Editor's note: Xia Lu, a special commentator for CGTN, is a professor at the School of CPC History and Party Building and a research associate at the National Academy of Development and Strategies of Renmin University of China. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily those of CGTN.

The fifth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) opens in Beijing on October 26, with the meeting scheduled to run through October 29. Its core agenda includes studying major issues on advancing the Party's full and rigorous self-governance, consolidating ideological conviction through the Party's innovative theories, and fostering a sound political ecosystem within the Party.

The practical value of theoretical education must ultimately be evaluated by the quality of grassroots officials' work in their daily governance practices, especially by the analytical basis for their decision-making and the policy choices they make when confronted with specific problems.

In Hainan, China's southern island province, the role of grassroots grid-based community workers has undergone a transformation. These are grassroots personnel whose primary responsibility is addressing practical problems raised by residents and communities. However, in the past they were constrained by excessive paperwork and redundant administrative procedures, a widespread predicament that once plagued grassroots governance.

Now, a quiet change has taken place in China's grassroots governance: The CPC's innovative theories are being transformed into tangible governance capabilities, enabling more accurate problem identification, efficient conflict resolution and better public services. From "form-processing practitioners," the grid workers have once again gone back to being "community-doorstep visitors."

Before the reform, to report requirements concerning population mobility, social insurance participation and rental housing registration, community workers had to enter data into multiple independent information systems and fill in more than 10 different forms. A large proportion of this data had already been submitted earlier, yet other departments still demanded the same information, forcing the workers to assume the role of full-time form processors. It left little time to handle residents' real issues.

Formalism and redundant administrative procedures may block the "last mile" of theoretical education. When theoretical learning is limited to document distribution and jotting down meeting records, the CPC's innovative theories cannot be effectively transformed into governance capabilities including maintaining close ties with the public, correctly identifying problems and solving practical problems.

Where there are issues waiting to be tackled, reform should follow. In December 2024, the General Office of the State Council issued "file-only-once" guidelines for grassroots data collection. The result? In Hainan, for instance, the "Haizhengtong" e-governance platform was launched and the "one-form" approach was rolled out across the entire province.

It means multiple reporting forms have been integrated so that data is collected once and shared across departments. Since then, the average number of forms completed each month per township or subdistrict has fallen from 96 to 26.

What changes have the reform brought about? The answer lies in the actions of grassroots cadres: knocking on doors to listen to residents' concerns, screening for livelihood risks, mediating neighborly disputes and proactively addressing residents' urgent needs. Compiling a report that once took half a day now takes minutes – leaving more time to visit more households and meet more people's needs each day. The value of cutting red tape lies not merely in fewer forms, but in a shift of governance logic: from "fewer forms" to "smarter and more accountable governance."

"To forge conviction" with the Party's innovative theories does not mean having cadres and officials recite dogma in unison; its function is to provide a framework for analyzing problems and judging direction – one that equips cadres and officials scattered across vastly different local contexts to make consistent, well-grounded decisions with a shared logic.

This framework rests on several core principles that work in tandem. First, it places people at the center, making the people-centered development philosophy the starting point of all work. Second, it is committed to identifying, analyzing and solving real problems, which is exactly why the "one-form" reform was launched. Third, it applies systemic thinking, using data-sharing to break down departmental barriers. Finally, it puts the Party's mass line – "From the masses, to the masses" – into practice, serving the people and relying on the people. The shift from "filling forms" to "making visits" represents, at heart, a return to this tradition.

For international readers who are interested in how China is governed, the transformation of those grid-based community workers offers a distinctive lens for understanding Chinese governance mechanisms – it shows how the CPC converts political theory into governance practice, and top-level design into grassroots action.

Reducing burdens does not mean diluting responsibility; it means optimizing how responsibility is carried. The aim is not to let grassroots officials slow down, but to let them remain busy and responsive where it counts. The ultimate purpose of "forging conviction" is to make every grassroots official a communicator of the Party's policies, an investigator of public sentiment, an advocate for people's needs and a mediator of community disputes – converting the Party's theoretical strength into governance effectiveness, and commitment to the Party's principles into concrete service.

The story of grid-based community workers in Hainan shows what theoretical education looks like when it succeeds: not an abstract slogan but concrete action; not a distant ideal but daily work; not external compulsion but internal conviction. This is what it means for theory to truly "touch people's hearts" – and it is where the enduring vitality of the CPC ultimately lies.

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