On Jan 12, President Xi Jinping had a panel discussion with 206 county-level Party chiefs in Beijing. During the face-to-face meeting he told them to always keep four significant things at heart: the Party, the people, their responsibilities, and self-admonition.

County-level Party officials are the grassroots officials in China's political structure, who connect the central government and the ordinary citizens and take charge of local political, economic, social and cultural affairs that relate to hundreds of thousands of people's livelihoods. Xi encouraged local grassroots officials to learn from the example of outstanding county Party chief Jiao Yulu (1922-64) to become good officials that are trusted by the Party and the general public. And he also reminded them that officials should use power properly to curb corruption.

Xi's comments to county-level Party chiefs shows the importance of grassroots officials to social development and stability, and the great responsibility they shoulder. The requirements should be the criteria for local officials.