Change and continuity in President Xi's New Year address: A long-term perspective

Editor's note: Gao Lei, a special commentator for CGTN, is an associate professor at the Center for Xi Jinping Thoughts on Opening-up, Research Institute of Globalization and China's Modernization, University of International Business and Economics. Xia Lu, a special commentator for CGTN, is an associate professor at the National Academy for Development and Strategy, the Academy of Xi Jinping Thoughts on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, Renmin University of China. The article reflects the authors' opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

On New Year's Eve, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered his 2024 New Year message, reviewing the country's achievements in 2023 and extending his wishes for the coming year. 

On the very last day of 2013, President Xi delivered his first New Year greeting address to all of Chinese people and the world, reviewing the gains and achievements in the past year and looking ahead for the incoming one. This new tradition has been initiated and then maintained for ten consecutive years. These ten messages, as argued by some China watchers, could be viewed as a shortened version of the history of Socialism with Chinese characteristics in the New Era, highlighting both significant changes and continuity over the last decade.

Changes are obvious and omnipresent. Guided by the new development philosophy and the new development paradigm, China has been experiencing high-quality development. The nation's total economy has been the world's second largest for more than ten years.

On the one hand, basic research and original innovation have been continuously strengthened, breakthroughs have been made in core technologies, and strategic emerging industries have been developed and expanded. On the other, the most decisive battle against poverty in human history has been won, with all 832 poverty-stricken counties across the country getting rid of poverty and nearly 100 million rural poor people being lifted out of poverty. China has historically solved the problem of absolute poverty and made major contributions to the cause of global poverty alleviation.

Much has been written about changes in the last ten years, little about continuity. What is continuity? It does not simply mean something that cannot be changed; rather, some significant parts of the political structure, social arrangements, economic relationships, and cultural values that are not outdated and still functioning deserve to be preserved and respected. A single color doesn't make an entire picture beautiful, as exemplified in President Xi's messages in general, and this year's message in particular.

Perhaps one of the points in terms of continuity is that President Xi always adopts a people-centered philosophy and follows a practical and realistic approach. All the fruit of high-quality development result from extraordinary contribution made by ordinary people, and thus they should always be blessed.

Recently, it is admitted that some people had endured a tough time doing business while others had difficulty in finding jobs and meeting basic needs. And people tend to think that the reason for not getting anticipated result is because they are not doing their best. But that is not true.

President Xi has emphasized in this year's address that people from all walks of life have done their very best. We should recognize the world is now experiencing profound changes unseen in a century and we've been doing our best, and we just need to keep it that way and not to be disturbed by the outside world. This is the right way to inject and enhance people's confidence, as confidence doesn't come from uncharted water.

We can also find this principle and approach from President Xi's previous experience as the Secretary of Fujian's Ningde Prefecture Party Committee more than 30 years ago.

From his experience in Ningde, contrary to other local leaders who simply attributed imperfect development to people not doing their best, Secretary Xi had a very broad and systemic view and helped the county analyze both its pros and cons. He valued local people's hard work and their contribution, then encouraged them to follow a process-oriented approach, emphasizing that development should only be advanced step by step rather than leaps and bounds.

Actually, that is the "magic power" the Communist Party of China (CPC) has been employing to mobilize the mass since the revolutionary era. And the key to the success of mobilization, in our opinion, can be attributed to the fact that grand historical and theoretical narratives have seamlessly merged with individual life experiences.

What we have seen in President Xi's New Year addresses in the last decade is a perfect display of this mobilization and as a result, each and every ordinary people can latch onto his messages empathically. Hence, it can be argued that the underlying code to the success of the CPC will continue.

Ideas lead to social change and continuity to the extent that they are adopted by the people who strive for a better future and cherish peace. Therefore, if one could reread President Xi's New Year messages from a long-term perspective, one would appreciate that, for both China and the world, our past is solid, our present is robust, and our potential is vast.

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