Chen Chaofan: Living "Tight Days" [1] is to Ensure "Good Days" for the People
As the entire Party engages in deep study and education on the implementation of the Spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulations, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council have issued the revised Regulations on Practicing Strict Economy and Opposing Waste in Party and Government Organs (hereinafter referred to as the Regulations). This document not only further tightens the "institutional bolts" [1] for Party and government organs to take the lead in leading a tight life (过紧日子), but also clearly establishes a goal-orientation of "freeing up more funds for the requirements of development and the expectations of the people." This demonstrates our Party’s consistent adherence to the people-centered philosophy of development. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "The Party and the government take the lead in leading a tight life for the purpose of ensuring the common people lead a good life; this is determined by the purpose and nature of our Party." Grasping the study and implementation of the Regulations is of great significance for thoroughly implementing the Spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulations and continuously deepening the rectification of the Four Winds.
Hard work and plain living (艰苦奋斗), along with diligence and frugality, have been important guarantees for our Party’s journey and its growth. During the years of revolutionary war, the older generation of revolutionaries lived, ate, and worked alongside the masses, winning their support and endorsement through the "Yan'an Style" [2]. After the founding of New China, when the state was faced with a thousand things waiting to be done [3], Comrade Mao Zedong proposed: To make our country prosperous and strong requires decades of hard work and plain living, which includes implementing the policy of building the country through diligence and frugality by practicing strict economy and opposing waste. As reform and opening up progressed, and our country’s economy and society developed rapidly, Comrade Deng Xiaoping pointed out that the more our country develops, the more we must grasp the spirit of arduous entrepreneurship. Entering the New Era, General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized the need to forever maintain the true colors of hard work and plain living, noting that "whether we can persist in the spirit of hard work and plain living is a major matter concerning the success or failure of the cause of the Party and the people."
The CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core began its work by formulating and introducing the Central Eight-Point Regulations to "break the deadlock and establish credibility" [4]. In 2013, the Regulations on Practicing Strict Economy and Opposing Waste in Party and Government Organs were issued, providing comprehensive norms for the management of expenditures, domestic travel, temporary official trips abroad, official receptions, official vehicles, meetings and activities, office space, and resource conservation. It vigorously rectified phenomena such as "waste on the tip of the tongue" [5], "extravagance on wheels," and the "luxury of office buildings and halls." This built a dam of intra-Party regulations to practice strict economy and oppose waste, drew an institutional "red line" for those prone to luxury and waste, halted certain trends of extravagance once thought impossible to stop, and overcame persistent ailments that had become commonplace. This won the heartfelt support of the masses. It can be said that leading a "tight life" is an important "magic weapon" [6] for our Party to maintain its flesh-and-blood ties with the masses and to continuously achieve one victory after another.
Hard work and plain living, along with diligence and frugality, are also important guarantees for our Party to carry forward the cause and forge ahead into the future. Through long-term hard struggle, our Party has led the people in creating the "two miracles" of rapid economic development and long-term social stability, historically solving the problem of absolute poverty and achieving a historic leap in the people’s standard of living. Consequently, some believe that speaking of hard work and plain living today is somewhat outdated. It must be recognized, however, that the basic national condition—that our country is in and will long remain in the primary stage of socialism—has not changed, and the problem of unbalanced and inadequate development remains prominent. On the new journey of comprehensively promoting the construction of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation through Chinese-path modernization, we will still face various foreseeable and unforeseeable risks and challenges. Only by further carrying forward the fine style of hard work, plain living, diligence, and frugality can we effectively improve our capacity and quality in our endeavors and withstand various tests. Questions of "conduct" (作风) are stubborn and prone to recurrence; currently, some Party and government organs still exhibit varying degrees of extravagance and waste, and "Four Winds" issues in invisible or mutated forms occur from time to time. Mandatory constraints are needed to provide a guarantee for practicing strict economy and opposing waste in Party and government organs. The requirement to lead a tight life must be implemented to further reduce the costs of official activities, allowing more funds to be used for the requirements of development and the expectations of the people.
First, practicing careful calculation in daily life. China has become the world’s second-largest economy, yet it remains the world’s largest developing country. In recent years, downward economic pressure has increased, the government’s "purse" is not loose, and it must become a normalcy for Party and government organs to take the lead in leading a tight life. We must persist in diligence and frugality in all undertakings, strictly implement the Regulations in conjunction with the Spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulations, build "conservation-oriented organs," and make "careful calculation" a habit of thought and "strict economy" a conscious behavior. It must also be seen that leading a tight life is not the same as leading a "bitter life," and it must not come at the cost of sacrificing the quality of work or service levels. The key is to change the traditional model of relying on high input, resource intensity, and high consumption. We must empower high-quality development with science and technology, integrating modern technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence into various tasks to modernize the governance system and capacity. This will effectively reduce administrative operating costs while improving work efficiency and service quality.
Second, improving people’s livelihoods and increasing well-being. "The way to enrich the state lies in economizing expenditure to benefit the people" [7]. For every cent saved by Party and government organs, an additional cent can be invested in the field of people’s livelihoods, concentrating limited fiscal funds on doing practical things for the benefit of the people. In 2025, the central-level budget for "Three Public" expenses [8] decreased by 3.32% compared to 2024, while central-to-local transfer payments grew by 8.4% on the same basis, further reinforcing the "three guarantees" [9] at the primary level. To better advance our work, we must always adhere to the people-centered philosophy of development, do everything possible to reduce unnecessary expenditures, resolutely halt the perverse trend of extravagance and waste, and accurately "drip-irrigate" [10] the saved "real gold and silver" into livelihood areas such as education, healthcare, elderly care, childcare, employment, and environmental protection, continuously enhancing the people's sense of gain, happiness, and security.
Third, improving institutions to promote long-term effectiveness. Institutions are fundamental, global, stable, and long-term issues relating to the development of the Party and the state. Many problems appear to be issues of "social atmosphere," but deep analysis reveals they are often caused by institutional deficiencies or poor implementation. Only by tightening the "cage" of institutions and putting discipline and rules at the forefront can we build a solid "dam" of conduct and ensure the people lead an increasingly better life. We must persist in combining the construction of work style with institutional construction. Based on actual conditions, we must promptly revise and improve supporting details regarding expenditure management, meetings, office space, and resource conservation, strengthening the links between various systems to form a scientific, standardized, vertically integrated, and efficient institutional system. Discipline inspection and supervision organs must strengthen supervision, discipline enforcement, and accountability, addressing Party spirit, work style, and Party discipline together. We must improve mechanisms for the simultaneous investigation and treatment of misconduct and corruption, severely punish "Four Winds" issues that violate discipline in the face of prohibitions or appear in mutated forms, and resolve the malaise of waste and extravagance through institutional rigidity, thereby promoting strict economy and opposing waste.
(The author is a special researcher at the Fujian Provincial Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and Dean of the School of Discipline Inspection and Supervision at Fujian Normal University.)
Source: Economic Daily, July 2, 2025, Page 10. Online Editor: Tong Xin