At the New Year tea party of the national CPPCC on December 31, 2020, Xi Jinping called for the spirit of three oxen. They were the ox that serves the people (孺子牛), the ox that breaks new ground (拓荒牛) and the old ox of hard struggle (老黄牛). He repeated the call at the Spring Festival reception for the Year of the Ox in February 2021.
The first ox comes from a 1932 poem by Lu Xun, Self-Mockery, in which he bows his head and gladly serves as an ox for children.