SANG Xuecheng and XU Jiang: Persisting Over the Long Term in Following Through with the Spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulations
General Secretary Xi Jinping, while presiding over the 21st collective study session of the Political Bureau of the 20th CPC Central Committee, emphasized: "Self-revolution is our Party’s second answer to escaping the historical cycle of rise and fall [1], and advancing comprehensively and strictly governing the Party by starting with conduct is an important experience of the Party’s self-revolution in the New Era." Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core began its breakthrough by formulating and implementing the Central Eight-Point Regulations. With the "spirit of driving a nail" [2], they corrected the "Four Winds." The magnitude of this rectification, the rigor of institutional execution, and the duration of the persistence are unprecedented, promoting a complete renewal of the Party’s conduct, government conduct, and social atmosphere, thereby winning the trust and support of the people. The ongoing study and education campaign throughout the Party to deeply implement the spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulations is an important measure to persistently implement those regulations and to promote the normalization and long-term effectiveness of conduct building. This will surely provide a strong guarantee for further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese-path modernization.
1. The Central Eight-Point Regulations as the entry point and mobilization order for improving conduct in the New Era
At the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the 18th CPC Central Committee with Chinese and foreign journalists, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Under the new situation, our Party faces many severe challenges, and there are many urgent problems within the Party that must be solved. In particular, problems such as corruption, detachment from the masses, formalism, and bureaucratism occurring among some Party members and cadres must be resolved with great effort. The whole Party must be alerted." After the 18th National Congress, facing various problems and malpractices within the Party, how should the Party manage the Party? How should "strictly governing" be applied to comprehensively and strictly governing the Party? Where should we start? The CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core decided that Party building should start with conduct building, and conduct building should begin by formulating and implementing the Central Eight-Point Regulations. This successfully solved the problem of "a tiger attacking the sky with no place to bite" [3], taking a crucial step in the revolutionary forging of the entire Party. General Secretary Xi Jinping has made a series of important expositions on strengthening the Party's conduct building, scientifically answering what to grasp and how to grasp it under the new situation. This has greatly deepened our Party’s regular understanding of conduct building, promoting ideological clarity and unity, political firmness and solidarity, powerful consistency in action, and a clean and upright atmosphere in conduct across the entire Party.
The key to whether the Central Eight-Point Regulations achieve practical results lies in whether they can be effectively implemented. Since the 18th National Congress, the CPC Central Committee has always adhered to zero tolerance, treating the Central Eight-Point Regulations as iron rules and hard benchmarks. It has seriously investigated and handled "Four Winds" problems that defy discipline or take on invisible and mutated forms, urging Party members and cadres to resolutely oppose "special privilege" mentality and phenomena, and to firmly establish a correct outlook on power, performance, and career. Using the Central Eight-Point Regulations as an entry point and mobilization order, a series of practical and tough moves targeting the ills of conduct have been frequently launched, and a combination of punches aimed at conduct building has achieved unprecedented results. The formulation and implementation of the Central Eight-Point Regulations serves as the Party’s act of "moving the pole to establish trust" [4] in the New Era, using a small entry point to leverage the grand transformation of comprehensively and strictly governing the Party. It has achieved the effect of "one piece placed on the board, and the whole game of conduct building comes alive." The Central Eight-Point Regulations have become a "golden business card" for the Party’s self-construction in the New Era. A 2024 National Bureau of Statistics survey showed that 94.9% of the surveyed masses affirmed the results of the implementation of the spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulations. This public opinion vividly illustrates the deep foundation upon which our Party wins the trust and support of the people.
Since the New Era began, the Central Eight-Point Regulations have been continuously refined and redeployed, releasing a strong signal of consistency and thoroughness. Important meetings such as the annual Plenary Sessions of the Central Committee, Plenary Sessions of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, and the Democratic Life Meetings [5] of the Political Bureau all include the implementation of the spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulations and the strengthening of conduct building as core content. Every concentrated intra-Party study and education campaign since the 18th National Congress has taken improving work style and maintaining close ties with the masses as important content. Strengthening the Party's conduct building and implementing the spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulations has moved from the surface to the interior, consolidating the foundation and cultivating the essence [6], guiding Party organizations, members, and cadres at all levels to internalize the spirit in the mind and externalize it in action. At the same time, we must give full play to the comprehensive effects of punishment and deterrence, supervision and restraint, institutional regulation, and educational guidance. This creates a powerful synergy combining heteronomy [7] and self-discipline, constructing a mechanism for the normalization and long-term effectiveness of conduct building, laying a solid foundation for "the Eight-Point Regulations changing China."
2. Basic methods for implementing the spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulations and deepening conduct building
Persistence in the unification of problem-orientation and goal-orientation. The goal is the compass; the problem is the breakthrough point. Since the 18th National Congress, the CPC Central Committee has adhered to a problem-oriented approach, starting Party governance by improving work conduct and maintaining close ties with the masses, grasping the primary contradiction [8] and the main aspect of the contradiction in conduct building. For more than a decade, the CPC Central Committee has held fast to conduct issues, concentrating energy and focusing on key nodes, showing consistency and deepening step-by-step. By focusing on the "Four Winds" and targeting "waste on the tip of the tongue" [9], "corruption on wheels" [10], and "unhealthy trends in private clubs," the rectification of conduct began with details and focused on practical results. It has consistently "cleared the turbid and promoted the clear" [11] and "supported the upright and dispelled the evil," stopping unhealthy trends that had not been stopped for a long time and correcting chronic ailments that had not been removed for years, leading social and folk customs with excellent Party conduct.
Persistence in the unification of a rigorous tone and practical requirements. The Central Eight-Point Regulations are the first important intra-Party regulation formulated in the New Era, with "rigor" (严) running through the entire process and all aspects of their formulation and implementation. In formulating these regulations, the guiding ideology was strict requirements, reflecting the Party managing the Party and comprehensively and strictly governing the Party. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "A regulation is a regulation; we did not add the word 'trial' [12], precisely to demonstrate a resolute attitude and show that this regulation is rigid." After the 19th and 20th National Congresses, in response to new situations and problems, the CPC Central Committee revised the implementation details of the Central Eight-Point Regulations twice, further standardizing, refining, and improving the implementation of the regulations and the promotion of conduct building. The Central Eight-Point Regulations focus on prominent problems in conduct, such as improving investigation and research, streamlining meetings and activities, streamlining documents and briefings, standardizing foreign visits, improving security work, improving news reports, strictly regulating the publication of manuscripts, and practicing diligence and thrift. Each regulation has a clear and specific target, reflecting the method of "starting with the fine and small to see the large" [13], enhancing the accessibility of the spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulations and the people's sense of gain from the achievements of conduct building.
Persistence in the unification of grasping the "key minority" and managing the "vast majority." Atmosphere is formed at the top and transformed into custom below. By grasping the "key minority" of leading cadres, one grasps the "ox's nose" [14] of Party governance. The reason the Central Eight-Point Regulations have been so effective is the "pivotal role" played by the "key minority." The regulations explicitly state that they must start with the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, requiring that what they ask others to do, they must do first, and what they ask others not to do, they must resolutely refrain from. The CPC Central Committee took the lead, strictly implemented the Central Eight-Point Regulations, and set a benchmark and example for the whole Party through practical actions. Simultaneously, the "key minority" drove the "vast majority," leading conduct building in the New Era to form a vivid situation of transmission through all levels and participation by the whole Party, creating a powerful momentum of the top leading and the bottom following.
Persistence in the unification of addressing symptoms and addressing root causes. Governance values persistence and must be constant. We must not only urge Party members and cadres "not to commit a wrong just because it is small," but also continue to work hard on constancy, longevity, rigor, practicality, depth, and detail. We must grasp the regional, industrial, and developmental characteristics of conduct building, focus on problems that occur commonly and repeatedly, and integrate the rectification of conduct and discipline with deepening reform, improving institutions, and promoting governance. We should sound a mechanism for "simultaneous investigation and treatment of conduct and corruption" (风腐同查同治), using "simultaneous investigation" to punish intertwined problems and "simultaneous treatment" to eradicate common root causes, blocking the evolution from conduct lapses to corruption. This ensures habits are managed, results are achieved, and conduct becomes custom, continuously advancing the Party's self-revolution through "discarding the old to establish the new" and "upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground."
3. Continuously leading conduct building to greater depths
To solidly carry out study and education for the implementation of the spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulations, we must seriously study and comprehend General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on strengthening the Party's conduct building. These expositions profoundly reveal the strategic significance of conduct building in the New Era, clarify its core essence, and propose the path for implementation. They provide a sharp ideological weapon and fundamental guidance for this campaign. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The formulation and implementation of the Central Eight-Point Regulations is our Party’s act of 'moving the pole to establish trust' in the New Era. We must persist over the long term; if ten years is not enough, then twenty; if twenty is not enough, then thirty, until it truly becomes custom, with fine Party conduct leading social and folk customs." Becoming custom (化风成俗) is the direction for improving conduct in the New Era; it is not the work of a single day, and the key lies in persisting over the long term. We must remember that the Central Eight-Point Regulations are long-term iron rules and hard benchmarks. We must accurately grasp the laws, characteristics, and requirements of fighting the "Four Winds" under the new situation, focus on prominent problems and key nodes, and never loosen for a moment or retreat half a step, continuously leading conduct building to greater depths.
We must firmly grasp the three key links of "study, investigation, and rectification" to ensure quality in study, strength in investigation, and effectiveness in rectification. Only by studying deeply and understanding thoroughly can one draw a red line in thought, define boundaries in action, and make compliance with the spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulations a habit. Only with the courage and determination of "turning the blade inward" [15] can we discover real problems. "Small matters" of conduct may seem "painless," but if left unchecked, they easily spread and become chronic diseases. Improving conduct must adhere to a rigorous tone, reflecting requirements accurately in all specific work. We must resolutely handle violations of discipline and law, increase the intensity of simultaneous investigation of conduct and corruption, turn the hard requirements of Party conduct and discipline into hard measures, and give the "iron rules" "iron teeth." This sends a signal to the whole Party of rigor to the end and no concessions, creating a deterrent effect.
To persistently implement the spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulations, we must deepen the reform of the Party building system and perfect the institutional mechanisms for preventing formalism and bureaucratism. In response to common problems and new phenomena, we must improve relevant regulations and details. To solve the "Four Winds," we must grasp the primary contradiction and the main aspect of the contradiction, focusing on whichever problem is most prominent and urgent. We must combine "rectification for the present" with "establishment for the long term," immediately correcting prominent problems while finding causes and plugging loopholes in the institutional mechanism. We will continuously transform the practical results of correcting the "Four Winds" into institutional norms, improve work mechanisms, optimize supervision methods, and mend institutional weaknesses, highlighting the firm determination to deepen the implementation of the spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulations with normalcy and long-term effectiveness.
(Authors: Sang Xuecheng and Xu Jiang are, respectively, Special Researcher at the Jiangsu Provincial Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era / Dean of the Jiangsu Party Building Research Institute, and Professor at the Party School of the CPC Jiangsu Provincial Committee) Source: Guangming Daily, July 8, 2025, Page 6.