Xi Story: Empowering women to grow and shine

BEIJING -- When Mi Xuemei first arrived in Zhongshan, an industrial hub in Guangdong?province, she was 22 and alone. She left her mountain village in Northwest China's Gansu province in 1997, in search of work and a better future.

Her first job was as a security guard in a garment factory. Instead of resting after night shifts, she would slip into the workshop or warehouse, learning everything she could.

Through diligence and determination, Mi worked her way up, later becoming a statistician and manager's assistant before rising to the role of quality supervisor. Now, she leads a happy life with her family in the city and serves as a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature.

In 2018, Mi shared her story during a group deliberation with President Xi Jinping at the annual session of the NPC. Xi listened attentively, noticing that Mi's given name fit. "Xuemei," literally meaning "plum blossoms in the snow," is a common name for girls that symbolizes grace and resilience.

"Your experience is just like your name," Xi told her, and quoted a well-known Chinese verse, "Only after enduring the bitter cold does the plum blossom give off its most enchanting fragrance."

Deeply warmed by his words, Mi felt they reflected Xi's encouragement and recognition of countless women like her who have thrived through hard work.

Like Mi, entrepreneur Zhuo Changli also drew renewed strength and determination from her encounter with Xi to advance her undertakings.

From Jinan, the capital ofEeast China's Shandong province, Zhuo was once laid off from a factory in the 1990s. In 2003, with the intention of helping more women in search of work, she started running an enterprise offering domestic services, which has a bright and hopeful name: Sunshine Auntie.

During an inspection tour to Jinan in November 2013, Xi met with domestic services workers from Sunshine Auntie, emphasizing that "the domestic service industry holds great potential and should be developed with integrity and professionalism."

When they met again five years later, Zhuo reported on Sunshine Auntie's progress. Pleased about the company's growth, Xi remarked, "The domestic service industry is a sunrise sector."

Noting that the industry meets the practical needs of urban families for childcare and elderly care, he once again stressed the importance of strengthening professional training and improving service quality.

Today, Sunshine Auntie has seen growing presence in cities across China with a workforce of over 70,000. It has helped many women change their lives and gain a greater sense of self-worth.

To encourage and support more women like Mi and Zhuo to take an active part in the country's economic and social development, Xi has long attached great importance to women's professional development, as well as creating broader platforms for women to thrive.

China has rolled out a raft of policies and initiatives eliminating gender discrimination in the workplace and developing supportive programs for women's careers. Women now account for about 43 percent of the employed population in China.

Additionally, China had provided 640 billion yuan (about $90 billion) in loans to support women's entrepreneurship by the end of 2024, helping 8.49 million women pursue their dreams of starting their own businesses. In the internet sector, women make up more than half of all entrepreneurs.

"Every woman is a writer of the times and a pursuer of dreams," Xi once said. He believes that it is important to pool the strength and wisdom of women, show them respect and care, so that women will make even greater contributions to building a modern socialist country and advancing national rejuvenation.