Tongfang Academy
Micro Party Class · Issue 355
The focus of style building lies in turning good practices into common norms.
(Deeply Study and Implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era)
“Theoretical cultivation is the core of the comprehensive quality of Party members and cadres. Theoretical maturity is the foundation for political maturity, and political steadfastness stems from theoretical clarity.” For Party members and cadres, fostering a fine academic style and strengthening theoretical education are both fundamental requirements for cultivating Party spirit and an inescapable political responsibility.
Tongfang Law Firm provides all its lawyers with learning opportunities in the form of micro-party classes, thereby enhancing their ideological and political awareness as well as their spirit of learning and inquiry. By establishing a long-term educational mechanism, the firm has created a new platform for self-education and self-improvement.
The building of work style is a perennial task in Party building and a long-term mission for comprehensively enforcing strict governance over the Party. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has deepened the comprehensive enforcement of strict governance over the Party, continuously driving the building of work style to greater depths with a spirit of thorough self-revolution, thereby providing a solid theoretical foundation and valuable practical experience for building a Marxist party that can govern for the long term and remain full of vitality. Given the stubborn and recurrent nature of work-style issues, deepening the building of work style requires us to strengthen our resolve and maintain resilience until it becomes a matter of conscious practice and develops into a habit.
When discussing the building of work style, General Secretary Xi Jinping repeatedly emphasized the key phrase “transforming norms into customs,” stressing that the implementation of the Central Committee’s Eight-Point Regulations must be pursued persistently and with sustained effort—until they truly become ingrained habits and customs. He called for continued efforts to focus on consistency and long-term commitment, rigor and practicality, depth and meticulousness, so as to cultivate good habits, achieve tangible results, and firmly establish these norms as part of everyday life. In March 2025, during his inspection tours of Guizhou and Yunnan, General Secretary Xi Jinping further pointed out: “Over the past few years, the Eight-Point Regulations have indeed driven fundamental changes, ushering in a fresh atmosphere. Most of the longstanding, deeply entrenched problems that were once difficult to reverse have now been eliminated. At the same time, we must recognize that some areas have shown signs of relaxation, certain aspects still harbor blind spots and loopholes, and some unhealthy tendencies have begun to rebound. As the saying goes, ‘hammering nails—keep hammering away, persisting over the long term, and gradually turning norms into customs.’” These important remarks by General Secretary Xi Jinping reflect our Party’s profound reflection on the inherent laws governing work-style development and its scientific summarization of historical experience in governing and administering the Party. They clearly define the goal direction and practical requirements for systematically advancing the Party’s work-style development in the new era.
Currently, the entire Party is conducting in-depth study and education to thoroughly implement the spirit of the Central Committee’s Eight-Point Regulations. This is an important measure for consolidating and deepening the achievements of thematic education and Party discipline learning and education, as well as for advancing comprehensively and strictly governing the Party in a deeper and more sustained manner. It also serves as a crucial pathway for further solidifying and expanding the gains made in improving work styles. On this new journey in the new era, only by proactively and consciously transforming work style improvements into widespread norms and practices can we continuously enhance the effectiveness of our efforts to strengthen work style, thereby providing a robust guarantee for further deepening comprehensive reform and promoting Chinese-style modernization with outstanding conduct.
Transforming wind into custom demonstrates the Marxist political parties’ highly conscious and persistent commitment to strengthening their work style.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “Improving work style is an ongoing process with no endpoint.” “Work-style building is a journey that never ends and has no final stop. We must persist in regular, meticulous, and long-term efforts, making sustained and persistent endeavors pay off over time.” These important remarks profoundly reflect the Party’s comprehensive understanding and systematic grasp of the laws governing work-style building from a historical, developmental, and dialectical perspective, and highlight the Party’s high degree of self-awareness in continuously strengthening its work style as a Marxist political party.
As the "Book of Han" puts it: “What the ruler cultivates above becomes the prevailing风尚, and what the people adopt below becomes the local customs.” In the context of Party conduct building, the term “feng” refers to the phased governance achievements that our Party has attained through top-down education, guidance, and discipline—manifested in tangible results such as rectifying unhealthy trends and improving work styles. The term “su,” on the other hand, refers to the enduring, positive environment that emerges from the long-term accumulation of excellent work styles—reflected in the behavioral norms consistently practiced by all Party members and cadres and in the value principles they consciously uphold. The concept of transforming “feng” into “su” profoundly reveals that Party conduct building is not a one-time or short-term endeavor. Only through persistent, sustained efforts can we turn the improvement of work styles into a habit, a conscious commitment, and a shared responsibility across the entire Party—achieving a deep-seated transformation from “treating existing problems” to “preventing future ones,” from “making immediate corrections” to “establishing lasting solutions,” and from “breaking old habits” to “cultivating new ones.”
As a Marxist ruling party, our Party’s commitment to strengthening Party conduct and fostering positive customs reflects a high degree of consciousness—guided by the spirit of thorough self-revolution—in continuously deepening and advancing this effort. Marxist materialist dialectics holds that we must understand the world through the development and transformation of things, emphasizing that the evolution of any phenomenon is a dynamic process in which quantitative change and qualitative change are dialectically unified. The process of transforming Party conduct into established norms and customs through the deepening of Party-style building is precisely such a dialectical movement: it is the result of quantitative accumulation leading to a qualitative leap. Any slackening or negligence in this process could trigger a resurgence of unhealthy tendencies, eroding the very fabric of the Party. Only by ensuring that the drive for style-building extends continuously over time and broadens its coverage spatially can we ensure that upright and righteous conduct continues to be promoted, while negative practices gradually fade away. This, in turn, will encourage all Party members to integrate the cultivation of solid work styles into their daily routines and turn it into a habit, thereby establishing a lasting force for continuous improvement of Party conduct and achieving a qualitative leap in this endeavor. Yet this qualitative transformation is not an endpoint; rather, it marks the beginning of a new stage in Party-style building, one in which fresh achievements can be made. This spiraling, upward-moving process constitutes the intrinsic driving force behind the ongoing deepening of Party-style building.
Transforming wind into custom embodies the inheritance and promotion of the Party’s fine tradition of style-building in the new era.
We must persistently strengthen style of work building, encouraging all Party members and cadres to internalize the requirements for style of work and translate them into concrete actions—until such practices become deeply ingrained in our culture and way of life. This has become a crucial dimension of our Party’s over-a-century-long journey of struggle.
Since its inception, our Party has attached great importance to building a sound work style. During the Land Revolution War period, the Party put forward and practiced the "Three Major Disciplines and Eight Points of Attention." In the Anti-Japanese War period, the Party creatively adopted the form of rectification campaigns to firmly oppose subjectivism, sectarianism, and the "Eight-Point Style" of Party writing, thereby vigorously strengthening the Party's work style. In Yan'an, the Party forged and carried forward fine revolutionary traditions and styles, giving rise to the Yan'an Spirit. Through the practice of revolutionary struggle, the Party gradually cultivated a series of glorious traditions and outstanding work styles. In 1945, Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out at the Seventh National Congress of the Party: "The Communist Party of China, armed with the theoretical ideas of Marxism-Leninism, has fostered in the Chinese people a new work style—one that primarily combines theory with practice, closely links itself with the masses, and practices self-criticism." These "Three Major Styles" became an important component of the Party's work-style development. On the eve of the founding of New China, in response to the challenges the Party might face after gaining nationwide governance, Comrade Mao Zedong emphasized: "We must ensure that comrades continue to maintain a style of humility, prudence, modesty, and composure; we must ensure that comrades continue to uphold the spirit of hard struggle."
After the founding of New China, our Party, based on the new tasks it faced in taking charge of national governance, launched a series of rectification campaigns one after another, resolutely combating unhealthy practices such as bureaucratic作风 and strengthening the close bond between the Party and the people. Following the reform and opening-up policy, as the Party confronted the complex situation brought about by reform and opening-up and the development of the socialist market economy, it further improved its legal and institutional framework, intensified Party spirit education, and promoted the transformation of achievements in style-building into institutional norms and deepened them into ideological consensus, thereby significantly enhancing the Party’s overall spiritual outlook and work style. Through the explorations and efforts of generations of Chinese Communists, the connotation of Party style-building has continued to deepen, its scope has kept expanding, and its system has become increasingly comprehensive. It can be said that throughout different historical periods, the Party’s practice of style-building has consistently upheld the principle of turning good practices into common norms, thus laying a solid foundation for the inheritance and promotion of the Party’s fine style in the new era.
Since the advent of a new era, the Party Central Committee—with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core—has, on the basis of summarizing historical experience and from the strategic perspective of advancing the Party’s self-revolution and consolidating its long-term governance position, launched a comprehensive and profound transformation of work styles from top to bottom, thus writing a new chapter in the Party’s style-building efforts. Following the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee adopted and deliberated upon the “Eight Provisions of the 18th CPC Central Committee Political Bureau on Improving Work Styles and Strengthening Ties with the Masses,” which focused on addressing the most pressing issues strongly reflected by the masses and proposed a series of practical and feasible measures. With the determination and tenacity to leave clear footprints wherever we step and leave indelible marks wherever we grip, these provisions set out clear rules for strengthening the Party’s style of work and effectively addressed the questions of what to focus on and how to carry out style-building under the new circumstances. After the 19th National Congress of the CPC, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee reviewed and adopted the “Detailed Implementation Rules of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau for Implementing the CPC Central Committee’s Eight Provisions.” In response to new situations and emerging challenges encountered during the implementation of the Eight Provisions, these rules were further refined and improved, sending a strong signal that style-building will be pursued consistently and to the very end. Since the 20th National Congress of the CPC, the Party Central Committee has remained keenly aware and firmly committed to addressing the unique challenges faced by a large party. Upholding the spirit of reform and maintaining rigorous standards in Party governance, it has made new arrangements and put forward new requirements for continuously strengthening the Party’s style of work and thoroughly implementing the spirit of the CPC Central Committee’s Eight Provisions. These measures have charted a clear course for deepening and solidifying style-building efforts, providing robust guarantees for preserving the Party’s advanced nature and purity and enhancing its capacity for long-term governance. As a result, this century-old Party, through revolutionary tempering, continues to stay at the forefront of the times and remain full of vitality and dynamism.
General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized that implementing the spirit of the Central Committee’s Eight-Point Regulation is a tough and protracted battle. The Central Committee’s Eight-Point Regulation is not meant to be effective for just five or ten years—it calls for sustained, long-term commitment. If formulating and implementing the Central Committee’s Eight-Point Regulation was the Party’s pioneering move in the new era, aimed at establishing trust through concrete actions and breaking new ground, then relentlessly addressing the “Four Winds” with the spirit of driving nails home—persistently rectifying misconduct, enforcing discipline rigorously, and fighting corruption—while continuously strengthening Party members’ moral cultivation and promoting fine work styles, represents a vivid practice aimed at transforming these efforts into widespread social norms. The report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China succinctly summarizes the historic achievements made in Party conduct building in the new era as “putting an end to some longstanding unhealthy tendencies that had long resisted correction and tackling some deeply entrenched problems that had remained unresolved for years,” thereby demonstrating the Party’s enduring and powerful commitment to transforming conduct-building efforts into ingrained social norms.
Transforming wind into custom embodies the inherent requirement and practical orientation for deepening and solidifying the Party’s conduct-building efforts.
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: “The building of work style serves the overall interests of the Party’s work. It should reflect the requirements imposed by the Party’s new situation and new tasks, ensuring that the process of improving work style becomes a process of thoroughly implementing the Party’s theories, lines, principles, and policies—a process that propels the smooth advancement of reform and opening-up and socialist modernization.” The Decision adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party states: “The current period and the coming period represent a critical phase for comprehensively advancing the great cause of building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation through Chinese-style modernization.” Grounded in this new situation and new tasks, we must continue to invigorate spirits, inspire fighting spirit, unite people’s hearts, and pool strength through an outstanding work style. To this end, we must take the opportunity of conducting in-depth study and education on the spirit of the Central Committee’s Eight-Point Regulation as a starting point, scientifically summarize our Party’s practical experience in improving work style in the new era, continuously deepen our understanding of the regularities governing the Party’s work-style development, promote the normalization and long-term effectiveness of work-style improvement, and achieve tangible results in transforming work styles into widespread social norms.
We must uphold the dialectical unity of targeted rectification and addressing both symptoms and root causes. Problems in work style manifest in diverse ways and have complex origins. They require not only precise identification and serious investigation to send a strong signal of comprehensive and stringent enforcement—leaving no room for compromise—but also systematic treatment that tackles both symptoms and root causes, thereby eradicating the very soil in which unhealthy work styles can take root and spread. Since the advent of the new era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has squarely confronted the prominent problems within the Party, treating the Central Committee’s Eight-Point Regulation as an “iron rule and unyielding standard,” rigorously tackling unhealthy tendencies and significantly improving the political environment within the Party. At the same time, we must recognize that problems in work style are recurrent and stubborn. In recent years, some localities and departments have repackaged the old practice of “mountains of documents and endless meetings” as “digital footprints”; some Party members and cadres have shifted from openly accepting gifts and money to doing so covertly, reflecting new trends in the hidden and evolving nature of the “Four Winds.” Therefore, we must break free from the vicious cycle of “improvement when we tighten up, relapse when we relax.” We need not only to grasp the new regional, industrial, and stage-specific characteristics of work-style issues, and persistently and rigorously address prominent problems, but also to analyze deeply the underlying causes of these issues—from the surface to their roots. We must integrate efforts to rectify conduct, enforce discipline, and combat corruption, adopting a “joint investigation” approach to severely punish intertwined issues of misconduct and corruption, and using a “joint governance” strategy to eliminate the common root causes of such problems. Moreover, we must link the crackdown on the “Four Winds” with deepening reform, perfecting institutions, and enhancing governance, providing effective safeguards for fostering sound work styles through systemic and comprehensive institutional innovations.
We must uphold the organic integration of external constraints and internal self-awareness. Promoting the Party’s conduct-building is a systematic undertaking that requires us to fully leverage both the catalytic role of external factors and the fundamental role of internal factors. On the one hand, we must strengthen external constraints imposed by Party discipline and regulations, providing robust institutional safeguards to transform conduct into a shared norm. On the other hand, we must enhance the ideological self-awareness of Party members and cadres, injecting fundamental spiritual impetus into the process of transforming conduct into a shared norm. Since the advent of the new era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has, on the one hand, advanced conduct-building along the track of governing the Party through systems and rules, issuing and revising a series of Party regulations and systems aimed at improving conduct, thereby continuously tightening the institutional cage. On the other hand, it has integrated the clear requirements for conduct-building into multiple rounds of centralized Party education, prompting Party members and cadres to consolidate their foundations and nurture their roots from the standpoint of ideology, cultivating a correct view of power, performance, and career. As a result, external constraints and internal self-awareness have produced a synergistic effect, pooling powerful collective strength to advance conduct-building. To further consolidate and deepen the achievements of conduct-building, we must scientifically grasp the important roles and dialectical relationship between external constraints and internal self-awareness, further enhancing the authority and enforceability of institutional norms, while also improving the targetedness and effectiveness of ideological education. By closely integrating these two aspects and aligning their efforts in the same direction, we can establish a governance framework that combines firmness with flexibility and mutual complementarity, ensuring that integrity and upright conduct truly become the behavioral norms that Party members and cadres follow unconsciously in their daily lives.
We must ensure that the Party’s conduct, government conduct, social ethos, and public morality resonate in harmony and reinforce each other. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “The Central Committee’s Eight-Point Regulation is neither the highest standard nor the ultimate goal; rather, it is merely the first step in our efforts to improve work styles—and a basic requirement that we Communists should all meet.” “We must uphold the spirit of driving nails home to strengthen style-building, using a sound Party ethos to inspire positive and virtuous social and public morals.” The Party’s conduct and government conduct are concrete manifestations of the worldview held by Party members and cadres in their daily actions, while social ethos and public morality reflect people’s value orientations, behavioral habits, and basic moral standards in public life. The Party’s conduct and government conduct are closely linked with social ethos and public morality, profoundly influencing and mutually shaping each other. The Party Central Committee—with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core—has designated the Central Committee’s Eight-Point Regulation as both the entry point and rallying cry for improving Party conduct in the new era precisely because the conduct of leading cadres significantly influences the overall Party atmosphere and the broader social climate. When leading cadres set an example and take the lead by personal conduct, they can leverage the “leading goose effect” to encourage broad swaths of Party members and cadres to transform their work styles and foster a favorable environment characterized by compliance with rules and discipline, and a strong commitment to getting things done. Similarly, when all Party members play a pioneering and exemplary role, further solidifying the close bond between the Party and the people, they can inspire the entire society to embrace virtue, pursue integrity, and champion frugality and simplicity, thus continuously guiding social ethos toward greater positivity. Therefore, to turn style-building into a widespread practice and cultural norm, we must establish a virtuous cycle of transmission—from leading cadres and all Party members down to the general public—so that sound work styles can spread effectively throughout society. By fostering a clean and upright political ecology through a healthy social environment, and in turn nurturing a clean and upright political ecology through a socially positive environment, we can gather even stronger positive energy for the development of the Party and the country.
Source | People's Daily Online, Official Website for Party History Study and Education
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Tongfang Academy Micro-Party Class, Episode 356: We Must Never Slacken in Cultivating Party Spirit for Even a Moment.
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Tongfang Academy Micro-Party Class, Episode 354: An Old Horse Stays Vigilant, Guarding Peace and Security in Its Region
