Chinese Wisdom in Xi's Words: Cultivating people is like growing trees

BEIJING -- Spade in hand, President Xi Jinping on Wednesday took part in a tree-planting activity in Beijing. Having participated in such activities for 10 consecutive years, Xi has set a fine example of fulfilling a Chinese citizen's obligation to afforestation and showed the importance of eco-conservation.

Besides improving the environment, tree planting in China has a cultural connotation. Some ancient thinkers believed that people with talents are in many ways like trees. Their cultivation may take long, but when properly done, they can greatly benefit the society and the country.

Guan Zhong, a prominent politician and thinker in the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) summarized this idea in his work. Today, almost all Chinese people are familiar with a sentence derived from his discourse: "It takes ten years to grow a tree, but a hundred years to cultivate people."

From the Chinese leadership's perspective, people with talents are a strategic resource for the country as it endeavors to achieve national rejuvenation.

When speaking of fostering talent, Xi has always quoted the sentence to underscore the importance of education and its time-consuming nature. He has more than once emphasized the development of professional talent to improve the country's workforce, and education to nurture a new generation of capable young people who are well-prepared to join the socialist cause.

"We will work to foster a positive environment in which everyone wants, strives, and is able to excel themselves, and can do full justice to their talents," said Xi.