Xi Zhongxun, a highly respected leader of the Communist Party of China, dedicated his entire life to serving the people.
When Xi Zhongxun served on the party committee of Suide County in northwestern China's Shaanxi Province, he once said:
What his father said and did left a deep and lasting impression on Xi Jinping.
Throughout his political career – from Liangjiahe and Zhengding to Fujian, Zhejiang, Shanghai, and Beijing – Xi consistently placed the people at the center of his work.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, President Xi has made more than 50 inspection trips focused on poverty alleviation and has visited all 14 contiguous areas of concentrated poverty in the country. He has listened directly to local residents, their problems, needs, and suggestions.
Over the years, Xi has visited production lines and factories, inquiring about technological innovations, observed agricultural work, and gained firsthand knowledge of the lives of people in rural areas. He has also visited neighborhoods and homes on festive occasions to extend his greetings to the people.
Before this year's Spring Festival, Xi visited a community dining hall in a residential complex for seniors in Beijing to learn about local efforts to improve public services and care for the elderly. He also spoke with delivery drivers who were taking a break there, asking them about their work and daily lives. Xi emphasized that party committees and governments at all levels must care for them and provide better services to support their lives and work.
This people-centered philosophy has gradually translated into tangible improvements in people's daily lives. The "toilet revolution," waste sorting, clean heating, and food safety are among the more than 2,000 reform initiatives that have been implemented in recent years to improve all aspects of people's daily lives.
The results are concrete. China has lifted nearly 100 million people out of extreme poverty in eight years, and in 2020, it officially eradicated absolute poverty. The country has also completed building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and created the world's largest systems of education, social security, healthcare, and affordable housing.
Access to education at all levels has reached or exceeded the average for countries with upper-middle and high incomes. Coverage by basic health insurance remains above 95 percent, the average life expectancy has increased to over 79 years, and the group of people with middle incomes now exceeds 400 million.
This people-centered approach is also reflected in China's 15th five-year plan for the period 2026 to 2030, which is the country's economic and social development plan. More than a third of the plan is related to the living standards of the people and includes employment, income, education, healthcare, care for the elderly, and childcare – issues that the public considers the most important and urgent.
In 2026, when the Communist Party of China commemorates its 105th anniversary, Xi repeatedly emphasized that party members must remember that working for the well-being of the people is their greatest political achievement.
gnews.cz/CMG