Sun Xiaoli: Mastering the Art of Turning Challenges into Opportunities
"Misfortune is that upon which fortune leans; fortune is that which misfortune conceals." [1] Rainbows and storms coexist, and opportunities and challenges reside together; this is an eternal and unchanging dialectical law. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "Difficulties and challenges exist every year, but we have always developed amidst the baptism of wind and rain, and grown stronger through trials." He further noted, "We must both face difficulties squarely and strengthen our confidence, carry forward the spirit of historical initiative, confront challenges head-on, dare to struggle, temper ourselves as we move forward, and strive for achievement." Difficulty is both pressure and a challenge, yet it often harbors opportunities within; overcoming a difficulty means seizing the opportunity and winning the initiative. Utilizing dialectical thinking to grasp difficulties and opportunities, meeting challenges head-on, and actively taking responsibility is of great importance for Party members and cadres to advance the cause of development and temper their capabilities.
A difficulty is a hurdle, but it is also a breakthrough point for opening up a new work situation. From the perspective of materialist dialectics, difficulties exist objectively. Not taking difficulties seriously is not a materialist viewpoint; however, being confined by difficulties and denying that difficulties and opportunities can transform into one another departs from the essential meaning of dialectics. Opportunities to solve problems are often hidden within the difficulties themselves. For example, at the beginning of this century, Zhejiang Province once experienced "growth pains" [2] due to constraints from resources and the environment. Was the goal to focus solely on resolving these difficulties to ensure basic survival, or to treat the encountered difficulties as an opportunity to promote comprehensive, coordinated, and sustainable development? On June 14, 2004, Comrade Xi Jinping, then Secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee, pointed out in an article published in the "Zhijiang Xinyu" (Zhejiang Notes) column of the Zhejiang Daily: "We must view difficulties as trials, treat challenges as opportunities, and turn passivity into initiative." By implementing multiple measures such as promoting scientific and technological progress, accelerating the construction of advanced manufacturing bases, and persisting in the "going out" strategy, Zhejiang advanced the strategic adjustment of its economic structure and the transformation of its growth mode, bringing development to a new level. The pain points of development, once severely constrained by resources and the environment, instead became the breakthrough points for Zhejiang to pursue a path of intensive development.
Those who do not evade difficulties shall advance. Difficulties do not automatically transform into opportunities. To turn a crisis into an opportunity, objective and subjective conditions must be met. Objective conditions include the material base and social environment, while subjective conditions are primarily reflected in whether Party members and cadres possess the spirit of not evading difficulties and taking responsibility for their actions. In the face of difficulty, the fatalistic tendency of "such is the general trend" must be rejected, as should the mindset that "the efforts of one person are useless." The ancients said: "Do it, and the difficult becomes easy; do it not, and the easy becomes difficult." [3] For example, since 2018, the United States has suppressed and contained China in the field of science and technology, and high-tech enterprises such as Huawei have faced comprehensive "encirclement and blockage." We do not believe in heresy, nor do we fear ghosts or pressure. [4] We have treated the "chokepoint" [5] list as a list for dedicated research and breakthroughs, continuously increasing investment in scientific and technological innovation. We have achieved major breakthroughs in key technologies and fields such as chips, 5G, and artificial intelligence, which has instead opened up a new world for the development of our cause. By maintaining the momentum to meet challenges head-on, seeing the prospects, the light, and the future amidst difficulties and challenges, "opening roads through mountains and building bridges across waters," and persisting over the long term, we can transform difficulties into opportunities.
Sitting and discussing the Dao [6] or working behind closed doors will not yield good methods for transforming difficulties into opportunities. One must go out, descend to the lower levels, go to the front lines, and go among the masses. Every specific and detailed opinion and demand raised at the grassroots level reflects the direction in which Party members and cadres must focus their efforts; every new path explored by the masses contains good practices that Party members and cadres can refine, summarize, and promote across the board. By increasing the frequency of in-depth and concrete investigation and research, one can transform the predicament of "mountains and rivers ending in doubt of a path" into the opportunity of "willows providing shade and flowers blooming in another village," [7] turning the "stumbling blocks" of development into "stepping stones" for further progress.
Only innovation can win opportunities and the initiative. For example, the old Shougang factory area completely halted steel smelting operations in 2010. It underwent green transformation targeting industrial heritage and conducted functional restructuring and spatial renewal by relying on the historical opportunity of Beijing hosting the Winter Olympics. Today, this former "industrial rust belt" has successfully transformed into a new landmark for consumption and a new paradise for science fiction, becoming a model for the reuse of industrial heritage. If one clings to old ideas and methods, the transformation between difficulty and opportunity will remain impossible. Only by viewing current difficulties with a global and long-term perspective—"looking at Mount Lu from outside the mountain" [8]—breaking through conventions with the spirit of "trying and venturing boldly," and coming up with brand-new ideas to find ways to resolve difficulties, can one see the dawn of "opportunity" within the "crisis," thereby turning danger into safety and crisis into opportunity.
Whether for an enterprise, a city, a country, or a nation, what determines its developmental prospects is never the presence or magnitude of difficulties, but whether it possesses the determination, courage, and methods to overwhelm all difficulties rather than being overwhelmed by them. Currently, China is in a critical period of further comprehensively deepening reform, with an increase in uncertain and unpredictable factors. At such a time, all the more must Party members and cadres meet challenges head-on, dare to take responsibility, be courageous in innovation, and be adept at achieving success. They must transform pressure into motivation and difficulties into opportunities, promoting even greater development for the cause of the Party and the state.