Quan Weiwei: Persist Over the Long Term to Consolidate the Embankment of the Central Eight-Point Regulations [1]
By Quan Weiwei
Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Eight-Point Regulations of the central leadership have acted as a single "chess piece" whose placement [1] has "revitalized the entire board" of Party building. "The embankment of the Eight-Point Regulations was built with great effort; we must cherish it immensely, constantly patrolling and inspecting it, and strengthening it with fresh soil," said General Secretary Xi Jinping in words that resonated with great force [2]. The transformation of ethos into established custom takes time; implementing the spirit of the Eight-Point Regulations is not a sprint, but a marathon. We must resolve issues one by one, hold the line at every critical juncture, and persist over the long term to strengthen the embankment of the Eight-Point Regulations.
The Eight-Point Regulations serve as both the entry point and the mobilization order for improving conduct. Entering the New Era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has tackled problems such as investigative research, office space, consumption of public funds, and extravagance and waste, addressing them item by item and treating them one by one. This has allowed the masses to see tangible results and changes, promoting a clean political ecosystem and a clear social atmosphere, thereby reshaping the Party's image in the hearts of the people. A 2024 survey by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that 94.9% of respondents affirmed the effectiveness of the implementation of the spirit of the Eight-Point Regulations. While the achievements in conduct construction are obvious to all, the "Four Winds" are stubborn and recurrent; they are prone to taking on invisible mutations or staging a comeback. For example, some chronic maladies of conduct have rebranded themselves, hiding in "thickets of green reeds" [3] or using "blindfold tricks" [4], becoming "buffer zones" between officials and the masses and "stumbling blocks" to high-quality development. At this critical juncture of securing victory for the "14th Five-Year Plan," Party members and cadres must focus on the theme, emphasize practical results, and integrally promote "learning, inspecting, and reforming" to ensure that learning is of high quality, inspection is forceful, and reform is effective.
"An inch of slackening in thought leads to a foot of dispersion in action." Implementing the spirit of the Eight-Point Regulations requires solid theoretical arming. Through various forms such as individual self-study and specialized seminars, we must deeply study and grasp Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, especially the General Secretary's important expositions on strengthening the Party's conduct construction. We must fully digest the spirit of the Eight-Point Regulations and its implementation rules to achieve genuine importance, vigilance, and consciousness in our thinking. We should innovate learning methods by combining them with Party history—from the Yan'an Rectification Movement [5] to conduct construction in the New Era—to grasp the hereditary "spiritual code"; by combining them with case studies to distinguish right from wrong through the analysis of typical problems like illegal dining and drinking; and by combining them with specific roles to identify risk points for violating the Eight-Point Regulations in different fields. Only by integrating the spirit of the Eight-Point Regulations into daily life and internalizing it as a value pursuit—always keeping the "mental string" taut and reciting the "Tightening Hoop Incantation" [6]—can one maintain composure in the face of temptation and hold the bottom line in the face of interests.
The degeneration of a Party member or cadre’s lifestyle often begins with seemingly small matters such as eating and drinking. "An embankment collapses from ant-holes; energy leaks through a needle's eye" [7]—this ancient proverb emphasizes the importance of nipping problems in the bud. Comrade Xi Jinping once wrote in Zhijiang Xinyu [8]: "Small matters and minor details are a mirror that can reflect a person's character and conduct." Party members and cadres must strictly measure themselves against the spirit of the Eight-Point Regulations, deeply understand the dialectical relationship between the "small" and the "large," and take the initiative to "look in the mirror" for self-inspection. Party organizations at all levels must fully utilize various channels such as disciplinary inspection and supervision, inspections and roving inspections [9], audit supervision, and public whistleblowing for "carpet-style" patrols. We must identify overt problems such as illegal dining, traveling on public funds, and disguised gift-giving, while also focusing on "invisible mutations" like formalism and bureaucratism, discovering "ant-holes" and "fly nests" [10] at their source to prevent "small problems" from turning into "large craters."
Those skilled at eliminating harm observe the root; those skilled at curing illness cut off the source. Regarding the problems identified, we must persist in resolving whatever problems exist and focus on rectifying whatever problems are prominent. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must exert great effort to solve the Four Winds; we cannot start with a tiger’s head and end with a snake’s tail [11], we cannot create 'half-finished projects,' and even less can we engage in formalism or just go through the motions." This requires us to aim at the bullseye of the problems, emphasizing the connection between "immediate reform" and "long-term establishment." By targeting the root causes of problems and improving relevant systems and regulations, we can prevent problems from rebounding. Through formulating quantitative lists for reform, opening the door to the masses for reform, and tracking effectiveness in a closed-loop reform process, we will resolutely stop the winds of greed and corruption, the air of bureaucratic arrogance, and the atmosphere of lethargy. We must actively accept the supervision and judgment of the masses, promoting genuine and substantive reform, and truly measuring the "gold content" of our rectification by the "volume of praise" from the people.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The Eight-Point Regulations are not a rule for five or ten years, but a long-term, effective iron rule and hard benchmark." On the new journey, facing various risks and challenges, strengthening the Party's conduct construction is particularly important. Party members and cadres must, through the deep implementation of education on the Eight-Point Regulations, think while learning, reform while inspecting, and progress while reforming. With tempered conduct, we shall invigorate our spirit, rouse our fighting will, establish a good image, and win the hearts of the people, thereby driving the implementation of the Party Central Committee's various decisions and ensuring that Chinese-path modernization moves forward steadily and reaches far.