Xia Zhengqi: Strive to Create Achievements That Can Withstand the Test of Practice, the People, and History
In the process of conducting business and launching initiatives, one's outlook on performance is of paramount importance. During his tenure in Zhejiang, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered a series of important speeches centered on the theme of performance outlook. These were later compiled into the article "Establishing and Practicing a Correct Outlook on Performance," included in the book Doing Practical Work and Standing in the Forefront. The article’s profound analysis of the four dimensions of performance outlook, and particularly its sharp critique of the "five emphases and five neglects" [1], remains a sobering warning today. Recently, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee issued the "Circular on Carrying Out Education and Study on Establishing and Practicing a Correct Outlook on Performance Throughout the Party," making important arrangements for this educational campaign. As the entire Party delves into this study, revisiting these thoughts—which contain deep political wisdom—is of extremely important practical guiding significance for the vast number of Party members and cadres to rectify their minds, clarify their principles, and conduct their work.
For Whom Performance is Established
The primary question of the performance outlook is to clarify for whom performance is established. The article states clearly at the outset: "We must take the realization, maintenance, and development of the fundamental interests of the masses as the fundamental starting point and ultimate goal." To measure performance, one must certainly look at indexed data, but the final yardstick is whether the masses are satisfied, happy, supportive, and in agreement.
In reality, the distorted performance outlook of individual cadres stems from treating performance as a ladder for promotion. They do not look at the faces of the masses, but only at the expressions of their superiors; they do not seek to benefit a locality, but only to create a temporary sensation. The root cause is a failure to resolve the fundamental questions of "who am I, for whom am I working, and on whom do I rely?" While working in Zhengding, Hebei, Xi Jinping learned through research that due to excessive grain procurement quotas, some local farmers lacked sufficient rations and had to secretly go to neighboring counties to trade for dried sweet potatoes. He insisted, "We in Zhengding would rather lose the title of 'National High-Yield County' than see the masses struggle to live." Withstanding pressure, he reported the issue to higher authorities, eventually resulting in a reduction of 28 million catties in state procurement. Consequently, dried sweet potatoes disappeared from the people's tables, replaced by white flour buns. Preferring to forgo a hollow "laurel of performance" to protect the "rice bowl" of the people—this is the most simple and vivid expression of a correct performance outlook.
The performance of Communists is not a cold statistical report, nor is it flowery rhetoric piled up in documents; it is the tangible warmth of the people’s livelihood. Xi Jinping pointed out: "Communists must remember that bringing benefits to the people is the greatest performance." As mentioned in the text regarding Comrade Gu Wenchang [2], he did not chase "manifest performance" that would bring brief fame. Instead, through over a decade of silent toil, he transformed a desolate land where people said "even the immortals cannot tame the wind and sand" into a livable place of lush trees and abundant produce. Ultimately, he earned the highest praise from the masses: "First honor Old Man Gu, then honor the ancestors." Only when the people are always in one's heart will the quality of one's performance be pure and one's steps be steady.
What Kind of Performance to Establish
If the performance outlook is incorrect, "vanity projects" [3] will be blindly launched, and the problem of the "Five Excesses" [4] will be difficult to eradicate. Xi Jinping profoundly noted: "True performance should be the achievement of 'benefiting a locality during one's tenure,' performance that can withstand the test of the masses, practice, and history."
The article provides an in-depth analysis of phenomena then existing in the cadre force, such as "emphasizing the beginning while neglecting the end," "emphasizing the short-term while neglecting the long-term," "emphasizing the manifest while neglecting the latent," "emphasizing the easy while neglecting the difficult," and "emphasizing the partial while neglecting the whole." It points out that these "five emphases and five neglects" ultimately stem from a failure to establish a correct performance outlook. Even today, we see some places obsessed with "short, smooth, and fast" [5] projects, even "eating next year's food today" and overdrawing the future. Some cadres only want to do "visible and prominent" vanity projects rather than "foundation-laying" internal works. Others habitually make "head-patting" [6] decisions based on subjective will, disregarding local resource endowments and developmental stages to blindly expand and launch projects. To make the "books" look good, they follow trends regardless of reality, resulting in wasted funds and "half-finished" projects. These practices are not only a massive waste of resources but also a serious lack of responsibility toward the Party's cause and the people's interests.
A correct performance outlook must be dialectical, requiring the coordination of "latent performance" and "manifest performance." As the saying goes, manifest performance is like a flower, brilliant and eye-catching, while latent performance is like the root, buried deep underground. Yet, without the deep anchoring of the root, how can the flower bloom? Xi Jinping emphasized in the article, "If no one is willing to be a paving stone and contribute in obscurity, 'manifest performance' will be out of the question; it would become a tree without roots or water without a source." Modernization requires visible prosperity, but even more so, it requires an invisible foundation. The powerful rise of China's new energy vehicle industry is a vivid illustration of the transformation between the "latent" and the "manifest." From the inclusion of electric vehicles in the National 863 Program [7] in 2001 to the production and sales of new energy vehicles exceeding 16 million units in 2025, it took 24 years of policy relay and continuous investment to achieve this historic leap from "latent" to "manifest." During this period, countless instances of basic research, testing, and infrastructure deployment—while unlikely to produce immediate "eye-catching results" on short-term ledgers—built a solid foundation for today’s industrial takeoff. This requires leading cadres to possess the steadfastness of a long-termist, seeking not quick successes but creating "latent performances" that lay foundations and benefit the long term, acting as "invisible wings" supporting future flight.
How to Establish Performance
Regarding "how to establish performance," Xi Jinping gives a simple but powerful answer in the text: "Performance that brings real benefits to the masses is produced through down-to-earth, quiet, and hard work."
One must see if a cadre dares to handle "hot potatoes." Real performance often does not grow on paths paved with flowers; it is hidden where contradictions are most concentrated and difficulties are most thorny. In reality, some cadres only want to do "clever things" that easily bring acclaim and avoid "thorny things" that might offend people. This "picky" mentality is essentially a lack of responsibility. Faced with the pain points and bottlenecks in livelihood security that urgently need resolution, and the barriers of vested interests as comprehensively deepening reform enters the "deep-water zone," only by daring to handle "hot potatoes" can one accumulate real achievements while resolving specific contradictions. The saying "work while carrying your official hat in your hand, don’t hold onto your official hat to be an official" [8] refers exactly to this spirit of responsibility.
One must see if a cadre can quit the "utilitarian mentality." Currently, the Party Central Committee's continuous correction of formalism and bureaucratism to reduce burdens on the grassroots is intended to free cadres from the "mountains of documents and seas of meetings" [9], allowing them to focus their minds on genuine work. Practice proves that only when the style of work is practical can performance be "real." Solving specific problems one by one with concrete actions and squeezing the "water" out of formalism with the "gold content" of reform is the duty cadres must uphold.
One must see if things are done according to objective laws. Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must suppress this impetuous and irritable mentality and carry out modernization construction in a solid and down-to-earth manner." As the saying goes, "cook the food based on the vegetables, cut the clothes based on the body" [10]; the key to acting according to laws is to seek truth from facts and proceed from reality. Take Zhejiang’s "Green Rural Revival Program" (千万工程) [11] as an example. This project did not employ "one-size-fits-all" [12] approaches or massive demolition and reconstruction. Instead, it was based on provincial and agricultural realities, respecting the laws of rural development. Through over 20 years of persisting over the long term, it has created thousands of beautiful villages and benefited the vast peasant masses. Conversely, "impulsive decision-making" that violates objective laws, even if the original intention is good, often produces the opposite result—leaving behind not performance, but a burden.
How to Evaluate Performance
Evaluation is the "baton" of work. Xi Jinping noted: "In a sense, whatever outlook on personnel the organization has and whatever orientation it sets for appointments, that is the kind of performance outlook cadres will establish." Only by making the hard workers popular and the capable well-placed can we create a clean and upright political ecosystem of pragmatism for the people.
Evaluating performance requires looking at the full picture of development. Xi Jinping emphasized that the setting of evaluation index systems should "comprehensively reflect the status of economic, social, and human development." This requires that we cannot one-sidedly evaluate cadres using economic indicators, much less play "numerical games"; we must see what role the cadre played in a specific environment. Only then can we ensure that honest people do not suffer and speculators do not profit. In recent years, over a hundred key ecological functional counties across the country have clearly cancelled GDP evaluations, turning to ecological and environmental protection as key indicators. Evaluation index systems designed according to local conditions allow cadres' efforts to be directed correctly, effectively curbing the blind competition of "a thousand counties with the same face."
Evaluating performance cannot rely on a single moment or event; it must withstand the washing of time. Xi Jinping's proposal in the article that "the performance of leading cadres should withstand looking at it now, as well as 'looking back' and 'looking forward'" requires us to evaluate performance over a longer time dimension. "Looking back" means establishing a lifelong accountability system to settle accounts for those "vanity projects" that looked glorious during a term but were neglected after the official left. "Looking forward" means praising "latent performance," resolutely implementing the "Three Distinctions" [13], and promoting those cadres who are willing to be paving stones and believe that "success does not have to be mine." [14]
The most critical aspect of evaluating performance is giving the right of judgment to the masses. A gold or silver trophy is not as good as the reputation among the people. Xi Jinping once said: "Whether life is happy must be evaluated by the people themselves; if we speak with great excitement but the people feel nothing, that won't do—it means we haven't hit the right mark." To measure the performance of leading cadres, we must adhere to the principles of public recognition and emphasis on actual results, taking the opinions of the masses as an important yardstick. Only by regarding the "emojis" of the masses as the "barometer" for testing performance can we force those cadres who only do superficial work to "show their true forms" and ensure that those who work hard in silence are given heavy responsibilities.