What they say

Editor's Note: Grassroots representatives of Communist Party of China members from different sectors overseen by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development shared their stories about how they devote themselves into urban-rural development and endeavor for common prosperity at a news conference organized by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee on Friday.

My earliest memory about the Party dates back to when I was a child. My hometown was in a rural area of Xuzhou city, Jiangsu province. My mother passed away because of sickness when I was only seven, dragging my family into the most difficult circumstances. Back then, the Party secretary of my village visited our home every year during the Spring Festival Holiday, bringing the daily necessities we needed. The warmth of his kind conduct left me unforgettable memories. After I left school, I always held the belief that I will pass the warmth on with whatever I can do. In a position managing public toilets for the past 16 years, I insist on fully devoting myself in every detail and small task. I manage the toilet as if it were in my home.

Li Ying, a sanitation worker from Shanghai Jing'an Urban Development Group

In the small hours of Jan 30, 2020, I had been working nonstop for over 43 hours in the construction site of Huoshenshan Hospital, one of the two makeshift hospitals built to fight COVID-19 in the Hubei provincial capital Wuhan. I didn't want to sleep. Instead, I used several packaging boxes from instant noodles as a table and wrote down my application to join the Party. I did that because I saw Party members always spearheading tasks when we met difficulties. They moved containers with their shoulders that were beyond the capability of cranes to reach. Despite the chill, they took off their coats so that they could force themselves into small spaces to fix facilities. They never knew what is giving up.

Yin Dian, a worker from China Construction Third Engineering Bureau Group

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Hubei province, the Party committee of my company held a meeting to encourage Party members to go to the front line. It took us just two hours to set up a Party member team of 500 people. Within just a week, we received over 2,000 applications from our workers to go to the front line. In February 2020, when Hubei was troubled by the grimmest pandemic control situation, we dispatched 11 teams of Party members to 126 hospitals in Wuhan and Shiyan in the province. They all swore in front of the Party flag, vowing that they would brave death and would not ask for payments.

Xue Rong, Party secretary of Yuanfang Group, a cleaning and property management company headquartered in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province

In July, 2019, I volunteered to work in a poverty-stricken village and devote myself to the front line of poverty eradication. At that time, my fiancee worked in another poverty-stricken village only about 10 kilometers away. We were so busy that it was even hard for us to squeeze in time to talk over the phone. We had to postpone our wedding ceremony several times. However, we never regretted working in the front line of poverty eradication, where we were just two common people among thousands of others. The postponement of our wedding was just a small thing compared with the country's target of eradicating poverty. That would never affect the happiness of my small family. Now we have said farewell to absolute poverty. As members of the post-1990 generation, we feel proud for the career we have devoted ourselves to.

Lou Yu, an official with Yunan Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development