"Solve the people's most concerned, most direct and most realistic interests, and continuously promote the high-quality development of the civil affairs undertakings." The 15th National Conference on Civil Affairs was held in Beijing from October 25 to 26. At the conference, the important instructions on civil affairs work made by General Secretary Xi Jinping recently were conveyed. Everyone said that General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions demonstrated a distinct sentiment of serving the people and a sincere original aspiration of serving the people. We should fully understand the importance and urgency of doing a good job in civil affairs on the new journey from a strategic and overall perspective, take the people's concerns as our own concerns and handle the affairs of the masses as our own affairs, so as to promote the high-quality development of civil affairs undertakings.

In recent years, the civil affairs system has earnestly implemented the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee, fulfilled its duties in a down-to-earth manner, made new progress in all aspects of work, and effectively served the overall situation of the Party and the country.

General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions fully affirmed the remarkable achievements made in the development of civil affairs undertakings in recent years, which made Yu Jianliang, Director of the Department of Aging Affairs of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, who was present at the conference, feel that the direction was clearer and the responsibility was heavier. "General Secretary Xi Jinping has put forward ardent expectations and clear requirements for civil affairs work, which has provided us with the fundamental guidance and injected powerful impetus for our future work. In my future work, I will continue to take the concerns of the masses as the 'barometer' and do a good job in serving the people with a strong sense of political responsibility and a meticulous work style."

Currently, the people's demands for civil affairs public services are increasingly diversified. Groups such as the elderly, children in difficult circumstances, and the disabled need better guarantees... To do a good job in civil affairs, we need to do practical things that truly touch the hearts of the masses.

Civil affairs staff regularly visit the homes of the needy, and the community canteens are filled with the aroma of delicious food... Entering the Minzhu Village Community, Xiejiawan Street, Jiulongpo District, Chongqing, you can feel the warmth of people's livelihood everywhere.

"In April this year, the General Secretary visited our community and said that 'in Chinese-style modernization, people's livelihood is of great importance'. This time, in the important instructions on civil affairs work, the General Secretary mentioned this sentence again, which shows the weight of 'people's livelihood is of great importance' in the General Secretary's heart." Recalling the warm scene half a year ago, Chen Dairong, a resident in her seventies, was deeply touched. "In recent years, the guarantees for the needy and disabled residents have become stronger and stronger, and their lives have been getting better and better. Everyone feels warm in their hearts."

The civil affairs undertakings shine with the brilliance of humanity, demonstrate the conscience of society, adhere to the moral bottom line, and embody the inheritance of civilization. It is a common cause for the whole society.

On the new journey, how should civil affairs work be carried out? "Strengthen the leadership over civil affairs work and strengthen the construction of inclusive, basic and subsistence-guaranteeing people's livelihood." General Secretary Xi Jinping has put forward clear requirements for Party committees and governments at all levels.

"Kunshan has a large net inflow of population, and the people have high expectations for civil affairs undertakings. We should focus more on the urgent, difficult and worrying issues of the citizens such as elderly care, childcare and funeral services, 'cover' the most needy groups, 'protect' the most basic livelihood, and 'enhance' the well-being of the vast majority of the people." Zhou Wei, Secretary of the Kunshan Municipal Party Committee in Jiangsu Province, said.

Reform has strength, and people's livelihood has warmth; the concerns of people's livelihood are the focus of reform.

General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly put forward the requirement of "deepening reform and innovation" in the important instructions. Guangdong is at the forefront of reform and opening up. Su Pei, Director of the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Civil Affairs, deeply felt the importance and urgency of resolving the concerns of people's livelihood through the power of reform.

"In recent years, we have promoted 17 national pilot projects and demonstration sites across the city, continuously enhancing the 'gold content' of civil affairs reform and forming a number of good experiences." Su Pei said that in the next step, we should be more proactive in conforming to the general trend of technological development, empower the improvement of the quality and efficiency of civil affairs services with digitalization and intelligence, and strive to be the pioneers and doers in the field of civil affairs reform and innovation.

Li Sheng, Deputy Director of the Social Affairs and Welfare Department of the Tianjin Municipal Bureau of Civil Affairs, is committed to promoting the development of community rehabilitation services for people with mental disorders in the local area. By studying and understanding General Secretary Xi Jinping's proposal of "improving the policy and institutional system, service guarantee system, supervision and management system, and social participation system", he has a deeper understanding and recognition of the working methods and directions for future work.

"Only by further increasing the supply of policies, improving the quality of rehabilitation services, tightening the supervision network, and mobilizing more people to participate, pooling our efforts together, can people with mental disorders obtain professional rehabilitation services without leaving the community and break out of the 'revolving door' dilemma of 'hospitalization - discharge home - relapse and hospitalization'." Li Sheng said.

Whether a society is happy or not largely depends on whether the elderly are happy or not.

"General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward two 'emphases' in the important instructions, one of which is 'focusing on promoting the implementation of the national strategy of actively responding to population aging'. This shows General Secretary Xi Jinping's deep concern for hundreds of millions of elderly people and his high attention to the cause of aging." Xue Mei, head of the Virtual Nursing Home in Lianhu District, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, said.

Xue Mei said that currently, most elderly people prefer home-based care, and there is great potential for developing virtual nursing homes where the elderly can "place orders" at home and high-quality elderly care services can be "delivered to their doors". "We will further cooperate with surrounding hospitals to establish green channels, apply intelligent means to improve the individualized matching of elderly care services, enhance the safety, convenience and comfort of home-based care for the elderly, and promote the transformation from 'caring for the elderly' to 'enjoying old age'." Xue Mei said.

Civil affairs work involves all aspects such as social assistance, social welfare, social affairs, and social governance, and it is oriented to thousands of households.

By the Xiangjiang River, there is ancient charm and new style. The "Wanlou", a building built in the Ming Dynasty, has now become a "witness" for newlyweds in Xiangtan to enter the marriage hall. Since the civil affairs department of Yuhe District set up the Ancient Building Marriage Registration Center in the Wanlou Scenic Area in 2023, more than 1,000 newlyweds have obtained their marriage certificates here.

"Registering for marriage and obtaining a marriage certificate may seem simple, but it is of great significance and relates to the vital interests of the masses." Liu Haichao, head of the Ancient Building Marriage Registration Center, said that he and his colleagues will continue to work hard to upgrade marriage registration services, do a good job in publicizing and guiding wedding custom reforms, and make efforts from multiple angles to let the masses feel the sweet and warm side of social affairs work.

To achieve high-quality development of civil affairs undertakings, we should aim at the goal of high-efficiency grassroots social governance.

There are about 2.7 million community social organizations in China, which are an important "new force" to assist grassroots social governance. The Yilu Tongxing Community Education Promotion Center in Tianfu New Area, Chengdu City is one of them.

"Community social organizations may seem small, but they do a lot of things." Wang Chunrong, head of the center, said that she will lead the members to base themselves on community education, focus on themes such as family affection companionship, life care, and psychological counseling, continuously enrich the forms of activities, attract more residents to actively participate in community affairs, assist in grassroots social governance, and live up to General Secretary Xi Jinping's expectations.

The original aspiration of serving the people remains unchanged, and a new chapter of loving the people will be written again.

Returning to his hometown from the conference venue with the award certificate of the "National Advanced Collective of the Civil Affairs System", Wang Youshou, Director of the Maona Village Committee in Shuiman Township, Wuzhishan City, Hainan Province, will do the first thing, which is to convene the members of the village committee to seriously study and implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions.

"The General Secretary has entrusted us to actively and initiatively do good deeds, practical things, and solve difficulties for the people. For village cadres, it means doing a good job in the 'quick handling of subsidies' for the needy, organizing visits and condolences to the elderly in special difficulties, safeguarding and developing the vital interests of various groups, organically combining the rigidity of policies with the flexibility of work, and doing a great job of serving and loving the people in solving the small matters of people's lives." Wang Youshou said.（Outlook New Era）