Xi's initiative helping solve grassroots problems, address complaints

Salvage workers remove trash from the Tongle section of the Puyang River in Pujiang county, Jinhua city, Zhejiang province, in March. XU YU/XINHUA

Visit to Pujiang county 20 years ago paved way for villagers' regular meetings with officials

For the past 20 years, officials in Pujiang county, Zhejiang province, have been routinely visiting villages and communities to listen to and solve people's problems.

Without the need to make an appointment, villagers can raise any issue that is bothering them with the officials when they visit the village on the 15th of each month.

The officials sometimes come to the village before that date if residents feel their issues are particularly urgent, said Zhu Yutang, who comes from Xingguang village.

The 74-year-old added: "We are so used to seeing the Party chief or county head here in the village. What's important for us is that they aren't just here for show. The villagers know the officials can provide solutions on the spot."

Zhu said that as the officials make regular visits, residents no longer need to leave the village to raise their concerns. At the same time, the officials gain a clear picture of the issues that are worrying people the most.

"Having officials visit villages to solve people's problems may be a common practice in Pujiang now, but 20 years ago, such a breakthrough was made when filing petitions to a higher authority was the best way for villagers to make the local government take their problems seriously," Zhu said.

That breakthrough, known as the "Pujiang experience", was made by President Xi Jinping, who at the time was secretary of the Communist Party of China Zhejiang provincial committee. The practice has helped the county cut the number of public complaints filed by letter or in person from 10,307 in 2002 to 629 last year.

In the book Zhejiang, China: A New Vision of Development, which contains essays written by Xi for a column in Zhejiang Daily, a local newspaper, he writes that reaching out to people and helping them solve their problems is the duty and responsibility of officials. Resolving social disputes from the roots is also key to promoting social harmony and stability.

On Sept 8, 2003, a notice placed on the front page of Pujiang News attracted the attention of people in the county. It stated that provincial leaders would visit Pujiang in the middle of that month to handle people's complaints and petitions.

Zhang Guoqiang, former head of the Pujiang Bureau of Letters and Visits, said the visit immediately became the most discussed topic in the county, as it was commonplace for people to bring issues to higher authorities, such as county or provincial governments, but such authorities never came to villages to hear complaints.

A series of new social problems began to emerge and escalate in Pujiang after China started to reform and enter a phase of fast development, Zhang said.

He added that because local people are very outspoken, Pujiang was well known in Zhejiang for the number of public complaints that had to be tackled.

"The number of xinfang cases in the county rose for 10 consecutive years after 1992 when issues directly affecting people's personal interests surfaced during renovation of old neighborhoods, the restructuring of State-owned enterprises, or relocation projects to make way for reservoirs," Zhang said.

Xinfang, which translates as "letters and visits", is a petitioning system unique to China that allows people to lodge complaints with the authorities and seek redress for wrongs, flaws and inefficiencies.

Zhang said, "Although the notice made people realize just how determined and sincere provincial officials were in solving their problems, most of them didn't expect to see Xi in person."

He added that two other notices were placed in Pujiang News on Sept 10 and 15, 2003, informing the public where and when they could meet the officials. To prepare for visits from potentially a large number of people, temporary reception rooms were set up in classrooms at a high school.

As promised, Xi led more than 100 officials from different sectors to Pujiang on Sept 18 that year and launched his innovative reform plan for handling public complaints by encouraging officials to reach out to people and address their concerns.

Jiang Xingjian, owner of a wood processing factory, was the first to meet Xi. He told him urgent repairs were needed to the Pujiang section of Highway S20 (now Highway S210).

"I told Xi that the road, which was built in the 1950s, had become a source of significant traffic safety concerns. It was causing great inconvenience for local people and impeding economic development in mountainous areas. Residents had been complaining about it for many years," Jiang said.

Xi listened carefully, checked the route on a map, and discussed about solutions with a transportation official in the room, Jiang said.

"He then said that a road that would bring prosperity to local people must be built well, before setting a date for the renovation project. The whole process took less than half hour," Jiang said.

"Before I met Xi, my aim was to simply let him know how badly people wanted to see the road repaired. I never imagined that the problem would be solved on the spot."

After the repairs were made, a 13-kilometer section of treacherous mountain road was transformed into a two-way highway stretching for about 6 km with four lanes, significantly reducing local people's journey times. The road has often been referred to as "Jinping Road "by locals ever since.

On that day, Xi and other officials received complaints from 667 people and solved 91 problems. After meeting the public, Xi said most people's problems are caused by social development. Officials, especially those in key posts, must be encouraged to reach out to people and take their problems seriously, no matter how trivial they may seem, Zhejiang Daily reported on Sept 20, 2003.

Jiang said: "'Jinping Road' is just one of the legacies of Xi's visit to Pujiang. What's more important is that it made local officials understand the need to solve people's problems proactively, instead of passing the buck to someone else."