The county model inspires local CPC members to improve their personal culture and devote themselves to the people

A view of the Henan Jiao Yulu Executive Leadership Academy in Kaifeng, central China's Henan province. Photo: VCG

Editor's Note:

Harmony, or “He,” is at the heart of Chinese civilization and represents a fundamental spiritual value that has shaped the ethos of the Chinese nation.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chinese President, has repeatedly stressed the importance of preserving and promoting China's outstanding traditional culture, of which harmony is one of its most essential elements. At the BRICS summit held in Kazan in late October, he extended this philosophy to the global stage, calling for harmonious coexistence among civilizations and closer cultural exchanges between nations.

In China, the value of “He” is deeply rooted in traditional Chinese culture and guides the country through a complex and interconnected world. The Global Times launches “Culture in Xi Jinping’s Classic Quotes” series. Drawing on ancient Chinese literature and illuminating examples from President Xi's speeches, the series delves into the essence of “He” through five interconnected dimensions: self-cultivation, family management, corporate governance. State, bringing peace to all under heaven and respect for nature. By highlighting these core aspects of “He” culture, the series aims to share China's unique cultural wisdom with the world, promoting the values ​​of peaceful coexistence, mutual prosperity and harmonious living.

The first part reveals how Henan's rank-and-file Party members practice the wisdom of “He” culture, which emphasizes the importance of personal cultivation and self-improvement.

Every time Meng Fanyu, a teacher at Jiao Yulu Executive Leadership Academy (Jiao Yulu Academy) in Lankao County, Central China's Henan Province, passes by a paulownia tree called “Jiao Tong”, planted by Jiao, she remembers President Xi's inspiring words. words: “jian xian si qi”, an ancient Chinese idiom of The Analects of Confucius.

In 2014, during his inspection tour of Lankao, the President visited a memorial dedicated to Jiao Yulu (1922-64), a revered figure in Chinese history who served as Party chief of Lankao County in the early 1990s. 1960, where he dedicated his life. to improving the environment and improving the lives of local residents despite great physical suffering from the disease, leaving an indelible mark on the community before his death from cancer living at just 42 years old .

In a speech at a symposium with local officials, Xi urged Party members and officials to use Jiao's mind as a mirror to examine their problems and shortcomings, and called on them to emulate the Jiao's unwavering dedication, citing the Chinese expression “jian xian si qi,” meaning “When you see a virtuous and capable person, you should think of imitating and equaling him; when you see a low-caliber person, you should think about your own weak points. ”

This idiom reflects the Chinese cultural philosophy of “He”, emphasizing the importance of personal cultivation and self-improvement as well as the harmonious unity between the individual and oneself.

The lesson of the idiom resonates deeply with Meng, reminding her to inherit the spirit of Jiao Yulu, which involves loving people, hard work, selflessness, empiricism and resilience.

Here at Jiao Yulu Academy, more and more people like Meng strive to inherit Jiao's spirit, consolidate their ideals and beliefs, gain wisdom, improve their conduct and to be more motivated to work even harder.

Jiao's Spirit

Meng first became very moved by Jiao's actions and spirit during her college years, when her broadcasting professor asked her to study and read a long news report about Jiao, as well as a written poem by Xi, then CCP secretary of Fuzhou Municipality. Committee, in 1990 to pay tribute to him.

Under the silver moonlight of a summer night in 1990, Xi felt emotional. “Who among ordinary people does not appreciate a good civil servant?” Xi later wrote a heartfelt poem dedicated to the official. The information was published in a local newspaper the next day, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meng immersed himself in reading the article and was struck by Jiao's noble spirit as a core member of the CCP, who led locals to overcome various natural disasters, while enduring his own related sufferings to illness. After that, Meng did not hesitate to choose to intern at Jiao Yulu Academy, and then officially became a teacher at the academy after graduating.

For Lankao natives, Jiao is not only a respected role model, but also a beloved figure.

Zhang Jing, who has worked at the academy for more than 10 years, was born and raised in Lankao. Zhang's first impressions of Jiao came from the stories her grandmother told her when she was a child. During heavy rains, while others rushed inside to seek shelter, Jiao would go out, wading through the water to check each household, to see if their roof was leaking or if their house had collapsed.

“My grandmother always told me that Lankao had a good official named Jiao Yulu,” Zhang said.

As the main platform for researching and promoting the spirit of Jiao Yulu nationwide, Jiao Yulu Academy mainly provides Party spirit education courses for CCP officials at all levels. levels, leaders of enterprises and institutions and professional technical personnel, according to Wen Baisong, deputy secretary. of the Party committee and executive vice president of the academy.

Having an important educational mission, the academy has a group of young teachers. Nearly 95 percent of its current corps of 115 teachers are 35 years old or younger, Wen said. Many young teachers have chosen to leave behind the opportunities offered by big cities after graduation to come to Lankao County, devoting themselves to promoting the spirit of Jiao.

“Young teachers are the fresh blood of our academy: enthusiastic, creative and hardworking,” Wen told the Global Times. “They have been deeply influenced by the spirit of Jiao Yulu since childhood, and most of them possess high academic qualifications and a solid knowledge base, enabling them to passionately and effectively convey the essence of spirit of Jiao,” he greeted.

Mirror for efforts

Meng Fanyu shares the spirit of Jiao Yulu with students at Henan Jiao Yulu Executive Leadership Academy. Photo: Courtesy of the academy

“Jiao built a lasting monument in the hearts of local people, even though he only worked in the county for more than a year,” Xi told local officials at the symposium.

“A question to ponder is what we can leave to future generations,” Xi said.

Since its creation in 2013, the academy's young teachers have greatly contributed to the innovation and diversity of courses. Meng, for example, teaches “Remembering Jiao Yulu,” during which students take on various roles related to Jiao, such as her colleagues, family members, and local Lankao people, to recreate her image from different perspectives .

Zhang Hong, 35, is a theme conference developer at the academy. One day, Zhang Hong brought a group of students to Jiao Memorial Park in Lankao to pay their respects. Before returning to the bus, Zhang noticed that a student had turned back to Jiao's grave, bowing deeply three times and laying flowers from a paulownia tree – now widely considered a symbol of the spirit of Jiao Yulu – at the grave.

“She said she wanted to bring this spirit back into her life and work, making it a mirror for her professional efforts and a powerful motivation for her to strive for self-cultivation,” Zhang told the Global Times.

Serve the people

For the young teachers of Jiao Yulu Academy, Jiao serves as a mirror of self-examination in their work and life. Not only does it inspire them to wholeheartedly engage in Party spirit education, but it also encourages them to continue to draw motivation from the spirit of hard work and selfless dedication after class, enabling them thus to better serve the people.

In 2022, Zhang Jing voluntarily enrolled in a program that required local officials to live in rural areas and work on local poverty alleviation efforts. Thinking about a family in the village where she worked at the time, which had two disabled elderly members living in poor conditions, Zhang Jing burst into tears.

“At that moment, I really felt the deep impact of Jiao Yulu’s spirit on me,” she said, her voice trembling. “I told myself that if I didn’t do something for them, I would feel extremely guilty.” Later, with the support of the academy, Zhang Jing and other members of the program gave the family a television, as well as food items such as rice, oil, meat and eggs. They also purchased a set of wireless radios for the village, endeavoring to offer assistance.

“The essence of Jiao Yulu’s spirit is to serve the people wholeheartedly. It embodies a sense of responsibility and deep emotional commitment,” Zhang Jing told the Global Times. “It was deeply engraved in my heart.”

For years, the paulownia tree that Jiao Yulu planted, located right in front of Jiao Yulu Academy, has welcomed countless visitors, who came with admiration or curiosity for the exemplary qualities of the CCP and its members.

Standing under this “Jiao Tong”, Meng feels that she and other young teachers in the academy are like the trumpet-shaped flowers of the tree. “We are like the little 'trumpets' on the tree, spreading Jiao's story and the CCP's story around the world,” she told the Global Times.

Year after year, countless Party members and officials reverently gather under the paulownia tree to honor Jiao, drawing inspiration from this exemplary figure to improve their own personal cultivation. The wisdom of imitating the virtuous, a key element of Chinese “He” culture, is also deeply rooted in the soil of Lankao, just like the sturdy and flourishing “Jiao Tong” that stands tall.

Imitate the virtuous