Experience is the knowledge and skill that people obtain from practice. It can be from actual personal practice, what is learned from books, or indirectly from other people and our ancestors who have been there. Actual personal practice is most important, as “no practice, no gain in one’s wit”. Only with a lot of practical experience can leading cadres better perform their duties. Continuous enhancement of leading cadres’ capabilities is the accumulation of practical experience. That means experience is capability.

Accumulation of experience needs to go through a repeated training process of starting from scratch, and from scarce to plentiful. It is therefore determined that capability is improved orderly and progressively. An ancient saying that “prime ministers originate from counties, and valiant generals come from the rank and file” explains it all. Our party has always placed importance on the practical training of the grass root, and the testing and grooming of the cadres, depending on the growth pattern of the leadership talents. Therefore, grass root experience accumulating is the only way for leading cadres to enhance their capabilities. Nowadays, our leading cadres, especially the young ones, have more useful knowledge from books, but are relatively lacking in practical experience. There is more need for them to gain practical experience to beef up their competence.

Grass root assumes the numerous and heavy responsibilities of advancing scientific development. It is a rich soil where leading cadres can obtain experience and upgrade their capabilities. Grass root work is complicated and difficult to unravel, and usually is “thousands of threads above, a needle below”, and the resources for resolving problems are relatively limited. Leading cadres at the grass root are thus required to be good at distinguishing between the important and the unimportant, the urgent and the non-urgent; reasonably deploying resources, and mobilizing all initiatives. At the grass root, various conflicts sometimes entwine, problems sometimes come very unexpectedly, and sometimes circumstances leading to the conflicts are extremely intense. Leading cadres are duty-bound to defend the territory with no retreat, and must confront problems and conflicts, delivering quick responses and resolutions. Working at the grass root avails the opportunity to join hands with the people and help one another, being together day and night, and to better understand the state of the country and public opinion, to familiarize the people’s way of communication, to understand the people’s minds and sentiments, to observe the people’s temperament and experience their good times and bad times. Such a valuable experience that helps leading cadres to upgrade their capability of proper planning with overall consideration, handling complicated problems and managing people well, can only come from practical experience at the grass root.

Successful experience and lessons from failures have always been twin brothers of one’s life experience. In a sense, set backs and lessons are precious to the growth of people, and should be remembered with deep gratitude. Only after tasting the joys and sorrows of life and experiencing trial and tribulation can a man be truly wholesome. After going through training in life and remembering the difficulties in growth can one better understand how to respect others, be grateful, and cherish. One will then not irritable, frivolous or slacking off, and can thus be competent of shouldering high responsibilities, and go far.

Experience of any kind comes from practice, and goes back to practice. One must be resourceful, and convert the experience into objective knowledge and make use of it in works. Experience that has been subject to continuous testing can then only be continuously enriching, intensifying, and developing, thus avoiding one-sidedness, absolutization and dogmatism.

Leading cadres, especially the young ones, have to volunteer to go to the grass root to weather the storms of living and experience life, and to acquire the practical and profound experience of life, establishing the foundation that grows healthily and steadily. They must consciously be firm in their conviction in what they do, and toughen up the party spirit, learn to get along with the people harmoniously, and really turn the experience acquired from life into practical skill to move forward with the scientific development and serve the masses.