Grassroots official Wu Yaqin awarded July 1 Medal in Beijing

At a gathering marking the Party's 105th founding anniversary on Wednesday in Beijing, Wu Yaqin, 65, was awarded the July 1 Medal, the Party's highest honor for model CPC members.

Wu is the first Party secretary at the Changshan Huayuan Community in Kuancheng district of Changchun, Jilin province.

Since joining the Party in September 1998, she has developed community governance methods and mediated over 1,000 disputes. She has also established a workshop and developed more than 10 courses on community governance and Party construction, which have trained nearly 30,000 grassroots governance officials.

She has received over 100 honors, including titles for Role Model of the Times and national outstanding member of the Communist Party of China. She also received the National May 1st Labor Medal.

"I can see how much the Party and the country value community development and grassroots governance, which gives grassroots workers like me a new goal to strive for," she said. "We should stand with the people, think and work with them, and make their needs our top priority."

Wu places community residents at the center of her political philosophy. "In the years ahead and for the long term, we will always care about people's well-being," she said. "We will bring the Party's care and warmth to every resident."

She also hopes that she can inspire young people to treat grassroots governance as a lifelong career. "Only by putting people first and making service our core mission can our society become safer, more harmonious and people become happier," she said.