For Chinese President Xi Jinping, "Family is a person's first classroom, and parents are a child's first teachers." 

Regarding his father as a role model, President Xi has sought to maintain his father's virtues and fulfill his commitments.

President Xi's father Xi Zhongxun (1913-2002) was once vice premier and a Communist revolutionary. Xi Zhongxun was said to love his children but was also strict with them. 

This file photo taken in 1958 shows 5-year-old Xi Jinping (L), his younger brother and their father Xi Zhongxun. (Photo: Photographs of Xi Zhongxun)

Among the stories of father and son is a letter President Xi wrote expressing his determination to learn from the revolutionary veteran.

It was sent in 2001 when Xi Jinping was governor of Fujian Province and Xi Zhongxun was celebrating his 88th birthday with family members.

Xi Jinping was too busy to attend the reunion and wrote a letter apologizing for his absence and extending his birthday wishes.

In the letter, Xi Jinping expressed his respect for his father's character, faith and dedication, his wish to keep up his father's values and his devotion to Communism and the people.

"In the past 48 years since I was born, my understanding of parents has been increasingly profound as our emotional ties become stronger," Xi Jinping wrote. "There are many noble characteristics I wish to inherit from my father."

"I will learn from you how to behave," Xi Jinping wrote, noting his father was respected by fellow Communist Party of China members and the people. 

"You are honest, modest, careful and tolerant throughout your life, and I will always keep what you taught me in mind."

Xi Jinping wrote he would learn diligence from his father, noting Xi Zhongxun had for decades been earnest and hardworking in the cause of revolution. 

His father always maintained a low profile despite major achievements for the Party and the people, Xi Jinping wrote.

"I will learn kindness from you," Xi wrote his father. "You are the son of a farmer. You love the Chinese people, your revolutionary comrades, people of your hometown, your parents, your wife and your children. Your universal love for all influences people around you."

Xi Jinping poses for a photo with his father Xi Zhongxun in South China's Hainan Province in August 1978. (Photo: Photographs of Xi Zhongxun)

In the eyes of President Xi, his father was strict, demanding he learn frugality in childhood. 

"We were taught by you to practice frugality and I will pass the virtue on to future generations," Xi Jinping wrote in the letter.

In the letter, Xi Jinping listed the values he cherished of his father and noted he was hugely influenced by his father as he grew up in the family.

Xi Zhongxun attached importance to family, according to his wife Qi Xin who said he loved his children and liked to take care of them. 

Xi Zhongxun enjoyed opportunities he had to spend time at home with his children despite heavy workload.

In a China Central Television (CCTV) interview in 2003, Xi Jinping recalled his father was strict with his children. 

"When we arrived home, we had to first stand against wall and listen to father’s lecture. He always told us his revolutionary stories and asked us to fight for the cause.

"We were tired of that. But gradually, his words influenced me unconsciously."

Xi Jinping said he led a frugal life in childhood. 

"We usually had to wear the hand-me-down clothes of our older brothers and sisters. Sadly I had four sisters and only one brother, which meant I had to wear some of my sister's old clothes."

Zhang Guoying was Xi Zhongxun's secretary. 

Zhang recalled that after Xi Jinping became a government official, Xi Zhongxun told him, "No matter how high your position is, don't forget to serve the people diligently and earnestly. Keep in touch with the masses and be approachable."

It was through experiences like these that Xi Jinping inherited his father's down-to-earth approach to life and set out goals to improve the lives of regular people.

( Compiled by Huang Jingjing and Liu Xiaochi; Source: Xuexi Xiaozu, a WeChat account run by the overseas edition of People's Daily's)