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A clean and upright political environment is fundamental to the vitality and prosperous development of a country, a nation, and a political party. Following the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2012, the Central Committee, with Xi Jinping at its core, prioritized the formulation and implementation of the central leadership’s Eight-Point Rule as a key measure to improve Party conduct. In a spirit of thorough self-reform, the CPC has worked hard to eliminate unhealthy tendencies, resolve longstanding problems, and address deeply entrenched issues. This has led to a sweeping renewal of the Party’s conduct and government style, while also helping to steadily foster a positive social ethos and public morale. This transformation in Party conduct has resulted in greater trust and support among the people, providing a vital foundation to ensure China keeps advancing, like a great ship forging ahead through the waves.

The Eight-Point Rule: initiating a transformation in conduct to eliminate corruption and promote integrity

Since its founding in 1921, the CPC has attached great importance to the cultivation of its conduct. Throughout all the pivotal periods in its history—the tumultuous years of revolutionary war, the dynamic period of socialist revolution and construction, and the drive for steady progress during reform and opening up—it has always regarded good conduct as a crucial factor in winning the trust of the people and ensuring the development of its cause. Over the past century and more, the CPC has united and led the people in continuously striving forward, enabling the Chinese nation to achieve a great transformation from standing up to growing prosperous and strong. This monumental change represents not only a grand undertaking by the Party to transform society but also a great project of its self-transformation.

On December 4, 2012, the Political Bureau of the 18th Central Committee reviewed and approved the central Party leadership’s Eight-Point Rule on improving Party conduct and maintaining close ties with the people. In just over 600 words, this rule sets firm rules and strict requirements for strengthening Party conduct across eight key areas, including enhancing research and investigations, streamlining meetings and activities, simplifying documents and reports, and regulating official visits. As the first major Party regulation of the new era, it clearly defined the focus and methods for conduct improvement, serving as a key entry point and a powerful rallying call for the Party’s ongoing efforts in this regard.

Among the items on display in an online exhibition hosted by the National Museum of China, a dinner menu from General Secretary Xi Jinping’s late-2012 visit to Fuping, Hebei Province, catches the eye. The menu lists “four dishes and one soup”: braised free-range chicken, Fuping stewed vegetables, stir-fried pork belly with garlic shoots, crown daisy with smashed garlic, and winter melon meatball soup, along with simple daily staple foods, like dumplings, rice, steamed rolls, and multigrain porridge. This plain, home-style meal is a vivid reflection of the personal example set by General Secretary Xi in strictly following the central Party leadership’s Eight-Point Rule. Indeed, the General Secretary’s leadership through action and exemplary conduct has exerted a powerful impact, providing strong impetus for the entire Party to implement these rules.

Since the adoption of the Eight-Point Rule, Party conduct has seen a profound revitalization. Over the past 12 years, starting with formulating and enforcing the Eight-Point Rule, the CPC Central Committee led by Xi Jinping has made continuous efforts to strengthen Party discipline—from regulating extravagant mooncake gifts and greeting cards, managing holidays and off-duty time to emphasizing consistent daily discipline. These efforts have helped to curb long-standing unhealthy practices and address entrenched problems. Lax discipline and superficial work styles that once prevailed have become a thing of the past. Through this rigorous process of self-strengthening, the CPC has grown more resilient and effective, enabling it to historically seize the opportunity to reinforce its close ties with the people and win their wholehearted support, and to enhance Party-wide unity and solidarity and lead the people in moving toward national rejuvenation. This progress is evidenced by a 2024 survey by the National Bureau of Statistics, in which 94.9 percent of respondents expressed the view that the implementation of the Eight-Point Rule’s guidelines was effective.

The Chinese people genuinely feel that the Eight-Point Rule has changed the country. This heartfelt praise is a reflection of their trust and confidence in the CPC.

Conduct problems: fundamental issues of Party consciousness centered on the relationship between the Party and the people

The nature and purpose of the CPC are not only reflected in the Party Constitution as its fundamental charter, but also deeply embedded in the hearts and minds of its members and officials, and manifested in every detail of their conduct. As a reflection of the Party’s image and competence, our conduct embodies our Party consciousness, and our Party consciousness is decisive in shaping our conduct. To thoroughly implement the central Party leadership’s Eight-Point Rule, therefore, it is not enough to merely address the immediate issues of conduct. One must look deeper—beyond conduct to Party consciousness—and, while resolving conduct problems, also properly tackle questions of Party consciousness.

CPC officials deliver fertilizer and seeds to shorthanded farming households in Hualu Village, Renshou County, Sichuan Province, March 20, 2025. PEOPLE’S DAILY / PHOTO BY PENG YALING

Party consciousness, ultimately, is a matter of stance; and the people’s stance is the fundamental stance of the CPC. Upholding Party consciousness means upholding a people-centered approach, and in turn, this people-centered nature defines Party consciousness. As stated in the Resolution on the Organizational Charter of the Communist Party of China, adopted at the Second CPC National Congress, “Since ours is a party fighting for the proletariat, we should go among the masses.” In 1945, Mao Zedong emphasized in On Coalition Government that “every comrade must be brought to understand that the supreme test of the words and deeds of a Communist is whether they conform with the highest interests and enjoy the support of the overwhelming majority of the people.” The CPC came into being for the people, it thrives because of the people, and it has been always united with the people and fought for their interests. This principle serves as the fundamental starting point and ultimate goal for the CPC in its founding, strengthening, and rejuvenating itself.

A CPC official visits an enterprise in Zhanggong District, Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province, to assess how pro-business policies are being implemented, April 10, 2025. CPC officials across various regions are engaging with communities and residents to help resolve pressing issues. PEOPLE’S DAILY / PHOTO BY HU JIANGTAO

One appraisal of a Party member from a Party organization highlights the deep bond between the Party and the people. In the early 1940s, a Party organization wrote the following appraisal of Xi Zhongxun: “All the people of the Guanzhong region, regardless of age, know him and like him.” “One summer, when Xi Zhongxun was exhausted from traveling, he simply lay down to sleep on the kang (heated brick bed) of a local villager. His elderly host squatted beside him, watching over him kindly and shooing away the flies.” “When the people encounter difficulties, they say: Go find Zhongxun.” “Because of all this, Xi Zhongxun has become one of the precious leaders of the Party.”

There is a particular story about apples that highlights the strict discipline and good conduct of the CPC. During the Liaoshen Campaign in the late 1940s, the PLA soldiers were marching through the countryside of Jinzhou, where the apple trees were full of ripe fruits. Despite their thirst and hunger, not a single soldier picked an apple. Chairman Mao commented that not eating the apples was an act of nobility, while eating them would have been despicable. Xi Jinping has recounted this story on many occasions, emphasizing that even today, we must not take what belongs to the people.

Both Xi Zhongxun’s deeds and the aforementioned story about apples encapsulate Chinese Communists’ deep affection for the people as well as their good work conduct. In our efforts to improve work conduct, it is essential to focus on maintaining close ties with the people. A key objective of the initiative to increase awareness of the importance of implementing the central Party leadership’s Eight-Point Rule has been to remind all Party members that whatever the circumstances, we must always stand together with the people and share weal and woe with them, serve them wholeheartedly, adhere to the viewpoint of historical materialism that the people are the real heroes, and never stray from the mass line, which is both the lifeline of the Party and its fundamental approach to work. 

The people are the root of the CPC’s vitality, the foundation of its governance, and the source of its strength. At present, the CPC is leading the people in building a great country and advancing national rejuvenation through Chinese modernization. This is an unprecedented and groundbreaking endeavor. There is no doubt that we will face a great number of new challenges ahead; we will have to withstand high winds, choppy waters, and even dangerous storms. It is vital that the CPC maintains and carries forward its good work conduct and stands on the people’s side, empathizes with them, and works alongside them. Only in this way will it be able to pool the tremendous collective strength of more than 1.4 billion Chinese people to ensure we continue to forge ahead regardless of the hardships and dangers we face.

Pooling the will and strength for our endeavors through good work conduct

The new journey is an expedition that will be full of glories and aspirations. In this great endeavor, the key to making the central Party leadership’s Eight-Point Rule shine even brighter as our “golden calling card,” and to promoting the continuous improvement of the Party’s work conduct lies in the concrete actions of all Party organizations and members. It is these actions that will ensure we can achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

Improving work conduct while boosting Party consciousness 

To implement the principles of the Eight-Point Rule, it is essential to use the Party’s theoretical innovations to enhance cohesion and develop inner strength, fostering Communists’ “philosophy of mind.” All Party members must gain a thorough understanding of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and General Secretary Xi’s important statements on improving the Party’s style of work in particular. In doing so, we should draw nourishment for enhancing our Party consciousness, reinforcing our identity as Party members, and heightening our awareness of the Party’s purpose. We need to learn how to strike a balance between public and private interests, moral principle and material interests, right and wrong, personal connections and legal obligations, family relationships and personal integrity, frugality and extravagance, hardship and comfort, and gain and loss. We must ensure we keep in alignment with the CPC Central Committee in our thinking, political stance, and actions by eliminating problematic thinking, rectifying work styles, and improving behaviors, thus maintaining our true political character as Communists.

Upholding regulations and discipline while working in an enterprising spirit 

In our work, integrity and bold initiative are not contradictory; rather, are inherently inseparable. Party regulations and discipline serve to not only guide and constrain Party members and officials, but also protect and motivate them. They clearly define the boundaries that must not be crossed while also providing Party members and officials with standards on maintaining integrity and demonstrating enterprise. Improving Party conduct is not about micromanaging Party members and officials or making them overcautious. Rather, it is about clarifying our direction, setting clear standards, rectifying work styles, and building up our political immunity, so that we can create a clean and upright political environment within our Party, one that encourages our members to take action and initiative. Party officials, especially those in leading positions, must demonstrate both integrity and a sense of responsibility and be clean and diligent in work. This means that while firmly upholding standards of integrity and self-discipline, Party members and officials must also be enterprising, blaze new trails, and tackle difficulties head-on. When it comes to promoting high-quality development and tackling urgent, complex, dangerous, and critical tasks, Party members and officials need to step forward and take action. This is how we will continue to open up new horizons for the cause of our Party and our country.

Being accountable to the CPC Central Committee and to the people 

When implementing the Eight-Point Rule on improving work conduct, Party members and officials must thoroughly grasp the guiding principles set by the central Party leadership and align their thinking and actions with the decisions and plans of the Central Committee. At the same time, they must also remain accountable to the people and fully understand the actual conditions on the ground. To maintain the Party’s close ties with the people, they need to demonstrate genuine concern for the people when performing their duties and keep working to consolidate public support for the CPC’s governance.

Ensuring higher authorities lead by example while driving implementation at every level

The Eight-Point Rule on improving work conduct has driven sweeping changes in work conduct through focused and well-targeted measures, brought about a fundamental transformation in the self-governance of the Party, and enabled an important step forward in our endeavor to make the entire Party stronger through revolutionary tempering. The key to our success in this regard has been members of the Political Bureau and high-ranking leading officials taking the lead. Leading from the front is far more effective than issuing demands or pushing others to act. Shouting “Charge ahead” one thousand times is nowhere near as powerful as saying “Follow me” just once. This principle holds true across most situations when leaders set an example, others naturally follow. In implementing the Eight-Point Rule on improving work conduct, leading officials at all levels must therefore take the lead in aligning their thinking and actions with the Central Committee. With each level setting an example for the one below, we can create a powerful cascading effect for promoting excellent conduct throughout the Party.

Making regular and unremitting efforts, adhering to strict requirements and pursuing concrete outcomes

Improving work conduct constitutes a tough and protracted battle. We must make unremitting efforts over the long term to develop positive habits and produce concrete outcomes. With patience, persistence, and steely determination, our Party can undoubtedly leverage its exemplary conduct to boost morale, inspire fighting spirit, enhance popular support, and rally strength. In this way, the Party will never change its nature, its conviction, or its character, and always remain the strong leadership core of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. On the new journey ahead, the CPC will continue to create remarkable new achievements that win the respect and admiration of the world.

Zang Anmin is former Secretary General of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee and now Executive Council Member of the National Party Building Research Association.

(Originally appeared in Qiushi Journal, Chinese edition, No. 9, 2025)