2008 — Twenty Years of Mutual Trust, Everlasting Partnership
Twenty Years of Mutual Trust, Everlasting Partnership — Speech at the Zhangjiajie Municipal Party-League Cooperation Symposium (Excerpt). Participating in and deliberating on state affairs is the bounden duty of a participating party and the core purpose of Party-League cooperation. Over the years, the Municipal Committee of the China Democratic League has closely focused on development as the top priority, upheld the core, served the center, and actively engaged in political participation, respectively
This article has been compiled from historical materials in the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com · City Overview section). Some administrative divisions, population, socioeconomic data, and policy information may be outdated and are for reference only; for the latest situation, please refer to official releases by the local government and scenic areas.
Twenty Years of Treating Each Other with All Sincerity, Working Together for Ten Thousand Years—Speech at the Zhangjiajie Municipal Party-League Cooperation and Joint Work Symposium (Excerpt)
Participating in and discussing state affairs is the bounden duty of a participating party and also the main purpose of Party-League cooperation and joint work. For many years, the Municipal Committee of the China Democratic League has closely focused on the first priority of our city's development, upholding the core and serving the center, actively participating in and discussing state affairs. It has respectively conducted in-depth research and put forward a series of constructive opinions and suggestions on hot and difficult issues concerning the overall situation of the city and the vital interests of the people, such as the construction of our city as a world tourism excellence, urban construction, scenic area construction, ecological environment protection, and compulsory education.
Taking urban construction as an example, the Fourth Municipal Party Congress in 2003 determined that the focus of work should shift from scenic areas to the urban area. The Municipal Committee of the China Democratic League deemed this decision entirely correct and therefore closely "fixed its eyes" on urban work for several consecutive years, successively producing five special research reports and two research documents. The five special research reports are:
The 2004 report "Planning the City with Cultural Concepts, Building the Urban Area into a Tourism Destination." The main viewpoints and content of this report were fully incorporated into the work report of the city's first urban work conference. The concept of "tourism destination" was successively written into the "Decision on Strengthening Urban Work" issued by the Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government, the repositioning of the city's character, and the outline of the city's "Eleventh Five-Year" plan.
The 2005 report "Urgently Formulate Detailed Construction Plans for the Lishui Scenic Belt, Carefully Create Zhangjiajie's 'Bund' and 'Qinhuai River.'" The research report won first prize in the city's 2005 party research achievements and was submitted by the Municipal CPPCC as the only proposal of 2005 to the Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government. Under the supervision of then-Mayor Hu Bojun, the planning and formulation work for the Lishui Scenic Belt was quickly launched, and "carefully building the Lishui Scenic Belt" was written into the city's "Eleventh Five-Year" plan outline.
The 2006 report "Suggestions on Updating Concepts and Design Ideas for the Embankment Project of the Lishui Scenic Belt." According to the instructions of Mayor Hu Bojun, Vice Mayor Deng Lijia presided over a special office meeting. After the meeting, the embankment project construction unit immediately organized relevant experts to produce an optimized plan adapted to local conditions with partial adjustment of the embankment alignment. The Municipal Government and the embankment project construction unit respectively provided feedback on rectification opinions.
The 2007 reports "Some Reflections and Suggestions on Urban Work" and "Taking the Lishui Scenic Belt as the Main Battlefield, Striving to Build the 'Core' of Urban Tourism." For the former: Municipal Party Secretary Hu Bojun immediately made important instructions, and Vice Mayor Deng Lijia, who was in charge of urban work, made detailed annotations. On August 23, the Municipal Urban Work Office replied by special letter regarding the relevant circumstances of the Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government adopting the suggestions: important suggestions such as firmly seizing the major development opportunity of the Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government attaching great importance to Zhangjiajie's urban construction, issuing the implementation plan for "visible change in three years, great transformation in five years," quickly launching the construction of the Lishui Scenic Belt, and promptly starting the "dressing up" project for the old urban area of Yongding "have been adopted by the Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government and are being organized for implementation." For the latter: Mayor Zhao Xiaoming immediately approved it and clearly instructed to "apply it to the design."
The two research documents are: one is the 100,000-word "Research on the Interface between Ethnic Culture and Urban Construction," and the other is the 100,000-word "Research on Urban Cultural Strategy." Both were commissioned by the main leaders of the CPC Municipal Committee and Municipal People's Government and completed under the leadership of Comrade Luo Changjiang, Chairman of the Municipal Committee of the China Democratic League. The former involves a series of major topics concerning the overall situation of urban construction, including urban image positioning, urban development strategy, distillation of urban spirit, establishment of city nicknames, establishment of urban architectural style, construction of the Lishui Scenic Belt, quality improvement and upgrading of existing landscapes and scenic spots in the urban area, urban public facilities, artistic and cultural creation around the six elements of tourism, and the interface between citizens' daily lifestyles and regional ethnic culture. The latter, as an important component of the revision of the city's "Master Plan," will play a guiding role in the city's near-term construction and long-term development.
"As you sow, so shall you reap." The Municipal Committee of the China Democratic League's years of dedicated efforts in offering suggestions and advice in the field of urban construction have not only produced positive responses and established a good image throughout the city, but also attracted the attention of Provincial Party Secretary Comrade Zhang Chunxian. During the 2008 Provincial "Two Sessions," when Secretary Zhang participated in a discussion with the Zhangjiajie Municipal People's Congress delegation and delivered a speech, he gave high praise to the Municipal Committee of the China Democratic League for throwing itself into urban construction with great enthusiasm.
Regarding the self-capacity building of participating parties, General Secretary Hu Jintao summarized it into four aspects: political grasping ability, ability to participate in and discuss state affairs, organizational leadership ability, and ability to cooperate and work together, and put forward specific requirements and earnest expectations in this regard. In the process of carrying out League work, we deeply feel how important it is to cultivate and improve these four abilities!
Taking participation in and deliberation of state affairs as an example, to make one's participation truly hit the mark, one must be both bold and discerning: "bold" means utter loyalty, and "discerning" means genuine insight. The former focuses on attitude—a sense of being one's own master, always sharing one heart and one purpose with the ruling party and pulling together in the same boat; the latter focuses on ability—having the means and the competence to offer advice and suggestions to the ruling party and to help resolve its difficulties. Only in this way can one truly be both bold and discerning, live up to one's mission, and serve as a comrade-in-arms who is of one heart with the CPC and a candid friend who treats it with utter sincerity. Anyone who thinks that a participating party merely plays the role of a "yes-man" completely misinterprets the multi-party cooperation under the leadership of the Communist Party. When talking about the need for the League organization to strengthen its own development, Mr. Fei said: "Comrade Yaobang said that some things are much more convenient for the democratic parties to do than for us. That is a sincere statement. We have a special status! A football match cannot be played by one person alone; only when everyone coordinates with one another and each plays a unique role can the match be wonderful. On the great stage of Chinese society, we must put on a truly grand play, not a puppet show. Every actor must, under the director's direction, give full play to his own creativity and perform his role in rich and varied ways." On this point, the Municipal Committee of the China Democratic League has had its own experience and feelings. There was such an episode: just when the whole city was mustering all its energy to launch a major effort in urban construction, the central government issued a document on building a new socialist countryside. At that time, some comrades became uneasy, worrying that if the focus on urban work were still raised, would it run counter to the spirit of the central government? After careful consideration, we more than once candidly offered our views: the Fourth Municipal Party Congress's decision to shift the focus of work to urban construction and implement coordinated urban-rural development was precisely a product of proceeding from Zhangjiajie's actual conditions and implementing the Scientific Outlook on Development. Zhangjiajie's urban construction lags behind—this is a fact obvious to all. Only by finding ways to build the city well can Zhangjiajie be built into a truly world-class tourism masterpiece. Only when the city's comprehensive strength is enhanced will it also have the ability to give back to the countryside and agriculture, thereby accelerating the process of building a new socialist countryside in our city. This view was later adopted by the city's decision-making level. In September 2006, the work report of the Fifth Municipal Party Congress clearly stated: in the next five years, the whole city and the two districts of Yongding and Wulingyuan should devote their main energy to urban construction. In December of the same year, at the provincial economic work conference, Provincial Party Secretary Zhang Chunxian even more clearly stated that Zhangjiajie City should combine the building of a world-class tourism masterpiece with urbanization. Let me give another example: when the CPC Municipal Committee solicited opinions on the "Construction Outline for Zhangjiajie City's 'Visible Change in Three Years, Great Transformation in Five Years,'" the Municipal Committee of the China Democratic League candidly offered its views: the "visible change in three years, great transformation in five years" required by the main leaders of the provincial party committee and provincial government refers to the central urban area where the municipal government is located; therefore, the main thrust of the Outline should be reflected even more concentratedly on this. This view was likewise fully affirmed by the main leaders of the municipal party committee. Looking back, the reason the Municipal Committee of the China Democratic League dared to state its views was, first, a sincere heart treating others with utter candor; and second, independent thinking, striving in major matters to have its own genuine insight and not to engage in thoughtless parroting of others. Just as Mr. Fei said: "The China Democratic League and the various democratic parties are not opposition parties. The Communist Party carries out reform on behalf of the fundamental interests of the people. We must actively cooperate with the Communist Party, strengthen democratic supervision, and help the Communist Party do all its work well. The role of the democratic parties is to enable opinions from all sides to be fully reflected, so that the Communist Party's decisions are more correct and represent the people's interests more broadly."