In the exhibition hall at a revolutionary site – the premises of the former prefectural Party committee of Suide, northwest China’s Shaanxi Province – one line of words is particularly eye-catching.

“Sit upright at the side of the people,” read the words once said by Xi Zhongxun, father of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Xi Zhongxun’s words and deeds have had a profound impact on Xi Jinping, who, from a small village to the Party’s central committee, has always devoted himself to the people.

Sunday is Father’s Day, when people express gratitude to their fathers or recall treasured memories of time shared together.

The people’s affairs are the most important

Soon after taking office as secretary of the prefectural Party committee of Suide, Xi Zhongxun put forward a requirement to “serve the 520,000 people,” and ensured that he and the staff of Suide’s prefectural Party committee set an example.

To that end, he asked cadres at all levels not to be “officials” or “masters,” but to leave the office and go deep into the countryside to do practical things for the masses.

“When Xi Zhongxun joined the revolution, he did not regard himself as a cadre but as a member of the public, doing work for one household at a time,” Xi Jinping’s mother, Qi Xin, said in an interview with China Media Group (CMG).

At every stage of his revolutionary career, Xi Zhongxun put himself in the shoes of the people. From solving the production and living difficulties of immigrants moving south to allowing south China’s Guangdong Province to “take the lead” in developing the economy, he always did things from the perspective of safeguarding the interests of the people.

“No matter what your job title is, serve the people diligently, consider the interests of the people with all your heart, maintain close ties with the people, and always stay approachable to the people,” Xi Zhongxun once told his son.

Keeping his father’s words in mind, Xi Jinping visited China’s 14 contiguous areas of extreme poverty after becoming general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee in November 2012. He went to villages and households, and told communities that he was “a servant of the people.”

During his domestic inspection tours, Xi Jinping chatted with the locals, asked about their lives and stressed the responsibilities of serving the people with other officials.

The Party has won the people’s wholehearted support because it has always served the people with heart and soul and striven for the well-being of all ethnic groups, Xi has said on many occasions.

The virtue of the father, the legacy for the son

The Xis have a tradition of being strict with their children and living a simple life. Xi Zhongxun regularly told his children to be frugal, and led by example.

In a bid to let his children develop independent living habits, Xi Zhongxun sent his daughters, Qi Qiaoqiao and Xi Anan, and his sons, Xi Jinping and Xi Yuanping, to a boarding school. They went home once a week and took the bus to and from school by themselves. Xi Zhongxun never picked them up in his own car.

Xi Jinping and his younger brother used to wear clothes and shoes from their elder sisters. After Xi Jinping became a leading official, his mother called a family meeting to ban the siblings from engaging in business in areas where Xi Jinping worked.

Influenced by his parents, Xi Jinping adheres to the principles of family virtue and tradition and has very strict requirements for his own family.

Wherever he has worked, he has told them not to do business there or do anything in his name, or else he “would be ruthless.” Whether in Fujian, Zhejiang or Shanghai, he pledged at official meetings that no one was allowed to seek personal benefit using his name and welcomed supervision in this regard.

Coming from the people, the two generations have shared the same commitment and regarded the people’s yearning for a better life as the ultimate goal.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2024-06-16/Xi-Jinping-s-shared-values-with-his-father-1utxQTdwkpO/p.html