A PHRASE in the government work report delivered by Premier Li Keqiang that goes, “a better future lies in hard work,” resonated with the deputies of the National People’s Congress (NPC) from Guangdong Province at a panel discussion Monday, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported.

Recalling their own experiences of striving for better lives and envisioning the future, the NPC deputies all agreed that down-to-earth hard work is the key impetus for a better life.

Pony Ma, the telecommunications magnate and owner of Tencent, was one of the deputies in attendance at the panel discussion. Over the years, Tencent has expanded from a company with only five staff members to an industry giant that has more than 40,000 personnel and is valued at over US$500 billion.

Ma said he felt extremely proud to learn about China’s achievements in economic and social development over the past five years. The delegate said that he hopes China’s steady and healthy economic development will maintain its momentum.

In an interview with the newspaper, Ma said Tencent is a beneficiary of China’s reform and opening-up. The telecommunications company will, for its next step, continue its hard work in helping the authorities build a comprehensive digital government, said Ma.

Liu Ruopeng, director of Kuang-Chi, the Shenzhen-based technology R&D company, said the innovation-driven strategy in China has generated fruitful results over the past five years.

Liu himself is a practitioner who sees how innovative development comes out of consistent hard work. He started his R&D team in Shenzhen eight years ago with the latest new material technologies from overseas and led the company to develop into one of the leading technology companies in China.

Fang Lixu, Party secretary of Shanwei, a city in Guangdong, said that people in less-developed areas should also work harder to achieve a better future. Instead of relying on other developed cities to lend a hand to help them, governments and people in the undeveloped areas should strive to cultivate the development of their own industries, said Fang.

The NPC deputy said less-developed areas should focus on solving problems such as lagging infrastructure.

Another NPC member, Huang Hanbiao, who is also the head of Guangdong’s human resources and social security department, said that only down-to-earth work can help create a better future.

Huang pledged that Guangdong will closely follow instructions from the CPC Central Committee and implement tasks assigned in the government work report. (Zhang Qian)