key to talent work. The Company persists in taking use as the foundation and using talent scientifically, building the four channels of "management, technology, skills, and outstanding employees" for employee growth, letting those who want to do things see hope, letting those who can do things have a stage, and letting those who accomplish things receive respect. With the points-based appointment as the core grasp, it transforms talent evaluation from vague qualitative assessment to precise quantitative assessment, forming a dynamic competitive pattern of "able to go up and able to go down," so that "going up" has standards and "going down" has basis, truly realizing that positions depend on competition and promotion depends on contribution.
Retaining talent is the guarantee of talent work. The Company takes institutional construction as the core support for "retaining talent," formulates the "Guiding Opinions on Employee Growth and Career Development," builds a compensation system that matches the "four channels" of employee growth, and persists in tilting income distribution toward key positions, the production frontline, and high-level high-skilled talent. In practice, the Shifang Factory links technical titles and skill levels with position income, basically achieving the goal of more pay for more work and more pay for higher skills; the Mianyang Factory explores and establishes a mechanism of naming technical achievements, operating methods, and management methods after employees, so that the innovative contributions of talent receive full recognition and respect. It persists in taking humanistic care and cultural guidance as important grasps for "retaining talent," actively builds a "family culture" system, strives to create a home for workers, sets up "Mom and Baby Rooms" and "Employee Fitness Rooms," and implements care and love activities such as "sending warmth in winter," "zero-point action," and "sending coolness in summer," continuously creating a good atmosphere of "settled in work, settled in body, and settled in heart" for talent.
Looking back on the road traveled, the five dimensions together have painted the magnificent picture of the Company's high-quality development and together have composed the striving chapter of "second entrepreneurship." Standing at the time scale of November 8, which is worth remembering, the Company will closely follow the industry development requirements, and with firmer determination and more pragmatic measures, continuously deepen various reforms and contribute more strength to building a modern industrial system.
(Party Building Department of Sichuan China Tobacco Industrial Co., Ltd.)
Return to TopBy: 文洋
On September 13, 2026, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the 18th BRICS Leaders' Meeting that a world without rules is like an intersection without traffic lights, where chaos and disorder are inevitable. Fairness and justice are what the hearts of the people aspire to, and international rules should be written jointly by all countries.
An intersection is a node where roads converge, a passageway for coming and going. Traffic lights are signal lights that direct the flow of traffic, the carriers of rules that sustain the orderly operation of an intersection. General Secretary Xi Jinping used "an intersection without traffic lights" as a metaphor for "a world without rules," vividly and graphically pointing out that international rules are the foundation for maintaining international order, and stressing that international rules should be written jointly by all countries, and that the logic of "might makes right" does not work and should long ago have been abandoned.
In today's world, the general trend of economic globalization has not changed; the interests of all countries are intertwined and their destinies are linked, and the international community is just like an intersection. Countries of different civilizations, different stages of development, and different systems converge here; goods, capital, technology, and people flow across borders; and various global challenges transmit across domains. All countries of the world must converge and interact at the "intersection," and international rules are the "traffic lights" that sustain its normal operation. However, these "traffic lights" are being damaged: a small number of countries place their unilateral will above international law, switching on the light when it suits them and "running the red light" when it does not, and even attempting to tear down the "traffic lights." The authority of the existing international mechanisms is being eroded, the purposes and principles of the UN Charter have not been effectively observed, Security Council resolutions are being resisted, and acts such as unilateral sanctions violate international law and disrupt international order. Certain major powers have paralyzed the dispute settlement mechanism of the World Trade Organization, violated the most-favored-nation principle, and abused the security exception clause, and are eroding the foundations of the rules-based multilateral trading system. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out profoundly: "The various confrontations and injustices in today's world are not because the purposes and principles of the UN Charter are outdated, but precisely because these purposes and principles have not been effectively fulfilled."
International rules should uphold fairness and justice; this is where the credibility of the "traffic lights" lies. The so-called fairness and justice means, at its core, abiding by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, jointly defending the international rule of law, and upholding basic norms of international relations such as sovereign equality, non-interference in internal affairs, and peaceful settlement of disputes. Just as the traffic lights at an intersection treat everyone equally (一视同仁, yi shi tong ren - "one, look, same, treat"), the fairness of international rules is reflected in the fact that all countries, regardless of size, strength, or wealth, are equal members of the international community and all enjoy the right to participate equally in international affairs; the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries should be respected, no country's internal affairs may be interfered in, and all international disputes should be resolved through peaceful means of dialogue and consultation.
International rules should be applied equally; the "traffic lights" must be binding. So-called equal application means ensuring that international law and international rules are applied uniformly, without double standards. The "traffic lights" cannot be arbitrarily manipulated by a small number of people, cannot be used when convenient and discarded when not, and still less can the signals be switched at will according to one's own interests. Likewise, international rules are not the "house rules" of a small number of countries; it cannot be that whoever has the bigger fist is obeyed, that there is one set of rules for oneself and another for others, and still less can one's own will be imposed on others. Only when rules are applied equally to all participants, impartial and treating everyone equally, can they truly play their important role of settling disputes and maintaining order.
The traffic lights at an intersection cannot be privately set by a few passersby; they must be based on public traffic norms and reflect the common interests of all passersby. Likewise, the effectiveness of international rules stems from the equal participation and common will of all countries. The prominent shortcoming at present is that the existing international mechanisms are seriously deficient in the representation of the Global South: emerging market countries and developing countries have risen as a group, but their rule-making power and discourse power have far from kept pace with this change, and it is necessary to enhance the representation of the Global South and correct injustices. At the same time, international legislation must ensure the equal participation of all countries; the United Nations should be supported in playing the main-channel role in international legislation; the monopoly of a small number of countries over the international legislative process should be opposed; and the forced pushing through of legislation in the absence of broad consensus should be opposed, so as to ensure that rules truly reflect the common will of all countries and accommodate the reasonable concerns of all parties.
China has always upheld the global governance concept of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits; relying on the United Nations, relevant international organizations, and regional and sub-regional multilateral mechanisms, it has strengthened communication and cooperation in key areas such as international finance, artificial intelligence, cyberspace, climate change, and trade, actively building consensus and promoting the enhancement of the execution and effectiveness of existing international mechanisms. As the largest developing country, China works hand in hand with the vast number of Global South countries to advance the reform of the global governance system, continuously enhance the representation and voice of developing countries in international rule-making, and play a positive, stabilizing, and good-oriented role in international affairs. This huge intersection that is the world can never do without the orderly guidance of the "traffic lights"; only when all countries jointly uphold fairness and justice, jointly abide by the constraints of rules, and jointly participate in the writing of rules, can the world escape chaos and disorder and become stable and better.
Return to TopBy: 陈晋
Why Is a Civilization of All Under Heaven Possible: The Communist Party of China and the Chinese Civilizational Tradition, by Xie Maosong, published by SDX Joint Publishing Company
A truly substantial and scholarly work is often not something one simply finishes reading and sets aside; rather, after finishing it, one cannot help but want to press further with certain questions. Why Is a Civilization of All Under Heaven Possible: The Communist Party of China and the Chinese Civilizational Tradition is just such a book. At first glance, the title seems to pose a grand question; only after finishing it does one feel that behind this question are concentrated the fruits of many years of thinking and the humanistic sentiments of the author, Xie Maosong. My outstanding impression after reading it is this: the author's scholarly treatment of this grand proposition carries a deep connection to the Chinese path, Chinese civilization, and a new form of human civilization, and attempts, within the deep structure of civilizational history, to answer a question of the era — why is a civilization of all under heaven possible. I will offer some reflections from the perspective of Party history research.
The "dust-covered" state of modern China's civilization and the Party's mission of civilizational reconstruction
General Secretary Xi Jinping's use of "dust-covered" to sum up the civilizational predicament of modern China is extremely penetrating. Facing invasion by powerful enemies, the Chinese nation did not suffer an ordinary defeat; rather, a nation possessing a continuous civilization of several thousand years was pushed to the brink of national subjugation and racial extinction. This was not a change of dynasty, but a crisis of rupture in the sense of civilization. A change of dynasty is the replacement of political power within the cycle of order and disorder, while civilization itself remains; what modern China faced was the danger of civilizational subjectivity being eroded and civilizational continuity being severed. Here there is a distinction worth pondering deeply: an ordinary defeat — ceding territory, paying indemnities, forfeiting sovereignty and humiliating the nation — is bitter indeed, yet the roots of civilization remain, and with time revival is still possible; whereas what "civilization dust-covered" reveals is that the spiritual foundations, value systems, and historical narratives on which civilization stands were simultaneously assailed — a crisis of "civilization as civilization."
It can thus be seen that the mission of the Communist Party of China was, from its very starting point, not merely political revolution but also included civilizational reconstruction. The new political system founded by the Communist Party of China, as discussed in the book, is the third great creation of Chinese civilization, and its spiritual genes can already be found in the Party's early years. These spiritual genes show that the Party, from the day of its birth, was not a purely political organization but a political force bearing the mission of civilizational re-creation. Only by understanding this can one understand why the Communist Party of China, under the extremely difficult conditions of that time, always maintained a kind of cultural self-awareness and civilizational aspiration transcending immediate interests and advantages; and only thus can one understand why the Communist Party of China, as soon as it was born, embraced advanced culture and civilization with unremitting enthusiasm (孜孜不倦, zi zi bu juan - "tirelessly, diligently"), to pursue, to practice, and to create. From this it follows that the Party's history cannot be understood merely within the framework of "Party history," but should be viewed within the grand vision of civilizational history that combines the "soul vein" and the "root vein" of the Party's ideology and culture.
Why the Communist Party of China possesses the capacity for civilizational creation
The inspiration that the grand vision of civilizational history offers to Party history research lies in this: one must explain the Party's success not only from fields such as politics, military affairs, and economics, but also from the perspective of civilization, culture, and ideological theory. Political strategy, military struggle, and economic policy are of course important, but they cannot explain this fact: why was the Communist Party of China able, under extremely difficult conditions, not only to achieve revolutionary victory but also to establish an institutional order with civilizational depth and to embody the forward direction of advanced culture. Mao Zedong's On New Democracy was originally titled The Politics of New Democracy and the Culture of New Democracy; when constructing the framework of a new-democratic society, he took culture as the underlying color and explicitly proposed building a "new Chinese culture." When New China was founded, the vast majority of writers chose to stay and participate in cultural construction — rare in the history of world revolution. This also shows that the Communist Party of China fundamentally represented a civilizational direction, not merely a political force.
The book proposes that the Communist Party of China is a "civilization-type political party," a judgment worthy of attention. Running consistently throughout the entire book (一以贯之, yi yi guan zhi - "from beginning to end, consistent") is a civilizational interpretation of the Communist Party of China. By "civilization-type political party," as I understand it, is meant that the Party's political practice always contains civilizational concern, that the Party's institutional creation always points toward the construction of a new civilization, and that the Party's theoretical innovation is always rooted in the civilizational tradition. This is not adding a layer of cultural embellishment to Party history, but revealing a civilizational main line deep within Party history. Once this main line is grasped, many major questions in Party history — for example, why the Party was able to sinicize Marxism, why the Party was able to create institutional forms with Chinese style such as the people's congress system, the political consultation system, and whole-process people's democracy, and why the Party was able to propose the Two Integrations (两个结合) and make them the fundamental path of theoretical innovation — can be explained at a deeper level.
The deep logic of "the Two Integrations": from external "integration" to internal "activation"
The book's core framework is the trinity of "new system of governance, new system of the Way, and new system of learning," which in fact answers the question: is the relationship between Marxism and the Chinese civilizational tradition an external "integration" or an internal "activation"? General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "the power of Marxist truth has activated the great civilization created by the Chinese nation over several thousand years." The word "activate" is crucial. It is not piecing two things together, but Marxism as the power of truth awakening the universally significant value resources within Chinese civilization — the people-oriented thought, the concern for all under heaven, and the practical wisdom of cultivating oneself, regulating the family, governing the state, and bringing peace to all under heaven; conversely, Chinese civilization also provided deep soil for Marxism to take root in China. Going further, the book does not simply understand socialism as an institutional arrangement, but as the unfolding, under modern conditions, of Chinese civilization's "way of being great and enduring." The key here is that "integration" is not external splicing, and "activation" is not simple borrowing, but the mutual awakening and mutual fulfillment between the power of truth and the civilizational tradition. Marxism, because it is rooted in Chinese civilization, acquires Chinese style; Chinese civilization, because it accepts Marxism, acquires a modern form. This two-way interaction is precisely the deepest logic of "the Two Integrations." If one sees only "integration" and not "activation," one easily understands "the Two Integrations" as the mechanical addition of two things; only by seeing "activation" can one understand why this integration can produce a new civilizational form rather than a simple theoretical platter.
It is especially worth pointing out that the book's comparative interpretation of the "Question of Zizhang" and the "Question of Huang Yanpei" is a theoretical innovation not lacking in novelty. The question of Huang Yanpei concerns the order and disorder, rise and fall of political order; the question of Zizhang concerns the continuous transmission of civilizational order. The author unifies the two, pointing out that the fundamental guarantee of political order lies in civilizational order, and roots the two answers to "escaping the historical cycle of dynastic rise and fall" — supervision by the people and self-revolution — in the deep tradition of Chinese civilization's politics of virtue and society of virtue. This argumentation dismantles the "debate between ancient and modern, Chinese and Western" by placing it within the deep structure of civilizational history, and reading it fills one with great interest and pleasure.I particularly value the methodological significance of this viewpoint: it shows that major questions in Party history can only have their deep meaning seen when placed within the grand vision of civilizational history; and that the question of political order is, in the final analysis, inseparable from the question of civilizational order. To elevate the "two answers" to the level of civilizational order for understanding is both a summation of historical experience and an activation of the civilizational tradition — the two are deeply interconnected.
Methodological inspiration: "general-knowledge thinking" and the grand vision of civilizational history
Having done Party history documentary work for several decades, I increasingly feel that if the history of the Communist Party of China is placed within the grand vision of civilizational history, its civilizational significance naturally "stands out." The "general-knowledge thinking" proposed by the author — that is, thoroughly connecting ancient and modern, Chinese and Western, and Marxist, and linking tradition, modernity, revolution, and socialism — is also worthy of attention. When the book discusses "the civilizational roots of Chinese modernization," it does not begin with the Opium War but traces back to the ritual and music civilization of the Western Zhou, revealing "the consciousness of community in which family, state, and all under heaven are one, and heaven, earth, and humanity are one" as the underlying civilizational structure; when it discusses the integration of Marxism with fine traditional Chinese culture, it does not simply expound the proposition of the "second integration," but through Mao Zedong's creative use of The Analects, provides a concrete scholarly path. This kind of academic transformation from the study to reality, from idea to practice, is precisely the root of this book's practical concern and theoretical penetration.
The methodological connecting-through brings with it an elevation of problem consciousness: no longer viewing ancient and modern, Chinese and Western as mutually isolated blocks, but as a whole that can be interconnected within the deep structure of civilizational history. This has important inspirational significance for Party history research and for the theoretical interpretation of the Chinese path. The methodological inspiration of this book may be even more important than some of its specific conclusions. For it reminds us that to study Party history and study the Chinese path, one needs a larger vision of civilizational history, and one needs to work hard on the character "connecting" — connecting ancient and modern, connecting Chinese and Western, connecting theory and practice.
From "substantial" toward "glorious": making theoretical preparations for the "glorious" cause
The book's afterword notes that the author once titled a personal academic anthology "For a China That Is Substantial and Glorious." Mencius says, "The substantial is called beautiful; the substantial and glorious is called great." For China to become a political great power and an economic great power is "substantial"; to become a cultural great power and a civilizational great power is "glorious." This book and other related theoretical research and discussions are, to some extent, making theoretical preparations for the "glorious" cause. It tells us: the Chinese path, theory, and system created by the Communist Party of China are not a rupture with tradition but an inheritance and innovation of the "way of being great and enduring"; Chinese modernization is not a copy of Westernization but a new civilizational form rooted in the soil of five thousand years of civilization; and the reason a civilization of all under heaven is possible is that the deep integration of the Communist Party of China with the Chinese civilizational tradition is providing a new civilizational imagination for promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. Moving from "substantial" toward "glorious" is both the historical process of national development and the mission of the era that academic research should undertake.
(The author is former deputy director of the former Party Literature Research Center of the CPC Central Committee and president of the Chinese Mao Zedong Poetry Research Association)
Return to TopBy: 谢路军
Lou Yulie (1934–2026), philosopher and educator, long engaged in teaching and research in the history of Chinese philosophy, Buddhist philosophy, Eastern philosophy, and religious studies, taught for 66 years. Lou Yulie was a sincere and steadfast guardian and practitioner of traditional Chinese culture. To sum up his approach to scholarship is not only to recall a scholar, but even more to preserve for contemporary Chinese scholars a spiritual legacy concerning "how to do scholarship and how to conduct oneself."
Cultural subjectivity is the starting point of scholarship. The logical premise of Lou Yulie's scholarly methodology is an awareness of the subjectivity of traditional Chinese culture. He wrote the article "The Subjectivity of Chinese Culture Must Not Be Lost," whose views spread widely; he emphasized that while learning from and drawing on foreign cultures, one must never lose the cultural subjectivity that belongs to us.
Lou Yulie's view is rooted in the development of Chinese history and the shifts in cultural mentality. The "Self-Strengthening Movement" upheld "Chinese learning as the essence, Western learning for application," hoping to achieve wealth and military strength by introducing Western technology; the defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War showed that this path would not work. Afterward, from the "Hundred Days' Reform" to the "Xinhai Revolution," and then to the New Culture Movement's call to "smash the Confucian shop," Confucian thought suffered violent shocks. In this process of learning outward, we gradually lost the subjective consciousness of our native culture.
Lou Yulie held that interpreting Chinese philosophy by the standard of Western philosophy makes it impossible to understand the characteristics of Chinese philosophy itself. In his view, the greatest error of modern Chinese scholars was to cut China's own intellectual tradition to fit Western conceptual frameworks—that is, to understand "philosophy" merely as Western metaphysical argumentation and "religion" merely as a Western-style theistic system, and thus to arrive at the erroneous view that Chinese philosophy does not count as philosophy and that Chinese culture lacks faith. This self-belittlement, in his view, was "leaving the master's house and entering the slave's," a loss of the fundamental in scholarship. Therefore, Lou Yulie maintained that all cultural exchange must take native culture as the subject; genuine exchange is for enriching and developing oneself, not for replacing oneself with the other. He opposed both wholesale negation of tradition and blind worship of the West, and also opposed narrow arrogance and exclusion of foreign civilizations. True cultural confidence is to see clearly the strengths of one's own culture and also to see objectively the merits of others. This stance ran through his academic career. In 1986, when "Westernization is modernization" was still the dominant trend, he reestablished the Eastern Philosophy Teaching and Research Section in Peking University's Department of Philosophy, making pioneering contributions to the cultural self-awareness and discourse construction of Chinese philosophy.
Lou Yulie held that the underlying logic of Eastern and Western civilizational systems was different to begin with: the West emphasizes the Creator and the other world, while China stands on real life and cultivating oneself and establishing virtue; Western painting pursues realistic replication, while Chinese painting values vividness of spirit and charm. We should establish our own discourse system rather than following others blindly without independent thought (人云亦云, ren yun yi yun - "person, cloud, also, cloud"). Lou Yulie summarized our own way of thinking into three major characteristics: holistic interconnection, natural reasonableness, and dynamic balance. He often said that one should view things dialectically, that one should "love and know its faults, hate and know its virtues," and understand the mutual dependence and dynamic transformation of things.
In today's "global village era," cultural subjectivity is easily diluted. Lou Yulie clearly pointed out that while upholding cultural subjectivity, one should advocate cultural diversity: first the national, then the global; the more national it is, the more global it is. The prerequisite for opening to the outside world and for exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations is to hold fast to one's own subjecthood. "Cultural confidence" requires solidifying the foundation of native culture.
Deep cultivation of documents, breaking through disciplinary barriers. Lou Yulie's method of scholarship was rooted in decades of unremitting deep cultivation of ancient texts and documents and in breaking through disciplinary barriers. He emphasized that to understand the intellectual foundations and developmental threads of Chinese culture, one must return to the "root intellectual classics." He summarized the introductory bibliography of traditional culture as "the Three Mysteries, the Four Books, the Five Classics," valued Buddhist classics such as the Diamond Sutra, the Vimalakirti Sutra, the Lotus Sutra, and the Avatamsaka Sutra, and advocated starting from these classics, proceeding from source to stream, rather than circling around secondhand retellings and fashionable theories. I remember that in the 1990s, when I studied under Teacher Lou Yulie, the first Buddhist classic we read was the Samayabhedoparacanacakra, a work discussing the early Buddhist schools. He also long served as a member of the National Planning Group for the Collation and Publication of Ancient Books, presided over the compilation of the Selected Materials on Chinese Buddhist Thought, and systematically organized the intellectual documents of Chinese Buddhism through the ages; almost all scholars engaged in Chinese Buddhist studies in the 1990s used this set of materials, which became an essential reference work for desk retrieval. What best demonstrates Lou Yulie's documentary mastery is the Collated and Annotated Collected Works of Wang Bi; the first draft was completed in 1964, gestated over 20 years, and after publication in 1980 was universally recognized as the most authoritative text for Wang Bi studies and one of the most important reference works for the study of Wei-Jin metaphysics.
Lou Yulie repeatedly emphasized that in studying traditional Chinese culture, one must have comprehensive, holistic research, and from every aspect of Chinese culture holistically experience its deep, inner common characteristics—that is, one must "master the various aspects and integrate them into a whole (融会贯通, rong hui guan tong - "melt, combine, connect, through"), grasp them as a whole." His own academic path was precisely the practice of this "thoroughness": his research began with Wei-Jin metaphysics, moved toward Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism, toward Eastern philosophy, and then toward Chinese art and traditional medicine. Lou Yulie's discussion of philosophy was not confined to a single disciplinary framework but ran through many fields such as anthropology, sociology, psychology, and theology; he always insisted that culture is itself a whole, and that the humanities and sciences are not naturally split apart. This holistic view was also reflected in his understanding of reading. He often said that in reading one should read living books and read books alive, and he opposed turning readers into rigid, dogmatic bookworms.
Lou Yulie's research took "transparent reasoning" as an important characteristic. His "transparency" was influenced by Feng Youlan. Feng Youlan advocated that in scholarship "one must both go deep and come out shallow." Going deep means letting scholars in the field read something new and see places others have not seen; coming out shallow means letting ordinary people and laypersons also understand the reasoning in the scholarship. Lou Yulie observed this teaching throughout his life. He opposed two maladies in academia: one kind of scholar deliberately affects profundity, piles up obscure concepts, and turns philosophy into a castle in the air divorced from life; the other kind stops at the surface without deep investigation (浅尝辄止, qian shang ze zhi - "shallow, taste, then, stop"), drifts into cliché, and has no academic core to support it. This "transparency" was also reflected in his requirements for writing. He admonished students that articles should "not exceed five thousand characters," then added, "the Laozi is only five thousand words"; he emphasized that every article must be written with genuine feeling, that writing must seek academic insights different from those of predecessors, and that quantity was not to be sought.
Scholarship stresses the humanistic spirit. The purport of Lou Yulie's scholarship was his judgment of the fundamental spirit of Chinese culture, namely "putting people first." He held that the humanistic spirit is the most important characteristic of Chinese culture compared with the West. In his view, Chinese culture has always emphasized human subjectivity, independence, and agency. He held that "the humanistic spirit of putting people first" was established in China since the Western Zhou, and that this is an important contribution of the Chinese nation to human civilization. In studying Buddhism, he did not regard it merely as a religious faith but excavated the humanistic spirit within it, naming his collection of essays Chinese Buddhism and the Humanistic Spirit; he clarified the boundary between the study of Buddhist culture and religious belief, returning to the original source to clear up errors (正本清源, zheng ben qing yuan - "correct, root, clear, source"), eliminating the abuses of superstition, and building a bridge of sound communication between academia and the religious community. "Establishing the root in the humanistic" was not only an academic judgment but a principle he practiced personally. In his later years he distilled and practiced sixteen characters, namely "respecting heaven and following the ways of ancestors (敬天法祖, jing tian fa zu - "respect, heaven, follow, ancestor"), observing rites and fulfilling human relations, being content with what one has and cherishing one's blessings, and being grateful and repaying kindness"; when speaking of the method for rebuilding cultural subjectivity, he reduced it to the two characters "sincerity and reverence"—sincerity means honesty and trustworthiness, not deceiving oneself or others; reverence means awe, awe toward heaven and earth, awe toward ancestors, and respect for others. He held that the root of many problems in present-day society lies precisely in the lack of "sincerity and reverence."
Lou Yulie often said that the meaning of life lies in spiritual happiness. How can one be spiritually happy? He proposed the "three principles theory," namely physical, psychological, and philosophical health cultivation. He especially raised the importance of philosophical health cultivation, pointing out that no matter what profession a person engages in, so long as they are spiritually happy, that is a beautiful life. He also spoke of the "three joys" of life, namely the joy of helping others, finding contentment and happiness in what one has (知足常乐, zhi zu chang le - "know, enough, always, happy"), and finding enjoyment in one's own pursuits (自得其乐, zi de qi le - "self, obtain, its, joy"). From this we can appreciate his open-minded attitude toward life. Lou Yulie also often spoke of Wang Fuzhi's "six states and four observations," namely "being detached when alone," "being amiable with others," "being clear when without affairs," "being decisive when handling affairs," "being calm when successful," and "being composed when disappointed"; "in great matters and difficult matters, observe one's sense of responsibility," "in adversity and prosperity, observe one's breadth of mind," "in joy and in anger, observe one's cultivation," "in following the crowd and in stopping with the crowd, observe one's discernment." In his view, what Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism offer modern people is that Confucianism teaches people to "pick it up," to take on responsibility; Daoism teaches people to "see it openly," to be content and not compare themselves with others; and Buddhism teaches people to "put it down," not to exhaust themselves internally and not to be attached. The humanistic spirit contained in Chinese culture is not an antique on the page but good medicine for healing real-world anxiety.
Return to TopBy: 范绪锋
This year marks the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army's Long March. Mao Zedong once said that the Long March is a manifesto, the Long March is a propaganda team, and the Long March is a seeding machine. Going deep into history, people will find that "manifesto," "propaganda," and "seeding" are all inseparable from an important vehicle — red drama. In the extremely difficult and arduous (艰苦卓绝, jian ku zhuo jue - "hard, bitter, extraordinary, superb") great expedition, the Red Army performed living-newspaper plays and street plays in the intervals between marching and fighting; works such as I'm Going to Join the Red Army, Marching North to Resist Japan, The Broken Straw Sandal, Expand the Red Army, Grief of a Lost Nation, and Rather Die Than Submit were deeply welcomed by soldiers and the masses. Edgar Snow once recorded in Red Star Over China that "after the Red Army occupied a place, it was often the Red Army dramatic troupe that dispelled the people's doubts and gave them a basic understanding of the Red Army's program." Looking back on a century of struggle, the Communist Party of China has always attached importance to the unique advantages and role of dramatic art in propagating revolution, mobilizing the masses, inspiring fighting spirit, and coalescing strength; in every historical period, a large number of dramatic works taking revolutionary culture as their subject have formed a red dramatic culture that is rich in distinctive features and possesses a unique and distinctive character (别具风骨, bie ju feng gu - "separately, possess, wind, bone").
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "red resources are the testimony of our Party's arduous and glorious course of struggle, are the most precious spiritual wealth, and we must protect, manage, and use them well with our hearts, with our feelings, and with our efforts." As an important component of red resources, red drama is both a popular literary and artistic form and a precious memory of Party history; it integrates political character, people-centered character, historical character, and artistic character into one, and is rich in ideological value and educational value. To promote the transformation of red dramatic culture into the spiritual strength and educational resources of the new era, to inject vitality into and empower and enhance ideological and political work, especially school education of people, is an essential part of the matter (题中之义, ti zhong zhi yi - "topic, inside, particle, meaning") of carrying forward the red bloodline and passing on the red genes, and is also a realistic need for implementing the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education and accelerating the building of an education powerhouse and a cultural powerhouse.
Taking historical facts as the root and vein, consolidating in historical scenes the confidence to educate people for the Party. The vitality of red dramatic culture lies first of all in its historical authenticity. From the red drama movement of the Central Soviet Area period, to the yangge opera movement of the Yan'an period, and then to the creation of revolutionary-themed drama since the founding of New China, red dramatic culture has always resonated at the same frequency (同频共振, tong pin gong zhen - "same, frequency, together, vibrate") with the Party's history. Generation after generation of red theatrical works, through vivid and perceptible characters and plots, record major historical events, remember revolutionary heroes, and engrave great spirits, freezing in artistic form the magnificent course of the Party leading the people in carrying out revolution, construction, and reform. From The White-Haired Girl to Daughter of the Party and then to From the Xiang River to Zunyi, generation after generation of red drama has condensed the nation's collective memory in artistic form, providing a historical footnote for young people to understand the close connection between individual destiny and national destiny. Second, red drama historical materials urgently need to be sorted out and excavated. At present, drama documents, script manuscripts, performance archives, oral historical materials, and the like from the revolutionary era are being lost in large quantities with the passage of time, and some early works are already difficult to restore in full; rescue sorting and digital protection are urgent and require immediate action (刻不容缓, ke bu rong huan - "moment, not, allow, delay"). It is necessary to carry out a nationwide general survey of red drama historical materials, implement a rescue project, organize specialized forces to conduct comprehensive collection, systematic sorting, and digital protection of script manuscripts, performance archives, newspaper and periodical reviews, oral recollections, and so on from the revolutionary era, establish a red drama literature database that is graded and classified and openly shared, and systematically sort out the creative threads and spiritual genealogy of red dramatic culture in each historical period. In addition, it is necessary to coordinate the forces of propaganda, culture, education, archives, and other departments, open up the entire chain of historical material collection, sorting, research, and transformation, and form a complete chain of collection, sorting, textual criticism, digitization, and open sharing. Only in this way can historical materials become first-hand materials for educating people, preserve living memory for telling well the story of the Party, the story of the revolution, and the story of heroes, and enable the educating function of red dramatic culture to be built on a solid historical foundation.
Taking images as the vehicle, enhancing the infectious power of education in concrete presentation. Drama integrates literature, performance, music, fine arts, and dance into one, and is a comprehensive art form involving all the senses. The educating mechanism of red dramatic culture differs from the teaching path of traditional ideological and political classrooms, which is mainly based on the deduction of concepts. First, this is a contextualized path, transforming the grand revolutionary narrative into perceptible character destinies and touchable life scenes, enabling students to approach history as "participants on the scene" and to face concrete character situations and value choices, thereby obtaining life experience that can be felt, understood, and identified with. Second, through concrete narrative, abstract theory is transformed into a "visible" picture. Beyond watching plays, the experience of acting is even deeper: memorizing lines tests memory and understanding, practicing vocalization tests pitch accuracy and emotion, doing movements tests physical form and control, and walking blocking tests reaction and coordination. It is precisely in this coordinated training of multiple senses and multiple abilities that students, by comparing themselves with the personality and character of revolutionary forebears, are helped to consciously discard a restless and utilitarian mentality and gradually cultivate the fine qualities of enduring hardship, loyalty and responsibility, willingness to dedicate, and overcoming difficulties. Finally, in the classroom adaptation of red texts, students must transform the revolutionary deeds in textbooks into performable lines, doable movements, and expressible expressions. This process of transformation itself is a deep understanding of the historical situation. The emotion students gain from text adaptation is transformed into personal embodied recognition in scene rehearsals in which they personally participate, and settles into stable value identification through repeated communication and polishing. This comprehensive educating vehicle can fully mobilize students' multiple senses, realize the mastering of various aspects and integration into a whole (融会贯通, rong hui guan tong - "melt, gather, penetrate, through") of moral education, intellectual education, and aesthetic education, and let students receive spiritual baptism and cultivate moral sentiment in the process of appreciating beauty, experiencing beauty, and creating beauty.
Taking empathy as the bond, raising the temperature of educating people and nurturing hearts in emotional resonance. The contemporary question that red dramatic culture answers is not an abstract academic proposition, but the real life circumstances and sincere expectations for a better future that millions upon millions of people actually face. First, the reason red dramatic culture can empower and enhance ideological and political education fundamentally lies in providing a cognitive method and emotional path different from traditional classrooms, able to turn ideological and political education from the invisible into the visible, from the abstract into the concrete, and from the passive into the active, achieving the educating effect of influencing others subtly and imperceptibly (润物无声, run wu wu sheng - "moisten, things, without, sound") and changing character through subtle influence (潜移默化, qian yi mo hua - "subtly, move, silent, transform"). In practice, the tone of a line and the handling of a posture all require repeated pondering and constant adjustment, and it is precisely in this process of repeated polishing that students' understanding of the characters' spirit gradually moves from vague to clear and from surface to depth. Second, the key is to find the intersection between theoretical concerns and students' concerns, so that students truly feel in the story the deep response of theory to their own circumstances. The emotional experience produced by role immersion in red drama will not disappear with the end of contextualized teaching practice, but will settle into a part of the educated person's personality structure and be quickly activated when they face similar value choices in the future. This integrated educating path of "learning, performing, comprehending, and acting" provides a practical paradigm worthy of reference for the reform and innovation of ideological and political courses in the new era. Finally, it is necessary to grasp the proper measure of emotional expression. Truly powerful stories often do not win by strong emotional rendering, but are valued for being sincere, natural, and restrained. It is necessary to believe in the power of the facts themselves, leave space for the audience to understand and experience, and let emotion naturally reach people's hearts in true narrative.
Taking reason as the ultimate aim, demonstrating the leading power of ideological and political education in academic exposition. Red dramatic culture is a vivid practice of the Two Integrations (两个结合) in the field of literature and art. On the one hand, with Marxism as the soul, with revolutionary culture and advanced socialist culture as the core, adhering to the people-centered creative orientation, adhering to the people's standpoint, and promoting collectivism and the view of historical progress, it has a distinct ideological attribute. On the other hand, it is deeply rooted in the rich soil of traditional Chinese opera, storytelling and singing, and folk literature and art, fully absorbs local artistic nutrients such as folk narrative and traditional ethics, and embodies in aesthetics the aesthetic spirit of "using literature to convey moral principles" (文以载道, wen yi zai dao - "writing, with, carry, way") and "incorporating education into entertainment" (寓教于乐, yu jiao yu le - "dwell, education, in, joy"). It is precisely in the Two Integrations that red dramatic culture has achieved the organic unity of content and form, thought and art, and tradition and innovation. For this reason, first, it is necessary to focus on the innovative practice of red dramatic culture in the new era, closely follow the themes of the times and the cognitive characteristics of young people, systematically select and sort representative red dramatic cultural works and educating cases, and build by grade and category a typical case database covering universities, middle schools, and primary schools, with both the in-depth exploration of institutions of higher learning and the lively practice of primary and secondary schools, forming a case system that is connected from top to bottom and linked to one another. It is necessary to transform major historical events, important historical figures, and the great spiritual genealogy into lively teaching materials, form a high-quality resource map covering all stages of schooling and connecting all themes, and realize integrated supply and precise push. Second, it is necessary to give play to the exemplary and driving role of national-level "great ideological and political course" practical teaching bases, organize drama education experts, ideological and political education experts, and frontline teachers to tackle key problems in coordination, launch representative teaching resources on red dramatic culture, promote red drama cases into classrooms, into bases, and into the cloud, and let high-quality resources reach teachers and students directly and reach people's hearts directly. Finally, it is necessary to truly incorporate red dramatic culture into the curriculum system of ideological and political courses and school aesthetic education, making it a permanent course rather than a temporary activity. It is necessary to accelerate the formulation of drama education and teaching standards covering universities, middle schools, and primary schools, and clarify the teaching objectives, content requirements, and evaluation methods of different stages of schooling. It is necessary to integrate red dramatic culture into the overall layout of school aesthetic education and ideological and political education, study and formulate teaching standards and curriculum norms for red dramatic culture to enter classrooms, enter teaching materials, and enter minds, and promote the curricularization, systematization, and normalization of red dramatic culture.
Red dramatic culture carries the Party's glorious history and condenses the people's spiritual emotions; it is one of the most vivid and most infectious forms of expression of red resources. We believe that when the Long March spirit on the stage shines into the youthful hearts in the classroom, and when the life deeds of revolutionary forebears meet the growth pursuits of contemporary youth, the charm of dramatic culture will be transformed into the educational power of red resources.
(The author is Secretary of the Party Committee of the Central Academy of Drama)
Return to TopBy: 叶文举
"Righteousness" (yi) is an important category in Confucian thought and also one of the important qualities of the junzi (gentleman). The Analects, in the chapter "Li Ren," puts forward that "the junzi understands righteousness." Zhu Xi said, "Yu means to understand" — "yu" is the meaning of knowing and comprehending. The Shiming says, "Yi means appropriateness; it is to tailor (regulate and shape) things so as to make them appropriate." In brief, "righteousness" is the principles of things.The saying "the junzi understands righteousness" means, in general, that what the junzi understands is the principles of things, and this is an important way for the junzi to establish himself and conduct his affairs. "To act and have it be appropriate is called righteousness" — this mainly carries the following meanings.
"Taking righteousness as the foundation." Confucius held: "The junzi takes righteousness as his substance, carries it out through ritual propriety, brings it forth through modesty (sun, same as 'xun'), and completes it through trustworthiness. How worthy he is as a junzi!" The two Cheng brothers said: "These four sentences are but one matter — taking righteousness as the foundation." The junzi is able to take righteousness as his principle and foundation, and must not speak of things that are not righteous (言不及义, yan bu ji yi - "speech, not, reach, righteousness") or be fond of displaying petty cleverness — he does not speak words devoid of reason, nor will he deliberately show off petty cleverness. Conversely, if one's speech does not reach righteousness, then "thoughts of waywardness, depravity, and excess will multiply," and one easily goes astray. For the junzi, "to hear righteousness but be unable to move toward it, and to have faults but be unable to correct them" — this is something to be vigilant about at all times. Only by "moving toward righteousness" and following righteousness in all things can the junzi "exalt virtue" and ceaselessly elevate his own moral cultivation, just as Zhu Xi said, "Move toward righteousness, and one renews daily." When Confucius faced his disciple Zizhang's misunderstanding that a scholar who "is certain to be renowned in the state and certain to be renowned in the clan" is thereby distinguished, he rebutted: "That is renown, not distinction. As for distinction, he is upright in substance and fond of righteousness" — holding that the true junzi's distinction lies in the purity and uprightness of his character and in his conduct conforming to the principles of righteousness. "Righteousness is the foundation for regulating affairs, and therefore it is taken as the substance and trunk" — otherwise it is merely fishing for fame and buying reputation. The junzi "is fond of righteousness, and so his affairs are appropriate." If he is a state administrator, then "he employs the people according to righteousness" — he does not mobilize the people at will, and in governing affairs he will naturally conform to the principles of governance. "If the superior is fond of righteousness, then none among the people will dare not submit." "The junzi takes office in order to carry out righteousness." Zichan of the Spring and Autumn period was a model junzi who governed by "taking righteousness as the foundation."
"Acting courageously for the sake of justice (见义勇为, jian yi yong wei - "see, righteousness, brave, act")." Whatever conforms to the principles of things, the junzi should dare to do, and must have a sense of responsibility. Confucius once said: "In relation to the world, the junzi has no 'must-do' (shi, meaning what may be done) and no 'must-not-do' (mo, meaning what may not be done); he aligns himself with righteousness (bi, meaning to follow, to heed)." In Confucius's view, in matters of governing the world, there is no fixed rule that one must do things in a certain way or must not do them in a certain way; but so long as it is reasonable and appropriate, one must dare to act. The junzi must "act according to righteousness in order to attain the Way." "Failing to act when seeing something righteous (见义不为, jian yi bu wei - "see, righteousness, not, act")" is "want of courage," and this is not the junzi's manner. Therefore, the junzi's courageous action is not without principle — only matters that accord with justice are to be courageously undertaken, and this is "carrying the burden of righteousness with great responsibility (铁肩担道义, tie jian dan dao yi - "iron, shoulders, carry, way, righteousness")." Zilu once asked his teacher Confucius: "Does the junzi esteem courage?" The so-called "esteem" (shang) means "to put above." Zilu wondered whether the junzi takes courage as supreme. Confucius clearly stated: "The junzi takes righteousness as supreme; the junzi who has courage but lacks righteousness will create disorder." If there is only courage without righteousness as a safeguard, one will ultimately slide into creating disorder. In sum, without righteousness and with only courage, society will fall into a state of disorder and irrationality. Zilu was "base by nature and fond of courage and strength," and occasionally gave way to the courage of the common man; Confucius's implication was to remind Zilu not to practice courage devoid of righteousness. "If righteousness is taken as supreme, then his courage is great indeed." Only when a person takes righteousness as his support and acts reasonably will his courage not become the reckless courage of a brute, and only then can he become a junzi who knows that "the brave do not fear (勇者不惧, yong zhe bu ju - "brave, person, not, fear")." Therefore, "acting courageously for the sake of justice" is the social responsibility manifested in doing reasonable things, and it should be encouraged and commended. Precisely for this reason, in the face of "great righteousness," the junzi must dare to shoulder the burden, and may even "sacrifice one's life for the sake of righteousness (舍生取义, she sheng qu yi - "abandon, life, take, righteousness")." Qu Yuan, Su Wu, Wen Tianxiang, and others were courageous junzi who "sacrificed their lives for righteousness."
"Considering righteousness when seeing profit (见利思义, jian li si yi - "see, profit, think, righteousness")." People living in society need material guarantees, and so naturally profit exists — "profit is what all people alike desire." However, with regard to profit, the junzi's way of "seeking wealth when it may be sought" must conform to righteousness, arise from a public-minded heart, and be obtained in the proper way: "Take it only after righteousness, and people will not resent his taking it." After Confucius put forward "the junzi understands righteousness," he then said "the petty person understands profit" — clearly a contrast between two ways of conducting oneself. Utterly different from the junzi, the "petty person" single-mindedly pursues profit, and it may even be said that for private gain he will use any means possible regardless of morality (不择手段, bu ze shou duan - "not, choose, hand, means"), putting profit first and righteousness last, and violating the rules. Mencius said, "The sense of shame and dislike is righteousness." To abandon righteousness and pursue profit runs counter to morality and ethics; when everything is aimed at pursuing profit, its extreme possibility is the loss of the moral bottom line. The "debate between righteousness and profit (义利之辨, yi li zhi bian - "righteousness, profit, particle, distinction")" has always been one of the important propositions of Chinese philosophy. For the junzi, between righteousness and profit, "righteousness" comes first. "Wealth and honor obtained by unrighteous means are to me like floating clouds." Profit obtained improperly is what the junzi strives to cast aside; otherwise it is hard to feel at ease with one's actions as they are right (心安理得, xin an li de - "heart, peaceful, principle, obtain"). "The junzi worries about the Way, not about poverty." In the face of profit the junzi acts in accordance with righteousness; "the scholar in straits does not lose righteousness." Though he may lack material things, inwardly he can truly "eat coarse food, drink water, crook his arm for a pillow — and joy lies therein too," and feel the pleasure of a life as level and smooth as a whetstone. Going further, the junzi is able to resist the temptations of improper profit, and thus truly attain the great man's realm of "wealth and honor cannot corrupt him, poverty and lowliness cannot move him, and power and force cannot bend him." Confucius said, "As for the complete man of today, why must he be thus? He considers righteousness when seeing profit." Confucius held that one of the important criteria of the complete man (chengren, meaning the whole or perfect person) is considering righteousness when seeing profit. "The junzi has nine thinkings," and "when seeing gain, think of righteousness" is one of the "nine thinkings." When the junzi sees something profitable, he must consider whether the profit is rightfully obtained, and only thus will he not sink into the mire of material temptation.
"The junzi understands righteousness" still has indispensable cultural significance and practical value today. It enlightens us that any action must conform to the principles of things and follow the right path; that when encountering matters that accord with the Way and righteousness, one must have the sense of responsibility to dare to shoulder them and dare to act; and that in the face of profit, one must not in all things "act with profit in view," recklessly doing as one pleases to obtain profit without principle. Corruption and bribery, swindling and cheating, fraud and falsification — none of these are proper conduct. The acquisition of material wealth must never violate social justice and the norms of law; it must be obtained in the proper way.
Return to TopBy: 国防大学习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想研究中心
Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building is a major theoretical innovation achievement formed in the historical process of strengthening the Party and the country in the new era, and it provides the fundamental compliance and guide to action for deeply advancing the great new project of Party building in the new era. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in the "Explanations on the 'Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues Concerning Perseveringly Advancing Full and Rigorous Self-Governance of the Party'" that "the drafting of the 'Decision' draft adhered to taking the new era Party building thought as guidance," and placed "fully implementing the new era Party building thought" first among the 5 key points to be grasped in the drafting of the "Decision," highlighting the important guiding position of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building in the formulation and formation of the "Decision," and providing ideological guidance for studying and understanding the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party. Only by firmly grasping Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building as this ideological mainline that runs throughout can one profoundly comprehend the essence and core meaning of the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party, and play the important role of a clear, well-organized plan that brings everything else into place (纲举目张, gang ju mu zhang - "net, lift; eye, open"), grasping the main purport, and carrying out implementation throughout.
Why the "Decision" Must Run Through the Mainline of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building
Using the important forms of the Party's national congress and the plenary sessions of the Central Committee to study major issues in the development of the cause of the Party and the country, confirm the Party's major theoretical and practical innovation achievements, and coalesce the common ideological will and striving strength of the whole Party is an important institutional arrangement of our Party for decision-making and deliberation and governance of the country, is the political advantage and institutional advantage of the Party and the country, and is an important experience of a Marxist party in maintaining vigorous innovative vitality. Every important meeting of the Party runs through a distinct mainline; for example, the Sixth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee focused on the mainline of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in deliberating issues of strengthening and standardizing intra-Party political life and strengthening intra-Party supervision under new circumstances, and the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee focused on the mainline of comprehensively summarizing the Party's major achievements and historical experience in a century of struggle in studying and formulating the Party's third historical resolution, and so on. These meeting mainlines reflect the latest achievements of our Party's understanding of the laws of Communist Party governance, the laws of socialist construction, and the laws of human social development; they are the ideological engine that lays the political tone, reflects political will, and leads the political direction; they are both the criterion for ensuring the quality of the topics, ideological content, and theoretical increment of these important meetings, and the entry point for understanding and grasping the spirit of the plenary sessions.
The "Decision" points out that "in the great practice of governing the Party, rejuvenating the Party, and strengthening the Party in the new era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, centering on the major era question of what kind of Marxist party in long-term governance to build and how to build a Marxist party in long-term governance, put forward a series of new concepts, new ideas, and new strategies, and formed Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building." Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building is the latest achievement in upholding the Two Integrations (两个结合) to advance the Party's theoretical innovation, embodies the rich historical experience of a century-old major party in strengthening Party building, is the crystallization of the practical wisdom of governing the Party, rejuvenating the Party, and strengthening the Party in the new era, centrally reflects the achievements of theoretical innovation, practical innovation, and institutional innovation in Party building in the new era, and is an important component of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. This thought is the concentrated summary and theoretical sublimation of the experience of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era; it has rich political implications and weighty political bearing, centrally embodies our Party's political direction, political program, political line, and political stance, answers the fundamental question of "what the Communist Party of China is and what it wants to do," expounds the major issues of right and wrong that concern the Party's survival and future destiny, and fully demonstrates the advanced attributes, lofty mission, value pursuits, and construction goals of the world's largest Marxist governing party.
Perseveringly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is a major strategic decision made by our Party on the basis of a scientific judgment of the new changes and new challenges facing the world, the country, and the Party, grasping the historical orientation of the development of the cause of the Party and the country, focusing on the overall situation of Chinese modernization, better carrying forward our Party's historical experience of more than a hundred years of strengthening its own construction, upholding and applying well the valuable experience of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era with higher standards and more solid measures, rectifying and resolving well the prominent problems facing Party building, and consolidating and developing well the favorable political situation formed in governing the Party; it is an important practice of Party building and the cause in the new journey, and a major strategic decision on how to continue advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party on the new journey and walk well the new road of examination. Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building is the scientific guide and program of action for the great new project of Party building in the new era; in practice it has promoted the great achievements of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era and opened up a new situation for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and in institutional terms it has promoted the improvement of the system of intra-Party regulations and institutions and enhanced the overall effectiveness of governing the Party, demonstrating powerful theoretical might and practical strength. Only by running Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building throughout can one accurately and correctly grasp the main purport and core meaning of the "Decision," truly implement this thought in the entire process of perseveringly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party on the new journey, ensure that the practice of governing the Party, rejuvenating the Party, and strengthening the Party on the new journey always advances in the correct direction, and truly implement in place the major decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee on strengthening Party building.
The Mainline Role Played by Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building in the "Decision"
The "Explanations on the 'Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues Concerning Perseveringly Advancing Full and Rigorous Self-Governance of the Party'" emphasized the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building and made clear "the requirement to fully implement this thought in the framework arrangement of the document, in summarizing achievements and experience, in analyzing the situation and tasks, in clarifying the guiding ideology and principles, and in putting forward policy measures." Looking at the entire process of the convening of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party, whether in the ideological and theoretical preparation before the session or in the formal formation of major decisions at the plenary session, Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building was fully implemented, run throughout, and organically integrated, vividly reflecting the tremendous theoretical charm and great practical guiding power of this thought. To truly study deeply and comprehend thoroughly the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party, one must start from the mainline of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building, pull up the "net" of studying the spirit of the plenary session, grasp the "pulse" of comprehending the spirit of the plenary session, and through studying the mechanism and analyzing the principles comprehend the essential meaning and grasp the key to refine the essence.
The extensive, in-depth study and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building made full ideological and theoretical preparations for the introduction of the "Decision." On June 15 this year, the National Party Building Work Symposium made work arrangements for studying and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building. This thought is rooted in the deep fertile soil of Marxist party-building theory and draws spiritual nourishment from fine traditional Chinese culture. Its process of brewing and formation is precisely the development process in which full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era accumulated rich ideological achievements and practical experience and continuously advanced in depth. At the same time, the new situations, new problems, and new challenges facing Party governance also gradually became clear, and understanding of the importance and urgency of perseveringly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party became clearer. As the study and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building unfolded comprehensively throughout the Party, the latest achievements of Party building theory continuously renewed minds, activated thinking, and went deep into hearts and minds in the practice of Party governance. In particular, the scientific thinking methods contained in Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building demonstrated unique power in practice. This thought upholds the dialectical materialist theory of knowledge and profoundly expounds the major issues of the Communist Party of China's original aspiration and founding mission and value pursuits; upholds the historical materialist view of the masses as the makers of history and endows the practice of the Party's fundamental purpose with new era connotations and requirements; upholds the dialectical materialist method of contradiction analysis and profoundly discerns the dialectical unity of the Party relying on its own strength and the people's support to solve its own problems, successfully finding the "second answer"; upholds the dialectical materialist principle of universal connection and the systemic concept, coordinates the Party's leadership and Party building, and scientifically puts forward the goal requirements and key tasks of Party building in all aspects. These important theoretical achievements and scientific thinking methods provided a powerful ideological weapon for profoundly summarizing the successful experience of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era and for diagnosing and taking the pulse of the contradictions and problems existing in Party governance. This process of arming with theory and unifying thinking, and of using theory to observe and analyze the practice of Party building, was precisely in the key period when the "Decision" was being condensed and enriched in viewpoints, integrated and connected in context, and erected with pillars and beams in system; Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building became the light of theory leading this programmatic document to emerge and mature.
The "Decision" runs throughout with the theoretical essence and practical requirements of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building. In the process of research and formulation, the "Decision" implemented the principles, work layout, methods, and paths of Party governance explored and formed by the Party under new era conditions into the overall requirements and ideas and measures for perseveringly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, and embodied them in the framework arrangement of the document, in summarizing achievements and experience, in analyzing the situation and tasks, and in all other aspects. From the careful selection of the topic of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, having a far-sighted and strategic vision (高瞻远瞩, gao zhan yuan zhu - "high, look; far, view") and sizing up the situation, determined perseveringly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party as the topic of the plenary session. "Upholding full and rigorous self-governance of the Party" is an important content of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building and is the strategic principle of Party building in the new era. Full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is the distinctive theme of Party building in the new era; grasping full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is grasping the main principle and mainline of Party building in the new era. "Perseveringly" both expresses the unswerving and determined (坚定不移, jian ding bu yi - "firm, steady; not, move") political stance on this strategic principle and expresses the clear attitude of establishing a new starting point and solving new problems in governing the Party on the new journey.
From the perspective of framework arrangement and work layout, the full text of the "Decision" is divided into three major sections, forming a structure of "general exposition + separate expositions + guarantees," which is consistent in formal style with the "general exposition + separate expositions + guarantees" structure of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building. The general exposition part of the "Decision" both carries on the same lineage as many major judgments, important theses, and important viewpoints of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building, and, in combination with new practice, puts forward new theoretical growth points and practical innovation points. For example, it proposes that the "two answers" are "the unique creation of the Communist Party of China, forever recorded in the history of Marxist party building," deepening our Party's understanding of the historic contribution of the "two answers"; it makes a comprehensive and scientific summary of the achievements of governing the Party, rejuvenating the Party, and strengthening the Party in the new era from eight aspects, points out the fundamental reasons for the great achievements, and expounds the major significance of the formation of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building, which helps the whole Party further firm up confidence, coalesce will, and continue striving. The separate expositions part of the "Decision" makes strategic arrangements for strengthening the Party spirit of Communists, strictly implementing democratic centralism, forging a high-quality cadre team capable of shouldering the heavy task of national rejuvenation, building a rigorous organizational system that is connected from top to bottom and effective in execution, ceaselessly rectifying conduct and enforcing discipline, unswervingly promoting integrated advancement of not daring to be corrupt, not being able to be corrupt, and not wanting to be corrupt, and upholding governing the Party by institutions and by regulations, and so on; these are all important contents involved in and covered by the scientific connotations of the Fourteen Commitments (十四个坚持) of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building, and at the same time they closely combine with the development of practice and understanding, analyze new situations, put forward new ideas, and clarify new measures on the basis of original achievements, further enriching Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building and demonstrating the tremendous charm of this open theoretical system.
From the perspective of methods and paths, the "Decision" fully applies the scientific methods of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building, upholds the unity of mission guidance and problem orientation, grasps the key and crucial points, focuses on prominent problems, upholds simultaneous governance and construction and promoting construction through governance, conducts in-depth analysis of the contradictions and problems facing Party governance, and puts forward scientific conclusions including the "three more arduous" regarding the situation and tasks and the "four major challenges" of governing capacity, leadership level, team quality, and resisting corruption and preventing degeneration; upholds the unity of grasping the "key minority" and managing the "vast majority," and on the basis of tightening the chain of responsibility for Party governance at all levels, puts forward new requirements such as tightening and compacting the specific responsibilities of Party members and cadres, and forms new ideas for activating the "cell function" of Party organizations; upholds the unity of exercising power and taking on responsibility, and puts forward new requirements such as improving the institutional mechanisms for unifying authorization, use of power, and control of power that are clear, transparent, and traceable, establishing power lists for key industries and lists of small and micro powers at the grassroots level, and optimizing the evaluation mechanisms for responsibility implementation. These important measures are of great significance for enhancing the systematicness, creativity, and effectiveness of Party governance.
Grasping the Mainline of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building in Implementing the Spirit of the Plenary Session
Having the guidance of scientific theory is the fundamental basis for our Party to grasp historical initiative. In implementing the spirit of the plenary session, it is necessary to implement Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building in all aspects and the entire process of perseveringly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. Viewed from Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building, this thought has the characteristics of illuminating the substance and achieving application, with substance and application running through; it has both epistemology and methodology, both deploying the task of "crossing the river" and guiding the solution of the problem of the "bridge or boat"; whether for governing and strengthening the Party or for governing and strengthening the country, it has major and far-reaching guiding significance. From the dimension of the great new project of Party building in the new era, this thought provides a guide to action for guiding the whole Party in thinking about and grasping the new situations, new problems, and new challenges facing Party building, perseveringly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, maintaining the Party's advanced nature and purity, and consolidating the Party's long-term governing position. From the dimension of leading the strengthening of the country through strengthening the Party, this thought profoundly grasps the internal connection between governing the Party, rejuvenating the Party, and strengthening the Party and national rejuvenation, and provides a guide to action for further enhancing the Party's political leadership, ideological leading power, mass organizing power, and social appeal, more powerfully implementing the major decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee, and continuously transforming the Party's political and organizational advantages into advantages for promoting high-quality development of Chinese modernization.
Grasp well the study and comprehension of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building. The "Decision" is a programmatic document that concentrates the wisdom of the whole Party and embodies the will of the whole Party, and it makes arrangements for the overall requirements, major tasks, and major measures of perseveringly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. The formulation and formation of the "Decision" cannot be separated from the scientific guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building, and implementing the "Decision" likewise cannot be separated from the study and comprehension of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building. The more profoundly one understands and the more accurately one grasps the essential meaning and practical requirements of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building, the more accurately one will comprehend and the more effectively one will implement the distinctive theme, ideological context, and practical requirements of the "Decision." It is necessary to continuously grasp well the study of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building, study it in its original form and continuously follow up in study, take Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building as the key content of collective study and concentrated training, achieve constant study and constant cultivation, constant study and constant renewal, and at the same time carry forward the fine style of study of integrating theory with practice, consciously use Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building to plan ideas, improve measures, and perfect institutions, and continuously raise the scientific level of Party governance and Party building.
Uphold a clear problem orientation. A clear problem orientation is an important theoretical character contained in Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building. From the layout of the "Decision," it upholds the problem orientation throughout and is formulated to solve prominent problems within the Party, insisting that whatever problems exist, those problems are studied and solved, and whatever problems are prominent, those problems are focused on and solved, highlighting the key points and striking directly at the vital points. For example, from the perspective of word frequency, the word "problem" is mentioned 57 times in the "Decision," and there are 90 places emphasizing breaking, rectifying, preventing, and correcting problems. From the perspective of problem manifestations, Part Two of the "Decision," "Strengthening the Party Spirit of Communists," proposes struggling against the "three kinds of bad words and deeds," absolutely not permitting the "seven kinds of having," and resolutely opposing the "five isms," and so on; Part Three, "Strictly Implementing Democratic Centralism," proposes the "two must nots" for leading cadres and the "three resolute oppositions" in decision-making and deliberation, and so on; Part Four, "Forging a High-Quality Cadre Team Capable of Shouldering the Heavy Task of National Rejuvenation," proposes that precise and scientific selection and appointment of personnel must achieve the "two preventions," and that establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements must achieve the "nine rectifications," and so on. To implement the spirit of the plenary session and solve prominent problems, it is necessary to uphold seeking truth from facts and seeking truth and being pragmatic, go deep into the front line to investigate and find problems accurately, and at the same time strengthen the fighting spirit, not evade contradictions, and achieve taking a hard line and tackling problems left over from history, promptly following up and solving newly emerging problems, and solving problems with complex root causes through the concerted efforts of higher and lower levels, not stopping until the goal is reached, and upholding the combination of "immediate correction" and "long-term establishment" to continuously consolidate the effectiveness of solving problems.
Make good use of governing the Party by institutions, this long-term and fundamental policy of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. "Upholding governing the Party by institutions and by regulations" is an important content of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building and is the "ox's nose" that must be firmly grasped in full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. The "Decision" both highlights "upholding governing the Party by regulations" as one of the seven principles in the guiding principles, and makes arrangements in a dedicated chapter, Chapter Eight, of the main body on "upholding governing the Party by institutions and by regulations," highlighting the important institutional safeguard role of governing the Party by institutions for perseveringly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. It is necessary to earnestly strengthen awareness of institutions, the rule of law, and rules, pay attention to using institutions to manage power, affairs, and people, strictly implement the Party Constitution, Party regulations, and Party discipline, improve the system of intra-Party regulations and institutions, enhance the execution of institutions, vigorously break hidden rules, and enhance work effectiveness with an intra-Party regulations and institutions system that is systematically complete, scientifically standardized, and effectively operating.
Strengthen responsibility and accountability."Upholding the implementation of the political responsibility of governing the Party" is an important content of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building. Only by forming the overall synergy of governing the Party, rejuvenating the Party, and strengthening the Party, and promoting the grasping of Party building work in every front, every field, and every link in a concrete and in-depth manner, can the high quality of Party building be ensured. In implementing the spirit of the plenary session, the broad masses of Party members and cadres have no outsiders and no bystanders; it is necessary to make efforts to solve problems such as some Party organizations and leading cadres not fully understanding the primary responsibility for full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, not implementing responsibilities, not working effectively, and not strictly executing institutions, consciously place themselves in it and place their thinking and work in it, clarify the direction of effort, calibrate the yardstick of action, and strengthen responsibility and accountability.Party organizations at all levels must take the initiative to grasp and manage with heart, achieve compacting responsibilities and transmitting pressure at every level, and in particular shoulder the responsibility for governing the political ecology, establish clear rules, break hidden rules, use the upright to suppress the evil, eliminate the turbid and promote the clear, and through creating one good small environment after another promote the consolidation and development of the great climate of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. The "key minority" at all levels, especially secretaries, must earnestly perform the responsibility of the first responsible person, grasp firmly the supervision responsibility, "one post, two responsibilities," and industry supervisory responsibility, and so on, promote Party members and cadres to implement specific responsibilities in light of their post realities, continuously strengthen and invigorate the chain of responsibility for governing the Party, and promote the implementation of Party governance tasks in place through responsibilities being in place.
(Written by: Tang Junfeng)
Return to TopBy: 钱乘旦
Why do we study world history, and why do we research world history? This is a fundamental question that bears on the development of the discipline of world history. Ever since the discipline of world history took shape in China, this question has always existed, and there have been all kinds of answers. Some people study out of interest, some study in search of a career, some conduct research in order to publish papers, and some have in mind promotion to professional titles; more people have probably never thought about this question—especially young scholars, whose entry into the discipline of world history may have been unconscious. Coming all the way from primary school and middle school, through a convergence of circumstances they walked into this field; as for what the significance of this field is and where its function lies, they seem truly never to have considered it. Therefore, we have a responsibility to clarify the significance of studying and researching world history.
History in Chinese culture has always had the tradition of making knowledge useful for governing the state and serving society (经世致用, jing shi zhi yong - "manage the world, apply to practical use"), advocating using history as a mirror for lessons (以史为鉴, yi shi wei jian - "take, history, as, mirror") and drawing lessons from the past to guide the present (以古鉴今, yi gu jian jin - "take, antiquity, to, reflect, present"), holding that history is a mirror and that things that happened in history have a cautionary effect on people today; drawing lessons from historical experience helps people make fewer mistakes and grasp the correct direction of advance. Chinese scholars engaged in historical research all know Sima Qian's famous words—exploring the relationship between nature and humanity (究天人之际, jiu tian ren zhi ji - "investigate, heaven, human, and, between"), understanding the changes throughout history (通古今之变, tong gu jin zhi bian - "understand, ancient, modern, and, changes"), and forming one's own unique school of thought (成一家之言, cheng yi jia zhi yan - "form, one, family, of, words"). Many universities engrave this sentence in prominent places in their history departments, warning Chinese historians not to forget their academic inheritance. In Chinese history, famous historians all practiced this principle; for example, Sima Guang's famous work Zizhi Tongjian is very typical—he clearly pointed out that history is a mirror, and that studying history and writing history are for the purpose of governing the state well. If the source of Chinese historiography is placed in Confucius's Spring and Autumn Annals, then "when Confucius completed the Spring and Autumn Annals, rebellious ministers and treacherous sons were afraid"—the goal it points to is very clear.
China's discipline of world history took shape very late; in China's more than two thousand years of tradition of compiling history, there was no "world history." In the mid-nineteenth century China encountered invasion by the Western powers, and the fate of the nation was in peril; only this awakened a group of people of high ideals and integrity (志士仁人, zhi shi ren ren - "willful, scholar, benevolent, person") at the time, who issued the cry to "open our eyes and look at the world." China's "world history" emerged against this background; therefore, as soon as this discipline appeared, it displayed a very strong characteristic of making knowledge useful for governing the state and serving society. The question at the time was: how could China save the nation and strengthen itself, and avoid being bullied and invaded by foreign countries? Thereupon people of insight turned their gaze to the experiences of how those Western countries became strong, attempting to find a way out for China. In this way, the historical development of Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and Japan appeared in Chinese academia; at first it was only the introduction of knowledge, and later research and interpretation of how these countries became strong and how they expanded gradually began, until eventually the "discipline of world history" took shape. From this it can be seen that China's world history is a very young discipline, but its characteristic is very striking, namely applying what has been learned to practical work (学以致用, xue yi zhi yong - "learn, in order to, apply").
After reform and opening up, this tradition was manifested with particular vividness. China's modernization studies developed precisely out of the discipline of world history; the work done by Mr. Luo Rongqu of Peking University and others is representative of this. World history scholars, proceeding from the historical experience of various countries, explored the significance of reform for national and social development, providing historical reference and theoretical reference for reform and opening up. Looking back at the situation at the time, understanding and discussion surrounding reform were not without resistance, and affirming the significance of reform also required courage. However, it was precisely world history scholars who first raised this question, embodying the excellent tradition of applying what has been learned to practical work and the sense of responsibility of being concerned about the country and its people (忧国忧民, you guo you min - "worry, country, worry, people") and of resolving the country's difficulties. Today, we still need to continue to carry forward this tradition.
In Chinese academia, world history scholars were the first to pay attention to and carry out research on specific issues such as foreign medical security, social welfare systems, the alleviation of the wealth gap, and ecological and environmental governance. Since modern times, some countries in Europe and North America began their modernization transformation earlier and accumulated rich experience, while also leaving behind many lessons. By studying and introducing these situations, and combining them with the real problems China faces, world history scholars explore how to draw on the experience of other countries, adopting the strengths of others (取其所长, qu qi suo chang - "take, its, what, it, excels at") and avoiding their mistakes. These studies help us understand the process of world modernization, and also provide a reference for China's modernization drive.
Although China's discipline of world history has done a great deal of work in applying what has been learned to practical work and has made contributions to the country's development, today we still need to raise the question of why we study world history and why we research world history. A new generation of scholars is growing up, and they need to clearly understand the direction of development of the discipline of world history. In the past twenty or thirty years, many changes have taken place in the international historical circles. Among them, the trend of "fragmentation" in historiography deserves attention and vigilance. Fragmentation means denying the necessity of systems and not recognizing the function of historiography in making knowledge useful for governing the state and serving society. Under the influence of this trend of thought, many historians focus only on a small topic that interests them, and whether this topic has practical significance or academic value is almost a matter of indifference. As a result, historical research has become purely a personal interest, and history has become a heap of fragments, losing its wholeness. This trend has brought negative effects to the international historical circles, and has a certain market in Chinese academia, especially among young scholars, running counter to China's excellent historiographical tradition. We must clearly oppose this tendency.
Another issue related to this is the relationship between the discipline of world history and the discipline of area and country studies. These two disciplines share one thing in common: both take foreign issues as the object of understanding and research. After area and country studies became a first-level discipline, some scholars engaged in world history research worried that area and country studies would deal a blow to the discipline of world history and disperse its manpower, funding, research strength, academic attention, and so on. But in reality the two are not contradictory; rather, they complement and reinforce each other.
The healthy development of the emerging discipline of area and country studies cannot be separated from the important support of the following three foundational courses. The first is foreign languages. This does not refer only to English—English, as the international lingua franca, is a basic language tool that contemporary scholars should all master. For area and country studies, "foreign languages" refers to the local languages of the target country or region. The second is history. Relevant scholars must especially understand in depth the history of the target country or region; lacking an understanding of local history, it is very difficult to carry out area and country research, and even harder to write weighty research reports and academic works. The history of foreign countries precisely falls within the scope of world history; therefore, for area and country studies, world history is very important—it is an important foundation for carrying out area and country research. The third course is to go to the local area to study and live. For relevant scholars, this is not a simple "field investigation," but rather living and studying there over the long term, understanding local society, and making friends with local people. These three foundational courses show the many commonalities and close connections between area and country studies and the discipline of world history. At the same time, they also show that the profound academic accumulation of the discipline of world history can provide area and country studies with historical knowledge and a research foundation concerning countries and regions beyond China's borders.
But where does the biggest difference between world history and area and country studies lie? World history is a research-oriented discipline, placing more emphasis on the accumulation of basic knowledge and the study of historical processes. Area and country studies is an applied discipline, placing more emphasis on application and focusing on solving the various problems we face. The relationship between the two is somewhat like the relationship between the sciences and engineering: the sciences emphasize basic research, laying down basic theory and a knowledge framework; engineering, on the basis of scientific research, solves specific problems, such as building roads, building bridges, building ships, and manufacturing chips. World history and area and country studies can likewise, through such a division of labor and cooperation, each play their own role.
General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that we should accelerate the construction of an independent knowledge system for Chinese philosophy and social sciences, better answer the questions of China, the questions of the world, the questions of the people, and the questions of the times, and strive to open up a new situation for the high-quality development of philosophy and social sciences. This requires that research in philosophy and social sciences, including historical research, be able to solve practical problems and achieve making knowledge useful for governing the state and serving society. Answering "the questions of the world" is precisely the main task that China's discipline of world history and area and country studies must undertake. At present, the changes unseen in a century are accelerating in their evolution; whether it is world history or area and country studies, both should more proactively shoulder the heavy burden of answering "the questions of the world." Better answering "the questions of the world" is precisely contributing strength to advancing Chinese modernization; scholars must not fail this mission.
(The author is a Boya Chair Professor at Peking University and the founding dean of the Institute of Area and Country Studies.)
Return to TopBy: 陈渊
Recently, the term "Gung Ho" (工合) has returned to public view. This common English word describing "working together with one heart and mind and with great drive" is not a native English term. It originates from more than 80 years ago, from the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives movement that swept across China's rear areas and supported the War of Resistance; Chinese people are more familiar with its name: Gung Ho. From the dim oil lamps of rear-area factories to the muddy trenches of the Pacific theater, from the local practice of economic salvation to a cultural symbol spread across the ocean, the two characters "Gung Ho" carry the collective memory of the War of Resistance years and also tell of the past collaboration among China, the United States, and other countries in the anti-fascist front.
The birth of the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives movement. After the outbreak of full-scale war of resistance in 1937, China's coastal industrial cities fell one after another. Before the war, Chinese industry was highly concentrated in the southeastern coast; Shanghai alone concentrated 50 percent of the country's national-capital factories, 40 percent of total capital, and 46 percent of annual output, while inland provinces such as Xikang, Qinghai, and Ningxia had no modern factories at all. The Japanese army's occupation and destruction inflicted heavy losses on China's modern industry, military and civilian goods in the rear areas were extremely scarce, and at the same time about 3.5 million unemployed workers and tens of millions of refugees were displaced and homeless, urgently requiring production for self-relief.
It was precisely in this critical situation that New Zealand friend Rewi Alley, together with American journalists Edgar Snow and Helen Snow and others, based on profound observation of Chinese society, proposed the plan of "organizing rear-area production through industrial cooperatives." On March 19, 1938, Helen Snow was the first in Shanghai to propose: "The Chinese people should be organized and their production units united, managed by themselves, and industrial cooperatives are the best choice." This concept quickly won responses from patriots of all circles. At the "Monday Luncheon Club" on April 3 of the same year, the participants unanimously agreed to establish an industrial cooperative design committee and entrusted Alley with drafting the organization plan.
In May 1938, the "Plan for Organizing the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives Association and Developing the Gung Ho Movement" drafted by Alley successively received explicit support from Zhou Enlai and other CPC leaders, and this plan became the core founding program of the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives Association. The core goal of the plan was to rapidly establish 30,000 industrial cooperatives nationwide, organize the millions of unemployed workers and tens of millions of refugees flowing out of the coastal occupied areas, use small-scale, mobile, semi-handicraft production models to fill the production capacity gap left after coastal industry was destroyed, and accumulate production strength for protracted resistance. On August 5, 1938, the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives Association was formally established in Hankou. At the end of the same year the association moved to Chongqing and formally formed a board of directors. Board members crossed party lines and included Communists such as Lin Boqu, Dong Biwu, and Deng Yingchao, while democrats such as Shen Junru and Huang Yanpei were also among them. The Chinese Industrial Cooperatives Association took "work hard, work together" as its slogan, and its core mission was to organize refugees and unemployed workers in the rear areas and anti-Japanese base areas into industrial cooperatives, producing military and civilian goods to support the War of Resistance.
Thereafter, a Chinese Industrial Cooperatives movement led primarily by the people and supported by international forces, combining the multiple functions of production support for the front, refugee resettlement, and social transformation, rose vigorously across the land of China, and can be called an important practice of the world anti-fascist united front in the field of popular economics.
Industrial cooperatives flourishing everywhere. In August 1938, in the month the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives Association was established, Alley sent Lu Guangmian and others to Baoji, Shaanxi, to prepare the first office. On August 24, 1938, more than a dozen blacksmiths in Baoji formed China's first industrial cooperative — the Baoji Blacksmith Cooperative. In less than two weeks, more than a dozen cooperatives including weaving, ironware, candle and soap, medicinal cotton, and printing were established one after another, and within just three months more than 80 small factories were set up in the Northwest. To promote the smooth development of the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives movement, in 1939 Song Qingling, Chen Hansheng, and others established in Hong Kong an international popular organization — the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives International Committee — aimed at supporting the Gung Ho movement by accepting international aid.
The spark of Gung Ho quickly spread from the Northwest to the whole country. In early 1939, the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives Association successively set up five regional offices: Northwest, Southwest, Southeast, Chuankang, and Yunnan. Later these were adjusted to seven regions. By June 1940, Gung Ho organizations had covered 16 provinces, establishing 1,612 industrial cooperatives with 21,330 members. At its peak, nearly 3,000 industrial cooperatives were established nationwide, with as many as 250,000 members, spread across 18 provinces including Sichuan, Xikang, Yunnan, Guizhou, Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Shanxi, Suiyuan, Henan, Hunan, Hubei, Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Anhui. The business of the industrial cooperatives covered 10 major categories and 114 items including textiles, clothing, chemicals, mining and metallurgy, machinery, and hardware, among which textiles accounted for the highest share, reaching 34 percent. The military and civilian goods they produced propped up half of the rear areas.
According to incomplete statistics, during the War of Resistance the industrial cooperatives manufactured over the years more than 120,000 machines and farm tools of various kinds for textiles, oil pressing, printing, and other uses, 80,000 square yards of canvas, military cloth, and various civilian cloth, 1.5 million military blankets, and over a million military uniforms, military shoes, and daily-wear clothing. The monthly production capacity of the Northwest industrial cooperatives alone in 1940 reached 1.1 million chi of cotton cloth, 7,410 cotton blankets, and 35,700 military or wool blankets; machine cooperatives could manufacture 144 looms and 2 steam engines, and leather cooperatives could produce 2,270 pieces of sole leather and 3,480 pieces of upper leather. In addition, large numbers of hand grenades and bayonets were shipped out from the workshops, and various types of firearms were also successfully trial-produced, directly supporting the frontal battlefield and guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines.
The Gung Ho movement took the path of "production in place of relief." Hundreds of thousands of refugees, unemployed workers, and disabled soldiers found livelihoods in the cooperatives, and social order in the rear areas was thereby stabilized. As Song Qingling said when introducing the important role of the Gung Ho movement to China-aid organizations and international friends around the world: "Industrial cooperatives can maintain economic stability, can maintain the inland market, and avoid rural disorder and banditry; even if Japan completely occupies all our great cities, industrial cooperatives can employ all unemployed workers, enable our soldiers to obtain food and clothing, and avert famine as well as other kinds of economic instability."
The Gung Ho movement not only spread rapidly in the Kuomintang-controlled areas but also unfolded vigorously in the anti-Japanese base areas led by the Communist Party of China. In early 1939, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region established the "Gung Ho" Yan'an office, the first foothold of the Gung Ho movement in the liberated areas. In just a few months, 15 industrial cooperation projects were set up in the Yan'an area. Using the 1,500 yuan in funds and 20,000 yuan in loans left by Alley, the border region within five months set up multiple projects including textiles, military uniforms, soap, and pharmaceuticals, producing monthly 13,500 military uniforms, 1,580 military caps, and 4,000 bars of soap. New Fourth Army commander Ye Ting wrote to the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives International Committee in 1939: "The Southern Anhui Industrial Cooperation Center (that is, the Gung Ho office) has been important in helping us... In order to maintain protracted guerrilla warfare, we must develop industry and other cooperative undertakings to the greatest possible scope in order to strengthen our own base." Cooperative factories, with crude equipment and the most primitive techniques, nevertheless "made hand grenades in blacksmith shops" and "wove military cloth on spinning wheels," coalescing scattered handicraftsmen into an economic defense line supporting the War of Resistance.
The trans-Pacific spread of the "Gung Ho spirit." Evans Carlson, an officer of the United States Marine Corps, was a key figure connecting the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives movement with the world anti-fascist battlefield. In 1938, Carlson visited China as a military observer, went deep into Yan'an and the anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines in North China, and conducted on-the-spot investigation of the Eighth Route Army's model of military management. In 1940, he again followed Alley to the Southeast and Southwest to investigate the actual operation of industrial cooperatives. What he saw and heard in the base areas and the Gung Ho movement gave him a strong identification with the "Gung Ho spirit" of "officers and soldiers being equal and working together."
After the outbreak of the Pacific War, Carlson was ordered to form the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion of the United States Marine Corps. He directly adopted "Gung Ho" as the unit's slogan and drew on the Eighth Route Army's guerrilla tactics and concept of equality between officers and soldiers in training, and this unit was therefore called the "Gung Ho Battalion." In 1942, this unit made a surprise attack on Makin Island, completing the raid with a small force and becoming famous overnight through a single battle. The unit then went to Guadalcanal, fought long-distance campaigns through the jungle, struck the Japanese army with flexible tactics, and won many victories in the South Pacific. "Gung Ho" accordingly became popular throughout the U.S. military, becoming a signature military term describing high morale and unity and cooperation in a unit, and from there entered the everyday language of the American public.
After the war, the word "Gung Ho" formally became a common English adjective, often used to describe a state of working together with one heart and mind, of ardent enterprise, and of being full of drive. It witnessed the two-way cultural exchange between China and the United States during World War II. That spirit of unity and cooperation and of overcoming hard times together set out from China, was fed back to the English-speaking world through battlefield practice, and completed a trans-Pacific cultural transmission.
After the victory of the War of Resistance in 1945, the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives movement shifted from wartime production to peacetime construction, and the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives Association and the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives International Committee still play an important role today. Passing through the years of war, the most precious inspiration the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives movement of the War of Resistance period left to later generations lies not only in a system of industrial cooperation, but even more in people of different countries and different backgrounds moving toward each other while upholding the belief in mutual help and mutual relief.
Return to TopBy: 崔思朋
During the Qing dynasty, the Ulanqab League "extended east to the Xilin Gol League, south to the Guihua City Tumed and the Yeke Juu League, west to the Alxa Ööled Banner, and north to the Tusheet Khan Aimag and the Sain Noyon Khan Aimag, roughly corresponding to today's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region's Siziwang Banner, Darhan Muminggan Joint Banner, Urad Front Banner, Urad Middle Banner, Urad Rear Banner, Hanggin Rear Banner, Wuyuan County, Guyang County, Wuchuan County, and others." From the perspective of geographical location, Ulanqab was situated in the central part of the northern border region, on the great corridor of north-south movement in China, and was an important field for interaction, exchange, and integration among multiple ethnic groups. During this period, the various ethnic groups living in Ulanqab carried out extensive and in-depth interaction in political, economic, cultural, and blood-relationship respects, laying a solid material and psychological foundation for the further development of a sense of community for the Chinese nation.
The transformation of border governance under the Qing dynasty created conditions for ethnic integration in the northern border region. The Qing dynasty had a vast territory, "at its height extending east to Sakhalin, west to the Pamirs, north to the Stanovoy Range, and south to the South China Sea." The victories of the Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong reigns in military operations in the northwest enabled China's territory to successfully cross the northern farming-pastoral ecotone and continuously expand northward and into the northwest region. Correspondingly, the rulers of the Qing dynasty changed the traditional statecraft concept of "valuing the Central Plains and slighting the borderlands," and adopted a governance strategy in the northern border region of "using vassals as a screen." The Kangxi Emperor stated explicitly in an imperial edict: "This dynasty does not establish border defenses; it uses the Mongol tribes as its screen and vassals." It can thus be seen that the Qing dynasty basically abandoned the practice of using the Great Wall to maintain the order of farming and pastoral societies, and the vast lands inside and outside the Great Wall gradually became the core region for exchange and interaction among the various ethnic groups living in the northern border region.
Under the effective governance of the Qing dynasty, there emerged in the northern border region a harmonious situation in which "the Mongols submitted and were incorporated into the Eight Banners, just as in the interior." This not only provided stable political and social conditions for interaction, exchange, and integration among the different ethnic groups living in the northern border region and for cross-regional population movement north and south of the Great Wall, but also pushed the integration and exchange between farming and pastoral peoples into a new stage of development. Migrants from the interior went to the Mongolian grasslands to make a living on an unprecedented scale, and activities such as farming and commerce flourished accordingly. While promoting the development and construction of the northern border region, these activities also facilitated exchange and interaction between the interior and the northern border region, and advanced the process of the various ethnic groups of the northern border region integrating into the community of the Chinese nation, possessing far-reaching historical significance.
The central and western parts of the northern border region, including Ulanqab, were both a major destination for migrants going beyond the western passes and an important area traversed by the Ten-Thousand-Li Tea Road. This "raised the population density of the local (border) areas and brought about relatively great changes in economy and culture." As Fei Xiaotong said, the interaction between the Han Chinese and the surrounding ethnic minorities penetrated deep into minority concentrated areas through the transportation routes and commercial strongholds established in minority regions, forming a network combining points and lines, dense in the east and sparse in the west.Because of the uniqueness of its geographical location, Ulanqab became an important field for interaction, exchange, and integration among the farming and pastoral ethnic groups in the northern border region during the Qing dynasty.
Ulanqab's becoming an important node of the Ten-Thousand-Li Tea Road accelerated ethnic integration. Since the Qing dynasty, the Silk Road passing through the grasslands of northern China entered a new stage manifested in the form of the Ten-Thousand-Li Tea Road. The Ten-Thousand-Li Tea Road took shape in the mid-to-late 17th century and had a total length of about 13,000 kilometers. It extended from the southeast coast to the interior and further to the northern border region, becoming a channel and bond for interaction, exchange, and integration among different regions and different ethnic groups in north and south China, and promoting the development of the community of the Chinese nation during the Qing dynasty. The Ten-Thousand-Li Tea Road had no fixed route; any commercial route leading north to Mongolia or Russia could be included, forming commercial routes that crisscrossed and penetrated deep into the heart of the grasslands. Among them, the commercial route extending northward via Zhangjiakou passed through the Ulanqab region, making it an important node of the Ten-Thousand-Li Tea Road in the northern border region.
During this period, a large number of towns arose in the Ulanqab region due to commercial activity. For example, Zhanggao Town: "In the fifth year of Yongzheng... the streets in the town wind about, the markets are cramped, and cleanliness is also inferior to Longshengzhuang. The town currently has more than twenty business firms, mainly dealing in grain, tobacco and tea, oil and liquor, and printed cloth." Another example is Siziwang Banner, located deep in the heart of the grasslands, which had both an official road leading to Kulun (present-day Ulaanbaatar, capital of Mongolia) and an official road leading to Beijing via Tumertai, Shangdu, and Zhangjiakou; commercial camel caravans frequently passed through its territory, and "peddlers carrying their wares on shoulder poles and traveling merchants to Mongolia from surrounding areas such as Shanxi, Hebei, and Guihua City traveled a very long distance via Kekeyiligen, Wulanhua, and Kebuer to conduct business at the princely residence, Damiao, and other lama temples." These continuous and unending (络绎不绝, luo yi bu jue - "intertwined, not, cease") commercial activities provided a medium and carrier for sustained interaction for cross-regional population movement between north and south and for interaction, exchange, and integration among different ethnic groups in Ulanqab. When the Qing-era man Qian Liangze passed through Zhangjiakou, he recorded how commercial exchange drove interaction, exchange, and integration among the ethnic groups of Zhangjiakou and its neighboring areas: "Since the Ming dynasty, we suffered harassment from the Mongols every year; down to our dynasty, when Manchus and Han are as one, Mongols and people of all descriptions come and go in trade like one family, and so the people are secure in their livelihoods and grow more numerous and prosperous by the day."
Under the influence of the Ten-Thousand-Li Tea Road, the customs and habits of the northern border region and the interior permeated each other, developing from economic mutual complementarity into cultural identification and integration. In the Qing dynasty, Chen Fengheng, with a poet's sensitivity and imagination, sketched the prosperity and peace brought by the Ten-Thousand-Li Tea Road: "People of various kinds vie in boasting of the gathering of Mongols; rare treasures come from afar to the very encampments. Ever since unification left no distinction between inner and outer, the million people of Hua and Yi sleep soundly." Whether in production or in daily life, the people of all ethnic groups, Han and Mongol alike, showed deep integration, forming an interdependent and inseparable ethnic relationship.
Ethnic integration in the northern border region promoted the further development of the community of the Chinese nation. The community of the Chinese nation was jointly created over the long historical process of interaction, exchange, and integration by all the ethnic groups that have appeared within China's territory since ancient times. In particular, the interaction between farming and pastoral peoples is of great significance to the formation and development of the community of the Chinese nation.
In the Qing dynasty, Ulanqab, as a key region for interaction, exchange, and integration among farming and pastoral peoples, gradually strengthened its process of integration with the interior, driven by migrants from the interior and commercial activity. Chahar and Suiyuan records: "From the Yongzheng period onward, in various parts of Inner Mongolia, sub-prefectures, circuits, prefectures, and counties were gradually established, with official systems just like those of the interior." Through adjustments at the institutional level, the Qing government incorporated Ulanqab into a political and economic system integrated with the interior, achieving regularized management of the region by institutional means.
Since the Qing dynasty, the nomadic peoples of Ulanqab showed an unprecedented acceptance of and identification with farming civilization, and the differences between farming and pastoral peoples in modes of livelihood, habits of life, and other respects gradually faded. When the American William Woodville Rockhill passed through Ulanqab, he recorded: near Huangqi Lake, "the mode of life of these Mongols is more like that of the Chinese than that of any other tribe I have ever visited"; near Shibatai Town in Zhuozi County, "there are only two poor, cheerless inns here, kept by Mongols; they speak Chinese fluently, as do most of the Chahar Mongols of this part of the country." In addition, the social atmosphere of Ulanqab also underwent marked changes under the influence of farming civilization. For example, in Jining County, "the residents are mostly engaged in farming, and so their customs are honest and generous, and their habits are frugal and plain." Another example is Fengzhen County: "Those in the villages have honest and generous sentiments and are accustomed to diligence and frugality, and so in clothing, food, housing, and daily life they are extremely simple. They merely wear cloth garments and eat coarse grain, seeking only to ward off the cold and fill their stomachs." Siziwang Banner also had the custom of "planting in spring, hoeing in summer, harvesting in autumn, and storing in winter." The Han people who migrated into Ulanqab and other places were likewise deeply influenced by the local Mongols in diet, language, customs, and other respects. According to a Republican-era survey report on Suiyuan Province, "the residents of this county are mostly migrants from Shanxi; because the opening was early, the migrants became natives, and their language early broke away from Shanxi speech and became a kind of local language."
Throughout the Qing dynasty, as an important region of the northern border where pastoralism turned to farming or farming and pastoralism combined, interaction, exchange, and integration among the various ethnic groups of Ulanqab continuously deepened from production and daily life into culture, customs, and blood relationships; this not only promoted the development of a regional multi-ethnic community in the northern border region, but also powerfully advanced the further development of the community of the Chinese nation.
(The author is deputy director of the Research Base for Forging the Sense of Community for the Chinese Nation of the Four National Commissions at Inner Mongolia University)
Return to Top(Study Times report)
On October 31, the "Academic Salon on Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization" (third session), jointly hosted by the Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Department of Philosophy of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance), was held at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance). This session of the salon aimed to thoroughly study and implement the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, and to deepen systematic and academic research on "upholding and strengthening the Party's overall leadership over ecological civilization construction." Zhang Yongsheng, Director of the Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Director of the Institute of Ecological Civilization Studies, and Han Donghui, Director of the Department of Philosophy of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance), delivered speeches. Han Qingxiang, former member of the School Affairs Committee of the former Central Party School and a first-tier professor of the National Philosophy and Social Sciences, and Lin Jianhua, Party Committee Secretary of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Research Institute of Chinese Modernization, delivered keynote speeches.
At the meeting, experts and scholars from the Department of Philosophy of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance), the Department of Sociology and Ecological Civilization of the same institution, the Environmental and Economic Policy Research Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Peking University, the University of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing Forestry University, the Hebei Academy of Social Sciences, and Hebei Normal University for Nationalities delivered exchange speeches.
All unanimously stated that holding this session of the salon on the occasion of the closing of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee was of great significance. The plenum proposed that strengthening Party spirit is the fundamental task of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, and required upholding the use of the Party's innovative theory to consolidate the heart and forge the soul, which provides an important theoretical entry point for understanding the intrinsic interconnection between Xi Jinping's thought on Party building and Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization.
All unanimously held that the "Ten Persistences" of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization are the essential framework (四梁八柱, si liang ba zhu - "four beams, eight pillars") for building a Beautiful China and a Beautiful World, among which upholding the Party's overall leadership over ecological civilization construction is the fundamental guarantee of China's ecological civilization construction. History and practice have proven that only by upholding the Party's overall leadership can the intergenerational governance challenges in the field of ecological civilization construction be resolved, and the Party's overall leadership can transform the advantages of the socialist system into long-term ecological governance capacity. It is necessary to give full play to the Party's role in ecological civilization construction of taking overall responsibility and coordinating all sides (总揽全局、协调各方, zong lan ju ju, xie tiao ge fang - "overall command of the whole situation, coordinate all parties"), to run the Party's overall leadership through all fields and all links of ecological civilization construction, and to promote the improvement of the mechanism of "shared responsibility between Party and government, and dual responsibility in one post" in ecological civilization construction. It is necessary to continuously promote the systematic research, academic interpretation, popularized dissemination, and precise communication of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization.
Return to Top(Study Times report)
On October 23, the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance) held the 26th Young Scholars Forum and the 4th "Young Voices on National Governance" Academic Forum, with the theme "Modernization of National Governance in the Digital-Intelligent Era." The forum was hosted by the Research Department of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance) and organized by the Department of National Governance Teaching and Research. Gong Weibin, Vice President (Vice Minister-level) of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance) and concurrently Director of the Department of National Governance Teaching and Research, attended the meeting and delivered a speech. Bai Jingwei, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Management World magazine; Cao Sheng, Deputy Director of the Chinese Public Administration magazine; Wei Lei, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Beijing Administration Institute; and Liu Cuixia, Editorial Reviewer of the Administrative Management Reform editorial department, were invited to attend and provide comments. The forum was chaired by Song Shiming, Deputy Director of the Department of National Governance Teaching and Research, and Hong Xianghua, Deputy Director of the Research Department, delivered remarks. Relevant personnel from the Research Department, all members of the Department of National Governance Teaching and Research, and some doctoral students, totaling more than 40 people, participated in the forum.
At the forum, 10 young teachers focused on the theme and, building on their respective professional directions, shared and exchanged their latest research results. The participating experts, in light of the positioning of their respective journals, offered detailed and in-depth comments from the aspects of the significance of the topic selection, research content, and research methods, and put forward constructive suggestions.
In his concluding speech, Gong Weibin pointed out that this forum attempted to explain and analyze relevant issues from the perspective of national governance, reflecting the young teachers' self-awareness and initiative in advancing disciplinary transformation. He expressed the hope that young teachers would make good use of the academic exchange platform built for them by the Research Department, fully heed the opinions and suggestions of experts, polish their work earnestly, and strive to produce high-quality research results.
Since its inception, the "Young Scholars Forum" of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance) has played a positive role in promoting academic exchange and advancing cross-departmental and interdisciplinary exchange, and has also witnessed the growth and progress of many young scholars. It is an important platform through which the school (academy) encourages young teachers to devote themselves to academic studies (潜心治学, qian xin zhi xue - "submerge heart, govern learning") and to dare to innovate, continuously improving their research capabilities through mutual exchange and mutual learning.
(Wang Yitong)
Return to TopParty spirit education is the main task and main course of Party schools (schools of administration); comprehensively improving the quality and effectiveness of Party spirit education is the inherent requirement of Party school teaching. The Shanghai Municipal Party School (Shanghai Municipal School of Administration) has actively explored a full-cycle, full-chain Party spirit education model whose main content is "whole-process management, all-round reshaping, and all-factor guarantee," and has achieved good results.
In terms of whole-process management, first, integrated design. It issued the "Opinions on Further Strengthening Students' Party Spirit Education," persisted in running Party spirit tempering through the entire process of education and training, and through systematic design of teaching content and integrated creation of teaching processes, realized a complete closed loop of teaching management — "warm-up and groundwork before enrollment, deep tempering during training, transformation and upgrading after graduation" — striving to promote the shift from "one-time education" to "lifelong cultivation." Second, three-dimensional presentation. It built a "three-dimensional classroom" system, promoted the extension of Party spirit education from "flat" to "three-dimensional," and extended the chain of Party spirit education to the "first, second, and third classrooms." The first classroom focuses on "forging the soul." It precisely meets the full-chain needs of cadres for theoretical study, ideological improvement, and capacity transformation, builds an organic whole of "theoretical education + Party spirit education + training in performance capacity," establishes a special Party spirit education unit in alignment with the "Work Regulations of the Communist Party of China Party Schools (Schools of Administration)," and arranges teaching courses on Marxist theory, the Party's innovative theory, the Party Constitution and Party discipline, and so on. The second classroom focuses on "nourishing the heart." Centering on Shanghai's rich resources as the birthplace of the Party, the place of origin of the original aspiration, and the cradle of the great founding spirit of the Party, it designs and develops on-site teaching courses embodying Shanghai's characteristics. At the same time, relying on the high-quality resources of Party schools in brother provinces and municipalities, it carefully selects and carries out on-site teaching in other provinces and municipalities with distinctive themes. The third classroom focuses on "tempering action." Following the footsteps of General Secretary Xi Jinping in Shanghai, on visits to Shanghai, and in his talks about Shanghai, and centering on themes such as the people's city built by the people, whole-process people's democracy, and the construction of a science and innovation center, it has successively developed and formed a series of courses titled "The General Secretary Talks About Shanghai," so that students deeply feel and always keep in mind General Secretary Xi Jinping's earnest entrustment. At the same time, upholding the concept of "the Municipal Party Committee sets the questions, the training answers them," and closely centering on the city's central work, it incorporates "the responsibility of cadres in innovative development" into the required course of Party spirit education, organizes students to go deep into the front line of scientific and technological innovation to carry out research, feel the pulse of science and technology in research, and strengthen the sense of mission of "the top priorities of the country."
In terms of all-round reshaping, taking the reshaping of the learning ecology of Marxist classic works as the breakthrough point, it deeply integrates the concept of full-cycle, full-chain Party spirit education into student management, and strives to create a strict, tight, and solid style of study and school spirit. First, in-depth research-style learning. In response to the problems of doing things superficially without going deep (浅尝辄止, qian shang che zhi - "shallow, taste, stop, arrive") and the disconnection between learning and application in classic study, in key training classes such as the young and middle-aged cadres class, it innovatively implements the "four-step" teaching method for classic works, promoting the shift of theoretical study from "superficial" to "in-depth": the first step is "students' self-study," with the class supervisor supervising study throughout. Students are urged to read the original works, study the original texts, and comprehend the original principles, to read books "thin" and read principles "through," and to build a solid foundation of faith; the second step is "teachers' guided reading," with the teaching group collaborating to promote study. Teachers focus on the difficulties and confusions students encounter in self-study and, faithful to the original works, explain the source clearly. The class supervisor collects students' confusions in advance, feeds them back to the lecturing teachers, and organizes students to carry out group discussions after class, ensuring that "understanding what is heard" is transformed into "thinking it through"; the third step is the "thematic forum," with the class supervisor precisely guiding study. It reshapes the process of the student forum, grasps the rhythm and guides the direction in organizing the forum, and lets students calm down to excavate rational thinking, theoretical thinking, and dialectical thinking, and distinguish truth in the clash of ideas; the fourth step is "intensive lecture and research-based study," with teachers deeply leading study. Focusing on the contemporary value of classic works, teachers guide students to place themselves in, place their duties in, and place their work in, and through "rectifying the heart, clarifying principles, examining oneself, and practicing earnestly," transform the fruits of study into political resolve to resist corruption and prevent degeneration. Second, multi-level assessment. In response to the difficult problem of how to assess students accurately and substantively, it explores a whole-process observation and identification mechanism. On the one hand, it supports students in doing well in self-examination. In training classes it implements the "three reviews and one report" system, that is, guiding students to review the Party Constitution, review the oath of joining the Party, and review the letters of revolutionary martyrs, and to form three ideological reports and one Party spirit analysis report. Students compare themselves in the midst of being moved, see through themselves in introspection, and benchmark themselves in analysis, achieving the goals of being shaken and moved, finding gaps, and internalizing and improving. On the other hand, it cooperates with the students' temporary Party branch to do well in all-round observation. It strengthens Party spirit requirements in strict management and does well in the "three grasps": grasping the student branch, grasping key links, and grasping Party spirit education. In terms of the branch, the focus is on selecting a good secretary, building a strong leadership team, setting up lines, clarifying division of labor, and strictly managing and strictly supervising. Key links emphasize "one head, one tail, one outing": "one head" refers to entrance education, emphasizing identity transformation and disciplinary constraints; "one tail" refers to assessment and graduation, emphasizing self-examination and branch appraisal; "one outing" refers to teaching in other locations, strengthening pre-departure mobilization and supervision and management, and ensuring training effectiveness. In addition, it solidly carries out Party spirit analysis and commentary. It invites veteran leaders and veteran teachers to serve as "Party spirit analysts," providing "one-on-one" in-depth guidance and personalized commentary on students' Party spirit analysis.
In terms of all-factor guarantee, it forges a teaching management team of the "three carriages" — class supervisors, teaching group leaders, and teaching coordinators — and carries out all-round teaching management and observation. First, the class supervisor team is "professionalized and connotative." It implements the class supervisor "empowerment plan," requiring them not only to be familiar with teaching processes but also to possess profound political literacy, to serve well as the "guide" for student growth, the "fellow traveler" in Party spirit tempering, the "co-manager" of the student branch, and the "link" for teaching, research, and consultation while ensuring the orderly operation of teaching. It forms a management synergy with the students' temporary Party branch, jointly creating a learning atmosphere that is both serious and tense and warm and orderly, and realizes the sublimation from "managing students" to "accomplishing students." Second, the teaching team is "integrated and refined." It clarifies the full-chain guarantee functions of teaching group leaders and coordinators, precisely meets teaching objectives, does well in course design, and closely monitors the links of teaching implementation; it holds pre-class meetings, progress meetings, and summary meetings well throughout the process, ensuring solid and efficient teaching support for students. Third, the management team is "strictly required and keeps to the bottom line." It improves the student management system, sorts out and standardizes work processes, formulates a negative list for work, strictly enforces team discipline supervision, and strives to build a high-quality, professional management team that is politically strong, firm in conviction, highly skilled in work, and fine in style.
(Bo Qijun, Liu Changbo)
Return to Top(Study Times report) After the conclusion of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party, the Party schools (academies of governance) of Heilongjiang, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Shandong, Hainan, Chongqing, Sichuan, Shaanxi and other places organized and guided the broad masses of faculty, staff and trainees through various means at the first opportunity to earnestly study and comprehend the spirit of the plenary session, and made arrangements for studying, publicizing and implementing the spirit of the plenary session at present and for a period to come.
Party schools (academies of governance) in various places stated that the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party was a very important meeting held at the important juncture of the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and in the critical period of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, of great significance and far-reaching influence. The "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues Concerning Perseveringly Advancing Full and Rigorous Self-Governance of the Party," deliberated and adopted at the plenary session, made strategic arrangements for perseveringly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, and is a programmatic document for continuously advancing the great new project of Party building in the new era. It is necessary to take the in-depth study and implementation of the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party as a major political task at present and for a period to come, to study one step ahead and go one level deeper, and to rapidly set off an upsurge of studying, publicizing and implementing. It is necessary to improve political positioning, accurately grasp the core essence of the spirit of the plenary session, earnestly unify thought and action with the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee, deeply comprehend the decisive significance of the Two Establishments (两个确立), enhance the Four Consciousnesses (四个意识), strengthen the Four Confidences (四个自信), and achieve the Two Upholds (两个维护).
The Party School (Academy of Governance) of the Heilongjiang Provincial Party Committee held a meeting of all faculty, staff and trainees on November 2. The meeting required that the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party be integrated into the entire process of cadre education and training, incorporated into the teaching arrangements of main classes, and that the Party school's role as the main front for cadre education and training be fully brought into play; that around the spirit of the plenary session and Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, special courses be developed, special lectures be held, publicity and explanation be carried out, and research and interpretation be organized, so as to promote the spirit of the plenary session into Party school classrooms at the first opportunity and vividly and effectively into the minds of trainees;that work style be tempered to be excellent, and the requirements of perseveringly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party be implemented in the practice of comprehensively and rigorously governing the school, that the construction of teachers' ethics and style be strengthened, that trainee management be strictly carried out, that the school be governed strictly, teaching be governed strictly, and learning be governed strictly, and that the style of study, the style of simplicity, and the style of clarity be vigorously cultivated.
The Party School (Academy of Governance) of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee held an expanded meeting of the school (academy) committee on November 2 to convey and study the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party and to study measures for implementation. The meeting required that comprehensive benchmarking and alignment be adhered to, that the study and implementation of the spirit of the plenary session be connected with the study and implementation of Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, combined with the implementation of the provincial Party committee's "132" overall work deployment, and linked with advancing the high-quality development of the Party school cause; that the working mechanism of implementation by lists, by projects, and in a closed loop be adhered to, and that it be resolutely ensured that whenever the Party Central Committee and the provincial Party committee make deployments, the Party school sees action and sees actual results. It is necessary to fully serve the central work and overall situation, undertake important rotating training tasks according to the arrangements of the provincial Party committee, promptly update teaching topics, improve the curriculum system, optimize teaching content, accelerate the construction of a distinctive curriculum system of Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, and rapidly promote the spirit of the plenary session into teaching, into classrooms, and into minds; closely follow the major deployments made at the plenary session, strengthen research, interpretation and publicity, and actively plan and launch a series of results. It is necessary to perseveringly advance comprehensive and rigorous governance of the school, follow the strictest political standards, academic standards, teaching standards and management standards, run the requirements of comprehensive strictness through the entire process of the Party school's performance of its functions, embody them in all aspects of governing the school according to law and managing the school by systems, continuously improve the work system of comprehensive and rigorous governance of the school, and always achieve strict governance of the school, strict governance of teaching, and strict governance of learning. It is necessary to earnestly perform the political responsibility of managing the Party and governing the Party, consolidate and expand the results of the study and education on establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements, deeply implement the action of improving capability and work style, and accelerate the building of a new-era Party school highland of Party building and a highland of clean governance.
The Party School (Academy of Governance) of the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee held an expanded meeting of the school (academy) committee on October 30 to convey and implement the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party and the spirit of the provincial leading cadres meeting, and deliberated the work plan for the school (academy) to study, publicize and implement. The meeting emphasized that the leading and promoting role of the school (academy) committee theoretical study center group in study should be brought into play, that the study of each Party branch be firmly grasped, and that faculty and staff be guided to study the original texts in their entirety, study in connection with reality, and study so as to enter the mind and the heart, earnestly transforming study results into practical action and work results. It is necessary to fully bring into play the functional role of the school (academy), take the spirit of the plenary session as a required course, optimize teaching topics, improve the curriculum system, prepare well for special rotating training on the spirit of the plenary session, and conduct systematic training of cadres and Party members in batches and stages. It is necessary to actively cooperate in completing the work of the provincial Party committee propaganda team, and organize backbone forces to carry out targeted, audience-differentiated, and interactive publicity. It is necessary to make good use of the platform advantages of the Jiangxi Cadre Network Academy, launch online special topics, and expand the coverage of the spirit of the plenary session. It is necessary to carry out systematic and academic research and interpretation around the spirit of the plenary session, do deep and solid theoretical research and countermeasure research in connection with Jiangxi's reality, and produce more substantial research results. It is necessary to adhere to combining study with application, perseveringly advance comprehensive and rigorous governance of the school, strengthen Party spirit education for Party member cadres, strictly implement democratic centralism, strengthen the building of the cadre and talent ranks, systematically advance Party organization building, continuously and unremittingly rectify conduct and enforce discipline, and advance the "three nots of corruption" as an integrated whole. It is necessary to adhere to governing the school by systems and according to regulations, strengthen supervision and management, with each fulfilling its responsibilities and unified coordination, providing a strong guarantee for accelerating the building of a first-class Party school.
The Party School (Academy of Governance) of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee held an expanded meeting of the school (academy) committee on October 30 to specially convey and study the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party and to conduct discussion and exchange in connection with the actual work of the school (academy). The meeting emphasized that education and training be earnestly grasped, that the spirit of the plenary session be promptly incorporated into the teaching content of main classes, that special courses be opened, teaching content be updated, and case materials be enriched, and that the work of bringing the spirit of the plenary session into teaching materials, into classrooms, and into minds be earnestly done. It is necessary to deepen research and interpretation, focus on the major proposition of perseveringly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, deepen theoretical research and countermeasure research, produce high-quality scientific research and policy-consulting results, actively carry out social publicity, and make the voice of the Party school heard. It is necessary to advance rigorous governance of the school consistently, run the strict tone through the entire process and all aspects of Party school work, cultivate the style of study, the style of simplicity, and the style of clarity, lead and guarantee the connotative high-quality development of the Party school cause with the new results of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, and make the Party school's contribution to promoting the spirit of the plenary session to take root in the land of Qilu.
The school (academy) committee of the Party School (Academy of Governance) of the Hainan Provincial Party Committee held an expanded study meeting of the theoretical study center group on October 31 to convey and study the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party and the spirit of the expanded meeting of the standing committee of the provincial Party committee, and to study the school (academy)'s work of implementation. The meeting emphasized that the study and publicity of the spirit of the plenary session be organized by higher standards, that studying one step ahead and going one level deeper be adhered to, that the pertinence and effectiveness of study and publicity be continuously enhanced, and that cohesion of the heart and casting of the soul be earnestly achieved. It is necessary to organize the education and training on the spirit of the plenary session by higher standards, solidly do course development, earnestly carry out lesson preparation and trial teaching, take the spirit of the plenary session as the main course and required course of all classes of Party school training, and promote the spirit of the plenary session into teaching materials, into classrooms, and into minds. It is necessary to organize the research and interpretation of the spirit of the plenary session by higher standards, make good use of platforms such as the provincial research base for Party building leading the construction of the free trade port and the Hainan research base of the 21st Century Marxism Research Institute, carry out research and interpretation focusing on the major theoretical and practical issues of perseveringly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, and fully bring into play the role of an important think tank. It is necessary to implement by higher standards the various tasks of perseveringly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party throughout the provincial Party school system, strive to walk in the front and set an example in strengthening the Party's leadership, tempering strong Party spirit, forging excellent work style, strictly implementing systems, and comprehensively implementing responsibilities, promote the implementation of the responsibility of managing and governing the Party in place by strengthening the "five-responsibility coordination," and resolutely shoulder the Party school's responsibility and make the Party school's contribution in escorting the steady and far-reaching progress of the Hainan Free Trade Port.
The Party School (Academy of Governance) of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee held a cadres meeting on November 2 to convey, study and implement the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party, implement the spirit of the city's leading cadres meeting, and study and deploy measures for implementation. The meeting emphasized: First, systematic study must be grasped well. It is necessary to combine the study and implementation of the spirit of the plenary session with Xi Jinping's thought on Party building and the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech and important instructions during his inspection of Chongqing, adhere to the leadership taking the lead in guiding study, Party members conducting full-coverage research study, and the system linking up to promote study, continuously set off an upsurge of study, publicity and implementation, and promote the internalization and transformation of the spirit of the plenary session. Second, precise training must be grasped well. It is necessary to incorporate the spirit of the plenary session into the required courses of cadre education and training, organize the development of a series of teaching topics, update courses, iterate lecture drafts, optimize the curriculum system of Party spirit education, run with high quality the special reading classes and the "Seeking Truth Grand Classroom," and promote the spirit of the plenary session into teaching materials, into classrooms, and into minds. Third, academic interpretation must be grasped well. It is necessary to accelerate the construction of a high-end think tank for Party building work, give play to the advantages of the Dacheng collective wisdom mechanism and the "1+6+N" new-type scientific research and policy-consulting system, carry out theoretical research and research on major practical issues around the major topic of perseveringly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party and closely following the practice of building a new highland of municipal Party building in the new era, plan a batch of Party building topics, sort out a batch of reserve lists of research topics, and launch a batch of high-energy scientific research and policy-consulting results. Fourth, three-dimensional publicity must be grasped well. It is necessary to fully bring into play the advantages of the Party school's theoretical front, coordinate and make good use of communication channels inside and outside the school, solidly carry out concentrated publicity, summarize and refine the good experiences and good practices of study, publicity and implementation throughout the city's Party school system, and vigorously create a strong atmosphere of perseveringly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. Fifth, itemized implementation must be grasped well. It is necessary to compact the political responsibility of managing the Party and governing the school, base on the reality of organ Party building, strengthen discipline and work style construction, implement the tasks deployed by the plenary session in an itemized and listed manner, coordinate and grasp the current key work well, and lead the high-quality development of the Party school cause with the new results of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party.
The Party School (Academy of Governance) of the Sichuan Provincial Party Committee held a meeting of the school (academy) committee on October 30 to specially convey and study the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party and to study measures for implementation. The meeting required that the deployment requirements of the plenary session be benchmarked and aligned, that the school (academy)'s measures for perseveringly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party be refined, that the strictest political standards, academic standards, teaching standards and management standards be followed, and that the various deployments of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party be promoted to land and be refined in the school (academy). It is necessary to always place the Party's political building in the first position, firmly adhere to the fundamental principle that "the Party school is surnamed the Party," strictly implement democratic centralism, unremittingly use the Party's innovative theory to cohere the heart and cast the soul, press down and compact the responsibility system for ideological work, continuously cultivate an excellent school spirit, teaching spirit and study spirit, strictly grasp the education and management of the teaching staff and participating trainees, consolidate and expand the results of the study and education on establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements, solidly do the "second half of the article" of inspection and rectification, and must grasp the "nose of the ox" of the responsibility system for managing and governing the Party, leading and guaranteeing the high-quality development of all causes of the school (academy) with high-quality Party building.
The Party School (Academy of Governance) of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee held an expanded meeting of the school (academy) committee on November 2 to specially convey and study the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party and to study and deploy the school (academy)'s measures for implementation. The meeting emphasized that political positioning be improved, that thought and action be promptly unified with the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee, that closely following the practice of the Party school's original aspiration, and that the key work in five aspects be solidly grasped. First, deep study and careful comprehension, entering the mind and the heart. The school (academy) committee leadership takes the lead in research study, and each Party branch and each department separately organizes special study and discussion, deeply comprehends the core essence and practical requirements of the spirit of the plenary session, and earnestly achieves the integration of study, thought and application, and the unity of knowledge, belief and action. Second, concentrating efforts on training and serving the overall situation. It is necessary to actively connect with the work arrangements of the provincial Party committee, coordinate forces, commit all elite forces, do with high standards the work of special training, publicity and exposition, and training and rotating training on the spirit of the plenary session, promptly integrate the spirit of the plenary session into the teaching system of main classes, and promote the spirit of the plenary session into teaching materials, into classrooms, and into minds.Third, strengthening research and reinforcing guidance. It is necessary to organize teaching and research personnel to concentrate on tackling key problems, focus on key topics such as Xi Jinping's thought on Party building and the valuable experience of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era, launch theoretical research results with depth, substance and influence, promote the manifestation of the school (academy)'s theoretical advantages, and enhance the actual effectiveness of theoretical interpretation and ideological guidance. Fourth, strictly rectifying conduct and earnestly practicing. It is necessary to use the spirit of the plenary session as the yardstick to continuously deepen work style construction, perseveringly implement the spirit of the Central Committee's the Eight-Point Regulation (八项规定) and its implementation rules, resolutely rectify formalism and bureaucracy, and establish a clear orientation of valuing solid work and valuing solid achievements. Fifth, enforcing regulations and strengthening the foundation, rigorously governing the school. It is necessary to carry out a "look back" on the implementation of existing systems and norms, press down and compact the responsibility of the "top leader" as the first responsible person, and use the rigid constraint of systems to promote rigorous governance of the school, rigorous governance of teaching, and rigorous governance of learning to land, be refined, and be normalized and long-lasting. It is necessary to firmly establish the orientation of judging heroes by work and verifying results by solid achievements, transform the results of study and implementation of the spirit of the plenary session into excellent solid achievements in teaching and research, policy-consulting services, and internal management, go all out to sprint and complete the year's various target tasks with quality and quantity guaranteed, and promote the high-quality development of the school (academy) cause.
Return to TopThe Party School of the Yunnan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (Yunnan Administration College), closely aligning with the realities of Yunnan's border and ethnic minority regions, is driving the study and implementation of Xi Jinping's thought on Party building to take deeper root and produce more solid results across the Yunling land through pragmatic measures of systematic layout, integrated advancement, and diversified dissemination.
Anchoring the position of the main course, it has built a tiered and categorized teaching system. Xi Jinping's thought on Party building has been incorporated into all main classes and special-topic classes as a required course and a constantly studied course, with teaching modules set up by category: long-term classes of one month or more have a separate special-topic unit, while short-term classes have a general-introduction course. On this basis, courses are systematically developed according to the framework of "general introduction + sub-topics + original texts," forming a "1+14+1" premium course system covering 1 core general-introduction course, 14 sub-topic special courses, and 1 guided-reading course of original texts, creating a high-quality course matrix. At the same time, it innovatively promotes the "Party building leadership +" integrated teaching model, offering special courses such as "Party building leadership in industrial development" and "Party building leadership in border grassroots governance," and through immersive teaching methods such as case analysis, on-site teaching, and real-scenario practice, enables trainees to learn with questions in mind and think in connection with their work. In main classes, a diversified guided-reading mechanism for the Selected Works of Xi Jinping on Party Building is being implemented, linking classroom lectures, individual self-study, group discussions, and branch exchanges, and combining the study process of "close reading of original texts + special-topic tutoring + ideological reports" to guide trainees to understand both the facts and the underlying principles (知其然更知其所以然, zhi qi ran geng zhi suo yi suo ran - "know its so, more know its reason why"). As of now, the relevant courses have covered 21 main class sessions, training 928 trainee-person-times.
Deepening the integration of teaching and research, it consolidates the supporting capacity of advantageous disciplines. Taking the discipline construction of CPC history and Party building as long-term support, it has improved the 2026–2027 discipline construction plan, optimized the training program and teaching syllabus for in-service graduate students, and in recent years organized the compilation of 10 special-topic textbooks. It has drawn in capable personnel to form a special teaching team for Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, innovatively promoting the "collective lesson preparation + categorized organization" model, carrying out multiple rounds of collective teaching research across the entire process of course development, trial lectures and polishing, and post-class review, and adding a special-topic course titled "A Century-Old Great Party with Unwavering Original Aspiration, National Rejuvenation Irresistible—Studying General Secretary Xi Jinping's Speech at the Meeting Celebrating the 105th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China." Focusing on precise topic selection around the principled achievements, original contributions, and hallmark concepts in Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, it organizes teaching and research forces to carry out systematic and academic-theoretical interpretation, organizes applications for 9 items under the provincial social science planning "Special Project on the Study of Xi Jinping's Thought on Party Building," and has completed the research project commissioned by the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision, "Research on the Rich Connotations and Practical Requirements of Advancing Full and Rigorous Self-Governance of the Party with Higher Standards and More Solid Measures," deeply analyzing, through questionnaires and field research, the deviations in Yunnan provincial Party members and cadres' understanding and practice of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. At the same time, special research projects have been set up specifically within school (college)-level research projects and provincial Party school system projects.
Increasing dissemination and publicity, it opens up the "last mile" of theory taking root. Relying on the school (college) portal website, affiliated newspapers and periodicals, and various new media platforms, it has opened publicity columns on Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, fully leveraging the platform role of the "Yunnan Research Base for the CPC's Governance Capacity Building," organizing teaching and research personnel to write series of interpretive articles and academic papers, with 14 articles published. In conjunction with the study and implementation of the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, and linking the research forces of units such as the Provincial Party Committee Organization Department, the Provincial Party Committee Publicity Department, and the Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, it plans to hold in the near future a special-topic exchange symposium for the provincial Party school (administration college) system, so as to achieve resonance of theoretical research among Party schools (administration colleges) at all levels across the province. At the same time, it has established a three-level linkage guidance mechanism for provincial, municipal, and county Party schools, organizing the provincial Party school system to carry out collective lesson preparation and special-topic teacher training, pushing series of online courses on general introductions and sub-topics and premium teaching cases to the grassroots, and through methods such as delivering teaching to doorsteps, delivering courses to villages, and demonstration lectures, promoting the extension of good courses and good resources to the grassroots. As of now, it has successively organized 4 collective lesson preparations for the provincial Party school (administration college) system, covering more than a thousand teachers from Party schools (administration colleges) across the province and provincial-level cadre education and training institutions.
(Yun Xiao)
Return to Top(Study Times report)
On October 23, an academic seminar on "Chinese Civilization and the Building of the Community for the Chinese Nation" was held, hosted by the Party School of the CPC Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Committee (Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Academy of Governance) and organized by its Department of Ethnic and Religious Teaching and Research (Center for Research on Advancing the Sinicization of Islam in Xinjiang) and its School of Marxism (Center for Research on Forging a Strong Sense of Community for the Chinese Nation). Vice President (Vice Director) Zhang Weibing attended the meeting and delivered a speech; Vice President (Vice Director) Li Yan presided over the meeting.
At the meeting, Pu Changchun, deputy director of the Department of United Front Teaching and Research of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance); Lan Hanlin, vice president (vice director) of the Party School of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee (Zhejiang Provincial Academy of Governance); Xu Ping, professor of the Department of Literature and History Teaching and Research of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance); Yu Shangping, vice president of the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences and president of the Xinjiang Religious Studies Society; and Peng Wuqing, member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of Xinjiang Normal University, head of its United Front Work Department, director of the Xinjiang Religious Research Center, and director of the Center for Research on the Sinicization of Islam in Xinjiang, among others, respectively delivered keynote reports and shared cutting-edge research results around topics such as "the theoretical logic of advancing the building of the community for the Chinese nation," "consolidating the foundation of cultural subjectivity by strengthening the national common spoken and written language," "viewing the building of the community for the Chinese nation through a century of change in Guyuan Alley, Urumqi," "the historical characteristics and contemporary implications of the Sinicization of religion in Xinjiang from the perspective of the prominent characteristics of Chinese civilization," and "the five prominent characteristics of Chinese civilization have laid a profound civilizational foundation for the community for the Chinese nation." More than 70 experts and scholars from relevant fields inside and outside Xinjiang, and leading cadres and teaching and research backbone personnel from Party schools (academies of governance) at all levels throughout Xinjiang, participated in the seminar.
This seminar aimed to further deepen understanding of theoretical issues related to Chinese civilization and the building of the community for the Chinese nation, and to provide theoretical inspiration and practical reference for grounding in Xinjiang's realities, promoting the high-quality development of Xinjiang's cause of ethnic unity and progress, and advancing the building of the community for the Chinese nation in the new era; and to further demonstrate the mission consciousness and scholarly commitment of Xinjiang's social science and theoretical circles to connecting theory with practice (理论联系实际, li lun lian xi shi ji - "theory, connect, actual, reality"), to taking root locally to discover research resources, and to actively responding to the issues of the times.
Return to TopBy: 刘洋博
The Regulations on the Work of Party Schools (Schools of Administration) of the Communist Party of China point out that student management is an important link in realizing the training goals of Party schools (schools of administration); organizational management should take seriously intra-Party political life during training, improve and strictly enforce systems such as student registration and attendance, and pay attention to giving play to the role of temporary student Party branches and class committees. During their training at Party schools, students study and live in a concentrated and orderly manner, their organizational ties are close, and their exchange of ideas is relatively deep, which provides favorable conditions for carrying out intra-Party political life in a serious and standardized way. It is necessary to fully and effectively use this unique advantage, strengthen students' theoretical arming, strictly enforce discipline and rules, and enhance Party spirit cultivation through high-quality intra-Party political life, and promote the formation of a working mechanism that reflects the characteristics of Party schools and is rich in practical results. Specifically, it is necessary to achieve the "four prominences."
Give prominence to political character. Students come from different regions, different departments, and different posts, and their experience, backgrounds, and knowledge structures differ, but upon entering the school to participate in training they must first strengthen Party consciousness and Party member consciousness. First, give prominence to theoretical arming. Always take the study and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the central content and primary task of teaching and of the organizational life of temporary student Party branches, closely follow the development of the Party's innovative theory and the major decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee, guide students to identify the connecting thread between the essence of the Party's innovative theory and specific local practice and the logical connection between theoretical key points and work difficulties, and help students open up the internalization path from classroom instruction to ideological understanding. Second, give prominence to political training. Relying on temporary student Party branches, make the study of the Party's innovative theory a fixed content of organizational life, promptly follow up and study the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's series of important speeches and important instructions and directives, carry out exchanges and discussions around the major decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the practice of local reform and development, and guide students to be good at viewing problems, planning approaches, and grasping implementation from a political perspective. Third, give prominence to ideological transformation. Organizational life should focus on deepening ideological exchange and strengthening Party spirit examination, guide students to discuss understandings, find gaps, and clarify directions in connection with their post responsibilities, growth experiences, and ideological reality, and promote students to internalize the results of theoretical study into firm political identification and deep ideological identification, and externalize them into a high degree of conscious action and concrete actions of fulfilling duties and taking responsibility.
Give prominence to principle. Upon entering the Party school, a student's first identity is that of an ordinary student and an ordinary Party member, and they must consciously accept organizational management and intra-Party supervision. First, strengthen identity consciousness and discipline consciousness. Make study and education on the Party Constitution, Party rules, Party discipline, and Party regulations an important content, deeply integrate education on establishing and practicing a correct view of political performance and on Party conduct and clean government into Party spirit education, guide students to know boundaries, hold the bottom line, and observe rules, and truly complete the transformation from leading cadre to ordinary student and from work state to study state. Second, strictly implement the organizational life system. Make overall arrangements for implementing systems such as political study, heart-to-heart talks, Party spirit analysis, and organizational life meetings, and promote the interconnection, linkage, and coordinated exertion of all systems. Guide students, in comparison with the Party's innovative theory, the Party Constitution, Party rules, Party discipline, and Party regulations, and the original aspiration and founding mission and post responsibilities, to place themselves in it, place their responsibilities in it, and place their work in it, and deeply examine gaps in ideals and convictions, sense of purpose, view of political performance, view of power, discipline and rules, and other aspects. Third, strictly grasp process management. Organizers should do a good job throughout the whole process of organizational guidance and supervisory reminders, not only grasping required actions solidly but also preventing organizational life from becoming formulaic and superficial; for emerging and tendentious problems, promptly conduct heart-to-heart reminders and criticism and education, and promote every organizational life session to become an important process of ideological benchmarking, political physical examination, and Party spirit tempering.
Give prominence to practical effectiveness. The key to taking intra-Party political life seriously is to go toward problems and fix them with focus, so that students are truly touched and truly changed. First, identify problems accurately and substantively. Adhere to a problem orientation, bring problems in ideological understanding, performance ability, work style and discipline discovered in various types of teaching and in carrying out "five together" social practice back to organizational life, carry out exchanges and discussions around practical topics such as high-quality development, scientific and technological innovation, and grassroots governance, and guide students to check deficiencies and find root causes in connection with reality and in comparison with the advanced. Second, carry out criticism and self-criticism deeply and thoroughly. In Party spirit analysis and organizational life meetings, guide students to set aside their official positions and identities and break down the philosophy of being a nice person, be both daring to expose shortcomings and ugly truths and sincere in helping comrades, eliminate sidestepping important issues to focus on trivialities (避重就轻, bi zhong jiu qing - "avoid, heavy, take, light") in self-criticism and disguised praise in mutual criticism, and achieve realistic writing of problems, deep digging into root causes, and precise setting of measures. Third, ensure rectification results are put into practice. Attach importance to tracking and guiding the examination of problems and rectification measures, promote immediate correction upon knowing and genuine and substantive correction through heart-to-heart reminders, case warnings, special discussions, and other methods, and test rectification by combining it with daily performance and study style and work style, so that "blushing and sweating" is truly transformed into practical actions and results that correct deficiencies, improve work style, enhance unity, and raise capabilities.
Give prominence to regularity. The tempering of Party spirit is not the work of a single day; taking intra-Party political life seriously values persistence and stresses daily routine, and it must run through the entire training process and be integrated into every link of student management. First, do a good job of full-cycle connection. At the enrollment stage, grasp identity and discipline education and promote the transformation of identity and state; during training, rely on temporary student Party branches to carry out normalized political study, ideological exchange, and Party spirit analysis, and promote the systematic interconnection of theory, discipline, and warning education with organizational life; at the graduation stage, review the results of Party spirit training and clarify the direction for improvement. Second, improve normalized institutional mechanisms. Formulate a checklist of organizational life plans, clarify time, themes, and responsibilities, and promote the implementation of all systems in every class and every stage; give play to the role of organizers, temporary student Party branches, and student self-management, and prevent tightness at times and looseness at others, or tightness at the front and looseness at the back. Third, improve the closed-loop evaluation mechanism. Incorporate participation in organizational life, compliance with rules and discipline, and performance in study style and work style into daily assessment and into the quantitative assessment and evaluation of Party spirit education, strengthen coordination and connection with the organizational departments of Party committees and the units that dispatched the students, and promote the feedback of students' performance at school and effective tracking after leaving school, so that Party spirit tempering extends from "being excited for a while" during Party school education to "influencing a lifetime."
(The author is secretary of the student Party general branch of the First Advanced Study Department of the Party School (School of Administration) of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee.)
Return to Top(Study Times report)
On October 27, the Party School of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee (Zhejiang Institute of Administration) convened the Eleventh Party Members' Congress of its organs, which heard and deliberated the work reports of the Tenth Organ Party Committee and the Organ Discipline Inspection Commission and the report on the collection, use, and management of Party dues, and elected a new session of the Organ Party Committee and the Organ Discipline Inspection Commission. Executive Vice President (Executive Vice Director) Chen Liuyu attended the meeting and delivered a speech; Yu Zhongqin, Deputy Secretary of the Work Committee for Provincial Departments Directly Under the Provincial Party Committee, attended to provide guidance and delivered a speech. Vice President (Vice Director) and Secretary of the Organ Party Committee Liu Qinghua presented the work report. Vice Presidents (Vice Directors) Lü Qingmin, Liu Jinqiang, Lan Hanlin, and Duan Falei, and Wang Minfei, member of the Work Committee for Provincial Departments Directly Under the Provincial Party Committee and Director of its Organization Department, attended the meeting.
The meeting held that the Tenth Organ Party Committee and Organ Discipline Inspection Commission, under the correct leadership of the school (institute) committee and the Work Committee for Provincial Departments Directly Under the Provincial Party Committee, firmly grasped the fundamental principle that the Party school takes the Party's surname, always upheld the Party school's original aspiration of "cultivating talent for the Party and offering advice for the Party," took Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as guidance, deeply studied and implemented Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, closely centered on the core tasks of focusing on the center, building the ranks, and serving the masses, actively implemented the "Dual Building and Striving for Excellence" project, and advanced organ Party building, Party conduct and clean government construction, ideology, and united front and mass organization work as an integrated whole; the building of the political organ displayed a new atmosphere, the consolidation of the grassroots foundation achieved new results, and the integration of Party building with professional work reached a new stage.
On behalf of the school (institute) committee, Chen Liuyu fully affirmed the work of the Tenth Organ Party Committee and Organ Discipline Inspection Commission. He stressed that for a period to come, the school's (institute's) organ Party building work must further deeply study and implement Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, adhere to the fundamental principle that the Party school takes the Party's surname, uphold the Party school's original aspiration, earnestly implement the requirements of the "Dual Building and Striving for Excellence" project, take the comprehensive advancement of the "Red Academy of Learning · Original Aspiration Pilots the Way" project as the overall driving force, take the deepened implementation of the action to improve capability and work style as the main lever, build a highland of Party school Party building and a highland of clean governance in the new era, and provide strong guarantees for continuing to build the "Four Benchmarks" and accelerating the building of a high-level modernized demonstration Party school of the red academy of learning.
Chen Liuyu required that the new session of the Organ Party Committee and Organ Discipline Inspection Commission must shoulder their duties and missions, raise their level of performance, and effectively drive the leapfrog upgrading of organ Party building work. They must raise their political positioning and take the lead in studying and implementing Xi Jinping's thought on Party building; they must forge firm political loyalty and set an example in persistently using the Party's innovative theory to strengthen people's resolve and ideals (凝心铸魂, ning xin zhu hun - "congeal heart, cast soul"); they must strengthen their political responsibility and strive with solid work to better serve the central overall situation;they must improve their political capability and make sustained, long-term efforts in continuing to advance the high-quality development of the Party school cause; they must hold fast to political rules and achieve regular and long-lasting results in deepening the full and strict governance of the school; they must tighten political responsibility and make coordinated efforts to comprehensively raise the level of organ Party building work, constantly opening up a new situation in which organ Party building and the Party school cause act in synchronized harmony (同频共振, tong pin gong zhen - "same frequency, resonate together") and promote each other forward.
A total of 112 Party member representatives from the school (institute) organs participated in the congress. Relevant comrades from the dispatched discipline inspection and supervision group attended the meeting as non-voting participants.
(Li Bingtao)
Return to TopParty spirit education is the main task and main course of Party schools (schools of administration); comprehensively improving the quality and effectiveness of Party spirit education is the inherent requirement of Party school teaching. The Shanghai Municipal Party School (Shanghai Municipal School of Administration) has actively explored a full-cycle, full-chain Party spirit education model whose main content is "whole-process management, all-round reshaping, and all-factor guarantee," and has achieved good results.
In terms of whole-process management, first, integrated design. It issued the "Opinions on Further Strengthening Students' Party Spirit Education," persisted in running Party spirit tempering through the entire process of education and training, and through systematic design of teaching content and integrated creation of teaching processes, realized a complete closed loop of teaching management — "warm-up and groundwork before enrollment, deep tempering during training, transformation and upgrading after graduation" — striving to promote the shift from "one-time education" to "lifelong cultivation." Second, three-dimensional presentation. It built a "three-dimensional classroom" system, promoted the extension of Party spirit education from "flat" to "three-dimensional," and extended the chain of Party spirit education to the "first, second, and third classrooms." The first classroom focuses on "forging the soul." It precisely meets the full-chain needs of cadres for theoretical study, ideological improvement, and capacity transformation, builds an organic whole of "theoretical education + Party spirit education + training in performance capacity," establishes a special Party spirit education unit in alignment with the "Work Regulations of the Communist Party of China Party Schools (Schools of Administration)," and arranges teaching courses on Marxist theory, the Party's innovative theory, the Party Constitution and Party discipline, and so on. The second classroom focuses on "nourishing the heart." Centering on Shanghai's rich resources as the birthplace of the Party, the place of origin of the original aspiration, and the cradle of the great founding spirit of the Party, it designs and develops on-site teaching courses embodying Shanghai's characteristics. At the same time, relying on the high-quality resources of Party schools in brother provinces and municipalities, it carefully selects and carries out on-site teaching in other provinces and municipalities with distinctive themes. The third classroom focuses on "tempering action." Following the footsteps of General Secretary Xi Jinping in Shanghai, on visits to Shanghai, and in his talks about Shanghai, and centering on themes such as the people's city built by the people, whole-process people's democracy, and the construction of a science and innovation center, it has successively developed and formed a series of courses titled "The General Secretary Talks About Shanghai," so that students deeply feel and always keep in mind General Secretary Xi Jinping's earnest entrustment. At the same time, upholding the concept of "the Municipal Party Committee sets the questions, the training answers them," and closely centering on the city's central work, it incorporates "the responsibility of cadres in innovative development" into the required course of Party spirit education, organizes students to go deep into the front line of scientific and technological innovation to carry out research, feel the pulse of science and technology in research, and strengthen the sense of mission of "the top priorities of the country."
In terms of all-round reshaping, taking the reshaping of the learning ecology of Marxist classic works as the breakthrough point, it deeply integrates the concept of full-cycle, full-chain Party spirit education into student management, and strives to create a strict, tight, and solid style of study and school spirit. First, in-depth research-style learning. In response to the problems of doing things superficially without going deep (浅尝辄止, qian shang che zhi - "shallow, taste, stop, arrive") and the disconnection between learning and application in classic study, in key training classes such as the young and middle-aged cadres class, it innovatively implements the "four-step" teaching method for classic works, promoting the shift of theoretical study from "superficial" to "in-depth": the first step is "students' self-study," with the class supervisor supervising study throughout. Students are urged to read the original works, study the original texts, and comprehend the original principles, to read books "thin" and read principles "through," and to build a solid foundation of faith; the second step is "teachers' guided reading," with the teaching group collaborating to promote study. Teachers focus on the difficulties and confusions students encounter in self-study and, faithful to the original works, explain the source clearly. The class supervisor collects students' confusions in advance, feeds them back to the lecturing teachers, and organizes students to carry out group discussions after class, ensuring that "understanding what is heard" is transformed into "thinking it through"; the third step is the "thematic forum," with the class supervisor precisely guiding study. It reshapes the process of the student forum, grasps the rhythm and guides the direction in organizing the forum, and lets students calm down to excavate rational thinking, theoretical thinking, and dialectical thinking, and distinguish truth in the clash of ideas; the fourth step is "intensive lecture and research-based study," with teachers deeply leading study. Focusing on the contemporary value of classic works, teachers guide students to place themselves in, place their duties in, and place their work in, and through "rectifying the heart, clarifying principles, examining oneself, and practicing earnestly," transform the fruits of study into political resolve to resist corruption and prevent degeneration. Second, multi-level assessment. In response to the difficult problem of how to assess students accurately and substantively, it explores a whole-process observation and identification mechanism. On the one hand, it supports students in doing well in self-examination. In training classes it implements the "three reviews and one report" system, that is, guiding students to review the Party Constitution, review the oath of joining the Party, and review the letters of revolutionary martyrs, and to form three ideological reports and one Party spirit analysis report. Students compare themselves in the midst of being moved, see through themselves in introspection, and benchmark themselves in analysis, achieving the goals of being shaken and moved, finding gaps, and internalizing and improving. On the other hand, it cooperates with the students' temporary Party branch to do well in all-round observation. It strengthens Party spirit requirements in strict management and does well in the "three grasps": grasping the student branch, grasping key links, and grasping Party spirit education. In terms of the branch, the focus is on selecting a good secretary, building a strong leadership team, setting up lines, clarifying division of labor, and strictly managing and strictly supervising. Key links emphasize "one head, one tail, one outing": "one head" refers to entrance education, emphasizing identity transformation and disciplinary constraints; "one tail" refers to assessment and graduation, emphasizing self-examination and branch appraisal; "one outing" refers to teaching in other locations, strengthening pre-departure mobilization and supervision and management, and ensuring training effectiveness. In addition, it solidly carries out Party spirit analysis and commentary. It invites veteran leaders and veteran teachers to serve as "Party spirit analysts," providing "one-on-one" in-depth guidance and personalized commentary on students' Party spirit analysis.
In terms of all-factor guarantee, it forges a teaching management team of the "three carriages" — class supervisors, teaching group leaders, and teaching coordinators — and carries out all-round teaching management and observation. First, the class supervisor team is "professionalized and connotative." It implements the class supervisor "empowerment plan," requiring them not only to be familiar with teaching processes but also to possess profound political literacy, to serve well as the "guide" for student growth, the "fellow traveler" in Party spirit tempering, the "co-manager" of the student branch, and the "link" for teaching, research, and consultation while ensuring the orderly operation of teaching. It forms a management synergy with the students' temporary Party branch, jointly creating a learning atmosphere that is both serious and tense and warm and orderly, and realizes the sublimation from "managing students" to "accomplishing students." Second, the teaching team is "integrated and refined." It clarifies the full-chain guarantee functions of teaching group leaders and coordinators, precisely meets teaching objectives, does well in course design, and closely monitors the links of teaching implementation; it holds pre-class meetings, progress meetings, and summary meetings well throughout the process, ensuring solid and efficient teaching support for students. Third, the management team is "strictly required and keeps to the bottom line." It improves the student management system, sorts out and standardizes work processes, formulates a negative list for work, strictly enforces team discipline supervision, and strives to build a high-quality, professional management team that is politically strong, firm in conviction, highly skilled in work, and fine in style.
(Bo Qijun, Liu Changbo)
Return to Top(Study Times report)
On October 27, the Party School of the Tianjin Municipal Party Committee (Tianjin Administration Institute) convened a school-wide scientific research work conference. Xu Ying, vice president (vice director) in charge of daily work, attended and delivered a speech; Cong Yi, vice president (vice director), presided over the meeting.
On the basis of fully affirming the achievements the school (institute) has made in scientific research and policy consultation work in recent years, the conference put forward clear requirements for further improving scientific research and policy consultation work around three aspects: "how to view scientific research, how to do scientific research, and how to guarantee scientific research."
The conference pointed out that grasping scientific research is an inevitable requirement for practicing the original aspiration of the Party school, a concrete action for implementing the deployment and requirements of the Party Central Committee and the municipal Party committee, a duty inherent in implementing the "Work Regulations of the Party Schools of the Communist Party of China (Administration Institutes)," and an effective way to improve teaching quality. Party school teaching and research personnel should carry forward fine academic traditions, take scholarship as their vocation, seek truth from facts (从实求知, cong shi qiu zhi - "from reality, seek knowledge") and devote themselves wholeheartedly to their endeavors (潜心发力, qian xin fa li - "submerge heart, exert strength"). They should keep their minds calm and maintain focus and patience; keep their hands diligent, discovering problems and thinking diligently; not fear failure and maintain tenacity; closely follow the frontier while basing themselves on reality and serving the central work of the overall situation; and broadly make close friends, engage in exchange and mutual learning, open up their horizons, and constantly improve their scientific research capabilities and level.
The conference emphasized that all departments should strengthen scheduling and services, coordinate and link up, and pool their strength, so as to attach importance in thought and tighten responsibility, and strengthen the ideological consciousness and action consciousness of deeply cultivating scientific research; give play to the Party school's political advantages and organizational advantages, carry out organized scientific research, improve service guarantees and incentive mechanisms, and promote scientific research and policy consultation through "group tackling of key problems and targeted output"; pay attention to combining with the central task of teaching, so as to "teaching sets the topic, scientific research writes the article, policy consultation offers good advice, and results enter the classroom," and promote all work to act in perfect synchronization (同频共振, tong pin gong zhen - "same frequency, resonate together") and strive in the same direction.
At the meeting, a briefing was given on the situation in which the key indicator data of the school (institute)'s scientific research and policy consultation over the past three years have continued to improve and get better. Some participating representatives gave exchange speeches on writing policy consultation reports, theoretical publicity articles, core journal articles, applications for National Social Science Fund projects, and scientific research team building.
Responsible comrades of each teaching and research department, principal responsible comrades of relevant functional departments, and approximately 180 teachers from the whole school attended the meeting.
Return to TopBy: 段玉才
The Party School of the Changchun Municipal Party Committee thoroughly implements the Regulations on the Work of Party Schools (Academies of Governance) of the Communist Party of China and the spirit of the national conference of presidents (deans) of Party schools (academies of governance), respects the laws of talent growth, takes enhancing the teaching and research capabilities of young teachers as the driving force, and persists in integrated advancement of forging souls through politics, sharpening capabilities through actual combat, combining recruitment with cultivation, and guaranteeing through mechanisms, so as to provide strong talent support for fulfilling the Party school's original aspiration of "cultivating talent for the Party and offering advice for the Party."
Forging souls through politics: forging loyal character in the course of consolidating the foundation and nurturing the source. Strengthen the awareness of being a political organ and a political school, and tirelessly use the Party's innovative theory to strengthen the foundation and consolidate the source. First, firmly grasp the political direction. Always uphold the fundamental principle that Party schools belong to the Party, incorporate the implementation of the ideological work responsibility system into the assessment of young teachers, and guide young teachers to always maintain political clarity, so that classroom lectures observe discipline, academic research abides by rules, and speech and behavior keep to the bottom line. Second, deepen theoretical arming. Place ideological tempering in the first position, carry out normalized political theory study, comprehensively use the "three meetings and one lesson," youth theoretical study groups, individual self-study and other methods to deeply study and carefully comprehend the Party's innovative theory, and promote theoretical study to enter the mind and heart and to show results in action. Third, temper political capability. Pay attention to discovering, cultivating, and testing young teachers in urgent, difficult, dangerous, and heavy tasks, guide them to undergo political tempering in frontline work such as course polishing, research writing, and on-site investigation, and continuously improve political judgment, political comprehension, and political execution.
Sharpening capabilities through actual combat: tempering teaching and research skills in practical training and solid work. Highlight the interconnection between teaching and research and practice, enhance capabilities in actual combat, and strengthen the foundation and empower the fulfillment of the Party school's original aspiration of "cultivating talent for the Party and offering advice for the Party." First, practice well the internal skills of teaching and research. Place the cultivation of young teachers in a priority position, carry out normalized teaching and research activities such as collective lesson preparation, trial lectures for new courses, project applications, and academic exchanges, and accumulate professional depth in all-around training. Establish a special-topic polishing mechanism, focus on young teachers' new course development or research project applications, organize on-campus mentors, the academic committee, and off-campus experts to conduct multiple rounds of review and polishing, and strive for courses with quality, research with depth, and applications with breakthroughs. Strengthen the use of results, link the feedback results of the academic committee and off-campus experts with classroom access, project review, and evaluation of excellence and advancement, and achieve spiral improvement of teaching and research capabilities in "practice—feedback—improvement—re-practice." Second, build an actual-combat "arena." Encourage young teachers to devote themselves to the teaching frontline and actively participate in various teaching competitions at the provincial and municipal levels, theoretical preaching groups, "sending teaching to the grassroots," micro-course recording, and other activities, so as to draw experience and increase ability in teaching practice. Encourage young teachers to apply for projects at all levels and of all types, increase resource input, optimize allocation efficiency, and stimulate enthusiasm for project applications through methods such as preferential approval of school-level projects and special support for youth projects, thereby driving and promoting the overall improvement of research capabilities. Encourage young teachers to engage in in-depth exchanges with trainees, and through participation in structured seminars of main classes, municipal-condition research, and other forms, make up for shortcomings in practice in the course of mutual learning of experience with trainees, achieving improving through mutual learning between teacher and student (教学相长, jiao xue xiang zhang - "teach, learn; mutually increase"). Third, broaden channels of collaboration. Carry out in-depth cooperation with units such as the General Office of the Changchun Municipal Party Committee and the Policy Research Office, focus on central work, concentrate on key fields, respond to practical concerns, organize young teachers to go deep into the frontline for on-site research, and form a batch of research topics combining theory and practice; relying on internal reference platforms such as the Think Tank Special Report and Leadership Reference, promote the voice of the Party school into the decision-making vision of the province and municipality. Build the academic brand matrix of "Red Furnace Wisdom Sharing" and "Doctoral and Master's Forum," invite well-known experts and scholars to participate in exchanges and discussions, and help young teachers broaden academic horizons and accelerate the pace of growth. Establish a normalized cooperation mechanism with "Double First-Class" universities in the locality, select and send young teachers to universities for study and training, accumulate practical experience, and improve research capabilities.
Combining recruitment with cultivation: accumulating development momentum in selecting the best and strengthening the excellent. Implement the special talent plan of "leading the way, guiding the way, and sustaining the journey," and treat the recruitment and cultivation of young teachers as the top priority in team building. First, increase efforts to recruit doctoral talents in scarce specialties. In the past two years, through a combination of independent recruitment and unified examination recruitment, a total of 11 doctoral holders have been recruited, the number of doctoral holders has increased substantially, accounting for more than 26 percent of teachers. All young teachers under the age of 40 now have a master's degree or above. Second, carry out full-chain through-type cultivation. For newly hired young teachers, implement the "dual mentor system" cultivation plan, select senior teachers to serve as mentors for full-process guidance, and help them quickly adapt to their work posts and enhance their ability to perform duties. For in-service young teachers, issue the Measures for the Management of Faculty and Staff Pursuing Graduate Education and Degrees, encourage further study, and support study for doctoral degrees and postdoctoral research at Northeast Normal University, the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance), and Jilin University. Third, build a platform for talent growth. Establish a "dual-post" training and improvement mechanism, break down barriers between teaching and research and administration, select and send young teachers to deeply participate in the organization and application of major projects such as National Social Science Fund projects and the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee's "National Good Courses in Cadre Education and Training," and focus on improving comprehensive capabilities. Launch the "Famous Teacher Project," establish famous teacher studios, benchmark against cutting-edge teaching and research concepts, advanced experience in research and policy consultation, and research paradigms, and use the building of famous teacher teams to radiate and drive the incubation of young talent. Smooth talent promotion channels, broaden space for growth and progress, boldly appoint young comrades who want to do things, are able to do things, can accomplish things, and do not get into trouble, and a batch of outstanding young backbones have successively taken up posts as directors of teaching and research departments, and a good situation of successive generations of teachers and students (青蓝相继, qing lan xiang ji - "cyan, indigo; successively") and the flame passing from one to another is taking shape.
Guaranteeing through mechanisms: stimulating the vitality of the team in strict management and deep care. Persist in placing equal emphasis on incentives and constraints, establish a scientific evaluation system, and stimulate the initiative and creativity of young teachers in their work. First, strengthen positive incentives. Establish a clear orientation of valuing solid work, valuing quality, and valuing contribution, revise systems and mechanisms such as the Measures for Incentivizing Outstanding Research Results, the Measures for the Evaluation and Appointment of Professional and Technical Personnel Titles (Trial), and the Provisions on the Assessment of Faculty and Staff, increase the incentive weight for high-quality teaching, research, and decision-making consultation results, precisely link assessment results with job promotion, title evaluation, salary incentives, and so on, and guide young teachers to devote themselves with quiet dedication and produce more fine works. Second, make normalized constraints substantive. Improve the normalized supervision mechanism for teacher ethics and professional conduct and for the integrity of teaching and research, run political standards through the entire process of young teachers' teaching, research, and decision-making consultation work, and improve the whole-process gatekeeping system for classroom lectures, external preaching, project research, and result release. Make good use of methods such as heart-to-heart talks and reminder inquiries, discover, remind of, and correct emerging and tendentious problems early, draw red lines for behavior, and guide young teachers to know awe, keep fear, and hold the bottom line, so that they teach according to law and pursue scholarship with integrity. Third, deepen organizational care. Firmly establish the concept of "warming hearts and gathering strength, serving youth," deepen the mechanism for discussions between team members and young teachers, grasp ideological dynamics, listen to opinions and suggestions, and solve practical difficulties; at the same time, use the building of Party school culture to gather people's hearts and enhance young teachers' sense of belonging and identity.
The sound cultivation mechanism has continuously been transformed into practical results in the growth of young teachers. Since 2026, young teachers have produced frequent results: a total of 2 provincial and ministerial-level projects have been completed, 2 articles have been published in central-level newspapers and periodicals, 2 monographs are about to be published by first-level national publishers, decision-making consultation results have been signed and approved by leaders at or above the deputy municipal level 17 times, and have been adopted by departments 15 times. Next, the Party School of the Changchun Municipal Party Committee will continue to improve the full-chain cultivation system for young teachers, continue to forge a young teaching and research team that is strong in politics, firm in conviction, proficient in business, and upright in style, and continuously contribute Party school wisdom and youth strength to the city's cadre education and training and to the decision-making consultation of Party committees and governments.
(The author is Executive Vice President (Vice Dean) of the Party School of the Changchun Municipal Party Committee (Academy of Governance))
Return to TopBy: 孔磊
The Regulations on the Work of Party Schools (Academies of Governance) of the Communist Party of China emphasize that Party schools (academies of governance) must adhere to a systematic perspective, focus on coordinated planning and the integration of resources, and continuously strengthen the overall and coordinated nature of their work. In recent years, the Party School of the Weifang Municipal Party Committee in Shandong Province has deeply practiced the original aspiration of the Party school, adhered to a systematic perspective, a problem orientation, and reform thinking, explored and implemented reform of teaching supply, and focused on resolving the difficulties of grassroots Party schools such as compartmentalization, dispersed resources, and unbalanced development, comprehensively raising the quality of curriculum development and the teaching level of instructors across the city's Party schools, and promoting the integrated high-quality development of municipal and county Party schools.
Focusing on teaching topics, establish "jointly answering the same question" teaching and research teams. In order to further coordinate the collective lesson preparation and course polishing work of municipal and county Party schools, explore and innovate the "course leader" system teaching work model. The specific approach is: select outstanding lead lecturers from among the teachers of specialized courses to serve as "course leaders," and have the "course leaders" take the lead in organizing teaching and research teams to carry out various teaching activities, promoting the teaching work of municipal and county Party schools to shift from fighting alone without coordination (单兵作战, dan bing zuo zhan - "single soldier, fight") to "systematic integration," and from "unit-level coordination" to "regional mutual benefit." First, precisely position the courses. In accordance with the deployment requirements of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee and the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance) on basic training, standardize the setting of basic courses in municipal and county Party schools, focus on setting course topics such as Party theory education, Party spirit education, and improvement of performance capacity, merge similar teaching topics, and determine the courses to be taught jointly by municipal and county Party schools. At present, based on the existing teaching staff and course development situation, 23 relevant teaching topics have been determined. Second, scientifically select and assign "course leaders." Focusing on the goal of "select one course leader accurately, teach one course well, temper one team, and produce a batch of results," and in accordance with the principle of "selecting the best and appointing them, with dynamic management," select one academic leader from the municipal Party school from among the teachers teaching the same topic to serve as "course leader." If it is difficult to screen from existing teachers, then externally engage well-known experts and professors who teach relevant topics at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance) and the Party School (Academy of Governance) of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee to serve as "guest course leaders," with teachers from the municipal Party school serving as working liaisons. Select "course leaders" well with high standards and strict requirements, and fully give play to their role as teaching leaders. Third, aggregate team strength. Clarify the work responsibilities of "course leaders," have them take the lead in organizing teachers from municipal and county Party schools who teach the same course to establish teaching and research teams, comprehensively ascertain the situation of course development and teacher instruction, grasp the team teachers' structure, professional backgrounds, teaching experience, as well as the confusions encountered by teachers in lesson preparation and the problems most in need of resolution, set up working liaison groups, and carry out discussion and exchange activities from time to time. At present, 20 teachers from the municipal Party school have taken the lead in establishing 23 teaching and research teams, covering 376 teachers from municipal and county Party schools.
Anchoring teaching goals, build an operating mechanism of "working in the same direction." Focusing on the training needs of trainees, innovate mechanisms for lesson preparation and course polishing for teaching topics and for teachers' research and learning and empowerment, and continuously enhance teachers' post "competence" and teaching "precision." On the one hand, collective lesson preparation calibrates direction. Before the start of each semester, the "course leaders," according to teaching goals and content, organize team members to deeply study and comprehend the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speeches and important instructions and directives, and accurately grasp the essence and core meaning and the practical requirements; preside over collective lesson preparation meetings, and carry out discussions from multiple dimensions such as the setting of teaching goals, the logical structure of content, the selection and application of cases, and the design of teaching methods, helping and guiding young teachers to improve their teaching level. On the other hand, famous teachers demonstrate and set benchmarks. Fully give play to the exemplary role of famous teachers and experts, invite experts and scholars from the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance), provincial Party schools (academies of governance), and other well-known universities, representatives of outstanding leading cadres, "local experts," and others to give demonstration lectures at the school, with "course leaders" organizing team members to attend lectures in a concentrated manner and exchange views on site. Since 2026, 31 concentrated review and course-polishing sessions have been carried out successively, polishing 16 specialized courses taught by young teachers.
Strengthening teaching quality improvement, amplify the reform effect of "resonating at the same frequency." Persist in taking research topics as the bond and the "course leader" system as the traction, and coordinate the integrated improvement and common progress of municipal and county Party school teaching staff, teaching, and research. First, promote the joint cultivation of teaching staff in municipal and county Party schools. Through "course leaders" driving collective lesson preparation, give play to the exemplary and driving role of senior teachers and academic leaders of the municipal Party school, build a new model of joint teacher cultivation in municipal and county Party schools of "the higher level guiding the lower level, the old guiding the new, and masters guiding apprentices," and help young teachers grow and become accomplished. In recent years, teachers of county-level Party schools have received 173 person-times of honors at the municipal level and above, among which the courses taught by 3 young teachers won the title of "Excellent Course" of the province's county-level Party schools in 2026. Second, promote the integration of teaching, research, and consultation in municipal and county Party schools. Persist in "teaching sets the topic, research writes the article, and results enter decision-making," focus on the hot and key issues of concern to the municipal Party committee and municipal government, have "course leaders" organize members of teaching and research teams to carry out joint investigations and research, conduct forward-looking, policy-oriented, and applied countermeasure research, tackle difficulties together, and promote the integrated development of teaching, research, and consultation. At present, 29 consultation reports jointly written by teachers of municipal and county Party schools have been signed and approved by leaders at the municipal level and above, among which many have been signed and approved by provincial leaders. Third, promote the quality improvement of courses in county-level Party schools. Explore the "course leader + specialist" lecture observation and evaluation system, select full senior professors with rich teaching experience and relatively high academic levels from the municipal Party school to serve as "teaching supervision specialists," require "course leaders" and "teaching supervision specialists" to sit in on lectures given by young teachers of municipal and county Party schools, attend lectures together with trainees and evaluate the lectures on the spot, and enhance teachers' teaching skills and improve the quality and effectiveness of basic training through lecture evaluation guidance and course polishing and refinement. In recent years, teachers of the municipal Party school have guided county-level Party schools in course polishing 80 times, and elevated the polishing of 30 excellent courses and distinctive courses.
(The author is vice president of the Party School of the Weifang Municipal Party Committee in Shandong Province)
Return to TopBy: 周育海
General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that "the development of Party schools must have an overall awareness" and that "Party schools at all levels must adhere to a systematic perspective, focus on coordinated planning and make coordinated efforts." The newly revised Regulations on the Work of Party Schools (Academies of Governance) of the Communist Party of China explicitly take "adhering to a systematic perspective, focusing on coordinated planning, integrating resources, and continuously enhancing the overall and coordinated nature of the work" as an important principle that Party schools (academies of governance) must follow in their work. Promoting the integration of provincial-level Party school resources and complementing each other's strengths (优势互补, youshi hutu - "advantage, complement") through systematic coordination, and achieving overall high-quality development, is both an inherent requirement for implementing the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions and important instructions on Party school work, and a practical path for transforming institutional strengths into the effectiveness of Party schools (academies of governance) in running and governing schools.
Strengthen coordinated planning and improve systems and mechanisms. Building sound systems and mechanisms is the fundamental guarantee for provincial-level Party schools to achieve high-quality development. The Regulations propose that higher-level Party schools (academies of governance) should strengthen business guidance to lower-level Party schools (academies of governance), and stipulate that Party schools (academies of governance) at or above the municipal (prefectural) level should take the lead in formulating business work plans for Party schools (academies of governance) within their administrative regions, providing a guide to action for the coordinated development of provincial-level Party schools. This requires provincial-level Party schools to play a pulling and driving role, to do a good job of coordinated planning at the level of systems and mechanisms, and, in accordance with the relevant arrangements of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance), to erect the "four beams and eight pillars" at the institutional level for the coordinated development of provincial-level Party schools, to coordinate and harmonize the coordinated development of municipal and county Party schools, to promote the transformation of institutional strengths into the actual effectiveness of the overall leap forward of provincial-level Party schools, and to form a new pattern of Party school undertaking development featuring coordination from top to bottom and joint construction through linkage.
Focus on the primary responsibilities and main business, and give play to functional roles. The ultimate direction of systematic coordination is not the pursuit of being uniform and consistent in form (整齐划一, zhengqi huayi - "orderly, uniform"), but rather enabling Party schools at all levels to better fulfill their primary responsibilities and main business and to practice well the Party school's original aspiration of "cultivating talent for the Party and offering advice for the Party." As an organic whole, provincial-level Party schools, through resource integration, complementing each other's strengths, and functional linkage, will inevitably produce a synergistic effect in which "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." In terms of cultivating talent for the Party, through coordinated measures such as higher-level Party schools taking the lead, high-quality resources flowing downward, and joint course development, they effectively solve difficulties such as shortages of teachers, lack of courses, and uneven training capacity in grassroots Party schools, achieve an overall improvement in the quality of basic training, and promote the Party's innovative theory entering the mind and heart and showing results in action. In terms of offering advice for the Party, through measures such as organized scientific research, joint research project tackling, and collaborative linkage of think tanks, they pool the disciplinary strengths and student resources of Party schools at the three levels of province, city, and county, form a work synergy, and effectively enhance the overall effectiveness of serving the Party's central work.
Strengthen team building and stimulate the vitality of talent. Talent is the first resource and a key element in the development of the Party school undertaking. The Regulations clearly point out that it is necessary to "coordinate the strengthening of the building of teams of teachers, management personnel, and service personnel, and cultivate and bring up a batch of high-quality talent teams that are strong in politics, firm in conviction, proficient in business, and upright in style," and require that "the proportion of full-time teachers in the total number of school (academy) staff is generally no less than 40 percent." At present, grassroots Party schools generally face structural contradictions such as difficulty in attracting and retaining high-end talent, relatively slow growth of young teachers, and suboptimal teacher structure. The resolution of these problems requires coordinated planning and coordinated efforts at the systematic level. Establish and improve a full-chain work system for talent of "attracting, cultivating, managing, using, and incentivizing," so that outstanding talent can be attracted in, retained, and used well. Explore the construction of a mechanism for jointly cultivating teachers at the three levels of province, city, and county, pay attention to cultivating talent in coordinated practice, and through methods such as joint research project tackling, collective lesson preparation and polishing, and mutual exchange and training, enable Party school faculty and staff across the province to increase their abilities and enhance their capabilities in actual practice, and promote the high-quality development of provincial-level Party schools with solid talent support.
Focus on technological empowerment and assist coordinated development. As new technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence accelerate in iteration, information technology has provided favorable conditions for the coordinated development of Party schools at all levels. The Regulations clearly require "making full use of modern information technology, using methods such as combining online and offline and combining live broadcast and recorded broadcast to promote the extension of high-quality training resources to the grassroots" and "improving the digital level of teaching, scientific research, management, and services." Seizing the opportunity of technological change and using digitalization to leverage the improvement of systematic coordination effectiveness is an important path for promoting the overall leap forward of provincial-level Party schools. On the one hand, with digitalization as the bond, build a unified platform covering Party schools across the province, and use methods such as "taking the same class together," live-streamed classrooms, and "cloud lesson preparation" to promote the barrier-free flow and equivalent-quality sharing of teaching and scientific research resources. On the other hand, relying on data collection and intelligent analysis, dynamically grasp the operating conditions of Party schools at all levels within the province, promote the deep integration of digital-intelligent technology and systematic coordination, assist precise decision-making and scientific scheduling, and inject lasting momentum into the high-quality development of provincial-level Party schools.
(The author is Director of the Research Office of the Party School of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee)
Return to TopBy: 邱华
The Party School (School of Administration) of the Shangrao Municipal Party Committee of Jiangxi Province deeply studies General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions and important instructions and directives on Party school work, implements the requirements of the Regulations on the Work of Party Schools (Schools of Administration) of the Communist Party of China, makes coordinated and good use of teachers—the "most precious wealth"—and students—the "unique resource"—explores the establishment of a decision-making consultation working mechanism in which teachers and students have complementary advantages and act in coordination and linkage, promotes the transformation of decision-making consultation from scattered efforts to systematic advancement and from a single subject to teacher-student coordination and upgrading, effectively gives play to the theoretical advantages of teachers and the practical advantages of students, and better serves the scientific decision-making of Party committees and governments.
With the support of scientific research organization, promote complementary advantages (优势互补, youshi hubu - "advantage, mutual, complement") between teachers and students. Deeply advance organized scientific research, open up the channel between theoretical research and grassroots practice, and promote complementary advantages and two-way empowerment between teachers and students. First, build exchange platforms. Establish a "student discussion + teacher question-and-answer" mechanism and regularly organize teacher-student forums. Students, grounded in their post practice, speak about frontline conditions, discuss real difficulties, and share innovative practices; teachers, grounded in theoretical accumulation, answer questions and resolve doubts on the spot and point out research approaches. Through face-to-face exchange and discussion and multi-dimensional collision of ideas, jointly sort out grassroots pain points and blockages and extract clues to common problems, continuously stimulating the internal driving force for teachers and students to jointly go down to the grassroots for investigation and research and jointly write reports. Second, precisely match supply and demand. Relying on teachers' academic files and using means such as data statistical analysis and tagged classified management, generate for each teacher an exclusive "scientific research profile" from dimensions such as research direction and main field. Relying on the profile database, student research topic groups search as needed and independently connect with suitable guiding teachers, realizing effective docking between "research topic needs" and "teacher expertise" and promoting the scientific allocation and efficient concentration of research forces. Third, amplify the synergistic effect. Adhere to tiered cultivation and clarify the focus of collaborative research for teachers at different echelons. For young backbone teachers, guide them to anchor on the decision-making needs of Party committees and governments, transform academic accumulation into policy-consulting capacity, and guide student research groups throughout the process of carrying out investigation and research; for senior teachers, give play to their academic leadership advantages, support them in taking the lead in forming "teacher + student" composite research teams, and carry out sustained and in-depth policy-consulting research.
With major research topics as the traction, activate students' policy-consulting vitality. Make major-topic investigation and research the "required action" and assessment focus of students in main classes during their study at the school, break down the barriers between teaching and decision-making consultation work, and promote students' active participation in decision-making consultation work. First, establish a topic-selection mechanism of "research needs + professional matching." Formulate the Annual Policy-Consulting Topic Guide according to the central work of Party committees and governments, ensuring that research forces and research directions are not dispersed. Form research topic groups according to students' post fields, professional endowments, and research concerns. In 2026, more than 60 student research topic groups in main classes were formed, carrying out investigation and research around themes such as traditional industry upgrading, emerging industry cultivation, grassroots social governance, and public resource allocation. Second, establish a research mechanism of "student main body + teacher guidance." According to the research themes of the research topic groups, equip guiding teachers with research expertise in relevant fields and guide students to use the Party's innovative theory to study new situations and solve new problems. Organize students to go deep into the grassroots for research and obtain first-hand materials by means such as forums and interviews, questionnaire surveys, and intensive observation.Third, establish a results-improvement mechanism of "leadership comment + departmental feedback." After the research group forms the first draft of the investigation and research report, first carry out results reporting and discussion within the class, with school leaders commenting on academic norms, logical frameworks, and so on, and simultaneously organize mutual evaluation and exchange among the research groups. After the first draft is improved, submit it to relevant functional departments for review, focusing on judging policy adaptability and the operability of countermeasures. Through multiple rounds of polishing, ensure that the investigation and research reports have solid situations, deep analysis, accurate suggestions, and can be implemented.
With brand creation as an opportunity, improve overall policy-consulting effectiveness. Adhere to quality first, strictly control the quality of investigation and research reports, effectively transform high-quality research results into decision-making references for Party committees and governments, and open up the "last mile" of the integration of teaching, research, and consulting. First, establish a review mechanism. Continuously improve the "four-level review" mechanism of student self-review, guiding teacher review, functional department review, and leader-in-charge review. Student self-review focuses on factual accuracy and data authenticity; guiding teacher review focuses on logical rigor and depth of analysis; functional department review focuses on policy matching and feasibility of suggestions; leader-in-charge review focuses on political direction and overall positioning. The four-level review checks at each level, ensuring that every report conforms to the political attributes of the Party school and its think-tank positioning. Second, build a policy-consulting platform. Run well the internal publication Study, Thought, Practice, and Realization, paying attention both to reflecting the research results of main-class students and to the transformation of teachers' scientific research results, actively undertaking commissioned topics from Party committees and governments, and regularly and directionally submitting to Party committee and government leaders and relevant functional departments. Since 2025, Study, Thought, Practice, and Realization has published 53 policy-consulting reports, 30 of which received affirmative instructions from municipal leaders, and 2 results were adopted by relevant departments. Third, strengthen tracking and feedback. Assign dedicated personnel responsible for tracking results, actively connect with undertaking units, and dynamically grasp the adoption situation and implementation progress of countermeasures and suggestions. For results that have been transformed and implemented, promptly give feedback to the research groups and guiding teachers, sort and compile them by category into typical cases, and form a virtuous cycle of "teaching sets the topic, scientific research writes the article, policy consulting produces results, and results enter the classroom."
[Author unit: Party School (School of Administration) of the Shangrao Municipal Party Committee of Jiangxi Province]
Return to TopBy: 韩中州
Mountains upon mountains and waters upon waters make one suspect there is no road ahead, yet dark willows and bright flowers reveal another bridge; clouds stretch across the Qianling range—where is home?—as ten thousand bridges fly into place, crossing beyond what came before. Adapting these four lines of poetry: the first part is nature setting the question, the latter part is the people of Guizhou writing the answer. This question and answer reveal the simplest philosophy of Guizhou's bridge culture: where there is no road, build a bridge, and break a way out through the encirclement of the mountains. No mountain is higher than footsteps, no valley deeper than the human heart; a bridge is the oath the people of Guizhou write to the earth—some in stone, some in iron chains, some in steel wire, steel cable, and concrete. With more than 32,000 bridges, the people of Guizhou have thoroughly rewritten the thousand-year predicament of separation by the mountains, and forcibly embroidered a splendid scroll that connects natural chasms.
I
To see Guizhou through its bridges, one must first begin with stone bridges. Data from the Third National Cultural Relics Census show that among the more than 1,400 surviving ancient bridges in Guizhou, stone arch bridges and stone pier bridges account for a large proportion. The Gejing Bridge in Fuquan, as famous as the Zhaozhou Bridge in the north, is a classic among stone bridges and remains as steady as a rock (稳如磐石, wen ru pan shi - "stable, like; huge rock") after more than 400 years. Ge Jing, a native of Pingyue (present-day Fuquan) in the Ming Dynasty, saw that boats frequently capsized and people drowned at the Ma Ha River ferry crossing, and so vowed to build a bridge. The first attempt collapsed; the second was washed away; his family fortune was exhausted, and he made the vow "If the bridge is not completed, then Ge Jing shall not die," and the third attempt was finally completed. The bridge uses mountain rock as piers, with mortise sockets chiseled into the cliffs, three pointed arches asymmetrically embedded into the cliff walls on both banks. Mao Yisheng called it "the crown of bridges in the Southwest." Because the stone blocks resemble tofu cubes, local people call it the "Tofu Bridge." In the second year after the bridge was completed, Ge Jing passed away. One person exchanged a lifetime for a bridge; the bridge is then not merely a bridge, but a breath, a stubbornness—the stubbornness of the people of Guizhou who refuse to admit defeat in the face of danger and obstruction.
The Gongguan Bridge, built entirely of blue dressed stone, is the pinnacle of single-arch stone bridges in northern Guizhou. It is located on the Chiwei Stream at the border of Suiyang and Zheng'an counties, and is named "Gongguan Bridge" because an official hostel once stood beside it. During the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty, Lang Chengmo, the prefect of Zheng'an, was stranded at Gongguan Chang when spring floods blocked the ferry crossing, and so conceived the idea of building a bridge, joining with the two localities to build it together. The bridge was completed in the first year of Xuantong (1909), about 70 meters long, with a single arch span of about 23 meters, 47 stone steps on the south side and 40 on the north side, with male lions and relief patterns carved from whole stone at both ends of the railings, and archways built at the exact center of the railings on both sides; one of them bears the couplet "Stone steps reach the clouds, level as wild goose teeth; the river bridge lies like a crescent moon, a rainbow's waist," vividly depicting the architectural characteristics of the Gongguan Bridge's single high arch. The Gongguan Bridge was jointly built and managed by officials and the people, and a stone tablet records the names of more than 600 donors and the amounts of silver they donated.
The Zhusheng Bridge in Zhenyuan, spanning the Wu Yang River, was first built in the Ming Dynasty and completed in the first year of Yongzheng (1723). The bridge body has seven connected arches, and a three-tiered octagonal pavilion with a pointed roof was once built on the bridge deck. In those years, beneath the pavilion merchants and travelers rested their feet, scholars hurried on their way, and garrison soldiers rotated their posts. What the bridge connected was not only the two banks, but also the places of origin and the roads home of countless people on the Hunan-Guizhou post road.
The Fuyu Bridge in Guiyang is another temperament of stone. During the Wanli reign, the provincial governor Jiang Dongzhi donated a thousand pieces of gold to build an embankment and construct the Fuyu Bridge over the Nanming River; at the end of the bridge he also piled stones into a platform and built the Jiaxiu Pavilion on it, hoping that Guizhou would be "foremost in culture and talent under heaven." This bridge is the longest ancient bridge in the urban area of Guiyang, 92 meters long and 7 meters wide, connecting a huge turtle-shaped rock to the two banks; the famous Jiaxiu scene of "turtle rock floating jade" has become an unchanging cultural landmark of Guiyang for 400 years.
Going deeper still, what one encounters are iron chains and torrents. The Huajiang Iron Chain Bridge, suspended over the Beipan River in the Huajiang Gorge of Guanling, is a highly legendary ancient bridge in Guizhou. It witnessed a century-long microcosm of China's bridge construction leaping from traditional craft to modern science and technology, and is hailed as a "living fossil of Guizhou's transportation history"; at the same time it is also a historical relic bearing red memories. The bridge was completed in 1901, 71.5 meters long, with 14 iron chains connecting the two banks and a wooden plank surface. In April 1935, the Red Army on the Long March passed through this place; the Third Red Army Corps held off the enemy on the high ground on the south bank of the bridge, covering the main Red Army's westward advance. The iron chains swayed amid the gunfire, the planks groaned beneath foot, and at that moment the bridge was no longer merely a tool for crossing the river, but a way of life and a line of defense, bearing witness to the heroic spirit of the Red Army officers and soldiers who feared no hardship or danger and found life in the face of death (向死而生, xiang si er sheng - "towards, death; and, live"). Many years later a power station was built downstream, the water level rose, and the cultural relics department moved the entire iron chain bridge up by more than 20 meters; the iron chains are still the old iron chains, but the planks have been replaced with iron plates.
On the Chong'an River in Huangping County, three bridges stand side by side from south to north, historically known as the "Three-Dynasty Bridges": the iron chain bridge of the Qing Dynasty, the steel truss bridge designed by Mao Yisheng during the War of Resistance, and the concrete arch bridge of the 1990s. On a stretch of river less than a hundred meters wide, bridges of three dynasties line up in a row. The iron chains are the sinews of the agrarian age, the steel truss is the backbone that transported war materiel to Yunnan and Burma during the War of Resistance, and concrete is the smooth road of peacetime. Standing on the bank looking at them, one can almost hear time sliding over the iron chains, landing on the steel beams, and sinking into the strength of the concrete.
The Jiangjie River Bridge is located upstream of the Jiangjie River ferry crossing within Weng'an County. It is China's first prestressed concrete truss composite arch bridge; when completed in 1995 it was the truss arch bridge with the largest cantilever span in the world, 461 meters long with a main span of 330 meters. It no longer relies on the weight of stone, but uses calculation and prestressing to redistribute force. From stone to concrete, Guizhou's bridges have changed the way they cross.
II
By the 21st century, Guizhou's bridges began to reach toward the sky. The Baling River Bridge, opened to traffic in 2009, has a main span of 1,088 meters and stands 370 meters above the water; it is the world's first suspension bridge with a kilometer-scale span in a mountainous gorge. Beside the bridge stands the Guizhou Provincial Baling River Bridge Museum, displaying rubbings of ancient bridges and models of modern bridges; from the pointed arches of the Gejing Bridge to the steel trusses of the Baling River, from the iron chains of Huajiang to the suspension cables of the Beipan River, a history of Guizhou's transportation is condensed in a few exhibition rooms.
The Yachi River Bridge, situated above the Hundred-Li Gallery at the source of the Wu River, was the world's largest-span steel truss cable-stayed bridge when completed in 2016, once setting the record for mountain cable-stayed bridges worldwide, and won the highest award in the international bridge world, the Gustav Lindenthal Medal. This superb and matchless (精美绝伦, jing mei jue lun - "exquisite, extremely; peerless") red bridge is 1,450 meters long, with two H-shaped cable towers rising from the ridges on either bank; the tower on the Guiyang side is 243.2 meters high and the tower on the Qianxi side is 258.2 meters high, holding the 800-meter main span above the gorge. Its 192 stay cables fan out symmetrically from the tops of the towers; seen from afar, they are like two harps standing face to face over the river—when the wind passes, the strings do not sound; what sounds is the tremor and shock in people's hearts. The water at the source of the Wu River is clear, deep, and emerald green; the karst mountains are cold, hard, and blue-gray; and the red of the great bridge thus becomes the most striking presence in the entire gallery—it neither blends into the landscape nor offends it. Those who stand on the bank looking at the bridge, or who drive across it, enjoy the red passion and green charm of Guizhou's mountains and waters.
The Huayudong Bridge carries a basket of quiet seclusion, quietly awaiting the coming and going of traffic over Hongfeng Lake. It is Guizhou's first "basket-carrying" highway bridge, full of aesthetic design. Together with the adjacent Hongfeng Lake Bridge and the old Huayudong Bridge, it forms a three-bridge parallel landscape. It is like a red carrying basket, its two arch rings tilting slightly inward, gently gathering to cradle a lake of blue water. On foggy days the red arches are like cinnabar dropped on paper; on clear days the vermilion and lake blue set each other off delightfully. Guizhou's bridges are mostly judged as "heroes" by height and length, but the main span of the Huayudong Bridge is only 180 meters—yet it is precisely this "small bridge" that won the Gustav Lindenthal Medal. The reason for the award was its pioneering method of "building new arches on the old bridge, and using the new arches to dismantle the old bridge," which avoided polluting the lake water by blasting the old bridge. What enabled it to win the grand prize was not height or span, but the craft of ecological bridge-building.
The Pingtang Bridge has yet another kind of bearing. This bridge in Pingtang, Qiannan Prefecture, is called the "Bridge in the Sky," with three bridge towers; the middle tower is the world's tallest concrete bridge tower, 332 meters high. The tower bodies take the imagery of the skirt hems of local ethnic minority costumes; the three towers stand like three young women above the Caodu River gorge—the hardest engineering has the softest form. The concrete poured into the bridge piers uses machine-made sand mined on site, which both saved money and protected the river.
Most worthy of being written about is the Huajiang Gorge Bridge. After it opened to traffic on September 28, 2025, this place became a famous internet-famous check-in spot. The bridge deck stands 625 meters above the water, with a main span of 1,420 meters—"first in the world both horizontally and vertically." Nano fiber Bragg gratings are embedded in the bridge's main cables to monitor the health of the bridge structure around the clock. Looking down from the glass sightseeing corridor at the center of the bridge, the Beipan River at the bottom of the gorge shrinks into warm, moist emerald, and the Huajiang Iron Chain Bridge, which seems so close at hand, is as slender as a thread. The two bridges, one new and one old, one above and one below, echo each other from afar; separated by less than a kilometer of horizontal distance, their vertical height difference seems to span a century.
III
From the stone steps of the Gongguan Bridge to the steel cables of the Huajiang Gorge, Guizhou's bridges have traveled a very long road. This road is not straight; it has bends, it has breaks, it has the repetition of collapsing and being rebuilt, of being washed away and built again. Ge Jing built his bridge three times, failing the first two; the Huajiang Iron Chain Bridge was repaired and moved, moved and repaired; the Huayudong Bridge innovated its construction techniques. With high mountains and deep valleys, the people of Guizhou, who find a way out of a desperate situation (绝处逢生, jue chu feng sheng - "desperate place, encounter; life"), chisel the stone flat, pull the iron chains taut, transport concrete hundreds of meters into the air, draw cables from this mountain to that mountain, and turn layer upon layer of obstruction into scene after scene of beauty.
These bridges share one thing in common: none of them was built to look good. The Gongguan Bridge was built so that travelers would no longer be swept away by spring floods; the Gejing Bridge so that boats would no longer capsize at the ferry crossing; the Huajiang Iron Chain Bridge so that the horse caravans on the Tea Horse Ancient Road could cross the river; the Baling River Bridge so that the drive from Guanling to Huangguoshu would shrink from 1 hour to 4 minutes; the Huajiang Gorge Bridge so that the expressway from Liuzhi to Anlong would no longer make a detour. Behind every bridge there is a concrete, urgent, human need. Beauty came afterward—after the bridge was completed, the tacit understanding reached between the landscape and human effort.
In the video played at the Guizhou Provincial Baling River Bridge Museum, a bridge builder said one sentence: Guizhou's bridges were forced out by the great mountains and gorges. Guizhou's bridges are the product of finding a way out of desperate situations; the more bridges were built, the more each acquired its own name, its moving story, its inscriptions and couplets. Of the world's major bridge types today, you can find exemplary masterpieces of each in Guizhou. Ten thousand bridges flying into place have enabled Guizhou to achieve a magnificent transformation from "no three feet of flat land" to a "plateau of expressways." Bridge after bridge spans the gorges quietly and majestically, connecting this land isolated by mountains and waters, word by word, sentence by sentence; connected enough, it becomes a history of bridges. The history book begins with stone, its middle is iron and steel, and its ending is still being written—with cables and Beidou positioning, with machine-made sand and nano optical fibers...
Friend, if you come to Guizhou, please do not only look at the scenery from the bridges; please listen and look with your heart at the story of "connection" and "crossing" upheld within each block of stone and each steel cable. The mountains are still the same mountains, but the roads are long since no longer the roads of before.
Return to TopBy: 段培华
In 640 AD, Emperor Taizong of Tang established the Anxi Protectorate at Jiaohé City in Xizhou. During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, the territory under the jurisdiction of the Anxi Protectorate reached its greatest extent, encompassing the vast region north and south of the Tianshan Mountains and extending west to Persia. In 718 AD, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang established the Anxi Four Garrisons Jiedu Jinglüeshi, governing the four garrisons of Qiuci, Yanqi, Shule, and Yutian. Historically, the Anxi Four Garrisons played a role in ensuring the smooth flow of the Silk Road, consolidating northwest defense, and maintaining the Tang dynasty's effective jurisdiction over the Western Regions. The Tang poet Wang Wei's seven-character quatrain "Sending Off Yuan Er on His Mission to Anxi" left later generations with a deeper impression of Anxi. The Great Tang esteemed martial prowess, and there emerged many poets skilled at writing frontier poetry, such as Wang Changling, Cen Shen, and Gao Shi; Anxi was a place name that frequently appeared in their writings. But people often overlook Du Fu, who was not known for frontier poetry, yet also mentioned Anxi many times in his poems, presenting another aspect of Tang-era Anxi through his profound emotion and rhythmic force (沉郁顿挫, chen yu dun cuo - "deep, heavy; depressed, stifled").
Jiaohé appears many times in Du Fu's poems. In his writings, Anxi is remote, and the environment is harsh. In the first of his "Nine Poems on Going Out to the Frontier," he wrote, "Sorrowfully I leave my native place, endlessly I journey to Jiaohé," and in "Song of the Piebald Horse of the Senior Protector-General" he wrote, "Wrists short, hooves high, like striking iron; at Jiaohé how many times it kicked and cracked the frozen ice," and "When merit is achieved, it is favored and cared for wherever it goes, drifting far from the drifting sands." He described Anxi as far away in the northwest, a land of drifting sands and deserts, and extremely cold in winter. Du Fu's depiction accords with actual conditions. During the Tang dynasty, setting out westward from Chang'an, one could travel ten thousand li and still be within Tang territory. According to the "Nanbu Xinshu" written by a Song-era author: "(In Tang Chang'an) a marker post was erected outside the Kaiyuan Gate, saying that westward to Anxi was nine thousand nine hundred li, to show the soldiers that they were not making a journey of ten thousand li." The meaning is that the court at the time, in order not to let those traveling west fear the great distance, specially announced that from Chang'an westward it was only nine thousand nine hundred li, not a full ten thousand li.
The Anxi army in Du Fu's writing was an unstoppable and formidable force (锐不可当, rui bu ke dang - "sharp, not can, resist"). Although Du Fu never went to Anxi, he had seen the Anxi Protector Gao Xianzhi in Chang'an, and had also seen the Anxi army in Huazhou. In "Song of the Piebald Horse of the Senior Protector-General" he wrote, "The Anxi Protector's blue-black piebald, its fame and price suddenly came eastward. This horse before the battle line has long been unmatched, of one heart with its man, together achieving great deeds," praising Gao Xianzhi and his piebald horse as unmatched on the battlefield, together achieving great feats and establishing a career (建功立业, jian gong li ye - "establish, merit; set up, career"). The poem also says, "The strong youths of Chang'an dare not ride it; racing past like lightning, the whole city knows," praising Gao Xianzhi's extraordinary heroism and martial prowess (英武不凡, ying wu bu fan - "heroic, martial; not, ordinary") through the evaluation of the steed's divine bravery. At the time, Gao Xianzhi campaigned far against Little Bolü and established illustrious military achievements (赫赫战功, he he zhan gong - "brilliant, illustrious; war, merit"). After the An Lushan Rebellion broke out, the Great Tang requisitioned the Anxi army to go to the Central Plains to suppress the rebellion, and Du Fu accordingly wrote two poems about the Anxi army. In the first of his "Two Poems on Watching the Anxi Troops Pass Through to Await Orders in Guanzhong" he wrote, "The four garrisons are rich in elite troops, all unmatched in breaking the enemy's edge. I also hear they offer up their soldiers, enough to calm the wind and dust. The old horse knows the way at night, the hungry goshawk settles on man. Facing danger, long-tested in battle, when used urgently they are then like gods," full of admiration for the Anxi army's bravery and skill in battle. Facts proved that the Great Tang's ultimate suppression of the An Lushan Rebellion owed an important role to the Anxi army; it can be said that Du Fu's descriptions and praises were quite objective.
The Anxi army in Du Fu's poems was loyal to the Great Tang and strict in military discipline. In the second of his "Two Poems on Watching the Anxi Troops Pass Through to Await Orders in Guanzhong" Du Fu wrote, "A surprise force need not be many; ten thousand horses save the Central Plains. With talk and laughter, Hebei is no more; heart and liver offered to the Supreme. A lone cloud follows the killing aura, flying birds avoid the camp gate. All day long joy is kept; the city walls feel no clamor." Unlike the armies of other vassal towns, the Anxi army was one of the armies most loyal to the Tang dynasty. After the An Lushan Rebellion, the Anxi army that went to the Central Plains fought hard against the An Lushan rebels and established great merit; the Anxi army that remained in Anxi, because the Great Tang gradually lost Hexi and Longyou and long lost contact with Chang'an, had its passage to the Central Plains cut off, yet this isolated army still held high the banner of the Great Tang and held the frontier passes for several decades. That the Anxi army in Du Fu's writing did not disturb the people also accords with historical fact. The "Old Book of Tang: Biography of Li Siye" records: "Li Siye led the masses ten thousand li from Anxi, his authority and orders stern and orderly; the commanderies and counties he passed through, he did not infringe upon even a tiny bit of property (秋毫不犯, qiu hao bu fan - "autumn, hair, not, violate")." It is worth noting that Du Fu also keenly perceived that the Anxi army was not large in number, only about ten thousand, and this too was quite accurate. At the time the Anxi garrison army was only twenty-four thousand; the first reinforcements from Anxi numbered fewer than ten thousand. According to "New Book of Tang, Biographies 71": "Suzong was stationed at Lingwu and dispatched Anxi troops; Qiyun reckoned seven thousand elite soldiers to go to the rescue." Du Fu's record was accurate, well worthy of the name "poet-historian."
Unlike Cen Shen, Gao Shi, and others who had held military posts, Du Fu was a literatus of scholar origin. Although in times of hardship and frustration he once expressed the idea of going to a frontier jiedushi's command to serve as a staff advisor, for Du Fu, assisting the ruler in Chang'an better accorded with his aspirations. In "Sending My Cousin Ya to Anxi as Judicial Officer" he wrote: "I have heard that to drive the drum cart, one should not use a fine steed. The dragon chants and turns its head, waiting to be brought in to flank and assist." Du Fu's ideal was as written in his poem "Respectfully Presented to Left Assistant Director Wei, Twenty-Two Rhymes," hoping that he could "make my ruler surpass Yao and Shun, and again make customs pure."
The beacon fires of Anxi never went out in Du Fu's poems, and his precise records also preserved vivid historical details for later generations. Those laments about the remoteness of the territory, those praises of Anxi's generals, those reflections on the rise and fall of the realm—across a thousand years, reading them one can still feel his heavy-hearted devotion to home and country.
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At Mid-Autumn Festival I returned to my grandmother's home in the countryside. A layer of fine yellow leaves had fallen beneath the old jujube tree in the courtyard, and the autumn sun slanted into the low kitchen. Pushing open the door, I was met by the scorched fragrance of ripe wheat. Grandmother was tending the great iron pot, making fried flour, stirring slowly at the bottom of the pot with a wooden spatula. The snow-white flour was little by little toasted to a warm yellowish-brown, and wisps of steam drifted up over her graying temples. Hearing footsteps, Grandmother turned and smiled at me, the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes like furrowed fields warmed by the autumn sun. In that moment, many memories sunk deep in my heart floated up together with the fragrance.
I spent much of my childhood in my grandmother's little farm courtyard. In the slack seasons of autumn and winter, Grandmother always liked to fry up a big basin of wheat flour. Making fried flour takes effort. The wheat was newly harvested, sun-dried and winnowed clean; Grandmother sifted out the grit again and again with a winnowing basket, then pushed it to the mill at the village entrance to grind into fine powder. The great iron pot was heated in advance, and the oil was also pressed at home, golden yellow; she ladled in a spoonful of soybean oil, sometimes adding a spoonful of lard for extra fragrance. The oil sizzled at the bottom of the pot and soon gave off fine wisps of blue smoke; only then was the finely sifted flour poured in. The heat had to be judged precisely: too fierce, and the flour would scorch at once and turn bitter; too low, and it would not release that wheat fragrance. The spatula in Grandmother's hand never stopped for a moment, and the flour rustled as it rolled in the pot, its color changing from snow white to pale yellow, then from pale yellow to brownish yellow. Just before it came out of the pot, she scattered in a handful of candied green and red threads, sesame seeds and white sugar, flipped it over a few more times, and it was done; in an instant the whole room was filled with that alluring scorched fragrance. When Grandmother made fried flour, I liked to squat by the stove, watching the blue flames lick the bottom of the pot with a crackle, watching the flour rustle and turn under the spatula as it gradually changed color, and most of all I liked to breathe in that mellow, sweet aroma. Once the fried flour was ladled out and cooled, and passed once more through a fine sieve, Grandmother would put it into cloth bags sewn from clean coarse cloth and seal them up, and so in the depths of winter there was a food to be had at one's fingertips.
Fried flour is also called oil-tea flour or oil-fried flour; in the rural south of Liaoning where Grandmother's home is, it is a very common country food. The Northeast's winters are cold and long, and as one of the places where the Manchu people live in concentrated communities, this area has always had the custom of making fried flour. In earlier years, when the Jurchen hunted in the forest and snow plains or rode off on campaign, they carried this kind of roasted dry provisions with them. It is said that when the Kangxi Emperor toured the passes to the east, he too tasted this folk flavor and praised it again and again. Later the craft of fried flour was passed down from generation to generation (代代相传, dai dai xiang chuan - "generation, generation, mutually, pass"), from dry rations for marching troops on the road to a food on the stoves of ordinary households; at festivals and New Year, it was also a gift when visiting relatives and friends.
Eating a bowl of fried flour was what I looked forward to most in my childhood. Coming home from school in winter, hunched up with cold, I'd watch Grandmother ladle two spoonfuls of fried flour into a bowl, lift the thermos and pour boiling water over it, stir it twice with chopsticks, and a bowl of thick, gluey oil tea was ready. I'd lie on the kang table, slurping it sip by sip, fragrant and sweet, the warmth traveling from my throat all the way down to the soles of my feet. Sometimes I couldn't wait for the water and grabbed a handful of dry flour to stuff into my mouth; fragrant it truly was, but it easily choked the throat, setting me coughing, which often earned me a scolding or two from Grandmother. When she had time Grandmother taught me to make fried flour; small as I was, I couldn't lift the heavy wooden spatula, so I took a little spoon and stirred haphazardly in the pot, and most of it came out unevenly browned. Grandmother didn't mind; she still gathered it up and put it into the cloth bag.
After I grew up, I left my hometown to study elsewhere, and every time I packed my bags before setting out, Grandmother's cloth bag would always be stuffed into my backpack. A bag of home-fried fried flour, heavy in the hand. She said that studying away from home, when I got hungry at night, I could just add boiling water to fill my stomach a little. After I started work, I moved farther and farther from home, but there was still often fried flour packed by Grandmother in my suitcase. A person in a foreign land, with strange lights outside the window, mixing a bowl of fried flour and standing by the window holding the bowl, it was as if I could hear the jujube leaves rustling in Grandmother's courtyard. A bag of fried flour is the old woman's plain longing, and across mountains and rivers it follows me to every place I go.
For many years, for me, fried flour was connected only with homesickness and with longing for Grandmother. But a chance occasion gave me a profound feeling of gratitude toward it. After I became a teacher at the Party school, one year I went to the Memorial Hall of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea in Dandong for study, and learned of the many moving deeds of the Volunteer Army soldiers who kept fighting with fried flour to stave off hunger. Under extremely difficult conditions, the Volunteer Army fought continuously and made mountain flanking maneuvers, and supplies were hard to sustain; fried flour did not fear freezing, did not spoil easily, required no pot, no fire, and not even water, was easy to package and convenient to carry, and so became the military ration of first choice at the time. According to relevant records, the fried flour of that time was made by mixing wheat flour with corn flour, soybean flour or sorghum flour, because wheat output was limited and the supply was insufficient, and the other ingredients could also make up a little for the monotony of nutrition. In weather of minus tens of degrees Celsius, dry fried flour washed down with icy snow could be swallowed only by sheer willpower; eaten alone over the long term, the soldiers were generally malnourished. It was under such arduous conditions that the Volunteer Army soldiers won the great victory of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
In the display case, the cloth bag that a Volunteer Army soldier used to hold fried flour, sewn of coarse cloth with fine, plain stitches, actually resembled Grandmother's sewn bag somewhat. In the black-and-white old photograph, a young soldier squats in the snow, stuffs a handful of fried flour into his mouth, then grabs a handful of snow to wash it down; this is the scene of "eat a mouthful of fried flour, take a mouthful of snow" from "Who Are the Most Lovable People," which I read as a youth. Moved and grateful overlap, and in a daze those flames of war are no longer just stories in a book, but merge with Grandmother's cloth bag and with my homesickness.
Returning home this Mid-Autumn, I busied myself again for a long while at Grandmother's stove. Grandmother is getting on in years, and her arms are not as strong as before, so the work of making fried flour has fallen to me. Life today is better and better, and the finished fried flour on the market has also undergone a complete transformation (改头换面, gai tou huan mian - "change, head, exchange, face"), with more exquisite packaging and richer contents: five-kernel, black sesame, red date and goji, and also sugar-free, mixed-grain and so on, but it always feels less intimate than the flavor fried at home. Recalling the skill Grandmother taught me as a child, I heated the pot, poured in the oil, put in the flour, and turned the spatula, and as that familiar scorched fragrance slowly rose, the flames in the stove leaped and flickered, lighting up Grandmother's face brightly. Not far away, my daughter and little niece were also curiously imitating me, their arms drawing circles without stopping. Watching this inheritance, Grandmother's face wore a gratified smile.
The moon slowly rose over the farmhouse eaves, and the night gradually spread out. Holding a bowl of freshly mixed fried flour in my hands, the warmth passed from my palms to the bottom of my heart. A bowl of oil-tea flour holds the wisdom of our forebears' survival, carries the traditions of Manchu folk custom, records the sincere devotion of the years of flames of war, and contains the warmth of ordinary daily life. A wisp of wheat fragrance crosses the long stretch of time, and the smoke of human life has never ceased, the original aspiration enduring, warm year after year.
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