Zhang Xianfeng: Building a Comprehensive and Multi-level Cultivation System for a Culture of Integrity
An upright nation flourishes; a corrupt one perishes. A culture of integrity is the essential foundation and solid guarantee for maintaining upright cadres, clean government, honest politics, and a healthy social atmosphere; it concerns the orientation of popular support and the long-term stability of the state. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has attached great importance to the construction of a culture of integrity, incorporating it into the strategic layout of comprehensively and strictly governing the Party. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized on many occasions the need to "strengthen the construction of a culture of integrity in the New Era" and to "nourish the body and mind with a culture of integrity." In 2022, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee issued the Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of a Culture of Integrity in the New Era, providing important guidance for this endeavor. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection further clarified the need to increase efforts in culturing and educating people through culture, formulating a three-year action plan (2025–2027) for the construction of a culture of integrity in the New Era to promote its entry into all industries and every household. The construction of a culture of integrity is a systemic project to nurture thought and shape social conduct. It cannot be achieved overnight or by individual effort alone; it requires one to persist over the long term and unite as one to build a cultivation system characterized by all-dimensional coverage, multi-level penetration, and wide-dimensional radiation.
1. Implementing Categorized Guidance
"Plant water caltrops in deep water and rice in the shallow; plant lotus where it is neither deep nor shallow." [1] Different social groups, influenced by their identities, experiences, and environments, have inconsistent perceptions and attitudes toward the culture of integrity. Therefore, cultivation must involve precision in policy implementation.
Leading cadres are the "key minority" [2] and "head geese" [3] in the cultivation of a culture of integrity. We must focus on their exemplary role and the supervision of power, emphasizing compulsivity, warning effects, and advancement. This serves to consolidate the ideological line of defense against corruption and degeneration, and to firmly establish an "iron cage" of constraints on power. We must insist on making Party regulations, Party discipline, and national laws and regulations compulsory content for the theoretical study and educational training of leading cadres. These should be included as core topics in the study sessions of the Theoretical Learning Center Groups of Party committees (Party leadership groups) and in technical qualification assessments, promoting the internalizing of knowledge regarding discipline and law into the heart and its externalization into action. We should normalize the practice of principal leaders delivering Party lectures on clean governance, achieving self-education and self-alertness through "preaching by example" and "promoting integrity through lecturing." Periodically organize leading cadres to visit integrity education bases, detention centers, and prisons for immersive warning education. Through what they see with their own eyes and hear with their own ears, they can profoundly experience the heavy price of violating discipline and law, ensuring that a heart of awe remains constant, so they may practice being cautious when alone, cautious in small matters, and cautious in their actions [4]. We should establish a dynamic management system for the integrity archives of leading cadres, improve the system of "heart-to-heart talks," and strictly implement regulations on reporting personal relevant matters and reporting on work and integrity. Focusing on key fields and crucial links, we must precisely investigate "integrity risk points" and construct a scientific, rigorous, effective, and practical risk prevention and control system to lock power firmly within the institutional cage. We should normalize "integrity family style" construction activities, inviting cadres' families to participate in symposiums and selecting typical models of "integrity families" to guide family members to become advocates and guardians of integrity culture, building a family wall against corruption.
Ordinary Party members are the practitioners and disseminators of the culture of integrity. We must focus on Party spirit cultivation and disciplinary consciousness, emphasizing initiative, daily routine, and standardization to enhance members' awareness of discipline and rules and to play their role as vanguard models. We must strictly implement the Certain Norms on Political Life within the Party and hold high-quality organizational life meetings. Education on the Party Constitution, Party regulations, and Party discipline should be integrated into the important links of organizational life, such as the "Three Meetings and one Lesson" [5] and "Theme Party Days." Through the analysis of typical cases and the interpretation of authoritative clauses, we should make members clear about the "bottom lines" and "red lines." We should actively promote a mechanism for publicizing Party members' integrity and self-discipline commitments, refining the content of commitments based on actual job positions and publicizing them on Party affairs disclosure boards to accept mass supervision. Regularly organize the viewing of warning education films, visits to integrity education bases, and the study of bulletins on typical cases of discipline and law violations, using matters close to home to educate those nearby, so that Party members know awe, maintain fear, and hold the bottom line.
Students are the new force and an important power in the cultivation of a culture of integrity. We must focus on enlightenment, guidance, and value-shaping, emphasizing foundational, heuristic, and long-term qualities to establish the concept of "respecting integrity and honoring cleanliness" and to shape a character of honesty and trustworthiness. Systematically promote the integrated integrity education of universities, middle schools, and primary schools, scientifically designing educational content and forms according to the cognitive laws and physical and mental characteristics of students at different stages. Organically integrate integrity culture into classroom teaching and the textbook system, ensuring that integrity concepts are quietly and deeply rooted in the heart through subject penetration, classical reading, and themed class meetings. Extensively carry out extracurricular activities on the theme of integrity that combine education with entertainment, actively organize students to participate in artistic creation and research projects on integrity themes, and hold debates, speech contests, essay competitions, and calligraphy and painting exhibitions, making full use of integrated media platforms to spread integrity concepts and stories of honesty. Strengthen practical experience by visiting historical and cultural sites and former residences of famous figures to perceive the deeds and spirit of "clean officials" [6]. Conduct warning education in youth rule-of-law education bases and juvenile reformatories to guide students through real cases to know honor and shame, maintain awe, and understand the bottom line.
The general public is the solid foundation for the cultivation of a culture of integrity. We must focus on cultural influence and social supervision, emphasizing daily routine, guidance, and participation to enhance awareness of identifying and resisting corruption and to improve prevention and supervision capabilities. Innovate propagation methods to expand publicity effectiveness, meticulously producing public welfare advertisements, micro-movies, short videos, and animations with integrity as the theme, creating a thick atmosphere of integrity culture in ways the masses love to see and hear. Strengthen the guidance of public opinion, exposing the "unhealthy winds" [7] and corruption cases occurring around the masses, responding to social concerns in a timely manner, and enhancing public confidence in anti-corruption. Simplify reporting procedures and clear supervision channels, using mobile clients and WeChat public accounts to facilitate "one-click reporting" by the masses. Simultaneously clarify the scope of acceptance and establish sound mechanisms for the protection of whistleblower information and the safeguarding of their rights and interests, resolutely removing the worries of the masses in exercising supervision, ensuring that the general public truly becomes a solid force in the construction of a culture of integrity.
2. Accelerating Innovation in Means
"To do a good job, one must first sharpen one's tools." In today's society, new media, new platforms, and new applications are constantly emerging and rapidly iterating. The construction of a culture of integrity should follow the trend, respond to changes with changes, proactively embrace new concepts, use new methods, and accept new things, making them sharp tools for spreading integrity values and deepening educational effectiveness.
Digital empowerment for scientific policy implementation. Use digital technology to break the constraints of time and space, providing an immersive, all-weather learning experience to achieve precision, interaction, and intelligence in integrity education. Build a "Big Data Public Opinion Supervision and Education Analysis System," using big data, blockchain, and cloud technology to accurately identify key areas and weak links in integrity culture cultivation, achieving early warning and targeted prevention of integrity risks while providing data support for the precise delivery of educational content and strategy adjustment. Build a "Smart Integrity Education" cloud platform, creating a comprehensive digital integrity education platform including online courses, warning education films, case libraries, and laws and regulations queries, pushing personalized learning content according to users’ professions and identities. Use virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology to establish integrity education experience halls, simulating scenes such as prisons and courtrooms, allowing users to experience the environment personally and feel it as if they were there, enhancing the shock and infectivity of education. Through vivid stories and "flattened" visual expressions, attract the attention and participation of young groups.
Cultivating cultural masterpieces for "silent transformation." The creation of cultural masterpieces, possessing ideological, artistic, and ornamental qualities, helps to enhance the attraction and penetration of integrity culture. Deeply excavate excellent traditional culture and "Red" revolutionary culture [8] for their inherent integrity elements, vividly presenting typical figures and stories of purity, and meticulously building a batch of integrity culture "IPs" with high recognition and continuity. Design adorable cartoon characters with integrity themes and local characteristics, developing comics, picture books, animated shorts, and special exhibitions, as well as creative trendy toys such as figurines, keychains, and "blind boxes." Use youthful and fashionable expressions to allow integrity culture to quietly merge into the public's daily life, enhancing the affinity and modern feel of its dissemination. Establish and improve a sustainable support mechanism for creation, set up public welfare funds for integrity culture, extensively solicit social donations, and provide financial guarantees for high-quality creation. Actively promote cross-border cooperation, encouraging all industries to participate in integrity-themed creation, and support social organizations, enterprises, and public institutions in deepening collaboration with cultural creation agencies, universities, arts groups, and media platforms. Through government procurement of services, project subsidies, and awards for excellent results, stimulate social creative vitality and jointly create a favorable ecosystem where integrity culture masterpieces continuously emerge.
Scenario application for integration into daily life. Integrate integrity elements into various scenarios of production and life, achieving full coverage of subjects, fields, and spaces. Promote the integration of online and offline efforts to create ubiquitous spaces for integrity culture, making the culture of integrity visible, tangible, and feelable. The construction and layout of scenarios should emphasize a sense of experience and "lifelike" qualities, allowing the public to unconsciously see, internalize, and take the culture to heart. Explore the integration of integrity elements into local intangible cultural heritage, tourism specialties, and city image promotion, pushing integrity culture into government organs, enterprises, schools, hospitals, communities, villages, and families. Simultaneously, integrate integrity requirements into the work processes, codes of conduct, and environmental construction of all units, making integrity a common standard for all industries. In specific implementation, elements like integrity poetry, proverbs, aphorisms, and character stories can be artistically integrated into urban parks, transportation hubs, public venues, and "Party-mass service centers." In the process of grassroots governance, combine the cultivation of integrity culture with villager self-governance and rural revitalization, normalizing cultural activities and public welfare projects on integrity themes that the masses enjoy. By issuing initiatives for "clean holidays," launching holiday-themed integrity public welfare advertisements, and sending integrity reminder text messages, advocate for a clean and healthy festive culture and resolutely resist all kinds of "invisible or mutated" [9] Four Winds problems, ensuring that the wind of integrity exists in all four seasons.
3. Focusing on Integrated Advancement
"A single silk thread does not make a cord; a single tree does not make a forest." The cultivation of a culture of integrity is by no means a matter for one person or one time; it requires multiple parties to join hands and exert force together. We must follow the internal logic of cultural immersion and cultivation, adhere to a systemic perspective, strengthen top-level design, and coordinate the relationship between the whole and the parts, as well as between different parts. Targeting the characteristics of different development stages and different levels of subjects, design educational content that proceeds from the easy to the difficult and from the shallow to the deep, achieving full-cycle coverage and full-process connection—from cognitive entry to ideological deepening, from individual self-awareness to organizational education, from intra-Party demonstration to social transmission, and from educational guidance to supervisory protection.
Strive to build a "full-chain closed-loop" management system. Establish a joint meeting system for the construction of integrity culture and fully implement "list-based management," decomposing work goals to departments, refining them into projects, implementing them in positions, and quantifying them for individuals, achieving a responsibility pattern where everything is managed, everyone has specific responsibilities, and all links are interconnected. Implement dynamic monitoring and full-process tracking of integrity culture construction projects, especially embedded supervision for key projects, to discover and correct problems in a timely manner. Incorporate the effectiveness of integrity culture construction into the "dual-line" evaluation system of the annual performance assessment for the "Party conduct and clean government responsibility system" and the "ideological work responsibility system," increasing its weight and "rigid" constraints. Implement a special "debriefing and evaluation" system, where relevant responsible persons must give special reports on their performance regarding integrity construction and accept diversified evaluations, directly linking evaluation results with performance appraisal and cadre appointment. Strictly hold units and individuals accountable for poor implementation or dereliction of duty. Simultaneously, improve the supervision mechanism for "hours outside of work" [10], establishing "positive lists" and "negative lists," thereby ensuring that every link—from decision-making and deployment to specific execution, and from internal management to external synergy—is under effective supervision and institutional constraints, finally forming a "responsibility community" with clear powers and responsibilities, layer-by-layer transmission, and tight interlocking.
Strive to build a high-efficiency shared resource platform. Break down resource barriers, promote the efficient flow and optimized configuration of various integrity culture elements, and maximize the efficiency of resource utilization. Systematically integrate high-quality warning education cases, integrity culture works, and expert teaching resources to build a scientifically categorized and comprehensive integrity culture resource library, laying a solid foundation for the co-building and sharing of resources. Relying on user profiling and big data analysis technology, develop a "Smart Integrity Education" personalized recommendation engine to achieve label-based identification and intelligent matching of content based on user identity, job characteristics, and actual needs, changing from "people looking for resources" to "resources looking for people," and improving the relevance and effectiveness of education. Create an authoritative, unified, and open one-stop digital platform, providing convenient services such as searching, downloading, and reporting through portals or mobile applications. Support real-time interaction and cross-domain sharing, forming a benign ecological cycle of centralized resource management, intelligent precision pushing, and user-friendly access, truly realizing the "activated application" of integrity culture resources.
Strive to build a sustainably optimized evaluation mechanism. Comprehensively set multi-dimensional indicators covering the pass rate of knowledge tests, activity participation and satisfaction levels, the incidence of integrity risk events, and changes in the volume of petition reports [11], constructing a comprehensive and quantifiable assessment standard to provide a basis for objective evaluation. Introduce third-party professional institutions to carry out independent assessments, using methods such as field research, data modeling, in-depth interviews, and random questionnaire surveys to conduct a multi-angled, objective, and systemic analysis of the effectiveness of integrity culture construction, ensuring that evaluation results are true and reliable. Establish a two-way feedback and "supervision-of-handling" mechanism for evaluation results, providing precise feedback on problems and suggestions for improvement to responsible units, while also submitting comprehensive reports to the commissioning parties to provide support for optimizing decision-making, precise accountability, and "responsibility retrospection." Responsible units should dynamically adjust educational content and forms based on evaluation results, finally forming a benign cycle of Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA), promoting the construction of a culture of integrity to deepen and leap from "formal coverage" to "effective coverage."