Over 2,200 delegates are gathering in Beijing to attend the 19th Communist Party of China (CPC) National Congress, which starts Oct. 18.

Starting Sunday, delegates arrived in the capital by plane, train and bus for the congress, an event held every five years that sets out China’s future development.

An 18th CPC Central Committee report, a CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection work report and an amendment to the CPC Constitution will be submitted for deliberation at the congress.

“Besides deliberating the two reports and the amendment, we as delegates will elect a new CPC Central Committee and a new CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. These are the three key things we must focus on,” said Zhao Qinghua, head nurse of First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University.

The congress will review the Party’s work over the past five years and map out what the Party and the country need to do in the next five years and beyond.

Zhao brought three documents to Beijing — a speech made by General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping during a tour to Chongqing in 2016, her own observation of medical reform in Chongqing and a report on senior citizen healthcare.

“It’s important for me to bring the voice of the people I represent to the congress and make suggestions accordingly,” she said.

The delegates represent over 89 million CPC members nationwide. Attendees include high-ranking government officials, Party leaders, and military officers as well as grassroots Party members such as sportsmen, farmers, technicians, doctors and teachers.

Zhao Shiyong, CPC secretary of Suining city in Sichuan Province, said he expected the successes of the Party over the last five years to be put into theory and serve as an example for the future.

“Personally, I will look to how the Party will plan in protecting the environment and attaining quality growth,” he said.

A total of 2,287 delegates have been selected to attend this year’s congress. Of them, 771 are from the grassroots, accounting for 33.7 percent of the total.

“General Secretary Xi is a man of action. I expect him to continue to lead the country and guide people to build a better life with our own hands,” said Deng Yingxiang, Party secretary of Mahuai, a small village in southwest China’s Guizhou province.

She expressed hope that the new leadership would continue to push ahead with the anti-poverty work.

“In three years, I believe each and every family at our village will have a car and a big house as they wish,” she said.

“The great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new phase. The congress will tell the world what our new goals are and what we should do to achieve the goals,” said Liu Jiongtian, a delegate and president of Zhengzhou University.

“I expect the congress to respond to the needs and dreams of the people, make strategic and forward-looking decisions, and lead the people to build an even more prosperous and stronger nation,” said Chen Jizhuang, a delegate and chairman of Benxi Steel Group in Liaoning Province.

China was selected on Friday to host the WorldSkills Competition in Shanghai in 2021 – an event it hopes to use for building a stronger team of skilled workers nationwide and to enhance international exchanges in vocational skills.

Members of WorldSkills International voted on Friday in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to award the 46th WorldSkills Competition to the city.

President Xi Jinping sent a video message on Friday, before the vote, in support of China’s bid. He said on behalf of the Chinese government and people that he firmly supported Shanghai’s bid, and gave his assurance that the city will be ready to host a highly innovative and influential event.

Xi said the competition will promote international exchanges an cooperation in vocational skills, drive the Chinese people – especially nearly 200 million young people – to take up new skills and provide an opportunity for China to contribute to global skills development.

The bid team, which included Yin Weimin, minister of human resources and social security, and Ying Yong, mayor of Shanghai, gave presentations before the vote.

China has been strengthening its international exchanges and cooperation in vocational skills in recent years. In 2015, Xi announced in a South-South Cooperation roundtable a “six 100s” initiative to help developing countries. It included 100 poverty reduction programs, 100 schools and vocational training centers and the training of 500,000 technical personnel.

Yin, the minister, said: “I believe the 46th WorldSkills Competition in Shanghai will bring China closer to the world and help international exchanges and cooperation in vocational skills to be implemented more effectively.”

He said the ministry will make every effort to help Shanghai prepare for the event.

The Chinese leadership attached great importance to its bid to host the competition, as the event will greatly promote the development of highly skilled talent in China, said Tang Tao, vice-minister of human resources and social security, at a news conference in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

China has 165 million skilled workers, including 47.9 million who are classed as highly skilled. Every year, more than 100 million people have access to technical and vocational education and training, he said.

“Hosting the event will help guide the whole society to respect the spirit of craftsmanship and help create a social atmosphere of respecting labor and admiring skill,” Tang said.

Shanghai will use the opportunity to draft preferential policies to encourage the spirit of craftsmanship and improve vocational education to cultivate skilled talent, said Peng Chenlei, the city’s vice-mayor.

A Chinese college student has completed a one-year peacekeeping mission in South Sudan this year with one of the 13 female infantry squads, which is carrying out humanitarian relief and protecting the rights of women and children.

Zhang Qin was majoring in Radio and Television Art in Chengdu University before joining the mission.

Zhang had wanted to become a soldier since she was in high school, and had felt regret for not entering the military academy. She later joined the army in her sophomore year, despite her family’s disagreement.

After joining the army, she was selected to be a monitor in 2014, during her first year in the army, due to her talent. She then showed her ability in a variety of military skills and several languages, such as English, Arabic and Japanese.

Zhang was a member of China’s third peacekeeping infantry battalion to South Sudan. All the members of this group were awarded the “Honor Medal of Peace” at this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival, the highest honor of the UN peacekeeping force, for their contributions to maintaining peace in South Sudan during the past year.

South Sudan has been assessed by the United Nations as one of the world’s most dangerous and volatile countries, it is common to hear gunshots at night and be awakened by gunfire. However, Zhang still insisted on volunteering to go there.

China has previously sent UN peacekeeping units and medical units as wars have broken out there many times. Two Chinese soldiers died in armed conflict while protecting civilians in July, 2016.

“One time, we were closest to danger; a gun was pointed at us, ” Zhang remembered. The gunmen, who had broken into the forbidden zone, were eventually deterred by their force and handed over their weapons.

Zhang rarely spoke to her family about these dangerous experiences. She preferred to tell her parents that the peacekeeping forces had often entered refugee camps to provide help, and when the patrol cars pass by, refugees often chase the car and shout “China.”

Zhang and her comrades also sent gifts to the village children on Children’s Day and held cultural exchange activities with Juba University, leading students and staff there to praise Chinese peacekeepers by saying “China good.”

The wars are not yet over, and the traces of war can be seen everywhere, but promising scenes are starting to appear on the streets of the capital Juba, where shops are opening, and more pedestrians walk on the roads.

Zhang said, she will leave the army and return to school to continue her studies in the near future. She wrote sincerely in her diary, “This military career is the most extraordinary scene of my life and my dream has been half realized. The remaining half, I will continue to pursue unceasingly.”

Beijing has surpassed its annual target number of homes, investment and people involved in shantytowns renovation as of the end of September, benefiting up to 235,000 people.

Shantytowns are impoverished communities where people densely inhabit single-story houses that have been used for many years. The places are poor in housing quality, infrastructure facilities, transportation, security and environment.

Shantytown renovation is a major project to improve the livelihood of their inhabitants launched by the Chinese government. The project aims to rebuild dilapidated housing in cities and towns and to improve housing conditions for needy families. According to the plan, Beijing this year will renovate 36,000 homes in rundown urban areas in 16 districts, including the largest shantytown in Fengtai District covering 1,440 hectares.

According to the Beijing Major Projects Construction Headquarters Office, the city renovated a total of 40,718 homes in shantytowns from January to September, surpassing the annual target number of 36,000. In the same period, total investment on the project hit 80.8 billion yuan (US$12.27 billion), surpassing the annual target of 75 billion yuan, and more than doubling the amount over the same period last year.

Eleven districts including Dongcheng, Chaoyang and Fengtai districts have fulfilled the annual task ahead of schedule. Xicheng District and Haidian District have completed 90 percent of their task, while the districts of Tongzhou, Daxing and Huairou have begun relocation effort for shantytown inhabitants.

The head of the major projects office said the city will focus next on the districts that have not yet completed the annual task of renovation, and intensify and step up efforts to fulfill the annual task in an all-round way by the end of October.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, called for increased cooperation between the CPC and the country’s non-Communist political parties to jointly strive for achieving the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.

Xi made the remarks at a meeting held by the CPC Central Committee to solicit opinions from members of non-Communist political parties on a draft report for the upcoming 19th CPC National Congress, according to a statement made public on Sunday.

After hearing the opinions of the participants, Xi said it has been a long-held practice for the CPC to solicit opinions from the central committees of non-Communist parties, leading figures of the All China Federation of Industry and Commerce, and those with no party affiliation, on major policies and decisions of the CPC and the country.

Xi said the report to be delivered at the 19th CPC National Congress should collect wisdom from across the Party, be in line with the people’s expectations, and should play a significant guiding role in the country’s development, with a positive influence on the international community.

“In order to reach the goal, we must make full use of democracy in the drafting process, and improve our investigation and research,” Xi noted.

He said the CPC Central Committee will carefully study the opinions raised by the participants and fully incorporate them into the revisions of the draft report.

To adhere to and improve socialism with Chinese characteristics, a crucial task lies in adhering to and improving multiparty cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the CPC, as well as developing socialist consultative democracy to better play the part of China’s non-Communist political parties and those without party affiliation, according to Xi.

He hoped that the central committees of non-Communist parties, the All China Federation of Industry and Commerce, and those with no party affiliation can uphold the political consensus on supporting the leadership of the CPC, and maintaining the socialist path with Chinese characteristics.

Xi further hoped they can firmly foster confidence in the path, theory, system and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics, while accurately analyzing the situation at home and abroad to build political consensus and converge power from various sources.

Representatives of non-Communist parties and those without party affiliation acknowledged the major achievements made by the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping at the core since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012.

The CPC Central Committee made the accomplishments by properly grasping the current situations of China and the world, with great political courage and a strong sense of responsibility, as well as efforts to push forward the general layout of the country and the strategic blueprint of “Four Comprehensives,” according to the representatives.