Key concept has been abiding goal of CPC to seek national rejuvenation since 1921
A grand gathering is held to honor the centenary of the CPC at Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, July 1, 2021. (PHOTO / XINHUA)
Six years ago, President Xi Jinping shared his understanding of the Chinese dream with an American audience when delivering a speech at a welcoming banquet in the city of Seattle during his state visit to the United States.
With his personal stories, Xi recounted China's socioeconomic progress and the essence of the Chinese dream－an abiding goal of the Communist Party of China to seek national rejuvenation since its founding in 1921, which has tied the CPC and the Chinese people together.
The words Xi used to explain the concept precisely demonstrated the people-centered philosophy of the CPC in governing the country. With such a philosophy, the Party has experienced a century of great achievement in China's revolution, construction, reform and opening-up, and the modernization process.
The four-day Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, which started on Monday in Beijing, is reviewing a key resolution on the major achievements and historical experience of the Party's 100 years of endeavors.
This milestone document in the CPC's history will help foreigners who are interested in China become well-informed about how the Party arrived where it is today and how it will lead the country to a brighter future. And it will certainly help the audience that listened to Xi's speech in Seattle better understand why he cares so much about the Chinese people.
During that speech, Xi mentioned the small village of Liangjiahe, in Shaanxi province, where he spent seven years working as a farmer from 1969 at the age of 15. "At that time, the villagers and I lived in 'earth caves' and slept on 'earth beds'. Life was very hard. There was no meat in our diet for months. I knew what the villagers wanted the most."
Later, Xi became the village's Party secretary and began to lead the local residents in production. "One thing I wished most at the time was to make it possible for the villagers to have meat and have it often. But it was very difficult for such a wish to come true in those years."
Great changes have taken place in the village with the development of China. When Xi returned to Liangjiahe in early 2015, he found that its residents lived in houses with bricks and tiles, they had Internet access, elderly people had basic old-age care, the children were in school, and all of the villagers had healthcare coverage.
"Of course, meat was readily available," he told the audience. "This made me keenly aware that the Chinese dream is, after all, a dream of the people. We can fulfill the Chinese dream only when we link it with our people's yearning for a better life."
Just like in Liangjiahe, more and more people elsewhere in China are seeing their dreams for a better life come true under the leadership of the CPC, which is uniting and leading the Chinese people on the new journey of realizing national rejuvenation.
"The leadership of the CPC clearly has the support of the people of China," Stephen Perry, chairman of Britain's 48 Group Club, told Xinhua News Agency.
"The basic position of the CPC has been, is, and will continue to be all about the people, hear the people, and get the policies right to meet the needs of the people."
Recalling his meeting with Xi several years ago, Perry said, "I looked into his eyes as he was talking. I could see a man who'd experienced poverty, who'd experienced the life of the farmers of China."
The Chinese dream is also a dream about peace, development, cooperation and win-win results, Xi has said. It has resonated far and wide across countries as the world seeks enduring peace and common prosperity.
Howard Schultz, honorary chairman of Starbucks, who was among the audience that listened to Xi in Seattle, said the progress in Liangjiahe was a microcosm of the progress China has made through reform and opening-up over the past four decades.
In a letter to Xi on Nov 9, 2020, Schultz said "the yearning for a better life that is part of the Chinese dream reminds me of the American dream". The experiences of the northern Shaanxi village helped him gain a deeper understanding of Xi's words about how the Chinese dream and the American dream have something in common, he said.
Xi, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, has said on many occasions that the Chinese dream is about pursuing the strength of the country, the rejuvenation of the nation and the happiness of the people, and the dream of the world is for enduring peace and common prosperity. These two dreams can always be pursued together, he said.
Under the leadership of the CPC, which marked the 100th anniversary of its founding on July 1, China has embarked on a new journey toward socialist modernization and national rejuvenation.
"Looking back on the path we have traveled and looking forward to the journey that lies ahead, it is certain that with the firm leadership of the Party and the great unity of the Chinese people of all ethnic groups, we will achieve the goal of building a great modern socialist country in all respects and fulfill the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation," Xi said at the grand gathering marking the Party's centenary on July 1.
