Veteran Party member leads by example, always putting others first

Living a frugal life, 72-year-old Li Hongta, a member of the Communist Party of China (CPC), is dedicated to serving the people, even after retirement.

Li Hongta (Xinhua/Zhou Mu)

Li was a member and vice chairman of the leading Party group of the Anhui Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). He has also served in the military, been a worker, and worked at a Communist Youth League organization, a civil affairs department and a political advisory department.

Influenced by his parents, Li learnt at a very young age that a Party member should never abuse his power. A person once gave several bags of raisins to Li’s father, which an ignorant Li ate when he went home after school. After finding out what he did, his father scolded him, saying that the only power CPC members had was to serve the people, and they should never accept gifts from the people. His father then sent the rest of the raisins back to the giver, together with some money equal to the cost of the raisins that Li had eaten.

“My father earnestly practiced what he advocated. He was a role model for me, and under his influence, I knew what kind of person I wanted to be,” Li recalled.

For most of the past few years, Li went to work by bicycle, adhering to the principle of never using his position to pursue personal interests. He has worn out four bicycles, five raincoats, and seven pairs of rubber overshoes over the course of about 20 years.

In 2003, while he was visiting two flood-hit villages in Yingshang county, Anhui province, as a senior official with the provincial civil affairs department, Li saw that tents had been set up for the villagers, but some of them preferred to sleep outside because of the unbearable heat inside the tents. He then suggested that the local government and Party departments vacate their unoccupied offices to relocate the villagers. A few days later, tens of thousands of people were properly settled.

When he worked at the provincial civil affairs department of Anhui province, Li would spend at least half a year working at the grassroots level every year.

Li was the director of the provincial civil affairs department of Anhui in around 2000. Back then, the province carried out tax and fee reforms to improve the fiscal management of townships. Making sure that the reforms did not affect the living standards of senior or disabled people unable to work and without a source of income was a major concern for Li. To start with, he encouraged his colleagues to conduct a thorough investigation of these people to make sure their voices were heard and respected throughout the reform.

He then submitted a report to his superior department suggesting greater efforts be made to guarantee the basic living standards of senior or disabled people unable to work and without a source of income. In the end, his suggestion was adopted.

Li is also a man who always puts other people’s interests before his. His family of three had been living in an old 55-square-meter apartment for 16 years. After Li was appointed deputy director of the provincial civil affairs department of Anhui, he could have moved into an apartment that was more than 70 square meters in size, but he chose a two-room apartment with less favorable conditions.

Li was in charge of house allocation work four times, but he never kept one house to himself. After his retirement, Li worked at the China Charity Federation to continue improving the lives of impoverished people in central and western China.