Lai Ming is the deputy secretary-general of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), vice-chairman of the Committee on Proposals of the CPPCC National Committee, and a member of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee. He was vice-chairman of the 12th to 14th central committees of the Jiu San Society, and is a professor and doctoral supervisor. He is also former vice-president of the Chongqing Jianzhu University (now the Chongqing University), and was director-general of the science and technology department of the Ministry of Construction (now defunct). [Photo provided to cppcc.gov.cn]

Lai Ming (center) leads a survey team of the Jiu San Society Central Committee to research the high-quality development of the Shanxi-Shaanxi-Henan Yellow River Delta region in Sanmenxia, Central China's Henan province, in November 2019. [Photo provided to cppcc.gov.cn]

Lai Ming (3rd R) attends a press conference for the second session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee. [Photo provided to cppcc.gov.cn]

A kind, professional and dedicated member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and also a devoted learner, Lai Ming has never stopped fulfilling his mission of participating in the deliberation and administration of State affairs.

"We need to preserve our ecology and develop our economy at the same time, but when the two conflict, we must stick to the red line of preserving the ecology. In the long run and for the bigger picture, if we manage to protect the ecological environment, economic and social development will be promoted, that's the meaning of the Two Mountains Theory." said Lai after watching a feature program on the renovation of illegal buildings on the Qinling Mountains in 2019.

"It is only through the constant learning of the principles of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and of the great achievements made by people in the course of history, that we can develop a deeper understanding of social conditions, public opinion and State affairs, and be the bridge that truly helps convey people's ideas to the government, and the country's policies to the people," he said, reminding people around him about the importance of learning.

Lai cares greatly about China's green and low-carbon transformation and development, and has actively involved himself as a tutor in book reading activities launched by the CPPCC National Committee. Through these tutoring activities with a theme proposed by himself on carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, he and other members came up with suggestions on accelerating green and low-carbon technological innovation and realizing the "dual carbon" goals.

He has also attached great importance to investigations and surveys, which are conducive to building consensus. Based on his surveys, Lai proposed to stick to integrated development, focus on technological innovation and promote high-quality development through higher-level opening-up, in a bid to realize the high-quality development of the integration of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic zone, which has received a positive response.

Lai has combined his duties as a CPPCC member with his own expertise. Having majored in architectural engineering, he worked for 10 years in the now-defunct Ministry of Construction, where he studied and promoted energy conservation and the reduction of emissions in buildings.

After working as a member of the Central Committee of the Jiu San Society, Lai has also paid close attention to the development of China's construction industry. He has organized research on green building, energy conservation, building industrialization, waste recycling, the control of the total amount of energy consumption of buildings, and on the improvement of energy efficiency; and has put forward many suggestions in the name of the Jiu San Society.

In recent years in the performance of his duties, Lai has also attached great attention on the construction industry. During a survey, Lai found that a large number of new urban areas and communities have appeared in the process of urbanization, but some areas lacked an understanding of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. A set of guidelines on the implementation of these policies was urgently needed. Therefore, he invited experts and scholars to carry out rounds of discussions to collect opinions and suggestions on this issue.

After then, During the second session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee in 2019, Lai submitted a proposal about implementing the standards of sustainable cities and communities after conducting several studies and making revisions, which was hotly debated has created quite a buzz in the construction sector and was considered constructive and an important aspect of formulating industry standards. The standard rating department of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development also directly contacted Lai and visited the Central Committee of the Jiu San Society for further discussion. They exchanged views on the problems and suggestions that had been included in the proposal, hoping to jointly promote the work.

"The western region has rich resources and a good environmental capacity. We should make effective use of them to develop related industries and promote economic and social development in the western region," Lai said.

He added that previous research has found that the development of new energy, such as wind energy, solar energy, and nuclear energy, is closely related to energy storage technology. In order to achieve the efficient utilization of energy, there must be a high level of energy storage technology. It is necessary to think about which direction the national energy storage industry should take in the future.

"Long as the journey is, we will reach our destination if we stay the course. We should work together to realize the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation ," Lai said.