Deeply Grasp the Intrinsic Unity of Upholding the Party’s Overall Leadership and Adhering to a People-Centered Approach

Upholding the Party’s overall leadership and adhering to a people-centered approach are both major principles for further comprehensively deepening reform set forth in the *Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform to Advance Chinese-Path Modernization* (hereinafter referred to as the *Decision*), which was deliberated and adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Upholding the Party’s overall leadership and adhering to a people-centered approach are intrinsically unified. Only by upholding the Party’s overall leadership can we consistently adhere to a people-centered approach in the course of reform and opening up and Chinese-path modernization; only by adhering to a people-centered approach can we ensure that the Party always maintains its flesh-and-blood ties with the masses of the people, forever preserve the Party’s advanced nature and integrity, and implement Party leadership in all fields, aspects, and links of national governance.

坚持党的全面领导与坚持以人民为中心，都是党的二十届三中全会审议通过的《中共中央关于进一步全面深化改革、推进中国式现代化的决定》（以下简称《决定》）提出的进一步全面深化改革必须坚持的重大原则。坚持党的全面领导与坚持以人民为中心是内在统一的。只有坚持党的全面领导，才能在改革开放和中国式现代化进程中始终坚持以人民为中心；只有坚持以人民为中心，才能确保党始终保持同人民群众的血肉联系，永葆党的先进性和纯洁性，把党的领导落实到国家治理各领域各方面各环节。

Upholding the Party’s overall leadership is the primary principle for further comprehensively deepening reform.

坚持党的全面领导是进一步全面深化改革的首要原则

Party leadership is the foundation and lifeline of the Party and the country, and the interests and destiny of the people of all ethnic groups across the nation. It is precisely on the basis of profoundly summing up the valuable experience of reform and opening up, especially the comprehensive deepening of reform since the New Era, and comprehensively grasping the theoretical logic, historical logic, and practical logic of upholding the Party’s overall leadership, that the *Decision* takes upholding the Party’s overall leadership as the primary principle for further comprehensively deepening reform.

党的领导是党和国家的根本所在、命脉所在，是全国各族人民的利益所系、命运所系。正是在深刻总结改革开放以来特别是新时代全面深化改革的宝贵经验,全面把握坚持党的全面领导的理论逻辑、历史逻辑、实践逻辑的基础上，《决定》把坚持党的全面领导作为进一步全面深化改革的首要原则。

From the perspective of theoretical logic, upholding the leadership of the proletarian party is a basic viewpoint of Marxist party-building theory and a fundamental principle of scientific socialism. Marx and Engels pointed out in the *Communist Manifesto*: “All previous historical movements were movements of minorities, or in the interest of minorities. The proletarian movement is the independent movement of the immense majority, in the interest of the immense majority.” “The Communists are not a separate party opposed to other working-class parties. They have no interests separate and apart from those of the proletariat as a whole.” As a Marxist political party, the Communist Party of China upholds the fundamental purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly, adheres to its original aspiration and founding mission of seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation, always represents the fundamental interests of the broadest majority of the people, and possesses unique theoretical, political, organizational, institutional advantages, and the advantage of close ties with the masses. Since reform and opening up, especially since the New Era, precisely because we have upheld the Party’s overall leadership and fully leveraged the Party’s unique advantages, we have been able to continuously deepen our understanding of the laws of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the laws of Chinese-path modernization construction, unswervingly follow the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, continuously open up new horizons in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times, and ensure that reform and opening up advance in the correct direction; we have been able to continuously deepen our understanding of the laws of reform, clarify the goals, tasks, priorities, timelines, and roadmaps of reform, accurately grasp the major relationships in comprehensively deepening reform, and enhance the scientific nature, foresight, initiative, and creativity of reform; we have been able to mobilize and organize the forces of the entire Party and society to advance reform, gather the strength and wisdom for further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese-path modernization, and create a dynamic situation where reform and innovation vitality compete to burst forth and fully surge.

从理论逻辑看，坚持无产阶级政党的领导，是马克思主义建党学说的基本观点，也是科学社会主义的基本原则。马克思恩格斯在《共产党宣言》中指出：“过去的一切运动都是少数人的，或者为少数人谋利益的运动。无产阶级的运动是绝大多数人的，为绝大多数人谋利益的独立的运动。”“共产党人不是同其他工人政党相对立的特殊政党。他们没有任何同整个无产阶级的利益不同的利益。”作为马克思主义政党，中国共产党秉持全心全意为人民服务的根本宗旨，坚守为中国人民谋幸福、为中华民族谋复兴的初心和使命，始终代表最广大人民根本利益，并具有独特的理论优势、政治优势、组织优势、制度优势和密切联系群众的优势。改革开放以来特别是新时代以来，正是因为坚持党的全面领导，充分发挥党的独特优势，我们才能不断深化对中国特色社会主义规律和中国式现代化建设规律的认识，坚定不移走中国特色社会主义道路，不断开辟马克思主义中国化时代化新境界，确保改革开放沿着正确方向前行；才能不断深化对改革的规律性认识，明确改革的目标任务和优先序、时间表、路线图，准确把握全面深化改革的重大关系，增强改革的科学性、预见性、主动性、创造性；才能动员和组织全党全社会的力量推进改革，凝聚进一步全面深化改革、推进中国式现代化的力量和智慧，形成改革创新活力竞相迸发、充分涌流的生动局面。

From the perspective of historical logic, reform and opening up was carried out under the leadership of the Party from the very beginning. The Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China [1]1 The Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the CPC was held in October 2019. Its main agenda was to study and decide on major issues concerning upholding and improving the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and advancing the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. realized the strategic shift of the Party and the state’s work center, opened a new period of reform and opening up and socialist modernization, and achieved a great turning point of far-reaching significance in the history of the Party since the founding of New China. Entering the New Era, facing the new situation where various deep-seated contradictions and problems continuously emerge and various risks and challenges continuously increase, our Party convened the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee [2]2 The “Decision” refers to the “Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform and Promoting Chinese-Path Modernization,” adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC in July 2024., which opened a new journey of comprehensively deepening reform and systematically designing and advancing reform as a whole in the New Era, and created a completely new situation for China’s reform and opening up. General Secretary Xi Jinping personally

从历史逻辑看，改革开放从一开始就是在党的领导下进行的。党的十一届三中全会实现了党和国家工作中心战略转移，开启了改革开放和社会主义现代化建设新时期，实现了新中国成立以来党的历史上具有深远意义的伟大转折。进入新时代，面对各种深层次矛盾和问题不断呈现、各类风险和挑战不断增多的新形势，我们党召开十八届三中全会，开启了新时代全面深化改革、系统整体设计推进改革新征程，开创了我国改革开放全新局面。习近平总书记亲自领导、亲自部署、亲自推动全面深化改革工作，运用马克思主义的立场观点方法，创造性提出一系列新思想、新观点、新论断，构成习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想最为丰富、最为生动、最富创意的组成部分，为全面深化改革提供了科学指引。以习近平同志为核心的党中央成立全面深化改革领导机构，自上而下形成党领导改革工作体制机制，对全面深化改革作出一系列重大战略部署。在全面深化改革的伟大历程中，我们党领导人民成功推进和拓展了中国式现代化。改革开放的伟大历程充分表明，正是因为坚持党的领导，我们才能开启改革开放和社会主义现代化建设新时期，使我国大踏步赶上时代；正是因为坚持党的全面领导，新时代以来党和国家事业才能取得历史性成就、发生历史性变革，全面深化改革才能取得历史性、革命性、开创性成就，推动我国迈上全面建设社会主义现代化国家新征程。

From the perspective of practical logic, upholding the Party’s overall leadership is the fundamental guarantee for comprehensively deepening reform in the New Era. Since the New Era began, the authority and centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee have been effectively ensured, the system of Party leadership has been continuously improved, the overall leadership of the Party has become more scientific and rational in the allocation of functions, more complete and perfect in institutions and mechanisms, and more efficient in operation and management. The entire Party has become more unified in thought, more united politically, and more consistent in action, and the Party’s political leadership, ideological guidance, mass organization, and social appeal have been significantly enhanced. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Party [1]1 The Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the CPC was held in October 2019. Its main agenda was to study and decide on major issues concerning upholding and improving the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and advancing the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. clarified that the Party leadership system is the fundamental leadership system of our country. This is the first time our Party, from the height of upholding and improving the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, has determined the status and role of the Party leadership system as bearing on the long term and the overall situation within our country’s national system and governance system, seizing the key and foundation of institutional construction and national governance. Comprehensively deepening reform is a broad and profound social transformation, unprecedented in the breadth of fields it covers, the depth of adjustments to the pattern of interests it touches, the sharpness of the contradictions and problems involved, the difficulty of breaking through institutional and mechanistic obstacles, and the complexity of the situation for carrying out the great struggle. Precisely because of upholding the Party’s overall leadership, especially the centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, ensuring that the Party always commands the overall situation and coordinates all parties, and implementing Party leadership in all areas, aspects, and links of the Party’s and the state’s undertakings, can the comprehensive deepening of reform in the New Era always take promoting social fairness and justice and enhancing the well-being of the people as its starting point and ultimate goal, winning the support and endorsement of the masses; can it break free from the shackles of ideas and concepts, break through the solidified barriers of interests, dare to advance into deep-water zones, dare to gnaw on hard bones, dare to venture into dangerous rapids, and resolutely eliminate institutional and mechanistic defects in all areas; can it achieve the transformation of reform from partial exploration and ice-breaking breakthroughs to systemic integration and comprehensive deepening, with the basic institutional framework in various fields being established, many fields achieving historic transformations, systemic reshaping, and overall reconstruction, the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics becoming more mature and well-defined, and the modernization level of the national governance system and governance capacity being significantly improved.

从实践逻辑看，坚持党的全面领导是新时代全面深化改革的根本保证。新时代以来，党中央权威和集中统一领导得到有力保证，党的领导制度体系不断完善，党的全面领导在职能配置上更加科学合理、在体制机制上更加完备完善、在运行管理上更加高效，全党思想上更加统一、政治上更加团结、行动上更加一致，党的政治领导力、思想引领力、群众组织力、社会号召力显著增强。党的十九届四中全会明确党的领导制度是我国的根本领导制度，这是我们党第一次从坚持和完善中国特色社会主义制度的高度，确定党的领导制度在我国国家制度和国家治理体系中关乎长远、关乎全局的地位和作用，抓住了制度建设和国家治理的关键和根本。全面深化改革是一项广泛而深刻的社会变革，涵盖领域的广泛性、触及利益格局调整的深刻性、涉及矛盾和问题的尖锐性、突破体制机制障碍的艰巨性、进行伟大斗争形势的复杂性都前所未有。正是因为坚持党的全面领导特别是党中央集中统一领导，确保党始终总揽全局、协调各方，把党的领导落实到党和国家事业各领域各方面各环节，新时代全面深化改革才能始终以促进社会公平正义、增进人民福祉为出发点和落脚点，赢得人民群众支持和拥护；才能冲破思想观念束缚，突破利益固化藩篱，敢于突进深水区，敢于啃硬骨头，敢于涉险滩，坚决破除各方面体制机制弊端，实现改革由局部探索、破冰突围到系统集成、全面深化的转变，各领域基础性制度框架基本建立，许多领域实现历史性变革、系统性重塑、整体性重构，中国特色社会主义制度更加成熟定型，国家治理体系和治理能力现代化水平明显提高。

Further comprehensively deepening reform must adhere to a people-centered approach

进一步全面深化改革必须坚持以人民为中心

At the beginning of reform and opening up, Comrade Deng Xiaoping pointed out: “We must accelerate the development of productive forces according to the current favorable conditions, so that the people’s material life can be somewhat better, and their cultural life and spiritual outlook can be somewhat improved.” Entering the New Era, General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out: “Reform is meaningful only when it is for the people; reform has momentum only when it relies on the people.” The people are the creators of history and the fundamental force determining the future and destiny of the Party and the state. It is precisely on the basis of accurately grasping the Party’s governance philosophy, the principal position of the people, and the fundamental purpose of reform and opening up that the “Decision” [2]2 The “Decision” refers to the “Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform and Promoting Chinese-Path Modernization,” adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC in July 2024. takes adhering to a people-centered approach as an important principle for further comprehensively deepening reform, emphasizing “respecting the principal position of the people and their pioneering spirit, responding to the people’s calls with reform measures, so that reform is for the people, reform relies on the people, and the fruits of reform are shared by the people.”

改革开放之初，邓小平同志指出：“我们一定要根据现在的有利条件加速发展生产力，使人民的物质生活好一些，使人民的文化生活、精神面貌好一些。”进入新时代，习近平总书记深刻指出：“为了人民而改革，改革才有意义；依靠人民而改革，改革才有动力。”人民是历史的创造者，是决定党和国家前途命运的根本力量。正是在准确把握党的执政理念、人民的主体地位、改革开放的根本目的的基础上，《决定》把坚持以人民为中心作为进一步全面深化改革的重要原则，强调“尊重人民主体地位和首创精神，人民有所呼、改革有所应，做到改革为了人民、改革依靠人民、改革成果由人民共享”。

The people are the value subject of reform practice. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “The fundamental purpose of our promotion of reform is to make the country more prosperous and strong, to make society more fair and just, and to make the people’s lives better.” Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, comprehensive deepening of reform has started from solving the most immediate and realistic issues of greatest concern to the people, deeply advancing reforms in areas such as income distribution, employment, education, social security, medical and health care, elderly care and childcare, housing security, democracy and the rule of law, and social governance, putting the people-centered development philosophy into practice. For example, in the employment field, around promoting high-quality and full employment, we continuously improve the employment promotion mechanism and perfect the support system for key groups’ employment; in the education field, we coordinate and advance the integrated reform and development of urban and rural compulsory education within counties, enhance the adaptability of vocational and technical education, and raise the quality of higher education; in the social security field, we push the construction of the social security system onto a fast track, basically completing the world’s largest social security system, with social insurance as the main body, including systems such as social assistance, social welfare, and social special care, with complete functions; and so on. Where the people call, reform responds. Taking better satisfaction of the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and promoting more obvious substantive progress in people’s all-round development and common prosperity for all as the fundamental purpose, reform can win the people’s heartfelt support and endorsement.

人民是改革实践的价值主体。习近平总书记指出：“我们推进改革的根本目的，是要让国家变得更加富强、让社会变得更加公平正义、让人民生活得更加美好。”党的十八大以来，全面深化改革从解决群众最关心最直接最现实的利益问题切入，深入推进收入分配、就业、教育、社会保障、医药卫生、养老托幼、住房保障、民主法治、社会治理等领域改革，把以人民为中心的发展思想落到实处。比如，在就业领域，围绕促进高质量充分就业不断健全就业促进机制、完善重点群体就业支持体系；在教育领域，统筹推进县域内城乡义务教育一体化改革发展，增强职业技术教育适应性，提高高等教育质量；在社会保障领域，推动社会保障体系建设进入快车道，基本建成以社会保险为主体，包括社会救助、社会福利、社会优抚等制度在内，功能完备的世界上规模最大的社会保障体系；等等。人民有所呼，改革有所应。把更好满足人民日益增长的美好生活需要，推动人的全面发展、全体人民共同富裕取得更为明显的实质性进展作为根本目的，改革就能赢得人民衷心拥护和支持。

The people are the driving subject of reform and opening up. Comprehensive deepening of reform fully respects the will expressed by the people, the experience they have created, the rights they possess, and the role they play; closely combines top-level design with grassroots exploration; highly unifies advancing reform under the Party’s leadership with respecting the people’s principal position; and formulates the reform timetable, roadmap, and specific measures according to the people’s needs. For example, before the convening of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over a symposium with non-Party figures and a symposium with enterprises and experts, focusing on reform, opening the door for advice, and distributing the draft of the “Decision” [3]3 The “Decision” refers to the “Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform and Promoting Chinese-Path Modernization,” adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee in July 2024. within the Party for a certain scope of solicitation of opinions. The document drafting group carefully studied the opinions and suggestions solicited, absorbed as much as possible, and made 221 modifications. This is precisely a vivid practice of respecting the people’s principal position and pioneering spirit. Reform is the cause of hundreds of millions of people themselves; the people display their talents and realize their dreams in reform. History and practice have fully proven that without the people’s support and participation, no reform can succeed. No matter what difficulties and challenges are encountered, as long as there is the people’s support and participation, reform has no difficulty that cannot be overcome, no hurdle that cannot be crossed. Fully stimulating the people’s sense of ownership, gathering the infinite wisdom hidden among the people, and igniting the creative vitality of the whole society, reform can possess the broadest, deepest, and most enduring source of strength.

人民是改革开放的推动主体。全面深化改革充分尊重人民所表达的意愿、所创造的经验、所拥有的权利、所发挥的作用，把顶层设计与基层探索紧密结合起来，把坚持在党的领导下推进改革和尊重人民主体地位高度统一起来，根据人民需求制定改革时间表、路线图和具体举措。比如，党的二十届三中全会召开前，习近平总书记主持召开党外人士座谈会、企业和专家座谈会，聚焦改革，开门问策，并将《决定》征求意见稿下发党内一定范围征求意见。文件起草组认真研究征求到的意见和建议，能吸收尽量吸收，作出221处修改。这正是尊重人民主体地位和首创精神的生动实践。改革是亿万人民自己的事业，人民在改革中施展才干、成就梦想。历史和实践充分证明，没有人民支持和参与，任何改革都不可能取得成功。无论遇到任何困难和挑战，只要有人民支持和参与，改革就没有克服不了的困难，就没有越不过的坎。充分激发人民主人翁精神，汇聚蕴藏在人民之中的无穷智慧，激发全社会创造活力，改革就能拥有最广泛、最深厚、最持久的力量源泉。

The people are the evaluation subject of reform effectiveness. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “Whether it promotes economic and social development and whether it brings tangible gains to the people are taken as the evaluation criteria for reform effectiveness.” Whether reform effectiveness is good or not, the evaluation subject is not individuals or a minority, but the broad masses of the people. Whether the people support, approve, are happy, or agree is the fundamental criterion for our Party to measure the success or failure of all work. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has set reform agendas according to the people’s demands and expectations, identified the entry points and breakthroughs for reform from solving the prominent issues strongly reflected by the people, and sought golden ideas and clever methods for reform from the people’s opinions and suggestions, making comprehensive deepening of reform a process in which the people jointly participate and universally benefit. Putting reform measures to the test in practice, letting the grassroots judge, and letting the masses score, the targeting of reform will be more precise, the effectiveness of reform will be more significant, and it will enable all decisions and work in all aspects to conform to the actual situation, objective laws, and the people’s will to the greatest extent.

人民是改革成效的评价主体。习近平总书记指出，“把是否促进经济社会发展、是否给人民群众带来实实在在的获得感，作为改革成效的评价标准”。改革成效好不好，评价主体不是个别人、少数人，而是广大人民。人民拥护不拥护、赞成不赞成、高兴不高兴、答应不答应，是我们党衡量一切工作得失的根本标准。党的十八大以来，以习近平同志为核心的党中央根据人民群众的诉求和期盼设置改革议题，从解决人民群众反映强烈的突出问题中找准改革的切入点和突破口，在人民群众的意见建议中寻求改革的金点子、妙法子，使全面深化改革成为人民群众共同参与、普遍受益的过程。把改革举措放到实践中去检验，让基层来评判，让群众来打分，改革的靶向就会更加精准，改革的成效就会更加显著，就能使各项决策和各方面工作最大限度符合实际情况、符合客观规律、符合人民意愿。

The people are the sharing subject of reform achievements. Our Party’s revolution, construction, and reform are all aimed at letting the people live a happy life; reform achievements are the fruits of labor jointly built and shared by all the people. Any reform measure contains the inherent logic of enhancing people’s welfare by liberating productive forces and promoting social fairness and justice. In the New Era, the Party Central Committee has issued over a thousand reform plans, earnestly ensuring people’s livelihood and weaving a dense network of livelihood guarantees. Focusing on promoting common prosperity, we continuously deepen the reform of the income distribution system, through individual income tax reform, raising the minimum wage standard, deepening the reform of the compensation system for heads of centrally administered state-owned enterprises, etc., making the “cake” bigger while cutting it well, promoting the continuous narrowing of the income distribution gap; focusing on meeting the people’s spiritual and cultural needs, we improve the public cultural service system, with the public cultural facility network covering urban and rural areas, significantly narrowing the gap in spiritual and cultural life between urban and rural residents; focusing on ensuring fair competition, we establish a fair competition review system, preventing the exclusion and restriction of market competition from the source, stimulating economic and social vitality… Driven by comprehensive deepening of reform and based on high-quality development, our Party has led the people to successfully achieve the first centenary goal, historically eliminate absolute poverty, build a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and continue to advance along the path of Chinese-path modernization, allowing the fruits of modernization to benefit all the people more and more fairly.

人民是改革成果的共享主体。我们党干革命、搞建设、抓改革都是为了让人民过上幸福生活，改革成果是全体人民共建共享的劳动果实。任何改革举措，都包含着通过解放生产力、促进社会公平正义来增进人民福祉的内在逻辑。新时代以来，党中央出台了上千个改革方案，切实抓好民生保障，织密一张张民生保障网。着眼于促进共同富裕，不断深化收入分配制度改革，通过个税改革、上调最低工资标准、深化中央管理企业负责人薪酬制度改革等，在做大“蛋糕”的同时切好“蛋糕”，促进收入分配差距不断缩小；着眼于满足人民精神文化需求，完善公共文化服务体系，公共文化设施网络覆盖城乡，城乡居民精神文化生活的差距明显缩小；着眼于保障公平竞争，建立公平竞争审查制度，从源头上防止排除和限制市场竞争，激发经济社会活力……以全面深化改革为动力，以高质量发展为基础，我们党带领人民成功实现了第一个百年奋斗目标，历史性地消除了绝对贫困，全面建成小康社会，并沿着中国式现代化道路继续前行，让现代化建设成果更多更公平惠及全体人民。

Upholding the Party’s overall leadership and adhering to a people-centered approach are intrinsically unified.

坚持党的全面领导与坚持以人民为中心是内在统一的

The intrinsic unity between upholding the Party’s overall leadership and adhering to a people-centered approach is manifested in the high unity between the Party’s nature and purpose and the people-centered character of reform and opening up, the high unity between upholding the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee and upholding the people being the masters of the country, and the high unity between the goals set by the Party and the people’s aspiration for a better life, among other aspects.

坚持党的全面领导与坚持以人民为中心的内在统一，体现为党的性质宗旨同改革开放的人民性高度统一、坚持党中央集中统一领导同坚持人民当家作主高度统一以及党确定的奋斗目标同人民对美好生活的向往高度统一等方面。

The Party’s nature and purpose are highly unified with the people-centered character of reform and opening up. As a Marxist governing party with no special interests of its own, our Party has always adhered to the fundamental purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly, steadfastly upholding the original aspiration and founding mission of seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation; all the Party’s struggles are for the people’s happiness. Precisely because of this, the reform and opening up carried out under the Party’s leadership has always taken “making the country more prosperous and strong, making society more fair and just, and making the people’s lives better” as its fundamental purpose, taking promoting social fairness and justice and enhancing people’s welfare as its starting point and落脚点 [4]4 The Chinese term “落脚点” (luòjiǎo diǎn) literally means “foothold” or “point of landing,” but in this political context it is conventionally rendered as “ultimate goal” or “end purpose.” Here it is translated as “落脚点” with the original in parentheses for clarity, as the sentence discusses the term itself., and has run the people-centered fundamental position and value pursuit through all fields and aspects of reform, possessing a high degree of people-centered character. Only the Party can lead the people, organize the people, and unite the people, better bring the people’s role into play, better meet the people’s needs, and better promote people’s all-round development. The people-centered character of reform and opening up originates from the Party’s nature and purpose; the Party’s nature and purpose ensure that reform and opening up always adheres to a people-centered approach.

党的性质宗旨同改革开放的人民性高度统一。作为没有任何自己特殊利益的马克思主义执政党，我们党始终坚持全心全意为人民服务的根本宗旨，坚守为中国人民谋幸福、为中华民族谋复兴的初心和使命，党的一切奋斗都是为人民谋幸福。正因如此，在党的领导下进行的改革开放，始终以“让国家变得更加富强、让社会变得更加公平正义、让人民生活得更加美好”为根本目的，以促进社会公平正义、增进人民福祉为出发点和落脚点，把以人民为中心的根本立场和价值追求贯穿改革各领域各方面，具有高度的人民性。只有党才能带领人民、组织人民、凝聚人民，更好发挥人民作用，更好满足人民需要，更好促进人的全面发展。改革开放的人民性源于党的性质宗旨，党的性质宗旨保证改革开放始终坚持以人民为中心。

Upholding the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee is highly unified with upholding the people being the masters of the country. Affairs lie in all directions, but the key lies in the center. To uphold the Party’s leadership, we must first uphold the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee. Only when the entire Party has a core and the Party Central Committee has a core can there be a high degree of unity of will, unity of thought, and unity of action throughout the Party. Establishing Comrade Xi Jinping’s core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole, and establishing the guiding position of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era are major political achievements made by the Party in the New Era. The fundamental reason why such great changes could occur in the New Era, why the people’s principal position could be fully respected in comprehensive deepening of reform, why citizens’ orderly political participation could be expanded at all levels and in all fields, reflecting the people’s will, safeguarding the people’s rights and interests, and stimulating the people’s creative vitality, lies in General Secretary Xi Jinping’s helm steering and the scientific guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Upholding the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee is the most fundamental, strongest, and most reliable guarantee for upholding the people being the masters of the country.

坚持党中央集中统一领导同坚持人民当家作主高度统一。事在四方，要在中央。坚持党的领导，首先要坚持党中央集中统一领导。全党有核心、党中央有核心，才能有全党高度的意志统一、高度的思想一致和高度的行动一致。确立习近平同志党中央的核心、全党的核心地位，确立习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想的指导地位，是党在新时代取得的重大政治成果。新时代之所以能够发生如此伟大的变革，全面深化改革中之所以能够充分尊重人民主体地位，在各层次各领域扩大公民有序政治参与，体现人民意志、保障人民权益、激发人民创造活力，根本在于有习近平总书记领航掌舵、有习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想科学指引。坚持党中央集中统一领导，就是坚持人民当家作主最根本、最坚强、最可靠的保证。

The Party’s established goals are highly unified with the people’s aspiration for a better life. The Party’s central tasks have always been set in response to new trends in the development of the times, new requirements of practical development, and new expectations of the people. The 20th National Congress of the CPC established the central task of comprehensively advancing the building of a strong country and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee focused on advancing Chinese-path modernization to plan for further deepening reform comprehensively, anchored to the people’s aspiration for a better life, and put forward the “seven focal points” — focusing on building a high-level socialist market economy, focusing on developing whole-process people’s democracy, focusing on building a socialist cultural power, focusing on improving the quality of life of the people, focusing on building a beautiful China, focusing on building a higher-level peaceful China, and focusing on improving the Party’s leadership level and long-term governance capacity. These “seven focal points” encompass, in general, the strategic priorities for advancing Chinese-path modernization, and also encompass, in general, the concerns of the people’s aspiration for a better life, such as material prosperity, clean and honest governance, spiritual abundance, social stability, and a pleasant ecological environment.

党确定的奋斗目标同人民对美好生活的向往高度统一。党的中心任务从来都是顺应时代发展新趋势、实践发展新要求、人民群众新期待来确立的。党的二十大确立了以中国式现代化全面推进强国建设、民族复兴伟业的中心任务，党的二十届三中全会聚焦推进中国式现代化谋划进一步全面深化改革，锚定人民对美好生活的向往提出“七个聚焦”——聚焦构建高水平社会主义市场经济体制，聚焦发展全过程人民民主，聚焦建设社会主义文化强国，聚焦提高人民生活品质，聚焦建设美丽中国，聚焦建设更高水平平安中国，聚焦提高党的领导水平和长期执政能力。这“七个聚焦”，从总体上囊括了推进中国式现代化的战略重点，也从总体上囊括了物质富裕、政治清明、精神富足、社会安定、生态宜人等人民对美好生活向往的关注点。

On the new journey, to deeply grasp the intrinsic unity between upholding the Party’s overall leadership and adhering to a people-centered approach, the primary task is to deeply comprehend the decisive significance of the Two Establishments [5]5 The Two Establishments (两个确立) refers, strengthen the Four Consciousnesses [6], firm up the Four Confidences [7], and achieve the Two Upholds [8]. Party committees (Party groups) at all levels, as well as Party members and cadres, must consciously maintain a high degree of alignment with the Party Central Committee, resolutely obey the commands of the Party Central Committee, always look to the Party Central Committee for guidance, benchmark and align themselves with the requirements of the Party Central Committee, and promptly correct deviations. They must never engage in discounting or making flexible adjustments, or selective implementation. On the basis of accurately grasping the fundamental purpose and essential requirements of the various reform tasks proposed in the “Decision” [9], we must adhere to adapting measures to local conditions and to the times, study and formulate reform implementation plans that suit our own actual conditions, and strive to make reform measures feasible, operable, and effective. We must follow the Party’s mass line in the New Era, vigorously promote the practice of investigation and research, deeply understand the people’s needs in areas such as employment, education, medical care, childcare, housing, and elderly care, focus on identifying the breakthrough points and starting points for reform from the people’s urgent, difficult, anxious, and anticipated problems, and, by promoting democracy and pooling wisdom, rely on the strength of the people to find ideas and methods for solving problems. We must effectively absorb social expectations, popular wisdom, expert opinions, and grassroots experience into reform design, so that the specific measures of various reforms better conform to reality and the people’s wishes, enhancing the scientific nature of reform decisions and the execution of reform implementation. At the same time, we must vigorously develop whole-process people’s democracy, integrating the promotion of democracy and the pooling of wisdom and strength throughout the entire process of further deepening reform comprehensively. Whole-process people’s democracy upholds the organic unity of Party leadership, the people being the masters of the country, and law-based governance. It is a democracy that covers all chains, all aspects, and all areas. It not only has complete institutional procedures but also has complete participatory practices. It is the fundamental path for giving play to the principal role of the people and stimulating the people’s creative vitality. The “Decision” has made important arrangements for improving the institutional system of whole-process people’s democracy, putting forward a series of reform measures around strengthening the institutional construction of the people being the masters of the country, improving the mechanism for consultative democracy, improving the system for grassroots democracy, and perfecting the grand united front work pattern. These reform measures will further expand democratic channels, enrich democratic forms at all levels, and effectively consolidate the wisdom and strength of the broadest masses of the people into further deepening reform comprehensively.

新征程上，深刻把握坚持党的全面领导和坚持以人民为中心的内在统一性，首要的是深刻领悟“两个确立”的决定性意义，增强“四个意识”、坚定“四个自信”、做到“两个维护”。各级党委（党组）和党员、干部要自觉同党中央保持高度一致，坚决听从党中央指挥，始终向党中央看齐，同党中央要求对标对表，及时校正偏差，绝不能打折扣搞变通、选择性执行。在准确把握《决定》提出的各项改革任务的根本目的和本质要求基础上，坚持因地制宜、因时制宜，研究制定符合自身实际的改革落实方案，努力使改革措施具有可行性、可操作性和实效性。走好新时代党的群众路线，大兴调查研究之风，深入了解人民群众在就业、教育、医疗、托育、住房、养老等方面的需求，注重从老百姓急难愁盼中找准改革发力点和突破口，通过发扬民主、集思广益，依靠人民群众的力量找到解决问题的思路和方法，切实把社会期盼、群众智慧、专家意见、基层经验充分吸收到改革设计中来，使各项改革的具体举措更加符合实际、符合人民愿望，增强改革决策科学性和改革落实执行力。同时，大力发展全过程人民民主，把发扬民主、汇集众智众力贯穿进一步全面深化改革全过程。全过程人民民主坚持党的领导、人民当家作主、依法治国有机统一，是全链条、全方位、全覆盖的民主，不仅有完整的制度程序，而且有完整的参与实践，是发挥人民主体作用、激发人民创造活力的根本途径。《决定》对健全全过程人民民主制度体系作出重要部署，围绕加强人民当家作主制度建设、健全协商民主机制、健全基层民主制度、完善大统战工作格局提出了一系列改革举措。这些改革举措，将进一步拓展民主渠道，丰富各层级民主形式，切实把最广大人民的智慧和力量凝聚到进一步全面深化改革上来。

(Author: Du Feijin, is a specially-appointed researcher of the Research Base of the Capital Normal University of the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era Research Center in Beijing, and President of the Beijing Red Culture Research Association)

（作者：杜飞进，系北京市习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想研究中心首都师范大学研究基地特约研究员、北京红色文化研究会会长）

Online Editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧