Strengthening the Consciousness of Party and Government Organs in Taking the Lead in Living on a Tight Budget

Recently, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the revised "Regulations on Practicing Thrift and Opposing Waste in Party and Government Organs" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations"), emphasizing the combination of goal orientation and problem orientation, keeping pace with the times to improve regulations on the management of Party and government organs' funds, domestic travel, temporary overseas trips for official business, official receptions, official vehicles, meetings and events, office space, and resource conservation, strengthening the implementation of responsibility for practicing thrift and opposing waste, and further tightening the institutional bolts for Party and government organs to take the lead in living on a tight budget. This is of great significance for thoroughly implementing the spirit of the Eight-Point Regulations of the Central Committee and continuously deepening the rectification of the "Four Forms of Decadence." [1]1 The "Four Forms of Decadence" (四风) refers to formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance, which were the targets of a major Party rectification campaign launched in 2013.

近日，中共中央、国务院印发了修订后的《党政机关厉行节约反对浪费条例》（以下简称《条例》），强调坚持目标导向和问题导向相结合，与时俱进完善党政机关经费管理、国内差旅、因公临时出国（境）、公务接待、公务用车、会议活动、办公用房、资源节约等规定，强化厉行勤俭节约、反对铺张浪费责任落实，进一步拧紧党政机关带头过紧日子的制度螺栓，对于深入贯彻中央八项规定精神、持续深化纠治“四风”具有重要意义。

Hard struggle and thrift are traditional virtues of the Chinese nation. "Every single grain of rice and every sip of porridge should remind us of the difficulty of their production; every half thread and every half strand of silk should remind us of the hardship of their manufacture." [2]2 A famous couplet from the Ming dynasty scholar Zhu Bolu's "Household Management Maxims" (《朱子家训》). "Thrift is the common virtue; extravagance is the greatest evil." [3]3 A saying from the Zuo Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals (《左传·庄公二十四年》). "The people's livelihood depends on diligence; diligence leads to no shortage." [4]4 A saying from the Zuo Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals (《左传·宣公十二年》). Such ancient maxims are engraved with the Chinese nation's value pursuit of hard struggle and thrift. Thrift is not only integrated into the life attitudes and family virtues of generations of Chinese people but is also an important cornerstone for the state to consolidate its ruling foundation. After millennia of inheritance, the spirit of hard struggle and thrift has long been integrated into the spiritual bloodline of the Chinese nation, becoming the crystallization of wisdom for coping with survival challenges.

艰苦奋斗、勤俭节约是中华民族的传统美德。“一粥一饭，当思来之不易；半丝半缕，恒念物力维艰”“俭，德之共也；侈，恶之大也”“民生在勤，勤则不匮”……这样的古训，镌刻着中华民族对艰苦奋斗、勤俭节约的价值追求。勤俭节约不仅融入了代代中华儿女的生活态度、家庭美德，更是国家夯实执政根基的重要基石。历经千年传承，艰苦奋斗、勤俭节约精神早已融入中华民族的精神血脉，成为应对生存挑战的智慧结晶。

Practicing thrift and opposing waste are the glorious tradition and fine style of our Party. During the Jinggangshan period, Red Army commanders and fighters ate red rice and pumpkin soup, wore coarse cloth and straw sandals, and unhesitatingly joined the revolution. [5]5 The Jinggangshan period (1927–1930) refers to the early years of the Chinese Red Army's base area in the Jinggang Mountains, a foundational period of the Chinese Communist Party's armed struggle. During the Yan'an period, the older generation of revolutionaries lived in cave dwellings and slept on earthen kangs, leading the broad masses to rely on themselves and practice thrift, overcoming numerous difficulties. [6]6 The Yan'an period (1935–1948) refers to the era when the Chinese Communist Party was headquartered in Yan'an, Shaanxi, during the War of Resistance Against Japan and the early stage of the Chinese Civil War. After the founding of New China, a large number of Party members and cadres such as Jiao Yulu and Gu Wenchang used straw as beds and old stones as tables, leading their fellow villagers to control saline-alkali land and fight sandstorms. [7]7 Jiao Yulu (1922–1964) and Gu Wenchang (1915–1981) were model Communist Party cadres celebrated for their self-sacrifice and dedication to poverty alleviation and local development in Henan and Fujian provinces, respectively. Generations of Communists have practiced thrift and resolutely opposed extravagance, leaving behind a precious spiritual wealth. Now, our living conditions have improved, but the spirit of hard struggle must not be diminished in the slightest. We must adhere to cultivating virtue through thrift, revitalizing the cause through thrift, and persist in practicing thrift and running all affairs with diligence and economy. No matter what level of development our country reaches, no matter how much the people's lives improve, the thinking of hard struggle and thrift must never be abandoned.

厉行节约、反对浪费是我们党的光荣传统和优良作风。井冈山时期，红军指战员吃红米饭、南瓜汤，身着粗布、脚踏草鞋，义无反顾参加革命；延安时期，老一辈革命家住窑洞、睡土炕，带领广大民众自力更生、厉行节约，渡过重重难关；新中国成立后，焦裕禄、谷文昌等一大批党员干部草铺为床、旧石为桌，带领乡亲们治盐碱、战风沙……一代代共产党人厉行节约、力戒奢靡，留下了宝贵的精神财富。现在，我们生活条件好了，但艰苦奋斗的精神一点都不能少，必须坚持以俭修身、以俭兴业，坚持厉行节约、勤俭办一切事情。不论我们国家发展到什么水平，不论人民生活改善到什么地步，艰苦奋斗、勤俭节约的思想永远不能丢。

The reason the Party and government take the lead in living on a tight budget is to enable the people to live a good life; this is determined by the purpose and nature of our Party. Party and government organs insisting on living on a tight budget not only helps channel more "real gold and silver" to critical areas of development and urgent needs of the people's livelihood but also forces an increase in the efficiency of fund utilization, leverages the driving role of government investment, optimizes the structure of fiscal expenditure, and concentrates limited funds on key areas and critical links such as scientific and technological innovation, rural revitalization, ecological and environmental protection, education, and medical care, thereby promoting high-quality economic development and enhancing the well-being of the people. In Daliangshan, Sichuan, local authorities cut expenditures and used the saved funds to improve the living and transportation conditions of the people. [8]8 Daliangshan is a mountainous region in Sichuan Province, historically one of China's most impoverished areas, heavily populated by the Yi ethnic minority. In Dingxi, Gansu, while reducing administrative expenditures, the government implemented 15 rural water supply projects, providing 1.22 million rural residents with "reassuring water." [9]9 Dingxi is a prefecture-level city in Gansu Province, located in a drought-prone region of the Loess Plateau. This all reflects that for every penny saved by Party and government organs, one more penny can be allocated to the field of people's livelihood, concentrating limited financial resources to accomplish major, practical, and good deeds, and putting good steel on the blade's edge.

党和政府带头过紧日子，目的是让老百姓过好日子，这是我们党的宗旨和性质所决定的。党政机关坚持过紧日子，不仅有助于把更多“真金白银”用于发展紧要处、民生急需上，还能倒逼提高资金使用效益，发挥政府投资的带动作用，优化财政支出结构，将有限的资金集中用于科技创新、乡村振兴、生态环保、教育医疗等重点领域和关键环节，推动经济高质量发展，增进民生福祉。在四川大凉山，当地压缩开支，把省下的经费用于改善群众居住和出行条件；在甘肃定西，政府在压缩行政开支的同时，实施农村供水项目15项，让122万农村群众用上了“放心水”。这都体现了，党政机关省下一分钱，民生领域就可以多安排一分钱，就能把有限的经费资源集中起来办大事实事好事，把好钢用在刀刃上。

In recent years, we have formed an anti-waste institutional system with the "Regulations" as the backbone, supplemented by various specialized supporting rules and regulations, effectively curbing prominent work-style problems such as "corruption on wheels," "waste on the tip of the tongue," and "unhealthy trends in clubs." [10]10 "Corruption on wheels" refers to the misuse of official vehicles; "waste on the tip of the tongue" refers to extravagant official banquets; "unhealthy trends in clubs" refers to the use of private clubs for official entertainment or corruption. By constructing an institutional system that covers all fields, implements full-process control, and provides all-round supervision, it is conducive to transforming the concept of thrift into rigid constraints and running the requirement of frugality through the entire process of power operation. Establishing a three-dimensional supervision network encompassing daily inspections, special audits, social supervision, etc., enables real-time warnings and automatic interception of behaviors such as exceeding standards in receptions and exceeding scopes in expenditures. Using big data technology to build a supervision platform can also bring "great wisdom" to living a "tight budget." For example, in January 2025, the Ministry of Finance, relying on the integrated budget management system, established a national asset adjustment and sharing platform. Currently, the platform covers all administrative institutions nationwide, has completed the adjustment of more than 200 units (sets) of assets, and saved over 40 million yuan in fiscal funds, achieving gradient utilization of assets and making the best use of everything. By constructing a "single network" of asset information covering the whole country, idle assets can achieve cross-departmental, cross-level, and cross-regional gratuitous adjustment, not only realizing "sharing" at the spatial level but also promoting the "rebirth" of asset value and the "throttling" of fiscal funds, effectively resolving the contradiction of resource misallocation.

近年来，我们形成了以《条例》为主干、由各方面专门配套规章制度共同构成的反浪费制度体系，有效遏制了“车轮上的腐败”“舌尖上的浪费”“会所里的歪风”等作风突出问题。通过构建全领域覆盖、全流程管控、全方位监督的制度体系，有利于让节约理念转化为刚性约束，让勤俭要求贯穿于权力运行全过程。建立囊括日常检查、专项审计、社会监督等在内的立体化监督网络，对超标准接待、超范围开支等行为实时预警、自动拦截。借助大数据技术搭建监管平台，也能够将“紧日子”过出“大智慧”。例如，2025年1月，财政部依托预算管理一体化系统，建立全国资产调剂共享平台。目前，平台已覆盖全国所有行政事业单位，累计完成200余台（套）资产调剂，节约财政资金4000多万元，实现了资产梯度使用和物尽其用。通过构建起覆盖全国的资产信息“一张网”，闲置资产可以实现跨部门、跨层级、跨地域的无偿调剂，不仅实现空间层面的“共享”，更推动资产价值的“重生”与财政资金的“节流”，有效化解资源错配矛盾。

In the future, it is even more necessary to resolutely integrate the ideology of practicing thrift and opposing waste into the work style of Party and government organs, accelerate the construction of conservation-oriented institutions, continuously strengthen supervision and management and risk control mechanisms, run the tone of strictness and the requirement of tightness through from beginning to end, seek to increase revenue while cutting expenditures, and do addition through subtraction. The revision of the "Regulations" undoubtedly adds impetus to work-style construction, demonstrating the determination and courage of the Communist Party of China that work-style construction is always on the road. The vast number of Party members and cadres must have the ideological consciousness that "to forge iron, one must be strong oneself," actively implement the requirements of practicing thrift, cultivate the spirit of taking the lead, going first, and enduring hardship first, and with "taking the lead in living on a tight budget," strive to support the people's "good life."

未来，更要坚决把厉行节约、反对浪费的思想意识融入党政机关的作风中，加快节约型机关建设，持续强化监督管理、风险管控机制，将严的基调、紧的要求贯穿始终，在节流中谋开源、在减法中增加法。《条例》的修订无疑为作风建设再添助力，彰显了中国共产党作风建设永远在路上的决心与勇气。广大党员干部要有“打铁必须自身硬”的思想自觉，积极落实厉行节约要求，涵养先干、先上、先吃苦的精神，以“带头过紧日子”，奋力托起人民群众的“好日子”。

(Author: Ruan Dongbiao, Associate Professor, School of Marxism, Hunan First Normal University)

（作者：阮东彪，系湖南第一师范学院马克思主义学院副教授）

Online Editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心