Mayor sets good example

Kunming Mayor Li Wenrong uses weibo to communicate with residents of the city, setting a good example of establishing effective communication between officials and the people, says an article in Guangming Daily. Excerpts:

Li is the first mayor of a provincial capital to use an official micro blog to communicate with residents of his city, and has thanked his weibo "fans", especially those who criticized him. He generated more than 9,000 comments within three hours of writing his first micro blog on May 17. Li has read the reactions and responded to public concern everyday since then.

In contrast, a recent survey covering about 6,300 people in 30 major cities revealed that only one-third of the respondents knew the names of their cities' mayors. This shows that many local officials don't communicate with the public and thus have no direct way of understanding what people need to improve their livelihood and overcome their difficulties.

The Internet has become a direct and effective tool for public supervision. Therefore, local authorities should change their mindset of blindly issuing orders and, instead, face the challenge of supervising the public with the help of the Internet. The key to improving an official's performance now depends on whether he/she uses the Internet to improve governance.

It's good to see officials such as Li using weibo to communicate with the public, publish authoritative information and dispel misunderstanding. And it's time other officials emulated Li's feat.

'Ant tribe' needs better avenues

Rather than being pessimistic about their current difficulties, the "ant tribe" (low-income college graduates who settle for poverty-level existence in cities in the hope of building a bright future) should see them as an opportunity for self-development. But, at the same time, the authorities should take steps to ensure the "ant tribe" gets an equal opportunity to excel in all fields of life, says an article on rednet.cn Excerpts:

The China Youth Development Report 2013 shows that Beijing has up to 160,000 "ant tribe" members. Such people have a monthly average salary of 4,133 yuan ($673.8), and more than 70 percent of them have to do with less than 10 square meters of living space.

It's not unusual for a metropolis like Beijing, which has a population of about 20 million, to have 160,000 "ant tribe" members. In fact, many newcomers to mega cities don't mind starting life from the bottom as long as they have the hope of building a better future.

But still the presence of 160,000 "ant tribe" members in the capital cannot be accepted as a normal phenomenon, especially because doubts have been raised on whether they can really climb up the social and economic ladder. After all, it is becoming increasingly difficult for such people to free themselves of the underclass label.

So the government should reflect on the social problems behind the "ant tribe" phenomenon and ensure that it gets the opportunities to climb up the social and economic ladder by distributing social resources in a balanced manner.

(China Daily USA 06/14/2013 page15)