Compassion for the people: working with selfless devotion so as not to let the people down
On the afternoon of March 22, 2019, Xi Jinping met with Roberto Fico, president of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. During the meeting, Fico asked, “How did you feel when you were elected as China’s president?” Xi replied, “Taking charge of such a large country is a heavy responsibility and a formidable task. I must work with selfless devotion so as not to let the people down. I am prepared to put my own needs aside and devote myself to China’s development.”
The hardest thing for people, let alone political parties, to achieve is remaining true to their original aspirations and staying the same at essence despite hardships and vicissitudes. Over 40 years, Xi Jinping has risen from?the ranks of Party branch secretary of a production team through?leadership positions at the village, county, prefectural, municipal, provincial, and central levels, ultimately becoming the paramount leader of this great country. Throughout this process, he has always kept the people close to his heart, thought of them constantly, fought for them, and remained their faithful servant.
During an interview with a Russian TV station in Sochi, Russia on February 7, 2014, Xi Jinping said, “My philosophy on governance can be summed up as follows: serving the people, and assuming the responsibilities that I ought to shoulder.”
As an old saying goes, “As vast as heaven and earth may be, the people must always come first.” Located in Yanchuan County, Shaanxi Province, in the heart of the Loess Plateau, there is a small village called Liangjiahe. In February 2015, Xi Jinping returned here to visit with local elders. During the visit, he said with deep emotion, “I once worked here as Party branch secretary of the production team. It was from then on that I became determined to do good for the people wherever I could.” Back then, one of the things he wished for most was to see the locals eat their fill of meat.
In various speeches and directives since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, there is one word to which Xi Jinping has attached the greatest weight and emphasis – that word is “people.” In his work to lead the people across the nation in shaking off poverty and chasing the dream of moderate prosperity over these last several years, Xi Jinping has crossed mountains, braved wind and snow, and endured scorching heat. In the mountains of Liangshan, he travelled along mountain paths visiting family after family on the way; at a village for people relocated for ecological reasons at the foot of the Qinba Mountains, he looked around every room at a local home and checked to see whether the traditional kang?bed-stove was warm; deep in the Taihang Mountains, he helped a poor household figure out their finances for getting out of poverty; in a worn out mud brick bungalow in the Liupan Mountains, he sipped at a ladle of water to check the water quality; and in the Wuling Mountains, he shook hands with an elderly man who continuously praised the Party’s policies. Speaking about impoverished people, Xi Jinping has said, “That their lives are beset by difficulties gives me a real sense of concern. Every improvement in their lives is a delight to see.” His genuine concern for the lives of the people is evident in his words and his manner.
Always making the people the greatest concern is not just the sincere sentiment that is always on Xi Jinping’s mind, but also an ardent expectation and clear requirement for the Party as a whole, and particularly for officials in leadership positions at all levels. Xi has stressed on multiple occasions that “Party officials at all levels are the people’s faithful servants,” and that, “The power in the hands of leading officials is endowed by the people, and may only be used in their interest.” To younger officials, he has offered the following advice: “Party officials must serve on behalf of ordinary people and consider themselves to be ordinary people rather than letting their authority turn them into overlords.”
