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E-mail CRI, November 7, 2012
Among the delegates arriving in Beijing to attend the 18th CPC National Congress this Monday, 24-year-old Shi Lei is the youngest one among those from Jiangsu Province.
After graduating from a top university in 2008, Shi chose to become a village official. It was the same year that China launched its nationwide "college-graduate village official" program to recruit thousands of college graduates to work in rural areas.
Two years later, he was elected as the party secretary of Xihua village.
"In June 2010, Public Nomination and Direct Election policy was adopted in Nanjing grassroots communities, villagers' committe and village party branches. There was a new policy which encouraged the graduate village officials to run for positions in poorer villages. Xihua village was a relatively poor village in our Qixia district, and I thought I should go to this place to play a greater role, so I ran for the position of party secretary of Xihua village."
China has introduced the practice of self-administration and direct elections at village levels since 1988. Any villager aged 18 years old or above has the right to vote or stand as a candidate for village heads. This "grassroots democracy" is now a common phenomenon in China.
Kerry Brown, Executive Director of the China Studies Center at the University of Sydney, wrote a book called Ballot Box China about the village democracy and its long-term significance in China.
"These are very significant and the world needs to know about them, because they introduce the concept of a secret ballot, choice of candidates, and an actual electoral process at the village level. For many millions of Chinese in the rural area, this is part of their life, and it's something that's not very understood in the rest of the world."
Besides the introduction of the "college-graduate village official" program and the rapid expansion of village elections, during the last 10 years China has also put huge efforts into other areas of political reforms.
Doctor Lai Hairong is the Executive Director of China Center for Overseas Social and Philosophical Theories,Central Compilation&Translation Bureau.
"China also made great efforts in promoting rule of law, allowing, for example, individual citizens to sue government organizations. China also revised the Criminal Procedure Law to help boost human rights, and even to such an extent that protecting human rights was written into the Constitution in 2004."
Lai adds those political reforms have laid the foundation for China's legendary economic growth. Without all these reforms, the economic fast growth in China could not be achieved.
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