Both worked in agriculture. In the fields, their precise and confident gestures earned them from villagers the affectionate nickname of “good specialists in farm work.” They often went to the grassroots, close to local realities, rolling up their trousers, crossing stagnant waters, and conducting investigations in the rain. They always placed the people at the center of their concerns and made “serving the people” a profound conviction and lifelong commitment.
Images captured by the camera testify to two generations of communists faithful to their original commitment, continuing a shared quest for achievements in service of the people.
Born into a peasant family in Fuping, Shaanxi Province, Xi Zhongxun mastered all aspects of agricultural work. As Party Committee Secretary for the Guanzhong region, he lived and worked in two cave dwellings he built himself. Leading a central investigation team, he worked alongside farmers in the fields. One day, seeing a villager struggling to operate a crank well, he removed his shoes and socks, rolled up his trousers, and took the crank to draw water and irrigate the fields with ease.
“I am the son of peasants.” This was a phrase Xi Zhongxun often repeated within his family. For decades, he remained faithful to the virtues of workers, never straying from them. This family imprint profoundly marked Xi Jinping, accompanying him from the Loess Plateau to the highest responsibilities of the Party and the State, without ever denying his origins.
In early 1969, at less than 16 years old, Xi Jinping volunteered to work in a village in northern Shaanxi. Over the years, he farmed the land, carried coal, built dams, and hauled manure. He shared the daily life of Liangjiahe villagers, living, eating, and working alongside them. In just a few years, he transformed from a city child into a “true peasant,” recognized as a good specialist in farm work.
Aware of the hardships of agricultural labor, Xi Jinping left the Loess Plateau at age 22 with a firm conviction: “to do concrete things for the people.“
"My father left the countryside to join the revolution, and I myself was a peasant for seven years.” Xi Jinping carries a deep attachment: a will to support the population, especially farmers. From the heart, he considers villagers as members of his own family.
“At every trip, I make sure to visit villages.” Since the 18th CPC National Congress, Xi Jinping has conducted more than 50 investigations dedicated to poverty alleviation, covering the 14 poorest rural areas in the country. Leading this effort, he guided populations out of poverty toward a moderately prosperous society, resolutely implementing the promise that “no one should be left behind.”
After Xi Jinping entered politics, Xi Zhongxun gravely reminded him: “Whatever position you hold, never forget to serve the people diligently and sincerely care for their well‑being.”In 1978, Xi Zhongxun was appointed head of Guangdong Province. To better understand realities on the ground, he visited 23 cities and districts. He often went out discreetly with his secretary to shop at markets, engaging in casual conversations with residents, known or unknown, freely discussing daily life to gather grassroots information.
A former Guangdong cadre recalls: “He wore a straw hat and walked in muddy fields, trousers rolled up, with great simplicity.” At that time, Meixian District still lived in poverty. Xi Zhongxun told local cadres: “The top priority is to ensure people have enough to eat and some pocket money.”
At that time, Xi Jinping was studying at Tsinghua University. During summer vacations, he went to Guangdong for social practice and accompanied his father on rural investigations. Walking behind him, he saw the broad and solid silhouette of his father. His father’s work style, deeply rooted in the grassroots and reality, gradually imprinted itself on him.
In 1982, Xi Jinping began his political career in Zhengding.
At that time, Xi Jinping was seen by many as an official who never stayed in his office. He often rode his bicycle to the countryside to conduct field investigations, set up a table outdoors by the roadside, and directly answered residents’ questions on the spot.
“When one is Party committee secretary at the county level, one must visit every village; at the prefecture or city level, one must visit every township and town; and at the provincial level, one must visit every county and city.” In his local posts, Xi Jinping gathered a wealth of first‑hand information about grassroots realities through fieldwork. These data enabled him to define directions and local reform and development plans. This work style, based on direct contact with the masses, has continued to this day.
“Truth must be sought among the masses”: this was the working method to which Xi Zhongxun remained faithful throughout his life. “Go to the grassroots, mingle with the people, and immerse yourself in reality”: this is the investigative method Xi Jinping has always practiced in concrete ways.
On October 1, 1999, speaking from the Tiananmen Square podium, Xi Zhongxun declared to the leading comrades of the central government who had come to pay their respects: “We must never forget that the state is the people, and the people are the state.”
On July 1, 2021, at a ceremony commemorating the centennial of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping solemnly declared: “The state is the people, and the people are the state.”
“The state is the people; and the people are the state.” Xi Zhongxun and Xi Jinping, two generations of communists living in different eras, have always carried the same unwavering loyalty to the people.
Xi Jinping admires his father “for having accomplished great deeds for the Party and the people” and is determined to “learn from his father’s sincere love for the motherland.” In a birthday letter to his father, he wrote: “You work tirelessly for the Chinese people like an ox. This inspires me to devote all my energy and my entire life to serving the people, to be useful to this magnificent China that has nurtured me, and to my fellow citizens.”
In 2012, Xi Jinping was elected General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, and in his first public speech he solemnly pledged: “The people’s aspiration for a better life is the goal of all our efforts.”
Since the beginning of the new era, he has integrated the principle of “people‑centered” governance into all aspects of leadership, guiding the population to fully achieve a moderately prosperous society and steadily advance common prosperity. He regards the opinions of the masses as “the best measure,” so that “the fruits of development benefit the people more broadly and more equitably.”
Toilet revolution, waste sorting, clean heating, food safety… For more than a decade, over 2,000 reform projects have touched every aspect of people’s lives—clothing, food, housing, and transportation—vividly illustrating that “the people’s happiness is the state’s top priority.”
From “leader of the people” to “servant of the people,” Xi Zhongxun and Xi Jinping, two generations of communists, have provided the most vivid testimony of their “commitment to act for the people” through responses to the challenges of their respective times, setting an example for all Party members of what it means to put the people at the center.
(Source / Photos: CMG)