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.

自強不息

“自強不息”出自《周易》，意為自身努力向上，強大自己，永不懈怠。古人認為，天體出于自身的本性而運行，剛健有力，周而復始，一往無前從不停息。君子取法于“天”，也應該發揮自己的主動性、能動性，勤勉不懈、奮發進取，這是中國人參照天體運行狀態梳理的自身理想。

中共十八大以來，習近平曾在多個場合多次提及“自強不息”。如2014年5月，習近平考察北京大學時強調，“天行健，君子以自強不息”；2017年12月，習近平在中國共產黨與世界政黨高層對話會上發表的主旨講話中指出，中國人民沒有向命運屈服，而是奮起抗爭、自強不息，經過長期奮斗，而今走上了實現中華民族偉大復興的康莊大道。