Zhe Xin of Zhijiang — A Book Report on Zhejiang, China: A New Vision for Development

Zhejiang, China: A New Vision for Development (Zhijiang Xinyu), as a collection of short commentaries published by General Secretary Xi Jinping in the Zhejiang Daily column during his tenure as Secretary of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee from 2003 to 2007, vividly reflects the work deployments, ideological viewpoints, and grand strategies of our Party’s General Secretary during his administration of Zhejiang. Reading it brings great benefit, with profound implications that linger long in the memory. Looking back today, one can even better appreciate the deep origins of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s determination and confidence that “I shall be selfless, never failing the people,” as well as the developmental trajectory of the General Secretary’s thought.

Over two hundred commentaries, where every word is a gem; over one hundred thousand words of exposition, splendid and diverse. General Secretary Xi Jinping has made profound, clear, and distinctly guiding assertions across a series of fields: economic development; the discovery and development of Party talent, the ideological style of leading cadres, the construction of governance capacity, and the relationship with grassroots masses; poverty alleviation; environmental protection, the coordinated planning of ecological civilization construction and economic development; cultural protection, inheritance, exchange, and integration; the relationship between reform and development; power supervision, integrity, and corruption; issues concerning agriculture, rural areas, and farmers, agricultural reform, rural revitalization, and farmers’ well-being; the practice of a series of basic principles of Marxist theory in the governance of leading cadres and the promotion of economic construction and development; the market economy; and the rule of law society. These assertions possess significant practical meaning and are indeed worthy of the attention they receive from numerous leading cadres.

“From the masses, to the masses”—this is the subtle thread running through the entire book. This main line is most vividly embodied in the section on the “Three Rural Issues.” “We must integrate the Party’s work line of doing everything for the masses and relying on the masses in everything into all aspects of ‘Three Rural’ work.” (Page 100) On the basis of profoundly studying and understanding Comrade Hu Jintao’s Scientific Outlook on Development, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that the core of the “Three Rural” issues is the peasant issue, which is a matter of enhancing peasant interests and safeguarding peasant rights. As the important cornerstone of our Party’s governance, peasants are of great significance to social stability. “Agriculture is an industry that settles the world and calms people’s hearts; it is always the foundation of the national economy” (Page 191). Without industry, there is no stability; without agriculture, there is no prosperity. It was precisely by adhering to “from the masses, to the masses” that Comrade Xi Jinping realized that one of the important bottlenecks hindering agricultural development was that the comprehensive agricultural production capacity could not relatively satisfy the reality of resource scarcity in our province and the exertion of comparative advantages (Page 109). The direction of efficient ecological agriculture reform in our province, which Comrade Xi Jinping pointed out as distinct from petroleum agriculture and natural ecological agriculture, is precisely a development guide made on the basis of fully investigating the reality of resources in our province and adhering to a people-oriented approach. At the same time, with his unique strategic vision, Comrade Xi Jinping also recognized the crucial status of cities in solving the “Three Rural” issues. To this end, he pointed out: first, urban-rural coordination and co-development: “Implement the policy of industry nurturing agriculture and cities supporting rural areas” (Page 103); second, nurturing brings prosperity to villages, and nurturing itself is conducive to accelerating industrial development, rather than unilateral charity; third, gradually eliminate the distinction between two types of people, namely citizens or urban residents and peasants, even if peasants cannot all live in cities, and even if the gap and difference between cities and rural areas cannot be truly eliminated, yet “though there be a distinction between town and country, let there be little disparity between them” (Page 189). In summary, Comrade Xi Jinping demonstrated his profound thoughts in solving the “Three Rural” issues through a few short commentaries, and further displayed his profound accomplishments as an outstanding Marxist theoretician.

“From the masses, to the masses.” Comrade Xi Jinping’s mass line is further reflected in the importance he attaches to the market economy and the private economy. He recognized the significant potential of ample private capital for the development of Zhejiang Province, and the major significance of expanding the scale of private investment for enhancing the endogenous power of economic development. “We must further relax investment fields; infrastructure construction projects with profitability that can be opened up should be opened up” (Page 14). “‘Zheshang culture’ is the soul of Zhejiang merchants” (Page 209). Comrade Xi Jinping recognized the even more prominent role of the large number of Zhejiang merchants who emerged in the tide of the socialist market economy in Zhejiang, and the Zheshang culture born under their creative practice, for the development of Zhejiang enterprises and society. It was precisely by adhering to the mass viewpoint and basing himself on the mass perspective that Comrade Xi Jinping was able to recognize the important power of “Zheshang culture” for developing advanced productive forces in Zhejiang.

“From the masses, to the masses.” The mass viewpoint and mass line are further reflected in Comrade Xi Jinping’s application of basic Marxist principles to the ideological and quality construction of Party members and leading cadres. Facing the temptation of abusing power, Comrade Xi Jinping pointed out that leading cadres must “establish the consciousness that power is service, frequently think about where the power in their hands comes from and for whom it should be used, and consciously use power for the public and not for private gain” (Page 260). The sanctity of power has been widely respected since ancient times, and Comrade Xi Jinping’s exposition emphasizes the inherent sanctity possessed by power itself. In the article Be Good at Speaking with the Masses (Page 146), Comrade Xi Jinping conveyed the need for leading cadres to strengthen communication with the masses—coming from the masses and going to the masses—in a vivid and lively manner, comparing cadres who are detached from the masses to suffering from aphasia. Behind language lies emotion, thought, knowledge, and accomplishment; having an empty mind, putting on high-and-mighty airs, being seriously detached from the masses, and only knowing how to flatter in official circles—these are things leading cadres should discard and detest deeply. Conversely, by comparing one’s heart to another’s and having hearts reflect each other, if one gives a true heart to the masses, the masses will respond with a true heart. Only by winning the true hearts of the masses can the Party’s series of policies and guidelines be better implemented, can Party members and cadres carry more weight in the hearts of the masses, and can the Party’s leadership be implemented more subtly and effectively. In the article Be a Close Friend to the Masses (Page 139), Comrade Xi Jinping explained the dialectical relationship between the macro-economy and the lights of people’s livelihoods from a delicate, profound, and nuanced angle, reaching the conclusion that “the interests of the masses are no small matter… we must shift the key concept of development to the Scientific Outlook on Development, and to being people-oriented.” To a certain extent, this clarified the problem of some Party members and cadres only focusing on GDP and not on actual people’s livelihood, echoing to a certain extent the guidelines of our country’s spiritual civilization, social civilization, and ecological civilization construction; it is a powerful guide for Communist Party members to serve the masses, educate the masses, and lead the masses. Furthermore, the viewpoints mentioned by Comrade Xi Jinping in short commentaries such as Adhere to the Scientific Outlook on Rights Protection, Working for the People Aims at the People, and The Voice of the Masses is the First Signal of Style Construction—namely: being people-oriented and safeguarding the fundamental interests of the masses; asking the people for their needs, asking the people for their plans, and asking the people for their feelings; and taking the needs of the masses as the primary requirement for style construction and placing livelihood issues in the first place—all possess extraordinary practical significance.

With his lively, vivid, and easily understood plain writing style, Comrade Xi Jinping has explained the numerous theoretical and practical requirements for governing Zhejiang Province time and again. Quoting copiously from many sources, using famous maxims from ancient and modern times, China and abroad, to support his arguments, he has undoubtedly enhanced the credibility and profundity of his assertions. He has deeply captured the essence of Chairman Mao’s writing style. Xi Jinping’s Zhejiang, China: A New Vision for Development is truly beneficial to read.

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