It is beyond the majority's imagination that "governance capability" -- a political jargon concocted by the theoreticians several months ago can promptly become a catchphrase for the country's common people.

The phrase "zhi zheng neng li" in Chinese, or "governance capability," was brought three months ago by the central authorities of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

In mid-September, the CPC Central Committee assembled in Beijing, discussing the cultivation of the ruling party's governing competence. It was the first time during the 55 years of history after the New China was founded that the country's ruling elite considered how to improve the Party's governance ability at an annual plenum of the Central Committee.

Soon after the phrase emerged in Party documents and was disseminated by the country's news media, Chinese people turned it into a popular catchphrase.

Professor Zhang Pu, a linguist with the Beijing Language and Culture University, said he expected "governance capability" to become one of the ten most popular expressions for the last two quarters of the year.

Zhang's institute of applied linguistics is a leading sponsor of the biannual "Top 10" expressions program.

At an Internet forum, someone called "Mr. Bristlegrass" blamed the failure of his marriage on poor "governance capability" at home.

Of course, the phrase went far beyond the gentle self-mockery of the divorced Mr. Bristlegrass. The expression also triggered far-reaching social discussion on the communist party's ruling performance and ability.

On BBS or on-line forums, Chinese people voiced their ideas, and of course also their complaints, on the country's fight against corruption, public opinion's supervision over officials and the government, and how to eradicate the bureaucratic formalism, saying the solutions to these problems are crucial to enhance the Party's ability to govern.

Entering the Chinese characters for "zhi zheng neng li" into Google, the well-known Internet search engine, 421,000 web pages come up. A similar search on Yahoo! China (cn.yahoo.com) will turn out a result of more than one million web pages with this phrase.

Median continued to play their part in the further spread of the slogan. After a deadly coal mine blast which killed 148 miners in central China's Henan Province late last month, Outlook Weekly, a state-run magazine, printed a cover story headlined "Coal Mine Disaster Questions Government's Governance Capability." Unlike many other stories on work safety accidents, this one didn't merely repeat the standard words of blame for coal mine managers only.

Stock analysts even pin the hope of investors on the Party's ruling competence. A recent analysis carried by a financial newspaper was titled "Governance Competence, Lifeline of Stock Market's Stability."

After attending an on-line discussion on the building of the communist party's "governance capability" on www.people.com, a website sponsored by the CPC mouthpiece The People's Daily, Huang Zongliang, a professor of international relations with Beijing University, said that he was "not surprised at all at people's enthusiasm in the topic."

"The governing competence of a ruling party will decide a country's fate and future and thus it is natural and necessary for scholars and the masses to show their concern," Huang said.

The rapid popularity of the political phrase, Huang said, demonstrates both people's expectation of the improvement of the Party and the central authorities' sincerity and determination for such an improvement.

The professor said both common people's involvement and the Party's efforts are crucial for the development of the nation and the improvement of the Party.