When Premier Wen Jiabao visited Chen Lianfu and Wang Dongyun, a couple quarantined owing to the bird flu virus, during this year’s Spring Festival in Shifuozhen Town, Hubei Province, the two were so overwhelmed that they didn’t hear the leader ask them to take off the protective facemasks they were wearing.

“Please take off your masks. I am not afraid of catching the disease,” the premier said as he shook hands with the couple.

It was not until the premier asked again that the couple obliged.

After Premier Wen had offered them New Year’s greetings, he asked how many chickens they had lost during the bird flu epidemic and whether they had received any compensation. Chen told the premier that he had been given some compensation and would keep the money for future chicken breeding.

During a tour of the farm to view the pits where slaughtered birds had been buried, the premier assured Chen that the government would offer assistance in immunization programs to prevent future outbreaks of bird flu. He also urged local government officials present to pay close attention to the decontamination process and future restoration of the breeding industry.

Ending the 20-minute visit by posing for a photograph with the delighted couple, Wen Jiabao demonstrated the importance of being on the scene for events such as the bird flu epidemic, rather than sitting in his own office listening to second-hand reports.

“Officials at all levels must keep the people in mind. How can we convince the people of anything without listening to their voices and without earnestly solving their difficulties?” asked the premier.

As President Hu Jintao stated, “People’s lives and health are always the government’s top priority.”

This has been the mantra of the new term of government since it took office last March, when it committed to the principles that “power must be used for the sake of the people; [officials’] sentiments must be tied to those of the people; and material benefits must be sought in the interest of the people.” It emphasized, “There are no small matters when it involves the interest of the people.” This people-oriented concept of leadership is becoming a consensus of the government at all levels.

Hu Jintao, mobile president

Since Hu Jintao was elected general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in November 2002 and Chinese president in March 2003, he has made 10 tours throughout the country. During the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) epidemic last year, he made an inspection tour of Guangdong and Sichuan provinces and Tianjin Municipality. When tragedy struck Chinese navy Submarine No. 361, the president went to Dalian, a port city of Liaoning Province, to express his condolences personally to family members of the victims. On the eve of China’s successful Shenzhou V space launch, the president met with Yang Liwei, the country’s first astronaut. In five other tours, President Hu visited poverty-stricken areas of central and west China, inspecting the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and Jiangxi, Hunan, Shandong and Henan provinces.

Hu’s first trip after taking office was to Xibaipo in Hebei Province, a village that once served as the CPC headquarters before the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949. It was in Xibaipo, 270 km southwest of Beijing, where President Hu first defined people-oriented leadership for the new government, which is founded in getting closer to the people.

After graduating from Tsinghua University, Hu worked in Gansu, one of the poorest provinces in China, for 14 years, and from 1985, he worked for eight years in Guizhou Province and the Tibet Autonomous Region, traveling extensively and speaking personally with the local people. His long years of working at the grass roots and in poor areas, and his later experiences in the central government, have provided him with an intimate familiarity with the lives of common citizens and a strong awareness of their problems, needs and desires.

Wen Jiabao, the people’s premier

Everyone is familiar with the image of Premier Wen, wearing a jacket and a pair of sports shoes, going into rural and disaster-stricken areas to speak with the local people. Because of this, he has been dubbed the “ordinary people’s premier.”

Wen, born in September 1942 in Tianjin, was once a geological engineer. He graduated from the then Beijing Institute of Geology before going to work in the Gansu Geological Bureau, where he served as a technician and grass-roots cadre for 15 consecutive years.

Having been to more than 1,800 counties throughout the country, some of which were the poorest places in China, Wen is acutely aware of the unbalanced development between urban and rural areas. “You can see many skyscrapers in some big cities and in the eastern region, while in the countryside many farmers are still living in thatched huts and plowing the land with cattle,” he said.

Wen likens the disparity in economic and social development between urban and rural areas to a handicapped person. “With crippled legs, one easily falls,” he said.

From January 20 to 22, Premier Wen visited farms, factories, government institutions and electric power and railway departments in Xinxiang and Zhengzhou in central China’s Henan Province.

On the early morning of the January 21, Lunar New Year’s Eve, Premier Wen arrived at Zhaodi Village in Xinxiang County. Clutching Wen’s hand, 80-year-old villager Ji Changrui exclaimed, “I never dreamed that the premier would come to offer me New Year’s greetings at this special time of year.” The premier chatted freely with villagers, asking them about their preparations for the New Year, about grain price and grain production.

One of the best-known stories about Premier Wen took place in Longquan Village, near Chongqing City in southwest China. Some 250,000 people have been relocated in the area owing to construction of the Three Gorges Project.

When he arrived in Yunyang County, Wen was quickly surrounded by villagers. Smiling, he asked, “What kind of difficulties do you have, and what can I do for you?”

“Premier, I want to say something about my husband’s default wages,” piped up Xiong Deming immediately.

Xiong told the premier that her husband, Li Jianming, worked for a construction team in Yunyang County. The head of the team owed her husband more than 2,000 yuan (US$241.55) in back wages and had failed to pay him for over a year. This had affected ability to pay their children’s tuition fees.

Premier Wen spoke to the county official responsible for the situation at 11 p.m. that day, and shortly Xiong Deming and her husband received the 2,240-yuan (US$271) salary they were owed.

During the SARS epidemic Wen visited hospitals and schools; following a devastating earthquake in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Wen braved harsh weather to visit the affected people. On World AIDS Day, Wen shook hands with AIDS patients.

The leadership cares about more than just the people’s productivity: it respects their wishes and their opinions. The new government is one that is more responsive, and responsible, to the people.

(Beijing Review, February 25, 2004)