Lan Hanlin: Mastering the Art of Balancing Past and Future to Deliver Achievements for the People
General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized: "We must foster the spirit of 'success does not have to happen during my tenure, but I must contribute to its achievement,' and persist in following a single blueprint to the end" [1]. Implementing the decision-making deployments of the Party Central Committee in a continuous, consistent, and successive manner is a vital requirement for establishing and practicing a correct outlook on performance. As stated in Zhijiang Xinyu [2]: "One must be adept at 'looking forward' while also being careful to 'look backward,' uniting and leading the cadres and masses of one's local area and department to run vigorously on the track of scientific development." To "look forward and backward" (zhān qián gù hòu) [3] is a manifestation of persisting with a single blueprint to the end; it means that leading cadres must both advance existing scientific deployments and plans and lay a solid foundation for subsequent development. This year, local leadership teams at all levels are undergoing successive reshuffles. For leading cadres, "looking forward and backward" is an inherent part of establishing and practicing a correct outlook on performance, and it is of great significance to the development of the cause of the Party and the state.
Many deviations in the outlook on performance are related to a lack of "relay consciousness" in "looking forward and backward" among leading cadres. Some leading cadres refuse to act on anything they did not initiate themselves, insisting on leaving their own "performance mark" before they will work; they enjoy unconventionality for its own sake, repeatedly "flipping the pancake" [4], and are keen on "changing tracks." Others blindly accrue debt to engage in "image projects" or "vanity projects," resulting in a situation where "the predecessor gets the credit, while the successor bears the burden." The root cause of these problems lies in some leading cadres placing personal interests and promotion above the interests of the people, and prioritizing short-term results over the development of the cause and long-term interests. Persisting in "looking forward and backward" requires leaping out of the limitations of "calculating small accounts" or "calculating short-term accounts," examining current decision-making with a long-term vision, and fundamentally overcoming behaviors that are "flashy but unsubstantial" or akin to "draining the pond to catch the fish" [5].
"Looking forward and backward" reflects a sense of mission and responsibility toward the cause and toward history. "Looking forward" [6] means respecting history and carrying forward the cause into the future. It is not about following old conventions or being stuck in one's ways; rather, it is about drawing wisdom from history, summarizing experience, and grasping objective laws. Facing the work left by predecessors, one must analyze it by seeking truth from facts: what conforms to the Party's cause and the interests of the masses must be upheld, and what does not must be corrected. "Looking forward" requires leading cadres to maintain historical patience, neither giving up because a task is difficult to complete in the short term, nor becoming discouraged because results are not immediately visible. "Looking backward" [7] means keeping an eye on the long term and benefiting future generations. It is not about empty talk of the future or being detached from reality; rather, it is about grasping trends with forward-looking thinking and planning development with a responsible attitude. The further reform advances into deep waters, the more long-term planning is required. "Looking backward" requires leading cadres to perform foundational, strategic, and long-term work, accumulating momentum and empowering long-term development.
General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized: "We Communists work and create performance for the purpose of benefiting the people, not for personal promotion or loss." Only by placing the people in the highest position in one's heart and constantly remembering that benefiting the people is the greatest performance can one possess the breadth of vision and magnanimity to "look forward and backward." In the 1960s, the cadres and masses of Linzhou (formerly Lin County), Henan Province, spent nearly a decade carving through rock and channeling water across a thousand li [8] to build the "Man-made Heavenly River," an approximately 1,500-kilometer Red Flag Canal, changing the local plight of "drought in nine out of ten years, where water is as precious as oil." Why were the local leading cadres determined to push forward the arduous project of the Red Flag Canal? Yang Gui, the then-County Party Committee Secretary of Lin County, said: "Water is everything to Lin County. In Lin County, we must thoroughly solve the problem of water shortage for our fellow villagers. Otherwise, we are not true Communists." These resolute words speak to the responsibility of Communists toward the people. By genuinely proceeding from the interests of the people—resolutely doing whatever benefits the people and firmly refusing to do whatever does not—and by firmly grasping this value scale, one can discard personal selfish motives and persistently achieve causes beneficial to the Party and the people.
Only by effectively applying the methodology of systems thinking can one "look forward and backward." For example, at present, the tasks of promoting high-quality development and developing new quality productive forces across all regions are extremely urgent. The more this is the case, the more we must be adept at planning and promoting development from a holistic perspective. Developing new quality productive forces is not something that happens overnight; it requires careful cultivation and continuous effort. The innovation ecosystem and the business environment are gradually improved through long-term persistence and by persisting over the long term. If policies change overnight, it is difficult to achieve great things. When thinking about problems, making decisions, and handling affairs, leading cadres must persist in overall planning and all-round consideration, properly handling the relationship between the present and the long term. One must organically combine the pursuit of immediate effectiveness with long-term effectiveness, doing more things that are both effective now and sustainable in the future. We must innovate within the relay and relay within the innovation, combining new realities and new conditions to turn established scientific goals and beautiful work blueprints into reality with new ideas and new measures, truly being responsible to history and the people.