Jiao Yulu
Jiao Yulu (1922-1964) was secretary of the Party Committee of Lankao County, Henan Province and a role model for all county Party committee secretaries in China. He joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 1946 and came to work in Lankao in 1962.
Lankao County suffered from three serious harms – waterlogging, sandstorms, and land salinization. Jiao Yulu, following the principles of seeking truth from facts and relying on the people, worked shoulder to shoulder with the officials and local people in an all-out effort to improve Lankao's outlook. Because of onerous work and irregular meals over a long time, he was diagnosed with liver cancer, but he kept on working notwithstanding, racing against time to combat natural disasters. He worked tirelessly for 475 days and devoted his life to the well-being of Lankao's people. In May 1964, he died of cancer in Zhengzhou at the age of 42.
Inspired by Jiao Yulu, the officials and the people of Lankao County continued their effort and succeeded in harnessing the "three harms." In 1965, the county achieved self-sufficiency in grain production. In 2017, it was removed from the list of impoverished counties, the first in the province and one of the first in the country. Every year, tens of thousands of people travel to Lankao to commemorate Jiao Yulu and learn from Lankao's experience of making tremendous changes.
From 2009 to 2014, Xi Jinping inspected Lankao three times. He summed up Jiao Yulu's spirit as "loving the people, working hard against difficulties, respecting science and seeking truth, and making selfless contributions" and called on the officials and Party members to learn three things from him – how he kept in close touch with the people, how tenacious he was at work, and how determined he was in serving the people.
焦裕祿
焦裕祿，河南省蘭考縣原縣委書記，中國縣委書記的榜樣。焦裕祿于1946年加入中國共產黨，于1962年被調到蘭考縣擔任縣委書記。
1962年12月至1964年間，蘭考縣遭受嚴重的內澇、風沙、鹽堿“三害”。焦裕祿堅持實事求是、群眾路線的工作方法，同全縣干部和群眾一起治理“三害”，立誓“拼上老命大干一場，決心改變蘭考面貌”。由于繁重的工作和長期不規律的飲食，焦裕祿身患肝癌，但他用硬物頂著肝部緩解疼痛，堅持工作。他與時間賽跑，與自然災害抗爭，奮戰了475天，用生命換取蘭考人民的幸福。1964年5月，焦裕祿病逝于鄭州，終年42歲。
在焦裕祿精神的感召下，蘭考縣的干部群眾齊心協力，有效治理了“三害”。1965年，歷史上一直缺糧的蘭考實現了糧食自給自足。2017年，蘭考縣退出貧困縣序列，成為河南首個“摘帽”的貧困縣，也是全國第一批實現脫貧的國家級貧困縣。多年來，每年有成千上萬的人從世界各地前來緬懷焦裕祿，參觀學習蘭考縣的巨大發展變化。
2009年到2014年，習近平三次到蘭考指導工作，把焦裕祿精神概括為“親民愛民、艱苦奮斗、科學求實、迎難而上、無私奉獻”，并號召學習焦裕祿同志的“三股勁”：對群眾的那股親勁、抓工作的那股韌勁、干事業的那股拼勁。
