Governance must win the people's support.

This saying comes from The Book of Mencius. It means that the success of governance depends on the people's support, and the implementation of decrees must take people's concerns into consideration. The Chinese nation believes that the people's support is of paramount political importance, on which hinge the future and destiny of a political party and a government.

At the 18th group study session of the Political Bureau of the 18th CPC Central Committee in October 2014, Xi Jinping referenced this saying and other ancient governance ideas as guides for contemporary practice. This showed the central leadership's people-centered approach to governance, how it values close ties with the people, and its effort to develop whole-process people's democracy and modernize the system and capacity for governance.

政得其民

“政得其民”出自《孟子》，意為治理國家要得到人民的認可，政令施行要重視民心民意。中國人認為，民心是最大的政治。一個政黨，一個政權，其前途和命運最終取決于人心向背。

2014年10月，習近平在中共十八屆中央政治局第十八次集體學習時的講話中提到“政得其民”等古代治國理政經驗作為當代國家治理的鏡鑒，體現了中共中央以人民為中心的治國理政思想和密切聯系群眾的根本工作路線，展示了發展全過程人民民主、推進國家治理體系和治理能力現代化的中國智慧。