Xinhua Insight: The way for China's ruling party to get stronger

Yu Jing has promised not to leave a poverty-stricken village in Anhui unless she is sure that the 400 villagers are self-sufficient.

Leaving her son and daughter with her husband in Jinzhai County, the 33-year-old Communist spends all day in Dawan Village of Shihua Township, helping locals find ways to make money.

"I just want to do my part and make sure no one is left behind when China becomes a moderately prosperous society in 2020," she says.

After ruling China for 67 years and becoming the world's largest political party, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has launched a series of campaigns encouraging its 87.7 million members to give something back to society.

Xu Yaotong with the Chinese Academy of Governance says the CPC must continue to improve people's lives and address public demands.

Poverty alleviation, technical innovation, anti-corruption and intra-Party democracy are all significant tasks facing the 95-year-old party, he says.

In Dawan Village, where Yu lives now, local farmers have attracted investment and built a photovoltaic power plant, some began to plant bamboo and explore specialty farming with the assistance of volunteers from cities.

Yu, a computer technician with the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital in Jinzhai, says her first job was to survey the economic situations of each family and analyze their advantages and disadvantages to figure out tailor-made poverty-eradication solutions.

Pan Dongxu, secretary of the Jinzhai County Committee of the CPC, says that grassroots cadres have a lot of responsibility, because they face the public every day.

"We are stressed but confident," he says.

Across the country, there are still 55.75 million impoverished people in rural areas, earning a per capita net income of less than 2,800 yuan a year. In next five years, all will be lifted out of poverty.

Calling the target "a decision with no parallel," Pan Dongxu says he thinks of no other country that could make such a pledge, considering the giant population.

"This decision shows the courage and duty of the Party's leadership," he says.

For Du Jiangfeng with the University of Science and Technology of China, the Party's other commendable decision is to make technical innovation a national strategy.

"I think China has entered its best period for scientific research, and intellectuals are having their best time," he says.

China's new supercomputing system, Sunway-TaihuLight, was named the world's fastest computer at the International Supercomputing Conference in Germany, which greatly boosted the morale of Chinese scientists, he says.

As the Party is to celebrate its 95th anniversary on July 1, some Party members have offered suggestions on how to strengthen the governance capacity of the Party.

Dai Yanjun with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee maintains that learning is essential as the Party must deal with new challenges in this era of quick changes.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee has studied topics covering a broad sphere from the rule of law, anti-corruption, diplomacy, military to free trade zones.

Such learning will help the leadership adapt to new developments and make prudent, better decisions, Dai says.

Fei Kanru, former deputy curator of the Zunyi Meeting Museum in southwest China's Guizhou Province, stresses the need to uphold the Party's tradition of self-criticism.

Flawed decision-making and unwise military tactics resulted in a forced expedition of the Party's troops in 1934, a march of over 12,500 km that was full of hardships, bloodshed and battles.

It was at the Zunyi meeting in January 1935 that the Party undertook self-criticism and established the principle of seeking truth from fact, Fei says.

He says it is good to see grassroots organizations hold similar meetings to conduct open-minded and frank discussions among Party members and advocate integrity.

On Tuesday, the leadership of the CPC adopted a regulation on Party officials' duty of care, under which Party officials will be held responsible for serious consequences caused by their negligence or poor work performance, undermining the Party's governance and harming the people's interests.

Li Junru, former vice president of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, says that the Party has kept its vitality over the past 95 years by sticking to the principles of serving the people and pursuing truths.

"But the most important advantage of the Party's governance lies in the tradition of cementing consensus through constant study and broad discussions," he says. Endi