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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, March 27 (Xinhua) — To most people, a small light bulb can hardly have anything to do with job achievements.
Yet more than 30 years ago, as head of the CPC committee of Ningde County, one of the poorest areas in eastern China's Fujian Province, Xi Jinping told local officials that ensuring access to basic necessities for residents in remote and hard-to-reach areas, even basic items like light bulbs and soap, was also a real and good governance endeavor.
This comment raised a pressing and profound question: should an official's performance be judged on the basis of short-term economic results, ambitious projects, awards received, or tangible improvements in the well-being of the masses?
Xi Jinping's answer to this question is to develop a "correct understanding of official merit." This is a guiding principle for officials that prioritizes the well-being of the people and values long-term, tangible results that may not be immediately visible but are achieved through sound decisions and concrete actions.
At the end of February, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC CC), with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, launched a Party-wide public awareness campaign, calling on all CPC members, especially leading cadres at the county level and above, to uphold the correct interpretation of official merits in order to achieve results that will stand the test of practice and the people, as well as the test of time.
This campaign, which will run until July, aims to correct misguided views on official merit, which often give rise to show projects, hidden risks, excessive burdens on the ground, and cause strong discontent among the masses.
It represents the latest effort by Xi Jinping, who is general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, president of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), to tighten internal party governance, following last year's initiative to improve work style.
"The more effectively Party self-supervision and intra-Party governance are implemented, the more reliably socio-economic development will be ensured," Xi Jinping said.
This emphasis was reiterated during an inspection tour on Monday, during which Xi Jinping emphasized the importance of Party leadership and Party building in transforming Xiong'an New Area—a young, modern city located approximately 100 kilometers south of Beijing—into a bastion of innovation and a benchmark for high-quality development. Xi Jinping urged Xiong'an cadres to fulfill their duties by focusing on implementing policies and striving to achieve results that satisfy the Party and the people.
Party theorists stated that the latest educational campaign focuses on party political development and the formation of a contingent of cadres. As China enters the year of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), achieving the development goals outlined therein will largely depend on whether cadres act with a proper understanding of merit and a businesslike attitude toward work.
Eduardo Regalado, a senior research fellow at the Cuban Center for International Political Studies, noted that cultivating a correct view of merit among cadres has become an important concept for the CPC in public administration in the new era and will help China transform its development model toward greater quality, efficiency, and fairness.
PEOPLE ABOVE ALL
The key objective of the above-mentioned educational campaign is to eradicate the tendency of some officials to sacrifice public welfare in an effort to “polish” their performance indicators.
Xi Jinping once publicly criticized at a meeting the waste of funds on painting facades in some rural areas at a time when they had just emerged from poverty or were still struggling with it.
Xi Jinping said lavish spending on whitewashing walls – something that does not feed or clothe people – is a "useless waste of public funds."
While some officials act recklessly, others deliberately choose inaction. Some play it safe and shirk responsibility, believing that "the more dishes you wash, the more you break."
Xi Jinping has repeatedly lashed out at such inactive "unprincipled do-gooders" and "chameleons," saying that those who fail to take responsibility will achieve nothing and will jeopardize vital undertakings.
Conversely, one of the role models for effective civil service performance often cited by Xi Jinping is Jiao Yulu, the humble party chief of the little-known Lancao County (Henan Province, central China) in the early 1960s.
Dedicated to combating the sandstorms, salinization, and floods known as the "three plagues" that plagued the county at the time, leaving many residents struggling to feed themselves, Jiao Yulu and his colleagues tirelessly planted windbreak forests, combated floods, and reclaimed saline soils in hopes of helping Lankao gradually overcome its chronic food shortages. However, Jiao Yulu did not live long enough to fully appreciate the results of these efforts. In 1964, he died of liver cancer at the age of just 42.
When Xi Jinping was in middle school, he first read about Jiao Yulu's exploits and was deeply moved. He said that Jiao Yulu's spirit, expressed in his people-centered approach and tireless, selfless dedication, served as a guiding light throughout his rise from a low-level official to China's top leader.
In the early 1980s, while working in Zhengding County in Hebei Province, North China, Xi Jinping, realizing that some local farmers were without enough food, helped reduce the government's inflated grain purchase quotas, which had been set to maintain the area's reputation as a "high-yield county."
"Zhengding chose to give up its reputation as a national model of high grain production, just so that people could live in abundance," he said.
Xi Jinping believes that public administration should be based on the needs of the people, not political posturing. He asserted that an official's true aspiration is not to attain a high position, but to meet the people's expectations.
Drawing on his own experiences growing up in rural poverty, immediately after assuming the post of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee in November 2012, Xi Jinping launched a nationwide campaign to eradicate extreme poverty, mobilizing the entire Party apparatus to achieve this goal. Under his leadership, nearly 100 million rural residents in China have been lifted out of absolute poverty in eight years.
Viewing poverty alleviation not as an end goal but as a starting point for realizing the people's aspirations for a better life, Xi Jinping then turned his attention to longer-term goals – achieving universal prosperity and transforming the country into a modern socialist power by the middle of this century.
However, setting the right goals is only part of the task. Xi Jinping is therefore placing particular emphasis on creating mechanisms to regulate the behavior of officials. He emphasized that, along with developing and implementing a proper understanding of official merit, it is important to improve checks and oversight mechanisms for the division and exercise of power.
Meanwhile, to encourage cadres to boldly assume responsibility and show initiative, Xi Jinping established correct guidelines for the selection and appointment of capable personnel.
According to his “three differences” principle, it is necessary to distinguish between mistakes made by personnel due to lack of experience in pioneering work in promoting reforms, and deliberate actions that violate disciplinary norms and the law.
"The selection and promotion of officials should be based on what they have done, what results they have achieved, and whether their work is recognized by both the Party and the people," Xi Jinping emphasized in his comments published in the leading journal of the CPC Central Committee, Qiushi, in March, after the launch of the educational campaign.
"Preference should be given to those who dare to take responsibility, show initiative, skillfully achieve results, and demonstrate outstanding performance," Xi Jinping said.
BASED ON REALITY
The latest campaign to promote a proper understanding of merit emphasizes the need to start from reality and respect objective laws.
This campaign aims to address issues such as blind copying of successful experiences in some regions, which demonstrates over-reliance on one model and the absence of a pragmatic, well-thought-out decision-making process.
At last year's Central Economic Work Conference, Xi Jinping criticized some regions for blindly following the example of other regions without considering local conditions – either rushing to develop the chip industry or thoughtlessly promoting the production of the "new three" export goods (electric vehicles, lithium batteries, and solar panels).
Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized the importance of making informed decisions based on local realities, and this is another hallmark of his approach to governance.
Xi Jinping often compares policy development to finding the right key for every lock, thus rejecting the “one-size-fits-all” approach and emphasizing the adaptation of policies to different conditions.
Xi Jinping warns against unrealistic ideas when discussing everything from urban development to energy policy. Under his leadership, China has made significant progress in transitioning to a green economy and set ambitious goals: peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.
Meanwhile, China's carbon emissions commitments do not mean an unrealistic, large-scale phasing out of traditional energy projects such as coal power.
In 2024, during an inspection tour of Chongqing Municipality in southwest China, Xi Jinping emphasized that while it is necessary to promote green, low-carbon development, ensuring a stable energy supply is vital.
"First you need to fill your belly, and then think about how to eat better," he said, warning against an overly idealistic approach.
Xi Jinping also warned against the misconception that local authorities use "inflated statistics," fake project launches, subsidies, or other unfair methods to attract shell companies and artificially create a false economic boom.
This practice is now included in the list of key tasks for correcting violations for 2026.
Xue Jiping, chairman of a fiber optic company, said the clampdown on such abuses has given legitimate businesses a genuine sense of security and strengthened their confidence to expand investment.
The fight against fraud echoes Xi Jinping's consistent demand for honesty. In 2017, after Liaoning Province (Northeast China) reported negative growth following a crackdown on falsified economic data, he reaffirmed the value of such honesty.
He said that while the actual figures may not look good, in my opinion they are "truly pleasing to the eye" because they are genuine. He then promised continued support from the central government to those who reveal the real state of affairs rather than promote false prosperity.
On March 12 this year, the National People's Congress (NPC) approved a GDP growth target of 4.5-5 percent for 2026, while promising to “strive to achieve better results in practice.”
The same pragmatism is reflected in the guidelines of the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development (2026-2030), approved by the NPC on the same day. They state that GDP growth will be maintained within a reasonable range, with annual targets set according to circumstances. Other goals outlined in the document also demonstrate a practical approach.
"These plans reflect a clear value orientation – development cannot be achieved simply by shouting slogans and publishing documents. Officials must roll up their sleeves and focus on achieving real results," said Yu Shaoxiang, a research fellow at the Institute of Chinese Modernization at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).
"As we enter the 15th Five-Year Plan period, we must clear the swamp and clean the air," Xi Jinping said, calling on officials to take a truthful and pragmatic approach when developing national and local plans.
"All plans must be grounded in reality, ensure sustainable growth without inflated targets, and promote high-quality, sustainable development. Those who act thoughtlessly, raise targets level after level, or launch projects indiscriminately will be held accountable," he said.
FOCUSING ON THE LONG-TERM
From the very beginning of his career in public service, Xi Jinping emphasized the importance of serving the long-term interests of the country rather than seeking personal recognition or short-term fame.
This approach reflects his understanding of public administration, which views development not as a sprint within a single term of office. Xi Jinping warned against the temptation to pursue quick wins or instant results through short-term projects with immediate impact, comparing such practices to the depletion of resources for fleeting gains.
From the local to the central level, Xi Jinping has always promoted this vision through his concrete actions. Whether it's environmental protection or the preservation and transmission of historical and cultural heritage, when these challenges conflict with short-term economic interests, he always makes decisions with a long-term perspective.
In 1999-2000, while serving as acting chairman of the Fujian Provincial People's Government, he decided to suspend a mining project in Sanming after fossils and artifacts were discovered at the site, shedding light on early human activity in the region. This discovery was later recognized as one of the most significant archaeological finds in southern China.
This approach came into focus again several years later, when Xi Jinping was working in Zhejiang Province. During an inspection tour of the region, local officials took him to an industrial park they were eager to show off. But when Xi learned that many of the factories located there were nothing more than outdated manufacturing facilities relocated from more developed neighboring regions, his expression darkened.
"What's there to see here?" he asked. "Use your advantages and protect the environment here—that should be your greatest achievement in management."
The message here was crystal clear: achieving short-term economic gains at the expense of the environment is not something worth striving for.
About a decade later, the same principle—priority for environmental protection and green development—shaped Xi Jinping's policy toward the Yangtze River, China's longest river and a vital economic artery.
In 2016, at a high-level meeting on the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, Xi Jinping addressed local officials directly and openly: “Today you may be disappointed – this is not about development, but about protection.”
He made clear that environmental restoration must be placed at the top of the agenda, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive assessment of development based not only on speed but also on sustainability and long-term benefits.
The implications of this attention to environmental protection extend far beyond the river itself. It confirms that strategic foresight, prudent planning, and meticulous implementation must be hallmarks of China's development model.
However, the campaign to study correct management thinking was launched just before the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan, the penultimate one in China's quest to complete most of its modernization by 2035.
Since the 1950s, these five-year plans have served as both “metronomes” and “navigators” for China’s development, guiding its transformation from a struggling country into the world’s second-largest economy.
"The scientifically based formulation and consistent implementation of five-year plans is an important experience of our Party in state governance and one of the key political advantages of socialism with Chinese characteristics," said Xi Jinping, who led the development of the country's last three five-year plans.
This planning system places particular emphasis on a future-oriented approach. As Hou Yongzhi, a researcher at the Center for Development Studies under the State Council of the People's Republic of China, noted, the key provisions of the 15th Five-Year Plan outline 109 major projects covering key areas of China's modernization, a significant portion of which are aimed at cultivating new industries and developing emerging sectors.
Hou Yongzhi noted that these projects, designed to lay the foundation for the future, will provide powerful support for China's economic growth and people's well-being.
Alexander Davey, an analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies in Berlin, told the German magazine Der Spiegel that China's five-year plans serve as a guide for party cadres and government officials. The plans tell them how they should work and what they need to achieve.
The emphasis on long-term planning also helps explain why Xi Jinping has repeatedly urged officials to value not only visible achievements but also the less obvious work that lays the foundation for future development.
“The rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is a relay race in which the baton must be passed from one generation to the next, and each generation must strive to do its job well,” Xi Jinping said. -0-
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