In 1945, Comrade Mao Zedong made a concluding report at the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and listed 17 difficulties in one breath when talking about "being prepared to suffer losses" and preparing for difficulties: first, foreign scolding; second, domestic scolding; Third, the Kuomintang occupied several large pieces of base land; Fourth, tens of thousands of troops were wiped out by the Kuomintang; Fifth, the puppet army welcomes Chiang Kai-shek; Article 6, the outbreak of civil war; Seventh, out of Scobby, China becomes Greece; Article 8, "non-recognition of Poland", that is, the status of the Communist Party is not recognized; Article 9: Run away and disperse tens of thousands of party members; Article 10: Pessimism and fatigue within the Party; Article 11, natural disasters are prevalent, and the land is thousands of miles away; Article 12, Economic Hardship; Article 13, the concentration of enemy forces in North China; Article 14, the Kuomintang carried out an assassination conspiracy to assassinate our responsible comrades; Article 15: Where there is a difference of opinion between the Party's leading organs; Article 16: The international proletariat has not come to our aid for a long time; Article 17, other unexpected things. He said: "Many things are unexpected, but we must bear in mind, especially our senior responsible cadres, who must be mentally prepared to deal with extraordinary difficulties and unfavorable situations. We all have to think about these thoroughly. Comrade Deng Xiaoping repeatedly stressed: "We must base our work on the emergence of relatively large risks and prepare countermeasures. In this way, even if there is a big risk, the sky will not fall. Comrade Mao Zedong, Comrade Deng Xiaoping, Comrade Jiang Zemin, and Comrade Hu Jintao have spoken a lot and profoundly exposition of this kind of exposition, which is very important political experience and political wisdom in governing the party and the country.

——Speech at the Seminar on the Study and Implementation of the Spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (January 18, 2016)

Further reading:

In the history of the Chinese Communist Party, Mao Zedong was a master of strategy who was adept at using bottom-line thinking. In Mao Zedong's view, preparing for the most difficult and worst aspects of everything and striving for the best results is a method of thinking, working and leading. The story told by Xi Jinping embodies such bottom-line thinking.

By the time the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China was convened, the face of the Communist Party of China had undergone major changes. After the Yan'an rectification, the whole party has achieved a great awakening in thought and action, and achieved new unity and unity; The Communist Party of China has become a powerful political party with rich experience and 1.21 million members, and has become "the center of gravity of the Chinese people to resist Japan and save the country", "the center of gravity of the Chinese people's liberation", and "the center of gravity to defeat the invaders and build a new China"; The people's army under the leadership of the party has grown to 910,000, the militia has reached 2.2 million, and the population of the liberated areas has reached 95.5 million. As Mao Zedong said, "The Communist Party of China has never been so strong, the revolutionary base areas have never had such a large population and such a large army, the prestige of the Communist Party of China among the people of Japan and the areas ruled by the Kuomintang is also the highest now, and the revolutionary forces of the Soviet Union and the peoples of all countries are now the greatest." Under these conditions, it should be said that it is entirely possible to defeat the aggressors and build a new China."

The international and domestic situation was very good, but just when people were ready to cheer, Mao Zedong stressed in his report to the Seventh National Congress that we should "be prepared to suffer losses" and that while seeing the "light," we should "be even more prepared for difficulties," and even unexpectedly expressed our approval of the post-war suggestion that "China may become a semi-colony of the United States." Mao Zedong also listed in one breath the "17 difficulties" that may arise. This embodies Mao Zedong's thinking method and leadership art of "building our policies on the worst-case scenario", and also provides an example for us to adhere to and make good use of bottom-line thinking to make business and start a business.

At present and in the future, we are facing many contradictions, risks and challenges at home and abroad, various sources of contradictions, various risk points are intertwined and interacting, in the context of such an era, Xi Jinping told the story of Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and other party leaders who made good use of bottom-line thinking, so as to require leading cadres at all levels to be good at using the method of bottom-line thinking, prepare for the bad in everything, and strive for the best results.

In the mass line education and practice activities, Xi Jinping was vigilant: "If the style problem is not solved well, there may also be a moment like 'Farewell My Concubine'"; At the celebration of the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping exhorted: "We must always be ready to respond to major challenges, resist major risks, overcome major obstacles, and resolve major contradictions." He also stressed many times: "If the prevention is not done and the response is not effective, it will be transmitted, superimposed, evolved, and escalated, so that small contradictions and risks and challenges will develop into large contradictions and challenges, local contradictions and risks and challenges will develop into systemic contradictions and challenges, international contradictions and risks and challenges will evolve into domestic contradictions and challenges, and contradictions and risks and challenges in the economic, social, cultural, and ecological fields will be transformed into political contradictions and challenges, and ultimately endanger the party's ruling position and endanger national security." ”

We are engaged in a great struggle with many new historical characteristics, and leading cadres at all levels should enhance their awareness of risks, make good use of bottom-line thinking, and "be prepared to deal with any form of contradictory risks and challenges" in accordance with Xi Jinping's requirements.