China on track of national rejuvenation as CPC celebrates its centennial
The CPC on July 1 celebrates its centennial at the Tian’anmen Square in Beijing. Photo: XINHUA
The Communist Party of China (CPC) on July 1 celebrated the 100th anniversary of its founding, as its top leader declared the achievement of a milestone development goal and announced that the Chinese nation is “advancing with unstoppable momentum toward rejuvenation.”
Addressing a grand gathering at the iconic Tian’anmen Square, where Mao Zedong proclaimed the birth of the people’s republic, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, hailed the Party’s success over the past century and called on the whole Party to continue its hard work and continue the “great struggle” to achieve national rejuvenation.
Xi delivered a nationally-televised speech from Tian’anmen Rostrum before a 70,000-strong crowd. The historic event was also accompanied by a chorus of Party songs, a flypast of fighter jets and helicopters, a 100-gun salute, and a flag-raising ceremony.
Xi, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, declared that China has realized the first centenary goal of “building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.”
“This means that we have brought about a historic resolution to the problem of absolute poverty in China, and we are now marching in confident strides toward the second centenary goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects,” Xi said.
100-year achievements
Fang Jun, editor-in-chief of Social Sciences in China Press, said that Xi’s important speech is a magnificent summary of the CPC’s 100-year struggle, a heroic declaration of a new journey towards making China a great modern socialist country in every dimension, a solemn mobilization for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and an epoch-making document of Marxism in the 21st century.
Xi’s important speech has demonstrated to the world the “triple” power behind the century-old CPC’s achievements, namely the Party’s strong continuity, its power to unite, and power to organize with cohesive administrative capacity, said Zhang Zhongjia, secretary of the leading Party members’ group at the Hubei Academy of Social Sciences.
The CPC has always been committed to its fundamental purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly. The Party’s original aspiration and mission is to seek happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation, said Quan Heng, full-time vice president of the Shanghai Federation of Social Science Associations.
Because of this, the Party has led the people across the country in their continuous struggle, Quan noted. After achieving a series of goals, such as eradicating absolute poverty and completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the Party continues to adhere to the people-centered philosophy of development.
“The people” is the key word highlighted by Xi in his speech. Chen Ligen, Party secretary of Nanjing Agricultural University, said that the Party’s century-old history has answered the fundamental question of “for whom do we build the Party and exercise governance.”
Toward second centenary goal
Today’s international economic, technological, cultural, security, and political landscapes are undergoing profound and complex changes, and the world has entered a period of turbulent change, said Zhong Ying, a research fellow from the Institute of Contemporary China Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
“For a considerable period of time in the future, we need to have a clear understanding of such external circumstances, and actively respond to various risks and challenges brought about by changes in international circumstances,” Zhong said.
Looking to the new development stage, it is vital to solve the prominent problems of the country’s unbalanced and insufficient development, and promote high-quality development. This would be difficult to achieve if it were only driven by such factors as labor, capital, land, and natural resources, Zhong said. Structural institutional reforms and technological innovation are necessary to realize the transformation from factor-driven to efficiency-driven and innovation-driven development, truly improving efficiency and stimulating innovation.
“It is especially important to promote technological self-reliance, focus on improving the modernization level of our country’s industrial chain, and maintain its stability,” said Zhong.
To accelerate the construction of an innovative country, Lin Zhongqin, president of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, suggested that universities should embrace their roles as national strategic scientific and technological forces and actively respond to national needs. They need to make use of their advantages in deepening basic research and interdisciplinary integration, and facilitate major breakthroughs in original innovation in the field of basic research, while capturing numerous key, core technologies to help eliminate obstacles restricting national development.
It is also important to transfer and transform scientific and technological achievements more effectively, and to apply achievements from universities and other scientific research institutes to production practices. In addition, Lin suggested strengthening high-level talent’s independent training.
“On the new journey, we must hold high the banner of peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefit, and adhere to the path of peaceful development,” said Fan Liming, president of Shandong University.
Fan also suggested promoting the building of a community of shared future for mankind, and the high-quality development of the Belt and Road, thus providing new opportunities for the world through China’s development.
Edited by JIANG HONG