A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.

This is a line from the Classic of the Way and Virtue. The philosopher Lao Zi indicated that major events often evolve from trivial things and great ambitions have to be achieved step by step. A good start is a job half-done, so to realize lofty ideals one must begin with the first step and get down to earnest work.

In his keynote speech at the opening of the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in November 2021, Xi Jinping quoted, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step," and made four pragmatic proposals from the historic starting point of building a China-Africa community of shared future in the new era.

千里之行，始于足下

“千里之行，始于足下”，語出《道德經》，意為哪怕千里遠的行程，也要從邁第一步開始。這句話多用來形容大事都是由小事逐漸發展演變而來的，再遠大的目標也要從點滴小事做起，逐步實現；引申說明任何事情都需要從頭做起，一個好的開始往往是事情成敗的關鍵，遠大的理想和抱負需要腳踏實地地推動，才能完成既定的任務。

2021年11月，習近平在中非合作論壇第八屆部長級會議開幕式上的主旨演講中引用“千里之行，始于足下”，站在構建新時代中非命運共同體的歷史起點上提出了4點務實主張。