Summary: The article explains the "four major challenges" facing the Party in persisting in advancing full and rigorous self-governance, as outlined in the Decision of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee. It states that these challenges are a new synthesis based on the "four major tests" and the "four dangers," highlighting the practical urgency for the Party to respond to major risks and challenges under new circumstances. The piece details how the challenges focus on new requirements for improving governing capacity, raising leadership level, strengthening the quality of the ranks, and achieving resistance to corruption and prevention of change. It emphasizes that proposing the "four major challenges" demonstrates the Party's historical initiative in daring to carry out self-revolution and solve its own problems. The author is Xiao Guiqing.
Summary: The article argues that the Party's political construction is fundamental, and the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee has made major arrangements to advance it, emphasizing it as the lead in full and rigorous self-governance. It stresses the need to enhance consciousness and resolve, citing General Secretary Xi Jinping on maintaining the Party's advanced nature and purity, and on solving political problems from a political perspective. The piece outlines regularities of political construction in the new era, including upholding the authority of the Party Central Committee, following the people's hearts, improving political ability, and purifying the political ecology. It calls for persistently deepening political construction by holding fast to political direction, adhering to Party leadership, strengthening the cadre team, and strictly regulating power use. The author is identified as the deputy principal of the Party School of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee.
Summary: The article emphasizes advancing Party building in the new era through systematic thinking and holistic planning, requiring thorough implementation of Xi Jinping's thought on Party building. It stresses upholding the centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee and improving the system for full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, with political construction as the lead. The piece calls for integrating rectification of conduct, enforcement of discipline, and the fight against corruption, while unifying the tempering of Party spirit, enhancement of capabilities, and purification of the political ecosystem. It urges leading cadres to set an example, strengthen education, management, and oversight, and guide Party members to maintain self-discipline in private and small matters while constantly exercising self-discipline and self-improvement.
Summary: The article emphasizes that implementing democratic centralism is a fundamental requirement for full and rigorous Party self-governance, with the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Party Central Committee stressing its strict implementation, particularly regarding the exercise of power by "top leaders" and their competence in this area. It argues that democratic centralism is not merely procedural but a key institutional guarantee for pooling collective wisdom, making scientific decisions, and maintaining unity within leading bodies. The piece identifies deviations among some cadres, such as "one-man rule" and weak centralization, and calls for leading cadres to treat democratic centralism as a "basic course" and "hard rule" to improve their skills. It details that competence is tested through adherence to the Two Upholds, decision-making rules, intra-Party democracy, and criticism and self-criticism, requiring cadres to balance democracy and centralization effectively. Finally, it urges leading cadres, especially "top leaders," to uphold centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee and transform collective decisions into tangible governance outcomes.
Summary: The article discusses the "four grassroots-level practices," a working method promoted by Xi Jinping during his time in Fujian, which involves publicizing Party policy, conducting research, receiving public visits, and handling official business at the grassroots level. It traces the origins of these practices to Ningde in the late 1980s, where Xi, then prefectural Party secretary, introduced measures to address local poverty and strengthen cadre-mass relations. The piece argues that the practices have evolved from a local experiment into a nationwide institutional arrangement, contributing original theoretical value to the Party's mass line. It highlights their role in transforming Marxist principles into operable governance mechanisms, reshaping work styles, and improving grassroots governance through two-way interaction. The author, a researcher at the Fujian Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought, concludes that the practices offer methodological guidance for mass work in the new era, emphasizing political resolve, pragmatism, and people-centered values.
Summary: The article argues that "chizhiyiheng" (perseverance) is the key term of the Decision adopted at the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee, emphasizing that full and rigorous self-governance of the Party must be advanced with sustained, long-term effort. It cites General Secretary Xi Jinping's statements that "full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is always on the way" and that the decision to make this the plenary's agenda item was based on sending the signal that "strictness will only increase over time." The piece stresses that perseverance requires anchoring direction, tempering Party spirit, and relying on the people, linking the Party's "self-revolution" with Mao Zedong's "great project" of Party building. It concludes that writing "perseverance" into the plenary document elevates it into the political character of a century-old major Party advancing self-revolution. The author is identified as Director of the Publicity Bureau of the Political Work Department of the Armed Police Force.
Summary: The article argues that the Party's political construction is fundamental, and the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee has made major arrangements to advance it, emphasizing it as the lead in full and rigorous self-governance. It stresses the need to enhance consciousness and resolve, citing General Secretary Xi Jinping on maintaining the Party's advanced nature and purity, and on solving political problems from a political perspective. The piece outlines regularities of political construction in the new era, including upholding the authority of the Party Central Committee, following the people's hearts, improving political ability, and purifying the political ecology. It calls for persistently deepening political construction by holding fast to political direction, adhering to Party leadership, strengthening the cadre team, and strictly regulating power use. The author is identified as the deputy principal of the Party School of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee.
Summary: Dong Zhenhua, Director of the Department of Scientific Socialism Teaching and Research at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, interpreted a directive by General Secretary Xi Jinping stating that having the Party in one's heart is concrete rather than abstract. Dong emphasized that Party members must translate political loyalty into concrete actions, including firm ideals, strict adherence to political discipline, and strong organizational consciousness. He noted that cadres must maintain high consistency with the Party Central Committee and achieve unity of knowledge and action in their daily words and deeds. Furthermore, the interpretation stressed that responsibility and daring to act in the face of difficulties are essential manifestations of this political character.
Summary: The article emphasizes consolidating grassroots foundations for disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief, citing General Secretary Xi Jinping's directive that the grassroots level is the front line for resisting natural disasters. It calls for thorough investigation of hidden risks, establishment of baseline data ledgers, and preparation of early warning plans, including echelon-based evacuation of personnel such as tourists and construction workers. The piece stresses building an evacuation and resettlement system that is "trustworthy, willing to be used, and well managed," with cadres sinking to contracted points and ensuring no household or person is left behind. It also advocates establishing a clear orientation for action by assessing cadre performance in flood and typhoon prevention, and improving long-term mechanisms through the Fengqiao model, mass participation, and professional support. The author is identified as a member of the Standing Committee of the Shaoxing Municipal Party Committee and head of its Organization Department.
Summary: The article explains the "four major challenges" facing the Party in persisting in advancing full and rigorous self-governance, as outlined in the Decision of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee. It states that these challenges are a new synthesis based on the "four major tests" and the "four dangers," highlighting the practical urgency for the Party to respond to major risks and challenges under new circumstances. The piece details how the challenges focus on new requirements for improving governing capacity, raising leadership level, strengthening the quality of the ranks, and achieving resistance to corruption and prevention of change. It emphasizes that proposing the "four major challenges" demonstrates the Party's historical initiative in daring to carry out self-revolution and solve its own problems. The author is Xiao Guiqing.
Summary: CSSC Investment is treating the study and implementation of the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party as a major political task, guided by Xi Jinping's thought on Party building to advance the normalization and long-term effectiveness of work style development with the spirit of driving a nail. The company emphasizes arming the mind with the Party's innovative theories, strictly implementing the "first agenda item" system, and upholding "the Two Establishments" and "the Two Upholds" through practical actions. It adopts a problem-oriented approach, managing "key people," "key matters," and "key times" to prevent integrity risks and address the "Four Malfeasances." The company is improving institutional mechanisms, tightening responsibility chains, and weaving a supervision network to ensure the normalization and long-term effectiveness of work style development. These efforts aim to guarantee high-quality development and a good start for the 15th Five-Year Plan, with the company focusing on its main business, expanding strategic emerging industries, and forging cadres who take on responsibility.
Summary: The article, authored by the Party Committee of Huayuanxing Shipping Co., Ltd., reviews the company's 20-year history since its 2006 founding as the sole shipping enterprise under China Huadian Corporation. It highlights the company's role in transporting over 300 million tons of coal for power supply guarantees and its green transformation through fleet modernization, including new energy-efficient bulk carriers and methanol-ready vessels. The piece details efforts in safety management, technological innovation, and industrial chain collaboration, such as the Huadian Green Shipping Industry Development Alliance and electric ship projects on the Yangtze River. It emphasizes Party building as a guiding force and the company's commitment to national energy security and green low-carbon development. The article concludes by positioning the company as a contributor to China's goals of building a strong transportation nation and a strong maritime nation, without mentioning the United States or U.S.-China relations.
Summary: The article argues that the Pinglu Canal, completed and opened to navigation on September 16, 2026, can empower China-ASEAN production capacity cooperation by reshaping industrial spatial layout, building a cross-border industrial and supply chain coordination system, and deepening institutional opening up. It proposes relying on the canal economic belt to cultivate manufacturing agglomeration poles oriented toward ASEAN, including a "river-rail-sea" multimodal transport network and the "ASEAN raw materials + Guangxi deep processing" model. The piece also calls for two-way embedding of production capacity through chain-leader enterprise leadership, the "two countries, twin parks" model, and improved cross-border logistics resilience. Institutional opening up should advance rules of origin accumulation, mutual recognition of standards, smart ports, and the "single window" system. The author is Vice President of the Baise Cadre Academy of Guangxi.
Summary: The article discusses the need to establish an educational resource allocation mechanism that adapts to population changes, emphasizing the importance of forward-looking research and dynamic adjustment. It highlights General Secretary Xi Jinping's call to adapt to changes in population structure and create a more rational and efficient mechanism for educational resource allocation. The piece is part of an in-depth discussion launched by the Study Times high-end think tank edition on this topic.
Summary: The article argues that China's basic education resource allocation must shift from scale expansion to precise, coordinated, and flexible governance in response to changing population dynamics, including echeloned school-age population peaks and regional differentiation. It calls for a shift from static planning to dynamic early warning, from county-level to municipal-level coordination, and from quantity satisfaction to quality improvement. The piece proposes mechanisms such as "tidal schools" for flexible degree/seat supply, small-class teaching, cross-stage resource sharing, and reuse of idle school buildings. It warns against school merging based solely on student numbers, post-peak waste, formalized teacher mobility, and neglect of educational equity. The author, identified as Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Educational Sciences, concludes that combining top-level design with grassroots innovation is essential to build a fair and high-quality basic education system.
Summary: The article argues that China's education resource allocation must shift toward dynamic, forward-looking adjustment in response to population decline and spatial restructuring. It notes that school-age population peaks are transmitting across school segments, with primary school already peaked, junior high peaking now, and senior high and higher education peaks due in 2029 and 2032. The author identifies barriers to adaptation, including rigid school-segment construction standards, teacher certification limits, and fiscal arrangements that hinder cross-regional and cross-segment resource flows. The piece calls for classified guidance, warning against simply cutting resources in outflow counties while ensuring equal education rights for rural students and migrant children in inflow towns. It proposes a degree early-warning system, a flexible "tidal school" model, and improved teacher allocation mechanisms to balance dynamism with equity.
Summary: The article discusses the role of small unmanned aerial vehicles in urban defensive operations, emphasizing their evolution from offensive tools to essential assets for defenders. It outlines four key applications: reconnaissance and early warning through low-altitude surveillance, building infiltration, and spectrum mapping; aerial interception using soft-kill and hard-kill methods, including electronic warfare and kinetic impacts; ground resistance via empowering main battle platforms, suicide ramming strikes, and swarm coordinated attacks; and operational support in information and engineering domains. The piece highlights tactics such as GPS deception, link protocol cracking, and manned-unmanned cooperative combat to counter enemy threats. It stresses the importance of building a multi-layered, cost-effective drone defense system to maintain situational awareness and operational continuity in complex urban environments.
Summary: The article discusses building a digitally networked environment in the military domain, emphasizing data as a core element for combat effectiveness and the need for top-level design, a unified data foundation, security protection, and a professional workforce. It stresses integrating data across all domains, standardizing interfaces, and ensuring hardware and software autonomy and controllability to safeguard military data. The piece also highlights the importance of talent cultivation through military-civilian collaboration and mission-based training to support the environment's evolution from physical connection to intelligent empowerment.
Summary: The article describes a national first-class cultural relic—the silver seal of the Finance People's Commissar of the People's Commissariat of the Central Executive Committee of the Chinese Soviet Republic—held in Diebu County's museum, which was lost by Lin Boqu during the Long March and rediscovered in 1988. It details Lin Boqu's role as Finance People's Commissar and his responsibility for Red Army logistics, including pre-march preparations and the raising of funds and grain. The article recounts how logistical support relied on purchasing, borrowing, battlefield seizures, and confiscation, with examples such as the confiscation of goods in Zunyi and the joint signing of measures by Li Fuchun and Lin Boqu. It highlights the severe grain crisis in Tibetan areas, where Lin Boqu implemented ethnic policies and raised 400,000 jin of grain, and notes the seal's loss near Lazikou. The seal is presented as evidence of the Red Army's discipline and mass-line approach, which won support from all ethnic groups.
Summary: This article, written by a professor at Tsinghua University's School of Humanities, expounds on the classical saying from *Yanzi Chunqiu*: "One who plans by the measure of righteousness will surely attain; one who undertakes affairs by relying on the people will surely succeed." The author argues that "righteousness" is the standard for weighing affairs and "virtue" is the result of handling them appropriately, linking these concepts to show that moral principle is the foundation of long-term benefit. The piece contrasts planning by righteousness with planning by immediate benefit, using historical examples such as the Zhou people's rise through cultivating virtue and Qin's fall due to alienating the people. It further explains that "relying on the people" means aligning undertakings with popular will and treating the people as the source of wisdom, not as a resource to exploit. The author concludes that while times change, the causal relationships between righteousness and attainment, and between the people and success, remain constant, with success coming naturally when these foundations are upheld.
Summary: The article traces China's century-long engagement with IFLA, from co-founding the organization in 1927 through Mary Elizabeth Wood to restoring its legitimate seat in 1981 after negotiations led by Ding Zhigang and Liang Sizhuang. It highlights the eight-year effort, culminating in 2005, to make Chinese a working language, a reform driven by figures like Sun Beixin, Wu Jianzhong, and Zhang Xiaolin. Since 2017, Chinese experts have entered IFLA's governance structures, with over 60 Chinese institutions and 70 representatives participating in committees and standards work. The piece argues China's role has shifted from passive recipient to active contributor, citing 18 IFLA awards since 2012 and the international relevance of Chinese practices like ancient book preservation and public library free opening. It concludes that China's experience offers development models under different institutional conditions, embodying equal mutual learning in global cultural governance.
Summary: The article explores the traditional Chinese concept of "constancy," defining it as both an unchanging principle and a ceaseless operation. It characterizes "constancy" as a moral virtue requiring steadfastness of purpose and the accumulation of small achievements over time. In the context of governance, the text argues that stability relies on maintaining established laws and regulations rather than frequent, arbitrary changes. However, it notes that true "constancy" is not a refusal to change, but rather the ability to adapt to the times and follow the people's hearts while maintaining core principles. Ultimately, the author presents "constancy" as a strategic resolve necessary for both personal self-cultivation and successful statecraft.
By: 清华大学习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想研究院
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," deliberated and adopted at the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party, points out that as the conditions of the world, the country, and the Party undergo profound changes, full and rigorous self-governance of the Party also faces many new situations and new problems. These new situations and new problems pose major challenges to the Party's governing capacity, leadership level, quality of its ranks, and its ability to resist corruption and prevent change under the new circumstances. The "four major challenges" are a new synthesis made on the basis of the "four major tests" and the "four dangers," which more prominently highlights the practical urgency for the Party to respond to major risks and challenges, more closely focuses on the new requirements that the development and changes in the situation and tasks place on the quality and capability of Party organizations at all levels and on Party members and cadres, and more fully demonstrates the Party's historical initiative in daring to carry out self-revolution and solve its own problems.
The "four major challenges" are a new synthesis made on the basis of the "four major tests" and the "four dangers"
Since entering the new era, although great achievements have been made in Party building, the "four major tests" and the "four dangers" facing the Party are long-term, complex, and severe, and they pose more challenges to Party building. The "four major challenges" are precisely a new synthesis made on the basis of the "four major tests" and the "four dangers" under the new circumstances.
Both the "four major tests" and the "four dangers" are challenges posed to Party building. The "four major tests" mainly point to the challenges brought by objective conditions, while the "four dangers" focus on the internal risks that the Party is prone to when facing the "four major tests." Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, through continuously advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, great achievements have been made in governing and building the Party and in revitalizing and strengthening the Party, but "the tests of governance, reform and opening up, the market economy, and the external environment facing our Party are long-term and complex, and the dangers of mental slackness, insufficient capability, detachment from the masses, and passive corruption facing our Party are acute and severe." This reality has not changed; on the contrary, it has made the external conditions targeted by the "four major tests" more complex and the internal risks represented by the "four dangers" more difficult to avoid.
With regard to the "four major tests," under the new circumstances, the Party's governance must not only face the challenge of advancing Chinese modernization through high-quality development, but also face the complex and volatile international situation. Reform and opening up has also moved from the initial ice-breaking exploration and gradual reform into the stage of systematic tackling of hard problems. The test of the market economy has become more severe, and issues such as advancing in depth the building of the unified national market, continuously preventing and defusing risks in key areas, making every effort to stabilize employment, stabilize enterprises, stabilize the market, and stabilize expectations, and strengthening the endogenous driving force of economic development have become increasingly prominent under the new circumstances. With the proliferation of de-globalization, unilateralism, and trade protectionism, the external environment facing the Party has also become increasingly complex.
With regard to the "four dangers," under the new circumstances, the danger of mental slackness has become more hidden, shifting from traditional slackness and paralysis in work to more implicit ideological fatigue. The danger of insufficient capability has become more prominent; in the past, insufficient capability was reflected in not understanding the market economy or opening up, whereas now it is reflected in a "panic about competence" in coordinating development and security, coordinating reform, development, and stability, and handling cross-domain risks. The danger of detachment from the masses has shifted from overt work-style problems such as doors hard to enter and faces hard to look at, to a more hidden and indirect alienation from the masses. In the past, yamen-style work style and bureaucratism were prominent; now, formalism that emphasizes documents, reports, and leaving traces is more prominent. The danger of passive corruption has shifted from traditional overt corruption to new, hidden, cross-domain, and chain-based corruption.
Under the new circumstances, the "four major tests" and the "four dangers" place higher demands on the Party's governing capacity, leadership level, quality of its ranks, and ability to resist corruption and prevent change, and together they constitute the "four major challenges" facing the Party in persisting in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era. The "four major challenges," the "four major tests," and the "four dangers" are both interconnected and each has its own emphasis; they are all major issues that our Party must resolve in persisting in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era.
The "four major challenges" more prominently highlight the practical urgency for the Party to respond to major risks and challenges
The proposal of the "four major challenges" is a new judgment based on the severe situation facing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, highlighting the practical urgency for the Party to respond to major risks and challenges under the new circumstances. In the course of its struggle of more than one hundred years, the reason our Party has been able to achieve one great accomplishment after another and overcome one difficulty after another lies precisely in its consistent adherence to proceeding from reality and making timely scientific assessments of the risks and challenges facing Party building. At present, after long-term efforts and especially the tenacious struggle in the new era, our governance and building of the Party and our revitalization and strengthening of the Party have gathered strong positive energy, and full and rigorous self-governance of the Party has many favorable conditions. However, whether viewed from the international and domestic situation or from the Party itself, profound changes have taken place, bringing many new situations and new problems.
The international situation has become more complex. The changes unseen in a century are accelerating, geopolitical conflicts and local wars continue unabated, the momentum of world economic growth is insufficient, global challenges such as climate issues and energy issues follow one after another, the world has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation, and uncertain and unpredictable factors in the external environment are increasing day by day. This increasingly complex international situation makes the task of the Party uniting and leading the people in safeguarding national sovereignty, security, and development interests more arduous.
The tasks of development, reform, and stability are more onerous. Although Chinese modernization has achieved remarkable accomplishments, the contradiction between the people's ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development remains prominent. The population structure, social groups, and interest patterns continue to change; digitalization, networking, and intelligentization are developing rapidly; social production and lifestyle and organizational forms are more diverse; and various thoughts and values interweave and collide. Further comprehensively deepening reform, promoting high-quality development, strengthening social development and governance, coordinating development and security, and stimulating and enhancing social vitality have encountered many new issues. All these make the task of the Party uniting and leading the people in promoting reform and development and maintaining social harmony and stability more arduous.
Internal tests have become more severe. Although the Party's ranks have undergone structural changes, with the proportion of young Party members and cadres growing ever larger, and the mainstream of the Party's ranks is good, the problems of impurity in thought, impurity in organization, and impurity in work style have not yet been fundamentally resolved, and the quality and capability of some Party members and cadres do not meet the requirements of the development of the times. A small number of Party members and cadres, including senior cadres, have weak Party spirit, wavering or even missing ideals and convictions, weak feelings for the masses, deviations in their view of political achievements, and phenomena such as formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance remain serious. Problems such as insufficient fighting spirit, failure to take responsibility and act, failure to observe discipline and rules, and even abusing power for personal gain and becoming corrupt and degenerate also exist widely. Some primary-level Party organizations have weak political and organizational functions, and are even weak, lax, and disorganized; in some fields, especially emerging fields, the Party's organizational coverage and work coverage are not comprehensive and effective enough. The new changes that have occurred within the Party and the old problems that exist make the task of maintaining the Party's advanced nature and purity more arduous.
The three "more arduous" tasks brought about by the profound changes in the conditions of the world, the country, and the Party represent the major risks and challenges the Party faces in responding to new situations and solving new problems under the new circumstances. Responding to the three "more arduous" tasks with the "four major challenges" reflects the Party's precise judgment of the major risks and challenges we face under the new circumstances.
The "four major challenges" more closely focus on the new requirements that the development and changes in the situation and tasks place on the quality and capability of Party organizations at all levels and on Party members and cadres
The "four major challenges" focus on the new situations and new problems under the new circumstances, clarify the new requirements that the development and changes in the situation and tasks place on the quality and capability of Party organizations at all levels and on Party members and cadres, and reveal that improving governing capacity, raising leadership level, strengthening the quality of the ranks, and achieving resistance to corruption and prevention of change are important focal points for persisting in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party.
Improving governing capacity is fundamental. No matter how the conditions of the world, the country, and the Party change, and no matter how complex the new situations and new problems are, they will ultimately converge on one fundamental issue, namely, whether the Party can manage complex situations and grasp the initiative. The more complex the situation, the more a strong governing capacity is needed to stabilize direction, coordinate the overall situation, and do a good job of top-level design. If governing capacity cannot keep up, it will be difficult to maintain strategic resolve amid volatile changes, make scientific decisions, and effectively defuse risks. Therefore, in the face of the development and changes in the situation and tasks, it is necessary to take improving governing capacity as the breakthrough point, continuously raise the level of scientific, democratic, and law-based governance, and continuously strengthen the Party's political leadership, thought leadership, mass organization, and social appeal.
Raising leadership level is key. The changes in the world require coordinating development and security with the new development pattern; the changes in the country require advancing Chinese modernization with high-quality development. The new changes in the conditions of the world and the country are a comprehensive test of the Party's leadership philosophy, leadership methods, and governing capacity. The increasing complexity of the external environment requires the Party to be good at seeking development through opening up and ensuring security amid competition; domestic reform has entered the deep-water zone, requiring the Party to be good at handling the complex relationships among reform, development, and stability. If the leadership level lags behind the development and changes in the situation and tasks, it will be difficult to find the right coordinates, choose the right orientation, and aim at the bull's-eye, making it impossible to act with a clear aim or purpose and to solve fundamental problems. Therefore, in the face of the development and changes in the situation and tasks, it is necessary to take raising the Party's leadership level as the entry point, enhance the ability of leading cadres to set direction, plan the overall situation, formulate policies, and promote reform, and fully transform institutional advantages into governance effectiveness.
Strengthening the quality of the ranks is the lever. Without a high-quality cadre contingent that is loyal, clean, and responsible, no matter how good the strategic blueprint is, it will be difficult to implement. Responding to changes in the world requires cadres with an international perspective and strategic vision; leading domestic development requires cadres with professional competence and a sense of responsibility. And the changes in the Party's conditions make it more urgent to require cadres to strengthen their Party spirit and enhance their abilities. The changes in the conditions of the world, the country, and the Party are interwoven, placing higher demands on the quality of the Party's ranks: it is necessary both to firm up ideals and convictions and stand firmly with the people in a complex environment, and to continuously acquire new abilities and adapt to new situations. In the face of the development and changes in the situation and tasks, it is necessary to take strengthening the quality of the ranks as an important lever, strengthen the tempering of Party spirit, emphasize capacity building, encourage courageous responsibility, and consolidate the Party's governing foundation through doing a good job of building the Party's ranks.
Achieving resistance to corruption and prevention of change is the bottom line. Capital infiltration and interest temptations in the external environment, the increase in risk points in the exercise of power under domestic market economy conditions, and the ease with which long-term governance breeds mental slackness and passive corruption continuously give rise to new forms of corruption and increase the difficulty of resisting corruption and preventing change. If the defense line against corruption and change is loosened and the governance of the Party and the management of the Party become too lenient, the Party will find it difficult to win the trust and support of the people. Therefore, in the face of the development and changes in the situation and tasks, it is necessary to hold fast to the defense line against corruption and change, adhere to advancing in an integrated manner the efforts to ensure that officials do not have the audacity, opportunity, or desire to be corrupt, maintain a high-pressure stance in punishing corruption, strengthen the restriction and supervision of the exercise of power, develop a positive and healthy political culture within the Party, integrate a culture of integrity into the building of core socialist values, integrate integrity education into the national education system, strive to "always brush away the dust from the soul, always clean out the garbage in thought, always dig out the dirt in the corners of the soul," and resolutely hold fast to the bottom line of integrity and honesty.
The new situations and new problems that have emerged under the new circumstances place new requirements and severe challenges on Party building in the new era. Only by closely focusing on improving governing capacity, raising leadership level, strengthening the quality of the ranks, and achieving resistance to corruption and prevention of change, and by actively adapting to the profound changes in the conditions of the world, the country, and the Party, can full and rigorous self-governance of the Party be persisted in and advanced fundamentally.
The "four major challenges" more fully demonstrate our Party's historical initiative in daring to carry out self-revolution and solve its own problems
The spirit of historical initiative is the spiritual character and practical consciousness of consciously applying the laws of historical development, grasping the historical orientation, recognizing the general trend of the times, actively identifying, responding to, and seeking change, daring to take responsibility and act actively, thereby firmly grasping the initiative in the development of the cause and demonstrating the advancement of history. By proposing the "four major challenges" and directly confronting the new situations and new problems brought by the continuous changes in the conditions of the world, the country, and the Party, our Party vividly demonstrates its historical initiative in daring to carry out self-revolution and solve its own problems.
The "four major challenges" are a concrete manifestation of our Party's daring to carry out self-revolution. Proposing the "four major challenges" reflects our Party's strategic sobriety in the face of new situations and new problems under the new circumstances, and this sobriety is the starting point for grasping historical initiative. Only by recognizing the real challenges, seeing clearly the prominent problems that exist within itself, and daring to acknowledge the severe challenges it faces can the Party truly turn its blade inward and scrape the poison from the bone, neither evading nor concealing, and maintain the sober consciousness of self-revolution. Only by closely focusing on improving governing capacity, raising leadership level, strengthening the quality of the ranks, and achieving resistance to corruption and prevention of change, and continuing to make precise and sustained efforts, can self-revolution achieve greater results.
The "four major challenges" are a direct manifestation of our Party's daring to solve its own problems. Proposing the "four major challenges" and treating the "four major challenges," the "four major tests," and the "four dangers" as major issues that our Party must resolve in persisting in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era is precisely to demonstrate that against the background of profound changes in the conditions of the world, the country, and the Party, we must not only withstand the "four major tests" but also be vigilant against the "four dangers," and at the same time deeply recognize that our Party still has gaps and deficiencies in governing capacity, leadership level, quality of the ranks, and resistance to corruption and prevention of change. Directly facing problems is the premise for solving them. Only by daring to face the new situations and new problems brought by the new changes in the conditions of the world, the country, and the Party, making preparations in advance to ward off potential difficulties, resolving problems in the bud, and dissolving contradictions before they arise, can we grasp historical initiative in the process of persisting in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party.
(Written by: Xiao Guiqing)
Return to TopBy: 陈柳裕
The Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party made major arrangements for persistently advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, emphasizing "taking the Party's political construction as the lead and comprehensively advancing all aspects of Party construction," and listing "adhering to taking the Party's political construction as the lead" as one of the "seven adherences" major principles to be followed in persistently advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. This grasps the fundamental issue of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party and highlights the extreme importance of the Party's political construction. We must deeply study and understand the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party, deeply recognize the fundamental status of the Party's political construction, deeply grasp the regularity of the Party's political construction in the new era, and advance the Party's political construction in depth.
The Party's political construction is the Party's fundamental construction
To run China's affairs well, the key lies in the Party, and the key lies in upholding the Party's self-governance and full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. At present, the entire Party has more than 100 million Party members and more than 5.4 million primary-level Party organizations. The scale of the organization and the number of Party members are unprecedented, and the task of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is heavier than ever before. Under the new circumstances, we need more than ever to deeply recognize the importance and urgency of strengthening the Party's political construction.
Strengthening the Party's political construction is the essential requirement for forever maintaining the advanced nature and purity of the proletarian party. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Advanced nature and purity are the essential attributes of a Marxist party. When we strengthen Party construction, we must fight against all problems that weaken advanced nature and harm purity, cure diseases and heal wounds, and eliminate corruption and promote integrity (激浊扬清, jì zhuó yáng qīng - "stir the muddy, raise the clear")." This important exposition fully reveals that Party self-governance and full and rigorous self-governance of the Party must firmly grasp the main line of advanced nature and purity construction. The Party's political construction is the Party's fundamental construction, determining the direction and effect of Party construction. Practice has proven that if the Party's political construction is not grasped or deviates from the direction guided by the Party's political construction, other Party constructions will find it difficult to achieve expected results, and the Party's advanced nature and purity will be out of the question. To persistently advance full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, we must put the Party's political construction first, adhere to managing the Party and governing the Party with the spirit of reform and strict standards, adhere to the advanced nature of the political program, the correctness of the political line, the firmness of the political stance, and the strictness of political discipline, continuously enhance the Party's ability to self-purify, self-improve, self-reform, and self-enhance, and ensure that the Party always becomes the strong leading core of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Strengthening the Party's political construction is the fundamental solution to various problems within the Party. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Full and rigorous self-governance of the Party must first be viewed from a political perspective" and "political problems must be solved from a political perspective." Full and rigorous self-governance of the Party must never avoid political problems. Only by analyzing problems from a political perspective can we see the essence clearly, and only by solving problems from a political perspective can we grasp the fundamentals. Otherwise, we will fall into the passive situation of addressing symptoms rather than the root cause (头痛医头、脚痛医脚, tóu tòng yī tóu, jiǎo tòng yī jiǎo - "head pain treat head, foot pain treat foot"). Practice has proven that many problems within the Party are related to political problems, and the reasons are that the Party's political construction has not been grasped tightly, not been grasped solidly, and not been grasped well. We deeply recognize that political initiative is the most favorable initiative, and political passivity is the most dangerous passivity. Strengthening the Party's political construction is the fundamental guarantee for our Party to manage and govern the Party and avoid making subversive mistakes, and it must never be ambiguous or shaken at any time. To persistently advance full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, we must adhere to viewing, thinking about, and grasping matters from a political perspective, give full play to the role of the Party's political construction in managing direction, managing stance, and managing fundamentals, and run political standards and political requirements through the Party's ideological construction, organizational construction, work style construction, discipline construction, institutional construction, and the fight against corruption from beginning to end, so as to advance full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in depth with political strengthening.
Strengthening the Party's political construction is a strategic choice to effectively respond to the risks and challenges facing the Party. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "To whatever stage the cause of the Party and the people develops, Party construction must be advanced to that stage. This is the basic law that must be grasped in strengthening Party construction." As the world situation, national conditions, and Party conditions undergo profound changes, the task of the Party uniting and leading the people to safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests has become more arduous, the task of the Party uniting and leading the people to promote reform and development and maintain social harmony and stability has become more arduous, and the task of the Party maintaining advanced nature and purity has become more arduous. These pose major challenges to the Party's governing ability, leadership level, team quality, and resistance to corruption and prevention of change under the new circumstances. The "four major tests" and "four dangers" facing the Party are long-term, complex, and severe. In essence, all the contradictions, problems, and severe challenges facing our Party in the new era are ultimately political challenges. To persistently advance full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, we must effectively enhance the consciousness and firmness of the Party's political construction, always maintain the sobriety and firmness of solving the unique problems of a major party, unswervingly build the Party stronger and more powerful, unite and lead the people to actively respond to major challenges, resist major risks, overcome major obstacles, and solve major contradictions, and ensure that our Party forever maintains vitality and takes the new road of the examination well.
Deeply grasp the regularity of the Party's political construction in the new era
In the great practice of advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, we proceeded from the overall situation of the cause of the Party and the state, made the strategic arrangement of putting the Party's political construction first and leading Party construction in the new era. Full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era has opened up a new realm of self-revolution for the century-old major party, and promoted historic achievements and historic changes in the cause of the Party and the state. The achievement of this success is fundamentally due to the navigation and helm of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, and to the scientific guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. In specific practice, we have formed a series of regular understandings.
Always adhere to the authority and centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee. Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, we have taken ensuring the entire Party obeys the Central Committee and adhering to the authority and centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee as the primary task of the Party's political construction, clearly put forward the Two Establishments (两个确立), reflecting the common aspiration of the entire Party, the entire military, and the people of all ethnic groups in the country, and having decisive significance for the development of the cause of the Party and the state in the new era and for advancing the historical process of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. We have unswervingly promoted the entire Party to achieve the Two Upholds, improved the institutional mechanisms for guaranteeing the Two Upholds, improved the Party Central Committee's leadership system for major work, innovated and improved the Party's leadership methods, and ensured that the entire Party always maintains a high degree of consistency with the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core in political stance, political direction, political principles, and political path. The practice of the Party's political construction profoundly shows that adhering to the centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee is the fundamental basis for our continuous victories. Only by unswervingly adhering to the Party's leadership, unswervingly safeguarding the authority of the Party Central Committee, and closely uniting the entire Party and the people of all ethnic groups in the country around the Party Central Committee can our Party overcome all difficulties, obstacles, risks, and challenges on the road forward and always become the most reliable backbone of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation.
Always closely follow the people's hearts, the biggest politics. Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, we have always adhered to putting the people first, taken winning the people's hearts and public opinion and gathering the people's wisdom and strength as an important focus of the Party's political construction, put forward and adhered to the people-centered development thought, united and led the entire people to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects, wrote the "most successful story of poverty alleviation" in human history, and achieved the first centenary goal. We have always upheld the concept of building the Party for the public and governing for the people, adhered to everything for the people and relying on the people, always taken the people's aspiration for a better life as the goal of struggle, respected the people's principal position and pioneering spirit, solidly promoted common prosperity for all the people, and continuously met the people's growing new expectations and new demands. The practice of the Party's political construction profoundly shows that the Party's foundation lies in the people, its bloodline lies in the people, and its strength lies in the people. Only by never forgetting the Party's fundamental purpose, always keeping in mind that the country is the people and the people are the country, closely maintaining the flesh-and-blood ties between the Party and the people, and striving to realize, safeguard, and develop the fundamental interests of the broadest masses of the people can we continuously consolidate the foundation of the people's hearts for the Party's long-term governance.
Always take improving political ability as the key. Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, we have put forward and implemented the Party's organizational line for the new era, focused on enhancing organizational strength, further enhanced the political function and organizational function of Party organizations, highlighted the political attributes of state organs, fully brought into play the political role of mass organizations, strengthened the political orientation of state-owned enterprises and public institutions, and strived to improve the political ability of organizations at all levels and of all types. We have adhered to the combination of grasping the "key minority" and managing the "vast majority," deeply implemented the "first in command" political ability improvement plan, given play to the role of demonstration and leadership, educated and guided Party members and cadres to continuously enhance the "seven abilities" and "eight skills," and improve political judgment, political understanding, and political execution. The practice of the Party's political construction profoundly shows that political ability has a dominant and decisive role over other abilities. Only by comprehensively improving political ability can Party organizations at all levels and Party members and cadres better grasp the direction, grasp the general trend, and grasp the overall situation, ensure that the confidence in doing things is not diminished, the direction is not deviated, the goal is not changed, and the momentum is not relaxed, and truly shoulder the political responsibilities entrusted by the Party and the people.
Always do a good job in purifying the political ecology, this basic work. Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, we have listed "how to always maintain a clean and upright political ecology" as one of the unique problems that a major party must solve, adhered to the unity of "treating existing diseases" and "preventing future diseases," and built a solid ecological foundation for political construction. We have strictly enforced the Party's political discipline and political rules, adhered to the "five musts," seriously investigated and dealt with the problems of the "seven have-ones," and driven the strictness of other Party disciplines through strict political discipline. We have seriously conducted political life within the Party, developed a positive and healthy political culture within the Party, highlighted political standards in selecting and appointing personnel, and continuously cultivated the soil for a good political ecology. We have adhered to addressing both symptoms and root causes, promoted in an integrated manner the deterrence of corruption, the prevention of corruption, and the elimination of the desire for corruption, and we have successfully found the second answer to jumping out of the historical cycle of the cycle of rise and fall in history (治乱兴衰, zhì luàn xīng shuāi - "govern chaos, prosper decline") through self-revolution. The practice of the Party's political construction profoundly shows that when the political ecology is good, people's hearts are smooth and righteousness is sufficient; when the political ecology is not good, people's hearts will be scattered and ills will multiply. Only by continuously creating a good political ecology can we effectively prevent and promptly eliminate the negative factors that weaken the Party's advanced nature and harm its purity, and can we build the Party stronger, more powerful, and full of vitality through revolutionary tempering.
Persistently push the Party's political construction deeper and deeper
The Party's political construction is an eternal topic. "Adhering to taking the Party's political construction as the lead" is not a slogan and allows no slack whatsoever. At the new starting point, we must deeply implement Xi Jinping's thought on Party construction and the decisions and arrangements made by the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party, adhere to upholding fundamental principles and break new ground, and tirelessly advance the Party's political construction, striving to open up a new situation of managing and governing the Party and rejuvenating and strengthening the Party in the new era.
Hold fast to the political direction and continuously consolidate the foundation of ideals and convictions. Political direction is the primary issue for the survival and development of the Party, concerning the fundamental choice of "what road to take and where to go" for a country and a party. We must unswervingly use Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to solidify the soul and gather the heart, continuously improve the long-term mechanism of learning to cast the soul, learning to increase wisdom, learning to correct the work style, and learning to promote work, and use the Party's innovative theory to unify thought, unify will, and unify action. We must keep in mind the original aspiration and founding mission, consciously become firm believers and faithful practitioners of the lofty ideal of communism and the common ideal of socialism with Chinese characteristics, unswervingly adhere to the Party's political line, consciously benchmark against the Party's basic theory, basic line, and basic strategy, and enhance the determination that the path will not change and the will will not be altered. We must resolutely oppose various erroneous ideas that distort, tamper with, and negate Marxism, resolutely fight against all words and deeds that violate, distort, and negate the Party's political line, and achieve not being distracted by superficialities or minor issues (不畏浮云遮望眼, bù wèi fú yún zhē wàng yǎn - "not fear floating clouds blocking eyes") and forging ahead with great determination (乘风破浪, chéng fēng pò làng - "ride wind, break waves") without losing the course.
Adhere to the Party's political leadership and firmly safeguard the Party's unity and solidarity. To govern our major party well and govern our major country well, ensuring the Party's unity and centralized unity is of utmost importance. We must firmly safeguard the authority and centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, deeply understand the decisive significance of the Two Establishments, enhance the Four Consciousnesses, strengthen the Four Confidences, and achieve the Two Upholds. We must always adhere to the Party's leading core role of commanding the overall situation and coordinating all parties, continuously improve the Party's leadership system, improve the implementation mechanism for the Party Central Committee's major decisions and arrangements, ensure that the Party Central Committee's orders are unimpeded and prohibitions are observed, and truly realize the unity of thought, unity of will, and unity of action of the entire Party. We must adhere to unifying responsibility to the Party and responsibility to the people, stand firm on the people's stance, take the Party's mass line well in the new era, always think and work together with the people, and continuously enhance the Party's political leadership, ideological guidance, mass organization, and social appeal.
Strengthen the construction of the cadre team and continuously improve political ability. The more the cause of the Party and the state develops forward, the more important and urgent it is to strengthen the political ability construction of the cadre team. We must continuously educate and guide leading cadres at all levels to enhance political acuity and political discernment, accurately grasp the political logic of the Party Central Committee's decisions and arrangements, and improve the ability to grasp the general trend and the overall situation. We must run the emphasis on politics through the entire process of Party spirit education, cultivate Party spirit with the Party's fine traditions and the excellent traditional Chinese culture, temper Party spirit in practice, strengthen Party spirit identification, and continuously improve the cadre team's ability to distinguish political right from wrong and maintain political resolve. We must strengthen the political ability training and political practice experience of the cadre team, and continuously enhance the cadre team's ability to control the political situation and prevent political risks.
Adhere to strict use of power and continuously cultivate political ecology. Cultivating a clean and upright political ecology is a long-term task, and the primary point lies in grasping the key point of the use of power. We must adhere to governing the Party with institutions and governing the Party with regulations, place more emphasis on the improvement and perfection of systems and mechanisms and the scientificity and effectiveness of laws and regulations, adhere to grasping the "key minority" in respecting, learning, observing, and using regulations, and effectively enhance the authority and enforcement of intra-Party laws and regulations. We must adhere to systematic governance, closely focus on the Party's overall leadership and long-term governing ability construction, as well as the entire process of power operation, strengthen forward-looking planning and holistic advancement, coordinate the correct selection and appointment of personnel, seriously conduct political life within the Party, and cultivate a healthy political culture within the Party and other key work. We must adhere to strengthening the rectification of work styles, discipline, and anti-corruption with a strict tone, improve the ability and level of promoting the integrated "three noes" against corruption, deeply advance the simultaneous investigation and governance of work style and corruption, and carry the Party's great self-revolution through to the end.
〔The author is the deputy principal (vice president) in charge of daily work of the Party School (School of Administration) of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee〕
Return to TopAdvancing the great new project of Party building in the new era requires adhering to systematic thinking and strengthening forward-looking consideration, overall planning, and holistic advancement. It is necessary to thoroughly study and implement Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, uphold and strengthen the centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, adhere unwaveringly to the strict tone, improve the system for full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, and, taking the Party's political construction as the lead, comprehensively advance all aspects of Party building. It is necessary to simultaneously address Party spirit, Party conduct, and Party discipline, integrate the rectification of conduct, the enforcement of discipline, and the fight against corruption, organically combine the management of people, affairs, and power, and unify the tempering of Party spirit, the enhancement of capabilities, and the purification of the political ecosystem. It is necessary to lead by example, starting with leading cadres and holding them to strict standards, strengthen education, management, and oversight, and guide Party members and cadres to achieve maintaining self-discipline in private and in small matters (慎独慎初慎微, shen du shen chu shen wei - "cautious, alone; cautious, beginning; cautious, tiny") and constantly exercising self-discipline and self-improvement (自重自省自警自励, zi zhong zi xing zi jing zi li - "self-respect; self-reflection; self-warning; self-encouragement").
Return to TopBy: 马丽
Democratic centralism is the Party's fundamental organizational principle and leadership system, and implementing democratic centralism is an inherent requirement of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. The Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Party Central Committee made strict implementation of democratic centralism one of the strategic tasks and major measures for unswervingly advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, with special emphasis on regulating the exercise of power by "top leaders" and on examining the competence and ability to implement democratic centralism when selecting and appointing "top leaders." This important deployment requires leading cadres, especially "top leaders," to grasp the principles and requirements of democratic centralism in their ideological understanding and to hone their practical skills in performing their duties, transforming institutional advantages into governance effectiveness.
As the fundamental working system of the leading body, democratic centralism is not a mere procedural requirement but a solid institutional guarantee for pooling collective wisdom, making scientific decisions, regulating the exercise of power in performing duties, strengthening the sense of responsibility and action, and maintaining unity within the leading body. Through developing democracy, information and feedback from all sides, along with various profound insights and wise opinions (真知灼见, zhen zhi zhuo jian - "true, knowledge, profound, insight"), can be fully gathered and presented; through correct centralization, differences in ideological understanding can be unified, and correct opinions that conform to the laws of development of things and to the fundamental interests of the broad masses of the people can be distilled, making decision-making more scientific, precise, pragmatic, and feasible. In practice, some leading cadres still show deviations in implementing democratic centralism. Some engage in "one-man rule" and "patriarchal style" in deliberation and decision-making, excluding and suppressing dissenting voices, even treating the localities and departments under their jurisdiction as "independent kingdoms" and "private domains"; some are not adept at integrating opinions and building consensus, being weak and lax, and each going their own way. Examining these problems closely, some suffer from insufficient democracy, some from inadequate centralization, and some from an inability to combine democracy and centralization well. This requires leading cadres, especially "top leaders," to treat the implementation of democratic centralism as a required "basic course," an essential "basic skill," and an inviolable "hard rule," continuously honing and steadily improving their competence and ability to implement democratic centralism.
The competence of leading cadres in implementing democratic centralism is reflected in their daily work, actual performance, and long-term exercise of duties. Whether they can take the lead in upholding the Two Upholds (两个维护), resolutely implement the Party's line, principles, and policies and the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee; whether they can strictly act in accordance with the leading body's decision-making and deliberation rules, decision-making procedures, and collective will; whether they can develop intra-Party democracy and correctly treat differing opinions; whether they can be adept at using democratic methods to make scientific decisions, coordinate relations, resolve contradictions, and advance work; whether they can earnestly carry out criticism and self-criticism and strictly conduct intra-Party political life; whether they can mobilize everyone's enthusiasm and maintain unity within the leading body — all of these test whether leading cadres can grasp the dialectical unity of democracy and centralization, and reflect whether leading cadres are familiar with the rules of democratic centralism, master the methods of democratic centralism, and carry forward the work style of democratic centralism.
Leading cadres should cultivate the competence to implement democratic centralism as a leadership ability and master it as a leadership art. They should strengthen their organizational concept, correctly handle the relationships between the individual and the organization, the part and the whole, and subordinates and superiors, and consciously place themselves under the organization and within the collective. On the one hand, they should have a sincere attitude of treating others as equals and being kind to others (与人为善, yu ren wei shan - "with, people, act, good"), and possess a broad and open mind that is possessing a broad and open mind (虚怀若谷, xu huai ruo gu - "empty, bosom, like, valley") and having a broad mind that accepts all things (海纳百川, hai na bai chuan - "sea, accept, hundred, rivers"), striving to grasp all true opinions from all sides completely and accurately, repeatedly studying and comparing them, and following what is good. Leading cadres, especially "top leaders," should uphold the various systems of intra-Party democracy, smooth the channels for Party members to participate in and discuss intra-Party affairs, expand channels for Party members to express their opinions, and when studying major matters and making major decisions, extensively solicit Party members' opinions through various forms, so that Party members can better participate in intra-Party affairs and ensure that Party members' democratic rights are truly implemented. In the deliberation and decision-making of the leading body, they should consciously abide by the principle of collective leadership, strictly implement the "top leader's" final-statement system, refrain from expressing opinions on matters that should be studied collectively, not replace the collective decision of the leading body with personal opinions, and not arbitrarily change decisions already made collectively. On the other hand, they should be adept at correct centralization, achieving the goals of centralizing correct opinions well, unifying divergent opinions well, and persuading those with negative opinions well, building consensus and forming joint force on the basis of full discussion. Leading cadres, especially "top leaders," should take the lead in upholding the centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, which is the highest principle of the Party's leadership, implement the major decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee without fail, strengthen follow-up supervision and quality-and-effectiveness evaluation, promptly discover and resolve problems of inadequate implementation and distortion, and resolutely respond to what the Party Central Committee advocates, resolutely comply with what the Party Central Committee decides, and resolutely refrain from what the Party Central Committee prohibits, truly transforming collective decisions into actual results that advance work.
Democratic centralism is a scientific, reasonable, and efficient system, and it is where the advantages of the Party's leadership and China's socialist system lie. On the new journey of the new era, leading cadres, especially "top leaders," should strictly implement democratic centralism, take the lead in further demonstrating the political, organizational, institutional, and work advantages of democratic centralism, and foster a sound political ecosystem that both stimulates the individual and relies on the collective, both trusts and encourages and criticizes and supervises, both tolerates mistakes and promptly corrects them, and both unites and cooperates and does not violate principles.
Return to TopBy: 林贤明
The "four grassroots-level practices" (going down to the grassroots level to publicize the Party's line, principles, and policies; to conduct research and investigation; to receive letters and visits from the public; and to handle official business on site) is a practical mechanism and working method that Comrade Xi Jinping vigorously advocated for and promoted during his work in Fujian. Faced with the practical difficulties of the Ningde region in the late 1980s—characterized by its "old revolutionary base areas, ethnic minority areas, remote border areas, islands, and poverty"—Comrade Xi Jinping, then Secretary of the Ningde Prefectural Party Committee, insisted on starting from investigation and research, going deep into the grassroots to observe people's conditions and listen to their opinions. In December 1988, he presided over the first "Prefectural and County Leaders' Day for Receiving Visits from the Masses" in Xiapu, communicating face-to-face with the masses and solving practical difficulties and problems. To further close the relationship between cadres and the masses, the Ningde region subsequently introduced three practical measures: prefectural and county leaders going to the grassroots to handle official business on site, leaders at all levels establishing a system of reception days for the masses, and leading cadres establishing contact and linkage with grassroots units. Thereafter, these practices were fully elaborated as the "four grassroots-level practices," promoting cadres to step out of their offices and into the midst of the masses, solving problems on the front line, and initially forming an institutional prototype for maintaining close ties with the masses. Entering the new era, the value of the "four grassroots-level practices" has become even more prominent, rising from a local experience to a nationwide institutional arrangement. Today, the "four grassroots-level practices" have taken firm root and spread widely (落地生根, luo di sheng gen - "fall, land; grow, root") in many places across the country, with many localities formulating implementation plans to promote the regularization of cadres going down to the grassroots. The "four grassroots-level practices" emerged in Ningde, took root in Fujian, and ultimately spread across the country, fully demonstrating their powerful practical force and vitality of the times. This practical mechanism and working method is firmly rooted in the theoretical soil of the Party's mass line, and has been continuously enriched and developed in practice, making an original contribution to the Party's mass line and endowing wisdom and strength for following the Party's mass line well in the new era.
Deeply Grasping the Original Contributions of the "Four Grassroots-Level Practices"
As a close combination of the Party's fine traditions and practical experience, the "four grassroots-level practices" have achieved a creative transformation and systematic sublimation of the Marxist view of the masses, the Party's fine traditions, and modern governance logic, demonstrating a distinctive character of theoretical innovation.
The mechanized transformation of the Marxist thought on the people as the subject. Marxism holds that the people are the creators of history and the decisive force in social change. However, how to transform this philosophical concept into operable institutional practice has always been a major issue facing the ruling party. Through four specific mechanisms, the "four grassroots-level practices" concretize the abstract "people's principal position" into a closed-loop process of policy formulation, implementation, and feedback: going down to the grassroots to publicize the Party's line, principles, and policies ensures the masses' right to know about public affairs; going down to the grassroots to conduct research and investigation makes the masses' practical experience the source of scientific decision-making; going down to the grassroots to receive letters and visits provides the masses with an institutional channel for expressing their demands and exercising supervisory power; and going down to the grassroots to handle official business on site ensures that mass participation is translated into the resolution of practical problems. As a result, the masses are no longer passive recipients of policies, but rather participants, supervisors, and beneficiaries throughout the entire governance process, truly realizing the dialectical unity of "from the masses, to the masses," and constructing the structural embedding of the people's subjectivity within the governance system.
The paradigmatic transformation of the Party's fine work style into modern working methods. Maintaining close ties with the masses is a fine tradition and political advantage of the Communist Party of China, but in practice it often faces the risk of formalization and fragmentation. With its systematic design, the "four grassroots-level practices" transform this fine tradition into a replicable, assessable, and sustainable working method. It breaks the traditional working model of "sitting and waiting for the masses to come to you," and creatively proposes a set of operable, testable, and replicable working methods; it further concretizes the fine work style of maintaining close ties with the masses that our Party has long upheld, implementing it in the concrete actions of cadres regularly going down to the grassroots, working face-to-face, and solving problems in a down-to-earth manner; it delivers policy briefings to the grassroots, conducts research and investigation on the front line, places the reception of letters and visits at the side of the masses, and brings on-site handling of official business to places where specific problems are concentrated. This transformation not only changes the working field but also reshapes governance ethics, constructing a model of "responsive governance" and achieving the organic integration of the Party's political advantages with modern governance effectiveness.
The practical concretization of the Party's fundamental purpose. Serving the people wholeheartedly is the Party's fundamental purpose, but how to avoid it becoming a mere slogan? Through an institutionalized action framework, the "four grassroots-level practices" transform the consciousness of purpose into concrete practical paths: every policy briefing is an awakening of the original aspiration, every in-depth investigation is a tempering of conviction, every reception of visitors is an entrustment of trust, and every on-site handling of official business is a practice of the mission. It allows the purpose of serving the people to settle into the mud on cadres' shoes, the people's conditions recorded in their notebooks, and the solutions on their desks. This concretization not only enhances the perceptibility of the purpose but also strengthens cadres' awareness of their identity, enabling the political nature of public servants of the people to be continuously confirmed and reproduced in practice.
Further improving the ecological logic of grassroots governance. Traditional governance often exhibits the characteristic of "one-way output from top to bottom," which can easily lead to a disconnect between policy and practice. By deeply embedding itself in the grassroots field, the "four grassroots-level practices" construct a governance structure of two-way mutual construction between "bottom-up" and "top-down." Policies are tested, revised, and enriched in the fields, by the fishing boats and kitchen stoves, and the "roots" of governance are deeply planted in the fertile soil of people's practice. This rooted interaction not only enhances the scientific nature of decision-making and the effectiveness of implementation, but also cultivates cadres' ability to work with the masses, enhances society's trust capital, and forms a closed-loop mechanism of "identifying problems—resolving them on the spot—tracking and following up," effectively preventing the upward transmission of contradictions and the accumulation of risks.
The Enlightening Significance of the "Four Grassroots-Level Practices" as a Methodology for Mass Work
Entering the new era, the needs of the masses have become more diverse, their demands more individualized, and their expressions more active, which places higher demands on mass work. As a systematic methodology for mass work, the "four grassroots-level practices" provide important enlightenment for following the Party's mass line well in the new era.
Tempering political resolve and consolidating the ideological foundation of mass work. Political attribute is the primary attribute of mass work. The "four grassroots-level practices" emphasize consolidating the foundation and cultivating the source, enhancing the consciousness of Party spirit cultivation. Only by firmly establishing ideals and convictions and solving the "master switch" problem of worldview, outlook on life, and values can we build a solid ideological defense line against unhealthy tendencies. By going deep into the grassroots and serving the masses, Party members and cadres continuously strengthen their awareness of purpose, establish a correct view of power, view of political achievements, and view of career, and truly achieve strict self-cultivation, strict use of power, and strict self-discipline, being practical in planning affairs, practical in undertaking endeavors, and practical in conducting oneself.
Upholding seeking truth from facts and mastering the scientific methods of mass work. Seeking truth from facts is the fundamental viewpoint of Marxism and the basic prerequisite for doing mass work well. The "four grassroots-level practices" adhere to a problem-oriented approach, advocating measuring people's conditions with footsteps and listening to people's opinions with ears; emphasizing respect for laws, scientific policy implementation, and insisting on planning undertakings and work from reality. In the information age, we should be adept at using modern technical means such as big data and the Internet to expand research channels and improve the efficiency and accuracy of information acquisition. Only by adhering to seeking truth from facts can we avoid subjective assumptions and decisions made on a whim, ensuring that mass work is precise, effective, and yields tangible results.
Cultivating deep feelings for the people and adhering to the value foundation of mass work. The "four grassroots-level practices" always adhere to the people-centered development philosophy, taking whether the masses are satisfied as the fundamental criterion for measuring work. It emphasizes that cadres should truly regard themselves as members of the masses and treat the affairs of the masses as their own. Only by sitting on the same bench with the masses can one hear authentic voices, see the true situation, and obtain the true formula for solving problems. In essence, the "four grassroots-level practices" are a working system for serving the people, which makes the masses feel that the Party organization is right beside them and that Party members and cadres are right before their eyes, greatly enhancing the Party's cohesion and appeal.
Promoting responsibility and pragmatism and enhancing the practical effectiveness of mass work. The "four grassroots-level practices" advocate a responsible and pragmatic work style, promoting cadres to truly go down, truly serve, and truly solve problems. They resolutely oppose formalism and bureaucracy, and put an end to "skimming the surface" investigations, "imperial envoy"-style inspections, and the phenomenon of "being investigated." They strive to avoid "show-style" and "bonsai-style" investigations, truly going down to observe the real situation, come up with practical measures, do practical things, and seek practical results. Party members and cadres must not only be adept at coordinating the demands of all parties and solving the practical difficulties of the masses, but also do a good job of ideological guidance, mobilize the enthusiasm of the masses to participate in grassroots governance, build the greatest consensus, and maintain social harmony and stability.
(The author is a specially invited researcher at the Fujian Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and Dean of the School of Marxism at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University)
Return to TopBy: 李振洲
"Heng (恒) means enduring." As a Chinese idiom, "chizhiyiheng" (持之以恒) means to persist in something over the long term. The Analects contains the line "If one can find someone who has constancy, that is acceptable," and the Book of Changes states "The gentleman speaks with substance and acts with constancy" — both emphasize the value of the virtue of "having constancy." The "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues Concerning Persevering in Advancing Full and Rigorous Self-Governance of the Party," reviewed and adopted at the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party, has as its key term precisely the four characters "chizhiyiheng" (持之以恒). This is the key to understanding this document, and indeed this plenary session, and it demonstrates the sustained, long-term effort with which our Party advances full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. The key term "chizhiyiheng" provides an important lens for deeply understanding the major political significance and major deployment arrangements of this plenary session.
Those who travel a hundred li consider ninety half the journey — the closer one gets to the critical moment, the more one must guard against slackening and resting. In January 2026, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee held a meeting to study and determine the agenda of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party and the overall arrangements for the drafting of the document. At the meeting, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Recently, I have been considering: for the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party to study Party building, what agenda item would be most appropriate?" After deep deliberation, the General Secretary pointed out: "Studying the issue of persevering in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is very necessary and also timely." On May 6, 2026, General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over a symposium in Shanghai on persevering in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party and delivered an important speech, emphasizing that "full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is always on the way, and must be advanced perseveringly with the spirit of driving in nails," that "persevering in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is a complex systemic project that must be planned systematically and addressed with comprehensive measures," and that "persevering in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party must adhere to a problem-oriented approach, dealing with matters directly and tackling difficulties head-on (动真碰硬, dongzhenpengying - "move, real, bump, hard") to resolve prominent problems." These important statements share a common thrust: to strengthen confidence, continue the struggle, and persevere in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party.
In his "Introduction to The Communist," Mao Zedong called Party building a "great project." A great project cannot be accomplished in one single step (一蹴而就, yiquerjiu - "one, kick, reach, achieve"). Times change; back then, founding the Party in the stone-gate houses and on the red boat meant overcoming all obstacles and difficulties (披荆斩棘, pijingzhanji - "tear, thorns, cut, brambles") and tamping foundations and laying groundwork. Now our Party has become a towering giant ship, and it still needs to be braving the waves and breaking the billows (劈波斩浪, pibozhanlang - "split, waves, cut, surges") and advancing with courage. Without perseverance, it cannot consolidate a century-old foundation or continue a century of glory. Perseverance has never been lukewarm or going with the flow (顺水推舟, shunshuituizhou - "follow, water, push, boat"); in its very bones it carries a fighting spirit of "cutting off all retreat to fight to the death (破釜沉舟, pofuchenzhou - "break, cauldrons, sink, boats") and charging forward without hesitation (一往无前, yiwangwuqian - "one, go, no, front")." Governing the Party has never been about universal harmony; it inevitably touches interests and requires confronting matters squarely. At present, the century-old transformation of the world is accelerating, and the aspects of change and disorder are becoming more prominent. What guarantees that the great Chinese ship moves steadily to reach far destinations (行稳致远, xingwenzhiyuan - "walk, stable, reach, far")? History and reality have proven conclusively that in handling China's affairs well, the key lies in the Party, and the key lies in full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. The more critical the moment, the more necessary it is to maintain political sobriety and political resolve. As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "In my speeches on many occasions, I have repeatedly stressed that in governing and managing the Party, we must adhere unwaveringly to a strict tone, precisely to send the signal that the strictness will only increase over time. The Party Central Committee's decision to make persevering in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party the agenda item of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee is also based on this consideration."
Perseverance lies in anchoring the direction. Just as in a tug-of-war, everyone must think with one mind and exert with one strength to truly twist into a single rope. Persevering in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party means maintaining constancy of heart, constancy of direction, and constancy of force. Serving and submitting to the development of the Party and the state's cause has always been an important principle of Party building. Full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is not "strictness for its own sake." Since the day of its founding, the Communist Party of China has established seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation as its original aspiration and founding mission, which is also the fundamental driving force inspiring Chinese Communists to keep advancing. Generations of Communists have continued the struggle, always anchoring the same direction. Persevering in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party means continuing to use the strictest yardstick to correct the course of the whole Party and temper the whole Party into a single "piece of solid steel." All measures of strictness should place their ultimate focus on consolidating the original aspiration, advancing the cause, and benefiting the people. "Strictness" is for better work, and "governance" is for better responsibility-taking. Holding to this direction, perseverance has its soul, and sustained, long-term effort has its value.
Party spirit is the "master switch" of Party members' thought and conduct, and the cornerstone of Party members and cadres' standing, career, speech, and moral character. The cage of institutions constrains external behavior, while the cultivation of Party spirit governs internal choices. Perseverance relies not only on external institutional constraints but also on internal self-restraint from within, falling upon every Party member's persistent transformation of their subjective world. The Party spirit of Communists is rooted in the fertile soil of the Two Integrations (两个结合), nourished both by the soul-vein of Marxism and by the spiritual nourishment of the fine traditional Chinese culture. Party spirit is not innate, nor does it grow naturally; the red revolutionary heritage and the rich cultural tradition are crucial to strengthening Party spirit. The "perseverance" of Communists itself carries the meaning of infiltration, cultivation, and deep nurturing — only through long-term persistence can one cultivate a noble and righteous spirit (浩然正气, haoranzhengqi - "vast, flowing, upright, energy"). Many Party members and cadres rooted at the grassroots, silently dedicating themselves, face temptations and tests without changing their hearts, altering their aspirations, or shifting their integrity. These all resonate with the Communists' pursuit of Party spirit characterized by loyalty, integrity, and responsibility. The stronger Party spirit is by one degree, the firmer the foundation of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is by one degree. Persevering in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is persevering in tempering the Party spirit of Communists.
The people are the creators of history and also the most reliable, deepest, and most enduring source of strength for persevering in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Only by upholding and applying well the valuable experience of governing and managing the Party in the new era, consolidating and developing well the achievements of governing and managing the Party and the sound political situation, and persevering in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, can the Party forever avoid changing its nature, changing its color, and changing its flavor, and forever win the heartfelt support and endorsement of the people." Full and rigorous self-governance of the Party has its starting point in the people and its ultimate focus in the people. It has never been a "solo show" of Party members and cadres, but rather requires the joint participation of hundreds of millions of people. Corruption harms the interests of the masses, gnaws at their sense of gain, and shakes the flesh-and-blood ties between the Party and the masses. The target of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is directed squarely at corruption, which itself carries a strong people-oriented character. During the Yan'an period, our Party found the first answer to escaping the historical cycle of rise and fall — "letting the people supervise the government." Whether Party members and cadres exercise power fairly, do solid work, and maintain good conduct is something the common people see most clearly and feel most keenly. We must identify the direction of effort in governing and managing the Party from the masses' complaints, demands, and expectations, take whether the masses are satisfied as the yardstick for evaluating results, transform the achievements of "strictness" into governance effectiveness, feed them back to the masses, and implement "people first" in practice. In the new era, our Party has found the second answer to escaping the historical cycle of rise and fall — "self-revolution." "Letting the people supervise the government" is the strong support of external supervision, while "the Party's self-revolution" is the fundamental driving force of internal transformation. The two, one external and one internal, share the same origin and complement each other, together constituting the best answer for our Party to escape the historical cycle of governance and chaos, rise and decline. The tide of the world is vast and mighty; those who follow it prosper, and those who oppose it perish. Only by always standing with the people can persevering in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party have an inexhaustible source of confidence, and can the foundation of governing and managing the Party, revitalizing and strengthening the Party be as firm as a rock.
Our Party has written "perseverance" into the programmatic document of a Central Committee plenary session, elevating it into the political character of a century-old major Party advancing self-revolution. The original meaning of the idiom "chizhiyiheng" has thereby been deepened and expanded, embodying the historical wisdom, political courage, strategic resolve, and sense of responsibility of the times of a century-old major Party. Grasping the "golden key" of "perseverance," we can understand the far-reaching considerations of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party, understand the internal logic of the Party's self-revolution in the new era, and understand the sobriety and firmness with which the century-old major Party faces the future and walks the new road of the examination well — this is also the value and weight of "perseverance" as a key term of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party.
(The author is Director of the Publicity Bureau of the Political Work Department of the Armed Police Force)
Return to TopBy: 陈柳裕
The Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party made major arrangements for persistently advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, emphasizing "taking the Party's political construction as the lead and comprehensively advancing all aspects of Party construction," and listing "adhering to taking the Party's political construction as the lead" as one of the "seven adherences" major principles to be followed in persistently advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. This grasps the fundamental issue of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party and highlights the extreme importance of the Party's political construction. We must deeply study and understand the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party, deeply recognize the fundamental status of the Party's political construction, deeply grasp the regularity of the Party's political construction in the new era, and advance the Party's political construction in depth.
The Party's political construction is the Party's fundamental construction
To run China's affairs well, the key lies in the Party, and the key lies in upholding the Party's self-governance and full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. At present, the entire Party has more than 100 million Party members and more than 5.4 million primary-level Party organizations. The scale of the organization and the number of Party members are unprecedented, and the task of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party is heavier than ever before. Under the new circumstances, we need more than ever to deeply recognize the importance and urgency of strengthening the Party's political construction.
Strengthening the Party's political construction is the essential requirement for forever maintaining the advanced nature and purity of the proletarian party. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Advanced nature and purity are the essential attributes of a Marxist party. When we strengthen Party construction, we must fight against all problems that weaken advanced nature and harm purity, cure diseases and heal wounds, and eliminate corruption and promote integrity (激浊扬清, jì zhuó yáng qīng - "stir the muddy, raise the clear")." This important exposition fully reveals that Party self-governance and full and rigorous self-governance of the Party must firmly grasp the main line of advanced nature and purity construction. The Party's political construction is the Party's fundamental construction, determining the direction and effect of Party construction. Practice has proven that if the Party's political construction is not grasped or deviates from the direction guided by the Party's political construction, other Party constructions will find it difficult to achieve expected results, and the Party's advanced nature and purity will be out of the question. To persistently advance full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, we must put the Party's political construction first, adhere to managing the Party and governing the Party with the spirit of reform and strict standards, adhere to the advanced nature of the political program, the correctness of the political line, the firmness of the political stance, and the strictness of political discipline, continuously enhance the Party's ability to self-purify, self-improve, self-reform, and self-enhance, and ensure that the Party always becomes the strong leading core of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Strengthening the Party's political construction is the fundamental solution to various problems within the Party. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Full and rigorous self-governance of the Party must first be viewed from a political perspective" and "political problems must be solved from a political perspective." Full and rigorous self-governance of the Party must never avoid political problems. Only by analyzing problems from a political perspective can we see the essence clearly, and only by solving problems from a political perspective can we grasp the fundamentals. Otherwise, we will fall into the passive situation of addressing symptoms rather than the root cause (头痛医头、脚痛医脚, tóu tòng yī tóu, jiǎo tòng yī jiǎo - "head pain treat head, foot pain treat foot"). Practice has proven that many problems within the Party are related to political problems, and the reasons are that the Party's political construction has not been grasped tightly, not been grasped solidly, and not been grasped well. We deeply recognize that political initiative is the most favorable initiative, and political passivity is the most dangerous passivity. Strengthening the Party's political construction is the fundamental guarantee for our Party to manage and govern the Party and avoid making subversive mistakes, and it must never be ambiguous or shaken at any time. To persistently advance full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, we must adhere to viewing, thinking about, and grasping matters from a political perspective, give full play to the role of the Party's political construction in managing direction, managing stance, and managing fundamentals, and run political standards and political requirements through the Party's ideological construction, organizational construction, work style construction, discipline construction, institutional construction, and the fight against corruption from beginning to end, so as to advance full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in depth with political strengthening.
Strengthening the Party's political construction is a strategic choice to effectively respond to the risks and challenges facing the Party. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "To whatever stage the cause of the Party and the people develops, Party construction must be advanced to that stage. This is the basic law that must be grasped in strengthening Party construction." As the world situation, national conditions, and Party conditions undergo profound changes, the task of the Party uniting and leading the people to safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests has become more arduous, the task of the Party uniting and leading the people to promote reform and development and maintain social harmony and stability has become more arduous, and the task of the Party maintaining advanced nature and purity has become more arduous. These pose major challenges to the Party's governing ability, leadership level, team quality, and resistance to corruption and prevention of change under the new circumstances. The "four major tests" and "four dangers" facing the Party are long-term, complex, and severe. In essence, all the contradictions, problems, and severe challenges facing our Party in the new era are ultimately political challenges. To persistently advance full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, we must effectively enhance the consciousness and firmness of the Party's political construction, always maintain the sobriety and firmness of solving the unique problems of a major party, unswervingly build the Party stronger and more powerful, unite and lead the people to actively respond to major challenges, resist major risks, overcome major obstacles, and solve major contradictions, and ensure that our Party forever maintains vitality and takes the new road of the examination well.
Deeply grasp the regularity of the Party's political construction in the new era
In the great practice of advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, we proceeded from the overall situation of the cause of the Party and the state, made the strategic arrangement of putting the Party's political construction first and leading Party construction in the new era. Full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era has opened up a new realm of self-revolution for the century-old major party, and promoted historic achievements and historic changes in the cause of the Party and the state. The achievement of this success is fundamentally due to the navigation and helm of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, and to the scientific guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. In specific practice, we have formed a series of regular understandings.
Always adhere to the authority and centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee. Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, we have taken ensuring the entire Party obeys the Central Committee and adhering to the authority and centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee as the primary task of the Party's political construction, clearly put forward the Two Establishments (两个确立), reflecting the common aspiration of the entire Party, the entire military, and the people of all ethnic groups in the country, and having decisive significance for the development of the cause of the Party and the state in the new era and for advancing the historical process of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. We have unswervingly promoted the entire Party to achieve the Two Upholds, improved the institutional mechanisms for guaranteeing the Two Upholds, improved the Party Central Committee's leadership system for major work, innovated and improved the Party's leadership methods, and ensured that the entire Party always maintains a high degree of consistency with the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core in political stance, political direction, political principles, and political path. The practice of the Party's political construction profoundly shows that adhering to the centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee is the fundamental basis for our continuous victories. Only by unswervingly adhering to the Party's leadership, unswervingly safeguarding the authority of the Party Central Committee, and closely uniting the entire Party and the people of all ethnic groups in the country around the Party Central Committee can our Party overcome all difficulties, obstacles, risks, and challenges on the road forward and always become the most reliable backbone of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation.
Always closely follow the people's hearts, the biggest politics. Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, we have always adhered to putting the people first, taken winning the people's hearts and public opinion and gathering the people's wisdom and strength as an important focus of the Party's political construction, put forward and adhered to the people-centered development thought, united and led the entire people to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects, wrote the "most successful story of poverty alleviation" in human history, and achieved the first centenary goal. We have always upheld the concept of building the Party for the public and governing for the people, adhered to everything for the people and relying on the people, always taken the people's aspiration for a better life as the goal of struggle, respected the people's principal position and pioneering spirit, solidly promoted common prosperity for all the people, and continuously met the people's growing new expectations and new demands. The practice of the Party's political construction profoundly shows that the Party's foundation lies in the people, its bloodline lies in the people, and its strength lies in the people. Only by never forgetting the Party's fundamental purpose, always keeping in mind that the country is the people and the people are the country, closely maintaining the flesh-and-blood ties between the Party and the people, and striving to realize, safeguard, and develop the fundamental interests of the broadest masses of the people can we continuously consolidate the foundation of the people's hearts for the Party's long-term governance.
Always take improving political ability as the key. Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, we have put forward and implemented the Party's organizational line for the new era, focused on enhancing organizational strength, further enhanced the political function and organizational function of Party organizations, highlighted the political attributes of state organs, fully brought into play the political role of mass organizations, strengthened the political orientation of state-owned enterprises and public institutions, and strived to improve the political ability of organizations at all levels and of all types. We have adhered to the combination of grasping the "key minority" and managing the "vast majority," deeply implemented the "first in command" political ability improvement plan, given play to the role of demonstration and leadership, educated and guided Party members and cadres to continuously enhance the "seven abilities" and "eight skills," and improve political judgment, political understanding, and political execution. The practice of the Party's political construction profoundly shows that political ability has a dominant and decisive role over other abilities. Only by comprehensively improving political ability can Party organizations at all levels and Party members and cadres better grasp the direction, grasp the general trend, and grasp the overall situation, ensure that the confidence in doing things is not diminished, the direction is not deviated, the goal is not changed, and the momentum is not relaxed, and truly shoulder the political responsibilities entrusted by the Party and the people.
Always do a good job in purifying the political ecology, this basic work. Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, we have listed "how to always maintain a clean and upright political ecology" as one of the unique problems that a major party must solve, adhered to the unity of "treating existing diseases" and "preventing future diseases," and built a solid ecological foundation for political construction. We have strictly enforced the Party's political discipline and political rules, adhered to the "five musts," seriously investigated and dealt with the problems of the "seven have-ones," and driven the strictness of other Party disciplines through strict political discipline. We have seriously conducted political life within the Party, developed a positive and healthy political culture within the Party, highlighted political standards in selecting and appointing personnel, and continuously cultivated the soil for a good political ecology. We have adhered to addressing both symptoms and root causes, promoted in an integrated manner the deterrence of corruption, the prevention of corruption, and the elimination of the desire for corruption, and we have successfully found the second answer to jumping out of the historical cycle of the cycle of rise and fall in history (治乱兴衰, zhì luàn xīng shuāi - "govern chaos, prosper decline") through self-revolution. The practice of the Party's political construction profoundly shows that when the political ecology is good, people's hearts are smooth and righteousness is sufficient; when the political ecology is not good, people's hearts will be scattered and ills will multiply. Only by continuously creating a good political ecology can we effectively prevent and promptly eliminate the negative factors that weaken the Party's advanced nature and harm its purity, and can we build the Party stronger, more powerful, and full of vitality through revolutionary tempering.
Persistently push the Party's political construction deeper and deeper
The Party's political construction is an eternal topic. "Adhering to taking the Party's political construction as the lead" is not a slogan and allows no slack whatsoever. At the new starting point, we must deeply implement Xi Jinping's thought on Party construction and the decisions and arrangements made by the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party, adhere to upholding fundamental principles and break new ground, and tirelessly advance the Party's political construction, striving to open up a new situation of managing and governing the Party and rejuvenating and strengthening the Party in the new era.
Hold fast to the political direction and continuously consolidate the foundation of ideals and convictions. Political direction is the primary issue for the survival and development of the Party, concerning the fundamental choice of "what road to take and where to go" for a country and a party. We must unswervingly use Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to solidify the soul and gather the heart, continuously improve the long-term mechanism of learning to cast the soul, learning to increase wisdom, learning to correct the work style, and learning to promote work, and use the Party's innovative theory to unify thought, unify will, and unify action. We must keep in mind the original aspiration and founding mission, consciously become firm believers and faithful practitioners of the lofty ideal of communism and the common ideal of socialism with Chinese characteristics, unswervingly adhere to the Party's political line, consciously benchmark against the Party's basic theory, basic line, and basic strategy, and enhance the determination that the path will not change and the will will not be altered. We must resolutely oppose various erroneous ideas that distort, tamper with, and negate Marxism, resolutely fight against all words and deeds that violate, distort, and negate the Party's political line, and achieve not being distracted by superficialities or minor issues (不畏浮云遮望眼, bù wèi fú yún zhē wàng yǎn - "not fear floating clouds blocking eyes") and forging ahead with great determination (乘风破浪, chéng fēng pò làng - "ride wind, break waves") without losing the course.
Adhere to the Party's political leadership and firmly safeguard the Party's unity and solidarity. To govern our major party well and govern our major country well, ensuring the Party's unity and centralized unity is of utmost importance. We must firmly safeguard the authority and centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, deeply understand the decisive significance of the Two Establishments, enhance the Four Consciousnesses, strengthen the Four Confidences, and achieve the Two Upholds. We must always adhere to the Party's leading core role of commanding the overall situation and coordinating all parties, continuously improve the Party's leadership system, improve the implementation mechanism for the Party Central Committee's major decisions and arrangements, ensure that the Party Central Committee's orders are unimpeded and prohibitions are observed, and truly realize the unity of thought, unity of will, and unity of action of the entire Party. We must adhere to unifying responsibility to the Party and responsibility to the people, stand firm on the people's stance, take the Party's mass line well in the new era, always think and work together with the people, and continuously enhance the Party's political leadership, ideological guidance, mass organization, and social appeal.
Strengthen the construction of the cadre team and continuously improve political ability. The more the cause of the Party and the state develops forward, the more important and urgent it is to strengthen the political ability construction of the cadre team. We must continuously educate and guide leading cadres at all levels to enhance political acuity and political discernment, accurately grasp the political logic of the Party Central Committee's decisions and arrangements, and improve the ability to grasp the general trend and the overall situation. We must run the emphasis on politics through the entire process of Party spirit education, cultivate Party spirit with the Party's fine traditions and the excellent traditional Chinese culture, temper Party spirit in practice, strengthen Party spirit identification, and continuously improve the cadre team's ability to distinguish political right from wrong and maintain political resolve. We must strengthen the political ability training and political practice experience of the cadre team, and continuously enhance the cadre team's ability to control the political situation and prevent political risks.
Adhere to strict use of power and continuously cultivate political ecology. Cultivating a clean and upright political ecology is a long-term task, and the primary point lies in grasping the key point of the use of power. We must adhere to governing the Party with institutions and governing the Party with regulations, place more emphasis on the improvement and perfection of systems and mechanisms and the scientificity and effectiveness of laws and regulations, adhere to grasping the "key minority" in respecting, learning, observing, and using regulations, and effectively enhance the authority and enforcement of intra-Party laws and regulations. We must adhere to systematic governance, closely focus on the Party's overall leadership and long-term governing ability construction, as well as the entire process of power operation, strengthen forward-looking planning and holistic advancement, coordinate the correct selection and appointment of personnel, seriously conduct political life within the Party, and cultivate a healthy political culture within the Party and other key work. We must adhere to strengthening the rectification of work styles, discipline, and anti-corruption with a strict tone, improve the ability and level of promoting the integrated "three noes" against corruption, deeply advance the simultaneous investigation and governance of work style and corruption, and carry the Party's great self-revolution through to the end.
〔The author is the deputy principal (vice president) in charge of daily work of the Party School (School of Administration) of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee〕
Return to TopQuestion: Zhang Lie, member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy District Mayor of Qianjiang District, Chongqing Municipality
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that having the Party in one's heart is concrete rather than abstract. As Party cadres, no matter where we work or in what position, we must strengthen our Party spirit stance and political consciousness, withstand the test of storms and waves, and must not deviate or veer off in the political direction. The question is: how should we understand that having the Party in one's heart is concrete rather than abstract?
Interpretation: Dong Zhenhua, Director of the Department of Scientific Socialism Teaching and Research, the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance)
"Nothing is better than being loyal" (善莫大于作忠, shan mo da yu zuo zhong - "goodness, not greater than, perform, loyalty"). In his speech at the symposium with trainees of the county Party secretary research class at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Having the Party in one's heart is concrete rather than abstract. As Party cadres, no matter where we work or in what position, we must strengthen our Party spirit stance and political consciousness, withstand the test of storms and waves, and must not deviate or veer off in the political direction." This important requirement provides important guidance for Party members and cadres on how to temper their political character and uphold political loyalty. "Having the Party in one's heart" is not an abstract concept, nor is it an empty political slogan; rather, it is concretely embodied in every Party member cadre's ideals and convictions, daily words and deeds, and the entire process and all aspects of undertaking work and starting undertakings, truly internalized in the heart and externalized in action, achieving unity of knowledge and action (知行合一, zhi xing he yi - "know, act, combine, one").
Only with firm ideals and convictions, with the Party in one's heart and loyalty to the Party, can there be a solid ideological foundation
Faith in Marxism and conviction in socialism and communism are the political soul of Communists and the spiritual pillar that enables Communists to withstand any test. Truly firm ideals and convictions are not excerpts left in notebooks, nor are they empty declarations on the lips, but rather the conscious action of firmly maintaining a political stance before every major choice.
Firm ideals and convictions are embodied in a profound understanding of Marxism and steadfast adherence to truth. Marxism scientifically reveals the laws of development of human society and points out the inevitable trend toward realizing communism. The lofty ideal pursued by our Party of realizing communism and ultimately realizing the people's happiness and national rejuvenation is precisely the concrete practice of Marxist truth. The firmness of lofty ideals is first embodied in an unswerving commitment to a goal (矢志不渝, shi zhi bu yu - "aim, will, not, change") to the Marxist faith, embodied both in the Party's persistent use of the Marxist stance, viewpoint, and method to analyze China's concrete realities and scientifically formulate action programs for different historical stages, and in the unwavering adherence to the true character of Marxist truth no matter what hardships and difficulties are encountered. Firm ideals and convictions must be such that one can be seen in ordinary times, stand up at critical moments, and step forward at times of crisis.
Always maintain a high degree of consistency with the Party Central Committee in political stance, political direction, political principles, and political path
Having the Party in one's heart requires a firm political stance and absolute loyalty to the Party. This is the primary political quality of Communists, embodied in loyalty to the Party's faith, the Party organization, the Party's theory, and the Party's line, principles, and policies.
The core of a firm political stance is firmly grasping the correct political direction. Consolidate the ideological and theoretical foundation, continuously improve political judgment, political understanding, and political execution, and never be ambiguous or wavering in the face of matters of principle and fundamental truth (大是大非, da da shi fei - "great, great, right, wrong"). "Never ambiguous, never wavering" is not an abstract slogan but must run through all the words and deeds (一言一行, yi yan yi xing - "one, word, one, act") of Party members and cadres in all their work. On principled issues concerning the Party's and the country's fundamental direction, fundamental stance, fundamental path, and fundamental interests, one must never be equivocal, never waver or compromise, and resolutely struggle against all kinds of erroneous trends of thought and behavior. Upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics under the leadership of the Communist Party of China and unswervingly implementing the Party's basic line are the political bottom line that all Party members and cadres must firmly hold, with no room whatsoever for haggling or making concessions (讨价还价, tao jia huan jia - "bargain, price, exchange, price"). The essence of a firm political stance is upholding the people as supreme. The Party spirit and the people's character of a Marxist party are completely consistent; being responsible to the Party is being responsible to the people, and being responsible to the people is being responsible to the Party. The two have always been an inseparable organic whole, unified in all the practice of the Party's and the people's cause. When leading cadres think about problems, make decisions, and handle affairs, they must both thoroughly understand the spirit of the Party Central Committee and thoroughly understand the actual situation at the grassroots level, so that the "major policies" of the Party and the state precisely connect with the "small needs" of millions of households, truly writing their political achievements in the hearts of the people.
Political discipline and political rules are the most fundamental and most important
To govern well this great Party of ours and govern well this great country of ours, ensuring Party unity and centralized, unified leadership is of utmost importance. As the world's largest governing party with more than 100 million Party members and more than 5.4 million primary-level Party organizations, our Party must avoid becoming a disorganized group lacking cohesion (一盘散沙, yi pan san sha - "one, tray, loose, sand"); fundamentally this depends on common ideals and convictions, and even more on strict discipline and rules as rigid constraints. Discipline is the lifeline of the Party and the core code for a century-old major party to maintain its combat effectiveness. Having the Party in one's heart means holding the Party's discipline and rules in awe, engraving the Party's six major disciplines in the heart, and internalizing them as norms of words and deeds that are used daily without conscious awareness.
Strictly observing Party discipline first means strictly observing the Party's political discipline. Party discipline is multifaceted; political discipline is the most important, most fundamental, and most critical discipline, and strictly observing political discipline must be embodied in concrete words and deeds. Every Party organization and every Party member cadre, no matter in which field, at which level, in which department or unit, must strictly observe political discipline, abide by the rules in political direction, political stance, political speech, and political behavior, consciously uphold the Party's leadership, consciously maintain a high degree of consistency with the Party Central Committee, and consciously safeguard the authority of the Party Central Committee. Resolutely achieve the Two Upholds (两个维护). The whole Party must firmly establish political consciousness, overall situation consciousness, core consciousness, and alignment consciousness, and implement the safeguarding of the Party Central Committee's authority and centralized, unified leadership as the highest political principle and fundamental political rule. The Two Upholds are concrete and practical; they cannot remain merely verbal declarations but must be implemented in actual action. When assessing the quality and capability of a Party member cadre, especially a senior cadre, the first thing to look at is whether he or she stands firm and is reliable politically. Standing firm and being reliable most importantly requires continuously strengthening the Four Consciousnesses (四个意识), consciously maintaining a high degree of consistency with the Party Central Committee in thought, politics, and action, resolutely safeguarding the Party Central Committee's authority and centralized, unified leadership, and implementing the Party Central Committee's decisions and deployments unswervingly and with undaunted perseverance through many setbacks (百折不挠, bai zhe bu nao - "hundred, bend, not, yield") in all work, without any discount, without playing any clever tricks, and without any petty maneuvers.
Ideologically identify with the organization, politically rely on the organization, obey the organization in work, and trust the organization emotionally
The Communist Party of China is a tightly organized party established according to Marxist principles of party building. Every Party member lives and works within the Party organization. Having the Party in one's heart must be concretely embodied in a strong sense of organizational consciousness. Strengthening organizational consciousness and having the Party in one's heart has as its core the carving of "I am a person of the organization" into one's bones, consciously achieving ideological identification with the organization, political reliance on the organization, obedience to the organization in work, and emotional trust in the organization, fully integrating loyalty to the Party into every detail of daily words and deeds.
Having the Party in one's heart means deeply identifying with the organization ideologically and consolidating the foundation of faith. Take Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the fundamental guide for uniting hearts and forging souls, continuously cleanse ideological impurities, continuously purify political loyalty to the Party, and from the root strengthen faith in Marxism and conviction in socialism with Chinese characteristics. Politically rely absolutely on the organization and firmly hold the fundamental stance. Political reliance on the organization is concrete; one must closely follow the organization in political direction, promptly and proactively report to and confide in the organization when ideological confusion or political bewilderment arises, promptly and proactively explain the situation and clarify problems to the organization when mistakes are inadvertently made, completely entrust personal advancement, retreat, promotion, and transfer to the Party organization, not bargain with the organization, not engage in self-design or currying favor through connections, and always believe that the organization will select people based on the cause and evaluate and use cadres fairly and impartially. Resolutely obey the organization in work and ensure strict obedience to orders (令行禁止, ling xing jin zhi - "command, execute, prohibit, stop"). Strictly practice the fundamental principle of the "Four Obediences," implement all the organization's decisions without discount, correctly treat personal advancement, retreat, promotion, and transfer, and absolutely never go around difficulties or rush to grab benefits. Uphold the Party's principles first, the Party's cause first, and the people's interests first; love the Party while in the Party, speak for the Party while in the Party, worry about the Party while in the Party, and work for the Party while in the Party, implementing love for the Party, concern for the Party, invigoration of the Party, and protection of the Party in every concrete link of work.
Responsibility and action are one and the same; inaction means irresponsibility, and achievement requires responsibility
Empty talk harms the nation (空谈误国, kong tan wu guo - "empty, talk, mislead, country"), solid work prospers the country. Having the Party in one's heart has never been an abstract declaration left on the lips; the most direct point of practical implementation is daring to take responsibility and act, which is the political character and governing duty of Communists, and its essence is transforming loyalty to the Party into concrete action of knowing responsibility in the heart, bearing responsibility on the body, and fulfilling responsibility in conduct, testing the purity of Party spirit with solid results in undertaking work.
Having the Party in one's heart means daring to draw one's sword in the face of matters of principle and fundamental truth. In the face of contradictions, one must dare to meet difficulties head-on. Contradictions are objective realities that cannot be avoided in the course of career development; whether one dares to face contradictions directly and whether one can chew through hard bones is the best test of whether a Party member truly has the Party's cause in his or her heart. Proactively go to the places where grassroots governance is most complex and where the masses' demands are most concentrated, directly confront historical legacy issues and the thorny difficulties in the deep-water zone of reform, and dare to try and dare to act for the people's interests. Daring to step forward in the face of crisis is a political instinct carved into the bones of Communists. Rush at the first moment to the places where disasters are most severe and where the masses need help most, dare to make decisions and take responsibility at critical moments of extreme urgency, absolutely never hesitate or delay opportunities for personal or partial interests, and instantly transform the conviction of "people first, life first" into the conscious action of moving upon orders.
Uphold the unity of knowledge and action, and action over words
Having the Party in one's heart must be tested at critical moments and times of crisis, and even more must become a habit in daily behavior. Daily behavioral performance is the "barometer" of Party members' and cadres' Party spirit cultivation and the most frequent and direct manifestation of political loyalty. Implementing having the Party in one's heart in daily behavioral performance means running the requirements of firming ideals and convictions, upholding political stance, strictly observing discipline and rules, firmly establishing organizational consciousness, and daring to take responsibility and act through concrete scenarios such as performing duties in one's post, connecting with the masses, organizational life, and social interactions, preventing declarations that are many and high-pitched while action is little and implementation poor, and preventing "two different appearances" in front of others versus behind their backs.
Take the daily post as the first site for testing having the Party in one's heart. No matter where one works or in what position, one must integrate the Party Central Committee's decisions and deployments with one's own work, being responsible for one's territory, accountable for one's territory, and diligent in one's territory. For matters within the scope of one's duties, ensure every item has a resolution and every matter has a response; for the masses' calls, letters, and visits, do not shirk, do not perfunctorily handle, and do not delay; for daily professional work, uphold high standards and strict requirements.
Take connecting with and serving the masses as an important window of daily behavioral performance. Having the Party in one's heart is most directly embodied in daily work as one's attitude toward the masses and one's response to the masses' demands. Regularly go deep into the grassroots frontline to hear the truth and observe the actual situation, treat the masses' "small matters" as "major matters" to handle, and resolve urgent, difficult, anxious, and expectant problems on the spot and dissolve them in daily work. Vigorously guard against formalism and bureaucratism, and do not engage in layer-upon-layer escalation or excessive record-keeping. In posts that directly connect with the masses, be patient and meticulous, fair and just, and honest and upright.
Take serious organizational life as an important test of daily behavioral performance. Strictly implement the systems of the "Three Meetings and One Lesson," theme Party days, democratic evaluation of Party members, heart-to-heart talks, and request-for-instructions and reporting, pay Party membership dues in full and on time, seriously carry out criticism and self-criticism, and truly and thoroughly rectify problems pointed out by the organization. Truthfully report personal matters as required by regulations, promptly request instructions from and report to the organization when important situations arise, without concealment, without delayed reporting, and without omission, making having the Party in one's heart a behavioral habit used daily without conscious awareness.
Take social interactions and cyberspace as an important examination ground for daily behavioral performance. Uphold caution when alone, caution in small matters, caution at the beginning, and caution to the end, purify one's social circle, life circle, and circle of friends, pay attention to family, family education, and family conduct, and manage well one's relatives and staff around one. Strictly demand of oneself outside working hours as well, achieving the same appearance in front of others and behind their backs, and the same in working hours and in spare time. Be consistent in words and deeds in cyberspace, do not spread erroneous statements, do not forward false information, do not make inappropriate remarks, and consciously safeguard the Party's image. Daily behavioral performance may seem trivial, but it is in fact connected to politics, to Party spirit, and to work style. Only when daily behavioral performance is solid can one be reliable at critical moments; only when regular requirements are truly implemented can having the Party in one's heart take deep root and flourish.
Return to TopBy: 郭云强
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "The grassroots level is the front line for resisting natural disasters, and the work of consolidating the grassroots and strengthening the foundation must never be relaxed." Disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief must be rooted at the grassroots level and centered on the foundation. It is necessary to establish and improve systematic, precise, and practical institutional mechanisms, and to promote in an integrated manner the implementation of all actions of "sinking down, shifting into place, stopping in time, regulating well, managing firmly, and creating a strong atmosphere," so as to respond to the uncertainty of disasters with the certainty of grassroots work.
We must persist in putting effort into ordinary times, focusing on improving the pre-disaster prevention model of "clear hidden dangers, clear baseline data, and practical plans." Typhoons are a natural test that Zhejiang faces year-round, which requires establishing a firm bottom-line mindset and extreme-scenario mindset, planning ahead for potential future troubles (未雨绸缪, wei yu chou mou - "not rain, prepare") by making a good "first move," and firmly grasping the initiative in disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief. Hidden risks and dangers must be investigated thoroughly. Maintain a sense of responsibility of being "always concerned and unable to rest easy," comprehensively investigate "visible risks," and conduct thorough investigations of key risk points such as geological hazard hidden danger points, small watershed mountain flood areas, construction sites and factories, dilapidated houses, river channels and embankments, and outdoor scenic spots; precisely manage "invisible risks," identify potential hidden dangers such as saturated soil moisture content and enterprise warehouses exposed to water, and prevent secondary risks before they occur; look ahead to prevent "extended risks," pay attention to the derivative impacts of disasters on market supply and price stability, and prevent the transmission and accumulation of various risks. Baseline data and baseline ledgers must be established thoroughly. Dynamically establish a roster of personnel to be evacuated during flood and typhoon prevention, especially the five categories of personnel: tourists, workers at construction sites under construction, workers at factories that have stopped work, personnel in storage, and expanded-scope personnel. Through mapping villages against charts, mapping houses against villages, and knowing people through houses, comprehensively grasp basic information. Improve the baseline ledger of emergency rescue support information, standardize the equipping of the "three major items" of satellite phones, emergency generators, and water pumps, and the "four small items" of raincoats and rain boots, helmets, flashlights, and life jackets, and coordinate the use of professional, social, and grassroots rescue team forces, so as to ensure sufficient materials and forces in place. Early warning plans must be prepared thoroughly. Estimate difficulties and challenges more fully, comprehensively use the hidden risk and danger list and the situation baseline data ledger, the "one list and one ledger," build and use well the "lookout post" mechanism, and based on the most extreme situations, the most significant risks, and details that are easy to overlook, dynamically assess wind conditions, rainfall conditions, water conditions, and tide conditions and formulate emergency plans. In light of regional disaster patterns and grassroots governance realities, implement scientific echelon defense in a closed loop, achieving neither arbitrary escalation nor lowering of standards.
What the masses feel is the key, focusing on building an evacuation and resettlement system that is "trustworthy, willing to be used, and well managed." Trust does not arise out of thin air; work must be done to reach the hearts of the masses, and cadres and the masses working together in heart should achieve a response from a hundred when one calls. Make good use of the effective method of "connecting in peacetime and rapidly sinking in emergencies." Consistent and continuous implementation (一以贯之, yi yi guan zhi - "one, through, connect, always") of service systems for the masses such as "village-resident instructors" and "people's sentiment diaries," implement the practices of functional departments contracting villages, county and township cadres contracting points, and village and community cadres contracting individuals, and promote in a list-based manner the precise pairing of cadres at all levels to grids, villagers' groups, and other terminal units, with regular visits in peacetime, so as to know the situation of the village when mentioning the village and know the people when mentioning the danger; in wartime, rapidly activate and respond, quickly sink to contracted points to provide services and support, and link up with professional flood and typhoon prevention forces to reach the scene of danger directly, so as to achieve acting promptly upon receiving news of a flood (闻汛而动, wen xun er dong - "hear, flood, then, move") and fighting with proper methods. Grasp well the top priority of personnel evacuation. Strictly follow the requirements of "three advances and three musts," namely: risks must be assessed in advance, plans must be formulated in advance, forces must be deployed in advance, and evacuation must be carried out when heavy rainfall occurs at hidden risk and danger points, evacuation must be carried out when abnormal dangerous situations occur at hidden risk and danger points, and evacuation must be carried out when the danger at hidden risk and danger points cannot be accurately judged. Based on the managed baseline ledger and changes in disaster conditions, dynamically determine the list of personnel to be evacuated in echelons, and promote early evacuation, rapid evacuation, and full evacuation in accordance with "townships fighting battles on their own (乡自为战, xiang zi wei zhan - "township, self, for, fight"), villages capable of fighting on their own, and village-township linkage," continuously strengthening the "reflex-like" consciousness of evacuation. Highlight attention to registered risk points, points with abnormal conditions, and areas of concern and lack of confidence, especially nursing homes and elderly people in remote areas, and evacuate resolutely and decisively, ensuring "no household is missed and no person is left behind." Handle well the key small matters of warm retention and slow return. Do meticulous and thorough work in the management, service, and support of evacuated personnel, implement cadres eating and living together with the masses, pay attention to giving play to the role of Party member volunteers, and carry out warm services such as haircuts, medical care, and cultural and sports activities from small entry points, using people around them to help handle small matters of daily life and help resolve evacuation anxiety. Coordinate the return management of centrally resettled personnel, highlight the strengthening of guidance for those relying on relatives and friends for help (投亲靠友, tou qin kao you - "throw, relatives, rely, friends"), and ensure no return when the situation is unclear and no return when risks are not eliminated.
Soft shoulders cannot bear heavy burdens, focusing on establishing a clear orientation for action of "looking at real achievements, looking at potential achievements, and looking at responsibility." Take flood and typhoon prevention as an important scenario for vigorously strengthening the grassroots level, and strive to form a virtuous cycle of grasping people to promote affairs and connecting personnel with affairs. In urgent, difficult, dangerous, and heavy tasks, the quality of cadres is most visible. Persist in seeing the real situation on the front line and observing abilities in wartime, comprehensively use methods such as special inspections and sinking supervision, observe and identify cadres in shoulder-to-shoulder combat, see the mass foundation through evacuation and resettlement, see response capabilities through emergency rescue and disaster relief, and see work style and responsibility through meeting the challenge and holding the line. Systematically assess the capabilities of village and community secretaries, and show cards to help and promote those who fear difficulties and avoiding risks (畏难怕险, wei nan pa xian - "fear, difficulty, dread, danger"), respond passively, and organize poorly at critical moments. Test grassroots foundations through small things. Use the practical combat of flood and typhoon prevention to test the execution capability and combat effectiveness of grassroots organizations. Combined with the operation of the emergency command system, attach importance to both "software" — see whether flood prevention directives penetrate to the end, see whether the organization's "five stops," namely stopping classes, stopping work, stopping production, stopping transportation, and stopping business, are carried out quickly and quietly, and see whether resumption of work and production is strong and orderly — and "hardware," highlighting the examination of functions, support, and use, and better build grassroots positions such as Party and mass service centers into important places for connecting with the masses in peacetime and emergency shelter in wartime. Praise in a timely manner to encourage responsibility and action. Actively listen to mass evaluations in flood and typhoon prevention, corroborate the potential and real achievements of cadres, and let more grassroots cadres who working hard with one's head down (埋头苦干, mai tou ku gan - "bury, head, bitterly, work") in peacetime and stand up to responsibility in wartime be seen and recognized. Pay attention to discovering, summarizing, and publicizing the vivid deeds and advanced models that emerge in flood and typhoon prevention, promptly commend Party organizations and Party members and cadres with outstanding performance, promptly develop into Party members those active applicants for Party membership who have withstood the test and meet the conditions, and clearly establish an orientation for action that values practical work and practical achievements.
Experience comes from grassroots practice, focusing on improving the normal and long-term mechanism of "fighting one battle, advancing one step, and gaining one point of substance." Make good use of the Fengqiao model in the new era, be good at reviewing and summarizing, and through mass prevention and mass governance, improve the level of comprehensive governance capacity, making steady progress step by step (一步一个脚印, yi bu yi ge jiao yin - "one, step, one, footprint, walk") to build a solid grassroots safety embankment. Create a social atmosphere. Focus on entering enterprises, entering villages, entering communities, entering schools, and entering households, and through emergency drills, case-based teaching, and other methods, popularize evacuation knowledge and emergency skills to the masses in plain and understandable language, promoting "everyone talks about safety, and everyone knows how to prevent disasters." Comprehensively use various channels to strengthen positive guidance, promptly respond to social concerns, and create a good public opinion atmosphere. Strengthen professional support. Give play to the advantages of local universities and institutes, scientific research institutions, and science and technology innovation enterprises, strengthen the application of technical means such as drones in grassroots disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief, and combine civil defense with technical defense to improve the level of modern disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief. In light of the actual work of cadres and talents, consciously reserve a group of professional cadres and connect with a group of high-level experts, establish a talent pool of cadres and talents in meteorology, water conservancy, geology, construction, rescue, and other fields, and ensure that at critical moments there are people "available to use, usable, and able to hold the line." Pool diverse forces. Always remember that the masses are the source of our strength, continuously expand effective channels for the masses to participate in disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief under the leadership of the Party, actively promote the sinking of resources from government departments, enterprises and public institutions, social organizations, and other parties to villages and communities, and orderly mobilize forces in emerging fields such as food delivery riders, couriers, ride-hailing drivers, and truck drivers to participate in disaster prevention and mutual rescue nearby and conveniently, transforming "I" into "we," and jointly build a harmonious, well-governed, resilient, and livable happy home.
(The author is a member of the Standing Committee of the Shaoxing Municipal Party Committee and head of its Organization Department)
Return to TopBy: 清华大学习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想研究院
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," deliberated and adopted at the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party, points out that as the conditions of the world, the country, and the Party undergo profound changes, full and rigorous self-governance of the Party also faces many new situations and new problems. These new situations and new problems pose major challenges to the Party's governing capacity, leadership level, quality of its ranks, and its ability to resist corruption and prevent change under the new circumstances. The "four major challenges" are a new synthesis made on the basis of the "four major tests" and the "four dangers," which more prominently highlights the practical urgency for the Party to respond to major risks and challenges, more closely focuses on the new requirements that the development and changes in the situation and tasks place on the quality and capability of Party organizations at all levels and on Party members and cadres, and more fully demonstrates the Party's historical initiative in daring to carry out self-revolution and solve its own problems.
The "four major challenges" are a new synthesis made on the basis of the "four major tests" and the "four dangers"
Since entering the new era, although great achievements have been made in Party building, the "four major tests" and the "four dangers" facing the Party are long-term, complex, and severe, and they pose more challenges to Party building. The "four major challenges" are precisely a new synthesis made on the basis of the "four major tests" and the "four dangers" under the new circumstances.
Both the "four major tests" and the "four dangers" are challenges posed to Party building. The "four major tests" mainly point to the challenges brought by objective conditions, while the "four dangers" focus on the internal risks that the Party is prone to when facing the "four major tests." Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, through continuously advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, great achievements have been made in governing and building the Party and in revitalizing and strengthening the Party, but "the tests of governance, reform and opening up, the market economy, and the external environment facing our Party are long-term and complex, and the dangers of mental slackness, insufficient capability, detachment from the masses, and passive corruption facing our Party are acute and severe." This reality has not changed; on the contrary, it has made the external conditions targeted by the "four major tests" more complex and the internal risks represented by the "four dangers" more difficult to avoid.
With regard to the "four major tests," under the new circumstances, the Party's governance must not only face the challenge of advancing Chinese modernization through high-quality development, but also face the complex and volatile international situation. Reform and opening up has also moved from the initial ice-breaking exploration and gradual reform into the stage of systematic tackling of hard problems. The test of the market economy has become more severe, and issues such as advancing in depth the building of the unified national market, continuously preventing and defusing risks in key areas, making every effort to stabilize employment, stabilize enterprises, stabilize the market, and stabilize expectations, and strengthening the endogenous driving force of economic development have become increasingly prominent under the new circumstances. With the proliferation of de-globalization, unilateralism, and trade protectionism, the external environment facing the Party has also become increasingly complex.
With regard to the "four dangers," under the new circumstances, the danger of mental slackness has become more hidden, shifting from traditional slackness and paralysis in work to more implicit ideological fatigue. The danger of insufficient capability has become more prominent; in the past, insufficient capability was reflected in not understanding the market economy or opening up, whereas now it is reflected in a "panic about competence" in coordinating development and security, coordinating reform, development, and stability, and handling cross-domain risks. The danger of detachment from the masses has shifted from overt work-style problems such as doors hard to enter and faces hard to look at, to a more hidden and indirect alienation from the masses. In the past, yamen-style work style and bureaucratism were prominent; now, formalism that emphasizes documents, reports, and leaving traces is more prominent. The danger of passive corruption has shifted from traditional overt corruption to new, hidden, cross-domain, and chain-based corruption.
Under the new circumstances, the "four major tests" and the "four dangers" place higher demands on the Party's governing capacity, leadership level, quality of its ranks, and ability to resist corruption and prevent change, and together they constitute the "four major challenges" facing the Party in persisting in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era. The "four major challenges," the "four major tests," and the "four dangers" are both interconnected and each has its own emphasis; they are all major issues that our Party must resolve in persisting in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era.
The "four major challenges" more prominently highlight the practical urgency for the Party to respond to major risks and challenges
The proposal of the "four major challenges" is a new judgment based on the severe situation facing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, highlighting the practical urgency for the Party to respond to major risks and challenges under the new circumstances. In the course of its struggle of more than one hundred years, the reason our Party has been able to achieve one great accomplishment after another and overcome one difficulty after another lies precisely in its consistent adherence to proceeding from reality and making timely scientific assessments of the risks and challenges facing Party building. At present, after long-term efforts and especially the tenacious struggle in the new era, our governance and building of the Party and our revitalization and strengthening of the Party have gathered strong positive energy, and full and rigorous self-governance of the Party has many favorable conditions. However, whether viewed from the international and domestic situation or from the Party itself, profound changes have taken place, bringing many new situations and new problems.
The international situation has become more complex. The changes unseen in a century are accelerating, geopolitical conflicts and local wars continue unabated, the momentum of world economic growth is insufficient, global challenges such as climate issues and energy issues follow one after another, the world has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation, and uncertain and unpredictable factors in the external environment are increasing day by day. This increasingly complex international situation makes the task of the Party uniting and leading the people in safeguarding national sovereignty, security, and development interests more arduous.
The tasks of development, reform, and stability are more onerous. Although Chinese modernization has achieved remarkable accomplishments, the contradiction between the people's ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development remains prominent. The population structure, social groups, and interest patterns continue to change; digitalization, networking, and intelligentization are developing rapidly; social production and lifestyle and organizational forms are more diverse; and various thoughts and values interweave and collide. Further comprehensively deepening reform, promoting high-quality development, strengthening social development and governance, coordinating development and security, and stimulating and enhancing social vitality have encountered many new issues. All these make the task of the Party uniting and leading the people in promoting reform and development and maintaining social harmony and stability more arduous.
Internal tests have become more severe. Although the Party's ranks have undergone structural changes, with the proportion of young Party members and cadres growing ever larger, and the mainstream of the Party's ranks is good, the problems of impurity in thought, impurity in organization, and impurity in work style have not yet been fundamentally resolved, and the quality and capability of some Party members and cadres do not meet the requirements of the development of the times. A small number of Party members and cadres, including senior cadres, have weak Party spirit, wavering or even missing ideals and convictions, weak feelings for the masses, deviations in their view of political achievements, and phenomena such as formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance remain serious. Problems such as insufficient fighting spirit, failure to take responsibility and act, failure to observe discipline and rules, and even abusing power for personal gain and becoming corrupt and degenerate also exist widely. Some primary-level Party organizations have weak political and organizational functions, and are even weak, lax, and disorganized; in some fields, especially emerging fields, the Party's organizational coverage and work coverage are not comprehensive and effective enough. The new changes that have occurred within the Party and the old problems that exist make the task of maintaining the Party's advanced nature and purity more arduous.
The three "more arduous" tasks brought about by the profound changes in the conditions of the world, the country, and the Party represent the major risks and challenges the Party faces in responding to new situations and solving new problems under the new circumstances. Responding to the three "more arduous" tasks with the "four major challenges" reflects the Party's precise judgment of the major risks and challenges we face under the new circumstances.
The "four major challenges" more closely focus on the new requirements that the development and changes in the situation and tasks place on the quality and capability of Party organizations at all levels and on Party members and cadres
The "four major challenges" focus on the new situations and new problems under the new circumstances, clarify the new requirements that the development and changes in the situation and tasks place on the quality and capability of Party organizations at all levels and on Party members and cadres, and reveal that improving governing capacity, raising leadership level, strengthening the quality of the ranks, and achieving resistance to corruption and prevention of change are important focal points for persisting in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party.
Improving governing capacity is fundamental. No matter how the conditions of the world, the country, and the Party change, and no matter how complex the new situations and new problems are, they will ultimately converge on one fundamental issue, namely, whether the Party can manage complex situations and grasp the initiative. The more complex the situation, the more a strong governing capacity is needed to stabilize direction, coordinate the overall situation, and do a good job of top-level design. If governing capacity cannot keep up, it will be difficult to maintain strategic resolve amid volatile changes, make scientific decisions, and effectively defuse risks. Therefore, in the face of the development and changes in the situation and tasks, it is necessary to take improving governing capacity as the breakthrough point, continuously raise the level of scientific, democratic, and law-based governance, and continuously strengthen the Party's political leadership, thought leadership, mass organization, and social appeal.
Raising leadership level is key. The changes in the world require coordinating development and security with the new development pattern; the changes in the country require advancing Chinese modernization with high-quality development. The new changes in the conditions of the world and the country are a comprehensive test of the Party's leadership philosophy, leadership methods, and governing capacity. The increasing complexity of the external environment requires the Party to be good at seeking development through opening up and ensuring security amid competition; domestic reform has entered the deep-water zone, requiring the Party to be good at handling the complex relationships among reform, development, and stability. If the leadership level lags behind the development and changes in the situation and tasks, it will be difficult to find the right coordinates, choose the right orientation, and aim at the bull's-eye, making it impossible to act with a clear aim or purpose and to solve fundamental problems. Therefore, in the face of the development and changes in the situation and tasks, it is necessary to take raising the Party's leadership level as the entry point, enhance the ability of leading cadres to set direction, plan the overall situation, formulate policies, and promote reform, and fully transform institutional advantages into governance effectiveness.
Strengthening the quality of the ranks is the lever. Without a high-quality cadre contingent that is loyal, clean, and responsible, no matter how good the strategic blueprint is, it will be difficult to implement. Responding to changes in the world requires cadres with an international perspective and strategic vision; leading domestic development requires cadres with professional competence and a sense of responsibility. And the changes in the Party's conditions make it more urgent to require cadres to strengthen their Party spirit and enhance their abilities. The changes in the conditions of the world, the country, and the Party are interwoven, placing higher demands on the quality of the Party's ranks: it is necessary both to firm up ideals and convictions and stand firmly with the people in a complex environment, and to continuously acquire new abilities and adapt to new situations. In the face of the development and changes in the situation and tasks, it is necessary to take strengthening the quality of the ranks as an important lever, strengthen the tempering of Party spirit, emphasize capacity building, encourage courageous responsibility, and consolidate the Party's governing foundation through doing a good job of building the Party's ranks.
Achieving resistance to corruption and prevention of change is the bottom line. Capital infiltration and interest temptations in the external environment, the increase in risk points in the exercise of power under domestic market economy conditions, and the ease with which long-term governance breeds mental slackness and passive corruption continuously give rise to new forms of corruption and increase the difficulty of resisting corruption and preventing change. If the defense line against corruption and change is loosened and the governance of the Party and the management of the Party become too lenient, the Party will find it difficult to win the trust and support of the people. Therefore, in the face of the development and changes in the situation and tasks, it is necessary to hold fast to the defense line against corruption and change, adhere to advancing in an integrated manner the efforts to ensure that officials do not have the audacity, opportunity, or desire to be corrupt, maintain a high-pressure stance in punishing corruption, strengthen the restriction and supervision of the exercise of power, develop a positive and healthy political culture within the Party, integrate a culture of integrity into the building of core socialist values, integrate integrity education into the national education system, strive to "always brush away the dust from the soul, always clean out the garbage in thought, always dig out the dirt in the corners of the soul," and resolutely hold fast to the bottom line of integrity and honesty.
The new situations and new problems that have emerged under the new circumstances place new requirements and severe challenges on Party building in the new era. Only by closely focusing on improving governing capacity, raising leadership level, strengthening the quality of the ranks, and achieving resistance to corruption and prevention of change, and by actively adapting to the profound changes in the conditions of the world, the country, and the Party, can full and rigorous self-governance of the Party be persisted in and advanced fundamentally.
The "four major challenges" more fully demonstrate our Party's historical initiative in daring to carry out self-revolution and solve its own problems
The spirit of historical initiative is the spiritual character and practical consciousness of consciously applying the laws of historical development, grasping the historical orientation, recognizing the general trend of the times, actively identifying, responding to, and seeking change, daring to take responsibility and act actively, thereby firmly grasping the initiative in the development of the cause and demonstrating the advancement of history. By proposing the "four major challenges" and directly confronting the new situations and new problems brought by the continuous changes in the conditions of the world, the country, and the Party, our Party vividly demonstrates its historical initiative in daring to carry out self-revolution and solve its own problems.
The "four major challenges" are a concrete manifestation of our Party's daring to carry out self-revolution. Proposing the "four major challenges" reflects our Party's strategic sobriety in the face of new situations and new problems under the new circumstances, and this sobriety is the starting point for grasping historical initiative. Only by recognizing the real challenges, seeing clearly the prominent problems that exist within itself, and daring to acknowledge the severe challenges it faces can the Party truly turn its blade inward and scrape the poison from the bone, neither evading nor concealing, and maintain the sober consciousness of self-revolution. Only by closely focusing on improving governing capacity, raising leadership level, strengthening the quality of the ranks, and achieving resistance to corruption and prevention of change, and continuing to make precise and sustained efforts, can self-revolution achieve greater results.
The "four major challenges" are a direct manifestation of our Party's daring to solve its own problems. Proposing the "four major challenges" and treating the "four major challenges," the "four major tests," and the "four dangers" as major issues that our Party must resolve in persisting in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party in the new era is precisely to demonstrate that against the background of profound changes in the conditions of the world, the country, and the Party, we must not only withstand the "four major tests" but also be vigilant against the "four dangers," and at the same time deeply recognize that our Party still has gaps and deficiencies in governing capacity, leadership level, quality of the ranks, and resistance to corruption and prevention of change. Directly facing problems is the premise for solving them. Only by daring to face the new situations and new problems brought by the new changes in the conditions of the world, the country, and the Party, making preparations in advance to ward off potential difficulties, resolving problems in the bud, and dissolving contradictions before they arise, can we grasp historical initiative in the process of persisting in advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party.
(Written by: Xiao Guiqing)
Return to TopChina State Shipbuilding Corporation Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as CSSC Investment) adheres to taking the study and implementation of the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party as a major political task for the current period and the period ahead. Guided by Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, it adheres to persistently advancing the normalization and long-term effectiveness of work style development with the spirit of driving a nail, providing strong guarantees for achieving a good start and a solid beginning for the 15th Five-Year Plan.
Unremittingly Arming the Mind with the Party's Innovative Theories
Thought is the forerunner of action, and work style problems are essentially Party spirit problems. CSSC Investment unremittingly arms the mind with the Party's innovative theories, uses ideological tempering to build a solid foundation for work style development, starts from the "heart," and strengthens the foundation and cultivates the source (固本培元, gu ben pei yuan - "solidify, foundation, cultivate, origin").
Calibrating the "course" in alignment and emulation. CSSC Investment strictly implements the "first agenda item" system, organizes Party organizations at all levels and the broad masses of Party members and cadres to consciously use Xi Jinping's thought on Party building to plan and guide work, continuously improves the full-process closed-loop mechanism of "conveying and studying, researching and deploying, promoting implementation, supervising and inspecting, reporting and feedback, and tracking effectiveness," promotes the transformation of theoretical learning results into concrete measures for studying and judging prominent work style problems and rectifying stubborn work style maladies, and with practical actions firmly upholds the Two Establishments (两个确立) and resolutely achieves the Two Upholds (两个维护).
Consolidating the "foundation" through theoretical nourishment. CSSC Investment adheres to combining centralized education with regular education, and builds and improves a three-level joint learning mechanism. It promotes Party members and cadres to understand patterns, clarify directions, learn methods, and increase wisdom. It normalizes the implementation of systems such as theoretical learning center group study, thematic reading classes, the "Three Meetings and One Lesson," and themed Party days, carefully studies Volume I and Volume II of the Selected Works of Xi Jinping on Party Building in the original text and original sentences, and simultaneously uses platforms such as "Xuexi Qiangguo" and "CSSC e-Learning" to promote the study of the Party's innovative theories to go deeper, more practical, and more heartfelt.
Building a solid "defense line" through education on both positive and negative examples. CSSC Investment adheres to making good use of the "two mirrors" of typical positive and negative cases, takes positive models as benchmarks, draws spiritual strength, organizes the "Four Learnings and Four Doings" activity to study the advanced deeds of Academician Huang Xuhua, goes to the Yang Jingyu Cadre Academy to carry out Party history learning and education training, inherits the red gene, continues the red bloodline, promotes the shipbuilding spirit, and inspires responsibility and action. Taking negative models as mirrors for reflection, it prevents ideological laxity, holds warning education meetings every year, circulates typical cases of violations of discipline and law, watches the Lost Voyage Life series of warning education films, distributes the Selected Compilation of Warning Cases, visits Party conduct and clean government education bases, makes good use of the vivid teaching materials of "people around us and cases around us," and explains virtue, discipline, law, and responsibility through cases.
Adhering to a Problem-Oriented Approach and Targeting Efforts Precisely
Work style development is not an unrealistic or unsubstantial idea or structure (空中楼阁, kong zhong lou ge - "air, middle, building, pavilion"); it must be closely linked to reality, focus on prominent problems, and adopt effective measures. CSSC Investment makes efforts in strictness and precision, takes key people, key matters, and key times as the focal points, and addresses problems with appropriate measures (对症下药, dui zheng xia yao - "against, symptoms, put, medicine") and implements precise policies.
Managing the "key people" well and holding the source gate of power. CSSC Investment adheres to grasping the "key minority," regularly conducts heart-to-heart talks with "top leaders" at all levels, carries out reports on responsibility fulfillment and integrity, and supervises them to lead by example in promoting a strict and practical work style. It closely supervises the "top leaders" and members of leadership teams in taking the lead in strictly implementing the spirit of the Central Committee's Eight-Point Regulation and its implementation rules, and deepens and solidifies supervision through democratic life meetings, supervising the selection and appointment of personnel, and verifying personal matters reports. It strengthens daily supervision and management of newly promoted cadres, young cadres, cadres in key positions, and personnel in key sensitive positions, establishes a normalized early warning and reminder mechanism of "integrity talks + warning education," carries out integrity home visits every year, promotes leaders of investment projects to practice one project one commitment, signs integrity and clean employment commitment letters, clarifies work style and discipline requirements, and strengthens source governance of integrity risks.
Managing "key matters" well and preventing problems early and small. CSSC Investment closely focuses on key businesses and key projects, integrates integrity risk prevention and control into daily management processes, and embeds it into all levels, all aspects, and all links of power operation and internal control. Focusing on key areas such as industrial investment, capital operation, fund business, factoring business, and insurance brokerage business, relying on the "system + informatization" supervision model, it carries out penetrating supervision from project pre-approval, approval, contract signing to financial payment, and for budding and tendency problems found in daily supervision and special inspections, it promptly conducts talks and reminders, firmly holding the bottom line of no major risks and systemic risks. It incorporates work style development into daily supervision, improves the negative list of work style development and work discipline for Party members, cadres, and employees every year, and refines 187 "prohibited" items around 18 aspects including investment projects, fund management, office space, and welfare subsidies, clarifying the red lines of work style and discipline in the form of "negative boundary delineation."
Managing at "key times" and closely focusing on periods prone to risks. CSSC Investment adheres to combining grasping key nodes with grasping daily work, and continuously uses the working mechanism of "education and reminders before holidays, supervision and inspection during holidays, and summary and rectification after holidays." At every important node, notices are issued before holidays to put forward discipline requirements and integrity reminder talks are carried out; during holidays, supervision and inspection are carried out on prominent problems of the Four Malfeasances (四风); after holidays, it closely focuses on business approval and financial reimbursement, strictly enforcing the review of legality and compliance. It effectively creates a strict atmosphere and establishes a correct work style.
Improving and Perfecting the Institutional Mechanisms for the Normalization and Long-Term Effectiveness of Work Style Development
Work style development is not achieved overnight; it must rely on systems to manage the fundamentals and the long term. CSSC Investment adheres to improving and perfecting the institutional mechanisms for the normalization and long-term effectiveness of work style development, seeing normalcy in persistence and seeking long-term effectiveness from institutional construction.
Refining and implementing the "task book" and tightening the chain of responsibility. CSSC Investment adheres to planning, deploying, and advancing work style development together with central work, linking the "chain of responsibility" with the "chain of implementation," forming a work style development work chain of strictly fulfilling responsibilities, jointly managing, and interlocking links. Party organization secretaries at all levels conscientiously perform the responsibility of the first responsible person, personally deploying important work, personally inquiring about major issues, personally coordinating important links, and personally promoting key tasks. Other members of leadership teams and leading Party member cadres conscientiously perform the "dual responsibilities of one post," do a good job in work style development in the fields and departments under their charge, lead and supervise the departments under their charge to do a good job in all work style development work, strictly educate, manage, and supervise Party members and cadres in the departments and units under their charge, being strict with themselves (严于律己, yan yu lv ji - "strict, towards, self, discipline"), strictly fulfilling their responsibilities, and strictly managing their jurisdictions, forming a good situation of one level leading the next and layers implementing tasks.
Strengthening "hard constraints" of norms and weaving a tight institutional fence. CSSC Investment adheres to running institutional construction through the entire process of corporate governance and work style development, grasping both the establishment of rules and regulations and their implementation and enforcement. It formulates and revises institutional regulations on business hospitality, official vehicles, performance treatment, travel expense management, registration and surrender of gifts and cash gifts, and the use of souvenirs and promotional materials. It strengthens the implementation of systems, resolutely maintains the seriousness and authority of institutional regulations, resolutely and strictly investigates and deals with those who implement poorly, advance slowly, and have insignificant work results, expands the prevention and control of individual "risk points" into a "protective net" covered by institutions, and strives to achieve the transformation of work style development from treating symptoms to treating the root causes.
Building a linked "firewall" and improving and perfecting the supervision system. CSSC Investment fully leverages the role of the "three defense lines" of business supervision, audit supervision, and discipline supervision, promotes the improvement of the "supervision + regulation" and "special responsibility + professional" linkage mechanisms, focuses on problems such as illegal eating and drinking, private use of official vehicles, and official reception to carry out joint inspections, establishes a regular consultation and judgment mechanism, effectively weaves a tight supervision network, tightens the chain of responsibility, and forms a joint supervision force of joint management and comprehensive governance. It improves and perfects the list of supervision matters, covering the supervision content of functional departments such as discipline inspection, organization and personnel, audit, finance, and comprehensive management, promotes functional departments to smooth docking channels and optimize coordination models in the transfer of problem clues, feedback on special governance, and sharing of regulatory platform information, and promotes the integration of various supervision forces, the alignment of procedures, and the integration of work.
Guaranteeing High-Quality Development of the Enterprise with the Results of Work Style Development
Whether the results of work style development are good or not depends on development achievements. CSSC Investment adheres to practicing a correct view of political achievements, and with the spirit of driving a nail, strives vigorously and contributes strength to achieve a good start for the 15th Five-Year Plan and to support and assist the high-quality development of CSSC Group.
Sounding the "charge" for a good start. CSSC Investment is based on the "two overall situations," bears in mind the "great affairs of the country," accurately grasps the new situation and new requirements, fully implements the new development philosophy, accelerates the construction of the new development pattern, compiles and improves the "15th Five-Year Plan" development plan, fulfills its duties and mission, strengthens its functional positioning, focuses on its main business, strengthens the real industry, and refines its professionalism, empowers industrial development, highlights value creation, and continuously enhances core functions and improves core competitiveness.
Writing a "new chapter" of reform and development. CSSC Investment adheres to implementing the cultivation of improved work style into all links of improving economic benefits and promoting high-quality development, and into all deployments of full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, Party conduct and clean government construction, and anti-corruption work. Closely focusing on the "two A-level" goals, it continuously expands the investment layout of strategic emerging industries, deeply cultivates industrial empowerment to strengthen the strategic support of capital operation, solidly promotes the establishment and operation management of funds, continuously makes the factoring business better and stronger, and continuously improves the level of insurance brokerage services. It consolidates the results of the deepening and improvement action of reform, improves and perfects the corporate governance system, promotes the reform of institutional mechanisms, accelerates the pace of digital and intelligent transformation, overcomes great difficulties and challenges (攻坚克难, gong jian ke nan - "attack, stronghold, overcome, difficulty"), taps potential and increases efficiency, and promotes the transformation of a strict and practical work style into a strong driving force for high-quality development.
Forging "doers" who take on responsibility. CSSC Investment consolidates and expands the results of learning and education on establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements, clearly establishes the orientation of seeking practical results through practical work, and educates and guides Party members and cadres to put "practicality" first and "action" first. On the one hand, it fully leverages the role of the assessment baton, improves the cadre assessment and evaluation system, strengthens supervision and inspection and tracking of effectiveness, and tempers a strong work style of seeking truth from facts and being pragmatic (求真务实, qiu zhen wu shi - "seek, truth, pragmatic, real") and doing solid work. On the other hand, it improves and perfects the fault tolerance and error correction mechanism, adheres to combining strict management with care, and giving equal weight to incentives and constraints, cultivates a clean and upright ecology with a clean and practical work style, encourages cadres to forge ahead and engage in work and entrepreneurship (干事创业, gan shi chuang ye - "do, affairs, create, enterprise"), clearly supports those who take responsibility and backs those who do things, and builds a solid team guarantee for high-quality development.
(China State Shipbuilding Corporation Investment Co., Ltd.)
Return to TopGreen and low-carbon development is not only the distinctive hallmark of high-quality development, but also the inevitable path for the transformation and upgrading of the shipping industry. As the only shipping enterprise under China Huadian Corporation, Huayuanxing Shipping Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "the Company") set sail on the banks of the Huangpu River in 2006. Over the past 20 years, the Company's Party Committee has kept in mind the "greatest concerns of the nation," fully implemented the new development philosophy, proactively aligned with the deployment for building a strong energy nation, a strong transportation nation, and a strong maritime nation, implemented the strategic goals of "carbon peak and carbon neutrality," kept firmly in mind the responsibility positioning of a central state-owned enterprise, and taken serving national energy security as the starting point and ultimate goal of all work. Relying on the advantages of China Huadian's entire industrial chain, the Company has ensured that "ships never stop sailing and supply guarantees never cease" in the face of tests such as cold waves and extreme heat, cumulatively transporting over 300 million tons of coal for power supply guarantees, and building a solid "ballast stone" for waterborne energy transportation along the Yangtze River and coastal areas. Having traversed the leap from "starting from zero" to "breaking through to the sea" and then to "striving for strength through the sea," the Company has forged a development path featuring Party building as the guide, supply guarantee as the foundation, technology empowerment, chain-based collaboration, and a drive toward innovation and green development, contributing central state-owned enterprise practical experience to the low-carbon transformation of the energy shipping industry.
Safety Empowers the Green Transformation of the Fleet
Waterborne energy transportation is a key link in safeguarding the national economy and people's livelihoods, and it is necessary to coordinate the dual tasks of energy supply guarantee and green transformation. The Company's Party Committee has adhered to advancing supply guarantee and transformation as an integrated whole, firmly holding the bottom line of energy supply guarantee and safe production, and tapping the energy-saving and carbon-reduction potential of the existing fleet through technological innovation. Over the past 20 years, the Company has established a firm safety philosophy of "people first, life first," improved the safety management system, achieved the transformation of ships from external trusteeship to independent management, created a long cycle of safe production lasting many years, and successively won industry honors such as the first-class enterprise for safety production standardization of the Ministry of Transport and the "Safe and Honest Company" of the Maritime Safety Administration of the People's Republic of China. It has used technological innovation to solve the energy consumption and emission problems of traditional shipping, integrated energy conservation and carbon reduction into the entire chain of ship operation and maintenance, innovated the 7S management of ships, and adopted multiple measures to promote fleet energy conservation and emission reduction. It has strengthened the ship management information system and intelligent monitoring platform, installed a "smart brain" for green navigation on ships, promoted the iterative upgrading of the traditional fleet toward intelligence and green development, and consolidated the foundation for green development of energy transportation through technology empowerment.
Capacity Iteration Builds a Smart Fleet
Green fleet construction is the core carrier of the green transformation of shipping enterprises. To advance the green and low-carbon development of shipping, it is necessary to adhere to both optimizing the existing stock and improving the increment. Over the past 20 years, the Company has kept pace with the green development trend of the industry, adhered to the two-way effort of "adding high-quality new capacity + eliminating old and outdated capacity," phased out high-energy-consumption, high-emission old ships in batches, orderly cleared out aged and backward capacity, and accelerated the low-carbon restructuring of the fleet structure. Seizing the window period for green shipping development, the Company newly built two 65,000-ton high-efficiency energy-saving bulk carriers that were put into operation six months ahead of schedule, achieving "delivery means supply guarantee, operation means carbon reduction," and effectively improving energy transportation efficiency and green operation levels. It has taken a forward-looking position in the low-carbon fuel ship segment, signed contracts to build two 85,000-ton methanol-ready bulk carriers, and striven to create a green fleet pattern of "coastal low-carbon fuel ships + inland river new-energy electric ships," supporting the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. It has opened up a new track for inland river electric ships, helped enhance the capacity level of Shanghai International Shipping Center, and striven to form a replicable and promotable sample of green fleet upgrading for energy central state-owned enterprises.
Industrial Integration Builds a Green Ecosystem
The green transformation of shipping is not a matter of acting in isolation without support (单打独斗, dan da du dou - "single, hit, alone, fight") by a single enterprise; it is inseparable from the coordinated linkage of the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain. Over the past 20 years, the Company's Party Committee has fully leveraged the role of enterprises in the chain and built a mutually beneficial and win-win green shipping industry ecosystem. Based on serving the high-quality development of the Yangtze Economic Belt, relying on the Huadian Green Shipping Industry Development Alliance platform, and in deep coordination with Huadian Hubei Company, the Company has explored and advanced research and development of electric ship transportation business models, jointly promoting the implementation of the "integrated charging and swapping for green intelligent ships on the Yangtze River main line" demonstration scenario project for building a strong transportation nation. It has carried out collaborative innovation with industry, academia, and research institutions, conducting joint research on key directions such as methanol fuel application, electric ship power systems, and intelligent navigation control, and promoting "green ships, intelligent ports, and low-carbon routes." It has proactively served the joint building of the Belt and Road Initiative, weaving a waterborne energy transportation network that connects north and south, links the Yangtze River, and reaches overseas, and with the operational pattern of "one body, two wings, five centers," has blazed a stable and reliable waterborne energy artery, creating an industrial ecosystem of resource sharing and value co-creation.
Strengthening the Foundation and Forging the Soul to Gather Joint Force for Progress
Upholding the Party's leadership and strengthening Party building are the "roots" and "soul" of state-owned enterprises. To promote the high-quality green development of energy shipping, it is necessary to give play to the guiding role of Party building and transform the Party's political and organizational advantages into advantages for enterprise development. Over the past 20 years, the Company's Party Committee has inherited the red gene, regularly carried out joint Party building with upstream and downstream enterprises and Party organizations of industry, academia, and research institutions, promoted the deep integration of Party building with green transformation development and industrial collaborative research, and empowered the industrial chain, supply chain, and innovation chain. It has adhered to the simultaneous resonance of brand building and cultural cultivation, nurtured and formed the "Huayuanxing Phenomenon" with shipping characteristics, forged a maritime fortress of professionalism, dedication, and courage to fight, practiced the responsibility of a central state-owned enterprise with great love for rivers and seas, and made the "Huadian mobile business card" even more brilliant. It has been rated as a "Shanghai Civilized Unit" for 15 consecutive years, and multiple achievements have been selected as excellent cases by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and the China Electricity Council, gathering a strong spiritual joint force for innovation and green development.
Standing at the dual historical juncture of the 20th anniversary of the Company's establishment and the planning and layout of the 15th Five-Year Plan, the Company's Party Committee will always keep in mind the mission and responsibility of a central state-owned enterprise, fully, accurately, and comprehensively implement the new development philosophy, keep in mind the "greatest concerns of the nation," and with the realm and responsibility of "success need not be in my tenure, but success must have my contribution," unswervingly follow the path of green and low-carbon development. It will continue to strengthen the main business of energy supply guarantee, deepen the drive of scientific and technological innovation, accelerate the construction of a green and smart fleet, deepen collaborative innovation across the industrial chain, strive to be a firm guardian of national energy security, an active practitioner of green shipping transformation, and a pioneering explorer of low-carbon development in energy transportation, and set sail with vigorous oars across ten thousand miles of rivers and seas, contributing new energy shipping strength to accelerating the building of a strong transportation nation and a strong maritime nation and serving the construction of Chinese modernization.
(Party Committee of Huayuanxing Shipping Co., Ltd.)
Return to TopBy: 郭显龙
On September 16, 2026, the Pinglu Canal, a backbone project of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor, was officially completed and opened to navigation; on September 17, the 23rd China-ASEAN Expo was held in Nanning. The Pinglu Canal provides a physical connection for China-ASEAN cooperation, and the China-ASEAN Expo gathers momentum for China-ASEAN cooperation; together, they depict a vivid practical picture of deepening China-ASEAN cooperation through high-level opening up. As an important field of current China-ASEAN production capacity cooperation, manufacturing has become a focus of attention for ASEAN countries. Relying on the Pinglu Canal to empower China-ASEAN production capacity cooperation is an urgent need to continuously consolidate the foundation of China-ASEAN cross-border industrial and supply chains and to build a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future. Therefore, systematic efforts can be made in three dimensions by relying on the Pinglu Canal: reshaping the industrial spatial layout, building a cross-border industrial and supply chain coordination system, and deepening institutional opening up.
Rely on the corridor economy to reshape the industrial spatial layout and cultivate manufacturing agglomeration poles oriented toward ASEAN. First, guided by a "leaf-vein-style" seaward industrial spatial structure, build a seaward manufacturing system oriented toward ASEAN. Relying on the Pinglu Canal economic belt, focus on laying out large-volume, port- and waterway-suitable industries such as new energy materials, marine vessels and equipment, green chemicals, and deep processing of non-ferrous metals. Second, build a one-stop integrated logistics service platform covering the "southwestern hinterland-Beibu Gulf-major ASEAN ports," coordinate the advancement of construction of docks at all levels, ship locks, and dedicated railway branch lines, open up the "last mile" of railways entering ports, and form a "river-rail-sea" multimodal transport hard connectivity. At the same time, promote the "single bill" and "single container" systems for multimodal transport to reduce logistics costs. Third, deepen the "ASEAN raw materials + Guangxi deep processing + domestic and international markets" industrial development model, make full use of the canal's dual effects of agglomeration and radiation, and promote the conversion of transit traffic into local industrial increments.
Build a cross-border industrial and supply chain coordination system to promote the transformation of production capacity cooperation from one-way transfer to two-way embedding. First, rely on the canal to implement a two-way layout of "chain-leader enterprise leadership + supply chain enterprise support." Drawing on SAIC-GM-Wuling's experience of "moving the chain across the sea" in Indonesia, encourage chain-leader enterprises in fields such as new energy vehicles, electronic information, and equipment manufacturing to take the canal as the axis, form cross-border industrial alliances, and promote the gradient distribution of complete vehicle assembly, key components, and deep processing of raw materials between the canal economic belt and key parks in ASEAN countries, realizing the transformation from product export to coordinated industrial chain going global. Second, rely on parks along the canal to undertake the upgrading and expansion of the "two countries, twin parks" model. Taking the China-Malaysia "two countries, twin parks" and the China-ASEAN Industrial Cooperation Zone as fulcrums, build a "canal port-adjacent park + ASEAN industrial park" twin-park linkage mechanism, and promote the landing of projects such as semiconductors, new energy vehicle batteries, and new metal materials. At the same time, lay out service formats such as transportation and warehousing, distribution centers, and cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones, so that the raw materials-components-finished products of electronic information manufacturing, new energy vehicles, and equipment manufacturing between China and ASEAN countries can be organized and circulated more efficiently by relying on the canal. Third, improve the cross-border logistics support and supply chain resilience network. Give play to the function of the Pinglu Canal in connecting the Beibu Gulf international shipping routes with China's inland comprehensive transport network, provide new options for river-sea intermodal transport for ASEAN maritime countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia, and open up a composite corridor of the China-Laos Railway-Beibu Gulf Port-Canal for ASEAN landlocked countries such as Laos, forming a regional logistics pattern of mutual support among multiple points.
Deepen institutional opening up and rule alignment to reduce the institutional transaction costs of cross-border production capacity cooperation. First, further advance the accumulation of rules of origin and mutual recognition of standards. Fully release the synergistic dividend of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the Protocol to Upgrade the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0, promote the implementation of regional accumulated rules of origin, so that the value of intermediate goods produced within the China-ASEAN region is fully accumulated, and encourage enterprises in the region to lay out intermediate goods production and export bases oriented toward ASEAN along the canal. At the same time, accelerate the unification of electronic invoice standards in the field of digital trade and the construction of a carbon footprint traceability system in the field of green economy, and break down technical standard barriers to the cross-border circulation of intermediate goods. Second, accelerate the construction of smart ports and the "single window" soft connectivity system. Relying on the China-ASEAN Information Harbor, accelerate the promotion of data sharing among transportation, customs, maritime, and border inspection departments, expand the application coverage of the international trade "single window," accelerate the promotion of paperless customs clearance throughout the territory and the entire process, advance declaration, and other facilitation measures, and further reduce the average time for regional cargo clearance. Third, improve the supply of opening-up-oriented institutions for ASEAN. Accelerate the construction of a border financial opening-up portal, expand the scale of cross-border RMB settlement, and vigorously develop supply chain finance and green financial instruments. Relying on the "exhibition + industry" and "investment + trade" mechanisms of the China-ASEAN Expo, smooth the channels for information exchange and resource allocation between Chinese and ASEAN manufacturing enterprises, and accelerate the cross-border flow of various production factors between China and ASEAN countries. Through institutional opening up, systematically reduce the compliance costs and uncertainty of China-ASEAN production capacity cooperation, and further give play to the "corridor advantage" of China-ASEAN production capacity cooperation.
(The author is Vice President of the Baise Cadre Academy of Guangxi)
Return to TopEducation is one of the most concerned, most direct, and most realistic interest issues for the people. Under the new demographic situation, it is necessary to conduct forward-looking research and dynamic adjustment of educational resource allocation. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized the need to adapt to changes in population structure and establish a more rational and efficient mechanism for educational resource allocation. Focusing on building an educational resource allocation mechanism that adapts to population changes, the Study Times high-end think tank edition has launched an in-depth discussion.
Return to TopBy: 陈如平
Over a fairly long period in the past, the main task of allocating basic education resources in China was, against the backdrop of rapid urbanization, sustained growth in the school-age population, and ever-expanding educational demand, to solve the problems of "whether there are schools" and "whether there is enough capacity." School construction, teacher recruitment, funding input, and degree/seat supply were mostly carried out around scale expansion. However, with changes in the birth population, adjustments in the pattern of population mobility, and the reshaping of urban-rural spatial structures, the allocation of basic education resources is entering a more complex stage. What population change brings is no longer merely an increase or decrease in total numbers, but rather echeloned changes and structural differentiation of the school-age population across different regions, different stages of schooling, and different points in time. The "15th Five-Year Plan" for Educational Development explicitly proposes to "improve the forward-looking layout of educational resources that adapts to changes in the school-age population." The allocation of educational resources must shift from simply expanding supply to precise early warning, coordinated allocation, flexible use, and quality and efficiency improvement.
Population change is reshaping the spatiotemporal structure of educational resource allocation. The impact of population change on basic education first manifests as the echeloned peaking of the school-age population. The school-age populations for preschool education, primary school, junior high school, and senior high school do not reach their peaks simultaneously, but rather show a clear sequential order. This echeloned change means that different stages of schooling face different pressures: some stages have already entered a period of declining student intake, some are in or about to enter an enrollment peak, and some will face tight degree/seat supply in the coming years. If the allocation of educational resources continues to follow a static planning approach, it will easily produce the contradiction of "not enough at the peak, excessive vacancy after the decline."
Second, the differentiation of population increase and decrease makes the mismatch of educational resources more prominent. At present, the population continues to concentrate in city clusters, metropolitan areas, central urban districts, and regions with more employment opportunities. In some population inflow areas, there are tight degree/seat supply, insufficient school buildings, and tight teacher staffing quotas, while some population outflow areas face problems such as declining student intake, shrinking school size, and declining utilization rates of school buildings. Even within the same province, there may be obvious differences between different cities and counties. The supply-demand relationship for degrees/seats between counties, between urban and rural areas, and between different districts within urban areas is undergoing profound changes.
Finally, educational resource allocation faces triple challenges of total quantity, structure, and timing. In terms of total quantity, degree/seat supply in some regions may tend to become looser, but this does not mean that the pressure on resource allocation has lessened; in terms of structure, the allocation of resources between stages of schooling, between regions, between urban and rural areas, between public and private schools, and between general education and vocational education still needs to be optimized; in terms of timing, the population peak is stage-based. Newly built schools, newly recruited teachers, and newly added staffing quotas must take into account sustainable use after the future population decline. Therefore, educational resource allocation that adapts to population change cannot stop at the superficial adjustment of "increasing or decreasing the number of schools," but should drive deep-seated changes in the educational governance system.
Shift from allocation according to scale to allocation according to population mobility and quality demand. For a long time, educational resource allocation has relied relatively heavily on registered-residence (hukou) population, historical baselines, and fixed staffing standards. This model had a certain degree of rationality in periods when the population was relatively stable and mobility was limited, but against the backdrop of accelerated cross-regional population mobility and intensified fluctuations in the school-age population, its limitations are gradually becoming apparent. Some regions plan degrees/seats according to the registered-residence population, making it difficult to fully cover the schooling needs of the actual resident population; some schools allocate teachers by reference to past enrollment size, making it hard to respond promptly to short-term enrollment peaks; some localities continue to use static class-size standards to plan school buildings, lacking flexible space to cope with fluctuations in student intake across stages of schooling.
To adapt to population change, the logic of educational resource allocation needs to undergo three shifts. First, shift from static planning to dynamic early warning. Educational resource allocation cannot wait until degrees/seats are clearly insufficient or schools are clearly vacant before responding; rather, a forward-looking monitoring mechanism should be established. By advancing data coordination among the education, public security, health, human resources and social security, and statistics departments, continuous tracking of the birth population, resident population, floating population, and school-age population should be carried out, forming degree/seat supply-demand forecasts by region, by stage of schooling, and by year, so that school construction, teacher recruitment, and funding arrangements become more precise. Second, shift from county-level dispersed coordination to regional coordinated coordination. China's basic education has long implemented a management system "with the county as the main body." This system has played an important role in mobilizing county-level initiative and implementing territorial responsibility, but in the face of problems such as cross-county population mobility, staggered peaking across stages of schooling, and regional resource imbalance, coordination at the county level alone is no longer sufficient. It is necessary, on the basis of upholding the primary responsibility of the county level, to strengthen the coordination function of the municipal level and promote greater synergy in degree/seat planning, teacher staffing, funding input, and school layout within the municipal scope. Third, shift from quantity satisfaction to quality improvement. Population change brings both pressure and a window of opportunity. Regions with declining student intake can take the opportunity to reduce class sizes, improve teacher-student ratios, and optimize curriculum implementation; regions with tight degree/seat supply can improve supply efficiency through tapping potential and expanding capacity, group-based schooling, and resource sharing. Resource allocation must not only focus on "whether there are enough degrees/seats," but also on "whether educational quality has improved," "whether students' gains are more equitable," and "whether teacher development has more support."
Improve policy-based adjustment mechanisms and enhance the forward-looking and coordinated nature of resource allocation. To adapt to population change, it is first necessary to establish a more sensitive monitoring and early warning mechanism for the school-age population. If population data, household registration data, birth registration data, resident population data, and school-age child data lack effective linkage, it will be difficult to form accurate judgments. A cross-departmental data-sharing mechanism should be promoted, a school-age population monitoring platform covering multiple levels of the nation, provinces, cities, and counties should be built, and regular publication of degree/seat supply-demand situation assessments by stage of schooling should be carried out. The value of the early warning mechanism is not just to provide a single number, but to help local governments identify risks in advance: which regions may face tight primary school degree/seat supply in the coming years, which regions are about to usher in a junior high school peak, which rural schools need to be retained or optimized, and which districts can meet new demand through renovation of existing stock.
On this basis, the municipal-level coordination capacity for basic education resource allocation should be strengthened. Municipal-level coordination does not replace county-level responsibility, but rather balances resources on a larger scale. For degree/seat construction, the municipal level can coordinate the formulation of regional school layout plans, avoiding adjacent districts and counties each building on their own, duplicating investment, or having insufficient supply; for teacher staffing, exploration can be made to establish municipal- or provincial-level staffing rotation pools to alleviate the coexistence of short-term staffing shortages in some schools and staffing surpluses in others; for funding input, fiscal education funds can be pushed to be more closely linked to the resident population, actual enrolled student scale, and school-running performance, reducing resource mismatch caused by population mobility.
Teacher resource allocation is one of the key areas most in need of institutional innovation under the trend of population change. Teacher staffing has strong rigidity, and school layout adjustment, changes in stages of schooling, and fluctuations in student intake all bring difficulties in staffing use. On the one hand, schools in some population inflow areas face teacher shortages that are difficult to fill in the short term; on the other hand, schools in some population outflow areas have relatively surplus staffing, and teachers' development space is limited. In this regard, the reform of "county management, school employment" should be further deepened, the mechanism for teacher mobility across regions and across schools should be improved, and staffing resources should be pushed to shift from "school ownership" to "regional coordination." At the same time, mechanisms for training and using teachers across disciplines and across stages of schooling should be explored: when the junior high school peak arrives, qualified upper-primary teachers can be supported, after training, to participate in relevant junior high school teaching support; when senior high school degree/seat capacity is expanded, quality teachers within the region can be coordinated to provide assistance. Teacher mobility must adhere to a people-centered approach, with supporting measures for treatment guarantees, professional development, professional title evaluation, and living support, avoiding turning teacher adjustment into simple administrative assignment. Raising the educational qualification level of primary and secondary school and kindergarten teachers is conducive to teachers' mobility across stages of schooling.
The funding allocation mechanism also needs to be optimized in tandem. The arrangement of education funding should pay more attention to population mobility trends, both ensuring that the basic education service level in population outflow areas does not decline and supporting population inflow areas in expanding effective supply. For regions with declining student intake, funding cannot simply be mechanically cut according to student numbers; rather, a necessary floor-protection mechanism should be established to ensure the normal operation of small-scale schools and boarding schools; for regions with tight degree/seat supply, supply can be increased through renovation and expansion, resource sharing, and purchasing services. Funding policy should embody the unity of fairness and efficiency, both preventing idle waste of resources and preventing population change from weakening educational guarantees in weak regions.
Categorized guidance is an important method of policy adjustment. In the preschool education and primary school stages, if student intake declines, the window period should be seized to advance the expansion of inclusive, high-quality resources, appropriately promote small-class teaching, improve teacher-child and teacher-student ratios, and raise the quality of childcare and classroom instruction. The junior high school stage faces a stage-based peak and should focus on tapping potential, smoothly riding out the peak through school building coordination, group-based schooling, teacher deployment, and sharing of functional classrooms. The senior high school stage should focus on expanding the supply of quality general senior high schools, improving the school-running conditions of county-level general senior high schools, and preventing excessive concentration of quality resources. Rural education must adhere to a bottom-line mindset, running necessary rural small-scale schools and township boarding schools well, and cannot simply equate population decline with merging and closing schools.
Adhere to grassroots innovation and exploration, and transform population pressure into governance effectiveness. Policy adjustment provides direction and mechanisms; grassroots innovation determines the effectiveness of implementation. In recent years, some localities have carried out a series of explorations around population change, showing a trend of shifting from passive response to active governance. Although these explorations take different forms, they all point to a common goal: improving the efficiency of use of existing stock resources, enhancing the flexibility of educational resource allocation, holding the bottom line of educational equity, and promoting the dual improvement of school-running standards and educational quality.
First, explore flexible degree/seat supply to alleviate the pressure of staggered peaks across stages of schooling. In some regions, when planning and building schools, school functions are no longer completely locked into a single stage of schooling, but space for stage conversion is reserved. For example, during the junior high school enrollment peak, some newly built or renovated and expanded schools give priority to meeting junior high school degree/seat demand; after the junior high school peak declines and senior high school degree/seat demand rises, they are gradually adjusted for use by the senior high school stage. Localities call these "tidal schools." This breaks the rigid binding between schools and stages of schooling, enabling the same school building resources to serve different stages of schooling at different times. The significance of this practice lies in both avoiding hasty construction during the peak period and long-term vacancy after the decline, and improving the long-term efficiency of use of public educational facilities. Flexible degree/seat supply requires support from advance planning, including compatibility design of school building functions, teacher reserves, curriculum articulation, and safety standard guarantees.
Second, advance small-class teaching and turn declining student intake into an opportunity for quality improvement. In regions with declining student intake, appropriately reducing class sizes is conducive to teachers paying more attention to individual differences among students, improving classroom interaction, and strengthening homework feedback and individualized guidance. Small-class teaching is not simply reducing the number of students, nor is it "naturally good just because there are fewer people"; rather, it should be accompanied by changes in teaching methods. Teachers need to shift from lecture-based instruction to placing more emphasis on student participation, inquiry-based learning, and differentiated support; schools need to improve curriculum arrangements, evaluation methods, and teaching research mechanisms; education administrative departments need to provide corresponding teacher training and resource support. Only in this way can small-class teaching truly become an institutional arrangement for improving educational quality, rather than an expedient measure for passively responding to declining student intake.
Third, promote cross-stage resource sharing and improve the utilization rate of existing stock facilities. Some localities explore sharing sports venues, laboratories, libraries, and art classrooms among primary, junior high, and senior high schools, and promote the formation of educational resource communities among neighboring schools. In periods when junior high school degrees/seats are tight while some primary school classrooms are surplus, cross-stage use of school building resources can be achieved through functional adjustment, safety renovation, and management coordination. Group-based schooling also provides an organizational foundation for resource sharing. Deepening the reform of basic education group-based schooling, with quality schools driving member schools, can form synergy in curriculum development, teacher teaching research, student activities, and management services, reducing resource fragmentation caused by population fluctuation. The key to cross-stage sharing is establishing clear management boundaries and safety responsibility mechanisms, avoiding disruption to normal teaching order due to resource sharing.
Fourth, promote the reuse of idle school buildings and prevent waste of public resources. After idle school buildings appear in population outflow areas, the way they are handled directly affects educational equity and social perception. Simply closing them or leaving them idle for a long time both wastes resources and may weaken rural public service capacity. Multiple reuse pathways can be explored in light of local conditions: some can be converted into cross-stage teaching sites or after-school service venues; some can be used for childcare, community education, and youth activities; some can be paired with quality schools to become member schools of schooling groups or teacher research and training bases; some can, on the basis of retaining educational functions, achieve composite use together with rural culture, sports, and elderly care services. Regardless of the approach adopted, the principles of education priority, public welfare orientation, and safety bottom line should be upheld, preventing deviation from the public education attribute.
Fifth, optimize the layout of rural small-scale schools and boarding schools. Adjustments to the layout of rural schools must be handled with the utmost caution. Merging and closing schools directly affects students' commuting distance, family burden, and the rural public service ecosystem. For small-scale schools that truly need to be retained, school-running quality should be guaranteed through teacher mobility, digital resources, funding floor protection, and paired assistance; for township boarding schools, boarding conditions, psychological care, safety management, and home-school communication mechanisms should be improved. Rural education must not only solve the problem of "having a school to attend," but also the problem of "attending a good school." Population decline cannot become a reason to lower rural education standards; on the contrary, through more refined resource allocation, rural students should receive education that is warmer and of higher quality.
Grasp policy boundaries and prevent deviations in resource allocation adjustment. The adjustment of educational resource allocation to adapt to population change must guard against several tendencies. First, prevent the simple merging and closing of schools. School merging and closing involves student commuting, family costs, rural community development, and educational equity, and cannot take student intake numbers as the sole basis. Before merging and closing, full deliberation should be conducted, opinions of parents, teachers, and society should be heard, and supporting arrangements for transportation, accommodation, and psychological adaptation should be made. Necessary rural small-scale schools should be given stable support. Second, prevent "waste after the peak." New school construction and degree/seat expansion must be based on scientific forecasting, avoiding excessive construction to cope with short-term peaks. School planning should enhance functional flexibility, reserve conversion space, and improve long-term utilization rates. Third, prevent formalized teacher mobility. Teacher staffing rotation, cross-school teaching, and mobility within groups, if lacking incentive mechanisms and professional support, easily degenerate into administrative orders. Teacher development pathways should be improved, treatment levels guaranteed, and teachers' professional autonomy respected, making mobility a process that promotes teacher growth and school improvement. Fourth, prevent data early warning from being divorced from governance. The school-age population monitoring platform cannot remain at the level of technical display, but should be linked with school layout planning, fiscal budgeting, staffing management, and enrollment policies. Early warning results must be transformed into concrete policy actions, forming a closed loop of "monitoring—assessment—decision-making—evaluation—adjustment." Fifth, prevent neglect of educational equity. Against the backdrop of population change, resources more easily concentrate in densely populated and economically developed regions. Policy adjustment must balance efficiency and fairness, both supporting population inflow areas in expanding supply and guaranteeing basic education services in population outflow areas, preventing regional gaps, urban-rural gaps, and inter-school gaps from further widening.
Build a new mechanism for resource allocation of "early warning, coordination, flexibility, and quality improvement." Looking to the future, educational resource allocation that adapts to population change should gradually form a stable, sustainable basic institutional framework. First, a precise early warning mechanism. Through cross-departmental data coordination, a school-age population monitoring system by region, by stage of schooling, and by year should be established, enabling educational resource allocation to move from experience-based judgment to data-supported decision-making, and from post-hoc remedy to advance planning. Second, a regional coordination mechanism. On the basis of upholding "county as the main body," the coordination function of the municipal level should be strengthened, promoting coordinated allocation of degree/seat planning, teacher staffing, funding input, and school layout within the municipal scope, and improving the capacity for cross-regional resource deployment. Third, a flexible supply mechanism. Through "tidal schools," cross-stage sharing, functional composite use, and group-based schooling, the flexibility of schools, teachers, school buildings, and funding resources should be enhanced, enabling the education system to better cope with population fluctuation. Fourth, a quality improvement mechanism. The window of population change should be turned into an opportunity for educational reform, advancing small-class teaching, curriculum and classroom improvement, teacher professional development, and educational evaluation reform, so that resource allocation adjustment ultimately serves students' comprehensive development.
Population change is profoundly altering the external environment of basic education and is also forcing the modernization of the educational governance system. To adapt to this change, one cannot only do subtraction; rather, structural optimization and institutional innovation must be promoted. Policy-based adjustment solves the problems of direction, mechanism, and bottom line; grassroots innovation solves the problems of pathway, effectiveness, and vitality. Only by combining top-level design with grassroots exploration, linking data early warning with governance action, and unifying resource efficiency with educational equity can a fair and high-quality basic education system be built under the backdrop of population change.
(The author is Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Educational Sciences)
Return to TopBy: 杨素雯
At present, China's population development has entered a new stage characterized by aggregate contraction, deep structural transformation, and reshaping of the spatial pattern. Promoting the shift of education resource allocation toward forward-looking assessment and dynamic adjustment is an inevitable requirement for enhancing the efficiency of public education services under the new population situation, and is also an inherent requirement for running education that satisfies the people. In October 2026, a State Council executive meeting studied and deployed work related to coordinating population with economic and social development, and explicitly proposed "strengthening classified guidance for regional population development" and "promoting dynamic adaptation of public service resources to changes in the permanent resident population," pointing the way for improving the mechanism for allocating education resources in line with population changes.
Population is the foundational variable in education resource allocation, and education is an important support for promoting high-quality population development. How to coordinate the dynamic efficiency of resource allocation with educational equity and balance has become an important proposition requiring an urgent response. Viewed from the perspective of temporal evolution, affected by fluctuations in annual birth cohorts, changes in China's school-age population exhibit a wave-like transmission characteristic of "successive peaks across school segments." The number of primary school students has already reached its peak, the junior high school-age population is now ushering in its peak, and the senior high school and higher education school-age populations will successively reach their peaks in 2029 and 2032 respectively. This means that continuing the governance model of post-hoc response and passive reaction can easily fall into the dilemma of tight degree availability during "peak periods" and idle resources during "trough periods," making it difficult to achieve rational and efficient allocation of education resources. Viewed from the spatial pattern, the concentration process of the school-age population is significantly faster than the urbanization process of the permanent resident population, and the urbanization rate of compulsory education students is already higher than the urbanization rate of the permanent resident population. As the population continues to concentrate in central towns, the two-pole situation of pressure on degree supply in population inflow areas and idle resources in population outflow areas is becoming increasingly prominent. The deep-rooted cause of the contradiction of "crowded cities and empty townships" lies in the long-standing territorial static supply model that takes the registered-residence population as the base and administrative divisions as the allocation unit, which is difficult to adapt to the dynamic changes in the population pattern.
Dynamic adaptation, at its core, means enhancing the responsiveness of resource supply to the spatial restructuring of the population and resolving the problem of spatial-temporal mismatch between supply and demand. At present, deepening the reform of the education system and mechanism in line with population changes faces difficulties in that cross-school-segment and cross-regional factor flows still encounter multiple barriers. In terms of school building space supply, educational facilities at different school segments implement independent construction standards, and ordinary classrooms and subject laboratories are functionally configured separately from each other, making it difficult to reuse them directly across school segments. At the level of teacher qualifications, teacher certification implements classified admission by school segment. Although the current reform of "county-managed and school-employed" teachers has opened up channels for teacher rotation between urban and rural areas within counties, a mechanism for cross-school-segment transfer training and qualification articulation has not yet been formed, making it difficult to achieve orderly flow of teachers toward school segments with growing demand. At the level of fiscal authority division, the portable funding mechanism of "money follows the person" only covers public operating funds, while teacher salaries and school building construction funds, as rigid local fiscal expenditures, are difficult to adjust in sync with the flow of students. The institutional arrangements of "county-based compulsory education" and "city and county tiered school operation" for senior high schools further result in a lack of financial support for cross-school-segment and cross-regional coordinated resource allocation. With multiple barriers overlapping and interweaving, the structural contradiction between supply and demand for education resources is becoming increasingly prominent, and there is an urgent need for coordinated, systematic advancement at the institutional level.
Classified guidance means basing itself on the pattern of regional population differentiation and advancing balanced educational development through differentiated governance. Balanced development must hold the bottom line, resolutely preventing the widening of urban-rural and inter-school educational gaps at the expense of equity, and effectively safeguarding the right of key groups such as rural students and children accompanying migrant workers to receive education on an equal footing. In counties with population outflow, one should not simply reduce teachers and funding in proportion to the decline in student numbers; instead, reliance should be placed on school district groups, itinerant teaching by teachers, and the co-construction and sharing of digital resources to consolidate the foundation for running small-scale schools and boarding schools. In towns with population inflow, children accompanying migrant workers should be incorporated into planning and fiscal guarantees, large class sizes should be continuously resolved, and hidden barriers to school enrollment at the place of residence should be removed. In addition, population contraction objectively provides space for optimizing the student-teacher ratio, and the released surplus resources can better support small-class teaching and personalized education. Idle education resources can also be extended to inclusive childcare, special education, and community education, creating a diversified and collaborative education ecosystem and supporting the building of a lifelong learning system for all.
Building a mechanism for allocating education resources in line with population changes and promoting the transformation of the supply model from passive adaptation to proactive shaping of the layout hinges on properly handling the dialectical relationship between dynamism and balance. We should persist in using balance to constrain dynamic adjustment and using dynamic adjustment to empower balanced quality improvement, transforming the development variable of alternating peaks and troughs in the school-age population into an increment for high-quality and balanced educational development. The first is to build a degree early-warning system integrating multi-source data. Taking counties as the basic unit, aggregating multi-source data such as registered residence, birth population, and school enrollment, dynamically monitoring the trend of the school-age population, predicting the supply-demand situation of degrees at each school segment, accurately identifying supply-demand status, and coordinating the expansion of schools, adjustment of class sizes, and reallocation of resources, so as to promote the transformation of the education governance model toward forward-looking layout. The second is to explore a flexible and adaptive "tidal school" model. Grasping the laws of tiered transmission of the school-age population and staggered peaks across school segments, optimizing construction standards for primary and secondary schools in counties, promoting a construction approach that is compatible across multiple school segments and flexibly reserved, reserving space for functional conversion and expansion and renovation of school buildings, avoiding inefficient construction that is "scarce in the short term and idle in the long term," and guiding local pilot exploration in light of local conditions to adapt to fluctuations in the school-age population over the long term. The third is to improve the mechanism for balanced allocation of teachers. Coordinating the optimization of increments and the revitalization of existing stock, continuing to promote group-based school operation and urban-rural teacher rotation, narrowing the teacher gap between schools and between classes; establishing a long-term mechanism for cross-school-segment teacher transfer training, coordinating the allocation of teachers based on changes in student numbers, and improving the efficiency of teacher allocation.
(The author is Vice President of the Institute of Population and Social Development, Shandong Academy of Social Sciences)
Return to TopBy: 张翚 周晓庆
As the political, economic, and cultural centers of a nation, cities have always been the focal point of contention between attacking and defending forces in war. With the proliferation of drone technology, small unmanned aerial vehicles have evolved from a "new force" on the battlefield into a normalized threat. In urban environments dense with high-rise buildings and crisscrossing streets and alleys, how the defending side responds to ground attacks coordinated with the infiltration and surprise strikes of "low, slow, small" targets has become an important issue that cannot be ignored in modern urban defensive operations. Small drones are not only offensive weapons; they can also play a significant role in urban defensive operations.
First, reconnaissance and early warning, weaving a dense early-warning sky net over the urban low-altitude airspace.
In defensive operations, early warning comes first. Small drones are numerous, low-cost, and flexibly deployable, and can effectively compensate for the blind spots of traditional ground radar networks and fixed surveillance systems, building an all-domain, multi-dimensional reconnaissance and early-warning network.
Low-altitude area surveillance. The defending side can deploy reconnaissance drones equipped with multi-source sensor fusion over key points and areas of the city, adopting methods such as fixed-point patrol and area loitering to conduct uninterrupted surveillance of the low-altitude airspace. The focus covers the tops of high-rise buildings, narrow street and alley passages, and entrances to underground facilities, building a real-time all-dimensional battlefield situational map in real time, effectively enhancing tactical-level situational awareness, and providing decision-making basis for one's own early-warning response, firepower system adjustment, obstacle emplacement, and camouflage.
Infiltration into building interiors. For enclosed spaces, drones use small LiDAR and simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) to build maps in real time, enabling autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance under signal-denied conditions. Their mounted infrared thermal imagers and high-sensitivity sound pickups can penetrate smoke and darkness, accurately identifying vital signs, weapons, and explosive devices, significantly reducing the exposure risk of operating personnel, and providing efficient and precise tactical intelligence support for complex scenarios such as urban street fighting and infiltration. By this means, the defending side can discover in advance the concealed assembly and attack intentions of enemy assault teams in buildings, underground pipe networks, and other locations, and thereby confronting an opponent head-on (针锋相对, zhen feng xiang dui - "needle, tip, face, against") defeat the adversary.
Spectrum mapping and electronic reconnaissance. Drones carrying broadband spectrum analyzers and electronic support measures payloads conduct spatial spectrum scanning of the battlefield electromagnetic environment. Through direction-finding positioning and signal modulation identification, they accurately map enemy communication nodes, radar deployments, and the distribution of electronic jamming sources, assisting in generating an electromagnetic situational map. One's own small drones can also covertly trail enemy returning drones to track their landing points, intercept enemy drone simulated video streams and compare them with maps to reconstruct flight routes, and analyze the commanding heights where antennas are erected to infer the locations of enemy drone operators' shelters, providing high-value target indication data for subsequent spectrum management and strikes.
Second, aerial interception, seizing control of the urban low-altitude airspace.
In urban defensive operations, the threat from enemy small drone swarms and low-altitude incoming targets is growing by the day. Intercepting such targets can follow the principle of "soft first, hard second, synergy for enhanced effectiveness," building a multi-layered, adaptive, cost-effective drone defense system.
Soft-kill interception. Using electronic warfare means to paralyze or drive off enemy drones is the proactive, forward-deployed stage of aerial interception. Typical means include: navigation signal deception — the defending side uses drones equipped with GPS deception devices to transmit forged satellite signals, causing enemy drones to receive false position information, luring them to deviate from their planned routes and land in areas designated by our side; link protocol cracking — after electronic warfare drones take off, they implement high-power noise suppression or protocol attacks on the communication frequency bands commonly used by enemy drones, severing the remote-control and video transmission links between enemy operators and their drones, forcing them to make emergency landings or crash.
Hard-kill interception. Hard kill is the fallback stage of the anti-drone defense system after soft kill fails, completing the destruction of targets that slip through via a multi-layer destructive interception network and coordinated interception means. The main methods adopted are as follows: kinetic impact — the defending side's interceptor drones use themselves as "kinetic warheads," directly ramming and destroying incoming drones through precise route planning; onboard weapon strikes — drones carry high-power microwave weapons for counter-drone operations, such as the "Altius-600" small drone equipped with the "Morpheus" high-power microwave system, which can shoot down small drones within a 4-kilometer range; physical capture — interceptor drones carry non-lethal capture devices such as woven nets, capture claws, or parachutes, and after approaching enemy drones, implement physical entanglement or capture.
Guided coordinated interception. The defending side's drones act as "aerial sentinels," guiding ground or aerial firepower to conduct coordinated interception of enemy drones through reconnaissance, positioning, and information dissemination. The specific operational mechanisms include: A guides, B strikes — drones do not directly launch munitions, but instead provide target indication and impact-point correction for other firepower platforms through reconnaissance positioning, laser designation, and other means; swarm coordinated encirclement — its essence is achieving the transformation from fighting alone without assistance (单打独斗, dan da du dou - "single, strike, alone, fight") to systematic intelligent warfare, using intelligent systems to guide one's own drone groups to cooperatively complete the interception of enemy drones (or drone swarms).
Third, ground resistance, smashing the steel torrent of the enemy's ground offensive.
The practice of modern warfare has proven that small drones have become an important means of containing and breaking up ground offensives. Their mechanism of action promotes the transformation of defensive operations toward distributed, dynamic, and intelligent forms, expanding from the sensing-strike kill chain, swarm penetration and suppression, and low-cost precision destruction.
Empowering ground main battle platforms. Drones are embedded into the firepower and command chains of ground main battle platforms, forming a manned-unmanned cooperative combat model, upgrading main battle equipment such as tanks and self-propelled artillery from single assault platforms into firepower nodes with beyond-line-of-sight sensing and striking capability. Tanks can suppress or even destroy targets 12 kilometers away through indirect fire, greatly enhancing combat effectiveness.
Suicide ramming strikes. Drones or loitering munitions carrying warheads directly ram targets and detonate to destroy them, with reconnaissance guidance, precision hit, and ammunition sympathetic detonation as the basic strike process, and by virtue of low cost and high precision become an important means of breaking up armored targets in ground offensives. An integrated reconnaissance-strike combat model can be adopted: drones lock onto time-sensitive targets such as enemy tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, and operators evade urban obstacles and electromagnetic interference to conduct precision strikes on moving targets. The strike method can also be adjusted, such as dual/multi-aircraft coordinated relay strikes — the first aircraft blasts open the protective net on the target's top or flank, and subsequent drones pass through the gap to continue attacking until the target is completely destroyed.
Swarm coordinated strikes. In urban defensive operations, drone swarms implement saturation suppression against important targets of the attacking side through multi-aircraft coordination, multi-wave penetration, and mixed formation of decoys plus main attackers, using numerical superiority to break through firepower channel limitations, and by means of dynamic reconfiguration and fault-tolerance mechanisms, can reassign tasks even after some drones are lost in combat, maintaining strike continuity. Typical tactics include: saturation assault — using numerical superiority to form overwhelming firepower; decoy assault — using decoy drones to deceive, interfere with, and exhaust enemy air-defense firepower, creating opportunities for main attack drones; heterogeneous cluster coordinated assault — reconnaissance, jamming, and attack drones operate in parallel coordination, flexibly adjusting the strike process according to different mission requirements.
Fourth, operational support, building a solid rear guard for urban defense.
Drones in urban defensive operations can not only effectively compensate for traditional reconnaissance blind spots, enrich strike means, and improve operational cost-effectiveness, but also have broad applications in operational support.
Information support. In urban defensive operations, information support must address complex constraints such as building obstruction, non-line-of-sight propagation, electromagnetic congestion, multipath interference, multi-source jamming, and the mixing of civilians with targets, building an information closed loop of "sensing, transmission, processing, decision-making, action, and assessment." In terms of communications support, small drones can carry repeaters and hover above buildings, acting as aerial communication nodes to restore front-to-rear links blocked by building obstruction or enemy jamming; in terms of command and control, small drones can enhance the survivability of command institutions while ensuring the continuity of command links; in terms of integrated information services, the multiple types of information collected by drones, after fusion processing, form a unified situational map and are distributed on demand to each defensive unit, achieving a consistent understanding of the battlefield situation among all nodes in the closed loop of "reconnaissance, control, strike, support, and assessment."
Engineering support. Small drones can, under the threat of sustained enemy reconnaissance and precision strikes, maintain one's own engineering situational awareness capability, keep mobility corridors open, reduce the detection probability of one's own targets, and effectively delay enemy approach and assault. In terms of engineering information support, engineering reconnaissance teams can use drones to transmit back in real time information such as assessments of obstacle emplacement effectiveness, judgments of enemy approach routes, and monitoring of the engineering status of one's own positions, and assist in generating optimized plans for defensive fortification configuration; in terms of mobility support, drones can traverse blocked urban roads or fire-blockaded zones to precisely deliver spare parts, speeding up repair operations and maintaining the integrity of the defense system; in terms of counter-mobility engineering, drones can rapidly fly to urban streets, alleys, intersections, and building entrances and exits to airdrop and emplace mines or obstacles, and can even enter building interiors and narrow spaces to emplace booby traps, killing and delaying the enemy.
Return to TopBy: 相丽 赵和伟
The digitally networked environment in the military domain refers to a military system operating ecosystem that, supported by intelligent technologies, achieves efficient sharing and deep integration of data across the entire domain. In the digital era, with the rapid development of emerging technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things and their widespread application in the military domain, data has become a core element driving the generation of combat effectiveness. Building a digitally networked environment in the military domain, using data as the link to connect all links and segments of the entire military system operation chain, and promoting intelligent coordination and integrated linkage across military and civilian sectors, across services and branches, and across domains, is not only an inevitable choice for accelerating the development of advanced combat effectiveness and adapting to the evolution of warfare forms, but also an important foundation for achieving system-wide superiority and seizing the initiative for victory.
Strengthen top-level design and planning
The construction of a digitally networked environment in the military domain is a complex systematic project, and strengthening top-level design and planning is an important foundation for commanding the overall situation and setting the correct direction.
Clarify goals and direction through top-level design. The construction of a digitally networked environment in the military domain involves multiple dimensions such as technology, equipment, personnel, and institutions. Only through top-level design, clarifying the overall goals and direction of the digitally networked environment construction, can it be ensured that all departments work together towards a common goal (同向发力, tong xiang fa li - "same, direction, exert force") and that all construction tasks proceed in an orderly manner according to unified planning. Unify the system architecture through top-level design. Distinguish the digital networking needs of various domains and levels, clarify the hierarchical structure, functional modules, and operating mechanisms of the digitally networked environment, standardize the data flow paths of the command chain, construction chain, management chain, supervision chain, and support chain, and build a clear, open, and scalable system architecture, ensuring that the digitally networked environment is built into an organically coordinated whole rather than a scattered pile of various software and hardware. Coordinate resource allocation through top-level design. Through top-level design planning, it is possible to more scientifically and rationally coordinate various construction resources such as human, material, financial, technological, and information resources, optimize the direction and volume of resource investment, activate existing resources, reduce resource idleness and duplicate investment, and maximize the efficiency of resource allocation and use.
The core is building a unified data foundation
Data is the "blood" of the digitally networked environment, and the data foundation is the key support for breaking through multi-source data barriers, achieving aggregation and integration of data across the entire domain, and fully releasing the value of data.
Integrate data resources through a unified data foundation. By building a unified data foundation, it is possible to integrate data scattered across various business systems and equipment platforms, break down institutional barriers between departments and technical barriers between systems, eliminate long-standing data silos, and achieve full aggregation of multi-source heterogeneous data. Standardize data standards through a unified data foundation. By building a unified data foundation and formulating unified interface standards, data formats, communication protocols, and so on, it is possible to ensure that data interaction between different equipment, systems, and platforms follows established rules and procedures (有章可循, you zhang ke xun - "have, rules, can, follow") and that business coordination is efficient and smooth, achieving a true sense of digital networking integration. Empower intelligent applications through a unified data foundation. By building a unified data foundation and processing and storing data according to unified standards, it is possible to deliver standardized, full-dimensional, high-quality data to diverse military application scenarios such as command decision-making, situation assessment, and equipment operation and maintenance, supporting intelligent business applications and fully releasing the value of data.
Build a solid security protection system
This is also a key link in building a digitally networked environment in the military domain. The network security defense line is a solid barrier ensuring data credibility and usability, and is the basic support for ensuring the efficient flow of data in a safe and controllable environment.
Ensure the security of data carriers through hardware autonomy and controllability. Hardware such as data storage, computing, and terminals, as the physical carriers of military data retention, is the first line of defense for the security of the digitally networked environment in the military domain. We should adhere to hardware autonomy and controllability as a bottom-line requirement, comprehensively promote the replacement of domestic hardware, get rid of dependence on foreign core components, establish a full-lifecycle security management and control mechanism for hardware, achieve closed-loop supervision of the entire process of selection, procurement, operation and maintenance, and retirement, prohibit non-controllable hardware from being connected to the network for operation, and hold the bottom line of military data carrier security from the physical source.
Ensure the security of data transmission through software security and controllability. Software such as operating systems, encryption software, and communication protocols, as the key support for the interconnected and interoperable systems (互联互通, hu lian hu tong - "mutual, connect, mutual, pass through") and flow and interaction of military data, directly determines the security level of data transmission links. We should focus on the characteristics of high-frequency transmission of military data across systems, terminals, and scenarios, independently develop dedicated software adapted to military scenarios, highlight security management and control of basic operating systems and business operation software, effectively prevent security risks such as eavesdropping and intercepting information (窃听截取, qie ting jie qu - "steal, listen, intercept, take") and malicious tampering during data transmission, and ensure the credibility and controllability of the entire data transmission process.
Ensure the security of data invocation through platform stability and reliability. Platforms such as data management and control and business applications, as important hubs for the sharing and common use of military data, have their operational stability and reliability directly determining the security of data invocation. We should continuously optimize the architecture of various platform systems, improve the data classification and grading management system, strictly control cross-domain data access boundaries, improve the dynamic management and control and tracing back to the original source (追踪溯源, zhui zong su yuan - "track, pursue, trace, source") mechanisms for data invocation, strengthen platform disaster recovery backup and risk early warning capabilities, promptly discover and handle issues such as unauthorized access, illegal invocation, and abnormal operations, firmly hold the security gate for military data use, and ensure that platforms can continuously provide high-quality and stable data services.
Build a strong professional data workforce
Talent is the dynamic subject driving the efficient operation of the digitally networked environment in the military domain. Data aggregation and governance, platform operation and maintenance, and security protection all cannot be separated from the support of a high-quality and professional workforce.
Optimize force layout driven by demand. Closely focus on the goals and tasks of building the digitally networked environment in the military domain, highlight key businesses such as data governance, platform construction, and system operation and maintenance, straighten out functional division of labor, assess post capability gaps, scientifically allocate professional forces, continuously optimize the professional structure of the talent team in the data field, promote the concentration of talent resources toward key business segments, and achieve precise matching between force allocation and construction needs. Improve professional competence through diversified cultivation. Focusing on the differentiated requirements for data professional capabilities in different posts, leveraging the development advantages of the local digital industry and high-quality university research resources, broaden the talent cultivation channels for military-civilian collaborative training, adopt a combination of "sending out to learn" and "inviting in to teach," carry out hierarchical and categorized professional skills training for data posts, and precisely fill the data capability shortcomings of personnel in different posts. Forge excellent skills through mission tempering. Based on the support of diverse missions such as exercises and drills, special operations, and major activities, relying on complex and changing practical scenarios, comprehensively temper the capabilities of data communication, dynamic regulation and control, and emergency response. By sorting out weak links and summarizing effective experience, promote the transformation of practice into understanding, boost talent growth, forge a contingent of data professionals who understand business, are proficient in technology, and are good at support, and promote the rapid leap of the digitally networked environment in the military domain from "physical connection" to "data linkage" and "intelligent empowerment."
Return to TopBy: 唐贤健
The museum of Diebu County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, treasures a national first-class cultural relic — the seal of the Finance People's Commissar of the People's Commissariat of the Central Executive Committee of the Chinese Soviet Republic. The seal is made of silver, round in shape, fitted with a square wooden pillar handle, and is composed overall of a seal face, a seal base, and a seal grip. On the outer ring of the seal face, separated by two five-pointed stars, are engraved characters in clerical script: the upper portion, in smaller type, reads "People's Commissariat of the Central Executive Committee of the Chinese Soviet Republic"; the lower portion, in larger type, reads "Finance People's Commissar." The inner ring design borrows from the style of the Soviet national emblem — ears of wheat encircling a globe, with a sickle and an axe inlaid in the center of the globe, and a five-pointed star suspended above. This seal was in the custody of Lin Boqu, then Finance People's Commissar of the Chinese Soviet Republic, Director of the General Supply Department of the Red Army, and Director of the General Confiscation and Levy Committee. It was lost when the Long March passed through the Tibetan areas of southern Gansu, and was discovered in 1988 in the home of a villager in Kagao Village, Dianga Town, Diebu County.
In November 1931, the First National Congress of the Chinese Soviet was convened in Ruijin, Jiangxi, electing a Central Executive Committee composed of 63 members and proclaiming the establishment of the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic. The People's Commissariat, as the administrative organ of the Central Executive Committee, oversaw all national government affairs, with subordinate people's commissariats for foreign affairs, labor, land, military affairs, finance, the national economy, grain, education, internal affairs, and justice. Deng Zihui served as the first Finance People's Commissar. In March 1933, Lin Boqu arrived at the Central Soviet Area. In August, he was appointed Finance People's Commissar, and Deng Zihui was reassigned as deputy director. In October 1934, the Central Red Army began the Long March, and the central organs of the Chinese Soviet were incorporated into the Second Field Column under the code name "Red Seal." Lin Boqu carried this seal while shouldering the heavy responsibility of ensuring Red Army logistics along the Long March.
Along the Long March route, the Central Red Army's logistical support displayed different characteristics at different stages, but what never changed was the support and assistance of the masses. In the three months before the Long March set out, the Central Soviet Area raised more than 1.5 million silver dollars, 840,000 dan of military grain, 86,000 jin of cotton, more than 20,000 blankets, 200,000 pairs of straw sandals, and large quantities of other strategic materiel. The Central Soviet Area had many people but little land, and grain output was limited; all military grain was borrowed from the already meager rations of the Soviet Area people. It was precisely thanks to the advance preparations of Lin Boqu and others and the selfless dedication (无私奉献, wusi fengxian - "not, selfish, offer, devote") of the Soviet Area people that the supply of pay and provisions in the early stage of the Long March was relatively ample.
After the Battle of the Xiang River, the Central Red Army's logistical resupply relied mainly on methods such as purchasing and borrowing along the route, battlefield seizures, and confiscation and levy. During its occupation of Zunyi, the Red Army confiscated and levied grain and funds hoarded by reactionary local tyrants and warlords; from the home of Wang Jialie alone, commander of the Kuomintang's 25th Army and concurrently chairman of the Guizhou Provincial Government, more than 50,000 silver dollars, salt worth several hundred thousand yuan, cigarettes worth more than 50,000 yuan, and large quantities of other materiel were confiscated. On January 23, 1935, Li Fuchun and Lin Boqu jointly signed the "General Political Department Measures for Units' Use of Confiscated and Levied Goods," stipulating rules for the disposal and use of confiscated and levied materiel. The General Supply Department and the General Confiscation and Levy Committee gathered cash and purchased cloth, medicine, and other goods from local people at market prices, organized sewing workers and women of the masses to rush production of cotton-padded jackets, padded trousers, leggings, and other military necessities for distribution to the troops; as for the salt, grain, and property collected, apart from meeting the Red Army's own needs, they were also distributed to the poor masses. The Red Army respected the interests of the masses and strictly observed discipline toward the people, winning the support and endorsement of the local populace, who took the initiative to guide the Red Army, deliver grain, and tend to the wounded, while large numbers of young people enthusiastically signed up to join the Red Army. After the Zunyi Conference, the troops were reorganized, the confiscation and levy committees at all levels were abolished and replaced by confiscation and levy sections, and Lin Boqu continued to oversee grain and fund raising work in an overall capacity.
After entering the Tibetan areas, the Central Red Army encountered the most severe logistical support crisis of the entire Long March. It was precisely by relying on the support of the Tibetan-area masses that the Red Army was able to emerge from the grasslands and snow mountains and victoriously reach northern Shaanxi. Owing to the Kuomintang's "demonizing" propaganda about the Red Army and the harsh punitive measures it formulated and implemented, the contradiction between the Tibetan areas' meager material output and the Red Army's enormous grain demand, compounded by factors such as the Red Army's excessively long stay in the Tibetan areas, an unprecedentedly severe grain crisis arose for the Red Army. On July 19, 1935, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Central Revolutionary Military Commission decided to establish a Grain Committee and restore the General Supply Department, with Lin Boqu placed in unified charge: "On this day it was decided to restore the General Supply Department, internally divided into the ordnance, manufacturing, finance, and grain and fodder sections." Lin Boqu and others strictly implemented the Party's ethnic policies, enforced strict disciplinary requirements, formulated grain-raising policies suited to actual conditions, and adopted flexible and diverse methods to raise grain and fodder; in the period from August 15 to 25 alone, 400,000 jin of grain was raised. On September 18, after the Battle of Lazikou, the Central Red Army arrived at Hadapu, seizing and confiscating 100,000 jin of enemy grain and 2,000 jin of salt, which alleviated the grain predicament.
Why was this seal lost in Diebu County? According to Lin Boqu's "Long March Diary," when the Long March passed through the Tibetan areas, Lin Boqu lost materiel on several occasions. The record closest to the seal's discovery site is from the journey from E'jie to Lazikou: on September 16, he "lost another pack," and the seal most likely was lost here along with this backpack. Although this seal did not accompany Lin Boqu through the entire ten-thousand-li Long March, it has become a precious physical object bearing witness to the living historical fact that the Red Army strictly observed discipline toward the masses and practiced the mass line along the Long March, winning the support and endorsement of the masses of all ethnic groups through its own exemplary conduct.
Return to TopBy: 马银琴
"One who plans by the measure of righteousness will surely attain; one who undertakes affairs by relying on the people will surely succeed," comes from Yanzi Chunqiu, Inner Chapters, "Questions Above." Duke Jing of Qi asked Yanzi whether there was an "art" by which "plans surely attain and affairs surely succeed." After Yanzi answered with an affirmative "there is," he set forth a fundamental principle that transcends strategic maneuvering: "One who plans by the measure of righteousness will surely attain; one who undertakes affairs by relying on the people will surely succeed." What Duke Jing of Qi asked about, the "art," was aimed at "attaining" and "succeeding," seeking the methods of stratagem and tactical adaptation; Yanzi, however, diverted the focus of discussion away from strategic maneuvering, pointing instead to "righteousness" and "the people." This is not answering something irrelevant to the question (答非所问, da fei suo wen - "answer, not, what, asked"), but rather a declaration that "attaining" and "succeeding" must grow out of the measure of "righteousness" and the foundation of "the people."
To understand this statement, one must introduce the concept of "virtue" and approach it through the relationships between "virtue" and "attainment," and between "righteousness" and "benefit." Only within the intellectual system woven together by these four elements can one clearly see the relationship between "righteousness" and "attainment" and grasp the logic of "relying on the people" to "accomplish affairs."
The Book of Rites, "Record of Music," states that "virtue means attainment," and the Book of Rites, "Doctrine of the Mean," states that "righteousness means appropriateness." The Shiming dictionary, in explaining "virtue," combines "attainment" with "appropriateness," saying: "Virtue means attainment, attaining what is appropriate to affairs." It is precisely through this that the four elements are linked into a whole, and the relationships become perfectly clear: "righteousness" is "appropriateness," handling affairs in a fitting and proper manner so that all parties receive what is due to them; "virtue" is "attaining appropriateness," the result obtained after handling affairs in a fitting and proper manner. Therefore, "righteousness" is the measure, and "virtue" is the result. The standard for weighing whether a matter should be done is moral principle; following the principles and measures of moral principle to do things well is establishing virtue. From this it can be seen that "virtue" is not vague moral preaching, but rather the practical skill of handling relations and interests between people appropriately. Distributing an item, yielding a portion of benefit, handling it appropriately—this is practicing righteousness; righteous deeds accumulated day after day become a person's moral character. Conversely, virtue without righteousness is an empty name, and righteousness without virtue is empty talk. Hence the ancients often linked "virtue and righteousness" together.
"Righteousness" and "benefit" proceed side by side and complement each other. The Guoyu, "Discourses of Jin IV," states that "righteousness guides benefit, and benefit enriches the clans," making clear that moral principle is the foundation from which benefit grows. "Enrich" means abundant and flourishing. Regulating the arrangement of benefits by "righteousness," so that all parties receive what is appropriate to them, is how legitimate "benefit" can endure without exhaustion. It can be seen that "righteousness" is the foundation for sustaining long-term benefit. The Zuozhuan's phrase "virtue and righteousness are the root of benefit" is precisely like using a trunk and roots as a metaphor: virtue and righteousness are the roots, benefit is the branches, and only with deep roots can the leaves flourish. In addition, one must distinguish between two kinds of "benefit." One is the benefit of each receiving what is appropriate, born of virtue and righteousness, sufficient for both self and others, endless and continuous regeneration (生生不息, sheng sheng bu xi - "birth, birth, not, cease"); the other is the benefit of harming others to benefit oneself, obtained through contention, where one side gains and the other loses—it may be easy to take, but what it consumes is one's own foundation. One who seeks only the latter will find that the more he gains, the more he loses.
To plan with "righteousness" as the standard is to set right the relationships of benefit according to moral principle—taking and yielding with measure, upholding integrity with restraint, not seeking unrighteous benefit, not coveting short-term windfall wealth. Some benefits appear to be voluntarily ceded, but in reality they are for the sake of winning people's hearts, and people's hearts are a more fundamental and more precious resource than material wealth. Historical examples of this are extremely common or ubiquitous (比比皆是, bi bi jie shi - "compare, compare, all, are"). Take the Zhou people, who won the realm through "cultivating virtue": their founding ancestor Houji taught the people agriculture, enabling the people of the realm to have sufficient food; Gong Liu devoted himself to farming, in light of local conditions, achieving that "travelers had resources, and settlers had stored goods"; Gugong Danfu, encountering the endless demands of the Rong and Di peoples, upheld the original intention that "having a ruler for the people is for their benefit," and led his clan in migration to preserve the people; King Wen honored the elderly and cherished the young, and treated worthy talents with courtesy; after King Wu conquered Shang, he enfeoffed the feudal lords, distributed wealth, and dispensed grain. The Zhou people cultivated virtue for generations—what they cultivated was precisely this moral principle of benefiting and securing the people—and in the end what they reaped was the allegiance of the people and the submission of the realm.
Conversely, planning by the measure of benefit does not necessarily lead to attainment, because it disrupts the virtuous cycle brought about by making "virtue and righteousness" the foundation. Focusing only on the immediate and contending for benefit at every turn will inevitably lead to the dispersal of people's hearts; if people's hearts are dispersed, where will benefit still reside? Qin annexed the six states and unified the realm, with a national power unprecedented in its flourishing, yet its governance relied solely on coercive authority and knew no bounds in exaction, ultimately leading to the alienation of people's hearts; its fall after two generations had its own historical inevitability.
Viewed from this perspective, the dividing line between planning for righteousness and planning for benefit lies not in whether one pursues benefit, but in the distance of one's planning horizon. Contending for immediate benefit yields small gains and great losses; planning for long-term righteousness yields by yielding near-term advantage to gain long-term results. "The gentleman understands righteousness; the petty person understands benefit"—this is less a distinction of moral superiority and inferiority than a difference between two logics of action: one reckons only the gains and losses of a single time and place, while the other weighs the fundamental question of where people's hearts incline. Those constrained by immediate petty gain appear to hold the advantage at every step, yet the road ahead grows ever narrower; those who set their sights on long-term great righteousness understand yielding at every step, yet the road grows ever wider. Confucius's saying, "Do not desire speed, do not fixate on petty gain. Desiring speed leads to failure; fixating on petty gain prevents great affairs from being accomplished," is precisely this point.
The same principle is also contained in the phrase "one who undertakes affairs by relying on the people will surely succeed." The core of this statement lies in the single character "rely," meaning to depend upon and follow. Yanzi's words were originally an admonition to Duke Jing of Qi that the conscription of the people's labor should be moderated and should accord with popular sentiment. All affairs depend on people to be accomplished; whether the people are willing to unite their hearts and exert their strength depends crucially on whether the matter accords with the people's vital interests. Matters that benefit the people naturally make the people willing to follow along, and even when difficulties arise they can endure; matters that violate popular will, even if forcibly pushed through, are nothing more than water without a source—accomplished for a moment, yet difficult to sustain over the long term. The Xunzi cites the ancient admonition, "The ruler is the boat; the common people are the water. The water can carry the boat, and the water can capsize the boat," which speaks precisely to this principle. The people's hearts are not a slogan to be hung on the lips; whether a matter is done fairly and substantively, the people have a scale in their hearts; the weight on that scale will ultimately become the counterweight that decides the success or failure of an undertaking.
"Rely" also carries a deeper meaning: the people are themselves the living source of wisdom. Whether a policy is effective must be summarized and tested through deep engagement with social practice. Only by going deep into the grassroots and observing popular conditions can one avoid building castles in the air on sand that cannot bear weight. More importantly, "rely" is not "exploit." True "reliance on the people" means taking the people's aims as the aims of the undertaking, genuinely seeking benefits for the people. Only by truly relying on the people's affairs and seeking benefit for the people can one coalesce people's hearts, unite in common purpose, and propel the undertaking toward success.
"One who plans by the measure of righteousness will surely attain; one who undertakes affairs by relying on the people will surely succeed"—planning must be decided according to righteousness, and affairs must be accomplished by relying on the people; what runs through from beginning to end and plays the overarching role remains "virtue." The Book of Rites, "Great Learning," says that "virtue is the root; wealth is the branch," emphasizing precisely that virtue and righteousness are the root, and wealth and benefit are the branch. "Virtue means attainment, attaining what is appropriate to affairs." Planning by the measure of "righteousness" is establishing virtue. With "righteousness" as the measure, one can enable all to receive what is appropriate to them; relying on the people in affairs enables the attainment of people's hearts and the accomplishment of undertakings. What Duke Jing of Qi asked about at the time was the "art," and what Yanzi answered was the "Way"; and Yanzi's "Way" is precisely the one among all "arts" that best withstands the test of time. Of course, planning for righteousness and relying on the people does not mean everything will surely succeed; but conversely, departing from moral principle and defying popular will, even if one gains temporary benefits, will in the end be difficult to sustain.
The times change, and the conditions and methods of doing things change as well, but the causal relationship between "righteousness" and "attainment," and the connection between "the people" and "success," have never changed. Faced with the temptation of "attainment," first measure it with the yardstick of "righteousness," asking whether it is fitting; faced with the anxiety of "success," first think carefully about whether one can win the approval of the people. If both of these aspects are achieved, then even if one has not yet attained or succeeded for the moment, one has already held fast to the foundation, and from a long-term perspective, "attainment" and "success" will in the end be the natural result when success comes naturally when conditions are ripe (水到渠成, shui dao qu cheng - "water, arrive, channel, formed").
(The author is a professor at the School of Humanities, Tsinghua University.)
Return to TopBy: 王蕾
In the early 20th century, the "eastward spread of Western learning" (西学东渐) drove the rise of China's New Library Movement. In 1925, the Library Association of China was established, providing an organizational foundation for nationwide professional liaison in librarianship and international exchange. In September 1927, at the 50th anniversary conference of the British Library Association, an American woman in her sixties, representing the Library Association of China, joined representatives from 14 countries including Britain and the United States in signing the resolution establishing the International Library and Bibliographical Committee (the predecessor of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, IFLA). Her name was Mary Elizabeth Wood (1861–1931), who, together with Hu Qingsheng and Shen Zurong in Hubei, had co-founded China's first independent library school — the private Boone Library School. China thereby became one of the 15 founding member countries of IFLA. But what exactly did this "founding" status mean? When IFLA's current Secretary General, Meimis, visited Peking University in 2026, he remarked that China was the only founding member from outside Europe and America, and that "it was precisely China's participation that pushed IFLA toward a more diverse and inclusive pattern of development." This shows that China was never a passive "latecomer" from the very beginning, but rather one of the providers of the diverse genes of this global professional organization.
Negotiation and Bargaining over the Legitimate Seat
In the more than 30 years after 1949, the question of China's legitimate seat in IFLA remained unresolved (悬而未决, xuan er wei jue - "suspend, and, not, decided"). This "absence" was not a deficiency in professional capacity, but rather the result of the international political landscape being projected onto a professional organization.
The turning point came in 1980. At that time, the Library Society of China had just been established for one year and urgently needed to secure its legitimate status in international professional organizations. In August of that year, Ding Zhigang and Liang Sizhuang, then vice presidents of the Library Society of China, attended the 46th IFLA General Conference in Manila in their personal capacities, and held consultations with then-President Granheim and Secretary General Wijnstroom, ultimately reaching an "Eight-Point Agreement" that resolved, in legal terms, the political preconditions and technical pathways for restoring membership.
Finally, in 1981, the Library Society of China formally restored its status as a national association member. In August of the same year, a Chinese delegation led by Ding Zhigang participated in the 47th IFLA General Conference held in Leipzig, East Germany, marking the re-establishment of stable international professional exchange channels for China's library community.
It Took Eight Years for Chinese to Become a Working Language
If restoring membership resolved the question of "whether one can participate," then the establishment of Chinese as a working language resolved the question of "on what terms one participates." The distinction between the two is precisely the dividing line between "form" and "substance."
The 1996 Beijing Conference was a watershed. More than 2,800 delegates attended, and Sun Beixin, then deputy director of the National Library of China, became the first mainland Chinese librarian to enter IFLA's Executive Committee, playing a bridging role in conference organization and professional coordination. The Beijing Conference allowed international colleagues to see the scale and vitality of China's library enterprise, but the conference languages remained primarily the five of English, French, Russian, Spanish, and German. The efficiency with which Chinese delegates obtained information at the conference site and the depth of their participation in discussions were both constrained by language conditions.
In 1997, the Chinese delegation formally submitted a proposal to list Chinese as a working language, which was not adopted. The reason was not political opposition, but rather "technical" constraints such as translation funding and staffing. Thereafter, Wu Jianzhong, then director of the Shanghai Library, was elected to the IFLA Governing Board in 2001, and Zhang Xiaolin, then director of the Documentation and Information Centre of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was elected to the Board in 2005 with a high vote count of 818, so the conditions for advancing the Chinese-language proposal gradually matured. In 2005, the IFLA Governing Board formally adopted a resolution that, starting with the 2006 Seoul Conference, Chinese would officially be used as a working language, with simultaneous interpretation in Chinese added to the conference and a Chinese-language edition of the IFLA Conference Express published.
This process lasted eight years. Its significance lies not in the addition of one more translation language, but in the fact that China's library community, for the first time, relied on the formal procedures of an international organization to complete a concrete institutional reform, achieving a substantive change in the acquisition of information and the expression of views.
The Transformation of China's Library Community's Role on the International Stage
In the first 20 years after the restoration of membership, the framework of the relationship between China's library community and IFLA can be seen as a "transitional phase." Core programs proposed by IFLA — Universal Bibliographic Control, the MARC format, and document preservation and protection — provided a professional framework for the automation of China's libraries; China, for its part, completed the localization of bibliographic data standardization, interlibrary loan, and document delivery.
The real transformation came after China entered IFLA's governance structure. Since 2017, Chinese experts have successively entered IFLA's Governing Board and Executive Committee, and, as members of the Advisory Committee on Standards, the Advisory Committee on Copyright and Other Legal Matters, the Advisory Committee on Cultural Heritage, and other bodies, have participated in the drafting and revision of documents such as the IFLA Standards Procedures Manual and Unleashing the Potential: IFLA Statement on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence. As of August 2025, more than 60 Chinese institutions have joined, and more than 70 Chinese representatives serve on various committees and professional groups.
The key to this change lies not in the increase in the number of officeholders, but in the fact that China's library community has genuinely participated in conference presentations, project exhibitions, strategic discussions, document drafting, and standards procedures. Through this process, the transformation of China's library community's role in international governance has been realized.
Why Chinese Experience Has Begun to Be "in Demand"
The right to speak in international organizations ultimately depends on whether participants can provide practices of reference value to global peers. A typical case is the linkage between the IFLA Preservation and Conservation Centre for China and the "Chinese Ancient Books Preservation Plan." International document preservation concepts emphasize environmental control, risk management, and disaster prevention, while China's large-scale census of ancient books, traditional restoration techniques, and national project organization methods provide practical experience under different institutional conditions in this field. This combination is not one-way learning, but two-way knowledge exchange.
More direct evidence comes from IFLA's awards. Since 2012, Chinese libraries have cumulatively received 18 professional awards from IFLA, covering the three major categories of the International Marketing Award, the Green Library Award, and the Public Library of the Year Award. The evaluation criteria for these awards — service outreach, environmental responsibility, public space construction, and user experience optimization — themselves constitute a conceptual framework through which international peers understand Chinese practice. In the process of applying, Chinese libraries must "translate" their projects into terminology and logic comprehensible to international peers, and this process in turn has promoted the systematization and articulability of domestic practice.
The localization of the concept of the public library provides another dimension. The IFLA/UNESCO Public Library Manifesto issued in 1994 advocates free, equal, and universal service. These concepts entered Chinese industry discussions and local practice from 2000 onward; in 2011, the free opening of basic services rose from an industry initiative to a national public cultural policy; and in 2016, the Public Cultural Service Guarantee Law of the People's Republic of China achieved institutional expression in legislation. China's path of realizing policy implementation through public financial guarantees and the construction of the rule of law has significant reference value.
Over the past century or so, IFLA has provided value reference and a cooperation framework for the global library enterprise through declarations, standards, programs, and initiatives; China, through professional organizations and practical exploration, has enabled international principles to take root in different governance structures and stages of development. Free opening, grassroots service networks, ancient book preservation, cross-system resource sharing, and the construction of Chinese as a working language have both witnessed the growth of China's library enterprise through open exchange and provided the world with development models under different institutional conditions. With books as the medium and interaction as the bridge, equal mutual learning and two-way transformation — this is both a continuation of nearly a century of exchange history and the proper meaning of China's library community's participation in global cultural governance.
(The author is deputy director of the Sun Yat-sen University Library)
Return to TopBy: 王挺斌
"Constancy" (恒) is a character of immense weight in traditional Chinese culture. It refers both to the unchanging principle by which heaven and earth operate, and to the unshakable resolve with which the human heart holds fast, and further to the enduring achievements of governance. The way of heaven, the nature of the human heart, and the practice of governance can all be threaded together through the single character "constancy."
The most common explanation of "constancy" is "the regular" (常). The Shuowen Jiezi states: "Constancy means the regular." Later philological scholarship has generally analyzed it as a phonetic compound with the "heart" (心) radical and "geng" (亘) as the phonetic component. "Geng" (亘) was originally written as "亙" (now read gèn, formerly read gèng), and is the original form of "constancy"; by the Warring States period it was already commonly used to express the meaning of constancy and regularity. Later, the "heart" radical was added to differentiate the character "恒," specifically highlighting the heart's steadfast holding fast.
The human heart is rooted in the way of heaven, and the way of heaven operates through time without ceasing. The thirty-second hexagram of the Book of Changes is precisely the "Hexagram of Constancy" (恒卦). In explaining this hexagram, the Tuan Zhuan (Commentary on the Judgment) points out: "The way of heaven and earth is constant and enduring, never ceasing." The ancients believed that all things under heaven and earth are in a state of motion and change, and that the entire cosmos is like a great flowing stream that never stands still. Confucius once stood by a river and sighed: "The unstoppable passage of time (逝者如斯, shi zhe ru si - "passerby, like, this") — it does not cease day or night." What flows away is time; what never flows away is the Way. Motion and change follow patterns; they are not chaotic. The Chunqiu Fanlu, chapter "Tian Rong," states: "The way of heaven has order and timeliness, has measure and restraint, and changes yet possesses constancy." Grasping the principle that within change there is the unchanging is what constitutes wisdom. Chapter 16 of the Daodejing likewise says: "To know the constant is called enlightenment." This constancy within change is "constancy" (恒). It refers both to the immutability of principle and to ceaseless operation — what the Song dynasty scholar Xu Ji called "the constancy that does not change" and "the constancy that does not cease." What does not change is constant; what does not cease endures.
"Constancy" as a moral virtue. The ancients emphasized holding the heart with constancy in establishing one's aims, and acting with constancy in handling affairs; without constancy, one may accomplish nothing. According to the Analects, chapter "Zilu," there was at the time a popular saying in the south: "A man without constancy cannot even be a shaman or a physician." "Shaman and physician" (巫医) refers to shamans and doctors, two professions with relatively high thresholds. If a person wishes to become a shaman or a physician, they need long-term study and research; without constancy of purpose, it cannot be done. Extending this further, other professions and other undertakings follow the same principle. Su Wu held his envoy's staff among the Xiongnu for nineteen years, his hair and beard turning completely white, yet his integrity never changed; Zhang Qian, dispatched to the Western Regions, was detained twice, for thirteen years in total, and ultimately achieved the feat of "opening the road." All of this was brought about by constancy of purpose.
The "constancy" of establishing the heart and handling affairs emphasizes repetition and accumulation. A small matter, done repeatedly, accumulating bit by bit over a long period (日积月累, ri ji yue lei - "day, accumulate, month, accumulate"), can become a great matter. Xunzi says in "Encouraging Learning": "Success requires small, steady accumulations (不积跬步, 无以至千里, bu ji kui bu, wu yi zhi qian li - "not, accumulate, small step, not, have, reach, thousand li"); without accumulating small streams, one cannot form rivers and seas." In the Han dynasty, Dong Zhongshu, in pursuing his studies, did not glance at his garden for three years, and later became the leading Confucian scholar of his generation. This is true of reading and study, and it is the same for doing other things — all rely on day-after-day accumulation.
In doing good and establishing virtue, "constancy" is even more important. The Book of Changes, "Xici II," says: "Constancy is the firmness of virtue." The ancients spoke of the "three immortalities": establishing virtue, establishing merit, and establishing words. In doing good and establishing virtue, doing it once or twice is not difficult; what is difficult is persisting over the long term. If one wishes to establish virtue, one must establish "constant virtue." The Book of Changes, "Hexagram of Constancy," line nine in the third place, says: "If one does not keep his virtue constant, he may incur shame." If one wishes to do good, one must practice "accumulated goodness." Xunzi also says in "Encouraging Learning": "Accumulate goodness and become virtuous, and spiritual clarity is naturally attained; the mind of the sage is thereby complete."
When "constancy" extends from the self to the family, it becomes the continuation of the family tradition. In his later years, Yan Zhitui wrote the Yanshi Jiaxun (Family Instructions of Master Yan), describing his intent as "ordering the household within, and rousing the descendants" — not to establish a doctrine for outsiders. Thereafter, the Yan family produced worthy successors in every generation: in the Tang dynasty it produced the great scholar Yan Shigu and the great calligrapher Yan Zhenqing. That a family instruction can be transmitted to distant ages lies, in fact, not in its literary wording, but in each generation's unwavering adherence to it.
The utility of "constancy" is especially crucial in governance. The Book of Documents, chapter "Bi Ming," emphasizes that "governance values constancy," taking the constancy of government orders as the essential principle of statecraft. The transmitted "Bi Ming" belongs to the forged ancient-text Book of Documents, but the idea itself is not forged. According to the Zuo Zhuan, Duke Wen, sixth year, it is recorded that in the Spring and Autumn period, after the famous Jin minister Zhao Dun took charge of state affairs, he promulgated a series of government orders and regulations, such as establishing statutes, perfecting laws, clearing up cases, supervising fugitives, using contracts, restoring regular offices, and promoting worthy talents. After these government orders and regulations were completed, they were handed over to the Grand Tutor Yangzi and the Grand Preceptor Jiatuo to administer, and they were strictly implemented throughout the state of Jin as "standing law." Among these, the item of restoring regular offices is especially noteworthy: offices that had already been abolished were to be re-established. Only when government affairs can be connected can institutions stand firm.
As for existing government orders and regulations, as long as their applicability remains strong, they should not be lightly altered. The Records of the Grand Historian, "Biography of the Chancellor Cao," records that in the early Han, when Cao Can succeeded Xiao He as chancellor, he "made no changes in the conduct of affairs, and in all things followed Xiao He's regulations." When Emperor Hui of Han saw that he did not inquire much into government affairs and was somewhat reproachful, he had Cao Can's son Cao Zhu privately ask him about it. Cao Can actually gave his son a beating, and Emperor Hui had to summon and question him personally. Cao Can said: "Emperor Gao and Xiao He settled the empire, and the laws and orders are already clear. Now Your Majesty sits with folded hands, and we, your ministers, keep to our posts, obeying and not losing them — is that not acceptable?" Cao Can believed that Emperor Hui and he himself could not match Emperor Gao and Xiao He, and that the laws and orders they had established were already clear; he only needed to abide by them. Moreover, Xiao He's laws were originally "gathered from the laws of Qin, taking what was suitable for the times." After the great chaos at the end of the Qin dynasty, the people's livelihood was in ruin and their hearts yearned for stability, and these laws were precisely suited to the times. Cao Can's policy of rest and non-interference was a wise move that received broad recognition: "All under heaven praised its excellence."
Conversely, if a state has no constant laws to uphold and government orders are lightly and frequently changed, this often breeds disorder in governance. At the end of the Western Han, after Wang Mang usurped the Han and established his own dynasty, he vigorously promoted "reforms modeled on antiquity," but his governance was largely mired in the past and divorced from reality, failing to give due consideration to the actual conditions of society and the people's capacity to bear the burden. At the level of the official system, on the one hand he frequently changed official titles: the Grand Minister of Agriculture was renamed "Xihe," and later changed again to "Nayan"; the Grand Judge was renamed "Zuoshi"; the Grand Master of Ceremonies was renamed "Zhizong"; and the other offices were likewise mostly renamed. On the other hand, he also piled up numerous additional offices. The new official titles were mostly drawn from classics such as the Rites of Zhou and the Book of Documents, and were superimposed upon the original Western Han official system, creating excessively redundant or complicated structures (叠床架屋, die chuang jia wu - "stack, bed, frame, house") of extreme complexity. The reforms of administrative regions and place names were likewise: the histories record that "they changed year after year, with one commandery renamed up to five times, and then restored to its original name," and in the end "officials and commoners could not keep track, and whenever an edict was issued, the old name had to be attached," so that administrative operations were greatly obstructed. The currency reform was even more chaotic and disorderly, with several changes back and forth, and in the end "farmers and merchants lost their livelihoods, food and goods were both ruined, and the people wept in the markets and on the roads," while the people privately continued to use the wuzhu coins in circulation. This reform was intended to relieve the accumulated ills of the late Han, but it failed to touch the fundamental social contradictions; instead it merely added to the people's burdens and intensified social turmoil.
"Constancy" by no means implies following the beaten track or clinging to old ways and refusing to change (墨守成规, mo shou cheng gui - "ink, guard, become, rule"). On the surface, "constancy" means the regular, standing in opposition to "change." But within change there is the unchanging — that is, within change there is constancy. The fact that all things are in ceaseless flux can itself be seen as a special kind of "constancy" — a normal state of motion and change. Therefore, "constancy" and "change" are at once opposed and unified. If previous government orders and regulations are insufficiently perfected or have become outdated, they can naturally be adjusted and improved, advancing with the times (与时俱进, yu shi ju jin - "with, time, together, advance") and following the people's hearts. The Book of Han, "Treatise on Rites and Music," states: "A king must build upon the rites of previous kings, adapt to the times and apply what is fitting, making additions and subtractions, following the people's hearts, and gradually creating institutions, until at great peace all is fully complete." Xiao He's establishment of Han institutions inherited the Qin system with additions and subtractions, "because the people resented the Qin laws, he went with the current and made a fresh start." Thus the "constancy" and "change" of government orders and regulations require "adapting to the times and applying what is fitting," and require "following the people's hearts." The "immutability" of governance lies in not lightly altering already-established good laws; the "unceasingness" of governance lies in not abandoning timely adjustments.
The moon travels with constancy, and therefore can shine for long; government orders have constancy, and therefore can win trust; the heart's resolve has constancy, and therefore can accomplish things. For oneself, it is the steadfastness of "standing firm without changing one's position"; for the state, it is the persistence of drawing one blueprint through to the end. The ancients said on the one hand, "If one does not keep his virtue constant, he may incur shame," and on the other hand, "governance values constancy" — from self-cultivation to governing the state, the principle is the same. "Constancy" today is in fact a kind of strategic resolve: with a constant heart to uphold the constant Way, with the constant Way to accomplish constant undertakings, accumulating the small until it becomes manifest, enduring and thereby achieving success.
(The author is a distinguished research fellow at the Center for Research on Chinese Historical Linguistics, Zhejiang University.)
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