A stone taken from another mountain may serve as a tool to polish the local jade.
This is a line from Shi Jing (The Book of Songs). It implies that advice from others may help remedy one's own shortcomings. It also applies to a wider context. For instance, a country can improve itself by learning from the experience and methods of other countries. This shows the Chinese people's openness to learning from others.
Addressing the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-Level Meeting in December 2017, Xi Jinping said: As a Chinese saying goes, "A stone taken from another mountain may serve as a tool to polish the local jade." Advice from others may help remedy one's own shortcomings. The CPC always stresses the need to develop a global perspective. We have learned from and drawn on the achievements of other cultures and applied them in the Chinese context.
他山之石，可以攻玉
“他山之石，可以攻玉”，語出《詩經》，意為別的山上的石頭，可以用來琢磨玉器。比喻借用他人的批評、幫助來改正自己的過錯，借他人或他國的情況、經驗、方法等作為自己的借鑒和參考，可以更好地提升自我。這一理念充分體現了中國人開放包容、虛心學習的精神。
2017年12月，習近平在中國共產黨與世界政黨高層對話會上引用“他山之石，可以攻玉”，指出中國共產黨歷來強調樹立世界眼光，積極學習借鑒世界各國人民創造的文明成果，并結合中國實際加以運用。
