Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

This MKsportsyear marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Every celebration of the National Day is a verification of various explanations China's development and governance. In fact, the name PRC encapsulates the logic of development and governance in contemporary China. "China," "people" and "republic" are three key terms essential to understanding China's ever-growing achievements.

"China" is not only the name of this country, but also symbolizes the uninterrupted civilization, history and culture that have continuously self-renewed for thousands of years. It is the root, foundation and soul of contemporary China's development and governance, serving as the internal driving force for China's continuous pursuit of self-realization, innovation and transcendence. As Chinese President Xi Jinping noted, without the 5,000-year-old Chinese civilization, where would these Chinese characteristics come from? If it wasn't for these characteristics, how could we have today's successful path of socialism with Chinese characteristics? Thus, only by grounding ourselves in China's long history can we truly grasp the historical inevitability, cultural significance, and unique advantages of the Chinese path.

As the world situation evolves at an unprecedented pace, everything condensed in the word "China" has increasingly become the country's cultural strength and unique resource. Practice has proved that the development and governance of any country must keep its own root and soul. The more a country develops, and the stronger the nation becomes, the more prominent the advantages of history and culture as endogenous resources become. Independent development relies on a country's strong capability to transform excellent characters into practical strength. China's confidence comes from its profound historical and cultural foundation.

"People" determine the nature of the country, which are the subject of history, the master of the country, and the value destination of Chinese modernization. China's governance is a process where the Communist Party of China (CPC) discovers and organizes the people, continuously establishing and solidifying their dominant position. Compared with other political parties in the world, the CPC is more creative and confident, because it has always put the people first. The modernization of national governance is a process of constantly understanding and respecting the people, promoting reform and development with the people as the center. 

"Republic" is the state system and institutional system of China. In line with the spirit of a republic, China has created an institutional system that includes the system of People's Congresses was consolidated and developed, the system of CPC-led multiparty cooperation and political consultation, the system of regional ethnic autonomy, and the system of community-level self-governance.

Over the past 75 years, the republic system construction of China has been continuously advanced, the banner of China's democracy putting people first is flying high, and the principle of democratic centralism has been implemented in all fields and aspects of national governance. 

Especially since the holding of the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as its core has united and led the whole Party, the entire military and the Chinese people of all ethnic groups to resolutely eliminate the loopholes of systems and mechanisms in all aspects with historical initiative, political courage, and strong sense of responsibility, realizing the transformation of reforms from partial exploration and ice-breaking breakthroughs to systematic integration and comprehensive deepening. The institutional framework in various fields has been basically established, historical changes, systemic reshaping and overall reconstruction have been witnessed in many regards, laying a solid foundation for fully building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects by the middle of this century, the 100th anniversary of the PRC. 

The author is a professor of political science at Tsinghua University. [email protected]