Leadership education at revolutionary base

Strong, effective officials are an important part of the development of the CPC. Leadership requires special skills. Our reporter Hou Na visited an education base in one of China's revolutionary cradles in Jiangxi province to find out how officials are trained.

This is where Chairman Mao Zedong worked and lived. Besides the tourists, nearly every day the historic site welcomes a group of special visitors. These senior government officials come from across the country to learn the Party history of war and sacrifice.

Hou Na said, "The training of the officials has always been a tradition for the CPC, the training which aimed at improving the quality and capacity of the leading officials can be traced back to the Red Army's Long march period. Training at this very revolutionary base can be really educational."

Jinggangshan is where the Red Army won a decisive victory against overwhelming Kuomingtang forces. And the Academy takes advantage of that to engage the students. Xue Hui might be someone important back home, but he's just an ordinary student here. But he says his learning experience has been far from ordinary.

Xue Hui, student of China Executive Leadership Academy of Jing Gangshan, said, "Visiting such sites and listening to stories of the Red Army period have inspired me so much. It's more effective than just studying in class."

Like Xue, most of his classmates are Party and government officials, business executives and army officers.

The Vice Dean, Mei Liming, told us the school specializes in teaching Party history, team building, revolutionary tradition and basic social conditions.

Mei Liming said, "We arrange discussion classes so students can compare similar cases, both recent and those from decades ago. Most of the topics are related to current hot issues. We teach them to deal with issues in accordance with traditional methods."

Building strong leadership is crucial for the country and the Party. In 2005, the central government established three Executive Leadership Academies. The other two are in Yan'an in Shaanxi province, and Pudong in Shanghai.

Examining the past gives a context for dealing with the present. And that's something students at Jinggangshan need for today and for China's future.