Image of Xi Jinping by 9-COP21 available at Flickr.com under CC license.
The “Eight Definites” (八个明确), the precursor to the “Ten Definites” (十个明确), was first introduced in Xi Jinping’s political report to the 19th National Congress of the CCP in October 2017, the same document in which Xi’s banner term, or qizhiyu (旗帜语), the term marking his power and legacy, was introduced as “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era.” Xi’s repeated use of “New Era” in the political report emphasized the sense that his period of leadership marked a significant departure from the administrations of Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao. Xi’s full banner term, with his own name leading the 16-character phrase, was not included in the political report itself – for such would be vanity in light of Xi’s personal delivery of the report – but was written into the Party Charter, and was widely feted by Party-state media in the wake of the Congress.
The initial “Eight Definites” were meant to clarify a complex set of positions and objectives that require understanding of other related specialized terms. They clarified definitively that:
During the Sixth Plenum in November 2021, the “Eight Definites” were updated to include a new specification (listed as number 7) that “we must adhere to and improve the basic socialist economic system, so that the market plays a decisive role in the allocation of resources and the government can better play its role.” The new 7th “definite” also specified adherence to “the new development concept of innovation” as well as the so-called “dual circulation” strategy that prioritized rebalancing China’s economy toward domestic consumption.
The new 10th “definite,” meant to balance with the chief priority in the 1st definite of the CCP’s rule, was clear adherence to “the strategic policy of comprehensive strict governance of the Party,” which involved “comprehensively promoting the Party’s political construction, ideological construction, organizational construction, style construction and discipline construction.” This “definite” specified the “in-depth promotion of the fight against corruption,” and essentially made definite the principle that the CCP’s continued legitimacy would depend upon its image as a clean political party prioritizing the needs of the people.
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional | 11 months | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". |
viewed_cookie_policy | 11 months | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |