CPC's new grassroots campaign to cement governance

Every morning, Li Peng wakes at the crack of dawn. Sometimes, for a minute or two, he is unsure of where he is. Then he realizes that it's time to get up. He needs to go to the village to start his new job.

Five months have passed since the 40-year-old left his home in Jinan, capital of east China's Shandong province, to be the "first secretary" in Shijiaya, a destitute village nestled deep in the heart of the Yimeng Mountains.

As the first secretary, Li, a mid-level official from the Party's provincial discipline commission, will spend a year helping Shijiaya's incumbent Party chief manage the village, overseeing everything from optimizing Party organization to making farmers richer.

The practice is somewhat unusual, as Li is at least three levels higher than a typical village Party secretary in China's political system. Working in the countryside is nothing like sitting in his office in downtown Jinan.

Li is not alone, though. This year, about 26,000 officials from every level of Shandong's Party and government organs were dispatched to 18,000 villages and communities across the province, all serving as first secretaries. Among them, 582 come from provincial-level departments like Li.

The campaign marks one of the CPC's newest endeavors to form a strong grassroots base, especially in rural areas, to attain better governance in the run-up to the Party's 18th national congress, during which a new central leadership will be elected.

Like the cities that have flourished over the past three decades of reform and opening-up, rural areas have also experienced enormous changes, though at a slower pace. However, the market economy has brought some side effects, one of which is the erosion of grassroots Party organizations.

In many villages, able men and young people have moved to cities to earn the family's bread, leaving behind aging Party committees.

"In our village, the average age of Party members is 57. It's hard to organize a Party meeting, as some of them are too old and some of them have left home to find work in cities. And it's also hard to recruit new members, as young people are all out looking for jobs," said Li Xingyou, a "first secretary" in Longfengyu, a mountainous village located in a county adjacent to Shijiaya.

Restoring Party committees has become a top priority on the agenda of many first secretaries.

Having known much about the village, Li Xingyou tried several times to reach out to Wu Rubin, a man who runs a garage in the county and is known for his business acumen, to persuade him to take the post of Party secretary in Longfengyu.

"I came back because Xingyou has been really sincere and persistent. My family had already settled in the county. But he said 'look at your childhood friends. You have a chance to bring them out of poverty, will you take it?' That was like a punch in the gut," said Wu.

Sending first secretaries to rural areas is a revolutionary step taken by the CPC, said Qi Ruqing, professor of the Party School of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee.

The officials can act as a bridge between people and governments and enhance relations between the Party and people, Qi said.

"What people value most are tangible benefits. And by doing things that can really make their lives better, we can win their hearts and build our reputation," said Li Peng.

One of the things Li Peng did was to equip the village's elementary school with new furniture, ending the practice of requiring children to bring their own desks to school at the start of each new semester.

In Longfengyu, Li Xingyou, who is also deputy chief of the county's housing bureau, has used his position to help villagers apply for central government funding to renovate dilapidated houses. He is also working with Wu to have the village's aging power grid upgraded to ensure a stable supply of electricity.

All of the first secretaries are also working to improve their villagers' well-being, another major task on their to-do list. They have been pressing ahead with a variety of projects, such as building roads, reservoirs, irrigation facilities, recreational areas and other facilities, according to a report compiled by the province's Party committee.

"When we watch TV, we see other places have developed so well. How we envy them! Now with the first secretaries coming, we have some hope of making progress," said 70-year-old Liu Jinyu, a Longfengyu resident who joined the Party in 1966.

In fact, what the first secretaries have been doing is in line with the Party's constant emphasis on improving people's livelihoods.

After more than thirty years of skyrocketing economic growth, social equity has become an outstanding issue for the Party, as a yawning wealth gap has triggered conflicts in some places.

Since 2010, China has been spending two-thirds of its central budget annually on improving people's livelihoods. In the first half of this year, the central government earmarked 1.15 trillion yuan (181.7 billion U.S. dollars) to boost funding for education, social security, employment, healthcare and affordable housing.

The moves enable the public, especially vulnerable groups, to enjoy a more equitable share of the fruits of China's development.

China has expanded pension coverage to an additional 240 million rural dwellers in the last two years. A few years ago, about 80 percent of people in rural areas had no health insurance. Now almost everyone does.

Last year, the city government of Linyi in Shandong province plunked down 20 million yuan to build a non-profit apartment complex that can house more than 1,000 migrant workers. Rent for the apartment is just 1 yuan per day.

"Thanks to this, we have cheap but clean accommodations. I can save at least 70 yuan a month while living better than in a motel," said Dong Huafang, a bricklayer from a nearby village who is seeking work in the city.

The Party has also been more inclined to listen to the public to defuse any possible conflicts. One example is forced demolition, a practice that has triggered much protest and discontent in China.

This year, the local government in Shandong's Feixian county managed to persuade 6,000 families to leave their slum housing so that it could be demolished and replaced with a new living community. No petitions or protests took place.

"We talked to the residents a lot and revised our plans three times to meet their needs. Our compensation is higher than the national standard," said Guo Yongjun, a local official in charge of the demolition project.

"During our talks, the government understood our concerns and we came to understand their sincerity and the benefits of the new projects. We feel respected and we respect them," said local resident Wang Xia.

The CPC never rests on its laurels, but always tries to keep up with the times and pay attention to the people, Qi said.

"That's why it has survived and thrived where other Communist parties have failed," he said.