Making continuous efforts to strengthen oneself

This idiom first appeared in Zhou Yi (The Book of Changes). It means that one should make continuous efforts to improve and strengthen oneself. The ancient Chinese believed that the heavenly bodies follow their own nature and keep moving vigorously in an unending cycle. A man of virtue, who follows the law of heaven, should act on his own initiative and work diligently to strengthen himself. This is the Chinese view on self-development, based on the movement of the heavenly bodies.

Xi Jinping has on many occasions talked about the need for constant self-improvement. For instance, he emphasized on an inspecting visit to Peking University in May 2014, "As heaven changes through movement, a gentleman makes unremitting efforts to perfect himself." Addressing the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-Level Meeting in December 2017, he said that the Chinese people have never yielded to fate; rather they have risen up and acted in a long-term struggle, so as to embark today on a broad road toward national rejuvenation.

自強(qiáng)不息

“自強(qiáng)不息”出自《周易》，意為自身努力向上，強(qiáng)大自己，永不懈怠。古人認(rèn)為，天體出于自身的本性而運(yùn)行，剛健有力，周而復(fù)始，一往無前從不停息。君子取法于“天”，也應(yīng)該發(fā)揮自己的主動性、能動性，勤勉不懈、奮發(fā)進(jìn)取，這是中國人參照天體運(yùn)行狀態(tài)梳理的自身理想。

中共十八大以來，習(xí)近平曾在多個場合多次提及“自強(qiáng)不息”。如2014年5月，習(xí)近平考察北京大學(xué)時強(qiáng)調(diào)，“天行健，君子以自強(qiáng)不息”；2017年12月，習(xí)近平在中國共產(chǎn)黨與世界政黨高層對話會上發(fā)表的主旨講話中指出，中國人民沒有向命運(yùn)屈服，而是奮起抗?fàn)帯⒆詮?qiáng)不息，經(jīng)過長期奮斗，而今走上了實(shí)現(xiàn)中華民族偉大復(fù)興的康莊大道。