The number of petitions and complaints received by governments and Communist Party committees at county level and above in 2005 were down nine percent from the previous year.

The decline in the number of petitions can be attributed to the government's great efforts in resolving protests lodged by petitioners and the promulgation of regulations on complaints, said an official with the state bureau of petitions and complaints.

"The opinions and problems relayed by citizens through letters and visits mirror the true social reality and are precious political resources for the government," said the official, adding that the bureau summarized more than 5,000 items of opinions and problems after "combing" all the letters it received in 2005 and reported the results to the state and Party leaders.

State and Party leaders have given instructions on how to deal with the problems raised by petitioners and some of the problems have been resolved based on the leader's instruction, the official said.

Currently, the major complaints, lodged by petitioners through letters and visits, mainly include forced farmland acquisition, protection of migrant rural workers' rights and finding jobs for the unemployed.

Since China promulgated the regulations on public complaints in May 2005, governments at all levels have changed their work style from passively receiving petitions and complaints to actively helping resolve the problems reflected by petitioners and build a long-term system to prevent similar problems from occurring again, the official said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 17, 2006)